Chapter Ten! Woot woot! We made it! Only four more chapters to go and then we're done revising! We can do this! By the way, tell me if you get the title reference. Hint: Georgia? R&R and enjoy!
Previously on "Into the Pages"...
-o-o-
Victoria and Willow Ostler — yes, we know who you are. You have been chosen to save us and save our world from its impending doom. Now, you don't have much time. This portal will only stay open for sixty minutes, never to open again. Please, save us. You are our only hope.
-H
-o-o-
"Of course yeh can come along." [Hagrid] said.
-o-o-
Someone must have really wanted us to come here… Someone powerful… But the most important question, the most confusing, was why us?
-o-o-
We arrived [at King's Cross]...
-o-o-
I dawdled by a guard in King's Cross in the year 1991.
This is what my life has come to.
Earlier, Harry, Wil, and I had split off, searching for directions to platform nine and three-quarters. Of course, Wil and I already knew how to get there, but we couldn't tell Harry, otherwise he would miss his first meeting with the Weasley family. We had told him to look for help in the general direction we knew they were coming from and then took off on our own.
Hence the dawdling.
The guard was a nice person, actually, and we chatted about entirely non-magical related things.
"Have you been to the bookshop on Charing Cross?" I asked him, for I had been outside to Muggle London a couple times and the store was wonderful.
"I can't say I have," he said. "I've never been much of a reader myself."
"Well, you must," I said. "It's the most wonderful place, even if you don't like reading."
"I'll be sure to," he assured me, and then asked, "What are you doing here anyway? Are you going on vacation, or visiting family, or what?"
"I'm going to school, actually," I replied. "Boarding school. It's my first year."
"Oh, how exciting!" he said, smiling. "What school is it?"
I turned red.
"It's, um — oh, look! There's my friend," I said, spotting Wil over at the other side of the station. "I've got to go — it was nice talking to you!" I fled the scene, waving goodbye to him.
"Wil," I said as I approached her, "You have no idea how much you just saved me by appearing right now."
"Um… Okay?"
Just then, we caught sight of Harry, who was waving us over.
"Wil! Vi!" he yelled over the chatter of the crowd. "I found help!"
We came over and then there stood the Weasley family. Their hair was much more flamingly red than I had imagined. Percy, Fred, and George had already gone, so only Molly, Ginny, and Ron were left.
"Hello, dears," said Mrs. Weasley warmly, smiling at us. "I heard you had some trouble getting onto the platform. Not to worry, it's Ron's first time too." She pointed at him. "Now, all you have to do is walk straight at the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Don't stop and don't be scared that you'll crash into it, that's very important. Best do it at a bit of a run if you're nervous. Go on now, before Ron."
"Er — okay," said Harry, wheeling his cart around.
He started out with a slow walk, never looking away from the barrier; then he started to walk quicker, the crowd bumping into him at every turn; finally, he broke into a run, squeezing his eyes shut — and then he was gone.
Ron started to follow him, but his mother held him back. "Ron," she scolded him, "Haven't you heard of 'ladies first'?" Ginny giggled behind her hand. "Go on, dears," said Mrs. Weasley.
I took hold of my cart, spun around to face the wall, and took a deep breath.
In case you were wondering, it looked very, very, extremely solid.
I jogged toward it at first, but as I gained momentum it turned into a heavy run — it was a foot away — I closed my eyes and braced myself — but no collision came.
I opened my eyes and looked around. There it was, as plain as can be — a sign declaring platform nine and three-quarters.
I could almost feel the magic filling the air all around me — the sights, smells, and sounds all contributed to the glorious scene that was the platform. People caught up with friends and chatted with their families; owls flew above, screeching; cats prowled the station, rubbing against people's legs.
I slowly rolled my cart forwards, trying to take in everything.
"Vi!"
I was suddenly assaulted with a mess of bushy brown hair tackling me.
"Hermione?"
And there she was.
