Author's Notes: Here's part two. Thanks to my reviewers. Your words and support are always welcome.
Disclaimers: All characters and the Harry Potter story line belong to JKR. I'm just borrowing without any intentions of making money even though I'm so poor right now.
Chapter Two – Initium (L. Beginning)
Harry never had a chance to finish his sentence. A sudden loud boom and several successive crashes and explosions seem to have plagued Hogwarts Express from front to back to say the least. Screams left and right could be heard as everybody tried to make out what has happening. Fear was quickly pouring in. In mere seconds, darkness overtook what was once illuminated by natural light.
"What the?!?"
Suddenly, the window to Harry's compartment mysteriously blew out and shattered, pieces of glass flew everywhere. Harry reacted as quickly as he could and reflexively pushed a now half-awake and confused Hermione down on the floor and threw his body on top of her. He could only hope that Ron did the same for Ginny. Luna just threw herself on the floor covered her head with her arms to shield from flying glass.
Harry was almost sure that the same has happened on other compartments on the train as he faintly heard more sounds of glass shattering echoing throughout. Unnatural smoke was flooding in rapidly and the cries for help kept getting worse. Voices of pain and fright bellowed from everywhere, mixed and almost indiscernible between each other.
"Merlin!" Ron frantically called. "What the bloody hell is going on?!"
Harry heard voices just outside their cabin. "Oh my God!"
"Mum!" somebody fearfully screamed.
"He's not moving! He has blood everywhere!? Help me, somebody!" Another frantic voice.
"Everybody, please try to calm down!" someone's voice boomed. Harry wasn't sure whose voice it was; but he guessed that it might be a prefect.
Amidst all the cries of fear, pain, and terror, he heard some deeper, haggard voices somewhere on the train. "Find him! We have not much time! Once you have him, signal the others and we shall move out without hesitation."
'Find who?' Harry wondered. He was certain that the source of the voice was not of a friend or ally because the screams and cries worsened from wherever it was coming from. Another clue would be the tingling sensation from his scar. This was Voldermort's doing, he was sure of it.
It would be almost impossible right now to quell the panic that gripped the passengers in the train. Harry wasn't sure what to expect next and didn't dare to move from his position. He opened his eyes slowly and found it difficult to focus on anything. Realizing that his glasses have fallen off, he started patting around him, searching for it but to no avail.
He finally raised himself a bit from his position after he assumed that things have quieted down a bit and looked down on the person he was shielding. His back ached a bit and he knew immediately that force of the window blowing up had done some damage.
"Hermione, are you okay?" There was no response.
Harry struggled as he tried to sit up from his position, getting his weight off Hermione. She hasn't so much stirred from her position but Harry saw enough to realize that her back was heaving; Hermione was at least breathing. Shifting his gaze from her, he looked at Ron who he realized followed after his lead.
Ron helped Luna sit up straight, but Ginny, like Hermione, seemed to be unconscious as well. Harry coughed as he tried to regain his breath. The air was quite thick. "What...what just happened?"
"I don't know, mate," Ron stood up carefully and started removing some pieces of glass from his robes.
Thankfully for them, the window shattered into small enough pieces that no really large shrapnel posed any danger. But considering all the happenings in the last few minutes on the train, it wasn't exactly their biggest concern.
"Let's pick them up and lay them on the seats," said Harry in a hushed voice, motioning toward Ginny and Hermione. Ron nodded while Luna cleared the seats of shrapnel and broken glass. Ron carefully picked up Ginny with a little help from Luna and sat her against the seat on their side. She was slowly rousing from being unconscious by the time they situated her properly.
Harry picked up Hermione and sat her on the seat. Unlike Ginny, she didn't rouse from her state. It was then that Harry noticed that there was some blood from her right temple. She must have hit her head against doorframe as he tried to get her down on the floor. Harry cursed at his clumsiness. Luna placed her hand on his right shoulder, handed him his eyeglasses, and directed him away from Hermione.
