"Sister?" Astoria stood up awkwardly, clearly flustered.
At the door stood a girl around twelve or thirteen years old, with golden curls and a face that resembled Astoria's. But while Astoria had a soft, childlike look, this girl wore a sharp, severe expression.
Daphne Greengrass looked like an angry hen, casting a sour glance at Jon sitting across from Astoria. When she saw his shirt and jeans, her face twisted in disdain before she turned back to Astoria.
"Where did you go? Do you know how long I've been looking for you?" she snapped.
"Sister… I…" Astoria's face had gone a bit pale. "I lost you when we entered the platform…"
"Then you should've gone to the conductor or the attendants!" Daphne scolded condescendingly. "Not just wandered into a random compartment."
As she spoke, she gave Jon another wary look.
"I'm sorry…"
"You can't just run off like that. I'm sure Mother warned you plenty of times… She even had to beg Professor Dumbledore to…" Daphne paused mid-sentence and glanced at Jon for the third time, then didn't finish.
"I'm sorry…"
Jon had switched to spectator mode by this point.
He still had a good impression of Astoria Greengrass, but Daphne's attitude was starting to irritate him.
Still, family drama wasn't something an outsider should butt into, so he stayed quietly on the sidelines.
"Come on, pack up and come with me!" Daphne ordered. "There's still a spot in my compartment."
Astoria looked at Jon apologetically, then nodded stiffly, her pale face a little tense.
"Okay, sister…"
She began putting her things back into her suitcase.
Just as she reached for the half-drunk bottle of Coca-Cola to put it away...
"Astoria! Don't touch that filthy Muggle junk!" Daphne Greengrass shrieked.
Even Jon, who had been holding himself back, couldn't help but frown.
Astoria's face turned even paler.
"Yes, sister…" she said softly, clearly afraid to go against her sister's orders. She set the Coke bottle back in place.
...
Suddenly, the hallway filled with hurried footsteps, and the door swung open again.
"Excuse me, is there a seat available here? Everywhere else is full!" a girl's voice called from the doorway.
She seemed to notice Astoria with her suitcase, about to leave. "Oh, are you heading out? Can I sit where you were?"
It was a very pretty girl, with soft reddish-brown hair and a pair of brown eyes. More importantly, she looked painfully familiar.
"Oh no..." Jon nearly jumped out of his seat.
This was probably the last person he wanted to see on the train—Ginny Weasley.
She was probably still looking for Harry and Ron, which was why she hadn't found a seat yet. But she didn't know they had already flown off to school in the car.
Ride the Hogwarts Express with Ginny Weasley while she was still possessed by Voldemort?
Absolutely terrifying. It was only 11:15 a.m., and there were still almost half a day of travel left.
What if they got too friendly, and she decided to make him the Basilisk's first target?
Not to mention Voldemort himself was a wandless Legilimency master—if he caught even a glimpse of future events, Jon would be screwed.
Jon acted immediately. He had to get Astoria to stay. At the very least, he had to make sure Ginny Weasley left.
In a flash, he dashed forward and pressed down on Astoria's suitcase.
"Um… Miss Greengrass…" He kept his back to Ginny as much as possible so she wouldn't notice him. "I don't think there's anything wrong with Astoria staying in this compartment. If she's feeling unwell, I can look after her…"
"You—" Daphne Greengrass's expression turned even more sour.
"Jon… I…" A blush crept onto Astoria's pale cheeks.
Ginny Weasley, apparently thinking there was no space left, turned and walked away... Jon let out a silent sigh of relief.
"Sister… I think I can stay and take care of myself…" Astoria said softly. It might have been one of the few times in her life she'd ever gone against her sister.
"What did you say?" Daphne Greengrass looked like she couldn't believe her ears.
She seized Astoria's hand and glared furiously at Jon.
"I… will… never… let my sister stay in the same compartment as a Mudblood!"
With that, she forcefully dragged Astoria away.
...
Jon noticed his hands were trembling slightly.
It had been a long time since he'd felt this level of rage.
The last time was in his previous life, at an academic conference in Marseille, when a German attendee called him a "chink." He'd stormed over and punched the man several times in a fit of fury...
If it hadn't been for his professor's close ties with the conference organizer, who managed to smooth things over, he might've been disciplined by his university when he got back home.
And right now, his emotions felt exactly the same.
Jon's first instinct was to grab his wand and hit her with a Petrificus Totalus… Unfortunately, the wand was in his suitcase, and by the time he got it out, Daphne would be long gone.
With a gloomy face, he returned to his seat. Though he'd managed to get rid of Ginny Weasley, there wasn't even the slightest sense of satisfaction.
He absently traced numbers on the table with his finger. It was September 1st. The Scottish Highlands sat at roughly 56 to 57 degrees north latitude, and around 3 degrees west longitude. The time zone was GMT (0).
The math was simple:
Sunset time = (180 + time zone × 15 − longitude + arccos(tan(10547π/81000 × cos(2π × (date + 9)/365)) × tan(latitude × π/180)) × 180/π) / 15
A quick calculation showed that sunset in the Scottish Highlands would be around 7:13:40 p.m.
According to the original books, the train didn't arrive at Hogwarts until after dark.
More than eight hours for just 400-something miles. That was unbelievably slow… If you gave them a Harmony bullet train, they might make it in time for lunch at Hogwarts.
Jon set his alarm for 7:10 p.m., then lay back in his seat and drifted off to sleep.