The Hogwarts Express

Malek had taken his time in arriving. Humans. They weren't much of a threat. He was more lured by the promise of some amusement. His shapeless form penetrated the locomotive as it chugged along on its prescripted path, captive by the rails that kept it moving. That actually made the machine an easy target. It was incapable of moving sideways in any direction, and nor could it move backwards. Well, certainly not while it was moving forward. It had to slow down gradually, come to a complete stop and then reverse on the exact same path it had just come. The whole thing was primitive, and it amused him. Humans were so limited by the whole concept of gravity. A notion Malek did not have to concern himself with.

He filtered into the train easily. So much negativity here. The others were already here. That was rewarding. Malek enjoyed coming into a situation where the pleasantness was at a minimum. Well, and when foolishness combined with the negativity in an all time high, the collision into disaster was imminent. He predicted that things would not bode well for the young ones. And there were simply not enough of the full grown humans to present any sort of force. Not that it worried him. It just didn't.

An elderly woman pushing a cart of pleasant little treats attempted to draw her wand against Malek, and he simply curled his form around her in an almost beguilingly loving caress and stripped her of every ounce of life energies. He saw the light of her spirit leave her form, and he enjoyed tasting and savoring the courage she had shown. It was quite refreshing and satisfying. He took great delight in watching her limp lifeless form fall softly to the floor.

He allowed his black, smokelike form, lit only by his glowing yellow eyes, float through the locomotive, trying to decide who else to toy with. Who indeed might make a suitable victim for him next? The challenge was almost irresistable.

Neqa'el roared in laughter " Dear girl its simple mythology all the gods of all the civilizations are the same as to me speaking latin i also speak Egyptian, Aztec, Mayan and many others" he gave her a smile showing her perfect teeth except for two fangs. "bluebell fire i think is what it is called in your language i believe it cant be put out except by the user but watch this" he said as his snapped a finger a purple flash of light brightened the hallway for a second the bluebell fire was gone. "thats just the tip of my power" he finished.

Jack blinked but allowed her arm to fall loosely at her side as though she was not fazed in the least, though she felt her unease buck somewhere in her gut. If they could mess with magic, she was sorely unequipped against the freaky demons. Magic was what she thought always seemed to even up the fight. And now it seemed it was not as useful as she needed it to be.

She raised her wand higher and smirked. "That was a nice...trick." She said it in a voice as though she were saying it were a cute little muggle trick a child might brag about. She knew she was testing her luck taunting him this way, but anything to keep him distracted. "What else you got?"

He chuckled his voice sounding like he was a grown man instead of a demon. "Come let me see what you can do for i fear if i were to show you what i could do this train and the surrounding area would be nothing but a memory" he said as he outstretched his arms as if inviting her to attack him. "come make a attempt to defend your life and your friends life" he finished giving her a dark smile.

Jack felt any confidence and strength trickle out of her stomach as she realized she had not fooled him. He knew that Chase was right behind the door, but here he was, inviting her to stand here and defend her friend and to prove herself.

Jack did not back down from challenges, that she was sure of herself. And here he was, teasing and taunting her, leaving her pride on the line telling her to prove herself to him and fight back. She mustered up all of her confidence and strength and stared back into that terrible face and raised her wand. "Oh, I'm chalk fool of them. Here's a fun one!" She pointed her wand at him. "Avis Oppugno!" Birds shot out of her wand and dove at him to attack him.

He laughed as he watched the birds another flash of purple light and they fell to the floor "Oh come now girly you must know something better than that, I mean you are the only reason your friends are alive right now surely you would want to prove to us that human's deserve the magic they stole from us" he said readying himself for the next spell. He smiled at her again exhaling as he did with a slight laugh he enjoyed toying with the humans. Though he felt that she was not as worth a challenge as the others.

Jack's lips curled in anger as the birds fell to the ground; Jack could not stand the suffering of animals, even if she had just conjured those little winged beings. And she definitely did not like being made out to look like a weak fool, which was what the demon seemed to be doing. She calmed herself down and forced a smile.

"Oh, but it seems you are just going to be defensive every time. Hiding the fact that you can't do anything impressive?" She sneered at him. "You are probably the lowest of all the demons, eh? So you can't even take the offense and strike back." She smirked and rolled her eyes before suddenly flicking her wand at him. "Bombarda! Stupefy! Confringo!" She yelled these quickly, hoping that if the exploding spell or the stunning spell did not work, then she could at least see the demon catch fire.

The demon absorbed the first two spells on the last one he would have fun with he screamed loudly as the flames caught fire of his robes he fell to the ground in a burning heap. He let a minute or two pass before he stood his features changed his face was severely burnt and the ashen part of his face was skull. "My dear I am very powerful there is only one other rank above me before you reach our leader, do you wish to see my power?" he asked her as if he was about to show her something she had never seen "look your birds are alive" he said watching them fl around him and then turn into a crow while this happened he said "verto illa pennipotenti in a turba quod iuguolo lemma nice quod tardus" he said his words having power in them so much so it appeared to hurt him to speak them. The crow then started to shred into many pieces and ended as a mush. "Do you really wish to see how this will work with you, Human" he said in a that would hopefully tell her he can and will destroy her if he made him.

