(o3. welcome back )

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PLATFORM 9¾ had once been its usual chaos of tearful goodbyes and screeching owls, but now it had settled into its steady rhythm, countryside blurring past the windows in strokes of green and gold. Iris and Jade had claimed their usual compartment in the Slytherin section of the train, and settled in for the long journey.

The relative peace lasted approximately twenty minutes before Jade started her theatrical sighing.

Iris, who had been trying to focus on her Advanced Potions text—Snape had "suggested" she review the first three chapters before term began—finally looked up. "If you're trying to perfect your dying hippogriff impression, you're getting close."

"I wish I was dying," Jade groaned, sprawling dramatically across the seat opposite. "It would be less painful than another lecture from Father about my 'responsibilities to the family name.'"

"Ah." Iris marked her page. "The marriage conversation again?"

"Three hours this morning about finding a 'suitable match' from a 'respectable Slytherin family.'" Jade's impression of her father's pompous tone was eerily accurate. "Apparently, I'll be lucky if anyone will have me after the scene I caused at the gathering. Or just anytime i'm with other pure-blood families.."

"Well, you did tell that Rookwood boy he had the personality of a stunned flobberworm and the magical talent to match" Iris smirked at the memory. "Though honestly, that was actually one of your better insults."

"Father didn't appreciate my wit." Jade kicked off her shoes and pulled her feet up onto the seat. "Says I'm 'squandering my potential' and 'bringing shame to the family.' As if I care what any of those pretentious pure-blood prats think."

"No offense," Iris said, setting her book aside, "but your dad's an asshole."

"None taken." Jade's laugh was sharp. "Though yours isn't exactly winning any awards either."

"Fair point." Iris stifled a yawn. The veins in her arms were particularly active today, pulsing beneath her robes in a way that had kept her tossing and turning most of the night. Every time she'd started to drift off, another surge of burning sensation would jolt her awake.

"You look awful, by the way," Jade observed with her usual tact. "Rough night?"

"Thanks ever so much." Iris rolled her eyes. "The veins were... restless. Snape's new potion modification isn't quite right yet."

Jade's expression softened slightly. "Want me to try that numbing charm my mother taught me?"

"No, I just need sleep." Iris pulled her legs up onto the seat, arranging herself in the corner. "Wake me when we're close?"

"Of course." Jade was already pulling out the latest issue of Witch Weekly. "Sweet dreams about hexing Gryffindors."

୨ৎ

The gentle swaying of the train and Jade's occasional comments about ridiculous fashion advice ("Dragon hide corsets are making a comeback? In this economy?") eventually lulled Iris into a fitful sleep. Her dreams were a confused jumble of shadowed corridors and her father's disappointed face, until she jerked awake to complete silence.

The train had stopped moving. Jade was sound asleep across from her, head tipped back and magazine forgotten in her lap. The corridor outside was eerily quiet, save for Draco Malfoy's distant drawl about Potter outside.

"You said you'd wake me!" Iris kicked Jade's shin.

Jade startled awake, nearly falling off her seat. "Wha—? I'm awake! I'm... oh." She blinked owlishly at their clearly emptied surroundings. "Well, that's your fault for trusting me, isn't it?"

"Useless," Iris muttered, grabbing her shoulder bag. "Absolutely useless. Come on, we're going to be late."

"It's not my fault!" Jade protested, scrambling to gather her things. "I was keeping watch! Very diligently! And then I was... reviewing the inside of my eyelids..."

"Stellar job." Iris poked her head into the corridor. "Did everyone else already leave?"

"Looks like it." Jade stifled another yawn.

They hurried off the train, Jade still yawning and complaining about cruel wake-up methods. The platform was nearly empty, most students already headed up to the castle. When they reached the carriages, only one remained.

Jade let out a groan that seemed to come from her very soul. "You've got to be joking."

The carriage's current occupants—Potter, Granger, Weasley, Longbottom, and some blonde fairy looking girl who Iris didn't know—stared at them with varying degrees of surprise and suspicion. Weasley's mouth turned into a sneer at the sight of them.

"Move your body over Weasley, it's not like the world is ending," Iris drawled, climbing up despite Jade's dramatic whimper of protest. She noticed with irritation that he'd grown over the summer, his lanky frame somehow less awkward than before. Even his expression was different - less childish and more... something else she couldn't quite place.

"We can wait for the next one," Jade muttered, but Iris grabbed her arm.

"It's the last one, you dramatic creature. Get in."

Jade followed with extreme reluctance, and they squeezed onto the end of the right-side bench next to Weasley, who looked like he might spontaneously combust from discomfort. Across from them, Granger, Potter, and Longbottom sat in awkward silence.

