The Answers That We Find

the answers that we find
CHAPTER ONE september first

~ ~ ~
and they say that a hero can save us
but i'm not going to stand here and wait.

Rain splattered down the tinted windows of the Ministry-provided car. He sat in the back, watching as the rivulets made their way down the glass. Why wasn't Mum here to see him off? Oh, right, Mum was always busy with some function or another. It was always like that on the most important days of his life. And what about Father? Well, the simple fact was that there was no father. Of course, at one point there had been. But that wasn't important. What was important was now there wasn't one. It was just him and Mum. Of course, Father must have done something horribly wrong or mum wouldn't have his last name changed to her own. Leaohaire was his last name now, one that most people had no idea how to pronounce if they only saw it on paper. He himself was finally get used to being called by it.

He was jolted out of his reverie when the car pulled to a stop outside the station. Checking his watch, the boy noted that it was quarter to eleven. Just in time, he thought, a relieved smile spreading across his face. He opened the door closest to the station and got out. It wasn't that he minded the rain - quite the contrary. It just seemed like the smart thing to do and besides, he wasn't really overly fond of being splashed by the reckless Muggle drivers.

He liked the light tapping sound that his shiny black shoes made on the wet pavement as he moved his feet slightly, waiting for his trunk to be removed from the boot of the car.

"Here you are, young Leaohaire," said the driver, a man clothed in a bottle-green uniform. He placed the trunk on to a nearby trolley that someone had recently left and smiled, "Best get into the station so you aren't late for the Express."

"Thank you, sir," Mordred Leaohaire said, his voice barely lifting above a whisper. He could feel the water soaking into his shirt and realized that he should soon head inside before he was completely saturated. He turned and wheeled the trolley through the doors of King's Cross Station and was grateful for the coverage from the rain.

He stood on his tip-toes and attempted to peer out through the flattened fringe of black hair that hung in front of his eyes. He brushed the wet hair out of his vision range, then looked around. Scanning the station, he tried to locate either platform nine or ten. After all, the barrier between them was where one stepped onto . . .

"Platform Nine and Three Quarters?" He heard a slightly desperate voice finish his thought for him. Looking around for the origin of the voice, Mordred spotted a quite petite girl.

She was inquiring something of an elderly man clothed in a suit. The man looked to be quite irritated with her,

"You silly girl, there's no such thing as Platform Nine and Three Quarters. Now run along, like a good girl." With that, the elderly man strode away, leaving the girl looking rather lost and confused.

"Excuse me," Mordred asked, feeling a twinge of sympathy, "Would I be able to help you?"

The girl lifted her dark eyes and looked at him with a slight drained look in them, "Not unless you know where this Platform Nine and Three Quarters is," she said dryly, sighing, "I should've known it was all too good to be true . . . stupid Bobby playing a prank on me."

"Actually, miss," Mordred said timidly, "I do know where the platform is."

The girl's face lit up like she had just heard that she had won the lottery, "You do?" she asked before grabbing him in a hug, "Oh, thank the Sages! I thought I was going mad!"

"I suppose you're Muggle-born, then?" Mordred inquired, looking up and down the girl.

She wasn't really what one would call beautiful, but she had a certain look to her that made you stop and take a second glance. She was extremely short - even shorter than Mordred - and had waist-length auburn hair. Judging from her Asian features and skin colour, he determined that her hair was dyed. Her eyes were dark and seemed a bit wet, as if she had been about to cry. She was clothed in flared jeans that were soaked along the bottom as -

Catching him looking at her, the girl grinned, "I suppose I should introduce myself, shouldn't I?"

"Sure, I'm - " Mordred cut himself off when he noticed the time, "We should hurry up or we won't get on the train."

The girl glanced at the clock, seeing for herself that it was almost eleven, "Holy Jedi Knight! We should hurry. Lead the way, oh saviour of mine."

"Come on, then," Mordred said, grabbing onto his trolley once more and hurrying towards platform nine which he had recently spotted.

"What are we supposed to do now?" the girl inquired, a slight sarcastic tone to her voice.

"Well, you need to run directly at the barrier between platforms nine and ten - " Mordred began, but was cut off by a screech of protest from the girl - "What?"

"You can't honestly expect me to run at that wall. I'll be flattened! Smooshed! Like a pancake!" the girl said, waving her arms around.

