Happy Thanksgiving to my wonderful readers and my faithful reviewers. I was a bit worried when I first started out, but seeing that more than 200 people have read this story is amazing to me. And it's not just the U.S. visitors that I'm happy like this. I've been seeing traffic from Venezuela, The Netherlands, Hungary and the Philippines among others. That's what I'm most proud of, that people from so many different countries are taking the time to read what I wrote and like it. It tells me just how varied and diverse this community is and I'm so glad to be a part of it. Now this chapter, the introduction of the golden trio and Malfoy. I won't change much, just add some interesting dialogue and interactions to make it fresh. I'm going to try to get this out before Thanksgiving night and Black Friday, because I'm going to be working from 8 to 1 on Thanksgiving night and then again the next day from 1 to 9, so I'm not going to be able to get any work done on this chapter during that time and I want something for my audience to read over the fall break. So, hope you enjoy, have a good holiday and I do not own Harry Potter or Ed, Edd and Eddy, as they are the property of J.K. Rowling, AT&T and WarnerMedia.
The Journey from Platform 9 and ¾
The following three days passed without major incident for Marie Kanker. She started her mornings at the Leaky Cauldron having an english breakfast with some pumpkin juice before heading out into Diagon Alley to wander around the shops. She went into back alley shops and found an interesting book about Head Boys and what they did after they graduated Hogwarts, bought some dungbombs from a joke shop called Zonko's and tried some ice cream from Florean Florence's Ice Cream Parlor (she hated to admit that it was the best she ever had). She would then get lunch at one of the cafes and then return to her room at the Leaky Cauldron and read her books. She read each of her books deep into the night, pausing only to go to the bathroom and to go down into the bar to have some dinner. Most of them were very interesting, but it was potions she was looking forward to the most, as it reminded her a lot of chemistry. The night of the thirty first came without fanfare as Marie prepared to retire to her room for one last night. She had finished packing most of her things and was cleaning out the night stand when her hand brushed against the chicken bone she had left there a few days prior.
It was hard to think about her family. A few times she had gone out to a pay phone to attempt calling her mom, but she could never bring herself to do it. She knew that if she did it would just devolve into an argument about finances. If there was one part of her personality that she had inherited from her mother, it was her pride. Mom always tried her hardest to provide for them and she only took a handout if she had no other choice. Being offered money by her own daughter would not go down well. And Marie knew that she would just be insistent in helping her out and that the only things that would accomplish would be a lot of screaming and a few lost voices. Best to have that conversation in writing.
There was also just the fact that she didn't want to deal with any of her family. Her mother's hidden truths, her sisters rejection, her father's disappearance, being shanghaied into a position she didn't want to be in and the toxicity of her own home made any thought of calling or even writing home leave a bitter taste in her mouth. The wound was too raw, the betrayal too deep that Marie almost threw the bone away in a rage. It was only with great restraint that she hurled the bone on top of a pile of clothes in her trunk. She plopped down on the bed, grabbed a pillow and screamed into it. Moving on was a lot easier to do in concept than it was in practice.
Marie fell back onto the bed and looked at the analog clock out of the corner of her eye. 11:54 pm. She had been trying to sleep for 2 hours, but nothing had worked so far, so she had taken to packing to pass the time. The only things left out at this point were her toiletries and the set of clothes she had left out for tomorrow. She couldn't tell what was keeping her up, nervousness, anger or just the jumbled mess that was her head. All she knew was that sleep was as easy to catch as light, easy for her to see but unable to grasp no matter how hard she tried. She yearned for sleep, if not to get out of the cycle of introspection and spite than to just get enough sleep before she heads for the train station the next day. But her mind would not let her do so no matter how much she begged.
She moved until she was completely on the bed, staring up at the ceiling with detached lethargy. 'What can I even say to her? She told me so much about him, so it's not like she didn't trust me to know, but why wait so long? It's not like I wasn't able to prove that I could keep my mouth shut.' Anger shot through her for a second. 'And my sisters, why couldn't they realize that I haven't changed?' A sudden image of her little sister May, looking at her with longing and regret before she left the trailer a few days prior. 'Great,' she mused as she turned onto her side. 'Looks like I'm going to have to send a letter home to May saying that I forgive her for her moment of stupidity.' She huffed into her pillow. 'As if I didn't have enough to worry about.' She then remembered Lee's attitude. 'And who does she think she is to treat me like that? After everything we've been through?'
She growled. Resentment, loathing and fury clouded her mind as she tossed around on the bed. 'Did I lord over her that I had magic and she didn't? Did I ever mock her for being the result of a cheap one night stand? Did I ever stop her from spending time with mom by herself? No! I've always supported her! Always helped when she needed it, always followed her when we were breaking the rules, always did everything with her, and what do I get from her now? Spite and animosity, just because of something I can't help!' Muttering bitterly, Marie fell into a state between R.E.M. sleep and consciousness, so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't even realise that morning had come until the alarm rang. Grumbling and bumbling through her morning shower and coffee, she finished packing, paid her final tab and set off dwearily into the cool morning sun.
She arrived at Kings Cross at twenty after ten. The morning rush filled the station with the crushing sound of shoes on concrete, the sliding scid of trains braking on steel rails and the vrooming of the bullet trains leaving at more than 120 kilometers an hour. As she entered the station she looked up, hoping that she'll be able to find a sign to platform 9 and ¾ due to some wizard sense, but all she saw were a black plastic nine over one platform and a black plastic 10 over the one directly next to it. She walked over to a nearby guard. "Hey," she asked politely. "I was wondering where I need to go for the 11:00 o'clock train. Can you tell me where?" The guard looked at her funnily. "This station doesn't have an 11 o'clock departure. I'd suggest going to Euston. Might have what you need there." "Oh, thanks anyway." The guard tipped his hat and walked off, leaving Marie standing alone in the gaggle of commuters that roamed the station.
