4. The Journey From Platform Nine And Three-Quarters

Harry spent the next few weeks studying the books that he bought at Diagon Alley. He found them all fascinating as he read through them. One thing that really surprised him was that most of the beginner charms were the exact same that he could do. The only difference seemed to be that they needed a wand.

When Harry asked his aunt about this she explained that due to the strength of Harry's magic, his low level magic was actually as strong as wand-level magic. She then explained that due to this, he could expect the magic he learned at Hogwarts to be stronger than most students' from his year would be. She also made it perfectly clear that she expected Harry to learn how to do the charms as well.

Finally, September first came and Petunia was able to convince Vernon to let her drive the car to the King's Cross station in London.

Once the car was parked, Petunia had Harry run get a cart to put his trunk and Hedwig's cage on before the two locked the car and headed into the station.

As they walked, Harry suddenly thought of something and said "Aunt Petunia?"

"Hm?"

"You said Platform 9 ¾ was hidden from muggle view right?"

Petunia looked down at her nephew and said "That's right."

Harry frowned and said "How come no one notices it? Surely someone must fall down onto the tracks or run into the train."

Petunia smiled and said "That's because the platform isn't actually there. It's more accurate to say that the entrance to the platform is hidden. It's really more like a portal. The actual platform is in another part of the station where muggles don't notice it. However, if everyone went straight to the platform it would draw too much attention to that area."

Harry gave an "oh" as the group came up to where platforms nine and ten were. As they came upon the middle of the two platforms, Petunia nudged Harry before pointing at a large family of redheads as they walked down the middle telling him to watch.

To Harry's amazement, the family calmly walked towards one of the pillars before completely disappearing as they touched it.

Seeing Harry's look of amazement, Petunia chuckled and said "Notice Me Not charm. Easier to use on a small entry point than on an entire area which is why we do it this way so no one notices people are vanishing around the pillar."

Harry nodded his understanding and the two continued to the same pillar. Petunia calmly walked through the pillar with Harry following a bit nervous. A split second of darkness later Harry found himself coming out the other side to a sight that left him staring.

The platform was literary teeming with witches and wizards in different colored robes helping their children stow their luggage and getting them on the train. Owls hooted at each other and the toads and cats did the same as the students were having last minute words before boarding the train.

The train itself was unlike anything Harry had personally seen before. The engine was a combination of bright red and shiny black and looked like one of the trains from an American western film.

The two moved out of the way of the portal and headed over to the train stopping at a compartment near the end where there was space to put Harry's trunk in. After they had Harry's trunk and Hedwig's cage on the train, Petunia kneeled a little until she was eye level with her nephew and put a hand on his shoulder and gave him some last minute advice.

"Harry, when you get to Hogwarts, keep an open mind. As you know, things in the world of magic aren't always what they seem at first glance. This includes the people around you. Allow their actions to do their talking to you, not others' opinions."

Harry nodded and said "Don't worry, I will."

Petunia nodded and said "Good. Stay safe, and have a good year."

Harry nodded again and the two hugged before Petunia sent him onto the train just as the train whistle sounded. Harry waved from his compartment and Petunia returned the wave with a smile before the train began moving.

As the train pulled away Petunia thought 'It's going to be awfully quiet around the house now.'

As Harry looked out the window, King's Cross station soon disappeared to be replaced by houses as the train began its journey.

Harry heard the door to his compartment slide open. When he looked over to it he saw one of the redheads from before standing in the doorway.

The boy pointed to the seat opposite Harry and said "Is anyone sitting there? The rest of the compartments are full."

Harry shook his head and the boy came into the compartment and sat down.

After he was seated the boy said "I'm Ron by the way Ron Weasley."

Harry mentally prepared himself before saying "Harry. Harry Potter."

Ron's eyes went wide and he said "Really? Um, do you really have the-"

He stopped talking and just pointed at Harry's forehead. Harry simply took a deep breath before he blew upwards lifting part of his messy hair up which revealed the lightning shaped mark on his forehead.

Ron eye's widened further and he said "Wicked!"

Harry's hair fell back down as the door to the compartment opened.

Harry looked up and saw two redheads that had to be Ron's brothers.

"Hey Ron, we're going to the middle of the train. Lee Jordan's got a giant tarantula down there."

Ron gave a muttered fine. The boy on the left than noticed Harry and his eyes lit up before saying "Hello. Don't think we've been introduced. I'm George Weasley, and this is Fred."

The brother on the right nodded when he was pointed.

Harry nodded as well and said "Harry Potter.?"

The twins' eyes widened and their eyes darted to his forehead. Harry sighed before raising his hand up and brushed his hair aside.

As the twins saw the scar, their eyes took an interesting light and they turned to Ron and Fred said "Well, iclkle Ronniekins, we'll be going now. Don't forget to get his autograph."

