Child Of Threes
Chapter 2
The Express
AN. May I offer my sincere apologies for taking so long to update. I got sick, and then I rewrote this chapter not once, not twice, but three times. Then I had my CM Music theory test (level Advanced), and I still have the keyboard one to go! Not to mention the homework piling up on my desk...
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Kudos to JKR!
7 and 1/2 years later
It was a sunny fall day. In King's Cross, a crowd of people pushed their way towards the trains. No one seemed to notice the people disappearing through a certain barrier, nine and three-fourths of the way down the platform. No one noticed, or particularly cared, about the strange people going about with owls, cats, and toads in cages, dressed in sweeping robes and long cloaks. And no one knew about the invisible scarlet locomotor steam engine train chugging its' way through the hills, headed to an obscure village and an even more obscure castle in Scotland.
A boy sat in the first compartment of this scarlet train, where there was a meeting going on, ignoring the many stares he was receiving from the other occupants of the train. He was used to it. The fifteen-year-old boy was small for his age, rather short in stature. He was pale, making the blotchy mess of freckles stand out even more. He had a small, pointed nose, round blue eyes, and his tongue was sandwiched between his teeth. His round blue eyes flicked through the book he was reading, as he crossed and uncrossed his legs nervously. He wore strange clothes, too, black plain robes with a small red and gold crest over the heart and a bit of red and gold trimmings. A badge, also in red and gold, had a stylized P scrawled on it. A wand, hornbeam and dragon heartstring, poked out from his wrist. However, what stood out the most was not his horn-rimmed glasses, nor the preening owl on his shoulder. It wasn't even the curly shocking orange-red hair that spilled over his head and brushed his shoulders. It was the black scar displayed prominently on his forehead (no matter how many curls were brushed over the area), shaped like a jagged 3. The boy's name was Percy Weasley, the Boy-Who-Lived (and not at all proud of it).
Finally, the prefect meeting was over. Percy left the prefect carriage with a feeling of relief. It was hard enough avoiding the stares that came from the younger students, but did the ones his age, supposedly selected as the mature, responsible ones of their year, have to act like their younger counterparts?
Penelope Clearwater, one of Percy's best friends and the Ravenclaw prefect, raised an eyebrow at him. She jokingly asked, "What's up, Percy? You look like you've got a stick up your arse." Penny had been one of Percy's best friends since first year, when he had hexed an older Gryffindor student who sneered at her Muggle fantasy books. She and Oliver Wood, Percy's other best friend, stuck with Percy, even that one time during second year when someone bribed Peeves to continuously throw Stinkpellets at him. They had learned the Bubble-head charm four years early.
Percy grinned at her and said, "Why, yes I do. Would you like to pull it out?"
To his surprise, she flushed madly and turned away. He blinked, then considered what he had said. Percy's eyes widened, and he stammered, "Th-that is...Er, I didn't m-mean...that...er..."
Penny turned and grinned at him, though her cheeks were still rather red. "I know what you meant, don't worry. Hey, blond-haired kid with the two thugs, put down that boy now!"
Percy blinked, but then he looked inside the carriage and saw who Penny was talking to and stiffened. The blond-haired kid was laughing gleefully as the two 'thug-like' boys who looked like muscle shoved a fourth boy's head out the window.
The blond kid turned and stuck his lip out defiantly. "I am Draco Malfoy," he said, as if that meant anything. He distastefully added, "I do not listen to Mud- to the likes of you."
Percy took one step closer, thinking, Merlin, I hate bullies. And self-righteous pure-blooded maniacs. But mostly, self-righteous pure-blooded bullying maniacs who think that their name gave them privileges.
"And I am a prefect, which means I have enough authority to demand you step away from the window at once, pull that poor boy's head back inside, give you three detention, and write you to the school board, as long as we are on school grounds, which, I may add, include this train. If you were Sorted, I'd already have taken points from whichever House you disgrace. Your father may be on the board, but I fail to see how even he can spin sticking a first-year's head out the window as justifiable behavior. A pure-blooded first-year, too," he added upon recognizing the fourth boy's face. "I can also recommend you to the headmaster if need be, as well. All before we even reach the school, too! Why, I'm sure your old man would surely be disappointed in you. And you two!" he said, pointing to the thugs trying to escape Percy's notice while he berated Draco Malfoy. "I will not be forgetting you were the ones who actually held Mr. Longbottom out of the train. What are your names?"
