Spells in Silence

Chapter 4: The Stones

"I hope Hazel doesn't lose the skills she's learning when she goes to Hogwarts": Oh boy. I'm just going to keep my plans to myself for a little longer. It'll be more fun that way. XD
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The sun had set below the horizon in front of Hazel several hours ago, yet still she walked through the deep darkness. Using the railway as her road was turning out to be a double-edged sword in ways she had not expected when she first picked it. Her initial thought had been that it was a fairly direct path to get where she wanted to go, and unlike the streets there would be no one driving along who might stop to find out where a nine-year-old was going and why she was traveling in the middle of the night.

Those advantages were still present, but unlike the smooth surface of a road, it was rough and unsteady as gravel switched to wooden ties and back to gravel. She was never sure which one her feet would hit next, providing a constant urge to keep the beam from her torch fixed firmly at her feet.

Something rustled in the dark to her side, and the torch's beam flew towards it only to reveal nothing at all.

As her heart rate slowed down just a little she took a deep breath and resumed walking. That was the reason she could not just watch the tracks. The night along the railroad was not silent the way it was back in Little Whinging. Back with the Dursleys, once the neighborhood went to bed everything was quiet. Here and now there were always rustlings or an owl's hoot or what she hoped was just the wind creating an eerie whistle. Sounds that distracted her and demanded the attention of her light.

The wind for sure this time blew again, funneled through the opening along the course of the railway and sending icy knives into her. Between her puffy coat, her gloves, and her scarf, everything between her nose and her waist was warm, but it did little for her legs and absolutely nothing for the top half of her head. Should have grabbed a cap too, she thought as a shiver worked its way through her thin body. Stopping in the middle of the tracks, she stomped her feet for almost a minute to get some warmth moving around instead.

Hazel would be lying if she told herself that she was not considering turning around and walking back to Greater Whinging. Not because she planned to stay there long term, but because she had nothing with which to try warming herself up. She had no lighter nor matches to start a fire, and certainly no heater to blow warm air onto herself. Closing her eyes, she made yet another go at trying to imagine a fire springing up. Nothing happened, and she had the same results once more when she pictured a nice hearth.

Mental keys and hands she could manifest with no problem. The creation of fire, on the other hand, was eluding her no matter how hard she tried.

How could I have forgotten something to start a fire?, she chided herself, though she knew the truth behind the answer. She was used to having somewhere warm and dry to spend the night, whether that was Privet Drive or the library. Never in her life had she ever spent the night outdoors. Of course she could not know everything she would need right from the start.

Unfortunately, this left her with two equally unpleasant options. First, to keep walking through the dark, doing her best to keep warm, and hope that by the time she was ready to fall asleep she found someplace that had a lighter. Second, to 'jump' back to the Tesco, break in, and look for matches. It was dark enough out here that she could not guarantee she would be able to return to where she was, which meant she would have to give up the hours of progress she had made and restart her trek from the very beginning.

The idea of turning back was enough to spur her forwards. She could not turn around, not now. If she did, there was no telling where she would stop, and all that waited for her at the end of that road was Privet Drive.