June 9, 2005

Hogwarts Express:

Harry and the girls had spent most of the summer working in the trunk network - after Harry figured out how to connect the satellite trunks to the central one. All of the books purchased from Diagon Alley were carefully sorted and organized in the library, where many of the girls could be found reading up on various subjects. Many also spent their time in the developing greenhouse, the gardens, or the potions lab.

Since potions brewing was one of the most impressive branches of magic that squibs could readily use, Harry soon had a rather impressive stockpile of beginner level potions. More difficult to brew compounds were being added daily, as more successful potions and fewer explosions were produced. Taking a page out of muggle books, Harry's potion lab included such safety features as a ventilation hood, dragon hide aprons, impervious goggles, and charmed glass barriers. As a result, very few potion 'failures' needed magical healing or countermeasures.

A few of the more advanced girls had also begun to delve into the worlds of Arithmancy and Ancient Runes. Although they could not cast spells or empower runes themselves, they were fully able to research the theories behind their working, and design new arrangements for Harry to test out. Once they had finished their calculations, they bribed him to come implement their creations. (The bribes usually involved either kisses or Mars bars.)

Harry actually learned a great deal about casting spells through this rather unique learning method. By first going over the arithmatical mechanics behind a given spell, he was able to figure out not only what a spell was supposed to do, but also how and why it worked. Though he wouldn't find out until he reached Hogwarts, his spells were much more focused and powerful than was normal for his age group.

During the end of July and all through August, several additional trips were made into Diagon Alley. Besides the need for additional furniture and the like for each girl's trunk/apartment, the researching children found that they needed additional reference materials, potions ingredients, and magical artifacts to study. Sometimes, such artifacts were deconstructed and reverse engineered to understand how they worked, or just to improve the original design.

The girls were delighted to learn that while they couldn't cast spells (even borrowing one of Harry's wands), they were perfectly capable of using magical artifacts. This included items from wizarding joke products all the way up to such items as pensieves, broomsticks, and sneak-o-scopes. Some items, like a pensieve, required Harry to perform certain steps - such as actually moving memories into the basin - after which they could work on their own.

Within weeks, several of the previously empty workshops resembled the junk shops in Diagon Alley. Once contained various disassembled items, including watches, clocks, dark magic detectors, omnioculars, moving quidditch action figures, a wizard's chess set, half a dozen bludgers, several snitches, two lunascopes, a put outer, a box of remembralls, a wizarding tent, a regular multiple compartment trunk, five sets of gobstones, several decks of exploding snap cards, a secrecy sensor, and a collection of wizarding wireless receivers. If it used magic, the girls wanted at least one to examine.

Another workshop was set up with every type of magical detector, measuring device, and spell decoder they could find. If you could use it to analyze an enchanted object without a wand, they had it in the reverse engineering lab. Some of their instruments were modified medical tools, similar to what mediwitches and mediwizards used over at St. Mungo's hospital.

The squib girls were not restricted to those items they could find in the Alley. At practically every store, they asked for and often obtained owl order catalogs. Hedwig was kept quite busy delivering orders and returning with shrunken purchases. They even had open accounts in many shops down Knockturn Alley before the end of summer.

Finally, September 1st rolled around. Harry had made his 'family' rather happy, for not only had he informed them that he would be making his own way to King's Cross station, he had hardly been seen all summer. Ever since his girls had started coming to the Dursley house to find him if he wasn't let out, they had adopted a policy of pretending that he didn't exist. At the very least, they acted as if he was a common border. They no longer asked where he went, and he did his best to be gone more often that he was present. They were a prime example of a disfunctional family, but somehow they managed to go on.

Harry had received his train ticked by owl, along with the vaguest of instructions on how to reach a magical train platform, after sending Hedwig off with his acceptance letter back in July. Luckily, he was able to phone Ella after her return home. She gave him much more detailed instructions on how to find Platform 9 ¾ - and he really had to wonder yet again about how the average witch or wizard's mind worked. A fractional number for a train platform? Who came up with these things?

He made the rounds to all the girls, giving the 'public' goodbye before heading off for a year of boarding school. Despite his uncle's desire to spread the story that he was going to an institute for criminally insane boys, Harry told his girls' parents that he had a scholarship to a school for the 'gifted'. (That cover story still made him chuckle when he pondered the irony of it. Gifted indeed!)

