Harry Potter and the Rise of Darkness
Chapter 5: The Death Eater
The Hogwarts Express moved at a pleasant pace, and Harry enjoyed watching out the window, seeing the cows and green fields move by. As the day drew on, the sky became darker, and Harry withdrew his attention from the landscape to the game of Exploding Snap that Ron and Hermione were engaged in. Just as Ron triumphantly pulled a winning card from the stack, the whole lot exploded.
"The thing about this deck," said Ron bitterly as Hermione superiorly won with a pair of twos, "Is that it always makes me lose to the most smallest deals."
Harry laughed, and went on to win against Ron with a pair of threes.
Harry was the first to hear the rain splattering down on the roof of the car, lashing itself furiously on the speeding train. He looked out the window, and saw that the sky outside was completely black, not even punctuated by the brief flashes of lightning that thunder indicated.
The Chocolate Frogs that Harry had bought earlier lay in a heap in an adjacent seat. Ron proceeded to direct his attention to those as Hermione buried her nose in another book, and Harry played solitaire with the Exploding Snap cards.
As Ron pulled a card from another one of the interminable Chocolate Frogs packets (The others lay in a sad heap next to the empty packaging; Agrippa had still not been found), the train suddenly screeched to a stop and the whole compartment was left in darkness.
"Hello, what's this?" said Ron irritably. Harry remembered his third year, the only other time the train had stopped on the long ride, and he could tell that this wasn't going to be a happy occasion either. "Something's up," he said.
"Yeah," said Ron, and Harry could tell that he was frowning. "Wonder what's happening--"
In the darkness, the silence was suddenly ruptured by a series of distant screams.
"Wands out," said Harry, startled. He pulled out his own and he could hear Ron and Hermione do the same.
They waited for a few minutes in the darkness-- he could feel the train rocking crazily on the rails; the screams continued, growing steadily louder --
"They're coming this way," whispered Hermione. Harry gripped his wand more tightly.
Out the compartment window, Harry could see the lights of various spells and charms. He could once swear that he saw the unearthly flashes of green light that perpertuated his nightmares-- he wasn't be sure, though-- he couldn't tell what was exactly going on. The rain suddenly grew more thunderous and dimmed what little he could hear then. "Lumos!" he whispered.
The wandlight lit the compartment like an aura; Harry dimmed the brightness of the spell, and crept out towards the door, meaning to open it and see what exactly was happening outside, but the door opened before he reached it.
Startled, he yelled "Stupefy!" before he had a chance to register what he had seen open the door, but the spell had no effect on the personage as he might have done on stone. Harry backed away from the door and the person who stood framed inside it-- he kept his wand pointed at the person-- the man was probably going to attack...
The man stepped inside and watched them all. He did not have his wand out, but for all that mattered, it had a similar effect as if he was threatening them with a wizard's staff. His eyes loomed out in the half-light, and in the midst of all the screaming, Harry could hear Hermione give a whimper.
It was a Death Eater.