Chapter 3: Hogwarts Express
King's Cross Station had not changed at all since Harry remembered it, so many years ago when he attended Hogwarts. It was still bustling with hurried and harassed looking Muggle pedestrians, oblivious to the fact that the family of five hurriedly sprinting down the boarding platform between platforms nine and ten were in fact wizards. Harry Potter, his wife Ginny Weasley Potter, and their two sons and daughter, James Potter, Albus Severus Potter, and Lily Potter ran towards the solid stone barrier that led to platform nine and three quarters which the Hogwarts Express was eagerly waiting on to whisk the children away to the school of witchcraft and wizardry. It was now James's fifth year, and very important because of O.W.L exams, it was Albus's third year now and he was happy to be going back, able to see Hugo and Rose Weasley, daughter of Ron and Hermione. However this year marked Lily's eleventh birthday, she, on the other hand was completely petrified about the idea of attending Hogwarts, and at the same time was overwhelmingly excited.
She pushed her cart onward with quivering, sweaty hands and a heart thumping so loud that she expected her mother to stop her and ensure she was in good health. Ginny walked alongside her daughter to her left, Albus and James to her right, also pushing heavy metal carts full of school supplies, her father Harry was walking swiftly behind him. Since Harry had been raised by Muggles, namely Petunia and Vernon Dursley, he knew how to dress right, therefore he and his family blended in completely with the glum crowd. Today had started out as a gray, wet, and sticky morning ever since they left their home at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place. Their happy and friendly house elf, Kreacher had given them a weather report and it was not expected to clear up until night.
Lily's excitement and anxiousness grew as they approached the barrier. Many times she had witnessed her two brothers walk right through the solid wall, this year it was her turn.
"Are you alright Lily dear?" Ginny asked behind her. Harry couldn't help but notice how much Ginny was like her mother Molly during these times, always fussy and harassed as they seemed to have a usual last minute scramble ritual, just like in the old days….
"Yeah mum." Lily replied as they neared the barrier. Harry straightened his long sleeve T-shirt and prepared to cross onto the platform. He glanced around quickly for any sign of Ron or Hermione. He saw neither Ron's ginger hair, nor Hermione's bushy mane. Disappointed he turned back to face the barrier, James and Albus in front of him.
"Lily," said Harry.
"Yeah dad?" Lily asked, he could hear the mingled anxiousness in her voice.
"You first."
"Really?"
"Yeah, 'course, it's your first year. Tradition, when Al first started he went before through before James. I'll be right behind you. Ginny, you'll be okay with these two right?"
"'Course Harry," Ginny replied, smiling. She gave Lily a light pat on the back onward. Harry glanced around, ensuring no Muggles were watching, of course they were not, and even if they were he doubted they would notice anything. It was too gloomy out today and everyone's spirits were dampened, people were minding their own business, wanting to get it done as soon as possible. Harry winked at his ginger haired daughter, she took a deep breath and prepared herself for the run, and for going to Hogwarts.
"Help's a bit to get a running start." said a voice behind them. Harry spun promptly to see Hugo and Rose Weasley striding towards them. Ron and Hermione in step a few feet behind. Lily nodded to Rose, silently thanking her for the piece of advice.
"Great to see you Ron, Hermione." said Harry happily. Before he knew it Hermione's arms were wrapped around his neck, he hugged her back, not having seen her since the get together at the Burrow, or Ron for that matter.
"It's wonderful to see you too." said Hermione before pulling away, positively beaming. "You too Ginny."
"Well, I hate to break up the reunion mate, but it's five minutes to eleven." said Ron. Harry glanced at the clock in alarm, indeed it was. The train would be leaving in five minutes.
"Go on Lily." Harry told her. She took one last deep breath and ran straight for the wall, sliding right through it as though merely stepping into another room. No passerby's noticed a thing. In Harry's experience no Muggle noticed anything unless someone shot a stunning spell or something exploded. He gave a quick nod to Ron and Hermione and ran in after his daughter, the moment after he passed through the wall he found himself on platform nine and three quarters once more. The Hogwarts express before him, billowing out fluffy white smoke from its stack. James and Albus ran through the barrier next, followed by Ginny, Hugo, Rose, Ron, and finally Hermione. They each walked up to the nearest car, greeting other wizarding families along the way.
Finally they reached less crowded one, after giving their goodbyes Albus and James quickly boarded, followed by Rose and Hugo who were also in their third year just like Albus, apparently they got on well. As Harry was about to bid Lily goodbye Ron and Hermione stepped towards the Express. For a fleeting moment Harry thought Rose or Hugo had left something behind, however he realized the trunks they were carrying in their hands were in fact theirs. Confused Harry asked the obvious question,
"Where are you two going?"
