An Angelic Fate//Drarry

6- Finally, The Train And Truce

The next few weeks were fairly uneventful for Harry, unless you count passing out in pain once a week, of course. Mrs Weasley often tried to take him to St Mungos, but he refused, insisting he would see Madame Pomfrey at Hogwarts should he have to. The idea of being kept in hospital instead of returning to school terrified him, even more so than Professor Snape in a bad mood. If looks could kill, that man would have killed Harry a hundred times over each day, double on a bad day. Gryffindor frequently complained when he lost them small points due to silly mistakes made in Snape's presence. There had been occasions there had been full on shouting matches between Harry and the other Gryffindors with short tempers over a mere 5 points. Ridiculous.

But anyway, that was the general idea. Snape was scary, but not going to Hogwarts, a place he considered a second home, was terrifying.

A few nights prior to the departure of the Hogwarts Express, Hermione Granger had arrived at the Burrow, along with all of her belongings and school supplies, plus her ginger cat Crookshanks. That cat may have looked adorable but it had a nasty bite. Ron that knew better than anyone; he had scars from the abuse last year. The few days before school were mostly spent packing everything into trunks and convincing Hermione to do something other than read. It was pointless in the end, because even when they dragged her by the wrist into the garden to play quidditch, she still read, therefore ignoring the many minor fouls that she was supposed to monitoring.

When the day finally came to take the train to Hogwarts, everyone rushed through to the kitchen to eat a speedy breakfast, due to waking up later than usual. They all hurried to get their trunks from upstairs and raced into the fireplace, dropping their Floo powder and yelling "Platform nine and three quarters!" as they went. Once the entire party of six had arrived, Mrs Weasley began saying farewells as she ushered us onto the scarlet steamer, giving them almost no time to give in their luggage

"Goodbye Ginny! Goodbye Ron! Goodbye Hermione! Goodbye Harry! Be safe and stay out of trouble! Don't forget to write-" Her words were lost to the loud whistling sound echoing around the platform, signalling the trains departure to be imminent. Immediately after the whistle silenced, multiple things happened. Parents said their last goodbyes, insisting their children write every week, all of them slowly walking to the side as the train started to move. The desperation in their voices made it very clear that they were not all too pleased to be letting their children go now that Voldemort was back and actively seeking Harry Potter, a boy who happened to go to Hogwarts as well...

The train picked up speed and turned a corner, leaving the many worried faces stood on the platform behind, taking the students back to their next year of tortu-I mean wonderful educational classes. Yep, wonderful...for some at least. As Harry, Ron and Hermione roamed the corridors looking for an empty compartment, they could feel the whispered gossip suffocating them, the curious looks boring into the back of their skulls. After all, Harry was the 'Chosen One', he was bound to get some attention for it.

After looking for a while, they realized they weren't going to find an empty compartment, and merely settled for asking to sit in the closest one. When they opened the door, they came face to face with Draco Malfoy, Blaise Zabini and Pansy Parkinson, all of whom looked up with mild surprise at the sudden disruption. Upon seeing them, Pansy glared menacingly but did not say a word, Blaise looked his feet like they were the most interesting thing in the world, and Draco, he looked Harry dead in the eye, never wavering.

As Harry looked back at Draco, slightly hidden behind Hermione, who had been the one to open the door, he did not see of hint of a menacing glare or sneer, or even a smudge of anger. For some reason his eyes were gripping Harry tightly and refused to release him, but Harry seemed not to mind. They were beautiful, swimming with a storm that was seemingly misunderstood. A storm that was expected to look angry but in truth was really just empty and innocent, the beginnings of a beautiful rainbow.

Harry broke out of the trance, therefore breaking Draco free as well, when Hermione spoke up among the awkward tension in the room. "Look, every other compartment is full, so can we just put aside any past arguments and join you in here?" Her voice was calm, but Draco could hear the hint of begging she used, presumably inflicted by being stared at out in the corridor. Across from him, Draco could see Blaise blush even more fiercely and Pansy prepare to make a distinctly rude comment. Without thinking, he gave a sudden response that shocked them all.

"Sure, just as long as the Weasel doesn't sit next to me." There. He had said it, and he couldn't take it back, plus the incredulous looks he was receiving gave away that they thought he was under the imperius curse. "What, it's a new year. Maybe this year I don't want to be in a petty rivalry for once. So what do you guys say, truce?"

Harry was the first to break out of his shocked state, mumbling in agreement and gently pushing past Hermione to sit next to Draco. Hermione proceeded to follow his lead, sitting directly across from Blaise, who had taken to staring out the window, or at the floor, or even at Harry. Anywhere but Hermione, which confused Draco quite a lot when he glanced over to see how his friend was reacting. Now only Ron stood in the doorway, looking at his friends with a look of- betrayal? Curiosity? Noticing he wasn't going to move anytime soon, and that his frozen state was starting to attract attention from people in the halls, Pansy reluctantly grabbed his wrist and pulled him down into the seat beside her, closing the door and blinds too.

They all sat in a suffocating silence for what felt like hours but was really only minutes, wondering what to say next. These people had all been enemies not 10 minutes ago, and now they had called a truce?! Harry looked around at his friends, then looked to the Slytherins, realizing none of them wanted to start a conversation. Neither did he really, but the silence was killing him. Internally, he was deciding whether to risk the embarrassment of trying to start a conversation or just hand himself over to Voldemort then and there.

"Sooooo....truth or dare anyone? It would be a great way to get to know each other." Harry sat tensed and prepared himself for more silence and the embarrassment of what he had suggested, but relaxed immediately when all the others sighed in relief for the break in silence, nodding in agreement as they did. And so the game began.....