So I was going to publish this in January sometime or at least get further in chapter 3 before publishing but I decided to hell with that. The next update will be a Christmas special and unrelated to the story to give me more time to finish chapter 3 so yeah. I hope you enjoy this chapter and don't forget to review with what you think about this!
When I got back to my room in The Leaky Cauldron I opened up A History of Magic and started reading. It turns out that their history and the muggles have been widely influenced by each other. The world wars had a ton of wizards fighting on all sides for example. Then there was the history new to me, and it was this history that I was finding fascinating. The history of how Quidditch came to be, how early wizards appeared, witches/wizards being burned at a stake. The different wars were fascinating. That was until I got to the most recent war. The war that killed my parents. There was more to it then I thought. I had been warned that Harry at least was famous for defeating Voldemort when he was a baby. I had thought I would be mentioned, though it might not be by name, but nothing. Not a single thing.
"The Potter's were sitting at home that Halloween night with their one-year-old son when Voldemort broke into their home." Is what they said. When it comes to memories I exist but according to History, I don't.
Upon finding this information I sent an owl to Dumbledore asking what I should do and settled into the bed to read some books I picked up while I was in Flourish and Blotts. The first was called The Tales of Beedle the Bard and was a collection of children's stories that wizards grow up with. I also had picked up some books by Gilderoy Lockhart, like Wanderings with Werewolves and Voyages with Vampires.
I was just starting Wanderings with Werewolves when an owl landed on my windowsill with a letter from Dumbledore. It said: "Dear Tulia, thank you for notifying me about this. The only people from the wizarding world that know who you are at this time would be Harry, myself, Hagrid, and Tom. Tom was, from the start told to keep your identity a secret to make this an easier transition for you. Based on what you have found I think it might be best if we keep your identity a secret for the time being. I will inform Hagrid to let Harry know this. When you get to Hogwarts you will be using an alias for your last name. I will let you decide what it should be, just try to let me know soon. Signed. Dumbledore"
I quickly wrote back saying I would go by Tulia Waters. Waters was what I thought my last name was before the letter came and any other name would be too hard to remember.
After sending the owl off I changed into pajamas and tried to sleep despite all the things on my mind. First thing in the morning I was going to check out Diagon Alley and maybe find some more books to read.
The next morning I was up and moving before the sun had risen. I passed up a breakfast in the Leaky Cauldron for ice cream at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor. I had heard from Tom that they had some of the best ice cream in both the wizarding world and the muggle world.
I ended up getting some ice cream and people watching. Most people were kids getting their Hogwarts stuff with their families, though many were with friends. It was interesting to see the things kids my age were interested in, like the newest brooms, what books were big and the things that parents said to their children.
Watching all this made me feel homesick for my friends at Camp Half-Blood, who was the closest thing to family I've ever known. I finished my ice cream and headed back to my room so I could have privacy and Iris message Annabeth.
"Hey, Tulia, what's up?" Annabeth said after I had contacted her.
"Nothing much. Just waiting for school to start on September 1. There's a train in London taking me to the school and I'm staying in a hotel in London in the meantime. Has anything new happened at camp?" I replied.
"Not really. Chiron does think there may be a demigod nearby. You remember Grover? He's going to go undercover at the school when it starts."
"I miss you guys. Can you try to keep me posted on what happens at camp? I think the school will have multiple people per room, so I'll Iris Message you when it's safe. Maybe you could talk to Chiron about a way to send letters."
"I'll talk to Chiron if you promise to Iris message me at some point before heading off to your school."
"I swear on the river Styx that I'll Iris message you before heading off to my school," I swore and we talked about the random stuff on our minds and before long Annabeth had to go off to lunch and I was getting hungry.
Instead of eating in Diagon Alley I decided to explore London a tiny bit and find somewhere to eat there. Before heading off I slipped a dagger inside my boot, put on a necklace that transformed into a sword and a charm bracelet with charms that in their own ways represented different weapons it could transform into. I had promised both Chiron and Annabeth before leaving that I would make sure I always had multiple weapons on me in case of a monster attack.
The next few weeks passed quickly and before I knew it I was heading towards platform 9 ¾. Before leaving, Tom had warned me that the entrance to the platform was hidden but he hadn't told me where, just to try and look out for other wizard families and try to ask them, so that's what I did. When I got there, a family of 9 were navigating their way through the crowds and complaining about how packed the station was.
"Alright now Percy you go first." The mother of the group said. I could see Harry off to the side, waiting to see how to get to the platform.
One of the redheaded boys took hold of their trolley and ran towards the wall between platforms 9 and 10, just as a group of muggles was passing by. With where I was standing I could see as he ran straight into the wall and disappeared into it.
