The next couple weeks passed quickly. Before we knew it, it was the morning of September 1st, and Mrs. Weasley was hurriedly getting us ready to leave for King's Cross Station.
Ginny and I were up early once again, ready to return to school. We sat at the breakfast table where Percy was already perched and dug into a plate of bacon and eggs and toast with jam. Ron and Harry followed us, restraining yawns and not having yet combed their hair. I couldn't help but giggle a little as Harry sat next to me and I noticed a certain piece of his hair sticking up straight.
Harry, however, just shot me a sleepy look and turned to his food.
After another two hours, we were standing outside the entrance to Platform 9¾. Mrs. Weasley ushered Ginny in first seeing as it was her first time, and Percy followed, then Fred and George—I turned to Harry and Ron and grinned before rushing through the barrier myself.
As soon as I made it through, I was greeted by some of my school friends. Seamus and Dean waved hello, as did Parvati Patil. Robbie was already standing beside Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, grinning. I pushed my cart towards them and shot my brother a helpless shrug.
"I'll see you for Christmas, yeah?" he asked, pulling me into another hug.
"Of course," I replied, although my voice was muffled seeing as my face was buried in his shoulder.
My brother ruffled my hair lightly and started lugging my trunk onto the train. I grabbed Blumiere's cage and, after a heartfelt good-bye and thank-you to the Weasleys, boarded the train so I might find Harry and Ron and Hermione a good compartment.
Unfortunately, most of the compartments were already taken—the only one I could find that was empty was close to the back of the train. I placed Blumiere next to me to save Harry a seat and waited.
And waited…
And… waited.
Something wasn't right. The train's whistle sounded, and we were off. Harry and Ron should've found me by that time, and Hermione too. I couldn't help but wonder if they had somehow found another compartment on the train… or if they even managed to get on the train.
The train always left at eleven o'clock in the morning. They knew that, they should've made it…
Figuring that I must've simply overlooked their compartment, I grabbed Blumiere's cage and started looking through the windows. I received a lot of odd looks from upper-classmen; my face flushing pink, I tried to ignore them and just kept on walking. But after five minutes or so, I was forced to reach the conclusion that they weren't here. They weren't on the train…
"What are you doing out there by yourself?"
I started a little—Blumiere hooted indignantly at me—and turned to see none other than Draco Malfoy standing in the doorway of his compartment, the tiniest of leers on his face.
"I… looking for the others, I guess," I replied softly. I looked behind him only to see that he was the only one in his compartment. "What are you doing by yourself?"
"Couldn't find Crabbe or Goyle," he remarked easily, shrugging.
"Oh. What about your sister?"
Draco scoffed and answered, "No idea, probably off sulking somewhere. She and I don't actually spend that much time together at Hogwarts."
There was an awkward silence between us for a moment, until someone behind me said, "Anything from the trolley, dears?"
I yelped at the suddenness of the voice, which only made Draco Malfoy laugh. The kindly trolley lady placed a warm hand on my back to steady me, and then offered me a Licorice Whip.
Malfoy looked at me sideways for a second and then, almost sheepishly, said, "If you want, you can sit down."
I raised an eyebrow and sized him up; and came to the conclusion that he was genuine. So I took my seat, set Blumiere down, and hopped back up to get candy.
For a couple minutes, Malfoy and I perused the candies that were available: Licorice Whips, Chocolate Frogs—but what caught my eye were the boxes of Chocolate Wands and Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans.
Malfoy ended up getting one of everything, while I contented myself with three Chocolate Wands and a box of Bertie Bott's. With a warm smile, the trolley lady waved farewell and pushed the cart down to the next set of compartments.
Contented, we feasted on a few of our sweets in an oddly peaceful silence.
Figuring that the silence had to end eventually, however, I raised the box of Bertie Bott's and shook it in his direction. Noting that I had gathered his attention, I wiggled an eyebrow and asked, "Want to play a game?"
"That sounds sinister," he replied with a smirk. "What's the game?"
"A game with the beans," I stated, gesturing to them. "My brother and I play this one all the time. You blindly draw a jellybean out, and no matter what it looks like, you have to eat it. You have to swallow it or you lose—and if you spit it out, you lose. Last one standing wins."
Draco laughed and shook his head. "Is that it? You had me worried."
So we each grabbed a bean, and we began to play. As soon as I put the first jellybean in my mouth, my face morphed into something that must've been comical, because Draco laughed at me.
"Lemon," I gasped. It was sour, all right—but I swallowed it anyway. Within the next five seconds, it was me giggling when he claimed his bean had the flavor of soap, and admitted that he knew from experience.
The game went on and on. Draco was more stubborn than I'd originally anticipated. He received beans that tasted of coffee, liver, pepper, cherry, popcorn, soap again, and something he suspected was spinach, but he did not give up. Meanwhile, I was trying not to make faces like I had at the first trial—so far, my flavors had included bubble-gum, orange, cumin, cucumber, carrot, pumpkin, and grass, but especially with the grass, it was hard not to cave.
