DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter doesn't own DBZ. Neither do I.
Chapter the SecondIt wasn't long until Gohan and Hagrid were at Gringotts, the wizard bank. As it turned out, a hundred pounds was a small fortune in the wizard world, and soon Gohan was staring into a vault filled with mounds of gold, silver and bronze coins.
"Yer should 'ave enough in there to last five years at least," Hagrid guessed as he helped Gohan pile come currency into a bag, "Th' gold ones are Galleons, th' silver ones are Sickles and th' bronze ones are Knuts. 29 Knuts to a Sickle, 17 Sickles to a Galleon - it's easy enough."
Once Gohan had removed enough wizard money from his vault to last him the year, he closed and locked the vault, pocketing the key. It wasn't long until both Gohan and Hagrid were blinking the sunlight as their eyes protested the change in lighting conditions from the Gringotts tunnels to the sunlit streets of Diagon Alley, the hidden street in London where Gohan was going to buy his wizard equipment.
"We should get yer robes firs'," Hagrid said, "Madam Malkin's is th' best place to get 'em."
Hagrid left Gohan to get his robes, muttering something about "those ruddy Gringotts carts" and needing a "pick me up". Despite not knowing what in the nine hells Hagrid was talking about, Gohan proceeded into the shop and was shepherded into a small fitting room while a witch (Gohan guessed with was Madam Maulkin) worked on the necessary alterations.
"Gohan!" a shocked, yet friendly, voice called out to Gohan as he entered the room.
"Dean?" Gohan recognised the boy in front of him immediately as one of the kids in his class from school.
"Isn't this cool? I couldn't believe it when I got the letter! I thought it must have been a hoax, but here I am! I've learnt so much about the wizard world already – it's really fascinating! They don't have electricity or cars or…" Dean fired the words out like a machine-gun. Gohan didn't mind however, because Dean had finally stopped talking about football (Dean was an avid West Ham fan, and usually never shut up about the Premier League). It was good to know that Gohan would at least have a friendly face at Hogwarts.
Dean and Gohan talked a little about what they expected Hogwarts to be like before the conversation turned round to football. Soon Dean's robes were done and he was lead out of the shop by a short dumpy witch. Hagrid, who had just returned from the Leaky Cauldron (the pub that doubles as an entrance to Diagon Alley), pointed to the witch and explained who she was.
"That's Professor Sprout. She teaches Herbology."
"So does everyone at Hogwarts take muggles to Diagon Alley?"
"Not at all," Hagrid muttered bitterly, "Ev'ry year, Dumbledore asks for volunteers, an' every year it comes down to me an' Professor Sprout. All the other teachers say they're too busy, but that's the second day in a row I've seen Quirrel at th' Leaky Cauldron. Surely he could help out if he's got that much spare time…"
Gohan was so enthralled about everything in the wizard world that he didn't realise that he was now at Flourish and Blotts, a rather large bookshop. Gohan bought all his schoolbooks (and a few others that caught his eye), and was then led to various other shops to buy his cauldron, scales, telescope and potion ingredients, keeping up a conversation with Hagrid about anything he saw.
"Why's everyone seem so excited today?" Gohan asked as he noticed the general cheerful atmosphere of places that should normally be dark and gloomy, like the apothecary Gohan got his potion ingredients from.
"Yesterday someone famous came back after ten years," Hagrid explained, "Yeh'll meet him soon enough – he'll be goin' t' Hogwarts with yeh. Name's Harry Potter, an' I'll be a blast-ended skrewt if he won' be mentioned in at least one of those books yeh've just bought. We should probably get yer animal before all the owls are sold out. Owls are in fashion at th' moment, so yeh'll be wanting one of those. They're dead useful, carryin' yer mail and the like."
Gohan doubted that the Owl Emporium could run out of owls – there were literally hundreds of them perched around the dimly lit shop. Gohan had no idea what to look for in an owl, but a smaller-than-normal screech owl soon landed on Gohan's shoulder and started nibbling affectionately at his earlobe – proving once and for all that pets choose their owners, not the other way around.
Gohan only had his wand to get now, and was soon inside Ollivander's, who claimed to be "Makers of Fine Wands since 382BC". Mr Ollivander turned out to be a creepy yet friendly enough old man who seemed determined to find the right wand for Gohan.
