Hello! Hope you are all having a fantastic day!
I just bought a ticket to go visit Oxford University, which is basically the real-life Hogwarts, so I'm in a very good mood.
That is why I decided to publish a new chapter. This one was actually a lot longer, but I decided to split it in half - here's the first one.
We are almost at Hogwarts! How exciting!
Thank you for the follows and favorites!
Enjoy x
wildest dreams
VOLUME I
CHAPTER SIX
The next day, after I got dressed, I headed for the kitchen and met Bill and Charlie in the stairs. The latter messed up my hair playfully, and I hit him on the shoulder. I would miss him during the school year. Dropping my bag at the front door, I sat down next to Ron and started eating my porridge.
"Did someone say Mad-Eye ?" asked Bill.
"He says someone tried to break into his house last night" said Molly.
"Mad-Eye Moody ?" asked George. "Isn't he that nutter –"
"Your father thinks very highly of Mad-Eye Moody" snapped Molly.
"Yeah, well, Dad collects plugs, doesn't he ?" whispered Fred as Molly left. "Birds of feather…"
"Fred !" I sighed.
"Moody was a great wizard in his time" said Bill.
"He's an old friend of Dumbledore, isn't he ?" asked Charlie.
"Dumbledore's not what you'd call normal, though, is he ? I mean, I know he's a genius and everything…"
I threw a piece of toast at his face to make him shut up. It was going to become a habit, it seemed. Fred glared at me, but I shrugged. I wanted to hear more about this Mad-Eye Moody.
"Who is Mad-Eye ?" asked Harry.
"He's retired, used to work at the Ministry" explained Charlie. "I met him once when Dad took me into work with him. He was an Auror – one of the best… a Dark Wizard catcher. Half the cells in Azkaban are full because of him. He made himself loads of enemies, though… the families of people he caught, mainly… and I heard he's been getting really paranoid in his old age. Doesn't trust anyone anymore. Sees Dark Wizards everywhere."
I raised an eyebrow. He seemed to be an interesting bloke. A bit scary, yes, but still interesting. We all finished breakfast and then waited for the taxis Molly had called. It had seemed like a bad idea to cram all of us and our luggage into cars to get to London, but then again, I preferred it to Floo Power. The ride to King's Cross was a complete disaster, from the fireworks in Fred's luggage exploding and Crookshanks attacking one of the drivers. It was a relief for everyone when we finally got to the station and passed the gate.
Soon, it was time to say goodbye. I hugged Molly tightly, thanking her again for everything she had done, and Bill, and finally Charlie.
"I hope I'll see you next summer" I told him.
"Well… I might be seeing you all sooner than you think" he said, grinning.
"Why ?" asked Fred.
"Yeah, what does that mean ?" I said.
"You'll see" replied Charlie with a mysterious smile. "Just don't tell Percy I mentioned it… it's 'classified information, until such time as the Ministry decides to release it', after all."
"Yeah, I sort of wish I were back at Hogwarts this year" nodded Bill.
"Why ?" insisted George.
"You're going to have an interesting year. I might even get time off to come and watch a bit of it…"
"A bit of what ?"
The train whistled, but none of us moved, as we were all waiting for Bill's answer. But Molly hurried us inside the train, and we closed the door behind us before leaning out the window to say goodbye.
"Thanks for having us to stay, Mrs. Weasley" said Hermione.
"Yeah, thanks for everything, Mrs. Weasley" added Harry.
"Thanks again, Molly !" I said.
"Oh it was my pleasure, dears. I'd invite you for Christmas, but… well, I expect you're all going to want to stay at Hogwarts, what with… one thing and another."
"Mum !" snapped Ron. "What d'you three know that we don't ?"
"You'll find out this evening, I expect. It's going to be very exciting – mind you, I'm very glad they changed the rules –"
"What rules ?" we all said together.
"I'm sure Professor Dumbledore will tell you… Now, behave, won't you ? Won't you, Fred ? And you, George ? Addy, make sure they do, won't you ?"
