Boarding the Train

That night, Harry's forehead scar throbbed with pain, and his stomach churned as if some emotion was about to burst forth. He kept dreaming that he was alone in a dark corridor, with locked doors everywhere, when suddenly they would be pushed open, and Ron and Hermione would run out, shouting at him, "Hey, look, Harry —we're Prefect now!" The bright red badges gleamed dazzlingly on their chests.

"No!" Harry sat up abruptly, his back soaked with sweat, the scars still throbbing. It was almost dawn outside the window, and Ron was still asleep. He got up, dressed, and calmly sat back down on the bed.

"Don't overthink these things," he told himself. This old house was full of his relatives and friends, but he still felt incredibly lonely. No one could understand him; he could only talk to himself.

"The first sign of madness is talking to your own head," a mysterious voice said from a blank canvas on the wall.

The house was filled with this kind of stuff, but Harry ignored it, sweeping the thoughts of the Prefect and Dumbledore out of his mind. Harry packed his suitcase, put on his school robes, and then put on his soft-soled sneakers. He comforted himself, thinking that at least he could go back to Hogwarts, right?

"Why are you up so early..." Ron groggily got out of bed, peeking out the window. "Hmm... it's really light..." he muttered, reluctantly getting out of bed.

"It's good that you got up early, Harry, otherwise Mom might say we'll miss the train, and nobody wants her to throw a tantrum over that."

Time seemed to speed up from that moment on, and the whole house gradually awoke. Harry heard a chaotic noise outside the door, as if the twins had cast a spell on their trunks to make them fly downstairs, but they had bumped into Ginny. From the Entrance Hall came Mrs. Weasley's roar and Walburga Black's desperate screams from the portrait.

Harry wearily pushed open the door and dragged his luggage out under Ron's surprised gaze. Hedwig was half-asleep in her cage, seemingly still not fully awake.

Hermione rushed into the room, looking nervous and anxious, still holding the wriggling Crookshanks in her arms. "Are you ready?"

"Almost done. Is Ginny alright?" Harry asked, putting on his glasses.

"Mrs. Weasley gave her a quick bandage," Hermione said. "But then Mad-Eye complained that we can't leave without Sturgis Podmore, or we'll be one guard short."

(Note: At this point, the Order of the Phoenix was unaware of Sturgis's arrest, which shows the poor quality of Order of the Phoenix intelligence and logistics.)

"Guards?" Harry said. "We need guards to get to King's Cross Station?"

"You'll need guards to get to King's Cross Station," Hermione corrected him.

"Why?" Harry said impatiently. "I think Voldemort is lying in wait, waiting for his chance. Are you telling me he's going to jump out from behind a dumpster and attack me?"

"I don't know, that's what Mad-Eye said anyway," Hermione said absentmindedly, glancing at her watch. "If we don't hurry, we'll definitely miss the train..."

Before Harry could say anything, Mrs. Weasley's roar drowned out Walburga Black's screams in the hall, "What are you all dawdling about! Come down here right now!"

Walburga Black's portrait was screaming angrily, but no one went to draw the curtains to hide her. The noise in the Entrance Hall would surely wake her again anyway.

Harry hurriedly dragged the box downstairs, the shaking cage waking Hedwig, who flapped her wings and screeched angrily, throwing the whole house into chaos.

"Good heavens, we have to go or we'll miss the train. Forget about Sturgis— " Mrs. Weasley shouted to Moody, while Mad-Eye complained incessantly about Sturgis's breach of contract and expressed deep concern about Harry's safety with one less guard.

Harry didn't get involved in their argument; this meticulous and patient protection even made him impatient. Why wasn't any of the guards there to protect him when he was really in trouble?

But Harry no longer wanted to think about these things. There would always be someone who would jump out and say, "I'm doing this for your own good," but no one ever cared about his true thoughts.

"Harry, you're with me and Tonks," Mrs. Weasley raised her voice, drowning out the hoarse, repeated shouts of "Bastard! Scoundrel! Filthy scum!" "Put down your trunk and owl. Alastor will handle the luggage... Oh, for God's sake, Sirius Black, Dumbledore said no!"

Just as Harry was struggling to move over the various boxes piled up in the Entrance Hall toward Mrs. Weasley, a black dog as big as a bear appeared beside Harry.

"Oh, to be honest..." Mrs. Weasley said despairingly, "Well, you'll have to deal with the consequences yourself!"

She flung open the door and stepped outside into the faint September sunlight. Harry and the black dog followed. The door slammed shut behind them, instantly silencing Walburga Black's scream.

They walked for more than twenty minutes to King's Cross Station. Nothing major happened along the way, and Harry thought Moody's worries were obviously meaningless. After they entered the station, they pretended to be nonchalant and wandered around the partition wall between platforms nine and ten. When no one was around, they leaned against the wall one by one and quietly crossed to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.

The Hogwarts Express was there as always, billowing black steam. The platform was crowded with students and their families saying goodbye. Harry took a deep breath of the familiar smell and felt his heart leap with joy; he was really going back to school...

"Look over there." Ginny gently tugged at Harry's sleeve, gesturing for him to look at the other end of the platform.

