Part 14
Warnings: None. However, future chapters will contain sexual content so readers that are under the age of 18 may have to skip those chapters (However they are very few so those under the age of 18 can still read a majority of this book. However please keep note of the warnings).
Copyright: I do not own any Wizarding World characters that J.K. Rowling wrote. I do however own Elizabeth Kane (main character) and Trang Nyguen (best friend). There should be no use of these two names without my permission. Also, all of Severus and Elizabeths' childrens names are mine and mine alone.I also do not condone any copying of this.
THE HOGWARTS EXPRESS
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Marinette clutched snowball to her chest as she stared out the window of the Hogwarts Express. Her parents were still talking to Davina and Carlisle who didn't seem to want to go off onto the train. Both her mother and her father seemed a lot happier, especially over the summer. Her mom was genuinely smiling for the first time in years. So was her father.
She watched as her mother and father kissed her siblings and they finally got onto the train. Her father wrapped his arm around her mother's waist, kissing the top of her head. Marinette wasn't sure if it was just her imagination, but she thought she saw a small bump through the outline of her mother's clothes.
Another child? Suddenly, a violent image of her mother falling from the sky, landing on upturned sticks flashed through her mind. Marinette jumped slightly, turning her focus back to the inside of the carriage car she was sitting in.
Scorpius was sitting in the car as well, though after they'd exchanged their normal pleasantries, they'd both sat in silence. It was usually like this until Albus got here and Marinette wondered if she had a friend in Scorpius when Albus wasn't here.
Mari turned her head just slightly as she heard both Albus and Roses' voices coming down the train hall.
"Leave me alone, Rose." Albus said.
"Albus!" Scorpius said as Albus came into the compartment- finally. Rose was still trailing him. "Oh hello, Rose, what do you smell of?"
"What do I smell of?" Rose asked, seeming offended.
"No, I meant it as a nice thing, you smell like a mixture of fresh flowers and fresh- bread."
"Albus, I'm here, okay? If you need me." Rose said desperately. Mari rolled her eyes, looking back out the window. Her father and mother were meeting with her grandparents now.
"I mean, nice bread, good bread, bread. . . what's wrong with bread?" Scorpius continued his incredibly awkward, clearly unable to talk to girls, dialogue.
"What's wrong with bread!" Rose scoffed as she walked away.
"I've been looking for you two everywhere." Albus declared.
"And now you've found us. Ta-da! We were hardly hiding. You know how I like to get on early. Stops people staring. Shouting. Writing 'Son of Voldemort' on my trunks. That one never gets old. She really doesn't like me, does she?"
Mari was taken aback as Albus hugged Scorpius fiercely. She raised an eyebrow, watching the two of them, while she petted snowball.
"Okay. Hello. Um. Have we hugged before? Do we hug?" Scorpius asked awkwardly.
"No. No you don't." Marinette finally spoke and the two boys jumped apart.
"Just a slightly weird twenty-four hours." Albus sighed.
"What's happening in them?"
"I'll explain later. We have to get off this train."
It was perfect timing, really, as the Hogwarts Express blew its' whistle and started to chug slowly out of the station. Marinette looked out the window one last time to see her father throw his head back and roar with laughter, something he rarely allowed himself to do in public. Marinette felt a weight that she hadn't realized she'd been carrying lift off of her shoulders. The hardness towards her mother dissolved some.
"Too late. The train is moving. Hogwarts ahoy!" Scorpius replied sarcastically.
"Then we have to get off a moving train." Albus declared.
"Anything from the trolley dears?" Marinette jumped as the trolley witch came into view, pushing her cart.
"Oh, no thank you." Marinette said quickly, kicking Albus so he didn't open the window right in front of her. Mari knew they were jumping off the train, just as she knew if the trolley witch saw them, she'd stop them. Perhaps if she didn't see them try to climb out of the window, then she wouldn't know to stop them from jumping off.
"A moving magical train." Scorpius said as the trolley witch moved on to the next compartment. Albus opened the window. "Albus Severus Potter, get that strange look out of your eyes."
"First question. What do you know about the Triwizard Tournament?" Albus asked.
Ah. So it seemed Delphi had visited Albus as well. That put Marinette's suspicion radar up a notch. She didn't trust people in general, but the idea of a strange lady visiting kids while their parents were occupied to plant the same seed was certainly suspicious.
"Oooooh, a quiz!" Scorpius exclaimed meanwhile, "Three schools pick three champions to compete in three tasks for one Cup. What's that got to do with anything?"
"Well, actually, the Triwizard Cup picks the champions, but I digress." Marinette responded.
"You two really are enormous geeks, you know that?"
"Ya-huh." Mari and Scorpius said together.
"Second question. Why has the Triwizard Tournament not been run in over twenty years?"
"The last competition included your dad and a boy called Cedric Diggory- they decided to win together but the Cup was a Portkey- and they were transported to Voldemort. Cedric was killed. They canceled the competition immediately after."
Marinette decided to not add that there had been a death in almost every single Triwizard Tournament ever held and the only reason Cedrics' death was unusual was because it was actually just murder.
"Good. Third question: Did Cedric need to be killed?" Mari rolled her eyes. "Easy question, easy answer. No. The words Voldemort said were, 'Kill the spare.' The spare. He died only because he was with my father and my father couldn't save him- we can. A mistake has been made and we're going to right it. We're going to use a Time-Turner. We're going to bring him back."
"Albus," Scorpius said warningly. "For obvious reasons, I'm not a massive fan of Time-Turners."
