This story co-authored by Cardinal and Mike & Mike and Cardinal. Mostly we write one chapter each and sometimes we fix each others chapters. First one was written by Mike.
The morning of the 1st of September was a chilly one to say the least.
London looked greyer than usual, covered in an oddly thick fog as I walked past the still closed shops.
Even at this early hour, the streets were quite crowded. Fortunately, enough people moved to the sides as I carried my luggage, not without throwing strange looks in my direction as I passed by them. I could see their weird expressions targeted at my trunk. I mean, who carries an owl in broad daylight, and on a huge trunk on top of that? But, even so, they did not bother to question me and I'm thankful for that.
I walk slowly, having enough time to reach my destination, a place I've so longed to see again, the King's Cross Station. One step closer to home.
Arriving at Platform 9 and 3/4 I rest on one of the wooden benches arranged in perfect order around the tracks. I'm surprised I found an empty one as entire families have gathered around all others.
Letting go of my luggage, I look around the steamy platform. I spot the blurry clock showing the time.. few seconds past 10:02. Too early to be here. I guess I just wanted to get back to my real home as soon as possible. People rarely come at this hour, most of them arriving in the very last 20 minutes, but there are some wizards I know that are already here.
One of them is my fellow Prefect, Charlie Grimore. After fitting his glasses with his index finger, he looks around the platform, similarly searching for people he might know. Finding me in a matter of seconds he hesitates to approach for reasons I already know too well.
"It's -her-! What do I do?! Merlin, I don't want to die! Calm down, calm down. She did not see me yet, or did she? Do not look at her, do not look at her! Holy shit, I look at her and she looks back at me! Now I have to talk to her, God do I really ?! No, no, no, no. No. I'll just pretend I did not see her. Yes, that's right, that'll work, I did not see her. Nope, no sir."
Using my legilimancy abilities, I intercept his thoughts. He's slutters as always when aware of my presence. I suppose boys never do learn we really do look for braveness even in people who simply don't have it. You could still fake it if you had the guts. Walking in the opposite direction, he looks away in an attempt to avoid me. It's not unusual for him to think like that of me. I just don't mind it anymore.. so I disregard him and resume my reading of "A Guide to Advanced Transfiguration" which I just picked up from my luggage. Time flies till he finally decides to speak to me... after moving back and forth across the platforms visibly losing an inner fight time and time again.
"Hey, Katherine! How are you doing?" he asks wearing his usual awkward smile, a forced one, more like a grimace to be honest. Looking at the clock once more, I see it's 10:44 now. The platform got crowded with wizards from all years as the departure of the Hogwarts Express got even closer, thank Merlin.
"You know… as usual" I answer in a bored way, as usual.
"Usual meaning bored to death, frustrated, wanting to curse me or is it maybe something else? I don't know." he thought.
"Good to hear that!" He replies as I am amazed once more that he's smart enough to interpret my mood correctly. There are moments when other people seem to be more aware of what you feel than you are but they're still oblivious none the less. Straightening my hair, which was a little bit curly since I didn't brush it enough this morning, I chat with him briefly.
"I heard that Percy Weasley was appointed Head Boy this year, wasn't he?"
"Yeah. He is a Prefect for Gryffindors and Head Boy now. I guess he's under a lot of pressure this year..."
"You would think so wouldn't you?" A tall man with striking red hair runs right past us, towards a girl, proudly showing off his new badge.
"I... I have nothing more to say." He replied in a defeated manner.
"What about you?! You are in the sixth year and one of the most beautiful girls in Hogwarts, you are a Prefect, your grades are all Outstanding's, you are a member of the Quidditch team and, above all, you are wasting all of it! When are you going to run to a guy like he is towards her?!" He thought with an awkward expression fixing his glasses yet again. I finished doing my hair and, with a sorrowful smile, I replied in a low voice.
"Never"
"Did you say something?" He asked disturbed from his inner monologue.
"Nothing, nothing at all …" I said quickly, hiding my face, leaving him to his own thoughts and walking to the train to start my duty as Prefect.
"Yeah... bye to you too," I could hear him thinking far behind.