"Shush," Mordred hissed, looking warily at the passers-by who seemed to be giving the girl some strange looks, "You're attracting attention."

"And running at a brick wall won't?" she snapped back.

"Just do it already," Mordred sighed, running a hand through his black hair, "We don't have much time left."

"Fine," the girl threatened, "But if I die, just remember the ghost of a girl by the name of Laine Siswanto will come back and haunt you."

"Just hurry up," Mordred said, his voice full of urgency. It was five to eleven. They were really cutting it close.

~ ~ ~
"Now, Aly, promise me that you won't be as bad as your brother," Cerena Black implored her eleven-year-old daughter.

"Come on, Mum," the glasses-wearing girl smiled, "You know I'm far to serious to do anything that Sirius does," Alycone paused and reflected a bit sadly, after all, I'm not nearly brave enough or creative enough . . . I belong with books.

"Silly Aly," Cerena laughed and hugged her daughter. The train whistle blew shrilly and the woman smiled a bit sadly, "I'm going to be all alone at home now, with both you and Sirius off to Hogwarts."

"It's okay, Mum," an arm was slung around Cerena's shoulders.

"You take care of your sister now, Sirius," Cerena said sternly to her seventeen-year-old son, "And get your hair cut."

"Mum, it's my hair and my life; I'll do what I want with it." Sirius smiled lopsidedly, running a hand through his shoulder-length black hair that he had started to grow out at the end of the last school year. "And don't worry about Aly," he continued, removing his arm from his mother's shoulders and wrapping it around Alcyone's waist.

"Let go of me," she said, trying to shrug his arm off while pushing her glasses up her nose at the same time.

"I'll take care of the little squirt," Sirius said, picking her up off the ground and throwing her over his shoulder.

"SIRIUS APOLLO BLACK, PUT ME DOWN THIS INSTANT!" Alycone yelled as her brother began to walk towards one of the train doors, her still trapped on his shoulder.

"Bye, mum!" Sirius yelled over her loud voice, "We'll write soon!"

Oh, I am going to hex his sorry butt off! Alcyone thought viciously, pounding her fists on her brother's back as he carried her down the train carriage. "Sirius, let me down!"

"In a minute, little sister." Sirius laughed as he ducked into one of the compartments. Due to her being bent over her brother's shoulder, Alcyone could not see who was in the compartment.

"What have you got there, Sirius?" she heard a familiar voice ask, "Your latest conquest?"

"I hope not!" Alcyone cried shrilly, "He's my brother!" she made a face at the wall.

"That is just disgusting," Sirius said, finally putting her down on her feet.

"I hate you, you know that right?" Alcyone snapped, her arms crossed as she glared at her older brother.

"It's impossible to hate Sirius," the familiar voice said. Turning, the brunette girl saw one of her brother's friends, Remus Lupin there. After all, he was easily recognizable by the slight greyish tints in his light brown hair.

"You don't have to live with him," Alcyone snapped, storming out of the compartment.

"Aly, where are you going?" Sirius asked, hurrying after her.

"Away from you," she replied without turning back.

Sirius sighed and turned back into the compartment and surveyed his friends Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. He imitated a serious expression and tone, as if he was a great professor, talking about the mysteries of life, "Sisters. Annoying little buggers."

"I don't know about that, Sirius," Peter said, hiding a smile, "My sister's just fine."

"Ah, Wormtail," Sirius said, still using a serious face and tone. He waggled his finger at the blonde boy, "That's because she's older. Younger sisters are hell."

"So are you, Black. I don't blame your sister for wanting to get away from you," sneered a voice from the doorway.

"Don't tell me," Sirius rolled his eyes, "There's a great ugly git behind me by the name of Severus Snape."

"Got it in one," Remus said grimly, shooting a glare at the aforementioned Slytherin male, "What are you doing here?"

"Checking to see if you three hadn't gotten expelled yet," Snape said with his familiar grimace, "Unfortunately, you haven't."

"I'd say the same thing about you," Sirius muttered under his breath.

~ ~ ~
"Excuse me?" Mordred inquired, sticking his head into a compartment that contained only a boy with sandy blonde hair and a pointed face, "Can we come in?"

"It all depends," the boy said, "What are your names and your Wizarding lineage?"

Wizarding lineage? The girl mouthed to him. Mordred just waved her off and turned to the boy,

"My name is Mordred Leaohaire and I'm going to be a first year," he said, before pointing to the girl with him, "And this is . . ."

