Chapter Three
Off to Hogwarts
The following days at Diagon Alley were fun and enjoyable for Terry. He looked through his spell books (he left the potions, Herbology, history, creature, and theory books untouched) and tried performing some of the charms and spells. He had some luck with Levitating Charms. He managed to get a pencil to lift three inches in the air before it would drop with a clack. He had no luck with transfiguration spells (his pencil grew a tail and tried to stab him repeatedly).
Terry's acceptance to Hogwarts even lightened his parents' moods. Any customer that said they would soon be attending Hogwarts would be bombarded with Terry's parents' happiness.
"Oh, yes! We're very proud of our Terry," was so far his mother's favorite thing to say. While his father favored "My good ol' son is finally off to school. His mother and I were thinking about writing Quik-Spell if he didn't get his letter soon!" No matter what his parents said, it embarrassed Terry.
On August 30th, while Terry was packing his books and other equipment, his father lightly knocked on Terry's already open door.
"Your mother and I have been thinking and we realized that this will be your first birthday away from home." Terry hadn't thought of that. His first birthday at Hogwarts. "We decided to get you something special before you left, but we couldn't think of anything. So, we're just going to give you some money and you can buy your own present. We suggest a racing broom."
"But dad," Terry began, "you said that you can't own a broom at Hogwarts."
Mr Ollivander smiled. "That was before this." He held out a letter.
HOGWARTS SCHOOL
of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
Dear Parents or Legal Guardians,
In the past, Hogwarts School has not permitted first Year students to own their broomsticks. But, due to complaints from the students, we the staff have decided to overlook this rule for the subsequent terms. The rule was put into effect just to protect those students who could be seriously injured in the acts that are associated with the popular wizarding sport, Quidditch.
If you feel that your child is capable of playing Quidditch please sign the permission form enclosed with this letter. We assure you that students will not even touch a broom (with the exception of flying class) unless they have written permission from a legal guardian.
Your children are still eligible to play Quidditch even if they don't own their own brooms. They will just borrow the school's brooms. Our flying teacher, Madam Braile Soan, has taken the liberty to buy new school brooms. She has gotten an old but reliable model (Nimbus Two Thousand). We hope the majority of the new students can get out on the Quidditch pitch as soon as possible. We will expect your permission slip to get to us by owl very soon.
Sincerely,
Harry Potter
Harry Potter
Headmaster
Terry looked inside his envelope on his desk and indeed there was a tiny slip of parchment with a line for a signature. He took the form over to his father.
"Would you sign it?" he asked, hopefully.
"I would be glad to," said his father. Mr Ollivander took the form from Terry, went to Terry's desk, used Terry's ink and quill, and wrote his loopy signature on the parchment.
"There you go!" He handed it back to Terry who beamed.
"I hear that Zephryn Twenty-Sevens are very good brooms," said Mr Ollivander with a huge smile that almost consumed his face.
"Thanks, dad," said Terry.
His father exited the room and Terry followed. They went down the stairs in gleeful silence and separated at the bottom of the stairs. Mr Ollivander went to the back room to get started on the new shipment of wand wood he received while Terry headed for the door.
Terry stepped out into the blinding morning sun and he had to put his hand to his forehead for shade. He made a left and headed down Diagon Alley. He glanced far down Diagon Alley and saw Quality Quidditch Supplies. But, for some odd reason, he didn't want a broom. No. What he really wanted was a friend (I think that was the corniest sentence I have ever written, but I digress). His life at Diagon Alley had been boring and uneventful. He looked four doors down at the Magical Menagerie. There were lots of friends there (I changed my mind. That was the corniest sentence I have ever written).
When he opened the door, a tiny bell jangled. He looked around. To his immediate right was an owl with a tiny sombrero on doing the Macarena. There was a dog that would ribbit from time to time to his left. He approached the counter and rang a bell on it.
A tall man dressed in mauve robes came out of the back room holding what looked like a small bundle of gray blankets.
"Ah, Midder. You're not doing so well," the man said. He placed the bundle on the cash register. The bundle then stared at Terry with green-yellow eyes with slits for pupils. Terry then realized it was a gray long-haired cat.
"Can I help you?" asked the store manager.
"Yes, um, I'm here to get a pet," Terry told the store owner.
