Notes: That last chapter sucked, I admit it. No matter how many times I went over it, I just couldn't get ch 4 to work right. The scene with Dumbledore and Hagrid was the only one that I liked, the rest…feh. This chapter though, Is a lot better. This is the one where the story really starts to take shape.
Edited 6/25/05 Removed scene that is mentioned at the beginning of ch 6.
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Potter – The Stone
Chapter 05
By Cory D. Rose
(c) 2005
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A week later, wearing a long sleeved blue silk shirt and baggy black pants, Harry strolled through the crowded train station looking a little confused. His ticket said that he was to report to platform 9 and 3/4 and yet it didn't seem to exist. He was starting to get a little irritated and glanced over at a guard.
Harry was starting to think that Hagrid forgot to tell him something. For a second Harry really wondered if he should get his wand out and start tapping all the bricks between platform's nine and ten. He laughed to himself for a second, then stumbled forward as a large family nudged him out of the way.
"…blasted muggles are everywhere." One of them snapped under his breath.
Giving the kid a glare, which the red head didn't see, Harry started to follow along behind them. He kept his presence as unobtrusive as possible as he trailed them. They were to busy whispering among themselves to notice him though. Harry noted that a couple of the boys were holding tickets identical to his.
They moved towards a column set right between platforms nine and ten and the one Harry assumed was their mother, a plump woman, pushed one of four red headed boys forward. "Go on Percy, you first."
"Thank you Mother." He said formally and walked forward.
Suddenly a large number of people seemed to pass behind the boy as he reached the wall, by the time they passed the boy was gone. The same happened for the next two boys, twins by the look of them. The forth boy was nervous, but he stalked forward and vanished into the crowd of people.
"Oh hello."
Harry almost jumped, but controlled himself as he turned to the woman as she looked him over. He noticed the little girl trying to hide behind her. "Hello?"
"Hogwarts ticket I see, need help getting to the platform?"
"Please?" Harry asked, relieved that she was willing to help.
"It's easy, just walk towards the barrier and right through it. Don't be nervous and you'll be fine."
Harry nodded and walked towards the wall feeling a little silly. He closed his eyes and hoped he wasn't about to make a fool out of himself by walking into a wall. He picked up speed and nearly stumbled when he didn't run into anything a few seconds later.
Opening his eyes he found himself standing on a platform, a nearby sign read: Hogwarts Express 11 o'clock. A large red steam train stood waiting next to the platform, dark gray smoke rising into the air. He could even smell the smoke from the engine as it hung over the heads of all the children as they boarded the train. There were owls, cats, and even several frogs everywhere he looked.
Moving forward Harry pushed his way through the crowd of children until he was able to make his way onto the train and wandered around until he found an empty car. Sighing in relief, he quickly found a seat and sat down. Harry watched as the red heads from before started to help each other get their trunks onto the train.
He wondered for a moment if he should have kept his trunk enlarged and loaded it on the train like the others. There wasn't anything that said he had to do that so he shrugged it off. According to the ticket the whole trip would take about nine hours so he was glad he had his trunk with him.
Ranma spent quite a bit of time loading one of the smaller compartments with various kinds of junk food and snacks. Most of it was down in the kitchen though. The rest was in a small drawer so it would be easier to access. He looked up as the door to the compartment was pulled open and the red headed boys stepped inside.
"Mind if…
"…we share?" The twins asked.
Harry laughed. "Not at all."
"Thanks." They said at the same time and quickly sat down. The third boy started to sit down and froze in place gaping at Harry.
"Dementor got your tongue Ron?"
"It's H-H-H-" Ron stuttered."
"Well a cat at least." The second twin said and held out his hand to Harry. "Fred and George Weasley, even we don't…
"…know who is who after thirteen years. And we really tried to find out too."
Harry laughed again, the boys had their sense of timing down quite well. He shook their hands. "Harry Potter."
Ron squeaked.
