Chapter 6
There was nothing else that really happened for the rest of the day, a squabble from Zareh and Raelin everyonce in awhile, but nothing major.
"So you got everything then." Zareh questioned at around eleven o'clock at night. Vala nodded her head and passed the package to her from the folds of her dark robes.
Raelin raised a delicate eyebrow. "You're starting that bloody potion now? Why didn't you start it when we got back? You're going to be up the whole cursed night!"
Zareh shrugged nonchalantly and took out her brand new cauldron and several other herbs and whatnot.
"What time do we have to be at the train station by?" the werewolf asked, rubbing the bridge of her nose tiredly.
"Eleven I think," was the distracted reply. "King's Cross Train Station, Platform 9 ¾."
"I didn't need that much description, White." Raelin growled. She reached over and took her Braille schoolbooks out of the bag.
"Don't wreck those, it took me forever to find them and they are very hard to come by." Zareh ordered, not looking up from the potion book she was reading out of as she placed some sort of plant into her cauldron.
"Why?"
"Probably because blind magic users are very rare, you need much concentration in order to master many of the spells, charms and whatnot to graduate from a school."
"I can identify almost anything by its smell." Raelin protested, crossing her arms.
"But that is only if we have already made you smell it and then told you its name." Vala replied, surprising herself in her need to be included in the conversation.
"What is with this nickname, 'White'?" Zareh asked suddenly, looking up from her book.
"It's your middle name, isn't it?" Raelin pondered aloud.
The sorceress blushed, remembering her strange middle name. "Yeah, it is… I'd forgotten about that."
"You didn't think it was important enough to remember back when we left England the first time, did you?" Raelin continued.
Vala's face turned to stone at the mention of their previous time spent in the country. Unfolding her wings, the half vampire walked up the walls and took her place hanging upside down on the rafters, curling her feathered wings around her body as she tuned out her siblings conversation.
"Apologize," Zareh ordered her youngest sister.
Raelin slipped under the covers of her bed and gave Zareh an innocent smile, though she didn't realize what she had done wrong. "What ever for?"
Zareh growled in frustration, thinking Raelin knew the meaning of the words she had spoken. "Never mind, go to sleep."
The young werewolf frowned, turning on her side and closing her eyes while Ranger jumped up onto the end of her bed.
The sorceress rubbed her eyes tiredly as she continued to put ingredients into her cauldron for her vampiric sister's potion.
… … … …
Vala was awakened to the sounds of Zareh running around like a chicken with her head cut off, busily trying to pack up all their belongings.
"What in the hell are you doing?" Raelin muttered, shoving her head under the pillow to try and block out the sounds of her oldest sister.
"I'm packing."
"We can see that… for the most part." Raelin replied sarcastically as she slowly got up and stretched. "But why are you packing?"
Zareh looked from one sister to the next with a wild look in her eye. "Why? WHY?"
"I do believe that was the question." Vala stated as she lightly landed on the floor below.
"We've got to be at the train station in half an hour! Here's your potion." Zareh retorted, throwing a small vile at her vampiric sister. Vala caught it and looked into the black depths of the bottle. "Drink up and be happy about it, I got two hours sleep this morning."
"Well, someone is in a happy mood this morning." Raelin muttered as she proceeded to get dressed behind a makeshift dressing room made from levitating bed sheets.
Vala uncorked the bottle and sniffed it cautiously before her fangs grew longer. It smelt of fresh Muggle-born witch blood. The best kind.
"Just drink it and then get dressed." Zareh ordered, shrinking several objects and placing them into her trunk, closing it with a loud snap.
The half vampire sighed and took the liquid in a single gulp. Almost immediately, her wings began to retract into her shoulder blades, leaving behind nothing but two long scars in their place.
"They will come back right?" Vala questioned timidly, feeling rather naked without her large feathered wings pressed against her back.
"Yes, yes, yes, of course. You have to take the potion once a year (should be easy to remember) and they come out whenever you will them to, though it might hurt a bit."
"She's nearly been staked through the heart several times by those bloody annoying vampire hunters that are always roaming around the village, I think she can handle a small bit of back pain." Raelin stated, her eyes filled with mirth.
The young werewolf twirled around in front of her guide wolf, showing off her long grey skirt and bright green T-shirt over a white sweater. Ranger barked as a complement.
Vala (who had just exited the bathroom from changing) chuckled at the two as she did up the clasp of her black cloak.
"Do you three want to get a seat on the train or not?" Zareh demanded, while throwing her white robes on over her pajamas. Her blond hair was sticking out in several directions, not caring if its owner was extremely frustrated and annoyed.
Raelin sighed as she threw on her robes over her outfit and placed her cloak on over that. With the wave of her wand, the bed was made, her trunk was packed and her hair fell over her shoulders in ringlets.
"That's very impressive, out the door, out the door, out the door." Zareh ordered, herding the half vampire, the werewolf, and the wolf out of the room. And, with a final glance around to make sure she had everything, herself too.
Zareh flew down the stairs, almost quite literally, and was about to dash out of the pub, when a man dressed in a clean crisp suit stepped in front of her.
"Excuse me, but we're in a bit of a rush at the moment, we need to get to…" Zareh never got to finish, because the man interrupted her.
"Are you Zareh Knight?" he asked. The sorceress nodded cautiously. "I am Joseph Lang, an Auror for the Ministry of Magic. Dumbledore instructed me to drive you three to the train station."
"Oh thank Merlin!" Zareh gasped. "Where's the car?"
