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Harry Potter and the Dragon's Fire

03: Aboard the Hogwarts Express

"Take care, Sakura-chan!" Tomoyo gathered all her strength and gave Sakura a bear hug. It was minutes before she released the Card Mistress.

"Ow, Tomoyo-chan, that hurt…" Sakura said, pouting and rubbing her shoulders.

"It's supposed to last until the holidays," the violet-haired girl said and grinned, fishing her video camera out of her bag. She zoomed it on everybody's faces—Eriol smiled calmly, Syaoran looked away, Sakura (as usual) blushed, Meiling grinned enthusiastically, Keroberos poked his head out of Sakura's bag and Suppi looked bored.

The clock chimed eleven o'clock. Tomoyo put away her camera, looking a bit saddened. "Well, this is goodbye then."

"No, it's more of, 'Until next time,' Daidouji-san," Eriol said.

Tomoyo smiled shyly at him. "Until next time then."

"Now, where is this Platform Nine and Three-Quarters anyway?" Meiling asked loudly, earning them a couple of glances from the passers-by. "Look, there's Platform Nine and Platform Ten—where's ours?"

"Squashed between the two?" Syaoran volunteered sardonically.

"As a matter of fact, it is, my darling descendant!"

"Hmm, so it's invisible?" Sakura asked, skeptically, looking away from Selene to squint at the space between the two platforms.

"I'll explain on the way," Eriol said, starting for the barrier closest to Platform Ten. "Come, we're going to miss the train."

The others followed, pushing their trolleys.

"That barrier," Eriol pointed, "is the gate towards Platform Nine and Three Quarters. All you have to do is walk straight ahead, into the wall, and you will find yourself in. Questions?"

"How do we know you're not joking?" That was from Syaoran.

"Come on, we're wasting time!" Sakura exclaimed. It was a quarter after eleven. "I'll go first, so you can stop second-guessing Eriol-kun, Syaoran."

She pushed her trolley, breaking into a sprint as she neared the barrier. Syaoran, half-expecting her to fall backwards once she hit the wall, nearly cried out, "Stop!" He didn't, however, because his jaw just hung open. Sakura was gone.

"Err…" Syaoran mumbled.

"Apology accepted," Eriol said, his eyes containing a glimpse of mischief.

"I'll go next," Meiling said and in a few seconds, joined Sakura on the other side of the barrier.

Syaoran said nothing but ran to the barrier like the other two before him. Then he found himself facing a crimson steam engine beside a platform. It was teeming with people. Eriol joined him shortly.

"Syaoran-kun! Eriol-kun!" Sakura shouted at them from one of the carriages, waving her hands to get their attention. They were already on the train.

Minutes after Syaoran and Eriol pushed their way through variously clad people, they finally joined Meiling and Sakura in a compartment.

"Just in time," Eriol said, making himself comfortable. The train started to move.

"What is it anyway?" Meiling asked. "All this magic business, I mean. How is it different from the magic Syaoran and Sakura possess?"

This question halted the squabbling of Syaoran and Kero, and the general chatter of the compartment. The blue-eyed boy paused for a moment before addressing her question.

"Well, we've all got magic inside of us. Some very, very powerful, others not so. We don't possess a different kind of magic. The thing that differs here is how we wield our magic and the tools we use. Sakura uses cards; Syaoran, his sword. This has advantages as well as its limits. Syaoran uses his magic strictly for battle; Sakura can use it for a number of reasons. She is, however, incapacitated when she leaves her cards behind."

At this, Sakura fingered her key pendant and rummaged for the said cards.

"The magic we are going to learn in Hogwarts is different too. For one, we have to use wands, or measly pieces of stick, if you will. The range of the spells we will learn is wide. There are spells, which can be used to change the form of an object and many, many others. This kind of magic is commonplace; it can be used anywhere and in any way possible. There are domestic charms, battle spells, healing spells, hexes, jinxes and the rather dark spells. However, all magic is alike: no spell can bring back the dead. Even if there is, it's strictly Dark Magic and the person you bring back is not quite the same."

At these ominous words, Eriol smiled eerily. Keroberos chucked a sock at him.

"Kero!" Sakura reprimanded, blushing. Embarrassed, she accepted the sock Eriol handed her.

