Scott sat on his bed as he repacked his things into his suitcase, making absolutely sure he had everything he would need for the year and would not have to come back for anything once he had left. He was waiting upon an owl to deliver him a letter by post, which would give him the instructions he needed to get to his destination. Normally, people did not normally get their post by owl, but as Scott had discovered two years ago, he was no ordinary person, but a wizard. One of many wizards in a society shared by wizards and witches, people processing magical powers, which hid in secret or was discretely integrated into modern society from people that did not have magic powers, that the wizarding and witching world liked to refer to as muggles. By no means did this mean Scott was an all-powerful wizard that could do magic whenever he wished; wizarding law stated that wizards and witches under a certain age would not be able to perform magic outside school until they came of age at seventeen, regulated by the Ministry of Magic, and if anyone tried it would be detected by an unseen magic that is cast upon all under-aged wizards and witches from birth called 'the Trace'. Owls were the main way to communicate messages throughout the wizarding and witching world, and it was a message from Scott's school, Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, that Scott was now waiting for.
He rechecked his suitcase; clothes, textbooks, a cauldron for Potions, quills, parchment, his school and Quiddich robes, and a Sneakoscope, was packed and ready to go. In his jeans pockets to pull out at a moment's notice were a few items from his Muggle past, including his mobile phone, a silver I-pod Nano, a black Nintendo DS and of course, his thirteen-inch reed wand, with phoenix feather in its core. He never really had a need for it, but Scott wanted to make sure he was ready if something went wrong and he would need to cast a spell or a jinx immediately.
Suddenly, Scott remembered something he had forgotten to pack; he got off the bed and stepped over to his wardrobe, opening the door and rummaging between older clothes for the object. Finally he found it, and pulled it out to examine it; it was a small sphere, about the size of an orange, with rubber bands Scot had tied around it. The reason for this was besides for the rubber bands surrounding the sphere, the sphere itself was entirely invisible.
Scott had received it mysteriously on his first birthday he had spent at Hogwarts; it had arrived in a simple piece of brown wrapping paper tied by string, and when he had opened it he thought it had been a trick when he saw nothing there. But after he had tried to get the small piece of written paper and found an invisible object was blocking his attempts to get it, he had picked up the object, feeling a cool metallic touch to his hand, and heard a sudden yelp from his friends when he suddenly vanished. It took him a moment to realize the sphere, when held, could make him invisible. Once he had put the sphere down and marked its location with some rubber bands that had been used to hold two of his presents together, he had read the small note underneath in a handwriting he did not recognize:
Scott,
Use
this Disasphere wisely when charting through Hogwarts.
Happy Birthday
Back in the present, Scott held the Disasphere in his hand and crossed back over to his suitcase at the end of the bed, wrapping it inside a pair of socks. He put it into a zip pocket, careful to remember where it was. Now he felt he was ready.
Suddenly two owls flew in though the window Scott had left ajar. One was Scott's barn owl, named Mirage, who hooted happily to be out of his cage. The other was a Great Horned Owl, who flew over Scott's bed and dropped an envelope, making a short landing on Scott's bed because of the amount of limited space in his room. After Scott made a thankful nod to the owl, it turned around and departed, leaving Scott in the company of Mirage to read his letter.
Dear Mr. Duncanson,
As
arranged by the Ministry of Magic, from the Department of Magical
Transportation, for your third year of study at Hogwarts, a Portkey
has been arranged to take you directly to the outside of the barrier
of Plaform 9 ¾. This year however, in addition of being
accompanied by the usual Ministry official from said department, an
Auror will escort the both of you to the Portkey. This change in
procedure is because of new security measures enacted by the
Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Your ministry official will
inform you of the identification of the Portkey on or after his
arrival on today's date at precisely midday. Please make note of
this and ensure you are ready for travel by this date.
