Chapter 8
Murder on the Hogwarts Express
As soon as Mrs Weasley finished saying goodbye to Ginny, all four children ran to get onto the train, just as the guard blew his whistle to signal the train was ready to leave. The train pulled out of the station, leaving King's Cross station behind for another year. Ginny immediately left to find her friends, leaving Harry, Ron and Hermione to carry their trunks into a vacant compartment, and then make themselves comfortable for the rest of the ride.
The weather was very hot, so Hermione immediately sprawled across one side of the compartment with a book, leaving Harry and Ron to sit on the other side. Before long, Hermione had fallen asleep in the midday sun, while Harry and Ron were engrossed in their latest game of wizard chess. In the warm summer sunshine, nothing seemed capable of spoiling the relaxing ride to Hogwarts, and even Malfoy seemed to giving the three a wide berth, for which they were grateful.
Unfortunately, the serene, calm summer journey could not last for long, and just as the day was getting past its peak and the sun started to dip in the sky, the train ground to a sudden, noisy stop, jerking Hermione awake and scattering chessmen all over the compartment. As the train came to a final, juddering stop, Harry and Ron found themselves thrown to the floor, and soon found themselves pinned beneath a falling Hermione. In the total silence that followed in the next few moments, all three friends just looked at each other in shock, until Hermione climbed to her feet.
"We can't be there yet - it's barely afternoon, and we don't get to Hogsmeade until dusk..." said Hermione, opening one of the carriage windows and leaning outside, trying to see the front of the train to find out why they had stopped.
"Well, I hope we aren't stopping long... I'm hungry already..." muttered Ron.
Harry moved to the window next to Hermione and leaned out of it, hoping he might be able to see something Hermione might miss. He immediately realised that the train had stopped on a bridge Harry recognised from his second year, when he and Ron had been forced to follow the Hogwarts Express in a flying car. The bridge towered above the ground, and as Harry glanced downward briefly, the sheer height of the bridge made him feel slightly dizzy.
"Harry... Look!" gasped Hermione, pointing to the front of the train from the next window, and then moving so Ron could see. At first, Harry couldn't see what Hermione was talking about, but then he noticed a section of the bridge had fallen away, leaving a gap in the tracks. The train had stopped just before it, and seemed to be waiting for something to happen.
"Yeah... The bridge is damaged... We'll be here for hours!" complained Ron, flopping back down into his seat.
"Do I have to tell you two everything? The route of the Hogwarts Express is heavily warded to stop anything damaging the tracks or the train! The bridge couldn't possibly be damaged, unless..." started Hermione.
"Unless... someone got around the wards somehow!" continued Ron, not daring to voice what all three of them were thinking.
"Someone with powerful Dark Magic. A Death Eater, or maybe even Voldemort. We've got to get to the front of the train, and find out what's happening!" said Harry, jumping out of his seat and walking through the compartment door, without waiting for the others.
Harry was already at the door to the next carriage before Ron and Hermione had got out of the compartment, and they almost had to run to keep up with Harry's stride. Neither Ron nor Hermione had ever seen Harry so determined, or so focused on a task; he barely seemed to notice Ron and Hermione struggling to keep up with him. Eventually, Ron managed to catch up with Harry, and pulled back on his robes, trying unsuccessfully to slow him down. But Harry just kept walking, leaving a frustrated Ron in his wake.
"Umm... Harry? Why are we going to the front of the train? It's not like we can repair the bridge..." Ron asked, still having trouble keeping up.
"I know... But the driver will know what is happening, and when help will be here. He must have some way to contact Dumbledore..." Harry replied, not sounding entirely convinced.
"But they won't just let us barge into the driver's carriage and start asking questions, Harry! Students aren't allowed in there! Besides, we'll have to get past the Prefects' Compartments before we even get to the driver!" said Hermione, trying to make Harry see reason.
"We can't just sit quietly and wait for something to happen! We have to get to-" Harry said, before he broke off, dropping to the floor, screaming and clutching his scar. Immediately, Ron and Hermione dropped to his side, lifting his head up from the floor and trying to see what was wrong.
"Harry... What is it? What's happening?" Hermione asked, concern etched across her face.
"Voldemort... He..." Harry gasped out, before screaming again. He tried to speak again, but couldn't even form the words before he was cut off by fresh screaming. Both Ron and Hermione hovered around him, trying to help, but there was nothing they could do to help him. Soon, they were interrupted as people started to pour out of the nearby compartments; Harry's screams were starting to gather a crowd of people, eager to see what was happening.
"Stop staring! Get back into your compartments!" shouted Hermione, her voice breaking, showing how concerned she was. But no-one in the crowd moved, and some of the older students even started asking questions. Before long, the entire crowd was pushing, arguing and shouting at each other. Some of the new first-year students even started crying, so confused they didn't know what else to do. Finally, Harry's screaming was the only thing that could be heard over the din, until Ron decided to stand up and get everyone's attention.
