Chapter Six – The Journey From Platform Nine and Three-quarters
On the first of September, Harry was woken very early by Severus Snape and rushed out of the room they had shared in the Leaky Cauldron. And though the two had shared a room, Harry had hardly seen the man outside of meals, it had made Harry feel lonely until his new kitten (whom he had named Loki, a name he had read in a book at school one day) and his owl (whom he had named Heimdallur, pulled from the same book) had played with him in between him reading his new schoolbooks.
After a quick breakfast, Severus dropped Harry off at King's Cross where he was left after Severus had given his shoulder a gentle squeeze telling him that his brother would be there to meet him at some point. Harry wandered through the station, pushing his cart that held his trunk and the two cages that held his pets. Harry didn't know how long he wandered, a couple hours at most, when he heard the voice of his Uncle Vernon.
"Well, there you are, boy. Platform nine – platform ten. Your platform should be somewhere in the middle, but they don't seem to have bult it yet, do they?" Harry made his way towards the sound of his uncle and noticed Haiden was with him, looking shocked, scared, and nervous all at once. "Have a good term." Uncle Vernon said giving Haiden a nasty smile before him and the rest of the Dursleys left the station. Harry silently (well as silently as he could with an annoyed owl and an even more annoyed kitten hooting and mewing angrily in their cages) to his brother not shocked when Haiden whipped his head around to look at him in shock.
"Where have you been?" Haiden demanded looking like he wanted to reach out and hug him but didn't even though Harry really wanted his older brother to do so.
"I got left behind at Madam Malkin's, I waited in front of the shop for three hours for you to come find me. Why didn't you come back for me?" Harry asked tears beginning to pull in his eyes.
"Why didn't you come find me?" Haiden demanded.
"Because you told me that if I ever got separated from you, to stay where I was, and you would come find me. Why didn't you find me this time? You always come find me!" Harry asked as his tears began to fall.
"Harry, that was when we were five! We're eleven now, you're old enough to come find me when you wondered off! Why am I always the one having to look for you?" Haiden yelled, neither twin cared that they were making a scene at the moment.
"You're my older brother, you're supposed to look for me, to protect me!" Harry told Haiden who gave an annoyed grunt.
"Well, I'm getting tired of trying to protect you! From now on, protect yourself! I don't want to be your older brother anymore! Why didn't you die the night mum and dad died?" Haiden yelled angrily.
"You wish I was dead?" Harry whispered causing Haiden's eyes to widen before his arms shot out and pulled the trembling boy into his arms.
"Oh god, Harry, I didn't mean it! I swear! I don't wish you were dead! I've just been so frustrated with everything, and I took it all out on you! I'm so sorry, please don't cry. I love you, Harry, you're my baby brother, and you'll always be my baby brother. And I've been such a crappy big brother lately, I'm so sorry. Please forgive me. I'll make it up to you, I swear!" Haiden vowed to Harry while rubbing his back soothingly. Harry slowly stopped trembling and allowed the warmth of his older brother to calm him enough to return the hug. The twins stayed in their embrace for a few minutes before a loud voice floating over to them.
"– packed with Muggles, of course–" Harry pulled away from his brother to swing around to find a plump woman who was talking to four boys, all with flaming red hair. Each of them was pushing a trunk like the twin's in front of them – and they had an owl. Harry looked at his brother who smiled before pushing his cart towards the red heads with Harry following him.
"Now, what's the platform number?" The plump woman asked.
"Nine and three-quarters!" A small girl, also a red head (and the same size as Harry), piped up. She was holding the woman's hand. "Mum, can't I go?"
"You're not old enough, Ginny, now be quiet. All right, Percy, you go first." What looked to be the oldest boy marched towards platforms nine and ten. Harry tried to stretch his neck and was careful not to blink in case he missed it. However, just as the boy reached the dividing barrier between the two platform, a large crowd of tourists came swarming in front of him and by the time the last backpack had cleared away, the boy had vanished.
"Fred, you next." The plump woman said turning to a set of red-headed twins.
"I'm not Fred, I'm George." One of the red-headed twins said, shaking his head seemingly disappointed. "Honestly, woman, you call yourself our mother? Can't you tell I'm George?" The twin said pushing his cart toward the barrier.
"Sorry, George, dear." The woman said and the twin smirked as he passed her.
