The morning was brisk and crisp with the normal scents of a train station floating through the air. Familiarity rushed to him like an old friend welcoming him back for one last adventure. Despite the heavy atmosphere, Harry could feel his heart soaring up through the high rafters of Kings Cross Station. Sun was gently filtering through the high rafters and casting weary shadows across the huddled crowds in the nearly empty station. Harry could feel the tension in the air. People were dressed in muted colors and talk was whispered as they looked fleetingly over their shoulders cursing themselves for need to go out on that particular day. The security guard was eyeing everyone suspiciously, his wand sticking menacingly out of his belt where a gun should have been. No one would dare look the man in the eye for fear of being struck down.

But as Harry James Potter walked nonchalantly towards the wall that concealed platform nine and three-quarters surrounded by his family he couldn't shake off the excitement of his last year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

"Harry!" Lily whispered loudly, yanking on her oldest son's arm to slow his impatience. "Will you slow down, love, we need to lay low." Harry looked around impatiently, unable to stop the anticipation that was rising in the pit of his stomach at the prospect of seeing his best mate and the woman he hoped to make more. Inconspicuousness seemed less and less important.

"No worries, mum," he whispered back taking the heavy trolley loaded with trunks. "We're safe as lambs as soon as we get to the platform."

Worried, she looked around, noting every face in he immediate area before nodding. She touched her eldest son's cheek lovingly as he casually leaned against the barrier between platforms nine and ten letting his weight push the heavy cart through. Kate Lily Potter took the spot where her two-years-senior brother had just vanished. Her layered auburn hair was parted smartly on the side, a layer of thick bangs covering one of her brilliantly green eyes. She leaned casually against the wall and an instant later lazily slipped by as well.

"Okay, now David? You take your brother's other hand and the three of us will go all at the same time." The fifth year boy lifted his head, covered with dirty-blond hair that was so much like Lily's sister's hair, and took his youngest brother's hand with a roll of his eyes. Adam was wiggling with excitement at the thought of his first year at Hogwarts. He was nearly bouncing out of his skin. He looked quite like his eldest brother with the same unruly hair and bad eye sight, yet his eyes were the color of his father's causing him to be a near carbon copy of James Potter. Only the slight softening of his jaw line and quick temper betrayed the fact that Lily indeed had a place in him as well.

Once on the other side of the wall, Lily looked desperately around for her husband, checking her watch several times before she heard a small pop behind her. Immediately James wrapped his arms around his wife. Her shoulders relaxed against his chest as she dropped Adam's hand and hugged him close. "What took you so long?"

Kissing her nose, he replied, "Sorry, love, got caught up at the office. Is everyone safe?"

"For another year…"

He leaned let out the breath he had been unconsciously holding and grabbed his wife's hand and kissed his wife's hair tenderly. "That's all that matters."

She nodded and turned around, allowing her husband to comfort her against her best judgment. Both looked out over the scarlet steam engine that would soon be whisking their children away for another year of school. A strange air of thrill floated in the air as they watched Harry load their trunks one by one into a car. This would be their first year alone for longer than a week in seventeen years. James could feel the bittersweet emotions swimming in his wife's head as a silent tear slid down her face. She was happy to be entering this new journey of alone time with her husband, but she was also very aware of how lonely their large house would be without the noise of the four siblings filling the air. At least last year there had been Adam. She had to steel herself against the empty nest sadness that filled her.

The platform was emptier than the year before. Every year it became emptier and emptier. People who were still allowing their kids to attend the forbidden school of Hogwarts were growing thin as they were threatened by Deatheaters. Now that Voldemort's word was law and muggles were strictly controlled at the tip of a wand, being rebellious enough to send your kids to a school that had once openly opposed him was more than risky. So risky, that Dumbledore had publicly announced the school closed and set up a way—for the students whose parents were still brave enough—to let them attend. In fact, the Potters had been lying to people for years about sending their kids to a school in America. Most people didn't even bother to use the platform entrance anymore, but nostalgia kept them coming back through the original entrance year after year. The Ministry of Magic and Voldemort's followers barely bothered with guarding the platform anymore. Security was low, so getting aboard the scarlet engine was still relatively easy.

Even with all of the precautions, Deatheaters still surrounded Hogwarts Castle, though it was no longer visible to anyone marked by a dark mark or working for the Dark Lord. The balance was precarious, but so far it held. So it was with the comfort that their children would be under the car of Dumbledore and the other professors that the few remaining families on the platform kissed their kids farewell and prayed they would see them at Christmas Break.

Disappointed that he hadn't seen any of his friends on the platform, Harry steered his siblings onto the train to load their trunks before returning to say their goodbyes. By the time they were back, Lily was desperately trying to stay strong and not go to tears in front of her children and James was squeezing her shoulders comfortingly.

"Take care of yourself," James said, crouching so he was eye to eye with is youngest son. "Listen to your professors and your brothers and sister."

"Dad, is it true that there are secret passages and doors that pretend to be walls?"

"And there's a giant squid in the lake."

"Yeah, so don't fall in," Harry teased, ruffling the boy's hair.

"Yeah, don't even stand too close or we'll give you to him for a snack," Kate said, sneaking up behind him and poking him in the ribs.

"Hey!" he shouted batting at his brother. "Muuuuum! They said—"

But Lily never heard his complaints, because just then, the whistle sounded announcing the final boarding call. Harry hurried to give his mother a kiss on the cheek and his dad a one armed hug before turning to leave. The other three followed suit and they turned made their way back to the train.

The remaining students and their parents began to trickle back into the train and hang out the windows to say one last goodbye to their parents still on the platform. Slowly, the train began to gather steam, pulling out of the station. Parents began to apparate home, but Lily walked forward, tears falling down her cheeks. Her oldest son was about to enter the last part of his childhood, while her youngest was just beginning. In such uncertain times, she was happy that they even had a safe place to go to for schooling. Yet, as the train slipped out of sight and James was wrapping his arms around her and kissed her on the top of the head, she couldn't help but have the sinking feeling that everything was about to change.

"Be safe," she whispered into the cloud of steam, "I love you!"

~*\/*~