CH 2: Platform 9 ¾
All rights belong to J.K. Rowling.
Ava woke early on September first, stomach full of excitement and nerves. She jumped out of bed and ran into her mother's bedroom.
"MUM. Wake up!" She jumped on the bed beside her mother and shook her awake.
"Ava, darling, please calm down," mumbled her mother from under the covers.
Ava could not believe her mother. Calm down? Please. The simple notion was utterly ridiculous. Ava had longed for this day ever since she could comprehend magic. She remembered the first time her mother sat her down and really explained the concept of magic and how big of a responsibility it was. She told Ava how magic did not make them any better than the muggles, but emphasized how important it was to keep it a secret. Because of this, children could not do magic until the tender age of eleven, where they would be enrolled in wizarding school. She then told Ava all about Hogwarts, how fascinating the school was and how she could not wait for Ava to experience those years on her own.
It was finally happening. She was finally going to do magic.
Ava dragged her mother out of bed and ran to her room to make sure everything was packed and ready. Once both of them were dressed and fed, they put on their cloaks and set off to King's Cross station, where the Hogwarts Express would be taking off in two hours.
Angeline Storm had dreaded this day ever since her little Ava was born. She knew this was coming, no doubt. And she knew how excited her little girl was to go off and leave her all alone in their shop. Angeline was trying to not be sour, really. But her Ava was so young. Was she really only eleven when she left home the first time? It sounds preposterous now. She definitely did not feel that little when she first boarded the Hogwarts train and she is sure that her daughter feels as just. Ava had always been so mature.
But September first had arrived and with it an immense hole inside Angeline. She figured it would take some time to get used to this. Maybe she could open up another shop in Hogsmeade… that way she could be closer to her daughter.
Ava was running in front, trying to find the platform. Angeline was having a hard time keeping up. She's already so far from me. She's already left home.
Did her parents feel this way when they let her on the train? Did it hurt this much to see her so excited to leave them? They had each other, at least. Who do I have but Ava?
Angeline finally caught up to Ava in between platforms nine and ten, the poor girl looking frustrated.
"Muuuuum," Ava whined. "Where's the platform?"
Smiling, Angeline said, "Darling, it's right in front of you."
Ava turned in circles. "Where?" she asked.
"Close your eyes and let me show you."
"That makes no sense, mum."
Angeline laughed, "Just trust me. Hold my hand."
Ava did not hesitate and took her mother's hand. With her other hand, Angeline took hold of Ava's cart and casually, so as not to attract attention, pushed forward onto the dividing barrier between the two platforms. Ava's eyes stayed closed the entire time.
Once on the other side, Angeline somberly let go of Ava's hand. If only she could hold onto her little girl forever.
"Open your eyes, darling."
The look of utter wonder on her daughter's face was enough to fill the hole in her heart for the moment.
"C'mon. We still have an hour before the train leaves. Let's get something to drink."
Ava was so excited. She might be shaking. She might also throw up.
She was sitting in a carriage at the back of the train staring out the window, her ginger cat curled up next to her.
She could see the smoke drifting over the heads of the chattering crowd, while cats of every color wound here and there between their legs. Owls hooted to one another in a disgruntled sort of way over the babble of heavy trunks.
Her mother was standing in the middle of it, looking like an ethereal dream in her pale blue cloak and silvery blonde hair. Ava realized then just how much she was going to miss her mother; she was her best and only friend. Her heart ached wildly.
She opened the window of the carriage and stuck her head out.
"MUUUM," she yelled, trying to get her mother's attention.
Her mother's gaze snapped up to meet hers and Angeline gave her daughter a watery smile.
The train's whistled sounded.
"I love you, mum," she said, unsure if her mother could hear her over the noise.
A tear rolled down her mother's pale cheek and Ava swore it glittered.
"I love you, darling." Ava could barely catch the words over the engine.
The train began to move and Ava wished she could get off and go hug her mother. Tears rolled down her face, but she barely noticed them.
Her mother gave her a small wave as the train picked up speed and Ava tried her best to return it, but then the train began to round the corner and just like that, her mother was gone.
She quickly wiped her face with her hands. "Alright. No more crying. This is exciting. I am excited," she told herself. She was scared. And for the first time, alone.
She clutched the pearl hanging on her neck.
Olive rolled over on her back purring, an invitation to rub her belly. Ava did so, grateful for her cat. At least I have you.
The door of the compartment slid open and a bush of hair stepped in.
"Hello, my name is Hermione Granger. Do you mind-" the girl stopped abruptly and Ava realized it was the muggle-born girl who came into her shop about a month ago. She was already wearing her new Hogwarts robes.
"I know you!" exclaimed Hermione as she sat down, not bothering to finish her question. "You work at that robes shop."
"Angeline Storm's Cloaks and Robes," Ava sighed. "I technically don't work there anymore."
"Right. Well…" Hermione nodded, trailing off.
This is awkward, thought Ava, hoping the rest of her years at Hogwarts would not be like this.
They sat in silence for a while, Ava staring out the window and petting her cat while Hermione pulled out a thick book.
