Loving Lily: A Snily Story

Chapter 108 - Trouble on the Train

Thank you for reading! I don't own any of Harry Potter! Please let me know if you enjoy! Updates every Saturday!
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Weeks whispered by that melted into months.

As Voldemort succeeded in overthrowing the Ministry from within itself, Harriet's belly swelled as her energy waned.

Draco hovered over her whenever he could plausibly pass off his worry as concern for their mission's success.

With May's arrival, Ellery could hardly wait to board the Hogwarts Express once his seemingly endless, wretched school year at the castle finally concluded.

As he shuffled onto the train with the other students eager to return home for the summer season, he couldn't help but frown.

Certainly, he was glad to be on his way to see his parents once more, but his sister's absence  burned into his heart as he reluctantly took a seat in an empty train car.

Ellery was no idiot, he understood Harriet's friends had always thought he was a bit strange.

What did that matter?

Harriet had graciously allowed him to stay at her side, whether the others talked to him or not, whatever they did or didn't do, Harriet, his dear sister, always kept a place for him.

Ellery's pale face twisted into a mask of despair as he gazed out at the passing landscape once the train began to move and contemplated his remaining years at Hogwarts.

Between the brutal instructors the school had inexplicably hired in the previous semester, the lack of comradery, and the lingering sense of morose gloom that floated over the castle like a permanent veil, Hogwarts offered few positives.

To Ellery, the time he had left until graduation seemed like eternity.

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Harriet sat up in bed as Lily lovingly combed her hair that same morning.

A sigh left her lips just before her mother spoke, "........Your brother will be home today."

Harriet's emerald eyes widened.

Lily could sense her daughter's happy excitement as she turned her head and asked, "Can I go and see him?"

"I hardly think that's a good idea." Lily quipped as her eyes flickered down to the roundness barely hidden by the duvets, "......But perhaps your father and I could bring him here for a visit."

"Really?" Harriet asked with an excited gasp, "Oh, Mum! That'd be brilliant!"

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Regardless of the great and unwise trust he placed in Severus, Voldemort continued to keep his most closely guarded secrets private.

The silence in his train compartment coupled with the gentle motion of the vehicle had Ellery dozing within a half hour of the Hogwarts Express's departure.

His eyes nearly bulged out of his head when he was thrown across the empty car as the train squelched to a sudden halt.

Screams rang out.

The heavy wheels clicked into place.

Ellery raised himself up on his trembling arms as he tried to steady his own breathing while he wondered what had happened.

A slight sound caught his attention as a nauseating wave of despair gripped his soul.

As he turned his head to glance over at the compartment door, he sucked in a breath as he watched the telltale silhouette of a stalking Dementor pass by his compartment.