Jack woke to a very loud, familiar Australian accent. "Oi frostbite, wake up!" Bunny shouted, "It's nearly time to go to school." Jack swore he could hear the malicious grin. He groaned and rolled over.
"Don't remind me," He mumbled, voice muffled by his down pillow. Despite not really needing sleep, Jack enjoyed it, and he loathed early mornings. He closed his eyes to fall back into the blissful unconscious.
Bunny, however, had other ideas. "Oh, no you don't," he growled, and shoved an ice cube down Jack's hoodie.
Now, being a spirit of ice and snow, Jack didn't mind the cold at all. That isn't to say he preferred cold, no, like any person he enjoyed the sun, hot cocoa, a warm fire, and thick blankets, but he was also quite unconcerned by cold. However, an ice cube down the shirt is by no means the most pleasant experience. It was wet and, more than that, surprising. He jackknifed to a sitting position and, in one smooth motion, Bunny whipped away the pillows and blanket.
Jack cried out in irritation and glared daggers at the smug pooka. At that moment, Tooth fluttered in, followed closely by BT. She left the other fairies outside, she didn't want them fainting. Again. "Good news," she announced happily. "North says BT can come with you."
BT chirped ecstatically and flew over to Jack, sitting proudly on his shoulder. He grinned at her delightedly, and gave her a very gentle fist bump.
"Come on, Jack," Tooth called, fluttering away. Jack sighed, resigned to his fate, and climbed reluctantly out of bed.
Wizards had a knack for seeing things that ordinary people missed, which meant that the Guardians couldn't accompany Jack and North to the platform, so Jack bade them farewell in the Globe room. Tooth was teary, and Jack liked to think that even Bunny was subdued. After hugs from Tooth and Sandy, a manly handshake from Bunny, and stern directions to write every week and remember to floss after every meal, North opened a portal.
He led the way confidently through the barrier between the platforms. Jack didn't love the idea of running head long into a brick wall, but if North said it would work, it would work. He stepped through quickly, relieved to find that he passed through the barrier with nothing but a soft whisper.
The platform was bustling with people, cats of all sizes and colors darted around, owls hooted irritably, and toads croaked at odd intervals. There, gleaming in the middle of the chaos, was the Hogwarts express. North engulfed him in a bone cracking hug, sniffling. Jack patted him awkwardly on the back. He smelled like ice and cinnamon cookies, and the fur of his coat tickled Jack's nose. He would blame the watering of his eyes on that.
Finally, North hauled Jack's trunk onto the express, clapped him on the shoulder, and, reluctantly, left.
After some searching Jack managed to find a mostly empty compartment, the sole occupant a strange girl with long dirty blond hair, huge blue eyes, and an upside down magazine. "Is it alright if I sit here?" He asked. Her huge, surprised looking eyes flicked over him. Eventually, she nodded silently. Jack sat.
Moments later he heard voiced outside of the compartment and a pretty redhead peeked inside. She looked surprised to find Jack there. "Oh, hello, who are you?" She directed the question to Jack, so he assumed she knew the other girl.
"Oh, I'm Jack." He stood and extended a hand. She shook it, smiling.
"Nice to meet you Jack, I'm Ginny. Is it alright if we sit here?" Jack glanced at the strange blonde. She hadn't even looked up from her magazine.
"Uh, sure."
"Thanks." She entered the compartment followed by two boys. One had a round face and a nervous air. The other was skinny, with black hair that, somehow, managed to be even messier than Jack's."This is Neville," Ginny gestured to the boy struggling to maintain his grip on a squirming toad, " and this is Harry."
"Hello, I'm Jack," he introduced himself again. Harry nodded politely as he put his trunk on the rack.
Jack turned to BT, who, much to her displeasure, had been forced inside a cage. She glared fiercely at Jack, tiny arms crossed in front of her. Jack sighed and unlatched the cage. Baby Tooth was off like a shot, and began twittering madly at Jack.
"What is that?" Ginny asked curiously.
"This is Baby Tooth" he introduced the tiny fairy. The blond finally looked up.
"Is she a fairy?" She asked.
"Uh, yeah, she is." He frowned at the girl.
"Oh, this is Luna Lovegood." Ginny interjected. The blond, Luna, smiled dreamily. "She's my year, but Ravenclaw." Jack nodded, North had explained about the sorting and the houses already.
"Wit beyond measure is a man's greatest treasure," Luna sang. Jack eyed her warily. She was odd, but that was okay. Jack had seen plenty of odd in his time, and it wasn't always a bad thing. She raised her magazine, The Quibbler, so that it hid her face and fell silent again. The boys shared a look and Ginny had to suppress a giggle.
