The Battle of the Hogwarts Express
Ron and Harry settled into the train car they would be staying in for the 7 plus hour ride to Hogwarts and looked to see what their new travelling companion had already brought with her. The compartment had about 17 books of various sizes. Most seemed to be textbooks, but there were a few muggle books that Harry recognized like War and Peace, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, and The Hobbit.
"She's a real brain, isn't she?" Ron said while looking around for a place to sit. He moved aside a few books and stretched his feet out. "Probably won't be seeing her too much after this train ride."
"Why do you say that?" Harry wasn't sure about the intensity of the book obsession this Hermione girl seemed to have, but she seemed very polite so far.
"She'll have the sorting hat on her head for all of 1 second before it plops her in Ravenclaw, you'll see. Me? I could never stand the type. Percy always seemed the type to end up in Ravenclaw but got into Gryffindor on some fluke. And you know him…"
"What does her being in Ravenclaw have to do with not seeing her? Do your brother's never talk to people who aren't in their house?"
"Well yeah, a bit. Some classes have more than one house in them at a time, but its just a factor of where you live. Each house has their own common room that no one else knows about. Kind of hurts the ability to socialize, ya know?"
Harry sincerely hoped he did end up in Gryffindor now. He felt that he would make the effort to meet people anywhere he ended up, and he didn't think Ron would actively avoid him if they ended up in different houses, but the prospect scared him all the same. I don't want to be alone again. He thought, but pushed it aside to enjoy the ride. Hermione came back after 10 minutes, still reading, but set it down to talk.
"I'm really sorry again. I forgot to even ask your names."
"Ron Weasley"
"Harry Potter"
"I've read about you two!"
"Two?" Ron looked like he must have misheard her.
"Of course!" Hermione pulled out a newspaper she had rolled up in a large purple purse she had on a seat, and began to read.
Leaving from his foster home at the home of Arthur and Molly Weasley, the Boy-Who-Lived Harry Potter, age 11, will be travelling to Hogwarts for the first time. The wizarding community is very glad that no ill events have befallen this heroic boy since the second tragic loss of his family members in his short life, and to accept him into the wider wizarding world. Accompanying Mr. Potter will be 4 of the Weasley children, Percy (age 15), Fred and George (age 13) and Ronald (age 11). For those in Hogsmeade, this may be a once in a lifetime chance to see the boy who lived arrive in your station.
"Well there you go. I've been reading the wizard papers ever since I found out there is one. I want to learn as much as I can about the wizarding world."
"So you came from a muggle family too?" Harry asked. It might be nice to know someone who could relate to the strangeness of the wizarding world.
"Yes. It's so wonderful isn't it! You've had more of a chance to experience it first hand this past month, but now things are going to get really exciting. How are you…" Hermione rattled on for another 10 minutes without giving either them much of a word edgewise, but she made sure to get to know Ron and Harry as well. By lunchtime they were finally exhausted by Hermione's conversation, and Ron challenged her to a game of chess just to change things up. He pulled out his old family board with the moving pieces, and they began their game. Given a dozen moves Ron was able to checkmate Hermione. The look of shock on her face gave Ron a huge grin.
"How did you do that?" She stared at the board trying to see where she had gone wrong. "I played with my friends all the time back home."
"You just have to be able to think more than 2 steps ahead. I saw how you were playing. You looked around the board to see where safe locations to move to were, but you didn't think about where I would move next."
"We're playing again." Hermione was feverishly collecting the broken pieces to begin a new game.
2 hours paced in this way, and the longest Hermione lasted was 30 moves before the checkmate came, but she was picking up on some of the maneuvers. Harry had tried to beat Ron a dozen times over the summer and had long since given up. Ron wasn't the bookish type, but when it came to playing chess no one he knew could beat him, except for the grandfather that had taught him. Ron didn't think very highly of the skill, but Harry really admired his strategic skill.
"You really are good. Are you taking the Magical games course? I took every class available just because it was available but I'm sure you must have signed up for that one, being as good as this as you are."
"Yeah, me and Harry are both taking the class. He's also taking the books class. I'm sure you two will have a grand old time there. So, what should we do now?"
BOOM.
At that moment the entire train was rocked by what felt a massive explosion. BOOM. Another enormous sound and Harry could feel himself falling onto his side as the entire train began to fall. The train fell completely on its side, but the window's didn't shatter. The train rumbled randomly as it bounced along at high speed, and Harry felt like he was thrown back and forth between the roof and floor. After about a minute, the train came to a halt.
"Ron are you ok?" No answer. Harry's head felt incredibly clouded. Putting his hand on his temple, Harry felt the slickness of blood. "Hermione?"
