It was deathly silent in every single compartment. No one dared to make any sound as though it would force the Death Eaters to drop them again, only this time they wouldn't let them back up. The older years tried their best to calm down the younger ones, which was a hard task in itself because they too were panicking.
Lacey and Steve were still in the driver's compartment, trying their hardest not to look at the body, and trying to find a way to get everybody out and down safely.
"How high up do you reckon we are?" Steve asked his sister.
"Hard to say. I'd estimate about...ten feet and climbing. I can still feel us moving upwards."
"Can't we just levitate everyone down?" Helly suggested.
"We could, but then who'd levitate us down? Besides, the Death Eaters would see kids floating in the air and who knows what they'd do then," Lacey thought about their options. "Our best bet is to hope that the Aurors can help us and in the meantime we just keep calm and don't make any sudden movements."
The group all nodded to show their agreement. At that moment, Sofie noticed something. "Where's Harry and Leslie?"
--------------
Leslie felt beads of sweat working their way onto her brow as she concentrated all her energy onto lifting Harry off the ground. Harry said that she just needed a bit more practise but Leslie simply argued that he was getting heavier ever since he'd started having full meals. Harry wisely shut up and kept encouraging her.
"Come on Les, just a bit longer. It's going to be a long way down and we can't afford to drop anything."
There was a faint thud as Harry fell to the floor once more, this time landing on his butt. Leslie fell too but this was more due to exhaustion. "What... do you mean...we?" she panted. "I thought I was the one who was going to lift the whole damn train!"
"You won't be lifiting the whole train. I'm going to levetate you down there, you're going to levetate the kids down one at a time."
"Harry, this is a very risky idea. I can barely lift a bucket of water without nearly dropping it what makes you think I can manage a trainful of goddamn kids!" Leslie yelled.
Harry was taken aback. Leslie hadn't yelled in a while. "Ok, you've been working hard and you're worried so I'm going to assume that you're letting your emotions out on me..."
Leslie stood up and let out a sigh of frustration. "No, this is me being honest about how dangerous this plan of yours is because you are putting the next generation of witches and wizards at risk as much as the Death Eaters! What if I accidentally drop one of them five feet above the ground? What if we get half way through the train and I faint, then whose going to get the rest of you out? Or worse, Voldemort himself is going to be here! He could sense my powers and our cover might get blown!"
Then she suddenly stopped talking. She appeared to be in deep thought and as each second passed her eyes grew wider and wider with shock.
"Les, what's the matter?" Harry asked.
"How high was the security on Wormtail's cell in Azkaban?" Leslie murmered fearfully.
Harry pondered for a second and shrugged. "I don't know, about the same as Simon's was. Why?"
"But Dad still managed to escape in his animagus form...but he wasn't registered so he could get around easily...but a rat is smaller than a dog and he doesn't have any missing fingers yet so no one would notice..." Leslie mumbled all this to herself and Harry was starting to get worried.
"Leslie you're scaring me. What going on?" At this point Leslie wasn't listening.
She turned and left the bathroom still muttering herself leaving Harry to wonder what had her so scared.
--------------
"If your master wants a word with Dumbledore why isn't he here himself? Why is he sending his minions to do his dirty work?" Moody demanded. He had sent a couple of Aurors to send for Dumbledore but the rest of the squad were still watching the train, hoping to find a way of getting the children out safely. So far they had nothing.
The Death Eater in charge, who sounded a lot like Lucius Malfoy, chuckled. "He had to get your attention somehow didn't he? You all know perfectly well how he loves a dramatic statement."
It was taking all of James' will power not to strangle that man, go up into that train and get the kids down himself. All he could hope was that his future son could look after himself and that Dumbledore would come soon.
--------------
Bridget and Lily were starting to panic and Simon was trying his best to calm them down, but so far he had been unsuccessful. He even had to get Remus down here to enlist his help in convincing them that worrying would hurt their unborn babies, which would definitely be bad for the future.
"Come on Bridget, just take a few deep breaths-"
"Stop telling me to breathe, Simon, I will calm down as soon as I find out what the hell the husband went to do and why there are Death Eaters attacking the goddamn train. You do realise that that is your daughter and godson in that train and they are in danger of getting themselves killed!"
