Chapter 3: Murder on the Hogwarts Express
"Are
you sure you don't need a ride back?" Aunt Petunia asked, "We could get ice
cream after."
"No,
I'm pretty sure I'll be able to find a way back."
"Is
there anything I can do for you while you're gone, Harry?" Dudley smiled.
"Just
stay out of my room, Dudley."
"Sure
thing!"
Harry
entered the Leaky Cauldron smiling. It
was empty except for the innkeeper, Tom. He was behind the counter, searching for something
"Hey,
Tom."
Tom
jumped. "Oh, Mr. Potter! You frightened me."
Harry
glanced around. "Where is everyone?"
"Business
has been slow since…well, the ministry denies it, but you can't argue with
facts. The Dark Mark has been appearing
everywhere, and so has death," he said, his voice sorrowful.
Harry
nodded, understanding. He went out back,
counting up and tapping the right brick. When the archway appeared, he hesitated a moment. Something didn't seem right. He started walking down the alley, looking
at the different shops. What didn't
feel right? His footsteps echoed
slightly. He suddenly realized what was
bothering him.
'There's
no one here,' he thought to himself.
Suddenly,
two figures emerged from Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor, one of them
holding an orange fluff.
"Harry!"
Hermione exclaimed, waving with her hand that was not holding Crookshanks, then
looking suddenly perplexed, "Harry?"
"Uh…yeah?"
Harry asked, walking up to them.
"Holy
cow!" Ron exclaimed, "Who are you and what did you do with the tiny string bean
we call Harry?"
It
was Harry's turn to be perplexed. "Huh?"
"Have
you looked at yourself in a mirror lately, Harry?"
"Yeah…"
"And
you didn't notice?" Hermione asked.
"Notice
what?"
"Here,"
said Ron, pulling him closer toward him.
Harry
was confused a moment, then finally saw it. For the first time in his life, he was eye-to-eye with his best
friend. Not eye-to-chin or eye-to-nose,
but eye-to-eye.
"You've
shrunk!"
Ron
slapped his forehead. "Er, close but
not quite."
Hermione
laughed, "Yep, it's still our Harry."
"Where
is everybody?" Harry asked.
"Well,
Fred and George couldn't come. They
rented a place in Hogsmeade and are setting up a joke shop. Mum's not very happy, but they don't care. And…well, naturally Bill and Charlie
couldn't come and Mum and Dad didn't want to interfere, so…"
There
was a pause, which Ron broke happily by saying, "Did I tell you Fred and George
bought me new dress robes? At first I
thought they were going to play a joke on me, like the thing would turn my skin
purple, but they took me to pick it out. I wanted some with the Chudley Cannons colors, but they said they
weren't going to waste their money on that. I probably would have regretted it anyways."
"So
what color did you get?" Harry asked.
"Kind
of a dark green with gold fastenings."
"Green?"
Harry asked, surprised.
"Well,
it goes best with my hair."
Harry
and Hermione snorted.
"What?"
"You
were going to buy orange, but then went for green because it goes with your hair?" Hermione laughed, "Who is this boy, Harry?"
"Hey,
guys!" called a voice before Ron could answer.
They
all turned around to see Azar walking out of Gringotts. "What are you doing here?" she yelled,
rushing up to them.
"Just
enjoying our last few days of freedom."
Azar
beamed at all of them and then did a double take of Harry.
"Whoa! Is this the same boy I met last year?"
Harry
put his hands on his hips. "Have I
really grown that much?"
"I'll
say!" Azar exclaimed, "And in more ways than one. Did you work out over the summer or something, because you're
looking beefy, Harry! Hey, nice cat,
Herm."
Hermione
grimaced slightly at Azar's nickname for her, but quickly got over it. "His name's Crookshanks. Want to hold him?"
Azar
took the orange cat up in her arms. "Ha! I love his face! Did you just get him this summer?"
"No,
I just didn't bring him to Hogwarts last year. My mum had broken her leg and wanted a bit of company."
Ron
raised an eyebrow. "You never told us
your mum broke her leg."
"You
never asked."
"Why
is the alley so empty?" Harry asked, changing the subject.
Ron
looked the most uncomfortable. "Well,
it seems Fudge is the only one who still
refuses to believe that You-Know-Who has returned. Dad says it's just like the dark days were."
They
quickly turned to brighter subjects and spent the rest of the day pretty
happy. It was a bit unnerving, though,
to be practically the only ones in the whole alley. Harry took the Knight Bus back home and found that Ernie's
driving skills had, in fact, worsened. Of course, it was probably due in part that he kept turning around in
his seat and smiling at Harry. Stan
still hadn't shaken the habit of calling Harry 'Neville'.
He
collapsed on his bed as soon as he reached his room and was drifting into sleep
when he felt a nibble on his ear.
"Hey,
Hedwig," he muttered, petting her out of habit, "Glad to see you, too. Now go to bed."
But
Hedwig persisted until Harry turned over, looking at her with an annoyed
expression. She simply held out her
leg, on which was tied a note. Harry
untied it, half asleep, and Hedwig fluttered to her cage. He turned on a lamp and opened it. It read:
A WORLD OF
CHANGE AWAITS THE BOY WHO LIVED. OF
LIFE, LOVE, HATE, AND DEATH, ALL SHALL BE MET. THE FLIGHT OF FEAR, THEN HARRY POTTER SHALL BE NO MORE. THE BEING OF TWO AND FOUR LEGS SHALL BE
FREED. UNTIL THE SPECIAL BECOMES THE
AVERAGE, AND THEN CONVERTS ONCE MORE, SORROW LIES IN LEARNING. AN AQUAINTANCE TO BE TESTED, A FRIEND TO BE
MADE. THE END LIES IN NOUGHT BUT
SHADOWS. KNOW YOUR FRIENDS, AND ALL
GOES WELL.
