Damascus Gate

DAMASCUS GATE

CHAPTER ONE-THE HOGWARTS EXPRESS

I eagerly waited on platform 9 and ¾. This was it. Our last year at Hogwarts. I had to admit, I was so sad at the thought of leaving here. It had become like my second home.

I gently put my finger into my owls' cage and gently stroked her wing.

She looked up at me with her amber eyes and blinked. She was a pretty snow owl I named Mia.

I was waiting for my best friends Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, James Potter, Lily Evans and Peter Pettigrew.

"Kelly! There you are!" I heard Lily's voice cry happily as I saw her making her way through the sea of students. She finally reached me and gave me a tight hug.

"Ooh I'm so happy to see you!" she gushed.

She then showed me her left hand. "We're engaged!" she squealed.

It took me a minute to register what she had said.

"No way!" I cried happily. "When?"

"Over the summer," Lily said beaming now. Her cheeks were flushed pink from the cold.

"I'm so happy for you!" I squealed as we both jumped up and down.

"Don't tell me," James' voice came next. "She already blabbed it to you."

He arrived at Lily's side, flanked by Remus, Sirius and oddly, not Peter.

I grinned and nodded.

James draped an arm over Lily's shoulders.

"Well, then I suppose we're going to have to kill you," James teased grinning.

Lily playfully smacked him on the arm.

We began boarding the Hogwarts Express. A scarlet steam engine pulled the passenger cars.

We found a compartment and entered. Lily and James sat next to each other. On James' left was Sirius.

Sitting next to me was Remus.

My name is Kelly Richards. I'm 17 years old with shoulder length curly light auburn hair and green eyes. My hair had spiral curls in it. I was already dressed in the Gryffindor uniform and robe with a cloak around me because of the cold weather.

The glass window was slightly fogged from the cross between the cold air outside and the warm air inside the train.

Lily's auburn hair was pulled into a ponytail. She and James began kissing. Sirius' hazel eyes narrowed.

"Some of us are trying to enjoy the trip," he said.

James and Lily pulled apart.

"You're just sore because you don't have a girlfriend," James grinned.

Sirius muttered something and looked out the window.

"Hey," I said. "He'll find someone. I'm betting this year too."

Sirius gave me a grateful glance before returning his eyes onto the window.

"I have to admit," I added. "I don't feel like watching you two snog the entire way either."

Lily and James separated.

Remus leaned in close.

His blue eyes were locked on mine. He has short, wavy, thick dark brown hair.

"So how was your summer?" he asked softly.

"Fine," I muttered. "If you call watching your parents fawn over your little sister fun."

His expression changed to disbelief and remorse.

"They're still doing that?" he asked.

"Yep," I said biting my bottom lip. "Katie this...Katie that..."

"You aren't jealous are you?" James asked.

"No," I snapped sharply. "But how would you feel if all your parents did was talk about your little sister and hardly paid any attention to you?"

James immediately recoiled.

"I'm so sick of it," I continued. "I'm betting that once Katie gets a letter from Hogwarts, it'll be like Christmas had come early. I had to work to buy all of my books for school. Do you think my parents once offered to buy them for me? No. I had to keep a job working in Diagon Alley for months. I'm so thankful that Professor Dumbledore helped me as well. He bought me supplies and everything."

"He's such a great teacher," Lily said affectionately.

"I swear once I get out of here, I'm getting my own pad," I said bitterly. "They probably won't even notice I'm gone."

I got up and stretched.

"I'm going for a walk," I said as I got up and opened the compartment door. I stepped out into the corridor and took a walk toward the back.

I leaned against the railing that lined the corridor and stared out the window at the passing scenery.

I suddenly sensed someone standing close behind me. I turned around. It was Remus.

"You okay?" he asked gently.

I sighed.

"Yeah," I said. "I just needed to vent out."

"I understand," Remus said softly.

His Prefects badge caught the sunlight.

He put his hands on my shoulders and leaned in close, so that the sides of our faces were inches apart.

"Listen," he whispered in my ear. "I want to make sure that you know that Lily, James, Sirius and I care about you a lot okay? We would most certainly be upset if anything should happen to you. I'm sure you're parents care about you, but maybe they don't know what they're doing?"

I shrugged.

"Maybe," I muttered.

I turned around to face him. Our faces were inches apart now.

He was so kind and caring. He and I had become close during our first year. We had hit it off and became best friends. That's when I got to know Lily, James, Sirius and Peter.

"That could be," I said nodding. "But I hate it."

"I know," he said gently. "Maybe try talking with them? Send them an owl later."

I grinned.

"Good idea,"

He grinned back too.

I threw my arms around his neck and pulled him close. My chin rested on top of his shoulder. He was slightly taller than me so he had to bend down a bit. I felt his arms encircling me as well.

"Things'll be fine," he whispered in my ear. "You'll see."

I shut my eyes. He always managed to keep me calm. There was something about him that was soothing.

Shortly, we released each other.

"Come on back to the compartment," he said.

So we headed back.

"Everything okay?" Sirius asked looking up as we entered.

"Yes," I said smiling.

Remus and I took our seats.

We talked during the rest of the trip.

The castle loomed into view with its many turrets and towers. The lake shimmered under the sunlight.

Once we pulled into the station, carriages drawn by Threstrals met us to take us the rest of the way to the castle.

We climbed into a carriage and then we were on our way.

"I wonder what we're going to be learning this year?" Sirius mused.

"Well," Remus said. "James, Kelly and I took Apparition last year. So no doubt we'll be taking that up more. James passed the test so he can Apparate now, but Kelly and I didn't do so well. We had a bit of trouble."

"Kelly had trouble?" Sirius snickered. "I find that hard to believe."