The girls would see him nearly every evening and on the weekends - thanks to the trunk network - but the adults didn't need to know about that. Their cover was a newly formed center for young girls - sort of a private female-only youth center set up with Harry's money - where they could spend their evenings and weekends in independent study. Harry would just have to bully them into maintaining top grades, so that the adults bought the story.

Having made his farewells, he took a taxi to the train station, all his school gear safely stowed away in his trunk - which was shrunken down to fit into his pocket. He had left Hedwig free to find her own way to Hogwarts. When he asked her how she wanted to travel, she had hooted when the flying option was given. So, it was just Harry exiting the cab, with wands hidden in the wrist sheath concealed beneath his shirt sleeve, school supplies tucked away in a hidden trunk, his ticket in his shirt pocket, wallet in the left jeans pocket, and coin purse in the right.

"Wonderful," he murmured to himself, looking at the station's prominent clock. Although he had left early just to be safe, the heavy traffic had gotten him there with only fifteen minutes to find and board his train. And he had been hoping for a bit of time to explore! "Oh well," he sighed, walking to the barrier between platforms 9 and 10. Apparently, he wasn't the only one to arrive a bit behind schedule.

The other tardy group was a party made up entirely of red heads. There was an adult woman who just had to be the mother of all the children. The eldest child was a somewhat stuffy looking young man with horn rim glasses and a shiny badge on his chest. He was also the only one with an owl on his trolley. Next in age came a pair of twin boys, who had a certain air of mischief about them. Third came a boy about Harry's age, who was tall and thin. Lastly, there was the only female child. Harry could hear her complaining about having to stay behind while her brothers all went off to school.

From the look of her, she would be joining them next year. He judged her age to be no more than a year behind the youngest boy. She was very cute, but what really drew Harry's attention to her was the mane of deep red hair, falling down her back like a waterfall at sunset. Taking the bull by the horns, so to speak, he walked up to the first magical family he would ever meet.

"Hello, beautiful," he practically purred into the girls ear, leaning in from behind to ensure that only she heard this greeting. She, in turn, squeaked and jumped around to face him. "Hello. My name is Harry. I'm going to be starting my first year at Hogwarts. Will you be joining me on the train?" he asked, knowing full well that she wouldn't. As he spoke, he was using the training that his girls had given him, to send out dozens of subtle body language signals to calm and reassure the startled girl.

"Oh, no. I won't be going to school this year," she replied shyly. "My brother Ron is starting his year, but I don't get to go until next year." She practically pouted as she said this, and he found that she looked adorable while pouting. "My name is Ginerva Weasley, but everybody calls me Ginny."

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance, oh beautiful Ginerva." She blushed at the compliment, but was smiling widely at his antics. "My full name is... now please, don't laugh or scream or anything... Harry James Potter." Despite his warning, she flushed pink, then paled, before finally blushing a bright red. "Are you alright, Ginerva? Uh... Ginny?" The poor girl appeared to be in shock. Well, he knew a sure fire way to snap her out of it, but would he be thanked for slapped for the presumption? Oh well, nothing ventured...

Harry leaned in and gently kissed the stunned girl. Unfortunately, it was just at that moment that her mother happened to turn to see who her daughter was talking with. "Ginerva Weasley!" bellowed a voice like a force of nature. "What do you think you are doing young lady!" The fiery matron then focused her rather impressive stern glare upon him. "And just who might you be?"

"Mum!" gasped Ginny. "I... I..."

"I'm terribly sorry about that, ma'am," interrupted Harry. "This was entirely my fault. I knew that I was risking a slap in the face - or worse - but how can mortal man resist such beauty?" Yeah, he was really laying it on thick. "My apologies, ma'am. I did not intend to take liberties with your daughter." Both he and Ginny managed to blush at that point.
He looked at the station clock, and was shocked to see how much time he had spent observing and meeting Ginny. "Er... I really have to go right now. The train and all that." He took Ginny's hand in his, raising the back to his lips. "Until we meet again, fair flower." She blushed again, while her mother frowned her disapproval. He then darted through the barrier and onto the magical platform.

