Storybook Island

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

*Meghan*
Note- This chapter comes after chapter three (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix) and chapter five (The Timeline of a Series).

When Abby and I emerged from the portal, we found ourselves on the street outside Number Four, Privet Drive. The air was hot and smelled like freshly cut grass.

I stood up, glancing down at the puddle beside the curb that glimmered and flowed down into the gutter. But what really caught my eye was my cousin's face. 

"Oh my god! Abby, you look like you're twelve!" 

She brushed herself off and rolled her eyes. "Haha, very funny. Look, I can't help it if I have a slight babyface. God, you sound just like my friends." 

I shook my head. "No, I mean, you actually look like you're twelve!" 

At that, she looked up at me, and her eyes widened in horror. "Holy shit, so do you!" 

"Did the portal do this so we'd be second-years?" 

Abby clawed at her face, desperately. "NO! I CAN NOT GO THROUGH MY AWKWARD PHASE AGAIN!" 

"You're always in your awkward phase."

"Shut up." Abby got to her feet as well, observing the sweltering August day. "Well. I think we should go to King's Cross Station to see if our stuff is still in the locker we rented." 

"Good idea. If so, we can take it with us to the Leaky Cauldron. We have a few chapters before school starts since Harry stays with Ron at the burrow." 

This time, we knew how to get to King's Cross Station, so it didn't take five hours like last time. We did have a different delay, though. We couldn't remember which locker it was or what the combination was, either. 

"I thought I told you to write it down on a sticky note and put it on the book," I snarled.
Abby winced. "Yeah, I know, but I forgot." 

"Whatever. It was in Section G, but I don't remember the number." 

We found section G and Abby suddenly jumped. "I remember the combination! It was my birthday." 

"Yeah, but we don't know which locker our stuff is in." 

"No problem, we'll find it!" 

We spent two hours putting the combination into every single locker in Section G until, finally, locker G-374 opened to reveal our things, still tossed in carelessly. Abby swiped her backpack and pulled out her wallet, opening it to reveal wizard money. 

"Yes!" My cousin exclaimed, "We're not broke!" 

"Come on, we need a luggage cart." I led the way to where the carts were kept and got the first one, which Abby immediately jumped on. Instead of telling her to get off, I just rolled my eyes. After knowing her for sixteen years (we'd both had a birthday between book trips), I learned that it was no use. 

I pushed the cart back to Section G with difficulty, since she decided to stand up at the front, blocking my view, and shout, 'I'm king of the world!' The loading process didn't take too long, and soon we were on a bus that smelled like hot urine on our way to the Leaky Cauldron.
We shuffled up to the desk with lots of bags and paid for a room until the first of September, which was less than we had guessed, actually. Mostly because we got the cheapest room. 

That turned out to be a mistake when we had one dilapidated bed, there was no other furniture besides said dilapidated bed, our bathroom sink was so rusty that I could barely turn the knobs, something was growing in the shower drain, we could hear rats scuttling above us, and we were right next to the train tracks, meaning that each time a train came by, it was loud enough to deafen us and the whole room shook.