𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗱 𝗹𝗮𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗻, cedric diggory

˗ˋ 27

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN
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-: seventh year :-

── IN WHICH THEY ARRIVE

. . .

It was always getting off the train that quickly became the hardest part of the journey. Getting onto the Hogwarts Express was pretty easier - everyone arrived at different times and whilst crowds could appear, they would disperse in seconds. Finding an empty-ish cabin also wasn't too hard, sometimes you just had to suck it up and share with others, but there was enough room for everyone. 

Getting of the train, whether it be at Hogsmeade station during the start of the term or Platform ¾ at the end of the year, was always incredibly chaotic.

Students upon students would pour out of the train like a flooded bathtub, a mush of grey robes that had be changed into during the journey. And it was hard to get through them. 

Rosie gripped onto Angelina's arm as they navigated their way through - the two best friends had reunited when the Kersey girl had returned from asking Dean about the posters and hadn't let each other go since, so excited to see each other once more and with so much to discuss from their summer.

There had been some rather quick-paced, high-pitched conversation upon initial greetings - they were just very happy for the other and the positions they had been appointed; Head Girl and Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, respectfully.

And now they were gripping to each other as they began to lead their way through the crowd to try and pass under the archway and get to the carriages. "There - no over there with the ginger hair, that's Fred and George, it has to be." Rosie stood on her tiptoes and waved her hand over in the direction that the two tall Weasley twins were pushing through the crowd. 

"Obviously. Who else has hair like that and is quite literally never apart?" Angelina shook her head. "Oh - Lee!" She exclaimed, feeling a hand on her wrist and jumping out of her skin, turning around to see the boy that they had spent the majority of the train journey with. 

"You get lost in the chaos as well?" He grinned, reaching for Rosie's arm and looping it around his, doing the same with Angelina's. "I think the twins would kill me if either of you got lost in the stampede."

"They're first years, not baby elephants." Rosie mumbled as the moved towards the carriages, but she didn't exactly mind the extra weight to keep her near her friends and not getting led off course. 

"Same thing if you ask me." Beside her, Fred popped up and dragged her away from Lee and over to a carriage besides which George was stood behind so that nobody would steal it. 

"Sure they are." Angelina shook her head - but a giggle left her lips and the twins could only return such a laugh as the five of them climbed up into the carriage. 

Whatever was pulling it along began in seconds, the carriage following the pattern of the gravel road as they set off towards the school. Hogwarts was ever so pretty during these journeys, even if the rain poured down. 

But on a night like that one, it was clear - not a cloud in the sky and still rather reflective of the summer than had preceded the 1st of September. Stars twinkled against the dark blue void, and in an even deeper shade stood Hogwarts, illuminated by the amber glow that came from each and every window, welcoming the hundreds of magical students back to their boarding school. 

The journey didn't take particularly long. But if you had eaten anything previously purchased from the Honeyduke's cart just before boarding the carriages then it was most likely going to end up reappearing - the road to Hogwarts happened to be rather bumpy, pothole-ridden and incredibly winding over the rural Scottish Highlands landscape. 

Rosie's legs felt awfully wobbly as she descended down the two rickety steps onto the drive outside of Hogwarts, joined by Fred, George, Angelina and Lee as they climbed up the steps into the Entrance Hall, flowing through the doors into the Great Hall, reaching the midpoint of the long Gryffindor table and sitting down. 

"God I've missed this place." Lee muttered, looking around with his eyes trained up to the ceiling, which mirrored the starry sky above them, splattered with the cream of the floating wax candles. 

"Beats the musty old Grimmauld Place, right?" George nudged Rosie, who nodded absentmindedly, her gaze travelling down the length of the tall brick walls, past translucent ghosts and different housed students until they came to a stop on the teachers' table right at the end. 

Her eyes landed on pink. So. Much. Pink. 

"What the living fuck is that?" 

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