Chapter 3: Train and Toad (?)
The rest of the summer passed quickly, but not quickly enough for Lizzy. She was very excited and anxious to get to her new school and all the wonders she would learn there. She did all the things most eleven-year-old girls do during their summer vacation. That is, she rode her bike, went swimming, and went for hikes in the little forested area near her house. This summer, she also spent much of her time reading her new books. She thought they were all rather fascinating, but she found herself most interested in her potions text. For some reason, she was drawn to that book. When she was not reading, however, or playing outdoors, she found herself thinking about the kind boy she'd met that day in Diagon Alley. Her curiosity about him was not satisfied in the least by her Gran's rather vague answers to her questions regarding his family. She was also very interested in meeting "The Boy Who Lived". She had read a bit about him, her Gran had told her a bit more, and she knew he would be in her grade.
Finally, the morning of September the first arrived. She had packed up all her school things in the trunk her Gran had given her the previous night. They drove to King's Cross Station using the church van as everyone in the family wanted to come along and see Lizzy off to her new school. Her father, notorious for arriving early, assured Lizzy a good seat on the train. In fact there was only one other student on the platform when she arrived, David.
"Good morning!" Dave called to Lizzy from near the end of the train
"Oh! Hi Dave," Lizzy replied, while waving
"Need help with your stuff Elizabeth? If you want, I can put it in with my stuff and we can share a compartment."
"Sure Dave, that's really sweet of you." Lizzy watched with some admiration as the young boy picked up her trunk by himself and lugged it onto the train. Next, he returned for her owl, Tas, and put him in the compartment as well.
"I'll see you inside after you have said your goodbyes then? We're in the second last compartment," Dave said before acknowledging Lizzy's family, and made his way onto the train.
"Aren't your Mom and Dad here to see you off?" Lizzy asked before her Gran could stop her. For a reply, Dave just shook his head and went onto the train. Lizzy looked somewhat puzzled and her Gran shook her head.
"I should probably have told you this before, Lizzy," Gran told her, "Dave is an orphan. His parents were killed when he was three."
"Doesn't he have ANYone? Why isn't anyone here to see him off? I mean, someone must have raised him…or was he in an orphanage?" Lizzy asked, looking rather upset.
"No, he wasn't raised in an orphanage," her Gran answered, "He has godparents who take turns, but they must both be very busy today. You've already met his godmother. Remember in Diagon Alley, the lady who made your robes, Madam Malkin? That's David's godmother. She probably has a large number of orders to fill and couldn't be here. His godfather tends to be even busier. He's not only an Auror, that's like a wizard police officer, but he's also Chief Auror, which means he's probably equally as busy as Madam Malkin, if not more."
Before long, the platform became very busy as more and more students arrived with their families. At about quarter to eleven, a red-haired boy wearing a badge with the letter 'P' arrived, pushing a trolley laden with his trunk and a large owl in its cage. He was followed by two identical red-headed boys, who were both grinning mischievously until they saw Lizzy. They stopped their headlong rush, moved towards her, and bowed gracefully.
"We are Fred," one boy indicated the other, "And George Weasley," the other boy indicated to the first. "We are delighted to make the acquaintance of such a lovely young lady," they continued in unison. Their introductions were stopped short as both boys winced in pain while a stout, red-haired witch pulled them by their ears and began berating them for pestering a first-year.
"I'm sorry if my sons were bothering you, dear," she said, "I'm Molly Weasley and these two are Fred and George. One of my other sons, Ron, is starting Hogwarts this year, he'll be in your grade."
"One of your other sons?" Lizzy asked, "Is the red-haired boy with the 'P' badge your son too?"
"Why yes," Mrs. Weasley answered proudly, "That's Percy. He has just been made prefect."
"Pinhead, you mean," one of the twins said. At that, Mrs. Weasley went off to berate them some more, while Lizzy and her family looked on with some amusement. Lizzy took an immediate liking to the twins, they were so funny and outrageous. Moments later, the Hogwarts Express sounded its final boarding call. Lizzy gave everyone in her family one more quick hug and ran to get on the train. Dave was waiting at the door to help her on. She was a bit surprised, but grateful.
"Thanks, Dave."
"Don't mention it. I hope you don't mind, but I have some others who are sharing our compartment."
"Not at all. Who are they?" Lizzy asked, curious but glad of the chance to meet more new people.
"Another first year girl, Hermione Granger, and my closest friend, who's also in first year, Neville Longbottom," Dave replied as they made their way to the compartment. When they got there, Dave introduced Lizzy to the other two already sitting inside.
"Hermione, Neville, this is Elizabeth Fawkes. She's in our year too."
"Hello," they said while Lizzy walked in and shook hands with each of them.
"It's really nice to meet you," Lizzy told them as she took her seat across from Dave. She waved out the window to her family as the train began to pull out of the station. She noticed that Hermione and Neville were doing the same thing, but Dave simply sat back in his seat, reading one of his books.
"Dave, aren't you going to wave bye to your family?" Hermione asked innocently.
"He doesn't have any!" Neville whispered to her. Dave just kept reading his book. Minutes later, the train rounded a bend and the platform was lost from sight. Hermione sat down, looking a little upset. She leaned over and asked Lizzy, in a whisper,
"Did you know?"
"Yes, but I found out much the same way you did. I asked almost the exact same question before he got on the train. It was my Gran who told me," Lizzy replied, also in a whisper.
