September 1st came quickly for Harry and all of his belongings were soon packed

Chapter Five – The Journey to Hogwarts

September 1st came quickly for Harry and all of his belongings were soon packed. Hedwig was hooting softly having just returned from a journey to get her food before the long trip. Harry wasn't sure how she would handle it when the phoenix hatched. She did have a tendency to be jealous but he hoped that they would get along with each other. Harry wondered how long it takes a phoenix egg to hatch.

"Should have asked Charlie before I left."

He couldn't dwell on that for now because he had to leave. He had decided on apparating but didn't want people finding out about him. He decided that the best course of action would be to be the first person to arrive in the morning. Making sure that he had everything he surrounded all of his belongings around himself and disapparated.

This was a first for Harry, he was usually late to the Hogwarts Express and even missed it completely once. This time though he had first choice of any of the compartments on the train. Usually, he and his friends would be forced to use the compartment that was all the way in the back of the train but Harry decided he wanted something different. He hauled his trunk up the stairs and was greeted by the short witch who brings around the sweets.

"Hello child, you're really early. We're still loading on supplies but you can seat yourself if you chose to do so."

"Thanks, I have a question before you go though. What does that reserved sign mean on the front compartment?"

"Oh, that is the compartment reserved for prefects."

"Okay, thanks. I'll see you later I'm sure."

"Goodbye."

Harry would have liked to have the first compartment but decided that the second compartment would be just fine. He loaded his trunk and Hedwig and sat down. It would still be several hours before people would begin to arrive so Harry decided to explore the train. Finding that almost every compartment was the same he decided to go and see the conductor. Harry knocked on the door and a voice said it was all right to enter.

"Hello, I was just wandering around and thought I would say hi." Harry's jaw dropped a little bit when he realized who he was looking at.

"Hi there, it's nice to have people visit."

"Ernie Prang?"

"Nope, Bert Prang. It's a common mistake though as Ernie is my twin."

"Your parents named you Bert and Ernie?" Harry began to laugh.

"Why is it that people do that?"

"There's a muggle show with two puppets named Bert and Ernie. You're being named that is just kind of funny."

"What's a puppet?"

Harry tried to explain about how people crafted little creatures out of cloth and then made voices come out of them. He realized it was a losing battle and thought it best to change the subject. Harry then began to talk about his journey on the Knight Bus with Bert's brother. He also asked if Bert knew about the luggage delivery service.

"Yeah, some of our family works for them. It's a very lucrative business because people can't transport large objects when they apparate so they need the delivery service to transport their belongings."

"What do their vehicles look like?"

"Sort of like muggle planes I would say. They can go really fast and muggles have no idea they are around. We're really amazed because we've some planes they've been developing are getting closer to our design. It's amazing what they can do with technology."

"Those must be those stealth planes that Dudley used to have models for."

They then talked about various other things until Harry realized that there were voices starting to come from behind them. People were finally arriving and Harry didn't want to have people searching through his things. He had some objects that he didn't want other people seeing like the Fleur figure, Foe-Glass, and his new glasses. He said goodbye to Bert and ran back to his compartment.

He was lucky he arrived when he did because he found a rather unsavory bunch entering his compartment. Malfoy and his cronies Crabbe and Goyle were entering the compartment where Harry had his belongings. "Can I help you Malfoy?"

"Potter, what do you want?"

"Well, you seem to be entering my compartment and I was wondering if you needed something."

"Yeah, I need you to get your shit out of my compartment."

"I don't see your name on it." Crabbe and Goyle began to advance on Harry, obviously still remembering what had happened to them at the end of last year.

"Is there a problem here?" Harry was relieved to see that coming from behind the trio was his old babysitter Arabella Figg.

"No problem professor, just helping my friend here with his trunk." Said Malfoy with a cool grin on his face.

"Is that true Harry?"

"No Mrs. Figg, I mean Professor Figg. He was just misinformed about the users of this compartment."

"I see, well there are still plenty of compartments so it's no use fighting over this one."

"Alright, we'll talk later Potter." Malfoy and the goons grabbed their belongings and headed towards the back of the train.

"Thank you, a confrontation with him on the first day is the last thing I need."

"No problem Harry, mind if I join you for the trip?"

"That should be fine. Don't think me rude but I'm going back outside to meet my friends."

"Go ahead, I'm going to be monitoring the train for most of the trip. Professor Dumbledore has a feeling that this is going to be a very difficult journey."

