Ch. 11: Hogwarts Express
"Elle! ELLE?!" In the distance, I could hear Hermione calling my name.
The hoard of people rushing past me and therefore pushing me back was now gone, having either Disapparated away, or used some other form of magic. But, I was tired, and sore, from the hundreds of bodies crashing into me in order to escape. It was darker now than before, the fires set by the Death Eaters having died down to embers.
The thick smoke silhouetted everything around me, while the horizon glowed a smouldering red, thick and hot with tainted air. I struggled to see much of anything, my eyes watery and stinging from the smoke-polluted campgrounds.
Despite this, I could still picture them. Those sharp, black hooded cloaks and grotesque masks. It was hard to believe that just mere moments ago this place was one of celebration, now turned tumultuous with turmoil and chaos.
My stomach churned, sickened by fear. 'Death Eaters,' my mind could hardly process it. 'I didn't think they still existed.' But, as plain as the moving pictures from my History of Magic textbooks back at Sorcellerie, I recognized them instantly.
Back then, they were only stories at my school. They were a history lecture, a faded memory that was told to me about an old-world through textbooks, though it wasn't too long ago. But, here they were, very much alive... very much ready to kill.
For the briefest of moments, I wondered if it were too late to go back home.
"Elle, over here!" Hermione's voice rang out across the dishevelled landscape. I turned my head and, in the distance, I could make out her figure through the clouds of ash as she and Ron, covered in soot and bruises like me, approached. "Are you all right? Where's Harry?" Hermione asked, closing the distance between us.
They were a bit ruffed up, but they were fine.
I looked skyward, a glint catching my eye. Slithering in the air like a menacing cloud, was the Dark Mark. I'd never seen it in person, much like the Death Eaters. It was horrifying and chilling all at once. "I don't know," I said, forcing my eyes away from the terrible stain in the sky to focus instead on the missing Boy Wonder. "I-I lost him in the crowd."
The three of us began to search around, turning our heads and squinting to make out any sign of movement.
"Harry?" Hermione called, "HARRY?"
"Bloody hell," Ron cursed, running a hand through his hair as his face paled. " 'arry? Harry where are you?!"
Hermione drew her wand with a furrowed brow. "Come on. We've got to find him, he could've been seriously hurt."
The three of us searched high and low for Harry Potter, calling out into the dystopian waste that had been a fun campsite only an hour before, hoping that Harry was out there somewhere, alive and all right.
"Harry?! Harry!" Hermione shouted again, combing through a pile of rubble. "HARRY?!"
Then, just as we had begun to fear we wouldn't hear it, Harry's voice called out in the distance: "Over here!"
There was a rush of relief as the three of us hopped over piles of ash and destroyed belongings to reach the place where Harry was standing, glasses askew, a few cuts on his cheeks, but otherwise all in one piece.
Before Hermione could tackle him with questions, Harry told her not to worry, anticipating the reaction my sister would have to his sudden appearance after a long disappearance. "I'm fine, Hermione, honestly," Harry sighed and brushed himself off.
Suddenly, as if his words had evoked a bad luck charm, multiple wizards appeared all around us and pointed their wands in our faces, shouting Stupefy.
Frightened and confused, I dropped onto the ground and covered my head until Mr Weasley made his way onto the scene, yelling at the group trying to stun us. I couldn't make out what he was saying over the pounding of my pulse or the blasts of spells hitting the Earth, but he said something to get them to lower their weapons. When they finally stopped, I got off of my stomach and onto my feet, brushing myself off, fear turning into righteous anger.
"Which one of you conjured it?!" A man with a thick moustache waved his wand at Hermione, Harry, Ron and me.
Mr Weasley stepped in front of his man's wand, protective and stern. "Crouch, they're just kids!"
Harry turned to Hermione, while I couldn't decide where the hell to focus. "What are they talking about?" Dark Mark here, mysterious men with wands there, Death Eaters potentially in the distance ready to hex me into tomorrow. It was a nightmare.
"It's the Dark Mark, Harry," Hermione whispered. I stared up at the sickening signal in the sky. "His mark." I knew he would understand to whom she was referring.
"There was a man!" Harry spoke up to the man named Crouch and pointed to the left. "Over there; I watched him conjure it."
Crouch looked over Harry's shoulder and waved his team of wizards over. "All of you! This way!" And they were off. I managed to find my voice. It came out in a whisper, hoarse and scared and tired.
This wasn't what I had signed up for. Quidditch... That was it.
"What man, Harry?" I questioned him, not seeing anyone as I looked around us once again. He wasn't just going to magically appear with a snarky wave, so I felt a little stupid for looking around.