The blonde girl, who apparently was immune to the tension, smiled serenely. But it was Granger who started the conversation with her. "What an interesting necklace," Granger spoke, turning the blonde's attention to her. She gave her an innocent look as she responded, "It's a charm, actually. Keeps away the Nargles."

"What's a Nargle?" Weasley whispered to Granger.

"No idea," she whispered back.

Jade leaned close to Iris's ear. "If I die of awkwardness, I'm leaving you all my books."

"How generous," Iris murmured. "Even the romance novels you pretend you don't read?"

"Especially those."

Their quiet exchange was interrupted by Potter clearing his throat. "Er, had a good summer then?"

The attempt at small talk was so painfully earnest that Iris actually felt a twinge of something like pity. "Stellar," she said dryly. "Can't say I'm interested in hearing anymore about yours though. The Prophet was enough."

Jade let out a snicker at her response, but Luna nodded thoughtfully. "Sometimes the best summers are the quiet ones. Though the garden at home was quite overrun with Dirigible Plums this year."

"The... what?" Jade asked despite herself.

"They're orange fruits that float and enhance one's ability to accept the extraordinary," Luna explained seriously. "Father says they're essential for keeping an open mind."

Iris caught Granger's eye-roll and had to bite back an unexpected laugh. The rest of the journey passed in slightly less strained silence until they finally reached the castle. Jade practically leaped from the carriage, Iris close behind.

"That was the weirdest experience of my life," they heard Weasley say. "Thought Greer was going to hex me the whole time."

Iris found herself oddly annoyed by his assumption. As if she went around hexing people for no reason - she wasn't Draco, for Merlin's sake. Though the way Weasley had kept fidgeting throughout the ride, sneaking glances when he thought she wasn't looking, had been rather distracting.

"Shut up, Ronald," Granger hissed.

୨ৎ

After changing into their house robes in a less-trafficked bathroom they found seats at the Slytherin table. Pansy Parkinson immediately leaned over, her curiosity practically radiating off her.

"Where were you two? Daphne said you weren't on the platform with everyone else."

"Caught the last carriage with Gryffindors, if you must know," Jade replied, reaching for a goblet.

Pansy's laugh was sharp. "Oh, you poor things."

"Appreciate your condolences, Pansy," Iris said dryly. She felt eyes on her and turned to find Draco watching her intently from further down the table. She raised an eyebrow in question, but he quickly looked away.

"He's been weird since the gathering," Jade observed quietly. "More than usual, I mean."

"When isn't he weird?"

"Good evening, children," Dumbledore's voice carried across the hall, interrupting her thoughts. "Now, we have two changes in staffing this year. We're pleased to welcome back Professor Grubbly-Plank... who'll be taking Care of Magical Creatures while Professor Hagrid is on temporary leave."

"Where do you suppose the giant oaf's got to?" Pansy stage-whispered.

"Who cares?" Theodore Nott replied. "As long as we don't have to deal with any more Blast-Ended Skrewts."

"We also wish to welcome," Dumbledore continued, "our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher... Professor Dolores Umbridge. And I'm sure you'll all join me in wishing the professor good luck."

Iris's first impression of Umbridge was that someone had transfigured a particularly smug toad and then dressed it in every pink item they could find in their grandmother's closet. Jade clearly shared her assessment.

"I've never seen so much pink in my life," she whispered, horror evident in her voice.

"She looks like she ate a pygmy puff and it's trying to escape through her wardrobe," Iris muttered back, making Jade snort into her goblet.

"Thank you, headmaster, for those kind words of welcome," Umbridge simpered, her voice setting Iris's teeth on edge. "And how lovely to see all your bright.....happy faces smiling up at me. I'm sure we're all going to be very good friends."

"The Ministry of Magic has always considered..." Umbridge continued, her pause clearly meant to be dramatic, "the education of young witches and wizards to be of vital importance. Although each headmaster... has brought something new to this historic school... progress for the sake of progress must be discouraged. Let us preserve what must be preserved... perfect what can be perfected... and prune practices that ought to be prohibited."

Dumbledore started to clap, and the students slowly followed suit. Iris exchanged a look with Jade, both of them refusing to clap for the pygmy puff.

"Well," Jade said quietly as the feast appeared before them, "at least this year won't be boring. Though last year wasn't that boring either I suppose..."

Iris glanced between Umbridge's self-satisfied smile. "No," she agreed, absently rubbing her arm where the veins pulsed beneath her sleeve. "I don't think it will be."

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