As he crossed, he could hear Ginny saying, "...but he's Harry Potter!" Boy, would he like to hear the rest of that conversation!

The platform was just as Ella had described. The bright red steam engine, the owls flying all over and cats running here and there, not to mention the chaos of students saying farewell to their families. It was a scene unlike anything he had ever seen in the muggle world, yet somehow it gave a feeling of familiarity.

As he approached the train, he saw a young girl struggling to drag an oversized trunk on board. Several older students, wearing green trimmed school robes, were making fun of her bushy hair, large front teeth, and her general inability to move her own trunk. They were needlessly cruel, and the poor girl was on the verge of tears. At a glance, Harry had her pegged at the scholastic/brainy type - the type of girl who spent all her time with books, blew the bell curve in all her classes, and had no real friends.

She was also the type of quiet girl who could become a rather passionate woman. He had no interest in such things yet, but he was aware that that would change in a few years. Other than the teeth, she was a rather cute girl - and oversized teeth could easily be fixed with a simple potion. Now, if only her personality was as attractive as the rest of her...

"Say, did you all forget how to cast a feather-light charm over the summer holidays?" he asked of the girl's tormentors, using a simple question to mock them. "Not to worry! I read about it just last week!" With a flick of his wrist, the holly wand shot out of the holster and into his hand. A gentle wave of that wand, and the girl suddenly lifted her near weightless trunk with ease. "I'm rather surprised that even if you couldn't remember the charm, none of you would simply lift it for this gentle maiden." The obviously Slytherin students just glared at him. "Of course, I guess I shouldn't expect so much from children that lack a respectable family background."

"I'll have you know, little boy, that my family is one of the oldest, most noble pureblood lines," snorted the leader of this little gang.

"You descend from a noble family? With piss-poor manners like that?" Harry feigned surprise.

"Manners are something inferiors use to show respect to their betters," retorted the leader. "When you are from an obviously superior pureblood family, you do not humble yourself to your social inferiors."

"Really?" asked Harry, pretending to be interested in what the older boy said. "No manners towards you inferiors? Huh! Well, if that's how things work in the wizarding world..." he shrugged, then whipped his wand at the Slytherin students and blasted them off their feet. "Out of my way, inferior scum!" He then stepped over the sprawled students, relieved the girl of her trunk, and guided her into the train's corridor. Upon finding an open compartment, he guided her inside, setting her luggage into one of the overhead racks. He then retrieved a handkerchief and handed it to his companion.

"Oh, thank you ever so much!" she said. "Those boys were just... just awful! I hope most of the students are nothing like them."

"So tell me, fair maiden," he began, making her blush, "do you think any of them will comprehend the irony in what I just did?"

"You mean how they told you how to treat inferiors, then you treating them in that manner? No, probably not." She grinned at him. Like he had noted before, only her over-sized front teeth detracted from her looks. The bushy hair should, but somehow on her it just worked. And it's not like he didn't understand wild hair! Still, she was very pretty when she smiled. Her whole face lit up. "I'm Hermione Granger, first witch in the family," she introduced herself.

"Muggleborn? How wonderful! My parents were magical, but events led to me being raised as a muggle by my relatives. My name's Potter. Harry Potter."

"Watch James Bond movies much?" she giggled.

"Why Moneypenny, whatever do you mean by that?" he teased. She giggled even more. "My girlfriends made me watch them originally. They claimed that I should be able to relate to the main character, given my manner with the ladies."

"You have a girlfriend?" frowned Hermione.

"Actually, that was girlfriends, as in plural," he argued. "I just couldn't decide on one of them, and they decided to share me. They all claim that I'm too much trouble for one girl to handle... Do you think I should take offense to that?" She looked a bit confused. "Oh, don't worry. There's always room for one more girl on my dance card." He gave her a wink, and she blushed a very pretty pink. "So, since I played the valiant knight, saving the fair maiden from the vicious trolls," she giggled, "will I be receiving the standard reward?" Hermione blushed past pink and into the crimson ranges, but still leaned over and placed a chaste kiss on his cheek.

