Hello there!
Welcome to the next chapter of Cruel Angel Thesis. I know another CAT update, but I'm still busy with other things and story projects.
I hope you enjoy and...
Alex: "Hey Skyguy!"
Wha... How did you get into my office?
Alex: "Well all the doors where locked, so I climbed in through a vent. Anyways, a little birdy told me you wanted to do a MCU story and was looking for a protagonist that isn't Jason Skywalker."
Actually I was thinking of using Clark or Lucifer.
Alex: "Oh come on! I'm the best thing that came out of this damn story! What does Clark have that I don't!?"
An actual character arc? Okay Alex... So is it Natasha or Wanda you want to sleep with?
Alex: "Natasha, Wanda, Maria Hill, Mantis, Nebula, Hela, Carol, Aunt May, oh can you throw in a Rule 63 Thanos?"
Alex, I'm not doing that!
Alex: "Fine! Just Natasha, Wanda, Maria Hill, Mantis, Nebula, Hela, Carol and Aunt May."
No, I'm not doing any of that! I'm not writing a MCU story where you sleep around! Anyways on to the review.
girani4: Alex becoming a prefect was a spur of the moment thing, though it would be interesting.
And now story time.
The train rattled onward, speeding them out into open country. It was an odd, unsettled sort of day; one moment the carriage was full of sunlight and the next they were passing beneath ominously grey clouds.
Alex and Hermione did not turn up for nearly an hour, by which time the food trolley had already gone by. Harry, Claire, Ron, Neville, and Ginny had finished their pumpkin pasties and were busy swapping Chocolate Frog Cards when the compartment door slid open and they walked in, accompanied by Crookshanks.
"...I am so fucking bored!" Alex said throwing himself into the seat next to Luna. He leaned back with his eyes closed as though he had had a very exhausting morning, "Someone entertain me!"
"Alex language!" Hermione said, looking thoroughly disgruntled as she took her seat, "Well, there are two fifth-year prefects from each house. Boy and girl from each."
"Guess who's a Slytherin prefect?" Alex said, still with his eyes closed.
"Malfoy." Harry and Claire replied at the same time.
"Course." Ron said bitterly, stuffing the rest of the Frog into his mouth and taking another.
"And that complete cow Pansy Parkinson." Hermione said viciously, "How she got to be a prefect when she's thicker than a concussed troll..."
"Who are Hufflepuff's?" Neville asked.
"Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbott." Alex said thickly.
"And Anthony Goldstein and Padma Patil for Ravenclaw.", Hermione said.
"You went to the Yule Ball with Padma Patil." Luna said who was gazing unblinkingly at Ron over the top of The Quibbler. He swallowed his mouthful of Frog.
"Yeah, I know I did." he said, looking mildly surprised.
"She didn't enjoy it very much, she doesn't think you treated her very well, because you wouldn't dance with her." Luna informed him, she retreated to talk to Neville.
"So embarrassing." Alex groaned still with his eyes closed, "One of the best girls in our year, and you didn't even tap that."
Ron glared at the smug looking Alex, then looked around at Ginny for some kind of explanation, but Ginny had stuffed her knuckles in her mouth to stop herself giggling. Ron shook his head, bemused, then checked his watch.
"We're supposed to patrol the corridors every so often." Alex said annoyed, "And we can give out punishments if people are misbehaving... Maybe being a prefect does has its perks. I'm gonna have fun with Crabbe and Goyle tis year."
"You're not supposed to abuse your position, Alex!" Hermione said sharply.
"They should have thought about that before giving me the position!" Alex said, "As if Malfoy isn't going to abuse his!"
"So you're suggesting descending down to his level?"
"I'm only going to fight fire with fire." Alex said tapping his chin, "I think I'll make Goyle do lines, it'll kill him, he hates writing. I'm surprised he even could write."
Ron 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, but nobody laughed harder than Luna's. She let out a scream of mirth that caused Hedwig to wake up and flap her wings indignantly and Crookshanks to leap up into the luggage rack, hissing. Luna laughed so hard her magazine slipped out of her grasp, slid down her legs and on to the floor.
"That was funny!" her prominent eyes swam with tears as she gasped for breath, staring at Ron.
Utterly nonplussed, he 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.
"Are you taking the mickey?" Ron said, frowning at her.
"Baboon's... backside!" she choked, holding her ribs.
"Well... It finally happened." Alex said perplexed, "Someone is laughing at a Ron joke."
Everyone else was watching Luna laughing, but Claire, glancing at the magazine on the floor, noticed something that made her dive for it.
Upside-down it had been hard to tell what the picture on the front was, but Claire now realized it was a fairly bad cartoon of Cornelius Fudge; she only recognized him because of the lime-green bowler hat. One of Fudges hands was clenched around a bag of gold; the other hand was throttling a goblin.
