Harry Potter and the Original Tribrid

Chapter 4 - Shadow

The revelation about her wand had created turmoil. Aunt Freya had talked to her mom over the phone, arguing over her safety at Hogwarts. Something about her mom not wanting them to become pawns of fate, and Freya telling something about getting ahead of the problem. There was also something about enemies being already at school. Must be talking about that professor, thought Hope. The arguments must have gone on for hours. Marcel had been standing by, observing everything. He must not have wanted to get into an argument between the two. And Hope was pretty sure her father had gotten involved at some point, though she couldn't recall when exactly. They must have done it when she wasn't in the room.

Finally, they decided to let her go. And the matter of her pet snake, well, it hadn't become a huge deal as she had initially thought. Probably because of everything else that had happened. Rather, they had all encouraged her to take it, saying that a loyal and a deadly guardian that can stay virtually invisible was a good idea. Of course, that was after they had made sure that it would stay loyal to her. Freya had done some wordless spell while touching the snake, and it had hissed in answer. Hope was bewildered, but didn't question it as she was happy to have her companion.

The weeks went by quickly, leading up to the day she would be going to her new school. She had flicked through everything that was meant for her first year. Many of the things that had caught her eyes, she had already known, having lived with a thousand-year-old witch, even though they were not exactly the same. She had taken a liking to potions, probably because it was the most challenging. And her pet snake had taken a liking to hiding inside her clothing, which was weird at first, but she had gotten used to it. It would always be with her, wherever she went, and it hissed in warning when she had gone back to her pursuit of trying to use the dark magic to break her family's curse. It had become so agitated that Hope had to stop, even though reluctantly. She couldn't understand her snake in words, which she had discovered could only be done by parselmouths, but she had started to understand the intent. It had become her shadow, and she found the perfect name for it: Tenebris, the Latin word for shadow, which the snake accepted with a hiss.

Hope was walking down the platform, in King's Cross station, with her Aunt Freya. Tenebris was resting in her usual spot, coiled around her stomach, beneath her clothes. It had become like a second skin. Marcel was somewhere in the vicinity, though not with her. She looked at her ticket for what seemed like the hundredth time, making sure, for the hundredth time, that it said what it said. She was still puzzled as to why the platform was mentioned to be 'nine and three-quarters.'

She turned to her aunt yet again. "Why does this say platform nine and three-quarters, again? Is it some sort of mistake?" Her aunt still kept silent and walked in front. They came upon a wall that was between platforms nine and ten, and her aunt turned to her.

"We're here."

"Where?" asked Hope, with an edge to her voice. "I don't see a platform nine and three-quarters!"

Just as her aunt was about to speak, she was interrupted.

"Hope!" a familiar voice called out urgently.

Startled, Hope turned around to spot the girl she had encountered earlier in Diagon Alley. "Oh, hi. I've seen you before. Umm, Hermione, right?" said Hope.

"Yes! Thank goodness, I ran into you," said Hermione, as she along with her parents walked over to them. She turned to Freya. "Hi! You must be Hope's Mom. Pleased to meet you. I'm Hermione Granger."

Freya took her outstretched hand in greeting. "Freya Marshall. It's good to meet you too, Hermione, and I'm Hope's aunt. And you must be her parents," said Freya as she faced Hermione's parents.