PLATFORM NINE AND THREE-QUARTERS

Indistinct figure were swarming through the mist, into which James had already disappeared. The platform is also busy – but instead of people in sharp suits going about their day, it's now wizards and witches in robes mostly trying to work out how to say goodbye to their beloved progeny.

"This is it." Albus says softly.

"Wow!" Lily says.

'Wow indeed, if dad saw these people he'd be taking them to mom to get their heads checked' Inojin thought to himself sure this was the wrong place just before getting it confirmed to be the right place when Albus turns to him and says, "Platform nine and three-quarters."

"Thank you so much for your help. I better go get on then." Inojin tells them as he move away from the family and toward the train with a smile. 'That's it fall for smile. Good. How the hell is this normal to them?' The family let him leave as they have other concerns. Which let Inojin tail them again without note.

"Where are they?" asked Albus anxiously, peering at the hazy forms they passed as they make their way down the platform.

"We'll find them," said Ginny reassuringly.

But the vapour was dense, and it was difficult to make out anybody's faces. Detached from their owners, voices sounded unnaturally loud. Harry thought he heard Percy discoursing loudly on broomstick regulations, and was quite glad of the excuse not to stop and say hello….

'Broomstick regulations? What the hell do they do with a sweeping tool?' Inojin thought has he past the nutter giving a broom lector. By a train door he load in his trunk and stood in the shadows watching the family go on.

"Where are they? Are they here? Maybe they didn't come?" Lily taunts her brother Albus,

"I think that's them, Al," said Ginny suddenly.

A group of four people emerged from the mist, standing alongside the very last carriage. Their faces only came into focus when Harry, Ginny, Lily and Albus had drawn right up to them.

"Uncle Ron. Uncle Ron!" Lily yells as Ron turns towards them, Lily goes barrelling up to him. He picks her up into his arms.

"Hi" said Albus, sounding immensely relieved.

Rose, who was already wearing her brand new Hogwarts robes, beamed at him.

"If it isn't my favourite Potter." Ron tells Lily.

"Have you got my trick?" Lily sweetly asks him.

"Are you aware of the Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes certified nose-stealing breath?" Ron asks her as she smiles.

"Mum! Dad's doing that lame thing again." Rose tattles.

"You say lame, he says glorious, I say…somewhere in between." Hermione answered.

'I say where the hell am I and how do I get home before I lose my mind. Please tell me I don't have to wear those black robes too.' Inojin thought noting the girl was not the only one dress in those clothes. 'Oh, lord please don't let there be any in my trunk meant for the girl's, I know I look a lot like mum but I am still a boy.'

"Hang on. Let me just munch this…air. And now it's just a simple matter of…excuse me if I smell slightly of garlic…" Ron says as he breathes on her face.

Lily giggles. "You smell of porridge."

"Bing. Bang. Boing. Young lady, get ready not being able to smell at all…" Ron lifts her nose off.

"Where's my nose?" Lily cries.

"Tada" Ron lifts his hand is empty. It's a lame trick. Everyone enjoys its lameness except the kid wishing that he was home because the bad feeling he had just got worse.

"You are silly." Lily declares.

"Everyone's staring at us again." Albus says.

"Because of me! I'm extremely famous. My nose experiments are legendary!" Ron proudly tells him.

'Nope they all are staring at that Harry guy, then at your wife and lastly at you just to confirm it is him. Albus wants them to get lost as they make up weird assumption about him.' Inojin though as he studied the crowded around them, 'So the parents are famous like Lord Seventh. Looks like the reason are similar too. That girl is like Sardra only a lot worse.'

"They're certainly something." Hermione says calmly.

"Parked all right, then?" Ron asked Harry. "I did. Hermione didn't believe I could pass a Muggle driving test, did you? She thought I'd have to Confund the examiner."

"No, I didn't," said Hermione, "I had complete faith in you."

"And I have complete faith he did Confund the examiner." Rose muttered.

"As a matter of fact, I did Confund him," Ron whispered to Harry, as together they lifted Albus's trunk and owl on to the train. "I only forgot to look in the wing mirror, and let's face it, I can use a Supersensory Charm for that."

'Which explains why there are so many bad drives out there today and every other day, go take the test again you lazy bum. Do I even want to know what a Supersensory Charm or Confund is? Mom, why oh, why did I have to get to the Academy early on the first day?'Inojin thought as he moved he's new trunk further into the shadows.

