Disclaimer: I don't own any Harry Potter character
Author's Note: Firstly, I'm just going to apologize for how long it has been since I have updated! It's been just over a year, I can't believe that. It honestly shows just how crazy this year has been for me, but now that it's getting towards the summer, I can most definitely start updating more often! Just one thing has changed with this story: Alex has a nickname and it's Lexxa. Not too difficult to remember as it's with the same letters. Anyways, enjoy!
{The Heart of a Weasley}{Chapter Five}{Castle Lights}
Despite us getting up at six in morning to avoid stampedes around the house, we still ended up running late. Ginny was running around everywhere looking for her favourite pair of shoes that she refused to leave without, Ron was having trouble catching Pigwidgeon who was flapping everywhere as he was so excited at all the activity going on, and Fred and George were being indecisive about what new products they wanted to work on at Hogwarts so they were sorting through their various ingredients. Opening the front door, I saw just how horrendous the weather was. It was pouring down with rain, and I groaned when I knew that I would have to get wet. Rose, Hermione, Harry, and I ended up loading the taxis, whilst trying to shield our heads from the rain. Mr Weasley had ordered two taxis for us to take to Kings Cross. He had tried to order Ministry cars, but there weren't any available.
By seven thirty we were off. Thankfully not too late otherwise we would miss the train. And we don't want another repeat of what Harry and Ron did two years ago, even though I have to admit it did sound like fun.
The car journey wasn't the best. Rose, George and I were squashed in the back of one of the cars with our pets, so an owl and a cat, as Fred had managed to grab the front seat before the rest of us had a chance, so he was the most comfortable. Ginny, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were in the other car with Mrs Weasley, as Mr Weasley was off at work. How they all got in that car I don't know.
We reached King's Cross just after ten thirty. After making sure that we had all our luggage, we made our way through the very busy platform, heading for the barrier between Platform's nine and ten.
"Alex, careful not to run into someone like you did in third year." George laughed, looking back at me. I just glared at him.
"Why do you feel the need to point that out every year?" I asked, watching as Ron and Harry ran through the barrier, closely followed by Ginny, Hermione and Mrs Weasley.
"Because it was absolutely hilarious." Fred said.
"The guy ran into me! I keep telling you this. I couldn't stop the trolley so I accidently hit him."
"And you ended up causing a scene by saying that you were running late for the train, when there was no train standing at either platform nine or ten, making you look ridiculous." Rose joined in, smirking at me.
I tossed my hair over my shoulder, muttered 'I hate you all' and ran towards the barrier, discreetly making sure that I was clear of hitting anyone as not to embarrass myself again in front of those three.
Once on Platform nine and three quarters, I smiled when I saw the scarlet steam train sitting at the platform's edge, and excited students piling onto the train, and hugging their parents goodbye. Even though it was my sixth time going to Hogwarts for a new year, I always got butterflies in my stomach.
Rose, Fred, and George appeared next to me moments later. We made our way over to one of the open doors, and heaved our trunks onto the train. We managed to find a compartment relatively quickly, and then we went back out onto the platform, to say good bye to Mrs Weasley, and also so that Rose and I could find Eleanor, Susannah, Jae, and Lilly.
"Are you sure you all have everything?" Mrs Weasley fussed over us, hugging Rose.
"I think so. We did a sweep around the house." Rose smiled at her.
"It's more likely for Fred and George to forget things. You're both very organised." Mrs Weasley pulled me into a hug.
Rose and I laughed. "I'll agree with that." We pulled away. "Thank you for having us, Mrs Weasley."
"Oh you're very welcome, dear. It's always a pleasure."
"Alex, Rose!"
We turned to see Eleanor heading towards us, closely followed by Susannah, our other good friend from Hogwarts. Rose and I greeted them enthusiastically.
"It feels like it's been forever since we've seen you guys!" Rose said. "It's been a whole summer. We need to meet up more." Ellie said.
"It's Alex's fault. She's the one who ran off to California." Susannah, more commonly known as Suze among us four, grinned at me.
"Hey!" I laughed. "You can talk. You're also one to run off on holiday."
"Yeah, that's true." Suze laughed.
Jae and Lilly soon met up with us. Rose and her siblings said hearty goodbyes to their parents just as the first whistle blew, letting everyone know that the train was departing within a few minutes. I quickly gave both Diego and Felicity hugs, and then boarded the Hogwarts Express. Lilly then bid us goodbye to go and locate Ginny and their group of friends. Rose, Jae, Ellie, Suze, and I soon reached our compartment, and found that Fred and George were talking to their mum out of the window.
