Author Note: To those waiting for the Time Travel Fic, it's coming out soon. Most likely once I transfer all my shorthand notes onto the computer, (within the week) it will be up :).
Smoke curled around the edge of the platform, the clouds in the sky giving Platform 9 ¾ a sort of dreary tone. It was almost as though the Scarlet Train was a dull red this year, as if the majestic train could feel the events and emotions of the families around it.
The ground could be seen for once, even though it was nearly departing time. The muggles outside the Platform seemed to notice a less amount of odd people running about in strange clothing. But they thought nothing of it, as they had their own normal schedules to return too.
The smell of fresh parchments, books, and pets filled the air. The sound of chattering going on around the engine could be heard. Nearby the front of the train, a young man who was now a unofficial leader of a determined group gently stroked an eccentric brown plant. He turned and whispered something to a red headed girl, who was fiercely fighting the saddening scene. She then began chatting loudly with a pale blond girl, who looked to be her age. All their trunks were with them, all their animals (if they had any) were tucked into cages. Even though people surrounding the train, families crowded nearby to send their children off, there was something missing. A sense of happiness perhaps, or maybe the lack of safety in the air. The lack of familiarity, and the lack of joy. The missing feeling was something everyone acknowledged, whether consciously or not.
At a Wizarding school in Scotland, a one of startling beauty and elegance, the feelings were identical.
A middle aged witch sat in a classroom, sitting at an old desk with mountains of paperwork beside her. There was no noise in her room, except for the occasional sniffle which was silenced by an old tartan handkerchief. She glanced up however, at a window nearby. A window that showed the outside grounds in which the sun was peaking out through charcoal clouds. She thought for a second she saw a cloud in the shape of a wizard hat. But then it faded and she opened a tin to pop a candy into her mouth, that on any other day she'd say she had detested.
In another room, surrounded by portraits, a younger wizard sat. His greasy black hair kept swishing about as he paced the room. He kept glancing at a specific portrait, of an old man sitting directly behind his chair as he paced, wondering how in the devil was he going to manage this charade. He then stopped, and stalked out of the room off to check the happenings in the school, making the other portraits inside curious, on what he was thinking.
In a dusty classroom, a small (some even consider a midget) wizard was organizing his classroom. He summoned books, and they all came soaring to them, knocking him to the ground. He gave a squeak of shock, but otherwise wasn't harmed. Ordinarily he'd laughed at the mess he made, and clean it up in an instant. But his attitude wasn't one of hilarity today. It was of worry for the other staff members, worry they'd run themselves into the ground dealing with Death Eaters in Hogwarts. Or really, he was worried for a specific tartan loving Deputy Headmistress who was a good friend of his.
An old Caretaker squib prowled the corridors inside the school. Normally he loved the quietness of it all, but today was making him uncertain. A ugly disgusting cat slinked behind him. The corridors were unnaturally clean, but felt darker. He didn't know why, but it seemed something big was going to change Hogwarts this year.