Back on the platform, they found Lily and Hugo, Rose's younger brother, having an animated discussion about which house they would be sorted into when they finally went to Hogwarts.

"Dad…" Albus whispered as he pulls on Harry's robes. Harry looks down at him. "Do you think – what if I am – what if I'm put in Slytherin…"

"And what would be wrong with that?" Harry whispered back to his son. Inojin feels a dark foreboding sensation to this conversation.

"Slythrin is the house of the snake, of Dark Maigic… it's not a house of brave wizards." Albus quickly whispers.

"Albus Severus, you were named after two headmasters of Hogwarts. One of them was a Slytherin and he was probably the bravest man I ever know." Harry tells him. 'Clearly there is something wrong with how they sort the school house. I wonder how they do it?' Inojin think to himself.

"But just say…" Albus starts to say.

Harry crouched down so that Albus's face was slightly above his own. Alone of Harry's three children, Albus had inherited Lily's eyes.

"– then Slytherin House will have gained an excellent student, won't it? It doesn't matter to us, Al. But if it matters to you, you'll be able to choose Gryffindor over Slytherin. The Sorting Hat takes your choice into account." Harry tells him. 'Did he just say a hat was going to tell me where I'm going? Yeah there's definitely something wrong with the sorting.' Inojin think as the foreboding sensation intensify in him.

"Really?"Albus asks hope shining in his eyes.

"It did for me." This is something he's never said before; it resonates around his head a moment.

"If you're not in Gryffindor, we'll disinherit you," said Ron, "But no pressure."

"Ron!"

Lily and Hugo laughed, but Albus and Rose looked solemn. 'Okay so Hogwarts is the school we are heading to, a boarding school for people who think they are magical. It's house are Slytherin and Gryffindor. This helpful family is made up of Gryffindor's and the father could have ended up in Slytherin. I think I'll call him Sev instead of Al it could be fun.' Inojin summed up that he'd learnt.

"He doesn't mean it," said Hermione and Ginny, but Ron was no longer paying attention. Catching Harry's eye, he nodded covertly to a point some fifty yards away. The steam had thinned for a moment and three people stood in sharp relief against the shifting mist.

"Look who it is"

Draco Malfoy was standing there with his wife and son, a dark coat buttoned up to his throat. His hair was receding somewhat, which emphasised the pointed chin. The new boy resembled Draco as much Albus resembled Harry. Draco caught sight of Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny staring at him, nodded curtly and turned away again.

"So that's little Scorpius," said Ron under his breath. "Make sure you beat him in every test, Rosie. Thank God you inherited your mother's Brains."

'Something tells me I may just be her completion instead of him but that may be bad to stand out if it get back parents.' Inojin thinks as he's mother and aunty Temari are always comparing him and Shikadai. A useless thing he just couldn't understand as Shikadai find it too troublesome to get good grade and well he just didn't get why it was hard for everyone else. Sardra was all ways going on about studding hard and yet with she was second to Denki, while he made third in the class on average so it really wasn't that big of a deal. Well if he tried he could probably beat her and Denki but that would come with some bad exportation from his mom and he just didn't think of it as important as the practical was more useful not that he was any good at it.

"Ron, for heaven's sake," said Hermione, half-stern, half-amused. "Don't try to turn them against each other before they've even started school!"

"You're right, sorry," said Ron, but unable to help himself, he added, "Don't get too friendly with him, though, Rosie. Granddad Weasley would never forgive you if you married a pure-blood."

"Hey!"James had reappeared; he had divested himself of his trunk, owl and trolley, and was evidently bursting with news.

"Teddy's back there," he said breathlessly, pointing back over his shoulder into the billowing clouds of steam. "Just seen him! And guess what he's doing? Snogging Victoire!"

He gazed up at the adults, evidently disappointed by the lack of reaction.

"Our Teddy! Teddy Lupin! Snogging our Victoire! Our cousin! And I asked Teddy what he was doing –"

"You interrupted them?" said Ginny. "You are so like Ron –"

"- and he said he'd come to see her off! And then he told me to go away. He's snogging her!" James added, as though worried he had not made himself clear.

"Oh, it would be lovely if they got married!" whispered Lily ecstatically. "Teddy would really be part of the family then!"

"He already comes round for dinner about four times a week," said Harry "Why don't we just invite him to live with is and have done with it?"

"Yeah!" said James enthusiastically. "I don't mind sharing with Al – Teddy could have my room!"

