Compartment after compartment buzzed with students—some laughing, some napping, some cramming last-minute homework.

But in the very last car, tucked away from the noise, sat a girl with her knees pulled to her chest, a sketchbook balanced on her thighs.

The window reflected her face in the dark glass—brown curls falling past her shoulders, green eyes that caught the dim light like pieces of the Forbidden Forest.

A lightning bolt scar peeked out from the collar of her robes, just above her heart.

He was tall, dark-haired, with sharp features and an intensity in his gaze that didn't quite match the casual slouch of his shoulders.

Behind him, two other boys hovered, one smirking, the other looking deeply uninterested.