Slytherin Chronicles : The Desire of Darkness

CHAPTER FOUR The Journey To Hogwarts

Two hours later, they arrived at King's Cross station with fifteen minutes to spare. This time, the Ministry driver did not use magic to lift Neve's trunk. He found a trolley, carefully placed the trunk and Nyx in it, and, after touching his velvet hat, drove off back down the street like an inconspicuous green panther.

Both Neve and Mrs Coulden had taken off their robes in the car as they were wearing Muggle clothing underneath and it would not be prudent to let any Muggles notice something out of the ordinary. Mrs Coulden was dressed in an elegant lavender ensemble made of silk which set off her dark auburn hair nicely, while Neve wore her usual black knee-length skirt and green woollen jersey with polished, black Mary-Jane shoes.

As she wheeled her trolley after Mrs Coulden into the station, Neve heard a whistle blow and caught a glimpse of a Muggle train passing out of the station. She'd only seen these sort of trains in books and to see them in real life was much more intriguing. Mrs Coulden, however, strode briskly through the station without stopping to look at anything or turning her head at all.

She led Neve to the space between platform nine and platform ten and gave Neve her ticket, which had a platform nine and three quarters written on it. But, when Neve glanced up at the platform numbers again, she was confused to find that there was no such thing. She turned to her mother and asked, "How exactly do I get onto the platform?"

Mrs Coulden laughed and said, "Oh, I did forget to tell you, didn't I? It was exactly the same way with me when I first came here!"

And she carried on chattering for a bit more, while Neve was hoping that this would not turn out to be another of her reminiscing sessions. But thankfully, it wasn't. Mrs Coulden soon stopped and instructed Neve on how to enter the magical platform. "You walk straight at the barrier between platforms nine and ten, yes that one there, and don't stop until you go quite through it, understand? Oh, and do try to get into Slytherin house."

"What if I get put in another house?" asked Neve.

"Well ... your father and I will be proud of you anyway, but it would be preferable if you did get into Slytherin. Bear that in mind, won't you?"

Neve nodded, highly dubious of the fact that her father would be proud of her for getting into a specific house - no more than he would be proud of her if she turned him into a toad. After giving her mother a very reluctant smile and a word of farewell, she faced the solid-looking brick barrier and began walking towards it, pushing the trolley in front of her.

Gathering speed, she broke into a run - the barrier coming nearer and nearer - the wall looking too awfully solid and ordinary - what if this was the wrong barrier? What if she crashed into it and there was no way to get onto platform nine and three quarters? But then the front of her trolley finally met the bricks and melted into them, along with Neve herself. For a moment all was darkness and then she stumbled out into the light once more.

The sight that met her eyes was that of a crimson steam engine waiting next to a platform teeming with people and steam. She looked up and saw a wrought iron archway above her head proclaiming Platform Nine and Three Quarters and underneath that was a different sign saying Hogwarts Express, 11 o'clock. This was it; she'd done it!

Neve pushed her trolley along the platform, searching for an empty carriage on the train and finding one near the end. But getting the trunk onto the train was a different matter; she had read The Standard Book of Spells: Grade One many times before and knew of the perfect spell that could help her. The problem was that she wasn't allowed to practice any magic as an under-age witch. Mrs Coulden had drilled into her mind that if the Ministry of Magic found out that she was doing spell-work outside school, she would most certainly be expelled - and she hadn't even set foot in Hogwarts!

So she was left with no other alternative but to put it on the train by hand. She grasped a handle and half-lifted it up, but then dropped it back down. She couldn't do it; it was too heavy.

Just as she was about to go ask the wizened old guard for assistance she heard a voice to her right. "D'you want some help with that?"

The speaker was a smug-looking girl who was about the same height as Neve, had a snub-nose, laughing blue eyes and cheek-length auburn hair with tips that curled outwardly. She wasn't wearing her Hogwarts robes yet, and she looked to be about the same age as Neve.

"If you can lift this trunk, then yes, I'd like you to help me," replied Neve.

The other girl smiled, showing pearly teeth and, with her aid, Neve managed to get the trunk onto a shelf in the compartment and then collapse into a seat. "You can sit with me if you like. This was the only free compartment I could find!" she said.