"Really?" Fred said as he glanced at Harry's head. "Amazing, I never expected to meet you before. Wicked!"
"You think your surprised, I had no clue who I was until Hagrid showed up and explained things to me." Harry said.
"HARRY POTTER!" Ron yelled.
"We've established that." Harry said, giving the boy a look which made him blush. The twins laughed.
"At least Percy…"
"…isn't here."
"Oh?" Harry asked.
"He's our other brother, but he was made a prefect over the summer and it's been driving the…"
"…whole family nuts. He never shuts up about what an honor it is, and struts around like he's got a stick up his bum." The one Harry decided was Fred, said.
Suddenly the door opened up and two older boys ran in, whispered something to the twins and ran out. Fred and George grinned as they got up. "We'll be back after while, seems there's a giant tarantula we have to go see." George said as they glided out of the car.
Ron finally got control of himself and managed to sit down across from Harry, though he was still openly gaping at him. Which was beginning to get on Harry's nerves, just a bit. Then the red headed boy gulped and tried to get control of himself. "Are you really Harry Potter?"
"Yep."
"Wicked! I thought my brothers were playing another joke on me. They joke around all the time. Scar! You've really got the…"
Harry humored the boy by lifting the bangs of his hair up to reveal the lightning bolt scar. "Yep." He drawled. "Though I can't recall when it happened, just a flash of green light."
"Wow, that's just…wow." Ron said, staring again.
Harry sighed. This was going to get old quick. He reached into his pants and pulled out some hard candy to suck on. He gave a handful to Ron.
"What's this?"
"Just some candy."
"I've never seen this kind before."
"Just Jolly Ranchers." Harry said with a shrug.
Ron quickly handed them back looking a little scared.
"What?"
"I don't want to be a happy cow boy, being turned into a chicken was bad enough when the twins did it."
Harry started laughing.
"It's not funny!"
"Alright, alright, it's just candy Ron. It won't do anything to you and I don't know any magic yet anyway."
"What, none?"
"Nope, just found out I was a wizard about a month ago."
"But you…you took out He Who Must Not Be Named! You have to know all about that!"
Harry shrugged. "Not a thing except what I've read about in a couple of my books. I grew up thinking I was a normal person, well relatively normal. What's that moving in your shirt?"
"Oh!" Ron said as he leaned back. Reaching inside his shirt, he pulled out a tired looking rat that looked like it had seen better days. It was even missing a toe. It yawned as Ron held him up for Harry to look at. "This is Scabbers."
"Cool."
"Naw, he's useless. Scabbers belonged to Percy, but he got an owl when he was made prefect and he gave me the rat."
"You should have gotten an owl, they are dead useful."
"We couldn't aff…I mean mom made sure I got Scabbers." Ron said, refusing to look Harry in the eye.
"I see."
A little while later the door opened up and they could see a woman with a cart piled high with candy and goodies. Harry was more than happy to grab something to eat since he hadn't eaten anything for breakfast. Morning sparing had taken a little longer than usual and Ranma wanted to make sure he got enough practice in before they had to leave.
Harry was a bit dismayed to see that the cart didn't have any foods he recognized. So he bought a few of everything and gave half of it to Ron before the boy could refuse. He was a bit surprised when it didn't cost him as much as he expected.
"Hungry?"
"I'm starved, those candies earlier just weren't enough."
"I hear ya." The red head said as he ate.
"A chocolate frog? Ewe…" Harry said, holding up a package. "These aren't really..."
"Naw, just chocolate shaped like a frog, they'll jump around two or three times before they run out of magic. They come with a card though, look and see who you got."
Harry quickly opened the package and ate the frog then turned the card over. "Albus Dumbledore."
"That's a good one, but if you happen to see Agrippa or Ptolemy card I'll trade you some good ones for them." Ron said.
Harry examined the card, reading about how Dumbledore was the Headmaster of Hogwarts, one of the most powerful wizards around currently, and how with the help of a guy named Flamel invented several uses for dragon blood. On the other hand, the guy liked to bowl for some reason.
