[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?"
>
> "No, I don't think so," said Cyrus.
> 
> 
> "I think we're okay..." Kadyn looked around. "Thank you."

"Good," the man said as he looked at Kadyn, "I'll be moving on, then."

As he started to walk away they could see that he was loosely wearing
his robes.  Beneath he was wearing a red plaid shirt, blue overalls,
and large brown boots.

The boots gave muffled clunks as he walked down the hall and knocked on
the next cabin door.  There was a quick yelp heard through the cabin
wall.