I looked over at Harry, who looked confused and amazed. As he was going over to who looked to be the mother of the children, I slipped between some muggles and ran towards the wall, closing my eyes in the split-second before hitting the wall. I waited for the impact that never came.
I opened my eyes and gasped. All around me families were saying goodbye and friends were saying hello. Directly in front of me was a scarlet steam engine labeled The Hogwarts Express that kids were getting on and leaning out of windows.
As I stood gawking, from the corner of my eye, I saw Harry and the youngest boy from the family I had seen earlier board the train. Thinking to join them I pushed my trolley forward and entered the same compartment.
"Hello, Tulia!" Harry greeted me with a smile.
"Great to see you again! Mind if I sit you?" I asked and both boys nodded.
As I was taking my seat the boy asked, "Are you really Harry Potter?"
I looked up from securing my trunk, viola case (I couldn't imagine leaving it behind) and getting Hecate out of her carrier to see Harry nod. I went back to what I had been doing while the boys continued talking.
"And this is my-" I heard Harry say.
"Friend," I interjected before he could say, sister. "Tulia Waters," I said to the boy, who was giving me a strange look.
"Ron Weasley. My whole family's been wizards. What about yours?" he said.
"Muggles. Found out I was a wizard when the letter came. Of course, it was a bit of a trip seeing as I'm from America, but so far I'm not regretting it." and even as I said it I knew it to be true.
We had been talking about whatever came to mind for about an hour when a smiling woman opened the door and asked us, "Anything off the cart, dears?"
Harry and I stood up while Ron turned red and muttered something about sandwiches. We went out into the corridor and while Harry got pretty much 5 of everything on the cart, I got some Cauldron Cakes, Chocolate Frogs, Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, and Pumpkin Pasties. When we entered the compartment Ron was staring at the mother load of candy in Harry's arms.
"Hungry are you?" He joked and Harry merely nodded, his mouth being too full of pumpkin pasty to answer. Ron had a lumpy package out that somewhat resembled a sandwich, and he was staring at it dejectedly.
"Here you can have some of mine." Harry offered and Ron smiled gratefully. We talked and laughed some more. Then someone knocked on the door of their compartment and a round faced boy poked his head in.
"Sorry," he said, "but have you seen a toad at all?" We shook our heads and he wailed "I've lost him! He keeps getting away from me!"
"He'll turn up," said Harry.
"Yes," said the boy miserably. "Well, if you see him..." and with that he left.
"Don't know why he's so bothered," said Ron. "If I'd brought a toad I'd lose it as quick as I could. Mind you, I brought Scabbers, so I can't talk." I looked at the rat sleeping on his lap.
"He might have died and you wouldn't know the difference," said Ron in
disgust. "I tried to turn him yellow yesterday to make him more interesting, but the spell didn't work. I'll show you, look..."
After rummaging through his trunk, he pulled out a battered wand. In some spots it was chipped and there was something white poking out of the top.
"Unicorn hair's nearly poking out. Anyway…" The compartment door opened again and the boy from before was back but this time he had a girl with him.
"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," she said. She had bushy brown hair and was already in her school robes. I had changed into them about half an hour ago but the boys were too busy talking about whatever it is that boys talk about.
"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.
"Are you sure that's a real spell?" said 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. 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?"
I laughed and said "I'm Tulia Waters. Do you want me to help look for your toad?" The last part was directed to Neville who nodded through tears.
"I'm Ron Weasley," Ron muttered.
"Harry Potter," said Harry.
"Are you really?" said Hermione. "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, looking dazed.
"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."
She got up to leave and so did I saying,
"Should have changed earlier." as I left.
We had decided to split up to cover more ground and hopefully find the Houdini toad. I knocked on the door to a compartment and poked my head through. Inside was the pale haired boy from Diagon Alley, and two slightly chubby boys, one of which who was nursing a bleeding hand.
"Hey, we met in Diagon Alley, right?" the pale haired boy asked me.
"Yea, I think so. I'm Tulia Waters."
"Draco Malfoy. This are Crabbe and Goyle." he pointed first at one then to the one with the hurt hand.
"Pleased to meet you. Oh, have you seen a toad? A kid lost his toad and I'm trying to help him find it."
"Can't say I have but I'll let you know if I do."
"Thanks anyway. I'll see you around."
As I exited the compartment with a huge grin on my face 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."
So that was that. Any guesses on what house Tulia will be in? Winner gets a sneak peak at the start of chapter 3. Don't forget ot check out some of my other stories!
Demigod out!