Harry frowned, peering around as well, turning towards some mysterious location and pointing with a sigh. "He was just over there, muttering to himself."
Ron shook his head. "It doesn't matter, mate. You guys are alive, that's all that matters."
"Alright you lot," Mr Weasley broke our moment of confused silence, "let's get you all back to the Burrow. Molly's got a nice pot of potato and leek stew brewing. It's sure to settle your stomachs."
Mr Weasley offered my sister and me an apologetic frown. "I'm glad to see you're both okay, girls. Elizabeth, sorry, Elle, I hope you're not too upset. Anything you need? Would you like me to call your parents?"
"Honestly," I replied, confusion and fear bubbling down into a quiet adrenaline rush through my veins. I suddenly felt... alive, all my senses buzzing. "I'm actually ... okay."
"Well, that's great," Ron replied casually, tossing his hands over his head. "Dad, I'm not being funny, but... do you think Mum's stew will be ready when we get back? I'm hungry."
"Big shock there, " Harry snickered, earning a curt laugh from Hermione.
✧
Horns blared, signals were hardly in use. Yes, typical city traffic. It was reassuring that people were still the same, regardless of whether they drove on the left or right side of the street. At the end of the day, most humans are shit drivers.
Hermione and I climbed out of the car, grabbing our trunks and Ami's cage. We weren't in a big rush for the train because we were early. Another trait that Hermione had that I didn't: Insufferably on time for everything. It was a trait that I most definitely could do with but felt much more comfortable without.
Crookshanks, her very large and very orange cat, hopped out of the car behind us. The thing didn't like to ride in his cage so we just let him sit between us. Though I'd had my doubts about a cat riding along in the car with us, he did surprisingly well. Didn't puke on my shoes, so that was an added 'I like you, maybe' point for him.
I brushed at the stray orange hairs he'd left behind on my black jeans and sighed as they refused to budge.
"Thanks for driving us, you guys." I smiled at my parents and gave them both a hug. It was still a little weird to refer to them as my new parents, but it felt right in the end.
Jane chuckled, brushing away a couple of tears from the corner of her eyes. "Oh, you don't have to thank us. You're our daughter after all. Don't mind my tears, I'm just s-so happy that you are home. We honestly didn't think this day would ever come." She hugged me one more time before letting me onto the platform.
Dan waved to both of us and called one last time. "I love you both. Hermione, be sure to watch out for your sister, will ya?"
With a sliiiightly obnoxious snort, I shook my head. "Don't worry! It will be me that'll be watching out for her!" Hermione rolled her eyes and we continued down the platform, her pushing the trolly of our belongings. She stopped and picked Crookshanks up from the ground as a guard angrily eyed him.
"Let's put you away for a bit," she told him as he pouted. The cat's face was already smashed down like he'd been rammed in the face with a door, but when he was angry, it somehow got worse. I snickered as Crookshanks' beady little eyes glinted at me, as if hearing my thoughts.
"Okay, where do we need to be?" I looked down at our tickets, mindlessly following my sister through the throngs of people at the train station today. "Platform 9 and 3/4?" I frowned and blinked, thinking that it was maybe something caught in my eye that had made me read it wrong.
Nope. 9 and 3/4's it was.
Hermione laughed sweetly like I was a child on Christmas. "That's right. 9 and 3/4, right this way." She turned the trolly, skidding around a couple of people, before leading me right to a brick pillar.
"A wall."
"An enchanted wall," she corrected me.
"You aren't serious . . ." I slowly walked up to the brick pillar and gingerly placed a hand on it, brow furrowed. To my surprise, my hand went straight through. "Oooo." I grinned and pulled my hand out. "Trippy."
Leaning on the trolly, Hermione eyed me, smiling all the while. "Well, are you going to go through or not?"
Nodding at her with a wink, I gathered up my courage and grabbed my trolly. Strolling through the gateway with ease, a small bubble of doubt rose in my chest. As I walked, everything became dark, but only for a couple of seconds. Soon enough, light burst through the darkness and I was standing on an old-fashioned train platform. Crowds of people were already here and most were wearing school uniforms already.
Hermione popped up behind me. "Let's get a seat." We raced through the crowds and I found the first open compartment. "Mione! I found one." I called to her and her head popped up, looking a little pissed.
"Well, thanks. But, you could've helped with the luggage, you know..." She lugged the two trunks through the hallway. Sheepishly, I muttered an apology and grabbed my luggage from her full hands, setting it along with Ami's cage on the shelf above us.