"Stop it!" Lily cried. "Stop it! Stop it! STOP IT! If something has happened then fighting about it isn't going to help anything! The best we can do is hope that James and Sirius do their jobs and get the kids home safely. In the meantime we all need to be patient."
"Lily, this is Bridget and an older version of Sirius we're talking about," Remus commented, "Where do you think Leslie gets her stubbornness and temper from?"
Bridget and Simon glared daggers at him, which immediately shut him up.
Then Lily had an idea. "Why don't Bridget and I go to Potter Manor and get everything sorted out. Simon and Remus can go and help James and Sirius get the kids back?"
"No! I'm not going anywhere!" Bridget snarled. "I'm not moving from this spot until my husband comes back!"
"Actually that's a good idea," Remus agreed. "They could probably use all the help they could get over there." And with that he apparated.
Bridget sighed and looked at Simon. "Well, aren't you going to go too?"
Simon thought about it. Leslie could take care of herself and besides his younger self was going to be there so technically he was there already. He turned to look at his younger wife. "No. I'll stay with you."
The three of them apparated to Potter Manor.
--------------
Dumbledore marched into the scene of the ambush followed closely by the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge.
"We have arrived, now, where is your master?" Dumbledore asked, his voice never faltering or giving away any emotion. "If he wanted to speak to me I'd rather he do it in person."
"And you shan't be disappointed," came a strangely snake-like voice. Some of the younger Aurors stifled shouts of fear as the Dark Lord himself stepped out from nowhere. Dumbledore however, stayed as unaffected as ever.
"What is it you wished to say to me that was so important you had to put innocent students at risk, Tom? If it was merely to grab my attention all you really had to do was send me a message in the usual way."
Voldemort chuckled evilly and pretended to ignore Dumbledore's reference to his real name. "I could've done that, but I think a revelation this big deserves to grab you're attention with a dramatic statement."
"And what exactly is this…revelation you speak of? Does it really warrant this hostage situation?"
"Oh I think it does. You see, recently a spy of mine was sent to Azkaban. This was shocking because he was the perfect spy and I didn't count on him being caught for about another five to ten years.
"However, the security placed on his cell wasn't enough so my spy escaped a few days ago and delivered to me some very interesting information." Voldemort took a step closer to the school headmaster.
"So tell me, who are the time-travellers? What is their purpose in this time?"
As soon as the words 'time travellers' had been uttered almost everyone (the exceptions being James, Sirius, Dumbledore, Moody and Voldemort) gasped in surprise. Some Death Eaters even dropped their wands in shock.
--------------
The Hogwarts students didn't know what happened. One minute they were in their compartments waiting to be rescued, then the next thing they knew the walls became the floor and ceiling.
"LESLIE!"
Even Leslie didn't know what had happened. One minute she had been walking to the bathroom to find Harry and then the ground decided it didn't want to go horizontally anymore.
The startled girl hit the very end of the train with a loud thud. She was so stunned she couldn't speak and she had difficulty breathing.
"LES! Leslie, are you ok?" Helly yelled at her from above. Leslie felt a little annoyed at that question.
"Well, let's see. I've just fallen ten feet because some idiotic Death Eaters were stupid enough to let three carriages go and I've just been scared shitless! Do I sound ok to you?"
Helly had the sense to shake her head, though it looked as though it could've made her dizzy.
"How far from the ground are you?" Dan asked. Leslie kicked the doors open and took a look outside. To her surprise she wasn't that far up now, about five feet. And she was also amused to see Voldikins yelling at a group of Death Eaters for letting almost half of the train fall down. That wasn't really important but she thought it was funny.
"Hey guys! I've got an idea!" she yelled up. "If we can get off the kids from up there down here we can run to the Aurors and we'll be safe from the train falling on us!"
"That's a pretty good idea," Steve remarked, "Except that short of falling there's no way for us to get down there!"
"For Merlin's sake! Are you a bloody wizard or aren't you? Conjure a bloody rope!"
Nobody dared to argue with her. Steve walked away feeling rather stupid.
--------------
Remus appeared behind James and Sirius. Needless to say he gave them both heart attacks. "Geez Moony! You don't have to sneak up behind us!"
"What are you doing here?" James asked. "Who's looking after Lily and Bridget?"
"Simon's got it covered. What's going on?"
"Well let's review, The Dark Lord himself has come and held the kids hostage and for some reason he knows about some certain time-travellers we might've heard of! Does that sound like good news or bad news to you Moony?"
