To Live History

Chapter 2- Train Ride

Le-Annette tended to Draco's wounds as soon as they took their seats on the train. They, not including the conductor and the witch with the food trolley, were the only passengers. When the vampire had Draco all healed up, she reclined back in her seat. Draco chose to sit across from her.

"So, this is your seventh year?" Le-Annette said, trying to make small talk.

"Yes."

"Are you going to be changing Houses?"

Draco, like Le-Annette had once been, was a Slytherin. Slytherins prided themselves on being pure-blooded and, in the case of most, hating those who weren't. However, with Draco's betrayal of his father, his standing in the House was likely to change.

"Dumbledore asked me if I would like to, but Snape asked me to stay. It shocked me as well as made me feel...I don't know, welcomed? So I stayed."

Le-Annette gave a light laugh. "Yes, Severus does have a soft spot, contrary to popular belief. You just have to dig up that boulder he's put on top of it," she said. Draco laughed.

"Other than that attack by your father, what else have you been up to since you got back?"

"Potter...er...Harry and Ron have accepted me as a 'good guy'," Draco said, making the air quotes with his fingers. "They even wrote me a letter when they got back. They stated that they and Hermione were staying with the Order of the Phoenix. I wondered, at first, why I hadn't been able to stay, but then I realized that it would've tipped off He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named that I've jumped the fence."

"Do not fear to say his name, Draco," Le-Annette stated firmly. She then added, in a softer tone, "Has Hermione written you?"

"No. The three of them--Harry, Ron, and Hermione--signed the note at the bottom. The fact alone that the note had such good grammar in it was probably Hermione's doing."

"Well, now that the cat is out of the bag that you're on our side, maybe you'll be able to spend more time with Hermione."

Draco stared at Le-Annette. She smiled and continued, "And Ron and Harry."

The witch came back with the trolley of food. Le-Annette bought Draco, after inquiring what his favorite sweet on the trolley was, some cauldron cakes.

"Uh, Aunt Le-Annette?" Draco began, after a few moments of eating his beloved sweet.

"Yes, Draco? By the by, it's nice to hear you call me 'aunt', makes me feel special."

"I was just thinking...won't we arrive at Hogwarts--judging on the time we left at and the time it usually takes the students to arrive--in the morning? I mean, vampires don't like the sun, do they? How are you going to get from Hogsmeade to the castle?"

"I'm an old vampire, Draco. Yes, the sunlight hurts me, but not as much as it could if it were a midday sun. We'll be arriving just as the first rays of sunlight are peeking over the horizon. You'll be on your own in the village--I trust that Dumbledore will send somebody down there to go with you to the castle--because I'll have to use my vampire speed to get to the castle before the sun has a chance to harm me."

The train ride continued with them making little conversations here and there. Draco even took a small nap about an hour or so before their arrival in the village. Le-Annette took that time to read some out of the Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook she would use that year.

True to her word, Le-Annette and Draco--after waking from his nap--noticed that the train was slowing into Hogsmeade station just as the sun was beginning to rise. They also noticed that Dumbledore had sent Snape to meet with Draco.

Draco climbed off the train. Snape nodded a quiet greeting to him. It seemed as though the Head of Slytherin House was not fully awake yet. Le-Annette stopped two or three feet from the train's exit way.

"The Headmaster requests that tomorrow, after the welcoming feast, that you meet with him in the Staff room, Professor Le-Annette," Snape called into the train.

Le-Annette gave a small laugh. It had been more than a lifetime since she'd been called "Professor." It was pleasant to her ears to hear once again.

"Thank you, Severus. Now, I'd advise you and young Draco to move. I must be going."

She gave them a moment's time to step aside. Once they had, she was off, faster than a human eye could see, up the path, past the gates, and into her home of long ago.