A/N: Ugh! You guys must hate me (or at least want to punch me) for taking so long to update. I'm doing my best to write quickly but I'm trying to keep this story as close to the HP books as I can...like all the rules and everything. So I'm constantly referring back to the books and a few websites for details and whatnot. Hopefully there won't be anything that couldn't fit it the books and if there is let me know. Anyways, thanks to everyone who reviewed…it really means a lot! And if you didn't you should be ashamed of yourself! Haha...no I just really like reviews and reading what you all have to say. Also thanks to my beta, Kaia…it wouldn't be the same without you. And now on to the story! Oh and by the way…this is the longest chapter I've written so far…hope that makes up for the time it's taken me to update. Now to the story! Happy reading…and don't forget to review!
Disclaimer: As much as I wish it all belonged to me, it doesn't. Well except for the plot (although that's pretty much JKR's too) and an odd character or two.
Growing Change
Chapter 4: More Serious Matters
James pushed open the door that lead to the front of the train where Henry the conductor and the food cart lady (who all the students called Aunt May) stayed during the journey to Hogwarts.
Even from the doorway he could tell that they were dead. They were just lying there. Two heaps dressed in colorful robes lying unmoving on the floor.
Suddenly, a slight movement caught James' eye. As he turned towards it a figure in a black robe with a white mask covering his face dashed to the open train door that lead outside. James darted out after him.
Several feet from the train the figure turned and pointed his wand at the train.
James froze in the doorway wand at the ready. His messy black hair was blowing in the stormy September wind and a light rain dampened his face and robes from a rapidly darkening sky.
The figure shouted something James couldn't understand. A glittering, green vapor shot from his wand.
"Protego!" James instinctively put up a shield charm.
The vapor floated harmlessly above the train and the figure Dissaparated with a small `pop'.
James dissolved the shield as he watched the green vapor take form. His breath caught in his throat and he shivered as a brisk wind whipped at his damp robes. The sky opened into a torrent of rain as a bolt of lighting illuminated the sky, enhancing the sign floating in the air. A vast green and glittering skull, with a serpent protruding from its mouth like a tongue was hovering directly above the Hogwarts Express, etched against the cloud darkened sky.
The Dark Mark.
********
"I know that you are all worried and are wondering what is happening," Lily said as the last of the prefects sat down in the compartment. "James has gone to find out what's going on. I would like everyone, except the seventh years, to go to each apartment and tell everyone to stay put and keep them calm. One prefect for every 3 compartments. We will send word as soon as we know what it going on. Remember to keep everyone calm."
Lily glanced at her watch as the fifth and sixth year prefects left the compartment and spread throughout the train. The seventh years sat down on the benches to wait. Rain beat a steady staccato on the roof of the train while thunder and lightning periodically brightened the sky.
Ten minutes. `James should have been here by now.' She sat down on one of the benches to wait for him. Another five minutes passes. Lily bit her lower lip nervously and Remus came and sat down next to her.
"What's wrong?" he asked her.
"We said we would meet here in five minutes. It's been fifteen."
"Do you want me to go find him?"
"Yeah, could you?" She shot Remus a relieved smile. "I would go but, I have to stay here," she finished gesturing around the room.
Remus had just reached the door and was about to open it when James rushed through out of breath and water dripping from his robes. Lily rushed to meet him.
"What's going on?" she asked and hurriedly cast a drying charm on James.
"Thanks," he whispered and beckoned Remus closer. "Can you go get Sirius? He'll know more about all this then I will. Peter might as well come too." Sirius nodded and left. James turned to Lily "Whatever it was, it's gone now. I think I know what it was, but I want to be sure. But that's not the problem." He said softly, looking Lily straight in the eyes. "We don't have a conductor anymore." His face was dead serious.
"Wh-what? What do you mean we don't have a conductor anymore? What happened to him? What about everyone else? Surely there's someone who can work the train."