"Tell us what's happening at Hogwarts !" said Fred. "What rules are they changing ?"
But Bill, Charlie and Molly only waved at us, and Disapparated before the train turned the first corner.
"This whole thing is too bloody intriguing" exclaimed George as we went to search for a compartment.
"At least, we'll know tonight" I sighed.
We miraculously found an empty one and started developing theories about what the mysterious event could be. It had only been a few minutes when the compartment door slid open, and we turned to see who it was. I immediately screamed, jumping into my best friend's arms.
"ANGIE !"
Behind her was Alicia and Lee, and I hugged them too before we all sat down. I was thrilled to see them again – Hogwarts was nothing without them. Alicia still wore her shiny dark hair to her hips, Angelina had cut hers to her shoulders, which suited her really well, and Lee still had his dreadlocks and his big, familiar grin.
I immediately asked them about the mystery event, and if they knew something more than us – but sadly, they didn't. Then, the conversation inevitably turned to Quidditch. After all, Fred, George, Alicia and Angelina were on the team, Lee was commenting and I was probably their biggest fan. We talked about the World Cup, but avoided discussing the events that had occurred the night after.
"Have you seen Krum's Wronski Feint ? Epic, that was" exclaimed Lee.
"I would kill to be able to do it myself" said Angelina.
"We tried it last week" said George.
"It ended very badly for Ron" added Fred.
"What happened ?" asked Alicia.
I snickered.
"Let's just say we're lucky Charlie has good reflexes and was able to catch him in time" I laughed.
"Oh, Charlie" whispered Alicia, giving me a look.
"What is that look all about ?" asked Fred, eyeing me suspiciously.
"Nothing ! Alicia is just convinced I fancy him."
"What ?!" exclaimed George.
"You do !" Alicia laughed.
"Rubbish !"
"Addy, he's our brother" muttered Fred, looking disgusted.
"Calm down, I don't fancy him !"
"You told me yourself that he was handsome !" exclaimed Alicia.
Fred choked on the Bertie Bott's flavored bean he was eating. I rolled my eyes, slightly blushing.
"What ?" I muttered. "He is."
"I'm with you on this, Addy. He is really charming" said Angelina.
"Thank you !"
Fred and George were obviously about to complain but were interrupted by Lee who shouted in excitement as the trolley lady passed in front of our compartment.
"Haven't had an Acid Pop in forever" he said, grinning, after he sat back down.
"I don't understand how you can eat so many of those" said Alicia.
"Yeah, it's probably melted a hole in your stomach by now" I chuckled.
He mumbled something that looked like 'I don't care'. After we agreed on the fact that if Lee ate more than fifty Acid Pops this year, his stomach would end up looking like swiss cheese, I stepped out to go the loo. When I got back to the compartment, I saw a familiar face walk in the opposite direction.
"Graham Montague, how nice it is to see you again !" I said with a bright smile.
The Slytherin stopped – as I was blocking the way – glaring darkly at me. The compartment door opened to the twins, who were grinning.
"Get out of the way, Harlowe" he replied, eyes narrowed.
I ignored him, leaning against the window to block the corridor completely. He sighed loudly.
"How was your summer ? Have you finally worked on those awful Quidditch skills ?"
I was still smiling at him – that always made him furious. I could hear the twins laugh hysterically beside us. We all hated Montague, that poor excuse of a Slytherin Quidditch Chaser, but I always felt like there was something special between him and me – he adored calling me a Mudblood and I adored driving him mad by not caring at all. I hadn't lost my touch, it seemed, because he took a step forward, looking down at me – I was quite short compared to him, so he probably thought he looked intimidating.
"Let me pass, Mudblood."
"Well you certainly haven't worked on your sense of humour."
Fred, George, Lee, Angelina and Alicia all snickered, which really seemed to put Montague on edge – he gave me one last dark, nasty look before shoving me out of the way to continue walking. I shook my head, laughing.
"See you at the Quidditch pitch !" I shouted.
He didn't even turn around. I turned to the others, and we all bursted out laughing.