Chapter Two:

Missing

The Hogwarts Express vibrated slightly, sending a buzz through the seat bottoms to awake the slumbering students. A constant drum pelted against the windows as the storm chorused outside. But most students found comfort in the rain because it drowned out the sounds of the startled owls, caged behind in a baggage car. With the bright light coming from the front, the scarlet steam engine sliced through the sheets of icy rain, speeding down the tracks towards its castle destination.

Harry Potter sat with his head against the cold window, letting his breath play with mist across the blurry glass. Unbeknownst to his two friends, red-haired and lanky Ron, and bushy-haired, swift witted Hermione, Harry had been dozing. The events of earlier that morning had weighed him down and sleep came easily to him.

Dreams plagued him as he slept. It was only then that he noticed he wasn't truly asleep. He wasn't completely immersed into the dream world because every now and then his ears would catch a snippet of the conversation Ron and Hermione were having.

"…He really came to your house?"

"Yeah. Dad couldn't believe it…"

Harry felt a yawn coming on. His lungs sucked in the chilled window air on instinct. He let his jaw drop as he was reintroduced to the land of awake.

The lights seemed brighter than he remembered as his pupils dilated. Round yellow lights reflected off his glasses. He could see two of every light in the closed compartment.

Stretching his arms in front of him, lacing his fingers together, he grinned. Ron noticed.

"Well, look who finally decided to join us." he said with a smile as he gave Harry's already messy hair rub. Harry would have fended him off on normal occasion, but sleep was still with him and he abandoned the effort.

Hermione defended him anyway, smiling with a shove across the compartment at Ron.

"Ron - don't mess up Harry's hair! He just woke up."

Harry was mostly awake now. Gathering up his dress robes that were once folded, he placed them on his lap.

"Don't worry 'bout it, Hermione." he said halfway through clearing his throat. "My hair's always messy."

Ron shrugged and reached over to mess it again. This time harry rolled his eyes in protest.

"See?" Ron said as he leaned back in the seat beside Harry. "I think it makes you look older."

"I don't want to look older, Ron," Harry replied with a smile. "I just want to be seventeen and alive."

Although Harry knew Ron had been teasing in good humor, his last statement sucked the happiness out of the compartment. Ron shifted his gaze to the floor. Hermione set herself to folding Harry's robes. Harry watched as she took care in his uniform.

"Thought you'd be sleeping the whole trip." she said, not removing her stare from the clothing.

"I was tired."

"Exhausted!" Ron cut in with a serious expression on his face. "You zonked out the moment you sat down!"

"Yeah," Harry said as he ran his fingers through his hair, trying vainly to flatten it. "Didn't even know it was raining until I woke up. Thought I'd dreamed it."

"No, it's real." Ron replied as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a bag of Every Flavor Beans.

The mid-day nap seemed to zap more life out of Harry than add, so Harry rested his head back against the window. Silence filled the compartment for a moment before Ron started talking again.

"So, as I was saying," he continued as though harry were asleep again. "It was a little crazy at the Burrow for a while."

"Yeah -" Harry cut in. "What was that all about?"

Ron glanced over at him.

"What was what?"

Harry sat up.

"The person - who came over to the Burrow over the summer?"

Ron looked stunned. "You heard that?"

"Just the snippet. Who was it?"

Ron rolled his eyes.

"Knew I'd have to tell the story again."

"Either way, I'd find out. You can tell me here or at the feast."

Ron gave in.

"Rather tell you here than when everyone can hear."

Harry sat back in the seat, crossing his arms as he looked at Ron, anticipating the excitement of a summer story. He hadn't been to the Burrow at all that summer, and it had killed him. There was absolutely nothing exciting that happened at the Dursley's. He had sat in his room by himself writing fake letters that he knew he could never send to his friends. Dumbledore had told him it was not wise to send anything by owl any more because of the recent rise of Voldemort.

So, Harry hadn't sent anything. Rather, he saved the letters and was planning on giving them to Ron and Hermione after he had awoken. Well, he was awake now, but the story was much more interesting than the letters he had written.

Ron cleared his throat and began again. This sounded like it would be good.

"So, as I was saying," he started. "We had a visitor at the Burrow over the summer." Harry gave Hermione a questioning look, and Ron went on. "Lucius Malfoy, to be exact."

"No way!" Harry started, sitting up. "What did that great oaf want?"

"Well, he just stopped in one morning while we were all eating breakfast. We didn't even hear him come up the drive. He seemed quite full of himself, as he always does ("As does Malfoy!" Harry added with a groan,) and he was waving some rolled parchment around in his hand.

"So, Dad got up and sent us out of the room, but I stopped at the stairs and listened without anyone seeing me. Lucius went on with his terrible drawl about how he had gotten a petition signed by members of the Ministry to have Dad fired. He even unrolled the parchment to show. Dad was so upset - he yelled at Lucius unlike I'd ever heard him yell at anyone before. It was really scary. He even took out his wand! But, Lucius left quickly. He said something over his shoulder about how the Enchanted Car was the big tip off. Can you believe that?"

"So, your dad's really fired?"

Ron shook his head.

