HARRY POTTER
and the
CASTLE of CHAOS

[CHAPTER 4]: Full Steam Ahead

In Which Ozpin Uses a Small Child's Naivety to Rope Them Into Something Needlessly Dangerous. So Business as Usual, Really.

Harry ran down the stairs to the main floor of the Leaky Cauldron, panic visible on his face. His eyes darted around the room frantically, and he breathed a sigh of relief when they locked onto Sirius calmly reading a newspaper at a nearby table.

Harry made a beeline for his godfather. "Sirius? You didn't forget about the meeting with the Headmaster, did you?"

Sirius looked up over his newspaper and raised an eyebrow. "No, of course not. Why do you ask?"

Harry blinked. "Because it's in 20 minutes and Professor Goodwitch said the Knight Bus can take longer than that?"

A grin slowly emerged on Sirius' face. "We're not going on the Knight Bus. Take a seat, have some breakfast, we've got time."

Harry frowned dubiously but sat down. "Well, if we're not taking the Knight Bus how are we getting there?"

Sirius nodded his head towards the fireplace. "Floo."

Harry stared. "Come again?"

Sirius waved his arm. "The Floo Network lets you travel between certain fireplaces, most places have at least one or two hearths linked up. Almost instantaneous, so we leave right around when we're supposed to show up."

Harry turned in his seat to stare at the fireplace with wide eyes. "Teleporters," he whispered to himself reverently.

"Yep," agreed Sirius. "Now go eat something. Glynda will kill me if I take you on an empty stomach."

Harry picked himself up from where the fireplace had violently spat him out. He straightened his glasses and dusted the soot off himself; he'd take the Knight Bus over Floo Travel any day of the week.

A strange, echoey ticking noise caught his attention, and he looked around for the source.

Most of the room's walls were dominated by shelves and cabinets, and the little remaining wallspace was covered in portraits. The exception to this was the wall directly behind the large fancy desk central to the room. That wall held a single, wide window above which rested a gigantic, loudly ticking clock with exposed machinery.

Harry frowned. If that was the source of the ticking noise, then why was it echoing? Or maybe not echoing, the sounds were a little bit off for it to be that...

He glanced around at the shelves and blinked. Scattered about the room, between stone tablets covered in strange symbols, complex glasswork that was probably for some kind of alchemy, and for some reason a disco ball on a globe stand, sat what must have been 30 individual clocks, all ticking loudly and almost perfectly in sync.

The fireplace behind him flared green, and Sirius stepped out smoothly. He glanced down at the child-shaped soot marks on the floor and looked up at Harry with laughter in his eyes.

A polite cough brought their attention to the man sitting behind the large desk. He wore a heavy black robe, left open to show a green turtleneck and darker green vest over that. He had tousled silver hair and brown eyes, with a dark set of spectacles low enough on his nose that Harry couldn't imagine they would be useful for anything.

The man smiled politely. "Hello, Mr. Potter. My name is Ozpin, and I am the Headmaster of Hogwarts. Please," he gestured towards a chair that Harry was fairly confident hadn't been there before. "Have a seat. We have much to discuss."

Harry sat down on the edge of the chair nervously, throwing a glance at Sirius. His godfather shrugged and leaned against a shelf.

Ozpin took a sip from his mug. "So. Mr. Potter- may I call you Harry?" He waited for Harry's nod before continuing. "Harry. Before we begin, I would like to address something. I've been made aware that you are no longer in the care of your previous guardians. This means that you are to be considered in the care of Hogwarts, up until you either find a new guardian or turn 17. Once you are Sorted your Head of House will advocate for you, but in the meantime I'm assigning Professor Black to that position. Is this acceptable to you?"

Harry blinked. "That was a lot of words."

Ozpin coughed. "Apologies, I just had a meeting with the Board of Governors. Basically, I'm in charge of keeping you alive and happy, and I'm telling Sirius that he's in charge of that until the school year actually starts. Are you fine with that?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah, he's fun."

