The Whomping Willow
The end of summer vacation came far too quickly for Harry’s liking. It wasn’t that he wasn’t looking forward to getting back to Hogwarts, but his month at the Burrow had been the happiest of his life. It was difficult not to feel jealous of Ron when he thought of the Dursleys and the sort of welcome he could expect next time he turned up on Privet Drive.
The night before they left for Hogwarts, Mrs. Weasley conjured up a delicious dinner that included all of Harry’s favorite things and ended with a mouthwatering treacle pudding. Fred and George rounded off the evening with a display of Filibuster fireworks; they filled the kitchen with red and blue stars that bounced from ceiling to wall for at least half an hour. Then it was time for a last mug of hot chocolate and bed.
It took a long while to get started the next morning. They were up at dawn, but somehow they still seemed to have a great deal to do. Mrs. Weasley dashed about in a bad mood looking for spare socks and quills; people kept colliding on the stairs, half-dressed with bits of toast in their hands. Mr. Weasley nearly broke his neck, tripping over a stray chicken as he crossed the yard carrying Ginny’s trunk to the car.
Harry couldn’t see how eight people, six large trunks, two owls, and a rat were going to fit into one small Ford Anglia. He had reckoned, of course, without the special features that Mr. Weasley had added.
“Not a word to Molly,” he whispered to Harry as he opened the trunk and showed him how it had been magically expanded so that the luggage fit easily.
When at last they were all in the car, Mrs. Weasley glanced in the back seat, where Harry, Ron, Fred, George, and Percy were all sitting comfortably side by side, and said, “Muggles do know more than we give them credit for, don’t they?” She and Ginny got into the front seat, which had been stretched so that it resembled a park bench. “I mean, you’d never know it was this roomy from the outside, would you?”
Mr. Weasley started up the engine and they trundled out of the yard, Harry turning back for a last look at the house. He had barely any time to wonder when he’d see it again when they were back. George had forgotten his box of Filibuster fireworks. Five minutes after that, they skidded to a halt in the yard so that Fred could run in for his broomstick. They had almost reached the highway when Ginny shrieked that she’d left her diary. By the time she had clambered back into the car, they were running very late, and tempers were running high.
Mr. Weasley glanced at his watch and then at his wife.
“Molly, dear—”
“Absolutely not, Arthur—”
“No one would see—this little button here is an Invisibility Booster I installed—that’d get us up in the air—then we fly above the clouds. We’d be there in ten minutes and no one would be any the wiser—”
“I said no, Arthur, not in broad daylight—”
They reached King’s Cross at a quarter to eleven. Mr. Weasley dashed across the road to get trolleys for their trunks and they all hurried into the station.
Harry had caught the Hogwarts Express the previous year. The tricky part was getting onto platform nine and three-quarters, which wasn’t visible to the Muggle eye. What you had to do was walk through the solid barrier dividing platforms nine and ten. It didn’t hurt, but it had to be done carefully so that no Muggle noticed you vanishing.
“Percy first,” Mrs. Weasley said, looking nervously at the clock overhead, which showed they only had five minutes to disappear casually through the barrier.
Percy strode briskly forward and vanished. Mr. Weasley went next; Fred and George followed.
“I’ll take Ginny and you two come right after us,” Mrs. Weasley said to Harry and Ron. She grabbed Ginny’s hand and set off.
As they made their way through the barrier, four familiar voices came from behind. Well, one did—when Harry and Ron turned, they were surprised to find Leo practically seething.
“We’re going to be late, Mikey, how many times have I told you to pack the night before—”
“It’s not my fault, Donnie was—”
“Hey, don’t rope me into it—”
“Guys,” Raph said. His brothers stopped arguing and looked at Ron and Harry.
“Oh, good, we’re not the only ones,” Leo said. “You two go ahead first—we’ve only got a minute.”
As much as he was curious, Harry realized that Leo was right—time was ticking along quickly, and they were about to miss the train. Harry made sure that Hedwig’s cage was safely wedged on top of his trunk and wheeled his trolley around to face the barrier. At least this was better than using Floo powder, he thought. Both he and Ron bent low over the handles of their trolleys and walked purposefully toward the barrier, gathering speed. A few feet away from it, they broke into a run and—
Harry was knocked off his feet as both trolleys hit the barrier and bounced backward; Ron’s trunk fell off with a loud thump, and Hedwig’s cage bounced onto the shiny floor. She rolled away, shrieking indignantly. People all around them stared and a guard nearby yelled, “What in blazes d’you think you’re doing?”
