Chapter 4

The last month at the Dursleys was different, Jasmin didn't have to go to the cupboard once and had her own room. No chores made sure that she had time to read some in her new textbooks, not being allowed to use magic there wasn't much she could practice.

The Dursleys had not treated her badly during this time, Dudley was too scared to stay in the same room as her so no bullying from him, Uncle Vernon, and Aunt Petunia on the other matter pretended like she didn't exist. It was great at the start, with no comments or disgusted looks but it soon lost its charm, they didn't talk to her at all and that became lonely.

Jasmin did have some company in Hedwig, her snowy white owl she got from Hagrid, she had found the name in her A History of Magic book and loved the name. When she talked to Hedwig it looked like she was listening as her yellow eyes looked so understanding. It was great having a friend.

Jasmin made sure to keep her window open so Hedwig could go out and hunt as she pleased and was touched that she chose to spend much of her time sitting close to Jasmin carefully nibbling her fingers.

September was closing in and Jasmin needed to get to London, she picked up her envelope that had her ticket and vend down to the living room where the Dursleys were watching the telly.

"Uncle Vernon?" she asked tentatively, Dudley quickly disappeared from the room and her Uncle grunted, she guessed he was listening.

"I need to get to King's Cross to take the train to school, I wondered if there was a chance if there is a chance that I could get a lift."

"Funny way to get to a wizard's school, the train. Magic carpets all got punctures, have they? Where is this school anywhere?"

"I don't know, I got my ticket here."

"Give it here" Uncle Vernon barked and Jasmin did as she was told, better be on his good side if he was going to give her a lift.

Vernon opened the envelope and read the ticket, he showed it to Petunia who scoffed at it. Jasmin could see a glint in her Uncle's face not sure if she liked what it implied.

"All right, we'll take you to King's Cross. We're going up to London that day anyway, or I wouldn't bother."

"Why are you going to London," Jasmin asked and saw the look her Aunt and Uncle got every time she asked a question.

"Taking Dudley to the hospital. Got to have that ruddy tail removed before he goes to Smeltings. Your train leaves at 11, you better be packed or we leave without you."

The last couple of days came and vent, Jasmin didn't understand why but her Uncle didn't ignore her as hard and she sometimes saw the shadow of a smile when he looked in her general direction, she guessed that it must be that he is so happy to have her out of the house for almost a year.

On the morning of the 1st Uncle Vernon surprised Jasmin even more by getting her heavy trunk and lifting it into the boot of the car, there was a small delay as Petunia had to talk Dudley into sitting next to Jasmin.

When they got to the station Uncle Vernon once again surprised Jasmin by not only lifting out the trunk but getting her a cart for it. Jasmin soon realized why her Uncle was so gleeful.

He gave her the ticket and took her to platform 9.

"Well, there you are, girl. Platform nine, platform ten. Your platform should be somewhere in the middle, but they don't seem to have built it yet, do they?"

Jasmin first didn't understand what the meant until she read the ticket 'Platform Nine and three-quarters. 11 o'clock, Hogwarts Express'

"Have a good term" Her Uncle laughed with a nasty smile and left, all the Dursleys were laughing as they vent to the car and drove off.

Panic enveloped Jasmin, what was she to do? Hagrid didn't tell her she has to do something to get into the platform. Was it like the Leaky Cauldron where you had to do something with your wand to get in? That could not be it, all the Muggles would stand and stare if that was the case. She wondered if she should ask one of the people working there but what was she going to ask? 'Hi, where is the train to the wizard school?'

The time was moving at an alarming rate, she had less than 15 minutes before the train would leave without her. She saw a sea of red hair walk past her and could hear a word that piqued her interest.

" ...packed with Muggles, of course..."

She looked towards who had spoken, it was a plump woman with red hair holding a girl probably a little younger than Jasmin in her hand, she had 4 boys around her, all of them having carts full of things and an owl!

Jasmin followed them, they must know how to do it, at least 3 of the boys were older than her.

"Now, what's the platform number?" asked the woman

"Nine and three-quarters! Mom, can't I go…" piped the small girl holding her hand.

"You're not old enough, Ginny, now be quiet. All right, Percy, you go first."

The oldest of the boys nodded to his mother and moved towards the platforms. Jasmin stood up on her tiptoes to see what he was doing but her view got blocked last second by a crowd walking past, when they had gone she could no longer see the boy.

Fred, you next," the mother said.

"I'm not Fred, I'm George," said the boy. "Honestly, woman, you call yourself our mother Can't you tell I'm George?"

