The second year girl was still crawling her way out of the compartment when the lights flickered again. Her heart was racing - breathing ragged and her palms sweating. She needed her sister, but she wasn't here. She needed to find that prefect girl from last year.

Slowly she pulled herself further down the corridor.

"Ouch" she grumbled as she knocked into the wall, and her knees pressed into the carpeted floors even harder than usual. It felt like the train was slowing. She needed the safety of older people FAST.

Just as Vickers exited the compartment with all those crazy dangerous girls, lights began to flicker, momentarily plunging his narrow path in darkness. He pauses for a second and the lights powers back on. What was that? Circuits shorting out? Magic getting a few hiccups? After a few seconds he shrugged it off and moved forward only to have the lights flicker in and out again. "Great... perfect timing." he muttered. With a bird cage in one arm and a pup buggy dragging behind him a this narrow hallway was not the best place to be caught with the lights off....

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steelsheen

Just as Vickers exited the compartment with all those crazy dangerous girls, lights began to flicker, momentarily plunging his narrow path in darkness. He pauses for a second and the lights powers back on. What was that? Circuits shorting out? Magic getting a few hiccups? After a few seconds he shrugged it off and moved forward only to have the lights flicker in and out again. "Great... perfect timing." he muttered. With a bird cage in one arm and a pup buggy dragging behind him a this narrow hallway was not the best place to be caught with the lights off....

Mika made her way further down the corridor. Her knees were certainly sore now. With each step forward she let out a high pitched yelping noise much like a dog whining when hurt. She was not too happy with herself.

Not much further.

Noises, she heard someone.

WHO was it? Were they evil. "DON'T HURT ME...i mean ow my knee hurts" wow did she sound whimpy or what? No wonder she wasn't a Gryffindor.

A sudden loud grinding noise can be heard coming from outside, right before the train shudders to a quick stop, sending students, luggage, and animals toppling out of place.

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Narrator

A sudden loud grinding noise can be heard coming from outside, right before the train shudders to a quick stop, sending students, luggage, and animals toppling out of place.

Mika screamed a high pitched shrill sound as she felt the train coming to a stop. The noise - it was loud, grinding, and it was going to eat her. Wasn't it? It sounded EVIL positively evil.

She gulped a big elephant tear ready to fall.

She wasn't going to let it.

She was not afraid of things...unknown things maybe.

Creepy noises were in that category.

With renewed vigor the girl tried to crawl further down the train toward the prefects compartment. She needed to find this official person and cry on their feet like a scared little girl. Which she was if anyone hadn't already noticed. When the train finally came to a sudden stop she fell forward landing on something, or someone. She wasn't sure.
All she knew was that there was definitely something there.

"That is a creepy noise please don't be the time-lady" she gulped as she pulled her knees close to her, hugged them adn began to simply rock back and forth in the middle of the hall.

Leaning out from her seated position in the Food Trolley, Em loudly called out to those in the area. "Everyone, the Headmistress has asked that everyone take a seat. Please sit along the wall where you are, or in the nearest compartment. There is still some room in the food trolley if you want to come in here." That was it right? she thought before adding. "And no magic."

The train had a sudden stop on the middle of their ride. Was this suppose to happen? Is this even normal? Or did the train just had no fuel at all? Juliet's stuff fell on her head lap when the train stopped. It's mostly her archery stuff, her bow and arrows.

But what was more intriguing to find out is why the train stopped. Juliet went left the compartment and into the train corridor like some students did. She did bring her wand in case something more weird is going to erupt anytime. Walking to some of the windows, She looked at the outside, the headmistress seems to be figuring this out.... with the help of some professors perhaps that is on-board. "What's going on?" she muttered to herself.

Officially her weirdest train ride.

The lights kept flickering and Vickers was starting to get second thoughts about staying in the corridor for long. He has to get to a compartment where there's less danger of him and his pets being trampled over.

