Freaks: Year Two

The Twisted Tree

He stared at the floo. "I wish there was a way we could all go through the floo at the same time."

"Who should go first?" Toby asked.

"I want to," Francis said. "I want to see owls!!"

Jasper chuckled at Francis' absolute love for owls. "I will go first, and Toby you go last?" It made sense as they were both the oldest. He turned to Toby. "What do you think?"

Toby nodded. "Sounds good."

Jasper stepped into the fireplace. He checked his watch. Harry should be there by now and he was just thankful they were not late. He took some floo powder, and said, "Diagon Alley!"

He flew down, past many different fireplaces, the colours, and sounds whisking past quickly, until he landed at one of the stations at Diagon Alley, his ears filled with the sounds of excitable children and the occasional hoot. He got up shakily, and looked around, trying to get his balance.

"Jasper!!" someone called.

Jasper looked in that direction and saw Harry running toward him. Jasper immediately lit up. He had missed Harry a lot, but he didn't realise how much until he saw him. Harry ran up to him, and Jasper hugged him, surprising Harry a bit, but he hugged him back.

"I've missed you so much!!" Jasper exclaimed, hugging him tight.

Harry laughed. "I've missed you too." He was really happy to see Jasper again. It had been a bit of a lonely summer. Besides getting letters from him, and the other Huffelpuffs, it had been quite quiet. "How have you been?"

"I have been good," Jasper said.

"I'm glad, do you–"

All of a sudden, someone said, "Really? Hugging? What are you a bunch of girls?"

Jasper and Harry stepped away from each other, and Jasper turned to see Ethan. He should have known he would have said something like that. "Nice to see you too," Jasper said.

Ethan rolled his eyes. Hugging was weird. He looked around Diagon Alley, his eyes were wide. In Jasper's eyes, he was obviously very amazed by everything. The owls flying through the sky, the several witches, and wizards milling about in their robes, going to potions shops, or chasing after excited kids that were going to Hogwarts too. He turned to them and shrugged. "Meh."

Jasper suppressed an eye roll, knowing for a fact Ethan was just hiding how much he loved it.

Harry waved. "Hello...Ethan right?"

Ethan nodded. "Yup, you're the rich kid who can't fly?"

Harry flushed, while Jasper groaned. "You can't just say things like that–"

Francis fell through the floo.

Harry waved. "Hello!"

Francis hopped up, a bit wobbly. He looked around, up to the sky, and jumped. "OWLS!!" and he started to run, but Jasper grabbed him before he could get too far.

Jasper laughed and adjusted his hearing aid which had started to fall out due to the floo. "We will see owls soon, I promise."

Francis looked at Jasper, reproachfully. "Really?"

"I promise you will see many owls today," Jasper promised him.

Francis nodded and smiled, excited. "Good."

Harry nudged Jasper and asked, "Which one is that again?"

"Francis," Jasper informed him.

Francis was looking at all the owls flying around Diagon Alley. He waved to one, and it hooted down to him. Francis smiled, happily. "Hello owls!!" he called.