Return to School

A loud whistle sounded.

"I have to get on."

Severus hurriedly bid Eileen farewell, pulled his trunk, and climbed aboard the deep-red Hogwarts Express.

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

Eileen waved back.

As the train picked up speed, she was left behind, her figure growing smaller and more distant in the steam engine's thick smoke.

It wasn't until the train rounded a bend that Severus pulled himself back in and closed the window.

"Hey, Severus."

The compartment's sliding door opened, and Aber walked in, plopping down onto the seat opposite Severus.

"How was your summer?" Aber asked casually. "I was bored out of my mind. Father made me read Pureblood: A Wizarding Genealogy, and I had to take notes."

"Too eventful," Severus replied with a grin, short and clipped.

"What do you mean?" Aber looked up, intrigued. "Come on, tell me all about it."

Severus gave a light cough, his face turning serious as he said to Aber, "I went to fight You-Know--"

"--Don't say that name!" Aber shuddered, sitting bolt upright, and cut Severus off in a frightened whisper.

"You asked me to tell you," Severus said, leaning back comfortably in his seat. "Fear won't solve anything."

"What's gotten into you?" Aber asked, half annoyed, half astonished. "You didn't actually go do something dangerous, did you?"

Severus said calmly, "No, I don't have that kind of skill. But 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 dorm with you?" Aber shot Severus a glare. "Let's just play a game of Wizard Chess."

As they played Wizard Chess, the Hogwarts Express chugged northward.

They were racing through late-summer fields, and the scenery outside grew wilder and wilder.

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

A smiling, dimpled plump witch pushed her trolley to the door of their compartment and asked, "Fancy any treats, dears?"

"This one's on me!"

Severus jumped up first, pulled a pouch from his pocket, and plopped it heavily onto the table.

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

Severus handed the witch a Galleon and took back two Sickles in change, along with a huge pile of assorted sweets.

After the witch slid the compartment door shut, Aber stared at the bulging money pouch, then at Severus, his expression odd.

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

"That's right, I robbed Gringotts over the summer too." Severus cut him off before he could ask.

Aber rolled his eyes at Severus. "Since when did you get so unreliable?"

"Ever since I discovered your special feelings for Mary." Severus bit the head off a Chocolate Frog and grinned at Aber.

"What nonsense are you talking?" Aber's eyes went wide. "How can you slander someone's character out of thin air..."

"What character?" Severus flicked his hair with his fingers. "I just saw you at the platform, walking toward her with your hair all smoothed down like that. I said hi, and you didn't even notice."

Aber's face flushed red as he argued, "Can things between friends count as special?"

Then came a string of hard-to-follow remarks, about "good friends are like four-leaf clovers" and "life without friends is like losing the sun," which made Severus chuckle, and the compartment filled with a cheerful atmosphere.

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

Severus glanced out the window; he could already faintly make out Hogwarts among the mountains and dense forests.

The train seemed to slow down.

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

He and Aber took off their outer robes and pulled on black robes. His robes just barely covered the tops of his shoes.

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

Finally, the train pulled into Hogsmeade Station.

They jostled along with the crowd in the corridor, pushing toward the doors, and stepped down onto a small, dark platform.

"First-years, follow me!"

Severus spotted Hagrid's tall, broad figure.

Hagrid was calling the first-years over at one end of the platform. They would cross the lake in the traditional way.

At the other end of the platform, over a hundred carriages waited for the older students.

This time, the fronts of the carriages were no longer empty.

Thestrals stood silently in the thickening dusk, their hollow white eyes gleaming as they watched the approaching crowd.

Even Snape had mentally prepared himself, but the sight of the Thestrals still caught him off guard.

They resembled reptiles, with not a shred of flesh on their bodies, yet between the ridges of their shoulder blades grew a pair of large, black bat-like wings.

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

Then the wheels beneath them jolted into motion.

Hogwarts grew closer and closer.

Moments later, the carriage swayed to a halt before the stone steps leading to the castle gates.

They followed the crowd up the steps, through the entrance hall, and into the magnificent Great Hall, where the start-of-term feast was being held.

The ceiling above sparkled with stars.

Floating above the tables were candles, casting a shimmering glow over the golden plates and goblets.

At the edge of the Slytherin table sat a gaunt ghost.

He wore shackles, his robes stained with silvery blood, and his vacant eyes stared blankly ahead.

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

Snape sat down across from the Bloody Baron.

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

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

With that, the Bloody Baron drifted away, vanishing into the darkness leading to the dungeons.

Snape watched his retreating figure thoughtfully, then turned his gaze to the Ravenclaw table.

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

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

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

It wasn't until Dumbledore cleared his throat and began to speak that he snapped back to attention.