AUTHORS NOTE! :P

Thanks for all the reviews! And all the ones about my broken fingers! They are much better now, thanks. I'm getting the cast/tape things off in about a week :D i can't wait!

Now to answer some reviews...

AnikaandAj: I agree, but to be honest, he did have all those older brothers to compete with all the time, not to mention Ginny, the only girl in the family, and now all the members ofthe flock moving in with them as well. Also, Ron never really thinks about those kind of things, does he? But he does act slightly bratty at times, considering that he had a great family.

Arkell26: haha tell me about it...

And thanks to everyone else that reviewed, and enjoy your cookies and butterbeer! :D

On with the chapter!

Enjoy!

-Rach ;)

Max's POV

There was a depressing, gloomy feel in the Burrow when I woke up the next morning. There was rain lashing against the window as I climbed reluctantly out of my cosy bed and got dressed in old, dark blue jeans, a plain t-shirt, and a baggy Bon Jovi jumper that Jeb gave me from one of their concerts. I'd change into my uniform on the train.

Me and Hermione walked out of my room in silence, too tired to say anything, when we met the boys walking down from their rooms. Then we heard Mrs Weasley shouting, "Arthur! Arthur! Urgent message from the Ministry!"

I flattened myself against the wall when Mrs Weasley ran up the stairs passed us, so she would have enough room. Then Harry had to flatten himself against the other wall when Mr Weasley came rushing down the stairs with his robes on back-to-front. I shared a look with Harry, who raised his eyebrows questioningly. I just shrugged and walked into the kitchen, where we saw Mrs Weasley rummaging around in a drawer for a quill.

"I've got a quill here somewhere!" Mrs Weasley said frantically, while Mr Weasley bent over the fire, talking to- I blinked a few times to check that they were actually working properly.

Amos Diggory's head was in the middle of the flames, looking like a huge, bearded egg. It was talking very fast, completely unaware by the sparks that were flying around his head and licking his ears.

"...Muggle neighbors heard bangs and shouts, so they went off and called those, what do you call them- please-men. Arthur, you've got to get over there..."

"Here!" Mrs Weasley said, handing her husband a piece of parchment, a bottle of ink, and a quill.

"-It's a real stroke of luck I heard about it," Diggory said- well, his head said- "I had to come into the office early to send a few owls and I found the Improper Use of Magic lot all setting off- if Rita Skeeter get's hold of this one, Arthur-"

"What does Mad-Eye say happened?" asked Mr Weasley, unscrewing the ink bottle and dipping the quill in it, preparing to take notes.

Diggory rolled his eyes and said, "Says he heard an intruder in the garden. Says he was creeping towards the house, but was ambushed by dustbins."

"And what did the dustbins do?" asked Mr Weasley, scribbling away frantically. "Made one hell of a noise and threw rubbish everywhere, as far as I can make out," Diggory said. "Apparently one of them was still rocking about the place when the please-men arrived-"

Mr Weasley groaned and asked, "And what about the intruder?"

"Arthur, you know Moody," Diggory said, "Someone creeping into his garden at the dead of night? More likely there's a very well-shocked cat wondering around somewhere, covered in potato peelings. But if the Improper Use of Magic got their hands on Mad-Eye, he's had it- just think of his record! We've got to get him off a minor charge, something in your department - what are exploding dustbins worth?"

"Might be a caution," Mr Weasley said, still writing very fast. "Mad-Eye didn't use his wand? He didn't attack anyone?"

"I bet he jumped right out of bed and started jinxing everything he could reach through the window," Diggory said, "But they'll have a hard time proving it, there aren't any casualties."

"Alright, I'm off," Mr Weasley said, stuffing the parchment into his pocket and dashed out of the kitchen again. Diggory looked at Mrs Weasley. "Sorry about this, Molly," he said, "bothering you so early and all. But Arthur is the only person that can get Mad-Eye off the hook, and Mad-Eye's meant to be starting his new job today."

"Never mind, Amos," Mrs Weasley said, "Are you sure you won't have some toast or anything before you leave?"

"Oh, go on then," Diggory said.

