The next two months went by in a flash for Harry and Hermione. Hermione had gotten more than one extra book from Flourish and Blotts and spent days up in her room, reading them and her school books. Apparently quite a few of them included some mention of him in them. Each time this happened, Hermione would barge into his room and ask what he thought of it. He found them all rather laughable, truth be told. They all seemed to think he'd defeated Voldemort through some special powers of his own and all of them insisted on calling him " The Boy Who Lived" They insisted on talking about him as if he were some kind of superhero.
Harry had tried to read The Workings of Magic but gave up after a few chapters. The book was as dry, pretentious and confusing as possible. He supposed that it had to have been written for grown-ups. His other books were a lot more interesting and he devoured them voraciously. Still, none of them actually explained what magic was or where it had come from. Perhaps that was in the books for older students. Or perhaps the answer was so well known among wizards that nobody ever saw the need to explain it. Or maybe the wizards didn't know any better than he did.
The only thing of any real importance that happened in those months was Harry's birthday. He'd had a nice day- he'd enjoyed his presents, the cake was nice and all of his friends had come round. He'd had a good watching the videos he'd received and playing some football with his friends. The only downside was that he'd had to tell his friends that he was going away to Hogwarts. None of them seemed very pleased to hear it. Harry wished that he could have told them the truth about where he was going or better yet that he'd be able to take them with him but Dumbledore had explained in no uncertain terms that this was impossible.
Nevertheless Harry and Hermione were both extremely excited to be going to Hogwarts. At Hogwarts he'd be able to learn how to do magic- how to become more powerful than anybody he'd ever known. Harry's imagination raced with possibilities. Plus he'd be away from his aunt and uncle for the first time in his life- as much as he loved them, it would be nice to get a little freedom.
#
Harry found it hard to sleep on the night before the 1st of September. His mind was racing with thoughts of what the next day would bring and he barely managed to resist the temptation to grab his torch and his books and do some midnight reading. He had no idea what time it was when he finally fell asleep but he knew that it was very, very late.
Because of this, he felt distinctly tired when Aunt Petunia woke him early the next morning. He sleepwalked through dressing himself. Feeling, a little more awake, he went downstairs to have some toast. Once he had finished he began gathering the items that he would take to Hogwarts with him. In addition to his school things he also gathered several items of his own- a handful of Roald Dahl books, a battered old copy of the Junior Encyclopaedia of Science, an even older and more battered copy of My First Book of Dinosaurs and a football.
With all their things gathered the Grangers (and Harry) got into their car and sped off towards London. Harry suddenly realised that this was the last time he would see his house until Christmas but by the time he decided to take one last look it was already out of sight. Harry and Hermione sat in silence while the car crossed the motorway. As the sun began streaming down heavily, Harry began to feel more awake. His excitement began to grow again.
By the time they had reached King's Cross, Harry's heart felt as if it was going to burst out of his chest. Then they were at the barrier between platforms nine and ten. This was it.
Dumbledore had explained that the train to Hogwarts could only be reached through platform nine and three quarters. In order to get to it, one had to run straight at the barrier between platforms nine and ten.
Aunt Petunia began to speak "Harry, Hermione, this is the last time you'll see me in person for a few months. I want you to promise that you'll stay out of trouble and you'll do your best in every subject and you'll write to me every week. I want to know you're okay."
They both promised that they would do as she asked and then she reached forward and hugged them both, one after the other. Then Uncle Henry stepped forward.
"I know you two will do me proud wherever you are. Have fun, but not too much fun, okay? And stay away from sugar. You don't know anything about wizarding dentistry and I don't trust what I don't know. Like Aunt Petunia he hugged Hermione but unlike Aunt Petunia he only shook Harry's hand.
Harry and Hermione loaded their trunks onto a trolley and began to head towards the barrier. They said goodbye and received a goodbye in return. As they walked towards it, Harry noticed that Hermione looked very apprehensive about heading straight for the solid concrete. He was feeling a little nervous himself- it was one thing to know that he could not be harmed by the barrier but quite another to actually thrust himself, face first into the hard material. He was worried that he might lose his nerve. To stop this, he decided to run straight at the barrier. Hermione followed his lead and before they knew it they were in.
Platform nine and three quarters was packed to the rafters. Everywhere Harry looked there were children and parents. They were all heading towards a great scarlet steam engine which billowed smoke everywhere. A sizeable number of the passengers were wearing wizards robes and for some reason pets website very popular. Harry saw dozens of cats and hundreds of owls as he and Hermione passed through the crowd. They passed a burly teenager who was talking animatedly about broomsticks and a pale, blond haired boy talking to two other, much larger boys. Harry scanned the crowd for any sign of Ron but he didn't seem to have arrived yet or else he was already on board.
