Chain on a Trap Door

Chapter 1 Waking up

Slithering past her was unmistakably a giant serpent. No... it was encircling her closing in on all sides. All else was dark. Immobilized by fear, her body trembling, all she could do was watch an eerie white moon with red dots draw closer and closer. It was not but five yards away. The moon now resembled a face and its vibrant, red eyes shown through the darkness; the image resolved into a cadaverous face hovering over a tall form. Its long black cloak was rippling as it walked toward her and he was holding a stick in his hand and sparks were emitting from the end of it. He exuded omnipotence. The snake was gripping her legs tighter and she knew it was all over. While she was watching the snake's process of squeezing her to death the man pointed his stick at her, said some funny words in a strange language, and with a blinding green flash she awoke.

As her room came into focus she saw an owl perched on the end of her bed. An envelope was tied to the bird's leg. It was addressed:

Miss Holly Parker

Her room

473 Roswell

London

Holly was stunned. Who mailed letters by owl and knew her name? Curious to find out who wrote the letter she flipped the envelope over. There was a purple wax seal. On the seal was a coat of arms with a badger, lion, snake, and eagle surrounding a letter H. The letter inside was of the same heavy yellowed paper as its envelope. She began to read.

HOGWARTS SCHOOOL

Of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

Headmaster: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,

Supreme Mugwum, International Confed. Of Wizards)

Dear Miss Parker,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been

accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and

equipment.

Term begins on September 1. We await your owl.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

Holly glanced back over at the owl that appeared to be waiting for her reply to the letter. There is no such thing as magic...What about the owl though, is it even possible to send mail by an owl? Apparently the answer is yes. Holly ignored the owl and decided to read the second letter before giving the owl her reply. Holly looked back down and started reading the second paper of the four enclosed.

This letter should have been sent to you sooner, I apologize. You should have received this when you were eleven not sixteen. You should be put in first year at Hogwarts but the Headmaster insisted upon you entering at the sixth year level. Sorry for the inconvenience. You are to report to the Headmaster's office after the start of term dinner.

Minerva McGonagall

Before Holly read the other contents from the envelope she went and sat down at her desk. What should I write in my reply? Should I write: I have no idea who you are or if you are playing a prank on me but, sure I will come to Hogwarts? No, that is not very polite. I'll think of something better. And so Holly thought, and thought, and eventually she wrote the letter. She read the letter over one more time as a final inspection.

Dear Minerva McGonagall,

I am coming to Hogwarts.

Sincerely,

Holly Parker

Holly was certain that brief and to the point was the best way to write the letter, she rolled it up and secured it with a rubber band and tied it to the owl's leg. The bird ruffled its feathers, which gave her the impression that she had done something wrong. Maybe I need to tell it where to go. Thought Holly.

"Owl, I would like you to please take this to Minerva McGonagall at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." That was all the owl needed to hear from Holly and it took off through the open window. I have just received and sent mail by owl. Oh! I have gone bloody insane! First there was yesterday and now this? This can't be happening. But it was.

The day before Holly had gotten into a shouting match with her Mum because she wanted to be free from the excessive rules and limitations of her social life, but her Mum kept saying that they were for her own good and would one day be grateful. Holly excided her boiling point when she heard this. She yelled out irrationally that she wanted her mum to disappear and not to bother her any more. A moment later Holly's Mother became transparent and Holly fainted dead away. When she came around, she told her Mum what she had seen. Mrs. Parker told Holly she was just having a hallucination.

She had believed her Mum then, but was not so sure now. Holly thought even further back in time to when she was a little girl, when strange things were common in her daily life. She vaguely remembered breaking a glass picture frame when she had been screaming at her Father to let her out of a time out. She had been trying to explain to him that she had not eaten any one of the cookies because her friend, whom no one else could see, had eaten all of them. Since Holly had not wanted to get into more trouble she cleaned up the glass and never mentioned it to anyone.

