Just a regular ride ((Plot people))

[dana]

((As people wanted to start this thread, I just had Kris bully someone random for now. Makes life easier this way for most of us anyway. Plot people - you know who you are!))

„KRIS!“ came a shout. Half-angry, half-amused as Dana hung very undignifyingly over her cousin’s shoulder, „If I asked you to carry my I didn’t mean to be thrown over your shoulder like a sack of flour!“
The only answer was a friendly pat on her back as Kris passed onto the platform of 9 and ¾. „Next time you should be more careful of what you say,“ came Kris’s responce in a lazy drawl. Dana turned her head and scowled at her cousin. Not that her scowl would do any good. Not to mention the fact it never had had any effec to Kris – right now he wouldn’t even see her scowl.

In a way the situation was almost amusing however Dana decided as she waved to a friend as Kris sauntered towards the Hogwarts Express. „I have to go and do some rounds on the Express. Prefect duties,“ Dana told Kris. These words obviously had an effect as a moment later Dana’s white stiletto heels came ot contact with ground again. „Well, at least now I know what good feels like when it’s being carried around,“ Dana told Kris snobbishly, sbrushing her light-blue jeans and a white sweater before turning and sauntering away as Kris left in the other direction.

Dana eyed the professors and a few aurors curiously as she passed them on the train. Glancing in through the windows on some compartment doors, Dana helped some 2nd year get off some weird purple goo from her kitten, practically ran into some auror when she was turning around the corner. Cliché occurance, but what could Dana do. Strolling down the hallway Dana was already in the middle of the train when she caught sight of her cousin once again. This time Kris seemed to be bullying some innocent first year.
„Behave!“ Dana told Kris with a warning scowl entering the compartment and looking at the first years in it. Looks like no one was really hurt. More... angry Dana supposed. Dana sent a glare over her shoudler at Kris who by some miracle managed to pull off an innocent look.

„You all - be nice! You are coming with me, so I can keep an eye on you,“ Dana said grabbing Kris’s arm and leaving the compartment once again. Nodding to a passing teacher Dana smiled at Kris as he didn’t even argue about joining her. Picking on each other friendlily the siblings made their way towards the back of the train.

[kris]

Kris smirked at Dana’s back watching her saunter away towards the front of the train. She wasn’t exactly feather-weight, but not heavy enough either to tire him out over the short distance Kris had carried her. Turning Kris hopped onto the train easily entering from the door in the middle. His fingers drumming an impatient rhythm on his leg Kris’s eyes swept over the train hallway as he slowly walked forward. Noticing first years crowding into an compartment Kris figured that he mights as well have some fun. Entering the compartment Kris picked on them with only half a mind. It was amusing to watch them. They could take it as preparation for school. a lot of people took pleasure in torturing first years and scaring them. Their first words – and appearance too actually – had been enough to tell Kris that they weren’t all going to be Slytherins. With the exception of Ariane who Kris knew from earlier.

His fun was short lived however. Pulling on as innocent expression as he could Kris had to suppress a smirk at Dana’s glare. Watching with amusement as Dana thought about what to do Kris let himself be pulled out of the compartment without even trying to fight. The kids could only amuse one so far. Going along with the easy-going tone of voice and topic Dana had chosen Kris teased her mercilessly, receiving smirks, glares, grins or laughter in responce to his words as well as a few carelessly thrown words in the mixture. The siblings were close. They could argue, as neither did have a very subtle character, but in some way the characters fit together often smoothening each others personality mistakes. Besides Dana had enough Slytherin in herself as well, so she didn’t mind Kris’s relatively harsh comments from time to time either.

Kis enjoyed teasing Dana with rather pointless questoins as he asked Dana the next of these as they reached the last carriage of the train: „If you spin an Oriental man three times in a circle, does he become disoriented?”