Taking out her wand, she muttered a quick healing spell that closed the wound on Hermione's head. Harry then tore a piece of his robe's right sleeve and tried to wipe as much blood as he could away from Hermione's forehead.
"Will she be alright?" Harry asked with great concern.
"Yes. It wasn't a deep or serious wound. In a few minutes I think she'll come to," Luna informed him.
"Luna? Stay here with them. Ron and I will make rounds on the train to see who else has been hurt and to find out exactly what happened." Harry's eyebrows were furrowed in concern.
She nodded and then addressed Ron, "Be careful, Ron. Both of you."
Harry and Ron stepped out, wands drawn, and immediately placed their forearms to cover their noses and mouths. Their robe sleeves were thankfully long enough to serve as makeshift breathing masks. Smoke was still quite heavy in the hallway and it was still hard to see. While it wasn't completely dark outside, very little light came inside the train. Harry narrowed his eyes and tried as best as he could to make out his surroundings.
"Death Eaters!" The voice came from one of Harry's seventh year classmates.
"Wait. They look different. Are you su-?"
"They're all over the place," a panicky voice shrieked from down the path.
Harry narrowed his eyes and raised his wand hand after the revelation. Death Eaters. What were they doing out here in broad daylight?
Footsteps and terrified cries rang through the train. Harry gave Ron a backward glance and Ron nodded. Harry went onward toward the front of the train with Ron closely behind him. A body fell against him suddenly. It was Dean.
"Harry! They're everywhere. We...I...Seamus and I got separated. We tried to fight a Death Eater that came through our window." Dean was gasping for breath. "Seamus...He got knocked down. I was thrown out of our cabin."
Harry grabbed Dean by his shoulders and steadied him. "Get yourself together, Dean. We'll get Seamus. Where's your cabin?"
Dean weakly pointed to a cabin that was about fifteen feet ahead of them. Harry noticed that several bodies lay slumped on the floor. It wasn't a pretty sight. He wasn't sure who was alive and who wasn't. He wasn't looking forward to finding out. What happened to the wards that supposedly protected the train on its journey to Hogwarts? Weren't there any professors on board the train either? Where was Moody or Tonks?
Harry, followed closely by Ron, crept up carefully toward the direction that Dean indicated. It was quite difficult since debris was everywhere.
"Aveda Kedav-" The boy with the lightning scar barely heard the fatal curse ahead of him.
"Stupefy!" Harry belted out the spell toward the dark cloak he discerned in the dark mist.
As soon the Death Eater fell, another one appeared from inside a cabin closer to them. "Crucio!"
Harry leapt as quickly as he could to the side and the curse barely missed him. Ron wasn't so lucky though. While he diverted Dean away from the direction, he couldn't move fast enough to avoid the curse. It hit him in his left shoulder. Ron fell to the ground and grasped his left shoulder in pain. Dean moved to him and tried to pull him into a cabin for protection.
"Expelliramus!" Another powerful spell shot out from Harry's wand and quickly disarmed the second Death Eater. Dean jumped out from the cabin and finished the Death Eater off with stunning spell, knocking him or her out cold on the floor.
Harry ran to the cabin where Dean moved Ron and checked on his best friend. "Are you alright?"
Ron winced and nodded. "I...I can't think right now. The pain...even small...it's intense...Just give me a quick fix spell. I'll be okay." He stood up on his knees and leaned against a wall for some support as he tried to stand up.
Harry nodded and cast a similar spell to what Luna had used on Hermione earlier. He then helped Ron up and sat him on a bench. Dean soon joined them, supporting a half-dazed Seamus on his right shoulder.
"Is he alright?" Ron nodded toward Dean's direction.
Seamus coughed and regained more of his wits. He muttered an okay toward Ron and was propped against a seat next to him.
Harry turned to Dean. "Do you have any idea how many Death Eaters are in the area?"
