Laura's first year at Hogwarts chapters 6-10

                                     

 Chapter 6

The next day, their first lesson was Charms.

As Ada and Laura both came down from their separate dormitories and made their way to class, they saw a most peculiar sight. An inkbottle was hovering above the floor and floating in front them. Suddenly, the ink tipped and spilled all over the floor. Footprints started to appear in the ink that were a bit smaller than the size of a human’s hand. Then, the inkbottle up-righted itself and scuttled away again.

“Hmm, that was strange!” said Ada.

“Yes it was!” Agreed Laura as she cleaned up the ink.

Ada and Laura carried on in the direction the bottle had gone to their Charms lesson. They slipped through the door and sat down at their desks.

“Welcome everyone!” Professor Midget called to the full classroom.

“Today we shall be practicing a levitation charm! Has everyone got their feathers?”

Laura was about to pick hers up when it scuttled away from her, just as the inkbottle had done!

“Um, Professor, look at my feather!” Laura yelped.

“Oh my goodness! Accio feather!” Professor Midget yelled at the feather. It soared into her outstretched hand and she handed it back to Laura. “I wonder what that was.”

                                                  *

At lunch that afternoon food kept on scuttling away from them! It was as if an invisible creature was taking them, Ada had said. While in potions, just as Laura was about to put some gillyweed into her cauldron, it had been snatched from her hand and had run away!

”Hey! Come back!” She shouted at it. Of course, it didn’t come back. She had to run after it and snatch it back.

                                                        *

It was only the first day and yet everyone had been given heaps of homework. Laura and Ada were sitting in the Hufflepuff common room trying to get on with their History of Magic homework. Ada had almost finished hers, she had been nicknamed Hermione Granger already for being so clever and attentive in lessons. Laura had only done two paragraphs and was trying to get Ada to let her copy hers.

“You will never learn anything if you just copy!” She had said.

The common room was starting to empty as people went to bed. Just as Laura was about to argue, her roll of parchment started to unroll and dropped to the floor. Her quill then hovered in the air, and scuttled away. She lunged forward and grabbed it. She held it in the air and it felt unusually heavy. As if an invisible creature was hanging on to it!

Opposite them, the last boy in the common room got up to go to bed, whistling. Suddenly, a creature appeared on the end of Laura’s quill!

Laura gasped so loudly that the boy stopped whistling and turned around. The creature disappeared again!

“What’s the matter? Can I help?” offered the boy as he walked towards them.

“Um, no thank you. I’m all right!” Laura was gasping as she sat staring at her quill, dumbfounded.

How did the creature appear and disappear again? Laura thought.

The boy started to whistle again as he walked off to his dormitory and the creature appeared yet again in front of her. Just as it dropped down onto the floor and Laura threw herself onto it, trying to capture it, it vanished, again!

“Ada quick! Whistle, now!” Laura shouted.

“What, whistle?”

“Yes! Whistle a tune now! It is very important!”

Ada started to whistle the Spanish national anthem. Laura looked around. Where was the creature? Oh no! It can’t have run away!

“Can I stop now?” Ada asked Laura, who was scrambling around the common room looking for the creature and knocking everything to the ground on her way past.

“No! Keep whistling!” Laura yelled as a vase came tumbling down on top of her and smashed into a million pieces.

Ada carried on whistling, now switching to the British anthem. Laura looked over at her, and Ada raised her eyebrows and shrugged and waved her hands as if saying, ‘what are you doing?’

Suddenly, Laura spotted the creature! It was darting its way towards the door, weaving through the piles of objects that Laura had smashed to the ground.

Laura leapt up, beckoned to Ada to go with her, and pointed to the creature that was slipping through the door. All of a sudden, Ada understood that Laura was trying to catch the creature! She didn’t know why, but she rushed after her and slipped through the door. Laura was crouched inside the door, trying to hide from the horned creature that was sniffing the air. Ada stopped whistling for a second and it vanished. When she started whistling again however, it re-appeared! Suddenly, the horned animal rushed away as quick as a hippogriff. Ada and Laura crept as quietly but as fast as they could after it.

