Chapter three - Arrival at Hogwarts
A nine-year-old Harry shivered as a dementor came close to the cell. They rarely did, as per orders of the Minister who, though wanting Sirius to pay for his 'crime', he did not want to expose the world's saviour to them anymore than necessary.
"Cold, kiddo?" Sirius asked in concern. Harry shook his head. "The dementors?" Harry nodded.
Sirius hugged Harry tightly.
"Want me to tell you some more about Hogwarts?"
"Y-you've already told me l-loads," Harry gave a weak attempt at a smile - especially for a nine year old. "W-what's left to tell?"
"Lots, I'm sure of it! Have told you about... the founders?" Harry nodded. "The professors who taught me?" Harry nodded. Sirius frowned. "Hogsmeade? The secret passage ways?" Harry nodded at both. "Err... the houses?"
Harry shook his head at this, and Sirius felt relieved. Harry was like his parents in several ways. He was like James because of his looks, and Lily because of his memory. But that certainly didn't explain his personality. Somehow Harry had always managed to convince the guards to give the two of them more food, or that they hadn't been given any, something which Sirius was sure Lily and James would never had been able to do.
"Well, first there's Gryffindor, the home of the brave. We rule."
Harry laughed at that. It was something that was wholly Sirius.
"Then there's Ravenclaw, they're the clever ones. They read way too much. Hufflepuff's another house, for the loyal and hard working. They're no good at Quidditch."
Harry rolled his eyes at that. Though only nine and rarely having left his cell, he knew all about Quidditch, curtesy of the resident Quidditch nut and his Godfather.
"And Slytherin, last of all. The people with dreams of taking over the world go there. Basically they turn out evil wizards and no other house does."
"How come no other house turns out evil wizards?"
"I think it might be because they are the only ones who get involved in the Dark Arts or become Dark Lords."
"But a while ago you told me Grindelwald was a Ravenclaw," asked Harry curiously and Sirius' eyes widened. That was true. Grindelwald had been in Ravenclaw. "And you said that Wormtail was a Gryffindor."
Again, Harry was right. He hadn't thought about it like that before. Wormtail had been a Gryffindor, though why he had been one was a reason beyond anything anyone could explain.
"I..." Sirius was stumped. "It's probably because their house founder was the one who hated muggles and muggleborns. He was the one who left the school too."
"Oh," Harry digested this bit of information. "So the entire house is made out to be evil because of one person?"
"Erm," Sirius was slightly stunned at that. "I suppose so."
"Well that's just ridiculous!" Harry laughed. "Completely stupid too!"
Harry was shook awake by Sirius on September the first and he noted that the guards had arrived outside the cell to take both Harry and Sirius to the Governors office. Still blinking the sleep out of his eyes, he watched as the guards shrunk his books and held them in a single hand, whilst another magically bound Sirius's hands behind his back.
After leaving the cell, Harry was guided in a different direction to Sirius. Harry was taken towards the office whilst Sirius was lead off towards the entrance. Harry would be travelling to the nearest floo port to King's Cross, and from there he would take the train to Hogwarts. Sirius would take a boat back to the mainland where he would be transported to Hogwarts through non-magical transport, simply for what was considered the safety of the general wizarding public.
As they went off in different directions, the two of them looked back at one another, and instantly missing one another. The both knew the feeling would pass, but that did not alter it at all.
Sirius closed his eyes as he was lead down to the docks outside the rpsion, shivering slightly at the chill in the air outside. It had been ten long years since he had left the confines of the prison, and just the feel of fresh, cool breeze (something that the wards surrounding the prison prevented) against his skin was one of the best things to have happened to him in a long time.
"Move it Black," growled one of the guards, and Sirius was pulled out of his slight daydream as he was shoved in a boat. The boat was pushed off, and the traditional skeletonal figure that guided the boat directed it through the choppy waters towards their destination that was about two miles away: the main land.
The journey took a while, and Sirius was glad that the guards hadn't given him anything to eat that morning. If they had, Sirius felt he would have thrown it up in no time at all. Sirius hated travelling by sea.
It was with great relief when Sirius was dragged off the boat and onto the flat, stony beach that surrounded the area, but before he could get used to it, he was forced up some steps cut into the greyish cliffs and into a high-security carriage at the top. The door closed, and Sirius was shut into total darkness. He closed his eyes as the carriage set off, hoping that it would be over soon.
Harry glanced nervously around Kings Cross station, having been escorted just to the station by the guard, but then left on his own, the guard having told him what platform he needed, though not how to get onto it. Typically, the wizarding world seemed to want to leave new students to figure out how to get onto the platform for themselves. They probably either assumed it would be obvious how to or that people would be smart enough to figure it out for themselves.
He racked his brains for a moment or two, trying to work out where Platform Nine and Three Quarters was likely to be. It wouldn't be in view of muggles, and definately not made by them, as he doubted that any muggle would name a platform 'Nine and three-quarters'. They preferred their whole numbers.
