Disclaimer: I don't Harry Potter, J.K Rowling does.
AN: So sorry for how long it took me to upload this. I didn't have Internet. For four days. It was, truly, the worst four days in my life. But I promise that there will be another chapter by Saturday at most (I'll try to have another one by tomorrow).
The first of September came quicker than Jonas could have imagined. He had packed all of his stuff in his brown truck; at the bottom were his cauldron and books; he had put his quills and bottles of ink inside the cauldron; on top of the cauldron and books, his telescope, crystal phials, brass scales, and rolls of parchment were carefully stacked; his school uniform was at the very top, so that he could put it on at the train.
Jonas woke his aunt at six o'clock sharp that day. He had woken up at four, but gave up on trying to fall asleep again and checked if he had not forgotten to put anything in his trunk. When he had gone over his list for the third time, Jonas decided to go wake up his aunt. He moved toward her room silently (which he was extremely talented at), and opened the door slowly. Just as he had imagined, Aunt Moritura was sound asleep.
"Aunt Moritura," Jonas said quietly. She didn't move. "Aunt Moritura," he said louder.
She stirred a bit, but did not do anything else. Jonas kept rising his voice until he was shouting. Aunt Moritura finally sat up, looking groggily at Jonas. She pressed the palms of her hands against her eyes and stretched. Aunt Moritura yawned and looked at Jonas with an annoyed expression.
"Why did you wake me at this hour?" she asked, irritated.
"It's the first of September, don't you know what this means?" Jonas said, raising an eyebrow at his aunt, clearly finding it amusing.
"Nope, so just tell me," Aunt Moritura said, ready to go back to sleep.
"I start Hogwarts today!" said Jonas. Aunt Moritura shot up straight looking surprised.
"Bloody hell, you should have said that immediately! Why did you let me make a fool of myself?" she said, jumping out of bed and starting to look for her muggle clothes.
"I just wanted to see if you really couldn't remember," said Jonas with a smile on his face. Aunt Moritura ignored him and shooed Jonas out of her room so that she could get dressed.
Four hours later, she and Jonas were walking through the forest, an even more difficult task than the last time, since they were dragging along the trunk now and Jonas's owl, Rogier. About ten minutes later, the grey road came into view, and Jonas quickly raised his right hand. With a familiar BANG, the Knight Bus stopped in front of them
"Welcome to the-" Stan Shunpike started, but Aunt Moritura cut him off.
"Skip the whole thing," she said, handing him a two galleons, "just take us to King Cross Station."
Stan took the money and stepped aside to let Jonas and Aunt Moritura clime in. After a shaky ride, they got off at King Cross and heaved Jonas's truck and Rogier onto a cart. Aunt Moritura and Jonas started to walk towards platform nine and three-quarters.
"Okay Jonas," she said when they were standing between platform nine and ten. "You know what to do. Run if you are a bit nervous."
Jonas nodded, took the cart from his aunt, and broke into a run. When he was almost there, he had a second to imagine what would happen if he crashed, before the muggle train station vanished, and in front of him appeared a red engine; the Hogwarts Express. He looked around and saw his aunt coming from the wall behind him. She put her hand on his back and smiled at him.
"It's great, isn't it?" she asked him, and a lost look on her eyes told Jonas that she was remembering her days at Hogwarts.
"Yeah," he said, looking back at the scarlet train. He was about to begin a new chapter in his life, he knew it, and couldn't wait to start.
Jonas looked around him, taking his surroundings for the first time since he had gotten there. Owl, cats, and toads were everywhere. Kids were greeting their friends, glad to see each other after a long summer. Some students were already in their uniforms or aboard the train. Parents were talking to their children, making sure nothing had been forgotten.
"Have you got all your stuff?" Aunt Moritura repeated every other guardian's words.
"Yes, I checked thrice." Jonas said patiently.
"You sure?" she asked, making Jonas roll his eyes. "Okay, okay, but if you forgot anything, just send me a note with Rogier and I'll send it back. Now, try not to get into too much trouble. You can pull a few pranks every now and then, and get in a duel once or twice. But I really don't want to get an owl from the head of your house every week."
"Don't worry, Aunt Moritura, I'll be fine," said Jonas. She gave him a sad smile before looking at her watch.
"Oh my, you better get on the train now, or there won't be any seats left," Aunt Moritura exclaimed. She gave him a hug and a kiss on his cheek, which he hastily wiped again.