Ron's face turned red as the twins laughed and left the compartment. Harry himself looked a little embarrassed by the autograph comment.

About ten minutes later, an old witch pushing a cart full of wizard snacks and asked if they wanted anything.

Ron had pulled out a sandwich saying that he was alright while Harry looked over the cart in curiosity. Deciding to indulge himself this once, Harry grabbed a little of everything to Ron's astonishment.

"Hungry?" Ron asked with wide eyes.

Harry shrugged and said "We didn't really have wizard sweets at the Dursley's. I want to see what witches and wizards eat."

Ron got an "ah" look before gesturing to a chocolate frog and said "Mind if I have one?"

Harry shook his head and said "Help yourself."

Ten minutes later the sweets were nothing but a pile of wrappers on the end of one of the seats.

As Harry was looking through all the cards he had gotten from the chocolate frog packets, the compartment door opened and a round faced boy looked in.

Looking around he said "Have you guys seen a toad around?"

The two boys shook their heads and the round faced boy began to look worried.

"Oh man, I can't find him anywhere! He keeps getting away from me."

Harry frowned and said "What's the toad's name?"

The boy looked at Harry obviously wondering how knowing the toad's name helped anything but answered regardless.

"His name's Trevor."

Harry's frown turned into one of concentration as he closed his eyes. Using a small locator charm that Dumbledore taught him, Harry 'saw' the train around him. The train looked like it was in a negative world like when Frodo had the ring on in Lord of the Rings.

Harry focused on a small light that was further up the train. Counting how many cars were between him and the light, Harry let the spell drop and said "He's ten cars up under the seat at the front compartment."

Ron and the boy stared at Harry who began to get uncomfortable at the looks they were giving him.

"How do you know where the toad is?" Ron asked.

Harry shrugged and said "Low level locator charm that I was taught. You have to know exactly what you're looking for though. Which is why I needed to know the toad's name otherwise I would have found every single toad on board."

The boy shook himself and said "Thanks! I better go get him before he moves."

The boy took off. When he was gone Ron said "I don't see why he was so worried. If I brought a toad I would have lost it as soon as possible. Although I got Scabbers so I really shouldn't talk."

After he finished speaking, Ron reached into one of his pockets and pulled out an old looking rat that was fast asleep.

"Got him from Percy when he got an owl." Ron said with a frown before smiling and said "Fred and George showed me a cool spell I could use on him though. Wanna see?"

Harry shrugged and Ron pulled out his wand. Harry noticed that the wand looked like it was a hand me down as well but wisely kept his mouth shut thinking that it would be a touchy subject.

Ron cleared his throat, but before he could start the spell, the door opened yet again drawing the two boys' attention.

Standing in the door way was a bushy haired brunette with a bossy air around her and unusually large front teeth. She was already wearing her new Hogwarts robes.

"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one."

"I already told him where to find it." Harry spoke up but it seemed like the girl wasn't listening. Instead she looked at Ron's wand in interest.

"Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it, then."

She sat down next to Harry. Ron looked a little taken back by the bossy tone.

"Er- alright." He said before clearing his throat before continuing "Sunshine, daises, butter mellow, turn this stupid, fat rat, yellow."

He waved his wand but nothing happened. Scabbers remained a grey rat.

Harry cocked his head as the girl asked if it was a real spell and about how she was the first witch in her family. Getting a grin that his aunt would recognize from when she was at school, Harry made a quick hand gesture at the rat. Ron and the girl's eyes widened as the rat changed colors to look like a rainbow.

The girl's jaw dropped as she looked between the rat and Harry who had a proud look on his face.

"You can do wand-less magic!" The girl exclaimed looking at Harry like he was some kind of superstar.

Harry shrugged and said "Well yeah. But only low level magic. You know the kind that's considered accidents when we first do them? I simply know how to control them."

The girl looked even more impressed and said "That's amazing! I heard that it is very hard to be able to control low-level magic when the wizard is young. And for someone not even a student yet to be able to is even more impressive."

Harry shrugged again and said "Not really. I was taught how to use magic at a pretty young age. Had to be able to keep my magic under control since I went to a muggle school."

The girl nodded at his logic before she said "Oh, where's my manners? My name's Hermione Granger."

"Ron Weasley"

"Harry Potter"

Hermione looked at him with wide eyes and said "Really? Well it's really nice meeting you Harry. I've read all about you of course."

Harry nodded already hating the way she was looking at him. Distracting himself with returning Scabbers back to normal he said "Word of advice. Don't believe everything that was written about me. I'm not some great wizard. I'm just someone who got lucky."

The girl looked ready to argue but in the end just shrugged and said "Well it was nice meeting you two. By the way, you might want to start thinking about changing soon. I imagine we'll be there shortly." before standing up and left the compartment.

As she left, Ron looked at him and said "You wouldn't happen to remember anything from that day do you?"

