Chapter 63: The Hogwarts Express
I arrived at the station a little early and spotted Hermione, or more accurately, a very irritated Hermione, storming onto the platform.
"Hello. What's the matter?"
I took her trunk from her as I said it, cast a couple of charms, and sent it off to our compartment.
"What? Draco! Hello!"
She practically launched herself at me, throwing her arms around me.
"Easy, easy. You'll strangle me."
"Yes, yes."
She released me and poked me in the stomach.
"...you've put on even more muscle over the summer. You're like iron."
"Thank you. Now tell me what's happened."
"Ah..."
She gave a small wave of her hand.
"...Papa has dug his heels in. We'll sort it out ourselves, he says. He's the head of the family, and he'll handle everything. He doesn't understand that there will be obligations no matter where they turn, and that yours are the only ones with any chance of being humane. Honestly, the opportunities that would come with signing a contract with you are obviously better than whatever patchwork of separate agreements he could scrape together."
"Has he made any progress at all?"
"Oh, it's not that he hasn't. Why would you think that? Mum and I have been picking apart every alternative he comes up with. Our main argument at the moment is that Mum's already earning a decent amount just from selling first-year potions. Obviously nowhere near what the clinic brought in, but..."
She shrugged.
...I honestly can't explain it, but it's as if she has some kind of gift. We didn't even understand what was happening at first. She would chop an ingredient differently, or stir the cauldron in a different way, and a couple of times she simply forgot to add ingredients at all, but the potions still came out first-rate. The apothecary said so. So even that income, tight as it was, was enough to tide them over until the clinic sold. Not comfortably, but enough.
"Why didn't you write to me? I could have sent a little money through your father, so to speak."
"Oh, no need."
She waved it off.
"They had some savings set aside from before, so it was fine. And now that the clinic has sold, there's enough for a couple of years of comfortable living."
"I see."
I nodded, and noticing that Hermione had gone quiet, I moved to reassure her.
"Don't worry. I put the Anti-Eavesdropping Charms on before I started asking you questions."
"Thank goodness... I was starting to think I'd said too much."
"Forget it. Come on. Let's get to the compartment. Daphne's already there. Penny isn't yet, but she's a prefect. They have some sort of meeting. Nympha hasn't arrived either. She'll probably come running at the last minute."
I smiled.
"And Tracey, Harry, and the others?"
I shrugged.
"No idea. I haven't seen Harry since we parted ways after the train last year, and the same goes for Davis."
"Are you still cross with her?"
"No."
I shrugged.
"I've simply drawn my conclusions. Shall we go?"
"Yes."
We made our way to the compartment and settled in, though not before Hermione delivered a bone-crushing hug to Daphne, who bore it with dignity.
"So, Daph, how are things with you?"
"Well."
She gave a slow nod, and at that moment the compartment door opened and Tracey peered in.
"Daphne. Hermione. Draco."
She greeted me last, and her voice was slightly uncertain. I answered her greeting with a brief nod.
"Tracey."
Hermione and Daphne responded almost in unison.
"Am I intruding?"
"No."
Daphne answered for all of us, though she first cast a quick glance in my direction. I simply shrugged, making it clear that the decision was hers alone. She chose to give Tracey a chance. She did, after all, genuinely consider her a friend.
"He doesn't mind."
I drew my wand and, with a slight sigh, cast a Space-Expansion Charm on the compartment. A simple one, but sufficient to accommodate our whole group in full comfort once everyone had gathered.
"That was..."
Tracey looked faintly startled, but before she could put her reaction into words, the compartment door opened again and a slightly bewildered face belonging to our resident hero appeared in the gap.
"There you all are! I've been looking everywhere."
He stepped in with a grin.
"Hello, everyone."
"Hello."
We replied in a loose, untidy chorus.
"Oh, and I spotted the Patil twins on the platform, so they should be joining us soon."
There was not much to say to that, and once the twins did arrive, the compartment descended into cheerful chaos. Not so much because of them specifically, but because the number of people had reached a critical mass and it became genuinely difficult to keep track of who was doing what.
We were contentedly simmering in our little cauldron when the door opened again.
"Oh. First-years?"
I looked with some surprise at the two girls standing in the doorway: one red-haired, pretty enough that it was obvious she would be among the most striking girls in her year in a couple of years; the other a platinum blonde whose mind was clearly elsewhere.
"Is this one full too?"
"What an absolute sweetheart!"
This verdict was reached simultaneously by the twins, by Nymphadora, who had appeared behind the girls, and, judging by the gleam in their eyes, by most of the other girls in the compartment as well.
"Er..."
The redhead looked quite thrown, while the blonde attempted a strategic retreat, and might have managed it had Nymphadora not already positioned herself directly behind her, so that when the girl turned to flee, her head came level with Nymphadora's chest, and Nymphadora made a very decisive grab.
I looked the two girls over thoughtfully.
"Come in, don't be shy. Although you..."
I nodded to the redhead.
"...you're a Weasley, aren't you?"
"Yes."
