Chapter 32

Burning pain surged through Atlas and her eyes jolted wide, the scorching pain of the venom easing through her body, trying to infect her but ultimately having nowhere to go so it just sat, stagnant in her bloodstream. She cried out in pain and Madam Pomfrey was on her in a second, unscrewing corks of bottles and ushering her to drink them but Atlas couldn’t breathe let alone swallow. The forceful cries that left her leaving her no room to take in even a breath.

Her ribs ached painfully, a bandaged was wrapped securely around her abdomen and her shoulder was burning, it being the concentrated point where most of the venom tainted her.

“Atlas, my dear!” Madam Pomfrey tried, not wanting to force it down for fear of choking her. Two more faces entered Atlas’s clouded vision and soon she was seeing the worried faces of both Hermione and Harry, the two of them looking quite tired and muddy. “One of you! Hold her steady!” Harry immediately held down her shoulders, careful not to press too close to the bite as Hermione held Atlas’s hand.

A bad idea in hindsight because Atlas had a deadly grip.

“You need to swallow, my dear. Swallow,” Pomfrey continued, pouring a strange blue liquid down her throat experimentally and when Atlas gulped it down on reflex she gave her more. Continuing until five empty bottles lay atop her bedside drawer.

Soon the pain lessened, turning into a shadow of what it had been and Atlas was no longer wishing she wasn’t in her own skin. She relaxed a little, instead, and sunk into her bed, body drenched in sweat.

“What happened to you?” Harry asked once the girl had gotten her breath.

“I — I don’t remember…” Atlas managed through a hoarse voice. “All I remember…is brambles and a wolf…”

“Not — not a werewolf…?” Hermione asked tentatively. A flash of Professor Lupin came to mind but Atlas quickly shook her head.

“No…not werewolf…”

“If it were a werewolf, I’m afraid Atlas would have been infected with Lycanthropy,” Madam Pomfrey added, knowing full well that even if it was Professor Lupin who’d attacked her, she wouldn’t get infected. “She was bitten, don’t you see?” she continued and motioned to the bandages wrapped around Atlas’s shoulder. “Now…why don’t you two return to your beds, I’m sure Atlas needs her sleep–“

“No…” Atlas rushed, still gripping Hermione’s hand, “Stay…please…” Harry and Hermione looked to Madam Pomfrey who was looking down at Atlas, the girl’s eyelids drooping already.

“One of you may stay,” Pomfrey resigned, “but not both…she needs space no matter how much she may argue it.”

“I’ll go back to my bed,” Harry said instantly and Hermione went to say something but he shot her down, “she sleeps easier with you around.”

“Oh…right,” Hermione ducked her head and shuffled into the seat beside Atlas’s bed, still holding her hand as she nodded to Harry, “Night Harry.”

“Night…” He smiled, walking back to his own bed. Atlas stared up at Hermione through lidded eyes and smiled, slowly pulling their conjoined hands to her chest and hugging them snuggly.

“Who found me?”

“Found you? Madam Pomfrey said you made it here on yourself. You were slumped against the door.”

“I — I was?” Atlas managed, “Oh…I must have crawled here then.”

“Idiot…where did you even wander off to?” Hermione whispered, leaning her head against her free palm. However, before Atlas could even process the question a distant roar of fury echoed somewhere above them.

“What was that?” Poppy said, understandably alarmed. Now they could hear furious voices, growing louder and louder. Madam Pomfrey was staring at the door. “Really — they’ll wake everybody up! What do they think they’re doing?”

Through groggy eyes and gritted teeth, Atlas managed to sit up, Hermione helping her every – stuttering – step of the way. The voice sounded a lot like Professor Snape.

“He must have Disapparated, Severus. We should have left somebody in the room with him. When this gets out –“

“HE DIDN’T DISAPPARATE!” Snape roared, they were closer now, not even a minute from breaking the hospital door down. “YOU CAN’T APPARATE OR DISAPPARATE INSIDE THIS CASTLE! THIS — HAS — SOMETHING — TO — DO — WITH — POTTER — AND — BLACK!”

“Severus — be reasonable — they have been locked up –“

Before the Minister could finish, the door of the hospital wing burst open. Fudge, Snape, and Dumbledore came walking into the ward. Dumbledore alone looked calm. In fact, he looked as though he was quite enjoying himself. Fudge appeared angry but nothing could beat the look on old Snape’s face; he was beside himself.