"Vi! It is Vi, right? I am the worst at names —"
"Yeah, it's Vi," I said, grinning at her. "It's so nice to see you again!"
"Me too!" she exclaimed. "It's all just so confusing, and wonderful — magic, I mean. You won't believe how wonderful it is to see a familiar face! Are you here with anyone? I'm with my parents — and goodness, I'm rambling, aren't I?"
"Just a bit." I laughed. "I'm here with my sister, Willow, and my friend, Harry."
"That sounds wonderful," she said, beaming. "I wish I had a sister — or a brother, for that matter. I'm an only child."
"Trust me. You do not want one."
She laughed.
"If you say so. Come on, let's grab a compartment before the train fills up! Your friends won't mind, will they?" she asked worriedly.
"Nope," I replied, popping the 'p'. "Let's go!"
We took our luggage and boarded the train, searching for an empty compartment. Hermione took sight of Mocha.
"Oh, is that your cat?" she asked, wide-eyed.
"Yup," I said, beaming down at her fondly. "Mocha. Or Mo, everyone calls her that. And by everyone, I mean me, since I'm practically the only one to have had to address her yet."
"Aw, hi, Mo!" she said.
Mocha purred.
"She's so pretty," said Hermione in adoration.
"She really is."
We found an empty compartment close to the back of the train. We helped each other load in our baggage and sat down.
"So, what House do you want to be in?" I asked.
"Hmm… I'd like Gryffindor the most, I guess. I've heard that it was Dumbledore's House! But I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad, either. What about you?"
"I want Hufflepuff. In my opinion, they're much too undervalued. But Gryffindor wouldn't be bad."
After a bit of chatting, Harry came along with Wil in tow.
"Hello," he said, "Is it okay if we sit here?"
"Well, I don't need permission," said Wil, dragging in her luggage and flopping down on her seat without putting it away. I gave Hermione a look that said, That's sisters for you.
"Hey, I saw that!" she exclaimed.
The train started to rumble, moving slowly down the track. Hermione peeked out the window to say bye to her parents.
A few minutes after we all settled, in came Ron.
"Anyone sitting there?" he asked, pointing at an empty seat. "Everywhere else is full."
We shook our heads, and he sat down.
"Hey Ron — um, was that your name?" asked Wil.
Smooth.
"Yeah," he said. "Ron Weasley."
"Hi," said Wil. "I'm Wil, short for Willow. And that's Harry, Hermione, and Vi."
"Short for Victoria," I clarified.
The compartment door slid open, and there stood Fred and George Weasley.
"Hey, Ron." said one. "Listen, we're going down the middle of the train — Lee Jordan's got a giant tarantula down there."
"Right," murmured Ron.
"Oh," said the other. "Did we introduce ourselves? Fred and George Weasley."
"I'm Fred."
"And I'm George."
"Wait, wasn't I Fred?"
"Were you?"
"Dunno." He shrugged. "See you later, then."
"Bye," we all chorused. They left as quickly as they had come.
After they were gone, we dropped into silence.
"So," I said awkwardly, "I propose a game of Never Have I Ever — just to break the ice."
Everyone murmured their agreement.
"All right," I said. "Who should start?"
"I will!" Wil volunteered. "Never have I ever… had a brother." She grinned devilishly at Ron.
"You're evil," he said, shaking his head. "Nine."
Going clockwise, it was Ron's turn.
"Why do I have to have a sister?" he wailed, and we all laughed. Then he perked up and grinned. "Okay, never have I ever been the oldest sibling."
Wil stuck her tongue out at him and said, "Fine. Nine."
"Fine, nine, that's a great rhyme!" I chanted.
I learned a lot of things about everyone — that Hermione had gotten a failing grade once, for one thing.
"All right," I had said, "Never have I ever failed on schoolwork."
"Seven," said Harry.
"Eight," said Hermione.
"What?!" Wil exclaimed, eyes practically bugging out of her head. "Hermione?"
