Oh no! Overslept!

The hands of the clock continued to tick roun steadily as I slept in the now empty corridor. The fire in the grate flickered and went out and the oil lamp that was on the desk flickered and dimmed down until it was nothing but a soft glow and the wick was nothing more than a stub of its former glory. The stars outside in the sky started to fade as an unknown artist painted different coloured streaks on the dark blue canvas. The top of the sun peeked over the horizon and eventually made its way up into the sky.

Alarm clocks sounded in each dormitory and the Ravenclaws started to wake up and get ready for their school day. No one in the first year girls dormitory noticed the extra absence of one of their number. I was still asleep at the table in the commonroom.

The boys and girls of varying ages trooped down the stairs and filed out of the ravenclaw tower and down the staircase to the great hall as I slept, no one noticing the little first year slumped in a heavy sleep.

The day passed and people came and went, grabbing books from their bedside lockers or doing homework, and no one saw the girl in the corner.

I didn't wake up until noon, and by that time, I had missed all of Friday's lessons. I jolted awake, spilling my ink bottle onto the table and all over my homework. With a cry of despair, I picked it up and dried to clean up the mess and salvage my homework. My potions essay was ruined and my Defence Against the Dark Arts work was nothing more than a great big splodge of blue ink spreading across my thin, spikey writing.

I slumped down on the chair and hung my head in my hands.
"Why does this always happen to me?" I asked myself. "First I sleep through the whole of my school day, then I ruin my homework by pouring ink on it. Why, why, why?!"

I picked up my charms textbook and flicked through it, trying to find a spell that would clean my work up. To my sheer delight, there was a spell that would clean up the mess. I studied the incantation quickly and checked the wand movement.
My robe had fallen to the floor and the handle of the wand could be seen peeping out of the wand pocket. Grabbing it excitedly, I pointed it at my homework.
"Evanesco," I said, flicking my wand. As if I was using some sort of vacuum cleaner, all the spilt ink was sucked up from the parchment and into my wand. I then pointed it at the ink that was still on the table and the same thing happened. Deftly, I picked up the pot of ink and the wand deposited all of the ink. I sighed with relief and closed the pot and latched it firmly.
I scooped up all the pieces of parchment and shoved them into my bag, along with my textbook and box of quills.

I took my bag upstairs to my dormitory and stowed it away in my locker by my bed. As I stood up again, I was overcome not by a giddy headrush but by a feeling of heavy drowsiness. Without another motion or coherent thought, I fell onto my bed and slept again.
My last thought before sinking into the deep sleep was what is happening to me?

Tired towards exams

Tash was carried off by the Paramedic wizards and she disappeared from sight as the portkey disappeared in a flash of light. I dreaded what was coming next and I couldn't face up to her parents.

Apprehensively, I turned round and saw that Tash's parents had already disapparated. All I saw was the grim face of Madam Pomfrey and the despairing faces of Laurie and Sam.

We looked at eachother and communicated silently. I couldn't stay there any longer.

Feet heavy, I walked over to the door and picked up my bag and left the Hospital Wing and went to the Library to serve my detention for that evening. I had to help Madam Pince re-shelve books for two hours. Oh joy.



I passed many first and second years on my way to the Library. Every one of them gave me weird looks, as if they knew what I had done. I saw my sister leaving the hospital wing after me, as she had just been released too. She caught up to me and didn't stop. She had a bundle of books in her arms and was running to the Library, looking hurriedly at her watch. She was obviously late for returning them.

"Hey Soph," I called softly after her. "If you want, I can take those books back for you. I'm heading over to the library to serve my detention. I'll put them back in and I'll relieve you of the fine."

"Thanks, Annie," she said gratefully as she put the pile of books in my arm.

"No worries. I got this."



I clutched the books as I walked over to the library. I glanced at the titles as I checked them into the Library and returned them to the shelves. My sister had taken out books like "Hexes; for fun and profit" and other titles of the same ilk.

I chuckled as I returned each book to the shelf. My sister had always wanted to make money out of her talents, but this was just going a little too far.

Two long hours passed as I went from shelf to shelf on a moving ladder, returning books to their correct places, and ridding the books of bookworms, which liked to eat the ink that the books were printed with. Several times, I stumbled over couples who were kissing in the more obscure shelves where people rarely went. I couldn't help it, but they got mad at me, and I had many books chucked at my head... most of them had been hexed to fly off the shelves at passers by, but that was beside the point.

Once every single book had been returned to its respective shelf, I was dismissed from my detention. It was about 6.33 in the evening and I had a pile of homework to do.
"Oh poo, no wizard's chess with Peggy this evening," I grumbled as I hauled my exhausted carcass up the staircases to the Ravenclaw tower.

As soon as the door let me through, I plonked myself down on the first empty chair that I could find by a window with a desk next to it. I took out my notebooks and my textbooks and took out my box of new quills which I had been saving for exams.
A white owl flew past the window, hooting as it flew. A fine mist crept around the castle grounds and the pale moon wore a crown of silver as the glowing orb in the dark night sky grew brighter.

I dipped my quill into my blue inkwell and started to write my potions essay. So warm was it in the Common room that I felt my eyes starting to droop. My eyelids grew heavy and every mark I made on the parchment with my quill became more and more slow.
"No!" I told myself, slapping myself awake and taking off my school robe, hoping it wouldn't keep me too hot.
I continued to work in the ever-quieting commonroom. The clock chimed nine hours and I discarded my jumper and loosened my tie, rolling my sleeves up too, in a vain attempt to cool down.

My potions essay finished, I then moved onto a report on the Expelliarmus spell which we had learnt in Defence Against the Dark Arts.
The fire that had crackled away merrily in the grate merely an hour ago was now nothing more than a pile of glowing embers, casting a dim light around the common room. My oil lamp next to me flickered as it too started to go out. I filled it with some more paraffin and continued working until I could work no more.

The same feelings of tiredness came over me and I couldn't fight it. I attempted to continue writing, but it was all in vain.

I fell asleep where I sat, quill in hand, an ink blot appearing on the parchment where the quill nib rested.

The first out of the hospital wing

The week passed quickly and mostly uneventfully. After lessons had finished, I went and played Wizard's chess with Peggy until one of us won. Throughout the week, I progressively got better and even managed to beat Peggy who had won the chess tournament last year.

We played Quidditch in all the Herbology lessons and Flying lessons of the week. That was one of the best things, as we learned better control of broomsticks (and the balls).


It was Thursday afternoon, Flying last lesson, a beautifully sunny afternoon and it was Ravenclaw Mixed vs. Slytherin Mixed. I had just managed to knock the Slytherin beaters off their brooms and we were winning by 50 points to 10.

From my place watching the match, I saw someone swaggering onto the pitch.

It was Luella.
She wore a smirk on her face as she swaggered on.


I was so busy glaring at Luella that when one of the Slytherins sent a bludger flying at me, it crashed right into the side of my head, and sent me toppling to the ground.
I thrust out my arm to catch my broom, but I was too late and I was just falling.


With a dull thud, I landed on the ground with no pain except from where the bludger had collided with my head.

"Hm, the ground seems rather springy today," I said, bouncing up and down on the unusually springy ground.

"That's because you landed on me, you great oaf!" A muffled voice said from under me.


I knew it was Luella, but I decided to act dumb.

"It's quite strange that the ground is like this."

"Get. Off. Me." Luella's muffled voice said from under me.

I then decided to act all innocent.

"Oh Luella, is that you that I am sitting on? Oh I am so sorry, I had no idea!"

"Just get your fat butt off me."

I raised an eyebrow and pursed my lips. Above me the match was still going on.

I sat down even harder onto her.

"C'mon Bolt! You're needed up here!" shouted one of my teammates.

