Chapter 24: Trees Do Hit Back

Dear Ron,

I am still in disbelief over what happened at Flourish And Blotts the other day. My parents were on edge about things when we got home. They did enjoy you and your family (especially your dad, my dad thought his curiosity of Muggle things was simply amusing, and Mum loved talking to your mother about the different ways they cooked and decorated, but the whole affair with the fight made them weary. My parents aren't accustomed to being around so much action. They are dentists, after all. The most action they get is the occasional biter.

I asked if I could come over for the rest of the summer and while Mum was okay with it, Dad firmly said no. I'm not so sure why, but what Dad says, goes. So I guess I can only write you and Harry until term starts.

I hope that you have at least started to get your school things in order. Days pass quickly and soon enough, it will be time to leave. I've already got my trunk organized and packed with my clothes and books.

Write back to me if you have the time. Tell Ginny I said hello. Ingot to talk to her some, she seems really nice. If I don't hear from you soon, have fun and I'll see you and Harry on the 1st!

Love from,

Hermione

I was kind of hoping that Hermione's parents would allow her to come for the last two weeks of summer vacation. It would have been wicked to have both my best mates here to hang out with. Still, it was fun having Harry there. We swam, played Quidditch, spied on Percy, and played pranks with the twins.

On the night before we had to go back to school, Mum made a huge dinner that included all of Harry and my favorite things, ending with a the best treacle pudding I ever had. Fred and George rounded off the evening with a display of Filibuster fireworks. Then, we sat in my room, sipping hot cocoa and getting our things in order.

"Wonder what adventures await us this year." I joked.

Harry laughed. "Hopefully none that involves three-headed dogs. Wonder what Hagrid did with old Fluffy now that he really isn't needed anymore."

"Hopefully we won't seen him chained up in the courtyard" said Harry, as he brushed packing away for awhile and started looking at my chocolate frog card collection.

"He would make for a great guard dog." I said, folding up my shirts.

"Wonder what classes will be like this year." said Harry. "And if Seamus will still be blowing shit up."

I laughed loudly at that, remembering him blowing up the feather in Charms class. "I still don't even see how he did that."

"Must be a Seamus thing. Good bloke though."

"Yeah, Seamus is great."

The next morning was spent rushing about. We didn't have much of a breakfast, because we had all woken up late.

Ginny had insisted on packing almost her entire room, so it took four of us to drag her trunk from her room to the car, as Mum decided she didn't want to put a lifting charm on it to make it lighter. She was extremely cross.

When we finally got inside the car "which Dad had magically expanded the inside without Mum's knowledge), she finally seemed settled.

"Muggles do know more than we give them credit for, don't they?" she said, looking at how comfortably we were seated in it. "I mean, you'd never know it was this roomy from the outside, would you?"

Dad started up the engine and took off down our dirt road, only having to back up because George had forgotten his box of Filibuster fireworks. Then we had to turn around again because Fred forgot his broomstick. We had almost reached the highway when Ginny shrieked that she'd left her bloody diary. By the time she got back into the car, we were running very late, and tempers were running high.

Dad glanced at his watch and then at Mum.

"Molly, dear-"

"No , Arthur -"

"No one would see. This little button here is an Invisibility Booster I installed. That'd get us up in the air. Then we fly above the clouds. We'd be there in ten minutes and no one would be any the wiser."

"I said no, Arthur, not in broad daylight!"

We reached King's Cross at a quarter to eleven. We had to run and get carts to push our trunks. We hurried to the platform where Mum and Dad began to rush us even more.

"Percy first," said Mum, looking nervously at the clock overhead. Only five minutes left.

Percy went, then Dad, Fred, and George followed.

"I'll take Ginny and you two come right after us." said Mum, grabbing Ginny's hand and setting off. In the blink of an eye they were gone.

"Let's go together, we've only got a minute. " I said to Harry.

Harry made sure that Hedwig's cage was wedged safely on top of his trunk and wheeled his trolley around to face the barrier. We bent low over the handles of the trolleys and walked toward the barrier, gathering speed. A few feet away from it, we broke into a run and-

CRASH!

Harry hit the wall first and I ended up hitting it after. Our trunks, Hedwig's cage, and Scabbers cage went all over the place.

"What in blazes d'you think you're doing?" said a muggle guard looking guy.

"Lost control of the trolley," Harry gasped, clutching his ribs as he got up. Poor Hedwig had gotten thrown about, and I went and got her before she caused any trouble.

"Why can't we get through?" Harry hissed to me.

"I dunno!"

That hadn't happened ever. What could have bloody happened?

"We're going to miss the train." I whispered. "I don't understand why the gateway's sealed itself."