“OUT WITH IT, POTTER! BLACK!” he bellowed as Harry clambered out of his bed and joined Hermione and Atlas. “WHAT DID YOU DO?”

“Professor Snape!” Poppy shrieked. “Control yourself!”

“See here, Snape, be reasonable,” Fudge tried, casting a wary look over at Atlas as if she might explode at any second. “This door’s been locked, we just saw –“

“THEY HELPED HIM ESCAPE, I KNOW IT!” Snape howled, pointing at the three. His face was twisted; spit was flying from his mouth. He was unhinged.

“Calm down, man!” Fudge barked. “You’re talking nonsense!”

“YOU DON’T KNOW POTTER! DON’T KNOW ATLAS!” Snape spat. “THEY DID IT, I KNOW THEY DID IT –“

“That will do, Severus,” Dumbledore ordered composedly. “Think about what you are saying. This door has been locked since I left the ward ten minutes ago. Madam Pomfrey, have these students left their beds?”

“Of course not!” Poppy exclaimed, bristling as she placed herself in front of Atlas’s bed. “Atlas has been unconscious and I would have heard Miss Granger and Mister Potter leave them!”

“Well, there you have it, Severus,” Dumbledore smiled. “Unless you are suggesting that Harry and Hermione are able to be in two places at once, I’m afraid I don’t see any point in troubling them further.”

Snape stood there, seething, rigid and an odd purple colour, staring from Fudge, who looked thoroughly shocked at his behaviour and to Dumbledore, whose eyes were twinkling as they always did. Then, in a flurry of animosity, Snape whirled about, robes swishing behind him, and stormed out of the ward.

“Fellow seems quite unbalanced,” Fudge muttered, staring after him. Atlas noted that was probably the only time she would ever agree with anything that came out of the minister’s mouth. “I’d watch out for him if I were you, Dumbledore.”

“Oh, he’s not unbalanced,” Dumbledore reasoned. “He’s just suffered a severe disappointment.”

“He’s not the only one!” Fudge puffed and Atlas held back a scowl. “The Daily Prophet’s going to have a field day! We had Black cornered and he slipped through our fingers yet again! All it needs now is for the story of that Hippogriff’s escape to get out, and I’ll be a laughingstock! Well…I’d better go and notify the Ministry…”

“And the Dementors?” Dumbledore asked. “They’ll be removed from the school, I trust?”

“Oh yes, they’ll have to go,” Fudge nodded, running his hands through his thinning hair. “Never dreamed they’d attempt to administer the Kiss on an innocent boy…” Atlas looked over at Harry wide-eyed, the boy smiling sheepishly back at her, chewing on a block of chocolate. “Completely out of control…no, I’ll have them packed off back to Azkaban tonight. Perhaps we should think about dragons at the school entrance….”

“Hagrid would like that,” Dumbledore said, smiling at Harry, Hermione and Atlas. As he and Fudge left the hospital, Poppy hurried to the door and locked it again. Muttering angrily to herself as she headed back to her office.

There was a low moan from the bed beside Atlas’s. Ron had woken up. They could see him sitting up, rubbing his head and looking around. “What — what happened?” he groaned. “Harry? Why are we in here? Where’s Sirius? Where’s Lupin? What’s going on?”

“I second that,” Atlas murmured, leaning against Hermione tiredly. She should really be going to sleep but all she could think of is what might have happened to her dad after she passed out.

Harry and Hermione looked at each other.

“You explain,” Harry said, helping himself to some more chocolate.

“Hermione will drag it out…” Atlas whined, “She’ll add too many details.”

“You are aware I am right here, right?” Hermione said, sounding just a tad bit offended. “And fine…you want it watered down…I have a time-turner–” Atlas gaped as Ron donned a look of bewilderment and Harry smirked over his chocolate, “–Professor McGonagall gave it to me so I could get to all of my classes and told me not to tell anyone. Anyway, we rescued Buckbeak–” this nabbed Atlas’s attention. She sat up straighter – as straight as she could considering her state – and turned fully to Hermione, utterly enraptured, “–then Frog came and saved us from Professor Lupin–”

Atlas kept her face as neutral as she could, watching as Hermione suddenly looked panicked.

“Frog! Atlas, she was — she was badly hurt when she saved us! We have to–“

“There’s no need, Mi,” Atlas assured and motioned over to Madam Pomfrey. “Poppy will sort her out and if not her, Hagrid.”

