HP • Legilimency | 𝐍. 𝐌𝐀𝐋𝐅𝐎𝐘

𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐫 𝐋𝐮𝐩𝐢𝐧

So, folks, the writing's gonna get a bit muddled for a while. You must have noticed, right?? New medication ─ it leaves me with a scatterbrain.

From here on, a lot of things are going to be revealed, plot after plot, and a lot, a lot of jealousy. Astria is going to start understanding what she feels, and it's going to be a total mess.

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On the following day, Andromeda woke up Astria with her characteristically charming smile and a cup of tea. The girl promptly got dressed while Narcissa skillfully combed her hair in front of the mirror. At that moment, Draco, already in his hastily worn uniform and visibly annoyed expression, entered the room.

"The sooner we board the train, the better," he said in a huff. "Harry is in so much trouble! He didn't even reply to my last letter."
Narcissa stifled a laugh on Astria's shoulder. Draco had been talking nonstop about Harry throughout the summer vacation.

When they went downstairs for breakfast, they found Mr. Tonks reading the front page of the Daily Prophet with a furrowed brow, and Andromeda was deeply focused on choosing between two pairs of shoes for the day.

"The one on the right," Astria said with a smile. "It's pretty and comfortable; it won't hurt your feet while you're walking from one patient to another."

Narcissa shook her head in disagreement and said she found the one on the left prettier. She was completely scandalized when Andromeda chose Astria's suggestion, sulking as if it were the greatest betrayal she had ever suffered.

The journey to King's Cross was very smooth. The Tonks' car, despite its almost ordinary appearance, could glide through tight spaces that Muggle cars couldn't. It could also become invisible when Andromeda decided to step on the accelerator, probably breaking about 15 Muggle laws in the process.

The group arrived at King's Cross station with twenty minutes to spare. Astria and Draco grabbed carts, unloaded their luggage, gave Andromeda a tight hug, and left, somehow managing to get ahead of a line of cars stopped at the traffic light.

Narcissa headed for the barrier between platforms nine and ten, pushing the luggage cart. With an expressive look at Astria, she casually leaned against the barrier. Mimicking the older woman, Astria followed suit.

In a second, the two of them passed sideways through the solid metal wall and emerged on platform nine and three-quarters. When they looked up, they saw the Hogwarts Express, a red steam train, billowing smoke on the crowded platform filled with witches and wizards.

Draco followed a little behind, already looking around in search of Harry.

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The Hogwarts Express continued moving northward, and the landscape outside the window grew wilder and darker as the clouds above thickened. By mid-afternoon, it began to rain, blurring the hills outside the windows, intensifying as the train sped farther north. The train rattled as the rain pounded, and the wind roared. Lago slept so heavily in Lady Black's lap that he might as well have been dead.

Astria was about to nudge him to make sure when the train began to slow down.

"This is strange ─ we can't be at Hogwarts yet," she said, her brow furrowed in confusion as she tried to peer out of the window.

"Why are we stopping?" Draco asked, intrigued. As she was closer to the door, it was Astria who got up to look down the corridor.

"There are many other people looking out," she said, and perhaps she was about to say something more when all the lights on the train went out simultaneously, and they plunged into darkness.