Untitled Part 10
Harry had a troubled night's sleep. His parents wove inand out of his dreams, never speaking; Mrs. Weasleysobbed over Kreacher's dead body watched by Ron andHermione, who were wearing crowns, and yet again Harryfound himself walking down a corridor ending in a lockeddoor. He awoke abruptly with his scar prickling to find Ronalready dressed and talking to him.
"... better hurry up, Mum's going ballistic, she says we'regoing to miss the train. ..."
There was a lot of commotion in the house. From what heheard as he dressed at top speed, Harry gathered that Fredand George had bewitched their trunks to fly downstairs tosave the bother of carrying them, with the result that theyhad hurtled straight into Ginny and knocked her down twoflights of stairs into the hall; Mrs. Black and Mrs. Weasleywere both screaming at the top of their voices.
"— COULD HAVE DONE HER A SERIOUS INJURY, YOUIDIOTS —"
"— FILTHY HALF-BREEDS, BESMIRCHING THE HOUSEOF MY FATHERS —"
Hermione came hurrying into the room looking flusteredjust as Harry was putting on his trainers; Hedwig wasswaying on her shoulder, and she was carrying a squirmingCrookshanks in her arms.
"Mum and Dad just sent Hedwig back" — the owlfluttered obligingly over and perched on top of her cage —"are you ready yet?""Nearly — Ginny all right?" Harry asked, shoving on hisglasses.
"Mrs. Weasley's patched her up," said Hermione. "Butnow Mad-Eye's complaining that we can't leave unlessSturgis Podmore's here, otherwise the guard will be oneshort."
"Guard?" said Harry. "We have to go to King's Cross witha guard?"
"You have to go to King's Cross with a guard," Hermionecorrected him.
"Why?" said Harry irritably. "I thought Voldemort wassupposed to be lying low, or are you telling me he's going tojump out from behind a dustbin to try and do me in?"
"I don't know, it's just what Mad-Eye says," said Hermionedistractedly, looking at her watch. "But if we don't leavesoon we're definitely going to miss the train. ..."
"WILL YOU LOT GET DOWN HERE NOW, PLEASE!" Mrs.Weasley bellowed and Hermione jumped as though scaldedand hurried out of the room. Harry seized Hedwig, stuffedher unceremoniously into her cage, and set off downstairsafter Hermione, dragging his trunk.
Mrs. Black's portrait was howling with rage but nobodywas bothering to close the curtains over her; all the noise inthe hall was bound to rouse her again anyway
"Harry, you're to come with me and Tonks," shouted Mrs.Weasley over the repeated screeches of "MUDBLOODS!SCUM! CREATURES OF DIRT!" "Leave your trunk andyour owl, Alastor's going to deal with the luggage. ... Oh, forheaven's sake, Sirius, Dumbledore said no!"
A bearlike black dog had appeared at Harry's side asHarry clambered over the various trunks cluttering the hallto get to Mrs. Weasley.
"Oh honestly ..." said Mrs. Weasley despairingly, "well, onyour own head be it!"
She wrenched open the front door and stepped out intothe weak September sunlight. Harry and the dog followedher. The door slammed behind them and Mrs. Black'sscreeches were cut off instantly
"Where's Tonks?" Harry said, looking around as theywent down the stone steps of number twelve, whichvanished the moment they reached the pavement.
"She's waiting for us just up here," said Mrs. Weasleystiffly, averting her eyes from the lolloping black dog besideHarry.
An old woman greeted them on the corner. She hadtightly curled gray hair and wore a purple hat shaped like aporkpie.
"Wotcher, Harry," she said, winking. "Better hurry up,hadn't we, Molly?" she added, checking her watch.
"I know, I know," moaned Mrs. Weasley, lengthening herstride, "but Mad-Eye wanted to wait for Sturgis. ... If onlyArthur could have got us cars from the Ministry again ...but Fudge wouldn't let him borrow so much as an empty inkbottle these days. ... How Muggles can stand travelingwithout magic ..."