“Lost control of the trolley,” Harry gasped as Mikey rushed forward to help him and Ron up. Leo ran to pick up Hedwig, who was causing such a scene that there was a lot of muttering about cruelty to animals from the surrounding crowd.
“Why can’t we get through?” Harry hissed to the others.
“I dunno—”
Ron looked around wildly. A dozen people were still watching them curiously.
“We’re going to miss the train,” Donnie murmured. “I don’t know why the gateway won’t let us in—”
Harry looked up at the giant clock with a sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach. Ten seconds… nine seconds…
He wheeled his trolly forward cautiously until it was right against the barrier and pushed with all his might. The metal remained solid.
Three seconds… two seconds… one second…
“It’s gone,” Ron said, stunned. “The train’s left. What if Mum and Dan can’t get back through to us? Have you got any Muggle money, Harry?”
Harry gave a hollow laugh. “The Dursley’s haven’t given me pocket money for about six years.”
Ron turned to the others, who were all standing and talking quietly. “Have any of you Muggle money? Didn’t you exchange some at Diagon Alley?”
Leo flinched as Raph snorted. “Yeah, we used all of it then,” he said. “You think part time jobs for twelve year olds in London pay well?”
Ron pressed his ear to the cold barrier.
“Can’t hear a thing,” he said tensley. “What’re we going to do? I don’t know how long it’ll take Mum and Dad to get back to us.”
They looked around. People were still watching them, mainly because of Hedwig’s continued screeches.
“We need to do something about that,” Ron said, gesturing to Hedwig.
Raph stepped forward. Harry watched skeptically as he soothed the bird, but a moment later, Hedwig fell silent, relaxed once more.
Harry looked at the quiet bird in amazement before shaking his head clear. “I think we’d better go and wait by the car,” he said. “We’re attracting too much atten—”
“That’s it!” Ron said suddenly, his eyes gleaming. “The car!”
“What about it?”
“We can fly the car to Hogwarts!”
“Absolutely not,” Leo said immediately. “That’s a terrible idea.”
“We’re stuck, right? And we’ve got to get to school, haven’t we? And even underage wizards are allowed to use magic if it’s a real emergency, section nineteen or something of the Restriction of Thingy—”
“But your Mum and Dad…” Harry said, pushing against the barrier again in the vain hope that it would give away. “How will they get home?”
“They don’t need the car,” Ron said impatiently. “They know how to Apparate! You know, just vanish and reappear at home! They only bother with Floo powder and the car because we’re all underage and we’re not allowed to Apparate yet…”
“Again, this is a terrible idea,” Leo said.
“For once, Leo and I agree,” Raph said.
“You know it’s a bad idea when that happens,” Donnie added.
Mikey scoffed. “I say we do it.”
Everyone rounded on him at once, with differing reactions.
“What? ” his brothers all screeched.
“Thank you,” Ron said.
“Are you sure?” Harry asked.
Mikey nodded. “They’re gonna do it anyway, bros,” he said. “We might as well go with them.”
“Mikey, you have to realize how irresponsible this is—”
“Irresponsible is my middle name, Leo!” Mikey said. “Come on, you know it’s the best choice.”
Leo crossed his arms. “I’m driving.”
“I don’t think so,” Ron said immediately. “It’s my car—”
“It’s your family’s car,” Donnie corrected. “And honestly, Leo driving is the safest option.”
“He does have the most experience,” Mikey said. Raph stayed silent, watching the back and forth with amusement.
“How can he have the most experience? He’s twelve!” Harry said.
“And you’re not?” Donnie said.
“His question still stands,” Ron said. “How does he have the most experience driving?”
“I used to drive a bus or two,” Leo said. “But that’s not relevant. Are we doing this or not?”
Ron crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes. “Next time, I get to drive,” he said eventually.
That was enough for them. They all hurried out of the train station, through the crowd of curious Muggles, and back onto the side road where the old Ford Anglia was parked.
“Will this be enough to fit all of us?” Donnie asked skeptically as Ron unlocked the trunk with a series of taps from his wand. “Never mind,” Donnie said upon seeing the huge space for their luggage. They shoved their trunks in the back, and Raph, Donnie, Mikey, and Harry all got in the back seat, Harry resting Hedwig’s cage on his lap. Ron and Leo climbed into the front seat, Ron still a little upset that he didn’t get to drive.
Ron started the ignition with another tap of his wand. Leo glanced out of the window, making sure that their street was empty, before he pushed a tiny silver button on the dashboard. The car around them vanished—and so did they. Harry could feel his seat vibrating beneath him, hear the engine, feel his hands on Hedwig’s cage and his glasses on his nose, but for all he could see, he had become a pair of eyeballs, floating a few feet above the ground in a dingy street full of parked cars.
