Adventures in Curse Breaking: Dragon Treasure

Weasley's Return

The same chattering and clanging noises echoed throughout the Great Hall at Dinner time. The students and teachers ate their sandwiches and soups merrily, apart from two Gryffindors seated at the end of their table. They were to anxious to eat. 

Charlie Weasley played with his soup and checked his watch every minute or so with a sigh. Sarah Spellman stared up at the Great Hall's bewitched ceiling, trying to distract herself by finding constellations she'd learned about in her Astronomy class. 

Charlie threw his spoon to the table with a clatter. "Can't we go now?"

"We promised we'd wait for the others," said Sarah, not taking her eyes from the ceiling. 

"The others are lollygagging. Penny's been finished forever, she's chatting with a bunch of Hufflepuff's, and Barnaby's just eaten his sixth sandwich. You snooze, you lose in my opinion."

Sarah bent her sore neck down to look at Charlie's watch. "Be patient, will you? Bill's not even here yet."

Still, her legs were shaking with impatience as well. Sarah had been the first person Charlie told when he received Bill's letter that he'd be visiting Hogwarts tonight. She was almost as ecstatic as Charlie. Bill had become like an older brother to her; Hogwarts wasn't the same without him.

Her thoughts on all she wanted to tell Bill were interrupted by Barnaby walking over to their table. "Are we going soon?" he asked. "I don't think I can eat anymore sandwiches." He grimaced, holding a hand to his stomach. 

"You don't have to eat them just because they're there," said Sarah, smiling fondly at him.

"That's like telling me I don't have to pet puffskeins just because they're there."

Charlie jumped up from the table, still staring at his watch. "7:30. Bill will be here any second. Let's go."

"Hang on," said Sarah, "I'll go grab Penny."

As the four of them headed out of the Great Hall, Barnaby asked, "What about Merula?"

"She can tell time," said Charlie, leading the group up the stairs at a quick pace. "If she wants to join us, she will."

As most students were still at dinner, the corridors were quite abandoned on their journey to the Defense Against the Dark Arts Classroom, but upon arriving, they found a lone figure sitting on the edge of Rakepick's old desk.

"Bill!" 

Charlie and Sarah rushed ahead of the others to greet him. 

"It's great you have you back," said Charlie. 

"It's great to be back," said Bill. He had to blow a strand of Sarah's hair out of his face as she crushed him in a hug. "Blimey, did you really miss me that much?"

"A bit," Sarah admitted. She released him and took a few steps back to stand by Charlie as the others caught up. It was strange to see him in professional black and tan robes, rather than in his Hogwarts attire. "It's not the same. Not having you around." 

Most of Sarah's friends had been effected in some way by the vault last year. Ben and Merula were acting insane, both determined to find Rakepick and make her pay for her betrayal. Penny's little sister Beatrice was still struggling with her entrapment in that portrait, a year of her life gone by without her knowing. She'd started hanging around Ismelda, acting out, and shunning Penny. Penny was devastated. Charlie was also having trouble moving on after nearly being killed in the vault. Even Barnaby had suffered; he was so upset that Sarah had left to take on the vault without inviting him or even telling him, that the two of them had fought for the first time.