"...Harry Potter."
Malfoy slightly squinted his eyes, staring at Harry who stood not far from him. His gaze wavered momentarily, then the boy seemed to suddenly remember something and abruptly covered his left arm, slowly stepping forward—
"Hey, you bunch of losers still want to cause trouble?"
Ron poked his head out from behind Harry, glaring at the two chubby figures standing behind Malfoy with a provocative twitch of his nose—he referred to the losers as those involved in the dispute after the final exams, during which Malfoy had been practically beaten singlehandedly by Harry.
"Malfoy, what do you want to do?"
Watching Malfoy approach him, Harry's muscles slightly tensed up on his back, his gaze fixed intently on the opponent with no hint of friendliness.
"...Hmph."
Malfoy let out a soft snort, wanting to throw some harsh words, but thinking of the mark covered by his clothes on his left arm, he inexplicably felt a sense of bewilderment. Until now, he still doubted whether the scene from that night was a dream—
...Is it possible?
No way.
Sighing helplessly, the fierceness in Malfoy's eyes faded slightly, but he still glared at Harry with a mocking tone, "Sniveling, huh, you'd better pray you survive this year, no, tonight... Some murderer may 'love' you more than you think."
After saying this, Malfoy squeezed past between Ron and Harry.
"...How unusual, so what does he mean?"
Ron snorted unhappily, watching the trio of Malfoy disappear into the distance of a carriage compartment, he furrowed his brow in confusion.
"I don't know, but the murderer is probably referring to Sirius?"
Hermione with her head down made a reasonable guess and as she said it, she opened the compartment door beside her, Ginny's voice came out from inside, "Hogwarts sorting is quite a solemn ceremony, and it's dangerous—I had a duel with a lion during last year's entrance exams."
"..."
Are you kidding the kids here?
Seeing the little girl listening intently in front of Ginny, the trio's eyebrows twitched lightly, and the expression on their faces simultaneously disappeared—"Deceiving" the first-year students who haven't entered school is of course a fine traditional virtue of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
"Really?"
Though it was interesting to listen as a story, Astoria wasn't stupid, she furrowed her brow, looking skeptically at Ginny who was talking.
The room was filled with a lot of people, "Loony" Luna was sitting opposite them, continuously flipping through a magazine, while Neville sat opposite the trio, holding two pots of "hungry" Chomping Cabbages, Daphne was also sitting here, but she quickly wanted to pull her sister away upon seeing the overly thick Gryffindor proportion in the room—
But Astoria clearly wasn't too willing, so she stayed here in the end.
"Meow~"
Seeing Hermione enter the compartment, Crookshanks in the bamboo cage let out a cheerful meow.
"Don't let that thing out!" Ron shouted, who had just sat next to Neville, but it was too late; the nimble golden cat jumped out of the cage, stretched lazily, yawned, and leaped onto Ron's knees, the bulge in Ron's pocket visibly trembling.
"Get off—"
Ron pushed Crookshanks angrily, trying to get the deity off his lap, and his rude behavior also caused Hermione to feel a bit annoyed, so their conversation ended in arguing and questioning, but soon, the arrival of the lunch trolley interrupted the group's conversation—
...
The Hogwarts Express headed north, the scenery outside the window became more desolate, people ran past their compartment doors, Crookshanks settled on an empty seat at this time, with his persimmon-shaped face towards Ron, a pair of yellow eyes staring at Ron's pocket.
"Can't you control it?"
Ron was a bit shocked, clutching his pocket, he glared at Hermione, speaking harshly.
"It's just curious..."
Hermione gently rubbed Crookshanks' head, the ginger cat slightly relaxed its body, began purring contentedly, and at this time, the girls in the compartment gathered around Crookshanks, Ron opened his mouth wanting to say something, but seeing his isolated self, he chose to shut up.
The rain got heavier, the train windows turned into a damp gray and gradually darkened. Finally, the lights in the corridor and luggage rack suddenly came on, the train clattered, raindrops beat down, wind howled outside, but the warmth still filled the entire carriage.
"We must be nearly there."
Ron said, leaning over Neville's half-table filled with Chomping Cabbages, gazing at the window now plunged into darkness.
"That'd be great, I'm really looking forward to some food—"
Ginny echoed, though she was still chewing the toffee Harry bought from the snack trolley at noon.
As soon as she finished speaking, the train began to slow down.
"Fantastic!"
Ron stood up, his gaze through the outside rain seemed to want to see a tall figure with a lantern.
"No, it can't be yet?"
Hermione frowned, looking at her watch and said.
"Then why did it stop?"
The train slowed more and more, the sound of wheels clashing gradually disappeared, wind and rain hit the windows louder than before.
Harry, sitting closest to the door, got up and looked into the corridor, countless heads poked out of compartments curiously in the carriage, the chatter instantly drowned him.
Suddenly, the train clattered to a halt, distant sounds of luggage clattering came, surely falling from the racks. And then, inexplicably, all the lights went out, everyone plunged into complete darkness.
"What's going on?"
Ron's voice echoed behind Harry, sounding both close and far away—Harry's gaze almost uncontrollably turned in one direction, unaware why, but sensing something there...
"Something's moving outside,"
Ron shoved Neville aside, squeezed to the glass, wiped a clean spot, and peered out, "Looks like someone's boarding..."
"Exactly what..."
Harry heard Ginny's inquiries, but that voice suddenly stopped... No, not only Ginny's voice disappeared, but also the sound of raindrops, Hermione's cat, Neville's mound of Chomping Cabbages, talks from other compartments... Everything seemed to vanish—
In the darkness, Harry suddenly felt the world left only him.
This was off... wrong...
Trying to restrain himself, but the sudden chill invaded Harry's body like a virus—
The next moment, sensing something, the boy turned around to see a dilapidated black cloak "standing" silently in the dark corridor, under the seemingly empty hood, Harry felt a "gaze" fixed on him.