"That," spoke a familiar voice, "was never in question."

Harry looked over the back of his seat as Professor Goodwitch entered the room, followed by a floating stack of papers.

"What remains up in the air is his ability to keep you alive and intact for two months unsupervised," she finished. The stack of paper flew across the room to plant itself firmly in the center of Ozpin's desk.

"Hey," protested Sirius, "I keep kids alive and intact all the time. Name one time I didn't."

Goodwitch looked down at him. "April 12th of last year. Half of your class went to the infirmary with injuries ranging from bruises to broken bones."

Sirius shrugged. "It was a practical lesson."

Goodwitch began to massage her temples. "You teach History."

"If we could get back on track," said Ozpin as he subtly pushed the papers away from him. "We have more things that need discussing."

Harry looked up. "Yeah! The letter said something about 'further educational opportunities'? What was that about?"

Ozpin took a long sip from his mug, before placing it firmly on his desk. "Tell me, Harry, are you familiar with the concept of prophecy?"

Harry frowned in thought. "That's when someone says something's going to happen and they're right?"

Ozpin nodded. "Precisely. Divination as a whole is a delicate and imprecise art, but prophecies in particular are very fickle things. There are stories of men who fulfill their prophecies by the very attempts to evade them. There are stories of prophecies given in the midst of turmoil that go unfulfilled for centuries. It is impossible to perfectly interpret one before the events come to pass."

Ozpin paused here for a moment before continuing. "That being said, there is a prophecy that you fulfill the conditions of, for the most part."

Harry leaned forwards curiously. "What does it say?"

"Stuff," answered Ozpin unhelpfully.

Harry opened his mouth to object.

"You think I'm making fun of you," observed Ozpin. "I assure you, part of the reason I remain vague is that the prophecy itself is vague. The few specifics it does mention will not serve you well, and may even hamper your growth."

Harry crossed his arms. "Well, if you're not going to tell me what it is, why are you telling me about it?"

Ozpin leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers. "If I have interpreted it correctly– which there is no guarantee I have, by the way– you will be facing enemies both strong and many."

"What I am here to offer you," he continued, "Is preparation for such. Nothing specific, merely an advanced training course to draw out your combat potential." His eyes gleamed. "Let's call it… Hero training."

Harry grinned. "Cool! Sign me up!"

Ozpin grinned right back. "Very well. I'll send you your first assignment once the school year starts, so don't worry about it until then."

Harry nodded. "Okay!"

Ozpin clapped his hands together. "Excellent. That was all I needed to talk to you about, so unless you have anything you wish to bring up…?"

Harry thought for a moment, before shaking his head.

Ozpin scrutinized him for a moment, before nodding to himself. "Well, if that changes at any point in time feel free to owl me. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a stack of paperwork I need to delegate."

Professor Goodwitch sighed deeply.

Harry slammed open the door to Sirius' room at the Cauldron. "Oi! Sirius! We're going to be late to the station!"

Sirius grumbled and retreated into his blanket. "S'fine," he mumbled, "we can app'rate."

Harry frowned. "Apparation sucks. We can literally just walk there, so that's what we're doing."

"Guh," came Sirius' eloquent reply.

Harry crossed his arms. "Well, I already had breakfast so if you're not down in five minutes I'm just going to leave without you."

Sirius groaned quietly in his bed as his godson left the room.

Fifteen seconds passed.

Sirius yelped and scrambled off his bed. "Oh no, no, no, you are not doing that!"

"Stop me," came Harry's reply, muffled by the door.

Sirius paused. "I'm not wearing pants right now," he admitted.

"Get dressed and then stop me," amended Harry.

Sirius nodded and started looking for his pants.

Sirius glanced up at a clock on the wall of King's Cross station and grimaced. "Ugh. We're early."

Harry smiled beatifically and pushed his trunk along. "Yes."

