A loud whistle sounded.
"I have to get on."
Snape hurriedly said goodbye to Eileen, pulled his suitcase, and climbed aboard the deep crimson Hogwarts Express.
Near the rear of the train, he found an empty compartment, shoved his trunk into a corner, then leaned out the window to wave to Eileen.
Eileen was waving back at him.
As the train gathered speed, she was left behind, her figure shrinking smaller and smaller in the thick smoke of the locomotive.
Only when the train turned a corner did Snape pull himself back in and shut the window.
"Hi, Severus."
The sliding door of the compartment opened, and Abbott walked in, flopping onto the seat opposite Snape.
"How was your summer holiday?" Abbott said casually. "I was bored to death. My dad forced me to read 'Born Noble: The Genealogy of Wizards,' and I even had to take notes."
"Overly eventful," Snape answered with a grin.
"What do you mean?" Abbott perked up with interest. "Come on, tell me."
Snape gave a little cough and said seriously, "I went to fight against Volde-"
",Don't say that name!" Abbott shuddered, sat up straight in alarm, and hurriedly hushed Snape in a low, frightened voice.
"You asked me to tell you," Snape said, leaning back comfortably in his seat. "Fear won't solve anything."
"What's gotten into you?" Abbott said, half angry, half astonished. "You didn't actually do anything dangerous, did you?"
"Of course not," Snape replied calmly. "I'm not capable of that. But refusing to say his name won't make him spare us, so why bother?"
"If I had that kind of courage, would I be in the same dorm as you?" Abbott glared at him. "Let's just play wizard chess."
As they played wizard chess, the Hogwarts Express sped northward.
They raced through late summer and early autumn fields, the scenery outside growing more and more desolate.
The sun climbed higher, and around one o'clock, the clattering noise of the trolley echoed down the corridor.
A plump witch with a dimpled smile pushed the snack trolley to their compartment door and asked,
"Anything off the trolley, dears?"
"This time it's on me!"
Snape jumped up, pulled a money pouch from his pocket, and dropped it heavily on the table.
"Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, Chocolate Frogs, Pumpkin Pasties, Licorice Wands, Cauldron Cakes... two of each!"
He handed the witch a Galleon, receiving two Sickles in change along with a heap of brightly wrapped treats.
After the witch slid the door shut again, Abbott gave Snape a strange look, glancing from the bulging money pouch back to his friend.
He opened his mouth as if to speak.
"That's right, I robbed Gringotts over the holiday," Snape cut him off first, blocking the question.
Abbott rolled his eyes. "When did you start being so ridiculous?"
"Since I discovered your special feelings for Mary," Snape said, biting the head off a Chocolate Frog and grinning wickedly at Abbott.
"You're talking nonsense!" Abbott said, eyes widening. "How can you slander someone's reputation like that..."
"What reputation?" Snape ran his fingers through his hair. "I saw you just now on the platform, smoothing your hair exactly like this as you walked toward her. I called to you and you didn't even answer me."
Abbott's face flushed red as he argued, "That's just between friends, how is that anything special?"
He then launched into a string of lofty phrases,something about "good friends being like four-leaf clovers," and "life without friends is like losing the sun",all of which made Snape chuckle uncontrollably until the compartment was filled with cheerful laughter.
As the journey continued, the sky gradually darkened. The lamps in the corridor and on the luggage racks flicked on.
Snape glanced out the window and could faintly see Hogwarts, nestled among mountains and dense forests.
The train seemed to be slowing down.
"We should change, we're almost there."
He and Abbott removed their outer clothes and put on black robes. His robes just brushed 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." The voice echoed through the train.
Finally, the train pulled into Hogsmeade Station.
With the throng of students in the corridor, they jostled toward the doors and stepped down onto a small, dark platform.
"First years, this way!"
Snape saw the towering, broad figure of Hagrid.
He was calling the first-years over at one end of the platform. They would cross the lake in the traditional way.
On the other path, at the other end of the platform, over a hundred carriages were waiting for the older students.
This time, the carriages were no longer drawn by nothing.
Thestrals stood quietly in the deepening night, their pale, empty eyes glinting as they watched the approaching crowds.
Though Snape had braced himself, the sight of them still startled him.
They looked somewhat reptilian, their bodies stripped of flesh, though from the raised bones of their shoulders grew a pair of enormous black bat-like wings.
Snape and Abbott climbed into a carriage and shut the door.
Moments later, the wheels began to rattle and bump along the road.
Hogwarts loomed closer and closer.
Soon, the carriage lurched to a stop at the stone steps before the castle gates.
They followed the stream of students up the steps, through the entrance hall, and into the grand Great Hall where the Start-of-Term Feast was to be held.
Stars sparkled across the enchanted ceiling.
Candles floated above the tables, casting golden light over gleaming plates and goblets.
Beside the Slytherin table sat a gaunt ghost.
He wore shackles, his robes stained with silvery blood, his dull eyes staring blankly forward.
"Hello, Baron. How did you end up covered in blood?"
Snape sat down across from the Bloody Baron.
The ghost's gaze began to shift slowly, like the lens of a camera focusing.
With a hoarse voice, he snarled at Snape, "Boy, that's none of your business!"
Then the Bloody Baron drifted away, vanishing into the darkness that led to the dungeons.
Snape stared thoughtfully at the departing figure, then turned his eyes toward the Ravenclaw table.
There, he did not see the ghost of Ravenclaw Tower.
Thinking back, in the past five years, he had only seen the Grey Lady a handful of times. She seemed to wander the castle very rarely.
Snape was so absorbed in recalling the tragic entanglement between the Grey Lady and the Bloody Baron that he even missed the Sorting Ceremony.
It was only when Dumbledore cleared his throat to begin his speech that Snape snapped back to attention.