[crabbe]

Crabbe was looking up into the faces of the dozen giants he had been given command over. He showed his disapproval of the creatures on his face, but he knew that the Dark Lord had uses for them. He started to pace before he spoke to the creatures, "You know what the Dark Lord has planned today. But I will tell you again what needs to be done." Crabbe took a deep breath before he continued on. "You will start to beat on the bridge supports before myself and the rest of the Death Eaters apparate onto the bridge. When the supports are near their breaking point you are to stop and wait."

Crabbe stopped pacing and looked up to the bridge. He knew it would not be long before he had to attack the train. Crabbe began to speak without turning back to the giants, "Once the last train car reaches the damaged support, you are to finish it off. You are not to destroy the support until the last car reaches the damaged support, do you understand?"

The giants made a grumbling noise that Crabbe took as a yes. Crabbe left and the giants started to pound on the bridge supports. They continued to pound on the supports, causing the metal to moan and creak. With the twelve giants pounding away it would not take long for the support to be damaged enough to cause the bridge to fail as the train was over it.

Crabbe walked over to the Death Eaters he had been given for the mission. With a grumble, he said, "The train is coming, once on board you know what to do, lets go." With a loud pop, Crabbe and the four Death Eaters he had with him apparated onto the train. Once Crabbe reappeared, he saw a woman who looked like she could be a teacher and a group of young wizards whom Crabbe knew had to be Aurors.

Quickly, Crabbe aimed at one of the Aurors and shouted, "Avada Kadavra." Sending a flash of red light at one of the young wizards and killing him. At the same moment, he heard two young students coming from inside the nearest compartment. As they stepped into the corridor, Crabbe pointed at the girl and sent a spell at her, intending to blind her.

[kris]

Kris smirked at Dana’s words. It would be completely out of character for him to laugh out loudly at her words, but dana knew him well enough to read out the amusement from his eyes and smirk. The siblings stepped out of the compartment and hearing a few faint *pops* Kris tensed even before he saw the black masks and cloaks. He had been tugging at Dana’s pony-tail anyway so reacting instinctively Kris turned so his back was towards the Death Eaters, blocking Dana from view. His wand already out Kris’s eyes locked with Dana for a moment as he pointed his wand at Dana’s forehead. Death Eaters on train wasn’t a good news. And Kris wanted Dana away from here. Somewhere safe. There were teachers in the front of the train.
The charm they had learned at the last Charms lesson came from Kris’s lips accented with the wand movement for ’Flippendo’. Kris had tested it a bit – it didn’t make the object disappear here nad reappear somewhere else. It just sent the object – or at the present moment Dana – soaring through the air towards the back of the train.

It took a moment for the charm to work but Kris almost breathed out of relief as she saw Dana lift to air. Only to have his own head explode in pain a moment later. The spell that had obviously been meant to Dana lifted Kris up from the ground for a moment before slamming him forward into a compartment wall. With pain spreading all over his body Kris’s last coherent thought was ’I hope the broken arm won’t scar.’ With his arm having been at a wrong angle Kris had broken his left arm. And his nose causing a small flow of blood form his nose and from the corner of his mouth that had gotten caught between his teeth.

His eyes turning upside down as Kris blacked out. Almost welcoming the darkness that enveloped him Kris’s body collapsed onto the train floor almost soundlessly and seemingly more softly than the impact actually was. His mind being completely lost to the outer world as the curse hitting the back of his head had done it’s damage.

[dana]

Dana laughed at Kris moving her head from side to side as he tugger at her pony-tail. Stepping to the hallway of the train once agian Dana let out a muffled sound as Kris suddenly whirled around blocking Dana’s view. It was a mere second to late however. Dana had alreayd seen the tell-tale black capes and the auror falling after being hit with the killing spell. It meant only one thing. Death Eaters. But wasn’t the attack on Diagon enough? Why would they be here?
Dan’as train of thought was stopped however as her eyes locked with Kris’s in silent fear. She dind’t have time to say anything however as Kris was already casting a charm. ’It’s the wrong wand movement’ flashed through Dana’s mind as she rose into the air a moment later.

