"10:58, come on, come on."
"The train will be leaving any minute!" They were the shouts of Mr and Mrs Weasley as the family hastily marched through King's Cross Station. They were running late but this was nothing new for the Weasleys. At the front of the gang was Mr Weasley with Ginny, behind them was Percy and Mrs Weasley, then Fred and Ellie with Poppy and George behind. Finally at the back was Harry and Ron.
"Fred, Ellie, Percy, George, Poppy,
you first." Called Mr Weasley. They all broke into a run and went through the barrier making it onto the train with 30 seconds to spare. Percy went to the prefects carriage whilst the twins and two girls sat in their usual compartment. They began to talk about nothing when Ellie said "Did anybody see Harry and Ron get on the train?"
"I don't know and I don't care." came a muffled voice from under a coat. George pulled it back to find a very tired Poppy. "Do you mind? I'm trying to sleep, I've just run through King's Cross ok, that's the most exercise I've ever done! Now let me sleep!" Poppy pulled back the coat and went to sleep almost instantly. George just shook his head and chuckled, Ellie rolled her eyes and Fred just looked at Ellie like she was a new bag of pranking products.
"Right, well I'm going to go and locate those gits we call Harry and Ronald." Before she could stand Fred grabbed her and turned her to face the window. "Ahh!"
"Who died?!" Poppy suddenly bolted up.
Ellie just pointed out the window. "What have they got themselves into this time?" Poppy said just rolling her eyes. She'd grown accustomed to the boys getting into trouble - this was completely normal. Well, that was until Harry fell out the car and was about to plummet to his death. "Oh god." She sat down and pretended nothing had happened, while the others merely gawked at the two boys in peril.
They arrived at Hogwarts and all of them shared a cart up to the castle, Ellie still dumbstruck from seeing the two boys and Poppy still half asleep. You see, the previous night Poppy had a dream, she dreamt of the words Lucius had said to her. What would your father think? She didn't even know her father and yet it bothered her greatly. "Poppy, are you ok?" She was broken out of her trance. "Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"
"You've been a bit distant. On the train and now. Are you sure there's nothing on your mind?"
"Ellie, I'm fine, honest!" That was a lie but she didn't want to burden them.
It was a slow ride to the castle but nonetheless they were back. The sorting ceremony was a drag and the girls were glad when food appeared.
When they reached Gryffindor common room, they saw two heads sitting on the couch, two heads they knew well, two heads that were about to be bashed together. The girls glanced at each other with a knowing look. They nodded in agreement and walked behind the boys. They raised their hands, and.... WHACK.
"Ow!" They chorused.
"Serves you right. How could you scare us like that?!" Ellie yelled giving Ron another smack on the head.
"Speak for yourself!" Poppy returned.
"Right, HOW COULD YOU SCARE ME LIKE THAT."
"There we go!" Poppy nodded.
"We're sorry." The boys chorused.
"Well what punishment did you get?" Poppy interrupted.
"Detention, tomorrow night."
"WHAT?!" shouted the twins who had managed to slip in unnoticed. "If that had been us we would have been expelled the second we stepped foot in the castle! We would have been given at least a month of detention at the minimum!" Fred complained, outraged.
The rest of the night was spent a lot like that. Until the girls were too tired and went up to the dorm.
"So tell me, lovebird, how was time with Fred at the burrow?" Poppy asked genuinely.
"What happened at the burrow?" Hermione asked as she walked in the room
"Well-" Poppy began only to be cut off by an irritated Ellie.
"Don't. You. Dare." She too was cut off by Hermione putting her hand over her mouth.
"Well, she freaked out about travelling by floo powder so Fred held her hand and whispered something in her ear. She relaxed but then she heard Harry say the wrong thing and getting lost. She freaked out even more and started hugging Fred. Then she threatened to kill him and they were fighting by the fire place before we left." Poppy explained, and by the end both Poppy and Hermione had huge grins on their face.
"How much did you and George bet?" Hermione asked.
"Hermione I'm ashamed," she was cut off by one of Hermione's I'm not stupid looks. "2 galleons they're going to be together by the end of the year."
"What did you say?"
"I disagree, I say next year!"
"I can't believe you and George are betting on my love life!" Ellie scolded, stifling a giggle.
"I can!" Hermione replied.
"Well then I think Fred and I should bet on yours then." Ellie glared at Poppy.
"Go ahead, but I should warn you nothing is going on in my love life!" Poppy stated matter of factly. Ellie merely scoffed.
"Anyway, before you two get into an argument, I'm going to bed."
"Good idea." The girls agreed. As soon their heads hit the pillow, they were out like a light.
Ellie and Poppy sat at the Gryffindor table at breakfast the next morning, Ron stuffing his face as if he had no cares in the world as usual. But little did he know, he had a storm coming. Flocks of owls came gracefully gliding into the hall, a simple looking letter dropping on Ron's food piled plate.
"Say it, I'm doomed." He mumbled to Harry, fear lacing in his words.
"You're doomed." Harry said sheepishly with a shrug. Ron picked up the letter, examining it carefully.
"Oh no." He said, his voice full of dread.
"Look everyone! Weasley's got himself a howler!" Seamus exclaimed, grinning. Fred leaned over to Ellie, whispering "This should be good."
Neville looked at Ron sympathetically. "Go on, Ron! I ignored one from my Gran once. It was horrible."
Ron reluctantly tore the envelope open, and it immediately, well, howled.
"RONALD WEASLEY! How DARE you steal that car!" Mrs Weasley's infuriated voice echoed around the hall. "I am ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED! You're father is now facing an inquiry at work and it's ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT! If you put ANOTHER TOE out of line, we'll bring you STRAIGHT HOME!" Her booming voice suddenly changed to a sweet one when the howler turned to Ginny. "Oh, and Ginny dear. Congratulations on making Gryffindor. Your father and I are so proud!" The letter then turned back to Ron, rudely blowing a raspberry at him before shredding up into a million tiny pieces, leaving Ron shaking like a leaf.
"You're right, that was good." Ellie said to Fred, laughing.