“Let’s go,” said Leo’s voice from somewhere in front of Harry.
And the ground and the dirty buildings on either side fell away, dropping out of sight as the car rose; in seconds, the whole of London lay, smokey and glittering, below them.
There was a popping noise, and the car and everyone in it reappeared.
“Uh-oh,” said Ron, jabbing at the Invisibility Booster as Leo swerved into the clouds. “It’s faulty—”
The car vanished for a moment, and they all let out a sigh of relief before it flickered back again.
“Now what?” said Harry, blinking at the solid mass of cloud pressing in on them from all sides.
“We need to find the train,” Donnie said.
“On it,” Leo said, his jaw set in determination as he dipped back down again.
“There!” Raph called, pointing. “Right ahead.”
The Hogwarts Express was streaking along below them like a scarlet snake.
“Due north,” Donnie said. “You should just check in every half-hour.”
Mikey slouched back in his seat as Leo shot back up through the clouds.
“What’s up with you?” Ron asked, twisting in his seat to look at Mikey, who was pouting.
“I’m just remembering how I used to give the directions.”
Raph snorted. “You were terrible at that, Mikey,” he said, not unkindly.
“Yeah, remember when you made me miss my turn like, every time?” Leo chimed in from the front seat.
“Oh, like, every other day?” Donnie added teasingly.
Mikey groaned. “All right, all right, I get it, I wasn’t the best navigator.”
“Correction—you were the worst navigator,” Donnie said.
Leo cleared his throat. “Guys, you might want to look around.”
The lot of them did—and they gasped at what they saw. It was a different world above the clouds. The wheels of the car skimmed the sea of a fluffy cloud, the sky a bright, endless blue under the blinding white sun.
“All we’ve got to worry about now are airplanes,” Ron said.
It was as though they had been plunged into a fabulous dream. This was surely the only way to travel, thought Harry—past swirls and turrets of snowy cloud, in a car full of hot, bright sunlight, with a fat pack of toffees in the glove compartment, and the prospect of seeing Fred’s and George’s jealous faces when they landed smoothly and spectacularly on the sweeping lawn in front of Hogwarts castle.
They made regular checks on the train as they flew farther and farther north, each dip beneath the clouds showing them a different view. London was soon far behind them, replaced by neat green fields that gave way in turn to wide, purplish moors, a great city alive with cars like multicolored ants, villages with tiny toy churches.
“So, let me just ask you two something,” Leo said after a half hour in comfortable silence. “Were you—did you happen to fly this over London, say, a month and a half ago? Around five in the morning?”
Ron thought for a moment. “No, I don’t think—”
“Yes,” Harry said suddenly. “When Fred and George and Ron broke me out of the Dursleys.”
“Oh, yeah!” Ron said, turning around to grin at Harry, who smiled in turn.
“I’m sorry, did you say they broke you out of the Dursleys?” Donnie said.
Harry nodded. “Er—they had put iron bars across my windows and locked me in my room for a few days.”
“Why?” Leo said, glancing at Harry through the rearview mirror.
“They thought I made too much noise during Uncle Vernon’s business meeting,” Harry said with a shrug, his smile fading. “Obviously, you know, it was Dobby, but still—”
“So because you made too much noise, they locked you in your room for days on end?” Raph said, his voice deathly quiet. “When did you eat? Use the bathroom?”
“Oh, they let me out of my room to use the bathroom,” Harry said, suddenly uncomfortable with the horrified looks each of the brothers were giving him. “And Aunt Petunia fed me soup through a cat door they installed—it was cold,” he added as an afterthought, “but she still fed me!”
“Dude, that is messed up,” Mikey said.
Ron suddenly turned around in his seat. “You never told us that part,” he said, and Harry noticed that he, too, looked concerned.
Harry only shrugged again, falling quiet. “That’s the Dursleys for you,” he muttered, looking out the window. This wasn’t fun anymore, he thought.
There was a tense silence in the car before he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked over to find Raph regarding him curiously. “If you ever need a place to stay,” Raph said eventually, “you can always stay with me and my brothers. I’m sure Beatrice won’t mind feeding one more mouth.”
“Or you can stay with us again,” Ron offered. “Mum and Dad loved having you this summer.”
A lump rose in Harry’s throat—his whole life, he had never been wanted anywhere. He stayed quiet, unable to speak. The others fell quiet, too.