"Hey, he's gone." Harry said as he turned the card back over.
"Of course, can't expect him to stick around all day can you?"
"Guess not, but I've never known a picture to just move around." Harry said, sticking the card in his pocket.
After Ron tore into the Every Flavor beans and found a rather nasty one, Harry decided that he didn't want to have any of them. There seemed to be a large number of brown beans in the back. Inching away from the potentially disgusting beans, Harry glanced out the window as the train moved across the country side.
The wide and well kept fields were gone and had been replaced by the untamed country side. Wide rivers, more and more trees, and unending hills covered in a deep green covering of plants that hadn't seen a human hand in hundreds of years.
There was a light tap at the door to their compartment and a slightly pudgy boy stuck his head in. "Have any of you seen a toad?"
"Nope." Harry said as him and Ron shook their heads.
The boy seemed to deflate and slowly backed out of the compartment and headed down the hall towards the next compartment. Harry got up and shut the door just to make sure no one could stand there and start at him. He was really starting to dislike being famous. At least the boy hadn't fallen all over himself like Ron did.
Of course Ron wasn't as awe struck as he was at first, so Harry was a little calmer around him by now. Just as he was about to sit down the door opened again. This time a girl stuck her head in and looked around. "Have either of you seen a toad? Neville seems to have lost his."
"Sorry, we haven't seen him." Ron said, looking the girl over.
She was a little taller than them, long brown hair, glasses, and wearing her Hogwarts robes. Harry sat back down as Ron talked to her and tried not to sigh. He could tell that the girl was going to want to know his name. Stupid famous name.
"I'm Hermione Granger by the way."
"Ron Weasley."
"…Harry Potter." Harry said, resigned to his fate.
The girl's eyes widened just a bit. "Really! I've read all about you!"
Harry was surprised when the girl didn't stare openly at his forehead. "You've read about me?"
"Oh my yes, I picked up some extra books for the trip. Several of them talk about you."
Harry shrugged. He really didn't want to talk about it. "I've read a couple myself."
"By the way, any idea what house you'll be in?" She asked, looking at Harry.
"No, but I know which one I don't want to be in."
"Me too, I just wonder how they are going to sort us into houses." She said, almost talking to herself. She adjusted her glasses. They gleamed in the setting sun as the light streamed through the window. "I'll see you around, gotta help Neville."
She shut the door and Ron sighed loudly. "What a ruddy bore! I thought she would never leave."
Harry laughed a little and quickly forgot about the girl. He had read about himself in several of the books over the last month, but none of them ever explained how he survived, only that he had. It was all a bit confusing as far as he was concerned.
"Speaking of houses, I'm pretty sure I'm going to be in Gryffindor. All my brothers are so it's a pretty good bet that I will be too, but one never knows. I'd quit school if I ended up in Slytherin though." Ron said and Harry could tell that the boy meant it.
"Why?"
"Slyths are horrible." Ron growled. "Every witch or wizard that has ever gone bad has come out of or had some connection to Slytherin house. You Know Who was in that house and look what he did."
Harry didn't know what to say. He understood what Ron was talking about, but the only people he could really hate that much was his relatives and they earned that a hundred fold. "Well I'll have to wait and see."
"Trust me, they're bad news. Even Fred and George complain about them all the time." Ron stated.
The door opened, again, and Harry almost groaned and wished the blasted door had a lock on it. Three boys stepped into the compartment and looked around. Harry instantly recognized the one shortest one in the middle as the blonde boy from Diagon Alley.
"You!" He yelled and pointed at Harry.
"Yes?"
"You're Harry Potter?" He sneered.
"Yep, what about it?"
The two boys behind Draco, rather large ones stood on either side of Draco. They looked like a pair of body guards. Harry took one look at the three of them and instantly disliked them. It was just a feeling, but Harry, because of his training, was good judge of character.