Reguards,
Helga Runesworth
Department of Magical Transportation
Scott looked at the time on his mobile: 12:50. Ten minutes to spare. "Okay Mirage, I hope you had a good flight, because it will be the last for a little while, okay? Hop into your cage now."
Mirage fluffed his feathers as if stretching himself, before walking across the desk and into his cage. Scott closed the door behind him and gave him an affectionate scratch with his index finger behind Mirage's ear (which the owl replied with an equal affectionate clamp of his beak), before he lifted his cage up and pulled his suitcase on wheels behind him, opening his door out into the corridor.
His father, Roy, was in the kitchen. "Hey Scott." he said. "So… off for the year, then?" he asked tersely.
"Yeah." Scott said awkwardly. His father was always like this about him being a wizard; he didn't see how being magical could give someone a proper career, and Scott knew why. His father was raised on a farm, and he always believed in hard work and the sweat of a man's brow. Scott felt estranged enough when his father disapproved of him playing video games; it had been a momentary relief he had gotten over it, only to find out later on he was a wizard. Productivity always seemed important to him and magic to him seemed childish and foolish, but there were times his dad would act silly when he was in a good mood and younger than his age. But since his dad, like the rest of his family, was a Muggle, he never seemed to act that way around him anymore.
"Mum and Zara already said bye to me last night." He added, thinking of his mother and sister. "Where's Phoebe."
"She's here." Dad said. "On the computer, I think." He added. Scott nodded; it was a Sunday, and there wasn't much else to do on the weekend.
There was a knock at
the door, and Scott turned to answer it. "That'll be them."
Scott said. "See you next year, have a good holidays."
"Bye."
His dad said, not saying anything else.
Scott stepped towards the corridor, which lead to the door, carting his suitcase and Mirage's cage behind him. As he opened the door to see who it was, an elderly wizard in strangely worn Muggle clothing appeared, with a younger witch standing behind him. From her more serious, sterner appearance and more casual appearance in Muggle clothing, Scott guessed she was the Auror sent to look after them.
"Hello, hello! Good to see you again, Scott!" the elderly wizard said joyfully. "Mind if I come in?"
"Hi Zasamel. Actuallly…" Scott said to the Ministry official he had last year, Zasamel Grenway, who was quite a friendly but odd sort of wizard. Scott was hesitant to let him in his house again. Last year when he had come into the house to meet his parents, he was distracted by the gadgets they had in their kitchen, namely a shiny new milkshake maker they had gotten the following Christmas, and in an unasked request to use magic to make them all milkshakes with his wand, made an awful mess that splattered across the entire kitchen; and to make things worse, because of the Trace, the Ministry had sent an owl to expel Scott for underage magic, knowing someone had used it at his residence and with Scott being the only registered wizard at the residence. Zasamel had to appear with Scott on the exact same day to appeal to the Wiengamot that it was a mistake, and his charge was dropped. Scott was afraid Zasamel would get carried away again in his fascination of the Muggle world and try something just as bad incidentally, or worse – he did not want to explain to his friends why he had missed the feast yet again.
Zasamel stepped in past Scott and strode into the kitchen, where Scott's dad eyed the strangely dressed elderly man with a mixture of fascination and fear. "Zasamel, was it?" Roy asked.
"Yes, how do you do?" Zasamel smiled over his moon-shaped glasses, shaking his hand. "I'm just so ever intrigued by the Muggle objects you use. Can I take a quick look?"
"I don't… Roy said, but Zasamel already stepped past him. Roy cast Scott a look, and said, "Could you get him out, please?" in a quieter tone.
Scott nodded and followed Grenway. Already the man was watching the big-screen TV in their living room, marveled by it. "Amazing! So Muggles have gotten the hang of creating moving pictures! What kind of photograph is this meant to be?"
"It's just a TV." Scott explained briefly. "C'mon, Zasamel."
"And this," Zasamel added, looking at what Scott realized now was his sister, Phoebe, on the internet of their new computer. "…must be your sister Phoebe, who you've only once mentioned. My dear, what are you doing? What is that? 'Myspace'? What is Yourspace exactly?"