"The important thing to remember about magic is that while you can use anybody's wand to perform magic, you won't get the best results unless you use the wand that's right for you," Mr Ollivander explained to the rather perplexed Gohan as a floating tape measure started measuring parts of Gohan's body that he was sure were irrelevant to the task at hand, "And of course, the wand chooses the wizard, so I'll know when the right one comes up."
Mr Ollivander handed a wand to Gohan. "Yew, ten inches, phoenix tail feather," he stated as he handed the wand to Gohan, "Well, don't just stand there! Wave it around a bit."
Gohan was about to wave the wand when Ollivander grabbed it from his hand. "No, no, no," he muttered as he grabbed another box, "Try this one – mahogany, twelve and a half inches, dragon heartstring."
Gohan took the wand and waved it a little. Sparks started flying out of the end of it. Ollivander looked rather pleased as he took the wand from Gohan and returned it to the box.
"Well, the right wand after just two attempts," he muttered smugly to himself, "And after all the trouble I had with that Harry Potter yesterday, I thought I'd lost my touch."
Another reference to Harry Potter – Gohan could hardly wait to get home and start reading up on Harry to find out what exactly was going on. After paying for his wand, he found himself back on a muggle train, heading back to his home in Surrey. Before the train headed off, Hagrid handed Gohan an envelope.
"Yer ticket," Hagrid explained, "First o' September, Kings Cross Station – read yer ticket forth' details."
* * *
If Gohan had one fault (and let's face it, everyone has at least one), it was that he was horribly impatient. When you're about to face a deadly enemy in a martial-arts battle, this can be a good thing, but when you're waiting for a certain day to approach, it's not so pleasant. Magic was the only thing on Gohan's mind for the month before his train journey, and every night he found himself staying up as late as Chi-Chi would allow, reading with fascination about famous wizards… including Harry Potter.
Harry Potter, it turned out, had saved the world when, as a baby, he defeated an evil wizard known as Voldemort. He had spent the last ten years living in the muggle world. The full story was so fascinating to Gohan, and with little surprise, after all, they both share the common experience of being famous for saving the world using a hidden power they never knew existed - of course, thanks to Mr Satan, Gohan's fame was limited to about eight people.
After a torturous month of waiting, it was finally the first of September. Gohan made sure all his stuff – robes, books, wands, and all his other wizarding supplies – were safely packed and then spent half an hour selecting the perfect outfit to wear on the train to Hogwarts, not wanting to wear his robes until he was away from muggles. Gohan didn't usually care about his appearance, but today was a special day, and he was going to look good. He finally settled on a pair of blue jeans with a black muscle shirt. He bounded down the stairs to breakfast.
Chi-Chi drove Gohan to the station. Gohan pushed his trolley into the station and looked around. Somewhere in this station was a train that would take him to a world he never knew existed.
"What platform is your train on?" Chi-Chi asked her son, a little nervous about the odd glanced she and Gohan were getting from people who had obviously never seen an eleven-year-old boy pushing a trolley containing a large trunk and a small screech owl. Gohan checked his ticket.
"Nine and three quarters," he replied, glancing around. He saw Platform 9 and right next to it, Platform 10. There was no Platform 9¾ to be seen.
"Gohan, does your ticket say where to find this platform?" Chi-Chi asked, hoping that it did, because Hagrid had obviously forgotten to tell Gohan how to get there.
"No, it just says 11am, Platform Nine and Three Quarters," Gohan read from the ticket. He saw that it was quarter to eleven – if he didn't hurry, he'd miss the train!
Saviour came in the form of a loud voice yelling across the station. "Gohan! Hey, Gohan! Over here!" It was Dean Thomas, the West Ham fan that Gohan went to school with. He ran up to Gohan and Chi-Chi.
"Hi, Gohan, hello Ms. Son," he panted as he caught his breath, "We'd better hurry if we're going to catch the train."
"You know how?"
"Of course. Professor Sprout warned me that Hagrid would probably forget to tell you. I've been looking for you for ages! See that barricade between Platforms Nine and Ten? Just run at it and you should go through. Just don't think about crashing."
"Have you done this before?" Gohan asked nervously.
"No, but I've been watching people do it since I arrived. Look, there goes one now." A boy who looked to be about fifth-year pushed his trolley towards the barricade and disappeared.
"Okay, I guess I could try it. See you later, Mum."