"Well, I hope things go as smoothly as possible. Is it all right if I call you Mrs. Figg instead of Professor Figg?"

"I wouldn't dream of confusing you Harry, Mrs. Figg will be fine."

"Thanks, talk with you later."

Harry found that the once vacant platform was now very busy. He recognized many of the students and saw some new faces among the crowd. The Weasley's were late as usual and hadn't yet arrived. Scanning the crowd he found a face staring at him. He wasn't sure but the little boy appeared to be sizing him up as if he wanted to fight. This confused Harry a little but the little boy drifted out of his head when he felt arms wrap around his waist.

"Hello Harry!"

Looking down he immediately recognized the hair. "Hi Gabrielle!"

He glanced around to Fleur but the little boy's face caught his attention again. He seemed distracted by Gabrielle and some of the hate that seemed to be in his face before was now gone.

"How was your trip Gabrielle?"

"It was good, Fleur and I just arrived in London this morning."

"Where is your sister?"

"She's putting our luggage into a compartment."

"Why didn't she ask for my help?"

"When you're my sister it is really easy to get boys to help you."

"Good point, but aren't you guys going to sit with me?"

"Of course we are, we bumped into a lady and she told us you were in the second compartment."

"Must have been Mrs. Figg."

"I'm gonna go meet some other people. See you on the train Harry." She hugged him again and ran off.

A tap on the shoulder came from behind him. "Don't tell me you actually understood that." It was Cho Chang!

"Hey Cho, yeah I understood it." This reminded Harry that it would probably be in his best interest to help Gabrielle with her English later.

"I'm impressed Harry, I have to talk with you but not here and not now."

"Okay, wanna talk after the feast tonight?" He was confused, why did she want to talk with him?

"Sounds good, bye Harry."

What was that all about? She and Harry barely ever talked and after what happened to Cedric he thought she would be pissed at him. Lucky for him Hermione had just arrived.

"Harry, good news. I was named a prefect."

"You say it like you were surprised."

"Well, it's still an honor. There is one bad part about it though."

"Can't sit with Ron on the train can you?"

"Err, yes. I'll still come and visit you guys. Where are you sitting?"

"Right behind the prefect compartment. I guess it was good I got here so early."

"Wonderful, I'll see you on the train."

It was getting to be close to departure time. Harry talked with many of his old friends and was impressed with a couple of them in particular. The Creevey brothers had grown huge over the summer. Colin must be a late bloomer and Dennis and early one because they were huge. Harry was eyeing up all of the Gryffindors for potential replacements of the five quidditch members leaving after this year.

At a quarter to eleven the Weasley's finally arrived. Apparently, some of Fred and George's extra potent gobstones went off and they had to evacuate the car for a little bit. Fred and George met up with Lee Jordan and headed to the back of the train. Harry and Ron said goodbye to Mrs. Weasley and headed to Harry's compartment.

They found that Gabrielle and Fleur were already situated and that Hedwig was being friendly with Gabrielle's tawny owl.

"Have you decided on a name?"

"Napoleon."

"Why Napoleon?"

"I just like it, that's all."

"It's your choice." He then turned his attention to Fleur who was staring out the window. "Scared to talk to the students?"

"A little." Harry could tell it was something else though. He could tell that she was avoiding his face and he wasn't sure why.

She couldn't tell him the real reason why she didn't go out to talk with him after putting her and Gabrielle's belongings on the train. She had seen him outside with Cho and it hurt her. She thought things were going well with him and maybe Cho was out of the picture. From what she saw though things were not different from when he first talked about Cho.

It was kind of an awkward journey for Harry. It started out by Harry remembering that he wanted to help Gabrielle with her English. She had began to learn it from Harry over the summer but it was still very broken and it was hurting her interaction with other students. He performed his comprehension spell and she immediately ran out of the compartment wanting to meet students her own age.

Harry and Ron were busy talking about the upcoming quidditch season and new year of studies. Harry was getting worried about Fleur though, not only was she not participating in the conversation but it seemed she was doing her best to ignore it completely. Before Harry could ask her about what was bothering her Mrs. Figg had returned.

"Hello everyone."

Fleur seemed to come out of her stupor. "Hello professor, how are the students."

"Well, as Dumbledore expected things are a bit unruly."

"Do you need my help?"

