p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Mum clutched me tightly and pressed a kiss to the top of my head. "I love you, Gia. So much."span class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""I know, Mum." I whispered class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"She pulled back, then unwrapped her hands from around my shoulders and cupped my face. "I want you to enjoy yourself this year, Gia, but get back into the groove of things, as well. Find your flow, and things will fall into place again."/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"emHow many synonyms in the English language before she runs out of different ways to say the same thing over and over again?/em I class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"She let my face go but pulled me into another hug. "Write me as soon as you can— I want to know everything. Gossip and and all that, too."/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I forced a weak laugh and she released me. "I will, Mum." I said. "Only if you promise not tospan class="Apple-converted-space" /spanforget the Chelsea scores in your letters,"span class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""I wouldn't dream of it."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""Thanks." I said, "I'll see you soon, yeah? I think I have to bugger off now, the train…"span class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Eerily on cue, the Hogwarts Express let out its loud warning whistle. Mum laughed at my timing, "Well, you're right then. Best be off with you."/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I picked up my port with one hand, Pea's cage with the other, and kissed Mum on the cheek. "Goodbye."span class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"After one last wave, I was speedily making my way towards the train, dodging scurrying younger students left and right. span class="Apple-converted-space" /span/spanspan class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I was not even two yards away from the entryway of the train when a disembodied voice shouted obnoxiously through the platform. "Lennon! Oi, Lennon!"/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"emPretend you're deaf, Gia. Walk faster. Fake a seizure if it comes to class="Apple-converted-space" /span/em/span/p
p class="p3" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p class="p3" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Speedy footsteps signalled the approach of the body of the disembodied voice. I stopped, barely a foot away from the train and turned around to face the smiling Dirk Cresswell, fellow Ravenclaw sixth year. I swallowed down the lump in my throat and managed a wheezy, "Hullo, Dirk. How were your holidays?"span class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""Hullo, Gia. Oh, they were fine. Nothing too eventful."span class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""That's good then," I smiled weakly./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"He opened his mouth as if to say something else, and then closed it with a snap, looking suddenly unsure of himself. I wondered if he regretted not planning more things to say./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"After a second or two more of strained quiet, he seemed to think of fresh material. "Have you seen many of the others yet?" He asked casually, "If you haven't, you're welcome to join Adrian and me in our compartment. He's probably already constructing a little set up of wizard's chess as we speak."span class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""Sure, Dirk, maybe I'll find you later." emOr not. "/emI think I'll try to find an empty compartment catch up on some missed sleep, first though."span class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""Righto, Gia. Might see you then, then." He smiled warmly again, a little smaller this time, nodded once and headed into the entryway to the Express. And just when my stomach started to settle in relief, he suddenly stopped and whipped around, almost whacking a first year in the head with his levitating luggage that bobbed behind him. span class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""If you ever need, I make a wicked Sleeping Draught. Wouldn't trouble me at all!"span class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I stuck my thumb up, "I'll be sure to come to you if I ever need one. Thanks, Dirk."span class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"One last smile and he was back on his way into the train. I waited a few beats before following him./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I kept my head down as I shuffled past the hugging and chattering students filling the trains corridor, speeding up every time I heard other familiar class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"My trek through the third train carriage was brought to a stop as a little first year who's overpacked luggage had burst open in the corridor hurried to stuff his belongings into the pockets of his dress robes. I pressed myself flat against the adjacent compartment door to give the poor little tot some class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"After a squeaky apology, the ruddy faced first year scurried off and I was able continue making my way through the carriage— but not before catching sight of the several pale faces staring at me from within the carriage I had not two seconds ago been smooshed against. Seventh year class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I felt myself flush hotly, stomach in knots, and I forced myself to look away and hurry onwards, before any of them decided to start the school year off with a taste of vengeance. span class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"span class="Apple-converted-space" /spanI found an empty compartment in the trains very last carriage and felt almost sick with class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p3" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p class="p3" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"emNext year I'll have to be faster than this time if I want to be assured an empty compartment./em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I propped my luggage overhead, though not before pulling a particular book out of its front class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"The next nine hours were spent in quiet. /span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"-/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"AN: First story I have ever written! /span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""I know, Mum." I whispered class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"She pulled back, then unwrapped her hands from around my shoulders and cupped my face. "I want you to enjoy yourself this year, Gia, but get back into the groove of things, as well. Find your flow, and things will fall into place again."