Chapter 32: Back on the Hogwarts Express

▪︎▪︎▪︎

"Where on earth is George when you need him?" Gwen exclaimed after giving up on trying to close her trunk.

"Have you ever tried to put an extension charm? It would help." Angelina said while grabbing her stuff out of the bathroom. "I swear, I lack common sense."

Alicia snorted from the other side of the room. "Took you long enough to realise it."

The school year came to a close and the students of Hogwarts were about to leave in the next couple of hours. Gwen should have prepared and packed beforehand, but timekeeping was never her strong suit.

"I still need to find Artie," Gwen admitted. "Shouldn't be too difficult. He's always only a few centimetres away from George."

A few seconds of silence fell into the room as the girls silently packed. "This was one hell of a year. Sirius Black turned everything upside down." Alicia said, breaking the silence. "And yet he still hasn't been caught."

"This may sound weird, but did anyone notice from the pictures that he is kinda, sort of good looking?" Angelina and Alicia turned to Gwen in surprise, Angelina quick to respond. "She makes a valid point."

Alicia snorted in disbelief causing Gwen and Angelina to fall into a fit of giggles.

They spent the next few minutes talking and laughing before Gwen forced herself to go to the boys' dorm to find her cat.

Lee opened the door after hearing Gwen's knocking, just in time for her to see something flying in the background. "Is this a bad time?" Gwen asked with amusement as she saw Fred trying to catch a floating shoe through the slightly open door.

"It's always a bad time here. Come in and mind your head." Gwen hesitantly entered the boys' dormitory only to find various types of clothing in mid-air.

"What is going on?" Gwen asked George who had his wand in his hand and desperately tried to do something. "This idiot tried to find a spell to pack his bags and caused a riot instead," George explained as he motioned aggressively towards his brother. Fred gave a glare. "How many times do I have to tell you that I'm sorry?! Just shut up."

Fred waved his wand and muttered some spell that Gwen never heard of and the raucous stopped.

Only to start again, twice as fast.

Fred started swearing under his breath and Gwen was the victim that got hit in the head by a belt buckle.

She pulled out her wand from her pocket as she tried to dodge the articles of clothing. "Arresto momentum!" The clothing instantly slowed down and they all let out a sigh of relief.

"I need to invest in a helmet to keep me alive long enough to continue with this friendship," Gwen admitted as she collapsed onto Lee's bed. "I came to get my cat."

George groaned. "Can't I keep him for a bit longer? I won't be seeing him throughout the summer. And he loves me."

Gwen walked up to him and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "George, sweetheart. The cat is already sick of you, everyone who is in your company for more than an hour is." Fred snorted loudly, clearly overhearing the conversation.

George glared at Gwen before giving her the finger.

"You can spend the train ride together. Besides, I'll probably visit you a couple of times during Summer." Gwen reminded George.

"He wants to see Artie, not you Gwen," Fred added loudly. Gwen ignored him although she still smiled at his antics. "You know what? He can stay with you. As long as you don't forget to bring him with you to the train."

George finally grinned and hugged Gwen. "Yes! Love you. You're the best."

"That's debatable."

"Suck it, Lee."

▪︎▪︎▪︎

"Hey Fred, you're abnormally tall. Put my luggage in place?" Alicia asked as she wiped the sweat off her bro.

They managed to find an empty compartment in the Hogwarts Express. It was almost a miracle since they arrived late because they had to find Lee's lost tarantula.

"I'm not that tall." Fred retorted but helped her with the trunk nonetheless. "You are actually,' Gwen added into the conversation as she opened Artemus's and Athena's cages. "What's more abnormal is the fact that you have no torso and only legs."

"At least I know how to use my legs," Fred replied causing Angelina to snicker. Finally ready with all the trunks, Fred sat down next to the window, right across Gwen.

"Laugh all you want but I'm gaining better control of them." Gwen nudged her foot with his and the two engaged in a fight using their legs. It went on for a while until they stopped and fell into fits of laughter, leaving their legs tangled with the others.

"Are you all going to the Quidditch World Cup?" Lee asked. Everyone in the compartment turned to look at him with teasing looks. "Lee, you're in a compartment filled with five-sevenths of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team. Of course, we are."

Lee raised his hands in defence. "Geez, this is the last time I try to start a conversation."

"I'll be there. Cedric already invited me." At the mention of his name, Fred untangled his legs from Gwen's, looking away to try and be discreet with his sudden change in mood.

"That's nice of him," Alicia murmured distantly, more focused on finding some loose knuts to buy sweets from the trolley with.

"It's Cedric we're talking about. The boy bleeds nice." Lee chimed in.

"Oh, I almost forgot. I have to go on a quick round to see that everything is fine. I'll be back soon."

Gwen somehow made her way out of the filled to the brim compartment and into the less cluttered corridor.

During her walk, she stopped when she saw the Trolley Lady and bought some food for her way back. As far as rounds go, it was quite eventful as she had the chance to talk to a couple of her friends.

She was about to turn back when she heard a knock on the glass, catching her off guard and causing her to back into the opposite wall.

"Sorry about that. I should have been more careful." Cedric stepped out of the compartment with an apologetic look as he made sure that Gwen was alright.

"No need to apologise. I'm not bleeding so that's something. Also, I have a surprise for you, ta-da!" Gwen took out a black liquorice wand from behind her back and Cedric's eyes lit up at the sight of it.