"So tell us, what is going on at Hogwarts this year?"
"You can't keep this secret from us, mum!"
The twins evidently wanted to know what event was going on at Hogwarts that was so special and new. Mrs Weasley just chuckled.
"You'll just have to wait and see. I'm sure Dumbledore will tell you tonight at the feast. Now, behave yourselves, won't you? Won't you, Fred? And you too, George?"
The train then began to move, and the girls and I waved to Mrs Weasley. Fred and George were shouting out of the window over all the noise to try and find out this secretive event, but they had no luck. The train had already rounded the corner.
"Right, can you guys shut that window, please? I'm getting rained on." Rose complained, brushing down her jeans, which now had small spots of rain on it.
"Oh, right, sorry." George shut the window, and then took a seat next to Rose by the window. I automatically smiled, looking over at Suze, who winked at me. Suze and Ellie both knew about the chemistry between Rose and George, but Rose had never told them either, not that she needed to. Suze altered her position on the seat, and leant forward to talk to the pair. But the compartment door then opened, preventing Suze saying anything embarrassing to Rose and George.
"Hey guys!" Lee greeted us, sliding into the compartment. "Mind if I join you?"
Before any of us could really register, we were easily over half way to Hogwarts, and the rain hadn't ceased at all. If anything, I think it's gotten heavier, which is going to be fun when waiting for a carriage at Hogsmeade station. The train journey, so far, had been very eventful. Fred, George, and Suze were playing exploding snap, but I swear the twins had jinxed it to be extra sensitive and explosive as it made a horribly loud noise when it went off, and managed to hit a lot of us in the face when the cards sprang everywhere. Ellie had picked up on this too, as she kept getting disturbed when reading her Magical Creatures book.
"Have you guys tampered with those cards? They're not usually this…alive."
"Just because we like to tamper with things, doesn't mean that we do it with everything we touch."
Ellie just flicked one of the cards off of her book with a grin, and went back to reading. She's a very stereotypical Ravenclaw, in the fact that she really likes to bury her nose in a book.
"Here, Fred, catch." I said, gesturing that I was going to throw a sweet for him to catch in his mouth. We loved this game. He opened his mouth, and managed to catch fourteen in a row. We tend to do this a lot in the Great Hall, when he's sitting at the Gryffindor table, and me at the Hufflepuff table.
"Ooh, I don't have this one!" Suze exclaimed, opening one of her chocolate frogs and looking at the card inside. She proudly held up her Godric Gryffindor Card. She's in Gryffindor at Hogwarts, and therefore it's understandable why she would be so excited in getting that chocolate frog card. She's the same year as Ellie, Rose and I, and comes from a long line of pureblood wizards, not that she acts on it.
I pulled a copy of the Daily Prophet out of my bag, and settled back into my seat, working my way through a packet of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. Jae came and sat next to me, reading over my shoulder.
"That bloody Skeeter woman really drives me up the wall." He commented, blowing a bubble with his gum.
"I know. She takes everything out of context. I've bumped into her a few times when I've visited dad at the Ministry, and she's always, always eavesdropping on other peoples' conversations by lurking round a corner or pretending to be reading a bulletin board. Why she's still employed I do not know." I said, turning the page as not to bother reading her article on the happenings at the World Cup.
"Probably because she creates 'exciting' new theories and opinions of different people who're in the spotlight at the time." Jae said, reading through the Quidditch section of the paper.
By the time it started getting dark, we knew that we weren't far away from Hogwarts. Us girls chucked the boys out while we changed into our Hogwarts robes, ready for the feast in a few hours. My mouth started watering at the thought of all the food that I could load my plate with…
Once the boys had changed, we had reached Hogsmeade station, and the weather was still horrible. We joined the queue that was lining the corridor, and knew that it would take a while for us to reach the door, which was fine with me as that meant that I would be staying dry for the time being. However, that didn't happen as the prefects were ushering us off the train quickly, so that we wouldn't cause a delay for the feast. When we reached the door, Fred pulled his robe over my head, shielding me from the rain. As we got closer to the front of the queue, I saw the usual Thestrals that were pulling the carriages up to the school. I noticed them on my first day at Hogwarts, and when I voiced this to Rose, she thought I was making a joke; she couldn't see them, and still can't. Fred, George, and the rest of my friends can't see them either. This made me think that I was going crazy, so I had asked Professor Dumbledore about them. He told me that they can only be seen by those who have seen death. Everything made sense after that.
