Eye of the Serpent | HP MARAUDER ERA [2]

Chapter Nine

"The conductor was Stunned," Remus said as he strode back into our compartment and pocketed his wand. "Lily revived him, so the train should start up again soon. No one else was hurt, but apparently they were threatening to torture a few other students into telling them the names of other Muggle-borns."

The lights had come back on a few minutes previously, and the Hogwarts Express was just starting up again. Cal had gone back to the compartment he had been sharing with his friends. The poor guy was completely shaken. He had been tortured by the Cruciatus Curse, an Unforgivable Curse... I couldn't imagine the pain he must've felt, but I didn't want to ever have to feel that same torture...

Corey had come straight away to make sure that I was all right. He had told me his compartment hadn't been too far from mine, so he'd seen me duelling with the Death Eaters. I had also gone to see Ainsley, who had barely even noticed that there were Death Eaters on the train... which was completely typical of my sister.

The train started to move, and as it did, all I could think was, The further away the train gets, the further we get from those Death Eaters. I wanted to be sure that they couldn't come back, because if they did I was certain they would kill anyone in sight due to their anger at being defeated by a bunch of teenagers.

I lifted the shutters and looked out the window. The Dark Mark was still looming in the sky overhead.

"Can't imagine what it must be like for the first-years," said Peter. "They haven't even started school yet and they've already had a near-death experience."

"I saw a few crying," Remus added, nodding in agreement.

"That's Hogwarts for you," Sirius stated. "It's apparently the safest place in the entire world, though every year someone nearly dies."

Remus glared at him.

"Is Cal Lars doing OK?" he asked conversationally.

"Yeah," said Sirius. "Poor bloke... He had never had an Unforgivable Curse used on him before..."

I frowned at his choice of words.

"Most people haven't," I pointed out, casting Sirius an odd glance out of the corner of my eyes. "I haven't."

"Me neither," whispered Peter, looking at his shoes.

"Nor have I," Remus said softly, his eyes darting to Sirius to give him an apologetic look.

There was an uncomfortable feeling that was suddenly filling the air. I was missing something that the others all knew about; I could tell. I looked at Sirius sitting beside me, who appeared embarrassed. His cheeks had flushed a bright pink and there was shame apparent in his eyes. A sudden thought came to me—a thought that was so horrible that I couldn't even fathom it.

"No," I said disbelievingly, shaking my head. "No, no, they didn't. No."

Sirius peered at me, not saying anything. His silence told me what I needed to know.

"You're kidding! They—they—your own parents—how could they...?"

"They called it discipline," Sirius muttered. He picked up my tie, which I had discarded on the floor, and began tying it on me properly this time. "And I don't think they ever actually considered themselves my parents from the minute I was placed in Gryffindor."