All in the Family

Chapter 23: The Whomping Willow

No sooner had they landed, feeling relatively squashed but honestly they'd had worse, then Frank released a furious yelp of pain as his head jerked, the corner of a book catching the nap of his neck.

"Frank!" Alice yelped in concern, twisting around in her seat to get an eye on him.

He rubbed at the spot in disgust as he looked at his new surroundings, and looking for one in particular, but was immediately distracted. They were in...Frank wasn't even sure. They were on cushioned seats, there was admittedly plenty of legroom between where he was and where Alice was now craning over the exact same cushioned seats in front of him. She and the Marauders were up there, Potter at once fidgeting with something in front of him, but making a guttural noise of disappointment it wasn't moving. It was a circle, sectioned into three spaces.

Black was right beside him, hooting with unrestrained laughter as Frank picked up the book and considered clubbing him back in revenge, but he was also right next to Alice, and in such a small space he didn't want to risk hitting her.

"You rotten twat, what exactly was the point..." he trailed off though, glancing at the book in his hands and back to him curiously, then to the book in Alice's lap. He craned his neck, but couldn't see Pettigrew, who was ducking down in his seat next to the door and trying to look as small as possible, so he couldn't tell if whatever he'd filched was still on him. Still though, "when did you throw this?"

"Right as we were taking off. I was worried there for a second you got done to fast and you wouldn't get to see just how Muggle I can be," Black pompously responded, puffing up his chest and squirming between Alice and Potter, trying to twist himself around as well and eye Frank. He'd even somehow managed to find a book on Toadstools, Frank had to give him credit for that as he hefted the object experimentally.

"That really is a bit interesting," Evans grudgingly followed along with his train of thought even as she was giving him quite the look usually reserved for Potter. "I would have thought it would have gone back to where it should be once we left."

"Yet it came along with us," Frank agreed, "along with the consequences," he finished, rubbing at the back of his neck again where it had struck.

"What do you think qualifies for this?" Regulus' expression was burning with curiosity, quite a different look from his usual derision when all eyes shifted to him, but clearly a puzzle put precedence. "Nothing's yet come along with us before, not even that owl of Harry's whose cage I was right next to the time before we vanished, so it can't just be a proximity thing."

"It was...in motion with us?" Alice offered, again imagining the scene of Black chucking the book at her boyfriends head, and the path continuing despite their leaving the space.

"I, suppose," Frank agreed, it really was as good an explanation as any.

Black still had quite the pleased look on his face, clearly not at all acknowledging what they had just understood. Not even his friends realized he was really smirking because he thought it was nice somehow, even just a tiny comfort to again understand just one part of what they were going through.

"Speaking of motion," Pettigrew spoke softly, but still expected his voice to carry, his eyes out the window. He'd been paying attention to the conversation around him, but had been far more invested looking at the clouds. He'd been hoping to grab someone's attention with his comment, but seemed to have gone unnoticed. Usually he preferred that, being at the back with Remus while the other two took the spotlight. He always had enjoyed observing those around him but lately it was getting on his last nerve. James was paying less attention to him than ever now that Remus and Sirius had made up, and even in this group of eight he still couldn't get a single acknowledgment anytime he ever noticed something?