When We Went to Hogwarts

Preface

         The students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry anxiously boarded the Hogwarts Express from platform nine and three-quarters. With the recent murder of their beloved Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, and rumors of his replacement being the man who'd slain him, Severus Snape, no one quite knew what was ahead. Many a nervous and forlorn face was found throughout the cabins, except for 4, which housed a particularly troublesome group of long-loved friends.

"Oh hey, look who all of a sudden cares about her brother...and who else cares about their freaking friend!" Geminus Banon shouted at his sister, Boudicea Banon, and three other friends, Lucht Imithe, Fergal Fidel, and Eldon Ellis. Eldon smiled and sat down next to his girlfriend who'd been waiting for him in the cabin, Modesta Fawn.

"Oh, what's on ya now, Gem?" Boudicea asked in the doorway, only moving to the side a bit to allow her friends entry.

"Why didn't you write me at all this summer? Or call?" Gem asked, glaring from his window seat.

"I did write to you. You're the one who never replied...and I couldn't call you. It's too expensive to call from Ireland to America. Be mad at dad, he's the one who gave you an American mother!"

"Well, now you too are together! Bou, I'll let you come sit by your brother and you guys can catch up!" Fergal interjected in his sweet please everyone, let's get along voice.

"Oh hush, Ferg. You didn't reply either."

"Hey! I replied!" Eldon said in an attempt to make everyone laugh. He didn't.

"You kind of did. When you were visiting the Fawn house." Gem mumbled.

"It's okay, Gem. I didn't get any letters, either." Cashlin Jones-another girl who'd been in the cabin said. Boudicea glared at her.

"Did too!" Boudicea explained, arms crossed.

"Don't yell!" Oengus Petchul hollered from the cabin across the way. His girlfriend, Paloma Ownsbury, giggled as she rested her head on his shoulder. Boudicea made a face at him and turned her attention back to her cabin, still not yet seated.

"Well, we're all together now, let's stop arguing and get to catching up with each other!" Conall Rapax, yet another addition to the cabin offered. Boudicea looked around and, in all of her stubborn anger, sat down between Geminus and Fergal.

The ride went quickly, with talk of the many adventures they'd all had over the summer. Laughter could be heard (Cashlin's loudest of all) as Eldon discussed meeting Modesta's parents and how he'd used magic to fix their dishwasher, which really blew their muggle-minds away. Cashlin had spent the first three weeks of the break with Boudicea and Belva Brutish, as well as Dena LaVienna. After that, she'd gone home and felt "left out" by her friends who got to live in the wizarding world full-time. Conall had a rather bland summer, working on his uncle's farm and not being able to use any form of magic at all, as it scared his muggle family. Fergal finally got to ride his broom in a full circle around the world and had stopped mid-trip in Romania, where he'd taken up Charlie Weasley on his offer to let him care for and study the dragons there for a couple of weeks. Boudicea was her normal social-self through most of the summer, until a brutal dementor attack just three days before her birthday. She'd only just recently really recovered.

No one talked about last year, or Dumbledore, or Snape, or the fact that Harry Potter had left the school for good. They focused only on the good until they arrived at the front gates of Hogwarts. There, joined by the rest of their friends, they all stood, nauseous and horrified at the memory of what had happened there just a few weeks later.

The air at Hogwarts wasn't the same-colder, thicker, emptier somehow. Boudicea felt the least comfortable of the group, as it all had reminded her of what she felt just before the dementor attack. She stood close to Geminus for protection. The group of friends affectionately referred to as "the squad", looked at each other with fear in their eyes. The gates opened, McGonagall greeted the mass of seventh years somberly, and the beginning of the end took flight.

"This is going to be a tough year." Conall said to the squad. Only anxious looks were offered in reply.