When we both finally called a truce, we focused on eating the rest of the candy and telling stories. He told me of how he and Crabbe and Goyle were constantly under fire from Lizzie's infernal pranks, and that she had a prank war going on with the Weasley twins as well. Figuring it was safe enough to mention by now, I told him about the fiasco that had been the "midnight duel" at the beginning of the previous year.
Draco cackled when he heard that Ron and Neville had accidentally knocked over a suit of armor, and seemed even more amused by the nickname that Peeves had given me: dumbbell.
"Well, you can't say he doesn't try," remarked Malfoy, although he was shaking his head.
As time went on, I somehow found myself having fun with Malfoy. He seemed to feel the same—at least, he wasn't being an absolute prat. Soon enough, two or three hours had passed, and I had almost forgotten about Harry and Ron's absence.
Almost.
I couldn't keep them off my mind when I finally saw Hermione through the glass. She started upon seeing me sitting with Malfoy and hesitantly knocked on the window.
Draco pretended to ignore her while I got up and opened the compartment door. Shooting my current companion a sideways look, she announced, "There you are! You haven't seen Harry or Ron around, have you?"
My heart sunk. If she hadn't seen them, either…
The stricken look on my face must've been her answer. Hermione blanched somewhat, but was obviously trying to remain positive as she suggested, "W-well, maybe they're just on a different part of the train. At any rate, Neville and Lavender and I have a compartment further down, if you'd like to join us…"
I looked back at Draco for a moment, who had suddenly taken an interest in Blumiere—he was hesitantly offering my little elf owl a finger, and my pet nicked him affectionately.
"Actually Hermione, I think I'll stay here. But thanks for the offer."
My friend blinked once before answering, "Sounds good. If you change your mind, feel free to find us," and heading off.
I closed the door and sat back down across from Draco, who was obviously trying not to be awkward. Eventually, he met my eye, and shot me a puzzled look.
Figuring that I should tell him the truth, I simply said, "I'm having fun."
A smile etched its way onto his face, and he said, "Great. Me too."
The rest of the train ride was back to normal—we decided to have a second go at the Bertie Bott's game, and finally, after he got a jellybean the flavor of a tomato, I was able to secure the win.
As soon as he conceded, Draco spat the bean out into a tissue, the most disgusted expression on his face as he grumbled, "I hate those bloody things."
I couldn't help it—the burst of laughter just escaped and I asked, just to confirm, "Draco Malfoy hates tomatoes?"
"They're the devil."
I laughed again, which only earned me a scathing look.
That was when I saw Hogwarts Castle in the background, the lights gleaming at us, waiting for its students to return home. Draco moved towards the window so he could look at it with me; he smiled again and admitted, "I've missed this place."
I didn't respond; I was looking across the surface of the lake, underneath which I could've sworn a mermaid was watching the train whizz by. Off in the distance was the village, Hogsmeade—we would have to wait until third year to be able to visit there, but that wouldn't be too far off.
The castle gradually grew larger and larger, until we were at the station below it. The train docked, and students began opening their compartment doors to stretch and prepare to disembark.
"Want to catch a carriage?" asked Draco, shrugging.
"Sure," I answered, flashing him a grin.
As soon as we were able, we got off the train. Our classmates began heading towards the direction of the carriages. Somewhere off in the distance, I heard Hagrid yelling, "Firs' years, this way! Over here, firs' years!" the same way that he had done for us the previous year.
After telling Blumiere that I'd see him in the dorm and to be a good owl, we left the station. Draco and I followed the upper-classmen together, closely followed by a few other Slytherins who had been in the compartment across from us. One of the girls I recognized, but couldn't remember her name—upon catching my eye, she shot me a dirty look and huffed, speeding in front of me.
"Ignore her," Draco muttered.
"I'm used to ignoring Slytherins by now."
Draco shot me another sardonic look, which only made me snort. By this time, we had made it to the carriages—and I stopped short.
Pulling the carriage was an odd creature, reminiscent of a horse but black and almost skeletal. Its legs were very long, and there were no eyes in its sockets. I stepped forward, my own eyes wide, and tentatively reached a hand out; the horse-creature sniffed my hand before nuzzling into it.
"It's amazing," I murmured, a slow smile spreading across my face.
"What is?"
I gestured to the horse… but Draco just stared at me as if I'd lost my mind.
"Come here," I declared, waving him forward. He did so, but hesitantly—I took his hand and slowly put it out to touch the horse.
As soon as he put his hand on its snout, Draco jumped as if he'd been shocked. I laughed very slightly, but my mirth was silenced by the truthfully horrified look on his face.
"I… I can't see it," he said softly. For the first time I'd yet seen, Draco Malfoy was genuinely scared and confused. "What is it?"
"I don't know," I replied. A bunch of questions were roaming through my head: what was this thing, and why could only I see it?
"Here, let's just… get in the carriage."
Knowing there wasn't much else to do and that I wouldn't get any answers here, I did as Draco suggested and climbed aboard.
