Chapter:19 Hogwarts Express

September the first arrived shortly afterward, shortly as in hours later, and a quiet hustle filled the Bones Manor. Victoire having already packed her bag last night, took a bath and went downstairs for an early breakfast.

But before that, she had something to do outside.

Carrying Emily like a baby, Victoire proceeded to climb down the stairs and into the wide lawn right behind the manor. 

The sky was a canvas of brilliant blue and yellow under the rising sun's gaze and there was no sign of any cloud or mist as far as she could see. 

She let the owl perch on her shoulder and gazed into the distant skies,

"Do you wish to fly little one?"

She asked in a tone as soothing as the rustling of wings,

The owl hooted excitedly,

"Then what are you waiting for? Go!"

She jerked her shoulder, a small effort to add to the bird's leverage as it took flight. If it had been anyone else, the owl's talons would have ripped their shoulder right off their body. But Victoire was different, she had spent long days inside their nests, taking care of their young and old. The time with the eagle owls had taught her to care for their flight, feed, fight, and wounds, now, she could employ spells that helped her in assisting Emily to take flight.

Emily was one of the youngest she had helped to survive the winter, poor Emily's egg had some complications and she would have died not long after her birth had it not been for Victoire's care and a drop from the 'Healing Cordial' that she got for reaching level 10. 

She watched as the owl soared high above the ground and then disappeared into the horizon, all the while oblivious to the fact that a little girl was staring at her from the Manor's window.

Lyriel climbed down the stairs not long after, both hers and Victoire's trunks in her hands. She was surprisingly strong for her build and god damn she was gonna flaunt that at Amelia. Who knows? Maybe the mature witch liked her partner strong.

But Madam Bones made no such gestures except for a raised eyebrow and then called for the house-elf to prepare the breakfast.

The breakfast was a simple British with a bowl of cereal for each of them along with a platter adorned with fresh fruits and a small cup of plain yogurt paired with granola or honey for each of them. Madam Bones, however, took toast and poached eggs for herself, along with a cup of tea. 

Victoire found it rather... bland and not much to her taste. She had grown accustomed to the usual sugar rush early in the morning and therefore her eyes rested on the muffin stand in the middle of the table and she nabbed three chocolate muffins along with a cup of coffee for breakfast.

She nearly laughed when she saw Lyriel torn between the muffins and the breakfast 'prepared' by Amelia. If it were her, she would have chosen the muffins without a second thought. No one comes between her and her sugar rush, no one, and especially her crush.

"It's a quarter to nine, I hope you girls are ready to go the station opens at nine."

Lady Bones declared as she washed down her food with a long sip of tea. 

Lyriel nodded her head, picked up the two trunks, and brought them outside the manor. There were anti-apparition jinx applied all over the place and the only place to apparate from was half a kilometer away from the manor, a safety precaution befitting her standards.

They walked for a while before reaching a barbed wire fence that seemed to circle the entire estate. Amelia tapped the wire with her wand and the iron liquified and flowed out of their way. She was a master in transfiguration as well.

They walked out of the estate and stopped about ten meters away from it, preparing to disapparate,

"Now, Lyriel you have never been to platform 9.3/4 have you?"

Amelia asked and Lyriel shook her head in denial,

"Figures. Ok, now hold onto my hands and don't let go no matter what."

Side-along apparition is said to be much worse than a normal apparition, and Victoire just found out why it is said to be so. 

From the moment Lady Bones began to apparate and the moment they touched ground on their destination, a strange feeling enveloped Victoire. It was as if she had just been stuffed in a laundry machine, a very narrow laundry machine mind you, followed by being strained through its dirty water dispenser, and then the process was repeated a couple dozen times.

She had come into contact with wizarding transportation methods, some of them were pretty freakish but this one, this one was the worst.

As soon as they landed on the platform, Victoire felt the three muffins in her stomach dance to get out. She stumbled around for support, away from her two companions who were looking disoriented, somewhat less than her but disoriented still. 

