A: Yes, Ginny's proficient with the Bat Bogey hex in the books, and the movies show her strength in the Reducto curse.
Lady among the trees: Thanks, and right answers! Since we see the movies as canon, Bat Bogey and Reducto is correct, and pretty awesome. (I'm guessing they didn't want to show the former on screen, and it's much cooler for Ginny to absolutely destroy something, eh?)
Catie Cat: Right one. And guessing Ajax is actually pretty smart. He wasn't the perpetrator behind the train, though. You'll find out later if he did make an appearance in the story, even if I haven't mentioned him directly :)
It's true about the schooling though. Not a lot of parents will want to send their kids back. This is going to be a huge setback.
evenstarlily: Yup! You're right with that answer. Here's the update, this one doesn't end on a terrifying note like 50. Even so… *evil chuckle*
Guest: Thank you so much! Correct answer. Yes! Absolutely, I enjoyed writing Sky, will definitely bring him back (but not in this story), can't do without some drama. You'll love Harry's reaction to seeing him again.
Note: About the poll on my bio page, it says someone's gonna die in this story… right, I meant, someone's going to die in this story, and will stay dead. Which means, Harry is scratched off the list. 'Cause he can't stay dead. 'Cause he's the bi-who-lived, not died.
Note 2: My series will have queer relationships, in case you thought I was just testing waters.
BTW have you heard? India has legalised homosexuality! After more than 150 years of considering queerness as an 'unnatural offence'; this is a huge step on the road to equality!
Heads up: Chapter 52 will not be posted until after the next week. I'm booked for the fortnight.
Warning: Violence.
Listening to: Friction by Imagine Dragons
Monday, Dec 3; 3:20 p.m.
Hogwarts Express, Scotland
Being a steam engine, the Hogwarts Express had always had old world charm attached to it. The train also had old red painted iron rungs attached to the side of some of its doors.
When Ginny had been younger, she'd imagined running after the train to jump and hold onto the iron ladder, so that she could go to Hogwarts with her brothers.
Right now, as the monstrous spider had charged at them, Ginny had panicked, unconsciously summoning her magic. The problem with her Core power, was that if she couldn't keep her head, everyone and everything around her could be incinerated. Any experienced witch would have been able to direct that kind of energy at the Acromantula, thus ending the problem within seconds, but Ginny had been frightened. When flames engulfed her body, there had been no pain. Of course, fire never hurt her. She was always afraid of hurting people around her.
She was standing close to Rachel. The carriage behind her had dozens of kids. What if she tried to send all that fire at the spider and ended up burning down the entire train?
Solution: Direct the fire at the door.
Ginny screamed. She merely looked at the solidly locked door of the train, could see the green scenery whip by at a tremendous speed. The flames shot forward swallowing up the entirety of the door, blasting shining etches that had been made all around it. The door exploded outwards, its hinges melting down completely. The noise seared Ginny's ears, wreaking havoc on her brain. The sound was indescribable and thunderous. The moment the door fell away, Ginny felt the fire recede.
Her ears were probably bleeding, but she moved, reaching back to grab Rachel's arm, pulling the girl towards her. Faced with the decision of confronting a spider larger than life, or jumping out a moving train, Ginny knew that Rachel's thoughts would mirror hers.
Both girls leapt out, feeling the wind hit their faces for a brief second. But Ginny swung around, dragging Rachel out of the entrance. They grabbed the iron ladder that ran right behind the door space, pressing themselves to the body of the carriage, just as the spider squeeze out of the rectangular space.
Ginny gasped, panic flaring again when she thought it was going to attack them, but the flailing legs of the spider slipped from the train and fell.
It hit an invisible barrier, not five feet from the train's body. Rachel cringed and Ginny tucked her head as far away as possible from the flash of sparks that was thrown up from contact.
The Acromantula shrieked in agony. Whatever barrier surrounded the train, was burning its huge body. The hairs singed, its legs crumpled, breaking into pieces. Blood was rampant in the air as it boiled and evaporated. Ginny held her breath because a viscous smoke arose from the burning body. Within seconds, the entire corpse had turned to ash, and the ash drifted away into nothingness.
She was still holding on to the ladder, feet pressed on the lowest rung. The iron bars were digging into her front, but Ginny didn't dare open her eyes or even move.
Finally, she heard Rachel's gasp.
"G…Gin…" Rachel was crying. Her arm was still gripped in Ginny's other hand.
Her eyes shot open when she realized why Rachel was trying to pull away from her.
"SHIT!" Ginny swore, yanking her palm away from Rachel's arm, but the damage was already done. There was a terrible palm shaped burn on her forearm, right below the wrist. Ginny's magic had begun to nearly melt the skin. Rachel clutched her arm close to her chest, sobbing.
"Oh Merlin, I'm so sorry!" Ginny cried, but Rachel just turned away, hiccupping against the pain.
Shit, shit, shit, Ginny had screwed up!
"Rachel! I'm so sorry… damn it! Don't touch it!"
Rachel coughed, wincing as she brushed against the singed edges. Ginny cursed herself. Of course, Rachel got hurt. Of course, Ginny screwed up.