"It was just once, okay!" said Hermione, putting her hands up defensively. "It was my worst subject."
"Surprising," I said in an imitation of a man's voice. "But you know what's not surprising? How Geico can save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance!"
Wil cracked up while everyone else looked on in confusion.
"Must not be a 90's thing," I muttered.
I also learned that Ron had once said a swear word when he was five ("It was Fred and George's fault!") and that Harry had never tried chocolate and vanilla swirled ice-cream ("Are you even human? Who am I talking to?")
Ron and Hermione also learned that Harry was — well, Harry.
"You're Harry Potter?" gasped Ron.
"I've read all about you," said Hermione, her eyes shining. "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?" asked Harry, looking a little bewildered.
I kneeled down, raised my arms, and said, "Harry Potter! Praise his name! Hallelujah!"
Everyone laughed.
Ron also introduced his pet rat.
"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." He turned a little pink.
It took all of my self-restraint to not throw him out the window.
Soon, the trolley witch came by.
"Anything off the cart, dears?" she asked kindly.
With a bit of pocket money I had collected from doing shifts at the Leaky Cauldron, I bought a few Pumpkin Pasties.
Harry, on the other hand, got a bit of everything. We all dared each other to taste the different flavors of the Every Flavor Beans. I got vomit, dirt, rotten egg, sausage, and cotton candy.
Our compartment door slid open again.
"Sorry," said a round-faced boy, "but have you seen a toad at all?"
We shook our heads.
"I've lost him!" he moaned. "He keeps getting away from me!"
"He'll turn up," assured Harry.
"Yes," said the boy, most likely Neville. "Well, if you see him…"
Hermione stared after him.
"I'm going to help him look," she decided. "I'll be back in a bit. Oh, and I'm going to change into my robes, you should too. I expect we'll be there soon."
She exited the compartment.
"I don't know why he was 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. He might've died and you wouldn't know the difference. I tried to turn him yellow yesterday to make him more interesting, but the spell didn't work. I'll show you, look…" He pulled his wand out from his trunk. "Unicorn hair's nearly poking out. Anyways…" He cleared his throat. "Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, turn this stupid, fat rat yellow."
Nothing happened.
"Sorry, Ron," I said, snickering, "but spells aren't usually more than two words."
He threw his wand back into his trunk. "Stupid spell — George gave it to me, bet he knew it was a dud."
We changed into our robes and chatted a bit more, and then our compartment door slid open again.
"I'm back!" said Hermione, collapsing into a seat. "We couldn't find him, so I got a prefect to do a Summoning Charm instead."
"Smart," I commented, and then the door opened again.
Malfoy.
"Is it true?" he asked. "They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?"
"Yes," said Harry, but he wasn't looking at Malfoy. His gaze drifted to the people standing on either side of him, like bodyguards.
"Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle," he said. "And my name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."
"And my name's Bond. James Bond," said Wil seriously.
Hermione and I cracked up.
"That isn't a Pure-blood name, is it?" asked Malfoy. "You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort, like these Mudbloods and — one of those awful Weasleys, isn't it? I can help you there." He held a hand out to Harry. He didn't take it.
"I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks," he said coolly.
Malfoy almost blushed. Almost.
"I'd be careful if I were you, Potter," he said. "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 Hagrid, and it'll rub off on you."
Harry and Ron stood up.
"Say that again," said Ron dangerously, his face nearly as red as his hair.
"Oh, you're going to fight us, are you?" sneered Malfoy.
"Unless you get out now," said Harry.
"Boys!" said Hermione, jumping up and pushing them apart. "No fighting! You're bound to get in trouble, and I won't be found guilty by association. I don't want to be expelled before we even get to the school, thank you very much."
"Not now, Hermione!" yelled Harry and Ron in unison.
Looking offended, she sat back down.
"At least you tried," I said comfortingly.
They all drew their wands.
"Fight, fight, fight," chanted Wil under her breath, punching her fist into her palm. I glared at her.
