Back to School

A loud whistle sounded.

"I have to get on."

Snape hurriedly said goodbye to Eileen, pulled his suitcase behind him, and climbed aboard the deep red Hogwarts Express.

He found an empty compartment near the rear of the train, shoved his trunk into a corner, then leaned out the window and waved to Eileen.

Eileen waved back at him.

As the train accelerated, she was left behind, her figure growing farther and smaller amid the steam locomotive's thick smoke.

Only after the train rounded a bend did Snape pull himself back inside and close the window.

"Hi, Severus."

The compartment's sliding door opened, and Aber walked in, dropping heavily into the seat opposite Snape.

"How was your summer?" Aber asked casually. "I was bored to death. Dad insisted I read Pureblood: A Wizarding Genealogy, and I had to take notes too."

"Too eventful," Snape answered briefly with a grin.

"What do you mean?" Aber looked up with great interest. "Tell me already."

Snape cleared his throat lightly and said to Aber with a solemn expression, "I went to fight Voldem—"

"—Don't say that name!" Aber shuddered, abruptly sitting upright as he cut Snape off in a frightened whisper.

"You're the one who asked me to tell you." Snape leaned comfortably back in his seat. "Fear won't solve anything."

"What's gotten into you?" Aber was half annoyed and half astonished. "You didn't really do something dangerous, did you?"

Snape said calmly, "It was fake. I'm not capable of that. Besides, not saying his name won't make him show mercy, so why bother?"

"If I had that kind of courage, would I be sharing a dormitory with you?" Aber shot Snape a glare. "Let's just play a game of Wizard Chess."

As they played Wizard Chess, the Hogwarts Express traveled north.

They sped past fields at the end of summer and the beginning of autumn, and the scenery outside grew increasingly desolate.

The sun climbed higher, and at around one o'clock, a rattling clamor came from the corridor.

A plump witch with a cheerful smile and dimples pushed a food trolley to their compartment door and asked:

"Dears, would you like something to eat?"

"This time, it's on me!"

Snape sprang to his feet, pulled a bag from his pocket, and set it heavily on the table.

"Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Chocolate Frogs, Pumpkin Pasties, Licorice Wands, Cauldron Cakes... two of each!"

Snape handed the witch a Galleon and received two Sickles in change, along with a huge pile of delicious snacks in every color.

After the witch closed the compartment's sliding door, Aber looked oddly at the bulging money bag, then at Snape.

He opened his mouth and made a small sound, as if he wanted to say something.

"That's right, I robbed Gringotts during the summer too." Snape beat him to it, cutting off his question.

Aber rolled his eyes at Snape. "Since when did you become so absurd?"

"Since I discovered your special feelings for Mary." Snape bit the head off a Chocolate Frog and gave Aber a wicked grin.

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Aber said, widening his eyes. "How can you slander my innocence out of thin air..."

"What innocence?" Snape toyed with his hair. "I saw you on the platform just now, smoothing your hair like this as you walked toward her. I greeted you, and you ignored me."

Aber flushed red and argued, "Can something between friends count as special?"

Then came a stream of baffling remarks, things like "good friends are like four-leaf clovers" and "life without friends is like losing sunlight," making Snape giggle as the compartment filled with cheerful air.

As the journey continued, the sky gradually darkened. Later, the lights in the carriage corridors and luggage racks came on.

Snape glanced out the window. He could already make out Hogwarts faintly among the mountains and dense woods.

The train seemed to be slowing down.

"We should change. We're almost there."

He and Aber took off their outer clothes and changed into black robes. Snape's robe just covered the tops of his shoes.

"The train will arrive at Hogwarts in five minutes. Please leave your luggage on the train. Staff will deliver it to the school for you." The voice echoed throughout the train.

At last, the train stopped at Hogsmeade Station.

Following the stream of people in the corridor, they jostled toward the doors and stepped down onto a small, dark platform.

"First-years, follow me!"

Snape spotted Hagrid's towering, broad-shouldered figure.

Hagrid stood at one end of the platform, calling the first-years over. They would cross the lake in the traditional manner.

On the path at the other end of the platform, more than a hundred carriages waited for the older students.

This time, the space in front of the carriages was no longer empty.

Thestrals stood quietly in the deepening night, their blank white eyes gleaming as they watched the approaching crowd.

Though Snape had prepared himself mentally, the appearance of the Thestrals still startled him somewhat.

They looked a little like reptiles, with not a scrap of flesh on their bodies. Yet between the protruding bones of their shoulders grew a pair of enormous black bat wings.

Snape and Aber climbed into a carriage and shut the door.

Then the wheels beneath them began to turn with a jolt.

Hogwarts drew closer and closer.

A moment later, the carriage rattled to a stop beneath the stone steps before the castle gates.

They followed the crowd up the steps, passed through the Entrance Hall, and entered the magnificent Great Hall. The start-of-term feast was held there.

Stars sparkled across the Great Hall's ceiling.

Candles floated above the tables, making the golden plates and goblets glitter.

Beside the Slytherin table sat a gaunt ghost.

He wore shackles, his robes stained with silver blood, and his dull eyes stared blankly ahead.

"Hello, Baron. How did you get covered in blood?"

Snape sat down opposite Bloody Baron.

Bloody Baron's gaze began to shift slowly, like a camera lens gradually focusing on its target.

In a hoarse voice, he snarled at Snape, "Boy, it's none of your business!"

With that, Bloody Baron floated away and vanished into the darkness leading to the dungeons.

Snape watched his departing figure thoughtfully, then turned his gaze toward the Ravenclaw table.

There, he did not see the ghost of Ravenclaw Tower.

Thinking back, over the past five years, he had seen Lady Grey only a handful of times. She seemed to rarely move about the castle.

Snape was so absorbed in recalling the tangled love and hatred between Lady Grey and Bloody Baron that he even missed the Sorting Ceremony.

Only when Dumbledore cleared his throat and began to speak did he come back to his senses.