The Morenians

By Onira

Commentary by Nightmare

Chapter Three

Welcome to Hogwarts

A sharp pain in her ear startled Autumn into wakefulness.

"Ow! Dammit Nightmare! Isn't there some other way you can wake me up?" Autumn snapped, holding ear smarting ear. However, her hand quickly switched to her head. She had sat up much too quickly and her head was pounding something fierce.

And miss all the fun of it? Never Nightmare retorted and Autumn gave him a dirty look.

The compartment door slid open, revealing a shabby, middle-aged man who Autumn presumed was a teacher.

"Are you alright in here?" He asked, leaning lightly on the doorframe.

"Good question." Autumn murmured, her hand going back to her ear, which unlike her head, still stung.

No, my eardrums are broken, courtesy of a certain witch

"Oh shut up, I didn't yell that loud." Autumn muttered.

"Pardon?" The teacher was looking at her oddly. Autumn gave herself a solid mental slap and smiled innocently at the man.

"Oh, nothing. Just talking to the cat."

"Alright, well. If you have any chocolate eat it. It helps the aftereffects to fade." The teacher took one last look around the compartment then left.

How rude. Not the least bit of concern about my poor ears

"Shut up! Your ears are fine!" Autumn told him. "Sorry to break it to you but the world does not revolve around you."

Well it ought to

"Very funny" Autumn grumbled, grabbing a chocolate frog.

Autumn arrived at Hogwarts and just like every year, was blown away by the castle's appearance. The mist and rain floated about the castle just so to give it an enchanted look to it, the lights from the windows casting long shadows upon the many students. The lake supported swirling clouds of fog, which frothed about lazily with no wind to direct it. Autumn was enchanted by the sight. But Nightmare was rather disgusted with the rain, opting to hide within Autumn's robes rather than peer about and risk getting wet.1

Autumn followed the other students, wondering which mode of transportation the third years were to use. It seemed that the school staff delighted in inventing new ways for each year to make the journey from the train stop to the school gates. The boat-trip across the lake had been Autumn's personal "favorite". Some idiot boy was in the same boat as her and capsized them. Despite the fact that she couldn't feel the cold, Autumn could still get sick from it. She had spent the first two weeks of school with a horrid head-cold that year because she was one of those people who believe that what didn't kill you made you stronger and refused to go see Madam Pomfrey.

Autumn was about to stand on tiptoe and look around when a massive hand landed on her shoulder. She looked up into the bushy face of Hagrid, the gamekeeper, and smiled broadly.

"Hagrid!" She cried in delight, enthusiastically hugging the great man about his waist (as that was all she could reach, even if she jumped).

"Hehe. Nice to see yeh too Autumn." He said, patting her on the back. Autumn oofed softly at the "pats", but didn't complain. She was too happy to see him. Autumn and the Hogwarts gamekeeper had become friends in her first year. She had been wandering the school grounds during a free period and was found by Fang, hanging upside down from a tree near Hagrid's hut.2

Since then, Autumn was always down near the hut, curiously inspecting whatever animals the tree had picked up overnight, as well as anything that Hagrid had on hand. Her favorite had been the dragon egg. But it disappeared and when she asked Hagrid about it he got all teary and didn't answer. After that Autumn left the subject alone, assuming that the egg had been confiscated. Hagrid always had some interesting creature for her to study.

Autumn looked up the man's vast belly at his beetle black eyes, one question very apparent in her look. It was less than an instant before she voiced said question.

"So Hagrid. You got anything good for me this year?" She asked, knowing Hagrid would know what she was talking about.

"As a matter o' fact I do. It's somethin' of a surprise though. 'Not supposed to be showin' yeh until yer lessons." Hagrid told her, leading the girl (whom was dwarfed in comparison) over to the carriages. Autumn, captivated with the secret, didn't take the time to look about, and was being nudged into a carriage before she knew it.

"Aww. Can't you show me sooner?" Autumn said sweetly, putting on her best puppy face. Hagrid looked warily left and right, then leaned in close to her. Autumn leaned in as well, eager to hear what he had to say.

"Come ter me hut t'mora mornin'. I'll show yeh then." He whispered, and Autumn nodded in reply, leaning back in sync with him. Hagrid looked "inconspicuously" about.

"Well then," he said, several octaves louder than need be. "Yeh best be gettin' off." Hagrid closed the door, turning back to the crowd of students, calling the first years towards the rivers edge.

Autumn took a detour almost immediately after exiting the Great Hall, slipping behind a column until the main body of students had passed. She hardly ever went to the sorting or the welcome dinner, having done so only in her first year. She darted to a side passage, stopping when she reached the stairways. She pulled Nightmare out of her sweater, rousing the sleeping kitten.

