“Harry!  Ron!  Niamh!  Hermione!  Percy!  Fred!  George!  Ginny!  Let’s go!”

Eight pairs of feet thundered down the stairs, followed by the dull thunks of trunks.  Jardin and Percy’s owl Hermes screeched at the noise and everyone had to cover their ears until they subsided.  After that, they stuffed eight trunks into the Weasley’s Ford Anglia, crammed ten people and two owls and a rat into it, then set off to King’s Cross.

“Fred, move over!”

“I can’t, Percy’s taking up all the room.”

“This is…”

“Argh!”

“…rather uncomfortable.”

“Shut up, Percy!” chorused everyone but Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.

“Fine,” grumbled Percy and pulled out a book.  Harry sighed and shifted underneath Niamh, who had thrown herself over his, Ron, and Fred’s laps.  Ginny was sitting on George’s lap and Hermione was squeezed between George and Percy.  Hermes was in his cage up front and Jardin had taken a perch on top of Niamh.

< Oh, this is rather comfortable. >

Shut up, Jar.

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/

“Stupid thing.  Open!”

“Niamh!  Shhh!”

“What?”

“People are staring.”

Niamh glared at the aforementioned people and they moved quickly away.

“Problem solved.  Now, if we could get back to the original problem…”

“Is sarcasm an automatic Slytherin trait?”

Niamh scowled and Harry decided to get in-between his two friends before a fight broke out.

“Alrigh’, ye two.  Enough.  Okay, so the barrier woan open.  We need ter figure out some other way ter get ter Hogwarts.”

“The car!”

“What?” said Niamh and Harry.

“The car!” said Ron again.  “We can take the car!”

“A brilliant idea, Ron, but one question.  Who’s going to drive?”

“Me, of course.”

Niamh moaned and muttered, “Slytherin save us,” before grabbing the trolley with her trunk and following Ron back towards the car.  Harry followed them, wondering if there was some other way besides the car that they could get to Hogwarts.

By the time he got out to where the car had been parked, Ron and Niamh had already plunked their trunks into the boot.  They shoved Harry’s in then scrambled inside, Ron and Harry into the front and Niamh into the back.  Ron started the car and with a grin, punched a button.  As they watched, they entire car disappeared around them.

“Whoa,” breathed Niamh.

Ron grinned some more then punched another button.  A few minutes later they were heading up towards the clouds.  That’s when the car reappeared around them.

“What?”

“PUNCH IT AGAIN!” screamed Niamh.

Harry and Ron pummeled the button but it didn’t work.

“THE CLOU’S!” bellowed Harry, pointing.  Ron aimed the car up and they were hidden by the fluffy white clouds.  Niamh snarled, “Car can turn invisible, can it?  Car can fricking not turn invisible and we probably got spotted by a Muggle!  You know that right?”

Ron blinked while Harry nodded.  Jardin sighed and said, < We’re going to be in trouble. >

“You?” snapped Niamh.  “You mean, the three of us are going to be in trouble.  You’re a raven.  Nobody but us knows you can talk.”

Ron said, “Please don’t do that.  It’s weird.”

“What?”

“Talk to him out loud.”

Niamh scowled.  Harry frowned then asked, “Ron, c’n ye hear Jardin?”

Ron shook his head.  “Only when he’s talking directly to me.  I think it’s only you two that can hear him when he says something that’s not directed at anyone.”

“Wow.  Did that take a lot of thought?” deadpanned Niamh.

“Ha ha, very funny.”

“Yes, I thought so too.”

Harry sighed and looked out the window.  It was going to be a long drive – er, flight.

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/

“Almost there!”

Harry was jolted out of sleep by Ron’s cheerful voice.  Rubbing his eyes, he peered out through the windshield.  They were flying below the clouds and he could see the lights of Hogwarts up ahead of them.

< Oh, look.  Home sweet home. >

“Shut up, Jar,” snapped Niamh and Harry.

