Chapter 3 - In The Train

Logan joined his father in the living room, Firewhiskey glass in his hand. His father was already sitting on his favorite chair, reading the Daily Prophet. Smiling inwardly, since he already knew what was on the newspaper, Logan sprawled himself lazily on the chair next to his father's.

He could listen to his mother on the kitchen, still; Daniella was upstairs in her bedroom, sulking, and that mood had lasted since she'd come back home. That made his mood improve a little more. That was a good sign, as far as he was concerned. Maybe the Mudblood had some common sense, after all...

A low chuckle interrupted his thoughts. Logan looked up at this father, as he shook his head at the Prophet. "Anything interesting?" He asked his father.

"More Dementors in Azkaban," was his father's reply. "As if that will help them. They still have no idea who's behind those attacks last week. I'm telling you, son, things are starting to change." The older man looked up at Logan with a stern look in his eyes. "And I certainly hope you've been paying close attention to whom you will befriend at your new job in the Ministry. It's all about making the right connections now."

The corners of Logan's lips curved upwards, his eyes twinkling. If only his father knew... "Oh, I'm quite aware, father. Trust me."

Mr. Hawke snorted humourlessly. "Trust you?! Hmm. We'll see about that."

Logan's expression hardened. He burned with desire to tell him, but he held his tongue. He clenched his teeth and stared at his glass instead. He would see! And then he wouldn't belittle him anymore. Just you wait and see!, he thought.

Knowing it would be useless to expect his father's approval, which rarely came anyway, Logan finished his drink in one large, nearly tear-inducing, fiery gulp and stood up.

"Are you going out again?" His father asked in that disapproving tone he seemed to reserve only for his children.

"Maybe," Logan replied lowly, walking out of the living room. When he reached the top of the stairs, he didn't go to his room, though. Instead, he turned left to his sister's. For all they seemed to argue all the time, lately, she was still the only person - besides their mother - who actually cared about him. He didn't like hurting her feelings, but he knew things she didn't even dream of. He had to keep her safe. By any means necessary. Even if it meant she would hate him for a while.

Taking a deep breath and bracing himself for his sister's temper, he knocked on her door. After almost a minute passed without an answer, he knocked again. And kept on knocking. He didn't stop until he heard some muffled sounds inside and the door was flung open by magic. He hid the grin as best he could and stepped into the room.

Daniella was sitting on her stuffed chair by the window, on her pyjamas, hugging her bent knees and looking intently away from him, out the window. "What do you want, Logan?"

He walked further into the room and sat at the feet of her bed, elbows braced on his knees, looking intently at her. Had the boy told her about his visit? "You're upset," he stated the obvious.

"I'm angry. Leave me alone."

"Why?" His eyes narrowed slightly. "Who hurt you?"

Daniella's head turned in his direction suddenly and there was such heat and anger in her eyes, he was a little taken aback. But he stood his ground. Eventually she looked away again.

"Just go away, Logan."

"You used to trust me, Dany."

She snorted at that and shook her head. "Damn right, Logan. Used to. But you changed. Ever since you started hanging out with those creeps you call friends." She turned fully to him, now and studied him. "I barely recognize my big brother anymore... You changed so much, sometimes I wonder if I ever knew you at all!"

Those words chilled Logan. He leaned closer to his sister, and said urgently, "It's still me, Dany! I know I mess up sometimes, I know I come on too strong, but I'm just trying to keep us all safe. Trying to keep you safe. You're my lil' sis. It's always been my job to look after you..."

"Logan, I'm not-" Daniella started, exasperated, but Logan interrupted her.

"I'll do better now, Dany, I promise. I'll start my new job tomorrow, and things will be better. You'll see."

Daniella's look was doubtful. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out. She sagged back into her chair and shrugged. "If you say so... Now, leave me alone, Logan. I need to pack my things."

-/-/-

Josiah packed all of his school things quickly with a single charm; all of his clothes folded themselves neatly into organized stacks. He smiled a small half-smile to himself as he remembered the first time he had ever packed for Hogwarts. Things were much different now.

He hovered his trunk carefully down the stairs, taking care not to scrape the walls with its edges.

"I'll see you at Christmas, mum…" he said to his mother, who was misty-eyed. She wrapped her arms around Jo's neck.

"You're all grown up," She whispered, her voice cracking. She was trying to be as composed as possible. He smiled at her, patting her on the back. Something tackled him from behind at the waist, and he turned around to pat his little sister on the head.

