That Which Can't Be Seen

A Harry Potter Alternate Universe fic

By: Shadow Chaser

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all characters associated with the books do not belong to me. They belong to J.K. Rowling and Warner Brothers. I own my own original characters. Please ask if you would like to use them.

Author's Notes: This chapter may sound familiar as it is similar to Chapter 6 of the book, HP and the Sorcerer's Stone, but there are subtle differences, especially when Ron, Hermione, and Harry meet.


Chapter 6 – The Beginning of Friendship

Harry decided he hated Floo powder. It broke his glasses, though his mother repaired it with a simple "Repairo!" and he always sneezed at the copious amounts of dust that blew all over the place, covering his robes, hair, and face with soot. But other than the Floo powder, his trip to the Auror headquarters in London was fun. He was introduced to many aspects of the Wizarding government and even met some of his father's co-workers, including his Uncle Sirius. Though he shied away as people rushed up to greet him, he now knew why they did so, because he was The-Boy-Who-Lived.

But all in all, Harry found that the rest of the week and half had passed by quickly and now found himself standing in front of the train station in London, waiting as his parents locked up their car. Beside him, on a trolley was his luggage and Hedwig who was occasionally squawking in her cage.

Harry was a bit embarrassed as quite a few Muggles were staring at Hedwig, wondering what in the blazes was an owl doing locked up in a cage and not even sleeping at this time of the day. However, he took a cue from his parents and ignored the people after a while…

"Harry, come on," his mother placed her hand on his shoulder and pulled him along as his father took the trolley cart and they walked into King's Cross station. The bustle of usual morning traffic as people rushed onto trains and subways to get to work or were getting off of trains, raising their hands to hail taxies made for walking around together a bit hard.

Lily had long dropped her hand from Harry's shoulder, but Harry had grabbed onto her hand to try not to lose her in the station. He could barely make out his father, barreling his way through the crowd with the trolley in front of him like a battering ram. Finally his parents stopped in front of what Harry saw were platforms 9 and 10. He scratched his head, wondering why they stopped.

"Lily?" his father called back and Harry was pulled along side, barely squished by the crowds.

"All right now, Harry watch your father carefully…" his mother instructed and Harry nodded as he saw his mother give a nod to his father before he took the trolley and ran towards the brick barrier between platforms 9 and 10. He expected his father to rebound hard and have the trolley crash, but that wasn't the case as his eyes widened…his father disappeared straight through the barrier…oblivious to all the Muggles that were around him.

"Come on Harry, our turn," his mother said, snapping him out of his stupor.

"All…right," Harry said, uncertain.

Lily smiled before kneeling down to her son's eye level. "Listen Harry, its bewitched so that Muggles ignore it. Only those who have magical children or are wizards and squibs themselves can go through. If you want, you can close your eyes as we approach.

"S-Sure…" Harry nodded before he took his mother's hand and the two of them walked towards the barrier.

"Usually most do it at a run, but since this is your first time, we'll walk through," Lily smiled and Harry nodded sheepishly before he closed his eyes tight as they approached the barrier. He expected to slam into the wall, but seconds later, he blinked open his eyes and saw that they were on the other side of the barrier…

A sign hanging above him read Platform 9 ¾. In front of him and extending down to his right was the glistening scarlet shine of a steam engine, the Hogwarts Express…

"See…that wasn't so bad, was it Harry?" his mother asked and Harry nodded in agreement.

"Lily, over here!" James called and Harry turned to see his father farther down a ways, waiting for them with the trolley. Both he and his mother quickly walked to where his father was and James ruffled his hair to which Harry tried to bat his hands away but his father was too fast.

"Awww, Dad, stop it," he whined as his father ruffled his hair some more before stopping.

Harry grinned up at his Dad and was about to open his mouth when a loud pop occurred that made his jump slightly before he saw his Uncle Sirius standing next to them.

"Uncle Sirius!" he shouted, giving him a bear hug to which he returned before letting him go.

"Hey Harry…" Sirius ruffled his hair some more before turning to his father, "James, we need to talk."

Harry quieted at the serious tone of his Uncle's voice and saw that his mother and father also had a worried look on their faces before James nodded.

"Lily, you mind helping Harry get his stuff on board. I'll see you back at home, all right?"

"Sure," Lily replied before giving him a quick kiss on the lips and taking the trolley.

"Hey Harry…have fun at Hogwarts, okay? Listen to your teachers there. Your mom and I will owl you later this week," James knelt down and hugged him briefly.

A sudden feeling of loneliness overcame Harry and he hugged his father back tightly before he could get up again. Burying his face in his father's shoulder Harry could feel tears starting to form before he forced them not to come. Boys never cried…that was the rules…

After a few seconds, he let his father go and James stood back up. "Bye Dad…" Harry said before turning around and running over to where his mother was lifting up his trunk with the help of a porter.