I am not going mad. I am a witch. It makes perfect sense now...Have they known all along? Holly was referring to her parents. Have they? No, they couldn't have. I kept everything concealed from them. I never told them anything. Holly picked up the letters and continued reading where she had left off.

Dear Miss Parker,

All of what you will need for school can be bought in Diagon Alley. To get there go to the Leaky Cauldron and give the bartender your name. School starts September first, the train leaves at eleven o' clock sharp. Your train ticket is enclosed. Don't be late.

Albus Dumbledore

September first? That's today! Holly searched for her clock to see how much time she had. The flashing red light read 5:02am. Disregarding the supply list she went to wake her parents.

She opened her parent's door to find a neatly made bed with her cat, Joey, sleeping in a tight ball in the middle. This early in the morning Holly expected to see her mum snoring loudly and her dad sleeping quietly next to her. Confused, Holly exited and went downstairs to see if her parents were eating in the kitchen.

Holly found the both of them watching the television in the living room. Her mum beckoned Holly to come sit next to her on the couch. She did. Her parents seemed to be entranced by the program on TV. Turning her head from the expressionless faces of her parents to the TV, she saw that the weather channel was on.

A huge storm was headed straight for her neighborhood. The weatherman was claming this was the biggest thunderhead he had ever seen. Big storm or little, nothing was going to get in the way of reaching the Leaky Cauldron. Holly got up and switched off the TV. She placed herself in front it to get her parents attention. She handed her Mum, who was closer, the Hogwarts letter. She read it with the same expressionless face as when she was watching the TV.

Holly tried to decipher what her mother was thinking. She saw her Mother's fair skinned face was slightly tense and her icy blue eyes moved over the papers slowly, not wanting to miss anything. Her Mother's light brown hair fell into her eyes obscuring her vision of the papers. Without taking her eyes off the paper she tucked the rebellious hair behind an ear. When she was finished she handed it to Holly's father. His face held a vacant expression when started, but by the time he was done he looked as if he was angry enough to send his fist through a wall. Not wanting to have anything to do with the situation he put the papers down sternly on the table, and without saying anything to clarify his reaction he went up stairs. Holly's Mum, Annette Parker, was the first to break the silent tension.

"Well let's go. Time is wasting, you don't want to be late." She stood up and went to get their raincoats.

Holly was taken aback by how flippantly her Mum was taking this.

* * *

Twenty minuets later Holly and her Mum are standing outside the Leaky Cauldron. Holly felt a drop of rain on her cheek. Above her she saw dark ominous clouds swirling around leisurely ready to send hell to earth. A crack of lightning made Holly jump. She turned her attention to the building in front of her. It's windows looked as if they had never been washed, the flowerbeds had become weed beds, and a crooked CLOSED sign hung on the door. Annette gave her daughter an encouraging nudge. Holly stepped forward and opened the door.

Only a few people were in the dimly lit room. Some looked as if the only reason they were up so early was because they had not gone to sleep. Holly identified the bartender by his uniform. He was enthusiastically cleaning up one of the tables near the back. His cue-ball head was catching the feeble beams of light coming through the rain-streaked windows.

Once Holly was closer to the bartender she saw that he wasn't really cleaning the table with a rag; the rag was cleaning on its own accord. As the rag was ringing itself out, the bartender turned to greet them.

"Good morning and welcome to the Leaky Cauldron, my name is Tom, anything I can get for you?" Unlike some of his customers Tom's semblance was of a cheery person who had received a good nights rest.

"Hello Tom. My daughter and I are going to Diagon Alley. Can you tell us where to go?" said Mrs. Parker just as a lady who had had her head on the counter began to snore.

"Follow me," replied Tom enthusiastically.

He led Holly and Mrs. Parker to a back exit. On the other side of the door there stood a red brick wall. Holly watched Tom take what appeared to be an ordinary stick out of his dirty white apron and tap a combination on the brick. When he was done the bricks started rearranging themselves until there was an archway to walk though.

