Chapter 7 - Storm Strikes
"Harry," Ron's voice said in Harry's ear, slightly too loudly than Harry would have appreciated early in the morning. "Get up."
Harry shook himself awake and attempted to fall down the stairs with his suitcase as soon as he was dressed. He saw Ginny, April, and Hermione stumbling down the stairs as well.
"We're leaving early," reported Mr Weasley, shoving some of Ron's clothes back into his suitcase before they had to suffer the consequences of Mrs Weasley repacking their messy suitcases for them.
"Why?" asked Ginny, trying hard not to spill her bowl of cereal as she almost tripped over her own suitcase, which was full to bursting point.
"Well," explained Mr Weasley, "The train is leaving at 9:00am sharp today, because there's a predicted magical storm brewing up in the sky, and Dumbledore wants you to get safely to Hogwarts before the storm hits you."
"I've heard about those magical storms," said Hermione, looking up from her breakfast suddenly. "They affect wizards magic if you're unprotected from them, right? There's supposed to be a lot of lightning."
"That's right, and you don't want to be stuck on an old train while a Class A storm is going on around you," Mrs Weasley said, coming into the kitchen and stepping over the numerous owl cages and suitcases that lay in the doorway. "Really, Ron," she reprimanded, looking at his suitcase. "Even Muggles can pack faster and quicker than you!"
"Class A?" Mr Weasley looked worried. "I do hope it doesn't start to rain before they reach Hogwarts. The weather man said that there could be a bad electrical current."
It seemed like a fine day outside as Weasleys, Harry, Hermione, and April piled their suitcases into Mr Weasley's brand new Toyota. Harry wondered if Mr Weasley had bewitched this one as well, and it certainly seemed to be this way, as the car held their entire luggage with extra space remaining in the trunk.
Just then, Tonks swooped in on her broomstick, and talked to Mr Weasley. Then she turned to Harry.
"I'm going to be your guard to the train station," she said, not noticing that Harry was turning red at the fact that he needed a bodyguard everywhere he went. "I'll be invisible, and I'll fly by your car to the train station. Mad-Eye wanted to come, but he's slightly busy, he said something about an eye infection..." she broke off, grinning slightly, and Harry knew she was joking.
They finally managed to set off, and arrived at the train station in time to get through the barrier to Platform 9 ¾, and bid Tonks goodbye as she flew off. Overhead, Harry thought he heard a rumble of thunder.
"Oh dear!" said Mrs Weasley, looking up at the sky, flustered. "I hope the storm isn't starting early. It'll take a good several hours to build up, but if it hits the train before you've reached Hogwarts."
Mr Weasley, Mrs Weasley, Fred and George said their goodbyes, and Fred and George pulled Harry aside after Ron, April, Hermione, and Ginny had gotten on the train.
"Harry," began Fred.
"We left Hogwarts with many accomplished pranks," continued George, looking important.
"But there were numerous plans that we - er - never managed to expedite," said Fred, smirking slightly. He pulled a long roll of parchment out of his pocket, and handed it to Harry.
"We always wanted to play these pranks, but never had the time, what with the odd detention wasting our valuable time in school," said George. "I hope you can find the time to pull off a few tricks this year."
And they walked away with Mr and Mrs Weasley. Harry unrolled the piece of parchment, and read the first sentence - 'Puking Portraits' - and underneath, Fred and George had continued to explain how to bewitch the paintings and portraits in Hogwarts to puke on anyone who happened to be walking by. Harry grinned, and stuffed the parchment inside his robes.
The train ride started out quite happily, and Harry lay back in his compartment contently, preferring to listen to Ron arguing with Hermione and Ginny and April trying to decide which side they were on. Shortly, the food trolley rolled by, and Harry jumped up and bought a pile of food, sharing it around. April seemed to excite at every little thing, from the Platform 9 ¾ to the extraordinary Chocolate Frogs which she had never had. It reminded Harry slightly of when he first came to Hogwarts, and everything seemed new to him.