Dana let out a yelp but turned into a scream as Kris stumbled forward after a red beam from the Death Eaters wand hit him. The back of the head – there really couldn’t be a worse scenario. At least it hadn’t been the killing curse. Dana watched Kris slam into the wall helplessly as she was slowly floating backwars and watched him fall onto the floor soundlessly. „KRIS!!!!“ the scream escaped Dana’s lips as she was yanked back harshly the next moment and pushing flying towards the front of the train as the charm Kris had cast started to work banishing Dana from the vicinity of the Death Eaters. Most likely saving her life. But with what price? Dana trembled as the scream had died on her lips... was Kris alright? Was he... Dana didn’t dare to finish the question – was Kris still alive – not even in her mind.

[Professor Amaryllis Hardy]

It was the start of a new school year, but it didn't feel like it on the Hogwarts Express. The train was tense and all the students had found a new pastime - peering at the Aurors Amaryllis was supposed to be directing around and helping settle in to their guard duties. They wouldn't get settled though. Only one of them had accepted a cup of tea. They were all standing around very stiffly, as if they were expecting an attack at any moment. A lot of them seemed very young. Maybe it was just that Amaryllis was getting old but she was sure none of them were older than her. And surely experience was a good thing? They were very on edge, and really you couldn't blame them, but yet Amaryllis was sure it wasn't helping the students on the train feel at ease. It was bad enough that times had come when it was necessary to have Aurors on board the Hogwarts Express. That there were people evil enough to attack children. And worse, with the capacity to. But it really didn't help that both students, teachers and Aurors all seemed very uncomfortable. Amaryllis felt nervous herself. Surely this high security must mean that they thought there was a real risk of the Express actually being hijacked? Unless the Ministry were waging war on Hogwarts in some subtle way, making the students feel uncomfortable? They weren't all that keen on some aspects of the magical school as far as she'd gathered.

But that wasn't what was going through her mind at the moment. What was going through her mind was how to keep the students safe, and happy throughout the train journey. She gave the younger of the Aurors who was standing so upright he looked like he was cast in stone a reassuring smile. If only they'd loosen up. They would probably be far more prepared for whatever could come - and might come, as Amaryllis had been warned repeatedly when she'd agreed to help supervise the train (why-ever would she not agree to?, she'd thought in exasperation when she'd been asked, since the safety of students was tantamount to her). The other Auror did visibly relax, and Amaryllis felt relieved that he hadn't turned to stone from standing still so long, until she started wondering whether she was the reason why the Aurors were not at ease. She didn't feel quite right being positioned here with them all. She'd managed to persuade them to go into a compartment for their lunch, but other than that they were adamant on staying outside in the narrow carriage corridors.

The only warning they got was a series of loud cracks, and that wasn't long enough for Amaryllis to have fully drawn out her wand before four... no, five! Death Eaters apparated into the carriage. The younger Auror wheeled round quickly to face them but was hit squarely in the chest by what must have been a Killing Curse since he fell immediately, showing no signs of life and quite clearly dead. But Amaryllis only had short bursts of time in which to take this in and absolutely no time to register sorrow - she was busy trying to parry spells that two of the Death Eaters were sending at her. Some pretty nasty things too. She had dodged a killing curse and already had to perform counter curses to a whole range of spells. She couldn't dodge too many Killing Curses though. The reflexes of her mind were sharp, but unfortunately although she was strong, she was not quick.