But the great black dog gave a joyful bark and gamboledaround them, snapping at pigeons, and chasing its own tail.Harry couldn't help laughing. Sirius had been trappedinside for a very long time. Mrs. Weasley pursed her lips inan almost Aunt Petunia-ish way.
It took them twenty minutes to reach King's Cross by footand nothing more eventful happened during that time thanSirius scaring a couple of cats for Harry's entertainment.Once inside the station they lingered casually beside thebarrier between platforms nine and ten until the coast wasclear, then each of them leaned against it in turn and felleasily through onto platform nine and three quarters,where the Hogwarts Express stood belching sooty steamover a platform packed with departing students and theirfamilies. Harry inhaled the familiar smell and felt his spiritssoar. ... He was really going back. ...
"I hope the others make it in time," said Mrs. Weasleyanxiously, staring behind her at the wrought-iron archspanning the platform, through which new arrivals wouldcome.
"Nice dog, Harry!" called a tall boy with dreadlocks."Thanks, Lee," said Harry, grinning, as Sirius wagged histail frantically.
"Oh good," said Mrs. Weasley, sounding relieved, "here'sAlastor with the luggage, look ..."
A porter's cap pulled low over his mismatched eyes,Moody came limping through the archway pushing a cartfull of their trunks.
"All okay," he muttered to Mrs. Weasley and Tonks. "Don'tthink we were followed. ..."
Seconds later, Mr. Weasley emerged onto the platformwith Ron and Hermione. They had almost unloaded Moody'sluggage cart when Fred, George, and Ginny turned up withLupin.
"No trouble?" growled Moody.
"Nothing," said Lupin.
"I'll still be reporting Sturgis to Dumbledore," said Moody."That's the second time he's not turned up in a week.Getting as unreliable as Mundungus."
"Well, look after yourselves," said Lupin, shaking hands allround. He reached Harry last and gave him a clap on theshoulder. "You too, Harry. Be careful."
"Yeah, keep your head down and your eyes peeled," saidMoody, shaking Harry's hand too. "And don't forget, all ofyou — careful what you put in writing. If in doubt, don't putit in a letter at all."
"It's been great meeting all of you," said Tonks, huggingHermione and Ginny. "We'll see you soon, I expect."
A warning whistle sounded; the students still on theplatform started hurrying onto the train.
"Quick, quick," said Mrs. Weasley distractedly, huggingthem at random and catching Harry twice. "Write. ... Begood. ... If you've forgotten anything we'll send it on. ...Onto the train, now, hurry. ..."
For one brief moment, the great black dog reared onto itshind legs and placed its front paws on Harry's shoulders,but Mrs. Weasley shoved Harry away toward the train doorhissing, "For heaven's sake act more like a dog, Sirius!"
"See you!" Harry called out of the open window as thetrain began to move, while Ron, Hermione, and Ginnywaved beside him. The figures of Tonks, Lupin, Moody, andMr. and Mrs. Weasley shrank rapidly but the black dog wasbounding alongside the window, wagging its tail; blurredpeople on the platform were laughing to see it chasing thetrain, and then they turned the corner, and Sirius was gone.
"He shouldn't have come with us," said Hermione in aworried voice.
"Oh lighten up," said Ron, "he hasn't seen daylight formonths, poor bloke."
"Well," said Fred, clapping his hands together, "can'tstand around chatting all day, we've got business to discusswith Lee. See you later," and he and George disappeareddown the corridor to the right.
The train was gathering still more speed, so that thehouses outside the window flashed past and they swayedwhere they stood.
"Shall we go and find a compartment, then?" Harry askedRon and Hermione.
Ron and Hermione exchanged looks.
"Er," said Ron.
"We're — well — Ron and I are supposed to go into theprefect carriage," Hermione said awkwardly.
Ron wasn't looking at Harry; he seemed to have becomeintensely interested in the fingernails on his left hand.
"Oh," said Harry. "Right. Fine."
"I don't think we'll have to stay there all journey," saidHermione quickly. "Our letters said we just get instructionsfrom the Head Boy and Girl and then patrol the corridorsfrom time to time."
