𝐎, 𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐒𝐄𝐃 𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐃 ⎥ "He wants a fight with
a God? I'll give him one."
﹙ from stardust we came, to stardust we return ﹚
Prisoner of Azkaban - Deathly Hollows
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RATTLING AND SWAYING, THE CARRIAGES MOVED IN CONVOY UP THE ROAD. when they passed between the tall stone pillars topped with winged boars on either side of the gates to the school grounds, elara saw harry lean forward to try and see whether there were any lights on in hagrid's cabin by the forbidden forest, but the grounds were in complete darkness. hogwarts castle, however, loomed ever closer: a towering mass of turrets, jet-black against the dark sky, here and there a window blazing fiery bright above them. the carriages jingled to a halt near the stone steps leading up to the oak front doors and harry got out of the carriage first.
this time, elara turned to look for lit windows down by the forest, but there was definitely no sign of life within hagrid's cabin. disappointed, she focused on the, skeletal creatures standing quietly in the chill night air, their blank white eyes gleaming. elara could easily read harry. he was, after all, an open book. harry looked startled by the events that had just transpired. the group clambored out of the carriage but harry remained, unmoving.
"are you coming or what?" said ron beside him.
"oh . . . yeah," said harry quickly, and they joined the crowd hurrying up the stone steps into the castle.
the entrance hall was ablaze with torches and echoing with footsteps as the students crossed the flagged stone floor for the double doors to the right, leading to the great hall and the start-of-term feast. the four long house tables in the great hall were filling up under the starless black ceiling, which was just like the sky they could glimpse through the high windows. candles floated in midair all along the tables, illuminating the silvery ghosts who were dotted about the hall and the faces of the students talking eagerly to one another, exchanging summer news, shouting greetings at friends from other houses, eyeing one another's new haircuts and robes. again elara noticed people putting their heads together to whisper as they passed; it was not out of the ordinary for elara, but from the from on harry's face, he was still not used to and did not like the whispers.
the moment they reached gryffindor's, ginny was hailed by some fellow fourth years and left to sit with them; elara, harry, ron, hermione, and neville found seats together about halfway down the table between nearly headless nick, the gryffindor house ghost, and parvati patil and lavender brown, the last two of whom gave harry airy, overly friendly greetings that made elara wonder if they had stopped talking about harry a split second before.
"he's not there." harry stated worriedly as elara eyed the table.
ron and hermione scanned the staff table too, though there was no real need; hagrid's size made him instantly obvious in any lineup.
