Chapter Title: A Curious Journey

Author: Sam

Story: Harry Potter and Dumbledore's Army: 06 / ?

Chapter Setting: Wednesday, September 1, 1995: Hogwart's Express: London to Hogsmeade

Chapter Summary: Harry meets some future students with links to the past.

Feedback: Please? I love comments.

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In the confusion of boarding the Hogwarts Express, Harry and Ginny wound up losing sight of most of their party: the twins went off to find their friend Lee Jordan, and Ron and Hermione hurries to get their prefect instructions in the first carriage. Soon Harry and Ginny found themselves in the last carriage looking for a compartment that would hold them and any of their returning group. They practically stumbled over a chubby, round-faced boy with a large toad clasped in one hand. Accompanying Neville Longbottom was a girl with long dark auburn curls and gold-flecked brown eyes set in an oval face.

Harry felt a jolt. He knew that face . . . but where had he seen it?

Ginny called, "Hello, Neville, looking for a seat are you?"

Neville nodded. He glanced in the final compartment and muttered "can't find one. They're all full."

Glancing past the shy boy into the compartment, Ginny shook her head, "How about here? It's only Loony Lovegood and another boy."

"I don't want to interrupt anyone," Neville murmured then flushed furiously as the girl with him said "well, if your friend says we won't disturb the girl, I can vouch we won't be disturbing the boy. That's just Seth."

Her American accent triggered Harry's memory and he asked "you wouldn't be Manda Dunraven would you?"

She turned a friendly smile on Harry. "Sure I would." She opened the compartment door and asked "any seats left?" This was no first year girl; she had to be at least a fifth year!

Luna Lovegood, a blonde girl with a faraway look in her slightly protuberant eyes, looked up from her upside-down magazine and said, in a dreamy way, "yes." She began to read again.

The boy behind the other magazine never made an appearance. Rather he stretched out fully across the seat on his side of the compartment and turned a page slowly. "Not for you, Dunraven. Only good witches allowed in here."

Manda grinned and stepped in, reaching back to tug Neville after her. "Then I'll never find a seat." She sounded quite delighted. After stowing her trunk, Manda unceremoniously sat on the boy's waist, not allowing him to get out of the way. "Hmmm . . . seat's a bit lumpy . . ."

The boy remained behind his magazine despite her treatment. Turning another page he said "if you wiggle, I dump you in the aisle. And don't knock Xen. She's just settled." His tone sounded pleasant enough and his accent held a blend of the States and London.

Harry helped Ginny and Neville stow their trunks then sat next to the unknown 'Loony' Lovegood. Ginny and Neville sat beside him, Neville still clasping his toad. When all were reasonably settled, Manda still sitting on the boy she'd called 'Seth,' Ginny smiled at Harry.

"Harry, meet Luna Lovegood. She's a fourth year Ravenclaw."

Luna lowered her magazine to study Harry with unblinking eyes.

Clearing his throat, Neville said "and this is my cousin, Manda Dunraven. She's transferring from Salem in the States. Uh," Neville looked around then said "this is Ginny Weasley and Harry Potter."

The magazine Seth read slid quickly down and he stared intently at Harry with eyes so dark a brown they were nearly black. His long black hair had been pulled back in a queue and set off his pale features, making the boy appear extremely ill. A small cat, little larger than a kitten, had curled up on the boy's throat, its patchwork fur blending with the riot of colors in Seth's rainbow T-shirt.

Harry's stomach twisted as he looked at what could pass for a teenaged version of his least favorite professor. Suddenly, he felt he knew the answer to one riddle of the Order. He couldn't look away from that intensely curious expression. Manda's friendly voice cut across Harry's thoughts.

"And this is Seth Snape, also from Salem."

"Snape?" Neville squeaked, sitting back further in his seat as if he could escape this unlooked for hazard.

"Yeah, Snape," Seth responded sneering. He slid his legs off the bench as Manda lifted enough to let him. "But don't blame me for an accident of birth. I'd rather you just call me Seth." The boy reached up to steady the now waking cat, his eyes traveling around the room as he studied each occupant. Finally, his gaze locked with Harry's once more. Softly, Seth asked "any relation to a James Potter?"

Harry swallowed and Ginny and Neville made noises of protest in their throats. "Yeah," answered Harry, defiance in his tone, "my dad."

Seth blinked then nodded slowly, as if digesting that information, eyes never leaving Harry's. Finally, sounding much like a certain professor, he drawled "yes." Sitting back, he added "condolences on that. Mum's always talking 'bout James. Says you couldn't have wanted a better friend. Do anything for you and all."

