On the Hogwarts Express (Part 2)

"Big sister?" Astoria stood up awkwardly.

A girl of twelve or thirteen stood outside the door. She had curly blonde hair and looked somewhat like Astoria. But Astoria had a childish face that made her seem gentle, while this girl's features were sharp and severe.

Daphne Greengrass looked like an angry hen as she swept Jon, sitting opposite Astoria, with an unfriendly glance. Seeing his shirt and jeans, she curled her lip disdainfully before turning her gaze back to Astoria.

"Where did you run off to? Do you know how long I've been looking for you?" she demanded sternly.

"Big sister... I..." The questioned girl seemed a little pale. "When I entered the platform just now, I lost track of you..."

"Then you should have found the conductor or an attendant!" Daphne Greengrass looked down at her. "Not randomly picked a compartment."

As she spoke, she cast Jon a wary glance.

"Sorry..."

"You can't just run around. I'm sure Mother has told you that many times... She had to beg Professor Dumbledore before..." Daphne trailed off halfway through, glancing at Jon for the third time, and said no more.

"Sorry..."

Jon had already switched into spectator mode.

He had a fairly good impression of Astoria Greengrass, while Daphne Greengrass's attitude annoyed him somewhat.

But even an upright official could hardly settle family disputes. As an outsider, he had no place meddling in matters between the sisters. So he remained a contented onlooker.

"Quick, pack your things and come with me!" Daphne ordered. "There's still a seat in my compartment."

Astoria gave Jon an apologetic look, then nodded stiffly with her pale little face.

"Okay, Big sister..."

She began putting the things on the seat back into her trunk.

When she was about to cap the opened but untouched bottle of Coca-Cola and put it into the trunk—

"Astoria! Don't take that filthy stuff Muggles use!" Daphne Greengrass shrieked.

Even Jon, who had maintained good manners throughout, could not help frowning.

Astoria's face seemed to turn even paler.

"Okay, Big sister!" But she did not seem to dare defy her sister's command, and placed the cola back where it had been.

A burst of hurried footsteps suddenly sounded outside, and the compartment door opened once again.

"Excuse me, are there any empty seats here? Everywhere else is full!" a girl's voice called from the doorway.

The girl seemed to notice Astoria, who was carrying her trunk and preparing to leave. "Oh, are you leaving? Can I sit where you were sitting?"

She was a very pretty little girl, with smooth auburn hair and a pair of brown eyes. More importantly, she looked very familiar.

"Oh my God!" Jon, who had just been watching the show, nearly jumped out of his skin.

This was probably the person he least wanted to see on the train: Ginny Weasley.

She had probably been looking for Harry and Ron before this, which was why she still had not found a seat. But she did not know that Harry and Ron had already driven the flying car to school.

Spending the train ride with Ginny Weasley, who was already possessed by Voldemort?

That was far too terrifying. It was only a quarter past eleven, and there was still nearly half a day's journey ahead.

What if he got friendly with her, and she got happy enough to make him the Basilisk's first target?

Not to mention that Voldemort himself was a master of Wandless Casting and Legilimency. If he carelessly let the other side glimpse any of the later plot, then that would be fucking disastrous.

Jon acted immediately. No matter what, he had to make Astoria stay—at the very least, he had to drive Ginny Weasley away first.

In almost the blink of an eye, he strode forward and pressed a hand onto Astoria's trunk.

"Um... Miss Greengrass..." He turned his back toward Ginny as much as possible so she would not notice him. "I don't think there's anything wrong with Astoria staying in this compartment. If she feels unwell, I think I can take care of her..."

"You..." Daphne Greengrass looked at Jon with even greater disgust.

"Jon... I..." A faint flush appeared on Astoria's pale face.

Ginny Weasley seemed to think there were no seats in this compartment after all, and turned to leave... Jon could not help breathing a sigh of relief.

"Big sister... I think I can stay and take care of myself..." Astoria said quietly. This was perhaps one of the few times in her life that she had gone against her sister's wishes.

"What did you say?" Daphne Greengrass could hardly believe her ears.

She seized Astoria Greengrass's hand fiercely, then shouted angrily at Jon:

"I... absolutely... will not... let my sister stay in the same compartment as a Mudblood!"

With that, she forcibly dragged Astoria away by the hand.

Jon felt his hand trembling slightly.

It had been a long time since he had felt such intense emotion... such fury!

The last time had been in his previous life, when he attended an academic conference in Marseille and some German called him a "chink." He had rushed over in rage and punched the man several times...

If his advisor had not been on good terms with the conference organizer and helped suppress the matter, he might have faced disciplinary action from his university after returning home.

His emotions now were almost exactly the same as they had been then.

Jon's first thought was to take out his Wand and hit her with a Petrifying Spell... Unfortunately, his Wand was in his trunk. By the time he took it out, Daphne would probably have long since left.

With a dark expression, he returned to his seat. Though he had successfully gotten rid of Ginny Weasley, he felt no sense of accomplishment at all.

He roughly traced a few figures on the table with his finger. It was September 1st. The Scottish Highlands lay at roughly 56 to 57 degrees north latitude and around 3 degrees west longitude, in the Greenwich Mean Time zone (0).

Then it was simple:

Sunset time = (180 + time zone * 15 - longitude + arccos(tan(10547π/81000 * cos(2π * (date + 9)/365)) * tan(latitude * π/180)) * 180/π) / 15

A quick calculation put sunset in the Scottish Highlands at approximately 19:13:40.

According to the original description, the train would not arrive at Hogwarts until after dark.

Just over four hundred miles, yet it took more than eight hours. That was truly slow... For such a short distance, if they brought in the Harmony, they might even make it in time for lunch at Hogwarts.

Jon set his alarm for 19:10, then lay down on his seat and drifted into sleep.