An American At Hogwarts: Book Three

Chapter Fifty-Eight

All five of my Gryffindor friends gave me slightly concerned looks when I stepped through the portal and into the common room, but they all relaxed when I fixed them with a grin.

"Nice work everybody. Twins, those candies are a crazy thing to invent, but damn if they're not incredibly helpful sometimes. And bonus points for how quickly it's wearing off."

They grinned and high-fived as the six of us circled up. I put my hands on my hips, then turned to the twins again.

"Alright, since you're the birthday boys, you get to pick how we spend our free hour. We should probably leave Hogwarts and the general area so we don't get caught, and correct me if I'm wrong, but you guys don't have any kind of ID do you?"

All five of my born-and-raised wizard friends looked at each other like they weren't sure what I was asking, then turned back to me.

"What's ID?" asked Angelina. I groaned.

"Okay, yeah, that's what I thought. So there's a lot of things we can't go do, especially since none of you have, like, a driver's license."

"We all have Apparition licenses. Would those work?" asked Lee.

I shook my head. "They're registered to us based on our wands and magical signature, so no. Muggles don't have that kind of thing, so we get a little card that we can carry around to prove we learned how to drive or do whatever else. A lot of places require it to prove your age, like for paintball or go karting, so we're probably not going to be able to do any of that. But that's okay, we don't need that to have fun! I came up with a couple other options for you guys to pick from.

"First option, we go hang out in New York. It's not even noon yet there, we could go bother family members of mine, hang out in the city, and do whatever we wanted until late tonight. Second option, we could do a movie marathon but with actual muggle theaters, which I think would blow you guys away. I found one showing all the Star Wars movies, which I know Jackson would absolutely lose his mind over, and we could eat all the popcorn and candy you can imagine while we watch them. And third option, last that I came up with anyway, is to do a beach day. It's like seventy-five degrees in California this time of year—or I guess about twenty-four degrees for you guys. And I know the perfect spot where we can relax and build sandcastles and do whatever else we want to do. So, what do you guys think?"

The twins both looked at each other, silently having a conversation with just shifts in their facial expressions. I knew them well enough to recognize a debate going on, but I wasn't sure which option they might be leaning towards. After a few minutes, they turned back to us, their minds made up.

"Beach day," they said as one. I grinned.

"Sounds like a plan. Everybody take ten to get changed, and then we'll go find the warmest, sandiest beach in Malibu."

Everyone nodded, then all six of us started heading off to our dorms together. Lee fell in next to me with a shake of his head.

"I was hoping they'd pick the New York day. Running around that city with you and your family sounds like it would be an absolute blast."

"Well, we do have spring break coming up in like a week. I'll probably go home for at least part of it, so maybe you guys can all come with me."

"I like the sound of that," Alicia chimed in, turning around with a grin as we reached the stairs. Lee nodded, and I made a mental note to start planning a little trip with my friends for the break as we separated to our dorm rooms. I knew my parents would be more than happy to host, and it was about time I showed the wizards around my favorite muggle city.

A little over five minutes later, we gathered in the common room again. I sent quick text to Jackson to tell him the plan and have him rally the Slytherins and Cedric after classes and whatever else they had to do, then opened a sling portal to one of my favorite spots in the world.