"Bye Harry!" he heard his father's call after him.

He barely noticed that quite a few people who were boarding the train or even getting off had started to stare at his father and Uncle Sirius, whispers of excitement at actually seeing the two most famous Aurors at the train station…

"Mum, need help?" he asked as he approached his mother who had just finished handing the last part of the trunk to the porter who was now shoving it into a compartment filled with other students' trunks.

"No, I'm fine Harry. Thank you though," his mother replied as two distant pops told him that his father and Sirius had Apparated away…probably back to Auror headquarters, he guessed.

"Where's Hedwig?" he asked, curious as his trolley was now empty except for a small tote bag that his mother handed to him. It carried his robes and some things to do on the train.

"She's in the pet compartment, young master," the porter that had been helping suddenly poked his head out, "you may see her later."

Suddenly the whistle of the train cut off everyone and the conductor blared in a loud voice, "ALL ABOARD!"

Harry suddenly panicked as he realized that he wouldn't be seeing any of his parents for at least a few months…the longest he had gone without seeing them, and a swooping feeling of homesickness overcame him. He suddenly hugged his mother tightly before she gently pried him off of her.

"Harry, don't worry. Your father and I will owl you so you don't get lonely. If you ever need to owl us, just remember, Hedwig can find us, all right?" his mother smiled and Harry saw tears in her eyes.

"All right," he smiled, trying to put on a brave front, but inwardly he was failing…

"Now, go and have fun at Hogwarts. Your father and I are proud of you," she turned him around and pushed him gently towards the stairs to the compartments inside the train.

Harry walked up and inside before the doors closed behind him. He suddenly turned around and pressed his face up against the window as the train sounded it whistle again and started to move out of the station. Harry watched as his mother grew smaller and smaller until he blinked and suddenly she was gone.

Sighing, he picked up his bag and headed towards the compartments. Each one he peeked in was full until he came upon one that was empty and sat in it. He looked outside as the city became fields an occasional marker pole flying by. There was some shuffling outside of his door and he turned to see the door to the compartment he was in slide open and a boy his age poke his head in.

He had red hair and freckles dotted his sheepish face. There was some dirt on his nose, but the boy didn't seem to notice it. "Hey mate, mind if I join you? All others are full…"

"Sure," Harry moved his bag over as the boy grinned and pulled his own trunk in. Harry got up to help him and together they managed to stuff the boy's trunk on the top shelf before the two of them collapsed into the chairs across from each other.

"Thanks. I'm Ron, Ron Weasley," the boy introduced himself, extending his hand.

"I'm Harry. Harry Potter," Harry grinned as he reached a hand out and shook the other boy's hand.

"No…the Harry Potter?" Ron's shaking faltered and he sat back, a stunned expression on his face.

Harry felt his face grow warm as he said in a quiet voice, "Yeah…"

"Do…um; do you have…you know…the scar?" Ron asked sheepishly and Harry grinned to show that he wasn't really angry.

"Yeah, see," he lifted up his bangs and saw Ron's eyes widened as he took in the lightning bolt scar. He knew his mother told him that it was the result of the rebounded curse Voldemort had tried to kill him with, but what was the harm of it showing it off, especially to a boy he felt would be his first friend.

"Wicked," Ron breathed before sitting back, "Fred and George said that they saw your father outside along with Sirius Black, but I thought they were kidding when they mentioned that you were probably going to go to Hogwarts this year."

"Fred and George?" Harry asked, confused.

"Oh yeah," Ron grinned sheepishly, "They're my older brothers. Twins…troublemakers my mum calls them, but they like pulling pranks."

"They've been going to Hogwarts?" Harry asked before he mentally slapped himself for such a stupid question.

"Yeah," if Ron thought it was stupid, he didn't seem to care, "they're going to be Third Years this year. Percy, my other brother, is going to be a Fifth Year Prefect."

Harry tilted his head, wondering why Ron sounded a bit sullen at mentioning Percy.

"Ah," Ron shrugged, "don't worry. Percy loves to follow the rules. He's too strict. I've also got two other brothers, Charlie and Bill. Both graduated some time ago. Charlie's in Romania studying dragons while Bill's in Egypt working in the tombs. My younger sister, Ginny's going to be going to Hogwarts next year."

"Wow," Harry had never heard of such an extended family, "you've got a lot of brothers and sisters."

"Just one sister. Ginny's the youngest of all of us," Ron corrected him before pulling out a scruffy looking rat, "this is Scabbers. He's kinda old, but not that much."

"Cool. Hedwig, my owl, is in the pet compartment. The porter said I shouldn't really take her here…" Harry watched as Ron set the rat down to which it promptly closed its eyes and fell asleep.

