Chapter 3
A/N: Well the story has a few followers and has gained a review. Not sure if that means people are liking it or not. Well here is the next chapter to the story, please read and review let me know what you think.
They were walking across the platform walkway when Hagrid pulled out his watch.
"Darn is that the time? Look Harry I have to be going. I have to deliver something to the Headmaster shortly." He patted his pocket of his shirt.
"Ok?" Harry says questioningly.
"Here is Your ticket for Hogwarts. Stick to your ticket Harry. That's very important all your information is all on your ticket." Hagrid told him.
"Platform 9 3/4? Hagrid this has to be a mistake. There's no such thing as platform 9 3/4 is there?" Harry asks but when he looks up the big man is gone. "I guess I will just have to ask someone."
He stopped a passing guard and asked. "Excuse me but where might I find platform 9 3/4?"
"Platform 9 3/4? Are you trying to be funny or just ruin my day" The guard asked him.
"Sorry my mistake." Harry tells him.
Harry was now trying hard not to panic. According to the large clock over the arrivals board he had ten minutes left to get on the train to Hogwarts and he had no idea how to do it; he was stranded in the middle of a station with a trunk he could hardly lift a pocket full of wizard money and a large owl. As well as several other packages.
Hagrid must have forgotten to tell him something you had to do like tapping the third brick on the left to get into Diagon Alley. At that moment a group of people passed just behind him and he caught a few words of what they were saying.
"Come on kids hurry up. Same every year packed with Muggles of course."
"Muggles?" Harry says remembering Hagrid had Said that was what non-magic folk was called.
Harry swung round. The speaker was a plump woman who was talking to four boys all with flaming red hair. Each of them was pushing a cart like Harry's in front of him and they had an owl.
Harry pushed his cart after them. They stopped and so did he just near enough to hear what they were saying.
"Now what's the platform number?" Said the boys' mother.
"Nine and three-quarters!" piped a small girl also red-headed who was holding her hand "Mom can't I go?"
"You're not old enough yet but next year you will be Ginny. Now be quiet. All right Percy you go first."
What looked like the oldest boy marched toward platforms nine and ten. Harry watched careful not to blink in case he missed it. Just as the boy reached the dividing barrier between the two platforms he vanished.
"Fred you next." the plump woman Said.
"I'm not Fred I'm George." Said the boy. "Honestly woman you call yourself our mother?"
"Sorry George dear."
"Only joking I am Fred." Said the boy.
He took off at a slight jog and disappeared into the wall. His twin followed jogging toward the barrier he was almost there. Just as suddenly he wasn't there any more either. Harry realized that there was nothing else for him to do but ask.
"Excuse me." Harry Said to the plump woman.
"Hello dear." She smiled at him. "First time at Hogwarts is it? That's ok Ron's new too."
She pointed at the last and youngest of her sons. He was tall thin and gangling with freckles big hands and feet and a long nose.
"Yes it is my first time." Said Harry. "The thing is I don't know how to."
"How to get onto the platform?" She asks kindly and Harry nodded.
"Not to worry." She tells him. "All you have to do is walk straight at the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Best do it at a bit of a run if you're nervous. Go on go now before Ron."
"Er okay?" Said Harry questioning it all.
"Good luck." The redheaded girl says.
He pushed his trolley around and stared at the barrier. It looked very solid. He started to walk toward it. People jostled him on their way to platforms nine and ten. Harry walked more quickly. He was going to smash right into that barrier and then he'd be in trouble. He leaning forward on his cart and broke into a heavy run. The barrier was coming nearer and nearer. He knew he wouldn't be able to stop the cart was out of control. He was a foot away now and he closed his eyes ready for the crash!
It didn't come he kept on running. He opened his eyes. A scarlet steam engine was waiting next to a platform packed with people. A sign overhead Said Hogwarts' Express eleven o'clock.
Harry looked behind him and saw a wrought-iron archway where the barrier had been with the words: Platform Nine and Three-Quarters on it. He had done it.
Smoke from the engine drifted 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 and the scraping of heavy trunks.
The first few carriages were already packed with students. Some hanging out of the window to talk to their families. Some fighting over seats. Harry pushed his cart off down the platform in search of an empty seat.
He passed a round-faced boy who was saying. "Grandma I've lost my toad again."
"Oh Neville!" He heard the old woman sigh.
Harry pressed on through the crowd until he found an empty compartment near the end of the train. He put Hedwig inside first and then started to shove and heave his trunk toward the train door. He tried to lift it up the steps but could hardly raise one end and twice he dropped it painfully on his foot.
"Want a hand?" It was one of the red-haired twins he'd followed through the barrier.
"Yes please!" Harry panted.
"Hey Fred! Come here and help!"
With the twins help Harry's trunk was at last tucked away in a corner of the cabin he had picked out.
"Thanks I would never have gotten it inside." Said Harry as he pushing his sweaty hair out of his eyes.
"What's that?" Said one of the twins suddenly. He was pointing at Harry's lightning scar.
"Holy shit!" Said the other twin. "Are you?"
"He is!" Said the first twin. "Aren't you?" He added to Harry.
"What?" Said Harry.
"Harry Potter!" Chorused the twins.
"Oh yes I am." Harry Said.
The two boys gawked at him and Harry felt himself turning red. Then to his relief a voice came floating in through the train's open door.
"Fred? George? Are you there?"
"Coming Mom."