The girl grinned. "Well, this is actually my compartment, I was just coming back to sit down. You'll find that my trunk is under your seat, as I didn't have time to put it up onto the shelf 'cause my grandmother was calling me back. By the way, I'm Roisin MacKeve," she added, offering her hand.

"Neve Coulden," said Neve, shaking Roisin's hand. Then something occurred to her. "Wait a minute, did you say MacKeve?"

"None other," Roisin answered.

Neve had suddenly remembered the surname MacKeve from listening in to her mother's conversation with Mrs Malfoy when she had visited Coulden Manor. They had been talking about Death Eaters, the followers of the greatest (in their opinion) Dark wizard of the century, Lord Voldemort.

Mr and Mrs Coulden had never talked to Neve about him so she used her books as a source of information - as well as eavesdropping on certain conversations between her parents and the Malfoys - for she was very curious to know about Voldemort. And now she was sure that she had met the daughter of one of Lord Voldemort's followers! That is, if all the things she'd heard about the matter were true. So, intrigued, she proceeded to question Roisin.

"Your father was Evan Rosier, right?" Roisin's grin faded and she pursed her lips, her bright, clear eyes darkened slightly, but her voice was calm and strong when she said, "Too true. Killed by an Auror, he was."

Neve had read about Aurors also; they were the magical equivalent of the Muggle police force, but had much more dangerous work to do than any ordinary police-man. "After Voldemort was defeated?"

Roisin gave Neve a surprised look before bringing up her grin again. "You're the first kid I've ever heard say his name properly. And thank Merlin for that! I was getting really sick of hearing You-Know-Who and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and all that. I mean, it's just a bloody name - it's not like every time you say it, the actual object of your discussion is going to pop up right in front of you and drag your soul out through your ears, is it?"

Neve snorted and rolled her eyes at Roisin, who sat down on the soft leather seat and made herself comfortable.

Neve heard the doors of the train snap shut and a whistle blew, signalling the departure of the Hogwarts Express. Various people were standing on the platform waving to the occupants of the train and suddenly Roisin stood up, opened the window and leaned out.

"Bye Gran! See you, Grandpa!" she yelled, waving frantically to two tall grey-haired people who waved back with equal fervour. When they had finally gone out of view, she sat back down and fixed Neve with a not-at-all embarrassed stare, the same grin plastered on her face. "Those are my grandparents. I've lived with them all my life and they're two of the coolest people around."

"But why have you been living with them? What about your mother?" demanded Neve curiously.

Roisin sighed resignedly and shook her head. "Ah well, I guess I'm going to have to tell you all about it. I don't mind, really. I somewhat like hearing about it myself. Brace yourself for a bit of a tragic love story," she said, the ghost of a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

Then, taking a deep breath, she began. "My father, who you know is Evan Rosier, married a witch by the name of Irene Beyd, four years after he left Hogwarts. He was already a Death Eater by that time, having joined Voldemort during his Hogwarts years, as many other wizards from his house did. That house being Slytherin, of course.

"But Irene Beyd didn't know that he was a Death Eater. If she had, she probably wouldn't have married him. He knew that she wouldn't have done so, but he fell in love with her so deeply that he concealed the fact from her when they were married.

"Two years later, they had a daughter - Patrin Rosier. And still he covered the fact that he was working for Lord Evil-Git, and Irene suspected nothing. Every time he had a meeting with Mr Power-Hungry or went out to do his deeds, he told her he was going out to work, and because she was so in love with him herself, she believed him. Well, any woman would; he was one of the handsomest men in Britain and, when he gave his love, he gave it unconditionally and unreservedly.

"But another thing that Irene didn't know about was that he had met another witch who - erm - ensnared him, to put it bluntly, with her beauty and natural charm, and he fell in love with her as well. That woman, Ardette MacKeve, who was later to be my mother, ended up falling in love with him too, oblivious to the fact that he was married with a child, for he never told her and she never found out ... not even at her death."

Here, Roisin had to swallow and take a pause, for it always pained her to talk about her mother's death. Even though she had never met her, she loved her with all her heart and had wished many a time that things had turned out differently.

Presently, she continued. "There was many a rumour that my father had heaps of other affairs, but the only one that was dragged into the light was the one with my mother. And here I am, the living, breathing evidence. Anyway, my mother and father's affair carried on for a whole year and still Irene knew nothing for my father was deeply in love with her; so much in love that he would die for her rather than see her suffer.

