11 Nov 2008 A/N: Haha, I came up with a half-hearted lame excuse for my absence. Well, I found two betas, but then they had rl problems, and then I didn't have betas anymore. Beautiful story, isn't it? Anyways, it made me lazy (don't ask how) but I'm publishing now! Oh yeah, but I still need a beta. Or two. It's a rather short chapter, but bear with me.

Thanks to the following for adding or reviewing: lonleyfairy, Tiffany's Hogwarts Secrets, power214063, nxkris, JBF, Heart of a Slytherin, pottermania bis, Anira De'Ember, laica-27, Zelia, Carscard, BBHarry, dsfjr1190, rosegraceblack, ChosenOne23, Johnny-on-the-spot, grala, MissisChrissy, songmuyang, ramakrishna, LadyAlston, DiantheHUNTRESS, danielle72679, jabarber69, kinowolfiehead

Chapter Seven: Platform Nine and Three Quarters

September Second.

This day meant many different things for many different families.

For most muggles, it meant the beginning of the school year.

For the Weasleys, it meant panic and mayhem.

For the Grangers, it meant the beginning of a new adventure--filled with a mixture of excitement and nervous anticipation.

For the Longbottoms, it meant the beginning of a magical education they thought Neville would never end up receiving.

For the Parkinsons, it meant the temporary loss of a loved daughter.

For the Zabinis, it meant more chances for the Zabini matriarch to find another rich husband to kill.

For the Notts, it meant a long-overdue separation between the drunkard father and the bookworm son.

For the Malfoys, it meant the start of an adventure that two young boys were quite impatient for. In fact, on the morning of September the 2nd, those two particular Malfoys had woken up around 4:00 AM.

----

A loud knock interrupted Harry's rushed, 'last-minute' checking of his bags.

"Harry?" Draco called, opening the door. "Oh good, you're awake too."

"Woke up at 3:00, couldn't sleep," Harry explained, his eyes bright despite the ridiculous hour.

"Same," Draco said, looking much more awake than he should have.

"You should check your bags! Don't want to forget anything, do you?" Harry said, flipping through his meticulously packed luggage.

Draco rolled his eyes. "Been there, done that," he said, smirking. "You're fine. It's not as if you didn't spend four hours checking and re-checking your bags. Not to mention the five times you decided that you weren't using the space efficiently enough and re-organized everything."

Harry sighed.

"We're going to Hogwarts!" he said nervously, in an oddly squeaky and high-pitched voice as the actual facts suddenly decided to sink in.

"Why yes, we are. We'll have to make sure we go down in the history books," Draco said, his mind lost in daydreams (or sky-is-still-dark dreams) of how he could wreak havoc on Hogwarts.

----

Finally, after several hours of staring impatiently at the ticking clock (for Draco and Harry) and being suddenly awakened by loud, crashing noises and pointless attempts at returning to sleep (for Lucius and Narcissa), the Malfoys were all about ready to leave for Platform Three and Four Quarters.

Everything had been loaded into their supposed places, and Lucius and Narcissa apparated the two (and all their belongings) to Platform 3/4.

----

"This is a rather dirty and old train station for the Hogwarts Express, don't you think?" Harry mumbled to Draco, a large cart full of all his belongings in front of him. His snake, which named himself Noxe, was sleeping off a meal of house rat in his cage.

Draco nodded in agreement, scowling at all the muggles--and a few grimy looking, tattered-clothes-wearing people snoring on benches, hugging all their belongings in plastic shopping bags.

As they walked in a little cluster of four following Lucius' lead, it was rather sudden and strange when Narcissa suddenly disappeared into a brick wall. Draco paused before realizing what was happening, and he followed Narcissa through the wall.

Harry stared blankly at the empty space where they had all been before Lucius walked into the brick wall and disappeared as well, leaving Harry alone in the muggle train station with only his pet snake as company. Harry looked around helplessly before spotting a mob of redheads muttering about the oddities of muggles. His hope sparking, Harry walked over to the large family.

"Hello, I was wondering if any of you could help me out a bit," Harry began, smiling and feeling silly.

"Of course!" the slightly plump, very....maternal-looking witch said. "What can we do for you, dear?"

Harry grinned. 'Phew,' he thought, mentally sighing in relief.

"How do I get to the train station? My parents and brother just disappeared, and I'm a bit lost."

Molly smiled at the sweet, innocent child in front of her.

"All you have to do is step through the wall, dear. Watch Fred--"

"I'm George!" the boy--several years older than Harry, it seemed--yelled, running through the brick wall and disappearing from sight. "Honestly, you'd think our own mother would be able to tell," he said to Harry conspiratorially.

"Alright, Fred's next, then," the witch said, rolling her eyes.

"Just kidding mum, I'm George," the twin of the already-gone boy said, grinning and running into non-existence as well.

Harry stared at the empty space curiously, his love for magic ever-increasing.

"All you have to do is walk straight through it, dear. Nothing to it. Don't be afraid of crashing, and don't stop until you're clear. Go on now," the witch said, smiling warmly at Harry.