Marie sat down on a bench near one of the barriers between nine and ten, trying to figure out what to do next. She was stuck in a foreign country with a trunk full of magic textbooks and a sack of currency nobody in the muggle world used. And judging by the suspicious looks being cast in her direction, it probably wouldn't be long before she was kicked out for loitering. At that moment she heard a loud clanking sound of a cart coming in her direction. She looked up and saw a seemingly uninteresting sight of a fat, walrus looking man with a large mustache pushing a cart carrying a trunk into the station, followed closely behind by a scrawny and short looking boy with messy, long black hair, glasses that looked like they had been broken on more than one occasion, and clothes that were clearly meant to fit a far larger person. However, Marie's eyes widened when she saw that on top of the trunk rested a cage that held a snowy owl.
The man suddenly stopped next to her and looked at the boy with a nastily smug grin. "Well, there you are, boy. Platform nine-platform ten. Your platform should be right in the middle, though they don't seem to have built it yet, do they?" The man chuckled wicked, the boy looking at the barrier with despondent pessimism. "Have a good term." He then left without another word, leaving the boy behind, his laughter fading into the distance as he got in his car and drove away. Marie looked at the boy, who was looking around in desperate confusion.
"Don't bother asking for the 11 o'clock train." she uttered, causing the boy to jump in surprise as he turned to her. "I already did, the guard said that there isn't one." The boy sat down and looked at her curiously, as if she were a stray animal that he didn't know if she would bite or not. "Are, are you a witch?" He asked nervously. "Apparently, just found out a few weeks ago and I'm still not sure if I really believe it." she replied gloomly. She turned to him, spotting jade green eyes behind his glasses and what seemed to be a lighting bolt scar on his forehead. "What's your name kid?" "Harry, Harry Potter." he stuttered, seemingly not used to this level of niceness from someone his own age. She extended her hand for him to shake. "Marie Kanker." They shook and fell into silence.
Marie, hoping not to make this awkward, gestured her head towards the exit. "Who was the asshole back there?" Harry blushed, clearly reluctant to get into his private life. "That was my uncle. I don't have a positive relationship with him. Or with the rest of his family." Marie mind spun quickly in her head, trying to figure out a way to get her foot out of her mouth. "Doesn't seem to like our kind does he." Harry snorted. "That's an understatement. They don't like anything that they perceive as 'abnormal'. Me least of all." Marie frowned, wondering why someone hadn't called child services to arrest his relatives if they hated him this much. "But isn't that something normal? You're just a kid, you're allowed to imagine and make things up for fun. Why wouldn't they allow you to do that." Harry chuckled bitterly. "They think that if I read fantasy books, watch cartoons or more things up that I might get ideas, or worse spread my freakishness onto them." Marie stared at him, stunned at how ridiculously harsh his relatives were to him. 'What kind of person wouldn't want a kid to imagine?' "Man, and I thought my home life was rough." Harry looked at her with concern. "Really? Why is it rough?" Marie bit her lip, regretting saying anything to someone that was practically a stranger to her. "Well," she began reluctantly. "It's less to do with my family and more to do with unfortunate circumstance."
They talked for awhile, about Marie's life at the trailer park, Harry being ostracized by his class because of his cousin, Marie's mom's forced absence due to her multiple jobs, Harry always having to do the chores for his family and their surprise of finding out that they were wizards. Marie was particularly amused by Harry's tale of how his Uncle had tried to escape a barrage of letters by driving to a rock off the coast of the North Sea. She found Harry to be very kind, though frustrated about his lot in life and unsure of himself. From some of the looks he was giving her it almost seemed like he was expecting her to bully him at any moment. He needn't have worried, any interest she might've had in bullying others left well before she boarded that plane.
Marie looked up at the train clock and saw that it was now ten minutes to ten. "Ah crap." Marie quickly rose from her seat and grabbed her trunk. "We better hurry and find the platform. Trust that old bat not to tell us where we need to go, just brill.." "Packed with Muggles, of course." The two of them spun around at the sudden voice, which they saw belonged to a plump woman who was talking to four boys, all with flaming red hair. Each of them were pushing a trunk much like theirs in front of them and they had an owl. Marie smirked with glee. "Harry, I think I just found our ticket."
They pushed their carts after them, relief flooding through their veins. They stopped close enough to hear them when the family stopped close to one of the barriers. "Now, what's the platform's number?" asked the boys mother. "Platform 9 and 3/4 !" piped a small girl, also a red head, that was holding her mother's hand and minded Marie of May when she was about six. "Mum, can't I go?" "You're not old enough Ginny, now be quiet. Alright Percy, you go first."
What seemed to be the oldest looking boy marched towards the barrier between platforms nine and ten. The two of them watched carefully, trying not to blink in case they missed anything-but just then a crowd of tourists obscured their view just when the boy reached the barrier and by the time the last backpack had cleared, the boy had vanished. "Damn it." Marie growled.
"Fred, you next." the plump woman said, gesturing to one of what had to be a set of twins. "I'm not Fred, I'm George." said the boy. "Honestly woman, you call yourself our mother? Can't you tell I'm George?" "Sorry, George dear." The boy mischievously smirked. "Just joking mum. I am Fred." His twin told him to hurry up, and he did so, sprinting towards the barrier until.
"Harry, am I seeing things or did he just run through the barrier?" Marie asked in a shocked whisper. Harry could only nod numbly as the other twin walked briskly towards the barrier and disappear. "But how?" Harry apparently had a quick answer to that, as he approached the woman. "Excuse me." He pointed his thumb behind him at Marie. "My friend and I were wondering…" "How to get only the platform dear?" she finished kindly before looking over at Marie and giving her a reassuring smile, inviting her to approach. "First time at Hogwarts? Ron's new too." She pointed to her last and youngest son, a tall, gangly boy with sky blue eyes, a long nose, large hands and feet and a large patchwork of freckles on each of his cheeks. "All you have to do is walk straight at the barrier between platforms 9 and 10. Don't stop and don't be scared you'll crash into it, that's very important. Best to do it at a run if you're nervous."