It darted around the corner, Ada whistling all the while. All of a sudden, they heard footsteps. Ada and Laura looked at each other, terrified. They weren’t allowed out of bed at this time! Ada stopped whistling and they darted behind a tapestry. However, their feet were showing! Laura prayed that whoever was coming wouldn’t be coming down this corridor.

“What do we do?” Whispered Ada desperately.

“I don’t know.”

The footsteps were coming closer. Then, around the corner came Professor Finnigan, their herbology teacher.
Ada and Laura sucked in their breaths.

Professor Finnigan walked down the corridor and had almost rounded the next corner when he stopped. He looked around, and stared straight at the tapestry.

Oh no, oh no. He has seen us. I know he has.

But a moment later, he started laughing. Laughing hysterically.

What? Does he find it funny that we are out of bed? Very strange.

Then, he walked away, clutching his sides and laughing. He was laughing so hard that he couldn’t stop.

“Ha-ha ha-ha-ha! Ha-ha ha-ha-ha!”

Professor Finnigan stumbled away, muttering and laughing to himself.

After a full five minutes, Ada said that it was safe to come out. They slipped out from behind the tapestry. Ada started to whistle quietly.

But Laura was distracted. She kept on thinking of Professor Finnigan and how he had not seen them.

Why was he laughing so hard? And, what was he doing wandering the corridors at night?  

Laura turned around and looked at the tapestry. There wasn’t anything funny about it as far as she could see. Ada stopped whistling.

“The animal is gone.” She said, as they started creeping back to the Hufflepuff common room. “We will have to try to catch it another day. That is the animal who keeps stealing everyone’s things. We have to stop it!”

                                                           Chapter 7

Laura woke up the next morning feeling exhausted.

She yawned and stretched as her roommate Lydia Wright, was getting changed.

“Sorry Laura, I can’t wait for you. Mary is waiting for me in the entrance hall. She needs help with her History of Magic homework.”

“That’s fine.” Laura mumbled as she hauled herself out of her four poster bed.

Lydia hurried off downstairs.

                                                             *

Ada and Laura made their way downstairs after Ada had come down from her dormitory. Ada and Laura had both been put in different dormitories. 

At least we are both in Hufflepuff! Laura thought.

“I was thinking, I was trying to figure out what that creature was last night. I have never seen it in a book before, but maybe we should look. Let’s go to the library before Herbology.” Ada said.

     Ada and Laura ate a hurried breakfast and rushed off to the library. There had been no sign of the horned animal.

“Right, you describe the creature and I will find it in this book.” Laura said when she had taken down Fantastic beasts and where to find them from a shelf.

“Um,” Ada thought. “Well, it had a horn. It was about the size of a small baby unicorn. Oh! And its horn looked as if it had been sat on and squashed. Well, it was still spiky, but it looked crumpled.”

Laura searched through the book but found nothing.

They both got up and scanned the shelves. They each pulled down about five books and took an hour to look through them. Ada had one book left when suddenly Laura cried out, “Oh no! We are late for our Herbology lesson!” They sprang up and shoved the books into the shelves. Ada quickly took out the last book, Mythical or not By Florence Potter (daughter of Luna Longbottom).

Then they pelted all the way to Herbology, talking all the way.

“I wonder why we didn’t find the creature in any of the books.” Ada panted as they passed the library doors.

“Maybe it is in the restricted section. It could be a dangerous animal.” Laura answered as they neared the front doors.

“I doubt it. It didn’t seem very dangerous to me.”

They ran out the doors and into the grounds.

“Oh by the way. Watch Professor Finnigan very closely. He was acting very strangely last night, don’t you agree?” Laura told Ada.