As we entered the train I caught a glimpse of the rest of the student body. There was no point of interest in the crowd… except maybe for one. Close to the locomotive, the crowd seemed to gather to see 'something' or, in this particular case, 'someone'. Voices screaming "It's him!" or "Let's go see him!" could be heard amongst the 1st years. Harry Potter, bearing the title of "the boy who lived", was the source of all that commotion. I, myself, have no interest in him, but I do have an interest in the bond that he and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named have. Since his parents had died their destinies have been intertwined and I am most curious on how this came to be and the inner working of their mystical connection. As a legilimens I do want to, as muggles say, "read his mind", but I can't do that, not without instantly alerting the Ministry of Magic which is keeping a close eye on him and on his thoughts. Not to mention how well Dumbledore fits in this story and it will be that much harder for me to find out more.
"Katherine? What are you still doing there?"
"She's plotting something, I know it. I hope it isn't as the last time when she tried to take points from our own house before arriving to Hogwarts. On Merlin's beard! She even noted the trouble maker in order to give him detention once classes started! At least she let the points part slide..." I could hear Charlie thinking from my right.
"I was too soft that time..." I muttered to myself. "Let's go. I hope you found the Head Boy and Girl." I said while pushing him aside in order to pass through the hallway.
"Your skin is way too soft for hosting such a glacial personality!" He thought while directing me to the right compartment.
Not much happened in the train during my patrol. Charlie was inside one of the compartments in the third wagon with some of his friends, neglecting his duty as Prefect… again. He should be doing this, not me, but, to be honest, I don't have anything better to do. As I walk, stopping from time to time to inspect suspicious students, I hear the male students whispering nonsense.
"That's Katherine White, right? The Ravenclaw Prefect?"
"Yeah... I think so"
"Just look at her! She is... so..."
"Gorgeous?"
"You can say that..."
"Man, I wish she'd be in my house."
"Keep dreaming, keeeep dreaming."
And so on. It's the most frustrating kind of thing to deal with while patrolling. And this is why I'd rather let Charlie do it! I wish he was here so I could turn his head into a potato and squash it under my foot! I finally got to the end of the last wagon. Hoping to return as fast as I can to Charlie I overheard some voices from one of the rooms near the end of the train speaking of the notorious Sirius Black and his mysterious escape from Azkaban. I thought I should investigate at first, but I decided to resume my patrol in the end. Getting back to the front I try to find the only Prefect neglecting his duties but he is nowhere to be seen. Just as I was about to give up and take a seat somewhere, the train suddenly stopped and the lights went off without any warning. Not knowing what was it about I ran to the locomotive after Lumoxing my wand. I tried to calm everyone on my way but without much luck. Upon reaching the front, the lights came on and the train finally started moving again and since I was already there I asked a few questions in the motor room.
"A dementor entered one of the last wagons. It would have been dangerous to move with it on board." said one of the engineers.
"A dementor… in the Hogwarts Express…?" I said in disbelief.
"Yes, ma'am. I was surprised too when I heard about it. Nasty bits of magic"
But I was more than surprised. Slowly, I head back in the third wagon. My legs were almost at their limit as was my mind.
A dementor. A fearful creature meant to guard the prison of Azkaban.
Most of wizards have heard that a dementor's kiss can steal a person's soul, but there are rare cases when one witnesses such thing.
I am one of those special cases.
It happened back in the First Wizarding War, when I was just a child.
I lived at an orphanage back then. It was a nice, peaceful place. If I try hard enough I can remember their faces, but I don't want to relive those moments… but then again… it's not something that depends on me.
That night the fog was thick and you could only see two centimeters in front of your nose. One of the keepers went outside and let the door slide open. At that moment they came. Creatures that could not be seen by muggles invaded the orphanage. Only I could see them as they took the souls of countless people. I hid under my bed, but they found me none-the-less. As they almost emptied my body, one of the members of the Order of the Phoenix saved me, barely there in time.
As I recalled the incident, my feet stopped moving and with the last remaining strength my body had, I sat down in a random seat near a guy with a somewhat dull expression holding his frog with both his hands like the most precious thing in the world. On the other side, a girl with red hair, most likely a Weasley, was looking at me with worried eyes. Outside I could see the mountains coming into view and the upcoming rain and even further, deep into the woods, the scene of the orphanage came into view once more.
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