Disclaimer: I stupidly didn't put this in my first chapter, so I'll add it
in now; I do not own Ron or any of the characters in this story, they
belong to the almighty J.K.Rowling *bows down in reverence of J.K.Rowling*
and I am merely borrowing them, as many thousands of fans on this site do,
for this story from which I shall receive no profit. It is a mere work of
fan fiction and I do not mean to infringe on any of the HP copyrights. This
chapter will have quite a few bits and pieces I've copied out of the book,
after all, who am I to re-write the noble works of Rowling? Please, please
leave a review, it would mean a lot to me (.
Chapter Two; The Station.
The ride to the station was boring to say the least as, despite the fact that Percy had been forbidden to talk about magic or Hogwarts, still managed to lecture me about traditional rivalries between houses, people I should watch out for, people I shouldn't hang around with (basically Fred and George, Lee Jordan and any of their friends) and if anyone was bullying me I should go to the teachers right away (if not them then him or one of the other non-Slytherin prefects, as apparently their nepotism for their own house even swayed them from their prefect duties to other houses).
The taxi driver didn't help my nerves too much either as he started going on about on his first day at secondary school when a gang of older lads stuffed his head down the toilet at lunch time.
I fiddled with the plastic bag Mum had given me (in case I was sick again). I was feeling really hungry and I was starting to wish I'd grabbed something from the kitchen, but I was feeling that nervous, I'd probably just have brought it back up again.
When we got to the station the drivers unloaded our trunks and were good enough to help us find luggage trolleys for all our trunks (though this more because mum had used her powers of persuasion rather than out of the goodness of their hearts). Mum paid them a load of muggle money and we began to walk through the station.
We got quite a few funny looks from the muggles hurrying to the different platforms, and I suppose we must have looked like a very odd procession to the muggles there; mum, a short and slightly plump woman, leading the way with Ginny walking beside her like an inferior officer, followed closely by Percy with an air of self-proclaimed importance, then Fred and George and lastly me, all four of us with trunks, and, in Percy's case an owl and all of us with flaming red hair (not the way I like to describe my hair, but everyone else seems to and I can't think of another way of describing it at the moment).
I don't really see why we'd look out of place with trunks and Hermes, but I have been told that muggles see trunks as old-fashioned and that many of them will rarely see a real live owl in their whole life and having one for a pet (though apparently, a few muggles do own owls) is considered rather outlandish.
It was very crowded, and there were a lot of people rushing and shoving to past, in front and in between us. But as we got down to our end of the station the crowds began to thin out considerably, no wonder really, there were only two platforms there. Or rather, there were three at this end of the station. It was just that the people rushing to platforms nine and ten didn't realise that there was another hidden platform.
"It's the same every year," said Mum over her shoulder, though more to herself than to any of us, "Packed with muggles of course."
As we neared the divide between the two platforms I began to see a few more students and their families.
I then saw something I thought was rather odd; a boy, not to far behind us, with black hair and glasses, he looked quite short and skinny for his age, even more so because he was wearing clothes that must have been about ten times too big for him (I felt sympathy for him, I know what it's like to get, and be forced to wear, hand me downs - though mine are usually too small). He had an owl too; a proud looking snowy.
But what struck me as odd was that he was on his own. He looked about my age too, so he was a first year.
Did his Mum and Dad not care that it was his first day of school?
Didn't they care that they wouldn't see him again for the next ten, maybe eleven months?
Had they had to go to work like my dad?
Did he have parents at all?
It crossed my mind then that he was probably feeling even worse than me. After all I had Mum and Ginny to see me off and when I got to Hogwarts I'd have Percy, Fred and George to look after me (however annoying they all were).
Though I was sure I'd never seen before, I was equally sure I recognised him from somewhere, though I couldn't think where. I considered whether I should go over and ask who he was. I decided against, he'd probably think I was weird. I'd probably see him around at Hogwarts anyway.
I was brought sharply out of my train of thought as I realised that Fred (or was it George?) had stopped in front of me and I was in danger of crashing into him.
"Now what's the platform number?" asked Mum, in a way I found rather patronizing.
"Nine and three quarters!" Ginny piped up "Mum can't I go."
