The Rising of Merlin

The One on the Train

Chapter 16 The One on the Train

It was finally time to take the familiar red train back to Hogwarts. Harry and the others had gotten there with Ministry cars, just like when they went to Diagon Alley. Waiting for them there were two bearded Aurors in dark Muggle suits.

Harry looked around the station, trying to spot Marcus but to no avail. Mrs. Weasley hurried them through the barrier, Harry together with one of the Aurors. Once on the other side, Harry indicated to Ron and Hermione to follow him along the platform to find an empty compartment.

"Harry, Ron, Hermione, over here." They heard someone call and when they looked further ahead they saw Marcus hanging out from one of the windows, waving at them. They waved back and Harry started forward, but Hermione grabbed his arm before he could take more than two steps.

"We can't come with you Harry." She said with an apologetic look. "Ron and I have to go to the Prefect carriage first and then patrol the corridors."

"Oh, of course, I forgot." He said, a little disappointed, but at least he would have an opportunity to talk to Marcus alone.

They said goodbye to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and then went their separate ways. Harry pushed through the narrow aisle and finally made it to Marcus's compartment. On the way, he ran into Neville and Luna and decided to bring them with him. Marcus beamed at them when they made it inside the compartment. He had something on his head with a long chord, and when they sat down he took it off and rolled it up with something Harry now recognised as a music player. He had seen Dudley get one of those before on one of his birthdays.

"How was the rest of your summer?" Marcus asked Harry.

"Oh, it was nice. Nothing particularly exciting happened." He answered.

"How about you two then?" Marcus asked Luna and Neville.

"I got a new wand." Neville said proudly and held it up. "It's cherry wood and unicorn hair. One of the last Ollivander sold. He disappeared the day after."

"Do you know anything about why he would have been kidnapped?" Marcus leaned forward slightly, a serious expression on his face.

"No. Sorry." Neville stared down at the floor and noticed Trevor trying to jump out the door, so he quickly dived down to catch him.

"My daddy says he knows about something important, that You-Know-Who wants to find." Luna said suddenly and both Harry and Marcus stared intently at her.

"What do you mean?" Marcus asked. But she just shrugged and disappeared behind a copy of The Quibbler. Marcus turned to Harry to find answers but he just grinned because that's just the way Luna is.

"Are we continuing with the DA meetings this year, Harry?" Luna asked, while retrieving a pair of psychedelic glasses from the newspaper.

"There's no point now, is there? We've gotten rid of Umbridge." He saw Neville sag a little in disappointment.

"I liked DA." He said. "I learned a lot."

"Me too," Luna stated. "It was like having friends." She said softly and continued reading.

Harry didn't know how to respond to that so he decided to start up a conversation with Marcus instead, who had been listening to the entire exchange with slightly wide eyes and a furrowed brow.

"I have to ask you something." Harry began.

"What do you want to know?" He looked at Harry intently.

"Did you find out what happened at Madame Malkin's?" He asked. He saw Marcus swallow slightly and hesitate before answering.

"Yeah, I did, or kind off anyway." He grimaced slightly. "I found out that it probably was the cause of Dark Magic. Either the boy practices it or he has been a victim from it, either voluntarily or not." He paused for a few seconds. "My Magic had a bad reaction to it. It wanted to get rid of it, that's why I barely had any control of what happened." He finished and stared at Harry, suddenly looking worried. "Do you know who the boy is, Harry?"