Platform 9 and 3/4 was busy today, because today we get to go back to Hogwarts. "Bye mum, bye dad, I'll miss you," I cried, hugging them both tightly. "Sweetie, we'll miss you too, remember to write." mum pressed a kiss my forehead. "Remember to not get in too much trouble, and don't mock Professor Snape," dad reminded me, patting my head affectionately. "He sent plenty of owls last year too us, telling how your behavior was in his class."
I nodded half heartedly, "I'll try, but what if Lockhart is our Professor?"
"Then mock him all you want." they said together, we all burst out laughing. "Alight honey, you better board the train, it's about to leave," mum handed me my luggage.
"Love you guys." I gave them one last hug. "Love you too," they both said, then plastered a kiss on my cheek. I went and gave my trunks to a worker, and also my owl; Ginger.
I gave my parents one last wave, then walked onto the train.
. . .
I searched the train for Hazel, asking a few passing classmates if they've seen her.
"Lucinda!" I heard a voice call, I turned around and saw George. "Hello George, have you seen Hazel?" I asked, walking up too him. He instantly grabbed my hand with a small grin on his face, "Why don't you come sit with us, with Fred and Lee, with me."
I gave him an apologetic smile, "Sorry, but I think I'll go sit with Hazel, she told me too come find her. Do you possibly know where she is?"
He shrugged, shaking his head, "I don't know, sorry, but maybe you come and sit with us."
I furrowed my eyebrows, and stared into his eyes, trying to see if he's telling the truth. "What are you doing?" questioned George, who's face is now turning red. "Never mind," I said simply, giving him an innocent smile, 'He isn't lying'.
"So you want to come sit with us?" he asked again with a small smile.
"Sorry, but I promised Hazel and my other friends that I would sit with them." I answered, his smile dropped, sadness creeped into his eyes. 'Why is he sad?', I didn't know what to do, so I decided to pull him into a hug. He hesitated, but hugged back, "Why are we hugging?" he asked, laughing at the end. I pulled away, chuckling in response. "Not sure, now I'll see you later."
"Bye, see you at Hogwarts, or sooner," he smiled, but I knew it was fake. Ignoring it, I gave him a simple nod, "Maybe, bye now."
I walked down the train for a few minutes, but soon I was stopped by a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see Pansy and Millicent, they tackled me into bone crushing hug, squealing my name. "Okay, okay! You girls can let go now!" I laughed. They released me and dragged me to a nearby compartment.
Millicent opened the door, and Pansy shoved me in playfully. I looked up to see Hazel with a surprised look. "We finally found her!" Pansy smiled, closing the compartment door. "Took us ages!" Millicent exclaimed. "It was only six minutes," Hazel muttered with a smile.
"Come on girls! Lets tell each other summer vacation stories!" Pansy shrieked, plopping down onto one side of the seats. I sat next to Hazel, across from us was Pansy and Millicent.
"But you already wrote them in your letters," I stated flatly, Hazel and Millicent let out a small giggle. Pansy rolled her eyes, scoffing, "I'm talking about the details, Not just the main parts!"
"Go on then, we have plenty of time." Millicent drawled, Pansy smiled and did a hair flip, which made us all laugh. She coughed, and straitened her posture. "Alright then, so my family and I went to-"
The compartment door burst open, "Hello," Hermione smiled at Hazel and I, Pansy and Millicent looked away, as if Hermione was filthy. "Have any of you seen Harry or Ron!" asked Hermione worriedly.
"I don't think so, I didn't see them at all on the platform," Hazel replied. "No, I boarded the train a little bit late." I answered, and turned to look at Pansy and Millicent. "Have you girls seen them?" I asked. They both shook their heads, still not looking at Hermione.
"that's a no then..." Hazel said awkwardly, giving her an apologetic look. "Sorry Hermione, but maybe they'll turn up at the feast?"
"Thank you for telling me, good day," Hermione frowned, closing the compartment door. Pansy Immediately started talking once more, as if that didn't happen.
