An American at Hogwarts

Chapter Sixty-Four

"WHAT THE FUCK?"

I shot awake to the sound of someone screaming profanities. I sat up quickly, looking around to figure out what was going on. When I looked to my right, I saw Jackson staring at me with the same bewildered look I'm sure I had on my face.

"Oh thank God, you're finally awake," I sighed, flopping back down on the bed. I did not get enough sleep, and waking up to such an aggressive shot of adrenaline was a horrible way to start my day.

"Alexa, what the hell is going on? Where am I? Why do I feel so... weird?"

That made me sit up straight again.

"Weird how? Like brewing storm weird? Borderline losing control weird? Or just a general weird?" I asked. I squinted at him, trying to see if he looked odd for any reason, but as far as I could tell he was the healthiest he'd been in months. He needed some more food and sleep, but he wasn't as pale as a corpse anymore and I didn't get the impression that he was ready to blow at a moment's notice.

"Weird like I woke up in a strange place next to you," he snapped. He paused and took a deep breath. "And... and weird like... I don't know. Like something's different."

"Good different?" I asked.

Jackson paused, taking a minute to assess the new feeling.

"Yeah... good different." He paused again and smiled to himself, clearly happy to be able to give that answer. Then he went right back to the angry and impatient Jackson I knew so well. "Now where the hell am I and what the hell happened?"

I sighed, but before I could launch into an explanation, the curtain on my side of the bed was ripped open and Angelina poked her head through.

"Do you two mind taking this somewhere else?" she hissed. "Amelia and Emily somehow managed to sleep through your yelling but Alicia and I are awake and we want to change that as soon as possible."

"Sorry Ange! Yeah, we'll get out of here right now."

Angelina huffed and went back to bed. I felt kind of bad, but when I turned to see Jackson looking completely bewildered at the place she'd disappeared, I could barely hold in a laugh.

"Come on," I whispered. "Let's go somewhere we can talk. I'll explain everything, I promise, but I don't want to wake up my roommates again. We just got done with finals, so they need a break."

Jackson looked grumpy about not getting immediate answers, but he followed me anyway. We tiptoed through the dorm and out to the main stairs. Everything was deserted, which I was thankful for. I didn't want to explain to anyone why or how I'd snuck a guy into my dorm room and let him stay there all night.

We got to the stairs leading to the Common Room and I started walking down like normal, Jackson right behind me. Unfortunately, I forgot about the special magical rule that guys couldn't come into the girls' dorm. Apparently the magic didn't care whether the guy was coming or going; the stairs still turned into a slide.

One minute I was walking like normal, the next my feet were swept out from under me and I hit the floor of the Common Room. Adding insult to injury, Jackson came crashing down on top of me a few seconds later.

"Ugh. Stupid magic," I grumbled, shoving Jackson off me.

"What was that?" he groaned, slowly getting to his feet.

"Magic. Like I said." He glared at me, so I elaborated. "There's a spell on the staircase so that guys can't go up to the girls' dorms. Apparently it's triggered any time there's a guy on the stairs."

"Then how the hell did you get me up to your dorm?" he asked.

I just stared at him. "My dad's Iron Man and my Uncle makes magical portals to travel from place to place. How do you think?"