Chapter 39
The air was thick with steam as the scarlet Hogwarts Express prepared to depart from Platform 9¾. Students bustled about, lugging trunks and saying goodbye to their families, the usual chaotic energy of the first day back.
Harry had barely stepped onto the train before he heard Ron’s voice calling out to him.
“Harry! Over here!”
He turned to see Ron leaning out of a compartment, waving him over. Hermione was already inside, nose buried in a book as Crookshanks dozed in her lap.
Harry hauled his trunk in and dropped into the seat across from them, exhaling. “Feels weird to be back.”
“You’re telling me,” Ron groaned. “Fred and George spent the entire summer testing their pranks on me. I swear, I almost died three times.”
“Exaggeration,” Hermione muttered, flipping a page.
“You weren’t there, Hermione,” Ron huffed. “They turned my pillow into a live snake while I was sleeping.”
Hermione finally looked up, unimpressed. “We go to a school where half the decorations move on their own. That’s hardly the worst thing.”
Harry let their bickering fade into background noise as he stared out the window. The train had started moving, and the familiar landscape blurred past. He should’ve felt relieved—Hogwarts was supposed to be an escape. But the heavy pit in his stomach remained.
He knew what awaited him when he returned home next summer.
The visions had been bad enough. The presence that lurked in the church hallways, the whispers in the night, the way the shadows sometimes moved wrong—he had forced himself to adjust. But knowing he’d have to face her again, in person, made his skin crawl.
“Harry?”
He snapped out of his thoughts to find Hermione studying him closely. “You’re awfully quiet.”
“Just thinking,” he said, brushing it off.
She didn’t look convinced, but Ron saved him from further questioning by pulling out a deck of Chocolate Frog cards. “Anyone up for a game?”
Harry nodded, grateful for the distraction.
For now, he could focus on Hogwarts. On classes, Quidditch, and anything normal.
Because come summer, he knew there would be no escape.