"I'm only joking, I am Fred." The twin said before taking off with his twin right behind him laughing. Harry couldn't help giggling and their antics, he wish that him and his brother could pull that trick, but the two of them looked too differently.
"Excuse me." Haiden called to the remaining red heads, causing them to turn and look at the two of them.
"Hello, dearies." The woman said, smiling a warm smile that caused the brothers to smile back at her. "First time at Hogwarts? Ron's new too." She pointed at the last and youngest of her sons. He was tall, thin, and gangling, with freckles, big hands, and feet, and a long nose that looked to have a smudge of dirt on the side of it.
"Yes," Haiden said walking closer to them with Harry following close behind him, "the thing is – the thing is, I – we don't know how to–" Haiden trailed off.
"How to get onto the platform?" The woman asked kindly, and the twins nodded. "Not to worry. All you have to do is walk straight at the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Don't stop and don't be scared you'll crash into it, that's very important. Best do it at a bit of a run if you're nervous. Go on, go now before Ron."
"Er – okay." Haiden said before turning towards Harry. "Let me go first, I'll wait for you on the other side." He whispered to Harry before taking off at a run towards the barrier, Harry's eyes widened in shock when his brother seemed to melt into the barrier.
"Your turn deary." The woman told Harry who gulped and took off at a run towards the barrier. And even though he had just witnessed his brother enter the platform safely, he was sure that he would hit the wall with a crash and closed his eyes.
"Whoa!" Harry heard his brother cry, and something forced him to stop and opened his eyes to see his brother in front of him with his hands on Harry's trunk, having stopped it and the cart from hitting him. "Alright there, Harry?" Haiden asked and Harry nodded his head before looking around them as the two walked. They were in another station crowed with people either dressed in robes or Muggle clothes like them. Harry's eyes widened when they landed on a beautiful scarlet stem engine that was waiting next to the platform, a sign over head read: Hogwarts Express, eleven O'clock.
Smoke from the engine drifted over the heads of the chattering crowd, while cats of every color wound here and there between their legs. Harry heard Loki give a long, low yowl and knew that his kitten wanted to join the cats. Owls hooted to one other in a disgruntled sort of way over the babble and the scraping of heavy trunks.
The first few carriages that Haiden and Harry looked at were already packed with students, some hanging out of the windows to talk to their families, some fighting over seats. The twins pushed their carts down the platform in search of some empty seats. They passed a round-faced boy who was saying: "Gran, I've lost my toad again."
"Oh, Neville." They heard the old woman sigh. They passed a boy with dreadlocks that was surrounded by a small crowd.
"Give us a look, Lee, go on." The boy lifted the lid of the box in his arms, and the people around him shrieked and yelled as something inside poked out a long, hairy leg. Harry stopped to get a better look at was it was but was quickly forced to continue when his brother grabbed his arm and pulled him away.
The twins pushed on through the crowd until Haiden found an empty compartment near the end of the train. Haiden put his snow-white owl, Heimdallur, and Loki in the compartment before the twins started to shove and heave Haiden's trunk towards the train door. They tried to lift it up the steps (but could hardly raise one end) only to end up dropping the trunk painfully on Haiden's foot, twice.
"Want a hand?" Someone asked behind them. Harry turned and saw one of the red headed twins (George, Harry believed) that they had followed through the barrier.
"Yes, please." Harry said whipping some sweat that had formed on his brow.
"Oi, Fred! C'mere and help!" The red head twin, George, called over his shoulder and a second later his twin appeared behind him. With the help of the older twins, Haiden's and Harry's trunks were at last tucked away in a corner of the compartment.
"Thanks." Harry heard Haiden say to the other twins as he opened Loki's cage and pulled the kitten into his arms. He quickly looked behind him when he heard a gasp.
"What's that?" Fred asked as he pointed towards Haiden's forehead, Harry glanced over to his brother to find that his hand had frozen mid wipe, his bangs pulled back to show the lightning bolt scar.
"Blimey." George breathed out. "Are you?"
"He is." Fred answered. "Aren't you?"
"What?" Haiden asked annoyed, finally dropping his hand, and letting his bangs cover the scar again.
"Haiden Potter." The red headed twins chorused.
