Chapter 285: Sirius and the Potters [bonus]
The Hogwarts Express pulled into King's Cross Station and settled to a halt. Steam erupted from the engine and swallowed the platform in white fog.
Doors banged open. Young witches and wizards poured out, trunks scraping across flagstones, owls flapping in their cages, voices and laughter crashing together from every direction.
Parents waved from the far end of the platform, calling names over one another, pulling children into hugs, clapping shoulders, crouching down to cup small faces in their hands.
Regulus stepped off the train into the crush. He sidestepped the main current and found a pocket of space.
Cuthbert, Alex, and Hermes followed him down. The three stood beside him. Only Alex had luggage.
"See you at the Christmas banquet." Cuthbert's eyes were bright, his voice threaded with an excitement he couldn't quite contain.
He'd never understood what those banquets were about before. Family gatherings. Food, wine, adults talking while children sat and listened. Tedious.
This term had changed that.
Working alongside Regulus, he'd come to see something he hadn't before.