. . . . .
It has been almost hours, we all shared our stories and now we're just all eating candy from the trolley. "Taste this one!" Pansy handed me a Bertie Botts bean, the color was a dark shade of red. "Lets hope it's strawberry." I said, and popped it in my mouth. I slowly chewed, "It's chili!" my mouth was burning, the spicy flavor was kicking in.
The girls burst into fits of giggles, "Your face is turning red, Luci." Hazel laughed. "Looks like your blushing!" Pansy giggled. "Do any of you have water or pumpkin juice?!" I asked, a tear streamed down my cheek from the spice.
Millicent noticed the tear, and handed me a bottle of cold pumpkin juice. I twisted off the cap and gulped down the cold liquid. "Wooooo!" I screamed, as another tear streamed down my cheek.
"That was spicy!" I laughed along with the girls, "Sorry! I thought it was also strawberry!" Pansy giggled, and used a napkin to wipe away the tear lingering on my cheek. "Hope that wasn't to painful, sorry about that," said Pansy with a weak smile. "It's alright, I guess I deserved it since I ate your cauldron cake." I laughed, Pansy smiled but rolled her eyes.
Later, Pansy and Millicent went into a deep conversation about dresses . Hazel tapping me on the shoulder, "What is it?" I asked. Hazel's eyes widen in shock, pointing to the window, I quirked an eyebrow. "Look outside now." she demanded in a whisper tone.
I took one glance at the window, my eyes widen in pure shock. "Merlin's beard!" I yelled in horror, Pansy and Millicent jump in fright, "What!?"
"Nothing! We better get changed, can you two guard outside!" Hazel exclaimed, a drop of sweat trikled down her forehead. They both nodded immediately. "Of course, but please don't scream because of nothing." Millicent said cluelessly. 'I swear they are getting dumber each day', I thought in my mind. After they exited, Hazel and I pressed our eyes against the window, looking on the far right side.
There we saw Harry dangling off the flying car, Ron holding out his hand, screaming something we couldn't hear. "What sort of rubbish did they get themselves into!" Hazel whisper yelled, gaping at the scene. I didn't say a word, I was too shocked to say anything.
Harry grabbed onto Ron's hand, who pulled him up with all the strength he could muster. Hazel and I let out a sigh of relief, "Glad that went well." we sighed in unison, smiling at each other. "Now lets get changed!" exclaimed Hazel, who walked over to her bag and got out her uniform, as if forgetting that she panicked. 'I better find out why this happened... Molly might send them a howler', I thought in my mind, still worried if they are okay.
After we got changed, I opened the door, gesturing the other two girls inside. "Your turn!" Hazel chirped, and pushed them in. I closed the door, and guarded the door, with Hazel standing next to me doing the same thing.
"I'm thinking of joining the Frog Choir! You want to join along with me?" Hazel asked me unexpectedly, I shrugged. "Sure, I guess I'll join. But you know that it isn't like a club, its an extra curricular subject."
"Then it's settled! Let's report to Professor Flitwick once we're at Hogwarts," Hazel chirps happily, clapping her hands with glee, ignoring what I just said. "I think we're suppose report to Snape, he's the head of the house, and the person who does our time tables." I told her, she stopped clapping and froze, "Can you tell him, whenever I ask him something he always glares at me."
I nodded, "Sure, ill do it"
Relief washed over Hazel, she reached into her pocket, "Here, it's one of those blood flavored lollipops," she took out two of them, and handed one to me, "Thanks-"
"Didn't you have tons of those last year? what happened to them? I've never seen you eat them at Hogwarts ever since you got about twenty of them in the train." Hazel cut me off, tearing off the plastic from her lollipop. "Oh, well the twins stole them," I answered, tearing off the plastic from my lollipop.
