Beta: FlyingLovegood123
The long awaited day had finally started. It was the first day of September, as Harry had repeatedly reminded himself the day before while staring at the calendar, checking the date again and again to make sure he hadn't gotten it wrong. Hedwig, Harry's new snowy owl, had returned three days ago after having been on a particularly long hunting trip and was now sitting securely in her cage, seemingly aware somehow of their upcoming departure. He had packed his school things along with Edward yesterday evening and Harry had to marvel at how the other boy managed to sort out everything they needed out of the chaos they created in the room and got all in order in a mere fifteen minutes. They needed their wands back, something that until Harry reminded him, Uncle Vernon had conveniently ignored, who then saw it fit to claim that he forgot where the key to the storage was and watched the boy's troubled face with malicious glee until Edward moved forwards the locked door and literally opened it magically. Needless to say, Vernon's expression at that moment nearly made Harry doubled over with mirth, though he managed to hold it in. The man had scurried off immediately while muttering words like "freaks" or "nonsense in my house". The two young wizards were so very excited that they woke up early that morning and couldn't settle down. The train tickets were safely in their pockets, they sat at the kitchen table, waiting for the Dursleys while helping themselves to breakfast. They had managed to coax Vernon into giving them a ride to King's Cross station, and although he accepted with a grimace, Harry suspected that on the inside, his uncle was extremely delighted at the idea of finally having the chance to get rid of them. Their conversations lately had been largely consisted of one liner, and Harry didn't really want to get on his uncle's nerve so early in the morning, so he quietly waited for his relatives to finish their food and proceeded to load his trunk into the car, followed by Edward. He had trouble lifting the trunk, the thing almost went crashing down on him and he was forced to drop it down, then he turned his head to the side and saw that the other boy finished the task with one hand, and his trunk's content was just about the same as Harry's
"How are you doing that?" Harry exclaimed, his self-esteem just got considerably lowered.
"Hnn?" Edward turned and saw his friend's predicament "Oh. Here." He held hid hand over Harry's trunk and Harry, who was in the midst of pulling it up with all his might, nearly threw it over his shoulder when the weight disappeared.
"You know," Harry said, rubbing his shoulder "somehow I think that you don't need to go to Hogwarts at all."
There you have it. An uneventful morning, followed with an uneventful ride. It wasn't until the two boys were dropped at King's Cross in a hasty manner as if Vernon was afraid of being seen with them did Harry found out about their problem. He had never actually gone to anywhere so far from the Dursleys' house before, except Diagon Alley, and then he had had a guide. At the moment, he was with a boy who knew even less than he did, who was currently gawking around curiously. Moreover, quite many pairs of eyes were on them, or to be more specific, on Hedwig. It wouldn't have been such a big issue if they had been able to find the train. However, when the two of them went along with the stream of people and made their way over to the platforms, Harry stopped dead and the feeling that something had finally gone wrong settled itself in the pit of his stomach. Facing him were two platforms, one with a number nine and the other with number ten. Unfortunately, none matched the number on his ticket, which said clearly nine and three-quarters and remained so even though he had reread it about a dozen times. He looked back at Edward, who was looking at Harry expectantly and waiting for him to take the lead. He sighed. The lead to where? A place for lost kids? He glanced at the large clock over the arrival board and it sent him into panic. Ten more minutes and the above option might just as well be their destination. They were stranded here, Vernon had drove off, and neither of them had any Muggle money. Edward, being unfamiliar with everything, didn't realize the tight spot they were in.
"Harry, why are we stopping?" He asked with a puzzled face.
Harry, who was having difficulty clamping down the desire to run around in hysteria, tried to remain composed as he explained.
"These are the places where people get on the train." Harry pointed at the platforms "We need to find the one that has the same number as our tickets."
"So what's the problem?"
"Well," Harry gestured to their surrounding and shrugged "unless you see one with number nine and three-quarters around here, then we are in deep trouble."
Edward took a look at his ticket. His eyes widened.
"Did…did we come to the wrong place?"
"For our sake, let's hope not." He strode off to ask a guard about the train that departed at eleven, but he was sent away just as clueless as before. Just when he was about to get desperate…
"Hey! I found something!" Edward's voice rang over, and Harry whirled around to see his companion standing at the barrier between the two platforms, waving at him.
"What is it?" Harry went over.
"I felt something beyond this." He pointed at the barrier. Harry stared at it. It looked solid.
"Are you sure?" Harry asked with obvious hint of doubt.
"Yeah. I think we are supposed to go through it."
"You think?" Harry could hear his own voice rising.
"We don't have the time." Edward said, pointing at the clock to emphasize the urgency "Let's go."
He grabbed the handle of his trolley and before Harry could stop him, ran towards the barrier, all the while bracing himself for the crash. He really did felt something beyond the barrier, but that was no guarantee that his guess was right. Anyways, he wouldn't be able to stop. The cart made contact…
Harry opened his eyes. He had closed them when Edward was several inches away from the barrier, expecting the boy to be bounced off. Instead, he had vanished. Harry was astonished, yet he didn't really have the time to be standing here to figure it out. He took hold of his own trolley and ran. Of course, there was no crash and moments later he found himself on a large platform packed with people, a scarlet steam engine waiting. A sign overhead said Hogwarts Express, eleven o'clock. Behind him stood an archway with the words "Platform Nine and Three-Quarters" on it in place of the barrier. A hand suddenly grabbed his arm and Harry turned around to see Edward's grinning face.
"See? I told you so." He said triumphantly.
