Unexpected Things

KeysCanHurt: Ginny awesomeness ;) Love her in the book, errmmmmokay in the movie :)) Hurray, Seniors! :)) Yes, you know what the symbol is :P :)) Yeah... HAHAHAH, wacky Ron jumping in front of the train =)) Haha, yeah... loyal ol' Raphie. HAHA =)) Scorpy's moodswings don't get THAT bad :P Hurray for us seniors, soupy minds and FLYING COWS! =))

MalfoyMaiden: WHOO! GO SENIORS! :D But I feel bad that I barely played :( Hot DP says hi. :P Scorpy appears here :P Sort of =))

crazy-wee-cat: The mean third year's identity is revealed here :P It resembles... something ;) Thanks :D

yellow 14: Haha, yeah, finally xD Thanks :D

Lonely Traveler: hmmmmaybeee... Yeah, poor Raphie... But we've finally got our sem break, so I'll have more time to update now! Hurrah! :D

Harry's Lady: Thanks for fave-ing :D

Luna Skyrest: Thanks for Story Alert-ing this ;)

Squeee. College entrance exam tomorrow. Nervous, even if people have said the test for this particular school is easy xD xP

Chapter Thirty-Four

Back to School

"What?" Hugo stood up. Despite being tall for his age, Hugo's head barely reached the big student's broad shoulders. "We were here first."

"Not my problem. This is my compartment now. Get out, firsties!"

"Who do you think you are?" Lysander demanded, also rising to his feet, closely followed by his twin.

"You're not going to get away with telling us what to do!" Lorcan added.

The boy pulled out a wand. "I'm givin' you three choices. One, you all get out without a fight. Two, I jinx you out. Three, I punch you out." His dark eyes looked at each of them one by one. "What'll it be?"

"Mars Flint, vot the hell are you doing to thoze virst years?"

Lily didn't think she'd ever be this glad to hear that voice.

The gorilla of a third year turned around to face Dirk Kron. "Mind yer own business, Kron. This is my compartment."

"Flint, giff me vun good reason vhy I shouldn't kick you out of Imperium as coldly as you are trying to kick these virst years out of their compartment."

Imperium? What could that be? Lily wondered if Al knew. Maybe she could ask him. Or Scorpius. Scorpius was Kron's friend… or something. But then she wondered if they were still on good terms after Dirk kissed Jacqui.

Speaking of kissing… Lily could barely believe it when Rose told her Scorpius and she kissed!

But then Scorpius denied his feelings.

Lily sensed there was something, but Scorpius wasn't admitting it.

Secretly, she was starting to wish Rose and Scorpius were together instead of being with Raph and Jacqui. The forbidden affair was just so tinglingly exciting!

But it was wrong. And the moral part of her said that Rose should stay with Raph, and Scorpius with Jacqui. After all, Raph had taken care of Rose when she was depressed, and Jacqui had taken care of Scorpius when he was depressed. As long as Jacqui and Raph offered Scorpius and Rose happiness... that would be the best...

But still... lately, there's been more sadness than happiness...

"This is my compartment." Mars Flint insisted.

"Don't you haff your own compartment vit Bulstrode?"

"We had a fight." Flint mumbled.

"CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGE!" There was a loud, long yell, followed by the clucking of…

"Chickens?" Lily stared in astonishment as a flock of chickens ran into the compartment and attacked Flint, pecking and clawing while clucking madly.

Hugo pushed past Flint and the chickens and Dirk to get out of the compartment. Lorcan, Lysander and Lily did the same, since it was starting to get crowded in there.

Outside, standing triumphantly were the Slytherin mischief-making twins, Theodore and Tomas Higgs.

"Where'd the chickens come from?" Hugo asked his Housemates.

Theo proudly puffed out his chest. "We conjured all of 'em ourselves!"

"We asked help from some older students." Tom muttered.

Theo deflated. "Yeah… we had help."

Al was starting to feel like a lonely third wheel. Rose and Raph seemed to have made up… emphasis on seem to. There was still some tension between them, but they were warmer with each other. But he decided they still needed more time alone to… fix whatever was going on between them. So he decided against joining them on the carriages. Jacqui and Scorpius seemed to be doing alright… but Scorpius was so obviously distant. Lily, Hugo and the Scamander twins were still riding boats, so he couldn't go with them.

As he approached the thestral-driven carriages, he wondered what was in store for him, if he rode with Scorpius and Jacqui, and maybe Dirk, who was hovering near them. Danny too. Then Dirk whispered something to Scorpius. Scorpius frowned before sighing and nodding.

Jacqui and Al looked at Scorpius, with the same question in mind. Jacqui gave voice to it. "What's going on?"

"I… er… me and Dirk have this project to do. I—it's a Slytherin thing. Professor Slughorn assigned it to our House only." Al was about to ask what Scorpius was talking about it, but as their eyes met, Scorpius shook his head ever so slightly.

"Slytherin project?" Jacqui raised her eyebrow, then looked at Al.

"Yeah! We were supposed to do it over the break. I've done mine already." Al didn't like lying. Scorpius had better be doing this for a really good reason. Al was seriously going to question his friend later tonight in the dormitory.

"Dirk and I aren't quite done yet with ours."

"Why can't you talk about it later?" Jacqui asked.

"It is urgent. Ve cannot make it vait. Please undurstand." Dirk looked Jacqui in the eye.

