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„I'M NOT AFRAID," SHE DECLARED, AND SHE WASN'T. SHE WAS ANGRY, WHICH IS THE MORE PRODUCTIVE COUSIN OF FEAR.
1ST SEPTEMBER 1995
THE RIDE ON THE TRAIN was oddly disappointing. First Ron and Hermione had to go off on their prefect duties, leaving him and Ginny with Neville and an odd girl named Luna Lovegood.
Colin came by briefly to warn him about some girl's feelings and something about better not trying anything. Then he was covered in stinksap from Neville's plant.
Cedric's ( ex? ) girlfriend came by too to greet him. He didn't understand the reason for that, they have never really exchanged words before. Although it was a bit embarrassing to be seen like that by someone he didn't actually know.
And secretly, in the back of his mind, he was going through scenarios where Athena would come in and see him like this. He could very vividly imagine her making fun of him, which only made him more frustrated that she didn't come to see him once.
Now, alone and off the train, Harry was looking around for Ron or Hermione, wanting to know what they thought about the reappearance of Professor Grubbly‐Plank in the place of Hagrid.
Neither of them were anywhere near him, so he allowed himself to be shunted forwards on to the dark rain‐washed road outside Hogsmeade Station. Here stood the hundred or so horseless stagecoaches that always took the students above first year up to the castle.
Harry glanced quickly at them, turned away to keep a lookout for Ron and Hermione, then did a double‐take.
The coaches were no longer horseless. There were creatures standing between the carriage shafts. If he had had to give them a name, he supposed he would have called them horses, though there was something reptilian about them, too.
They were completely fleshless, their black coats clinging to their skeletons, of which every bone was visible. Their heads were dragonish, and their pupil‐less eyes white and staring. Wings sprouted from each wither ‐ vast, black leathery wings that looked as though they ought to belong to giant bats.
Standing still and quiet in the gathering gloom, the creatures looked eerie and sinister.
Harry blinked slowly and his mind blanked for a moment, instantly thinking back to one night at the lake.
"Hey," he whispered lowly, to gain her attention again, "what are thestrals?"
"The horses that drive the carriages," Athena explained to him in an equally soft voice, confusing him as he had never seen anything drive the carriages, "you can imagine them as black pegasus, sort of. Their skin is wizened and they would probably scare an eleven year old—"