"Sorry to wake you. But you've got to learn how to get to the Ravenclaw house. I won't come and save you when you get lost." Autumn told the kitten, stowing him on her shoulder as the pair of them headed up the stairs. "There are a couple of passages that you can take to avoid the stairs, but I'll teach you about those later."

Why not just teach me the other ways instead?

"Because the regular way is the safest, if not the fastest. A lot of the passageways are somewhat hazardous. Besides, you'd probably get lost."

I told you, I don't get lost

"Arrogant little brat."

Hey, I'm technically a little older than you

"Yeah right. You're just a kitten!"

And by human standards, so are you

"You're still not older than me." Autumn told him, pulling a dark red ribbon from her wrist, previously used as a neck-bound fashion accessory. She tied the ribbon around his neck after looping an ID tag that she had quickly bought on her way to King's Cross station. "Before you complain, this is so you aren't exterminated by Filch."

I won't get-

"I heard you. But it makes me feel better, so hush." Autumn said, setting the kitten down. "Now. A couple words of warning from one who knows more than you, just start things off. Number one, Filch. He's just straight-up evil, and hates everything except his cat and torturing students."

If he likes cats why am I worried about him?

"I said his cat. He hates every other cat like they're out to steal his knickers. Number two is-" A high-pitched "wheee" sailed down the hallway, startling Autumn out of speech. She put her hand on her hip, resting her weight on one foot as she grinned down the hallway. "Well, well. Speak of the devil…"

"And I shall appear!" Peeves, the poltergeist did just that, a cloud of blue dust appearing along with him.

"'Lo Peeves." Autumn said amiably. "How have things been going while I was gone?"

"Downright dull! It's no fun without students to beleaguer!" Peeves said, punctuating his statement with giving a nearby painting a twirl, terrifying the ladies within.

"Sorry misses. Nothing personal." Autumn said, righting the painting.

Why are you warning me about this loudmouth? Nightmare asked, watching Peeves rotate in mid-air.

"Because he would have dragged you through water by your tail if he didn't know you were my friend."

I notice you didn't say pet. Just why is that? As Nightmare spoke, Peeves drifted down near him, putting his overlarge ear next to the feline.

"Because no pet of mine is older than me. Which you have made clear that you are." Autumn told him. Peeves lowered from the air, putting his ear near Nightmare as though trying to hear what the cat was saying. He became visually miffed when he heard nothing, indubitably feeling left out.

I'm glad you have finally consented to reason Peeves was beginning to turn pink. Autumn smiled apologetically at the rapidly reddening poltergeist.

"Sorry Peeves. Just telling him what he ought to watch out for." She explained. "Oh, and you're turning blue."

"Whoopsie! A 4th year hexed me a minute ago. It must be going into effect." Peeves said. "Must fly!" He jeered by way of salutation. And that was exactly what he did, with blue and purple sparks flying out his rear and through the nearby window. Autumn watched the violet spark shoot about outside for a moment,3 then turned to Nightmare.

"Anyway, just make sure he knows it's you. C'mon, let's go. I've got something to show you." Autumn led him through a sequence of corridors before arriving at a long, winding stairwell. The stairwell was ordinary enough, save for the fact that it went down 150 feet and had only four steps, placed quite far apart indeed. There was one initial step, then a sheer slant that extended out of sight.

And how, pray tell, does one get down this contraption? Nightmare asked, peering down the stairway. Autumn smiled wryly and picked him up, mounting the banister with practiced ease. The two whizzed down without any difficulty. Upon reaching the bottom, Autumn put Nightmare down to re-adjust her robes.

"No one ever seems to think of that. They try and charm themselves across." She giggled softly. "Their spell cuts out on the second step, which takes them back up to the first. Then they step back up to the first step, thinking to try again, which takes them to Mc. Gonnagle's office."

And how do you know that?

"People try to follow me, and their names are on the professor's detention list."

She gives detentions for being in her office? Nightmare asked as she picked him up.

"At the middle of the night? Yup."

And how did you avoid ending up on said list?

"Some jackass gave me phony directions in my first year. I didn't know any adequate levitation spells at the time so I just used the banister." Autumn said, heading down a pitch-black corridor. She laughed wryly.

"This part I managed to get through by chance. The second time through I had sooo much trouble. You just can't use a light spell, or touch the wall. The hall just goes straight so it's not that hard, but the second time I went through I tried to use the wall to guide me."

What's the wall do?

"Transport's you to the middle of a field out on the grounds. When I screwed it up, it was the middle of the night and raining like nobody's business. I got sooo soaked and muddy walking back. Filch had my ass for a week cleaning whatever had been touched by a student."

Sounds like such a friendly man Nightmare commented amiably.

"Very funny. Now, stop talking and don't make a sound." Autumn said, stepping off the ledge at the end of the hallway.

After about 30 seconds of falling, gravitational anomalies and overall silence, they slowed to a gentle stop. Autumn pointed her toes, touching the floor, which was scant inches from her feet, re-acquainting herself with gravity and walking onward.