"Slow down. I'll explain in a moment. Let's get everyone calmed down first." He turned to the seventh year prefects that were still in the room. "Listen up. There is something wrong with our conductor. It is being taken care of so we should be ready to move in a little while, hopefully. Please go through the train and tell everyone that everything is under control and that they should remain in their compartments unless they need to use the bathroom and only if are being escorted by one of you."
A murmur broke out through the room as the prefects turned to leave. Remus entered the room a few moments later, followed by Sirius, Peter, and Marlene with her boyfriend, John. Remus shrugged at a look from James as if to say `what did you want me to do about it?'
James shook his head ruefully. "Lets all go to the Head Compartment. We can talk there." As soon as they were all seated and James had shut the door behind them everyone burst out at once with a million questions.
James held up his hands. "Hold on! We'll tell you what we know so far and then you can ask questions and we can figure out what we're going to do, alright?"
They nodded. James sat down next to Lily so they could explain what happened.
"When the train stopped I went up front to see what happened while Evans called all the prefects together. The door was shut when I got there and I could tell that something was wrong. I mean all the other times I had gone up front the door was always open, why should it be any different now? When I opened the door, the conductor John and Aunt May were laying on the floor. Then there was movement in one corner so I turned toward it. A figure wearing a long, hooded, black robe and a white mask rushed out the door and I followed."
"A Death Eater," Sirius said in a disgusted voice.
"Yeah, that's what I thought too" James agreed.
"But-" Lily started to say but James interrupted her.
"Let me finish." She nodded and he continued. "The Death Eater went outside and then turned around to face the train. He spoke some sort of spell, I couldn't make out what he said, but whatever it was it conjured the Dark Mark."
Everyone in the room gasped. Then Sirius spoke, voicing the question everyone was too afraid to ask. "What about Henry? And Aunt May?"
"They're dead. He killed them...along with all the other adult wizards on the train. I checked." James sighed.
Silence sat like a dead weight in the room.
"So what do we do now?" Marlene asked quietly, breaking the silence.
James looked at Lily. "Any ideas, Evans?"
Lily took a deep breath. "We have to get word to Dumbledore about what's happened. Although, he might already know." Lily stood up and twirled a strand of fiery hair as she paced. "But what really worries me is that this train had loads of protective spells on it. There's no way a Death Eater could have gotten on the train unless-"
"They were already on the train when it pulled out of the station and were supposed to be on it," James interrupted.
"Exactly."
James ran a hand through his hair. "Which means, that the Death Eater who killed everyone was someone who was working on the train. And the people that were killed knew who they were."
"So all we need is a list of who was employed to work on the Hogwarts Express to figure out who the Death Eater was," Lily said.
"But your right, we need to get word to Dumbledore before we do anything else," James said. "Padfoot, where's your owl?"
"He's with the rest of my stuff in the compartment."
"Ok, write out a note for Dumbledore explaining what happened. Celox is much faster then my owl. It will only take him a few minutes to get to Hogwarts and take the letter to Dumbledore."
Sirius nodded and left. John spoke up, "We should tell all the seventh years. They need to know what is happening and they're experienced enough to be of some help if more Death Eaters show up."
James and Lily nodded in agreement. "We might as well tell the fifth and sixth year prefects as well," Lily said. "They're going to have to help us keep everyone settled until the train is moving again."
John and Marlene stood up. "We can tell them," Marlene said. "We'll make sure they know not to say anything to anyone that's not a seventh year or a prefect, and answer any questions they have."
Peter stood up too. "I'll go with them," he said.
James shot them all a strained smile. "Thanks," he said. "We'll wait here for Dumbledore." No sooner had the three of them left then there was a small flash of light and the Headmaster of Hogwarts, Professor Albus Dumbledore, appeared in the doorway dressed in his usual wizard robes and hat, carrying a small tin of lemon drops that he had used for a portkey.
"Professor." Lily let out a sigh of relief and stood up to great him.
"Miss Evans, Mr. Potter," Dumbledore said, nodding to them each in turn. Dumbledore shut the door and James motioned for him to sit down. Dumbledore had just opened his mouth to speak when the door opened.
