June 1994
Hogwarts Express
It was the last day of his third year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for Harry Potter and to say that this had been an unusual and a weird year for the boy-who-lived would be an understatement.
Despite this all its weirdness and strangeness, it was hardly anything new or something he was not used to.
Taking into consideration all the events that had happened with him in his first two years at Hogwarts, he could very confidently say that this abnormality was normal for him.
Harry Potter was occupying the final compartment of the Hogwarts Express.
The train was on its way from Hogsmeade to the King’s Cross Station carrying all the Hogwarts’ students to their home for their two month long summer vacation.
Harry had asked his friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, to leave him alone for the duration of the journey.
He had cited that he needed to rest as he was not feeling well as the reason
Considering what he had been through in the last few days, they did not question him too much.
They portrayed that they understood his problems.
Maybe they did.
Maybe they did not.
He did not know for sure.
Hermione, true to her usual personality, wanted to ask a lot of questions but she ultimately did not push Harry any further.
Harry was contemplating the various events that had happened this year, specifically in the last few days.
The year had started with him accidentally blowing up Vernon Dursley’s sister, Marge, when she had insulted his mother and father.
Even now, when almost an entire year had passed since that accident, remembering her venomous words made his blood boil.
Though he had not actually intended to hurt her and had been quite anxious and afraid when all that had happened but now that he looked back, he felt quite pleased with whatever Marge had suffered.
It gave a unique sense of satisfaction.
Following those events, and having no other options, he had left the Dursleys’ house and arrived to live at Diagon Alley.
While there, he was informed about the ‘betrayer’ of his parents, Sirius Black, and how the man had escaped Azkaban and was on the run, supposedly and most probably to target Harry himself.
He had felt quite a lot of mixed emotions when he learnt all of this and it was hard to put them in words.
He remembered how the Dementors, which were supposed to capture Sirius, had almost sucked out his soul during the train ride at the start of the year, and only the timely intervention of Remus Lupin had saved his life.
And, considering he was Harry Potter, how could things possibly end there?
That train ride had only been the first attack from the Dementors.
He remembered how the owls had brought him ‘The Firebolt,’ which was immediately confiscated by Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick.
He recalled how he had acted toward Hermione for her ‘betrayal’ in informing the two professors about the anonymous gift.
Thinking now about how his life had been in constant danger since his first year at Hogwarts, he could not really fault her actions.
However, at that time, he had been influenced by Ron and now felt ashamed for it.
Whatever Hermione had done, she had done with his safety in her mind while Ron only cared about the Firebolt being confiscated and dismantled for being thoroughly checked.
He made a mental note to apologize to her properly, which he should have done a long time ago.
Another notable event of the year was the second attack of the Dementors on Harry during the Quidditch match, from which he again escaped by a narrow margin.
This was followed by Sirius’s break-in inside the Gryffindor dormitory.
And then event after event flowed after that.
He was given the Marauder’s Map by the Weasley twins.
He found out about Remus being his father’s best friend.
He discovered Sirius Black trying to kill a man whom the world already thought to be dead.
It was the most shocking revelation of the night.
Finding a living Peter Pettigrew, who turned out to be the real betrayer of James and Lily Potter.
Harry was happy to learn that he had a godfather who loved and cared about him.
He thought that he could finally have a true family.
But he was Harry Potter, the mountain of misfortune.
All his hopes were for naught.
Peter Pettigrew escaped.
Even so, Harry remained hopeful that the words of himself, Hermione, Ron, Remus, and Snape would earn Sirius a proper trial and he would be freed from all the allegations against him.
It was then when the Dementors attacked for the third time, and this time they were almost successful in sucking out his soul.
A powerful Patronus, which he initially believed to be his father’s, saved his life at the last moment, but at the same time, something changed inside him as he lost consciousness.
He felt as if something had snapped inside him, as if something was reaching out to him, as if something was trying to pull him towards itself.
And given how similar things have happened with him in the second year during the chamber of secrets and Heir of Slytherin incident, this should have creeped him out.
But no.
For whatever reason, he did not feel any sense of fear or anxiety from that feeling.
It was as if his gut was telling him that whatever it was, it was not dangerous.
But since he had been in the middle of consecutive intense things happening around him, Harry had not been able to pay much attention to it.
When Harry woke up from his unconsciousness, he was lying on a hospital bed along with Hermione and Ron.
Harry’s world came crashing down when the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, despite his and Hermione’s repeated insistence, refused to believe in Sirius’s innocence.
Fudge insisted that the three of them had been confused by a powerful Confundus Charm cast by Sirius Black.
Snape was in complete agreement with Fudge and refused to admit that he had seen Peter alive.
Apparently, with Lupin being a werewolf, his words counted for nothing.
Harry was so angry at Snape.
There was one happy thing that was going to happen in his life, and Snape had ruined it.
Then came Headmaster Dumbledore, who, like in the previous two years, instead of acting himself, left Harry and Hermione with an insane plan.
Harry went back in time, saved his other self by casting a powerful Expecto Patronum, and rescued both Buckbeak and Sirius.
Finally, Snape let it slip to the students that Remus was a werewolf, causing Lupin to resign his post as the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.
All that had happened in one year, the majority of them on the last day of the year.
Going over the events repeatedly, he did not realize when the Hogwarts Express was just about to arrive at King’s Cross Station.
He only emerged from his thoughts when Hermione knocked on the door and stepped inside which brought him to reality.
“Are you still not feeling well, Harry?” Hermione asked, a tint of worry etched on her face.
Harry nodded in response with a slight smile on his face.
“I am fine now.”
“We will reach the platform in a few minutes,” Hermioned said.
“You should prepare yourself.”
Harry nodded and stood up to retrieve his trunk from the overhead seat.
“Harry,” Hermione interjected, her voice very hesitant, “if you have any issues, you can talk to me or maybe to Professor Dumbledore.”
“I can understand how you must be feeling right now,” she continued.
“I want you to know that I will always stand by you.”
Harry nodded.
Though he showed no outward reaction, he was glad to have Hermione as a friend.
“Hermione, I apologize for my behavior during the whole Firebolt episode,” he said with an awkward smile.
“I acted like a total moron to you.
I am sorry.”
Hermione smiled cheerily in response.
“You do not need to apologize, Harry,” she said.
“I did what any true friend would do.”
“But not Ron,” Harry immediately quipped without any outright intention to do so.
“He did not do what a true friend would do.
What he only cared for was the Firebolt.”
Hermione could only offer a stiff smile in response.
She understood the truth even before Harry but she did not want to bad mouth any one of her two friends.
The train arrived at the platform.
Harry exchanged greetings and said his goodbyes to his friends, acquaintances, and the Weasley family.
A growling and angry looking Vernon Dursley received him at the station, and soon he was on his way back to the prison he called home.
4 Privet Drive.
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