These are dark times, Harry...

[Thirrin Vertigo]

Dark, dark times have fallen upon the Wizarding World, many years after the vanquishing of Voldemort. Since the great Harry Potter ended Voldemort's reign of terror, the magical land has passed through a golden age, that is, until the rising of a new evil power.

The Order of the Phoenix has disbanded, as has Dumbledore's Army, and there have not been magical orders of the like since the time of war. It has been peaceful for the last one hundred and fifty years.

However, it seems that in the last one hundred and fifty years, people who had followed Voldemort have passed on the ways of the Death Eaters to their children, who have been, in secret, reforming the Death Eaters, under the rule of a new megalomaniac wizard who goes by the name of Apprendemort. His name coined to mean "The Apprentice of Death". Apprendemort has appointed himself as the new Dark Lord and reveres the ways of Voldemort.

Unfortunately, there are none who can stop the New Order of Death Eaters, for Harry Potter and the Golden Trio have all since passed on to the after life.

Hogwarts and the house systems have all remained strong, especially under its long-standing Headmaster, Professor Longbottom, a descendant, they say, of the great Neville Longbottom, slayer of Voldemort's last tie to life and renowned Auror.

Now, it is up to the students of Hogwarts to stand up and fight against the New Order of Death, to protect the lives of all who cherish the good magics.

Which side are you on?
----------------


Profiles:

Name:
Nickname:
Gender:
Age:
Wand type:
House:
Pet: (optional)
Appearance:
Personality:
Other:

Here's mine:

Name: Calwyn Pendragon

Nickname: Wyn

Gender: Female

Age: 14 (4th Year at Hogwarts)

Wand type: 13 inch long, yew, Phoenix Tail Feather.

House: Ravenclaw

Pet: (optional) None - she uses the School's Owls when sending letters home. She's saving up for a Tawny Owl.

Appearance: Wyn is pretty much an average height. She isn't tall, but nor is she short. Her frame is slender, but strong. She doesn't look like she could beat someone up, but the last person who tangled with her ended up with a black eye and a missing tooth. Her hair is Ginger and is shoulder length. She would rather have it short, but instead she ties it back, only having two longs strands running down the sides of her face. Wyn's covered in freckles, and she loves them to bits. They're quirky, like her. Her nose is long and crooked, mostly due to the fact that she has broken it several times in Quidditch accidents involving a bludger and a bat. Wyn's eyes are an unusual colour, they're amber. It wasn't a birth defect or anything, it was due to an incident that happened to her at the age of 7

Personality: She's wacky, Wyn. She loves being herself and she is the type of person who doesn't get embarrassed by anything. Nor is she the type of girl to take a bully lightly. She has a strong moral fibre and hates to see people picking on people who are more vulnerable than they. This leads her into many fights. In a way you could say she was more suited to Gryffindor, but the Hat put her in Ravenclaw as she is very intelligent and witty.

Background: Wyn's family life is difficult since her Father lost his job in the Ministry of Magic due to a slimy con-wizard who framed him. They are beginning to struggle, as they weren't very well off before her Father lost his job. Wyn has two brothers, Tonno and Darrow. Tonno is in his 7th Year at Hogwarts and Darrow has already left school and his starting his own Broomstick company. Her Mother died in a potions accident when Wyn was 7. It affected her deeply, but she has managed to come to terms with it.

Other: In the potions accident which killed her Mother, Wyn was also badly hurt. However, her Mother's pet Phoenix, who had been passed down through the generations, was there to save Wyn. It had been too late to save Wyn's mother, but as Wyn was dying, the Phoenix gave its life to her. As a result of this, Wyn's hair (which had been blonde) had turned ginger and her eyes, once green, had become Amber. Another result of this act of kindness from the Phoenix was that Wyn became an Animagus, with the ability to become a Phoenix.


EDIT!

Here's the list of magical colours for the cool goggles :D

Here's a color guide (subject to change as story progresses):
Red= people with magical potential
Blue= Magical object
Black= Dark arts defense against DA or potential for either
Yellow=Straight up magic
Orange= Animagus/Metamorphagus

EDIT 2

Here's a staff list :)


Headmaster - Prof. Archibald Longbottom
Deputy Head - Prof. Rowena McCraggin

Heads of Houses:

Gryffindor - Prof. Julius Avis
Hufflepuff - Prof. Susannah Dittany
Ravenclaw - Prof. Rowena McCraggin
Slytherin - Prof. Alastor Carrow

Subjects:

Charms - Prof. Rowena Mc.Craggin
Transfiguration - Prof Julius Avis
Defence Against the Dark Arts - Prof. Ricfrith Wulfinger
History of Magic - Prof. Cuthbert Binns (he's the ghost one XD)
Herbology - Prof. Susannah Dittany
Potions - Prof. Alastor Carrow
Astronomy - Prof. Oreius (centaur)
Care of Magical Creatures - Prof. Armena Stoutheart
Ancient Runes - Prof. Deanna Cypher
Arithmancy - Prof. Lucas Hill
Muggle Studies - Prof. Helena Stewart
Divination - Prof. Oreius (centaur)
Flight/Quidditch Ref. - Prof. Arnold Nimbus

Other Staff

Nurse - Madame Molly Moon
Keeper of the Keys & Grounds - Ted Wildy
Caretaker - Argus Filch the 10th.

[Kalik2486]

((*squeals* I love HP!!))

Name: Parker Amadeus von Walterzen

Nickname: N/A

Gender: Male

Age: 14

Wand Type: 13 inches long, White Oak, Phoenix Feather; excellent for Transfiguration and Dark Arts-related stuff

House: Gryffindor

Pet (Optional): Eagle Owl

Appearance: Parker has a bunch of wild wavy dark brown hair. His piercing grey eyes with a tinge of icy blue are hidden behind his glasses, which can send a chill down people’s spines if he gives them an angry stare. He is quite tall, and looks like he’s average build, but can be really strong.

Personality: He often appears as cold and intimidating, but his friends know that he can be friendly and austere at the same time. He values inner strength, intelligence, and loyalty, and is not willing to give up to the very last ounce of his ability. But sometimes, he can’t help being hot-tempered and he gets stubborn. The Sorting Hat originally considered putting him in either Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, but as he is very adventurous and intrepid, the Hat decided to take his choice into account – which is Gryffindor.

Background: His mother works in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and his father works in the Department of International Magical Cooperation. Parker has a younger sister named Emma who is in her 2nd year at Hogwarts. His parents are always busy with work even in the summer holidays. The Thompsons are all Purebloods. His father is always disapproving of Parker and expects him to act like a true Pureblood. Parker has his suspicions about his parents when they invite bizarre friends over, but doesn’t let him get familiar with them. Parker and his sister both feel abandoned because their parents seem very secretive and cold-hearted.

Other: Parker is an excellent Seeker on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. He was immediately selected after the previous Seeker graduated from Hogwarts two years ago. His parents recently bought him a new broomstick saying that it’s a “reward”, but Parker feels that it’s just to keep him happy and not bother them with their work. His secret ambition is to become an eminent Auror.

[DayDream]

Name: Alexxy Weasley (Hell to the freaking yeah)

Nickname: Alex

Gender: Female

Age: 15 (in 4th year though)

Wand type: 10 Inch, Holly, Unicorn Hair.

House: Gryffindor - what else for a Weasley?

Pet: A tawny owl, but its the whole families.

Appearance: Long, straight flaming red hair that reaches her lower back. Her freckles cover most of her pale skin and round, chubby face. She's quite average in height, although bordering on the short side of things. Despite that, she's quite athletically built and averagely pretty.

Personality: She likes to have a laugh and tries not to take herself too seriously, but sometimes fails at that. She's concentrates hard in class so that she doesn't have to study later. She's very easily irritated by the small things, but tries to look past them unless its someone she knows well enough to shout at.

Background: She's a Weasley :P She lives at home with her loving parents and two sisters. She's the middle child and, more often than not, hates her sisters. Pure-blood, but like all Weasley's she's a 'Blood Traitor'. Her father works at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and her mother works at the Ministry in the Department of Mysteries as an Unspeakable. Her sisters, Deirdre, 16, and Jezebel, 13, both attend Hogwarts and are in the same house.

Other: Both Alex and Deirdre play Chasers in the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

[PrettyInPointe]

Name: Paigan Eve McCoy

Nickname: Paig, Pai or usually just Paigan

Gender: Female

Age: 13 1/2 (4th year)

Wand type: 11 and 3/4 inches, Rosewood, Phoenix feather.

House: Ravenclaw

Pet: One lime green Pygmy Puff named Gizmo. Also has a raven-black owl named Maisie.

Appearance: That depends. She is a metamorphmagus, she can change any part of her appearance to anything she wants at will. (Like Tonks.) She usually prefers to blend herself in, with mousy brown hair, dull brown eyes, ect. Sometimes she’ll make a change, but she doesn’t often. She prefers to look perfectly average.

Paigan’s natural appearance though, is completely different. She has very dark auburn hair and blue/grey eyes. She is rather pretty, and looks much more approachable than her chosen form, which is one reason why no one has ever seen her real self. (Explained further below.)

Personality: There is a reason to why Paigan was put in Ravenclaw. She is extremely intuitive, and she is an incredibly bright witch. She gets all O’s, and loves to learn new things. But she hides it all. She has a very low confidence level, and has a lot of insecurities. She thinks if she were known to be so smart, she would be outcasted and teased. She thinks if people knew she was a metamorphmagus, she would be thought of as a freak.

This makes her over-the-top shy, and she hardly ever speaks. Some teachers thought she was mute for the longest time. She stutters a lot when she speaks, because she is so nervous that she will say something weird. She has practically no friends, so she spends a lot of her time alone studying or reading, which factors in to her grades being so good. This is also why she wants to change her appearance to blend in more, because she isn't good with attention.

Other: She is the youngest of six children. She has three older brothers and two older sisters. They have all graduated from Hogwarts already. Her brothers are named Josiah, Aaron, and Shawn and they are 21, 22, and 20. Her sisters are named Brynn and Devina, and they are 25 and 22. Devina and Aaron are twins. Her father is an auror. Paigan has a Scottish accent that isn’t full on, but is still prominent.

[TeddyBearQueen]

Name: Severus Jr. Snape
Nickname: J. or Jr. - no one calls him Severus for a reason so everyone calls him J or Jr.
Gender: Male
Age: 15 (5th year)
Wand type: Rosewood, 12.5inches, unicorn tail hair
House: Slytherin
Pet: (optional) Owl- Cape Eagle Owl- (Named Prince)
Appearance: greasy black hair, a hooked nose, and sallow skin, and black eyes that are cold and empty and made you think of dark tunnels.
Personality: Very dark and scary. He's very to himself and has a high self esteem. He's very proud of who he is and who his father was (I'll explain later). He can be mean, but can be helpful as well, but always makes sure he benefits from it. He's also a pretty good student, but he's very apathetic.
Other: Snape didn't know about his son, who lived to have a son, and yes another son. Yes. J. is Snape's great grand son J. actually just found out about him when he figured he was a wizard. His mother told him the real story and he was proud of it. He helps Neville and everyone else as well, but he stays more on the dark side, even though he isn't a death eater...yet. He's bad and good at the same time. He' a proud boy that carries on the name of his loyal great grand father who served by Dumbledore's side.

[Wierdkid20]

Name: Alexander Crow

Nickname:Alex

Gender:Male

Age:14

Wand type: 14 inch, black oak, Dragon heart string

House:Ravenclaw

Pet: A black rat named Arnold

Appearance: Slicked back black hair, green eyes, and tanned skin. Tall and lanky with rather nimble fingers. He has a long face and a smile at most times.

Personality: Smart but not in the normal since. Knows how things work and why. He's willing to try his hand at everything and rarely has to be taught to do something more than once.

Background: A halfblood. Comes from a line of Aurors but has no interest in it. Mother is a Muggle that tries to help but doesn't quite understand what he's going through. He has a baby brother who hasn't developed wand less magic yet and his mother is hoping for an normal one. He would like to go into Alchemy or wand making the later his parents are trying to steer him towards in fear of the incurring insurance bill.

Other: He's a chaser for the Ravenclaw team and is all right at it. He loves to build things but they tend either not work or blow up in his face. An average student (Gets O's and E's) so it is said that he should have been placed in Hufflepuff. The fact is he's not academically smart, he's mechanically smart.

[amypops]

((Anyone remember Tilly? Changed her a bit though xD))

Name: Talulah Brown

Nickname: Tilly

Gender: Female

Age: 14 (fourth year)

Wand type: 11" Yew, Unicorn Hair

House: Hufflepuff

Pet: A very small owl called Cheesecake. She worked for ages during her summer holidays to save up for him.

Appearance: Tall for her age, with long brown hair often up in pigtails or some strange hairdo. A lot of the time there is some form of bright ribbon or clip or band in her hair. Brown eyes. She is often seen wearing her 'bumble-bee' stripy socks, as they match her house colours. She also has a large scar on her cheek which she got from a fight at her old school.

Personality: Very hyper and talkative. Tilly could ramble nonsense for Britain. She also talks very fast, and is often asked to repeat what she just said, but slower.

Background: Tilly is a Muggle born, and had no idea that she was a witch until she got her Hogwarts letter. She told one of her best friends, who 'accidentally' let the secret slip. Soon, a large number of her former 'friends' turned against her, calling her a freak and such other things, There was a large fistfight, which resulted in someone scratching Tilly and giving her the scar on her cheek. She now dreads going home for the holidays.

Other: She loves cheesecake, as her gran used to make it every weekend. She also has a small cuddly bumble-bee toy which is like a little charm for her. She finds it funny how her gran gave her it, and she was put into Hufflepuff, who's colours look like a bumble-bees.

[Thirrin Vertigo]

((Ok, I think we can start! :D))

Calwyn Pendragon stepped out of "Quality Quidditch Supplies" grasping her recently-repaired broomstick. It was an old model of the Firebolt line, although not as old as the original Firebolts back in the Golden Age of Wizardry, after the defeat of Voldemort. This was a Firebolt Blaze, a broomstick first released about fifty years ago that her Father had had as a child. He had given it to Wyn when she went into her 2nd Year of Hogwarts, when she'd been desperate to try out for the Ravenclaw Quidditch Team. Many times had bludgers crashed into the broomstick, seeing as she was the Right Side beater, and she had experimented on her broom many times before, trying to supe it up and make it faster, using a method her brothers had taught her. It worked, but she had to be careful, otherwise she could damage her precious broomstick... again.

Flicking one of her scarlet bangs out of her eyes, Wyn looked down lovingly at the bundle of paper and strings that contained her broom. It had taken all of her Summer's savings to repair it, having worked at Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream parlour the entire summer in order to save up enough money to buy a bird. Her Father could barely afford two new sets of school supplies a year for Wyn and Darrow, her older brother, seeing as he had been fired from the Ministry of Magic for something he didn't do.

Wyn was a bit disappointed now, as the repairs on her broom had cost far more than she'd hoped and now she had no way near enough to buy her owl. Delicately sliding her broomstick into her Quidditch Kit-Bag, she slung it over her shoulders and trudged off to get her robes for the new year, having outgrown her older robes two years ago, but not able to get some new ones. At least she didn't need a new wand, like Darrow. He'd been stupid enough to poke the wrong end of a Salamander with it... not good times.

After a while, Wyn exited Madam Malkin's, carrying her new robes proudly, and heading towards the second-hand shop to sell her old ones off. By this point, Wyn's arms were so full of school supplies that she had to return to the Leaky Cauldron and dump everything in her room. She had ticked off all the requirements save for her list of books needed for her 4th Year.

Clutching her paltry remains of the money her Father had given her to get supplies, she trudged down Diagon Alley, heading for Flourish and Blotts, where she began to find all the necessary books for Hogwarts 4th Years.

