Monday mornings are my least favourite, not just because I'm a teenage boy and I hate school and blah blah blah. But because that's when I have history class. And history class during fifth year focuses on the first and second wizard wars.
Lou, James, and I all have panic attacks during that class. It's like clockwork. Lou is always the first to go. They talk about Fenir Greyback and he loses his mind. Then it's James to go, but that one's sort of obvious. Uncle Harry died and came back and killed Voldemort so like, a pretty touchy subject.
I'm always the last to get worked up and heated. When they talk about the Death Eaters, talk about how heavily involved the Malfoy's and LeStrange's were.
That's what I'm thinking about now. Sitting in the back of our history classroom waiting for Binns to start the lesson.
Louis is sitting at a desk beside me tapping his foot on the ground a hundred times a minute. James is sitting in front of us a bit making out with Hannah like usual. And all I can think of is Binns fucking talking about how awful my family was... how good my family was. I look up at the ceiling and try to get myself to calm down. Lesson hasn't even started yet and I can already feel myself slipping away from it all.
"Parchment out, quills out, we've got a lot to cover this class." Binns shouts as he floats down from the ceiling. "Where did we leave off? Anyone? Anyone at all?"
"The Triwizard tournament sir. The rise of Voldemort." Isabella Kemp from Ravenclaw says.
Binns claps his ghost hands together which doesn't make any noise, "Right yes. Now for centuries the Triwizard tournament didn't happen. The death toll was simply too high, the loss of young, talented wizards and witches was something that the ministry couldn't let continue. Only the late minister could tell you why in the world they decided to bring it back when they did."
Mum and dad have told me all about the Triwizard tournament. It brought Aunt Fleur into every ones lives but it also took one of Mum and Dads friends.
"The Triwizard tournament consisted of three schools, each school had one participant. All but Hogwarts, which had two. Viktor Krum from Durmstrang, Fleur Delacour for Beauxbaton, and Cedric Diggory and Harry Potter for Hogwarts."
Both James and Louis sink into their seats at the mention of their parents. The class shifts around a bit, people start looking at us. My heartbeat starts to go faster, my breath is stuck in my throat.
"Every one knew the dangers of the tournament, the thought of someone dying was present in every mind in the stands as they watched the champions battle dragons brought in by Charlie Weasley... write that down it will be on the exam, sinking to the bottom of the lake to save their loved ones, Gabrielle Delacour, Cho Chang, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley... I don't see any of you writing this down." Binns says the last part with a twinge of annoyance in his voice.
The thing is, nearly everyone in this room have heard these stories from their parents. No one needs to write anything down. Uncle Harry was supposed to only rescue Uncle Ron but he had to help Aunt Fleur's sister Gabrielle too because Uncle Harry is extra like that. Uncle Ron was mad at Aunt Hermione that whole year because she was sweet on Viktor instead of him. My parchment remains blank.
"During the last task, the champions were told to find the Triwizard cup that was hidden in a very large maze. However, it is later revealed that the cup was turned into a portkey by Barty Crouch Junior who was using Polyjuice potion all year to disguise himself as retired Auror and now deceased Alastor Moody."
Louis starts to pack his things, I watch him out of the corner of his eye as he gets up and walks towards the door.
"Mister Weasley, I understand that you are not a fan of my lessons but for once I would like it if you were to stay for the whole thing." Binns calls out.
Now the entire class is looking at him, but Louis doesn't crack. "And like I say every time I leave this class Binns, I can't do it. I can't listen to this. I know what happened because my mum is Fleur and she told me from first hand experience. I know what happened because my uncle is Harry fucking Potter and he told me from first hand experience. I know what happened because my aunt is Violet LeStrange and she told me what happened and what the Death Eaters did next from first hand experience."
James starts to pack up his things too, I shove everything into my bag and get up from my desk.
"I'll save you the trouble Binns, Cedric Diggory is killed by the Dark Lord, Peter Pettigrew cuts off his own hand and yeets it into a cauldron to resurrect Voldemort. My great uncle was there be sure to include that part. Harry battled Voldemort, took Cedric's body back to Hogwarts using the portkey. They exposed Barty Crouch Junior as the waste of a man he was and then you'll start talking about the psychology behind it. Am I right sir?" I say it all in one breath, my chest heaving trying to fill my lungs with more oxygen.
I think for the first time in this mans undead life, he's at a loss for words. None of us wait for him to say anything. The three of us Weasleys march out of the classroom and make sure that the door slams shut behind us.
"I can't do that every Monday morning. I'm going to throw myself off the Astronomy tower I swear on Merlin himself." Louis says. He scrunches up his face and doubles over, his bag falls to the ground beside him.
"I'm telling McGonagall that I'm not taking that class anymore. At least not for the rest of this year." James says.
I know what your thinking. We're over exaggerating right? We weren't there fighting the war. We didn't see anyone die. It's not our trauma. Right?
But it is our trauma. Mum locks herself in her office for hours and I swear I can hear her screaming even through the silencing charm she uses to seal the door. Dad wakes up in the middle of the night screaming and we all pretend like we can't hear him beg for Uncle Fred's life, screaming 'I wish it was me.' The fact that Mum scratches at her flower tattoo mindlessly and Dad has to put his hand on her shoulder to bring her back to the present when she does it. Hell dad only has one ear because his ex professor shot it off his fucking head. The same professor that Uncle Harry named Albus after but I'm not getting into that right now.
