Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling, and Narnia and all of its inhabitants belong to C.S. Lewis. Please R&R!
"Come on, you don't want to be late for your first day of school, do you?" I followed my distracted Mother across the muggle platform of King's Cross station, struggling to drag my heavy trolley along with me. It probably weighed about as much as I did. In her wobbling cage, my small tawny owl, Cecily, hooted reproachfully while glaring at me through eyes of deep amber and ruffling her feathers.
I was just about to begin my very first year at Hogwarts, as were my twin siblings James and Katelin. We're triplets, actually--and we don't look alike at all. James has auburn hair; Katelin has the hair I wish I had: straight, tameable, red hair like our mum. And I have black hair, wild and "quite often tangled as a blackberry bush" as my mother says. No one else in my family has hair like mine, or anything remotely similar to my bright green eyes. Everyone in the Weasley family has red hair—well, I'm not exactly a Weasley, but my mum is. And my brother and sister might as well be counted as Weasleys too, 'cause they fit right in, hair colour and everything. I'm a true Potter—Abigail Molly Potter, but more commonly known as just Abby; and even if my acceptance letter to Hogwarts said Weasley, to me my true surname is Potter. Mum told me that my father had messy jet black hair too and the same green eyes as me . . . but I've never met him, I wouldn't know. I'd never even so much as seen a picture of him. I've just figured that since I don't fit in with anyone from my family, I reckon I'd fit in with my dad, if he were still here.
What I've heard is that my father, Harry Potter, was killed by a loony Death Eater a few years after he had defeated the Dark Lord. He was already engaged to my mum and they had well . . . you know. Mum was a few months pregnant with us when he was called suddenly into London during the Christmas hols for a Ministry crisis. I think they had a break-in, or something. My father must have met up with the criminal while he was there, because well, he never came home.
Now, I said before that I'm about to begin my first year at Hogwarts—that may be true, but I'm most certainly not eleven years old—I'm nearly thirteen-and-a-half, so we'll all be third years in school. James, Katelin, and I were home schooled for not just those two, socially-deprived school years, but every socially-deprived year since we were about five and began moving around the world to different places. I suppose Mum just wasn't happy here, because every little thing reminded her of our dad, and thinking of our lost father made her absolutely miserable. We've been nearly everywhere—Germany, Ireland, Italy, America, China, even New Zealand for a few months. And we've always come to visit our family here, of course. But somehow we've ended up living back in Great Britain, because Mum wants us to get "proper schooling." I'm not going to argue since I wouldn't mind a few real friends that weren't James, Katelin, or some old sheep that was living next door (which had actually happened to me once in Pakistan—I was desperate!).
"Here we are!" called Mum breathlessly and looking deeply frazzled. She hesitated at the barriers and glanced with anticipation at her old wristwatch with the oriental-looking planets and moons on it. "Oh dear," she said, more to herself than to anyone else, "you three will miss the train if we don't . . ." She glanced up at me and her eyes flickered to my left and right. I followed her gaze blankly, and saw empty spaces on either side of me, where my twins should have been. Uh-oh.
"Abby, where on earth are James and Katelin?!" Mum asked with an air of intense exasperation that I only knew too well as meaning, "I know you know what they're up to . . ." Of course I was being blamed for what Kate and James were up to, because that's what I was here for—I was the good one who took the rap for my siblings' mischief.
I just shrugged in response; that's about all you can do if you want to stay neutral. Of course, I knew perfectly well at the time that James and Katelin had stayed behind at platform 6 or so, but I didn't know what they were doing anyway. If my eyes could be trusted, then I had definitely seen them take something silvery out of James' trunk, but I hadn't really paid attention, so I suppose that counts for nothing.
"We only have about ten minutes before the train leaves!" Mum exclaimed, gesturing wildly towards her wristwatch, where I could see the little planets and moons circling around each other at a fast pace. I could also see she was getting rather stroppy, and was beginning to look quite like this deranged old innkeeper in Scotland who'd gone all mad on us once because we'd spilled a shrinking potion all over his foot . . . but that's another story.
