Chapter 23: Returning to Hogwarts

Winter Break was at its end as Jane gathered up her clothes to pack into her suitcase. She was finally getting ready go back to Hogwarts. Jane was actually looking forward to going back to school, but like most students, she wanted to stay home and enjoy herself, too. But, she knew that she couldn't do that because some part of her would really miss Hogwarts and really miss being there. It's like my second home, Jane thought to herself as she grabbed The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien. "I can't wait till I start reading you," Jane said to herself as she put the book in her dark blue and orange book bag along with her supplies for writing letters to Sarah, including some treats for her snowy owl, Snowball.

"Jane!" A shout made it's way up the stairs and into Jane's room.

"Yeah!" Jane shouted back to Sarah.

"You ready to leave?"

"Yeah! Be right down!" Jane answered.

Just before Jane left, she looked around her small, quiet room, taking in all of the memories. Slowly, Jane closed her eyes, as if she were taking a mental picture of her room and then walked down the stairs with all of her luggage. She saw Sarah waiting by the door to take her to the station.

"Ready?" Sarah asked.

"Yes, I'm ready," was Jane's reply.

"You sure?" Sarah questioned Jane as if double checking to see that she wanted to go back to Hogwarts.

"Positive."

"Alright." Both Sarah, and Jane then went through the door and headed towards the car. Another semester at Hogwarts thought Jane after she had gotten into the maroon colored car. This should be exciting!

By the time the Hogwarts Express had departed, it was already around one o'clock in the afternoon. Jane started to make her way towards one of the empty compartments, near the end of the train. She finally found one, closed the door, pulled out The Hobbit from her book bag and began reading it.

The warm afternoon sun soon turned into a cool evening sun, slowing setting on the horizon. Students were grabbing their coats and jackets as they walked out onto the platform, next to the train. Among them was Jane. She was wearing a puffy red coat with two pockets, one either side of the zipper. She had one glove in each pocket. On top of Jane's head was a blue and orange hat to keep her ears and head warm.

Jane started looking at her surroundings. Most of the students were already dressed in their school uniforms. Some of the students, Jane could already tell were in the House of Slytherin or in the House of Gryffindor because of their House's colors. Suddenly, there was this giant, loud voice coming from behind her.

"Welcome back to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry! Hopefully, your Winter Break was a success and you're ready to learn some new things! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all!" Jane turned around to see Hagrid the Game Keeper a few feet away from her. She smiled as she remembered meeting him for the first time last year.

The students then started to follow Hagrid through the grounds of Hogwarts to the castle where they all would finally get some rest and warmth.

Once inside, Jane was left by herself to do whatever she desired to do, but dinner wasn't too far away, so whatever she decided to do, she had a limited amount of time.

In the end, Jane decided to go to the Gryffindor Common Room to see if Harry, Ron, and Hermione were there or anyone else she knew was there so that she could talk to them. Man, I missed this place, thought Jane as she traveled up the marble staircase towards the seventh floor to the Fat Lady who guards the entrance to Gryffindor's Tower.

Gryffindor Tower has always been guarded by the Fat Lady, with her white toga and a colorful wreath on top of her head. Except, sometimes, she would be in her opera singing mood. If the Fat Lady was in her opera singing mood, she would always try and break the crystal wine glass in her left hand. Jane was annoyed at this because, first off, the Fat Lady couldn't sing, no matter how hard she tried. She just couldn't sing! Second, every time the Fat Lady would sing, she would always be out of tune and it was deafening to Jane's ears. Third, it was just plain out right annoying! Thankfully, when Jane got to the Gryffindor Tower entrance, the Fat Lady wasn't in her musical singing mood. She actually looked quite bored.

"Password?" the Fat Lady asked turning her head to have her eyes look upon Jane.

"Wattlebird," Jane simply replied.

"I'm sorry that's the incorrect password," the Fat Lady stated without expression.

"What?"

"That is the incorrect password is what I merely said," the Fat Lady replied again.

"That can't be right," Jane said putting her hands on her hips.

"Tis the truth."

Jane tried saying the password again, but she got the same response from the Fat Lady. Great. Now what I am supposed to do, thought Jane.

AN: I don't own Harry Potter. The only characters I own are Jane, Sarah, and any other characters that I made up. (Last edited 3/21/17)