Chapter Two: King's Cross

James was very quiet during the ride to King's Cross, despite mother's attempts at conversation. He was still thinking about the invisibility cloak. James figured it would come in handy, very handy indeed. James was so wrapped up in daydreams about what he could do with the cloak that he jumped when his mother tapped his shoulder.

"We're here," she announced. James shook his head to clear his thoughts.

"Already? But we just left!" he exclaimed. His mother grinned.

"Time flies when you're deep in thought," she teased. "What were you thinking about, Jamesie?" she asked, trying to sound as if she didn't really care, but not quite succeeding.

"Oh, I was thinking about the cl-" James broke off, remembering that his mother wasn't to know about the invisibility cloak. "Er, the classes and stuff at Hogwarts," he said quickly. "I hope they're not too difficult," he added, in what he hoped was an anxious voice. His mother smiled and gently patted his back.

"Nonsense dear, you'll do fine. You've always been exceptionally bright." James flushed, unused to such praise. He knew his parents were proud of him, but they showed it with a smile or a pat upon the back, rarely with words.

"So," his mother continued, "shall we get out? You'll need time to load your things on to the train. We've got..." she checked her watch. "Goodness, only twenty minutes. Hurry up, James dear!" James jumped out of the car and circled around to the back door. He opened it and grabbed his things. He dragged his stuff over to his mother and looked up at her.

"All right, let's make sure you've got everything. Trunk?" she asked.

"Yep."

"Books?"

"In my trunk."

"Wand?"

"Right here," he said, patting his coat.

"Merlin?"

"Uh... no," James said, smacking himself in the forehead. "He's in the backseat! I'll go get him," he told his mom.

"Be quick about it, James! We've only for fifteen minutes!"

James ran to the car and opened the backseat. A cage was there and in it was a handsome chestnut colored owl.

"Hey, Merlin. Can't believe I almost forgot you," James said with a laugh. He snatched up the cage and hurried back to his mother.

"Merlin, check!" he told her with a cheeky grin. She playfully ruffled his hair, making it even messier than it had been before.

"All right then, Mr. Smarty-Pants, I believe we're all set. I've loaded your trunk and things onto a trolley." James nodded, but all of a sudden he was beginning to feel nervous.

"Now," his mother continued. "All you have to do is run right through that wall over there," and she pointed to the brick wall between platforms nine and ten. James stared at her taken aback. Run through a wall? His surprise must have clearly shown on his face because his mother patted his shoulder and gave him a wink.

"Trust me," she said with a grin. James nodded dumbly. Pushing the trolley with one hand and carrying Merlin's cage with the other, James lined himself up across from thew all.

"Are you ready?" he whispered to Merlin out of the side of his mouth. Merlin gave a sleepy hoot and ruffled his feathers. James took the hoot to mean 'sure, why not.' Wishing that he could be as relaxed as his owl, James began to jog towards the brick wall.
As soon as they arrived at King's Cross, Sirius jumped out of the car. He needed to get far, far away from his mother, and he needed to do it as soon as possible. She had spent the most of the ride complaining about how muggle-borns were allowed into Hogwarts. Sirius had tried to keep silent for most of the time. He had argued back once, and only once. The argument had ended in a 20-minute lecture for him on the evils of mudbloods and how they were the scum of the wizarding world. Sirius clenched his hands into fists at the memory. He grabbed his trunk from the back seat, loaded it onto a trolley and strode away towards the platforms. He stopped short between platforms nine and ten. There was no Platform 93/4. Sirius heard his mother come to a stop beside him and before she could ask why he had run off so quickly, Sirius spoke.

"How do you get to the train," he asked bluntly. Adrienne Black glared at him. She had had to jog to keep up with him and was not happy about it. With a haughty sniff she turned towards the brick wall in front of them.

"Follow me," she said coldly. Sirius watched in amazement as she walked directly at the brick wall. Suddenly, she was gone. Sirius gulped and looked around. It appeared that no one else had noticed his mother disappear. With a deep breath, Sirius Black pushed his trolley after his mother.