Only ten minutes? Merlin, Mum always got so stressed about everything. "They're probably still back there." I responded innocently, jutting my thumb behind me. "I'll go find them."
"Alright, but please try and hurry, because if you miss the train I am NOT driving you three there!"
Right, as if I wasn't worried enough already . . .
So I sprinted past barrier after barrier, dodged a snogging couple near platform 13, and nearly crashed headlong into my tall, gangly, red-headed cousin Tyler, who was on his way to platform 9 and ¾ with his family. Tyler was going into his fifth year at Hogwarts, while his younger sister Sienna was going to be a second year.
"Hey Abby!" he said amusedly as I was passing. "Just so you know, the platform's this way." He pointed in the direction I was running from.
I slowed down enough to catch my breath and allow my exhausted legs a short break. "I—know." I wheezed, clutching my stomach before I got sick. That would have guaranteed us a missed train. "But Katelin a—and James are—still back—around platform—6, I think. Have you—seen them?" I asked hopefully.
Tyler frowned with a weird glint in his eyes. "Yeah, but I didn't really see them. They—"
"Tyler Weasley!" called his mother from a distance ahead. Honestly, why do all mothers have to get like this about time? "If you don't hurry, you'll be late!"
Tyler gave me an apologetic grin, and hastily added in an undertone, "Good luck seeing them," before he hurried over to his anxious parents and sister.
Fat lot of help he was, I thought while scowlingI continued on anyway in the direction opposite the one Tyler had taken and puzzled over what he had said. I didn't really see them . . . good luck seeing them . . . oh Merlin, the invisibility cloak!
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a ripple in the air behind me. Something tugged on one of my long braids, which confirmed my suspicions that my brother and sister are true prats.
"Oww!" I whispered exasperatedly, probably looking like a real idiot for talking to the empty space near me. "You gits, what are you doing in the cloak in broad daylight on a muggle platform!"
James appeared out from under the cloak, followed by Katelin, looking nervously around to make sure that no muggles had noticed the two children that had appeared out of thin air. "We were just trying it out to see if it still works." He said, grinning mischievously.
"We haven't used it in ages," agreed Katelin.
I sighed again, not bothering to point out that they could've just done that on the train. "You two are really beginning to remind me of Uncle Fred and Uncle George." I looked at my watch and groaned. "And we have less than three minutes to get back to the platform and on the train!!"
James stuffed the cloak into his trunk and wheeled his trolley around. Katelin followed suit. "Let's go then!" he said.
The three of us sprinted at full speed (Katelin and James having the disadvantage of their trolleys) and finally came to a sharp halt between platforms nine and ten.
Mum was pacing and had an expression of severe worry on her face, with her eyebrows knitted together and everything, which cleared up when she spotted us. "Thank goodness!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms around my sister and brother. "I thought something bad had happened!"
Katelin and James exchanged nervous glances with me and I shook my head. "No, they were just… they got lost in the crowd." I finished quickly, trying my hardest not to giggle at the over-exaggerated thankful look James sent me. I really am a good sister.
"Well, you three had better hurry—the train leaves in a minute!"
We all said our goodbyes, Mum's being very tearful, and James, Katelin and I strode through the barrier.
A shrill, loud whistle pierced the air, and the scarlet Hogwarts Express began to trudge slowly forward—without us on it.