With a last look at Harry the twins hopped off the train.
Harry Slid the door closed and sat down next to the window. He was half hidden so he could watch the red-haired family on the platform. Listening closely he could hear what they were saying. Their mother had just taken out her handkerchief.
"Ron you've got something on your nose." The youngest boy tried to jerk out of the way but she grabbed him and began rubbing the end of his nose.
"Mom get off!" He wriggled free.
"Aaah has Little Ronnie got something on his nose?" Said one of the twins.
"Shut up!" Ron yelled at them.
"Where's Percy?" Ask the mother.
"He's coming now."
The oldest boy came striding into sight. He had already changed into his billowing black Hogwarts robes and Harry noticed a red and gold badge on his chest with the letter P on it.
"Can't stay long Mother." He Said. "I'm up front the prefects have got two compartments so we can go over all that has to be done this year."
"Oh! Are you a prefect Percy?" Said one of the twins. He had an air of great surprise. "You should have Said something we had no idea."
"Hang on! I think I remember him saying something about it." Said the other twin. "Once!"
"Or twice!" Said the first twin
"A minute!" Said the second.
"All summer!" Said Both at the same time.
"Oh shut up!" Said Percy the Prefect.
"How come Percy gets new robes anyway?" Said one of the twins.
"Because he's a prefect." Said their mother fondly. "All right dear well have a good term. Send me an owl when you get there."
She kissed Percy on the cheek and he left. Then she turned to the twins.
"Now as for you two this year." She glared at the twins "You behave yourselves. If I get one more owl telling me you've blown up a toilet or anything else!"
"Blown up a toilet? We've never blown up a toilet."
"Great idea though thanks Mom."
"It's not funny. You two better look after Ron." She tells them.
"Don't worry Little Ronniekins is safe with us."
"Shut up." Said Ron again.
He was almost as tall as the twins already and his nose was still pink where his mother had rubbed it. He starts for the train and passes out of site. Not soon after he left Harry heard one of the twins talk again.
"Hey Mom guess what? Guess who we just met on the train?"
Harry leaned back quickly so they couldn't see him looking.
"You know that black-haired boy who was near us in the station? Know who he is?"
"Who?"
"Harry Potter!" They say in unison again.
Harry heard the little girl's voice.
"Oh Mom can I go on the train and see him Mom eh please!"
"You've already seen him Ginny. The poor boy isn't something you goggle at in a zoo. Is he really Fred? How do you know?" The mother asks.
"Asked him. Saw his scar. It's really there like lightning." Fred Said making his finger form Harry's scar.
"Poor dear. No wonder he was alone. I was wondered about that. He was ever so polite when he asked how to get onto the platform." The mother says.
"Never mind that do you think he remembers what You-Know-Who looks like?" The other twin asks.
"I forbid you to ask him Fred! As though he needs reminding of that ever." The mother says.
"All right keep your hair on." A whistle sounded.
"Hurry up!" Their mother Said and the three boys clambered onto the train.
They leaned out of the window for her to kiss them good-bye and their younger sister began to cry. Her mother put her arm around her.
"Don't Cry Ginny we'll send you loads of owls."
"We'll send you a Hogwarts' toilet seat!"
"George!"
"Only joking Mom."
The train began to move. Harry saw the boys' mother and their sister waving. She was half laughing an half crying. She was running to keep up with the train until it gathered too much speed. Then she fell back and waved.
Harry watched the girl and her mother disappear as the train rounded the corner. Houses flashed past the window. Harry felt a great leap of excitement. He didn't know where he was going. All he did Know was it had to be better than what he was leaving behind.
"Anyone sitting there?" He asked pointing at the seat opposite Harry. "Everywhere else is full."
"No please." Harry shook his head and Pointed at the seat.
The Red headed boy sat down. He glanced at Harry and then looked quickly out of the window, pretending he hadn't looked.
"Hey." Said the set of twins that were on the platform.
"Listen, we're going down the middle of the train. Lee Jordan's got a giant tarantula down there."
"Right." Mumbled the second boy.
"Well were off have fun brother." Said the twins.
"Bye." Said Harry and Ron. The twins slid the compartment door shut behind them.
"I'm Ron Weasley by the way." Ron muttered.
"Harry, Harry Potter." Harry tells him.
"Are you really, Harry Potter?" Ron blurted out.
Harry nodded.
"And have you really got, you know, the scar?" Ron asks shyly, as he pointed at Harry's forehead.
"Oh yeah." Harry pulled back his bangs to show the lightning scar.
"Wicked. You know a lot of people are talking about your return. To think I am the one that gets to ride in the same compartment as you." Ron says.
"I tell you what. You can ride in here with me as long as you treat me like just another person." Harry says.
"But your not just another person. You are Harry Potter." Ron tells him.
"Yeah and I have heard that enough today. All I want is a friend that will treat me as such, and not as the second coming." Harry tells him.
"The second what?" Ron asks.
"It is a muggle phrase. Look scar and what it means besides. I am just Harry." Harry tells him.
"I will try. You don't mind if I use that do you? Might get me some notice." Ron smiles at him.
"Use away. As long as you remember I am just Harry." Harry tells him.
"Right then, just Harry." Ron says as he sticks his hand out and they shake.
"Are all your family wizards?" asked Harry, who found Ron just as interesting as Ron found him.
"Er, Yes I think so." Says Ron.
"So you must know loads of magic already."