"James, I sent the letter. Dumbledore should get-" Sirius broke off having seen Dumbledore. "Sir," he said. "I take it you got my owl?"
"Yes, indeed, Mr. Black. A wise idea to use such a fast owl."
"Oh, that was James' idea, not mine sir."
"Ah, I stand corrected." He looked over at James. "I am glad to see my decision to make you Head Boy was a good one."
"Thank you, sir," James replied with a grin. He chanced a glance at Lily and saw a look of indifference on her face. James sighed inwardly.
"Sir, what are we going to do now?" Lily asked quietly.
"I believe that this attack was merely a warning of sorts. But for now, we need to get everyone to the school. Now, Mr. Potter, I need to see what damage has been done before I revive the train."
"Sir what do you mean `revive' the train?" Lily asked.
Dumbledore smiled. "Of the many protective charms on the Hogwarts Express there is one called the Contegon charm. The charm is activated when anything harmful befalls the person in charge of operating the train, it will automatically stop the train and shut it down. The train then can only be revived by the person who cast the charm, in this case, me."
"Oh!" Lily exclaimed. "That makes perfect sense. I read about the Contegon charm in fifth year when I was looking up protection charms after we talked about them in Defense class. The incantation is `contego' and it will surround a specific area with a shield and repel anything that would be considered harmful to the castor."
James looked over at Lily, stunned that she could remember something she must have read about at the beginning of their fifth year. Dumbledore was smiling at Lily, and James realized that he hadn't been at all surprised that Lily knew about the charm.
"The one that I found most fascinating though," Lily was saying to Dumbledore, "was the Fidelus charm. That seems immensely complicated to perform. I would love to learn more about it. The book I was reading didn't have all that much in it."
"I have a book that has been written on that charm and several like it. I will lend them to you to read if you are interested."
Lily's eyes lit up and she sat forward in her seat excitedly. `Figure that she gets excited about some book,' James thought.
"That would be wonderful, Professor," she said. "I'm absolutely fascinated with charms of any sort.
"Now onto more serious matters. I will announce today's occurrences at the welcoming feast tonight and then we can discuss it further in my office afterwards."
"Sir," Sirius said. "We have Marlene Davies, John McKinnon and Peter Pettigrew telling all the seventh years as we speak, as well as the fifth and sixth year prefects."
"We're making sure they know not to say anything. We wanted to be sure that if there was another attack that they would be ready to defend themselves," James added.
"Very well then. Let's get this train revived." He stood up and headed for the compartment door. "We are an hour away from the school so I have asked Professor McGonagall to inform the house elves that the feast will be held an hour later then usual."
"We're that close?" Lily asked. "I thought we were much farther."
"Well, Evans," James said with a smirk. "You did sleep most of the way here."
Sirius laughed and Lily blushed faintly. "The train always puts me to sleep," she said defensively. "Besides, where were you? Off with you friends planning pranks. Some Head Boy you are!"
"Hey!" James interjected. "That's tradition you're talking about."
"Some tradition. What are you going to do this year? Make anyone who eats the trifle talk in rhymes for the rest of the night?" she asked bitterly.
"Nah, we did that in fourth year."
"Oh, that's right. How could I have forgotten," she said sarcastically. Sirius glanced over at Dumbledore and motioned to the door. Dumbledore nodded in assent and they left to look at the damage the Death Eater had left, knowing that once Lily and James started going at it, it would take an avalanche to make them stop.
"I really don't know," James answered seriously. "You did have three helpings." He paused. "Wish I had remembered that trifle was your favorite dessert before we decided to use it for our prank."
"No as much as I did. Do you know how hard it is to come up with something that rhymes with orange?"
"I didn't even know there was a rhyme for that."
"Exactly!" she said huffily. "I couldn't talk for the rest of the night because I couldn't find anything to rhyme with orange that was an actual word."
Before James could reply, Sirius and Dumbledore reentered the room. James saw them and a look of mortification crossed his face. "P-Professor…I hadn't realized you left."
