Chapter 2:
Sky opened his eyes to see Jin's big, beady black eyes staring back at him. Jin proceeded to lick his nose.
"Too early…" Sky said and pushed Jin away with his hands.
"The plane has landed," Katie said, putting Jin back on Aimee's lap, who was fast asleep. "Wake up Aimee," she said.
Sky stood up and got his bags while Aimee was just waking up, tiredly stuffing Jin in her pocket so no muggles see him.
Sky, Aimee, and Katie exited the plane and step foot in the London International Airport. Hundreds of rushing people walked briskly down the wide hallways, hoping to catch their flight in time.
"Look at all the wizards and witches!" exclaimed Katie.
"I don't see any, how can you tell?" Sky asked, looking at what just seemed like a very large cluster of people.
"You'll get a keen eye for European wizards and witches after staying at Hogwarts for a while." She replied.
The three of them walked amongst the crowd to the baggage reclaim area. After having picked up their trunks, brooms, and pets, they called a taxi to take them to the train station.
"Ohh, taxicabs are black and funny looking here," said Aimee, who was used to the trolley cars and yellow taxis of San Francisco.
After loading the trunk with their items, the taxicab took them to the train station, passing many of London's sights along the way. Aimee stayed plastered to the window, taking it all in. She took Jin out of her pocket and placed him on her shoulder so he can enjoy the view too.
They arrived at the train station, which was just as busy as the airport, but had a more metropolitan look to it. Bricks and tiles were everywhere, and many of the trains were old fashioned.
"This is like the trolley cars back home!" said Aimee.
"Lets see… the train ticket says… nine and three quarters? How does that happen?" said Sky, looking at his ticket.
"This way," Katie said as they walked down the crowded decks.
They followed her to a pillar between nine and ten.
"Right here!" Katie said, pointing at a solid brick pillar. Sky looked at it with a screwed face.
"This? Are you joking?" Sky said, "Do you expect us to just run right through it?"
"Gangway!" shouted someone behind him. A line of kids pushing luggage carts charged right at Sky.
"Hey watch it!" Sky shouted, leaping out of the way.
Five kids: a set of twins that were older than him, two boys around his age that looked unrelated, and a girl about Aimee's age ran straight for the pillar. One by one they vanished inside the wall of bricks.
"Amazing!" exclaimed Aimee. Jin crawled out of her pocket and peeked his head out, giving a shriek of excitement.
"Make sure you hit the pillar head on, otherwise it won't work. I kinda hit it the first time I did it," Katie said, blushing and scratching her head.
"Katie? Is that you?" a voice behind them said. Katie turned around to see a rather stout woman with red hair, dressed rather flamboyantly with a large hat, large purse, what seemed like various quilts around her for a dress and high heels.
"Mrs. Weasley! How nice to meet you here!" said Katie as they gave each other hugs.
"Who are these fine youngsters?" Mrs. Weasley said, looking at Sky and Aimee.
"Oh, that's my younger brother Sky, and my younger sister Aimee. They're going to Hogwarts," Katie replied.
"I see, follow your older sister's footsteps, but you all look so different…" said Mrs. Weasley, pointing at Aimee.
"Oh, Aimee is adopted, and Sky just got a different set of genes," Katie said, explaining the very noticeable differences between all of them, Aimee being asian, Sky having blonde hair and dark eyes, and Katie having brown hair and green eyes.
"I see…" Mrs. Weasley said. Sky and Aimee looked at each other, freaked out by Mrs. Weasley's rather disturbing personality. "Are you staying at Hogwarts for another year?"
"Yes yes, after this year I've finished my internship. I'll be the Griffindor Resident Assistant again, so I'll make sure Ron, Ginny, and the twins keep out of trouble," Katie said.
"Oh you're such a good girl!" Mrs. Weasley said.
"Aimee here is going into her first year at Hogwarts."
"Spending her first year in a foreign country? What a brave young girl!" Mrs. Weasley said, petting Aimee on the head. Aimee gave a fake smile, slowly backing away from the scary woman.
"Alright, now Aimee, you can go first." Katie said, pointing to where Aimee had to go. She moved her luggage cart to the indicated place and faced the pillar.
For some reason, Mrs. Weasley felt obliged to act as a mother figure for poor adopted Aimee and straighten out her uniform and hair, as if she didn't have a mother already.
"Umm… thank you?" Aimee said shakily, freaked out by her.
"There, you're all ready, now go!" Mrs. Weasley said, giving Aimee a firm shove, sending her and her luggage cart right into the pillar. She instantly disappeared into it.
"Come, you next," Mrs. Weasley said to Sky, motioning him with her hands. "Your hair is so sloppy" she said, messing with his hair as if he was her own child. She licked her hands and tried taming his hair. Sky stood there, silently, disgusted and now very disturbed. Katie chuckled to herself lightly.
