When they got back up to the castle Luke wondered what Professor McGonagall was going to do with them. She didn’t say a word as they followed her up to the hospital wing, where Madam Pomfrey gave quite a shriek when she came to know where they’d been.
‘First-years in the Forbidden Forest! You’re lucky there’s anything left for me to patch up!’ she said, looking horrified at Gordon’s leg. ‘What about these two, Minerva?’
Luke was about to say that he felt quite queasy and that he had lost a lot of blood from the Devil’s Snare’s lashes, but Professor McGonagall spoke before he could.
‘Oh, these two are all right, Poppy. I’m sure those cuts are nothing more than superficial, and they’re both more than capable of applying their own Murtlap Essence. Do you think you could send Mr Owen down to me when you’ve healed that leg?’
Madam Pomfrey did not seem entirely happy to let Gordon leave the hospital wing, but eventually she agreed. Professor McGonagall thanked her before sweeping Luke and Kyle out of the room. Soon, they found themselves sitting in silence in her office while she marked some homework in front of them. Eventually, there was a knock at the door and a very meek-looking Gordon walked in. Luke was pleased to see that his leg appeared to be fully healed.
Of course, at that particular time, Luke felt he had little else to be pleased about. In the end, Professor McGonagall was rather lenient with them, probably because she felt that being chased around the Forbidden Forest by a wyvern was punishment enough. She did give them all detention (which, as Gordon pointed out, was the pretty much the least she could’ve done), but this was to be spent with Hagrid in the forest, and Luke could think of a lot worse things to be doing. They were to help him and Charlie with the arrangements for taking the wyvern to Romania, which she assured them would mean little more than filling a box with straw and fresh meat.
When they got out of her office, the three of them headed back up to Gryffindor tower. Now that he knew about Charlie and the store theft, Luke was desperate to ask Kyle about who had been poisoning him. Kyle however, still seemed to be quite distressed about everything in the forest; so instead, they decided that talking about the Quidditch Cup might be the better option.
‘You didn’t really miss much,’ said Gordon, looking like he found the memory almost as painful as his wounds from the forest.
‘I thought it was exciting enough,’ offered Luke. ‘I just felt we were rather hard done by, we certainly didn’t deserve to lose.’
‘What do you think they’ll be doing back in the common room?’ muttered Kyle meekly. ‘I don’t know if I could face them, I must’ve been the only Gryffindor to miss it.’
‘I have no idea, but whatever it is it can’t be any worse than the rest of what went on tonight! God knows I don’t want to go to bed with that bloody wyvern at the front of my mind,’ said Luke.
Kyle gave a rather small smile to this as they walked through a hidden passageway behind a tapestry towards the Gryffindor tower. Soon, they found themselves in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady.
‘Lionsmyle Heath.’
As the portrait swung open, the three of them surprised to hear a lot of noise come out of the hole. In fact, it seemed like they had decided to have a party anyway, which Luke thought was a rather strange way to celebrate defeat. As the climbed in, they saw the huge banners that had lined the Gryffindor stands were now draped around the common room walls. It soon became apparent that a few people had felt the need to try and cheer everyone else up. For every person singing or dancing, there were two moping at one of the tables with a butterbeer in hand. Luke noticed Leia was sitting alone in the corner with several empty bottles around her.
‘Where the hell have you guys been?’ asked Oliver, running up to them. ‘I thought you were only going for a…’
Oliver’s eyes flitted over the dirt and the holes from the bracken left on their robes. A look of sudden comprehension fell across his face, and he opened his mouth to speak.
‘Don’t ask,’ said Luke, picking at one of the cuts on his face. ‘We’re going to get changed; we’ll be back down in a second.’
Oliver seemed to be struggling to resist the temptation not to ask, so Luke, Gordon and Kyle tore up the spiral staircase to the dormitories, got out of their muddy and torn robes and pulled on their tracksuit bottoms.
‘Did Oliver say anything about me not making it to the match?’ asked Kyle, pulling on a green polo neck. ‘He won’t be upset, will he?’
‘Tell him you were in another stand,’ said Gordon.
‘Yeah, I don’t think it’s in his nature to understand anything that gets in the way of Quidditch,’ said Luke, giving a sly wink to Gordon. ‘I wouldn’t bother telling him about the forest.’
Kyle looked as if he would rather have dinner with Snape than tell anyone about what had gone on there. He even tried to tell Gordon and Luke that he’d rather stay up here and do some revision, so they had to drag him down the stairs.
