Yay! Got it done! I'm sorry for any spelling errors and such (especially with my Romanji). Thank you to everyone who has faved/followed and reviewed. I'm too lazy now, but I'll get around to responding to the reviews ASAP!
Enjoy ^_^
"So, we just valk through this wall?" Ludwig raised an eyebrow sceptically.
The axis were standing on a crowded London platform, Kiku was reading out the instructions that Arthur had left for them
"H-hai. It doesn't make much sense; do we need to tap it with our wands or something?" Kiku looked at the piece of paper from a few different angles.
"-packed with muggles of course." The trio turned to see a family of what they assumed were wizards.
There were four boys and a young girl all with very red hair, being talked to by a rather cheery looking plump woman. They arrived at the brick pillar.
The mother turned to them, "are you waiting for anyone dears?" she asked politely.
"No, we vere just trying to figure out…" Ludwig began.
"How to get onto the platform? It's easy, you just walk straight ahead through that wall." she finished.
"I guess Arthur was telling us the truth then…" Kiku shoved the piece of paper into his pocket then looked the wall up and down.
"If you'd like you can watch Percy go first," she suggested.
"Veh~ thank you nice lady!" Feliciano stepped back and allowed the oldest of the boys to pass.
The boy marched in a rather business man like way, then disappeared through the wall. Ludwig blinked, obviously shocked.
"Look, Ludwig, It's that glasses boy!" an exclamation from Feliciano caused Ludwig to turn.
Sure enough, he saw the boy with the messy black hair and glasses, watching the family go through the barrier.
"He's obviously has the same problem as us…" Ludwig muttered.
The plump woman turned back to the axis.
"You ought to go now, try going in before Fred," she smiled.
"Feliciano, why don't you go first," Kiku suggested.
Feliciano shivered, "But it's scary! What if I run into the wall? It would hurt!"
Ludwig shook his head, then pretended to squint past Feliciano, "It looks like Arthur's coming, he's brought his army and they look mad."
The effect was immediate.
Feliciano ran through the barrier, arms flailing around his head. They watched him approach, Ludwig blinked and he was gone.
" I think we should follow, he'll freak out if he gets alone for too long," commented Kiku quietly.
Ludwig sighed and pushed his trolley towards the barrier, Kiku following close behind him. Suddenly, the muggle station was gone, and was replaced by a crowded platform, students with their trolleys were being fussed over by their parents. A sign over head read 'Hogwarts express, eleven O' clock'
Feliciano was standing in front of them, looking rather lost, but he brightened up when he caught sight of them.
"Hey you guys, isn't this cool! I thought I was going to crash into the wall, so I closed my eyes, and when I opened them, I was here!" he waved his arms enthusiastically and beckoned for them to join them
A scarlet stream engine was waiting with doors open by the platform. Ludwig tried to take everything in at once. Kiku was stroking his cat and gazing at the train in wonder.
"I hope they have good food on board~" Feliciano commented.
##############
"Are you really Harry Potter?" Ron blurted out.
Harry nodded.
"Oh -well, I thought it might be one of Fred and George's jokes," said Ron. "And have you really got - you know..."
He pointed at Harry's forehead.
Harry pulled back his bangs to show the lightning scar. Ron stared.
"So that's where You-Know-Who
"Yes," said Harry, "but I can't remember it."
"Nothing?" said Ron eagerly.
"Well - I remember a lot of green light, but nothing else."
"Wow," said Ron. He sat and stared at Harry for a few moments, then, as though he had suddenly realized what he was doing, he looked quickly out of the window again.
The compartment door slid open, and a tall German boy, who Harry recognised as the one who he had seen at the Leaky Cauldron, walked in.
"Do you mind if ve sit here?" He asked.
"Sure," replied Harry, moving over to make room.
Three boys filed into the room and sat.
"I'm Ludwig… Beilschmidit," he frowned for a second, as if he didn't like his last name, then held out his hand, "isht good to meet you."
Harry accepted the handshake.
"I'm Harry, Harry Potter, and this is Ron Weasley," Harry introduced, Ron waved.