Sighing, I got up and hopped onto my broom and grabbed the bludger bat.

Soaring into the air, I primed the bat to whack the bludgers to and fro.


I saw a bludger whizzing towards Scott McCraig, and even though I had seen him with Luella, I didn't want to see him hurt.

Urging my broom to go faster, I zoomed towards the oncoming bludger and intercepted the hit before Scott lost the Quaffle or got hurt.



The Quidditch ended and so did school.



The teams landed their brooms and gathered up their brooms and robes.



I saw Chicken, Titch and Stan all waiting for me by the stands.

"Hi guys!" I called to them. "Any news?"

Their faces which were normally so full of happiness were grave and serious.

"Annie, I didn't want to be the one to tell you this, but your friend Tash has fared far worse than Madam Pomfrey thought she would. She told me to pass on this message to you. Tash is being transported to St. Mungo's due to that stunner that hit her in her chest. She's in a very deep coma and the next few hours are crucial to her survival. The school have contacted her parents and they are on their way to St. Mungo's. Madam Pomfrey wants you to go up to the hospital wing right now."



I was shocked. "But, I went into the hospital wing every day! Tash seemed fine!"

Then suddenly it all made sense. That was why Luella had been smirking at me.

"Guys, I'll see you later."
Without another word, I sped from the Quidditch pitch, past some 5th years throwing dungbombs at each other, past some boys playing gobstones.
My feet literally flew as I ran.
"Hey Annie!" I heard Nike call, but I didn't answer.
I continued to sprint up to the steps of the school, past the stone hogs and up the enormous staircases, all the way to the hospital wing.

I burst through the doors to see a sight which made my heart stop.
Tash's parents, Madam Pomfrey and Laurie, who had come to earlier that day, all crowded around Tash's bed.

Tears were streaming down Tash's mother's face and her father wore a grim look on his face.
All I could think was It's all my fault. Tash might be dying, and it would be all because of me.

My bag slid off my shoulder and landed on the floor by the door.
With numb legs, I walked over to Tash's bedside. She was unconscious in her bed.
I crouched down by her bed and held one of her hands in mine.
"Please Tash, you'll get through this, you've got to."
Someone put their hand on my shoulder, but I shook it off.
Tears welled up in my eyes, but I didn't take my eyes off of Tash.
"Miss Bolt, she can't stay here. Miss Helyar has to be taken to St. Mungo's if she is to survive." Madam Pomfrey's voice sounded above my head.

Gently, she pulled me away from Tash, who was put onto a stretcher and was taken outside to a portkey with two paramedic wizards.

"Please Tash, survive. Live to see another day."

Here we go!

I was the first to Transfiguration. Most of the first years were still down in the great hall eating their breakfasts. My stomach gurgled, begging for food, but I wasn't in the mood to eat.
Twiddling my thumbs, I sat there, and stared blankly at the blackboard, waiting for the bell to ring and for the students to filter into the classroom.
Soon enough, the bell rang, and the kids all shuffled reluctantly into the classroom, unwilling to start a new term.

"Good Morning class," Prof. McGonagall said as she strode into the classroom, and stood at her desk.
"Good morning Professor McGonagall," we chanted in a sing song voice.
I kept my head down and avoided making eye contact with her. It helped that my desk was in the back of the classroom.
"Right class," she said, taking out her wand and charming some chalk to write on the board. "Today, we will be learning about transforming an item into something completely different from its original form. For example, like a quill to a teacup."

The lesson went by slowly. I had managed to transform the feather I had into a pin cushion and back several times by the end of the lesson.
I wonder how Tash, Sam and Laurie are. I thought as I watched everyone attempting to transfigure their feathers.
Someone prodded me in the back. I turned to look, and there I saw a very bruised Zofka, and an even worse Petunia.
"Hello Annie," Petunia said, smiling a sickningly sweet smile at me. "I just wanted to say to you that you're dead," she said it in such an off hand manner that I knew that I was in trouble. If I wasn't expelled from school, then I would be in for a much worse fate.
Zofka cracked her knuckles menacingly from her seat next to Petunia.
"Ve know vhere you lif!" she said, trying to sound threatening.
Petunia whacked Zofka over the head. "Of course you know where she lives, Zofka you blubber brained twit, we go to the same school!"
I snorted into a handkerchief, trying very hard not laugh.
"Ja, but ve know vat classes she has and vat time she has free!" Zofka hissed back to Petunia.
Petunia facepalmed. "That's because we all have the same lessons."
Zofka screwed her face up, looking as though she was in great pain. Then she realised what Petunia had said to her.
"Oh. Ok. Vell, do ve haf punch up now?"
Petunia sighed. "No, we do not have a punch up."
Suddenly feeling a little pluckier, I made fun of Zofka. "Ja, ve haf no punch up today!"
Petunia laughed, but Zofka screwed up her face again. "Vhy did you shpeak like thet?"
"Never mind." I said as I turned back to my work.
I smiled as from behind me I heard the sound of Petunia whacking Zofka round her head again.

The lesson ended, and everyone left the classroom. I left in a particular hurry, as to avoid talking to McGonagall.
A heavy rain had come over the grounds of the school, and it was very muddy.
We put our hoods up and ran to the Herbology greenhouses on the other side of the school.
Everyone was soaked through by the time they had arrived at Greenhouse 1.
Stuck to the door was a notice from Professor Sprout.
Herbology Cancelled today due to infestation of flesh eating slugs. Please come to the great hall for a special lesson.
"Herbology's cancelled?!" A dismayed Ravenclaw shouted from the crowd.
"That's a good thing!" A Slytherin yelled at the Ravenclaw.
Groaning and grumbling, we returned to the courtyard that was the quickest way to the Great Hall.

We all went into the Great Hall to see something amazing.
The tables were all gone, and at either end of the hall were 3 hoops, each of them different sizes.
Lines had been painted onto the ground, and wooden stands were stood by the walls.
In the centre of the room, there were 14 brooms floating in a circle at waist height. In the middle of the circle was a big, old chest with locks on it and two beaten up bats.
As one, the class breathed "Quidditch."
"Yes, indeed, we are playing Quidditch," Professor Sprout said as she walked into the room. "Now, I believe that this is the Ravenclaw and Slytherin first years, am I correct? Good. Today, I will be teaching you about Quidditch."
Professor Sprout talked to us for about half an hour about the rules and positions of Quidditch.
She explained to us that we were using foam bludgers and a training snitch for our games.
We were split into teams of 7, Ravenclaw vs. Slytherin. Each house had two teams.
Unfortunately, due to Laurie and Tash's absence, the Ravenclaw's girl team was missing one beater and a chaser.

For the rest of the lesson, we played Quidditch in the hall.
As a beater, I was able to whack out all my emotion into the bludgers, and I even managed to knock Zofka and Petunia off their brooms, only to have them float in midair from a security spell cast by Prof. Sprout.

The lesson ended all too soon, and we left the great hall to deposit our bags and stuff.
By the time that we had all returned to our respective houses and dorms, dumped our bags and returned to the hall, everything was back to normal.

I ate lunch with my new friends. Conversation was never scarce with that group. They were always plotting of ways to get back at people who had been rude to them and such.
Looking around at the Great Hall, no one would have ever expected that a full size Quidditch Pitch had been set up in there only 10 minutes before.
I finished my lunch quickly and went up to the Hospital Wing to visit my friends.
They were all still unconscious in their beds, so I couldn't talk to them of anything.
Madam Pomfrey shooed me out quite quickly though, so I went off on my own and was bored.

