Chapter Six: Platform Nine and Three Quarters
"WAKE UP!" Erza's delighted roar reverberated throughout the room. "Get up! Time to go!"
"Erza. . ." Lucy sat up and rubbed her eyes. "What time is it?"
Erza used her wand to requip a clock. "Nine thirty. We have. . .an hour and a half to get ready."
"Noooooooo. . .more sleep. . . ." All three other purple sleeping bags groaned. Juvia had also gotten up, like Lucy, so as not to anger the Great Titania.
A great shadow passed over the now-snoring-again sleeping bags. Before Lucy could even blink, the boys were standing straight up, at attention, hands up in a salute, not looking at all like they were snoring a couple seconds ago.
"Good." Erza nodded. "Your trunks are there. They have five changes of your normal clothing, and five of the school's robes. Your names are on them. Lucy, Juvia, we will wait outside while the boys get ready. Then you two will get ready. Come. Professor Flitwick is going to give us some give us some basic cultural lessons. And don't worry about your keys or whip, Lucy, they're in your trunk." She added to Lucy as they exited.
. . . .
About an hour later, the whole group was trained (somewhat) in culture, ready to go, and. . .still pretty tired. Except for Erza and the Master. And Lucy wasn't quite as tired as the rest. Neither was Levy. And Mira. So um, just the boys and Juvia were tired.
"Would you like to try some coffee?" Dumbledore approached them with a tray of mugs. "It is this almost magic-like brew that muggles make!"
"We actually have coffee in Earthland." Lucy said, accepting a mug.
"Is that so?" Dumbledore asked.
"Yeah." Lucy said, stirring some sugar into her pitch black mug.
"Remind me again where we are?" Gray said, looking around the empty classroom, also accepting a cup of coffee.
"My new classroom." Mirajane said. "We cannot let the other teachers know that you guys are here, so we cannot dine in the Great Hall with the rest. We-" she indicated herself, Levy, Erza, Wendy, and the Master, "-were introduced to them earlier. They think we are getting our classrooms ready."
"They were all so skeptical about me." Wendy said sadly. "But when I used my new wand to show them my healing power, they were a little bit less skeptical." She brightened a bit.
"Say, I've been meaning to ask, how do these work? I mean with our magic. I saw Erza requip a clock earlier." Lucy asked, fingering her wand.
"All you have to do is imagine your magic coming out of the wand, rather than your body, or keys in your case Ms. Heartfilia." Dumbledore said simply.
Lucy thought about it a second. "I'm going to try it." She pulled out her wand and keys. "Open, gate of Canis Minor! Come, Nikola!" She held her keys in one hand and her wand in the other. Rather than the magic circle coming from her keys like normal, the circle was produced by her wand. Plue popped out, trembling and cute as always. "I get it now." Lucy nodded. "I want to do an experiment. Plue, I'm gonna send you back, okay?" The white spirit poofed away. Lucy handed her keys to Erza, who was the closest person that she trusted with her keys. "Open, gate of Canis Minor! Come, Nikola!" Nothing happened.
"Luce, you did something wrong." Natsu snorted. "Isn't that supposed to work?"
"Be quiet Natsu." Lucy snapped. "I thought so. I still need keys to summon spirits."
"One last thing before we go." Dumbledore held up his wand. "Money." He waved his wand, and five bulging bags of clinking coins appeared. He handed one to each new student. "And with that." Dumbledore said. "We should get going. Get your trunks, students."
"See you at the feast tonight guys." Lucy said, finishing her coffee and getting up.
"See ya." Gajeel, Natsu, and Gray chorused. Juvia merely waved. (This was all to the ones who were staying, of course.)
Grabbing their trunks, the five filed out behind Dumbledore. He held up a flask and downed it. "Polyjuice potion." He explained after going through the painful transformation. "I'm not supposed to be at the station, and I'm the only one who can Apparate in Hogwarts, so I have to use Polyjuice potion as a disguise. I probably won't be going into the station, but just as a precaution." Dumbledore now looked like a jolly old muggle man. He had transfigured his clothes to fit his new form as a muggle. "You'll learn about Polyjuice potion in later years.
"Now, I will have to Apparate you one at a time with side-along Apparation. Who would like to go first?"
"Is this considered transportation?" Natsu asked nervously. Dumbledore nodded, and Natsu paled considerably.
"Natsu, you'll go second." Lucy grabbed his shirt as he tried to run away. "I'll go first, and intercept you when you get there. Then Gray, then Juvia, then Gajeel."
Dumbledore nodded his consent of the plan. "Ms. Heartfilia, if you will please grab my arm. Hold tightly, if you will. And keep a firm hold on your trunk."
Lucy patted her wand and keys, then gripped Dumbledore's now-pudgy arm and held onto her trunk. "See you guys in a minute." She said, as Dumbledore twisted around into suffocating blackness.
Lucy felt the air being squeezed out of her. Just as it became unbearable, she burst out into clean, fresh air. "That. . .was. . .horrible." She gasped. "Natsu is going to hate that."