Several uneventful hours later, however, they had a more pressing matter to think about. The toffees had made them all extremely thirsty, and they had nothing to drink. He and Ron had pulled off their sweaters, but Harry’s T-shirt was sticking to the back of his seat and his glasses kept sliding down to the end of his sweaty nose. Harry had stopped thinking of the Dursleys and was now thinking longingly of the train miles below, where you could buy ice-cold pumpkin juice from a trolley pushed by a plump witch. Why hadn’t they been able to get onto platform nine and three-quarters?
“Can’t be much further, can it?” Ron croaked, hours later still, as the sun started to sink into their floor of a cloud, staining it a deep pink.
Leo dipped beneath the clouds for yet another check in. The train was still right below them, winding its way past a snow-capped mountain. It was much darker beneath the canopy of clouds.
Leo put his foot on the accelerator and drove them upward again, but as he did so, the engine began to whine.
Everyone in the car froze.
“It’s probably just tired,” Ron said after a moment. “It’s never been this far before…”
And so they all pretended not to notice the whining growing louder and louder as the sky became steadily darker. Stars were blossoming in the blackness. Harry pulled his sweater back on, trying to ignore the way the windshield wipers were waving feebly, as if in protest.
“Not far,” Ron said, more to the car than to the others, “not far now.” He patted the dashboard nervously.
Leo dipped beneath the clouds a little while later, and they had to squint through the darkness for a landmark they knew.
“There!” Harry shouted, making Ron and Hedwig jump. “Straight ahead!”
Silhouetted on the dark horizon, high on the cliff over the lake, stood the many turrets and towers of Hogwarts castle.
But the car had begun to shudder and was losing speed.
“We might have to make an emergency landing,” Leo said, gripping the steering wheel. “We can walk to the castle on foot.”
“No,” Raph said fiercely. “We can make it.”
“Come on,” Ron said cajolingly, “nearly there, come on—”
The engine groaned. Narrow jets of steam were issuing from under the hood. Harry found himself gripping the edges of his seat very hard as they flew toward the lake.
The car gave a nasty wobble. Leo growled as Harry glanced out the window and saw the smooth, black, glassy surface of the water, a mile below. The car wobbled again.
They were over the lake—the castle was right ahead.
Leo clenched his jaw and put his foot down on the accelerator.
There was a loud clunk, a splutter, and the engine died completely.
“Uh-oh,” Ron said into the silence.
“Hold on!” Leo bellowed as the nose of the car dropped. They were falling, gathering speed, and heading straight for the solid castle wall.
“THE WALL, LEO! ” Raph roared.
Leo veered, and they missed the dark stone wall by inches as the car turned in a great arc, soaring over the dark greenhouses, then the vegetable patch, and then out over the black lawns, losing more and more altitude.
Ron pulled his wand out of his back pocket.
“STOP! STOP!” he yelled, whacking the dashboard and the windshield, but they were still plummeting, the ground flying up toward them—
“Leo—the tree!” Donnie hollered.
Leo swerved, but they still hit a particularly thick branch that sent them crashing to the ground. Steam billowed out from under the crumpled hood; Hedwig was shrieking in terror; a golf-ball-sized lump was throbbing on Harry’s head where he had hit the back of Leo’s seat; and in the front, Ron let out a low, despairing groan.
“Dudes, are you all okay?” Mikey asked breathlessly.
“My wand,” Ron said shakily. “Look at my wand—”
It had snapped, almost in two; the tip was dangling limply, held on by a few splinters.
Harry opened his mouth to say he was sure they’d be able to mend it up at the school, but he never even got the chance. At that very moment, something hit the side of the car with the force of a charging bull. It sent them all lurching sideways just as an equally heavy blow hit the roof.
“What’s happen—”
Leo gasped, staring through the windshield, and Harry looked around just in time to see a branch as thick as a python smash into it. The tree they had hit was attacking them. Its trunk was bent almost double, and its gnarled boughs were pummeling every inch of the car it could reach.
Ron screamed as another twisted limb punched a large dent into his door; the windshield was now trembling under the hail of blows from knuckle-like twigs and a branch as thick as a battering ram was pounding furiously on the roof, which seemed to be caving in.
“We need to get out of here!” Donnie cried. “Leo—”
“Already on it!” Leo was slamming his foot on the accelerator, forcing the car into reverse.
“It won’t work!” Harry said. “The engine’s dead—”
But then the engine restarted, and the car shot backward. The tree was still trying to hit them; they could hear its roots creaking as it almost ripped itself up, lashing out at them as they sped out of reach.
