Chapter 11 of Year 1: "Path To Somewhere"

Announcement: I apologize for a huge delay with this chapter. My comp had broke down and I had to wait for a new one. Took me a week to get a new one as I tried to fix my old laptop.


Every time I thought about Umbridge than more my skin crawled. It was as if snakes rattled their way through the inside of my flesh and started biting. It was as if every time we went to her classroom, she always looked at Vera and I. Umbridge was one of those people when they have a suspicion on you, they keep looking at you. Her look was cold and with warning. I thought that she was already suspecting us of trying to overpower. We thought that she already knew about the scrolls on the fifth floor corridor and she also probably knew about the trap door. This made us feel a little sick inside as we thought that she might have tried to trace our steps and her Inquisitorial Squad made sure of that also. How were we supposed to overpower her if she had a mini ARMY of her loyal zombies (ok, over exaggeration, mind controlled maniacs) running about the castle trying to find out what we were up to. Not something I felt good about. Especially since we wanted to set up an a group to fight against Umbridge and her cronies.

It was Friday -the day we thought of using the time turner again, but we disbanded that idea since we thought of saving it for the weekend to gain more time to browse through the scrolls. We also wanted to see Professor Mcgonagall to discuss what material she ACTUALLY had. But that idea was disbanded also. We needed as much time as possible to look through the scrolls. Then I came up with a brilliant idea.
"Vera, I have an idea!" I said
"What is it?" She excitingly said.
"You know how we have the time turner?"
"Uh,uh"
"Well, I thought that if we want to keep Umbridge off our backs as much as possible, tomorrow after we look through the boxes of scrolls and scrolls themselves, I could go back in time and visit one of the Umbridge's victims in London. We are allowed out for the weekends so this is the perfect time. Keeping it until after Christmas will cost the school serious defence magic learning time. We MUST act now"
"Jules, you are a genius! Completely, let's do that. And there is a shortcut just behind the statue of Amerilida Armstrong the Witch of Astronomy on the fifth floor. I found it yesterday as we looked for the scrolls!"
"Vera, you think I am a genius but you are a brilliant yourself. You spot things that I don't!"
"Oh stop it! I don't have a bright mind like you!"
"Instead you have a good eye for detail!"
We smiled at each other and began to consider what both of us should do at the weekend.
"Julie, you should go. I will stay and look for more scrolls everywhere I can."
"OK, let's do it. We must not be caught by those 'Umbridgers'"
Vera giggled. I smiled and we went to bed.

We got up very early in the morning the next day to get to work before anyone managed to get up(around 5:30 am.) We got changed and got out of the dorm quietly and quickly to avoid being seen by anyone. We walked down to the fifth floor corridor and to the Amerilda Armstrong's statue.
"Back here at say, four thirty and go back in time then?" Vera asked
"Absolutely. I'll go to visit Dominique Alix to see if she can give us any hints on beating that self-centered, magic hating witch!"
Vera left and I tapped my wand three times on the statue
"Raisin Cases" I said and the statue moved slightly.
I walked through a dark and mysterious corridor filled with tiny fire-fueled torches.
"Wow, it looks like it hasn't been dusted in years!"  I thought to myself
Then a sneezing noise came from behind.
"Petrificus Totalus!" I shouted and a wide, white bar of light flew across the corridor. As soon as I saw it blast, I ran over to see who it was.
"Dan! You creepy stalker!" I shouted at my brother
"Hello there sister. Sneaking out of the castle are you?"
"You know, I have a spell just fit for this situation."  said and pointed my wand at him and mumbled a few words. A false memory was implanted in his mind. I made him think that he did not see me and that he got here by accident. I also made him think that he was supposed to be watching over the naughty Slytherins and I unfroze him and ran along.
"How did I get here?"  He confusingly said and walked back.

At the end of the tunnel, there was a great greenish-blue light. I walked through it to find... the rebuilt Ministry for Magic.
"Maybe I could see Hermione, Ron or Harry on my way. I might find out how they beat that crazy ice queen!" I thought. I walked around the Ministry. It was a beautiful setting. Green walls with glowing blue and yellow lines, making it look like bricks.
I found the center of the Ministry for Magic after like.. half an hour
There was an information desk right in the middle of the circular room.
"Excuse me, may I see Mrs Hermione Weasley? It's urgent and really, really important!" I said
The woman opened her mouth in shock.
"You're.... Julie! Julie Sharmons! My pleasure! Of course, let me check if she's free right now!" The woman said as she furiously typed into the magical computer.
"Yes, she is! Go up to the lift and go to the third floor. Turn right and fifth floor on the right. Have a nice day!"
"Thank you so much, You too!" I replied politely and went on my way.
When I got to the third floor corridor in a small yet beautiful lift, I walked along a very creepy path. The walls were black with just dim lights to give some brightness.
"Lumos!" I whispered. My wand shone brightly at the tip and I walked along to find the fifth floor to the right.
I found the door and quickly put my hair in a tidy ponytail to make myself look fairy presentable. I knocked delicately on the door.
"Please, come in!" Mrs Weasley said and I slowly opened the door.
Mrs Weasley's jaw dropped.
"Julie Sharmons, wow, what an honor. We thought you were gone after the Cruciatus Curse at the age of 6 months."
"Yeah, I'm alive." I giggled
"Have a seat and tell me what can I do for you today?"
I sat on a white wooden chair.
"Well, Mrs Weasley we have a huge problem at Hogwarts Professor Umbridge won't let us use practical magic!"
"That witch is back?! Oh goodness...Oh goodness..."
"Yeah as you can see we have an issue and I came for advice on how to beat her."
"Well, I can certainly tell you that surprise attacks and fireworks do the trick. Others is secret weapons and use of a powerful wand and third year spells will let you get your way"
"Surprise attacks just don't help it. She nearly killed me by using Levicorpus to keep me hanging from the open space on the grand staircase"
"That woman is a monster!"
I put my hands crossed over on the table with my right hand covering the engraved writing.
"Please don't tell me she used her punishment quill on you!"
"Yep, she did."
Then two men barged into the room. Ron and Harry.
"Hermione we need... Oh sorry didn't know you were busy!" Ron said
"Typical of you Ronald. Next time just be a gentlemen and knock!" Hermione replied sarcastically
"Anyway, do you have any more info on how to beat that Umbridge woman. We found about five boxes of scrolls with loads of info but just not the right info." I asked
"Make a Anti-Umbridge group. We did in our fifth year. it's much easier to beat her if you train people up to be against that queen of punishment!" Harry said
"I can't believe that she's actually back!" Ron added
"I think that this is all I needed to know! Thank you so much Mrs Weasley, Mr Potter and Mr Weasley!" I said with gratitude.
"Our pleasure! And you can call us Harry, Ron and Hermione. No need to be so formal. Muggle born, right?" Hermione asked
"Yes. My aunt and uncle were wizards so I have it in my blood"
"Were?"
"Unfortunately, I have no idea of where they are. They are missing since I was about four. Well, I need to get going. But I'll come back if there is anything else I'll need! Thanks so much!" I replied and got up from the chair and walked towards the door.
"No problem, Julie. Have a great day!" Hermione replied and I closed the door.
"Was that Julie Sharmons?" Ron asked
"The one and only" Hermione replied
"The history book says that she and her brother did not survive the Cruciatus Curse."
"I wonder what whoever it was wanted from her or her brother!" Harry wondered
"Well, this stays a mystery. No one knows exactly what happened to her family." Hermione finished

I walked out of the ministry and into the tunnel leading to the witch's statue. Exactly 4:30pm.
"There you are! What took you so long?" Vera asked
"The tunnel leads to the MoM(Ministry of Magic) I went to see Hermione who was here at the time of Umbridge's rule! I'll tell you more when we get to the Common Room!" I replied in explanation.

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Chapter 10 of Year One: "Uncovering the Dark Secrets of Umbridge"

Announcement:  I hope that you will enjoy this chapter and comment and share. Ah, yes and also:
I have reopened the poll, guys! You can vote for your favourite chapter. The chapter with the most votes will win the prize - The Preview of the Christmas chapter. Remember when you vote for your chapters, please don't do it because there is more votes on it. Vote for your favourite, please. And also comment on the chapter to say that you voted for it so I could put your name in the Announcement area of the chapter. Remember, that I will contact you for your email address so I can send you the preview of the chapter. DO NOT PUT YOUR EMAIL IN THE COMMENTS, for security reasons. 
Have fun and good luck!

So, Daniel had betrayed both of us. Was he brainwashed by that Umbridge woman? Or did he do it willingly? That was the question on our minds. The fact that he wanted us in pain upset me greatly. But he knew that if he tried to turn us in again he would get the punishment from me. 

