Finally, the last day on the calendar was crossed off late one night. The next morning I would be off to school, off to home. But it was clear that Harry wasn't so sure about going to the greatest wizarding school of all time, he spent the whole night fretting, tossing and turning, out of peace. For someone who had been sort of an outcast in Muggle society as well, I could understand. I had known about magic from the beginning, but even so, when going to Hogwarts, I was plagued with thoughts, Will they like me? Will I have friends? What if I fail? By the time Harry's clock rang five in the morning, we had hardly slept a wink.
Drearily, Harry pulled on some Muggle clothes, and dragged out his suitcase, which he had carefully packed the night before. It had been arranged that the Dursleys would take Harry to King's Cross in London, because they had to take Dudley to the hospital to get his tail removed. I wasn't exactly sure how he got the tail, but it sure was a sight to see when I was first carried into the house by Harry. Other than one or two glimpses, the Dursleys were diligently avoiding Harry's room, which I had no problem with.
When Harry left the room to brush his teeth and do his makeup or whatever rituals he needed to do, I performed a do-not-try-at-home move. Under the floorboards was a flask of the first batch of polyjuice potion for me to take on the train. When, I wasn't sure, but I would figure it out. So carefully, very, very carefully, I focused on my right wing. I imagined it as no longer my wing, but as my hand, able to flex and move and get me out. Slowly, it transformed, and my owl body had a very human hand. Thank goodness I had had the good sense to practise changing just one part before I had to do it here.
Flexing my fingers to the fullest capacity, I reached for the key, just centimeters away from the cage. It hurt, trying to fit my disproportionately large fingers through the bars, but I was able to grab the key and stuff it into the keyhole, freeing myself. I leaped out the cage, making sure to be as quiet as a church mouse, and glide to the floor. Very peaceful, but a strange sight if anyone was to walk in. With a soft pop, I was myself again (fully robed, thank goodness), and was able to yank up the floorboard (gently, of course), and get the polyjuice potion and a key I had ever so cleverly replicated to get myself out of the cage if need be again.
Stuffing the flask and the key into my robe pocket, I heard the toilet down the hall flush and the sink turn on, and knew I only had a few seconds. In a flash, I was an owl, who was flying up to the cage, giving herself a human hand, and locking the cage with the original key, and tossing it back onto the table and turning my hand back and acting like nothing had happened at all. In fact, my heart was going a little faster than usual.
Harry looked suspiciously at the key that was still shaking a little where I had thrown it, then to me, then back at the key. But he shrugged and went on with his mentally preparing himself for whatever would come next.
It took a fair bit of persuasion to get Dudley to sit next to Harry, who was clutching my cage in his lap. He was so terrified of Harry that he wouldn't get anywhere near him, and while this was a little funny, someone who had been so keen on ruining Harry's life not two months before, had become so terrified of him now, it was also a little scary. What exactly had Hagrid done to make Dudley so petrified of a scrawny little boy?
The car ride was absolutely silent, save for the whimpers of Dudley whenever Harry flashed him a wicked smile. I could see he was having just a tad bit of fun being the tormentor instead of the tormented.
Finally, we arrived in London, and shortly after, Kings Cross. Like always, it was bustling with people, shouts for tickets and calls for boarding reverberated around the stone walls while people inside thronged and massed, rushing to get to one place as fast as possible. I had always been that kind of person, eager to hop up to the next challenge, but I had always hated situations where people made that personality into more than a personality, into more of a real situation. In simpler words, I was a bit freaked out by all the people.
The Dursleys got themselves a parking place, and pulled out Harry's trunk. Harry himself clambered out, setting me on top of the trolley. My head swiveled, trying to take in every face, every movement. Finally we stopped between platforms nine and ten. I looked happily towards the secret entrance and looked back at Harry, who looked disappointed. Mr. Dursley had a grin on his face equivalent to a goblin's as he left poor Harry in confusion. Many of the Muggles stared at Harry, probably because of me. You didn't catch many Muggles with a pet owl.
A guard passed, and Harry went up to him.
"Excuse me, sir? Do you know where the train to Hogwarts is going?" he asked politely.
"Hogwarts? No, I don't believe so. If you could tell me where this Hogwarts is, I could probably show you where the nearest train to this fanciful location ." the guard said.
"Of course, it's…" Harry stopped. I realized that Harry didn't know where Hogwarts is, and so did the guard. He now seemed annoyed.
"I'm sorry, sir, do you know of a train that leaves a 11:00?" Harry desperately said.
"No, there isn't." the guard said and strolled away, muttering something about time wasters. I was outraged. Harry was panicking. I glanced at the clock and realized we only had ten minutes until the train departed.
Suddenly, Harry spun around, and looked at a plump woman with flaming red hair, who was talking to four boys with the exact same hair as her. The boys were pushing carts like Harry's, and one of them had an owl. Harry started pushing his cart after them.
The woman stopped, and so did the boys and Harry.
"Now, what was the platform number?" the woman asked. A girl, also with the bright red hair, piped up, "Nine and three quarters!"
Harry's suspicion and my suspicion was confirmed. This was a magic family, and they were going to Hogwarts.
"Percy, you go first." the woman said, and the oldest boy, Percy, walked into the barrier between nine and ten and disappeared. Then, a boy named Fred and his twin brother, George. Before the last boy could go, Harry approached the woman and asked her about the platform. Apparently the last boy, her son, Ron, was also a first year. She told Harry how to get onto the platform.
Harry was a bit skeptical, but to be fair, we all were our first time.
He ran into the barrier and soon we were on Platform Nine and Three Quarters. It felt amazing to be back, to see all the Kneazles and cats and owls, their owners, the parents. It felt like I was going home again. Well, I was going home, but not exactly the way I imagined it.