"Fine," said Harry again. "Well, I-I might see you later,then."
"Yeah, definitely," said Ron, casting a shifty, anxious lookat Harry. "It's a pain having to go down there, I'd rather —but we have to — I mean, I'm not enjoying it, I'm not Percy,"he finished defiantly.
"I know you're not," said Harry and he grinned. But asHermione and Ron dragged their trunks, Crookshanks, anda caged Pigwidgeon off toward the engine end of the train,Harry felt an odd sense of loss. He had never traveled onthe Hogwarts Express without Ron.
"Come on," Ginny told him, "if we get a move on we'll beable to save them places."
"Right," said Harry, picking up Hedwig's cage in one handand the handle of his trunk in the other. They struggled offdown the corridor, peering through the glass-paneled doorsinto the compartments they passed, which were alreadyfull. Harry could not help noticing that a lot of people staredback at him with great interest and that several of themnudged their neighbors and pointed him out. After he hadmet this behavior in five consecutive carriages heremembered that the Daily Prophet had been telling itsreaders all summer what a lying show-off he was. Hewondered bleakly whether the people now staring andwhispering believed the stories.
In the very last carriage they met Neville Longbottom,Harry's fellow fifth-year Gryffindor, his round face shiningwith the effort of pulling his trunk along and maintaining aone-handed grip on his struggling toad, Trevor.
"Hi, Harry," he panted. "Hi, Ginny. ... Everywhere's full. ...I can't find a seat. ..."
"What are you talking about?" said Ginny, who hadsqueezed past Neville to peer into the compartment behindhim. "There's room in this one, there's only Loony Lovegoodin here —"
Neville mumbled something about not wanting to disturbanyone.
"Don't be silly," said Ginny, laughing, "she's all right."
She slid the door open and pulled her trunk inside it.Harry and Neville followed.
"Hi, Luna," said Ginny. "Is it okay if we take these seats?"
The girl beside the window looked up. She had straggly,waist-length, dirty-blond hair, very pale eyebrows, andprotuberant eyes that gave her a permanently surprisedlook. Harry knew at once why Neville had chosen to passthis compartment by. The girl gave off an aura of distinctdottiness. Perhaps it was the fact that she had stuck herwand behind her left ear for safekeeping, or that she hadchosen to wear a necklace of butterbeer caps, or that shewas reading a magazine upside down. Her eyes rangedover Neville and came to rest on Harry. She nodded.
"Thanks," said Ginny, smiling at her.
"Thanks," said Ginny, smiling at her.
Harry and Neville stowed the three trunks and Hedwig'scage in the luggage rack and sat down. The girl called Lunawatched them over her upside-down magazine, which wascalled The Quibbler. She did not seem to need to blink asmuch as normal humans. She stared and stared at Harry,who had taken the seat opposite her and now wished hehad not.
"Had a good summer, Luna?" Ginny asked.
"Yes," said Luna dreamily, without taking her eyes offHarry. "Yes, it was quite enjoyable, you know. You're HarryPotter," she added.
"I know I am," said Harry.
Neville chuckled. Luna turned her pale eyes upon himinstead.
"And I don't know who you are."
"I'm nobody," said Neville hurriedly.
"No you're not," said Ginny sharply. "Neville Longbottom— Luna Lovegood. Luna's in my year, but in Ravenclaw."
"Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure," saidLuna in a singsong voice.
She raised her upside-down magazine high enough tohide her face and fell silent. Harry and Neville looked ateach other with their eyebrows raised. Ginny suppressed agiggle.
The train rattled onward, speeding them out into opencountry. It was an odd, unsettled sort of day; one momentthe carriage was full of sunlight and the next they werepassing beneath ominously gray clouds.
"Guess what I got for my birthday?" said Neville.
"Another Remembrall?" said Harry, remembering themarblelike device Neville's grandmother had sent him in aneffort to improve his abysmal memory.
"No," said Neville, "I could do with one, though, I lost theold one ages ago. ... No, look at this. ..."