"Diagon Alley," Tom said simply and went back inside to tend to his customers.

Holly could not believe her eyes. First she had seen a rag moving itself, and then a solid brick wall become a passageway to a street that had shop after strange shop on both sides. She was beside herself with excitement.

"Holly do you have the list of requirements with you?" said Mrs. Parker who was indifferent about the street in front of her.

Holly reached into her pocket to retrieve the list. She handed it to her mother. Holly did a double take and glanced back at her pants, she cringed. She had left her house wearing neon pink pajama bottoms with a matching t-shirt reading: I HATE MORNINGS. Lovely, just lovely, I get to make my first impression to the wizarding world in my jammies. Holly thought miserably.

"We are going to have to go to the bank." Mrs. Parker said without taking her eyes off the paper.

It wasn't hard for Holly to spot the bank; it was towering over all the other buildings like a giant. The sign above the massive doors read GRINGOTTS BANK in silver letters. Mother and daughter walked quickly through the throng of odd-looking people. The majority of them were adorned with robes of various colors. One elderly lady was wearing a long green dress, a fox-fur scarf, and a hat with a stuffed vulture on top.

By the time they reached the front entrance, Mrs. Parker was slightly out of breath. To Holly the lobby looked like a museum, with walls made of glistening white marble. The many doors on each side were huge compared to the gray-skinned creatures.

"Mum what are they?" said Holly who was gawking at them.

"Holly it's not polite to stare," whispered Mrs. Parker.

"Right, sorry, but what are they?" Holly said just as quietly as her Mum.

Before her Mother could answer Holly saw a sign that read:

GOBLINS OF GRINGOTTS GREET YOU

"Mum, goblins? They're real?" said Holly who might as well have been talking to the plant next to her because Mum had walked on to front desk and was having a curt no-nonsense conversation with a goblin.

Holly waited for her Mum to return to her. After a short while Mrs. Parker walked back to the spot where Holly was looking around nervously at the goblins.

"Holly. Holly! I am going to get the money and I want you to wait right here for me. OK?"

"Yeah Mum. I'll wait right here." Or maybe on that comfy looking sofa...

Holly watched her Mother walk through one of the doors before she went and sat on the couch. She leaned her head back; her assumption was correct, it was a comfortable sofa. Holly was not a patient person and was becoming more and more agitated with the goblins that were giving her severe glances. Holly had waited for almost an hour before her Mum returned. Mrs. Parker spotted her daughter and strode over to her.

"Holly here is some of the money. We are running out of time. Let's divide up the list." Annette tore the list in two.

"Meet me back here as soon as you're done with your half." Mrs. Parker smiled warmly at her daughter.

"Will do Mum!"

* * *

.

Draco, sitting comfortably in a chair, outside of Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor saw someone vaguely familiar, but all together too gorgeous to not be known by him, going into Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions across the street. He licked his spoon, carefully disposing of every last drop of the Pixie Blood flavored ice cream, which wasn't actually pixie blood, just a very strong cherry flavoring. When finished he looked around for something or someone to amuse himself with. Draco rested his eyes on the display window of Madam Malkin's. And there fitted to a manikin was Draco's new dress robe. The robe was a dark emerald that could almost pass for black. He had to have it given that his black velvet robe had not gone over so well at the Yule Ball. Afterwards Pansy took him aside and told him he resembled a vicar and that if he ever dressed in that again she would dump him. She obviously had no sense of style and now that he thought about it he asked himself; why am I dating her? And if she was going to dump me because of my clothes then our relationship is based solely on sex appeal. Not that that is a bad thing, but if we were going to stay together in a relationship, there should be more. Like complete and total love of me. All the time. Including my wardrobe.

Draco walked across the street, disregarding the fact that the robes would be horribly expensive, and considering only that they'd make him look good. He also had the added benefit of his mom's recent spoiling. It was her own warped way of making herself feel better about her husband in Azkaban.