"Wotcher, Pea," he grinned, giving her a tight squeeze. Then, he Flooed to Diagon Alley, cutting across London to King's Cross.

Daniella pulled her trunk across the station without turning to see if her mother would follow her through the fake wall. Of course she would, but Daniella still hoped Logan wouldn't. He had insisted he'd come with the two of them, and Daniella knew why.

She quickly looked around the station, then at the train, feeling a little relieved Josiah wasn't in sight. "Aren't you going to say goodbye to us, Dany?" Logan's voice reached her a second later.

She turned to him, giving him the same an annoyed look that stated her thoughts clearly. He chuckled, but she saw him look around as well. Huffing out a breath, she released the grip on her trunk and gave her mother a quick hug.

"Have fun, dear. And be careful," her mother said, brushing her long hair back.

"I will. Goodbye, mother," Daniella said, dodging Logan's hand as he tried to ruffle her hair.

"See you around, Dany."

She glanced at him, but didn't answer. Now that she was going back to Hogwarts, the magnitude of his actions had come back full force to haunt her. But she'd promised Jo, so she just raised a hand in goodbye as she turned away and entered the train.

Josiah spotted Dan and her family almost immediately, and turned a full 180 degrees at the sight of them. It pained him, but it was necessary; there was no way they could be seen together in front of her brother. A dull thud interrupted his thoughts, and he jumped back a bit, realizing that he had run into a person.

"Sorry," he squeezed out, his heart thudding in his ears as he recognized the other boy's face. "Noah," he attempted weakly, feeling lightheaded and dream-like all of a sudden. His eyes lingered on Noah's chest, finding the glistening badge there that hadn't been present last year. "You've been made Quidditch Captain. Congratulations."

Noah raised his hands to stop the shorter boy, but he bumped into him before he had time to say anything. His eyes narrowed a little as he recognized him: Ravenclaw's Prefect.

"Josiah," he greeted in his deep, slightly raspy voice. He glanced down at his own badge and the grin returned to his round face. A grin he'd been showing as often as that badge since he'd received it. "Yeah!" he said, adjusting it proudly. "And we'll get that Cup for Gryffindor this year! Nothing personal," he added with a smirk.

Josiah self-consciously straightened his own badge as a group of tiny first years tumbled past. He gave Noah a shy half-smile. He remembered….

"It's alright, we're used to Gryffindor getting the Cup," Jo murmured good-naturedly. "Potter never gave us a break, either."

There was silence after this observation, and he felt his cheeks start to heat up as his mind scrambled for something to say before Noah lost interest.

Noah shrugged at that. Was Josiah another Potter fan? Not that he cared, of course, but the few times they'd exchanged more than a few words in class, Josiah looked like someone with a wider range of interests. He didn't even look like the kind of guy who cared much for Quidditch.

"Well, yeah, Potter was a great player." He admitted. "But he didn't play alone. We can do just as well without him." He was going to make sure of that.

He pushed his trunk further into the compartment to make space in the aisle as more people passed by, pushing them on their way. Then, he turned back to Josiah, still standing there. "I didn't know you liked Quidditch…"

Jo nodded emphatically, cautiously putting his trunk down. He would have to leave for the Prefect's compartment when the train began to move, but for now, he had plenty of time to enjoy this opportunity.

"I didn't mean to imply… just that he was Captain…" Josiah said rather quickly, chuckling a bit. Quidditch conversations weren't his strong point, but that wasn't going to stop him from trying.

"I, um, read a book about mediwizards who heal injuries at Quidditch matches. It piqued my interest, so I read Quidditch Through the Ages after that. And I've gone to Hogwarts matches, of course, but that's all. I'm not really a good flyer myself…."

Noah ran a hand over his short blond hair, his fingers touching the small scar on the back, thanks to a nasty Bludger a couple years ago. "Quidditch teams always need more people willing to do that. Not many Healers specialize in sports injuries, and not all of them are due to Bludgers."

Three of his Gryffindor teammates passed by then, greeting him loudly on their way, teasing him about the badge. He was the oldest one on the team now, one of only two 7th year students there. Noah hesitated, but he didn't really feel like joining the noisy group yet. He leaned back against the compartment door.

"So, you're going to become a Healer? That's cool… it takes way more studying than I'd ever be willing to do, though. I can't imagine doing anything other than flying, you know? I've been riding a broomstick for as long as I can remember!"

