Assignment #5
Swimming Task 1: Write about a widely spread misconception.
Roald Dahl Event
Room 431 Hollowed out volcano - Write about something unexpected.
The Above
September 1st 1991
Platform 9 ¾ was its usually bustling self at the start of the academic year. Parents fussed over children who were all too eager to escape to the train, friends reunited loudly, and in the case of the Weasley Twins, with a fireworks display. Pets screeched, meowed, or croaked, adding to the cacophony of sounds, but Minerva found herself glad to be able to oversee the departure of the train, which would be in approximately twelve minutes, as the school year started up again.
Initially, she thought the trembling of the ground was the train moving prematurely, and she frowned. But then, the brick walls of the station started shaking, and the very air itself seemed to be trembling. There was a sound alike to the rip of parchment, but immensely louder, and a then a flaming blue line appeared in the middle of the platofrm. It reached from the ground to roughly shoulder height.
"Get back!" she called, wand at the ready. The line began to grow, splitting in half as if to form an oval, containing a whirling pool of energy all shades of blue spinning wildly about. Her jaw dropped.
It was an Atlantean portal.
A child stepped through it.
He was small, perhaps even a first year, with shoulder length dark hair pulled into a tie at the nape of his neck, and he was dressed in formal wizarding robes. He turned to face her, and Minerva gazed into glowing green eyes she couldn't pretend not to recognise. On his forehead was a scar in the shape of a lightning bolt, as if she'd had any doubts.
"Harry Potter," she breathed.
"Oh hey," he said, with a cheeky grin that reminded her of his father. "I'm not late, am I?" With a quiet pop, the portal collapsed in on itself, and closed.
"No," she said faintly. She shook herself. "As entertaining your manner of arrival, I'm afraid to say it's far too dangerous to magically arrive onto Platform 9 ¾. See to it that it doesn't happen again."
"My apologies, Ma'am," Potter said, a faint frown creasing his forehead before disappearing. He nodded politely to her, and slipped onto the train.
Minerva wasn't sure which shocked her more; to discover that Potter had been alive all this time, or that he was fully aware, and capable of using magic. Highly advanced magic, at that.
However, there was one thing that she could be completely sure of. Once Albus got over his delight at discovering Potter alive, he wasn't going to like it one bit.
Harry found an empty compartment and settled down. He'd forgotten how famous he'd be in the Above. Children and adults alike had gawked at him as if he were a talking unicorn. Anyway, how was he supposed to have known not to portal straight onto Platform 9 ¾? It wasn't as if they'd included that in their meagre introductory packs.
He pulled his communicator out of his pocket, and called Phil.
"Harry?" Phil's face appeared, hovering above the hand sized device.
Harry grinned. "I'm safely on the train."
"Good to hear. You know how I don't like you portalling alone."
Harry rolled his eyes. "Come on Phil, don't be like that. I've been doing it for over a year now."
"Let's not forget that time you portalled into pond," Phil teased. Harry stuck his tongue out in return.
"So, apparently we're not supposed to portal right onto the platform."
Phil frowned. "How under earth are you supposed to arrive then? We searched the Kings Cross Station; there was definitely no Platform 9 ¾."
Harry shrugged. "No idea. I'll figure it out before Christmas. Must be hidden somehow."
"Wizards," Phil said in an exasperated voice.
"Oi!" Harry said. "Don't forget that I'm off to learn how to be a wizard."
"Yeah, and I bet you'll have to take classes in how to be eccentric and irrational," Phil grumbled. "Why couldn't you have stayed at home and become a scientist, like a normal boy?" Phil's fond smile belayed his harsh words.
"Ah, but I am a scientist! I'm engaging a long-term experiment to determine how wizards teach manipulation of matter at an atomic level, while gathering intel about my biological parents!" Harry declared.
Phil chuckled. "Well, don't forget you'll be catching up on your Atlantean teachings over the summer. Wouldn't want that sharp brain to dull."
"Whatever," Harry said, rolling his eyes. "I'm gonna go now, probably should make some friends."
"Alright Harry. All my love."