[amypops]

Tilly trudged down Diagon Alley, struggling with all her school supplies and trying to read her supplies list. Her feet killed like crazy, and she was wishing she had let her mum or one of her friends accompany her.

She somehow managed to get the door to Flourish and Blotts open and her booklist out without dropping any of her bags. Wandering over to the forth year section, she almost bumped into a girl who was standing there.

"Oh, sorry, didn't mean to bump you."

[Thirrin Vertigo]

Wyn jumped when she heard a familiar voice, nearly sending all of her books flying. Turning around carefully, being extremely careful due to the large pile of books that she was struggling to balance in her arms, Wyn grinned in delight when she saw her best friend, Tilly, standing there, also struggling with her own school supplies.

"TILLY!!!!" Wyn yelled, dropping all of the books, several landing on her feet. "Ow!" she cried hopping on one foot for a bit. "It's great to see you again! How've you been?" Wyn said, looking up at her tall friend. "I was kind of chuffed, 'cause I'd grown this summer... but it seems you've also grown..."

[PrettyInPointe]

Paigan was walking around Diagon Alley with her older sister, Devina, when she had to run into Gringotes to get something out of the vault for their mother. "I'll be right back. How about you go get a start on picking up your school books for this year?" her sister had advised. "Alright." said Paigan softly, her Scottish accent profound in her voice.

She slipped into Flourish and Blotts, and went over to the 4th year section. She picked out her needed books quickly, then walked around looking for a book she could read for fun. She had read many of these books already, for this was one of her favorite places to be during the Summer. She eventually picked out one on the history of the Triwizard Cup, and settled down in a corner to read. She was so involved in her book, she didn't even notice two girls in her year coming over to her section.

[Wierdkid20]

Alex stood outside Weasley Wheezes for the third time that week. He counted out his galleons again and again calculating how much he had and how much a bag of Gobstones would set him back. He sighed, took out 4 galleons and went inside. After words he headed to Flourish and Blotts to get things he actually needed. He slipped in to the 4th year section and saw a group of his yearmates. He waited to see if any of them would notice him and when they didn't he quietly pick out his books and got a book on gobstones games. He sighed and left then stopped when he saw one of his housemates. "Hey Paigen How's it going?"

[PrettyInPointe]

Paigan looked up, startled. She had no friends. No one would be talking to her. She looked up to find a boy in her year standing there. She had seen him before, maybe in one of her classes, but she had never even talked to him. It was a wonder her even knew her name. She searched her memory trying to think of his. ... Andre? No... um... Alex. That's it. Alex.

Paigan opened her mouth, and instantly got nervous. She didn't have any practice talking to people other than teachers, and even then she stuttered like crazy. She started shaking a little bit, and the stuttering began. "H- H- Hi, A- Alex." she said, her stuttering profound and accent worse than usual. She looked down, pretending to go back to reading.

[TeddyBearQueen]

Jr. combed a hand through his black hair, he looked down on everyone else. He was thin and tall, pale, and scary. It all worked out for him, especially since he was wearing the black and blue Slytherin cape. He smiled with his thin lips as he strolled through the streets. He didn't know what he was doing, probably going to annoy someone. The only person he'd respect was Neville Longbottom, his head-master, the rest he could careless.

Scanning the street with his black eyes, he found a group of girls. He rolled his eyes. girls he thought to himself. How funny they could be sometimes. Chuckling to himself he turning into Weasley Wheezes and let himself in. He had been asked to meet a group of people there, not that he really wanted to be there in the first place, but he was top in news and a big help to his headmaster. He was told there was someone there to meet him.

[Kalik2486]

Parker walked down Diagon Alley, wearing his old school robes, holding his list of school supplies, a large bag which contained his new scarlet Quidditch robes and a new set of black Hogwarts school uniforms with a cape, a package of Potions ingredients, and some tidbits wrapped in brown paper from Eeylops Owl Emporium for his Eagle Owl, Quinten.

His parents had given him tons of gold to buy himself a reward for getting straight ‘Outstandings’ on his 3rd year report card. So Parker entered Quality Quidditch supplies, and purchased the newest broom that only came out last week – the Lightningbolt. He hurriedly left, as there were many kids goggling at the new Lightningbolt on display. Parker became a Seeker in his 2nd year and he knew that whether he had the newest brooms or not, he had the observation skills and agility to catch the snitch. But his father had insisted that he spend the money on useful things rather than buying anything from Weasley Wizard Wheezes, which Parker thought had the most brilliant products ever invented for young children other than broomsticks and wands.

And speaking of his father, whom he never really liked, Parker had a rather heated argument just two days ago over their family house-elf, Donny. His father had told him to “do something better than mingling with house-elves” when he found Parker chatting with Donny like they were good friends, and Parker had stood up for Donny, saying that he house-elves have every right to have fun if have no work to do, and besides, Parker gave Donny permission to speak to him on equal terms. His father had stormed off to his study and his mother had to go smooth things out.

Still having an ample amount of gold for his books and other things, Parker decided to go to Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes to buy a few things, and also to see if Alex, one of his Gryffindor and Quidditch mates, was there or not. Passing by Flourish and Blotts, he entered the joke shop, and much to his surprise, Severus Jr. Snape looking around for something. He and Jr. were supposedly opposing house team members, but they had mutual respect for each other, even if they don’t show it. Approaching Jr., Parker casually said, “Looking for something?”

[TeddyBearQueen]

Jr. heard the voice from behind it. It was obvious who it was. Stopping he glanced behind him and found the boy from the opposing house. Raising an eyebrow at Parker he glanced around the shop until his black, dark eyes landed on Parker again. Finally, sighing he nodded. Jr. wasn't sure how much Parker knew, but there was something he needed. He wasn't sure himself what it was, he was just told to come here.
Glancing around again, to make sure no one was around he cleared his throat and said "As a matter of fact, I am, yet I have no bloody idea what it is." he said he said with a low voice with his thick British accent.

[Kalik2486]

Parker adjusted his wrapped up broomstick when Jr. didn't respond at first. The older boy looked like business, as he glanced around the packed room full of people and weird-shaped, colourful products, as if suspicious of anyone eavesdropping on them. Then Parker clued in. It must something to do with Professor Longbottom, the honourable Headmaster of Hogwarts, and the only person Jr. would ever pay any respect to.

Parker picked up some Instant Darkness Powder, pretending to be absorbed in reading its uses on the back. Out of the corner of his mouth, he quietly asked, "Is it the Headmaster?"

[TeddyBearQueen]

Jr. looked at Parker and chuckled at the Instant Darkness Powder and then picked up a book himself. Without looking up Jr. combed his hand through his hair, something he tended to do a lot. He nodded and leaned back on the table as if he was reading the book with intent and whispered back "The Headmaster has sent me here, said there is something waiting for me here, thing is, I have no bloody idea what it is." he grunted. Looking back into his book, he read a funny line and laughed at it making sure to not have eye contact with Parker, he couldn't have anyone interfering, bad enough Parker had to be involved, but out of everyone here, Parker would be one to trust, to his dismay.

[Kalik2486]

Parker picked up a Skiving Snackbox and some Decoy Detonators to add to his armful of Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder, which he had originally planned to purchase. As he did this, he whispered, “Yes, yes, yes, I understand that you have no idea what the bloody heck is going on.” Then he lined up at the cashier to pay for the items, scanning the crowd for a red-headed girl, but there were too many people. For some reason, his sharp grey eyes kept glancing at a man slowly making his way toward Jr., as if trying to be inconspicuous. Interesting…

After greeting Mr. Weasley and paying for his things, Parker weaved his way back to Jr., and muttered, “I think whoever you’re waiting for has arrived. I’ll be getting my spell books, so don’t worry about me prying into your business.” Smirking, Parker left for Flourish and Blotts.

[Thirrin Vertigo]

"Sorry, Tilly, I'm going to have to dash," Wyn said as she saw the clock on the wall. It was starting to near lunchtime and she had promised that she would meet her Dad at the Leaky Cauldron for lunch with her brothers. "I'll see you on the train, 'kay?" Wyn said as she hurriedly hugged Tilly and dashed off to the counter and paid for the Hogwarts Schoolbooks and several other titles that she had picked up off the shelves.

Wyn was a pure-blood wizard, but her family enjoyed living a muggle-style life in a small community in Somerset. It was a real treat for them to come up to Diagon Alley for the weekend before school, as it meant that they could re-immerse themselves in the Wizarding World before anything else happened. As as result of living in the muggle world, Wyn had fallen in love with Muggle fiction about magic; there was just something about it that she loved. Maybe it was the whimsical lands that the authors thought up when in reality the Wizarding World was much like the Muggle World, and had been for the past 150 years. Thankfully Flourish and Blotts and Whizzhard Books all sold Muggle books also, and this gave Wyn a chance to take her favourite books with her to school as well.

Dashing out of Flourish and Blotts, Wyn made to run down the street, past Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and back to the Leaky Cauldron, but she was unable to resist going in and looking at the magical gags, hoping to get a skiving snackbox. Picking up her pace, she began to run towards WWW but her arms were so full of books that she was constantly looking down at her arms or her feet and didn't look where she was going and as a result of that, she crashed head-first into someone, landing in a heap on the floor with them.

[Kalik2486]

Parker hummed a classical pop tune, carrying his bundle of useful little gadgets all wrapped up. As he walked out of the Weasleys’ joke shop, he thought of what task Professor Longbottom has entrusted to Jr. and if the man he saw was really who Jr. was looking for. Not that he cared about what Jr. was up to, but judging by Jr.’s discretion, he couldn’t help thinking that this was serious and is of utmost importance to the Headmaster, and perhaps to the wizarding world too, because it is known that Professor Longbottom has been in the fighting force against the dark side, the New Order of Death. And if the Headmaster can’t personally come to retrieve this thing, maybe because he’ll attract too much attention, then this item or information would probably appeal to the members of the New Order of Death. But maybe this isn’t about the Dark side. Maybe Professor Longbottom is simply too busy to come get whatever it is. Parker tried to brighten up his thoughts.

He was so absorbed with his ideas that he didn’t even notice someone hidden behind a tall stack of books had parted the crowd right in front of him. Before he knew it, he had been knocked down, with all of their things falling out of their arms and his glasses knocked askew. Normally when this happens, Parker would’ve instantly given the person a cold look, and the person, whether he’s a bully or an irritated wizard, would immediately murmur some form of apology and scurry away. But this time, he didn't give his death glare, because the person whose arms and legs were entangled with his was Calwyn Pendragon, his Ravenclaw friend. They had met when they were in their first year at Hogwarts in the same Defence Against the Dark Arts class. Grinning broadly, he fixed his glasses and helped her up, “Sorry there, Wyn, what a nice way to say ‘hi’.” Then he dashed around to pick up her bundle of books, bags, a long thin package which was pretty obvious what it was, and his own things. He returned her belongings to her, and asked, “Well, did you have a good summer? Where are you hurrying off to now?”

[Wierdkid20]

Alex exited the Bookshop with his books in a backpack. Yes the backpack was bulging at the seams but still, they all managed to fit. He ate a figgin as he walked and watched the various wizards and witches that went about their buisness. He realized he was far off course in the other direction when something caught his eye's 'JUNK SHOP' it said on the worn sign. He reached into his pocket and pulled out what was left of his money. He had 1 Galleon 16 sickles and 22 knuts of his own money on him surely enough for something in the shop.
He entered the shop causing the bell above the door to ring. "Ello'" said an extremely thick cockney accent from behind the counter. "Can I help you?"
"No just looking for now." He replied. There was a sigh from behind the counter.
"Well be quick about it." Alex knodded as he walked down the aisles. He spotted a pair of ominoculars and quidditch goggles. Both the quidditch goggles lenses were cracked but the ominoculars were just a bit dented. He bought both of them but that was the last of his money that he was allowed to spend for the weekend. As he headed back to the Leakey cauldron he saw two familier faces. Wyn and Parker.
"Hey guys."

[Thirrin Vertigo]

Wyn grinned broadly when she realised that it was Parker she had collided with. "Hey Parker," she said, as he helped her back to her feet and went about grabbing his and her stuff. He was one of the few people who knew about her love of muggle books, and so had no problem with letting him help her pick up the muddle of spellbooks and muggle fiction. "I think that out of all the greetings I've had today, that was the best greeting ever," she said, giving him a lopsided hug, in an attempt to hug him like she would normally with arms full of books. It looked quite funny. "I was just on my way to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes to get a skiving snackbox for this term, but I actually don't think I've got enough money for it anymore, so I'll just order it by owl later in the year," Wyn said as she and Parker began to walk together towards the Cauldron. If anything, she was just making an excuse to hang with one of her best friends, as she hadn't had much of a chance to in the Summer.

Wyn had opened her mouth and was just about to ask Parker about his holiday when she heard someone saying hi to them. Turning round she saw that their friend, Alex, was coming over to them. "Hi Alex," Wyn said smiling and giving him a lopsided hug with one arm as the books balance precariously. "It's nice to see you! How have you been?"

[Kalik2486]

Parker listened to Wyn answering his questions, smiling at finding a friend finally. He understood her family's financial problems because he heard from his dad, who had all the connections in the ministry, that Wyn's father had lost his job due to being framed by some cunning dude. But, no one did anything to prove that Mr. Pendragon was wronged, for that was all Parker knew.

Then suddenly hearing a familiar voice behind them, Parker turned to see Alex, and couldn't be any happier than to see another one of his mates, "Hey Alex, how are you doing?" Parker glanced at Wyn's stack of books, wishing that he could help her, but since he already had so many packages, and he still needed to get his spell books, he couldn't do much.

"Guys, I'm going to Flourish and Blotts. Maybe I'll catch you guys later. Oh right, and you can have this, Wyn, I don't really need it," Parker spoke hurriedly, and stuffed his box of Skiving Snackbox into one of Wyn's bags of school supplies. Then he quickly left them and entered the busy book shop.

[Thirrin Vertigo]

Wyn smiled and began to protest. "Parker, you know I can't take these, they are yours, after all. It's your skiving snackbox, and you should keep it. I'll get my own when I can, simple," Wyn said as she began to fish around in the bags with her hand, having not seen which bag the snackbox went into. By the time she had found it, Parker was gone and she was left there looking rather idiotic. "Oh well, I'll just sneak it into his trunk when we're on the train, I guess..." she said, stuffing the snackbox back into the bag.

"I'll see you later, Alex, I've got too much stuff to take back to the Cauldron. I'm meeting my Dad and Darrow for lunch; it's our last meal together as a family until Christmas. You know how Dad is, big family man." Wyn said as she rolled her eyes. "Catch ya later, Alligator!"

As she neared the Leaky Cauldron, Wyn began to feel her bags slipping from her grasp and began to run towards the doors, making it inside and to a table in time before she dropped everything. She was pretty sure she heard something crash in her bag of potions supplies from the apothecary. Gingerly picking up the bag, she saw that her new set of phials were smashed. Looking around, Wyn whipped out her wand from a special pocket she had sewn into her jeans and whispered, "Reparo". The smashed pieces of glass jumped to life and fixed the broken glasses. She knew underage magic was illegal but she had little money left to spend on another new potions set in one day.

((cue someone seeing the underage magic! :p))

[TeddyBearQueen]

Parker picked up a Skiving Snackbox and some Decoy Detonators to add to his armful of Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder, which he had originally planned to purchase. As he did this, he whispered, “Yes, yes, yes, I understand that you have no idea what the bloody heck is going on.” Then he lined up at the cashier to pay for the items, scanning the crowd for a red-headed girl, but there were too many people. For some reason, his sharp grey eyes kept glancing at a man slowly making his way toward Jr., as if trying to be inconspicuous. Interesting…

After greeting Mr. Weasley and paying for his things, Parker weaved his way back to Jr., and muttered, “I think whoever you’re waiting for has arrived. I’ll be getting my spell books, so don’t worry about me prying into your business.” Smirking, Parker left for Flourish and Blotts.