Sirius scowled. "You're making me look bad, kid. I was supposed to corrupt you and turn you into a pranklord. You were gonna spike the snack cart with a potion that makes people laugh uncontrollably and then claim that since everyone was laughing it was clearly funny and thus you should be forgiven, I was gonna give you detention, and then we would start a seven year prank war. It was gonna be awesome."

"Now look at us!" he exclaimed. "We're not just on time, we're actually early! If you're not careful I might get a bad reputation."

Harry blinked slowly. "Don't you mean a good reputation?"

"Bad in that people will start to have, dare I say it… expectations." Sirius shuddered to himself.

Harry pulled his cart to a stop and stared up at his godfather. "Why did Headmaster Ozpin leave me with you unsupervised, anyways?"

Sirius shrugged. "Sometimes he has good reasons for the things he does, sometimes he does them because they're funny. And, to be fair, they are funny."

Harry thought for a moment, then nodded. It had been pretty fun with Sirius, so it wasn't like he was going to complain.

After a moment of silence, Sirius glanced up at the platform numbers and nodded. "Alright, we're here."

Harry glanced around dubiously. He didn't see anything that screamed 'magical train.' Maybe it was hidden?

"So," explained Sirius, "what you're going to want to do is just run directly into that wall over there."

Harry looked at the unremarkable looking section of wall his godfather was indicating, and then at the poorly hidden glee on the man's face. "I'm not sure I believe that."

"Pshhhhhh, when have I ever steered you wrong?" Sirius waved his hand dismissively.

Harry opened his mouth.

"About something this important," his godfather amended.

Harry frowned and walked over to the wall. He put his hand against it. It did not go through.

He glared back at Sirius, who shrugged. "They don't want random Muggles falling in if they lean against it. You gotta run at it, and you gotta believe in it. That's just how magic works."

Harry looked back at the wall. If it looked like a duck and quacked like a duck, it was probably a duck. So, this wall that looked like a wall and definitely felt like a wall, was probably indeed a wall.

Now, Harry wasn't afraid of running headfirst into a brick wall, but Sirius would definitely laugh at him for being so gullible, and he couldn't have that. But then again, if Sirius was telling the truth, he'd be upset at Harry for not listening, right?

Someone tapped on his shoulder, so Harry turned around.

"Excuse me," said the bushy-haired girl standing before him. "If you're not using the portal, would you mind moving aside? I would prefer to be early, rather than late."

Harry blinked. A portal? Was this girl also a Hogwarts student? Was Sirius actually right? He numbly stepped to the side. The girl nodded imperiously, then walked directly into the wall, disappearing immediately. Her parents followed behind her pushing a trunk along.

Sirius grinned down at Harry. "Believe me now?"

Harry stared at the bright purple train waiting at the conveniently labelled Platform 9 ¾. Golden lettering ran across the side, marking it as the "Hogwarts Express."

Yes, this was definitely the right place.

Behind him, a softly glowing archway on the wall denoted the exit from the hidden platform...

Harry frowned. If the barrier had been on the wall between platforms 9 and 10, then where was this platform? There wasn't enough space for it where it should have been…

Actually, where was the train even supposed to come out? The Muggles would notice a whole extra railroad coming out of the station, wouldn't they?

Harry still had much to learn in the ways of magic.

He felt Sirius' hand ruffle his hair. "Alright, kid, see you later."

Harry frowned. "You're leaving already?"

Sirius shrugged. "I mean, I'll see you when you get to Hogwarts, won't I? I kind of work there."

Right. Sirius was a history professor. That was definitely going to be an interesting class.

Harry smiled and swatted his godfather's hand away from his head. "Alright, see you then!"

With a grin, Sirius turned on his heel and (loudly) disappeared. Harry stuck out his tongue at the empty space left behind; Apparation was bad and dumb and nobody could convince him otherwise. It was uncomfortable!