Ava was trying to decide if it was too early to send her mother a letter when she saw the title of the book Hermione was holding.
"Is that Hogwarts: A History?" Ava asked, catching the cover when Hermione flipped a page. She loved that book.
Hermione's eyes brightened. "Yes! Have you read it?"
"Only a thousand times. I read it as soon as my mum told me about Hogwarts."
Hermione giggled. "I'm reading it for the second time. I didn't want to miss anything before we got there. What's your favorite part? I really enjoyed the beginning, where the four founders came together to teach the wizard youth all they could despite their differences…"
That set of a lengthy discussion between the two young witches about the founders of Hogwarts and strength in numbers and before they both knew it, the train had carried them out of London. Now they were speeding past fields full of cows and sheep. Ava's cat was perched on the window, watching the fields and lanes flick past.
Around fifteen past twelve there was a great clattering outside in the corridor and a smiling, dimpled woman slid back their door and said, "Anything off the cart, dears?"
Both girls jumped up immediately. Talking about powerful wizards had made Ava hungry for chocolate frogs. She bought four in hopes of getting a rare Chocolate Frog card. She was missing Andros the Invincible and Wendelin the Weird, along with a few others. Hermione bought two Cauldron Cakes and one Licorice Wand.
They came back to their compartment ripping into their snacks. Ava was clutching one of the frogs, making sure it didn't escape while she picked out the card from the box. Hermione was curiously staring at the frog in her hand, chewing mindlessly at her licorice wand.
"Yes! I got Wendelin!" Ava said in triumph.
"You know… I never got your name," said Hermione after a moment, brows furrowed.
"Oh," Ava hadn't realized this. "I'm sorry. My name is Ava Andromeda Storm."
"Andromeda as in…. the Chained Princess of Ethiopia?" Hermione seemed to know everything.
"Um… possibly?" Still, Ava wasn't really sure. "I think my mum once told me my father gave me that name."
"That's interesting! My father named me Jean, not quite as exciting as yours. But he's just a dentist. What does your father do?" Hermione asked curiously.
"Uh…" Before Ava could answer there was a sudden knock on the door of their compartment and a round-faced boy peeked in.
"Sorry," he said, "but have you seen a toad at all?"
When they shook their heads, he wailed, "I've lost him! He keeps getting away from me!"
"He'll turn up," said Ava.
"Yes," said the boy miserably. "Well, if you see him..." He was turning to leave.
"Wait!" said Hermione, stopping him. "We'll help you look."
Ava turned to her. "We?"
Hermione gave her a sharp look. "Yes, we." She turned to the boy; he seemed to get smaller under her gaze. "I'm Hermione Jean Granger and this is Ava Andromeda Storm. What's your name?"
"Um… Neville Longbottom," he uttered. Ava barely caught what he said. Hermione was already standing up, straightening her robes.
"Alright Neville, let's go find your toad."
The three of them had made their way through every compartment at the back of the train looking for the damn toad that did not want to be found. Hermione was relentless, leading the three of them in a hunt that lasted hours.
Well… It was really more like ten minutes, to be fair. But Ava was still hungry and kind of tired. She wanted a nap.
Hermione and Neville has reached the last compartment — Ava was still a few steps behind, seeing as she wasn't too excited about bothering more of her classmates with a lost toad. Honestly, why did they not ask a prefect for help? This could have ended ages ago.
She reached the compartment that Hermione had disappeared into, Neville still standing in the corridor, watching whatever was going on inside.
"Did you find your toad, Neville?"
"No," he mumbled, teary-eyed.
"It's alright." Ava put a hand on his shoulder trying to reassure him. "Why don't we ask a prefect? They might be able to help."
Neville's eye brightened a fraction, and he nodded. Taking that as a win, Ava turned to the compartment, looking for Hermione.
"Scabbers might have died and you wouldn't know the difference," said Ron in disgust, talking about the rat on his lap. "I tried to turn him yellow yesterday to make him more interesting, but the spell didn't work. I'll show you, look..."
He rummaged around in his trunk and pulled out a very battered-looking wand. It was chipped in places and something white was glinting at the end.
"Unicorn hair's nearly poking out. Anyway —"
He had just raised his wand when the compartment door slid open again. The toadless boy was back, but this time he had a girl with him. She was already wearing her new Hogwarts robes.
"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," she said. She had a bossy sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair, and rather large front teeth.
"We've already told him we haven't seen it," said Ron, but the girl wasn't listening, she was looking at the wand in his hand.
"Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it, then." She sat down. Ron looked taken aback.
"Er — all right."
He cleared his throat.
"Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow."
He waved his wand, but nothing happened. Scabbers stayed gray and fast asleep.
Harry noticed another girl talking to Neville outside their compartment. She put a hand on Neville's shoulder, who looked like he was about to cry. She had wavy black hair that fell to her shoulders and thick eyebrows that framed her face.
"Are you sure that's a real spell?" Harry turned back to the girl, who was still talking. "Well, it's not very good, is it? I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard — I've learned all our course books by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough — I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?"
She said all this very fast.
Harry looked at Ron, and was relieved to see by his stunned face that he hadn't learned all the course books by heart either.
