Reaching for the Stars

The Hogwarts Express

Morgana sat in the uncomfortable silence of the Aunts' car wondering why there was so much traffic on the way to King's Cross that day. The Aunts were still not speaking to each other since their argument that morning but just because they were not speaking to each other it did not mean that stopped them from dispensing their brand of advice to Morgana who was in backseat.

"Do not forget to study hard, this is your last year of school," Aunt Cecilia said from the driver's seat.

"Have lots and lots of fun, this is your last year of school," Aunt Celeste countered from her seat next to her sister. "And when you go to Hogsmeade clean out that candy store,"

"Candy will rot the teeth out of your head. Eat vegetables they are good for you. Plus you'll need to set an example for the younger students like I did when I was in Hogwarts. Remember you want to keep that nice prefect badge of yours," Cecilia said more to her sister than to Morgana, trying to glare at Celeste while trying to keep her eyes on the road.

The Aunts continued in this vein for some time. Each contradicting statement was followed by murmuring from both Aunts. It was rather late by the time they arrived at King's Cross due to the traffic and Cecilia taking a couple wrong turns because she was angry with her sister and forgot where to turn off. As always the Aunts did not go through the barrier between to get to the platform but said their goodbyes just outside of it. Celeste was almost in tears and Cecilia was still issuing instructions as Morgana said goodbye for the last time until she saw them for Christmas. Casually leaning against the barrier wall between platforms nine and ten, she could feel herself sliding through the barrier and caught one last glimpse of the Aunts

Platform nine and three-quarters was crowded and noisy as usual, people talking loudly to friends they had not seen all summer; parents issuing instructions and warnings about behaviour to their children and of course the mandatory couple of first years saying tearful goodbyes, crying about leaving home for what was probably the first time. One of the first people Morgana saw was Percy Weasley, his red hair clearly visible in the crowd. His head boy badge was already pinned onto his robes. Something told Morgana that this year would not be an easy one for prefects; as much as she liked Percy he could be a tyrant with his authority sometimes.

"Hello Morgana," he greeted her as soon as he caught sight of her, "You are well I hope,"

"Great," she smiled, some things never changed, "How was the trip to Egypt?"

"Simply fantastic I will tell you all about it on the train but I have to say goodbye to Mum and Dad now," he started walking off, "Don't forget prefects have the usual compartments to the front,"

Morgana laughed to herself as she found the prefect carriage on the train. That was definitely the best part about being a prefect, she did not have to search for a seat on the train.

Not too long after their journey to Hogwarts started Morgana found herself in the prefect carriage getting 'instructions' for the head boy and girl. As would be expected Percy gave a long boring speech about prefect duties that no one listened to, not even his own girlfriend, Penelope Clearwater one of the Ravenclaw prefects. He finally finished with instructions for the rest of the journey to Hogwarts. They were supposed to patrol the corridors from time to time but the truth was that hardly anyone took the prefects seriously, not even some of the prefects themselves (Morgana included). No one ever patrolled the corridors of the train, in fact the only 'patrolling' Morgana did was to look for the carriage her friends were sitting in.

The task of looking for them was relatively easy considering they were sitting near the front of the train. Morgana found Shannon O'Connor and Rose Carter, two of her Gryffindor roommates sitting together with Oliver Wood, another seventh year Gryffindor. Oliver, who was the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team and was obsessed with the sport was talking excitedly about a new broomstick, the Firebolt (which he could not have) when Morgana entered the carriage.

"Still moaning about that damn broomstick?" Morgana asked as she took the seat next to him. They had corresponded through out the summer and that had been practically the only thing Oliver talked about.

"Yes and it's not a damn broomstick, it's a Firebolt only the best broom ever created," Oliver replied and again he started on how perfect the Firebolt was. Eventually they were able to shift the topic from the broomstick to things like how they had all spent their vacation and the like. Rose had gone to Greece and Shannon had spent most of the time looking after her five-year-old cousin. Oliver, obviously, spoke about all the Quidditch games he had been to.

As the day progressed various friends stopped in the carriage to chat about everything from the weather and their holidays to Sirius Black and new prefect/captains of various clubs appointments. Morgana was almost about to start counting her lucky stars when Percy Weasley finally caught up with her. He entered the carriage door with a vengeance.

"Morgana you have not been the patrolling the hallways have you? That is not very responsible of you," he complained.

"Oh Perce, give the girl a break," Rose said a sugary sweet voice, "I heard you went to Egypt for the summer, sit right here," she patted the seat next to her, "And tell us all about it," Rose was the only person for whom Percy would stop bossing around people (or at least trying to boss around people) and before they knew it Percy was sitting down with them giving a very animated account of his trip to Egypt.

Later in the afternoon, all of a sudden the train felt like it was slowing down; Rose, who was closest to the door, curiously stuck her head out into the hallway as if looking for some answer to what was going on. The train suddenly stopped with a jolt and the lights in the carriage went out. Several thumps on the floor told them that luggage had fallen out of the racks. Oliver was sitting next to her and Morgana instinctively reached for his hand.

"What's going on?" Shannon squeaked from her corner; Morgana knew that Shannon was almost phobic when it came to the dark.

"I don't know," Oliver's voice came from Morgana's side, "Lumos," he whispered and a light appeared at the end of his wand. They all followed his example and soon there was a fair amount of light in the carriage.

Almost immediately after a tall black robed thing walked, no glided through the open door where Rose had stood only moments before. The temperature of the room suddenly dropped and Morgana suddenly felt sick to her stomach. She recognized this thing as a dementor from Azkaban. A grey scabby hand protruded from its robes and a rattling sound came from its hood; with every rattling breath it took she could hear a dull sounding chanting in the back of her mind becoming distinctly clearer and feel herself coming closer and closer to vomiting. If the dementor was there for five minutes or five hours, she was not sure all she was aware of was the chanting and the sick feeling in her stomach

Then Percy's voice broke into her mind, "He is not here, none of us are hiding him leave the carriage," he said rather forcefully give the circumstances and with that statement the dementor glided out of the carriage. The lights in the carriage came on again with its departure.

A slight squeeze on her hand told Morgana that she was still holding on Oliver, and if the redness of his hand was anything to go by, she was holding it rather tightly. As she tried to let go he just kept his hold on her hand

"Everyone alright?" Percy asked. Everyone answered in the affirmative but that could not have been further from the truth. Morgana noticed that Percy was looking rather pale, as were Rose and Shannon, a quick glance to her side showed that Oliver had gone just as pale as the other three. "You sure you're okay Morgana?" Percy asked, "You really don't look all that well,"

"Yeah, you look kind of sick," Oliver added.

"I'm okay," she lied quickly, "What the hell went on just now?" Everyone shrugged and shook their heads except for Percy.

"Sirius Black," he said simply.

"Why would they be looking for him here?" Rose asked, "I mean why the Hogwarts Express? What would he want at Hogwarts?"

Percy looked around the room briefly, in a paranoid sort of manner. "Strictly speaking I'm not supposed to tell you this, I'm not even supposed to know this," Percy's voice dropped to a near whisper, "But I overheard my parents talking about Black and they said that he wants to kill Harry Potter," he stopped for a moment to let the statement sink in, "That's why the dementors are here, the Ministry thinks that he might be headed to Hogwarts."