The end of the summer vacation soon came quickly at the Burrow. On their last evening, Mrs. Weasley conjured up a sumptuous dinner that included all of Y/n and Harry's favorite things, ranging from F/d for Y/n and a mouthwatering treacle pudding for Harry.
Fred and George rounded off the evening with a display of Filibuster fireworks, they filled the kitchen with red and blue stars that bounced from ceiling to wall for at least half an hour. Then it was time for a last mug of hot chocolate and bed.
It took a long while to get started next morning. They were up at dawn, but somehow they still seemed to have a great deal to do. Mrs. Weasley dashed about in a bad mood looking for spare socks and quill, people kept colliding on the stairs, half dressed with bits of toast in their hands and Mr. Weasley nearly broke his neck, tripping over a stray chicken as he crossed the yard carrying Ginny's trunk to the car.
Harry couldn't see how nine people, seven large trunks, two owls, a cat and a rat were going to fit into one small Ford Anglia. Harry had reckoned, of course, without the special features that Mr. Weasley had told him and Y/n about.
"Not a word to Molly." he whispered to both boys as he opened the trunk and showed them how it had been magically expanded so that the luggage fitted easily.
"Convenient." Y/n said impressed as he placed his luggage inside it.
When at last they were all in the car, Mrs. Weasley glanced into the back seat, where Harry, Ron, Y/n, Fred, George, and Percy were all sitting comfortably side by side, and said. "Muggles do know more than we give them credit for, don't they?" She and Ginny got into the front seat, which had been stretched so that it resembled a park bench. "I mean, you'd never know it was this roomy from the outside, would you?"
Mr. Weasley started up the engine and they trundled out of the yard, Y/n turning back for a last look at the house. He barely had time to wonder when he'd see it again when they were back George had forgotten his box of Filibuster fireworks. Five minutes after that, they skidded to a halt in the yard so that Fred could run in for his broomstick. They had almost reached the highway when Ginny shrieked that she'd left her diary. By the time she had clambered back into the car, they were running very late, and tempers were running high.
Mr. Weasley glanced at his watch and then at his wife. "Molly, dear..."
"No, Arthur." Mrs Weasley said firmly.
"No one would see, this little button here is an Invisibility Booster I installed that'd get us up in the air, then we fly above the clouds. We'd be there in ten minutes and no one would be any the wiser." Mr Weasley tried to argue.
"I said no, Arthur, not in broad daylight." Mrs Weasley said unwilling to change her mind.
They reached King's Cross at a quarter to eleven. Mr. Weasley dashed across the road to get trolleys for their trunks and they all hurried into the station.
Y/n had taken the Hogwarts Express the previous year. The tricky part was getting onto platform nine and three-quarters, which wasn't visible to the Muggle eye. What you had to do was walk through the solid barrier dividing platforms nine and ten. It didn't hurt, but it had to be done carefully so that none of the Muggles noticed you vanishing.
He, Harry and the Weasley's reached it now as they stood in front of it.
"Percy first." said Mrs. Weasley, looking nervously at the clock overhead, which showed they had only five minutes to disappear casually through the barrier.
Percy strode briskly forward and vanished. Mr. Weasley went next, Fred and George followed.
"I'll take Ginny and you three come right after us." Mrs. Weasley told Harry, Y/n and Ron, grabbing Ginny's hand and setting off. In the blink of an eye they were gone.
"Let's go together, we've only got a minute." Ron said to Harry and Y/n.
"Ready for another year Noctis?" Y/n asked his cat as she sat in her cage atop his trunk. Noctis just meowed in response, more interested in being let out. Y/n just smiled at her. The three boys bent low over the handles of their trolleys and walked purposefully toward the barrier, gathering speed. A few feet away from it, they broke into a run and...
CRASH.
The three trolleys hit the barrier and bounced backward. Ron's trunk fell off with a loud thump while Y/n managed to catch Noctis's cage as it fell off onto his chest with a painful groan. Harry was knocked off his feet, and Hedwig's cage bounced onto the shiny floor, and she rolled away, shrieking indignantly, people all around them stared and a guard nearby yelled, "What in blazes d'you think you're doing?"
"Lost control of the trolley." Harry gasped, as he got up and rushed off to get Hedwig in her cage. Ron ran over to Y/n and picked up Noctis's cage from off Y/n's chest before helping him back up to his feet.