“Yes he was! I will keep my eyes peeled for strange behaviour.” Ada agreed.

As they ran into the greenhouses, they got a shock. Professor Finnigan wasn’t there! In his place was a pretty young lady with golden hair.

“Hello ladies. Why are you so late?” she asked sharply.

“We are terribly sorry Professor Knowels.” Ada quickly said, bowing to her.

Laura bowed too and lined up with the others. How had Ada known what her name was? Laura managed a quick glance at Ada. She looked petrified. Ada obviously knew Professor Knowles. The Professor had looked very surprised to see Ada too.

Everybody already had earmuffs on when Laura put her pink pair on.

“Connelly, Adams, we are re-potting mandrakes today.” Knowles told them sharply.

When everyone pulled the mandrakes from the pots, shrill screeching from the plants erupted into the air and filled the greenhouse.

Laura hurriedly planted her mandrake into another pot and covered it in soil.

“Professor Knowles,” Rubeus Potter said cautiously when he had planted his mandrake. “Where is Professor Finnigan?”

Knowles glared and walked over to him. “That, Mr Potter, is none of your business. Just because you are descended from the great Harry Potter does not mean that you have the right to stick your nose into other people’s business. Do you understand?”

Rubeus gulped. “Yes Professor.”

“Ten points from Gryffindor.” Knowles added as she walked away.

Rubeus was about to argue when Betty (Elizabeth) Potter jabbed him in the leg with his wand. Rubeus immediately shut his mouth.

                                                      *

Later in the common room, Ada was looking for the creature in Mythical or not.

“Oh Ada.” Laura said as she looked up from her homework. “How do you know Professor Knowles?”

“My mum knows her. Knowles lives in Bristol very near us. Although of course she lives in a big house not the slums.”

Suddenly Ada gasped. Her eyes were wide with excitement as she stared at the book in her lap. “Not. Definitely not mythical!” She cried as she jumped from her chair to show Laura.

“Look, look!” She exclaimed with excitement. She read out:

“The Crumple-horned Snorkack. This creature was made famous by Xenophilius Lovegood. He and his daughter travelled the world looking for it but alas, they never found it. When she was 98 years old -Luna Longbottom told the Daily Prophet that she had given up looking and that she had to admit her father may have been fantasizing. There have been many reported sightings of the Crumple-horned Snorkack but no evidence of its existence.

“Whoa.” Laura said, dumbfounded. “That creature that we have been chasing is a Crumple-horned Snorkack! Hang on, do you know if Luna Longbottom is still alive? I know that her husband Neville died a while ago. Luna must be really old if she is still living.”

“Are you saying that we should catch the Snorkack and give it to Luna?” Ada asked.

“Yes I am! But first we need to find out if she is still alive.”

They rushed out of the common room in the direction of the great hall.

It was lunch time and everyone was chatting very loudly as Laura and Ada dropped into their seats.

“Lydia, do you know if Luna Longbottom is still alive?” Laura asked her roommate as she picked up a piece of bread.

“Um, I don’t know. Why do you ask?”

Ada was about to tell her when Laura hit her on the leg under the table.

“Oh, um just because.” Ada hurriedly said.

“Ask one of the teachers. Surely they would know.” Lydia told them, indicating up to the table where the teachers sat.

“Good idea, thank you!” Ada said as she rushed off in that direction.

Laura ran after her.

“Why can’t I tell her?” Ada asked her when they were safely out of earshot.

“Because they will think we are total weirdos if they find out that we think that Crumple-horned Snorkack exists. Everybody thinks it is just a myth.” Laura answered.

They both walked up to the teachers table.

“Professor Bridge!” Laura called to their transfiguration teacher.

“Yes Miss Conelly?” He said, turning to them.

“We were wondering if Luna Longbottom is still alive.”

“Luna Longbottom? A strange question but yes, I believe she is. Very, very old but yes, still alive.”