"Wait," Marie asked in undignified exasperation. "That's it? All we have to do is walk into a wall?" The woman looked at Marie in mother concern. "Yes, that's it. Are you alright, you seem angry." "Oh no I'm fine." Marie curtly replied, her visible eye twitching. "I'm just wondering why the witch that showed me Diagon Alley and helped me get my school supplies didn't take thirty seconds to tell me this before she ditched me outside Ollivander's." The woman frowned, clearing believing that McGonagall shouldn't have left Marie on her own in a crowded market. "I'll be sure to inform the headmaster about this, don't you worry. Now, go on dears. You don't want to miss getting on." "Er-okay." Harry replied as the two of them wheeled their trunks until they were facing the barrier. It looked very solid.
"Do you want to go first or should I?" Harry asked politely. Marie said nothing as she started to move towards the barrier at a swift walk. People jostled her on their ways to platform 9 and 10. Marie started to jog, determination etched on her face. If the red heads could do it then she certainly could. She broke into a run, the rolling grind of trunks wheels increasing in intensity as they increased their rotations. The barrier was getting closer and closer. She resisted the urge to scream with great difficulty. She was nearly there. She extended her arm just in case. She was a foot away and then, she kept running. As she looked up she skidded to a stop.
A scarlet steam engine was waiting next to a platform crowded with people, one of whom Marie had barely stopped herself from bowling over. A sign overhead said Hogwarts Express: 11:00. Marie looked behind her to see Harry charging through the barrier, which had now been revealed to be an wrought-iron archway, with the words platform 9 and ¾ emblassened on it.
"Woah there tiger." she said as she grabbed Harry by the arm. "Don't want ya running out onto the tracks now do we." Harry opened his eyes and looked around the train yard in childish wonder, a large smile stretching across his face with every heartbeat. Cats of every size and color wove in and out of people's legs, owls of every kind were hooting to each other and hundreds of trunks were scrappin along the ground as their owners were loading them onto the train. Some of the students were hanging out of the carriages to talk to their families, others were fighting over seats and others were running through the corridors of the train. The two of them moved down the platform to search for an empty compartment, passing by the round faced boy that Marie had seen at Flourish and Blotts who was talking to an old witch with a hat topped with a stuffed vulture. "Gran, I've lost my toad again." "Oh Neville," they heard her sigh. As they approached an open door they saw a crowd huddled around a boy with dreadlocks. "Give us a look Lee. Go on." The boy lifted the lid of a box in his arms, and the people around him shrieked and yelled as a long, hairy leg poked out of it.
The two of them pressed through the crowd until they found an empty compartment at the rear of the train. Harry put his owl in first and then, with Marie's help, hauled his trunk up the steps into the compartment. Though when they were trying to lift their trunks into the upper storage compartments, they found that they were too short to reach, even when they were standing on the seats. "Want a hand?" It was one of the red headed twins that they had followed through the barrier. "Yeah," Harry grunted. "We can't quite reach the top." "Oy, Fred. Over here!" With their help they were able to hoast their trunks onto the storage rack. "Thanks." Harry said, sweeping his sweaty hair out of his eyes. "What's that?" one of the twins asked, pointing to the lightning bolt on Harry's forehead. "Blimey." the other twin stated in divine awe. "Are you…?" "He is!" the other twin exclaimed in barely restrained delight. "Are you?" "What?" Harry asked uncomfortably. "Harry Potter." chorused the twins. "Oh, him. I mean, yes I am." Harry stated nervously.
The twins stood their, gawking at him in reverence. Marie saw that Harry was starting to panic, if the increasing redness in his face was any indication. "Alright move along, he's not some zoo attraction for you to google at. In fact, I think I heard your mother calling for you, so by bye." She then shoved them out the door and slammed it behind her. "Gosh, rude much." Marie smiled at Harry, who was looking at her with reserved gratitude. They sat down next to the open window, where half hidden, they eavesdropped on the red haired family on the platform below.
Their mother had taken out a handkerchief. "Ron, you've got something on your nose." The youngest boy tried to jerk out of the way, but she grabbed him and started to vigorously rub the end of his nose. "Mum-geroff!" he exclaimed as we wiggled free. "Aaah, has ickle Ronnie got somefink on his nose?" asked one of the twins mockingly. "Shut up." Ron groased. "Where's Percy?" their mother asked. "He's coming now." The oldest boy strode into view. He had already changed into his school robes and the two of them noticed that a red and gold badge with a P on it had been pinned to his front. Marie decided that at that moment that they would never be able to get along, as he looked like an uptight prat, and the words that came out of his mouth only confirmed her opinion.
"Can't stay long mother." he said pompously. "I'm up front, the prefects got two compartments to themselves." "Oh, are you a prefect, Percy?" one of the twins exclaimed with an air of sarcastic surprise. ""You should have said something, we had no idea." "Hang on, I think I remember him saying something about it." the other twin mused. "Once-" "Or twice-" "A minute-" "All summer-" "Oh shut up." said Percy the prefect. "How come Percy get new robes anyway?" one of the twins asked. "Because he's a prefect." their mother coed fondly. "All right dear, have a good term. Send me an owl when you get there." She kissed Percy on the cheek and he left. She then turned to the twins. "Now, you two. I want you to behave yourselves this year. If I get one more letter that you've blown up a toilet or-." "Blown up a toilet. We've never blown up a toilet." "Great idea though. Thanks mum." "It's not funny. And look after Ron." "Don't worry," one of the twins slyly asserted, putting his arm around his brother. "Ickle Ronniekins is safe with us." "Not likely." Marie muttered as she watched Ron throw the twins arm off and glared at him, his nose still pink from where his mom rubbed it.
