chapter 7: treats on the train trolley
The compartment door slid open and the youngest boy of the redheads, Ron, stood in the doorway.
"Do you mind?" he asked. "Everywhere else is full."
Harper nodded to the seat beside her and went back to petting Oron. Ron sat down on the seat farthest from Harper he could and took a glance at Harry before quickly looking away and out the window, pretending he hadn't looked. Harper growled at him. Ron looked guilty but didn't say anything.
"Hey, Ron," the twins were back, along with their sister. Now that Harper got a closer look at her, she noticed all three were the same age and she looked pretty close to her brothers. She assumed they were triplets. The small bengal cat she had was curled around her shoulder.
"We didn't introduce ourselves earlier. We're Fred, George, and Holly Weasley. That's our brother, Ron." George looked at Ron now. "We're going to the middle of the train; Lee's got a giant tarantula."
"Right," Ron mumbled.
The brothers left, but Holly stayed and took a seat next to Harry, leaning back against the wall next to the door rather than the cushioned seat. Her cat - a beautiful shade of golden-brown with black markings like a leopard - edged off her shoulder to curl into her lap with a sharp glance at both owls.
Holly, like Ron, had blue eyes, which she felt was strange because the other two had brown. Her red hair was much longer and tied into two twin braids draped across her shoulders. Like the rest of her family, she and Ron both had freckles splashed across their noses and cheeks.
Holly looked at Harry, but unlike her brothers, she wasn't looking at his scar, rather taking in his whole appearance then turning to Harper and doing the same. Her head tilted to the side.
"I've heard from Dad that Harry Potter had a sis, but I didn't know it was true. You're not even close to being as well-known as your bro here." She nodded her head to Harry.
Harper bristled and was about to retort, but Ron blurted out, "So it's true, then? You really are Harry Potter?" He had a look of awe on his face.
"Yes, he is. But we would both appreciate it if you didn't look at him like that. He's not something to stare at. If you keep that up you're gonna have to leave," Harper snapped at him.
"Mum told you to leave 'em alone, Ronniekins. Try and show some respect, yea?" Holly chided.
Ron ducked his head and muttered something. "Hmm?" Harper asked.
Ron looked up. "Sorry. It's just...what he did, it's amazing!" With a glare from Holly, he quickly looked away again.
"You'll have to excuse my baby bro; he's a fan," Holly apologized.
"I can see," Harry muttered, finally joining the conversation concerning him. "Look, I don't even remember Voldemo- sorry," he quickly backtracked when Holly and Ron gasped.
Holly had wide eyes and Ron was staring at Harry in awe again. "You-You said his name!" Ron stuttered out.
Harper rolled her eyes in annoyance. "It's just a name," she muttered.
"Look-" Harry started. "I'm not trying to impress anyone by saying V- You-Know-Who's name. I just want to go to school with my sister and learn magic. I just want to put the past behind me. So please stop bringing it up."
Harper knew Harry was lying. He wanted to know just as much as her why Voldemort killed their parents, but neither of them felt like dealing with everyone constantly praising Harry for something he didn't even remember doing.
The other two fell silent for a few minutes, mulling over what he had said. Finally, Holly smiled, nodded, picked up her cat, and left the compartment.
"Are all your family wizards?" Harry spoke up, startling Ron from his musings.
"Uh...yeah, I think so." Ron paused. "I think my mum's got a second cousin who's an accountant or something." Harper wrinkled her nose. If she could help it, she'd never take such a confining job.
"I heard you went off to live with Muggles," Ron continued.
"Yeah, our aunt, uncle, and cousins. They're horrible. Well, except Duncan," Harper said.
"Oh. Are all Muggles like them?" Ron asked.
Harper snorted. "Not even close."
Harry shrugged. "Kinda just depends on the person, I guess. Some are pretty nice and others are just plain weird." The twins thought back to Mrs. Figg and her house that smelled like cabbages. "I wish I grew up with three wizard brothers."
Harper shot Harry a mock-offended look. Harry grinned sheepishly. "Er- sorry."
"Five," Ron said gloomily. "Plus two sisters."
Harper's eyes went wide. "Holy shit! Really?" she asked, not quite believing it. Ron nodded. "Yeah. Charlie and Bill aren't at home anymore but it's still a lot of siblings.
"Huh. I have no idea how your parents must manage, but they got my respect."
A knock came from the door before it slid open. A short witch with a kind smile stood in the doorway. "Anything from the trolley, dearies?"
Harper looked past her eagerly to see a trolley full of all sorts of candies and sweets. Harry quickly got up to buy some candy and came back a minute later with what looked like half the cart.
"Hungry much?" Harper asked with a snort.
"Starved," Harry replied with a grin.
