New Creatures and Chilly Feelings
Chapter 3 : New Creatures and Chilly Feelings
A couple days later, Clarke had made up her mind about joining her friends early. Harry was still in Diagon Alley, having ran from his uncle's house and Octavia and Raven sounded weird in their last letter. They had told Clarke that they were fine, but there still was something between the lines that Clarke couldn't put her finger on; it was making her uneasy. She had talked it through with Nathalia who, although disappointed to see Clarke leave early, had agreed she should indeed probably go find her friends.
"Are you all packed?" Louison Viny asked, entering the bedroom where Clarke had been staying. "Andrew's ready for you when you are."
"Yeah, I think that's all..." Clarke hummed, closing her backpack and scanning the room one last time to be sure she hadn't missed anything. She looked over to Nathalia's side of the room, a bit bummed that she had to leave early.
"They understand" Louison gently told her niece, her hand coming to rest lightly on Clarke's shoulder. She could hear Clarke's thoughts running wild in her mind; Clarke was very alike Diana, in that sense. Very quick to take the blame and carry the burden; and Louison wondered how much of this behavior was due to them, the adults who had failed to shield them from all of this.
"I know" Clarke sighed, grateful for her aunt's words, "But I..."
"You feel torn" Louison knowingly said. "It'll be ok, you'll find the balance between all this."
"I hope so" Clarke nodded. Then, turning to face her aunt, she said : "Thank you, Louison. For everything. I... I know you were close with my father; being with all of you, it makes me feel closer to him."
"Us too, Clarke" Louison smiled, "Us too. Now come on, Diana's leaving too, she wants to say goodbye."
They got downstairs, where the rest of the family was waiting for Clarke on the front porch.
"Bye, Clarke" Timothé said, hugging her close. "You'll come for Christmas, yes?"
"Yeah, for sure" Clarke nodded with a smile - even though a part of her knew there was a chance she'd be on the other side of the world -.
"Take care alright?" Jade told her then, half-joking half-serious, "We can't be rescuing your ass every term, ya know!"
"Jade, language" Her mom reprimanded her - not without a smile on her face.
"It's true though, you're attracted to trouble" Nathalia chuckled, taking her turn at hugging her cousin goodbye.
"Well it's trouble that's attracted to me, actually" Clarke snorted. She was right about that; trouble did seem to come looking for her, and the rest of her friends.
"Nevertheless, you'll be careful, right?" Diana was the last one to say goodbye. Then, in a lower voice as most of her siblings had gone back inside the house, "Promise me, Clarke. I... I don't know if I'll be able to... You know."
And Clarke did know what her cousin was refering to; with the Auror Training, Diana knew she would probably have to go AWOL on a regular basis, so she wouldn't be able to look out for her siblings - or Clarke. So Clarke promised, if it was the only thing she could say to settle her cousin's mind.
"Goodbye then, Clarke" Diana had a sad smile on her lips. "Write to me?"
"I'll write, yeah" Clarke said in a whisper, hugging her cousin hard. "Bye, Diana."
Diana got back into the house to fetch the last of her bags - her and Iago were leaving today for the Auror Institute - and Clarke climbed into Andrew's car who would drive them to Diagon Alley in only a couple hours - magic was very practical, it turned out. Aska got in the back of the car, not very happy to leave Clarke's side, even if it was only for a couple feet away.
Into the car, the ride was mostly silent; it wasn't uncomfortable, because Andrew was not a very talkative person, and Clarke had so much on her mind that she didn't mind the quiet.
"Andrew, you knew my parents" Clarke asked after a while, "Even before I was born."
"Yes" Andrew confirmed. "Louison and I were already together when your father, whom I had met a couple times before, brought Abigail with him. She's been part of the family ever since."
"I feel like I don't know them anymore" Clarke murmured, her eyes getting lost in the landscape. "This life they had... It doesn't feel like the people I grew up with."
"I know it can be hard" Andrew offered her, "But always remember they love you, Clarke. Everything they did, they did because they love you."
