Chapter 16: On The Hogwarts Express Once Again
"We're leaving in five minutes boys!" Mrs. Weasley was standing at the foot of the stairs, looking quite aggravated.
"I don't see how it could take a whole hour to throw some books in your truck and put on some clothes." Alana said as she emerged from the kitchen, holding a muffin smeared with strawberry preserves. She was wearing her Whitehall uniform since it was the only set of muggle clothes she owned, other than her nightgown.
"I mean really, it took me only half that time to shower, dry my hair and do all the other girly morning things, plus straighten up my room!" she threw her arms out in befuddlement and exasperation, showering the wall with jam. Noticing the stain, Alana pulled out her wand, only to have it snatched away immediately by Mrs. Weasley.
"Hasn't anyone told you?" she asked "No magic outside of school!"
"Nope." she replied "Nobody's really told me much of anything. Hermione just threw me some spell books and told me to read." she shrugged and put her wand back inside the pocket of her blazer.
"We're not driving to Hogwarts are we?" Alana asked. Ron, who sat next to her, chuckled at the idea.
"Course not. We're only going to King's Cross, then we catch the Hogwarts Express." Alana looked at him funny, then elaborated "King's Cross is a train station, and the Hogwarts express is the school train." She had never been to the more urban parts of England, only the coast to deal with the restless dead.
When they arrived at the station, Alana was shocked that they had to get through a wall to get to the platform. The hidden area wasn't so much a secret more that wizards were bold enough to put a passage where so many mortals walked. They may be dense, but they could walk into it on accident.
Once on the platform, everyone said their farewells and loaded their trunks onto the train. They all quickly found an open compartment and settled down for the trip. Alana reached into her bag for one of her borrowed spellbooks.
"Oh no," Ron groaned "Another Hermione. Why do girls care so much about their grades?"
"Couldn't tell you mate." Harry shrugged "One advantage though, if Hermione won't let us copy her notes, I'm sure Alana will."
"Hardly boys." Alana laughed "I'm just catching up to the rest of the sixth years and after that, I'll show everyone how much fun it is to be a Lucas." Her grin was more than mischievous enough to convince Harry and Ron that it was going to be a very fun year, but Hermione on the other hand, wasn't to keen on the idea. Her eyes were wide just from thinking about all the trouble they could get in, which only made everyone in the compartment laugh.
Their entertainment was short lived however, because at that moment, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle decided to make an appearance.
"Well well well, look what we have here boys, potty, the weasel and the mudblood. And look, they have a new friend." He smiled wickedly and his cronies chuckled oafishly behind him.
Alana only smiled her mischievous and deceptive smile but the gears in her head were grinding tirelessly, thinking up was to torment the boy. As he took another step into the compartment, she felt his death aura radiate from him like heat from a fire.
"Go away Malfoy." Harry said monotonously, like he was used to his annoying presence.
"I don't really want to Potter." His eyes flashed maliciously "I would much rather stay and get to know your pretty little friend over there." He nodded his head towards Alana. Obviously he didn't remember anything from the previous day. only a fool would say such a thing to someone who had nearly killed them. "But I'm sure you and Weasley have already,"
"I'm warning you Malfoy." Harry growled, but the Slytherin wasn't listening. He just continued with what he was saying.
"She seems like that type, doesn't she? She's got the same manner about her that Pansy does. But I certainly don't mind that, you could almost say I enjoy that sort." He smirked malignly again.
"Get out!" Harry roared, shoving Malfoy squarely in the chest and back into the hallway. He slid the door shut so hard it didn't latch and bounced back to open again. More carefully this time, but not without anger, he slammed it closed and thumped himself down onto the seat, breathing heavily.
"Don't give yourself a heart attack there." Alana said sarcastically resting her hand on Harry's shoulder. "He's a swank. Nobody ever cares what he's on about."
"You can't tell me you didn't care what he said about you." he said incredulously.
"I can say that, without a grain of dishonesty, yes, it did hurt a little, but you can't let people like him get under your skin. It's not worth it." she shrugged and squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. "And I certainly don't want you getting work up over something he said about me."
"You sure?" he asked, wondering if she was testing how good of a friend he would turn out to be.
"What can I say?" she asked innocently, "I'm a big girl. I can buckle my own boots and everything."
Harry half smiled and returned to his games with Ron while Hermione and Alana continued reading their spell books. Alana was getting the hang of the concept of wizard magic and was breezing through the text books quickly, being at the Standard Book of Spells: Grade Two by the middle of the trip.
"Hey Alana?" Hermione asked, setting down her own text.
"Hmm?" Alana replied, not looking up
"Have you actually.... used your wand at all yet?"
Alana put her book down and glared at her bag, where the wand currently held residence, if a wand can do that.
"Nope. Is that a big deal? No one else was allowed to before they came to school."
"Yeah, but not everyone else was as powerful as you." Harry said, looking up from his and Ron's game of chess after moving his bishop. "That makes a big difference."