"Ah, yes! Well, we have a lovely stock of crups! Would you like one of those?"
"What are crups?" Terry now wished he had looked at his copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
"They are dogs that resemble Jack Russel Terriers. The only hitch is they have a forked tail." After the word "forked" Terry shook his head.
"No? Or, how about a flobberworm?"
Terry knew what these were. A long brown worm. It sounded terribly uneventful. He shook his head again. The owner offered just about the entire store. He went through the horklumps (mushroom like things), a jobberknoll (a mute bird that only sings when it dies), and even offered Terry a gnome. Terry (of course) turned these all down. It seemed like he went through the entire store.
"Well, the only thing I have left is a knarl," said the owner, patting a hedgehog like thing gingerly with bruised and bandaged fingers, "but you don't want that. They are too defensive. I had one that almost tried to kill me because I squeezed it too tightly."
The cat on the register stared at the knarl with great interest. Then, it spotted Terry. The cat hopped down off her home and started to try to get Terry to pet her.
Then, it struck Terry.
"Is this cat for sale?" he asked.
"You don't want this cat," the owner told him. "It has no magical ability what so ever. I've been trying to teach it to play a little miniature piano, but no luck."
"I like it. I don't care about its magical capabilities. How much?"
"Well, she's just an ordinary cat," the owner said, frowning. His frown then turned into a smile. "But, if you really want her, I'll give her to you. How do three Galleons and two Sickles sound to you?"
"It sounds perfect!" Terry fished in his pocket and drew out three gold Galleons and two silver Sickles. The cat leapt into his arms and began to purr loudly.
"Her name is Midnight; Midder for short," said the store owner. "Food isn't really an issue. She can hunt for herself, but will be more than willing to have table scraps, but don't give her too many."
Terry thanked the store owner and headed home, petting Midnight all the way.
"Wake up Terry!" a voice said from downstairs. Terry opened his eyes slowly and looked outside. It was the crack of dawn. The sky was still an orangey-purple with baby blue fluffs for clouds.
Terry moaned. He hated getting up early.
"If you don't want to miss the train, get down here!"
Train? What train? Then he remembered. The train to school. The train to Hogwarts.
Terry lifted Midnight off his bed and set her on the floor. He quickly got dressed (in his Muggle clothes like his mother told him) and headed downstairs, Midnight in his wake.
His mother and father were in the back room, which had a little kitchen, cooking breakfast.
His father was reading the Daily Prophet with a dazed look in his eyes. This told Terry that he was not quite yet all the way awake.
He plopped down in a chair and Midnight jumped up onto his lap.
Terry's looked at his father. He obviously didn't know how Muggles dressed. He was wearing a polka-dotted button down shirt with a striped sports-coat on top of it. His pants were an ugly shade of green and he wore a plaid neck-tie. His mother, however, wore a blue blouse and a black skirt. Terry had seen Muggles on occasion. Sometimes, kids from non-magical families would bring their parents to Diagon Alley.
"Finally, you're awake," said his mother when she noticed him. "I thought I was going to yell myself hoarse if you didn't get up soon. Eat up." She put some eggs and two strips of bacon on Terry's plate. "We have to get to Kings Cross at by latest ten o'clock. It's a long walk."
"We're walking!" said Terry in surprise. "But, why can't we use Floo powder?"
"We're out," said his father, putting down the Daily Prophet and taking a bite out of his bacon. "We already called Mr Milkswurth. He's out too. And Magic from A to Z is out of stock. And you don't have a broom and can't Apparate."
"So, we're walking."
"Fine!" said an irritated Terry.
Mr Ollivander pulled out his wand and said "Incarcerus Tangibilus!" A tiny cage appeared. "Put Midnight in here. We can't have a cat running loose in London."
Terry did as he was told. Midnight gave a tremendous fight. Mrs Ollivander had to use an Immobile Charm on her, assuring Terry it wasn't permanent.
They set out around eight. Mr Ollivander used a spell to lighten the load and carried it, pretending to struggle with it.
The arrived at King's Cross around nine forty-five. They got a trolley and put Terry's trunk and Midnight's cage on it.
"We're nice and early," said his mother, looking at her wristwatch. "You can get a good seat, Terry."
They moved across the busy station to platform nine. They found the barrier between the two platforms.