"I wonder who the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is going to be," suddenly said Ginny, looking thoughtful.
"Who would want to take that job?" said Ron, through a mouthful of chocolate. He picked up a box of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans, and started on the first one, which Harry thought looked suspiciously like beetroot. Ron coughed, and took a white vanilla bean to make up for it.
"Speaking of new people," said Harry, taking the box of beans from Ron, "Who is going to replace Fred and George on the Quidditch team."
Ginny suddenly flushed. "I... I suppose you'll be Seeker again Harry," she said, looking slightly downcast, as this meant she would be bumped off of her Seeker spot.
"Well, yeah," said Harry. "But you could still stay on the team. I've watched you play, you play so furiously that you could probably make a fairly good Beater."
Ron was also looking flushed. "I don't suppose they'll want me as keeper anymore, I wasn't that spectacular."
"What are you talking about?" said Harry. "You're heaps better now, don't worry, they'll keep you as keeper."
Now April flushed. "I was - er - thinking maybe I could try out for the team," she said nervously.
"Yeah!" exclaimed Ginny. "You could be a Beater too, you'd be great, you're almost as good a flier as Harry!"
"Well," said April slowly, looking as though she needed more words in her vocabulary to explain herself gently. "Beater... Isn't really my thing. I'm more of a Seeker of Keeper kind of person. And..." She hesitated. "I definitely won't be able to get Harry's spot, he's too... good." She took a frightened look at Ron, who was trying not to listen by stuffing a yellow bean into his mouth, which he spat out in disgust immediately. Harry wasn't sure if he spat it out because of it's taste or because he realized what April was trying to say.
"Don't worry," Ron snarled darkly, looking angry. "We'll just see how your trial goes then, before making any assumptions, shall we?" The compartment went quiet, and the tension levels increased.
The tension in the compartment went even higher as Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle strutted in.
"Well, hello, hello," smirked Malfoy, his hair slightly shaken from the bumpy train. "Two weasels, a potty, a Mudblood, and a..." he looked lost for insults.
April stood up. "A what, Draco?" she asked, blushing around the cheeks slightly, remembering what Ron had said in Diagon Alley.
Harry stood up too. He was sick of Malfoy and his rotten Death Eater family. If he couldn't seek revenge on Bellatrix Lestrange, well, Malfoy was related to her, and Harry was prepared to take out some of his anger on Malfoy instead.
Malfoy looked April up and down, his eyes narrowing. He obviously couldn't think of an insult, because he decided to turn his attention to Harry instead.
"Going to fight me Potter?" Malfoy's lip began to curl, looking at Harry in disgust.
"Yeah, that's right," said Harry. "But you'd be way too scared to duel me alone wouldn't you? Like in our first year... To scared to show up, you were." Ron laughed, remembering the night they sneaked down to the trophy room where Harry was supposed to duel Malfoy.
"Scared? You wish," shot back Malfoy, but his voice faltered slightly. Harry knew Malfoy would be too chicken to take him on, after all, Harry had defeated Voldemort numerous times, Malfoy would be no problem.
Then, Malfoy looked up. So did April and Ron. Then Harry heard it too. Rain. But as he looked out of the window, he realized it wasn't normal rain. The magical storm was starting. The raindrops were as big as tennis balls, and each appeared to have several teeth, and they chomped down as they struck the window of the train, bouncing off but leaving small dents in the window.
"The storms starting." Hermione looked frightened. It was a good half-hour till they arrived at Hogwarts, and these magical storms were unpredictable. Who knew how fast the storm would approach the train?
Malfoy and his dummies left the compartment, looking slightly worried themselves.
"The rain won't penetrate the train windows and wood too quickly though, will it?" Harry asked, not sure whether he wanted to hear the answer. He heard a loud rumble of thunder in the distance that echoed through his head.