Surprised, and a bit confused by the unexpected shift the conversation had taken, Harry swallowed and opened his mouth, unsure what he could say. When Seth leaned forward, Harry had to fight to keep still, reminding himself that the son was not the father. He fought the desire to squirm as the other boy studied him carefully finally settling on the scar.

"Brutal legacy, man. Hurt much or just a pain in the arse reminder of unhappy times?"

"Uh," Harry reached up and touched the lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead. The other boy's matter-of-fact tone threw him further off balance, but Harry decided to answer Seth in the same straight forward manner. Dropping his hand to his lap, he said "Hurts sometimes if Voldemort gets closer." Harry watched carefully for Seth's reaction, mildly surprised that neither American seemed afraid of the name . . . Harry wondered if that was a bad sign.

Seth nodded as if he knew exactly what Harry meant. "Well, I'll keep an eye on you then. The moment you ache, I'm hiding. Bloody coward, that's me." He reached for his magazine, a muggle production called National Geographic, and disappeared behind it again.

Manda rolled her eyes and snorted. "As if." She turned to Harry and smiled. "If Seth's your friend, he's true as steel. If he's your enemy, you run and hide. There's no one nastier than Seth in a pissy mood."

Luna finally spoke up and said, "you're related to the Potions Master, Severus Snape."

Lowering the magazine once more, Seth studied Luna coldly as Neville gulped again. Finally, Seth said "yeah, I suppose so. Potions huh? Lovely." He didn't sound as if he thought his father teaching potions was lovely. He did seem to notice the uncomfortable air in the room. "So, he's not a popular teacher?"

Harry shrugged. "He knows his stuff," he found himself inexplicably defending the man then added, "but he's not very popular, no."

Seth sighed and stroked his small cat. "Mum says give him a chance. They're . . . " he grimaced and spat out "divorced."

"I never knew Snape was married," Ginny said in a hushed voice.

"Married?" Ron's voice from the door drew all attention. "Who'd marry a greasy git like Snape?"

A soft sound drew Harry's attention to Seth and he was surprised to see the other boy laughing quietly. "Greasy git . . ." Seth gasped.

"Ron," hissed Hermione behind the tall redhead. "Be nice. He is a professor." She shoved Ron between the shoulders to make him walk and followed him in, sitting next to Manda with a politely curious look on her face. "I don't think we've met yet, though I thought I knew most of the students already. I'm Hermione Granger, Gryffindor Prefect."

"And I'm starving," Ron added, reaching for one of Harry's chocolate frogs.

Manda grinned, the gold flecks in her dark eyes sparkling. "Hello, Hermione. Hello, Starving." Ron looked up as Luna started laughing. Manda added, "I'm Manda Dunraven and this is Seth . . ."

Ron interrupted, startled, "but you're not a first year at all!"

She grinned and flipped her long auburn curls to her back absently. "No, I'm to be in fifth year. I'm transferring from Salem High School."

"Transferring?" Hermione smiled widely. "I've heard of students transferring but it's quite rare. And I thought Malfoy had the only transfer. Won't he be angry? He's been lording it all over the train about his cousin coming in from Durmstrang this term."

Ginny prodded Ron across the compartment with her foot so he sank down on the bench next to Hermione. Turning a smile to the others, she said "well, his cousin's even less special because Seth's also a transfer from the States."

"Yeah . . . that'll serve the git. Thinks he owns the bloody place, he does," Ron muttered around his chocolate frog. He stared absently at the card with a puzzled from then shrugged and pocketed it.

Seth stroked Xen again and added in a low tone "sounds like a member, this Malfoy guy."

"Member?" Instantly on alert, Harry and the others stared at Seth, who nodded sagely. Manda merely grinned wickedly.

"Yeah, member," Seth said. He looked from one to another and added "of the Eye-Dee-Ten-Tea club." At their blank looks, he shook his head. "Never heard of it? Okay. You . . ." he reached over and tapped Ron.

"Ron Weasley," Ron supplied automatically.

Seth nodded. "Ron. Write this down using only initials and the number. Eye . . . Dee . . . Ten . . . Tea . . ." Seth crossed his arms, Xen curling onto his shoulder as he sat back to watch Ron.

For his part, Ron looked around for parchment and quill, muttering the name over and over. By the time Seth shook his hand and pushed an open parchment and other writing supplies forward, Hermione and Luna had already come to an understanding. Harry felt as if he knew, but wasn't sure he'd translated properly.