The rain was still hard outside, but I didn't care.
I walked out of the courtyard gates and walked down to the lake inlet where the Roamers' rock was.
Checking that no one was watching, I went inside and stood, watching everything happening around me. Windows in the rock had appeared, which showed enemies and friends.
The girls were still sleeping in the hospital wing. Luella was sitting up in bed, chatting to Sophie quietly. Zofka and Petunia were in the library, taking out a book, and Stan, Chicken and Titch were fooling around in an empty classroom.
I checked my watch. It read half past twelve. I still had an hour and a half of lunch break left.
Then, I checked my map to see if anyone was about and then went to the owlery.

Albus was perched on a low beam of the owlery. Attached to his foot was a magazine which I had ordered and hadn't received in the morning. I took the magazine and stuffed it into my pocket.
From my other pocket, I extracted a self inking quill and an order form for Honeyduke's.
I ordered half a dozen chocolate frogs and a packet of Bertie Botts' every flavour beans for my friends. I folded the letter up and put it into the envelope along with the money.
"See you soon, Albus." I said as Albus flew off.

The rest of the day went quickly, and soon, I had to go to the principle's office.
Palms sweating and dread in my heart, I walked the condemning corridor to McGonagall's office.
My hands shook as I knocked on the door.
"Come in," McGonagall said from her office.
I walked in and stood just a step away from the door.
"Now, Annie, I am disappointed to find out that you have been duelling with other students. Could you please explain yourself? I would like to know everything."
I said everything to McGonagall, told her of all the niggles between Luella and our group. I owned up to the broomstick incident, but didn't blame Laurie. Everything poured out, and I felt terrible but better at the end of it.

"Well, Annie, I can see that you and Luella have had some difficulties between you. What you did was completely out of order, especially sabotaging her broomstick and duelling. She or yourself could have been killed. I am most disappointed in you, Miss Bolt. Normally, the consequences for your actions would mean expulsion." I hung my head at this. "But," she continued. "This time you will not be expelled. Instead, you will be banned from all clubs, excluded from all special trips until the end of the school year, and you will have 2 months' detention. The same will go for your friends and Luella and her friends when they get out of the hospital wing. Now, please go along, enjoy your free time."

Once I was out of McGonagall's office, I leaped for joy, and did a little dance of happiness. I wasn't expelled! That made me happy. Although I had other punishments, I wasn't leaving the school that I loved.

Filled with joy, I sprinted off to the Ravenclaw commonroom and told Peggy and Mel, who told Renee and Nike, who were overheard by Neko and Raph.
"Wow Annie, you got off lucky there!" Peggy said as she hugged me.
"Yeah, Annie, you have no chance now if anything else happens this badly." Mel said as she joined in the hugging.
"Well, you won't be able to hang out with us after school hours are over, but at least you're not expelled." Raph said as he hugged all of us, robbing us of the ability to breathe.
"Raph, dude, I think you're killing them!" Neko said as he pried Raph away from the hug.
Renee and Nike were rolling around laughing at us.
Peggy, Mel and I all looked at each other, and then we pounced on Renee and Nike, and hugged them to death.

Dinner came and went, and I went to check on Tash, Laurie and Sam.
Sam stirred in her sleep, but otherwise, the others were dead to the world as they slept.

I returned to the common room and sat down on a sofa next to fire.
Peggy came up from behind me and covered my eyes. "Guess who," she said, putting on a low voice.
"Um... Peggy!"
"Darn it, you're right!" Peggy said as she sat down on the other sofa. "Have you ever played Wizard Chess?"
"I know how to play ordinary chess, and that's the same thing, isn't it? Except for the pieces moving on their own."
Peggy produced a chess set and set it up. "Let's play then!"

We started a long game of Chess. Mel came up to us whilst we were playing.
"Aaw, look at the geeks playing their geeky game of Chess!" without realising, Mel put her hand down next to a chess piece as she was talking.
Peggy and I looked at eachother, then Peggy winked.
"Knight to E4!" I said. The knight piece hopped along the board and landed heavily on Mel's hand.
"Yowch!" she said as she drew her hand away from the board, knocking over all the pieces.
"Game's over, I guess." Peggy said, standing up and packing the set away. And not a moment too soon, for the clock chimed 8 and I had to go up to my dorm.
"Night guys!" I called as I went up the stairs. I changed out of my uniform and into my pyjamas.
I put the uniform into the dirty linen basket at the side of my bed for the house elves, and I got out a fresh and dry uniform from my trunk.

Lying in bed, I went over the day's events in my head, and I decided that this term wasn't going to be half bad.

The same old same old.

My alarm clock rang 6am as it did every morning. Yawning, I opened the curtains to my four poster and got out of bed. Sleepily, everyone else did too.
The dormitory seemed empty that morning. Instead of the usual 7 girls per dorm, there were only 5, due to Laurie and Tash's absence.
Each dormitory was divided into 7 girls a year, same with 7 boys for the boys' dormitories. In each house there were two dormitories per year.
In our dormitory, most of the girls were nice. We had some mischievous twins, called Susan and Titty. They were great to hang out with, and they never got tired of taking the mickey out of teachers. Then, there were two absolutely dreadful girls. I say dreadful because they were make up wearing, hair tossing, skirt rolling up girls. Their names were Sybil and Monica.

"Morning Annie," Titty called from her bed, smiling her cheeky smile. "Did you do your Transfiguration essay?"
"Yep, I'm all ready for the test this morning."
Titty's eyes widened in horror. "You're not serious are you?"
"Dead serious." I said, playing with her. "Nah, don't worry, I'm just joking with you."

Grabbing my 'Wicked the Musical' towel, I went to the showers.
After a quick, but relaxing, shower, I got into my uniform.
I dried and brushed my hair, then ruffled it up so that it rested on my head in its usual manner.
Making sure my tie was straight, I looked at my appearance in the mirror.
"Perfect, ready for the day ahead."

I grabbed my books from my shelf by my bed, packed my new box of quills, and took out a fresh pot of blue ink and packed it all into my bag.
I checked my bag to make sure that I had my notebook with sheafs of parchment from lessons and essays that I had done.
Everything was there.

I slung the bag on my shoulder and walked down to breakfast.
Susan was already down there, packing her plate full with pancakes. On her left was her bag, saving a space for Titty, and on her right was Scott McCraig.
I blushed and went to the far end of the table, hoping to find someone else to sit with.
By good luck, Nike and her friends were there.

"Hi Annie!" Peggy called to me. "Come and sit with us!"
"Yeah, come on, Annie," Mel said as she piled her plate high with eggs and bacon.

I dumped my bag on the floor and sat down between Mel and Peggy.
I put a bit of food on my plate, but not much. I couldn't eat, because I was worried about what would happen after the duelling.
Playing with my food a bit, I decided that I wasn't hungry.
"I'm going to go now. I'll see you guys later." I said as I was about to get up.
At that exact moment, Albus, my owl dropped me a note.
I recognised the writing on the note straight away. My face drained of all colour.
Miss Bolt, could you please come to my office after lessons today. I would like to have a word with you.

Without another word, I sped from the hall and ran to my dorm.
I had about an hour until lessons started, so I had a bit of time to spare.
Remaining calm as possible, I started to put all of my uniform back into my trunk and then started taking down my pictures and posters. I knew what was coming already.
I could hear Proffessor McGonagall telling me that I was expelled and that the train would be taking me back home that night.
I could just see Luella and her clones' faces when they were told that I was leaving.
I could almost smell the smoke from the steam engine's mighty funnel, as I would be walking up the steps into a carriage.
A tear slipped down my cheeks, but I rubbed it off with the back of my hand.
I couldn't bear to leave Hogwarts, and it was all my fault that I would be expelled.
Fishing under my bed, I found the Nimbus 2000.
Quickly checking over my shoulder to make sure that no one was watching, I shrank the broom and put it into the side pocket of my trunk.

Once my trunk was packed, I grabbed my school bag and went down to lessons.