"I know that" Clarke sighed, "And I do believe all they wanted was to protect me. But I should have had the choice."
"You have it, now" Andrew gently answered. Then, after a couple seconds, he added : "Your father was one of the most reliable man on the planet, you know? I trusted him with my life, back then, and I would have trusted him with my children's lives too, without hesitation. We disagreed with some of his choices, with your mom's choices as well, but we trusted him to know it was the right thing to do, even if we had to break the family apart in the process."
Clarke didn't answer, still very lost in all this mess.
"Louison and I did a couple mistakes too, you know" Andrew then confessed, "The kids didn't know about you either until very late, and they were not happy either about discovering a family we had hidden from them."
"I still have trouble understanding how keeping us apart is supposed to protect us" Clarke then murmured.
"People are out for us, Clarke" Andrew honestly answered, figuring that Clarke was old enough and smart enough to be able to handle the truth. "And Griffins are good at magic. We feared that if suddenly, members of the same family were to do magic together, you would get noticed for it and people would discover the Griffins had not gone extinct after all."
"Don't be so afraid about that" Clarke dryly snorted, "I'm not very good at magic, I wouldn't have caused any fuss anyways."
"You don't mean that" Andrew chuckled. "From what I've heard, you're handling yourself fine. And it is in your blood, Clarke. You just haven't find your magic yet. Be patient; it'll come to you when needed."
The rest of the ride was silent; Andrew left Clarke to her thoughts, and soon enough, they reached London and Diagon Alley. Andrew dropped Clarke in front of the magic secret wall in London leading to the magical part of the city after a last goodbye and a promise to keep the Vinys updated about her year.
"Let's go, Aska" Clarke gently patted his head, "Harry's waiting for us."
In the Meadow, Diana was putting her last bag into the carridge sent by the Institute to take her and Iago to their new school. She had said goodbye to her family already; her father had left to bring Clarke to London, her mom had had to leave because something had come up at work and her siblings were busy training into the garden, throwing spells at each other and trying to defect them. They were getting better and better at it, the older girl had to admit. Nathalia, especially, was getting better, more controlled, more focused; and Diana couldn't help but think it had to do with Clarke's presence.
She hadn't talked about it with her sister yet, nor with her parents, but she had noticed Nathalia's powers were more stable when Clarke was around. Was it because of Clarke's magic? Or because her sister was more at ease with Clarke, and thus it impacted her peace of mind and her magic in the process?
"Diane."
Diana took her eyes away from her siblings to focus back on Iago, who was waiting for her to get into the carridge.
"Tout ira bien" Iago told her in french.
Everything's going to be ok.
"I know, I know" Diana sighed. "Is it always hard like this?" Diana wondered then. "To leave Lilia?"
"Yes" Iago honestly answered, remembering very well how it always felt to say goodbye to his little sister. "But I know she's safe with my father. It's better for her to not be around me, for now."
Diana nodded, a silent thank you for the honestly he never failed to deliver. Then, she got into the magical carridge, her eyes still lingering on her house and her siblings, playing around a couple feet away from the house.
Then, turning to Iago : "I'm glad you'll be here" Diana breathed out.
"I'm glad I'm here, too" Iago hummed. Then, slowly, as to give time for Diana to retract her hand, Iago laced his fingers with Diana's, their linked hands resting on her knee.
They couldn't know what the future would bring them; but at least, they would face it together. As they always had.
In Diagon Alley, Clarke had only walked past a couple shops when she huffed; she would never find Harry this way. So, she leaned down to her dog's level, gently patting his face.
"Aska, can you find Harry?" She asked him - and of course, Aska's ears perked up, already sniffing the air in search of their friend. "Good boy Aska" Clarke chuckled when he was already walking ahead, leading them to the boy.
Soon enough, Clarke spotted him, standing in front of a shop's window, as he seemed to be looking at something. He was as Clarke had left him, on their last day of Hogwarts; skinny, mess hair - although his skin had darkened just a bit.
"Harry!" Clarke called him before Aska could jump on the boy, "Harry, hi!"