Remus was very fidgety on the way to King's Cross. This was unusual because Remus was normally quite good at sitting still. He could spend hours reading a book without moving. But at the moment he had a lot of things on his mind and even reading couldn't hold his attention. His father had noticed this, but he didn't say anything. When they arrived at the train station and parked the car, Remus' father turned and studied his son's face.

"A knut for your thoughts, Remus," he said. Remus managed a small smile. It was a game he and his father played to learn what the other one was thinking.

"You might want to make it a sickle," he said with a sigh. His father grinned and dug into his pocket. He took out a silver coin and flipped it over to Remus, who caught it easily. Remus fiddled with the coin as he told his father what was on his mind.

"I'm worried that the classes will be too hard, that the teachers will be mean, that the other kids won't like me and that someone will find out about what... what I am," he said quietly. Mr. Lupin pulled his son into a hug, sorrow etched upon his face.

"Remus, you don't need to worry about all of that. First off, you are one of the smartest eleven-year-olds I've ever met. The work will be tough, but nothing you can't handle. Secondly, Dumbledore has got to be the greatest Headmaster Hogwarts has ever had. He cares about the students, and would only hire the very best teachers. And why would the other children not like you? You're intelligent, fun to be around, you're a nice person, and there's a million other things that I don't have time to mention." Mr. Lupin paused and broke apart from Remus. He gripped his son's shoulder and looked Remus straight in the eyes.

"Son, Dumbledore has assured us that the necessary precautions have been taken to ensure that no one finds out about your secret. No one will. You'll be fine, okay?" he said. Remus nodded, although he was still afraid that someone would discover his... problem. Mr. Lupin gave Remus' shoulders a last pat and got out of the car. Remus sat for a moment deep in thought, then he too got out of the car and went to help his father with his trunk.

As Remus and his father walked through the station, Remus felt another shiver race up his spine. This time though, it was a shiver of excitement, not fear or worry. He really was excited to be going to Hogwarts and he couldn't wait for classes to start. Remus was, in fact, so caught up in his thoughts of learning new things that he paid little attention to where he and his father were going. It wasn't until his father broke into a much quicker pace that Remus realized they were headed straight for a wall of brick.

"Er, dad... that's a wall," Remus began, panting slightly as he tried to keep up while pushing the heavy trolley.

"Yep!" grinned his father, who began to jog. Remus stayed with him, but his voice took on a nervous tone.

"Um, dad, it's a very solid wall and we're sort of going to crash into it in about... twenty seconds." Mr. Lupin's grin turned wicked.

"No we won't!" he cried. "Trust me." Remus looked at his father incredulously, but he kept running. Looking ahead, he saw the wall coming closer and closer. They had about five seconds until impact.

4.... Remus clenched his fists.

3.... He took a quick glance at his father, who was still grinning.

2.... He closed his eyes,

1.... And braced himself for the inevitable crash.

But it never came.

Peter sat all by himself on the first level of the Knight Bus. He had always hated this form of transportation. It was so loud and bumpy, not to mention lonely. The driver was an old man by the name of George Shunpike. Sitting next to him was a man of around 40 whose name was Ernie Prang. From the snatches of conversation that Peter caught, he learned that Ernie had just lost his job and was hoping for work on the Knight Bus. Peter sighed. It was always so boring on this bus. Worse yet, being all alone and bored left Peter with only his thoughts for company. Although he had tried to focus on Hogwarts and the new people he would meet there, his thoughts kept returning to his parents. They argued so much and he hated it. Usually they would yell and scream at each other, but sometimes their anger would be directed towards him. Those times were the worst. The only person who had ever defended Peter was his grandmother. She was his only friend. Sadly, she had passed away nine months ago. Only Peter had cried. Now there was no one to defend Peter, and the arguing gotten worse and worse. Hogwarts would be more than a school for Peter. It would be an escape.