Mrs Weasley took a slice of buttered toast from the stack on the table, put it on the fire tongs, and put it right into Diggory's mouth. "Fanks," he said, his mouth full. With a small pop, he disappeared.

I could hear Mr Weasley calling hurried goodbyes to Charlie, Bill and Percy, and the younger members of the flock. Within five minutes he was back in the kitchen, running a comb through his red hair, his robes on the right way. "I'd better hurry," he said, pecking Mrs Weasley on the cheek, "Have a good term kids," he called over his shoulder, "Look after Ginny and Nudge! Molly, are you going to be alright going to Kings Cross?"

"Of course, dear," she said, "You just look after Mad-Eye, we'll be fine."

As Mr Weasley left the Burrow, Bill and Charlie, Nudge, Angel and the Gasman walked into the kitchen, fully dressed and looking cheerful.

"Did someone say Mad-Eye?" Bill asked, "What's he up to now?"

"He says someone tried to break into his house last night," Mrs Weasley said, going back to finished the breakfast.

"Mad-Eye Moody?" George asked, "Isn't he that nutter-"

"Your father thinks very highly of Mad-Eye Moody," Mrs Weasley said sternly.

"Yeah, well Dad collects plugs, doesn't he?" Fred said quietly when Mrs Weasley left the room, and taking some toast, "Bird feathers..."

"Moody was a great wizard in his time, though," Bill said, getting breakfast and sitting at the table. "He's an old friend of Dumbledore's, isn't he?"

"Well, Dumbledore isn't what you would call normal, is he?" Nudge said. "I know he's a genius and all, but...

"Who is Mad-Eye?" Harry asked.

"He's retired. He used to work for the Ministry of Magic," Charlie explained, "I met him once when Dad took me into work with him. He was an Auror- one of the best... a Dark wizard catcher," he added, looking at our confused faces. "Half the cells in Azkaban are full because of him. I hear that he's getting paranoid in his old age. He doesn't trust anyone anymore."

Bill and Charlie decided to go to King's Cross with us, along with the Gasman and Angel, who weren't old enough to go to Hogwarts just yet. Percy, however, said he had to go to the office so he couldn't come. Thank God. "I just can't start taking time off right now," he said, giving us all short hugs before we left, "Mr Crouch is really starting to rely on me."

"You know what Percy?" I said, as he gave me a hug that barely lasted one second, "I reckon he might start getting your name right one of the days." He glared at me, but didn't say anything. The twins gave me a silent thumbs-up behind Percy's back.

Mrs Weasley was brave enough to use the telephone in the village post office to call four ordinary Muggle taxis to take us to London.

"Arthur tried to get Ministry cars, like last year," Mrs Weasley whispered as we watched the taxi drivers heave all our heavy Hogwarts trunks into the cars. "But there weren't any to spare. Dear, they don't look too happy, do they?"

I decided not to tell Mrs Weasley that Muggle taxi drivers weren't used to transported over-excited owls (*cough* Pigwidgeon *cough*). And it also didn't help that George's trunk opened, and all his collection of Filibusters's Fabulous No-Heat, Wet-Start Fireworks all went off, causing the taxi driver to cry out with fright and pain as Crookshanks clawed up his leg.

The journey was very uncomfortable. I was squashed between Harry and Angel (who was holding on Celeste), Hermione and Iggy in the front of the taxi or in the one in front of us, with Freedom's cage on my lap. Crookshanks took a while to recover from the fireworks and by the time we got into London, everyone in our taxi was severely scratched, even the driver.

We were very happy to get to King's Cross, even though Angel was in a very sulky, bad mood. When I saw the Gasman getting out of one of the other taxi's, I saw that he was the same as his sister. Even though it was raining harder than before, I pulled Gazzy and Angel away from the others.

"What's wrong, guys?" I asked, looking into their eyes.

"It's not fair!" Gazzy said, pouting. "Why can't we go to Hogwarts too?"

"Gazzy, you know why. You aren't old enough yet. But when you're eleven, you can go. The same as you, Angel," I said.

"But we miss you guys. I thought we were meant to always be together," Angel said, looking down at her dirty trainers. "We are always going to be together. Just because we're gone for a few months doesn't mean we aren't together. We all love each other, and that's whats important," I said.

