July twenty-ninth, Harry went back over to the Dursleys, and Will and Harry both prepared for their plan to wring as much information out of them as they could, hereafter named Operation: Stick-em-up. As planned, Will waited until nightfall to act, and upon falling asleep followed the link to Harry's destination. It was an almost instantaneous form of travel in short distances, seeing as no wind or walls could stop them. They hadn't had the chance to practice fast movement over long distances, so this would be Will's test run.

It was going well at first, Will had pulled on the bond with Harry and started zooming towards his location. Will hadn't been sure if they'd end up in the same terrible hotel as in the books, but as far as he was aware, he was heading in the right direction. After a minute or two of the scenery flying by, Will found himself in a grungy hotel room. There were two small beds, one with a large lump under the covers, and one with a small lump. Attached to the small lump by a glowing cord was the familiar shining figure of astral-Harry.

Will floated over, yawning, {How's Operation: Stick-em-up going?}

{You're not surprised to see me in a hotel room?} Harry asked, somewhat confused.

{Let's just say I had a feeling something like this would happen.} Will yawned. {What happened this morning?}

{It started brilliantly,} Harry said, smiling, {Uncle Vernon completely blew his top when the letters arrived. They completely filled the living room. He made us pack a couple days worth of clothes and actually yelled at Dudley when he tried to pack his TV.}

{Heh, awesome.} Will nodded, and drifted down onto the floor.

Harry hovered closer, {Are you alright? You seem out of it.}

{I'm fine,} Will yawned {Just tired. I think I'll take a nap right here.}

There was a pause, then {WILL!} Harry yelled, causing him to jump a foot in the air.

{What? What is it?} Will asked, looking around woozily. When he looked back at Harry, Will was surprised to see a scared look on his face.

{You're flickering, I think you should go back to your body now,} Harry suggested, {Like, right now.}

{But I'm so tired, can't I just-}

{GO!} Harry yelled, surprising Will so much he followed his directions, no questions asked. He yanked on the cord connecting him to his body, and flew backwards, careening towards Little Whinging. When Harry yelled, you knew it was something serious.

Will slammed into his body and was immediately asleep. He ended up sleeping in way late, and still had to take a nap in the middle of the day to feel normal again. He also slept through the next night, even though he'd intended to astral project again. His parents seemed worried the few times he saw them, but he told them that he'd stayed up late the night before to explain why he was sleeping so much. Will wasn't sure if they believed him.

What Will realized later, after sleeping off his exhaustion, was there must be a limit to how far an astral body could travel. They'd really only explored Little Whinging and the surrounding areas while astral projecting before. This was the farthest trip they'd ever tried to take. Maybe that limit could be extended with time, but for now long astral trips were out.

It wasn't until two days later, July thirty-first, while he was worrying about Harry showing up for their scheduled sleep over, that Will found out the rest of what happened to Harry and the Dursleys. His parents had gone over to the Dursley's house, wondering where Harry was. Harry typically joined them for breakfast on Wednesdays, after all, and there was his birthday to celebrate too. What his parents discovered was that the Dursleys seemed to not be there, and Harry didn't answer the door either.

Will reassured them that it probably had to do with Harry's letter, and to wait until evening to see if they returned.

The Dursleys didn't return that day, but Harry did, with a trunk and an owl. And he definitely had a story to tell. When Will's parents asked what had happened, Harry began to explain. He told them about the Dursleys withholding his letters from him, and how Will filled him in on what was going on (he left out Operation: Stick-em-up.) He explained that Vernon had taken them to a hut on a rock in the middle of the ocean.

"About midnight, a huge man named Hagrid showed up, and Uncle Vernon came out of the back room with a gun. But Hagrid bent the gun in a knot and threw it away. After it came out that I already knew about Hogwarts, Uncle Vernon got steaming mad, and Aunt Petunia admitted that they'd known about magic the whole time! I mean, we figured they must have, but it was still a shock to hear it was true. After some shouting from Hagrid and Uncle Vernon, Hagrid used magic to give Dudley a pig's tail! You should have seen Aunt Petunia's face! After that the Dursleys hid in the back room, and Hagrid gave me a birthday cake, which was nice of him, even if it was a little sat on. He apparently knew my parents! He also took me shopping for my Hogwarts stuff. Look, I've got a wand now too!" Harry explained excitedly, and showed them his school supplies.

Mum gave Harry a shaky hug, while Dad looked over Harry's school stuff. "Did Hagrid buy these for you?" Dad asked, "That was nice of him. We'll have to send him a thank you card."

