The Curious Chamber

“Should I do it or do you want to?” asked Remus picking up Guinevere and looking at Beth who was sleeping soundly in her bed.

“Meow!” said Guinevere.

“You’re right Gwen, she should both do it.”

Remus placed Guinevere down on Beth’s bed and Guinevere pounced on her.

“Meow!” yelled Guinevere jumping on Beth.

“Go away Gwen, it’s too early!” she grumbled, “its too early!”

“It’s time to get up sweetheart,” chuckled Remus turning on the light and pulling back the duvet slightly.

“It’s still dark,” muttered Beth, “therefore it’s too early!”

“Last time I checked,” said Remus shaking his head, “today was the first of September, and we’ve got a train to catch.”

“What!” said Beth popping her head out from under the duvet, “really?”

She jumped out of bed and got dressed in her uniform, whilst Remus loaded Guinevere into basket, and they got all the luggage in the car.

“You excited for school?” asked Lyall as Beth got into the back.

“I can’t wait to see everyone,” she beamed.

“And here was I thinking you were going to miss your Old Grandpa.”

“You’re not old Grandpa!” giggled Beth, “and of course I’m going to miss you!”

“That’s my girl,” chuckled Lyall.

Beth snuggled up in the back of the car and woke up as they reached London.

It was only just ten o’clock as they pulled in at the station.

“Time to wake up sweetheart,” chuckled Remus as he looked in the back of the car, “we need to get you on the train.”

“Hmm,” she muttered slightly drowsily stretching as she undid her seatbelt.

Lyall and Remus loaded her trolley and they headed for the platform.

“Uncle Remus?” she asked as they headed for the platform.

“Yeah?”

“You don’t think that Professor Lockhart will be possessed by Voldemort, do you?”

“I don’t think so no,” chuckled Remus, “Lockhart might be a buffoon and stupid but even he’s not stupid enough to work for Voldemort.”

“Let’s hope not,” sighed Lyall.

They got to the platform and Beth charged at the platform with her trolley after checking that no muggles were watching.

They got onto the platform and one of the only people already there was the Bones’. Susan was there with her parents and Aunty Amelia.

“Hi Beth!” said Susan throwing herself at her for a hug, “I’ve missed you!”

“I’ve missed you too Sus,” chuckled Beth.

“Come on, lets go find a compartment,” beamed Susan dragging her trunk.

They helped the two girls load the trunks and animals into an empty compartment of the train.

“Have you read the Lockhart books?” asked Susan, “they’re terrible, aren’t they?”

“Twice,” nodded Beth.

“Why did you read them twice?”

“To check that there weren’t any nuggets gold hidden in the mulch.”

“Oh,” shrugged Susan, “we need to say goodbye to everyone.”

“Goodbye Mummy,” said Susan getting off the train and giving her a hug.

“Goodbye Daddy!”

“Goodbye little Susie,” said Mr Bones picking her up, “see you at Christmas princess.”

“Bye Grandpa,” said Beth.

“Goodbye Cariad,” chuckled Lyall, “and don’t forget to check behind the turbans.”

“Bye sweetheart,” said Remus giving her a hug, “take care of yourself.”

“Mr Lupin,” said Susan, “you have to let go.”

“Sorry sweetheart,” he laughed, “see at Christmas little one.”

Beth and Susan got back in the compartment before the platform started to fill up.

“Aunty Amelia and Daddy showed me around the Ministry this week, it was fascinating. I’m thinking of joining when I leave school, I just don’t know which department. I might want to work with muggles, I’m really excited for starting Muggle Studies next year.”

Beth was although curious, usually very quiet and didn’t usually talk unless she had to. Susan on the other hand talked all the time, sometimes she just never seemed to stop especially when she got enthusiastic about something.

Beth got out her sketchbook as Susan talked away about the Ministry and Muggles. Beth noticed as she sketched that Susan’s eyes lit up when she was excited.

“Any idea what you want to do when we graduate?” she asked.

“I mean I know its not for six years but you must have some idea. Maybe you could be an artist!”

“I’m not good enough,” said Beth blushing slightly as she continued to sketch.

“Firstly, yes you are good enough,” pointed out Susan, “and secondly I think you’d make a great illustrator, you could write children’s books and do your own illustrations like you do for History.”

“Those are just notes,” muttered Beth.

“Pretty bloody amazing notes!” pointed out Susan, “also you’ve got a real talent for drawing and storytelling, you should consider it!”

“Hmm,” said Beth as she shaded in Susan’s long red plait.

At this point there was a knock on the compartment door. The train was just beginning to pull away from the platform.

“Hey Beth, hi Susan.”

