YEAR ONE
Chapter 1- The Journey from Platform Nine and Three-quarters
Disclaimer: the awesome world of Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling and not me
Author's note: Hello everyone- I'm back! It's been over 2 years since I last updated this story- I'm sorry for everyone I kept waiting but I'm back for real now! The first five chapters are still mostly the same with a few grammatical and minor plot errors fixed and chapter six is new. And this time around I've worked ahead so I can make sure to be able to update every 2-3 weeks even if my life gets busy.
For those of you who are new to the story- welcome! This will encompass the first four years of Harry at Hogwarts (books 1-4) and I plan to continue this in part two which will be books 5-7 (but it will take a while). This fanfic is canon through the beginning of the Sorcerer's Stone EXCEPT that Harry never met Malfoy in the robe shop and therefore Hagrid never mentioned to Harry that Voldemort and co. were in Slytherin (Harry's ignorance of the Houses is important in my story).
This first chapter actually doesn't contain any Slytherin action but don't worry the rest of the story will have an abundance of our green and silver friends (and enemies). And forewarning- there will be some Ron bashing in this story. I don't have anything against Ron but I don't think my version of Slytherin Harry and Ron would have got along and Ron plays an important role as childhood "antagonist" to Harry in this story. So sorry for the Ron fans out there. As for other non-Slytherin characters- don't worry Harry will have many friends not in his House. In fact, you'll meet two of them in this chapter. ENJOY!
PREVIOUSLY FROM THE SORCORER'S STONE: "Well, there you are boy. Platform nine – platform ten. Your platform should be somewhere in the middle, but they don't seem to have built it yet, do they?"
He was quite right, of course. There was a big plastic number nine over one platform and a big plastic number ten over the one next to it, and in the middle, nothing at all.
"Have a good term," said Uncle Vernon with an even nastier smile. He left without another word. Harry turned and saw the Dursleys drive away. All three of them were laughing. Harry's mouth went rather dry. What on earth was he going to do? He was starting to attract a lot of funny looks, because of Hedwig. He'd have to ask someone.
And ask Harry did. Unfortunately, no one had ever heard of platform nine and three-quarters or of any train called the Hogwarts Express. When a helpful man asked Harry what country his destination was, Harry realized he didn't even know where Hogwarts was— it could be in Siberia for all Harry knew.
Starting to feel panicked, Harry paused a second to get himself together. He realized how odd he must have looked, a skinny kid dressed in baggy clothes standing alone with a huge trunk and a snowy owl, of all things. Of course, it was that moment that Harry realized he didn't have any normal money, only his wizarding money from Gringotts, so he was well and truly stranded. He supposed he could always try to contact Hagrid using Hedwig— only he had never actually sent mail by owl before.
Realizing he had to do something, Harry turned around and stepped purposely back into the throng, determined to find someone who knew where his platform was—Harry didn't see the large boy awkwardly stumbling towards him until it was too late.
—CRASH—
All of a sudden, Harry found himself sprawled across the floor with a rather wide, unfamiliar body on top of him. As Harry tried to reorient himself, he heard a voice, seeming to belong to the person currently on top of him, shout excitedly, "Trevor!"
Harry heard another voice, sounding like that of an elderly woman, somewhere off to his left.
"Oh look what you've done now you foolish boy!" scolded the voice.
Suddenly, Harry felt the boy being lifted off him, allowing him a view of his accidental attacker. The boy appeared to be about Harry's age with a rather heavyset body, very round face, wide blue eyes and rather large front teeth. He appeared to be clutching a toad and his entire face was slowly turning the color of a tomato. Clutching his shoulder was a rather severe looking elderly woman, wearing a very large hat with what appeared to be a stuffed pheasant on top and clutching some kind of huge, scaled handbag.
"I - I – I'm s-sss-so sor- rr-ry, " the boy stammered quickly. "I di-didn't see y-you there."
The boy then leaned down and offered Harry a hand, helping pull him, rather clumsily, to his feet.
"It's alright" Harry assured him. "It's really crowded in here and I honestly wasn't paying attention."
"Yes, yes it's absolutely packed with Muggles, as always," the elderly woman murmured. "You'll have to excuse my grandson he is really quite clumsy at times but he means well."
Harry's heart leapt. She had said Muggles— maybe she and her grandson were here for the Hogwarts Express and could help him!
"I'm sorry did you say muggles?" Harry asked quickly.
"What? No you must have misheard me dear—" the woman muttered distractedly. Before she could drag her grandson back into the throng, Harry lightly grabbed her coat sleeve.
"No you misunderstood me. I'm looking for the Hogwarts Express but I can't find it and was hoping you might be able to help me" Harry interrupted quickly, finishing with a hopeful smile.
