-Prologue-
September 1, 2017
Kings' Cross Station was packed to the rafters on September 1st, 2017. There were many people in suits running to catch the trains that were leaving the station, but there was a large amount of young children and their families hurrying around to a seemingly unknown location. The children, usually being harassed with tears and scolding from their parents, were wheeling large trollies with large trunks and animals in cages stacked on top.
In one family in particular, the two sons seemed to be having a very intense debate about something.
"No, I won't be in Slytherin! I won't!" Young Albus Potter's voice was only heard to the few that were around him. He and his older brother James had been having the same argument for weeks now in the lead-up to the two's departure to Hogwarts.
"James, put a sock in it! Don't make me hex you in public!" The boy's mother, Ginny Potter, always the master of a good hex, seemed to attract fear at the threat of them.
"Sorry Mum." James apologised.
The family came to a stop in front of Platform 9 and the youngest Potter child, Lily, hopped off Albus' trolley. Just as Harry and Albus were about to push through the barrier, a male voice was heard, stopping them in their tracks.
"Um, excuse me, my family is wondering where to find Platform 9 ¾. Do you know how to get there?" Harry turned around and came face to face with a person he hadn't seen in years, and thought that he would never see again.
"Dudley?" He asked bewildered. The man's face lit up with recognition.
"Harry Potter? Is that really you?" Dudley Dursley's face lit up in a smile, he would never have admitted it, but he had desperately missed his cousin, he had always wanted to find him, but hadn't had the courage to do so.
"It is great to see you again! What are you doing here, and trying to get onto the platform no doubt?" Harry had not really thought much of the Dursleys after the war, but if the thought of them crossed his mind, he was curious as to how they were doing.
"Ah, yes, um, it is Arabella's first year. We are not sure how to come onto the platform." Dudley gestured to his family behind him. He had a wife and three children, much like Harry.
"Well, I must introduce you to my family. This is my wife Ginny, my oldest son James, my other son Albus and my daughter Lily. James is in third year and it is Al's first as well." Harry gestured to his family in turn and Ginny stepped forward to shake Dudley's hand, in which he happily complied.
"Well this is my wife, Darcey, my oldest daughter, Arabella, my son, Conner and my youngest daughter Eliza." He pointed to each person in turn as they said their name.
"Forgive me for asking, and I don't mean any disrespect, but Dudley, is your wife a muggle, I know that you are." Harry asked, timidly, as not to offend Darcey or Dudley.
"Oh yes, she is, I think she was a bit surprised when she found out about Bella being a witch, she was then even more surprised when I took it well, and believe me Harry, I was so proud of her to get into Hogwarts, I saw what that school did for you over the years, I always wanted to go but, ya know, not magical, so I was really happy when weird things started happening when Bella was around." Dudley smiled fondly at his daughter, who on the contrary was staring at the unfamiliar people with keen interest.
"Well, we mustn't delay, the train leaves soon. If you would like to go after James, he can show you." Harry said kindly. Dudley nodded and grabbed a hold of Arabella's trolley. James lined himself up and ran and the all in-between Platforms Nine and Ten. Harry looked back at his cousin and his wife, and seeing the dumbfounded look on their faces, shot them a reassuring smile, gesturing to the wall.
Dudley looked to Darcey and then to his children. They looked back at him and then he turned to push the cart toward the wall. Picking up a little speed and expecting to hit the wall, Dudley was surprised to find that no hard impact came. Instead, he found that they had appeared onto a platform nearly identical to nine and ten, the only anomaly being the large red engine that resembled James from the Thomas the Tank Engine series, or at least that's what Dudley thought.
"Are you alright? It can be a bit weird your first time." Dudley heard a female voice say, turning around he found that it was Lily, Harry's youngest, ultimately named after his Aunt, in the very few pictures he had seen of her throughout his life, Dudley had to say that she looked incredibly alike to her grandmother. Breaking out of his thoughts, he nodded to her and smiled.
"Dad's told us about you, I always wanted to meet you! I always wanted an uncle that didn't have red hair!" Dudley's heart swelled at the mention that Harry had told his children of him, he then had to laugh at Lily's humour towards her family. He suddenly remembered what family she was speaking of. Dudley remembers in the summer before his fourth year of secondary school, his cousin had visitors that nearly blew off the living room. He also remembers two identical twins giving him candy that made his tongue grow, which at the time, wasn't funny, but now looking back on it, Dudley was laughing at his teenage self.