Terry's parents showed him how easy it was. His mother went first. She leaned casually on the barrier until a group of Muggles walked by. By time they had passed through, Mrs Ollivander was gone.
"Okay, Terry. You next," said his father.
Terry approached the barrier and was just about to pass through, when a girl with a pointed face and white-blonde hair came and shoved him out of the way and passed herself.
"Out of my way!" she said as she passed through.
Terry sat there, rooted to the spot, dumbstruck. His father saw he hadn't passed through and rushed over.
"What happened?" he asked. He had a look of concern on his face.
"Some girl came and pushed me out of the way," Terry told his father.
"What did she look like?"
Terry tried to recall. "She had blue eyes—" What else? "And a kind of pointed face. And blonde hair. That's all I remember."
"Malfoy" said Mr Ollivander through clenched teeth. "That was the daughter of Draco and Pansy Malfoy. The both of them were in Slytherin." He pointed at two people. The man was tall and had blonde hair while the woman had a pug like face with black hair. "Draco Malfoy's father, Lucious Mafoy, was imprisoned for being a Death Eater."
Terry looked confused.
"What's a Death Eater?" asked Terry.
"That's right," said Mr Ollivander, enlightenment glowing in his face, "they were before your time. Well, about forty Years ago, there was a dark wizard by the name of," he dropped his voice to a whisper, "Voldemort. He and his supporters killed thousands upon thousands of people. It was horrible.
"He was temporarily put out of power for about thirteen Years, but was brought back to power by his most faithful servants. Then, three Years later, he was permanently vanquished."
"Who got rid of him?" asked Terry, very interested.
"A man by the name of Harry Potter."
Harry Potter. Terry knew that name. Then he remembered what his letter said:
Headmaster: Harry Potter
"He's the headmaster of Hogwarts!" announced Terry, a little too loudly. People stared at him.
"So he is. So he is," said his father. "You know, I sold him his wand. Seems only yesterday..." Mr Ollivander closed his eyes. "Hollyphoenix feathereleven inchespowerful wand. It was the brother of the wand of Voldemort." He looked back at his wristwatch. "Goodness, Terry! You're going to be late. Just go through the barrier. No one's looking."
Terry grabbed the trolley and wheeled it toward the platform. He ran at it. Just when he was about to hit the barrier, platform nine and three-quarters appeared in front of him.
A scarlet red steam engine sat on the tracks. Students young and old were crowded the station. Parents and grandparents hugged and kissed their children and waved to them as they boarded the magnificent train, the Hogwarts Express.
Terry continued to wheel his trolley to where a conductor was loading luggage onto the train. He seemed to be struggling with it. Terry put his trunk in the pile, and felt sorry for him after the conductor saw the luggage and almost had a fit.
Another conductor rushed out of one of the cars. He noticed the other conductor and strode over to him.
"Are you a wizard, or not?" said the new conductor. He took out his wand and said "Locomotor luggage!" He conducted the luggage into the train. The other conductor looked embarrassed and started rubbing the back of his neck nervously.
Still holding Midnight's cage, Terry found his mother who had been joined by Terry's father.
"All ready to go?" asked his father.
"Yep, I think so," Terry replied. He looked back at the train.
"One minute! One minute 'til departure!" yelled the conductor.
"Better get on the train," said his mother. "You don't want to miss it."
Terry hugged them both and his mother gave him an extra kiss on the cheek.
"If you forget something, write us. We'll send it."
Terry got onto the train. He went past a window, saw his parents again, and waved. He then carried Midnight's cage and moved along the train trying to find a good compartment. The train gave a sudden lurch and Terry knew they had left the station.
He traveled further along the cars. He stopped at the very last one close to back of the train and recognized the freckles and black hair.
Terry opened the door.
"Travis!" said Terry, excitedly.
"Terry! I hoped we would run into each other." Travis smiled. "Come in. Gary's down two compartments with his friends."
Terry sat down and set the cage next to him. He opened the cage and let Midnight (who had finally unfrozen) out of her prison.
"Gary promised he would sit with me," Travis started, "but he saw," he changed his voice to a cruel imitation of Gary, "Naria Webster and was off." He chuckled. "So who's that?" Midnight had started to swat at a fly on the window sill.