Jo nodded again, hanging on Noah's every word.

"There was an entire chapter about injuries related to faulty Braking Charms," he said knowledgably. "People don't think about it much, but it's still a pretty serious problem. You don't see it very often in professional teams because they use the Nimbus, but people riding Comets and Cleansweeps…." He trailed off, realizing he had been dominating the conversation.

His gaze followed Noah's noisy friends down the corridor, and he wondered if the other boy was just staying with him to be polite.

"Well, when I was younger, I just wanted to be a doctor," he murmured, a little more reservedly. "Being Muggleborn, you know. When I learned about Healing, it was everything I'd ever dreamed of and more." He paused a moment, smiling a little at the thought of a young Noah zipping around the heads of his parents on a broomstick. "It must have been fun for you."

Noah bit his lip to help him keep a straight face, but it was difficult to hide his amusement at Josiah's enthusiasm. He let out a low chuckle. "I actually tried to fix my old Comet after I crashed into the same tree three times. But I'm not very good at Charms." He frowned a little at his own ease admitting an embarrassing episode of his lonely practice sessions at home.

He shrugged. "Fun? Yeah, it was." He looked around for a moment, but didn't make any effort to change the light tone of his voice as he grinned and said, "As far as I'm concerned, despite some people's opinions, we are the lucky ones. We get the best of both worlds! My parents are both wizards, but my grandparents aren't, so I'm familiar enough with the Muggle world to not stare at a car like a fool."

Josiah grinned despite himself, looking at his hands, which were clasped in his lap loosely.

"It's very difficult," he said consolingly, leaving out the fact that he had managed to Charm a cushion to brake at will on his first try. "And disastrous to get wrong; better left to the professionals, hey."

It was Jo's turn to chuckle this time as he blushed slightly at Noah's words.

"Tricky things, those automobiles," he teased. He made brief eye contact with Noah, and looked quickly out the window. "It really is amazing, isn't it?"

Suddenly, there was the squealing sound of wheels on tracks, and the train began to churn to a start. He snapped out of his dream-like state, startled, and then looked at Noah apologetically.

"Sorry, I've got to run! It was… really nice talking to you." He hoped this didn't strike Noah as a weird thing to say, but he didn't have time to ponder it – he didn't want to set a bad example by being late.

Noah followed Josiah's gaze out the window. "What is?" But then Josiah hastily excused himself. At a loss, and feeling a slight sting of disappointment at the conversation being cut short, he quickly said, "Sure… We'll catch up later, then."

When he was alone, he looked around at the empty compartment, a little confused by what had just happened. Then, he picked up his trunk again and went after his teammates. All he had to do was follow the noise.

-/-/-

Ezra Greengrass strode confidently down the aisles, breezing by several second and third years, who had to squeeze to the wall to avoid being whacked by his elbow. If he noticed, he made no sign; he was a man on a mission.

He had checked every compartment except the ones nearest to the front, which meant she was either in the lavatory or with some first years. Raising one eyebrow tentatively, he pushed open the first front compartment.

"Ah," he murmured, smiling at Dan, then at the crowd of petrified first years around her, one of whom he recognized. "There you are, cousin. I've been looking for you." The younger boy looked even paler than he had been a few moments ago. He turned to Dan, motioning to the seat across from her.

"I don't suppose this seat is taken. His mother wanted me to keep an eye on him." This wasn't true, of course, but it came out smoothly nonetheless.

Daniella was considering either using Muffliato or just petrifying all the first years so she would have a quiet journey, but it turned out they were petrified simply because she sat next to them. Just as well. She'd rather be travelling alone, since she couldn't do it with Jo. She was definitely not in the mood to sit with any Slytherins, and everyone else in the school just looked at her sideways for being a Slytherin, like they thought she'd curse them whenever she got bored.

So, she sat with the first years, and now she entertained herself studying them, trying to guess which of them would dare to speak first, when the door pushed open.

She clenched her teeth, not sure how to react at the sight of Ezra. His words disturbed her a little, but she made sure she didn't let it show. She knew immediately why he'd come, but she still had to pretend. At least now she knew who the spy was. Was he really going to be that blatant following her around so closely all the time? She might just take a more direct and definitive approach to show her opinion about having a bodyguard she hadn't requested.