Harry didn't really do chaste very well, however. Before she could pull back, he turned his head until her lips were on his. She tried to jump back, but he had strategically wrapped his arms around her back and was able to keep captive for a few more moments. His considerable kissing experience came into play, and she found herself relaxing into her very first kiss (outside of family). She relaxed against him, while he taught by example the basics of kissing.

"Thank you, fair... or should I say sweet?... Hermione," he stated after ending their first kiss.

"Wow!" she blurted. "That was... and you... we just... I feel... Wow!"

"Will you be my first girlfriend at Hogwarts?" That pulled her out of her shocked babbling. "I am starting to really like you. I sense that you and I could be really great together. But I must warn you that if you say yes, you will have to share me with my other girls... and probably with a few more once we get to school. If you want me, you will have to learn to share."

"What? At the same time?" she gasped, broaching a possibility that he had not yet considered.

"Well, I hadn't really thought of it that way, but in a few years... it might be fun!" he laughed.

"You're so bad!" she scolded. Reading her posture and expressions like a book, Harry could tell that this normally reserved girl was deciding to do something wild and impulsive. He guessed that what she felt during their kiss was making her curious, confused, and just a bit wild. "Um... I can't believe I'm doing this, but... Okay, I'll be your girl - even if I do have to share you."

There was a sudden change in her expression, and he could tell that her mind had suddenly kicked into high gear. "Wait a minute! You're the Harry Potter! I've read all about you! You're in Modern Magical History as well as The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts, and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century!"

"I'm that Harry Potter? Thanks for telling me," he teased. "I thought I was the other one." She gave him an appropriate look, then rolled her eyes theatrically. "See, that's what I like about you! You don't take any of my bull, but you still find it amusing. Somehow, I just know that you will reign in my wilder impulses. Without my other girls here to keep me grounded, I'll need your help to toe the line."

"Do you only like me because you think I can help you?" He could see the worry in her eyes... that he would be like the kids in grade school. They only wanted to be her friends right before exams, or when participation in the science fair became mandatory. Hermione was 'that' type of girl.

"Actually, I first wanted to get to know you after seeing you cute bum trying to lift your trunk." She blushed. "What do you have in there, anyway? No, never mind. So, after spotting your cute tush, I got a look at your face. Other than those front teeth - which can be adjusted easily with a reduction potion - you are an incredibly cute girl. Then, after I popped my eyes back into my head," she giggled, "I was able to take note of your determination in the face of adversity. And now, I'm getting to know you. I like what I've learned so far."

"Oh. Well, that's good then," she said. "For a moment there, I was afraid..."

"...that I only wanted a smart friend?" he finished. She blanched, then blushed a light pink. "I'll admit that I do like smart girls," he then admitted, "but I assure you I am more than capable of doing my own homework. I just find smart girls... attractive."

"That's good, because I am really smart," she said, then blushed as her words registered.

"Yes, you certainly are, Hermione," agreed Harry. "Now, why don't you come over here, besides me, and tell me all about yourself?" He held out an arm, and she settled herself beside him. Harry wrapped that arm around her shoulder, and after a momentary hesitation she settled into his side.

"Well, both of my parents are dentists..."

Harry and Hermione were happily cuddling when the compartment door opened. Several young girls, who looked to be fellow first years, peeked inside. "Hi. Do you mind if we join you?" asked one. "All the other cars are full, and some of the older students are getting rather noisy."

"Of course we don't mind!" grinned Harry. "Come right in! Join us! There's always more room for beautiful girls!" They blushed, but came in to sit. Hermione elbowed him in the stomach gently, then rolled her eyes at his blatant flirting. "I'm Harry, and this sweet little thing is my newest girlfriend, Hermione."

"I'm Padma," said a girl who looked to be of Indian descent. She had an exotic beauty.

"Susan," stated a slightly plump girl with strawberry blond hair, currently pulled into a long braid. This one would have a killer figure, once she grew into her figure.

"My name is Blaise," added a pale skinned, dark haired beauty with vivid violet eyes. When this one got older, she would be dangerous. Even at this young age, she possessed a body language that seemed to challenge any male she met. Of course, Harry loved it.

"So, would any or all of you ladies be interested in becoming my girlfriends?" Harry grunted when Hermione slapped him in the gut. "Oh, you will have to share me with my current girlfriends, who include Hermione here."