He can hear a young girl saying something in the flickering darkness, but before he can react to that, the train lurches forward, throwing himself and his pets a few paces in that direction, skidding towards where the little girl was. " Owwwww!" he grumbled as he nursed his torso from having hit flat on the corridor floor. "What was that??... Merlin we didnt hit something or derail did we?" he muttered trying to contain that internal panic that started to churn in his stomach. Wait.... wheres Dolly? Where's Mac? He lost his grip on the bird cage and the pet carrier....

People were talking--confused understandably-- and decided to do what someone yelled out at the corridor. He pinned himself against the wall of the train and tried to fold his long legs to himself, lest someone trips over him....

He just chuckled slightly when Tiffany whispered to keep his smile. It was good to have his best friend back. Then the blonde guy just realized that something weird happened at the train. The light suddenly faded out, then on and off and on again.

Huh?

"What's going on here?" He frowned slightly. Gary took his wand from his pocket in order to defense himself. But no longer after that, he felt that the train had stopped suddenly. Huh? They hadn't arrived at Hogwarts, right? Did someone had interrupted their train ride or something? That's so.. weird. He grabbed Tiffany's arm and squezzed it. "'You okay?" Then he watched some students came out from their compartment.

"What's going on?" He asked to everyone there. Sigh.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steelsheen

The lights kept flickering and Vickers was starting to get second thoughts about staying in the corridor for long. He has to get to a compartment where there's less danger of him and his pets being trampled over.

He can hear a young girl saying something in the flickering darkness, but before he can react to that, the train lurches forward, throwing himself and his pets a few paces in that direction, skidding towards where the little girl was. " Owwwww!" he grumbled as he nursed his torso from having hit flat on the corridor floor. "What was that??... Merlin we didnt hit something or derail did we?" he muttered trying to contain that internal panic that started to churn in his stomach. Wait.... wheres Dolly? Where's Mac? He lost his grip on the bird cage and the pet carrier....

People were talking--confused understandably-- and decided to do what someone yelled out at the corridor. He pinned himself against the wall of the train and tried to fold his long legs to himself, lest someone trips over him....

Mika blinked as she noticed in the flickering lights that it was a boy who had landed right next to her. An older boy! She was happy about that but more so she was happy it was a ravenclaw!

When she heard what the girl yelled she found herself nodding. Wait, headmistress?

She was on the train? The woman who was to lead them to brilliance? Right?

She blinked, gulped, and pinned herself against what she thought was the wall. It wasn't until she realized it was wiggling that she noticed it was indeed a pet carrier.

"Who do we have here?" She asked the pup, and then added, "sit tight we'll find your owner and keep you safe" she smiled to herself, still panicking but glad she was keeping herself occupied.

Turning towards the boy next to her she whispered. "I don't think we derailed if we did wouldn't there be a crash and some fiery death scene?" She asked her tone hushed as to not scare the first years.

She knew some of those in her compartment had fallen, but they didn't seem serious. Other were probably not so lucky. Seeing as she couldn't really go anywhere and obey the headmistress, she chose to check on those out in the corridor. And since Max was organizing those sitting in the food trolley, Em leaned out again. "Is everybody okay? Did anyone get hurt when we stopped?" She didn't know what she could do but she could try. Plus, she had her first aid kit and all.

Back still against the wall, Vickers was readjusting his vision to the dimness of the corridor. He needed to get his bearings... not to mention figure out where his familiars are...

The bird was easier to find-- Dolly was squawking like the demon bird she was called with her cage lying on its side and her too tall to stand upright in it. He reached out and tried to quiet the cockatoo, then looked to his side when someone spoke...

Oh! He can make out Mac's form "Mac! Come here boy..." he said as he beckoned the lab-retriever over. "Thank you for finding him." he said to the young girl.... who was actually rather familiar "Hey... you're from my house right?" He thought he remembered seeing her in the common room

Someone (Emmaleigh) was calling out-- someone with a familiar voice "Uhm... I'm ok here..." he called out then murmured back to the little girl (Mika) "Are you ok? Are you hurt?"