I heard the owls' conversations-
"-you're back?"
"Yeah, Barbara gave me to her sister, Janice, so I'm back-"
"-never gives me enough rats-"
"-Hogwarts, such an amazing place-"
"-Dumbledore, what a man-"
I bet if Harry heard the things I could hear, he wouldn't be nervous about Hogwarts anymore. I looked around and around for Mallory, but couldn't see her anywhere. Maybe she was already on the train. I would see her soon enough, right?
We passed multiple students until Harry found an empty carriage. He put me inside first then went to move his trunk. He started pushing his trunk onto the train, but dropped it on his foot, Harry letting out a small gasp of pain.
The twins, Fred and George, came up to him.
"Want a hand?" one of them said.
"Yes, please." Harry said. The twins tucked Harry's trunk into the corner of the empty compartment. Harry pushed his hair out of his face, and one of the twins pointed to it, saying "What's that?"
The other gasped, "Blimey, are you-?"
"Am I who?" Harry asked.
"Harry Potter?" the twins said together.
"Oh, him," Harry said, "I mean, yeah, I am him."
The twins were called by their mother, and went away. Harry sat down next to the window, watching the red-haired family. Another boy joined him somewhere along the ride. He seemed nice, but I didn't really pay him much mind. I was tuckered out by all the people and all the worrying. Soon, I would be able to fly free. Oh boy, I couldn't wait.
When I woke up, Harry had just finished buttoning up his cloak and was about to exit the carriage. It was a bit of a shock for me, if they were about to leave, then I had to be with them for the Sorting Ceremony. So, with the same expertise I had performed earlier in the day, I tried to freeze my transformation from owl to human in the exact moment when I could get the key and unlock myself. With a little bit of luck, I was able to do it, get out of the cage and knock back my polyjuice potion.
Like always, it was a weird, weird, sensation. But thank goodness it was over fast and I was Daphne Greengrass. My robes fit just right, thanks to some tailoring I had been attempting in my free time. I shook my long black hair out and glanced in the window. Perfect disguise.
Then I strolled out of the carriage like I had been Daphne Greengrass my whole life. The train was starting to empty out, and the corridors where getting quieter, so I hurriedly followed a pack of 6th year Hufflepuffs out side onto the platform.
Outside, it was dark put certainly full of people. I was tempted to follow the older students, into the carriages pulled by thin air, but I wasn't an older student anymore. I was a first year, so I pointed my feet towards a tall, imposing figure who looked to big to be allowed. He was shouting, "C'mon, follow me- any more firs' years?" He swept the crowd that was huddled at his feet. "Mind yer step now! Firs' years follow me." I was standing at the outskirts of the group, looking for Mallory. No, looking for Astoria. She was near a blonde boy with his hair slicked back. Something about him… "Good. Now let's get a move on." He motioned with a huge fist for us to follow him, and we all shuffled quickly to get to wherever he was leading us. I knew he was taking us to the lake, so I didn't spend too much time worrying about it. Instead, I quickly pushed past the group and found Astoria/Mallory.
"Hello," I whispered in her ear.
She jumped about a foot in the air. "Merlin, Ang-Daphne, you scared me. You got out of the owl cage just right, then?"
"Yeah, I figured it out. You exited?"
"Oh, yeah. How many people-" She looked around to see if anyone was listening, but everyone else was just to frightened to be talking or was whispering something to their own friends. Astoria dropped her voice so only I could hear her anyway, "How many people get to go through the Sorting Ceremony twice?" She grinned.
"We're making history, we are. I wonder what the Sorting Hat will think, seeing as he can look inside out heads and all that," I wondered.
"I hope he won't be to judgemental. It'll be fine, it's not like he's going to announce it to the whole school, is it?"
"We can only hope."
After that we walked quietly, following Hagrid down a narrow, slippery path.
"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight 'o Hogwarts in just a sec," called Hagrid over his shoulder. "Jus' round this bend here."
There was a great "Ooooh!" form around the first year party and I stared up at the castle in all its moonlit glory. It was as magnificent as it had been when I had seen the castle for the first time, windows flickering form candle light, across from the silky black lake, nestled into the sight of a great mountain. Simply beautiful.
We were now standing on the slightly sandy beach of the Black lake, where boats were standing, ready for us to get in. Hagrid instructed us to no more than four to a boat, and I clambered in with Astoria and two boys, who introduced themselves as Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas.
"Everyone in? Right then- FORWARD!" Hagrid shouted once we had all gotten into a boat. And it was as if the boats had sails, gliding across the lake, smooth as glass, reflecting the moonlight. I kept my eye's fixed on Hogwarts, seven more years I would be here. Seven more, hopefully glorious, years
"Heads down!" Shouted Hagrid as we approached an opening in a cliff face. A curtain of ivy obstructed my view for a second, and I put my head down as instructed. We glided through an underground tunnel of sorts, and I took the time to take in all of my surroundings, for I had been to nervous to do so the first, definitely more nervous time I had been down this path.
It was a cave, definitely, an underground harbor of sorts. We were definitely underneath the school. Everyone got out of their boat onto rocks and pebbles and while Hagrid was looking through the boats, he found a toad, which was given to its prospective owner, more of the other students were hovering around a passageway. Hagrid led us down it until we came into a large, almost meadow sized, patch of slipper, dark green grass, shaded by the castle, which was now looming directly above us.
We walked up the stone steps to the great front door. I breathed in a deep breath, smelling the familiarity of the grounds, the stone, and the lake. Like always, the feeling of belonging set into me like a cat getting comfortable. Hagrid knocked three times on the great front door. It swung open, and I was back at home.