Ron frowned slightly at them then said, “Okay, down we go.”

Niamh muttered, “Buckle up,” and moved to fasten her seatbelt.  Harry did the same, ignoring Jardin’s complaint about him not having one.

As the car began to drift lower there was a sputtering sound.  The three of them look at each other then back towards the ground.  The lower they went, the louder the sound got.  Ron kept muttering, “C’mon, c’mon…  Just a few more feet!”

They didn’t make it.  The car’s engine gave out and they all looked at each other for a moment before they fell.

“AHHHHHHHHH!”

“AHHHHHHHHH!”

“AHHHHHHHHH!”

< AHHHHHHHHH! >

THUNK!

Ron said, “Well, we’re okay.”

Niamh groaned and growled out, “Ronald Weasley, so help me if you ever convince me to drive with you in a car again…Harry will kill me.”

“Wha’?  No, I woan!”

“Harry!”

“No.”

“Fine.”

Thunk!

“What was that?”

Thunk!  Thunk!  Thunk!

< Something’s hitting the roof! > yelled Jardin at all of them.

“What?” asked Ron.

Thunk!  Thunk!  Thunk!  Thunk!  Thunk!

“PUNCH IT!” bellowed Niamh.

“THE ENGINE’S DEAD!” yelled Ron back.

“PUNCH IT ANYWAY!!”

Ron pummeled the gas, turning the key at the same time.  The engine rattled to life and they shot away through a frenzy of moving branches.  Harry ducked as one came towards his window, shattering the glass.

“FASTER!”

“I’M GOING AS BLOODY FAST AS I CAN!”

“ARGH!!”

Finally they broke free of the tree and Ron stopped the car, the three of them slumping in their seats.

Ping!

“What was that?” asked Niamh.

Thunk!  Thunk!  Thunk!

“Erm…” said Ron.

Suddenly the car doors flew open and their seats tipped, slinging them out onto the ground.  Jardin, cawing loudly, took off out Harry’s broken window and flew up towards the castle.  The car, meanwhile, slammed its doors closed and rumbled off into the Forbidden Forest.

Ron got up and waved his fist after it, roaring, “OI!  COME BACK HERE!”

Harry shook his head and said, “‘Opeless, Ron.  It’s gone.”

“Bloody hell.  Mum’s going to kill me!”

Niamh said, “Worry about your mother later.  We’ve got to get up to the castle.”

The two boys nodded and grabbed their trunks, the three of them starting up to the castle.

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/

“Damn, we missed the Sorting.”

“What?  What’d Ginny get?”

“How should I know?  You want me to look at everyone with red hair in the Great Hall?”

“Yes.”

“Are you mad, man!”

“No.”

Niamh rolled her eyes then frowned.  “I wonder where Professor Snape is…”

“Sick?” suggested Ron hopefully.

Harry and Niamh scowled at him and he blanched.

“Oookay.  Erm…working?”

“Or perhaps he is wondering why the three of you did not arrive on the train.”

The three students turned to see Snape towering above them, a black bird sitting on his shoulder.  Harry blinked then exclaimed, “Jardin!”

“Yes, Mr. Potter,” said Snape.  “Your raven came into my office like a Hellhound was after him.  Speaking of my office, why don’t we visit it?”

It wasn’t a question.

“Leave your trunks here.  I will inform the house-elves to take them to your dormitories.”

Harry, Ron, and Niamh nodded then followed Snape down towards the dungeons, Jardin flitting over to Harry’s shoulder as they went.

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/

“So, Mr. Weasley, Mr. Potter, and Miss O’Feir.  Decided to fly here did you?”

Ron turned a shade of pasty white while Niamh choked, “I-I don’t know what you mean, professor.”

Snape held up a newspaper.  The front-page title read MUGGLE’S REPORT FLYING FORD ANGLIA.  A picture of the Weasley’s old turquoise car was below it.  Harry heard Ron gulp audibly.

