voldemort or his death eaters weren't dim enough to attack either of them in broad daylight. but elara supposed it was to grant some in the order peace of mind. on the bright side, they got to travel with nymphie and sirius (who was in his animagus form, of course) so the journey was entertaining. the dog would snap at pigeons, scare cats, and chase its tail much to elara's and harry's entertainment.

once inside the station they lingered casually beside the barrier between platforms nine and ten until the coast was clear, then each of them leaned against it in turn and fell easily through onto platform nine and three quarters, where the hogwarts express stood belching sooty steam over a platform packed with departing students and their families.

"i hope the others make it in time," said mrs. weasley anxiously, staring behind her at the wrought-iron arch spanning the platform, through which new arrivals would come.

"hey, nice dog you two!" called a tall boy with dreadlocks.

"thanks, lee," said harry and elara, grinning, as sirius wagged his tail frantically.

"oh good," said mrs. weasley, sounding relieved, "here's alastor with the luggage, look . . ."

a porter's cap pulled low over his mismatched eyes, moody came limping through the archway pushing a cart full of their trunks.

"all okay," he muttered to mrs. weasley and tonks. "don't think we were followed. . . ."

seconds later, mr. weasley emerged onto the platform with ron and hermione. they had almost unloaded moody's luggage cart when fred, george, and ginny turned up with lupin.

"no trouble?" growled moody.

"nothing," said lupin.

"i'll still be reporting sturgis to dumbledore," said moody. "that's the second time he's not turned up in a week. getting as unreliable as mundungus."

"well, look after yourselves," said lupin, shaking hands all round. He reached Harry and elara last and gave them a claps on the shoulder. "especially you two. be careful."

"yeah, keep your head down and your eyes peeled," said moody, shaking their hands too. "and don't forget, all of you — careful what you put in writing. if in doubt, don't put it in a letter at all."

"it's been great meeting all of you," said nymphie, hugging hermione and ginny. "We'll see you soon, i expect."

a warning whistle sounded; the students still on the platform started hurrying onto the train. she gave elara the longest hug. elara had to wrestle away when the train's whistle blew again.

"quick, quick," said mrs. weasley distractedly, hugging them at random and catching Harry twice. "write. . . . be good. . . . if you've forgotten anything we'll send it on. . . . onto the train, now, hurry. . . ."

for one brief moment, the great black dog reared onto its hind legs and placed its front paws on harry's shoulders, but mrs. weasley shoved harry away toward the train door hissing, "for heaven's sake act more like a dog, sirius!"

"see you!" harry called out of the open window as the train began to move, while ron, hermione, elara, and ginny waved beside him. the figures of nymphie, lupin, moody, and mr. and mrs. weasley shrank rapidly but the black dog was bounding alongside the window, wagging its tail; blurred people on the platform were laughing to see it chasing the train, and then they turned the corner, and sirius was gone.

"he shouldn't have come with us," said hermione in a worried voice.

"oh lighten up," said ron, "he hasn't seen daylight for months, poor bloke."

"well," said fred, clapping his hands together, "can't stand around chatting all day, we've got business to discuss with lee. see you later," and he, george, and aurora disappeared down the corridor to the right.

the train was gathering still more speed, so that the houses outside the window flashed past and they swayed where they stood.

"shall we go and find a compartment, then?" harry asked.

ron and hermione exchanged looks.

"er," said ron.

"we're — well — ron and i are supposed to go into the prefect carriage," hermione said awkwardly.

ron wasn't looking at either harry or elara; he seemed to have become intensely interested in the fingernails on his left hand.

"oh," said harry. "right. fine."

"i don't think we'll have to stay there all journey," said hermione quickly. "our letters said we just get instructions from the head boy and girl and then patrol the corridors from time to time."

"fine," said harry again. "eell, we -- we might see you later, then."

"yeah, definitely," said ron, casting a shifty, anxious look at harry. "it's a pain having to go down there, i'd rather — but we have to — i mean, i'm not enjoying it, i'm not percy," he finished defiantly.

"i know you're not," said harry and he grinned. but as hermione and ron dragged their trunks, crookshanks, and a caged pigwidgeon off toward the engine end of the train, harry's smile dropped.

"see you later, guys," elara called after them.

"come on," ginny told them, "if we get a move on we'll be able to save them places."

"right," said elara, picking up jupiter's cage in one hand and the handle of her trunk in the other.

they struggled off down the corridor, peering through the glass-paneled doors into the compartments they passed, which were already full. elara could not help noticing that a lot of people stared back at them with great interest and that several of them nudged their neighbors and pointed harry out. after she had met this behavior in five consecutive carriages she remembered that the daily prophet had been telling its readers all summer what a lying show-off harry was. she wondered bleakly whether the people now staring and whispering believed the stories.

in the very last carriage they met neville longbottom, elara's and harry's fellow fifth-year gryffindor, his round face shining with the effort of pulling his trunk along and maintaining a one-handed grip on his struggling toad, trevor.

