Ron-Weasly book 2

Ten minutes later, Snape returned, and, of course, accompanied by Professor McGonagall. I've seen her angry once, but either I've forgotten how thin her lips can be when she's angry, or she's never been so angry in front of my eyes. When she entered the office, she immediately waved her magic wand, we recoiled in fear, but she only lit a fire in the fireplace, which immediately hummed encouragingly.

"Sit down," she suggested.

We both sat down on chairs closer to the fire.

"Now tell me!" McGonagall demanded, her glasses glinting angrily.

And I began to describe our misadventures, starting with the barrier that refused to let us onto the magic platform.

"...we just had no other way out, Professor, we couldn't get on our train in any way."

"Why didn't you send a letter with an owl? You had an owl, didn't you?" The Professor looked at Harry sternly.

Harry lowered his head. Damn, I'm so used to the Arrow barely dragging. She would have been flying for a couple of days.

"I... I didn't think..."

"It's very clear."

There was a knock on the door, and Snape, beaming with happiness, unlocked it. The headmaster, Professor Dumbledore, entered the office.

I cringed into a ball. Dumbledore looked extremely serious. He looked at us with his hooked nose hanging down.

After a long silence, Dumbledore finally said:

"Please explain why you did that."

It would have been better if he had shouted at us, such disappointment sounded in his voice.

Harry described everything in detail, omitting one thing — that the enchanted car belongs to my father. According to his story, it turned out that we were lucky: there was a flying car in the station parking lot. Dumbledore didn't seem to believe him, even though he didn't ask anything. Finally, Harry finished the sad story — the headmaster continued to stare silently through his glasses at the pitiful defendants. Oh, we were unlucky. We've only been at Hogwarts for a year and we're getting kicked out. I hope Dad will put us in a simpler school to finish our studies.

"We'll go pack our things," I said very quietly.

"What are you talking about, Roland Weasley?" Professor McGonagall asked sternly.

"You want to expel us from school, don't you?"

Harry cast a quick glance at Dumbledore.

"Not today, Mr. Weasley," the headmaster replied. "But I'm giving you both one last warning. You have committed a very serious offense. I will write to your families today. And if this happens again, I will have to expel you."

The glee drained from Snape's face, as if he had heard that the Christmas holidays had been canceled. Clearing his throat, he turned to the director:

"Professor Dumbledore, these youngsters have violated the Law restricting Underage magic, caused serious damage to an old, very valuable willow tree... this act of vandalism..."

"It's up to Professor McGonagall to decide on their punishment," Dumbledore spoke calmly. "They study at her faculty, she is responsible for them. So I went to the banquet, Minerva," He turned to the learned lady. "We need to make some announcements. Come on, Severus. What a delicious cake awaits us!"

After giving Harry and me the look of a venomous snake, Snape followed the headmaster out of the office. We were left alone with Professor McGonagall, who looked at us with a stern but fair eye.

"You'd better go to the infirmary right now, Weasley, you've got a cut on your forehead that's bleeding."

"Not very much. Besides, everything grows on me quickly." I hurriedly wiped the scratch above my eye with my sleeve. "I would like to see, Professor, how my sister will be distributed."

"The distribution ceremony has already ended. Your sister got into Gryffindor too."

"Great!"

"And as for Gryffindor..." McGonagall began.

"Professor," Harry interrupted her, "when we got into that car, the semester at school hadn't started yet. So... I guess... they won't deduct points from Gryffindor?" Harry asked with concern.

Professor McGonagall looked at him intently, and it seemed to me that a smile touched her lips. Anyway, they weren't so thin anymore.

"No, I won't deduct any points from the faculty. But you will not be able to avoid punishment, you will do socially useful work after school."

A letter to parents. The Ford is gone. The wand is broken. The father is awaiting trial at work. Nightmare.

Professor McGonagall waved her wand over Snape's desk. And out of nowhere, a plate full of sandwiches and two silver cups of pumpkin juice appeared on it.

"Eat," she said, "and go to your bedroom. And I still have to go back to the banquet."

When the door slammed behind her, I whistled loudly and long.