"Follow me," Mr. Lang led the group outside (after Zareh had thanked Tom and given back the key to their room) to a car parked just in front of the pub.
King's Cross Train Station…
"Thank you so much, Mr. Lang." Zareh stated as she quickly got out of the car at the train station.
Mr. Lang waved off the two Galleons the sorceress held out to him. "It was a mere favour for a friend, you don't have to pay. But you are going to miss the train if you keep staling."
Zareh let out a small squeak and began to lead the way towards the ninth platform with her trunk in hand and two cages in the other. Vala had gotten stuck with two trunks again and Raelin was in between her two sisters with Ranger trotting happily behind her, holding one cage with her opposite hand.
"Excuse me, sir." Zareh tapped a conductor on the shoulder. "But might I inquire where Platform nine and three quarters is?"
The man looked confused. "Sorry miss, but there isn't a platform in this station by that number."
Raelin, however, saw a blue aura a little way away and began to follow it. Zareh sighed and looked around for her youngest sister a few seconds later, only to see her walking right towards the brick wall between platforms nine and ten!
Suppressing the urge scream, Zareh made a wild lunge for Raelin – only to see her walk right through the wall!
Vala watched with an amused smirk on her lips as Zareh stared dumbfounded at the "solid" wall before her. After several seconds past, the half vampire got impatient and also walked through the wall, leaving behind a still stunned sorceress.
"Wait just a minute!" Zareh hissed. Vala made no move to come out.
"Having a bit of trouble?" a male voice questioned behind her.
Zareh jumped what seemed to be a foot in the air and whirled around to see the owner of the voice with wild eyes.
"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." Sirius stated, trying hard not to laugh.
"You didn't scare me, I was merely practicing jumping for the suicide I was going to commit tonight. Now, if you will excuse Me." Zareh replied haughtily, raising her nose in the air as she walked through the barrier with her heart pounding loudly in her chest without a second thought. (Which probably would have been asking herself if the two were wizards or Muggles.) Leaving behind the puzzled duo of James Potter and Sirius Black.
Raelin saw her sister almost immediately. She placed her right forefinger and thumb in her mouth and whistled loudly. "Zareh! Over here!"
The sorceress all but ran over to her sisters as they boarded the very last car.
"What took you so long?" Vala questioned, raising an eyebrow.
"Shut up," replied a very annoyed sorceress. "Here's an empty cabin, we're going in here."
"What got you so tweaked?" Raelin muttered as she got shoved into said cabin.
Zareh didn't reply as she threw her trunk onto the seat near the window and climbed up into one of the luggage racks. Not before downing a small pill for her acute motion sickness.
"What in the name of Merlin are you doing?" asked Vala, rubbing her temples and adjusting her dark sunglasses.
"I'm tired and this is like sleeping in a Muggle bunk bed. Now shut up and leave me alone." Within ten seconds of that sentence, Zareh was sound asleep, snoring lightly.
Ranger snorted and jumped up onto the seat next to his master, while Vala took the seat opposite her. (After putting the trunks up in the other rack.)
A knock suddenly came at their cabin door.
"Enter… if you dare." Raelin said darkly, laughing at herself afterwards.
The door slid open to reveal a short teenager with thick, curly, dark red hair and bright green eyes that seemed to sparkle, and, from what Raelin could see, she was Muggle born.
"Hi, all the other compartments are full, mind if I ride in here?" she asked politely.
Raelin shrugged. "Sure, we're not expecting anyone else… unless you count the hoard of Death Eaters I invited for lunch, eh Val?"
Vala nodded and tried her best not to burst out laughing at the sudden paleness of the newcomer's face.
"She's just joking, sit wherever." Vala said quietly.
"Just don't put your trunk up there," Raelin pointed to the rack above her head. "My sister's sleeping."
The teen gave Zareh an odd look before placing her trunk on top of the rack opposite and sat down next to Vala.
"I'm Raelin Knight, that's Zareh and that's Vala, my older sisters."
"I'm Lily Evans." Lily eyed Ranger strangely.
"Oh, this is Ranger, completely forgot about him. He's my guide wolf."
Lily looked surprised and was about to say something when there was another knock at the door.
"What?" Raelin yelled at the piece of wood.
"Is there room in here?" a familiar voice asked, causing Lily to scowl. "There's no room anywhere else. Thanks to someone."
With the flick of her wand, the door slid open and revealed a group of three teenage boys.
James grinned over to Lily. "Hullo Evans, fancy meeting you here."
Lily's scowl deepened. "Hullo Potter." She spat out, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Got room for three?" Sirius asked, glaring down at Peter, who was the reason the three were without a compartment.
Raelin tilted her head to one side. "Who else is with you, it's not Remus."
"I am," Peter said proudly, raising his hand slightly. "My name's Peter Pettigrew."
"Remus has perfect duties to attend to," James explained. "He might come in for the last hour or so."
"Come and sit, there's plenty of room, isn't there Ranger?"
The wolf sulked as he got off the seat and sat down at his master's feet. James sat down next to Raelin (much to the delight of Lily) and scratched behind Ranger's ear. Sirius took a seat next to him, and Peter promptly sat next to Lily. After they had all shrunk their luggage and placed them on the rack above Vala and Lily. (James had to help Peter shrink his, though.)
This should make for an interesting train ride. Vala thought silently to herself, smiling inwards as she heard the beginnings of an argument between Lily and James.
Thank you all loverly fans of this story. Hope you all like this chapter and decide to make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside when you REVIEW please! Any questions/comments muchly appreciated.