Harry looked in the direction she was pointing and saw a large group of people gathered together, as if a large family was holding a solemn farewell ceremony. Compared to the noise and chaos around Harry and his friends, that area seemed exceptionally quiet and orderly.

Those people, dressed in uniform dark green gowns, were undoubtedly Slytherin students. Unlike students from other houses who chatted and joked casually or lingered with their families, they stood in neat rows, their steps synchronized. Each face wore a composed expression, their eyes radiating confidence and self-control, as if they were not going to school but embarking on a serious journey.

There was no pushing, no shouting, and no one broke the calm order. The line moved slowly forward, and everyone boarded the train one after another in the predetermined order, their movements precise and methodical, like a well-trained team.

"Malfoy?" Harry almost blurted out, nearly exclaiming in surprise. His gaze quickly swept over the orderly ranks, and he immediately recognized Skylar and Draco Malfoy standing among them—the two were walking at the very front, their steps steady, their expressions stern, as if they were leading the group.

Harry's reaction drew the attention of those around him; Lupin, Sirius Black, and others all looked in his direction.

"Lucius's son?" Moody scoffed, a hint of wariness and disdain flashing in his eyes. He gruffly mocked, "A rat's son will always be a rat, hiding his face and playing dirty tricks..."

"Professor Moody, no." Hermione frowned, carefully observing the situation on the platform, her tone hesitant yet somewhat certain, "Skylar... he seems to be Prefect, maintaining order among the Slytherin students."

Her gaze fell on the gold and red Prefect Badge on Skylar's chest, which Winky in the morning light and was clearly no ordinary ornament.

Compared to Draco, Skylar appeared more composed, his eyes sharp, as if completely oblivious to the stares he was receiving. Beside him, the Slytherin students continued to line up quietly to board the carriage, their orderly demeanor suggesting a tacit obedience rather than coercion.

The train whistle sounded, signaling everyone to board. Students on the platform began to hurriedly board the train.

"Hurry, hurry," Mrs. Weasley said impatiently, giving them all a hasty hug, twice pulling Harry aside for a quick peck. "Write letters... take care... if you forget anything, we'll send it to you... alright, get in the carriage, hurry..."

In an instant, the big black dog stood up on its hind legs and put its front paws on Harry's shoulders, but Mrs. Weasley shoved Harry toward the car door, saying in a low voice, "For God's sake, Sirius Black, you'd better act more like a dog!"

"Goodbye!" Harry shouted from the open window as the train started moving. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny waved frantically beside him. Tonks, Lupin, Moody, Mr. Weasley. and Mrs. Weasley quickly shrank into the distance, leaving only the big black dog chasing after the window, wagging its tail incessantly. The people passing by on the platform laughed at the sight of the dog chasing the train. Then the train rounded a bend, and Sirius Black disappeared from sight.

"Hmm," Harry said, gazing aimlessly at the houses flashing past the window, swaying from side to side. "Shall we go find a private room?" he asked.

Ron and Hermione exchanged a glance.

"Hmm," Ron said.

"We—well— Ron and I should go to the Prefect' box," Hermione said awkwardly.

Ron wasn't looking at Harry; he seemed to have suddenly become very interested in the fingernails on his left hand.

"Oh," Harry said, "Okay, sure."

"I don't think we'll stay there the whole way," Hermione said quickly. "The letter says we're just going to receive instructions from the Head Boy and female Head Boy separately, and then patrol the hallways every now and then."

"Okay," Harry repeated, "Well then—we'll see you later."

As Hermione and Ron dragged their suitcases, carried Crookshanks, and hauled the Pigwidgeon's cage toward the locomotive, Harry felt a strange sense of loss. He had always ridden the Hogwarts Express with Ron before.

"Let's go," Ginny said to him, "If we hurry, we might be able to save them seats."

"Okay," Harry said, lifting Hedwig's cage with one hand and gripping the box handle with the other. They walked with difficulty down the aisle, peering through the glass doors into the boxes, which were already full of people.

Harry couldn't help but notice that many people were staring at him with great interest, and a few were even nudging the people sitting next to him with their elbows and pointing at him.

After five consecutive carriages of this happening, he remembered that the Daily Prophet had spent the entire summer telling its readers what a liar and boastful man he was. He wondered, with a sense of unease, if those people who were staring at him and whispering to each other actually believed those lies.

"Give him a curse, may he get sores in his mouth."

Watching a younger boy point at Harry and gesture to his companion with a mocking and disdainful smile, Harry felt as if a voice inside him was urging him on.

"Put a spell on him, teach this little guy what it means to respect others."

Harry stopped in front of the car door, staring intently at the student who had mocked him.

"Harry?" Ginny's call suddenly brought Harry back to his senses. He turned his head as if he had just lifted his head out of the basin of water, and the whole world became blurry and distorted.

"Yes, let's go." He shook his head, putting his previous thoughts aside, and walked with Ginny towards the back of the carriage.

In the last carriage, they encountered Neville Longbottom, who, unusually, was reliable enough to reserve a compartment in advance and sincerely invited Harry and Ginny in.