บท 80: Chapter 80: "The Train Ride to Hogwarts: A Meeting with Remus Lupin and a Journey's End"
"It's a skillful Patronus curse," a rough voice came into Draco's ears. Draco looked up and saw a man with a tired face standing in the middle of the aisle, his eyes full of approval.
This man was wearing a shabby wizard robe, patched in several places, and his face was sickly, with light brown hair mixed with white hair. Despite the exhaustion on his face, the look in his eyes was bright and compelling.
"I think we will have a chance to talk later," the man said kindly. In his opinion, the stability of the carriage was due to the young man in front of him. Even the shapeless Patronus curse had played a defensive role. The man himself had just summoned a silver light, and the Dementor had left with a little fear.
"But now I have to find the driver. The rain is too heavy, and we need to restore the lighting as soon as possible," the man said with some anxiety, glancing out the window. The heavy raindrops beat against the windows and glass, as if they were covered with a layer of gray mud. Not long ago, the train had jolted violently, and all the lights went out. Only a little light from the darkness outside the window could be used. When the sky was completely dark, it might take on the lighting effect, perhaps only a flickering fluorescence.
"I hope the next journey can be passed safely," the man said as he slowly moved towards the front of the car, preparing to negotiate with the driver.
"Remus John Lupin," Draco thought to himself. He knew this was the DADA teacher he would meet in his third year at Hogwarts.
After Lupin left for a short while, the lights in the aisle on the train suddenly came on, and the entire carriage was illuminated. It seemed that the power had been restored. The rain outside the windows began to dissipate, and after the dark clouds cleared, the sky brightened. The fields outside the window were filled with flowers and plants of different colors. The strong wind blew through them, making it look like waves in a sea of flowers.
But these beautiful sights were only fleeting, and soon the sky darkened again, signaling the end of the train journey.
"Horn!" The sound of the train coming to a stop, coupled with the slight swaying, announced that the students had reached their destination.
"Get up, lazy pig," Draco said as he shook Pansy slightly.
"Are you there?" Pansy rubbed her sleepy eyes. She had not slept so peacefully in a long time, but when she saw how she was lying on Draco, her face couldn't help but turn red.
"Clean up and get ready to get off," Draco said as he gently pulled away from Pansy and put her back on the seat. Pansy blushed and looked down at her wrinkled robe, hurriedly smoothing it out. But before she could finish, she felt a sudden knock on her head.
"Have you been so confused that you've forgotten you're a wizard?" Seeing that Pansy was still in her disheveled state, Draco used his wand to tap her head and then cast a spell on her robe, "Repero!" The wrinkled robe instantly looked brand new again.
Pansy's face turned red with embarrassment. She had wanted to make a good impression on Draco when they first boarded the train, but now she had made a fool of herself by forgetting such a basic spell.
"I really don't know how you'll pass your exams later," Draco said with a sigh, clearly unconcerned with Pansy's abilities.
"Can you stand up?" Draco asked again, knowing that after sitting in an awkward position for hours, Pansy's legs must be numb. As expected, when Pansy tried to stand, she fell back onto the seat, her weak body and sore legs making it difficult for her to walk.
Draco could only shake his head helplessly.
Soon, the door of the train opened and a gust of cold wind blew in. The temperature outside was still very low. Draco leaned out of the window and saw that the platform was covered in frost and a few students were slipping and falling on the ground, getting muddy.
Draco couldn't leave Pansy alone, so he took her hand and said, "Let's go."
Pansy nodded. Despite trying to keep her distance from Draco, she found herself drawn to his thoughtfulness, care, and consideration.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, but her words were drowned out by the noise around them.
"What did you say?" Draco asked, not having heard Pansy clearly.
"Nothing," Pansy shook her head gently.
After getting off the train, a rough voice called out to them, "Come here, first years!" Hagrid's burly figure stood out among a group of students, and the first-years were directed to participate in a traditional boat event to commemorate the four founders of Hogwarts.
Draco helped Pansy follow the crowd slowly forward.
"I can go by myself," Pansy said, still a little embarrassed. She gently broke free of Draco's hand and walked on her own, indicating that she was fine.
Draco naturally didn't force her.
They followed the other students on a rough and muddy path. Looking around, they saw hundreds of carriages waiting for the remaining students.
Surprisingly, there were no horses in front of these carriages.
Draco knew that these were the death horses, which could only be seen by those who had faced death. According to records, they were huge black horses with no flesh, their black fur tightly stretched over their bones. The bones were clearly visible and their heads resembled dragons, with white eyes and no pupils. They had long black tails and wings grew between their shoulder bones.
As Draco and Pansy were about to get into a carriage, they saw a girl crouching on the side of another carriage, staring straight ahead as if she had discovered something new.
Her light gold and brown hair gave away her identity.
This was probably the first time Luna had seen a death horse. Last year, as a first-year, she had to follow tradition and reach the castle by boat, so she didn't see one. However, death horses are actually quite rare. Besides a few wild ones, most death horses in the UK are tamed by Hagrid. The original male death horses and five female death horses have quickly reproduced, forming a large population.
Even when Dumbledore needed to travel long distances and it was inconvenient to use Apparition, he would use death horses as transportation.
Hagrid must be a talented trainer, Draco thought to himself as he was about to step into a carriage. But then he saw Luna's body tremble suddenly, as if she could feel his gaze. She stood up and walked straight towards him. The distance was short and Luna was in front of Draco in no time.
"Thank you," Luna said, looking at Draco with her somewhat blurry eyes. She bowed slightly and sincerely thanked him.
"Huh?" Draco raised his eyebrows in confusion, feeling a little perplexed. He didn't remember helping Luna at all.
Luna didn't explain, instead turning around and walking with small steps towards the nearest carriage. She could feel the hostility from the girl behind Draco and didn't want to cause any trouble. However, her eyes still kept sweeping towards the death horse in front of the carriage. Luna didn't know why other students couldn't see it, which only made her more curious about the creature. She decided to go and check out previous editions of "Daily Prophet" for more information.
Maybe after she learned the truth, she hoped she would never see these creatures again.
"Did I help her?" Draco was still thinking about Luna's thanks when he got into the carriage.
"Of course, you just didn't notice it yourself," Pansy suddenly interrupted his thoughts and began to explain.
It turned out that when Luna came to speak to him at Lockhart that day, the conversation between the two of them had been noticed. As a result, the students from their college who had bullied Luna returned the items they had stolen from Luna, which led to the notice that Luna was getting her things back being taken down.
If Draco and Luna had a good relationship, then the next time something like this happened, wouldn't it be easier for Luna to get revenge?
'Bad relationship?' Draco thought to himself. 'Then I shouldn't get involved with this crazy girl. It would be harder to accept being implicated in something innocent.'
This incident only made Luna more unpopular in her college.
But she didn't resent Draco, instead thanking him. If it were others, they might be angry with him. But in Luna's eyes, those who alienated her just because of rumors shouldn't be considered true friends. She appreciated a friend who treated her sincerely.
Luna was so frank and independent, even if the students around her laughed at her, she still lived freely and didn't change her original intentions because of others' opinions.
For Luna, she could always keenly feel the real emotions of the people around her when facing her. Was this intuition lucky or unfortunate?
Special Note:
DADA - Defense Against Dark Arts
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