"Thank you..." Y/n said sounding winded.
"Why can't we get through?" Harry hissed to Ron and Y/n.
"This...is...odd." Y/n said as his brow furrowed now and he placed his hand on the entrance and regained some of his breath. "It has... shut... itself...off." He told Ron and Harry moving away from it now.
Ron looked wildly around. A dozen curious people were still watching them. "We're going to miss the train." Ron whispered. "I don't understand... why's the gateway's sealed itself?"
Harry looked up at the giant clock with a sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach. Ten seconds... nine seconds...
He wheeled his trolley forward cautiously until it was right against the barrier and pushed with all his might. The metal remained solid.
Three seconds... two seconds... one second...
"It's gone." said Ron, sounding stunned. "The train's left. What if Mum and Dad can't get back through to us? Have you got any Muggle money?"
Harry gave a hollow laugh. "The Dursleys haven't given me pocket money for about six years."
"All I have is Galleons." Y/n admitted.
Ron pressed his ear to the cold barrier. "Can't hear a thing," he said tensely. "What're we going to do? I don't know how long it'll take Mum and Dad to get back to us."
They looked around. People were still watching them, mainly because of Hedwigs's continuing screeches.
"I think we'd better go and wait by the car," said Harry. "We're attracting too much atten..."
"Harry!" said Ron, his eyes gleaing. "The car!"
"What about it?" Harry asked.
"We can fly the car to Hogwarts!" Ron suggested.
"You cannot be serious Ron." Y/n started. "I know we took it to rescue Harry before but we only just about got away with that."
"We're stuck, right?" Ron pointed out to the two of them. "And we've got to get to school, haven't we? And even underage wizards are allowed to use magic if it's a real emergency, section nineteen or something of the Restriction of Thingy..."
"But your Mum and Dad..." said Harry, pushing against the barrier again in the vain hope that it would give way. "How will they get home?"
"They don't need the car!" said Ron impatiently. "They know how to Apparate! You know, just vanish and reappear at home! They only bother with Floo powder and the car because we're all underage and we're not allowed to Apparate yet..."
Y/n remained unsure but he watched as Harry turned to Ron in excitement.
"Can you fly it?" Harry asked.
"No problem." said Ron, wheeling his trolley around to face the exit. "C'mon you two let's go, if we hurry we'll be able to follow the Hogwarts Express..."
Y/n gave out a reluctant sigh now. While he didn't like the idea he also did not want to be left behind alone.
And so they marched off through the crowd of curious Muggles, out of the station and back onto the side road where the old Ford Anglia was parked.
Ron unlocked the cavernous trunk with a series of taps from his wand. They heaved their luggage back in, put Hedwig and Noctis on the back seat, and got into the front.
"Check that no one's watching." said Ron, starting the ignition with another tap of his wand. Harry stuck his head out of the window and Y/n looked out the back window behind them, Traffic was rumbling along the main road ahead, but their street was empty.
Ron pressed a tiny silver button on the dashboard. The car around them vanished and so did they. Y/n could feel the seat vibrating beneath him, hear the engine, feel his hands on his knees, but for all he could see, he had become a pair of eyeballs, floating a few feet above the ground in a dingy street full of parked cars.
"Let's go." said Ron's voice from his right.
And the ground and the dirty buildings on either side fell away, dropping out of sight as the car rose, in seconds, the whole of London lay, smoky and glittering, below them.
Then there was a popping noise and the car, Harry, Y/n and Ron reappeared.
"Uh oh." said Ron, jabbing at the Invisibility Booster. "It's faulty..."
The three of them pummeled it. The car vanished. Then it flickered back again.
"It is broken..." Y/n said waving his hand. "Let us just be glad it was not the engine. Now hurry up and get us out of here."
"Hold on!" Ron yelled, and he slammed his foot on the accelerator, they shot straight into the low, woolly clouds and everything turned dull and foggy.
"Now what?" said Harry, blinking at the solid mass of cloud pressing in on them from all sides.
"We need to see the train to know what direction to go in." said Ron.
"Dip back down again, quickly." Harry suggested.
They dropped back beneath the clouds and twisted around in their seats, squinting at the ground.