"Oh, him." Haiden said before flushing a light pink. "I mean, yeah, I am." The red headed twins stood there gawking at Haiden who, Harry noticed, was beginning to become embarrassed. Harry moved so that him and Loki were in between the red headed twins and his brother.
"And I'm his twin, Harry Potter." Harry introduced himself just seconds before a voice came floating through the train's open door.
"Fred? George? Are you there?"
"Coming, Mum." The red headed twins chimed before giving Haiden one last look and gave Harry a smile before turning and left the compartment. Harry let out a sigh of relief before he turned to look at his brother to see that he had sat down next to the window so that he was half-hidden from the red headed family that Harry could see was standing under their window. Harry crouched, not wanting to be seen eavesdropping, and began to play with Loki.
"Ron, you've got something on your nose." The woman said.
"Mum – geroff." A scratchy voice that must have belonged to the youngest son (Ron) said.
"Aaah, has ickle Ronnie got somefink on his nose?" One of the twins (George?) asked in a mocking voice.
"Shut up!" Ron cried.
"Where's Percy?" The woman asked.
"He's coming now." The other twin (Fred?) commented.
"Can't stay long, Mother." A new voice (Percy) said. "I'm up front, the prefects have got two compartments to themselves-"
"Oh," a twin (Fred?) gasped out in an obviously fake shocked tone, "are you a perfect, Percy? You should have said something, we had no idea."
"Hang on," the other twin (George?) said, "I think I remember him saying something about it. Once-"
"Or twice-"
"A minute-"
"All summer-"
"Oh, shut up." Percy the Prefect growled out.
"How come Percy gets new robes, anyway?" The twins asked in sync.
"Because he's a prefect." Their mother said fondly. "All right, dear, well, have a good term – send me an owl when you get there." She told Percy the Prefect. "Now you two – this year, you behave yourselves. If I get one more owl telling me you've – you've blown up a toilet–"
"Blown up a toilet? We've never blown up a toilet."
"Great idea though, thanks, Mum." The twins said with a laugh.
"That's not funny. And look after Ron." Their mother reprimanded them.
"Don't worry, ickle Ronniekins is safe with us." The twins said as one.
"Shut up." Ron grumbled.
"Hey, Mum, guess what? Guess who we just met on the train." The twins said, Haiden and Harry shared a look. "You know those black-haired boys that were near us in the station? Do you know who they were?"
"Who?" Their mother asked.
"Harry and Haiden Potter!" The twins said. Harry felt weird at hearing his name before his brothers. Never in all of his life had he ever heard his name said before his brother's.
"Oh, Mum, can I go on the train and see Haiden, Mum, oh please…" The little girl cried excitedly.
"You've already seen him, Ginny, and the poor boy isn't something you goggle at in a zoo. Is he really, Fred? How do you know?" Their mother asked and Harry was hurt, one mention of Haiden and he was instantly forgotten. Was this how it was going to be from now own?
"Harry introduced himself to us. And we saw Haiden's scar. It's really there – like lightning." The twins explained.
"Poor dear – no wonder him and his brother were alone, I wondered. He was ever so polite when he asked how to get onto the platform." Their mother said, pity clear in her voice.
"Never mind that, do you think he remember what You-Know-Who looks like?" Fred asked.
"I forbid you to ask him, Fred. No, don't you dare. As though he needs reminding of that on his first day at school." Their mother said sternly.
"All right, keep your hair on." The twins said as the train whistle sounded. Harry stood up with Loki in his arms and poked his head out of the compartment to see Fred, George, and Ron waving out a window. Harry (following an urge he got) walked over to the window, gently pushed himself in between the red headed twins, and stood on his toes to be able to look out the window to see everyone left on the platform waiving. And, though he knew the people weren't waving at him, Harry shifted his hold on Loki to one arm and began to wave at everyone on the platform.
"Who you waving at, little buddy?" George whispered to him with a laugh.
"I don't know." Harry said smiling up at the red head causing the boy to laugh even more before turning back to look at the little red headed girl (Ginny) through the window. Harry saw that she was crying.
"Don't cry, Ginny, we'll send you loads of owls." Fred called to the girl.
"We'll send you a Hogwarts's toilet seat." George yelled causing his mother to look at him in anger.
"George!" She cried.
