❛ chapter two ⎜ bat-dragon-horses ❜

"𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐄?" 𝐊𝐈𝐄𝐑𝐀 𝐀𝐒𝐊𝐄𝐃, shaking me out of my daze as we climbed off the train into the crisp, cold air.

"Hmm?"

"The twins are at Hogwarts this year?"

"What?" I asked, turning to look at what she was gazing at. A beanie on top of head of blonde hair, and a similar color a few centimetres taller were bobbing around a crowd of other first years.

"Oh yeah, they are," I said.

"And Hagrid's gone," Sylvia commented as the crisp voice of Professor Grubbly-Plank rose above the chatter instead of the rough one of the Gamekeeper.

"Yay!" Kiera said with a hint of relief. "Maybe we'll finally get a good Care Of Magical Creatures lesson!"

"Hagrid's nice," I agreed, "but his lesson planning needs some work."

"Definitely," Sylvia hummed.

"I can't believe the twins are already at Hogwarts!" Kiera murmured.

"Wait, the twins are at Hogwarts?" Sylvia exclaimed. "Already?"

"Yeah, you saw them at the station."

"I thought those were your trunks they were putting up!"

"It was. They put my stuff up first, then Monica and Charlie's. Do you know how heavy those trunks are?"

"I know, it's awful!" Kiera agreed.

"What house do you think they'll get in?" Sylvia asked.

"I've told you what I think!" I said shaking my head but a small - and plastic - smile tugging at my lips. "Hufflepuff for Charlie, Gryffindor for Monica. If they don't get in those, the Sorting Hat is screwy. Monica is daredevil two-point-o, and Charlie is so soft and sweet and hard working and is literally the embodiment of Hufflepuff."

"The Hat works in mysterious ways," Kiera said.

"I dunno Kiera. The twins are pretty much the definition of Gryffindor and Hufflepuff." Sylvia shook her head.

"At least I can watch over Monica if she's in Gryffindor," I sighed. "I wouldn't be surprised if she gets detention or is in some sort of trouble in the first two weeks."

"Give her the benefit of the doubt!" Kiera argued.

I raised an eyebrow. "I already have. I said two weeks, not one."

Sylvia laughed. "She's got a point!"

"You really think she'll get into trouble that quickly?" Kiera asked as we approached the turn in the road that would lead us to the carriages that would take us to the castle.

"Monica doesn't think things through," I sighed. "This morning? She ran through the wall seconds after I had, dragging Charlie behind her. They nearly hit me. They didn't, of course, but she never really thinks about what the consequences of her actions will be."

"She is very hot headed," Sylvia added.

"Maybe she'll change," Kiera said.

"Yeah," I snorted, "and maybe the sun will rise in the west tomorrow morning."

"People change, Elise." Her voice was quiet this time, serious and low. "We're all proof of that."

"Yeah but this is Monica..." I trailed off as we turned the corner and the carriages came into view and nearly dropped the owl cage in my hands.

"Elise?" Sylvia asked.

"What's wrong?" Kiera said in a voice dripping with concern.

"W... what are those?" I stuttered, motioning to the carriages.

A reptilian horse was standing in front of the carriage. In front of every carriage. They were ugly and flesh-less with their coats hanging limp on their protruding bones. They had dragonish heads and large, leathery, bat-like wings. Everything except the pupil-less white eyes was midnight black. They blended into the night, eerie and mysterious. Why were they suddenly pulling the carriages if they were already able to move by themselves?

"What are what?" Sylvia asked, looking around.

"The bat-dragon-horses!"

"Elise, are you okay?" Kiera asked, concern in every ounce of her voice.

"I'm fine! There are weird things in front of the carriage!" Kiera and Sylvia exchanged a glance.

"Can't... can't you see them?" came a familiar voice beside us.

"See what?" came another familiar voice.

"Can't you see what's pulling the carriages?" came the first voice again.

I spun towards them, relief filling my face. "You can see them too?" I asked Harry, my eyes flickering to his. Once again, caught by those emerald orbs.