He turned on his heels, recognising Clarke's voice.
"Clarke!" He came over to her, hugging her. "You're there!"
"I'm happy to see you" Clarke smiled, reciprocating the hug, "But what the hell, Harry? What happened ?"
"Come on" The boy chuckled, "I'll explain everything. Let's go grab a drink."
Clarke nodded, starting to follow him; then, she noticed the shop Harry had been staring at. It was Quality Quidditch Supplies, the best broom shop in Diagon Alley and Harry's favorite. In the showcase, they had a new shiny broom, and Clarke recognised the name of it : Firebolt.
"My cousin talked about this broom all summer" Clarke chuckled, pointing it to Harry. "He tried bargaining with his parents about it, but they have like, three brooms each already so of course they disagreed."
"Tell me about it" Harry sighed, leading them away from the shop, "I've been coming to see it every day. I forgot your cousins played Quiddich" Harry then said, pushing the Leaky Cauldron's door open for Clarke, "Are they any good ? They must be."
"I guess they are, yes" Clarke hummed. "I mean, they've been training since little kids, so..."
"Yeah, practice makes perfect" Harry chuckled. "Let's sit here."
Harry then introduced Clarke to the people of the Leaky Cauldron that he had met since he had arrived. He told Clarke about what had happened with his aunt Marge - whom was actually not his aunt by blood, as she was his uncle's sister - , how she was constantly insulting his parents' memory and bullying him. He related the weird exchange with Fudge, the Minister for Magic, who was quick to dismiss the iead of a punishment and who made it all disappear.
"It's weird indeed" Clarke agreed with Harry once he had done telling her about all of it, "I mean, you almost got expelled last year because Dobby smashed a cake on your uncle's head, and now they're just brushing it all off?"
"Yeah, that's what I thought" Harry nodded. "Something's off, right?"
"Yeah, something's off about this" Clarke confirmed. "Oh, and on something else, did you hear about this Black wizard?"
"I did. Fudge seemed anxious about it." Harry answered. "I don't know... It's like he was uneasy about something. And he didn't sign my permission form to go to Hogsmade."
"Oh, that sucks" Clarke gently said, understanding that Harry wouldn't be able to go to Hogsmade with the rest of them this year. "My mom was a bit reticent about it, but signed it."
"I don't know what's going on, Clarke" Harry then told her, a frown written deep on his forehead, "But something's happening."
"I had the same feeling, in the Meadow" Clarke hummed. "My uncle... He knows things. He's hiding stuff, I can tell."
"When are they not hiding things?" Harry chuckled, making Clarke laugh. "I'm a bit tired of people thinking I can't handle things, though" Harry added then. "I know we're kids still, but this is my life, our life."
"Yeah, same" Clarke sighed, emptying her glass. "I can't wait to go back to Hogwarts."
"Was it nice, with your cousins?" Harry wondered, seeing that Clarke looked peaceful, despite the fact that she had left their house early.
"Yes it was" Clarke nodded with a happy smile, "I like it there. They care. It's different."
"Tell me about it" Harry chuckled, he who wanted nothing more but to stay in Hogwarts even during summertime - as his uncle and aunt's house wasn't the best place to be.
"Maybe you could come with us, next summer?" Clarke suggested. "I'm sure they'll be happy to have you at the Meadow."
"Ron offered, too" Harry told Clarke. "We'll see."
"Speaking about Ron, is he ok? How was Egypt?" Clarke questionned, remembering the letter she had gotten early in the summer.
"Yeah, from what he's told me!" Harry answered. "His whole family was there, so he was pretty happy about it."
""Yes, I bet" Clarke hummed. Then, she got up, leaving a couple of coins on the table to pay for their drinks. "Did you buy your books yet?"
"I did" Harry nodded, getting up and leading them out of the tavern. "Hagrid actually gifted me one of them. Some book about magical creatures? It tried to bite me."
"Why would Hagrid know about you needing this book?" Clarke chuckled, gently patting Aska's head.