“But–!”

“Hermione…continue with the story,” Atlas eased, giving her hand a squeeze. Hermione bit her lip and nodded, looking to the ground for a second to compose herself.

“Right well…Harry — Harry cast a full-body corporeal Patronus Charm, sending the Dementors away–” both Ron and Atlas went bug-eyed, “–I know. it’s quite impressive isn’t it?” Hermione smiled and Harry ducked his head, “Anyway, trying to make this quick–” Atlas smiled smugly, “–Then we took Buckbeak, freed Sirius and the two of them escaped together.”

“And Pettigrew?” Atlas asked, biting at her bottom lip. She knew the answer, she just wanted someone to confirm it.

“Well — Atlas he–“

“He got away,” Harry muttered, setting his chocolate down, “I’m sorry Atlas. I’m so sorry…I — I should have listened, we should have dealt with him when we had the chance…”

Atlas regarded him a second before smiling and falling back into a laying position, a soft grunt coming from her as she did. “No, you were right to stop them from killing him…” she sighed and all three of them turned to her. “I was angry, still am, but it doesn’t justify killing him…honestly, I was tempted to kill him myself and that…that’s scary. I wasn’t in my right frame of mind, I was tired, I thought I’d just lost Buckbeak, dad came and dropped a bombshell of information on us all, then I saw Peter and kind of just…snapped…seeing someone who’s plagued your nights since you were a child standing in front of you sort of does that to a person.”

“Right…” Harry responded quietly and returned his gaze to his lap. Atlas glanced over at him, then to Hermione who smiled softly, nodding, and then back to him, leaning over to pull him into a hug. There was a tense moment where nothing happened, until the boy eventually reciprocated, mumbling his apologies over and over.

“You’re alright,” Atlas muttered, kissing his head and pulling away, “Merlin, I feel like rubbish.”

“I don’t doubt it, mate,” Ron grinned. “None of us saw the damage but you were crying out bloody murder. You get attacked out there, or what?”

“Yeah…thinking it was some rabid wolf — not Professor Lupin before you say anything, Ron,” Atlas added quickly, “the brambles I fell into lead directly to the Forest, probably got disorientated and stumbled into a den.”

“Just your luck,” Hermione sighed wearily, taking up the girls hand again.

“Or lack thereof,” Harry smiled lightly.

“Honestly, sometimes I feel like I’m cursed.”

***

Lupin was leaving and there was nothing Atlas could do about it. She was sat, a singular crutch in her lap and a sling wrapped around her arm, dejectedly watching as the man packed up his things. He made sure to stay a good few metres away from her. Meaning, the stuff around her had been left untouched. Atlas knew why, he was still feeling guilty for what he had done to her in the Forbidden Forest. Little did he know, Atlas was feeling the same. She eyed up the inch of a bandage she could see at the collar of his robe, remembering how she had sunk her teeth into his shoulder and grimaced.

“I…” Atlas finally began and Remus finally turned to look at her, his appearance was as ragged as it usually was after a full moon but there was something else about him. Something truly and utterly sad. “It wasn’t your fault…Uncle Remus.”

“Atlas I…I could have killed you,” He replied, eyeing up the crutch and sling with heavy grief in his eyes, “I almost did…”

“But you didn’t…and it wasn’t your fault so I don’t–!” The door slammed open and there stood Harry, looking directly at Lupin first before his eyes drifted down to Atlas – who definitely shouldn’t be out of the hospital just yet. “Please don’t tell Hermione…”

“I won’t, I — I was just here because,” he turned to Remus, gaze desperate, “It’s not true is it? You haven’t resigned have you?” The ex-professor simply nodded and finally started on the area around Atlas. “B-but why?”

“Snape told everyone…told everyone Remus is a werewolf,” Atlas told and Harry scowled.

“You’re not leaving just because of that!” said Harry.

Lupin smiled wryly.

“This time tomorrow, the owls will start arriving from parents…They will not want a werewolf teaching their children, Harry. And after last night, I see their point. I could have bitten any of you…” He cast a side-long look to Atlas who stared back imploringly. “That must never happen again.”

“You’re the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher we’ve ever had!” Harry tried. “Don’t go!”

Lupin shook his head and didn’t speak. He carried on emptying his drawers. Until. “From what the headmaster told me this morning, you saved a lot of lives last night, Harry. If I’m proud of anything I’ve done this year, it’s how much you’ve learned…Tell me about your Patronus.”

