Lee Jordan: A Trip Down Memory Lane

Lee Jordan:

A Trip Down Memory Lane

By Laurie (Lee) W. Jordan

Lee trudged up the stairs, his wet trainers making a squelching sound on the stone staircase. He finally reached the dormitory, and peeled off his soaked sweater.

'Idiot Jack Sloper,' he muttered audibly.

'Why?' called a voice from behind some curtains on the bed Lee was passing. Lee jumped about a foot and a half in the air.

'Oy! George! You prat! What're you doing up here at noon?'

'Sorry 'bout that-I'm testing some joke stuff. Blimey, mate, you look a bit upset.' A freckled face appeared from around the side of the curtains, looking worried. 'What happened?'

'I was walking around and that bloody replacement beater, Sloper,' Lee paused and saw George grimace at the mention of the replacement, 'flew into me, and I fell bloody hard into the lake.' George just sighed and shook his head disapprovingly.

Lee mustered a grin and said, 'Hey, mate, fancy a trip into my pensieve? I feel like reflecting on my happy Umbridge-less youth.' George grinned and nodded.

Lee strolled over to his trunk and pulled out a black stone basin filled with a silvery substance somewhere between gas and liquid. On the surface floated Umbridge's pudgy face, so George shook the basin a bit. The two boys stuck their noses into the silvery mist, and were off.

When the friends landed, they were at King's Cross Station. Many tawny owls were loose and hooting around, and some cats purred and hissed. An 11-year-old boy with black dreadlocks walked towards the brick wall between platforms 9 and 10, holding a cage with a rather small tarantula and dragging a large black trunk. Scratched on the trunk were the initials L W J. Following the boy were an anxious witch and a tall wizard, both of whom were shouting warnings at the boy at the same time.

'Good ol' Mum and Dad,' sighed the older Lee. 'Always overprotective.'

The younger boy dragged his trunk straight through the barrier, and vanished. 17-year-olds George and Lee followed hastily. The magnificent scarlet steam engine was waiting, smoke billowing around it. Apparently Lee's parents had apparated home after hasty goodbyes and their son was alone. Seeking friendship, he wandered around the platform and saw a whole family taking up quite a lot of room. Every family member had a shock of fiery orange hair and freckles.

He studied them. The mother of the children was plump, and she had two younger kids clinging to her. One of these kids was apparently the only girl in the group; a little eight-year-old with very long hair. The other child was tally and gangly; a nine-year-old boy covered in freckles.

The rest of them were in school robes already. A set of twins, Lee's age, were sword-fighting with their wands, laughing and acting very hyper. A rather serious looking thirteen-year-old with horn-rimmed glasses, darker hair, and a rat perched on his shoulder was halfway on the train. The twins followed, and so did younger Lee, older Lee, and older George.

The boy with glasses trotted off to find some girl named Penny, and the twins plopped down in the first compartment they could find. Younger Lee joined them. The two older boys sat down in the luggage rack, and watched.

'Hi,' said one of the twins, shaking Lee's hand vigorously, 'I'm George Weasley, and this is Fred Weasley.' The other twin waved, and Lee smiled.

'I'm Leonardo Jordan, but you lot can just call me Lee,' he added, as George and Fred looked puzzled at the fancy name.

A black girl with very pretty braided hair suddenly stuck her head into the compartment. 'Hi, Fred! Oh, hi George.'

'G'morning, Angie. C'mon in.' said Fred, as he turned to Lee, and whispered, 'Family friends.' Lee nodded, still staring at the beautiful girl, who had now taken a seat opposite him. Another girl, this time with strawberry blonde hair, peeked in. She whispered rather loudly, 'Stop flirting, Angie, we have to go change.'

'You go, Katie,' Angelina said quite audibly. 'I didn't get a chance to see Fred over the summer. Or George, for that matter,' she added, as Fred had given her a nudge for not mentioning his brother.

One more giggling girl stopped by, a rather heavy-lidded beauty with chocolate-colored skin. 'Hey, Angelina, the trolley-lady said only thirty more minutes. Hurry up!' Noticing the boys, she said, 'Oh, um, hi, I'm Alicia Spinnet.'

'Blimey! Only thirty minutes?!' Angelina got up so suddenly that she fell on top of Lee as the train lurched. Giggling, she gave Fred a peck on the cheek and hugged George. She must've notice Lee looking rejected, because she squeezed his shoulder on the way out.

'Now, mate, I think we'd better get back to school,' said the older Lee, and the two boys went spinning back into the present, to find Angelina snogging Fred on the window seat. Laughing silently, the other boys tip-toed carefully downstairs.