"I feel terrible," Hermione continued, "I mean, he's practically the first person I've met here and what do I do? I say something dumb like that and I've probably made him upset and sad." Neville overheard this last comment and spoke up,
"You didn't say anything dumb. After all, how could you have known?" Dave, who had so far either not heard them, or pretended to not hear, poked his head out of his book.
"It's ok, Hermione," he said, "Neville's right, you couldn't have known. I'm not mad at you, or you, Elizabeth. Don't worry about it and let's just be friends. Deal?" Hermione and Lizzy, seeing that he meant it, brightened up a little.
"Deal," they said together and shook hands with him and Neville. They sat for a while, chatting. Lizzy and Hermione each told the boys where they lived and what going to Muggle school was like. Then, Hermione, fond of trying out new spells from her book, took out her wand. Although Dave knew that the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Under-Age Sorcery did not permit students to do magic outside of school, he also knew that it did not quite apply to students who had not yet been to school. However, he decided he'd rather not chance it and diverted her by asking,
"Hey, Hermione, what is your wand made of?" She looked a bit startled at being stopped from doing magic, but as discussing the properties of wands was still magic-related, she was content to answer,
"Mine's made of yew and griffin hair."
"What about yours, Neville?" Dave asked.
"Mine's elm and Augurey feather," Neville replied, "What about you, Lizzy?"
"Mine is birch with unicorn hair," Lizzy replied, smiling. She was rather fond of her wand.
All of a sudden, Neville looked around and exclaimed,
"Where's Trevor?"
"Who's Trevor?" Lizzy asked.
"That's his toad," Dave answered for him, "He must have slipped off and hidden somewhere again. I think he does it just to drive Neville bonkers." Dave smiled and got up to help Neville look for the toad. Hermione and Lizzy got up as well.
"Elizabeth, why don't you stay here, in case Trevor comes back?" Dave asked, "We'll split up and search the rest of the train. I'll go search up front, why don't you two start back here?" They nodded and Dave walked off towards the front of the train. Hermione went to check the last compartment while Neville checked the one of the other side of theirs.
Lizzy sat quietly, reflecting on the new friendships she'd just made. She thought that while Hermione was a bit outspoken, she still seemed to be a really nice girl. Neville was rather shy, but his manners were friendly and unaffected, and Lizzy decided he, too, would make quite a good friend. She glanced up every so often and looked around to see if Trevor the toad had come back. After a little while, Dave, Neville, and Hermione came back, Neville looking a bit dejected. Dave tried to cheer him up.
"Don't worry, Neville," he said, "Trevor's bound to turn up sooner or later. After all, you've never failed to find him yet, have you?"
"No…I guess you're right," Neville replied, sitting back down in his seat, "You haven't seen him, Lizzy?"
"No, sorry Neville, he hasn't been back here yet," Lizzy said. Dave changed the subject, trying to take Neville's mind off his missing toad.
"So, did anything interesting happen?" Dave asked the others, "Meet anyone interesting?"
"Well, Harry Potter is in the compartment next to ours," Hermione replied.
"Harry Potter?" Neville asked, "'The Boy Who Lived? What's he like?"
"Well, he seemed pretty friendly," she answered, "Although the red-haired boy who's sitting with him wasn't quite so polite. He had his mouth stuffed full of sweets the whole time he was talking."
"That'll be Ron Weasley," Dave said with a smile. He knew the Weasleys a bit and knew how fond Ron was of food.
"I met his twin brothers back on the platform," Lizzy chimed in.
"Oh, really? Have they tried to transfigure you into anything yet?" Dave asked, smiling even more.
"Well, no. They just bowed and said how delighted they were to meet…what'd they say…oh, such a lovely young lady," Lizzy replied, also smiling, "Then they got hauled away by their ears."
"Their Mum, Molly Weasley. She's a FORMIDABLE woman," Dave said.
"She's really nice, though," Lizzy replied. Dave nodded his agreement to that. "Oh, I remember now," Lizzy continued, "I saw Harry at Gringotts the day I went to get all my school stuff. He was with a really big man with a bushy, black beard."
"That's Rubeus Hagrid," Dave said, "He's the gamekeeper at Hogwarts. He's big and scary-looking, but really, the only reason he's so big is so that his heart can fit in him." Lizzy smiled at that and Dave continued, "Would you excuse me for a moment? I think I'll go make Harry's acquaintance." Lizzy and the others nodded and Dave left the compartment. He knocked on the door of the next compartment and, when he heard a voice inside say 'come in', opened the door.
"Hello," he greeted the two boys inside.
"Oh, hello Dave," Ron said, looking slightly startled, "I haven't seen you in a while."
"I know, I've been a little preoccupied, getting ready for school and all," Dave replied.
"Oh, Dave, this is Harry Potter," Ron said, indicating Harry, "Harry, this is David Murray."
"Nice to meet you," Harry said, putting his hand out for Dave to shake. Dave shook it and said,
"The pleasure's mine. How are you guys doing so far?"
"Oh we're just great," Ron replied, "Just tried a spell to turn my rat, Scabbers, yellow, but it didn't work. Oh, I know we're not supposed to do magic outside school, but hey, we haven't BEEN to school yet. They can't expect us to know that." Ron, Harry, and Dave grinned at that bit of logic.
"Well, ok, I'll head back to my compartment. Just remember, if you need anything, let me know," Dave said to the other two before returning to his own group. By this time, it was starting to get dark out and they knew they were nearly at Hogwarts. Dave and Neville left the compartment to let the girls change into their school robes, then the girls did the same while the boys changed. About ten minutes later, the train pulled into Hogsmeade Station.
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