"Oh no," said Ron. "It's not the rain we have to worry about." He paused. "It's the lightning."
The lights flickered, and for the next few minutes, everyone sat completely still, listening to the rain and thunder.
"What. What does the lighting do?" asked Harry tentatively.
"It only affects magical beings," said Hermione. No doubt she had read this somewhere. "The lightning creates an electrical atmosphere, just like in normal storms, but this electricity is harnessed and concentrated into a magical field. I suppose our wands will start to malfunction, we'll be blinded by the storm, and perhaps some other bad things..." She broke off, listening intently, as though expecting a lightning bolt to suddenly strike down in their compartment any minute.
A few minutes later, Harry felt the train speed up, and the loud voice of the train driver sounded in the compartment.
"We are nearing Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Due to the quickly advancing storm, we ask for complete co-operation from all our passengers. Please exit as quickly as possible, and do not panic. Thank you. We will be arriving shortly."
Harry thought of something. "Won't the storm affect us inside Hogwarts?" he asked, knowing the answer.
"Of course not," said Hermione. "The castle walls are protected by spells of all kinds, some of which repel the magical field which is directed by the storm. She looked up in surprise, and following her gaze, Harry saw that the raindrops had burrowed a small hole through the glass windowpane. Harry moved aside slightly to put some space between him and the water drops with razor sharp teeth.
Finally, the train came to a stop, and Harry saw Hagrid as he got out of the train. He was about to yell something to Hagrid, but was immediately pelted by small teeth and water. Feeling wet, irritated, and itchy, Harry, April, and Ginny made their way up to Hagrid, while Ron and Hermione had gotten lost somewhere in the crowd running to get out of the rain.
"Alright Harry?" said Hagrid, grinning. The rain didn't seem to be annoying him at all. "Do yer want me coat? Me skin's tough enough ter bounce these little water critters righ' off, I don' need the coat." Harry took the heavy coat gratefully, and Ginny and April helped Harry hold it up like a tent above the three of them, and they stumbled into a carriage to take them up to the castle. Harry noticed the threstrals that he had started seeing last year pulling the carriages, and he noticed April looking at them too.
"You can see them too, can't you?" Harry asked, as they got into a cosy carriage together.
"Those scary horses?" April looked at Harry her blue eyes astonished. "Can't everyone see them?"
"Nope." Harry shook a few wet teeth out of his hair. "Only people who have experienced seeing someone die can see them. You saw Maria die, is that right?"
"Er - No," said April. "I never even saw her body. She got carried off by some ravenous giant who couldn't find good food. But I did see Carmo die."
Harry looked at her. "Who?"
"Carmo... He was a really good friend of mine. A giant. We got really close, he wasn't as vicious as the others, and I even managed to teach him some English. I told him everything, even if he didn't understand it."
"Why'd you call him Carmo?" Harry looked stunned. He thought only Hagrid gave names to dangerous creatures.
"Well every time I saw him, he'd give me a Carmo. Do you know what they are? They're leaves off of the Carmo Plant. They're really tasty, and dead useful if you live in the mountains - You can make baskets and hats and things with them. And they also contain a small amount of magic. Carmo loved magic, and he used to always play with the Carmo leaves, watching the sparks fly out of them."
Harry tried to imagine a giant playing with magic.
"All giants have a love for Carmo leaves. They soften them up. Give a giant a bundle of Carmo leaves, and when he takes a sniff of them, he'll calm down and act like a kid does with a puppy dog." April looked out of the window. It was raining heavily, but the rain didn't seem to penetrate the glass here.
"I hope they get the train fixed up soon," said Harry. "I wonder what causes these storms."
"There's an old legend about that," said Ginny suddenly. "Some people still believe that it's the spirits of Slytherin, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff dueling. It doesn't happen very often, though. About once every fifty years or so."
Harry, April, and Ginny pulled the coat back over them, and stumbled outside, running up the marble steps that led into the Great Hall.
