An American at Hogwarts: Book Two

Chapter Twenty-Two

After Transfiguration, a double Charms period, and lunch, it was time for Herbology with Hufflepuff. I had class with every one of the other Houses today, and it was nice to see all my friends I didn't live with for a little longer.

I walked into the Greenhouse with my friends to see Cedric standing at a table in front of a few planters, grinning at me the minute I walked in.

"Hello everyone," he said brightly, and my mood lifted even further. My friends all waved back, and I went to stand next to him as we all took our places around the greenhouse.

"Alright class, we're going to continue our work from earlier in the week..."

The class period flew by. Professor Sprout was cool, so as long as we paid attention the important parts (where she told us how to avoid being killed by the plants we were working with) and as long as we got our work finished, she didn't mind if we talked and laughed and had a little fun in class too. In fact, I think she preferred it.

"Okay, okay, how about this one: one of my uncles was born in 1918." All of my friends scoffed and rolled their eyes. Lee had suggested a while ago that we play a game where they try to guess whether the stories I told about my muggle life we true or not, and we decided to play a few rounds while we worked with our plants. So far, Cedric was the only one who'd gotten anything right, and I was pretty sure that was just luck.

"There's no way that can be true," said Lee.

"Lee's right!" cried Alicia. "Muggles don't live that long! Unless he's a great uncle?"

"Nope. He's actually a bit younger than my dad." Everybody groaned dramatically at that, then Fred gave his final answer.

"Not true."

"Alright. Anybody else?" Everybody nodded in agreement with Fred, even Cedric. I raised an eyebrow at him, so he explained.

"Every single insane thing you've said so far has been true, somehow. This one's gotta be fake, if nothing else then at least to throw us off the track."

I nodded appreciatively. "Good logic. Unfortunately, that is absolutely true."

Cries of outrage filled the greenhouse as my friends threw their hands up in defeat.

"How is that even possible?" Angelina demanded.

"He took this thing that turned him into a superhuman in the nineteen-forties and then he crashed a plane into the ice on the way to New York and it didn't kill him, but it froze him there so he stopped aging until this guy named Nick Fury finally fished him out like, seventy-something years later."

All of my friends were rendered speechless, which was the goal. At least now they'd probably believe me when I said the crazy, dangerous things that went on at Hogwarts were nothing compared to what I dealt with at home.

"Alright, I'm done with this game for today," George declared. "And I'm getting my dad to send me a bunch of muggle news headlines before we play again."

I grinned. "That might be a good idea."

"And how are you all doing over here?" asked Professor Sprout, coming over to check our progress. Despite the game, we were pretty far along on our assignments, and she gave us a big smile when she saw that for herself. "These are looking good!"

She made her way around each of the tables, giving us feedback and coming to a stop at the plant Cedric and I were working on.

"Very nice work, both of you. Mr. Diggory, I know you we've talked about the possibility of you putting your name in the running to be one of our Hogwarts champions. How about you, Miss Stark?"