The Weasley's were clearly one of those old wizarding families the pale boy in Diagon Alley had talked about.
"I heard you went to live with Muggles." Ron says. "What are they like?"
"Horrible well, not all of them. My aunt and uncle and cousin are."
"I have five brothers and a sister. She is still to young to go. At 11 we get the first real taste of magic. So all she does is cause small things to happen. At 17 our magic will mature, then it becomes a thousand times more powerful. That is why they want you to train in school so you can learn to control it." Ron tells him, looking gloomy. "I'm the sixth in our family to go to Hogwarts. You could say I've got a lot to live up to. Bill and Charlie have already left. Bill was head boy and Charlie was captain of Quidditch. Now Percy's a prefect. Fred and George mess around a lot, but they still get really good marks and everyone thinks they're really funny. Everyone expects me to do as well as the others. But if I do what does it matter. It's no big deal because they did it first. You never get anything new either, with five brothers. I've got Bill's old robes, Charlie's old wand and Percy's old rat." Ron reached inside his jacket and pulled out a fat gray rat which was asleep. "His name's Scabbers and he's useless. He hardly ever wakes up. Percy got an owl from my dad for being made a prefect. But they couldn't aff, I mean, I got Scabbers instead."
Ron's ears went pink. He seemed to think he'd said too much, because he went back to staring out of the window. Harry didn't think there was anything wrong with not being able to afford an owl. After all he'd never had any money in his life until now.
"You know my life has been kind of like that. The only clothes I ever got were my cousins hand-me-downs. He is so much larger than me that they never fit. Look I have to hold the pant's up with a piece of rope." Harry shows him then continues. "I mean if I got to eat once a day I was lucky. And until Hagrid told me, I didn't know anything about being a wizard or about my parents or Voldemort."
Ron gasped.
"What?" Asks Harry.
"You said You-Know-Who's name!" Ron says sounding both shocked and impressed. "I'd have thought you of all people would know we don't use that name."
"I'm not trying to be brave or anything by saying the name. I just never knew you shouldn't. See what I mean? I've got loads to learn I bet!" Harry tells him.
He voiced for the first time something that had been worrying him a lot lately. He just didn't think he would be able to measure up to what people expected of him. He didn't want to let anyone down, and it seemed every one was watching.
"I bet I'm the worst in the class." Harry says after a time.
"You won't be. There's loads of people who come from Muggle families and they learn quick enough." Ron tells him.
While they had been talking, the train had carried them out of London. Now they were speeding past fields full of cows and sheep. They were quiet for a time, watching the fields and lanes flick past. Around half past twelve there was a great clattering outside in the corridor and a smiling, dimpled woman slid back their door.
"Anything off the cart dears?" She asks.
"No thanks I am all set." Ron's ears went pink again as he showed the sandwiches he brought .
Harry looks at Ron and make a decision . He had never had any money for candy with the Dursleys, and now that he had pockets rattling with gold and silver he was ready to buy as many Three Musketeers as he could carry.
"We'll take the lot!" Harry says as he pulls the gold out of his pocket.
The woman didn't have Three Musketeers. What she did have were Bettie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Chocolate Frogs. Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes, Licorice Wands, and a number of other strange things Harry had never seen in his life. He paid the woman eleven silver Sickles and seven bronze Knuts. Ron stared as Harry brought it all back in to the compartment and tipped it onto an empty seat.
"Hungry are you?"
"Starving." Said Harry taking a large bite out of a pumpkin pasty.
Ron had taken out a lumpy package and unwrapped it. There were four sandwiches inside. He pulled one of them apart.
"She always forgets I don't like corned beef." Ron tells him.
"Swap you for one of these." Harry says, holding up a pasty.
"You don't want this it's all dry." Ron tells him. "She hasn't got much time with five of us."
"Go on have a pasty." Said Harry.
He was someone who had never had anything to share before or anyone to share it with. It was a nice feeling sitting there with Ron. Eating their way through all Harry's pasties, cakes, and candies. The sandwiches lay forgotten.
"What are these?" Harry asked Ron, holding up a pack of Chocolate Frogs. "They're not really frogs, are they?"
He was starting to feel that nothing would surprise him.
"No it is just a spell." Ron tells him. "It is the card that you want."
"What?"
"Oh. Of course you wouldn't know. Chocolate Frogs have cards inside them, you know to collect. Each one has a famous witch and wizard. I've got about five hundred of them myself."
Harry unwrapped his Chocolate Frog and it immediately jump to the window and then out of it.
"Rotten luck. They only have one good jump in them to begin with." Ron says. "Check out the card."
Harry picked up the card. It showed a man's face. He wore half-moon glasses, had a long, crooked nose, and flowing silver hair, beard, and mustache. Underneath the picture was the name Albus Dumbledore.
"I got Dumbledore!" Harry exclaims.
"I got about five of him." Ron says. "Can I have a frog? I might get Agrippa."
"Sure help yourself." Harry tells him.
"Thanks.." Ron tells him.
Harry turns over his card and reads.
ALBUS DUMBLEDORE
CURRENTLY HEADMASTER OF HOGWARTS
Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern times, Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel. Professor Dumbledore enjoys chamber music and tenpin bowling.
Harry turned the card back over and saw to his astonishment, that Dumbledore's face had disappeared.
"He's gone!"
"Well you can't expect him to hang around all day." Ron smiles at him.