Sky broke away from Mrs. Weasley and went for the pillar, before she could mess him up anymore than she already has.
"Thank you so much, Mrs. Weasley," Katie said, giving her a hug.
"Good luck with the students!" Mrs. Weasley shouted as Katie followed Sky into the pillar.
Just like K-mart, the train station was a magical version of a muggle train station. Wizards and witches fully dressed walked briskly about. All sorts of owls flew through the area with envelopes in their talons. Trunks, cages, and broomsticks were in organized piles. Groups of Hogwarts students in gray uniforms moved together in packs. Mothers kissed their students goodbye.
"We should get aboard soon," Katie said, pushing Sky and Aimee along.
They boarded the train and found an empty car for them to stay in.
"I'm so excited!" Aimee said excitedly, "I'm going to go to different cars to meet new people."
"Wait up!" Katie said while Aimee ran out the door, "Don't get into trouble!" she shouted.
"I think I'll go meet some people too," Sky said, walking out of the car.
All alone in the car, Katie pouted for being left alone, as if an old lady. She took out a newspaper and began reading it.
"Deranged Murderer on the loose…" Katie read the headline out loud, "Sirius Black escaped Azkaban."
(Story split: Aimee and Sky now have their own plots…kinda)
Aimee ran down the train car's finely decorated hallway, passing by older Hogwarts students. Looking for people her age, she peeked into each of the booths. A group of friends eating candy, another group playing cards, a creepy old man sleeping. She saw some interesting things in each booth. Not looking where she was going, she ran straight into someone and fell to the floor.
"Ah I'm sorry!" Aimee said, getting up.
"Are you ok?" the person said, reaching out his hand to help her up. His long black hair was very scruffy, and he had round glasses on. He was in full Hogwarts uniform, as was everyone else on the train. Aimee noticed a lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead. She immediately recognized who this was.
"Harry Potter?" she exclaimed, standing up with Harry's help.
Harry nodded.
"This is so cool! It's an honor to meet you," Aimee said, smiling.
"What an adorable bat!" a female voice behind him said.
Jin had crawled out of Aimee's pocket and perched himself on her shoulder without her even noticing.
"His name is Jin," Aimee said, scratching Jin behind the ears. Jin gave a satisfied peep.
"I'm Hermione Granger," she said, extending out her arm for a handshake.
"Aimee Li Mei Thomas," Aimee said, shaking hands.
"An American?" a male voice said, "What a funny accent."
"Oh hush Ron, don't be so rude," Hermione said to the person behind her, "I'm sure our accent seems funny to her."
"Keep moving!" someone said. Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Aimee were all pushed out of the way by a blonde, pale, pointy nosed boy. A gang closely followed him: two large guys, about the same age as him. All of them wore the Slytherin colors on his tie. A smug, sinister grin was on their faces as they pushed them aside. The first one immediately noticed Aimee.
"Aha…a first year, correct?" he said, turning to face Aimee. The other two guys surrounded her, extending out their arms to lean against the wall, cornering her.
Aimee backed away, but was stopped by the wall.
"Better be careful who you ally yourself with. Those Griffindors over there might have their stupidity rub off onto you," he said, touching Aimee's chin. Jin exposed his teeth and hissed at the Slytherin.
"Piss off, Malfoy!" Hermione said, stepping up to them.
"Why should we listen to you, mudblood?" he snapped back, him and his gang facing her.
"Hermione, just let it go for now, we can't get into trouble at the beginning of the year," Harry said, holding Hermione back.
"Hmph," said the Slytherin, turning around and heading down the hall with his gang into a booth, kicking out a few 2nd years out.
"Who is that?" Aimee asked.
"Draco Malfoy of Slytherin House. Try to avoid him at all costs," Harry said, "We'll be on our way now, good luck, Aimee."
Still angry, Hermione and the others went to their own booth. Aimee continued on in her previous direction.
"All aboard!" the conductor shouted as the last of the students hurried onto the train. Sky, who was at the end of the train looking out onto the London Train Station, just came back inside and was walking back to his car. Further down the hall he saw a blonde girl, about his age, walking briskly toward him. It didn't look like she was paying attention where she was walking because she seemed to be looking at her feet. She was carrying a couple of books and a wand in her arms.
Not looking where she was going, the girl tripped on a fold in the carpet, spilling all of her stuff on the ground and face-first into the ground.
"Ouch…." She said, standing back up.
"Are you ok?" Sky said, running to her and kneeling down to help pick up her stuff.
"Yes I'm fine," she said, collecting her stuff.