"Stupefy!" she cried, determination in her voice even though a hint of her inner desperation had crept in somehow. The red light raced towards the Death Eater she had aimed at, and hit him. One down. Still the odds were against them, even though the other young Auror was fighting hard and appeared to be managing well. But then something worse happened - two students appeared. From as quick a glance as she could spare she registered that one of them was Kris Graas, a fifth... sixth year Slytherin now that she had reprimanded harshly for finding him in the Forbidden Forest last year. He had his wand out and next time she looked his companion was not there anymore... she hoped against all hope that was for a good reason. There was a spell rushing towards the back of the Graas boy's head... Amaryllis started to shout out and to try to block it but it was too late. The spell hit him in the back of the head. She propelled him towards the back of the train, as much out of the way of the Death Eaters as she could. But the other Death Eater had capitalised and she felt a spell hit her. All at once she was throwing up, all her breakfast and lunch and everything that was in her stomach... and that looked terribly like there were bits of her stomach coming up as well. There probably were. Amaryllis fumbled with her wand and finally she came up with the spell she needed. Once that was cast the awful pain she'd had subsided. There had been quite a lot of damage done there, but it was nothing Madam Pomfrey wouldn't be able to deal with, she was almost sure of that. Feeling more vulnerable than she would have liked, she pointed her wand at the Death Eater who had done that to her, hoping some more Aurors would come to help, realising what was going on, and that Julius Foxcroft in the adjacent carriage would come and get poor Kris Graas out of harm's way. "Stupefy," she said, and the beam of light shot towards the Death Eater as she forced herself to stand up as straight as possible.

[laurap]

Laura looked up and smiled at the two persons in her compartment. Offering a quiet hello to both Laura looked down at her sketch shyly. She had never been good with new people. Feeling a blush climbing up her cheeks Laura bowed lower over her notebook hoping the others wouldn’t think she was rude.
The train had reached a bridge and Laura glanced out happily. „I’m going to go find the food cart,“ Laura told the toher twwo shyly and stepped out of the compartment.

Her mouth opening and closing in terror Laura stared at the sight in front of her. Men with black capes with hoods over their heads, professor Hardy and aurors next to them. Two bodies were laying on the floor already as Laura just gaped in shock, unable to completely comprehend what was happening. Why was this happening?
This wasn’t right. People were hurt!

Laura heard a voice booming a spell and for some reason she knew it was speaking to her. Almost dreading what she would see Laura turned her head to see one of the Death Eaters with his wand pointed towards her. The image of it imprinted itself into Laura’s mind. The way sunshine glinted off the window. A bird chirping happily outside. The crease in the Death Eaters cloak how ever unimportant that was now. And then it was just gone. Everything was gone as a green beam of the spell from the Death Eaters wand hit Laura squarely in the chest. And as Laura toppled backwards everything went away, slipping away from her minds grasp.


((Everybody know what was agreed on. Any godmoding done with my character from now on is being done with my permission.))

[Professor Julius Foxcroft]

Julius was nervous for several reasons today; the main reason being a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach that the Death Eaters hadn't done anything for a long time and it wasn't like Voldemort to stop terrorising the magical world after he had declared war and everyone knew of his return. He knew the place was teeming with Aurors and Order members but he still wasn't comfortable. He tried to convince himself it was because he left Hogwarts so rarely and because he had just been appointed Defence Against the Dark Arts professor and was worried whether he would be good at the job or not but he couldn’t help watching the students as they boarded the train with a wary look in his eyes as if they might be Death Eaters disguised as students.

Once he was on the train Julius wandered between the compartments smiling at his students and looking at the Aurors appraisingly hoping they were completely in control of the situation. The students seemed very much in awe of them and Julius was a little in awe himself having done some Auror training and then deciding it was not what he wanted to do and that he wasn't made to be one. He'd let his parents down when he decided against it and worked for the Ministry instead, but then he'd been much happier and successful there. Julius reached the compartment in which his fellow teacher Amaryllis Hardy was sitting and he gave her a quick smile and told her he'd be sitting in the last compartment. Just as he made his way there pandemonium broke out and everything happened so quickly Julius blinked once or twice when it was over. He felt he was in a nightmare that had crept up on him in the middle of his sleep and when it didn’t go away he ran to the last compartment. He could here loud screams from there and when he walked in he paled but didn’t say anything. Amaryllis Hardy was already there, sprawled on the ground with two Death Eaters beside her, and Julius surmised that the others had probably Disapparated once the Aurors arrived.

