CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE: BUT A PRELUDE

America stared out the window as the Hogwarts Express pulled out of the station. It felt pretty weird to not be talking with his friends, but they'd had a huge unbelievable adventure without him so they deserved it. Plus, he was still trying to figure out what the hell was up with England. Ever since Lupin left he'd seen even more stressed and spazzy than usual. He'd probably finally heard whatever it was Scotland had wanted to talk to him about, because England had given him that huge speech literally days ago about not getting attached to normal people. America had questioned him about it, duh, but England just snapped that it was none of his business and left the room.

England wasn't just refusing to give information, either, he was refusing to receive it as well. America had tried telling him about the whole shebang that happened while he was blackout drunk (with only minor embellishments), and England had literally laughed at him for two minutes straight. America knew it was weird and a lot to take in, but that had just been rude. Apparently, England bought the whole 'Harry got Confunded' theory. In hindsight, America shouldn't have been surprised. As Canada had put it when America complained to him about it, "Arthur believes what Arthur wants to believe." America thanked God that his stubbornness hadn't rubbed off on him and he'd grown up to be the most logical and open-minded nation on the planet.

"Alfred, are you listening?"

America looked back into the compartment to find five pairs of eyes (four human, one bear) staring at him. "Not at all!" he said brightly.

Hermione rolled her eyes and, in a tone that suggested she was repeating herself, said, "I dropped Muggle Studies and gave the Time-Turner back to Professor McGonagall."

"WHAT?!" America fought the urge to grab her by the shoulders and shake her until she made sense again. Canada might be able to handle it, but he wasn't sure a human would, especially one as flimsy and nerdy as Hermione. "You gave a back a freaking TIME MACHINE?"

"Well, you didn't need it anymore, and you know how awful it was keeping up with all those classes," she said.

"That doesn't matter, it's a TIME MACHINE! That's, like, the most OP deus ex machina you could ask for! What're we supposed to do next year when things go wrong?" America demanded.

"What do you mean, when things go wrong?" Everyone gave Harry a look. "Okay, you're right, something will probably go wrong next year, too," he admitted with a sigh.

"Y'know, Hermione, he does have a point," said Ron.

This only made Hermione look miffed. Was miffed a word? Maybe. America hoped it meant what he thought it meant. "You two only say that because you weren't there," she said. "If we had just been one minute too slow or fast, the entire plan would be ruined and we'd be expelled at best. I've read about some of the things that have happened to people who misused Time-Turners."

Canada placed a placating hand on America's shoulder. "I've read those, too. It's pretty bad, eh. Whatever happens in the future, I'm sure we'll be able to figure it out."

America sighed. "I guess." He shook himself. "What am I saying, of course we'll be fine! The hero's here!" He winked and struck a pose.

"Er, you do remember that you weren't there this time, right?" said Ron.

"Oh, yeah! Thanks for reminding me I still need to ignore you guys for that!" America crossed his arms, put on the biggest pout he could fit on his face, and turned back to the window. He passed the time thinking up a great entrance for the first World Meeting of the summer, only taking a break to buy and eat all the candy from the trolley he could before Canada cut him off. This put him in the perfect position to notice the tiny owl that appeared right outside their compartment near the end of the trip.

"Yo, dudes, check it out!" America opened the window and grabbed the owl. "Hey, there, little guy! What are you doing here?"

"How did a little bird like that carry a letter?" said Harry, picking up the letter America had completely failed to notice in the face of the cute bird from off the ground where it had fallen. The owl was clearly restless, so America let it free to whizz around the compartment like Italy on a sugar high while Harry opened the letter. "It's from Sirius!"

"What?" said Ron and Hermione excitedly.

"SERIOUSLY?!" yelled America, leaning over to try and read it. Harry decided to make things easier for all of them and simply read it aloud. Sirius and Buckbeak were safe (America let out a whoop about the latter), the Dementors were going away (more whooping), Sirius was the one who sent Harry the Firebolt (America whooped again because he was on a roll), and he gave Ron an owl and Harry a permission slip to go to Hogsmeade without the constant risk of expulsion (genuine whoop). All in all, he seemed pretty nice for someone even Canada had felt deserved a punch at first glance.

"I feel pretty bad about punching him now, eh," said Canada, clearly thinking the same thing.

"Don't worry about it," said Ron. "I'd probably have done the same… actually, no, I probably would have just screamed."

Canada still looked guilty, so Harry reassured him that he'd relay his apology to Sirius in his next letter. With the excitement was over, America once again remembered he was supposed to be mad and went back to staring out the window as gloomily as he could, still fine-tuning his big entrance. He hadn't put much thought to it the last two years, so this one should be a big surprise for everyone. He had planned out the first ten seconds by the time the train pulled into Platform 9 ¾.

America nearly rammed his trolley into a passing civilian when he spotted England already waiting for them on the normal platform. He and Canada quickly bid goodbye to their friends (they'd probably all see each other at the World Cup anyway, once they leveraged some tickets out of whoever was competing), then they rolled over to him. "What the hell, dude?" America said just above his usual whisper as soon as he was within earshot. "How did you get here so fast?"

"Magic," said England smugly.

America glared at him. "Well, then, why didn't you just take us with you?"

"Magic," England repeated.

"Do you WANT me to hit you, Iggy?"

"Alfred, please, I'm sure he had his reasons."

"Listen to your brother, Alfred."

"I always listen! I just don't always agree! You probably have really bad reasons!"

"Perhaps you'd understand if you read anything outside of the curriculum."

"Obviously not! Mattie does that, and he doesn't know either, right? Right, bro?"

"Well, it depends on how he did it, eh."

"Go on, Iggy, tell him!"

"No. If I tell him, he'll just tell you, and this is far too fun to end now."

"Oh, what was that? 'Punch me in the face', you say?"

"Alfred, no!"

The three of them bickered all the way through the station, taking full advantage of the short opportunity to pretend that this year had ended just as triumphantly as the last two. But, really, what could one rat do? America was sure that they'd all get through the next few years just fine, so long as they had a hero like him there! Oh, and Hermione to actually figure things out. And Harry to have interesting things happen. And Canada to keep them all grounded. And Ron to... uh… do any more chess puzzles and provide comic relief. A team like that belonged in a cartoon, and nothing ever went wrong FUBAR there! Time machine or no, America was sure there was a happy ending waiting for them.

A/N: Boom, it's done. Better late than never, right? Hopefully the next book will be easier for me to write, since it'll be way easier to insert nations into the scenes. I'm a bit worried that if I take a long break before starting it I'll lose all this newfound inspiration, so you should be expecting it pretty soon. Thank you all for your support. I hope you've enjoyed the ride so far, and will continue to do so. \(^-^)/ See you on the other side.