Harry
sat up, thinking quickly. He snatched a
quill and scrap of parchment, hastily scribbling.
Who are you? Why send me these notes, but no advice? Are they threats or warnings? Please, I must know.
-Harry
He
coaxed Hedwig back out of her cage and tied the note to her leg.
"Take
this to the person who sent that note, Hedwig," he pleaded.
She
hooted importantly and then flew out the window. Harry sat back on his bed, looking at the note.
"Not
another year like that," Harry muttered, "Why can't I just be normal?"
****
"Have
a good year, Harry dear."
"I
will, Aunt Petunia."
"Send
me an owl! I wanna hear all about it!"
"DUDLEY!"
Uncle Vernon roared indignantly, "Do any such thing, boy, and…"
He
was unable to think of any threat, but his purple face was enough to deter
Harry from any thought of sending an owl. He walked into platform 9 and ¾ with an air of apprehension. He had had too many life threatening experiences
to truly enjoy the prospects of the new school year.
"Harry!"
he heard a joyful voice behind him call and then a rough slap landed on his
back.
"Hey,
Azar," he smiled, rubbing the area she had hit.
"Me,
Herm, and Ron have a compartment already. I'll help you with your trunk."
Hermione
and Ron greeted Harry cheerfully when he entered. Azar quickly challenged Ron to a wizards' chess match.
"Hey,
Hermione, I've been wondering," Harry asked, "What exactly does Sickeningly
Sweet Solution do?"
"Well,
from all I researched-"
"Which
must have been the whole library."
Hermione
elbowed Ron playfully, then continued. "Well, you ever hear that there's a little bit of good in everyone? The solution simply takes that part and
increases it until it eclipses the rest of a person's personality. So they simply act like they would if they
were nothing but nice."
"Someone
should feed a bit of that to You-Know-Who…" Ron muttered.
"Wouldn't
work," Azar said, "He's probably got a Death Eater to taste his food before he
eats it. I'm sure plenty of people have
tried to poison him."
"Speaking
of useless little Death Eaters, did any of you guys see Draco?" Ron asked.
Hermione
shook her head, frowning. "Don't call
him that."
"No,
haven't seen him," Harry quickly interjected, "Why?"
"Just
wondering what happened to him, that's all."
The
train was soon off and Harry bought enough sweets to last everyone the trip,
and then some. Katie Bell came into the
compartment once, smiling brightly.
"How's
my favorite Seeker?" she asked, "Or should I say captain?"
Harry
gaped. "Captain?! But McGonagall hasn't chosen the captain
yet, and you've been on the team the
longest."
She
laughed. "C'mon, Harry! I don't have the killer instinct needed for
captain. You're a shoo-in. Hey, have you guys met my little brother
yet? It's his first year."
She
popped her head out of the compartment calling, "Yo, James! Get over here!"
Harry
stared a minute. He had never heard the
name James in reference to anyone but his father. It gave him a strange feeling. A boy with sandy hair and brown eyes soon appeared next to Katie.
"Guys,
this is James Bell. James, this is Ron
Weasley, chess player extraordinaire, Harry Potter, our wonderful Seeker and
soon to be captain, Hermione Granger, and Azar Zundel, the two smartest girls
in school."
James
reached out, shaking everyone's hand. His eyes flitted for a moment to Harry's forehead.
"Well,
we'll be on our way," said Katie, "Hope to see you two at quidditch tryouts."
No
sooner had she disappeared, than Dean Thomas came in her place.
"Hey,
guys!" he said, bringing with him a small girl, "I'm going around introducing
my little sister to the Gryffindor crowd. She's gonna make it in, I'm positive. There's no way she'd make it in the other houses. And besides, she needs me and the Sorting
Hat wouldn't be mean enough to separate us. Oh…yeah. This is Sarah."
Sarah
smiled shyly as the three introduced themselves.
"Well,
on to the next compartment," Dean grinned, "See you guys at the Sorting."
Hour
after hour passed in little more than a blur. Neville, seeming too soon, popped in to inform them that they train was
nearing the station. They had just put
on their robes when a scream came from the corridors. A few seconds later, the train came to a screeching halt. All of them rushed out into the corridor. A large group was blocking off one portion
of the hall.
"What
happened?" Azar asked urgently.
A
scared Hufflepuff answered her, "Someone's been murdered!"
~*~*~
A/N: Guess I'm
back to my old habits. ^-^ Okay chapter
length, though.
And already
I'm going to do a thank you list! So:
Allison: *grins* Thanks! I just hope I didn't
give away too much in it. ^-^
Jeanne: Ah, just what I wanted, to get people
interested. Thanks!
Abbey: *sigh* What I wouldn't give to slip her some
of that stuff…
Lady
Grizabella: Hm. I'm glad people like the solution, 'cause it
may come up a bit more. Thanks!
Herm: And here's more!
Jona: Yes, you better get yourself writing!
Jedi
Cosmos: Yup, I wrote more. ^-^
Buddy: I won't keep you hangin'…too long. ^-^
Thanks
Well, until next time, be excellent to each other!
-Ady