"You never know what this man is up to" Harry sighed fondly. "What classes are you taking this year?" He asked after, remembering that Clarke had had trouble picking up her classes for their third year.
"Care of magical creatures" Clarke murmured, looking down at Aska. "And Ancient Runes."
"Good choices" Harry hummed. "I picked Divination; I think Ron did too. I don't know about Hermione, though."
"She'd probably pick every class if she could" Clarke chuckled, then pointing to the book shop.
She noticed the pile of angry books in a cage, trying to chew each other.
"Hum, Harry?" She asked, her finger on the glass, "Is that the book Hagrid gifted you, for the magical creatures class...?"
"Yup" Harry grinned, "It is. The shop's manager will be thrilled to hear you need one."
Half an hour later, Clarke had a pile of new books under her arm and they headed back to the Leaky Cauldron where they would eat dinner and sleep a good night's rest. They spent the evening talking and listening about all the people's stories, some of them curious to see and talk with Harry Potter, some only looking for quiet ears.
With a yawn, the two friends said each other goodbye and went up to their bedrooms. Quickly putting on her pyjamas, Clarke got into her bed, Aska immediately jumping onto the bed and settling by Clarke's feet.
Curious about the books she had bought a couple hours ago, Clarke got out the Ancient Runes made easy by Lorenzoo and began turning the pages. After going through a couple pages, Clarke frowned; she had seen similar stuff to all the runes written on the book. But where....?
Then, she gasped, the sudden realisation sinking in; Lexa's bracelet, the one Clarke had on her wrist since the Brunette had gifted it to her last Christmas. Looking at it, Clarke could now clearly see there were runes written on it.
But Clarke had no time to study it more, as a gentle knock suddenly could be heard through the door.
"Come in?" Clarke said, frowning, as she wasn't expecting anyone. Aska had gotten up as well, silently jumping from the bed and posting himself in front of the door; but judging by his calm behavior, he wasn't really worried about who was on the other front of the door.
Then, Harry's head appear through the doorstep, his hair already messy..
"Sorry to bother you" The boy sighed, quickly looking around to check that he was not, in fact, really bothering Clarke. "There's something I wanted to talk to you about."
Clarke frowned, but nodded at the boy, silently inviting him to sit on her bed so they could talk.
"I saw something, the night I left my uncle and aunt's house" He said to Clarke. "Some kind of big dog. With yellow glowing eyes."
"Like Aska, you mean?" Clarke said, now curious and a bit worried, "But it couldn't have been him, he was..."
"Not like Aska" Harry denied. "Well, maybe a little. But it was bigger, even, and black."
"What are you saying?" Clarke then asked, now a bit confused about where Harry wanted to go with all this.
"I saw this book, the other day, at the book shop" He explained, "It was called something like, Deaths omens and what to do when the worst's coming" Harry said.
"What's a death omen?" Clarke chuckled. "And what's an omen in the first place? Like, breaking a mirror means seven years of bad luck?"
"I guess, but that's not my point" Harry grunted, a bit annoyed at Clarke's reaction about the subject when it was clearly bothering him. "The cover of the book had some kind of drawing of that black dog I saw."
"Oh" Clarke hummed, now understanding why Harry seemed troubled by this. "Do you think you saw an omen of death that night?"
"I don't know" Harry sighed, now rubbing his tired face. "Maybe."
"I promised my cousin we'd be safe this year...." Clarke half-joked, trying to cheer up her friend.
"I know, I'm probably making it all up" Harry said with another sigh, "It was probably just a stray dog or something, anyways."
"Listen, Harry" Clarke said, her voice more gentler this time, "Maybe it was only just a coincidence?"
"Yeah, probably" Harry hummed. "But you know well how life doesn't seem to agree with us and coïncidences."
"Not untrue" Clarke chuckled, giving a sympathetic look to her friend. "We'll keep an eye open for this, alright?"
"Alright" Harry answered, the reassuring words managing to put a tiny smile on his face. "Thanks, Clarke."