“How d’you know about that?” Harry asked, distracted.

“Atlas told me,” Lupin said simply, nodding over to the girl who had busied herself with a few unpacked photos, leaning against her crutch dependently. Walking had been a great struggle.

“Well, I…I knew I could do it…because I already saw myself do it, if that make’s sense. It was a stag and well…I thought it was my dad–” Atlas turned around to look at him, “–when I first saw it anyway, before the Time-Turner…Professor? Was my…was my dad a — a stag when he transformed?”

“Yes, your father was always a stag when he transformed,” Remus nodded. “You guessed right…that’s why we called him Prongs and Atlas…” He turned to her, looking a little less reluctant now that someone else was in the room, “Your mother…she was a lion, or rather, lioness but Sirius thought it hilarious to call her Maneface so it stuck.”

“And they say romance is dead…” Atlas muttered and Remus made an indiscernible face at the word.

“Yes…romance, they certainly…loved one another,” He worded, looking slightly thoughtful. “We all loved each other though.” He threw his last few books into his case, closed the desk drawers, and turned to look at the both of them again. “I digress — here — I brought this from the Shrieking Shack last night,” he said, handing Harry back the Invisibility Cloak. “And…” He hesitated, then held out the Marauder’s Map. Atlas collected this item. “I am no longer your teacher, so I don’t feel guilty about giving you back this as well. It’s no use to me, and I daresay you two, Ron, and Hermione will find uses for it.”

“You told me Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, Prongs and Maneface would’ve wanted to lure me out of school…you said they’d have thought it was funny,” Harry said.

“And so we would have,” Remus said, now reaching down to close his case. “I have no hesitation in saying that James would have been highly disappointed if his son had never found any of the secret passages out of the castle.”

There was a knock on the door. Harry hastily stuffed the Invisibility Cloak into his pocket, while Atlas had a great deal of difficulty putting the map in her the inside of her robes. It was Professor Dumbledore. He didn’t look surprised to see the two there.

“Your carriage is at the gates, Remus,” he said.

“Thank You, Headmaster.”

Lupin picked up his old suitcase and the empty Grindylow tank.

“Well — goodbye, Harry, little star,” he said, smiling. “It has been a real pleasure teaching you. I feel sure we’ll meet again sometime. Headmaster, there is no need to see me to the gates, I can manage….”

“Goodbye, then, Remus,” said Dumbledore soberly. Remus shifted the Grindylow tank slightly so that he and Dumbledore could shake hands. Then, with a final nod to Harry and a swift smile to Atlas, he left the office.

A glum look donned Harry’s features while one of sadness graced Atlas’s as she stared after her uncle.

“Why so miserable?” Dumbledore said quietly. “You should be very proud of yourself after last night, the both of you.”

“It didn’t make any difference,” Harry said bitterly. “Pettigrew got away.”

“Didn’t make any difference?” Dumbledore said softly, “It made all the difference in the world, Harry. You helped uncover the truth. You saved an innocent man from a terrible fate.”

“Professor Dumbledore — yesterday, when I was having my Divination exam, Professor Trelawney went very — very strange.”

Something clicked in Atlas’s mind at the words as she recalled the first day of school, her first Divination lesson and her and Professor Trelawney’s first contact of the new year. How she had muttered the strangest things.

“Indeed?” Dumbledore hummed. “Er — stranger than usual, you mean?”

“Yes… her voice went all deep and her eyes rolled and she said … she said Voldemort’s servant was going to set out to return to him before midnight… She said the servant would help him come back to power.” Harry stared up at Dumbledore while Atlas’s face turned into something of an understanding. “And then she sort of became normal again, and she couldn’t remember anything she’d said. Was it — was she making a real prediction?”

Dumbledore looked mildly impressed.

“Do you know, Harry, I think she might have been.” he said thoughtfully. “Who’d have thought it? That brings her total of real predictions up to two. I should offer her a pay raise….”

“But –” Harry looked at him, aghast. “But — I stopped Sirius and Professor Lupin from killing Pettigrew! That makes it my fault if Voldemort comes back!”

“No…” Atlas shook her head, “First of all…three. Trelawney has made three real predictions,” the two of them turned to her, Harry in confusion and Dumbledore in interest, “she said…if I’m remembering correctly. ‘Trust in the brightest star, the opening of new scars will be repeated, chances will be given to those who don’t deserve them and a dying light of green will signify the beginning of the end…only then will your story begin and for only then will your heritage rise and join the side of The Dark Lord…’.”