Thanks, Ron muttered and blinked as he read the parchment Seth had provided:

"My dearest darling Mum,

This school had not lived up to reputation. It is quite cramped and there seems to be absolutely not teaches in sight. Every few minutes an obscenely loud and piercing shrilling threatens to rip my spine from my body. I get the continual sensation of move . . . oh, wait . . . it's only the train. Never mind then.

I remain your ever loving Son of a Witch,

Seth"

"Uh," Ron looked up at the darker boy who grinned back.

"Go ahead. I'll tell her I didn't write the post script. Now, Eye Dee Ten Tea . . ."

With a shrug, Ron dipped the quill and wrote the initials and number: I D 10 T. "Hey!" he glared at Seth who grinned back.

"Well, he is rather stupid," Luna said and Ron flushed.

Seth shook his head. "So, am I right? Does this Malfoy guy belong to the club?"

Ron got the joke. He grinned, passing the parchment to Neville who hadn't mentally figured it out. "Yeah. I leading member."

Eventually the parchment made the rounds and wound up back in Seth's possession. He began to fold it. "Of course," Seth said, still smiling, "I may have a bit of explaining to do telling my mother why a prefect called her an idiot in my letter."

"What!" Ron's head snapped up and he reached for the parchment, but it had already disappeared into Seth's magazine.

Hermione grabbed Ron's hand and said "he's only teasing. Come on, Ron, we need to go make rounds." She turned to Manda and Seth and offered a smile. "It was lovely meeting you." She pulled a protesting Ron from the compartment.

Seth met Harry's eyes and his grin widened, eerie on that familiar seeming sallow face. "It's even funnier if you can get the actual member to write it out."

Harry grinned back, forgetting for a moment that Seth was the son of his least favorite professor.

"Harry," want to see what my Uncle Algie gave me for my birthday?" Neville sounded delighted so the jokes must have helped to reassure him that his cousin's friend was okay. The chubby-faced teen thrust his toad at Manda.

"Sure," Harry turned his attention to Neville and watches as he pulled a stunted, boil-covered cactus from his bags. Neville went on and on about the merits of his apparently rare plant before ending with a demonstration of its defense mechanisms. A quill to a tender spot resulted in stinksap covering every surface of the compartment and everyone in it. Seth and Luna had managed to hide behind their magazines through most of the onslaught, though the Ravenclaw girl's eyes peeked out in curiosity once the worst was over.

A small mew of displeasure issue from Xen behind Seth's barrier and he called out "Hey, no, Xen! Don't lick that up! We don't know if it's toxic!" The magazine hit his lap and Seth started trying to scrape the disgusting black substance from the cat's fur.

"Oh," Neville hurried to say, tone miserable, "it's not toxic. It's just . . ."

The compartment door slid open and there stood Cho Chang, the fourth year Ravenclaw seeker. Abject horror crossed her features as she took in the sight of an entire compartment filled with stinksap.

"Uh," said Harry, suddenly wishing he was with a lot cooler crowd, "hi, Cho."

"Harry?" Cho muttered and backed up with a squeal as a large glob of stinksap fell from the ceiling directly onto Harry's head. "Uh, gotta go," Cho added in a rush and backed out, letting the door slam.

Ginny pulled out her wand and sighed then cleaned up the entire mess. "Sorry, Harry. If you'd like to go after her . . ."

"No, uh . . . no," Harry rushed to say. He looked at the guilty expression on Neville's face and the curiosity on Luna's. Straightening, pushing away his embarrassment, he said, "no. It's good."

Ginny flashed him a grin and reached over to touch the little patchwork cat. "Is Xen okay? Did I miss any?"

Seth lifted the small creature, turned her this way and that, even upside down, then settled her back on his shoulder with two long strokes down her back. "All good," he echoed Harry. The cat mewed in disagreement but hurriedly began eating the treats that appeared in Seth's pale hand. "That stuff could be useful, Neville. Don't let Manda near it."

Manda snorted and handed the struggling Trevor back to her cousin. "That's an interesting magazine, Luna. Does it circulate in America?" Her comment drew everyone's attention to the copy of the Quibbler the girl still held upside down.

Luna offered it to the darker girl. "Not yet." Her voice sounded dreamy and faraway. "That's one of the long term goals."

Now the words were right side up, Harry could see that one of the articles concerned Sirius Black. Curiously, he asked, "may I see it?" Luna nodded and let Harry take the magazine as Ron and Hermione came back into the compartment.

"I swear I can't wait to catch those Slytherins doing something wrong. I'll slap punishment on them so quick their heads'll explode!"

