Bruce and Alfred ran into the Cross family while making their way through King's Cross Station to Platform Nine and Three Quarters. Bruce bid Alfred goodbye at the barrier and Mr. and Mrs. Cross promised that they would make sure both boys were safely loaded onto the train and then return to let him know when it departed. Almost as soon as they passed through the barrier, they ran into the Duncans. Half an hour later, the Hogwarts Express pulled out of the station with the three boys (and one bird) seated in a compartment near the front.

Out the window, the buildings grew smaller and more scattered before entirely giving way to rolling hills and fields. The engine was just picking up speed when the door to their compartment opened and Eddy Fyers cautiously poked in his head, "Is that seat taken? All the other compartments are full."

That seat was taken by Robin and their bags but, after some shuffling, they made space. The bags found their way to the floor while Robin's cage wound up on one of the overhead shelves. The bird himself took up a perch on Bruce's shoulder and Eddy took the now empty seat beside them.

Eddy was a bespectacled, blond boy in their year from Slytherin House. They'd met before in shared classes but Bruce hadn't ever really spoken to him before. Judging by the painful silence in the compartment, George and Miles hadn't either. All three glanced around at each other awkwardly while Eddy fidgeted with his bag between his knees.

All the lessons on etiquette and proper hosting his mother had insisted on started to trickle back. Following the commands of one particularly strict tutor, Bruce altered his body language and tried to project comfort and interest. Start with a small compliment and establish common ground. "Eddy and I are in the same Broomstick Class," Bruce said to George, as though he was introducing an old friend. "You're really good," he added to Eddy directly.

Reveal something about yourself and ask a relevant question. "I'd never flown anything before coming to Hogwarts. Have you been flying long?"

"Oh!" Eddy paused and shuffled nervously in his seat, "No... I, uh... I didn't even know about magic at all before my letter came."

There it was, common ground. "Me neither! I didn't believe it at all until I saw Professor McGonagall turn into a cat!"

He was rewarded with a quickly stifled giggle, "It was Flitwick that came to tell me, he made my dad float 'round the ceiling a few times. That convinced us both pretty quick."

The image of tiny Professor Filtwick calmly spinning a grown man around his head, proper wand technique on display as in all his classes, brought a quick laugh from all four boys. Bruce was prevented from moving on to ask followup questions and engage the other person by the arrival of the snack trolley, "Anything from the cart, dears?"

"Oh yeah!" George jumped up from his seat with a fistful of coins and sat back down with a small pile of sweets. Bruce already knew that George could happily put away the whole pile and still have room for dinner when they arrived. Miles also bought some Chocolate Frogs, but Bruce didn't have much of a sweet tooth and declined.

Eddy also passed on getting any sweets but changed his mind after watching George shove a whole Cauldron Cake in his mouth, "You know, I think I will get something after all." He stepped into the corridor to follow the trolley, pulling the door shut behind him.

George's mouth was still too full of cake to talk and Miles was too focused on comparing his new Wizard Cards, so Bruce decided to look at the mythology book Alfred had given him for Christmas. He had been too busy to do more than skim over the section headings over break. As he reached down to fetch it out of his bag, he heard an odd noise.

Tick-tick-tick...

Why was Eddy's bag be ticking?

He got his answer when it exploded in his face.

Robin shrieked in alarm while Miles somehow managed to fling himself clear. George sadly regarded his third, now ruined Cauldron Cake. Bruce wiped something off his face and was assaulted by a foul smell.

Dung.

Bruce was covered in dung.

Eddy's bag had contained a dung bomb and it had gone off right in his face.

As Bruce was still trying to fully register this fact, the compartment door slid open again. There in the doorway, doubled over in laughter, were the Elites with Eddy in tow. Of course. They'd somehow convinced Eddy to place the bomb for them, knowing that Bruce's friends had no reason to suspect him.

Manny opened the door and carefully stepped over the threshold to avoid the dung, "Well, Bruce, do you see why we didn't want to share a compartment with you?"

"How can anyone be so messy?" Pamela wrinkled her nose. "I knew Gryffindor didn't care how slovenly its students are," Ramporatek mused beside her, "but I thought Ravenclaw had higher standards." From behind them, Nathan Jones thumped Eddy on the back and added, "You're lucky you got out when you did, new guy."

