(A.N.) Hi again, thank you to all my reviewers, always great to know that my story is loved enough for you to take the time to write about it. Anyway, as promised Ron and Hermione are in this chapter. Other than that not much needs to be said, enjoy the chapter.
(Disclaimer: Same as the previous chapter)
Hagrid looked at the wary expressions of the four children in front of him, before reaching down and ruffling the hair of the child closest to him, which was Harry. Smiling at how gentle Hagrid was acting for his intimidating size, the four quickly warmed up to him. Seeing that he earned the trust of the kids, Hagrid turned to Sol'Lez.
"Well I'll be taking them off your hands Ms. Nature." Hagrid said, wishing to be polite to Sol'Lez.
Sol'Lez laughed at the title Hagrid had given her before replying. "Alright then Hagrid. And Sol'Lez will do, you don't have to worry about calling me Mother Nature, I won't be offended."
Visibly relaxing Hagrid once again had a smile on his face. "Alright Sol'Lez, oh and don't worry bout these guys," he said gesturing to the children and their familiars. "I won't let any harm come to them."
Sol'Lez nodded with a smile before turning to the kids. "Now, you all better be on your best behavior." She said, emphasizing the word all. "This man is a person you can trust, he will help you get what you need for school. If you need anything let me know now because I won't be seeing you all for a while."
Seeing that the kids didn't need anything, she bid them goodbye and disappeared the same way she brought them. Hagrid, looked back at the children, then leaned down and said to the group. "Well I know your four names, but what are the names of these healthy looking creatures?"
One by one the children introduced their familiars, except Kyuubi, who introduced himself. Hagrid was shocked at how rare each of the familiars were, all four were considered endangered, yet here were four healthy looking examples of each race standing right before him.
"Well, it's a pleasure to meet all of ya, follow me and I'll introduce you to some of the school staff, I think there are one or two professors here." Hagrid said, his gentle looking smile never leaving his face. The group walked around a bit in The Leaking Cauldron before they heard a voice speak up.
"W-w-w-well tha-that is qu-qu-quite the large group y-you have the-the-there, Hagrid." A man with what looked like a purple colored towel wrapped around his head stuttered.
"Oh! Hello there Professor Quirrel, let me introduce you to them, this is Gaara, Shukaku, Sasuke, Ballmut, Haku, Shahara, Kyuubi, and our very own Harry Potter." Hagrid said as he pointed at each person or familiar. When he said Harry's name the group found every set of eyes looking in their general direction, or to be more specific, in Harry's general direction.
"W-w-well it's a pl-pl-pleasure t-t-to meet you all." Quirrel said after looking at each member of the group, pausing a bit on Harry.
"Oh and um Professor, is there any other teacher here or did they leave already?" Hagrid asked the stuttering professor.
"I'm a-a-afraid they already l-l-left, Hagrid."
"Oh, well that's too bad I was hoping to introduce the group to a few more of their future teachers. Well good they then and I'll see you later tonight." Hagrid said leady the group to the back entrance.
"G-g-g-goodbye Hagrid." He stuttered as the group left.
As they stepped outside, the four children and there familiars became confused. Silently they looked at Hagrid for an answer.
"This right here is the entrance to the world of witchcraft and wizardry." He said pulling out his wand. Facing the wall Hagrid proceeded to tap the bricks in the right order to open the wall and create a way for them to go through, turning back to the group he said. "Welcome to Diagon Alley."
The kids looked on in amazement at the world before them, never in all their lives had they seen so many people of various ages. As they walked deeper into Diagon Alley they were surrounded with the bustle of people going from one store to the next, kids window shopping, and a multitude of colors and fashion, the likes of which they had never seen before. As the group continued to walk, following Hagrid to wherever he was headed they looked every which way, and no one seemed to even give them a second thought. As Haku, Sasuke, and Gaara continued to look around, Harry walked up to Hagrid to ask a few questions.
"Hagrid, why did every one look at me when you said my name?" He asked craning his neck to look up.
"Why Harry that is simple, you are the boy-that-lived." Hagrid said as if it was common knowledge, which it was.
"I don't understand, what do you mean I'm the boy-that-lived?" Harry replied looking rather confused.
"Well you see Harry while you were just a baby a bad man came to your house, he killed your mum and dad, and tried to kill you. However, something went wrong, and ever since he failed to kill you, no one has heard a thing from him."