"Veh~ I'm Feliciano Vargas!" The cheery Italian who had shaken Harry's hand smiled and introduced himself.
Harry turned to the short Asian boy who was sitting in the corner. He nodded vaguely.
"I am Kiku Honda," he said.
Harry turned back to Ron.
"Are all your family wizards?" asked Harry, who found Ron just as interesting as Ron found him.
"Er - Yes, I think so," said Ron. "I think Mom's got a second cousin who's an accountant, but we never talk about him."
"So you must know loads of magic already."
The Weasleys 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," said Ron. "What are they like?"
"Horrible -well, not all of them. My aunt and uncle and cousin are, though. Wish I'd had three wizard brothers."
"Five," said Ron. For some reason, he was 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, 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.
"I don't see anything wrong with hand-me-downs." Ludwig commented, "I got a lot of things from my older brother Gilbert."
"You have a brother?" asked Harry, interested, "is he going here too?"
"Nein," replied Ludwig, "He lives abroad."
Harry nodded then turned to Ron.
"See there's nothing wrong with getting things from your siblings," he said pointedly.
Ron shrugged,
"And, until Hagrid told me, I didn't know anything about being a wizard or about my parents or Voldemort"
Ron gasped.
"What?" said Harry.
"You said You-Know-Who's name!" said Ron, sounding both shocked and impressed. "I'd have thought you, of all people -"
Feliciano tilted his head, "What's wrong with saying a name? I can say it too! Listen! Voldemort!"
Ron flinched as if he had been stung by a bee, and Ludwig shot Feliciano a glare.
"C-can we just stick to saying you-know-who?" Ron asked.
Feliciano shrugged, "whatever you say~"
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 and said,
"Anything off the cart, dears?"
Harry, who hadn't had any breakfast, leapt to his feet, but Ron's ears went pink again and he muttered that he'd brought sandwiches. Feliciano nodded eagerly, and poked Ludwig, who sighed and gave him a few coins. Harry went out into the corridor, followed by a very happy Feliciano.
The cart was filled with a variety of sweets and pastries that neither Harry nor Feliciano had ever seen before. Harry, not wanting miss anything, got some of everything and paid the woman eleven sickles and seven bronze knuts. Feliciano, who was practically drooling, got even more, and was so eager to eat, that he gave the woman a galleon and told her to keep the change.
Ludwig groaned as Feliciano walked back into the compartment, arms filled with all sorts of foods.
"I told you, only get something you know you're going to eat," he scolded as Feliciano sat and dumped his food on the seat.
"Veh~ But everything looked so good, and I didn't know what any of it was!" Feliciano explained, grabbing a liquorice wand and gingerly bit into it.
"Not as good as pasta, but it's still delicious!" Feli beamed ad Ludwig smiled a little, taking a cauldron cake.
Harry convinced Ron to take some food, and soon, Ron was eating as heartily as Feliciano. (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," said Ron. "But see what the card is. I'm missing Agrippa."
"What?"
"Oh, of course, you wouldn't know - Chocolate Frogs have cards, inside them, you know, to collect - famous witches and wizards. I've got about five hundred, but I haven't got Agrippa or Ptolemy."
Harry unwrapped his Chocolate Frog and 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 moustache. Underneath the picture was the name Albus Dumbledore.
"So this is Dumbledore!" said Harry.
"Don't tell me you'd never heard of Dumbledore!" said Ron. "Can I have a frog? I might get Agrippa - thanks
Harry turned over his card and read:
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," said Ron. "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."
"Veh~ look! Its Lovi!" Feliciano said startled.
"Vhat? Let me look at that!" Ludwig exclaimed, grabbing the card off Feliciano.
Sure enough a familiar scowling face stared back up at him
"Oh, that Lovino Vargas guy, I've got about two of him. He's rather rare," Ron commented while opening another chocolate frog, "It's weird, he's got almost no information on his card."
He looked up at Feliciano, who had taken the card back from Ludwig, and was looking at it.
"Come to mention it, you're last name is Vargas too isn't it Feli, and you look awfully similar," Ron said.