"hi, Harry," he panted. "hi, lara. . . . hi, ginny. . . . everywhere's full. . . . i can't find a seat. . . ."

"what are you talking about?" said ginny, who had squeezed past neville to peer into the compartment behind him. "there's room in this one, there's only loony lovegood in here —"

neville mumbled something about not wanting to disturb anyone.

"don't be silly," said ginny, laughing, "she's all right."

she slid the door open and pulled her trunk inside it. harry, elara, and neville followed.

"hi, luna," said ginny. "is it okay if we take these seats?"

the girl beside the window looked up. she had straggly, waist length, dirty-blond hair, very pale eyebrows, and protuberant eyes that gave her a permanently surprised look. elara knew at once why neville had chosen to pass this compartment by. the girl gave off an aura of distinct dottiness. perhaps it was the fact that she had stuck her wand behind her left ear for safekeeping, or that she had chosen to wear a necklace of butterbeer caps, or that she was reading a magazine upside down. her eyes ranged over neville and elara and came to rest on harry. she nodded.

"thanks," said ginny, smiling at her.

harry and neville stowed the four trunks and hedwig's and jupiter's cage in the luggage rack and sat down. the girl called luna watched them over her upside-down magazine, which was called the quibbler. she did not seem to need to blink as much as normal humans. she stared and stared at harry, who had taken the seat opposite her and next to elara.

"had a good summer, luna?" ginny asked.

"yes," said luna dreamily, without taking her eyes off harry. "yes, it was quite enjoyable, you know. you're harry potter," she added.

"i know i am," said harry.

neville and elara chuckled. luna turned her pale eyes upon elara instead. "i know who you are. you're elara lestrange. people always say you're mean, but you don't look it. well, you're quite intimidating, you know. but i don't believe you're mean."

"oh, thank you," said elara. she was aware of the rumors, but it was nice to know that some didn't believe them.

"And I don't know who you are," luna said to neville.

"i'm nobody," said neville hurriedly.

"no you're not," said ginny sharply. "neville longbottom — luna lovegood. luna's in my year, but in ravenclaw."

"wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure," said luna in a singsong voice.

she raised her upside-down magazine high enough to hide her face and fell silent. harry and neville looked at each other with their eyebrows raised. ginny and elara suppressed laughter.

the train rattled onward, speeding them out into open country. it was an odd, unsettled sort of day; one moment the carriage was full of sunlight and the next they were passing beneath ominously gray clouds.

"guess what i got for my birthday?" said neville.

"another remembrall?" said harry.

"no," said neville, "i could do with one, though, i lost the old one ages ago. . . . no, look at this. . . ."

he dug the hand that was not keeping a firm grip on trevor into his schoolbag and after a little bit of rummaging pulled out what appeared to be a small gray cactus in a pot, except that it was covered with what looked like boils rather than spines.

"mimbulus mimbletonia," he said proudly.

elara stared at the thing. it was pulsating slightly, giving it the rather sinister look of some diseased internal organ.

"it's really, really rare," said neville, beaming. "i don't know if there's one in the greenhouse at hogwarts, even. i can't wait to show it to professor sprout. my great-uncle algie got it for me in assyria. i'm going to see if i can breed from it."

elara knew that neville's favorite subject was herbology, but for the life of her she could not see what he would want with this stunted little plant.

"does it — er — do anything?" harry asked.

"loads of stuff!" said neville proudly. "it's got an amazing defensive mechanism — hold trevor for me. . . ."

he dumped the toad into harry's lap and took a quill from his schoolbag. luna lovegood's popping eyes appeared over the top of her upside-down magazine again, watching what neville was doing. neville held the mimbulus mimbletonia up to his eyes, his tongue between his teeth, chose his spot, and gave the plant a sharp prod with the tip of his quill.

liquid squirted from every boil on the plant, thick, stinking, dark green jets of it; they hit the ceiling, the windows, and spattered luna lovegood's magazine. elara shoved herself behind harry and got a load of it on her lap. ginny, who had flung her arms up in front of her face just in time, merely looked as though she was wearing a slimy green hat, but harry, whose hands had been busy preventing the escape of trevor, received a face full. it smelled like rancid manure.

neville, whose face and torso were also drenched, shook his head to get the worst out of his eyes.

"s-sorry," he gasped. "i haven't tried that before. . . . didn't realize it would be quite so . . . don't worry, though, stinksap's not poisonous," he added nervously, as harry spat a mouthful onto the floor.

at that precise moment the door of their compartment slid open. "oh . . . hello, harry," said a nervous voice. "um . . . bad time?" a very pretty girl with long, shiny black hair was standing in the doorway smiling at him: cho chang, the seeker on the ravenclaw quidditch team.

"oh . . . hi," said harry blankly.

"decent summer, cho?" said elara, wiping off her lap

"yes. um . . ." said cho. "well . . . just thought i'd say hello . . . 'bye then."

she closed the door again, rather pink in the face, and departed. harry slumped back in his seat and groaned. jealously bubbled in elara.

