The Lost Witch | Fred Weasley

CHAPTER ELEVEN

We all got out of our compartment and started shuffling through the mass of students in the corridor of the train.

We reached the exit and I stepped down, followed by George, Lee, then Fred.

I looked up at the castle.

The black sky created an eerie look over the dark towers that were reaching for the stars. A few windows were lit from the inside, but a lot of them were still dark.

You could see all the windows lit along a long row, looking into the Great Hall.

I let out a sigh. I couldn't believe I was back.

I didn't know that my last day of my fourth year was going to be my last day ever, so I had never said a proper goodbye to the place that had acted as a home for me more than my actual home had ever been.

Someone nudged me in the back, and I looked over my shoulder to see Fred smiling at me.

He leaned down and said for my ears only, "Welcome back." This made my smile widen almost painfully.

"It's so surreal," I muttered, looking back at the castle. "Come on," he elbowed my arm. "Let's get a carriage so you can actually see the inside," he said in mock excitement.

We got to one of the carriages that were believed to be horseless. I looked at the great, black beast harnessed to the carriage George had gotten. I quickly stroked the side of its thick neck. The beast shook out its wings at that and I chuckled silently to myself.

"You coming?"

I turned and saw Fred waiting by the open door of the carriage. I cast one last look at the skeleton horse, that was the best way I could describe it, and walked towards the carriage.

I didn't know why I could see the horses while no one else could. I remembered asking my friends when we first took the carriages back to the train in my first year, but they had all informed me that there wasn't anything there. So I just pretended they weren't there along with everyone else.

"Excited for your first look at Hogwarts?" Lee asked me as I sat down, rubbing his hands together eagerly.

I smiled at him. "Oh, I can't wait. The Weasley's told me all about it when we found out I was transferring. I Just wish I had more than one year left at this amazing castle."

I looked out the window to look up at the castle in the distance again.

"Why would you transfer just for your last year though? Couldn't you have gotten to the American school from here?" he questioned.

I turned back around to the group. Fred and George were watching me warily, waiting for me to make something up.

"Yeah, but my family didn't want to send me all the way across to the states. They wanted me close to them in case anything happened. Especially with the shit happening in the world right now, you know?" I responded calmly. He accepted my answer with a nod. "Yeah, understandable."

He then went back to discussing the Weasley's new Skiving Snack Boxes with Fred, while George turned to me with an approving smile and a nod.

Moody had prepared me for any and all questions I might be asked, so I had a lot of lies ready at the tip of my tongue.

We continued chatting until we felt the carriage come to a halt. "You don't suppose you had to be with the first years, do you? Seeing as you need to be sorted," Lee asked.

"Oh, the Headmaster informed my dad that I would just join my year and he would call me up when all the first years were finished sorting. So I'll just sit with you guys until then," I smiled.