Once everything was packed away, Hermione threw herself into the cushioned seat and sighed with content. I watched the window, noticing familiar friends. Pushing through the crowds, Ginny, Ron, and Harry loaded their things onto the train.
Wanting to make a good impression, I cranked down the level on the window. It stuck one, or two times, but finally gave way with a firm yank. I waved at the group, catching Ginny's attention.
They waved back and Ginny whispered something to Ron.
"No, that is Elle. Hermione does not have a mole on the corner of her mouth." Ron muttered to Ginny.
"Oh, and how do you know that?" Ginny elbowed him, smirking. Ron's face burned red and he shook his head.
"Shut up, Ginny."
I threw myself back into my seat with a smirk. They so liked each other. A knock on the door woke me from my evil plans. Standing in the hallway with a small smile, Harry pushed the door open before really asking if it was alright. "May we sit?"
Hermione peered over the top of a book she'd produced from her overcoat and nodded with the turn of a page. "Of course."
I grabbed the discarded Daily Prophet next to Hermione and leafed through it, looking for something interesting to fill the awkward silence as the train began to roll. "Where's Ginny?" I cocked my head to the side, not taking my eyes off of the paper.
Ron muttered something and Harry elbowed him in the side. If I was a nosier person, I would have asked what he'd said, though it was probably something less than nice about his little sister. "She's sitting with her friends in her year," Ron coughed.
"Oh. Okay." I smiled at them and looked around, a little bored, to find that they were all watching me with curious, cautious glances.
You know that feeling when you enter a room, and it's as if something is hanging in the air, but you don't actually know what? It was like they each had something to say to each other, but it was private. So, an awkward, stale sort of silence fell on the room.
I felt the pull of the train, listened to the wind whistle through the open window, and decided that it was probably best if I made up some excuse to leave so they could talk about whatever they clearly couldn't say in front of me.
I looked down at my wrist towards my imaginary watch. "Wow. Look at that, I should probably go..." I tried to make up an excuse to leave this awkward scene. "...take my meds." With that I got up and scrambled out the door, tripping on one of Ron's feet and falling to my knees.
"Are you okay?" Harry held out a hand for me to get up. Blushing, I took his offer and stood on my feet, dodging Ron's in the process this time.
I rubbed the back of my neck, embarrassed. "Hahaha, yeah I'm fine...I've got to go-"
"-Take your meds?" Ron finished with a raised brow. Quickly, I nodded and ran out of the compartment, not before hearing Ron mutter under his breath. "Strange, that one."
✧
Sighing, I tried to calm down my burning face. That was nerve-racking. I decided to make my way over to the girl's bathroom, then maybe by the time I walked there and back, Hermione and the boys would have said all that they needed to say.
Either that or I'd probably resort to aimlessly wandering the corridor of this train until we stopped. Because, at this point, anything was better than sitting in awkward silence.
I walked down towards the back of the train for a while but still didn't come across the restroom. I was starting to think about turning around and just going back when a sign appeared above my head. 'Girls Lavatory' I shrugged and walked in.
I looked in the mirror and fixed my winged eyeliner, made a couple of faces at myself, checked for any sleep in the corners of my eyes, then sighed at my reflection.
It was in this moment of quiet that all my bottled emotions finally boiled up from their secretly, tightly packed away spot. My mind filtered through a slideshow of my friends and family. I'd really left them all.
"Fuck," I told my reflection, "I think I may've made a mistake."
If there had been a way to turn time back, to stop this train... would I?
Inhale, Exhale.
With a few deep, slow breaths, my mind cleared and I tucked some hair behind my ear, watching the reflection of my honey-brown eyes, so full of uncertainty and worry. The truth came to me slowly, fighting through my clouds of tension. The truth was, no. I wouldn't go back, even if I somehow got the chance.
"Honestly, I think more things have happened to me over this summer with Hermione than has happened in my whole damn life," I told my mirrored image.
I washed my hands and tossed a paper towel into the trash. As soon as I opened the door to the bathroom, a scream filled the hall. My head turned towards the sound, and before I really knew it myself, my feet rushed towards the noise. I drew my wand, thinking back to what had happened at the World Cup.
Thick smoke and red, glowing horrors flashed through my mind, the sound of screams echoing through my head. I smashed the thought down, feeling the thin carpet under my boots. I prepared myself for the worst, trying to remember every curse I knew. Another cut scream sounded from inside one of the train compartments.
"Oh my God! KILL IT, JEREMY!" A blond girl squealed and I poked my head inside to see a rather large tarantula crawling around in their compartment. The boy who I'm guessing was Jeremy, was about to stomp on it when I held up a hand.