Remus definitely saw where Leslie got her sarcastic streak from.
"Wait a second! Who could've told Voldemort about Leslie and Harry?"
--------------
"Remind me again. How many kids are we trying to get out of here?" Leslie yelled from near the ground.
"Oh about…. um," Helly mumbled the next part.
"I'm sorry, Helly, I couldn't quiet hear that! How many?!"
"….Sorry to shock you, but….about …nine hundred give or take a few…"
Leslie gave a neutral expression. Then she nervously giggled. "He he…I'm sorry, I must've heard you wrong….I thought you just said…nine hundred…?"
When no one answered, Steve just felt the urge to break the silence. "Yeah, well…you know, you heard right…"
Leslie's expression was unreadable for a while. "Remind me to yell at whoever sends out the acceptance letters once all this is over."
Everyone was wise to remain silent.
--------------
"What makes you so certain that your spy told you the truth? After all, besides using a time-turner there is no possible way for anyone to travel as far back as seventeen years." Underneath his usual expressionless exterior, Albus Dumbledore was panicking. The fact that Voldemort knew about Harry, Leslie and Simon could only mean that someone in the Order had betrayed them, but Voldemort had said that he had been informed by a spy that had been sent to Azkaban.
"Don't play dumb with me Dumbledore. It doesn't suit you." The look in the Dark Lord's blood red eyes was terrifying and definitely unnerving. "However, since you seem unwilling to cooperate I guess I'll just assume that those two new students that are on board the train and their fellow students are just going to be mere casualties of the war."
And then it happened. All those who were present saw it as though in slow motion. The Dark Lord, the most evil wizard since Grindalwald, raised his hand and wordlessly commanded his Death Eaters to lower their wands and thus taking away the only thing keeping that train from tumbling to the ground.
--------------
Lily, Bridget and Simon were trying to distract themselves by getting the rooms at Potter Manor sorted out. But their hearts weren't really in it. While the two mothers-to-be tried to reassure themselves that their future children would be safe they couldn't get rid of the bad feeling in the pits of their stomachs. Bridget could tell that Simon wasn't fairing too well either.
"Simon. I want you to go and join Remus, James and Sirius," Bridget suddenly said. Lily nodded her head in agreement.
Simon, however, stubbornly shook his head. "I'm not leaving you two alone right now. I promised Remus I'd look after you."
"No you didn't," Bridget argued. "You never promised anyone to look after us. But while we're on the topic of promises let me remind you of another promise you made (or in my case have yet to make); you promised that you would look after your daughter. How is staying here and helping us with meaningless arrangements keeping her safe? Or is this some new method of parenting from the future that I won't be familiar with?"
"I'M NOT LEAVING YOU ALONE AND THAT'S FINAL!"
Bridget and Lily knew that that was the end of the conversation. They let Simon continue to look after them, but they didn't have to like it. Especially since their instincts kept telling them that something was terribly wrong.
--------------
James, Remus and Sirius saw it as though it was in slow motion. They watched in horror as the Hogwarts Express came plummeting to the ground. Several carriages fell on top of each other, causing a massive explosion, which caused most of the train to catch on fire. People around them sprang into action, fighting Death Eaters left and right while Dumbledore took on Voldemort himself. But the three men just stood motionless, their expressions unreadable as they watched the train go up in flames. Then they saw them. Several crowds of children, ranging from eleven to eighteen, running out from the ashes, trying to make their way to safety. The three marauders sprang into action and tried to make the children get past the danger relatively unnoticed.
So many children were coming out all at once that at first they didn't question it when they didn't see any familiar faces.
--------------
Before she'd met him she'd never cared about anyone. Before this whole thing started she'd never been reckless. Before she made friends she'd never risked her neck for anyone but herself. She didn't know what had possessed her to do such a thing, and maybe she never would, but the minute the rest of the Hogwarts Express carriages fell down on top of them Leslie pushed the younger kids in front of her out of the exit and ran back to help her friends.
"Hello!?" she coughed as the smoke filled her lungs. "Can anyone hear me?!
"Leslie?! Give us a hand!"
Leslie turned and saw her friends trapped in compartment. The entrance was blocked by several fallen bits of fiery wood. All of them were coughing their guts out and they strongly resembled red meat being fried.