“Hi Padma, Parvati,” beamed Susan waving, “want to join us?”

“Thanks,” said Padma as they started to drag their trunks into to the compartment.

Padma and Parvati Patil put their trunks in the overhead compartment and left a tall looking first year in the corridor.

“Well are you coming in or not!” said Parvati raising her eyebrows at the boy.

He nodded and brought in his trunk, took out a book, and then sat down next to Padma without saying a word.

“This is our little cousin,” explained Padma, “Zia Patel.”

“Hi Zia,” said Susan.

Zia merely nodded and turned the page.

“What are you reading?” asked Beth.

“A Tale of Two Cities,” muttered Zia not looking up from his book.

“Impressive,” said Beth.

“It’s weird is what it is,” sighed Parvati sitting down next to Beth.

“Those are amazing Beth,” enthused Parvati, looking at the drawings, “can I have a look.”

Beth shrugged and found a spare sketchbook in her satchel which she passed to Parvati.

“Quick question,” said Padma.

“Yeah?”

“How did you all do so well on that History exam last year?”

“Should I show them Beth?” said Susan.

“Go ahead Sus,” giggled Beth as she finished a new piece of paper.

Padma looked slightly confused as Susan went through her bag and passed her two small white plain cover books.

Padma opened it to the first page and looked even more confused, but then she started to read the book.

“You wrote this?” asked Padma.

Beth nodded as she continued to sketch.

“You’re a genius!”

“I’m really not,” sighed Beth as she started to draw a picture of the Marauders.

After hearing the story about the Marauders last week, she had started drawing them every now and again, taking reference from the photographs Uncle Remus had shown her.

“Beth,” asked Padma, “do you have any more of these?”

“No she writes the notes as we learn about it all in class, then I get them published, and we make as many copies as we need.”

“Cool,” said Padma.

“Your cousin doesn’t talk much does he?” asked Susan.

“Whereas you talk enough for everyone Susan,” said Parvati, “seriously do you even have an off switch?”

“That’s very rude you know,” said Zia looking at his cousin for a second.

“In answer to your questions,” chuckled Padma, “yes Zia does talk, but only when he’s got something worthwhile to say, and as for Susan, I believe her excessive talking is part of her charm.”

“Well at least I’m not boring!” giggled Susan.

Beth noticed that Susan’s eyes lit up whenever she laughed.

Before long they arrived at Hogwarts and they went to go find the carriages.

“Where are the horses?” asked Beth.

“Don’t ask me,” shrugged Parvati as they got into one of the carriages.

When they got up to the school, they went over to the Hufflepuff table and sat down next to Ernie and Justin.

“Hi Guys,” said Susan, “good summers?”

“Excellent,” beamed Ernie, “I went to Italy.”

“Did you find out how the Leaning Tower of Pisa is kept up?” asked Beth.

“Yes, I did actually, the answers quite simple really, magic.”

“I wonder what house Ginny’s going into to,” muttered Beth as the first years filed in.

They watched as just under thirty first years filed in.

A tiny girl with long blonde hair and a quizzical expression got sorted into Ravenclaw, as did Padma and Parvati’s cousin Zia.

One of the last people to be sorted was Ginny who walked up to the stool nervously. She sat under the stool for nearly five minutes before the hat finally called out “Hufflepuff!”

“Well done Ginny!” said Beth getting up to give Ginny a hug as she walked over.

“Thanks Beth,” said Ginny shyly looking around at her new housemates.

Ginny sat down between Beth and the first years as the sorting finished.

“Um guys, this is Ginny, she’s Ron’s little brother, Ginny these are my best friends Susan and Ernie.”

“Hi,” beamed Ginny waving.

“So Ginny,” asked Artie, “you’re a Weasley right?”

“Er yeah,” said Ginny.

“You play Quidditch?”

Ginny nodded.

“You’ll have to try out next year.”

“Ok gang,” said Zach as they headed back to the Common Room, “how long do we think Lucious Lockhart is going to last?”

“Don’t be horrible Zach,” said Hannah, “we need to give him a chance.”

“Fine we’ll give him a chance,” sighed Zach, “but if he fails, I suggest we start doing something about it.”

“Why?” asked Neville

“Because we need to learn how to defend ourselves properly,” said Ernie.

Beth was slightly surprised that Ernie and Zach were actually agreeing on something.

“Why?” asked Hannah, “we’re only twelve.”

“Because they cant keep on lumping us with substandard teachers and expecting us to then be able to survive in the real world,” said Zach.

“What are we supposed to do about it though?” asked Ernie.

“We could just start teaching ourselves,” Beth pointed out.