"That fall is always so boring." She commented mildly.

Sure, once you get over the whole falling issue it's just fine! Nightmare said, his fur standing on end.

"Should I have warned you?"

Yeah!

"Sorry. I promise that it's worth it." She said, smoothing his ruffled fur and scratching behind his ears.

Stop that! He protested, then began to purr. That's cheating

"I know." Autumn said sweetly, putting him down. "Now come on"

She rounded a corner and entered a large room, in the center of which was a massive tree. It would have been a sycamore if it weren't burning. Each leaf was a single, brilliantly blazing flame. The trunk and branches were what seemed to be partially cooled lava, a crusty black color dominating the surface, slowly remelting and cooling in an undulating array of glowing red and obsidian. The tree itself was planted in a short, wide cylinder of what looked like purely molten lava. Autumn approached the tree and climbed up onto the rim of the cylinder.

Are you crazy? Nightmare shouted, running as close as he could without getting burnt. Autumn looked at him, slightly confused. It dawned on her within a moment.

"Oh, I can't feel any temperature aside from slightly cold." She said, climbing down and picking up the distressed feline. She tucked him inside her sweater, going back to the tree. "Don't worry. You'll be fine." She assured, climbing back up. She walked across the lava as one might walk on water. With the agility spawned only of practice, she climbed up the tree, heading for the center of the array of flaming branches.

"I really wish you could see this. It's fabulous."

I don't. Keep going Nightmare said, his words clipped and slightly high pitched.4 Autumn rolled her eyes and slid into a massive knothole in the tree's main limb. It was oddly cool and moist inside, considering the blazing exterior of the tree. Autumn slid to the bottom, which led out into a long hallway. She let Nightmare out of her sweater and his fur was once again standing on end.

"Oh calm down. It wasn't that bad!"

Yes it was

"You were in my sweater the whole time!"

Precisely

"Oh for goodness sake. Do you miss a single opportunity to insult me?"

Nary a one He said smugly. I enjoy it far to much to relent Autumn rolled her eyes and kept walking.

"You're not going to like this next part." She said as the sound of falling water became audible.

Joy Nightmare grumbled sarcastically. Autumn had to suppress impending laughter with a hand. They reached the end of the corridor, which had gradually become more of a cave or hollowed out rock-passage. A curtain of water fell over the exit.

No. Not even with you carrying me Nightmare said, planting his paws on the rocky stone floor.

"Oh don't be such a baby." Autumn said exasperatedly, reaching to pick him up.

No Autumn was taken aback by his tone, but relented.

"Fine. There's a second tunnel next to the one we came out. It opens out in the great hall. Wait for me there." Autumn said, pointing back down the passageway. Nightmare wasted no time in heading back, vanishing in the bluish half-light.5

Autumn went on ahead, the tunnel increasing in wetness with every step. She stepped in a rather large puddle of crystalline water. The fluid bent away from her foot, leaving her soft leather boots unharmed. Autumn retrieved a staff from behind a boulder, jabbing the end through the waterfall. It was as though the barrage of water was no more than a curtain of cloth. Autumn held it up, leaving an open passage blocked only by thick swirling mists and revealing a small stone island just beyond the waterfall's old path. Autumn returned the staff to its hiding place, the falls remaining in place.

She stepped through the doorway of sorts, the water loosing it's shape and falling once more in a single, uninterrupted sheet once she was out of reach of the water's barrage. She stepped through the mists, occasionally jumping from one rock island to another. Soon, she reached the end of the mists and looked about, the sight she saw blocking out all thought.

1 Rest assured I would take plenty of time to look at it when the weather was dry. But seeing as that was hardly the case, I opted for the lesser of the two evils and stayed within the girl's robes.

2How she got there, is a rather amusing story. A particularly active tree (not a Whomping Willow but something similar) had been placed in Hagrid's pumpkin patch to defend it from crows, ravens and the larger herbivores from the Forbidden Forest. But it was quite effective against students as well. Autumn had taken leave of her common sense and was wandering in the big man's pumpkin patch, investigating what had looked like an absurdly large garden slug with odd spines along its back. The tree most likely decided that she was a greater threat than the slug, and snatched her up. Quite right when you think about it. She would be able to do more damage, and faster than the gooey slug-thing could ever hope to.

3 It was soon extinguished by the rain, so she was only watching for a few seconds or so. Thank goodness too. I do hate it when people get sidetracked for too long. Up to five seconds is alright, but any longer than that and I am hopelessly tempted to walk off just to see their reaction.

4 Not exactly my finest hour. But how would you fare with nothing more than a sweater between you and a blazing inferno of a tree? I thought so.

5 Now, don't get the wrong idea folks. I am, most certainly, not afraid of water. But if I explain that it will give away part of the story and heavens forbid that I should do that.