The Knight Bus shuddered to a stop. George Shunpike called out "Diagon Alley! All goin' to Diagon Alley out!!" A few witches and an old bent wizard exited the bus. Each face was tinged green. As the last robe swished out the door, George yelled out again. "King's Cross Station, next stop!" Peter jumped. That was his stop! He couldn't believe the ride had passed so quickly. As the bus started up again, Peter checked to make sure he had all of his things.

"Wand... got it. Books... check. Robes... in trunk," he muttered to himself. "I think that's all..." Peter mumbled, but he felt as though he were forgetting something.

"My ticket!" he gasped. "Where did I put it? Ohhhh, I need that!" he groaned. Peter frantically began to dig through his trunk, knowing perfectly well that his ticket wasn't there. Just as he was about to give up hope, Peter heard a voice from the front of the bus.

"Oy! You there! 'Choo lose an 'Ogwarts ticket?" Peter jumped to his feet and scurried to the front of the bus.

"My ticket!" he said, his voice echoing his obvious relief. A grinning Ernie handed him the slip of paper and George cackled.

"You keep that safe son, y'hear?" 'Choo drop it?" Peter nodded, his trembling hands still clutching the ticket.

"I-I must have, thanks so much." Ernie inclined his head and George cackled again.

"Woss your name, son?" he asked.

"Er, Peter... Peter Pettigrew."

"This yer firs' time at 'Ogwarts?? Peter nodded nervously, while George nodded wisely and winked.

"You'll have fun there, lad. Good place t'meet people." Ernie was frowning though. Peter was worried that he had done something wrong until Ernie spoke.

"How come you're alone, Peter? Didn't your parents come?" Peter froze. He hadn't been expecting that.

"My, er, mum is sick and... my dad had to stay home and take care of her," he mumbled. Ernie nodded, but he didn't look convinced.

"They'll have told you how to get to the train then," he said lightly. Peter looked at him questioningly.

"Don't I just... er... go to Platform 93/4 and show them my ticket?" he asked timidly. Ernie shook his head

"Nope, not that easy, son." Ernie eyed Peter carefully and Peter nervously shifted his weight from one foot to the other. Ernie continued.

"You've got to look for platforms nine and ten. There will be a brick wall in between 'em. Walk through that wall and you'll get to Platform 93/4.

"Best do it at a run if yer nervous, lad," George broke in. Peter looked at each of them skeptically. Run through a wall? A brick one? But Ernie was nodding solemnly and even George looked serious. Peter gulped.

"Well, er, thanks. I-I'll remember that," he said.

"We're here!" George announced. "King's Cross Station! That's you lad," and he gave Peter a wink. "Off y'get now, ye don't want t'be late!" Peter ran back and grabbed his trunk. He was halfway down the stairs when George called after him.

"An' if you see a big bloke named Hagrid, you tell him George Shunpike says hello and I want me money!" Peter laughed and waved good-bye. When he had descended the steps and was firmly on the ground, Peter turned around for a last glimpse of the Knight Bus, but it had already disappeared.

Peter found a trolley and loaded his trunk onto it. He looked around for platforms nine and ten, then wheeled his trolley in between them. Sure enough, there was a brick wall there. Peter began to walk slowly towards it, his trolley in front of him. It looked pretty solid. Without realizing it, Peter quickened his pace. Yep, it looked very solid. What had George said? Run. To Peter, this seemed incredibly idiotic. After all, wouldn't running just make the impact more painful? But Peter was afraid that he would lose his nerve if he approached the wall slowly. Besides, while he wouldn't put it past George to play a trick on someone, Ernie didn't really seem the practical joker type. So Peter took a deep breath, tightened his grip on the trolley and broke into a run, straight at the brick wall.

A/N: Thanks to those who reviewed, it's appreciated! I think I have about 6 or 7 chapter written at the moment, so there will be very quick updates for about a week or so. After that, I will have to beseech you all to remain patient because I'm going to be very busy for awhile. Again... reviews are welcome. wink