Hiatus? Nonsense. There was no hiatus. It was all in your imagination. It's just been a reeeeeeeeeally long week. Seriously, though, I haven't abandoned you. Holidays and being sick just eat into my writing time. I'll see what I can do to get back on schedule.

The rest of the day had passed in a happy blur, marred only slightly by the rather disturbing information about Harry's wand. Hagrid had bought him a snowy owl, though, and Remus and Rory had restrained Sirius from buying out Zonko's entire stock for Harry.

The month between Harry's birthday and school felt like one of the longest in his life. He read through his textbooks, named his owl Hedwig after someone in his history text, and spent as much time as possible with his parents and siblings. He was going to miss them, and his only consolation was that he would get to see Rory at meals in her position as professor of Ancient Runes. But he promised both sets of twins that he'd write them once a week detailing all the trouble he'd gotten into. He didn't phrase it quite that way, of course.

Harry didn't sleep at all the night before the train to Hogwarts, and the entire morning was a blur. He barely touched his breakfast, too excited to eat. After breakfast, he enlisted his siblings to help him load the car. Then there was the hour-long wait before Remus finally started the car. Rory kissed Harry's forehead and smiled before sending them all off. She was apparating to Hogsmeade and then walking to Hogwarts in order to arrive before the students.

Sitting sandwiched between his sisters, who were clinging onto him as if that could keep him from going away, Harry tried to imagine what Hogwarts would be like. He'd heard all the stories from his parents, but… this was different. This was –Harry- going to school. At least he knew if he didn't make any friends, Rome and Raul would be along in two years.

The train station was crowded when they arrived, and Harry looked around eagerly for other Hogwarts students. A small female voice caught his attention, crying out, "Mummy, I've lost my dragon!"

The plea would have slipped out of Harry's mind immediately if he hadn't spotted the toy in question on the ground. The fuzzy green plush dragon was much-loved, given the evidence of patches, and mismatched buttons that had been sewn on to replaced eyes. He scooped it up, and searched for the source of the voice, his eye finally landing on a knot of fiery-haired people with an owl in a cage. With Adara still clinging to his arm, Harry worked his way through the crowd to the red-haired family.

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"Mummy… I've lost my dragon!" Ginny Weasley tugged on her mother's sleeve, trying to get attention. Despite her deathgrip on the toy, it had been torn loose in the jostling crowd, which just made this bad day even worse.

It had started when she woke up late, and only had half an hour to get dressed and eat. And Ron was leaving. It was bad enough when Fred and George had left to go to Hogwarts, but Ginny was closest to Ron. Not only in age, but also in interests. Now she wouldn't have anybody. Not even Emerald. She was biting back unhappy tears when she heard a pleasant voice behind her.

"Excuse me, miss?" Ginny turned to see a boy not much taller than her, with a nice smile and black-rimmed glasses, holding out her stuffed dragon in one hand. The other hand was clutched by a small girl who looked just as upset as Ginny felt—obviously his sister. "I think this you dropped this."

"Emmy!" She reached for the toy, cuddling it close, and smiled shyly up at the boy. She'd just decided that his eyes were exactly the same color as her dragon when her Mum squeezed her shoulder in that way that meant 'you're forgetting something.' Embarrassed by her lapse, Ginny squeaked, "Thank you!"

The boy grinned, and ran a hand through his already-messy black hair. "Anytime."

"Dara! Harry!" Ginny blinked, and glanced toward the handsome, ebony-haired man who seemed to be looking for someone. That someone appeared to be her new friend and his sister, who turned toward the voice and smiled.

"We'd better go. I'll see you around!" Flashing her another grin, the boy headed toward his family, leaving Ginny to gaze after him, without even a name to call him by. At least, not until he glanced over his shoulder and winked at her, and she saw the scar on his forehead.

"Mum…" Wide-eyed, Ginny tugged at her mother's sleeve again. "Mummy, that was Harry Potter!"

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Remus smiled as he saw Harry turning to answer Sirius's call. It was just like Harry to go out of his way for someone like that. Then the werewolf saw something that made his smile even wider. He touched his mate's shoulder and pointed out the girl gazing adoringly after Harry. "What is it with Potters and redheads?"

