An American at Hogwarts

Hogwarts Express V.2

We woke up early on September 1st. Things were a bit chaotic from the start: Percy had, somehow, lost his prefect badge, and was forcing everyone to run around looking for it. I was pretty sure they could just give him a new one when he got to Hogwarts, but apparently that would be too embarrassing for him. Marie eventually found the thing in Ginny's trunk. Nobody had any idea how it got there, but we were all thankful that we didn't need to run around like headless chickens any more. Once we had all gotten ready, we were already running a bit late. We piled in the car that we had "borrowed" to rescue Harry, and made our way into London. The traffic was, of course, utterly horrific. I had thought that traffic in England could never be as bad as it was in New York, but apparently I was wrong. When we got to Kings Cross, we only had around fifteen minutes before the train left, and we rushed over to the barrier to head through. Me and Marie didn't even bother waiting, just running through as soon as we got to the barrier, having said our goodbyes to Mr and Mrs Weasley already. Most of the others came through, but Harry and Ron, who were for whatever reason heading through last, didn't arrive. I stared over at Mr Weasley, very much concerned.

"Uh, theres no way they like, got transported somewhere else, right?"

He shook his head. "No, thats unheard of. Maybe they got held up on the other side for some reason."

With that, he strolled back towards the wall, but simply walked straight into solid brick.

"Well. That's no good."

My eyes went wide. "How... what... is that even..."

Marie grabbed my arm. "Come on, we've got to get on before the train leaves. They'll figure it out, don't worry about them."

I looked back and forth between her and the wall before sighing and nodding. "Alright. I'm going to have Cinnabar send Dumbledore a letter, though. They should know about what happened."

We got on the train, found Hermione and Ginny, and quickly explained what happened as the train began to leave London and travel through the English countryside.

Hermione frowned as we finished our story. "I've never heard of anything like that, Y/N. Are you sure?"

I shrugged. "Pretty sure, yeah. I just hope they got back to the car fine."

Ginny tapped my shoulder. "About that..."

I turned my head towards the window she was looking out of, slightly confused.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me..."

There, about thirty feet off the ground, was the Weasleys' car. It was jittering up and down as if it was being driven very poorly, and someone, I couldn't entirely see who, was dangling out the passenger side, clinging on desperately. I'm pretty sure it was Harry, but I couldn't be 100% certain. I sighed and opened the window, aiming my wand in their direction. I wasn't sure if I could actually do anything if he fell, especially at the speed we were moving, but it was better than just sitting there and doing nothing.

"What are they thinking?" Exclaimed Hermione. "They could get in so much trouble for this! This is illegal on SO many levels!"

"Not to say you're wrong, but I think they have bigger concerns than legal trouble at the moment. Namely not crashing and dying." Said Marie, a bit annoyed at Hermione's priorities.

Thankfully, a few moments later, whoever was dangling out managed to climb back in and shut the door. With a sigh of relief, I put my wand away and closed the window, as the car ascended higher and into the clouds. Then I realized something. "Wait. Why could we see it? Are they not using the invisibility button thing? I swear to God, if they somehow managed to break the damn thing and get seen..."

"Lets not think about that. They'd probably get expelled, for starters." Said Ginny, clearly nervous.

We sat there and talked about Hogwarts with Ginny for a bit. She was very curious about classes and daily life there. I suppose she wanted to hear about it from someone besides her brothers. As much as I loved them, Fred, George, and Ron were not exactly the most... dedicated to their studies. She was very happy to hear that, in fact, the sorting was not some sort of combat test, as Fred and George had told her it was, and that the hat would probably listen to her about the house she wanted to be put in. She was terrified that her parents would be upset if she wasn't put in Gryffindor, which I assured her wouldn't happen, but after hearing that she could influence it, she calmed down. Eventually, as we came ever closer to Hogsmeade Station, I decided to bring up something that had been bothering me for a bit.

"Ginny, you, uh, like Harry, right?"

She blushed deeply as Marie slapped my arm. "Y/N! You don't just say that..."

Ginny sighed. "No, Marie, it's ok. I do. Kinda. Sorta. I think."

I gave her a slight smile. "We can tell. I'm pretty sure he's the only one who doesn't realize, probably Ron as well. Honestly I wouldn't have been able to a year ago either. Don't worry, I won't say anything, but I'm curious. Why do you get so nervous around him? I mean getting nervous around someone you like is normal I think, but you straight up run the other way half the time you see him."

Ginny pursed her lips for a moment, thinking. "I... I think I'm just afraid he won't like me if I get too close to him, even as a friend. Like, everyone knows him and I'm just... me."

"I mean, he likes being around me. At least I think. And I'm not exactly any more special than you are, right?"

"You're like, some sort of genius magical prodigy though!"

"Am not..." I said, blushing at her description.

"You are! You do things that some wizards nearly twice your age struggle with!"

I sighed. "Well I wouldn't go that far. Anyways, it's not like anyone thought that when we first met. You could turn out to be even better for all we know. And Harry doesn't really care that much about that sort of stuff. If you're nice to him and everything he'll happily be friends with you! Just talk to him, Ginny. Don't like profess your love or anything, just be friendly with him and see where it goes. Give it a try, for me?"

She sighed. "Alright, I will. If he doesn't get himself expelled..."

Marie jumped up excitedly. "Not to interrupt, but I think we're here!"