"He'll be back. No, I've got Morgana again and I've got about six of her. Do you want it? You can start collecting."
Ron's eyes strayed to the pile of Chocolate Frogs waiting to be unwrapped. Harry notices this and figures this is a rare treat for both of them.
"Help yourself. But in the Muggle world people just stay still in photos."
"Do they? What, they don't move at all? Weird!" Ron sounded amazed.
Harry stared as Dumbledore sidled back into the picture on his card and gave him a small smile. Ron was more interested in eating the frogs than looking at the Famous Witches and Wizards cards. But Harry couldn't keep his eyes off them. Soon he had not only Dumbledore and Morgana, but Hengist of Woodcroft, Alberic Grunnion, Circe, Paracelsus, and Merlin. He finally tore his eyes away from the Druidess Cliodna. Who was scratching her nose, to open a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.
"Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans?" Harry asks.
"You want to be careful with those." Ron warned Harry. "When they say every flavor, they mean every flavor! You know, you get all the ordinary ones like chocolate and peppermint and marmalade. But then you can get spinach and liver and tripe. George reckons he had a booger-flavored one once."
A boy was standing at the door to the compartment. Harry recognized him at once. It was the pale boy from Madam Malkin's robe shop. He was looking at Harry with a lot more interest than he'd shown back in Diagon Alley.
"They're saying all down the train that you are in this compartment."
"Yes I guess I am." Says Harry with a grin.
"My name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."
Ron gave a slight cough, which might have been hiding a snigger. Draco Malfoy looked at him.
"Yeah I know it is kind of funny sounding. But that was my fathers doings not mine. You must be one of the Weasleys. I was told you all have red hair and are on the poor side." Draco says.
"Well not all of us can have ill-gotten gains." Ron states.
"Oh no you misunderstand me. Sorry some times I let my mouth over load my butt. I didn't mean anything about being poor." Draco says.
"That's ok to me we have all the wealth in the world." Ron says.
"I bet, big family and close nit from what I hear. I would give anything for that." Draco says.
"Would you care to join us?" Harry asks.
"If it is alright with your friend?" He held out his hand to shake Ron's.
Ron looked at Harry who nodded his head. Ron stood up and shook hands with Draco. All three of them smiled and set down and started to enjoy the candy.
They had a good time eating the Every Flavor Beans. Harry got toast, coconut, baked bean, strawberry, curry, grass, coffee, sardine, and was even brave enough to nibble the end off a funny gray one Ron wouldn't touch, which turned out to be pepper.
The countryside now flying past the window was becoming wilder. The neat fields had gone. Now there were woods, twisting rivers, and dark green hills. There was a knock on the door of their compartment and then a girl opened the door. She was already wearing her new Hogwarts robes.
"Has anyone seen a toad? A boy named Neville's lost one." She asks.
She had a bossy sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair, and rather large front teeth. And Harry knew her at once. He couldn't believe that she was on the train going to the same school. He thought it would be next summer before he got to see her again.
"Hey! It is you." Harry says as he smiles at her.
"It's you!" The girl says with the hint of a smile.
"No, we haven't." The other two boys say.
Ron had his wand out and was about to do a spell on his rat.
"Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it, then." She sits down.
"Er — all right." Ron looked taken aback. He cleared his throat.
"Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow." He waved his wand, some sparks flew from the tip of the wand. Nothing more happened and Scabbers stayed gray and fast asleep.
"Are you sure that's a real spell?" Asks the girl. "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. For example." She pointed her wand at Harry's broken glasses. "Aculous repairous."
Harry's glasses seem to mend right in front of his eyes. He smiles at her as he takes them off to look closer. He looks at the other two boys and smiles again.
"Next time don't scare me half to death." Harry smiles at her. Which earns him one in return.
"Nobody in my family's magical 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 am just hoping 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 Draco shaking his head.
Harry was relieved to see by the other two's stunned faces that he wasn't the only one who hadn't learned all the course books by heart.
"I'm Ron Weasley." Ron muttered.
"Draco Malfoy." Said Draco.
"You know me." Said Harry.
"I know your first name." She tells him.
"Potter is my last name. Harry Potter." He says as he watches her face take on a look of utter surprise.
"Holly cow, Are you really?" Hermione asks. "I know all about you, of course. I got a few extra books for background reading. Did you know you're in: Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century? And I live next door to you."
"Am I? And you are right, you do." Said Harry trying to get her to not talk about how famous he is.
"Goodness! Didn't you know. I'd have found out everything I could if it was me." Said Hermione.
"Maybe I don't want to know. Ok look I am going to tell you all now. I want to be friends with you, I Do. But we have to get one thing strait here and now. I am just Harry, nothing more. If you can accept that then we will get along just fine. If not then I am not sure we can be friends." He tells them Draco and Ron were nodding their heads in agreement.
"Fine just Harry, then I am Just Hermione." She smiles at him.
"Good to know Just Hermione." He smiles back.
"Do any 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. I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad. Anyway, I"d better go and look for Neville's toad. You three had better change. I expect we'll be Arriving soon." And she left.
"Whatever house I'm in, I hope she's not in it," said Ron. As he threw his wand back into his trunk. "Stupid spell. George gave it to me, bet he knew it was a dud."
"What house are your brothers in?" asked Harry.
"Gryffindor." Ron says. Gloom seemed to be settling on him again. "Mom and Dad were in it, too. I don't know what they'll say if I'm not. I don't suppose Ravenclaw would be too bad, but imagine if they put me in Slytherin."