"SHUT UP!!!" Ron bellowed. The crowd immediately went quiet, so he continued, "Harry needs help, not a bunch of people standing around making a racket!"
"Well, what can we do?" asked one of the older students. Ron didn't recognise him, but was fairly sure he was in the 6th Year.
"Nothing! There isn't anything we can do... So you should just all go back to your compartments and keep out of the way." Ron chewed out. It was painful for him to say it, but it was true; no-one there would be able to help Harry.
"Why should we go back into the compartments?" asked another student, this time a younger girl.
"Look, something has knocked out the bridge ahead of us and stopped the train, and it had to be something with powerful Dark Magic! They could be on their way right now! Do you want to be standing in the corridor waiting for them? Get into your compartments, lock the doors, and keep your wands at the ready! GO!" shouted Ron, trying to persuade them to get out of the corridor.
With those words, most of the students left immediately, some running back to their compartments, some muttering darkly under their breath. But a few of them stood still, unable to stop gaping at Harry's painful fit. Ron and Hermione ignored them, too absorbed in trying to help Harry to tell them to leave again. Eventually, even those few left, realising there was nothing they could do. Finally Ginny was the only one left, fidgeting on the spot and wringing her hands helplessly.
"What's happening? What's wrong with Harry?" said Ginny, dropping to the floor next to Ron, trying to see for herself what was wrong with him. Ron didn't seem to hear her, but when she appeared by his side, he turned and looked at her as if she had grown a second nose.
"Ginny! Didn't you hear what I said? Get back into the compartment, get your wand ready, and lock the door!" Ron said, too concerned for Harry to notice how harshly he was treating her.
"B-but..." stammered Ginny.
"NOW, GINNY!!!" Ron screamed. Seeing Harry fall helpless to the ground had frayed his nerves to breaking point; the idea of Ginny putting herself in danger was more than he could bear. He regretted his sharpness as soon as he saw Ginny's face fall, but she turned around and ran back into the compartment she came from before he had a chance to apologise. For a second, he considered going after her, but another piercing scream from Harry stopped him.
"We've got to shut him up, before someone else hears him!" hissed Ron, leaning close to Hermione so that she could hear him over Harry's screaming. Hermione nodded, and took out her wand.
"I'm sorry Harry... Silencio!" said Hermione, casting the Silencing Charm on Harry, ending Harry's screams, but not his pain; he was still clutching his scar, and the pain Hermione saw in his eyes was enough to bring tears to hers.
"Come on, we've got to hide him somewhere..." muttered Ron. His voice sounded tight and strained, showing how hard this was for him, too.
But all the compartments in the train were now full of students, who had locked the doors and were standing ready to curse anyone who came in. Ron and Hermione tried to knock on the door of the nearest compartment, but no-one answered; either they were too afraid, or they had placed a Silencing Charm on the door. They tried some of the other doors, but none of them were any more responsive. Ron punched the last door in the carriage, letting his frustration show.
"Right... Let's put him into this broom closet... At least he'll be out of the way if anyone comes." Ron decided, grabbing hold of Harry's arms, and motioning for Hermione to pick up his legs.
Together, Ron and Hermione hauled Harry toward a broom closet, and gently placed him in. Harry was too paralysed with agony to even notice what they were doing, and continued to shake violently. Between them, they managed to lift Harry into the closet, and place him on the floor, where he started to rock back and forth, hand still clamped over his scar. But no sooner had Ron and Hermione finished putting Harry into the closet, than they heard the sounds of footsteps coming from the front of the train.
"Someone's coming!" hissed Hermione.
"Come on! In here!" replied Ron, pulling Hermione into the closet with him. With three people in the closet, it was very cramped, and Harry's agonised rocking just took up even more room, so the three were crushed very closely together. But both Ron and Hermione were too worried about the advancing footsteps to notice the cramped conditions, and they both crouched close to the door, peering through the crack between the door and doorframe to try and see what was happening.
As they looked, the footsteps advanced, coming closer and closer. Each time a step came, Ron could have sworn that it was only a few meters away from them, but it took several long minutes before a dark shape passed by the door. Ron and Hermione were close enough to feel each other shuddering, and they both knew, with an undeniable certainty, that Lord Voldemort had just walked by. A step or two behind him came another dark shape, followed by another, until eventually Ron counted six Death Eaters behind him.
Neither Ron nor Hermione dared to breathe until long after the dark forms had passed the door, sitting in absolute silence while they could feel their presence in the room outside. Even when the door to the next carriage opened and closed, signalling that the Death Eaters had moved on, they both remained quiet, listening to the footsteps getting gradually more distant. It took several minutes before the footsteps could no longer be heard, and even then, it took Hermione what seemed like a long time before she dared to break the silence.