All alone

I sat on a sofa by the fireplace of the Ravenclaw commonroom.

In an attempt to block out everything, I read a book.

Phrases like you'll be expelled floated around my mind.

So clouded was my mind, that I completely failed to read my book, and I forgot all about time.

The clock chimed 6 times, then 7 and then an eighth time. The common room started to empty.

Most of the first years had returned to their dormitories, and mainly people in the third year and up remained.

As I sat there, I stared into the fire, which flickered and eventually went out.

Sighing, I got up to put a log on it and light it, an older girl stopped me. She looked about 14 years old, and she had flaming orange hair that was wild, like fire.



"Don't worry about that," she said, smiling at me. Even her eyes were orange. She took one look at the glowing embers at the bottom of the fire, and the log immediately ignited. "There, that's nice and toasty now, isn't it?"

The girl seemed very nice.

"You look lonely, where are your friends? I normally see you around with them."

"Um, they're in the hospital wing. We got into a fight with someone," I mumbled, looking at the floor.

"Well, until they're ok, you can hang out with us. I'm Nike, by the way. I transferred here from a school in Freadwardbobertmc'hammerhimesmitopolis. Have you heard of it?"

I shook my head.

"I wouldn't suppose you had, it's pretty much an unknown place. Oh, I never caught your name."

"I'm Annie," I said, looking up from the ground finally. I liked this girl, who spoke chattily and kindly.

"Well Annie, I hope you get on well with my friends, the witch sisters and our brothers." she turned to her friends. "Guys, come over here!"



A group of about four girls and two boys came over.

"Hi," I said, smiling and waving at them.

"Ok guys, this is Annie. We've seen her and her friends around before." she turned back to me. "Ok, this is Peggy," she said pointing at a medium height girl with brown, messy hair, not unlike my own. Peggy smiled and waved. "This is Mel," Nike said, pointing to a girl who had a mischievous face. "This is Renee, the oldest of us," she said, pointing to a tall girl, with long hair. She looked about 14 or 15. "Then, you know me." Then Nike pointed at a boy about her height, with Black hair dashed with white streaks. "That's my twin brother, Neko. He's an idiot," she said, laughing and sticking her tongue out at Neko. "And that's Raph, Mel's brother. He's not too big an idiot." Everyone started laughing at this, except for Peggy and Raph, I noticed.
"So, Annie, why're you all on your onesies, then?" Peggy asked me.
"Oh, me and my friends got into a BIG duel with this bully girl, and my friends all got knocked out. They're going to be staying in the hospital for a week or so."
"Who was this bully girl that you fought?" Mel asked.
"Luella Ren---"

Before I'd even finished saying Luella's name, the group started laughing.
"Well Annie, congratulations for fighting with her," Nike said, laughing.
"She's a right little twit and no mistake," Renee added in. "She tried to insult Nike and Neko because of their hair colours, Peggy and myself because of our families, and Mel, because she's such a clutz."
"Well done." Raph said to me, clapping me on the back.

The clock chimed nine.
"I'm sorry, but I have to go to bed now. First Formers were meant to be in bed an hour ago. I'll see you tomorrow at lunch, will I?"
"Of course," Peggy said to me. "Just look for us down at the runes, that's our favourite hang out."
"Ok, thanks, see you all tomorrow." I said as I climbed up the stairs to my dormitory.

I changed into my pajamas, climbed into my bed and drew the curtains of the four-poster.
They were nice. I liked those guys a lot. Tash, Laurie and Sam will like them a lot too, I hope.

The duel by the lake.

We walked silently down from the runes to the inlet of the lake.

Luella, Petunia, Sophie and Illusion-Zofka were all there, waiting for us.

"Luella." I said through clenched teeth.

"Mudblood."

I clenched my fists, but said nothing. I didn't want to give Luella the upper hand over me.
"That was below the belt, Luella." Tash said, jumping to my defence.
The rest of us looked at her and she shut up.

Luella and I stepped away from our groups and we stood facing eachother.
"I know you think that you're above me, Luella, just because you're one of those rotten purebloods. But you just think about this: You're alone. Those cronies of yours won't stick up for you. Not even my sister will. They're only your "friends" because they're scared of you. Should you be attacked by an evil entity right now, they wouldn't jump to your side, they'd run. You're alone in your life." I said with my voice barely an audible whisper, but Luella heard every word.

Without doing or saying anything more, I turned and walked back to my friends.
"Come on guys, let's leave her alone with her thoughts." I said as we started to walk back up the hill.
"Couldn't you have had a duel or a fist fight or something? That was boring!" Sam complained to me.
"That was one battle Sam, it's by no means the end of the war." Laurie said, philosophically.

Luella watched the retreating figures of the Roamers.
She clenched her fists and snarled.
"This isn't over!" she roared at us.

We turned around and looked at her. Her face was contorted with rage and pure hate.
She drew her wand and held it out infront of her.

"Sectumsempra!" she yelled as the curse flew from her wand and hit Laurie, missing me.
Laurie fell to the ground and writhed in pain as the cuts appeared all over her face.

"How dare you do that!" Tash screamed, drawing her own wand. She advanced towards Luella, her eyes blazing with anger.
"Stupefy!"
The red light of the spell burst forth from Tash's wand, but Luella was too quick for her.
"Reflecto!" Luella screamed, reflecting the curse back at Tash.
Tash didn't have any time to react. This spell was all new to her. She had never read about the Reflecto charm.
Before she could react, her spell hit her full in the chest. She was sent flying through the air, and landed, sprawled on the ground next to Laurie.

Zofka and Petunia had already run away from the duel, and Stan, Chicken and Titch had sprinted off, in chase of the clones, to stop them from getting a teacher.
The only people left were Sophie and Luella, versus me and Sam.

"We're going to end this right here, right now!" Sam yelled at Luella and Sophie as she drew her wand.
"Avius!" she cried as her wand performed the magic of her signature spell. A swarm of small birds burst from her wand and went flying at Sophie and Luella.
Sophie received the full blow of the spell, as Luella had already acted too fast, by ducking down behind a tree.

"Expelliarmus!" Luella cast the spell, directing it at Sam.
Sam went flying through the air and collided with a tree, knocking her unconscious too.
"We will end this, Luella." I said, my voice full of danger.

We walked towards eachother, and circled, each waiting for the other to attack.
"Do your worst," Luella snarled at me.
"Don't tempt me."

We fell silent, still performing our dance of anger, hate and danger.
Luella broke the silence and raised her wand and started the incantation softly. "Avad----"
Before she could finish, I cast the full body bind curse on her and she fell to the ground with a dull thud.
"This is where we end this war." I bent down close to her and whispered in her ear, "I know that there's some good in there, somewhere. You just need to find it."

Without another word, I went over to my friends' unconscious bodies, and took them back to the castle and to the hospital wing.

Madam Pomfrey was furious that four girls should be so badly harmed by magic, by other students, nonetheless.
She made me tell her the whole story, from beginning to end. I told her of how Luella hated us, and how she attacked us down by the lake.
Madam Pomfrey was spitting mad at the end of the story.
"I'm ashamed of you. I thought you knew better than to duel. The headmistress will be told of this immediately."
"But, she attacked us. She was the one who initiated combat!" I said in protest.
"You should've just left her, and not retaliated. Now, return to your dormitory. Your friends will not be leaving the infirmary for at least a week. The same will most likely go for Luella and your sister."

Madam Pomfrey sent some helpers down to the inlet to collect Luella and Sophie, and took them back to the hospital wing.

To the lake

Laurie, Tash and I returned to our dorm. Sam went back to her dorm and said that she would wait until we gave her the sign.

I read through the note several times and turned to Laurie.



"What do you think this could mean?" I asked her.