Fred and I then jumped inside one of the carriages, Rose and George right behind us. Fred and George both shook the water out of their hair inside the carriage, spraying Rose and I with water, but we just laughed.
"This rain better calm down by tomorrow." Rose said, wrapping her cloak more tightly around her body. "I hate the rain so much!"
"This is England after all. Its favourite weather is rain." Fred replied, smiling at her.
We reached the Entrance Hall quickly, and dived through the doors, dripping water everywhere.
"Thank bloody God we're out of that." George said, shaking his cloak to get rid of some of the wetness. However, just when we thought that we were out of the rain for good, we were wrong. Peeves had hijacked the Entrance Hall, and thought that it would be fun to throw water balloons at students as they came in from the rain. Rose and I screamed as a balloon exploded at our feet, drenching our tights and shoes.
"Peeves!" I yelled up at him, anger all over my face. "Can't you find anything else to amuse yourself with?!"
He just burst out laughing, and aimed another water balloon at us, but Fred and George pulled us towards the Great Hall, slipping slightly on the wet floor.
"Right, we'll see you later. Enjoy the feast." Rose said, smiling at the twins, and we both headed over to join our friends at the Hufflepuff table.
"Hello, ladies." Cedric greeted, as we took our seats with him, his friend Sam, and our dorm mates Hattie and Jessica.
"Evening." I replied, sorting out my hair so it looked as presentable as possible, as the wind had blown it into disarray. I then gave Hattie and Jessica hugs, the table between us making it a bit awkward.
"How was your summer?" I asked them both, as many students were still piling into the hall, all dripping wet.
"It was fantastic, thanks! It was so nice and relaxing, although I really did miss this place." Hattie responded, looking around the Great Hall with a smile on her face. "How about you?"
"Same. Spent most of it with the Weasley's." Rose said, wringing out her hair onto the floor. "Your brother is starting this year, isn't he? And your baby sisters too, right?" She added to Jessica. They both nodded, looking excited.
My stomach was rumbling like crazy, and as though they heard me, the Great Hall doors then opened, and Professor McGonagall lead the tiny first years up the middle of the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables, towards the teachers' table. Hattie and Jessica waved to their siblings as they passed us, all three of them with rather terrified looks on their faces. I remember that feeling when I was sorted five years ago. Not knowing what to expect, praying for the house your siblings were in, hoping not to disappoint your parents. I wasn't envious of them at all.
We watched as McGonagall called upon the first years one by one, each to their own taking baby steps up to the stool, and gingerly placing the Sorting Hat on their heads.
"Well, that was probably the most intense welcoming feast I think we've ever experienced." Rose pointed out as Dumbledore bid us goodnight.
"You said that right." We joined the crowd as all the students were making their way out of the hall and to their respective dormitories. "And this Tri Wizard Tournament. Wow, that's gonna make the year a lot more dramatic."
"As if we don't get enough drama here as it is." Rose pointed out.
"Tell me about it. I thought our lives were pretty dramatic anyway with Fred and George around."
Rose laughed.
We finally reached the double doors leading into the Entrance Hall, which was now all puddle-free. Just as I was turning to head down to the Common Room with the other Hufflepuff's, someone grabbed my arm and pulled me from the crowd.
"Oh my God, Liza!"
I hugged one of my closest friends. Liza's in Ravenclaw, same year as me, has tanned skin and brown hair and eyes. In a nutshell, she is beautiful.
"I tried to find you on the train, but I had to stop this fight that was goin' on." She said, in her slightly twangy accent. Her parents emigrated from America after they graduated from a magical school over here.
"Oh no, you're fine. We'll catch up tomorrow at breakfast. Sound good?"
"Of course!"
We bid each other goodnight and I caught up with Rose at the portrait hole. We climbed through, and reached the comfort that was our home for the majority of the year. The room was circular, with a relatively low ceiling, much resembling a burrow, where our animal the Badger lives. Three fires roared at different points in the room, equipped with either yellow or black couches and armchairs in front of the flames. Tables, bookshelves, plants, and tapestries also were present. Ground-level windows finished off the room. We could see the grass moving softly in the wind.
A big portrait of Helga Hufflepuff hung above the biggest fire. Rose stopped and looked at our founder, me stopping with her.
"I can never get over how much you look like her." Rose said, rather out of the blue.
I looked deeply at the portrait.
"It's the red hair." I replied.
Rose pondered. "Yeah, most likely."
We then headed for our dormitory door, looking forward to our nice, warm, comfy beds and the first nights' sleep before what's going to be an excellent year.