*
Although only a few people were making any attempts to spread some cheer, the resulting pooling of misery meant that most of the common room’s occupants did not get to bed until late.
By one o’clock, Luke and Gordon were both feeling absolutely exhausted, and of the first-years only them, Kyle and Oliver remained. Percy having been one of the first to get to bed (‘I’ve got to be up to go to the library tomorrow…’) and then the girls had all gone up a little after that. Luke was pleased to see that Kyle had cheered up considerably as the night had gone on, and Oliver had eventually managed to see the brighter side of things himself.
Now, even most of the Quidditch team seemed to be in bed. The only ones left were Leia, who had fallen asleep at her butterbeer covered table, and Emily, who now curled up in an armchair with Bill, both of them snoring soundly.
‘Well…’ yawned Oliver. ‘…I’m shattered. I’ll see you guys tomorrow.’ He pulled himself out of his chair and headed up to the dormitories, his eyelids drooping so much that he almost walked into the girls instead.
‘I thought he’d never leave,’ said Luke. ‘Listen Kyle, I’m sorry to bring this up again, but I wanted to ask about all that poisoning business.’
Kyle sighed and nodded. Luke, feeling an opening for the first time, pressed the point.
‘Whoever’s been poisoning you mate, you’ve got to tell us. If you’re scared of them and we can’t help, tell Professor McGonagall. You can’t let them get away with this. We’ll protect you from them!’
Luke tried to look both sympathetic and brave at the same time. To his surprise, Kyle uttered a small snort of hollow laughter.
‘You’ll protect me from them?’ he laughed mirthlessly, determinedly staring at a spot on the floor in front of him.
‘Whatever it takes! You can count on us!’ continued Luke. While Kyle might not have faith in them to protect him, he thought, he was sure he could sort out anyone who tried. Kyle was still staring at the floor however, and took a deep breath before answering. Gordon noticed his eyes were turning a little red again, and hoped he wasn’t going to burst into tears again.
‘It was me.’
‘There we go! That wasn’t so…WHAT?’
‘I did it,’ repeated Kyle. ‘I…I didn’t mean to!’ he exclaimed, seeing Gordon and Luke’s astonished expressions. ‘I just…I mean you were trying to make your own potions, and you seemed to get really good at it, so…’
‘Why on earth didn’t you tell us?’ exclaimed Luke, his face still a picture of disbelief.
‘I…I…didn’t have enough rat’s liver, so I took some of your ingredients to make it! You seemed so angry in the hospital wing, and I thought if you’d have known you’d have been angry at me…’
‘I was angry because I thought you’d been poisoned! If you’d have told me that you were making potions I could’ve helped you!’ said Luke rather fiercely.
‘You seemed really busy…’ whimpered Kyle.
‘I was busy trying to find out what happened to you!’ shouted Luke, so loudly that Oldfield and his friends briefly looked round, before turning back to whatever they were doing.
‘Calm down,’ said Gordon. ‘At least we know now. Why did you keep doing it though? I’d have thought the first experience would’ve been enough to put you off.’
‘Well after the first time I thought I’d need to get better at it,’ said Kyle, meekly.
‘Well at least we know why you’re in Gryffindor,’ said Gordon, with a smile.
‘And why you’re not in Ravenclaw,’ muttered Luke.
*
After all the happenings in the forest, and having found out the truth about Kyle’s poisoning, the tail end of term seemed to pass by very quickly. Luke and Gordon passed all their exams, with most of the Gryffindor first-years doing the same. Percy got the highest grades, and made this clear in no uncertain terms by talking about it every time there seemed to be chance.
‘Of course, I was disappointed with my Potions score. “Acceptable”? I thought I deserved “Exceeds Expectations” at the least! And it was a shame we couldn’t have taken a Defence Against the Dark Arts paper. I’d been reading The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self Protection cover to cover each night to prepare for that one. It was strange of Professor Hollowhorn to resign like that.’
‘Strange,’ muttered Luke, winking to Gordon.
‘I’m surprised you didn’t do better in Potions, you know,’ said Percy, oblivious to their joke. ‘I mean, you really deserved an “Outstanding” for your practical. I’d complain if it was me.’
Luke shrugged. ‘I gave up any hope of Professor Snape giving me good marks a long time ago. Do we have to go through this again, Perce? It’s not like it matters anyway.’
