Having Both is a Blessing - A Harry Potter Story - HP/AU 7th year

Chapter 15 : Home again, home again, giggity gig

Chapter 15 : Home again, home again, giggity gig.

Everyone winds up where they belong, safe and sound . . . for the time being.  It’s the Sorting Ceremony, the Welcoming feast and then there are those traditional 7th year toasts to be drunk, down in the Slytherin common room.  What a busy day!

 Chapter 15 : Home again, home again, giggity gig.

 “Sweet Mary, Mother of Pearl! What are you lot doing in Leeds?” 

 Gwen was gob-smacked, seeing Neville, Tut, Seamus and, she surmised, Dean Thomas, right in front of her, in the middle of the street.

“I could ask you the same question!”  Neville rose up out of his seat and grinned at her.  “Hi, Gwen!”

Honk! Honk! There was a lorry behind Tut, with an impatient driver.

“Oh! Sorry!”  Gwen waved at the driver, smiled and started toward the curb.  “I better get out of the street!  Pull over there by that white van,” instructed Gwen, pointing, as she continued to wheel the pile of boxes across the street.

Seamus turned the corner and pulled up behind the van, just as Gwen opened the back doors.  Neville clambered out of the sidecar and hurried over to help.

“Oh . . . . Thanks, Neville,” said Gwen, as he handed her the boxes and she loaded them into the van.  Gwen folded up the trolley, stored it along side the boxes, and closed the doors.  Only then, did she throw her arms around Neville and give him a big hug.

 “What are you doing in Leeds, you three?” she asked, turning to greet Seamus and Dean, her around draped over Neville’s shoulder. “Hi, you’re Seamus, aren’t you?  And you must be Dean.”

“Hi, Gwen, glad to meet you.”  “Right, I’m Dean.” 

The two boys stood there, grinning at her.

 “We’re on our way back to Hogwarts, taking the scenic route, through Edinburgh; going to check out the Festival,” Neville informed her.  “What are YOU doing here?”

 “Picking up some supplies,” she replied, jerking her thumb at the van. “And, no, we’re NOT living anywhere near Leeds.  I just happened to know someone here, who could get us what we needed for the potion Anna’s brewing.”

“How is Aunt Anna . . . . is she okay . . . . what have you two been doing?” Neville asked in a rush.

“She’s fine, we’re fine, Winky’s taking good care of us and we’re safe.  That is all I can tell you, really.  I’m in a lot of trouble, as it is, being seen and talking to you three.”

“Why?  We won’t tell anyone we saw you.  Promise!”  Neville reassured her. Seamus held up his hand and Dean crossed his heart.

“I wouldn’t have known who you were; it was Tut who recognized you,” said Seamus.  “He honked the horn, not me!”

“Really?”  Gwen turned to the motorcycle and bent down to look the headlight ‘in the eye’, so to speak. “Hello, Tut, it’s been a while. Seamus been taking good care of you, then, has he?”

The headlight blinked and nodded.

“I’ll tell Anna you said hello, okay?” Another nod.  “Good boy, Tut.”  Gwen patted him.

 “Did you and Aunt Anna hear about the attack at The Burrow, day before last?”  Neville asked.

 “Yes, we did.  Christopher told us what happened and Remus sent an owl. You were there at St. Mungo’s weren’t you, Neville?”