"Bye, Gohan. Be good and learn as much as you can," Chi-Chi said, her voice wavering. She had been separated from Gohan for a year only once before, when Gohan was kidnapped at age four. She couldn't imagine life without Gohan again – even if it was only for a year.
Gohan pushed his trolley towards the barricade. Taking a few quick steps, he sped up and closed his eyes, expecting to hear a crash…
He opened his eyes and saw a large scarlet steam engine. A sign above him read Platform Nine and Three Quarters. Dean emerged after him.
"Told you. Now let's find a seat on the train before they all get taken."
Gohan and Dean pushed past a few people to get to the neared door on the train. They passed a family of redheaded people, talking excitedly about something. Gohan was sure he heard the name "Potter".
Gohan and Dean sit own in the carriage, talking about football, as one does when one speaks with Dean Thomas. It wasn't long until a sandy-haired boy had approached them.
"Hi, Dean," he greeted Dean with his thick Irish accent, "I was hoping I'd find you."
"Hi, Seamus," Dean said before turning to Gohan, "Gohan, this is Seamus Finnigan. I met him in Diagon Alley, just after I'd run into you."
It wasn't long until the train had started pulling away from the platform. Gohan, Seamus and Dean talked about many things – wizardry, football, a sport called Quidditch that Seamus seemed to like… After a while, another boy joined the group. His name was Neville Longbottom, who had been searching the train for the last half hour to find his lost toad. Despite still being toadless, he was eager to share a discovery that he had made on his search.
"You know who I saw in the last carriage?" Neville paused for suspense before continuing excitedly, "Harry Potter! I saw his scar and everything."
"Really?" Gohan asked. Neville nodded. "Hey, let's all go back and meet him – we are going to be in the same year as him after all."
Seamus and Dean were enthusiastic about Gohan's suggestion. They said their goodbyes to Neville, who had decided to continue looking for his toad, and made their way to the last carriage. Before Gohan opened the door, he heard snatches of conversation.
"You're going to fight us, are you?" one voice sneered.
"Unless you get out now," another voice answered. Gohan opened the door to see a standoff. On one side were a small, pale looking boy with two beefier, tougher-looking boys on either side of him, and on the other side was on of the redheads Gohan had seen on the station platform and a boy who could only be Harry Potter.
"What do you want?" the pale boy drawled, glancing at Gohan, Seamus and Dean, "I'd leave while you still can if I were you."
Gohan glared fiercely at the boy in front of him. Being the intelligent and reserved boy he is, he had experienced his fair share of bullies, and would not stand aside and let someone else get bullied. "No," he replied coldly, "I think I'll stay here. It would be wise if you left, however."
Gohan raised one hand and held it out in front of him. He knew that the pale boy would probably try to use magic of some sort in the fight, so Gohan reasoned that it was fair for him to use ki attacks. The boy's eyes flickered for a second, before he left, his two bodyguards following.
"Who was that?" Gohan asked Harry, who was looking at him with curiosity.
"Draco Malfoy," came the reply. Harry filled Gohan in on the whole Draco experience. After a few introductions the five boys (Harry, Ron, Gohan, Seamus and Dean) started conversing as if they'd known each other for years. As the train started slowing down, they changed into their robes and got ready for what lay ahead.
* * *
"Firs' years! Firs' years over here!" Hagrid called as people stepped off the train. Gohan, Harry, Dean, Seamus and Ron made their way over to the giant, along with a number of other children. One girl, who had bushy brown hair and large front teeth glared at the five of them, until she saw Gohan, then she looked away.
"What's her problem?" Dean whispered.
"That's Hermione Granger," Ron whispered back, "We met her earlier. She's a pain in the neck."
Soon enough, the group of first years fount themselves at a large black lake. On the other side of the lake, on top of a large mountain was a castle that just had to be Hogwarts.
"No more'n four to a boat," Hagrid's voice commanded as a fleet of little boats arrived, ready to take everyone across the lake. After a quick game of Rock, Paper, Scissors to decide, Gohan, Dean, Ron and Harry found themselves sharing a boat, while Seamus climbed into a boat also accommodating Hermione and Neville. Within minutes, they were at a harbour underneath the mountain. The group alighted their boats and followed Hagrid up a flight of steps to a huge oak door. Hagrid knocked three times on the door…