Percy seemed aghast at Luke’s attitude, but did not pursue the matter further and simply went back to his copy of the Daily Prophet. Gordon leaned back in his chair and put his arms behind his head.
‘I hope they don’t get a replacement for Hollowhorn soon,’ he said. ‘I could get used to these free periods.’
‘Might I remind you,’ started Percy, looking up from his newspaper. ‘That these periods are now for independent study, not just lazing around. And it’s Professor Hollowhorn,’ he said, rather indignantly.
‘Well it isn’t now,’ added Luke. ‘That daft old beggar is just Mr Hollowhorn now.’
Percy looked scandalised at this.
‘Professor Hollowhorn was never a daft old beggar! I always thought you liked him, anyway. You asked enough questions in his classes,’ he said rather shortly.
‘Yeah well, just because someone is useful doesn’t mean I like them. Don’t suppose I could borrow your Transfiguration homework could I, Perce?’
Gordon stifled a chuckle at this, and Luke tried to make his grin look as innocent as possible, which only caused Gordon to laugh more. Percy shot an angry look at Luke before scooping up his bag and stomping off to the dormitories.
‘Well, that got rid of him. You’d think we’d have just taken our N.E.W.T.s the way he’s talking,’ said Luke, pouring himself another glass of Pumpkin juice from the jug. ‘Like we were ever going to worry about them after that wyvern. I swear I’ll never be nervous for anything after that.’
‘Well, you’ll get to wave goodbye to it tonight; we’ve got our detention with Hagrid. He wants us down at his hut for five o’clock. Apparently Charlie and him are getting it taken to Romania by broomsticks! I don’t know what they’ll want from us.’
‘Well if they’ve got a sleeping draft for the thing, it shouldn’t be too bad,’ replied Luke. ‘I didn’t mind it nearly so much when it was unconscious.’
*
When they arrived at Hagrid’s cabin that evening, he was already waiting outside with Charlie. Charlie looked extremely excited, though Hagrid seemed rather glum in comparison.
‘Righ’. Now yeh’re ‘ere we’d better get started,’ muttered Hagrid. ‘I’ve got him tethered in a clearin’ deep in the forest. I took most o’ the stuff he’ll need down there earlier. Jus’ need to tek this down now,’ he said, pointing to a gigantic rucksack that lay on the ground beside him. As he heaved it onto his back Luke saw that the bottom of it seemed to be dripping blood, and there were several pockets in it that seemed to have large bottles in them.
‘I’ll be lighting the way,’ said Charlie with a smile. ‘You shouldn’t need your wands, but it might be an idea to keep an eye out.’
‘In case something attacks us?’ said Luke rather warily. Hagrid let out a low snort.
‘Nah. I’ve spoken teh the centaurs, an’ there’s nowt else on the way. It’s Hollowhorn an’ the Ministry we gotta keep an eye out fer,’ he muttered, as they walked into the forest.
As it happened, the journey through the forest this time was entirely uneventful. Luke supposed that even here there weren’t that many creatures that would think twice about attacking someone the size of Hagrid. They had been walking for nearly an hour, when the thick canopy of trees above them gave way to the stars. In the centre of the clearing stood the wyvern. It was illuminated in the moonlight, and the effect seemed make its scales shine silver and ripple. Even Luke had to admit that it looked quite magnificent.
‘He’s a beauty, ain’t he?’ said Hagrid, standing back and admiring the creature. ‘Well I s’pose we’d better get crackin’,’ he said eventually, walking over to a massive straw filled crate on the edge of the clearing and setting down his rucksack, absent-mindedly pulling out what appeared to be a dead goat and throwing it to wyvern, which caught it in it’s massive jaws and started thrashing it around. Luke quickly took several steps back from it.
They spent the next hour packaging the crate with more straw, several dead rats and a huge baby bottle of Firewhisky. Luke wondered if it was a sensible idea to put a monster with a penchant for engulfing whole areas of the forest in flames into a wooden crate with some flammable liquid and straw. He got the feeling that this wasn’t the first creature Hagrid or Charlie had done this to, however, and went along with their better judgement.
‘Okay. Jus’ gotta put him innit now,’ said Hagrid, brushing the last of the straw off his huge hands.
Luke looked up at the wyvern and back at Hagrid. Surely he didn’t expect them to get it into the box. Even Hagrid himself would have a job trying to keep a hold on that thing. Yet, to Luke’s surprise, Charlie simply went over to the post it was tied at, gave the creature a friendly pat on the snout, and untied it.
