Chapter 45: Murder on the Hogwarts Express

Draco did not come down to say goodbye as the other Hogwarts students climbed into the special ministry car they had managed to secure in order to take Harry and the others to King’s Cross Station.

Harry glanced back at the house before he was bustled into the car, and he thought he saw a brief flash of blond hair and the rustling of curtains. He took his eyes of the window for a moment to shove himself into the surprisingly spacious Coupe Deville; by the time he was able to look back the window and the house had vanished from site.

The drive to King’s Cross Station was blissfully short for which Harry was grateful. He had an intense feeling of unease that he just couldn’t shake.

Because of the blundering and mess the Ministry made in disbelieving Harry when Voldemort had returned, they now jumped at the opportunity to prove that they now listened to Harry and that Snape was in fact a viable threat.

King’s Cross was packed with Security. Aurors positioned every twenty feet or so throughout and around the outside of the station. Harry had to struggle not to laugh as he passed them, or at the expression on the slightly curious slightly nervous faces of the muggles going about the business unawares.

He saw Tonk’s approaching them and when she reached their little group he said flatly, “Tonks, you have been watching far to many muggle movies with your father.” He tried to say this seriously, but he couldn’t keep the humor out of his voice.

“Wouldn’t it be more effective to have the Aurors blend in with the crowds, be more inconspicuous?” Hermione asked slowly, trying not to gawk.

Every Auror was dressed the exact same. They were all wearing a black suit, white shirt, black tie, complete with a pair of shiny highly polished shoes. Each wore a pair of dark sunglasses that completely hid their eyes and even had an earbud in their ear, the cord disappearing down their shirts.

“Do those actually work?” Hermione asked Tonks.

“Yes.” She said giggling, “We wanted something loud, something that would make a statement. We wanted Snape to know that we were here protecting everyone. I saw a movie about muggles in America, and thought this would be the perfect get up.” She finished proudly.

Harry nodded, pretending to understand, but really he just felt confused. He could feel a sudden headache coming on.
Although the Hogwarts express didn’t leave until 11:00, they were asked to be at the station at 9:30 in order to search the students and their luggage to insure nothing was being smuggled in that would help Severus Snape.

Harry looked up into the sky as he approached the building. Although it was 9:25 and the sun should be well into the sky, it seemed like it was having a hard time rising that day, like it had had a long day in some other remote part of the world.

The sky was a gloomy and gray, the clouds blocking out all signs of the blue sky that should have been present. He could see the sun through the clouds however, although he wished he couldn’t. It was huge, much larger than it normally appeared as it slowly rose above the horizon, and blood red. He was sure that it was just an illusion, a distortion caused from the cloud cover. No one else seemed concerned, but Harry couldn’t seem to shake the feeling of foreboding he was getting.

He followed slightly behind everyone else, but in front of the bodyguards, as he was beginning to think of them, that were charged with protecting them.

One by one the made their way through the solid wall separating the muggle station from platform 9 and ¾. “This will be the last time.” He said to himself as he emerged on the other side, “At least as a student.” He smiled slightly.

He, Ron and Hermione found their usual compartment, and waited for the belongings to be checked before loading them on board.

As he approached he realized that they would be using skilled Legilimens to search everyone’s mind and softly gave the word to Hermione to warn everyone to not block their minds, but only think about things like their schoolbooks. Although they were known to have been the ones to battle with Voldemort and his Death Eaters, it would raise too many red flags to have so many people at such a young age be so skilled at Occlumency.

He could feel the prodding of the man’s mind on his, and fought against his urge to completely block the man out. He waved them through, and Harry was slightly concerned that if it was so easy for them to get through, it would be no problem at all for Snape to get through. Harry decided that he was going to check everyone as well.

They had arrived early, so the line wasn’t too long yet, and within ten minutes and no questions they were sitting in their compartment on the train.

“Can we join you?” A voice asked from the doorway. Harry looked into the smiling faces of Ginny, Neville and Luna.

“Of course!” Hermione answered as she made room for them. Ginny came over and sat by Harry, wrapping her arm through his and resting her head on his shoulder. Harry smiled at the feeling.

They spoke in low tones about nothing of any importance. Harry stared out the window and watched as students and belongings were searched before getting on the train.

There were no incidences and nothing besides several boxes of exploding products from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes were confiscated. At exactly 11:00 the whistle sounded and the train began to slowly make its way away from the station.

Harry could tell that everyone breathed a sigh of relief, however, he didn’t feel like he could relax until they were inside the huge castle.

Wanting to not only work on his Legilimens but also see if he could sense any threat, Harry expanded his mind, while always keeping his blocked from intrusion, out into the train and even the surrounding areas.

“Block your minds.” Harry said softly to the others in his compartment when he realized that they had yet to completely restore their blocks. He could instantly feel the solid resistance in each of their minds, and it made him smile at how far they had all come.

Draco had trained him so well that he could now enter people’s minds, and as long as he didn’t root around to deep, the individuals would never know. He flitted through the minds of the other students, not sensing any bad intentions from anyone. He laughed when he reached Goyle who was thinking about the feast at Hogwarts and at Pansy Parkinson, who was thinking about a giant pink teddy bear she wished she could bring to Hogwarts.

He expanded his mind out farther and could feel the blissfully ignorant consciousness of the animals on the farms the train was passing and even of the farmers, whose only thoughts were of the survival of their crops and animals.