She looked back to stare at the space in the air where she knew the barrier was. Ginny reached up to touch her black crystal necklace, the Ministry issued Portkey. It hadn't worked when they'd first escaped the spider, when Bolt had still been with them. Ginny had tested it, after Bolt had failed to teleport out of the train.
Nothing could leave. Now, Ginny knew why.
"Rachel? Can you… can you get back in the train?" Ginny tried to lower her voice, tried to sound soothing.
Rachel had pressed her forward against a cool iron rung. She still had a death grip on the ladder and Ginny didn't blame her. She didn't want to move anywhere, either. But they were still clinging onto the side of the train, dangerously close to a cursed ward that could kill anyone who touched it.
With a painful heave, Rachel pushed off the ladder, leaning to the side and sliding a foot back into the door space. Ginny followed her, carefully keeping close to the train, till they were both safely inside the spider infested locomotive.
Rachel leaned against a wall, panting and gingerly holding her bruised arm. Ginny winced.
"I'm sorry." She whispered. "I wasn't thinking, I just… there's a spell that can be used to subdue Acromantulae and I couldn't remember it! I'm not like DJ, I'm sorry!"
Rachel tilted her head down to look at her, but before she could say anything, a sharp series of knocking, startled the both of them.
Ginny looked up and saw Draco Malfoy standing inside carriage number two, looking at them through the glass half of the door. He was breathing heavily, looking absolutely flabbergasted and furious. He knocked on the glass again, mouth opening to speak, but Ginny couldn't hear the words.
"What?"
He said a long sentence. Ginny frowned. Why was…
She hit the side of the door, her fist flaring with bright flames. The magic was enough to illuminate a string of what looked like ancient symbols all around the inner door.
Runes, Ginny thought. It had locked a bunch of students inside the carriage, sound proof and all…
She turned back to stare at the main door that she'd just blown open. It had had runes as well.
Holy shit, had she just broken through a rune-locked door?
The train shook ominously. Hermione thought she heard an explosion from far off.
She looked up from bandaging Bolt's leg. One of the spiders had managed to bite the Familiar's flank. She had been bleeding profusely when she'd teleported right into carriage 12, startling several second years who had been hiding with Hermione and Ron.
"Did you hear that?" Ron whispered, looking up at the window. He'd had his wand out, almost ready to fight, but Hermione knew that his fear of spiders would eventually win out. He was pale and shaking, yet trying to look comforting for the kids.
"It sounded like a blast." Dennis Creevey whispered. He was huddled by Ron, hand gripping the prefect's shirt.
"But quite far off, I reckon." Hermione said, trying to sound upbeat. "You know what? I bet it's someone blasting a spider."
A girl who'd tried to hid in the corner gave a violent shudder.
When Hermione and Ron had boarded the train, they'd planned to stay in one compartment and not leave. They already received pitying and frightened looks all through the day when news about Harry's death had broken out. Ron had been close to cursing someone and Hermione had known the feeling. They had planned to stay away from prying eyes, trying to settle themselves. DJ had told them how Harry wasn't dead dead, and Hermione wished she didn't know what that meant, but she did.
Either way, with the bracelet keeping Harry not-actually-dead, she had wanted to stay with Ron to regain some of their sanity before entering Grimmauld Place.
Everything went wrong when they'd heard strange noises coming from the luggage compartments in the carriage right behind theirs.
In all honesty, Hermione had to say that Hagrid was crazy to ever have brought Aragog to the castle. Acromantula eggs were not cute. The tiny, just born spiders were not adorable.
The magical ability of said spiders to enlarge and shrink were nowhere close to endearing.
It was hard to tell how many eggs had been stacked away behind the multiple student trunks. They had been the size of bludgers, quivering as the shells cracked and out poured at least a score of hand sized Acromantula, effectively giving Hermione enough nightmare fuel to last months. She didn't want to think of what it would do to Ron.
They'd managed to seal the carriage before rushing into their compartment to reiterate that what they had seen, had been real. By the time they had confirmed it, Hermione realized that their coach had been locked. They were stuck in number 12 along with at least forty second years, mere metres away from a locked carriage with size changing Acromantula.
The worst part was that the luggage space hadn't been the only place where the eggs had been stored away.
One of Dennis's friends had found two eggs underneath a seat space. Ron had gone crazy shooting several slicing charms at the pair, till all that was left was disgusting white, red, and brown mush that smelled.
And if the chaos that reigned through the train was any indication, Hermione knew that there were more spiders loose.
Some of the second years had been bit, nearly all of them traumatized, and Hermione had just been going spare when Bolt had literally flashed into the compartment, dragging a bleeding limb.
She hadn't seen Bolt in months. Harry had said that his Familiar had moved on to another person. Hermione hadn't even known it was possible for Familiars to choose another person before the previous one died.
Then again… Harry had died during the third task…
Stop!
Turns out Bolt had chosen Rachel of all people. Huh.
"So you can't leave the train, but you can move between the rune-locked carriages?" Ron asked, Bolt. He looked like he had an idea.
Bolt looked down at her bleeding leg. She'd turned back into a puppy, having lost the energy after attacking the spider. "Not like this. I'd collapse."
