Since the term began back on the first of September, over three months now, Hermione had grown used to having Altair by her side. The thought of going the next ten days or so without eating together or even seeing each other left her with an ache she couldn't quite put into words.
Altair had no idea just how important a place he'd already come to occupy in her heart. Part of that, admittedly, had something to do with the One Ring.
Though Altair hadn't unsealed any further power from the Ring, as an artifact it still carried a latent ability to bend minds and draw people in, and that pull had settled onto Altair regardless.
As the person closest to Altair anywhere in Hogwarts, Hermione was naturally the one most affected by it.
Though it had to be said, plenty of that also simply came down to Altair's handsome face and the bearing he'd carried since childhood, raised the way he'd been within the Shelby family.
As Sophia liked to put it, there weren't many girls capable of turning Altair down.
They talked for a while longer until the sky outside had gone fully dark, and snow began coming down in a heavy storm. Fortunately the compartment had heating, so neither of them felt the cold.
The train rattled steadily onward.
The lights in the compartment grew dimmer still, and Hermione, starting to feel drowsy, closed her eyes and let herself lean gently against Altair's shoulder.
"Good night."
She said it softly, almost like a murmur to herself.
"Good night."
Altair shifted into a more comfortable position, and Hermione moved along with him, resting against his shoulder, one hand curling loosely around the cuff of his robe.
Altair turned his face and looked out through the frost gathering on the window.
After a few months living in the wizarding world, he found the Muggle world had already started to feel strangely unfamiliar to him.
So much for resting this holiday. Still, at least I pulled the Ring of Air, which means the troll tribe in Liechtenstein should be an easy matter now. All that's left is... I'll need to make a trip back to the school on Christmas Day itself...
Once he'd sorted through everything still ahead of him, Altair found himself growing drowsy too.
The steady sound of Hermione's breathing reached his ears, and rather than think any further on it, he quietly took hold of one of her hands and closed his eyes.
Under the dim compartment light, Hermione's ears had gone red without her even noticing.
When Altair woke, it was just past five the next morning.
Truth be told, sleeping propped against a train seat wasn't exactly restful. Under normal circumstances the two of them could easily have stretched out across a seat each, but Altair hadn't minded things the way they'd turned out.
Hermione had woken a little before him, and by the time Altair opened his eyes, she was already sitting across from him, chin propped on her hand, staring at him with a look somewhere between distracted and lost in thought.
"Morning."
Altair stretched.
"Morning. The announcement said we're about half an hour out from London."
Hermione, snapping back to herself, turned her head toward the window, doing her best to look like nothing had happened.
The overnight train ran a bit slower than the daytime ones, since the school had no interest in dumping a carriage full of young witches and wizards into London at three or four in the morning, which would have been far too rough on everyone.
Getting a proper sleep on the ride and waking up right as they pulled into London was a rather thoughtful arrangement, all things considered.
"Around six, you think? I imagine my uncle's already waiting at the station. What time did you tell your family, Hermione?"
"I told them around six as well. Mum and Dad should have gotten into London yesterday."
"That's a real shame, then. Here I was thinking, if your parents hadn't made it, I'd just have to take you home with me instead... ha."
Watching Hermione go a little flustered, Altair let out a laugh.
"Alright, joking aside. Let's get out of these robes. Showing up at King's Cross dressed like this would have half the station staring."
The two of them changed and sat back down in the compartment to wait out the rest of the ride.
Just as the hands on Altair's pocket watch reached six o'clock, the train pulled into King's Cross right on schedule. Altair and Hermione stepped off, and once they'd cleared the platform, they spotted Jimmy and the Grangers waiting not far off.
"Oi! Altair, over here!"
Jimmy had already spotted him in the crowd and waved excitedly.
It's Hermione, she's here too, the Grangers seemed to realize a beat later, their faces breaking into smiles as they hurried forward to meet them.
"Mum! Dad!"
"Uncle Jimmy!"
"Hello, Mr. Shelby!"
"Mr. Granger. Mrs. Granger."
Altair and Hermione exchanged their own greetings with the three of them in turn.
"You two haven't eaten yet, have you? Mr. Granger, care to join us for breakfast?"
"That'd be lovely!"
Before either of the Grangers could answer, Hermione had already accepted on their behalf. She wasn't ready to part with Altair just yet.
"Honestly, you..."
Mr. Granger gave a helpless little laugh, then said:
"Well, after riding the train all night, I suppose they must both be famished. We'll take you up on that, then, Mr. Shelby."
"No need to stand on ceremony. I've told you already, just call me Jimmy."
Jimmy was, for once, entirely on his best behavior around the Grangers, none of his usual devil-may-care manner anywhere in sight, and the reason for that was plain enough: Hermione. As far as Jimmy was concerned, the parents of a young witch, whatever their standing, deserved to be treated with real respect.