Disclaimer: I own nothing, but the plot line :)
A/N: Hello again! I told you I would update again, and here it is, chapter 4! It was actually a lot of fun to write, I just love the Hogwarts Express! Anyway, this story is dedicated to PottersLittleSister who actually convinced me to update tonight. You should go read her stories, they're pretty awesome, and she's back to updating also!
Enjoy this chapter as much as I did, and please please please review, it makes writing the next chapter so much easier :D
1st September 1991
Although Professor Dumbledore had visited Harry every year, to explain more and more of the story of his parents, Harry was still curious as to how they were targeted in the first place. Why not the Weasleys? Why not someone else? This is what plagued Harry's thoughts for a while, until his thoughts were dragged away from his parents to the fact he was heading off to Hogwarts today. Mind you it was only 5 in the morning as Harry lay awake, too excited to sleep.
While he listened to Ron's snores, he thought back to his eleventh birthday, when he went to retrieve his wand.
**flashback**
Harry stepped in to Ollivander's wand shop, for what seemed the millionth time. The one difference this time though, was that he was getting a wand instead of one of his adopted brothers. This news made the whole experience completely different. It was as if he could feel the magic radiating off all the wands that covered the rows upon rows in the aisles that reached further than his eyes could see. A shiver ran down his spine as he stepped up to the empty counter and rang the bell. Ginny had followed him in to the shop, Mr and Mrs Weasley just behind her with Ron.
"Ah!" A voice came from the far aisle and made Harry jump. An old man with fuzzy white hair and an odd expression had shown himself, he was still perched on his ladder as he started speaking.
"I wondered when I'd be seeing you, Mr Potter." He gave Harry a knowing look and responded to Harry's bewildered look saying that he remembered when Harry's parents bought their wands. He trekked up the third aisle and started muttering to himself.
Harry gazed at the wands lining the aisles, not seeing any difference in the boxes. Ollivander had returned to the front desk with two long, dusty boxes and placed them on the table. Harry looked at both, waiting for Ollivander to give him one.
"Well, pick one." He stated simply at Harry.
Harry took the box on the left and pulled off the cover, inside was a twelve inch wand, a core of dragon heartstring. Pulling it out of its velvet encasing, he moved it in the opposite direction of everyone, unfortunately it was at the direction of one of the aisles, and before he could do anything to stop it, the rows started spitting out all the boxes on the shelves. Quickly putting it back in the box, he picked up the other wand while Ollivander waved his to put the boxes back on the shelves.
The wand in his hand this time was a ten and a half inch, with a core of willow and holly. As he picked it up, he gave it a wave towards the desk; a bad move, once he saw the damage it had done. Papers had scattered in every direction, any glass that was surrounding the desk had shattered, and the glass of water that was perched on top had shattered and wet everything in its path.
Stepping away from the desk, Harry heard Ollivander start talking to himself again.
"No. no, definitely not" He whispered as he hustled down another isle, stopping a third way up and looking at a particular box. Harry heard him mutter an 'I wonder' before he took the box off the shelf and brought it to the desk for Harry to take hold of.
Harry took hold of the now opened box, and looked at the wand inside. An eleven inch wand sat encased in the velvet sheet, a core of Holly and Phoenix feather. Harry could feel the magic radiating from it, as he reached to remove it from the box. He held it up and waved it in front of the desk, and everything that had smashed, restored itself. Harry knew this was his wand; it connected with his magic even before he had pulled it from the box. The only thing that affected his glorious moment of being accepted in to the wizarding world was Ollivanders comment. "Curious," he stated.
Harry's curiosity won out, and he asked what was so curious, and was responded with "As I said before, Mr Potter, I remember every wand I ever sold. It is curious, that this wand be destined for you, when it's brother gave you that scar."
"You mean, this wand is connected to You-Know-Who's wand?" Harry stared wide-eyed at the strange old man.
"Yes, and no," he started, "The wand chooses the wizard, Mr Potter. The phoenix feather that resides in your wand, gave one other feather. And that happens to be the core of You-Know-Who's wand. It means that we can expect great things from you. After all, He-who-must-not-be-named did great things. They were terrible, yes, but great." He eyed Harry with those knowing eyes again, and Harry internally shivered at what he had said.
**end flashback**
Ron stirred in his bed, and Harry noted that it was already 5.30. His excitement wouldn't let him fall back to sleep, so he got out of bed and went for a shower.
By quarter past 6, he was showered, dressed, packed and repacked, and down in the kitchen ready for breakfast. He heard someone stir upstairs and grinned when Mrs Weasley bustled in to the kitchen to start breakfast for the remaining three children.
"Good morning, Harry" she smiled at Harry as she headed to the fridge to get out the bacon, sausages and eggs. "Excited are you, dear?"