Hermione sighed, leaning back. She'd been able to clean out the wound, but the venom was still in Bolt's body. As a shape-shifting Familiar, Bolt would be able to resist its effects for a couple more hours than the average puppy, or tiger. But she still needed medical treatment. A lot of them needed that.
"We have to send a message to someone. The Ministry, or the teachers." Hermione said. Ron groaned, because it was the third time she'd said that.
"Hermione –"
"I know, I know. Everything's blocked. But there's obviously a loophole in the runes. Bolt must have travelled into the train. If that's not strictly possible, then –
"Technically, that wasn't me." Bolt panted, wincing at the burn of the venom. She shifted on her spot on the seat.
Ron stared. "Then how'd you get here?"
"Let's just say it was some other wordly magic." Bolt said, shooting a quick look at the other kids listening into the conversation.
Hermione nearly gasped. Was… could she be talking about the demigods?
There was a noise like a stampede from outside the carriage. Ron looked up, face clearing when he saw Fred and George stop outside.
"The book! Dennis, where's the pencil?!"
"Here!" he handed over a plain rough note and a pencil. Ron quickly scribbled, ANY LUCK? And showed it to his brothers who waited on the other side of the half glass sliding door. The carriage was soundproofed to the outside world. Which was a testament to the noise of the explosion that they'd all heard, just minutes ago.
George's hasty scrawl on a roll of parchment spelled out, NO. NOTHING'S GETTING OUT. NO OWLS, LETTERS. CAN'T OPEN WINDOWS OR DOORS.
Hermione said, "Ask about the explosion!"
Ron wrote the question down to show it to them. Fred and George shrugged.
JUST HAPPENED. ALEX'LL FIND OUT. BUT CARRIAGE 9 RUNE-LOCKED. CAN'T GET PAST.
"Damn it!" Ron muttered. He wrote, FOUR BITTEN HERE. BOLT TOO.
The twins looked at him curiously and Hermione stepped aside for them to see Rachel's Familiar, the little golden puppy, lying on the seat of the first compartment, with labored breathing.
They gaped.
WTF?
"Yeah." Ron said, writing down, FOUND AURORS?
They grimaced, looking at each other for a bit before George wrote, TWELVE DEAD. THREE BITTEN. SPIDERS WENT FOR THEM, MISSION-LIKE.
Hermione gasped. She hadn't known that people had died on the train. Her ears were filled with a hot roaring sound of blood pumping and a pit formed in her stomach and she felt the heaviness wanting to pull her down to collapse. Ron had frozen, but he'd tried to write down his next question with shaking hands.
ANYONE PAST 9?
Fred winced but George had a hard face as he answered with, DJ, NICO.
"What?" Hermione shrieked. "DJ? And who's Nico?"
George read her lips and wrote the message, DI ANGELO, BLACK SWORD.
Ron nearly dropped the book. Hermione stared.
Shadow travel! Power worthy of a god would be able to get through the runes! Hermione was almost ecstatic before realizing that Nico was eleven, even younger than all the second years that were hiding with Ron and her.
Demigod or not, Nico wasn't supposed to be here.
"Harry and Percy would be pissed if they knew." Ron whispered. Hermione contemplated the combined forces of the two boys before shuddering. True.
NICO CAN LEAVE? Ron wrote down for the twins to see.
Fred nodded. George wrote, TOOK KIDS - MUNGO, TIRED. FOUGHT LOT IN 6. KILLED MOST SPIDERS.
Hermione grabbed the book from Ron, quickly writing, HIS SWORD. CAN IT CUT RUNES?
Fred and George looked intrigued. It was clear they hadn't thought of it. George wrote, DIDN'T ASK. GOOD IDEA.
The train shook again. Hermione and Ron caught each other before they could fall.
"Shit!" Ron stared out the windows. "Did we run over something?"
"No…" Hermione followed his gaze, to look at the passing country side. Something felt off. She was so used to seeing the scenery on all of her Hogwarts rides that she could tell that they were in trouble, she wasn't sure what exactly –
"We're going really fast." Nigel Wolpert, Dennis' friend, said. He was biting his nails, staring outside too.
Hermione swallowed. "Faster than usual?"
Nigel hesitated. "Yeah… Why doesn't the conductor just stop the train?"
"In the middle of nowhere?" Dennis asked, fearfully.
"May be he wants to reach London fast. He probably knows that we're in trouble –"
Hermione cut across Ron, grabbing his arm to get his attention, "George said that the spiders went after the Aurors."
Ron exhaled, "Yeah…"
"What if they went after the conductor, as well? What if there's no one in the engine?"
She could see the devastation and panic grow in his eyes. Hermione bit her lip, wishing she hadn't phrased it so horrifyingly like that.
"That… the engine would be protected, right? May be he's alright –"
"Or may be we're on a runaway train with no brakes. We've been accelerating for nearly half an hour. The train doesn't usually go this fast."
Ron took a step back, pressing his head against the window behind him. With a grunt he took the book the book from Hermione and scribbled down, practically ripping into the paper.
GET NICO IN ENGINE. STOP TRAIN NOW!
