Chapter 833: Chapter 713: Conna Did Not Take the Train (2)
"Three more minutes. You’d better hurry," Cedric glanced at his watch. "Maybe you should look for her on the train—and don’t forget, Conna usually arrives earlier than us."
"That’s true." Kael nodded and quickly boarded the train.
"Alright, remember to come back for Christmas!" Fred called out through the window.
"If anything interesting happens at school, write and let us know."
"Oh, and don’t break any school rules!"
Amid their banter, the train puffed out white plumes of smoke and began to pick up speed.
Kael waved, then turned and headed to the Prefect’s carriage.
There, he ran into Malfoy again—just like in Diagon Alley, Malfoy still didn’t dare meet his eyes and slipped away to another compartment as if to escape.
Kael had other things to handle and didn’t pay much attention.
He walked the Prefect’s carriage up and down but still didn’t spot Conna anywhere.
Then Kael went to ask Cho, but she hadn’t seen Conna either.
"Don’t worry," Cho said. "Maybe Conna just didn’t take the train and went with Professor Snape instead."
"Maybe," Kael replied offhandedly.
Though Cho’s words made sense, Kael had a gut feeling Professor Snape wouldn’t be bringing Conna to school this year.
With that in mind, Kael checked all the other carriages, but still came up empty.
Kael opened the last compartment door to find Luna, Ginny, and Neville inside.
"Long time no see, Kael," said Neville, cradling his toad.
"Long time no see." Kael didn’t bother returning to the Prefect’s carriage, and instead slid into an empty seat nearby.
"You guys don’t mind, right?" he asked.
"Of course not," Neville said quickly. "Actually, just five minutes ago, my gran was telling me to spend more time with you."
"What?"
"Oh, she probably just wants me to learn from you," Neville said. "She read the papers and insists the Ministry of Magic couldn’t possibly make such sound decisions—or resolve the Dementor problem so quickly. She says it had to be your idea.
"She’s been praising you for two months. If you could be her grandson, she’d trade almost anything."
"You’re not so bad yourself, Neville," Kael replied distractedly. "Oh, and thank Mrs. Longbottom for me."
"Thank you," Neville said a little shyly. "I will."
Because Kael’s mind was elsewhere, the atmosphere in the compartment felt a bit stilted.
"Kael, you’ve got Nargles around you," Luna suddenly said, looking up from The Quibbler, peering at Kael through her colorful oversized glasses.
"Narg—what?" Neville blinked, not understanding.
"Nargles," Luna explained. "They’re invisible, and they make your brain all muddled. I think I just heard one buzzing here just now."
She slapped at the air with both hands, as if trying to shoo away an unseen insect.
Neville looked even more bewildered and instinctively slid closer to the window. Ginny, sitting nearby, also found Luna’s actions odd, but she was long used to it and just pretended she hadn’t seen anything.
"Ah, I’ve actually got a few worries," Kael said, gazing out the window.
"Would you like my help?" Luna asked, waving her hand around Kael again.
"Thanks, it’s much better now," Kael said.
After sitting there for a while, Kael was about to leave, but before he could step out, Harry opened the compartment door.
"Neville, have you seen—oh, Kael, you’re here!" he said in surprise.
"Yeah." Kael shifted to let Harry in first.
"No need," Harry said, pulling out two rolls of Parchment tied with purple ribbon, each with his name on it.
"What’s this?"
"Invitations," Harry said. "A third-year girl brought them around but couldn’t find you, so I thought I’d lend a hand.
"Neville, here’s yours." Harry handed over the other two rolls of Parchment.
Inside, there was just a simple line:
Kael:
I would be delighted if you could join me for lunch in Compartment C.
Yours sincerely,
H.E.F. Slughorn, Professor.
...
"Remember?" Harry said. "That’s the guy Dumbledore took us to meet—he’s on the train right now."
"That’s pretty unusual... I mean, not many professors ride the train to school. Other than Lupin, that is... But Professor Slughorn doesn’t look short on money, does he?"
"Lupin would be sad to hear that," Kael said.
Harry looked a little embarrassed, but it was true—up until now, only the perpetually broke Lupin ever rode the train to school.
"Are you going to go?" Harry asked.
To be honest, Kael didn’t feel like it. But since Slughorn was a professor who’d taken the time to send an invite, not going seemed impolite.
Kael rubbed his forehead. If he’d known Conna wasn’t on board, he would have just Apparated to Hogsmeade.
"Oh well, might as well kill some time," Kael said as he stepped out.
Neville followed him out.
"Who’s Slughorn?" he asked.
"The new teacher," Harry explained. "He used to teach at Hogwarts, then retired, and now he’s back for another go."
The corridor was crowded with students waiting for their lunches. When they got to Compartment C, Harry realized that Slughorn had invited more than just them.
Compartment C was second only to the Prefect’s B compartment—it was reserved for teachers, very spacious, nearly as big as three regular compartments put together.
