Chapter Three: Dreams on the Hogwarts Express
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. That'd be pretty cool, though.
"Do you have everything?" Reagan asked Josie as she closed her trunk.
"Yeah, I do," Josie replied, adding the last pairs of socks.
"Just leave it up here, my dad will get it," Reagan explained.
Josie winced at the mention of Reagan's father. "All right."
"Are you all right?" Reagan asked.
"Yes, I'm fine," Josie replied. Damn her Malfoy pride! Reagan thought.
"Seriously?" Reagan asked.
Josie sighed. There was no point in trying to hide anything from her, Reagan picked up on everything.
"Its ...erm...you father."
"My dad?" Reagan asked, a bit surprised. "I don't understand."
"Its just that he's so... different from my father. Its just odd to see it is all."
"Oh," Reagan replied, debating about whether or not was the time to tell her about the Connection.
"Girls!" Harry's voice came from down stairs.
"Come on," Reagan said. "We'd better get going." Josie nodded and picked up her cloak. Reagan scooped her cat into her arms and carried her out of the room. She paused and glanced back at Josie.
She was staring at her cloak, at the Gryffindor patch sewn onto her robes. The blond haired girl shook her head and put her cloak on and Reagan went down the the stairs, before she was seen.
~~~~~~
"Cal!" Reagan cried. The sandy haired boy turned at the sound of his voice too see Reagan and Josie running towards him.
"Hey!" he exclaimed. Reagan threw her arms around him and he awkwardly hugged her back.
"Hi Josie," Cal said as Reagan let go of him.
"Hey Cal," Josie said, blushing.
"Cal, you've met my dad, right?" Reagan asked as Harry and Ginny walked over to them.
"Yeah, once or twice. Hello Mr. Potter, Mrs. Potter," Cal said and politely shook their hands.
"Nice to see you again," Ginny replied. "Did you have a nice summer?"
Cal shrugged. "As nice as could be expected. We went to..." He stopped as the train whistle blew, drownding his voice in the air.
"You'd better got on the train," Harry said. Cal and Josie stepped on and waited for Reagan.
"Go on, I'll be along in a moment," Reagan said to her friends.
"Have a nice term, honey," Ginny said, taking her daughter into her arms. Reagan hugged her mother tightly and kissed her cheek.
"Thanks Mum," Reagan whispered. Ginny released her and kissed her forehead before moving on to Darenn.
"Bye Daddy," Reagan said as she hugged Harry.
Daddy, don't cry! Reagan thought as she felt him sigh like he did when he was fighting tears.
"I'm okay," Harry whispered back. "Have a good term, and stay out of trouble, well... you know what I mean." Reagan giggled and pulled away form her father.
"I'll be all right Dad. I'll be...er...good," she replied with a sly smile.
"Glad to hear it," he said and kissed her forehead.
"Bye, Daddy," she said and stepped onto the train. She found her compartment easily and took her seat by the window.
"You okay?" Josie asked. Reagan nodded and fought down her tears. Damn it Dad, why did you have to cry?
"I'm fine," Reagan said. She watched her parents wave at her, her dad's arm protectively around her mum's shoulder. Reagan was really fond of her parents and was amazed by how in love they still were. She watched her parents fade from view before turning back to her friends.
They chatted with Cal for about their summers. Soon the old witch came sound with the snack cart. Josie and Cal wouldn't allow Reagan to buy them sweets claiming they could by their own, so they each loaded up with sweets for the trip.
Caitlin Weasley, Reagan's cousin and Nicholas Fitch-Fletchley stopped by to say hello. Caitlin was Reagan's Uncle Ron's daughter. Caitlin's brother, Paul, was the Keeper on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Ethan Weasley came by also, with Hayden Thorns, Bolton Stumps and Duncan Cameron, all Gryffindor fourth years. Ethan was Uncle Percy's son. He and his brother Thomas, a fifth year, took after their father more than Reagan could tolerate. Her Uncle Percy had had a big family dinner when Thomas had been named a Gryffindor Prefect.
