It was a bit difficult not to recognize him. Although he looked like a perfectly ordinary man sending his son off to school—maybe a little bit on the young side, but not by much—the man simply had too many noticeable traits. From the untidy black hair; to the bright green eyes that blinked behind his circular glasses; to the red lightning shaped scar on his forehead, Harry Potter was very difficult to miss.
But it wasn't his own son that Harry Potter was sending off to school. Those who knew him—and even those that didn't know him—knew that the boy and the woman standing next to the-Boy-Who-Lived really had no blood relation to him at all. What the people on the platform didn't know was who these two people were. Harry, who had been thrust into celebrity at a young age, was able to ignore the curious stares of the other people on the platform. The boy, who was facing that first train journey to Hogwarts by himself, less so.
"Do they have to stare so much?" he asked Harry and the woman. "They've seen you and me in the Daily Prophet enough times—it's not like I'm unknown to them."
"People always stare, Teddy," Harry said. "It's different when you see a picture of someone and then actually seeing them out and about."
"Of course, staring is rather rude," the woman said, giving a quick glare to a tall, sandy-haired man, who glared back and walked away quickly. "Honestly, you'd expect people to have more manners these days…"
Harry laughed nervously. "All right, Andromeda," he said. "There's no need to start any rows here. Now's the time to focus on Teddy." Harry slapped Teddy's shoulder, and Teddy's face and hair went red.
"I'm not going to know anyone," Teddy said nervously, stepping away from his godfather's hand.
"I didn't know anyone either when I first went," Harry said gently. "You'll always meet someone on the train, Teddy."
"But what if I don't?" Teddy asked. "What if I'm sitting in a compartment all by myself, and no-one even bothers to talk to me?"
"Well then, you'd get a bit of peace and quiet before you'd get there," Harry said, a little bit of laughter in his voice. "Once you get there, you're not going to get that, Teddy." There was a little pause.
"What if I'm in Slytherin?" Teddy whispered. Andromeda gave him a stern look.
"And what would be wrong with that?" she said sharply. Teddy's face and hair went red again.
"Nothing," he said. "It's just…well…"
"The stereotype is still there, I suppose, Andromeda," Harry said, trying to save his godson. "However," he continued, turning to Teddy, "that doesn't mean that being in Slytherin will be a bad thing, Teddy. The Sorting Hat will tell you where to go, and it wouldn't put you anywhere that wouldn't be right for you." Teddy shifted awkwardly from foot to foot. The train blew its whistle and Harry looked at the clock.
"Five minutes," Harry said. He pulled his godson into a quick hug. "You best be going now, Teddy. I promise you, it'll be fine." Teddy nodded again, and stepped away from Harry.
Andromeda hugged him next. "Don't worry so, Teddy," she said. She ran her fingers through his hair, before holding him out at arm's length. "Hair," she said. Teddy ran his own fingers through his hair, and as he did, it slowly faded back to a dark blond. He nodded at his grandmother and his godfather, and with one last wave, he stepped onto the Hogwarts Express.
Andromeda and Harry watched him get on in silence.
"You better be going back to work now, Harry," Andromeda said eventually. "You can't leave Dawlish in charge forever, you know."
"I know," Harry said, watching the door close behind Teddy. He cleared his throat. "As much as you'd like him to be Slytherin, Andromeda, I don't think he'll end up being one."
"I know," Andromeda agreed. "But as much as you'd like him to be Gryffindor, I don't think he'll be that, either."
Of course, not every person was staring at Harry Potter. Some simply waved at him, others nodded at him, and, of course, a select few avoided him.
However, there were some who had no idea who he was at all, and were too focused on other things to wonder what—or who—the people were staring at.
"I didn't think we'd be going there by train!" Victoria said excitedly. She stood on her tiptoes as if to get a better look at it. Her father frowned.
"But I thought this was a magic school," Mr Choi said, sounding irritated. "Surely if these people are wizards, then they must have a faster way to get you to this school than by train."
"Perhaps it's a magic train," Mrs Choi said, peering at the train's chimney. "Perhaps it's designed to get them there quicker than an ordinary train would. Enchanted, or something along those lines."
"Hmm," Mr Choi said, but he let the matter drop. Victoria, meanwhile, had ignored her parents' little row. She was too busy trying to take in the giant station around her. She saw children her age and older pushing the same carts from the regular side of Kings Cross Station—but instead of having suitcases on them, they had trunks, broomsticks, and sometimes even owl cages.
"Oh wow," Victoria said, standing on tiptoe as she tried to get a better look at some of the owls. Mrs. Choi saw her and pushed her down, frowning a little.
"Don't be rude, Victoria," she said crisply. Victoria went red.
