An American at Hogwarts

Chapter Forty-Three

A/N: Okay, I know it says in PoA that Ravenclaw played Slytherin a week after term started, but I'm going to push that game to be a week later for the purposes of this story. Hope it doesn't bother anybody too much 😄

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After an awesome first week back, I decided we all needed to do something fun to top off the beginning of the new term. It was finally—finally—time for a Disney marathon.

"Okay guys, I need my favorite kitchen runners to help me out again," I said, sitting down between Fred and George at breakfast.

"With what?" asked George.

"I need all the popcorn, candy, and sweet drinks you can get me by about eight o'clock tonight."

"We'll take care of it," Fred assured me. "But what for?"

"We're having a muggle movie marathon tonight, like we did on Halloween. Except more for fun and less to distract from the threat of a murderer. We're gonna watch all the classics," I said.

"In the Common Room?" asked Fred.

"Yup. We'll make it a house event. Watching some nice old movies by the fire, with popcorn and candy galore. It'll be great!"

"If you say so," said Fred, grinning at me. "You spread the word, we'll bring the food."

"On it. Maybe grab Lee and some other people to help you carry stuff, we have a lot to get."

"Don't worry about us," said George, standing with Fred. It looked like they were getting ready to make their first food run. "We know what we're doing."

"I always worry a little bit when you have that look on your face," I said. They each shot me a wink in response and took off, probably to go see what they could steal from the kitchens.

We still had a fair amount of time before class, so I decided to start putting a list of movies together. I came up with a list way longer than we could get through in one weekend, so I decided to cut it down by deciding on a general vibe for the event. I wanted movies that everyone could watch and enjoy, including the eleven-year-old first years, so I decided to stick to mostly childhood classics that were animated. As a result, most of the movies were Disney with a few others mixed in. Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music were getting special passes on the animation requirement because they were good, and I wanted to watch them.

I finished with just a few minutes left to spare in breakfast, and I remembered another important thing I might need since I was planning to do all of this in the middle of the Common Room: permission.

I looked around and found Percy at the doors to the Great Hall, talking with Penelope. If he said no I would just find a way around him, but the easiest way to make this a cozy house-bonding weekend in the middle of Gryffindor Tower was with his help.

"Hey Percy," I said, smiling brightly and stepping into his conversation with Penelope. Hopefully he wouldn't mind too much, since he always seemed so eager to help me.

"Alexa! Hello, how are you?"

"I'm good! Sorry, I hope I'm not interrupting anything. I just wanted to talk to you about an event I want to plan for our house this weekend."

Percy looked at Penelope to see how she felt about my interruption, and to my relief she smiled.

"No problem at all," she said. "I'll let you two talk. I'm glad you're adjusting so well, Alexa. Percy, I'll see you in class."

She gave him a kiss on the cheek before walking off, and Percy's face turned bright red. He looked like he was floating on air as he watched her walk away.