He squeezed Amaryllis' shoulder and then set to work immediately. One boy was a complete mess; Julius had never seen anyone injured so badly and in so many places. He grit his teeth as he put his hand to the boy's neck and felt for a pulse, sighing in relief as he found it though it was very weak. Julius knew he would have to act immediately for the boy was hanging onto life by a thread. He put his wand to the boy's temple and said the incantation to anesthetise him, but there was not much else he could do. "Ferula," he said, and small bandages appeared out of his wand. He lost count of the times he had to repeat the charm, and winced as he saw the angle the boy's arm was hanging from.

"He needs a Healer, Amaryllis, I don’t know if even Poppy's skilled enough to deal with this," he whispered urgently in her ear. "I'm taking him out of here and back to school on one of the Threstals, they're faster than they look – I'll just send Hagrid a message and he'll have one here in no time," he said. Julius hadn’t been able to see Threstals till after the First War, but then he'd seen so many people die, and was sure that everyone in the Order had as well. With a flick of his wand Kris was floating in mid-air in front of him as if invisible ropes were holding him up, and whispering under his breath several incantations Julius had him out of the compartment in a second. "He's going to be fine," he said reassuringly to the girl who looked shocked but uninjured as he left the carriage and Amaryllis to deal with the chaos around her.

[luna]

Luna heard a yell and curiously looked up from the Quibbler. Someone was flying past the window on the door. Inside the train. Luna watched at the glass and blinked thoughtfully. „I don’t think she should pick up flying without a broom as a profession,“ Luna told Neville after thinking a little. She was sure she had recognized the girl flying past the window as Dana Coran. Luna knew her because she was a Ravenclaw perefect and seeker. 6th year too so they shared a dormitory. Being Ravenclaw’s seeker was most important however. Wuidditch was important. Ravenclaw was the best house. Luna had a big banner to proove it. She had bought it at Catalina’s Cubby and she was very proud of it.

Pulling out her wand from between the feathers she had braided into her hair Luna stood up. Curling her bare feet Luna opened the compartment door and stepped into the hallway looking into the direction from where the flying girl had came. Luna stared with wide-eyes a trickle of blood on the floor as she walked forward. Bleeding on train floor. This was not good. It might lure the Pufflenshups back again. Luna blinked as she raised her wand and casted „Protego“. Harry had taught them this spell when DA still existed. Luna saw professor hardy obviously having hardships as she somehow managed to stop a rather gruesome looking curse that hat hit her.
Luna raised her wand pointing it towards one of the death eaters on her side who was ready to hex one of the aurors.
„Flippendo!“ Luna ordered smiling as the death eater stumbled a step back. It hadn’t thrown him away but it had disturbed him enough not to be able to cast his curse. Luna smiled with satisfaction to herslef and raising her wand added red to the ip of one of the feathers in her head. She could have a feather to mark this. Ignoring all the action around Luna concentrated on floating the unconcsious or dead auror out of everyone’s way with „Wingardium Leviosa.“ If he was dead, then he died for a good cause. He would have to be treated with respect and that meant that death eaters shouldn’t be stompin all over his body.

[madeye]

Alastor stood next to a friend and an old partner he had often worked together when he had still been an auror. Old folks were being called back. Retired people as the war seemed to be in full swing. „They’re too young,“ came a comment from Damien and Alastor grunted in reply. The new trainees seemed to young. Unexperienced and completely helpless. Alastor didn’t know what the minister had been thinking when allowing the training of these youngsters. They were old enough not to be called kids anymore. But they weren’t fully grown yet either.

