The Land of the Lost

The Land of the Lost-

Chapter 2- Gone with the Wind, back with the Train

Harry awoke coughing. Raising his head a little Harry felt a sudden rush of nausea. Deciding rather quickly that he better put his head back on the pillow, he did so. From his position that he was on his cot, he noticed a couple of things. For one the room smelled oddly, Harry had smelled it before, but he couldn’t place it.

I have to get out of here, Harry thought to himself.

Testing his limbs, Harry found that he could move freely, but was in pain. Especially his right arm, his wand arm. Hoping that he could still use his arm, since it was the one that controlled his wand, Harry looked around the room. It was pretty run down, old wallpaper on the wall had water stains and was peeling just to reveal more peeling wallpaper. The carpet looked brown, but if you were to look over at the wall you could tell that the original color was white. There was no furniture in the small room that Harry could see besides the cot that he was resting on. Wondering how long he had been out, with a lot of other things Harry feel into an agitated sleep.

***

The Ministry had been around The Burrow every day since Harry had gone missing. Hermione had arrived just long enough to see the men stun the Weasleys and leave. Ron was retelling the story for the fiftieth time to another Ministry official.

“There was this blue-green flash of light and then these three men appeared they looked like they hadn’t had a bath in a while… Their robes were very dirty, and then everything just went black.”

“What is your relationship with Mr. Potter?” The Ministry official had now pulled out a notebook and flipped it open.

“We are best friends.” Ron sated this in a dull tone, because of having to repeat this interview so many times before.

“Have you ever thought of doing something Mr. Potter out of jealousy?”

This question was a new one and took Ron by surprise.

“What the bloody hell? You think that I did this to Harry?” Ron was enraged, how dare this Ministry man accuse me of something like this! Thought Ron furiously.

“Quite a temper, definitely trying to hide something,” the man muttered this as he scribbled in his book.

“What? Now you listen here! I have nothing to do with this!”

“It happened at your house didn’t it? Everybody who was in this house is a suspect.” With that the man walked away to interview Fred again.

Going over to take to talk to Hermione, Ron thought over who the people might be.

Definitely with You-Know-Who, that’s for sure. Before Harry came down they were talking out ‘their master’…

“Hermione,” Ron looked at his friend’s tear stained face, “We have to find out who did this.”

“I know, Ron, I know,” Hermione wiped her eyes and stood up to her full height, “Come on.”

“Where are we going?”

“We are going to write down everything that we know in a notebook, and as we learn new stuff we write down more, until we can solve it.”

“Hermione! That will take forever! We don’t have that long. Harry could already be dead.” Ron choked out the last part.

“Do you have a better idea?” Ron just turned his head as if thinking. “I didn’t think so, now come on.”

Ron followed, wondering where Harry was.

***

“Mister Lupin!” Remus turned around to see the Inn Keeper from The Howling Wolf waving a letter. “You have gotten an owl sir! It looks fairly important. Here, take it!”

Remus walk over to the man took the letter and opened it, it was from Professor Dumbledore.

Dear Remus,

Unless you have already heard I would like to inform you of Harry Potter’s kidnapping.

Remus’ whole body went numb. He stood in that same spot his mouth open in disbelief for a while before continuing with the letter.

He was taken from the Weasley’s on August 20, and we have no real leads yet. The Ministry is trying to do a thorough search, but they can’t, without understanding that Sirius is on our side. At one point they refused to try any other leads until they found Sirius. Severus and I did our best and they have been taking other leads, but I do not have any information on any of them. All we know is the three seen men’s appearance’s and that they are probably working with Voldemort. Here is a direct quote from Mr. Ron Weasley on their appearances: “They had dirty tuffs of brown-black hair in a tangled mess around their faces, and their robes were soiled and patched. Their skin was a pinkish color, scratched and hairy. They had weird ears they were long and pointy extended from their heads that were also covered in fur. There was also a dangerous aura around them, and they had these rings…

Remus didn’t need to read any further to know that the men had Voldemort’s rings.

…That were gold shaped like a serpent and they had Emeralds in them that glowed.”

If you have any information one any of this please don’t delay to tell me immediately. Harry’s life may already be at stake, if he is still alive. Until we have more information we cannot maintain with this case. I am also informing Sirius of this, I will update you as soon as we know something more.

Sincerely,

Albus Dumbledore

Sighing Remus folded up letter and headed up to his hotel room, where he wrote his letter to Dumbledore about his knowledge of the rings.

***

“Wow, this place is incredible!” Timmy had just stepped into Diagon Alley for the first time in his life. Looking at the new sites that met his eyes, Timmy didn’t hear his father’s instructions not to tell anyone where they were from.