The cartoon was captioned: How Far Will Fudge Go to Gain Gringotts?
Beneath this were listed the titles of other articles inside the magazine.
Corruption in the Quidditch League:
How the Tornados are Taking Control
Secrets of the Ancient Runes Revealed
Sirius Black: Villain or Victim?
"Can I have a look at tis?" Claire asked Luna eagerly.
She nodded, still gazing at Ron, breathless with laughter. Claire opened the magazine and scanned the index, she found the page, and turned excitedly to the article, this, too, was illustrated by a rather bad cartoon; in fact, Claire would not have known it was supposed to be Sirius if it hadn't been captioned.
Sirius was standing on a pile of human bones with his wand out. The headline on the article said:
Sirius - Black as he's painted?
Notorious mass murderer or innocent singing sensation?
Claire had to read this first sentence several times before she was convinced that she had not misunderstood it. She had heard Sirius sing under the shower, there was no way he could be a singing sensation.
For twelve years Sirius Black had been believed guilty of the mass murder of twelve innocent Muggles and one wizard. Black's audacious escape from Azkaban two years ago led to the widest manhunt ever conducted by the Ministry of Magic. It wasn't until May that year and with the help of his former sister-in-law, Margaret Kent, that he was proven innocent, never having committed the crimes for which he was sent to Azkaban.
Though while there are still people who claim that he merely brought him out of Azkaban. People like Doris Purkiss, of 18 Acanthia Way, Little Norton, Black may not even have been present at the killings.
"What people failed to realize is that Sirius Black is a false name." Mrs. Purkiss said, "The man people believe to be Sirius Black is actually Stubby Boardman, lead singer of popular singing group The Hobgoblins, who retired from public life after being struck on the ear by a turnip at a concert in Little Norton Church Hall nearly fifteen years ago. I recognized him the moment I saw his picture in the paper. Now, Stubby couldn't possibly have committed those crimes, because on the day in question he and his daughter happened to be enjoying a dinner with me."
Claire finished reading and stared at the page in disbelief. Perhaps it was a joke, perhaps the magazine often printed spoof items, but she had to admit 'The Hobgoblins' sounded like an awesome band name. She flicked back a few pages and found the piece on Fudge.
Cornelius Fudge, the Minister for Magic, denied that he had any plans to take over the running of the Wizarding Bank, Gringotts, when he was elected Minister for Magic jive years ago. Fudge has always insisted that he wants nothing more than to 'co-operate peacefully' with the guardians of our gold.
But does he?
Sources close to the Minister have recently disclosed that Fudge's dearest ambition is to seize control of the goblin gold supplies and that he will not hesitate to use force if need be.
"It wouldn't be the first time, either." said a Ministry insider, "Cornelius 'Goblin-Crusher' Fudge, that's what his friends call him. If you could hear him when he thinks no one's listening, oh, he's always talking about the goblins he's had done in; he's had them drowned, he's had them dropped off buildings, he's had them poisoned, he's had them cooked in pies..."
Claire did not read any further, she was too busy laughing at how cartoonishly evil they made Fudge. She flicked through the rest of the magazine. Pausing every few pages, she read: an accusation that the Tutshill Tornados were winning the Quidditch League by a combination of blackmail, illegal broom-tampering and torture; an interview with a wizard who claimed to have flown to the moon on a Cleansweep Six and brought back a bag of moon frogs to prove it; and an article on ancient runes which at least explained why Luna had been reading The Quibbler upside-down.
According to the magazine, if you turned the runes on their heads they revealed a spell to make your enemy's ears turn into kumquats.
In fact, compared to the rest of the articles in The Quibbler, the suggestion that Sirius might really be the lead singer of The Hobgoblins was quite sensible.
"Anything good in there?" Alex asked as his cousin closed the magazine, who simply handed him the magazine.
"Of course not." Hermione said scathingly, before Claire could answer, "The Quibbler's rubbish, everyone knows that."
"Excuse me." Luna said, her voice had suddenly lost its dreamy quality, "My father's the editor."
"I... oh.", Hermione said, looking embarrassed.
"It's got some interesting articles." Claire said with a good natured smile, before handing it back to Luna, "Think you can sell me a copy? I know someone who would be interested in tis particular edition."
"Thank you." Luna said, the dreamy quality in her voice was back, "Yes, I can send you one." a faint smile on her face, just as the compartment door opened for a second time.
Claire looked around; she had expected this, but that did not make the sight of Malfoy smirking at her from between his cronies Crabbe and Goyle any more enjoyable.
"I had hoped for a day with a moron-free view..." Claire said irritated, before Malfoy could open his mouth, "Oh, too late!"
"Manners, Kent, or I'll have to give you detention." Malfoy drawled, "You see, I, unlike you, have been made a prefect, which means that I, unlike you, have the power to hand out punishments."