Jr. watched Parker leave as he got his package. It was heavier then he thought. The man dropped it in his hands and walked off.
Jr. held that package. It was really heavy. He didn't know what was in there, but it wasn't for him to know either. It was for him to take to the Headmaster. That was his duty.
Sighing he turned into a corner, shrunk that package and put it in his pocket. Suddenly he remembered he needed school supplies as well. Groaning, he headed out to get his supplies.
On his way he had caught sight of the whole Wyn and Parker thing. Rolling his eyes, he continued on his way, but...then he had caught Wyn doing magic. Raising an eyebrow, he just couldn't resist.
He allowed a dark chuckled to escape his thin lips as he came out of the shadows with his arms across his chest. "Well well, what do we have here...underage magic?" he asked with a dark taunt in his voice, he tended to have that scary affect on people, he actually enjoyed that trait.

[Thirrin Vertigo]

Wyn whipped around, nearly dropping her set of phials again. She felt quite guilty that she had been caught. Then she saw it was just Jr. He kind of freaked her out, but Wyn wasn't scared of him. At least it wasn't a teacher. Pocketing her wand, she placed the phials onto the table and turned to face Jr who was standing there, a disapproving sneer on his face, arms crossed over his chest.

"Hello, Jr." Wyn said, albeit a little icily. She wasn't the type of person to be rude to people, but with Jr. she couldn't help it. It was also a defensive mechanism, being rude, as she was feeling guilty, and it was her normal defence. "If you think you're going to get me in trouble for merely fixing a new potions set that cost way too much to believe, then I'd like to see you try. After all, you're underage too and I've seen you doing magic outside of school, and I have plenty of things that I could say about you."

[TeddyBearQueen]

He chuckled "Touche." but he wasn't going to give up just yet. He raised an eyebrow "You know, we all have our magic restraints out of school, I'm not a wuss that is going to tell on you." he rolled his eyes. "why would I do that. Its not worth my time." he chuckled "But then again, I come to wonder why...then I remember the reason why." he shrugged and sighed. He did have a good side, he may scare people at first, but he had a reason to all his madness. He then walked passed her, now with his back towards her he glanced back and said "don't be embarrassed of what..who you are. If you can't afford it, who cares what anyone else thinks. Be strong kid, no need to be all jumpy if someone pops out of the shadows, there are always people watching and thinking, and being nosy. Eventually you get used to it, and learn to avoid it." he shrugged "whatever, just a thought."

[Thirrin Vertigo]

Wyn curled her hand into a fist, her knuckles cracking ominously. She was very tetchy on the subject of her family's financial situation, seeing as her Father was having a difficult time finding new work in the Wizarding World since being fired from the Ministry of Magic. He was currently working in a muggle business, trying desperately to get enough money to send both of his school-going children to Hogwarts and to keep their small house. Wyn loved her father and was grateful for everything he did for them, and so she didn't blame him at all for not being able to provide much for them, but she hated it when people mentioned it, especially in the way that Jr. had done.

Drawing a deep breath in through her nose, Wyn calmed down. She didn't want to start a fight, not now and not here. She at least wanted to get off on a good start for her fourth year at Hogwarts and didn't want to start this year as she had done the previous year; with a broken nose.

"Just... just go away, Junior. I don't really want to talk about my family's... situation at the moment, ok? If you're going to talk about my family's finances, I'd rather not. However, if you're wanting to talk about anything else, then go ahead, just leave my family out of this," Wyn said, her amber eyes steeling over. Flicking one of the strands of hair off her face, Wyn picked up her bags of robes, potions ingredients and other supplies, last of all picking up her piles of books, she made her way to the stairs. "See you later, I guess."

[PrettyInPointe]

Paigan had gone to the Leaky Cauldron with her sister, after she had been pulled away from the shelves of books. "Paigan, haven't you read that already?" her sister had asked, and Paigan had reluctantly admitted she had. So the pair had gone to the Leaky Cauldron and grabbed a table next to the door. "Hey, I'll be right back. Aaron told me to get him a new pair of Quidditch gloves." Devina said, then slipped out the door, leaving Paigan sitting alone.

No sooner had Devina left, Wyn walked in and dropped her stuff, followed by Jr., who started to ridicule her about it. Paigan had a very good view of the encounter, but tried not to make it obvious she was listening. Jr. scared her, and she was always visibly uncomfortable around him.

As Wyn left Jr. standing there, Paigan sighed and looked around. She was rather bored, so resorted to her usual means of entertaining herself, turning part of her hair different colors. She always did this on little sections behind her hand, as no one except her family new she was a metomorphmagus, and she had gotten very good at drawing no attention what-so-ever while doing this.

[Thirrin Vertigo]

Wyn began to huffily climb the stairs, doing her level best to not drop any of her books. Of course, she dropped one book on her way up. Not noticing that she had dropped her well-thumbed copy of Artemis Fowl, which she always carried with her (and as a result, she'd named it); it was her favourite book, she continued climbing up the stairs, stumbling over her undone shoelaces and making sure she didn't break her phials again.

Clumsily opening her door with her foot, Wyn backed into the room, pushing the door open with her back and getting into her room as quickly as possible. Her trunk lay open on the floor at the foot of her bed and she began to unpack her new school supplies, organising them in her trunk. She put her muggle clothes in the bottom of her trunk, along with her muggle books and her the paltry remains of her summer savings. On top of her muggle clothes she put her uniform, making sure it was nice and neat and uncrumpled. Next went the spellbooks and textbooks and comic books that she was bringing with her. On top of all that she put her Quidditch Robe and gear, ready for use immediately.

Something was missing, she was sure of it, so she checked the messenger bag that she always carried around with her, only to find that her copy of Artemis Fowl was missing. "Oh no..." Wyn said as she realised what had happened. It had fallen off her pile of books when she was climbing the stairs! If any wizard saw her book, she would become the laughing-stock of the 4th Year!

Kicking the door open, Wyn dashed out of her room and down the stairs, only to see that her book was in the hands of...

((opening ahoy! :p))

[amypops]

Tilly headed back to the Leaky cauldron, where she had been staying with a few friends. Her parents were still home, and she had been wandering around trying to find a signal on her phone so she could call them and confirm she was alright. No such luck on the signal.

Heading up the stairs to her room, she spotted something lying on the stairs. Curious, she picked it up, and noted that it was an Artemis Fowl book - a muggle book. Being a muggle born, she had seen these books before and wondered what on earth it was doing in a wizard inn.

Starting up the stairs again, she saw Wyn at the top, and she looked panicked.

"Hey, Wyn. Lost something? Someone lost this book on the stairs, I didn't know anyone else read the series!" she smiled, nodding to the book on top of the lopsided pile in her arms. "I was gonna check if there was a name or something on the inside when I have a free arm. Could you maybe have a look?"

[Thirrin Vertigo]

Wyn broke into a smile. It was ok if Tilly saw her muggular reading habits. "No need to check for a name; that's mine," she said, grinning, almost sheepishly. "It's my favourite book and I take it with me everywhere. I was so scared that I'd lost it, especially on the wizard side of the Cauldron. Thanks for picking it up," Wyn said, taking the battered book from Tilly.

"It's good to see you again," she said, hugging her best friend tightly. "We didn't really get a proper chance to chat in Flourish and Blott's, so this is good," Wyn said, putting her book back into her messenger bag, along with her wand and magical camera. "So, how was your summer, anyway? I'm really jealous; you've grown! I haven't... it's not fair," Wyn said, pretending to sulk.

[amypops]

"Haha, sorry. Dad's complaining that I must have used magic to grow taller." Tilly giggled, readjusting everything in her arms.

"My summer has been ok. I've found that the more I stay out of the way and away from any old school friends or neighbours, I'm ok. It's funny. theres a fair few that are scared of me. They've been like that since I told my friend I was a witch and she told everyone else. Ah well. How's your summer been? Watcha been up to? Oh also, urm... I can't remember what I was away to say there." she grinned.

"Wanna come back to my room? I need to put away my stuff, my arms are starting to kill." she smiled apologetically.

[Kalik2486]

Parker quickly selected the correct textbooks as stated on his supplies list from the shelves, and paid for them. He was taking more than the mandatory number of classes needed to graduate, simply to just broaden his mind.

Now holding a large bundle of spell books, Parker walked up Diagon Alley again, eager to reach the Leaky Cauldron so he could put his stuff down and roam Diagon Alley for the rest of the day. He spotted his sister sitting outside Florean Fortescue’s Ice-cream parlour with her friends. He and his sister always stayed in the Cauldron’s rooms the week before school started because his parents had no time to take him to King’s Cross. As an important person in the ministry, his father would always either be away in some foreign country attending meetings or working late hours in the Ministry. Same with his mother, but she needn’t travel anywhere. Besides, his Uncle Derek, a wandmaker, ran Ollivander’s wand shop and would always be in Diagon Alley if they ever needed help. But of course, Uncle Derek and his father never got along due to certain reasons Parker knew nothing of because whenever he walked in on them arguing, they would immediately change the subject.

Wyn and Alex had disappeared, so Parker went into the Cauldron and up the stairs, where he found Wyn talking to her best friend, Tilly, at the top. “Hello, girls. Gotta go put down this stuff. Carry on,” said Parker, smiling, and went to his room. His owl, Quinten, was rattling the cage, so he let him out the window for some exercise. Then he sorted out all the different parcels, clothes, and books into his school trunk with his wrapped up broomstick secured on the outside. Finally, he flopped down onto his bed and closed his eyes for some rest.

[Thirrin Vertigo]

Wyn's eyes flicked to her watch and she saw that it was 10 o'clock. They had an hour until the train left from King's Cross, and it wouldn't be good for them to get left behind. It was famed within Hogwarts of how Harry Potter and Ron Weasley had flown to school in a magical, flying Ford Anglia and how they had been bashed up by the Whomping Willow. Of course, if anyone else did that now, they would be expelled.

"I'll see you later Tilly, I've got to go and finish packing my trunk before we go, seeing as I rushed off suddenly when I realised I had lost my book. I'll see you at Platform 9&3/4," Wyn said, hugging Tilly quickly one last time and rushing off back to her room. Hurriedly she finished packing her books and made sure that she had absolutely everything. The only problem was that her broomstick didn't fit into her trunk, so she would be carrying it around with her in London. Not the best thing to do when you don't want to attract muggle attention. She'd nearly been spotted several times in the Summer, playing Quidditch with Darrow, so she had to keep a low profile, especially with two Underage Wizardry offences. She couldn't help it, though, seeing as she had been attacked by a mugger and had no other way to save herself other than stupefy him.

As she closed her trunk, an owl flew in and dropped a note on her bed. It was from her Dad.

Sorry, Calwyn, but I can't come for lunch today. I've been called away for business at last moment. Have a good term and I'll see you at Christmas. Love you, Pa.

Disappointed, Wyn crushed the note in her hand and chucked it in the bin. She had half a mind to send him a howler, but she knew that would be stupid.

Taking her wand out, Wyn shrunk her trunk and put it in her messenger bag and repeated the trick with her broomstick. She wasn't really in the mood to be seen going around London with a massive trunk and a broomstick. Puffing some hair out of her face, she considered transforming into her animagus form and flying off to Hogwarts rather than going on the train, but she thought it might be better to not be seen.

**TIMESKIPPLES**

At a quarter to eleven, Calwyn got off her bed and slung her messenger bag over her shoulder, shrunken trunk and broomstick stashed inside. Grabbing the small money bag with the paltry remains of her savings, she left the room and handed in the key to the man behind the bar, taking a look around at the Leaky Cauldron for the last time that term.

"See you later," she said to the wizard behind the bar as she went over to the fireplace, took a handful of floo powder and threw it on the fire. Seeing as she was too young to apparate, Calwyn had to make do with the Floo Network to get her to King's Cross. She could always fly in her animagus form, but then again, not many muggles were accustomed to seeing legendary birds of fire randomly flying around a train station, scaring off pigeons.

Stepping into the flames, Wyn spoke four words very clearly. "King's Cross Train Station." And in a flash of light, she was gone, spinning through the floo network. Round and round she went, whizzing past countless fireplaces until she came to a spinning stop in the middle of King's Cross Station. Since the time of the Golden Trio, the Floo Network had been modified to be practically like Apparition, merely without being able to be performed anywhere, only able to deposit a person anywhere, providing they started in a fireplace. Thankfully no one noticed a girl with messy red hair and amber eyes appear from nowhere, her clothes looking a little sooty. It was helpful that muggles were so obtuse that they never noticed anything further away than the end of their noses.

Swiftly, Wyn made her way to Platforms Nine and Ten and walked through the third arch, reappearing on the other side on Platform Nine and Three Quarters. In front of her, puffing away in all its crimson glory, was the Hogwarts Express. It felt good to see the old Locomotive again and Wyn could already feel her before-school excitement coming in.

"Hogwarts, here I come," she said, taking her trunk and broomstick out of her bag and enlarging them to their full size once more. It was ten to 11 and the train would soon leave, so Wyn hurried herself onto the train with her trunk and broom and made her way to an empty carriage and quickly changed into her new set of uniform clothes. It felt good to be wearing the familiar Ravenclaw tie around her neck and the slight weight of the robes on her shoulders. It felt good to feel her wand in its right pocket, pressing against her side in a comforting way. She was going home.

[TeddyBearQueen]

His trunk on the train and his cape on he was sitting on the train bored out of his mind. Some day...some day. Long and boring, not even eventful. Sighing Junior looked around his compartment. Alone, again. Good. He was content, but still bored.
Suddenly he thought about Parker, they guy had better know about the package. Sighing he got up and went on a hunt to find his 'oh so dear friend' Parker.
With his luck, he might even find someone else to bother or something entertaining to watch.

[Kalik2486]

Parker did his last check up on all his things, changed into his new school robes, locked his trunk, put on his black backpack, and went to Ollivander’s Wand shop with Emma, but not without thanking the bartender. Luckily, Quinten flew back to him on the way to his uncle's so he put him back into the cage. Uncle Derek, a tall thin man with jet black hair, appeared from the old shop and greeted them, warmly. “Are we ready then? Hold on tight now,” Uncle Derek winked and pulled them close to him for Side-Along-Apparition. They turned on their heels, momentarily disappearing into suffocating darkness.

A second later, they arrived in the familiar train station, with the Hogwarts Express, ever so majestic-looking, waiting for them. Uncle Derek pulled them aside, and spoke in a low serious tone, “Always be on your guard for unexpected happenings, my children, especially when darkness reigns.” Then he smiled and gave Parker and Emma a wrapped parcel each. Parker thanked him with a handshake and Emma hugged him. With a last questioning look at Uncle Derek, Parker and Emma boarded the train, hauling their trunks behind them. Emma went to find her friends, and Parker was left to find his. He spotted Jr. emerging from a compartment, and was reminded of the package again, slightly frowning.

[PrettyInPointe]

Paigan lay on her bed in the Leaky Cauldron, nose in a book. She glanced up at the clock, then did a double take. It was five to eleven. Oh my Lord! I have to get ready! she thought, starting to panic. At the moment she was chilling in a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt, but she couldn't go onto the train like that! She threw on a pair of dark jeans and a dark blue hoodie, then did a quick check in the mirror. Sometimes when she was reading about something exciting she would change her appearance without realizing it, and so she always had to check it before anyone saw.

After concluding that her hair was still mousey-brown and her eyes were the same, she grabbed her trunk which she had thankfully already stuffed with all her books and other belongings. Lugging it down the stairs would prove difficult though, and as apposed she as to using magic outside of school, she whipped out her wand and shrunk it. She slipped it into the front pocket of her hoodie and ran down the stairs. But something was missing.

