Carpet Attack

Sirius Black woke up, at first not knowing where he was. It seemed the room he was lying in rattled occasionally, but it took him a full five minutes before he came to understand why this was the case. Then, however, he sat up, grinning, not believing that he had fallen asleep on his actual journey back to Hogwarts - in a compartment of the old-fashioned, permanently bucking Hogwarts Express. It seemed an impossible task, especially as the temperature here, in the backside compartments, was ten degree lower on average than everywhere else on the train.

He had sufficient time to come to his senses before James Potter, coming from outside with a handful of Bertie Bott's Beans in each pocket, and Remus Lupin discovered that he had made his return to the waking world.

'Gosh, you must have been tired,' said Remus when the two of them and Peter settled down comfortably beside Sirius, offering him some of their new acquisitions. 'I can never sleep in this train for very long. Here, have a Chocolate Frog.'

Sirius took the twitching sweet and stuffed it into his mouth before it could hop away. Then, with a very interested look, he started examining the rest of James's belongings.

'One should think that you caught some sleep before going back to school,' stated the latter, quite unperturbed about Sirius's nosiness. 'Especially considering that we were going to start you know what this evening!'

'Now, come on!' said Remus with a horrified expression. 'You don't want to tell me you want to start breaking school rules right after the start-of-term feast?'

'You're right,' mumbled James. 'I tend to be too full to move.'

Peter laughed. 'Yeah, me too.'

Sirius grinned and then yawned.

'So, what's up?' Peter enquired curiously. 'Didn't you get any sleep tonight?'

'I have been lying on one of the stupid Cardinal's stone mattresses,' replied Sirius sourly. 'We got a Bundimun problem at home, so my parents will be spending the next couple of weeks with him.'

James frowned. 'What about Regulus?'

Sirius's gaze darkened. 'Guess what, he's here.'

'Oh,' said Peter, 'I forgot that your brother's coming to Hogwarts this year.'

'So did I,' replied Sirius curtly. 'Or, tried to. I would have managed, too, if he hadn't mentioned it to me seven times a day... on the average.'

'You think he'll be in Gryffindor, too?' enquired Lupin curiously. Sirius gave a dry laugh.

'Regulus? In Gryffindor? He is too slow to make up his mind which shirt he is going to wear each day. The hat'll probably say: Gryffindor? Nah. Not enough brains. Oops, same goes for Ravenclaw, I suppose. Let me see... Hufflepuff's full. As always. Full of idiots, that is. Slytherin? Nah. It reads c.u.n.n.i.n.g here. Dunno if that's true, but we gotta stick to the regulations, Regulus.' He paused, just for a second, and grinned. 'Get it? Regulations, Regulus.'

Remus gave him a docile grin. James rolled his eyes.

'No, seriously. You really are living up to your name.'

'Talking of which, I am going to do the Quidditch commentary this year again,' remarked Sirius. 'Asked Professor McGonagall already. She said that it was fine, but if I was being biased, I would have to go.'

Peter stuck out his tongue. 'As if,' he said. 'Who would be wasting such a chance to suck up to the Deputy Headmistress just because of a stupid partiality?'

Sirius kicked him.

'I told her that I will most certainly be biased,' he said proudly. 'After all, it's our Jamesey playing out there, isn't it?'

James gave him a thankful look, only for a second side-glancing at Peter with something like contempt in his eyes.

Peter did not notice. 'Anyway,' he said, 'what kind of stupid nickname is 'Jamesey'? You really aren't very good at making them up, Sirius.'

James grinned. 'Not everyone can be as lucky as you are, Wormtail.'

Sirius stared.

'Worm...tail?'

'A little insider,' said James, making Peter flush with anger.

'Stop that nonsense!' demanded the smaller boy. 'You got no idea.'

'No, but I got a very good look, actually,' said James, still grinning. Sirius gave him a questioning one.

'Is there anything I should know about Pete's special equipment?'

Remus produced a snort of laughter, unable to hold it back.

'Not at all,' said James, while Peter started busying himself with Bertie Bott's Beans quite intently. 'You wouldn't want to.'

