Candice woke up in a compartment, a train compartment. They moved me while I was asleep, she thought. She was alone, and her digital watch said it was 9:00 in the morning. She knew from her letter that the train left at 10:00. They had moved her early. She frowned, and tried the door. Locked. She shoved her magic into the wall. It was wizard-protected too. Damn, she thought, looking around. A window . . . She looked around. There was nothing useful in the compartment except for her trunk. Smiling slightly, she threw her powers at the trunk, lifted it, and swung it into the window. CRASH!!! The window shattered into a million pieces of glass. Candice pulled her hair back into a ponytail, and jumped after the trunk. She didn't have time to take it with her; someone would have heard the crash by now. Where could she hide? Darting quickly through a barrier, she found herself in the muggle world. She blinked. The barrier must be magic, she thought. She moved with the crowd, looking for someone who could help her. She moved up to one young man, asking for a taxi to take a poor lost girl home. He smiled at her, and walked her towards what she thought was the exit. He walked her closer to where she had started, between platforms nine and ten. She was getting nervous, sure that they were looking for her now, when the young man pulled out a wand, and promptly stunned her.

She woke up, and cried. And screamed. And basically threw her magic around the compartment, watching it ricochet off the walls, screaming in frustration when it did nothing but shake the train. She exhausted her powers after 20 minutes. She slept a little, gaining some strength back, and then she discovered the two guards at her door. This was a different compartment, one with a spell on the window as well as the door. She knew the students coming later would not be in that compartment, mind magic was harder to reverse, so the window would stay broken for a while. The two guards were from MoM, and the only way Candice could see to escape the situation, was to bribe the guards.

"I have to use the bathroom!" She called loudly. She waited a minute, no response.

"I'm hungry!" She tried again. This was true; she hadn't eaten in since Interlochen, three days ago. She still got no response. She then used her magic to increase her stomachs protest's volume. No response.

"I'm thirsty!" She tried, a last futile attempt. This time she got a response. The guard stuck his head in, and stunned her.

When she awoke, the train was moving, and Candice could feel the stress of hundreds of minds on her shields. She was back to full power, her anger at being locked up intensified its ferocity. If they thought she would let them have anywhere near a comfortable ride, they were wrong! Candice thought, and with an almost insane gleam in her eye, focused a blast of power on the door where the guards were standing.

Harry gaped at the window. They had walked into the compartment, to find themselves facing a completely shattered window. Hermione was one step ahead, and was stupidly staring at her wand and she repeatedly recited the reparo charm. They all sat down. The compartment was rather noisy, with all the wind rushing past the window, so they didn't talk much. About thirty minutes into the trip, the window began to repair itself, piece by piece, shard by shard. As if they had been holding it, they let out a long breath of air as the last bit of glass fit itself back into place. They didn't mention the window's strange behavior, and the witch with the food cart came around soon after. They began to relax, and idle chitchat broke out. Unlike all their other train trips, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle hadn't stopped by for a visit. They weren't missed, and Harry, Hermione, and Ron were just about to voice hopes that somehow, these three were not coming to Hogwarts this year, when the first crash came. BOOM. Came the first of a serious of shakes. The whole train was rocking back and forth. Screaming could be heard from the hall.

"What's happening?" asked Ron, stealing a nervous glance toward the door. Nothing. BOOM BOOM BOOM! Harry, Ron, and Hermione fought to keep their balance, but the rocking didn't stop. Hermione called out above the noise,

"I WONDER IF THE MINISTRY WIZARDS KNOW SOMETHING? I'LL CHECK!" She screamed, allowing a giant lurch from the train to propel her towards the door. She managed to get the door open, and the next series of crashes were enough to get her into the hallway.

"EVERYTHING IS UNDER CONTROL! WE MUST ASK ALL OF YOU TO REMAIN IN YOUR COMPARTMENTS!" One of the ministry wizards yelled. His back was against the door, and he looked as if he was totally exhausted. Hermione tried to talk to him further, but he just yelled for her to get back to her seat, after inquiring whether or not the window had fixed itself yet. Hermione came back with quite a lot of difficulty, and the crashes and booms didn't stop. The train was coming in sight of Hogwarts, when the booms and crashes stopped.

By the time the train reached Hogwarts, everyone on it was successfully tired and disheveled. The new first years looked terrified of what might happen next. When the saw Hagrid calling to them, they nearly fainted. No one else had emerged from the train, including the ministry wizards. Harry, Ron, and Hermione gratefully climbed into one of the awaiting horseless carriages. Last year they had seemed bumpy, but now the ride seemed positively graceful.

"I bet the whole train fiasco was that mind magician. The one who's entering this year." Hermione grumbled, as she smoothed her rumpled robes.

"Wonder how old it is?" Ron asked, looking out the window at the little shapes that were boats floating down the lake.

"If that was the mind magician, it got to be at least fourth or fifth year. It rocked the whole train for almost a whole hour and a half. That's a lot of power. I'm guessing it has to be at least that old to have gained that much." Hermione said, glancing at Harry, who sat there wishing he knew more about mind magicians.

"They were the first type of wizard, now very rare." Hermione said, correctly interpreting his sigh. "A lot of them were also animagi. They seem to have a talent for becoming animals." Hermione said, sounding just like a page out of one of Hogwarts' old, dusty books.

"Oh." Said Harry. Then and idea came to him. "Hey, maybe if this one calms down a bit, it could teach us to be animagi! My dad pulled it off; it can't be too hard. And if this new student gets into Gryffindor, it could help us!" Harry said, now very excited. He hoped that the magician would calm down soon. Hermione, Ron and Harry continued to talk about what animals they would become if they could become and animagus. Hermione said she would be a falcon, she wasn't very good at flying on a broomstick and would love to fly as a falcon. Ron said he'd like to be a lion, for its strength and speed. Harry thought about what he'd like to be, he really didn't know. He finally decided he'd like to be a stag, in memory of his father. When he voiced his decision, the carriage grew quiet and stayed that way.