#diversions.e

SEPTEMBER 1ST, 1977. the ride on the hogwarts express was a more scattered affair than anyone could recall it being  ---  even students from timeline two couldn’t quite place it among their other awful trips to and from the castle. on the one hand: some students relieved they’re still allowed to walk freely and talk to whomever they want. on the other: some students faced with war for the first time, faced with friends who don’t remember them. for most this was the first time they were seeing their friends and classmates face to face. 

a level-headed professor mcgonagall added supplementary comments and reassurances to dumbledore’s speech once they arrived at the annual welcome back feast. for many this was the first time they realized that the professors weren’t all as they remembered them. but at the very least, the food was the same. 

it gave students time to talk to their housemates. time to see what version those closest to them remembered. after all, it seemed the students in this timeline had another tradition they would not let go, just as they valiantly pushed through the feast: a more illicit welcome back party, between the black lake and the forbidden forest. and that seemed more a time for letting loose than a time to figure out who people thought you were. 

all students made their way back to the castle following the party in one piece, managing to avoid getting caught for one more year. no one could say if it was because the professors always looked a blind eye, or if none of them were much in the mood to ruin any fun the students had found this year. luckily for all involved, the next day ( SEPTEMBER 2ND, 1977 ) was a friday, so any hangovers could be nursed with the knowledge a weekend was coming up close. and wasn’t it nice that no one was much in the mood to talk about the timelines while dealing with a headache?