The girl outside came into the compartment then, sitting next to Hermione. Harry recognized her as the girl from the robes shop in Diagon Alley.
"Come on, Hermione," she said, nudging her. "We're going to go ask a prefect for help with the toad."
"Hey Ava," Ron half-smiled at the girl.
Ava turned to both of them like she hadn't just come in to their compartment. Harry thought she hadn't noticed them at all.
"Oh, I didn't see you there, Ron. How are you? How's your mum?"
"She's good," Ron mumbled, holding up his corned beef sandwich like it explained exactly how his mum was.
Ava nodded solemnly at the sandwich. "I'm glad she's well." Then she turned to Harry.
"Harry Potter." she smiled brightly, cheeks reddening slightly. "Nice to meet you again."
Harry was about to reply when Hermione turned her head sharply to face him.
"Are you really?" said Hermione in astonishment. "I know all about you, of course — I got a few extra books, for background reading, and you're in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century."
"Am I?" said Harry, feeling dazed.
"You are," nodded Ava.
"Goodness, didn't you know, I'd have found out everything I could if it was me," said Hermione. "Do either of you know what house you'll be in? I've been asking around, and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best; I hear Dumbledore himself was in it, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad... Anyway, we'd better go and look for Neville's toad. You two had better change, you know, I expect we'll be there soon. C'mon Ava, you'll need to change, too."
And she left, taking the toadless boy with her.
"Is she always like that?" Ron asked Ava, who was still seated across from them.
Ava shrugged her shoulders, "I wouldn't know, I've really just met her today." She smiled at both of them apologetically and left to follow Hermione.
After talking to a prefect about Neville's toad, Ava followed Hermione back to their compartment where she proceeded to devour one of her chocolate frogs.
"Too bad about Neville's toad, huh?" Ava said in between bites.
"Yes," Hermione said thoughtfully. "That prefect was of no use."
Ava agreed. They had gone to the first prefect they could find and it so happened to be a Slytherin. He told off Ava and Hermione for being in the corridors and threatened to take house points off if they did not return to their compartments immediately. Ironically, he also happened to look like a toad.
"I think I'm going to go look for Neville's toad again," said Hermione in a determined voice. "Neville looked really heartbroken when we spoke with that prefect."
"Alright. Just make sure he doesn't see you."
"Please," said Hermione offhandedly. "He can't deduct points from us. We haven't even been sorted."
Huh. "You're right."
Hermione looked at her and gave her shy smile.
"Yes, well… You should change. I expect we'll be there soon." Hermione said as she walked out of the compartment once more.
Ava quickly changed into her school robes. They fit perfectly, her mother really did know her measurements by heart.
Ava peered out of the window, petting a purring Olive perched on the windowsill. It was getting dark, she noticed. She could see mountains and forests under a deep purple sky. The train did seem to be slowing down.
She took out her wand then, just to make sure it was safe. It was beautiful wand, really. 12 ¼ inches, smooth cherry wood with a core of unicorn hair. An intricate carving on the handle. Perfect for her.
A voice then echoed through the train right as Hermione opened the compartment door: "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately."
Ava's stomach lurched with nerves and Hermione, she saw, looked slightly pale, eyes determined.
Ava grabbed Olive and put her back in her cage.
"I'll see you later, okay?" she poured a couple of jumping cat treats into her cage and left her with the rest of her luggage. Ava stuffed the last Chocolate Frog into one pocket and her wand in the other, following Hermione into the crowded corridor.
The train slowed right down and finally stopped. People pushed their way toward the door and out on to a tiny, dark platform. Ava shivered in the cold night air. Then a lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students, and Ava heard a deep voice: "Firs' years! Firs' years over here! All right there, Harry?"
Ava turned to see Hagrid's big hairy face beaming over the sea of heads, his smile aimed at Harry and Ron who stood just behind her.
"C'mon, follow me — any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!"
Slipping and stumbling, they followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It was so dark on either side of them that Ava thought there must be thick trees there. Nobody spoke much. Neville, still sad over not finding his toad, sniffed once or twice.
"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here."
There was a loud "Oooooh!"
The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black lake. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers.
Ava clutched her necklace. She was scared and excited. She wished her mother were here. Or her father.
"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Ava and Hermione were followed into their boat by Harry and Ron.
"Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid, who had a boat to himself. "Right then — FORWARD!"
And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood.
"Heads down!" yelled Hagrid as the first boats reached the cliff; they all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbor, where they clambered out onto rocks and pebbles.
"Oy, you there! Is this your toad?" said Hagrid, who was checking the boats as people climbed out of them.
"Trevor!" cried Neville blissfully, holding out his hands. Ava smiled, happy for him.
They clambered up a passageway in the rock after Hagrid's lamp, coming out at last onto smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle.
They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge, oak front door.
"Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad?"
Hagrid raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door.
Author's Notes:
Chapter two! Let me know what you guys think!
I'm currently posting a chapter as I finish writing another, so I can stay motivated to write and upload at a quicker rate.
Have a beautiful weekend guys!
E.