[[OPEN]] TOLD YOU SO

Ace Longbottom stared intently at the clock on the platform, an eyebrow raised in expectation. Her brother, who had Side-Alonged her to this location, was slumped against a wall, looking thoroughly done with her.

"Alice-"

"Sh!"

"No, but really-"

"Sh!"

"Me talking won't interrupt you watching the-"

"I. Said. Sh!"

He rolled his eyes and thrust his hands into his pockets, knowing his sister all to well to think that anything he could say would actually help. Ace's eyes widened and her lips mouthed the numbers and the hands slid over them, crossing the finish line.

She wheeled around, arms out, eyes wide with a grim, if triumphant, look on her face. "Where's the train? Huh? Where is the train?"

Frank rolled his eyes. "Trains can be late."

She shook her head. "Not this one. This one has only ever been late in the case of Death Eaters, werewolves, and, once I heard, demons, but there's a bit of dispute about that. The point of the matter is I told everyone that something weird has been going on and now the train is late."

"Alice, you are overreacting-"

That was when she grabbed the arm of the first person who walked by her and said, "Am I right when I say that this magical train is only late when something bad is happening? Please, explain this to my brother."

Percy hesitated at being pulled aside by Alice Longbottom. With the train nowhere in sight, he too was becoming worried, and if it had been any other child asking, he might even have told them that. It was important for kids to know that adults were just as fallible as they were.

But Alice had an awful habit of pushing her nose in just where it wasn't wanted or needed. It was almost as though she took after Hermione and Ron rather than her own parents. So in this instance, he decided to make an exception.

"Even magical trains can be late, Ace," he told her. "Is your father around here somewhere?"

It just so happened that the arm she grabbed belonged to an adult Weasley, and instinct told her to respectfully withdraw, whilst her own tenacious nature would not let her oblige something simply because she ought to. Her father had remained close to the Weasleys and the Potters, and though most of her exchanges happened with the Ron/Hermione branch, and the honorary Lovegood one as well, Ace had been to enough 'family gatherings' to consider Percy somewhat of an uncle, and he was one of the more foreboding, even if her father insisted Percy had lightened up considerably over the years.

So she released only when he spoke, and her lips puckered in disagreement, while Frank relaxed into relief behind her back. Alice was insulted to have her father inquired about after having failed to convince him of her theories, so she crossed her arms and lifted her chin. "As a matter of a fact, he's not. He and my mother, like the rest of the sheep, consider it wise to place trust in their faulty media and government to alert them-"

"Ace, he just had a meeting," Frank said, leaning in and staring at his sister incredulously. The look he shot Percy was clear. Where does she get this stuff?

Claire Bishop had received Jack Dyllan's Patronus and immediately pulled on her jacket, stepping into the hallway to rouse the troops. By the end of the hallway, she had received no less than four reports of parents panicking, of pandemonium unfolding, and some strange, must-be false reports of a missing train. She alerted [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] of her need for the Law and Enforcement Patrol. They would handle the crowds, would handle the paperwork involved in gathering witness reports. Then she called to her Aurors, Caleb Flint and another immediately peeling off to follow her.

Frank Longbottom was practically in shock. There was no way Ace had been right. The Hufflepuff herself looked torn. On one hand, she was right, she knew it, and ha! everyone should feel stupid for not listening to her. On the other hand... This was really bad.

Claire glanced towards Jack and Robert and Keiran and the crowd that had gathered. Her job wasn't to figure out the train. She had to command her troops. She grabbed an Auror and asked her to contact [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] for her, only to spot Lee. She told the Auror to inform Lee of her presence and then turned about.

She spotted Percy Weasley first and stepped forward. "Hello, Claire Bishop. Did you have students on the train?"

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] @"Stephen Walker" [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]