"Love you too. Say hi to Kat, and Maria."
Harry swiped his hand through the hologram to end the call, and stowed his communicator in his bag. At some point during their conversation the train had started moving. He shuffled closer to the window and watched with delight as England's countryside sped by. He'd made several trips Above before, of course, but this was his first time without an escort.
A knock jarred him from his watch, and he turned to face a small paled boy with platinum blonde hair, flanked by two larger boys.
"You're Harry Potter then?" the boy asked. Harry offered a hand for him to shake.
"That's me. And you are?"
"Malfoy. Draco Malfoy. This is Vincent Crabbe, and Gregory Goyle."
"A pleasure," Harry said. Neither returned the courtesy and he hid a frown. Malfoy invited himself into Harry's compartment, and waved the other two boys away.
"So Potter, you've finally resurfaced."
Harry nodded. "That's right. Although it's more of an instantaneous transportation than any sort of underwater means of passage."
Malfoy gaped at him. "What?"
"Well, the means of transportation I undertook to arrive at the station didn't actually require any sort of surfacing. Unless you mean arriving onto the surface, in which case you are correct."
Malfoy huffed. "What are you on about, Potter? I meant that all this time people thought you were dead, or hidden away. Not even Dumbledore knew where you were."
Harry blinked. He cast his mind over the details he knew of his relocation to Atlantis. Phil had picked him up from the orphanage the Dursleys had left him at, and had left behind some very clear forwarding details.
"That's weird," he muttered, ruffling a hand through his hear.
"So? Where were you?"
"Atlantis," Harry said, shrugging. Perhaps he ought to call Phil again, let him know about this.
"Very funny," Malfoy replied, his eyes narrowed.
"Hmm? No, that's actually where I grew up."
Malfoy's jaw dropped, before he schooled his face into a sneer. "If you don't want to tell me, say so. But don't bother feeding me such pathetic lies." He stormed out of the carriage. Harry frowned in dismay, but shook his head and set it aside. He quickly typed a message to Phil, letting him know what had happened.
He then withdrew his trunk, placed the seemingly tiny box on the ground and typed in the passcode to the interface. It grew to regular size, and Harry opened it, withdrawing Khaliss from her protective bubble.
"Took you long enough," she hissed. Khaliss was a silver salamander, and loathed travelling by portal, else she would have been curled up on his shoulder when he'd walked through, as she was now.
"Sorry. I was disturbed before I could retrieve you," he answered.
"Well, well, well,"
"If it isn't Harry Potter!"
Khaliss immediately shimmered, turning invisible. Harry turned to face the two boys who'd entered his compartment. They were identical twins, with bright red hair and matching grins, and he could smell the mischief on them from a kilometre away.
"How do you do?" Harry said, inclining his head, and extending his hands to shake.
"I'm Fred."
"And I'm George." They each took the opposite hand, crossing his arms and shaking vigorously. Harry giggled despite himself, and gently tugged his hands free. He inspected them for differences as they talked, and noted that Fred has a freckle in the crease of his right eye. He made note of that and listened to their spiel with a grin
"We're mischief makers,"
"Trouble magnets,"
"Creaters of chaos,"
"And masters of mayhem!" they declared, each taking an alternating line.
"The prank you pulled today,"
"Was bloody brilliant."
"Thanks," Harry said. "But what prank?"
The twins shared a look, potentially even speaking telepathically. Harry watched eagerly. He'd never met magical twins before.
"The way you appeared," Fred said.
"How did you do it?" George asked.
"An illusion?"
"A charm?"
Harry smirked. "Magic." It seemed, however unintentionally, he'd drawn a lot of attention to himself by appearing on the Platform as he had. He often forgot that Above had not used Atlantean magic in centuries.
The twins groaned in unison.
"You wound us!" George cried.
"I suppose that we shall just have to earn your knowledge…"
"With pranks!"
There was a loud bang, and a flash of light. Smoke exploded from the twins' hands and Harry tried to blink away his blurry vision, partially blinded. By the time he could see clearly, the twins were gone.
Word count: 1509