Chapter One: The Star.
The clouds rolled across the plain blue sky like gigantic balls of cotton as Markus Starr glared out of the train window of the Hogwart's Express. It was Markus's fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, a handsome boy with wavy jet black hair. He, being housed in Ravenclaw, was always up-to-date with his schoolwork and almost always received top marks in every class.
'Again...' pouted Cherier Wyndall, one of Markus's friends, who was seated next to him in the same train cabin. She was playing a game of White Jack, a wizarding card game, with her brother, Tim, and had lost her sixth game with him.
'That's it. I give up.' she said, which caused Markus to turn around from the window and face her, 'you are just too good for me, Tim'. Markus chuckled under his breath and turned back around to gaze at the clouds, his dark hair swaying across his eyebrows.
Cherier was a tomboy. Her long blonde hair, which was always tied up in a ponytail, masculine build and bushy eyebrows made her appear threatening. People would often tease her about her bulldog type face, but she would not take any offence.
Tim, on the other hand, was completely opposite of his sister, being her younger brother of two years, had curly mousey brown hair, a button nose and a scrawny body.
'Why don't you go sit with your annoying little friends instead of annoying Markus and I?'
Tim and Cherier would always end up breaking out into an argument when spending large amounts of time together, such as the train ride to and from school each year.
'Fine, fine' sighed Tim. He stood up from the seat, which made a squeak, and left the cabin at once.
'Well, that was easier than I thought' Cherier said to Markus 'are you all right? You haven't said a word the whole train ride'. 'I'm fine. Just thinking about school. Can you believe it? We are fifth years, Cherier!'
'Don't wet your pants, Markus, it probably won't be much different than fourth year'.
'It will be' he turned to face Cherier and looked her directly in the eye, 'It will be loads different. This year we won't have that darn Professor Strickman's weekly revision sheets. Or Anthropology classes! Oh, I feel so old.'
'Oh come off it, Markus, the sheets were helpful and you know it'.
Markus sighed and faced the window once again.
The train rumbled, and the next minute a face had popped through the sliding doors of their cabin. It was Denver Summerberry, a fellow Ravenclaw friend of Markus and Cherier.
'Hi!' he said, smiling widely at the two.
Markus turned around and his face of boredom suddenly transformed into a face of glee. 'Oh. Hullo Denver! Good to see you'.
Markus and Denver were rather close friends and often talked in their classes together.
'Good to see you too. Just thought I'd come by and say hello. Oh, and that Valen Glass has made prefect!' Denver informed the two, who were both staring and smiling at him.
'Glass? Glass made prefect? That's no surprise.' said Markus, in a voice of slight jealousy. Valen Glass was a nasty but very attractive Ravenclaw girl who received a lot of attention by the school teachers, and boy students of course. Her and Markus would always clash in class discussions, but were too envious of each other to call their slight bouts a truce.
'Though, I haven't yet found out who else has been elected prefect.' Denver continued.
'Well neither of us.' sighed Cherier, who was also a Ravenclaw, unlike her brother who was housed in Hufflepuff.
'Oh, well that's too bad' continued Denver 'I'm going to go find out, see you in school'.
They both bade Denver goodbye with a slight wave and he left the cabin, shutting the sliding doors with a clunk.
A moment later, Markus opened up one of his textbooks he had bought from Diagon Alley this year. It was titled 'Spooky Spells Specially for Specialty', a book needed for one of his favourite lessons, Charms. The train shook for a few seconds, and the sky was growing darker. Markus began to read the first page of his book.
He read on for roughly five pages and decided to close it, as he had other things on his mind, like Quidditch, and couldn't focus on the section he was reading about emotion spells. He was, of course, a chaser for the Ravenclaw Quidditch team.
He looked sideways at Cherier, who was now falling asleep, and decided to do the same. He closed his eyes and daydreamed about throwing the Quaffle at the Slytherin, Samuel Taxon's, head. 'Oops, sorry Taxon. I mistook your head for a huge hoop'. Markus despised Taxon, along with a majority of the students at Hogwarts. He always got a kick out of everyone he tormented during school.
'Markus, Markus' Cherier tugged on his shoulder, attempting to awaken him. 'Markus!' she repeated, until she saw some sign of awareness from him. He opened his eyes groggily.
'We're nearly there' Cherier was staring at him with a grin 'Gee, Markus, I never knew you snored so much'.
Markus forced a laugh and faced the window again, the sky now dark as night, and smiled widely. I'm back he thought and turned back around to face Cherier again. 'It feels great to be at school again. I can't wait for the new class, Healing, there's apparently a new teacher for it, I wonder who it'll be' he slipped his hand into his bag and fished out a half-eaten box of Grumberry Gorges, Markus's favourite wizarding sweet, purple and rounded in appearance, 'Madam Pomfrey perhaps?'.
'I'm sure Pomfrey would teach it if she could. It'd be a right boring class though. But then again, it'd be a boring class either way. Glad I didn't choose to do it this year' Cherier said, now savoring one of Markus's Grumberry Gorges.
'No, Cherier, it's you who is boring. You're still doing Muggle Studies, right?' Markus plainly said, chewing his sweet vigorously, 'I've been reading the textbook for Healing, "Helpful Healing: For beginners", and it sounds like fun. There are heaps of spells, potions and charms to be used in it' he ended the sentence with a large gulp. Cherier grunted and ignored him, something she often done when Markus fell into deep conversation about his interests.
