[Hogwarts Between] Kadyn, Cyrus, and Amber on the train

[Patrick McCartney]

> Amber sat in the cabin chair and listened to the
> boys talk. Amber
> could onlyhear short bits of the boy's story.
> "Funny... Mates...
> Levitation... Dead" Atthe word
> "dead" Amber shot up and looked out
> the window with Kadyn.
>
> "What's wrong with you?" Kadyn
> looked at Amber, then went back to
> his seat. "Seems as though something's
> gone wrong with the train.
> It seems to have gone dead."
>
> "Ohhh..." said Amber, the events
> clicked in her head. "What do you
> think happened?"
>
> "I dunno," said Cyrus. He sounded
> worried.
> "This has never happened before,
> that I've ever heard of."
>
>
> "Maybe it's a new way of doing things,
> because of
> the down fall of...
> You-Know-Who..." Kadyn trembled slightly.
> "They
> might just have it for
> security reasons, or something."
>
> "Maybe." said Cyrus.
>
> "I do know You-Know-Who." said Amber,
> "He's an evil guy. My
> parents
> told me about him before they left."
>
> "My dad's told me about
> You-Know-Who."
> Cyrus shuddered. "He sounds
> really
> evil."
>
>
> "He's as dark as they come, that's
> for
> sure. So it probably is just
> some
> security measure, a stop half way there to make
> sure
> there aren't any
> stowaways." Kadyn smiled in spite of
> himself,
> because he only half
> believed
> what he was saying.
>
> Just as Kadyn finished, three soft taps came from
> the
> closed
> compartment door.
>
>
>
> Amber jumped. She wasn't expecting that. Her
> head turned to the
> door.
>
> It was difficult to see anything outside of the
> dingy cabin
> window.
> All Amber could see was the shadow of someone
> standing outside,
> just to
> the left staying out of view.
>
> "Should be open the door?" whispered
> Cyrus. His voice trembled
> slightly.
>
>
> Kadyn sighed. "Of course! They did say
> someone would be coming around
> to
> check on us." Kadyn shook his head, and
> opened the door to the
> compartment.
>
> Standing on the other side of the door was a
> stout man
> standing a few
> inches short of six feet tall.  He had a round
> head
> with hair cut very
> short and even all around.  His sideburns were
> shaved
> above and around
> his ears.  He wore glasses that were round and
> thick.
> His nose seemed
> rather large for his face, and his ears stuck
> out.  A
> straight
> expression was on his face showing that he was
> calm,
> concerned, and
> patient.
>
> "I was wonderin' if y'all are
> a'needin' any help."
>
> He spoke in a slow deep kindly drawl which gave
> the
> feeling of laziness
> but, more strongly, a sense that he had a serious
> distaste for fooling
> around.
>
> "No, I think I'm alright. What about you
> two?" Kadyn looked to his to
> friends.
>
>
> Amber raised her hand slightly but started
> talking anyway, "Can you
> tell us why the train stopped?"
>
> The man looked directly at her through his glasses.
>
> "Set back some," he drawled, "Magic
> keeps it going, so I reckon
> somethin' happened there."
>
> Kadyn nodded, slightly worried now that something
> actually had gone wrong,
> and that it wasn't just a security measure.
>
>
> "So," said Amber, "What do you mean by that?"

The corners of his mouth bent upwards giving a slight smile.

"I apologize," he responded, "for talking like country folk."

"The spell that keeps the train a'goin' was interrupted.  I've been
told that it's needin' a refesh, but that plow don't scour.  It's the
reason the train was late."

"So, is anyone needin' any help?"