It was time for yet another boring DADA lesson from Umbridge.
I sat at the back of the class with Vera, as far away from Dan as possible.
"How is your hand, Julie?" Vera asked
"Sizzling with pain and fresh blood just keeps coming out in the mornings. How is yours? It looks better than my one!" I replied
"Well, it is still very painful. I can feel it to my bones. That woman likes torturing kids."
"Vera, I need you to help me look through two scrolls that I picked up before getting apprehended by that Slytherin guy" I whispered for only two of us to hear
"Scrolls?"
"Yeah 'Untold truth about Death Eaters and Umbridge' and 'Secrets About Hogwarts You Never Heard Of'"
"Let's go over them after Herbology. But don't you think we should get more? Two scrolls might not be enough information for us to beat Umbridge and the Inquisitorial Squad. But, if we go back to the fifth floor outside of class time we will be given more lines than last time"
"I have an idea. I am not totally sure if Professor Mcgonagall will let us use it. She might since she hates Umbridge as much as we do"
"What is it?" 
"I'll explain it there. Just now, let's go!" I said and we ran as fast as we could to P. Mcgonagall's Office.
I gently knocked on the door.
"Come in please!" She said
We went on to the spiral stairs that led to her office.
"Ah Miss Sharmons and Miss Eering. How may I help you today?" She asked us
'She's in a good mood, we might pull this off' I thought
"Well, Professor. You might go mental if you hear this but I think we might need the Time Turner." I said
P. Mcgonagall got up from her chair, a bit in an angry mood.
"Why may I ask do you need it for?" She asked annoyed
"Well, we went down to the fifth floor corridor by a complete accident and we discovered some scrolls. They old secrets to beating Umbridge and her Inquisitorial Squad"
P Mcgonagall sighed
"I didn't even know she was back"
"She is not allowing us to use magic in the classroom. That is why we need the time turner. For 'us' to be in her class meanwhile we get all of those scrolls and find out how to beat her She is a pretty powerful witch, especially knowing that she had been pals with Death Eaters in Azkaban"
"I will allow you to use the Time Turner. You can keep it for the entire year just in case if you need more time for looking at the scrolls or if you need more time to browse the fifth floor corridor. You have my permission to be out in the castle at night" She said and wrote out a permission slip and handed me the Time Turner.
"Thank you Professor"
She then noticed our hands
"Did Umbridge did that to you?"
"Um, yes Professor. We were going through things in the fifth floor corridor when my brother turned us in. She brought us into her office and we were made to write out this line. It went through to our skin. It is her Punishment Quills"
"I will speak to her about those!"
"No please, Professor! We don't need her getting the satisfaction. I promise to take good care of this Time Turner."
"I am sure that you will.Good luck? And if you still need more material, I am able to give you locations of it but some might be accessible with a teacher's permission. I will supply it when needed."
"Thanks, I think we should go now." I said and we left the room.

We went down to DADA and the class went rather slowly. But what can you expect from a teacher that actually teaches nothing? According to Umbridge we need the knowledge just for exams. 
I read through the 5th chapter and I just got tired of it.
Vera looked at me and stood up.
"Professor, can't we do anything practical? I mean, Professor Mcgonagall wants us to be taught defensive spells. Why don't you teach them instead of spoon feeding us the theory? I mean really, we don't need the theory of a spell. We must know how to cast the spell."
"You spoke out of turn. But I have been specifically instructed by the Minister for Magic for Magic to teach theory not practical magic"
"So who can teach us practical if you are so incapable of doing so?" I asked
"No one. Theory is more important."
"HOW is theory more important than actual USE of a spell? This is like learning a cake recipe off by heart but not actually making it" Vera asked
"It is like me learning all sorts of art techniques by getting shown or given instructions but not actually using them. It makes the learning PRACTICALLY useless"
"Hush! Be quiet both of you. Minister is above teacher or headmistress and above all Students. Get back to reading.
We sat down
"After this double period, we are reversing time to get the scrolls" I whispered
"REVERSE time?" Vera asked
"Yeah, you'll see what I mean in an hour and a half"

An hour and a half later when we got out of the class as last to ensure no one sees us.
I placed the chain of the Time Turner around my and Vera's necks and span the little hourglass twice. Vera and I freaked out as everything that happened backwards. Something that we weren't used to seeing.
When the hourglass stopped turning and the time stopped reversing. 
"What...just...happened? What time is it?"
"It's 11am. Where were we at eleven?"
"Um.. Mcgonagall's office"
"Come on let's get to the fifth floor and we must not be seen!" I finished and we ran
"Hey, explain everything before we move on" Vera demanded
"No time. I'll explain in the evening when we will be going over the scrolls." I said and we ran on.

We went down by a portrait shortcut to  the fifth floor and we turned right at the door to the room with the scrolls.
"Let's begin scrolling through these scrolls." Vera said
"Let's do this!" I cheered quietly

As we looked through
"Vera, look at this title: 'Umbridge, Darkest Secrets Revealed' " I said
"Well, I found: Dolores Jane Umbridge: Future Of Muggle Borns At Stake" Vera replied
"Here is another: 'Hogwarts: Umbridge's Leadership 1996"
"I found 'Deepest Secrets of Hogwarts Revealed"
"Here is what I found in this pile 'Umbridge's Role in Ministry Collapse in 1998' "
"This is like an Anti-Umbridge library"
"Exactly! Too bad we have not got much time left because there are still about 5 boxes full of these."
"What do you say we come back in the evening before we go over the scrolls?"
"I have a better idea. Let's come back at the weekend. Plenty of time to go through these!"
"Great idea Jules! Let's get to the DADA tower before anyone realises that we weren't there!"
We packed out bags with the scrolls and we ran to the DADA tower
We got there just before the class had ended.
"Hide here. We were the last to come out so we need to wait on ourselves."
"Totally strange how this time thing works."
"Shh, the class had just ended. Come on!" I said and we went into a dark corner, anything there is undetectable to the human eye
Everyone from the classroom started to flood out of the doors with huge relief on their faces.
"Guessing they hate her just as much as we do!" I whispered. 
Then 'we' came out
"Come on, it's us Jules!"
"Not until we disappear. We cannot be seen by anyone!"
Then our doubles disappeared.
"We can come out now!" I whispered and we came out of the shadowy corner.

At the end of the day Vera and I went down to the girls dormitory to take a closer look at those scrolls.
We sat ourselves on the floor in the corner of the room and laid out the scrolls opened on the wooden panels.
"Take a look at this Jules. It wasn't just Hogwarts that she visited in the past 30 years.She came to Beauxbatons 2001 to be an inquisitor for the school. She criticised Olympe for teaching girls inappropriate skills in use of magic and brought in technique-free books. The girls in Beauxbatons rose up against Umbridge and eventually sent her back to Britain." Vera said
"Well, I found something like that in this one. The Alexandria Magic Academy had reported Umbridge for not helping students to learn proper magic. Just theory for 'passing exams'. And, listen to this 'Umbridge punished those who defied her way of teaching them by torturing them with the illegal Cruciatus Curse' " I read out in reply.
"That woman has it in for people who don't really approve of her"
"I know, Vera but listen. In 1996 in Hogwarts, students formed a group under the name of Dumbledore's Army who stood up against Death Eaters and stood up against Umbridge's teaching methods of theories and figures."
"So we have to form something like that?"
"Not yet. Vera. We have to wait for the right moment. It will be when we decide is the best time"
"Like, After the Christmas. We would have to plan out every detail and do it outside of your brother's knowledge."
"That's a plan Vera!" I cheered and we gave each other a high five.
"This weekend is all about the fifth floor corridor. We raid it, collect, read and raid it some more!" Vera giggled.
"Completely. We must find out more about Umbridge"
I looked at my wristwatch - it was 21:49.
"Mind you, Mcgonagall can give us more materials if we need it. Now tell me what the heck is the time turner."
"A Time Turner helps to reverse time to the point that you need it to. E.g. we reversed time so we can be in two places at once. See, like we did it with DADA. We went back in time so we could be in DADA and the fifth floor at the same time. You cannot be seen by anyone who is in your class and most importantly yourself. You would think that you have gone mental."
"Sorry to interrupt your explanation but I have just read something truly shocking. 'At Beauxbatons, she tried to banish all students who were half blood or Muggle borns. If she didn't banish them, she would bring them to her office for torture with the punishment quills or the Cruciatus Curse. She even cast the Imperius Curse to control those students into doing her dirty work by trying to get rid of the other non-pure blood students.' "
"Heartless Monster" I said
"There are a few people that we could try to speak to. Dominique Rose Alix, the Muggle born who was under her Imperius Curse. Amandine Babin, half blood who was under the Cruciatus Curse to the point of her becoming disabled head neck down. She's at St Mungo's Hospital and cared by doctors to help her to be able to function again and Adrian Belair. They all live in London."
"During Christmas, instead of going home we are going to try and find those people and try to , learn something from them!"
"For now, let's just put it to bed until the weekend. And if she tries tricks in DADA, we attack."
"Absolutely!"

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Chapter 9 of Year One: "Midnight Stroll Into Trouble"

Announcement: It is sort of like the scenes from POA and OP merging. Hope you like it and please comment and say how I can improve or if you generally like it. Please, share also. I would be thrilled! :)

Every time I walked past Umbridge for a few days after she nearly killed me, all I could think about was to get her back for it. She just infuriated me that day. Her denial of helping the Death Eaters was just blood boiling. Her class was boring enough, just reading. As much as I loved to read, reading the same chapter over and over just put me to sleep. Mind you, this Defence Against the Dark Arts class was not teaching us to defend ourselves in anyway. How was reading supposed to teach us about self protection when we were not able to practice the spells? Horrendous...