"That's the house Vol-, I mean, You-Know-Who was in?"
"Yeah, There's not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin." Said Draco, he flopped back into his seat, looking depressed.
"You know. I think the ends of Scabbers' whiskers are a bit lighter." Harry remarks trying to take Ron And Draco's minds off houses. "So what do your oldest brothers do now that they've left, anyway?"
Harry was wondering what a wizard did once he'd finished school.
"Charlie's in Romania studying dragons. Bill's in Africa doing something for Gringotts." Ron tells him.
Three boys entered the cabin with smirks on their faces. One was about Harry's size. He was looking at the other boys. Both of them were thickset and looked extremely mean. Standing on either side of the pale boy, they looked like bodyguards
"Is it true?" He says. "They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter has come to Hogwarts. So it's you, is it?"
"Yes." Said Harry taking and instant dislike to these boys.
"Oh. This is Crabbe and this is Goyle." Said the middle boy carelessly, noticing where Harry was looking. "And my name's Henton, Falco Henton."
Ron gave a slight cough, which was hiding a snigger. Falco Henton looked at him.
"Think my name's funny, do you?" Henton asks.
"No I just think you are an ass is all." Ron says back,
"No need to ask who you are. My father told me all About you. Red hair, freckles and A hand me down robe you must be a Weasley." He turned back to Harry.
"You'll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there." He held out his hand to shake Harry's, but Harry didn't take it.
"Would I be the wrong sort too?" Draco asks in a very dangerous tone as he stands up and faces the three boys.
"If you are sorting with this kind then yes." Henton says pointing at Ron.
Draco moves toward them but is stopped by Hermione walking into the compartment. She plants herself in front of the three boys as if she will be able to stop them.
"This cabin is full maybe you should move to another." Hermione tells them.
Falco grabs her by an arm and her hair and flings her on to one of the benches. He looks her in the eyes as his two friends look menacingly at Harry, Draco and Ron.
"How dare you talk to me you filthy mudblood. Never get in my way again." He turns back to Harry. "What about it Potter want my help?" He sticks his hand out again.
"I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself thanks." He said coolly.
Falco Henton didn't go red, but a pink tinge appeared in his pale cheeks.
"I'd be careful if I were you Potter." He says slowly. "Unless you're a bit more polite you'll go the same way as your parents. They didn't know what was good for them, either. You hang around with riffraff like the Weasleys, Hagrid and this mudblood it'll rub off on you."
Both Harry and Ron stood up so now all three boys were facing them. Hermione was behind them still on the bench looking at Falco with horror on her face.
"Say that again." Harry said his voice taking on a very dangerous tone.
The air in the cabin had suddenly drop a few degrees in temp. There seemed to be a wind from some where that made all of the kids look around. All that is except Harry, he was still staring at Falco.
"Oh, you're going to fight us, are you?" Falco sneered.
"Unless you get out now." Said Harry.
The wind picked up a notch. There was a very dangerous look in his eyes that Falco and his friends couldn't mistake. With out another word the three boys turned and walked away. Falco glaring at Harry. Harry was still looking at the door to the cabin when it slammed shut with a force that surprised the other three in it.
For their part Ron and Draco felt the magic in the room and was extremely impressed. They had both been around powerful wizards and witches before. But had never felt power like this. What was worse they could feel the anger inside their new friend. Neither knew what to do, but watched as Hermione moved and placed her hand on Harry's arm.
His eyes were smoldering hot as he felt a hand rest on his arm. He turned to look at the hand then to the face it was connected to. Hermione had a worried look on her face. He Looked into her eyes and knew she was scared. He took a couple of deep breaths and shook his head. The wind died down, and so did the feeling of anger in the room.
"Thank you." She whispers.
He nods his head as he sits down and starts looking out the window. The other three in the cabin looked at each other and shook their heads all with the same look on their faces. What ever he said, he was not just Harry.
"You'd better hurry up and put your robes on. I've just been up to the front to ask the conductor and he says we're nearly there." She say quietly, as Harry looks at her and nods.
"Would you mind leaving while we change?" Ron asks.
Harry had already stripped off his shirt and pants and was putting his uniform clothes and robes on. Hermione sucked in her breath as she noticed what Harry was doing. She turned away from him, but not with out noticing he was still thin but not as bad as he had been.
Ron and Draco looked stunned. For one it never occurred to them to change in front of a girl. But what really caught their attention was the condition Harry was in. Way to thin and what appeared to be scars on his back.
"I came in here because people outside are behaving very childishly, racing up and down the corridors." Hermione says in a sniffy voice.
"You don't have to leave. I am sure everyone has boxers or some form of underwear on. No different then a swim suit, Remember." Harry says with a smile for a memory he had.
Ron glared at Harry as she turned around to face the window, but not before she looked at Ron and smiled.
"You've got dirt on your nose, by the way, Just there." She tells him with a smile.
Draco laughed openly at Ron as he just notices the dirt. Harry peered out of the window with a smirk on his face. It was getting dark. He could see mountains and forests under a deep purple sky. The train did seem to be slowing down. Draco and Ron took off their Clothes and pulled on Uniforms and their long black robes. Ron's were a bit short for him, you could see his sneakers underneath them. Draco's were overly fancy.
A voice echoed through the train: "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes time. Please leave your luggage on the train it will be taken to the school separately."