"Thank you," Harry said, shifting Noxe's cage to a more comfortable position before walking through the wall carefully. The last thing he saw on the muggle side of the wall was a small, redheaded girl peering curiously at him from behind the matronly witch.

Harry winced and opened his eyes to a shiny, scarlet steam engine, crowded around by many people in wizarding robes.

"You couldn't have been any slower, could you?" said Draco, smirking at Harry. "Come on; let's go find an empty compartment."

Narcissa chose that moment to sweep the two into a brief, formal hug--but when she let go, her eyes were slightly watery.

"Don't forget to owl," she said, her voice wavering a little.

"Bye mother," Draco said, sounding bored.

"We won't," said Harry, patting her arm consolingly.

Draco then proceeded to drag Harry off to the train, where they plopped down into the first compartment they found. Harry looked out the window and waved to Lucius, who nodded back. Scanning the crowd outside, Harry smiled to himself as he appreciated, once again, his possession of a family. Many parents bid teary farewells to their children, who seemed more excited than sad to be getting away. His eyes were drawn to the nice, red-haired witch who had helped him earlier, who appeared to be viciously rubbing the nose of a red-haired boy about Harry's age. Harry watched as the twins--Fred and George, he recalled--and an uptight-looking, also red-haired boy joined them.

"What are you looking at?" Draco asked, joining Harry's window-watching.

"The red-haired family," Harry said, pointing at them. "I talked to them a bit right after you left."

"Those are the Weasleys," Draco said, following Harry's line of sight with contempt. "Dirt poor, and with no class at all. Remember Gringotts?"

Harry frowned, his gaze now catching on the tattered robes, the still-dirty nose of one of the boys, and the scuffed shoes.

"Yeah, I do," Harry replied, turning to face Draco. "They're purebloods, though, aren't they?"

"Blood-traitors," Draco replied, scowling. "Lower than mudbloods--maybe even lower than muggles."

"Could you two keep it down?" a dark-brown head asked, a scowl heard through his voice. Theodore Nott looked up at the two from his large book titled The Magical History of Rome.

Harry blinked, wondering where he had come from.

"Hi, Theo," Draco said, smiling.

The compartment door opened, a black-haired head poking in to look at the members of the compartment before the owner of that head squealed and clapped.

"Draco!" the girl said in a high pitched voice, rushing in and giving the boy a hug.

"Hi Harry!" she said, turning to Harry and plopping down between him and Draco.

Harry flinched. "Er...hi Pansy."

Pansy Parkinson grinned.

"I can't wait for the sorting ceremony!" she said, bouncing in her seat. "Obviously I'll be placed in Slytherin--"

"Can you imagine being sorted into Hufflepuff? Or worse, Gryffindor!" Draco cut in, looking ill.

"-Horrible, I know. Did your parents tell you what the Sorting Ceremony was?" Pansy asked, frowning. "Mother said she wanted me to be surprised. I almost got it out of Father, but Mother came in just as he reached the important part."

"I don't know..." Draco said, tapping his chin.

"Lucius mentioned an 'old rag', but then Narcissa hit him and told him to be quiet," Harry said thoughtfully, his curiosity piqued as well.

They sat in pondering silence for a moment.

"Gryffindor's Hat," Theo said, not looking up from his book.

"What?" three confused voices replied, all eyes on Theodore now.

"Gryffindor's Hat sorts us," Theo said, rolling his eyes and sighing. "Honestly. It's in Hogwarts, A History, chapter 2."

"Who reads that?" Draco asked, staring at Theo oddly.

The compartment door smacked opened before Theo had a chance to reply, revealing a bushy-haired girl.

"Have any of you seen a toad?" she demanded, her hands on her hips. "A boy lost his."

"Who are you?" Draco replied coldly, sneering.

The girl blinked before she stuck out her hand begrudgingly. "Hermione Granger."

Draco visibly recoiled, looking disgusted. "As if I'd willingly touch a mudblood like you," he said, scowling."

"If you'd leave," Draco said, opening the compartment door and glaring at Hermione.

She gasped indignantly before stomping angrily out into the hall.

Draco sat down, shuddering slightly. Pansy nodded in empathy, patting his arm.

"HAH!" a voice triumphantly exclaimed, right before the compartment door swung open quickly and Blaise Zabini ran in.

"I finally found you! Do you know what I had to endure up to now? No, of course you don't. You are all too busy being sane in here, aren't you? But no, Blaise doesn't matter, huh? Just leave him with two drooling people for a couple hours, he'll be okay." Blaise stood in front of them, twitching a little.

Harry blinked.

Blaise paused, seeming to forget what he was doing.

"Oh right. We're arriving in 20 minutes; it'd probably be a good idea to change."

By the time they were all done (Pansy demanded that they all leave the compartment so she could change), Hogwarts' grounds were coming into sight. The train pulled to a smooth stop, two shrill toots signaling that the students could exit the train. Filled with both anticipation and nervous anxiety, Harry and Draco prepared to experience the magic of Hogwarts.