Thug 1 grunted. "Gregory Goyle."
Thug 2 grunted as well. "Vincent Crabbe."
Percy walked over to them. Short as he was, he was barely taller than the two boys. "Tell me," he said, speaking softly now. "Tell me why you put Neville Longbottom's head out of the window."
It was quite a sight to see the two burly boys cowering under the glare the short, lean prefect gave.
Gregory Goyle spoke first, muttering in his deep voice, "Draco told us too." Vincent Crabbe nodded.
Percy stared them in the eye. "And tell me, then, why you listened to Draco."
Crabbe spoke this time. In a surprisingly childish voice, he said, "We always have."
Percy looked at them both. "Do you think what you did was right? Do you think that it's alright to stick people's heads out the window?"
Crabbe and Goyle looked at a loss. In his peripheral vision, Percy noted that Draco Malfoy looked terrified.
Goyle said softly, "Nobody ever asked us before."
Crabbe added, "Dad told me to just do what Draco says."
Goyle finished, "It's better than what Dad tells us to do at home."
Percy noted that Penny and Neville Longbottom both were looking at him in more than a little awe. Time to pull out the big guns.
"Do you know who I am?" he asked. The Crabbe and Goyle, who until this moment were staring at their feet, looked up. Their eyes popped open. They stared at each other, acting like frenzied puppies.
"No way!"
"All this time!"
"Oh, Merlin!"
"Is that really..."
"Percy Weasley?"
Percy found it hard to keep from grimacing at the hero-worship. It took all his willpower to keep his face impassive. Penny's face suddenly gained a look of dawning comprehension, while Neville looked simply astonished.
Malfoy's speech barricade seemed to have been overcome at last, and he barked in a sudden harsh voice, "Crabbe, Goyle, stop this instant! I'll write your fathers!"
But Crabbe and Goyle were not to be put down mildly. Goyle's glare stopped Malfoy in his tracks. His guttural voice snapped, "Knock off, Draco. I'm done listening to orders."
Even Percy was surprised by this declaration. Malfoy's mouth fell open.
Crabbe stood next to him. "We ain't smart, that's not what we're saying. But we ain't stupid, either. You've been leading us on a long time, Draco."
Malfoy began shouting obscenities at the pair that was only broken off when Percy and Penny grabbed an arm each. He cussed all the way to the Perfect carriage.
"That was brilliant, Percy."
"That was me taking advantage of my fame and power," Percy replied, spitting out the window.
Penny tutted at him, "That was you using your authority to stop bullying."
He still examined his fingernails fretfully. Their rounds had ended ten minutes ago, and they had gone to Oliver Wood's compartment. He had been utterly amazed at what Percy had done. Then the topic turned to Quidditch, and Percy simply couldn't follow.
Someone opened the sliding door. Yet another first-year poked her head in. She was a bushy-haired girl with rather large front teeth.
"Hello," she said. "I'm Hermione Granger, I was just wondering if any of you had seen a toad. A boy named Neville Longbottom lost his."
Oliver collapsed in laughter. Penny's lips twitched. "He does tend to get in these situations, doesn't he?"
Hermione Granger blinked. "Do you know Neville?"
Percy was instantly on his feet and out the door, drawing his wand and saying, "Generally we shouldn't use magic in the corridors, but as a prefect it is my duty to help with these situations. Find Me Neville Longbottom's toad Directis."
A bead of white light snaked out of the wand. The two students followed the bead all the way to the conductor's car.
The conductor was a dirty-mouthed Scottish Squib with a lumberjack's build and a scraggly beard. He scowled in the mirror when he saw them enter.
"An' I suppose y'all be wantin' when we'll be a-reachin the bloody castle. Well, all in bloody good time, I say! Go on, git!"
Hermione Granger moved to speak, but Percy touched her shoulder and spoke first.
"With all due respect, but we were searching for a toad and we found him here. We'll get him and be on our way, then."
And before the conductor could get so much as a "No magic!" out, Percy had his wand out and cast, "Accio toad!"
