one day (thia)

All in all, it was a rather enjoyable day out. We got up early, had breakfast on the coach, played Strategy Arena on the plane and as soon as we got there, we started looking for the movie theatre, finding it just in time to miss all the adverts and trailers but still catch the very start of the movie. Cat was right, a lot of it was quite different from the books but I found I somewhat enjoyed some of the changes, like the flashbacks when Harry was getting possessed (I love flashbacks) and adding a completely extra scene where the death eaters attack the Burrow while Harry was spending Christmas there. What I didn't like was when they missed stuff out, like not keeping Dobby around for two movies or even having it revealed at all that house elves worked at Hogwarts.

But the biggest plus was the emotional scenes. Having already read the books I already knew who died when and how (and yes, I may have teared up reading those parts also) but the way they showed them…with the slow sad music, focusing on Harry as he completely broke down. They even showed Dumbledores death exactly as described from Harrys point of view…suspended for a moment in mid-air then falling slowly.

But that was the end of the sixth movie, so with that over we looked back at the map and went to find Hogsmeade for lunch, for sweets and what-not in Honey Dukes and butterbeer in the Three Broomsticks, along with my first ever cup of tea. We decided not to visit the souvenir shop until it was almost time to go but Zee and James still thought it was best to let the food settle a bit before going on any roller-coasters

so first we tried a gentle ride on the Hogwarts Express.

Having seen the first three movies with me, Sam, Noaba and even Jay knew about the flight of the hippogriff (Jay even had a hippogriff of his own) but me being the only one to have read the books, only I knew what the dragon challenge must represent.

By the time we were done with that it was almost 4pm so we decided now would be a good time to check out the souvenir shop before quickly heading to the viewings of the last two movies. We each bought a wand; I chose Hermione's, Jay had Harry's, Sam got Ron's and Noaba chose Ginny's. Then I found a complete copy of the Marauders Map that I just couldn't resist and when Jay had his eye on a model Hogwarts Express

he also spied Dumbledore's wand and decided he wanted that one instead and gave Harry's to Sam.

That was all we had time for before heading back to the movie theatre for the last two movies. The opening of both were just genius…the way the first one panned from all three main characters as they prepared to embark on their quest, and I instantly fell in love with the theme of Lilly's lullaby in the second. It remined me of when my sister used to read the books to me when I was little. Slowly I started to recall, she had sung that same tune to me. that was where I'd heard it before. As it started to get to the end however I started to get annoyed at them for missing stuff out again. They completely skipped over the entire Dumbledore backstory. I ended up having to explain that part to the rest of them later.

But I think they made up for it with the battle for Hogwarts. Most of that had to be left out in the books, as Harry and his friends were busy chasing horcruxes. One thing they vastly improved on was the courtyard apocalypse. Everything, from the visuals to the music to the multiple showing of attackers on each side…perfect. In fact, I would say that was one of, if not the best scene in the entire series.

So, despite it all I found I was quite satisfied with the last movies. I found myself thinking and talking about them all the way back and when I fell asleep on the plane, I dreamed about them too.

it wasn't until the next day that, after sleeping it all off, that we discovered there had been trouble back home. Whenever they go out to a battle

my dad and Cat have to watch them from a little camera screen—just in case things go bad—leaving the lab wide open. No one really thought about it much. No one could enter the base without a special card since the war started, so how could they possibly get into the lab? But somehow, someone did. By the time they got there, it was too late. The lab was empty and all our hard work, stolen.

"But, we can still get back, can't we?" I asked Cat.

"Perhaps but it might take a while. And even if we could, they've got it too now."

I looked up at Jay. "But how did they get in?"

"Maybe they climbed" He suggested.

"Easy for you to say." Jay was an excellent climber.

"However they did it, it won't be safe with them. If they get it up before we do…"

She didn't have to explain. They'd already been starting to get a hand on us and this piece of technology could be the tipping point, for both of us.

"So… what do we do?"

I looked at my dad, who turned to the guys.

"It won't be safe for you here until we know for sure about this upgrade. I'll be sending you to a friend of mine to train. As soon as they get it working, they'll be trying to throw it at you but if you're not here they won't know where to aim. When you get back, perhaps we'll all be better off."

It would be so lonely without the guys. Although I knew dad was right, I couldn't help thinking how empty the place would feel without them

how much I'd miss them. It won't be for long I told myself. Once we get this upgrade up and running, then they can come back. And if the others got it up first, would they still turn it on my father's base. I knew he would never leave and I would never leave him and my friends would never leave me.

But if it was just us, would they still come, or would they wait until the guys came back. I decided not to think about that until the time came, whenever that might be.