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Chapter 2The Hogwarts Express
When Lily hopped out of the taxi car, a slight rain was splattering on the windows. Lily grabbed her trunk and her cat, Adrienne's cage. Struggling, Lily made it to the train station's entrance and got a cart to push her school things.
"I hate the rain!" Madison moaned. "Why does it always have to rain on the first day of school?"
"Because the weather's trying to remind us that summer's over." Belle snapped, placing her large trunk on the cart. "Let's go. We're running a little late."
The three girls hurried to platforms nine and ten, without stopping. Lily breathed deeply, and broke into a run heading straight for the barrier. Instead of crashing, as one would think, Lily went straight through and saw platform 9 ¾ looming up before her.
The long, scarlet Hogwarts train sat contentedly on the track puffing out large, fluffy, white clouds of steam that curled up to the ceiling.
"Ready?" Belle asked, joining Lily.
"Yeah. Let's get a compartment." Lily replied and the girls walked towards the train. They found an empty room, and shoved their things into it.
A few moments later, the train began to chug, and it pulled out of the station. The way to Hogwarts was beautiful. The land was dotted with many a countryside, and an innumerable amount of forests and mountains.
But on this journey, Lily found herself nodding off. Before the lunch cart even stopped by, Lily's head was resting on the window.
There was a humongous lurch that forced Lily to snap back into consciousness. All lights in the car were out and the compartment was submerged in darkness. A few screams could be heard.
"What's going on?" Lily asked groggily.
"Thank God you're awake!" Belle said from somewhere in their car. "I have no clue what's happening… we just, stopped. Has that ever happened before?" She asked nervously.
"No… never." Madison replied softly. "Oh my gosh… look! Up in the sky!" She shouted, and Lily could see her moonlit silhouette pointing out the window. Lily quickly turned to look outside. There, high up in the air was a huge, vibrant, green skull with a snake protruding from its mouth like a tongue.
"What is that thing?" Lily said breathlessly. The skull slowly rose until it was as high as the stars. There it stayed, etched into the sky like a grotesque constellation.
"I don't know." Belle whispered. Then, there was a loud knock on the door that made all the girls jump. "Who is it?!" Belle shouted.
"It's us…" James's voice replied, entering the compartment. "Are you girls okay?"
"We're fine, James…" Lily said. "What's going on? What happened to the train?" She asked, dreading the answer. That skull in the sky was making her uneasy.
"We're not sure. Remus and Peter went to find out." Sirius answered, shuffling into the room. "Hang on… what's that outside?" He replied nervously, pointing out the window again.
Lily looked down and saw a group of about 5 people. All of them were cloaked in black, and it was hard to make out their faces in the night. They were moving about suspiciously.
"There's the train conductor…" James said softly, as the conductor came running over to the group, shouting. "They're harassing him…" As soon as the cloaked figures saw the man, they began shoving and obviously threatening him. The conductor seemed to be trying to explain that he couldn't help them, and telling them to leave.
"What's happening? What do they think they're doing!?" Sirius exclaimed, pressing his face against the window. The men were now getting out their wands and pointing them at the unarmed conductor.
"Oh my God…" Lily whispered. Suddenly, a blinding green light blossomed out of the figures' wands. The light spread throughout the forest, and filtered into their train compartment.
"Get down!" James shouted. The friends collapsed to the floor and covered their faces as the glass in the window smashed inward into billions of little pieces. The conductor's blood curdling scream of pain and fright blasted into the air and sliced into the people on the train like a knife through butter.
His scream seemed to multiply as a chorus of students' screams joined his. Everyone on the train seemed to know that the conductor was being murdered right outside the Hogwarts Express.
"Oh God, oh God…" Belle muttered over and over. "Oh God…"
"We have to help him!" James replied, not getting up from the floor.
"James," Lily whispered. "He's dead."
"You mean… Avada Kedavra?" James asked. Avada Kedavra was the worst spell a wizard would ever hear. It meant instant and absolute death. Once spoken, the person you were aiming your wand at would be killed in less than a second. Lily could only nod.
"Si, we need to find Remus and Peter. Girls, you stay here, and don't leave the compartment." James instructed. He stood up and brushed broken glass off of himself.
"Wait- James, let me help." Lily replied bravely, as she too stood up and picked bits of glass out of her hair. "As Head People, we need to protect and calm down the students." She reasoned.
"I don't know Lily… those guys could come on the train." James replied.