After Herbology -which was fun may I add- Vera, Dan and I walked towards the Great Hall for lunch.

“You know, I'm still wandering about the fifth floor. The secret door, the slide and the dungeons. There must be something there that we are ought to know about!” I said as we walked into the Great Hall.

“Come on Jules, you know that if we go and try to find out about it we might get expelled!” Vera commented back

“Vera, I think that might be the least of our problems!” Dan said

“LEAST of our problems? Are you kidding? Nothing can be worse than getting expelled”
“We might get killed before we even get expelled. You know what is worse, don't you?”
“Yeah, getting expelled..”
“Sort out your priorities, Vera!”

As we sat at the table, I reached into my pocket. The silver charm that I found in Potions was still there. I felt the deep engraving “Property of the Department of Mysteries” on it as I scanned my fingers top to the bottom of the charm. The smooth cold texture of silver was a pleasant feeling as rested in my fingers gently and the chain's coarse rust was rough and very unpleasant to touch.

“You know, I think the secret of the fifth floor corridor might have something to do with the Department of Mysteries” I said

“Department of Mysteries in the Ministry of Magic? Why would it have anything to do with that?”Vera asked

I took the chain out.

“I found this in the potions classroom a few weeks ago, the day that the cauldron exploded. The charm says that it is the Property of the Department of Mysteries. My guess would be that something that is hidden in the dungeons has to do with the Department of Mysteries”

“You could be right. But then again, it might not. It could just be something out of Gringotts. You never know” Dan said.

“If it was then the charm would say Gringotts. I say we check it out”
“But what could be hidden there?”
“I don't know. Slughorn's stash of files?”

“And you are on your jokey side again. In case you didn't notice, we are talking serious here!”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever.”
“If you don't want to come, it's your choice. Vera, you coming?”
“Yeah, I want to know what it is that is hidden there” Vera replied

After our last class -which was DADA grr- Vera and I went to the common room to get things that we might need for our night time operation. Wands, stink pallets -for distraction- and the charm.

“Right, everything is set. Now, we can roll!” Vera said and we quietly sneaked out of the girls dormitory. Dan was on the bottom of the staircase

“You are not coming with us, are you?” Vera asked

“No, I am stopping you from going” Dan commented back

“OK,I am sorry for what you are about to experience. It's for your own good. Petrificus Totalus!” I said and waved my wand, pointing it at him.

Dan froze in place, with hands by his sides and legs locked next to each other. He then fell to the ground. Apart from his eyes, nothing else could move.

“Sorry Dan!” I said as Vera and I walked out from the Fat Lady's portrait.

Vera and I walked out into the staircase and we ran across the stairs to the fifth floor corridor.

At the common room.

Umbridge walked in and have seen Dan under the Full Body Bind spell. She ended the spell.

“Thank you Professor Umbridge!”
“What happened to you dear?” She asked

“I was a target of the Full Body Bind by my sister who is out and about the castle. I think she said she was going to the fifth floor corridor”
“Thank you, Daniel for this information. If you would be interested, you can become part of my Inquisitorial Squad, which gives you ability to punish those who misbehave. What do you think?”

“Um, sure. Anything to get back at Vera and my sister.”
“Excellent. Come, two of your fellow team mates, Cory and Brian and I will be going down to the fifth floor to find those two”

Fifth floor corridor.

“So where was this trap door again?” I asked as we were walking in the corridor, pointlessly.

“End of the corridor, remember? In that big room”
“I just hope that my horrible excuse of a brother didn't spill his guts to a professor otherwise we will be in trouble.”
We went quiet for a minute. We heard footsteps coming on to the corridor, Vera and I hid in the doors opposite of each other in the corridor. I walked along into room that was hidden behind the door. It was a room filled with scrolls and old papers.

I sneaked over to one of the stacks with scrolls and opened one.

It read 'Untold truths about death eaters and Umbridge, hand written. I took the scroll and put it in my bag and opened the next one it read 'Secrets about hogwarts you never heard of' again I put it in my bag.

Then a guy came and took me by my arms, putting them behind me.

“Let go!” I shouted

“No. You can thank someone later!” the guy replied

He walked my over to the main corridor.

“Umbridge.” I groaned as soon as I saw her.

“That's right, little miss Sharmons. Now that I found you here, you are going to get punished. But first, you might want to thank the person that helped us to find you. Oh come out!” She said

Then Vera and I stood in shock as we saw Dan come out of the shadows.

“Daniel helped us and has become the part of my Inquisitorial Squad. He will choose a suitable punishment for you.”

I looked at Daniel with desperate plea for help. He ignored it and stood there thinking.

“Since you insist on me choosing the punishment, I will choose... Get them to the Forbidden Forest. Hagrid needs help in getting rid of some beasts from there or we could get them to write lines out” Dan said and laughed

“I hate you Daniel. I'm so unlucky that I have to call you brother!” I said

“Take them to my office and do not let them get away” Umbridge said

As Vera and I were lead out of the corridor I looked at Daniel.

“That is what you get for casting spells on me!”
“You never change your ways, Daniel. But what can I expect from someone that never had a stable family or normal parents or lived through the Muggle life”
“Get her out of my sight!” He commanded and we were led on..

Umbridge's Office

“Sit them down boys and get out of here. I will take it from here!” Umbridge sweetly said

The boys pushed us onto the chairs.

“You are dismissed. Use a strong locking spell to ensue that they don't escape until punishment is done”

Boys and Daniel left casting a spell on the door.

“So we meet again Vera and em..um..”

“Julie, professor.” I replied
“Julie. Take these quills and write twenty times on the parchment 'I will never stand up against Professor Umbridge”

She handed out two quills and paper but no ink.

“You have given us no ink, professor.”

“You won't need it”

As soon as we wrote the tenth line, red writing engraved itself on our right hand. It said exactly what we wrote in our handwriting. It looked as if it was written in blood. The pain that it took for the words to engrave themselves was unbearable.

We looked up at Umbridge with pleading looks. We needed to rest.

“All right, all right you may go. But if you defy me again, you will be writing out twice as much”

She cast a spell on the door to unlock it and we ran out with tears in our eyes and bleeding hands as the wounds themselves were freshly engraved by Umbridge's punishment quills.

At the common room as we walked in we saw Daniel. As soon as I saw him, I ran up to him and pointed my wand into his neck.

“You are heartless monster. You have no idea of what we just went through!” I screamed at him.

“Remember, if you cast a spell on me Umbridge will take you in for punishment again!”
I pressed the wand harder in to his neck.

“He is not worth the spell, Jules. Just leave it”

I lowered my wand.

“Remember, if you turn us in again I will not listen to anyone that is trying to stop me. I will get you back for tonight. You evil cockroach!” I shoted and left for the staircase up to our dormitory.

Chapter 8 of Year 1: "Dreadful DADA Teacher"

Announcement: Sorry guys for being so late with this chapter! Got a little busy with college work again! Doing a hundred portraits for my tutor and I only have until end of November. If I don't write another post for a while, you'll know why! :)
Enjoy and share this chapter!

I woke up early -around six- to read through my Defence Against the Dark Arts textbook. I sat in the dark and very chilly dormitory and put my night lamp on. The light that came out of it was immense and so bright, that it blinded me for a few seconds. We knew that there was supposed to be a new teacher as Professor Lore was kicked out of Hogwarts for favouritism. We were given new textbooks at the end of the last lesson. But to my dismay, the teacher replacing Lore was more evil than what Lore was.

I started to read through the first chapter of the "Defence Against the Dark Arts - Beginners Guide to Self-Defence" book entitled 'Basics of Defensive and Offensive Spells'

As I read on, the book had absolutely no intention on teaching the spell casting. Just explanations and in-depth spell studies. I closed to book and tossed it into my bag. The bag slid across the floor beside Vera's bed, shaking it violently.Vera woke up, looking around the room with a sleepy and confused expression on her face.

"What, what? Where are a unicorns?" she asked. She always wanted to see a real unicorn.

"Sorry Vera! I tossed my book into the bag and it slid under your bed."
"No worries! What is wrong with the book?"
"Um... It does not teach anything on how to use defensive and offensive spells! What kind of a textbook is that?"

"Probably one where the person that wrote it was a completely dumb twit!"

Later on at the breakfast table, Daniel, Vera and I sat beside each other, trying to figure out the reason behind the useless textbook.

"What do you think Vera?" Dan asked

"Well, I guess they want to keep us from learning the spells"
"Unlucky for them, I already know how to cast the spells!" I commented

"Someone is clearly thinking of not letting us protect ourselves against the dangers of the outside world" Vera continued

"Let me read you something from 'Hogwarts, a History'." I said. " 'In 1995, Ministry for Magic has interfered  in Hogwarts. Senior Undersecretary for Minister of Magic Dolores Jane Umbridge had taken the position of the Defence Against the Dark Arts. With direction from the Minster himself, the DADA textbook had only in depth studies and explanations on what the spell does and it's practicalities. No techniques for actual spell casting had been mentioned in that textbook' "

"So you think that the history is repeating itself?" Dan asked

"Yes. by the way, look at the front cover of the book" Vera said and turned the textbook to the front cover.
I looked at it and opened my mouth in shock.

