Not Hogwarts, though apologies for disappointing. [Open]

[myboggartismoon.livejournal.com]

Sensoriums.

He had been in them once or twice now, always when another person was using them. He recognized the great risk in this, but had taken every precaution he could think to take. Most particularly, he simply did not know what a sudden exposure to a full moon -- as opposed to the gradual approach that characterized proper revolution of the lunar orbit -- would do to him.

Nonetheless, he believed, after all these years, that he could sense the oncoming change. That he would have a few moments to react, to hurl himself out the door if he began to feel that peculiar sensation of strength and weakness at once, that characterized its onset. And so far, he had been lucky. He had not needed to put his theory to the test.

Now, however, Remus Lupin stood outside the sensorium door, afraid to step in. For he knew no one had occupied this one. When he entered, it would be his to mold and shape. And, should it reveal what he feared, what he subconsciously expected, rather than what he chose...

He had not always feared his curse so. Indeed, fear was something he head learned as he grew older, and wiser. And there it was. Fear. Some Gryffindor.

Taking a breath, he stepped inside.

There was no moon, nor any cause for fear, as he stepped out of the brick wall onto Platform 9 3/4. The brilliant scarlet train sat just ahead of him, its engine huffing, but the platform was empty as he had never seen it before. So it truly was as one wished it, and not simply like a Pensieve...

"Amazing," he said, relaxing -- though he still held his wand, proof against who knows what foe.

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[myboggartismoon.livejournal.com]

Lupin had yet to take notice of anyone entering, so engrossed was he in this absolutely lifelike recreation. He paced the length of the track as if expecting to detect some flaw, but the more he looked the more amazed he became.

"Incredible," he said out loud.

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Alex wandered up to the train, putting his hand on the side. He whistled a bit in response, "i-it is." He didn't realize that the older man hadn't been talking to him or talking about the train either.

[myboggartismoon.livejournal.com]

Lupin started, then turned swiftly, though with some effort he refrained from drawing his wand as he had done the last time he had been startled in the sensorium. "I beg your pardon, I didn't hear you come in."

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Alex jumped as well, a bit surprised that me surprised the older man. He raised his hands instinctively, but lowered them with a sigh when he realized that there was no need. Alice darted under his sweatshirt, surprised by Alex's jump, but quickly stuck her head back out as well to see what the trouble was. "I-I'm s-sorry. I-I didn't m-mean to i-intrude. I c-can leave i-if you'd like."

[myboggartismoon.livejournal.com]

"No need," he said kindly, not having meant to alarm the young man. "I feel more comfortable in here with others. It reminds me that what I'm seeing isn't truly real."

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Alex smiled in relief. "I know wh-what you mean." He ran his fingers across the train's surface, "i-it's like I'm r-really here, but I c-could only wish I w-was so lucky."

Alex reached up to Alice and scratched her behind her ear to show that everything was all right. "I-I'm Alex by the way, a-and this one here's Alice." He offered a hand to shake, which was quickly climbed down by Alice to greet her new friend.

[myboggartismoon.livejournal.com]

Lupin, fortunately, did not smell like a predator even to a rat's nose, as he shook the young man's hand. "A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Alex," he said. "I am Remus Lupin."

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Alice hopped across, completely unaware that once a month this man became a predator. Alex opened his mouth to insist that he could just be called Alex when the name caught his attention.

"O-oh! I-it's a r-real pleasure to m-meet you!" He smiled widely, as if he was greeting an old friend. He really had been expecting to find Luna here rather than someone else from her world.

[myboggartismoon.livejournal.com]

A pet rat certainly was not unusual enough to even earn a blink of the eye. Though come to think of it... "I haven't seen many pets around on this ship at all. Did she come with you?" From the pods, that is.

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Alex smiled, half at Alice and half at Lupin. "Y-yeah, she's the only one f-from home that's w-woken up. She w-woke with me." And she was a heaven sent. He would have had a lot harder of a time had she not woken with him. "I-I've seen a f-few d-dogs around, though. Alien, mostly, b-but at least one n-not."

