𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑢𝑝𝑜𝑛 𝑎 𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑚 \\ 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗿𝘆 𝗷. 𝗽𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿

𝑋𝑋𝑉.

— ✩ ☽ ✩ —

𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙬𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙮-𝙛𝙞𝙫𝙚

— ✩ ☽ ✩ —

THE HOGWARTS EXPRESS soared along the tracks towards its destination. Caroline was walking back towards her compartment after grabbing something from Jacob she had accidentally tossed in his bag upon leaving the Burrow. When she arrived, she found three Ravenclaw girls in her year, Cho Chang among them getting snacks. Harry was standing in the doorway to the compartment.

      "Excuse me." Caroline said, brushing past the girls.

      "Oh, I'm sorry." Cho said, turning to leave with her friends while Harry was still standing there.

      "Harry, why are you standing here?" Caroline questioned, coming to the doorway.

      Harry let his eyes go to Caroline, removing them from Cho. "Oh. No reason." he ducked into the compartment, sitting down. Caroline followed him, settling across from Ron. She gave Hedwig a stroke, grabbing Penny and putting her into her lap.

      "This is horrible," Hermione said, reading the Daily Prophet's article about the World Cup. "How can the Ministry not know who conjured it? Wasn't there any security, or...?" she trailed off, handing the paper to Caroline.

      "Loads, according to Dad. That's what worried them so much. Happened right under their noses." Ron said. Caroline handed the paper back to Hermione, smoothing out Penny's fur.

       She looked to her left, seeing Harry rubbing his scar. "It's hurting again. Your scar, I mean." Caroline observed.

      "I'm fine." Harry shrugged.

      Hermione sighed. "You know Sirius will want to hear about this. What you saw at the World Cup, and the dream." the girl said, leaning forward.

      As Harry wrote the letter to his godfather, a familiar brown owl flew into the train window, landing on Caroline's shoulder, letter in his beak. "For me again?" Caroline asked, taking the letter out.

      The owl squawked in response, and Penny hissed. She was already inside Caroline's bag, so she shut the bag, leaving her in there. "Who's that from?" Ron asked, curious.

      "Remus," Caroline answered, opening the envelope. This time, there was no letter. Just another picture. Caroline and her parents were there, but so were James, Lily and Harry. It was Christmas time, based on the decorations in the background. Harry was five months old at the time, while Caroline was nearly three months old. "Harry, look." she nudged him, and he looked up from his letter, moving closer to get a better look.

      "Is that us? And our parents?" Harry asked, smiling. He held part of the picture in his hand, and Caroline glanced at the back, seeing it captioned.

      "Yeah. 'Christmas at the Taylors, 1980,'" Caroline answered. She let Harry show Hermione and Ron as Caroline looked through the envelope, finding two identical copies of a different picture. There was a note that read, One for you, and one for Harry. It was Remus and Sirius, thirteen years ago, each holding their respective godchildren outside of the Potter's house. "Look, Harry."

      Harry took his copy of the picture in his hand. "Is this Sirius and Remus?" he asked, seeing their smiling faces as Sirius cracked a joke. Baby Caroline wore a bonnet, and Baby Harry was pulling on the strings, fascinated.

      "Yeah. On my birthday, I think," Caroline glanced at the back of the picture. "Yes, 'Carol's first birthday, October 6, 1981.'"

      "Let me see," Hermione said, and Caroline handed her the picture, to which Hermione smiled. "Well, you were adorable, Caroline." she handed the picture back, and Caroline put it safely back in the envelope, but not before Ron got a glance at it.