Harry considered what to say and decided the truth would be the best thing.

"Actually remember? Not really. All I can really remember is a green flash. But I've had this dream which has shown me what happened a few times."

Ron gave an "oh" before deciding to drop the subject. Searching for something else to talk about he said "Did you hear about the robbery at Gringotts?"

Harry's head snapped over from where he had been looking out the window to look at Ron.

"Somebody robbed Gringotts?" Harry asked incredulously remembering what his aunt had told him about the goblin run bank.

"Well tried to." Ron said before saying "But the weird thing is that nothing was taken from the vault that had been broken into. It's really weird. They say that only a powerful dark wizard could do it. Some are even saying it was done by You-Know-Who."

Harry frowned and said "You mean Voldemort?"

Ron's eyes widened and he gasped out "You said his name?"

Harry's frown grew and he said "Yeah, so? Dumbledore always says that we shouldn't fear someone's name."

Ron's eyes widened even further and he said "You've actually talked to Dumbledore before?"

Harry was beginning to grow uncomfortable again but before he could say anything the door opened yet again. Silently wondering how many times they would be visited, Harry rose an eyebrow when he saw who had come this time. Standing in the doorway was the boy from the robe shop with two boys that looked like thugs behind him. The boy was looking at Harry with a lot more interest than he'd shown back in Diagon Alley.

"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." Harry said warily looking at the two boys standing behind him. They looked like body guards with how thick set they were. To Harry they reminded him more of Dudley's gang. Only difference in Harry's opinion was that they could use magic which made them twice as bad in his book.

"Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle." The pale boy carelessly said 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 back to Harry and said "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.

Harry looked from the hand to Draco's face and coolly said "I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks."

Malfoy didn't go red like back at the robe shop, but a pink tinge did appear 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 it'll rub off on you."

Harry and Ron both stood up and Harry said in a dangerous tone "Get out."

Malfoy smirked and said "Or you'll do what?"

Harry smirked as well and brought his right hand up in the standard sign for a low-level spell with the fingers level with his left shoulder. He then split his pointer and middle fingers apart forming a v. Right after he did so, sparks of electricity appeared in between the fingers with a thread of electricity connecting his fingertips.

Everyone else's eyes widened as Harry said "Tell me Malfoy, do you know what a taser is? It's a muggle device that shoots electricity into a person paralyzing them. This little spell does the exact same thing. Now get out before I use it on you."

Malfoy's face paled as he backed out of the compartment. He sneered at Harry and said "You better watch your back Potter. I won't forget this."

With that the three took off. Ron meanwhile was still looking at Harry's hand as he brought his two fingers back together closing the current before letting the hand drop back to his side as he walked over to the compartment door and closed it.

Walking back to his seat, Harry sat back down and sighed before saying "I hate people like them."

Ron shook his head and said "What was that?"

Harry looked up and said "It's a low-level self defense spell that I was taught by my aunt. You focus your magic to your fingers and keep the flow between the two steady. Pretty handy if anyone is within arm's reach and is about to hit you."

Before Ron could say anything, the door opened back up and they heard "What's going on here?"

The boys looked up and saw Hermione standing in the door way again. Continuing she said "Why were those three running like they were being attacked?"

Ron smirked and said "Because they bit off more than they could chew."

Hermione seemed to be annoyed at that comment but instead of responding to it said "Well you two might want to get changed now. I was just up front talking to the conductor. He said we'll be there soon."

Harry nodded and thanked her. After she left the two boys changed as Ron began asking Harry what else he could do. A voice soon told them that they would be arriving at Hogwarts in five minutes and to leave their luggage on the train since it would be taken to the school separately.

The train slowed down and the two boys entered the corridor which was quickly filling with other students getting ready to get off the train. The train finally stopped and people pushed their way toward the door and out on to a tiny, dark platform. Harry shivered form the cold night air. Then he spotted a lamp that was bobbing over the heads of the students as it came closer.

Harry then heard a familiar voice calling out "Firs' Years! Firs' years over here! All right there, Harry?"

Hagrid's big hairy face beamed over the sea of heads.

Harry walked over to Hagrid who beamed down at him before calling out again for the rest of the first years. Once all of the first years were around him, Hagrid took off away from the platform and led the first years to the shore of a lake where boats were waiting.

After all of the students were settled in, Hagrid knocked on the side of his own boat and the small fleet took off towards an enormous castle that was on the other side.

As they got closer Harry thought 'I'm finally here.'

The fleet went into a wide cave which was covered by vines that reached into the water. At the back of the cave was a harbor where everyone clambered out onto rocks and pebbles. After everyone was around Hagrid again, he lead them down a pathway until they came out near the front door. Hagrid walked up the stone steps to the front door. Raising one of his large hands, he knocked on the door three times.

END

Author's Notes: Update Schedule and Poll on my profile.