"Heads up!" DJ roared, ducking beneath a spider's overgrown leg and kicking it off its balance. Nico spun in place, nearly as smooth as a dancer, swinging his sword in the perfect arc to slice right through the spider's neck.
DJ got to his feet, trying to catch his breath as he braced himself. The next monster had shrunk to the size of a regular tarantula.
It wasn't the only one. The little horde of Acromantulae, at least twenty of them, all shrunk down, too tiny for Nico to cut through all of them at once, too fast for DJ to stun them all with a single spell.
"Arania Exumai! Maxima!"
He stunned a section of them, but they leaped to the walls, sticking to any and surfaces they could. One of them got close enough to climb on DJ's leg. He nearly screamed. They scuttled around maddening and repugnant. DJ felt his skin crawl and nearly jumped when he thought there was one in his hair.
"DJ, behind you!" Nico yelled.
DJ couldn't even turn to see the towering Acromantula. All he felt was it's body, crashing into him, trying to knock him to the ground. He wasn't thrown down, but he did nearly throw up, feeling its hairy body so close, smelling the pungent odour of a dozen smells of decay, blood, and just plain monster.
Something in him was close to snapping. DJ gasped, threw his arms to cover his head and screamed, "NICO, GET DOWN!"
He didn't check to see if Nico did, but he acted anyway. DJ unleashed the tight coil that had been in his gut, pure energy snapping out of his hands like a rubber band that had reached its maximum length. Blood roared in his ears. He might have been screaming.
Silence descended in the next second. DJ inhaled as deep as he could before breathing out, trying to settle his racing heart. He could hear the angry squealing of a dozen spiders, the mad clicking of pincers, the sobbing of many of the students who'd been trapped in carriage 6 with a literal army out to devour them.
He also heard a shaky exhale.
"Cou… couldn't you… have done that in the first place?" Nico gasped, kneeling on the floor and catching a moment's rest.
DJ looked up, unable to stop shaking, still reeling from the amount of power he'd put in. He looked up.
Every single spider was hovering above all of them, like demented Halloween decorations. DJ could see his own magic, pulsing in blue and silver, like a protective shield that kept them safe for the moment.
"Get them out." He whispered to Nico.
It took a while, but DJ persevered, concentrating on making sure none of the spiders could try and make their way down from the ceiling. The train shook and the carriage rattled like they were going over rough tracks. DJ gulped as Nico helped the last live student out of the carriage.
He couldn't count the number of bodies on both hands.
"We need to move ahead." DJ told Nico when the demigod came back for him. Nico nodded and they slowly exited the coach, heading for number 5. The moment Nico closed the door, DJ searched the side for the list of runes that had been inscribed.
He found a regular locking rune. Arms shaking from the stress of the spell, he finally dropped the spiders. They landed on the ground with loud and, hopefully, painful thuds.
He jabbed his wand on the rune and the carriage sealed in all the Acromantulae.
"That'll keep them in, right?" Nico asked, leaning against the wall, panting. He'd made at least five trips to St. Mungo's, carrying eighteen students over there.
"Can you go again?" DJ asked, not surprised when Nico shook his head, panting heavily.
"No… I'd collapse mid-way. We may end up… in the Underworld, which will be even worse… than this, trust me."
"Damn." DJ said, closing his eyes. His back ached, his hands were shot. He couldn't hold his wand steadily. He was ready to drop and sleep.
Nico nearly jumped when the mirror shook angrily. DJ watched as he picked up the call.
"Luna?"
"Nico, can you get to the engine! You need to go now!"
DJ had never heard Luna so scared in her life. He peered in and saw her flushed face, eyes large and round from fear and panic.
"What's wrong? What's happening?"
"Hermione thinks the conductor may be dead! We need to stop the train, we've been speeding up for a while now –"
Even as she said it, the train shook. DJ braced against the wall, while Nico was actually thrown to the floor. The mirror fell, hitting the ground hard.
"Shit, Nico!"
"I can't…" Nico gasped, clenching his fists. "I…"
His body lurched suddenly like he was about to be sick. DJ helped him sit up, leaning his head forwards so Nico wouldn't choke.
"It's okay. It's alright. Go right ahead, Nico." DJ whispered, knowing that he sounded scared. Nico clamped his eyes shut, breathing through his mouth and holding onto his hand.
Within a few seconds he settled into deeper breaths and when DJ was sure he wouldn't vomit, he lowered the eleven year old to the floor.
"Luna?" DJ called, picking up the mirror. "Are you there?"
Luna's face appeared. "Here! You need to get to the engine now! Colin says we passed the midway point!"
DJ frowned. "What about the midway –"
"The bridge, DJ! We're coming up to the bridge! We shouldn't be going this fast!"
Almost immediately, the reality of the situation hit him like a thunderbolt. The tall bridge – that ran above a small road far below in a soft valley of grass and trees – far too narrow, far too curved for them to travel across it without dipping to at least eighty km per hour.
DJ remembered an incident from his second year, when the train had stopped right over the bridge for the dementors to board the train and search for Sirius.
This was far, far worse.
"No." DJ pressed a hand to his head. "We can't! We won't make it there, in time! Isn't there anyone else near the front? We saw a lot of empty carriages here, everyone else has to be up front!"