Dean took a deep breath. "Quick guess, about eight to ten of them would be my best estimate. I know I saw four of them flying by when I stared out a window just before the explosion. I heard more screaming coming from toward the front of the train. There could be more there."
"There...ugh..." a female voice came from behind Dean. It was Hermione, supported by Luna and Ginny on her shoulders. "...There were...at least two more near the back of the train. We saw them."
Harry rushed toward his female best friend and replaced Ginny's support with his. He instructed Ginny to sit next to his brother and Harry directed Hermione to sit next to Seamus. "What are you all doing here?"
Luna, after checking Hermione's temple one more time to make sure it wasn't bleeding, turned to Harry. "We were a bit defenseless back there, with two Death Eaters hovering around. Hermione was coming to by then but still she couldn't be much help if we were spotted. I suggested we meet up with you to have a better chance." Luna finally noticed Ron at the corner. A look of concern was on her face. "What happened to Ronald?"
Ron leaned up slightly. "I'm fine. I'm fine. Just a scratch, 'is all." Luna ignored his assurance anyway and went to his side to fuss about him.
"Ha...Harry...what now?" Hermione called for his attention.
"Don't worry about anything, Hermione. Ginny, you'll stay with her, right? I'll take Dean with me to make more rounds on the train. To see about helping injured students and fending off those Death Eaters." Harry called on Ron. "Stay with them. You're not completely helpless yet, you know."
"O shush you!" Ron retorted. "I'll stay with them and play a good bodyguard."
"Right. I'll hold you to that." Harry grinned. "Don't go passing out on the ladies and don't let them boss you around."
Seamus got up. "Wait, Harry. I'll go with you and Dean. I think I'm ok now."
Harry looked him over. "Are you sure?" Seamus nodded and armed his wand.
"Besides, you and Dean might need all the help you can get. I can still cast a good stunning spell at a good speed."
"Alright then. You, Dean, and I will go toward the front and try to seek out some of the prefects on the train. I think Remus is here, but I'm not sure." Harry looked out from the cabin really quick and ducked back in. "The two Death Eaters we struck down are still out cold. Let's go ahead and get them tied up first. Do you have some rope, Dean?"
Dean thought for a moment. "I think I remember seeing some at the head compartment in our cabin. Pretty sturdy stuff when I checked it out earlier."
Harry gave Ron and the three witches one more look. "We're heading out. Will you all be okay? Luna?" Luna nodded.
"Harry I want to go with too," Hermione's weak voice protested. She tried to get up from her seat.
The green eyed wizard shook his head and raised his hand to dissuade her. "Stay here. You're still out of it. Ron's here and Luna too. If something happens, you still should all be able to put a good fight. We'll be back as soon as we can."
"Alright, mate. Give us a holler if something worse turns up. We might end up following after you if I don't get signals from you every now and then." Ron reached into his pocket and held up a palm sized silver disc. It had strange markings on it but when Ron rubbed his thumb against it, he knew that the disc's counterpart in Harry's possession would warm up.
"Yeah. I have mine with me." Harry patted a lower left side pocket in his robe.
"Good. Now get going. We've got a train to save." Ron prodded.
Dean soon stepped out of the cabin, followed by Seamus. On Harry's way out, a light sounding voice called out to him. "Harry..."
Harry looked back at source. "Yes, 'Mione?"
The girl with chocolate-brown eyes looked into his green eyes directly and held his gaze. "Please be careful."
He gave her a faint smile. "I will."
And with that, he turned around and left the cabin to join Dean and Seamus. In the back of his mind, Harry thought that there were more to these Death Eaters than meets the eye. They were more brazen than every before. And cunning.
Then, there was also that unusual Dark Mark that he spotted on one of the Death Eaters that he felled. He almost missed it but he could have sworn that the flash of the Dark Mark that he saw was pierced with a saber right down the middle.
-TBC