He pushed open the door to Madame Malkin's and was immediately awe struck. In the fitting area was the most gorgeous girl he'd seen...this morning. She was being fitted into the classic black Hogwarts robes; looking absolutely divine in them. It was hugging her curves in all the right places. This young lady was not tall; Draco could care less about this for her breasts (on smaller side) accompanied with a slim waist, and voluptuous hips gave her the figure of a goddess. Her just above shoulder length, silken auburn hair framed her slightly oval face. The shorter layers flipped out in all directions as though she hadn't brushed it this morning. Caribbean blue green almond shape eyes bordered by long dark lashes gave Draco shivers. Her skin was fair like his, but her cheeks had a rosy hue as well as her well-formed curving lips. She looked absolutely squeezable. Draco was torn between turning on the famous Malfoy charm and demanding what hair product she used.

Draco snapped out of his gawking trance like state and strode over to introduce himself.

"Hello. My name is Draco, Draco Malfoy." She took his extended hand and shook it firmly. She mockingly replied, matching Draco's arrogance.

"Holly, Holly Parker." She laughed lightly to show she was only joking.

He smiled at her wittiness. Maybe he would be able to have an intelligent conversation with this girl. A pleasant change from Pansy, the girl who only talks about the celebrity hearsay in childish magazines. He spoke casually wanting to lure her into his web.

"What school are you transferring from?"

"I..." she paused. How hard is that to answer? He thought. "This will be my first year of magical training." She put her head down, slightly self-conscious.

"You? A first year! You look at lest sixteen!" Draco was bewildered. Had he lost his astoundingly accurate ability to know a woman's age? No, couldn't be. This trait had been passed onto him through bloodline. There is no way he could be wrong.

"Correct Draco, I am sixteen. And no, I am not going to be in "first year" Actually I'm entering at the sixth year level." She held up a hand to keep Draco from interrupting. "I don't understand it either. I received my acceptance letter from the Headmaster this morning informing me of my placement in sixth year." She took a deep breath. "I didn't even know that magic existed until I got the letter."

"So you are a Mudblood then aren't you?" he said appalled.

"I am most certainty not a Mudblood!"

"Good. Then you'll have the pleasure of joining me aboard the Hogwarts Express." He set off toward the exit, the notion of new dress robes in the back of his mind. He turned halfway around to face Holly.

"I'll find you before we board the train." He left swiftly not leaving time for Holly to refuse.

* * *

Holly discovered that even as a witch she could not change the two signs above her. One read nine, the other ten. This is not good. I need platform nine and three quarters. There was nothing in the letter about non-existent platforms. The thought of the Diagon Alley passageway slipped into her groggy-morning head. She went straight up to the brick barrier and stared at it, hoping that it would simply open under her glare. Holly figured that if she had whipped out her new birch-and-opal wand and started to tap the bricks at random, passersby would think of her as mental person imagining that she was conducting a symphony. Giving up for the moment, she rubbed her tired eyes, absent-mindedly picked up the bags with her school supplies, and moved to lean against the barrier. Everything happened so fast. Milliseconds after the odd sensation of the wall moving further away from her, she fell, unprepared through the permeable bricks, landing atop someone on the other side.

"Oh! I am so sorry. Are you ok?" Her heart skipped a beat. She was laying on top of none other then Draco Malfoy. She raised herself off as fast as she could, but not before she momentarily enjoyed the warmth of his body. When back on her feet she took Draco by his elbow to help him up. She repeated her question.

"Are you ok?"

"How's my hair?" came Draco's reply.

She could tell Draco was serious, but an involuntary smile appeared on her face as she held back a laugh.

"Perfect. Not a strand out of place."

"Then I'm fine." Draco looked down at her shopping bags strewn all over the ground. "What took you so long to get here?"