They said goodnight and Harry went back to his own bedroom. Taking a glance at Lexa's bracelet, Clarke found herself wondering about her talk with Harry. Death omens? What could possibly happen to them, this time...?
Quickly chasing away those thoughts from her mind, Clarke got back into bed.
Nothing is going to happen, she told herself. Absolutely nothing.
They spent the next two days only the two of them - and Aska - scouring Diagon Alley, always looking for something to do or to discover. Harry was super happy to have Clarke by his side as she was helping him with the homework he hadn't done at his uncle's place. If Harry noticed Clarke wasn't doing any Beauxbâtons homework, he didn't ask about it.
After a while, they started to look around to see their friends; a lot of Hogwarts students was starting to arrive, and the gang would all be there soon enough. Sure enough, Clarke and Harry had only set one foot out of the Leaky Cauldron that someone was colliding with them.
"Clarke! Harry!" Octavia exclaimed, hugging the Blonde super hard, "You're here!"
"Hi, O" Clarke chuckled, reciprocating the hug, now realising that she had missed her friend. Then, spotting the almost-adult behind her, she waved. "Hi, Bellamy."
"Hello, Clarke" He said with a small smile. "Here" The man then said to his sister, giving her a tiny purse. "Only the books that are mandatory, alright? I'll find you after."
"Yes, fun-killer" Octavia rolled her eyes at him, taking the purse.
Clarke chuckled, watching Bellamy walk away.
"Summer did not make him less grumpy" Clarke snorted as Octavia was scoffing.
"If anything, it made him grumpier" Octavia grunted, but without much bite in her tone, not really meaning it.
"Did you have a good summer?" Harry then wondered. "The Woods Mansion, Clarke told me?"
"Yeah" Octavia snorted, "And let me tell you it's been full of surprises."
"What do you..." Clarke started, but was cut in her sentence by Raven yelling her name, a couple feet away.
"GRIFFIN! COME HERE!" Raven yelled, jumping on her Blonde friend and almost making them both fall, "Look you I've found!"
Behind them were standing Ron and Hermione, big smiles on their faces. Harry immediatedly went to them.
"Finally we've found you!" Ron grinned, "We've figured you'd be at the Leaky Cauldron."
"Why would you figure out that?" Harry frowned.
"Dad" Ron shrugged.
And Harry told himself that of course, Arthur Weasley must have heard about the whole debacle back at his uncle's house.
"What is it that we heard about you, glasses boy?" Raven then chuckled, "Did you blow up your aunt?"
"It's not my aunt" Harry rolled his eyes, "and it's a long story."
"Do you all already have your books?" Clarke asked the trio, already knowing that Harry had purchased everything he needed already.
"Yes" Hermione nodded, "And let me tell you, the books weren't cheap at all."
"You bought twice as many books as they asked on the list" Ron rolled his eyes, pointing to the big pile of books in Hermione's bag.
"I have a lot of classes this year, mind you" Hermione shrugged.
"Alright so O and Raven, we're on books duty for you" Clarke then said to the group. "We'll meet you all after?"
The trio agreed, deciding that they would go and find a way to spend Hermione's last coins somewhere.
"So, how was life at Anya's?" Clarke asked her friends, who had strangely been quiet about it.
"Good, mostly" Octavia honestly replied, "I mean, Anya and Bellamy kept by themselves most of the time so we were pretty free to do what we wanted. The house's almost always empty."
"Yeah, it's like they're always on the move, those people" Raven agreed. "Lexa visited a couple times, too."
"Lexa?"
"Yeah" Octavia nodded, making them take a left turn into the alley towards the book shop. "But she was different than she is with us at Hogwarts."
"Than she is with you" Raven corrected. "It's weird, actually. Everyone treats her with respect, like she's important or something. Even Anya, and I didn't think Anya had any respect for anyone" Raven snorted.
It made sense, Clarke told herself; after all, Lexa was Slytherin's heir, they had discovered last year. It would matter to the rest of her family, somehow. Some kind of royalty thing, maybe.
"A boy and a girl came to visit as well" Octavia told Clarke then. "The girl is to be an Auror. Like your cousins!"