“That,” panted Ron as silence fell, “was close. Well done, car—”
The car, it seemed, had reached the end of its tether. There were four sharp clunks, and at once, all six of them were thrown out of the car. Harry was sprawled on the damp ground, and loud thunks told him that the car was ejecting their luggage from the trunk. Hedwig’s cage flew through the air and burst open; she rose out of it with an angry screech and sped off toward the castle without a backward look. Then, dented, scratched, and steaming, the car rumbled off into the darkness, its rear lights blazing angrily.
“Come back!” Ron yelled after it, brandishing his broken wand. “Dad’ll kill me!”
But the car disappeared from view with one last snort from its exhaust.
“I’m sorry, Ron,” Leo said apologetically, watching the lights from the car gradually fade.
Ron just hung his head. “S’alright,” he said. “I kind of goaded you into it, anyway. But can you believe our luck?” he said miserably, bending down to pick up his pet rat Scabbers. “Of all the trees we could’ve hit, we had to get the one that hits back.”
He glanced over his shoulder at the ancient tree, which was still flailing its branches threateningly.
“The Whomping Willow,” Mikey said. He murmured something to his brothers, and Harry thought he heard something like, “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that tree was Snakeweed,” but Harry decided he just heard him wrong; nothing in that sentence made sense.
“Come on,” Harry said, “we’d better get up to the school…”
It wasn’t at all the triumphant arrival he and Ron had pictured. Stiff, cold, and bruised, they seized the ends of their trunks and began dragging them up the grassy slope, toward the great oak front doors.
“I think the feast’s already started,” said Ron, dropping his trunk at the foot of the front steps and crossing quietly to look through a brightly lit window. The others followed after him. “Guys, look—it’s the Sorting!”
They all peered into the Great Hall. Innumerable candles were hovering in midair over four long, crowded tables, making the golden plates and goblets sparkle. Overhead, the bewitched ceiling, which always mirrored the sky outside, sparkled with stars.
Through the forest of pointed black Hogwarts hats, Harry saw a long line of scared-looking first years filing into the Hall. Ginny was among them, easily visible because of her flaming Weasley hair. Meanwhile, Professor McGonagall, a bespectacled witch with her hair in a tight bun, was placing the famous Hogwarts Sorting Hat on a stool before the newcomers.
Every year, the aged old hat, patched, frayed, and dirty, sorted new students into the four Hogwarts houses. Harry remembered putting it on, exactly one year ago, and waiting, petrified, for its decision as it muttered aloud in his ear. For a few horrible seconds he had feared that the hat was going to put him in Slytherin (though now he knew that at least some of his fear was misguided, Harry thought with a sideways glance at Leonardo). But Harry had ended up in Gryffindor, along with Ron, Hermione, Raph, and the rest of the Weasleys. Last term, Harry, Ron, and Hermione had helped Gryffindor win the House Championship, beating Slytherin for the first time in seven years (and while the Hamato brothers did earn points for their Houses, they all earned the same amount of points, so they didn’t entirely affect the House ranking other than adding a few points to each of the Houses).
A very small, mousy-haired boy had been called forward to place the hat on his head. Harry’s eyes wandered past him to where Professor Dumbledore, the headmaster, sat watching the Sorting from the staff table, his long silver beard and half-moon glasses shining brightly in the candlelight. Several seats along, Harry saw Gileroy Lockhart, dressed in robes of aquamarine. And there at the end was Hagrid, huge and hairy, drinking deeply from his goblet.
“Hang on…” Harry muttered to the others. “There’s an empty chair at the staff table… Where’s Snape?”
Professor Severus Snape was Harry’s least favorite teacher. Harry also happened to be Snape’s least favorite student (followed closely by Raph—ever since the hot-head had exploded on the potions master last year, Snape had always been less than pleasant around him). He was cruel, sarcastic, and disliked by everybody except the students from Slytherin (though Leo might well be the exception).
Mikey glanced around, then pointed. Harry followed Leo’s line of sight, and his heart sank when he saw Professor Snape stalking toward them, his cape billowing behind them in the wind. He and Ron exchanged glances—in no world would this end well for any of them.
The moment they were in earshot, Professor Snape pivoted on his heel. “Follow me,” he said curtly.
Not daring to look at one another, they all followed Snape up the steps into the vast, echoing entrance hall, which was lit with flaming torches. A delicious smell of food wafted from the Great Hall, but Snape led them away from the warmth and light, down a narrow staircase that led into the dungeons.
“In!” he said, opening a door halfway down the cold passageway and pointing.
Harry and Ron entered Snape’s office, shivering.
Donnie tried stepping through the threshold, but Snape held out an arm.