"It's the internet." Scott tried explaining again, getting strange looks from his sister.
"Zasamel, we best be
going, or Scott will be late for the Hogwarts Express." The auror's
voice called, as she appeared from the kitchen.
"Ah, yes, quite
true Dromeda. Thanks for reminding me. I am getting a little carried
away." Zasamel nodded. "We best be off… although I do wish I
could take more time studying these Muggle items in action…"
Scott
and the Auror guided Zasamel back through the kitchen and out the
front door, Scott calling out 'Bye!' as he left from the front
door, while on the way reminding Zasamel not to try to open the doors
to the car parked in the driveway.
"Righto lad! Let's
go find the Portkey! It's in a park to the south of here." The
wizard left the way, with Scott trailing with the Auror.
"Thanks
for that." Scott said.
The young witch grinned. "No problem. My name is Dromeda. Dromeda Corvin."
"I'd tell you my
name, but you already know that." Scott joked. He suddenly
remembered the letter he had received. "Dromeda, why is the
Ministry increasing defense for just us students?" he asked
curiously.
"I'm not at liberty to say." Dromeda said, her
long blonde hair flicking across her shoulders as she shook her head.
"All I can tell you is that security has been tightened for a
reason, and the Minister of Magic has his reasons."
Scott nodded. He talked with Dromeda, trying to find out more, but Dromeda pulled Zasamel back and seemed to try talking to him about complicated Ministry issues Scott couldn't understand. Mirage hooted in acknowledgement, as if agreeing with Scott something was strange about the whole thing.
They reached the park, and Zasamel instructed them all to hook elbows as he bent down, obscured by the trees around them, to pick up a empty yogurt cup; Scott started to feel the familiar sensation of an invisible hook from inside his belly pulling him through nothingness, until at last, the group appeared inside a empty sitting room at the King's Cross train station in London, and let go of each other.
"Ah, good, the other group has already arrived." Zassamel noticed, upon spying an empty paper cup on the ground. "I believe Miss Mayo is already here."
Scott couldn't help but smile; glad one of his closest friends from back home was here.
"This is where we part ways." Zasamel sighed. "Until next year, Scott. Pleasant travels and a happy year to you. Pleasure to work with you, Ms. Corvin."
"The pleasure is mine, Mr. Grenway. See you in the Ministry." Dromeda smiled, and Zasamel turned around on the spot, and Apparated. It was then Scott noticed a man who was standing guard at the door.
"All clear, Joe." Dromeda said to the black-haired man, who uncrossed his arms as the witch opened the door.
"Dromeda." The man acknowledged. "Good. And you are Scott?" he addressed him.
"Yeah." Scott said awkwardly. "Nice to meet you. Are you an Auror, too?"
"Yes." The man said. "I'm Joe Cryal. But no time for pleasantries, I believe your train is scheduled to depart soon. We'll be accompanying you on board." He said warmly, moving forward towards the barrier of Platform 9 ¾. Scott looked curious but followed, now pushing a loaned trolley with his suitcase and Mirage's owl cage on top of it, making sure no-one was watching them as they moved through the trick barrier between platforms nine and ten. Passing through the wall he saw the crimson Hogwart's Express, now churning steam over the boarding passengers and their families.
Scott looked up the platform to see if he could recognize anyone; a whistle came from the Hogwarts Express, and Cryal and Dromeda boarded the train, Scott unloading his trolley and dragging his trunk and cage behind him, with a little assistance from Dromeda. The Hogwarts Express began to move from the platform and Scott moved down the corridor away from the Aurors as they went into their compartment, until he spotted Leahna Mayo, one of his friends, chatting with some of her friends.
