Chapter 5: Hogsmeade at night

Now outside the five friends stood in a shadow of the courtyard, trying not to be seen. Albus felt very bad now, that he has placed a bad influence into his best friends minds. He never knew that that one night sneaking to the kitchen would lead to further rule breaking. As he watched the girls flirt with William, Albus cleared his throat and leaned up against the wall of the courtyard.

"Well Mr. Hartsong, what is your plan now, now that you have us out here breaking the rules." Albus said very annoyed.

The girls turned to their friend and gave him a "You must be kidding," look. They knew very well that he did not like William at all, and had wished that the trip to the kitchen had never happened. But it did happen, and they all knew that they couldn't go back and change what happened. Anna walked up to young Albus and placed an arm around him and gave him a tight squeeze.

"Oh c'mon Albus, you know you want to go too. Stop acting like a sourpuss." Anna said smiling. "We're going to hogsmeade, isn't that just wonderful?"

"Oh, very wonderful indeed when you get caught."

"Albus," Gaby said sweetly, also giving him a hug, making both Rose and Will smile. "We love you and you know it. So stop acting like a spoiled brat and come with us. And don't even think about doing something to get us caught or I'll curse you all the way back to your dorm."

"You'd curse me, would you?" the boy asked, pulling away and glaring at Gabrielle as her twin rolled her eyes.

"Al, you know she doesn't mean it."

"Who say- ouch!" Gaby started, just before her sister stepped on her foot rather hard. "Ok, I was joking, happy? Geez, Al, you used to know how to take a joke..."

"Enough!" Rose told them, crossing her arms. "Stop it right this second. Al, c'mon. Everything's going to be just fine, you'll see."

Albus gave Gaby one last glare before looking at Rose. He completly ignored William, who tried to be as silent as possible, and walked to Rosie.

"Fine. Where are we going?" he asked.

"How about Hogsmade?" William suggested, talking for the first time in quite a while, looking at Gaby and Anna to make sure they were ok.

Albus looked at the boy in front of him, though mad at him he gave him a surprised look. "Hogsmeade," He thought. "They must be out of their minds." But sure enough the group started moving towards the entrance gate on the other side of the school. The moon light lit up the School grounds like it were noon day, and that they didn't need their wands to see. They had to stay close to the shadows so that Flich, or Peeves don't see them.

Now at the entrance gate the group of friends saw that it was pad locked shut. William had pulled out his wand and pointed it at the lock and muttered "Alohomora," trying to get the pad lock to come undone, but it was no good. Each one gave it a try and all had failed. Sinking back into the shadows of the bushes, the group of friends sat down on the ground all lost in their thoughts.

"What now Will?" Gaby asked with a sweet voice.

"I don't know. I thought that we'd be able to get out this way." replied William looking down at his wand.

"Well you see it didn't work, How about we head back to our dorms before we get in trouble." said Albus while getting off the gound and brushing off the dirt.

"Al, you're being a big prat like uncle Percy. Knock it off, we'll figure things out!" Rose said.

"Umm..." Gaby started, looking at her friends. "I know you'll probably laugh but why don't we just climb over it?"

Everyone went silent for a second and looked at the girl with big eyes. Then, Anna smiled and hugged her sister while Will grinned and nodded.

"It might be crazy enough to work." he said, making Albus roll his eyes and Rose giggle.

"I'll go first." Albus told them, walking straight to the wall. "If I make it to the other side in one piece, I'll let you guys know and you can join me." The boy started climbing up, careful not to slip. When he got to the top, he looked around and prepared to jump, but was interrupted by Anna.

"We could levitate you to the other side!" she suggested, making him glare and mutter "Glad you didn't wait until I reached the ground!". The girls took out their wands, soon followed by William, and in no time, Albus was standing on the gound, safe and sound.

The levitation thing seemed to work, soon enough all five of the children were on the otherside of the wall nice and safe, and Free. The five of them stared at the long road that lead from the school down to the little wizarding town they knew as Hogsmeade. The dew on the ground showed up like little diamond crystals when light lays upon them. All the girls thought that it was a beautiful sights, but as for Albus he had wished he would have never come.

William lead the pack down the empty street, he seemed to be enjoying the fresh cool air of the night. The girls seemed to be enjoying it as well as he noticed that Gaby was admiring the dew that was up on the ground, which reflected the light from the moon. The Hufflepuff slowed down to match Gaby's pace, all noticed but Gaby. He soon placed his arm around the girl and brought her closer to him as they walked.

"It's very beautiful out tonight isn't it?" William asked looked down at the first year girl.

"Yeah, I can't remember the last time when I took a good look at the grass at night." the girl answered, grateful that her slight blush had chances of passing unnoticed since the moon had just been covered by a cloud. Gaby usually showed complete control over herself and the fact that she could feel her face continuing to be rather warm, even after the first blush passed, made her even more nervous. She could see her twin ahead of her, almost pulling Albus along, helped by Rose. It was all too obvious what her two friends were trying to do, but the girl didn't even know if she was thankful for this or not. Looking back at William, Gabrielle knew she couldn't be too upset and smiled.

"You seem to know this place pretty well. Did you come here before?" Gaby asked, trying to find something to talk about, hoping this would make her less anxious.

"Yes, actually." Will answered, smiling back. "I came here last year, just before the summer holiday." The second year seemed to want so say something else, but in that exact moment Albus noticed they were missing for rather long and turned around.

"Would you two hurry?"

William and Gaby quickened their pace, soon they were shoulder to shoulder with Albus in the middle of them. Was Albus jealous that William has won the heart of one of his best friends? Why did it matter to him, he didn't love Gaby more than a friend? These thoughts flooded the first years mind, and he started to feel depressed that he didn't have a girlfriend.

The group of friends finally reached Hogsmeade, it was silent and still. The first thing Anna did was run up to the window to Honeydukes. There was a never ending supply of candy in there and Anna wanted it so that they can take it back to the commmon room. She pulled out her wand to unlock the door but she was stopped by rose.

"Anna, we can't do magic outside of school, rememebr?"

"Aye, but what is the fun of not using magic to break into the candy store?" Arianna replied.

"Arianna Marie-Ann Tavian, you'll get expelled!" Albus proclaimed. "Expelled means that you'll never come back to Hogwarts again!"

"Merlin, Al, I think the girl knows what it means." Gaby answered, starting to get very annoyed with their friend. Albus and the twins had always been best friends, since they had been very little, and yet the girl simply couldn't understand why Al was being like that. "Besides, no need for magic." Gabrielle smiled impishly and turned to Rose, asking her for a hair pin. When the girl gave her the small object, Gaby turned around, smiling sweetly and handing it to her sister.

"No, Gabs, I think he's right." William said just when Anna was getting ready to use some of her knowledge about Muggle occupations. Gaby gave him a look that clearly stated "traitor" before turning around and crossing her arms.

"Hey, guys, we can always just have a nice walk!" Anna suggested next, also getting a bit annoyed with the whole sittuation. "We've just sneaked out of the school grounds and are two - one in Will's case - years too young to be here anyway."

"Yeah, let's enjoy the moment." Rose added, grabbing Al by the arm, dragging him ahead just in time to see Anna do the same with Gaby and Will.

The five spent the rest of the night with no more arguments and by sunrise the know more of Hogsmade than most fifth years did.