"Sorry, George, dear."

"Only joking, I am Fred," the boy walked towards the platform, Jasmin now saw that two of the boys were Twins, trying to trick their mother no the less, the other twin told him to hurry up and he was gone. How were they doing it?

The small girl's eyes meet Jasmin and she realized that she has been staring at the family, the girl tugged at the mother and pointed her attention toward Jasmin. The mother's face looked annoyed for a second before she saw Jasmin and smiled.

"Hello dear! First time at Hogwarts? Ron is new too." The woman pointed at the youngest of her boys, he was tall thin, and gangling. Jasmin nodded in response, now that she had their attention she had to ask. She took a deep breath

"Ehm, I.. I don't" Jasmin stammerd

"How to get onto the platform?" the mother said kindly

Jasmin nodded.

"Don't 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."

"T.. thank you so much!" Jasmin said and started to walk towards the platforms, the wall between looked more and more solid the close she came, she got more and more scared by the second and too late realized she was had lost control over her cart, it was too heavy to stop, she was going to crash. The crash didn't come she had gone through the wall and saw a scarlet steam engine and a big sign 'Hogwarts Express' she had made it.

There were a lot of people here and she could now recognize them as wizarding folk, she walked next to the train looking for an empty compartment and found one near the end of the train. She took Hedwig's cage and put it inside but found a big problem when she came to her trunk, she could not lift it, she tried but it was too heavy for her. suddenly a voice came from behind her and she jumped.

"Want a hand?" It was one of the red-haired twins.

"Yes please"

"Oy, Fred! C'mere and help!"

The twins took her trunk and carried it in too her compartment, she was thanking them both profusely and dabbed some sweat from her forehead with her shirtsleeve.

"What's that?" asked one of the twins looking at her forehead

"Blimey, are you..?" said the other twin

"She is, arent you?"

"What?" asked Jasmin

"Jasmin Potter" chorused the twins.

The two boys gawked at her, and Jasmin felt herself turning red. Then, to her relief, a voice came floating in through the train's open door.

"Fred? George? Are you there?"

"Coming, Mom."

The twins gave her a last look and left, Jasmin sat down next to the window. She could see the red-head family. The mother was trying to get some smudge off the youngest boy with a handkerchief but the boy wiggled free "Mom.. geroff""

"Aaah, has ickle Ronnie got somefink on his nose?" said one of the twins.

"Shut up," 'Ronnie' growled.

"Where is Percy?" The mother asked

The oldest boy already changed into his school uniform came towards his family, had had glasses and a golden badge with a 'P' on it, apparently, it stood for 'Prefect'

Something he apparently had bragged about all summer according to the twins.

He had also gained some new robes because of it.

The twins seemed to be troublemakers as their mother told them not to blow up a toilet. Jasmin let out a small giggle at the thought of it.

Jasmin thought it was rude to listen in to their conversation but then the Twins mentioned her and she could not stop listening.

"Hey, Mom, guess what? Guess who we just met on the train?" said one of the twins

Jasmin leaned back a little to they wouldn't be able to see her.

"You know that black-haired girl who was near us in the station? Know who she is?"

"Who?"

"Jasmin Potter"

"Oh, Mom, can I go on the train and see her, Mom, eh please…" asked the little girl

"You've already seen her, Ginny, and the poor girl isn't something you goggle at in a zoo. Is she really, Fred? How do you know?"

"Asked her. Saw her scar. It's really there... like lightning."

"Poor dear, no wonder she was alone, I wondered. She was ever so polite, rather shy when she asked how to get onto the platform."

"Never mind that, do you think she remembers what You-Know-Who looks like?"

She gave the twins a very stern look

"I forbid you to ask her, Fred. No, don't you dare. As though she needs reminding of that on her first day at school."

Jasmin put her head in her hands and sighed, was this how everyone was going to react to her? What was she going to do, all that attention? Well, the silver lining is that Muggleborns would not know, but how many Muggleborns are there?

Soon enough the train left the station, a short while later the door to her compartment slid open and the youngest red-haired boy stood there.

"Mind if I sit here? Everywhere else is full," he asked

"N.. no of course not ."

The boy glanced at Jasmin but quickly looked out the window, Jasmin pretended that she hadn't noticed, she could see that he still had a black mark on his nose.

"Hey Ron." Jasmin looked at towards the door and saw the twins standing there.

"Listen, we're going down the middle of the train, Lee Jordan's got a giant tarantula down there."

"Right," mumbled Ron.