"No Way! Dolores Jane Umbridge the author of the book! Coincidence or what?" I said

"You think she'll be teaching us?" Vera asked

"Likely, it means that the ministry is interfering at Hogwarts once again" I finished as we left for DADA.

We went down to the Grand Staircase.

"I see that you are speaking to Dan again!" Vera whispered

"I can't stay mad at him forever, it would be like a constant sibling warfare" I replied and we walked on to the third floor.

Keira was standing out in the corridor just by the DADA door.

"Hey Keira! Do you have an idea of who the teacher is by any chance?" I asked

"Yeah. A woman from the ministry for magic. Mum said that that woman is a nasty piece of work."
I turned to Vera and Dan
"It's Umbridge for sure. If she is a nasty piece of work it is sure to be her. And according to the wizarding history, she hates children. Let's just show her just how annoying we can be!" I said and we high fived each other and we went in.

As soon as I have seen the pink fluffy jumper, the bow hat and the kitty teapot, I knew instantly that it was her. I sat in front of the class at the window and Vera sat next to me. Everyone else soon followed and the classroom was full.
"Good morning children!" Umbridge said in her squeaky, high pitched voice.
Dead silence. I looked around the class. No one was even bothered to say anything back to her. They knew she was trouble just as much as I knew.
"GOOD MORNING CHILDREN!" She shouted. Her voice rang in my ears like an echoing bell.
"Good morning, Professor!" We said back to her
"Thank you. My name is Professor Umbridge and I will be teaching you DADA this year. Take out your textbook at page 3 and read it up to end of the chapter."
I coughed.
"I read it five times. There is nothing there to actually teach us about actually using defensive and offensive spells.
"You spoke out of turn! Why would you need to use those spells?" She replied
"Let me think about it. Ah yes, because after the Battle of Hogwarts, Headmistress Professor Mcgonagall said that defensive and offensive spells will be obligatory in the DADA curriculum and plus what if we get attacked like we were at the Hogwarts Express?"
"Who would want to attack children such as yourself?"
"Death eaters!" Vera joined in
"There are no Death Eaters in the wizarding world any more!"
"Yeah right. Especially that you were indirectly linked to them and you were the one to set up the Muggle Born Registration Commission in 1998. Correct or not?" I said
"Incorrect!"
"That's it!!! Stupefy!" I shouted and pointed my wand at her. The bright red string of light shot out too quickly for her to even dodge it. It hit her and she laid there unconscious. I picked my bag up and ran out of the classroom.
Umbridge got up
"Get back here!" She shouted as she sped off after me. I ran down the stairs as fast as I could. The rest of our class followed her.
"Herbivicus! Mind your step, Umbridge." I said laughing pointing my wand at the ground. Green ivy wraps came out of the steps and wrapped themselves around Umbridge.
I ran along to the Grand Staircase.
I sped through the stairs second before I felt being lifted off the ground.
"I got you now" She said moving her wand towards the big open gap. I was hanging in mid-air. I screamed out of fear of heights.
"Haha! You thought you were so smart, just like Granger 16 years ago. Well you are not!"
Mcgonagall came through the main entrance to the staircase
"What is going on here, Professor Umbridge and why are you pointing your wand at this first year girl? Let her go!" She shouted
"As you wish, Minerva!" She said and let go of the spell.
I started to fall at a very fast pace.
"No! My sister! Arresto Momentum!" Dan yelled.
The fall began to slow down and I started to see things. Black, red and pink dots all about the place.
"Professor Umbridge, I want to see you in my office, NOW!" Professor Mcgonagall said and dispersed the crown.

Dan and Vera ran over to me to the bottom of the staircase.
"That was brave of you to attack a teacher, but so stupid!" Vera said
"Vera, did you expect me to sit there and listen to her babbling about the Ministry of Magic's purpose in not using spells in Hogwarts? I decided to take action. It might have been drastic but something had to be done about that toad!"
"Dan saved your life!" Vera continued
I hugged Dan.
"Thank you Dan and I am sorry about ignoring you for those past few days!"
"Hey, I put you at risk because of stupidity. I should be sorry!" He said

We slowly got up and we walked to the common room.

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Chapter 7 of Year 1: "5th Floor Mystery and Escaping the Dungeons"

Where we left off last time, Dan and Jules aren't speaking to each other. Could it be the end of their strong -up to that point- sibling relationship? We are left with a few questions that are to be answered, aren't we?
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WOW! Above hundred views on this blog! No way! I am thankful to you all, faithful readers for bearing with me as I didn't write on here before chapter six for a WHILE! Thank you, thank you Thank you!
Enjoy the chapter.

I walked through the brightly lit 3rd floor corridor to get to DADA -Defence Aganst the Dark Arts- as fast as I could in hope of avoiding my very selfish and annoying brother. What happened the night before just boiled my blood to the maximum and thinking that I had to sit with him in the same room for an hour and a half made me feel infuriated.

I walked into the DADA classroom and sat in front of the class, near to a window. Soon after, Vera joined me at the desk.
"Jules!" She greeted me cheerfully as she sat next to me
"Hey Vera. Are you all right?"
"I am thank you! But your brother isn't"
"Did you sit next to me just to tell me THAT?"
"Let me think about that one... I think so!"
"Well forget it! I won't forgive him for mistreating me like that!"
"He's sorry though. He wants you to have this back." She said and took out the crystal necklace with the word 'sister' inscribed on it that I chocked down the stairwell the night before
"No. I don't want it. I want nothing to do with a person that clearly cannot take a simple instruction into his mental cells!"
I stood up and went to sit next to Ashlea Roylon.
"Julie! How nice of you to sit next to nobody like me!" She cried from joy
"Ashlea, stop it! I'm a witch just as much as you are! Stop thinking of me popular and think of me as more of a friend!"
"Thanks Julie!"

The teacher -Professor Lore- came into the classroom with banging her door office so loudly, I thought that it could blow my ears off easily.
"Good morning class! Now before we start I want to make one thing straight! There will be no points for any house but Slytherin in this class, are we clear?!"
Everyone nodded apart from me. I sat in that desk already angry at Vera and Dan and now more furious at that Professor's prejudice.
"Anyone have concerns about my system?" She angrily shouted
I stood up.
"I do, Professor Lore. You are a Slytherin head of house, I get it. But that does not mean that you can just be discriminating against other houses. You think your house is superior but I think not. Slytherin is a bunch of self-centred twits that think of nothing more than themselves. They have no emotional levels that other people have. They call us, Muggle borns Mudbloods without thinking of how it might affect the people they are offending. I'm sorry to  be taking up your time Professor, but I think it is absolutely unnecessary   to be putting your favouritism in this classroom as it suppose to be a fair-to-all environment." I said and sat back down
Professor Lore gave me a cold look and replied
"You are out of line Miss Sharmons and fame won't help you in this subject either"
"Well, I have never asked to be famous, have I? You asked us to voice our opinion and I have"
"I agree with her." The rest of the class stood up apart from the Slytherins and Dan, who clearly was furious at what I just said
"Very well. I will still be giving points to Slytherin, wherever you like it or not!" Professor Lore shouted
"Then why ask us to give you our opinion?" Vera asked
"I wanted to see how many of you would snap at me like Miss Sharmons did"
"And she was right. favouritism is not the proper way of teaching" Chlo said
"Never mind all this Let's get on with the lesson. The spell for today is Expelliarmus. Anyone care to demonstrate?"
I shoot my hand into the air almost immediately.
"Come to the front Miss Sharmons, and remember this is for no points only"
"I'm not bothered. It is for educational purposes only to me"

I walked down to the front of the class
"Miss Sharmons, cast the spell"
"Expelliarmus!" I shouted
The teacher's wand jumped out of her hand and my wand released a white glow which threw her backwards.
I took a step back into the shadows as she got up.
"Nice. Your wand is powerful but not as good as my Slytherin student wands."
I rolled my eyes at her saying that and walked back to my desk.

Right after the class, Vera caught up with me
"Well done by the way, for being so fearless in front of a teacher" she said
"You learn at Muggle high school overtime as teachers do your head in from time to time!" I replied. We laughed and Vera walked away to join Dan. I looked at them and walked on.
"I wish she would just open up and speak to you!" Vera said to him
"Yeah. All we can do is 'wish'  but we have to make the step forward otherwise, she'll be twice as annoying at the end of term

I took a wrong turn towards the Fat Lady's portrait(common room) at the end of the day. I walked into a corridor not in anyway lit by any light whatsoever.
"Lumos!" I whispered. Faint light came form the wand as expected to keep a low profile.I walked along the creepy, cold corridor and looked around. There were paintings of previous known professors at Hogwarts and a giant painting of Professor Albus Dumbledore with a quote on the frame "It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live"
Sort of reminded myself of me when at Muggle high school, my dream was to be a scientist. I did everything I could to do well on science tests, exams and mini quizzes but I forgot to live out my life. I never had to many friends at high school because of the fact that I was too focused myself too much on my dream and not much on forming long lasting friendships. Reminded me of my argument with my brother.