"I don't know how anyone can't see them. They're massive!"

"Mate, you're not making any sense!" the other voice replied, the bright hair of Ronald Weasley looking like fire as he stepped into the lantern light.

"For once, I agree with Weasley," Kiera said. "You two are making things up."

"I'm not!" we both cried indignantly, and I thrust out a hand, pointing to the bat-dragon-horses. "Look!"

"Elise, there's nothing there!" Sylvia cried in exasperation.

"You can't see them?" asked a familiarly dreamy voice as Luna Lovegood peeked her head out of the carriage. "Elise and Harry aren't going mad or anything. I can see them too. I don't know what they are though."

"See?" I cried in relief, motioning to Luna, not caring that the one person who believed my claims was the oddest person in existence, not to mentions someone who was already known for making things up. "Someone else sees them!"

"Elise," Sylvia said, dropping her voice, "it's Loony Lovegood. Do you really believe her?"

"I heard that," Luna said, but not a hint of entered anger in her voice. "But I don't mind. People fear what they don't understand. You just don't understand the horses."

"When did you start seeing them?" I asked, desperate to prove I wasn't going crazy.

"Oh, since my first day. I've always been able to see them. Don't worry. You're just as sane as I am." And, leaving my stomach on the floor, she climbed back in. Sylvia gave me a pointed look.

"I'm not going mad, am I?" I asked Harry as our friends climbed into separate carriages.

"I don't know," Harry shrugged. "Either neither of us or both of us is."

"I don't know how they can't see them," I sighed. Then I shivered. "They're so big and frightening!"

"I - I'm not scared of them," Harry said. I rolled my eyes.

"You don't have to act all manly, " I told him, taking a step towards Sylvia and Kiera. "It's okay to be frightened."

"Okay," Harry admitted. "They are frightening."

I shot him a sad smile. "Let's hope it's not our sanity that's the reason for this development."

"Hope all you want," Harry said with a shake of his head. "I know I'm not going crazy. The Daily Prophet's had enough go's at me, and I'm done with thinking that it's all my fault."

"Yeah well the prophet's been pretty screwy this summer," I sighed. I lowered my voice until it was nearly a whisper. "My parents are in the Order. I know you aren't crazy, Harry. Cornelius Fudge is just covering things up. You're his scapegoat."

Harry's eyes widened, and his mouth hung open. Apparently I shocked him to the extent that he forgot to ask what a scapegoat was.

"Elise?" Sylvia called. "Whatcha doing out there?"

"Coming!" I called back. "See you then," I said to Harry. The last thing I needed was for Sylvia to see me hanging back to talk to a boy. The things she would make up...

"Goodbye. See you around!"

And with that, we both climbed into our own carriage and closed the doors.

"Are there really horses in front of the carriages?" asked Sylvia in amazement.

"Don't be silly," Kiera snorted. "If there were horses pulling the carriages, we would see them."

"Don't you think it's strange that only Loony, Potter, and Elise can see them?" Sylvia asked. She leaned forward, her cheeks rosy. "I mean, they must have something wrong with them!"

"I'm here too, Sylvia," I said tiredly, not in the mood to talk more about my differences from the rest of society.

"Sorry," she said, not looking sorry at all.

The two of them started debating ludicrous theory's on the subject of which Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher we could possibly have this year, but I didn't really care.

A year ago, the only thing I had in common with the Boy Who Lived was that we were in the same year in Gryffindor. This summer I had added one more thing. Looks like I had yet another similarity to add to the list.

𝔸𝕌𝕋ℍ𝕆ℝ𝕊 ℕ𝕆𝕋𝔼

Hey there! Thanks for reading! So sorry it took me so long to get this chapter out, I've had a lot going on! I'll try to get the next one up soon, it'll be about the Sorting!

Although it pains me to write bad things about Hagrid, this trio is not as familiar with him as the Golden Trio. Please forgive them.

Good news: I've planned a lot more of this story! You'll (hopefully) be getting more chapters sooner, but as school starts they will slow down a little.

Hope you like this chapter!!