Chapter rewritten, I will post every Wednesday or so. I hope you guys enjoy it!
Chapter I – Always fun riding the train
The darkest time has come, making every citizen of England shiver, being a wizard or not. Bridges were broken, people were killed and kidnapped and no one would go out without company of a strong or at least skilled person. But even in the darkest of the times happiness can be found and so many people did find it when the day of going back to Hogwarts finally came.
The students would see their friends again, learn more and be in the safest place of the wizardry community. It was the perfect time to ease the despair that increased every passing day.
The golden trio was already inside the train, with Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood, but Hermione and Ron soon left to fulfill their duties as prefects and a girl walked in. Her long blond hair floated on her back as she quickly scanned the compartment, a smile on her lips and brownish green eyes, she carried her trunk and a guitar.
After putting away her trunk, she sat by Harry, her small frame not occupying much space, the attention of the others occupants turned to her and she then started talking. "Finally found you guys! I was late and no one waited for me… No one…" Seeing their friends being melodramatic, they all laughed at her and soon with her.
"So, Sarah, can you enlighten us by telling where have you been the whole summer?" Harry said once the laughter died, looking at the blonde at his side, she leaned toward his direction and said in a tone barely audible. "Aww, Harry, did you miss me, sweetheart? But if I tell you, I'd have to kill you." Then winked and threw her body to the other side, almost laying down on the bench, with her legs on Harry's lap and got her guitar from the ground and started playing.
Sarah wasn't talented on Quidditch like Harry, nor Chess like Ron, and wasn't intelligent like Hermione, she liked to play musical instruments and secretly had a crush on making potions.
"Come on, you barely answered our letters, we were worried something bad happened." The Chosen One tried again, not minding his friend's behavior and resting his arms on her legs. "My parents, like usual, too worried to let me leave. They say days are too dangerous, I didn't even go to Diagon Alley."
"At least they worry. But the twins' shop is really amazing, they have absolutely everything you can imagine." Not wanting to prolong the topic any longer, they changed the subject, talking about the products the Weasley's offered.
Most of the train ride was peaceful and calm, until the compartment door opened harshly and their beloved Draco Malfoy walked in, his usual smirk on his face. "Hey, Potter, Knight, go get a room, I don't need and don't want to see this."
Neither one of them moved from the position, but made a subtle move to reach for their wands on their pockets, just to be safe. "Well, maybe you should watch it, Malfoy, because it's more than you're going to see and do in your entire life. You have that ugly face of yours to blame. Jeez, why did you have to be so ugly? I pity your mother, having to see you every day."
The pale face of the Slytherin prefect turned a shade of light pink in anger and he raised his wand, but was outnumbered when four were pointed directly to his face. "You will pay, Knight." He said before leaving. Excusing himself Harry left too, almost making Sarah fall of the bench as he suddenly got up.
"Ow. What's gotten into him?" She said while straightening up and petting her dropped guitar, none of her friends answered, but shrugged.
After four years being friends with the golden trio Sarah learned not to ask where Harry was going, he got too absorbed in his thoughts sometimes and they knew it was better to simply follow.
Pushing Harry from her thoughts, the young woman got her guitar and started playing again, soon people started gathering around the compartment to hear. Although her fingers were moving, her mind was completely lost in memories.
~ Flash Back ~
The young second year Sarah was running in the school corridors, late for Transfiguration, McGonagall was going to kill her. At least there was no one in the corridor to make her way more difficult; but as soon as she turned right everything went black.
Knight only woke up weeks later in the infirmary, in one of the beds, lying down next to Hermione Granger, who from the look in her face had just woken up too. She blinked a few times before asking. "H-Hm… What happened?" The bushy haired girl looked at her before smiling. "Seems like you were petrified too. Are you feeling alright?" Sarah nodded but her expression showed how troubled she was. "But… Why was I petrified? I'm pure-blood. All I remember was seeing a wand and then everything went black until now."
It was one of the rare moments when Hermione Granger didn't know the answer to a question, so she didn't respond and went into deep consideration. If she was a pure-blood, didn't make sense she was petrified like the rest of the students. "I can answer that, darling." Dumbledore was at the door of the infirmary, his blue eyes sparkling intently like it always did, as he smiled to the girls over his glasses. Sarah had never spoken to the headmaster before and it made her nervous, so she quickly sat straight on the bed. "It seems that to take advantage of the situation a dark humored student used his skills in knowing spells he shouldn't to petrify you. Given the situation, we simply assumed that you were another victim of the known monster of the Chamber of Secrets, so you weren't cured before because of this misunderstanding."
The thought of being attacked by a student unnerved the young Gryffindor and she knew it had to be someone in Slytherin. "Was the person caught?" She asked, her voice low and shy. "Yes, it was a seventh year student in Slytherin, he was already punished for such inexcusable act."
After the victims had woken up, they stayed under observation for days to make sure there would be no aftereffect and during this short amount of period of time Sarah grew fond of Hermione, befriended her and the rest of the golden trio as well. And from this day now on, she would be part of the Harry Potter's group, it wasn't a trio anymore, it became a quartet.
~ End of Flash Back ~
Sarah was pulled out of her thoughts when Hermione touched her shoulder when she realized her friend was spacing out. Their compartment was still with an audience as she had continued playing during her flashback, so she finished the song and put her guitar away. "Sorry guys, I need to change now."
As she got up, the crowd dispersed and Sarah pulled her robe from the bag, Hermione followed her as she walked out of the compartment and went to the bathroom. "So…?" Her friend asked after they changed, Sarah smiled. Hermione always knew what happened in her mind without her saying a single word. "Nothing, really. I was remembering about the time I started to walk with you and the guys. It was so easy, a big thrilling adventure. We would run into trouble without noticing and trying, we liked it. But now… Everything's changed and we are in the middle of a war."
She sighed, Hermione had a sympathetic look in her face. "Yes, well, we changed. And speaking of changing… Where have you been this summer?" It usually was difficult to get a straight answer from Sarah, so it surprised the brown haired girl when she answered.
"My parents were acting weird, too scared to even open the windows and go outside our own home. It felt like house arrest." The young woman sighed while pulling her hair into a ponytail. "Everybody is worrying, they just act overprotective, but now you are here and everything is fine." Hermione always made everything better.
Arm in arm, the girls left the bathroom and returned to their compartment, passing in front the door of Malfoy's. Knight looked inside for only a second, to see him laying his head in Pansy Parkinson's lap, it made her almost throw up at the sight. And she was pretty sure he had looked back at her direction, his grey eyes locked on hers before she looked away, pushing the moment she had experienced out of her mind and not giving it much thought after that.
Harry didn't return during the whole trip, it was preoccupying, but if they waited any longer, they would miss the carriage and get in trouble, perhaps he had already gone ahead. The ride was uneventful and the friends chatted about the classes they would have this year. Soon they arrived in Hogwarts and were surprised by the caretaker Filch at the gate, he was looking into each person luggage and didn't seem too happy to see Sarah's guitar, the man was almost breaking it with his not so careful touch, it made her want to punch and hex him into oblivion.
After the inspection, the trio went to the Great Hall, still there was no sign of Harry anywhere. Maybe he was with someone? Or got stuck in the inspection? He would show up eventually.
Dumbledore gave his speech after the Sorting Hat, the few first years were sorted and Harry still hadn't showed up. Only in the middle of the meal he appeared, still in his muggle clothes and full of blood. Everyone was looking at his direction as he took a seat beside Ron and started to explain what happened. Bloody Harry Potter and his liking for trouble and damned Draco Malfoy for harming him!