Harry Potter and What Happened After - Sahits

Chapter 24
3 hours later the train started to slow and Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione started to go through the
halls to make one last check of the train before they arrived at Hogwarts. They found little going
wrong, most people were nervous about going back to the castle after the battle, most had seen the
shape it was in, and they weren't looking forward to seeing it in any state of disrepair.
The others, mostly first years that hadn't been at the battle, or hadn't known they were wizards or
witches at the time, were just nervous because it was their first year.
The four friends felt the train come to a stop and they started to get students off.
Harry stopped a first year as he came out of his cabin dragging his trunk, "hay, you don't have to bring
that," said Harry indicating the trunk, "It'll be brought to your dormitories for you once you've been
sorted."
The first year just looked up at Harry with a mixture of fear and wonder on his face. He dropped the
trunk were it was and was quickly swallowed by the throng of other people heading for the exits of the
car. Harry kicked the trunk back in to the cabin and moved so that he was by the door.
Soon everybody was out of the train and Harry, Ron, Ginny and Hermione were watching as large
numbers of people saw the Threshals for the first time, many gasped, especially those that were under
5th year, others just stared.
Harry heard Hagrid's voice call out, "don't be scared, they've always been there, you jus' couldn' see
'em before." Harry saw him walk up to one of the Thresals and, after digging around in one of his many
pockets, give it an apple. "See 'armless."
"Hey Hagrid," yelled Harry
"Harry," yelled Hagrid, coming over. He tried to give Harry a pat on the back, but Harry ducked,
having experienced many of Hagrid's 'pats' before. Instead Hagrid's trashcan lid sized hand hit a
passing 5th year, sending the boy flying. Hagrid reached over and picked the boy up, after brushing
him off he stood him back on the ground and said, "Sorry 'bout that, must be darker than I thought."
Turning to Harry, Ron, Ginny and Hermione he said, "I's good to see the four of ya' again." Then he
turned away and yelled out, "firs' years over here, firs years this way." Soon there was a small group of
very young students gathered around Hagrid and the four friends started towards the carriage that was
reserved for them.
Harry felt Ginny lean in to him as she watched the crowd stair at the Thresals for the first time. "It's
weird," said Ginny, "I hadn't realized that so many people had seen death during the final battle."
"Well everybody was watching me and Voldemort duel," said Harry, "so most of these people probably
saw me kill him."
"Yeah," said Ginny as people started to load in to the carriages. The four quickly found the carriage that
was theirs and climbed in. Soon they were on there way to the castle. As they came around the final
bend in the road Harry saw the newly rebuilt castle.
It didn't look much different than it had before. The towers were all in the same place, the shape of the
castle was the same except the stones seemed cleaner and the Castle seemed to glow with an inner
brilliance. The only structural difference was the large statue of a Lion, a Snake, a Bagger and an Eagle
sitting in the middle of the front lawn. Harry realized that the statue had to have been huge for him to
see the different animals from this distance. And indeed it was, when their carriage passed the statue
Harry saw that the Lion's leg was as tall as Hagrid.