"You're not old enough, Ginny, now be quiet. All right, Percy, you go first."
Percy marched towards the divide between the two platforms and disappeared through the wall. I'd seen this happen year in year out, and I'd been through as well, but seeing as this year was the year I'd be going through and not coming back through until I came home in June (or was it July?) at the start of the summer holidays. A crowd of tourists walked in between us, obscuring my view of Percy and by the time they'd cleared away he'd disappeared through the barrier and out of sight.
Mum turned to one of the twins (I didn't know which one was which, and quite frankly I was past caring) and said "Fred, you next."
The twin nearest her scowled "I'm not Fred, I'm George," he said peevishly "Honestly woman, call yourself our Mother? Can't you tell I'm George?"
"Sorry, George, dear." Said Mum apologetically.
"Only joking, I am Fred!" said Fred, grinning and then dashed at the divide.
"Hurry up, Fred," called George, but no sooner had he said then Fred had disappeared, then, walking briskly, George followed him.
"Excuse me!"
Me, Mum and Ginny turned around and the speaker, the black haired boy with the snowy owl I'd seen a few minutes ago, came up to us.
"Hullo, dear," said Mum "First time at Hogwarts? Ron's new, too." She added indicating me.
"Yes," said the boy, glancing round at me and then back at Mum "The thing is - the thing is, I don't know how to-"
"How to get on to the platform?" she asked. The boy nodded.
"Not to worry," said Mum "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 - OK" said the boy looking rather nervous.
"Good luck," Ginny added.
The boy walked briskly towards the divide, then broke into a run, then he disappeared through the divide.
"Right, go on, Ron. Quickly now, me and Ginny will follow you through." Said Mum.
I walked briskly towards the divide, angling the trolley slightly as though I meant to catch the train that had now stopped at platform ten. Then, six feet from the barrier, I straighten the trolley and broke into a run, closing my eyes for affect.
When I opened them I was standing on platform nine and three quarters. I quickly pushed my trolley forwards and away from the divide to avoid having someone crash in to the back of me as they made it through the divide.
I'd have liked to stand there for a minute to take in everything, but the platform was teeming with students and their parents, and, with only about five minutes before the train left, there was no time for me to get all starry eyed.
Mum and Ginny came swiftly through the other side of the divide. "Come on Ron," said Mum, walking slightly ahead and leading the way.
I noticed that Ginny, who had one hand on the handle bar of my luggage trolley, was being rather quiet. Far too quiet for her. "Ginny, what's wrong?"
"Nothing, really, it's nothing." Said Ginny, but I could tell there was something wrong. She was looking at the floor, trying to hide her face.
"No, there's something up, what's wrong?"
"It's just that, now you're going to school as well I'm going to be all on my own with Mum and Dad, and I won't - have - anyone - to - play - with." She wailed and then burst into tears.
I was quite alarmed. I knew she'd miss me (I was certainly going to miss her in some way) but I didn't think it was as bad as this.
"Hey," I said stopping the trolley, turning to face her and putting a hand on her shoulder "It'll only be for one year, then you'll be at Hogwarts with us too. This is only going to happen once, then in no time at all it'll be your first day and you'll find yourself being sick from nerves."
The last remark made Ginny smile, though rather weakly. Then she gave me I big hug something which caught me off guard, I was about to pull away when I remembered just how miserable she'd looked a few minutes ago and I patted her somewhat awkwardly on her head.
"Now, come on," I said pulling away "Mum'll go spare when she see she's lost us." Ginny giggled, and then we dashed forward quickly and managed to regain our place behind mum before she'd even noticed that we'd gone.
"Fred? George? Are you there?" Mum was calling in the direction of some of the carriages at the back of the train.
"Coming Mum." One of them called back, and a second later they hopped off the train from the third last compartment.
Mum looked around at me and took out her hankie. "Ron, you've got something on your nose."
I tried to move out of the way quickly but Mum managed to grab me before I could duck out of the way. It really stinks being the youngest boy in our family as whenever I try to do something (e.g. try and get away with not washing my face properly) the chances are at least one of my older brothers has done it before, so I can never get away with it.
"Mum - geroff." I said breaking free.
"Aaah, has ickle ronnie got somefink on his nosie? Said one of the twins. "Shut up," I snapped.