She completely ignored me, however, and stood, whispering something into their ears.
They both nodded.
She sat back down, smirking.
"What did you just do?" I hissed at her.
She simply shrugged and smiled.
I found out soon enough, though, when they both shouted, "Rictusempra!"
Under the force of their combined power, Malfoy doubled over in laughter. Crabbe and Goyle took one look at him and ran the other way, their heavy footsteps making a dull thump that could be heard all throughout the corridor.
Malfoy glared at them, at least as best as he could while laughing. He stumbled out of the compartment, clutching his stomach. "My — father — will hear about this," he managed to choke out before taking after Crabbe and Goyle.
"Duuuuuuude," said Wil, laughing so hard she fell out of her chair. From the floor, she exclaimed, "That was totally wicked!"
"Hey, where'd your tye-dye peace shirt go?" I teased.
"Never owned one," she said proudly.
"Tubular," I said.
"Who's James Bond?" asked Ron once everyone was back in their seats.
"He's, like, this totally awesome spy dude guy," said Wil.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "He's a fictional British Secret Service agent."
"Same thing." Wil shrugged.
"Anyways," said Hermione, as we listened to the loud cackles resonating down the hall, "what was that name Malfoy called us?"
"Mudbloods?" I asked.
"Don't say it!" hissed Ron.
"Why?" asked Harry. "What does it even mean?"
"It means 'dirty blood'. It's a really foul name for Muggle-borns. "
The group fell into a heavy silence.
I twirled a strand of hair around my finger and leaned against the window, looking out at the rolling hills as the sky became steadily darker. Finally, we heard a voice: "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately."
We all filed out of the compartment, nervously glancing at each other. I grabbed a leftover Pumpkin Pasty from a chair and nibbled it anxiously as we left the train.
We stepped out onto a small platform, the only source of light coming from a lantern that swung above. A giant arm was connected to it, and to that —
"Firs' years! Firs' years over here! All right there, everyone?" Hagrid beamed at our group, huddled together.
"C'mon, follow me — any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!"
Stumbling forwards, we followed Hagrid down the path in near dead silence. I shivered, wishing the robes were a bit heavier.
"Yeh'll get yer first sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," said Hagrid, "jus' round this bend here."
The group let out a collective "Oooooh" as Hogwarts came into view.
"No more'n four to a boat!" he said, pointing to a line of boats perched obediently on the edge of the Black Lake. I was followed into a boat by Hermione, Hannah Abbott, and Lavender Brown. Wil, Harry, Ron, and Neville piled into another boat.
"Everyone in?" asked Hagrid, who was in a boat by himself. "Right then — forward!"
On cue, the tiny boats launched themselves off into the lake, which looked as smooth as glass. Nobody talked, just like on the way there. It's a bit strange, really, I thought, finishing my pasty and throwing the wrapper into the water, where it was dragged down by a long tentacle. I would've thought everyone would have been talking to each other.
A great shadow was cast over us as we neared the cliff on which Hogwarts was perched.
"Heads down!" Hagrid yelled as we reached the cliff. We ducked and the boats sailed us through a curtain of ivy concealing the opening in the cliff's face.
We sailed into a dark tunnel, the walls making it seem endless and confining at the same time. I hugged myself a little tighter.
Finally, we reached a pebbly shore and hopped off the boats.
"Oy, you there!" shouted Hagrid to Neville's retreating back. "Is this your toad?"
"He's lost it again?" I whispered to Hermione incredulously as we ascended a set of stone stairs, where a gigantic pair of oak doors was waiting for us.
"Everyone here?" asked Hagrid. "You there, still got yer toad?"
He raised a fist and knocked on the doors three times, the echo seeming to sound throughout the castle.
Welp, that was a long chapter! Over 3,000 words! My sister challenged me to write a 2,000 word chapter — and I might've gone a bit overboard? Anyway, congrats if you stayed for this long, and R&R!