"Jasmin," said the other twin, "did we introduce ourselves? Fred and George Weasley. And this is Ron, our brother. See you later, then."

"Bye" Ron and Jasmin said in unison and shared a smile.

"Are you really Jasmin Potter?" Ron blurted out.

"I... am"

"Oh, well, I thought it might be one of Fred and George's jokes. And have you really got, you know…" Ron pointed at her forehead.

Jasmin hesitated for a second and then moved her hair out of the way.

"Woah, so that is where You-Know-Who..." Ron said in awe

"Yeah"

"You remember anything?"

Jasmin thought about what the redheaded mother had said, she forbade them to ask what Voldemort looks like, well he didn't exactly ask what he looked like and it was the twins she forbade, loopholes.

"I sometimes dream of a lot of green light and pain, I am not sure what it was. "

"Wow" Ron was staring intently at her but it looked like he realized it and looked out the window instead.

"Are all your family wizards?" Jasmin asked both genuinely curious and to keep the conversation going.

"Er ...Yes, I think so, I think Mom's got a second cousin who's an accountant, but we never talk about him."

"Cool!" Jasmin got a little excited, if she could befriend this boy, he seems friendly enough she could learn more about the magical world so she wouldn't make an idiot of herself at school. This was the first time she didn't have Dudley as a classmate, he made sure that anyone who was nice to her regretted it, she was never allowed to have friends or even anyone to talk with.

"I heard you went to live with Muggles, what are they like?" Ron asked taking Jasmin back from her thoughts.

"They are okay, they didn't really tell me much about my parents, didn't know I was a witch until recently. I lived with my aunt, uncle, and cousin. Wish I had real siblings like you. Your family is quite big, you got four siblings?"

"Six, I am the sixth in our family to go to Hogwarts and You could say I've got a lot to live up to. Bill and Charlie have already left. Bill was head boy and Charlie was captain of Quidditch. Now Percy's a prefect. Fred and George mess around a lot, but they still get really good marks and everyone thinks they're really funny. Everyone expects me to do as well as the others, but if I do, it's no big deal, because they did it first. You never get anything new, either, with five brothers. I've got Bill's old robes, Charlie's old wand, and Percy's old rat."

Ron took out a fat gray rat from his pocket, not disturbed at all it was still sleeping. Jasmin was not completely sure she liked the idea of having a rat as a pet.

"His name's Scabbers and he's useless, he hardly ever wakes up. Percy got an owl from my dad for being made a prefect, but they couldn't aff... I mean, I got Scabbers instead."

Ron did look rather uncomfortable and his ears had turned to a pink colour.

"I don't think it is anything wrong with not being able to afford an owl. Look at me, do you see what I am wearing?"

"I did think your clothes looked a bit.. big. I don't know too much about Muggle clothing."

"It is not supposed to look like a tent, this is my cousin's old clothes, he is much bigger than me. As I only get hand-me-downs from him mean I have never had clothes that fit or clothes for girls." This time it was Jasmin's turn to turn pink, she had said more than she meant to, she just wanted to bond with Ron.

Embarrassing or not it had worked to cheer Ron up.

As the train kept moving along Ron and Jasmin talked about a little bit of everything, Quidditch was the subject that really got Ron going, after he was dumbfounded that Jasmin didn't know anything except the name he excitedly explained the rules and his favorite team.

There was some clattering outside and a smiling witch looked in. "Anything off the cart, dears?"

This time Ron's ears got pink again and he muttered something about sandwiches, Jasmin, on the other hand, jumped up, she had not had any breakfast so she could do with anything really. When she looked at the cart she saw loads of sweets but nothing she recognized. She thought that she should not have been surprised by this, wizards things were all different. She got a bit of everything and lay it all out in the seat next to her.

"Hungry, are you?" Ron asked

".. Yeah!"

Ron open up a package and unwrapped a sandwich and looked very disappointed when he looked inside it. "She always forgets I don't like corned beef.."

"What about I swap you that one for some of my sweets?"

"You don't want this, it's all dry," said Ron. "She hasn't got much time," he added quickly, "you know, with five of us."

"Okay, if you don't want to trade me, here have a pasty!"

It felt strange but not in any way bad to have things to share and somebody to share them with, nobody ever shared anything with her, she had sometimes been lucky and found a half-eaten Mars bar that Dudley dropped behind the couch and been too lazy to get, but it was nice having something that was her's and that she could do whatever she wanted with.

The chocolate frogs ended up being the most interesting as they came with famous wizard cards. The people on the cards moved and sometimes just left, apparently that was normal.

