-Another Year on Platform Nine and Three-quarters-
Next Generation
September first rolled around once again. Only this time no Potters or Weasleys boarded the train to head off to the most magical place any of them could ever experience: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Now that Hugo and Lily had graduated from their N.E.W.T.s and were off to do whatever they were going to do with their lives, Platform Nine and Three-quarters lost the last of its most memorable crew. The ones who were the loudest. The ones who always found that first year that seemed to need some help and took them in. That crew that had flaming red hair, or had a sibling that did. Platform Nine and Three-quarters hadn't gone Potter/Weasley free for eighteen years.
First came little Teddy Lupin, his father's wand in his already worn robes and his mother's old trunk on the trolley in front of him; Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione and his grandmother in his wake. There was never a child more excited to be going to school in the history of education itself. His dreams were coming true. He was going to be part of the school that accepted his father for everything he was. And he was soon going to be accepted as the son of a war hero.
Two years later little Victoire Weasley came running through the barrier that separated the Muggle word from this magical one. Her strawberry blond hair in tight French braids her mother had done for her that morning. Victoire almost skipped to her best friend as he talked with his fellow third years and was introduced to her first of many friends at Hogwarts.
It took two years to bring another Weasley onto the platform that held the scarlet engine. Molly Weasley walked dignifiedly through the barrier, trying to control her uncontrollable excitement. Education was just a few steps away! Young Molly was excited to start her new life as a real witch.
That next year, Vic's little sister joined the crew. Her only brother being left in the wake of his sisters' first step in growing up. Dominique begged her father to let her bring her broomstick to school with her, feeling empty without it at her side. She was hushed by her mother and shooed onto the train with a promise that people will still like her even without that old broomstick to show off.
Molly's little sister came next. She clung to her father's robes, hoping for the security of his body to hide her from everyone who would be looking. Lucy Weasley clung to her small rubber duck with all her might. Her lucky plug in her back pocket, she breathed a deep nervous sigh as she said good bye to her parents and boarded the train to bring her to school. With Lucy's first year at Hogwarts came Teddy's last, he could be seen finding the same friends he had found the last seven years past with Victoire being dragged behind him. He was ready for his last trip.
The next year was a motherload of Weasleys and the first Potter walked through the Platform barrier. James chatted happily with Fred as they discussed what joke shop items they managed to get past their parents and which ones their Uncle Ron had gotten them under George's nose. Roxanne followed her twin brother and rolled her eyes as she watched James hand him an Extendable Ear. Harry said good bye to his oldest son for the first time. He turned to see his godson staring at the steam engine, regret in brown eyes as he couldn't be leaving as well.
Now the next year was the most known year to everyone. Albus Severus Potter and Rose Heather Weasley started Hogwarts. Lily whined to her father that she wanted to go with her brothers while Al wished his brother wasn't so mean to him. They stood impatiently on the platform while waiting for their families to let them go onto the train that brought them straight to the magical place where they would meet their best friend and should-be enemy Scorpius Malfoy. But of course with Rose and Al starting we get another Weasley ending. Victoire kissed her boyfriend good bye before she left for her final year with a promise to come back for him and they could start their life together.
Next year wasn't nearly as busy as the year before it. Louis Weasley started Hogwarts to follow his two sisters before him. He could hear his younger cousin still begging her father to let her go to Hogwarts but he minded his own business. He pushed his trolley on toward the train to get his stuff loaded, getting jabbed in the side by Dom's broomstick and throwing her a dirty look. Even her constant need to pick on him wasn't going to stop him from enjoying this day he was going to remember for the rest of his life.
This was the last year of firsts in the Potter/Weasley crew. Lily Potter and Hugo Weasley started school, more excited than Teddy even was on his first day. They planned it out together all the years alone at home with siblings off to school. They were going to be Gryffindors just like their parents. They were going to be world famous heroes just like their fathers and Hugo's mother was. Everything was perfect. They were heading to Hogwarts, together. Ron and Hermione hugged their children extra tight and Harry gave an additional kiss to his little girl before sending them off to the place that was once their home. The place they once fought to keep safe.
The years past and the number of Weasleys and Potters arriving at Platform Nine and Three-quarters on September first dwindled every year. Finally it was only Lily and Hugo left. They went through all six journeys together and they prepared themselves for their last one without any other cousins to back them up.
And now we return to that September first we started our story at. The one that was free of all Potter or Weasley children. The place had an almost empty feeling around it if you were an annual visitor. There were almost twenty less people arriving this year than usual. Replaced by the unknown faces of unfamiliar people. A whole new generation of young witches and wizards eager to learn.
1,063 Words