A/N: Yeah! Onto Chapter 3!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize except Ebony-Crested Dragon snakes.
Chapter 3: A Train Ride of Laughter
-----------------------------------------------------
The day of August 31 came all too quickly after the visit to Diagon Alley, and Harry was up at the crack of dawn packing all his new things in his trunk, his young familiar keeping him company, its spikes perked up in curiousity watching its young master running around his room.
"Will you be leaving me here while you go to school, Harry?"
Harry looked over at his small friend, saying, "Of course not, little Amelia, I would never do that."
Amelia just nodded her head, telling him to wake her up when they left. Harry just shook his head, chuckling, as he placed all his new books on top of his neat stacks of clothes. He was done! He was packed! He was going to Hogwarts! He could hardly contain himself as he ran downstairs for breakfast. Tom was now sitting at the large table, being served by one of the numerous house elfs in the chateau. An elf came over to Harry, asking, "Would young master like any breakfast this morning? After all, young master is leaving for school, he is! He is needing a good breakfast!" And before Harry could get a response in, the elf had disappeared into the kitchens.
Tom looked over his paper at his excited charge. He remembered being like this long ago in the orphanage, eagerly awaiting for the car that would take him to King's Cross. He pulled out his wand and took off the Gamour Charm, revealing black hair where there had been white, green eyes where there had been red. An eleven year old Harry Potter sat in front of him, looking slightly confused.
Tom sighed and laid down his wand. "Harry, we can no longer hide you behind a Glamour Charm and a false name for school. From now on, you shall be just Harry Potter. When you go to school, you shall be just Harry Potter, no matter whether your friends call you Erebus or not. Do you understand?"
Harry slightly looked down at the plate of food that just arrived and grinned a little.
"That's all I ever want to be." And with that they ate breakfast in companiable silence.
-------------------------------------------------
King's Cross station was especially crowded this morning as the two figures tried to reach the barrier between Platforms 9 and 10. There were twenty minutes left before Harry had to be on the train, but both wanted to get there early so Harry could get a compartment with Draco. They arrived at the same moment as a bunch of redheads did, and Harry realized these were the same ones from Diagon Alley he had almost run into outside of the robe shop.
"Come on, let's join their party,"said Tom from under the hood that hid his red eyes, dark hair slipping around his shoulders. "Oh, and try to cover up the clasp of your cloak; these people are still Light supporters. Hurry along, now!"
The person Harry assumed to be the mother were lining up all her boys in a single file with their trolleys, and Harry watched in amazement as the oldest boy, a prefect from the look of his badge, ran right into the barrier and disappeared. He was shortly followed by a set of twins, only leaving the mother, a young girl, and a boy that looked to be about his age, tall and lanky with the family's red hair.
Tom walked over to the lady and seemed to be politely talking to her about something, leaving Harry with the tall redhead.
"Hello, my name's Ron Weasley. What's yours?" asked the boy named Ron.
Harry grinned widely and said, "My name's Harry. Nice to meet you. Were those all your brothers?"
Ron seemed to groan slightly, "Yep. The older one's Percy, and the twins are Fred and George. Watch out for those two; they're quite a duo of pranksters."
"Thanks for warning me!"
Right about then, Tom and the mother came over. The lady seemed to be looking at Harry fondly; Harry nervously covered the clasps of the cloak Severus had given him.
"Well, dear, it looks like you're going to join our party for a bit. My name's Mrs.Weasley."
Tom ruffled Harry's hair and said, "This is where I have to leave you, Harry. You know about that issue I have with too many people being in one area; my nerves are already shot from getting this far." Harry saw Tom give him a little wink. "Mrs. Weasley here will be kind enough to make sure you get through the barrier and onto the train, alright?"
Harry smiled and nodded his head. "See you later, then!"
Harry snickered as Tom swept up Mrs.Weasley's hand, kissed it on the knuckles, and thanked her before disappearing into the crowd. Mrs.Weasley looked quite flustered as she supervised the boys going through to the hidden wizarding platform.