"Yup. I couldn't sleep. And Ron kept snoring." Harry started saying. "Hey mum, what's Ginny gonna do while me and Ron are at Hogwarts?" He looked up at the woman who had raised him with a curious expression. 'Harry and his questions' thought Mrs Weasley as breakfast started cooking itself .
"We're going to do lots of things until you come home for Christmas, which is only 15 weeks away. In that time, you and Ron need to stay out of trouble. I don't want to hear from Professor McGonagall that you've been following in your brother's footsteps." She steered the question away and back around to school and Harry got distracted again; this time by the plate of food that was put in front of him.
After his first few mouthfuls, he once again asked a question, "Mum, will the food at Hogwarts be as good as this?" Mrs Weasley smiled at the hidden compliment and replied, "Yes, dear. Hogwarts feast are among the best services of food anyone could ever dream of. Even Ron wouldn't be able to finish his food!"
Harry looked at her shocked; as if anyone could make enough food that even Ron couldn't finish it!
"Wow," was all Harry could respond before getting back to his plate of food.
/*/*/*/*/*\*\*\*\*\
Harry passed through the barrier between platforms 9 and 10 with a feeling of unease. Sure he'd been through the barrier several times before, practically every year since he turned 5, but this time he knew that he wouldn't be coming back through the barrier, but boarding the train and heading to Hogwarts himself. The scarlet steam engine that he was so familiar with was stationed in all its glory. Bright red and charcoal black, it had steam billowing around it in anticipation.
Students lined the platform, but Harry now noticed the students that were boarding the train and heaving their trunks in to the carriages rather than the students that were chatting on the platform and saying goodbye to their parents. It was like a totally new experience, and he loved every minute of it.
Harry, Ron and the twins pushed their trolleys up to the baggage compartment and were heaving it on the train when Percy sidled up and leant against the train with a grin on his face.
"What's got you so freely expressing your emotions, Perce?" George mocked his elder brother.
"I bet it's a lady," Fred said in the same voice.
"The same who kept him locked in his room all summer?" George grinned at his twin.
"The one and only," Fred grinned right back.
"Her name is Penelope. And I doubt you two would understand. I doubt you will ever understand." Percy huffed, "besides, I'm only here to tell you that the train is leaving shortly and Mum and Dad want to say goodbye." He stuck his nose in the air, stuck out his chest to emphasise the shiny "P" badge he got with his Hogwarts letter, and wandered off to find Penelope.
The whistle blew, and the steam engine came to life. Harry and the Weasley's wandered over to where their parents stood and goodbyes were exchanged.
Harry looked over at Ginny, who's eyes were red and puffy but a small smile donned her face. He went over to where she stood, holding on to her mother's hand and he gave her a tight hug.
"I'll be waiting for your owl," Ginny whispered and Harry replied "I'll be waiting for you; even if it is till next year."
He pulled back from their hug and he grinned. "See you in the holidays, Gin!"
Harry raced to the train, that had twice as much steam since he first saw it on arrival, and the engine roared, preparing for the journey. Fred and George had taken off down one direction of the train in search of their friend Lee Jordan, while Ron had headed off towards a seemingly empty carriage further along the path Harry had taken.
Even though Harry and Ron hadn't really gotten along when they were younger, things were picking up a little bit. At least they spoke now, however awkward the situation would get. So Harry followed Ron, passing a few students his height that took notice of his scar. Harry sighed as he remembered he was well-known. He didn't need the attention, so he ducked his head and walked a bit faster.
He found Ron in an empty compartment, holding his rat. Harry didn't understand why he was allowed to take a rat to Hogwarts; after all, their letter specifically stated an owl, cat or a toad. Harry entered the seating area and took the seat opposite of Ron. He didn't really know what to say, so he just started with the obvious.
"So... we're heading to Hogwarts." He slightly smiled at his brother.
"Yeah, I guess we are. What house do you want to be sorted in? I think I'd like anything but Gryffindor. I mean, all the others have been in that house, and I always follow everything they do." Ron looked at Harry.
Harry knew that Ron hated being the youngest boy, besides Harry. He also knew that Ron did want to outshine his brothers during his time at Hogwarts, but from what Harry knew, that either meant being in Gryffindor or Slytherin.
"I wouldn't mind where I get put. I mean, Gryffindor would be cool, and Slytherin sounds awesome. Even Ravenclaw has its perks, but Hufflepuff I'm not so sure. I couldn't really find much history on their strengths; it's almost like they're leftovers." Harry laughed.
Ron scowled before he made his input, "Slytherin? How are they awesome? They're like, all evil and stuff. You know, not a good witch or wizard ever came from Slytherin."
"Well then, maybe I'll change that. And I'll choose Slytherin and become great," Harry laughed again at how absurd he was sounding. Ron had the same thoughts;
"You can't just choose. Dad said that a magical object chooses for us."
