Chapter Eighty-Three: The Carriage Ride
Once the train pulled out in front of the school, Harry flew down out of the sky on Spike and after he landed, he dismounted. Hagrid met him with a humongous grin on his face before embracing him tightly. "Ah hullo Harry, I see you decided to bring your dragon back to school with you instead of riding the train this year." He said before letting go of the embrace and backing away while Spike lifted his leg and relieved himself in the grass and Harry silently nodded up at him.
"Then I guess you wouldn't have seen Jenny, Shannon, and Crystal then." He said but Harry just simply arched his eyebrows.
"Who?" He wondered.
"They're first years this year. Their full names are Genevieve Lake, Shannon Dodger, and Crystal Long. They're the daughters of Rickie, Derek, and Justin. Or as you probably know them more as The Dragons. Sarah isn't that much older than them, so perhaps she'll enjoy hanging out with them." He suggested as Harry grinned back at him.
"Yeah, I'm sure she will." He told him rather excited that he would be able to watch people that he sort of knew being sorted this year. "Perhaps one will even be a new friend for Brianna." He said and that's when it suddenly hit him as he turned his head around and looked for Draco. "Say, speaking of Brianna, where are the Malfoys anyways? And Ron and Hermione?" He wondered before Luna stepped off the Hogwarts Express right behind him.
"Ah, hullo Harry." She began before he turned his head to look at her.
"Hey Luna, have you seen Ron, Hermione, and Draco?" He wondered.
"Yes I have, but I'm afraid that it wasn't a very pleasant train ride. A fight broke out, and Draco punched some boys in the nose." She told him.
"What!? I thought that he had changed!" Harry cried as he quickly hurried onto the train and immediately bumped. "You know if you're trying to prove that you deserve a spot in Heaven, you're not off to a very good start." He told him as Draco's face suddenly went pale.
"Harry listen, you don't understand. There have been people around here who have been saying some pretty bad things about you." He told him.
"I don't care if they're saying that I'm the spawn of Voldemort!" He snapped at him. "You can't just beat up somebody for talking smack about me! There are consequences for it. Just ignore them." He said as Draco glanced down at the ground.
"I'm sorry. I was only trying to help." He told him as Harry took a deep breath while turning his head to look away from him before back at him again.
"It's alright. It's my fault. At least you're trying to change, and nobody can change completely overnight. Now where's Ron and Hermione?" He asked him.
"They already went up to the school. They're telling McGonagall what happened and hoping that honesty and maybe community service will keep me from getting expelled." He explained.
"Thank God and I can't emphasis that enough." Harry told him before wrapping his arms around him and embracing him tightly. "And I'm not only saying that for Hermione's sake." He told him before grabbing his luggage. "Come on, Hagrid's taking Spike to his stable so we can head up there now. Besides that,.. I really have to pee." He told him as Draco stifled a laugh.
"TMI Snape." He responded while heading up to the castle with him and affectionately ruffling his hair. Once they got to the part of the road where the carriages were waiting for them Harry widened his eyes in complete and utter shock and amazement. For this time, instead of the carriages pulling themselves they were being pulled by the skinniest and ugliest horses that Harry had ever seen.
"What is that?" Harry wondered.
"What is what?" Draco questioned him while arching an eyebrow in confusion.
"That thing, pulling the carriage." Harry replied.
"You haven't been slipping firewhisky in your butterbeer now have you?" Draco inquired with a grin. "The thing's pulling it itself just like it has the past two years." He told him before Luna looked up at them from her magazine. Neville, Amber, and April were already sitting with her.
"You're not going mad. I can see them too." She told him.
"Oh really? What are they?" Harry wondered as he and Draco climbed aboard.
"Thestrals." She began. "They can only be seen by those who have witnessed and fully are able to comprehend death." She explained while the carriage started moving closer towards the castle.
"So then, who have you known that's died?" Draco asked her.
"My mum." Luna began again. "She was experimenting with a new potion and it went wrong and she was killed. I was nine." She explained.
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." Draco told her.
"That's alright, it was a long time ago anyways." She told him while Harry started looking around and started realizing that somebody was missing.
"Wait a minute, where's Patches? He wasn't on the train with the rest of my things."
"Don't worry Hermione has him and Tickle up at the school already. She told me that she was thinking about getting a dog herself since she loves spending time with them so much. That is as long as it gets along with her cat." Draco told him with a grin. "Me personally, since I already have a dog I wouldn't mind getting a dragon now that they're legal to own."
"Alright, but just so you know they're a lot of work and it's pretty much similar to owning a horse and you better enjoy holding a shovel." Harry warned him as Draco's grin instantly vanished and a moment of silence fell between them before they burst out laughing. Once the carriage finished pulling them up to the school Harry went to the boy's lavatory and Draco entered The Great Hall and hurried over to Hermione.
"So what happened?" He questioned her anxiously breathing heavily while feeling his heart pounding up against his chest.
"Well even though she agreed with us that your intentions were good she was still furious with the whole entire situation. She's not going to expel you but you're going to have detention all this week and have already cost your house fifty points. Oh, and she's also going to write to your parents." She explained.
"Great! This is just brilliant! I try to do something good for one of my friends and I wind up getting punished for it." He said as she simply just heaved a sigh.
"I know, but just try to hang in there. I love you." She told him while gazing into his eyes and placing a tender hand to his cheek.
"I love you too." He replied while gazing back into hers and then they closed their eyes and started to kiss.