Lane Caldwell and Katie Ice, the other Gryffindor fourth years, came by also and chatted with Josie and Reagan. Lane was a Chaser on the Gryffindor team, and she was also Erika Caldwell's little sister, who was Reagan's eldest brother's girlfriend. James was an Auror and Erika was a medi-witch. Lane and Reagan knew they would be sisters-in-law someday. Josie's brother, Mathias came by also with three other Slytherins, sixth years Frank Follon, Saul Harbor and Ranika Snayth. The dispensed their usual taunting till Adalia Moore, a sixth year Hufflepuff Prefect came by and took five points away, each, for causing trouble on the train.
Logan Wood, who Reagan had known since she was born, also stopped in to say hello. He was a second year and was a new Chaser on the team. He talked nonstop about how his father was going to buy him a new Nimbus 4000 once Quidditch season commenced. Reagan rolled her eyes at this new information, and Josie giggled at her. Logan's father was Professional Quidditch player, Oliver Wood, who Reagan's father had attended Hogwarts with. Oliver and Harry had stayed good friends afterwards. Reagan had played on the same peewee Quidditch team with Logan and his older sister Audra, who was a seventh year.
The only member of the Gryffindor Quidditch team that did not stop by was seventh year Denley Thompson and he never rode the train because his family lived in Hogsmead. Trevor Daniels stopped by, but not for long. Trevor was a Slytherin Prefect and was trying to find some poor first year's lost toad.
After everyone stopped visiting, their chatter turned to silence. Josie fell asleep against the window opposite Reagan, and Cal was slumped against the door on the same bench as Josie. Reagan glanced at her black cat sleeping in her lap. Eclipse had been a gift from her father her second year. He said that when he was little, before he knew about magic, he always thought witches should have black cats. He said that when he found out he was going to be a father, he decided that his daughter would have a black cat.
Eclipse purred faintly as Reagan stroked her back, gazing out the window, not really thinking about anything. As the hills and lakes moved by she too fell asleep.
~~~~~~~~
Reagan opened her eyes and glanced around. Where was she? It looked like the Hogwarts Express, but it was so... quiet. She opened a compartment door and peered in. There were four first years all slumped against each other, fast asleep.
Thats odd, Reagan thought. She moved down the corridor and opened another door. Again, she found students asleep. Normally the train to Hogwarts was loud and filled with excited students. This was defiantly out of the ordinary.
Reagan walked further till she got to the engineer compartment.
"Hello?" she said as she knocked on the door. It swung open.
"Hello there!" a man brightly said. "Can I help you?"
Reagan was puzzled. This man didn't look like the conductor. He looked too old to be a student, with a head full of curly blond hair and shimmery lavender robes. He smiled brightly at her and she backed away. The door closed leaving Reagan alone in the silence.
"Reagan!" Josie said from behind her. Reagan turned and saw her best friend walking towards her. "Were are you going?"
"Huh?" Reagan asked.
"Come on," Josie said and beckoned for her to follow. "The common room is this way."
Reagan followed Josie through the train. She pushed opened a compartment door and stepped into the main corridor. When did that get put there? Reagan wondered. She followed Josie up the stairs towards the common room. They stepped onto a stairwell and it started to move.
"What the?" Josie said, looking around.
"The staircases move, remember? James told us that our first day here."
"Oh, right," Josie replied and began to wobble.
"Steady," Reagan said and steadied her friend. "If you're not careful, you might fall down the stairs."
"Thanks," Josie replied and smiled.
"Reagan," someone called her name. I recognize that voice, who's it?
"Reagan," it called again and shook her slightly. That's Darenn's voice, she thought. Reagan opened her eyes slowly and saw her brother standing over her.
"Reagan, wake up," he said. "We're almost there."