"I don't care, James." Lily said, much more courageously than she felt. "I'm helping and that's final."
"All right. But stick close my me and Si, and keep your wands out, both of you." James said. "Belle and Madison, stay here, all right?"
"Okay." Madison squeaked.
James yanked open the compartment door, and they were all met by screams of confusion and fright. The train was still deathly dark and it was hard to see.
"Lumos." Lily whispered and the tip of her wand lit up like a candle. She pulled open a compartment door across from their own. "Is everyone alright in here?" She asked.
"Yes." A fourth year murmured. "What's going on?"
"We can't say for sure." James replied in a comforting voice. "But don't worry. We're going to sort this out. Please don't leave your car, all right?"
"All right. We won't."
"Thank you." Sirius said, as he clicked the door shut again. "James- what's that?" He asked cautiously, pointing ahead. Lily lifted her wand higher and saw two cloaked figures swooping into a compartment. There was a scream, then laughter.
"Let's go. Wands at the ready." James said picking up his pace, leading the way. "We'll get them together. Stunning charm, on three." He said, as they got closer. "One, two, th- Lucius!"
Standing there in the cloak was Lucius Malfoy. He was also a seventh year in Slytherin. Standing beside him was his best friend Siverus Snape.
"Lily!" Snape replied in shock and almost fear.
"What the hell do you two think you're doing?!" James shouted at the pair of them. It was well known that the Marauders and the Slytherins did not get along.
"Oh come on, James." Lucius said coolly. He took off his hood and ran his fingers through his greasy blonde hair. "We were just keeping the first years on their toes."
"'On their toes?!'" Lily shouted. "Do you know what just happened out there?"
"Yes. And everything is fine. I assure you, Ms. Evans." Lucius replied. "The Death Eaters are gone."
"Death Eaters?" Lily repeated. Lily and James exchanged nervous glances.
"Yes." Lucius said. "If you'll excuse me… we'll be going back to our car now."
"Not so fast…" Sirius said, grabbing the neck of Lucius' robes. "What the hell is a Death Eater?"
"You'll find out soon enough, I'm sure." Lucius said slyly.
"I suggest you tell us, Malfoy." James snapped. "Or it'll be 25 points from Slytherin House."
"You can't do that." Lucius snapped, shoving Sirius' hands off his robes.
"Watch me." James whispered threateningly.
"Come, Siverus." Lucius said, not taking his eyes off James. "Let's go." The two of them then left Lily, Sirius, and James standing in the hallway alone.
"Well that went well, didn't it?" Lily said angrily, spinning around to look at James accusingly. "James, you can't take points off people's houses just because you don't like them."
"And why not? I was just trying to get the job done, Lily." James snapped. "He wasn't giving us the information we needed to keep the students safe."
"He was probably lying! Bet you didn't think of that, did you?" Lily replied. "He was provoking you, James! And you're so thick, you fell for it!"
"Shut up!!" Sirius shouted. "Both of you! Jesus! Everything was going fine, until we met up with the two slime-balls. Just drop it and forget about it, all right?"
Lily sighed, frustrated. James could be so stupid.
They continued down the corridor, but found that the cloaked figures had already left- as Lucius had said. They found Remus and Peter at the front of the train talking to the assistant conductor.
"He's going to take over for the chief-conductor." Remus explained. "Everything's going to be all right now."
"All right?" Lily asked, confused. "There was just a murder outside this train, and you think everything's going to be all right?!"
"Lily, calm down. There's nothing we can do." Peter said softly.
"What do you mean, 'there's nothing we can do'?" Lily repeated angrily. "We have to do something! Where's the conductor's body? Where are those cloaked people?"
"Lily…" James said, silencing her. "There's nothing we can do." He repeated. "Let's just go back to the compartment."
The assistant turned the train back on, and the lights flickered back into existence. Lily sadly returned to the car with the Marauders, embracing the fact that what was done was done.
About an hour later, the all-wizard village of Hogsmeade crept up toward them. The students filed out of the train and into horseless carriages. Everyone was much more quiet as the buggies approached the school.
It was lit up just as gorgeously as it always was. The windows were sparkling merrily, and the lake on grounds was reflecting the sky as though nothing was wrong.
When Lily got out of the buggy, the rain had basically stopped. She sighed. At least now that she had reached Hogwarts she felt so much safer. She had never thought anything could go as off beam as it had on the train. The wizarding world was supposed to be practically flawless… what had gone wrong? And what was a Death Eater?