He dug the hand that was not keeping a firm grip onTrevor into his schoolbag and after a little bit of rummagingpulled out what appeared to be a small gray cactus in a pot,except that it was covered with what looked like boilsrather than spines.
"Mimbulus mimbletonia," he said proudly.
Harry stared at the thing. It was pulsating slightly, givingit the rather sinister look of some diseased internal organ.
"It's really, really rare," said Neville, beaming. "I don'tknow if there's one in the greenhouse at Hogwarts, even. Ican't wait to show it to Professor Sprout. My great-uncleAlgie got it for me in Assyria. I'm going to see if I can breedfrom it."
Harry knew that Neville's favorite subject was Herbology,but for the life of him he could not see what he would wantwith this stunted little plant.
"Does it — er — do anything?" he asked.
"Loads of stuff!" said Neville proudly. "It's got an amazingdefensive mechanism — hold Trevor for me. ..."
He dumped the toad into Harry's lap and took a quill fromhis schoolbag. Luna Lovegood's popping eyes appearedover the top of her upside-down magazine again, watchingwhat Neville was doing. Neville held the Mimbulusmimbletonia up to his eyes, his tongue between his teeth,chose his spot, and gave the plant a sharp prod with the tipof his quill.
Liquid squirted from every boil on the plant, thick,stinking, dark-green jets of it; they hit the ceiling, thewindows, and spattered Luna Lovegood's magazine. Ginny,who had flung her arms up in front of her face just in time,merely looked as though she was wearing a slimy greenhat, but Harry, whose hands had been busy preventing theescape of Trevor, received a face full. It smelled like rancidmanure.
Neville, whose face and torso were also drenched, shookhis head to get the worst out of his eyes.
"S-sorry," he gasped. "I haven't tried that before. ...Didn't realize it would be quite so ... Don't worry, though,Stinksap's not poisonous," he added nervously, as Harryspat a mouthful onto the floor.
At that precise moment the door of their compartmentslid open.
"Oh ... hello, Harry," said a nervous voice. "Um ... badtime?"
Harry wiped the lenses of his glasses with his Trevor-freehand. A very pretty girl with long, shiny black hair wasstanding in the doorway smiling at him: Cho Chang, theSeeker on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team.
"Oh ... hi," said Harry blankly.
"Um ..." said Cho. "Well ... just thought I'd say hello ...'bye then."
She closed the door again, rather pink in the face, anddeparted. Harry slumped back in his seat and groaned. Hewould have liked Cho to discover him sitting with a group ofvery cool people laughing their heads off at a joke he hadjust told; he would not have chosen to be sitting withNeville and Loony Lovegood, clutching a toad and drippingin Stinksap.
"Never mind," said Ginny bracingly. "Look, we can get ridof all this easily." She pulled out her wand. "Scourgify!"
The Stinksap vanished.
"Sorry," said Neville again, in a small voice.
Ron and Hermione did not turn up for nearly an hour, bywhich time the food trolley had already gone by. Harry,Ginny, and Neville had finished their Pumpkin Pasties andwere busy swapping Chocolate Frog cards when thecompartment door slid open and they walked in,accompanied by Crookshanks and a shrilly hootingPigwidgeon in his cage.
"I'm starving," said Ron, stowing Pigwidgeon next toHedwig, grabbing a Chocolate Frog from Harry andthrowing himself into the seat next to him. He ripped openthe wrapper, bit off the Frog's head, and leaned back withhis eyes closed as though he had had a very exhaustingmorning.
"Well, there are two fifth-year prefects from each House,"said Hermione, looking thoroughly disgruntled as she tookher seat. "Boy and girl from each."
"And guess who's a Slytherin prefect?" said Ron, still withhis eyes closed.
"Malfoy," replied Harry at once, his worst fear confirmed." 'Course," said Ron bitterly, stuffing the rest of the Froginto his mouth and taking another.
"And that complete cow Pansy Parkinson," said Hermioneviciously. "How she got to be a prefect when she's thickerthan a concussed troll ..."
"Who's Hufflepuff?" Harry asked.
"Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbott," said Ron thickly.