Halfway down she stopped dead in her tracks. "Maisie!" she cried, then ran back up to grab her owl cage, and her pygmy puff, Gizmo. "Sorry guys, didn't mean to forget you." Paigan whispered, then hurried back down the stairs again. She handed the key to the bartender with a quick ''Thank you,'' then threw some floo powder into the fire place. "King's Cross, Platform 9 and 3/4." she said clearly, and she soon appeared in a crowd of wizards.

"Excuse me, pardon me." Paigan said, as she made her way through the crowd. Just as she stepped onto the crimson train, the warning bell sounded. The train was about to take off. Just in time... she thought, sighing.

Paigan walked down the corridor, looking for an empty compartment, or even one that just wasn't full. She finally found one that was empty. She slipped in, and put her stuff in the luggage rack, still shrunken. But looking around she found that the compartment wasn't empty, someone's stuff was already in there.

She considered moving for a split-second, but seeing as no other compartments seemed to have any room, she sighed and pulled a book out of her shrunken trunk. She enlarged it, then leaned against the compartment wall to face the door, bringing her feet up to lay the book on her knees as she read.

[Wierdkid20]

Alex ran as fast as he could to platform 9 3/4 with his trunk rolling behind him He was late very late. His goggles blocked his peripheral vision as he dashed through the crowded train station. His rat, Arnold, was in his pocket, his hair was a mess as he had woken up late and he had his backpack full of junk and spare parts on his back "Gang way!" He yelled through the crowd of Muggles. "Sorry excuse me coming through." He said knocking aside several people with his trunk. He jumped though the portal and head long into the Ravenclaw head boy. "So Sorry sir I didn't see you there." The student sputtered indignatly as Alex jumped up and continued running for the train. He leaped aboard then looked for a place to sit. He saw Parker coming out of a compartment. "Hey Parker!" He said running up He was sure he looked absolutely ridicuolous with his hair a mess, goggles askew and trunk in both hands but he rather sit next to some one he knew. "I hate to ask but do you mind if I sit with you?"

[Kalik2486]

Parker had found a compartment and had dumped his trunk and bag in there. Now, he wanted to find someone to sit with so that the long trip to Hogwarts would be bearable. Checking to make sure that he still had his wand in his inner pocket, he got up. There were still a lot of people standing outside his compartment, a bunch of bickering 3rd years actually. He decided to give his death stare a shot. To his great satisfaction, they sheepishly moved on to another place, casting frightened and annoyed looks at the same time at him.

Ignoring them, Parker heard his name called and turned around to find a rather flustered looking Alex hurrying toward him, asking him if he could sit with him. Never feeling more eager to welcome someone, Parker cocked his eyebrows, "Well, Alex, I'm sure you know answer. Have a seat, mate!" Chuckling, he took the trunk from Alex and hoisted it up onto the luggage rack in the compartment.

[Thirrin Vertigo]

Up in the Luggage Rack, sat atop her Trunk, Wyn stirred. She'd had a random moment where she had suddenly felt like transforming to her animagus form and sitting on her trunk. It was a little tradition for her, because on her first Train Ride to Hogwarts, she had done that when she met Parker, Alex and Tilly.

She squawked in quite an undignified manner as one of her tail feathers was caught by the trunk and pulled right out, and to be quite honest, it bloody hurt! A Phoenix never had its tail feathers ripped out by force! They gave them willingly. Kicking off from the luggage rack she flew down to the seat where she perched on Parker's knee and gave him her best death stare. It looked quite comical, really, a Phoenix cocking its "eyebrow" and death staring a human. In her beak was the tail feather.

Suddenly she transformed back into her human form, glaring at Parker, still sat on his knee, feather in hand.

"Y'know, Parker, you should really be more careful when putting a trunk up there. Those things hurt when they rip out tail feathers!"

[Kalik2486]

Parker heard the train honking to alert the last students to hurry in before it was too late. Parker sat down after helping Alex put his trunk up, finally getting to enjoy his fourth trip to Hogwarts and to,perhaps, challenge his mate to a game of wizard's chess or Exploding Snaps. But it didn't last long, because from the luggage rack, flew a beautiful, glowing phoenix and it landed on his knee. He could tell by the colour of the bird that this was his good friend, Wyn. No wonder that trunk was there.

He had gotten used to Wyn being an Animagus, especially a creature as rare as a phoenix; their extraordinary powers interested him very much. When Wyn first appeared as a phoenix in their ride to Hogwarts, Parker had eccentric thoughts of capturing it and keeping it as a pet. From then on, Parker had wanted to figure out how to become an Animagus.

Wyn was giving him one of her most fearsome death glares, her eyes flashing with fire and her 'eyebrows' cocked. A fiery orange phoenix feather was clamped shut in her beak. Parker wasn't all that scared of her glare, but he felt slightly guilty. Phoenix feathers were not to be tampered with. Had he plucked that out by mistake? Wyn transformed back into human form, still sitting on his knees, and reprimanded him about her tail feather. A small awkward feeling that he never felt before arose in him, but Parker passed it off in his apology, "Erm, I'm really sorry, Wyn, I didn't mean to do that...I'll be extra careful next time, I promise." Curious, though still feel sorry for what he did, he asked, "Um...may I have your feather, please? Phoenixes have always interested me. It'd be an honour if you would allow me to have it." It wasn't pleasant to get Wyn angry, and Parker fervently hoped that she wouldn't be even more annoyed with him upon this request.

[amypops]

Tilly re-checked her trunk for the umpteenth time, and bumped it down the stairs behind her. Paying the wizard behind the bar, she handed back her room key and checked her watch.

Noticing the time, she rushed to the fireplace and grabbed some floo powder, making sure she said 'King's Cross Train Station' clearly. Who knows what would happen if you said your destination incorrectly.

Merging with a group of tourists babbling in a foreign language, she slipped through the barrier and rushed towards the train as the warning whistle started to blow.

Tilly stopped to catch her breath as she entered the train just in time. Dragging her heavy case behind her, she started looking up and down the train for either an empty compartment, or one with someone she knew and could stand.

Pulling her bumble-bee socks up, she continued looking and eventually came to a compartment with Parker, and a very disgruntled looking Wyn sitting on his knee, a phoenix feather clutched in her hand which she was waing about in Parker's face.

"Riiiight... I shall pretend this sight is normal." she giggled, heaving her trunk up onto the rack and plonking herself down on a seat opposite her friends, letting Cheesecake out of her cage. The small owl hopped onto Tilly's shoulder, and cocked its head at Wyn.

[Thirrin Vertigo]

"Yeah... real normal," Wyn said in a dry tone, obviously joking. "Yeah, here you go, Parker," she said, handing her tail feather to him. "But please, don't do it again, because my derrière is quite painful now as a result of you doing that to me." Wyn said as she got up, rubbing her sore backside as she walked over to one of the chairs and sat next to Cheesecake and Tilly. She cooed at the little Owl, stroking its little head with one of her fingers. "Tilly, why do you let your Owl sit on your shoulder, but never me?"

"Don't you feel great about coming back home? It's great to be going back to Hogwarts. Now, at least, we're legally allowed to fool around with magic. Speaking of which," Wyn said as she whipped out her wand and pulled down her broomstick from the luggage rack above their heads.

The Firebolt Blaze was very battered and even though it had recently been repaired, again, it was still looking a bit worse for wear. "It seems that a new broomstick has come out in the LightningBolt range, and has outstripped the Firebolt's latest broom by so much that it's crazy. At least my Dad taught me how to fiddle with my broomstick recently. D'you remember how I managed to set this on fire last year on accident when I was trying to make it as good as the LightningBolt range? Well, Dad, before he *ahem* left the Ministry, he learnt a trick from the head of Magical Sports. Y'see, I was doing the wrong thing last year. I was doing the wrong incantation. I didn't need to say anything, rather, I needed to tap a rhythm with my wand on the broom. Like so..." Wyn said as she began to tap her wand on the broomstick in the rhythm of the famed Harry Potter theme tune from the Muggle films.

"And now... in theory it should work like all of these amazing new broomsticks." Wyn said as she put the broom back onto the rack. She could feel her wand buzzing lightly in her hand, the smooth wood feeling comfortable and familiar in her grip. It was always a little warm in her hand, due to the core, as it was a tail feather from the Phoenix that had become a part of her after the accident. Her mother had been an expert wand-maker and she had made Wyn's wand for her for when she would go to Hogwarts in the future. It was one of her two secrets. Her other secret was that none of her friends knew how she had become an Animagus. Animagi, unlike Metamorphagi, were not born that way. They either underwent a difficult spell or something traumatic would happen, making them become that way. She was just lucky that no one had ever asked her why she was an Animagus.

[amypops]

"Hmm, let's see... Cheesecake weighs about the same as a tennis ball, and a large Pheonix is considerably heavier. Not that I'm calling you fat or anything." Tilly grinned at Wyn, pulling her feet up onto the chair as Cheesecake nibbled her ear because she stopped petting him for a moment.

"Besides, you almost set fire to my hair last time you sat on my shoulder, and I had to throw my top out when you got the large burn in it. Never mind, It was a hideous top anyway." she giggled.

"So, how's everyones summer been? Watcha been up to? Anything spectacular?"

[Kalik2486]

Parker smiled slightly as Tilly when she came in giggling, as he was trying hard to not look embarassed or perturbed. As Wyn got up and gave him her feather, Parker nodded apologetically and solemnly as he received the feather, "Thanks, Wyn. Really, I do apologize for that." He placed the feather in an empty phial in his backpack.

Then he sat down and listened to Wyn talking about her upgrade on her Firebolt Blaze, as he fed some water and owl nuts to Quinten. It hooted a small thanks in reply. Parker marvelled at hearing Mr. Pendragon's discovery of a new trick, and wondered about his new LightningBolt Speed. It possessed every quality the Firebolt Blaze brooms has, increased acceleration, and it even has the ability to fly streamline if there was a raging storm. He nodded approvingly, "That's great, Wyn, I'll be really looking forward to racing you when we get a chance. I happen to have a LightningBolt Speed in my possession, because my father insisted that I should get a racing broom," he sounded a little bitter at the word 'father'.

He looked thoughtful as Tilly asked about their summer. "Well, let's see, other than flying on a broomstick Seeking a Charmed golf ball and studying the theory of how to do some advanced magic (and actually attempting Underage magic in the Diagon Alley rooms), I haven't really done anything too special," Parker smiled. He didn't want to bring up Jr. or his Uncle's warning. He just hoped that his uncle would write to him and explain what he had meant.

[Wierdkid20]

"Then Quidditch this year should be interesting." Alex remarked. "My dad finally let me get a pet so I got a rat, I was going for individuality. Besides that I didn't do much. Went and saw a couple of movies, went swimming quite a bit, found a good new series and got a chemestry set from my uncle. Little does he know the horrors he has unleashed upon the non magical realms!" He did his best evil laugh which was more of an evil chuckle. He reached up and began fiddling with his goggles.He had fashioned them after the Omnioculers and quidditch goggle and, to his pride. they hadn't blown up once. He turned a dial and suddenly Wyns broomstick got a blue aura around it, faint but he noticed it anyway. No one else seemed to though. He didn't say anything but he knew he probably had a puzzled expression on his face.

[Thirrin Vertigo]

"Yeah, we'll see," Wyn said, thumping Parker lightly on the shoulder. "I hope you're ready to lose, though," she said grinning cheekily. "It's skill and tactics that win broomraces, not speed and sleekness of brooms, even though it does help."

Wyn listened when Alex started speaking, tempted to take the mickey out of him, like they always did to each other. She loved the fact that he was so individual, like all of them, really. As a group of friends, they were definitely the odd-bods of their year. "Yeah, just make sure you don't wreak havoc in my community. They're still wondering why a large, metal ball has been flying around everywhere, chasing everything that moves... Yeah... Darrow and I were having a beater practice together, to keep up my backhand swing and all that, and I hit the bludger outside of the magical boundary of our house aand... yeah... we couldn't find it again. It made the local newspapers and everything." Wyn said jokily, but then she saw that Alex was looking at her broomstick with a puzzled expression. "Ok, Alex, what's up? You're looking at my broomstick with a puzzled expression and it's kinda scaring me..."

[Wierdkid20]

"I uh" Alex began. As he spoke he slowly kept turning the dial. The brooms aura increased in brightness and when he looked at Wyn he saw a red aura at her edges. He looked at the rest of the compartment and then himself and saw the same thing. He lifted up the goggles to rest on his forehead and the auras disappeared. "Nothing just kind of spaced out there for a second. I also think I left my screaming yo yo at home, drat." he lied quickly. "Any way what about you Tilly?

[Kalik2486]

Parked grinned confidently as Wyn thumped him in a joking manner, and thought, Precisely why I was chosen to be the Seeker from the whole Gryffindor house even when I had been using my Uncle’s old broomstick for the tryouts.

He turned his attention to Alex, who was staring at Wyn’s broomstick with his goggles. He saw Alex turn a dial and looked around the compartment. He wondered what ingenious invention Alex had come up with this time. He always admired Alex’s perseverence and brilliance at inventing things. Suspicious at Alex’s hurried explanation, Parker raised an eyebrow, “Really? May I have a look at those goggles too?”

[Wierdkid20]

Alex sighed internally. He really didn't know what it was and thought all the potion fumes might have finally got to him. He pulled them down one last time and did a quick sweep of the compartment. Everything had the aura again but this time something was different Wyn's aura was more orange and there was a burst of yellow as a spell somewhere went off. Now that he thought of it everything had had a bit of a blue tinge when he was packing his things this morning. He sighed internally again and took off the goggle making sure to wind the dial all the way down. "Yeah, sure, here." He said handing them to Parker.

[Kalik2486]

Parker had a mischievous twinkle in his eyes, as he always had when he wanted to make plans to sneak around Hogwarts past curfew or cause some trouble. He noticed how reluctant Alex was when he accepted Alex's goggles with a 'thanks'. He took off his glasses and placed them in his trousers pocket, then put on the unique goggles. Looking around, he noticed that everything still seems to be in order, nothing strange enough for Alex to look so puzzled about. Hmm...maybe he did something with the dial. Parker muttered, "Aha!" when he slowly turned the dial like Alex did. The images through the lenses were changing colours, everything and everyone had a different aura surrounding them, like they were glowing. Entertained, he looked down at his own body. It had a tinge of blood red blended with a hint of black around him. How interesting...we've all got our own colours. A question was already beginning to form in his head. But, he'd save it for later.

After several moments of fiddling with the dial, Parker handed the goggles back to Alex and put on his glasses again, "Wow, these are some pretty goggles. It'd quite amusing if you wear them to the Quidditch matches! Anyways, sorry, back to you, Tilly."

[PrettyInPointe]

((Would metamorphmagi be seen a different color too if you were wearing the goggles?))

After a while of reading, Paigan shrunk her book and put it back in her trunk. The boy whose luggage was already in the compartment had come back, and quickly moved to a different compartment with his friends. That was fine by her, she liked being alone.

But still, her eyes were getting tired, so she went up to her stuff in the luggage rack and brought Gizmo down out of his little electric blue cage. He was her tiny pygmy puff, the runt, and her could sit on three of fingers when she held them out. She loved playing with him, and even taught him to jump through a little hoop. But he wasn't the best behaved pygmy puff.

A few seconds after bringing him out of his cage, he jumped right out of her hand and started running. He was a fast little guy too, and she had to bolt out the door after him. She ran out into the corridor, just in time to see him dart into a compartment through a crack in the door. She was about to enter, but paused. It was full of kids. In her year. She instantly got nervous, but she needed to get Gizmo back. So she took a deep breath, and opened the compartment door. "Um... uh... h- h- hi." she said, quietly. "H-have y-you seen a p-p-pygmy puff?" she asked, staring at her feet, blushing profusely.

