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When Lyra woke up, she was not where she was meant to be.
Her surroundings had completely altered, the absence of the warmth in the carriage amplified by the cold stones beneath her body. It was dark, too, the Entrance Hall illuminated by the moonlight shining through the windows. Lyra pushed herself up, pressing a hand to her forehead which felt as though there was something pounding to get out.
She brought herself to her feet, looking around for any sign of life.
Nothing.
It didn't feel like a normal night of marauding around at Hogwarts, not one where she could brush the incident off as a prank from Fred and George.
"Hello?" she called out, only to hear her voice echo through the desolate castle. "Is anyone there?"
She was sure that at least Filch would have heard her and been on his way to hand out detention. After all, the caretaker jumped at any opportunity to cause misery to the students of Hogwarts.
But to no avail, her calls were left unanswered.
Lyra took to making her way to Gryffindor Tower, making sure to keep an eye out for any sign of movement. She was deeply unsettled when she realised the portraits were still, unmoving and frozen. She stopped on the Third floor, leaning against a door in a corridor while she caught her breath.
"Merlin, I have not missed those stairs," she muttered, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.
She went to restart her climb to the Fifth floor, but before she stepped off the door she noticed that further down the corridor, a door was open ajar.
Slowly stepping forward, Lyra drew her wand from her pocket and held it defensively in case of an attack. She pushed the door open further, eyes widening as she saw four figures hunched over something out of her sight. If it weren't for the string of drool collecting on one of the boy's shoulders, Lyra mightn't have noticed the gigantic three-headed dog looming above them.
She shouted at them to run, for the beast was staring at them the way she stared at chocolate cake; like it was the best treat to exist. Her words, like before, echoed through the classroom, reaching no one's ears but her own. It didn't seem her warning was needed, though, since like outside, everyone inside was frozen.
Time had come to a stop, and Lyra happen to bear witness to the phenomenon.
Teddy made his way through the Hogwarts Express, hoping to find his sister one last time before he and the other First Years were ushered off to the boats by Hagrid. He'd almost made it to the end of the train when someone stuck their foot out of their carriage and tripped him over. Teddy placed his hands on the ground to catch himself, his face merely inches away from the floor.