"That is actually why I came up here. The Slytherin students appear to be a bit overanxious about the house rivalries and several fights have broke out. All you need to do is to make sure that there aren't any confrontations and we should make it to Hogwarts just fine."

"Sounds good." Fleur got up and joined Mrs. Figg in her patrol of the train.

Harry was a little hurt that she so eagerly wanted to help with the patrol. Even though she wasn't actually acknowledging his existence on the train it was still nice to have her around.

Several students came up and visited with Ron and Harry. Fred and George were happy that the Weasley legacy of quidditch players would live on after the end of the year. Angelina, Katie, and Alicia all came up and welcomed Ron to team and congratulated Harry on becoming captain.

"The only reason I'm captain is because you all turned it down."

"You deserve it Harry, besides we're all gone after this year and you have almost as much experience as us."

The gave him a playful salute and left the compartment. He and Ron spent the next hour or so in peace before Hermione finally came back.

"Sorry guys, just talking with the prefects."

"We were aware Hermione, it's not like we are mad at you for not sitting with us. You being a prefect just means we can't take you with us anymore during our adventures." Said Harry.

"What?!"

"Just kidding, I just hope you don't go reporting us every time we break a rule."

"Just be safe and I won't have to bust you."

Harry noticed that she and Ron were sitting a little ways apart, not a typical couple way of sitting. They still felt awkward in front of him.

"You guys don't have to hide anything. Just because I'm here doesn't mean you can't hold hands or anything."

They both laughed. "We didn't know how you would react to it."

"Just don't make out in front of me and I think you'll be fine."

"Okay." After the initial weirdness the couple began to settle into their normally private routine. Hermione and Ron soon fell asleep in each other's arms. Not wanting to disturb them Harry decided to get up and stretch his legs. Making sure that no Slytherin's were heading for the compartment he felt that he could let them sleep in peace.

He had never really walked around the train over the last few years. He mostly just stuck to the one compartment and let other people come to him. For the most part he did this because of who he was. He didn't want to seek out people just to have them stare at his forehead, but he felt that he had been at Hogwarts long enough so it would be okay.

He met up with his other roommates and caught up with them about their summer. Not much had changed for Neville, Dean, and Seamus. He warned them about his new wall hanging and told them not to worry about it. Next, he moved onto compartments of the other houses but making sure not to go into the Slytherin ones. He got to know some of the other students. He knew the Hufflepuffs from his year because of their classes but he never had classes with Ravenclaws. Griffindors never really interacted with Ravenclaws and he was sorry that they weren't. He found that the Ravenclaws were a very cheerful bunch and they reminded him of Hermione. Why hadn't she been sorted into the house full of bookworms?

About halfway down the train he bumped into Fleur. She seemed distracted and said that she couldn't talk at the moment as a fight had just broke out further down the train. Why was she ignoring him? He felt a little down and decided that instead of going down the rest of the train he would just head back to his compartment.

Harry opened the door and gave a little yelp. "Oh, I am so sorry." Ron and Hermione had seized the opportunity of the compartments vacancy and were making out.

"Harry!" Hermione yelped.

"Harry, good to see you." Harry could easily recognize the sarcasm in Ron's voice.

"Sorry guys. I'll, um, let you straighten up." Harry was acknowledging the state of both his friend's appearances.

Harry, feeling really embarrassed, decided to go up to the conductor's compartment and see how much longer they had. As short of a trip as it may have been, Harry never made it to the conductor's compartment. He was grabbed by a couple of hands and forced into the train's kitchen.

"What they hell is going on?" Harry yelled.

"Sorry, I just couldn't wait till school." It was Cho!

"Cho, what's this all about?"

"Harry, I want to talk about us. I wanted to thank you for bringing back Cedric's body. I spent some time with his parents this summer and what you did really meant a lot to them. Being with Cedric's parents got me thinking about you. I really did care about him and I'm going to miss him a lot."

"Uh, Cho? Why are you telling me this?"

"I'm telling you this because I thought it through and I want to give us a try. I realized that Cedric is gone and there is no way he's coming back. You are a remarkable person and I want to get to know you."

"You wanna go out with me?"

"Pretty much, yes."

"I don't know what to say."

"Just say that you'll meet me on Friday."

"Okay, I'll meet you on Friday."

"Great!" She hugged him and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. She then entered the prefect's compartment.