"I'm here Harry." Hermione called to him, trying to move the books out of the way. "I think Ron's been knocked out. He fell all the way across the compartment." Harry could see That Hermione and Ron at least weren't bleeding, but that the entire car had been left on its side, and the only light was a small amount from a window from the other side of the train.
"We need to get him out of here. We must have hit something." Harry grabbed Ron under his armpits, but couldn't manage to lift him. He was still a rather weak child. Harry started to hear a large amount of screaming and people walking on the still closed door of their compartment. Harry tried to open their compartment door, but there were too many people pressing down on it. There was even a bit of a blood splatter on the door.
"We're stuck in here Harry. Come over here, you need to get something on your head." Hermione took out a gauze bandage she had in her purse and wrapped it around his head. It wasn't very effective, but stopping some of the blood flow was better than nothing.
"What even happened? How does a magic train derail?" Harry sat down on the window, trying to clear his head. Given a few minutes of sitting, he started to feel the bruises that covered his body.
"I don't know. I was reading about the Hogwarts Express in Hogwarts, A History. It's charmed to keep all of the students safe. It shouldn't be able to derail unless someone used a curse to remove the charm." It was at that moment that Vim popped her head in through the floor.
"So what's going on here Harry? I nod off when you're getting into this train, I follow you, and suddenly everything's gone mad." Vim turned towards Hermione and said, "And who's this? She wasn't with you an hour ago."
"Vim. You need to go outside and tell me what's going on."
"Hmmm? Well, ok. I do owe you for killing that Malfoy guy for me. Just give me a second."
"Who are you talking to Harry? We can't get outside yet. Just wait." Hermione walked over and put her hand on his head. "Are you feeling ok?"
"It's ok Hermione. Just…thinking aloud." Harry had to be careful here, but he needed to figure out what had happened. After another minute the steps above them began to slow down, and Vim came back into the room.
"It seems like a dozen guys in black robes and skull masks are fighting people out there. Any clue?" Harry recalled pictures in one of the modern history books he had bought, and knew exactly what was going on.
"Death Eaters." Harry spat out.
"What?" Hermione was still confused about what was going on.
"Death Eaters, Hermione. Voldemort's followers."
"I read about them!" Understanding seemed to glow from behind her eyes. "But how do you know?"
"I could hear someone faintly from above us." He quickly lied. They were saying that men in skull masks were attacking."
"They must be here for you!"
"What?" Now it was Harry's turn to be surprised. "Why do you think that?"
"Well isn't it obvious?"
"Apparently not."
"Well, you killed their mentor, right? And over the summer one of the free death eaters and his wife were exposed, right? The Malfoys?"
"Yeah, what about them?"
"So now none of them are safe. It's only a matter of time before the wife gives up the names. Any mother would do that to get back to her son."
"So what's the plan? If they're here to get me before the Ministry can find them, what should we do?"
"How about shut up and come with me?" A masked face reached down through the compartment door, pointed a wand at Harry, and shouted, "Petrificus Totalus!" Harry's entire body seized up instantly. Hermione whipped out her wand and shouted "Incendio!" A burst of flame sprouted from her wand, lighting the man on fire. He quickly flung himself away from the door, but another wand pointed down and yelled "Stupefy!" A red beam struck Hermione in the chest, and she was out cold. Another Death Eater came down into the compartment and grabbed Harry, throwing him up into the hallway. Harry tried to scream but every muscle in his body was paralyzed. As he got one last look into the train compartment, he saw that lying amongst Hermione's books was the DeathNote, just lying there.
Once they carried him outside, he could see that the train had skidded about 100 feet from the tracks. They had only been travelling for a half an hour before the attack, but the landscape seemed thoroughly rural. Hundreds of students were standing aimlessly while what looked to be an assortment of adults and teenagers blasting magical spells at other death eaters, most of them flying on broomsticks. The Death Eater holding Harry shot up a shower of green sparks, and the other death eaters converged on their location. Before they could do anything else, three figures barreled over the Death Eater carrying Harry, and they fell off the train with a thud.
Harry had one eye left not squashed against the ground, and could see that three girls about 13 years old had ridden their own broomsticks into the Death Eater, and were currently dodging blasts of green and yellow light. Several adults rushed towards Harry and began to put him in an upright position. One spoke an indecipherable word in a heavy Irish accent, and Harry could suddenly move his limbs again.
"We've got to get in the train! My friends are still in there!"
