Public Issues (Demma Book 2)

First Day Back

Dateline: November 19th, 2001

It was morning at the hotel of Radcliffe and Watson as school for them was about to begin for the first time since 1997. It's been a pretty long time for no education for the past four years, but Emma skipped a grade on the good side, which caused her to be in the same grade as Dan. So, both are heading to school, and the first day of sixth grade was going to be the best one yet! At least they'd hope it thought it would. It was not until six o'clock when Alex screamed, "WAKE UP!" at the two who had woken up with groggy looks on their faces. Emma clambered out of bed first and headed to the shower while Dan handed her clothes from outside. Dan got in as Emma got out, and she started to get clothes for him as well. The nice clothes were comfortable for them, to say the least, and hopefully, some of the castmates from the set might be in Dan and Emma's classroom for the whole year! Chris walked into the room and patted Dan and Emma on their shoulders.

"Who's ready for the first day of school?"

"Is that even a question?" the kids said. "Yes!"

"Well, the car's up and running and- Good Lord! Look at the time! School starts in a few minutes! We'd better go." said Chris in a hurried manner. "And don't worry, kids, I have your stuff in the car."

Chris left the door closed as Dan and Emma got their shoes on and headed out the door. They headed out the door and into Chris' car, heading for their first day of school. Alex starts school in a couple of minutes, and without hesitation, Alan drags Alex with his shoes on his feet and a backpack on his back and drives off without saying goodbye to Dan and Emma. They looked at each other with worry across their faces as Chris drove off cautiously out of the parking lot. A few minutes later, they'd arrived at the school, and Chris gave Emma a kiss on her forehead before heading out. Dan was still a bit nervous about coming out of the car and on his way to school, probably wondering how everyone would treat him after the incident four years ago. Outside, Emma turned to see a blonde-haired man with his usual school clothing on and walked towards her. Emma knew that this was Tom Felton coming up to her.

"Hey, Emma!" he said, noticing Dan was nowhere to be seen. "Where's Dan? It's not often you two go in separate ways."

"He's in there," she said, pointing at the car with Dan's face in the view. "He won't come out. He's a tad worried that one of you guys might bully him since Dan and I were gone from school for four years."

Tom's eyes widened at the statement. "What?! Me? Bully Him?! After All He's Done? No way am I gonna bully him! He's like my brother for Merlin's Sake!"

"Were you one of the people at one of the parties Dan went to and blamed him for knocking the ice sculpture out?"

"No. I was at a different school, and on that day, I was staying at my house the entire time!" he said truthfully.

"Then who, can you recall, goes to Dan's school?"

"Hmmm...Well, there's Devon, Alfred, Matt, Bonnie, Jamie, and Rupert."

"We need to ask some of those kids if they'd been bullying Dan for the past years."

"Good idea," he said as Emma walked to the car to get Dan out.

"Dan, It's all right. Tom's not here to hurt you," she said, giving him a bone-crusher.

"What about the others? They'll probably still bully me, after all I've done for Merlin's sake!" he cried. "Who knows who's going to be my friend beside you and Tom."

"Dan, listen, I've looked at your schedule, and you have me for every period of the day. That way, no one would even come close to you."

"Really?" he said, and she nodded. "Thank Merlin!"

"So, are you coming out?"

He got his bag and opened the door without answering her. They walked with Tom until they'd reached the front entrance. Tom meets with Dan and Emma at Lunch to discuss what's going to happen with The Chamber of Secrets. Tom went left, and the other two went in the opposite direction for their classes. As they walked into the classroom, not many people stared at them, which is a good sign, according to Dan, except for one person. The small, straight-faced, ginger-haired woman was staring at them nonstop. It caught Emma's eye, and she knew that person that was staring at her and Dan: Bonnie Wright, the girl who played Ginny Weasley. Both of them sat at their seats, ignoring Bonnie for most of the day. They learned about the Underground Railroad, Did some Algebra and Biology before heading off to Lunch. While in class, Bonnie couldn't take her eyes off of Emma, and when Dan looked at her, there was a slight blush coming out of Bonnie's face. While at Lunch, Dan and Emma sat next to Tom and began talking about Bonnie's behaviour.

"What's going on with Bonnie lately?" asked Emma.

"I don't know what's wrong with her and-" Tom began. "Oh no, here she comes."

"Give me back my Danny Poo!" she screamed.

"NO!" bellowed Emma. "Besides, I've met him first, and he doesn't share a romantic interest in you, Bon!"

"You know, I've always thought Ginny and Harry would always end up in the books! Harry and Hermione are like brother and sister to me!"

"Alright, that's it!" said Dan standing up from his seat. "I don't know where you've come up with that theory, and I've always loved Emma! Not you!"

"You don't understand! I've always loved you, you're famous, and I want to marry you and have kids when we grow up!" she sobbed.

"NO! First of all, you know me because I'm famous like Ginny does with Harry all the time. Second, Hermione understands Harry the most as Just Harry, not The-Boy-Who-Lived Harry. Same with Emma as me with Just Dan instead of The-Boy-Who-Got-Famous-Over-Movies Dan. And third, in no world would I have you be my wife because of my clout!"

"I LOVE YOU!"

"Well, I don't love you back! Now, please leave us alone and go sit with your friends quietly."

"FINE!" she cried, heading over to sit with her friends at another table.

"That felt good," said Dan, who's proud of himself and sat back down.

"Not good," said Tom.

"Brilliant!" said Emma.

During the rest of Lunch, Tom switched the topic from Bonnie to the first day on The Chamber of Secrets after school today. They talked about the scenes in which Draco duels Harry, Millicent Bulstrode duels Hermione, The Polyjuice Potion disguised as Crabbe and Goyle, Dobby, and Hermione and Harry getting exposed as Parseltongue. Little ways later, it was time to get back to class for Reading and English with Mr Bings. Mostly everyone who wasn't cast for Harry Potter and Hermione Granger was reading the books. Whilst Bonnie, Dan, Emma, and Matthew were reading The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. Finally, it was their turn to come up to the table with Mr Bings (from left to right: Bonnie, Matt, Dan, and Emma). They begin to talk about how Bilbo Baggins was an ordinary Hobbit until he met a wizard and thirteen dwarfs that brought him on a Middle-Earth journey. It lasted for nearly twenty minutes until it was time to pack up and head on over to Leavesden Studios.