The train rattled on through the countryside. It was an odd sort of day, a patchwork of sun and shadows, as if the sky couldn't decide if it wanted to be cloudy or not. After a few minutes of silence Neville spoke. "Guess what I got for my birthday?"
"Another remembrall?" Guessed Harry. Jack frowned at the strange word.
"No, I could do with one though, lost the old one ages ago." Neville dug around with his free hand, and, after a few moments of searching, pulled out what looked to be a small, grey cactus. However, instead of spines it appeared to be covered in boils. "Mimbulus mimbletonia," he announced proudly.
Jack frowned at the strange looking plant. It was pulsating slightly, making it look sinister, and reminding Jack of diseased organs. "Uh, what?" He asked. Neville looked scandalized.
"It's really really rare, I don't think even the Hogwarts greenhouse has one." Neville's smile snapped back into place " I can't wait to show professor Sprout, my great uncle Algie got it for me in Assyria."
Harry hesitantly spoke. "Does it-er-do anything?" He asked.
"Loads of stuff!" Neville announced happily. "It's got an amazing defense mechanism. Here, hold Trevor for me." He dumped Trevor into Jack's lap. Luna's protuberant eyes appeared over the top of her magazine to watch what Neville was doing. He held the plant up to his eyes, tongue between his teeth, chose his spot, and gave the plant a sharp jab with his quill.
Liquid squirted from every boil on the plant in thick, stinking, dark green jets. It hit the ceiling, windows, and spattered Luna's magazine. Ginny flung her arms up in time, and merely looked as if she was wearing a slimy helmet. Jack, busy holding onto a squirming Trevor, and Harry, protecting BT, got face fulls of rancid slime. Neville, also soaked, shook the worst from his eyes. "S-sorry," he gasped, "I haven't tried that before... didn't realize it would be quite so ... Don't worry though, stinksap's not poisonous." He added nervously, as Harry and Jack spat out the sap.
Jack wiped his eyes and glared at Neville as Baby Tooth peeked out from behind Harry's hands, chirping apologetically to him. At that moment the door to the compartment opened and a very pretty, dark haired girl peeked in.
"Oh... Hello, Harry," she said nervously, "um, bad time?" Harry wiped his glasses. When he caught sight of the girl he fidgeted, embarrassed.
"Oh, um, Hi Cho," he stammered.
"Um..." Said Cho awkwardly "well... Just thought I'd say hello... Bye then." Rather pink in the face, she closed the door and scampered off. Harry groaned and slumped in the seat. Jack clapped him on the back, hiding a smile.
"Never mind," he said cheerfully, "we're wizards right? There must be a way to get rid of it?"
Ginny smiled and flicked her wand. "Scourgify!" The stinksap vanished.
"Sorry," Neville apologized again, in a small voice.
About an hour later the food trolley had already gone by. Harry and Jack were testing each others nerves with bertie botts every flavor beans, while swapping chocolate frog cards with the others, who were finishing the pumpkin pasties. Just as Harry was about to nibble on the edge of a strange yellowish bean, two others arrived.
The first was a girl with bushy brown hair, and the second a boy with very ginger hair. If he were to hazard a guess, Jack would say he and Ginny were siblings. They were accompanied by a fluffy ginger cat with a smushed face and a tiny, shrilly hooting owl. Baby Tooth zoomed into Jacks hood at the sight of the cat.
She didn't mind the owls as they were caged, but a cat prowling around was a recipe for disaster. "Whoa," he cried, pointing to the cat, "put that thing away."
The brunette frowned. "What's wrong with Crookshanks ?" Baby Tooth peered out from Jacks hood a twittered furiously. He raised an eyebrow in a 'does that answer your question' expression.
The freckled boy sniggered slightly before flopping down on the far side of Harry. The other girl was coaxing the cat into a basket. "I don't think we've met, I'm Hermione, that's Ron." She introduced, still struggling with the fluffy ginger monster. Ron nodded, his mouth filled with sweets.
"I'm Jack."
"Thanks" Ron managed "I was starving."
Hermione had finally tamed the miniature tiger, and took her seat. "Well, there are two fifth-year prefects from each house." She looked thoroughly disgruntled.
"And guess who's a Slytherin prefect?" Said Ron, eyes closed.
"Malfoy," Harry practically spat the name.
"Who?" Jack asked.
"School bully, along with his goons, Crabbe and Goyle," Ginny explained.
"Yeah, and that cow Pansy Parkinson," added Hermione viciously. "How she got to be a prefect when she's thicker than a concussed troll . . ."
"Who are Hufflepuff's?' Harry asked.
"Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbott," said Ron.