"But he couldn't help loving my mother the same way, and he was torn between his wife and his lover. And then I was born. My mother died giving birth to me, my father was devastated, and Irene finally found out about the affair from a friend of hers, with me as the proof. She didn't tell my father that she knew - she kept it to herself the whole time. And my father only realised that she had discovered it when, coming home one evening after a meeting with the Evil One, he found she had committed suicide by hanging herself from the chandelier.

"And that was it for him. He'd lost his two most beloved women and was left with the fruit of his love - Patrin and myself. Thankfully, he didn't abandon us at the mercy of a Muggle orphanage. He put me with my mother's parents - they're the ones that you saw just before - and Patrin with his own parents. And he never forgot either of us; he was continually visiting us and he left us a whopper of an inheritance that we're to split when we come of age!

"Only he was killed when I was three and Patrin was five. I was told about Patrin just four years ago, and even then I didn't get the whole truth. But I got it out of my grandparents last year, and we're both on really good terms with each other."

Neve had remained silent for the duration of the account so that Roisin could speak undisturbed and, when she had finished, Neve thought that Roisin was right about it being a tragic love story. She felt just a little sorry for Roisin, but the girl seemed to be coping quite well with the events of her parents' lives and Neve was grateful for that. But she couldn't help saying, "I know how you must feel, being an orphan."

Roisin looked at her in wonder. "Are both your parents dead too?"

"No, they're alive, but it's not much different. I've thought sometimes that it would be better if I didn't have any," said Neve matter-of-factly.

Roisin shook her head fervently. "Don't you dare say that! You're lucky that you have parents, lucky that you have a proper family who loves you and takes care of you - "

"And we're also lucky that we have mosquitoes!" interrupted Neve sarcastically.

Roisin stared at her in surprise for a moment, then at the ceiling of the compartment reflectively. Then all of a sudden - "Yeah, we are! Frogs need something to eat too, you know." She was about to continue, but hastily closed her mouth when Neve gave her a dark look.

The next few minutes passed in surprisingly comfortable silence, as both Neve and Roisin were gazing out the window at the scenery. The landscape had abruptly changed as they had been carried out of London; the buildings of the city had given way to large fields and neat pastures dotted with cows, sheep and horses.

Around half past twelve, a kind-faced smiling woman slid open the door of their compartment and said, "Anything off the trolley, dears?"

Neve and Roisin looked at each other and Neve said, "A packet of Chocolate Frogs and Liquorice Wands, a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, six Cauldron Cakes, and two Pumpkin Pasties, please."

The woman disappeared for a moment, and they heard her clattering around in the corridor before bringing Neve the desired products. The whole time Neve had been ordering the sweets, Roisin had been searching her pockets and produced a silvery money-bag, out of which she took the due amount of money and handed it to the woman. Then she immediately proceeded to open the box of Pumpkin Pasties and managed to consume half a pasty in one bite, while Neve barely got to a quarter.

"Sorry, but I haven't had any breakfast today, so I'm really hungry!" Roisin explained, noticing her own voracity.

"It's all right, I'm hungry myself. I know I sound arrogant when I say this, but I just can't fit anymore into my mouth. That's why I bite such small amounts, even though I've been told that I have a bigger mouth than an eleven-year-old should ever have," explicated Neve. "Oh, and remind me to pay you back when we finish all this, OK?"

Roisin made an impatient gesture with her free hand and said, "Nothing doing. If you try to pay me back, I won't accept the money. We're friends now, aren't we?"

"Erm ... no," Neve pronounced lazily, biting into her Pumpkin Pasty. Then calmly added, "Fuck off."

But Roisin's wide mouth split into an appreciative grin. "Excellent! That's the spirit! You know what? I think I'm going to get on really well with you."

"Didn't I just tell you to fuck off? Or are you going deaf?"

"Not as far as I know. Is that what you say to all your friends?"

"Don't have any," shrugged Neve.

"What, seriously?" asked Roisin, shocked. "How can you not have any friends? Everyone has friends! Even the lowliest and stupidest of human beings!"

"Well, I don't, and there's no need to make such a big fuss about it."

