Prologue
This story takes place when the trio are 16. It is technically set in Christmas of the Half-Blood Prince, but has nothing to do with the plot of HBP (an AU)). Ron and Harry have been invited to spend Christmas break at Hermione's house. Hermione will pick them up at the train station, as she left Hogwarts as soon as Christmas break started. Harry and Ron, however, had stayed two more days at Hogwarts to seek extra help. They planned to do different things, and so they agreed to meet at the train station at 11:30, so they'd have plenty of time to eat lunch and board their train. This story begins at the Kings Cross Train Station where Ron and Harry board the train to Hermione's home town… but not quite together…
Harry had arrived at the train station 2 hours ago and was pacing and scanning the crowds. He knew Ron would be late, but he was going to miss the train if he didn't come soon! He couldn't wait to spend Christmas with Hermione's family. She had left as soon as break started and Harry was anxious to see her. He and Ron had planned to meet at the train station at 11:30, but it was already 1:15! Hedwig screeched and Harry jumped. "I know you want to fly around, but people here aren't used to owls" Harry stroked her feathers and looked up at the sign above him. The train would arrive in 10 minutes, and there wasn't a redhead standing next to him. "Something's wrong with this picture," Harry grumbled.
Ron was staring at a cart piled with strange-looking foods. He was in his own cabin, and he hadn't planned to eat, being worried about Harry and all. But yet again, hunger overpowered him. He saw something that looked like a wad of meat squeezed between two pieces of bread.
"Um……I'll take…. that." Ron decided points to hamburger
"What hun?" Asked the lady in charge of the cart
"That uh……sandwich?" Ron grabbed the hamburger and looked at it skeptically.
"That'll be 3.00" the lady said.
Ron pulled out the slips of paper his dad had explained were very valuable. He handed the lady 3 of them.
"You want ketchup with that?"
"Catch up with what?"
The lady handed him a small packet and grumbled,
"So many foreigners….and they're just so clueless!"
Harry boarded the train. People's heads popped out of cabins to get a better look at Hedwig. He heard a man whisper "Oh yes, I studied those way back in high school. The rare…uh…white…bellied…owl. Oh yes, a remarkable bird, common as pets in France." Harry felt his face turn red and quickly ducked into a cabin.
"At least they aren't talking about my scar" as he remembered his first trip to Hogwarts. He felt his forehead, and his stomach lurched. His scar wasn't there. He knew exactly what it would feel like, and where it would be, but smooth, unharmed skin covered his forehead. He was rubbing his head in awe when he heard a knock on his cabin door. He jumped, and slowly opened it. A man was standing there with a food cart, but Harry shook his head, and took out his lunch. He sighed as he unwrapped the food he had managed to steal from the Great Hall. He started to reach for his butterbeer, but then decided against it. He still felt a little weak. Harry tried to recall what had happened when he stepped through platform 9 3/4. It was as if he had ran into something hard. No, that wasn't it. More like somebody picking him up and dropping him…but he had fallen slowly. Like when Dudley watched his movies in slow motion, trying to find some mistake the director had missed. He was pretty sure he had been unconscious, because he had woken up on the floor in the train station at 11:25 with a circle of people staring at him. It was so strange- it felt as if he had been knocked out for years. While he was unconscious, he had dreamt the he was floating in space, and that below him, there were two identical train stations. They were spinning, and if he looked closely, Harry could see tiny figures moving around inside them. Then he felt himself drift into the train station on the right. Harry felt his body shiver, and decided to take a nap to help recover. He pulled out his robe, pushed it against the window, and leaned against it.
For Ron, the train ride was torture. What with having nobody to talk to, and not being allowed to do magic. He couldn't tell which bothered him most- being bored or worried.
Several times he had been tempted to pull out his wand, and drive some innocent train-rider crazy to pull his mind away from what happened to Harry. He thought of all the annoying spells he would've done. Then he realized he couldn't do half of them properly. He and Hermione would fix that over the break. He felt his body slowly rise, and then slam back down into his seat as the train went over a million tiny hills. He suddenly felt hot and he knew that his lunch wasn't happy where it was. "Oh god, lousy muggles and their hambuggers!" Ron said, as he opened his window and leaned outside.
