Searching for a Signal

Chapter 1: Boarding the Train

Author's Notes: The Battle of Hogwarts took place in May of 1998. My story will follow nineteen years after the battle and show how Hogwarts has changed since then. The prompt I'm using is from a mix of all the different posts floating around the internet about Wi-Fi and technology being accessible at Hogwarts. Some of the characters I'll be using are original with a few familiar faces here and there. And since the base of my story is centered on the entire sub-culture that is the internet and people online, other fandoms will be mentioned throughout my story. How many references can you find? R&R to let me know what you think.

It has been nineteen years since The Battle of Hogwarts took place on the grounds of the wizarding school. Much of the world has changed since then, including what goes on within the school itself, and many would say it has changed for the better.

After the Dark Lord was defeated it was as if the world hit the reset button. The Muggle world went back to normal and anyone who had any knowledge or firsthand experiences with the events which happened over a span of two years while the battle took place simply choose to forget that any of it had occurred. Those who lost any loved ones grieved for them, but in time were able to forget as easily as those who did not. No one questioned what had happened, they were happier to forget. Anyone with power or influence simply accepted that the mass killings had ceased to happen, which was good enough for them. No explanation was needed, they were just pleased that the unknown no longer needed answers that they could not give to their public.

Much of the Wizarding world fell back into a time and state of peace as well. A majority of the Death Eaters were caught and sent to Azkaban for the rest of their miserable lives. Any who were able to escape the rubble of the battle went into hiding. Many fled the grounds simply in the hopes to die off without any repercussions for their crimes. The grounds of Hogwarts themselves were rebuilt along with the damaged halls within the span of three weeks and those who were lost during the fight were buried with honor. They would forever be remembered for their bravery and that they had protected the walls of the ancient castle. Aside from the natural grieving that took place after the initial battle, the next few years were a time of celebration. Those who had fought were honored and treated as heroes, and the wizarding world was rebuilt to its original state of glory. The Ministry was reclaimed within a week's time and in two years adopted a slightly more democratic outlook on politics. The world seemed to be able to breathe freely once more.

Though the weeks following the battle were filled with equal amounts of celebration and grief, time waits for no man and the world quickly began to rebuild a new. Hogwarts was rebuilt in plenty of time for the new school year. Any teachers that were lost were reluctantly, but easily replaced and schooling continued as usual, but of course with a period of adjustment. Many seventh years who fought in the battle went back to school to finish out their seventh year including Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny, and Draco, after his pardoning, just to name a few, all of whom graduated and went on to have very successful lives.

Semester after semester, year after year passed and the world seemed to go back to a state of normalcy that it hadn't truly known in decades. Now nineteen years later and we find ourselves in the twenty first century. It's now a new day in age in a never slowing, constantly evolving world and change was happening once again.

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Nineteen years later and fall was setting over the beautiful city of London, England. The temperature was slowly beginning to recede, day by day. The new school year was just around the corner and letters would soon be sent out via owls to the soon to be first years in preparation for the new semester starting in just three weeks.

In the weeks leading up to school, Diagon Alley was abuzz with excited preteens and teenagers being led by family members and friends alike as they walked up and down the crowded street gathering their supplies for the new school year. Children would run in and out of stores carrying heavy books, caldrons, parchment paper, and quills. First years, especially muggleborns, would be overwhelmed with joy as they purchased their first wands or their familiars (pets) that would accompany them to school. Groups of friends would wait in line together to try on new robes or wonder down Knockturn Alley to gawk at the strange selection of shops that offered a slightly darker take on magic. Many young witches and wizards would wonder into the famous joke shop that stood at the end of one of the blocks with a large red haired man in a top hat standing proudly in front of the store and not realize the shops significance other than to make a few people laugh, but others knew, and they would enter with a slightly more respectful air about them. Some days the line into Gringotts Wizarding Bank could be seen trailing out the door as wizarding parents would make their deposits while also collecting money for their children that would be able to leave the castle and go to Hogsmeade on the weekends. The Leaky Cauldron knew no better time of year for business than the weeks leading up to school. Every room was booked and they served food around the clock for families who would stay in the inn in the days leading up to sending their children off on the Hogwarts Express.

Three weeks passed and then came the day for the children to be taken to The Hogwarts train station to ride the train to Hogwarts itself. Many would pass through the hidden gate to platform 9 ¾ today to board the magnificent red and black train, including one Miss Jessica Langer.

