//------------------------------//
// Chapter 12 
// Story: On the Implications of Parallel Worlds 
// by computerneek 
//------------------------------//

Hermione glanced at the clock, standing nervously on the step into the train car.  Unless she had missed him or the massive clock over the entrance archway was off, Harry had about eight minutes left to board the train, and hadn’t entered the station yet at all.  She glanced sideways at the Equestrians' portal, just as it finished spewing hypervelocity students down the station, and Lyra started shutting it down.
Watching her power it up had been…  entertaining.  Had she understood a single thing about what all those light patterns were doing, she might’ve called it educational as well, but she hadn’t.
First, between the two pillars, a film of energy was formed.  She’d expected that to become the portal surface, but quickly found out that it wasn’t, as Lyra pumped water into it…  and that water flowed up effortlessly into a six-foot-tall sheet a millimeter thick and at least fifty feet across.  Then, energy waves had battled across the surface of the water, coming from the two pillars, until they formed a dense layer of vibrantly glowing energy overtop the water…  and finally cleared, to show the Equestrians on the other side.  The Equestrians that then stepped through the opened portal.
Shutting it down appeared to be much simpler.  The portal seemed to shimmer and twist as it slowly collapsed away from the pillars, which had gone mostly dark.  Eventually, it vanished completely and Lyra, apparently satisfied, turned to walk away, the energy film holding the water in place simply vanishing…  leaving the station platform to get a little wet.
She turned to look back at the station entrance just in time for someone to appear, walking briskly.  Her breath caught for only a half-second, though, before the red hair registered.  Not Harry, then.  Funny, he must not be the only one running late…  unless, of course, she missed him.
She continued to watch eagerly.  The portal was silent for almost thirty seconds…  then a much smaller boy with a mop of messy black hair exploded through it at a dead run.
She recognized him from across the entire station.
That was Harry.
She looked up at the clock.  He was okay- according to the clock, he still had six minutes to board.
She watched him look around, stop running, and stare at the train.
She jumped off to run over to him, and stopped several feet away.  “H…  Harry?”
He looked at her.  “Yes…?”
“I’m sorry.”
He blinked.  “Come again?”
She took a deep breath.  “I- I’m sorry about that teacher’s wig.  And that I never even tried to stop Dudley.”
Harry blinked a few times, staring at her, before letting out a laugh.  “Nah, don’t worry about it.  The Dursleys would just have found something else to lock me in my cupboard for, and if you’d interfered with Dudley, you’d just have gotten beat up alongside me.”  He shrugged.  “Or had to explain to your parents how you got on top of the chimney.”
She shrugged.  “That would’ve been easy.”  She’d just have explained it away as one of the random things she hadn’t yet gained control of, and they would have accepted it.
He snorted.  “I wish.”
The sudden movement of the minute hand on the clock caught her attention, and she looked up at it.  “We have three minutes to get on the train.”
Harry blinked.  “Right.”  He put his weight behind his trolley once again, pushing it towards the train.  “Wait, where’s your luggage?”
She blushed.  “It’s, ahh, already on the train, actually.  Would…  Would you like to join me?”
He shrugged, completely oblivious to her continued reddening.  “Sure.”
Then Lyra trotted up next to them, as they reached the door into the train.  “Oh, hi Harry!”
Harry jumped, turning to look at her.  “Oh.  Hi Lyra.”
Lyra blinked.  “Uh, by the way, that envelope can also forewarn you of people approaching from behind- it’s omnidirectional, if you want it to be.  Um…  Would you like some help?”  Hermione had just made a huge heave on the end of the trunk, trying to lift it up the step, but she couldn’t get it to budge.
“Uh- Yes, please,” Harry answered.
The trunk promptly glowed faintly golden and floated into the air.  Hermione gasped in surprise, and fell over backwards, into the train car.  She scrambled back to her feet, thankful that she had elected to wear jeans under her Hogwarts robes for the first few days at least, rather than the skirts that the girls were rather unsubtly urged to wear.  “Oof…  Um, a little warning next time?”  She looked at Lyra.
Lyra winced.  “Sorry about that.  It’s just…  Well, I’m a Raeth.  It’s what we do.”