The gang's laughter redoubled at their own imagined wit. There was no missing that all five had their wands in hand, ready for any retribution that Bruce might attempt. And this time if he tried anything he'd be the one who got in trouble. All Bruce could do was slowly stand up and wipe his hands on his already sullied clothes to rid them of the worst of the mess while the Elites laughed. He glared silently as Manny backed out of the compartment and bowed, "Well then, we'll leave you to your sty."

As the Elites wandered back up the train towards their own compartment, their laughter echoed back, continuing to taunt the three boys.

"So," George said slowly, while he began removing his scat splattered shirt, "How are we going to get them back?"

Bruce knew retaliating was pointless. The Elites were already retaliating for an imagined slight and any effort to get back at them could only escalate the conflict. It had to stop somewhere, obviously. Bruce knew all these things and so he quietly pulled his wand from his pocket and pointed it at his jacket, "Scourgify."

Nothing happened. The Elites had found dungbombs that couldn't be charmed clean. Of course they had. "Whatever we do, it's got to be something they'll never see coming."

At least their school robes had been protected, along with Alfred's book, in their bags. George and Bruce had to clean their hands and faces using their street clothes and change into their robes. They were forced to abandon the sullen clothes, their bags, and the rest of the snacks. While the two of them got as clean as possible, Miles ran ahead with Robin to look for a new place to sit. Hopefully, whoever it was that collected bags when the train reached Hogwarts would clean them before taking them to the dormitories.

As they wandered up the corridor to catch up with Miles, Bruce pondered the other half of the Elites' prank. Why had Eddy gotten involved? One of the books he'd left behind in London provided another piece of advice. From his criminology textbook, The physical nature of a crime is always significant, of course, but motive is critical to the resolution of a case. Why has a crime been committed? What did the perpetrator stand to gain or for what perceived offense was he seeking retribution?

Eddy had no reason to retaliate against them, so he must have seen something to gain by helping the Elites. Slytherins still had a reputation for anti-Muggle sentiment, even years after the Wizarding War, and Manny's friends had pull in Slytherin House. It made a depressing amount of sense that a first-year student, especially one from a Muggle family, would try to get in with the rest of the House by pleasing them. Or maybe joining them? Jones had called Eddy "new guy" so maybe this prank was his induction into the gang.

Eventually, Bruce and George caught up with Miles, "I've found a compartment we can sit in, Diana's the only other one there."

Diana was a dark haired girl in Gryffindor that Bruce had seen around school but never talked to. At the moment she was busy reading a magazine whose title was written in what Bruce assumed was Greek. She dropped it when he and George entered the compartment and wrinkled her nose in disgust, "What in Hera's name is that smell, George?"

To Bruce's astonishment, George bowed, "Sorry, Your High- er, sorry - Diana, we were tricked by Manny Black. He got Eddy Fyers to set off a dungbomb right under our noses." Realizing he was still bent at the waist, he abruptly fixed himself to stand at attention. Bruce had never seen anything like it from George before. For that matter, he couldn't remember seeing anything like it from anyone. He looked over at Miles, who was standing respectfully to one side, but wasn't showing anywhere near the amount of deference George was.

Diana rolled her eyes as the address, "George, would you please stop doing that? I'm not even a prefect, I'm only a year ahead of you." George somehow managed to look even more uncomfortable at ease than he had before. Diana rolled her eyes again, "All right, let's do something about the smell before it fills the compartment." From her seat, Diana leveled her wand at each boy in turn and they were bathed in the powerful scent of lavender.

The remainder of the train ride passed awkwardly. The lavender was certainly a vast improvement over the scent of dung, but Bruce wasn't enthusiastic about smelling like he'd doused himself in perfume. He did try a few times to strike up a conversation with Diana, who gave polite but brief responses, making it clear that she was more interested in her magazine than in any of George's friends. After a while he gave up with trying. George was eventually persuaded that it was okay to sit down, but looked uncomfortable the whole time. When Bruce tried asking why, he only whispered, "I know royalty when I see it." Miles shrugged, but couldn't explain their friend's behavior any better than Bruce could. So Bruce and Miles bent their heads and held a whispered conversation where they discussed increasingly infeasible plans for getting vengeance on the Elites until the announcement came that the train was about to arrive at Hogwarts Station.

