Gerard Way and the Triwizard Tournament

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"Pack," I said as I waved my wand in the general direction of all of the stuff that I was taking with me to Hogwarts. It was September 1st, and we were just about to go to King's Cross Station. Once all of my stuff was in the suitcases, I put Party Poison in his cage and went downstairs. Mikey was ready to go, so we headed off shortly after that.

I never liked going to King's Cross Station. I was always terrified that the Muggles were going to notice that we didn't belong there. We tried our best to blend in, but it never worked. That year, I noticed that my leather jacket was a little out of place in the warm weather.

I pushed my way past all of the Muggles and found Platforms 9 and 10. I said goodbye to Mom and Dad and ran through the wall between the platforms. Mikey followed me, and we both arrived on Platform 9 ¾.

This was it. I was just about to get on the Hogwarts Express for the very last time. I took a deep breath and got on the train. We were a little late, so most of the seats were filled up. Luckily, Ray had saved two seats for us.

"Hey Gerard. Hey Mikey," Ray said. "Ready for another year at Hogwarts?"

"Yes!" I exclaimed.

Mikey was digging through his suitcase. "Here it is," he said, taking out his copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them. Apparently he still wasn't done reading up on unicorns.

I noticed that there was one more empty seat near us. Right before the Hogwarts Express left the station, a short Hufflepuff boy with a fedora came over and said, "Hey, can I sit here? I can't find anywhere else to sit."

"Sure," I said. "What's your name?"

"Patrick," the boy said as he sat down next to me. "Patrick Stump."

"Nice to meet you Patrick," I said. "I'm Gerard Way, my friend over there is Ray Toro, and the one who won't get his nose out of the Care of Magical Creatures textbook is my brother Mikey."

"Hi Patrick," Mikey mumbled.

"You know him?" I asked. Since when was Mikey so popular?

"Yeah," Mikey said. "We were in Potions together last year."

"That was an interesting class," Patrick said. "I liked Herbology better though."

"Me too," Mikey said.

I looked around a bit. Maybe Frank could sit with us too? Or Hayley? No, they were both up in the Prefects' carriage. Oh well. It was okay with just us.

I stared out the window for a while, watching the world go by. We would be at Hogwarts soon, but this train ride was getting a little boring. Mikey, Ray, and Patrick were chatting about their various classes. Ray told Mikey and Patrick about the fun things that they would learn during fourth year, while Patrick and Mikey compared schedules. It turned out that they were taking Defense Against The Dark Arts and History of Magic together. Have I mentioned how much I hate History of Magic yet? There's a very good reason why I dropped it.

"Holy smokes, it's the Honeydukes trolley!" Patrick exclaimed.

"Anything off the trolley, dears?" the Honeydukes lady asked us.

"Can I have some coffee?" Mikey asked.

The Honeydukes lady nodded and poured Mikey some coffee. "Can I have some too, please?" I asked, and she poured a second cup and handed it to me.

"I'll have a Chocolate Frog," Ray said. "Maybe a glass of pumpkin juice and a few Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans too."

"I'll have some Pumpkin Pasties and a Chocolate Frog," Patrick said.

The Honeydukes lady gave Ray and Patrick their food, and we all paid. "Thank you," Patrick said, and the four of us started eating.

"Does anyone need Beaumont Marjoribanks?" Ray asked after taking out his Chocolate Frog Card. "I already have him."

"Beaumont Marjoribanks? That was the one I lost during Divination last year," Mikey said. Ray passed his card to Mikey, and Mikey put it in his suitcase.

"Which one did you get, Patrick?" Ray asked.

"Wendelin the Weird," Patrick said.

"Who's that?" Ray asked.

"During the Middle Ages, burning witches at the stake was a common occurrence," Patrick read. "Of course, the witches were not harmed by burning, but they pretended to shriek in agony while only feeling a slight tickling sensation. Wendelin the Weird allegedly enjoyed being burnt at the stake so much that she allowed herself to be captured over 47 times in various disguises."

"Sounds like something I would do," I joked.

"You're not that weird, Gee," Ray said.

I shrugged and took a sip of my coffee. "You don't know that," I said. "Hey, what color should I change my hair to?"

"You should do the bleached hair again," Mikey suggested.

"No, you should do black or something," Ray said.

I considered both of these options for a while, before completely rejecting both of them. "I'll do both of those later in the year," I said. "How about red? You know, for Gryffindor?"

Ray, Mikey, and Patrick all agreed that this would be a good idea, so I took out my wand and pointed it at my head. "Colovaria," I said, and my hair changed to a radioactive red color.

"That looks awesome!" Ray exclaimed.

"Yeah, it's really cool," Mikey said.

"I like it too," Patrick said.

"Great," I said. "Maybe I'll keep it for more than a few hours."

"Hey, I think that's Hogwarts!" Patrick said as he looked out the window. I looked out the window, and I could see the Hogwarts Castle in the distance. That was another thing I loved about Hogwarts. The castle and the grounds were simply beautiful.

"Hogsmeade, next stop!" I heard the conductor shout. That meant we were getting close.

We arrived at Hogsmeade Station a few minutes later. Mikey, Patrick, Ray, and I all got off of the train. It sure felt good to be back at Hogwarts. I spotted Hagrid calling for all of the first years, and I waved to him. I don't know if he saw me. First year seemed like such a long time ago, but I still remember it well. I was so scared when I got onto those boats, but things got a little bit better when I met Ray and the other Gryffindors. By the time Christmas break came around, I felt like I finally belonged somewhere.

Ray and I got onto one of the carriages that were going to the castle, and Mikey and Patrick got on another. A few second years got on our carriage as well. Great. I could scare them with the thestral story. I had never actually seen a thestral, but we had learned about them in Care of Magical Creatures last year, so I knew that they were there.

"Hey, have you ever wondered what pulls the carriages?" I asked one of the second years.

"No," she said. "I thought that they just traveled on their own."

"But they don't," I said. "They're pulled by these things called thestrals."

"Really?" the girl said.

"Yeah. You have to have witnessed death to see them. They're actually super creepy. They look more like horse skeletons than actual horses."

"That's scary."

"It gets worse," I said. "They don't eat grass and hay like normal horses. They prefer human flesh. In fact, these particular ones have developed a taste for Hogwarts students."

The girl's eyes opened wide. "Gerard's just messing with you," Ray said. "They don't eat students."

"Hey! You ruined it!" I exclaimed.

The carriages arrived at Hogwarts gates, and we all hopped off. Ray and I entered the Great Hall, which was just as magnificent as I remembered it. The floating candles never failed to amaze me. I noticed that some students were already seated at their tables, so Ray and I headed towards the Gryffindor table and sat near Frank, Hayley, Pete, Joe, and Spencer.

Seventh year had just begun.