"Damn!" James yelled as we ran to catch it before it sped up any further, with the combined weight of our big trolleys slowing us down as well as them hitting the back of our knees, making us nearly trip. Being the smallest of all three of us, I had a difficult time catching up to my taller, faster siblings. When I parted from the crowd of parents and had a clear view of the moving train, I saw that James and Katelin had already hopped onto the back car and had just managed to lug their trunks along with them. I pushed myself to run as fast as I could, but the train was quickly picking up speed! I was almost there, nearly a metre away from the back railing and I made a grab for Katelin's hand--but I couldn't possibly stretch my arm that far, or it would've come out of its socket. I fell forward onto my hands and knees. The pavement scraped my hands, and dark red blood trickled out in various spots. Fortunately, I was wearing jeans, so my knees weren't scratched, though they did ache really badly from the fall.
I got gingerly to my feet, prepared to run as fast as I ever had in my life; but the train had already left the tunnel, and I couldn't even hear it whistle anymore, or see the great cloud of steam it issued from the top. It was all gone.
I could've just about died, right there. I had missed the Hogwarts Express, and the barrier, the only way back, had just closed. Great. Now I'm stuck here until Christmas.
I wracked my brain for a brilliant plan of escape. Hmm, well, Uncle Ron had told me something similar that had happened to him and my father in their second year: the barrier had closed on them and they had missed the train as well. What had they done?—Oh yeah, they flew to school in Grandad's car . . . they flew to school on a flying car . . . they flew to school . . .
A lumos spell had shed light on my brain. They'd flown to school! I could fly to school on a broom!
That's went I remembered that I didn't own a broom anymore, because mine had broken two years ago. Yay for me and my brill ideas! I groaned loudly and slid down against a wall, defeated. It felt like something large and stony had lodged itself in my throat, and I could feel that sting behind my nose of oncoming tears. Come on, Abby! Weasleys don't cry . . . Potters don't cry . . . I didn't try to stop them from falling. Hot, salty teardrops rolled off my nose and cascaded onto the ground where they exploded like bombs. I collapsed into quiet sobs and hugged my knees—maybe I could find comfort there.
I'd been SO excited about Hogwarts! I had been looking forward to it ever since I was four, and Mum and Grandmum had told me all about it. Then I'd had to go on a stupid world tour and missed out on my first two years! Now I was stuck in this mess, and I would probably have to live here as a hobo for the rest of my life, and the students coming off the train would probably look at me with disgust and say, "What a dirty, stupid, pathetic thing, she never went to Hogwarts, no one likes her, and she has no money!" Even Kate and James would stalk by me with all their new friends and their noses in the air and sniff, "No way she's OUR sister . . ." Just like in my nightmares. No, that would never happen, and you know it, Abby.
The wind blew softly all around me, and I closed my eyes. I was just being dramatic . . . wasn't I?
"Be brave, Child," whispered a deep, unearthly voice next to me. I opened my eyes and started. If I had been sitting on a chair, I probably would've fallen off and ruined the whole moment. The voice seemed to belong to a humungous golden lion, the most beautiful and the most terrible thing I had ever seen in my life.
He spoke once again, soft and reassuring. His dark eyes held no sympathy, yet were somehow . . . full of compassion, and kindness, and everything else that is good. "I will help you."
I stood back on my feet and tried to ignore the sharp needle-like pain in my knees; I rubbed my sore hands on my pant legs. I longed to go up and hug this beautiful creature for saving my life. But all that came out was an awkward, "Thank you."
But I was already far away by that time.
I seemed to be… flying at first; but when I felt the warm wind travelling along with me, I realized the lion must be blowing me or something.
It felt like hours that I was in the air. Finally, when dusk came, and I had begun feeling very chilly, I approached the Hogwarts Express from above and landed softly on the back car. I couldn't believe that only a few hours before, I had been trying to grab hold of my sister's hand to be pulled onto the departing train. I silently thanked the lion for letting me off here, rather than at Hogwarts, where I would have to walk and probably make an ass of myself striding into the Great Hall while everyone was eating dinner.
I slid open the door and went into the (fortunately, empty) compartment. Sitting down and sighing, I recalled the day's unusual events. Invisibility cloak, missing the train, being blown here by a talking lion… My days usually aren't this action-packed.