She frowned slightly, and then something clearly clicked, a habit apparently hammered into her by six older brothers.
"...and is that a problem for you?!"
"Aren't we ferocious."
Nymphadora regarded the redhead with fond exasperation.
"...though you might want to be careful. The person in front of you is Flitwick's personal student, who will be teaching you Charms, and who earned his Journeyman qualification before second year. So I wouldn't recommend being rude."
"Oh, leave it."
I waved Nympha off.
"It's my own fault. I phrased the question in a way that was difficult to respond any other way in her position. And no, Miss Weasley, I have no problem with it whatsoever. I simply wanted to warn you that you might. You see, your older brother, Ron, is not on good terms with me. He picked a fight with me more than once last year, and if you choose our compartment, there is every chance he will not be pleased."
"But what about the twins and..."
"I have no quarrel with your other brothers. The twins do push the limits rather often, and when I first arrived at Hogwarts I had them down as juvenile delinquents, more or less..."
The girl snorted.
"...but they turned out to be considerably less alarming in practice. So we have a sort of mutual non-aggression agreement. No common interests to bring us into conflict. As for Percy, no quarrel there either."
"Then it's fine."
She shrugged and walked boldly into the compartment.
"...wait. Conflict. Teacher..."
Nympha followed her in, practically carrying the blonde, who radiated the quiet acceptance of someone who had made peace with whatever was coming.
"...you're Black! Draco Black! Malfoy's son..."
She said the last part with a note of uncertainty, as if she wasn't quite sure of her ground.
"There is that unfortunate chapter in my biography, yes. Though I prefer to think of it as Lucius having contributed the biological material necessary for my existence, rather than being my father in any meaningful sense. In any case, does that present a problem for you?"
"Not... exactly."
She looked down.
"Not exactly?"
"Could we talk later, once we're at Hogwarts?"
"Of course."
I nodded.
"Whatever house you end up in, I'll be teaching you Charms regardless, so you can always stay behind after a lesson if another time doesn't suit. But are you sure you..."
"Thank you. And yes, I'm sure. Ron will survive our association somehow."
The girl nodded.
"Right then. I think introductions are in order. My name is Draco Black. This is my loyal lady's maid, Daphne. This is Harry Potter, Tracey Davis, the Patil sisters, Parvati and Padma. The girl currently in Nymphadora Tonks's arms is my honorary little sister, and this curly-haired one is Hermione Granger."
"Hey!"
"And you are?"
"Ginny Weasley."
I had the impression that hearing Harry's name made her completely lose awareness of the outside world. But no, she did squeak out her own name and even managed something resembling a curtsey.
"And you..."
I looked at the blonde, who had now been released from the fearsome clutches of she-who-also-happened-to-be-my-sister.
"Luna Lovegood. Though some people call me Loony."
I frowned slightly.
"We will deal with that particular unpleasantness in due course. As for a nickname, Luna suits you far better, I think. You don't mind?"
"No... Ginny calls me that too."
"Then it's settled. Please, sit down. We're still waiting for a few more people, and one particularly unstoppable individual, after which we will set out the food and the rest of the journey will be rather loud. If that suits you."
Ginny nodded enthusiastically. Luna, meanwhile, was pulled back into someone's embrace before she could answer one way or the other.
"I'm here."
The door opened and Lavender stepped in.
"Lavender Brown."
I introduced her to the new girls. She greeted them, quickly found a seat beside the Patil sisters, and drew them into conversation.
"Right, I think we can start setting out the food. Penny won't be back for another twenty minutes or so. Prefect duties."
"Mm."
Daphne immediately reached for her bag, pulled it down from the rack, and began pulling out an assortment of things. Not only sweets, but proper food: sandwiches, chicken, potatoes... the house-elves, supervised by Kreacher, had prepared a great deal of very good food.
"Help yourself."
Nympha gave Ginny a gentle nudge, then turned her attention to Luna, whom she began feeding with cheerful determination. Luna bore it with stoic dignity, though somewhere in the depths of her eyes I caught a flicker of pleasure. Or perhaps I imagined it.
A whistle sounded, signaling five minutes to departure, and the platform outside the window grew busy. We, however, had entirely lost interest in it and simply settled into conversation. The occasional person did peer in at the door, and we made room when they did, but second-years were generally looking for their own friends, and first-years were too shy to join such a large group.
Astoria, however, joined us with great enthusiasm and found herself immediately at home, particularly with Ginny and Luna, with whom she struck up a quick understanding.
And so the time passed pleasantly until the train departed. After that, no newcomers could even squeeze in.
After another whistle, the train began to move, and I smiled to myself. Up until the last moment, I had been half-expecting something to happen. A rift in space. A Death Eater attack. Anything. After all, the second year was not going to follow the old path. The Horcrux responsible for it had never reached Ginny's hands.
And yet everything was quiet.
It was too early to relax, of course. We still had a very long road ahead. But at least this part of the day had gone well.
And that was good.
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4.Harry Potter: Reborn as Draco Black = CHAPTER 115
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