Next in Line - Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. J. K. Rowling does.

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Next in Line

Chapter 2 - Hogwarts Express

I sat all by myself in one of the compartments, but after a few moments got bored. I decided to go out in search for Rose.

I timidly walked along the corridor, not meeting the eyes of the other students. I glanced into the seats but I couldn't recognize any of the passengers' faces. At length I walked into an empty carriage.

Suddenly, I saw smoke emerge from the glass door of the compartment farthest from me. I cautiously moved closer to investigate.

A pale blond boy about my age lay unconscious on the floor. His face was hidden in thick grey smoke. A ring of flames surrounded him and licked at the edge of his black robe. I pulled at the door but it was locked.

"Help!" I cried out to the empty corridor and hoped that somebody at the next carriage heard me. The metal handle was growing hot from the fire, but I continued tugging it open until it was too hot to hold.

"Cammy!" Someone shouted. To my relief, Rose was running towards me, her wand pointed towards the burning room. A black-haired boy was close at her heels.

"Alohomora!" The door slid open at her words. I staggered backward as hot air and smoke hit me in full force.

Covering my face with my robe, I quickly stepped into the fire and pulled the unconscious boy by his left arm. Rose's companion clutched his right arm and together we dragged him to safety. The dark-haired boy stomped on the flames that had caught on the blond boy's robe until they were gone. Rose held out her wand, murmuring incantations that gradually subdued the blaze.

Gasping lungfuls of clean air, the dark-haired boy and I leaned on one of the seats. "Are you alright?" he asked me, his bright green eyes searching my face and arms for burns.

I nodded weakly. "It is him we should be worried about," I said, pointing to the boy we saved. I looked upon the victim and my breath caught in my throat. Before me was the most beautiful boy I had ever seen. I was gripped with the compelling desire to save this light-haired angel. Without thinking, I took out my wand and touched him with it. A bright blue light enveloped him and after a few seconds, he blinked his light grey eyes open.

I watched him silently as he took in his surroundings then looked at the three of us. His chiseled face was marred with confusion. "Who are you?"

Rose stepped forward. "I'm Rose. This is my cousin Al, and that's Cammy. We're all first year students. What's your name?"

"Scorpius. What happened?" he croaked, swallowing with difficulty.

"Cammy saw you lying in that burning compartment. It was locked from the inside when Al and I arrived," Rose explained. "Do you remember how you got in there?"

He shook his head. "The last thing I remember was going into the washroom." He lifted his hand to his forehead, wincing in pain.

"There you are!" An older boy who greatly resembled Al strode quickly towards us, and with him was a statuesque girl with strawberry blond hair.

"James! Vicky! What took you so long?" Al exclaimed.

"We had to go and inform the prefects. Is anyone hurt?" James asked. He and Vicky began inspecting the three of us. Satisfied that we were uninjured, he turned to Scorpius. He raised his brows in surprise.

"What is he doing here?" he demanded.

"James!" Rose warned. "He was almost killed in the fire! Thank goodness the three of us got here in time… or else…"

"It might have been a trap," James countered.

Al placed a hand on his shoulder. "James, please…" He looked at Scorpius apologetically. "Scorpius, forgive my brother. He always jumps to conclusions…"

Scorpius closed his eyes, apparently too weak to respond.

I glared at James. How could he accuse Scorpius of such terrible things when he was so clearly the victim?

Vicky spoke to James in a soft, soothing voice. "Come on, Cousin. We'll report this to the authorities. They will get to the bottom of this." She turned to us. "No one else shall know about this. It will be best to keep this a secret until the Aurors investigate." She then smiled at Scorpius compassionately. "We'll be at Hogwarts shortly. We'll get you a nurse as soon as we can."

"We will find out if your father or his friends had anything to do with this, Malfoy," James vowed. My jaw dropped open when I realized Scorpius was Draco Malfoy's son. I had read about his family in some of my course books. I looked at Rose and her cousins and belatedly discovered that they were children of the famous Potters and Weasleys. So that was why James seemed to hate Scorpius so much…

Still regarding Scorpius with mistrust, James followed Vicky out of the carriage.

"Sorry about that, Scorpius," Rose muttered. "My cousin tends to be a little rash sometimes."

Scorpius sighed. "I'm used to it. My family and I still get nasty looks when we go out in public. People will never forget the crimes of the Death Eaters."

My heart reached out to him. "But the son must not be blamed for what the father did," I blurted out. Rose and Al nodded in agreement.

Scorpius looked at the cousins strangely. "I can't understand. Why are you so quick to trust me? Why aren't you suspicious, like James was?"

"Like Cammy said, you had nothing to do with your ancestor's sins," Rose replied.

Al hesitated before speaking softly, "Dad used to tell me stories about his encounters with Voldemort and the Death Eaters. And there was one particular story I could never forget."

Harry Potter's adventures with Voldemort were written in some history books, but they were far too vague in my opinion. I listened to Al with rapt attention.

"Voldemort had just hit Dad with a Killing Curse. Miraculously, he survived, but he was pretending to be dead. Voldemort then commanded Narcissa Malfoy, your grandmother—" he grestured to Scorpius, "—to check if Dad really was dead. And do you know what she did?" We shook our heads. "She lied to the Dark Lord. She said Dad was dead even though she knew that he was alive. If Voldemort had sent another, more trustworthy Death Eater to confirm Narcissa's claim, she would have been found out and killed for disloyalty. So you see? Your grandmother risked her life in order to save Dad!"

"Just as you risked your lives to save mine," Scorpius said slowly. "Thank you, everyone."

We looked at each other, bright beams on our young faces. We didn't know it at that time, but the four of us were already tied to each other in one of the most unbreakable bonds ever known.

The bond of Friendship.