"Hey Mum, guess what?" the other twin excitedly conveyed. "Guess who we just met on the train?" Harry leaned back quickly so they wouldn't see him, a sight that made Marie wish the outer windows had curtains. "You know the black-haired boy who was near us in the station. You know who he is?" "Who" "Harry Potter" Marie watched the little girl's eyes widen in fan-girlish glee and started bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Oh Mum, can I go on the train and see him. Oh please…" "You've already seen him Ginny, and the poor boy isn't something you goggle at the zoo." "That's what that blue haired girl said to us earlier." one of the twins muttered. "And she's quite right of it. He's just as much a student at Hogwarts this year as you are, even if he is the boy who lived." She then looked pensively at the twin. "Is he really Fred? How do you know?" "Asked him. Saw his scar. It's really there, like lightning." "That poor boy. He was so polite when he asked how to get onto the platform, I'm glad that he at least had a friend with him." A small smile grew onto Marie's face. It was nice to have an adult comment on her with positivity. "Never mind that, do you think he remembers what You-Know-Who looks like?" "I forbid you to ask him Fred!" their mother shouted sternly. "No! Don't you dare! As though he needs reminding of that on his first day of school!" "All right, keep your hair on."
A whistle sounded. "Hurry up!" their mother exclaimed, and the three boys clambered onto the train. They leaned out the train for their mother to kiss their cheeks, and their younger sister started crying. "Don't cry Ginny, we'll send you loads of owls." "We'll send you a Hogwarts toilet seat." "George!" "I'm only joking mum." The train began to move. Marie and Harry watched as the boys sister, half crying and half laughing, ran alongside the train as it picked up speed until she reached the end of the platform. Marie sat back from the window, as the girl's hair had started to look blonde as the train went around the corner, letting Harry watch the houses run past as they heading into the English countryside.
The door of the compartment slid open and the youngest boy came in. "Can I sit here?" he asked, pointing at the seat next to Marie. "Everywhere else is full." Harry shook his head and Marie shrugged, not caring either way. The boy sat down, his eyes flickering to Harry for a brief moment before sitting down, pretending he hadn't looked. Marie noticed that he still had a black mark on his nose. "Hey Ron." The twins were back, getting a soft glare from Marie when they entered the doorway. "Listen, we're going down to the middle of the train. Lee Jordan's got a giant tarantula down there." "Right." Ron mumbled warily. "Hello all. I don't believe we introduced ourselves earlier. Fred and George Weasley. And this is Ron, our brother." "Marie Kanker" she stated frostily. "Right, sorry about earlier there Harry, won't happen again. See you later then." "Bye." the three of them chorused as the twins shut the door behind them.
"Are you really Harry Potter?" Ron blurted out. Harry nodded timidly. "Oh-well I thought that it might be one of Fred and George jokes." he mumbled awkwardly. "And have you really got, you know…" He pointed at Harry's forehead. Marie looked at Ron with curious frustration. 'What is the deal with that scar anyway?' Harry pulled back his bangs to show his lightning bolt scar in its full glory. Ron stared, amazed. "So is that where You-Know-Who-?" 'Who?' Marie thought, now completely confused. "Yes, but I can't remember any of it." Harry replied. "Nothing?" Ron asked eagerly. "Well-I remember a lot of green light, but nothing else." "Wow." The two stared at each other awkwardly before Marie interjected. "What's the big deal?" Ron looked at Marie incredulously, while Harry looked at her in quiet confusion and even relief. "The scar. What's the big deal? So it's a magic scar, big whoop. Why does that mean you have to treat him like some rock star. And who is You-Know-Who anyway, cause I certainly don't know who."
Ron looked at her in stunned disbelief. "Are you a muggleborn?" "No, I am muggle raised though. Only found out I was a witch less than a month ago." she replied curtly. "Oh, sorry. It's just weird, I've never met a person that didn't know who You-Know-Who is." "It's okay," Harry said encouragingly. "I didn't know that I was a wizard either until Hagrid came and told me about my parents and Voldemort." Ron gasped and scrambled back in his seat. "You said his name." Ron said, sounding both shocked and impressed. "I'd have thought you of all people." "What the hell's a Voldemort?" "Only the darkest wizard of the last fifty years! He terrorized the entire wizarding world with his forces for more than a decade. He killed hundreds of muggles and wizards, including two of my uncles." He then pointed at Harry. "It's only because of him that he was defeated in the first place." Marie looked at Harry in shock. "You what?" "Well, I don't really know how I did it. As far as I know, the spell rebounded off me for no reason. Not like it did much for me though. He killed both my parents and left me to live with the Dursleys." "The jackass." "Yeah him." "Bummer man. Still, guess it's kind of impressive that you beat that guy." Ron looked at her weirdly. "You know, you're taking this all very calmly." "I've had a lot of surprises the last few weeks. I'm practically numb to stuff like this by now. Besides, it doesn't change who he is, anymore than finding out I was a witch changed who I am." She turned to the side. "Despite what other people think." she growled.
Harry looked at her sympathetically, while Ron looked more introspective. "Do you want to talk about it?" Harry asked. Marie shook her head. They sat in uncomfortable silence for several minutes. "What about your family Ron. Are all of them wizards?" Harry asked, hoping to lighten up the mood. "Err, Yeah I think so." Ron said. "I think Mom's got a second cousin who's an accountant, but we never talk about him." "You must know loads about magic already." "Ah a bit. But not as much as my brothers. They've been at Hogwarts for years." "But you must have learned a lot from them. I wish I had three wizard brothers." "Five." Ron said gloomly. "And trust me Harry, having siblings isn't what it's cracked up to be." Marie affirmed "I've the sixth in our family to Hogwarts. You could say I've got a lot to live up to. Bill and Charlie have already left. Bill was a head boy and Charlie was a Quidditch captain. Now Percy's a prefect. Fred and George mess around a lot, but they still get really good marks and everyone thinks their funny. Everyone expects me to do as well as the others, but if I do, it's no big deal, because they did it first. You never get anything new either, with five brothers. I've got Bill's old robes, Charlie's old wand, and Percy's old rat."