He dumped all the food on the seat Holly had previously been seating in and began rooting around, trying to find something that interested him. Harper stood from her seat and moved over to sit on the other side of the candy, leaving Ron on the opposite seat alone.
Harper spotted some Jelly Slugs and tore into them, glancing at Harry who was inspecting a box of Bertie Bott's Every-Flavour Beans. Harper made a face when he ate one.
"What?" he asked.
"You know I hate Beanboozle," Harper mumbled around her slug. Harry rolled his eyes and ate another bean, making a face after he tasted it.
"Ugh… I think this is dog food…"
Harper snickered. "Told ya."
Harry looked over and saw Ron looking longingly at the pile of food.
"You what some?" Harry asked. Ron looked at Harry before shaking his head, the tips of his ears going a little pink. "No thanks, I got sandwiches." He pulled a soggy lump of plastic wrap and sandwiches from his bag.
He screwed up his nose when he saw what they were. "Ugh… I hate corned beef." He glanced at the twins. "My Mum doesn't got a lot of time… you know, with the six of us."
Harper nodded in understanding. Exchanging a look with Harry, she said, "You can have some, if you want."
Ron started shaking his head again but Harry jumped in. "Look, I'll trade you a sandwich for some, 'kay?"
Ron hesitated before caving in. "All right…" Harry grinned and grabbed a sandwich while Ron looked at all the treats. He decided on Chocolate Frogs.
Harry eyed the Frogs warily. "Those aren't really frogs, are they?" He was starting to think nothing would surprise him. Harper snorted beside him, already knowing what he was thinking. "Don't count on that."
"Nah, but there are cards. I'm missing Agrippa still," Ron said.
"Who?" the twins asked.
"Oh, right. You wouldn't know. Chocolate Frogs have cards inside them of famous witches and wizards. I have about five hundred back home, but I'm still missing Agrippa and Ptolemy," Ron explained.
"Damn, that's a lotta chocolate." Harper took her own Frog after finishing the Jelly Slug and inspected the packaging. Before she could open it, Harry gasped when a small brown frog jumped from its card and landed on the window, wriggling through the gap until it was outside and blown away by the rushing wind outside the train.
Harry gaped at the window while Ron didn't even look up from his own Frog. Learning from her brother's mistake, Harper ripped off the wrappings fast and caught the Frog mid-leap. She shoved it in her mouth and swallowed, her black eyes going wide. "Wow. I didn't think it would taste so good."
Ron grinned at her. "Most wizard candy is that good, you know, from magic. Dad'll sometimes bring us home Muggle candy if he ever gets the chance, but Mum's always paranoid that it'll be poisoned."
"You guys got Halloween, though, right?" Harper asked.
"'Course."
Harper looked down at her card, showing a man with a blue overcoat and what looked like a twig sitting in the breast pocket, brown curly hair, and freckles in a 3-D print on the card and a name stamped underneath. She thought he was kinda cute.
Flipping the card over, she noticed a gold print on the back.
Newt Scamander
Regarded as the world authority on magical creatures, Newt Scamander is the author of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which has been an approved textbook at Hogwarts since its publication in 1927 and can be found in most wizarding households.
"Hey, Harry, didn't we get this book from Flourish and Blotts?" Harry looked up from his own card, one of an old man with a long silver beard, half-moon spectacles, and a crooked nose.
He looked at the book title, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and nodded. "Yeah, it was the really thick blue one, right?" he asked. He looked back down at his card. "So this is Dumbledore!"
Harper shrugged and put the card in her trunk, rooting around inside until she pulled out a large blue book with gold letters on the cover.
Her head snapped up when Harry shouted, "He's gone!"
Ron looked at Harry like he was stupid. "Well, you don't expect him to hang around all day, do you? Don't worry, he'll be back. Ah, damn, I've got Morgana again, and I already have six of her. Do you want it? You can start collecting."
Harry accepted the card and put them both in his pocket while Harper flipped open the cover of her book.
"It's not required, you know," Ron said. "You don't have to read it. It's more of just something to do, really." He made a face. "Like anyone would want to read."
Harper didn't look up from her book. "Well, to people like me and Harry that didn't get to do anything but read, I don't particularly mind it. I quite enjoy it, in fact."
"Oh right...sorry."
Harper shrugged nonchalantly. "It's fine. I used to doubt my cousin could read at all." Harper curled up in the seat and continued to read.
She heard her brother and new friend talking, even deciding on a game of 'What Flavour is the Bean', which she thought was disgusting after she had a rather bad experience with a game of Beanboozle and would not play again. Some time later, the boy complaining about his missing toad from the platform opened the door with his round face stained with tears.
"You all right, dude?" Harper asked.
He shook his head. "Have you seen my toad? He's missing…"
Harry shook his head no. "Well… If you see him…" He made to leave, but Harper called out, "Want any help?"