„Mad-Eye! Damien! Attack on Hogwarts Express. Can you go check it out to see it’s not false alarm?“ came a shout from lower. Alastor growled looking down at the head of the the Department of Security. Attack on the train. He had hoped things wouldn’t go that far. „Let’s go,“ Alastor growled to Damien his wand already drawn as he apparated away a moment later. It was always risky to apparate somewhere moving, but Alastor had enough experience with it to manage without splinching himself. And when he looked around at the turmoil going on he growled once again.

One wave of his wand and the compartment doors everywhere in the carriage flew closed and locked. As much to keep the children out of the way as to stop the death eaters escaping into the carriages and taking hostages. He couldn’t do much about the students already in the hallway like the girl with … were those feathers in her head? But that girl was at least doing something useful and floating the undoubtedly dead auror out of the way.
„Stupefy!“ Alastor growled out watching with contempt as one of the death eaters fell to ground as two others whirled to face him and Damien who was already hexing around too. Dodging a curse being hurled his way more deftly than it could be expected form his age Alastor sent a hex back to the death eater who had attacked him, knowing rather than seeing that Damien was already handling the other one.

There were already casualties. A youngster was down. Alastor recognized him faintly as one of the newbies of aurors. A boy was laying on the floor and a girl. Now was no time for that. Alastor pulled up a protective shield as he ferouciously attacked one of the death eaters. This hadn’t been a false alarm.

[crabbe]

Crabbe continued to attack everything he could see, sending curse after curse at the professors and aurors. He could here the other Death Eaters shouting out curses, and then he saw another student come out of the compartment. He took aim at the young girl and was about to send a curse her way when he heard Yaxley send the Killing Curse at her, causing her to fall to the ground dead.

Crabbe was getting ready to send another curse at the teachers when he heard two loud cracks. He looked at who it was that had apparated onto the train. When he saw who it was, Crabbe decided that it was time for them to get out of there and back to the giants. As he was about to tell them to get out of there, Crabbe saw Yaxley fall to the ground unconscious. Crabbe yelled, "Let's get out of here." And he disapparated back to where the giants had been waiting.

Crabbe yelled for the giants to continue pounding on the supports. Crabbe heard the other three Death Eaters he had with him appear behind him as the support began to crumble down to the water just as the last car was over the damaged area. The car creaked back and forth on its connection to the rest of the train before it was pulled back up to the tracks. As the train continued, Crabbe heard the last car derail from the tracks and start to roll. As it began to roll, the train car detached from the rest of the train and rolled down to the hillside and into the water below.

Crabbe turned to the other Death Eaters and the giants and said, "We have to go, the ministry should be here before to long." The Death Eaters and the giants used the portkeys they had been given and disappeared to the preset location that had been decided upon.

[madeye]

Alastor growled angrily as the death eaters revived one of them down and apparated away. COWARDS! Bloody cowards who only dared to attack children when they had an upper hand. Alastor grunted and raised his wand towards the death eater who was still under the effect of ‘Stupefy’. “Incarcerous,” Alastor commanded and watched as strong ropes shot out of his wand and tying the man securely. He didn’t to take any chances. His magical eye had already scanned the whole train and there weren’t any more threats on board.
Turning around Alastor looked at the two students wounded. Damien was already kneeling next to the young and almost fragile looking girl. Upon feeling Alastor’s gaze on him Damien looked up and shook his head. Alastor gripped his wand tighter at the news that the girl was dead and turned away. Didn’t the death eaters stop in front of anything anymore? There were always fatalities in war. This time it just turned out so that the fatality was a young girl. Young girl who had barely had time to start her life.