"Bolt said Ginny and Rachel were there, but carriage 2 is rune-locked!"
"Who's Bo –"
Something short-circuited in DJ's brain.
"WHY THE HELL IS RACHEL ON THE TRAIN?!"
Rachel opened her eyes. Ginny was trying to make hand gestures to communicate to people in the second car. The door was solidly locked, and short of another fire blast like before, nobody might be able to open it save for some rune expert that she'd talked about. All Rachel knew was that she could feel the venom in Bolt's body, burn through her leg. That had Ginny's accidental magic had also practically taken off a layer of her skin on her left arm.
If this was what being a witch meant, Rachel was pretty fine being a squib.
"Rachel!" Bolt yelled, startling her.
Of course, that shock had nothing on the actual news she conveyed.
"Shit!" Rachel cried. "Ginny!"
"They're all stuck in there, both carriages are locked!" Ginny kicked the door, angrily. "Someone's gone and added runes to the entire train, not to mention a huge, bloody burning ward! We can't get out!"
"You have to get to the engine!"
Ginny frowned. "Why?"
Rachel explained the problem. Ginny blanched.
"Shit."
"Yeah, I don't think I can stand, you need to go and find the brake –"
"How am I supposed to even get there!?"
"… I was thinking you could climb on top of the train."
Rachel winced at the flabbergasted expression on Ginny's face. She looked a little adorable too, but that wasn't something she'd comment on, lest she wanted Ginny to actually hex her.
The train rattled and Rachel grabbed the wall behind her, eyes tightly closed. Bolt needed to get to a hospital. Now.
"Hey." Ginny kneeled in front of her. "You look pale."
"It's not me… my…Bolt's been bitten." Rachel said through her teeth. She could feel the burn, from far away. Oh gods, what if she died?
"You need to breathe –"
"I am breathing!"
Ginny's hand touched Rachel's face. Her fingers were hot it made her aware that she was sweating.
"Look at me." Ginny's voice was so soft, that Rachel felt a shudder, the good kind, run through her veins.
Rachel swallowed, opening her eyes to look straight into her soft, melting chocolate brown irises. There was something genuinely, amazing about the flames in Ginny's eyes. Rachel could almost see her aura. Orange-red and gold, lighting up the witch's body like a halo. She looked divine and safe and strong.
The burn drifted away and Rachel sat up slowly.
"You have to keep breathing slowly." Ginny was saying, but Rachel was still stuck, staring at her. Her voice was gentle and powerful. Rachel trusted her.
"Stay here, don't move. I'll figure it out."
She nodded. Then she said, "I just gave you an idea."
Ginny wrinkled her nose, "Yeah. I'm trying to think of one that doesn't involve me attempting death defying acrobatics."
Rachel reached back to feel Bolt's exhausted and pained presence. She shook her head, "No time. There's a bridge coming up, we need to slow down."
Ginny's confident, joking demeanour vanished abruptly, "The bridge! I forgot!"
She stood up to stare at whole in the train wall, where she'd blown the door away. "Right. Easy peasy."
Rachel reached up to take her hand for a brief squeeze. "Worse comes to worse, you can just disconnect the attachment between the engine and the first car."
Ginny almost laughed. "Yeah! I … I'll do that."
Rachel, and the dozen kids that had managed to squeeze themselves forwards to watch them through the locked door, followed Ginny's movements with their eyes. Ginny pocketed her wand, rubbed her hands together, trying not to show her nervousness. She shot another smile at Rachel, and stepped out, grabbing onto the ladder to climb to the top.
The moment she was out of sight, Rachel let out a pained groan. It felt like the venom's sting hit back with full force now that she had nothing else to concentrate on.
"You guys… are cute." Bolt panted. Rachel pressed a hand to her thigh.
"Thanks. Gods, how're you holding up?"
"Hermione cleaned out as much as she could… she tied a stole on my thigh. It's not going to stop the venom, but it can hold out for a while. I have another hour, I think."
"Good."
"But there are kids already dead, Rachel." Bolt's voice dropped to a whisper. Rachel swallowed.
She looked up and found a dozen pair of eyes staring at her from within the locked car. They looked pretty much stunned, talking to each other and pointing at her. Rachel thought she recognized some of them from the party, but she couldn't be sure. She could see Draco Malfoy, though. Rachel was sure she'd spoken to him for a bit.
The way they stared at her…
Rachel reached up to her throat to feel for the pendant that she'd worn during the party…
Right. No disguise.
Monday, Dec 3; 3:40 p.m.
Hogwarts Express, Scotland
Sirius had been called to the Ministry because they were running out of trained people to help. The moment the alarm sounded in London to shut down all exits, his immediate thought had been to get Sally and Nico back to the States.
Except Nico had disappeared to Merlin knows where, and Sally refused to leave without him. The restrictions came down and now she was stuck in London. Great.
Sirius didn't want to be angry at her, so he directed all his wrath on the situation. Not even an hour ago, the Knight Bus had exploded. Shortly after that, Gringotts raised an intruder alarm. Then, some drunks in Knockturn Alley swore up and down that they saw a giant scorpion, while the Ministry lost all contact with the Aurors who'd been stationed on the Hogwarts Express.