At that moment, the compartment door flung open and in stumbled a completely exhausted and frightened-looking first-year.

'Sirius! Sirius, you gotta see this!'

James regarded the boy for a while. Apart from the typical Black nose and his jet black hair, he did not look in the least like his older brother, and yet it was impossible to miss that they were related. Regulus had the same upright way of walking, the same ring of snobbishness in his voice, and very much the same facial expression as Sirius had. It was actually quite endearing.

'Hey there,' he grinned. 'You look like… a small… kind of distorted… Sirius.'

Sirius frowned.

Peter obviously felt very grown up as a third-year. Remus, on the other hand, seemed to be the only one interested in what Regulus actually had to say.

'What's happened?'

'They're kidnapping people!' panted Regulus. 'Dozens and dozens of people! C'mon! They're flying on carpets, you've got to see this!'

'But carpets aren't to be enchanted under any...' began Remus, and then stopped as several faces appeared right in front of the compartment window, all hidden by pieces of black cloth or, sometimes, the edges of their hoods. They did look a bit like Dementors, Sirius found, only that they had no effect on the temperature within the compartment.

Six figures, to whom the faces belonged, were sitting on a flying carpet and apparently hovering alongside the Hogwarts Express. Sirius only barely had time to frown as the window glass suddenly shattered and two of the six (apparently males) jumped into the compartment that now filled with an unpleasant draught of cold late-summer air. It was only now Sirius realised that the train had stopped.

'We can't stop in the middle of nowhere,' he whispered. 'It's not safe...'

But there was no time for recollection. The two masked wizards grabbed Remus's arm and started dragging him towards the window. Sirius's brain suddenly snapped, all caution or sense leaving him in one go.

'Stop it!' he yelled, hauling himself at one of the black figures. 'James, c'mon! They're not taking Remus!'

James, it seemed, felt the same way and yet, his reaction had been slightly different. Instead of hauling himself at either of the two intruders, he had whipped out his wand, cast a stunner, and was now hanging upside down in the air on grounds of a counter curse one of the figures outside had cast. Their carpet was still hovering, and Sirius noticed that they had all taken out their wands.

'What is going on?' he whispered.

'Who are you?' snarled James.

'We are the rightful heirs to Salazar Slytherin's ideals!' cried one of the figures. 'Let go of the Half-blood, Sirius!'

Sirius did, out of sheer surprise of hearing his name. In a sudden, unexpected movement Remus was pulled out of the compartment and onto the carpet. It all happened so fast that Sirius had hardly any time to realise that this was partly his fault. He also realised, he was not the only one who had recognised the person's voice.

Remus kicked and screamed and called Sirius's cousin Bellatrix all sorts of names, which Sirius had not been aware the little werewolf even knew.

But soon, the last of the masked figures had mounted the carpet again, the window glass was being restored, and the carpet vanished into nothingness. Sirius stared after it in complete disbelief while James was rubbing his head, having fallen down from at least two feet above the ground. Peter was sitting on the floor, also staring. He had received a blow on the head from one of the wizards who had entered the compartment.

'They took Remus,' he squeaked after a while. 'What did they take Remus for?'

'They took dozens of other people as well,' came a voice from the door. Regulus had re-entered, having fled when the strange group outside had appeared. 'I told you...'

'Who are they?' roared Sirius. He jumped forward, took his brother's collar, and lifted him up in the air. 'What do you know about them?'

'Nothing,' puled Regulus. 'Just... the same's happened in all the other compartments as well. People are going mad out there.'

He was telling the truth. Sirius could hear the voices from outside.

'Still,' he hissed, 'if I find out you have anything to do with this... you'll regret that you've ever come in here, trying to brag with your knowledge!'

He let his brother slump to the floor quite unceremoniously.

James had got up and was walking down the corridor now, towards the echoing voices of the other students. It seemed the whole train was suddenly in an uproar. People no longer remained in their compartments but were standing side by side in the narrow corridor trying to make sense of, it seemed, very similar experiences to what Sirius and his friends had just gone through.

Helplessly, Sirius looked back into the compartment and at James.

'What's going on?' he said once more. 'What the bloody hell are they kidnapping students for?'