A Dog's Purpose Is Strange Magic Chapter 14
The next day it was time.
In the early morning the Harry and Bailey awoke long before the Dursleys evens stirred in their beds at the hour of five o'clock. Until the Dursleys dragged their lazy butts out of bed the two of them waited impatiently in Harry's room for the all clear to go. He'd double-checked everything on his Hogwarts in so Harry knew he wasn't missing or leaving anything important behind. Any normal child Harry's would've still been asleep in bed, but Harry was far too excited to continue doing so.
At ten o'clock Dursleys, Harry, and Bailey piled into the car for the drive to London with all the things Harry needed for school loaded in the back trunk. Hedwig's cage was squeezed in the back passenger seats with Dudley leaning away from the snowy owl as far as he could go. It was quite an amusing sight with Hedwig adding to it by screeching irritated at Dudley whenever she thought he got too close to her domain.
Soon enough they got to Kings Cross station. Harry and Bailey exited with Uncle Vernon putting the luggage on a cart wheeling it in for them. Bailey observed him do so with narrowed eyes. He was acting a little too cheerful for her tastes. When the group got to where the platform is supposed to be she discovered why.
With a nasty grin on his face, cruelly, Uncle Vernon said "Well, there you are, boy. Platforms nine and ten. Your platform should be somewhere in the middle, but they don't seem to have built it yet, do they?"
The numbered signs hung on pillars, but Bailey couldn't find the one with the numbers theirs should have.
"Have a good term," said Uncle Vernon, mockingly.
Uncle Vernon got back into the car and then the Dursleys drove off laughing at the predicament Harry and Bailey were in.
Bailey didn't like that. Teeth bared Bailey lunged after the car growling fiercely, but, in spite of his small size, Harry held firm to her harness.
"No, Bailey, heel," said Harry, pulling her back.
Bailey obeyed although she hated to do so. The Dursleys are very tiresome, Bailey's glad to be rid of them. Turning her nose up quite imperiously Bailey flipped her tail into the air.
Pushing the trolley forward, Harry said "Come on, Bailey, we've got a train to find."
What on earth were they going to do? Hagrid may have been very informative an obliging at Diagon Alley, but he forgot to mention one very crucial detail. How to find and get onto the platform before their chain took off. This detail seemed to have slipped his mind. Harry and Bailey would have to make do on their own.
Harry approached a guard to ask for directions, but even he didn't know where it was. Harry even spoke of the time the train was going to leave without revealing too much information yet still the guard couldn't help. In fact the guard seemed pretty agitated when they were through accusing Harry of attempting to pull a prank on him. Bailey didn't blame the man. If she had been in his position Bailey probably would've assumed it was all a hoax too.
With less than fifteen minutes until the train to Hogwarts departed the station without them on board Harry was beginning to think it was hopeless. He was never going to find the train. They were stuck at a dead end there.
"What are we going to do, Bailey," whispered Harry, sounding and looking quite lost.
Bailey held no answers for him.
"-packed with Muggles of course-"
Bailey's ears instantly perked up heading swinging around to locate the speaker. Muggles? That's the word Hagrid used to label the Dursleys.
Bailey pinpointed the speaker to be part of an obviously large family group passing behind them. Bailey had heard a few words of what they'd been saying, but not all. It was a plump redheaded woman talking to four boys with identical flaming red hair. All of them were pushing a trunk like Harry's in front of them, but the dead giveaway was the owl one of them was lugging with them.
Bailey barked leaping onto her rear legs pawing at Harry's chest to get his attention.
"What is it, Bailey," said Harry.
Bailey nipped a bit of his sleeve in between her teeth. She tugged him in the way the family was heading in. Eventually Harry took the hint and with the cart carrying his possessions in hand they shyly trailed behind the large group too nervous to approach and say anything to them.
"Good girl, Bailey," said Harry, briefly scratching underneath the red retrievers chin.
Fortunately Harry was near enough to hear their conversation clearly without being noticed.
"Now what's the platform number," asked the boys' mother.
"Nine and three-quarters," proclaimed a little girl, the youngest of the band of children. "Mum, can't I go?"
