Chapter 6

Hogwarts Express

Max and Kyle barely made it onto the train before it pulled out of King's Cross Station. They quickly made their way down the cramped corridor to find their friends in a compartment towards the back of the train. When they entered, there were two people that they didn't know. One was a dumpy boy holding a rather large frog. The other stranger was a girl, who seemed to be highly amused about something.

"Hi, guys." Isabel greeted. "Thought you'd never make it. This is Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood. We gave them the short version of what's going on. They're members of Dumbledore's Army." Max and Kyle nodded to Neville and Luna politely. Max sat down next to Liz and put his arm around her.

"No room for me?" Kyle asked. He shrugged and then joined Michael and Harry on the train floor, underneath the window. Twelve people were a lot to fit in one compartment, but everyone wanted to stay together so they could talk without anyone overhearing. "So…what's new?" Kyle asked good-naturedly.

"Oh, just the usual." Hermione answered.

"Which is… usually…what?" Kyle asked.

"Neville's worried that Professor Snape's going to give him detention for the entire term. Yesterday he accidentally destroyed his ten page essay on anti-theft potions that he'd been working on all holiday." Neville turned very red around the ears.

"I was trying to make my plate disappear because my grandmother served cabbage. I hate cabbage. And it went all wrong. I incinerated my parchment instead. Professor Snape already hates me. He's usually got it in for me. I don't know what I'm going to do." Neville slumped miserably in his seat. Isabel, Liz, and Maria all looked at him in sympathy, because, unlike all the wizards, they weren't desensitized to Neville's forgetfulness yet.

"Oh, I'll help you…I mean, I don't know anything about anti-theft potions, but it can't be that far off from chemistry, right? Science is my best subject. I was going to be a molecular biologist…before the FBI started to chase us, that is. When's it due?" Liz offered.

"Tomorrow!" Neville whined.

"We'll do it! Even if it takes all of us!" Liz said, staring at her friends, trying to get them to agree so Neville would cheer up. Her friends returned her stare with a chorus of "yeah" and "sure" and "no problem". Except for Michael.

"You're kidding, right?" Michael asked, slow on the uptake. He was staring at Liz as if she was the alien. Maria shot him a dirty look.

"Well, maybe not you." She quipped, sarcastically. "You haven't passed a class in two years." Everyone snorted, except Hermione, who was staring at Michael in a state of shock, as though the fact that somebody wouldn't pass a class was as unthinkable as aliens living in a small town in New Mexico.

"You haven't?" She asked in disbelief.

"Whatever. Don't rub it in." Michael mumbled. Luna Lovegood decided to change the subject.

"What about you, Harry. Maybe you'll get to have an event free term this time."

"Ummm…possibly. Not getting my hopes up, though." He replied. "Voldemort's back, you know." All of the wizards except Hermione and Harry flinched.

"My dad wants another interview soon, Harry. He's never had so many subscriptions." The Roswellians looked lost. "My dad's the editor of The Quibbler. Can he interview you lot? He'd love to be the first to have a story about the aliens in print." Luna explained.

"It's a bit like The Enquirer." Hermione added, which caused suppressed laughter among the Roswellians. Somehow, it didn't surprise them one bit that someone as goofy looking and obviously absentminded as Luna would be in any way connected with something like The Enquirer. The Roswellians also weren't sure they wanted the Wizarding World to find out about them through a publication like The Quibbler.

At that moment, the doors of the compartment slid open with a bang. Standing in the doorway was Draco Malfoy and his cronies, Crabbe and Goyle. Harry, who was now more confident after years of danger and definitely sick of dealing with Malfoy's stupidity, crossed his arms and gave the small Slytherin gang a dirty look.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" He asked.

"Oh, nothing, Potty. It's just that I wanted to remind you that I'm going to get you back for what you did to my dad." Malfoy sneered.

"It's not my fault your Dad doesn't know how to choose his friends wisely." Harry sneered back. Just two years ago, Harry had blown most of the Death Eaters' covers, including Lucius Malfoy's. Now his son started to move forward, with the intention of attacking Harry. But, before he could raise his wand, the aliens, now with Liz included, had jumped to their feet and blocked Harry from Malfoy's view.

"Move out of the way, if you know what's good for you." Malfoy challenged. Crabbe and Goyle snickered menacingly.

