For Neither Can Live While the Other Survives
Chapter Six
The Hogwart's Express
Disclaimer: Nothing you might recognise belongs to me.
"Come on Sirius! Come on!" shrieked Harry, dragging his god father along the station, "We're going to miss the train!"
"Don't sweat, Harry," said Sirius, trying to keep control of the trolley, on which Harry's trunk and owl cage were sat, "It's only a quarter to eleven!"
"I don't want to be late though!" said Harry, stopping dead between platforms nine and ten, "Where's platform nine and three quarters?"
"You see that barrier there, Harry?" said Sirius, calmly pointing towards it,
"Yeah," said Harry, "What about it?"
"You walk through it to get to platform nine and three quarters. Come on, let's go," said Sirius. Harry took his god fathers arm and together they strode quickly towards the barrier. Harry held his breath as they got closer and closer and shut his eyes. When he opened them again, a huge steam train was smoking in front of him.
"We did it!" he cried, "Look, it's the Hogwarts Express. Wow!"
Sirius smiled as he watched Harry caper around. "Come on then Harry. Let's get you on the train!"
He picked up the trunk and walked onto the train. Harry followed after.
"Put it in here," Harry said, gesturing to an empty compartment,
"Right boss," said Sirius, with a wink. They stowed the trunk away and Harry put his owl on an empty seat. Then he got off the train.
"Will you come and see me?" he asked,
"Of course. In fact, I'm renting out a little flat in Hogsmeade, so I can see you all the time," said Sirius,
"Cool. Hogsmeade is the village near Hogwarts isn't it?" asked Harry,
"Yeah. Third Years and above can visit it on special weekends if they want. Anyway, you better go. Make some friends and write to me tomorrow evening. OK?" said Sirius,
"OK. Bye Sirius," said Harry, hugging him. Sirius returned the hug and gently shepherded Harry onto the train. Harry sat down in his compartment and stared out of the window. Sirius grinned as the whistle blew.
"Bye!" Harry mouthed, grinning back. Sirius transformed into Padfoot and loped alongside the train as it gathered speed. Harry laughed and waved, until Sirius became a dot in the distance. He was on his own.
"Erm, excuse me?" said a voice. Harry looked around. A tall boy with red hair stood nervously in the doorway. "Can I sit here? Everywhere else is full."
"Course," said Harry, "What's your name?"
"Ron Weasley. What's yours?" answered the boy,
"Harry Potter," said Harry.
"Really?" asked Ron, "Wow. Can I see your scar?"
"Erm, OK," said Harry, lifting his fringe.
Ron stared fascinated. "Cool. You killed You Know Who didn't you?"
"Who? Voldemort?"
Ron gasped.
"What's wrong?" asked Harry,
"You said You Know Who's name!" said Ron,
"Why shouldn't I?" enquired Harry, confused,
Ron considered. "Actually, I don't know. I was bought up saying You Know Who,"
"Weird," said Harry, "Are you in First year too?" asked Harry,
"Oh yeah. I'm a first year, in second hand robes, with second hand spell books and a second hand wand!" said Ron, dismally,
"Oh," said Harry, not really knowing what to say.
"It's 'cause my family's a bit poor," explained Ron, reddening, "I have five brothers and one sister. I'm the second youngest. You could say I have a lot to live up to. Bill, my oldest brother was Head Boy, my second oldest brother, Charlie, was Quidditch captain, my third oldest brother, is a prefect, my twin brothers, Fred and George, get really good marks, and my little sister, Ginny, well she's a girl so she doesn't have so much to live up to,"
"Wow," said Harry, "So, is Bill and… Charlie at Hogwarts still?"
"Nope. It's me starting this year, Percy the Prefect is in his fifth year, Fred and George are in their third year and Ginny's not started yet. Bill works for Gringotts and Charlie's in Romania, working with dragons!" explained Ron,
"Wow," said Harry again, "I'm an only child!"
"Who do you live with?" asked Ron, "I know your parents were killed…"
"My god father Sirius. He was my dad's best friend when they were at Hogwarts. He's cool. He's a father to me," said Harry,
"What Quidditch team do you support?" asked Ron,
"I don't know any 'cause I didn't grow up in the Wizarding world," said Harry, "I know about Quidditch. Cant wait to play it though!"
"Yeah. Maybe we'll have a few games in our free time," said Ron, "I can't believe you can't get onto the house teams before second year!"
The rest of the journey passed quickly. Ron and Harry made friends and chatted non stop. At last, just as it was getting dark, the train pulled into Hogsmeade. Ron and Harry scrambled off the train, looking around nervously.
"Alright, little bro?" said a jolly voice,
"Hi Fred," said Ron, looking at a boy,
"What about me?" said an identical boy, springing out of the train,
"Hi George. Where do we go now?"
"Hagrid over there. See him. He's kind of hard not to miss. See you at the Gryffindor table. You better get in!" said Fred,
"Yeah. See you," said George.
"My twin brothers," explained Ron, as they fought their way over towards a tall man,
"Wow," gasped Harry, as he realised the tall man was even taller than he thought.
"Firs' years. Over here!" the man yelled, "Firs' years!"
Five minutes later, Hagrid led the first years towards a lake. Sitting in the shallow water, were a fleet of small boats.
"OK. Hop in a boat. No more than four to a boat!" said Hagrid, clambering into one.
Harry and Ron scrambled into a boat and we shortly joined by a small round faced boy.
"Hi, I'm Neville Longbottom," he introduced himself,
"Hi. I'm Ron Weasley and this is Harry Potter," said Ron,
"Really? Wow, nice to meet you Harry!" said Neville, wringing Harry's hand, "Oh, and you Ron!"
The boats started to row by themselves and very shortly the journey was over and they were standing outside a massive door.
"Are we all 'ere?" asked Hagrid, swiftly counting, "Good!"
He raised his fist and knocked three times on the door.