Deciding it would be best to not betray any of her thoughts just yet, she offered him the hint of a lopsided smirk. "So, you've been promoted to babysitter now?" She said sarcastically, not quite able to look in his eyes for too long until her emotions settled.

Ezra smirked back at her, unfazed. Logan had warned him that his sister was a handful; he knew now that he wouldn't be disappointed.

"One of my finer achievements," he said silkily, sliding into the compartment and closing the door behind him. The first year nearest him leaned over onto his companion to avoid brushing shoulders with the older boy.

"I've just seen your Ravenclaw friend at the Prefect's meeting. He was looking a bit more flustered than usual; did you two have a row?" Although Dan was avoiding his eyes, Ezra's gaze did not waver. She was very attractive, he thought to himself, despite being a Muggle-lover.

Well, then. Straight to the point, it seemed. Daniella couldn't decide if that was a good or a bad thing, though. She kept an indifferent expression while her mind raced, trying to make a quick decision. It was a trap, obviously. If she wasn't careful, Logan would know she knew. It still hurt; for most of the last few weeks, she had tried to convince herself her brother had just been bluffing.

She shrugged. "I wouldn't know. You probably have spent more time with him already than I have, all summer." She focused on her frustration to push other thoughts aside and look back at him, giving him a provcative sideways glance. "Why? Are you jealous?"

Ezra snorted out a pompous laugh, showing his sparkling white teeth.

He leaned closer to Dan, his green and silver tie falling forward onto his lap. "Yes, I'm jealous. If I'm honest, it irks me that he gets to spend so much time with you, and me so little."

Daniella was still trying to get over the whiff of his perfume that suddenly reached her as he leaned closer when his words sunk in. She blinked, trying to make her brain work properly again. Why was her heart hammering like that, all of a sudden?

She tightened her grip on the seat at her sides. The compartment was full of snotty kids. This was not the time for her body to betray her like that. Besides, Ezra was an idiot, she told herself. He was smug, conceited, mean, hot- no, he was so full of himself! He was a jerk, always picking on Muggleborn students.

Her teeth were still clenched when she forced a smile in reply, as she leaned closer and lowered her voice to a whisper. "And why would I want to spend any time with you?"

"Because I understand what you're going through," Ezra murmured in reply, softening his gaze just a touch. "I know how hard it is to grow up in an overbearing, well-respected Pureblood family. It's difficult. There are a lot of expectations." He straightened his tie with the flat, open palm of his hand.

"He might be a good friend to you – Josiah, is it? – but he will never understand you as the fully realized witch that you are. He does not understand the height of our society. He is incapable of that. I am not."

There was a knock on the compartment door, and Ezra slid it open as easily as if they had been talking about the weather. It was the snack trolley. He smiled sweetly at the middle-aged witch, who blushed faintly.

"Five of each," he murmured, handing her a freshly minted Galleon.

Daniella didn't know what to say. His words had hit the target so perfectly, she almost believed him. Almost. The moment he mentioned Jo, she felt like smacking him upside the head, like she did just a minute ago.

"He does-" she pressed her lips firmly shut, ridiculously grateful the witch with the trolley interrupted her, before she ruined everything. He had almost got her. Had he said all those things just to make her lower her guard? Most likely. Her temper spiked, in Jo's behalf and her own.

She took the moments he was distracted by the sweets to take a deep breath. She wasn't supposed to know what was happening. Which meant she wasn't supposed to know why Jo didn't talk to her anymore in public.

After the witch left, she said, "I don't think we're friends anymore, so you don't have to worry."

Ezra raised his eyebrows very slightly, dabbing some pumpkin pasty crumbs from the corner of his mouth in a delicate, cultured manner. He smiled again; he had definitely struck a nerve with that one.

"Give it a bit of time," he said airily, offering her one pasty and passing the rest over to the first years, who took them with slightly shaky hands. "He'll come around, I'm sure. These are difficult times for everyone."

He looked out the window pensively, admiring the setting sun.

"Nearly time," he murmured, examining his well-manicured hands before looking over at the first years. "Aren't you going to get changed?" He asked them, and they scurried off, grateful for the excuse to escape.

Daniella watched him pass the pasties around, then accepted one, eyebrows raised. That one gesture baffled her more than anything else that had happened since Ezra had sat in front of her.

She couldn't make sense of his words, his actions. Why was he saying those things? Was he really just going for the laughs by playing her, by trying to make her act like a fool, like most girls did around him?