He nodded his head vigorously and stepped aside as Harper stood. She turned her head back to Harry and Ron after setting down her book before she slid the compartment door closed. "See you morons in a bit; don't do anything stupid." Ron rolled his eyes and Harry muttered an 'okay'.
Harper and the round-faced boy made their way down the train, stopping at every compartment and asking anyone friendly-looking inside if they'd seen his toad. So far with no luck, Harper could tell the boy was growing frantic.
"What's its name?" she asked.
The boy jumped; he hadn't been expecting her to care. "Um...Trevor."
"How'd you lose 'im?"
"He...uh, he's a-always trying to get away ever since my uncle got him for me," he said, looking uncomfortable and fidgeting nervously. Harper cocked her head. "What's your name then?"
"Oh, sorry. N-Neville Longbottm." He shifted again.
Harper tried to conceal her snort, but it didn't work too well. Neville looked dejected and embarrassed. "That's...an odd name," she said nonchalantly, squeezing against the wall of the train when an older kid passed by.
When Neville started looking queasy, Harper quickly added, "N-No, I'm sorry! I'm just not used to wizard names yet." Neville glanced up at her with a pale complexion. "You're Muggle-born, then?"
Harper stared at him blankly. "I have no idea what that means, but my cousin's name is Dudley, if that makes you feel any better." Neville seemed to brighten a little.
She grinned. "I'm Harper, by the way."
The two passed by a compartment they had thought empty until Harper did a double-take and saw a bushy-haired brunette sitting by the window with her nose crammed in Hogwarts, A History.
Harper looked at Neville. "What d'you think? Think she mighta seen your toad?" Neville shrugged.
Harper knocked on the compartment door before opening it, letting the girl know she was there, before stepping inside. She hadn't glanced up at their entrance. A little annoyed, Harper asked loudly, "'Scuse me, we were wondering if you've seen his toad."
The brunette jolted at her unexpected voice and glanced around before her brown eyes landed on the pair. "I'm sorry - what?"
Harper sighed. "Neville here lost his toad, Trevor. Wondering if you saw him round." The girl shook her bushy head. "No, sorry, but I can help you look."
Harper glanced behind her at the boy standing in the doorway. "That okay with you?" she asked.
Neville nodded hesitantly. Harper grinned. She turned back to the girl, who looked about their age. "Right then, hop to."
The girl sighed irritatedly at Harper's tone but didn't object to it. After a quick introduction, the three were walking down the train, stopping anyone they passed if they'd seen a toad creeping around anywhere. A few said a kid named 'Draco Malfoy' was, whoever that was, so the three continued on.
They were making their way back along the train when Hermione pulled open the door to the compartment Harper had been occupying earlier. She was about to say Ron and Harry didn't see him when Hermione talked over her.
"Have you seen a toad? A boy named Neville's lost one." She was still using that bossy voice Harper noticed from their searchings before; she had used it whenever someone tried teasing Neville about still using a toad but she quickly shut them down. Harper thought she and her would be good friends.
"Neville already came by earlier and left with my sister for help," Harper heard Harry say; she was currently behind Hermione, who was blocking the entrance.
"Oh you're doing magic, are you?" Hermione asked, apparently discarding what Harry was saying in favor of watching whatever Ron was doing. Peaking over her shoulder - which wasn't hard as she was a few inches taller - she saw the redhead with a fat, gray rat in his lap and a battered wand in hand.
Hermione stepped further into the compartment and took a seat next to Harry without being invited and staring at Ron expectedly; Harper and Neville still in the doorway. The former rolled her eyes at her forwardness, but nonetheless took the seat beside Ron and pulled her legs into a crisscross - she was never one to sit properly, which annoyed Aunt Petunia to no end. Neville remained standing outside unsurely.
Harper nodded her head to the seat beside her, seeing as the one next to Hermione was occupied with the remaining snacks and wrappers.
Neville took a seat just as Ron cleared his throat, pointed at his old rat, and said, "Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, turn this stupid, fat rat yellow." When the rat remained the same after the failed attempt to do...something, Harper couldn't help but let out a barking laugh.
"I- what?" she wheezed out. "Even I know that sounded ridiculous and I haven't even known about magic for a whole month!"
Ron looked irritated and tried poking at the rat, but it did nothing other than make it shift in its sleep.
"Are you sure that's a real spell?" Hermione asked the redhead with a haughty air about her. "Well it wasn't a very good one, was it?"
Harper tossed Hermione a grin. "Yeah, well, at least he's trying, eh? I, for one, can't wait to start learning. It'll give Dudley a nice surprise this summer, won't it, Harry?" Harper turned to her brother with a smirk, leaning back in her seat to get a bit more comfortable.