"Well, I think this means that we need to be ready for whatever she has in store for us. I know that she has already trashed the den and that she also told Prof. Malfoy about our 'Shinanigans'."

"I personally think this means that we should kick her butt." Tash piped up from her bed.



I sat on my bed and thought for a moment. Fiddling with my watch, I made a decision.

"We're most likely going to have to turn ourselves in. This war can't go on forever. I mean, do we really want to end up like Prof. Malfoy and Prof. Potter?"

Tash and Laurie looked at eachother.

"Are you being serious?" They asked me in unison.

"I was just wondering. Please don't kill me."



The clock on the wall chimed a quarter to the hour.
I got off my bed and threw on my robe, and put my wand in its pocket, where I could get it out when I needed it.
"Showtime." Tash said, sounding extremely evil.

We ran from the Ravenclaw tower to Gryffindor tower, where we found Sam locked outside the commonroom.
"Forgot the password again?" Laurie asked, cocking an eyebrow and laughing.
"No." Sam said with indignation, arms crossed.
We raised our eyebrows at her, and almost immediately, her composure cracked.
"Fine. I forgot the password."
"Come on you," I said, pulling her up from the ground. "It's time to go and meet with the Devil."

We walked down the steps of the school and when we reached the runes atop the hill with the paths going to the Owlery or the Lake, I checked my map.
"Luella and her clones are there, along with my sister."
"That's great." Sam said, her voice heavy with sarcasm.
"At least there are no teachers there." Tash pointed out.
Laurie pulled the map towards her.
"But look. If we conjure up a picture," she said as she did that. "Zofka looks different." Her eyes scanned the map quickly. She found Zofka's spot hidden in the trees. "They've got an illusion of Zofka so that they can get her to scoot off and find the principle if need be."
"Don't worry," Tash said, looking slightly mischievous. "I have my own reinforcements." She pointed to three spots in the trees. "I got Stan, Chicken and Titch to hide in the case we needed some help."
"Stan? Chicken? Titch?" I asked, confused.
"Those are Helen, Alice and Phoebe's nicknames." Sam said, knowledgedly.
"Right. Let's just go."

More visitors.

I turned onto my side and blocked my sister out. She got up and left the hospital wing without another word. I bit my lip and turned to call back to her but she was gone.

I looked up at the ceiling and thought about what had been happening.

My sister, the person who I thought was my best friend, was defending my enemy. My enemy put me into the hospital and my friends and I are on the war path. Luella's not going to know what's coming to her!


The door opened and three people walked in. I lifted my head and saw that it was Tash, Laurie and Sam. I got out of bed and rushed up to them and hugged them.

"You guys believe me, don't you?"

"You mean that we believe that Luella is the reason why you're here and that we're all out for revenge?"

Tash, Laurie and I looked at each other.

"Precisely." We said in unison, evil grins spreading across our faces.

"Excellent." Sam said, rubbing her palms together and looking altogether more evil than the rest of us.

"Ok, stop it Sam, you're scaring us!" I said, jokily.



We sat down on my bed and started discussing our plans.

"So, Annie, when are you getting out of this prison cell, I mean, well... yeah, this prison cell?"

"I get out today. Madam Pomfrey said that I'm in a fit enough state to get out of here."

"Brilliant, we can get started on the plans today!"

Laurie fished in her pocket for something. An uneasy look spread across her face.

"Um, Annie, I found this on my bed this morning and this on yours." She handed me a scrumpled up note.

I opened it and read it.
It was from Luella.



Bolt.
I know that it was you and one of your vile friends that sabotaged my broom and sent me to the hospital wing.
I'm going to tell the professors this and then you'll be expelled.
But, I guess that I could forget to tell them if you choose to do exactly as I say.
Meet me at 3pm today down by the lake and we'll discuss it. We can get everything off our chests there.
Luella.

I read and re-read the letter. That girl!
"Laurie, what does your letter say?"
"It says the same thing, Annie. I say that we have to go down."
"We'll all go down together."
"Don't worry, Annie, we're standing behind you on this one."
"Sssh. One sec. Talk really loudly about boys for a minute."

The girls did so and I checked the map and sure enough, Luella and the Luella-ettes, including Sophie, were standing outside the door, listening in on the conversation.
I crept up to the door and got out a dungbomb and lobbed it through the door.
"Roamers 3 - Clones 1."

An unexpected visitor

"Annie. Annie! ANNIE!" Someone was shaking me gently, trying to wake me up.
"Aah!" I yelled as I was jogged into full consciousness. I fell out of bed and looked around to see who it was visiting me. I turned around to see my sister. "Oh, it's you Sophie. Hi."
"Hello Annie, are you ok?"
"I've been better."
"What happened? The teachers just said that you'd tripped going up the stair and had bashed your head badly."
"I'm sure you won't believe me even if I tell you."
"Honestly Annie! If you say it was Luella, then you really need to grow up. She did nothing to you!"
"Really? Well I'll be sure to go and apologise to her then, for somehow, imagining that she was right behind me when someone hit me REALLY hard in the back of my head!"
"Annie, there is nothing wrong with Luella!"
"Just go away, Sophie. I'm not in the mood to talk."

((sorry for the shortness of this post, don't really have much time.))

Coming to...

AEverything was blurry. Light beamed in through my half closed eyes. Where am I?
"Hey, Sam, Laurie! She's coming back to us!" I heard a voice say. It was Tash.
"Is she ok? Has she said anything?" I heard Laurie say.
"If Luella had anything to do with this, I swear she's got something coming to her!" I heard Sam say in both anger and frustration.
"Well, if you do anything to Luella, Sam, then let me help." I said softly. Everyone jumped.
"Annie! Are you ok? What happened?"
"Was it Luella?"
"Can I please hurt Luella?"
Everyone bombarded me with questions.
"Girls, girls, girls. I'm sure Annie can answer your questions another day, right now, she needs to know everything. If you could please leave and go to your next lesson, that would be apreciable."
Madam Pomfrey said, as she tried to shepherd my best friends out of the hospital wing.
"We'll come back tomorrow, Annie!" Sam shouted as she was pushed out the door.

"Well, I suppose you need to know a few things. Well, first of all, it's the end of the first week of term. As I am sure you are aware, you have missed your exams. Now, I would like to know everything that you can remember so that I can piece together what happened to you." Madam Pomfrey said as she handed me some soup.
"Ok. Well, from what I can remember, Luella thought that Laurie and I were the ones who had caused her to fall off her broom in the holidays. When Laurie and I were in Hogsmeade, we saw her stalking around and she glared at us evilly. We met our best friends off the train and went up the steps to the school. When we were on the grand staircase, something hard hit me in the back of the head. I turned around and saw Luella and her friends. She smirked at me and said something. Then, I blacked out."
"Ok. Do you have any idea what hit you in the head?"
"No."
"Well. I'll leave you here with your soup. Try to get some sleep. There are some books for you to read, if you get bored. Oh, and by the way, is there something you would wish to share with me? Like, for example, the fact that you have managed to become an Animagus?"
"How did you find out, Madam Pomfrey?"
"When I was examining you, I came across some magical residue from the spell. It was very well done, if I may add, but completely irresponsible. Good day, Annie."
Madam Pomfrey turned to go. She was nearly in her office when I quickly called after her.
"Madam Pomfrey, could you please not tell any of the teachers?"
"Of course, don't worry."

I was left on my own. I looked around for something to do, when my eyes spied some Get well soon cards and packages. They were from the Marauders and there were even some from Helen and Alice and Phoebz.
Might as well get some sleep. I'll see the others tomorrow.

The train arrives.