"Yeah, we can't have anything funny happen when you use it." Hermione continued "Maybe you should test it out."
Alana waited a minute before answering. "Okay." she said and glared at her bag, making no move to retrieve the item.
"I'll get it." she waited longer "Any second now."
"Oh for God's sake! What's the problem?" Ron blurted out
"Try as soon as I pick that thing up I'm resigning my magic temporarily to the void." She turned her glare to him. "To me, becoming a wizard is like you becoming a mortal."
"Oh..."
"This is stupid." She said suddenly, lashing out to grab her wand. When she touched it, it tingled, like back in the shop. "What now?"
Hermione thought a minute and finally said "Make the chess table fly."
Alana stared at her. "You're kidding right? I have to use this to float a board game?" she was dumbfounded at how powerless the wizards were. Albus didn't need his wand to do stuff like that, but then again he wasn't any ordinary wizard.
"Yeah we do." Harry said stepping back. "We need a wand to do almost any sort of magic."
Alana scoffed and points her wand at the game. A flurry of sparks tickled the air around the wand and the table shoots up a few feet.
"No no, no." Hermione scolded, stepping forward with her own wand out. "You have to say the words that were in the book. Normal wizards that are still at school can't do anything without the words."
"You have go to me joking." Alana's jaw dropped "Have you ever tried?"
"Well, sort of, but it didn't work so-"
"So if Hermione can't do it. No one at school can. She top of our year, if not the whole school." Ron offered. Harry was unusually interested in a spider on the window.
"Try again. And try to do it without the sparks. Like this. Wingardrium Leviosa!" She waved her wand and Crookshanks' basket floated into the air.
"Wingardrium Leviosa!" Alana repeated, her bag rocketed upwards.
"I think she's got it." Harry said obviously from his perch at the window. He held a copy of the Quibbler poised and ready to smash the not so unsuspecting spider that was scurrying its way to the ceiling.
"I think she's got everything." Ron stated, staring at the bag. Hermione threw him a look.
"But can you get it down?" She asked, dubious. Alana dropped twitched the end of her wand and the satchel plopped back onto the bench.
"Looks like it." Hermione said, plunking next to the school bag. "What else can you do?" A mischievous grin spreads across her face.
"With or without the stick?"
"Without." Ron said instantly. "I want to see some of your magic."
"It's really not all that impressive." Alana said, sitting next to him. "It's basic stuff. What should I do?"
"Something simple." Harry said. "If you really haven't used your magic in a while it might not be a good idea to do anything big."
"Good point." Alana said, standing up and crossing to the compartment door to make sure it was latched. "What to do, what to do..." she muttered to herself quietly. She finally decided on what to do and turned to face her friends.
"So what's it going to be?" Hermione asked curiously. She had read somewhere that Taestai magic was very complex and required a ceremony to their gods.
"You all know I'm a Taestai, and where I come from we have certain things we have to carry with us when we go to battle." She held up her hands, about ten inches apart and closed her eyes. She concentrated on her memories of battles and fight training, remembering every graceful move and well planned blow to her enemies. A rich golden glow erupted from her hand and as soon as it came, the light was gone. In it's place was a beautiful sword, much like the one used at Maggie's funeral ceremony, but in different metals and gems. The blade was made of a shimmering silver, and reflected the flames from the many candles lighting the compartment. The hilt was made of black iron with tiny gold traced patterns etched in a swirling pattern down it. The pommel was inlaid with a large amethyst, the same color of Alana's eyes.
"Whoa." Harry said, moving towards Alana and the sword. "Where did that come from?"
"The manor." Alana's eyes snapped open. She glanced at Harry for a moment before flinging the blade into the air and snatching the hilt as it fell back to the floor. As her hand contacted the cool black metal, the amethyst flared to life with a brilliant light that swirled inside it like thousands of tiny stars.
"That's remarkable!" Hermione exclaimed, rushing over.
"It's the sword I received at my Initiation." Alana said softly, her voice riddled with emotion. "When one of us enters the Interregnum alone for the first time and add their sliver of power to the circle, they've got to be protected against anything they might go up against. So they give you a blank sword, made of silver, and send you in. After you get used to the surroundings, you have to make your way to Water's Edge, which is the one place all the Taestai can meet together no matter where they are on in the geographical world. It's a large building, or at least looks like one, and is sort of the center of our entire culture. That's where you are Initiated and all sorts of other things. Part of the Awakenings are there and our council meets there every so often to deal with tribal stuff and what not. Its the Taestai version of the Catholic Vatican, I guess."
"That's...interesting." Ron said slowly trying to process the information she'd given him.
"I never thought the Taestai had a government or religion or anything organized like that." Hermione jumped in, her brain on full intellectual mode. "All the books I've read on them have never mentioned a focal point of their practices in the dark magics-"
"I thought we had agreed that the things you've been told about us aren't entirely true." Alana said quietly "Nowadays you can only trust what comes out of a Taestai's mouth. Unless of course it's Albus Dumbledore that says it. You can trust almost anything he says as long as you aren't an evil wizard or necromancer or something like that."