"Hmm?" Reagan said, sitting up. She stretched and yawned and groggily looked around her. The compartment was dark and Josie and Cal were still asleep.
"We're almost there, Reagan," Darenn repeated. "You fell asleep."
"I didn't even realize I was tired," Reagan replied.
"Yeah, well, a lot of people fell asleep. Its not that big of a deal," Darenn said.
"What do you mean 'a lot of people fell asleep'?" Reagan asked.
"Well, seventy five percent of the train fell asleep. The prefects and a few others were the only ones awake the entire time," he answered.
"What?" Reagan exclaimed. "Are you serious?"
"Calm down, Reagan," Darenn said. "Its not that big of a deal, everyone was just a bit tired."
"A bit tired?" Reagan cried. "Since when is everyone tired on the ride to school?"
"Reagan, what else could it have been?" Darenn asked. She opened her mouth to speak but decided against it.
"Nothing," she muttered.
"Reagan, did you have one of your dreams?" he asked quietly.
"No, Darenn," she lied. "I just didn't realize how tired I was."
Darenn eyed her. "All right then. Can you wake Josie and Cal up, please?"
Reagan nodded and her brother left the compartment. She woke her friends and they got their things together.
"You all right?" Cal asked Reagan as they made their way into the hallway.
"Yeah, just groggy," Reagan replied.
"Yeah, me too," Cal said.
"Now don't nip at the House Elves," Reagan whispered to her cat. Eclipse opened a sleepy eye and snuggled into a different position in her basket. Reagan left the basket with the other pets as she got off the train and followed the flow of students towards the carriages.
"Reagan, come on," Josie said from in front of her. Reagan ran to catch up and got into the carriage.
~~~~~~~~
"You know, I wonder if they ever make it look different for the opening feast." Josie said as she gazed at the ceiling.
"I doubt it," Reagan commented. "I think its supposed to amaze the first years or something. Did you remember you hat?"
"Yes," Josie said, pulling her black pointed hat out from beneath her robes.
"I remembered mine too," Cal announced.
"Good thing," Reagan replied. "I doubt McGonagall would have forgiven you three years in a row for forgetting it." Cal blushed and stuck his hat on his head.
The sorting ceremony went by as quickly as normal which in Reagan's opinion was not fast enough. She recognized a few last names, particularly Laura Longbottom and Maudine Crabbe. Maudine went to the Slytherin table, and Laura and the new Gryffindor first years settled into the Gryffindor table.
"I have a few start of term announcements to make," Professor Lupin said and everyone quieted down.
"First of all, welcome back! And for you first years, welcome to Hogwarts! As most of you know, I am Professor Lupin, Deputy Headmaster, Head of Gryffindor House and Transfiguration Professor. I expect you are all anxious and prepared to start the new term. This year our Head Boy is Bishop Glennon from Hufflepuff and our Head Girl is Braelyn Stokes from Gryffindor. Also," he paused and waited for the cheering to stop. "Professor Pierce has taken a maternity leave, so it it my pleasure to introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Please welcome Professor Gareth Lockhart!"
Reagan noticed the new teacher sitting at the head table for the first time and gasped. He was young, not much older than the seventh years. Professor Lockhart had a huge grin on his face and a head full of blond curly hair and was wearing long lavender robes that were shimmering in the candle light.
"Reagan?" Josie asked, looking concerned. She was the last thing Reagan heard before she fainted.
A/N: Another chapter down, and more to come. Eclipse is named after my own cat who sadly passed away about 18 months ago. She was a black cat and it seemed only fitting that Reagan's black cat be named after her. Also, thank you to all the reviewers, you guys are awesome! ~EE
A/N 2: This is my treat to all of you. I am going to be on Spring Break from college (California here I come!) and thought I would give you all two chapters to hold you all over for the week. Enjoy, and I'll start positing again when I get back. Hopefully I can get a lot written over break! ~EE
A/N 3: Oh, and I know I'm evil for leaving you with that little cliffie there. ~EE