"Dad, are you coming?" Arabella's voice rang through his ears. He looked over at her, a small smile on his face. She had an air of excitement on her face, she looked so happy to be going to the new school. He walked over to her and took her hand, and they together walked over to Harry and Ginny, who were now standing with another family. Dudley once again felt nervous about being around other wizards. Harry he was fine with because they grew up together, but anybody else and he was unsure. Arabella let go of his hand and skipped over to Albus, who was now talking to a red haired girl.
"Hey Harry, looks like Bella and Albus get along." He heard Ginny say to Harry as he reached the group of adults, Darcey also joining him at his side with Conner and Eliza staying close.
"Oh, yes, that reminds me, Ron, Hermione, you remember Dudley? This is his wife Darcey and his two youngest, Conner and Eliza. His oldest Arabella is going to be in Albus and Rose's year at Hogwarts." Ron and Hermione turned to Dudley with a surprised look dawning on both of their faces.
"Dudley? As in Dudley Dursley? Is that really you?" Ron was quite surprised to see the man on the platform, especially with his prior knowledge of Dudley's fear of anything magical. Dudley nodded and smiled, holding out his hand as a sign of friendship. Both Ron and Hermione, to his surprise, took it gladly. Hermione smiled at him kindly.
"Welcome to the other world! I don't know if you knew this, but my parents are muggles, so if you need any help understanding anything, please just ask me." Dudley looked back to Darcey, who nodded brightly and then turned back to Hermione.
"Thank you so much, that will help us so much." He said this quietly, but the gratitude was evident in his voice.
"Come on kids, time to get on the train! Have you got everything?" Ginny's voice rang through the group. Arabella looked at both of her parents, her mum had tears in her eyes, her dad standing next to her with an arm around her waist and a small, proud smile on his face. She smiled widely at them, the excitement evident in her actions.
When she found out that she was going to Hogwarts, she was a little nervous, but most of that was taken over by excitement. At school, she was always getting in to trouble for doing things she could never explain. Arabella always giggles at the memory of her getting up to answer a maths problem one day, and all her numbers suddenly sprouting arms and legs and dancing with each other all over the board. Whilst her teacher and her classmates started to panic and cry, she sat there and laughed the threes and fours doing the foxtrot. That was one of the first signs that she was different to the other kids.
"Are you ready sweetheart?" Her mother approached her and looked over her, making sure that she had everything. Arabella nodded, a smile gracing her face.
"Yep! Oh, mum, I am so excited, I will write to you as much as I can, I promise I will tell you everything!" Darcey chuckled at her daughter's eagerness towards Hogwarts.
"That's okay dear, just make sure you do well in your studies, and don't get into too much trouble, okay? The last thing I need is hear that you have been misbehaving too much." Bella nodded in understanding toward her mother.
"Come on Bella! We have to get a seat together!" She heard Rose yell out. Smiling, she hugged both her mother and father, attacked both her siblings, much to Conner's disdain.
"Bye! I will miss you guys! See you at Christmas." She yelled back to her parents as she ran to catch up with Rose and Albus.
"Are you ready for the best time ever?" Rose asked excitedly as they boarded the train. Both Albus and Bella nodded. They found a seemingly empty compartment, only a boy with white blonde hair and a girl with brown hair sitting on opposite sides. Opening up the door, Albus opened his mouth to say something.
"Hey, can we sit with you guys? Everywhere else is full." His voice suddenly very timid. The girl and boy's heads snapped up at the sound of his voice. The boy paled even more than his natural skin colour, but he nodded silently anyway. The girl however, broke out into a large smile.
"Sure you can. My name is Samantha, but please call me Sammy." Her American accent surprised the three. "The anti-social twerp over there is Scorpius Malfoy." At the mention of his name, Scorpius looked up from his hands in his lap.
"Well, I am Rose, that there is my cousin, Albus, and the shorty on his other side is Al's sort of second cousin Arabella. Nice to meet you guys!" Both Scorpius and Sammy smiled, acknowledging that the three could sit in the compartment.
The five kids sat together the entire way to Hogwarts, entertaining themselves with conversations of their past, and eating junk food bought from the trolley.