“And I saw that you made quite a mess of the Whomping Willow.”

“Tree did more damage to us than we did to it, professor.”

“Silence, Miss O’Feir!  Now, Weasley, the decision to expel you does not lie with me, else you’d already be back home.  However, Miss O’Feir, Mr. Potter…”

Now Harry heard Niamh gulp audibly.  He was scared too but he wasn’t showing it.  He did not want to have to go back to his aunt and uncle’s after the way the Weasley’s and Niamh had broken him out.

“Mr. Potter, why did you not think of sending your raven with a message?”

Snape had changed the subject.  Harry sighed and said, “I ‘ad na thought o’ it till we were ‘alfway here, professor.”

“I see.  A pity you did not think of it earlier, Potter, but it was good that you did think of it.”

Snape rose and left suddenly, snapping at them to stay put.  As soon as he was gone, Ron moaned, “My mum is going to kill me!”

Harry patted his friend on the shoulder then look at Niamh.

“Ni?  Ye okay?”

“Yeah.  Fine, Harry.  God, what if we get expelled?  I can’t go back to my parents!”

“I know, Ni.  I can’na go back ter me aunt and uncle’s either.”

“So, what are we going to do?”

Harry sighed and looked at his two friends before sinking down in his chair and latching his eyes onto a phial full of an emerald green substance up on one of Snape’s shelves.  He said, “Cross our fingers, I ‘spose.”

Suddenly Snape returned with McGonagall in tow.  Ron yelped and quickly covered his mouth.  Snape smirked at him.

McGonagall frowned down at Ron and said, “Explain.”

Ron quickly launched into an explanation, stuttering worse than Quirrell had.

“And you didn’t think to send a letter with Mr. Potter’s owl?”

“Raven, professor.”

McGonagall frowned at Harry then at Jardin before turning back to Ron.

“Well, Mr. Weasley?”

“No, professor.  We didn’t think.”

“That, Mr. Weasley, is obvious.”

Ron winced then fell off his chair when the door opened again and Dumbledore entered Snape’s office.  Niamh’s jaw fell and Harry went rigid in his chair.  Dumbledore looked down at them and said, “Miss O’Feir, Mr. Potter, and Mr. Weasley.  Please explain why you did this.”

This time Harry told the story as Ron was too embarrassed to speak and Niamh was still staring at Dumbledore.  He found that he couldn’t meet any of the three professors eyes.  He didn’t care about McGonagall but something made him feel bad to have Dumbledore and Snape looking at him with clear disappointment in their eyes.

“We’ll get our things, then,” said Ron gloomily.

“Pardon, Mr. Weasley?”

“We’re-we’re expelled aren’t we?”

Dumbledore allowed a small smile.  “Not today, Mr. Weasley.  But, I must warn you, if anything such as this happens again, I will be forced to expel you.  I will, however, how to inform your families of this.”

Ron fell out of his chair again.

“Now, I shall leave you two to decide their punishment, Minerva, Severus.”  With that Dumbledore left and the two professors turned on their students.

“Get up, Weasley.”

Ron pulled himself back up into his chair under Snape’s sneer.

“Professors?” quavered Niamh.  “Erm – since term hadn’t actually started when we took the car, so…”

“You don’t believe points should be taken,” finished Snape.

“Y-yes, sir.”

“Then points shall not be taken.”

“Severus!”

“Miss O’Feir is right, Minerva.  However, if you want to take points from your house and lose the Cup again this year, please, be my guest.”

McGonagall turned a nasty shade of purple then dragged Ron out of Snape’s office.  As the door slammed behind her, Snape smirked and said, “Ah, she’s so easy.”  He then turned on Harry and Niamh and said, “Harry, Niamh, I’m very disappointed in the both of you.  You’re my best students but this incident has made the two of you look worse than Crabbe and Goyle.”

Harry and Niamh winced at being compared to the two Slytherin’s that followed Draco around.

