The Forest - R.L.

Chapter 7 - The Train

Grace, Abbey and Ely spent the next hour discussing everything from their favourite books to their families. It turned out that Ely was a muggleborn, whereas Abbey's mother was a witch and her father a muggle.

"He loves magic, though. He thinks it's so amazing that wizards and witches can do all of these things with just a little wooden stick. But I don't think he'd ever want to be one himself."

"That nice." Ely said "My mum just thinks this whole magic thing is ridiculous. When Dumbledore showed up at our front door and told her that I was a wizard, she just laughed. She thought it was some kind of prank! It wasn't until he showed her something with his wand that she began to believe him. I'd never used my magic in front of her before because I knew it wasn't normal so she had no idea!"

The three of them laughed.

"Are you serious! So you thought you were a muggle for over ten years?!" Grace laughed "That's crazy. I've been learning spells since I was five!"

Abbey looked confused "Since you were five?!"

"Yeah, I started primary school when I was five," Grace replied, also looking confused "Didn't you go to- ohhh. You don't have wizarding primary schools here, do you?"
"I went to a muggle primary school," Ely said.

"Well, in Australia, we have wizarding primary schools, where we are taught basic English, Maths, Charms and Potions. We aren't allowed to bring a wand to school until year five though, so I haven't been learning spells for long. Do you want to see one?"
"Yeah!"

Grace pulled out her pale coloured wand and a spare sickle from her pocket. She placed the sickle in her lap and cleared her throat, pointing her wand at it.
"Wingardium Leviosa."

The sickle floated up and out of her lap until it was at her eye level. She then giggled to herself and began moving her wand all over the place, the sickle following her movements.

Ely gasped "Wow! It's flying!"
Abbey laughed at how excited he was.
"Sorry. It's just that I haven't seen anything like it before!" Ely apologised.

The sickle then dropped out of the air and landed inside Frodo's cage. The owl grabbed it in one of this long talons and examined the small shiny object.

"What's your owl's name?" Abbey asked.
"Frodo."
"As in from the Lord of the Rings?" Ely asked excitedly.
"Yeah! Have you read them too?"
"I'm reading the second one at the moment."

There was a sudden burst of laughter the compartment opposite theirs. Grace turned to see Fleamont's son James, his friend Sirius and a third boy she hadn't seen before all laughing together.

"I wonder what's so funny," Ely said.

It was only then that Grace noticed a fourth boy sitting in the corner of the compartment, his head buried in a book.

"Excuse me for a second."
"Where are you going?" Abbey asked.
"I've just seen someone I recognise."

She stepped out of the compartment with the owl cage in her hand. Frodo was an extremely fussy bird and didn't like being left alone with strangers. In fact, he didn't like being left alone at all, so it was going to be quiet a struggle for him when they reached Hogwarts.

She knocked on the door of their compartment.

It was opened by James. "Oh hi."
"You know her?" Sirius asked his friend.

"Yeah, our dads were best friends in school or something. Grace, isn't it?"
"Yep. Grace Thorne."

Remus looked up from his book "Grace!" He then threw his book on the ground and jumped up to hug her, surprising the others as he had only said one word during the whole ride so far, and that had been when James asked his name.

Remus returned to his seat in the corner and Grace sat opposite him, next to James, placing Frodo's cage on the empty seat between them.

"You know her too?" Sirius asked, bewildered.

"Yeah, uh, she lives next door to me," Remus replied, his voice shaking slightly. He wasn't used to being around strangers like this. It was making him uncomfortable.

Grace noticed this. "Hey Remus, can I talk to you outside for a second."
"Um, yeah, sure."

Once they were both standing in the corridor, Grace asked him "What's wrong?"

"Dumbledore made a mistake. This is not a good idea at all! What if I hurt someone one? What if someone finds out? What if-"

"What if you just calm down for a second?" Grace exclaimed, taking him by surprise "You're not going to hurt anyone! If you were, then Dumbledore wouldn't have let you on this train in the first place. And no one's going to find out. As long as you don't going around screaming it out to everyone. And you get some better excuses then 'I fell in a bush'."

That made him laugh. "I was under pressure, okay? That was all I could think of!"
"All you could think of?"
"I did actually fall into a bush once."
"You're ridiculous, Remus Lupin. Absolutely ridiculous."

---
So yeah, I do still exist.
This is really just a filler. I know its been a bit slow moving, but don't worry, once they actually get to Hogwarts, things should pick up a bit.
Sorry for the lack of updates, I have been extremely busy these past few weeks with assignments, school performances and my fractured nose.
Also, you know how I said I'll update every Wednesday? Well that's obviously not happening. I will try to update whenever I have time though.
- Grace