The door of their compartment slid open and a bushy-haired girl stepped in. "Excuse me, but you must be the exchange students from Japan."

They all nodded.

"Er, well, I've been instructed by the Head Girl to see whether you're comfortable and to help you in any possible way," she said brightly. "I'm Hermione Granger by the way. Who are you?"

One by one, they introduced themselves to her.

"So, let me get that… Sa-koo-ra, Mayleen, Siaw-ran and Eriol." Hermione sat down on an empty seat. They winced at the horrible pronunciation of their names, with the exception of Eriol, whose name Hermione had gotten perfectly. "I'm sorry; Japanese names are pretty hard to pronounce. Mine's a mouthful too. Someone pronounced it as 'Herm-own-ninny' once."

"We'll put that in mind, so we won't have to commit that particular mistake," Eriol said, smiling charmingly. Hermione turned the littlest bit pink.

"If you're from Japan, why is your English so good?" Hermione inquired.

"Training," the Li cousins answered in unison.

"I took English classes a few years back, but I'm not that good really. I had help from Eriol." Sakura admitted.

"As for me, I have been living in England for many years. It comes naturally to me." Eriol said.

The compartment door opened again to reveal a pale blond boy, quite slender in comparison to the two goons beside him. One of them leered at Meiling who cracked her knuckles fiercely.

"Hey Mudblood! Have your friends finally ditched you? You seem to have gotten yourself a new pathetic group," the blond said nastily, looking the group over.

"If you must know, Malfoy, I'm in charge of helping the newcomers. What brings you here? Have you finished sucking up to the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher yet?"

"As a matter of fact, no. I suspect the new professor's too chicken to show up." His goons laughed at this, as though it were a good joke.

"I'd rather not be called a chicken," Eriol said. His cerulean gaze was fixed on Malfoy, who, having just realized that he had insulted a professor, turned red and started apologizing.

"You're the new DADA professor?" Hermione asked, almost at the same time Syaoran and everybody else voiced their disbelief.

"I'm going to call you teacher? No way!"

The newly discovered professor held up a hand to quell the flood of questions, comments of disbelief and remarks of outrage. "I'm sorry I did not tell you this before. The reason why we're going to Hogwarts is because Albus asked me to fill the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts. In return, he allowed me to bring you so that you can also learn Western magic. I guess it slipped my mind."

"That's a load of rubbish," Suppi said, emerging from Eriol's bag. "He just wanted to see the looks on your faces when Dumbledore announced him as your teacher."

"Traitor," Eriol remarked quietly.

"You can't possibly be the new professor." Malfoy lost some of his apologetic nature after Eriol's explanation. "Look at you, you're barely out of your teens! And look"—he picked Suppi up—"you even have a talking stuffed toy. A professor with a stuffed toy! That's rich!"

"Let go of me before I bite your hand off." Suppi threatened.

"Ooh, that's scary!" Malfoy said.

"Yeah, a stuffed toy biting his hand off!" Crabbe laughed, in a shallow idiotic manner.

For a moment, it looked as if Suppi was really going to transform into his real self. Then Malfoy dropped him to the floor, sneering, "You're just a bunch of pathetic losers. I hope Dumbledore chucks you out. Come on, Crabbe, Goyle. We've got so much better things to do."

And he left. His goons blundered after him. There seemed to be a scuffle as they passed through the corridors, and a bit of cursing too. Hermione stood up to settle the conflict when two boys appeared in front of the compartment.

"Hey Hermione! So this is where you've been," Harry said.

"Yeah, we've been looking all over for you," Ron added. "Hey listen, the train's near Hogwarts already. You better change into your robes."

He looked at the rest of them. "Hey, it's you again! Um, Japanese exchange students!"

"Yeah, that's us," Syaoran said.

"You've met before then?" Hermione asked.

"In Diagon Alley, the wand-maker's shop," Sakura affirmed.

"Since Hermione's with you, I take it you're in our year?" Harry asked.

They shrugged and looked at Eriol. "Well, yes, they're all fifteen—the same as you I suppose."

"Wicked!"

And so the time passed.

AN: Here's another chapter, in its pure unedited form. This may seem useless, but I view it as a chapter that's explaining some things—like Meiling's question—and getting to know each other. I think Suppi's sad though because he didn't get to know Malfoy's hand well enough. Well, enjoy!