Chapter Three: Never a Dull Moment

"Riley, Tony, are you two ready yet?" Prof. Cross called up from downstairs.

"We'll be right down, dad!" Riley called back.

He and Tony were still finishing packing up their belongings, trying to make their Quidditch gear fit in with their school supplies. Luckily for them, the school supplies didn't take up that much room, and their new broomsticks fit in just fine. The two finished packing up their things, then started to drag their trunks down the stairs to put into the Gabriel family's minivan. Riley's cat and owl, Bubba and Shadow, and Tony's owl, Giles, were already waiting in the backseat, and Riley and Tony each took a seat in the center row of seats, while Dr. Cross and Mrs. Gabriel took the driver's and passenger's seat respectively.

"Did you make sure to pack your helmets, boys?" asked Dr. Cross. "And your brooms? Your guards and pads?"

"Mom, we packed everything we'd need this year." Riley reassured her. "Comic books included."

"Off to another year of rooming with Malfoy, Tweedledum, and Tweedle-dumber." groaned Tony. "Why can't they have separate rooms for kids who come from Muggle families?"

"I'd rather room with Malfoy than go through what we did last year all over again."

"About that, Anthony, please try to stay out of trouble this year." pleaded Mrs. Gabriel. "I don't want to receive another letter from Prof. Snape saying that you, Riley, and your friends went off trekking down where you kids shouldn't be."

"Yes, mom." sighed Tony.

Mrs. Gabriel started up the minivan, and started to drive the two kids to King's Cross station, while Ozzy Osbourne's Crazy Train (Tony's favorite song) played on the radio. Upon arriving, she and Dr. Cross walked with their respective sons to Platform 9 and 3/4, which was filled with parents, guardians, and children, most of whom were returning to Hogwarts. Trunks and cages were already being loaded into the luggage car of the train, while students were piling into the other cars, looking for a good place to sit.

"Do you see any of the Weasleys?" asked Tony. "Or Harry or Hermione?"

"That's a negative, buddy." replied Riley.

He scanned the crowd, and spotted Luna standing by the train, already dressed in her Hogwarts robes. Beside her was a man with long pale blond hair similar to hers, who was wearing a set of brown and orange robes.

"Hey, there's Luna!" exclaimed Riley.

"Who?" asked Tony.

"I met her in Diagon Alley, she's starting Hogwarts this year. Over here, Luna!"

Luna and the man she was with looked at the two boys, and walked over to them.

"Hello again, Riley." she greeted, looking at Riley.

"Hi, Luna." responded Riley. "Tony, this is Luna Lovegood. Luna, this is Tony."

Tony reached out and shook Luna's hand, smiling politely.

"I'd like to say for the record that I'm not like most Slytherin," he pointed out. "I'm no snob."

"That's good to know." the man standing beside Luna said. "I'm glad my daughter's already making friends."

He reached out to shake the two boys' hands.

"Xenophilius Lovegood, pleasure to meet you, Riley and Tony." Mr. Lovegood greeted. "And who might you two be?" he added, looking at Dr. Cross and Mrs. Gabriel.

"I'm Sally, and this is Janie." replied Dr. Cross. "I'm Riley's mother, she's Tony's."

Riley, Tony, and Luna excused themselves to start putting their trunks onboard, and then, Luna handed each of her new friends a magazine.

"What's this?" asked Riley.

"A copy of 'The Quibbler'." answered Luna. "My daddy's the editor of it."

"I've never heard of this before. Is it good?"

Tony flipped through the pages of his magazine, and stopped at one page.

"I never heard of a Nargle before." he muttered, looking at one article.

"Oh, yes, they're prone to causing mischief." explained Luna. "Beware of mistletoe, that's where they reside."

"Duly noted."

Riley opened his copy of The Quibbler, and looked at a page showing a picture of Gilderoy Lockhart, with the headline "Gilderoy Lockhart: As fake as his toupee". A snort of laughter escaped from his lips as he tried to hold in his laughter, but failed.

"What's up?" asked Tony.

"Looks like we're not the only ones who don't like Lockhart." snickered Riley. "Look."

Tony peered over his best friend's shoulder, and read the headline, and burst into laughter.

"I like this book already." he declared, looking at Luna.

"It is the truth though, daddy says that he does not believe that Gilderoy Lockhart did all those things he says he did." Luna told them, her tone serious. "We have reason to believe he is taking credit for things he did not do."

"The way he was acting at Flourish and Blotts, I'd agree." said Riley.

Tony glanced at the magazine again, then looked at Luna.

"What's a veela?" he asked, curiously.

Riley peered over the Slytherin's shoulder, and saw what he was looking at. A woman from Southampton named Henrietta Carmichael had declared that Lockhart was half-Veela due to his father having a dalliance with one.

"Ask Hermione." he replied, looking at his best friend.

