10. Back to Hogwarts
Finally it was that time: September 1. We went back to Hogwarts. The school I had missed for so long. Together Molly, Arthur, Bill, Charlie and I left for King's Cross station in a light blue Ford Angelia 105E.
At platform 9 and 3/4 it was still scary to walk through the barrier. We managed to catch the train just in time.
Charlie's friends had already found a compartment. We sat down next to the other three Gryffindors and Ravenclaw to discuss a busy vacation. Fortunately, Charl made no mention of my Welsh Green, although I knew the subject was on his lips.
After a few hours, the Trolley Witch passed by. I treated everyone to Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, cauldron cakes, chocolate frogs and pumpkin pasties. So I tried to make myself more popular by the other houses.
We had barely finished the candy feast when the compartment door flew open. And there was the last person I felt like talking to right now. Terence Higgs was a Slytherin of my year who reportedly hung out a lot with the higher years. His pride was his blood and house.
With a hard, horrified face, he cried: 'Look who we've got here: mudblood Tremlett, penniless Weasly, nerd Smith...'
Tears welled up in Donaghan Tremlett 's eyes.
Forgotten: you can't be popular in all houses.
'Seriously Belle? Why would a pure blood interact with such scum?' Like everyone else, he was still in the illusion that I was that.
'Terence, don't you have anything better to do', I tried to get him to leave.
'Actually yes, but teaching my house how to associate with more dignified people takes priority.'
'I'll decide for myself who's dignified and who's not.'
'Just come along if you like.' He put it in such a way that it was clear that "if you like" didn't apply. With a sigh I stood up. There was no other choice.
'Sorry', I whispered to the others.
'Come on Belle, you've got to stop hanging around with mudbloods', Terence said as soon as we got out into the hallway. Unlike in the compartment, his face was softer now.
'First of all, Charlie is a pure blood. Second, I didn't know David was a muggle-born. And third, no one tells me who to hang out with', I tried to stand my ground.
'All right... I'll take you to the rest of the Slytherins.' With a deep sigh, he wrapped his arm around my shoulder. Though I didn't like that at all, I allowed it.
That's how we arrived at my house. I quickly took a seat next to Jess. At least I could have a decent conversation with her. She told me about her vacation with her parents in Italy. It sounded fantastic.
Not much later, Hogwarts Castle appeared in sight. It was great to be back.
Hagrid's voice broke through the noise: 'First years over here!' He led them to the boats to cross the lake, just like we did last year. From this year on we had to go by carriage. But when I first saw such a carriage, something strange happened in my head. The carriage was not pulled by anything, which was quite acceptable in the wizarding world. The problem was that I knew that the carriage was being pulled by something. No idea what it was, but I could see the image perfectly in front of me: some kind of black emaciated horse with wings. But there was no black emaciated horse with wings at all, there was nothing to pull the carriage. Suddenly I remembered when I had precisely this feeling again. It was exactly one year ago, on platform 9 and 3/4, when I first met Charlie. I knew he and his family were coming, I knew what they looked like, I knew who they were; although I had never seen them. This was the same situation. Could there be something wrong with me?
'Belle? Bell are you coming?' Jess interrupted my deep train of thought.
'Yes of course, sorry,' I rushed into the carriage. How long should I have stood there? Hopefully no one noticed.
When everyone was seated in the Great Hall, I noticed that sitting in the seat of the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Montgomery, was another older man. Would there be a new teacher for this subject again? It was time for the sorting ceremony. All the freshmen shuffled in frightened through the large doors. They probably had the same stress I had back then. After the sorting hat had sung its song, the sorting began. Slytherin received fourteen new students. Then: the long-awaited feast. This was definitely one of the main things I missed about Hogwarts: food. But as much as I enjoyed the meal, the winged horse couldn't get out of my head. So I promised myself that if I had to, I would search the entire library tomorrow until I found what it was.
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