On the way to Hogwarts

[Dónall Kennedy]

With his father off in Argentina on a business trip, and his mother relaxing at the most expensive wizarding spa around, Dónall was left on his own to board the train to Hogwarts. There would be no happy send-off with tearful goodbye's from his parents. That was nothing out of the ordinary for him.

Carrying a 7 sectioned trunk, with a built in charm to be as light as a feather, Dónall boarded the train to look for an empty compartment as far away from the rest of the students as possble.

On his search for an empty compartment, Don noticed a 5th year Gryff with a couple other students he didn't recognize. Further down the corridor he saw some of his fellow Slytherins but moved faster so they wouldn't notice him. He was in no mood to be the Slytherin Ruler today; he would much rather be alone with his thoughts and books.

Finding a compartment all the way at the back of the train, Don dumped his things on the seat across from him and lay down comfortaly on his own seat, with a book in hand. Away from his peers he was comfortable reading a good novel and losing himself in that world for a little while.

Nothing could bother him if he was reading a good book. This was his favorite thing to do, out of sight, of course.

[Aesir MacLeod]

This must be some sort of joke.

There he was, on Platform 9. He distinctly remembered the Platform for the Hogwarts Express being 9 and 3/4's...but where was it? Aesir chuckled a bit at first when he began snooping around the area, but his good humour soon turned to aggravation, then to foul mouthed anger.

Spending a good number of minutes cursing out loud and to himself, in a variety of oaths and curses. It suddenly clicked that he had the directions wirtten down so he wouldn't have to remember. Fishing into his pockets, he searched feverishly but was yet again disappointed as he found nothing.

"Where the hell could it-"

He remembered where it was now; in Veronica's purse. He bumped into her earlier and wrote his number on the paper and gave it to her. Aesir had no clue where that woman would be by now.

And so he began cursing some more.

With his latest bout of ended, he crossed his arms angrily and leaned against the wall.

To his great surprise, the falling sensation was rather well deserved as he plunged through the invisble gate and onto the floor rump first.

Well, that's embarrassing.

He quickly got back up, brushing off the dust and dirt from his clothing, readjusting the goggles on his head as he moved onto the platform. He fished out his iPod and plugged the earphones into his ears and began to fire it up, selecting some good old rock. While listening to 'Black Betty', he sat down onto a bench looking around.

Must be early, no one's really here y-

The distant sound of a train whistle echoed in the station. Blinking once or twice, he quickly dismissed it until he heard it again, further this time.

"You have got to be kidding me." he began to say with a sinking feeling in his gut. Looking up to the station's schedule.

Hogwarts Express - Departed

There was about a moments peace and quiet in the station until Aesir burst into a blur of motion. His satchel was swung onto his shoulder as he sprinted forth, screaming only once a loud obscenity as he sprinted across the platform, dodging the occassional parent and wizard in the way, leaping over suitcases and small children. Sprinting at a remarkable speed, Aesir lowered his goggles over his eyes with one hand before he reached the end of the platform and leapt off into the air, swinging his broom over his shoulder and between his legs in a swift and practiced motion.

Both hands were on the end of the broom as his body hugged close to the wood in order to increase his aerodynamicism and speed. The broom leapt forward like a bullet from a gun, actually tossing small pebbles and rocks aside as he got perilously close to the tracks for one second before pulling up. The music blared in his ears as he sped down at 80mp/h, the wind causing his clothing and hair to flap wildly in the wind.

He could see it ahead; the red train snaking its way along the tracks. He decided to intercept it in order to make sure it really was the train he was looking for and cut across a field, dodging trees and telephone poles as he did so. Finally, he caught a glimpse of it closer and was happy to note its name printed across all of the wagons. Spiraling and weaving his way around perilous objects, he finally made it in the wake of the train, directly behind it, slowly easing his way to the back door...

[Dónall Kennedy]

Dónall placed his book next to him on his seat and stretched a bit. As he always did, he looked out the window to see the scenery. It wasn't that it was so beautiful that he needed to see it, but merely that he needed something to occupy his thoughts, instead of his mind wandering to his life and his family...

Glancing out the window, Don caught a glimpse of something very peculiar. A flash of red hair and a broom zooming. Was someone trying to catch up with train?

[Aesir MacLeod]

With his cloak flapping in the wind like a flag in a hurricane, he slowly caught up to the train. The sound of the wind, the grinding wheels, the chugging engine, there was no way that anyone could possibly hear him in the train if he yelled at the top of his lungs. Any effort would have been useless and a simple waste of energy.

"Hey!!!" Aesir screamed at the top of his lungs, completely oblivious to those facts. "Open the bloody door!!!"

It was rather fortunate for the people aboard they couldn't hear him the next time he screamed; parents would have probably filed a complaint on demanding how their children acquired such colourful swear words.

With a grunt of anger, he nudged the yoke to the left, and swung back quickly as he narrowly missed a telephone pole. The music kept thumping in his ears as he progressed, shuffling next to 'Ballroom Blitz'. Trying his luck again, he this time pulled the yoke to the right, shifting his weight so he barrel rolled a few good feet that way in one 'jump'. He could see the obstacles that were incoming now and immediately drew a mental map of their whereabouts, beginning to plot a course without much effort.

He was no slowly advancing between the carts, looking for a possible way in. The broom jinked and juked, twirled and bobbed as it danced in between oncoming outcroppings, the whole time he tapped his fingers to the song, smiling like a lunatic and screaming out the lyrics in a rather decent yet rambunctious rendition.

"And the man at the back said everyone attack and it turned into a ballroom blitz. And the girl in the corner said boy, I wanna warn ya, it'll turn into a ballroom blitz, ballroom blitz!"

He continued to twirl and dance in the air with it, waving but once to the awed students bunched up in the windows. When he decided that enough was enough and that there really wasn't any other way in, he pulled half a back flip and blasted towards the end of the train in seconds flat. He readjusted himself as he commenced an approach vector, moving himself in plain view of the window looking into the compartment. Calmly, he knocked on the window beside on of the students was sitting, a young man, and smiled almost as though nothing was out of the usual.

Aesir then pointed to the rear door and mouthed "Open"

[Dónall Kennedy]

Dónall almost jumped at the sound of a knock on his window, but then realized that it was just the man he had noticed flying outside his compartment. It really was out of characrter for he never let himself get surprised by things; he prided himself on paying attention to the small details and never was caught by surprise.

This must have been an exception.

"Bloody hell!" he cried, as he tumbled off his seat in an effort to stand quickly. He stood himself up and mumbled under his breath, "So much for a nice relaxing train ride..." and with that he opened the latch to the back door of the train to let the strange red-haired man inside.

[Aesir MacLeod]

Slowly but surely, Aesir made his way towards the open door and into the compartment. His boots finally touched the floor of the cabin and he stumbled a tad bit before he stood steadily. Shaking his head somewhat, he moved to the door and pulled it shut.

"Woo! That was fun!" he said, laughing overzealously. He turned to the young man and clamped a hand onto his shoulder giving it a good shake. "Thanks a million."

Without any further hesitation, he kicked up the broom like a skateboard and slung it over his shoulder with its strap, soon after pulling the goggles back up to his forehead. Then, with no looking back, he began to leave as though nothing were wrong.

[Dónall Kennedy]

Dónall stared in disbelief at the red-haired man who walked into the compartment as if nothing out of the ordinary had just happened.

Before Don could even react and throw a rude comment his way, the man had walked on. He stood there in shock for a moment or two before returning to his seat and his book.