He closed the magazine up, then opened his trunk to take out his school bag, and closed it again.

"C'mon, let's see if Harry and the guys are on the train yet." Tony decided, as he took out his own bag.

"It's three minutes until we depart, they should be on board." Riley pointed out. "Luna, you want to sit with us?"

Luna nodded, and followed her two new friends towards one of the doors to the train, the three of them stopping to hug and kiss their respective parents goodbye before boarding the train to search for an empty compartment. They continued to walk down the aisle until they saw Hermione sitting in a compartment by herself, reading one of the new schoolbooks. She looked up at the trio as they entered the compartment, and placed a bookmark in her book before closing it.

"You're late." the female Gryffindor scolded the two boys.

"Nice to see you, too, Hermione." said Riley.

Hermione then saw Luna was with them, and turned her attention towards her.

"Hello, who might you be?" she asked.

"Oh, my name is Luna." answered Luna. "I'll be starting my first year at Hogwarts."

"Well, welcome. My name is Hermione Granger, I'm in Gryffindor."

The two of them shook hands, as Tony headed out of the compartment.

"Where's Tony off to?" asked Hermione.

"He went to look for our missing pals." explained Riley. "Harry and Ron should've been here by now, right?"

Hermione stood up and looked out of the window of the compartment on the opposite side of theirs. There were no sign of any redheads, or Harry.

"I don't see them." she announced. "Oh, wait! I see someone coming in through the barrier!"

Riley stood up also, and saw three red-headed people charging through the gate from King's Cross. They were the twins Fred and George Weasley, and Percy Weasley, the Gryffindor prefect.

"It's about time they showed up." Hermione sighed, relieved. "I was starting to worry."

She and Riley sat back down, and waited for Tony to return with their missing friends. A couple of minutes later, Tony reappeared with Ginny behind him.

"Where's Harry and Ron?" asked Riley.

"They were right behind us." replied Ginny.

"They better hurry up, it's almost time to go." said Hermione.

Ginny took a seat between her, and Tony, who sat on the other side of her, across from Riley and Luna. Seconds passed, and the Hogwarts Express' whistle blew. Time had run out, and there was no sign of Harry or Ron. The train started moving, with the students on board saying their farewells to their families for the meantime, before returning to their seats.

"What do you think happened?" asked Ginny.

"They probably found another compartment, or are already looking for us." Tony reassured her. "Don't sweat it, they'll show up."

"And if they missed the train?" asked Hermione.

"Mr. Weasley has a flying car, Hermione."

Luna looked at Tony, interested.

"A flying car?" she repeated.

Ginny elbowed Tony before he could answer, and shook her head.

"Er, sorry." the Slytherin student mumbled.

Time passed on, and the five of them waited for any sign of their two missing friends. Hermione went back to reading her book, "Year with the Yeti", while Luna was showing Ginny a copy of The Quibbler, Riley read one of his many superhero comic books, and Tony waited for the sweets trolley to appear, while listening to Run DMC on his Walkman. Luna looked up from the magazine, and glanced at the comic book in Riley's hand.

"That symbol on that man's outfit," she observed, catching the others' attention. "It's the same as the one from your shirt the other day."

Riley closed his comic book, and looked at the front cover. On it was a picture of Superman flying through the city of Metropolis.

"Yeah, that's sort of like his family's crest, it means 'hope'." he explained, handing the comic book to her. "He's called Superman, and he's an alien from the planet Krypton. He was sent to Earth as a baby, grew up in Smallville, KA under the alias 'Clark Kent', and became a superhero disguised as a reporter."

"Sounds like you admire this man." said Luna.

"It's Riley's greatest ambition to go around flying in blue tights and a red cape." joked Tony.

Riley shot him a glare, and stomped on one of his kneecaps, making him yelp sharply in pain. Luna and Ginny both laughed at the two boys, while Hermione smiled and rolled her eyes, trying to stay focused on her book. Just then, the trolley cart loaded with wizard sweets showed up, and the lady pushing it looked at the five kids inside.

"Anything from the trolley, dears?" she asked.

Riley and Tony took their wizard money from their pockets and stood up.

"We're buying, guys." Tony offered, looking at each of the girls in the compartment.

"I'll take a couple of licorice wands." said Ginny.

"Pumpkin pasties for me." agreed Luna.

Riley looked at Hermione, waiting for her to say anything, but she remained focused on her book. Then he and Tony handed the witch pushing the trolley a handful of coins, and purchased some of everything before returning to their seats. The two boys handed out the sweets to their friends, while the witch pushed the cart forward down the aisle. Hermione continued to read from her book until she saw a licorice wand being dangled down in between the spine, held by Tony.

"Here you go." the latter spoke, dropping the wand into the book.

"Thank you." said Hermione.

She started to open the wrapper when she glanced at the Quibbler in Ginny's hands.

"Mind if I have a look at that?" she asked.