"And Anthony Goldstein and Padma Patil for Ravenclaw,"said Hermione.
"You went to the Yule Ball with Padma Patil," said a vaguevoice.
Everyone turned to look at Luna Lovegood, who wasgazing un-blinkingly at Ron over the top of The Quibbler. Heswallowed his mouthful of Frog.
"Yeah, I know I did," he said, looking mildly surprised.
"She didn't enjoy it very much," Luna informed him. "Shedoesn't think you treated her very well, because youwouldn't dance with her. I don't think I'd have minded," sheadded thoughtfully, "I don't like dancing very much."
She retreated behind The Quibbler again. Ron stared atthe cover with his mouth hanging open for a few seconds,then looked around at Ginny for some kind of explanation,but Ginny had stuffed her knuckles in her mouth to stopherself giggling. Ron shook his head, bemused, thenchecked his watch.
"We're supposed to patrol the corridors every so often,"he told Harry and Neville, "and we can give outpunishments if people are misbehaving. I can't wait to getCrabbe and Goyle for something. ..."
"You're not supposed to abuse your position, Ron!" saidHermione sharply.
"Yeah, right, because Malfoy won't abuse it at all," saidRon sarcastically.
"So you're going to descend to his level?"
"No, I'm just going to make sure I get his mates before hegets mine."
"For heaven's sake, Ron —"
"I'll make Goyle do lines, it'll kill him, he hates writing,"said Ron happily. He lowered his voice to Goyle's low gruntand, screwing up his face in a look of pained concentration,mimed writing in midair. "I ... must ... not ... look ... like ... a... baboon's ... backside. ..."
Everyone laughed, but nobody laughed harder than LunaLovegood. She let out a scream of mirth that causedHedwig to wake up and flap her wings indignantly andCrookshanks to leap up into the luggage rack, hissing. Shelaughed so hard that her magazine slipped out of her grasp,slid down her legs, and onto the floor.
"That was funny!"
Her prominent eyes swam with tears as she gasped forbreath, staring at Ron. Utterly nonplussed, he lookedaround at the others, who were now laughing at theexpression on Ron's face and at the ludicrously prolongedlaughter of Luna Lovegood, who was rocking backward andforward, clutching her sides.
"Are you taking the mickey?" said Ron, frowning at her.
"Baboon's ... backside!" she choked, holding her ribs.
Everyone else was watching Luna laughing, but Harry,glancing at the magazine on the floor, noticed somethingthat made him dive for it. Upside down it had been hard totell what the picture on the front was, but Harry nowrealized it was a fairly bad cartoon of Cornelius Fudge;Harry only recognized him because of the lime-greenbowler hat. One of Fudge's hands was clenched around abag of gold; the other hand was throttling a goblin. Thecartoon was captioned: How Far Will Fudge Go to GainGringotts?
Beneath this were listed the titles of other articles insidethe magazine.
CORRUPTION IN THE QUIDDITCH LEAGUE:
How the Tornados Are Taking Control
SECRETS OF THE ANCIENT RUNES REVEALEDSIRIUS BLACK:
Villain or Victim?
"Can I have a look at this?" Harry asked Luna eagerly.
She nodded, still gazing at Ron, breathless with laughter.
Harry opened the magazine and scanned the index; untilthis moment he had completely forgotten the magazineKingsley had handed Mr. Weasley to give to Sirius, but itmust have been this edition of The Quibbler. He found thepage and turned excitedly to the article.
This too was illustrated by a rather bad cartoon; in fact,Harry would not have known it was supposed to be Sirius ifit hadn't been captioned. Sirius was standing on a pile ofhuman bones with his wand out. The headline on the articleread:
SIRIUS - Black As He's Painted?
Notorious Mass Murderer OR Innocent SingingSensation?
Harry had to read this sentence several times before hewas convinced that he had not misunderstood it. Sincewhen had Sirius been a singing sensation?
For fourteen years Sirius Black has been believed guiltyof the mass murder of twelve innocent Muggles and onewizard. Black's audacious escape from Azkaban two yearsago has led to the widest manhunt ever conducted by theMinistry of Magic. None of us has ever questioned that hedeserves to be recaptured and handed back to thedementors.
