Daria Ravenclaw: The Year of the Owl. Chapter Twenty Two: The Hogwarts Express
DISCLAIMER: Daria is the creation of Glen Eichler and is the property of MTV Viacom. Harry Potter is the creation of JK Rowling and is the property of JK Rowling, Wizarding World, and Warner Brothers. I own neither franchise. I am writing this work of fiction for my own amusement, not in any expectation of any financial gain.
Daria Ravenclaw: The Year of the Owl* Daria Ravenclaw: The Year of the Owl* Daria Ravenclaw: The Year of the Owl
Daria woke up to her Dad gently shaking her awake.
"Good morning, kiddo," said Jake.
"Hunh, wha-," said Daria.
"It's time to get up," said Jake.
Daria laid in her bed and looked grumpy. "All right," she said. She fumbled around for her glasses on the side table between the two beds and put them on.
Neither of them talked about Hogwarts. Both of them knew that it was September first and that she'd be boarding the Hogwarts Express for school later that morning.
It was 8:00. Plenty of time, she thought. Daria looked at her Dad to see if he'd slept late and saw that he was already dressed and wearing street clothes. "I've already washed," he said. "I'll go downstairs and leave you to it." He walked over to their door and stepped out.
Daria opened her suitcase and laid out her uniform. Martha had told her that she needn't bother with the black robe and hat when she boarded the train. Most students either wore their "under-uniforms," as they called them or even their street clothing, changing only when they arrived at Hogsmeade, the station that served Hogwarts.
She dried off, walked to her bed, and studied it. Well, here goes, she thought. She put it on and went downstairs.
The hotel's breakfast area was already busy when she got downstairs. There were several families with kids near her age. Some were in school uniform, others were wearing street clothing. Of those, only a couple were dressed in what Daria was learning to recognize as wizarding clothing. The kids' school uniforms looked slightly different. The older kids wore uniforms edged in yellow and black or red and yellow or blue and silver while kids her age wore uniforms without any trimming. She wondered why this was so.
The buffet's breakfast selections had already been picked over when Daria arrived downstairs. There were signs next to the buffet saying that breakfast was ending earlier than usual today and that packed lunches would be available starting at 9:30.
A slightly-older girl wearing a Hogwarts uniform trimmed in yellow and black looked at her and smiled while Daria reached for a cup of yogurt and looked at her speculatively.
"First year?" she asked.
"Yes," said Daria. "If I don't miss the train." She did have her ticket, she thought.
"The trick is to arrive early," said the older girl. "Try to be on the platform no later than half an hour before eleven and seated before a quarter till and you won't miss it."
"Thanks," said Daria.
"See you at school," the older girl replied. She might have introduced herself but her dad called her back to their table.
Jake and Daria ate a quiet breakfast at a small table next to a wall.
"Well, today's the big day," said Jake.
Daria nodded.
"Scared?" asked Jake.
"A little," Daria replied. "I don't think it'll be like Buxton Ridge."
"I hope not," said Jake. "If they try to dump that much crap on you, I'll come over and be waiting for you at the school's entrance to bring you home."
Daria smiled.
"Actually, I think you'll do fine," said Jake. "They'll never know what hit them."
-(((O-O)))—
They went back upstairs and Daria finished packing. Despite packing all of her clothing as well as toiletries, textbooks, cauldron, and a telescope, everything fit in. Jake lifted the suitcase and was amazed at how light it seemed. If he didn't know any better, he'd have guessed that it weighed no more than 35 pounds.
Jake and Daria took a taxi from the hotel to King's Cross station. Jake paid the driver, they got out and found a luggage cart to hold Daria's trunk and the carry-bag that held the sack lunch she planned to eat on the train. They didn't head directly to the platforms; instead , they stopped at a news stand and Daria bought a paperback and a couple of bottles of water.
They took the platform crossing the tracks, descended to the platform between Tracks Nine and Ten and found Ed Fink-Nottle standing next to a masonry pier. Ed wasn't alone; he was accompanied by a sandy-haired man wearing a long wizarding-style jacket. Jake thought that Ed's smile looked like the cat's who'd just swallowed the canary.
"Edgar!" said Jake.
"Jacob!" Ed replied. "Here to send Daria off on the Express?"
"Yeah," said Jacob, his happy-face slipping a little. "I was told this was as far as guys like me could come."