"W-what do we do now?" stammered Hermione under her breath. Ron looked at her, and could see how terrified she was. Hermione's eyes were wide and fear-struck, she was gasping for breath, and her lower lip was quivering slightly. Ron swallowed hard, and tried unsuccessfully to hide the identical look on his own face.
"Come on... We've got to find out what happened up front. Now that Harry's scar is hurting, we know You-Know-Who's involved, and he's done something terrible. They've already been to the front of the train, so we have to find out what they did while they were there. And we need to get word to Dumbledore, if the driver hasn't already." Ron said, trying to inject some confidence into his voice.
"Ron... We can't leave him like this..." said Hermione, gazing sadly toward Harry again. He was still in pain, and there was just enough light to see his mouth still screaming, despite the effects of the Silencing Charm.
"Hermione... We have to know what's going on, and we have to tell them that Harry's scar is hurting. Harry was right; the driver will know what's happening, and he'll have some way to contact Dumbledore." Ron said, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. Painful as it was to leave Harry, there was nothing that they could do for him, and the fact that Harry's scar was hurting could be important. Hermione nodded, and turned toward the door, with her wand drawn.
Both Ron and Hermione jumped out of the closet together, looking up and down the corridor to make sure no-one was watching them. As soon as Ron realised that they really were alone in the carriage, he looked at Hermione, and saw the white, terrified look in her face. He gave her an encouraging smile, and walked purposefully toward the door into the next carriage, soon hearing the sound of Hermione's footsteps following him.
Together, they walked through carriage after carriage, but no-one else seemed to be moving around. Clearly, other people had decided to stay in their compartments as well, including the Prefects. Although the seemingly-empty carriages were unnerving, both Ron and Hermione were relieved not to see any victims sprawled in any of the carriages. Finally, they reached the door to the driver's carriage, and Ron paused before opening it, and turned to look at Hermione, to see if she was ready. For a moment, they both simply looked at each other, taking courage from each other's presence, until she nodded to show she was ready, and turned her attention to the door.
Taking a deep breath, Ron pushed open the doorway to the driver's carriage gently, but once the door was open and he saw the sight inside, he let it all out in one long, slow exhale, horrified at what he was seeing. Next to the furnace, an elderly man was sprawled on the floor, eerily still. Ron assumed he was the driver, as he was wearing overalls, and a driver's cap had fallen on the floor nearby. When Ron looked at his face, it seemed frozen in a look of sheer terror. It was obvious that he had been the victim of the Killing Curse.
"Ron..." gasped Hermione, who had followed Ron into the room. She was looking in the corner of the room next to the door, where the lady who pushed the snack trolley was slumped against the wall, next to a stool. Ron had walked straight past her without even noticing, so shocked at seeing the driver dead. Her face wore an almost identical expression to the driver's, and she had clearly met the same fate as the driver.
With the only adults on the train in no condition to help, Ron looked around the driver's carriage, hoping against reason that he would find something of some help to them. Most of all, they needed some way to contact Professor Dumbledore, to tell him that Voldemort was on the train. At first Ron started to look around the furnace, hoping to find some kind of device that might be used as a signal, but all he saw were the dials and controls to operate the train, which were completely meaningless to him. As soon as he realised they would be no help, Ron turned away from them, intending to search the rest of the carriage.
As he turned around, his eyes fell on Hermione, who was still staring at the body of the old witch. She had not moved since she had first caught sight of her body, and her face had the most haunted look Ron had ever seen. Gently, Ron took hold of her shoulders and steered her away from the sight of the body, directing her to look out of the window, so that she could concentrate on a different sight to the one inside the carriage. Even when she was away from the body, her face remained frightened and her lips were pressed tightly together, and she started rubbing her arm nervously. She was clearly in shock, and Ron knew he would have to look for help alone until she had regained her composure.
Just as Ron turned away from her, his eyes fixed on the burning furnace that powered the train, and he cast about the room, searching for Floo Powder, hoping the fireplace was connected to the Floo Network in case of emergencies. He looked all about the carriage, hoping to find a small urn of Floo Powder, but the tiny space in the carriage held very few surprises, and he was soon forced to accept that there was nothing in there that would help them. Just as he slumped to the floor in despair, a cry came from Hermione, who was still staring out of the window.
"Look, Ron! It's Professor Dumbledore!" Hermione shouted, with obvious relief in her voice. She was almost leaping up at the window, gesturing furiously toward the other side of the bridge and looking far more animated than she had a few moments ago, much to Ron's relief.
