Hello, fellow wizards! (Cheep cheep.) Well, not exactly… Me first HP fic! I'm nabbing a lot of quotes from the books, but its part of the story. Enjoy!
Set in: Philosopher's/ Sorcerer's Stone.
Tree.
Tree.
Tree.
Telephone pole.
Tree.
I wish we'd get there. Sure, the barrier was exciting, but we've been on the rails for three hours already. Oh right. I'd better explain myself.
My name is Seth Hunter, and I'm a muggle. Complete and utter muggle. I'd never even heard of Hogwarts when the letter came. I nearly didn't believe a word of it. Apart from that it was delivered by a Tawny owl at 9 o'clock in the morning. Right on my 11th birthday as well. Weird or what? Anyway.
I'm 4" 3, brown hair, blue eyes, kinda thin, wearing a green sweater, blue jeans and white trainers. My hair sticks up at the back, no matter what I do. Around my neck on a leather string, there's a metal, double-ended arrowhead. My prized possession, apart from my sketchbook. What can I say? I think it's lucky! Ok, back to explaining.
Of course, my parents were amazed. You should have heard the head teacher at Brimscone when my Dad said I wasn't coming.
The best bit after that was getting my wand and my pet in Diagon Alley. The letter recommended the Knight Bus. (Never again…) So we got there, changed our money at Gringotts, (Long fingered goblins! Hmm!) and looked around.
The wand wasn't even black-and-white like on TV. It was 10 inches, Willow, Dragon Heartstring and quite flexible. I thought you just bought any old one!
And for the pet, I got a small barn owl. The person behind the desk recommended an owl, because you can send letters with them. I still haven't given the little girl a name yet.
Of course, getting onto the station was a nightmare! Where the heck was 9 and ¾?!? Then I saw a black haired guy run through the solid barrier between 9 and 10. Not the conventional way, but it worked.
After a red haired kid, his mum and his little sister went through, me, my mum and dad followed them. After a quick 'Goodbye', 'See you in a while' and a few tears, I got on the train, put my trunk away and the train set off. Three hours later, we get to my present position.
"Excuse me?" I turn to the door, seeing two someones peer in.
One of them is a round faced, teary eyed guy about 4" 5 with short, brown hair. The other is…Very pretty...4" 9, Brown eyes, bushy, brown hair, front teeth slightly bigger than the others, already dressed in her robes. She speaks again;
"Excuse me; have you seen a toad about around here?" I blink, taken aback by such an odd question.
"A toad?" I say. She nods. I shake my head, shrugging my shoulders. "But if I do, I'll bring it you. What're your names?"
"Oh, I'm Hermione Granger, and this is Neville Longbottom." She says, nodding to him. She sounds kind of bossy...
"I'm Seth Hunter."
"Well it's been nice meeting you, but we've got to find Trevor before he manages to jump off the train or something." She says, steering Neville out and putting the door to. I hear Neville say;
"You don't really think Trevor's jumped off the train?!?"
"Oh, it's a figure of speech." I get up, pushing the door closed. I sit back down, thinking about her. 'Hermione Granger'… Sounds kinda royal... I wonder if she's a muggle like me? Will she be in the same classes as me? …Does she have a boyfriend? My thoughts are interrupted by a quiet croaking. I shift round in my seat, looking under it.
In the far corner, I can see a warty-looking toad, hopping about a bit. I reach under and pull him out. He squirms, trying to escape.
"So you're the famous Trevor then?" I ask him/myself, keeping hold of him. "On the run(?)" I walk to the door and look down the carriage, trying to find Hermione. I mean, er, trying to find Hermione and Neville to give Trevor back, yeah.
"Hey!" I hear. I turn, seeing a girl jogging towards me from the far end of the carriage. "Have you heard?"
"Heard what?"
"Harry Potter's on the train!" she says, as if this is something exciting.
"Sorry, Harry who?" I ask, hardly noticing the escaping amphibian. She looks at me like she doesn't believe I said that.
"Harry wh-?" she says, shaking her head. She stops a second, looking me up and down. "Wait, are you a muggle?" I nod. "No wonder you haven't heard." She sighs, looking to the side. "Look, I'll explain. Is there anywhere to sit down? It's a bit of a long story."
"Yeah, just here." I say, nodding to the now-empty compartment I was in. "By the way, I'm Seth Hunter."
"Lavender Brown." She says, sitting opposite me. She glances at my owl, who has her head under her wing, and gives her a small smile. "Before I start, I've got to say that your owl is just beautiful." She says, looking at her.
"Er, thanks. I still haven't thought of a name for her yet." I explain, glancing at her.
"Ooh!" she squeals, grinning slightly. "I've got a few for her!"
"Er, thanks, but no thanks." I say politely. She looks slightly disappointed, then she goes into a long-winded explanation about Harry and You-Know-Who. (She say 'Voldemort' only once, just to explain.)
"-And the freaky thing was, You-Know-Who disappeared without a trace!" she finishes, folding her arms. I nod, impressed. Suddenly, the floor started shaking a bit more violently, and, glancing out the window, I could see steep mountains in the sunset.
"Must be nearly there." I remark, glancing at Lavender. She gets up and walks to the door.
"I'll see you later then." She says, closing the door behind her. I get my trunk down and pull out and on my robes.
A voice echoes through the train. "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train; it will be taken to the school separately."
"That'll include owls…" I say, stroking her head through the bars of her large cage. She opens an eye and hoots sleepily at me. "See ya', girl."
I catch up with Lavender again and get off the train with her. As soon as I step off, I hear;
"Firs'-years! Firs'-years over here! C'mon now! Firs'-years! Firs'-years-!" coming from the most gigantic man I have ever seen, holding a lantern. He's as wide as he is tall (And he's very tall) and is hidden behind a black, tangley beard.
"(He's huge!)" Whispers Lavender to me, leaning back slightly to see all of him.
"C'mon, follow me – Any more firs'-years? Mind yer step now! Firs'-years follow me!" he says, walking away from us into the trees. We follow the giant, slipping slightly on the wet path through the trees.
"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," he says, pointing ahead. "Jus' round this bend here." Many people 'Oooooh'd at this point.
The path opens to reveal a large castle on a mountainside, on the other side of an enormous lake.
"No more'n four to a boat!" he calls, pointing at a cluster of vessels at the lake-side. I get into a boat with Lavender, followed by two other girls. "Everyone in? Right then- FORWARD!" I nearly fall onto one of the girls behind as they jerk off the shore. Nobody says anything as we get closer.
"Heads down!" he yells, ducking. Our crew bent our heads to go under a curtain of ivy on the side of the cliff into a dark, hollowed-out channel, where we eventually stopped by a rock harbour. We clamber out.
"Oy, you there! Is that your toad?" he says, pointing into one of the boats. ("Trevor!" says Neville happily.) We climb through the passageway and up the front steps. "Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad?" He then turns and knocks three times.