"Where's Percy? Asked Mum. "He's coming now."
Percy strode into sight self-importantly, already wearing his new school robes and his new prefect badge. "I can't stay long, mother," he said "I'm up front, the prefects have two compartments to themselves -"
"Oh, are you a prefect, Percy?" asked George with an air of mock surprise "you should have said something, we had no idea."
"Hang on, I think I remember him saying something about it," said Fred playing along "Once -" "Or twice -" "A minute -" "All summer -"
"Oh, shut up," snapped Percy.
"How come Percy gets new robes, anyway?" complained George.
"Because he's a prefect," said mum fondly "All right, dear, well, have a good term - send me an owl when you get there." She gave Percy a kiss, and then turned to the twins as he left.
"Now, you two - this year, you behave yourselves. If I get one more owl telling me you've - you've blown up a toilet or -"
"Blown up a toilet? We've never blown up a toilet." "Great idea though, thanks, Mum"
"It's not funny." Mum snapped, "and look after Ron."
"Don't worry, ickle Ronniekins is safe with us."
"Shut up," I snapped again, then in a low voice to Ginny added "I think I'm coming out of this station a lot worse off than you." Ginny giggled.
"Hey, Mum, guess what? Guess who we just met on the train?" said George building the atmosphere, something he's very good at. "You that black-haired boy who was near us in the station? Know who he is?"
"Who?" asked Mum curiously. "Harry Potter!"
A/N: Should be adding the third chapter on soon, I reckon this story should be about five chapters long. Thanks to all my reviewers!
Nisha (a.k.a # 1 HP fan): thanks very much. This isn't first ever fanfic, I have a LOTR story, but that's a little short on reviews ( never mind! Hope you enjoyed the second chapter and found it as imaginative as the first! (
Basketballgrrl31: Thanks, glad you like my writing so much.
Songbreeze the Omnipresent: Thank you v. much for reviewing and I'm glad you like my descriptions. So, am I an artist, or a writer? Take your time (but not too much time().
RainbowWings: Hee hee you sound like the twins! V. glad you didn't detct any OCCness, I'd have been in real big trouble then! Now that you mention that thing with the troll I find it rather funny too! I was already thinking of doing a spin-off of Hermione's first day, I don't know if I'll do one from Malfoy's POV though, I'll have to think about that one. Hope I can get a decent sized review out of you for this chapter.
Chapter Two; The Station.
The ride to the station was boring to say the least as, despite the fact that Percy had been forbidden to talk about magic or Hogwarts, still managed to lecture me about traditional rivalries between houses, people I should watch out for, people I shouldn't hang around with (basically Fred and George, Lee Jordan and any of their friends) and if anyone was bullying me I should go to the teachers right away (if not them then him or one of the other non-Slytherin prefects, as apparently their nepotism for their own house even swayed them from their prefect duties to other houses).
The taxi driver didn't help my nerves too much either as he started going on about on his first day at secondary school when a gang of older lads stuffed his head down the toilet at lunch time.
I fiddled with the plastic bag Mum had given me (in case I was sick again). I was feeling really hungry and I was starting to wish I'd grabbed something from the kitchen, but I was feeling that nervous, I'd probably just have brought it back up again.
When we got to the station the drivers unloaded our trunks and were good enough to help us find luggage trolleys for all our trunks (though this more because mum had used her powers of persuasion rather than out of the goodness of their hearts). Mum paid them a load of muggle money and we began to walk through the station.
We got quite a few funny looks from the muggles hurrying to the different platforms, and I suppose we must have looked like a very odd procession to the muggles there; mum, a short and slightly plump woman, leading the way with Ginny walking beside her like an inferior officer, followed closely by Percy with an air of self-proclaimed importance, then Fred and George and lastly me, all four of us with trunks, and, in Percy's case an owl and all of us with flaming red hair (not the way I like to describe my hair, but everyone else seems to and I can't think of another way of describing it at the moment).
I don't really see why we'd look out of place with trunks and Hermes, but I have been told that muggles see trunks as old-fashioned and that many of them will rarely see a real live owl in their whole life and having one for a pet (though apparently, a few muggles do own owls) is considered rather outlandish.