As I watched the seconds tick, Harry got as close to the wall as he could to see if he could get through. It was completely solid

Three seconds... two seconds... one second...

"It's gone." I said in a stunned voice. "The train's left. What if Mum and Dad can't get back through to us? Have you got any Muggle money?"

Harry gave a hollow laughed. "The Dursleys haven't given me pocket money for about six years."

I pressed my ear to the barrier. "Can't hear a thing. What're we going to do? I don't know how long it'll take Mum and Dad to get back to us."

People were still watching them, mainly because of Hedwig's continuing screeches. I was starting to get really agitated.

"I think we'd better go and wait by the car." said Harry.

Yeah, wait by the car. Brilliant ide- hey...wait a minute.

"We're attracting too much atten-"

"Harry!" I said. "The car!"

"What about it?"

"We can fly the car to Hogwarts!" I exclaimed.

"But I thought-"

"We're stuck, right? And we've got to get to school, haven't we? And even underage wizards are allowed to use magic if it's a real emergency, section nineteen or something of the Restriction of Thingy."

"But your Mum and Dad..." said Harry. "How will they get home?"

"They don't need the car!" I said, growing impatient. "They know how to Apparate! You know, just vanish and reappear at home! They only bother with Floo powder and the car because we're all underage and we're not allowed to Apparate yet!"

Harry looked like he thought it was a bad idea. Then he started to smile.

"Can you fly it?" he asked.

Hell no.

"No, problem." I said as I wheeled my trolley towards the exit. "C'mon, let's go. If we hurry we'll be able to follow the Hogwarts Express!"

We pushed our cars quickly out if the station. People were still watching us, but we ignored them as we made our way to Dad's car.

I tapped the trunk a few times with my wand to unlock it. Then we heaved our luggage back in, put Hedwig on the back seat, and got into the front.

"Check that no one's watching." I said, starting to get a bit nervous, despite the fact that this was indeed my plan. I tapped the ignition with my wand to start the car. Harry stuck his head out of the window.

"Okay." he said. "All clear."

I pressed the button and we had went invisible. I managed to drive without hitting anyone and then took to the sky.

Suddenly, there was a popping noise and the car and us reappeared.

"Shit." I said, jabbing at the Invisibility Booster. "It's faulty!"

We kept hitting the button. The car would flicker back and forth from disappearing to being visible. I slammed my foot on the accelerator and we shot straight into the clouds, which made everything look foggy.

"Now what?" said Harry

"We need to see the train to know what direction to go in." I said, trying to keep my eye on the...sky.

"Dip back down again, quickly."

I dipped the car down under the clouds some.

"I can see it!" Harry yelled. "Right ahead - there!"

The Hogwarts Express was ahead of us, barreling down the train tracks.

"Due north." I said, checking the compass on the dashboard. "Okay, we'll just have to check on it every half hour or so... hold on. "

I took us up higher than the low foggy clouds. The sun was shining up here, and the sky was a clear and brilliant blue.

"All we've got to worry about now are airplanes." I joked.

We looked at each other and started to laugh. For the next five minutes, all we did was laugh. This couldn't be happening. We were really flying a car to Hogwarts. I thought about how the others would react. U already knew we would get the scolding of a lifetime from Hermione, but Fred and George would be insanely jealous that they had never thought of doing this.

We only had toffees to eat, but that was fine. We popped then into our mouths and talked about school.

"So Dean wrote me." I said to Harry. "About teaching us that barmy basketeyball game of his?"

"Basketball." corrected Harry.

"Whatever. How does it go exactly?"

"Well, there are two teams and they dribble a round orange ball down the basketball court and try to score on the other end's basket. Kind of like quidditch, minus the keepers...and beaters...and seekers."

"So there are only chasers?"

"Technically yes. You play for four quarters and whoever has the most points at the end of the 4th quarter, wins."

I rolled my eyes. "I'd rather play quidditch." I said.

"After playing it myself, I'm inclined to agree with you."

A couple hours later, and Harry had announced that he had to use the bathroom.

"Well, there is a wide open sky right here." I said.

"Are you mental? What if I pee and it lands on a bird and it comes up and tries to peck my shit?"

"Then pee on yourself, mate. I don't know what to tell you!"

"You're a tosser, do you know that?"

"I' busting myself, but if I really had no choice, I would open this door and pee."

But what if it hits someone below?"

I laughed at that thought. " Golden rain?"

Harry held in his laugher so he would go on himself. He decided to just hold off until we got to school.

Several uneventful hours later, both of us were over this bloody trip. Harry had swallowed his pride and peed out the open door ( "You're a man now, Potter."), and even I had no choice but to have a go. Fred and George could never say they peed in the sky.

