Disclaimer: To follow after the fic
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Hogwarts' Thunder
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Billy stared as he watched other kids like him simply walk (or run) through the barrier that separated Platform 9 from Platform 10. Nodding to himself, he took a deep breath, and darted into the wall.
On the other side, it was a scene from a carnival, or perhaps a fantasy novel. Men and women in robes of a million different brilliant hues clucked and tutted over children ranging from his own eleven years to as old as seventeen, as they loaded trunks and bags onto an old fashioned steam engine. The side of the mighty locomotive was emblazoned with "Hogwarts' Express", and the last shred of doubt about his new school was burned away. Grinning, he pushed his own cart with a half-full trunk towards the edge of the platform.
As the train pulled out of the station, Billy found himself wondering what the school would be like. He asked the Old Man, who had merely chuckled and told him he would enjoy himself - one way or another. Shrugging, he looked again at the book he had purchased in Diagon Alley, 'Hogwarts: A History', and grumbled again at the secrecy that meant the chapter on the Sorting was enchanted to be blank to anyone who had not been Sorted, themselves.
Voices outside his otherwise empty compartment door distracted him for a bit. He glanced up, and he saw the door opening. A boy his age, and a slightly older boy behind him, stood outside, apparantly having been in the middle of an argument. "I'm telling you, you just might," smirked the older boy. "Oh, hello! Sorry, didn't know anyone was in here"
Billy shrugged. "Come on in. I'm pretty sure there's not actually an empty compartment on this train, not after the crowd I saw on the platform"
The two boys walked in, the older one putting both their trunks in the shelves above. "I'm James Potter, this is my brother, Albus. So a Yank, eh?"
Before Billy could say anything, a girl with bushy red hair stormed in the compartment. "James and Albus, you left me behind!" she barked.
The younger brother grinned. "Is it our fault you stopped to share gossip with Pratibha Patil?"
Billy grinned as he watched the byplay. There was some family resemblance here, so the girl was either their sister (not likely unless she was Albus's twin, they were the same age), or possibly a cousin. "Hello, my name's Billy..."
He was interrupted, however, by the girl. "Oh, I'm sorry, pardon me. I'm Rose Weasly, and these two prats are my cousins..."
"We've already told him who we are," snorted James. "Now get your arse in the compartment so I can toss your trunk up above."
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The ride was quite entertaining, as the three other youngsters easily included him in their byplay. "Potters and Weasleys have a habit of adopting kids by themselves, unofficially at least," James had said. But all too soon, the train started slowing down. The children got dressed into their robes, and prepared themselves to disembark.
"Firs' years, over here!" boomed out a deep voice, and when Billy turned to look, his heart stopped for a moment. The speaker was a man the size of a kodiak bear in a ratty coat, with iron grey hair and beard thick enough to mistake him for a bigfoot at first.
"Hagrid!" squealed Rose, who raced over and practically flung herself at him. The huge man plucked her up off the ground, and swung her around, laughing.
"Now now, lil' Rose, ye need ter get on th' boat like all the other First Years. 'Allo Albus, James!"
James had seen Billy's reaction and leaned over. "That's the Care of Magical Creatures professor for the Third Years and up, Rubeus Hagrid. He's an old family friend, and likes to be called just 'Hagrid'."
As James left to get in the carriages and Albus and Rose clambered into a boat with Billy, a fourth young boy clambered in with them, introducing himself in a thick Scottish brogue as Duncan Campbell. Together they floated across the lake, and obeyed Hagrid's suggestion to duck as they passed into the castle itself.
The professor that met them there was nearly as small in proportion as Hagrid wa big. Billy guessed that two of him could fit inside one of Hagrid's thighs. He introduced himself as Professor Flitwick, the Charms Professor, Assistant Headmaster, and Head of House for Ravenclaw, and briefed them on what would be happening.
All too soon, he found himself standing in the Great Hall, awestruck by the gorgeous ceiling, and waiting for his name to be called so he could be sorted. He was rather nervous to find out that this hat would be looking inside his mind, but he reminded himself that the Old Man wouldn't have let him come without some form of protection if it posed any danger to his secrets.
Suddenly, Albus shoved him. "Go on up there, they just called your name!" Shocked, he darted up to the stool as Flitwick, standing on a stool of his own, prepared to set the Sorting hat on his head.
That never actually happene, however. Just as the first strands of his hair were beginning to brush the brim of the hat, it opened wide and yelled out "GRYFFINDOR!" And he could have sworn he heard the hat mutter, "As if there were any doubt..."
The rest of the evening was a bit of a blur, truth be told. Albus, Rose, and Duncan all ended up in Gryffindor with him, along with five other kids, and he discovered that the portrait that guarded the entrance to their comon room answered to the password of "Lightning Bolt", the name of the recent successor to the aging Firebolt broom. Billy grinned, and followed his new friends up to his room, and crashed hard, rapidly falling asleep on his four poster bed.
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Classes were everything he thought they would be, though those first few days were aimed mostly at him and the other muggle-borns, giving them the kind of basic overview that the kids raised in the Wizarding World would have gotten simply growing up. He found he loved Transfiguration and Defense Against the Dark Arts, didn't so much like Potions or History of Magic, and could take or leave Herbology and Charms. There was no chance he'd be at the top of his class, but he definitely wouldn't be in the bottom, either (that dubious distinction would belong to Nathan Nattersby, a Hufflepuff who might have more than the average amount of magical power, but less than the average amount of brains).
It was in Flying Class that everything finally came to a head, however. Just as the instructor, one Oliver Wood, was telling the class to order their brooms to come up into their hands, that a roar shook the grounds. A huge shape erupted from the other side of the castle walls, with a prismatic burst advertising the failing of Hogwarts' wards against the power of what they could now see was a dragon, one that looked large enough to carry off fully grown elephants in its claws. "Back to the castle, move it!" barked Oliver.
He may have been a muggle-born, but even Billy knew that all of the faculty together would be hard-pressed to contain the beast, let alone drive it away, and likely not without casualties. He knew what he had to do, and he had to do it soon. So he ducked out of the crowd of kids, missed in the confusion, and stopped just around the corner from the creature as it began to hurl bursts of flame at the Quidditch goals. He took a deep breath, then said the Old Man's name, as thunder pealed across the heavens.
"SHAZAM!"
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Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its concepts or characters, nor do I own Captain Marvel, Shazam, or Billy Batson.