meant to be (2)

11

I spun around. There, his black robes rippling in a cold breeze, stood Severus Snape. He was a thin man with sallow skin, a hooked nose and greasy, shoulder-length black hair, and at this moment, he was smiling in a way that told me Harry, Ron and I were in very deep trouble.

"Follow me" said Snape.

Not daring to even look at each other, we followed Snape up the steps into the vast, echoing Entrance Hall, which was lit with flaming torches. A delicious smell of food was wafting from the Great Hall, but Snape led us away from the warmth and light, down a narrow stone staircase that led into the dungeons.

"In!" he said, opening a door halfway down the cold passageway and pointing. We entered Snape's office, shivering. The shadowy walls were lined with shelves of large glass jars, in which foated all manner of revolting things I didn't really want to know the name of at the moment. The fireplace was dark and empty. Snape closed the door and turned to look at us.

"So." he said softly, "the train isn't good enough for the famous Harry Potter, his little girlfriend Clarke and faithful sidekick Weasley. Wanted to arrive with a bang, did we?"

"No, sir, it was the barrier at King's Cross, it-" I started explaining.

"Silence!" said Snape coldly. "What have you done with the car?"

I gulped. This wasn't the first time Snape had given me the impression of being able to read minds. But a moment later, I understood, as Snape unrolled todays issue of the Evening Prophet.

"You were seen" he hissed, showing us the headline. "FLYING FORD ANGLIA MYSTIFIES MUGGLES." He began to read aloud. "Two Muggles in London, convinced they saw an old car flying over the Post Office tower... at noon in Norfolk, Mrs Hetty Bayliss, while hanging out her washing - Mr Angus Fleet, of Peebles, reported to police. SIX or Seven Muggles in all. I believe your father works in the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office? And, your father, the great John Clarke!" he said, looking up at Ron and me smiling still more nastily "Dear, dear their own kids."

I felt as though I'd just been walloped in the stomach by one of the mad tree's larger branches. If anyone found out Mr Weasley had bewitched the car... I hadn't thought of that... and what will mom and dad say...

"I noticed, in my search of the park, that considerable damage seems to have been done to a very valuable Whomping Willow" Snape went on.

"That tree did more damage to us than we-" Ron blurted out. I looked up at Ron, trying not to laugh.

Silence snapped Snape again. "Most unfortunately, you are not in my house and the decision to expel you does not rest with me. I shall go and fetch the people who do have that happy power. You will wait here."

Harry, Ron and I stared at each other, white-faced. I didn't feel hungry anymore. I now felt extremely sick. I tried not to look at a large, slimy something suspended in green liquid on a shelf behind Snape's desk. If Snape had gone to fetch Professor McGonagall, Head of Gryffindor house, we were hardly any better off. She might be fairer than Snape, but she was still extremely strict.

Ten minutes later, Snape returned, and sure enough it was Professor McGonagall who accompanied him. I had seen Professor McConagall angry on several occasions, but either I had forgotten just how thin her mouth could go, or I had never seen her this angry before. She raised her wand the moment she entered. We all flinched, but she merely pointed it at the empty fireplace, where flames suddenly erupted.

"Sit" she said, and we backed into chairs by the fire.

"Explain" she said, her glasses glinting ominously. Ron launched into the story, starting with the barrier at the station refusing to let us through.