[Thirrin Vertigo]

Wyn looked up from her broomstick to see Paigan in the door of their compartment and ask them in her small, stuttering voice, if they had seen her pygmy puff. "Hey Paigan," Wyn said, smiling. She liked Paigan, even though she didn't really know her well. She seemed nice, at least. "I'm sorry, I haven't seen your ---" Wyn began to say and was cut off by a feeling of something bouncing on her head. Crossing her eyes and looking up to her head, in an attempt to see what it was, Wyn carefully lifted her hand up to her red hair and gently grabbed the Pygmy Puff. "I think I found it," she said, grinning and getting up from the floor and picking her way across the crowded floor to give it back to Paigan. "It's a cute little thing, I wish I had one. To be honest, I wish I had any sort of pet, really..." Wyn said as she gently tipped it into Paigan's hands.

She had been about to turn around and go back to her place, when a thought occurred to her. "Hey, Paigan, do you want to come and sit with us? I don't really know you, but you've always seemed like a nice girl. Why don't you come and hang out with us for a while? I'm sure the sweet trolley will be round in a minute, so we can all pig out together... that is, if you want to..."

[PrettyInPointe]

Paigan took the Pygmy Puff from Wyn and placed him lightly on her shoulder. It was his favorite place to sit, and he would often hang onto her hair if he got scared or she moved to much. "I-I'm sorry h-he was on your head. H-He is a very... energetic guy." she said, smiling shyly as she pet him with the tip of her finger. "Th- Thank you so much for g-getting him back."

She was startled when Wyn asked her to sit with them. That had never really happened before. And she had said she seemed like a nice girl too. "W-Well... thank y-you." she said, her head down. "I-I would like t-to sit with you, i-if that's al-alright." she said, her voice practically a whisper. She awkwardly took a seat by the door, and brought her legs up in front of her.

[Kalik2486]

Parker looked at the lime green energetic pygmy puff that had just been bouncing on top of Wyn’s head and now sat on the shoulder of its rightful owner, Paigan. She joined them at Wyn’s invitation, though looking startled as if this was her first time being asked such a question. At first, he couldn’t remember who she was, partly because she was in a different house and because she never made herself noticeable. She seemed nice, but was shy over the top. Parker felt that he should keep his cold stares to himself, not that he could help being born with good looks that were more useful for scaring annoying people than to charm them. Of course, he could stop that habit, but then there’d be no fun if he can’t intimidate anyone.

So Parker smiled warmly at Paigan. He didn’t want her to feel less than welcome, seeing that she didn’t do anything to annoy him. He could tell from her small voice that she was Scottish, which he didn’t mind. Deciding to take a stab at friendliness, Parker spoke to her, “Have you had a good summer, Paigan? Oh, I’m Parker, by the way.”

[PrettyInPointe]

"H-Hi, Parker." Paigan said, her eyes returning to her feet. She often found them there when she was talking to anyone, and by that point in her life, she knew every small aspect of all the pairs of her shoes she owned, not that she owned many, but if she was asked to pick her shoes out of a bucket containing a thousand of the same kind, she probably could. She looked back up at Parker quickly. He seemed nice, but he had a scary look about him. Not as bad as Jr., but it was still a bit scary. She smiled shyly back at him.

"M-My Summer?" she asked, nervously. She really hadn't done much that Summer, mostly reading and all. But she had also taken a trip to Scotland with her father on a buisness trip, and that had been a lot of fun. But she didn't like to talk so much, and that trip couldn't be explained so quickly. She had also attempted to play quidditch when her brother visited home, but had failed miserably, so she definitely didn't want to say that. So she just said, "N-Not much, really... W-What about you guys?"

[Kalik2486]

Parker wondered how anyone could be so shy when Paigan's eyes immediately went to her shoes as she spoke. He quickly answered her, "Well, I've practiced some Quidditch skills, flying in the forest near my home with my sister. She has my old broomstick now by the way. But throughout the summer, I read all my father's old spell books and learned some advanced magic that'll be taught this year and tested next year. I tried them out during my stay in the Leaky Cauldron. Mind you, we'll have a lot to learn this year."

He grinned at the speed he talked in just now. He liked doing that. One minute, he's relaxed, next minute he's talking like he's being timed. Parker got up, "Sorry, excuse me guys, but I'm going to see if the train attendants have a Daily Prophet to spare. See you later." Then he gently closed the compartment door behind him and went down the corridor.

((opening for Jr., Queenie))

[Wierdkid20]

Alex put his goggles back on. He turned the dial all the way up and started to see things. Parkers aura had black at its tinge and Paigen's was yellow orange. This reminded him of something, like he had read it in a book. He leaned back and began fiddling with his eardrum. Had it been a book or a magazine? No, it had been a book. But the true question was had he packed it. If he had it it would be in his trunk. He brought out his wand, Which it self had a blue hue to it."Accio Trunk!" He casted. A yellow burst went through the air and hit the trunk then proceeded to wrap itself like a rope and drag his trunk out. Unfortunately his trunk was at the bottom and got stuck then burst free and hit him square in the head."Owwwww." He said pulling off his goggles and taking out his handkerchief. The corner of the trunk had hit his jaw bone and cracked it he thought. He pressed his handkerchief to his jaw and dug through his trunk with one hand. He finally found the book he was looking for and brought it out. It was called the Spectrum of Magic by Isee Youh.

[PrettyInPointe]

((Sorry If I controlled Alex.))

A handkerchief won't do much good... Paigan thought. She had heard the jaw crack too. "Here." she said quietly, pulling out her Rosewood wand. She pointed it at his jaw and whispered "Episky!" There was a pop, and the jaw seemed to have righted itself. She liked healing spells, they were rather simple, if you could focus.

"May I?" she asked softly, pointing to the goggles. She wondered what was so curious about them. Alex seemed so deep in thought, and the goggles seemed odd and she would love to learn what was so special about them. When he nodded, she took them and put them one. She looked around, utterly confused. Everything had different colors surrounding them. Wyn's broom was surrounded by blue. Wyn was orange. Paigan herself was a yellow-ish orange color. "Strange..." she whispered to herself.

[Wierdkid20]

((It's all right))
Alex stretched his jaw after Paigan repaired it and handed her the goggles when she asked. "Thanks by the way." He said. He flipped through the book till he found the passage he wanted. Like most forms of energy,magic has a spectrum. If seen the magical spectrum would reflect the magic's inner structure. for instance magics in the raw would be one color while the different combinations would reflect a different color. If the magic was acted on some one the bodies chemical structure would intermix with the magic changing it another color. Also within theory since dark magic and the magic used for animagus/ metamorphmagi along with the Patronus charm would all be represented with different colors caused by the magic being intermixed with forces of the natural or unnatural world. In theory the same process that causes synthesia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia) could also apply to magic which would be near impossible but this is all still hypothetical. "Hmm. Interesting." Alex said. He wondered if he should tell Parker this sort of thing would interest him. He sat there in deliberation then jumped up and bounded out of the compartment to find Parker and show him. "Be right back!" he called behind him.

[Kalik2486]

Parker’s happy mood dropped when he had found his sister, Emma, and her groups of friends using a combination of hexes on Marcus Malfoy and his buddies, who looked very disgusting and was lying on the floor. Malfoy was an arrogant, sinister fifth-year Slytherin boy with a dark reputation for his infamous ancestors. He had become angry when Emma, who wore an extremely defiant expression, protested, “Well, he deserved it. You know how he and those goons of his tried to curse you last year right before the Final Quidditch match. Lucky for you, I came along. And, he threatened us when we refused to give him our treats. By the way, the snack trolley’s is on its way.” Parker, exasperated, had no choice but to order her to not abuse her magical abilities again. But then, he had a feeling that there would be no guarantee that she would listen to him, seeing that she, like him, didn’t like to follow other people’s orders.

After that, Parker began to head back to his compartment, with a Daily Prophet tucked under his arm. As he pushed past a couple of first-years, he found Alex, who looked very excited. “Hey Alex, what’s up? The snack trolley is coming around soon,” said Parker.

[Wierdkid20]

((Sorry a bit of character control here Kalik))
"There you are." Alex said coming up to walk next to Parker. "So I was looking through the goggles again and it reminded me of a book my uncle on my dads side gave me over the summer." He pulled out the book and pointed to the passage. "Read this." Parker studied the text for a few minutes. "So that's what I think I've created, a way to see the Magical spectrum!" He said accidentally whacking a first year in the head with his enthusiastic gestures. "So opinions?"

[Kalik2486]

((It’s alright))
Parker examined the text from the book Alex passed to him. He read the whole page twice to make sure that he didn’t miss anything. That would explain all the different coloured auras around everyone in the compartment. He was truly astounded and excited now. Parker looked up and passed the book back to Alex, “Wow, Alex, I think this theory’s possible! I mean all we saw were random colours surrounding everyone, but they had to mean something. This would explain what you’ve invented! The chemical structure in our bodies intermixes with some sort of magic which produces these colours to define our magical energy...and it says something about animagus and metamorphmagi... so, Wyn’s orange colour would represent animagi, doesn’t it? And...and mine,” Parker frowned, a bit anxious now, “It’s red with a tinge of black. Does that mean I’ve been exposed to some form of Dark Magic?”

[Thirrin Vertigo]

Wyn was beginning to get a little hot being in the small compartment. It was quite quiet and she had never been the quiet type, really. Making sure her wand was in her pocket, she stowed her broomstick in the luggage rack and straightened her robes.

"It's a little hot in here, I'm just going out for a bit of a walk. See you guys in a bit," Wyn said with a smile, breaking the silence as she picked her way over to the door and closed it behind her as she got into the corridor. Taking out her wand, Calwyn began to fiddle with it as she walked down towards the end of the carriage, to the little balcony that was at the end of the carriage.

Closing the carriage door behind her, Wyn stood out on the balcony and untied her hair, letting it fly free in the cooling wind. She was feeling really excited about going back to Hogwarts. It had been too long since she had freely done magic without rules and she was just itching to play some real Quidditch on the Ravenclaw team.

[Wierdkid20]

"I don't know." Alex said frowning. He thought for a bit as they walked. "Do you have any Auror's in your family. If one of them was hit with a curse or something the the dark energy could still exist and have passed it through your genetic code. But then again I know that my grandfather was hit with the imperious curse and as you saw my aura is as red as a cherry. So that might not have anything to do with it." He noticed Parker's frown deepen. "Come on we all know your not a bad guy or Deatheater or anything. So it could just be that you were exposed to it some how, like when Malfoy tried to curse you last year before the match. You played very well in that one by the way, moved almost as fast as the snitch."

[Kalik2486]

Parker smiled gratefully, “Thanks Alex, but I just hope that people don’t think of me as a fast player only because I’ve got a good broomstick. Anyway, I don’t know anyone in my family being Aurors or Dark wizards. Maybe it was really just Malfoy. If he ever tries to use Dark curses on me again, I’ll personally make sure he gets tried and expelled.”

As they walked back to the compartment, his mood was considerably lighter on the fact that he wasn’t a bad wizard, but he still couldn’t resist the suspicious feeling deep in his guts. He knew that his parents were never home for a long time. A memory flashed in his mind. On the night before he first attended Hogwarts, his parents had invited some strange “friends” over and they stayed very late, discussing things in low voices. He had been kept in his room and Emma in hers. After that, there were no more late visits, but last summer, Parker had discovered that their parents disappeared at night when they were supposed to be asleep, but he had never confronted them, because he knew that they’d say that there’s an emergency at the ministry or something like that. Maybe it was really Malfoy...or maybe, there’s something wrong with my genes.

Parker looked down the corridor, where the snack trolley was stopping at each compartment. “Come on, let’s get something to eat. I’m starving,” Parker grinned, and picked up his pace.

[Thirrin Vertigo]

The shouted call of "Aaaaanything from the trolleys?!" came from down the carriage as Wyn began to walk back inside. This was her favourite part of the train ride to Hogwarts. She adored Wizard Sweets and had missed them so much. Things like Yorkie Bars and Galaxy bars and all that were really boring and didn't do anything fun. Wyn was absolutely desperate to have a Chocolate Frog.

Grabbing the few remaining Sickles and Knuts in her pocket, she ran over to the trolley, meeting Alex and Parker at the same time. "Hey guys! SWEETS! Woohoo!" Wyn said, practically bouncing off the walls, she was the excited. She had some sandwiches and crisps in her bag for real food, but she had to have some sweets.

"Anything from the trolley, dears?" They were asked as the sweet trolley came up to them.

"Erm, two chocolate frogs and a packet of Druid Balls, please," Wyn said, grinning broadly. She was really looking forward to the sweets.

"That's 14 sickles please," the woman said. Wyn's face fell. She didn't have enough.

"Erm, I'll just have the druid balls, then," she said a little embarrassed that she couldn't even afford a few sweets. Handing over four Sickles, Wyn took the Druid Balls. "See you guys back in the compartment, I guess..."

[PrettyInPointe]

Paigan felt guilty when she saw Wyn couldn't buy her sweets. Paigan always read the Daily Prophet, and had read the case against Wyn's father. Paigan strongly believed he was innocent, but that didn't change the minds of the rest of the wizarding world. Paigan didn't have anything to do with what happened, but Paigan's family did have money. They weren't rich, but they still had money, and it always made Paigan feel guilty when other people didn't.

She got up from the compartment and quietly opened the door. "Anything from the trolley, my dear?" the woman asked her. "Um... C-can I have t-two chocolate frogs, please?" Paigan asked, quietly. "Yes. Ten sickles, please." the woman said. Paigan handed over the money, and slipped back into the compartment.

While Wyn was talking to someone and no one was looking at her, Paigan pulled out her wand. Wingardium Leviosa. she whispered, and the chocolate frogs rose up. She subtly guided it into the Wyn's bag, then set it down lightly. Slipping her wand back into her hoodie pocket, she stood up. "I-I think I'm going to go change.... Uh, s-see you around... I-I guess." she said, quietly, then started toward the compartment the rest of her stuff was in.

She slipped inside, putting Gizmo back in his cage. Then enlarged her trunk, so she could get her robes out. It's good to be home. she thought, smiling to herself.

[Wierdkid20]

"Anything from the trolley for you dear?" the snack trolley lady asked

"Yes, A bag of Fizzing Wizzbees and two Chocolate frogs please." Alex said digging into his jeans pocket for the money.

"That's 20 sickles please." He handed her the money and took his treats. Then moved into the compartment. He sat down in his seat and opened up the bag of Whizzbees and poped one into to his mouth. He began to float in his seat. He got up after the Whizzbee melted and got his trunk out again then went to go change.

He pulled on his clothes in the changing area, and clipped on his tie, as he didn't know how to tie one. His cloak was unfortunetly was torn a little in the back. This was the third time. He sighed and took out his wand. "Reparo." He said a little bit tiredly. The cloth closed in on the tear and he slid the cloak on, tucking his wand in to the pocket. He picked his trunk back up and walked back to the compartment. He sat back down in his seat and opened up one of his chocolate frogs. He bit off its head and looked at the card it was a Circe. He didn't collect them but it was always interesting. "Hey I've got a Circe do either of you collect them?"

[Kalik2486]

Parker watched Wyn’s expression turned embarrassed and a little sad as she went back to the compartment. He could have taken some more gold from the extra money safe at home and gave some to Wyn, not that his parents would notice, considering the amount they’ve stored there and more in Gringotts, but he had a feeling that she wouldn’t take it.

Sighing inwardly, Parker purchased three chocolate frogs, a box of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans, and a cauldron cake, which altogether cost about 30 sickles.