/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"emHow many synonyms in the English language before she runs out of different ways to say the same thing over and over again?/em I class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"She let my face go but pulled me into another hug. "Write me as soon as you can— I want to know everything. Gossip and and all that, too."/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I forced a weak laugh and she released me. "I will, Mum." I said. "Only if you promise not tospan class="Apple-converted-space" /spanforget the Chelsea scores in your letters,"span class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""I wouldn't dream of it."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""Thanks." I said, "I'll see you soon, yeah? I think I have to bugger off now, the train…"span class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Eerily on cue, the Hogwarts Express let out its loud warning whistle. Mum laughed at my timing, "Well, you're right then. Best be off with you."/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I picked up my port with one hand, Pea's cage with the other, and kissed Mum on the cheek. "Goodbye."span class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"After one last wave, I was speedily making my way towards the train, dodging scurrying younger students left and right. span class="Apple-converted-space" /span/spanspan class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I was not even two yards away from the entryway of the train when a disembodied voice shouted obnoxiously through the platform. "Lennon! Oi, Lennon!"/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"emPretend you're deaf, Gia. Walk faster. Fake a seizure if it comes to class="Apple-converted-space" /span/em/span/p
p class="p3" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p class="p3" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Speedy footsteps signalled the approach of the body of the disembodied voice. I stopped, barely a foot away from the train and turned around to face the smiling Dirk Cresswell, fellow Ravenclaw sixth year. I swallowed down the lump in my throat and managed a wheezy, "Hullo, Dirk. How were your holidays?"span class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""Hullo, Gia. Oh, they were fine. Nothing too eventful."span class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""That's good then," I smiled weakly./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"He opened his mouth as if to say something else, and then closed it with a snap, looking suddenly unsure of himself. I wondered if he regretted not planning more things to say./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"After a second or two more of strained quiet, he seemed to think of fresh material. "Have you seen many of the others yet?" He asked casually, "If you haven't, you're welcome to join Adrian and me in our compartment. He's probably already constructing a little set up of wizard's chess as we speak."span class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""Sure, Dirk, maybe I'll find you later." emOr not. "/emI think I'll try to find an empty compartment catch up on some missed sleep, first though."span class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""Righto, Gia. Might see you then, then." He smiled warmly again, a little smaller this time, nodded once and headed into the entryway to the Express. And just when my stomach started to settle in relief, he suddenly stopped and whipped around, almost whacking a first year in the head with his levitating luggage that bobbed behind him. span class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""If you ever need, I make a wicked Sleeping Draught. Wouldn't trouble me at all!"span class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I stuck my thumb up, "I'll be sure to come to you if I ever need one. Thanks, Dirk."span class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"One last smile and he was back on his way into the train. I waited a few beats before following him./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I kept my head down as I shuffled past the hugging and chattering students filling the trains corridor, speeding up every time I heard other familiar class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"My trek through the third train carriage was brought to a stop as a little first year who's overpacked luggage had burst open in the corridor hurried to stuff his belongings into the pockets of his dress robes. I pressed myself flat against the adjacent compartment door to give the poor little tot some class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"After a squeaky apology, the ruddy faced first year scurried off and I was able continue making my way through the carriage— but not before catching sight of the several pale faces staring at me from within the carriage I had not two seconds ago been smooshed against. Seventh year class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I felt myself flush hotly, stomach in knots, and I forced myself to look away and hurry onwards, before any of them decided to start the school year off with a taste of vengeance. span class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"span class="Apple-converted-space" /spanI found an empty compartment in the trains very last carriage and felt almost sick with class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p3" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p class="p3" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"emNext year I'll have to be faster than this time if I want to be assured an empty compartment./em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I propped my luggage overhead, though not before pulling a particular book out of its front class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 12px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"The next nine hours were spent in quiet. /span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"-/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"AN: First story I have ever written! /span/p