"No!" I shouted, "don't kill it!" They both stared at me like I was crazy. I even thought I was crazy when those words came out. I hated spiders, especially big spiders. But, there was a small voice in the back of my mind that gave me a hunch that I knew who this spider belonged to.
Or rather, two whom, to be exact.
My toes curled as I pointed my wand at the tarantula, trying not to squirm at the sight of its hairy legs and fat, round body. "Wingardium Leviosa," I squeaked and it floated out in front of me.
The blond girl squealed and clutched Jeremy tight, trying to press herself as far away from the big as possible.
Now, I just had to find those bastards to which this thing belonged.
Trudging through the hallway, I finally found the right compartment that held the two fiery haired twins and a boy with dark dreads. Rapidly, I pounded on their glass compartment door. Fred quickly got up and slid open the door. "Password?"
I made the spider rise in the air in front of his face. "Lose something?!" I snarled at them. The boy with the dreads jumped up and reached out his hands. "Charles!" He turned to me. "Wow, I did not even know he went missing."
"It's yours?" I glared at them, still a little grossed out. I was cool with anything, but spiders were just crossing the line. I pocketed my wand, watching the boy stroke the back of the tarantula with soft, gentle pats. His brilliant smile glistened against his dark features as he chuckled at my reaction.
"Well..." The boy scratched the back of his head. "Not really, I just found him wandering the school one night while dodging Peeves -- cool, huh?" The tarantula clamoured onto the boy's shoulder and stayed there, much like a familiar would.
Deadpanned, I turned on my heel, responding: "No." I was practically out of the compartment when Fred grabbed my hand, holding me in place for a moment.
"Wait, don't tell me you are scared of spiders, Elle." He smirked.
I sighed, yanking my hand out of his grasp with a nose pointed in the air. "No, I just don't like them. They are gross."
George gasped and grabbed his chest. "You are hurting Charles' feelings."
"Apologize, Elle." Fred kept saying my name and while I did not have a problem with it, it was slightly weird.
I watched George and Lee inch a little closer, with the tarantula on Lee's shoulder staring up at me with its beady, plethora of eyes. Despite its grotesque features, just for a moment, George and Fred really had me feeling guilty, GUILTY, for what I'd said.
"Uh," I scratched the back of my head, "s'rry, Charles." I nodded at the spider.
"Now give him a kiss." I turned and glared at Fred, there was no way in hell. "I'm just kidding, relax." He chuckled. "Elle, this Lee Jordan."
Lee extended a firm hand and I shook it, examining his features a little closer. "Nice to meet you," I politely said. He looked older than me, I realized. There was a kindness in his eyes, but the curved mischievous up-turn on his lips told me everything I really needed to know: he was just like the Twins.
Once we released hands, Lee returned the sneaky spider back to his cage. Charles flicked some dirt around and nestled into the sand, undisturbed by his narrow escape.
'Probably plotting his next one,' I thought, darkly.
"Lee's helping us with the candies," Fred informed me, swinging an arm around Lee's shoulders and rustling his hair. Lee shoved him off with a curse and a laugh. "He's the mover of our operation. A real salesman, as you Muggleborns say."
The quip about 'Mugleborns' caught my attention for a short moment, but I decided to let it slide. I thought about Mr Weasley and his fascination with everything Muggle; I wondered if the whole family had ever really even been around true Muggles before.
"I'm looking forward to working with you." Lee smirked, motioning to Fred and George as the pair reclined on the train seats. "I have heard a lot about you already." I watched the twins with an arched brow, surprised.
"Really? Well, good things I hope."
"Only the goodest." Fred smirked.
"Goodest isn't a word." I stuck my tongue out at him and made my way to the door.
"Whelp, I am leaving now. Again, nice to meet you Lee."
"Bye." They called as I walked back into the hallway. This place was full of strange people, but I guess I fit in perfectly.
✧
Finally, I found my way back to my compartment. Ron was sleeping, Hermione was reading the Daily Prophet, and Harry was writing a letter.
As I came in, Hermione set down the paper and gave me an amused look. "How did taking your meds go?"
I shrugged. "Pretty good. I think I'll like it here."
Harry smiled at my words and so did Hermione. "Thats good. So what house do you think you will be sorted into?"
My stomach clenched. "What? House? Sorting?"
"Yeah, I thought you knew. Did you not read Hogwarts: A History?"
"W-Well yeah, but I did not know that you were in separate houses, at my old school it was just like high-school."