"Can't be much further, can it?" I said as night was starting to fall. "Ready for another check on the train?"

The train was still right below us, winding its way past a snowcapped mountain. It was much darker beneath the canopy of clouds.

I drove us upward again, but as I did so, the engine began to whine.

Harry and I exchanged nervous looks. Didn't foresee this part.

"It's probably just tired." I said, trying to keep myself calm and rational. "It's never been this far before..."

The whining growing louder and louder as the sky became steadily darker. Stars were beginning to come out.

"Not far." I said to the car as I patted the dashboard. "Not far now. You're alright."

"There!" Harry shouted. "Straight ahead!"

In the distance, we came up on Hogwarts. We couldn't help but gaze at it. It felt like seeing it for the first time all over again. The entire castle was lit up. I could almost smell the feast as my stomach started growling.

Suddenly, the car began to shudder and had lost speed.

"Come on." I said, giving the steering wheel a little shake. "Nearly there, come on-"

Harry gripped the seat as steam started to come from the hood. The car started shaking, causing his glasses to slip up and down on his face. My at first hungry stomach had now turned upset from all the jarring.

"Come on...almost there car. You can do it.. "

We were over the lake. The castle was right ahead. I slammed my foot down as hard as I could.

There was a loud clunk, a splutter, and the engine died completely.

"Oh shit."

The nose of the car dropped. We were falling, gathering speed, heading straight for the solid castle wall.

"Noooooo!" I yelled, swinging the steering wheel around, missing the dark stone wall by inches as the car turned in a great arc, soaring over the dark greenhouses, then the vegetable patch, and then out over the black lawns, losing altitude all the time.

I let go of the steering wheel and reached for my wand. I had to stop this car!

"STOP! STOP!" I yelled, whacking the dashboard and the windshield. It did nothing. We kept falling, faster and faster until-

"WATCH OUT FOR THAT TREE!" Harry screamed, lunging for the steering wheel, but too late-

CRUNCH.

With an huge bang of metal on wood, we hit the thick tree trunk and dropped to the ground with a heavy jolt. Hedwig was shrieking in terror and Harry's head hit the windshield

I looked at wand and was notified.

"Are you okay?" Harry said urgently.

"My wand." I said, in a shaky voice. "Look at my wand!"

It had snapped, almost in two. The tip was dangling limply, held on by a few splinters.

I had broke Charlie's wand. The only wand I could use. I felt like shit. Not only did I break something that wasn't fully mine, I had broke something that was vital to my entire school year. What the bloody he was I to do with a broken wand.

Suddenly, something hit the roof. Hard.

"What's happen -?"

Suddenly, a tree branch the size of myself came through the windshield, almost hitting Harry in the face. Another tree branch came within inches of my face, scratching it with the small sticks as it pulled back.

"WHATS HAPPENING?!" I screamed.

"I DON'T KNOW!" yelled Harry. "WE'RE GETTING OUR ASSES KICKED BY A FUCKING TREE!"

The tree knocked us back and forth, branches dying to take us out. We had to get out of the car before we ended up killed.

"Run for it!" I shouted, throwing my full weight against my door, but the sodding tree knocked me hard in the stomach back onto Harry.

"We're done for!"

Suddenly, the floor of the car vibrated. The engine had restarted!

"Reverse!" Harry yelled, and the car shot backward. The tree was still trying to hit us; we could hear its roots creaking as it almost ripped itself up, lashing out at them as they sped out of reach.

"That...was... close." I pushed out. "Well done, ca- HEY!"

The car, however, must have had enough of being abused, because the next thing we knew, we were being thrown out of it with great force. The car then spit out our luggage, as well as the animals. Hedwig's cage broke open, and she flew out, screeching like a mad woman and didn't look back. Then, dented, scratched, and steaming, the car took off.

"Come back!" I yelled after it, brandishing my broken wand. "Dad'll kill me!"

But the car disappeared from view with one last snort from its exhaust.

"Can you believe our luck?" I said as I picked up Scabbers. "Of all the trees we could've hit, we had to get one that hits back."

I looked back at the tree. I couldn't believe that I had never noticed it before. It was huge with branches the size of towers, and it was waving them around ferociously, as if to make doubly sure we wouldn't come back to it.

"Come on," said Harry, brushing off his clothes and looking tired. "We'd better get up to the school..."

It wasn't at all the triumphant arrival we had pictured. Stiff, cold, and bruised, we began to drag our trunks up the grassy slope, toward the great oak front doors.