"I had to meet with my mother, but I couldn't find her. She wasn't where she was supposed to be... I asked around if anyone had seen her, and then a cranky old man told me she had gone long before and had left behind a bunch of parcels for me." Draco heard the distress in her voice and felt his annoyance unexpectedly disappear like fog under the sun.

"Stop your babbling. Let's get on the train before it leaves without us."

The scarlet steam engine, known as the Hogwarts Express, put all trains Holly had ever seen to shame. Smoke plumed out of the immense black smoke stack and its crimson paint glimmered giving the train a regal quality. Holly followed Draco aboard and then along the corridor carpeted forest green.

Draco opened a sliding compartment door, stepped inside, and let the door whoosh shut. Holly, who was following closely behind him, snapped back her head so that her nose could maintain its rightful place.

Inside were two hulking, ruthless looking boys. Each wore an empty expression of idiocy. Draco sat across from them.

"Don't mind them Holly. Come and sit by me." He patted the seat next to him.

Holly sat apprehensively, keeping an eye on the other two in the compartment.

"Continuing our previous conversation, are you or are you not a Mudblood?" Draco's voice was calm and a little unsettling. She answered still looking forward.

"I answered that already."

"Not truthfully."

She faced him and purposefully met his mother of pearl gray eyes. Holly was not one to easily give in. So she quickly thought of something to say that would confuse him, giving her time to think of something better to say.

"For all you know I could be Pureblood or Mudblood."

Her plan worked. To the untrained eye Draco would have appeared to have been unaffected by her words, but she saw his angular features tense ever so slightly. He must be a virtuoso of controlling his facial expressions.

"How could you not know what you are?" Draco had completely caught her off guard.

"I just don't," she said defensively.

Draco raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

"Really, I don't."

"Shame if you turn out to be a Mudblood." Draco fixed his gaze on the ceiling as if trying to think of what to say.

"A shame? I don't understand. Please explicate to me of what a Mudblood is precisely," said Holly prudently.

"You are lucky you have someone like me to tell you the difference. Mudblood is a name given to a witch or wizard who was born from a Muggle family." Draco saw Holly's confused face and knew she was not following. "Muggle means not magical. Mudbloods are poor excuses for wizards and should not be allowed to associate with Purebloods. A pureblood, like myself, is born from an all wizarding family. It would be a shame for you to be a Mudblood because then you would not have the pleasure of being in my presence." Draco turned his head toward the door.

Holly followed his gaze. Standing outside was a very fit boy with shaggy black hair falling into his emerald green eyes. He brushed his hair back out of his vision and Holly saw a lighting bolt tattoo on his forehead. She thought it gave him a sexy edge. He looked about two or three inches taller than her, but still on the shorter side given that Holly was only about five foot three. He looked about her age. He wasn't wearing his uniform yet, still in black jeans and a red t-shirt. He was giving Draco a glare of utmost loathing.

Draco rose and opened the door.

"Potter. Why aren't you with Weasel and Mudblood?"

"I was. And don't call her that. They have prefect duty. Don't you Malfoy?"

"Shit! This is all your fault Potter! Move!" Draco pushed passed Potter. Almost knocking him over and ran down the hall at top speed.

Lighting tattoo boy laughed while steeping inside the compartment. He looked at Holly for the first time.

"I don't see how he thinks it could be my fault, he's the one who forgot." This boy seemed very confident sitting down next to Holly without asking.

"I've never seen you before. What is your name?" he said.

"My name is Holly Parker. No you wouldn't have seen me because this is my first year attending Hogwarts. I'm going into sixth year. What about you? What's your name?"

"Harry and I'm in sixth too. Do you know what house you are to be in yet?"

"No."

"Did you have to take any tests? Did you get your O.W.L. results yet?"

"No and no. I don't know what an O.W.L. is."

"Every fifth year at Hogwarts has to take em. Maybe there're called something different at your old school? Where are you from?"