Suddenly, she felt her hands grasp onto something soft and she stopped spinning, quite unfortunately so. Her 'Spinning' was causing her stomach to lurch and therefore preventing her from emptying its content, now that she was still, the nausea hit her square on the face.

"Bleurgh!"

She quickly emptied the contents of her stomach, a repulsive sound filling her ears as she hardly realized what she had just done. Before she could push away the stranger, whom she had inadvertently covered in a mixture of muffin and coffee, she felt the world grow dim through her half-closed eyelids.

An unknown amount of time passed by before she finally stirred from her sleep,

"My head hurts!"

She suddenly sat up and held onto her throbbing forehead, feeling as though someone had just bashed her skull in.

Looking around, she found herself sitting in a vintage train compartment, possibly from the early 1950s. The compartment was resplendent with dark wood paneling, their polished surfaces intricately carved with timeless, ornate designs. There were two broad, plush, comfortable seats, in rich fabric and could probably accommodate several students, and yet she was the only one in the entire compartment. 

The train was moving quickly, the large window frames provided a view of rolling countryside. Heavy, velvety half-drawn curtains hung beside the window. Overhead, she noticed her trunk safely stored along with Emily's cage. An ornate, out-of-use gas lamp hung from the ceiling, lit up and emitting a soft, warm light.

Despite her compartment being deserted, she was quite sure that there were a lot of people outside. Their chattering and bickering that seeped through the door did little to elevate her headache. 

Barely sitting up, she propped her back against the seat and fumbled around in her robe's pockets to see if Lyriel, Lady Bones, or anyone had left anything that might hint at her current predicament. She felt the cold touch of her wand and drew it out.

In her hand was the dragon-bone wand and her grip tightened, feeling the cool, almost metallic touch of its unique material. The bone, solid and dense, bore an iridescent sheen, revealing subtle patterns that seemed to shift and change under the lamp's light. She felt it snuggle into her hands, in an almost life-like manner.

A soft sigh escaped her lips as she felt the sense of safety return to her body, however, it was short-lived as a row of notifications popped up in front of her.

*DING*

*DING*

*DING*

*DIN...*

*DI...*

*D...* 

As if the sudden blast of light wasn't uncomfortable enough, a string of annoying bell sounds hammered her ears.

"SKIP!"

Her voice involuntarily seeped through her lips and the odd bell sound stopped at once. She stared at the screen with half-closed eyelids before they snapped open,

[Ailment: Mana Surge, Minor Concussion, Severe Nausea, and Empty Stomach. (Mana Surge and Severe Nausea caused by First-time apparition, Minor Concussion caused by Sudden loss of control over the apparition spell, and Empty Stomach due to vomiting.)]

Well, this was the first time she saw her system's diagnosis. Quite helpful, now she knows what's wrong with her and can administer minor treatments. The rest of the notifications she would read after she had something to eat.

"Mana surge, mana surge, where have I... Oh, right."

Mana surge is a short-term physical and magical discomfort suffered by magical creatures when they are subjected to apparition. There are ways to prevent that from happening such as using a device to store the creature or making use of other forms of transport. 

The illness would cause a person, or creature, severe headaches, nausea, and concussions due to sudden mana discharges. As far as she knew, there was only one remedy for it. The 'Appeaser Potion', is a simple potion that even a first-year student could brew.

But she had neither the facility nor the equipment to do so, therefore, she had to resort to more... direct methods.

She flicked her wand and her trunk came flying down the rack, it automatically opened and she pointed it inside,

"Accio Cerulean Mint!"

What? Don't judge her. Accio was simply a combined spell that utilized the levitation charm and a summoning charm... well that's why it's called a summoning charm but that's not the point. The point is that 'Accio' could be easily learned by someone who has talent in both charms and transfiguration. 

Soon, a small tin box made of well... tin, shot out of the case and landed on the floor of the compartment.

It was a common enough storage equipment that a thief would have overlooked its sweet aroma and focused on more expensive-looking containers. However, her focus was on the herb that released such an enticingly sweet scent.