"Relax Mr. Potter. The situation is under control." Those were the last words this wizard would say, as a green bolt hit him square in the face. Harry bunkered down as more complicated spell work was layered upon the existing shields, but the students rallied and the death eaters were pushed back. Even if all of your enemies are 15-17, 200 of them together make for impossible odds. After about 20 minutes the remaining 6 death eaters flew off while the survivors took stock of the battle.
There were random fires in the grass, and several odd curses still being handled. Several people looked to have grown random limbs, while several people looked as if they had been turned into an animal and were just now being reverted by other wizards. The adults, which Harry quickly realized were mostly Aurors assigned to the train, were rounding up the mostly unconscious bodies of the 6 defeated death eaters, and binding them in magical ropes. 2 of the men were incredibly burly, and looked to have been bludgeoned into unconsciousness based on the large bruises on their faces. The only conscious one left was a scrawny man who screaming obscenities at everyone there until an auror conjured a load of socks to gag him. The other three included a woman in her late 30s, a teenaged boy, and a man in his mid 50s with graying hair.
Harry was led over to a healer to see about his injuries, but quickly dealt with him to return to the more serious injuries. Harry sat still under guard, feverishly waiting for his chance to find Ron again. And Hermione. She had tried to save him, and now he had no idea how injured she'd become. After another 10 minutes, the reinforcements arrived, lead by professor Dumbledore himself. Harry saw him teleport into their midst, and cast a charm on himself to amplify his voice a hundred fold.
"Attention everyone! Please stay calm. This is Professor Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts. We have brought the best healers and wandworkers at our disposal to help settle this matter. Please find your way to one of the red arrows I shall conjure to find a healer if you need assistance. Please clear the tracks, as I shall be resettling the train there momentarily."
Professor Dumbledore waved his wand to direct the students, and then led a group within the train. After another half hour of watching student after student leave and be reunited with their friends, Ron and Hermione eventually made their way out. Hermione ran up to harry and gave him a huge hug. He was nearly knocked over completely as she seemingly gathered most of her books into a huge backpack.
"Oh I'm so glad you're safe! I was sure they were going to take you."
As soon as these last people had made their way out, Dumbledore lifted the train back into position. The magic that was protecting the train must have been amazingly strong, as the only damage seems to have been done to the tracks, which had been melted and torn apart at the point of derailment. After he was done, Dumbledore came directly over to Harry.
"I am so sorry Harry. This is all my fault. I should have been more prepared, but I never expected them to attack after 10 years. Here, grab my arm. We're leaving."
"Where are we going professor?"
"To Hogwarts, of course. I can't have you here any longer. I thought you were safe under the protection of these aurors once, I won't let them fail again."
Harry looked over at Ron and Hermione, still battered by their recent wounds, barely returned to him after nearly being kidnapped.
"Can you take my friends too, Professor? I'd be calmer knowing that they were safe too." Dumbledore looked slightly surprised for a moment, but quickly extended both arms to the three children. A moment after they grabbed his sleeves, it felt like they were being squeezed into a small tube. Harry felt that this was even more unpleasant than the portkey, and was glad that it ended quickly.
Harry stood before a breathtaking sight. There was a massive stone archway that covered a thick iron gate, but in the distance stood a true medieval castle. It looked like the highest towers went up hundreds of feet, and it seemed to have more than a dozen reaching for the heavens. The grass sloped up to meet the castle and between them and the front door Harry could see a massive serene lake. He looked to his side and Ron and Hermione were equally awestruck. For all of his siblings, Ron had never gone to the school himself, as there were very few public school events in the years since he had become old enough to go.
"Come along children. We must get inside." Dumbledore waved his wand and the massive gates opened for them to pass.
"Why couldn't we just apparate into Hogwarts?" Ron asked "I mean we already got this close."
"Because there's an enchantment Ron." Hermione said, cutting off the professor's attempt to speak. "No one can apparate, bodily floo powder, or portkey into the grounds of Hogwarts without the approval of the Headmaster. Even then it takes concentration and time to turn the enchantment off for that moment."
"Very good young lady. Quite right. But there was no need at this moment. Now that we are within the grounds, we are perfectly safe."
After gathering his friends names, Professor Dumbledore took Harry and the rest within the massive Great Hall immediately adjacent to the main hall, and summoned another professor, a very short man with a grey beard.
"This is Professor Flitwick. He is an excellent charms master, but I have no true worries. Hogwarts is the safest place in the world. I must be off again to the Express. I do not think there will be any other concerns, but I cannot allow my students any more worry as they make their way here. It is going to be a very long day. I will hopefully return by this evening for the sorting." Professor Flitwick did his best to make them comfortable, but being alone in the empty hall waiting was dreadful.
