ONE BE SAFE, PLEASE

Platform nine and three quarters are different that year. Diana and Xander are both of age now, but Xander feels as if he is decades older than seventeen with what he went through the last term. Jo and Alecks are standing on the platform with him and he knows his sister doesn't want to let him go. He's just glad she won't be alone while he's gone and he knows she's thankful for the same time. He knows Alecks will have Jo and she knows Xander will have Diana. Once upon a time, Xander might have had Draco, too, but the boy was nowhere to be found. Apparently, his family had pulled him out of Hogwarts following his assassination attempt of the headmaster. Well, former headmaster. Still, no one bat an eye at Malfoy's disappearance, and Xander was the only one who knew the truth. Diana knew, too, after Xander told her in a tear-stained letter. He cried over that night in the astronomy tower for most, if not all, of the summer. He couldn't get Draco's voice telling him to run out of his head. He wanted nothing more than to know if the boy was okay.

"Please for the love of God, no troublemaking this year," Alecks's spoke wearily as she hugged her younger brother tightly, her hands twisting in his black tendrils of hair he had let grow longer than they should. Normally his mother cut his hair, but Alecks hadn't quite figured out how to get it where he liked it. She tried, though, and that meant everything to him.

He still through of his mother every night. His tan hands gripping at the necklace he never took off every time he woke up from dreams of the astronomy tower, the flash of green, the dark mark on Draco's arm. He got chills just thinking about it.

"Let the kid breathe," Jo attempted to lighten the mood as a small chuckle escaped her lips, but all of them, even Jo, knew that something had truly changed at Hogwarts. Upon the news of Dumbledore's death shaking the wizarding world at its core, Alecks almost hadn't let Xander go back. He couldn't imagine her reaction if he told her that he had almost been murdered by death eaters last June. He figured that was a piece of information best left to himself.

Alecks sighed and let go of Xander, her hand cupping his cheek for just a moment, muttering, "Please be safe, I mean it."

"I will, I will," Xander smiled reassuringly, but even he didn't quite believe it. There was word that Snape was going to be headmaster following Dumbledore's death and Xander already knew that trouble would follow him and Snape was going to make sure of it. Xander didn't know how he was going to be able to look the man in the eye knowing what he did.

"Xander! There you are!" the familiar voice of his best friend, Diana Hyde, exclaimed as he was all of a sudden engulfed in a bone-crushing hug. He was thankful to have Diana's arms around him as they hadn't gotten to see each other over the summer and had somehow managed to miss each other at Diagon Alley. Still, he was just glad she was here. She held him tightly, crushing her face in the nook of his neck as one hand held the back of his neck as if he was going to try and run away. Then again, she almost lost him last year. He still could hear her cries as she tried to chase after him while a death eater's grip was searing into his skin. If he brushed over his upper arm, he could almost still feel the bruise it left.

"Hi, Di," he spoke, his voice sounding exasperated as he was crushed in her grip. He didn't mind because she felt like home to him. "You ready for another fantastic school year?"

The girl scoffed, shaking her head, "Not even close." Her voice lowered to a whisper as she tugged the boy away from his sister, "Did you hear? Death eaters crashed Bill Weasley's wedding, Justin heard from Luna who was there. Everyone barely escaped with their lives, I don't even know if anyone has heard from Luna after the fact. Harry, Ron, and Hermione are nowhere to be found after apparating out of there. Some people think they're dead, but I recon He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named would be throwing confetti in the streets if Harry Potter was dead."

Xander shivered, wondering how he had managed to avoid hearing of this. Granted, Diana was pretty much his only friend at Hogwarts. Ever since Cedric's death, he had trouble socializing. Still, he knew Diana would always have gossip for him. Then again, this didn't really qualify as gossip, it was just pure terror.

"Is everyone okay?" Xander forced out, trying to digest the news without panicking in front of all the incoming students.

"From the wedding, I think so. There's more, though, Mad-Eye Moody, our professor from fourth year? He was killed by death eaters. I heard one of the Weasley Twins was attacked, too, but I'm not sure which one," Diana continued and he wondered if it was possible for there to be worse news, "I think Weasley's fine, though, I would have heard if one of them was dead."

"How can you speak of that so casually?" the dark-haired boy asked with a bewildered voice. "Also, how did I only just noticed you changed your hair? I liked the blonde!"

He remembered the memory of them bleaching it fondly, but now the girl's hair was a dark brunette, something much more similar to her natural color. The girl shrugged as she twisted a strand between her fingers, "Something tells me it's not gonna be a good thing to be standing out too much these days. Apparently, some muggle-borns are already going missing. I figured it was safer to blend in."

The thought hadn't even occurred to him. Sure, he wasn't necessarily a pure-blood, but he had grown up surrounded by magic and no one ever questioned his blood status. Even though he had full access to the resources of the wizarding world, he had heard nothing about muggle-borns going missing. He wondered if he had even been paying attention.

"Have you heard from Draco?" Diana asked, breaking him out of his train of thought as he was brought back to reality.

He shook his head, "Not a word. I considered writing to him once, but I chickened out on actually sending it. I just... I'm stuck between wanting to make sure he's okay and wondering if I even cross his mind. It's ridiculous, but I'm putting it behind me. There are much more important things happening right now, a boy, a boy on the wrong side of history especially, should be the least of my worries."

"Yeah, that's the spirit," Diana scoffed, but it was clear her heart wasn't in it. Something had changed with her over the summer, he could tell. She seemed much more reserved. Then again, no one of the platform looked particularly happy. She checked the time on her watch and groaned, "Come on, we've got to get going."

"All right, all right," he mumbled as he walked back over to his sister and Jo, pulling them both into a hug. "I'll see you guys at Christmas?"

"Of course, be safe," Alecks reminded him, pressing a gentle kiss to his forehead before pushing him off in the direction of Diana. He couldn't help but remember a scene from the very same platform seven years ago.

With tearful eyes, his mother had pressed a kiss to his forehead and pushed him in the direction of the train. "I'd tell you to be a good boy, but I already know you will be," he remembered her words like she had said them to him yesterday. Two months had passed, but it still didn't feel real. Before he stepped onto the train, he turned back to face Alecks and Jo, his hand clutching his necklace. Alecks smiled, but he could tell it was forced. She blew him a kiss and Diana grabbed his arm and pulled him onto the train. His heart was heavy as he looked at the scarce student body, most parents were too scared at the current climate to send their kids back to school.

Heading into his seventh year, even with Diana by his side, Hogwarts didn't feel much like home anymore.

ahhh sorry I haven't been updating as frequently! part two will probably go a bit slower than the first part did just because there's a lot more to cover and a lot more nuance to it than the first part since you know, this part will have the over arching threat of war. just normal things teenagers have to deal with. anyway, i think I'm done w daily updates for this story, but it certainly wont be going months without updates like some of my other stories lmao