As I walked along the corridor, I head to pairs of footsteps following me so when I got to the end of the corridor I stood there to wait for them. as soon as they got closer I recognised that it was Dan and Vera.
"What are you doing? This is the fifth floor corridor!" Vera cried.
Now I have realised that that was the reason for the corridor being dark.
"I know where you are!" a creepy, familiar voice said.
"Filch! Knox!" I said and the wand's light extinguished. As soon as it did, we fell through a trap door. The ride was rather freaky. It was dark and very twisty. When we got to the end we landed on a hard concrete floor
"Where are we?" Vera asked
"Dungeons. What could be hidden here?" I asked
"I don't know...potion ingredients?" Dan asked
"Not funny Dan!"
"OK,ok. Sorry Jules"
I groaned
"Can we not argue here? I mean the prefects will be doing their patrols soon so we must get out of here before we get caught!" Vera commented back

We sneaked up to the corridor.
"Yeah I know we had a couple of kids mucking about here after hours yesterday" We heard in the distance.
"OK. Let's distract them. I'll use the Reducto spell that I learned to destroy that statue and we sneak out of here!" I whispered
"Awesome!" Dan said
I counted to three "One... two.. three... Reducto!" I loudly whispered. The statue of Matilda Way, the witch of nature collapsed and the prefects came running in to check the statue and without their knowledge, we sneaked out of the Dungeons and quickly and quietly ran toward the grand staircase

"Wow, great thinking sis!" Dan complimented
"Don't try your nice with me. Sorry Dan but until you learn that sometimes listening to others rather than yourself I will stay away from you!" I said and ran along the stairs, far ahead of them.


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Chapter 6 of Year 1: "Potions? More Like Concussions!"

Announcement: This is an explosively fun chapter! Have fun reading and please link it on your blog! I would appreciate it as I would get a bigger audience, which would make me extremely happy! Please, link! :)

I woke up bright and early in the morning in preparation for Potions. Since I loved Science in Muggle high school, I thought that Potions would be a breeze. 

I washed, got changed into my Gryffindor robes and walked down the stairs to join Vera, Chlo (Chloe) and Dan. They were all ready before me! I thought to myself 'something tells me that they didn't wake up to beat me to it'

And I was partially right

At breakfast, they all discussed their getting up speed as I stuck my nose into 'The New Generation of Potion Makers Beginner's Book' textbook and read about the properties of moonstone in several potions.

"Come on Jules. Stop reading that textbook and join in the conversation!" Vera said

"Sorry Vera. But I would much rather read about the properties of moonstone in potions then discuss about how fast you got changed this morning!" I replied

We laughed uncontrollably. 

"So Vera, do you know the properties of moonstone in potion making?" I asked her

"Em, um...." she replied

"Exactly! Moonstone is chalky white gemstone of which light reflects so brightly it seems lie it is a source of it's own light and it is a very useful potion ingredient which  is used mainly for the Draught of Peace and some Love Potions."
"Brainiac"
"And you know nothing of the subject we have next!"
"Oh come on Jules, it's only our first day! They won't bite our heads off for not knowing properties of moonstones!"
"OK guys! Stop arguing and let's go! We have potion in five minutes!" Dan said and after I finished reading we went to dungeons. The dungeons must've been the most terrifying place of the entire castle. Dark, deprived of nearly every light source apart from a few laps hanging on walls and concrete floor to terrify you even more.

"Shall we go in? I heard that Professor Slughorn does not like first years!" Sheira said
"Oh come on Sheira! I'm sure he won't bite!" I Replied and we went in. The classroom was medium sized and oval shaped with shelves all around the edges.
"Come in, come in please!" Slughorn said as we walked in. Vera, Dan and I sat in the long table with three chairs beside it and it already had our cauldrons ready. Rest of the people came in and settled.
"Welcome everyone to your first Potions class of the session! We will be making a simple potion today to get our Potion juices flowing. Start with a simple question! Who knows what a Cure for Boils potion is and what is the crucial ingredient in it?" He said
I quickly raised my hand
"Yes Miss...am...um.."
"Sharmons, sir. Cure for Boils is a basic potion made to cure all sorts of boils. This potion if incorrectly brewed or if someone puts mint stings in it will result in powerfully sore and itchy boils. The potion is brewed for approximately 45 minutes and it's crucial ingredient is porcupine quills which is the ingredient that soothes the skin and allows other ingredients to take effect. It has to be swallowed because if placed directly on the skin, it will produce even more painful and stingy boils" I replied
Everyone looked at me in astonishment apart from the Slytherins who thought that they are too good for answering questions
"Well done, Miss Sharmons! Twenty points to Gryffindor for such a detailed answer! Now start gathering the ingredients and let's get brewing, shall we?" Slughorn commanded. I got out of my seat and I started to look for the porcupine quills first.

As I looked for the quills on the shelf, I noticed something shiny on the back of the shelf. I reached for it and grabbed it. It was a charm with something written on the back of it. I span the charm around to see the inscription.
'Property of the Department of Mysteries' it read. I placed it in my uniform pocket and noticed that my friends already gathered the ingredients and got some for me too. I walked back to the table and when I got there, I reached into my pocket to ensure that the charm was still there. I had a tendency to misplace/lose my things.
I stood in front of my cauldron and looked at my potions book. I crushed the snake fangs and put them in the cauldron. I looked at the book again and it said: "after adding the ingredients, brew the potion until it turns pinky-violet" as a side note. I followed the instructions step by step.
In the corner of my eye I noticed that Dan put something leafy and green in the cauldron
"Dan, I told you that mint stings make the cauldron explode!" I hissed but it was too late. The cauldron exploded into hundred pieces and with all of it's contents spraying on me. Then the chunkiest piece of the cauldron flew right into me head, knocking me over and then I lost consciousness.

A few hours later
I woke up laying down somewhere in Hogwarts.
"She's coming around!" A girl exclaimed happily
I opened my eyes with everything blurred and spinning like a whirlpool
"About time she woke up too!" a boy said.
"Daniel!" that girl hissed at him
A woman dressed in a white gown came and gave me a potion. It was disgusting in taste. But then again, it was not supposed to be Cream Soda!
Everything stopped spinning and being blurred out. I sat on the bed.
"We were so worried about you" the girl said
"Where am I? What happened? Who am I and who are you?!" I asked
"Oh no! Concussion!" the girl cried
"Don't worry Miss Eering! I have just the potion to sort it out!" Madam Pomfray said
She then gave me an another potion. Sweeter in taste but a bit nausea inflicting.
Then I closed my eyes and saw everything that I forgot backwards.
"Thank you so much Madam Pomfray!" I said
"No problem, that's what I am here for! You may be discharged!" She replied
"Thanks so much."
I got out of the hospital wing bed and walked out with my friends.

On the grand staircase, walking on the stairs.
"Dan I told you not to put mint stings in it!" I shouted angrily at him
"I forgot!"
"You forgot?! I told the entire class that before we gathered ingredients!"
"You know what? I have enough of your bossy ways. You think you are such a Know-It-All! But hear me now you are the worst sister ever!"
"Dan if your bright mind didn't figure it out yet, that if you actually listened to me none of this would had happened!"
"You think you're so brilliant just because you have grown up with a pure blood family. Not all of us get that privilege you know"
"And you think you are so fantastic just because you know everything! I have enough of you!"
"And I have enough of you! I chucked the necklace he gave me while at his home down the stairs. It was a fragile crystal necklace. "You are so not my brother any more!"
I then walked off towards the library

"Not her brother?" He asked himself sadly as he went to see if the necklace was ok
"It was sort of your fault" Vera replied
"You are right. I went too far and she did warn me about the mint"
"Maybe you should apologise"
"No. Not right now.She's way too angry to try and approach her just now. Maybe in a few days"

I went down to the library to find out more about the 'Department of Mysteries' There was a book called 'The History of the Ministry of Magic in Great Britain. I sat down with it and read through it quickly. Although there was some information about the ministry, no info about the Department of Mysteries was found in that book. I took the charm out and looked at it. It looked polished and quite new but the chain that it was attached to was at least twenty years old.


So did you all enjoy the chapter? What is it going to be like between Dan and Jules now that they are not speaking to each other. Finding the treasure will definitely be harder for them now that they are apart, eh?
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Chapter 5 of Year 1: "Hat Will Sort It Out"

I hope that this chapter will be a pleasure to read for you guys. From where we left off last time, this one will be a bit less about spells and things like that but more about learning about the people in Julie's year.
PS. I am very sorry that the last chapter was written about 15 days after chapter 3. College( as in not uni, for all you guys from the US. College in the UK is a form of further education and NOT what my friend thinks of colleges in the UK. His perception of UK Colleges is that they are taught by monkeys and that you go into them in PJs.) has taken up most of my spare time.
Enjoy the chapter! :)

We came out of the train 15 minutes after. As soon as I stepped out of the train, many people surrounded me with questions about the Expelliarmus spell. But after like, 1 minute I just decided to follow Dan and Vera to wherever they were going. All the questions of our fellow students were giving me a massive headache.
"What house do you think you'll be in, Jules?" Dan asked
"Any apart from Slytherin. Their students are just so horrible, it's unreal how nasty they are!" I replied
"Talking about Slytherin, are you?!" A chubby guy ran up to me and shouted.
"Yeah, got a problem with that?"
"Yes, I do. Slytherin is the best. Some of the best wizards were in that house."
"Hahaha! I think you mean some of the best Death Eaters and alike. Most of the Slytherins supported Professor Umbridge in 1996 before the battle of the Department of Mysteries. They were always the first to be on the side of the enemy although they did help to fight Death Eaters in the battle of Hogwarts in 1998."
"You smarty pants, who are you anyway?"
"Julie Sharmons. Who the heck are you?" I asked him coldly
"Simon Eaton. You are Julie Sharmons? Hahaha. Famous for nothing"
I looked at his with immense anger.
"I did not ask to be famous, Simon. I didn't even know that people knew who I am. Now, sorry Simon but I have to go."
"Goodbye Mudblood"
'Mudblood?' I asked myself in confusion

I walked over to Dan and Vera.
"You called her WHAT?!" Vera, Dan Sam and Carrie shouted and marched to him with wands pointed at him.
"Mudblood. So you are Dan. Her brother right?"
"Right Simon. Why did you call my sister a Mudblood?"
"Because she is, and so are you!"
"So what if I have Muggle parents? So what? I'm a wizard just as much as you are!"

