Chapter 152: Chapter 149
"Hmm. Now If you'll excuse me Mr. Toadinger, my friend Ginny is waiting for me." the girl said, before she gave his head one last scratch and skipped out of the compartment towards Ginny, who was looking at Luna like she'd gone insane. And then she dragged her off to who knew where.
Distinctly feeling weirded out, Harry fixed his sight on an empty spot right outside the compartment, beside Percy and the two third years he was reprimanding, focused hard, and apparated to the spot silently.
Having had enough of this little adventure, Harry quickly walked up to the toilet, stuffed his cloak back into his inventory, and made his way out of the carriage as he headed back to his own compartment.
But there was something on his mind. Something peculiar.
Hermione was right. Draco Malfoy was a bully. He was a bully who had allied himself with Harry. But he was still a bully through and through.
And yet for some reason he wanted to help this strange firstie girl.
This wasn't fitting in with what he knew Draco Malfoy to be. He was missing something. Something he needed to find out.
The remaining ride to the Hogsmeade station passed in relative monotony after all he told his friends that there was just a bullying situation in the compartment and that the only thing he'd done was send for a prefect. They bought the lie, and from then onwards it was all Exploding Snap and the occasional chess battle till Hogsmeade arrived.
Feeling quite a bit hungry, he stepped down from the train and onto the familiar tiny dark platform and waved to the friendly half-giant Hagrid, who happily waved back.
Before they knew it, they were heading up with the students along a muddy path towards the side of the platform, which led to the place where least a hundred stagecoaches awaited the students, each pulled by, from what Harry could see, something that was distinctly not a horse.
Harry stared.
The creatures were completely fleshless, their black coats clinging to their skeletons, of which every bone was visible. Their heads were dragonish, and their pupil-less eyes white and staring. Wings sprouted from each wither, vast, black leathery wings that looked as though they ought to belong to giant bats. Standing still and quiet in the gathering gloom, the creatures looked eerie and sinister.
He quickly cast an observe.
Thestral
Lv-20
HP:4000/4000
MP:400/400
Str-35
Vit-30
Dex-50
Int-12
Wis-10
Luc-6
A female Thestral who is a winged horse with a skeletal body, reptilian features, and wide, leathery wings. They are very rare, and are considered dangerous by the Ministry of Magic. Thestrals are, undeservedly, known as omens of misfortune and aggression. They are visible only to those who have witnessed death at least once.
She is bored. She doesn't know Harry.
Huh. Invisible to anyone who hasn't witnessed death. So they must be invisible to most of the students, which was probably why they were eagerly climbing into the coaches and not screaming their lungs out, since the creatures looked like something right out of a horror movie. Trying to push away the grimmer thoughts that knocked on his mind's doorway, Harry climbed into the coach, and it set off, bumping and swaying in procession.
The carriage trundled slowly towards a pair of magnificent wrought iron gates, flanked with stone columns topped with winged boars, which Harry realized was the actual main entrance of Hogwarts.
The grand Hogwarts Castle loomed closer, a towering mass of turrets, jet black against the dark sky, with here and there a window blazing fiery bright above them.
The carriages jingled to a halt near the stone steps leading up to the oak front doors and Harry got out of the carriage first and turned back to look upon the Thestrals. The single memory of his parent's death unwittingly made its way into his mind, and Harry stood there, staring at the winged horses for a second.
"Are you coming or what?" said Dean from beside him.
"Oh…yeah," said Harry quickly and the group of friends joined the crowd hurrying up the stone steps into the castle.
The Entrance Hall was ablaze with torches and echoing with footsteps as the students crossed the flagged stone floor for the double doors to the right, leading to the Great Hall and the start-of-term feast.
The four long house tables in the Great Hall were filling up under the starless black ceiling, which reflected an uncanny image of the sky outside. Candles floated in the air all along the tables, illuminating the silvery ghosts who were floating about the Hall and the faces of the students talking eagerly, exchanging summer stories, shouting greetings at friends from other houses, eyeing one another's new haircuts and robes.
The group split up and headed to their respective house tables, as Hermione, Harry and Terry took adjoining seats near the middle of the Ravenclaw, just alongside the Grey Lady, who floated on the table. Hermione slapped Terry's arm in reprimand as he tried to peek up the Ravenclaw ghost's skirt.
Harry looked up to staff table that ran along the top wall of the Hall, and let his eyes scan along the teachers' table. Gilderoy Lockhart's blinding smile stood out above all else.
He sighed as he felt Hermione start to hyperventilate the moment she caught sight of the celebrity fraud writer. It was going to be incredibly annoying if she was going to be like that every time Lockhart was in the room.
Before he could lament too much on that fact, however, his attention had been caught by Professor McGonagall, who had just appeared and set a stool with the ancient Sorting Hat on it right in front of the staff table, before she walked out of a side door. That meant the first-years must have crossed the lake and reached the castle. And sure enough, a few seconds later, the doors from the Entrance Hall opened.
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