"Oh!" cried Hermione in surprise. "You… didn't you get our letter?"
"What letter?"
"Sorry Harry!" Ginny cried in realization. "I got it; I forgot to tell you…"
"Tell me what?" asked Harry, still utterly confused.
"That we're teaching at Hogwarts mate, Hermione and I." said Ron.
"You never ran that by me!" snapped Harry irritably, Ron worked under him in the Auror office, in fact Harry was head.
"Well I thought Ginny would've told you." said Ron, giving his sister an angry look.
"Don't even try to blame this on me Ronald!" Ginny snapped. "It was an honest mistake."
"Never mind that," Harry began. "So what're you two teaching?"
"Arithmancy!" Hermione blurted out, clearly excited. Harry recalled back that it was one of her favorite subjects, still that didn't explain how she got the post. It seemed she sensed his next question. "Kingsley offered me the job! The professor teaching it before… dear I forgot her name, she retired early, I guess teaching was not for her."
Kingsley Shacklebolt of course was now Headmaster of Hogwarts School. He had been appointed so several years back, after his term as Minister ended, Professor McGonagall had originally taken over after Snape was killed, but she was not as young as she once had been, plus she could find no one to teach Transfiguration and she could not be both a Headmistress and a Transfiguration teacher, in fact it was Harry that recommended Kingsley be sent there as he thought the elderly Auror was just the man to do it, he was not as quick as he once was and Harry trusted him immensely, he had also sent the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher there, Avery Smith, another Auror.
"And what're you teaching Ron?" Harry asked, though he was sure he already knew. Poor Professor Flitwick had recently passed away.
"Charm's o' course!" Ron replied.
Harry never though Ron particularly good at Charms, though Kingsley had hired him so he must have been the right man for the job. Shacklebolt was not one to hire someone half perfect for a job, not matter how quick notice was.
"Congratulations then," said Harry. "Neville's going to be happy."
"Yeah, he's written us." said Hermione. "His poor owl is getting old though, and its eyesight is horrible, nearly died when it smacked into our window."
"Well bye Harry!" Ron said quickly as he glanced at the clock, two minutes to eleven. After exchanging brief farewells he and Hermione boarded the train and Harry turned back down to Lily.
"You ready?" he asked her.
"Uh-huh," she replied quietly, picking her stuff up off of the cart. "Dad?"
"Yeah?"
"I hear Professor McGonagall and Professor Longbottom really pack the homework on, so don't worry if I forget to write."
"You're a first year, McGonagall and Neville will go easy on you. And if necessary I'll write to you. Now go on or you'll miss the train."
"Bye dad," said Lily, hugging him briefly and then turning to Ginny and doing the same. "Bye mum."
"Bye sweetheart," Ginny said as Lily boarded the train and the conductor called for all aboard.
"Bye Lily," said Harry as the chubby man closed the door, Lily waved to them both one last time before the train sped off into the distance. Both watched it until it turned the corner and flew out of sight, Harry glanced around as parents began to retreat from the platform; he was surprised he could not pick out Malfoy in the bunch. Come to think of it he had not seen his son Scorpious either. Marking it as slightly odd he put his arm around Ginny and both left the platform to Apparate back to Number Twelve.
XxX
It always seemed so crowed on the Hogwarts Express and so difficult to find somewhere empty! Albus paced the outside hall of one car, peeking in windows and desperately looking for an empty compartment, or at least one with someone he knew well in it, perhaps Hugo or Rose Weasley? His efforts proved futile, every single cabin in that one car was full to bursting point. Mostly groups of girls occupied them, about six or so to a cabin which was a tight squeeze, especially one car with a group of all Ravenclaws, they were in their fourth year and one was so large that she took up half of the seats, yet eight other girls had managed to stuff themselves in as well and they were all talking and giggling about some humorous thing Albus could not hear.
He let out a sigh of frustration before approaching the sliding crimson door which led directly into the next car, thankfully practicing magic was allowed on the Express these days, Albus pulled out his holly wand with a phoenix feather core and gave it a light swish whilst muttering an incantation, both doors flew open, he stepped lightly through the thresholds and into the next car, dragging his heavy trunk behind him. Praying he would get lucky he stepped up and peered through the window of the first compartment, two people occupied it, his best friends at Hogwarts, Hugo and Rose Weasley, daughter of his father's friends Ron and Hermione who were apparently teaching this year. Grinning broadly Albus let himself into the compartment, dragging his trunk in and shutting the door behind him.
"Hey Al," said Hugo, waving a hand at him. Albus's smile broadened even more as he hoisted his trunk up on the overhead racks. He took a seat next to Hugo, opposite of Rose who was buried in a book titled Hogwarts, A History. Albus distinctly remembered Ron remarking how like her mother Rose was, he could imagine his father Harry, Ron, and Hermione all in a car together like this, Hermione deep into a book and Ron and Harry conversing amongst themselves.