“I hope I won’t have reason to be disappointed in the two of you again.  Now, if you two are hungry…”

Snape waved his wand at his desk, where a plate of sandwiches and a pitcher of pumpkin juice appeared along with three goblets.

“A little food would not hurt anything.”

Harry and Niamh looked at each other then said, “Thank you, professor,” before digging into the sandwiches.  Snape watched them with a raised eyebrow for a moment then poured pumpkin juice into the third goblet and took a sip.  As the two students ate, he said, “Of course, the two of you will have detention with me tomorrow night.”

“Yes, sir,” said Harry and Niamh.  Harry offered a corner of his sandwich to Jardin, who ate it with gusto.

< Mmm.  Turkey.  Needs some spiders. >

Harry laughed, earning an amused look from Snape and Niamh.

“Something you’d like to share with us, Harry?”

“Erm – well, see,  Jardin ‘ere can – um – talk.”

< Oh, that’s a really spiffing explanation. >

Shut up, Jar.

Snape smirked – no, smiled – and said, “Yes, I know.”

“Really?  How?” asked Niamh.

Snape smiled again and said, “Let us say that I am familiar with the type of creature Jardin is.  The Headmaster’s phoenix is one as well, I believe.”

“‘E is,” said Harry.  “Jar told us.”

“‘Told us’?  The both of you can hear him?”

Harry and Niamh nodded.

“Well, well.  That’s interesting.  Ah, you’re finished.  Well, off with the both of you.  And if you wouldn’t mind not mentioning anything said here to your fellow Housemates…”

Niamh grinned and said, “Our lips are sealed, sir.”

Snape smiled.  “Good, good.  Off with you then.”  He ushered the two of them out of his office and closed the door after them.  Harry and Niamh grinned at each other then set off down the hall to where the door to the Slytherin dormitories lay hidden.

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/

“Well?”

“Well, what, Albus?”

“What did you do to them, Severus?  I’ve been dying to know ever since I left your office.”

“Gave them detention,” said Snape with a shrug as he moved one of the black chess pieces.  The black queen smashed the white bishop to the board then drug him off to the side.

Dumbledore arched a white eyebrow.

“Only detention?  Severus, that could ruin your reputation.”

“Pah.  You know how I treat my Slytherins, Albus.  I don’t give them half the detentions I give the other houses.”

“I believe the Ravenclaws had less than others from you.”

“Only because my mother was a Ravenclaw.  I simply do not feel right given detentions to students in her old house.”

Dumbledore nodded and carelessly moved a white knight forward into striking range of a black bishop.  Snape took the knight easily.

“And what of your father’s house, Severus?”

“You know very well how I treat that house, Albus.”

“Yes, you treat the Gryffindors rather a bit too harshly.”

“You wish me to stop?”

“Certainly not.  You would not listen anyway, would you, child?”

Snape smirked as he took a white pawn.

“No.”

“Ah, you see.  By the way, what did you think of the incident tonight?”

“I thought Harry was rather foolish to have not thought of sending Jardin.  I’m surprised Jardin did not suggest it.”

< That raven is not as smart as you think he is. >

Dumbledore looked at Fawkes and said, “Ah, you know that’s not true.”

< Really? > said the phoenix in an amused tone.  Snape smiled then moved another piece on the board.

“Check.”

“Really?  How interesting.  So, again, what did you think of the incident tonight?”

“I think Mr. Weasley and Miss O’Feir dragged Harry along.”

“I believe I remember a young third year who, when his father refused to let him return to Hogwarts, flew here on his broomstick with his trunk tied to it.”

Snape flushed slightly.

“I was a third year, professor.”

“Yes, I know.  But I believe your son had inherited your inert belief that some things should be jumped into, not slid into.”

“Albus…”

“Checkmate.”

“What!”

Dumbledore chuckled and rose, leaving Snape to stare down at the chessboard.