They were still depressed, but they both held onto my hand as we walked into the train station. Fred had taken my trunk and school bag in with him. The three of us were soaked when we joined the others.

I was used to getting onto platform nine and three-quarters by now, but Nudge, who was only entering her second-year, seemed a little nervous. "It'll be fine, dear," Mrs Weasley said to Nudge. Nudge seemed to feel better about it, but I didn't like Mrs Weasley taking over my role of looking after the flock.

Getting onto the platform was a simple matter of walking straight through the apparently solid wall between platform nine and ten. The only hard part of this was doing it in an unobtrusive way, so we didn't attract Muggle attention.

It would be so much easier if the flock could just fly to Hogwarts, but that would never happen. It was too far away, and Mrs Weasley and Dumbledore would never allow it.

We went through the wall in groups. I went through with Fred and George, after Harry, Ron and Hermione. Behind me was Fang, Iggy and Ginny. Me and the twins leaned casually against the wall, talking normally and slowly we feel through the wall with our trunks and bags, and as we did, platform nine and three-quarters appeared before our eyes.

The Hogwarts Express was already there, making everything else look dull with it's bright scarlet colour. Everyone that was already on the platform looked like ghosts because of all the steam clouds billowing from the steam engine. Pig became even more noisy. When Angel thought no one was looking, she quickly wiped tears from her eyes. I did my best to block my thoughts from her so she wouldn't know I saw her.

Me, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fang and Iggy set off to find a compartment and we were soon stowing our trunks and bags into the luggage compartment in a compartment half-way down the train. Then we hopped off the train again to say goodbye to Mrs Weasley, Angel, the Gasman, Bill and Charlie.

"I might be seeing you lot sooner than you think," Charlie said, hugging Ginny.

"Why?" Iggy asked.

"You'll see," Charlie winked, "Just don't tell Percy I mentioned it."

"Yeah, I sort of wish I could go back to Hogwarts this year," Bill said, grinning. "I might even get some time off to watch a bit of it."

"A bit of what?" I asked, curious.

But before anyone could answer me, a loud whistle blew and Mrs Weasley pushed us all towards the train.

"Thanks for having us stay, Mrs Weasley," Hermione said, letting Mrs Weasley hug her and kiss her cheek. "Yeah, thanks for everything," Harry said, getting a hug too. "Oh, it was my pleasure, dears," Mrs Weasley said, hugging and kissing the rest of us. "I'd invite you to stay for Christmas, but I'd expect you'd all want to stay at Hogwarts for the- well, you'll find out when you get there."

Behind Mrs Weasley, Angel gasped, all sadness forgotten for now, and started jumping up and down. She had clearly read Mrs Weasley's mind, and knew what was happening at Hogwarts.

"Angel, what is it?" I asked, smiling at her. She just grinned mischiefly and shook her head.

"It's going to be very exciting," Mrs Weasley said as we wall leaned out of the window to talk to her. "Mind you, I'm glad they changed the rules."

"What rules?" all the guys asked together. "I'm sure Dumbledore will tell you. Now behave, won't you?" she asked, looking at each of us. The pistons hissed loudly and the train began to move.

I stuck my head out of the window and shouted, "Bye Angel and Gazzy! I'll write everyday!"

Beside me, George shouted, "What's happening at Hogwarts! Tell us!"

But Mrs Weasley only smiled at waved as they became smaller and smaller and sped away from us. I felt sad that it would be months before I saw Gazzy and Angel again, but I knew they'd be safe with the Weasley's.

Me, Hermione, Harry, Fang, Ron and Iggy went back to our compartment, while Fred and George went to sit with their friend Lee Jordan, Ginny went to sit with her friends from third-year, and just as Nudge was about to go find her friends, I asked, "Nudge? Do you want to sit with us?"

"Sure," she said, smiling happily, "I'll just find my friends at the feast."

So after Nudge had put her trunk in the luggage compartment, Ron opened his own trunk and pulled out the maroon dress robes and flung them over Pig's cage. When Nudge saw them, her dark skin paled, and I thought she was going to be sick. "What are-?" she started, but feel silent when Ron gave her a dirty look.