"This is Crabbe and Goyle, and as I told you before, I'm Draco Malfoy."
"I'd advise you not to hang out with this trash." Draco said, pointing at Ron. "Some wizarding families are better than others. It's best you make friends with the right…sort of wizard." Draco said arrogantly, glaring at Ron with contempt.
"I think I can choose my own friends." Harry said evenly, though his fist was starting to itch. He had to resist the urge to bop the boy one for insulting Ron like that.
Draco glared at him. "You'd best learn your place or you'll end up like your parents and I can make it happen."
Crabble and Goyle moved in front of Draco as they watched Harry's face go completely blank. Eyes burning in rage, Harry slowly turned to stare at Draco, no Malfoy, and everyone felt a wave of anger flood the compartment.
An aura of red energy formed around Harry as he stood there, his eyes glowing with power. Malfoy backed up a couple of steps and went a little more pale. Even the body guards stepped back in shock as Harry's eyes turned on them. "Get out, or you will learn just how big of a mistake you just made."
"I-I-I…" Draco stuttered in fear.
The three boys scrambled to get out of the compartment, they tripped over each other several times as they scrambled to get away. Even Ron backed away a little and he knew Harry wasn't talking about him. He was starring in awe at Harry again as the boy slowly calmed down
Clenching his fists, Harry growled a little and he kept glancing at the door as if expecting them to come back. Finally the energy radiating off Harry vanished as quickly as it flared to life. Ron looked down at the burn mark on the floor boards.
"Whoa."
"Sorry you had to see that." Harry said as he sat down. He looked really tired though.
"How did you do that! I thought you said you didn't know anything about magic?"
"My teacher has been teaching me how to harness Ki energy for a couple of years now. That was the first time I've ever been able to tap into it though. Kind of figures it would be anger though."
"That was bloody amazing! You burned the floor!" Ron said and pointed at it.
Sighing, Harry looked down and chuckled a little. "I guess I did. Hopefully that brat won't be back any time soon."
"After that I bet he'll never talk to you again."
"Good." Harry muttered.
"I've heard about the Malfoy family before. Slytherins the lot of them. They even used to follow You Know Who and were some of the first ones to change sides after He fell. They are bad news according to my father."
Harry nodded, not a bit surprised and then rolled his eyes as the door opened once more. But this wasn't Malfoy returning, but Hermione Granger and she looked a bit confused. She glanced at them over the edge of her glasses. "Three boys just ran to the other end of the train and are hiding in the baggage carriage. They won't come out either. What's going on?"
Ron started laughing and pointed at Harry.
She turned towards him. "So?"
Sitting up tiredly, Harry shrugged. "Don't worry about it."
Her lips thinned a little as she tried to thing up something to say, but Harry leaned back and closed his eyes. "I…"
"It's nothing to worry about." Harry said.
"They threatened to kill Harry." Ron said finally, still snickering at the thought of the boy's cowering on the other end of the train.
"They did WHAT!" Hermione yelled.
"Don't worry about it, Harry showed them something they weren't expecting and they ran away like the cowards they are."
Hermione blew out some air and nodded slowly. "The others are acting so childish that I stepped in here to get out of the way." She huffed as she turned to leave, nearly being run down by a pair of boys running by yelling loudly. Ron started laughing again.
Harry was about to close his eyes when a voice echoed through the train telling them that they were fifteen minutes from Hogsmead station.
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Inside the trunk, Ranma was sitting at the table in the kitchen looking up at the 'ceiling' and wondering what had just pissed off his student so much.
"Amazing that he was able to form a Ki aura this soon." Ranma muttered, then shrugged. He could tell that the situation was over and he didn't need to worry about it at all.
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Notes: Akane can be truly scary when she flares her battle aura because it's pure anger and rage. Harry's battle aura was just as scary and uncontrolled as Akane's. It is also something that wizards would be unlikely to have ever encountered before.