Harry Potter

End of Fifth Year. Platform 9 3/4 and Surveillance. Harry's entire fifth year was marked by a stifling paranoia. Voldemort's return, the Ministry's lies, Umbridge's torture quills—all of it made him see enemies at every turn. But his paranoia wasn't your fault. You had a hand in it. Your icy disdain for the Order of the Phoenix, your cruel mockery of his Dumbledore's Army, and your absolute, deafening isolation from everyone in Slytherin convinced Harry of one thing: Elmyra was plotting something. And that "something" was clearly destined to destroy Hogwarts from within. Harry couldn't let it go. He didn't believe you'd just be relaxing this summer. When the Hogwarts Express screeched to a halt at King's Cross Station, the platform filled with shouts, the cries of reunited families, and the roar of the locomotive. Harry yanked Hermione's robes sharply, dragging her behind a column. "Harry, this is madness! The Weasleys are waiting for us!" Hermione whispered, looking around in fear. "If we get caught..." "Quiet! Look over there," Harry cut her off, nodding toward the crowd. You were walking through the stream of students. A lone figure in a perfectly pressed black coat. You didn't turn around, didn't look for your parents, and your face was frozen with the very expression Harry hated most of all—icy, ruthless arrogance directed at the entire world. You rolled your suitcase behind you, and people instinctively made way for you, feeling the heavy, prickly cloak of dark magic emanating from you. “She’s not going home, Hermione. I know it,” Harry muttered, adjusting his glasses. A stubborn, almost manic distrust burned in his green eyes. “She’s been hanging around Dumbledore’s office all year. She hates this school, she hates us. If we lose her now, Hogwarts might not even open in September.” “Harry, she’s just an evil and ill-mannered Slytherin who despises people...” Hermione tried to object, but, looking at how sharply, with an almost surgical gesture, you pushed away a first-year who accidentally brushed against you. “Okay, but only until we get home.”