"Sorry. I- I forgot. I'm just so used to trusting the things in a book that I-"
"Don't worry about it. I know it will take awhile to understand."
The rest of the trip went by smoothly, Harry, Ron and Hermione explained how the first day of classes usually goes, along with rules the school has about curfews and behavior and such. There were no interruptions by any other unwanted guests, but there were a few friends who stopped by to talk with Harry, Ron or Hermione, including Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood, both of whom seemed not all there, but nice all the same.
"Are we there?" Alana asked anxiously, Peering out the compartment's window as the train slowed to a halt.
"Mm hm, Hogsmeade station, in the only all wizarding town in Britain." Harry explained as he shoved his chess board into his trunk. "We get to visit there every month or so to relax. It's pretty fun actually. A very nice break from all the class work."
"It's cute." Alana said fondly as she continued to stare out the window. "It reminds me of a little city near where I live. Is this place good for shopping? I mean, does it have normal shops or strange and unique ones."
"Um, normal I would think." Harry said "There's a clothes store and a couple pubs. It's not like Knockturn Alley or anything." He whipped his cloak off the wall hook and slung it over his shoulders. "Ready to drown yourself in primitive magic?"
"Oh I wouldn't say you're that bad." Alana said "You could be like those muggles and not have any magic. But I must say, these sticks are pretty foolish. I mean look at them!" she held her wand in front of her face as she walked down a dirt path leading away from the train station. "It's not even decent enough for firewood! It's a twig, and so easily broken. Wouldn't that be a loss."
"Alana! Be quiet! Do you want everyone to hear?" Hermione hissed from next to Ron. "You're a witch. You have always had a wand. Do you hear me?"
"Yes Aunty." Alana said teasingly "And I promise I'll play nice with the other kiddies, just don't send me to my room." She held her hands in front of her as if she were begging.
"Shouldn't it be 'yes mother?'" Ron asked, and Alana's face fell.
"I wasn't raised with a mother." she said, trying to sound untroubled. "Or a father. They both died when I was five. During the Seventh Battle of Lethe when thousands of Necromancers and dead creatures attacked us without any warning at all. After they were found, all of my aunts and uncles tried to raise me together. I think it worked out just fine. There was a reason for it, it may not have made sense then, or even now, but it will some day."
"Oh, I shouldn't have-"
"Stop, it's not a big deal. I don't really remember what it was like to live with them so I don't really miss them. I know it sounds horrible but it's the truth." Alana repositioned her bag on her shoulder and tucked her wand into the front pocket. "Instead of having one mother figure, I've had dozens."
They continued in silence for the rest of the walk, which turned out to be quite lengthy. Ron was still acting awkward at bringing up such a horrible memory for Alana, which probably in turn, brought up Harry's memories of his dead parents. Understandably he felt quite upset.
Alana, on the other hand, was more interested in everything around her, the forest on the far end of the town looked mysterious and like the perfect place to explore on a lazy day. The little town itself looked even more familiar when she was so close to it. The houses were adorable and made her think of home even more.
They climbed in the carriages supplied at the end of the pathway and Alana was delighted to see that the school owned thestrals.
"We have a few at home. Legend says that they were first created when a dying horse was taken into the river by its master and the river's waters seeped into it's blood through the cuts it had from a battle. Instead of dying, the horse changed and developed some strange and unique abilities. Like their invisibility and quickness."
"I think they're creepy." Harry said quietly
"I can even see them," Ron scoffed "so it doesn't matter anyways." Hermione only nodded beside him.
"You'll end up seeing them sooner or later." Alana mumbled off-handedly as she tried to unlatch the carriage door. "Why...won't...you...open?!" She thrust her shoulder against the door at the same time Harry lifted the knob, sending them both tumbling to the dirt ground at the foot of the front steps.
"Ow! This is why I hate-" Alana stopped and gave Harry a funny look. "Could you get off!" she snapped.
"Sorry." He snapped back. "It's not like I was trying to smash you or anything."
"No, but most people would have the common sense to move after crumpling someone to the floor." She stood and dusted off her robes.
"Well maybe I'm not like other people." he replied, standing as well and picking up her bag for her. "Like I said before, I didn't mean it."
"You're forgiven, but only because you're so polite." she said, smiling as she accepted her bag. He only glared at her. "I was just kidding around. No need to get grumpy."
"Sorry to break this up." Hermione said, stepping up behind Harry "But I'm starved." She rushed up the steps and joined the throng of people waiting to enter.
"Me too. That train ride made me real hungry." Ron jumped out of the carriage and charged between Harry and Alana, making the both stumble backwards.
"You're always hungry!" Harry shouted to his back. Ron waved his hand at him.