Patrick Stump and the Flying Car Brigade

Chapter 40

Chapter 40

Spring came, and the snow that blanketed the Highlands finally began to melt. While the weather did improve slightly, it only reminded me of a dilemma that I still had to face: applying to Ilvermorny.

My parents sent me the documents that would let me transfer to Ilvermorny in late February, but I procrastinated for as long as I could. Ilvermorny was not something that I wanted to think about, especially when I was still thinking about what had happened to Brendon. I still thought that I could have done more to keep him from joining the Death Eaters, but he was still gone, and he was never coming home. Eventually, however, I did have to move on and finish my applications before the deadline for submitting them came.

It was Saturday, when these open doors were open ended, when Andy decided to schedule band practice. "We should practice if we're going to play at Easter," Andy argued.

I told him during lunch that day that I still had to finish my Ilvermorny applications, but Andy said that I could do that during practice, so I came anyways. We decided to practice in an empty classroom next to the Defence Against The Dark Arts classroom, and while Pete, Joe, and Andy took out their instruments, I took out a massive stack of papers.

"What's that?" Joe asked, looking over my shoulder.

"They're papers that will let me transfer to Ilvermorny next year," I explained. "They need to know my grades and things like that. It's all a bit daft if you ask me."

"Where are you moving again?" Joe asked.

"Chicago," I said. "It's so two years ago."

Joe nodded and began to tune his guitar. Meanwhile, I pulled out a quill and started filling out one of the forms, but I quickly became overwhelmed. There were so many questions, ranging from What classes are you currently taking? to What is your address? to Are you presently involved in any sports at your school? None of them were particularly difficult to answer, but there were still so many questions.

After playing through the chords in "A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More 'Touch Me,'" Pete peeked over my shoulder. "Are you presently involved in any sports at your school?" he read. "What kind of a question is that?"

"I answered that I was so good at sports as a kid that I started a band," I said.

"Brilliant," Pete said. "It still makes no sense though. They don't play the same sports in America as we do here."

"I thought everyone played Quidditch," Joe said.

"No, Americans play Quodpot instead," Pete said.

"What's Quodpot?" Joe asked.

"It's a strange game that Americans play," Pete said. "They throw around this explosive Quaffle, and you have to get it into a pot before it explodes."

"That sounds like rubbish," Andy said.

"I don't know," Joe said. "It kind of sounds fun."

"A lot of my friends played Quodpot back when I lived in Chicago," I said. "It is a bizarre little sport."

"How are they going to determine your house?" Andy asked. "Aren't the houses different at Ilvermorny?"

"Yes, they are," I said. "I'm going in a few days early to get Sorted so I don't have to be Sorted with the first years." As I said this, I wondered which house I would be in. I didn't know very much about how the houses worked at Ilvermorny, or which one was closest to Hufflepuff. Once again, I wished that I could just stay at Hogwarts. I only had one more year of schooling, and it made sense to finish where I started.

There were only a few more questions on the applications, so I filled them out and started tuning my guitar. "Are you ready for another bad poem?" I asked everyone.

"I'm ready," Pete said, and Joe and Andy nodded, so we launched right into "Chicago Is So Two Years Ago."

But there's a light on in Chicago

And I know I should be home

All the colors of the street signs

They remind me of the pickup truck

Out in front of your neighbor's house

Music was the only way that I could truly express myself. Sometimes it seemed that nobody else would listen. All I could think about all through band practice was how everything seemed to be falling apart. Brendon was off with the Death Eaters, and I was still moving to Chicago after this year. I still couldn't Apparate, and Fall Out Boy had gone nowhere since the beginning of the school year. This is not what I had planned, I thought.

We continued to practice until Pete suddenly exclaimed, "I've got all this ringing in my ears and none on my fingers!"

"We should probably stop then," I said.

"It is getting loud in here," Andy agreed. The four of us packed up our stuff and I brought my guitar back to the Hufflepuff Common Room. While I was there, I also placed my applications in an envelope and gave it to my owl, Soul Punk. The owl promptly flew off, and I knew that he wouldn't return for a few days. After all, Soul Punk was going all the way across the Atlantic.

Time was flying by, but to be honest, I was afraid that it was going too fast. I wanted to stop and savour my time at Hogwarts. Unfortunately, it seemed that I couldn't even do that. In a few months, I would leave for Ilvermorny, and if Brendon was right, Britain would be doomed. There was so much swimming through my mind, and I desperately someone to talk to, so I left the common room and went to the North Tower. I needed to talk to Sirius one last time.