"No. Dumbledore stepped in and explained everything. He had the car retrieved from the forest and did something to it so that it wasn't enchanted again. Everyone believed that Lucius was a liar - which he is - and dad was off the hook."

"Wow," Harry said as he sat back. Hermione handed him the pile of robes, which he thanked her for. "Couldn't have folded them myself, that's for sure."

She smiled at him. "No problem. We're almost at the school, so if you two want to change, I'll leave until you're done."

Ron nodded and Hermione got to her feet, taking Crookshanks with her as she exited the compartment.

The curtains were drawn and the two of them sorted out their clothing, deciding on which robes to wear for the feast. Well, more like trying to decide which ones weren't wrinkled for the feast. Ron reached into his bag and pulled out a ball of clothing that Harry laughed at.

"If you can't fold, Harry," Ron said with a grin. "I sure can't."

Harry pulled off his shirt and started putting on the white uniformed one which would later be covered by a tie and vest. It was cool in the compartment without the warmth of his hand-me-down shirt from Dudley. For all the volume they had, they sure were warmer than the dress shirts that the school required they wear.

Ron took the cleanest looking uniform and started to pull it on. There were still wrinkles in it. He shrugged as he pulled the tie around the collar.

"Hermione can do a straightening spell on it or something. You know she has this thing for making us look presentable."

Harry nodded as he pulled on the starchy pants, buckling the belt. He threw his old pants onto the seat.

It was a minute or two before they were completely dressed. Ron pulled out his wand from his old pants and tucked it into his robes where a custom-made pocket had been stitched. Seeing this, Harry remembered his own wand as well.

"Oh yeah - I forgot my wand in my -"

He reached over to the crumpled pants and felt in the pockets for the twig-like wand. First the right pocket. Nothing. Then the left pocket. Still, nothing.

What? Where was his wand? He began crumpling the pants to feel for the wand somewhere. It had to be in his pants. That was where he had put it when he had left the Dursley's house. He had felt it there too when they were in King's Cross.

Ron noticed how upset Harry looked and commented.

"What's the matter?"

Harry was getting anxious now.

"My wand! It's gone!"

Ron stepped over to him and started helping him look for it in the pile of old clothing. He too felt nothing. No wand.

"Maybe it fell on the ground or something."

Harry watched as Ron felt around the floor under the seats for it. He felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. He'd lost his wand before at the Quidditch World Cup, and that hadn't been a good thing. The Ministry had been convinced that he had conjured the Dark Mark of the Death Eaters. Which was totally ludicrous at the time, but…

"Nothing?" he asked as Ron stood up.

Ron shook his head. "It's not here, mate."

"No…that can't be…" He got onto his hands and knees now to search for the wand. The floor was bare.

Hermione stepped into the disarrayed compartment with Crookshanks and her robes on neatly. She laughed for a second at Harry.

"What're you doing? You look like my grandmother when she's dropped her false teeth!"

Harry sat up on his knees and Hermione caught the stress in his features and immediately became concerned. "What's going on?"

"I lost my wand…" Harry said, feeling more helpless than ever.

"No - you couldn't have." Hermione tried to reassure him, but it didn't work.

"Really, Hermione. It's not here." Ron started. "I even looked."

"Well, did you put it in a suitcase or something?"

"No." Harry replied flatly.

But it appeared Hermione had a solution to their problem. She took out a piece of parchment and started writing on it.

"What're you doing?" Ron asked.

"Writing to Lupin. He's the one you two came to the station with, right?"

"Yeah."

Signing it, she folded the letter and held it in her palm. Taking out her own wand, she started circling the tip of it around the top of the parchment. Tiny sparkles of silver light appeared as she muttered something and the letter disappeared in seconds.

"Wha - what did you just do?" Ron asked as he gathered his clothing up and shoved it back into the suitcase.

"I sent the letter to Lupin."

"Without an owl?"

Hermione smiled.

"Dumbledore showed me how. He invented a new way to send letters so that they can't be traced. Lupin should reply any minute. No doubt he knows how to do the same."

Harry shook his head in disbelief. "Hermione - you never cease to amaze me."

She smiled at him as she sat down on the seat, stroking Crookshanks.

"Don't worry about it, Harry. We'll have your wand back in no time."

After having said this, a loud snap echoed through the compartment and the same parchment that Hermione had sent landed flat on the floor between all of them. Harry leaned down and picked it up, feeling the heat emanating off of it. Glancing at each of his friends, he opened the parchment.

Lupin's neat scrawl covered the bottom of the page. Harry read out loud.

"Don't worry, I'll meet you three at Hogsmeade Station. Harry's wand can't have gone far. Perhaps he lost it in his things. I'll have a search of the train when they arrive and all the students have left. I await your arrival. Sincerely, R. J. Lupin."

Hermione smiled.

"See? It'll all be sorted out when we arrive. Sit back and relax, Harry."

Harry tried, but he couldn't help but feel as though the wand wasn't lost on the train. But he did as Hermione advised and returned to staring out the window at the dark rain and passing foliage. Perhaps she was right. Perhaps the wand was still on the train.

He prayed she was right.