It was very crowded, and there were a lot of people rushing and shoving to past, in front and in between us. But as we got down to our end of the station the crowds began to thin out considerably, no wonder really, there were only two platforms there. Or rather, there were three at this end of the station. It was just that the people rushing to platforms nine and ten didn't realise that there was another hidden platform.
"It's the same every year," said Mum over her shoulder, though more to herself than to any of us, "Packed with muggles of course."
As we neared the divide between the two platforms I began to see a few more students and their families.
I then saw something I thought was rather odd; a boy, not to far behind us, with black hair and glasses, he looked quite short and skinny for his age, even more so because he was wearing clothes that must have been about ten times too big for him (I felt sympathy for him, I know what it's like to get, and be forced to wear, hand me downs - though mine are usually too small). He had an owl too; a proud looking snowy.
But what struck me as odd was that he was on his own. He looked about my age too, so he was a first year.
Did his Mum and Dad not care that it was his first day of school?
Didn't they care that they wouldn't see him again for the next ten, maybe eleven months?
Had they had to go to work like my dad?
Did he have parents at all?
It crossed my mind then that he was probably feeling even worse than me. After all I had Mum and Ginny to see me off and when I got to Hogwarts I'd have Percy, Fred and George to look after me (however annoying they all were).
Though I was sure I'd never seen before, I was equally sure I recognised him from somewhere, though I couldn't think where. I considered whether I should go over and ask who he was. I decided against, he'd probably think I was weird. I'd probably see him around at Hogwarts anyway.
I was brought sharply out of my train of thought as I realised that Fred (or was it George?) had stopped in front of me and I was in danger of crashing into him.
"Now what's the platform number?" asked Mum, in a way I found rather patronizing.
"Nine and three quarters!" Ginny piped up "Mum can't I go."
"You're not old enough, Ginny, now be quiet. All right, Percy, you go first."
Percy marched towards the divide between the two platforms and disappeared through the wall. I'd seen this happen year in year out, and I'd been through as well, but seeing as this year was the year I'd be going through and not coming back through until I came home in June (or was it July?) at the start of the summer holidays. A crowd of tourists walked in between us, obscuring my view of Percy and by the time they'd cleared away he'd disappeared through the barrier and out of sight.
Mum turned to one of the twins (I didn't know which one was which, and quite frankly I was past caring) and said "Fred, you next."
The twin nearest her scowled "I'm not Fred, I'm George," he said peevishly "Honestly woman, call yourself our Mother? Can't you tell I'm George?"
"Sorry, George, dear." Said Mum apologetically.
"Only joking, I am Fred!" said Fred, grinning and then dashed at the divide.
"Hurry up, Fred," called George, but no sooner had he said then Fred had disappeared, then, walking briskly, George followed him.
"Excuse me!"
Me, Mum and Ginny turned around and the speaker, the black haired boy with the snowy owl I'd seen a few minutes ago, came up to us.
"Hullo, dear," said Mum "First time at Hogwarts? Ron's new, too." She added indicating me.
"Yes," said the boy, glancing round at me and then back at Mum "The thing is - the thing is, I don't know how to-"
"How to get on to the platform?" she asked. The boy nodded.
"Not to worry," said Mum "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 - OK" said the boy looking rather nervous.
"Good luck," Ginny added.
The boy walked briskly towards the divide, then broke into a run, then he disappeared through the divide.
"Right, go on, Ron. Quickly now, me and Ginny will follow you through." Said Mum.
I walked briskly towards the divide, angling the trolley slightly as though I meant to catch the train that had now stopped at platform ten. Then, six feet from the barrier, I straighten the trolley and broke into a run, closing my eyes for affect.
When I opened them I was standing on platform nine and three quarters. I quickly pushed my trolley forwards and away from the divide to avoid having someone crash in to the back of me as they made it through the divide.
I'd have liked to stand there for a minute to take in everything, but the platform was teeming with students and their parents, and, with only about five minutes before the train left, there was no time for me to get all starry eyed.
Mum and Ginny came swiftly through the other side of the divide. "Come on Ron," said Mum, walking slightly ahead and leading the way.
I noticed that Ginny, who had one hand on the handle bar of my luggage trolley, was being rather quiet. Far too quiet for her. "Ginny, what's wrong?"