"Bagman wanted to tell us something at the World Cup, remember?" Fang said. "Yeah, but my mother won't say what," Ron said grumpily as he sat beside Harry. "Wonder what-?"

"Shh!" Hermione whispered suddenly, pressing her finger to her lips and pointing to the compartment next to theirs. I listened and heard a familiar drawling voice coming from the open door.

"...Father actually wanted to send me to Durmstrang rather than Hogwarts, you know. He knows the Headmaster. Well, you know his opinion of Dumbledore- the mans such a Mudblood lover- and Durmstrang doesn't admit such riffraff. But Mother didn't like the thought of me going to school so far away. Father thinks Durmstrang takes a far more sensible line than Hogwarts to the Dark Arts. Durmstrang students actually learn them, not just the defense rubbish we do..."

I got up and tiptoed to the door and closed it, drowning out Malfoy's voice. "I wish he did go to Durmstrang," I said, sitting down again, "Then we wouldn't have to deal with him, the butthead."

"Durmstrang's another wizarding school?" Harry asked.

"Yes," Hermione said, "And it has a terrible reputation. According to An Appraisal of Magical Education in Europe, it puts a lot of emphasis on the Dark Arts."

"I think I've heard of it," Ron said, "Where is it? What country?"

"Well, no one knows, do they?" Hermione said, raising her eyebrows.

"Why not?" Nudge asked.

"There's traditionally be a lot of rivalry between all wizarding schools. Durmstrang and Beuxbatons like to conceal their whereabouts so no can steal their secrets," Hermione said matter-of-factly.

"Come off it," Ron laughed, "Durmstrang's got to be about the same size as Hogwarts- how are you going to hide a great big castle?"

"But Hogwarts is hidden," Hermione said in surprise, "Everyone knows that...well everyone who's read Hogwarts, A History, anyway."

"Just you, then," Ron said.

"Max read it too," Hermione said defensively. I blushed and looked out the window. "Er...yeah, I read that," I mumbled. Last year, Hermione had forced me to start reading it, but I feel asleep after the third page and haven't picked it up since. Hermione looked at me and said, "You feel asleep reading it, didn't you?"

I smiled, "You know me so well."

"So how do you hide a place like Hogwarts?" Harry asked.

"It's bewitched," Hermione said, "If a Muggle look at it, all they see is an old ruin with a sign over the entrance saying DANGER! UNSAFE! DO NOT ENTER!"

"So Durmstrang will look like an old ruin too?" Ron asked.

"Maybe," Hermione said, "Or it might have a Muggle-repelling charms on it, like the World Cup stadium. And to keep foreign wizards from finding it, they'll have made it Unplottable-"

"Come again?"

"You can enchant a building so it's impossible to plot on a map, can't you?" Hermione explained.

"Er...if you say so," Harry said.

"But I think Durmstrang could be further up North," Hermione said, a thoughtful look on her face. "Someplace very cold, because they've got fur capes as part of their uniforms."

"Ah, think of the possibilities," I said, stretching out on my seat, "It would've been so easy to push Malfoy off a glacier and make it look like an accident. Shame his mother likes him..."

The rain became heavier as the train moved further north. The sky was so dark and the windows were so steamy that the lanterns were lit by midday. The lunch trolley came rolling past just after that, and Harry was kind enough to buy a large stack of Cauldron Cakes for everyone to share. Several of our friends from Gryffindor looked in on us as the afternoon passed, including Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnigan and Neville Longbottom.

The three boys sat with us for a while, and we all started talking about the World Cup. Seamus was still wearing his Irish rosette, which was still shouted out the players names in an exhausted sort of way. After half an hour or so, Hermione had grown tired of all the Quidditch talk and pulled out her copy of Standard Book of Spells Grade 4 again.

Neville listened jealously as we all relived the Quidditch World Cup. "Gran didn't want to go," he said miserably, "Wouldn't buy tickets. Sounded amazing though."

"It was," Ron said, "Look at this, Neville..." He rummaged through his trunk and pulled out his miniature figure of Krum.

"Oh wow," Neville said enviously as Ron tipped the figure onto his hand. "We saw him right up close too," Ron said, "We were in the Top Box-"

"For the first and last time in your life, Weasley."

