Raven | 𝘙𝘦𝘨𝘶𝘭𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

Chapter 36

After the Grey Lady floated away, Alexandra finally came back to her senses and with that she took a running start and made her way down the castle toward where the last seemingly-horseless carriage was awaiting her.

      As quick as humanly possible, Alexandra got up on it alone and it started on immediately. All the way down the Hogsmeade station where the train awaited her, she would look down at her watch, anxiously throwing glances behind the window. She only had one minute left, or the train would've gone without her.

     But at last Alexandra sighed in relief when from afar she sighted the train still in the station. Although then her eyes widened in horror when the train whistled as her carriage started to slow down.

     Her carriage had barely come to a stop when Alexandra opened its door and jumped outside, running towards the train as it started moving slowly.

     "No! Wait!" she shouted as if the train would listen to her, but before it could grab any more speed, she finally managed to hop on it through the open door.

      Alexandra placed a hand over her fast-beating heart while she leaned against the train corridor's wall, trying to catch her breath as she panted.

     "Alex!" She heard Mike call her out and when she looked up, she saw him pacing toward her urgently from the other end of the train's corridor. "Where the hell have you been!?"

    "It's good to see you, too," she said wittily, offering him a cheeky grin. But Mike only gave her a knowing look.

     "Do you mind explaining?" Mike asked sternly, folding his arms as the train started to grab speed and the Hogwarts Express finally left the station.

      "How about we find a compartment first?" Alexandra suggested, ignoring his glares as she started walking down the corridor. "Everywhere must be full by now."

     "Well, of course it's full! Look how late we are!" Mike retorted, but then he rolled his eyes. "We can get in a compartment with other Ravenclaws we know."

     But Alexandra groaned at the suggestion. "But they don't like me! They say I'm weird."

     "Oh, don't act like you care what others think of you, Starling." Mike scoffed, nudging her with his elbow playfully.

      Alexandra smiled, but she still didn't feel too reassured about spending her next few hours with people she didn't know much. True, she had spent the last five years in their House and common room, but she had barely ever spoken with any of them.

     Although at least if they shared a compartment with others, Alexandra could use that as an excuse and not tell Mike about her conversation with the Grey Lady.

      So with that, she and Mike made their way down the train, glancing quickly inside the compartments to see if they could find anyone familiar. Although all the while, Alexandra had her gaze down, afraid to accidentally catch Regulus's eyes.

     "Here," Mike finally said and gestured Alexandra over when he reached a compartment and slid it open, peering his head inside at the three Ravenclaws who sat in there. "Hey, guys. Do you mind if we joined you? Everywhere else is full."

      "Yeah, sure," one of the guys in there nodded and so Mike and Alexandra went inside, greeting them as they closed the compartment door behind them and sat down.

     In the compartment there were two boys — who were both Chasers in Mike's Quidditch team — and a girl by the name of Sarah Jacobs. All three of them were a year older than Mike and Alexandra.

     Throughout the time they sat there, the four of them talked of Quidditch and their chances and strategies for next year, but Alexandra couldn't care less. Instead, she stared out of the window, watching the mountains turn into rivers and the rivers turn into forests, her mind wandering far away.

     She kept thinking back at her conversation with Helena. Not only had she gotten answers, but she was now left with more unanswered questions. More mysteries.

     Alexandra had already guessed that Helena was the one who had sent Corvus after her with a warning. But she couldn't understand why the ghost would even bother; Helena had barely ever spoken to Alexandra throughout her five years at Hogwarts, but now suddenly she was worried that Regulus Black would come after Alexandra with a blade and take her life? It all sounded ridiculous.

      But to top it all off, she still had no idea what had happened to her parents and what they had to do with the Dark Lord that made him want Alexandra to join the Death Eaters.

      A horrible thought then made its way over her head. What if her parents were Death Eaters just like her grandfather and they had displeased the Dark Lord and so he had killed them, and now he wanted to punish them by turning Alexandra into one of his Death Eaters?

      But just then Alexandra was suddenly snapped out of her thoughts when the Ravenclaw girl called upon her.

      "So, Alexandra," Sarah started, "Are the rumors true?"

     Her heart sank at those words and her mind started wondering with all the possibilities. "What do you mean?"

     "Well, we've all seen you and the Slytherin boy hang around all the time." She shrugged. "What was his name again? Oh, right! Regulus Black, was it? Brother of Sirius Black?"

     "And what about it?" Alexandra asked firmly. For some reason, she felt tougher than before as she was now answering the girl.

     "I mean, we were just wondering if you guys were together," she said, a little grin playing at the edge of her lips.

      Alexandra raised a brow at her. "It really isn't any of your business, now is it, Jacobs?"

      The girl took aback, and so did the rest of the people sitting in that compartment, including Mike. No one could believe that Alexandra could ever be able to stand up for herself like this.

     But with a satisfied smile on her face, Alexandra only looked away and glanced behind the window as the rest stared at her in disbelief. She had Regulus Black to be thankful for.