Ron was an avid collector and had about 500 cards, Jasmin thought that he must have done it for some time as she guessed he couldn't buy too many of them or too often, something she did not ask him about.

Jasmin's first card was Dumbledore, she had to admit that he looked like he was the most wizard that had wizard, purple robes, a tall hat, a big nose, and half-moon glasses, to top it all off he had a long beard and hair.

"So this is the headmaster?" She asked.

"Don't tell me you'd never heard of Dumbledore!"

"Well, his name was mentioned in the letter and Hagrid spoke really highly of him. "

After some sampling of Bettie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, an experience that was not for the feint of heart as they got everything from caramel, grass, and sprout flavored ones.

After a while, there was a knock on the compartment door and a boy looked in. He looked sad.

"Sorry, but have you seen a toad at all?"

Ron shook his head and Jasmin responded with a "No"

"I've lost him! He keeps getting away from me!" the boy wailed

"Ehm.. don't worry somebody will find him for you. " Jasmin said trying to sound sure.

"Yes... well if you see him..." the boy said miserable and turned to leave.

"Wait.. you want a chocolate frog?" Jasmin asked.

The boy gave her an unsure look, and Jasmin realized that he might think she made fun of him. "... or a pumpkin pasty!"

The boy took a chocolate frog murmured his thanks and left to cotoou his search, when the door was close Ron spoke. "Don't know why he's so bothered, If I'd brought a toad I'd lose it as quick as I could. Mind you, I brought Scabbers, so I can't talk."

Ron looked bemuzingly at his rat

"He might have died and you wouldn't know the difference, I tried to turn him yellow yesterday to make him more interesting, but the spell didn't work. I'll show you, look…"

Ron open his trunk and after some looking around he brought up a wand, it looked very battered and was even chipped in places.

"Unicorn hair's nearly poking out. Anyway..." Ron said as he lifted his wand but was interrupted as the compartment door opened and a girl already dressed in her robes looked in with the toadless boy behind her.

"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," said the girl in a rather bossy tone. She had a bit large front teeth and bushy brown hair, it looked like it was almost as hard to fight as Jasmin's own hair.

"We've already told him we haven't seen it," said Ron but the girl apparently didn't listen.

"Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it, then." she said and took a seat

"Er... all right." Ron looked a bit unsure, Jasmin did not blame him, she felt she would be nervous doing things in front of this girl, it was something about her.

"Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow." he pointed the want at the Rat and absolutely nothing happened.

"Are you sure that's a real spell? Well, it's not very good, is it? I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard. I've learned all our course books by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough. I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?" She spoke very quickly and Jasmin suddenly felt very unprepared for school if she was supposed to read all her books beforehand.

"I'm Ron Weasley." Ron said

"Jasmin"

"Are you that Jasmin? As in Jasmin Potter?" Hermione asked.

Jasmin's's heart fell a bit, she thought that she might have to come up with a fake name if everybody.. even muggle-borns know about her. She nodded and Hermione spoke up again

"I know all about you, of course, I got a few extra books, for background reading, and you're in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century."

"I am?" Jasmin mummerd back

"Goodness, didn't you know, I'd have found out everything I could if it was me. Do either of you know what house you'll be in? I've been asking around, and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best; I hear Dumbledore himself was in it, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad… Anyway, we'd better go and look for Neville's toad. You two had better change, you know, I expect we'll be there soon." She left as fast as she talked, the toadless boy.. Neville was his name followed her out, he had also recognized her name.

"Whatever house I'm in, I hope she's not in it. Stupid spell...George gave it to me, bet he knew it was a dud." Ron put his wand back in his trunk and took another pasty.

"You know what house you want to be in?" Jasmin asked.

"It would have to be Gryffindor, all my brothers and even my parents are Gryffindor. I think they might disown me if I ended up in another house. Ravenclaw wouldn't be bad I guess but if they put me in Slytherin" Ron shivered

"That is the house Voldermort was in?"

Ron gasped.

"Huh?"

"You said You-Know-Who's name! I'd have thought you, of all people" Ron looked a mix between impressed and frightened.

"Sorry, Sorry... I forgot I wasn't supposed to say. I grew up with Muggles and did not know until recently that I don't think"

"It's alright but most people would not like you using the name." Ron said.

"I don't know these things, and everyone knows my name.. even that muggle-born girl. I am going to be the worst in class, everybody will laugh at me." Jasmin put her hands in her lap to stop them from shaking, she didn't really mean to say all that.

