Moondance

Sixteen-year-old Malon James absentmindedly twirled a strand of her long hair between the fingers of her left hand as she anxiously kept watch over the barrier between platforms nine and ten at King's Cross Station. She had plenty of time to make the train still - after all, it was only ten fifteen- but a group of Muggles who'd stationed themselves right in front of the barrier looking like they planned to stay for a while were making her nervous. Within fifteen minutes there would be an influx of families with children needing to get onto platform nine and three-quarters, and Malon didn't know that there was any non-magic way to clear the barrier, except for maybe walking up and trying to explain. "Hullo, I'm Malon. You seem to be blocking the barrier between these two platforms. Could you please move out of the way? Why do I need the barrier unobstructed, you ask? Well, you see, it's really a magic wall and all of the students from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry need to go through to get on their train..."

Returning to the present with a shudder, she noted that the Muggles were still there. Ten nineteen. Not good. Not good.

"Excuse me."

Startled, Malon screamed rather loudly. She whirled around, hand instinctively falling to the wand in her pocket.

It was a station guard, looking as surprised as she'd felt.

Blushing, the girl said, "I'm sorry. You startled me."

"My apologies," he responded. "You looked a bit lost. Do you need some help?"

"Er, no thanks. I'm waiting for someone."

"All right then."
He turned to go as an idea popped into Malon's head.

"Wait! I mean, er, those people over there," she gestured to the barrier, "are looking rather lost. You might want to go ask them." To move, her brain added.

The guard gave her an odd look. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," she replied cheerfully without looking back at him. Instead, she glanced around at the platforms. No one else looking like a Hogwarts student yet. Please, Muggles, move. As her gaze rested again on her trolley, the large eagle owl perched in its cage on top of her trunk hooted indignantly at her.

"Patriot, shh-shh. You know I can't let you out-"

Malon had been about to say "until we get through the barrier," but as she spoke, she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. The station guard had not yet traveled to the annoying Muggles. In fact, he was still about a foot away from her, staring at her trolley.

"Pardon?" she asked, feeling a slight panic in her chest.

"I just couldn't help noticing your owl," he commented, sounding like he couldn't believe his eyes.

Malon forced a laugh. "Yes, he's rather large, isn't he?"

He stared at her with wide eyes. "Actually," he continued, "it seems to me like about this time every year I see kids with owls. All kinds of owls..."

The girl's mouth felt like cotton as she tried to swallow and look casual. "Oh really?" she wondered, hoping she sounded sincerely curious.

"You must all know each other. They don't just sell owls."

"You'd be surprised," Malon quipped, wincing as she heard her words.

"So you do all know each other. Where do you get them?"

"Er..." Malon's mind raced. This was quite possibly the worst situation she'd ever been in. I wish I knew Memory Charms. I wish I knew how to Apparate. For God's sake, I wish I knew the Killing Curse. She heard herself begin to speak. "We all go to the same school. It's called... it's called - the Owl Academy! Yeah, and we all get owls when we're accepted. If I had time, I'd show you my uniform. It's got this owl insignia on it and everything. It's just a symbol for the... for the school."

She was conscious of her flushed cheeks and heavy breathing, sure signs that she'd been lying. She was a terrible liar.

"Where do they get the owls, though?"

Go AWAY, she just wanted to scream at him as she replied, "I think they breed them. It's inside a forested area and there's lots of aviaries."

The guard looked ready to ask another question, and Malon swore to herself that if he did, she was going to use the first curse that came to mind on him. Helpfully, her brain came up with a particularly fun hex that involved hallucinations about multitudes of Cornish pixies. She rested her fingers on her wand.

He was saved, however, for as he opened his mouth, something else caught his attention.

"Hey there!" he called. "One of your schoolmates is over here, and she's got the owl to prove it!"

Malon suddenly realized that she'd shut her eyes tightly as he yelled across the station. Prying them opened, she watched a trolley pull up next to hers with an empty cage secured on top. She raised her eyes and saw, with an overwhelming sense of relief, Harry.

