Echo | Harry Potter - George Weasley

Chapter 44: The Triwizard Tournament

"Anything from the trolley?" The kind, older lady stopped in the aisle in front of the train compartment. Her trolley, like every year, was filled to the brim with various sweets and treats.  

Shaye tore her gaze away from the Daily Prophet that Hermione was reading. The big story of the day was, of course, the Death Eater attack at the Quidditch World Cup final. On the front page, a monochrome visual of the Dark Mark was on full display.

While Harry and Ron bought their treats, an Asian girl emerged from a separate compartment and asked for two pumpkin pasties, her Scottish accent strong. Shaye recognized her as Cho Chang from Ravenclaw, and although the two had never really spoken before, Shaye knew that Cho was a nice girl. Harry seemed to think so as well because when he looked up and saw her, his cheeks flushed and he started grinning like an idiot.

Cho returned the smile before paying for her treats and retreated to her own compartment, her friends giggling about the exchange the whole way back. Shaye smirked amusingly at Harry when he sat back down. Harry, however, just shrugged and gave his owl Hedwig a pat on the head.

"This is horrible." Hermione pointed to the newspaper article about the attack. "How can the Ministry not know who conjured it? Wasn't there any security or ...?"

"Loads, according to Dad," Ron said with his mouth full of Droobles. "That's what worried them so much. Happened right under their noses."

Harry sighed as he reached up to gently scratch the skin around his scar. "It's hurting again, isn't it?" Hermione asked. "Your scar."

Harry immediately lowered his hand again, almost ashamed he had been caught messing with his scar. "I'm fine."

"You're also a liar." Shaye pointed out. "Take it from me and don't bottle up how you're feeling, because the next thing you know, you'll have kept so many secrets that your family is falling apart and you're having nightmares every third night and-" Shaye stopped herself from rambling and looked up to see everyone staring at her. "Just ... you can tell us the truth, is what I'm trying to say."

Hermione nodded in agreement. "You know Sirius will want to hear about this. What you saw at the World Cup and the dream."

"The dream?" Shaye tilted her head. Obviously, she had been so caught up in her own sleep problems that she hadn't noticed Harry was having some as well.

Harry slumped his shoulder before explaining the dream he had about Voldemort and Peter Pettigrew, who had been hiding out in an old farmhouse. He then recalled that Voldemort had killed the muggle farmer who owned the farm. The dream had apparently felt so real it was as if he had been there himself, watching the whole scene play out as a bystander. 

"Sounds more like a nightmare to me." Shaye felt a chill creep up her spine. "Dreams are supposed to be happy and fun. Sometimes a little weird, but not like that."

"Yeah, you're probably right." Harry nodded as he pulled a quill, a pot of ink, some parchment, and an envelope out of his trunk. He then began composing a short but informative letter to Sirius as per Hermione's request—nay, demand—before sending Hedwig out the train's window with it in her beak to deliver. Erwin chirped restlessly, wanting a chance to stretch his wings as well. 

As per usual, the Hogwarts Express pulled into Hogwarts station at dusk. With the sunlight soon to be gone for the day, the students filed out of their compartments and hustled up to the castle where they could enjoy a delicious feast and get settled into their dormitories. This year, however, things were happening a little differently. Although no one knew the exact reason quite yet—or the circumstances surrounding the change of pace—the excitement was high when the students were told that they were expecting visitors.