Not Alone After All

Chapter VI

Another school year was about to begin. It was the night of the 31th of august, and Laura heard a noise coming from downstairs. She was in her room, the door closed. Then her doorbell rang.

"Who the hell is ringing at our door at 11 o'clock pm?!" She heard Mrs. Angelo screaming while she went down the stairs.

"Hello, Mrs. Angelo," said a voice, after Mrs. Angelo opened the door. "Sorry to intrude your house at this hour, but we are here to escort Miss. Potter to the Leaky Caldron, where her brother will be waiting for her."

There was a silence.

"Laura!" Called her mother. "Come down here, I know you're awake!"

Laura opened her door and ran down the stairs. "What is it?"

"Hello, Miss Potter," said the man. "I'm here to escort you."

"So I've heard," said Laura. "Mom?" She asked.

"Sure. Go change, I'll pack your things. Will you bring your owl with you this year?" Mrs. Angelo asked. Chipper, her Athene little owl squeaked from upstairs.

"I guess so," Laura said. She ran upstairs uncle more and changed herself. She put some jeans and a yellow t-shirt. Yellow suited her well.

Laura had grown much this past summer. She was more 'teen-likely'. Her hair curled behind her back and above her shoulders, and her green eyes sparkled under the moonlight.

She went downstairs, where Mrs. Angelo was waiting for her with her luggage and Chipper.

"Take care, sweetheart," she said.

"Thanks. I will."

She parted with the man, who had two brooms with him. "I imagine you are okay with flying?" The man asked. Laurie smiled.

"I'm more than okay," she replied.

"Great. Follow me," he said, going up in tee skies. Laura followed him and, after a few minutes, they arrived at the Leaky Caldron.

"You said Harry was here, waiting," she said to the man whose name was unknown.

"He hasn't yet arrived," he answered. "Please follow me."

Laura followed him into a room, where she sat down on a chair, besides the fireplace.

"Good night, Miss Potter," said a man, whose face was towards a window.

"Uh.. goodnight?"

The man turned around. It was the minister of magic. "Did you sleep well?"

"No, sir."

"Well... anyways, your brother got himself in some big trouble this year," he said. Laura sighed. And when didn't he?

"What did he do?" Laurie asked.

"He blew up hid aunt," the minister said. Laura's eyes were wide with surprise. "Yes. I know, you wonder what made him do it. He didn't mean it. He tried to stop it. Let's just say the Dursleys aren't the best family you could wish to have."

At least it IS a family, she thought.

"He will be arriving tomorrow morning, he is in a bus right now. Anyway, your second year is about to start and, I guess you don't mind that we took your books for you," he said, mentioning two piles of books with his hands. One of them had a spider/monter/boon with fur. She decided not to ask which pile was hers, but secretly prayed to be the other one.

Laurie got out of the room and went down some stairs.

"Laurie!" She heard from downstairs, before she reached the bottom. She turned to see Hermione, smiling and grabbing her cat.

"Hermione!" Laurie yelled as she ran and hugged her friend. "It's good to see you," se finally said.

"Yeah. You too."

"I'm telling you Hermione! Keep that filthy cat away from my Scabbers!" They both turned to see Ron, holding his rat near his chest. "Oh, Hi Laurie!"

"Hello, Ron," Laurie smiled. "What happened with your rat?" Hermione sighed and Ron started yelling again.

"That stupid cat of hers is always chasing him!" Hermione felt her face becoming hotter with rage.

"My cat is not stupid!" She yelled. "He is a predator! You shouldn't be letting your filthy rat running freely around if you don't want him to be killed!"

"Was that a threat Hermione?!"

"What if it was?"

Laurie decided that fight was not hers to be fought. She got a book from her bag, sat down on a chair, her feet on another one, and started reading, while, on the background, she heard Hermione and Ron yelling at each other. Anyway, Shakespeare was definitely her favourite writer, but he hadn't written her favourite book, which was, of course, Les Misérables, by Victor Hugo.

While she was deep into her reading, Laurie felt some kind of presence creeping behind her back. Laurie turned back and-- nothing. She turned back and continued reading. While she was going through a sad scene, where Eponine got shot and... anyway, let's not spoil that to anyone. The point is, Arthur Weasley came to talk to her.

"Laurie can I talk to-- I'm sorry, are you crying?" He asked. Laurie closed her book, dried up her tears, got up and smiled.

"Uh, no Mr. Weasley," she said. "I was just reading a book and it was quite sad."

"I see," he said. "Can I talk to you? It's really important." Laurie's smiled faded.

"Yes, sure."

Laurie followed Arthur to a darker spot on the room, where they could speak privately. Besides them, was a poster. Here's what it said: 'Have you seen this wizard? Approach with extreme caution. Do not attempt to use magic on this man.' And in the middle of the paper, there was a photo of a man. A man Laurie knew more than very well.