“Okay thank you!” Ada cried as she rushed back to the Hufflepuff table.

                                                             Chapter 8

A month later, Laura wrote in her diary:

“Professor Knowles is still teaching Herbology. She refuses to tell anyone where Professor Finnigan is. Of course, the other teachers know but they also are not telling us either. Professor Knowles is really mean to everyone, especially the Potters for some reason. She keeps taking points away from Gryffindor for no reason whatsoever! Of course, I want the Hufflepuffs to win the house cup, but it is still unfair.  The Crumple-horned Snorkack keeps stealing things including a book that I gave Ada for her birthday! We have not tracked it down and caught it yet though.

There is a Quidditch match tomorrow between Hufflepuff and Slytherin! I have almost finished knitting my scarf that I am going to wear. Then I am going to magically enchant it so that it shouts for Hufflepuff. I can’t wait for tomorrow!

                                                                     *

An hour before the Quidditch match, Ada and Laura quickly gobbled up their porridge as the excited chatter grew around them. Tamar Philpott, the Hufflepuff seeker, was being prompted by her friends to eat as she sat there, looking green.

Ada walked up to Philpott and comforted her, telling her that she would do great and that she should eat to give her some energy.

Philpott nodded weakly as she picked up her spoon with a trembling hand and put it in her mouth. Ada patted her on the shoulder as she got up and walked to Laura.

“We should go to the pitch. We need to get some seats for ourselves.” Ada smiled as she picked up her bag. Laura nodded and stood up. Together they walked over to the Entrance Hall. Ada started whistling the Hogwarts anthem.

She was constantly whistling now. She was trying to see if the Snorkack was around.

They hadn’t seen it for ages. They had seen things scuttling around but it had usually been during lessons so they couldn’t go and catch it.

Ada and Laura took their seats at the pitch in the Hufflepuff area.

Suddenly cheers erupted from the stadium as the Slytherin team walked out onto the middle of the pitch and took off on their brooms. ­­­They hovered in the air waiting for the Hufflepuffs to come out. When they did, cheers five times louder than for the Slytherins erupted. The Hufflepuff team took off into the air and sat hovering opposite their opponents. Madame Weasley, the flying teacher, blew her whistle and let the balls out of their box. Immediately, the game began. Rebecca Matthews, the commentator for the game, squeaked out, “And the game begins! Abigail Coombes of Slytherin takes possession of the quaffle and zooms towards the hoops! Ramsey McGregor blocks the hoops and snatches he quaffle away from her. Oh, that was almost a goal for Slytherin, how sad!”

Matthews carried on in her squeaky voice, commentating. She was very biased and shrieked very loudly when Hufflepuff scored a goal. Then she refused to give them the point until Professor Bridge rapped her hard on the head with his wand.

At the end of the game, Hufflepuff had won with 180 points to 70 points, Jessica Howard, the beater, had gone to the hospital wing after falling off her broom, McGregor had been hit in the head by a bludger and Mary Bridge, the other beater, had gone missing and teachers were currently out looking for her.

                                                                    *

Ada hurried along the corridor to catch up with Laura as they walked to their Defence against the Dark Arts class. This was one of their favourite classes as their teacher, Professor Gaius Flint, was jolly, fat and kind.

Ada and Laura entered the classroom and sat down at their desks.

“Right! Let’s start now. Open your books to page 25!” Professor Flint roared out angrily.

This gave Laura a shock. Flint was usually kind and never shouted. She looked around at her classmates. They were all looking just as shocked as she was. Laura quickly opened her book to page 25.

“Today we shall be learning about the Boggart.” Flint resumed, glaring at them.

“Line up in front of this wardrobe!”

Everyone quickly shuffled into line, trying to be at the back so that they wouldn’t be noticed by their bad tempered Professor. Unfortunately, Laura somehow managed to be at the very front.

“Okay everyone, who knows what a Boggart is?” Shouted Flint.