"Well, you're going to have friends now. I'll be your first!" exclaimed Roisin. Then she grimaced. "Urgh, that sounded so dodgy."

This time, Neve couldn't help grinning wickedly. "So that's what goes on in your dirty little mind. Do your grandparents know?"

Roisin shuddered. "I certainly hope not. Hate to think of what would happen if they did. So anyway, are you going to be my friend or not?"

Neve surveyed the girl before her coolly and answered with, "I'll think about it. But I warn you not to expect any trust from me. I don't trust anyone at all and I don't think I'm going to start with you."

"Why not?"

"Same reason why I don't have any friends," said Neve, lowering her pasty and assuming the air of someone trying to teach a curious five-year-old about how the world was made. "Trust places too much responsibility and pressure on a person. If you betray a person, they'll hate you forever and there's that relationship lost. But if you don't have any friends, then you don't have anyone trusting you, and you can go through life much more easily with a clear conscience."

"But having friends gives you advantages! Free help and all that," argued Roisin.

Neve paused for a moment, looking out the window of the train. "I can always charm the people I need ... and get rid of the ones that prove disadvantageous."

Roisin stared at her, both eyebrows raised in wonder. "You're weird," she decided.

"Do I deny it?"

"No. And I like you for it."

And so they ate their way through the food that Roisin's money had bought, enjoying themselves immensely. They had a lot of fun eating the Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, because there was no knowing which flavour you might get, and some of them were not at all pleasant. Roisin was the one who got the most unsavoury tastes in their opinion, like cauliflower, horseradish, soap, and mushroom.

Later on in the afternoon, when they had finished all their food except for a few left-over Ever Flavour Beans, which both of them knew would not taste very good, they had a couple of visitors.

The first was a plump, round-faced boy who looked like he was on the verge of tears. "Sorry, but have either of you seen a toad anywhere?"

"Our greatest apologies, but no, we haven't," replied Roisin, with a half pitying and half amused look on her face.

"I've been looking for him for almost an hour, and I think I've lost him for good!" wailed the boy.

"Try looking on the luggage racks and under seats; he might be sitting in a dark corner somewhere," said Neve helpfully.

The boy nodded and thanked them before waddled out of the compartment. Then, about twenty minutes later, the door of their compartment slid open again and the boy was back, only he had a girl with him. She had bushy brown hair and was already dressed in her Hogwarts uniform.

"Have you two seen a toad at all? Neville here lost his about an hour ago and we've been asking everybody on the train," she said in a very bossy voice.

"Well, as Neville seems to have forgotten that we have been asked the same question before by himself no less than twenty minutes ago, I shall repeat: our greatest apologies, but NO, we have not seen any kind of toad, anywhere at all!" answered Roisin, exasperated.

The other girl sighed and pinched her lips together. "Well, if you do see him, then tell one of us, because it's very important that Neville finds him." She paused for a few seconds, glancing from one girl to the other. "I'm Hermione Granger, by the way. Who are you?"

"Neve Coulden."

"Roisin MacKeve."

"Oh." Hermione Granger paused again, apparently thinking of something else to say. The boy, Neville, whispered something to her and she nodded saying, "All right, go on then," as Neville disappeared. Then she turned back to Neve and Roisin. "What house do you think you'll be in? I really hope I'm in Gryffindor; everything I've heard about it really appeals to me, and did you know that Albus Dumbledore himself was one? Interesting, isn't it? But anyway, what house do you want to get into?" she inquired, saying all of this so quickly that neither Roisin nor Neve could get a word in.

"Well, if I'm not in Slytherin then Roisin here will be organising my funeral," said Neve.

Hermione looked truly astonished. "Slytherin? But that's - that's - " She broke off, seemingly unable to find an appropriate word to describe the house.

"It's what? If you're going to say that Slytherin is the worst house ever founded and that only evil witches and wizards get into that house then, may I ask, what exactly are you doing talking with us?" Neve asked, curtly.

"And if you're going to be a wonderful little goody-good Gryffindor, then you don't want to be associating with filthy evil Slytherins, do you? Everyone might think that you're just as evil as we are," grinned Roisin.

Hermione looked quite shocked. "Oh, but I didn't mean to insult you! I - I've just heard that - that Slytherin is - isn't - is - " Once again, she paused and a flush of pink formed on her cheeks.