BUT DOES HE?
Startling new evidence has recently come to light thatSirius Black may not have committed the crimes for whichhe was sent to Azkaban. In fact, says Doris Purkiss, of 18Acanthia Way, Little Norton, Black may not even have beenpresent at the killings.
"What people don't realize is that Sirius Black is a falsename," says Mrs. Purkiss. "The man people believe to beSirius Black is actually Stubby Boardman, lead singer ofthe popular singing group The Hobgoblins, who retiredfrom public life after being struck in the ear by a turnip at aconcert in Little Norton Church Hall nearly fifteen yearsago. I recognized him the moment I saw his picture in thepaper. Now, Stubby couldn't possibly have committed thosecrimes, because on the day in question he happened to beenjoying a romantic candlelit dinner with me. I havewritten to the Minister of Magic and am expecting him togive Stubby, alias Sirius, a full pardon any day now."
Harry finished reading and stared at the page in disbelief.Perhaps it was a joke, he thought, perhaps the magazineoften printed spoof items. He flicked back a few pages andfound the piece on Fudge.
Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic, denied that hehad any plans to take over the running of the WizardingBank, Gringotts, when he was elected Minister of Magicfive years ago. Fudge has always insisted that he wantsnothing more than to "cooperate peacefully" with theguardians of our gold.
BUT DOES HE?
Sources close to the Minister have recently disclosed thatFudge's dearest ambition is to seize control of the goblingold supplies and that he will not hesitate to use force ifneed be.
"It wouldn't be the first time, either," said a Ministryinsider. "Cornelius 'Goblin-Crusher' Fudge, that's what hisfriends call him, if you could hear him when he thinks noone's listening, oh, he's always talking about the goblinshe's had done in; he's had them drowned, he's had themdropped off buildings, he's had them poisoned, he's hadthem cooked in pies. ..."
Harry did not read any further. Fudge might have manyfaults but Harry found it extremely hard to imagine himordering goblins to be cooked in pies. He flicked throughthe rest of the magazine. Pausing every few pages he readan accusation that the Tutshill Tornados were winning theQuidditch League by a combination of blackmail, illegalbroom-tampering, and torture; an interview with a wizardwho claimed to have flown to the moon on a Cleansweep Sixand brought back a bag of moon frogs to prove it; and anarticle on ancient runes, which at least explained why Lunahad been reading The Quibbler upside down. According tothe magazine, if you turned the runes on their heads theyrevealed a spell to make your enemy's ears turn intokumquats. In fact, compared to the rest of the articles inThe Quibbler, the suggestion that Sirius might really be thelead singer of The Hobgoblins was quite sensible.
"Anything good in there?" asked Ron as Harry closed themagazine.
"Of course not," said Hermione scathingly, before Harrycould answer, "The Quibbler's rubbish, everyone knowsthat."
"Excuse me," said Luna; her voice had suddenly lost itsdreamy quality. "My father's the editor."
"I — oh," said Hermione, looking embarrassed. "Well ...it's got some interesting ... I mean, it's quite ..."
"I'll have it back, thank you," said Luna coldly, and leaningforward she snatched it out of Harry's hands. Riflingthrough it to page fifty-seven, she turned it resolutelyupside down again and disappeared behind it, just as thecompartment door opened for the third time. Harry lookedaround; he had expected this, but that did not make thesight of Draco Malfoy smirking at him from between hiscronies Crabbe and Goyle any more enjoyable.
"What?" he said aggressively, before Malfoy could openhis mouth.
"Manners, Potter, or I'll have to give you a detention,"drawled Malfoy, whose sleek blond hair and pointed chinwere just like his father's. "You see, I, unlike you, have beenmade a prefect, which means that I, unlike you, have thepower to hand out punishments."
"Yeah," said Harry, "but you, unlike me, are a git, so getout and leave us alone."
Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Neville laughed. Malfoy's lipcurled.
