PROLOGUE
Part I: 1 September 2017
The Hogwarts Express departed from King's Cross Station at exactly eleven o'clock.
In discreet groups of ones and twos but no more than four at a time, people began to empty Platform Nine and Three Quarters.
There was something of a wait to be had.
Patience was traditional and routine, so nobody truly minded.
Everyone was well aware that those exiting back into the Muggle World could only leave so quickly. It wasn't allowed to draw undue attention to themselves by pouring out of a stone column the majority of the Muggle populace didn't know was a magical gateway.
Pops of Apparition and the scrape and quiet swoosh of brooms taking off from the designated departure point that would let them soar unseen into the London skyline added to the dull roar of the thinning crowds. The distinct noise Floo Powder made as it came in contact with magical fire in the half-dozen public grates on the far end of the Platform was louder than most everything. Here and there, Muggle car keys were jingling as people prepared to go back to their vehicles.
Many people were promising to catch up before the next train arrival in December or expressing how good it was to see one another since the end of the previous school year in June.
A cacophony departures and goodbyes filled the Platform, but not all farewells were because of seeing off a student to Hogwarts.
Not all farewells were warm and easy and loving.
There were two farewells, both distinctly different from one another, both which felt like the devastation they hadn't known for quite a long time.
One farewell had been feared, dreaded and so hurtful because it was unexpected.
The other farewell was well anticipated but no less hurtful because it was expected.
Nineteen years later, these farewells indicated that all was not well – at least not for Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy.