Over the summer, the orphanage had been slightly better than last year. The death of his mother and the disapearance of his father hadn't been as fresh in Eren's mind, and some of the others were slowly warming up to the three of them. People had stopped questioning their spellbooks and quills and parchement when they did homework in the hallways – the other orphans had gotten used to seeing them there.
For their next year at Hogwarts, they got to choose a few electives to add to their usual class schedule. Eren had chosen Care for Magical Creatures, and Divination. Mikasa had chosen the same classes as Eren, and he suspected she only did that so she could be with him. Armin chose Care for Magical Creatures, Anchient Runes, and Arithmancy.
"I've heard Professor Zoe is an enthusiastic teacher," said Armin to kill the silence as they waited to be driven to King's Cross.
"Me, too. Do you know if they're a man or a woman?" asked Mikasa.
"I guess not," said Eren after a minute. "Does it matter?"
"Not really. I was just curious."
"So long as they're a good teacher, I don't care," said Armin.
Eren and Mikasa nodded their agreement.
A car drove into the front of the orphange, driven by one of the people who worked there. Eren, Armin, and Mikasa climbed into the backseat.
At the train station, they stood in front of Platform Nine, waved a goodbye, which really meant "you can leave now." The car drove back to the orphanage.
As soon as none of the muggles were looking, they ran through the barrier between platforms nine and ten.
Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters was as loud and buisy as usual for 11:00 on the morning of September first.
"It's Bertholdt!" called Mikasa, pointing to Bertholdt, who had, if possible, gotten even taller over the summer.
Eren heald on to the back of Armin's trunk to keep with his friends as they pushed themselves through the crowd.
Bertholdt was standing with Reiner and Annie.
"Now that we're all here, we should find a compartment," said Reiner. He lead the way onto the train, helping each of them with their trunks.
They found an empty compartment and shoved their luggage into the racks above their heads and sat down on the benches.
"How was your summer?" asked Reiner.
"Good," said Eren automatically. Then added: "Not a lot happened."
"What about you?" asked Armin.
"Good. Pretty quiet."
They were silent for a while.
"What classes are you adding this year?" Armin's voice shattered the silence.
"Care of Magical Creatures and Antient Runes," said Reiner.
"Arithmancy, Care for Magical Creatures, and Divination," said Annie.
"Same," said Bertholdt.
Eren, Armin, and Mikasa told them their classes. "So we'll all be in Care of Magical Creatures together. I heard Professor Zoe is good, so it's probably a big class."
The door of their compartment slid open.
"Hi!" said Sasha, a huge smile on her face. Connie craned his neck to see over her shoulder.
"Hi," said Eren and Reiner. The others waved.
Sasha nealy skipped into the compartment. It seemed she had already eaten too much sugar.
Ymir and Krista walked down the hall, waved to everyone around Connie and Sasha, and opened the door to the compartment across the hall. A couple first-years squeeked when they saw Ymir's tall form and ran away to find a different compartment.
"Hey guys," said Mikasa as Connie was throwing candy for Sasha to catch in her mouth. "Ymir and Krista are next door if you want to see them."
Connie and Sasha, still smiling like they were insane, crossed the hall and entered the other compartment.
"You look like you're on drugs," they heard Ymir say across the hall.
The door of the other compartment slid shut.
