The Head and The Heart (George Weasley)

four

"You've got everything you need?" Jane stood on Platform 9 & 3/4 with her father as he nervously double and triple checked all of her things. Penny purred, asleep in Jane's arms.

"Dad, come on, I'm fourteen, you don't need to check everything," Jane insisted. 

"Okay, okay, I just worry. You're just growing up so fast," he said, teary eyed. 

"I've got to go, Katie is saving me a seat, love you," Jane replied, hugging her father goodbye and hurrying on to the train. 

Jane made her way through the train cars until she found Katie sitting with Cho and Roger in one of them, and slipped inside. The group quickly caught up on each of their summers and compared schedules for the year. Cho and Jane had nearly all of their classes together, except for transfiguration, which Jane had with Roger as he was a year. She only had two classes with Katie, Charms and Potions, but that was alright since they spent plenty of time together outside of class.

As the last students boarded the train, Roger suddenly stood with urgency. 

"I've got to go report to the prefect car, but I'll be sure to stop by later."

"Ooh, Prefect Davies," Katie teased, "how prim and proper."

Roger rolled his eyes and exited the cabin.

As soon as the door slammed shut, Cho turned to Jane, excitedly.

"Did you see that?" she asked.

"See what?" Jane wondered, absolutely lost.

"The LOOK. He looked at you when he said he'd stop by later. With a look," Cho explained.

"You're ridiculous," Jane answered, "we've known Roger since our first year. He has never given a look, certainly not to me. Katie?"

"I didn't see anything," Katie mumbled absent-mindedly. Katie was never all so interested in boys and their looks.

"I know what I saw," Cho retorted.

Jane laughed it off, certain that Cho was imagining things. Rummaging in her bag, Jane pulled out a book opened to her page. Adjusting her glasses, she set to reading and Cho did the same. The trio passed about an hour like this before they were interrupted by a deep croakkkk.

"Is that—" Cho started, looking down at a small greenish-brown lump on the floor.

"Trevor!" Jane finished Cho's thought as she scooped up the toad in one hand and opened the door with the other, telling her friends she'd be right back.

As she made her way through the train cars, the Hogwarts Express neared the lake on the outskirts of Hogsmeade. Finally, Jane spotted Neville sitting in a car with Ginny Weasley and ducked inside.

"Trevor!" Neville exclaimed, seeing the toad in Jane's hands and placing it in the pocket of his cloak, "I hadn't realized he'd escaped!"

"How were your summers?" Jane asked, leaning on the doorway.

"Fine," Neville mumbled.

"Mine was brilliant!" Ginny answered brightly, "mum and dad took us to visit Charlie in Romania and I got to touch a baby dragon and there were all these big ones too but mum wouldn't let us anywhere near them even though Charlie said they were perfectly safe except Bill and Percy did get to go up to them because they're 'of age' or whatever nonsense which is completely unfair if you ask me; the dragon doesn't know how old we are, they're no less likely to burn off their faces than mine."

Jane was glad Ginny so bubbly, after all she had only know her last year while she was being tormented by a sentient diary. This was a nice change.

Jane stayed for a few minutes to catch up before heading back to meet Cho. As she walked down the train corridor, the air became cooler, as if the whole train had been apparated to the arctic. Strange, Jane thought, it was perfectly warm when we got on the train.

Suddenly, the whole car went dark and an icy cold swept through. Jane fumbled around, looking for an open door or a light switch, suddenly frantic to escape the now empty corridor. The walls, however were covered in a thin layer of frost and she couldn't find a door handle. Looking up, she saw a grey hooded figure walking, no, gliding towards her, its hand outstretched. The creature had no face, just a terrifying gaping black hole under the hood and as it gained on her, Jane felt all the joy, all the warmth, leave her body. She tried desperately to cling to something as her heart sank deeper and deeper into her stomach, some happy moment as horrible screeching filled her ears, and for a second saw a glimpse of a grassy meadow and a woman dressed for a picnic before her knees gave out and she began to slip slowly to the ground. 

Just as Jane thought she would hit the hard floor of the train car, she felt an arm wrapped around her waist and she was pulled violently to the left, crashing on top of someone.

"What are you doing?" 

"George!?" Jane yelped, seeing who had pulled her into the compartment. She hastily pulled herself off of him, but was too weak to stand, and crumpled back onto the floor. George scrambled up to a sitting positions, the pair of them nestled close on the cramped floor.

"Why didn't you get out of the way?" Fred exclaimed, Jane noticed him standing behind George, both of them looking concernedly at her. 

"What...what was that thing?"

"I don't know but everyone got out of the corridor and...and you just stood there," George answered, concernedly.

"I couldn't move," Jane gasped, holding back tears, "it was so cold. And dark. And I...I could barely breathe. I felt like I'd...like I'd n...never be happy again," Jane collapsed into George's arms sobbing uncontrollably. She had never felt quite so awful in her entire life.

George looked up his brother who shrugged at him, and then back down at the girl with tears streaming down her eyes.

"Erm...it's...going to be...okay," George stammered hesitantly, wondering whether or not he should pat her head. He opted not to and his arms hung limply.

Jane looked up, wiping away her tears as her cheeks flushed hot with embarassment. She was keenly aware of how the twins must have viewed her, a snotty, sobbing disaster. 

"S...sorry," she spoke through lingering sobs, "I'm sorry, I should get back to my car." Swiftly she hurried out of the compartment, not looking either boy in the eye, and practically ran back to where she had left Cho.

"There you are!" Cho called out when she saw Jane coming down the aisle, "did you see that thing?"

The two girls stepped back inside as Jane said that yes, she had seen the creature, but decided it best not to tell her about her sob-fest with the Weasley twins. The rest of the journey was short and soon they were riding to Hogwarts in the self-driving carriages as Jane tried to put the incident out of her mind.