‘Keep yer wands to yer sides you two,’ said Hagrid. ‘They don’ like magic too much do wyverns, an’ this one even less so since Hollowhorn had his way wit’ it.’
Luke looked over to Gordon. His facial expression mirrored Luke’s. Although he believed that Hollowhorn might have been a little reckless with it, the idea of putting away your wand when confronted with a fifteen-foot tall creature that breathed fire didn’t seem very comforting.
‘That’s it,’ said Hagrid, as Charlie walked the wyvern over to the crate like some huge scaly dog. Luke felt a bead of sweat drip down his forehead. Hagrid seemed completely unperturbed by this and walked over to the creature and wrapped his massive arms around its neck in what struck Luke as a particularly foolhardy embrace. The wyvern however simply gave Hagrid’s face a massive lick, uttering a small belch, sending a goat bone flying over Hagrid’s shoulder.
‘Come on Hagrid,’ said Charlie. ‘They’ll be here any minute, we’d better get it tucked away.’
Hagrid let go of the wyvern and gave it one more sad pat on the snout. ‘Yeah, yeh’re righ’,’ he agreed mournfully. He took the rope from Charlie and pulled the wyvern towards the crate. To Luke and Gordon’s utter amazement, it got into the box without the slightest bit of fuss.
‘That’s it,’ said Charlie, helping the wyvern tuck its tail into the crate. Luke saw his hands go dangerously close to one of its spikes. ‘It looks like the handlers are here, Hagrid.’
Sure enough several hooded figures were now swooping down out of the sky on broomsticks. They landed gracefully in clearing below them, and immediately came over to examine the creature before Charlie sealed it in.
‘Ahh…a veal beauty ov a wyvern vat. Ar’ you Hagrid?’ said the first of them to Charlie.
‘Nah, that’d be me,’ said Hagrid standing up. Most of the dragon handlers seemed to be shocked at the size of him, but Hagrid did not appear to notice, and only had eyes for the now shut away wyvern. ‘He will be alrigh’ wit’ yehs won’t he?’
‘He vill be fine,’ said the lead handler, fastening straps between the broomsticks in order to prepare a harness for the thing. ‘I don’t mean to vude, but iv vat is all ve vould rather not stop vor long. Ve sooner ve are gone, ve sooner ve vill be back home.’
‘Er… there is one more thing,’ said Charlie, rummaging in his robe pockets. ‘I was wondering if you needed any help over there this summer. The headmaster has provided this letter of recommendation (he handed an envelope to the handler, who examined it before pocketing it), and I have got some experience,’ he finished, with a nervous smile.
‘So ve see,’ smirked the handler. ‘Vell I can’t deny ve could use some help at ve sanctuary; I shall put in a vord for you. Ve’ll be in touch.’
The rest of the handlers had already mounted their brooms, and were now testing the harness by hovering a little off the ground. The belts that were holding the crate did not look thick enough to support the weight of such a thing, but they did not seem to strain at all. Luke supposed that they had been enchanted to support the heavy weight. When the lead handler had mounted his broom, they began to rise very slowly into the air, before turning around to where they had come from, and shooting off into the night sky.
‘Gettin’ a job at a dragon sanctuary eh?’ said a now grinning Hagrid to Charlie. ‘I’d give me righ’ arm fer that. Always wanted a proper dragon.’
‘We’ll have to see,’ smiled Charlie, a little intrepidly. ‘Obviously I’d love to get a job there, but I don’t know what they’ll say. I’ve not even started my OWLs yet.’
‘I’m sure if Professor Dumbledore’s suggested yeh, yeh’ll be fine,’ said Hagrid supportively. ‘Bes’ be headin’ back now, I guess. It’s nearly seven o’clock, an’ I told Professor McGonagall I’d have yehs back fer eight.’
Luke and Gordon nodded but didn’t say anything. If Charlie did get his job in Romania, he was probably going to get bandaged so often, that by the time he got back next year, he’d look as if he’d been mummified.
*
‘Are you still going to come over to my house this summer?’ asked Oliver, as the fields outside the train window began to give way to the outskirts of London. ‘If you’re serious about trying to get on the Quidditch team, you’ll need to get some practice in.’
‘Sure!’ replied Gordon. ‘I’ll have to get a broom first though. Maybe we could go to Diagon Alley at some point.’