The Cerulean Mint is a somewhat rare yet common herb. Rare due to the effort it takes to grow them and common due to the multitude of substitutes it has for its properties. Its leaves are a vibrant shade of cerulean blue, and they glisten with an iridescent sheen, its leaves have a soft, velvety texture, and they emit a gentle, soothing aroma when touched.

It's known for its swift effects, when chewed, the herb quickly alleviates feelings of nausea and discomfort, providing almost instant relief to the consumer. They are popular as a brewing material, hence she had a whole tin box full of them. Quite a rich store since every leaf costs three sickles to buy in the market, and she had almost three thousand leaves.

She took out one such bluishly glowing leaf, folded it into a triangle, bit it once to extract the juice, and placed it beneath her tongue. 

The effect was instantaneous! 

At once her headache elevated followed by nausea and stomach ache. Oh, wait, the stomach ache was still there.

She scanned the inside of her trunk once more, searching for any signs of food that she might have slipped inside but there was nothing. She preferred her food to be far away from her potions and other magical material or she might just lose her appetite, and her sweet hoard had been left behind at the Bones Manor as a parting gift to Susan. Now her only hope was the food trolley that should be doing its first round soon.

But the question was, where was Lyriel? She was a full magical creature and therefore must be suffering more from the unskilled apparition of Lady Bones. Yes, the only possible cause of her ailment was that Madam Bones somehow messed up.

Or did she? Maybe it was Lyriel who sabotaged the spell since she wanted to make Amelia feel guilty and take care of her. Love-sick Veelas were scary.

Her train of thought suddenly derailed as someone banged on the compartment door, and through the glass, Victoire could see a pair of girls standing outside her compartment.

One of them was rather tall, for her age but still shorter than Victoire, with brown eyes and long black hair tied in a single braid and had a rather dark complexion. The second girl was no shorter than the first one but with dark skin, brown hair, and brown eyes.

Both of them peered in at her with hopeful looks in their eyes, it was quite evident that they had either vacated their previously occupied compartment or been looking for a place to sit since eleven which was, as her watch says, nearly two hours ago. 

"Are these seats taken?"

Asked the taller, darker complexion, girl,

"Non, go ahed and seet."

'The fuck!'

This may very well have been the first time her accent had slipped and it had a rather positive impact too.

The girl who asked the question raised an eyebrow at her while the one following behind beamed as if she had just found something interesting.

"I am Angelina, Angelina Johnson. This is my friend, Alicia."

Alicia walked into the compartment and closed the door behind her. She beamed at Victoire, again, and raised her hand for a shake,

"Hi, I am Alicia, Alicia Spinnet."

Thinking it to be rude not to respond, Victoire shook her hand,

"Victoire LeFevre"

"Pardon."

Ah yes, she expected this may happen. 

"It eez pronounced as 'Vee-ktwar Le-Fevr,' wiz a soft 'r' sound."

As expected, neither of them looked as though they understood what she was trying to say,

"It's alreet, just call me Tory."

Well, there wasn't much else she could say, and it seemed to lift the awkward mood that the language barrier put between them. 

She hastily stopped the duo before they sat down,

"Stop, you are steel wet. Ze water would ruin ze seats and make zem more uncomfortable."

For indeed they both were somehow sopping wet and yet the sky was without a trace of rain or cloud on the horizon and somehow these two were wet as a fish.

"Ah, a senior student attempted an Aguamenti spell but lost control and flooded the whole carriages. I suppose more first-years will be searching for a dry compartment now."

Said Alicia as she fumbled with her trunk, trying to find dry clothes to change into but the water seemed to have seeped into their trunk.

"Per'aps you may find zis a more acceptable solution to your immediate problem."

And with a swift motion, she drew her wand and chanted the spell,

"Exaresco!"

And at once the water seemed to be seeping out of their clothes and evaporating, creating a small cloud of mist in the compartment. 

Angelina hurried to open the window while Victoire watched the two fumbling about the apartment in amusement. A sudden growl drew the attention of the other two girls at Victoire who now supported a light pinkish hue on her cheek which seemed to have unconsciously activated her charm because Alicia and Angelina kept on staring at her until she finally snapped out of it.