"Harry," Ron's voice said in Harry's ear, slightly too loudly than Harry would have appreciated early in the morning. "Get up."
Harry shook himself awake and attempted to fall down the stairs with his suitcase as soon as he was dressed. He saw Ginny, April, and Hermione stumbling down the stairs as well.
"We're leaving early," reported Mr Weasley, shoving some of Ron's clothes back into his suitcase before they had to suffer the consequences of Mrs Weasley repacking their messy suitcases for them.
"Why?" asked Ginny, trying hard not to spill her bowl of cereal as she almost tripped over her own suitcase, which was full to bursting point.
"Well," explained Mr Weasley, "The train is leaving at 9:00am sharp today, because there's a predicted magical storm brewing up in the sky, and Dumbledore wants you to get safely to Hogwarts before the storm hits you."
"I've heard about those magical storms," said Hermione, looking up from her breakfast suddenly. "They affect wizards magic if you're unprotected from them, right? There's supposed to be a lot of lightning."
"That's right, and you don't want to be stuck on an old train while a Class A storm is going on around you," Mrs Weasley said, coming into the kitchen and stepping over the numerous owl cages and suitcases that lay in the doorway. "Really, Ron," she reprimanded, looking at his suitcase. "Even Muggles can pack faster and quicker than you!"
"Class A?" Mr Weasley looked worried. "I do hope it doesn't start to rain before they reach Hogwarts. The weather man said that there could be a bad electrical current."
It seemed like a fine day outside as Weasleys, Harry, Hermione, and April piled their suitcases into Mr Weasley's brand new Toyota. Harry wondered if Mr Weasley had bewitched this one as well, and it certainly seemed to be this way, as the car held their entire luggage with extra space remaining in the trunk.
Just then, Tonks swooped in on her broomstick, and talked to Mr Weasley. Then she turned to Harry.
"I'm going to be your guard to the train station," she said, not noticing that Harry was turning red at the fact that he needed a bodyguard everywhere he went. "I'll be invisible, and I'll fly by your car to the train station. Mad-Eye wanted to come, but he's slightly busy, he said something about an eye infection..." she broke off, grinning slightly, and Harry knew she was joking.
They finally managed to set off, and arrived at the train station in time to get through the barrier to Platform 9 ¾, and bid Tonks goodbye as she flew off. Overhead, Harry thought he heard a rumble of thunder.
"Oh dear!" said Mrs Weasley, looking up at the sky, flustered. "I hope the storm isn't starting early. It'll take a good several hours to build up, but if it hits the train before you've reached Hogwarts."
Mr Weasley, Mrs Weasley, Fred and George said their goodbyes, and Fred and George pulled Harry aside after Ron, April, Hermione, and Ginny had gotten on the train.
"Harry," began Fred.
"We left Hogwarts with many accomplished pranks," continued George, looking important.
"But there were numerous plans that we - er - never managed to expedite," said Fred, smirking slightly. He pulled a long roll of parchment out of his pocket, and handed it to Harry.
"We always wanted to play these pranks, but never had the time, what with the odd detention wasting our valuable time in school," said George. "I hope you can find the time to pull off a few tricks this year."
And they walked away with Mr and Mrs Weasley. Harry unrolled the piece of parchment, and read the first sentence - 'Puking Portraits' - and underneath, Fred and George had continued to explain how to bewitch the paintings and portraits in Hogwarts to puke on anyone who happened to be walking by. Harry grinned, and stuffed the parchment inside his robes.
The train ride started out quite happily, and Harry lay back in his compartment contently, preferring to listen to Ron arguing with Hermione and Ginny and April trying to decide which side they were on. Shortly, the food trolley rolled by, and Harry jumped up and bought a pile of food, sharing it around. April seemed to excite at every little thing, from the Platform 9 ¾ to the extraordinary Chocolate Frogs which she had never had. It reminded Harry slightly of when he first came to Hogwarts, and everything seemed new to him.
