Disclaimer: I do not own any of J.K. Rowling's characters. I own the rights to my original character Claudia Rondine (pronounced: roh-dee-nay) and any other original characters that pop up in this fic.
Authors Note: A new and eerie OC makes their first appearance. It's been awhile :-/
Chapter 2 - The Ingenue
As always, Uncle Vernon took his sweet time trying to make Harry late for the train.
Uncle Vernon left off to buy a candy bar that Dudley was screaming for because, "Harry had to wake us all up so early to make him go back to his freaky school and I haven't had any breakfast." Uncle Vernon and Dudley wobbled away towards the drugstore and of course, they had to take their time to try and make Harry late for the Hogwarts Express.
Harry cleared his throat, for, he and Aunt Petunia were left alone in the car. He looked out the window and noticed a few people in cloaks walking around, "Weird." After a nervous moment, Harry turned towards Aunt Petunia and replied, "Aunt Petunia?"
Aunt Petunia turned towards him, "Yes?"
Harry looked up at Aunt Petunia, "Why were you looking at my school book?"
"Always curious, aren't you?" Aunt Petunia said, "I picked the book up because it fell."
Harry nodded quietly as a small smile appeared upon his lips. "And what might you be smiling at," a gruff voice replied only indicating that Uncle Vernon had returned.
"I was just thinking about school and all the fun that I am going to have," said Harry he glanced side-long at Dudley, who had come back with the entire drugstore in his arms. In his arms were cream-filled confections, wrapped candy, and various other types of junk food.
Uncle Vernon's face turned purple at the idea of Harry Potter having fun with friends. Uncle Vernon's eyes widened when he noticed that there were people in cloaks around his car and all seemed to be unaware of where they were going.
The vertical lines between Harry's eyes showed as he replied, "Uncle Vernon?"
"See?" Uncle Vernon's voice seemed a bit more high-pitched and nervous, "See, what freaks you mingle with?"
"I-I don't know any of them," Harry replied.
"Sure you don't," Dudley spoke up, "Freak."
Harry disregarded Dudley's comment as he looked beyond at the crowd of wizards who had apparently missed the fact that, if they can avoid it, should not be seen by muggles. However, Harry was not as frightened by this as the Dursleys were. Uncle Vernon's stubby fingers gripped the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles went white. Aunt Petunia bit her lip nervously and kept on fidgeting with the edge of her sleeve. However, Dudley was altogether a terrible mess.
Harry watched in curiosity as a girl began to peer into every parked car. It seemed as though she was on some sort of a mission. Finally, she reached Uncle Vernon's car and knocked on the window that was on Dudley's side.
Out of the corner of his eye, Harry could see that there was a woman peering into Dudley's window as if trying to see if there was anyone inside of this parked car. Suddenly, she knocked again on Dudley's window. Dudley and Aunt Petunia screamed in unison as they both tried to get Uncle Vernon to drive off.
Uncle Vernon groaned, "Just ignore her."
"I can't," Dudley whined. "Why can't we just drive off?"
"Do you see the crowd of people in the streets?" Uncle Vernon asked Dudley, "I can't exactly drive over them now, can I?"
"Mummy?" Dudley whimpered when the girl knocked on the window again.
The girl was rather pretty in an understated way. She had short raven hair in the fashion of a pixie and blue eyes. She was rather young and seemed as though she were in her late twenties.
"Excuse me," her voice was muffled by the distant chattering of the crowd and the fact that Dudley kept the window rolled up all the way. "Excuse me, can you tell me where Platform Nine and Three Fourths is?"
Harry seemed confused for a second until he said, "Platform Nine and Three Quarters!"
Immediately, Harry pushed Dudley aside and reached for the switch to lower the window. Dudley pushed Harry back, "Mum, Harry pushed me."
"But, she's lost," Harry tried to reason with his Aunt and Uncle. "If only I could give her directions-"
"No." Uncle Vernon growled, "You will stay in your seat until you reach your odd train."
Uncle Vernon drove off to leave the girl alone by the empty parking space. Harry turned around to see if she was still standing there. To his astonishment, he had found that she was no longer standing by the parking lot.
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