My Life At Hogwarts

The Train Journey

I opened my backpack and looked around for my diary but I couldn't see it. I was certain that I had put it in here. I'm sure I didn't pack it in my suitcase because I wasn't sure if I wanted to write something down before we reached our destination.

"Have you seen my-" I was cut off as McGonagall handed me a lilac coloured book.

"This isn't-" I was cut off again by her.

"Severus said he wanted to give you a new one to jot down everything about your holiday so that you can always look back on it." She mentioned.

Huh. I guess that explains that. I looked around in my bag again for my pen but I couldn't find it.

"If it's the pen Professor Snape gave you, check your pockets." McGonagall mentioned, sipping at her drink.

I patted my pocket and felt my pen. I took it out and started writing down everything that had happened this morning so far. I dated the page at the top and smiled. I had written three pages already. I was kind of worried about filling the book up.

"There's a charm on it so that there will always be enough pages for you to write everything from the holiday down. It will wear off when we get back to Hogwarts. So it will give you plenty of time." McGonagall said as if reading my thoughts.

I nodded, pleased with this new found knowledge and put my book and pen away. I picked up my hot drink and sipped at it. Mmm. Hot Chocolate. My favourite. I finished my drink and looked at Harry. He was shuffling a deck of cards, dropping half of them as he did so.

"Here, I'll do it. What game did you want to play?" I asked him.

"Rummy?"

"Sure."

I shuffled the cards quickly and dealt them out. Making sure we all had seven cards. I placed the deck on the table and left one facing up. It was the four of cloves. We discussed that McGonagall was going first before we looked at our cards.

I had a two of hearts, two of diamonds, two of spades, four of spades, three of cloves, ten of hearts and the King of spades. It was a lucky hand. I nearly had four of a kind already, although I could just leave it as three of a kind, if I needed to.

McGonagall picked up a card and placed it down on the discard pile straight away. It was ten of diamonds. Kingsley also picked up a card from the deck, placing it in his hand. He disposed of a four of diamonds instead which Harry picked up, swapping it for the nine of hearts.

I picked it up and placed down my King. We went round a few more times before I won. I aged a few more games before I got bored and decided to look out of the window. Unfortunately, we were in a tunnel and all that I saw was our reflection.

I pulled my camera from my bag and took a few photos of the others as they were still engrossed in their game. I put my camera back and pulled out a pencil and my new book. I opened it to the next clean page and started drawing.

I wasn't sure what I was drawing yet. I just started drawing lines and hoped that they would resemble something. After a few moments, some details had emerged but I still couldn't work out what it was supposed to be.

I smiled once I had realised and set about sharpening the details and features. I finished the drawing and looked down at the face of Hermione. I added a few more details and smiled at the portrait I had done. I turned the page and started sketching on the other page, the one that didn't have the drawing of Hermione on the other side.

This drawing came out showing Fred's cheeky grin and his unruly hair. I continued drawing, ignoring the background noise around me and soon I had a drawing for each one of my friends and McGonagall, Snape and Kingsley. I yawned and put my things away, zipping up my bag.

We had only been on the train for an hour but I was very tired. I closed my eyes and rested my head on the window. I fell asleep to the soothing tones of the train and the cards being shuffled.

I awoke some time later with a yawn. I looked around the carriage and found it was just Harry and I. I checked the clock on the wall to see what the time was. We had got to the station at nine and the train had started moving after ten minutes. It was now eleven. I had only slept for an hour.

"They've gone to the food cart. Saying they forgot to pack lunch in the hubaloo of breakfast." Harry informed me.

I nodded. I looked out of the window and saw we were still in a tunnel. McGonagall and Shacklebolt came back and placed some sandwiches and fruit on the table.

I picked up a red apple and bit into it. Juice dribbled down my chin and down my arm, going under my sleeve. I placed my apple down with a disgusted expression on my face. I took off my coat and rolled up the sleeve of my top.

I dug around in my bag for a tissue and dabbed at the apple juice. My arm was still sticky and I felt highly uncomfortable. I ran the tissue over and over my arm, trying to clean it. It wasn't working. So I rubbed harder.

"Penelope!" McGonagall shouted.

I looked up at her and saw she was looking down at my arm with a concerned expression. I looked down and saw that I had turn the skin red. Oops.

"There's a bathroom a few doors down, why don't you go there and wash your arm and ill bring you a top to change into." She told me.

I nodded and she moved so I could get past. I left the compartment and walked down the corridor. I found the bathroom and knocked lightly on the door before pushing it open. I locked the door behind me and washed my arm with hot, soapy water.

It took a few go's but eventually the sticky residue came off. There was a sharp rap upon the door and McGonagall declared her presence. I unlocked the door and opened it a little. I took the top from her and closed the door.

I took off my black top and put on the short sleeved pink one she had given me. It was one of the new ones we had bought yesterday. I checked myself over and noticed that my arm was still red and sore. I ran it under the cold water, hissing in pain as it made contact with my arm.

I dabbed it dry with a paper towel and left the toilet. I went back to the others and McGonagall took my top and coat, saying she was going to clean them in the bathroom. Meaning she was going to use magic.

I ignored the apple and the rest of the food on the table. I shivered, feeling cold and dug around in my backpack. I pulled out a thick blanket that I had bought myself when McGonagall wasn't looking and wrapped it around myself.

I closed my eyes and rested my head against the wall. I didn't mean to fall asleep. But I did. I guess all the excitement from yesterday and this morning had taken a toll on me. I vaguely heard McGonagall come back but I ignored it. Focusing solely on the blackness I saw reflecting off my closed eyelids.