"Les, please. You gotta help us, we can barely pull enough strength together to shift these things," Helly coughed.
Normally Leslie would've criticized their abilities as witches and wizards but even she knew that in extreme circumstances such as these, your magic could either go out of control or let you down entirely. It was more likely to let you down if you were just an average witch or wizard. But she wasn't an average witch. She was a mage. What's more, she was a mage in her element.
So why was she hesitating?
Harry saw the fear in her eyes. The fear that always stopped her from reaching her full potential.
"Leslie, look at me." Emerald green met russet brown. "You can do this. Just concentrate."
The russet eyes closed. Leslie took a deep breath and focused on the flames around her. She inhaled and exhaled deeply and as she did so, the flames on the wooden parts that kept her friends trapped seemed to disappear. In fact, the whole compartment became void of fire and smoke. The non time-travellers looked at Leslie in astonishment. But Harry kicked the wooden pieces out of the way and pushed everyone out. There was no telling when Leslie would tire out.
His timing was perfect. The second everyone had stepped out Leslie collapsed in exhaustion. At the same time, the fire started up around them again and everyone resumed coughing.
"We've got to find a way out of here!" Sofie cried. "I can't breathe."
Harry bent down and picked Leslie up. "Guys, we're completely surrounded by fire! We can't find a way out in this."
"Then we'll make a way out," Lacey cried out, more determined than she'd ever been in her life. She pointed her wand at the nearest flame. "Aquamanti!"
A small jet of water shot out from the tip of her wand and the flames were extinguished. Steve, Dan and Chris sprang to help her. In no time there was a small path that was clear of fire.
"We'd better move quickly," Chris advised. "The fire's spreading too quickly and that path won't stay clear for long."
The boys, minus Harry, ran ahead of the group to try and keep a path clear. Harry hung back a little, carrying Leslie in his arms. The young mage was out cold.
CRACK!
They literally came out of nowhere, scaring the life out of him. Harry found himself staring into the ugly face of Bellatrix Lestrange (though he had to admit she looked a whole lot better than the Bellatrix of his time).
"Going somewhere, boy?" The madwoman flicked her wand and instantly their path was blocked by even more burning material. They were trapped.
--------------
The group of seventh years stumbled out of the burning wreckage, coughing and struggling to breathe. James, Sirius and Remus immediately pulled them aside.
"Where's Harry and Leslie?" Sirius demanded. They had counted up all the students before giving them portkeys directly to the Ministry. They still hadn't caught sight of the time-travelling children.
The group looked at each other in confusion. "Weren't they behind us a second ago?" Lacey asked.
That was all the young Aurors needed to hear before they leapt into the train to search for the missing duo.
--------------
Harry was panicking. He had to protect Leslie, but how could he do that and defend himself at the same time? It looked like Lestrange could read his mind because as he thought this, her maniac grin seemed to grow even wider.
CRACK!
Another Death Eater appeared right behind him and he almost dropped Leslie in surprise.
"Are you scared yet, boy?" Bellatrix cackled. "Because you've got quite a situation on your hands. You see, our master wants the girl brought to him alive and if you don't hand her over we're going to get her off of your hands by any means necessary."
Harry tightened his grip on Leslie. "I won't let you have her," he growled.
The Death Eater behind him laughed. "You make it sound as though we're giving you a choice."
He pointed his wand at the messy-haired boy and muttered a spell that pushed him back into the wall. Harry felt all the wind being knocked out of him and he was hit with a wave of dizziness as he hit his head on the wall. His grip on Leslie loosened and he was utterly helpless as Bellatrix walked towards him and gathered Leslie into her arms.
"That was too easy," she complained to her companion. "How about having some fun with him. Crucio!"
Harry felt like his whole body, not just the train, was on fire. He wanted nothing more than to scream his lungs out as though that would make the pain go away. But he bit his mouth shut, he wouldn't give any Death Eater the satisfaction of causing him pain.
Harry vaguely heard another crack and the pain stopped. He saw yet another cloaked figure take Leslie from Lestrange's arms. The figure turned to look at Harry and he immediately recognised those scarlet eyes.
"Say goodbye to your friend Harry Potter," he said menacingly "It'll be a very long time before you see her again."
Harry heard three cracks and the Death Eaters and their master were gone, taking Leslie with them.