"Ron!" Hermione protested. "You're not to abuse your authority."

Ron snorted, pushed the Quibbler down with two fingers to glance at what Harry was reading, then turned back to Hermione. "I'm only gonna punish 'em for what they're doing wrong. I'll just get 'em before they do it."

"Members of the club then?" Seth asked as he offered his own magazine to Luna for perusal. She was busy staring unblinkingly at Ron and took it absently.

Ron nodded, looking askance at Luna. He turned back to Seth. "Biggest members. All of 'em Malfoy's flunkies. And I know just what punishments to give 'em too. I'll set Goyle to writing lines . . . he hates writing." Ron changes his voice to a slow, confused rumble and mimicked writing in the air. "I . . . must . . . not . . . look . . . like . . . a . . . baboon's . . . backside."

The shrill, loud laughter that broke from Luna sent the owls screeching in their cages, Crookshanks into a luggage rack, and Xen down Seth's shirt, tiny claws marks leaving a bloody trail behind on his pale flesh

"Ow!" screamed Seth, but Luna was too busy laughing to hear, repeating the words "baboon's backside" as she wiped at her eyes.

Ron looked at her as if she'd gone totally round the bend. Trying to change the focus, Ron turned to watch Harry finish reading the article about Sirius Black being a singer in a rock band. "Anything good, Harry?" he asked.

"Of course not," Hermione said, disgustedly. "Everyone knows they only print complete rubbish."

"As opposed to the Daily Prophet?" Manda challenged.

Luna stopped laughing as quickly as she had begun. Her face set in disapproving, cold lines, she thrust out her hand. "I'll have it back now."

Harry handed it back as Hermione said, "the articles are worse than the Prophet. No one would believe that . . ."

"My father's the editor," Luna added in that same cold manner and disappeared behind her copy, once more reading upside down.

"Oh . . . uh . . ." Hermione flushed and tried to find something to say to mend things with the odd Ravenclaw girl, but nothing came to mind. Rather she said, "I did meet Malfoy's cousin last rounds, though."

That drew most of the attention and Neville practically whispered "what's he like?"

"She," Hermione stressed, "was actually quite pleasant. I found her looking lost in the corridor and offered to help her, introducing myself naturally. She told me her name was Emily and she couldn't find her compartment. I offered to look, but Malfoy showed up and threatened me if I continued to 'mess' with his cousin." Hermione shrugged. "I left them alone at that. She looked a lot like the family and seems to be in Ginny's year."

"It was probably a set up so Malfoy could ring a peal over you." Ron grunted. He turned to the small pile of remaining sweets and asked "anything to eat left? I'm starving."

"So you've said before." Manda stood slowly with a grin for Ron's double-take. She smoothed her hands down her slacks. 'So what's this Malfoy look like so I know to avoid him? She asked with a nonchalant air.

Seth snorted and finally extracted the cat from inside his shirt. "She wants to meet him so she can threaten him." He looked up, brown eyes dancing. "I feel bad for this Malfoy character. Manda's a horror when she's got her stride."

"Humph," Manda glared at Seth then smiled. "No such thing. My father's the new Assistant Caretaker so I'm going to go check up on him and see how he's holding up." Before she could be stopped, the auburn-haired girl left the compartment.

Neville sighed. "And Uncle Jonathan said I'm to keep an eye on her." He looked glumly at the others.

Seth laughed. "Good luck. No one can keep that hurricane still." The thin, sallow-skinned boy stood and stretched, the cat on his shoulder once more. Seth looked like he'd missed numerous meals, his clothes handing from his frame almost as much as Dudley's rejects hung on Harry.

Luna's voice rose up, reading Seth's colorful T-Shirt. "Don't make me get the flying monkeys." She looked up at him, keen interest in her large eyes. "You have flying monkeys?"

Seth looked at her incredulously then shook his head with a grimace. "Nah. I let Elphaba have 'em." The boy disappeared into the bathroom at that and Luna settled down to puzzle his cryptic remark through.

Harry immediately leaned over towards Ron and Hermione and whispered, "That's Seth Snape."

"Seth . . . Snape?" Ron choked on the mint floss he's just shoved into his mouth.

Hermione looked towards the bathroom. "Any relation?"

"Yes," Ginny jumped in from beside Harry. "But he doesn't seem to like the idea much. His parents are divorced."

"Oh," Hermione looked at Ron, finally understanding the conversation they'd interrupted some time ago. "So he's been in America this entire time?"

