Chapter 17 Mist
Why did I volunteer for this again? Corin sighed as he stood against the wall on Platform 9 ¾ watching students arriving for Hogwarts. It was loud with the chatter of students, the hoots of owls, and the banging of luggage going onto the train. He along with Oron and three other elves as well as Professors Snape, McGonagall, Flitwick, Black and Lupin had all signed up (or been volunteered by Dumbledore) to guard the platform and train in case of attack. They were joined by about ten aurors from the ministry who would just be staying until the train left. Most likely here so Fudge could gain back his popularity since my escape and the news of my innocence reached the public, he thought. He gave a small smirk as he remembered the damning articles by the Daily Prophet in regards to the Minister's incompetence, stupidity, selfishness... the list of descriptions by the reporters went on and on, much to Corin's delight.
He would have continued on this train of thought, but the whistle on the Hogwarts Express blew, signaling its imminent departure. There was a scramble of students running for the train doors and multiple heads poking out windows waving and saying last goodbyes. Corin ignored all of this and made his way to the last car of the train. His job was to guard the door and platform at the end of the train while others patrolled the hallways and guarded the driver's car.
After he'd reached his destination, he leaned casually against the doorframe and watched the tracks and scenery race out behind him as the train picked up speed. Many students on their way to their compartments stopped and stared at him, wondering who he was and why he was there. Corin ignored them and continued looking intently out the back of the train, scanning the sky and landscape for possible threats.
There were three students whom he found particularly hard to ignore: Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. About an hour into the trip, they came back from the prefect's meeting at the front of the train and began patrolling the hallways. All three had grown quite a bit since he'd last seen them. Ron had grown taller, if that was even possible, and more muscular as well. Hermione and Ginny had both blossomed into beautiful young women. Hermione's hair was smoother than he remembered, though it frizzed out a bit from the wind. Ginny had grown several inches as well and had grown her hair out so that by now it reached her mid-back.
They were different from what he remembered, and not just physically. They were quieter, more worn looking. He could see bags under their eyes from lack of sleep and all of them looked like they had recently lost weight. And when he looked into their eyes under the assumption of scanning the corridor, he could see pain and sadness that was barely concealed. He tried to feel at least a little sorry for the pain they were in, but couldn't help feeling that they'd brought it on themselves.
He turned away before they caught him observing them and clenched his jaw tightly. He was so close to just marching up to them and yelling for the world to hear about how they'd betrayed him. After taking a few deep breaths, he calmed himself down and sighed. Thank Merlin I don't have to deal with teaching them... He glanced back out the window and straightened as he saw something in the distance. To a human it would only be a black blur, but with his keen elven eyes he could see clearly what it was. Fifteen black-clad riders on brooms were speeding their way towards the train, wands raised to attack.
Moving quickly, he pushed a button next the doorframe and an alarm started sounding. Then casting the elvish equivalent of 'sonorus' he began speaking as he readied his weapons. "Attention all students and escorts; a group of about fifteen riders on brooms are on their way to intercept the train. All students stay in your compartments and be ready to defend yourselves should the need arise."
After he'd ended the spell, he opened the door and stepped out into the wind and onto the platform. Corin's hair streamed out behind him as he stood waiting for the riders to come into range. He could hear the panicked voices of students behind him and glared at the approaching deatheaters, raising his chin defiantly. Not one student on this train will be harmed if I have anything to say about it. And when the time comes for them to actually fight, I will make sure they're ready. He drew his bow from a small pouch in the dagger holster at his hip, then enlarged it and strung it in seconds. He drew and enlarged an arrow from a belt pouch at his waist, took careful aim as the train's pursuers came into range and fired.
Before they knew what was happening one of the lead riders fell to the ground and lay still. They weren't dead, elves don't kill unless absolutely necessary. Instead, the arrows are spelled to only hit the person so far as to give them a fairly large bruise and to prick them with the point of the arrowhead which was coated in an extremely strong sleeping potion. The potion would knock the victim out for about five hours unless given the antidote.