Listening much more carefully, Harry asked. "Who was this man? And what happened to him? Is he dead?"
Haku, Gaara, and Sasuke quit observing the world around them and instead focused on what was being discussed between Harry and Hagrid. "Well for starters his name is something that is never used, the very name strikes fear into the hearts of all wizards, for this reason he is known as he-who-must-not-be-named or you-know-who, but if you must know." Hagrid paused, working up the courage to say the name. "His name is Voldemort. And to this day no one knows what happened to him. Some say he died while others say he is hiding. Me, I say he is hiding. You see Harry, I was there the night he attacked your house, although I was too late to help your parents. When I got to the house I saw no sign of you-know-who, all I saw was what he left, Sol'Lez, and you."
The rest of the walk was done in silence, each member of the group being left to their own thoughts. Finally, Hagrid stopped in front of a large building. While turning to make sure he lost nobody on the way to the building, he said. "This is Gringotts, the bank for wizards, here we will get the money needed to purchase your school supplies, and also I have some business to take care of."
Seeing the looks of curiosity, he told them it was nothing to worry about and led the way into Gringotts. Upon entering, Hagrid led the group to the first available counter. As the goblin asked what Hagrid needed, Hagrid replied that he needed to get to Harry Potter's school vault, and then quietly added something that only the goblin could hear. The group all came to the conclusion that it had something to do with Hagrid's business.
The goblin asked if Hagrid had keys for the vaults which he did, and handed them over. Looking over the keys, the goblin gave a quick, sharp nod before summoning another goblin and telling the group to follow him. The large group was led to a boat where the goblin stopped turned around and said. "The boat is not large enough to hold all of you, the nontile, and sand badger have to stay here."
Both familiars refusing to be left behind, shrank themselves to the size of Ballmut, and quickly climbed up their master's shoulders. Frowning at the two stubborn creatures the goblin boarded the boat and told everyone to get in. When the boat launched at an incredible speed through the maze of vaults nearly all the familiars were thrown off their master's shoulders. Shahara was the only on unable to hold on and nearly got left behind had it not been for Shukaku, grabbing the mist hawk out of the air. After the sudden stop and everyone bumping heads minus Hagrid and the goblin, the group got off the boat and followed the goblin up to the vault door; putting in one of the keys he opened the door. What lay inside the vault caused the children's eyes to go wide, never had they seen so much gold. In fact they had never seen gold before.
"Um Mr. Hagrid sir, what is all this?" Haku asked politely as she gestured towards the gold. Hagrid looked at her like she had grown a second head, even the goblin seemed to be a bit shocked by the question.
"Surely you're joking. Haven't you four ever bought anything before?" Hagrid asked as he looked at the four exchange glances.
"There was never a need to; our home always had what we needed." Gaara stated in a relatively calm voice.
Sighing Hagrid proceeded to explain about wizard money and its worth. The four elementals and their familiars soaked up the information like a dry sponge. After finishing his explanation on the value of the wizard money Harry asked him. "So is this enough money to get us through our school year?"
For the first time since coming to the vault the goblin spoke up. "This vault has enough Galleons to get your friends and yourself through all seven years of schooling, and still have plenty left over."
Nodding their heads at the answer, Sasuke turned to ask Hagrid how much they should take. Hagrid told them that about three or four handfuls should be more than enough, so the four elementals proceeded to fill the bags that the goblin handed them earlier. When they finished getting the money they needed they returned to the boat and went to the second vault, making sure to hold their familiars to their chest this time. When they arrived, Hagrid asked them to wait by the boat while he got what he needed. Although unable to see completely into the vault, they did notice that it seemed empty except for something that was dead center in the room, and was much smaller than the previous vault.
When Hagrid was finished they headed back to the main lobby of Gringotts and exited back to Diagon Alley. Checking his watch Hagrid saw they still had a few hours before nightfall and took the group to a store that sold wands. Before entering Hagrid stopped them and said that he was going to get their books and trunks while they got their wands.
Upon entering they were greeted by a kind old man called Mr. Ollivander. As the four walked up to him, he studied them and broke out in a wide smile. "I can see that finding the right wand for you four will be a good challenge. So who first?"
The four looked at each other before, the three boys pointed at Haku. Seeing that she outnumbered she muttered darkly. "Sexist prats."
