Harry woke up in the morning with a sinking feeling. The sun was shining in his face. He glanced at his clock - and screamed. Today was September First, and the Hogwarts Express had already left! How could he have overslept!
Harry was furious. He had been stuck at the Dursley's the whole summer, and he was sure that they had done it on purpose. Luckily, he knew what to do. "Hedwig," he said, "I missed the train. I'd better have you take a letter to Hogwarts." Harry took out a piece of parchment, and began to write.
Professor Dumbledore, (wrote Harry)
I missed the Hogwarts train again, like in my second year. What should I do?
Please let me know.
Harry Potter
Harry tied the letter to Hedwig's leg, and she was off. He waited gloomily for several hours, until he noticed a red stain spreading from the corner of his trunk, which he had already packed. He frantically unpacked it again, throwing his clothes on his bed in disarray, and found that his bottle of Liquid Erase had smashed. As well as staining several of his clothes and his second-best quill bright red, it had erased several of his rolls of homework, including - he groaned in dismay - all of his Potions and Divination work. Oh, well, he thought, at least now I have something to do.
After his second roll, he decided he'd rather not have to do homework.
Finally, many hours later, there was a tapping at the window and Harry let in a large school owl. He untied the letter from its leg and read it.
Potter, you are to take the Knight Bus to Diagon Alley immediately and wait by Ollivanders, where we will have a transport for you. Bring your trunk and all school things. Hedwig is at the Owlery awaiting your arrival.
Severus Snape
Harry wondered why Snape had written the letter instead of Dumbledore, but he decided that Dumbledore had probably been busy. Harry quickly re-packed his trunk, let the owl out, and went downstairs. The Dursleys were nowhere to be seen, and he supposed they had left to prevent him from coercing them into taking him anywhere. Harry didn't mind.
Soon, Harry was on the Knight Bus, doing on his potions work. He heard the doors open, and who should get on but Lucius Malfoy! "Why hello Potter," he said as soon as he saw Harry. "Shouldn't you be in school, Potter? Or did something come up with those Muggle relatives of yours?"
Harry didn't answer, and pretended not to notice Malfoy. Actually, he was scared stiff. He had seen Malfoy, last year, along with the other Death Eaters. He was pretty sure Malfoy wouldn't try anything, but if he did... Harry tried not to think about it.
"Diagon Alley!" the driver called, and Harry hurried off, happy to be away from Lucius Malfoy. He had been sitting in front of Ollivanders for about ten minutes when he realized that his trunk was still on the Knight Bus, which was probably halfway to Albania by now. But there was nothing he could do about it so he sat, extremely upset, waiting for his ride. At least he had his wand... with the second sinking feeling that day, he remembered that it had been packed in his trunk.
Harry looked up in the sky, and saw a cloaked figure approaching on a broomstick that had some sort of rack on it, presumably for carrying baggage. It was also longer and thicker than normal. It landed in front of him, and he saw that the rider was Madame Hooch, the Quidditch teacher. "Hop aboard," she said. "We've got a long journey ahead of us.
Harry climbed awkwardly aboard behind Madame Hooch, and they lifted off. "Uh... Madame Hooch... I don't have my trunk. I left it on the Knight Bus."
"Yes," she said, "that has been taken care of. It was brought to the school by a Mister Malfoy. He said it was lucky that he was going there, or you would probably never have gotten it back."
"Malfoy!" Harry exclaimed involuntarily. "Why was he going to Hogwarts?!"
"Oh, didn't you hear?" she replied, "He's the new headmaster. They fired Dumbledore, and half the staff. Snape's the Dark Arts teacher now, and Nott is the Transfiguration teacher.
Harry was stunned by this news. The Hogwarts he knew had been overturned! This was terrible, this whole day had been terrible! Could anything be worse than what had already happened?
Harry was shocked when the broom touched ground; he was a good judge of distance, and Hogwarts was much farther than this. He looked around. He was on some lonely moor, with sparse trees. He looked up at Madame Hooch, and saw no one except an unfamiliar woman, who had apparently created an illusion to appear to be Hooch.
"I'm Mrs. Lestrange," she said quietly. "You may have heard about me..."
Harry turned to run, and a black-cloaked figure appeared from behind a tree, and then another, and another, until he was completely surrounded. Harry thought about what he had just thought, and decided that there was something worse than what had already happened.
END (Though if you want to write a continuation, feel free)
Author's note: I don't own any of the characters here except for perhaps the Liquid Erase, but it doesn't have much of a personality - or a speaking role - so it probably doesn't count. ~Roanaz