Dumbledore chuckled and Disapparated, returning a minute later with a poor looking Natsu. As Dumbledore twisted away again, he threw up. "Up!" Lucy commanded. She slung his arm over her shoulder and let Happy out of the kennel, who jumped to Natsu's shoulder to check on him. "Stay quiet." Lucy warned the Exceed. Happy nodded as Dumbledore appeared again with Gray, who immediately started laughing and teasing Natsu, who immediately recovered so he could slam his forehead into Gray's, all while Lucy groaned and Dumbledore Disapparated again and returned with Juvia who cheered Gray on.
"Where are we?" Lucy asked Dumbledore as he came back with a sick Gajeel.
"In an abandoned building just outside King's Cross Station." Dumbledore pointed out a dusty window. He then produced five tickets. "I will not be accompanying you inside. Platform nine and three quarters will not be immediately visible." He explained about the barrier and then bid them farewell as he Disapparated once again, this time not returning.
"We better get going." Lucy said, touching Horologium's key for the time. "It's already ten fifty. We'll miss the train if we don't hurry."
Gajeel having recovered, the group rushed out of the building and into the station. They quickly found the barrier between platforms nine and ten. They stood behind a family of redheads who also were rushing at the barrier.
Lucy watched the first pair run at the barrier and disappear. One of them isn't a red head. She noted. Then she smacked herself. Because he isn't one of the family. He's a friend. Damnit Lucy. Why are you such an idiot? "Guys, look." She pointed at the black haired boy running at the barrier.
"Is that-?" Juvia asked.
"I think it is." Lucy confirmed. "Messy black hair. And when I saw him turn around, emerald green eyes. And the bangs don't cover up his scar completely. Mostly, but not completely. That's Harry Potter."
All of them nodded, quickly memorizing what he looked like. Finally, the last red head went through. "Gajeel first." Lucy said.
"Why me?" Gajeel snorted.
"'Cause incompetent as you might be, I can more easily trust you to not make a fuss or run off on the other side. And you can keep the dolts that go through next from making a fuss. Go." Lucy explained, snapping the last word.
"She makes a point Gajeel." Pantherlily said quietly from his kennel, just loudly enough for Gajeel to hear with his Dragon Slayer hearing. And Natsu too, for that matter.
"Stupid Bunny Girl." Gajeel grumbled, wheeling his cart around to face the barrier. He checked for watching muggles, than ran through the barrier.
"Natsu." Lucy shoved the pink head forwards.
"Hehehe shouldn't be too hard for Flamebrain to get through. He loves running at walls for no reason." Gray snickered.
"Be nice Gray." Lucy said as Natsu decided to ignore the ice mage in favor of running at the barrier. "This time he has a reason." Lucy added as the front of end of Natsu's cart passed through the wall.
"Juvia, you next." Lucy said.
"And leave you alone with Gray! No way!" Juvia planted her feet firmly, the theater of her mind imagining the Gray and Lucy flirtingly fighting about who would go next.
"For the millionth time I am not interested in Gray!" Lucy snapped. "And if all three of these dolts were on that side, them mayhem will ensue! As insane as you may be, you can- somewhat- control these idiots! So I need you on the other side to control them until I get there. Don't worry, Gray'll be after you! Now hurry so we don't miss the train."
"Please do it Juvia." Gray pleaded. "If we miss the train, Erza will kill us!" He shivered violently.
"If my darling Gray says so. . . ." Juvia said hesitantly, then wheeled her cart to face the barrier.
"Go, before she freaks out." Lucy said as soon as the bluenette disappeared. Gray nodded, and ran forward, Lucy following suit.
She exited into a plume of steam. She could barely make out the vibrant colors of Natsu and Juvia's hair. "Let's go. We need to find a compartment." She said. She lifted her trunk out of her cart and waved for the group to follow her.
. . . .
"Ten fifty-nine." Lucy said as the group pushed their trunks up onto the rack above them. They were in the very back of the train. By a stroke of luck, they had ended up in the compartment across the aisle from the Potter kid. "Just in time."
"I didn't realize that a train was a part of the deal." Natsu groaned. The train wasn't moving, so he wasn't sick yet. But he was as good as. "Hurrrggh!"
"Eleven o' clock." Lucy sighed. "Let's get Natsu and Gajeel in the window seats.
"Why didn't we just put them there in the first place?" Gray frowned as he pushed Gajeel over.
"Good question." Lucy sighed again.
They ended up so that Natsu and Gajeel were next to the windows, Lucy on one side next to Natsu, and Gray on the other side next to Gajeel, and Juvia trying her hardest not to invade Gray's 'bubble' on his other side. Lily and Happy curled in the luggage racks out of sight for some naps.
"That's settled." Lucy sighed, giving Natsu's head a pat, as he decided that her lap was better than the window. "Why am I always Natsu's pillow?"
AN: Hmmm. . . I feel like that chapter was shorter than the others. By a lot. No worries! I'll just make the next one even longer! I'm just gonna type something that has been on my mind for a while.
It's fun to say lol. If you don't say el-oh-el like normal, but just say lol, as if it wasn't an acronym and an actual word, then it super fuuu-uuuuunn! Lol. Lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol. Lollllllllllllllllll. It's weird, but fun. (Don't mind me, just bein' a weirdo.)
Alright now that that's off my mind. . .see ya'll in da next chappie!
*insert picture of me reviewing a story* (#reviews) me: "I'm the coolest" also me: *spots readers* still me: "This could be you, kids" MEEEE: *dons sunglasses and suit*
Xiao,
-Ember M.
