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Blood on the Tracks
By Potter47

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Category: Hogwarts Express Challenge (2006-3)
Characters:None
Genres: Action/Adventure, Angst, Drama
Warnings: Death
Story is Complete
Rating: PG-13
Reviews: 6
Summary: “I really don’t know how that got there,” mused Luna, looking as the rest of them were, at the body laying on the floor. “It seems rather peculiar for a body to be on top of a train... maybe underneath it, since you know, they get run over all the time, but on top... I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that before."
Hitcount: Story Total: 6510; Chapter Total: 2009







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Blood on the Tracks
Potter47

I

From the outside, the Hogwarts Express appeared as something out of a fairy-tale, or a children’s story–a great, steaming train marching steadily across the landscape, chugging along the tracks as if it would like nothing more than to reach its destination and be able to have a nice, two-month rest. The way the summer sun shined off the metal, you could have sworn the train wore a merry, sleepy grin.

Perhaps a cloud drifted past at just the wrong time.

The grin was gone from the engine, and its now-featureless face appeared somehow decidedly sad. As if in reaction to this sudden mood swing, the train began to slow down, slow down, slow down with a screeching noise like a great, frustrated grunt. It was giving up, finally–it was just too tired. It needed that rest right now, and it was going to take it.

–|–

“Why aren’t we moving?” Ron asked.

“Dunno,” said Harry. He looked to Hermione.

“Well, we must have stopped for some reason.”

“No, really, Hermione?”

The compartment door slid open, and Neville entered with a Chocolate Frog in one hand and a confused expression on his face.

“We’re not moving,” he said.

“We realised that,” said Ron. “You were out there, any idea why we stopped?”

“No clue.”

There was a great screeching noise, and the train lurched suddenly forward–knocking Neville out of his newly reclaimed seat–and then settled back into motionlessness.

“It must’ve stalled or something,” said Hermione. “That felt like the driver was trying to get it going again...”

“Well, that’s not good,” said Neville. He glanced around. “Where’re Luna and Ginny?”

“I thought they were going to the trolley with you,” said Harry.

“They did,” said Neville, “but I figured they’d be back by now.”

“Well, I’m sure they’ll be back soon,” said Hermione. “You know how Luna is, she probably took Ginny on a search for Train-Stopping-Bangiwhatsits when we stopped...”

“Yeah...”

–|–

“There’ve got to be some around here, someplace,” said Luna, furrowing her pale eyebrows.

“What are we looking for again?” asked Ginny, not really caring and not really caring to go back to the compartment, with Harry...

“Ancheknots,” said Luna for the thousandth time, “I told you, they’re the natural enemy of the locomotive–”

“But where are they supposed to be? How could they have stopped the train from one of the compartments?”

“Well, Ancheknots are tricky like that,” said Luna, sliding open yet another compartment door and poking her head in. She glanced around, and asked of the occupants, “Have any of you seen an Ancheknot anywhere today?”

A puzzled silence met her, and she withdrew her head.

“Honestly, you’d think I was asking whether they’d seen a kangaroo or something...”

A few more compartments passed in much the same fashion–a group of the remaining sixth-year Slytherins reacted particularly unpleasantly–and Ginny was about to ask Luna whether they could go back to the compartment after all, when suddenly Luna seemed to have had an epiphany:

“I’ve just had an epiphany!” shouted Luna, sliding shut the Slytherins’ door–Ginny wondered why she’d felt the need to shout. “An Ancheknot wouldn’t set foot inside a train, would it? They’re natural enemies...”

“Then we can go back to the compartment, now? They‘re probably wondering where we are... and with the train stopped, they‘re probably worried–”

“Of course we can’t go back to the compartment, sillyhead,” said Luna, “we’ve come this far, you think I’m not going to find it now...?

“But you said–”

“An Ancheknot wouldn’t set foot inside a train,” said Luna, “so logically, they must do they’re magical fiddling from outside the train. From the roof.”

Ginny blinked. “Luna, you’re crazy, you can’t go looking about on the roof of the Hogwarts Express–”

“Why not? It‘s stopped moving, I wouldn‘t fall off...”

“But what if it starts again?”

“It won’t start until I find the Ancheknot, obviously.” She looked at Ginny shrewdly. “Do you want to spend forever in that compartment, avoiding Harry’s glance for the rest of your days...?”

“Of course not,” said Ginny, “but I doubt we’d be stuck here forever–”

“This is no time for doubts,” said Luna. “I’m going to find that Ancheknot, if you don’t want to come, then you don’t have to.”

Luna turned tail with a determined expression, and began marching towards the end of the train.

Ginny shook her head, and muttered to herself, “Only you, Luna...”

She quickly caught up with the other girl, and said, “Of course I’m going with you. You think I‘d let you go up on the top of a train alone...? What kind of a friend would I be?”

Luna smiled, as they reached the door at the back of the train. “A sensible one.”

–|–

“How long do you think it would take to search for Train-Stopping-Bangiwhatsits?” said Harry, after a while. He stared at the compartment door, as if willing it to open with his mind. Open, open, and let Ginny walk in, safe and sound... “We were just going to the loo,” she might say, and sit down and laugh at him for worrying...

“I dunno,” said Ron, “but I’m starting to get worried.”

“Me too,” chorused Neville and Hermione, uncoordinated yet at once.

“It couldn’t hurt to go look for them,” said Harry. “Me and Ron’ll search the train, and Hermione, you could look in the loo–Neville can stay here in case they come back.”

