DISCLAIMER: The Harry Potter characters belong to JKR. The other characters belong to themselves.
The Late Night Mentally Unstable Mouseketeers
Chapter 3 – Carriages
They all went and sat in the black carriages which were pulled by Thestrals, but Lena decided that she didn't want to join them now because she was feeling guilty, so she stopped for a moment and looked around to see which carriage was empty.
"Hey, aren't you coming?" Cory called for her from one of the carriages.
"I'm looking for someone. Don't wait for me." She said, faking a smile.
Cory closed the door of the carriage and turned to the others who were with him.
"What went wrong?" he asked.
Cyndi sighed. "Her neck and shoulder are bandaged. And when we asked her about it, she refused to answer."
"Said she fell off a tree." Nim said.
"Any reason not to believe her?" Pike asked.
"When you fall off a tree, your arm or collarbone might break. But if it's your neck, then you'd die." Cyndi said.
"I bet it's something else." Nim said.
"But why won't she tell us?" Cory asked.
"Dunno." Nim said with a shrug.
Lena found an empty carriage and was on her way to it when she bumped into someone.
"Hey, are you all right?" Slim asked.
"I'm fine." Lena said.
"You don't look fine." He said.
"I am. Really." She said with a smile.
"Then why aren't you in our carriage?" Slim asked.
"I have to meet someone." She lied.
"Okay, if you say so." He said and was about to leave when he stopped again. "Any idea what the meeting is for?"
Lena shrugged and walked to the empty carriage. She climbed up and sat inside it, hoping that no one would come and join her.
The voices of four boys reached her ears. She prayed that they wouldn't consider sitting in this carriage, but they were already there. Sirius climbed first and sat down next to Lena, followed by Remus and James who sat on the opposite side.
"Wait, we won't fit here. Carriage is only for four." Sirius said.
"I'll leave." Lena said and got up, but Remus held her hand. "No, you can stay. You were here first. Peter can look for another carriage to sit in." He looked at Peter who just shrugged and went to another carriage. Sirius glared at Remus for a second then sighed and shook his head.
Lena sat back in her corner and looked out of the window, feeling gloomy. Sirius was grinning while James' eyes were shooting daggers at Lena, who didn't seem to pay them any attention. Remus was staring at Sirius trying to make him stop grinning, but of course, when Sirius Black was thinking about a prank, no one could wipe the grin off his face.
"Holy mushrooms!" JJ yelled suddenly and stuck her nose at the window.
"What is it?" Siri asked and looked out of the window as their carriage started to move.
"Lena's in that last carriage and Potter's gang just climbed in!" JJ said.
"WHAT!" Dense exclaimed. "We should tell the others! Potter would hex her into the next millennium!"
"Too late," Siri said. "We're moving already."
"Bloody hell." Dense said. "Why did she go there in the first place?"
"No idea." Siri said. "But obviously something happened back in the train, because Gwen and Cyndi were quite angry."
"Let's just hope that she'd be all right after getting out of that carriage." JJ said, poking her head out of the window and looking back at the last carriage.
"So, Pettigrew." Slim said. "What brings you to our carriage?"
Peter couldn't find any other empty carriage, so he had to join Slim, Rianna and Gwen in their carriage.
"Why aren't you with your friends?" Rianna asked.
"One of your friends was occupying our carriage." He said, pulling himself to the corner.
"Don't be scared, Pettigrew. We're not as mean as you lot." Gwen said, eyeing him dangerously. "We don't go hexing people from the back, and surely not when they are unarmed."
Peter let out a sigh, although he didn't dare to move.
"Do you think she's all right?" Rianna asked, looking concerned.
"She should be. I don't see red sparks flying off any carriage." Gwen said and crossed her arms.
"Could someone please explain what happened back there?" Slim demanded.
"Not now, Slim." Siri said, nodding her head at Pettigrew.
Slim sighed and leaned back. "Did you have to choose this carriage?" he asked Peter.
"It was the only one with a free space." Peter replied.
Gwen snorted and kept looking out of the window. They were approaching the school and it was already dark.