With Lyra’s help, it took only a matter of seconds to get Harry’s trunk stowed in Hermione’s compartment as well, then Lyra closed the compartment door, and sighed.  “Well then.  Harry, I have something to ask you.”
Hermione blinked.  “Wait.  You mean- is he- ?”
Lyra nodded.
“Oh.”  She blushed, and busied herself with looking out the window.  A whistle blew, almost instantly drowned out by the noise of the diesel-electric locomotives’ air horns.
Lyra then explained the teaching thing to Harry, and asked if he wanted to participate.  Hermione kept watch on the second hand of the clock on the top of the archway.
“...  You really think I’d be able to do that?” Harry asked.  “I haven’t…  studied, or anything.”
Lyra shrugged.  “So?  Neither have any of the rest of us.  This isn’t about how much you know already, but how much you can learn and pass on.  Which is quite a lot.  Interested, or no?”
He shrugged.  “Why not?  Yeah, I’ll do it.”
“Oh-kay,” Lyra smiled, rising to her feet.  “Thank you!  Now, Bonbon’s going to be expecting me about fifteen cars down the train, so-!”
“Wait,” Hermione said suddenly, snagging the girl’s wrist with one hand.
“Mm?”
“The…  Equestrian nation.  Equestria.  It doesn’t happen to be related to the Equestrian peoples, does it?”
Lyra tilted her head confusedly, then nodded in sudden recognition.  “Right, yes.  Er, to answer your question, no, there is no relationship whatsoever.  I mean, we have centaurs, griffins, hippogriffs, and so on on our side as well, but they’re very different from the ones you have here.”
“Ahh.”
“Well then,” Lyra continued.  “If you don’t have any more questions…?  Whelp, I’m off.”  She bowed, and closed the door.
Hermione took a deep breath.  “Sooo…”
“So that happened,” Harry muttered- and paused, briefly, when the train began to move.  “How was…  magical life?”
She let out a snort.  “I’m not a very good sample for that.  For one, I’m muggleborn- and for two, my…  ‘accidental magic’ was very potent from very early on, to the point where I’ve learned to control a few little bits of it.  Weird, mostly random bits, of course- like, I can start the microwave without touching it, but it doesn’t work with the oven.  So…  I had a bit of a weird childhood.  Then Professor McGonagall showed up, and I found out I was a witch.”  She looked up at him.  “Earlier, Lyra said something about an ‘envelope’...  If you don’t mind me asking, what envelope?”
He blinked.  “Oh, that.  About a month ago, she stopped me in the Leaky Caldron to tell me about some kind of ‘love envelope’ that I have…  apparently.  Still don’t understand any of it- and she tells me I can use it to learn people’s names without asking.”  He shrugged.  “I’ve tried.  All I’ve been able to get, though, was what mood someone is in- not particularly useful, since Dudley flees in terror every time I enter the room, ever since Hagrid came.”
She blinked.  “...  Huh.”





Draco Malfoy knew that his father would disapprove of what he was doing to Crabbe and Goyle.
They didn’t realize anything was off, of course.  Why would they?  They were about as perceptive as brick walls!  So, fully aware of the number of cars the Hogwarts Express normally had, he had started his search for Mr. Harry Potter in the tenth car and progressed towards the back of the train…  such that he was virtually certain the boy was behind him.  The two cronies fully believed that he was making a thorough search of the train, and hadn’t skipped nine entire cars.  He’d only had to mumble some gobbledegook about ‘sensor nets’ and ‘extra cars’ and he could be sure they couldn’t catch his folly if they tried.
Of course, he wasn’t really looking for Harry.  He was not looking forward to being forced, for ‘social reasons’ he didn’t understand, to abduct the boy into his way of life- the way of life he despised with every little bit of his being.
Instead, he was looking for that Diamond Tiara girl…  and praying that four and a half miles would be enough cars to take up the entire journey with ‘searching’ for the boy.
Assuming, of course, that Diamond Tiara doesn’t think of some clever way to ditch his bodyguards for him.
Exactly as expected, he’d encountered almost exclusively Equestrians… and Gryffindors.  The only exception, after the first car at least, was a first year, and one that he rather suspected would be a Gryffindor at that.
He was in car number twelve- the third car of his search- when he heard a voice behind him, that made him cringe.
“Malfoy?”  It was the voice of Lyra Heartstrings, sounding surprised.
He turned, hoping, praying Diamond was with her.
She was alone.  And Crabbe and Goyle were cracking their knuckles, so she was standing in what could only be a ready stance, her face showing a calculated nonexpression as she watched them.
It was terrifying.
He stepped between them, purposely putting himself between them and her.  They were too thick to not start a fight if he didn’t preempt it.
She regarded him for a second, then them for another second, before relaxing her stance and expression.  “...  Huh.  Are those two always like that?”  She sounded disgusted.
He nodded minutely.  If only she knew.  “What?”
She wrinkled her nose.  “Ew.  Anyways, what brings you back this far on the train?”
He nearly winced.  “Looking for Harry Potter.”  He glared briefly in Crabbe’s direction without turning his head; neither of the two will have seen it, but Lyra will have.
He saw her eyes narrow briefly, and her answering minute nod, before she put her hand to her chin.  “Hmm, I don’t know.  I’ve been looking for him too, but he doesn’t seem to be anywhere I check.  Think he mighta gotten left behind?  I know I didn’t see him come through the gateway onto the platform, so…  Maybe the muggles didn’t let him near the station?”
He blinked.  He had seen her out the window earlier, talking to Harry, before he’d disappeared from view; neither Crabbe nor Goyle had seen.  Yet, had he not seen that, her performance was completely convincing.  Was she good at that kind of thing?  “You mean he’s not coming to Hogwarts?”  He messed up the tone a little bit, but got it mostly okay.
She laughed.  “Oh, no, he’s coming alright, I’m sure Dumbledore will make sure of that, probably send Hagrid to his house again…  or visit in person, possibly.  He just wouldn’t be coming on the train in that case.  Bit of a disappointment, isn’t it?”
He blinked.  She was really good at that- he’d be willing to bet even his father would be convinced!  “...  Yeah.”
She sighed, shaking her head.  “Anyways, I know Diamond was looking for you earlier, said something about ‘good conversation with someone less destructive than the Crusaders’.”
“Less-!?” he began, eyes going wide.

She chuckled.  “Don’t worry, just about everyone fits that description.  She’s just not a people person, though, so it’s pretty rare for her to find someone she can connect to.  Like you, apparently.  I think she was staring out the window in the second compartment down in car twenty-one, if you wanted to go chat with her.”  She grinned, glancing at Crabbe and Goyle.  “And your cronies had better watch out with her, because unlike me, she’s an Etrah.”  She abruptly pushed past Crabbe, and trotted down the passage before he could recover.  “Have a good train ride, whatever you do!”