Since he had changed already, Parker returned to the compartment and sat down, just as Alex returned from the change rooms. Paigan was gone already. “I already have a Circe, but you should start collecting,” he replied when Alex offered them his card. Then Parker asked, holding out his box of beans, “Does anyone want to some Bertie Bott’s beans? It’ll keep us entertained for a while.”

[Thirrin Vertigo]

"I collect Chocolate Frog cards," Wyn said as she opened the pack of Druid Balls. She popped one in her mouth and smiled contentedly when she felt it begin to melt on her tongue. Druid Balls tasted absolutely amazing and they were her second favourite wizard sweet, right behind Chocolate Frogs. "I think I already have a Circe, though. And, sure, I'll have some Beans, it could be quite entertaining. Do you remember how I got a bogey flavoured one last year? That was gross."

Wyn pulled up her legs as she sat down on the seat in the compartment, leaning against the wall with the window, resting her head on the smooth glass. It was cool to the touch and made her feel less hot. Taking one last Druid Ball and letting it melt on her tongue, Wyn resealed the packet and opened her bag to put the packet in when she saw two Chocolate Frog packets atop her books and bits n' bobs. Almost cautiously, Wyn took the two Chocolate Frog boxes out of her bag and stared at them in bewilderment.

"Guys, did you put these here? 'Cause I certainly didn't. I only got the Druid Balls... Who did this, 'cause you know that I can't accept these. You know how I feel when it comes to... well, y'know."

[Kalik2486]

Parker put the beans on the seat for his friends to grab anytime they want, and he himself, opened the packet of cauldron cake. Famished, he finished it in three bites, clearly relishing the filling inside the cake.

Parker raised his eyebrows as he opened up a Chocolate Frog and holding tight onto the frog before it leapt away, “Nope, I haven’t given you anything since this morning. Well, except these beans.” Then he remembered that the only person he had seen buying anything from the snack trolley, other than Alex, Wyn, and himself, was Paigan. Maybe she felt sorry too, or maybe Tilly bought something.

He popped the frog into his mouth and looked down at the Chocolate frog card. He had Albus Dumbledore again. “Dumbledore anyone?” he held the card up.

[Wierdkid20]

"I'm innocent, and here you can have Circe I don't collect them or really have an interest in collecting them." He said handing it to Wyn " I'll have some beans though, Do you want a Whizzbee or two in return?" He asked. "I made the mistake of leaving my stash out where my brother could get to it over the summer. My Mom came home and he was crawling on the walls. My dad had to spend an hour explaining to her that it was just some candy. Of course I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Muggle candy is rather boring. except chocolate, chocolate is good. Any way now I'm rambling." He said. At that point his clip on his tie came off. He sighed "Not again." He dug out his wand and took the tie off. "Reparo." He said tiredly then pulled out his other chocolate frog and ate it. "Ptolemy." He said

[Thirrin Vertigo]

"Thanks for the card," Wyn said, grinning as she took the card. She loved getting Chocolate Frog Cards from her friends. There was just something special about them when she got them from her friends. She was sentimental in that way. Looking at the card, Wyn began to chew on the inside of her lip, puzzling over who it could have been who had snuck those two Chocolate Frogs into her bag. She was sure that she hadn't bought them, having only been able to afford the Druid Balls, and Parker and Alex had both said that they weren't the reason behind the mysterious Chocolate Frogs. Then it hit Wyn. The only other person who had been at the cart at the same time or slightly after Wyn who could have seen what had happened was Paigan.

Wyn smiled to herself. It was so sweet of Paigan to do that for her, especially as she barely knew Paigan. I've got to do something nice for her, to thank her... she thought to herself.

"Oh, and talking about you giving me something, Parker, you really should have your Skiving Snackbox back. I can't take it. It is yours, after all," Wyn said as she took the box of sweets out of her trunk and gave it back to Parker.

[Kalik2486]

Parker crossed his arms and assumed an angry expression, and in a firm tone he said, “No, I chose to give the snackbox to you, Wyn. Take it or I’ll hex you.” He took out his wand and tapped it on the palm of his other hand, and mocked a frown at Wyn, “You know I always keep my word. I've learned a couple of new ones over the summer and I'd be delighted to have someone to try them on.”

After a short pause, he suppressed a grin and added, “Or, I’ll just leave it here and whoever wants it can take it. I haven't any use for it anyway."

Then he picked up his Daily Prophet, with his wand still in his hand, and began to read the front page. He loved reading the news even though he knew it would always be a little biased or pro-Ministry. The news in the paper was one of the few things his parents would actually discuss with him and his sister.

((Thirrin, do you want something like a mysterious attack in the DP article?))

[Thirrin Vertigo]

"I'd like to see you try to hex me, Parker, m'dear," Wyn said, raising an eyebrow challenging, her eyes sparkling mischievously. After a few moments of the two staring each other down, Wyn broke the silence. "Fine fine fine," Wyn conceded grumpily, putting the skiving snackbox back into her trunk. "I'll keep it, then. Well, we might as well use it later in the term, eh?"

Still grinning, Wyn took out her wand again, just loving the familiar feeling of the wood in her hand, making her fingers tingle slightly as they always did when such powerful magic was near her. Idly, she drew pictures in the air with her wand, animating them and making them come to life, such as stick figures riding broomsticks and playing Quidditch around everyones' heads.

Wyn was just about to poke Parker or bother him or something when she saw an article on a page in the Prophet. Generally, Wyn avoided the Prophet, knowing it to be full of falsehoods and biases, much preferring The Warlock, as it had no biases. Then again, Wyn just plain didn't like the Prophet due to their horrible cover on her Father's trial, stretching the story far out of context and making her Dad out to be the bad guy.

"May I?" she asked Parker, tugging gently at the paper. After a few moments in which she read the article thoroughly she looked up at the rest of their friends. "Hey guys, look at this," Wyn said, opening it up so everyone could see the article.

The article read:

Mortimer M. Morty, member of the Wizengamot and holder of the Order of Merlin, Second Class, was found murdered today in his house in the Muggle city of Salisbury. Causes are unknown, however it is suspected that he was killed without the use of the Killing Curse, as there are no outward signs of the spell's after effects. However, it is suspected that Mr. Morty was murdered with the use of Venomous Tentacular or Devil's Snare, due to the greenish tinge of his skin, commonly left behind by magical plants.

Rumours had it that Mr. Morty was in contact with a group of Aurors who have recently been assigned to protect large Magical Areas in Britain from the New Order of Death, most notably, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It is under consideration that there is a connection with his death and the three previous Wizards' deaths, as they were all connected, in some way, to the group of Aurors who were going to be protecting Hogwarts, most notable of these deaths was Bartimus C. Gallienne, ex-auror who was to fill the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts this coming academic year at Hogwarts.

We have been told that everything is under control and that there is no cause to fear, however, wizards are being heavily cautioned not to leave their houses after dark without their wands and preferably to remain in groups.

Wyn looked up at everyone, her face significantly paler than when she had started reading the article out loud.

"Something is telling me that Hogwarts isn't going to be very safe for us this year..."

[Kalik2486]

Parker triumphantly grinned and stowed his wand back into his wand pocket when Wyn reluctantly accepted the skiving snackbox after a moment of defiant stares.

After the entertaining display of Wyn’s artistic talent, Parker returned to his newspaper, but gave it to Wyn when she asked for it. When Wyn finished, he exchanged a glance with Alex and looked at the article she held out for them. His face darkened as he read it. Bartimus C. Gallienne? Parker had been quite excited when he heard that an Auror would be teaching at Hogwar and was quite enthusiastic about his DADA lessons, but unfortunately, it is no longer possible.

He swallowed hard and looked up at his friends, frowning. “It seems like it’s Lord Voldemort all over again, doesn’t it? I wonder what the relation between Morty’s death and the Aurors’ deaths is. I hope whoever replaces the DADA post is a competent teacher.”

[Wierdkid20]

"Agreed." Alex replied dodging as one of the beaters flew around his head. The little images were glowing yellow like his earlier Accio. Then kind of a inner chill came over him. His dad had been talking about the recent deaths and how they were really worried about the safety of the Hogwarts term this year. "I know Bartimus, we had him over for dinner once or twice. You know, now that I think about it my dad did say something about being in a group that would be watching Hogwarts."

[Kalik2486]

Parker nodded approvingly, and quietly said, “That’s sounds better, your family comes from a line of Aurors, good ones too.”

A career in the Auror Office has always interested Parker. When he was a kid, his father had been closer to his children and usually shared inside news, usually something about the Aurors, from the Ministry whenever they had time together. His mother never really told them anything interesting. To come to think of it now, Parker’s dark suspicions about his mother wouldn’t make sense because she’s full of the law. But then people can sometimes find loopholes in the laws.

Sighing inwardly, he wondered when they’d be arriving at Hogwarts, since the landscape was changing, so he checked his watch. They had about a little more than two hours left to endure.


***TIME SKIPPY!!!***


Two hours later, Parker, having dozed off earlier, woke up to the sudden screech of his owl, Quinten. Groaning with fatigue, he peered out the window to see that sun was already setting in the swirl of colours in the darkening sky. The trees whisked by, and revealed the silhouette of the great castle, Hogwarts. The lights from Hogwarts Express station loomed closer and the train slowed to its final stop. At last, he has finally arrived at his true home.

Hearing students laughing, calling for their friends, and banging their compartment doors out in the corridor, Parker got up to stretch, then carefully lowered his and his friends’ trunks and pet cages onto the compartment floor. “Come on guys, let’s go get a carriage,” Parker said as he made sure that his wand was safe in his wand pocket while slidding open the compartment door.

[PrettyInPointe]

Paigan had sighed when the Hogwarts Express screeched to a stop. It was an odd sigh, half content, half longing. She was so excited to be back at Hogwarts, it was like her second home, but the train ride was always one of her favorite parts of the school year. It was the best time to read, the best time to think, and the best quiet time. She grabbed her owl cage and pigmy puff cage, then slipped her shrunken trunk into her robe pocket.

She reached the carriages just as a full one left. She looked around and hopped onto the next empty one, pulled out her Quibbler, and waited for it to fill. A few moments later a group of people approached her carriage, but she was too absorbed in an article about an auror death to notice.

[Thirrin Vertigo]

Wyn woke up as the train came to a stop, absolutely beaming when she saw that they were finally at Hogwarts. She had been waiting far too long to get back to the fantastic castle with all its secrets and all the good memories she'd had with her friends. Wyn shrank her trunk once more and put it into her pocket with her wand and bounding off the train, robes billowing around her as a tricky wind tugged at her robes.

"Come on guys, there's a nearly empty carriage over there," Wyn called out impatiently. She was incredibly hungry and she could practically smell the feast in the Hogwarts Kitchens from the Hogsmeade Station. Haring towards the carriage, Wyn was full of excitement for the new year at Hogwarts, even with her slight misgivings about the deaths of the important aurors who were being assigned to protect the school this year.

As she sat down next to Paigan in the carriage, she saw that Paigan was reading the Quibbler and saw the same article about the Auror's death. So it isn't just a made-up story as is so typical of the Prophet... Wyn thought as she read over Paigan's shoulder. It made Wyn feel slightly uneasy now. She didn't like to think that what had happened back in the Golden Age of Wizardry was repeating itself once more.

[amypops]

Tilly hastily grabbed her things and followed her friends off the train, heading towards an empty carriage.

Tilly being Tilly, and not getting much sleep the night before, had slept for almost the entire train journey, the longest she had slept in a while. She had missed most, if not all, of the conversation on the train, and was still rubbing sleep from her eyes as she clambered into a carriage behind Wyn, making sure Cheesecake was shut securely in his cage before they set out.

Leaning back in her seat, she willed herself not to fall asleep again, and instead daydreamed about the Welcoming feast, ad the Sorting. Two of the best things about going back to Hogwarts.

"What's that?" she asked, as she noticed the headline on Paigan's copy of the Quibbler.

[Thirrin Vertigo]

Wyn looked over at Tilly who was looking incredibly tired. Typical... Wyn thought. Tilly had never been very good at getting to sleep on time, and it wasn't the easiest thing to stop her from doing in History of Magic lessons. She slept the entire train journey, didn't she? Wyn thought to herself, realising why Tilly hadn't known about the murders.

"An auror involved with protecting the school this year was recently found murdered in his house. He's the fourth one this summer. The first to go was our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. Something's up, eh? The Ministry's trying to keep it hush hush, if you read any of it, you'll know that it's worrying them that everything that once happened is happening all over again. After all, up until ten years ago, according to my Dad, the Defence Against the Dark Arts position was help by professors for years and years at a time, unlike back in the day of Harry Potter where each year there was a new professor of the Dark Arts. Now, like then, we have a new professor every year. People reckon that Apprendemort put a curse on the position, just like Voldemort did. One thing's right, and I know it. This year at Hogwarts is going to be eventful to say the least..."

[PrettyInPointe]

Paigan glanced out of the corner of her eye to see Wyn reading over her shoulder. The whole group that was in the Hogwarts Express compartment was now on the carriage with her, and the carriage was off towards the castle. Paigan looked back down at her Quibbler.

The story about the auror death was quite nerve racking to Paigan. She seemed to have a lot of free time around the castle and at home, so she avidly read every edition of the Quibbler. She found it to be much more truthful than the Prophet, especially when dealing with deaths and Apprendemort. But they had been reporting many more deaths than usual lately, and the fact that all the deaths had been aurors was awfully scary, especially considering Paigan's own father was an auror.

"I-I wonder wh-who the new teacher will b-be..." Paigan wondered, trying her hardest to be conversational.

[Wierdkid20]

Alex hurried off the bus after shrinking his trunk and throwing it in the outside pocket of his backpack. Arnold rode on his shoulder hanging on for dear life. The platform looked very, blue. Blue and red. He waved to his dad, who was looking over the incoming students, then hopped in to the carriage and sat next to Parker. Last year the carriage had appeared to be pulled by nothing but this time they seemed to be pulled by horse like animals. He knew they were Thestrals from his Care of magical creatures class. "Hey Parker, Look Thestrals." He said taking off the goggles and handing them to Parker.

[Kalik2486]

Parker acknowledged Alex’s father with a little respectful army salute and a grin, then pulled his trunk and owl cage behind him in tow, hurrying after Alex onto a carriage where Wyn, Tilly, and Paigan were already seated on. He tapped his carriage with his wand, shrinking into a pocket-sized trunk and chucked it into his backpack. Parker looked mildly interested at the invisible creatures that Alex was pointing at, as he accepted his goggles with a ‘thanks’.

He couldn’t see the Thestrals because when his grandparents died, he had always been too late. So they had passed away before he can manage to say his last words to them.

Staring through the lens, Parker saw bizarre boney horse-like creatures with bat-like wings on their sides pulling the carriages, clip-clopping in an even pace down the road. They held a mysterious interest for him, like phoenixes, probably because one needed to see a death to see these thestrals. “Powerful-looking wings, don’t you think so?” Parker remarked, as he handed back the goggles to Alex.

[Thirrin Vertigo]

"I don't know who this year's professor will be... I hope it's someone who'll teach us real magic and spells, because we're going to need to defend ourselves properly, judging by the fact that we have a band of aurors protecting the school..." Wyn trailed off as she looked at the rest of the page of the Quibbler. She had always liked The Quibbler and The Warlock because they were completely honest and unbiased, unlike the Prophet who were completely biased towards the ministry. The Prophet had been the worst when it came to reporting her Father's case, especially in the way that they had completely messed up his family name and everything. Skimming over the Auror's Death article, she quickly looked at the Quidditch scores.