Ada’s hand immediately shot into the air.

“Hermione Granger, Hermione Granger.” Whispered a mean boy called Dominic Archer. He had taunted her like this since the start of term. Ada glared at him and waved her hand in the air even higher.

“Yes, Adams?” Flint called.

“A Boggart is a shape shifter that usually lurks in dark spaces. It has no definite form, taking the shape of that which is most feared by the person who encounters it.” Ada quoted, smiling broadly.

“Good, 5 points to Hufflepuff.” Professor Flint said gruffly. “Right! Miss Connelly. You go first.”

Flint explained to them about Boggarts and Laura stepped up to the wardrobe with her wand out.

Professor Flint threw open the doors and a wobbly broomstick flew out, thrashing and writhing in the air. Laura looked upon it in terror. When she was three years old, she had been put on a broomstick by her brother. She had risen so high that when she fell off, she had broken both arms, her left leg and cut her forehead. Since then, she had never ridden on a broomstick again.

The broomstick Boggart was whizzing around the classroom now, turning upside-down, jerking and writhing wildly.  Laura pointed her shaking wand at the Boggart and said loudly, “Riddikulus!”

Immediately, the broom stopped wriggling and landed on the floor. Then it sprouted a second leg and started to tap dance loudly. Laura laughed, relieved that it was over.

“Very good. Move to the back of the line, Connelly.” Professor Flint said and beckoned the next person onwards.

Mya Fowler stepped forward and the Boggart immediately changed into a giant wasp! It turned its back on Fowler and pointed its stinger right at her, ready to strike. Fowler screamed as she spluttered, “RIDDIKULUS!” The huge wasp suddenly sprouted a pink tutu and twirled in the air as its yellow and black stripes started flashing bright and multi-coloured. It twirled so fast that it spun around and stung itself! Fowler grinned and skipped to the back of the line.

One by one, the students went up to face the Boggart. One girl called Katy Gale fainted when her fear in the shape of an ant came crawling up to her.

Finally, Ada’s turn came. She stepped up to the Boggart which had just been a snake and confronted it. The Boggart started to twist and turn until it resumed the shape of Professor Knowles. Ada turned pale and started to wobble on the spot. Quickly, Laura ran up to her and caught her just as she collapsed.

“She has fainted!” Laura shouted. “Someone get her some water!”

Professor Flint hurried up to them and muttered, “Aguamenti.”

A stream of water burst from the tip of his wand and it poured onto Ada’s face. However, she didn’t stir. Ada remained motionless in Laura’s arms.

Quickly, Laura, Professor Flint and a girl called Lizzie Fort, carried Ada to the hospital wing. As they were about to leave the classroom, Flint shouted over his shoulder, “Class dismissed! For homework, write a foot long of parchment about the ways that a Boggart could be useful.”

Laura was looking at Ada worryingly as they set her down on a bed in the hospital wing. Fort put a comforting hand on Laura’s shoulder and told her that Ada would be all right, she had only fainted.

Laura smiled and sat down next to her bed as the nurse bustled around busily.

                                                                     *

Two days later, Ada was still unconscious. Laura was panicking and trying not to think of all the possible reasons for Ada’s illness. After Potions, Laura rushed up to the hospital wing and sat down next to Ada’s bed. Despite trying to stop them, tears started to roll down Laura’s face. She sniffed loudly and Madam Blaise, the nurse, rushed over to her. She gave Laura a big hug.

“Now, now, don’t cry dearie! Nobody has ever seen anything like this before,” She indicated to Ada, “But we have called the very best Healers from St. Mungo’s and they are going to examine her this afternoon. Then they will tell us what they can do for your poor friend.”

Laura nodded.

“Can I be here when the Healers examine Ada?” She sniffed hopefully. Laura stared desperately into the nurse’s face, hoping to convince her.