The crowd was even worse on this tiny platform, parents waving goodbye to their children, animals of all sorts running underfoot, and the large scarlet steam engine puffing. However, it wasn't hard to spot his friend's white-blonde hair through the crowd.
"I spotted one of my friends; his dad will make sure I get on the train. Thanks for escorting me Mrs. Weasley!" He began to run off when Mrs. Weasley called him back, smiling gently, "Dear, I never got your full name."
Harry's face burst into a wicked grin; she'd be the first. "It's Harry Potter. Bye Mrs. Weasley!" He never saw her shocked face, instead running up to Draco with his trolley, his friend greeting him. His father was smiling with what looked like pride in seeing his son off to school. Lucius enchanted their trunks to be feather light, and thanking him and saying goodbye, they picked up the trunks and found a free compartment.
Harry saw Mrs.Weasley speaking frantically with some of the other parents on the platform through the window, and their faces of shock through the compartment window. The train pulled off, whistle shrieking and white clouds of steam and smoke billowing out as the clock rang in eleven. They were moving! They were going to Hogwarts! It would be the longest time he had ever spent away from Tom.
"Hey Harry," said Draco, after the train had been moving for about ten minutes, "Why are you not under Glamour?"
"It's time to finally reveal myself to the world. No more white haired, red eyed Erebus. Just call me Harry."
The train was full to bursting with students, and the two boys found it quite lucky their compartment had been left to them. After Harry and Draco bought several pasties and Chocolate Frogs from the nice lady with the cart, they sat down and discussed what they thought school was going to be like and describing things they had heard. (Both doubted that it was guarded by dragons and trolls ran loose in the grounds.) Amelia was roused by their boisterous voices and stuck her head out, silver tongue flicking to test the new surroundings.
"Are we at school yet?"
"No. We're on the train to school. We should be there in a couple of hours."
She slithered out onto Harry's lap and curled up into a ball on the cloak he still wore. A few minutes later, a girl came in with bushy brown hair and rather large front teeth. She seemed flustered about something.
"Sorry to bother you, but have you seen a toad anywhere? A boy named Neville has lost his."
Harry just smiled and replied, "Sorry, we haven't seen any toads around here."
She sighed and smiled, "I'm sorry. I forgot to introduce myself. Hermione Granger, a pleasure to meet you..."
"Oh, this is Draco Malfoy, and I'm Harry Potter." He watched in amusement as she turned pale.
"But you can't be Harry Potter! I got extra books for background research, and they said you and your family were killed in the Tragedy of Godric's Hollow!"
Draco laughed as Harry cut in, "That's where you are wrong, Miss Granger. They said my body was never found. Someone took me out of that house before it collapsed, let me assure you."
"But, but," she said, grasping at straws. "But they said You-Know-Who killed your parents and came after you!"
Harry laughed again. "He did indeed, and I still have the scar from where he hit me with Avada Kedavra." He lifted his fringe to reveal a faded lightning scar. "But as you can plainly see, I'm right here." Hermione just stared at him, and backed out of the compartment, saying something about looking for Neville's toad elsewhere. After she left, Draco and Harry burst out laughing again.
"You know, Draco, I'm really going to enjoy telling people if I always get reactions like this!"
--------------------------------------------
The train finally pulled into Hogsmeade station that evening, and the two friends barely managed to get off the crowded trains with their trunks. (Amelia had wrapped herself around Harry's wrist so as to be able to see everything.) They left their trunks on the platform and made their way to a booming voice coming from over their heads, "Firs'-years! Firs'-years over here!"
They stepped into the light of a lantern and saw a humongous man towering over them. His hair was wild and he had a rough beard, but Harry could see the warmness shining in this giant's eyes.
"Hello! My name's Harry, nice to meet you!" he said to the man who looked down. Indeed, the man was a warm person and held out his hand to shake Harry's whole arm.
"Nice ter meet ya! Rubeus Hagrid, keeper o' keys and grounds here at Hogwarts! Jus' call me Hagrid!" He turned away and looked at all the little first years, all slightly shivering despite wearing cloaks. Harry adjusted his own slightly to block an imagined draft, and Draco nervously straightened his robes next to him. Hagrid motioned for them to follow them down a steep path of dirt and at the end they reached a massive lake, and off in the distance...