"Naturally," Dumbledore replied. "You and Miss Evans had quite a lot to argue about. I hope that you can get it out of your system before the school year starts?"
Lily looked at Dumbledore incredulously. "I hope so too, sir. For my sake," she muttered.
"Hey, you're the one who always starts it!" James interjected.
"You're the one who brings it up in the first place."
James opened his mouth to reply but then shut it, knowing that she was right, as usual. He turned to Dumbledore instead. "Sir, are we ready to go to the school?"
"Yes, I have portkeyed the victims to Hogwarts and alerted the Minister of Magic, Gimpfrey Bowman. The train will start moving shortly. I will go to the front and announce that we are on our way to Hogwarts and stay here until we reach Hogwarts in case there are anymore difficulties."
Lily nodded. "Thank you Professor. We'll all go around the train to answer any questions anyone has."
"Thank you, that will make less for me to explain tonight." Dumbledore said and then nodded to Lily, James, and Sirius and then left the compartment for the front of the train. A few moments later they heard his voice ringing throughout the train, telling everyone that they would be arriving at Hogwarts within the hour. The three of them left the compartment to answer questions, knowing that more then half of those asked they would not be able to answer.
********
The train pulled into the Hogsmeade station an hour later. Students excitedly exited through the doors and walked up the path to where the carriages were waiting patiently to drive them up to the school. A deep voice was bellowing for the first years to follow him so that they could take their traditional row across the lake and get their first magical view of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The first years nervously gathered around the Hogwarts' gamekeeper, Rubeus Hagrid.
James and Lily stepped off the train and ushered students who were lagging behind to the carriages. When they finally made it to the carriages themselves they found one waiting for them. James let out a slight shudder upon seeing the carriage. Lily looked over at him quizzically but he didn't meet her eyes. The door opened as they approached and Marlene stuck her head out.
"What took so long?" she asked.
"We had to make sure everyone else was off the train first," Lily replied, climbing into the carriage with James following behind. "Thanks for waiting."
"I second that," James said as he sat down next to Remus. Lily sat down next to Marlene, opposite James. Sirius and Peter were on the other side of Remus and John was on Marlene's other side.
The group road along in silence until Marlene asked, "Do any of you know how these carriages get up to the school? I've always wondered. Is there some sort of propelling spell on them or something?"
All of them, except James, shook their heads, who answered shortly, "Thestrals."
Lily let out a soft, "Oh of course, that makes perfect sense. The only people who can see the thestrals are those who have seen death," she explained to the others.
"It's in our Care of Magical Creatures book. We're supposed to learn about them this year. They're said to be horrid looking. I saw a picture of one in my book, but I suppose they're much worse in person." She gave James a look of understanding.
"Who was it you knew?" she asked him.
"I'd rather not say." There was an uncomfortable silence throughout the carriage before Sirius broke it, noticing that they had reached the school.
"Great, we're here. I'm so hungry I could eat a hippogriff," he said jumping out of the carriage as it stopped. He turned back around when he realized the others weren't following him. "Well, what are you waiting for? The first years are almost here and I don't want to miss the sorting. Or the food," he added.
Laughing at his antics, the others climbed out of the carriage and followed him into the school, temporarily forgetting their harsh day in light of the promising evening that lay ahead of them.
A/N: That (again) was the longest chapter I've written so far. I hope you liked it! Just a few notes: The Dark Mark description was taken from pg. 128 of GoF in the American version, give or take a few words. The name of the Minister of Magic, Gimpfrey Bowman, is credited to my older brother, Jason. I couldn't think of a name so I ask him to pick one that could be used as a HP character…that's what he came up with. I don't think he did that bad of a job either. Also…if you have any ideas for pranks that the Marauders could play they would be muchly appreciated. Credit will be given if I decide to use it. And one more note of curiosity…how many of you read the authors notes? Just wondering… Hope you enjoyed the chapter. I can't promise when the next one will be out but winter break is coming up soon so I should have lots of time to write. Remember…more reviews equal faster writing! They're what keeps me going.