“Interesting…certainly interesting,” Dumbledore nodded, his eyes glinting.

“The brightest star in our solar system is Sirius…” Atlas muttered, “I have new scars in my sides…we gave a chance to Pettigrew when he didn’t deserve it…I — I don’t know about the green light and the heritage thing is…I don’t know,” she finished, looking up between the two, “does this mean my prophecy isn’t finished?”

“Perhaps,” Dumbledore said airily and Atlas nodded, jumping at the sound of her pocket alarm sounding shrilly around the room. She cursed and turned it off, quickly collecting her things. This earned a startled look from Harry.

“Where are you going, Atlas?”

“Just…” she adjusted her crutch under her arm and hung her bag loosely off of her good shoulder, “need to go for a…stumble,” she smiled, gesturing to herself and without waiting for a reply, she left Lupin’s old office, clambering out of the classroom and down the halls.

Most were out enjoying the post-exam freeness they were offered, spending it out in the warm sun. So Atlas didn’t pass one person as she hobbled along. Well until, much to her lack of luck, she did.

“Atlas!”

“Oh no…”

“What are you doing out of bed!?” Hermione cried out and Atlas tentatively turned to see Hermione storming over to her, hair bouncing wildly and face pulled into one of annoyance. It was threatening but it also made her look quite stunning. Atlas didn’t know whether to feel scared or stunned. It was a mix of both really.

Ron was waving excitedly over to her from where he stood a good few classrooms away, obviously abandoned by Hermione who had apparently made it her priority to personally nurse Atlas back to health.

“I was…saying goodbye to Remus,” Atlas told and Hermione eased up a little.

“Well…that’s alright but — but you should really be resting, I’m sure Professor Lupin would have visited you before he left,” Hermione half-scolded. Atlas wasn’t so sure he would have but didn’t say anything, instead opting to smile and place her hand on Hermione’s head.

“Have you ever been told how stunning you look when you’re mad?”

“I…no–” Hermione flushed, her hands going from her hips to across her chest, crossing her arms self-consciously, “I can’t say I have…”

“Well, now you have and I’m a hundred per cent serious,” Atlas smiled softly, bringing her hand down to cup Hermione’s cheek. She promptly pinched it and pulled away.

“Really? I could have sworn you were a hundred per cent Atlas, or rather, a hundred per cent arsehole. But they’re basically the same thing,” Hermione quipped, looking rather proud of herself. Atlas blinked a few times, stunned.

“Oh…Woah,” she eventually muttered. “Uh — right…yeah.”

“Sorry…” Hermione blushed, swiping a hair behind her ear, “I saw the opportunity…I’m um — thankful you think of me that way…” Atlas cocked her brow quizzically at the wording but smiled and went back to relying on her crutch for support.

“Hey mate!” Ron called out, eventually coming to a stop in front of the two. “My mum is offering you a place to stay if you want to get out of Hogsmeade over the Summer.”

“Wait…” Atlas’s eyes went wide as she looked down at Hermione who was grinning broadly and then back to Ron who looked just as happy, “Wait — wait, what?!”

“Yeah! And we were wondering if you wanted to come with us to watch the Quidditch Cup!” Ron exclaimed, “My mum told me Hermione mentioned it in a letter to her parents and they had asked my parents what it was. My dad gets tickets from work so it wouldn’t be a problem!”

“Y-you did?” Atlas said, turning to Hermione. The girl nodded confidently.

“You seemed like you really wanted to go so I was…going to surprise you with tickets but my parents are Muggles so they didn’t know what the Quidditch Cup was so–” Atlas dropped her crutch and despite the pain, picked Hermione up and spun her around, beaming so wide she could barely attempt to see. “Atlas! Put me down! You’re still recovering! Atty! Stop!”

“Seriously, Hermione!?” Atlas obliged and set her down, “You remembered that!?”

“Of course I did,” Hermione sighed, checking her over. “How could I forget?”

“Right, right…” Atlas nodded with a smile but then she frowned sorrily, “but I can’t…I’m sorry…”

“Wait why?” Ron asked.

“I’m already going with Bella,” Atlas told, “But I’ll see you there, alright?”

“Oh…yeah, of course,” Hermione nodded with a strange-looking smile.

