Chapter Text
It was quiet. The sound of the steam engine moving was the only thing filling the silence.
"I'm going to say it." Pansy declared.
"Say what?" Harriet sounded bored, her voice becoming a mild drawl.
"This year was the worst yet."
"And? There's only been two?" It was definitely a drawl now.
"We almost died! Draco lost his memory! We really messed up! I doubt anything can match up to that!"
"I could think of a few things..." Harriet sighed and turned her attention back to the outside. The Highlands turned into the Dales and cities bled in and out of sight.
Draco wasn't with them. His parents had come to collect him from Hogwarts the night before. Harriet was glad.
She didn't know what to do. She didn't even know if he would remember her.
It was stupid to be this worked up about everything. He had already remembered Blaise's name and something to do with a toothbrush.
It made sense that he would remember the person he spent the most time with, but still her feelings were hurt a little bit.
She kicked her trunk a little further under the seat. This sucked!
Pansy watched her friend from across the compartment. How was Harriet so unaffected? It wasn't like she had been in this much danger before, right? Was she just waiting until she was alone to cry? Had she lost her feelings somehow?
It just didn't make sense!
"We didn't mess up though." Harriet's voice brought her out of her thoughts.
"What do you mean?" Pansy frowned.
"We saved lives. We all made it out alive."
"Draco lost his memory! He doesn't remember us! How is that not messing up?"
"He's already started to get his memory back!"
"Yeah, but how long is it going to take until he recovers fully?"
"If Draco recovers completely-"
"If?" Pansy glared. "If? When. It's when."
There was one of Harriet's oh-so-famous eye rolls. The kind that practically screamed 'you are being an idiot right now and you're annoying me right now'.
"Don't roll your eyes at me!"
Harriet rubbed a hand over her face in exasperation. "Pansy, look, it's not certain that he'll recover! And even if he gets his memory back, he might not be the same! I read-"
"You read somewhere that bla bla bla! Harriet read something somewhere so obviously it must be correct!"
"You're being unreasonable!" Harriet huffed. "Again!"
"You're making me panic!" Pansy snapped back.
"Well, get over it!"
This time it was Pansy's turn to roll her eyes. "I can't just get over it! My childhood friend is currently in a medical crisis!"
"Well, technically-"
"I don't want to hear it!"
"Fine." Harriet pointedly turned back to the window.
They sat in silence for about an hour. The rattling of the train once again filled the silence.
Eventually Pansy took a breath. "Hey, look, I'm sorry. I didn't want to snap at you like that."
"It's okay." Harriet still wasn't looking at her.
A voice carried through the train. "Dear Passengers, we will be arriving in King's Cross Station shortly. Please check your belongings, to make sure you do not leave anything behind. Our time of arrival will be 2 o'clock in the afternoon. Thank you for travelling with the Hogwarts Express!"
The girls gathered their things.
"I'll write you then?" Pansy asked tentatively.
"Yeah, if you want to." Harriet gave a dismissive smile.
"Okay, thanks."
They got of the train and went their separate ways to their families.
Petunia and Dudley were waiting outside the station for her. Harriet's aunt was still wearing her work uniform and Dudley was in his school sweater.
Like last year, he came running over to give her a hug. This year, it didn't fail to compute and she actually returned it.
"Hey, Dudley. How're things?"
"Great! I made the rugby team! And I got better at reading!" He was grinning from ear to ear. "The doctor said I had dycles- dyslic-"
"Dyslexia?"
"Yeah! I go to see Ms. Jordan at school who helps me with it!"
"That's great Dudley!" Harriet smiled, "I'm happy your getting the help you need."
"How was school for you?"
"Well, our exams got cancelled and one of our teachers ended up with severe amnesia, but we won the house cup and quidditch was cancelled. Not that it mattered, I don't play but the teams were really upset about it."
"I don't know what I'd do if Rugby was cancelled! Ms. Jordan said it helped with my concentration."
"Alright, hurry up!" Petunia chuckled when they arrived where she was standing near the car. "We have a long trip ahead and, Dudley, you have an appointment tomorrow, remember?"
Dudley grimaced and helped Harriet load her trunk into the vehicle before climbing into the back seats. This meant Harriet got the passenger side.
"So?" her aunt asked, "What happened this year? You look really tired."
Harriet took a deep breath. This was going to take a while.