He walked back to us and we walked up to the boats. The boats fitted about 6 on board. so Dan, Vera and girls called Sam, Jane and Chloe went on. We chatted the whole way while crossing the black lake.
We were coming close to the castle.
"Wow, amazing!" Chloe said. She was amazed at the lighting on the outside of castle. I was too. She was a Muggle born witch as well

When we reached the other side of the Black Lake, we got off the boats into the stairway that leads to the main hall.
Professor Mcgonagall stood at the top of the stairway, dressed in dark red robes. Made me think of how proud she is of being the head of the Gryffindor house.
"Welcome to Hogwarts! Now before you step through these doors and join your house mates, you must be sorted into your houses. They are Gryffindor, Huffelpuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. You will be sorted depending on your family's Hogwarts sorting, your skills, your bravery, your thoughts, your attitudes and your qualities. You will be asked to step forward, sit and the Sorting Hat will be placed on you. It might take it's time or choose right away. Now come through. others are waiting!" She said and opened the old, rusty doors leading tot the Great Hall. It was amazing. The ceiling was enchanted into looking like the sky, just like I've read in Hogwarts - A History!
We have walked over to the front of the hall with everyone staring at us as we walked past. I felt slightly awkward, being stared at by all those people.

"Let's begin the Sorting Ceremony!" Professor Mcgonagall shouted.
She picked up an old. pointy,brown hat that had a face on it.
"First up is... Emiline Woodlard!"
The red headed girl slowly walked over to the front and sat on the wooden stool. Professor Mcgonagall placed the hat on her.
"Hmm... Loads of knowledge and library skills. Brave and kind and artistic also. Hard, really hard.  Let it be.... Huffelpuff!" The hat exclaimed, making us all jump
The girl smiled as she ran off to sit by the other Huffelpuff.
"Julie Sharmons!"
Everyone in the room whispered as I walked over to sit on the stool. From the glances that I took, everyone smiled and hoped for me to be in their house.
"Julie Sharmons... How I have wondered if I'll ever see you at Hogwarts." It spoke
"You have?" I asked it
"Yes... Living away from magic all your life and parents blocking the contact with the wizarding world... Anyhow. You are brave, the cleverest and smartest I have ever met... you beat Hermione Ganger in your knowledge, understanding, bravery, kindness, sweetness and generosity. You fit in.."
"Not Slytherin, not Slytherin!" I whispered
"Not Slytherin, eh? Well, you would fit in Ravenclaw but your bravery and courage is prominent. You will be in Gryffindor!"
I gasped and got up immediately. Everyone clapped and Gryffindor house clapped in enthusiasm as I walked across and sat at their table. Everyone shook hands with me

After the ceremony, we had a feast for the start of the year
Vera and Dan were picked into Gryffindor also.
"Now, everyone. Before going to bed I have an important announcement. The fifth floor corridor, apart from the classrooms is out of bounds for everyone.Thank you and I'll see you tomorrow morning!" P. Mcganagall shouted and we followed the two prefects Liam Sand and Anya Sand to the common room.
"Password?" The moving portrait said, freaking me out of my skin.
"Bean Bonus!" Anya said and the portrait moved out of the way of the opening that lead to the common room.
We walked into the opening, which was red and gold.
The common room was the same. All gold, red, brown, yellow. But my favourite was the girls room. Crimson red and sunset yellow. The curtains purple and bunk beds dark brown wood and light red duvet set.
"Wow!" Vera Chloe and I gasped, seeing the room and we giggled for joy because we were to stay there for the entire year.

Next chapter is called "Potions? More Like Concussions!" and it is about the potions lesson going way wrong! Tune in next time to find out more!

Chapter 4 of Year 1: "Hogwarts Train Attack"

I hope that you'll all enjoy this chapter and I please share my blog! I would like to see more viewers on here (even the Grand Theft Auto ones from YouTube!

It was at least 4 hours until we were to board the Hogwarts Express from

"Platform 9and 3/4?" I asked

"Yeah, weird eh?" My brother asked

"There is no such thing as 3/4 on a platform! We all know that!"
"That's what you think, Jules!" Yulia commented
"Yulia!!" Emilia hissed
"Sorry mum, couldn't help it!"

We walked up to a red, brick wall. Very similar to the Diagon Alley one.
"So... It's yet another boring wall! What are we supposed to do here, walk into it?" I asked, rolling my eyes.
"Spot on Julie!" Emilia smiled.
"Um... really?"

She then ran into the wall, disappearing in the process. I took a step back, with shock taking over my face with literal "What The Heck?" expression (according to Dan anyway!)
He then ran in and so did the rest of the Sargent family. I looked around, no one watching so I nervously ran into the brick wall with my eyes shut, wishing for a painless ending. Once I opened my eyes, I no longer saw what was there before me a second before. I saw "Hogwarts Express, platform 9 and 3/4. I jumped up and down for joy for this meant that I could learn magic without my overprotective parent intervention.

We loaded our luggage onto the train and stepped on to the train. It looked just like the Muggle version only...more comfortable. Daniel found us an empty compartment and we sat in it. It was a small, four person compartment with green leather seats, overhead lockers and even more amazing.... walls painted with quotes from famous people e.g. Harry, Dumbledore, Hermione and so on. Harry, Ron and Hermione all worked for the Ministry of Magic.Tough jobs, but I promised myself that I would one day be as good as Hermione Granger. I would know everything on every subject, be able to pass all my exams and fight against the creatures of darkness.

Few minutes later....
"Hey, is there spare room in here? Everywhere else is booked solid!" a girl my age asked politely as she stepped into our compartment.
"Sit wherever you want!" Dan and I said at the same time.
"Thanks! I'm Veronica. Veronica Erring!" She said with a smile as she sat next to me.
"My name is Julie and that is Daniel!" I replied, smiling back at her
"Julie....Daniel...Sharmons! No way! I finally get to meet you in person! My mother has always told me about the story of you two!" She shouted quietly.
"Pleased to meet you too, Veronica! Call me Jules and call Daniel Dan."
"Sure! You can call me Vera!"

Then the train had stopped violently.
"Why have we stopped?" Daniel asked.
"Something tells me that we will have to use offensive and defensive magic" I replied
"You are the only one to know many of them, Vera and I know none!"
Then the train's lights had all gone of, one by one.
"Someone is using a lightsaber." I said
"A what?" Vera asked
"Lightsaber. A magical item that allows collection of light from any targeted place. Hagrid used it to pick me up from the street without being seen"
"So what do we do? We can't go outside and all we can do is move about the train!" Dan commented
"Dan you are a genius! If we go to the back of the train, we might get a picture of what is going on" Vera said and high fived him

We ran out of the compartment and though the other students that gathered outside their compartments. We got to the end of the train where the doors were wide open, surprisingly. I peeked though to see what was going on and I had then seen them. six men and three women with masks on, pointing their wands at me.
I threw myself back against the wall.
"Death....Eaters!" I said while gasping for breath.
"Who?" Vera asked
"No time. I'll explain later. Vera, go and get other people here. Dan and I will stay and try to slow them down."
Vera ran as quick as she could out of the compartment.
"Any good defensive and offensive spells, spell dictionary?"
"You bet. Protago Maxima, Expelliarmus and Petrificus Totallus!"
"I'll just copy you as I have no idea of how to cast any of there spells.

I walked up to the door. I stood shocked as one of them had Vera with their wand pointed at her head.
One of the Death Eaters flew over to me as if it glided across the air.
"Tell us now, where is your uncle and aunt's treasure!" He demanded
"I don't know!" I replied
"Tell us now or your friend is dust!"
"Don't make me"
"What? You have no spells up your sleeve! What can you do?" He laughed.
"Don't underestimate me, pal. Expelliarmus Maxima!" I shouted
The spell beamed across the Death Eater cround, dispersing them. Vera began to fall.
"Vera!" I screamed and ran out onto the tracks.
"Carpe Retractum!" I shouted. Vera started to come back to the tracks
She landed beside be and then hugged me.
"Thank you so much, Jules!"
Then a whole crowd of students flooded through onto the train tracks
"Wow, who did that powerful spell? Who was the one to cast that intense spell? Who, who who?" They kept asking. Dan and Vera pointed at me. I smiled shyly.
"Wow amazing!Where did you learn to cast such powerful spells?" a girl called Rayna asked
"I taught myself through books and practice!"
Then a woman dressed in green robes and a green pointy hat came through.
"I heard about the attack and came to see the situation as soon as I could. Where are they?" she asked
"Julie cast a powerful spell that send them away, Professor Mcgonagall!" Dan said
"Julie, I know I gave you permission to buy all school books but my goodness, that must have been a pretty powerful spell you cast. What was it?" She asked again
"Expelliarmus Maxima, Professor!" I replied
"Even though it is a second year spell, you have a powerful wand there." She finished and ordered everyone to go back to the train.

