I give up on attempting conversation with my new companions for about an hour. I focus most of my attention on the landscapes we drive by and how different it is from home, but I can't help but notice the piles of bodies along the sides of the roads. They're hard to ignore.

At some point, Hawthorne stops the car and hands the wheel over to Twelve. She drives slower than he does but a bit more recklessly. In the first ten minutes, she nearly runs off the road twice. The funny thing is, Hawthorne barely seems to notice. It's like he doesn't even care that she took out a stop sign and hopped a median.

I mean, it's not like there are any other cars on the road, so we're not in any danger in that sense, but she could still get us in a crash or something.

After three hours of silence, I get bored enough to attempt conversation again. "So…" I start out lamely. "I feel that if we're going to be in this car together for a while, we should at least sort of get to know each other."

The front seat remains silent for a few seconds. Hawthorne shoots Twelve a significant look and asks, "Do you recognize his accent?" as though I'm not even there.

She looks at me in the rearview mirror and replies, "No. He doesn't match any of the Districts or the Capitol."

"I sound like a Londoner," I interject into their conversation.

"God, did you hit your head or something?" Hawthorne hisses. "London doesn't exist. We have no idea where the hell that is. So give it up, okay?"

I sit back in my chair and absorb the blow. First, I have to face the idea that I may never make it home, considering the only two people that could help me haven't even heard of London. If that wasn't depressing enough, I then have to face the idea that I have no idea where I am now. The places they talk about… Six… the Capitol… Those names are as foreign to me as London is to them…

But I don't allow myself to get all balled up in depression. I still have my wand, which means I still have a chance to make it back home. This is the point in the story where it occurs to you that I haven't tried Apparating back to Hogwarts. Trust me, in the few weeks of my journey that weren't narrated to you, I tried Apparating a million times, but it never worked. Besides, Dumbledore must have chucked me here for a reason. Hogwarts must be completely ridden with zombies at this point. (I almost cry at that thought.)

To cover up my obvious emotional discomfort, I try striking up conversation again.

"So what do you two plan on doing in the Capitol?"

Hawthorne mutters something that sounds like "Jesus Christ" and puts his head in his hands, but Twelve just sighs and seems to relent to talking to me for a little why.

"Since you seem to have lost all memory whatsoever, I'll just highlight some basic background first, okay?" she asks, like she's talking to a child. "The leader of this shithole is President Snow. He tried to kill me, but I showed him up, so he hates me like no other. He's pretty pissed off at Ga- Hawthorne forreasons we don't need to explain, and we plan on destroying Snow before he gets to us? Are you satisfied?"

I sit back in my seat, mulling that over. I guess Twelve takes offense from my silence because she instantly whips around and glares at me. "If you somehow happen to be a spy from the Capitol and you're just going to turn us over or something, I will kill you if it's the last thing I do!"

The car gives a giant swerve, but luckily Hawthorne grabs the wheel and aims us back at the road. With his free hand, he takes Twelve's chin and turns her face back to the road. "Eyes on the road, Catnip. You almost drove us into a ditch—" he says. That's when we see all the zombies start piling onto the road. "A ditch full of zombies. Great job, Katniss."

She starts swearing under her breath as the zombies start to gain on our bumper. In a second, she slams her foot down on the gas and starts speeding down road, all cause for safety thrown to the wind.

Hawthorne reaches down to grab one of his weapons, but I tell him to stop. Maybe they'll be nicer to me if I gain their trust and prove my ability. "I'll get them," I say. I snatch my wand from my lap and roll down the window.

One of the zombies is surprisingly fast and is dangerously close to the back of the car, so I take aim and kill him first. Then, thinking quickly, I decide it would be better just to stun them all and get out as fast as possible rather than trying to kill them all, so I do exactly that. In one foul swoop, I stun the entire mob of zombies and slide back into the car.

"See, that'll take care of them for a little while," I comment. "Why waste ammo when you can just take 'em out like that?"

Hawthorne and Twelve are just staring at me in shock though. It's kind of concerning… And then I remember that they're Muggles. Crap.

I swallow awkwardly. "You might want to get us out of here before they get up," I say.

In less than a millisecond, Twelve slams her foot down on the gas, and suddenly we're gunning down the road at about 120 miles per hour. I am thrown back flat against my seat at the force, and she shows no sign of slowing down for a while. I'm just about to shout something about not wanting to lose control of our vehicle when she slams on the brakes.

