It's not easy to explain, but . . .

Chapter 5

AN/

The passage quoted is from the American version of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix", Chapter Twenty-three, Christmas on the Closed Ward, page 512.  Harry Potter books are the sole possession of J K Rowling and no copyright infringement was meant or implied by the use of this quoted passage.

                                                            Chapter 5 : Welcome to Hogwarts

Harry appeared out of the fireplace in a POOF of green flames to find the group gathered around his kitchen table.  Emma was typing away on her laptop with Hermione at her elbow, Ron and Rupert, Tom and Draco and Ginny and Dan each had their heads bent over copies of the last three books of the series, highlighting passages and discussing what was relevant to their mission.  They all turned toward him, varying degrees of curiosity expressed by raised eyebrows and questioning looks.

"Ready to go see the real deal?"

"Excellent!"  "Oh, my!"  "Wicked!"  "Brilliant!"

"Minerva is anxious to meet all of you and Albus is practically climbing out of his portrait frame; he's like a kid in Honeydukes with a handful of Sickels!"

"He's excited to meet us?!?" Emma looked at Hermione.  "Does he know about the movies?"

"Oh, yes.  Harry has informed him of the popularity of the whole 'Harry Potter' series; apparently he finds it quite amusing and would love to view all of them, sometime." Hermione informed her.

"What did Severus say?" Draco asked.

"Snape?  Dan looked at Draco, puzzled, then turned to Harry.  "You insisted they put his portrait in the Headmaster's Office, didn't you?"

"I did.  And Minerva confirmed that despite the Carrows running amok that year, Severus was only doing what he had to do; he was fair, when he could get away with it, but really had his hands tied, all things considered,"  Harry explained.  "But his portrait was empty and I'm betting he was down in the dungeons . . . he tends to still do his rounds through the halls."

"Speaking of Minerva, I understand she has spent many a long evening reading ALL of the books to the portraits on her office walls . . . which means she could be a great help with our project; we'll get her input, while we're there," added Ron, grinning.  "So, gather up your gear and we'll go for a little visit, shall we?"

"I'll just leave my laptop here," Emma said as she turned it off and closed the lid. "I seriously doubt there's any Wi-Fi at Hogwarts."

"Probably not." Hermione agreed.

 * * * *

As they emerged from the fireplace in the Headmistress' office at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry,  Dan, Rupert, Emma and Tom looked around the familiar room, shaking their heads and trying to wrap their minds around the fact that this was REAL, not a movie set.  Rupert walked over to the wall and rapped his knuckles on the stone.

"OW! it's real, alright."

"What are you doing?" Ron asked, coming up beside him, a quizzical look on his face.

"Checking the wall; this is real stone, the one's on the set were plywood, covered and painted to look like stone, but if you rapped on them, you could tell it was a fake wall; hollow wooden sound."

"Very astute of you, Mr. Grint." Rupert spun around and looked up to see Albus Dumbledore smiling down at him. "And welcome to Hogwarts . . . all of you."

"Indeed . . ."  agreed Minerva McGonagall.  "Please, have a seat." Indicated a circle of chairs, as she sat down. She looked at each 'set' of young people before her, amazed at their similarities. "Now, how can Albus and I help you?"