"Why did they steal them?" Hazel asked, and licked her lollipop. "Because I smushed a cupcake onto George's uniform, it was an accident, I swear." I answered, licking my lollipop. Hazel giggled, "You sure talk about them a lot, especially George. Do you maybe, fancy George Weasley?" she wiggled her eyebrows, I could hear the excitement in her voice.
"No, I like him as a brother, I will never love him more than a brother." I deadpanned. "You say that now, but later you'll regret it," Hazel muttered loudly, and crossed her arms. "You say as if I'm going to fall in love with George." I scoffed, 'Like that would happen!'.
"Then lets make a bet," Hazel proposed, sounding confident.
She continued, "If you fall in love with George before he leaves Hogwarts, then you owe me twenty galleons. But if you don't fall in love with him before he leaves Hogwarts, then I owe you twenty galleons. Are you on?"
I smirked, "I'm on, you might want to prepare your galleons, Hazel."
"I don't think so," Hazel replied cheekily, "You're the one that should prepare the galleons."
"We're done!" Pansy shrilled from inside the compartment, "Well there goes Pans." Hazel said with the lollipop in her mouth. I opened the compartment door, waiting for Hazel to enter. "No Legilimency on me this year, unless you need too." Hazel whispered to me, then walked into the compartment.
'I only see George as a brother', I thought while closing the compartment door. Hazel patted on the seat next to her, giving me her normal smile. "Take a seat, we're going to arrive in two hours or so."
. . .
"Come on, we get too ride the carriages!" Pansy squealed, plopping herself down onto the horse pulling carriage. I knew that only a person who've seen death can see the Thestrals, fortunately they all couldn't see them since they never seen death.
I settled myself down, with Hazel sitting next to me, and across from us were Pansy and Millicent. The carriage started moving, all the girls except for me were gawking and squealing in delight. "Can you believe that the carriage is pulling itself! Salazar, this is better than those small boats last year." Millicent sneered, we all murmured in agreement. 'But last year we had a wicked view of the castle'
After a while I looked at the Thestrals, they looked completely fleshless, of which every bone was visible. Their heads were dragonish, and their pupil-less eyes white and staring. The folded black leathery wings looked as though they ought to belong to giant bats. To me they looked beautiful, and special. I smiled at them warmly, wishing that I could just go pet it.
. . .
The sorting had ended, and Dumbledore had done his interesting speech, and much to my disgust, Lockhart is our new DADA professor. As people talked about their summer, the amazing feast appeared, making some first years gasp.
A first year Slytherin was talking the Hazel and Pansy, speaking excitedly to them. I was enjoying myself at the feast, taking gulps of pumpkin juice, and eating large chunks of steak. Just as I was about to eat a grilled potato wedge, I heard a crashing sound in the distant, but it seemed like I was the only one who heard it. My eyes darted to the staff table, and I realized that Snape wasn't there. I dropped my fork, and whispered in Hazel's ear. "I'm going to use the lavatory, I'll be back in a few minutes,"
She nodded in response, then went back to talking too the first year. I sighed and jumped up from my seat, 'I reckon that's the car, possibly crashed into a tree!'
I walked out of the Great Hall, and looked down the right hallway, in the distance I could see Snape stomping towards the dungeons. Out of instinct, I decided to follow him. 'Maybe I could find out what's happening, maybe Ron and Harry crashed the car into a tree'
I've always had curious nature, but sometimes my curiosity could lead me into trouble. I've always loved playing detective as a child. I was always tuned in with my surroundings, and always had a sense when something bad will happen.
"Miss Sparks," said a voice, I turned around, and saw Dumbledore along with McGonagall. "Sir, and Professor, shouldn't you two be at the feast?" I said calmly, like nothing bad is going to happen. "Yes, but I'm sure that I need a word with Severus, Minerva should decided the punishment for Mr. Potter, and Mr. Weasley, for crashing into the Whomping Willow." he responded.