When the train finally stopped at Hogwarts Station, Robin immediately leapt out the open window took off for the Owlery. Bruce could hardly blame him, it had been a rough trip for all of them. This time there were no boats, the boys followed behind the older students (attracting the a few odd looks due to the lavender) and headed up to the road leading to the castle.

Outside the station was a collection of carriages pulled by hideous, horse-like creatures. Their grey bodies were hairless and vaguely skeletal. As they passed nearby, one opened its mouth, showing off a row of very sharp teeth. The older students all ignored the creatures and climbed onto the carriages as though nothing odd was happening. Even George and Miles seemed completely unperturbed by the ugly things. This must be normal (by Hogwarts standards, anyway) so Bruce followed George and Miles onto one of the carriages, though he carefully stepped to give the beasts a wide berth.

Unfortunately, it was already occupied. Talia al'Ghul was seated alone, looking out the window back the way the boys had just come with a slightly puzzled expression. She nodded to herself as they took their seats.

Once the door was shut, the carriage took off. He couldn't see the front of their carriage, but through the window, he could see another one of the creatures take off as soon as Julian Desmond pulled his carriage door closed. There weren't any drivers on the carriages so the creatures pulling them must already know where to go.

As the carriage trundled up the path, Talia sniffed the air, "Wait, what's that smell?" She leaned closer to Miles, "Is that lavender?"

"Don't ask."

She gave the three boys another look that Bruce couldn't read, but didn't question them any further. Talia had no love for Manny Black but she was still a prefect. They couldn't discuss plans of vengeance against the Elites in front of her. Which was too bad, since she'd probably have much better ideas than anything the three of them could come up with. How did Miles think they'd get boomslang skin without getting caught and where were they supposed to brew a potion for a month?

When their carriages reached the front entrance, the creatures stopped and students filed out. While everyone else headed towards the main entrance, Talia walked around the carriage to the front. George and Miles spotted a few fellow Gryffindors, and split off to join them.

Talia held out her hand and gently brushed her fingers along the creature's flank, something that didn't seem to bother it. She was the first person he'd noticed who had acknowledged the creatures. In fact, most students seemed completely oblivious to their presence. Consumed by curiosity, Bruce waved his friends into the castle and followed her.

Talia was allowing the creature to sniff her hand when he got closer. "They're called thestrals," she said simply.

Bruce said nothing, he wasn't sure what he could say to that.

"You can see them," It wasn't a question. "Most people can't. That's why everyone else ignores them." The horse - thestral - lowered its head so she could scratch the area behind one of the horns it had where a horse's ears would be. While he couldn't read the creatures expression, Bruce thought it seemed pleased with the attention. She went on, "Your friends think the carriages move on their own. I'd imagine anyone watching right now thinks we're quite mad."

"Why - ?" Before Bruce could finish his question, before he was even sure what he was trying to ask, another carriage rolled up and a group of older students piled out. Talia gave the thestral one last affectionate pat, and headed over to join them.

"Ask Hagrid about it," she called back over her shoulder, "He takes care of them."

Then she was gone, leaving Bruce alone with the thestral. He tried to pat the creature's snout the way Talia had. It snorted, producing a sound entirely unlike a horse. That seemed as much like a dismissal as anything, so Bruce rejoined the crowd heading into the castle.

On the way into the Great Hall, Bruce barely paid attention to the snide comments the perfume smell attracted. Through dinner, he couldn't keep his mind on the food. When Louisa Ferret tried asking about his holiday, Bruce gave a distracted response that he immediately forgot. Clearly he and Talia had something in common, something they shared that the majority of Hogwarts students did not. Otherwise, why could they both see the thestrals? What could that something be?

Despite being able to clearly see him at the staff table during meals, Bruce didn't see any opportunity that night to talk to the groundskeeper alone. Somehow, he felt this was a conversation he didn't want to have in public.

When they returned to the dormitories after dinner, Bruce found his bag beside his bed with his discarded clothes cleaned and put away. The incident on the train and any thoughts of revenge had been driven out of Bruce's mind by Talia and the thestral. Already too many things had happened, and the spring term wouldn't officially begin until morning.

Bruce set Alfred's book down on the nightstand, there was no time to read it tonight. Then he pulled up the covers and indulged himself in the thought that things could only get better from here.