The elderly witch stopped and gazed at Harry intently for a few seconds.
"What's your name dear?" she asked kindly, with a knowing look in her eye.
"Harry Potter"
The boy gasped loudly. "Wow you're really Harry Potter? Th-That's fantastic!" He exclaimed with a shy smiled, jerking upright suddenly and almost losing his grip on his toad.
"My name is Augusta Longbottom and this is my grandson Neville, a first year like yourself. I knew your parents through my son, Frank, and was truly sorry to hear of their fate. You did the wizarding world a real favor Mr. Potter and it would be our pleasure to help you," the elderly witch declared. "Wouldn't it Neville?"
"Yes, of course!" Neville quickly agreed with his grandmother, bobbing his head up and down and offering Harry a large but slightly nervous smile.
"Thanks, that'd be great" Harry stated.
Harry then grabbed his trolley with his trunk and Hedwig and proceeded to follow Mrs. Longbottom and her grandson towards the barrier between platforms nine and ten. The elderly Longbottom stopped suddenly and addressed Harry.
"To get to platform nine and three quarters you have to simply walk straight at the barrier between platforms nine and ten. It's understandable if you're nervous. Why don't you and Neville go through together since it's his first time as well?"
At first Harry thought he misheard— surly she didn't mean for him to walk headlong into a wall? But then Harry saw Neville's brief look of panic which quickly softened into resolve and the other boy offered Harry a questioning look.
"Sure, sounds good to me" Harry said.
At least if he ended up making a fool of himself by crashing his trolley into a wall, Neville would be in the same boat.
"On the count of three?" Harry asked the other boy. Neville nodded.
"One . . . two . . . three!"
Harry plucked up his courage and pushed his trolley towards the barrier, maintaining a fast walk. Neville followed a few seconds later, almost tripping over his trolley in his haste to not be left behind. Harry could not help but flinch as he came up to the barrier, expecting to be repelled any minute.
"It's all right Harry!" Neville's excited voice echoed to his left. "You can open your eyes now! We found the train and we didn't die!"
"Of course you didn't die" scolded Mrs. Longbottom. "Don't be overly dramatic Neville, it's not becoming."
Flushing, Neville nodded quickly. Meanwhile, Harry couldn't believe his eyes. A large scarlet steam engine stood gleaming on the tracks. Various students and their families bustled about hauling trunks, owls in cages, a few holding brooms. Students bunched in groups, catching up after the summer holiday. Harry followed Neville and his grandmother as they searched for an empty train car. They found one near of the end of the train. Neville stopped to give his grandmother a hug. She wished him and Harry a good year at Hogwarts. Harry waited by the door to the train car as Neville's grandmother bombarded him with some last minute advice, and then with a cheery wave, she was off.
Neville walked over to Harry.
"Well we should probably find a seat, I mean not that we have to sit together, unless you want to, I mean-"
"That'd be great," Harry interrupted Neville's rushed words and offered the other boy a smile.
Neville followed Harry as they looked for an empty compartment. Towards the end of the train car, they came upon a compartment with only one occupant. A girl that appeared to be their age with extremely bushy brown hair had taken the seat closet to the window and appeared to be engrossed in a very large book. Harry looked at Neville questioningly, who shrugged back.
Sliding open the door, Harry stepped in and cleared his throat.
"Um, excuse me, would you mind if we joined you?" Harry asked politely.
The girl looked up quickly, startled out of her book, which Harry now recognized as one of their schoolbooks, The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1). Upon seeing them, she quickly stood up, straightening her school robes she walked purposely towards them and offered her hand.
"Of course not, please have a seat. My name is Hermione Granger and it's a pleasure to meet you," she declared as she firmly shook first Harry, then Neville's hands. Harry was strongly reminded of the top student in his grade and who was also class president—Hermione Granger gave off a very intense vibe. "And who are you?"
"Neville Longbottom," Neville answered quietly, he seemed a bit intimidated by Hermione.
"I'm Harry Potter."
"Holy cricket, you're Harry Potter! I've read about you," Hermione exclaimed excitedly.
"You have?" said Harry, surprised and a little unnerved that he was in a book.
"Oh yes!" Hermione replied enthusiastically. "You're in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twenty-first Century."
"Really?" replied Harry. Feeling a bit overwhelmed, Harry quickly took a seat opposite Hermione, Neville choosing to sit beside him.
"Well you are rather famous aren't you? I mean, of course there are books on you. Why are you so surprised?" Hermione asked, seeming genuinely confused.
"Um, I was raised by my Aunt and Uncle and they don't know about magic. They're Muggles so I didn't even know I was famous or that magic was real until I got my letter," Harry admitted.