"And I already decided — goodbye to school! We're going to finish our studies at the Welsh School as some kind of weaklings." I exclaimed and greedily grabbed a sandwich.

"And me too, are you sure they would have taken us there?" Harry followed my example.

"Half of the Weasley clan went to school there. We often have weak magicians. Dad's two older brothers graduated from that school. We attacked the sandwiches with hunger. Damn, I caught my mom's when Ford was throwing them away. I'll give it to Percy. He likes beef.

"Well, how unlucky we are!" I said, munching on a chicken sandwich. "Fred and George flew this Ford about five or six times, and not a single Muggle noticed. I swallowed and took another big bite. "But still, why couldn't we get to the platform through this barrier?"

Harry shrugged his shoulders.

"Now you have to weigh your every step." Harry said, happily sipping pumpkin juice from a silver goblet with ice floes floating in it. "It's a pity that we weren't allowed to attend the banquet.... It's my favorite treacle tart.

"She just decided to hide us from everyone," I suggested. "So that no one would say on a night like this: but still, it's cool to fly to school in a Ford!"

After eating to the brim — the plate was a self-made one — we left the office and went the familiar way to Gryffindor Tower. Everything was quiet in the castle, and the party was over. We walked past mumbling portraits, clanking knights' armor, climbed a narrow stone staircase, and finally reached a passage where there was a secret entrance to Gryffindor Tower, masked by a large portrait of a very plump lady in a pink silk dress.

"The password?" the lady asked, seeing us very close.

"Mmm..." said Harry, as if remembering. We didn't know the new password, because we hadn't seen Percy yet. But help arrived immediately. There were quick footsteps behind us, and we turned to see Hermione chasing after us.

"It's you! Where have you been? There is a ridiculous rumor that you were expelled for allegedly crashing a flying car."

"No, we haven't been expelled," Harry assured her.

"I hope you're not saying that you flew to school...."

Hermione sounded like Professor McGonagall.

"Save the lecture for another time. Tell me the password instead!" I demanded impatiently. I don't feel like sleeping.

"Turkey, but that's not the main thing..." Hermione was clearly angry.

Her words, however, were drowned out by the thunder of applause: the door with the lady opened, and we found ourselves on the threshold of the Common living room. The entire faculty seemed to be awake. The room was crowded, and there were even rickety chairs and rickety tables. They've obviously been waiting for us for a long time. Dozens of hands reached out to us and dragged us inside through the entrance marked by the portrait. Hermione squeezed in after him.

"Amazing!" Lee Jordan shouted. "Brilliant! What a comeback! Crash into a Rattling Willow tree! The school won't forget this for a hundred years!"

"Well done!" some fifth-year student praised.

Someone tapped me on the shoulder. Fred and George made their way to the front row through the crowd.

"Why didn't you invite us? We could easily come back!"

I blushed and smiled guiltily. Harry nudged me in the side and nodded at the prefect. Percy was moving toward us, ready to tell us what he thought of us. I immediately assessed the situation.

"We're very tired, let's go upstairs." I said, and our couple, pushing aside the crowd, rushed to the end of the hall, to the door to the stairs leading to the bedrooms.

"While." Harry waved at Hermione, who looked almost as reproachful as Percy.

Accompanied by enthusiastic cheers and friendly pats on the back, we finally reached the landing. The door slammed shut behind us, and a blissful silence enveloped us. We almost ran upstairs. Our bedroom was right under the roof, and now there was a sign on the door that read "2nd year." We entered a familiar round room with tall narrow windows, in which there were five beds under velvet curtains. The suitcases had already been brought in, and they were waiting for the owners at the foot of the beds, I looked at Harry in embarrassment.

"I know there's nothing to be happy about and all that... but..."

The door flew open, and three sophomores ran into the bedroom: Seamus Finnigan, Dean Thomas, and Neville Longbottom.

"Unbelievable!" Seamus beamed.

"Fantastic!" Dean chimed in.

"Amazing!" Neville finished, his eyes burning with horror and delight.

My mouth opened into a satisfied smile of its own accord.