"You won't be. There's loads of people who come from Muggle families and they learn quick enough."

Trying to change the subject again Jasmin asked Ron what his oldest brothers did now after Hogwarts. Apparently, his second-oldest brother Charlie worked with Dragons in Romania. Dragons kept coming up and Jasmin thought that she really would like to see one, one day.

Ron's oldest brother Bill worked for Gringotts and was in Africa on something work-related.

Ron also told Jasmin that somebody tried to rob Gringotts. Jasmin remembered being told that it was the safest place to keep something except maybe Hogwarts, Hagrid had taken something from there.. it couldn't possibly be the same thing?

They soon started to talk about less serious things until their compartment door opened again.

This time there were 3 boys who walked in, the two bigger ones on the sides Jasmin did not recognize but the one in the middle was the same snobby boy she had met at the robe shop.

"Is it true? They're saying all down the train that Jasmin Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?" The boy said in his drawling voice.

Seeing no point in denying it Jasmin nodded.

"This is Crabbe and this is Goyle" the boy said pointing on the two big boys flanking him, maybe they were his bodyguards. "And my name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."

Jasmin heard Ron make a sound and Malfoy looked at him.

"Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford."

The boy looked back to Jasmin "You'll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there."

He held up a hand towards Jasmin, she pretended that she didn't see it and looked at him.

"Draco was it? or do you prefer Malfoy?" Jasmin started. "Ron here has been nothing but nice to me all journey and his brothers did help me get my trunk on board not knowing who I was. I don't know how they would be a bad family."

Malfoy looked at her oddly but she keep on talking keeping her voice more steady then she felt.

"You also talked badly about Hagrid, the man who helped me get to Diagon Alley when I had no one to help me. You say you want to help orientating me in the Wizarding World? That is really nice of you, but when you badmouth the people that are helping me out and who are really friendly to me, then you don't give yourself the best impression to me."

Malfoy looked at her but she saw his eyes dart quickly first to Ron and then to his two bodyguards.

"They might have been nice to you.. You are famous so of course, some people of the lower classes would flock to you. I am offering you help to be with people worthy of you, not the bottom of the barrel folks." Malfoy said.

Ron stood up looking really angry "Say that again"

"Oh, you're going to fight us, are you?" Malfoy sneered.

"Please just go." Jasmin said.

"But we don't feet like leaving, do we, boys? We've eaten all our food and you still seem to have some."

One of the big boys reached towards the chocolate frogs but soon jumped back and yelped in pain, Ron's rat Scabbers was hanging off his finger, and after swinging his arm around the rat lost his grip and slammed into the seat, all three boys left. Jasmin left out a sigh and slumped low on her seat.

She heard someone at the door again, afraid the boys were back but saw the bushy-haired girl "What has been going on?"

Ron ignored the girl as he looked at his Rat, it looked like the Rat was out cold until he snorted in his sleep.

"I don't believe it, he's gone back to sleep. " Ron said shaking his head "You've met Malfoy before?"

Jasmin nodded and briefly told Ron about meeting him in the robe shop.

"I've heard of his family," said Ron darkly. "They were some of the first to come back to our side after You-Know-Who disappeared. Said they'd been bewitched. My dad doesn't believe it. He says Malfoy's father didn't need an excuse to go over to the Dark Side." He turned to Hermione. "Can we help you with something?"

"You'd better hurry up and put your robes on, I've just been up to the front to ask the conductor, and he says we're nearly there. You haven't been fighting, have you? You'll be in trouble before we even get there!"

Ron was about to say something but Jasmin spoke first.

"No, we have not been fighting, three boys came in looking for a fight but they messed with the wrong rat. If we are almost there, maybe it is time to change. I'll wait outside."

Jasmin closed the blinders on the door and led Hermione out.

"They are really behaving really childish out here, racing up and down the corridors."

"It is a long ride, maybe they need to release some energy." Jasmin shrugged.

Ron soon open the door and Jasmin went inside to change, her school uniform felt great, she couldn't remember having clothes that fit her, and having on a skirt did feel a bit awkward but after she put on her robe above the uniform she felt less exposed. She let Ron back in and could clearly see that his robes were not new.

A voice echoed in the train that they were five minutes away. Jasmin and Ron looked at each other, he looked just as nervous and excited as she felt.

A/N

Broke my Sunday streak.
Hope you enjoy it.
Next chapter is finally at Hogwarts, more people for Jasmin to interact with. :)

I hope for some critique so I can improve.