Holly at this point was getting agitated with all these boy's questions. "No, I went to a Muggle school all my life thus far; first time at a wizarding school. No knowledge of magic at all. Freaky hungh?" said Holly in a vigorous tone that indisputably would have gotten her allowance docked by half had her father been there.

"Yeah really freaky."

The whole compartment went silent, save the rumbling of the train on the tracks and the grunts emitting from Crabe and Goyle when they poked each other with their wands. Holly had to constrain her laughter; they were being so immature. She felt she had gotten off on the wrong foot with Harry and tried to make up for her rudeness by saying:

"Can you explain to me how I would be placed in a 'house'?"

A playful grin spread across the boy's thin lips. He ruffled his hair. "Oh, yeah, there's this old hat..." And then Holly saw Harry getting this nostalgic look on his face as if remembering old times. "...that every year sings a song about each of the four houses. Which are..." He counted them off on his fingers. "...Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. I'm in Gryffindor. Each has its own Head of House. Gryffindor has Professor McGonagall, Hufflepuff has Professor Sprout, Ravenclaw has Professor Flitwick, and Slytherin, Professor Snape." Harry continued explaining about the classes, what the teachers were like, the house points system, the moving staircases and how they sometimes can get you late for class if you aren't careful, trick steps your feet sink into, and a whole mess of other really fascinating stuff. At one point Harry mentioned something about Quidditch teams. Holly had no idea what this was and wanted to ask; she wanted to learn, she wanted to know everything that there was to know about this incredible world she had found herself thrown into. But she held her tongue until Harry had stopped talking.

"Harry, what is Quidditch and how do you know all about this stuff, it seems like an awful lot to remember! Was there a pamphlet or a special meeting, like an orientation?"

"Well, I learned most of it by experience. Professor Dumbledore, that's the Headmaster, gives a start of term speech, but that's about it. The rest is just stuff you figure out after a little while." He gave her a reassuring smile. "It isn't all that bad really. You'll adjust quickly. I did and I came from a Muggle family too."

"What about Quidditch? What is it?" said Holly.

"Quidditch is the best game ever! It's played on broom sticks−"

"Brooms! Amazing! Tell me more!" said Holly enthusiastically with an eager grin that made Harry smile as well.

* * *

Harry talked passionately about his favorite sport. He reminded himself of Ron on their first train ride to Hogwarts. Holly was attentively listening to every word he said. She seemed to truly enjoy the part in which Harry described what it feels like to fly and if you go high enough you can touch the clouds. He explained the different positions, some of the tricky maneuvers, and how the game is won. "It's brutal competition between houses. The only real threat to the Gryffindor team is the Slytherin's−"

"Are you on the team Harry?"

Harry didn't know the answer to that question. Was he still banned? He had not given it much thought.

"I was the Seeker for Gryffindor."

"Was? What happened?" Holly sounded concerned. After all he had just told her how much he liked the sport.

"Well... I got a lifelong ban just cuz I got into a tiny fight. Stupid reason really. It was all Umbridge's fault. She was the Headmistress last year. Terrible person. Oh, by the way, you'll really want to get on McGonagall's good side. Really."

"So, does McGonagall punish as unfairly as Umbridge?"

"No, sorry, I said that wrong. Er what I meant to say was that McGonagall is nice until you break her trust or really bug her."

Holly nodded. "Good to know." She sighed. Her celestially blue green eyes wandered over the inside of the compartment and rested on the window watching summer browned fields whiz by.

Harry was surveying her assiduously. Her eyes were glazed and still. She was evidently pensive, absorbing all of the information launched at her. To Harry it was like getting a glimpse of what he must have looked like at the Dursley's or whenever he was alone at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, the home of the Order despite Sirius's absence.