"Must be in their blood." The handsome animagus's smile grew a bit nostalgic before he shook himself out of the melancholy mood. Literally shook himself like a dog shedding water, a mannerism that amused Remus no end. The shaking woke Alhena, who blinked sleepily at them before widening her eyes in a moment of terror.

"Daddy? Papa? Where's Harry? Is he gone already? I wanted to say goodbye!" Big silvery-grey eyes started to fill up with tears before they could start to reassure her, and one managed to spill over onto her cheek.

"Hey, now, what's this? You dropped something, Allie!" Harry carefully wiped the tear off of her cheek and held it out to her with a grin. Remus sighed a little as Allie launched herself at her oldest brother with a giggle. It was going to be hard on the girls to have Harry in school. Raul and Rome would miss him too, but the girls idolized Harry.

Thinking of his godsons, Remus glanced around to see them rolling Harry's trunk along, proud of being trusted with the responsibility. Exchanging a look with Sirius, he started herding them all toward the entrance to platform 9 ¾. "Harry and the girls first…"

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Finally settled into his compartment on the train, Harry waved at his family through the window until he heard a familiar voice. Curious, he located the source of the voice as the family of redheads he'd seen earlier. The girl with the dragon was hugging a lanky boy about Harry's age. "I'll miss you, Ron."

"Chin up, Ginny," said their mother, smiling benignly. "You'll be going with him next year."

"But that's so looong." Ginny reluctantly let go of Ron, then looked up at him, and held out her dragon. "Take Emerald with you. She'll protect you."

"Don't worry, Ginny! We'll take care of ickle Ronniekins!" Harry wasn't sure which of the red-headed twins had spoken. It could have been both, if they were like Raul and Rome. One of them took Ron in a headlock and mussed his hair, grinning mischievously.

"Geroff, Fred!" Ron wriggled out of his brother's grasp and turned to Ginny. "I couldn't take Emmy from you. You can't sleep without him."

"I'll be okay, Ron. Promise." Ginny pressed the dragon into his hands. Harry could tell by the tense look about her face that she was trying valiantly to hide tears. The last whistle blew for the train at that moment, and Ron ran with his twin brothers to get aboard, followed at a more dignified pace by an older brother wearing a prefects' badge.

Harry waved at his family one last time, and then settled back in his seat. He was on his way to Hogwarts! And completely alone in the compartment… He was reaching for a book to pass the time when the door opened to reveal Ron.

"Err… Can I sit here? Everywhere else is full."

"Sure." Harry smiled to see that Ron was carrying his sister's dragon. "I was afraid I wouldn't have company."

"I'm Ron. Ron Weasley." The redhead's eyes flickered to Harry's scar. "And you're… You're…"

"Harry Potter." Harry offered his hand to Ron, who suddenly looked chagrined. "It's okay. I get that a lot."

Before either of them could say anything else, the door banged open, and Ron's twin brothers popped their heads in. "Hey, Ron."

"Listen, we're going down to the middle of the train—Lee Jordan's got a giant tarantula down there."

"Right," Ron replied. "Oh, Harry, these are my brothers, Fred and George."

Harry found himself the subject of the twins' scrutiny. "Blimey, Ginny was right!"

"You're…" the twins chorused, then stopped at once, uncertain.

"Harry Potter?" Harry held out his hand to them, grinning at Ron. "Told you I got that a lot."

Well, that's it for that chapter. I could go on, but… frankly, I really wanted to get something up. Now… before you start squawking about me getting Harry out of character, let me remind you that he's been raised among wizards. He really is used to having people gawk at him—although I'm sure Moony, Padfoot, and Rory run pretty good crowd control. He's also got confident, assured role models like Sirius and Remus around. So naturally he's going to be more sure of himself, and probably more mischievous.

Now comes the tricky bit. I'm going to let you the readers choose. Would you rather see more of Harry's train trip in the next chapter, or should I skip directly to the train arriving at Hogwarts? Let me know in your reviews!