Ludwig elbowed Feliciano to make sure he didn't say anything stupid.
"Veh… he is my… relative," Feliciano muttered.
Ron raised a questioning eyebrow but said nothing, continuing to open packets of chocolate frogs.
"What are these?" a quiet voice startled Harry.
He looked over in the direction of the voice to see the short Asian boy, Kiku, holding up a packet which read: 'Betie Bott's every flavor beans.
"You want to be careful with those," Ron warned Kiku, "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."
Ron picked up a green bean, looked at it carefully, and bit into a corner.
"Bleaaargh - see? Sprouts."
Kiku nodded, and placed the box back on the chair, where Feliciano immediately snatched it up and ate one.
"PASTAAAAA!" he exclaimed happily, causing Ron and Harry to laugh.
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 a round-faced boy who Harry had passed on platform nine and three quarters came in. He looked tearful.
"Sorry," he said, "but have you seen a toad at all?"
When they shook their heads, 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..."
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."
"Scabbers is you rat ja?" asked Ludwig, Ron nodded.
The rat was still snoozing on Ron's 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..."
He rummaged around in his trunk and pulled out a very battered-looking wand. It was chipped in places and something white was glinting at the end.
"Unicorn hair's nearly poking out. Anyway..."
He had just raised his 'wand when the compartment door slid open again. The toadless boy was back, but this time he had a girl with him. She was already wearing her new Hogwarts robes.
"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," she said. She had a bossy sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair, and rather large front teeth.
"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 fastasleep.
Ludwig sighed, the spell sounded as crazy as one of Arthur's chants, no wonder it didn't work.
"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?"
She said all this very fast.
Harry looked at Ron, and was relieved to see by his stunned face that he hadn't learned all the course books by heart either.
"I'm Ron Weasley," Ron muttered.
"Feliciano Vargas, veh~"
"Ludwig Beilschmidit," Ludwig pointed at Kiku, "and he's Honda Kiku."
"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, feeling 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 five had better change, you know, I expect we'll be there soon."
And she left, taking the toadless boy with her.
"Whatever house I'm in, I hope she's not in it," said Ron. He threw his wand back into his trunk. "Stupid spell - George gave it to me, bet he knew it was a dud."
Kiku frowned a little,
"That's imporite," he shook his head, "impolite."
He corrected himself with obvious difficulty.
Ron glared moodily at him. Harry was desperate to change the subject and cheer Ron up.
"So what house are your brothers in?" he asked.
"Gryffindor," said Ron. Gloom seemed to be settling on him again, the opposite effect to what Harry had wanted his question to induce, "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," said Ron. He flopped back into his seat, looking depressed.
"You know, I think the ends of Scabbers' whiskers are a bit lighter," said Harry, trying to take Ron's mind 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, and Bill's in Africa doing something for Gringotts," said Ron. "Did you hear about Gringotts? It's been all over the Daily Prophet, but I don't suppose you get that with the Muggles - someone tried to rob a high security vault."
"Trying to rob Gringotts? Vhat kind of idiot would do that?" Ludwig exclaimed, remembering what Arthur had told him about the security there.
"Who knows?" Ron shrugged, "They don't think they managed to take anything, but they still haven't caught the culprit yet. And… well there have been rumours that You-Know-Who was behind it."
Feliciano cocked his head.
"But I thought you said he was dead," He said confused.
Ron shrugged and was about to answer, when the compartment door opened again.
A pale boy who vaguely resembled Ludwig slinked in, followed by two others.
Harry recognised him as the boy who he had talked to in Madam Malkin's.
"Is it true?" he said. "They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?"
"Yes," said Harry. 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.
"Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle," said the pale boy carelessly, noticing where Harry was looking. "And my name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."
Ron gave a slight cough, which might have been hiding a snigger. Draco Malfoy looked at him.
"Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford."
He turned to see Feliciano cowering behind Ludwig. He curled his lip in disgust before turning to Harry.
"You'll soon come to see that some wizarding families are much better than others…" Ludwig cut him off.
"If you're referring to Feli, then I think it is my duty to inform you that he is from a distinct line of Italian wizards," he said threateningly.