“Where do we go first?” Timmy was in total awe as they walked down the street.

“Flourish and Blotts is the first stop,” Timmy’s father was looking around to see all the things that had changed.

Walking into Flourish and Blotts, Timmy got his books and automatically went up to the counter to pay.

“Hello there,” Said the clerk trying to start a friendly conversation, “First year at Hogwarts?”

“Yes Ma’am,” Timmy replied.

“Where are you from? I don’t think I have seen you around here before,” The clerk said that as she handed Timmy his change.

“Lupusvill, a little village I doubt you have ever heard of-“ Timmy was cut off as she paled and her eyes narrowed.

“Out!” Spat the clerk, “Out! We don’t serve beast here! Out! And don’t come back! You sir over there,” The lady pointed to Mundungus, “We serve your kind! Get out!”

The store went dead quite as Mundungus put down the book he was reading grabbed the bag of books took Timmy by the hand and left the store.

***

“Timothy Jonathan Fletcher,” said his father in an icy voice, “What did you say to that woman?”

After getting sent out of the store Mundungus as raving mad, but still spoke in a calm voice, a deadly calm one.

“Nothing, she just ask me wherever was I from and I said Lupusvill.”

“Shh! Don’t say that so loud are you trying to get us slayed?”

Timmy was now very confused, he knew people didn’t like his kind but he thought that getting slayed was a little harsh. They were wizards, too!

“Slayed!” Timmy exclaimed, “I know people don’t like us, but slayed is a little harsh, isn’t it?”

Fletcher didn’t reply, he just moved toward another shop.

“Hurry up, before they call the A.W.! I said move it!”

That was just the start of a very long shopping day.

Five Days Later…

“Bye Timmy! Be good! Owl me often, and I’ll send you your book later,” Fletcher called out to his son the last time before leaving for Hogwarts. After the incident in Flourish and Blotts, Mundungus decided to buy Timmy a book about Lupusvill, but as it was the last book the antique store had (the book had gone out of printing long, long ago.) so Mundungus was getting for Timmy as a birthday present. (since it was from an antique shop it was expensive!) After watching the train ride down the tracks, Fletcher left with a pop!

***

Hermione and Ron were sitting in a compartment all to themselves writing in their notebook, that Hermione had labeled “Diary.”

“Hermione can you please explain to me again why you put ‘Diary’ on it,” Ron said dully.

“That way nobody will read it,” Hermione replied matter-of-factly.

“O.K. fine, just don’t forget to add the bit about those odd rings.”

Hermione just nodded and started scribbling again in the notebook that they (Ron and Hermione) had been working on a week after Harry vanished. Just as Hermione finished writing that little bit the compartment door opened, and in stepped Harry.

***

“You understand what you have to do then?”

“Yes! We have gone over this hundreds of times!” Exclaimed an exasperated Amanda.

“Just making sure. You know what you are to say then, right?”

“Yes, I am an exchange student from Wandsworth, and I am coming to stay at Hogwarts. Depending on my test scores this year decides if I stay or go.”

“You know the real reason what makes you stay or go right?”

“Potter sir, Potter.” Amanda’s eyes glinted as she said that.

“Very true and remember tell no one.”

“Don’t worry,” said Amanda, “ Oh my gosh! I am late!”

The man sighed, “Just apparate onto the train for God’s Sake!”

And with that Amanda was gone, to Hogwarts.

***

Timmy sat back in his seat as the train started to move.

I am finally living my dream! Wow, this rocks, can’t wait to get to Hogwarts. Wonder how they sort us. I heard someone say something about fighting a werewolf… I hope not.

Absentmindedly staring out the window, Timmy never noticed when a rather short brunette popped into the compartment. What did throw him out his thoughts was the scream in the compartment next to him.

Jumping, Amanda thought at first someone was screaming because they had seen her apparate in. After she looked around, she only saw one person in the compartment who looked like he had been daydreaming, so she ran into the compartment where the scream had come from. As she opened the door, the last thing in the world that she expected to see met her eyes: Harry Potter. Looking again to make sure what she had seen was true, Amanda ran into her original compartment and wrote a quick owl to her overseer and started to read up on the teachers at Hogwarts, and thinking about the best ways around their rules. The only time she stopped is when she saw a familiar face: Severus Snape.

***

“Harry! What happened?” Hermione was crying out of seeing her friend again, “I thought that I would never see you again. Did they hurt you? How did you get away?”