Clarke smiled, only then remembering about her own cousins that must have started their training, now. Clarke had not heard from any Viny yet, but as she had left the Meadow only a few days ago, she wasn't really worried.
The girls quickly brought their books - the shop's manager nearly fainting when he heard they needed two Care of Magical Creatures books - and made their way back to the Leaky Cauldron to meet up with the rest of the group.
The Weasleys were all there and Clarke noticed that Percy, one of Ron's older brothers, had a Prefect badge and some kind of attitude that came with it. Aska then barked, and Clarke frowned, searching for the source of his unhappiness.
Ron's rat, Scabbers, didn't look too good; his fur, usually of a furnished brown, was now some kind of old yellow that could only suggest that something was wrong with the rat. Aska barked again and Clarke turned her head, to Hermione this time, who was holding some kind of big ginger fluffy cat in her arms. His face looked funny, Clarke told herself; like it had run into a wall or something.
"Who's this?" Clarke asked her friend as Octavia, Raven and herself were taking place around the table.
"Crookshanks" Hermione proudly said as Ron was rolling his eyes. "I got him out of the shop where you found Aska, in first year."
"That's an interesting choice, for a pet" Octavia then thought out loud, tilting her head to look at the animal better.
"The witch of the shop said that no one wanted him, poor thing" Hermione murmured, petting the cat's head.
"Well, no wonder" Ron grumbled, "He already tried to eat Scabbers!"
"This year's going to be sooooo fun" Raven whispered to Clarke and Octavia then, a big grin on her face.
Clarke chuckled; because of course, each year was always more fun than the last with those people.
The next morning, the group didn't have much time to hang out as it was time for their departure. There were a few incidents, ones which included Percy's girlfriend's picture being soaked with tea, Crookshanks almost giving Scabbers a heart attack and Harry brooding the whole morning for whatever reason he had yet to explain.
Then, Arthur Weasley got them all piled up into cars from the Ministry - why would the ministry had sent cars, Clarke didn't know - to drive them up to the train station. Once they all had gone through the wall and onto the platform, goodbyes were quick as the train was to leave soon. Clarke saw that Arthur Weasley had taken Harry a few steps away and seemed in deep conversation. Clarke then heard Bellamy talk with Octavia and telling her he would find her later. Clarke watched him walk away, to Anya Woods, who was waiting for you a few wagons away.
Then, Clarke's heart missed a beat; Lexa was standing next to Anya, looking exactly like she had before the summer; but yet, there was something different about her. Their eyes crossed each other's, Clarke not really knowing what she was supposed to do.
Lexa hadn't write to her all summer, when she had been the one to ask that they do so, before school ended. Where they even still friends?
But Clarke didn't have time to think about it more, as Octavia was pulling her by the sleeve, into one of the wagons, as the train controller was whistling the last warning to get onto the train before the imminent departure.
Harry, Ron and Hermione got in after them, Harry a dark expression on his face.
"I need to talk to you in private" He muttered to them, looking uneasy about something. They nodded at him, then finding a wagon where they could all fit; the train was full, except for one wagon where a man seemed to be sleeping.
"Let's settle here" Hermione told them, sitting on one of the seats.
"Who do you think this is?" Ron asked them, pointing to the sleeping man.
"Professor Lupin" Raven said, reading the name of the man's suitcase.
"a new teacher?" Clarke wondered.
"Obviously" Hermione hummed. "We need another Dark Arts teacher, don't we?"
"Well I hope they haven't brought this fool of Lockhart back" Raven chuckled, a quick glance at Hermione to check that the joke hadn't hurt her.
"Thank God, never again" Hermione sighed, leaning back into her seat. "So, Harry, what's up?"
Harry processed to tell them about what he had heard last night of the talk between Arthur and Molley Weasley about Black, and Arthur's warnings this morning. After his explanation, they all had a horrified expression on their faces.
"Oh my god, Harry..." Hermione exhaled. "Sirius Black escaped to find you and kill you...?"