"Harry!" her voice echoed, a smile growing on her face.

"Hallo, Malon." His green eyes were obviously puzzled.

"What happened to your owl?" the guard asked.

What are you, the thing that doesn't go away? the girl thought, reconsidering the curse while simultaneously sending Harry a look that plainly said, "Please help me."

"Oh, she, er, got out," he stuttered.

God Harry, you lie almost as badly as I do.

"Will they give you another, when you get to school?"
"School?" the Boy-Who-Lived squeaked, shooting a panicked glance at the girl.

"The Owl Academy," Malon muttered through clenched teeth, elbowing him in the side.

"Oh, at the Academy? No, the, er, owls are all trained to fly back... to there."

"That's right, Harry!" The girl laughed falsely. "Well, that's enough about owls for one day. We wouldn't want to give away all their secrets!"

"No, no we wouldn't," he agreed.

"Well you kids have a good term," the guard said. "Oh, and looks like your friends got found again."

Malon realized that he meant the Muggles had moved away from the barrier at last. "Good for them," she retorted, not managing to hide all of the sarcasm she felt. Pasting on a smile, she pushed her trolley away towards the now-clear wall, feeling rather than seeing Harry beside her.

"Please tell me he's gone."

Casually raking a hand through his dark, wild hair, the boy turned to see. "He's gone." And without warning, "What in the world was that about!?"

She gave him a genuine smile, one that he wasted no time in returning. "Let's just say I think that guy is possibly the most annoying person on earth."

"I don't know... I was with him for a little bit, and I think Snape could take him any day." His green eyes sparkled.

"Are you prepared to bet on that? I think it'd be really close fight," she joked and they walked through the fake wall and onto the platform together.

* * *

"Malon... Malon!"

Coming out of sleep suddenly, the girl flung herself off her train seat and landed on a wriggling pile of robes.

"Ah, get off!" the robes shrieked.

"Ron?" she mumbled.

A shock of red hair emerged from the pile as a response. "No, it's the sorting hat! Didn't you hear me speaking in rhymes?"

She stared at him.

"Of course it's me. Get. Off."

The fog of sleep slowly lifted from her and she began to giggle helplessly. She heard Hermione and Harry join in from either side of the compartment. Scowling, Ron sat up with such force that they rolled, positions reversed just as the door slid open.

"Weasley, Weasley... now is not the time for this, don't you think? And right in front of every one too."
"Malfoy," he growled, flushing a very deep red and leaping off of Malon, who could not manage to calm her laughter despite the presence of the blond Slytherin.

"You might want to calm her before we get to the castle," he snarled, pivoting in a flare of his school robes and striding away.

"Malfoy... such a prat," Malon gasped through her subsiding gales of humor. "I mean honestly, I wonder how long he practiced that robe thing over the summer. And popping in to say two sentences and leaving, like he wants to make sure we still know he's here."

Even Ron grinned. "Stupid git."

They exited the train and crawled into the same carriage. Malon felt a strong sense of wonder at seeing the castle that she knew her friends didn't quite share. While it was a magnificent and beautiful place, they'd spent the better part of five years there. She had been at Hogwarts only one year, the previous four having been spent at a magical school in America where her school looked more like a Muggle university than anything else.

She realized Harry was grinning at her. "Watching you reminds me of how I felt coming back for the first time. And by the way, we're there."

They were near the back of the group heading into the great hall, and as the four waited, they watched the small lights of the first years' boats slowly crossing the lake.

"I'm going to run up to the south tower," Malon announced suddenly.

"What?" Hermione asked incredulously. "We've got to go in for the sorting and the feast. Someone will miss you."

"I won't miss it. The first years aren't even a quarter way yet. I'll be right back, and if anyone asks, I'm in the toilet."

She took off toward the tower, a personal space she'd fallen in love with last term, hardly watching where she was going. This was her mistake, as she didn't see the person descending until it was too late. Malon hit her suddenly, feeling the air rush out of her lungs as they fell to the stairs in a heap.