"It's Hogwarts!" whispered Draco, for once in his life awestruck, and Harry couldn't blame him as he pulled him into one of several tiny boats. They were followed into theirs by Blaise Zabini, a rather pretty girl with silver-streaked ebony hair and violet eyes. And with a little lurch, the boats headed out onto the still lake as one, eventually being thrown into Hogwart's shadow and pulling into a small dock connecting to the school. Everyone climbed out and followed Hagrid up to a pair of large doors after handing a toad to a round-faced boy Harry assumed to be Neville. He then knocked on the door as they all watched in apprehension at what was to come.
A tall lady in flowing, embroidered robes of velvet appeared through the doors, surveying the students with a keen eye. Draco and Harry both got the feeling not to mess with that witch. She began to speak.
"Welcome to Hogwarts, first years. I am Professor McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress and head of Gryffindor house. There are four houses...."
But Harry wasn't listening anymore; Tom had already told him all about houses and points and the House Cup. Instead, he straightened himself out and stroked Amelia's head absentmindedly, getting a contented hiss in response.
"Now, if you will just follow me, please, and we will sort you into your appropriate houses."
"Harry, let's get near the back," whispered Draco and falling back, they followed the rest of their fellow years into an enormous entrance hall and straight into what had to be the Great Hall with the enchanted ceiling shining brightly with the full moon out and stars glittering. Yes, Harry had managed to read bits of Hogwarts, A HIstory without falling asleep.
They came to a halt in front of the rest of the school, their backs to the staff table as Professor McGonagall placed a ratty old hat on a stool in front of them..
------------------------------------
'Where is Erebus?' thought Severus, searching the backs of the new students, 'Did he miss the train? And who's the black haired kid in that cloak standing next to Draco?'
------------------------------------
A/N: Yes, I'm mean, and I'm going to make you wait until next chapter for the Sorting. Bwahahahahahahaha! *coughs* Shouldn't do that when I'm sick... Anyway, check back for updates and don't forget to review!
(November 18, 2003)
Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize except Ebony-Crested Dragon snakes.
Chapter 3: A Train Ride of Laughter
-----------------------------------------------------
The day of August 31 came all too quickly after the visit to Diagon Alley, and Harry was up at the crack of dawn packing all his new things in his trunk, his young familiar keeping him company, its spikes perked up in curiousity watching its young master running around his room.
"Will you be leaving me here while you go to school, Harry?"
Harry looked over at his small friend, saying, "Of course not, little Amelia, I would never do that."
Amelia just nodded her head, telling him to wake her up when they left. Harry just shook his head, chuckling, as he placed all his new books on top of his neat stacks of clothes. He was done! He was packed! He was going to Hogwarts! He could hardly contain himself as he ran downstairs for breakfast. Tom was now sitting at the large table, being served by one of the numerous house elfs in the chateau. An elf came over to Harry, asking, "Would young master like any breakfast this morning? After all, young master is leaving for school, he is! He is needing a good breakfast!" And before Harry could get a response in, the elf had disappeared into the kitchens.
Tom looked over his paper at his excited charge. He remembered being like this long ago in the orphanage, eagerly awaiting for the car that would take him to King's Cross. He pulled out his wand and took off the Gamour Charm, revealing black hair where there had been white, green eyes where there had been red. An eleven year old Harry Potter sat in front of him, looking slightly confused.
Tom sighed and laid down his wand. "Harry, we can no longer hide you behind a Glamour Charm and a false name for school. From now on, you shall be just Harry Potter. When you go to school, you shall be just Harry Potter, no matter whether your friends call you Erebus or not. Do you understand?"
Harry slightly looked down at the plate of food that just arrived and grinned a little.
"That's all I ever want to be." And with that they ate breakfast in companiable silence.
-------------------------------------------------
King's Cross station was especially crowded this morning as the two figures tried to reach the barrier between Platforms 9 and 10. There were twenty minutes left before Harry had to be on the train, but both wanted to get there early so Harry could get a compartment with Draco. They arrived at the same moment as a bunch of redheads did, and Harry realized these were the same ones from Diagon Alley he had almost run into outside of the robe shop.
