I looked over at Harry and Ron, both of whom were looking more than a little nervous... Harry's face was even slightly green. Then I glanced over at Ginny, and found her looking the exact same way.
"So... is this like really bad? You know... like getting expelled bad?" I asked, though I already knew the answer.
I mean... based on how everyone reacted to this amazing experience, I know it's got to be pretty bad...
"Yeah..." Ron said quietly. "Sorry for... you know... getting you guys expelled before you even started..."
He looked at Ginny for a second, but then shifted his gaze towards the floor... clearly guilty.
"It's not your fault." I said to him... even though it kind of was. "I mean..." I trailed off, not knowing what else to say.
I guess I'm just really bad at talking to people... and knowing what to say... and when to say it...
I'm just hopeless at this stuff...
"No... it is. Ginny was right before... we should have just used Hedwig." Ron replied, running his hand through his hair and rolling his eyes at himself.
I just bit my lip, assuming Hedwig was the owl, as Harry stepped closer to him and said something too quietly for me to hear. I truly had no idea what to say...
I felt someone nudge my arm softly, and turned to find Ginny looking at me with worry clearly in her gaze. "Aelynn... I don't want to be expelled."
She said it softly so Harry and Ron couldn't hear... they were having their own conversation anyways... but the anxiety in her voice was clear and made me look at her in a nervous way.
What am I supposed to say...
"I know... I don't either. I mean... I just found out this school existed and it's literally the most interesting thing that has ever happened to me in all of my life..." I trailed off for a second, realizing how true those words were. "We're not going to be expelled... okay? We did nothing wrong. The train platform closed... and we still have no idea how or why. That's not our fault. We used the only other thing we could think of to get us to this school... So it's either they expel us for something that wasn't our fault or they look at common sense and see that this whole car thing was all a couple of kids could think of after something occurred that was out of our hands."
I finished my rather long rant, looked back at Ginny whose expression had shifted into something more hopeful as she nodded slowly.
"I can think of many other things you could have done..." a voice said from behind Ginny and I.
We both jumped and spun around. In the doorway stood Snape, his scowl written all over his face... but it wasn't he who had spoken. In front of him stood a tall and stern-looking professor, her hair pulled back in a tightly knit bun and square glasses perched on her nose.
"Miss Reyner, is it?" she asked quietly, his eyes extremely angry and her lips pressed firmly together.
I nodded, and looked at her with a sheepish expression on my face. "Erm... what I meant was-"
"Sit." she said, looking at all four of us and completely cutting me off. She pulled out a long wand and waved pointedly at the fireplace and it burst into flame. We all quickly backed into the chairs by the fire. "Explain." she said in a rather ominous voice.
Ron quickly launched into the story, explaining great detail how they couldn't get through the barrier.
"-so we really had no choice, Professor McGonagall, we couldn't get on the train..." he finished, fidgeting with his hands and looking nervously at Professor McGonagall.
"Like I said before, I can think of multiple other things you could have done... Why didn't you send us a letter by owl? I believe you have one..." the professor said coldly to Harry.
"I... well... I didn't think..." he stammered hopelessly.
"That," said Professor McGonagall, "is obvious."
I looked at her incredulously.
"How would that be obvious... I mean I didn't even know any of this existed until only a couple months ago... so excuse me if I didn't think an owl was the answer to missing a train after a magical barrier didn't let us through." I retorted quickly, my expression one of complete annoyance.
I mean seriously... these people are just expecting me to know every one of the things that are "obvious"... They're not obvious to me!
"Disrespect will not be tolerated at Hogwarts..." a voice said from the doorway. I jumped again looking towards the still open doorway.
Standing there was a tall elderly man with long silver hair and beard. He had a long, crooked nose on which half moon spectacles were perched, sitting in front of twinkling blue eyes.
Okay... I should just never speak again... I mean what are the chances of having someone coming exactly when I say something I probably shouldn't have... twice!
I mean come on... I guess I'm just that unlucky...