Harry completely forgot about going to see Bert. Cho wanted to go on a date with him. This had been what he had been thinking about for the last two years and he felt ecstatic. Did he feel ecstatic? Yes, of course he did. Fleur would never work out and he knew it.

At that moment the train started to slow down, they had reached Hogsmeade Station. Harry slowly entered his compartment, making sure that Ron and Hermione still had their clothes on.

"Good, you're still dressed."

"Very funny Harry, don't make me bitch-slap you."

"Hermione! I thought a prefect wouldn't use such language."

"Hey, touch the wrong button and I'm liable to go off." All three of them laughed.

When the train came to a complete stop Gabrielle, Fleur, and Mrs. Figg all returned for the baggage. Everyone quickly got off the train and entered their horse-less carriages. Gabrielle was ushered off to the boats like all the first year students. This year was different though, instead of Hagrid bringing the students over the lake it would be Charlie Weasley.

When Harry got off the carriage he expected to go up into the Great Hall with the rest of the students, but he would be missing yet another Sorting Ceremony. Once again, Minerva McGonagall brought him to a separate room and he wouldn't be seeing which house Gabrielle would be joining. He hoped that she would be in Gryffindor but he had a feeling she would become a Ravenclaw.

"Hello Mr. Potter, how was your trip?"

"Good, same as usual."

"You didn't have any problems with any of the other students?"

"No, things were the same as always. Of course, Malfoy and I usually have words with each other."

"That's what I wanted to talk about. The Headmaster tells me that you have acquired some new skills and us teachers would like to test just what you are capable of."

"What does that have to do with Malfoy?"

"Well, there is a possibility that this year could be a little difficult for you. Albus, I mean the Headmaster and myself agree that it would probably be in your best interest not to attend classes this year."

"What do you mean? I have to attend classes."

"You still have to do your coursework but that doesn't mean you can't do something else instead of class."

"I'm not following you."

"We were hoping that you would be able to do a work study of sorts. If what the Headmaster says is true then you should be able to pass out of the regular coursework and work with us teachers in our own studies."

"Work on what studies?"

"You don't honestly think that all spells and potions have been discovered do you? Of course you don't, from what Dumbledore tells me you have come up with a few of your own."

"Good point. I don't have to do it with all of my classes do I?"

"You don't have to do it with any of them if you chose so."

"I don't mind doing it but I think I would go mad if I didn't have some contact with people my age."

"I think we would be fine with that. There is one class that we insist you do a private study for, Potions."

"Me and Snape alone together, you insist on that?"

"You seem to get in the most trouble when you're around Mr. Malfoy and we feel this is for the best."

"Snape thinks it's best that it's just the two of us together? We'll kill each other."

"Actually, he is dead set against it. Dumbledore had to force him into agreeing to his terms. But, you'll have to pass his test in order to get his approval."

"Any other classes you think it would be wise to do?"

"Transfiguration, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Divination."

"I can understand the others but why divination?"

"Actually, that is just my recommendation. Why do you insist on putting yourself through Trelawney's drivel?"

"I mostly do it for Ron, he'd kill me if I ditched him in that class."

"Have you and Mr. Weasley ever considered just dropping it for something else?"

"I never gave it much thought, but I suppose I wouldn't mind leaving the class for something else."

"Well, as a favor to me could you please try and talk him out of that class. I'm sure that as a person who grew up in a wizarding family he would benefit from taking Muggle Studies."

"Yeah, Ron has no clue when it comes to the muggle world. I'll do my best. So, that just leaves me with Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures."

"Those classes really benefit from first hand experience and it should be fine if you continue those classes with the other Gryffindor's."

"Good, at least I won't be missing Charlie's class."

"Well, it's getting late and the Sorting Ceremony will be ending soon. Before you go can I just ask one favor. The Headmaster told me about your little communications devices and I was wondering if I could see them?"

Harry showed her the little Fleur that was in his pocket. It finally accepted this as a mode of transport.

"Very good Mr. Potter, a nice combination of charms, transfiguration, and potions. Okay, you can head up to the tower now."

"What about the password?"

"Oh, it's blast-ended skrewt."

"Thanks, when will I take the tests to pass out of the classes?"

"Monday, we will give you some time to prepare for our tests. Practice well and you will do fine. Have a good evening."

Harry made his way up to the Fat Lady and entered the portrait hole. He had a date to look forward to on Friday and tests on Monday. Was it always this busy for him?