An American at Hogwarts: Book Two

Chapter Six

Finally, he just sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Fine. Just a few games, but then I'm going inside and back to work."

"Hell yeah!" I punched the air. Success! "Alright, come on, we gotta figure out who's 'it' before we let any of them near us."

In the end, Percy stayed out with us for more than a few rounds. We managed to keep him engaged and actually having fun until a few hours before dinner, which I considered a massive success.

"That was pretty impressive Alexa," said Bill, standing with me as we watched Percy head back inside. "I don't think I've ever seen anyone successfully drag him off his path when he's put his head down working on something."

"Yeah, well, I have a family of workaholics that have given me plenty of practice."

Bill smiled and patted me on the shoulder. "I just wanted you to know I appreciate it. It's good to see him having fun again. He needs a little break in his life, every now and then."

"Sure thing. I'm glad I could help him. Although we'll see if it actually had any effect. What are the odds that he doesn't come out of there until tomorrow morning, trying to make up for the time he lost today?"

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that. At the very least mum will be able to get him out for dinner."

There was no doubt in my mind that was true.

After a few more rounds the rest of us headed inside too. It was time to go get Harry.

"Alright Alexa, we're a bit late as it is, but you need a crash course on how to use the Floo system before we leave," said Mr. Weasley. "You're going to throw the powder in the fire, step into the flames, and say—very clearly—where it is you want to go."

"Uh... so this is probably a stupid question, but the flames won't burn me, right?" I asked.

"No, they won't. Don't worry about that," Mr. Weasley reassured me. I debated asking how that could possibly work, but I figured I wouldn't get an answer other than 'magic'.

I still didn't exactly trust this wizard transportation method, but I took a deep breath and decided to go with it anyway. I was a Gryffindor and a Stark for a reason. Sometimes we just had to leap before looking.

Mr. Weasley went through first, then Fred.

"You want to go ahead?" asked George, gesturing for me to go first.

"Alright, what the hell?" I took a deep breath, threw the powder into the fireplace, and stepped inside, confidently repeating the same address as Mr. Weasley and Fred. I started spinning and spinning, and most of my surroundings went dark, except for flashes of light that looked like the view from other fire places. After a moment I landed with a thud before crashing into somebody else. It was still dark, and I had no idea where I was.

"Oh dear, not you too Alexa—OUCH!" I heard Mr. Weasley yell as another body landed in the space with us, making the cramped setting even worse. "George, no, there's no room, go back quickly and tell Ron—"

"Maybe Harry can hear us, Dad—" Fred spoke up from right next to me. "Maybe he'll be able to let us out—"

"What's going on?" I asked. I didn't want to add to the confusion, but I was starting to freak out a little.

"We're not sure, but don't worry Alexa, we'll work it out!" Mr. Weasley assured me. My eyes were starting to adjust to the dark, and I saw all three boys turn to start hammering on the one wall that wasn't made of brick.

"Harry? Harry, can you hear us?" called George.

"What is this? What's going on?" I heard an angry voice growl from the other side. The boys kept banging, but I backed up a bit and got ready to act. I hadn't stopped wearing my arc reactor since I got it last year, which meant I was ready for action should the need arise. If worse came to worst, I could blast us an opening with a repulsor.