Her cheeks flushed a little when the kids vanished from the compartment. Uncomfortable as the situation had been with them there, she now felt like she'd been taken the last shield she could use. On the other hand, she now had a perfect opportunity to use the Memory Charm.

Her fingers moved closer to her pocket, but her eyes met his then and she hesitated. "What exactly do you want, Ezra?"

"From you? Nothing," Ezra murmured evenly. "My friendship is an offer, not an order, Daniella. We both know that you are distant to your housemates. But things are changing rapidly. Someday, you will need someone that you can depend on." He paused, the silence broken by the scuffling of feet and chattering voices in the corridor. "Keep me in the back of your mind."

He stood, his tall, lanky, but somehow still imposing frame darkened against the falling light. With a last lazy half-smile in her direction, he slid open the door to the compartment and left her there.

Daniella sat there alone for a long time. His words still echoed in her head, veiled in mystery, hidden messages she wasn't sure she was reading correctly and was afraid not to. It wasn't easy to admit and accept how accurate his words had been about her deepest feelings, some of which she hadn't even admitted to herself before.

Why did it have to be so difficult? Why couldn't she just be friends with Jo and love her family and feel good in her house at Hogwarts?

The train stopped, snapping her out of her thoughts, but not for long. The rest of the night dragged itself in a succession of faces and light and color and food and laughter, but she felt detached from it. By the time she followed the rest of the Slytherins to the dungeons, she couldn't remember much of what had happened in the Great Hall.

She saw Jo leaving with a small flock of first year Ravenclaws heading towards their common room; saw Ezra glide in front of another flock of first year Slytherins, including his cousin, ahead of her.

She stayed up after almost everyone was already gone into their dorms, holding the black notebook tightly in her hands. She opened it, looked at the blank pages, then around the common room. Distant, Ezra had said about her. A painful truth. Distant and alone, was how she felt most of the time, in Hogwarts. Shrugging off those grim thoughts, she looked at the empty page and started to write:

«How many times did you have to yell at a first year already? Less than three and I'll think you're becoming a softie.

Did anyone go after you, today? Did you hear something?»

Josiah had all of his books spread out on a heavy wooden table in the Ravenclaw common room. It was one of the reasons he loved his common room so much; he wondered if all the other common rooms were practically a library.

He furrowed his eyebrows and tried to think, but his mind kept wandering back to his conversation with Noah on the train. It had gone well, right? He hadn't said anything weird, right? And Noah had ignored his friends for a bit just so that he could stay with Josiah… then again, maybe he was overthinking it. He sighed, ready to go up and curl into bed when the glowing notebook caught the corner of his eye.

He opened it, reading Dan's message once, then twice for clarity. He missed her so much; there were so many things he was feeling that he just couldn't tell anybody else. He picked up his quill to write.

«Exactly three, so I'm in the clear, right? I also had to rescue one on the way up; she fell into the trick stair. Everything is pretty peaceful on my end. So far, nobody has said anything to me. You were right, Marcus is Head Boy.

Oh, and Noah is Quidditch Captain.

You sound worried. What happened?»

Daniella smiled warmly at the words showing up on the page, chuckling at the thought of a tiny kid facing those stairs for the first time.

«I'll take that as a warm-up, then. Good enough.»

She paused for a moment, eyeing the seemingly innocent note about Noah. That thought lifted some of the tension she'd been feeling.

«Oh, is he? Let me guess. We're going to be watching Quidditch games a lot more closely now, aren't we?

I'm not sure what happened. My new 'bodyguard', Ezra Greengrass, came to my compartment on the train. I think he was just probing, trying to see if I know something, or… I don't know, maybe he just wanted to mess with my mind.»

«That explains why Ezra was looking at me funny…. I thought I had something on my face, or perhaps he was just disgusted (as per usual) that there's a Muggleborn in his presence. Be careful around him, okay?

I talked Noah's ears off about Braking Charms, Dan. It was so embarrassing. I hope he doesn't avoid me from now on. He remembered my name, though. It's a start.

Sorry, but I've got to get some sleep. I'll need to hand out schedules first thing in the morning, and you know how that is.

Sweet dreams Dan! »

With this, he closed the notebook and slid it back into his bag, along with his textbooks. Sighing, he heaved the bag over his shoulder and carried it up the stairs to the 7th year Ravenclaw boys' dormitory.