Lightning fast, he drew arrow after arrow from his pouch and fired. By then the deatheaters had caught on and had broken up to make smaller targets of themselves, not that it helped them much. He had taken out about four when they started firing back. The spells were absorbed by a shield he'd set up while warning the train, but when they started trying to pelt him with unforgivables he had to duck behind the wall next to the door. Even an elvish shield wasn't strong enough to block those spells. He was about to dart out to fire once more when a small round object came flying through the door and shatter on the ground in the middle of the corridor.
A yellow mist started swirling around him and he could see it heading down the length of the train. His eyes watered and he struggled to hold his breath against the fumes, but he could feel the smoke making its way down his nostrils and into his lungs. Suddenly, he was thrown forward to the ground and he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder as he was hit by a cutting curse. He would have hit himself for forgetting about the deatheaters if he'd been thinking clearly, but the yellow smoke had begun to affect him. He could feel himself becoming lightheaded where he lay numbly on the floor and he could see terrifying shadows darting in and out of his vision. The logical side of him knew that these were just hallucinations, but he still had a hard time stopping himself from panicking.
Closing his eyes, Corin concentrated on slowing his breathing which had begun coming in quick gasps. When he'd calmed down enough, he began chanting in elvish. He could feel the magic swirling around him where he lay and focused on the immediate problem: the mist. He knew that by now, it would have been spread throughout the whole train and everyone would be experiencing its affects, from the students to the professors and elves. As his magic began to work, he could feel the mist trying to resist him and pushed harder.
He was oblivious to everything around him, so he didn't notice as wind began to swirl around his motionless body, nor that his eyes had opened and were glowing a bright emerald green. All of a sudden, there was a blast of light and the magical wind tore down the length of the train, expelling the mist and leaving a fresh woodsy smell in its place. Corin barely had time to comprehend that he'd succeeded before he passed out.
"...happened to him?" A young boy's voice asked.
"How should I know, we just found him here." A girl asked exasperatedly.
"He looks like an elf." Another girl stated.
"No he doesn't!!" A second boy inserted scornfully.
"Not a house elf you git! Look at his ears, they're pointed."
"So?"
"Do you not read at all? Honestly..." The conversation probably would have continued along this vein for several more minutes, but Corin took that moment to groan and slowly open his eyes. Four young students were staring back at him, and by their lack of house colors, they were first years.
"Hi!" A girl with long dark-blonde hair and small silver glasses over olive green eyes said perkily.
Repressing another groan, he slowly sat up and winced as he jarred his injured shoulder. One of the boys gave him a concerned look and helped him lean against the wall. The boy helping him had dark brown hair and chocolate colored eyes. The last two students, another boy and girl, looked on as he leaned back and tried to get his bearings. The boy had light-brown hair and grey eyes while the girl had shoulder length, curly black hair and midnight blue eyes.
"What happened? Where are the deatheaters?" He asked quietly, his eyes scanning the train for danger.
The girl with curly black hair answered. "Either being held at the front of the train by the professors or escaped. There was an announcement couple of minutes ago. That's when me and Jemma looked outside our compartment and saw you laying there."
Corin nodded, relieved that the danger was past. "That's good to know." He paused and then continued. "My name is Corintur. What are yours?"
The dark haired boy who had helped him spoke first. "My name is Jackson Vail."
"I'm Brice Killian." The other boy stated.
"I'm Jemma Edwards, wicked ears by the way." The girl with blonde hair said and grinned impishly.
"My name is Raven Jansen. Pleased to meet you."
"I'm pleased to meet you as well." Corin gave them all a smile, suddenly glad he'd made the decision to come back to Hogwarts.
Woooo hooo!!! I finally got my next chapter up!!! Took me forever, I got a paragraph in and got writer's block... (sigh) LOL. Anyways, it shouldn't take as long next time for me to update.
Don't you love Jackson, Brice, Jemma and Raven? They're so cute!! I'll go into their personalities more in later chapters. They're not going to be major characters I don't think, just fun characters to insert in once in awhile to make the story fun to read.
Well, gotta go. Work tomorrow and such. bbye.