"Come on, let's join their party,"said Tom from under the hood that hid his red eyes, dark hair slipping around his shoulders. "Oh, and try to cover up the clasp of your cloak; these people are still Light supporters. Hurry along, now!"
The person Harry assumed to be the mother were lining up all her boys in a single file with their trolleys, and Harry watched in amazement as the oldest boy, a prefect from the look of his badge, ran right into the barrier and disappeared. He was shortly followed by a set of twins, only leaving the mother, a young girl, and a boy that looked to be about his age, tall and lanky with the family's red hair.
Tom walked over to the lady and seemed to be politely talking to her about something, leaving Harry with the tall redhead.
"Hello, my name's Ron Weasley. What's yours?" asked the boy named Ron.
Harry grinned widely and said, "My name's Harry. Nice to meet you. Were those all your brothers?"
Ron seemed to groan slightly, "Yep. The older one's Percy, and the twins are Fred and George. Watch out for those two; they're quite a duo of pranksters."
"Thanks for warning me!"
Right about then, Tom and the mother came over. The lady seemed to be looking at Harry fondly; Harry nervously covered the clasps of the cloak Severus had given him.
"Well, dear, it looks like you're going to join our party for a bit. My name's Mrs.Weasley."
Tom ruffled Harry's hair and said, "This is where I have to leave you, Harry. You know about that issue I have with too many people being in one area; my nerves are already shot from getting this far." Harry saw Tom give him a little wink. "Mrs. Weasley here will be kind enough to make sure you get through the barrier and onto the train, alright?"
Harry smiled and nodded his head. "See you later, then!"
Harry snickered as Tom swept up Mrs.Weasley's hand, kissed it on the knuckles, and thanked her before disappearing into the crowd. Mrs.Weasley looked quite flustered as she supervised the boys going through to the hidden wizarding platform.
The crowd was even worse on this tiny platform, parents waving goodbye to their children, animals of all sorts running underfoot, and the large scarlet steam engine puffing. However, it wasn't hard to spot his friend's white-blonde hair through the crowd.
"I spotted one of my friends; his dad will make sure I get on the train. Thanks for escorting me Mrs. Weasley!" He began to run off when Mrs. Weasley called him back, smiling gently, "Dear, I never got your full name."
Harry's face burst into a wicked grin; she'd be the first. "It's Harry Potter. Bye Mrs. Weasley!" He never saw her shocked face, instead running up to Draco with his trolley, his friend greeting him. His father was smiling with what looked like pride in seeing his son off to school. Lucius enchanted their trunks to be feather light, and thanking him and saying goodbye, they picked up the trunks and found a free compartment.
Harry saw Mrs.Weasley speaking frantically with some of the other parents on the platform through the window, and their faces of shock through the compartment window. The train pulled off, whistle shrieking and white clouds of steam and smoke billowing out as the clock rang in eleven. They were moving! They were going to Hogwarts! It would be the longest time he had ever spent away from Tom.
"Hey Harry," said Draco, after the train had been moving for about ten minutes, "Why are you not under Glamour?"
"It's time to finally reveal myself to the world. No more white haired, red eyed Erebus. Just call me Harry."
The train was full to bursting with students, and the two boys found it quite lucky their compartment had been left to them. After Harry and Draco bought several pasties and Chocolate Frogs from the nice lady with the cart, they sat down and discussed what they thought school was going to be like and describing things they had heard. (Both doubted that it was guarded by dragons and trolls ran loose in the grounds.) Amelia was roused by their boisterous voices and stuck her head out, silver tongue flicking to test the new surroundings.
"Are we at school yet?"
"No. We're on the train to school. We should be there in a couple of hours."
She slithered out onto Harry's lap and curled up into a ball on the cloak he still wore. A few minutes later, a girl came in with bushy brown hair and rather large front teeth. She seemed flustered about something.
"Sorry to bother you, but have you seen a toad anywhere? A boy named Neville has lost his."
Harry just smiled and replied, "Sorry, we haven't seen any toads around here."
