Hidden Slytherin

Chapter 9 Who Invited The Flock Of Seagulls?

Jane woke up early, and immediately hopped in the shower. It felt like only a few seconds before she was pulling on the outfit she had left out and had slipped on a holster to put her wand into. She had brushed her teeth and combed back her hair so it looked a bit slicked back, showing off her piercings. In a hurry, even though she was early Jane packed up all of Smudges things and did a last sweep of the room before putting her backpack, which held her personal books and letters, in to her suitcase and locking it. She had already placed anything she might need on the train into her satchel. Everything packed she pulled on her leather jacket over her hoody and slung the satchel across the shoulder. Jane then scooped up Smudge and situated him in her sweater pocket before grabbing her suitcase and heading out. Jane waved down Hannah in the pub and signed out of the room, Hannah reassuring her the charge would come out of her account before shoving a scone into Jane's hand.

"On the house. Now, get outside before the bus comes." With that Hannah was off again with another customer.

"Thanks Hannah," Jane called before heading out onto the muggle street. Jane had barely bit into the scone which was blueberry when a bus three levels tall veered out of nowhere and nearly ran her over when it jumped the curb, somehow managing to miss her by a hairs inch and pulled up so she was directly in front of the open door.

"Get on, we got three more stops along the way. King's Cross," a voice called from within. Jane jumped on, suitcase in one hand and scone in the other. She shoved the scone into her mouth to hold as she got the teenager her fare and he passed her a ticket, the whole bus lurching forward. Although Jane had only been on buses a few times, she suddenly realised that those experiences hadn't truly prepared her for this. The bus flew forward jerking this way and that haphazardly and Jane tried not to choke on her scone while holding on to a metal bar suspended above her head. The other twenty or so other riders on their floor seemed to be having the same problem, while the employee selling tickets didn't seem o even notice. Maybe you got used to it.

The bus lurched to a stop, throwing some customers forward. Jane managed to catch herself and happened to look out the window. They were in a completely different part of London, one that was normally an hour and a half away by car. They had gotten there in around three minutes. While the bus was stationary, Jane ate as much of the scone as possible, shoving the last bite into her mouth and checking on Smudge. Stunned to realize he had fallen asleep. She shouldn't have been. He was a cat after all.

The bus rapidly made the next two stops, managing somehow not to clip a single pedestrian. The driver was either a menace or a genius. The bus halted in front of King's Cross with a half hour before eight. Several other families also got off, the children talking about Hogwarts, so Jane simply followed them to the divide between platforms nine and ten. When she saw a child run at the divide before simply vanishing, she silently followed after, trying to look sure in her steps. If she walked into a brick wall it was going to be utterly embarrassing. But Jane simply slipped through to find herself on a whole new platform.

Some families were milling about, hugging their children and chatting. Others were appearing through other divides and some were appearing in flashes of green... green fire. They were great bloody fireplaces along the back wall. Jane wanted to growl but settled for looking solemn. She could have flooed here and saved herself being tossed around on that bus. Jane tried to console herself that she would do that next year.

Jane slipped onto the train and found an empty cabin somewhere around the middle to back. Not far enough that most would make the walk, and those that did would hopefully keep going all the way to the back. Jane shoved her suitcase on the rack above her head and sat down. She checked on Smudge again before pulling a notebook out of her satchel and writing notes on any interesting magic she had seen or thought of. One was similar to the heightened hearing but applying that concept to sight and smell. Another was the magic that allowed the bus to fly down the road unspotted. She wondered if she could apply that to her own vehicle one day. Next was what could be done with wardings, and other forms of defense. Jane had assumed a wand would be enough to protect herself but now that she understood there was passive and immediate magics. Immediate spells were immediately effective but passive was only active when circumstances had been met. Basically defense vs. offense, with defense being something that could be used constantly.