Chapter six: The Storm after the Fun
As the five friends made their way back to the castle, each one of them would have agreed - if they weren't walking silently, tired after roaming around the entire night - that the night turned out pretty well. Of course, Anna and Rose had been more than just a little busy with keeping Albus, Gaby and Will as separated as the situation could allow, but the last two also helped as they awkwardly avoided each other to the end.
But now all seemed forgotten and the storm clouds hanging over the five friends had disappeared, leaving room for clear skies. By the time they entered the school making as little noise as they could, no one could have guessed that just a few hours ago three of them almost got into a fight. Silent jokes and tired smiles made their return even more pleasant, clearing away whatever tension might have lingered.
Just as they reached the marble staircase, getting ready to split up for the night - or, to be more exact, morning -, a voice floated to them, calm and cold, making the five freeze on the spot.
"If you five would kindly follow me into my office, maybe I would find out why first and second year students are out of bed at this early hour."
The group followed professor Tavian down to the dungeons where his office was kept. Not a word was spoken as they knew that they were in big trouble now. Albus gave the second year boy an evil glance, for it was his fault that the three first years were wandering around at night.
Professor Tavain sat down at his desk and stared at his two nieces and their friends. He was ashamed to see two Tavians running around breaking the rules. What a shame they have brought upon the Tavian name. The young professor pulled open his desk drawer and pulled out several pieces of parchment and his quill-ink.
"I cannot believe I am seeing this from two well brought up Tavian's," He said as he started writing the letters. "I'm afraid i have to write letters to your parents. But first tell me why you were out wondering the castle at night."
"It's all his fault professor," Albus said pointing to the second year. "he convinced the girls that they were not going to be in trouble."
After not longer than a second, even Albus became aware of how big his mistake had been. Gaby and Anna had already prepared an explanation when they had heard him, but now the first girl was glaring at Albus like she only did a few times in her life. The boy became silent as his friends all looked at him with angry expressions, but he continued to sustain their glances: he had been right, it was William's fault they were out that late.
"And how is that, Mister Potter?" Professor Tavian said, straightening his back.
"He...well...he..." Albus could feel everyone looking at him - surprisingly, everyone except William himself. The Hufflepuff was looking down at his feet and refused to look up no matter how much Gaby tried to catch his gaze.
"He said we could watch the sunrise if we were careful." Rose finally spoke, a little unsure at first but more and more clearly after that. "And we figured that it's not a late hour, so we wouldn't get in trouble."
Arianna, William, Albus and Gabrielle turned to their red headed friend giving her a look of confusion, what she had said was unexpected. Though her excuse sounded much better than Albus blaming William for everything. The room fell silent all four students stood there staring at the professor who was lost in his thoughts. What to do, four students two different stories? Maybe the two stories coincided with each other.
Professor Tavian then went back to writing the letters to the families, and when he was finished he had a house elf take the letters up to the owlery and send them. He then turned back to the four students still shaking his head at his two nieces. Where could John and Hannah gone wrong in these two? Jack, is the only decent Tavian student here at Hogwarts. He thought.
Soon there was a flash of emerald light coming from the fire place and out came Harry and Ginny Potter. Albus hung his head in shame trying not to meet the eyes of his parents. The other parents arrived shortly after the Potters and they all seemed unhappy with what they were brought there for.
"Mom, dad!" Gaby and Anna said as soon as their parents entered the room. What they were about to do could be interpreted as playing dirty, but at this point none cared. For Gaby, this was a way - the only way she saw - to save Will and for Anna it was simply a matter of getting this sorted out. Each of the twins wanted to save as much of the situation as possible.
"What were you thinking?" Mister Tavian said, almost yelling.
"They weren't, that's the whole idea!" William's father joined in.
"We didn't know we aren't allowed outside in the morning!" Gaby said softly, trying to get on her father's good side while Anna looked at the adults with the sweetest expression on ger face. Soon Rose joined them, standing next to the twins.
"That's stupid!" Mrs. Tavian exclaimed.
"It was my fault." William finally spoke up, startling
everyone and making Gaby glare at Albus again, as if to tell him this
was his fault. "I was the one with the
idea."
"Not
true!" Gabrielle said, turning to look at their professor. "He
didn't force us to go, it was our choice. And it was morning, not
night! We weren't out at a late hour, it was just before everyone
wakes up."
The parents stared at their children, the Potters and the Weasleys had hoped that their children didn't turn out like them. Professor Tavian then excused the children to stand out in the hallway while he talked to the parents to figure out what they were going to do.