"No, actually," Harry replied, "Well, he did buy the owl, but apparently my parents left me some money at Gringotts Bank, so we paid for my school stuff with that."

"I see," Mum said thoughtfully, "You should probably save that money for now. Unless it's important, like school supplies, we'll still be able to purchase anything you'll need. You can use that money when you're older."

"Are you sure?" Harry asked, "There was an awful lot of it. A whole heap of Galleons. I'd like to be able to pay you back for everything you've done for me." He tapped his new glasses, ones with a fitting prescription.

"A heap of Galleons?" Dad muttered, probably trying to figure out exactly how much that was. He did always have a brain for math.

"Yes, we're sure." Mum replied, "You don't ever need to pay us back for thing's we're happy to give." She gave Harry's shoulder a little squeeze. He nodded, smiling a little.

Will, Liam, and Alice looking at the owl, the one who would soon be named Hedwig. She was sleeping in the cage Harry had set on the dining room table. Or at least, she appeared to be sleeping. Will wasn't that familiar with the sleeping patterns of owls. He'd already had to slap Liam's hand away from the cage a few times, and Alice was completely besotted.

"Will?" Harry called, getting his attention. Will turned and saw Harry and his parents looking at him.

"I was just thinking that it was good that we have an owl now." Will replied, "We can keep in touch with mum and dad during the school year that way."

"With an owl?" Mum asked, then nodded, "Right, Mcgonagall did say something about owl post, didn't she. It was also mentioned in your acceptance letter. I guess owls are how wizards and witches keep in contact."

"Seems kind of slow," Dad added, stooping down to look at the owl, "Do you think it's a magical owl?"

"It must be," Will said, "How else are they going to send letters during the day? Owls are nocturnal, after all."

The as of yet unnamed owl opened an eye and glared at Dad, who had been tapping on the cage. He pulled his hand back sheepishly. "A feisty one, this one is. Does it have a name, Harry?"

"She." Harry said, then explained, "Hagrid said she was a female owl. But I haven't named her yet, no." He turned to look at Will, who was carefully turning the cage to look at the owl from all sides. "Do you want to name her?"

Will startled, "Me?" Will couldn't really imagine her being named anything but Hedwig.

"I'm not very good at giving things names," Harry confessed, "I'd probably just name her after something I found in a book."

"You sure?" Will asked, and when Harry nodded, stood up straight. "Okay then. I'll name her… Hedwig." There was no reason to name her anything else, it would just get confusing later.

"Why Hedwig?" Mum asked.

"It just feels right." Will explained.

Finally, finally, it was the first of September. The month up to now was spent going over their textbooks, and one more trip to Flourish and Blotts, where Will bought every book he could convince his mum to let him purchase. Unfortunately, most of them wouldn't fit in his trunk, so he was limited to his school books and a few extra. Even though the trunk was starting to get kind of heavy, he refused to go anywhere without Hogwarts: A History.

But there they were, bright and early, at King's Cross Station. Mcgonagall had told them where to go to get to platform nine and three quarters, so they pushed their trolleys in that direction. Upon reaching the correct place they nearly ran into another family, this one with only one trolley.

"Sorry! Sorry," Will said to the girl pushing the other cart, "Still not used to pushing these, mine got away from me a little."

"It's no problem," She said breathlessly, "I'm just a little excited for today, that's all." She then noticed Harry, and that Harry was pushing a trolley with an owl.

"Oh! Are you headed to-" She looked around to make sure no one was listening, "Hogwarts as well?" She whispered.

"Yes, both of us in fact!" Will replied, gesturing to both himself and Harry, who had pushed his cart a bit closer.

"Yes, I thought so!" She cried, "I've been ever so excited, I barely slept a wink last night. What houses do you think you'll be in, I've been hoping for Gryffindor because Headmaster Dumbledore was in that one, and everyone 's been saying-"

"Breathe Hermione," The woman standing behind her said, "Slow down a bit, you'll overwhelm them. Try introducing yourself first."

"Oh! Sorry, I'm just very excited." Hermione said, "I'm Hermione Granger, it's nice to meet you two."

"Will Nelson, and this is Harry." He said, sticking out his hand for her to shake. She did so enthusiastically. "We should probably head in, we don't want to attract attention by standing around out here."

"That's a good idea," Mum replied, "We want to have plenty of time to get you all situated on the train before it's time to go."

"I'll go first," Will said, and turned his cart to face the right wall.

"Mcgonagall said to take it at a bit of a run," His father reminded him.