Ron reached inside his jacket and drew out a fat gray rat, which was asleep. "His name's Scabbers and he's useless and he hardly ever wakes up. Percy got an owl from my dad for being made a prefect, but they couldn't aff-I mean, I got Scabbers instead." Ron's ears went pink, thinking that he had said too much. "Hey it's fine," Marie said consolingly. "Most of the stuff I get is from Goodwill or charity donation bins." "What really?" Harry asked perplexingly while Ron looked at her understandingly. "Yeah, believe it or not, the clothes I'm wearing are meant for a guy." and that was true as she was wearing a men's plaid collared shirt, men's skinny jeans and unbenounced to the others, men's boxers. "I can understand that. All the clothes I have are from my cousin." Harry said sympathetically. "Wait what? Those look like they're supposed to be for a grown man!" "Well, he does weigh 175 kilos." Marie quirked her left eyebrow. "Takes after his father I assume?" "In more ways than one." "So he's a jackass too?" Harry blushed. "Yeeesssss?" "Figures."
While they had been talking, the train had carried them out of London. Now they were passing vast fields of pasture, filled with herds of cows and sheep. The three of them fell back into silence, with Harry and Marie watching the world move past the window. Around 12:30 there was a great clattering outside in the corridor and a smiling, dimpled woman slid back the door. "Anything off the carts dears?" she asked earnestly. Marie and Harry went to get something off the carts, Ron muttering that he had brought sandwiches. What she saw was some of the weirdest confectaries she had ever seen. Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Chocolate Frogs, Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes and Licorice Wands were just a few of the weird candies that were offered from the cart. Marie searched the cart with her eyes, but it seemed that there were no normal candies (which was a shame, as she had a weakness for Starburst). So she settled for getting a few jugs of pumpkin juice while Harry bought a bit of everything, which the two of them dumped into an empty seat.
"Hungry are ya?" she asked playfully. "Starving." Harry replied before diving into a pumpkin pasty. Ron meanwhile took out a lumpy package and unwrapped it to reveal four sandwiches. He pulled one of them apart and whined. "She always forgets that I don't like corned beef." Marie perked up. "I'll trade you some juice for those." "You don't want these, it's all dry." Ron said morosely. "She hasn't got much time, you know, with five of us." Marie tossed him a bottle before snatching the sandwiches from his hand. "Ron, where I come from, I've learned that you have to appreciate what food you can get." She took out one of the sandwiches and bit into it. "Cough, cough, wow." she grabbed a bottle of pumpkin juice and took a deep swig of it. "You weren't kidding when you said it was dry. This thing could really use some mustard." "Go on, have a pasty." Harry said, extending a hand filled with one towards her. Marie took it, staring at it suspiciously before taking a bite.
It was weird, sitting there with Harry and Ron as the three of them worked their way through Harry's pasties, cakes and candies and Ron's sandwiches (she had to down two bottles of pumpkin juice to finish them). When she was at school, she and her sisters had a table all to themselves, mainly because nobody was brave or stupid enough to sit with them. While she did love her sisters even after everything that had happened in the last month, there was this warm, cuddly feeling building up in her stomach with every passing minute she spent with the two boys. She couldn't quite tell what it was, but it felt nice.
Harry grabbed a blue, pentagonal shaped box and showed them to Ron. "What are these? They're not real frogs are they?" "No." Ron replied, focusing more on a licorice wand then on what Harry was holding. "But see what the card is. I'm missing Agrippa." "What?" Harry and Marie asked simultaneously. "Oh, of course you two wouldn't know. Chocolate Frogs have cards inside them, you know, to collect. Famous witches and wizards. I've got about five hundred, but I haven't got Agrippa or Ptolemy." Harry unwrapped his chocolate frog and picked up the card, scooting over to allow Marie to look at it over his shoulder. It showed a picture of an old withered man with a long crooked nose, half-moon glasses and a long silvery beard and mustache, which matched his equally long, flowing hair. Underneath it was the name Albus Dumbledore.
"So this is Dumbledore." Harry exclaimed. "Looks kind of queer, don't he?" Marie stated. "Don't tell me you two haven't heard of Dumbledore!" Ron expressed. "Can I have a frog? I might get Agrippa-Thanks." Harry turned over the card and the two began to read.
Albus Dumbledore
Currently Headmaster of Hogwarts
Considered by many to be the greatest wizard of modern times, Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel. Dumbledore enjoys chamber music and ten pin bowling.
Harry turned the card back over and to both his and Marie's astonishment, Dumbledore had vanished. "He's gone." Harry exclaimed in shock. "Well you can't expect him to hang around all day." Ron said matter of factly. "He'll be back. No, I've got Morgana again and I've got six of her." Ron extended the card to Harry and Marie. "Do either of you want it? You can start collecting." Marie looked at the card for a brief moment. "No thanks, I'm not really into trading card collecting, I prefer Duel Monster cards." Harry turned to her in confusion as he took the card from Ron. "You play Yu-Gi-Oh?" "Of course." she replied as easily as if she had just been asked what the weather is. "Where else can I save the world while playing a children's card game?" Ron wasn't paying attention to the conversation, as he was busy staring at the pile of chocolate frog boxes in the seat next to Harry. Harry noticed. "Help yourself." he said cheerfully. "But in the, you know, muggle world, people don't move in photos." "Do they? What they don't move at all?" Ron asked, sounding amazed. "Weird." "I prefer static shots personality." Marie stated grumply. "Adds more of an artistic feel to it, conveys a lot more emotion when you capture that specific moment." Ron nodded, looking unsure if he should argue with her before helping Harry to tear into the chocolate frogs.
