Part 2.
"Compartment 1.3"
By OldScout
A teenage boy about Dawn's age stepped into the compartment. He had bright red hair, was tall and solidly built. He wore a faded green sweater with several snags on the front and tattered edges. His dark brown corduroy pants where worn in the knees and probably weren't too short at the end of the previous school year. "Blimey." The young man said looking at the two attractive brunettes staring at him.
The older of the two wore a thin white sweater with an open collar and a loose knee length pleated skirt. Her wavy, shoulder length brown hair was pulled away from her face with simple clips. Her black rimmed glasses high lighted the beauty of her face rather than hiding.
"Open, but not empty." The younger one said. She had straight brown hair that was just parted in the middle and hung to either side of her face. She wore a solid blue peasant style blouse with tied sleeves and tight, faded blue jeans that fit so low he had no idea how she maintained enough coverage to remain decent.
Two more teenagers were suddenly crowding the door. "C'mon Ron." A boy with tousled black hair said. "What's the hold up?"
"There's somebody in there." A teenage girl said as she pushed in next to Ron. "Ah, hi, excuse my friends here." She said looking at Dawn. "They're big and dumb but not too bad once you get to know them." She pushed past Ron to stand in front of him. "Do you mind if we sit in here with you? It looks like all the other compartments are full."
"Not at all." Dawn replied as she moved her suitcase against the wall.
"I'm Hermione." The girl said holding out her hand. "And these two lugs are Ron and Harry."
Dawn stood to greet them. "I'm Dawn and this is Fred."
"Isn't Fred a guy's name?" Ron asked.
"Short for Winifred," 'Fred' said enthusiastically jumping to her feet and grabbing each teen's hand in turn. "Pleased to meet ya'."
"Are you Americans?" Hermione asked. "We've never had Americans attending Hogwarts before."
"Born an' raised." 'Fred' replied.
Harry and Ron sat on Dawn's side, leaving her next to the window and Ron in the middle and Hermione sat next to 'Fred'. The new comers knew not to crowd the adult.
"So why are you coming to Hogwarts?" Herminone asked Dawn.
"To finish my last year of school." Dawn smiled.
"Where did you go before? Did you go to the Salem Academy?" Ron asked.
"I spent last year in a private school in Rome." Dawn replied. "Before that I went to a regular high school in the states."
"Are you a home schooled witch?" Ron asked. "My dad says a lot of muggle born Witches and Wizards in the states are home schooled."
"I'm not a Witch." Dawn smiled. "I'm what I guess you call a Muggle."
"What?" Ron exclaimed. "Muggles don't go to Hogwarts! It's just not done."
"Ron," Herminone said. "Settle down." She looked at Dawn. "So why are coming to Hogwarts? How do you think you could pass any classes?"
"I'm coming because Albus invited me." Dawn smiled. "We just have to adjust my schedule so I don't take any classes that really require magic, like transfigurations and stuff like that."
"You mean Headmaster Dumbledore?" Herminone corrected the name.
"I mean Albus." Dawn grinned. "He's an old friend of the family. When he heard I was looking someplace to finish my last year he offered Hogwarts." She watched the shocked expressions as the three teens took in the cover story.
Hermione couldn't believe it. Professor Dumbledore invited a muggle to attend Hogwarts. Not possible. The Ministry just would never allow it, no matter who she was friends with. There was another reason and she was going to find out. This girl could be a plant, from the Ministry or a Death Eater. She turned to the other woman. The one who was introduced as Fred had already turned from the conversation and opened a large, very old leather bound book and started reading. "I suppose you're a muggle too."
The woman looked at her and smiled. It seemed almost forced. "What's a muggle?"
"Yep, she's a muggle." Ron said.
"If you don't mind me asking, why are you going to Hogwarts?" Hermione asked.
"Actually...." Fred started to reply.
"She's going to do research." Dawn interrupted.
"Why Hogwarts?" Hermione pushed.
"Because I go where......Dawn goes." Fred stated.
"What, why?" Ron asked.
"She works for my sister's organization." Dawn said quickly. "And my sister is way over protective. So I came to go to school and Fred came to look out for me and to do research for the organization."
"What kind of muggle organization is allowed to do research in the Wizarding world?" Harry asked, finally getting into the conversation. He couldn't believe Herminone was giving this girl the third degree like that but they were sure getting some interesting information.
"One that the Ministry wants to work with." Dawn replied knowing there would now be another slew of questions. She wondered how quickly she'd be able to send them off on another tangent. Illyria had already turned her attention to the tome she'd been given to translate. The tightly written demon text was one of the hardest translations to perform and Willow had hoped that the merger of Fred and Illyria could shed some light on the ancient writings.
"What kind of muggle organization would the Ministry want to work with?" Ron asked.
"One that does research on demons and other sources of evil." Dawn replied.