‘You can borrow Calumn’s over summer. We may as well wait until the reading list comes in before we go to Diagon Alley. It’s an absolute nightmare going with my mum anyway; she can’t seem to walk past a shop without buying something from it. Can I get your address?’
Luke stared idly out of the window as Gordon and Oliver began swapping addresses excitedly. As the red bricks of old, terraced houses were replaced modern shops and offices, he wondered what his mother would say about going off to another wizard’s house this summer.
‘Are you going to go to the trials, Luke?’ asked Oliver. ‘I’d have thought that Rickson and Michael would keep their places as beaters, but you never know.’
Luke shrugged and turned back to him.
‘I don’t think it’s really worth it. The only places that are going to be free are Chaser and Keeper, and if you guys are going to be trying out, then I don’t really have a hope.’
Oliver started to voice his disapproval at Luke’s negative attitude, but Luke continued over him.
‘I’ll still come over this summer, though. I need something to remind me of what I’m coming back to.’
‘Well, it’ll be pretty boring if you don’t want to play Quidditch,’ said Oliver, raising one of his eyebrows. ‘Still, if you want to come that’d be great. What about you, Kyle?’
Kyle lowered the comic he was reading (The Adventures of Martin Miggs, the Mad Muggle) and looked at Oliver as though he had just passed him the key to all the vaults at Gringotts.
‘I’d love to come!’ he beamed. ‘I’ll ask my dad when we get off the train! We could go over our school work as well!’
Luke was sure Kyle’s eyes had flitted over to him as he’d said this, and he afforded himself a small smile as he turned back to the window. The train was beginning to slow down now, and Luke noticed that several other railway tracks were now running parallel to theirs. They couldn’t be far from platform nine and three-quarters now. Luke stood up and began hauling his rucksack down from the luggage rack.
Eventually, the train slowed right down and the platform began to slide into view outside Luke’s window. It seemed like it had been just yesterday that they were first on the platform. As the train ground to a halt Luke saw his mother standing on the platform with a woman whose bright red hair clearly marked her out as Percy’s mother, both of them peering at the train windows trying to catch sight of them. Luke slung his bag over his shoulder and opened the carriage door. Gordon and Kyle did the same, while Oliver stuffed the piece of parchment with Gordon’s address into his bag.
‘Come on, Oliver! If we don’t get off quickly we’ll be stuck behind everyone,’ said Luke, leaning on the carriage door and poking his head out of it to see if anyone was in the corridor. He noticed that several other first-years seemed to have had a similar idea, and were now dragging trunks down it.
As the train finally ground to halt, Luke tore out of the corridor with his luggage at exactly the same time as about thirty other first-years. The sounds of bumping trunks and winces as various toes were trodden on filled the corridor, as they forced their way towards the train doors. Luke and Gordon soon found themselves being pushed out of the train doors and onto the platform. Without warning Luke’s mother had wrapped her arms around him and Gordon, while Mrs Weasley looked eagerly on for sight of Bill, Charlie or Percy emerging.
‘Oh, it’s wonderful to see you little ones!’ said Mrs Oakshot, finally releasing them. ‘You’ll be coming home with us, Gordon. Your mum and dad have got work and we agreed that it made more sense for you to come back with us.’
Gordon nodded as he and Luke began hauling their bags and trunks onto the luggage trolley. Mrs Oakshot had begun rearranging the order of bags to make things rather less top heavy, when Oliver came over with his parents.
Oliver’s father had the appearance of a man whose career had been in wrestling rather than wizardry. Though his dark blue robes were now pushed out by a slightly portly figure, he walked in a manner that suggested he was far fitter than he looked. His shoulders were so broad and his arms so thick, that had it not been for his neatly trimmed grey hair and beard, Luke might’ve thought he was related to Hagrid. By his side, Oliver’s mother looked tiny in comparison, and the top of her blonde curls only just reached her husband’s shoulders.
‘Mum, Dad, this is Luke and Gordon. They’re in Gryffindor too,’ said Oliver. His parents smiled down at them and Luke and Gordon tried to smile back. Luke found himself rather distracted by Oliver’s father’s teeth, which seemed far too perfect to have been like that naturally. To Luke’s relief, they were spared a rather forced conversation by his mother, who leaned over and began introducing herself. Luke noticed that several feet away, Percy was being hugged by his mother, while Charlie was talking excitedly to his father about something Luke couldn’t make out, though he was sure he heard Romania mentioned. Beyond them Emily was apparently introducing a rather nervous looking Bill to her parents.