"Don't worry about it. Last year, Fred and George told me they set the owls loose on various compartments to which the porter was peeved about because of the feathers and other things the owls left behind after each was rounded up," Ron replied. "But Percy's got an owl this year so he's probably patrolling the pet compartment. Wish I had an owl but dad can't aff-"

Ron suddenly stopped as his face and ears turned a bit pink and he looked down into his bag, finding something in there suddenly interesting.

Harry didn't think there was anything wrong with not be able to afford an owl. Even though he had money, he wasn't allowed to use it until just a month ago when his parents took him to Diagon Alley and to Gringotts Bank. He decided to tell Ron about it to cheer him up and was relieved when his friend smiled at his father antics in the Muggle world.

"So what's the Muggle world like?" Ron asked and Harry blinked; surprised that Ron didn't know much about the Muggle life. He proceeded to tell Ron about various Muggle stuff.

They were still talking when a gentle knock on their door made them stop and Harry looked up to see a portly old woman pushing a cart full of sweets. He opened the compartment door.

"Can I get you boys anything?" the woman asked.

Harry's eyes bugged at the numerous things that were littered on the cart. He pulled out some of the money he had in his pants and asked the woman how much would he be able to buy. He didn't notice Ron's shocked expression at the money he was holding.

"If you want, you can try a little of everything dear," the old woman said and Harry nodded before making his purchase. He stepped back into the compartment and closed the door with his foot before dumping everything on to an empty chair next to Ron. Looking up, he saw Ron's barely masked jealous expression before he gestured to the pile.

"Here, take some. I won't be able to finish everything," he said and Ron looked at him before he nodded.

"Thanks mate!" Ron picked a few things before tossing him a small box that said Chocolate Frogs. "Here, try these. Also tell me which card you got. I'm missing a couple."

"Are they really frogs?" Harry asked, as he opened the box.

"No, just charmed," Ron replied, stuffing his face with some gummy worms that wriggled a bit before the charm wore off.

Harry jumped slightly as the chocolate frog suddenly jumped up and landed on the window before it started sliding off. "Oops," Ron caught the frog for him and Harry took it, the spell wearing off. He nibbled a part of the frog's legs just to be sure it wasn't a real frog and tasted chocolate. Shrugging mostly to himself, he ate the rest of the chocolate frog before picking up the card that had a man's picture on it.

"So this is Dumbledore," he said.

"Oh him," Ron said, "I've got a few of him. Why don't you keep him and start collecting?"

"Okay," Harry flipped the card over and read over a brief description of Dumbledore before turning it back around. He blinked as he saw that Dumbledore had disappeared. He remembered his mother telling him about moving pictures, and he had only seen one once, but now he believed it as Dumbledore walked back into the picture, waving to him.

They ate the rest of the treats with Harry experimenting in some of Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Jelly Beans, before Ron asked in between mouthfuls of food and cakes.

"So what's your Quidditch team?"

"Quidditch?"

"What," Ron almost did a spit-take before managing to swallow the food he had at the last minute. "You don't know what Quidditch is?"

"Well…my dad gave me a broom for my birthday, but mum forbade him from telling me anything about Quidditch. I mean, he told me that there is a Quaffle, Bludgers, and Snitch, but that's about it," Harry quickly defended himself.

"Wow, your mum's strict," Ron blinked.

"Yeah," Harry said in a glum voice, "but she's mum. Dad's stricter…"

"Your dad?"

"Yeah," apparently Ron took in his discomfort and quickly changed the subject.

"Okay…at least you know about the balls. Here's the other stuff…"


James frowned as Sirius paced before him, two other Aurors, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Mad-Eye Moody. It was late afternoon and while most of the Ministry had already gone home, the Auror office was always open, 24/7.

"So it's worst than what the team returning from Winchester said," Moody growled, his magical eye rolling around in a way to make anyone staring at it for long, a bit green.

"Apparently," Sirius stopped his pacing and faced them. "We're now getting reports from northern Scotland that there are chimera attacks."

"Oh, fun," Kingsley replied a bit sarcastically.

"Shut up," Moody cut him off, "we'll need information. Potter, you're heading out. Gather your team and I'll inform Crouch to do the same."

James blinked in surprise, "Wait a minute sir…are Crouch's Aurors also going?"

"You betcha," Moody replied, "even though they're Dark magic users, they're still good if chimeras are there. You're in charge so they'll be subordinate to you."

"Yes sir," James said, "how soon should we be out of here?"

"By tomorrow morning," Moody replied.

"Sirius?" James turned to his best friend but he was two steps ahead.

"Already on it," Sirius opened the door and walked out of Moody's office, headed to alert the various members of a small team that James knew by heart.

"Shacklebolt?"

"Going to Crouch sir," Kingsley left the room, leaving only him and Moody.

"Potter," Moody walked around to his desk and sat in it his magical eye still rolling around.