In our compartment
"Tell me who are the Death Eaters?" Vera asked
"They are Lord's Voldemort's followers. Since he is dead, they are Draco Malfoy's followers instead. They were looking for us to tell them where it is that our aunt and uncle's treasure is. But we don't know where it is or what it is." I explained
"Hey, I heard about that. No one knows what it is, but I know that it is in the Hogwarts Castle. My mother is familiar with everything, you see."
Dan and I looked at each other with the same look. Our thoughts where similar. On the same subject at least.

Next chapter is on the Sorting Ceremony. Where will Vera, Julie and Daniel go? Ravenclaw is possible for Julie. Vera is a candidate for Huffelpuff as her mother, her father and her sister Mary were in Huffelpuff. And Daniel could be either Griffindor or Slytherin. But will they go to there houses? Find out soon!

Chapter 3 of Year 1: The Diagon Alley and the Lumos Spell

Announcement: I am so sorry for keeping you so long from this chapter! Since starting college, it overtook my free time for research work. This is a fun chapter so hope you'll enjoy it!

After breakfast, I went into my room for a well deserved rest. But it has not been as peaceful as I would had liked it to be. I kept on hearing voices from the outside of my window that were not of any of the Sargent family's voices. The voices had a cold and creepy tone to themselves and they constantly said "Come"
But after a while I just fell asleep as the voices began to fade into the bright morning until I was woken up to go shopping for school supplies.

We walked down to this huge brick wall at around 1pm on Saturday just before the school began.
We stood in front of that wall for a few minutes.
"I can see that it's a wall, but I don't think we have to be standing here, staring at it!" I said plainly
"You are right. But this wall is hiding the Diagon Alley from Muggles, you see!" Dan replied giggling
Emilia rose her wand and tapped it against the brick wall three times. Then one by one, the bricks began to move apart, revealing an old street.
"It looks just like the road that we just passed! What's so special about it?"
"Welcome Julie, to the Diagon Alley! Everything that a wizard or a witch needs is here! Wands, cauldrons, potion ingredients, school supplies and loads of other things!" Emilia smiled
"All I see is that it is a odd looking street with even more odder things in the windows!"
Emilia laughed "That is what some of the people that I went to school with thought as well. Come on let's go to Gringotts to get your money!" She said and we walked on. As I took a look at some things on the shop displays, everything was just so strange to me. Wooden sticks with brushes, owls and even more strangely just wooden sticks with some sort of designs on some of them. Everything to me was just so weird, so uu-understandable. Why would you want a polished stick with some designs on it? That question kept going through my head on the way to the wizard bank.

When we entered the building I was stunned to see that everything on the inside was made of gold-bronze alloy and so shiny at times, that it was blinding to look at. We walked up to the closest 'till' and a creepy tiny man popped up from under it.
"May I help you in any way?" he asked in a posh, deep voice that chilled me out to the bone.
"Miss Sharmons would like to withdraw money" Dan said
He looked at me with his scary glowing green eyes.
"And does Miss Sharmons have her key?" He asked. I reached into my pocket and went through it to find he tiny key and gave it to him with my hand shaking with fright
"Follow me, please" Another tiny man said and I went along with him with Dan as that was our shared vault, apparently.
We got into this really tiny elevator that seemed like it was about hundred years old. Rusty but shiny, oddly enough. This elevator went down and into the right which I had never seem or felt an elevator do.But then again, it was a magic place.
We arrived at the vault in 2 minutes time.
"Vault 832. Please pass me the key!" The tiny man said. I handed him the key and he placed in the tiny keyhole and carefully turned it.
The door opened to reveal the huge amounts of gold, silver and bronze coins.
"Dan...." I said
"I know sis. It's incredible! Never seen this much money in my life!" He replied
We went in and got enough money for the school supplies and some spare money for random things.

We came out of Gringotts and the first stop we made was in the wand(or the wooden stick) shop
I opened the door and I carefully stepped inside.
An old man scrolled along the bookshelves on the ladder came up out of no where and frightened the day lights out of me.
"I'm sorry to frighten you!" He said and gasped.
"Miss Julie Sharmons, I'm so glad that you could drop in!"
"Excuse my asking but how do you know my name?" I asked
"I remember your uncle and aunt coming in here to get their wands and additionally, have you wondered why you have a cut on your wrist?"
I thought about it and realised that this cut was there for a long time.
"Yes, I did wonder. Why do I have it?"
"When you were one month old and you were alone in your home, a man of the name of Draco Malfoy broke into your house and when he could not find what he wanted, he split you and your brother apart and used the Cruciatus Curse on you and your brother. Although it bounced right  back at him, it left a mark on your wrist"
"What was he looking for?"
"I can't tell you that"
"Please tell me, so if I ever find it I'll protect it!"
"No, I'm not obliged to reveal that information Anyway, let's get you a wand"
I looked him in the eye for a second before he disappeared into the shelves. I wanted to know more about the so called Cruciatus Curse and what it was that Malfoy was looking for. I needed to know why he had Dan and me split apart from each other. But then I realised that my parents were trying to protect me by not allowing me to go to Hogwarts. They were scared of me coming back with trauma and were scared of losing me just like they 'lost' Dan.
"Here we go 11" Rosewood with unicorn hair, for a unicorn hair it quite hard and survives 99.9 percent of falls and snaps or breakages and it is the first ever want to be able to be magically mended using the Reparo spell."
The man handed the wand over to me. Even with the first touch, glimpse of heat and light came over me.
"Interesting, this is very interesting"
"What is so interesting?" I asked him,
"This wand is made with the same unicorn hair core as the attacker's wand."
"You mean that Malfoy's wand has the exact same material as my wand?"
"Correct. If they were to meet in a battle they could create things beyond my knowledge. I see that your brother Dan is waiting for you. Have a nice day!"
"You too!" I said and quickly got out of the store with my new wooden polished stick(wand) and went on with the shopping for other items.

Back at the Sargent family home, in the room that I was staying in.
"Dan, come here for a minute!" I shouted
Dan comes in to my room.
"What's wrong sis? Is everything OK?"
"Just call me Jules. Anyway I found out something about our family's past"
"Really? Please do tell me!"
"I was at the wand shop and the guy knew who I was. After that he told me that when we were a month old, a man of the name of Draco Malfoy broke into our home and looked for something. When he could not find it he turned the wand on us and cast a Cruciatus Curse took you away. Ever since our parents were a little over protective of me when it came to magical world. I was left with a cut on my wrist as the curse just managed to touch me and bounced back at him"
"What is the Cruciatus Curse? I have never heard of it"
"The Cruciatus Curse is a curse that causes torture. It is a hundred times more painful that anything you could ever experience. The book says that the spell was used on several people in the past to gain information and had left people mentally ill. The spell is un-blockable and is is only effective when cast out of pleasure of seeing the victim in pain and not in anger."
"Crazy, I never heard that before! I bet the Sargent's knew this all along and they have not told me and that store guy gave me that look as well."
"Well Dan one thing we know for sure. Something of ours is out there that Malfoy wants or wanted but I wonder what it could be."
"Do you think it belongs or belonged to our aunt and uncle?"
We looked at each other
"Quite possibly Dan! Look at the spell that I had learned from the Standard book of Spells!"
"Go for it!"
"Lumos Maxima!" I shouted and a great burst of light came from the end of my wand. The light filled up the entire room and the hallway outside it.
Dan looked at me when the duration of the spell ended
"I had no idea it would be this powerful, I mean, when I practised it, the spell just lit up my room brightly now it filled the entire hallway with light!"

Next chapter is on the train journey to Hogwarts, the attack by the new group of Death Eaters and how Julie meets a new friend that knows something more about Julie and Dan's lost item. Will they figure out of what it is or will they be clueless until later on? Find out in the next chapter!

Chapter 2 of Year 1: "The Sargent Family and A Very Shocking Surprise"

Before reading, please read this. I initially planned to do the train journey and the Diagon Alley in this chapter. But I thought about it and decided to add something in between the running away from home and the Diagon Alley. Hope that you'll enjoy this chapter and hope that you are not to disappointed! :)

I sat on the cold and breezy street for hours, waiting on Hagrid. Much to my dismay, the rain started to pour heavily and I had not taken my raincoat. Scottish end of August was bound to be cold and windy. The suitcase was dark pink instead of bright and happy pink because of the heavy downpour. My phone just about died because it was not in charge for at least 13 hours but what can you expect from a HTC that does not last more than 12 hours of light use.
I was shivering with cold from the wind and rain.I curled up into a ball with my stomach aching of hunger and I had no money with me as I had no time to think about of what to take with me.
'Next time I want to run away from home, I need to remember to take some money. Maybe then my stomach won't be screaming: "food now" every five seconds' I thought to myself. I was exhausted.