With the train now dramatically decreasing in speed, the two both looked out of the window when they had noticed glows in the far distance. Thousands of tiny windows were distinctly emitting shining light on the large castle-like building, which was their school and home for the upcoming semesters; Hogwarts. The carriage strongly shook as the train ceased to a stop, braking with a large jolt, which pushed Markus and Cherier aback.
'Here we are' said Cherier, now standing up and reaching for her luggage. Markus slipped his Grumberry Gorge box back into his bag. The doors slid open and the sound of shuffling feet filled the carriage. Tim had hurried in to collect his belongings, his face covered in blood. 'What in Merlin's beard happened to you?' exclaimed Cherier, hurrying towards him.
'Nothing' he shakily sighed.
'Nothing? You call this nothing! Scourgify!' she flicked her wand at his face and the blood disappeared in an instant. 'Explain. Now.' she demanded, in quite a scary tone of voice.
'It was Taxon…' Tim sniveled 'he dropped a Skurtkene on my head and it pierced me with its tongue'.
'Grr, I'll kill him! I swear' Cherier was angered, 'we'll have to take you to Madam Pomfrey as soon as we arrive'.
'No! I don't want to miss out on the feast!' he whined.
'Don't worry; it won't take long to heal. You'll be at the feast in no time' Markus said in his usual, ever so kind voice.
'But' Tim began, but was interrupted by the loud honk that the train sounded.
'Quick, we have to leave now'.
All three of them hurried out of the train and made their way to the castle with the rest of the students.
By the time they had entered the castle, their bags, suitcases and owls had all been taken to their dormitories. Tim had now wandered off to his small clan of friends and Denver had joined Markus and Cherier. Denver and Cherier were talking about broomsticks as they all walked to the Great Hall for the start of term feast. Markus was ignoring their conversation and looked around at the other students, smiling. He spotted Valen Glass in the distance, who was chatting to all her friends and laughing. He couldn't take his eyes off of her; she was the most attractive girl Markus had seen in all of Hogwarts. He admired her bright blonde hair, which was swaying side to side as she walked. Her gleaming blue eyes were shining noticeably even from far away.
Whack.
'Hello? Earth to Markus?' Cherier had hit him of the head with her frumpy hand.
'Ouch! What was that for?'
'I asked you a question. You weren't listening, were you?'
'Obviously not' Markus said, rubbing the back of his head where Cherier had knocked him.
'As I was saying, I'm taking Tim up to the hospital wing now, can you please save me some roast pork if I'm not back in time?' she looked at Markus, who was beginning to chuckle. He looked sideways at Denver, who was also chortling under his breath.
Cherier was waiting for an answer, and both Markus and Denver nodded ignorantly.
'The only way we'd run out of roast pork is if you were there to eat it, Cherier' Markus sarcastically confirmed. Cherier laughed and surprisingly agreed, then walked of towards Tim.
Once she had disappeared in the crowd of students, Markus whispered 'we should hide all of the pork'.
They reached the great hall, rushed to the Ravenclaw table and seated themselves eagerly. All of the teachers were sitting at the long bench at the front of the great hall except for Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts. Markus had noticed this and nudged Denver, pointing at Dumbledore's bare seat. He was usually already seated in his throne-like chair by this time to announce his welcome speeches.
He looked around the hall and eyed Samuel Taxon sitting at the Slytherin's table. He was holding his pet Skurtene, a blue hairless worm-like creature the size of his hand, petting its bald scalp.
Once all students were seated and ready, Professor McGonagall, the deputy headmistress, also teacher of Transfiguration class, stood up and started speaking.
'May I have all of your attention please?' she shouted, which immediately quieted the students, 'I have an announcement to make. Professor Dumbledore will be unavailable for headmaster for quite some time. I will be replacing him during his absence.'
The students sighed and McGonagall's lips curled. 'He is away for confidential matters and if any of you wish to consult me about his absence, you will not be told' she firmly said, 'now, please make welcome to our new first-years. The sorting will commence imminently'.
'He is in Azkaban, I bet you' said a skinny Ravenclaw boy, who was sitting near Markus.
'No, he's been eaten by a Giant!'
'Maybe he's been sacked'.
Whispers from all house tables filled the hall
All of a sudden two large doors boomed open, which silenced every student, as an over-sized man barged through them. 'Follow me' the hairy gargantuan man said to the bunch of tiny first-years that trailed behind him 'Got yer firs' years all ready fer the sortin'. His face was hardly seen under the long, frizzy, dirty beard, which hung down onto his chest. 'Thank you Hagrid' said McGonagall. Markus could see the fright on the all of the first-year's faces as they looked at the stool, where the Sorting Hat was placed.
The sorting lasted for a while and the Ravenclaw's had happily welcomed many newcomers.
'A great welcome to all new students in their houses, and good luck to all' McGonagall raised her goblet, 'let the feast begin'.
All of the food appeared out of thin air, sprawled across the long tables. Markus immediately spotted the roast pork, he reached his hand over to the plate to hide it just as Cherier appeared and sat down next to him.
'Don't worry Markus, I'm here now. Did'ya miss me?'