"Try it, punk!" Michael said.

"I think that getting out of our compartment would be a good decision on your part." Max added. The aliens put their hands up.

"Oh, and who are you? If the rumors going up and down the train are true, then you're Muggles. That's what they're saying. Is it true?" Malfoy grinned wickedly.

"So what if they are? You don't know if they are!" Ginny said loudly. "All you know is rumors—and you don't know anything!"

"Well, then, if they were wizards, we'd have seen them before now, wouldn't we, ickle Ginny. If they are Muggles, then you they'd better get out of the way if they don't want what's coming to Potter."

"You don't know who you're dealing with, little boy." Isabel said sweetly. Malfoy glowered in anger. "We might be Muggles, but we're not the average breed."

"Any Muggle is a lower than average breed…isn't that right, Granger?" Malfoy said. This caused everyone in the compartment to jump up in anger. The wizards fell into a group behind the aliens, wands level with the aliens' hands.

"Twelve to three, Malfoy. Are you really going to be this thick?" Harry grinned triumphantly.

"Well, if seven of you are Muggles, counting Mudblood Granger that is, then I'd say I've only got five of you to teach a lesson to."

"Oh, enough already!" Isabel yelled exasperatingly. "God, this is getting old!" She waved her hand and the wands violently shot out of the Slytherins' hands. They hit the wall in the corridor one after the other. Isabel waved her other hand. This time, all three Slytherins followed their wands into the corridor wall as if by an invisible force. Isabel closed the door, and wiping her hands together, she faced the astonished group.

"That better?" She asked. From outside, they could hear the hurt yells and threats from three angry Slytherins. Everyone recovered from the shock and erupted into fits of laughter. When the laughter subsided, Max spoke.

"I don't know if that was such a great idea." He pondered aloud. "No one knows we're alien. I don't think Dumbledore told anyone yet. So, now there will be wild rumors floating around the train that we're attacking people. And without wands."

"Malfoy's not about to go about saying that he lost, is he?" Ron said. "And so what? He was going to attack first! It was self-defense."

About an hour later, after several games of Rummy with Kyle's playing cards and full of sweets from the cart, everyone had dozed off or was quietly occupying themselves. Hermione, who had been immersed in her Standard Book of Spells Grade 6, shook all the dozers awake.

"Come on. Get your things. The train's stopped and we're in Hogsmeade." She said. The Hogwarts students had all changed into their robes.

"Great." Michael muttered. "Now we really will stick out like a sore thumb." Everyone drowsily got their belongings and exited the train. They were surrounded by scores of black robes, some taller than others, talking loudly and looking at the Roswellians curiously as they passed.

"Firs' years this way!" came a familiar voice. "Come on, now. 'urry it up!" Everyone followed the voice to find Hagrid waving his massive arms in the air to direct the scared-looking first years.

"Oh, 'ello, evry'one. 'ad a nice trip?" Hagrid asked.

"Yeah, thanks, Hagrid." Harry said.

"Well, you lot better git along to your coaches, now. But, you lot'll be comin' wi' me up ter the castle." Hagrid said, pointing to the Roswellians. "'eard ya got in a spot 'o trouble wi' Malfoy already."

"Oh, it's nothing, Hagrid. We just scared them off, that's all. He was threatening Harry." Max explained. "We didn't get anyone in trouble, did we?"

"Ah, no. It's jus' amusin' tha's all. Since no 'arm was done, then there ain't nothin' fer ya to be in trouble wi', is there? Come on, you lot, we get our own carriage." The wizards and Roswellians waved their goodbyes.

"See you guys up at the…uh…is that the school?" Michael asked in astonishment. He had never seen anything that big in his life. Everyone else looked in the direction Michael was looking in and awe registered visibly on their faces.

"Yup. That'd be 'ogwarts." Hagrid said, as if having an ancient castle for a school was the most natural thing in the world. "But, if yer were plannin' on getting' up there, it'd be doin' ya no good to be standin' right there all night."

Recovering their senses and picking up their bags, the six friends followed Hagrid's massive form into the carriage.

General "oohhs" and "ahhhs" followed Hagrid around the castle corridors. Grimmauld Place was cool, but this was beyond amazing in the Roswellians' eyes. There were stairs that moved, pictures that moved. Actually, there wasn't an object that didn't seem to move or speak…or both.