Harry's stomach lurched with nerves. Ron looked pale under his freckles. Draco looked calm on the outside but his eyes told another story. Hermione was just plain excited. They crammed their pockets with the last of the sweets and joined the crowd thronging the corridor.
The train slowed right down and finally stopped. People pushed their way toward the door and out on to a tiny dark platform. Harry shivered in the cold night air. Then a lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students and Harry heard a familiar voice.
"First years! First years over here!" Said a man bigger than any two of the four had seen.
"All right Hagrid?" Harry asks.
"All right there. An how are you Harry?"
"Ok, a little nervous. Hagrid, this is Hermione, Ron and Draco." Harry introduces his friends.
"Hello all." Hagrid says, it is in his eyes that he is glad Harry made friends.
Hagrid's big hairy face beamed over the sea of heads.
"Come on, follow me! Any more first years? Mind your step, now! First years follow me!"
"You'll get your first sight of Hogwarts in a sec!" Hagrid called over his shoulder. "Just 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.
"No more than four to a boat!" Hagrid called pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Harry and Ron were followed into their boat by Draco and Hermione.
"Everyone in?" Shouted Hagrid who had a boat to himself. "Right then, FORWARD!"
And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once. They glided 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.
"Hey you there! Is this your toad?" Hagrid asks, who was checking the boats as people climbed out of them.
"Trevor!" Cried Neville blissfully holding out his hands.
Then 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. The door swung open at once. A tall black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had a very stern face and Harry's first thought was that this was not someone to cross.
"The first years Professor McGonagall." Hagrid tells her.
"Thank you Hagrid. I will take them from here."
She pulled the door wide. The entrance hall was so big you could have fit the whole of the Dursleys' house in it. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches like the ones at Gringotts. The ceiling was too high to make out. And a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors.
They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Harry could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway at the top of the stairs. The rest of the school must already be in there. She stopped at the top and turn to face all of the first years as they were left standing on the stairs.
"Welcome to Hogwarts. I am Professor McGonagall. The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly. But before that you will be sorted into your houses. Excuse me for a moment." She said as she walked back through the doors. A moment later she was walking back up to them. The room behind the doors was now quite.
"While you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. While you are at Hogwarts your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule breaking will lose house points. The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. At the end of the year the house with the most points is awarded the house cup. The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes."
Her eyes lingered for a moment on Neville's cloak, which was fastened under his left ear, and on Ron's smudged nose. Harry nervously tried to flatten his hair.
"I shall return when we are ready for you." Professor McGonagall says. "Please wait quietly."
She left the chamber. Harry swallowed.
No one was talking much except Hermione Granger. Who was whispering very fast about all the spells she'd learned. Harry tried hard not to listen to her. He'd never been more nervous, never. Not even when he'd had to take a school report home to the Dursleys saying that he'd somehow turned his teacher's wig blue. He kept his eyes fixed on the door. Any second now, Professor McGonagall would come back and lead him to his doom. Professor McGonagall had returned.
"Now form a line and follow me." Professor McGonagall told the first years.
Feeling oddly as though his legs had turned to lead. Harry got into line behind a boy with sandy hair with Ron behind him, and Draco behind him and Hermione bringing up the rear of the foursome. They walked up the rest of the stairs and through the pair of double doors into the Great Hall. Harry had never even imagined such a strange and splendid place. The ceiling appeared to be the night sky.
He heard Hermione whisper. "Its bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts, A History."
It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles that were floating in mid-air over four long tables. The Tables where were the rest of the students were sitting. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting. Professor McGonagall led the first years up here to this table.
Harry quickly looked around as Professor McGonagall silently placed a four-legged stool in front of the first years. On top of the stool she put a pointed wizard's hat. This hat was patched and frayed and extremely dirty. Aunt Petunia wouldn't have let it in the house.
'Maybe they had to try and get a rabbit out of it.' Harry thought wildly.
Noticing that everyone in the hall was now staring at the hat, he stared at it, too. For a few seconds, there was complete silence. Then the hat twitched and floated into the air. It bowed to each of the four tables. It floated back onto the stool and then became still again.
"So we've just got to try on the hat!" Ron whispered to Harry. "I'll kill Fred! He was going on about wrestling a troll."
Harry smiled weakly. Yes, trying on the hat was a lot better than having to do a spell, but he did wish they could have tried it on without everyone watching.
A horrible thought struck Harry, as horrible thoughts always do when you're very nervous. What if he wasn't chosen at all? What if he just sat there with the hat over his eyes for ages, until Professor McGonagall jerked it off his head and said there had obviously been a mistake and he'd better get back on the train?
Professor McGonagall now stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment.
"When I call your name, you will come forward and sit on the stool. I will then place the hat on your head so you can be sorted," she said.
"Hannah Abbott!"
A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of line and sat on the stool. The hat floated onto her head which fell right down over her eyes, After a moments pause the hat shuddered and then yelled.
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. Then it was Ron's turn. He was pale green by now. Harry crossed his fingers.
"Ronald Weasley!"
As Ron walked up and sat on the stool Harry didn't know it was possible to turn that many shades of green.
"Another Weasley is it. I wonder what to do with you. I could allow you to go a different way as your brothers. But that would be cheating you wouldn't it. Besides there is only one house that suits you."
"GRYFFINDOR!"
Harry clapped loudly with the rest as Ron walked to the tables were his brother were sitting.