"Didn't mean to insult us! Now that's a good one," laughed Roisin. "Granger, what you call insults are compliments to us, since three quarters of Hogwarts - excluding Slytherin house members - believe that our future house holds evil incarnate."

Hermione mumbled something incoherent fearfully, then a little louder said, "I'll be going then. You two had better change into your uniforms; we should be at Hogwarts in about half an hour," and closed the door after walking out.

"She'll be fun," said Neve, standing on her seat and getting her uniform out of her trunk.

"But typical non-Slytherin reaction, wasn't it? She couldn't have looked more horrified if we'd told her we were the offspring of Lord Voldemort!" said Roisin, pulling her trunk from under Neve's seat and opening it.

"She'd probably have fainted if we told her that. D'you reckon the Ravenclaws, Hufflepuffs and the rest of the Gryffindors will be like that?"

"If they are, we're in for a fun year!" replied Roisin. She looked at Neve and their lips formed identical evil grins.

By the time they were wearing their complete Hogwarts uniforms the sky was a dark purple, stars were beginning to blossom here and there, and the train seemed to have lessened in speed.

A man's voice reverberated through the train: "We will arrive at Hogwarts in five minutes time. Please leave your luggage on the train, as it will be taken to the school separately."

Neve began to feel excited again and her heart quickened its pace with nervousness. Glancing at Roisin, she saw that the other girl was slightly pale, but in good spirits nonetheless. As the train began slowing down, they both came out of their compartment and joined the crowd gathering in the corridor. When they had finally come to a stand-still, the doors opened and everyone began piling out onto a small, dark platform.

Neve then saw a lamp bobbing high up in the air, but couldn't make out exactly who or what was holding it. She motioned Roisin to move closer to the front and they both made their way through the milling crowd to where a gigantic, hairy man was standing, holding the little lamp aloft.

"Firs' years over here! Firs' years! C'mon now, this way - all firs' years follow me!" he shouted into the cold night air.

Very quietly, the crowd of first-years followed the man up a sharply sloping path, into the darkness. They seemed to be surrounded by a thick forest because Neve couldn't see through the black gloom on either side of her.

"Jus' round this bend here yeh'll get yeh firs' sight o' the school," the giant called over his shoulder. "Jus' a sec an' yeh'll see it."

All of a sudden, there was a loud "Oooooh!" of appreciation and amazement from the first-years. The steep, narrow path had opened onto the edge of a very large black lake, which reflected the silvery orb of the moon and the twinkling stars. Settled on a high craggy mountain on the other side of the lake, its many windows burning with light from inside, was a prodigious castle with not a few towers and turrets.

"Right now, into the boats! And no more'n four to each!" exclaimed the giant, pointing a sizeable finger at a group of little boats floating in the water by the shore.

Then suddenly a shriek rent the still atmosphere. Neve and Roisin swung around to find a girl with a pug-like face and dark chestnut hair in thick curls, pointing at a fat, gulping toad on the ground with a look of abject revulsion on her face.

"It's only a toad, you twit," said Neve scornfully.

Beside her, Roisin was attempting to keep herself from falling over with giggles. The girl gave Neve a very ugly look indeed as Neville ran forward and scooped up the toad.

"All right, into the boats now!" cried the giant man, giving Neve a furtive smile to which she gave a small nod in return.

She and Roisin were followed into their boat by two boys who they didn't know. "Everyone in? Right then - FORWARD!" shouted the giant, and the little boats began to swiftly, silently move towards the opposite bank, clearly by magic.

There was utter silence, broken only by the lapping of the water against the sides of the boats. The great castle rose up high in front of them as they sailed closer and closer to the cliff on which it perched.

"Heads down!" yelled the giant as the boats carried them through a curtain of ivy which masked a wide opening in the cliff face.

They were brought along a shadowed passage, which seemed to be taking them right under the castle itself, but they floated into a kind of small underground harbour where they left the boats and scrambled out onto pebbles and rocks. They then clambered up a tunnel in the rock following the man's lamp, and emerged onto smooth, trimmed grass right in full view of the enormous oak front door. They climbed up a short set of stone steps and crowded round the door.

"No one missin'? Everyone still 'ere?" asked the giant and, raising one huge fist, knocked thrice on the castle door.

They had arrived.