“I’m thankful though, Mione…that you thought of me,” Atlas smiled, placing a quick kiss on her head and hooking an arm around her, “You too Ron,” she pulled him into the hug too, though it was awkwardly done considering her arm was still slung up. “Sucks you didn’t ask me sooner, I would have been able to experience my first time out of the Hogsmeade-Hogwarts area in years, with my best friends.”

“It took you a year to outright call us your best friends?” Ron grinned.

“Baby steps, Ronald,” Atlas smirked, flicking his forehead and taking her arm back when it got particularly painful. She kept her other around Hermione though, tucking the girls head under her chin. “Wait…I just realised, Ron, I’ll probably be staying near your family anyway because Bella told me she’s coming down with Charlie.”

“Oh! That’s even better!” Ron yelled and Hermione rolled her eyes, quite content under Atlas’s chin. “Anyway, where’s Harry? I thought he was only saying bye to Lupin?”

“He got stuck behind with Dumbledore,” Atlas told, adjusting her crutch. “And not to alarm you or anything but I think my bandages need changing, there’s blood practically oozing down my side right now…”

“WHAT!?”

***

Atlas stood at the Hogsmeade train station, still buzzing from the party the day prior, celebrating Gryffindor’s winning of the House championship. She had two boxes under her arm, the other still wrapped up in her Merlin-be-damned sling. Hermione, Harry and Ron were saying their goodbyes to people around them and Atlas waited until they were finished to walk forward.

Originally, she hadn’t planned on seeing them off but there she stood, ready to leave them for a couple of months – if they didn’t bump into each other at the Quidditch Cup. Hermione was the first to notice her, her glum look quickly dissipating as she bound over to Atlas and flung her arms around her, holding her tightly but carefully.

“I didn’t think you were going to see us off,” She confessed and Atlas grinned, closing her eyes and hugging her back.

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Atlas murmured as Hermione pulled away, looking down at the boxes and then over to Harry and Ron, a look of realisation on her face. She smiled and quickly ushered the boys over, “Hello you two.”

“Atlas!” Harry beamed, hugging her as well, Ron stood aside awkwardly but Atlas pulled him into a hug as well.

“I got you parting gifts,” Atlas declared, holding the boxes out to the boys. The two exchanged excited glances before opening their respective lids, gleaming rings beaming up at them.

“So they got rings huh?” Hermione teased, crossing her arms. Atlas shot her a cheeky grin and decided to get down on one knee, Harry gasping dramatically and Ron going scarlet from embarrassment, ducking his head out of sight from the students bustling around them.

“Harry James Potter, will you platonically marry me?” She asked, smirking. Harry nodded and held out his hand, Atlas slipping the ring on his finger and quickly connecting it to her necklace. Beside him, Ron, standing horrified, waited his turn, Hermione just staring at the three exasperatedly. “And you, Ronald Bilius Weasley, will you–?”

“Oh bloody hell, don’t say it just put the ring on!” Ron exclaimed and Atlas suppressed a snort, putting on her most serious face and slipping the ring onto his middle finger, activating the gem in its band.

“Honestly, you’re children, all three of you,” Hermione huffed as Atlas got to her feet, she looked a little unsteady but quickly masked it by hanging off of Hermione’s shoulder.

“Is this jealousy?”

“No, it’s second-hand embarrassment,” Hermione refuted, motioning over to the giggling students around them. “Now, we need to board the train, it’ll be leaving any–!” Before she could finish, the conductor blew his whistle at the end of the platform, shouting out a warning call. “–moment…” she mumbled and then turned to look up at Atlas, “You’ll write to me?”

“I don’t know, I have a lot of people to write to over the Summer, you know, Bella, Cedric, Luna, Neville, Ginny wants me to write too. I might–” At the look on Hermione’s face Atlas cut her joke short and snorted, “Of course I will, don’t worry…tell your parents I revere them.”

“I’ll do that…”

The final whistle blew.

“Alright, go on then Hermione, before the train leaves.”

“I’ll miss you.”

“It’s only two months, Mi…” Atlas smiled and then pulled her head forward, kissing her temple. “But same…now go! Hurry, Granger!”

“Bye Atlas!” Harry and Ron called as they ushered onto the train, Hermione going after them. The bushy-haired girl jumped onto the train and cast a final wave backwards as the express started to move.

“Bye Atty!”

“I’ll see you at the Quidditch Cup!”

End of Act I 😉