"Only joking, Mum." George cried back with a large smirk that made Harry wonder if he was actually joking or not. The train began to move. Harry stopped waving to watch the red headed woman wave and their sister (half laughing, half crying) began to run, tying to keep up with the train until it gathered too much speed.
After Ginny and the woman disappeared when the train rounded a corner and houses began to flash passed the window, Harry looked up at George with the best blank face he could. "If your sister doesn't want that toilet seat, can I have it?" He asked as serious as he could make his voice. Harry didn't know what had come over him, maybe it was the excitement of going to Hogwarts or the fact that his brother had hugged him earlier that day, but Harry felt playful. The red headed twins stared at him for a moment before all three of them burst into laughter.
"Oh, we're gonna like you." The red headed twins said in sync, and Harry smiled brightly at them, he liked them too. Harry didn't know what it was about the two boys in front of him, but something about them made Harry want to get to know them. Maybe they could be his very first human friends?
"Wanna see a tarantula?" Fred asked and Harry nodded. "Come on then." Fred held out his hand and Harry instantly took it. When the twins lead Harry back to the compartment he shared with his brother, he was very confused. Entering into the compartment, Harry quickly took note that Ron had joined Haiden.
"Hey, Ron." The red headed twins said, gaining Haiden and Ron's attention.
"Listen, we're going down the middle of the train – Lee Jordan's got a tarantula down there." George said as Fred turned to look at Haiden as Ron mumbled a "Right."
"Haiden, did we introduce ourselves? Fred and George Weasley. And this is Ron, our brother. Right, so we're gonna be stealing your twin for a little bit, see you later, then." Fred said before the three of them turned and left before Haiden had a chance to reply.
As they walked, Loki wiggled his way out of Harry's hold and began to walk in front of the trio as if he owned the train. The second Loki was out of his hold, Harry's other hand was taken into George's large hand. George and Fred lifted Harry by his arms and began to lightly swing him, causing Harry to giggle. The trip to the middle of the train was quick with the trio only being stopped once by a bushy, brown haired girl asking them (in a bossy tone) if they had seen a toad because a boy named Neville had lost one.
"Oi, Lee," George called throwing open a compartment door, Loki quickly running in, "we wanna see this so-called giant tarantula." The trio walked in and over to a dark-skinned boy with dreadlocks (the boy Harry had seen surrounded on platform) who was sitting with two other students. Fred and George sat across them and pulled Harry to them, making him sit on each of their legs with their arms around his waist to keep him steady.
"Now show us that tarantula." George ordered with a large smile. Lee Jordan looked at them for a minute (mainly Harry) before taking a box that was sitting on one of the three trunks tucked in a corner of the compartment and handed it to them. Harry took the box and slowly opened the lid to show a beautiful black and orange haired tarantula about six inches long. He had seen a picture of this tarantula in a book he had found in his school's library.
"A Brachypelma Smithi?" Harry asked holding out his hand to allow the tarantula to slowly clime from the box and onto his hand. Harry giggled and showed Loki, who had jumped onto George's free knee, and giggled even more watching as his kitten playfully batted at the tarantula.
"Hey, do you think your brother would like to see this tarantula?" Fred suddenly asked.
"I don't know, but I think ickle Ronniekins would just love to see her." George said and the two shared a look that caused Harry to giggle even more. From the look Ron had had on his face when they had informed him and Haiden where they were going, Harry was pretty sure Ron would not like to see the tarantula. However, for some strange reason, Harry wanted to see the look on Ron's face when he saw the tarantula.
"Then we should go show him." Harry said innocently, or at least he thought he sounded innocent. Fred and George looked at him with blank faces, making Harry wonder if he had said something wrong, before their faces were suddenly split into wide, dark grins.
"Oh, we definitely like you!" The twins cried before looking over at the confused Lee Jordan and his friends. "Oi, Lee, we're borrowing your tarantula for a bit." They shot from their seat, causing Loki to jump off George's knee with an annoyed huff, while Fred pulled Harry into his arms. Not wanting to be dropped, Harry wrapped his arms around Fred's neck and his legs around his waist. "Right, we'll be bringing your tarantula back in a bit." With that said, the trio bounded out of Lee's compartment and quickly made their way back to Haiden and Ron.