I gaped at what he said, "You- mean, they crashed into- that tree?!" I was now horrified. He nodded, "The Willow is greatly damaged, Professor Sprout will try to mend it tonight. As for Mr. Potter, and Mr. Weasley, I'm not sure if they are greatly injured."
"Miss Sparks, if there is nothing you need, then I think you should be heading back to the feast," McGonagall spoke up, eyeing me with a stern look. "Oh, well- I have to tell Professor Snape about my extra curricular subject that I want to take this year." I told her, it was just a cover up on finding out what happened, but I had to tell him sooner or later about joining the Choir.
"Very well then, come Miss Sparks," Dumbledore smiled, his eyes twinkling. McGonagall nodded in approval, but still had a stern look on her face.
We walked our way to the dungeons, no one was talking, the only sounds was our footsteps echoing through dungeons.
Soon we made it to Snape's office, as we approached the door, Snape's voice could be heard from inside his office. "I assure you, if you were in Slytherin, and your fate rested with me, the both of you will be on the train home, tonight!"
We entered the office, unnoticed by anyone so far. "As it is-" Snape was then interrupted by Dumbledore. "They are not."
Harry, Ron, Snape, and Filch turned around and saw us by the doorway. Ron was trembling with fear, Harry was the first to speak, "Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, Lucinda..." I gave Harry and Ron a small wave, 'Everything will be alright' I mouthed to them.
Snape pointed accusingly to Harry and Ron, "Headmaster, these boys have flouted the Decree for the Restriction of Underage Wizardry, as such-"
Dumbledore him interrupted again, "I am well aware of the law, Severus, having written quite a few of them myself," his eyes twinkled as we walked forward to Snape.
I smirked, and cleared my throat, "However, I think that it is for the Head of Gryffindor house to determine the appropriate action, Professor McGonagall, if you please." I gestured to McGonagall, she threw me a small smile, which made me grin in triumphant.
"We'll go and get our stuff then," Ron said sadly, looking as if all hope is lost. "What are you talking about Mr. Weasley?" McGonagall questioned, giving him a confused look. "Well, you're expelling us, aren't you?" Ron replied, looking down at his shoes. McGonagall's lips formed into a smile, "Not today, Mr. Weasley."
Harry and Ron looked up with joy, I gave them a thumbs up for their small success. McGonagall's smile dropped, her normal stern look was back, "But I must impress upon both of you for your seriousness of what you have done. I will be writing to both your families tonight, and you'll both receive detention,"
"That's it? They've caused serious damage to an old and valuable tree- not to mention almost exposing our world! Surely they should be expelled!" Snape protested, he looked as if Christmas has cancelled. I scoffed, turning to Snape. "Harry and Ron are in Gryffindor, therefore it is Professor McGonagall's responsibility. And as you're Head of Slytherin House, you don't honestly get a say in this."
Harry and Ron tried their best not to burst out laughing from what I said, and if glares could kill, Snape would've killed me multiple times on purpose. "Just saying....." I murmured, turning away from him. "That is true, Severus," Dumbledore said calmly, turning to McGonagall. "I must go back to the feast, Minerva, I've got to give out a few notices. Come Severus, Miss. Sparks, there's a delicious-looking custard tart I want to sample."
I refrained myself from squealing, gasping, and jumping up and down, 'Custard tart, custard tart, custard tart', I repeated in my mind. Snape shot a look of pure venom at Harry and Ron as he walked out his office along with Dumbledore and I.
Once we're out Snape's office, I let out a breath that I didn't know I was holding, my lips stretched into a grin, "I get custard, I get custard, I get custard..." I whispered to myself. Apparently Snape overheard, and got mad instantly, "Be quiet you arrogant girl!"
I stopped in my tracks, frowning and crossing my arms. "Now Severus, please respect our fellow students." said Dumbledore, Snape scoffed loudly, muttering things under his breath. I smiled at Dumbledore, "You go ahead Headmaster, I have to tell Professor Snape about my schedule this year,"
"Very well, I will try my best to save you a slice of custard tart." His eyes twinkled, smiling down at me. "Thank you Albus," I whispered, he nodded and walked off, leaving me and Professor Snape. Once he was gone, Snape turned to me with glare, "What do you want."