“So they don’t think we’ve disappeared and start searching for us as well,” said Ron.

“OK, then,” said Hermione. “I’m sure they’re perfectly all right... let’s go.”

–|–

“It’s just like in a film,” said Luna, climbing the ladder on the back of the Express, while Ginny waited her turn in the little porch-like end of the train below. “The ladder’s in the same place and everything... and that porch would be wonderful for a tea party, don’t you think? I’m going to bring some next September, we can sit out here, it’d be fun...”

“Whatever you say, Luna,” said Ginny as Luna pulled herself over the top of the ladder and onto the train.

“Well, this is certainly a different perspective on things...” Luna stood up, then, with arms out on both sides for balance. Thankfully the train had stopped in a great, green field, rather than on a bridge. That would have been a bit overwhelming.

Ginny started climbing, left foot first and then right, left right left right left and then the top and–

My God, it’s so beautiful...

Ginny could see that green field was much more than just great from up here–it was lush. Stretching as far as the eye could see, there was grass, and a few trees scattered about the land, and it was more beautiful than Ginny could have imagined, from the inside. It looked like something out of a dream. A very, very good dream.

“That settles it,” said Luna, “I’m researching sticking charms this summer.”

Ginny blinked. “Why?” she asked.

“So I can sit up here next time we ride this thing, without getting blown off. That would be so amazing...”

“It would,” said Ginny. She looked up, and saw the great, blue sky above her with the nice kind of clouds, the white ones. She couldn’t make out any particular shapes, but it was such an exceptional sight...

“I wonder if anybody’s ever come up here before,” said Luna. “Students, I mean. We’ve been missing out for so long...” Then, an abrupt change in her voice, now strictly business: “Now let’s find that Ancheknot.”

She began walking along the top of the train as though it was something she did every day–the extended arms were less for balance than for her own enjoyment. It was like she was slicing the wind in two.

Ginny stood as well, then, and followed Luna in her trek.

–|–

Neville waited alone in the compartment, bored and apprehensive. Why had the train stopped? Students had begun to pour into the corridor, to ask each other what had happened and to shrug and say they had no idea. From the look of things through the compartment door, it would be near-impossible for the others to find Luna and Ginny in the crowd.

Where had they gone? Perhaps to talk to the driver... or the loo... but why would they both go to the loo? Did girls like company while going to the toilet? They did seem to congregate in there sometimes, he’d noticed... yes, they must like talking to each other in there, without the worry that boys would overhear.

But why now? When the train’s stopped, you’d think you’d be able to hold off the desperate need to ramble about some boy...

It was probably Harry, he wagered... Ginny’d always been nuts about Harry, she probably always would be. He’d thought that maybe she’d get over him when they’d broken up, but it didn’t seem likely, what with them congregating in bathrooms to talk about him, and all...

Neville shook his head. Why on earth did he care? Why wasn’t he trying to figure out why the train had stopped?

“Maybe it just felt like taking a rest,” he mused. He lay his head back against the wall and looked up at the luggage rack, and then the compartment’s ceiling.

He wondered how long they’d be stuck. Gran’d probably be angry with somebody over the delay, probably’d start rambling on about how Hogwarts was going to fall to pieces without Dumbledore...

He still couldn’t believe Dumbledore was–

AHH!

Neville’s gaze jumped upward again–at some point it had drifted back down to the luggage rack–and he stared at the ceiling. The scream had come from–

Above him?

He stood, and looked out the compartment door–the entire crowd of students were staring, puzzled, at the ceiling, and murmuring amongst themselves.

“Was that a scream?”

“Who was that?”

“On the roof...?

Neville was surprised, then, to see Ron right by his side, a horrified look on his face.

“Nev, that was Ginny. Come on, we’ve got to find her.”

Barely even waiting for Neville to get out the door, Ron continued his march through the crowd of students. Neville followed eagerly, awkwardly, as Ron pushed back and back and back towards the rear of the train.

“Where’s Harry?” Neville said.

“I dunno,” said Ron. “He was looking on the other half of the train.”

It was good to know that their group was essentially completely split up in a time of crisis–Hermione searching the loos, Harry on the other side of the train, and Luna God-knew-where.

“Where are we going? She sounded like she was on the roof or something...”

“Then that’s where we’re going,” said Ron. “There’s a ladder on the back of the train, right?”

“I dunno.”

“Well, I think there is, and there better be, since that’s where we’re headed.”

In another minute they were at the back door of the train, and just as Ron was about to push it open, a very familiar figure dropped down on the other side of the window.

“Luna?” said Ron, opening the door. “Where’s–”

...and beside Luna, dropped Ginny, eyes wide in fear. (Neville supposed Luna‘s eyes might‘ve been widened as well, but it was more difficult to tell.)

“You’re OK!” said Ron, taking hold of his sister. She didn’t say anything, and then he stepped back. “You are OK, right?”

She nodded.

“What happened? What were you doing up there?”

“There was a... there was a...”

“We were looking for Ancheknots,” supplied Luna calmly. “But we didn’t find any.”

“Why did you scream, Gin?”

Ginny opened her mouth to speak, but she couldn’t quite manage it–Ron turned to Luna.

She informed them:

“There’s a Death Eater up there.”

Neville’s jaw dropped.

“What? The bloody hell...” said Ron, looking upward. “Is he following you? What are you doing out here, we’ve got to get inside, get help–”

“He isn’t following us,” said Luna. “It would be quite the trick for him to manage that, what with him being dead and all.”

TBC

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