“Not so fast,” he said, leering down at Donnie and his brothers. “Professor Dumbledore asked to speak with you four specifically.” He rounded on Harry and Ron, glaring. “Not a word,” he warned, “or I will have you expelled faster than you can say ‘car,’ are we clear?”
Ron gulped as Harry nodded. With one last look at the Hamatos, Snape slammed the door shut, leaving them locked in the cold dungeon office.
Professor Snape led them silently through the castle, up and out of the dungeons, and up to a tower Leo could only assume to be Professor Dumbledore’s. Leo’s mind raced as he went over everything that had went wrong that day: Mikey hastily packing his bag and making them miss the bus to the station; Donnie sprinting back to the apartment because he forgot his book; the barrier not opening; the car’s engine failing; hitting the tree; and finally, getting caught by Professor Snape.
There’s no way we’re not getting expelled, Leo thought miserably. His heart sank. They were getting more and more hints about the Shredder—they were so close to being able to tell if he was back or not! And Hogwarts—Hogwarts was the only place where he and his brothers could maybe learn the skills they needed to take the Shredder down. They were sitting ducks back at the apartment.
A hand landed on his shoulder, and Leo turned to find Raph frowning.
It’ll be fine, Leo, Raph signed, his hands moving about wildly in the air. But Leo could tell Raph didn’t really believe it, and Raph didn’t try much harder to convince him.
Snape ushered them into Professor Dumbledore’s office with a glare before he left back toward the dungeon, his cape sweeping after him.
Leo turned toward the desk. Despite being at the feast just a few moments ago, Dumbledore was sitting calmly, regarding the four of them with an amused expression.
“Please, sit,” he said after a moment, breaking the deafening silence. Leo and his brothers exchanged a glance before they all took a seat.
“Professor—” Leo started, his heart racing, but Professor Dumbledore held up a hand.
“I understand your vehicle was attacked by the Whomping Willow, was it not?” Dumbledore said. Hesitantly, the four brothers nodded, and Dumbledore frowned. “Are you all alright?”
Leo blinked. “Um—” He hadn’t been expecting this. “Yes, sir, we’re fine. We’d just like to ap—”
“Before you do that, why don’t you walk me through exactly what happened,” Dumbledore said, cutting Leo off once again.
Raph, Donnie, and Mikey all looked at Leo, who sighed and hung his head. He explained everything that had happened, from the moment they woke up to the moment Snape had found them—missing the bus, running into Harry and Ron, the barrier stopping them. He told them about deciding to take the car, about how he insisted he drove, and how, when the engine failed, he had to swerve to try to avoid the Whomping Willow on school grounds.
When Leo was finished, he looked back up at Dumbledore with bated breath.
Dumbledore remained silent for a long moment before he said, “Why did you not send an owl?”
Next to him, he heard Donnie’s disappointed exhale as Leo cursed himself for not thinking of that sooner. An owl—of course! How could they have been so stupid? An owl could have solved all of their problems without getting them attacked by an apparently sentient tree.
Raph decided to answer Dumbledore’s question, which, in Leo’s book, was incredibly stupid. “We’re not exactly used to that,” he said, and Leo saw his slight movement to cross his arms before he thought better of it. “You know—us being Muggle-born and all that.”
Dumbledore raised a brow. “I was wondering when that would come up,” he said, and Leo’s brows furrowed in confusion.
“Excuse me, Professor,” Donnie said before Leo could speak. “But—uh—do we need to get our stuff?”
“Whatever for?”
“There’s no way we’re not expelled after that stunt,” Mikey said. There was a heavy silence in the room before Dumbledore shook his head.
“Not this time.” The headmaster regarded them all with pursed lips. “Though I do believe detention is in order.”
Leo’s heart swelled. All they’d gotten was detention—they weren’t about to be expelled. Leo sent up a silent prayer to whatever god was watching over them and tried to suppress his grin.
Dumbledore waved his wand in the air, and small sandwiches on a platter appeared on his desk.
“I suspect it is best if you eat here for now,” Dumbledore said, smiling slightly as Mikey lunged forward. “There would be too much of a fuss if you showed up at the feast at this late hour.”
Leo thanked Professor Dumbledore and hesitantly grabbed a sandwich.
“Professor,” Raph said. He swallowed a bite, then cleared his throat. “Do the other teachers know about…” He gestured vaguely in the air, but Dumbledore nodded nonetheless.
“The Heads of Houses are aware of the bargain we have made, yes,” Dumbledore said. Leo glanced down at the necklace on his chest—his two katanas hung off the chain, ready to be used at a moment’s notice should they be needed.