 “Oh! Absolutely not!” Madame Blaise gasped. She quickly stood up and told her that the Healers were about to arrive and so Laura should leave.

Laura stood up slowly, and sadly walked away to lunch.

                                                        Chapter 9

That evening, as the Healers were about to leave, Laura hurriedly got called up to the hospital wing.

She quickly ran up and skidded to a halt beside Ada’s bed. There, 5 Healers stood at the end of it.

“I take it you are Miss Connelly, Miss Adam’s friend?” An old Healer asked her.

“Yes, Sir.”

“Well, we have done some research on your friend and I am sure she will be fine. However, as an extra precaution and so that we can research more on this new illness, we will be taking young Ada here to  

St Mungo’s. I know you will miss her terribly but it really is necessary for her health.”

Laura tried not to cry when she heard this but bit her trembling lip so hard that it started to bleed.

“Yes sir I understand.” Laura trembled and she looked over at her best friend Ada and prayed that she would be fine.

 “Now you may say goodbye but please be quick for we have a train to catch.” Another Healer said.

Laura walked over to Ada and hugged her hard, although being careful not to hurt her.

Then, the Healers picked her up on a stretcher and carried her away. Laura waited until they were completely out of sight until she ran out of the hospital wing all the way to her dormitory.  

There, she finally collapsed on her bed and burst into tears. She didn’t get much sleep that night, as she was so worried about Ada.

                                                                          *

In the morning, Laura was exhausted. She sat down with a thump at breakfast and wiped her red eyes.

Somehow, everyone already knew what had happened and people kept giving her a hug or saying how sorry they felt for her. Laura smiled at each person until her jaw hurt. So she got up and went over to the library to study for her next lesson. She pulled out a book from the shelves and the Snorkack invisibly stole it from her. Laura looked around her and the coast was clear. Then, she lunged for the book and caught hold of the Snorkack around the middle! It was struggling in her hands as she held the invisible creature aloft.

I’ve done it! I’ve caught the Snorkack!  She thought happily. Laura rushed out of the library in the direction of Hufflepuff tower. People stared at her as she ran along, holding her arms in the air, as it looked as if she was playing blind man’s bluff. But Laura didn’t care. She rushed into her dormitory and shoved the Snorkack inside her owl’s cage. The cage started to rattle and wiggle as the Snorkack moved about it. Laura remembered what the book had said that it ate.

Anything. It eats anything. That is so useful! She thought.

Laura rushed back down to breakfast and snatched 5 sausages, 2 eggs, 7 cucumbers and a handful of oats. That should last me a while!  

Then she gently pushed a sausage through the bars and she watched it hover, then get chomped up in the air.

                                                                          *

When the Christmas holidays were near, Ada still hadn’t come back to Hogwarts.

Laura missed her terribly. She had been able to hang out with some other Hufflepuff girls though which was nice.

One morning, Laura walked down to breakfast with Betty Potter, who had taken a liking to Laura and had felt sorry for her when Ada had left. Betty left for the Gryffindor table and Laura sat down at the Hufflepuff one. 

As she started to eat, the morning owl post came flying into the Great Hall and dropped letters and parcels on everyone. Three owls came soaring at Laura and dropped two letters and a parcel at her. Laura paid the owl for the Daily Prophet and all three of them took off again.

Laura reached for the parcel. It was from her parents. She quickly untied the string and inside was a letter and a box of her Mum’s homemade cauldron cakes. She put the letter in her pocket to read later and reached over for the second letter that the owls had brought. She gasped when she turned it over. It was from St Mungo’s! She quickly opened it and started to read. This is what the letter said:

Dear Miss Connelly,

Yesterday we named this new illness that Miss Adams has obtained, Boggarivitis.

Boggarivitis occurs when the victim confronts a Boggart and the person’s phobia is so great that they become unconscious and paralyzed for several weeks.

Now please do not worry about Miss Ada for she has the very best Healers looking after her. We are hoping that she will become conscious soon. We will keep you updated on your friend and hope you have a Merry Christmas!