‘Oliver mentioned that your boys might like to come over and stay this summer,’ said Oliver’s father to Mrs Oakshot, smiling genially. ‘They’re more than welcome, of course.’
‘Oh! Well, I’d be happy to let Luke come, and I’ll tell Gordon’s mother about it. I’m sure she’ll be more than happy. Can I take your telephone number? We’ll have to speak about it at greater length.’
Oliver’s father seemed to blink rather blankly at this statement, as if he had misheard what Mrs Oakshot had said. His wife seemed to be tugging on the sleeve of his robes to catch his attention, but he appeared not to notice.
‘A what, sorry? A taleefon number you say?’ he said, chortling a little. ‘I’m afraid we’re a little beyond with the technology these days! We’re still using owls and Floo powder! If we could have your address I’m sure that would be a great deal easier!’
Now it was Mrs Oakshot’s turn to look bemused.
‘Floo powder? I’m afraid I…well I’m not familiar…we’re not really wizards you see…’
Luke looked up and saw a fleeting look of horror splash across Oliver’s father’s features. Within a second, however, the look had been replaced once again by a broad grin. Luke thought there was a touch of nervousness in his eyes, however.
‘Muggles eh? Well…I…err…my grandfather was a Muggle you know,’ laughed Oliver’s father rather uncertainly. ‘Hence our surname. Many a person we’ve met who thought we were Muggles because of it! Isn’t that right, Christine?’ he said, turning rather quickly to his wife. She murmured something in agreement, all the while smiling rather fixedly.
‘Yes, he certainly left his mark,’ continued Oliver’s father. ‘Not that it’s a bad thing, of course…Arthur! How delightful to see you!’
Luke looked up to see Percy walking over with his father. Oliver’s father looked absolutely delighted to see him, and almost ran over to shake him by the hand. Mr Weasley seemed rather taken aback by this.
‘Hello, Barzalby, is everything all right? You seem a little red in the face.’
‘Oh I’m fine,’ chortled Oliver’s father again. ‘I don’t suppose you’ve met Jean here have you, Arthur? Her son is in Gryffindor with Percy and Oliver.’
As soon as Mr Weasley spotted Luke’s mother, he immediately swept over to speak to her.
‘You must be Mrs Oakshot!’ he said excitedly, shaking her hand. ‘Arthur Weasley; lovely to meet you! Percy’s told us all about your son “’
Luke watched in horror as his mother and Percy’s father talked animatedly. Soon, Mr Weasley had been joined by his wife, and the three of them seemed to talk about everything from Dumbledore to rubber ducks. Finally the conversation seemed to wind itself to an end, but not before Mrs Oakshot had piped up…
‘“ could we exchange addresses? I daresay our boys will want to contact each other over the summer and if I know Luke he’ll have probably forgotten to give his.’
Luke was about to explain to his mother that there was a very good reason why he had not bothered to swap addresses with Percy, but decided that perhaps now was not the best time to explain it. In any case, his mother was now scribbling down the Weasleys’ address on the back of a receipt, so there wasn’t much he could do to complain anyway.
‘I guess I’ll see you two over summer then,’ said Oliver.
‘You better believe it,’ said Gordon, grinning. ‘Let us know when you’re free won’t you?’
‘I reckon I’ll be free most summer,’ sighed Oliver back. ‘My village isn’t the most exciting place in the world. You guys coming will probably be the highlight of the summer. Maybe we could get Charlie and Bill over. I’m sure they’d be up for a game of Quidditch!’
Luke smiled at the thought. Given Charlie’s job applications this year, he wondered if he might be turning up in Oliver’s back yard flying on something far larger than a broomstick.
The Odd Gryffindors - Book One of the Evil Kneazle Series by AurorKeefy
Chapter Notes: And so the Odd Gryffindors comes to a close! Beta thanks for this chapter to Hermoine Jean Granger!
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Chapter Endnotes:
And so we reach the end of our journey, or at least the first leg! Thanks to all my betas, but especially to Hermoine Jean Granger and Snape's Talon - who has sadly vacated the boards. A final word of thanks to YOU. Thanks for sticking with the Odd Gryffindors, and hopefully you've enjoyed reading this book as much as I've enjoyed writing it!
Luke and Gordon will return, in...Gordon Owen and the as-yet-untitled Second Book!...coming January 2009!