"That is what I was told, too," said Ed. "But Isaac here told me that there's a work-around so you can actually see the train. It has a working steam locomotive."
Ed looked thoughtful for a moment. "Oh, you haven't met. Isaac, this is Jacob Morgendorffer and his daughter Daria. Jacob, this is Isaac Coombs. His youngest is a first year." Jake and Isaac shook hands.
"So you want to see the engine like Edgar?" said Isaac.
"Yeah," said Jake.
"Ordinarily, Muggles can't pass through the barrier concealing Platform 9 ¾," said Isaac. "Like Edgar said, there is what he calls a work-around. If they are in the company of a witch or a wizard, they can walk through the barrier and step out onto the platform together. Watch us and follow."
Jake watched with amazement as Edgar and his new friends strode right through the masonry.
"We can do this, kiddo!" exclaimed Jake. "Let's do it together!" He and Daria pushed the luggage cart at a trot, Jake half-expecting to be jarred by the impact of luggage cart against the brickwork of the station arches. Instead, he and Daria succeeded in pushing through a barrier to a part of the railway station he hadn't noticed before. He felt an unfamiliar thrill of elation as he did so; like he'd burst through one of the many barriers he'd feared that would trap him for the rest of his life.
He looked around and saw a bright red steam locomotive with a black smoke-box at the edge of the platform. The engine had a sign mounted over the smokebox door "The Hogwarts Express." He looked back at the stone archway and saw the sign: Platform 9 ¾. He'd done it. There was a steaming passenger train with a handsome red and black steam engine on the front end.
"Bravo, Jacob! Bravo, Daria!" said Edgar.
"You're now part of a very elite club," said Mr. Coombs. "Very few Muggles have ever seen the Hogwarts Express."
Jake smiled at him.
"In case you're wondering, I'm told that the current locomotive is a Britannia-class Pacific," said Isaac.
"I can show you more," said Edgar. "There's an unmagical museum at Didcot. It's an easy ride from Paddington Station. You can tag along, Jacob."
"I'd love to, but Helen is coming in this afternoon," Jake replied.
"Family comes first," said Edgar. "Say hello for me, would you? I'd love to see her, but Camille expects me to come straight home after Didcot. How long are you going to remain in Britain?"
"We go home late Sunday evening," Jake replied. "A red-eye flight."
"That's too bad," said Edgar. "Hopefully we can do it together another time."
Jake checked the old-fashioned clock mounted on the wall of the station. It said 10:45. The train wasn't supposed to leave until 11:00, so he could get on board.
"Hey, kiddo, got everything?" said Jake, turning his attention to Daria.
"Yes, Dad," said Daria a little impatiently.
"Let's get your stuff stowed," said Jake.
"You might want to try one of the cars nearer the rear of the train," Isaac called out. "The ones near the locomotive tend to fill up first."
"Thanks!" said Jake. He and Daria walked down the platform, boarding the train at one of the second-to-last car's doors. They walked down the corridor, pausing at the door of a half-full compartment with a window that faced the station platform, not away from it.
"Excuse me," said Jake. "Are all the seats taken?"
"No, there are still a couple free," said a pleasant-faced girl about Daria's age.
"Thanks!" said Jake. He picked up Daria's suitcase and put it on the luggage rack.
Well, I guess this is it, thought Jake, feeling tears forming at the edge of his eyes. "Take care, Smidget," he said. "Have a good year. I look forward to seeing you in June. I love you." He gave Daria a hug, then turned around. He carefully made his way down the corridor, sliding around a witch and a couple of wizards who shot him dirty looks.
Can't please everybody, thought Jake. So I'm a friggin' Muggle? Well my daughter is going to be a Hogwarts student and she's going to smoke your lazy privileged kids' asses!
He stepped back on to the station platform, turned around and looked at his daughter with tears in his eyes. The locomotive gave a high-pitched whistle and the train gently lurched into motion. The train slowly chuffed away from the platform. Jake got one last glimpse of Daria waving at him from the compartment window, then turned away with tears in his eyes.
-(((O-O)))—
Daria sat down in her seat. Well, I'm on the train, she thought. The compartment door opened a couple of minutes later and a couple of older wizards opened the door, stepped inside, and briefly stared speculatively at Daria.