"What. The. Hell?" Sirius asked, slowly, eyes burning into the scores of Ministry workers who were partially star-struck, partially frightened. Good.
"Two bodies have been found in the blast. We're still not sure about the bank. The Goblins have begun their own search. We can't expect a report until the evening, but that's not the most pressing issue." Kingsley briefed everyone who stood in the Atrium of the Ministry.
"If you're going to say that a scorpion is going to take priority –" Sirius muttered, viciously, but then shut up when Kingsley shot him a frown.
"We've lost sight of the train. All the tracking charms have been turned off for some reason. Our last details from the train say that it was running at 170 km per hour. That is not the regulated speed, so we'll be apparating to Rothbury now. Your stations are as prescribed, we have to intercept. Stop the train and conduct standard checks. Priority is to make sure the train slows down before the bridge in Blyth."
He nodded and the DMLE scattered, heading for the apparating ports. Sirius went to follow them but Kingsley stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.
"Sirius –
"Sorry for undermining your authority, or whatever –"
"I need you to go to Gringotts."
Sirius shrugged his hand off. "Nope. Not doing. I'm going to check on the kids. DJ – "
"You have clearance to demand more information from the goblins than most of us." Kingsley interrupted him using some strange trick to sound very rational. "These people know their jobs, they can handle it. They'll make sure the kids are alright."
"Please tell me you can feel something's wrong?!" Sirius hissed, leaning in. As usual, the vast Atrium gave him a cold feeling. He hated this building. "First the bus, then the bank, now this? Whoever's behind this, they're splitting us up. The Aurors are still in Diagon Alley, and you just got the DMLE to go to Rothbury, wherever that is!"
"It's in England. I am aware. But we affirmed this in the meeting. If everyone follows their roles, we can figure this out fast with minimum casualties –"
"The goblins hate me."
"You're a priority customer. You can bulldoze your way through with that privilege, and I know you've always wanted to do that." King said, raising an eyebrow.
Sirius grimaced. Damn it, he had always wanted to do that! By the way, what did bulldoze mean?
"You have your mirror?" Sirius grumbled. "Call me if anything goes wrong. If DJ stubs his toe, I want to be there, got it?"
Kingsley nodded, looking like he took that request very seriously. He closed the apparating ports, finally locking the city in from any and all magical transportations.
Sirius flooed to the Leaky. Tom let him in without a fuss.
He hadn't thought the pub had ever been empty in living memory. Sirius gave a low whistle at the abandoned tables, shooting a quick look of sympathy towards Tom before heading to the bank.
The streets were filled with Aurors. They were assuring the civilians, convincing them to head home for the day. Many people had to be rerouted to other centres since they hadn't been able to leave the city. Sirius found Tonks standing off the side, almost in an alleyway, talking to someone hidden from view.
Mundungus Fletcher cringed when he spotted Sirius.
"What d'you know about the bank?" Sirius asked with no other greeting. Tonks heaved a sigh and Dung stammered, "Not… nothing! I swear, I wus in Knockturn Alley! Briggins ' I found this scorpion the size of a shop!"
Sirius clenched his fists to stop from grabbing his wand and hexing the drunkard.
"Forget about your little delusion and get back to the bank. Why did the goblins shut it down?"
"I dunno! I swear on my young un's head –"
"You don't have any kids!"
Dung blinked, his eyes quite dilated. "I might someday."
Sirius reached for his neck, but Tonks pushed him back.
"Not here! Morgana, get a grip!" She hissed, her hair turning Weasley red. "Look, Bill and Fleur are inside, as soon as the doors open, they'll be the first ones out, I'm sure."
"Not unless their jobs stop them from talking about the bank in public." Sirius snapped. "You know? NDAs? Sound familiar?"
"Well, then. That's what you're here for." Tonks replied, scathing. "Go on, bark at them. Let's see what you find out."
It wasn't fair to snap at her, but she was arguing just as much as he was. May be it was because they both missed Moony. That and the situation was actually barely in control.
Turns out, it wasn't in their control at all.
The goblins were stoic enough that Sirius wanted to rip his hair out. Any break-ins in the bank would be reported in the Ministry, by default, considering that a large number of Gringotts clientele were humans. But beyond that, the goblins governed all laws and legislations of the bank. Sirius, or anyone, wouldn't get any more info other than the preliminary statement they'd first received, which said that an alarm had been set off signalling the presence of an intruder in the vast underground of the vaults.
"Your vault is under maximum protection, Mr. Black." The goblin spoke, stern and confident. "You have no need to worry about your gold and treasures, my word is bound."
I don't care about the stupid vaults, Sirius wanted to shake the goblin. I care about Harry, who isn't waking up from his death-coma, who hasn't even healed yet, who still looks like he was recently murdered. I care about DJ who's on the train, same train that's been sending up red flags for a bit now. I care about Remus who's been on an undercover mission for months and hasn't sent a letter for more than three weeks. I care about Sally who's already worried about her kids, who's bloody pregnant with mine! I care about Nico and Percy, Tonks, Rachel, and…
A bunch of other names crossed his head. Sirius forced himself to take a breath.