"You're not old enough yet, Ginny, now be quiet. All right, Percy, you go first," said the mother.
The oldest redheaded boy marched straight towards platforms nine and ten with Harry paying close attention to each step of his actions trying not to blink lest he miss something important. The same time the boy reached the dividing barrier and then suddenly he vanished into the brickwork.
Bailey sneezed shaking her head rapidly to clear it. Was she seeing things? Harry, too, was put off. He took of his classes rubbing his eyes to erase ay delirium.
Is what the both of them just witnessed real?
"Fred, you next," instructed the mother, motioning at a pair of tall identical twins.
"I'm not Fred, I'm George," chastised the boy, indignantly. "Honestly, woman, you call yourself our mother? Can't you tell I'm George?"
"Sorry, George, dear," said the mother, apologetically.
The boy then moved his trolley cart into position.
"I'm only joking, I am Fred," he said, making a break for the barrier before his mother could smack him for that.
His twin brother George as Bailey took him to be was quick to follow.
Harry had watched how it was done, but now he had to learn the rest.
Hesitantly, grabbing the attention of the lingering family members, Harry said "Excuse me."
"Hello, dear. First time at Hogwarts? Not to worry, it's Ron's first time at Hogwarts as well," said the mother, kindly, gesturing at her youngest son.
The boy in question smiled nodding a greeting to Harry upon the recognition. He's a boy Harry's age with freckles, big hands and feet, and a long nose.
"Yes. You see, the thing is…the thing is, I know how to," spluttered Harry, anxious, fiddling with his fingers over the bars of the trolley cart nervously.
"How to get onto the platform," finished the mother, smiling gently.
"Yeah," said Harry, nodding meekly, embarrassed. These guys probably thought he was stupid for not figuring it out on his own.
"Not to worry. All you have to do is walk straight at the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Don't stop and don't be scared you'll crash into it, that's very important. Best do it at a bit of a run if you're nervous," she assured.
Then catching the movement of Bailey's wagging tail from the corner of her eye the lady spotted the dog beside her master.
"What's this now," the mother said, curious.
Bailey barked.
Harry said "This is Bailey. She's my dog."
"Oh, my dear, I'm afraid you can't take a dog with you. It's not allowed," said the mother, pityingly.
"Oh I'm not worried about that. I have permission to bring her. I got a letter from the headmaster. She can come," informed Harry.
"The Headmaster," said the mother, astonished. "Are you absolutely sure?"
"Yeah," said Harry, confidently.
Uncertain, the mother said "Well all right then. Far be it from me to question the headmaster. Go on, go now before Ron."
That's all the invitation Harry required.
In perfect sync Harry and Bailey made for the brick barrier. As they ran Bailey couldn't resist bracing herself for the painful impact she assumed was going to come.
To the contrary she and Harry walked right through it as if visibly solid interior was actually thin air. Harry had closed his eyes during the run and now opened them wide to find something wondrously amazing.
A scarlet steam engine was on a platform packed to the brim with people of all shapes, sizes, and ages. A sign hanging overhead said Hogwarts Express, eleven o'clock. Behind the duo on a wrought-iron archway with the words Platform Nine and Three-Quarters etched in printed there. Some from the locomotives engine drifted over the heads of the mingling crowd. Cats meowed rubbing on their owners, owls hooted to one another in a disgruntled sort of way, and heavy trunks scraped on the cement as their owners loaded them onto the train.
Now Bailey became aware it wasn't just Hedwig who acted so snobbish among her kind.
To Harry this is like a dream, a glorious dream. Only unlike Harry's past dreams where he woke up and fantasy gave in to reality this one is very real.
Authors Note:
And so the Weasleys have at last entered the equation. Personally I don't like Ron, never did.
Also, by the way, I just saw Harry Potter: A Cursed Child on Broadway! Ah! That's right guys! The play has finally been moved from London to New York. It's unbelievable! For those of you who haven't seen it, but are planning to don't wait another second buy your tickets now, now, now! And for those who aren't planning to see it get your butts in gear! This is not something you want to miss. There's no time to waste! Who knows how long this play will be with us in the theater!