"Are you lost sonny?" came the stern voice of a muggle dressed in navy blue. Harry vaguely recalled Sirius having told him something about 'pleasemen', the muggle law keepers. Harry shook his head. "Are you sure?"
"Y-Yes sir," Harry said quietly, his old stutter coming back momentarily. "I-I'm not l-lost."
The pleaseman nodded suspiciously and walked away, still eyeing Harry. Harry shuddered under his gaze. Something always unnerved Harry when people stared at him.
Harry walked around the station a bit more, glad that there was still at least an hour to go before the train set off, until he decided that if he was going to have trouble figuring out where the station was, he might as well sit down and work it out.
He knew that the wizarding world wasn't the most logical of places, but there were small amounts of it in places, usually put in place by muggleborns, Sirius had told him. So there was a large chance that the platform would be located somewhere really stupid (like the twelth bathroom stall to the left of the entrance to one of the toilets and was only accessable if you knocked five times in the correct spots at 59 seconds past the start of a minute and walked through backwards whilst doing a handstand - the mental image of that alone was ridiculous) if a pureblood had thought of where to place it, but if a muggleborn had placed it it would be more likely to be in a logical place. Like inbetween platforms nine and ten.
Harry's eyes lit up, and he grabbed his trunk, instantly moving straight towards the barrier between platforms nine and ten. It was clear that this would be a good place to put the platform. And if it didn't work he could always try out the the bathroom stall idea later.
Harry was jostled by people as he walked towards the barrier, struggling slightly to push his through the crowd, which inadvertently lessened as he got closer to the barrier. Finally he pushed through the barrier, still shocked that he had been right about it.
In front of Harry on the platform there were few people about, probably all planning on arriving later. Beside the platform there was a huge scarlet - thing! Harry guessed it was a train, but it tooked nothing like what Sirius had described it as besides it's colour, and it looked nothing like the trains that had been on the muggle part of the platform.
Harry forced his face to stay emotionless as he pushed his trolley closer to the train, but his mind clouded with anger. He might have known something about trains had Sirius been given at least a trial. As he climbed onto the train his anger peaked, and, unbeknownst to him, on the muggle part of Kings Cross several muggles' teas and coffees exploded upward for no apparent reason.
"Black!" snapped a voice through the semi-gloom. "Get up!"
It took one and a half hours for Sirius to arrive at Hogwarts whilst travelling at relatively slow speeds, and during that time Sirius had fallen asleep. Now he saw that the door was open and that one of the guards stood there, his wand pointed directly at Sirius. Sirius groaned, and tried to stretch his arms, then remembered they were still bound behind his back.
"Black, I believe you have been told how things will work whilst you remain here," the guard said tersely as he and two or three colleagues marched Sirius up to the doors to the entrance hall, the surroundings looking as familiar and amazing as the last time he had seen them. "That you and Potter will remain here until Christmas, and from Christmas until Summer for the next seven years?"
Sirius nodded. Yes, that was the plan, and it may have been Sirius's imagination, but the Aurors and the guards that were with him did not seem to like it. It was probably that they thought it was too much trouble and would most likely be easier if Sirius was to simply to stay at Azkaban. No doubt this was true, but that would mean that either both Sirius and Harry would spend a lot of time in pain or that Harry would not have an education. They probably had not thought about that bit of information or they did not care. It was quite possible that it was the latter.
One of the guards in front of Sirius knocked on the huge oak dors three times at a seemingly measured pace. The doors were opened by someone Sirius knew very well, very well indeed. But that didn't mean that he was happy to see them. That person took one look at Sirius, and sneered.
"Black."
Sirius struggled to get at the person before him, totally ignoring the fact that he was surrounded by guards and aurors who would not hesitate to render him unconcious, even if it weren't necessary.
"Snape," Sirius snarled and glared.
Harry sat with his eyes closed and his back leaning against the seat as the train sped along. At first he had been interested in watching the scenery, but that soon changed as he realised that it was nothing more than buildings in London and trees, grass, fields, animals and hedges in the countryside. Nothing worth staring at.
Hopefully he would not be disturbed during the journey, but what with approximately one thousand others on the train, which seemed like a number that was far to large for a single train to carry, he doubted very much that he could possibly survive a journey that was several without someone coming into his compartment uninvited.
Harry had long forgotten the furry he had felt at the train station, but that did not mean that his anger had died down completely. The way he saw it, the fact that the Ministry of Magic was stupid enough to imprison a one year old child in Azkaban was horrendous, but the fact they had done so without even giving the person with whom they were imprisoning him with without a trial just took the cake. Harry did not believe there was a word for feeble-mindedness of that level.
Harry did his best to stifle a yawn. He wasn't used to waking so early in Azkaban, usually he slept a lot. Besides talking to Sirius, sitting and staring at the opposite wall and eating, he hadn't exactly had a lot to do at all, so sleeping might be a good idea. Yeeesss...