Almost immediately after Amelia had finished dealing with the bullying situation, she heard a noise behind her which caused her to turn quickly on the spot. It was a disruption, to be certain, but not one that could have been caused by any second year.

The noise had come first, a screech which made Amelia want to cover her ears, which would have been her second choice. In a more instinctual reaction, however, Amelia’s right hand darted for her wand, which was tucked in the waistband of the uniform skirt she had already put on. Just as she felt the strip of wood between her fingers, though, the train lurched to a halt, sending Amelia catapulting against a wall, which sent a dull ache spreading through her left shoulder.

What the hell? Amelia thought, looking first to the site of her injury and then to the corridor as a whole. The shock of the stop had brought a trunk plummeting in her direction, but it ricocheted off the door of a nearby compartment, shattering the window but leaving Amelia unscathed. More careful now to avoid potentially dangerous projectiles, Amelia stayed close to the wall with her wand out, still completely in the dark about what exactly was happening.

As she gazed down the train, though, she began to see a picture that was all-too-clear of what was happening. Dark forms were beginning to move through the train, announcing their presence without shame or hesitation. The first form to enter the train hovered over Angelique – a girl Amelia recognized only by reputation – and after a brief encounter sent the girl hurling toward Amelia. The Ravenclaw girl ducked to avoid another collision, but heard the distinct pop of apparition and looked up to see that Angelique’s form was no longer on a course of impact with her torso.

Knowing she needed to think quickly, Amelia moved away from the battles which were already being fought, some by those she recognized. She could see a blur of red hair she thought she recognized as Jack, a girl she had met only briefly over the summer holiday, and there were some flashes of Hufflepuff colors as well as she ran past. As she moved down the corridor, Amelia slammed shut compartments containing students, not bothering to check for ages. Anyone who had not come out already would be at a severe disadvantage if they chose to now.

As she ran, she fired protective spells over her shoulders and at doors which were already shut tight. Although Amelia was bright, she had little to no experience dealing with whatever it was that had invaded the train. She had never seen anything like them; varied in form, ranging from zombie-like to something more human, though she hadn’t gotten an especially close look at any of them. Right now their identity was not at the top of Amelia’s priority list, however, and she instead focused on the measures that needed to be taken to counteract their obviously destructive ambitions.

Just as she reached the last compartment of the last passenger car, Amelia heard a crash followed by a thump in the dining car, the last car on the train. For a few seconds, Amelia was torn between her want for self-preservation and her need to live up to her duties as a member of the student staff. She had never been particularly brave – likely the reason she hadn’t been sorted into Gryffindor – but conflictingly, the young woman had a strong sense of duty and purpose. Whatever had caused the disturbance in the dining car would likely be making its way toward the passenger cars next, and she would have to deal with it one way or another. It made more logical sense to deal with it away from those students she had spent her efforts protecting, and so it was with much tenacity that she threw open the door to the dining car, her wand held aloft in front of her as she stepped in.

The first thing she noticed, for it was the most noticeable features of the room, was the overwhelming black fog which seemed to have a life of its own. Holding her breath, Amelia could feel her stomach begin to churn in a nervous kind of way, but she stood her ground, unwilling to be taken in by a fear of something which she had not yet identified. Out of the darkness in front of her, Amelia noticed a pair of glowing yellow eyes which had yet to settle on her, but would inevitably notice the only person inhabiting the car. With effort not to breathe in before speaking, Amelia raised her wand.

“Protego!” the redhead shouted firmly, the charm creating a barrier between herself and that which she did not know or understand. Able to breathe now, Amelia took advantage and took several deep breaths with the hope of steadying her nerves, but it seemed her heart was intent on being several hundred times a minute, and she could do nothing to calm it as she waited for the encounter she knew would come.

((Malek, I am talking about you, if you hadn’t noticed.))

Jack stepped back as the demon fell to the ground, burning and she raised her arm to shield her eyes from the gruesome sight that was the writhing, burning mess. Suddenly he was standing again, his face even more grossly disfigured and she quickly took up her dueling stance again, trying to face him with as much courage as she could muster.

She hesitated as he reconjoured the birds, bringing them back to life and they began to flutter around his head. Suddenly they transfigured into a single, ugly crow. Suddenly it began to tear to pieces, like a tearing of scraps of paper. Disgust and revulsion flicked between Jack's eyes but she forced herself to smile at him, though she could feel herself beginning to shake. She ran a hand through her hair to calm her tremblings and quickly regained her posture.

"You like to play, then?" Jack said, anger and a challenging attitude sparking in her chest. "Well I've been playing all summer, so this might be a fun little distraction." It was true; near death experiences were not on short supply this summer it had seemed. And the summer was not over yet. "We can play."

She smirked and raised her wand. "Defodio!" She shot the gouging spell at his face, hoping to spill some demon blood and distract him. "Rictumsempra!" She wondered how the tickling charm would affect the creature. She shot it again. "Rictumsempra!"