Jessica is a bright young girl at the age of 11, soon to be 12. She has long, wavy blonde hair that travels down to her waist that she usually keeps over her left shoulder and off her back. She has piercing gray, blue eyes that can see through anyone and her wardrobe consists of mostly black t-shirts and dark or black jeans. She's a very introverted, antisocial girl, even for her young age. She comes from a family of purebloods, which somewhere along the way turned into half-bloods within the last two centuries, all of whom have been placed throughout all four houses of Hogwarts throughout the centuries that her family tree has existed. Jessica's father is mostly of muggle decent, has no magical abilities of his own, and works in an office building for a large business company, while Jessica's mother is mostly of wizard decent, is a witch who attended Hogwarts herself, and works part time at the Ministry. Both make decent pay and are capable of providing for their small family who occupy a large cottage on a few acres of land in the middle of nowhere in the U.K.

On this day, Jessica's mother Apparited her daughter and herself to the train station where they each ran through the invisible gate and approached the train together. After saying their quick 'goodbye's and 'don't forget to write's Jessica boarded the train on her own.

Jessica was going to be a first year which means that this was her first time taking the Hogwarts Express. She was going to ride the train, be placed into a house, be placed into a dormitory, and make new friends in the Wizarding world. This was also the first time in her life that she would be leaving her home and parents for more than a few days. This was also the first time she was going to be surrounded by other wizards, excluding her family members. This was also the first time in Jessica's life where she felt as if she was entirely alone and lost in an unknown world. She knew no one and was terrified of attending school at Hogwarts. Now, Jessica grew up going to public school in London because her parents wanted her to have an education outside of magic. In fact, Jessica planned to take online courses during her summer breaks and go to university after her seventh year. And she was excited to be going to an all wizards' school to take wizard based classes, but this was a completely different situation under entirely different circumstances. She was scared that she would trip while walking up to the sorting hat, she was anxious about getting lost on the way the to her common room and not being able to find her dorm, and she was petrified that she would get lost in the castle while trying to find her classes which would begin in less than three days. But most of all she was nervous about meeting new people and worried that she wouldn't be able to make friends. It wasn't easy for her to make friends and any friends she had at home, who she had just left behind to attend school at Hogwarts and would only be able to see during the summers (if they didn't forget about her) had just become her friends by chance.

With all these thoughts buzzing through her head, Jessica walked through a number of full train cars to reach the last train car sitting on the tracks. If she wasn't so nervous she might have considered asking to join one of the compartments she passed, but all of the car's occupants were already busy chatting away, happy to see each other again after the long summer break or pleased to meet each other and wondering if any of them would be placed into the same house once at school. So instead, she simply continued to pass silently through each noisy train car.

Moving down the long aisle wearing a small carryon which held two fully charged portable chargers, a blanket from home, a large book, and a robe to wear to the feast over her shoulder and carrying a small animal carrier in her left hand, Jessica walked all the way to the back of the train. Once she was as far as the train would allow her to go she sighed and looked inside the last two remaining compartments of the final car. Surprisingly, but thankfully, both cars were empty, so she choose the one to the right and carefully stepped inside. Setting down her bag and the cage she carried on the bench to her right, she closed the door as quickly and quietly as she could, then went to look outside the window. Over the ocean of people who were lined along the outside of the train to say goodbye to their children who were already on board, Jessica was able to see her only slightly taller mother against the back wall of the train station, smiling up at her daughter on her first train to school.

Not a moment after she saw her mother, Jessica's phone vibrated against her leg in her right front pocket. A message appeared on her phone's small screen, reading:

Go easy on your phone

Jessica swiftly typed back a short reply and, knowing exactly what her mother had been referring to, proceeded to turn her phone off immediately after the message was sent. She might have been holding it in her hand, but as Jessica looked down at the black screen she began to miss the warmth of her phone. Without electricity to charge her phone while at school, she was going to have to save her battery life. She only had the percentage that was currently on her phone and the two phone chargers, if they were going to work, in her bag to get her through the next few months of school before winter break. Not that it mattered, she'd only be able to use her phone at night and on the weekends. And there was, of course, no Wi-Fi or even signal at the school, so she'd only be able to play downloaded games or listen to her music. But even this would have been enough technology to soften the blow of having her internet access completely stripped from her, except her phone would only be able to continue working for a few weeks, if she was careful. Jessica knew she'd begin feeling withdrawal symptoms before she even entered the school.

Looking up from her darkened mobile she saw her mother's familiar, smiling face one last time before her mother Apparited out of the station, needing to get to work by 9 o'clock and not wanting to linger until the train left the station.

There was no need of course for her mother to wait around anyway, what was the point?