The two of them tore into the cards, Harry collecting the cards themselves while Ron was content to eat the chocolate, though considering that he had 500 cards, he probably didn't need them. Marie watched Harry flick through the cards for a bit, watching his eyes flicker in fascination and wonder at the moving pictures so like the photos she saw less than a month prior. She smiled a little as she reached for a different candy box, finding his joy to be rather endearing. Her smile however was replaced with a puzzled frown as she saw that she had gotten a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. "You gotta be careful with those." Ron warned, wiping off bits of chocolate that had smeared on his lower lip. "When they say every flavor, they mean every flavor. There's the ordinary ones of course, like chocolate, peppermint and marmalade, but then you can get spinach, liver or tripe. George swears that he once had a booger flavored one once." He then picked up a green bean, looked at it carefully, and bit into a corner. "Bleurgh-see? Sprouts."
Marie looked down at the box. At that moment, a fiendish thought, such as that she hadn't had in nearly a month, sprouted and took root in her head. An impish grin spread across her face as Marie the Kanker sister was reborn. "Hey guys." she coed, staring at them with a sadistic gleam in her eyes. "How about we play a game?"
The game was "Guess the flavor." Going counter clockwise, the three of them would close their eyes, pluck a bean from the box, and eat the bean to find out what flavor it was. Marie got many varying flavors; good ones like almond, vanilla, tomato, lemon and goat cheese and bad ones like sauerkraut, charcoal, haggis, beets and soap. For the next few hours they played this game as the scenery beside the train transitioned from well kept pasture to wild forests. "Okay Harry, what's this one?" Marie asked with anticipated glee. Harry pulled out a gray bean and bit into the corner. "Yuck, uncrushed black pepper." "Bummer Harry. Alright Marie, you next." Marie took out a light brown bean and tried to eat it, only to start choking and spit it out. "Marie, are you okay?" Harry asked. "Cough, cinnamon. It was if I ate an entire spoonful of the stuff." She took a deep drag from one of the remaining bottles of pumpkin juice. "Urgh, I think we need to stop before we get something truly disgusting." "Yeah, I've heard rumors that there's this rare vomit flavored bean that looks a lot like a licorice flavor bean. I don't want to test my luck after having that whiskey flavored one." "Well look on the bright side," Marie said merrily. "Least we know what not to get you for your birthday in ten years."
At that moment the compartment door opened and the round faced boy stepped in, tears glistening at the edges of his eyes. "Sorry, but have you seen a toad at all?" When the three of them shook their heads he wailed. "I've lost him! He keeps getting away from me!" "He'll turn up." Harry said. "Yeah, he's probably just somewhere in the storage compartment." Marie said, not really caring. "Yeah, I think I'll do that. But if you see him." "You'll be the first to know." Marie finished. "Don't know why he's so bothered." Ron uttered after the boy left. "If I'd brought a toad I'd lose it as quickly as possible. Mind you, I brought Scabbers so I can't talk." The rat was still sleeping on Ron's lap. "He might've died and you wouldn't know the difference." Ron said in disgust. "I tried to turn him yellow yesterday to make him more interesting, but the spell didn't work. I'll show you guys…" He rummaged through his trunk and took out a very battered looking wand. It was chipped in place and what seemed to be a white thread was poking out at the end. "Unicorn's hair sticking out of it. Anyway-"
He had just raised his wand when the compartment door slid open again. The toadless boy was back, this time with a girl with bushy brown hair, chocolate brown eyes and large buck teeth. She was already wearing her Hogwarts robes, reminding Marie way too much of Percy to be comfortable. Her bossy voice didn't help. "Has anyone's seen a toad? Neville's lost one." "We've already told him we haven't seen it." Ron said. But the girl wasn't listening, she was looking at the wand in his hand. "Oh you doing magic? Let's see then." She said pompously. Ron looked taken aback. "Er-all right" He cleared his throat and raised his arms as if he were a stage musician. "Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, turn this stupid fat rat yellow." He waved his wand, but nothing happened. Scabbers stayed gray and asleep.
"Are you sure that's a real spell? Well it's not very good, is it? I've tried a few spells just for practice and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family is magic at all, so it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so surprised! Of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard-I've learned all our course books by heart, I just hope it will be enough. I'm Hermione Granger by the way, who are you?" She said all of this rather quickly. Marie was panicking. She had only gotten her textbooks three days ago, there was no way she had been able to memorize them. Even Ron's stunned face that showed he hadn't memorized them either didn't help calm her done. "Ron Weasley." Ron muttered, feeling stupid. "Marie Kanker, I'm the only witch in my family as well." she said, hoping that her voice wasn't cracking. "Harry Potter" he said cautiously. "Are you really?" Hermoine asked eagerly, her eyes glinting with knowledgeable intrige. "I know all about you of course. I got a few extra books for background reading, and you're in Modern Magical History, The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts, and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century." "Am I?" Harry asked in bewilderment. "Goodness didn't you know. I would've found out everything I could if it was me." Hermione then felt a calloused hand on her shoulder, it was Marie's and she was looking at her with barely held patience.
"Hermione, Harry here is rather, sheltered shall we say. He just wants to enjoy Hogwarts like the rest of us, so I'm going to need ya to turn that 10 down to about a 6. Okay?" Hermione nodded, a blush coming to her cheeks. She stood back up and recomposed herself. "Do either of you know what houses you'll be in? I've been asking around and I'm hoping I am in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best. Afterall, Dumbledore himself was in it." She then got pensive, her index finger tapping her cheek as she did so. "Although, Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad. Would be nice to have an intelligent discussion with others for a change." The toadless boy Neville tapped Hermione on the shoulder. "Anyway, we'd better go and look for Neville's toad. You three had better change, I'd expect we'd be there soon." She then left, leaving a perplexed and exasperated group behind her.