"I wonder who the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is going to be," suddenly said Ginny, looking thoughtful.
"Who would want to take that job?" said Ron, through a mouthful of chocolate. He picked up a box of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans, and started on the first one, which Harry thought looked suspiciously like beetroot. Ron coughed, and took a white vanilla bean to make up for it.
"Speaking of new people," said Harry, taking the box of beans from Ron, "Who is going to replace Fred and George on the Quidditch team."
Ginny suddenly flushed. "I... I suppose you'll be Seeker again Harry," she said, looking slightly downcast, as this meant she would be bumped off of her Seeker spot.
"Well, yeah," said Harry. "But you could still stay on the team. I've watched you play, you play so furiously that you could probably make a fairly good Beater."
Ron was also looking flushed. "I don't suppose they'll want me as keeper anymore, I wasn't that spectacular."
"What are you talking about?" said Harry. "You're heaps better now, don't worry, they'll keep you as keeper."
Now April flushed. "I was - er - thinking maybe I could try out for the team," she said nervously.
"Yeah!" exclaimed Ginny. "You could be a Beater too, you'd be great, you're almost as good a flier as Harry!"
"Well," said April slowly, looking as though she needed more words in her vocabulary to explain herself gently. "Beater... Isn't really my thing. I'm more of a Seeker of Keeper kind of person. And..." She hesitated. "I definitely won't be able to get Harry's spot, he's too... good." She took a frightened look at Ron, who was trying not to listen by stuffing a yellow bean into his mouth, which he spat out in disgust immediately. Harry wasn't sure if he spat it out because of it's taste or because he realized what April was trying to say.
"Don't worry," Ron snarled darkly, looking angry. "We'll just see how your trial goes then, before making any assumptions, shall we?" The compartment went quiet, and the tension levels increased.
The tension in the compartment went even higher as Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle strutted in.
"Well, hello, hello," smirked Malfoy, his hair slightly shaken from the bumpy train. "Two weasels, a potty, a Mudblood, and a..." he looked lost for insults.
April stood up. "A what, Draco?" she asked, blushing around the cheeks slightly, remembering what Ron had said in Diagon Alley.
Harry stood up too. He was sick of Malfoy and his rotten Death Eater family. If he couldn't seek revenge on Bellatrix Lestrange, well, Malfoy was related to her, and Harry was prepared to take out some of his anger on Malfoy instead.
Malfoy looked April up and down, his eyes narrowing. He obviously couldn't think of an insult, because he decided to turn his attention to Harry instead.
"Going to fight me Potter?" Malfoy's lip began to curl, looking at Harry in disgust.
"Yeah, that's right," said Harry. "But you'd be way too scared to duel me alone wouldn't you? Like in our first year... To scared to show up, you were." Ron laughed, remembering the night they sneaked down to the trophy room where Harry was supposed to duel Malfoy.
"Scared? You wish," shot back Malfoy, but his voice faltered slightly. Harry knew Malfoy would be too chicken to take him on, after all, Harry had defeated Voldemort numerous times, Malfoy would be no problem.
Then, Malfoy looked up. So did April and Ron. Then Harry heard it too. Rain. But as he looked out of the window, he realized it wasn't normal rain. The magical storm was starting. The raindrops were as big as tennis balls, and each appeared to have several teeth, and they chomped down as they struck the window of the train, bouncing off but leaving small dents in the window.
"The storms starting." Hermione looked frightened. It was a good half-hour till they arrived at Hogwarts, and these magical storms were unpredictable. Who knew how fast the storm would approach the train?
Malfoy and his dummies left the compartment, looking slightly worried themselves.
"The rain won't penetrate the train windows and wood too quickly though, will it?" Harry asked, not sure whether he wanted to hear the answer. He heard a loud rumble of thunder in the distance that echoed through his head.
