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Chapter 11
The station.
Hugo and James were not the only ones in the kitchen when she arrived this time. The others were there as well. Taking a seat at the table beside Lily. Heather started to dish herself breakfast. She did not ask about what she had heard only half an hour before. Instead she asked
"How are we getting to king's cross exactly?"
"Driving."
"Will everyone fit? I mean there are four trunks three owls and Lily's cat."
"Oh we'll make it fit." Heather wondered what she meant but didn't want to ask.
The rest of breakfast was spent in idle chitchat. And it was soon time to leave. Heathers trunk still had her uncle's feather light charm on it so moving it down the stairs was a breeze. The owls were safe and sound in their cages and Jackson, Lily's cat was in his carrier. In short they were ready to load up the car. Heather saw the trunks go in the boot of the car and the all miraculously fit. Or rather they magically fit. Heather was loving magic the more she learned about it. All of the kids fit in the back seat as well. And it was still roomy with five kids and the animals. Lily got to sit in the front with Jackson. Ginny's planning was spot on so they didn't have to speed at all on their way to London. The trip was fun with rounds of the 'name game' going on. The trip seemed to take half the time it did to get Heather to the Potters.
Then they were pulling in to the stations parking lot and piling out. Heather felt a little self conscience pushing her trolley in the station. It wasn't the trunk but Sirius and the other owls were calling a lot of attention to themselves. Ginny handed out tickets and Heather looked at hers. Hogwarts express. Departure time 11:00 form platform 9 3/4. What, 9 ¾ there wasn't a platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross she had been here before. Then Ginny had them all linkup at the brick barrier between platform 9 and 10.
"Lily you first." And she went right through the solid looking wall. Heather was shocked and at the same time she wasn't. This was magic after all. Soon it was her turn and she slowly walked up to the wall pushing the cart. She was nearing it and she was thinking that she should be hitting it any time when she felt a slight tugging and opened her eyes. In front of her was a great large red steam engine and a great many people. Most dressed the way the people on Diagon ally were dressed. James and Hugo were waiting for her they were smiling. Lily was no wear to be seen. No, no there was a flash of red hair that could only be Lily. She was talking to a group of girls her age. They were girls that she knew form her first two years at Hogwarts.
Ginny was that last of their group through the wall and was leading them over to a bench in a ways from the train heather could see there were people sitting there but it was not until they were out of the majority of the people waiting on the platform that she noticed that it was her parents and her uncle, Ron and Alice's parents. She ran to them and hugged her parents.
"You knew how to get here?"
"We met Harry outside and came in together. We should get you to the train its almost eleven." Heather told her parents that she would write and tell them how school was and how her friends were. Then something dawned on her.
"What are you going to tell Grandma and Grandpa?"
"We'll tell them the truth. And we won't let them bully us."
"Good luck." Heather thought that her parents would need it.
"Thanks honey. Have a good time at school. Heather's mom hugged her and kissed her on the forehead. Heather was a little embarrassed until she saw that the others were getting the same treatment. Her father then hugged her and wished her luck. With the good byes and well wishes over James, Lily, Alice, Hugo and Heather boarded the train. Their trunks were being taken care of by the porters on the train.
Heather had packed her school books in her book bag and had it over her arm as she boarded the train with her new friends. They found a compartment that was empty and filed in. Heather had been told the rules by Hermione and knew that she could now try magic without being tagged for underage magic. The first thing she tried was levitate her book bag over to the window seat. It got there before James's bum.
"Hey!"
"What? My spot, now scoot."
"How did you do that?" It was Hugo who was asking and indeed Heather found that everyone was looking at her. James was the only one that didn't look shocked. And he was the one who explained.
"It's the first spell she did with a wand. I on the other hand set a chair on fire. She made it levitate without knowing how."
"But she didn't say the spell."
"I don't know how it happened any more than you do. We'll ask a teacher when we get to school." James said
At the moment Heather was not all that concerned by the fact that she could make things levitate without saying the spell. She was worried about what the man in the frame had said. What was a mudblood. She couldn't keep quite any longer.
"What's a mudblood?"
The chatter that had been going on in the carriage had stopped the moment the word was out of her mouth.
"Who called you that?" Hugo asked "It wasn't someone on the platform was it?" He had his wand out and his face was set. James had followed suite.
"Umm, boys put your wands away. It was back at your house James."
"What, someone at my house called you that?"
"Well I wouldn't really call him a person. I didn't want to make a big fuss about this. I just want to know that it means."
"Was it Bodey?"
"What? The house elf? No, it was the greasy man in the frame outside the kitchen. He called me that and told me to get out of his hallway this morning. The first time I woke up." Heather put an irritated spin on the last sentence as she glared at the two boys. Hugo blushed beet red. "So what does the word mean?"
"There are people in the wizarding world that think that there should be no muggles learning magic and that it should be kept in all magic families. Pureblood families."
"The man in the frame was a pureblood?"
"Ironically no, he was a half-blood."
"Oh well that makes no sense."
"No it doesn't. Most pureblood maniacs are blind to the fact that if there were no muggles coming in we would have died out. There are hardly any witches or wizards that can claim that they are totally pureblood."
"My grandfather is one but he would have been frighteningly happy if he was part muggle, loves muggles he does. You should hear how he talks about mom. Loves her to pieces. She's his favourite daughter in law. Hugo said smiling
The faraway voice of Alice said. "The ratio i closer to one pureblood to every ten part bloods and muggleborns."
"Oh, how did you get that information?"
"My mother sent out a census for an article in the Quibbler. It was only for Brittan mind."
"I remember that my dad kept forgetting about it so it started to fly around after him until he filled it out." Hugo sounded pleased with himself. Though Heather was not really sure why.
"What Snape called you is a really nasty thing to call a muggleborn. It's usually used in civilized conversation." James said gravely
"So he's the angry portrait that your mom told me about" James nodded. Heather understood now why the man had spat it at her, looking back heather shrugged off her fears about what it was. She was not one to be sent cowering by bullying she might have dreams about it but that was before she knew what a mudblood was. She opened up her charms book and started reading, she was already half way though the book.
Apparently it was now11 because the train started to move. Heather closed her book and watched the station grow smaller and slammer as they picked up speed. When it was out of sight she returned to reading her book.