"Yeah," Harry nodded then leaned back as the bathroom door opened and Seth strode out. He looked over the watching group and sighed. "What?" his tone sounded defensive and the closed look on his face made the resemblance to his father even more pronounced. "Might as well out with it. I'm used to playing least popular guy in the crowd." Bitterness crept into the boy's voice as he slid into his window seat.

Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, and Neville exchanged guilt looks, but Luna answered "they don't like Professor Snape, your father."

"That arse?" Seth seethed, startling everyone there. "Look," he leaned forward, eyes hard, voice a low near-growl, "my dad divorced my mum when she was pregnant with me. He never answered her owls. As far as I care, I have no father! So judge me at least on my own . . ."

The compartment door slid open, interrupting Seth and revealing another unpopular school personage: Draco Malfoy.

The pale blond looked over the group and curled his lip. "Getting awfully noisy in here, Potter. I may have to punish you lot."

Seth whirled around and snarled "just you try." His manner and voice exactly matched that of his father and Draco did a double-take. Shocked, he backed up then collected himself once more and sneered.

"Just a warning, Potter. I am a prefect."

"And so am I, Malfoy," Ron stood, inadvertently providing backing to Seth. "We're having a private discussion and you aren't invited. So shove off." He clenched his fists as he glared at the pale, blond boy.

Glaring back, eyeing the room, Malfoy backed into the corridor, knocking into Manda. He surprised everyone with his quick reflexes, years of seeker training had paid off, and he twisted to catch the girl before she could fall. "Sorry," he said without looking. Letting Manda's arms go, he threw another glare into the compartment then strode down the hall, Crabbe and Goyle pushing past Manda to follow.

Slowly, Manda turned to smile deviously into the compartment. "Oh, he is cute."

"Yeah, and he's an arse," Seth snarled flinging himself into his seat.

She looked at her long-time friend then nodded. "Then I'm going to have to corrupt him, aren't I?" and with that odd, and not very promising proclamation, Manda threw herself into the seat next to Seth and picked up his magazine.

The others blinked at the pair in shock while Luna once again began reading her copy of the Quibbler.

Silence descended.

Much later, as the train began its final turn, Ron and Hermione left to go rejoin the other prefects up front. Ginny, Luna, and Manda headed into the bathroom to change into their school clothes, while Harry, Neville, and Seth changed in the compartment.

Trying to break the strained mood that had reigned for the past hour, Harry cleared his throat. "I wonder which house you'll be in, Seth?"

"House?" Seth turned a puzzled look on Harry, no sign of his earlier anger evident. "Won't I be staying in a dorm?"

"Yeah, houses are dorms," Harry began to knot his red and gold tie, watching as Seth worked a plain grey one. "The students are sorted into four dorms who are like your team for the entire time you're in Hogwarts."

Seth rolled his dark eyes. "Great, I'll probably wind up with that dickhead with my luck."

Neville choked at Seth's language, but Harry grinned. "Oh, you can ask the Hat to put you somewhere else. It's worth a try."

"Hat?" Seth frowned and gave up on his tie. "What hat?"

The girls came back into the main compartment and, without comment, Manda moved to stand in front of Seth and began fixing his tie for him.

"The Sorting Hat," Harry replied, watching Manda with mild surprise. "Though I'm not sure if transfers get sorted by hat, actually. We've never had a transfer while I've been there."

Thoughtfully, Seth scooped up his cat and eased her into a small, cloth cat carrier. She immediately set up a protest but he ignored her, offering an absent smile of gratitude to Manda as she backed off. "So," Seth asked "is there any special team I should pray for?"

"Yeah," Harry slipped a hand to Seth's shoulder, making a snap decision. "Pray for Gryffindor. That's the house I'm in."

"Seth met his eyes and grinned back, their former animosity forgotten once more.

"Or you could try for Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw or Slytherin," Luna intoned. "Those are the houses. You have to be really intelligent to get into Ravenclaw. Only the smartest get in."

"So no members of the club then?" Seth asked and the group laughed, finally everyone relaxing.

Manda collected a box with holes in it then turned and asked "and what gets you into the other houses?"

"The Hat will tell you," Neville piped up. He shifted Trevor to a more secure grip. "Gryffindor's courage, Slytherin . . . ambition . . . and Hufflepuff's hard work."

Laughing, Manda shrugged. "Then Seth'll get sent home."

Seth grinned back. "Isn't that the idea?"

The train halted at the platform, sending the small group lurching into one another amid laughter.

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To be continued in Chapter Seven: Rocking the Boat