"Well done, Ron, excellent," said Percy Weasley.
"Falco Henton!"
He swaggered forward when his name was called and got his wish at once: the hat had barely touched his head when it screamed.
"SLYTHERIN!"
"Draco Malfoy!"
Malfoy walked forward when his name was called. He seemed confident yet worried. He knew that every one in his family had been placed in Slytherin. But he wanted to break that string. He did not share his fathers view. He believed people should be judge by what they could do and not what blood they had. As the hat hit his head he knew he might not get his wish but he knew he had the courage to change regardless of what house he was in.
"This I did not expect. You are a Malfoy there is no denying that but are completely different than any others that have sat on that stool. I believe you will go far. You will be the best wizard to come from your family ever. That means you belong in."
"GRYFFINDOR!"
Draco gave a Huge sigh as the Slytherin table set in shock.
"What?" Came an almost shout from a teacher who had greasy looking black hair and too sharp of features on his face.
Every one in the Great hall stopped and looked at the teacher. Students started to whisper back and forth amongst themselves.
"SILENCE!" Came the Headmasters voice. "Professor Snape is something wrong?"
"No Headmaster, I am sorry for the interruption." Said Snape.
"Then we should continue." Albus said.
"Hermione Granger!"
Hermione almost ran to the stool and couldn't wait for the hat to be placed on her head.
"Just relax." She whispered to herself.
But it seemed most of the first years heard her say it and snickered. This made her turn pink but soon her face looked normal as she knew she could do it. As she sits on the stool and the hat lowered onto her head.
"Relax you say. Yes, yes that would be good." The hat spoke to her. She was so shocked she didn't answer.
"You my young witch have a very brilliant mind and would do well in Ravenclaw. But I sense something much deeper here. A thirst for knowledge oh yes, but a sense of duty and loyalty as well." Hermione was to scared to move. "You would do well in Hufflepuff as well. But yet still deeper there is something that holds it all together, and that is courage. I tell you now where you should be."
"GRYFFINDOR!"
Ron groaned.
"Harry Potter!"
As Harry stepped forward, whispers suddenly broke out like little hissing fires all over the hall.
"Potter, did she say?"
"The Harry Potter?"
The last thing Harry saw before the hat dropped over his eyes was the hall full of people craning to get a good look at him. The next second he was looking at the black inside of the hat. He waited.
"Hmm." Said a small voice in his ear. "Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage I see. Not a bad mind either. There's talent, Oh my goodness yes. A thirst to prove yourself that's interesting. So where shall I put you?"
Harry gripped the edges of the stool and Whispered.
"Not Slytherin, not Slytherin. Any where but Slytherin."
"Not Slytherin, eh?" Said the small voice. "Are you sure? You could be great you know! It's all here in your head! Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that. But again there is something deeper. Something ingrained into your very soul. Watch yourself My boy for there are two people in your class that will have an effect on your life. One will Hinder you, the others love will save you! Not Slytherin, you say. Very well, if you're sure. It better be."
"GRYFFINDOR!"
Harry heard the hat shout the last word to the whole hall. The hat was removed and he walked shakily toward the Gryffindor table. He was so relieved to have not been put in Slytherin, he hardly noticed that he was getting the loudest cheer yet. Percy the Prefect got up and shook his hand vigorously.
Weasley twins were jumping up and down.
"We got Potter! We got Potter!"
Harry sat down opposite Hermione and smiled at her, one she happily returned. He could see the High Table properly now. At the end nearest him sat Hagrid, who caught his eye and gave him the thumbs up. Harry grinned back. And there in the center of the High Table in a large gold chair, sat Albus Dumbledore.
Harry recognized him at once from the card he'd gotten out of the Chocolate Frog on the train. Dumbledore's silver hair was the only thing in the whole hall that shone as brightly as the sun. Harry spotted Professor Quirrell, too, the nervous young man from the Leaky Cauldron. He was looking very peculiar in a large purple turban.
"Susan Bones!"
A girl walked forward and sat on the stool. The hat floated onto her head which fell right down over her eyes, After a moments pause the hat shuddered and then yelled.
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
Then as he looked to where Professor Quirrell was setting he noticed that the man named Professor Snape was staring at him. His scar suddenly sizzled with pain.
"Ahh! Percy, who is that man sitting with Professor Quirrell?" Harry asked.
"That would be Professor Snape. He is the Potions Professor here. But he has been after Professor Quirrell job for years. Every one knows it is the dark arts he fancies." Percy tells him.
"Neville Longbottom!"
The boy who Lost his toad, was called, he fell over on his way to the stool. The hat took a long time to decide with Neville. When it finally shouted.
"GRYFFINDOR!"
Albus Dumbledore had gotten to his feet. He was beaming at the students, his Hands resting on the table in front of him. It seemed as if nothing could have pleased him more than to see them all there.
"Welcome, Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet. I would like to say a few words. All students should be aware that the Forbidden Forest is strictly off limits. Also Our care taker Mr. Filch wants me to inform you that the third floor corridor on the right-hand side is strictly off limits, unless one wants to die a most horrible death. For you first years I want to add, this school can do great things for you if you just apply yourself. There are several in your class that can go far. But enough of that. Let the feast Begin. " He sat back down.
Professor McGonagall rolled up her scroll and took the Sorting Hat away. Harry looked down at his empty gold plate. He had only just realized how hungry he was. The pumpkin pasties seemed ages ago.