"Sir?"

"Dumbledore's been keeping me informed about the current situation. This is near Hogwarts so if there are any signs of big trouble, alert Dumbledore immediately before coming back here. If the Dark Forces are rising again, we should be prepared," Moody said gravely.

"Understood sir," James replied. He moved to head out of Moody's office and to send a quick message to Lily saying that he wouldn't be home for a few days when Moody stopped him again.

"James," the second in command of the Auror Task Force said.

James turned around, "Sir?"

"Be careful out there."


They were in the midst of discussing Quidditch when a loud commotion was heard outside that stopped both Harry and Ron. They both looked up at each other before looking outside. Harry got up and opened the door. What he saw made him frown in anger.

A girl with long bushy brown hair was on the ground, her wand drawn, but three boys towered over her, their faces snide and laughing. Another boy was by her side, his wand not drawn but he looked a bit fearful.

"You filthy little mudblood, thinking that you can actually walk the halls as you please," the boy in the middle said in a haughty voice. He noticed that the boy had pale blond hair and his face was twisted into an arrogant expression.

"Hey! Stop it," Harry called out, stepping out of the compartment and towards them. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Ron following him.

"Who in bloody hell are you?" the boy swore looking up at the two of them. "Oh wait…red head, freckled face, and more kids than they can afford. You've got to be a Weasley."

"Sod off," Harry placed a hand on Ron's shoulder to stop him from doing anything rash.

"Don't know who…" the blond-haired boy started before he trailed off, his eyes looking directly at Harry's forehead. "You're Harry Potter aren't you?"

"Harry Potter?" the boy and girl on the ground whispered and Harry glanced at them before staring back at the blond haired boy who put away his wand and extended his hand out.

"Draco, Draco Malfoy," the boy introduced himself, "you'll soon find out that some wizarding families are better than others and that Muggle-borns shouldn't really be allowed into schools where they taint the blood. I can help you there."

Harry stared at the offered hand before batting it away. "I can figure it out for myself thank you very much," he said in a cold voice.

"Fine then," Malfoy looked a bit red in the face before he spun around, "Crabbe, Goyle, let's go." The three boys disappeared down the hall and Harry knelt down, offering a hand to the boy and girl who grabbed it and pulled themselves up.

"Come on, we've got room in our compartment," he helped them in before taking a seat himself.

"Thanks," the boy started, "the name's Neville. Neville Longbottom."

"Hermione," the girl with the bushy hair said in a quiet voice that Harry thought could have been stronger if she hadn't been beaten up by Malfoy and his goons. "Hermione Granger."

"You're Muggle-born aren't you?"

"Yes," she snapped her head up, her eyes blazing with anger as she stared at Ron.

"Hey, hey, chill. I don't mind," Ron backed away, holding his hands up defensively.

Harry was confused… "Ron?"

"You're really Harry Potter?" Hermione turned her gaze on him before Ron could say anything.

"Yes," Harry lifted up his bangs once more, showing his scar.

"I've read a lot about you. I brought some extra books for some light reading," she added, "didn't really expect you to help me though."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Harry asked, confused.

"What, you mean you don't know?" Neville asked, surprised.

"Huh?"

"Your parents probably shielded you from the Wizarding World, right?" Hermione deducted and Harry nodded, "then I don't blame you."

"What, wait…" Harry held up his hands, "what's going on?"

"Since You-Know-Who-"

"Huh?"

"You know…You-Know-Who…was defeated."

"Oh, Voldemort?"

"Shh!" both Ron and Neville hissed at him.

"Don't say his name," Ron said.

"Uh…okay."

"Anyways, since You-Know-Who was defeated, there's been a few laws made by the deputy minister, Malfoy's father, that the Minister's actually passed. Some of them harshly forbidding Muggle-born people like me to actually go to Hogwarts."

"So then-"

"Professor Lupin and Professor Dumbledore personally brought me my own letter and told me that I had special permission to go," Hermione said, looking a bit sheepish, "it's like a scholarship thing."

"Oh," Harry finally understood.

"Anyways," Hermione brightened, trying to change the topic, "we should get ready. I was on my way back from the front and the conductor said that we be getting to Hogwarts soon. My robes and things are a few compartments down so I'll see you when we get off, all right?"

Without a second word, Hermione suddenly stood up and left the compartment. Neville however took his time and looked a bit nervous the whole time. "It was nice meeting you Harry, Ron." He left, closing the door quietly.

Harry glanced at Ron who shrugged before pulling out a wrinkly, patchy robe from his bag and began to get dressed. Harry took out his own robe and began to get changed.


Author's Notes:

Thank you to all those who've been reading this fic. Sorry it took so long in updating, but I've been bogged down by my summer project. Only recently have my muses been hitting me about this. Anyways, next chapter should be up soon!