Aunt Moritura helped Jonas lift his trunk and Rogier's cage onto the train. With a last hug, she stepped away from the Hogwarts Express. Jonas grabbed his trunk and owl, and proceeded to find a compartment. A few minutes later, he saw an empty one and entered it. He accommodated his stuff and looked out of the window. Jonas heard the sound of a whistle somewhere from the train, and saw the doors beginning to close. He looked back at his aunt, and waved at her as the train began to move.
"I'll see you at Christmas," she yelled at him so that he could hear her, "that is, if you decide to come," she added as an afterthought.
Jonas nodded and kept waving, until the train did a curve, and his aunt disappeared from view. He closed the window and sat down. After thirty minutes of looking out of the window, he decided that he might as well could do something useful, and got out one of his books. He had skimmed through all of them, but had never read them completely.
Fantastic Beasts and Were to Find Them, Jonas read.
He was half-way through the book when he heard a knock on his compartment door. He saw an old lady with a trolley full of food. He got up and opened the door, looking at all the things she was selling.
"Anything off the trolley, dear?" she asked him kindly. Jonas nodded and went to get some money from his trunk.
"Hmm, four Cauldron Cakes, three Chocolate Frogs, a packet of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, and a packet of Droobles," said Jonas. The trolley lady nodded and gave him his stuff.
"That'll be a galleon, two sickles, and five knuts," she said. Jonas handed her the money, closed the door, and sat down again.
He had just finished reading, when he heard another knock on the door. He opened the door again, wondering what it was this time. A small chubby boy was standing outside. Jonas remembered that he was a few meters away with an older lady on the train station.
"Sorry, but have you seen a toad at all?" he said with a tearful voice.
"No, sorry," Jonas said politely. The small boy nodded and left. About ten minutes later, he returned with a girl, who had very bushy hair, by his side.
"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," the girl said with a tone of authority.
"No, I haven't," said Jonas, a little bit annoyed.
The girl and Neville left, and Jonas closed the door. The rest of the ride went uneventful. From time to time, Jonas would look at the scenery outside of the train, and then go back to reading. About an hour after Neville's appearance, he put his uniform on and checked on Rogier. He had gotten through three of his books, when the train started slowing down. With his wand in his pocket, Jonas opened the door of the compartment and got out of the train.
"Firs' years! Firs' years follow me!" Jonas heard.
He and all the other first years found the source of the voice to be a giant man. He had huge and messy dark hair, his eyes were as equally black, but they looked kind. He was smiling at someone who Jonas couldn't see.
"C'mon, follow me – any more firs' years?" the giant man asked. "Mind yer step, now! Firs' year follow me!"
Jonas and the other first years followed the giant down a slippery, narrow path. Jonas couldn't see any starts above, and guessed that the trees were very close with each other. Neville, the toad-less boy, was next to Jonas, and he could hear him sniffing every now and then.
"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec, jus' round this bend here."
There was a large "Oooooh!" coming from almost everybody, and Jonas had to restrain himself from copying his classmates. The narrow path opened, and across a black lake, a huge castle stood. There were many towers, and the light coming from its windows made it a very beautiful sight.
Jonas saw a fleet of boats by the shore, and wondered if that was how they would be going to the castle.
"No more'n four a boat!" the giant man confirmed Jonas's suspicions.
The surface of the dark water waved as everyone settled themselves on the boats. Jonas got on the nearest one with a girl sitting next to him and two other boys behind him. He looked around him and saw that everyone was already sited; the giant man had a boat for himself.
"Everyone in?" the giant man said. "Right then – FORDWARD!"
The boats began to move, breaking the peaceful water with waves. Jonas couldn't help but wonder why his aunt had never told him about the boat ride. There was no noise at all except for the creaks of the boats every now and then. Everyone was staring at the castle with wide awe.
"Heads down!" the giant roared as they got close to the cliff. They went through a curtain of ivy that hid a secret entrance to an opening in the cliff face. The boats continued through a dark cave that seemed to go underneath the castle itself, and finally stopped at a floor of rocks and pebbles. Everyone climbed down of the boats and into the little hardboard.
"Oy, you there! Is this your toad?" the giant asked Neville.
"Trevor!" shouted Neville with glee while grabbing the toad.
Jonas and the others followed the giant through a passageway, coming at last out into some wet, green grass and standing in front of the huge castle. They walked up some stone steps and crowded around a huge oak door.
"Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad?" said the giant. After Neville nodded, he raised a fist and knocked three times on the castle door.