Albus leaned up against the wall with his arms crossed and his eyes glaring at William. It was indeed his fault that he got the girls excited to break the school rules, but they too knew that they didn't have to break the rules. He was hoping that their punishment wasn't too sever, maybe a nights worth of detention. The young Potter watched as William paced the floor in front of him; William was afraid that his father will do something horrible.
Rose looked like she had eaten a dozen of Puking Pastilles so Anna walked over to her, trying to calm the girl. The other twin proved less less caring for a few long seconds as she barely stopped herself from yelling at Albus, repeatedly telling herself that it wasn't his fault they got caught. After a while, Gaby went over to Al, patting him on the shoulder as to try and make him feel a little better before continuing her jurney until she stood in front of William, blocking his attempt to continue pacing.
"Will, try not to worry" she whispered, not wanting the adults to hear. "We're in this together, it'll turn out alright in the end".
"Yeah, well, you don't know my dad." the boy answered, looking up shortly. "If the Professor can't convince him it wasn't something you go to Azkaban for, I'm pretty much dead."
Gabrielle hugged him warmly before pulling back and walking to the spot she had been in earlier, fighting a blush. Albus rolled his eyes and turned to face the door to Professor Tavian's office, appearing to be deep in thought. Then the boy grinned, putting his ear against the wood and gesturing for the others to be silent.
"No spells, you can hear perfectly!" he muttered, closing his eyes so he could concentrate in the aggitation that followed as everyone tried to find a spot near the door. "Shhht! I'll tell you what I hear, stop making so much noise!"
The small group became silent, freezing, afraid to even breathe. Albus nodded and returned to listening, glad his idea had been appreciated. After a while he pulled away and turned to his friends.
"They're talking about hanging us by our toes." he announced, making Gaby and Anna give identical irritated sighs as Rose shook her head.
"Tell us the truth or move over you little -" Gaby was cut off by her twin stepping on her foot as hard as she could. "Fine, fine, I'm sorry! But he's being cruel!"
"Since you took time to apologise, I'll tell you: we'll go to detention for a few nights, each. I heard something about different assignments." Albus glared back at Gaby, walking away from the door. "And it was a joke, Gabs, you know, the kind we used to make all the time."
The door opened making Albus and Gaby jump back a few steps so that they didn't get hit with the door. Professor Tavian summoned the group of friends back into the office. As they entered they could tell that their parents were still very disappointed in them. Never in their life would have expected such behavior from a group of first years and a second year.
"Sit," professor Tavian stated as he walked around his desk and sitting in his own chair. "You're parents as you know are very disappointed in seeing you guys behave like this. We have agreed that it would be best that you recieve detention for every night for the next two weeks."
"Two weeks!" Anna blurted out.
"Yes Ms. Tavian, two weeks. Now its very late and there are classes in the morning. I will have Flich escort you back to your common rooms."
Nothing more was said for the rest of the night. Flich lead the group to the Hufflepuff common room down on the first floor near the kitchen. Gaby didn't dare to mutter a good night to Will, being afraid she'd get in trouble so she just gave him a meer smile and a wave good bye. Filch then led the rest of the group up to the gryffindor common room and didn't leave them until he made sure that all of them were inside the portrait hole.
"Well, that was a fun night out." Albus muttered as the group of Gryffindors walked to the stairs leading to their dorms. Both Anna and Rose gave Gaby a quick glare as a warning to shut up, but not even she had any intention of answering this remark.
"James and Nicholas never get caught and they sneak out all the time." Rose whispered, tired and upset. The two boys always bragged about their adventures and it seemed a cruel twist of fate that the first year friends would get caught.
"Then, obviously, we shouldn't sneak out anymore."
The girls stopped and looked at Albus with shocked expressions. They could hardly believe it was their friend talking, let alone react in any way. To everyone's surprise, Gabrielle was the first to recover and nod silently. The last evening had been like a dream, but now she couldn't stop thinking about how dissapointed their parents were; not to mention that her best friends were in trouble. Soon, Rose sighed and whispered an "I suppose." while Anna looked from her twin to Albus and then back again. Hearing Albus say that was one thing, but hearing her sister agree was ten times worse.
"Merlin's beard, we could have gotten ourselves expelled!" Rose said, stopping and looking ahead with a blank face. "We should consider ourselves lucky for still being in school. Plus, we didn't lose any House Points, right? At least Gryffindor still has a good chance to win the Cup."