I turned to face Laurie. "Do you think we wasted our holiday?"
"No. Why do you ask?"
"I just feel empty, that's all."
"It's just the shock about your sister, that's all."
"Oh, ok. Well, whilst we're here in Hogsmeade, waiting for the train, why not do one last spot of sweet shopping for the midnight feast?"
"Might as well." Laurie said as she looked at her watch. "The train isn't due for another half hour, or so. Give or take ten minutes."

Laurie and I wondered around Hogsmeade for a while, just talking, until we came to Honeydukes. We went in, all excited to be buying sweets, when we saw at the counter, Luella.
"She got better fast! Look, there's my sister with her! Oh *bleep*."
"Come on Annie, let's go, we've got enough sweets for the midnight feast for that matter, and we can always get some food from the kitchens."

We trudged back through the slushy snow, in time to see the crimson train pull into the station.
"They're Back." Laurie and I said as we smiled at the thought of seeing our two best friends. Hundreds of students swarmed out of the trains. We stood up on the benches that were on the station to get a better view of the people leaving the carriages.
We didn't see Tash or Sam. We looked at eachother, worried. Suddenly, we felt a sharp pain in the backs of our legs. We turned round and saw the bright, smiling faces of Sam and Tash!
"Sam!" "Tash!" Laurie and I said at the same time.
"Tash!" "Sam!" We said at the same time.
"Have you guys been practising that? You're really good at it!" Sam said, smiling. We all hugged and walked back to the castle together. On our way back, we relayed everything that had happened in the holidays. Sam would gasp at the correct times, whereas Tash would cut in and try to make a comment about Luella's behaviour.

We climed up the stairs of the castle and as we did so, something hit me in the back of my head, hard.
I turned around to see Luella and the Clones' sneering faces looking at me. "Payback." I heard Luella say as I fell over. I saw a malicious grin spread across her face, and then I blacked out.

Christmas time is here!

It was Christmas morning and Laurie and I were sat in our dormitory, exchanging gifts.
"Merry Christmas Lolly!" I said as I handed over my present. Laurie opened it and as she did so, an illusion of a bird flew out and landed on her head. "Bet you didn't see that coming, did you!" Laurie's face when she saw her present was priceless.
"Aaaaw, thanks Annie! A fluffy toy owl! I love it! I've never had a toy owl, let alone a real one! It's fantastic! Thank yooooou sooo much!" Laurie said, as she put the owl back into the wooden box it was in.
"Did I say it was a toy owl? No, I didn't! It's your very own owl. It's a scops owl and I thought you would like it, seeing as your mum doesn't like you sending her letters with my owl, as he's so clumsy. BUT remember, this is your birthday present too." Laurie and I hugged and Laurie's owl hopped onto her shoulder.
"I shall call him Fluffy, and he shall be mine!"
"Really?"
"No, I'm not calling him Fluffy! I'm going to call him... Thor."
"Thor?"
"Thor. Because he looks all windblown and Thor was the God of storms, if I remember my Scandinavian mythology... here, have your present." Laurie said as she thrust a parcel into my hands. I opened it and in it was a selection of jokes from Zonko's and a beautiful quill from Scrivenshaft's in Hogsmeade.
"Aaaw, thanks Laurie! You're the best! I love these practical jokes and this must be the most beautiful quill I have ever seen! This is great!"
"Think nothing of it. It is Christmas after all!"
"Come on, let's go and visit Luella in the Hospital Wing."

We quickly walked down to the Hospital wing, but when we heard voices, we paused to listen to what was being said.

"Come on Sophie, I know it was your sister. I need my payback. You PROMISED me that you would give me the dirt on Bolt." It was Luella and Sophie!
"Ok then Luella, anything for you." We heard Sophie simpering from inside. "She is deathly afraid of Snails, she still sleeps with a toy and she has a diary absolutely FULL of embarassing stories. I have it here if you want it."
"Perfect. Give me the book, now!"

I looked at Laurie and she mouthed some rude sayings about the girls.

And to think that I trusted my sister! I thought to myself. We heard Sophie get up to go. We hid behind the doors as she went out.

"Those b...witches! I can't believe my sister is selling me out to Luella!"
"Don't worry Annie, we'll get them back. Come on, let's give Luella her present and go."
"I can't now go in after hearing what they said. Sure, it was our fault that Luella is in this state, but my own sister? I... I... I just don't know what to do."
"Annie, forget about it. We'll just drop her present on her bed. Say that we hope she gets better soon and then we can go and play some Quidditch. I have some friends who are still here that are quite nice."
"You're right, Laurie. Come on, before I change my mind again."

We went in and gave Luella her present then quickly left. We went down to the broomshed to get our newly acquired brooms.

We were about to start playing another game of Beater bludgeroo, when some people came onto the Quidditch pitch. 2 were in Hufflepuff and one was in Slytherin.
"Laurie, do you know who any of them are? I recognise them from somewhere."
"Yeah, they came into our compartment on the Hogwarts express before Luella and her scumbag friends. Um, the Slytherin girl is Helen Higgs, I know that. I can't remember the two Hufflepuff girls."

"Hi Laurie! Hi Annie! How's your Christmas day been going?" The Slytherin girl said. "If you don't remember me, my name's Helen. These are my friends Phoebe," she gestured to the shorter girl. "and Alice. She likes Chickens." She gestured to the taller girl. All three were carrying Comet 260s.
"Want to play some 3 on 2 Quidditch?"
"Yeah, Ok." Said Alice.

We got onto our brooms and started playing a great game. Soon it got dark so we went inside to get our Christmas dinner. Laurie, Helen, Phoebe, Alice and I were all sat at the end of the table together. We pulled our Wizard crackers and had a brilliant time. In my Wizard cracker, I got a top hat and a fake wand which melted on use.
"Hey, Annie. I know your sister. She's rather chummy with that horrid Luella, isn't she?"
I gave Helen a weird look.
"Aren't you in Slytherin, though? I thought you would like Luella."
"NO way! I may be in Slytherin, but it's only because I'm ambitious. I really dislike Luella with every fibre of my being."
From the other end of the table, Sophie was shooting nasty looks at Annie.
She's most definately up to something. This is going to be interesting.

A few hours later, in bed, Annie and Laurie were chatting from either side of the dorm.

"It's been a fabulous day! Apart from Luella turning my own sister against me, of course. But otherwise, it's been great! We got some absolutely fantastic gifts from our family and friends and we had an absolutely scrummy Quidditch match with Helen, Phoebz and Alice."

Laurie looked at me weirdly. "Scrummy? Have you been watching Daisy Pulls it off, again?"
"Maybe... Fine. OK! I watched Daisy Pulls it off recently. Goodnight, sleep tight, don't let the Nargles bite?"

The holidays passed all too quickly after Christmas day and soon enough, they came to the last day of their holiday.

The hospital wing

It took a while to get up to the Hospital wing with the combined weight of Luella and her broomstick. I decided it would be easier to levitate her and just fly her there in less time, but as magic was banned in the school, I thought better of it. Checking my map every so often, I found that Prof. Malfoy was coming round the corner and would soon find me. I hid Luella behind the tapestry that conveniently hung next to me and hid the broom and took out my comic of the Beano that had been delivered by my owl that morning.

"Miss Bolt, I trust that you are not doing any illegal activities?"

"No sir, I'm doing no activities of the sort you speak to me of."

"Yes... hm. Have you seen Luella anywhere? I need to talk to her."

"Yes, I think she's down by the boathouse or in Hogsmeade."

"Oh, thank you. Carry on."

He strode round the corner and I carried on to the hospital wing the Luella and her broom.

I got there quite soon and found Madam Pomfrey.

"What's wrong with this poor dear girl!?"

"She fell off her broom and then the Whomping Willow pummelled her. I saw it happening. There was nothing I could do!" I was lying through my teeth but there was nothing I could do. If I told her that Laurie had done this to Luella, and that I helped, we would be expelled!