"I've got it!" Will replied, and took off. He kept his eyes open, seeing as he knew it would work and he wanted to see what it looked like to travel between the two spaces.

It was like he blinked, even though his eyes were open the whole time. Just as he was about to hit the wall, everything went dark for a moment and he found himself running out the other side. A sign hanging from the wall proudly proclaiming this to be 'Platform 9 ¾'. It was busier than he expected it to be this early, the hustle and bustle of strangely dressed families helping their kids onto the scarlet train.

Realizing he'd stopped to take in the view, Will moved quickly out of the way, just in time to dodge Harry's cart making an appearance. Harry had his eyes closed tight, but seemed to open them in surprise. Will waved him over to get out of the way of the others, and Hermione came through at a run, quickly followed by their parents.

As the parents chatted, probably about being non-magical parents of magical children, Will and Harry talked with Hermione.

"I've been pretty excited to go myself," Will said, "I'm hoping we can make more friends at Hogwarts. Harry and I have been pretty isolated from our peers at muggle school."

"You too?" Hermione asked, "I wonder if that's common of muggleborn wizards and witches. I've had a few friendships over the years, but none of them lasted very long. That's one of the reasons I've been so enthusiastic. Well, besides learning magic."

"I know, right?" Will added, "Real magic!"

"We've experimented a bit at home with magic," Harry added, "Just a few simple spells, like conjuring sparks, but it's been interesting so far."

"I have as well! The locking and unlocking spells seem especially useful, but those are the only other two I've managed to practice so far." She replied, smiling.

"Unfortunately, once we've actually begun to learn magic, I think it's against the rules to use magic during the summer." Will replied.

"Oh, that's a bit disappointing." Hermione said, a bit disgruntled, "We won't be able to show our parent's what we've learned!"

"It's the rules." Will reminded, "Maybe when we grow up we can change them, but for now we're stuck with how things are."

Hermione gave Will a strange look, then said, "I guess you're right. It's just frustrating."

"I know," Harry replied, "but there's nothing we can do for now." He hefted his trunk out of his cart. "Let's get our trunks on board, then we can continue talking. It looks like it's almost time to go."

With the help of the parents, Will, Harry, and Hermione found an empty compartment and stowed their luggage. After some tearful hugs goodbye, the parents exited the train to stand outside.

As they were getting comfortable, Will saw someone he recognized getting on the train. He jumped up and opened the door as they passed.

"Neville!" He called, "In here!" and moved out of the way for Neville and his trunk. With a little help from Harry, Neville got his trunk stowed and sat down next to Hermione.

"Neville, I don't know if you remember me-"

"I do! You're W-Will Nelson, right? We met at Madame Malkin's." Neville replied, fidgeting, "Thank you for inviting me to sit with you, I was n-nervous about asking to sit with someone."

"It's no problem!" Will replied cheerfully, "This is my new friend Hermione Granger, and this is my best friend Harry Potter."

Both Hermione and Neville seemed surprised.

"You're Harry Potter?" Hermione asked, "I read your name in a few books, they're-"

"Hermione," Will cut her off, "Harry really only just found out he's famous, and is a little uncomfortable with all of the attention." He'd read the books as well, and showed them to Harry. Will had gotten so used to Harry as a person, it was strange to see his name in a book again.

"I see." Hermione said, nodding in understanding, "I'd probably be uncomfortable with it as well if I randomly found out I was famous. I'm sorry, Harry. I didn't mean to upset you."

Harry shrugged, looking out the window, "It's okay, but maybe we can talk about something else."

Neville looked like he had something he wanted to add, but he refrained.

As Hermione changed the subject, Will looked out the window to see a family of red haired kids hurrying onto the platform. The parents gave them quick hugs and hurried them on the train, while a little red haired girl held her mum's hand and cried. They were a bit down the platform from their compartment, so Will couldn't hear what they were saying.

Not long after that, the whistle sounded. Will opened the window and all four of them leaned out to wave goodbye to their families. As the train pulled away, Will couldn't help but feel a bit lonely as the little red-haired girl ran along with the train, waving through her tears. His own siblings were still at home, and he wouldn't see them again until Christmas time. Nor his parents, either.

As Platform nine and three quarters faded into the distance, Will closed the window and turned back to the others. It had taken a long while, but it was finally time for the true adventure to begin.

Welp, we're off! The train's on the tracks and this story is blasting full steam ahead. I'm coming down off of my intense writing hyper-focus, so chapters will be a bit slower from now on. But really, nine chapters in three days was a bit much. I didn't have time for anything else. Let me know if the pace of the story feels a bit off to you.