A couple of minutes later, every single light on the street went off. It was strange.One by one, the lights flickered and turned black. The rain turned heavy again and lightening bolts struck the hillsides and a nearby forest. But it was soaking wet, so it could not set the forest ablaze. Then a huge motorbike came down from the sky -out of  nowhere- and landed right in front of me.
"Julie, right?" The huge guy on the motorbike said.
I stood up with my mouth open wide in shock and fear! He was taller than anyone I ever met before
"Ye....Yeah. Who...who are you?" I asked while slowly coming closer.
"Rubeus Hagrid. Thought that I told ya that I will be comin' for ya at three, did I?" He replied
I checked my watch. Exactly three am.
"Hey Hagrid. Can we go before we wake up everybody on the street?"
"Even though they wake up they'll have no idea of what had happened thanks to the power cut"
"Was the power cut your doing in some form?"
"Smarter than I thought. Yeah, it was me. Hop on and put your suitcase on the metal rest. It won't fall out"
I walked up to my suitcase and grabbed it by the plastic handle and dragged it over to the motorbike and placed it on the rest and jumped on to the back of the motorbike.
"Hold on Jules, we are going up"
I held on to the side handles of the motorbike as Hagrid sped of and the motorbike rose high up into the sky, above the clouds and flew along the sky. I literally touched a cloud. I felt the softness and the fluffiness of it and it was perfectly white.
We flew for some hours and I, for the first time, had seen the glowing colours of sunset from outside of a plane.It was marvelous.
"Hagrid, where exactly are we going?" I asked him
"We are going to a home of a half wizard-half Muggle family. I already spoke to them to give you a place to stay for the days before Hogwarts. I will let you rest up there and then you'll go down to the Diagon Alley with them and I will meet you there. Coming in for the landing."
I held on tight to the metal handles as the descend into the front of the house was sharp and quick. I tried to not to scream so that we would had not been detected. But once every few minutes I gave out a quiet yelp of fear as heights and quick descends were not exactly my best friends.
The bumpy landing gave me a little feeling of nausea but had quickly worn off.
I got off and stared. The house was giant and gorgeous. It almost looked like a palace. Two balconies on the top floor with ball-shaped lights twisted around the balcony supports and purple curtains on the either sides of the windows.

I walked through the green metal gate into a magnificently gorgeous garden. It did put my mom's garden to shame. Plants from all over the world, small lights along the middle isle leading to the house, a glasshouse filled with even more exotic plants and a glass table with an umbrella in the middle of it. The house was nothing in comparison with my house in Scotland.
I ran up slowly to the door with a small glass window and knocked.
A woman a tiny bit taller than me opened the door.
"You must be Julie! I am very happy to meet you! Please come in!" She smiled and moved out of the door to let me in.
I looked around as I walked though the door. The house was enormous looking and made me think of a palace even more. Leather seats in the living room, wooden stairs, red carpets running throughout the house and windows with patterns and colourful mosaic effect windows on the ground floor.
"Welcome to our home Jules! I hope that you'll enjoy your stay. The toilet is on the ground floor and your bedroom is on the second floor, first one on the left. My name is Emilia by the way! As you learn your way around the house you'll meet the rest of my family!" Emilia said
"Thank you so much Emilia."
"Breakfast is in half an hour and then we will let you have some rest"

I slowly made my way with the suitcase up the narrow staircase leading to the floor that my room was on. As I stepped through the second floor door, a boy my age came out of his room.
As soon as we looked at each other we stood there staring. We looked so much a like, it looked like as if we were twins.
"Hello" he said
"Um, hi!" I replied
"Who are you? We were told that we will be having a person staying with us until Hagwarts starts. Is this you?"
"My name is Julie. Julie Sharmons"
The boy stood there with his mouth open wide.
"No way. My name is Daniel Sharmons!"
I then opened my mouth wide in shock.
"When is your birthday?"
"Third of September 2003. You?"
"Same!"
We sort of looked at each other, still quite surprised at how many similarities we shared. Birthday, looks and possibly...
"Hold on a second. Who are your parents?" He asked
"Dona and Adam Sharmons. Yours?"
"My parents are Dona and Adam as well. Apparently they gave me away for adoption a month after birth"
"We are brother and sister! Twins of that!" I shouted and ran up to hug him.
Then Emilia came up.
"Excuse me?" She asked looking at us.
"I'm sorry Emilia but we have just found out that we are siblings!" I pulled myself away and we stood right next to each other.
Emilia stood there with her mouth open in shock.
"Oh my goodness! You are right!"

After that I went to unpack and went down for breakfast and met the rest of the family. The children: Diana, Emilo(named after his mother), Clair, Andy and Yulia and Walter(he was the husband of Emilia and father of the previously named kids.)
Then went to sleep for six hours. It was about seven so woke up at 1pm.

Next chapter is their trip down to Diagon Alley and Julie learning all the spells! Stay tuned! (And I promise that it will be the chapter on Diagon Alley this time!) :)

Chapter 1 of Year 1: "Something Strange is Happening"

I sat in my beautiful summer garden at my home in Eastern Scotland. I was twelve at the time but one year above everybody else my age because of my Primary 7 teacher recommending my high school to put me in in Second year rather than First year.
So I was in the garden -filled with exotic flowers as my mother had just came back from Spain from her business trip and she loved plants and gardening- and I was doing my equations for Chemistry for after the summer.

"Julie! Here is a letter for you sweetie!" My mum came and gave me a letter sealed with a strange stanp, like the ones they used a long time ago. It was a hand-written letter too. 

'Who actually hand-writes letters these days? And to Me?' I thought. The only letters that I ever received were from school once a term and written on a computer. Very strange.

My name is Julie Sharmons and I am a girl from South-East of Scotland. I went to a normal high school and led a relatively normal life, or so I thought. My parents always thought that I was special because of my ability to study for hours and always remember what I had learned. They also admired me for being different: did not go out drinking every weekend, never ever smoked and never ever,ever took drugs. I think that they ruin people's lives instead of making then better.

Anyway, so I opened this letter and read it in full. There was also a note included with the letter.

"Dear Miss Sharmons,

I am delighted to inform you that you have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. You will receive your school supply list shortly. Please also note that first year students are not allowed their own broomsticks. On the final note, Miss Sharmons, you are allowed to buy every book in the Florish and Blotts bookshop as you have shown to be a great student in your first year of Muggle High School. I have also supplied you with your key to your vault at Gringotts Wizard Bank. Please keep it safe as replacements will not be issued. 

See you on the 1st of September

Professor Minerva Mcgonagall, headmistress of Hogwarts and teacher of Transfirguration,"
The note stated the following:
"Hey Julie

I am Rubeus Hagrid and I will pick you up at three o'clock in the morning to get you to the Diagon Alley and to get you to Hogwarts. I am the grounds-keeper at Hogwarts and I teach Care of Magical Creatures Class there.

See you there,

Hagrid"

I looked at it thinking: 'Have I gone crazy or  have I been invited to learn how to use magic?'

"Mum, dad what is Hogwarts?" I asked

My mum came and tore the letter to pieces

"Nothing that you need to worry about! Get back to your equations or you will be grounded!"
"I have done them! Tell me for I have to be there tomorrow!"

"You are not going to some crazy magic place where your uncle and aunt went!"
"My uncle and aunt? Why have you not told me? All this time i have wondered why their house was filled with all those mad books about magic! Why, oh why did you not tell me?"

"We thought that we should keep you away from all those crazy things! No daughter of ours would be casting spells and turning household appliances into animals and worse, won't be causing trouble with magic spells setting the house on fire!"
I groaned with disbelief and walked through the gap between them, pushing them to the side. I was so angry about the whole situation and I went up into my spacious room to pack my things and stay out of my house for the night. I did not want to be there in the house with them  With people that lied to me  about who I was for my entire life. 

"Julie! Hope you are not packing!" my mother shouted from outside my door

"So what if I was? I don't want be in the house with liars!"
"You are not getting out of here!"
"Who are you to stop me? I can make my own decisions without your intervention or lies! So go away!"
I put everything I needed in the suitcase, locked it and pulled it though the stairwell and went out the front door and walked along the road. 

I stopped by a lamp post as the darkness started to take over the sunset skies. I sat on it and took my phone out and played games on it to kill some time before Hagrid was to pick me up.

Someone then tripped over my feet as they haven't noticed them

"I am so sorry!" I said to the guy that tripped 

He got up. "It's OK! It happens! So what are you doing out here in the dark?" He asked. It was my friend Oliver from my math class.

"It's my parents. They lied about who I am. I have found out that I am a witch from a letter this morning to say I am to come and learn magic at a school called Hogwarts!"
"Wow. That had to be the most horrible day of your life!"
"Not really. Now I know that I should not believe anything that my parents tell me!"
"I have to go. My dad expects at home by 10pm. See you later, Julie!"
"Bye Oliver!"

Next chapter is on how Julie gets to Diagon Alley and the Train Journey to Hogwarts! Stay Tuned!