"Whatever house I'm in, I hope she's not in it." Ron said. "I know right? Can you imagine having to spend an entire year dealing with that? I'd rather move in with that pint sized red haired brat back home." Marie said. Ron chuckled a little before staring at the wand that was still in his hand. He threw it angrily back into his trunk. "Stupid spell. George gave it to me, bet he knew it was a dud." "What house are your brothers in?" Harry asked, his curiosity plastered all over his face. "Gryffindor." he said gloomily. "Mum and Dad were in it too. I don't know what they'll say if I'm not. I don't suppose Ravenclaw would be too bad, but imagine if they put me in Slytherin." "If they did, I'm definitely making those jokes." Marie conveyed impishly. "What kind of jokes?" Ron asked cautiously. "The special kind." she said as she giggled perversely. "Wasn't that the house Vol- a mean, You-Know-Who was in?" "Yeah" Ron uttered depressively. Harry looked at Scabbers earnestly. "You know, I think the ends of Scabbers whiskers are a bit lighter." Marie could only look at Harry with a gaze that said 'really?'
"So," Harry started, clearly trying to remove all sense of awkwardness from the room. "What do your oldest brothers do now that they've left anyway?" "Charlie's in Romania studying dragons, and Bill's in Africa doing something for Gringotts." Ron then leaned forward. "Did you hear about Gringotts?" he whispered consperiously. "It's been all over the Daily Prophet, but I don't suppose the two of you get that with muggles-someone tried to rob a high security vault." Both Harry and Marie were shocked. "Really? What happened to them?" Harry asked. "Nothing, that's why it's such big news. They haven't been caught. My dad says it must've been a powerful Dark wizard to get round Gringotts, but they don't think they took anything, that's what's odd. 'Course, everyone gets scared when something like this happens in case You-Know-Who's behind it." Marie stared at Ron in exasperation. "Can I just call him Voldemort? I feel stupid calling him You-Know-Who all the time." Ron flinched. "Don't say his name." "Alright, I'll just call him Godwin. That's seems to be how you're treating him, as if the Gestapo will come in if we say anything bad about him."
"What's your Quidditch team?" Ron asked, desperately trying to steer this ship away from the iceberg that was Voldemort as hard as he can. "Er- I don't know any." "Yeah, I don't know any either." "What!" Ron shouted, looking dumbfounded as his gaze switched between the two of them. "Oh you wait, it's the greatest sport in the world." At that moment, Marie realized that she had encountered a fanboy. The next several minutes were a blur as Ron explained the rules of the game, the different positions and what they did, the four balls, the games he and his brothers had been to and various brooms he'd like to buy if he had more money. Marie would be lying if she said that her eyes hadn't glazed over when he started talking about common penalties. He had just started discussing the finer parts of the sport when the compartment door opened again.
'Oh thank god, if I had to listen to another talk about how cobbling is complete crap, I'd have taken my chances jumping.' In stepped in a boy with pale blonde hair, pale gray eyes and a pointed face. He was looking at Harry with a keen, predatory interest. "Is it true?" he asked in a bored drawling voice. "They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So, it's you isn't it?" "Yes." Harry replied cliptly. Marie looked over at the two boys that had followed the pointed face one, whom she was quickly coming to hate. Both of them were heavyset and looked both extremely mean and extremely stupid. Standing on either side of the boy, it looked as though May's Ed had created two evil clones and rented them out as bodyguards.
"Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle." the pale faced boy remarked carelessly. "And my name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy." Ron coughed, attempting to cover a slight snicker while Marie's mouth twitched. 'Oh child, I'm going to have so much fun with you.' she thought sadistically. Draco Malfoy looked at them. "Think my name's funny do you?" Marie smirked. "Hey you said it, not me." Ron bit into his hand, trying to keep himself from laughing. Malfoy glared at him. "No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles and more children than they can afford." He turned back to Harry, ignoring the blazing glare Marie was giving him. "You'll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to be making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there." He extended his hand for Harry to take, but Harry didn't take it. "I think I can tell the wrong sort for myself thanks." he said cooly. Malfoy's cheeks tinged a slight pink as he withdrew his hand. "I'd be careful if I were you, Potter." he whispered. "Unless you're a bit politer you'll go the same way as your parents. They didn't know what was good for them either. You hang around with riffraff like the Weasley's and that Hagrid and it'll rub off on you." All Ron and Harry, now utterly furious, stood up. "Say that again." Ron said, his face as red as his hair. "Oh, you're going to fight us are you?" Malfoy sneered. "Unless you get out now." Harry declared bravely. "But we don't feel like leaving, do we boys? We've eaten all our food and you still seem to have some." Goyle reached toward the Chocolate Frogs next to Ron, only to get his hand trapped in a vice-like grip.
"Heh, heh, heh, heh. Oh, I knew I was going to have fun with you, but I didn't think that it would be this much fun." Marie said sadistically. She squeezed lightly on Goyle's hand, causing a small crack to emit from it. Malfoy looked at Marie in petrified fear, her single visible eye staring hungrily at him. "It's not often I find a person like you, the kind that thinks that just because of how much money they have and how superior their blood is that they think the world revolves around them.. That no matter what problems they face that they can just throw their money and influence and power at it and it will just go away." She squeezed again, harder this time, causing more cracks to come from Goyle's hand and tears to form in his eyes. A devilish grin spread across his face. "Those kind of people, oh how I loathe them. And yet I also love them, because it means that I can take them down a peg, and that is so much fun." She squeezed again, harder than ever. An audible SNAP echoed through the room, followed by Goyle's agonized scream as Marie let go of his now broken hand. "And that is the whistle." Her grin was now spread from ear to ear, as a psychotic gleam sparkled in her visible eye. "I don't believe I introduced myself. My name is Marie Regulus Kanker. I fix machines, destroy public property and beat up entitled little twats like you." Crabbe threw a punch at her, only for her to grab it, her eyes not leaving Malfoy's terrified gaze. "So tell me, are you gonna leave, or am I gonna have to break your other mook's hand?" Malfoy grabbed Goyle and took off, Crabbe following quickly after.