Wyn looked up when she heard Alex and Parker discussing the Thestrals. She'd always been able to see the creatures, since she had been with her mother when she had died so horrifically. She thought the creatures were so misunderstood and she had always loved them and found a sort of odd beauty in them.

"Beautiful creatures, aren't they?" Wyn asked Parker.

[Kalik2486]

Parker, who was still intrigued by the powerful, skeletal image of the Thestrals in his mind, answered Wyn, “Yes indeed, they have a strange sort of beauty... I can’t see them without Alex’s goggles, though...” An awkward feeling of sorrow crept into his thoughts.

His grandparents had always been kind to him and taught him about nobility, their family history, and how his great-great-great grandfather and grandmother had served in the Battle of Hogwarts and returned to Germany to spread the good news.

Steeling himself from dwelling too much on the past, Parker turned to admire the magnificence of the Hogwarts castle instead as they passed through the gates with the two boars.

[Thirrin Vertigo]

"So, are you looking forward to this year's Quidditch Season, Parker?" Wyn asked, trying to distract the suddenly solemn mood in the carriage. Wyn, for one, was incredibly excited about the new year's season, especially as her broom had recently been repaired in time for the first knock-out match of the year. And now she had a couple tricks up her sleeves what with the modding of it to make it run like the newest brooms.

Wyn sat back in the carriage and took out her shrunken broom from her pocket, stroking it lovingly with the tip of her index finger. She was sorely in need of a new broomstick, but it was just too much to ask of her Father. Perhaps Tonno, her oldest brother, would be able to give her a free broom when his racing broom company finally took off, to use a fitting pun.

"You're so lucky, Park, that your parents can give you a new broom. Mine's been set on fire, submerged in the black lake, struck by lightning, frozen in the snow, snapped, chipped, mauled by a dog... everything possible that could happen to it and only because of my constant fiddling with its speed capabilities and handling, etc, does it actually still fly. Promise me you'll let me have a go on yours, though, eh? I'd love to see how it compares to the old Blaze. Maybe, if I'm lucky, I'll actually win that competition that was in last week's edition of Which Broom. Wouldn't that be fantastic?" Wyn began to babble, getting lost in her imaginings. That often happened to her, especially on the Quidditch Pitch. She'd been hit countless times by Bludgers when she'd began to daydream, which was not particularly good, seeing as she had to be keeping those away from her teammates. "You be careful, though, Park, when we come to the Gryffindor v. Ravenclaw match in October. I can still hit a bludger within a centimetre's accuracy, even with you zooming around on your broom. Don't take any offence though, it's my job," Wyn said, beginning to tease Parker. It was a part of the banter they'd always had. Teasing about each other's Quidditch Skills was one of their favourite things to do, especially in History of Magic with animated notes.

[amypops]

Tilly grinned, listening to Wyn and Parker's conversation.

"I'm gonna try out for the Hufflepuff Quidditch team this year, seeing as I missed tryouts last year..." she told anyone who was listening. Last year she had been in the Hospital Wing after crashing her broom whilst practicing before tryouts. Someone had distracted her, and she had flown into one of the goalposts.

"Any of you lot gonna try out?" she asked, swatting at Cheesecake, who was nibbling Tilly's ear. She had let him out of his cage and he was sitting comfortably on Tilly's shoulder, his little head bobbling up and down as the carriage moved up the path.

[Kalik2486]

Parker smiled at how easily Wyn can just babble her head off, knowing that she was just trying to change the subject. He, for one, did not have such skills with human emotions.

Nevertheless, her words were quite effective. Reminded of Quidditch, Parker’s spirits immediately rose. He joked playfully, “Of course I’m excited! It seems like I’m the only Gryffindor on this carriage! Uh oh, I’m out numbered, ain’t I? But still, watch me dodge all those bludgers with my eyes closed. But be careful though, you don’t want to bloody up your nose while I’m zooming everywhere, because that'd tear me up. I don't want to be seen blubbering.”

Then he sighed, “I may not be as lucky as you think. There are more important things than just wealth and top quality clothes, racing brooms, or whatever...Something like...never mind. But sure thing, Wyn, you can have a go on my broom anytime. I still have my other broomstick, the new Firebolt Blaze one, you can have it for now if you like, since your brother will be launching his broomstick company soon. Maybe if you use a few tricks of yours on it, it might be even faster than the Lightningbolt Speed! Then you'll be guaranteed a victory in that competition.”

He nodded at Tilly, "You should, You look like you've got a nice build for a Quidditch player. Anyway, I'll be going for Seeker of course, but who knows if someone better will turn up?"

[Thirrin Vertigo]

"Yeah, Tilly, you should definitely go out for the Hufflepuff Quidditch team! You're fantastic at Quidditch, and I'd love to play against you. Then I wouldn't mind so much if we were to lose to Hufflepuff." Normally, when Ravenclaw were beaten by the Hufflepuff Quidditch team, it got Wyn down, because she would blame it on herself, seeing as Hufflepuff traditionally weren't the best Quidditch team at Hogwarts. Had it not been for the fact that the Chudley Cannons had had a winning streak in the past fifty years, Wyn would've likened them to the Cannons.

Wyn then turned back to Parker, her eyes absolutely gleaming at the prospect of having his old Firebolt. That would be fantastic, but it would be an expensive gift to just hand off to a friend like that.

"That would be really nice, Parker, but I can't take it. I know I'm always harping on about my broom's age and all that, but I think I'll stick with it for now, or at least until I can afford my own broom. That would be fantastic. I'd have such a sense of accomplishment if I managed that..." Wyn began to trail off. That was when an idea formed in her head. She would have to check with the Head of House if she could do it, but she was sure she would be allowed. For, as they had come out of Hogsmeade Station to get on the carriages to Hogwarts, Wyn had seen a recruitment post with some adverts for weekend positions in shops, all offering decent pay.

[Kalik2486]

Parker disregarded Wyn’s objection to his offer. He made a mental note to write to his uncle to send him his Firebolt to Hogwarts before the tryouts. If Wyn doesn’t want it, he could maybe show his kindness for once and lend it to some poor kid who’d want to try out for their House, but only after swearing that he/she wouldn’t tell who had given them such a decent broom.

He turned to Wyn again, a tiny reluctant smile playing on his lips, “Fine, your choice. It’s nothing to do with your rants, but you can still borrow it if you like until you earn enough money to buy your own. And, if it makes you feel better, I’ll charge a rental fee of 1 knut/day. ”

Part of the reason why he liked to give things away was because he felt sorry for the people not being able to afford quality things and he felt guilty of having such wealthy parents. The other reason was that he felt that his parents were spending money in the wrong places; they only wanted to gain favours from important people. He had made some calculations once, and found that his parents had enough money to support all the wizard beggars and orphans in all of England for at least a month.

Darkness was falling quickly, and the carriages rattled to a stop in front of the Entrance Hall. The first years could be seen somewhere in the distance, arriving by small wooden boats.

[Thirrin Vertigo]

Wyn chuckled. She preferred the idea of renting the Firebolt rather than Parker just straight out giving it to her. "Well, maybe. We'll see. First I'll have to test out the old Blaze and see if she still has enough juice to fly for tryouts or not. If she can't work properly now, then I'll rent yours until I've earned enough money. It shouldn't take too long, I don't think. Anyway, I know exactly what broom I want to get, and if my calculations are correct and if I manage to get the job, etc. It should only take... fifty days of work at a Galleon a day, plus I can work holidays and weekends during school time. Also, I saved up some muggle money which I can send to Gringott's to get converted, and that should be about 20 galleons converted from £100 for having worked as a babysitter to some neighbours for most of the Summer. So, I should say that I'll have the Scarlet Phoenix by next term!" Wyn said, starting to get excited. She always got excited when talking about broomsticks and the prospect of being able to get her own.

Now feeling much better about the coming Quidditch Season, Wyn hopped out of the carriage with the others and followed the crowd walking up through the Entrance Hall to the Great Hall where they would get to see the Sorting. That was one of Wyn's favourite parts of the Feast. The Sorting was always so exciting, especially when there were younger siblings of friends who were there.

"I'll see you guys later then," Wyn said as she parted from her friends in the other houses to take a seat at the Ravenclaw table, on the far right of the room in the Great Hall. The next one, going towards the left, was Gryffindor, then Hufflepuff and then Slytherin. It was a bizarre arrangement, Wyn had always thought so, there had never seemed to be any point to it. As she sat down, the smell of food began to waft from the kitchens below their feet and her stomach began to growl. "Shh," she said, patting her stomach. "I know you're hungry... we'll eat soon." Wyn stopped, realising just how stupid she must have looked. "I must be going mad..."

[Wierdkid20]

"Oh we're all mad here." Alex said sitting next to Gwyn. "But I do have to agree I'm starving and what ever's cooking down there smells awesome." He looked around and saw the Head boy glaring at him he waved timidly at him then continued paning the great hall. He put the goggles on mid way through the pan while he was looking at the slytherin table and saw that all of the auras looked like darker versions of Parkers. He shuddered and looked away. the rest of the hall was blue mostly with yellow decorations every so often.
"Is anyone we know getting sorted?" he asked turning back to Wyn

[Thirrin Vertigo]

"Um, I'm not sure, really," Wyn answered, gently taking Alex's goggles and looking around the hall. "Do any of our friends have younger siblings coming into their first year? I know there are some girls in my dorm who have, but I don't really know their little siblings..." Wyn said almost distractedly as she had a look round the hall. Most of the colours were blue and yellow and some slightly darker ones around some of the Slytherin students. Wyn looked at herself and saw her orange aura, indicating her animagi qualities. She hadn't seen any other students with orange surrounding them (but then again, she hadn't yet seen Paingan's aura) and felt quite special to know that she was the only animagus (or that she had seen, at least).

Panning around the hall, she came to a sudden stop when she came to the raised dais where the Staff sat. She had a little shock when she saw that Professor Carrow (Potions Master and Head of Slytherin) and the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor sat next to each other, both of them with the same, black aura.

"Alex..." she said, tapping Alex on the shoulder hurriedly. "Look at Prof. Carrow and the new Professor of the Dark Arts..." Wyn said as she passed the Omniocular-goggle-things to Alex. "Somehow, I definitely don't trust the new Dark Arts teacher..."

[Wierdkid20]

The DADA professor and Slytherins auras were as black as night. but the again the outer edges of Parkers had been to. "Well the outer edge of Parkers is black to so maybe it's like a magnet." He said thinking as he spoke. "You know how if you point two of the same ends of a magnet at each other how they push against each other? Maybe it's the same that if some one with a black aura dueled against someone else with a black aura the reciver of the spell would have a better defense against the Dark arts because their body would repel them more easily. Though when I say that it sounds more like the immune system." He said frowning "Anyway same difference."

[Thirrin Vertigo]

Wyn frowned slightly, wrinkling her nose as she thought. She wasn't totally convinced. Whatever it was, she had never trusted Prof. Carrow and she certainly didn't trust the new Dark Arts teacher. Parker's one of us, though. He's good, otherwise he wouldn't be in Gryffindor. No, the black around the edge of his aura might be something to do with potential... Wyn thought to herself, trying to convince herself that Parker wasn't bad. She took another look through the goggles at the Slytherins and sure enough, several of them had black auras, several had black-tinged and many of them were just blue. Come to think of it, many students had black-tinged aura. Wyn didn't want to think of any of these people as evil, but the people that had auras as black as death, some of them were amongst the nastiest people she had ever met.

Sighing shakily, Wyn took off the goggles. Perhaps it's better not knowing things like that after all... she thought to herself as she stared around, trying to figure it all out. It was all very confusing. Wyn hoped to get her mind off of everything that was happening when she began to smell roast chicken and the likes wafting up from the kitchens.

"I suppose you're right, Alex... but I'm not convinced. I've never trust Carrow anyway, and it's not just because he gave me an Acceptable in the first year after someone spiked my cauldron..." It was a well-known fact that Wyn bore a grudge against Professor Carrow due to the fact that he had given her her one and only Acceptable ever. Wyn was an overachiever who strived to succeed wherever possible and she thought that it had been beastly unfair of Carrow to give her an A in her first year potion exam, especially when someone had put an ingredient in her cauldron that she didn't even own. After all, there had been no need for a handful of locusts' wings in the potion, and she had never owned such an ingredient in the first place.

[Kalik2486]

Parker had seated himself right near the front so he could see the sorting clearly by pushing past younger and older students alike. Well, there wasn’t much pushing needed. One glance from him would often sort things out naturally, and the powerful aura he inherited from his parents’ eminence helped quite a bit too, even though he rather resented it.

Once he had had a good look around the Great Hall, his eagle-like spectacled eyes scanned the crowd for his friends by the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables. Wyn and Alex were taking turns on the goggles, and Parker saw that Wyn didn’t look very pleased when she turned in the direction of Professor Carrow and the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. This made Parker turn his attention to the two teachers instead. Something in his memory stirred, but he didn't recall anything. Did they have a black aura? Do all of the Slytherins have the black aura? Perhaps...not Jr. Snape? Reminded of the black tinge surrounding him, Parker felt uneasy again and instead struck up a quiet conversation with Sir Nicholas, the Gryffindor ghost, instead.

[Thirrin Vertigo]

Wyn began to feel guilty as she thought about how she had momentarily suspected Parker for having a black aura. Parker was one of her oldest friends, and she shouldn't have suspected him so quickly, she knew him as well as anyone and knew that he would never belong to the dark side. Maybe Alex is right... perhaps it is just the residue of a spell or something like that. No need to doubt Parker. He's one of your oldest, most trusted friends. You of all people would know if he was a Dark wizard.

Having thoroughly convinced herself that Parker was, in fact good, Wyn's mind began, once again, to wander. That was when she looked back at the Staff. That uneasy feeling surrounded her again. As she watched Prof. Carrow and the new Dark Arts teacher talking, she began to analyse the body-language that the new teacher was exhibiting. He was playing with his hands; a sign that either he was nervous or that he had a guilty conscience. His eyes were looking about him, jumping from person to person quickly, as though he suspected each and every person knew some dark secret about him.

Wyn knew not to go on first appearances alone, but she couldn't help it with this professor. He was completely bald and instead of having hair, he had many swirling tattoos of runes covering his scalp, a heavily creased forehead, as though he worried too much, bright, blue eyes that sunk deep into his pasty face but stood out in a startling contrast, giving him the appearance of a living skeleton. It was all quite unnerving. Wyn had taken up Study of Ancient Runes in her 3rd year and she recognised some of the symbols on the professor's scalp, many of them, she did not. However, those that she did recognise all had similar meanings; death, despair, torture, purity. All the ideals of the New Order of Death. This was the most unnerving thing for Wyn.

Pulling out a pencil and a notepad, she quickly scribbled a note to Parker.

Look at the new professor's scalp tattoos. Do you recognise some of those symbols?

After finishing the short message, Wyn wrote Parker's full name on the folded-up message and tapped it twice with her wand, where it quickly disappeared from sight and reappeared in front of Parker.

[amypops]

Tilly sat with a group of her friends at the Hufflepuff table, peering over heads to get a clearer view of the First Years piling into the hall, looking as though they wanted to be anywhere but here.

Scanning the head table to see if there was any new teachers, she spotted a new face that must be the new Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher. He didn't look all that kind, Tilly decided, the type you didn't want to get on the wrong side of.

He looked almost... frightening to Tilly, and she quickly pretended to be looking at the enchanted ceiling as he turned his eyes to her. He seemed to be taking in almost every student in the Great Hall, his eyes darting about everywhere.

[Kalik2486]

Parker had just finished his conversation with Sir Nick and had discovered some interesting facts about the new DADA professor and about Headmaster Longbottom’s view of this appointment.

