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After The Last Battle, almost every student began to dread the ride to Hogwarts from the train. Not because they weren’t looking forward to returning, although that was true for some. But because of the carriages, which they had thought for so long were horseless. Now they knew better.
It wasn’t uncommon for students to squeeze their eyes shut once they’d entered, sit in stoney silence with their hands curled into fists on their laps as they waited for the ride to be over. They knew of course, what they had been through - what they had seen. But none of them appreciated the reminder.
But then the next year there were fewer who looked into the eyes of a thestral and saw someone looking back at them. A few more who had been dragged away from battle and had their eyes shielded.
And eventually, there comes the year where almost every student in Hogwarts thinks that the carriages are horseless. They walk the roads and do not flinch away from leathery wings or back away, white-faced, from skeletal bodies. They just walk to their carriages and get in, chattering all the while about the wonders of magic. Although of course some muggleborns like to point out that carriages that can run themselves aren’t exactly new inventions and hasn’t anyone at Hogwarts heard of a bus?
Life goes on.