Harry, however, looked alarmed. "But Hagrid told us that we weren't allowed to do-"
"Holy cricket!" Hermione exclaimed, her eyes going wide when she finally noticed Harry's scar that just barely showed from beneath his bangs. "You're Harry Potter!"
Harry looked more irritated than Ron now. "Yes, and I would appreciate it if you didn't stare." But Hermione wasn't listening; she was going on about all the different books she had read about him in.
"You're in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century." She continued without noticing the annoyed look on Harper's face.
"Am I really?" Harry asked, a look crossing his face that suggested he was trying to figure out if he should be frustrated or not.
"You don't know? If it was me I'd have found out everything I could." Hermione seemed quite oblivious to the tension mounting in the compact space. "What House do you think you'll be Sorted into? I hope it's Gryffindor; I've heard Professor Dumbledore was in it. Though Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad… Well, we better get back to finding Neville's toad." Hermione stood up, then glanced back at Harry, but her eyes were on his glasses rather than his scar this time.
"I can fix those for you, if you like," she offered unexpectedly. Before Harry could ask what she meant, she had pulled her wand from her robes and gave it a flick in his direction, saying confidently, "Oculus Reparo." Instantly the thick wad of scotch tape holding the round-rimmed glasses together by the nose junction disappeared and they were no longer lopsided.
Harry's green eyes shot open in astonishment and he took them off to examine his newly fixed glasses. "Blimey! Thanks!" He turned to Hermione with a grin and she just nodded with a satisfied smile, pulled Neville up by the arm, and left the compartment.
Harper let out an impressed whistle. "Bit of a bitch but the girl knows her magic, huh?"
Ron gave Harper a look. "I don't care how smart she is; I don't wanna end up in the same House as her."
Harper shrugged. "I dunno, Ronniekins, she may be able to help you outta a tough spot." Ron eyed the door warily. "Not bloody likely."
"What House are your siblings in?" Harry asked while taking a Licorice Wand.
"They're in Gryffindor like the rest of my family; have been for generations. I can't imagine what they'd say if I was in a different House, though I don't think Ravenclaw would be too terrible… They'd probably disown me if I got into Slytherin though. But it's not like it'll matter if I do get into Gryffindor, everything I could possibly do one of my siblings has already done…" Ron stared at his lap with a gloomy air around him.
Harper felt her shoulders slump as she sighed. She and Harry both knew what it was like to not be praised for a job well done, even if they did manage to do something good worth anything. "We know what it's like too," Harper said quietly.
"Yeah, it doesn't matter if we could ever do anything worth-while. Anything that lets us outshine Dudley gets us yelled at by Aunt Petunia and anything wrong gets us a punishment from Uncle Vernon," Harry added.
Ron seemed to brighten a bit at that and reached over for another helping of Frogs.
The three continued on with much more light-hearted chatter for another few hours, taking turns playing games with the more fun-induced treats. The twins felt as happy as they did in a long time; no family to yell at them and no bullies to tease them.
After night had started to fall around the scarlet train, and it became harder to see out the window, the compartment lights flickered on and casted warm orange light in the compact space. Thirty minutes ago, Holly had stopped by again to inform them they would be arriving soon and change, and now the three were dressed in their black robes and waiting impatiently for the train to come to a stop.
Soon enough, the train jolted to a halt and a voice came over the intercom, announcing they had arrived at Hogwarts and to leave their trunks and animals on the train - they would be collected later.
Bustling out of the scarlet train, the twins thanked the older students for holding open the doors for them as they stepped out, filing out onto the now-crowded platform. Older students were talking amongst themselves, greeting friends they hadn't seen on the train while first years milled around in small groups, murmuring nervously to anyone their age within ear-shot.
"Firs' year! Firs' years, come this way!" a booming voice called over the crowd. A few of the younger kids yelped in surprise or jumped, while Harry grinned and pulled Ron and Harper through the crowd towards Hagrid.
"Hey, Hagrid!" Harry called. Hagrid beamed down at the trio.
"Hey, you two! Make it to the train all righ'?"
"Nearly missed it, actually," Harper chimed with an unamused look.
The giant chuckled weakly. "Right...sorry 'bout that…" He scratched his beard before holding up his giant lantern higher to illuminate his face.
"Firs' years, over here!" Hagrid called again.
The first years gathered behind Hagrid as he led them to a shore with dozens of boats spread out along the black water. And on the other side of the lake, nestled amongst towering trees and shining in the light of the moon…
Hogwarts.
….
Harry and Harper being dramatic is cringe. Why did I write this
Ghostwriter71 ~ thanks for the reviews! No Harper isn't jealous of peoples' attention towards Harry per say, but she gets very protective and doesn't trust that they won't hurt him. And no most people aren't aware of her existence (just that Harry has a sister) but she doesn't like attention so she's fine with it. Watching Deathly Hallows and reading it are two different things because the feels, y'know?