The group stopped in front of a very large statue of a bird, which, for once, didn't seem to be an object that moved or spoke.

"A'right, you lot. This is where I leave you. Dumbledore'll be wantin' ta see ya now." Hagrid nodded his massive head and turned to go.

"Well, wait. Do we just wait here in the hallway?" Liz asked. The youngsters stood around looking lost.

"Oh, you'll be wantin' the password, then. Sorry 'bout that. I get a bit forgetful. Sherbert Lemon."

As it turned out, the big bird statue did move. It turned around and started to rise, revealing a set of winding stairs.

"Al'right, you just jump on there an' go." Hagrid instructed. "G'day!" The last thing that the Roswellians saw as the winding stairs lifted them higher and higher was Hagrid's back disappearing down the hallway.

They stepped from the stairs into a breathtaking office that looked like something a wizard would really work in. There were books, strange instruments, and a sleeping, violently colored bird perched in a corner. Everyone walked around, carefully examining the myriad of wonderful objects. They could have stayed entertained for hours.

"Hey, Liz?" Max said quietly, gesturing for her to come over. "Is that a microscope?" He was pointing at a golden instrument with dials, knobs, and lenses all over it.

"I don't know, Max. I don't really think we should…" Liz started. It was too late. Max had already turned one of the knobs. The scientist in Liz took over, and she was no longer concerned about being careful or polite. She looked into one of the five lenses.

"What do you see in there?"

"Planets…stars…oh!" Liz exclaimed.

"What is it?" Maria asked, as she and the others gathered around.

"It's you, Max! But, different! It's you, but not human. I can tell it's you, though, somehow."

"It is Max Evans as he truly is. What you are looking at is his soul, or the essence of him." A voice spoke from the balcony above. Startled, everyone moved away from the wonderful microscope.

"I'm sorry. We didn't mean to touch anything. It's just that everything here is so…" Liz tried to explain.

"Interesting?" Dumbledore queried, amusement twinkling in his eyes. As he descended the staircase, he handed the book he was holding to a bookshelf, which had magically appearing arms that took the book and put it back in its proper place.

"This intriguing object is called a Veritascope. If you are thinking about a certain person, then look into this, you can see his or her true soul from different angles. That is why there are five lenses. It is very helpful when wondering who to trust with life-or-death secrets and such. I, however, never use it unless absolutely necessary, as I prefer to let a person choose how to show his soul, and everyone does, eventually." Dumbledore patted the instrument and turned the knob back into its previous position.

"You were thinking about me, Liz?" Max asked.

"Well, I was calling you over when I saw it, right?" Liz said, "If I wanted to think about the right person to look in on, I'd have to either do it alone or have a lot of thought control."

"You are absolutely right, Mrs. Evans. I think you could rival Miss Granger. Now, to business." Dumbledore walked behind his desk and sat down.

"I am sure you are wondering why it is possible for you to be here, when none of you are wizards. Hogwarts is the safest place in the Wizarding world, and no one can find you here very easily without my knowledge…not the FBI, not Voldemort…not even Kivar."

"Oh, my God! Kivar! I have something to tell you!" Liz exclaimed.

"Don't worry, Liz. I have already been informed of that, as well as the changes you have experienced. That is why you are all here. I could not force you, of course, but I knew you would all want to come. Here, in this environment, you and Kyle are free to develop whatever abilities come to you. Whereas, at home you would have to try to hide uncontrollable developing powers, here you can explore them without stress or fear. If anything wayward happens, we have the ability to set it right. Also, the others can develop and enhance their abilities without having to worry about their secret any longer."

"So, then, why am I here?" Maria asked. "I'm the only one without powers or the potential for them. I'm not in the 'I was saved by an alien club'."

"Miss DeLuca, you need not feel left out. You may find that the future may hold many changes, and some that you may not even be too enthusiastic to have happen. You are included in this group irreversibly, if nothing else, by Michael's love and Liz's friendship. I never underestimate the great inner power that all Muggles are capable of, even if they do not know it."

For the next hour, the Roswellians and Professor Dumbledore discussed the nature of their existence at Hogwarts, and their plan for discovering the connection between the aliens and the wizards.

Walking to the guest dormitories an hour later, the Roswellians finally felt their lives were changing permanently and for the better. With an entire Wizarding world behind them, what could the FBI or Kivar do?