"Really? That makes sense. I grew up with Muggles too. I mean my parents are Muggles, dentists actually. I was really worried I'd be behind so I've been reading every book I could get my hands on, after I read all of our school books first, of course," Hermione explained. "What about you Neville, did you grow up in the wizarding world?"
"Yeah. I grew up with my Gran and she's a witch. My Great Aunt and Uncle and other family all are too as far as I know." Neville answered.
"Wow! That must have been interesting. I have so many questions . . . "and Hermione certainly wasn't exaggerating, she did have a lot of questions. She interrogated Neville about everything from how wizarding families cleaned house to what he knew about the wizarding government, which apparently was called the Ministry of Magic. At first, Neville seemed taken back by Hermione's rapid-fire questions. Harry got the impression Neville wasn't used to talking a lot or being the focus of attention. However, he seemed to warm up to Hermione's honest and friendly curiosity. Harry himself was fascinated to learn about the world that he might have been a part of, if his parents hadn't been murdered.
Eventually, Hermione's quest for knowledge was interrupted when a kind, portly witch pushing a trolley loaded with sweets opened the door.
"Anything from the trolley dears?" she asked.
Hermione shook her head, pointing to a lunch box she had under her seat. Neville flushed. Apparently, he had left his money in his trunk, which was stowed under the train car. Harry, however, was starving and currently had more pocket change than he had ever possessed previously in his life.
"I'll take some of everything," Harry said.
Harry was very excited about his hoard because most of it was sweets like those that he had never seen before. There were Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Chocolate Frogs, Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes and a variety of other treats Harry had never heard of. Harry offered some to Neville.
"No, I sh-shouldn't Harry. You bought it—" Neville started to mumble.
"I insist. There is no way I can eat all this and if it makes you uncomfortable you could always owe me one," Harry suggested firmly. "You can have some too, if you want, Hermione."
"No thanks," Hermione said pleasantly.
Harry and Neville quickly dove into the sweets. Hermione proceeded to unpack her lunch of some sort of sandwich, carrot sticks, an apple and some whole grain crackers. She gave the boys a slightly disapproving look but didn't actually comment on the total lack of nutritional value of their meal.
Upon opening a chocolate frog, Harry was surprised to find a picture of what he assumed was a wizard.
"What's this?" Harry asked Neville.
"Oh- that's a chocolate frog card. They're collectable. They all have a picture of a famous witch or wizard on them. There is information about the person on the back," Neville informed him around a mouthful of Pumpkin Pasty.
Harry looked closer at the picture. It was of a rather intimidating wizard with cold grew eyes and it said Salazar Slytherin underneath the photo. Turning the card over Harry read—
Salazar Slytherin was the founder of Slytherin House at Hogwarts. He was one of the first recorded Parselmouths, an accomplished Legilimens, and a notorious champion of pure-blood supremacy.
Slytherin House at Hogwarts, Harry thought he remembered reading something about Hogwarts having Houses when he had skimmed through his new school books in his excitement after his trip to Diagon Alley. Feeling curious, Harry turned to Hermione.
"What do you know about the Houses at Hogwarts?" Harry asked her, figuring she would be more than happy to share her knowledge on the subject. He was right, of course.
"Well I read all about them in Hogwarts A History," she said. "There are four Houses, named after the four founders of Hogwarts: Godric Gryffindor, Salazar Slytherin, Helga Hufflepuff and Rowena Ravenclaw. Each House is founded on a certain set of characteristics that that respective founder valued in his or her students. Gryffindor valued bravery, daring, nerve, and chivalry, Slytherin valued ambition, cunning and resourcefulness, Hufflepuff valued hard work, patience, loyalty, and fair play while Ravenclaw valued intelligence, knowledge, and wit. Each house also has a symbolic animal and set of colors. Gryffindor has the lion and its colors are red and gold, Slytherin has the snake with silver and green, Hufflepuff has the badger with yellow and black and Ravenclaw has the eagle with blue and bronze."
Hermione finally stopped to take a breath, looking quite pleased with herself. Harry had to blink a few times to sort through all the information. Looking back down at the card Harry asked, "what's pureblood supremacy mean?"
Before Hermione could answer, Neville let out a horrified gasp.
"Trevor!" he squealed. "Oh no, I can't find him. I th-thought he was in my pocket- but he's n-not and I don't ss-see him anywhere! Wh-what if he hopped out at the station- he could be lost or st-stepped on and I don't know h-how I'd ever get him to Hogwarts—"
"It's all right Neville!" Harry exclaimed, putting a comforting hand on the other boy's shoulder. "I saw Trevor in your pocket after we got on the train— he probably hopped out while were sitting out here talking and escaped when the door was opened for the trolley lady," Harry assured him.