"Oh no," said Ron. "It's not the rain we have to worry about." He paused. "It's the lightning."
The lights flickered, and for the next few minutes, everyone sat completely still, listening to the rain and thunder.
"What. What does the lighting do?" asked Harry tentatively.
"It only affects magical beings," said Hermione. No doubt she had read this somewhere. "The lightning creates an electrical atmosphere, just like in normal storms, but this electricity is harnessed and concentrated into a magical field. I suppose our wands will start to malfunction, we'll be blinded by the storm, and perhaps some other bad things..." She broke off, listening intently, as though expecting a lightning bolt to suddenly strike down in their compartment any minute.
A few minutes later, Harry felt the train speed up, and the loud voice of the train driver sounded in the compartment.
"We are nearing Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Due to the quickly advancing storm, we ask for complete co-operation from all our passengers. Please exit as quickly as possible, and do not panic. Thank you. We will be arriving shortly."
Harry thought of something. "Won't the storm affect us inside Hogwarts?" he asked, knowing the answer.
"Of course not," said Hermione. "The castle walls are protected by spells of all kinds, some of which repel the magical field which is directed by the storm. She looked up in surprise, and following her gaze, Harry saw that the raindrops had burrowed a small hole through the glass windowpane. Harry moved aside slightly to put some space between him and the water drops with razor sharp teeth.
Finally, the train came to a stop, and Harry saw Hagrid as he got out of the train. He was about to yell something to Hagrid, but was immediately pelted by small teeth and water. Feeling wet, irritated, and itchy, Harry, April, and Ginny made their way up to Hagrid, while Ron and Hermione had gotten lost somewhere in the crowd running to get out of the rain.
"Alright Harry?" said Hagrid, grinning. The rain didn't seem to be annoying him at all. "Do yer want me coat? Me skin's tough enough ter bounce these little water critters righ' off, I don' need the coat." Harry took the heavy coat gratefully, and Ginny and April helped Harry hold it up like a tent above the three of them, and they stumbled into a carriage to take them up to the castle. Harry noticed the threstrals that he had started seeing last year pulling the carriages, and he noticed April looking at them too.
"You can see them too, can't you?" Harry asked, as they got into a cosy carriage together.
"Those scary horses?" April looked at Harry her blue eyes astonished. "Can't everyone see them?"
"Nope." Harry shook a few wet teeth out of his hair. "Only people who have experienced seeing someone die can see them. You saw Maria die, is that right?"
"Er - No," said April. "I never even saw her body. She got carried off by some ravenous giant who couldn't find good food. But I did see Carmo die."
Harry looked at her. "Who?"
"Carmo... He was a really good friend of mine. A giant. We got really close, he wasn't as vicious as the others, and I even managed to teach him some English. I told him everything, even if he didn't understand it."
"Why'd you call him Carmo?" Harry looked stunned. He thought only Hagrid gave names to dangerous creatures.
"Well every time I saw him, he'd give me a Carmo. Do you know what they are? They're leaves off of the Carmo Plant. They're really tasty, and dead useful if you live in the mountains - You can make baskets and hats and things with them. And they also contain a small amount of magic. Carmo loved magic, and he used to always play with the Carmo leaves, watching the sparks fly out of them."
Harry tried to imagine a giant playing with magic.
"All giants have a love for Carmo leaves. They soften them up. Give a giant a bundle of Carmo leaves, and when he takes a sniff of them, he'll calm down and act like a kid does with a puppy dog." April looked out of the window. It was raining heavily, but the rain didn't seem to penetrate the glass here.
"I hope they get the train fixed up soon," said Harry. "I wonder what causes these storms."
"There's an old legend about that," said Ginny suddenly. "Some people still believe that it's the spirits of Slytherin, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff dueling. It doesn't happen very often, though. About once every fifty years or so."
Harry, April, and Ginny pulled the coat back over them, and stumbled outside, running up the marble steps that led into the Great Hall.