Train tracks rumbled beneath the H𑣿gwarts Express as the train made its way to the Castle. The voices of new and unprecedented First years filled the area, excited for their first year as Wizards and Witches.

Among older students, there was a tense melancholy of expectation. He who must not be named, the deatheaters, black magic, infamous Slytherin. All parts of the rumors that followed you and your group of friends.

༄˖°.🍂.ೃ࿔*:･

The sound of Pansy flipping a page of her book, next to Blaise who stared out the rain covered window, paired with the quiet small talk between Mattheo and Theodore, and the soft grunts of annoyance from Enzo as he tried to sip his tea and the train shifted, or the scribbling of the Tic Tack Toe game Astoria and Daphne were playing.

More importantly, the stressed breathing of Draco next to you. His arm, once so light and soft around your shoulders, felt heavier than the tension in the compartment.

The air could be cut with a dagger. But no would dare sheathe it.