They got to the compartment that held Haiden and Ron, and, just before they entered, Fred sat Harry down and whispered for him to run into the compartment as happily as he could and show Ron the tarantula. Harry nodded and the red headed twins moved to stand on either side of the compartment door with identical smirks. Harry motioned that he was ready, and the twins quickly slid the compartment door open, and Harry froze in fear. Two large boys, each the size of Dudley, stood in front of him with their backs to him. The boys turned to look at him, allowing Harry to see the boy from Madam Malkin's shop standing in the compartment, he, too, had turned to look at him.
Harry gulped before stepping into the compartment and squeezed passed the two boys so that he was now standing next to the boy from Madam Malkin's shop. By this time, the tarantula had made its way to Harry's shoulder. "What is that on your shoulder?" The boy asked.
"A Brachypelma Smithi." Harry informed the boy quietly causing the boy to raise an eyebrow. "I just came back from Lee Jordan's to show my brother and Ron." Harry had to bite back a smirk at the terrified squeak that had flown out of Ron's mouth. Harry watched as the boy's silver eyes flew from the tarantula to Ron before looking at Harry. Their eyes locked. The silver eyed boy froze for a second before he turned away with a light dusting of pink on his cheeks and coughed.
"As I was saying." The silver eyed boy said looking at Haiden, the pink leaving his cheeks. "This is Crabbe and Goyle." He motioned to the large boys standing in front of the door. "And I'm Malfoy, Draco Malfoy." Harry glanced at Ron when the boy failed to hide a snicker behind a cough, causing Draco to glare angrily at the red head. Draco's arm rose towards the tarantula (which had made its way to the top of Harry's head), twitching slightly, as though he wanted to grab it and throw it at Ron.
"Think my name's funny, do you?" Draco snapped. "No need to ask who you are. Red hair, hand-me-down clothes, freckles, you're a Weasley. My father told me all Weasley's have red hair and more children than they can afford." He turned to look at Haiden, who was glaring at him. "You'll soon find out that some wizarding families are much better than others, Haiden," he turned to look at Harry (who noticed that Draco was looking at his nose rather than his eyes), "Harry. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there." Draco turned to hold out his hand to Haiden.
"I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks." Haiden told Draco coldly. Draco sneered at Haiden before turning and offering harry his hand. Harry looked at the hand thoughtfully, and even though he knew Draco had just insulted his two new friends, Harry wanted to get to know Draco better. Plus, something was whispering that Fred and George wouldn't mind if he tried befriending Draco. With a slight nod to himself, Harry reached out and took Draco's hand, causing Haiden to gasp in shock. "Harry!" He hissed.
"What?" Harry asked. "You might be able to tell who the wrong sort are, but I don't know if I can."
"Obviously you can't!" Haiden cried out leaping to his feet, arm lashing out and suddenly Harry found himself behind Draco.
"I'd be careful if I were you, Potter." Draco told Haiden slowly. "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 riffraff like the Weasleys and that Hagrid, and it'll rub off on you." Draco slowly backed up, causing Harry to do the same, until they were out of the compartment with Crabbe and Goyle blocking a pissed Ron and Haiden from getting to the two of them. "Oh, you're gonna fight us, are you?" Draco sneered as Fred and George made their way to Harry and gently pulled him a few feet away from Draco.
"You sure you wanna take his offer, Harry?" Fred whispered to him, plucking the tarantula from Harry's head.
"I'm sure that with time, we can get him to see that at least you two aren't as bad as he thinks." Harry whispered back and the red headed twins shared a look before smiling at him.
"We'll take this little one back to Lee Jordan, while you hang out with your new friend. Don't forget your robe." The twins said before taking off down the train, back towards the middle. A loud, horrible yell caused Harry to look back towards the compartment to see a rat hanging from one of Crabbe's fingers. The boy shook his hand violently, howling, for a minute or two before the rat finally flew off and hit the window.
"Come, we're getting out of here." Draco said grabbing Harry's hand.
"I just need to get my robes first." Harry said, slipping his hand from Draco's before running into the compartment and to his trunk. Trying to ignore both his brother's and Ron's glares, Harry quickly pulled out his robe and grabbed Loki (who was pawing at the rat) before leaving. As Harry allowed Draco to lead him by the hand away from his brother (who Harry could feel was now watching him with hurt filled eyes) Harry got the feeling that his time at Hogwarts would be very eventful.