"I understand, Mr. Gornuk." Sirius said, plastering a smile that was as genuine as the goblin's goodwill. They were standing on the top of the marble staircase, right by the locked and guarded double doors of the bank. "I just hope you understand my uneasiness, since your bank is famed for all its protective measures. The success of an establishment is solely based on the patience, ingenuity, and tenacity of its employees. Gringotts has, no doubt, proven that for the past several centuries, but I would prefer to retain some suspicion… especially since I have no details of the incident that has taken place here."
Urgh, he sounded like his father.
"The primary report is nothing more than a statement which mentions that an alarm has been activated." Gornuk replied. One of his eyes twitched. "Gringotts, as you have rightfully said, prides on the success of its security. We value your status as customers, and it is my belief, as well as my colleagues, that all your worries can easily be resolved with some transparency."
He leaned in. Sirius didn't flinch.
"Our security measures are paramount, Mr. Black. I'm sure you've heard of them. Be assured, there is nothing to fear."
Something snapped, and Sirius lost some of the honey from the conversation.
"I have heard about your security systems." He began, trying to sound as carefree as possible. "I have also, forgive me, heard about an unsettling rumour… an incident that took place four years ago."
Gornuk's black, beady eyes narrowed, his entire forehead crumpling up like handmade paper. Sirius felt a temporary slice of vindication.
"And as you have heard, Mr. Black…" Gornuk said, short of actually cursing him, "The vault in question, was empty, and therefore at minimal protection. Any and all assumptions that can be allowed after that, will be this: our consideration of what remains safe, is heightened security. Your vault is safe, sir. And that is all you need to know. I must take my leave."
Sirius nodded, feeling his jaw ache from how heard he clenched his teeth. Without another word, he turned around and left. They'd have to wait for Bill and Fleur, for whatever information they would be allowed to pass on. Goblin magic was notoriously activity-cursed. Any implication of a broken vow would result in disastrous consequences. There were very few branches of magic that could work around that.
There was nothing else for him, so he went back to Grimmauld Place where the rest of the non-active duty Order waited for news.
They knew more than him though.
"Say that again." Sirius demanded, even as Molly and Arthur worked on the floo again, with no results.
"There was an attack on the train, Sirius." Alice Longbottom said. She was clenching the hem of his robes tight in her pale, prominently knuckled hands.
"It's where Nico went. He felt the deaths." Sally's whisper was so low, Sirius almost didn't hear the words. But he did hear them.
And he felt faint.
Arthur steadied him with a firm hand. A chair was pushed in his direction. Sirius sat on it, grabbing the bottom of the seat like he wanted to break the wood.
"How many?"
Frank looked up from the table, barely breathing. "Seventeen dead, fourteen more bitten."
Molly finally stood up from the hearth. She looked like she'd aged twenty years. "They're transporting all critical victims to the closest hospital, that's in Rothbury. The rest of the kids are being sent to St. Mungo's. They're going to lift the warding around the city for them."
Sirius nearly leapt off the chair. His heart was beating so loudly, he was sure Remus could hear it from wherever he was. "Then why are we waiting here!?"
"The hospital is closed to home networks. Only emergency stations. It's supposed to last twenty minutes, they want to screen every student before we can go storm the place to pick them up." Arthur replied, guiding Molly to a chair.
"And how do we which ones are critical and are in Rothbury?" Sirius demanded. Sally closed a warm, sweaty palm over his wrist.
"We'll find out only when we get to St. Mungo's."
It took them nearly forty minutes. Forty minutes, twenty seconds to be precise. Sally had stared at her watch the entire time, only taking her eyes off when Frank had offered her tea.
Nico had gone to the train, had saved eighteen kids. The hospital had no clue where the strange boy with shadow powers was bringing the injured children from. They had no idea, until one of the staff recognized her daughter and realised that the train had been infested with Acromantula. That had been when the Aurors had already reached the town when, to their absolute surprise, they saw train slowing to a stop, sans engine.
Apparently, Ginny Weasley had climbed on top of the train like it was nothing, and had detached the first coach from the coal truck. The engine and truck had gone on to travel at an insane speed, finally going over the bridge and ripping right off the tracks, falling to a fiery demise.
Molly looked rather proud when she heard of the news. Sally had no doubt that she was going to ground Ginny for her acrobats and feed her for the next ten years.
Information was staggered, till they made a semblance of a report. Someone had filled the train with Acromantula eggs, that had been primed with spells such as size-changing charms. Runes had been thrown all over the train to stop the students and Aurors from sending SOS signals. Not to mention, a ward, right around the train, grounded to the engine, had been planted to stop them from leaving or anyone from entering. The ward had been deactivated the moment Ginny had disconnected the truck from the train.
Sally barely understood the mechanics of what had happened, but she was sure of a few things. Someone had attack the bus and the train. People were dead. It was mass chaos.
Also, Rachel had been on scene.
The six parents waited in the safe house, silently contemplating on a combination of purgatory and hell on earth, until a lone fiery feather flashed into existence.