"That's Midnight. I got her for my birthday." She leapt head-on into the window and bounced off, landing on her back. She shook it off and sat in Terry's lap. "She's the weirdest cat I've ever seen." Midnight looked up at him, bliss (and oblivious to fact she was just called weird) written on her face.
The trip rolled on. Terry and Travis spoke a lot about their interests. Each had never heard of what the other was talking about. Travis had never heard of Quidditch (but his parents signed the form anyway) and Terry had never heard of baseball.
Halfway along, a short gray-haired witch pushing a cart of sweets came by. Terry bought all of his favorites. Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Cauldron Cakes, Weasley Wizards Wheezes Skiving Snack Boxes, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Bestman's Animal Toffees, Pepper Imps (which he bought only to watch Travis eat), Fizzing Wizbees, and a large supply of Chocolate frogs.
"Here," said Terry, tossing a Chocolate Frog at Travis, "try one."
Travis opened the pentagonal package and got the shock of his life when a Chocolate Frog leapt out at him. It fell with a thud and remained motionless. Both Terry and Travis laughed long and hard. Then, Travis looked down at his packaging.
"What is this?" he asked. He pulled out a card.
"Oh, each pack of Chocolate Frogs comes with a Famous Witch or Wizard Card," explained Terry. "Who'd you get?"
"Dymphna Furmage. It says she was abducted by pixies. Do pixies really do that?" Travis looked worried.
"Yeah. But that's the only known case of abduction. But, they're mainly just pests," said Terry casually.
They started on their other sweets. They got laughs out of Bestman's Animal Toffees; candies which make you imitate animals. They took turns getting gravely ill with the Weasley Wizards Wheezes Skiving Snack Boxes. Terry nearly died laughing when Travis had a whack at the Pepper Imps. But Terry laughed the most when he tricked Travis into eating a vomit flavored Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Bean.
Suddenly, a voice echoed through out the train. "We will be arriving in ten minutes. Please change into your robes."
Terry frowned. His robes were in his trunk. How could he retrieve them now?
"Travis! I forgot my robes in my truck. I think I need to go see the conductor. Be back later." Terry left the compartment.
He traveled down the corridor and passed through seven cars when he finally found a conductor.
The conductor was already helping a girl. She had curly blonde hair with four large ringlets in the front. Her face was rosy and freckled. She looked like she had been in the sun. Her dress was made of light yellow fabric with sunflowers printed on it. To top it all off, she wore a large sunhat.
"Please, sir," she began. Terry didn't recognize the accent. It sounded like a Southern American accent, but he couldn't be sure.
"Yes, little girl?" replied the conductor.
"I left my robes in my trunk which I had put on the luggage compartment," the girl told him. "Is there anyway to get them back?"
"Did the same thing happen to you, kid?" the conductor asked Terry.
Terry nodded.
"Not to worry. This happens every Year. Before we depart we put a little charm on the luggage to spit out robes. Only two came out, so I hope they're yours." He went into a tiny little coat closet and pulled out two long black robes, one longer than the other.
"The one on the left is mine," said the girl, pointing to the shorter one.
The conductor handed it back to the girl. Then he said, "So this must be yours." He handed the other robe to Terry. "Now get along. We'll be there shortly."
The girl and Terry walked down the corridor quietly. Eventually, they stopped at a compartment.
"This is my compartment," said the girl. "I best be off."
"Alright," was all that Terry said.
"My name's Alia Clavereaux. And yours?" She held out her dainty hand. Terry took it.
"Mine's Terry. Terry Ollivander." They shook. "Tell me, I didn't recognize your accent. Where are you from?"
"Georgia. You know, in America. My parents went to Hogwarts and wanted me to go Hogwarts too so, we moved back to London." She smiled.
"I had a feeling. Anyway, better get going," said Terry. "See you at school!"
They waved silently and Terry moved on down the corridor. He found his lone compartment at the end where Travis had already changed into his robes.
"What took you?" asked Travis when Terry finally got back.
"I met someone." He closed the sliding door behind him. He told Travis all about meeting Alia as he changed into his robes.
"Cool. So there's a Southerner here at Hogwarts. You get a funny crowd here."
Terry didn't care, funny crowd or not. If he was not mistaken, he had just made his third friend (if you count Midnight). Terry had a feeling that school was going to be better than he had ever hoped"