She had long brown hair and green eyes, but would seem to magically change different shades of color whenever Scott looked into them, even though it must have been a trick of the light. She was heaps shorter than him, and had an average build. She wore Muggle clothing, a hooded top with jeans and black converse shoes. She was quite attractive, but not to the point where she would boast about it. She was in Gryffindor with Scott, and on the rare occasion, they studied together in the Gryffindor commonroom – or at least tried, when they weren't talking about their common interests or laughing at their jokes.
"Hey, Larnie." he called to get her attention, calling her by the nickname she liked to be called. "Want to try and find a compartment?"
Larnie turned to look at him, her eyes doing the pretty color trick, and slightly shook her head. "Hey. I can't, I'm going with my friends to our compartment." Her friends gave him a single look and a smile of recognition, before they turned away to walk up the corridor, their conversation broken by his interruption. "I have to go. Bye." she said brightly, and turned and walked away with her belongings.
"Right." Scott said, and sighed under his breath. He felt a strange twinge of annoyance as she walked away, watching for a moment her long brown hair dancing behind her. He had become so caught up with the idea of hearing she had arrived, so that he could talk with her about why Aurors had needed to accompany them on their Portkey trip, he had forgotten she had friends of her own. He fought the bitter sting of rejection and went to look for someone else he could talk to.
"Hey, Scott!" he heard a voice, and turned around to see a boy walking towards him.
"Hey, James." Scott said with some small relief. "Want to find a compartment?"
"Sure." James said. "I haven't found one myself yet."
James Matthews had short wavy brown hair and blue eyes, and was wearing a t-shirt, jeans and sneakers. Unlike Scott and Leahna, who were Australian, James was English and so didn't have to travel so far a distance to get to King's Cross station as he did. Scott had known James as long as he had known Leahna, since the first year, and even though Scott was in Gryffindor and James in Ravenclaw, they got on well as friends.
They found a compartment and stowed away their belongings; James's owl, a Eurasian Eagle Owl called Striker, hooted as James placed him carefully on the floor next to Mirage's cage.
"They look happy to see each other again mate." James noted, as Mirage and Striker faced each other and hooted in unison.
"They'll be even happier once they get out of their cages." Scott grinned, and leant forward in his seat. "So James, have you heard about the tightened security the Ministry has placed?"
"Yeah, I saw the Aurors with you." James said. "What was all that about?"
Scott told James about the Auror that had escorted them from his home.
"All the way down in Australia?" James said surprise. "A bit much, hey?"
"Yeah, I agree." Scott nodded. "I wonder why all the extra security, though? It's a bit weird…"
The compartment door they had closed behind them slid open, and Scott looked up in surprise to see Leahna enter. Behind her, two girls looked in.
"Hey." Scott greeted Leahna again. "I thought you were going to sit with your friends?"
"Yeah," Leahna shrugged, "I wanted to go in there, but they brought some of their friends, so there wasn't enough room. I can talk to them anytime. Plus it's a bit quieter in here. Oh and Scott, guess what. I heard Natz and Jemma talking about Lost, the TV show, they're fans too."
"Hey cool." Scott smiled, and looked to the mentioned girls looking into the compartment. "Hey Natz, Jemma. Come in."
"Hello Scott." Natz smiled, looking towards James. "I'm Natalie, but my friends call me Natz."
"Hi." Jemma waved. "Jemma." She simply stated her name as James looked at her.
Natz and Jemma were at the same age and height, which was understandable, considering they were unidentical twins. Natz had light chestnut brown hair, which was streaked throughout with brown and blondish hair, which grew down to shoulder length, and brown eyes. Jemma had darker shoulder-length brown hair, which she was wearing at the moment in a ponytail, with a fringe over her forehead, and brown eyes. They were also wearing Muggle clothing, assorted tops and t-shirts with jeans and sneakers. Scott had known the twins since his second year, Natz more frequently since she was with Gryffindor, with Jemma in Ravenclaw.
