Chapter 5:

Dripping...

The sound of something liquid pelting the ground. Rose searched the the strange dark place for the source of the leak. There were suits of armor lining the hallways and a very grand looking staircase leading up to a more complex set of stairways. She couldn't tell what was up them, and didn't really seem interested in finding out. She just wanted to stop the dripping.

*drip*

*drip*

She ground her teeth as the sound resounded in the giant hall she was in. Rose held her hands over her ears and began to pace.

A moment later a young boy maybe fifteen or sixteen years of age glided down the stairs. He had dark black hair like hers and a blank expression. It almost looked as if he was bored or in deep thought.

"Excuse me." Rose said but the boy just kept walking. Maybe he hadn't heard her. Doubtful since she could hear her own words echoing off the walls, but it was possible that maybe he was distracted just enough that he completely zoned her out.

She held out her hand to catch the boy by the shoulder but felt something pelt her hand and had her stumbling backwards as the dark red liquid made a trail down between her middle and ring finger.

*drip*

*drip

The sound of the dripping was begining to sound like a rain storm and Rose found herself knee deep in the liquid before she even knew what was going on.

"Hey!" She yelled desperately at the boy, and went completely still when he finally turned around. He had made his way almost fifteen feet from where she was wading in the liquid and she could swear by one look into his eyes that she knew this person. She just couldn't place where she knew him from. She was jarred back out of her stupor when a metallic smell assalted her nose. She jerked again when she realized what was going on.

Blood...

She was waste high in the liquid life before she began trudging frantically forward. Somewhere inside her s knew that she needed to reach the boy. She wanted to but the blood began dripping down her line of sight, as if she were inside an invisible box, blinding her from the rest of the world. Before the red liquid completely blocked her entire view she caught sight of the boy's questioning look.

'Yes. Help!' She thought as he looked at her. She was chin deep now and she realized for the first time that she didn't know how to swim. Rose gagged on the smell, and almost vomitted when she got a mouthful of crimson. "HELP!" It was too late. She was breathing in the liquid now and flailing around trying to keep her nose above the surface.

The jitters from Rose's dream did not disappear until she and Harry were all packed and ready to leave for the train station. It was hard to think about the nightmare when she was going to be heading off to a new school where she would be taught magic. The only problem was she had a metallic taste in her mouth that wouldn't disappear. Even after Sirius had made them eggs and bacon for breakfast. The salty taste of bacon was drown out immediately after eating it.

"Too bad we couldn't let Sirius come with us." Rose said as they wove their way through the platforms looking for the correct one.

"Yeah he was pretty disappointed." Harry said and had Rose trying to hide her amusement as they remembered the older man's pouting face.

"More like, 'Too bad we don't have a kennel to keep him out of trouble.'" Remus sighed as he glanced over his shoulder.

Rose and Harry followed his line of sight and saw that they were being tailed by a big, black, scraggly dog. "Sirius." Rose exasperated with a shake of her head. Sirius disappeared into the crowd and Rose found that they had finally stopped between platforms nine and ten. "This way." Remus said catching their attention.

They each turned their carts and went to follow him when he walked straight into the brick wall between the platforms. They froze and his head reappeared moments later. "It's easy, just a little unnerving the first time through." He disappeared again making Harry and Rose glance at eachother. The platform was crowded with Muggles, but nobody seemed to notice anything amiss.

Harry was the first to shrug off his disbelief and lined his cart up with the wall. He walked towards the wall slowly and calmly vanishing as Lupin had.

"Ok, here we go." Rose lined her cart up as well and repeated Harry's actions. She walked through the wall feeling very light and warm. The feeling disappeared a moment later as she found herself standing on a completely different platform and she glanced up at a sign that read Platform nine and three quarters, smiling at the obsurdity of it.

"Ok, this way." Remus escorted them to the baggage area where they unloaded their belongings, including their owls, Sootsie and Headwig. The smaller black owl, Sootsie, was given to Rose and the slightly bigger white owl, Headwig, was given to Harry for their birthday. They were overwhelmed when Hagrid had bought the owls since the two of them had never once received a birthday present before in all their eleven years. Well, at least, not from their Aunt and Uncle. They were too young to remember if they had been given gifts by their parents.

Harry and Rose were almost finished loading their luggage when sparks began flying from the windows of the train making them stumble backwards in surprise. The sparks spewed farther and farther until everyone was backed against the wall and then stopped completely. A moment later a bunch of kids ran from the inside of the train causing chaos as a bunch of people outside began to panic as well.

"This is brilliant." Sirius's voice startled them.

"Are you mad, Sirius!" Remus scolded.

"Not at all. Nobody is going to notice me with all this going on." He gestured towards the train as multicolored smoke seeped from the windows and doors. "Whoever set this up was brilliant." He repeated.

"Neat prank, but these kids are going to be late." Remus stepped forward and waved his wand. The smoke receded, but only to explode into floating pieces of confetti.

"Brilliant." Sirius said once more. "Well I best be going." He grabbed Rose and Harry in a hug. "Be good."

"You be good." Rose said. "And thanks for the locket."

Sirius glanced at the golden locket around her neck. He figured Remus had probably bought the trinket on behalf of him, for her birthday. It's not that he didn't remember...more like, since he was on the run, he couldn't just waltz into a random store and buy something for them himself. "You're welcome. I'll write you every chance I get." He said as he waved goodbye.

Harry and Rose waved back making Sirius feel a little depressed. "It's like watching them walk out of my life again."

Remus new he meant Lilly and James and not Harry and Rose. "Yes, but those two will be back." He smiled as he grabbed him in a one armed hug, and then immediately sobered up. "Animagus... now." He ordered making Sirius pout again, but obediantly turned back into the black dog.

The isles of the Hogwarts Express were croweded with students when Harry and Rose finally stepped on. They were being pushed and shoved in every direction and when they thought they were home free...*BAM* Rose went crashing into one of the compartments.

"Rose! Are you ok!" She heard Harry shout.

She thought she was ok. She was more dazed than anything, but a pressure on her legs had her realizing that someone had landed on her. She looked up to see an older boy with black hair. No, not completely black. She caught sight of some red highlights as well. She sat up as much as she was able to with the boy sitting in her lap.

"I'm sorry. Seems that I have been a little bit clumsy." The boy pushed himself off her lap and pulled Rose to her feet. "That's the life of a Prefect." He seemed a little too happy for just being pushed violently through a door, but Rose was just glad he was okay. "Hi, I'm Kai."

"Um, I'm Rose."

"Well, Rose, sorry for the suprise, gotta be going. I have halls to monitor." He didn't seem excited by this, but who could really tell. He smiled all the while.

Rose sat down in the compartment figuring it was as good a place as any to sit. Harry joined her, sitting right across the way. "Well, here we go." If nothing else, Kai's smile was contagious. Harry and Rose had identical expressions as they felt the train begin to move.