“In fact, I’m glad you brought that up, Raphael,” Dumbledore said. Four sets of eyes shot to him—even Mikey stopped gobbling down sandwiches and listened to the headmaster intently. But Dumbledore only paused, grabbing a sandwich from off of the platter. He nibbled a small corner of it, frowning. “I never did much care for tomato,” he said.
Donnie cleared his throat. “Sir—”
“Ah, yes, the bargain,” Dumbledore said, setting the sandwich aside. At once, his frown turned grave, and his eyes held an intensity that made Leo tense. “You four are to be vigilant this year; I fear Hogwarts is not yet out of the woods, in terms of… How should I say this?”
“Danger?” Raph asked bluntly.
Dumbledore’s frown deepened. “Yes, I suppose so.” He shook his head. “Regardless, you are all to keep a close watch on Harry this year.”
“If you don’t mind my asking, Professor, but… what do you mean by danger?” Donnie was fiddling with his own necklace, the sandwiches completely forgotten in front of him. Leo frowned.
Dumbledore sighed. “There are feelings I cannot explain, Donatello,” he said. “But something tells me that Dark forces have infiltrated our school once again, and so we must remain careful.”
“You can count on us, Sir,” Mikey said, wiping the crumbs from his face. He shot Leo a grin. “We haven’t let our guard down for years.”
There was a silence in the room following the sentence, but Mikey only picked up another sandwich and continued eating happily.
“Yes… well…” Dumbledore seemed to be at a loss for words, and Leo couldn’t blame him. After a moment, Dumbledore regained his composure. He stood and raised his wand. The platter of sandwiches disappeared, much to Mikey’s disappointment.
“Follow me,” Dumbledore said.
Leo flinched when he saw Professor Snape waiting for them outside of Dumbledore’s office. Snape was the Head of Slytherin House—there was no way Leo was getting off easily on this. The Potions master’s smile only grew, however, as they traveled back to the dungeons, where Harry and Ron were receiving their own punishments. From what Dumbledore told them, Harry wasn’t getting expelled—but what about Ron?
Snape knocked on the door, and it opened to reveal Harry and Ron sitting across from a very angry Professor McGonagall.
All was silent for a moment before Dumbledore spoke.
“Your friends have explained your situation,” he said.
Ron sighed. “We’ll go and get our stuff.”
“What are you talking about, Weasley?” Professor McGonagall barked.
“Well, you’re expelling us, aren’t you?” said Ron.
Leo and his brothers exchanged a glance as Dumbledore said, “Not today, Mr. Weasley. But I must impress upon all of you the seriousness of what you have done. I will be writing to each of your families tonight.” At that, Raph put a hand over Mikey’s mouth to stifle Mikey’s giggle. “I must also warn you,” Dumbledore continued, glancing back at the four of them, “that if you do anything like this again, I will have no choice but to expel you.”
Leo shot his gaze over to Snape, who looked as though Christmas had been canceled. He cleared his throat and said, “Professor Dumbledore, these boys have flouted the Decree for the Restriction of Underage Wizardry, caused serious damage to an old and valuable tree—surely acts of this nature—”
“The Heads of Houses will each determine the severity of the detention these boys receive,” Dumbledore said calmly. He turned to Professor McGonagall. “I must go back to the feast, Minerva, I’ve got to give out a few notices. Come, Severus, there’s a delicious-looking custard tart I want to sample—”
Snape shot them all a look of pure venom, focusing on Leo for a bit longer than Leo would have liked. He was swept out of his office by Dumbledore, leaving them all alone with Professor McGonagall, who was still eyeing them like a wrathful eagle.
“Come in, you four,” she barked suddenly, and Leo and his brothers hurried into the room. With a wave of McGonagall’s wand, four more chairs and a small table appeared in the middle of the room. They each took a seat, waiting with bated breaths as McGonagall turned to Ron.
“You’d better get along to the hospital wing, Weasley, you’re bleeding.”
“Not much,” Ron said, hastily wiping a cut over his eye with his sleeve. “Professor, I wanted to watch my sister being Sorted—”
“The Sorting Ceremony is over,” said Professor McGonagall. “Your sister is also in Gryffindor.”
“Oh, good,” Ron said, sounding relieved.
“And speaking of Gryffindor—” Professor McGonagall started.
“Professor,” Harry quickly cut in, “when we took the car, term hadn’t started, so—so Gryffindor shouldn’t really have points taken from it—should it?”