******

There was this bright light that was coming from outside the windows, and Vickers stretched up to peek outside. He can see the form of the a woman and a man. The woman's bright red hair was a dead giveaway for the Headmistress-- but the man he had no clue who it was. Or what he was doing with that sack. He furrowed his brows. Was that a magical mechanic set to fix the train?

Calling out to the mystery boy in the hallway. "Okay, good. If everyone is alright, just try to keep them calm." Because it was taking every fiber of her being to keep herself calm. Seeing the light shining in through the windows, the girl gripped her wand tighter. Gulp. "Hey, can you see anything out there?"

After taking care of the folks in the back of the train, Armen Recard made his way into the main corridor with his wand still lit to ensure he didn't step on or bump into the kids. The corridor was packed so he raised his voice to get their attention.

"Hey kids, Armen Recard Department Head Of Magical Transportation for the Ministry here. Your Headmistress summoned me to help out with the Train problem and well...we can't fix it so we will be travelling by Portkey this evening." He dropped the sack of objects onto the floor infront of him. "Don't worry, it's perfectly safe and if you are new to it, just watch what everyone else does."

The Ministry official pulled out an old bowling ball, a pair of cracked glasses, a television remote, a tennis shoe with the sole missing and finally a toilet seat. "Everyone gather around one of the items here and make sure you touch it in order to be transported. We are meeting up at the Hogsmeade train station like normal. Don't leave the platform until we all arrive."

And with that the items began to glow BLUE ready to take off.

OCC: What he said guys! Go ahead and Rp your charrie touching a Portkey object and your charrie can disappear. You will soon see where you should post next.

"I can see the Headmistress..." he replied, his voice slightly muffled against the glass "... and theres another man out there... with a sack of some sort." He turned back round and sat against the wall again "Headmistress is going back to front-- the other guy is headed toward the back of the train." he added with a small shrug. Aint the magic engine found in front?


It didnt take long for Vickers to find out why the other man headed the other way, or who he was. He looked up at the voice and found himself blinking a few times. It was a Ministry guy-- better-- this was his Uncle's former boss. He remembered the silver-haired man speaking about him at the fall of Borr and his cronies....

So this was Mr Recard....

Right so train isnt going anywhere, and they were portkeying to Hogwarts? Well he didnt really need it since he got his apparating license over the summer but thats the official mode of traveling and he knew well enough to follow as directed. Ushering Mac back into the pup buggy and and tucking Dolly's bird cage under his arm, he was making his way near a portkey when something occured to him "Mr Recard... what about our luggage Sir? Do we have to bring them along too before we portkey out? Mine are all in the luggage car..."

Tiffany smiled. Yea, it was so nice to have her friend back, no one actually likes argument right? Since they are so annoying and mostly happen because of compulsion. She really had enough of all those cold acts that she had to do to the apple boy. Just as she was about to wave him goodbye and head back to her own compartment, the lights went off all of a sudden. Then on, and off...The lioness stared at the lamps curiously, but she couldn't come up with a reasonable answer. Then the train has stopped at once when she almost fell onto the ground. Luckily she squeezed Gary's hand tight, that's why she wouldn't lose her balance at that point.

"Thanks,"she beamed."I'm fine. And you?"she asked as she released her grip. Why did the train stop all of a sudden? They were not supposed to have arrived at school that fast right? She looked around to see if anyone was hurt. Things fell out from compartments into the corridor. Tiffany has never experienced things like that. It was strange. Were they attacked by any unknown creatures or something like that? She took her wand out from her pocket as self-defense as she moved her glance to the man who suddenly appeared to be the department head of ministry. And he told them to take the...portkeys?

She headed towards him and stood around those items and told Gary to follow her. Television remote, seriously? Anyway before she could find out why this all happens, she can just trust Mr. Recard there. "What's going on though?"she asked, staring at those blue, glowing items. She really didn't know how to use them indeed.