"You have to watch where you're going," Sky said, placing some books in her arms.
Sky put his hand on her wand to pick it up, but she accidentally put her hand on his. She immediately pulled away, blushing, except Sky didn't seem to notice. He simply put the wand on her stack of books.
"Thanks," she said, still blushing heavily, "My name is Lilly Holmes."
"My name is Sky Thomas," Sky said, standing up.
"Are you American?" Lilly asked.
"Yep, you can tell by my accent, right?" Sky said, smiling and scratching his head.
Lilly was still blushing when she nodded.
"Anyway, I have to go, they're checking our tickets now," Sky said, waving and began walking back.
Lilly just stood there, her face bright red, but smiling innocently.
"Sky! Sky! You won't believe who I literally ran in to!" Aimee exclaimed as Sky walked into the car.
"Who?" Sky asked. Katie sat quietly, smiling.
"Harry Potter! I ran into him on the train on accident, and he helped me up!" Aimee said excitedly.
"No way! He's here?!" Sky said with an astonished look. He looked at Katie for confirmation. She nodded.
The conductor opened the door and asked to check everyone's tickets. Aimee couldn't stop smiling.
"Sir, is Harry Potter really on this train?" Sky asked the conductor. Katie kicked Sky in the shins for not believing her.
"Yes he is," said the conductor.
"I told you so, Sky," said Katie, sticking out her tongue.
The train came to a stop.
"Huh? I wonder what's going on," Katie said.
"Why did we stop?" asked Sky. Aimee was fast asleep on his shoulder.
"I don't know, maintenance maybe?" Katie said, looking out the window to see what might have happened.
The lights suddenly went out. Girl's shrieks could be heard from nearby cars. Someone ran by the door. Sky opened it and stuck his head out.
"What's going on?" Sky asked.
"Dementors are inspecting the train!" the guy shouted back, still running.
"Dementors?" Sky said.
"Uh oh… Get back in the booth, Sky," Katie said, looking out the window. A few dark silhouettes broke the moonlight sky as they descended upon the train.
Aimee began to shiver and held onto Sky for warmth, still asleep. The temperature dropped rapidly and they could now see their breath.
"What's going on?" Sky asked.
"The Dementors are coming to inspect the train. I read in the newspaper that a wanted criminal broke out of Azkaban, a maximum security prison for wizards. They must be looking to see if he's on the train." Katie replied.
Sky looked out the window and got a good glimpse of the dementors. They looked like black wraiths, with thin limbs and fingers and a black cloak covering their entire body but their hands and mouth. The torn and tattered end of the cloak trailed behind them in the wind.
The temperature kept dropping. There was complete and utter silence. Ice crystals began forming on the windows. A silhouette from behind the door's window passed by them.
The mere presence of the dementor in the hallway seemed to suck the life out of Sky, as he suddenly became weak.
Katie released a big sigh when it passed.
"Is it over?" Sky asked, whispering.
Katie nodded.
Suddenly a flash of light and a shout came from a booth.
"HARRY!" shouted a girl.
Aimee woke up with a jump.
"Is it going after Harry Potter?" Sky asked, alarmed.
Katie got out of her seat and went to the door to see.
"What happened? Why is it so cold here?" said Aimee, rubbing her eyes.
"Shh, wait a moment," Sky said, standing up too.
With a loud shriek, the dementor flew down the hall and out of the train, startling Katie as she fell backwards. The lights turned back on and the temperature went back to normal. Katie and Sky ran out of their booth and rushed to where the shout came from. There were already students crowding up the entrance of the booth, wanting to catch a glimpse of what happened.
"Make way, make way!" shouted Katie as she entered the booth, "Griffindor Residential Assistant coming through!"
Katie fought through the crowd and kneeled beside Harry Potter, who was lying on the ground.
"What happened?" Katie asked a man who was also kneeling beside Harry.
"He suddenly passed out when the Dementors came into the booth," the man replied. The two of them sat Harry up back onto the seat.
"What happened to Potter now? What a weakling," Draco Malfoy said, peeking over the crowd.
"Shoo, all of you," Katie said, pushing people out the door, "Go back to your seats."
"Will he be alright, Miss Thomas?" Hermione Granger asked.
"He'll be alright," said the man, "I'm Professor Lupin, the new Defense against the Dark Arts professor."
"Ok, he should be fine here with you then," Katie said, letting out a sigh of relief. She stood back up and walked back to the door, Sky looking in from outside the booth.
Sky and Katie got back to their seats just as the train started up again.
"What was all that about?" Aimee asked while they walked back in.
"It was nothing, go back to sleep," said Sky.
"It'll be about an hour 'till we get there," Katie said.
Aimee nodded and drifted back into sleep on Sky's shoulder.