Of Shadow And Sky

Trains And Heart Attacks

Between cleaning and Harry's hearing, the days leading up to the day they left for school were mildly interesting. The four demigods learned that the Ministry of Magic was trying to suppress any news that Moldyshorts was back. Alex frowned, that wasn't right. Moldyshorts? Moldywarts? Whatever, she shook her head. Her nightmares hadn't let up either. She'd kicked Thalia in the rear, throat punched Ginny when she leaned over, and almost dislocated Hermione's wrist when she grabbed it. If it didn't let up, Thalia had threatened to tell Chiron what they were about.

"Come on you lot! We'll be late!"

Alex looked at the clock and rushed to stuff everything into her trunk. The only thing she kept on her were her wand, and dagger - which was strapped to her ankle under her jeans. As she made her way to the door, she heard several loud yells, a thump, and Sirius' mother yelling. That painting was really asking to be tossed into Tartarus, however there was the small problem of it being stuck to the wall. Maybe they could cut that portion of wall out?

After shutting Walburga Black up, loading the car, and piling in, they were all on their way to Kings Cross. Alex smiled faintly as she thought about that. For all the magic they had, they were taking a train to Hogwarts. The only problem they had - although the wizards were unaware of it - was that they were being followed by a pair of cyclopses, and not the helpful ones, either. Throughout the whole car ride, the four demigods were playing with their wands, praying to every god and goddess that they'd leave the monsters in the dust.

"Here we are! Hurry! Off you go, just follow the others."

Right, Alex thought. Just follow them...through a solid looking brick wall. Because why not. Taking a deep breath, she walked through the wall and was confronted with a scarlet steam engine and a large crowd of parents and kids. She instinctively moved to stay close to Percy, Thalia, and Nico. There was no way there weren't monsters there.

Everyone wore robes, just like in Diagon Alley, and she couldn't help but think that they were incredibly impractical. If they were attacked, the robes would be in the way and someone would trip. Yet again, she was so lost in thought that she walked right into somebody.

"Watch it!"

She blushed, apologised, and got on the train, frazzled because the voice had reminded her vaguely of her nightmare. She'd forgotten to see who it was she'd run into, but whoever it was was lost in the crowd when she found the others on the train. Harry was nowhere to be seen, but it was decided that that was a good thing, because they had demigod stuff to talk about.

"So what does everyone think?"

"I think I'm glad to be away from that painting," Nico scowled.

"Did anyone else see those cyclopses?"

"Yeah, but they were left in the dust."

They were so deep in conversation that they almost didn't notice the compartment door slide open. Thalia scowled at the three boys who walked in, but they didn't seem to pay her any mind. The boy in the middle seemed to zero in on Alex, and it wasn't until Percy cleared his throat that any of them spoke.

"You must be the American transfers my father spoke about." The boy sounded mildly bored, but the look in his silver-grey eyes was anything but bored. "I'm Malfoy. Draco Malfoy, Slytherin prefect."

Percy snorted, and Draco glared at him. The two thugs that flanked him cracked their knuckles in an attempt to be menacing, but even Alex had to chuckle at that. Those two were as menacing as a worm.

"I'm Percy Jackson."

Nico looked them over before saying, "Nico Di Angelo."

Thalia just ignored them, and Alex seemed to have lost her voice. She couldn't seem to pull her gaze away from his eyes. They were like quicksilver.

"Um, I'm Alex. Sorry about running into you earlier. I was lost in thought." Again.

He smiled and waved off her apology. "Forget about it. Anyway, you want to stay away from Potter. I saw you come in with him and those Weasleys. I know you probably have no other choice, but be careful. Potter is mad."

Before anyone could say another word, he swept out of the compartment with the two gorillas. Percy, Nico, and Thalia scowled after him for his comment about Harry, but Alex stared after him, her heart racing. Those eyes...She couldn't shake the pit growing in her stomach, and it looked like Thalia had noticed.

"Just ignore him, Alex. He's a stuck-up jerk."

"R-right."

They went on talking, but she couldn't stop thinking about Draco.

<<<<<<<;o;>>>>>>>

Draco turned to look into the compartment one last time before returning to his own. That girl, Alex, had caught his attention. As a matter of fact, he was so fixated on her that he walked right past Potter's compartment and into Blaise.

"Draco? Are you alright?"

He blinked. "Huh? Yes, I'm fine. The transfers are down the car."

Blaise gave him an amused look. "Okay. Which one caught your attention?"

Draco huffed. "Who said I was interested in one of them?"

"You just walked past Potter's compartment without harassing him."

"Shut up. It was a girl...."

Blaise gave him a bland look. "Okay...and?"

"Her name is Alex."

Blaise stared at him for a moment. "That's a fairly common name, Draco."

"She has long black hair and electric blue eyes."

"Smaller pool of people, but I'm sure that's not that uncommon."

Draco gave him a very irritated look. "Seriously, Blaise? How many girls with electric blue eyes and long black hair do you know?"

"Well there is that Ravenclaw girl in sixth...."

"Her name is Madeline, and her eyes are pale blue."

"You paid that much attention?"

Draco huffed again and stormed past Blaise into their compartment and plopped inelegantly onto the seat. Pansy was, predictably, fawning over him, but he felt no interest in her. His mind was stuck on Alex, the American transfer student.