"You don't know the meaning of tact, do you Harry?" asked the bushy haired girlfriend.

"Hey, if they are going to take offense this early in our relationship, then it probably would be a bad idea for us to get involved."

"Why would we want a boyfriend?" asked Blaise. "Boys are stupid, immature jerks."

"Let me guess... pureblood?" queried Harry. She nodded. "I've met a few pureblood boys already, so I can understand you sentiments. However, I think that you will find that I am not like them."

"If we agree to let you be our boyfriend, will you kiss us?" blushed Padma.

"Yeah," agreed Susan, "I'd like to learn how to kiss."

"Of course!" he was quick to reply. "Who wants to go first?"

"You can start with me, Casanova," mock pouted Hermione. "After we show them how it is supposed to work, then you can show them in a more personal manner."

Harry spent several minutes snogging Hermione. When she was a melted mass of witch, he moved on to Susan, whom he also reduced to a gelatinous state. Next came Padma, and finally the doubtful Blaise. She had a rather drastic change in her attitude towards boys - at least towards one special boy.

Once everyone had received their kisses, the five first years sat around talking about with wizarding world, whatever magic they had already learned, and guessing as to what Hogwarts would be like. Padma turned out to be rather quiet and shy - she told them that her twin sister was the bubbly, outgoing one. Blaise was rather cool and reserved. Her attitude was a byproduct of her upbringing as a 'noble' daughter. Susan proved to be nearly as shy as Padma, until she felt comfortable with her companions. After gaining her confidence, she became very talkative.

Then there was Hermione... Harry's first Hogwarts girl was rather bossy, liking to do things 'her' way. They would have to work on that. Such an attitude could be an asset, so long as it wasn't taken too far. Past a certain point, it became annoying... a form of arrogant bullying. Hermione could be the leader of the girls - witch and squib - if she avoided alienating them. Like Harry, she had an alpha-type personality.

Harry told them about his rather extensive preliminary studies, and promised each of them access to his growing private library. Hermione, Padma, and Blaise where very interested in this, and upon seeing their enthusiasm, Susan began to warm to it a bit more. When he mentioned the study books he was compiling, all the girls begged him for copies.

Harry's study guides were a sort of 'idiots guide' to magic, filling in the many gaps and loopholes he found in their school textbooks. He sought to explain the theory behind each bit of magic, so as to make the actual casting (or in the case of potions, brewing) much easier when first attempted. He was even working on a way to understand and harness the so-called 'accidental' magic.

Part of his rather unique approach was introducing arithmancy right from the start, rather than waiting until the third year of study. He had broken down the basics of this branch of magic, and applied it to a scientific formula that most muggleborns could more easily understand and explain - not to mention incorporate into their own spell work. A large part of his method was a series of short-cuts not commonly known or utilized.

The train ride continued smoothly, with no one bothering the Boy-Who-Lived and his travelling companions. A part of this was because those students who both knew who he was and that he was on the train were already sitting in his compartment. When the witch with the snack trolley came by, the three magic born girls gave Harry and Hermione a crash course on wizarding sweets. They were surprised when Harry insisted on paying for everything, telling them, "I takes care of my womens," in an exaggerated accent. Not one for sweets (his girls had adapted him to a more nutritional diet), he preferred to eat some fresh fruit he retrieved from his trunk with the pumpkin juice offered.

All four girls expressed envy when he had whipped out his school trunk (a.k.a. the 'hub' trunk). He promised to tell them all about the self-enlarging charms on his trunk at a later date. And they didn't even realize that it had multiple compartments, some of which were greatly expanded on the inside!

By the time they had arrived at Hogsmede station, the five first year students had laid the foundations for deep friendship... and a deeper commitment for later years. Leaving their luggage on the train as instructed - except for Harry, who carried his shrunken trunk in his pocket - they joined the other first years heading towards the giant of a man calling them. This guy was the largest person any of them had ever seen; Hermione compared him to wrestlers she had seen on an American telly program. He stood as high above regular adults as those same adults stood above the first years. Harry idly wondered what a woman of similar size would look like as they climbed down to the lake and boarded the small boats waiting for them.