Ginny handed her the magazine, and watched as Hermione started to flip through the pages, skimming through each article. Her eyes narrowed with each half second that passed, then finally she looked up at Luna.

"This is absolute rubbish!" Hermione exclaimed, hotly.

Almost instantly, Luna's demeanor changed, angered by the Gryffindor's words.

"It most certainly is not!" she countered. "My father is the editor I'll have you know!"

Ginny, Riley, and Tony looked towards Hermione, who appeared to be a little embarrassed.

"I'm sorry." she whispered, returning to her book.

"No, please, go on." said Luna. "I want to know what makes you think The Quibbler is rubbish."

"I've read a lot of books,-

Hermione paused to glare at Tony, who had just opened his mouth.

"Shut up, Tony." she spat, quickly, before continuing. "I've read a lot of books, and I've never heard of Nargles, Wrackspurts, or Crumple-Horned Snorkacks, and this article on Gilderoy Lockhart is a complete lie. I mean, where's the facts to back up this accusation?"

Ginny continued to look between the two as they continued to argue, while Riley and Tony looked at each other, a little afraid.

"In the future, we should start bringing our Quidditch protection gear everywhere we go." said Tony.

"You said it." agreed Riley.

The two then heard the sound of a car driving and looked outside for a moment. There were many hills and trees outside, and the roads were below the railroad tracks. The two boys looked at each other again, confused.

"You heard a car, right?" asked Riley.

"I thought I did." replied Tony.

"...Where's the proof, Luna?" Hermione demanded from beside them. "Show me the proof that these articles are correct!"

She and Luna continued to argue about whether or not the stuff in Mr. Lovegood's magazine were true, while Ginny sat between her and Tony, looking awkward.

"People have sighted them." Luna spat, angrily.

"Oh, so people have seen, that certainly has won me over!" Hermione shouted, sarcastically.

Deciding that no good was to come from this argument, Riley decided to intervene.

"Just because you haven't seen something, doesn't mean it isn't there, Hermione." he defended, looking at his Housemate.

Luna smiled at him appreciatively, while Hermione shot her friend a glare.

"I suppose that means you really believe Superman exists then?" asked Hermione.

"Well, maybe the planet Krypton does exist out there somewhere." Riley pointed out. "Maybe it hasn't been discovered. It took a couple of years or so for Kal-El to appear on Earth, so it must be far away. The Kryptonians were an advanced civilization."

It was then that Tony shot Hermione a dirty look.

"Change the subject, you're encouraging him." he growled, irritatedly.

The five of them heard the sound of a car's engine again, and looked at one another.

"Where is that coming from?" asked Tony.

"We're too high to be nearby any roads." said Hermione.

Ginny looked outside, and did a double take, her eyes slightly widened in surprise. The others followed her gaze, and looked out the window to see a blue car swerving into view...in mid-air. They jumped to their feet to get a better look, and saw two people in the front seats.

"That's my dad's car." gasped Ginny.

"Who's driving it?" asked Riley.

"I think the better question is why is it being driven where everyone can see it?!" Hermione added, looking at him.

Luna squinted her eyes a little to try and see who was driving.

"Awful young to be driving a Muggle vehicle, aren't they?" she asked.

The other four looked at her, surprised, then looked back at the car. Sure enough, Harry and Ron were the ones in the front seats of the car.

"I think we found out what happened to our missing friends." announced Tony.

Suddenly, Harry tumbled out of the passenger's side, and hung onto the door for dear life. Hermione and Ginny screamed in panic, while Riley and Tony looked at each other, worriedly.

"Someone, quick!" shrieked Riley. "Come up with a plan!"

"You tell me, Superboy!" Tony yelled back, shaking him by the shoulders.

He stopped, and both of them quickly looked at Hermione.

"Hermione!" they shouted. "Do something!"

"What do you want me to do?!" asked Hermione.

"You're the smart one!"

Luna, the only one remaining calm through the ordeal, pointed at the car.

"Don't worry, he got back inside." she reassured them.

Hermione, Ginny, Tony, and Riley watched as Harry closed the passenger's side door, and the car pulled out of sight over the train, then they sat back down, sighing in relief.

"I'm going to kill those two." Hermione vowed, fuming.

"I'll bury the bodies." Tony offered, nodding.

"I'll dispose the evidence." Riley piped up.

Credit goes to friend and voice of reason in this world full of crazies, Peach Wookiee, for that veela comment in the Quibbler article. I wanted there to be some kind of mention of Lockhart in the Quibbler, but all I could come up with was the toupee bit.

Disclaimer: I own just the Cross family, and the Gabriels. I don't own the Harry Potter series (books, movies, you get it), or any of the DC comics, books, the Walkman player, any artists or songs that appear in this story. If I did, I'd be richer than Lex Luthor, Bruce Wayne, the Malfoys, you get it. 'kay? Cool. Catch you later.