Percy Jackson and the Department of Mysteries

169) A Final Big Adventure

The journey home from Hogwarts drained me.

All year I'd been waiting for that summer — the summer I would face Kronos, the summer I would fight in a war, my friends at my side. And now summer had arrived.

Nothing was going the way I had expected it to. Draco still wasn't talking to me — he couldn't seem to manage it, eyes always swollen from crying. Every time I went to go talk to him, he would flee, rubbing roughly at his eyes while making some excuse.

If the roles were reversed, I'd probably be doing the same, with a bit more rolling around on the floor and screaming.

So, I rode with my other friends, arms wrapped around myself, sick to my stomach. Ron offered me candy but I refused, causing everyone in the compartment to look at me strangely.

Then time went on. Neville patted at his Mimbulus Mimbletonia, Ginny and Luna did a quiz in The Quibbler, and Hermione read aloud bits and pieces of The Prophet, detailing how the Ministry was writing on how to fend of dementors, their attempts to track down Death Eaters, and witness testimony claiming they'd seen Voldemort walk past their house that very morning.

"It really hasn't started yet..." Hermione glumly folded her paper. "But it won't be long now..."

"Hey, Harry," Ron looked up from their chess match, nodding toward the glass window to the corridor. Cho was passing by with Marietta. Cho and Harry made eye contact, but Harry didn't react, even as Cho blushed.

"What's — er — going on with you and her anyway?" Ron asked lowly.

"Nothing," Harry directed his knight to D6 — unknowingly opening his rook up to be taken.

"She's going out with Michael Corner now," I said, looking back toward the window.

"You're well out of it, mate," Ron said forcefully. "I mean, she's quite good-looking and all that, but you want someone a bit more cheerful."

Who was cheerful anymore, these days, with the threat of death and war looming over their heads?

"She's probably cheerful enough with him," Harry shrugged, not seeming to care.

"Wait a minute," Ron paused suddenly, turning to Ginny. "Weren't you going out with him?"

"Not anymore," Ginny scowled. "He didn't like Gryffindor beating Ravenclaw at Quidditch and got sulky, so I ditched him and he ran off to comfort Cho instead."

Ron looked a little too pleased, "Well, I always thought he was a bit of an idiot. Good for you. Just choose someone — better — next time." He gave Harry an odd look at that, and for the first time since stepping onto the train, I smiled.

"Well, I've chosen Dean Thomas, would you say he's better?" Ginny said vaguely.

"WHAT?!" I stood up abruptly, accidentally knocking the chess board over. I drug my hand down my cheeks, groaning. "Nooooooooo."

"What? What's wrong with Dean?" Ginny crossed her arms defensively.

I flopped onto the seat, "Nothing! Nothing at all! Except for everything! I had hopes, Ginny, dreams and aspirations for my OTP, and look at what you've done you ginger bitch!"

"Hey!" Ron snapped. "Don't call my sister ginger!"

The train slowed down to the sound of us arguing over the relationship, most of it made up of me crying from pure misery (though I would have to find Seamus, I imagined he was quite upset). I didn't even notice we'd made it to King's Cross until the train stopped completely.

Immediately all the fight flew out of me — my last trip on the Hogwarts Express had just ended.

We were all quiet as we unloaded our things from the train and stepped out to the rest of the world.