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A loud whistle pierced the air.
"I've got to go."
Snape hurriedly bid farewell to Eileen, dragging his trunk as he climbed aboard the scarlet Hogwarts Express.
He found an empty compartment near the back of the train, shoved his trunk into a corner, and leaned out the window to wave at Eileen.
Eileen waved back.
As the train picked up speed, she receded into the distance, her figure growing smaller and fainter amidst the thick smoke of the steam engine.
It wasn't until the train rounded a bend that Snape pulled himself back inside and shut the window.
"Hey, Severus."
The compartment's sliding door opened, and Abbot stepped in, plopping down on the seat across from Snape.
"How was your summer?" Abbot asked casually. "I was bored out of my mind. My dad made me read Born Noble: A Wizarding Genealogy and take notes."
"Eventful," Snape replied with a wry grin.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Abbot perked up, intrigued. "Come on, spill."
Snape cleared his throat, his face turning serious as he said to Abbot, "I went to fight Vol—"
"Don't say that name!" Abbot shuddered, sitting bolt upright, his voice a hushed panic as he cut Snape off.
"You're the one who asked," Snape said, leaning back comfortably. "Fear doesn't solve anything."
"What's gotten into you?" Abbot said, half-annoyed, half-astonished. "You didn't actually do something dangerous, did you?"
Snape said calmly, "No, I'm not that reckless. But refusing to say his name won't make him go easier on anyone, so what's the point?"
"If I had that kind of nerve, would I be sharing a dorm with you?" Abbot shot Snape a glare. "Let's just play a game of Wizard's Chess."
As they set up the chessboard, the Hogwarts Express chugged steadily northward.
The train sped through fields tinged with the hues of late summer and early autumn, the scenery outside growing increasingly desolate.
By midday, around one o'clock, a clattering noise echoed down the corridor.
A plump witch with a dimpled smile pushed the trolley to their compartment door and asked, "Anything to eat, dears?"
"My treat this time!"
Snape jumped up, pulling a bulging coin purse from his pocket and setting it heavily on the table.
"Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, Chocolate Frogs, Pumpkin Pasties, Liquorice Wands, Cauldron Cakes… two of each!"
Snape handed the witch a Galleon, taking the two Sickles she gave as change along with a heap of colorful treats.
After the witch slid the compartment door shut, Abbot eyed the overstuffed coin purse and then Snape, his expression odd.
He opened his mouth, about to say something.
"Yes, I also robbed Gringotts over the summer," Snape said, preempting the question.
Abbot rolled his eyes. "Since when did you get so ridiculous?"
"Since I noticed your special feelings for Mary," Snape said, biting the head off a Chocolate Frog and grinning at Abbot.
"What are you talking about?" Abbot's eyes widened. "How dare you slander me like that…"
"Slander?" Snape flicked his hair. "I saw you on the platform, preening your hair like this as you walked toward her. I called out to you, and you didn't even notice."
Abbot's face flushed red as he protested, "It's just a friend thing—does that count as special?"
What followed was a jumble of cryptic phrases—something about "good friends being like four-leaf clovers" and "life without friends is like losing sunlight." Snape couldn't help but chuckle, and the compartment filled with lively cheer.
As the journey continued, the sky gradually darkened. Later, the lamps in the corridor and above the luggage racks flickered on.
Snape glanced out the window, catching faint glimpses of Hogwarts' mountains and forests in the distance.
The train began to slow.
"We should change. We're almost there."
He and Abbot shed their jackets, pulling on their black robes. Snape's robes just brushed the tops of his shoes.
"The train will arrive at Hogwarts in five minutes. Please leave your luggage onboard; it will be taken to the school for you." The announcement echoed through the train.
Finally, the train pulled into Hogsmeade Station.
They joined the throng of students shoving their way down the corridor, spilling onto a dark, cramped platform.
"First years, over here!"
Snape spotted Hagrid's towering, broad figure at one end of the platform, calling the first-year students to him. They would cross the lake, as was tradition.
At the other end of the platform, over a hundred carriages awaited the older students.
This time, the carriages weren't drawn by nothing.
Thestrals stood silently in the deepening twilight, their hollow white eyes glinting as they watched the approaching crowd.
Though Snape had prepared himself, the Thestrals' appearance still startled him.
They looked almost reptilian, their bodies devoid of flesh, yet where their shoulder blades protruded, massive black bat-like wings sprouted.
Snape and Abbot climbed into a carriage and shut the door.
The wheels jolted into motion, rumbling beneath them.
Hogwarts loomed closer.
Moments later, the carriage came to a swaying halt at the stone steps before the castle's entrance.
They followed the crowd up the steps, through the entrance hall, and into the magnificent Great Hall, where the Start-of-Term Feast awaited.
The ceiling of the Great Hall sparkled with stars.
Above the tables, floating candles cast a warm glow, making the golden plates and goblets shimmer.
At the Slytherin table, a gaunt ghost sat, his robes stained with silvery blood, shackles clinking around his wrists, his vacant eyes staring blankly ahead.
"Hello, Barrow. How'd you end up covered in blood?" Snape asked, sitting across from the Bloody Baron.
The Bloody Baron's gaze shifted slowly, like a lens gradually focusing on its target.
In a rasping, venomous tone, he snapped, "That's none of your business, boy!"
With that, the Bloody Baron glided away, vanishing into the darkness of the passage leading to the dungeons.
Snape watched him go, pensive, before turning his attention to the Ravenclaw table.
He didn't see the ghost of Ravenclaw Tower there.
Come to think of it, in his five years at Hogwarts, he could count the times he'd seen the Grey Lady on one hand. She rarely roamed the castle.
Lost in thoughts of the tangled history between the Grey Lady and the Bloody Baron, Snape barely noticed the Sorting Ceremony.
It wasn't until Dumbledore cleared his throat to begin his speech that Snape snapped back to the present.
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