"Looks like we'll have to keep you out of trouble this year, too" Raven shrugged, looking a bit more too pleased about the new incoming adventure.
Harry rolled his eyes. "Trouble usually finds me. And I don't know why I would go looking for him, in the first place."
They then all got into bickering; Ron was telling them that Harry would have to be completely nut to go in search of someone who wanted to kill and not understanding why his father could have tried to make it swear to Harry, while Octavia and Raven were certain there was more to the story than what Arthur Weasley had told the boy, because why would he think you would go looking for Black?
Lost in all the conversations, Clarke had her mind elsewhere; having spotted Lexa on the platform before their train's departure had created a thousand new questions in her mind. Sighing, she got up, Aska immediately moving as well.
"Clarke?" Hermione frowned. "You're ok?"
"Yes" Clarke hummed. "I'm going to see if I can find Lexa."
The Blonde then clearly spotted Octavia and Raven rolling their eyes, probably thinking that Clarke could wait until they arrived at the school. Clarke got out of their wagon, closing the door behind them as the Witch with the food trolley was arriving.
"You want something dear?" She asked Clarke.
Clarke shook her head. "No, thanks."
Trying to think about where Lexa could be seated, she remembered she had seen her near the wagons closest to the driver's room, so she walked into that direction, poking her head through the glass doors in each wagon and trying to spot Lexa in one of them.
It was Aska that found her first; sniffing the air, he suddenly took off a few meters in front of Clarke, stopping in front of one of the wagon and lightly hitting the door with his paw. The door opened before Clarke could catch him, Lexa getting out of the wagon, a frown on her face.
"Aska?" She asked the dog, "Where is..."
But then, she spotted Clarke, standing in the middle of the alley.
"Clarke." Lexa said, apparently suprised to see her here - which was odd, because they were going at the same school, after all.
Clarke exhaled, only now noticing that she had stopped breathing for a couple seconds. "Hi, Lexa."
Lexa looked around them - checking to see if someone had seen them together...?-, then gestured at Clarke to enter the wagon. Inside, Anya was sitting there, looking sideways at Clarke when she entered, she focusing back on her book. Bellamy wasn't with them and Clarke then wondered where he was.
The girls sat next to each other. Clarke was now telling herself that maybe it had been a mistake, coming to see Lexa, maybe the girl didn't want to have anything to do with Clarke. But then, Lexa's hand gently closed over Clarke's.
"I'm glad that we are going back to school." Lexa murmured, not looking at her friend.
Anya probably took it as her cue to leave them alone because she closed her book, and got out of the wagon while telling Lexa she would be back in a few minutes.
Once alone, Clarke sighed, a bit confused. "You didn't write a single letter. The whole summer."
Lexa exhaled, removing her hand from Clarke's. "I know."
"I wrote you a couple letters and you never answered."
"I know." Lexa repeated.
"Why?"
"I could not."
Clarke scoffed. "What? Octavia and Rae told me they had seen you a couple times; it's not like you lived in a cave or something."
"It is not as simple, Clarke."
"Why?"
"Because I can't always do as I wish like you" Lexa huffed. "I have responsabilities, Clarke. Duties."
Clarke hummed, now turning her head to the window. Deep down, she was feeling hurt by the girl's words; making her feel like she did not matter. And Clarke wanted to believe they were friends; because she had learnt to know Lexa, and those words, this attitude... This was not very Lexa-like. Or it was, actually, but Clarke felt like there was multiple versions of Lexa and she didn't always know which was she was talking to.
Next to her, Lexa was standing still, wearing this rigid attitude that was making Clarke's skin crawl. The Blonde sighed, turning to face Lexa again.
"Look, Lexa, if you don't want us to be friends, you just have to say it."
At hearing those words, Lexa had the decency to look at Clarke; and in Lexa's eyes, Clarke could already read the Brunette's answer. But then, Lexa frowned, looking at the window, past Clarke's face. Intrigued by Lexa's behavior change, Clarke got worried.
"Lexa?"