"I can see it!" Harry yelled. "Right ahead...there!" He pointed it out and Y/n looked to see the Hogwarts Express was streaking along below them like a scarlet snake.
"Due north." said Ron, checking the compass on the dashboard. "Okay, we'll just have to check on it every half hour or so, Hold on..." And they shot up through the clouds. A minute later, they burst out into a blaze of sunlight.
It was a different world. The wheels of the car skimmed the sea of fluffy cloud, the sky a bright, endless blue under the blinding white sun.
"All we've got to worry about now are airplanes." said Ron.
The three looked at each other for a moment but couldn't help it as they started to laugh, for a long time, they couldn't stop.
Y/n looked to his side to see Harry was enjoying their journey as he helped himself to a toffee from the glove compartment.
They made regular checks on the train as they flew farther and farther north, each dip beneath the clouds showing them a different view. London was soon far behind them, replaced by neat green fields that gave way in turn to wide, purplish moors, a great city alive with cars like multicolored ants, villages with tiny toy churches.
Several uneventful hours later, however, Harry had to admit that some of the fun was wearing off. Y/n agreed mentioning that the toffees had made them extremely thirsty and they had nothing to drink. He, Y/n and Ron had pulled off their sweaters, but Harry's T shirt was sticking to the back of his seat and his glasses kept sliding down to the end of his sweaty nose. He had stopped noticing the fantastic cloud shapes now and was thinking longingly of the train miles below, where you could buy ice cold pumpkin juice from a trolley pushed by a plump witch.
Y/n however was still wondering why hadn't they been able to get onto platform nine and three-quarters?
"Can't be much further, can it?" croaked Ron, hours later still, as the sun started to sink into their floor of cloud, staining it a deep pink. "Ready for another check on the train?"
"Go ahead." Y/n said crossing his arms.
It was still right below them, winding its way past a snowcapped mountain. It was much darker beneath the canopy of clouds.
Ron put his foot on the accelerator and drove them upward again, but as he did so, the engine began to whine.
Harry, Y/n and Ron exchanged nervous glances.
"I regret my statement earlier..." Y/n said nervously.
"It's probably just tired." said Ron. "It's never been this far before..."
And the three pretended not to notice the whining growing louder and louder as the sky became steadily darker. Stars were blossoming in the blackness. Y/n pulled his sweater back on, trying to ignore the way the windshield wipers were now waving feebly, as though in protest.
"Not far." said Ron, more to the car than to Harry or Y/n. "Not far now," and he patted the dashboard nervously.
When they flew back beneath the clouds a little while later, they had to squint through the darkness for a landmark they knew.
"There!" Harry shouted, making Ron, Y/n, Noctis and Hedwig jump. "Straight ahead!"
Silhouetted on the dark horizon, high on the cliff over the lake, stood the many turrets and towers of Hogwarts castle.
"Welcome home Harry." Y/n said knowing how much the castle meant to him.
But the moment was ruined when car had begun to shudder and was losing speed.
"Come on." Ron said cajolingly, giving the steering wheel a little shake. "Nearly there, come on!"
The engine groaned. Narrow jets of steam were issuing from under the hood. Y/n found himself unwillingly gripping the edges of his seat very hard as they flew toward the lake.
The car gave a nasty wobble. Glancing out of his window, Harry saw the smooth, black, glassy surface of the water, a mile below. Ron's knuckles were white on the steering wheel and Y/n was biting down on lip. The car wobbled again.
"We are so close..." Y/n said nervously.
"Come on." Ron muttered.
They were over the lake, the castle was right ahead, Ron put his foot down.
There was a loud clunk, a splutter, and the engine died completely.
"Uh oh." said Ron, into the silence.
The nose of the car dropped. They were falling, gathering speed, heading straight for the solid castle wall.
"Noooooo!" Ron yelled, swinging the steering wheel around, they missed the dark stone wall by inches as the car turned in a great arc, soaring over the dark greenhouses, then the vegetable patch, and then out over the black lawns, losing altitude all the time.
Ron let go of the steering wheel completely and pulled his wand out of his back pocket. "STOP! STOP!" he yelled, whacking the dashboard and the windshield, but they were still plummeting, the ground flying up toward them.
"WATCH OUT!" Y/n bellowed, lunging for the steering wheel, but it too late...
CRUNCH.
