Chapter 347: [bonus]
At eleven o'clock sharp, the train pulled out, rolling north through England's winter under a grey sky.
The view outside shifted from London's slate rooftops to yellow pastureland, then to the brown hills and thin snow of the Scottish Highlands.
By four in the afternoon, the Hogwarts Express was pulling into Hogsmeade station. The sky had gone dark, and lamps glowed along the platform.
Regulus stepped off. Cuthbert and Alex trailed behind, Hermes bringing up the rear.
Carriages stood in a line outside the station. Thestrals bowed their heads before the shafts, invisible to most of the students filing past, who only noticed the carriages moving on their own.
The four of them climbed aboard. The carriage rolled up the long drive, trees swaying in the night wind on either side.
The castle's outline emerged in the distance, its windows burning warm yellow, rising higher, growing denser.
The carriage stopped before the front steps. Students poured out, climbed the stone stairs, passed through the oak doors, and flooded into the bright expanse of the Great Hall.
Noise, warmth, greetings and laughter from every direction.