Over summer vacation Lupin, some of the Order, the entire gang of Weasleys (minus Percy) and Harry did their best to make headquarters fit to live in. Mrs. Weasley, of course, gave the Black house a décor that was cozy yet practical. Harry's favorite lounge chair was in the back corner of the living room, his sanctuary. To escape, all he had to do was sink into that overstuffed chair with a good book and swoop he'd be in a different time and place. It didn't have to be a real place, any other place would do. A zone in which he was free, free of people that constantly asked him if he was ok.

Once in a while he would come across a book that entailed so much thinking his thoughts would drift into the haunting worlds of "If only I'd.", "What if", and "What do I do now". He always came back, but it was usually noise or flash of light that jolted his mind out of trance. What if that is the only way I can get out? Will I turn into a blob if no one says anything to me? I don't know.

Harry took a trip in thought back to his chair with tiers of Mrs. Weasley's colorful afghans slung over the back. Next to his chair was an end table with a Muggle styled lamp resting on top. It used magic instead of electricity; charmed to turn on when it sensed the room getting dark and to switch off when you turned the knob.

This particular lamp came in handy one evening about two weeks before the start of school. Harry had spent the entire day running up and down stairs, to and from Fred and George's room back to Ron and his room. Ron had taken advantage of the big empty space the twins left behind when they went on their "business trip" to Bora Bora at the beginning of summer. The big space, being the twin's bedroom, morphed into an elaborate obstacle course for Ron and Harry to practice Quidditch.

Mrs. Weasley had no idea that her laundry baskets had their bottoms cut out, were attached to the headboards of her son's beds, and made fairly decent goals. They were first in a long line of revisions made to the room. Secondly Ron came up with the idea to enlarge the room; enabling more space to practice dives, spins, and Loop de Loops (performing a Loop de Loop is an effective way to confuse opponents). After the room was enlarged Harry and Ron set up the weather simulator so they could practice their new skills in all types of conditions.

Also there was grass growing out of the floor. Harry's comment upon seeing this was: "You put grass on the floor?" Ron's answer was: "It gives the full effect for take-offs and landings."

Besides the room having its own botanical garden it had all of the Weasley's Quidditch supplies. Which comprised of brooms, bats, assorted balls, and protective gear.

There was one tiny, itty-bitty flaw; they didn't know when Fred and George were coming back. So they ended up with one days notice to scrap everything.

Actually there were two flaws. The other was that they didn't know how to disassemble the room.

That is why it took the entire day to get the job done. That is also why The Boy Who Lived collapsed into his cloud-puff chair, read some, became bored, and let his mind wander about bumping into a few clear thoughts here and there.

As he thought about all this, he realized that he was doing the same thing while he was supposed to be talking to Holly and fell back to earth. Holly finally got his attention

"Harry. Harry!" She snapped her fingers. "You were staring, for a long time. And I have another question for you."

Harry rubbed his eyes. "What is it?" I did it again! I was spacing out thinking about spacing out!

"The weasel and Mudblood Draco was referring to, they're your friends?

"Yes. Their names are Ron and Hermonie. I'll introduce you later."

"What are they like?"

"Ron is, well, I guess you could say outgoing and he is on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. He has five brothers and a sister, Ginny. She's a fifth year. He's a good friend, so is Hermonie. She spends most of her time in the school's library."

"There is something else I want to know. Why do you have a tattoo of a lightning bolt on your forehead?"

Crap, I hoped she wouldn't ask that question. "It's not a tattoo. It's a-"

"Potter, what are you still doing here?" came the irritated voice of Draco from the doorway.

"Chatting to Holly. Now I am leaving you crass, pretentious, self," Harry said bluntly. "See you 'round Holly," he added casually.

* * *

The Hogwarts Express screeched to a halt. Draco stood and left the compartment without a backward glance at Holly; his minions tagging along at his heals.

A smirk lingered as he recalled his last words to Holly. "Have fun battling the giant squid when you cross the lake." Her mouth agape and wide aqua eyes told him she was gullible.

The mammoth (Hagrid) who was shouting, "Firs' years, this way!" made him flinch in disgust.