Leo could have sworn Professor McGonagall was trying not to smile, despite the piercing look she gave Harry. “I will not take any points from Gryffindor,” she said. She turned to the Hamatos. “But I cannot guarantee you will all get so lucky. Now, normally your Heads of Houses would be here right now, but seeing as how we are in the middle of a feast, most of them couldn’t make it—and you are very lucky indeed that Professor Dumbledore had use of Professor Snape,” McGonagall said, fixing her gaze on Leo. “And as for you,” she said, whirling toward Raph, “you will also get detention.”
She raised her wand again and pointed it at Snape’s desk. A large plate of sandwiches, two silver goblets, and a jug of iced pumpkin juice appeared with a pop.
“You two,” she said, gesturing at Harry and Ron, “will eat in here, and then go straight up to your dormitory. I must also return to the feast, but I must speak with you four outside.” She turned to the brothers at the last part. Leo flinched and stood up, following Professor McGonagall out of the office.
When the door to the office shut once more, Professor McGonagall turned to them all. “Professor Dumbledore has informed me of your… situation,” she said, and her eyes strayed to each of their necklaces. “Despite this, I expect no interruptions in your schoolwork, are we clear?”
“Yes, Professor,” Leo, Raph, and Donnie murmured.
Mikey sighed. “No problem, teach!” he said, and Leo flinched again at Mikey’s tone. “We basically did the same thing last year, so—”
“We understand, Professor,” Raph said, wrapping his hand around Mikey’s mouth.
“And we really are sorry about the car,” Donnie added.
“It won’t happen again,” Leo promised.
Professor McGonagall was quiet for a moment. “Yes,” she said, “I’m sure it won’t. Now, off with you four—I wasn’t lying when I said I had to return to the feast.”
She walked briskly away, and Leo’s brothers bid him goodnight as they followed after her, making their ways to their respective common rooms.
Leo turned and hesitantly made his way to the common room. Malfoy wouldn’t be there yet, luckily—the boy had been a pain in Leo’s rear all of last year. But Leo’s roommates had a tendency to get there early just so they could try to mess with him. Unfortunately for them, Leo had utilized some of the defensive charms he and his brothers had learned last year, so their efforts all proved futile. But this year… Leo sighed and hoped that they were still at the feast.
Of course, the universe decided to screw him over. As soon as he opened the door to his dorm, he froze. His three roommates stood in a line, staring at him. Leo tensed.
“Dude, that was awesome.”
Leo’s gaze snapped to the boy on the left, who was grinning.
“Uh… excuse me?” Leo said. He certainly hadn’t been expecting that.
“Maybe not the best way to get to school—” the boy on the right said.
“But I bet it was pretty fun,” the boy in the middle said.
Leo blinked. “What?”
“Oh cr—dudes, we’ve never introduced ourselves,” the boy on the left said, pushing a bit of blond hair out of his face. He stuck his hand out. “Kristoff Otto, at your service.”
Leo shook his hand hesitantly. “Hamato Leonardo,” he said, uncertain as to what was going on.
“We know,” the boy in the middle said. Leo turned to him. “I’m Albert Haze.”
“And I’m Floyd Pierce,” the boy on the right said. “But you would know that if you weren’t so quiet last year.”
Albert elbowed Floyd while Kristoff hissed, “Dude, shut it.”
Floyd only shrugged. “It’s the truth,” he said.
Leo was at a loss for words.
“But don’t you—aren’t you all Malfoy’s friends?” he asked. Why were they being so nice to him? It was… unsettling.
Albert gagged. “Malfoy? As in Draco Malfoy? Absolutely not,” he said. Floyd shuddered while Kristoff scoffed.
“We’re not friends with Malfoy,” Kristoff said coldly, crossing his arms.
“But I can see how you’d make that connection,” Floyd said, almost thoughtfully. He leveled Leo with a stare and said the last thing Leo was expecting. “I suppose we weren’t all too kind to you last year.”
Leo began to shake his head dismissively. Thinking back, they had never actually done anything to him—
“Yeah, we should have stepped up to Malfoy at least once,” Albert agreed.
“You did seem to handle him pretty well on your own, though,” Kristoff said. “But don’t worry—we got your back this year. Er—if that’s cool with you, that is.”
“Uh… yeah,” Leo said after a moment. “That’s fine.”
At once, the last of the tension flowed out of the room, and Leo’s three roommates launched into an easy conversation about their classes. Leo remained still for a moment longer, processing what, exactly, had just happened.
And despite everything Dumbledore had said, despite getting detentions before the term even started, despite everything they had heard about New York, Leo thought that maybe, just maybe, this year would be a little better than the last.