Just as Harry was about to drop off the door to the compartment opened up to reveal three boys, two identical from their ginger hair to their freckled faces, the other boy had dark dredlocks and was holding a box that's lid had come loose and had one large hairy leg sticking out of it. The boy with dredlocks saw what he was looking at, hit the leg then shut the lid properly.
"Do you mind if-" said one of the redheads.
"We sit in here?" finished the other, and Harry summarised that they were twins. They talked like they were without a doubt. Harry nodded his acquiescence and all three of them sat down and started talking in voices so quick that Harry didn't even try to follow. Instead he tried to go back to sleep, and managed it, as before he knew it an irritatingly cheerful voice pierced through the air.
"We shall be arriving at Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave you luggage on the train, as it will be taken to the school separately."
Harry blinked. That was one of the shortest several hundred mile journeys he had ever been on that didn't involve floopowder. Come to think of it, it was the only several hundred mile journey that didn't involve floopowder that he had ever been on.
Harry blinked as he got up, and suddenly his stomach lurched with nerves as he joined the crowd thronging through the corridor.
The train slowed right to a stop and people pushed their way to the door and out onto a tiny, dark platform. Many were shivering from the cold, but Harry felt fine. It had gotten a lot colder in Azkaban, and to him, this felt warm. Then a lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students and a voice boomed out.
"Firs'-years! Firs'-years over here!"
That voice belonged to a giant of a man who was at least five times as tall and twice as wide a normal person should be. That must be Hagrid, Harry thought. Sirius had described him, and Harry was pretty certain that no one else could fit his description.
"C'mon, follow me - anymore firs-years? Mind yer step, now! Firs-years follow me!"
Slipping and stumbling, the crowd of first years followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path that didn't seem to have been walked along too often. It was dark on either side, and against the dark sky Harry could make out the silhouettes of trees.
"Yeh'll get yer firs' site o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over their heads. "Jus' round this bend here."
There was a loud 'Oooooooooh!'.
The path they were on had suddenly widens on to the edge of a great black lake. Perched on top of a grassy hill, many windows sparkling merrily in the light, was Hogwarts, just how Sirius had described it, though no words could do it justice.
Harry felt another pang of anger towards the Ministry, similarly to the one he had felt earlier at the train station. Had Sirius not been imprisoned, Sirius would, in all likiness, have taken Harry to see sights such as this. Instead he had rarely seen outside the prison, and that was only when he had been taken to Diagon Alley. His rage and resentment towards the wizarding government growing with each passing second, Harry joined to remainder of the first years as they got into the little boats that would take them across to the castle.
A/N: Well everyone, I must say, when I put up the first chapter I got8 reviews, I was shocked at the number. But in the just over 2 months since the last update, I got 19 reviews. I'm starting to think some people like this idea.
Oh yeah, next chapter Harry will be sorted. So far it looks like most people would prefer a Gryffindor Harry in this, and no one wants a Slytherin one. Ah well, time will tell. As for his friends, the juries still way out on that one.
Talons: You have good reasoning. And yes, Harry can read and write. I said so this chapter.
blubb-blubb: You're right, Snape can't complain about Harry being spoiled rotten. But he can complain about some other things.
niccc: The unfortunate thing about the original ideas in fanfiction is that they are few and far between, because people just don't ask the right questions about it. You have a good point about Harry's personality, but I've always felt that the way you're brought up and such can alter your personality a bit. Not completely alter it, but still parts of it would be different.
Eric2: No, Sirius will be locked up inside Hogwarts. The wizarding world has never been logical as far as I'm concerned. As for Peter, I feel this chapter has answered that.
ciberloco: Good idea about the flashbacks. They are now in use. As are the consequences.
kid: Good point about him being raised by Sirius, but as the start of this chapter showed, he isn't exactly prejudiced against Slytherins yet.
Goldgrin: Lol, great! And from the personality of Harry's I've let show parts of so far, it seems like this Harry and Hermione would be likely to get along.And currently, I have no plans for this story except to reveal Harry's upbringing in Azkaban, so virtually no plans could interfere with them.
Shannon: Lol, I always percieved Draco as being intelligent, even if he is a bit of a... and this is the point I can't think up an insult without swearing. You should know that there's no such thing as too much of a twist. Unless you're twisting someone's arm, andit breaks... But a Gryffindor Harry with mainly Slytherin friends would be a good twist.
ERMonkey Burner of Cookies: You have a good point. That is why I have now given Harry a personality.
Valkyrie Nienna Helyanwe: Very good points... Careful consideration is needed on my part.
Maya100: So you basically want to know lots of stuff about this fic? Well, I suppose I could use flashbacks for that.
Shadowface: Okay.
scott, momocolady, Silver-Entrantress-Elf, gaul1: Thanks!
gallandro-83: Actually, Harry's 11. But if I hadn't known that, I would have been likely to have been confused too.
Thamril: Hmm, good choices about his friends. I may use some of them.
typicaltuesday: Lol, you seem to want Harry in Ravenclaw. Nice ideas with the friends too.