"Merlin's beard, she does look like a Barksdale, doesn't she?" the younger wizard said to the older one.
"Your pardon, ladies," said the older wizard. "We have the wrong compartment." He opened the door and both wizards stepped out.
"I wonder what that was about?" said one of Daria's new seat-mates.
"Don't ask me," Daria replied, "even if my Mom was a Barksdale."
"So what's your name?" said the girl.
"Daria Morgendorffer," said Daria.
"Canadian?" asked the girl.
"No, I'm American," said Daria. "I'm from Texas."
"Are you a Pure-Blood?" asked the girl.
"I don't know," said Daria. "What's the difference?"
"Well, if you have to ask, you don't know," said the girl haughtily. She looked around the compartment and sniffed, not liking the looks of the other girls in the compartment.
"Well I have better things to do than spend seven hours in a compartment with a clutch of stupid Muggle-borns and half-breeds," she said. The girl got up and left the compartment.
"Snob," thought Daria.
Daria turned to one of the girls who remained in the compartment. "What's her problem?" she asked.
"Good riddance," said one of the girls who remained. She looked like she was sitting with her older sister.
"Oh, I'm Dahlia Banks," she said, introducing herself. "This is my older sister Violet."
"Hello, I'm Daria Morgendorffer," Daria replied.
"I'm Megan Leeward," said the plain-faced girl.
"That girl who just left was probably a pure-blood," said Dahlia. "They're almost always from old families that have been witches and wizards for centuries and they think they're better than everybody else. But they're not, really. My Mum and my Da say so."
"My Mom isn't a witch," said Daria. "She's a darn good lawyer, though."
"So was your father a wizard, then?" asked the girl.
"No, my dad works in a wholesale supply company," said Daria. "He wants to get into advertising."
"So you're Muggle-born, then," said the girl.
"I guess so," said Daria.
"You must be a first-year like me," said Dahlia.
"Yes," said Daria, "how can you tell?" She wished she could say that she could be more cool about it, but she definitely felt alone and out of her element.
"Unsorted First-years wear black ties and their uniforms lack striping," Violet replied.
"Do you have any sisters or brothers, Daria?" asked Violet.
"I have two younger sisters," said Daria. "Quinn and Veronica."
"I'm the middle child," said Violet. "I have an older brother, but he moved out of the house after he completed school last year. Dahlia here is my younger sister."
Their conversation was interrupted by a blast from the locomotive's whistle. The train gently lurched into motion.
"Excuse me," said Daria. The plain-faced girl stood up, too, both of them trying to wave at their parents. The plain-faced girl's parents must have been in the crowd on the platform near the middle of the train while Jake was up front with Mr. Fink-Nottle next to where the locomotive had been parked.
Megan and Daria both sat down and Violet tried to restart the conversation again. "Do you know what House you're going to be in?" she asked.
"I don't know," said Daria. "This is all new to me. I got partway through Hogwarts: A History, so I know about the houses, but I don't claim to know very much. I think I'd like to be a Ravenclaw, but I don't know if I'm smart enough."
"So what were you doing instead of learning the fine points about Hogwarts' glorious and noble history?" said Violet.
"I was busy boning up on magic potions," said Daria. "The ladies who came to talk to me and my parents about my magic said that I ought to start learning potion-making and that I'd better learn as much as I can."
The older sister shot her younger sister a knowing look. Daria wondered what that was about.
The plain-looking girl also seated in the compartment had been left out of the conversation.
The girls continued to talk about their families. Violet, Dahlia, and Megan grew up in magical households. Megan had older and younger sisters as well as a younger brother.
Daria soon learned that Megan had a good heart. She noted that Megan had a slight resemblance to Nancy Carrew, but despite the slight resemblance, Megan was good people.
"So what do you know about recent wizarding history?" asked Violet.
"No much," said Daria. "I know that you all had a horrible wizarding war while the biggest things in North America were that the Rappaport Law got repealed in the 1960's and that a couple of new wizarding schools opened up. Highland isn't quite the back of beyond, but we're definitely out in the boondocks."
"You might want to study up on the Wizarding War if you stay at Hogwarts," Violet said seriously. "We're still dealing with effects."
"So who started it?" asked Daria.
"I won't tell you his name, but his followers called him the Dark Lord. The Dark Lord and his followers believed that not only children from magical families should be allowed to learn magic, but that children born to non-magical families should be hunted down and killed.