Jessica had insisted she be dropped off at the station in time to find a compartment to sit in and because her mother had to go to work she had agreed to get her there thirty minutes early. As far as Jessica could tell, children were still filing onto the bus and would likely continue to do so until the train began to pull out of the station. With twenty minutes to spare, Jessica could only hope that no one else would join her compartment and if someone were to do so, it wouldn't be as awkward or embarrassing as she was expecting it to be.

Jessica sighed again, maneuvering her hair behind her back, and sat down on the bench across from the one that held her belongings. Looking across the compartment, she leaned forward and hid her phone safely in the bottom of her carryon. She then twisted the cage around on the bench so that the silver-barred door was facing her and she could look in at her recently purchased familiar (or a wizard's personal animal and closely kept companion often used as a means of work). Her mother had given it to her as an early birthday gift since she wouldn't be home for her actual birthday in a few months and had decided that she could use a companion while away at school.

"Hello," she whispered softly, so as not to disturb the sleeping mass of gold and white if it didn't want to be awakened. She hadn't had time to fully admire her new pet since he had been purchased from the pet shop in Diagon Alley earlier that morning, since she had been too concerned with herself getting on the train before it left her in London.

Nonetheless, the small ball of soft spikes not yet hardened by age uncurled to reveal that the creature had been napping on its back with its face hidden from any light that would be able to pass through its cage. Rolling over to land on its little feet the small face looked through the bars to meet Jessica's gaze. After a moment of assessing, the creature walked out of the shadowed corner of its carrier to reveal itself as a baby hedgehog and stick its paw through the bars, still looking up at the girl in front of him. Like many rules that had been revised or done away with entirely, the rule of what animals children were allowed to bring with them into the castle was also revised. Aside from owls, rats, and toads, the list grew to three times its original size and strictly speaking now allowed children to bring with them dogs, cats, small rodents, and birds in general. As long as the animal was contained by the student who owned it, other than birds who were kept and cared for in the owl sanctuary to be used for post for the students, and didn't bother anyone or break anything in the castle, any animal smaller than the average sized trunk that students brought with them was allowed in without much complaint. On the list or not.

Jessica's mother had taken her to one of the many pet shops seated on Diagon Alley and had told her to pick any animal she liked. Jessica had always been fascinated with animals and dreamed of becoming a veterinarian when she grew up, though for which world she hadn't quite decided yet. Because her parents owned two owls for post she wouldn't need her own to keep in touch with her family. She also wanted something different, something not everyone else in the school would own. This is how Jessica found herself picking up a lonely looking hedgehog sitting by itself in a glass container, staring her directly in the eyes, and seemed to be asking to be taken home. At the time the small animal had reminded Jessica of herself and she decided the nocturnal mammal would make a good companion. The attendant at the counter had assured her that it was a two month old male hedgehog, but not just an ordinary hedgehog, of course, but one breed by the use of magic. It was smarter than the average dog and would be able to be trained as well as one. The hedgehog was a baby now but within the next couple of months it would be fully grown and if well feed it would weigh close to 100 pounds and be slightly larger than a medium sized dog. It would be able to carry 40 pounds on its back and run up to 35 miles an hour, even on its short legs. Its spikes would hardened over time and could be used for protection and its claws would grow to be between 1-2 inches long which was perfect for burrowing. Jessica's mother had winced slightly at the description of the grown animal, but proceeded to pay for it all the same, as well as for its carrier and six months' worth of food.

Now Jessica was face to face with her new friend and the animal was asking politely to be let out of its cage. Deciding that no one else was going to join her in the compartment since the train was scheduled to take off within ten minutes she double checked that the door to her compartment was firmly closed and then opened the latch on the blue carrier.

The hedgehog had backed up a step for the door to be unlocked, then proceeded to nudge the door open with its small, brown nose. Stepping out of the cage, he rubbed against Jessica's still outstretched hand and allowed her to pick him up. Holding him easily in two hands close to her chest she whispered to him again, "Hello," and received a small squeak in greeting. Laughing lightly at the response from her familiar, she pecked him lightly on the head and watched him twitch his nose as a response. Leaning forward, Jessica pulled her book from her bag, then sat with her back against the window. She put the hedgehog down in her lap and expected him to start crawling around the compartment. Instead, the small mammal climbed up her shirt and snuggled against her neck, then shortly after resumed his nap with lying across her left shoulder. Shocked that the creature had taken to her so quickly, she smiled openly, and proceeded to open her book to where she had left off.

Not ten minutes later and the train's whistle sounded loudly, far ahead of the car that Jessica was seated in. Without looking up and hardly noticing the whistle itself, she concluded that the train would begin to leave and her solitary 10 hour train ride to the school would begin.

But not a moment after the train began to pull away from the station and the silence was broken by a single, short, sharp knock on the compartment window.