“Well starting on your first question, some goons kidnapped me you know they thought it would be funny. And they were not related to Voldemort at all,” Harry paused and then went on, “They didn’t hurt me just took me to a house for a little knocked me out and left me in a room. Idiots left the windows open and I got out.”

“Why didn’t you go to Dumbledore? Or owl us?” Ron was as white as ever, but still happy to see Harry.

“I didn’t…er… realize what time it was I thought that everyone was already at Hogwarts, but figured that trying the barrier was worth a try, you know just in case.”

“Oh ok.” Was all Ron had to say, but he still looked hurt.

“So, anything happen since I left?”

All Harry had to do was say that and the two friends launched into a complete explanation of all that had happened, but forgot to mention the notebook.

***

“So, what’s your name?” Fred ask to Amanda.

“Carla,” said Amanda in a tone that clearly stated that the conversation was over, but it either wasn’t clear enough for Fred or he just chose to ignore it.

“Carla, uh? Want some candy?” That was George who had just walked up with Lee.

“I don’t eat sugar,” again another sentence that stated that Amanda wanted them to go away, but they didn’t listen.

“Its sugar free,” George handed Amanda a piece of candy that was in a see through yellow rapper.

“I don’t like lemon,” Amanda was now getting very irritated by the fact that Fred and George wouldn’t leave her alone.

“It’s not lemon, it’s just a yellow rapper. They’re really good! I love them!”

“If you like them so much then why don’t you eat them?” Amanda shot an icy glance to Fred.

“Because we want you to get a taste of Hogwarts early,” Lee finally spoke up.

“I am sure that I will have too much of Hogwarts by the time this year is over, so I don’t want an early taste.”

Lee frowned. This conversation was going nowhere. There had to be something that would convince her to eat the Canary Cream, Lee thought of nothing. So out of pure frustration he cried, “You know who you remind me of?” Not giving her time to answer he spat out, “Snape.”

Those words cut Amanda like ice. She took the candy and popped it in her mouth, and turned into a canary. Before she changed back she took full advantage of her form, and aimed for Lee’s head. With in a second of flying over Lee’s head there was a white and black oozing pile of bird crap on his head. Turning back, Amanda pulled a feather from her curly mess of hair, picked up her book and continued reading.

***

Damn, thought Lupin as he read the newspaper, No sign of Harry since August!

Remus was obviously very upset. His best friends son probably was dead and he was supposed to be looking after him. Well, he wasn’t really supposed to be looking after him, but Remus still felt responsible. Cracking his head down on his desk in his room in the Howling Wolf and started to think of ways to find Harry. Just as Remus felt like asking Voldemort, an owl comes flying in. Taking the letter from the owl Remus didn’t even take the time to look to see the owl was Hedwig. Opening the letter Remus didn’t recognize the hand writing right away, but then again he wasn’t good with that kind of thing.

Dear Professor Lupin,

Just thought that I should tell you that I am back at Hogwarts, and all is well with me. The people who kidnapped me just thought it would be funny, they have nothing to do with Voldemort, don’t bother looking for them it want do any good.

Harry

Well at least he’s OK, I am glad he’s back one more thing off my mind I mind as well owl Sirius.

But before Remus could do anything, he put his head down just to clear his head, but ended up falling into a deep sleep.

***

“Welcome once again to Hogwarts school of Witch Craft and Wizardry! This year I hope you will be careful as Voldemort,” Everyone in the hall flinched, “ has risen. There will be new security measures to help any kidnappings or more murders.” The older students in the hall flinched at that remembering Cedric. “On a happier note, we have a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Jaclyn.”

The hall applauded dully as a petite young woman stood up and set back down rather quickly. Her raven-black hair had streaks of blue going through it giving the affect as though she had tried to give herself blue highlights.

“Now onto the sorting!”

***

“Hey! Move, I need to talk to Professor McGonagall.” Amanda moved through the crowd of first years in search of the Professor. Finally finding her Amanda explained her case.

“I am a transfer student from Wandsworth down in Wales. Our exchange program messed up the dates and the letter telling you that I am to arrive should be coming pretty soon. My Headmaster said that I would be sorted just like the first years, so here I am.”

Amanda put on her polite attitude hoping that McGonagall would believe her story. Once she was in Amanda decided she could act however, if they threatened to expel her she would just wipe their memories, Lord knows Amanda had had enough practice with that spell.

“Fine just get in the line with the first years. Now what’s your name, year, and school?”

“Carla Smith, 15, Wandsworth.” Amanda was getting tired of the name Carla, it sounded good to start with but now it was old.

“Wandsworth? Never heard of that school, small?”

“Microscopic.”

***