A Memorable Tale

38 | Eternal Glory and Likely Death

Neville noticed me walk by his booth and he opened it. "Y/N!"

I turned and smiled. "Neville!" I ran to him and he wrapped his arms around me, squeezing me. "Thank goodness you're alright!"

"Of course." I patted his back and he let go. "I'll go back into the booth now."

"Right. See you at Hogwarts!"

I heard his friends begin teasing him as they always do when I interact with him and I went to another booth where my roommates were seated.

Sue immediately asked for the details of the World Cup and I began telling the story with as much drama as I could muster, while she answered with the amount of drama she normally had.

"You saw Krum?" Mandy asked excitedly.

"Yeah. He got bashed in the face by a Bludger."

"Oh no!" Sue exclaimed. "Is he alright?"

"I mean, we don't have a long obituary in the Daily Prophet for him, so I'm pretty sure."

The train stopped and we began gathering our things to go onto the carriages. I came to a sudden halt. "What in Merlin's name is that?"

"What?"

I pointed at a large skeleton-like horse that was attached to the carriage, appearing to pull it towards the castle.

Morag followed my finger and furrowed her brow. "What are you pointing at?"

"Right there, there's a... It looks like an undead horse!"

"There's nothing there, Y/N," Mandy said softly, as if trying to make me see sense.

"Are you sure you don't see it?"

"Like every other year, Y/N, there's nothing pulling the carriage," Padma said impatiently.

I stared at it for a while before giving up on trying to convince them and hopped onto the carriage. Maybe I had finally gone mad.

It began to rain and I raised my wand. "Impervius." The carriage began repelling the rain drops, keeping us dry, and we made it to the castle without being hit by water.

It was the inside that made us soaked.

"Argh!" Lisa groaned as a water-filled balloon had dropped on her head.

I jumped out of the way as another landed near me, then another landed on Mandy, who shrieked.

"Peeves!" I shouted.

He giggled and flew off to find another victim and I aimed my wand at Mandy and Lisa, using the Hot Air Charm to dry them off. "My hair!" Mandy cried.

We entered the Great Hall and I sank into my seat. "Hey Cho," I said to the pretty girl that I had become friends with. "One year left until Cedric's graduated, you know?"

She squeaked. "Don't- He isn't-"

"It's no use, Cho!" Roger teased. "Your crush is so obvious, I'm sure everyone but him knows!"

"Which is a miracle in and of itself," I added.

I glanced at the teacher's table, seeing that there were no new faces to fill in for Remus. "Don't tell me that Snape's gonna be our Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher," I groaned.

"Can't be. Otherwise there'd be another teacher for Potions."

"Thank Merlin."

Soon enough, a line of first years came through the doors, led by Professor McGonagall. Each were shivering, either from nerves or the fact that they were soaked by the rain.