"Laine Siswanto," the girl said curtly, walking into the compartment while dragging her trunk with her. She shoved it under the seat opposite the blonde boy and sat down in the seat, prim as you can please.

"I guess you're going to sit in here anyway, then," a smile spread across the boy's face, "I'm Louis Malfoy," he introduced himself, pronouncing 'Louis' the French way, leaving the 's' invisible in his speech, "Also going to be a first year. What houses d'you think you'll be Sorted into?"

"Sorted?" Laine looked confused as Mordred wrangled his own trunk under the seat and sat down next to her.

"Into the different Houses," Louis looked as perplexed as she did about the fact that she didn't know what the Sorting was.

"She's Muggle-born," Mordred explained, "As for me, I have no idea what House I'm going to be Sorted into. My mum was in Ravenclaw and I don't know what House my father was in."

"All my family's been in Slytherin," Louis said, looking rather dejected for a moment, "They all expect me to do the same."

"Hold up, hold up. Back up a tic," Laine interrupted, holding up her hands like a referee, "What are these 'Houses' you keep talking about?"

Mordred smiled at her antics, then allowed Louis to explain. It appeared that things were going quite fine for the day, better than he had expected. It wasn't even noon and he had already made two great friends. Perhaps this year was going to be way better than he had originally thought.

"There are four Houses at Hogwarts," Louis said, leaning forward and resting his chin in his hands, "Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. Gryffindor is for the brave people, Slytherin for the ambitious, Ravenclaw for the bookworms and Hufflepuff for the nice ones. When we get to Hogwarts, we'll be Sorted into one of these Houses."

"How so?" Laine inquired curiously.

"No idea," Louis shrugged, looking at her with upturned green eyes, "It's a surprise although you should hear some of the rumors that have been flying around."

"Such as?" a gleam came into Laine's eye, "Tell me!"

"Wresting trolls, fighting a dragon," Mordred spoke up, calling attention to himself for the first time in awhile, "Load of tosh like that."

Laine's eyes were saucer-sized, "A dragon?"

"No, of course not," Louis said, a slight superior tone creeping into his voice, "They're against the law and besides, Hogwarts would be closed if that were the Sorting."

"Aww, that bites major Darth Vader butt." Laine scowled and ran her hands through her hair. She pulled an elastic off one of her wrists and pulled the aforementioned locks into a messy ponytail.

"Excuse me?" Louis blinked politely, "What does that mean?"

Laine gasped and from the expression on her face, one might have thought that the sky had fallen and the world was ending. When she spoke, her voice was almost eerily quiet, "You don't know who Darth Vader is?"

Mordred looked to Louis and found that the other boy mirrored his confusion, "No, should we?"

"Of course you should!" Laine leapt to her feet. Louis shrank back a bit from her. She waved her arms in the air, "Everyone should know who Darth Vader is! He's just the biggest, baddest villain in all of Star Wars!!"

"Sorry, still no idea," Louis said, "Is this a Muggle thing?"

"It's an American thing," Laine said, her eyes still flashing, but her arms no longer waving about. "But it's only the best movie in the entire universe!"

Movie? Mordred noticed Louis mouthing at him. The black-haired boy shrugged at the blonde boy in return while trying to figure out what in the world this Muggle-born girl was talking about.

~ ~ ~
Seventeen-year-old Lily Evans sighed as the train chugged along its way to Hogwarts, I can't believe it's actually my last year at Hogwarts, she thought as she pulled her trunk down from the luggage compartment. I can't believe it's almost over now . . . she sighed, her eyes starting to water slightly. James had been sitting with her for awhile, but he had left to go find Sirius, Remus and Peter. Because of this, Lily assumed that they were going to pull another prank on Severus Snape.

She pitied Severus quite a bit, though. It must be horrible to put up with the four of them playing pranks or doing something equally horrible to him almost everyday. Although now that James is Head Boy, she thought hopefully, maybe they won't play as many pranks on him. Maybe James'll try to convince them to leave Severus alone..

She turned to look out the window and sighed again, "Although that's not very likely," she admitted to the empty compartment. It was almost sad that she was alone on the first day of her last year at Hogwarts, but then again, she had always seemed to be more of an introvert and hardly ever made friends. After all, the only reason that she hung around James and the others was because of that day in Diagon Alley where they had met in Flourish and Bolts. A slight smile came to the lips of the red-haired girl, And he told off Petunia . . .