"Sorry, Mum," she mumbled. Mrs Choi sighed, and then hugged her daughter.
"Be good at this school, all right?" she said, rubbing her cheek against Victoria's hair. Victoria made a noise that sounded like a cat, before she pulled away from her mother and father.
"Write to us at least every few days," Mr Choi said, somewhat earnestly. "We don't expect any weekend letters, of course, but maybe every Wednesday and Friday?"
"And come home for every single holiday!" Mrs Choi added.
"And don't forget to make sure that you use your planner for every bit of homework that you're set!"
"And make sure you brush your hair and teeth every night before you go to bed!"
"All right, I will," Victoria said, aware that people were starting to look now. She waggled her fingers at her parents, picked up her trunk and started walking towards the train. Just as she was about to step onto the train, her mother called out one last thing.
"Don't forget that you can always come back home if you ever get homesick!" Mrs Choi said. Victoria had to fight back the urge to roll her eyes.
"I will, Mum!" she said, and then before her parents could say anymore, she made her way down the train carriages.
But Victoria Choi was lucky in that her parents were being affectionate towards her. Rory Holtby wasn't so lucky.
"He doesn't need to go," his mother hissed as they walked towards the barrier. "For God's sake, Callum's already a bleeding wizard. I don't need a second magical child in the family." In front of Rory, Callum's ears started turning a bright shade of red.
"Of course he needs to go," his father snapped back. "And so will Rhiannon when the time comes. You might not want magical children in the family, but I don't want to deal with children who can't control it and light the whole bloody house on fire!" The five of them—Rory's mum and dad, Callum, Rory himself, and Rhiannon—were on the platform by this point, and the people on the platform were turning to look at where the noise was coming from.
"This school turns them out into little freaks!" Rory's mother snarled. "It's all well and good learning how to turn a rat into a teacup, but what about their qualifications? What will they do when they need to go out job hunting, hmm?"
"There you go again, ranting about stuff that won't even happen until years from now!" Rory's father said. He threw his hands up in exasperation and very nearly slapped Rhiannon in the face. Rhiannon gave a little squeak and ran behind Callum and Rory, putting her thumb in her mouth.
"For God's sake, Cerys, you never gave a damn about this when we got married!"
"Because you didn't tell me you were a wizard then! You didn't tell me that you were a wizard until I was nearly six months pregnant with Callum…"
"Come on," Callum whispered to his younger brother and sister. "Let's get away from them before people start think that we're with them." Rory nodded. He and Callum dragged their trunks away from their parents, while Rhiannon followed. When the three of them were quite certain that they were out of their parents earshot—not that they could hear their children over their shouting—Rhiannon pulled her thumb out of her mouth.
"I hate Mum and Dad," she said. It sounded so matter-of-fact that both Rory and Callum stared at her. "Well I do," she said in response to the two of them. "They're always fighting over stupid stuff. Oh, don't leave you two, I don't want to spend another year with the two of them just by myself." Rory felt wrong-footed. For one thing, he hated it when their parents argued too. But for another, it felt wrong for Rhiannon to just be so honest about it. He didn't suppose he would have the nerve to say something like that.
Perhaps he was keenly aware that their parents' argument was growing quieter, or perhaps it was the sign on the clock saying five to eleven, but Callum quickly tapped Rory on the shoulder, snapping Rory out of his thoughts. "Come on, little brother," he said. "We've got to go." Callum quickly kissed Rhiannon on the cheek. "Don't look at me like that, Rhi," Callum said. "Maybe Rory and I'll come back for Christmas. Or even if we don't, it's just one more year and you'll be off with us too." Rory nodded.
"And don't worry, we'll write you," Rory said, as his older brother started pulling him towards the train. The two of them gave a final wave to Rhiannon, and she gave them a feeble wave back. She looked like she was about to cry as she turned back to their parents, but before Rory could go out and investigate it further, the train door shut. Rory looked up at his brother anxiously.
"She'll be all right, won't she?" he asked. At least Rhiannon had him with her for the last two years—what was going to happen now?
"Yeah, she will," Callum said, putting his arm around his brother's shoulder and leading him down the corridor. "And if she isn't, well, it'd be a sign that she won't be in Gryffindor next year then, won't it?"
"Mum, Laurel's nicked my schoolbag again! I've got all my stuff in there, and she's gone and hidden it!"
"Well, it's not my fault that you can't bother to keep your stuff in order, Lavonne. Honestly, if I didn't know any better, I'd think you'd been hit in the head with a stray Memory Charm when you were little. I'm surprised you ended up in Ravenclaw…"
"Mum, have you seen my prefect badge? I can't get on the train without my prefect's badge! What sort of example would I be to the other students if I didn't have it?"