The phoenix feather fluttered down to the table and all six were up and running for the hearth.
It was a madness of green messy flames until they emerged in the flooing station of St. Mungo's. The room, though almost as large as Hogwarts' antechamber, was packed with several worried and angry families, demanding to see their children at once.
"There's no way we can get through this crowd!" Sally gasped as people began to yell at the hospital staff. The room was stuffy and loud. She grabbed Sirius's hand to not lose him in the crowd.
She stood on her toes got a glimpse of the information desk in the front of the room that held two overworked staff members who were trying to answer all the distraught parents' demands.
One of them put his wand to his throat and his voice boomed out, "EVERYONE QUIET!"
The roar in the room fell to an annoyed decibel. The staff member continued, "Due to the attack on the train, St. Mungo's has had to coordinate with the Torrent Clinic based in Rothbury. Twenty children have been admitted there, and I will call out their names in order. If you hear your child or ward's name, please step towards the door on my left, which holds the apparating stations one through five. For those with multiple children, we have done our best to group all siblings into one base. We will work on this case by case."
He took up a sheet of yellow paper and said, "Terry Boot."
A woman broke out of the crowd and rushed towards the door. Sally caught her red, teary face and murmured a prayer in silence.
The staff kept calling names and people kept leaving the room. Sometimes, no one answered for a name called, and Sally squeezed Sirius' hand when she realised that those kids might have been muggle-born with no one to pick them up at the moment.
"Lanie Ebios… Parvati Patil… Deaton Tenma… Jack Vance."
When the roll call stopped, Sally let out a breath. She hadn't heard a name she recognized.
The staff member now announced, "All other students have been brought to St. Mungo's. Please proceed to the lobby through the door on my right. You will receive more information from the reception."
Sally ran into the lobby along with hundreds of others, desperate to find their kids. Relief tinged with guilt filled her lungs, making it partially easier to breathe. None of the Weasley kids' names had been called; Neville, DJ, and Nico too remained in St. Mungo's.
The receptionist was bombarded with several voices and Sally knew they'd have to wait for a bit. But, Molly, somehow, steamrolled over everyone and made her way to the front.
Her bracelet itched. Sally reached up to scratch it through her sweater. Her movements were absentminded. She thought of Harry in the special corridor on the fifth floor, lying motionless, without a heartbeat. It was barely a reprieve to know that he wouldn't remember any of the horrifying things he would have experienced as he'd died. At least, the truth wouldn't plague him.
"Third floor, room 329." Molly huffed out, after managing her way out of the mob. Arthur took her hand, grateful, and the group made their way to the stairs, the elevator far too busy for them.
Room 329 held up to twenty kids and the moment Sally spotted Nico, she felt near total respite. She held out her arms, and the boy, no matter how betrayed he'd looked when he had questioned her about the bracelet and immortality, ran into her embrace.
"Thank the gods!" Sally gasped, clutching onto his shoulders. She had to bend a bit to really hug him, but didn't mind it, because he was squeezing back just as hard.
She pulled back to look at him. "Are you okay? Tell me, did you get hurt anywhere?"
Nico let her fuss over him, brushing back his hair, touching his face to check for any injuries. His eyes kept drooping and he mumbled, "I'm fine. It's okay."
He was tired. Of course he was, he'd saved so many lives! He deserved at least ten hours of uninterrupted sleep. Sally was going to tuck him in so tightly, no monster would be able to get to him.
Further in the room, Sirius had managed to squeeze the life out of DJ, practically picking him up. DJ had to keep reassuring him, "I'm fine, Sirius. They couldn't hurt me. See? I was lucky."
"Lucky?" Fred called, after he'd survived his mother's hug. "He was like an unstoppable force! Him and Nico! They went and cleared out the whole of carriage six on their own!"
Sally clutched Nico's arms tighter. She looked up to see the others. Neville was talking to his parents, holding their hands and letting them comfort him. Ginny, Ron, Fred, and George began to explain everything that had happened to their parents, while Hermione sat on one of the beds, with Rachel, watching the adults rather nervously.
Sally did a double-take.
"Rachel?" She called. "What're you doing here?"
Sirius swivelled around, eyes bugging out almost comically. They watched Rachel wince a little. She was holding a small golden haired puppy that slept in her arms. She wore sports gear as though she were ready to play a game on the field, not tackle giant spiders on a train.
Rachel shot a panicked looked to Hermione who patted her arm and said, "It's a long story."
"Yeah." DJ almost snorted. He gave a yawn almost immediately, leaning into Sirius. "It involves an omniscient Harry and a Greek mummy."
Sally frowned, staring at Rachel. Her bracelet itched again.
"It's not as weird as it sounds." Rachel tried to placate them. Sally was about to respond, when someone else quipped, "I'm sure it's not."
Sally turned around, heart thudding. Percy was standing at the entrance, arms folded, leaning against the door jamb, looking rather relaxed… and elated. He gave them all a smirk, and something about it had Sally swallowing down her question, making her feel uncomfortable and angry.
Q: So a bit of this section's plot is borrowed from a lot of train action sequences… art imitates art (and reality). Speaking of which, what movie did this chapter remind you of?
Cabba.