However, before Lily could sink into the pool of reminscene, the door to the compartment opened and a girl stood where the door had been a moment ago.

"Yes?" Lily inquired thoughtfully, trying to place the girl. She looks familiar, she thought, looking at the girl's tanned skin, brown hair and eyes that were covered over with glasses, "Do I know you from somewhere?"

"You probably know my brother," the girl sighed, a little unhappily, "Sirius Black?"

"That's who you look like!" Lily snapped her fingers, "Come on in. What brings you to this section of the train?"

"I just wanted to get away from my brother," the girl sighed, "I'm Alcyone."

"Lily Evans. Have a seat," Lily gestured to the empty compartment, a sarcastic tone coming into her voice "That is if you can find one. This compartment's really full, isn't it?"

"Tell me about it," Alcyone said as she smiled slightly, sitting down on the seat across from Lily, "I can barely sit down."

"So, I take it this is your first year?" Lily inquired, "What house d'you think you'll be in?"

"Not really sure, to tell the truth," Alcyone said thoughtfully, "But I'd most like to be in Ravenclaw. I'd actually prefer not to be in Gryffindor with my brother."

"Why?" Lily asked, "How come you don't want to be in the same House as your brother?"

"Basically because he's my brother, I guess," Alcyone said, a glimmer of sadness coming into her eyes.

Before Lily could question her further, the witch carrying the food trolley stopped outside the door. She poked her head in, "Want anything to eat, loves?" ~ ~ ~
"And that," Laine finished with a triumphant grin, "Is who Darth Vader is and what Star Wars is."

She returned her attention to the two boys sitting in front of her and sighed. They were both asleep. Figures, she thought to herself, flopping down on the seat. Sure, she had talked right through the witch coming with the food trolley, but that didn't mean they had the right to nod off in the middle of her explanation.

As she sat down, she cause Mordred to shift slightly and he muttered something in his sleep. Intrigued, Laine bent forward, curious to hear what he was muttering.

"No . . . mum . . . why?" was all that she managed to catch. She held her breath for a moment, hoping to hear more. She bit her lip, but there was no more to be said apparently. Mordred's expression changed from the previous distressed appearance to one that was eerily calm.

However, causing much surprise to the girl was when the compartment door was flung open and in rushed a rather out-of-breath-looking older male. He flung the door closed and leaned against it, looking quite paranoid.

"What are you doing?" Laine demanded, jumping up. She was talking in a whisper, as not to wake up the two boys which would, obviously, cause their annoyance.

"None of your business," the black-haired male sneered.

"It's my compartment so therefore it is my business," Laine snapped, "Or else I'll go out there and find whoever's chasing you and tell them where you are!"

"What makes you think someone's chasing me?" he demanded, scowling at her.

"Well, from your obvious paranoia, that makes it seem the right choice," Laine replied, folding her arms and fixating her own scowl at the taller person, "How come you don't get out there and defend yourself?"

"I've always found paranoia to be a perfectly defensible position," shot back the other.

"Nice defensible position, hiding in a compartment with a bunch of first-years," Laine raised an eyebrow.

"What the bloody hell -- " Louis mumbled as he slowly woke up. Upon seeing the tall, black-haired boy, his eyes brightened with recognition, "Oh, hello, Severus."

"You know this guy?" Laine turned to the blonde.

"Yeah, he's my cousin's friend," Louis replied, stretching, "Why are you in here?"

"Attempting to get away from the immaturity that seems to plague Gryffindors even in their seventh year," Severus replied dryly, sitting down where Laine had been.

"Hey, that's my seat!" Laine protested.

"Was," Severus said, folding his arms and looking out the window at the miserable weather. He returned his attention to Laine, "You've got spunk. Amusing for one so young. What House do you expect you'll be in?"

"One of them. None of them. Something," Laine snapped, her sentences short with anger.

"Charming," sneered Severus, "You're acting like a perfect little Gryffindor, not knowing when to shut up. He glanced disdainfully down at the sleeping Mordred, "And who is this?"

"One of my friends," Laine snapped, glaring at Severus.

"Mordred Leaohaire, I think," Louis said, his brow furrowing as he tried to remember the boy's name.

Something gleamed in Severus's eyes, a shrewd and interested look, "Leaohaire?" he inquired, his tone thoughtful. ~ ~ ~