Albus Potter, Classmates and Elves

Ch 40 Muggle Magic

Reasonably minor changes this time, by my beta readers and editors Deb and Diane.

*

It was Saturday, December 14, 2019, and almost all the students were boarding the Hogwarts Express for

Christmas hols. Albus and Scorpius met Rose and Cleo in the entrance hall, and they headed towards the train reasonably early. Jane Clark, the girl that was living with the Potters, called out to Albus and quickly caught up with them, another girl in tow.

"May we sit with you?" Jane asked.

Albus looked at the other three, who by nodding 'yes' or at least not objecting indicated it would be acceptable, and then replied, "Sure."

"This is Roseanne Creevey," Jane added, introducing the tiny girl who was with her. "She is in my dorm."

"I know Roseanne, Jane. Hello, Roseanne, how are you doing?" Albus replied, smiling at the other girl, then turned to Jane. "Once a year Aurors get together at the Potter and Weasley properties, and I have met her there. Roseanne, you know Rose. I would like to introduce you to Cleopatra Smith, who everybody calls Cleo, and Scorpius Malfoy, who everybody calls Scorpius."

"I'm not overwhelmingly fond of my given name," Scorpius grumbled, "but I have never had a nickname."

"I've always been Roseanne," Roseanne responded. "I've never been called Rose." She looked at Rose.

"We will never have to figure out who someone is referring to."

"Scorpius, we ought to figure out a cute nickname for you," Rose teased Scorpius, who just rolled his eyes at her.

"No one has a nickname in my family, that I know of," Scorpius grumbled. "Mum and dad are real sticklers for formality."

The six Magi boarded the train early, accompanied by the Elves Frerin and Dis. There were a number of Aurors and other DMLE officers in the area between the gates of Hogwarts and the train, and Albus knew that some of them would be riding the train.

"Do all the students ride the train?" Jane wondered. "I saw Lily Sprout boarding the train, and the Sprout children live in a house next to the greenhouses, at Hogwarts. It just seems silly to ride to London and then go back to where you came from."

"It is some big tradition," Rose explained. "All the students ride the Hogwarts Express to school their first year. When the Hogwarts Express was first introduced a law was passed that all students had to go to and from Hogwarts on the train. Normally all the first and second year students still have to ride the train. As students enter higher grades exceptions can be made, and very few of the higher grades, eighth and beyond, ride the train."

"Where did the train come from?" Jane asked.

"Our history books are rather vague about that," Rose admitted with a shrug. "I know that there are more train cars now that there were, and the newer cars are still old but not as old. The train engine is new as well, a diesel engine or at least it looks like a diesel engine. Maybe Mum or Uncle Harry knows something about that."

*

Jim Shook drove the specially equipped Range Rover onto the tracks, and put down the train wheels. He activated the invisibility spells, and a special spell that would keep the Range Rover just far enough ahead of the Hogwarts Express so if something happened on the tracks the train could stop in time. Harry sat in the back with two maps, one of the train, one that should unroll of the track and surrounding area. There had been rumors of an attack on the train, and Harry was as usual paranoid about protecting the students.