"And Anthony Goldstein and Padma Patil for Ravenclaw," added Hermione.
"You went to the Yule Ball with Padma Patil," said a vague voice, everyone turned to look at Luna , who was gazing unblinkingly at Ron over the top of The Quibbler.
"Um, yeah I know I did." Harry replied. Jack was confused.
"Ball?" He asked.
"Last year there a dance." Hermione explained.
"That's not a regular thing, is it?" He asked nervously.
"No, it was for the Triwizard tournament," Ginny assured, amusement evident in her voice. Jack nodded, relieved. North had explained about the tournament last year, and what Harry had seen. Jack also knew about how the wizarding world was trying to discredit him.
Hermione stood suddenly. "Come on Ronald, we have to patrols the corridor every now and then." Ron stood.
"Oh yeah, and we can give out punishment to people for misbehaving. I can't wait to get something on Crabbe and Goyle..."
"Ron," Hermione admonished sharply. "You're not supposed to abuse your position."
"Oh yeah, because Malfoy won't abuse his at all." Said Ron sarcastically. Hermione crossed her arms.
"So you're going to descend to his level."
"No, I'm going to get his mates before he gets mine." Ron corrected.
"Oh for heaven sakes, Ron-"
"I'll make Goyle do lines, it'll kill him, he hates writing," said Ron happily. He lowered his voice to Goyle's low grunt and, screwing up his face in a look of pained concentration, mimed writing in midair. 'I . . . must. . . not. . . look . . .like . . . a . . . baboon's . . . backside." Everyone laughed, and Jack decided he liked Harry and Ron, though he was uncertain about Hermione still.
Though everyone enjoyed the joke and laughed, no one laughed harder than Luna. She let out a scream of mirth that caused Hedwig to wake up and flap her wings and Crookshanks basket to tip over, hissing. Luna laughed so her she dropped her magazine and had to hug her ribs, tears of amusement falling from her huge eyes.
Nonplussed, Ron looked around at the others, who were now laughing at the expression on Ron's face and at the ludicrously prolonged laughter of Luna, who was rocking backwards and forwards, clutching her sides.
Jack noticed Harry scoop up the magazine from the floor. His eyes flitted over the words. "Hey Luna, can I borrow this?" Luna nodded, still breathless. Harry flicked through the pages, pausing now and then to read, his face disbelieving.
"Anything good in there?" Jack asked. He wasn't really interested in what was in the strange magazine, he was just bored.
"Of course not." Hermione snorted scathingly. "The quibbler's rubbish, everyone knows that."
"Excuse me," Luna snapped sharply. "My fathers the editor." Jack winced.
"I - oh," said Hermione, looking embarrassed. "Well . . . it's got some interesting . . . I mean, it's quite"
"I'll have it back, thank you," said Luna coldly, and leaning forward she snatched it out of Harry's hands. She rifled through it for a moment, then flipped it upside down and continued reading.
At that moment the compartment was opened again. Jack frowned and looked to see who it was. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Harry grit his teeth in a resigned, irritated sort of way. There were three boys in the doorway, two that reminded Jack of gorillas, and one that gave of the distinct impression of a ferret, or a snake.
"What?" Harry snapped aggressively.
"Manners, Potter," The ferret, Malfoy, Jack assumed, drawled, "or I'll have to give you detention." Jack gritted his teeth, automatically disliking the blond haired boy. "You see, I, unlike you, have been made a prefect, which means that I, unlike you, have the power to hand out punishments." Jack glared at the smug, pointy chinned boy.
"Yeah, but you, unlike me, are a git, so get out and leave us alone." Jack and the others, except Luna, didn't bother hiding their amusement. The ferret's lip curled. His eyes landed on a smirking Jack.
"Who are you?"
"I'm Jack," he introduced himself.
"Draco Malfoy," the blond spoke. "What are you doing, hanging around with this sort," his eyes skip over the compartment. "You'll soon find out that some people are better than others."
Jack nodded. "Yeah," he said slowly, "you're right. See you." He smiled insincerely and moved to slam the door in Malfoy's face. "Bye." Malfoy growled, catching the door, his eyes switched from Jack to Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
"Just remember, Potter, i'll be dogging your footsteps from now on." Harry and Hermione stiffened, Malfoy swept away, followed by his cronies. Ron, undisturbed by whatever Malfoy had said, held out a hand.
"Chuck us another frog."
The weather remained undecided as they traveled further and farther north. Rain spattered the windows in a half-hearted way, then the sun put in a feeble appearance before clouds drifted over it once more. When darkness fell and lamps came on inside the carriages, Luna rolled up The Quibbler, put it carefully away in her bag and took to staring at everyone in the compartment instead. It was...disconcerting, and Jack was not looking forward to a train ride with her.