Out of nowhere, appeared a piece of folded white paper with his name printed in the one and only handwriting of his friend, Wyn. Glancing around to check that most people are deep in conversation, he opened the note under the table and read it over. Parker studied the new teacher more carefully now. He was obviously very agitated at the sight of his eyes darting side to side and his fidgeting hands. But the more sinister attraction was the symbols on his pale scalp. Parker had a good background in languages; he could speak English, German, French, and Latin. Ancient runes was just like another language for him. He recognized some of them immediately: torture, death, purity, despair, pain, devotion, and blood. They were the principles of the New Order of Death. Parker knew what Wyn was on about, and this made him wonder who this man really was.

As if there was a warning, the shocking blue eyes of gaunt man stared at him. For a second, Parker saw a flicker of recognition and then there was nothing, and the man continued to stare around at the crowd. Parker Vanished the Wyn’s writing and pulled out a quill and wrote a reply:

Death, torture, blood and the like... There’s probably more on the other side. Tell me your suspicions later or tomorrow.

Then he folded it up, scrawled Wyn’s full name down, and tapped it twice with his wand so it returned to her.

[Thirrin Vertigo]

Wyn had been watching the Professor with hawk-like eyes, watching every movement he made, taking in every symbol she could see on his forehead. Haven't any of the Teachers seen his scalp, or do they just not bother to look closely? I find it very odd that the Ancient Runes professor hasn't said anything to Professor Longbottom...

As she stared, Professor Carrow noticed her and he focused his attention on her, glaring at her, almost challenging her to do something. It seemed that the new attention of Professor Carrow had caught the other professor's eye and he turned his head to see that Wyn was staring steadfastly at him. His gaze met hers and Wyn involuntarily shuddered. There had been something so... evil in his eyes that Wyn shrank back from the thought of messing with him.

Casting her eyes down, she saw the note from Parker and she opened it up, reading it quickly. She looked up and made eye contact with Parker and nodded slightly, just enough for him to know that she was saying yes.

On the way back up to the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw towers, we'll meet at the staircases. She scribbled on the paper and sent it back to Parker.

[Kalik2486]

Parker continued to cast inconspicuous glances at the new Professor when he returned Wyn’s note. Professor Carrow was exchanging a few words with him and the new professor seemed to be shooting chilling looks at Wyn.

Then their attention turned to him, and Parker felt their eyes on him. Deciding to not look as if he knows something about them, Parker threw them an innocent, curious stare like what some other students were doing, and risked a tiny falsely encouraging smile. He saw them nod at each other and a small smirk appeared on Carrow’s face while the other teacher had a calculating look on his face as he returned Parker’s gaze. Then Parker gave the man a nod as if he recognized him, even though he didn’t, whereas the man seemed to know him. When he was sure the two men were not looking at him, he looked at Wyn and received a tiny nod.

Feeling something thin materialising in his hands, Parker glanced down at the words as the gigantic wooden doors to the Great Hall burst wide open and a line of first years walked in with the Deputy Headmistress (?) in the lead. He assumed that Alex would be there, but someone would have to find a way to warn Tilly and Paigan later. Looking up, he glanced at Wyn and quickly gave a tiny nod. Then, crumbling the piece of paper, he turned his attention to the oncoming first years.

[Thirrin Vertigo]

Wyn had been about to scribble the notes down to Tilly and possibly to Paigan (she rather liked the girl. She seemed a good sport) and was going to show Alex the notes also, but at that moment Professor McCragin, the deputy headmistress, head of Ravenclaw house and Charms professor, walked in briskly, carrying an old, three-legged stool with the Sorting Hat perched on top. Wyn smiled to herself; she really like Prof. McCragin, even though she was a stern old thing, she had a heart of gold and was always there for her students.

The Sorting hat began its song, telling a tale of the ancient times of wizardry. As soon as it began, Wyn's fingers began to tingle as they always did when the Sorting Hat spoke; there was powerful magic at work.

Oh many years have gone
since I was freshly sewn.
The wizard world has gone through much,
yet danger still has grown.

But now I speak of something else,
a time before such woe.
A time when Magic was feared
and a wizard, a deadly foe.

There were items, highly prized
by all near and far.
Things that looked so simple,
that held a deadly power.

A wand, a locket, a hat, a staff,
a cup, a crown, a sword;
all items containing power,
that would make a muggle a lord.

But power these things contained,
and the founders all well knew;
that should these items ever meet,
all chaos would ensue.

So separate these things they did,
and blessed times did follow,
but now dear children, harken this,
a lesson you must swallow.

If ever seek you these artefacts,
bear my warning in mind;
reunite these items at a terrible cost,
for you'd be the last of your kind.

Wyn was quite alarmed by the hat's song this year. Most years it just spoke of the founders and what they had done to make Hogwarts great, but this year, it seemed almost to be sending them a warning. Another thing that shocked Wyn was how the new Dark Arts professor's eyes had lit up when the hat began to speak of the Seven Artefacts of Power.

Curious... very curious...

[amypops]

Tilly listened intently to the Sorting Hat's song. It always was unusual, yet still held a meaning. Tilly suspected that it must spend the whole school year thinking of a new song, it would certainly take her that long to write something that rhymed, that was as long as the Sorting Hat's song.

She looked up at the new teacher with the odd symbols on his head, and noticed that he was almost smiling. It was certainly the creepiest thing Tilly had seen in a while (mind you, Tilly found almost everything creepy). His eyes looked a lot brighter, and Tilly couldn't help but wonder if the Sorting Hat's song had something to do with it.

The hat usually just went on about the History of Hogwarts and it's founders, so why was this years song different?

Tilly was cut off from her thoughts when the first name was read off of the list, and the Sorting began.

[Thirrin Vertigo]

As Professor Longbottom stood up and gave a short beginning of year speech to commence the School Year, Wyn pulled out her pencil once more and another scrap of parchment and hastily scribbled a note to Tilly, Parker and Paigan which read: After feast, meet me at the staircases behind the Boar's Head Statues. Wyn. She also leant over to Alex and relayed the message to him as the note poofed off to her friends.

Wyn then began to relax when she saw the Feast materialise in front of them on the plates. Only then did she remember just how hungry she was and began to pile her plate high with food, taking as much as was wizardly possible. There was a myriad of delicious foods, such as chicken legs, roast lamb, spaghetti, everything. There was literally something for everyone else. What's more, the goblets filled up with whatever drink the drinker wanted, absolutely anything. Wyn had been absolutely craving cherry coca-cola since she had left the Muggle world and was looking forward to having a goblet full of the teeth-rotting goodness.

As she ate, she forgot all about her misgivings for the new school year and was looking forward to everything that was going to happen. She was particularly looking forward to the weekends, as fourth years were allowed to go into Hogsmeade on the weekends, without supervision like the third-years had. This was even more exciting for Wyn as she thought about the prospects of getting that job and saving up for the Scarlet Phoenix racing broom that she wanted.

Soon dessert came and passed and Wyn tried to catch her friends' eyes as the school filed out of the dining hall. She went to the statue of the Hogs' heads and yoinked her friends out of the crowds of students as they went to the staircases to go to their houses.

"Ok guys, what do you guys think about the freaky new professor?"

[Kalik2486]

Parker had had a pretty decent meal, and after his third blackberry jam tart, he was absolutely bloated. The Welcoming Feast was always such a delight for new students and old ones. Oh well, he can start his diet tomorrow and he’d be fit by the time Quidditch try-outs came around.

Quietly, not making eye contact with any of his friends, he followed the sea of students out of the Great Hall. Before he made it to the staircases, someone made a quick grab at him and plucked him out of the crowds. He found himself beside Wyn, who was busy pulling the others toward them behind the statue. When Wyn asked them the question they had all been waiting for, Parker burped, and immediately grinned and muttered, “Sorry, excuse me.”

A little pink in the face, but now serious, he answered her in a audible tone for them to hear but not the surrounding pupils, “Well, he certainly doesn’t look like an ideal Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. He looks pretty nervous, but alert at the same time. It seems like he’s friends with the Potions Master, too. And...” he hesitated, but then ploughed on, “and he looks vaguely familiar and he seems to recognize me, but I don’t recall meeting him before. Surely, the headmaster have similar suspicions as we do?” he glanced meaningfully at Wyn, then looked around at everyone.

[PrettyInPointe]

Paigan got the note sent from Wyn asking everyone to meet her by the Boar's Head Statues, and slipped it into her pocket. But after a feast as big as the Welcoming one was that year, who could blame her for forgetting about the meeting entirely?

Luckily, Paigan ended up walking right behind Parker in the hallway. Just as she was about to pass the statues, she saw Parker being yanked out of the crowd right in front of her. Looking to see where he was pulled, she saw Wyn and, remembering the note, walked over to where they were. She listened as they both shared there thoughts and the others joined them. She had seen the new professor too, and didn't like him any more than they seemed too.

"I-I don't like the l-look of him." she said, her voice quiet, which was partially because she didn't want anyone to hear, and partially because it was just her nature. "H-he looks kind of like the p-people my dad deals with."

[Thirrin Vertigo]

"Wait, your dad's an Auror? Well, that's perfect! D'you think you could send him an Owl asking if he's ever dealt with a man called Rifthric Wulfinger? Gosh, that's a mouthful. Thankfully we need only call him Professor or Sir." Wyn said as she fiddled with the pockets on her robe, having felt something jumping around in one of the pockets; it was probably a chocolate frog.

"Anyway, I was looking at him and I recognised several of the runes that were tatooed over his scalp. Things such as 'death','purity','fraternity' and 'loyalty'. Those were only some of the ones I recognised but they all seem to be along the same lines and those lines are the ideals of the Order of Death... But why would one of them be here, of all places? I know that the Ministry were sending Aurors to protect the school and the auror who was to be the Dark Arts professor was murdered, but why are we being protected? It's something to do with the Order of Death, that's for sure, but what?" Wyn said as she shoved her hand into her pocket, trying to catch whatever was jumping around in there when she felt the piece of scrap paper that she had been writing the Sorting Hat's Song down on.

Could it be that they're looking for these relics of the ancient world? Wyn asked herself, her brow furrowing slightly. People could always tell when Wyn was deep in thought by the way her eyebrows made the skin above her nose crinkle. She didn't mention her ideas to the others; she wanted to know their theories first.

[Kalik2486]

Parker shook off the pestering feeling that he knew the teacher. Instead, Parker nodded knowingly as Wyn spoke about the Order of Death. He knew enough to know that she had been thought of Professor Wulfinger being part of the Dark organization and has taken a position at Hogwarts for a reason. However, he felt that Wyn had more to say but seemed to be waiting for them to speak first.

Parker took a little step away from the group, his eyes probing mysteriously around the corridor and following the many clusters of students up the magical staircase. Frowning and in a quiet tone, he ventured, “Interesting how the Seven Artefacts of Magic from ancient times have been mentioned in the Hat’s song just when a member, most likely from the Order of Death, is present. Doesn’t seem like a coincidence; the Hat must know of a conspiracy that involves reuniting the seven powers at the mastermind’s own peril. If the new teacher is interested in these objects, and he’s been stationed here, then, I think it would be safe to say that the Seven Artefacts of Magic are here at Hogwarts as well, because he wouldn’t be wasting his time here to just listen to a song. Two, the Sorting Hat and Gryffindor’s Sword, we know, reside in this castle. I mean, those are the most famous magical objects we have in this school.”

He glanced at everyone before looking intently at Wyn, “Is that what you’re concerned about?”

[Thirrin Vertigo]

Wyn looked up, her brow still furrowed. "Yes, that is what I'm worried about. The Hat only says things like this in times of need, take Harry Potter's years at Hogwarts, for example. The hat always told them to stick together and the like, in order to remain safe."

As she spoke, Wyn took the Hat's song out of her pocket and looked at the passage which referred directly to the artefacts.

"A wand, a locket, a hat, a staff,
a cup, a crown, a sword;
all items containing power,
that would make a muggle a lord."

"But, it's so random. I mean, it doesn't tell us what each thing actually is. The only ones I can make out are the hat and the sword... I wonder if---"

Wyn would have been able to finish her sentence if the teachers had not started coming out of the hall. There were several teachers who didn't like Wyn, as she had a knack for getting herself into trouble, even though she was a brilliant pupil who always got Os in her exams. There were definitely some teachers in that crowd who would gladly give Wyn a detention merely for correcting them in class. Of all the teachers, Professor Carrow, the potions master, disliked Wyn the most and always belittled her whenever possible. Wyn also disliked Carrow more than anything, due to his being unfair to her from day one.

"Look what we have here," Professor Carrow sneered as he came up towards the group of children. He was "Miss Pendragon, surely you're not planning mischief already. Now, all of you, get to bed, this instant, or I shall be deducting points before your house has even earned any."

[amypops]

Tilly, after recieving Wyn's note, quickly slipped it into her pocket. After the feast, she tried to hurry out of the hall, but got stuck in the vast crowd of students pouring out.

She started to push her way froward, ignoring the cries of annoyance and complaint of the people she bashed, but didn't get very far. Eventually, she got out of the claustrophobic crush and saw Wyn, but before she could reach her, Professor Carrow got in the way, shooing Wyn up the stairs.

Tilly sprinted after her, trying hard not to catch the eye of Professor Carrow.

"What did I miss?" She aksed quickly, whispeing slightly so the students filing past wouldn't hear.

((Also, guys... where's the Hufflepuff Common Room again?))

[Kalik2486]

((Near the kitchens, I think, somewhere underground...))

Parker hadn’t even been listening to Wyn quoting the verse about the Seven Magical Artefacts from the Hat’s song. As usual, he was thinking about what the other five objects were. If one belonged to Gryffindor, then surely three of the five must belong to the other three founders!

Before Parker a got a chance to remember what famous objects belonged to the founders, a chilling, sneering voice interrupted his thoughts, which annoyed him greatly. Professor Carrow ordered them to return to their common rooms along with the usual threat of deducting points or some form of useless punishment that wouldn’t really have any impact on Parker anyway. Assuming an expression of innocence and indifference, Parker drawled, “As you wish, professor.” Half-hidden in the shadows, where Parker casted a quick glance, was Professor Wulfinger, looking at them, intently.

When Tilly caught up to Wyn as they mounted the moving staircase, Parker had just realized that Alex had not been convened with them. It would’ve been interesting to hear his thoughts because Alex could always be counted on for having unique, and possibly, strange ideas. Perhaps he was onto something about the new teacher? Parker frowned.
Before he got separated from his friends, he turned to the three girls, “Well, best not to talk about these things because, you never know, people can be lurking around nearby. Goodnight then, and tell Alex...” Then he stepped onto another staircase and vanished among the many students.

[Thirrin Vertigo]

((Yus, Hufflepuff common room/dorms are near the kitchen behind a picture of... food I think?))

Wyn said goodbye to Parker and continued up the staircases with the throng of students towards the Ravenclaw Tower on the Seventh Floor. So deep in thought was she that she did not realise that she had, in fact, taken a wrong staircase and had ended up near the Astronomy Tower. Students were strictly forbidden to go near the Astronomy Tower unless accompanied for lessons and homework. Wyn thought of this and remembered Prof. Carrow's threat to deduct points immediately.

As Wyn turned to head back towards the staircases, she heard voices and concealed herself in the shadows of a tapestry, hoping sincerely for the owners of the voices to move on quickly, when, to her horror, she realised that one of the voices belonged to Prof. Carrow, of all people! The other voice, Wyn didn't recognise, but she daren't see who it was for fear of revealing herself. The voices were low and quiet and Wyn could barely make out what was being said, but she did pick up the names of the founders, the forest and of Merlin before the voices moved on.

Not daring to stay around any longer, Wyn rushed back to the Ravenclaw Tower and hurried in to the common room, collapsing thankfully on one of the comfortable armchairs, breathing heavily and mind racing furiously. She had to tell the others what she'd heard and see what they thought about it.