"Have I told you that you're the best girlfriend ever?" Cedric started with one of his melodic laughs. "Maybe a couple of times, but I don't mind hearing it from time to time. Does wonders to my ego."

"May I?" Cedric asked after pocketing the wand. Gwen gazed away from Cedric's grey eyes to make sure that no first years were watching. She leaned in and stepped on the tips of her toes and gave him a gentle kiss.

"We're still on for the world cup, right?" Cedric asked a faint red on his cheeks. "Well, of course. You're talking to the chaser of the best Hogwarts team. No offence." Cedric was quite used to Gwen's teasing, so much that it had become part of his daily routine.

"Look at me, I'm dating a comedian. Are you sure that you want to be an Auror?" Gwen snorted. "I didn't cry and have a mental breakdown for my O.W.Ls for nothing."

"Lucky for you, you still look beautiful when you cry," Cedric said, trying his best to flirt.

They both knew that Cedric was in no way a good flirt, but she found his attempts charming and were somehow working. "Then wait till you see me during our seventh year, I'll be a mess."

"Cedric! What's taking you so long?" A knock on the glass door was heard along with Parker's cries. Cedric turned to Gwen apologetically. "I better go, if Parker doesn't get enough attention he gets super annoying. Maybe I'll see you on the platform?"

Gwen nodded. "I'll hope so. And remember to write to me." Cedric kissed Gwen's cheek before returning to his compartment.

With a content sigh, Gwen made her way back to the compartment where she was sure that chaos would await her.

▪︎▪︎▪︎

"How many times do I have to tell you, Lee? Careful of my foot!" Angelina's shouts shook everybody as the place was a mess of limbs.

The Hogwarts Express should reach Kings Cross in a couple of minutes and everyone was trying to get their stuff from the racks.

"Okay! We are going to have to do this one by one." Gwen said pushing Angelina away to stop her from attacking Lee. "We'll go in alphabetical order."

"By name or surname?" Fred asked, trying his best to get Alicia's hair out of his mouth. "We can do name." Gwen decided much to Lee's chagrin. "Why do I have to get the short end of the stick?"

"Sit down, and please don't let my final memory be of you whining again." Angelina snapped, looking at him from the corner of her eyes as she was waiting for Alicia to finish.

The 'system', if you can call it that, worked just in time for the train to stop. "Do we have to leave the compartment in alphabetical order as well?" Lee said in distaste. Gwen didn't think that he was waiting for an answer, but the others were looking at her for orders. "Surname by alphabetical order. Descending?"

Gwen barely finished her sentence before George sprinted out of the compartment. "Wow, George, you sure are going to miss us," Alicia said in a joking manner causing Fred to snort as he left next.

"He probably wanted to get out of the compartment, we've been breathing each other's air for too long."

The platform was busy as ever, steam from the train making it hard for Gwen to find her brother. Lee and Angelina were first to leave as their families were already waiting while Alicia had to meet them outside the platform since they were muggles.

Mr and Mrs Weasley were present as well but took quite some time as not all of their children were present. "Is your brother here yet?" Fred asked Gwen as he placed his trunk on one of the carts that his mother brought for them.

"He said he might be a bit late because of work, so there's no need to worry." Despite knowing that, she still kept looking around for the familiar head of hair.

"It's nice to see you again, Gwendolyn." Mr Weasley said when he noticed Gwen's presence. Gwen smiled warmly at the older man. "I could say the same for you. Did you finish your battery collection?"

The conversation sparked some joy in Mr Weasley but refrained from speaking in detail about it with Mrs Weasley present.

"It will be nice having you around the house, Gwen. We were thrilled when Sebastian informed us." Gwen was beyond confused as she only heard of it at that exact moment. However, Gwen didn't let it show, choosing to hide her surprise to not make Mrs Weasley feel bad or worried.

"It was very nice of you to accept. I only hope that I won't be too much of a hassle."

Fred pulled her to the side. "I didn't know that you'd be staying at our house. Why didn't you tell me?" Gwen shrugged in response. "Seb didn't tell me. Maybe I should have expected it." Fred smiled gently at her. "Hey, I'll be glad to see you before school starts again."

Before Gwen could respond, she finally laid eyes on the man himself, passing through the wall with his brown hair dishevelled. When he did spot her, he made his way through the crowd, ignoring the people elbowing him to passing by as he went past them.

"I'm late, I know, I had to file some paperwork and lost track of time. It's nice to- why are you red in the face? Did you swallow a whole exploding bonbon again? I told you to take small bites." Sebastian started fanning at her face to help her cool down.

Gwen pushed his hands away from her face. "I didn't eat anything. Let's just go home." Gwen seethed quietly as she passed Sebastian her trunk who lifted it with confusion.

Ignoring her brother, she turned around and walked back towards Weasleys where Fred was waiting for her with open arms. The sight calmed her down a bit as she was welcomed into a hug. "I'll miss you but at least I'll see you again soon," Fred admitted as he finally let go.

"And here I thought you were sick of me." Gwen laughed and patted him on the arm before going to hug George and Ginny next.

After goodbyes were said, Gwen turned back to her brother who still looked perplexed, wondering what he did wrong. She let out a sad sigh and decided to let it go before plastering on a fake smile.

"C'mon, let's go to the house, we have a lot of catching up to do." Sebastian finally grinned. "It's good to have you back, Gwenny."

▪︎▪︎▪︎

Well, I had no idea how to finish that chapter.

Sorry, bout that.

But I still hope you enjoyed it nonetheless.