Mr. Ollivander just smiled before going to the back of his shop to look for a wand. Coming back he carried a box opened it and said. "Oak, ten inches, with a werewolf's hair." Seeing that Haku was only holding the wand, he told her to give it a flick, which she promptly did. Nothing happened, causing Mr. Ollivander to snatch the wand back before looking for a new one. He repeated the process three more times before bring out a wand that he was sure would work. "Willow, eleven inches, with a mermaid's hair."
Taking the wand Haku gave it a flick, and completely drenched Mr. Ollivander. Mr. Ollivander, although soaking wet smiled wide, taking out his own wand he dried himself off before asking who was next.
Sasuke and Harry exchanged glances, and promptly pushed Gaara forward. Gaara sent the two a glare at them before turning to fully face Mr. Ollivander. Finding Gaara's wand was much less difficult than finding Haku's. Mr. Ollivander was wrong only the first time before he got it right. "Redwood, twelve inches, with an ent's root." Giving the wand a swish Gaara was a bit shocked when he produced a wrong the size of his head. The rock not being held up by a levitation charm, fell onto the desk putting a huge crack in it. Mr. Ollivander just moved the rock to the floor before repairing the damage.
Sasuke and Harry looked at each other before playing a game of rock, paper, scissors, where the loser went next; Harry won. Stepping up to the counter, Mr. Ollivander took a few seconds to study Sasuke, before he headed to the back. Finding Sasuke's wand had proven more difficult then finding Haku's. After a good fifteen minutes of looking, Mr. Ollivander came back with a rather old looking box. Opening the box he said. "Willow, thirteen inches, with a wyvern's heartstring."
Considering how both Haku, and Gaara and effects of their element be produced when they flicked their wands, Sasuke aimed his wand before giving it a flick. True to his beliefs, Sasuke's wand produced a string of flames after being flicked. Mr. Ollivander was grateful that the wand was pointed at the floor instead of him.
Finally came Harry's turn, for nearly twenty minutes, Harry flicked wands, with hopes of one actually working. However nothing seemed to work for Harry. Wiping his brow from the slight sweat he had developed from nervousness, Mr. Ollivander caught sight of the scar on Harry's forehead before walking off again, when he returned he back with a box that looked older than the box that had held Sasuke's wand, and said rather quietly. "Holly, eleven inches, with a phoenix feather."
Taking the wand Harry gave it a flick and was glad when he saw a small bolt of lightning fly out, but quickly apologized when it nearly hit Mr. Ollivander. "How interesting, that you should be the owner of that wand."
"Um, why is it interesting?" Harry asked, confusion written on his face.
"It's interesting, because, the phoenix that gave the feather for your wand gave one more feather. And the interesting thing is that the other wand that holds the phoenix feather belongs to the very man that gave you that scar." Mr. Ollivander said in a very serious and yet quiet voice, his eyes looking at Harry's forehead.
Before anyone could reply, they heard the thunderous footsteps that told them that Hagrid had returned. "Just getting finished? I was sure you all would be quite bored by the time I returned."
"Some of us are." Said Kyuubi who had been laying down with the other familiars standing near him, all with looks of boredom, while the four elementals paid for their wands.
"Right, well I got all your schoolbooks and each of you a trunk to put them in. Now all that's left is to get you, your school robes." Hagrid said as he once again led the group around Diagon Alley to a shop owned by an old woman by the name of Madam Malkin. For the next half hour the group stood getting their measurements and left with their own set of robes for Hogwarts.
"Right, now that we have everything we'll return to The Leaky Cauldron, after all the train doesn't leave till tomorrow morning so we better get a room or two for the night. Plus I'm sure you all are hungry." Hagrid said, and was greeted by the sound of stomachs grumbling in agreement.
When the group arrived, they saw that The Leaky Cauldron wasn't as full as it was this morning and made their way to a table. Hagrid went up to Tom, the bartender, to arrange for two rooms for the night, and to get some food for the group. When Hagrid finished talking to Tom he went back to the kids and was bombarded with questions on what Hogwarts was like. For the rest of the meal the group talked about Hogwarts, or rather asked questions, Hagrid did most of the talking.
When nightfall finally came Hagrid led the group to two rooms telling Haku that she got a room with the familiars while all the boys would sleep in the same room with him. Grinning wickedly, Haku stuck her tongue out at the three boys before walking off to her room with the familiars following right behind her.