"Oh." Hermione turned to Fred. "So, Fred, are you some kind of demon expert?"
Illyria looked up from her text. She'd been hoping if she ignored these spawn of the magic dribbling humans they would continue to irritate only Oriens. Oriens currently occupied a shell that was meant to interface with these creatures, let her. Now one was spewing noise at her and she knew she was expected to interpret and respond in the way her own shell would have in the same situation. She looked at the creature over the emulated vision corrective devices her shell had worn.
"Be nice." Oriens reminded her quietly.
"Hardly an expert" 'Fred' responded with a bright smile. "I'm more of a scientist, physicist to be exact. But I've had a lot of experience with demons recently."
"Experience with demons?" Ron asked. "Crickey. How does a muggle get experience with demons?"
'Be nice?' Hermione looked at the two women. Why would Dawn have to remind or tell her apparently sweet and personable traveling companion to 'Be nice'? She looked at the smiling woman as she looked at Ron but didn't answer his question. How could somebody like that be anything but 'Nice'?
"You'd be surprised," Dawn responded for 'Fred'. "There are people outside of the all mighty and all knowing Wizarding community who deal with the supernatural as well. Did you ever consider that just as you are hidden from the people you call muggles, that there might be those who are not blind to the supernatural as well?" She deliberately turned from the three and faced 'Fred'. "So what about the book do you think you'll be able to translate it for Willow?"
"There are a lot of inaccuracies." 'Fred' responded.
"Direct translation," Dawn said in a lower volume so their traveling companions would know this was a private conversation. They probably wouldn't care and try to join in anyway. "We can make an addendum of corrections as we go."
--
Several hours into the train ride, the three students had been in and out of the compartment visiting other students. At one point just Hermione, Fred and Dawn were in the compartment. Herminone was scratching her head over a book of prophecies Dawn had lent her. Hermione stared at the book. Dawn had been reading it. She said it was a dialect of ancient Sumarian. Could this muggle really read not only ancient Sumarian, but different dialect as well? Was she really a muggle? Perhaps she was just saying that to mess with them. Some kind of American sense of humour.
The compartment door opened revealing a tall teenage boy with white hair. "Ah, if it isn't the mud blood and her new muggle friends."
"What do you want Malfoy?" Hermione demanded.
"I heard Potty and Weasel talking about a muggle coming to Hogwarts." Malfoy replied. "I wanted to see for myself."
"What's a mud-blood?" Dawn asked.
"It's an insult for Witches and Wizards with at least one muggle parent." Hermione replied through clenched teeth.
"Malfoy." Dawn said looking the boy up and down. "Is that a name or slang for some malformed body part?"
"How dare you speak to me that way?" Malfoy growled. "Do you have any idea who I am? My family's one of the oldest and most respected families in the Wizarding community."
"So," Dawn replied. "That doesn't make you any less of an ass and apparently has had the opposite effect."
"Listen to me muggle." He said as he reached into his robes and pulled out his wand. "You'd better learn to keep a civil tongue in your mouth because you're going to be totally defenseless against what can happen to you in the Wizarding world." As he spoke he pointed his wand at Dawn emphasizing his threat.
Dawn stood and faced him. "I'll tell you this one time for you own safety." She said seriously. "Don't EVER point a wand at me."
Draco continued to jab the wand at her. "Yea, muggle, what are you going to do about it?"
Dawn sensed 'Fred' standing up behind her. She had to end this now before Illyria did, and that definitely wouldn't be pleasant. Dawn grabbed Draco's wand hand at the wrist and pulled him towards her. As he stumbled forward, Dawn kept her grip on his wrist, spun around and hit him in the nose with the back of her elbow. A satisfying crack came from his nose and blood sprayed across his face.
Draco dropped his wand clasped both hands to his face. "YOU BITCH! I fink you just broke my nothe."
"If I hit you right, I did." Dawn replied with a smirk.
When Draco dropped his wand, 'Fred' caught it.
"Interesting," 'Fred' said holding up the tool. "Is this the only way your people can access their droplets of magic?"
"Some can without their wands." Hermione said trying to stop the questions as quickly as possible. "But it's mostly unintentional and usually triggered by strong emotions."
'Fred' Examined the a couple of more seconds then reached up and dropped it out the cracked open window.
As Fred reached for the window, Herminone yelled "No." But is was too late, the wand of Draco Malfoy was gone.
Draco just stood there in shock. What had just happened? Pain shot through his face and he watched as his wand was disappeared out the window. "How dare you?"
"I think you'd better leave." Hermione said.
"This ithn't over." Draco snarled as he headed down the corridor.
"You could kill somebody hitting the nose." 'Fred' said to Dawn.
"I didn't know that." Dawn replied.
Hermione watched the conversation and thought Fred was finally showing leadership as an adult.
"I could show you." 'Fred' offered.
