Chapter 2: HB: Humungous Bighead

Second Year

"Carlie," somebody called, another voice I recognized without having to turn around. I saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione waving to me from their seats in Florean Flortescue's Ice Cream Parlor. It was such a sudden shock to see so many familiar faces. I was loving every minute of it.

"Hey guys," I said rushing over so happy to see them. Florean Flortescue's smelt heavenly. They each stood up from their seats and quickly hugged me. I sat down on the spare seat. "How were your summers? Wow Ron you look really tan," I laughed, actually it looked like he got loads more of freckles. "Was Egypt nice?" I saw his clipping in the Daily Prophet.

Ron began telling me all about his trip in Egypt and how they got to go into lost muggle Pyramids. They seemed incredible to explore, strangely a few of the pyramids were protected by Wizarding spells, which explains why they're lost. Hermione took a short trip to France with her parents. I then remembered something I wanted to ask Harry. "I overhead someone saying something about you 'blowing up' you're aunt, is that true? I mean did she actually explode?" I asked curiously.

"No, I didn't kill her or anything," Harry said like he had to explain this a lot. "She just blew up like a Balloon and floated away."

"And you weren't expelled for this?" I asked Harry with a laugh in disbelief.

"Nope," Harry responded. "Actually, I was more worried about being arrested." I laughed.

We talked for a bit longer, Hermione was taking more extra classes than Harry, Ron, and I added up. She was even taking Muggle Studies. What was the point of that when your parents are muggles and you grew up the muggle lifestyle? We headed over to the pet shop. A cat attacked Ron and Scabbers ran off, so all of us but Hermione ran after him. Three minutes later Hermione walked out carrying the cat. Its name was Crookshanks and an argument between Ron and Hermione broke out again due to her buying the cat. Finally we headed back to the Leaky Cauldron. "Scars!" Jake called. He was sitting in the lobby. "I didn't think you were going to show up, where did you even go?" he joked.

"Umm," I began to say. "I was just walking around in the stores. I ran into Harry, Ron, and Hermione." I decided not to mention me running into the Malfoy's or wandering down Knockturn alley.

We all ate dinner together. The entire Weasley family joined us. Mr. Weasley told us that the security on Hogwarts was going to be a lot stricter this year and he kept warning Harry to not wander. He also brought up Sirius Black quite a few times and said that the Ministry has had no luck in finding him. After that we all separated and went to our rooms. Jake and the guys had a problem with their reservations and only managed to get one room instead of two. Mrs. Weasley offered for me to stay with Hermione and Ginny. Thankfully they didn't mind. As I fell asleep, I totally forgot that we were going back to Hogwarts tomorrow!

"Carlie, wake up or the train will leave without you!" Hermione was saying. I shot up and looked around. "Wow you sleep like a rock." She laughed. "I've been trying to get you up for fifteen minutes, and you weren't moving. Ginny was about to go get a glass of water." I glanced at Ginny who smiled weakly. I laughed.

"Well I'm up now," I said with a yawn. It was difficult to push the warm sheets away from me but I managed to pull myself out of bed. We got dressed and headed down to breakfast. Everyone was seated around a long table and was almost done eating already. Percy walked in and walked over to me.

"Scarlett," Percy said in a formal tone. I noticed he used my full first name. "I've never properly introduced myself." I knew he was Ron's older brother. He seemed to be the odd one out of the family from what I could gather.

"Nice to meet you too," I responded. I've seen Percy around, rarely, but we've never actually talked.

"Have you been doing well?" he asked me. I nodded and tried not to laugh. He was talking so formally. What, did he just become Minister or something? I noticed Fred and George in the back watching and laughing to themselves, they walked over to me and Percy.

"Absolutely spiffing!" George yelled as he approached us, clearly mocking Percy. I laughed at their Percy imitations when he wasn't actually looking at me. Percy scowled at them and walked off.

"Alright, that's enough," Mrs. Weasley said to Fred and George. "Alright everyone, let's hurry, the car is waiting!"

"Mum!" Fred yelled spinning around dramatically. "How really corking it is to see you!" Fred then hugged his mother like he hadn't seen her in a year.

"That's enough I said!" Mrs. Weasley turned to face me. "Hello Carlie." She spoke softly. "Did you hear? Second Head boy in the family!" She said this proudly as she turn to Percy. Percy beamed at this. It was hard to deny how impressive that was.

"And last..." Fred muttered and then winked at me. I wanted to laugh but not in front of Mrs. Weasley, because Fred was definitely right about that.

"I'll believe that!" Mrs. Weasley said agreeing with them. "I see that they haven't even made you two prefects!"

"Why would we want to be prefects?" George stated. "We like having fun!" Ginny and I laughed at this. "We don't want to be the ones sucking all the fun from everyone, now do we?" It was really hard to not burst into laughter whenever they were around.

"You are setting a bad example for these girls!" Mrs. Weasley said and then motioned towards Ginny and I who were both trying to keep it together.

"They have other people to look up to," Percy said proudly while tugging on his tie. "Now I'm going to go triple check on the trunk inventory." Percy and Mrs. Weasley headed outside. He was an interesting boy.

"We tried to lock him in a pyramid," George was telling me. I laughed at this as we left for the cars. "Mom didn't let us though."

We were standing outside in the muggle streets waiting for the Ministry cars to arrive. I took a moment to take in the scene around me. Muggles always fascinated me. They were so different. They were moving so quickly and staring down at different devices in their hands. One man even wore...were those earmuffs? It was summertime. Plus, they were plugged into some brick shaped object and he was nodding his head. I would never understand these muggles. "Why is the ministry providing us with cars Dad?" Percy asked in a dignified tone.