Eventually Hermione broke the silence. "We should change." After rummaging through the trunks, the girls left the boys to change in the compartment. When Hermione and the others returned Jack noticed that she and Ron were wearing identical badges.
Eventually, the train began to slow. Jack could hear the clamor of people gathering their things and getting ready. As Ron and Hermione were supposed to supervise all this, they disappeared from the carriage again, leaving Jack and the others to look after Crookshanks and Pigwidgeon.
"I'll carry that owl, if you like," said Luna to Harry, reaching out for Pigwidgeon as Neville stowed Trevor carefully in an inside pocket, and Jack struggled to coax BT back into the hated cage. Harry mumbled a thanks and handed over the minuscule owl. The five shuffled off of the train into the cold. Not that it bothered Jack.
A brisk female voice called out. "First years, First-years line up over here, please! All first-years to me!" Jack followed Harry.
"Where's Hagrid?" Harry called over the clamor.
"I don't know," replied Ginny, "but we better get inside, we're blocking the door."
"Oh, yeah," Harry muttered and they hurried on. Ginny was separated from Jack and Harry by the jostling crowd. Jack could tell Harry was looking for someone, probably Ron and Hermione. The pair was shoved along with the sea of people, through the gates of Hogsmeade station.
Coaches came around, drawn by strange horselike creatures that reminded Jack painfully of Pitch's nightmares. They were some kind of a cross between a reptile and a horse, with a dragon like head and pupil-less, pale white eyes. They were emaciated, all skin, bones, and no flesh, with bat-like wings.
"Where's Pig?" Asked Ron from behind them.
"Luna has him," Jack replied.
Harry turned "Where do you reckon-"
"-Hagrid is?" Finished Ron, "Dunno. He better be okay, though." He sounded worried. A short distance away, Draco Malfoy, followed by a small gang of cronies including Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy Parkinson, was pushing some timid-looking second-years out of the way so that he and his friends could get a coach to themselves. Seconds later, Hermione emerged panting from the crowd.
"Malfoy was being absolutely foul to a first-year back there. I swear I'm going to report him, he's only had his badge three minutes and he's using it to bully people worse than ever . . . where's Crookshanks?"
"Ginny's got him,' said Harry. "There she is . . ." Ginny had just emerged from the crowd, clutching a squirming Crookshanks.
"Thanks," said Hermione, relieving Ginny of the cat. "Come on, let's get a carriage together before they all fill up . . ."
"I haven't got Pig yet!" Ron said, but Hermione was already heading off towards the nearest unoccupied coach.
"Don't worry, we can track Luna down later," Jack reassured. The three of them hung back a bit.
"What do you reckon those are?" Asked Harry, pointing to the weird creatures. Ron frowned.
"What?"
"Those" Jack pointed, "the horse lizard things."
Luna materialized out of the crowd clutching Pig's cage, thankfully interrupting Ron's odd stares. "Here," she handed the excited owl back to Ron. "He's a sweet little owl, isn't he," she cooed.
"Yeah, he's alright," Ron muttered gruffly, accepting Pig's cage. "Well come on, lets get in... What were you saying guys?"
"We were saying, what are the horse things?" Jack asked as they made their way to the carriage where the other two were sitting.
"What horse things?"
"The horse things pulling the carriages!" said Harry impatiently. They were, after all, about three feet from the nearest one; it was watching them with empty white eyes. Ron, however, gave them a perplexed look.
"What are you talking about?"
"He's talking about - look!" Jack grabbed Ron's arm and wheeled him about so that he was face to face with the winged horse. Ron stared straight at it for a second, then looked back at the two of them blankly.
"What am I supposed to be looking at?"
"At the-there- between the shafts," Harry insisted. A thought occurred to Jack.
"Can't, can't you see them?" He asked. Ron looked seriously alarmed now.
"See- are you two feeling alright?" Jack and Harry looked at each other.
Jack nodded slowly. "Yeah, we, we're fine." Jack saw his own bewilderment in Harry's eyes. The creature was right there, gleaming in the misty light.
"Shall we get in, then?" Ron asked uncertainly, clearly worried.
"Yeah, you.. You go ahead." Harry muttered.
"It's okay, you know." A dreamy voice spoke behind them as Ron vanished into the carriage. "You're not going mad, I can see them too."
"Can you?" Harry sounded desperate.
"Oh yes, I've been able to see them since my first day. They've always pulled the carriages. Don't worry, you're just as sane as I am." Jack was not altogether reassured, and he could see the same uncertainty reflected in Harry. He shrugged and headed into the coach behind Luna.