Now, the Knight Bus on the other hand… maybe the Hogwarts Express would be like that! Hogwarts was supposed to be in Scotland, right? It'd be like a multi-hour roller coaster! Actually, it might even be like Gringotts! Maybe if he went all the way up to the conductor's booth he could ask them to go faster. Did railroads have speed bumps? They could go over speed bumps!

He made a mental note to ask once the train left the station.

Now, he could stand around and stare at a train all day (a magical train, a part of him protested), or he could actually get on the dang thing and not be left at the station. So he made his way up to the nearest entrance to the Express and grabbed onto one end of his trunk.

"Hey, need a hand with that-" A female voice came from behind him, but cut off as Harry easily pulled his trunk onto the train. "Okay, guess not."

Harry turned around, dragging his trunk behind him with one hand. An older girl, probably a 6th or 7th year, stared down at him with mild surprise in her eyes. She was already in her school robes, and had a yellow and black tie. That meant she was, what, Hufflepuff? Her hair was also black and yellow, actually. Full on caution tape pattern, which was weird, because hair didn't usually get that kind of pattern and it seemed like an absolute pain to dye it like that.

He blinked. "Sorry, did I do something wrong?"

She grinned and waved him off. "Nah, I didn't realize you had a Featherweight Charm on that thing."

Harry blinked again, and looked back down at his trunk. Given that he was an 11 year old, it was almost as big as him, and definitely weighed the same if not more. Just as it always had. "Is that a spell to make things weigh less? That sounds nifty."

The Hufflepuff's smile suddenly took on a sort of fixed quality, and the tips of her hair went frosted blue for a moment. "Hmmmmm. Ok. Anyways, I'm Tonks." As she introduced herself, she flipped her hair back and it turned a pleasant shade of bubblegum pink. "And just Tonks, too. No first name."

Harry tilted his head. "I'm Harry. Tonks is your last name, then?"

Tonks nodded. "Yeah. Don't have a first name. Never did, no matter what anyone else says. Especially not your History professor."

"Oh, you know Sirius?" Harry asked, curious.

"Y'mean Professor Black? He's my uncle. But also a disreputable source of information, keep that in mind." Tonks' tone turned sly. "But I think the better question is how you know our not-so-esteemed professor. You're a firstie, right? No house colors. So, what's the tea? Did he kidnap you or something?"

Harry shrugged. "Nah, he's just my godfather."

"That makes us, what, god-cousins?" she paused for a moment to think. "Is that a thing? I feel like that's a thing. Anyhoo, you ever need a hand with anything, gimme a shout. I'm not a Prefect for nothing."

A passing Ravenclaw snorted. "You're only a Prefect because Ozpin thought you were funny, Tonks."

Tonks rolled her eyes. "You're just butthurt that I got the badge and you didn't, Rivers. Don't go badmouthing me to the firsties, you hear me?" She leaned down next to Harry and grinned. "Between you and me, she's right."

She straightened up and cleared her throat. "Right. Let's get you set up in a compartment, then."

She reached down to lift his trunk, and frowned when it didn't go up. With a look of concentration, her body became a little more muscular and with a decent amount of effort she was able to lift one end of it. "Geez kid, what do you even have in this thing, bricks?"

Harry shrugged and picked up the other end easily. "Mostly books, I think. Sirius kept insisting the school library didn't have 'the good stuff.' How did you do that? The, uh, muscles. Does that have anything to do with the way your hair changed color?"

"Yeah, it's Magic," Tonks smirked.

Harry nodded to himself. Indeed, he had much to learn in the ways of the wizard. Perhaps one day he would be able to master… whatever that was.

Her face fell visibly. "Uh, Harry? You were supposed to get upset and say something like 'that's not a real answer,' so I could laugh at you and then actually explain it."

"Oh." His face flushed red. "Sorry."

She shrugged and led the way down the corridor. "Eh, it's fine. I'm a Metamorphmagus. Look it up if you want the specifics, but basically I can shapeshift at will as long as what I'm turning into is still human. It's great for impressions and useful in a fight."