Ron jumped up from the floor and looked out of the window, following Hermione's gaze, and saw Professor Dumbledore, flying on a broomstick, robes billowing in the wind, coming toward the train. He was still quite a way from the train, but at the speed he was pushing his broom, he would arrive in moments. There were at least another eight people flying behind him, and even at this distance Ron could make out McGonagall's stern features and Flitwick's diminutive form.
Professor Dumbledore landed first, about halfway down the train, where the tracks were still on firm ground, rather than the bridge. As soon as he landed, he marched toward the rear of the train, clearly in pursuit of Voldemort. He was followed by McGonagall and the other Professors, but they were having trouble keeping up with him. Ron and Hermione looked after them, and they soon saw the Death Eaters emerge from the rearmost carriage to meet them. They were too far away for Ron and Hermione to make out any of their faces, but neither one of them doubted that the dark, shadowy form directing curses at Dumbledore was Voldemort himself.
"Come on... We've got to see what happens..." muttered Ron, almost dragging Hermione with him, running back down the train to a window nearer to the fight. After running through a number of carriages, they came to a carriage with one door open, and they looked out, trying to see how the fight was going.
The Death Eaters were all wearing masks, which Ron recognised as the same kind that the group of troublemakers at last year's Quidditch World Cup were wearing. There were only a handful of Death Eaters, and the Hogwarts Professors seemed to be getting the upper hand, but slowly, and not without some casualties. From here, Ron and Hermione could see at least one body on the floor, still and unmoving.
Voldemort and Dumbledore were fighting furthest away, and neither one of them seemed able to do any harm to the other; every spell that they tried was either dodged or blocked by the other. It seemed that they were too evenly matched for either one to prevail, but it couldn't last. Eventually, Voldemort would manage to strike Dumbledore with an Unforgivable Curse, and then the fight could well be over. The only hope was for one of the other Professors to break through the fighting and help Dumbledore, but it looked like it would be a while until any of them could manage to do so.
Professor Flitwick seemed to be duelling with two of the other Death Eaters, and Ron could finally see how he became a Duelling Champion in his younger days. Despite his size, Flitwick was incredibly agile, and was dodging away from every curse that they sent his way, leaping over some of them while simply avoiding others in an amazing display. The Death Eaters, on the other hand, looked like they had been struck several times, and the movements of one seemed sluggish and slow; Ron was almost certain he had been struck with an Impediment Jinx.
Away from the fighting, Professor McGonagall was turning her Transfiguration skills towards many of the objects that were littered around the area. Bushes and trees were soon transfigured into large animals who were sent to assist the Professors, while smaller objects like rocks had been turned into a flock of birds, which were tormenting the Death Eaters who tried to reach her, scratching at their eyes and obscuring their vision. Eventually, she turned a tree into a magnificent white horse, and rode it galloping into the midst of the battle, casting curses left and right, cutting a swathe through the struggling mass.
Most of the other Professors were engaged in single combat with Death Eaters, and many of them were slowly winning the fight. But a few were losing, and they were losing badly. The fact that the Death Eaters were able to use the Unforgivable Curses meant that they were far more dangerous, and when they managed to strike one of the Professors, they usually stayed on the ground. The Death Eaters that were knocked to the floor were usually only Stunned or imprisoned in some way, and counter-charms were soon cast by another Death Eater. At present, the Professors seemed to be winning, but the longer the battle wore on, the more likely it would be to favour the Death Eaters.
Suddenly, Voldemort stood up, blocking a curse from Dumbledore effortlessly, and raised his wand to the sky, casting the Dark Mark out of his wand. Ron and Hermione watched, horrified, as the dread symbol rose into the mid-afternoon sky, looming over the train and bridge, and seeming the cast a dark smear on the sky itself. Soon, he reason for the Dark Mark became clear, as the Death Eaters began to Disapparate, one by one, until eventually the Hogwarts Professors were all that remained.
A loud cheer of relief came from several of the compartments nearby, as the other students on the train realised that the danger was over, and the Death Eaters had been driven away. But for Ron and Hermione, their relief was mixed with a sense of terror; they had witnessed the first conflict of what would be many, and they finally realised first-hand the terror of Voldemort's reign.
Disclaimer: You know, would it really matter if I didn't bother with this? Everyone knows I don't own Harry Potter, so it seems kind of pointless writing these...
Well, this is the longest chapter so far, but that's no excuse for it taking as long as it has - Sorry for that. As those reading my Profile know, working on a 10000 Final Year Project is swallowing all my time just lately. Chapter 9 is underway, so hopefully I'll get that out quicker than this one. I won't get this story finished before 21st June, but I'll just carry on writing it regardless.
Only one reviewer to thank again! Thanks very much to lan, who reviewed Chapter 7, ages back when I actually posted it... I'd hold the next Chapter hostage, but considering my record with posting, I don't think anyone would notice... ;) (Lol!) Please leave a review, tell me what you think of how this story is going!
