Dark clouds loomed ominously above the station as people hurried in and out hoping to avoid the storm.
A black cab pulled up to the curb and a young woman stepped out. She looked up at the threatening clouds, sighed and then turned to help pull her trunk out of the cab and onto an cart. Once that was finished she paid the cabby and started towards the station.
As soon as she was inside she pulled a train ticket out of her pocket and read it quickly. Confusion was evident on her face when she looked up, but she set off, occasionally looking down and checking the ticket.
She reached a barrier and looked up at the platform number. A ginger boy passed her, followed by a boy with dark hair and a girl with bushy brown hair. They were pushing carts with trunks on it, like she was. One boy had a white owl in a cage on top of his trunk.
Curious, she watched them as they walked straight toward a platform barrier. Her eyebrows rose as one after the other disappeared and she grinned. She soon had her cart lined up and she walked straight at the barrier, not stopping or slowing down as she got closer to it. Then she disappeared.
On the other side, the girl stared at the scarlet colored engine in front of her. She moved out of the way of the barrier behind her, but almost ran into the people ahead.
She left the cart by the barrier and pulled her light trunk up the steps and into a compartment. She was about to pull a book out of her bag, when three boys around her age tumbled into the compartment, laughing loudly.
The girl's wand was put in a flash and pointed at them, a fact they notice rather quickly. "Whoah! Calm down!" One yelped.
She winced. "Sorry about that, reflexes." She shrugged. "Do you guys have names?"
"I am Lee Jordan, and these two fools are Fred and George Weasley. Don't bother trying to figure whose who, I've been friends with them for four years and I still can't tell them apart!" The dark boy said.
"You forgot to mention that we're-"
"-the best pranksters in the school!" The two ginger boys said, one finishing the others sentence.
"Okay. My name is Rosa and I know something about pranks. What sort do you guys do?"
Running through the countryside was a big, shaggy dog. It was a bit on the thin side and seemed to limp occasionally. Anyone who saw the dog would say that it was just any stray dog, but those who met the dog's eye, or fed it would tell you, the animal was intelligent. Not just smart, like being able to do tricks and stuff. No, he seemed to understand what you were saying.
Many people said that the dog was a sign of something to come. Others said it was an overactive imagination, but there was no denying it, there was something strange about that dog.
The dark, soulless being prowled through the countryside by the tracks. It's job was to find the one who had managed to escape, but it also had to watch the train. The Mad One might follow the train and they couldn't have that, could they?
A strange sort of glimmer of something that resembled the prisoner came from one of the windows the being passed. It was strange, like a weaker version of what the being had seen a lot of at the prison. It turned and made for the train door. The prisoner was on the train, and it was going to find him.
Night had fallen outside the train. Rain streamed against the windows and if one really listened, they would hear the thunder that followed the flashes of lightning outside. No one was paying attention to the storm outside, brightly lit compartments were filled with student being sped toward their school. Some were reading their school books, others were practicing magic, but most were talking with their friends and racing back and forth between compartments.
Everyone froze when the lights started to flicker. A few of the prefects went to go look for the first years, but everyone one else either stayed in their compartment, or went looking for older students they could stay with.
Rosa and the boys jumped when the door to their compartment slammed open, they caught a glimpse of the ones who were trying to get in, but then there was a big lurch as the train stopped and then the lights went out completely.
"What's going on?" Rosa whispered. She had fallen onto Lee and Fred when the train had lurched.
"Not sure." Came the answer from George, who had fallen to the floor.
When their eyes adjusted to the dim, gray light that came from outside, they saw three boys laying on the floor of the compartment. Fred and George started sniggering at them, but Rosa shot them a glare and got up to help the younger students. She purposely knocked Fred's head with her elbow and stepped on George's leg as she did. The younger students were two huge boys and one small one, and from the colors of their ties and the disgusted looks on their faces, she guessed that they were Slytherins.
"Is it just me, or is it getting colder?" Lee randomly asked.
"Yeah," Rosa agreed, once she thought about it, "it is." The two rolled their eyes when the others didn't say anything because they were too busy glaring at each other.
"You know? This House rivalry has really gone too far, don't you think? Making eleven-year-olds enemies before school has...even...st-" she came to a shuddering stop as a tall creature stood in the doorway. It's rattling breath echoed around the small room.