when i met you

109

They were to return to Hogwarts on the Knight Bus the following day, escorted once again by Tonks and Lupin, both of whom were engaged in a serious conversation with Lexi when Harry came down. As soon as he opened the door, all of them looked round hastily and fell silent.

After a hurried breakfast, they all pulled on jackets and scarves against the chilly grey January morning. Lexi hugged Sirius goodbye and when they pulled apart, he held her hands.

"Don't think I haven't noticed the ring you wear," he told her, not even glancing at her hands, but smiling. "Just don't flash it around, Gryffindor won't be happy."

Lexi laughed softly, "Not to worry, I doubt half the school like me anyway."

The door of number twelve slammed shut behind them a few minutes later. They followed Remus down the front steps. Remus summoned the Knight Bus —

BANG.

A violently purple, triple-decker bus had appeared out of thin air in front of them, narrowly avoiding the nearest lamppost, which jumped backwards out of its way.

Shoving themselves past Stan, the conductor, onto the bus, they had to split up. Fred, George, Ginny, and Lexi took seats at the rear of the bus with Remus, while the others proceeded up to the very top deck.

The bus set off again, swaying ominously. It rumbled around Grimmauld Place, weaving on and off the pavement, then, with another tremendous BANG, they were all flung backwards. Lexi tumbled into George and he into Ginny and Ginny into Fred, all like dominos. With groans of pain, they all shuffled on the floor into sitting positions, it would be more fruitful than standing to fall again.

A few minutes and some stops later, they arrived outside the Hogwarts gates. Remus and Tonks helped them off the bus with their luggage, then got off to say goodbye.

"You'll be safe once you're in the grounds," said Tonks to them all, casting a careful eye around at the deserted road. "Have a good term, OK?"

"Look after yourselves," said Lupin, shaking hands all round and reaching Harry last. He whispered something to Harry before hugging his goddaughter.

"Keep checking on Sirius, alright?" she said with a caring face.

"Of course, see you soon, Lexi."

"Bye."

The seven of them struggled up the slippery drive towards the castle, dragging their trunks. They reached the Gryffindor common room and spent the rest of the day relaxing back into the castle life. Lexi was happy to be reunited with her friends, most of all Lee and Angelina. Cedric arrived back on the Hogwarts Express closer to the evening.

Classes the next day were just as unbearable as before Christmas, Lexi didn't think Umbridge could get any more strict—she was wrong. The Head Boy and Girl had been called to her office during lunch to make sure they were enforcing all her new rules. Of course, they hadn't been as they were completely unnecessary regulations, but the told they had anyway. Together, they took the first round of patrol that night.

It was good to be back at Hogwarts, their home, but it was feeling less and less like a home each time they returned... and they'd be leaving forever in a few months.

The older prefects, Head Girl, Boy, and Heads of Houses had been called to Professor McGonagall's office early the next morning. Waiting on her desk was a newspaper—The Daily Prophet, to be exact—and on the front were ten black-and-white photographs that filled the whole of the front page, nine showing wizards' faces and the tenth, a witch's. Each picture was captioned with a name and the crime for which the person had been sent to Azkaban.