The boys followed Hagrid into their room and promptly got changed into their pajamas before climbing into bed. Since there was only two beds the three boys climbed into one bed, partially because Hagrid completely covered one bed, but mainly because they feared they would be squashed if he rolled over in his sleep. Three hours later the three boys stared at the ceiling, Hagrid's snoring preventing them from going to sleep.
"Harry, you awake?" Sasuke asked.
"Yeah, Gaara you awake." Harry asked.
"Is that question rhetorical?" Was Gaara's reply.
Deciding that the only way they were going to get a decent nights sleep was to sleep in the room with Haku and their familiars they crossed the hall and knocked on the door to Haku's room. Slowly the door opened with a groggy Haku dressed in her pajamas, asking what they wanted at one o'clock in the morning.
"Hagrid's snores are preventing us from any form getting to sleep." Sasuke stated.
"Well isn't that a darn shame, next time you better think twice before singling me out." Haku said before starting to close the door. The boys could tell she was still peeved at being singled out at Mr. Ollivander's shop.
"You better let us in Haku." Gaara stated rather calmly though a frown was starting to show on his face.
"And if I don't?" Haku asked glaring at Gaara.
"Then we'll stand here all night knocking on your door till you let us in." Harry said with a devilish grin on his face.
"You wouldn't dare." Haku said hoping to call his bluff.
"If we don't get to sleep, you don't get to sleep." Sasuke said, then in a voice that sounded like it was meant to be Sol'Lez he added. "There must be a balance."
Glaring at the three, Haku slowly opened the door allowing them in. "You three owe me for this." She said returning to her bed that had all four familiars laying on it.
"Why do you say that?" Sasuke asked.
"Cause thanks to me you get to sleep. Now shut up and go to bed." Haku said as she turned her back away from them.
Laying down in silence, Harry was the first to speak. "She's right you know? We do owe her for this."
Silently, Gaara and Sasuke agreed before all four elements were fast asleep. Early the next morning the group was awakened by the fast, loud knocking and Hagrid's voice asking Haku if she knew where the boys were. Throwing a glare at the three boys in the other bed she responded by saying that they were in the same room as her.
"Oh well get up and get dressed, we need to get to the Hogwarts express." He replied, though he was confused as to why the three boys had decided to move themselves to Haku's room.
Getting up Haku quickly threw the three boys out of the room so she could change in privacy. The three boys walked back to their room before changing for the day. When the three exited, Ballmut, Shukaku, and Kyuubi joined them on their shoulders. According to Hagrid, Kyuubi would be to big to walk through the train and Shukaku was jut being lazy. After getting their trunks and making sure they were all set, the group of nine headed downstairs and shared a quick breakfast.
Finishing their meals, Hagrid told them to hide their familiars since they might scare any muggles that see them. Seeing the confused looks on their faces, Hagrid let out another sigh before explaining what muggles were. Understanding dawning on them, they hid their familiars under their jackets. When they were sure that their familiars wouldn't be seen, they headed to the train station.
Upon entering Hagrid stopped the group and handed them their tickets. "I'd follow you to the train, but I got to get this here thing to Dumbledore." He said motioning to the bag in his hand before walking off.
The three looked at their tickets and saw that it said platform nine and three quarters. Walking down the ramp with their trunks the four looked around and was puzzled when they saw platform nine and ten but not nine and three quarters. Looking around they saw a conductor and asked where they could find platform nine and three quarters. Looking at the group before him, he said he didn't have time for jokes and walked off
The group was about to give up hope when a family of red heads came to where they were standing, carrying trunks that matched theirs. As they approached the woman, they saw the two oldest red heads, which looked like they were twins, run with their trunks at a brick wall. Right when the first one was about to hit, they were amazed to see them go through the wall. Approaching the woman Harry spoke up. "Um excuse me ma'am are can you tell us how to get to platform nine and three quarters?"
The woman looked at the large group before showing a gentle smile and asked. "First year to Hogwarts? It's my son Ron here just starting his first year as well." She said gesturing to the young red haired boy behind her. "All you have to do is focus on that wall their and just picture yourself going through it. Go on and show them, Ron."
Swallowing hard, the red haired boy ran at the wall and went through it. "See not that difficult."
Sasuke was the first to go and ran through the wall. Gaara just shrugged before casually walking through the wall. "I see that boy is a natural, at it." The red haired woman said.
"If I didn't know him, I would say he is showing off." Haku said before running at the wall.