"Ooh no, that would be awful, wouldn't it, Nelda, if they didn't let you on the train without your prefect's badge? Merlin's beard, I think the world's ending because you don't have your prefect's badge!"
"Say prefect's badge one more time, Ione. I dare you."
And so it went, all the way to the train station. Cassia Vinewood had to resist the temptation to cover her ears with her hands to stop her sisters' incessant squabbling. She was supposed to be used to it by this point—after all, with eight older sisters, it was a fact of life that someone was going to argue at some point—but at the same time, she wished that her mother would stop focusing on their stupid arguments and focus on her for once. Some of them—namely the twins, Laurel and Lavonne—were arguing on the way to the platform, though thankfully as soon as everybody got on the other side, the arguing stopped. Nelda, Laurel, Lavonne, and Ione split up to find their friends, while Briony stayed by her side. She cleared her throat awkwardly.
"So…" Briony started. "Big day today."
"Mm," Cassia said as she watched everybody else on the platform. She couldn't see any of the other first years—most of the other kids seemed to be much taller and bigger than her. Even Briony, who was only two inches taller than Cassia, suddenly seemed to be two feet taller. Briony cleared her throat again as the two of them watched the platform in silence.
"Well, this class of first years seems to be a lot smaller than last years," their mother said suddenly from behind them, making both girls jump. "But then again, the war was in full swing when you were babies, you two."
"Mm," Cassia said absent-mindedly as she watched the other students milling around. She swallowed anxiously.
"Do you think…I'll be…?" she started, but the words died in her throat. She couldn't let herself express the fears that she was facing, because she knew then that her sisters would scoff at her. Then Cassia remembered that the only sister who was near her was Briony, and Briony didn't care about these sorts of things anyway. But still, Cassia couldn't help biting her lip as she noticed that some of the students had already changed into their robes, with Gryffindor red, Slytherin green, Ravenclaw blue, and Hufflepuff yellow all standing out against the black. Mrs Verboom followed Cassia's eyes and gave her shoulders a tight squeeze.
"You'll go where you belong, Cass," she said. "And even if you don't go where we expect you to…well…Ravenclaw won't be so bad, will it? Besides you'll be with Briony if you end up there, and I think she'll end up watching you a lot more carefully than Ione would, won't you, Briony?"
"Mum," Briony said, her cheeks glowing red under her mother's pointed glare, as the train whistle rang and Nelda walked up to them.
"We really must be going now Mum, it's nearly twelve o'clock," Nelda said briskly. Cassia noticed, with a feeling of dread, that Nelda was also one of the students who had changed into their robes, with her blue and silver prefect's badge shining on her chest. "Don't worry, I'll look after Cassia as best as I can, and then after the Sorting…well, I'll make it clear to Laurel and Ione that they must set a good example to her, especially seeing as none of us more responsible ones will be there…" Nelda let out a sniff.
"Yes, all right, Nelda," Mrs Verboom said, sounding annoyed. She gave both Briony and Cassia a kiss on their cheeks. "Be good, you two."
"Locomotor trunks," Nelda said after Mrs Verboom gave her a kiss too. Both Briony and Cassia's trunks lifted up in the air, and Nelda carried them onto the train, with both of her little sisters shuffling behind awkwardly. Cassia gave one last look at her mother from the carriage before the door shut behind her.
"Well, then," Nelda said as she placed the trunks on the ground. "I will be heading off to the prefects' compartment. Look after your sister, Briony." And with that, Nelda pushed past them on her way to the prefects' compartment. Briony stuck her tongue out behind her back.
"Where do you want to sit?" Cassia asked as the two of them started heading down the train.
"Actually, Cass," Briony said, sounding apologetic, "I told my friends I'd sit with them. You can find a compartment by yourself, can't you? Or, if you can't, I'm sure Nelda will look after you once she gets out of the prefects' compartment."
"Yeah," Cassia said, trying to sound braver than she felt. "Yeah, no problem Briony. I'll sort something out." Briony gave her a grin, pulled one of her plaits affectionately, and stepped into a compartment just a little way from where Cassia was standing. Cassia sighed, and made her way down the train, checking through every door to see if she could find an empty compartment—or at the very least, one with another first year in it. She found several of the latter, but she couldn't make herself open the door and say, "Hello, my name is Cassia Verboom. May I sit with you?" Eventually, towards the back of the train, she found a compartment that was completely empty. She practically fell into the compartment with relief, and, not even bothering to put her trunk up in the rack, collapsed in the seat next to the window. She stared at London going past her, and wondered how she was going to end up in Gryffindor if she couldn't even ask someone if she could sit with them.