I almost smack into the back of her seat, but I stop myself.

Twelve turns around in her seat and looks over the top at me. I notice that Hawthorne is also looking at me… Or my wand, more specifically.

Hawthorne seems to be choosing his words rather carefully. "What… was that?"

"What was what?" I ask, sort of hoping to evade this difficult conversation.

"That," Twelve points back in the direction that we just drove from. "How did you take them all down like that?"

I hold up my wand. "With magic."

Their jaws drop to the floor.

"I'm a wizard," I say, since I've already decided to share everything. "That's why I've survived this long, and that's also what I ended up here. Another wizard banished me here, and I can't use magic to get back. That is why you don't know about London, and I have no idea where I am currently."

There is complete silence from the rest of the car. I wonder how they're going to take this. I've heard that some Muggles don't take very well to finding out someone near them is magic. Come to think of it, I know this from experience…

Hawthorne leans back in his seat and presses the heels of his hands into his eyes. "I'm almost entirely convinced I've gone mad. Is this really happening?"

"I can do some more magic, if you need more proof," I say, sitting forward with my wand.

"Please don't," he says, batting my wand away with one hand. "I think we've had enough of that for one day.

"Okay," I sit back in my seat, arranging myself by the cooler once again.

We sit in the road in complete silence for a long time. It's even getting a bit dark by the time Twelve even starts driving again. The sound of the engine is the only noise for a really long time.

The sky has fallen into a sunset when Twelve says, "Thanks."

"Huh?" I respond, shooting out of a reverie.

"Thanks for saving us back there," she repeats, eyes still glued to the road. "Even if your magic was a little shocking."

"No problem," I reply.

She looks at me in the mirror, and I can tell, just from her look, that everything's going to be okay between us now. She's not going to be hostile towards me. We're almost friendly- not just a messed up gang of survivors.

We're a team.

"We're going to have to take turns driving," Hawthorne says once it's completely dark on the road. "We haven't seen a zombie for a long time, but I don't want to take any risks." He turns to the backseat, where I'm half asleep against the window. "London, do you drive?"

I blink at him. "Sort of… I mean, I never got a license, but I can drive a little."

"Good enough," he shrugs. "As long as you can keep the car moving."

"I'll even take the first shift," I say. "You've been driving for a long time, Twelve."

"Thanks," she says. She pulls the car over and we switch seats.

I buckle up, not wanting to take any chances. Out of the corner of my eye, I see that Hawthorne moves his gun across his lap so that he can keep a better grip on the trigger. Apparently, I haven't won him over yet.

I drive us off at a safe, slow pace because I'm worried I'll crash us otherwise. Hawthorne seems pretty satisfied because he doesn't yell at me to let him drive or anything. Twelve must feel pretty safe with me at the helm because she's asleep within minutes on top of Granny's cooler and the Glock 9.

Hawthorne, on the other hand, stays rigid in his seat. He obviously doesn't even trust me enough to put himself in any form of weakness.

I snail us along at 40 mph for what seems like a really long time, and Hawthorne shows no sign of giving into fatigue. I'm moments from insisting that I have no intentions of hurting him in anyway, when he looks at me.

He cocks his head towards the back seat where Twelve is sleeping. "She was my best friend back home. One of the only people I ever really cared about."

"That's nice," I say. I get too choked up to talk more because that makes me think about Ron and Hermione. "I mean, it's nice you two got out together. It must be nice knowing someone still cares about you."

He shifts his grip on the gun and looks back at her. "I've only known her for four years, but it seems like a lot longer… After my dad died… I thought no one would understand, but she did. Still does. We were in the same situation before all this."

He looks down at his lap and sits in silence for a little while, obviously not wanting to share more about his life. That's sort of when I realize I've started driving diagonally, so I course correct us back onto the center of the four-lane highway.

"She's like family," he says. "I always had my mom and my siblings, but she was just my family, you know?"

I do. I understand. I nod. "Both of my parents were murdered when I was really young. I never had a family until I went off to boarding school. My friends there were like my family… Like Twelve is to you."

The sounds of the tires rolling over the road and Twelve's even breathing become the only sounds for a long time.

"There isn't anything I wouldn't do for her," Hawthorne finishes up.

I can't help but think that might be a threat towards me.

A/N: So, here's the second chapter :) Thanks for reviewing, following, and reading the first chapter! I was seriously convinced that no one was going to like this story. Let me know what you think!