She sighed and smiled, "I'm sorry. I forgot to introduce myself. Hermione Granger, a pleasure to meet you..."
"Oh, this is Draco Malfoy, and I'm Harry Potter." He watched in amusement as she turned pale.
"But you can't be Harry Potter! I got extra books for background research, and they said you and your family were killed in the Tragedy of Godric's Hollow!"
Draco laughed as Harry cut in, "That's where you are wrong, Miss Granger. They said my body was never found. Someone took me out of that house before it collapsed, let me assure you."
"But, but," she said, grasping at straws. "But they said You-Know-Who killed your parents and came after you!"
Harry laughed again. "He did indeed, and I still have the scar from where he hit me with Avada Kedavra." He lifted his fringe to reveal a faded lightning scar. "But as you can plainly see, I'm right here." Hermione just stared at him, and backed out of the compartment, saying something about looking for Neville's toad elsewhere. After she left, Draco and Harry burst out laughing again.
"You know, Draco, I'm really going to enjoy telling people if I always get reactions like this!"
--------------------------------------------
The train finally pulled into Hogsmeade station that evening, and the two friends barely managed to get off the crowded trains with their trunks. (Amelia had wrapped herself around Harry's wrist so as to be able to see everything.) They left their trunks on the platform and made their way to a booming voice coming from over their heads, "Firs'-years! Firs'-years over here!"
They stepped into the light of a lantern and saw a humongous man towering over them. His hair was wild and he had a rough beard, but Harry could see the warmness shining in this giant's eyes.
"Hello! My name's Harry, nice to meet you!" he said to the man who looked down. Indeed, the man was a warm person and held out his hand to shake Harry's whole arm.
"Nice ter meet ya! Rubeus Hagrid, keeper o' keys and grounds here at Hogwarts! Jus' call me Hagrid!" He turned away and looked at all the little first years, all slightly shivering despite wearing cloaks. Harry adjusted his own slightly to block an imagined draft, and Draco nervously straightened his robes next to him. Hagrid motioned for them to follow them down a steep path of dirt and at the end they reached a massive lake, and off in the distance...
"It's Hogwarts!" whispered Draco, for once in his life awestruck, and Harry couldn't blame him as he pulled him into one of several tiny boats. They were followed into theirs by Blaise Zabini, a rather pretty girl with silver-streaked ebony hair and violet eyes. And with a little lurch, the boats headed out onto the still lake as one, eventually being thrown into Hogwart's shadow and pulling into a small dock connecting to the school. Everyone climbed out and followed Hagrid up to a pair of large doors after handing a toad to a round-faced boy Harry assumed to be Neville. He then knocked on the door as they all watched in apprehension at what was to come.
A tall lady in flowing, embroidered robes of velvet appeared through the doors, surveying the students with a keen eye. Draco and Harry both got the feeling not to mess with that witch. She began to speak.
"Welcome to Hogwarts, first years. I am Professor McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress and head of Gryffindor house. There are four houses...."
But Harry wasn't listening anymore; Tom had already told him all about houses and points and the House Cup. Instead, he straightened himself out and stroked Amelia's head absentmindedly, getting a contented hiss in response.
"Now, if you will just follow me, please, and we will sort you into your appropriate houses."
"Harry, let's get near the back," whispered Draco and falling back, they followed the rest of their fellow years into an enormous entrance hall and straight into what had to be the Great Hall with the enchanted ceiling shining brightly with the full moon out and stars glittering. Yes, Harry had managed to read bits of Hogwarts, A HIstory without falling asleep.
They came to a halt in front of the rest of the school, their backs to the staff table as Professor McGonagall placed a ratty old hat on a stool in front of them..
------------------------------------
'Where is Erebus?' thought Severus, searching the backs of the new students, 'Did he miss the train? And who's the black haired kid in that cloak standing next to Draco?'
------------------------------------
A/N: Yes, I'm mean, and I'm going to make you wait until next chapter for the Sorting. Bwahahahahahahaha! *coughs* Shouldn't do that when I'm sick... Anyway, check back for updates and don't forget to review!
(November 18, 2003)