Malfoy stopped and turned his attention to Ludwig.
"And you are?" he asked coldly.
"Ludwig," replied Ludwig flatly.
Malfoy snickered and returned his cold gaze to Harry.
"As I said, you don't want to be making the wrong choices when it comes to, 'friends'" Malfoy said the word as if the thought did not at all appeal to him, "I can help you there."
He held out his hand to shake Harry's but Harry didn't take it.
"I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks" he said coolly.
Draco Malfoy didn't go red, but a pink tinge appeared in his pale cheeks.
"I'd be careful if I were you, Potter," he said slowly. "Unless you're a bit politer 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 and that Nazi, and it'll rub off on you."
Both Harry and Ron stood up. Ludwig closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
Suddenly, Malfoy found himself pinned up against the wall, piercing blue eyes staring into his own.
"I think it would be vise for you to not call me that again," hissed Ludwig menacingly, "unless of course you vant to have your pretty face smashed into your skull"
Ludwig released Malfoy and sat back down coldly in his seat. Malfoy shivered.
"Y-you'd better watch yourselves, when my father hears about this!" he stammered.
In a single movement, Draco Malfoy left the compartment, Crabbe and Goyle trailing nervously after him.
"Ludwig…" muttered Feliciano.
"Shut up."
Ron and Harry exchanged a glance.
The compartment door slid open again, and the bushy haired Hermione Granger entered.
"What has been going on?" she asked haughtily, taking in the cold atmosphere and the mess of sweets that had been flung off the chair when Ron and Harry had stood. She looked at the stony Ludwig.
"Never mind, don't answer that I don't want to know." she decided, then turning to Ron and Harry she added, "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."
"Would you mind leaving while we change?" said Ron grumpily, scowling at Hermione.
"All right - I only came in here because people outside are behaving very childishly, racing up and down the corridors," said Hermione in a sniffy voice. "And you've got dirt on your nose, by the way, did you know?"
Ron glared at her as she left. Harry peered out of the window. It was getting dark. He could see mountains and forests under a deep purple sky. The train did seem to be slowing down. Harry heard Kiku breathe a sigh of relief.
He and Ron took off their jackets and pulled on their long black robes. The others just pulled their robes over their current clothes.
Ron's robes were a bit short for him, you could see his sneakers underneath them.
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."
Kiku flinched at the statement, and reluctantly placed a black cat, which neither Harry nor Ron had noticed he had been holding, into a basket and placed it carefully with the rest of his luggage.
Harry's stomach cramped with nerves and Ron, he saw, looked pale beneath his freckles. They crammed their pockets with the leftover sweets and joined the crowd thronging in the corridor. Ludwig, Feliciano and Kiku hesitated before leaving, but exited the compartment just as the train slowed down and arrived at a station. The doors opened, and people pushed their way through them onto a small dark platform. The night air was chilly and Harry shivered. Then a lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students and Harry heard a familiar voice.
"Firs' years, Fir's years over here! Alright there Harry?"
Hagrid beamed at Harry who smiled back. Harry realised he hadn't seen Feliciano, Kiku or Ludwig since he had exited the train. He glanced around but all he saw was Ron. He sighed and shook his head. They were probably somewhere in the crowd.
"C'mon, follow me - any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!"
The first years followed Hagrid down a steep and narrow path. Nobody really spoke much, but above the silence, Harry heard Neville sniffle. Somewhere behind him he heard someone mutter something about Pasta, and guessed it was Feliciano.
Ye' all get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here."
There was a loud "Oooooh!"
The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black take. 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'n 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 Neville and Hermione. Harry saw his friends from the compartment enter another boat nearby
"Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid, who had a boat to himself. "Right then - FORWARD!"
And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. Not even Feliciano made a sound, he was silenced by awe. The castle 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.
"Oy, you there! Is this your toad?" said Hagrid, 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.
Blech, sorry for using the dialogue from the book so much! I'll try use original content more often, but it gets hard with all the important plot line thingies and all T_T Anyway I hoped you enjoyed it! I'll try update soon!