Perhaps it was because of Goyle's scream, or maybe it was the sound of thundering footsteps, but Hermione arrived a second later. "What has been going on? I thought I heard a gunshot." Marie looked at her left hand. "Huh, must've broken his hand harder than I thought." she then turned to Harry. "So, you've met the whining 1%'er I take it." Harry explained to them his meeting with Malfoy at Madam Malkin's a month earlier, a meeting that had not left a favorable impression on him. "I've heard of his family," Ron uttered darkly. "They were some of the first to come back to our side after You-Know-Who disappeared. Said they were bewitched but my dad doesn't believe it. He says Malfoy's father didn't need an excuse to go over to the Dark Side." He then turned to Harmione, who Marie was surprised to find was still there. "Can we help you with something?" "You'd better hurry up and put your robes on, I've just been up front to the conductor and he says we're nearly there. You haven't been fighting have you? You'll be in trouble before we even get there." Marie chuckled. "Oh please, for there to be a fight, the other side would've had a chance of winning." She then reached into her trunk and got her robes. "She's right though, we better get changed. I'll leave you to yourselves, I'll be back in a few minutes. Be sure to get the dirt off your nose Ron."
Marie walked down the train to the girls room, passing by a blonde haired girl that seemed oddly familiar to her, and changed into her robes before returning to the compartment. "Hey guys, this feels weird. Do either of you feel weird?" "About what?" Ron asked. "Wearing these. I feel like I'm wearing an oversized poncho." "Oh thank god, I'm not the only one." Harry said. "Uh, don't worry too much about it. You get used to it after about a month or so." Ron placated. At that moment a voice echoed over the intercom. "We'll be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it'll be taken to the school separately." Nerves shot through the three of them. Ron's freckles grew more prominent on his increasingly pale face and even Marie couldn't keep her hands from trembling. They crammed their pockets with the last few sweets and the last two bottles of pumpkin juice and joined the throng crowding the corridor.
The train slowed down and finally stopped. People pushed their way through the door and out onto the small platform. It was a cold night, a fine mist hung over the train yard. A lamp bobbed in out of the darkness, buzzing softly above the crowd. "Firs' years! Firs' years over here! All right there, Harry?" Holding the lantern was a giant of a man with a tangled mane of black hair and beard, with equally black eyes that glistened like beetles. He towered over the first years on the platform, yet despite the distance and the mist, his friendly smile could clearly be seen through the mass of hair. "C'mon, follow me-anymore firs' years? Mind your step now! Firs' years follow me!"
Slipping and sliding across the wet, stoney slope, they followed the giant down a steep, narrow path, the darkness enveloping them as they moved through the trees in nervous silence. "Yeh'll get your firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec, jus' round the bend here." There was a series of loud "Ooooh!"'s and Marie would've joined them if she hadn't been rendered speechless. A towering castle grafted to the side of a tall mountain dominated the horizon, the orange glow of hundreds of windows lighting up the massive turrets and spiraling towers. The waning half moon shone over a large black lake, the lapping waves glistening in the evening light. It spread over five kilometers from shore to shore, enhancing the sheer size of the castle as the first years gazed up in wonder.
"No more'n four to a boat!" the giant called as he pointed to a fleet of row boats by the shore. Marie, Ron and Harry were quickly joined in one of the boats by Hermione, none of them being particularly happy about the arrangement. "Everyone in?" the giant asked after he had gotten in a boat that he filled up by himself. "Right then-FORWARD!" The boats lurched forward, gliding across the lake as if it were made of glass. Everyone remained silent as their rides took them closer and closer to the castle. "Heads Down!" the giant yelled as the boats started to reach the cliff, forcing them to bend their heads to keep themselves from scraping their heads on the wet and rocky ceiling. They passed through a curtain of ivy and along a dark tunnel to an underground harbor, where they clambered out onto the rocky beach. "Oy, you there. Is this your toad?" the giant asked as he was checking one of the boats. "Trevor." Neville cried thankfully. With that problem solved, the giant lead the crowd up a passageway onto the damp lawn in front of the castle. The giant climbed a set of stone stairs to a huge oak door.
"Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad?" The giant raised his fist and knocked three times on the castle door, which opened at once, revealing the one person that Marie didn't want to see.
Well that failed. Boss had me come in to cover multiple shifts, I had to work for multiple days with very little down time and then to add insult to injury, I started to blackout while going to the bathroom and twisted my ankle when I was falling down. So not a good week for working on this, even without having to help with Thanksgiving dinner. On the plus side, I don't have to work until Saturday this week so I'll be able to dedicate my entire time to the story. Now before I conclude this, there was one other reason why this is late, and that is because I've been watching this youtube channel called Hello Future Me, a channel that talks about worldbuilding and story writing. Trust me, watching this channel and hearing him talk about the hidden exposition techniques in Harry Potter or the intricate world building of Last Airbender really helped me as a writer and gave me a fascinating look into the creative process in what questions you have to ask yourself while writing. And the best part; he has a book out! I haven't bought it yet, but I've read the first three chapters of his book On Writing and Worldbuilding Volume 1 on Amazon, and I find it to be easy to read and understand. It's very educational and since it uses a balanced combination of examples from traditional literature as well as modern popular culture, it's very accessible. It's currently available in kindle and paperback form on Amazon and I feel that it is a necessity for any writer or aspiring writer to have. See you next time.