"It's good to see you Al." said Rose, peering over the cover of her book and smiling immensely.
"Good to see you too, Hugo, Rose." Albus replied. "You don't know how long it took me to find a compartment. They're so full of people; you should have seen Eloise Gibbons, that Ravenclaw fourth year girl."
"Oh yeah, that fat one?" Hugo asked with a hint of a chuckle.
"Hugo!" Rose snapped, sounding exactly like her mother. "You mustn't be so rude!"
"Oh put a sock in it Rose." Hugo snapped. "Go back to your reading."
Rose let out a muffled sigh of exasperation and continued to skim over the page of the history of Hogwarts, apparently wanting as little to do with Albus's and Hugo's conversation as possible.
"Well, go on." said Hugo, earning a dirty look from his sister.
"She took up half the bench and there were about eight other girls in there."
"No way, you'd have to use a shrinking charm just to get one girl in a car with Eloise!" Hugo cried earning not only another dirty look from Rose, but also a near kick to the shin.
Before Albus could give a clever insult to go along with Hugo's the door to their cabin flew open and another one of Albus's long time friends entered, shutting the door clumsily behind himself, he flipped his curly brown hair out of his bushy browed eyes and hoisted his own hand-me-down trunk onto the racks, nearly tripping over his untied shoelace he took a seat next to Rose.
Neville Longbottom, professor of Herbology at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy had married Luna Lovegood, now senior editor of the magazine Quibbler since her father Xenophilius passed away. Together they had a child who they named Philius, he had taken on Neville's physical attributes, there was no bit of Luna Lovegood in his appearance, they may not even have been related, save for his eyes which were exactly his mother's.
"Hi Phil," said Al, using the nickname Philius Longbottom had been given.
"Hi Al, Hugo, Rose."
"Hey Phil," both Rose and Hugo said in unison.
"How's your summer been?" asked Hugo.
"We haven't really done anything, dad's been growing some mandrakes so I had to help him repot those a couple of times. Can't stand 'em, they're so loud. I nearly fainted when they began screeching, it's like nails across a chalk board."
"I thought you liked Herbology though."
"Yeah, but it doesn't mean I like mandrakes. I'm really looking forward to it this year. Hey, have any of you seen Scorpius Malfoy?"
"No," Hugo replied. "What, did he finally get what was coming to him or something?"
"No, I don't think he's here at all. I walked past his friends Tom Goyale and Gareth Zabini, they were looking around looking for him."
"I didn't see him at the station." Albus remarked. "I didn't even see his dear old dad Draco. My dad used to hate him. I heard he was a Death Eater for Voldemort, I bet he still is, he's probably got Bellatrix Lestrange in his house right now, taking care of her I reckon, she's his aunt you know, bet that's why Scorpious isn't here, he's helping his dad take care of Voldemort's cronies."
Phil, Hugo, and Rose winced at the sound of Voldemort's name, something that greatly irritated Albus. The man was dead and people were still afraid to utter his name aloud, pure idiocy, absolute rubbish that was.
"You shouldn't say things like that mate." Hugo warned feebly, still reeling from the shock of hearing Lord Voldemort's name spoke aloud, he'd always been like that, and Albus had always used it.
"I agree, it's a bit far out." Rose added. "Scorpious is probably ill, it is a bit odd he's not here but I don't think it has to do with Bellatrix Lestrange. If she's smart she's probably out of the country by now."
"So, how're you two feeling about your parents teaching?" Phil asked, apparently desperate to change the subject to something more… lighthearted. Albus graciously let it go and vowed not to mention Voldemort or any of his Death Eaters for a bit.
"I'm looking forward to it actually. Especially Arithmancy since mum is teaching it." said Rose quite happily. "Charms'll probably be brilliant as well."
"Hmpf," Hugo huffed. Clearly he did not share his sister's positive opinions on his parents teaching him. "I'm just glad I'm not taking Arithmancy, mum would embarrass the heck out of me. Charms probably won't be that bad."
"Well if you're not taking Arithmancy then what are you taking?" asked Phil. "Not Divination! I heard stories about Professor Trelawney, she killed the centaur that was teaching with her, she did!"
"No she did not!" snapped Rose, sounding so much like Hermione Albus actually looked hurriedly up at the luggage racks, half expecting to find her lying there and spying on them. "Phil, honestly, Frienze was killed in the Forbidden Forest! He went back to try and redeem himself in the eyes of the centaurs."
"Didn't work out well then." Hugo muttered and Phil simply said, "Oh."
"Well anyway I'm taking Care of Magical Creatures, I like Hagrid." said Hugo.
