Daylight || Harry Potter

Chapter Thirty-Four

We didn't find a bus that would let us leave soon enough, but we did manage to find a train, which would take us all the way to Atlanta. It was definitely pricier than a bus, but we figured it would be worth it since we'd be able to skip town quickly and the Death Eaters wouldn't be able to find us. This ended up working out better for us since we'd be able to ensure that we got our own cabin, plus they had a dining car. So basically, our food and sleeping arrangements for the next twelve hours were taken care of. We could relax.

Or so we thought.

After dropping off our backpacks, we decided to get lunch since we hadn't had any luck with the cafe at the Natural History Museum. Most of the options were chips and sandwiches, which was fine with us. I sat at the table packed between Luke and the window. Oakley finished his veggie wrap and started chewing napkins like potato chips.

After lunch, we headed back to our cabin to relax. While Oakley took a nap on the top bunk, Luke and I sat next to each other on the bottom bunk and talked for hours about the quest, about our friends from Hogwarts, about how we'd see each other this upcoming year. Luke believed Chiron would do what he did last year and send the same demigods he did last year to Hogwarts with me. If not, we'd see each other during Christmas.

"You don't think he'll keep you three at camp to protect it from the Death Eaters?" I asked him.

"Well, they're pretty much all gone, right? They're concentrating all their efforts on — wait, what are they doing again?"

I shrugged.

"Well, whatever they're doing, they're not doing it here. Except for Pansy's dad, but it looks like they're just trying to capture you. Which they won't."

"Yeah, I've been wondering, though." I drummed my fingers on my knee. "Why do they want me, anyway? And why do they want me so badly that they're willing to chase me across a country in order to capture me?"

"I have an idea," Luke said.

"What?"

"Well, you said that when you held that prophecy, you got visions from it. And you still do, right?"

"Yeah." I nodded.

"Well, Voldemort really wanted that prophecy, right?"

"I see where you're going with this," I said. "You think they want to use my power of prophecy?"

"It makes sense, right? You pretty much absorbed the prophecy, and if Voldemort can't get his hands on the real one now that it's broken, it would stand to reason that he'd go after the next best thing: the secondary source."

"That does make sense," I told him.

I had to admit, I was hoping that if we were going to run into trouble on the road, I would've rather faced monsters. Give me a hellhound or a dracaena over a Death Eater any day. Hades, I'd even take a cyclops over Parkinson and his buddies. I didn't dare say that out loud, though — that would jinx it for sure.

"Well, let's hope we've lost them for now," Luke said, yawning and stretching. "Ugh. Running around museums all day is extremely draining. I just want to eat and go to sleep. Does this train have a trolley lady, or do we have to go back to the dining car?"

"I think we're gonna have to walk to the dining car."

"Boo." Luke narrowed his eyes playfully. "I prefer the Hogwarts Express. Oh, well. Let's go get some food."

"Food?" Asked a sleepy voice from the top bunk. "Did someone say food?"

"Well, now we know one surefire way to wake him up," Luke commented. I snorted.