Darkness Within

CHAPTER XXII

September 1st

Harry

Returning to Hogwarts felt nostalgic, but halfway through the long trip when the whisperings of the savior being present in the train and the heads peeking through the glass door started, I felt like a weight on my shoulders.

Memories of the war that I had buried deep, were coming back all at once, and the rest of the trip I spent in a somber mood.

Arriving at Hogwarts and seeing the lit castle was as always, a sight to be seen and lift my spirits a little.

Leaving the train, I tried to sneak past the other students covering my head with my robes.

It worked and my friends and I made a quick time getting a carriage. The skeletal horses seemed agitated this night and the ride was rather bumpy.

Once we were all sat at the great hall, my spirits sunk once again. All the handshakes and the students that tried to greet me, distracted me a bit, but when McGonagall began her beginning of the year speech and all calmed down, I couldn't help but stare at the spot where Voldemort's body laid when he died. It was awfully close to the spot where Remus and Tonks were placed when they were found, or Fred's. And it didn't seem right. Having regular meals this year sure would be a pain.

Every corner was haunted by a memory of a friend dying, Merlin I would never be able to walk past the seventh-floor corridor ever again, or the gardens outside the great hall where Neville and Oliver found Colin.

A hand in my shoulder disturbed my line of thought. My heart was beating fast and my breath was short. I inhaled shakily to go back to normal.

"Are you okay Harry?" Hermione asked in a whisper

"Yes, I mean no... is just a lot"

"I know, is not just you" she said nodding her head to Ron's direction. He had his eyes fixed in where they brought Fred. His eyes glistening.

A look around, and I saw many faces in a similar situation. Coming back here was harder than I thought it would.

But I was distracted by a lot of movement, the ghosts seemed agitated, zigzagging through the tables and exchanging hushed whispers.

The clamor of the students got my attention as the first first-year was just sorted. I didn't realize the sorting had already begun.

I waited for the next kid to be sorted when I saw the figures at the back. They sure were too tall to be first years.

The other students seemed to notice them to.

"Who do you recon they are, Hermione?" Asked Ginny

Hermione studied them a little.

"Well, they are not old enough to be part of the staff, and they are in the line to be sorted, so probably new students."

"But, aren't they a bit, you know, too old to be first years?" Ron decides to chime in "Unless they are, you know... hard to learn"

"What?"

"Or... er mentally challenged..."

"Ronald!"

"Or...intellectually disabled, yes that's better"

"You are intellectually disabled Ronald!" chastised Hermione. Ron seemed offended;

"There are a lot of people that are homeschooled in England, and Hogwarts always accepts them if they want to transfer, even if they haven't attended from the first year, they still have a place in Hogwarts."