"I think the feast's already started." I said as I dropped my trunk at the foot of the front steps and looked through a window. Sure enough, everyone was seated and watching ahead as the first years of this year were getting sorted. I saw red hair in the midst of the line and immediately felt even worse. I was going to miss my sister being sorted. Some big brother.

"Hey Harry, come and look. It's the Sorting"

Harry hurried over and looked in with me.

The Great Hall looked the same as it did last first term feast with all the hovering candles, golden goblets and plates, and the starlit enchants ceiling looked so inviting from the outside.

"Hang on..." Harry whispered. "There's an empty chair at the staff table... Where's Snape?"

I looked towards the teacher's table. Sure enough, there was an empty seat where that greasy haired prat of a man should have been sitting.

"Maybe he's ill!" I said hopefully.

"Maybe he's left because he missed out on the Defense Against Dark Arts job again!" laughed Harry.

"Or he might have been sacked!" I said enthusiastically. "I mean, everyone hates him!"

"Or maybe," said a very cold voice right behind us that made the hairs on the back of our necks stand up. "he's waiting to hear why you two didn't arrive on the school train."

We turned around There, his black robes rippling in a cold breeze, stood Severus Snape. He was a thin man with skin that looked pale and rubbery, a hooked nose, and horrible, dead looking, greasy black hair that looked like if you touched it, your hands would get stuck. He was smiling. It was scary. We knew we were in for it.

"Follow me." said Snape.

We followed Snape up the steps into the entrance hall, which was lit with flaming torches. We could smell the feast and my stomach begged to join it, but Snape led us away from the food, down a narrow stone staircase that led into the dungeons.

"In!" he said, opening a door halfway down the cold passageway and pointing.

We entered Snape's cold office, shivering. It looked like a muggle mad scientist lab that Dean had showed me a picture of once. Things were floating around in jars. Eyeballs, fingers, bones. The fireplace was dark and empty. Snape closed the door and turned to look at us.

"So." he said in a soft voice that didn't fit him at all, "The train isn't good enough for the famous Harry Potter and his faithful sidekick Weasley. Wanted to arrive with a bang , did we, boys?"

"No, sir," spoke Harry. "it was the barrier at King's Cross, it-"

"Silence!" said Snape. "What have you done with the car?"

I gulped. "Car, sir?" I said, playing it off and failing miserably.

"You were seen," he hissed, showing us the headline :

FLYING FORD ANGLIA MYSTIFIES MUGGLES.

Seven muggles had seen us from what the article said.

"I noticed, in my search of the park, that considerable damage seems to have been done to a very valuable Whomping Willow," Snape went on.

I gasped. "That tree did more damage to us than we -"

"Silence!" snapped Snape again. "Most unfortunately, you are not in my House and the decision to expel you does not rest with me. I shall go and fetch the people who do have that happy power. You will wait here."

Harry and I stared at each other, white-faced. The feeling of being sick took over my hunger pains, and I already knew that Harry and I was about to go home. What would Mum and Dad say? What would they DO? Hermione would probably send us a howler every day for the rest of our lives.

Ten minutes later, Snape returned, and sure enough, Professor McGonagall was with him. She looked a hundred percent pissed.

"Sit," she said, and we both backed into chairs by the fire she just lit.

"Explain," she said sharply.

Harry looked too scared to open his mouth, so I went am on and started telling the story from beginning to end.

"Why didn't you send us a letter by owl? I believe you have an owl?"said Professor McGonagall.

We both looked utterly stupid.

Harry stuttered. "I - I didn't think-"

"That," said Professor McGonagall, "is obvious."

There was a knock on the office door and Snape, now looking happier than ever, opened it. There stood the headmaster, Professor Dumbledore.

Now i really knew we were getting kicked. At that moment, I figured I would fair better with the tree kicking my ass than this.

There was a long silence. Then Dumbledore said, "Please explain why you did this."

Harry told the story this time, not looking Dumbledore in the eye. We couldn't. Glancing up a few times, I could totally tell that he was disappointed in us.

I didn't even want to fight it. "We'll go and get our stuff." I said sadly.

"What are you talking about, Weasley?" asked McGonagall.

"Well, you're expelling us, aren't you?"

"Not today, Mr. Weasley," said Dumbledore, a small grin edging at the corner of his mouth. "But I must impress upon both of you the seriousness of what you have done. I will be writing to both your families tonight. I must also warn you that if you do anything like this again, I will have no choice but to expel you."