"Nothing, really, it's nothing." Said Ginny, but I could tell there was something wrong. She was looking at the floor, trying to hide her face.
"No, there's something up, what's wrong?"
"It's just that, now you're going to school as well I'm going to be all on my own with Mum and Dad, and I won't - have - anyone - to - play - with." She wailed and then burst into tears.
I was quite alarmed. I knew she'd miss me (I was certainly going to miss her in some way) but I didn't think it was as bad as this.
"Hey," I said stopping the trolley, turning to face her and putting a hand on her shoulder "It'll only be for one year, then you'll be at Hogwarts with us too. This is only going to happen once, then in no time at all it'll be your first day and you'll find yourself being sick from nerves."
The last remark made Ginny smile, though rather weakly. Then she gave me I big hug something which caught me off guard, I was about to pull away when I remembered just how miserable she'd looked a few minutes ago and I patted her somewhat awkwardly on her head.
"Now, come on," I said pulling away "Mum'll go spare when she see she's lost us." Ginny giggled, and then we dashed forward quickly and managed to regain our place behind mum before she'd even noticed that we'd gone.
"Fred? George? Are you there?" Mum was calling in the direction of some of the carriages at the back of the train.
"Coming Mum." One of them called back, and a second later they hopped off the train from the third last compartment.
Mum looked around at me and took out her hankie. "Ron, you've got something on your nose."
I tried to move out of the way quickly but Mum managed to grab me before I could duck out of the way. It really stinks being the youngest boy in our family as whenever I try to do something (e.g. try and get away with not washing my face properly) the chances are at least one of my older brothers has done it before, so I can never get away with it.
"Mum - geroff." I said breaking free.
"Aaah, has ickle ronnie got somefink on his nosie? Said one of the twins. "Shut up," I snapped.
"Where's Percy? Asked Mum. "He's coming now."
Percy strode into sight self-importantly, already wearing his new school robes and his new prefect badge. "I can't stay long, mother," he said "I'm up front, the prefects have two compartments to themselves -"
"Oh, are you a prefect, Percy?" asked George with an air of mock surprise "you should have said something, we had no idea."
"Hang on, I think I remember him saying something about it," said Fred playing along "Once -" "Or twice -" "A minute -" "All summer -"
"Oh, shut up," snapped Percy.
"How come Percy gets new robes, anyway?" complained George.
"Because he's a prefect," said mum fondly "All right, dear, well, have a good term - send me an owl when you get there." She gave Percy a kiss, and then turned to the twins as he left.
"Now, you two - this year, you behave yourselves. If I get one more owl telling me you've - you've blown up a toilet or -"
"Blown up a toilet? We've never blown up a toilet." "Great idea though, thanks, Mum"
"It's not funny." Mum snapped, "and look after Ron."
"Don't worry, ickle Ronniekins is safe with us."
"Shut up," I snapped again, then in a low voice to Ginny added "I think I'm coming out of this station a lot worse off than you." Ginny giggled.
"Hey, Mum, guess what? Guess who we just met on the train?" said George building the atmosphere, something he's very good at. "You that black-haired boy who was near us in the station? Know who he is?"
"Who?" asked Mum curiously. "Harry Potter!"
A/N: Should be adding the third chapter on soon, I reckon this story should be about five chapters long. Thanks to all my reviewers!
Nisha (a.k.a # 1 HP fan): thanks very much. This isn't first ever fanfic, I have a LOTR story, but that's a little short on reviews ( never mind! Hope you enjoyed the second chapter and found it as imaginative as the first! (
Basketballgrrl31: Thanks, glad you like my writing so much.
Songbreeze the Omnipresent: Thank you v. much for reviewing and I'm glad you like my descriptions. So, am I an artist, or a writer? Take your time (but not too much time().
RainbowWings: Hee hee you sound like the twins! V. glad you didn't detct any OCCness, I'd have been in real big trouble then! Now that you mention that thing with the troll I find it rather funny too! I was already thinking of doing a spin-off of Hermione's first day, I don't know if I'll do one from Malfoy's POV though, I'll have to think about that one. Hope I can get a decent sized review out of you for this chapter.