When the carriages stopped in front of the gates, Gwen, Slim and Rianna got off and gathered in a corner, waiting for their other friends. After a few seconds Siri, JJ and Dense joined them, and they were followed by Pike, Cyndi, Cory and Nim.
"Where's Lena?" Dense asked.
"Did you see that she was in the same carriage as Black and Potter?" JJ said.
"She was what?" Cyndi asked, concern showing on her face. "If those slimey Gryffindors touched a hair of her, I'll..."
"No need to do anything, there she is!" Dense said. "Hey Lena! Over here!"
Lena looked at them and dragged her bag with her as she walked to join them.
"You all right?" Cyndi asked.
"Yeah. Guess so." Lena replied.
"Did Potter and his gang say anything to you?" Pike asked.
"No." Lena's reply was calm.
Gwen looked at her and tilted her head to the side.
"What was the spell they hit you with?" she asked.
"I didn't hear anything." Lena replied.
"Let's get in. The feast is about to begin." Cory said.
"Always thinking about the food." Nim said and poked him.
"Ouch!" Cory flinched and Nim laughed. "A boy's gotta eat, you know?" he added with a sheepish grin.
"Let's get in, I'm starving." Slim said.
"See?" Cory said to Nim and pointed at Slim who shrugged. Nim rolled her eyes and shook her head.
They all walked into the castle and headed to the Great Hall. They separated from each other when they were inside and each went to their house table. Cyndi and Pike were the last to enter, as they had to share a short see-you-later-kiss before going to sit with their housemates. Gwen pulled Lena with her and they sat down at the far end of the table, and Cyndi joined them a bit later.
"Pike!" Slim called and when Pike was close enough he whispered "lipstick!" and pointed at his lips. Pike quickly wiped the lipstick off his lips with his robe sleeve and sat next to Slim.
"Thanks, mate." He said.
"I should have a talk with Cyndi about her choice of make-up." Slim said with a sly grin on his face.
"Just be careful, she might hex you." Pike nudged his friend.
"True." Slim said and they laughed.
Professor Dumbledore called for silence and welcomed the new students to Hogwarts and the old students back to school. After the sorting, he made a few announcements before calling for the feast to start.
Everyone seemed interested in their food, especially Cory, who had three full plates in front of him, yet he took a piece of chicken leg from Nim's plate.
Professor McGonagall whispered something to Professor Sprout and she got up from her seat and walked to the Hufflepuff table. She stopped where Lena, Gwen and Cyndi were sitting and patted on Lena's shoulder, who winced.
"Sorry." Professor Sprout said, quickly pulling her hand.
"It's okay, Professor." Lena said with a smile.
"Professor Dumbledore would like to have a word with you after the feast." Professor Sprout said.
"Uh... all right. Does he want me to go to his office?" Lena asked.
"Yes. I'll escort you there." Professor Sprout said and went back to her seat at the teachers' table.
"What was that about?" Gwen asked.
"Do you think they know about what you did to Potter?" Cyndi asked.
"I don't know." Lena said and took a sip of her pumpkin juice.
"What's really wrong with your shoulder, Lena?" Gwen asked. "You didn't fall off a tree, and you can't lie to us."
"I'm not lying." Lena said, suddenly showing a big interest in the mashed potatoes in her plate. "I fell off the tree in our backyard."
"You live in an apartment. You don't have a backyard." Cyndi said.
"We'll talk about it at the meeting tonight." Gwen said.
At that moment, Peter Pettigrew passed by and he heard what Gwen said about the meeting. He quickly went to the Gryffindor table and told his friends what he heard.
"They're always gathered at the lake." James said. "We'll sneak on them tonight. I'll bring my cloak."
"I'll sleep." Remus said and continued eating.
"I'm coming with you." Sirius told James. "You're not allowed to have fun without me."
"I think I'll go to sleep, too." Peter said.
"Party poopers." Sirius said, looking at Remus and Sirius. "I expect you to be awake and waiting for us in the common room."
"Diggory will see us." Remus said. "We'll wait in the dormitory."
"Fair enough." Sirius said and drank some apple cider.