"When Amos Diggory asked for the Time-Turner my father denied they even existed. He lied to an old man who just wanted his son back- who just loved his son. And he did it because he didn't care- because he doesn't care. Everyone talks about all the brave things Dad did. But he made some mistakes too. Some big mistakes, in fact. I want to set one of those mistakes right. I want us to save Cedric."
Her mother hadn't lied to the man. She'd been up front and honest. And her mother had wanted to correct Cedrics' death, she'd admitted that. Said she'd begged Dumbledore to let her change it and Dumbledore had said no. Maybe. . .
"Okay, whatever was holding you brain together seems to have snapped." Scorpius muttered. Marinette laughed, and was surprised that she did.
"I'm going to do this, Scorpius, Mari. I need to do this. And you know as well as I do, I'll entirely mess it up if you two don't come with me. Come on."
"On one condition." Marinette said as Albus started to hoist himself out of the window. "I get to bring Snowball."
Albus grinned, "Of course, come on." He disappeared completely and Marinette sighed, following him up. It was a bit of a stretch, before she was standing on top of the train now. It was moving faster than she had expected, making her change her stance so that she felt more balanced. Snowball hissed, though she wasn't sure at what exactly.
Scorpius joined them and it wasn't long before he wanted to get back into the train, "Okay, now we're on the roof of a train, it's fast, it's scary, this has been great, I feel like I've learnt a lot about me, something about you, but-"
Marinette actually laughed again.
"As I calculate it we should be approaching the viaduct soon and then it'll be a short hike to St. Oswald's Home for Old Witches and Wizards. . ."
"The what? The where? Look, I am as excited as you are to be a rebel for the first time in my life- yay - train roof- fun- but now -oh."
Marinette looked over her shoulder as Scorpius' voice trailed off. Her heart sank upon seeing the Trolley Witch there.
"The water will be an extremely useful backup if our Cushioning Charm doesn't work." Albus continued, not seeing the trolley witch that both of them were watching come closer.
"Albus. The Trolley witch." Scorpius managed to squeak out. Marinette warily took a few steps back, wondering if it would be rude to jump off the train without telling them.
"You want a snack for the journey?" Albus asked stupidly. But then again, his back was to all three of them as he looked over the edge of the speeding train. The train couldn't have been going fast as well, maybe what? Thirty miles per hour? But on top of the roof, it felt like they were going at least eighty.
"No. Albus. The Trolley Witch is coming towards us!" Marinette shouted.
"No, she can't be, we're on top of the train. . ." Albus trailed off as both Scorpius and Mari pointed at the Trolly Witch, seeing that she was indeed on top of the train. What was more, she had brought her trolley with her, the candies and pastries on top looked slightly different than Mari remembered them being.
"Anything from the trolley dears? Pumpkin Pasty? Chocolate Frog? cauldron Cake?" She asked nonchalantly like the four of them were not on top of the train.
"Oh." Albus said dumbly.
"People don't know much about me. They buy my Cauldron Cakes- but they never really notice me. I don't remember the last time someone asked my name."
"What is your name?" Albus asked.
"I've forgotten. All I can tell you is that when the Hogwarts Express first came to be- Ottaline Gambol herself offered the job. . ."
"That's- one hundred and ninety years." Scorpius beat Mari to it. "You've been doing this job for one hundred and ninety years?"
Mari felt that even with a job that long, how could you forget your own name? The Hogwarts Express made six trips total throughout a year. Going back and forth to Hogwarts in the Fall, going back and forth to Hogwarts for Winter break, and going back and forth to Hogwarts in the Spring. How did she not have time for herself? Not having a life for herself?
"These hands have made over six million Pumpkin Pasties. I've got quite good at them. But what people haven't noticed about my Pumpkin Pasties is how easily they transform into something else. . ."
Mari gaped as she threw the Pumpkin pastie at them. It exploded, much like a grenade from those Muggle movies her mother and brothers loved.
"And you won't believe what I can do with my Chocolate Frogs." Mari didn't really want to find out. "Never- never- have I let anyone off this train before they reached their destination. Some have tried- Sirius Black and his cronies, Fred and George Weasley, Elizabeth Kane and Lee Jordan. ALL HAVE FAILED. BECAUSE THIS TRAIN- IT DOESN'T LIKE PEOPLE GETTING OFF IT. . ." Her hands transfigured into very sharp spikes and Mari wondered for a second if the trolley witch was actually fully human as first assumed. "So please retake your seats for the remainder of the journey."
Mari did a start, hearing her mothers' name as one of the people who had tried to jump off. Had her mother. . . had her mother not liked Hogwarts either?
"You were right, Scorpius. This train is magical."
"At this precise moment in time, I take no pleasure in being right." Scorpius swallowed thickly.
"Maybe we should re think this." Mari said uneasily.
"But I was also right- about the viaduct- that's water down there, time to try the Cushioning Charm." Albus said.
"Albus, this is a bad idea." Scorpius said, exchanging a look with Mari.
"Is it?" Albus asked, looking over at the two of them. Usually when Scorpius and Mari were in agreement with something, he would change his mind, take their advice. "Too late now." He said instead, bending his knees. "Three, two, one. Molliare!" He jumped off the train.
"Albus!" Scorpius panicked, throwing her another look. She just shook her head. Both of them glance back at the approaching witch, whose hair was now swinging wildly. Mari wondered if they stayed long enough, if the hair would turn into snakes like that Greek Gorgon Medusa. She didn't want to find out.
"Well, as fun as you clearly look, I have to go after my friend." Scorpius sighed and then shouted the incantation as he jumped after Albus.
"Great." Mari said, turning, and jumped after him.
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