"Tell me, how does it feel being second-best to Weasley,Potter?" he asked.
"Shut up, Malfoy," said Hermione sharply.
"I seem to have touched a nerve," said Malfoy, smirking."Well, just watch yourself, Potter, because I'll be doggingyour footsteps in case you step out of line."
"Get out!" said Hermione, standing up.
Sniggering, Malfoy gave Harry a last malicious look anddeparted, Crabbe and Goyle lumbering in his wake.Hermione slammed the compartment door behind themand turned to look at Harry, who knew at once that she, likehim, had registered what Malfoy had said and been just asunnerved by it.
"Chuck us another Frog," said Ron, who had clearlynoticed nothing.
Harry could not talk freely in front of Neville and Luna.He exchanged another nervous look with Hermione andthen stared out of the window.
He had thought Sirius coming with him to the station wasa bit of a laugh, but suddenly it seemed reckless, if notdownright dangerous. ... Hermione had been right. ...Sirius should not have come. What if Mr. Malfoy had noticedthe black dog and told Draco, what if he had deduced thatthe Weasleys, Lupin, Tonks, and Moody knew where Siriuswas hiding? Or had Malfoy's use of the word "dogging"been a coincidence?
The weather remained undecided as they traveled fartherand farther north. Rain spattered the windows in ahalfhearted way, then the sun put in a feeble appearancebefore clouds drifted over it once more. When darkness felland lamps came on inside the carriages, Luna rolled up TheQuibbler, put it carefully away in her bag, and took tostaring at everyone in the compartment instead.
Harry was sitting with his forehead pressed against thetrain window, trying to get a first distant glimpse ofHogwarts, but it was a moonless night and the rainstreaked window was grimy.
"We'd better change," said Hermione at last. She and Ronpinned their prefect badges carefully to their chests. Harrysaw Ron checking how it looked in the black window.
At last the train began to slow down and they heard theusual racket up and down it as everybody scrambled to gettheir luggage and pets assembled, ready for departure. Ronand Hermione were supposed to supervise all this; theydisappeared from the carriage again, leaving Harry and theothers to look after Crookshanks and Pigwidgeon.
"I'll carry that owl, if you like," said Luna to Harry,reaching out for Pigwidgeon as Neville stowed Trevorcarefully in an inside pocket.
"Oh — er — thanks," said Harry, handing her the cageand hoisting Hedwig's more securely into his arms.
They shuffled out of the compartment feeling the firststing of the night air on their faces as they joined the crowdin the corridor. Slowly they moved toward the doors. Harrycould smell the pine trees that lined the path down to thelake. He stepped down onto the platform and lookedaround, listening for the familiar call of "Firs' years overhere ... firs' years ..."
But it did not come. Instead a quite different voice, a briskfemale one, was calling, "First years line up over here,please! All first years to me!"
A lantern came swinging toward Harry and by its light hesaw the prominent chin and severe haircut of ProfessorGrubbly-Plank, the witch who had taken over Hagrid's Careof Magical Creatures lessons for a while the previous year.
"Where's Hagrid?" he said out loud.
"I don't know," said Ginny, "but we'd better get out of theway, we're blocking the door."
"Oh yeah ..."
Harry and Ginny became separated as they moved offalong the platform and out through the station. Jostled bythe crowd, Harry squinted through the darkness for aglimpse of Hagrid; he had to be here, Harry had beenrelying on it — seeing Hagrid again had been one of thethings to which he had been looking forward most. Butthere was no sign of him at all.
He can't have left, Harry told himself as he shuffled slowlythrough a narrow doorway onto the road outside with therest of the crowd. He's just got a cold or something. ...
He looked around for Ron or Hermione, wanting to knowwhat they thought about the reappearance of ProfessorGrubbly-Plank, but neither of them was anywhere near him,so he allowed himself to be shunted forward onto the darkrain-washed road outside Hogsmeade station.
Here stood the hundred or so horseless stagecoaches thatalways took the students above first year up to the castle.Harry glanced quickly at them, turned away to keep alookout for Ron and Hermione, then did a double take.
