Harry Potter and the Hogwarts
Express
Harry Potter sat up in bed and yawned. It was September the first, and Harry was starting his fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Not only did he attend an unusual school, but 13 years ago he had been left on the doorstep of his bullying Aunt and Uncle Dursley, because his parents had been murdered by the evil Lord Voldemort. Voldemort had tried to kill Harry too, but, somehow, could not. And, for a reaon nobody knew, the moment he had failed to murder Harry, the Dark Lord's powers had broken. Weak and barely alive, Voldemort had fled. But Harry had met him twice since at Hogwarts, where he and the lightening scar Harry had been left with as a result of Voldemort's attack, were famous.
Suddenly Harry heard his Aunt Petunia screech through his bedroom door:
"Get up! Now! And cook the bacon!"
"All right, all right," mumbled Harry, getting out of bed, "I'm getting up."
As Harry was frying the bacon, his Uncle Vernon and enormous cousin Dudley came in. Uncle Vernon suddenly noticed Harry.
"You boy, the trip to London's been cancelled. You can't go to that freak place you call school."
The Dursleys were what wizards called Muggles (non-magic people), and as far as they were concerned, having a wizard in the family was a matter of the deepest shame and horror.
Harry, however, smiled to himself. He knew a much better way of getting to King's Cross Station, where he caught the Hogwarts Express, than Uncle Vernon's company car.
After a hurried breakfast, (the Express left at 11 o'clock), Harry heaved his trunk, spellbooks and Firebolt racing broom to the front door, not bothering to tell Uncle Vernon where he was going. He'd send him an owl later. He walked a few streets and stuck out his right hand. Suddenly a huge, violent purple triple-decker bus covered with gold stars fell out of the sky with a noise like thunder- the Knight Bus.
"Allo 'Arry!" shouted Stan Shunpike, the conductor, jumping down on to the pavement and helping Harry tug his heavy trunk aboard.
Harry grinned. He had used the Knight Bus before, and he knew that this was no ordinary bus. There were no seats, but there were beds.
"Eleven sickles please," said Ernie Prang the driver.
Stan pulled out his wand, waved it, and the beds turned into deep red padded sofas. Harry felt his jaw drop. Stan grinned.
"Catchin' flies, 'Arry?" he joked, slamming the doors shut. Harry closed his mouth and sank down into the richly padded sofas. He knew what was going to happen next.
"Take 'er away, Ern!" yelled Stan, and the bus took off with a huge bang.
Because Ernie never used a steering wheel, the bus kept mounting the pavement, but everything simply jumped out of the way and back into position once the Knight Bus had passed. Every time it moved abruptly from one place to another everything inside, including passengers, suffered a big jolt, resulting in Stan spilling his flask of hot tea, which was closely followed by a yell from Harry as his books fell on top of him.
Two hours later, after a madcap journey, the Knight Bus finally pulled to a holt outside King's Cross Station, and, as Harry got out, he could see Ron Weasley, one of his two best friends from Hogwarts, arriving at the station with two of his five brothers, Fred and George, and their little sister Ginny, together with their parents.
"Oy! Harry!" yelled Ron, seeing him."Hermione's just gone into the station!"
Hermione was Harry and Ron's other best friend from Hogwarts.
"Hi,Harry" Fred and George, the identical twins said, together. "Have a good holiday?"
"Not really," answered Harry. "But I played a great trick on the Dursleys!"
And, laughing and chatting, the friends grabbed a trolley, loaded their things and walked into the station, followed by tall, balding Mr. Weasley and his short plump wife.
"Don't forget, the platform number's nine and three-quarters!" piped up Ginny, who was in her third year at Hogwarts.
"We know!" chorused everyone else. "Don't nag, Ginny!"
With everything loaded onto their trolleys they walked on - straight through the barrier between platforms nine and ten!
As they arrived on the platform Harry could see the huge, purple Hogwarts Express in front of them and, as always, he began to get excited, but wait- who was that shadowy figure in front of the guard?
With a thrill of excitement, Harry made to run after whoever it was, but a shrill cry from behind him made him turn.
"Harry, over here, quickly!" it was Hermione. "The Express's about to go!"
Harry raced after her, quickly heaved his trunk into their compartment and then jumped in himself.
"What on earth were you doing?" asked Ron. "You look like you've seen a ghost."
Harry explained what he'd seen- or thought he had. Ron looked suitably shocked, but Hermione didn't think he'd seen anything special.
"Oh, that's just our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher", she explained airily. "He's a ghost, you know, like Binns." Professor Binns was the History of Magic teacher at Hogwarts.
"Well, I hope he's not as boring," said Ron.
Harry didn't answer. He had a strange feeling that Professor Whoever-He-Was was definitely not going to be as boring as Professor Binns.
In the next installment- Who is the
mystery teacher?