"No," said Harry firmly, "you and Al will share a room only when I want the house demolished."

'So they fight a lot for your attention? How important are you that they get so little of your time?' Inojin couldn't help but feel jealousy as he had no siblings to fight with. Not that it matter his parents were odd and his mother had a tends to pay too much attention to him at times so did his aunties form the team's formation. He offends wonder if it was because he was the youngest in the group but that couldn't real be it from how they acted.

Looking at his still fearful son Harry says "Hogwarts will be the making of you, Albus. I promise you there is nothing to be frightened of there."

"Apart from the Thestrals. Watch out for the Thestrals." James chips in.

"I thought they were invisible!" Albus exclaims. 'And I'm sure I don't want to known about invisible make believe things but hey I'm stuck here eavesdropping on one real bad conversation' Inojin nods at Albus direction.

Harry checked the battered old watch that had once been Fabian Prewett's.

"Listen to your professors, don't listen to James, and remember to enjoy yourself. Now, if you don't want this train to leave without you, you should leap on...It's nearly eleven, you'd better get on board."

"Don't forget to give Neville our love!" Ginny told James as she hugged him.

"Rose. Remember to send Neville our love." Hermione tells her daughter at the same time.

"Mum! I can't give a professor love!" the two say at the same time.

Rose makes for the train as Albus turns and hugs Ginny and Harry one last time before following after her.

"But you know Neville –"

James rolled his eyes.

"Outside, yeah, but at school he's Professor Longbottom, isn't he? I can't walk into Herbology and give him love…"

Shaking his head at his mother's foolishness, he vented his feelings by aiming a kick at Albus.

"See you later, Al. Watch out for the thestrals."

"You said they were invisible!"

But James merely laughed, permitted his mother to kiss him, gave his father a fleeting hug, and then leapt onto the rapidly filling train. They saw him wave, then sprint away up the corridor to find his friends.

"Thestrals are nothing to worry about," Harry told Albus. "They're gentle things, there's nothing scary about them. Anyway, you won't be going up to school in the carriages, you'll be going in the boats."

Ginny kissed Albus good-bye.

"See you at Christmas."

"Bye, Al," said Harry as his son hugged him. "Don't forget Hagrid's invited you to tea next Friday. Don't mess with Peeves. Don't duel anyone till you've learned how. And don't let James wind you up."

"Okay, then. Bye." But now the doors were slamming all along the scarlet train, and the blurred outlines of parents swarming forward for final kisses, last-minute reminders, Albus jumped into the carriage and Ginny closed the door behind him. Students were hanging from the windows nearest them. A great number of faces, both on the train and off, seemed to be turned toward Harry.

"Why are they all staring?" demanded Albus as he and Rose craned around to look at the other students.

"Don't let it worry you," said Ron. "It's me, I'm extremely famous."

'Again that's a no, it's Harry who's extremely famous not that you're not important but they much more interested in your world's Lord Seventh form then you.' Inojin thought as he stood in the carriage unseen.

Albus, Rose, Hugo, and Lily laughed. The train began to move, and Harry walked alongside it, watching his son's thin face, already ablaze with excitement. Harry kept smiling and waving, even though it was like a little bereavement, watching his son glide away from him…

The last trace of steam evaporated in the autumn air. The train rounded a corner. Harry's hand was still raised in farewell.

"They're going to be okay, right?" murmured Ginny.

"Hogwarts is a big place." Hermione says softly.

"Big. Wonderful. Full of food. I'd give anything to be going back."Ron put in.

"Strange, Al being worried he'll be sorted into Slytherin." Harry says to them.

"That's nothing; Rose is worried whether she'll break the Quidditch scoring record in her first or second year. And how early she can take her O.W.L.s" Hermione says sounding excited.

"I have no idea where she gets her ambition from." Ron says in mock innocents.

"And how would you feel Harry, if Al – if he is?" Ginny asks her husband.

"You know Gin, we always thought there was a chance you could be sorted into Slytherin." Ron says with a services face.

"What?" Ginny asked quite shocked.

"Honestly, Fred and George ran a book." Ron answers with a smile.

"Can we go? People are looking, you know." Hermione cuts in.

"People always look when you three are together. And apart. People always look at you." Ginny says as they head for the exit. She stops Harry and asks "Harry ... he'll be all right, won't he?

As Harry looked at her, he lowered his hand absentmindedly and touched the lightning scar on his forehead.

"I know he will."

The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. All was well.