Snape looked as though Christmas had been canceled. He cleared his throat and said, "Professor Dumbledore, these boys have flouted the Decree for the Restriction of Underage Wizardry, caused serious damage to an old and valuable tree - surely acts of this nature-"

"It will be for Professor McGonagall to decide on these boys punishments, Severus," said Dumbledore calmly. "They are in her House and are therefore her responsibility." He turned to McGonagall. "I must go back to the feast, Minerva, I've got to give out a few notices. Come, Severus, there's a delicious-looking custard tart I want to sample-"

Snape looked completely put out, which made the moment even more satisfying. I wanted to smile and laugh in his face, but I knew it wouldn't be proper. Besides, I didn't fancy getting hexed. He turned and walked off, slamming the door after him, leaving us in the room with our headmistress.

"You'd better get along to the hospital wing, Weasley, you're bleeding."

I hadn't even noticed."Not much."I said , wiping the cut over my eye with my sleeve.

"Professor," I asked. "I wanted to watch my sister being Sorted-"

"The Sorting Ceremony is over," said Professor McGonagall. "Your sister is also in Gryffindor."

I smiled. That was my girl. "Oh, well good."

"And speaking of Gryffindor -" Professor McGonagall said sharply, but Harry cut in: "Professor, when we took the car, term hadn't started, so - so Gryffindor shouldn't really have points taken from it - should it?" he finished, watching her anxiously.

Professor McGonagall gave him a piercing look, but had a tiny smile that you would probably missed if you blinked.

"I will not take any points from Gryffindor." she said "But you will both get a detention."

Better than expected. Sure, we had detention and Mum would find out, but at least we weren't being kicked

Professor McGonagall raised her wand again and pointed it at Snape's desk. A large plate of sandwiches, two silver goblets, and a jug of iced pumpkin juice appeared with a pop.

"You will eat in here and then go straight up to your dormitory," she said. "I must also return to the feast."

When the door had closed behind her, I let out a long, low whistle.

"I thought we'd had it," I said, quickly grabbing a sandwich and stuffing it into my mouth.

Food. My one true love.

"So did I," said Harry, taking one, too.

"Can you believe our luck, though?" I said, mouth full of chicken and ham. "Fred and George must've flown that car five or six times and no Muggle ever saw them. Why couldn't we get through the barrier?"

Harry shrugged. "We'll have to watch our step from now on, though," he said, taking a grateful swig of pumpkin juice. "Wish we could've gone up to the feast..."

"She didn't want us showing off." I said with a shrug. "Doesn't want people to think it's clever, arriving by flying car."

When we had eaten as many sandwiches as we could (the plate kept refilling itself) we left the office and made our way up to Gryffindor Tower. We walked the familiar corridors and steps until we reached the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Password?" she said.

Shit. We didn't know the password.

Thankfully help came almost immediately. Hurrying feet came from behind us and there was Hermione dashing toward us.

I braced myself for the ear full I knew was coming.

"Hermione!" I said with an uneasy wave as she stopped in front of us. "You look swell..."

"There you are! Where have you been ? The most ridiculous rumors - someone said you'd been expelled for crashing a flying car!"

"Well, we haven't been expelled," Harry assured her.

"You're not telling me you did fly here?" said Hermione, hair frizzing even more than it was.

"Skip the lecture please, and tell us the new password." I said. I wasn't in the mood to be told off.

"It's wattlebird,'" said Hermione impatiently, "but that's not the point-"

Her words were cut short, however, as the portrait of the fat lady swung open and there was a sudden storm of clapping. It looked as though the whole of Gryffindor House was still awake, packed into the circular common room, standing on the lopsided tables and squashy armchairs, waiting for them to arrive. Arms reached through the portrait hole to pull Harry and I inside, leaving Hermione to scramble in after us.

"Brilliant!" yelled Lee Jordan. "Inspired! What an entrance! Flying a car right into the Whomping Willow, people'll be talking about that one for years-"

"Good for you," said a fifth year we never spoke to. Fred and George pushed their way to the front of the crowd and said together, "Why couldn't we've come in the car, eh?"

Harry and I grinned sheepishly. That was until I caught Percy's disapproving eyes.

"Got to get upstairs - bit tired," I said quickly, pulling Harry along with me towards the boys dorms.

"Night," Harry called back to Hermione, who was wearing a scowl just like Percy's.

We made it to our familiar home away from home. Our trunks were already brought up and sitting at the foot of our beds.

"I know I shouldn't've enjoyed that or anything, but..."

The dormitory door flew open and in came the other second year Gryffindor boys, Seamus Finnigan, Dean Thomas, and Neville Longbottom.

"Unbelievable!" beamed Seamus.

"Cool," said Dean.

"Amazing," said Neville, awestruck.

We couldn't help but smile. Things had started out crappy, but being back at school, in our dorm, amongst our mates, made it all worth it.

"Welcome home, Harry." I said, patting him on the back.