Turning to face the woman Harry said. "Thanks for the help, Mrs.…"
"Just call me Molly, dear. And this here is Ginny." She said gesturing to her daughter, who tried to hide behind her mother
"Yes, well thanks for the help Molly we really appreciate it."
"You're very welcome; I hope we meet again Mr.…"
"Potter ma'am, Harry Potter." Harry said before he ran through the wall, not hearing the gasps from Molly or her daughter Ginny.
On the other side of the wall Harry met up with the other three elementals and saw the red haired boy from earlier with them.
"Hey Harry, Ron here asked if he could join us on the train. What do you say?" Sasuke said, pointing at the red head.
"Sure I don't mind, if you all don't." Harry said while looking at the others. Seeing that no one said anything they boarded the train, after leaving their trunks outside like the other kids had.
Walking through the train they found and empty compartment and piled in. Closing the door they all took a seat and started talking.
"Well shall we introduce ourselves? I'm Haku Zabuza" Haku said.
"Sasuke Uchiha." Sasuke said
"Gaara Subaku" Gaara said in a monotone voice.
"And I'm Harry Potter." Harry said.
Upon hearing Harry's name Ron's eyes widened in disbelief. "You're Harry Potter? Do you have the…you know…scar." Ron asked nervously.
Chuckling a little, Harry raised his bangs so Ron could see it clearly.
"Wow I must say it's a pleasure to meet you. All of you." Ron said shaking everyone's hand, though he was really only meaning that he was glad to meet Harry. The group of kids continued to talk while the train started to leave the station, before long a chubby little boy came to the compartment asking if they had seen a toad, getting a round of negatives, he was about to leave before he stopped and introduced himself as Neville Longbottom. Soon everyone was introducing themselves, and once again Harry was greeted by a gasp when he told Neville his name. Quickly the boy went off, either to look for his toad or tell the whole train who he met, they never knew.
Once again the group started talking again before they were interrupted by a quiet little voice asking. "Is it safe to come out yet?"
Ron's eyes doubled in size, from what he could tell the voice was coming from Harry's jacket.
"Oops, sorry Kyuubi. Yeah it's safe." Harry said as he unzipped his jacket letting the nontile out, the other three also freeing their familiars from the confines of their jacket. Ron looked at each of the animals individually. Not wanting to be left out he pulled out a rat from his own jacket.
"I guess we best introduce our friends here, starting at Haku, that's Shahara, Ballmut, Shukaku, and this little guy is Kyuubi." Harry said as he pointed at each familiar before finally ending with Kyuubi. Kyuubi glared at Harry for all he was worth which caused everyone to laugh. It wasn't everyday that you were glared at by a fox the size of a ferret.
"This is Scabbars. Pathetic isn't he." Ron said as he looked at his rat. "My brothers taught me a spell to make him purple. Want to see?" He finished while pulling out his wand.
The group gathered round, but before Ron could cast the spell a girl with bushy brown hair came charging in asking if they had seen a toad, and explaining that she was helping Neville. Once again the group said no, she was about to leave when she saw Ron's wand.
"Going to cast a spell?" she asked
"Yeah, by the way what's your name? Mine is Ron Weasley." Ron said.
"Hermione Granger pleased to meet you." She said, but by the tone of her voice she didn't sound all to pleased. Once again names were exchanged and, Harry once again found himself on the receiving end of wide eyes and a surprised gasp. However she quickly recovered and turned back to Ron.
"So let's see the spell." She practically ordered.
"Here goes nothing." Ron said as he attempted to cast the spell, but all that happened was a shock to the rat.
Hermione started to criticize Ron's attempted spell casting, then turned to Harry and started to ask him what he thought. Harry sighed and thought along the same lines as his friends. 'This is going to be one long ride.'
(A.N.) WOW ten pages, is that long enough to get more reviews? By the way thanks again to those that reviewed, I really appreciate it when someone takes the time to review. Anyway, I only gave Sasuke, Gaara, and Haku last names because it seemed appropriate, don't expect to see their last names often. On to other news, next chapter Harry meets a new friend, a grade-A jerk (Not Malfoy), and the elements come one step closer to Hogwarts. I also received word that Tonks is from Ravenclaw, so that just slightly messes with the story, but not enough to where I'll rip my own hair out. Also I changed the rating to Teen since I took the time to consider how dark a few elements of the story will become. Other than that, please review, and remember by the time you finish reading this chapter the next on is already finished.