"By the looks of it, she'll have to stay here for at least a week!"

"Can I please stay with her for a while, until I know she's ok? It would be horrible to spend Christmas in the hospital wing. I hope she'll be ok."

"Ok. Do you know if any of her friends are staying here this holiday?"

"Yeah, my twin sister Sophie."

"Ok. If you want to go get her, then I'll bandage up Luella."

"Yes Madam Pomfrey."

I ran up to the common room to find Laurie there.
I told her what had happened.

"This is terrible! I can't believe how bad this is! Thank you for not telling her that it was us, I really don't want to leave Hogwarts. Ok, once you've told your sister, we'll go into Hogsmeade to get her a Christmas present. Although she deserved what was coming to her, she needs to be cheered up. I had to spend a Christmas in St.Mungo's when I was given a tester sweet that went wrong and I had a nose the size of my body."

I owl-posted Sophie with the news about Luella.
Then Laurie and I got out the last of our month's pocket money and put on our winter cloaks an trudged through the snow to Hogsmeade.

Luella's in for it now!

"Ok Laurie, I am in! Let's get that girl! First Scott McCraig and now my Sister!!! I will be avenged!"
"Ok, enough of the mad monologue. Let's get down to business!"

We found her broom and quickly bewitched it. We quickly ran to the whomping willow courtyard and dis-illusioned ourselves. In but a few minutes, Luella had arrived with her broomstick. She mounted it and climbed higher and higher. Laurie and I whipped out our wands. Laurie then took her wand and swiped it around in mad circles, as she did so, Luella's broom flew around mirroring Laurie's wand movements. Luella's face was hilarious!!! Laurie then flicked her wand so that the broomstick flipped upside down. Luella was nearly off at that point. Laurie then made quick and mad zig-zags with her wand. This time we succeeded in catapulting her off her broom. As we had hoped, Luella landed in a heap under the whomping willow. It started to twitch and then it started whacking around. It narrowly missed her several times. I started to have second doubts about whether our plan was in fact good. I quickly made a decision and decided to do the right thing.
I leapt towards where Luella lay and as I was in mid-air, transformed. I sprinted straight past her and hurtled towards the trunk of the whomping willow. I found the notch and immobilised it. Luella was safe, for now. As Luella lay unconscious on the ground, Laurie came over to me and I transformed back into a human.
"What do you think you're doing!?! You've ruined our plan! What made you do such a thing?"
"I'm doing what's rght, and you can't stop me!"

I bent down and hoisted Luella up on to my shoulders, picked up her damaged broomstick, and took her up to the Hospital wing.

An interesting development

As soon as we returned to the dormitory, I disillusioned Laurie and myself.

"I'm sooooo going to kill Luella!!! Laurie, I'm joining you in hexing Luella's broom. She won't know what's come over her."

"You're on. Come on, let's go up to bed. I need a kip."



As soon as I got into my bed, I drew the curtains closed around me and illuminated my wand tip and took out my map.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."



I looked over my map and saw the two dots from the astronomy tower move away from each other. I tapped the Luella spot and saw that she had a bloody nose. I then tapped the Scott McCraig spot and saw that he had a red slap mark all over the right hand side of his face. Then I thought that it may be due to Luella breaking up with Scott. I formulated a plan that when I could, I would approach Scott. I quickly flashed my eyes back over the map and saw Scott approaching the Ravenclaw tower, but around the corner was filch! I whispered into the end of my wand for him to hide. I saw his dot then move behind the tapestry. He was safe, for now.



The next morning, we all went downstairs to breakfast, to find a big golden 3 hanging up over the dais. As we sat down, Prof. McGonagall stood up and said, "I'm sure you have all noticed the big golden number. This is to show that there are only three days to Christmas. As a treat, I would like to tell you that the whole school are allowed to go to Hogsmeade whenever they want to and that unlimited access to the broom shed has been granted to all of you, even first years. Have fun."



Laurie and I wolfed down our breakfast and rushed out to the den. We got a smallish leather ball and borrowed some of the old un-claimed Nimbus 2000s that had been left over the years. We played a great game of beater bludgeroo, a game we invented ourselves. What we did was we bumped the ball between each other using only a beater's bat and then tried to knock each other off of their brooms. Later on, we went to Prof. McGonagall's office to ask her if we could claim the Nimbus 2000s that had been in the broom shed for nigh over 10 years.

"Please professor, these brooms have been in the broom shed for about 10 years so that means that the people that they belonged to have now left the school, as the nimbus 2000 is a really old model since the Nimbus 3000 came out."

"Yes Professor. I looked at Broom Brigade monthly magazine and it said that the old Nimbus 2000 is one of the cheapest Nimbus models currently on the market. As it was first manufactured 14 years ago, those Nimbus 2000s in the broom shed are only worth the amount of a 3rd year's book set for Hogwarts and that's a maximum of 60 galleons and in the condition that the brooms in question are in, you would be lucky to get 47 galleons."

"Well... as you have put forward a very strong argument, I will permit you to take these Nimbus 2000 brooms on the one condition that you don't tell anyone in your year. As you know we can't allow first years to have brooms in school. Thank you very much for coming to see me girls."

"Thank you Professor."

We left prof. McGonagall's office and ran straight to the broom shed. We looked for the two Nimbus Two Thousands that we had been using, but before we found them, Laurie checked her watch and saw that it was 4:20.

"Quick, find Luella's comet 290! We'll do the hex now."

I found the broom and Laurie performed the spell. We heard footsteps so we hid behind the quidditch equipment chests. We saw Luella and my sister Sophie walk in.
Luella rammed Sophie up to the door and started to question her.

"Ok Sophie, are you my friend?"
"Yes Luella."
"Now, since we are friends.... would you do me an itsy-bitsy favour?" Luella asked her in a sickly cutesy voice.
"Of course Luella. Anything for you."
"Ok. Give me all the dirt on Bolt."
"You mean Annie?"
"Yeah. Bolt."
"I dunno what to say... I can't betray my sister."
"I'll give you until boxing day to decide where your loyalties lie."

The creation of thye map.

That night, we got out of bed and put on our winter cloaks. It was getting to be really cold at the castle. It took a while for us to disillusion ourselves successfully, often we would have a foot that was still visible or our ears. But eventually we were completely disillusioned and set off for the highest astronomy tower. Normally, the astronomy towers were out of bounds and students were only allowed up there with teachers for lessons. Eventually, after getting lost several times, we made it. But we weren't the only people there. We got up there and started to look around at the view, when we heard murmuring from our right. I shot a look at Laurie and motioned her to follow me, although we were invisible we could both see each other. There were 2 bodies standing close to each other in a passionate embrace. On closer inspection, we saw that the two people were literally sucking each other's face off. I was about to fall over from the silent mirth when Laurie got behind the girl and was literally wetting herself with silent laughter. I went up to the girl as close as I could and realised that the people who were kissing were Luella and Scott McCraig! The guy who I fancied! I was so going to kill her! Laurie and I went to the exact centre of the moonolight courtyard and said the spell. As soon as our wands had touched the paper, a huge map of hogwarts spread over it. We decided to try out the powers of the new map. We found the dot where we were and where Luella and Scott were and poked our wands at their dots. A picture of what they were doing spread up to cover the section of a 10 cm squared space on the map. It was fantastic! I then put the tip of my wand to mouth and whispered into it: Luella, say "Scott, it's over." Then I put my wand onto the picture of Luella and she did exactly what I had wanted her to do! It was hilarious!!! The map had serious powers! I tapped the picture twice and it vanished and then said to the map: Mischief managed. Just like the Marauder's Map, the whole map disappeared, leaving only a blank piece of parchment the size of my palm. Laurie then made hers and we made our way back to the dorms.