Alastor looked towards the boy that had been down but saw a man already there. Most probably a professor. Alastor’s both eyes concentrated on him for a moment. He was familiar. A new auror? No, if he was an auror, his first priority wouldn’t have been a wounded student. It would have been the security of the train. His wooden leg stomping on the carpeted hallway floor Alastor moved towards Amaryllis Hardy who seemed to have spewed part of her entrails on the floor. Nasty curse that one was. “You holding on?” Alastor grunted to the woman as he passed her to talk to the aurors. He didn’t get far when the train suddenly jolted. His magical eye glared at the giants and death eaters who disappeared at the river bank but there was nothing he could do now. Grabbing hold of one of the door handles Alastor just held on noticing that Damien had already covered himself and the dead girl with a protective shield. Alastor did the same for himself covering himself from the shattered glass with a magical shield and keeping a keen eye on the stupefied death eater to make sure he wouldn’t move anywhere. But covering him from the shards of glass wasn’t Alastor priority.
The train jolted and Alastor’s magical eye convinced him that the last carriage had became derailed. That was the good news. The bad news was that they were slowly sliding down the river bank.

“Damien! Get the dead people and the DE out of here!” Alastor growled out a loud order dropping the shield and practically jumping forward, his wand waving once making the compartment doors click as they unlocked. One more wave of his wand and the Hardy's glass wounds were tied as Alastor rather roughly grabbed her shoulder: “Calm the students as much as you can. Seeing a professors relaxes them more than aurors. We have to get everyone out of here. The last carriage is sliding down the river-bank.”
Not caring whether or not he sounded rude Alastor stomped towards the first compartment wrenching the door open. And bustling the students out of it. Alastor repeated the same in the other carriage hurrying the students out to the hallway so everyone could get out.

[Professor Amaryllis Hardy]

Everything was feeling slightly woozy, but Amaryllis couldn't be doing with it. She'd dodged the Killing Curses that had been sent her way so far, but she wasn't feeling at her most alert and she didn't think she could hold on for much longer without more help. It was just as well help came, two more people joining in on their side. And one of them was a growl that she'd thought she'd known but it turned out she didn't. It had been rather strange when she'd met the real Alastor Moody earlier on this year. One more of the Death Eaters was quickly down and the remainder of them revived the Death Eater she'd Stunned earlier on before escaping off with them, whether by Portkey or Disapparation she couldn't determine because she'd been dealing with a wave of queasiness at the time.

She leant against the side of the carriage. It felt wrong - she should be helping the students - but she was just trying to stay vaguely upright. She wasn't much use to them in her current state as it was. She registered that another student, a young girl, had been killed. When? How? Who? She hadn't noticed it happen, but she felt awfully responsible for it. She had, after all, been supposed to be here to protect the students. Julius was in her ear, telling her that someone needed a Healer and that Thestrals were quicker than they looked. She thought they looked fast enough, with their huge, powerful wings. Julius must have presumed she could see them. Unfortunately she could. She straightened herself up as Alastor Moody asked her whether she was 'holding up', answering with a "Yes" since that was the best she could manage. Then there was a huge jolt and glimpsing a view out of the window, she suddenly knew, with a feeling of horror, what was going on.

Amaryllis struggled completely upright and hurried into the last carriage of the train. Julius was in there, near the window. The glass was going to shatter, she was sure of it. She cast a Shield Charm around Kris Graas who looked very badly off, who must have been the one Julius had meant earlier on seeing as he had him floating in mid-air. It was rather weak but the glass of the carriage did shatter with a horrible noise only a moment later and it did deflect some of the glass that went flying. She held it as long as she could, but let it go eventually because she could feel her energy draining away and some shards of glass had hurt her too.

The carriage still seemed to be moving. Where? Was there anywhere to move to? She didn't want to look out of the broken windows though, so instead she looked towards the end of the carriage. The Hogwarts Express was accelerating away, and there was a girl right at the end of it! "Pousikus!" Hardy said forcefully, and felt a strong, concentrated gust of wind shoot from the end of her wand. It pushed the girl further into the retreating train, and then she felt her shoulder being grabbed from behind by someone, and, realising the wounds the glass had caused had been tied she nodded at what the old Auror behind her was saying, before hurrying off to fulfil his instructions, fighting down another wave of queasiness as she did so.