Express
Harry Potter sat up in bed and yawned. It was September the first, and Harry was starting his fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Not only did he attend an unusual school, but 13 years ago he had been left on the doorstep of his bullying Aunt and Uncle Dursley, because his parents had been murdered by the evil Lord Voldemort. Voldemort had tried to kill Harry too, but, somehow, could not. And, for a reaon nobody knew, the moment he had failed to murder Harry, the Dark Lord's powers had broken. Weak and barely alive, Voldemort had fled. But Harry had met him twice since at Hogwarts, where he and the lightening scar Harry had been left with as a result of Voldemort's attack, were famous.
Suddenly Harry heard his Aunt Petunia screech through his bedroom door:
"Get up! Now! And cook the bacon!"
"All right, all right," mumbled Harry, getting out of bed, "I'm getting up."
As Harry was frying the bacon, his Uncle Vernon and enormous cousin Dudley came in. Uncle Vernon suddenly noticed Harry.
"You boy, the trip to London's been cancelled. You can't go to that freak place you call school."
The Dursleys were what wizards called Muggles (non-magic people), and as far as they were concerned, having a wizard in the family was a matter of the deepest shame and horror.
Harry, however, smiled to himself. He knew a much better way of getting to King's Cross Station, where he caught the Hogwarts Express, than Uncle Vernon's company car.
After a hurried breakfast, (the Express left at 11 o'clock), Harry heaved his trunk, spellbooks and Firebolt racing broom to the front door, not bothering to tell Uncle Vernon where he was going. He'd send him an owl later. He walked a few streets and stuck out his right hand. Suddenly a huge, violent purple triple-decker bus covered with gold stars fell out of the sky with a noise like thunder- the Knight Bus.
"Allo 'Arry!" shouted Stan Shunpike, the conductor, jumping down on to the pavement and helping Harry tug his heavy trunk aboard.
Harry grinned. He had used the Knight Bus before, and he knew that this was no ordinary bus. There were no seats, but there were beds.
"Eleven sickles please," said Ernie Prang the driver.
Stan pulled out his wand, waved it, and the beds turned into deep red padded sofas. Harry felt his jaw drop. Stan grinned.
"Catchin' flies, 'Arry?" he joked, slamming the doors shut. Harry closed his mouth and sank down into the richly padded sofas. He knew what was going to happen next.
"Take 'er away, Ern!" yelled Stan, and the bus took off with a huge bang.
Because Ernie never used a steering wheel, the bus kept mounting the pavement, but everything simply jumped out of the way and back into position once the Knight Bus had passed. Every time it moved abruptly from one place to another everything inside, including passengers, suffered a big jolt, resulting in Stan spilling his flask of hot tea, which was closely followed by a yell from Harry as his books fell on top of him.
Two hours later, after a madcap journey, the Knight Bus finally pulled to a holt outside King's Cross Station, and, as Harry got out, he could see Ron Weasley, one of his two best friends from Hogwarts, arriving at the station with two of his five brothers, Fred and George, and their little sister Ginny, together with their parents.
"Oy! Harry!" yelled Ron, seeing him."Hermione's just gone into the station!"
Hermione was Harry and Ron's other best friend from Hogwarts.
"Hi,Harry" Fred and George, the identical twins said, together. "Have a good holiday?"
"Not really," answered Harry. "But I played a great trick on the Dursleys!"
And, laughing and chatting, the friends grabbed a trolley, loaded their things and walked into the station, followed by tall, balding Mr. Weasley and his short plump wife.
"Don't forget, the platform number's nine and three-quarters!" piped up Ginny, who was in her third year at Hogwarts.
"We know!" chorused everyone else. "Don't nag, Ginny!"
With everything loaded onto their trolleys they walked on - straight through the barrier between platforms nine and ten!
As they arrived on the platform Harry could see the huge, purple Hogwarts Express in front of them and, as always, he began to get excited, but wait- who was that shadowy figure in front of the guard?
With a thrill of excitement, Harry made to run after whoever it was, but a shrill cry from behind him made him turn.
"Harry, over here, quickly!" it was Hermione. "The Express's about to go!"
Harry raced after her, quickly heaved his trunk into their compartment and then jumped in himself.
"What on earth were you doing?" asked Ron. "You look like you've seen a ghost."
Harry explained what he'd seen- or thought he had. Ron looked suitably shocked, but Hermione didn't think he'd seen anything special.
"Oh, that's just our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher", she explained airily. "He's a ghost, you know, like Binns." Professor Binns was the History of Magic teacher at Hogwarts.
"Well, I hope he's not as boring," said Ron.
Harry didn't answer. He had a strange feeling that Professor Whoever-He-Was was definitely not going to be as boring as Professor Binns.
In the next installment- Who is the
mystery teacher?