"That's horrible," said Daria.
"It was horrible," said Violet. "Our parents weren't directly involved in it, but everyone was frightened to death. Nobody knew if the Death Eaters were after you and nobody could really trust anyone else. Kids like us didn't dare go out or visit Muggle places like movie theaters or pinball arcades they might "
"When did it end?" said Daria. If it's still going on, I don't care, I'm just doing one semester at Hogwarts, then I'm coming straight back home, she thought.
"It ended in November of 1981, just after the Dark Lord disappeared," said Violet.
Whew, thought Daria. That's a relief.
"There are some people around who still agree with the Dark Lord's position," said Violet. "They're called Pure Blood Supremacists."
Violet might have said more but she was interrupted by a knock on their compartment door. A pair of tall and good-looking red-headed boys stepped inside. Daria thought their clothing looked a little ragged but they had charm to compensate.
"Hello, ladies," said one of them.
"Those are Fred and George Weasley," said Violet. "They're tricky. I wouldn't trust anything they'd hand you."
"Miss Banks, how could you say such things?" said one of the twins. "You wound me," said the other.
"You're beaters on the Gryffindor Quidditch team," said Violet. "You're tougher than you look. I expect you'll live."
The Weasley brothers left in disarray. Violet got up and made sure that their compartment door was shut.
-((O-O)))—
The train continued to roll along. Daria wondered if the Hogwarts Express shared its route with British Railways or if it had its own tracks. That was the sort of question Mr. Fink-Nottle might know the answer to, but she suspected that he probably didn't know the answer either.
There was a knock on their compartment door and a girl wearing a Hogwarts uniform with green and silver trim opened their door and stepped in, a nervous-looking first-year girl in tow. The older girl wore a green badge that said PREFECT.
"I found this chit wandering up and down the corridors looking lost. You lot don't seem choosy about your company, you take her," she said, practically shoving the girl into their compartment. The prefect turned around and left. Daria scowled at her back.
"Hello," said Violet. "How do you do? I'm Violet Banks. I promise that we don't bite."
"I'm Majda Paderewsky," said the girl.
"Well, sit down and have a seat," said Violet.
Majda sat down. The girls introduced themselves again and shared a little about themselves. Majda was surprised that Daria was from Texas and asked the inevitable questions that Daria had been dreading. "What do you know about cowboys?" she asked. "Have you ever ridden a horse yourself?"
Damn, thought Daria.
"I don't know that much about cowboys," said Daria, "but I have been to ranches and rodeos a few times, and I have ridden a horse once or twice." Laura Penrick had gotten her to ride an easy-going mare several times after her second time on Goliath. Daria told the girls about a couple of rodeo sports such as roping and barrel racing, as well as her helping with sheep-shearing.
"So you raise sheep, too!" said Megan. "I thought that Texas was too hot for sheep."
"We raise sheep," Daria replied. "And goats."
"You said that you took potion-making classes before you came here," said Violet. "Are there a lot of witches and wizards in your town?"
"I don't know what counts as "a lot"," said Daria. "More than most places in west Texas, I'd guess. Certainly more than in the bigger towns nearby."
"Do the witches in your part of the world live in town?" Megan asked.
"Actually, a lot of them live out in the country," said Daria. "Mrs. Ocampo lived in town, though."
"Who was Mrs. Ocampo?" asked Violet.
"My first potion-making teacher," said Daria.
"Ocampo. That doesn't sound like an American name," said Violet. "It sounds Spanish."
"It is," said Daria. "A lot of people in the western US had family who originally came from Mexico."
The conversation hit a lull shortly afterwards. Daria decided that it was lunch time. So did Violet, Dahlia, and Megan.
Poor Majda hadn't brought any lunch. Daria and Megan shared part of their lunch with her.
"My Mum always prepares way more than I use," said Megan. "If I ate as much as she prepared for me, I'd be incredibly fat."
"You aren't worried if it's not Kosher, are you?" said Daria, handing Majda a spare apple.
"My family originally came from Poland," Majda replied stiffly.
"My Dad's family was Jewish," said Daria. "That's why I asked."
