drowning! → regulus black

tutor.

THE TRAIN DOES not, in fact take a mere three hours to begin moving again. So far, seven have passed.

Laura hasn't eaten since the previous morning, and it's safe to say she's famished. Sirius and James had come and raided the sweets that Marlene and Alice had bought, and there was barely any tea left in the flask Lily had brought. Mary even left to go search for another sweets trolley ages ago and still hasn't returned.

James tosses one of his old snitches in the air and catches it as it whizzes down. "It's hot as a Vipertooth in here. Wasn't the train supposed to move four hours ago?"

Lily takes the golden ball from James' hands and sighs. "Stop complaining. The train will move when it moves. Whining won't fix anything." Marlene nods to show her agreement, briefly raising her head from Laura's shoulder before resting it back down.

"I, for one think the boys should just retreat to their own compartment and quit stinking up ours," Alice gripes, opening up a window to peep her head out. "Plus, McGonagall is still outside speaking with the conductor." She ducks back into the compartment. "I doubt we'll be moving anytime soon."

Sirius crinkles his nose as he fans his face with Remus' newspaper. "I think the stench is coming from your owl."

Alice's brown eyes squint aggravatedly at Sirius. "Are you seriously blaming your filth on my owl? Do you realize how absurd that is?" She cradles the small cage in her lap as the Pygmy owl croons at her. "She's the size of my fist. Something that small can't stink up an entire train compartment, Sirius."

Sirius shrugs and continues fanning his face. Remus peers up at him over the book he'd conjured. "I agree with Alice. It smells like death in here."

"It feels like death in here," James groans.

Laura opens her eyes exhaustedly, giving up her attempts at sleep. "And who's fault is that? You're the one who messed up the air conditioning charm Mary had cast earlier. Now we have to wait for her to get back before we can finally get rid of this heat," She gripes, even though she's too fatigued to put much effort into being mad at James. Her face is flushed and sweaty, and she craves the relief of passing out.

Marlene sighs. "I'm just so hungry. When are the others getting back?"

"Dorcas was supposed to bring us some extra food, but she decided to hang behind and help Black keep the Slytherins from rioting since Avery set a compartment on fire," Lily responds. "Mary shouldn't be much longer, and Pete's also supposed to come back with some drinks soon."

After that, silence fills the air. It seems like everyone is either too frustrated about having to wait or too hot to respond.

Laura takes this time to pull her hair into a ponytail to get it off her neck. Usually, Sirius would have said something suggestive at that, but even he's too tired to do anything. She leans back and her mind wanders.