Jacqui sighed. "Alright." She held Scorpius's hand briefly. "Good luck with your project."

"Thanks." Scorpius smiled, squeezing her hand before he and Dirk walked off.

What was happening?

Al remembered that Hog's Head gathering he walked into on one of the Hogsmeade trips. Had they really formed their own organization? Was Scorpius part of it? What were they planning?

A wave of loneliness came over Al. Why were his two best friends hiding things from him? They used to be so honest and open with each other! Whatever happened to telling each other everything?

He missed the Higgs twins too. At least they didn't seem to have any big secrets. The most they hid were pranks that they wanted to surprise people with.

Just as the thougth crossed his mind, two big forms rushed past him, wind blew against him from either side.

"What was that?" Al looked around in alarm. Jacqui's eyes were wide open and her body was tensed. Danny Dursley had a similar look and stance.

"Yahooooooooooooooooooooooo!"

"Whooooooooooooooo!"

Al looked up at the sound of the long, hooting calls of voices he recognized. Not far above them, Theo and Tom seemed to be floating in mid-air. But… not really… floating.

"Are they… flying?" Danny asked in disbelief.

"No…" Al realized how they were in the air and felt a grin form on his face. "They're riding the thestrals."

Later that night, Al waited in bed for sleep or Scorpius to come. Whichever came first.

Scorpius and Dirk were still whispering to each other in the Common Room when he left. The twins were already sleeping in their beds, Tom or Theo sometimes chuckling in their sleep as they probably recalled previous pranks or planned future ones. Mars was snoring loudly in his own bed.

Tom and Theo made a scene flying to the school on the thestrals, crashing through the stained glass windows into the Great Hall. It was a strange sight, seeing the twins flying in the air, Tom in the lead, the glass breaking before he touched it. Then he landed in the center of the hall as his invisible mount landed. Theo arrived seconds later.

Thirty points were taken from Slytherin and they would also be getting detentions for damaging school property and harassing school animals.

In their dormitory, they had excitedly told him about how they caught Mars harassing Lily, Hugo and two other first years, and saved them with conjured chickens. After having a good laugh, and some joking around, they settled down to sleep.

But Scorpius still owed Al an explanation.

It was around one in the morning that he decided to sleep and give up waiting. There was still the morning to interrogate his secretive friend.

As his thoughts drifted away from his friends' secrets, his parents' secrets came to mind. What was the symbol on that thing Uncle Ron found? Why wouldn't Dad tell them? Who was that gang of wizards? What did they hate so much about those people that they attacked?

He, James and Lily had agreed to meet with Hagrid in the afternoon.

Maybe they'd find some answers from their half-giant friend.

Arnie Filch was scowling as he and his cat, Nelly patrolled the school's corridors. Every year, after breaks and the like, restless students sneak out of their Common Rooms to cause trouble. The two had to be alert to be able to catch the miscreants.

The worst were the Higgs twins and any Potter or Weasley.

His father, Argus Filch had retired not too long ago, and when Arnie got the job, Argus warned him about troublemaking Potters and Weasleys.

Apparently, it ran in the family, their love for breaking rules. The Chosen One always snuck out with his friends in the middle of the night. It was also common knowledge that the Potter before Harry, James Potter I, was also a troublemaker, together with Sirius Black and some others.

Breaking rules was in their blood.

Peeves was bad too.

It took Arnie hours to remove the gum that coated the entire trophy case.

He hated the job. But there wasn't anything better he could do. He had just as hard a time with magic as his father did. He could manage very simple spells, but nothing very useful. His mother and father were constantly parting and getting back together when he was a child. Dumbledore's death brought them back together for a time, but they parted again not long after.

He had stopped depending on his mother long ago. Irma Pince-Filch loved books more than family. She died a lonely death in the summer, probably hugging a bunch of books.

So being the Hogwarts caretaker was now his life's job.

He was mildly attracted to the current Hogwarts librarian, but he didn't want to repeat his father's history.

Nelly arched her back and hissed, the black and brown fur along her spine rising.

"What's wrong, Nelly?" Filch asked his cat.

Then he heard voices.

Young boys whispering. He couldn't tell exactly what about.

"Let's get them, Nelly!"

With his skinny tabby loping beside him, Filch jogged towards the voices.

The students stopped when they heard his footsteps. Filch heard a door bang closed. The boys were hiding in a classroom!

Skidding to a halt next to the classroom door, he opened it. "Aha!" He yelled, expecting to see James Potter II and his friends.

Filch blinked.

There was no one there!

"I know you're there! Come out come out wherever you are!" Closing the door behind him, he began checking under desks and behind the the teacher's desk.

Filch noticed that Nelly was pawing at a cabinet.

Grinning, he approached it and opened the cabinet.

Filch frowned.

No one there. Just jars, books and other things that were of no interest to him.

"Where are they?" He asked Nelly as much as himself.

Nelly continued tapping the cabinet's side with her paws and looking up at it.

"They're not there." He told her before walking back to the door of the classroom. "C'mon, Nelly. Maybe they hid in another classroom."

Nelly hissed at the cabinet again.

"Leave the cabinet alone, there's no one in there!"

Nelly meowed a retort.

"Come on!"

Fur still bristling, she stiffly walked away from the cabinet, her amber eyes narrowed. But before she joined Filch, she looked over her shoulder and glared at the cabinet one more time.