Harry's eyebrows rose. "Do those happen a lot at Hogwarts?"

Tonks stopped and stared down at him for a moment, then laughed. "Good luck with Spirit Week," was the only elaboration he was able to get from her.

"Well," she said, stopping outside a compartment, "this one seems empty. If you change into your robes now you don't have to worry about remembering where your trunk is."

Harry looked down at her Hogwarts robes for a moment. "Is that why you're already in yours?"

She grinned. "A magician never shares her secrets. That being said, I'm also a Prefect so I kinda had to anyways."

She opened the compartment door and stared up at the luggage rack for a moment. With a sigh, she shook her head and deposited Harry's trunk on one of the seats. "That's, um, probably safer there."

Harry blinked. "Is there something wrong with the rack?"

Her mouth twisted. "Not necessarily. It's just that, um, your trunk is very heavy. And I'm, uh… how did my mom put it? 'Unfortunately predisposed towards gravity-related manslaughter'?"

Harry stared blankly at her.

Tonks crossed her arms. "Look, I'm not clumsy. That would imply the problem is somehow my fault, and it absolutely isn't. I'm pretty sure I have a terrible Dark curse that is dead set on ruining my life and inflicting property damage and personal injury wherever possible, but Professor Goodwitch keeps telling me that I 'have no such thing' and 'just need to work on my spatial awareness'. It's a conspiracy, I'm telling you!"

Harry nodded slowly. "I see… that's terrible. Who could have done such a thing?"

Tonks looked down at her hands. "Honestly, my money's on it being a Death Eater… bonus points if it was You-Know-Who himself."

Harry blinked. "But I don't know who."

Tonks slapped her forehead. "Right, a Muggleborn." She paused. "Wait, isn't Sirius your godfather? What's up with that?"

Harry shrugged. "I think he said something about torture jail and the government not trusting him with children because of it? Not to mention it was a recent development."

"Ah, that makes sense." She glanced around the otherwise empty compartment for a moment. "Well, nice to meet ya! If I stay any longer the Head Girl is gonna complain later, so I'm heading back to the platform. If you need help with anything just gimme a shout, alright?"

Harry nodded and waved her off. If he were to actually need help she would not be his first choice, but she was pretty fun. Even if he still didn't know who.

He eyed the compartment door for a moment, listening to the muffled sounds of chatter and people moving up and down the corridor, before shrugging and popping the lid to his trunk. He had nothing better to do at the moment, since he didn't really want to go back out there, so he may as well get a head start on his, uh… 'assigned reading'. Courtesy of Professor Black.

So Harry curled up on the seat and cracked open his copy of 'How To Cheat At Magic Tricks.' Ooooh, there was a practice deck hidden inside the front cover? He had much to learn in the ways of magic. And 'Exploding Snap' was a pretty cool brand name, wasn't it?

Harry focused on the deck in front of him as he carefully shuffled it. Apparently you had to know how to do a card trick normally in order to cheat at it, so he figured he may as well get a head start on that. Most of them required another person, though, so…

The compartment door slid open, and a redheaded boy poked his head inside. "Hey, are those seats taken?"

Harry shook his head, eyes locked on his cards.

The boy dragged his trunk into the compartment and sat down in the seat across from Harry.

Harry cut the deck and started shuffling again.

The boy stared at him silently.

The tip of Harry's tongue stuck out as the cards danced through his fingers.

The boy cleared his throat.

Ah, right. Harry had to say something, didn't he?

He spread the deck and held it out to the redheaded boy. "Pick a card, any card."

The redheaded boy tentatively reached out and grabbed a single card.

The deck exploded.

A/N: yeah, sorry it's been so long. I have… a lot of things going on.

Well, that's the chapter! Harry blows up Ron with a deck of cards and really sets the tone for this train ride, I think.