With an earsplitting bang of metal on wood, they hit a thick tree trunk and dropped to the ground with a heavy jolt. Steam was billowing from under the crumpled hood. Noctis meowed loudly in fright while Hedwig was shrieking in terror. Y/n reached up to touch the side of his face only to realise he had cut it. A golf ball size lump was throbbing on Harry's head where he had hit the windshield and Ron let out a low, despairing groan.
"Are you guys okay?" Harry said urgently.
"Yes...It is just a flesh wound..." Y/n said groaning as he held the side of his face.
"My wand." said Ron, in a shaky voice. "Look at my wand..."
Y/n looked to the side to see it had snapped, almost in two, the tip was dangling limply, held on by a few splinters.
"Be glad it's not you're neck..." Harry managed to say.
Y/n wondered if they'd be able to mend the wand back up at the school, but he never even got to ask. At that very moment, something hit the side of the car with the force of a charging bull, sending him and Harry lurching sideways into Ron, just as an equally heavy blow hit the roof.
"What's happen...?" Ron gasped, staring through the windshield, and Y/n looked around just in time to see a branch as thick as a python smash into it. The tree they had hit was attacking them. Its trunk was bent almost double, and its gnarled boughs were pummeling every inch of the car it could reach.
"Aaargh!" said Ron as another twisted limb punched a large dent into his door, the windshield was now trembling under a hail of blows from knuckle like twigs and a branch as thick as a battering ram was pounding furiously on the roof, which seemed to be caving in.
"Run for it!" Ron shouted, throwing his full weight against his door, but next second he had been knocked backward into Y/n's side by a vicious uppercut from another branch. "We're done for!" he moaned as the ceiling sagged, but suddenly the floor of the car was vibrating, the engine had restarted.
"Reverse!" Harry yelled, and the car shot backward, the tree was still trying to hit them, they could hear its roots creaking as it almost ripped itself up, lashing out at them as they sped out of reach.
"That..." panted Ron. "Was close. Well done, car." The car, however, had reached the end of its tether. With two sharp clunks, the doors flew open and Y/n felt the seat tip sideways. Next thing he knew he was sprawled on the damp ground. Loud thuds told him that the car was ejecting their luggage from the trunk, Hedwig's cage flew through the air and burst open, she rose out of it with an angry screech and sped off toward the castle without a backward look.
Y/n winced as he felt something sharp suddenly dig into his chest. He looked down to see a shaken up Noctis was clinging to his shirt and he let out a sigh as he brought and hand to her back. As he touched her she jumped and flinched slightly. "Hey, hey, It is okay..." Y/n tried to soothe her as he carefully began to stroke her to calm her down. "I am so sorry Noctis..."
Then, dented, scratched, and steaming, the car rumbled off into the darkness, its rear lights blazing angrily.
"Come back!" Ron yelled after it, brandishing his broken wand. "Dad'll kill me!" But the car disappeared from view with one last snort from its exhaust.
"Can you believe our luck?" said Ron miserably, bending down to pick up Scabbers. "Of all the trees we could've hit, we had to get one that hits back."
He glanced over his shoulder at the ancient tree, which was still flailing its branches threateningly.
"The Womping Willow..." Y/n said as he managed to get Noctis to sit on his shoulder instead now with her still clinging tightly to him.
"Come on." said Harry wearily. "We'd better get up to the school..."
It wasn't at all the triumphant arrival they had pictured. Stiff, cold, cut and bruised, they seized the ends of their trunks and began dragging them up the grassy slope, toward the great oak front doors.
"I think the feast's already started." said Ron, dropping his trunk at the foot of the front steps and crossing quietly to look through a brightly lit window.
"You need to stay here I am afraid Noctis." Y/n said as he placed her back in a cage now on top of his trunk next to Ron's. "It will not be for long, I promise."
"Hey...Y/n, Harry, come and look it's the Sorting!" Ron called out.
Y/n and Harry moved over and, together, they peered in at the Great Hall.
Innumerable candles were hovering in midair over four long, crowded tables, making the golden plates and goblets sparkle. Overhead, the bewitched ceiling, which always mirrored the sky outside, sparkled with stars.
Through the forest of pointed black Hogwarts hats, Y/n saw a long line of scared looking first years filing into the Hall. Ginny was among them, easily visible because of her vivid Weasley hair. Meanwhile, Professor McGonagall, a bespectacled witch with her hair in a tight bun, was placing the famous Hogwarts Sorting Hat on a stool before the newcomers.