Following the large man's instructions of no more that four to a boat, Harry's new girls all shared one boat. That left Harry to slip into another, holding a rather prissy looking blonde boy and what looked to be Dudley's long lost brothers. Privately, he had to wonder if this boat was more heavily loaded than the girls' boat would be if he had pushed the four person rule.

Just by looking at the blonde, Harry was certain that this was one spoiled little brat. He wore fine looking clothing, but the several stains on the front let everyone know that he didn't properly care for them. While everyone else was looking at their new school with awe and amazement, blondie managed to find fault with nearly everything around him. He complained that his family home was nicer, that the boat leaked, the lake smelled funny, and his boat was too close to the muggleborns. The way he kept glancing at his companions let Harry to believe that they were bodyguards, and that blondie wouldn't be so vocal if they strayed from his side. 'Great', he thought, 'a spoiled rich coward of a bully.' Blondie just had to be among the purest of the purebloods. Harry irritated the hell out of him by completely ignoring him for the entire trip.

"Who are you?" blondie finally asked. He had restrained his curiousity until they were exiting onto the docks. "What's your family name?" Man, this kid was like a parody of a stereotypical snob!

"Someone who doesn't care to respond to rude little albino arseholes like yourself," countered Harry, not bothering to look at blondie when he replied.

"How dare you! Do you have any idea who my father is?" raged blondie.

"The only arsehole bigger than you?" Most of the children around them easily heard that response, and laughed at blondie's flushed expression. Deciding to push the envelope a bit, Harry adopted a tone of false concern. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry! Were you seriously trying to find out who your father actually is? Have you been searching for years for the stupid git who sired you into this world? I hadn't realized you were literally a bastard." The others could barely keep the grins off their faces.

"I know who my father is!" shrieked the boy. "His name is Lucius Malfoy!" The other students sniggered with mirth. Blondie had throbbing veins on his forehead.

"Then why the bloody hell are you asking me who he is?" scoffed Harry. "Wait a sec... are you a bit slow in the head? Is that why Tweedledee and Tweedledum here are escorting you everywhere? Did your father pay them to help keep an eye on you?" Most of the first years were now laughing so hard they were in tears.

"I am not slow in the head!" Blondie's voice became shriller and shriller as he got worked up.

"You yell like a girl, blondie," he stated quietly. "Oh! Now I see where this is going... Sorry, but I don't go that way. I like girls."

Blondie's head was seconds away from exploding. "I'M NOT GAY!"

"Come now, denial isn't good for anybody. There's no shame in being gay, blondie. It's all cool. I don't swing that way myself, but I'm sure someday you will find your perfect guy. Just hang in there." The pseudo-bodyguards began to slowly back away from the furious albino, while the onlookers continued to laugh so hard several fell over.

"I'M NOT GAY! YOU HEAR ME? I'M NOT!"

"Like any straight guy spends that much time on his hair and clothes!" smirked Harry. "Well, maybe for a hot date, but you've been with the twins there ever since I first saw you. Do you like the big, strapping lads? Face it, the writing's on the wall, blondie. Hide in the closet all you want, but sooner or later you'll have to come out and face yourself."

"I AM NOT A HOMOSEXUAL, YOU STUPID BLOODY GIT!"

"What is going on out here?" asked the rather severe faced witch who had opened the castle doors behind blondie's back. "Why are you yelling, young man? If you had already been sorted into your house, I would be deducting points for this unseemly behavior! Now, all you first years follow me."

Authors note: Just so everyone's clear, this last seen with Malfoy was homophobe bashing, not gay bashing. Somehow, I just see the older pureblood families as having more irrational phobias than any group on Earth. What better way to conquer irrational fears, than by making them seem even more ridiculous than usual?

To my reviewers:

Up until this point, I have been playing up the Dumbledore's faith in his little alerts and alarms. The way I see it, Hagrid only showed up in canon because Harry never read his letter. From my perspective, so long as Harry sends in his response, Albus thinks Petunia is doing her part, and Harry's doing just fine. To further his assumption, reports of Harry in Diagon Alley would only reaffirm that everything is just fine.

Also, I realize that Blaise Zabini has been officially declared as a male student, but I've read too many fanfics with a female Blaise. Quite frankly, I like Blaise as a female, since the canon hasn't had much about him/her. (Plus, this is an alternate universe here.)