"We can go look on the rest of the train," Hermione suggested.
Neville nodded enthusiastically and stood up quickly. Unfortunately, he stepped on his own pant leg, over balanced and fell forwards, hitting his head on the opposing seat, flailing around and ending up sprawled between the seats with most of the sweets' wrappers scattered on top of him.
Harry couldn't help the small chuckle that escaped him, Neville really was terribly clumsy, but he was quick to lean down to help pull Neville back onto the seat. Hermione regarded the whole affair with a raised eyebrow and a rather disapproving expression. Sighing, she stood up.
"How about I go look for the toad, since you cannot seem to stand up without causing a disaster. We're not that far away from Hogwarts either so you should probably put your robes on as well." With a softened expression, Hermione turned to Neville. "Don't worry, I promise I'll find him." And with that, she calmly exited the compartment to find Trevor the, once again, missing toad.
Neville just glanced at Harry, who shrugged, and then the two took Hermione's advice and put on their school robes. Since Harry could tell Neville was upset about his missing toad, Harry tried to help him relax by recounting the tale of how he accidentally set a Python on his horrible cousin Dudley at the zoo.
Hermione was back an hour later, Trevor in tow, although she was in a rather huffy mood. Apparently not all of the students she met on her mission to rescue Trevor had been helpful or kind. She complained at length about some rather nasty bleach blond first year with his own personal goons and a red- haired boy who had been very rude after Hermione pointed out some dirt on his nose even though she was "just trying to be helpful for goodness' sakes!"
Before they knew it, the Hogwarts Express was slowing down and pulling into the station. Harry felt excitement and nervousness battle for dominance in his gut. They were finally here!
Harry quickly walked outside the train into the chilly night air, Hermione and Neville following behind him. They were on a small platform teaming with many other students. Suddenly Harry heard a familiar voice, "Firs' years! Firs' years over here." Harry beamed when he recognized Hagrid, gesturing for all the first years to gather around him.
"Whoa," Neville gasped with wide eyes. "He's huge."
"That's Hagrid, he's the Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts," Harry informed them, excited he was actually able to share useful information. Hagrid spotted him and gave him a huge smile. Harry smiled and waved back, happy to see a familiar face.
The trio joined the other first years gathering around Hagrid. Once all the first years were present, they followed Hagrid around the bend. Several gasps were heard as Hogwarts came into view. Across a large, dark lake stood a huge castle, the lights from the windows shining brightly in the darkness. Harry thought it was the most impressive thing he had ever seen.
"Here we are," Hagrid said, stopping by a fleet of small boats on the edge of the lake. "No more'n four to a boat!"
Harry ended up in a boat at the back of the fleet with Neville, Hermione, and a red haired boy he didn't know. As their boated floated across the lake, seemingly out of its own accord, the red haired boy spotted Hermione.
"Oh, it's you," he said rather rudely.
Based on the disdainful look Hermione sent him, Harry realized this must be the red haired boy she had been complaining about on the train.
"Well don't try and sound pleasant, I wouldn't want you to hurt yourself," Hermione said cuttingly.
The red haired boy's faced suddenly matched his hair.
"What's your problem?" he asked angrily.
"I don't see why you have to be so rude!" Hermione exclaimed.
Harry and Neville shared a look. Neville looked extremely uncomfortable. Harry just wished they could wait to argue with each other until Harry was no longer stuck in a small boat with them on a very large and deep looking lake.
"Rude? I'm not the once who came barging in and interrupting a perfectly decent game of—"
"—oh well I'm sorry if I threw off your chess game but I was trying to—"
"—NO ONE CARES ABOUT SOME STUPID TOAD!"
"WHY YOU COMPLETE—"
But Harry never got to find out what Hermione might have called the red haired boy. During the argument, Neville had taken Trevor out of his pocket and started stroking him, probably to stay calm. However, it seemed Trevor the toad liked shouting even less than Neville because he jumped out of Neville's hand and into the lake. Neville, panicking, scrambled to the side of the boat and leaned over— too far over. Harry tried to grab him but he was too late and Neville fell into the lake. Unfortunately, Neville tried to hold onto the side of the boat and the whole thing flipped, dumping Harry, Hermione and the red haired boy into the freezing black water.
***Author's note: Oh Neville! 3 So there it is- my first chapter of my first fanfiction ever (now re-edited). I'm so excited and I hoped you enjoyed it. Random side note- the info on the back of Salazar Slytherins card is not mine— I it found it on Pottermore wiki. I may exaggerate Neville's clumsiness a bit in this story but I think it just makes him more endearing.
Next chapter- the Sorting Hat! Finally, we'll meet the Slytherins!
