September 5th 1994
There was a definite end-of the-holidays gloom in the air when Harry awoke. Heavy rain was splattering against the window as he got dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt; they would change into their school robes on the Hogwarts Express.
Mrs Weasley had braved the telephone in the village Post Office to order three ordinary Muggle taxis to take them into London.
"Arthur tried to borrow Ministry cars for us," Mrs Weasley whispered to Harry as they stood in the rain-washed yard, watching the taxi drivers heaving heavy Hogwarts trunks into their cars. "But there weren't any to spare ... oh dear, they don't look very happy, do they?"
Harry didn't like to tell Mrs Weasley that Muggle taxi drivers rarely transported over-excited owls and Pidwidgeon was making an ear splitting racket. Of course, the reason why Harry didn't tell may have been connected to the fact that he was trying his utmost not to laugh at her stupidity.
The journey was uncomfortable, owing to the fact that they were jammed in the back of the taxis with their trunk. They were very relieved to get out at King's Cross, even though the rain was coming down harder than ever, and they got soaked carrying their trunks across the busy road. Harry was the most relieved as he was no longer cramped up with Ron and Hermione and vowed to get away as soon as possible.
Harry was used to getting on Platform nine and three quarters by now. It was a simple matter of walking straight through the apparently solid barrier separating platforms nine and ten. The only tricky part was doing this in an obtrusive way, so as to avoid attracting Muggle attention. Harry slipped silently through the barrier and waited impatiently for the Weasley clan to come through. It seemed like Pidwidgeon had become restless and had attracted a lot of muggle attention and therefore they had to wait before coming through. 'Stupid owl!' Harry thought. 'It's a wonder it's still alive.'
Finally Harry, Ron and Hermione began to make their way to a compartment further along the train. And at the first opportunity, Harry darted a way from the other members of the "Golden Trio," to prepare himself for the show Dumbledore was to star in after the announcement of what would be happening at Hogwarts. Slipping into an empty compartment, Harry hastily threw off the polluted 'rags' of Dudley's and proceeded to change into black, dragonhide trousers (of the finest quality, of course), a black, plain t-shirt with a dark forest green shirt over the top. All in all, Harry looked hot but most of all he was looking the part he was to play.
The compartment door slid open revealing one Draco Malfoy.
"Well, well, wickle Potter thought he could play with the bad boys by updating his image. Ha!" Draco sneered. "At least those atrocities, you called clothes have gone. You never know if you were Pureblood, I might have dared to be seen with you."
Looking around Draco finally noticed the absence of two thirds of the trio. "You been dumped, Potter, eh? By a mud blood, you must be so ashamed. I don't even know how you dare to show your face. I would simple die from embarrassment or disinfectant from scrubbing away its presence."
"Shut it, Malfoy! You know nothing!" Harry whispered in an emotionless tone. His face revealing nothing about what he was thinking or planning. To anyone but a Malfoy of course, it would have possibly been unnerving.
A look of respect flicked across the face of Draco Malfoy before being replaced by the cold, emotionless mask; one of the Malfoy trademarks.
"Seems like you've grown up, so what is with your new look or should I say attitude?" Malfoy remarked whilst he thought about what could possibly have brought on such a drastic change in Dumbledore's 'Golden Boy.'
"Wait and see, Malfoy, wait and see," Harry replied. "Just remember that a sense of false security can be devastating but also incredibly useful."
Before Malfoy could reply to Harry's cryptic response, Harry strode out the compartment with all the poise and an air of grace and elegance which could only be described as a highly, distinguished member of the Pureblood elite. Leaving Malfoy to ponder on this new development and vow to get to the bottom of it before sitting down to construct a letter to his father informing him of the events. 'It's definitely going to be interesting this year' Draco thought to himself.