Every year, this aged old hat, patched, frayed, and dirty, sorted new students into the four Hogwarts houses. Y/n remembered putting it on, exactly one year ago, as everyone reacted in shock to the discovery of his heritage. He had doubted he would make friends at that point but he had ended up in Gryffindor, along with Ron, Hermione, and Harry along the rest of the Weasleys and by the end of the year he had made lasting friendships with Harry, Ron and Hermione. Together the four had helped Gryffindor win the House Championship, beating Slytherin for the first time in seven years.
A very small, mousy haired boy had been called forward to place the hat on his head. Y/n's eyes wandered past him to look at the Gryffindor table where he spotted familiar bushy brown hair. "At least Hermione made it without any worries." He commented.
"Yeah, but so did he unfortunately..." Harry added and the three looked to see sat at the staff table was Gilderoy Lockhart, dressed in robes of aquamarine. And there at the end was Hagrid, huge and hairy, drinking deeply from his goblet.
"Hang on..." Harry muttered to Y/n and Ron. "There's an empty chair at the staff table... Where's Snape?"
Professor Severus Snape was the boy's least favorite teacher. Harry also happened to be Snape's least favorite student. Cruel, sarcastic, and disliked by everybody except the students from his own house of Slytherin, Snape taught Potions.
"Maybe he's ill!" said Ron hopefully.
"Maybe he's left." said Harry. "Because he missed out on the Defense Against Dark Arts job again!"
"He might be be on patrol duty." Y/n suggested.
"Or he might have been sacked!" said Ron enthusiastically. "I mean, everyone hates him..."
"Or maybe." said a very cold voice right behind them, "He's waiting to hear why you three didn't arrive on the school train."
Y/n's eye's just closed in deep regret and his brow furrowed for a moment before he opened his eyes and turned around with Harry and Ron.
There, his black robes rippling in a cold breeze, stood Severus Snape. He was a thin man with sallow skin, a hooked nose, and greasy, shoulder length black hair, and at this moment, he was smiling in a way that told Y/n that he, Harry and Ron were in very deep trouble.
"Follow me..." said Snape.
Not daring even to look at each other, Y/n, Harry and Ron followed Snape up the steps into the vast, echoing entrance hall, which was lit with flaming torches. A delicious smell of food was wafting from the Great Hall, but Snape led them away from the warmth and light, down a narrow stone staircase that led into the dungeons.
"In!" he said, opening a door halfway down the cold passageway and pointing.
They entered Snape's office, shivering. The shadowy walls were lined with shelves of large glass jars, in which floated all manner of revolting things. The fireplace was dark and empty. Snape closed the door and turned to look at them.
"So." he said softly. "The train isn't good enough for either the famous Harry Potter or Y/n Grindelwald and their faithful sidekick Weasley. Wanted to arrive with a bang, did we, boys?"
"Not at all sir, it was the barrier at King's Cross, it..." Y/n started.
"Silence!" said Snape coldly. "What have you done with the car?"
Ron gulped. This wasn't the first time Snape had given Harry the impression of being able to read minds. But a moment later, he understood, as Snape unrolled today's issue of the Evening Prophet.
"You were seen." he hissed, showing them the headline. 'FLYING FORD ANGLIA MYSTIFIES MUGGLES.' He began to read aloud. "Two Muggles in London, convinced they saw an old car flying over the Post Office tower... at noon in Norfolk, Mrs. Hetty Bayliss, while hanging out her washing... Mr. Angus Fleet, of Peebles, reported to police... Six or seven Muggles in all. I believe your father works in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office?" he said, looking up at Ron and smiling still more nastily. "Dear, dear... his own son..."
Y/n felt as though he'd just been walloped in the stomach by one of the mad tree's larger branches. He knew that taking the car had been a bad idea but now he wished he had argued with Harry and Ron about it more.
"I noticed, in my search of the park, that considerable damage seems to have been done to a very valuable Whomping Willow." Snape went on.
"That tree did more damage to us than we...." Ron blurted out.
"Silence!" snapped Snape again. "Most unfortunately, you are not in my House and the decision to expel you does not rest with me. I shall go and fetch the people who do have that happy power. You will wait here."
