ʀᴏʏᴀʟᴛʏ ᴀᴛ ʜᴏɢᴡᴀʀᴛꜱ .✦ ݁˖

The black lake was a sheet of polished obsidian under the late September sky. The Hogwarts Express had come and gone a week ago, its usual chaos of students and trunks a distant memory. Now, the only sound was the gentle lap of water against the dock and the distant, mournful cry of the giant squid.

Pansy Parkinson

checking her phone, then looking pointedly at the large clock on the wall It's nearly eight. If we miss dinner for this, I'm going to be furious.

Draco Malfoy

Relax, Pansy. The house-elves will keep it warm. This is more important than your stomach for once.

Theodore Nott

Important? Or just morbidly fascinating? A royal, here. It's absurd.

Blaise Zabini

Absurdly interesting. I wonder what they're like. Probably insufferably polite. Boring.

Mattheo Riddle

leaning against a stone pillar, a faint, unreadable smile on his lips Or dangerously bored. That's usually what happens when you cage something used to a palace.

Further down the corridor, near the statue of Gregory the Smarmy, another group lingered. The atmosphere here was different, less predatory, more openly curious.

Hermione Granger

It's highly irregular. The term has already started. Professor McGonagall said the arrangements were… unprecedented.

Harry Potter

Maybe they got lost. shrugs Royal or not, it's still just a person coming to school.

Ginny Weasley

Just a person with a dozen private tutors and, according to Witch Weekly, their own wing at Gringotts. grins Bet they've never had to share a dormitory in their life.

Fred Weasley

Or eaten a stale Cauldron Cake.

George Weasley

Or been hit by a stray dungbomb. Think of the opportunities, Freddie.

The heavy oak doors of the castle groaned open, a sliver of cool evening air whispering in. A figure, silhouetted against the twilight, stepped across the threshold and into the torchlight of the Entrance Hall.