Panem

For the first time in my life, I am drunk. It's been four hours since Katniss has been hauled away to the Capitol. I got Prim and Mrs. Everdeen safely home after the reaping and wandered the woods screaming and yelling until I was hoarse. Then I made my way to the Hob and Rippers counter. Without a word she poured me a glass of white liquor and so far hasn't let me see the bottom of it. The population at the Hob is more subdued than I've ever seen. They all feel the pain. One of our own has been reaped.

"District 12 citizens, please return to the square. District 12 citizens, please return to the square." The announcement over the seldom used PA speakers crackled over the lone speaker tucked in the corner of the old abandoned warehouse. The unprecedented request causes confusion and curiosity throughout the building and we converge on the street in a half drunken parade back to the square.

When we arrive we are surprised to see the television crew back in the square and Mayor Undersee back on stage. The bowls of paper slips and roped off areas for the reaping are still up and the large screen erected above the stage has a message flashing on it.

"12 to 18 year old boys and girls, please re-assemble for a new reaping."

The din of the crowd is deafening, echoing off the shops around the square. It takes Mayor Undersee several minutes to get everyone's attention and quiet us down. In the end it takes several short bursts of gunfire into the air from the Peacekeepers before everyone stops talking.

"The tribute train containing Katniss Everdeen, Peeta Melark, Effie Trinket and Haymitch Abernathy had mechanical difficulty and the four of them are missing." Mayor Undersee's announcement sends a shock wave through the crowd and the chatter and cries of distress once again overpower his words. When he is able quiet us again he continues. "Because the representatives of District 12 have not made it to the Capitol, they have sent us another escort to do a second drawing."

Silence. Not a single whisper of sound creeps through the crowd. The click of spiked heels on the stage as our new "Effie" approaches the microphone.

"Hello District 12, my name is Vivacia. Happy Hunger Games and may the odds be ever in your favor!" The new Effie also sports a large curly wig, but hers is a deep cerulean, matching the tight, short dress that is complete with a full set of peacock feathers attached to the back. She seems nonplussed by the hostile silence emanating from the crowd and her smile falters a bit. "Ladies first!" She sways her mass of feathers as she walks to the big glass bowl containing the girls names. She digs around for a minute and pulls a slip of paper from the bottom then walks back to the mic. "Primrose Everdeen."

The pit drops out of my stomach. What are the odds that a little girl with just one slip would be drawn from thousands not once, but twice. If possible, the people of District 12 are even more upset about her name being drawn than they were earlier today.

Prim makes her way to the stage and this time, there is no one who is willing to volunteer. Mayor Undersee looks positively green at the announcement of her name and Mrs. Everdeen screams, falling to the ground. The baker rushes to her side and pulls her into his arms, offering comfort to the woman who is losing her whole family. My teeth grind and I watch Vivacia prance over to the bowl of boys names and dig around in it as well. After a minute she pulls a slip from the pile and returns to the mic to read it. Not Gale Hawthorne. Not Gale Hawthorne. I think. "Gale Hawthorne."

Shit.

Hogwarts

Six hours after leaving King's Crossing, the train pulls into the next station and we are hoping it's the Capitol. Effie is frazzled, Haymitch is cranky from the hours drying out, Katniss is sullen and pouting and we're all starving. Katniss and I each had a small pack of cookies that my father had given us, but those didn't last long. Effie nibbled one, complaining of the carbs the whole time, Haymitch scarfed down four before we got them away from him. Katniss and I split the remaining cookie.

I look out the window, eager to see what the Capitol looks like and I'm disappointed to see a small, somewhat rundown station. You'd think with the money that they have, they could at least maintain a decent train station. Effie looks out the window too and I can hear her tsk. "This isn't the Capitol either. Where on earth are they going?" She walks over to the door and pushes it open, but her progress out of the compartment is stopped by hundreds of children in black cloaks filing down the corridor and off the train. When the train empties out, we wait for it to start moving again but it doesn't. Curiosity finally wins out and Katniss and I decide to see what's going on. We wander through the silent train and after three cars we run into the conductor.

"Can you tell us when the train will be continuing on to the Capitol?" I ask.

"Capitol?" He asks with a chuckle. "This train won't be returning to London until Christmas break. Hogsmeade is the end of the line." His slow rounded speech is so drastically different from that of Effie that it's instantly apparent that he's not from the Capitol himself. He walks off, leaving me and Katniss standing alone in the car.

"I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore." I mutter to Katniss. The old fashioned phrase references a bit of pop culture from long before Panem was formed. I don't know what it was originally from, but it's something my friends and I say when things are seeming a bit out of the ordinary.

"Where the heck is Kansas. What are you talking about?" She scowls at me and shoves past to go back to Haymitch and Effie.

Effie is pacing the tiny compartment when we return and Haymitch is awake and scowling at her. "Would you just sit down and shut up for a minute!" he yells at her just as we open the door. They both look at us expectantly and I shrug.

"They said that this is the end so I guess we're stuck here. Wherever 'here' is." At her words, Haymitch and Effie both storm out of the compartment, nearly knocking us over in the process, and we all exit the train to see exactly where "here" was.

A wooden sign dangles from little hooks on an awning declaring we are at "Hogsmeade Station".

"Excuse me," Effie says to a cloaked man with a lantern. "Can you tell me who's in charge here? We seem to have gotten lost and need to find our way back to Panem."

"That would be Dumbledore." The man says, pointing up at a large castle in the distance. "Up 'ere at Hogwarts. You'll be takin' a boat with the others then." Down the platform, past the train we can see a small dock with several row boats and a lake containing dozens more which are loaded down with children.

"Ah, Thank you," Effie says and totters off towards the dock. The rest of us follow her and we select one of the boats. Haymitch plants himself in the front, Effie and Katniss sit on one of the seats and I take the other, putting my back to Haymitch.

For a second we just sit there and Effie smiles expectantly. "I think we have to use these to make it move." Katniss says, lifting a long wooden paddle from the floor of a boat. We look around and see other people using the paddles to propel them along in the water.

"Alright then," Effie says, picking up the two paddles and putting the wider parts in the water. She splashes them in and out, wiggles them back and forth and manages to turn us to the left a little, but not move us forward.

"I've got it Effie." I say taking the paddle in my hands and mimicking the motions of those in the other boats. It takes a few minutes for me to get into a rhythm and get us moving in the right direction, and we follow the rest of the boats towards the castle.