Before Mr. Weasley could answer he was cut off by George. "It's for you Perce!" George said seriously. "They're going to have little flags on them that say HB." Percey didn't find them too funny. He readjusted the 'HB' pin for 'Head Boy' on his sweater.

"Yeah, it stands for Humungous Bighead," Fred added. We all laughed, expect for Percy and Mrs. Weasley of course. The cars arrived and we were quickly a step closer to reaching Hogwarts.

The car ride was terrifying. I started feeling dizzy and sick being trapped in the back seat. It was a bumpy ride and it was hard to enjoy the beautiful view around me. Jake found my reaction amusing as he was comfortable being in muggle cars because a few of his home friends used to take him on rides. He did try to keep me distracted from feeling sick though. London was gorgeous, I just wish I didn't feel like I had to throw up the entire way. Brooms were much better travel resources, because you actually got some fresh air.

The cars stopped and let us all out. It was a little more than obvious with our large group of people all gathered around Platforms nine and ten, so we decided to separate into groups. Jake, Gabe, Nico, and Cal all went first and promised to meet us on the train. Percy eagerly went next, he just wanted to show off his HB badge to everyone already. Mrs. Weasley hugged him goodbye before he disappeared into the brick wall. We all passed through the barrier quickly after. Mrs. Weasley began hugging kissing all of her children, Harry, and Hermione. I was more than shocked when she hugged me goodbye. "I've made you all sandwiches for the trip!" She began to pass out sandwiches to all of us, even myself.

"Harry, can I have a word with you?" Mr. Weasley asked. Harry told us to go on and he followed Mr. Weasley to the side.

We all boarded the train, Harry followed shortly after. Almost all of the compartments were full. Jake managed to find one but Fred, George, and Lee were there too so it was packed, there was only one seat left. "You sit here," Hermione said sincerely. "I doubt that we're going to find anywhere with more than three seats anyways, Hogwarts is packed this year. The number of first years has doubled since last year." I had noticed that.

"Alright, I'll try to come and find you guys once the train gets going," I replied and sat down next to Jake.

The train ride was just as fun as last year. Jake had a joke about everything as did Fred and George. They continued their imitation on Percy for most of the ride. I've never laughed so much in my life. Then I realized that I haven't seen Dasha or Eowyn, "I'm gonna go try and find a few people," I told them. I could wait until we got to the castle but I was too egar to see everyone now. "I'll see you guys in a bit." They all said bye. George did a great impression of Percy warning me to not stay out past curfew.

I walked up and down, peering in all the compartments to see if I found Dasha or Eowyn. Finally, I reached the last compartment which was packed with only Slytherins and I saw them sitting in the back corner. I debated whether or not I should go in. Then I though, hell, I was a Slytherin. I opened up and the door and people either glanced or glared in my direction. Then they went back to their conversations. Draco noticed me walk in but didn't say anything to me, why hasn't he made fun of me yet? I saw him yesterday and he didn't have anything to snippy to say. Eowyn noticed me first and her large green eyes widened. "Carlie!" she shrieked happily and tackled me into a hug. "I didn't see you in Diagon Alley! I missed you! You look so much older! So tan...why? Look what I got!" She then tucked her hair behind her eye to reveal her new piercing which was right in the middle of her ear, I laughed. I didn't think I looked that much older, I mean my hair was longer but that was really it. "And look what I got!"  She yelled without taking breathes, she reached onto the floor and picked up a cat with fur the same color of her hair. "Isn't he cute! I got him over the summer, his name's Camirith! Here hold him!" She smiled from ear to ear as she shoved her cat into my hands. I laughed again and patted the cat.

"Adorable Eowyn..." I laughed as I passed her back her kitten who held a look of panic on his face. Dasha stood up and hugged me, a beautiful chestnut owl landed on her shoulder.

"This is Athens, I got him over the summer as well," she said. Dasha smiled kindly. "How was your summer?"

"Boring for the first few months," I responded with a shrug. "The last few weeks have been great. Wish I could have hung out with you guys though." Instead of being trapped in my damn house for most of the summer.

"I know!" Eowyn said with a frown and then turned to her boyfriend Aidan."Carlie you know Aidan right?"

"Hi," I said to him. He smiled and then began rambling on about how we had classes together last year. He was so much like Eowyn. I wonder how those two had conversations, or if it just consisted of both of them talking at the same time.

"And this is Zane," Dasha said motioning towards a silent looking boy who was leaning against the window. He just nodded kindly in my direction, and I could already tell he was a lot like Dasha. That is extremely weird.

"Are you going to sit with us?" Eowyn asked hopefully.

"I wish but I just stopped in to say hi, I said that I wouldn't be gone long."

"Awe," Eowyn said disappointed while stroking her kitten. "Back to your boyfriend?" she added with an eyebrow raise. I guess she still didn't drop her theory about Jake and I.

"He is not my boyfriend-"

"Then why are you so tan? Doesn't he live on an island or something. You must have visited him then," she said with a smirk.

"Well-"

"Knew it," she stated. There was no point in arguing so I laughed.

"Alright, whatever you say. But I'll see you guys when we get to school," I replied. "Bye." They said their goodbyes back and I began to walk off. Draco looked at me once more with an unreadable expression. He seemed different this year. No rude comments towards me like always. The truth about me not sitting with Dasha and Eowyn was not really that I was in a rush, I just would have felt like a third wheel sitting with them and their boyfriends.