Draco Malfoy was standing at the door to our compartment with Crabbe and Goyle behind him, his enormous thuggish crones. Clearly, they had over heard their conversation through the compartment door, which Dean and Seamus had left ajar.

"Don't remember asking you to join us, Malfoy," Harry said coldly.

"Weasley...what is that?" Malfoy asked, ignoring Harry. He was looking at Ron's horrible dress robes. "Believe me, I was thinking the same thing," Nudge said, but Malfoy ignored her too. A sleeve of his dress robes were hanging down from the luggage compartment, the moldy lace cuff very obvious. Ron made to stuff the robes out of sight, but Malfoy was faster. He grabbed the sleeve and pulled it down.

"Look at this!" Malfoy said, laughing, holding up Ron's robes to show Crabbe and Goyle. "Weasley, you weren't thinking of wearing these, were you? I mean= they were fashionable in around eighteen ninety-"

"Eat dung, Malfoy!" Ron snapped, the same colour as the robes as he snatched them back out of Malfoy's grip. Malfoy howled with laughter.

"So...going to enter Weasley? Going to try and bring a bit of glory to the family name? There's money involved too. You'd be able to to afford some decent robes if you win..."

"What are you talking about?" Ron snapped. "Are you going to enter?" Malfoy repeated. "I suppose Potter, Ride, Griffiths and Martinez will. They never miss a chance to show off."

"Either explain what you're talking about Malfoy, or get out," Hermione said hotly from behind her book.

Malfoy smiled gleefully," Don't tell me you don't know?" he laughed, "You've got a father and brother in the Ministry, and you don't know? My God, my father told me ages ago! Heard about it from Fudge. Yes, my fathers always associated with the top people in the Ministry. Maybe your father is too junior to hear about these kind of things. They probably don't talk about those things in front of him."

Laughing once more, he beckoned to Crabbe and Goyle and the three of them disappeared.

Ron got to his feet and slammed the compartment door shut so hard that the glass shattered.

"Ron!" Hermione said and she pulled out her wand and muttered, "Reparo!" and the glass shards flew back into place.

"Well...making it look like he knows everything we don't..." Ron snarled.

"Well, he does know everything we don't know," Nudge said. Ron stared at her and said, "No he doesn't! He just wants us to think that he knows everything! `Fathers always associated with the top people in the Ministry'... Dad could get a promotion any time he wanted! He just likes where he is now, that's all!"

"Of course he does," Hermione said kindly, "Don't let Malfoy get to you-"

"Him? Get to me? As if!" Ron said hysterically, picking up one of the remaining Cauldron Cakes and squashing it into a pulp.

Ron's bad mood lasted the rest of the journey. He didn't talk much as we changed into our uniform. I was looking at the rain outside the window, and wondering why doe we have to wear a skirt? Why?

The Hogwarts Express finally started slowing down, then it stopped completely. I had put tights on instead of the normal knee-high socks the girls have to wear, but I was still shivering when we stepped out onto the platform in Hogsmeade. Nudge, who was too excited to be back at Hogwarts, didn't seem to mind the rain or the cold. There was a rumble of thunder, and my long hair was getting plastered to my scalp.

The rain was now coming down so thick and fast it was hard to walk and it was like buckets of ice-cold water were being emptied onto our heads.

"Hi Hagrid!" Harry shouted when we saw the giant silhouette at the far end of the platform. "All righ' Harry?" Hagrid bellowed back, "See yeh at the fist if we don't drown!"

First-years traditionally reached Hogwarts by sailing across the lake with Hagrid.

"Oh, I'm really glad I don't have to cross the lake in this weather! Although if I did, I'd probably just fly across-" Nudge started, but I hit her in the ribs to make her shut up. There were too many people around for her to be talking about flying. She looked at me and smiled sheepishly.

A hundred horse-drawn carriages were waiting for us outside the station. We all climbed into one together. After a few seconds, the carriage started up the hill towards Hogwarts Castle.

And here is the new chapter! Hope everyone likes it!

Updating will be a lot slower now because I have summer tests in 3 weeks and I need to study, but then there's the whole summer!

Free cookies and butterbeer to everyone that reviews, so...

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-Rach ;)