Y/n, Harry and Ron stared at each other, white faced. If Snape had gone to fetch Professor McGonagall, head of Gryffindor House, they were hardly any better off. She might be fairer than Snape, but she was still extremely strict.
Ten minutes later, Snape returned, and sure enough it was Professor McGonagall who accompanied him. Y/n had seen Professor McGonagall angry on several occasions, but either he had forgotten just how thin her mouth could go, or he had never seen her this angry before. She raised her wand the moment she entered, Harry and Ron both flinched while Y/n just looked at her. But she merely pointed it at the empty fireplace, where flames suddenly erupted.
"Sit." she said, and the three backed into chairs by the fire.
"Explain." she said, her glasses glinting ominously.
Ron launched into the story, starting with the barrier at the station refusing to let them through.
"...so we had no choice, Professor, we couldn't get on the train." He finished.
"Why didn't you send us a letter by owl? I believe you have an owl?" Professor McGonagall said coldly to Harry.
Harry gaped at her. Now she said it, that seemed the obvious thing to have done. "I...I didn't think..."
"That." said Professor McGonagall. "Is obvious."
There was a knock on the office door and Snape, now looking happier than ever, opened it. There stood the headmaster, Professor Dumbledore.
Y/n looked down at the floor now as he could feel Dumbledore stare down his very crooked nose at them, and Y/n suddenly found himself wishing he had made himself , Harry and Ron stay at Kings Cross now.
There was a long silence. Then Dumbledore said. "Please explain why you did this."
It would have been better if he had shouted. Y/n hated the disappointment in his voice. For some reason, he was unable to look Dumbledore in the eyes, and spoke instead to the floor. He told Dumbledore everything except that Mr. Weasley owned the bewitched car, making it sound as though he, Harry and Ron had happened to find a flying car parked outside the station. He knew it was a farcical tale but he did not Mr Weasley to get into trouble because of them, But he also knew Dumbledore would see through this at once, but Dumbledore asked no questions about the car. When Y/n had finished, he merely continued to peer at them through his spectacles.
"We'll go and get our stuff." said Ron in a hopeless sort of voice.
"What are you talking about, Weasley?" barked Professor McGonagall.
"We are going to be expelled are we not?" Y/n asked.
Harry looked quickly at Dumbledore.
"Not today, Mr Grindelwald." said Dumbledore. "But I must impress upon the three of you the seriousness of what you have done. I will be writing to each of your families tonight. I must also warn you that if you do anything like this again, I will have no choice but to expel you."
Y/n just nodded his head at the floor.
Snape however looked as though Christmas had been canceled. He cleared his throat and said. "Professor Dumbledore, these boys have flouted the Decree for the Restriction of Underage Wizardry, caused serious damage to an old and valuable tree...surely acts of this nature..."
"It will be for Professor McGonagall to decide on these boys' punishments, Severus." said Dumbledore calmly. "They are in her House and are therefore her responsibility." He turned to Professor McGonagall. "I must go back to the feast, Minerva, I've got to give out a few notices. Come, Severus, there's a delicious looking custard tart I want to sample."
Snape shot a look of pure venom at Harry, Y/n and Ron as he allowed himself to be swept out of his office, leaving them alone with Professor McGonagall, who was still eyeing them like a wrathful eagle. "You'd better get along to the hospital wing, Grindelwald, you're bleeding."
"I will be okay..." Y/n said glumly as he looked at Ron. "I think Ron needs attention more."
"I'm fine." said Ron, hastily wiping the cut over his eye with his sleeve. "Professor, I wanted to watch my sister being Sorted."
"The Sorting Ceremony is over." said Professor McGonagall. "Your sister is also in Gryffindor."
"Oh, good." said Ron.
"And speaking of Gryffindor..." Professor McGonagall said sharply, but Harry cut in.
"Professor, when we took the car, term hadn't started, so...so Gryffindor shouldn't really have points taken from it...should it?" he finished, watching her anxiously.
Professor McGonagall gave him a piercing look, but Y/n was sure she had almost smiled. Her mouth looked less thin, anyway.
"I will not take any points from Gryffindor." she said. "But each of you will get a detention."