The ride to Hogwarts was quiet; we were both thinking about the skeletal horse pulling the carriage. Whenever I had heard the older students talking about these carriages, they'd always said that they pulled themselves.
Obviously, this was not true.
I spent the rest of the ride looking outside, seeing as it was my first time traveling this pathway. The trees were dark and looming, yet the fireflies and moonlight shone through the gaps, making it seem mysterious rather than gloomy. The horses' skeletal hooves echoed through the air, along with a few whispers from the older students who'd seen this before. Above us, the moon was glowing like a large yellow orb.
When we arrived at the castle, Draco and I followed those who knew what they were doing into the castle. We were still quiet, but when it came time for us to go back to our House's tables, we offered each other small waves and the traditional, "See you later."
The moment I sat down, Hermione joined me, looking alarmed.
"I thought Harry and Ron would show up, but I still haven't seen them."
At this point, I was certain they had missed the train. I attempted to quickly catch Hermione up on my suspicions, but Professor Dumbledore rose to start his speech, forcing us to cease our conversation until the Headmaster was finished speaking. Even though I knew his words were important, after I heard, "Quidditch trials will be held the second week of term. Please see Madam Hooch for details," I lost concentration. Harry and Ron's whereabouts were driving me crazy—it was then that I noticed Professor Snape was discreetly talking to Professor McGonagall.
I watched as they waited for Professor Dumbledore to be finished with his talk; and then three of them exited the Great Hall. To distract us, the golden platters sitting handsomely in front of us were filled with delectable dishes.
Although the food was great as usual, my mind was completely elsewhere. If Snape, McGonagall, and Dumbledore were off… and if my gut feeling was to be trusted, it had something to do with my friends.
Hopefully they hadn't done anything stupid.
My hopes were dashed as whispers began circling the Great Hall—apparently, Harry and Ron had flown Mr. Weasley's car to Hogwarts, and were currently being considered for expulsion for landing in the Whomping Willow. Upon hearing this, Hermione and I exchanged looks. She looked rather green, and set down her fork.
After about an hour or so of everyone feasting and reuniting with friends, Professor Dumbledore released us. Hermione and I joined up with Parvati and Lavender, and the three of them immediately began gushing about how much they'd missed the place, and how exciting it was that Gilderoy Lockhart was our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.
I couldn't join in this conversation, though. Not genuinely, at least—Lockhart just seemed so smarmy to me, and I didn't trust anyone who basked in his fame to the degree that he did at Flourish and Blotts.
When we arrived at the portrait hole, I heard what was unmistakably Harry's voice exclaim, "Belle, Hermione!"
And sure enough, rushing up to us were Harry and Ron—they were pretty beat up and bleeding a little, but they were glowing like suns.
Before I could even ask what the bloody hell had happened to them, Hermione exploded.
"There you are, where have you been? The most ridiculous rumors—someone said you'd been expelled for crashing a flying car—"
"Well, we haven't been expelled," Harry cut in, grinning.
"You're not telling me you did fly here?" shrieked Hermione, glaring at them beadily.
Ron sensed the coming danger and quickly interrupted, "The platform wouldn't let us through! So spare us the lecture, what's the password?"
"Wattlebird!" I exclaimed, and the Fat Lady smiled at me and swung aside. Hermione was about to continue with her haughty speech, but she was stopped by a storm of clapping hands and waving arms.
Harry and Ron were pulled into the common room, forcing Hermione and I to chase after them. We glanced around; a crowd of people were standing on the chairs and tables and sofas to get a good look at Harry and Ron. They were congratulating the two of them over and over… Lee Jordan was shouting, "Brilliant! Inspired! What an entrance! Flying a car right into the Whomping Willow, people will be talking about that one for years—"
"Why couldn't we have come in the car, eh?" shouted Fred and George over the riot, clapping harder than anyone else.
The two of our friends were still smiling, but Ron's immediately faded when he spotted Percy, who was red, scowling, and trying to budge towards them. Harry was still talking to Fred, who was excitedly blabbing about plans they've got for the future, would you like to be a part of it—
"Run," I murmured to Ron. He pulled at Harry's sleeve and pointed to Percy.
Harry's grin faded too, and without further ado shouted, "Off to bed—bit tired."
Many tried to stop them from leaving, but they managed to escape both the congregation and Percy Weasley. I myself was slightly impressed by the crafty way they'd dealt with their predicament, but I was also worried. If anyone were to realize that it had been Mr. Weasley who bewitched that car, Mr. Weasley who worked in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Department… if Harry and Ron had said the wrong thing, it wouldn't take too long to figure it out.
Parvati, Lavender, Hermione and I all trooped up the stairs and prepared for bed. The four of us were still talking about the incident for an hour afterward, asking each other why didn't Harry send Hedwig, the fool, when did Ron learn how to drive, etc.
There was one thing bothering me that the others didn't seem to wonder, though… how come they hadn't been able to get onto the platform?