Hermione sighed. "Oh, well, I guess I should explain. There are four houses. Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. All first years are sorted into a house in the Great Hall on the first night. They stand up on the stage, put on the hat, and it sorts them into a house."
I rubbed my temples. "A stage, in front of everyone? Poor kids." I looked down at my shoes and frowned. "Wait, but I am a fourth year-not a first year, so what will they do with me? Just have me go on to the stage like the other kids?"
"Yeah, probably." Ron yawned, awakened. "I mean it is kind of like a rite of passage there."
Harry snickered while Hermione smiled with a shrug for complacency. "Yeah, probably."
"Well...which House are you guys in?" I frowned and looked at the three of them.
"Gryffindor." They said at once and I reddened.
"What about Ginny?"
"Gryffindor," Harry said with a nod.
"Fred and George?" I panicked a little.
Ron frowned. "Er, Gryffindor."
I groaned. "Do you guys talk to any one who isn't in Gryffindor?"
Ron looked up at the ceiling and shook his head at me. "No. Not really."
Hermione elbowed him in the ribs with a scold. "Nice going, Ronald."
"What?" He rubbed his ribs, confused.
Hermione shrugged him off with a disbelieving face. "Don't worry Elle, we will still talk to you even if you aren't in Gryffindor."
"Yeah, don't worry." Harry smiled reassuringly.
I forced a tight grin onto my lips, but deep down there was a bit of worry gnawing on my intestines. "Thanks, you guys."
"Yeah, we will." Ron smiled at us, but then frowned. "But try not to get into Slytherin. It's bad news, so just aim for anything, but that."
"What is wrong with Slytherin?" I frowned and asked Hermione, but Ron answered for her.
"Well, there wasn't a witch or wizard who went bad that wasn't in Slytherin." He muttered darkly.
"Oh."
Hermione looked down at her wristwatch. "We should change, Elle. We will be arriving at Hogwarts on the hour."
I shrugged and nodded, grabbing my bag with my uniform that I was not too partial to. Actually, I hated it. It was ugly and blank because I hadn't been sorted yet; luckily that was one thing that could be changed.
Once we were inside the bathroom, I ran into the first available stall and threw on my uniform which consisted of a white button-up top, a black tie, a grey skirt, and grey knee-high socks. I stuffed the grey cardigan back into my bag; it was too warm out to wear it anyway.
I sighed and looked down at my chest, it was suffocating in the tight top. Yes, okay I do have fairly big boobs-D's actually. But don't start thinking. "Wow, she has big boobs? She is so lucky, Omfg big boobs, they must be fake, or I would kill for those." No, you would not. I actually hate my boobs on most occasions. If you have big boobs, you can't fit into any normal or cute clothes and they also hurt your back. Seriously, it kind of sucks.
I pushed all the air out of my lungs and buttoned the two undone ones, however; when I took my next breath, they popped open again anyway. "Shit balls." I sighed.
Hermione chuckled and covered her ears. "Your American curses confuse and disturb me!"
"Serves me right for ordering this shirt through the owl-courier," I admitted. " 'Mione, don't freak out, but..." I waved my wand over the shirt, expanding the size so that it fit right without making me look like some blow-up doll with a schoolgirl fetish.
"Elle," she cautioned me with that familiar, I-know-what's-best tone that I'd come to know and looove. Hint the sarcasm. "Maybe you should speak with your House Head once you get sorted, to make sure you're not getting citations from the Ministry for underage magic use." She handed me a generic tie, looking me over. "You look nice."
"Thanks, Hermione." I smiled and tied my tie in a half Windsor.
We walked back into the compartment and sat down. The intercom rang out above us. "We will be arriving at Hogwarts in five minutes, please gather your belongings and prepare to depart from the train. Thank you."
"Ready, Elle?" Hermione smiled at me.
My pulse picked up and I suddenly felt faint. Along with hating spiders, there was one more thing I hated...getting up in front of large crowds so they can judge me. I did not know that I had stage freight until now and it did not feel too good.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(2011 AN: )
Hey guys!! Three cheers for the latest installment?? I hope you enjoy it and please leave your thoughts in comments below. :DD
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xoxo Jess
(2021 Author's Note:)
This chapter..... was by far the hardest, so far, to edit. It was/is totally cringy and dated with sexist pretences that I had picked up on when I was a young girl and I had to really decide what I wanted to dispose of and what should be kept.
To be honest, a lot of the skin curdling items I do want to keep around, but phrase a little better.... because I feel like these sentiments and thoughts were heavy in the 90s (the Harry Potter era too) and keep the book from being too polished.