And that's just what I can think of right now, not to mention the crap that probably happens in Louis and James' houses.
"I'm going on a walk." James says after a minute of silence.
"You sure you're good dude?" I ask him.
James shoots me a look, "Why the fuck wouldn't I be?" and with that he storms off in the opposite direction.
Louis picks up his bag and looks at me. I shrug my shoulders, "You can't say that I didn't try."
"I need a fucking cigarette." Is all Louis says.
Louis and I drop our skateboards to the ground and head off. There's a secret tunnel that we tend to use all the time when we want to get down to the ground floor. Hidden behind a very large statue of some famous old wizard dude is a literal ramp that goes all the way from the seventh floor down to the ground floor. Which is a lot more fun and a lot faster than the stairs.
Lou and I head out to the black lake and sit down under a big old tree near the waters edge. I pull the pack of fags out of my back pocket and hold one between my lips as I dig for my lighter.
"Here." Lou tosses me his zippo lighter and I take a deep breath as I light up.
We sit in silence, looking out into the lake, listening to the waves crash against the shore. "It's not even fucking October yet man." I say finally.
Louis laughs and chokes on some smoke, "You thought you'd have an easy year at Hogwarts? I don't think those exist."
"Can I ask you something?" I take a drag and throw my head back and blow the smoke straight up into the sky.
"Nah my plate's full right now." Louis jokes.
"Poppy and I have been hanging out a bit. You think its weird to ask her to come to Hogsmeade with me?"
Louis looks at me, "What happened to Hannah?"
"Hanna's sucking James' face off."
Louis lights another fag with the one that he just finished, "As long as you're not just dicking around with Poppy till Hannah becomes available. I don't see the issue with it."
"I don't dick around with people's feelings like that."
Louis laughs to himself, "You do you man. I think I heard someone say something about Cassie having a date with a guy that day too actually."
I choke, "Cassie? Like Cassiopeia Weasley, Cassie?"
"Literally what other Cassie would I be talking about dumbass."
We sit in silence for a little bit longer, then, "You know who she's going with?"
Louis laughs, "Even if I did, not a chance in hell I'd tell you. Mister short temper, don't fuck with my sisters over here."
"I wouldn't ruin it for her. I'd just - "
"Ruin it for her."
On the Friday before the Hogsmeade trip, Kate Carter, our Quidditch captain scheduled a last minute quidditch practice after last period. Meaning I don't have the chance to ask Poppy to come to Hogsmeade with me.
I know what your thinking. Freddie, you wanted to ask her two weeks ago. You've had two weeks to ask her, the hell are you leaving it for the last minute for. And to that I'll respond with, 'girls are scary okay?'
"The first game of the year is in a month. One month to get you sorry excuse of a team ready to beat Slytherin. Weasley has had her team practicing since the first week of school. How Slughorn let that happen I'll never know but never mind that." Kate says to us pacing up and down the changing tent that we are all sitting in. "Weasley, Potter, can I trust that you two will put whatever the fuck you two fight about on the back burner when we are in practice? Cause I swear on Merlin's left testicle I will kick you off this team if you start fighting on the pitch again."
"It's my first year on the team Carter, I haven't fought anyone on any pitch yet." Rose says from beside me. A few of us laugh but Kate just pinches the bridge of her nose.
"Are all the Weasleys this fucking annoying?" She says looking between Rose, James and I. Before any us could respond with 'yeah pretty much' she continues her captain speech. "Weasley and her gang of Slytherins have beaten us every single fucking year I've been on this team. And the keeper that she brought on last year is better than any of the other ones she's had."
I know that I'm supposed to be out for blood or whatever when it comes to quidditch but hearing Carter talk about Ophelia like that, how she's the best keeper Slytherin has ever had gives me those proud big brother feelings.
"And course her keepers a Weasley which means she's as stubborn and competitive as the rest of them. Merlin's beard we are so fucking screwed." Kate is now grumbling to herself.
Timothy clears his throat, "Uh captain? No disrespect or anything but this is a pretty crappy pep talk."
Everyone laughs, even Kate cracks a smile. "Alright. I need my chasers to practice their sloth rolls, I'm not having Wood and Weasley walking away with broken noses again because they don't seem to understand how to dodge a bludger. Potter? You need to practice flying with no hands, if you knew how to do it last year then we would have won the final. Don't come back to this tent till you've figured it out." She takes a breath before continuing, "Torres I'm going to need you to teach Weasley two the Beater basics and then I want you two smashing bludgers at Weasley one and Wood so they can put their praciting to good use. Davis you're with me the entire practice, I'll kick your all the way to Australia if you let one fucking quaffle into the goal posts."
We don't move from the bench until Carter claps her hands and yells at us to get a move on.
"Not my fault we lost last year. Who does she think she is talking to me like that in front of the whole team. Does she know who my parents are?" I can hear James grumble to Hannah as they walk a little bit ahead of Rose and I.
"Just because your parents are talented quidditch players doesn't mean you are Potter! I'll replace you in a heartbeat if you keep that shit up!" Carter shouts from the back of the group which makes Rose and I laugh to ourselves.
"Kate isn't always this intense is she?" Rose says to me as she pulls her broom out. She pulls mine out as well and passes it to me.
I shrug, "She's like our dads. Calm cool and collected when quidditch isn't involved. But when quidditch is in question, someone's getting hexed."
Rose laughs, "And it's always uncle Charlie doing the hexing."
"And it's always your dad being hexed."