He was enjoying the feeling, like floating in a pool of warm water in the hazy afternoon sun when he felt it.

He jerked up in his seat suddenly. “Snape is here.” He said quietly. “Or blocks and our training will now be tested.” He had been holding his wand, and was instantly ready. He quickly touched his wand to his wrist and thought, “Snape is here on the train, we will warn as many people as possible, He hasn’t made a move yet, I don’t know what he is waiting for or how long we have.”
He knew instantly from the sudden silence in the compartment that the others had received his message and that it had worked. Hermione nodded to him and then stood up, opening the compartment door and whispered something to the guard outside, knowing that the Aurors on the train would now be prepared.

Harry could see their stance change immediately. He slowly expanded his mind again, and could tell that they had decided to warn the students as well and that while there was fear, there was also a sense of preparation, especially from the former DA members.

“We are going to have a problem with the Slytherins.” Harry said, sensing several of them preparing, not to protect everyone, but to fight with Snape. He sighed, wishing things would for once be easy.

Hermione again got up and whispered something to the guard outside. He could feel the consciousness of people like Pansy, Blain Zambini and Grabb go black, not from blocking him out, but from being unconscious.

He touched his wand to his wrist again, “There are several Slytherins on the train that are going to be a problem, they have been taking care of for the moment, but just to warn you.” He wanted everyone to be as informed as possible.

“Snape knows that we are aware of his presence, because people are preparing.” Harry said quietly talking fast, he could feel the other presence closing in, “however because there are so many Aurors he will suspect one of them.”

As he finished there was a loud bang and the train gave a shudder, slowing down to a stop. “It has begun.” He said in his mind, his wand on his wrist and tried to send a picture of the surroundings, not sure if it worked, hoping that the Order Members arrived soon.

He felt like a cornered animal with no place to go. He could tell that the others felt the same from the expressions on their faces. There was a slight shake. “He is on top of the train.” Harry said wildly, and for a split second expanded his mind farther before drawing it back in.

“Merlin’s beard.” He said faintly, he had felt the presence of almost fifty people all with Snape. “Snape brought a small army.” Harry said, mentally calculating that including Aurors they had maybe twenty five people skilled enough to duel with Snape and his followers. “The odds are at least two to one.” Harry said, “but unlike them we have innocent bystanders to protect.”

He felt another shake, and with dread felt out with his mind. “They’re here.” He all but shouted, feeling relieved, “On the roof, let’s go!”
Leading, he and the others crashed out of the compartment, letting the Auror’s know as they went. Behind them and the Aurors, came the members of the DA who had fought in previous battles. As the reached the compartments with the Slytherins, Harry yelled at several Aurors, “Stay with them, make sure they don’t escape, we don’t need them to be worried about also.” The Aurors nodded, not questioning Harry’s authority for a moment.

Harry found the ladder to the top and quickly he and the others made their way to the roof, coming up behind Snape and his people.

Harry instantly realized that Snape was so focused on the Order Members that had appeared so suddenly, that he wasn’t paying attention to anything else. Harry was immensely thankful for the element of surprise.

“How did you know we were coming?” Snape was asking Minerva, “We saw your...guards at the station and decided to hold off. I knew you would put guards on the train to protect your precious Potter, but I knew we would outnumber them.” His voice had a mixture of disbelief and furious anger.

Harry again put his wand to his wrist, he knew that the Order was now aware of their presence and their upper hand, but Harry had just had an idea. “We are going to try to use the Imperious curse on some of the back people, try to even out the odds a bit more, I don’t know if it will work, but it is worth a try.” As the message went out, he saw Minerva give a slight nod of the head, which was disguised as flipping a piece of hair that had escaped from her severe bun out of her face.

Harry wasn’t sure if it would work, he hadn’t had much luck with the last curse he had attempted, but nodded and several of them pointed wands at people and whispered “Imperio.”

Several of Snapes people slightly shook their heads and kind of lolled them to the side, under the effects of the spell.

“Imperio.” They said again and again, until most of Snape’s group were bewitched.

Harry nodded to Minerva.

“I tire of this.” Minerva said, and the battle suddenly begun.

Harry feeling a twinge of remorse flicked his wand and the Imperioused wizards began attacking each other, wizards and witches were falling off the side of the train at an alarming rate.

At first Snape didn’t realize, but then he became aware that he was completely surrounded and down to only five people.

Harry and his group hadn’t even had to move yet, Harry’s idea had been so effective.

Two of Snapes remaining people looked around, and realizing that the odds were against them apparated away in fear barely missing the curses aimed for them. Snape roared and turned around facing Harry. “You!” He hissed and raised his wand. “Avada Kedavra!” He bellowed and through all of his force and hatred into the curse.

Harry could see the green light from the curse coming for him in slow motion, Snape was so close to him that Harry would not be able to move out of the way fast enough, and if he did, someone behind him would be hit and killed. He decided to stand his ground.

“Protego!” Yelled fifteen desperate and terror filled people, knowing it was useless but desperately trying to protect Harry.

The spells combined and a golden hued mist erupted in front of Harry, sending the curse in several different directions hitting the remainder of Snape’s people, but unbelievably missing him.

He bellowed in disbelief and Harry could see him begin to turn on the spot. Harry hadn’t even had time to comprehend what had happened, “NO!!” He bellowed and jumped forward barely grabbing onto Snape’s ankle as he dissapperated.