To be continued......................
"Compartment 1.3"
By OldScout
A teenage boy about Dawn's age stepped into the compartment. He had bright red hair, was tall and solidly built. He wore a faded green sweater with several snags on the front and tattered edges. His dark brown corduroy pants where worn in the knees and probably weren't too short at the end of the previous school year. "Blimey." The young man said looking at the two attractive brunettes staring at him.
The older of the two wore a thin white sweater with an open collar and a loose knee length pleated skirt. Her wavy, shoulder length brown hair was pulled away from her face with simple clips. Her black rimmed glasses high lighted the beauty of her face rather than hiding.
"Open, but not empty." The younger one said. She had straight brown hair that was just parted in the middle and hung to either side of her face. She wore a solid blue peasant style blouse with tied sleeves and tight, faded blue jeans that fit so low he had no idea how she maintained enough coverage to remain decent.
Two more teenagers were suddenly crowding the door. "C'mon Ron." A boy with tousled black hair said. "What's the hold up?"
"There's somebody in there." A teenage girl said as she pushed in next to Ron. "Ah, hi, excuse my friends here." She said looking at Dawn. "They're big and dumb but not too bad once you get to know them." She pushed past Ron to stand in front of him. "Do you mind if we sit in here with you? It looks like all the other compartments are full."
"Not at all." Dawn replied as she moved her suitcase against the wall.
"I'm Hermione." The girl said holding out her hand. "And these two lugs are Ron and Harry."
Dawn stood to greet them. "I'm Dawn and this is Fred."
"Isn't Fred a guy's name?" Ron asked.
"Short for Winifred," 'Fred' said enthusiastically jumping to her feet and grabbing each teen's hand in turn. "Pleased to meet ya'."
"Are you Americans?" Hermione asked. "We've never had Americans attending Hogwarts before."
"Born an' raised." 'Fred' replied.
Harry and Ron sat on Dawn's side, leaving her next to the window and Ron in the middle and Hermione sat next to 'Fred'. The new comers knew not to crowd the adult.
"So why are you coming to Hogwarts?" Herminone asked Dawn.
"To finish my last year of school." Dawn smiled.
"Where did you go before? Did you go to the Salem Academy?" Ron asked.
"I spent last year in a private school in Rome." Dawn replied. "Before that I went to a regular high school in the states."
"Are you a home schooled witch?" Ron asked. "My dad says a lot of muggle born Witches and Wizards in the states are home schooled."
"I'm not a Witch." Dawn smiled. "I'm what I guess you call a Muggle."
"What?" Ron exclaimed. "Muggles don't go to Hogwarts! It's just not done."
"Ron," Herminone said. "Settle down." She looked at Dawn. "So why are coming to Hogwarts? How do you think you could pass any classes?"
"I'm coming because Albus invited me." Dawn smiled. "We just have to adjust my schedule so I don't take any classes that really require magic, like transfigurations and stuff like that."
"You mean Headmaster Dumbledore?" Herminone corrected the name.
"I mean Albus." Dawn grinned. "He's an old friend of the family. When he heard I was looking someplace to finish my last year he offered Hogwarts." She watched the shocked expressions as the three teens took in the cover story.
Hermione couldn't believe it. Professor Dumbledore invited a muggle to attend Hogwarts. Not possible. The Ministry just would never allow it, no matter who she was friends with. There was another reason and she was going to find out. This girl could be a plant, from the Ministry or a Death Eater. She turned to the other woman. The one who was introduced as Fred had already turned from the conversation and opened a large, very old leather bound book and started reading. "I suppose you're a muggle too."
The woman looked at her and smiled. It seemed almost forced. "What's a muggle?"
"Yep, she's a muggle." Ron said.
"If you don't mind me asking, why are you going to Hogwarts?" Hermione asked.
"Actually...." Fred started to reply.
"She's going to do research." Dawn interrupted.
"Why Hogwarts?" Hermione pushed.
"Because I go where......Dawn goes." Fred stated.
"What, why?" Ron asked.
"She works for my sister's organization." Dawn said quickly. "And my sister is way over protective. So I came to go to school and Fred came to look out for me and to do research for the organization."
"What kind of muggle organization is allowed to do research in the Wizarding world?" Harry asked, finally getting into the conversation. He couldn't believe Herminone was giving this girl the third degree like that but they were sure getting some interesting information.
"One that the Ministry wants to work with." Dawn replied knowing there would now be another slew of questions. She wondered how quickly she'd be able to send them off on another tangent. Illyria had already turned her attention to the tome she'd been given to translate. The tightly written demon text was one of the hardest translations to perform and Willow had hoped that the merger of Fred and Illyria could shed some light on the ancient writings.
"What kind of muggle organization would the Ministry want to work with?" Ron asked.
"One that does research on demons and other sources of evil." Dawn replied.