"Shove it," I retorted. "Or I'll put my wand so far up your..."

"It's not that easy, Sirius," Remus interrupted. "Many of the students ended up Splinching themselves."

"Ouch," Lily cringed.

"I think we're getting a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?" James mused.

"I think so," I said nodding.

We arrived at the castle and climbed down out of the carriages.

We entered the castle and headed immediately to the Great Hall. A lot of First years were huddled nervously in the entrance hall.

"Poor saps," Sirius grinned conspiratorially.

"Don't even think about it," Lily groaned. "Don't start the year off tormenting first years like you did last year."

"It was fun," Sirius said pretending to pout. "James and I had a blast."

"Not the poor first years," I replied frowning. "You really scared one of them. I'm not sure if she even returned this year."

Sirius and James chuckled at their work while Lily, Remus and I took our seats at the Gryffindor table. Lily and I sat next to each other while Remus, James and Sirius sat across from us.

"You guys really need help," Lily muttered shaking her head.

"We're Coo Coo for Coca Puffs!" James cried.

"Got that right," Remus muttered out of the side of his mouth.

I chuckled.

James heard him and playfully punched him on the arm.

Professor Dumbledore arose from his seat at the Head table and began making his normal speech.

The first years then began getting sorted.

Once that was done, food appeared on our plates. Sirius and James hungrily dove in.

"You guys need bibs," Lily said disgustedly.

"Goo Goo," James said in a mock baby voice. "Chwange me mwommy?"

"To think," Lily said with an amused and annoyed expression on her face. "I'm engaged to you."

James just smirked.

A short while after that, Sirius let out a raspberry sounding noise that sounded like someone inflating a balloon, and then releasing it.

Gryffindor table was a mass of hysteria. Laughter, squeals of disgust floated across the Hall.

Sirius' cheeks flushed with color.

"Oh that's a surefire way to get a girlfriend, Sirius," Remus said deadpan. "By killing everyone within 5 meters away from the deadly detonation."

Well, we lost it.

I glanced up at the Head table.

Dumbledore was grinning and his blue eyes were twinkling behind his half moon spectacles.

The rest of the teachers were either laughing or shaking their heads.

Remus caught my eye and winked.

After that, we headed to the dorms.

Remus showed the first year boys the way to the boys' dorms while Robin Tanners, showed the girls their dorm.

We exchanged good-nights and I eagerly climbed into bed. I laid down and just stared up at the ceiling. Before long, I fell asleep and dreamed:

I saw myself being dragged by my ankles through shrubs and mud. The person that was holding my ankles was shielded from view by a burgundy hooded cloak.

I saw Dumbledore as well. Someone was holding him as well. They dropped me in front of Dumbledore. My uniform and robe were smudged with mud and bits of leaves.

The figure pointed their wand at Dumbledore.

"Nooo!" I screamed and dove in front of him. A jet of green light flashed.

I woke up screaming.

"Kelly!" I heard Lily's voice cry.

Lights switched on immediately.

Lily sat down beside me on the bed and gently grabbed my shoulders.

"What happened?" she demanded anxiously.

"I had a horrible dream," I sobbed slumping into her arms.

I proceeded to tell her about it.

"Oh," she said softly. "It was only a dream. Don't worry about it."

I was still shaking badly.

"Try and go back to sleep okay?" Lily said reassuringly.

I nodded and laid back down. The light went off, but I stayed awake for the rest of the night.

The next morning, at breakfast, I was so exhausted I could barely keep my eyes opened.

"Are you alright?" Remus asked worriedly beside me.

"She had a nightmare last night," Lily explained.

REMUS.

Kelly looked absolutely exhausted.

"I couldn't go back to sleep after that," Kelly explained yawning.

"What happened?" James asked worriedly.

Kelly slumped against me, with her head resting on my shoulder. Her hair brushed against my cheek.

I looked down at her. She had dozed off.

"She dreamed that someone kidnapped her and Dumbledore and turned their wand onto Dumbledore but she intervened," Lily explained.

"It was probably nothing," Sirius said eyeing Kelly leaning against me asleep.

She snuggled up against me but didn't even open her eyes.

Sirius picked up a roll and prepared to launch it at her.

"Don't even think about it," I scolded narrowing my eyes. "Leave her be."

"Someone's got to wake her up after breakfast," James said reasonably. "Both of you will be late for class."

"Then we'll be late," I said firmly. "Let her get some sleep at least."

James, Lily and Sirius exchanged smug and knowing grins.

"What?" I asked raising an eyebrow at them.

"Nothing," Lily said sweetly. "We'll tell Professor Anicks what happened."

I eyed them suspiciously as Lily and James began whispering to each other. Sirius was thoughtfully chewing on a sausage.

I glanced down at Kelly sleeping peacefully now. I felt a smile forming on my face.

I heard Sirius humming the tune to the song when kids tease each other about "Kissing in the Tree".

That set James off chuckling.

This time, I picked up a roll and launched it at Sirius.

It hit him squarely in the face.

Lily almost choked on her eggs. Sirius went to retaliate, but I pointed to Kelly.

"I'll get you later, Moony," Sirius grinned wickedly.

"I'm shaking," I said mockingly.

The bell rang, ending breakfast. Sirius, James and Lily got up and left with the other students.

I gently touched Kelly on the cheek.

"Kelly? It's time to wake up," I said gently.

Kelly stirred and opened her eyes.

"Oh God," she said looking embarrassed. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't apologize," I said softly. "You were tired."

"We're going to be late," Kelly said panicked.

"Don't worry. Lily's explaining it to Professor Anicks," I explained.

We got up and hurried to Potions class.