Understanding potter's struggles

17 | Memories - Second Year - The Tree And The Idiot

Mrs Weasley turned to her son, who was now red in the face, and glared at him, muttering how she knew it would be his idea. Sirius meanwhile was attempting to contain his laughter, emphasis on the attempting.

"Give em a break, Molly," muttered Hagrid, as he too watched the pair head for the car.

James' face of mild amusement quickly turned into shock when the group watched as the car lost its invisibility and was spotted by the muggles.

"No, you didn't!" Lily exclaimed as she watched in horror as the younger version of her son and his friend stared at each other in panic.

"Oh, yes they did," laughed Sirius, to which Remus slapped him and told him he was not from a child's pantomime.

There was then a collective sigh of relief when they were hidden in the clouds; before the scene then shifted to the pair flying towards Hogwarts castle.

"Thank god," Lily murmured when she saw that they were almost there. However, those who knew what would happen next were already cringing in anticipation, something which naturally put poor Lily on edge and got Sirius all excited.

The group watched nervously as the car began to whine and Ron urged it to keep going, to which Fred reminded a red-faced Ron that it was unlikely to be able to hear.

There was a loud clunk, a splutter, and the engine died completely.

"Uh oh," said Ron.

"Uh oh indeed," scowled Mrs Weasley as she hit the twins over the back of their head to hush their laughter.

Then the group watched in horror as Ron pulled out his wand and wacked it against the dashboard.

"Now what did you expect that would do?" asked Percy, causing his younger brother to once again go bright red, and mumble something along the lines of 'I panicked.'

Memory Harry's exclamation to mind the tree increased the level of panic from the spectators, as the car continued its descent towards the vicious tree.

"Of all trees you had to land in the whomping willow," muttered Remus as he shook his head gently.

The group then watched in horror as the tree began to attack the car.

"My poor car," mumbled Mr Weasley, before Mrs Weasley wacked him over the back of the head, causing him to amend his statement - "my poor, eh, son."

The group then watched as the tree continued to try and crush the car whilst the boys struggled helplessly for a way out. Eventually, the tree seemed to have had enough and the car broke free, swiftly plummeting to the ground with a thud.

Harry and Ron finally freed themselves from a seemingly irate car, which took off into the forbidden forest. But any feeling of relief was temporary as they quickly came across Snape who was scowling at them, his arms crossed, with his usual ugly expression on his face.

Of course, the two boys had not spotted him initially and were contemplating where he could be.

"Maybe he's ill!" exclaimed Ron hopefully.

"Maybe he's left," said Harry, "because he missed out on the Defence Against the Dark Arts job again!"

"Or he might have been sacked!"

"Try not to sound too excited," muttered Malfoy; Sirius and James, however, shared the boys' sentiment.

They all cringed as they watched Snape confront the boys, but then chuckled softly at their bewildered expressions as Snape led them to his office.