They spent the remainder of the train ride discussing who might be potential allies or enemies. They felt they could trust all the teachers at Hogwarts, save Snape, and post-Imperius Moody. Their impression of French magical culture, based on the Beauxbatons delegation, at least, made them feel that France might help against Voldemort. Blood purity wasn't an issue, and even mixed blood like Fleur or Madame Maxime was perfectly acceptable. Durmstrang was an amalgam of students from Eastern Europe, and Karkaroff was a former Death Eater. They respected power- and Voldemort had power. Most of them were hard to predict. Karkaroff only repented because he feared Azkaban- would he turn back to Voldemort? Krum seemed very interested in becoming as powerful as possible, but he also had a strong sense of fair play, possibly from being a professional athlete. He did skirt the rules as much as he possibly could- would he see Voldemort as a challenge to his own power, or go to him to learn how to become more powerful?
Throughout the ride, they heard the door handle jiggle every so often. As they pulled into the station, Harry chuckled, "Well, since their unlocking charms are still just limited to Alohamora, I guess it took a while for an adult to find them and let them out last time."
"You think they're waiting to ambush us?" Hermione asked.
"Without a doubt," Harry said. They couldn't see anyone outside the cabin through the charmed glass, but it didn't mean they weren't hiding in the next cabin, ready to jump out. "I say we go in the opposite direction just in case. They'd probably expect us to go left to exit the train, and want to hit us from behind. I'll take the front."
"Why you? I can hold a perfectly decent shield, you know."
"Yeah, but I want to try something I learned from Krum."
"He taught you something?" Hermione asked doubtfully.
"Fine, I didn't learn from him, I'm just copying him," Harry answered.
They both waited as long as they could for the other students to clear out of the train, and quickly moved towards the exit on the opposite side. Hermione held her shield up behind her as Harry kept his wand out. The door four cabins down burst open and Malfoy leapt out with his wand in hand and several others followed suit. "Expelliarmus!" the Slytherin shouted.
Disarming charm? Really? Harry thought to himself as he poured as much energy as he could into his own spell as he shouted, "Protego Progresso!" He still wasn't able to cast the shield spell Krum had used against him silently, being much more complex. It was certainly a powerful spell which, normally, would only be useful in a one-on-one duel, but against three people in a crowded corridor, it was just as good. The shield swept forward, pushing Draco and his two goons back and crushing them against the back of the train. Harry quickly released the spell, partly because he didn't want to crush Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle to death, but mostly because he was quickly feeling drained. "Wow, now that's quite a spell. How on earth did Krum managed to cast three of these in a row? With a Bone-Bludgeoner in between?"
Hermione peeked around Harry's shoulder at the crumpled heap of green robes. "Well, first off, I think Krum is more powerful than you for sure, but I also think you put way too much power into your spell this time," she said.
Thinking it was best not to walk right past them in case they woke up, they turned around again and headed out the other exit of the train. Just as they were about to step off, Harry heard a muffled groan and turned to see Malfoy rolling Goyle away. "You think you've won, Potter?" he snarled as he pulled his wand out from underneath the chubby oaf and pointed it at Harry. "Tereburere!"
Whatever the spell was supposed to do, it certainly wasn't what Malfoy had intended. In his haste, he hadn't noticed his wand had a small crack and was slightly bent. Instead of flying straight out from the wand, it seemed to spiral out and dissipate mid-flight, while some of it seemed to "leak" out of the crack, causing the wand itself to smoke slightly. Furious, he cried out, "You'll pay for what you did to my wand, Potter! My..." He stopped himself short of saying his trademark line.
"You know, I somehow suspect your father won't like hearing about this. I'm pretty sure that, whatever he told you back at King's Cross, it wasn't to try to ambush Harry Potter and get your own wand broken," Harry laughed. "Maybe I'll write to your father and let him know." Draco looked horrified as he quickly stumbled out the rear exit of the train, while Harry and Hermione decided to take their time, strolling from Hogsmeade to the castle instead of taking the carriages.
Professor Snape was waiting for them when they arrived. Having spent the last two months skipping out on Potions and studying on his own, he wasn't glad to see the greasy professor in front of him once again. The stress-free learning environment, Hermione's advice, and vague memories of having brewed the potions before helped him get through nearly all of the fourth-year's coursework by the end of first term. He wondered how that would reflect on Snape's teaching skills. For now, however, Snape was going to address him as the head of Slytherin House, not as potions professor.
"Potter! You've crossed the line this time. Even your father wasn't stupid enough to snap another wizard's wand. I'll have you expelled for attacking three of my students and your own wand snapped!" Snape shouted.
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