Despite their prickly introductions, Daria and Majda talked a little about their families. Her grandfather had been part of the Polish army and chose to remain in Britain after World War II rather than return to Poland and face arrest and imprisonment under Poland's Stalinist government. Daria shared about Mad Dog Morgendorffer, making Majda and Dahlia laugh about Nathan Morgendorffer's nickname. Majda was a little disappointed to learn that the Mad Dog had fought in the Pacific Theater and not the Atlantic.
"I need to check on something," said Daria. She got up from her seat, opened the compartment door and stepped out into the corridor.
She walked to the end of the car, peering into the compartments. Most of them were occupied by older students, but not by the boy she was looking for.
She found him in the next car. Cuthbert Fink-Nottle was seated in a compartment full-up with boys his age and in animated conversation with his seat-mates. Daria briefly wondered what Cuthbert and his new friends were talking about. Probably not fish, she thought.
She tapped on the window of his compartment, then opened the door.
"Oh, hallo, Daria!" he said. "How are you?"
"Doing OK," said Daria. "I just wanted to make sure that you hadn't fallen off the train."
A couple of Cuthbert's seat-mates laughed.
"Guys, this is Daria Morgendorffer," said Cuthbert. "She's also from that Texas town I lived in. She's going to Hogwarts, too."
"She doesn't look like a cowgirl," said one of Cuthbert's compartment-mates. "She doesn't sound like one either."
"Only when Ah want to, buckaroo," Daria replied deadpan, making the boys erupt in laughter.
"So where are you seated, Daria?" asked Cuthbert.
"With a bunch of girls in the next car," Daria replied. "Good to see you."
"And you, too," said Cuthbert. "See you in Hogwarts Castle."
"Later," said Daria, making her Mona Lisa smile. Cuthbert seemed to be doing fine.
The sky grew darker as the afternoon wore on. The girls started to feel sleepy and began napping, the train's motion rocking them to sleep.
Violet awoke from her nap and looked at the sky. She reached into her pocket, looked at the sky, and frowned. "Dahlia, the sun is setting. We'd all better get ready. The train will be arriving at Hogsmeade in about an hour."
The young girls closed the curtains on their compartment and began to change into their school robes. It was a little crowded in the compartment, so the girls took turns pulling down their suitcases and pulling out their black cloaks and hats.
Daria pulled out her pocket watch and synched the time with her digital watch.
"You know that most electrical things don't work near Hogwarts," said Violet. "I hope that isn't an electronic watch. Most electronic things don't work near Hogwarts or near Hogsmeade. One of my mates brought a Walkman and a big stack of cassette tapes with her favorite Muggle music with her and was crushed when she learned that her Walkman wouldn't work."
"No, my pocket watch is mechanical and analogue," said Daria. "I got the heads-up in time."
"It looks like an antique," said Violet.
"It is," said Daria. "It's an old railroader's watch. I found it at a flea market, then had it repaired."
The sky had darkened further. Daria looked at her pocket watch. It was about half-past six.
The terrain was very rugged. The train ran through steep hillsides and over steep gorges. Daria had never seen anything quite like it, not even when her family had driven to Big Bend.
The weather was already cloudy and it started raining as the sun was setting. Twilight was fading into night when Daria got a glimpse of a large but distant lake. This is Scotland, she thought. Don't they call all lakes lochs or just the big ones?
"Hogsmeade station!" said a loud, authoritative voice. "Hogsmeade station in ten minutes! Everyone is to get off the train! Leave your luggage and your things on the train. They will be delivered to you at school!"
The train slowed down, slowing first to what Daria would have called a fast trot, then a slow amble. Daria got a glimpse of a brightly-lit castle across a dark lake.
The train, already moving slowly, came to a complete stop. Daria heard the noise of compartment doors opening and dozens of students heading for the exits. She looked out the window and saw the lights of a small railway station. There wasn't that much to see in the gloom. The lighting was dimmer than she expected but she could read a name on the signboard: "Hogsmeade."
"Hogsmeade station! Hogsmeade station!" called a loud, authoritative voice. "Everyone off the train! Leave your luggage and your things on the train. They will be delivered to you at school!"
-(((O-O)))-
Author's Notes: The events of Daria Ravenclaw: The Year of the Owl occur the school year BEFORE Harry Potter enrolls at Hogwarts.
Also, this story is set in a slightly-different parallel universe, so don't expect things to exactly follow what happened in the Harry Potter movies or in JK Rowling's books.