Juliet could not move right now for various reasons. Mainly because she is scared whether or not she will accidentally bumped into anyone or step into someone else's foot. Now that's not good really. That's just terrifying. So she stayed still, near the window as she leaned, taking in the cold air.

This is obviously not a funny story to tell your father when she reaches to Hogwarts, after all, her father not entirely sure to put her to Hogwarts, and then this had to happen. Great, just great.

Juliet then saw light coming from someone's wand. Oh, she should have cast that charm as well. Then she heard the man speak and introduced herself as Armen Recard... Hey, wasn't he the guy that was.... uhmmm... nevermind. Juliet had to listen to what he is saying right now.

Don't worry, it's perfectly safe and if you are new to it, just watch what everyone else does...

Portkey. They are going to travel using those. Juliet watched him as he took out various of stuffs. Portkeys were easy, you just touch it. However, landing correctly is the trick. Juliet managed to land correctly once but that was out of luck. Taking a deep breathe she walked up to one of the stuff that this Armen person said, specifically on the tennis shoe.

Ughhhh.... One problem though, how about their huge luggage? Right now she had her bow and arrows with her and plus her sling bag. That'll do. Juliet then, without further ado slowly reached for the tennis shoe with no sole--- weird. Touching it and ready to be whisked away.

Here goes nothing.

Suddenly a man came and introduced himself as.. Department Head of Magical Transportation? Heh? How could that man come to the train? He wondered. So, there were other people who also boarded on the train? Because it's unusual if a student asked a help from Ministry (Even the daughter of the Minister.) The blonde guy turned to Tiffany, his hand still squeezed hers. Glad to know that she was okay. "Don't worry, I am fine." he spoke.

Gary stared at the Ministry man. He pulled.. junk? He slightly frowned. What's on his brain to put the junk toward them, huh? But he decided not to speak anything to him until he explained the use of them.. If they had them.

Portkey?

So they would continued their journey to Hogwarts by portkey? Interesting. He was familiar with portkey since he used it to travel from England to Canada last summer. Noticed that Tiffany looked a bit confused about that, he explained it briefly. "That's portkey. You just need to touch one of them and we will be sent to a specific place." Then he touched the television remote and gestured to Tiffany to touch it. He didn't even care about their luggage since he put most of important things at his backpack.

The lioness was trying her best to calm herself down as the man from the ministry began his speech. It was good to know that the apple boy wasn't hurt with that train stopped all of a sudden. She tried hard not to panic, she really didn't experience such incident before and it was her first time being through that much...what was going on indeed? Was it some unfriendly attack from other wizards and witches? She held the Slytherin tight, that's what comforted her the most at this point.

"Right. So we simply touch them and we'll be transported to another place,"she repeated what the man and Gary has just said, make sure that she was correct because she really didn't want any accident to occur. It sounds really easy after all. Just a simple touch and that's all. She followed him to the television remote. At this point, she shouldn't be asking too many questions though as she knew that the professors and the headmistress would figure it out sooner or later and she shouldn't be doubting them.

She cling onto her own backpack as most of the important things are put in it. "Okay, here we go,"she said, taking a deep breath. "On the count of three. One, two...THREE!" She kept her eyes shut, awaiting for a whole new trip with those magical portkeys.

It would be an interesting one, for sure.

"I'm pretty sure she would. Alice is kinda mean......" Theo was confused as to whether they'd actually put their differences aside at the moment. Were they friends? Or weren't they? Theo wasn't too bothered. Just as he was about to comment on the Cleansweep 39, the train lights flickered on and off. Theo froze in his position, then gave Blue a look of terror.

And now it had stopped, almost swooping him along the corridor.

WHAT WAS GOING ON? It was Voldemort. Lord Voldemort was back. His eyes lit up as he recognized a professor, mentioning port keys. He wasn't SURE what they were exactly, but the toilet seat was the first thing he saw.

"Merlin, let's go." Grabbing Blue's hand - yep - Theo dashed over and launched himself on the toilet seat before another student got there first. WHAT IS THIS MADNESS?