Harry's mouth fell open. The dishes in front of him were now piled with food. He had never seen so many things he liked to eat on one table. There was roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops. Sausages, bacon and steak. Boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, fries, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup, and, for some strange reason, peppermint humbugs.
Harry had never had anything like this. He was lucky to get table scraps at The Dursleys. Dudley had always taken anything that Harry really wanted, even if It made him sick. Harry piled his plate with a bit of everything except the peppermints and began to eat. It was all delicious. As they were all eating the head of a ghost pops up through the table. He smiles at them.
"Hello welcome to Hogwarts!" He says as he floats a little ways away from the table.
"I know who you are!" Ron says suddenly. "My brothers told me about you. You're Nearly Headless Nick!"
"I would prefer you to call me Sir Nicholas." The ghost said stiffly.
"Nearly Headless? How can you be nearly headless?" Hermione asked.
Sir Nicholas looked extremely miffed, as if their little chat wasn't going at all the way he wanted.
"Like this!" He said.
He seized his left ear and pulled. His whole head swung off his neck and fell onto his shoulder as if it was on a hinge. Someone had obviously tried to behead him, but not done it properly. Looking pleased at the stunned looks on their faces. Nearly Headless Nick flipped his head back onto his neck and floated away.
As Harry helped himself to an apple tart he could hear people start talking about their families. People from every table were talking all at once. It seemed some already had their own click. He returned his attention back to his table in time to her Seamus talking.
"I'm half-and-half. My dad's a Muggle mom's a witch. Bit of a nasty shock for him." The others laughed.
"What about you Neville?" Said Ron.
"Well my grandma brought me up and she's a witch. The family thought I was all Muggle for ages. Nothing happened until I was eight. I was playing in the yard when a big dog jumped the fence and was trying to bite me. That poor dog, took an hour to get him out of the tree. They were all really pleased. Grandma was crying she was so happy. You should have seen their faces when I got in here. Great Uncle Algie was so pleased he bought me my toad."
Percy Weasley and Hermione were talking about lessons on Harry's other side. He started listening to what they were saying
"I do hope they start right away. I have so much to learn. I'm particularly interested in Transfiguration. Turning something into something else. Of course I have heard it's very difficult to learn." Hermione says.
"You'll be starting small. Just matches into needles and that sort of thing." Percy tells her.
Draco wasn't saying much as he was still in shock. He sat across from Harry and next to Hermione at The Gryffindor table and not at the Slytherin table.
At last the desserts too disappeared and Professor Dumbledore got to his feet again. The hall fell silent.
"Well it seems another start of term feast is about to end. Tomorrow starts a new year, and for some a new life." He looked directly at Harry. "I want you all to enjoy Being here as much as us teachers enjoy having you here. Now Perfects if you would. Take the first years to the common rooms and explains things to them." Dumbledore Said and then disappeared.
The Gryffindor first years followed Percy through the doors out of the Great Hall. They walked up the marble staircase. Harry's legs were like lead again but only because he was full of food.
"Keep up, come on Keep up. Watch the stairs they like to move on you." He told them.
Harry was surprised that the people in the portraits along the corridors whispered and pointed as they passed. He pointed it out to Ron and Draco and they laughed too. Draco showed Hermione and she was surprised as well.
"Here we are."
At the very end of the corridor hung a portrait of a very fat woman in a pink silk dress.
"Password?" She Said.
"Capis draconis." Said Percy.
The portrait swung forward to reveal a Door in the wall. They all walked through the door and found themselves in the Gryffindor common room.
It was a large cozy room. It had a huge fireplace in one wall. In front of the fireplace was a large comfortable couch with a long table in front of that. There were several smaller chairs and tables as well. In one corner there was a table and two chairs together. The table had a chess set on it. Along a couple of the other walls there were bookshelves filled with books. This had Hermione's attention at once. There were a couple of couches near the book shelves as well as a couple in the middle of the room. There where tables close to all the chairs and couches, plenty of room for students to sit in the room and work on home work or just talk.
"This is your common room. Here is where you will spend most of your time when you aren't in classes. Feel free to use what ever is here. It is provided for that purpose. Girls dormitories are up the stairs and to the right. The boys the same but on the left." Percy tells them.
At the top of a spiral staircase they found Doors with little plaques by them. Each plaque had five names on it. Harry found his name on the first one. It also had Ron's Draco's Neville's and Dean's. names on it. In side the room were five four-poster Beds. They were hung with deep red velvet curtains. Their trunks had already been brought up. They pulled on their pajamas and fell into bed.
Harry had gotten the bed by the window. He was testing it out when the others started to do the same. It was Draco that broke the silence.
"You know they are warded with silence charms right. That way if one of us has a snoring problem it won't keep the rest awake."
"That is great. How do you get it to work?" Harry asks.
"Pull your curtains down." Draco says.
"That will be a good thing. I snore real bad." Ron says.
"Well then make sure you pull those curtains closed each night." Dean laughs.
The rest of them settle down and are soon asleep. Harry gets up and opens the window and looks out. He opens Hedwig's cage door and lets her out. He figures she will fly away to find something to eat. He sits on the ledge by the window when she lands next to him and hoots softly. He beings to rub her head as he continues to stare out the window and smile.
"I am here girl, now I just have to figure out what I am suppose to do." Harry laughs at her. She hoots softly a couple of times and then flies out the window.