The coaches were no longer horseless. There werecreatures standing between the carriage shafts; if he hadhad to give them a name, he supposed he would have calledthem horses, though there was something reptilian aboutthem, too. They were completely fleshless, their black coatsclinging to their skeletons, of which every bone was visible.Their heads were dragonish, and their pupil-less eyes whiteand staring. Wings sprouted from each wither — vast, blackleathery wings that looked as though they ought to belongto giant bats. Standing still and quiet in the gloom, thecreatures looked eerie and sinister. Harry could notunderstand why the coaches were being pulled by thesehorrible horses when they were quite capable of movingalong by themselves.
"Where's Pig?" said Ron's voice, right behind Harry.
"That Luna girl was carrying him," said Harry, turningquickly, eager to consult Ron about Hagrid. "Where d'youreckon —"
"— Hagrid is? I dunno," said Ron, sounding worried."He'd better be okay. ..."
A short distance away, Draco Malfoy, followed by a smallgang of cronies including Crabbe, Goyle, and PansyParkinson, was pushing some timid-looking second yearsout of the way so that they could get a coach to themselves.Seconds later Hermione emerged panting from the crowd.
"Malfoy was being absolutely foul to a first year backthere, I swear I'm going to report him, he's only had hisbadge three minutes and he's using it to bully people worsethan ever. ... Where's Crookshanks?"
"Ginny's got him," said Harry. "There she is. ..."
Ginny had just emerged from the crowd, clutching asquirming Crookshanks.
"Thanks," said Hermione, relieving Ginny of the cat."Come on, let's get a carriage together before they all fillup. ..."
"I haven't got Pig yet!" Ron said, but Hermione wasalready heading off toward the nearest unoccupied coach.Harry remained behind with Ron.
"What are those things, d'you reckon?" he asked Ron,nodding at the horrible horses as the other students surgedpast them.
"What things?"
"Those horse —"
Luna appeared holding Pigwidgeon's cage in her arms;the tiny owl was twittering excitedly as usual.
"Here you are," she said. "He's a sweet little owl, isn'the?"
"Er ... yeah ... He's all right," said Ron gruffly. "Well, comeon then, let's get in. ... what were you saying, Harry?"
"I was saying, what are those horse things?" Harry said,as he, Ron, and Luna made for the carriage in whichHermione and Ginny were already sitting.
"What horse things?"
"The horse things pulling the carriages!" said Harryimpatiently; they were, after all, about three feet from thenearest one; it was watching them with empty white eyes.Ron, however, gave Harry a perplexed look.
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about — look!"
Harry grabbed Ron's arm and wheeled him about so thathe was face-to-face with the winged horse. Ron staredstraight at it for a second, then looked back at Harry.
"What am I supposed to be looking at?"
"At the — there, between the shafts! Harnessed to thecoach! It's right there in front —"
But as Ron continued to look bemused, a strange thoughtoccurred to Harry
"Can't ... can't you see them?"
"See what?"
"Can't you see what's pulling the carriages?"Ron looked seriously alarmed now.
"Are you feeling all right, Harry?"
"I ... yeah ..."
Harry felt utterly bewildered. The horse was there infront of him, gleaming solidly in the dim light issuing fromthe station windows behind them, vapor rising from itsnostrils in the chilly night air. Yet unless Ron was faking —and it was a very feeble joke if he was — Ron could not seeit at all.
"Shall we get in, then?" said Ron uncertainly, looking atHarry as though worried about him.
"Yeah," said Harry. "Yeah, go on ..."
"It's all right," said a dreamy voice from beside Harry asRon vanished into the coach's dark interior. "You're notgoing mad or anything. I can see them too."
"Can you?" said Harry desperately, turning to Luna. Hecould see the bat-winged horses reflected in her wide,silvery eyes.
"Oh yes," said Luna, "I've been able to see them eversince my first day here. They've always pulled the carriages.Don't worry. You're just as sane as I am."
Smiling faintly, she climbed into the musty interior of thecarriage after Ron. Not altogether reassured, Harryfollowed her.
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