"Yeah, but you, unlike her, are a git, so get out and leave us alone." Harry said, Claire, Alex, Ron, Neville, Hermione, Luna and Ginny laughed.
Malfoy's lip curled, "Just watch yourself, because I'll be dogging your footsteps in case you step out of line." sniggering, Malfoy gave Harry a last malicious look and departed, with Crabbe and Goyle lumbering along in his wake.
"Was this the first time that Malfoy leaves our compartment without injury?" Neville noted.
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.
Harry was sitting with his forehead pressed against the train window, trying to get a first distant glimpse of Hogwarts, but it was a moonless night and the rain-streaked window was grimy.
"We'd better change." Hermione said at last, and all of them opened their trunks with difficulty and pulled on their school uniforms.
She and Alex pinned their prefect badges carefully to their chests.
At last, the train began to slow down and they heard the usual racket up and down it as everybody scrambled to get their luggage and pets assembled, ready to get on.
As Alex and Hermione were supposed to supervise all this, they disappeared from the carriage again.
They shuffled out of the compartment feeling the first sting of the night air on their faces as they joined the crowd in the corridor.
Jostled by the crowd, Harry squinted through the darkness for a glimpse of Hagrid; but there was no sign of him.
They walked forwards on to the dark rain-washed road outside Hogsmeade Station. Here stood the hundred or so horseless stagecoaches that always took the students above first year up to the castle. Claire glanced quickly at them, turned away to keep a lookout for Alex and Hermione, then did a double-take.
The coaches were no longer horseless. There were creatures standing between the carriage shafts. If she had had to give them a name, she supposed she would have called them horses, though there was something reptilian about them, too.
They were completely fleshless, their black coats clinging to their skeletons, of which every bone was visible. Their heads were dragonish, and their pupil-less eyes white and staring. Wings sprouted from each wither, vast, black leathery wings that looked as though they ought to belong to giant bats.
Standing still and quiet in the gathering gloom, the creatures looked eerie and sinister. Claire could not understand why the coaches were being pulled by these horrible horses when they were quite capable of moving along by themselves.
A short distance away, 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, Alex and 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?", Hermione asked.
"Ginny's got him." Harry said, "There she is." Ginny had just emerged from the crowd, clutching a squirming Crookshanks.
"Thanks." Hermione said relieving Ginny of the cat, "Come on, let's get a carriage together before they all fill up." The rest were already heading off towards the nearest unoccupied coach.
"What are those things?" Claire said, nodding at the horrible horses as the other students surged past them.
"What things?" Ron asked.
"Those horses." Claire pointed out, "What are those horse things?", she, Harry, Ron and Luna made for the carriage in which Alex, Neville, Hermione, and Ginny were already sitting.
"What horse things?" Ron repeated.
"The horse things pulling the carriages!" Claire said impatiently.
They were, after all, about three feet from the nearest one; it was watching them with empty white eyes. Ron, however, gave Claire a perplexed look.
"What are you talking about?" Harry said.
Claire grabbed Harry's arm and wheeled him about so that he was face to face with the winged horse. Harry stared straight at it for a second, then looked back at Claire.
"What am I supposed to be looking at?"
"At the horses between the shafts! Harnessed to the coach! It's right there in front you!" Claire said, gesturing but as Harry continued to look bemused, a strange thought occurred, "Can't... Can't you see them? Can't you see what's pulling the carriages?"
Harry looked seriously alarmed now, "Are you two feeling all right?"
Claire felt utterly bewildered. The horse was there in front of her, gleaming solidly in the dim light issuing from the station windows behind them, vapor rising from its nostrils in the chilly night air. Yet, unless Harry and Ron could not see it at all.
"Shall we get in, then?" Ron said uncertainly, looking at Claire as though worried about her.
"Yeah..." she said, "Yeah, go on..."
"It's all right." a dreamy voice said from beside Claire as Harry and Ron vanished into the coach's dark interior, "You're not going mad or anything. I can see them, too."
"You can?" Claire said desperately, turning to Luna. She could see the bat-winged horses reflected in her wide silvery eyes.
"Oh, yes." Luna said, "I've been able to see them ever since my first day here. They've always pulled the carriages. Don't worry. You're just as sane as I am.", smiling faintly, she climbed into the musty interior of the carriage after Ron.
"That's not very reassuring." she said as she followed her.
Many thanks to everyone who read, review, favorite or follows this story as usual.
For now I... Are you still here?
Alex: "Yes, and if you don't give me the MCU story then I will take this Year!"
What?
Alex: "Year 1 to 3 where pretty much about Harry and Claire, Year 4 was about Charles now Year 5 will be the year of Alex!"
Alex... Please, go home, your drunk.
Anyways I wish you all a fantastic day, if you enjoyed my work don't forget to leave a review and I hope to see you ladies and gents next time.
Mischief Managed.