Ringo Warduff,

St Mungo’s

Laura sighed and read it over again. She was so hoping that Ada would be there for Christmas.

                                                    Chapter 10

The next day, Laura packed up and left for home for the Christmas holidays. She boarded the train and sat in the same compartment as a girl called Eleanor Ray. She was really nice but they didn’t talk much.

                                                                     *

On January the 6^th, Laura wrote in her diary:

I had a really fun Christmas holiday with my family. My muggle friends came over for supper and we had such a great time. I got a mega box of Chocolate frogs from William and a Hufflepuff hat that my mum crocheted. I sent a massive box of all kinds of goodies for Ada who is still in St Mungo’s. I really miss her. She is still unconscious but I got a letter from a Healer saying that she is getting better.

I arrived back in Hogwarts yesterday and had my first lesson today. The Crumple-Horned Snorkack escaped! It is so annoying.

Laura walked along the corridor to her History of Magic class, chatting with Hannah Cawley from Gryffindor.

They both entered the classroom and sat down at a desk. The lesson was boring as usual so Cawley and Laura just passed jokes on a slip of paper to each other. Finally, the lesson ended and Laura rushed away to Charms.

                                                                       *

That evening, Laura sat in the common room doing her homework. It was for potions. She liked potions, but she didn’t like her teacher, Professor Taffeta Dingo. Dingo was mean and a complete perfectionist. For homework, Professor Dingo had told them to write two feet of information about Amortentia, a love potion. Laura had seen several students slip the love potion they had brewed into flasks to take with them. One boy got caught and had detention with Dingo that evening.  What enraged Laura and her classmates however was that Rebecca Matthews, the teacher’s pet, had taken a full flask of the potion right in front of Professor Dingo and hadn’t been told off! In fact, to make matters worse, Professor Dingo smiled right at her and Matthews smiled back! Laura’s insides bubbled with anger.

An hour later, the last person except for Laura got up to go to bed. Laura grumbled as she put a sentence down on her parchment. She was so bored. Laura’s eyelids started to drop and her mouth lolled open. Soon, she was asleep.

                                                                        *

Laura woke when she was tapped gently on the shoulder.  She stared blurrily up at the face that was peering curiously down at her. Laura yawned and stretched and knocked the person’s glasses off.

“Oh dear!” The man exclaimed as he bent down to pick them up.

“Sorry!” Laura apologized.

“Miss Connelly. I am a Healer from St Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. I have come to Hogwarts to bring Miss Ada Adams home.” 

Laura squealed with delight and hugged the man hard (and knocking his glasses off again) before racing over to the common room door and peeking out. There, Ada came hobbling along the corridor with crutches. Ada beamed from ear to ear and Laura went running up to her. Laura quite forgot that Ada still was a bit shaky and hugged her so hard that she groaned with pain.

“Ow! Careful Laura! It’s nice to see you too!” Ada grinned as Laura helped her back to the common room. There, she heaved into an armchair and began to tell Laura everything.

“When I became conscious,” Ada told her, “I woke up to about ten Healers peering over me. Then they started yelling and celebrating that I was awake. I had no idea where I was, but a very strict lady ran into the ward and told all the Healers off and shooed them away. I had a terrible headache and my back was sore. The strict Healer gave me something to eat and some healing potion. The next day was Christmas day and the Healers brought me your huge box of goodies. Then, this morning I got given these crutches to walk with. The Healers tried to help me walk with magic, but it was no use. I travelled back to Hogwarts this afternoon but it took forever. So, here I am.” Ada finished with a sigh and leaned back in her chair. The Healer that had brought her back had been standing in a corner of the room, listening to them. He came up and put a hand on Ada’s shoulder.

“Look after yourselves, alright? I will be coming next week to check on you.” And he walked away.

Click here for the last three chapters of my story!