"never mind," she bracingly. "look, we can get rid of all this easily." she pulled out her wand. "scourgify!"

the stinksap vanished.

"sorry," said neville again, in a small voice.

ron and hermione did not turn up for nearly an hour, by which time the food trolley had already gone by. harry, ginny, elara, and neville had finished their pumpkin pasties and were busy swapping chocolate frog cards when the compartment door slid open and they walked in, accompanied by crookshanks and a shrilly hooting pigwidgeon in his cage.

"i'm starving," said ron, stowing pigwidgeon next to hedwig, grabbing a chocolate frog from harry and throwing himself into the seat next to elara. he ripped open the wrapper, bit off the frog's head, and leaned back with his eyes closed as though he had had a very exhausting morning.

"well, there are two fifth-year prefects from each house," said hermione, looking thoroughly disgruntled as she took her seat. "boy and girl from each."

"and guess who's a slytherin prefect?" said ron, still with his eyes closed.

"my dear cousin," said elara as harry said, "malfoy."

" 'course," said ron bitterly, stuffing the rest of the frog into his mouth and taking another.

"and that complete cow pansy parkinson," said hermione viciously. "how she got to be a prefect when she's thicker than a concussed troll . . ."

"who's hufflepuff?" elara asked.

"ernie macmillan and hannah abbott," said ron thickly.

"and anthony goldstein and padma patil for ravenclaw," said hermione.

"you went to the yule ball with padma patil," said a vague voice.

everyone turned to look at luna lovegood, who was gazing unblinkingly at ron over the top of the quibbler. he swallowed his mouthful of frog.

"yeah, i know i did," he said, looking mildly surprised.

"she didn't enjoy it very much," luna informed him. "she doesn't think you treated her very well, because you wouldn't dance with her. i don't think i'd have minded," she added thoughtfully, "i don't like dancing very much."

she retreated behind the quibbler again. ron stared at the cover with his mouth hanging open for a few seconds, then looked around at ginny for some kind of explanation, but ginny had stuffed her knuckles in her mouth to stop herself giggling. ron shook his head, bemused, then checked his watch.

"we're supposed to patrol the corridors every so often," he told harry, elara, and neville, "and we can give out punishments if people are misbehaving. i can't wait to get crabbe and goyle for something. . . ."

"you're not supposed to abuse your position, ron!" said hermione sharply.

"yeah, right, because malfoy won't abuse it at all," said ron sarcastically.

"so you're going to descend to his level?"

"no, i'm just going to make sure i get his mates before he gets mine."

"for heaven's sake, ron —"

"i'll make goyle do lines, it'll kill him, he hates writing," said ron happily. he lowered his voice to goyle's low grunt and, screwing up his face in a look of pained concentration, mimed writing in midair. "i . . .must . . . not . . . look . . . like . . . a . . . baboon's . . . backside. . . ."

everyone laughed, but nobody laughed harder than luna lovegood. she let out a scream of mirth that caused hedwig to wake up and flap her wings indignantly and crookshanks to leap up into the luggage rack, hissing. she laughed so hard that her magazine slipped out of her grasp, slid down her legs, and onto the floor.

"that was funny!"

her prominent eyes swam with tears as she gasped for breath, staring at ron. utterly nonplussed, he looked around at the others, who were now laughing at the expression on ron's face and at the ludicrously prolonged laughter of luna lovegood, who was rocking backward and forward, clutching her sides.

"are you taking the mickey?" said ron, frowning at her.

"baboon's . . . backside!" she choked, holding her ribs.

"can i have a look at this?" harry asked luna eagerly. she nodded, still gazing at ron, breathless with laughter.

harry opened the magazine luna had dropped. he read a few articles before flicking through the rest.

"anything good in there?" asked ron as harry closed the magazine.

"of course not," said hermione scathingly, before harry could answer, "the quibbler's rubbish, everyone knows that."

"excuse me," said luna; her voice had suddenly lost its dreamy quality. "my father's the editor."

"i — oh," said hermione, looking embarrassed. "well . . . it's got some interesting . . . i mean, it's quite . . ."

"i'll have it back, thank you," said luna coldly, and leaning forward she snatched it out of harry's hands. rifling through it, she turned it resolutely upside down again and disappeared behind it, just as the compartment door opened for the third time. elara looked around; she had expected this, but that did not make the sight of draco malfoy smirking at them from between his cronies crabbe and goyle any more enjoyable.

"what?" harry said aggressively, before draco could open his mouth.

"manners, potter, or i'll have to give you a detention," drawled draco, whose sleek blond hair and pointed chin were just like his father's. "you see, i, unlike you, have been made a prefect, which means that i, unlike you, have the power to hand out punishments."

"yeah," said harry, "but you, unlike me, are a git, so get out and leave us alone."

ron, elara, hermione, ginny, and neville laughed. draco's lip curled.

"tell me, how does it feel being second-best to weasley, potter?" he asked.

"shut up, draco," said elara boredly.