"So am I!" Albus cried. "Least we'll have one class together."
"Didn't James take Care of Magical Creatures Al?" asked Phil, desperate to avoid the murderous looks Rose was shooting at him for insulting Professor Trelawney, Rose got like that over any professor really, if she had actually know Sybill Trelawney for the kind of teacher she was….
"He dropped it though," Albus replied. "He's all worried about his OWLS this year."
They continued to talk like this until the day began to fade into twilight, though no one noticed since they were all distracted by humorous stories Eloise Gibbons (much to Rose's fury) and Albus's siblings. By the time they finally realized they had lost all track of time stars glinted in the black sky and the moon cast its pale glow on the lake outside their windows, Hogsmeade was in the distance... it was nearly time.
Albus, Hugo, Rose, and Phil speedily got dressed into their school robes as the Hogwarts Express began to slow. Phil was the last to be ready and by that time the halls of the train were flooded with people. After it cleared up all four of them were easily able to disembark the train, Albus caught sight of a nervous looking Lily who was heading down toward the boats and the river with the enormous Hagrid, Albus gave his sister a reassuring look and waved at the game keeper whose trash bin lid sized hand flew through the air to return the gesture. Albus followed his comrades to the thestral drawn carriages that would whisk them away to the beautiful and brightly lit castle in the distance. Albus knew that thestrals did indeed pull the carriages only because his father had told him after his first year when he inquired about what spell pulled them.
Albus, Hugo, Rose, and Phil each hopped onto the back of the very last carriage and were pulled off to Hogwarts. Once they reached the school they entered the Great Hall as usual and took their seats. Each professor was seating at the staff table at the far end, the headmaster Kingsley Shacklebolt smiled lightly at the students. Albus's stomach growled, his relayed his annoyance about how long the sorting took to Hugo who agreed with him grimily. About a minute later Hagrid's massive hands pushed the giant doors to the Great Hall open and he came bounding in towards the staff table, his booted feet thumping on the floor loudly. The gamekeeper took a seat in his large chair next to Professor McGonagall's empty one, which looked considerably smaller next to him, as though a child would occupy it.
The wait was not long because a moment later Minerva McGonagall burst through the doors leading a large army of awed first years into the Hall. Each of them looked in wonder towards the ceiling which seemed to be part of the clear night sky, and at the hundreds of candles floating just above McGonagall's head, she lead them quickly towards the platform on which the staff table sat. There a small bench laid, the sorting hat perched upon it. Albus groaned quietly as his stomach growled once more and McGonagall unrolled the longest piece of parchment he had ever seen. Why did there have to be so many first years?
It was then to sorting hat sang it's usual song and McGonagall's loud, stern voice began to speak, calling nervous looking first years to sit upon the bench and be sorted. The first few went like clockwork, Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff! McGonagall was quickly reaching the halfway point of the list. Albus, and pretty much the entire back half of the Slytherin table expressed their annoyance and hunger in groans when the sorting hat was perched atop the head of a nervous first year boy with long mousy brown hair. It considered where to put him for over five minutes before shouting its choice of Ravenclaw. Albus finally took quick lived interest when Lily was called up; it seemed even before the hat hit her head it shouted Gryffindor. Lily, who was noticeably tense, became less so and absolutely beamed as she approached the table.
The rest of the sorting seemed to go on for hours on end. Albus was quickly tiring of Minerva McGonagall's voice and his stomach continued to growl so loudly he was surprised no one at the Slytherin table, on the complete other side of the hall noticed nothing. Finally McGongall's voice called the last of the first years, a little dark girl who was the spitting image of Angelina Johnson. Albus let out a sigh of relief as the hat immediately chose Gryffindor.
Finally the sorting was over, Kingsley stood up, drawing himself to full height, gave his usual speech warning first years about the Forbidden Forest and such and finally sat down. Albus snatched up all the food he could fit on his plate when it finally materialized before him. He was absolutely stuffed, having eaten copious amounts of potatoes, turkey, chicken, and all manner of other foods and deserts by the time Kingsley bade them all goodnight. Albus went up to the dormitories happily and slept well that night, completely unaware of the horrors that lurked in the future.
God that was a long chapter. Not to worry though, the next one will have a few more events in it, Albus will finally discover he wants to follow in Harry's footsteps and will be trying out for Quidditch. Also, keep in mind this is a fan fiction, I know some of the stuff JK Rowling said about like McGonagall being retired and whatnot but I'd rather keep her in because I happen to like her. Oh and the reason I put Slughorn into retirement and brought him back is so I could write Albus meeting him for the first time (see next chapter) and because what Albus gets from Slughorn may become important. Kingsley is the Headmaster for reasons I will explain when the time comes, but since I like McGonagall you'll see why.