Lexa suddenly put her finger to her mouth, silently telling Clarke to keep quiet, then got up, moving closer to the window. Then, Clarke felt that the train was slowly slowing down. Moving next to Lexa at the window, Clarke noticed that they didn't seem to be anywhere close to Hogwarts; it was still miles and miles of fields out there, and the castle was still miles away from where they currently were.
"Why are we slowing down?" Clarke asked in a whisper, trying to see something outside. But night had fallen down since they had left King's Cross and rain was pouring, so the visibility was really poor. The lights broke down suddenly, leaving them in the dark.
"Clarke, don't move" Lexa warned her when she got accidently elbowed by the Blonde.
At her feet, Clarke felt Aska start to lowly growl as he was coming closer to her. He had only done so when Clarke had been threatened; it couldn't mean anything good.
"I think we're on the viaduc" Clarke whispered. "Maybe we've broken down?"
Lexa didn't answer; but Clarke could see her green eyes very focused, and that, either, couldn't mean anything good.
Clarke then started to feel a sudden chill in the air, like someone had left a window open, or as if the temperature in the wagon had suddenly dropped ten degrees. On the window, condensation was starting to form at an abnormal pace. Clarke felt Lexa reach out for her back pocket, getting the Blonde's wand out of it.
"Don't you have your own?" Clarke whispered, frowning at why Lexa had taken her own wand.
"Be quiet" Lexa said again, Clarke's wand in hand.
Clarke was getting ready to talk back but didn't have time; in the train's corridor, something was moving. Clarke stilled; a cloaked figure seemed to be floating in the air, like some kind of ghost, with a face which wasn't really a face but more something with black holes instead of eyes.
Before she could do or say anything the door opened and the ghost rushed in, heading directly at Lexa; the brunette fainted, falling to the floor.
"Lexa!" Clarke screamed in turn, kneeling in front of her friend who looked livid, eyes fixated on nothing. Clarke barely had time to turn around to face her friend's attackor when someone else entered the wagon.
"Expecto Patronum."
Clarke recognised the voice; a sudden bright light spilled out from the tip of Anya's wand, filling the room with a warm and painful white light. The next second, the thing was gone, and lights were coming back on into the wagon.
Anya didn't waste any time and rushed to her cousin, still laying on the floor motionless.
"Clarke, go with Bellamy. Find your friends" Anya told her without her eyes leaving Lexa.
Clarke hadn't even notice that Bellamy had been standing right behind her. She dully nodded, a bit afraid and not understanding what had just happened.
Clarke and Bellamy found their way back to their friends' wagon, where the sleeping teacher - who was now awake - was just getting out of.
"Are you ok?" Bellamy asked his sister, visually checking her for any injury.
Octavia rolled her eyes. "I'm fine."
Bellamy nodded, gesturing at Clarke to enter the wagon and he left.
Clarke then noticed her friends' silence.
"What happened?" Clarke asked, frowning at their dark faces.
"Professor Lupin said Dementors got into the train, in search of Black" Hermione explained, her worried eyes focused on Harry. "They are Azkaban's guardians."
"And I fainted, apparently" Harry sighed, sensing that Hermione didn't know if she was allowed to tell that to Clarke.
Clarke frowned. "Fainted? I was with Lexa. She fainted, too."
"Weird" Hermione hummed.
Harry, sitting in front of them, looked perplexed about something. He was eating some chocolate bar, absentmindedly chewing it.
"The air, though" Clarke murmured, sitting down next to Hermione, an arm around Ginny's shoulders who was shaking like a leaf. "It was so... cold..."
"It was a bit like I would never be cheerful again" Octavia agreed with Clarke.
They spent the rest of the train ride mainly in silence, waiting for the train to finally reach Hogsmade. Clarke then wondered if her cousins had heard about Dementors before, why Lexa and Harry could have fainted, or of this spell Anya had casted to make it go away. Maybe Diana would have some answers. Clarke decided that she would write to her once she was settled once more into the castle.
Clarke silently chuckled to herself; she was not even in Hogwarts yet and they had already found themselves in trouble.