The Cupboard Series 5: United We Stand ...

Chapter 15

Katie stepped from the FLOO, manhandling her trunk out of its upright position as fast as she could. She'd been warned about the special properties of the room otherwise she would have simply used her wand and levitated it. As soon as it was out, she slid it to the left and not a moment too soon as the flames flashed green once again and Angelia appeared with her trunk.

Jumping forward, she helped her friend manoeuvre her trunk out and to the left as well, just in time for Alicia to appear. By the time that all three were clear of the fireplace with their trunks sorted behind them, the FLOO was flaming up once more ready to deposit the next new student to the school.

With excited grins, the three grabbed the ends of their trunks and pulled them towards where they knew the hidden door and window were. Just as they'd been instructed to do, they fished into their pockets – or in the case of Katie, reached down the neck of her shirt – and pulled out the silver Diricawl medallion and held them up.

At once the door opened, staying that way just long enough for the three to exit the room.

"Welcome to Diricawl," Chert grunted.

"Thanks, Professor Chert," Katie replied happily, making said goblin professor scowl.

"Report to Reception before you go anywhere else," Chert instructed.

Before any of the girls could reply, the Security Chief had turned away to stare into the window into the room, watching the newest arrivals.

"Think I'm glad that I didn't sign up to learn Gobbledegook," Angelina whispered as soon as she felt they were out of hearing range, which, considering Chert was a goblin, was considerable.

"Yeah, French was a much better option," Alicia agreed.

"This year is going to be so different," an excited Katie exclaimed. "We're going to learn so many different things."

"No quidditch, though," Angelina replied.

"Professor McGonagall promised us that there would be," Alicia countered.

"If only Ollie was here as well," Katie said. "With us and twins being here with Harry, the whole team's nearly back together again."

-oOoOo-

"You are certain that this is the place?" Simon Finch-Fletchley asked.

"Yes, Dad," Justin sighed tiredly.

He thought that the kids were the ones who were supposed to be constantly asking repetitive questions, not the parent.

"Remember what happened when you let go of the medallion?" Justin reminded his father.

His father winced as he nodded.

As they lived marginally closer to the island than London, his father had decided that it'd be quicker for them to drive to the land opposite the island and for Justin to take the ferry ... er, hovercraft, across to the island.

The first problem that they'd encountered had been that, near the very end of the journey, when they could already see the blue of the ocean in the distance, his father had suddenly changed his mind and decided that dropping Justin off in London was actually the best idea.

It'd taken a whole heap of arguing before Justin had finally clued in to the fact that his father wasn't holding the special medallion that nullified the muggle-repelling wards that would allow his father to drive onto the land that Harry apparently owned.

Their second problem came as they were traipsing along the path from the designated carpark to the pier where they could board the ferry. It was a long walk (they'd been promised that by the end of the school year, parents would be able to drive all the way down to the pier, the road just had to be built first) across the scrubby land and they'd had to carry Justin's trunk between them.