"Nice pair of hooters." Larnie joked, mentioning the two owls in their cages. The joke seemed to break the ice, and everyone laughed a little, as Leahna, Natz and Jemma put their trunks away in the overhead compartments; they left their cat carriers on the floor away from the owls, where their cats remained concealed inside.
Soon the group started
talking about the TV show Lost, swapping ideas and what was going to
happen next season, until the conversation died down. Scott thought
this was a good time to bring up the subject about the Aurors.
"So
I was saying to James before you girls came in, it's a bit weird
how the Ministry of Magic has tightened security, isn't it?" he
asked, and looked at Leahna. "Larnie, you had an Auror accompany
you too, didn't you?"
"Yeah." she said.
"He was pretty strict and didn't talk much. He wouldn't tell me
anything."
"Me neither, except that it's for a good reason
and the Minister of Magic had a reason." Scott told everyone.
"Maybe something happened, like a student got attacked?" Jemma spoke up.
"Or maybe someone's on the run from the Aurors?" Natz wondered. "Someone could have escaped from Azkaban."
"Could be." James said. "But I dunno, they have the Dementors guarding the prison don't they?"
"What's a Dementor?" Jemma asked.
"It's some type of magical creature, like a ghost, that sucks all the happy feelings out of a person and leaves them in sorrow. While they're in a state of misery, they try to steal their soul. That's what's known as a Dementor's kiss." Leahna informed her.
"Ewww." Natz said.
"Anyway, it's what's keeping the prisoners in Azkaban. It leaves the prisoners feeling like they have no chance to escape." Leahna finished.
"And they're supposed to make the atmosphere around them cold, like they are." Scott added.
"Actually, do you guys think it's gotten colder?" James asked, looking out the window.
"Don't say things like that." Leahna smirked. "There's no way Dementors could be out here."
"But I'm serious." James said, still looking out the window. "And it's gotten darker, too."
Scott stood up and moved towards the window, Leahna stepping beside him, the others looking out the window past them. It had become quickly overcast with dark clouds, and it was meant to be a sunny day. The corner of the window began to quickly frost up, followed by the edges of the window.
"You're joking…" James said.
Suddenly the train came to a sudden halt, and everybody suddenly was flung over to one side of the compartment, the owls and cats in their containers letting out shrieks and mews. Once everyone was on their feet again, there was only silence.
"What happened?" Natz spoke up first.
"It might be Dementors." James said again.
"We don't know that for sure." Jemma said.
Leahna got out her wand and spoke the words, "Lumos." The tip of her wand lit up, helping them all to see.
"Lumos." Scott chanted as well, after getting out his wand. He followed her out of the compartment, while James, Natz and Jemma reached for their cases to get out their wands.
In the distance, there was a scream, putting everyone on alert. Leahna pulled open the door and stepped into the corridor, and as soon as she turned the corridor, she let out a small shriek in surprise. Scott quickly stepped behind her and gasped.
There in the corridor was the very creature they had been talking about; a humanoid figure, ten feet in height, and covered by a dark black cloak, except for the hands which were grey and decaying.
"Incend-" she began to say, but almost immediately the Dementor was in front of her, revealing it's repulsive face with no eyes and a large hole where the mouth should be, and began sucking out her soul, life draining out of her face. Scott reacted immedately, finishing off the spell Leahna was meant to finish, calling out "Incendio!"
Fire burst out of is wand at the Dementor, driving it back and releasing its hold on Leahna. It swooped forward and knocked Scott over, making him drop his wand. He reached around for it, but already the Dementor was on him, attempting to do the same soul-sucking it had done to Leahna. Looking up, Scott could see Leahna reaching for Scott's wand; Natz and Jemma screamed in surprise at the Dementor. James had his wand out and leveled it at the Dementor attacking Scott when a second one swooped in from the other end and attacked him. Scott couldn't see much else, as the Dementor continued to suck out his soul with its mouth-like hole. He hoped Leahna was okay and wondering when she was going to help him, when suddenly a strong voice called out.
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"