[myboggartismoon.livejournal.com]

"Alien dogs?" He can only begin to imagine. "I know I have seen a - a wolf, but not one. I wonder what the criteria are, for being taken, and for being awakened."

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Pressing his lips together Alex just shook his head. "I-it's odd. I-it seems l-like most p-people have s-some sorta story though. H-harder lives th-than your average person's. O-or something. I h-have no c-clue really." His guess was as good as anyone's.

[myboggartismoon.livejournal.com]

"Adversity builds strength." As unpleasant as it was to go through.

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Alex laughed a bit, darkly. "N-not always on a one-ta-one s-scale." Alex never saw himself as being very strong in any way, and yet, he was aware of the adversity he faced.

[myboggartismoon.livejournal.com]

Lupin had no difficulty understanding that Alex was referring to himself. "If you're still alive and mostly sane, after waking up here to the news that your world has been destroyed, then that is an excellent beginning," he said.

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

"M-mostly sane, r-right," Alex said with a bit of a nervous laugh. He figured that he was probably mostly sane, and making strides in the direction of stability. "I-I guess, b-but I think g-getting out of my world was m-more a relief than anything." He only missed the people, and only a handful at that.

[myboggartismoon.livejournal.com]

"May I ask why?" He wasn't one to intrude on painful memories, but he was indeed curious.

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Alex bit his lip, as if he was considering. He knew he was too polite to refuse anyway, but it wasn't exactly something he worked to keep a secret. "W-well, there w-was a l-lot of persecution f-from p-people. N-not ta mention I w-wasn't really much more i-in the g-government's eyes th-than... a th-thing, really. V-valuable only b-because o-of the money I i-imagine they p-put into the e-experiment."

[myboggartismoon.livejournal.com]

"It is ever in the nature of governments to forget they exist to serve the people, not the other way around." Lupin sighed and briefly looked as if he would put a hand to Alex's shoulder by way of encouragement, but he settled for a smile. "I empathize. I'm glad that this experience is not completely terrible for everyone."

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Alex looked up a little surprised with a look that questioned, 'you too?' "I th-think it's o-one of the b-better things that's h-happened."

[myboggartismoon.livejournal.com]

"I regret the death and destruction that had to accompany it, and I miss my friends," he said truthfully. "But so long as I can ignore those things, it is not a bad experience."

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Death and destruction. Yeah, he felt bad for all the good people who died, but he wondered sometimes how many people really were good people from his world. It seemed like the scales were way off sometimes.

Still, people dying was never a good thing. He sighed, "I l-like to think that w-we c-can win, an' i-it'll be like n-no one ever d-died. I just d-doubt I'll be going b-back, if I have the choice." He had found so many other people from so many worlds that would be perfectly okay with him being there. A part of him sort of hoped that someday he might get to send his own little wizard off to school on this train.

Not that he would have the nerve to tell Luna that he would like that with her someday. It might just scare her away, after all. Besides, society just didn't expect the male to be the one imagining marriage. He realized that Luna was the last person that would be concerned with society's views on things, but he still felt embarrassed.

Unfortunately, Alex was never good at hiding his thoughts, and the whole process was blatantly expressed on his face. He smiled, looked around the platform a bit fondly, and then to the train with a light blush before turning a deep red as he realized that he was thinking of them so far from now.

[myboggartismoon.livejournal.com]

Of course there was no way Lupin could guess his thoughts exactly, though with the nature of that smile and subsequent embarrassment, it took very little effort to deduce the gist. "Ah," he said, cheerful but not teasing. "So there is a reason you like this ship, or at least, the people you have met on it, I take it."

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Alex rubbed at his arm and stared at the floor, still blushing even deeper. "Y-yeah. I've m-made friends f-for once. P-people don't c-care that I'm different, and, w-well, then there's this g-g-girl..."

Even though he mumbled the part about the girl, she was probably the most important part of all of this. If he did have a choice, he would be going back to her world.

[myboggartismoon.livejournal.com]

Politely pretending to have taken no notice of Alex's discomfiture, he nodded, smile waxing warm and nostalgic. "I can sympathize entirely. Friendship, especially unlooked-for, is a wonderful thing, to be treasured."