So the kids understood what was going on, yes? Well at least that they needed to use the Portkey as instructed--Armen had no idea what was going on with the train.

He was ready to leave this part of the Express when a boy asked him about their luggage. Good question, one he would have to ask Mrs. Truebridge. "Ah, I would say just take what you have right now, with you and then your Headmistress will somehow bring your main luggage from the luggage car later." He himself, actually never knew how that stuff got to the castle in all his years as a Ravenclaw there.

Bliss looked around frantically for Terry, "TERRY?" She cried, panicked. This was not part of the Hogwarts trip deal. Before she knew it, she was being thrown across the train corridor with such force that it was all she could do, to put out her hands to stop herself from breaking her head on the opposite wall. She landed on the floor in a heap. What was happening, she wondered and looked around. Placing her hand on the floor, she tried to lift herself up, but she fell straight back to the ground. "Ouch!" She muttered and lifted her wrist. She prodded it gently. Hmmm. Maybe it was sprained or b-broken.

Then a thought struck her. "Oh my gosh! Twitch!" She cried, her eyes eyes wide with worry. She stumbled around on the floor until she reached her owl's cage. "Twitch," she whispered, looking at her carefully. Twitch didn't move for a minute, but then stretched her wings and gave an annoyed hoot. Bliss sighed with relief and then looked her guitar with was also in one piece. She carefully stood up and dusted herself off with her good hand.

Bliss was trying desperately to calm Twitch down in her cage when someone very official looking came down the train carriage and started speaking. Department Head? Couldn't he at least tell them all what was going on? Right now everyone seemed to be looking confused to say the least. That was also how Bliss honestly felt. She looked at the man anxiously as he offered them away. Sounded good to her she thought, slinging her guitar on her back and picking up Twitch's cage. Bliss stepped forward cautiously, still wondering where Terry was. She was worried about him now. Bliss shook her head, assuring herself that he was fine and held onto the television remote, her eyes widening as it began to glow.

Relief was clear on this Ravenclaw's face when the Transportation Department Head gave his advise "Thank you Sir." he nodded. Although there was a nagging feeling at the back of his head about his precious books in the luggage he had the present situation to worry about now "Alright Mac, Dolly... anybody else needs someone to hold onto when we portkey out just hold onto me..." he called out as he looked at the young Ravenclaw (Mika) and all the other students now gathering around the Ministry man "Here we go..." he murmured under his breath before reaching out for the cracked glasses portkey, feel a sharp tug at the center of his torso and vanished.

Beth stopped when she the lights began to flicker. She didn't want to knock into someone or trip. She heard others talking about it too within their compartments and around her. It was time for her to pluck up and find a compartment for herself.

Before Beth can find a compartment that's not completely full, she falls forward uncontrollably, landing on her hands and knees as the train comes to a sudden stop.

This cannot be normal Hogwarts Express behaviour. Her parents never told her stories like this! As she heard the animals being knocked around she was thankful her parents had talked her out of buying a kitten.

Beth stood back up and took inventory of what was going on around her. Students and animals alike were making enough noise to tell her that no one had been able to organize anything yet at all. What was going to happen now?

She couldn't wait to write home and tell her parents all about this.

Hearing this, Beth moved towards the ministry official so she could take hold of a portkey. She really didn't want to grab the toilet seat. So when she reached the ministry official she grabbed hold of the portkey nearest to her and waited for the sensation of the portkey to start. She hated travelling like this...

Anastasia marched into the corridor, on her way to the prefects' compartment as she was. Interestingly enough, she now had a rather stuffed purse on her arm and a few stray hairs were out of place. What had the Headmistress been up to while the students were being evacuated?

And were there still stragglers in here as well? "YOU. You. YOU. All of you," the woman pointed, gesturing for the leftovers to grab a portkey. "Get a hold of one of those and GO. We're late for the feast."

She narrowed her eyes at the students and watched and waited for them to do as she'd commanded. Once the kids and the portkeys had disappeared, Annie marched through the empty compartment and into the next one.