"Vhat are you vaiting for? Seet down."

And the duo also snapped out of their stupor and sat down on the couch opposite hers. 

A silence descended in the compartment as Victoire stared at the two girls who had somehow grown a keen interest in the color of their shoes,

'Patience Victoire patience, they are still little girls.'

Quite unfortunate for the duo but they were exactly the type of girls Victoire liked in her past life. Of course, their 'genre' wasn't at the top of the list but it bloody well made it into the top five. 

The silence was once again broken by a sudden knock at the door, a pair of red-headed twins were knocking on the door,

"Would you mind if we squeezed in? Half the train seems to be flooded."

Said one of the twins punctually as he was already storing his trunk in one of the racks. 

"I'm Fred, Fred Weasley, and this is my twin, George."

Said the one attempting to squeeze the water out of his robe.

"Here, let me 'elp you."

Victoire had had enough of the squelching and splashing noises, she raised her wand and repeated the same spell she used to dry Angelina and Alicia. Soon, the compartment was flooded with even more steam and they had to open the door to let the air regulate.

"That was splendid, nearly choked us to death, but still, bloody brilliant."

Complimented the one named 'George'.

Another advantage of being Victoire was that she could use her observation feature to tell the twins apart from each other.

"Tank you, George."

Well, at least she said his name accurately enough.

Soon the five of them were settled in the compartment and began to make groups to chatter about their topic.

Angelina and Alicia were talking about some quidditch team called the "Holyhead Harpies" while the twins were discussing a somewhat similar topic but instead of the harpies, they were talking about the 'Puddlemere United'.

Soon the groups converged and the four of them started to happily chatter on and on about quidditch, leaving Victoire completely out of their group discussion.

Feeling bored and somewhat annoyed, she sneakily took out one of her tomes making it look as though she just took it out of her trunk, and began reading 'Liber Apparati: The Art of Apparition'. She needed to find a way to apparate without being affected by the counter effect it had on her Veela lineage.

Time passed and nearly an hour passed since the group of future quidditch players occupied the compartment and she could feel the mint leaf in her mouth slowly melt away.

This was a somewhat dangerous situation, if she ate the leaf now then she would either have to take out another one or put up with constant waves of headache and nausea for the rest of the journey. And worst of all, her stomach may start growling even more loudly. However, her worst fear didn't come to pass.

About ten minutes later, the gentle tinkles of the food trolley as it patrolled the Hogwarts Express reached their ears and she looked up only to see a wizen old witch saying,

"Anything off the trolley dear?"

She asked the whole group at once.

"No thanks, "

"We've got it covered."

Said the twins in a rather sad tone.

The two girls also shook their heads, not like they didn't have the money, they just wanted to spend it more on makeup rather than some old snacks off a train trolley.

Finally, it was Victoire's turn and she couldn't wait to order,

"I weel 'ave Seven Pumpkin pies, t'ree Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans large bags, Seven Cauldron Cakes, Five Licorice Wands, and a large cup of coffee. Oh, and all ze chocolate frogs you got wiz you."

All five of them, including the old witch, turned to look at her with wide eyes. But she was used to it, even in her last life no matter how much she ate she still couldn't gain weight. And now that she was half Veela, her metabolism was through the roof making her extra hungry.

"And make zat a jug of coffee, sank you."

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Price list, Comment if there's anything to change:

Chocolate Frogs: 1 Sickle per frog.

Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans: 3 Sickles for a small bag (approximately 5-6 beans), 7 Sickles for a larger bag (approximately 20 beans).

Pumpkin Pasties: 3 Sickles each.

Cauldron Cakes: 5 Sickles for a pair.

Licorice Wands: 2 Sickle for a wand.

Butterbeer: 1 Galleon per bottle.

Pumpkin Juice: 1 Sickle for a small bottle, 3 Sickles for a large bottle.

Tea and Coffee: 1 Knut for a small cup, 2 Knuts for a large cup