"Calm down, all I want to tell you is that I want to sign up for Frog Choir, as an extra-curricular activity." I replied, looking at a portrait instead of Snape. "Very well, anything else?" Snape said in his normal mono-tone. I nodded, "Yes, there is, Hazel Scott will also be signing up for the Frog Choir,"
"Very well, but if you wish to speak to me, you may as well look me in the eye." he snapped, I scoffed and turned around to face him. "I know that you can do Legilimency, and you're a bloody skilled at it, I'm not going to let you search my mind," I snapped back at him. He seemed surprised, "How did you know?"
"I thought it was obvious, I've felt you try to enter my mind before, it kind of hurt to be honest. I tried to resist, but ended up having a massive headache, and having to stay at the Hospital wing for two days." I answered. "Do you possibly know any books on Occlumency?"
"Yes, but fortunately I can't tell you," Snape replied coldly, and walked around me. I sighed, shaking my head. "You'll come around to like me someday, and maybe we'll be friends."
"As long as I dislike Potter, I wont like you," he sneered, I placed a hand over my heart, and the other on my forehead. "Ouch! it hurt! do you hear my heart tearing?" I joked, laughing at what I said. He seemed unimpressed, "Go back to the feast, now Miss. Sparks."
"Oh I almost forgot! Custard tart is waiting for me!" I realized, and sprinted to the Great Hall.
I entered the double doors, and walked to my seat next to Hazel and Millicent, who both looked dazed. I sat down, and looked at both of them, some students were staring at me with the same dazed look. "What happened while I was gone?" I asked Hazel, "Dumbledore came to our table and served a slice of custard tart onto your plate, everyone was shocked." she told me. I looked down at my plate, and there laid a huge slice of custard tart.
I looked at the staff table, and made eye contact with Dumbledore, who smiled warmly at me. 'Thank you Albus!', I thought in my mind. 'Your welcome', he mouthed to me.
. . .
It has been hours after the feast, and Professor Sprout was mending the Whomping Willow, and looked like she need someone the help, so I decided to join in. At first Professor Sprout dismissed me, telling me that I would get hurt badly. But I insisted on helping, and since it was nighttime, the Professor seemed too tired to even argue. The only thing interfering with our job was Lockhart, who was guiding us on how to heal the Willow, his guidance didn't help one bit, most importantly he wasn't helping at all, he's just watching by the sidelines.
"Keep still!" I shouted at the Whomping Willow, trying my best to wrap slings around its branches.
"Yes- just put it through that branch, and tie it in a knot!" Lockhart ordered, smiling like an idiot. Me and Professor Sprout scowled in anger, "When will he leave," I growled, trying to secure the ends. "I wish he could leave right now." Professor Sprout replied.
After serval hours of trying to mend the Willow, our arms and hands were whipped by the branches, there was also small and large cuts, which were very noticeable. The wonderful thing was that Madam Pomfrey was there, while taking small breaks she was bandaging our injuries.
"Up for a calming cuppa sometimes?" I asked Professor Sprout while on our small break. "I also want to create new tea leaves this year,"
"Why yes, that would be wonderful." she answered with a smile. "You can use an old classroom on the fifth floor, I'll give you the room number some other day,"
"I'll take up that classroom next week then." I sighed, ruffling my dark wavy hair. "Come on! Lets not waste time! This Willow needs helping!" Lockhart called, pointing to the Whomping Willow. It was surprising that we haven't snapped yet, and more surprising that we haven't hexed Lockhart.
Madam Pomfrey hurried to us, and quickly tightened the bandages on my arms, "You're all set, careful now Lucinda." she said, then quickly made her way to Professor Sprout. "This is going to take a long time..." I sighed, and picked up another sling from the ground.