A croaking toad flew out, arms flailing in strange reptilian motions, from beneath the brake. If the toad hadn't moved, the brake would have been jammed.
"Well, he could have been more polite about it," Hermione huffed as they headed towards Neville. The conductor had kicked them out of the engine room, screaming about magic and how it ruined his life and how he wasn't going to stand for it anymore. With his red face and quivering beard, he looked like a bomb about to detonate.
Percy shrugged. "Well, he's a Squib. They're people born in the magical world with no magic. The ones who stay in the magical world generally don't end up with very good lives. The caretaker at Hogwarts, Argus Filch, is one. He's very bitter about his lack of magical talent. That's why most wizards sent them off to get a Muggle education."
He liked Hermione. She was intelligent and lively, but what Percy found to be her best characteristic was her questioning nature. She asked questions about almost everything, but in a tactful and unobtrusive way. She was all set to become a teacher's pet. Heck, is she weren't Muggleborn, even Snape might like her.
Then she had to ask the million dollar question. "Say, I never got your name, anyway. What's your name?"
Percy stiffened. As casually as he could manage, he said, "I'm Percy Weasley." And then Neville exited a compartment, looking crestfallen, but brightening considerably when he saw Percy holding the toad.
"Trevor!" he cried blissfully. "How on Earth did you find him?"
Percy explained about the spell, hoping neither of them knew Find Me...Directis was a N.E.W.T. level spell.
Percy, Oliver, and Penny exited the Hogsmeade station to find a second year Hufflepuff sobbing into tha skeletal neck of a thestral.
Percy placed his hand on the girl's shoulder. She yelped and twisted to see them.
"You know, I see them too."
The Hufflepuff stared mutely as he put his other hand on the thestral's flank. She seemed hesitant to answer, "You see them? What are they?"
"They are thestrals. They are a sort of winged horse that can only be seen by those who have seen death."
The Hufflepuff clutched her left cheek, while she sobbed quietly.
"Oh...Evelyn...She was my sister, you know," the girl said miserably. "There was a car...Evelyn pushed me aside. She didn't have time to save herself. But I only got this scratch on my cheek, and one on my leg. Evelyn, she was so brave, she'd be a Gryffindor. It happened over the summer." She looked up sharply, seemingly just realizing she had shared this intimate story with people whose names she didn't know. Her face became ashen, and she hid her face behind her brown locks.
Penny put her arm around the girl, saying, "Don't worry, we won't gossip, if that's what you prefer. Come on, let's get in a carriage. My name's Penelope Clearwater. I'm the Ravenclaw Prefect."
Oliver hesitantly cleared his throat, "Er, I'm Oliver, Gryffindor Quidditch Captain."
Percy said, "My name's Percy."
The girl smiled and said, "I'm Eloise Midgen. Thanks for-you know, listening."
They boarded the last carriage, Eloise slowly becoming her cheerful self again.
Percy watched fretfully as Ron sat under the Sorting Hat. He already had been under there for almost two minutes. He could hear the whispers that the other houses made growing steadily louder. One particularity rude Hufflepuff first year all but shouted out, "Just go to Gryffindor already!" Percy could almost see his brother tensing up visibly.
"SLYTHERIN!" The raggedy hat yelled.
Percy blinked in surprise before applauding, shrugging at the gobsmacked expressions on his classmates' faces. Others weren't as fast to forgive, though. Whispering ran rampant as the redhead boy walked with his head down to the Slytherin table.
Percy, Oliver, Penny, a Hufflepuff named Harry Potter, Neville from Gryffindor, Crabbe and Goyle from Slytherin, and a few others were the only ones to applaud besides the Ron looked bewildered, horrified, and disgusted as he sat ramrod straight between Davies and Crabbe, with Goyle on Crabbe's other side.A few seats down, Percy heard Fred and George whispering, probably planning new pranks and teases.
Taking his wand, he conjured a long stick and poked each of them once. "You-will-behave," he whispered in a stern voice, before Vanishing the stick and staring them down.
He turned to smile at Oliver. "Treacle pudding?" He asked.
And they're off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of Hogwarts! Review. It will make me smile. :)