"So have any of you three thought about what house you will be in? I do hope to see some new Ravenclaws this year. In my time there were so many, but there's been a decrease in the last few years. I am the head of house Ravenclaw at Hogwarts."
"Hermione will be for sure professor," said Ron. "She's already read all of her course books twice." He gave her a crooked smile as he said it, which got a light punch from Hermione for his trouble.
"Not twice! Just once…" Hermione mumbled the last two words.
"Oh that's not a guarantee young man. The founder of my house, Rowena Ravenclaw, hated reading. The oft quoted remark she made was 'The scholars spend all of their time reading words. I would rather spend my time using them.' So you can see that it is in the use of knowledge and cleverness to achieve our ends that matters, Mr. Weasley, not just reading. Why, the ancient Greek wizard Socrates despised all writing, as he considered it an excuse to not remember anything."
"So I guess that means I shouldn't have to read your charms textbook, professor?" Ron gave a sheepish grin.
"Of course not my dear boy. You will of course be required to listen to an oral presentation of the entire text, just as the great Socrates would have preferred, but there is no pressure at all. I'm sure you are exactly the sort who just would love a ten-hour lecture per chapter of The Standard Book of Spells." Ron kept the wisecracks to himself until the rest of the students made their way into the great hall an hour later.
The majority of the students looked in good shape, but a generally morose attitude was over them. The Weasleys made their way over to Ron, while Percy helped corral the remaining Gryffindors.
"It was insane, wasn't it Fred?"
"Yeah. Did you two see what happened with the Malfoy brat?" George gestured to Ron and Harry as they walked over.
"No, what happened."
"Apparently the Death Eaters were trying to get him and you Harry."
"Yeah. " added Fred. "The aurors have been spreading the word. Apparently the ministry was about to start cracking down on the Death Eaters in hiding, with info from Malfoy's mum. They wanted revenge, and the best hostage they could think of, Harry Potter."
"You were right Hermione!" Harry exclaimed. "You are too good." She blushed quickly, and remembering what had happened on the train seemed to spark another thought in her.
"Oh, Harry, I had almost forgotten." She began to ruffle through her large bag. "I just couldn't leave my books in case someone wasn't careful with them when they were organizing the train. I noticed that you had dropped something when they grabbed you, just before I was stunned." Hermione found what she was looking for, and handed Harry the Death Note. Not again…
Harry thanked her, dreading the conversation that would inevitably come up now. Dumbledore brought everyone under control and explained the story that everyone essentially knew by this point. He proclaimed sadly two of the auror guards had died in the attack, named Peter Winthrop and Jaya Kumar. Thankfully, none of the student body was mortally wounded, but 3 students, Terry Boot, Oliver Wood, and Miles Bletchley were seriously injured and will be staying at St. Mungo's hospital until they are fully recovered, though they are expected to make a full recovery.
"But we are safe and sound, and on to the opening ceremonies. Professor McGonagall, Hagrid, if you could please organize the first years. It is time to begin the sorting!"
Everyone became very excited at Dumbledore's words, and a tall and stern looking witch joined Hagrid to organize the first years. Harry had had so much time to think about this moment that he was completely unsure what would happen. There was a part of every house in him, and so this event could go any way.
The sorting hat was brought out, it sung its song, and the sorting began. It was actually quite boring to watch, though as each student went up and placed the hat on their head and a name of a house was called out, the receiving house clapped and cheered to welcome them. The first person to go up that Harry knew was Hermione Granger, and it spent a reasonable amount of time determining her place in the school. She seemed to be resisting something, but eventually relented. The rip in the brim opened wide and let out a loud…
"RAVENCLAW"
"Figures." Ron said. "She was nice and all, but now we'll only see her in class. You just wait and see."
"She tried to save my life Ron. Do you expect me to just forget her if I don't end up in Ravenclaw too?"
"I know you'll do your best Harry, but it's just logical. It's like a chess match. If you have two pawns begin at opposite sides of the board, there's almost no way they'll ever meet. Yes, they'll work together for a common goal, but the chance you'll be moving diagonally every time is just something that never happens. Starting positions matter if you want to connect people."
Now that Hermione had touched the Death Note, it was going to be that much harder to keep her quiet if they weren't living near one another. He knew he'd need to talk to her as fast as he could before she saw Vim and started acting like a mad woman. Eventually Harry's turn came up, and he had to face the final decision.
Harry sat down, and Professor McGonagall placed the hat on his head. Within a moment, a voice quite a bit more sarcastic than the loud announcing voice spoke inside his mind.
"So, they've brought a murderer to Hogwarts this year. Four murders, even. Well, well, well. Where to put someone like you…"