Professor McGonagall raised her wand again and pointed it at Snape's desk. A large plate of sandwiches, three silver goblets, and a jug of iced pumpkin juice appeared with a pop. "You will eat in here and then go straight up to your dormitory." she said. "I must also return to the feast."
When the door had closed behind her, Ron let out a long, low whistle. "I thought we'd had it." he said, grabbing a sandwich.
"So did I." said Harry, taking one, too.
Y/n just stayed quiet as he took a sandwich and bit into it glumly.
"Can you believe our luck, though?" said Ron thickly through a mouthful of chicken and ham. "Fred and George must've flown that car five or six times and no Muggle ever saw them." He swallowed and took another huge bite. "Why couldn't we get through the barrier?"
Harry shrugged. "We'll have to watch our step from now on, though," he said, taking a grateful swig of pumpkin juice. "Wish we could've gone up to the feast..."
"She didn't want us showing off." said Ron sagely. "Doesn't want people to think it's clever, arriving by flying car."
"It was not clever at all..." Y/n commented grimly.
When they had eaten as many sandwiches as they could they rose and left the office, treading the familiar path to Gryffindor Tower. The castle was quiet, it seemed that the feast was over. They walked past muttering portraits and creaking suits of armor, and climbed narrow flights of stone stairs, until at last they reached the passage where the secret entrance to Gryffindor Tower was hidden, behind an oil painting of a very fat woman in a pink silk dress.
"Password?" she said as they approached.
"Er..." said Harry.
They didn't know the new year's password, not having met a Gryffindor prefect yet, but help came almost immediately, they heard hurrying feet behind them and turned to see Hermione dashing toward them.
"There you are! Where have you been? The most ridiculous rumors...someone said you'd been expelled for crashing a flying car!"
"Well, we haven't been expelled." Harry assured her.
"You're not telling me you did fly here!?" said Hermione, sounding almost as severe as Professor McGonagall.
"Stupidly, yes we did." Y/n admitted to her.
"Skip the lecture." said Ron impatiently. "And tell us the new password."
"It's 'wattlebird..." said Hermione impatiently. "But that's not the point..."
Her words were cut short, however, as the portrait of the fat lady swung open and there was a sudden storm of clapping. It looked as though the whole of Gryffindor House was still awake, packed into the circular common room, standing on the lopsided tables and squashy armchairs, waiting for them to arrive. Arms reached through the portrait hole to pull Y/n, Harry and Ron inside, leaving Hermione to scramble in after them.
"Brilliant!" yelled Lee Jordan. "Inspired! What an entrance! Flying a car right into the Whomping Willow, people'll be talking about that one for years..."
"Good for you." said a fifth year Y/n had never spoken to and someone was patting Harry on the back as though he'd just won a marathon.
Fred and George pushed their way to the front of the crowd and said together, "Why couldn't we've come in the car, eh?" Ron was scarlet in the face, grinning embarrassedly, but Y/n could see one person who didn't look happy at all. Percy was visible over the heads of some excited first years, and he seemed to be trying to get near enough to start telling them off. Harry had noticed too nudged Ron in the ribs and nodded in Percy's direction. Ron got the point at once.
"Got to get upstairs...bit tired." he said, and the three of them started pushing their way toward the door on the other side of the room, which led to a spiral staircase and the dormitories.
"Goodnight." Y/n called down to Hermione, who was wearing a scowl just like Percy's.
They managed to get to the other side of the common room, still having their backs slapped, and gained the peace of the staircase. They hurried up it, right to the top, and at last reached the door of their old dormitory, which now had a sign on it saying SECOND YEARS. They entered the familiar, circular room, with its six four-posters hung with red velvet and its high, narrow windows. Their trunks had been brought up for them and stood at the ends of their beds.
Noctis was spread out on Y/n's bed now having made herself comfortable. Y/n was glad she seemed to have calmed down.
Ron grinned guiltily at Y/n and Harry. "I know I shouldn't've enjoyed that or anything, but..."
The dormitory door flew open and in came the other second year Gryffindor boys, Seamus Finnigan, Dean Thomas, and Neville Longbottom.
"Unbelievable!" beamed Seamus.
"Cool!" said Dean.
"Amazing..." said Neville, awestruck.
Harry couldn't help it. He grinned, too.
Y/n sighed and smiled at them now. "I suppose we can enjoy the attention tonight, till our families hear at least."