The sneak of the 1st

We knew it had been done by Luella. There was no-one else who knew about our den. We had to go and find her, but how could we? The castle was so big! We could never find her!

We decided that today would have to be the day we made our map.

We went back into the den and started to clean up.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" With a flick of her wand, Laurie made all the boxes zoom back into place but in doing so, sent one flying into my head! It was really painful!

"Hahaha!" Laurie cackled with glee at what she had done!

"We'll see about that!" With a wave of my wand, I sent all the pillows flying at her. "Ha!"

We quickly finished cleaning our den and then started to have a pillow fight with bewitched pillows. It was great fun.

" You know what, Annie?"

"What?"

"You need to work on your aim!" With that I shot another pillow at her.

"Thanks, you too."

Suddenly an owl zoomed into our den through the portal to Hogsmeade and crashed into the wall of the cave. It was the one we had sent earlier. It dropped a note in our lap and went back to the post office.

It was from Sam.



"Dear Annie and Laurie,

Thanks for the parcel, I'm not allowed to open it yet, but knowing you two, it's going to be great! On the train back home, I was looking up revealing spells in 'The Auror's Companion: Constant Vigilance!' by Mad-Eye Moody, and I found a really good one to map out a whole building onto a peice of parchment. What you do is this: Go to the highest point of the building with a piece of parchment with you. Then, you point your wand at it and say: Carta edifica. I've got to go now, mum hates the amount of bird droppings we get from owls. By the way, thanks for not using Albus, mum would have gone balistic had he smashed her favourite vase!
See you soon, hex Luella for me!
Sam.
xxx

It was nice to hear from Sam. We just wondered what we were going to do now that Luella had threatened us further. Although we knew that first years were not allowed broomsticks, we knew that Luella had snuck her comet 290 into school after half-term and flew it whenever she got the chance.
"I've got an idea! You know how she flies her Comet 290 every afternoon at 3:25 outside of the Owlery near the Whomping Willow. Well, I found a book recently *ahem* in the Restricted Section,"
"WHAT?!?!?!? The restricted section!?!? You know we're not allowed to go there!" I looked at her with admiration, "How did you do it?"
"Being an animagus is certainly very helpful. Now, where was I? Oh yes. This book I read said that the only was to hex a broomstick is to set fire to the handle but with a freeze fire charm. It will put the broomstick under your complete control for 24 hours. You can see why this spell is illegal in Quidditch Leagues. So I thought, I do that and we fly her under the whomping willow and see what happens."
"I don't know. She may get hurt. If you want to do it, so be it. But on your head be it. If she gets hurt or even worse, killed, I shudder to think at what may happen to you. If you do it, leave me out of it. I'll watch in my dog form, but I won't do anything bad."

The Christmas Holidays

It was finally the Christmas Holidays!!! Mostly everyone in the school had gone back home for the holidays, but about 14 people had remained in Hogwarts. Laurie and I had the whole of Ravenclaw tower to ourselves for a whole three weeks! Plus no homework!!! How could it get any better? Well, it did! Not only did we have the whole Ravenclaw tower to ourselves, it was always snowing outside and the castle was always cozy and warm.


We spent most of the first day having snowball fights outside.




After a while of pelting each other with snow, we retreated to the den. The inside had magically transformed into a "Winter Wonderland" in our absence.
The note on the wall carried the message:
Messrs Mooney, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs
wish you a merry Christmas and hope you have fun.
We hope you like the den.

It was covered in fake snow with lots of butter beer and chocolates and, what's more, a passage to Hogsmeade! We checked around and made sure that no-one was around, and went down our secret passage. It was a special treat for anyone left in the castle that christmas to go to Hogsmeade, but when we sent our owls, our permission slips were late, so we didn't get to go. So it was great.



We first went to Honeydukes sweet shop and bought some presents for the others. We didn't particularly trust Albus to be able to deliver our presents without harming someone when he arrived so we used a postal owl. For Tash, we bought her some Bertie Botts' Every flavour beans and chocolates frogs with a gift packet from Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes and for Sam, we bought her a set of jokes from Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes and a Gryffindor style scarf with lions on it that actually roared.

Now that we had finished with our christmas shopping, we went to the three broomsticks and bought some butterbeer to take back with us to Hogwarts. On our way back, we dropped into Honeydukes and bought a tonne of chocolate to celebrate christmas with.

When we got back, we noticed something was wrong imediately, the boxes had been over turned, glasses smashed and pictures ripped off the wall. We saw, written in Red acroos the wall:
I know your secret, Bolt, give over your den to me or I will reveal to everyone your secret. Yes, I know about your sister. You have until Christmas Day to hand yourself over. 3 days.

Laurie and I looked at each other, then said in perfect unison, "Luella!"

She had infiltrated our den. This meant war and I didn't care if I lost my sister as a friend.

The Secret's out!

Tash, Laurie and Sam all came bounding down the hill in their dog forms and transformed back into their usual forms. Unfortunately, Laurie, somehow still had a tail.
"Uuuh, Laurie, you may want to finish off with your tail." I pointed out to Laurie, trying not to laugh.
"Oh," she turned around and chased her tail, "thanks. You know, that's kinda fun!"
"Anyway, Annie, what's this you want to tell us?"
"Yeah! Tell us about your house-change!"
"What? House-Change?" Laurie looked very confused.
"Yeah, House-change because I saw her in Gryffindor common room and in Gryffindor uniform."
"You two, Shut up!!! You," she pointed at me, "Explain!"
"Ok then. I need you to it down. I have a lot to tell you. I'm not an only child as I have led you all to believe, I have a twin sister who is called Sophie."
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! Good one Annie! Twin sister! Ok, tell us what you're really on about."
"That's the thing. I'm nkot joking, I really do have a twin sister. When we came to Hogwarts, we separated into other factions. I went off on my own, and she went off with some girls whom she had met in Diagon Alley. It turns out that the girls who are her friends are Luella and the
Luella-ettes. None of you say anything. We haven't been in much contact except for some notes. She gets up early to go down to breakfast and leaves early and then she comes in last for lessons and leaves first. She spends her free time outside down in the boathouse with Luella and her clones. Apart from those three friends, she prefers her solitude. She begged me to tell everyone that I was an only child and to only say something if someone saw her. You got that?"
"I think so." They said in perfect unison, all looking at me with the uniform disbelieving expression.
"Ok then. The moment you have been waiting for. Sophie, could you please come out?"

My sister came out from behind the rock which had been keeping her from view.
"Hello. I'm Sophie. Nice to meet you." she turned to me, "Annie, I have to go now. I'm meeting up with my friends down at the boathouse."

The girls all gasped.
When she left, they bombarded me with questions.
"Why didn't you tell us? You promised us you wouldn't keep anything from us."
The girls all left in a huff, all except Laurie.
"You know, I think you were right. You honoured your promise to your sister. I'm guessing the others will be going home for christmas since they both got letters from their parents telling them to come back. I'm staying though. I think it will be fun. Tell you what, we'll map the school together. There won't be anyone to stop us. You think that will be ok? I've got to go, I need to go to the library and finish my H.O.M report on the Goblin revolts of 1287."
"Ok, thanks. See you. Good thing that it's Saturday, the Hols start tomorrow! We must finish our homework so we have holidays free, eh? See ya soon."

I went off towards the owlery to send my parents their Christmas present packages containing my favourite Wizard sweets and a cross-stitch golden-snitch iPod case for mum and a package of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes jokes.

But unknown to me, a sixth person had been listening in on our conversations. Luella came out from behind the little crop of trees and sniggered to herself.
"Hehe, Sophie's going to help me now with humiliaiting Annie. Whether she knows it or not! Muahahaha!!!!"