"Oh." Hermione turned to Fred. "So, Fred, are you some kind of demon expert?"
Illyria looked up from her text. She'd been hoping if she ignored these spawn of the magic dribbling humans they would continue to irritate only Oriens. Oriens currently occupied a shell that was meant to interface with these creatures, let her. Now one was spewing noise at her and she knew she was expected to interpret and respond in the way her own shell would have in the same situation. She looked at the creature over the emulated vision corrective devices her shell had worn.
"Be nice." Oriens reminded her quietly.
"Hardly an expert" 'Fred' responded with a bright smile. "I'm more of a scientist, physicist to be exact. But I've had a lot of experience with demons recently."
"Experience with demons?" Ron asked. "Crickey. How does a muggle get experience with demons?"
'Be nice?' Hermione looked at the two women. Why would Dawn have to remind or tell her apparently sweet and personable traveling companion to 'Be nice'? She looked at the smiling woman as she looked at Ron but didn't answer his question. How could somebody like that be anything but 'Nice'?
"You'd be surprised," Dawn responded for 'Fred'. "There are people outside of the all mighty and all knowing Wizarding community who deal with the supernatural as well. Did you ever consider that just as you are hidden from the people you call muggles, that there might be those who are not blind to the supernatural as well?" She deliberately turned from the three and faced 'Fred'. "So what about the book do you think you'll be able to translate it for Willow?"
"There are a lot of inaccuracies." 'Fred' responded.
"Direct translation," Dawn said in a lower volume so their traveling companions would know this was a private conversation. They probably wouldn't care and try to join in anyway. "We can make an addendum of corrections as we go."
--
Several hours into the train ride, the three students had been in and out of the compartment visiting other students. At one point just Hermione, Fred and Dawn were in the compartment. Herminone was scratching her head over a book of prophecies Dawn had lent her. Hermione stared at the book. Dawn had been reading it. She said it was a dialect of ancient Sumarian. Could this muggle really read not only ancient Sumarian, but different dialect as well? Was she really a muggle? Perhaps she was just saying that to mess with them. Some kind of American sense of humour.
The compartment door opened revealing a tall teenage boy with white hair. "Ah, if it isn't the mud blood and her new muggle friends."
"What do you want Malfoy?" Hermione demanded.
"I heard Potty and Weasel talking about a muggle coming to Hogwarts." Malfoy replied. "I wanted to see for myself."
"What's a mud-blood?" Dawn asked.
"It's an insult for Witches and Wizards with at least one muggle parent." Hermione replied through clenched teeth.
"Malfoy." Dawn said looking the boy up and down. "Is that a name or slang for some malformed body part?"
"How dare you speak to me that way?" Malfoy growled. "Do you have any idea who I am? My family's one of the oldest and most respected families in the Wizarding community."
"So," Dawn replied. "That doesn't make you any less of an ass and apparently has had the opposite effect."
"Listen to me muggle." He said as he reached into his robes and pulled out his wand. "You'd better learn to keep a civil tongue in your mouth because you're going to be totally defenseless against what can happen to you in the Wizarding world." As he spoke he pointed his wand at Dawn emphasizing his threat.
Dawn stood and faced him. "I'll tell you this one time for you own safety." She said seriously. "Don't EVER point a wand at me."
Draco continued to jab the wand at her. "Yea, muggle, what are you going to do about it?"
Dawn sensed 'Fred' standing up behind her. She had to end this now before Illyria did, and that definitely wouldn't be pleasant. Dawn grabbed Draco's wand hand at the wrist and pulled him towards her. As he stumbled forward, Dawn kept her grip on his wrist, spun around and hit him in the nose with the back of her elbow. A satisfying crack came from his nose and blood sprayed across his face.
Draco dropped his wand clasped both hands to his face. "YOU BITCH! I fink you just broke my nothe."
"If I hit you right, I did." Dawn replied with a smirk.
When Draco dropped his wand, 'Fred' caught it.
"Interesting," 'Fred' said holding up the tool. "Is this the only way your people can access their droplets of magic?"
"Some can without their wands." Hermione said trying to stop the questions as quickly as possible. "But it's mostly unintentional and usually triggered by strong emotions."
'Fred' Examined the a couple of more seconds then reached up and dropped it out the cracked open window.
As Fred reached for the window, Herminone yelled "No." But is was too late, the wand of Draco Malfoy was gone.
Draco just stood there in shock. What had just happened? Pain shot through his face and he watched as his wand was disappeared out the window. "How dare you?"
"I think you'd better leave." Hermione said.
"This ithn't over." Draco snarled as he headed down the corridor.
"You could kill somebody hitting the nose." 'Fred' said to Dawn.
"I didn't know that." Dawn replied.
Hermione watched the conversation and thought Fred was finally showing leadership as an adult.
"I could show you." 'Fred' offered.
To be continued......................