"Well I'll just ask it to put me in Slytherin. If it's enchanted it won't know what I'm saying." Harry grinned at the challenge. He was going to ask the silly enchanted object to put him in Slytherin, and he was going to become great.
The two sat in silence for a little while, Ron pulled out a book, while Harry had opened his Standard book of Spells. He was interested in the practical side of magic, the doing spells and making things move, rather than the history. He had opened his History of Magic textbook, but put it down after a few pages; it was incredibly boring.
About an hour and a half in to their train ride, a girl with bushy brown hair, dressed in her Hogwarts robes already, rushed in to their compartment.
"Have either of you seen a toad? A boy named Neville lost one." She looked at the two of them, then at the book Harry was holding. "Oh, is that our Standard book of Spells grade 1? I've read that all the way through, I hope I don't forget anything for our first class. Do you think we'll be able to start spell work immediately?"
Harry noted that she spoke a lot, and very fast.
"Yeah, I'm just looking through it; I don't want to be stuck behind everyone else." Harry knew that Ron had hardly looked at his textbooks, let alone opened them.
"I've read through all my books already. Although I don't know what I'm going to do about exams, there is so much to remember. Oh, I almost forgot. My name is Hermione Granger."
Harry looked at Ron, whose eyes were as wide as saucepans at the fact she was already worrying about exams. Term hadn't even started yet!
"I'm Harry Potter. And this is Ron Weasley," Harry smiled at the girl, as her eyes grew wide before she smiled at him. "It's good to meet you at last. I've read so much about you; you're in quite a few historical wizarding books. Well, if you see that toad, come find me, but I need to get going. Oh, and you should probably get changed soon, I think we're almost there.
The sun had drooped low in the sky, casting long shadows over the endless green landscape they were travelling through. It would be dark in about an hour. Harry took Hermione's advice, grabbed his robes, told Ron he was going to change and headed out of the compartment.
As he passed compartment after compartment, he noticed a few glances, as if they were recognising him. He wondered if this is how it would be all year, people gaping at him as if he were a zoo animal; Hogwarts would seem much less appealing. Lost in his musings, he didn't notice the next compartment door open, and a boy stepping out of it. Harry walked straight in to him.
"Watch where you're going!" He scowled at Harry, and before Harry could mutter anything other than a 'sorry', he shut the compartment door and headed off in the direction Harry just came. What got Harry though was the perfectly gelled platinum blonde hair the boy had. Sitting at the back of his mind was a memory of that hair; he just couldn't put his finger on where he had seen it before.
Pushing the thought from his mind, he kept on his way to change in to his robes.
About two hours later, the train had begun to slow down, and Harry took notice of the little town it had pulled in to. He'd heard of it before, a complete Wizard town, Hogsmeade, as he recalled it. Ron had finally changed in to his robes too, and as the train halted at the platform, he shoved his rat in to the robe pocket and the two boys headed out of their compartment. An announcement had been spread through the train to leave their luggage on the train and that it would be taken to their dormitories later that evening.
As they stepped off the Hogwarts Express, Harry heard a deep voice calling out, "Firs' years, over here! Firs' years! C'mon now, follow me!"
Ron cried out when he saw the body to the voice, "wicked"
Harry took in the giant's appearance, he had a beard that covered most of his face, that was all scraggly as if it had never been brushed. He had small brown eyes that seemed friendly enough for Harry to take a liking to him.
Harry tugged at Ron's sleeve to get his attention and they followed the half-giant towards the lake, down past the station.
"No more'n four to a boat!" They heard over the excited murmuring from the first year students as they clambered in to the little paddle boats. It took great strength for Harry to remain silent as he took in his surroundings. All around them was a dead-still sheet of water that reflected the stars and waning moon of the night sky like a mirror. Ahead of their boats was a mountain side, and atop of that was the Hogwarts castle. It stood there, in all its glory, with light coming from each of the little windows, shining over its grounds as if it was protecting it from intruders. The turrets kept guard of the ancient castle, standing high above the rest, intimidating anyone that passed over its grounds. It was magnificent, Harry thought.
The boats pulled in to a little room at the bottom of the mountain, where boats were lined up, all tied to little poles. Around the shed were all sorts of bits and pieces used to keep the boats in shape, and what looked to Harry, some gear to actually merge under that sheet of water they had travelled over. Harry shivered at the thought.
Curiosity getting the better of Harry, he nudged Ron and asked, "Reckon he's a professor?" as he nodded towards the half-giant.
"I remember hearing Fred and George talking about some giant that lived on the grounds of Hogwarts. I wonder what he does if he isn't a professor," Ron mused to himself as they headed up towards the castle behind their guardian.
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