They walked towards the train and went to find a compartment. The first couple were full but eventually they managed to find one near the end. Getting in, however proved to be more of a problem. It took an awful lot of effort for them to get their trunks into the compartment. Once they were in Hermione immediately began to leave again.
"I'm going to the bathroom" she said "I need to change into my wizarding clothes. And you should too, Harry"
"Hermione, we've got the whole journey to change" Harry replied "there's no need to do it right away"
"There might not be a need but I may as well do it while I still remember" she said and then Harry was alone.
In the absence of company, Harry opted to gaze out of the window. Just outside of the compartment next to his there was a pretty girl with long black hair and glasses. She seemed to be struggling mightily with her trunk. When he heard Hermione coming back he went to go and offer his assistance.
"Do you need any help with that?" He asked. The girl turned to him and said "if you don't mind"
His gesture would probably have been more impressive had he been able to lift the trunk any easier than she had. As it was, it took a rather embarrassing amount of time to get it on.
"My hero" said the girl "saving me from my luggage. I'm Mandy by the way, Mandy..." she paused for a second" ...Brocklehurst"
"That's a nice name" said Harry politely. She made a face that suggested she didn't agree with this sentiments "I'm Harry Potter"
"Are you really? Aren't you famous or something?"
"Kind of famous-but it's really no big deal, I didn't really do anything"
"Never met a famous person before" she said "you don't look very famous"
Harry looked at the crowd and saw the redheaded teenager with glasses he'd seen in Flourish and Blotts. Ron must be somewhere nearby.
"Listen" he said to Mandy "I've got to go. Why don't you come and sit in my compartment? My sister's there"
Harry followed him through the crowd, until he came to a large group of redheads. In addition to the boy, there was a plump woman who could only be his mother, a pair of twins who looked to be slightly younger than him and a little girl who couldn't be any older than ten. Ron was there too, struggling as his mother rubbed his nose.
"I can't stay long mother" the boy, who Harry assumed was probably Ron's brother "I must get back to the train. We prefects have a compartment of our own."
"Oh, are you a prefect, Percy? We'd never have guessed" said one of the twins.
"Hang on, I think he might have mentioned it"
"Once"
"Twice"
"A minute"
"All summer"
"Oh, shut up" said Percy the Prefect.
"How come Percy gets new robes anyway?" Said one of the twins.
"Because he's a prefect" said their mother. She kissed Percy on the cheek and he left. Then she turned to the twins.
"You two be on your best behaviour" she said" if I get one more owl telling me you've-you've blown up a toilet or-"
"Blown up a toilet? We're never blown up a toilet before"
"Great idea though, thanks mum"
"It's not funny! And look after Ron"
"Ron doesn't need our help mum, he's best mates with Harry Potter"
Ron seemed to take exception to that remark "I'm telling you, it was really him!"
Harry decided that now was the best moment to reveal himself. He walked up to the Weasleys and said "hello. I'm Harry Potter"
The twins gawped at him for a while. They seemed almost incapable of speech, something which Harry had a feeling was a very rare occurrence.
Ron laughed "see, I told you he was real. Hi Harry"
"Hi Ron" Harry replied "I've got a compartment, do you fancy sitting there? It's at the end of the train" Harry noticed that he was starting to make a habit of inviting people to come and sit with him and he was probably best off stopping now, before he ended up inviting his entire class there.
"Sure Harry" Ron replied "just give me a minute"
"Hold on a minute" said one of the twins" how do we know you're really Harry Potter? Have you got the scar?"
Mrs Weasley turned angry "Fred that's incredibly rude! You cannot go through life saying things like that! I-"
"It's alright Mrs Weasley" said Harry "I don't mind" he lifted up his hair to show his scar.
"Well, well, well" said the other twin "it looks like we were wrong. That's not something that happens every day. I'm George" he pointed to the other twin" and that's my brother Fred. You already know Ron and this little bundle of joy is our little sister, Ginny"
"Pleased to meet you" said Harry politely.
Ginny looked as if she wanted to say something but couldn't work up the nerve Mrs Weasley looked much the same way. Harry walked off, wondering what they were thinking about.
When he returned to his compartment he found Hermione and Mandy, deep in conversation. The sight of Hermione being sociable was so rare that he almost didn't want to ruin it by interrupting.
But he interrupted anyway.
"Hi Mandy" he said" I see you've met my sister"
"Yeah" said Mandy "it's nice to meet someone else who likes a good book"
Of course. Another bookworm.
"Where've you been?" Asked Hermione.
"Making friends" Harry replied.
"More of them?"Said Hermione incredulously
"Just the one" said Harry "or maybe four but I was only trying for one"
Harry thought he'd better change the subject "so, Mandy, where are you from"
"Yorkshire" she answered" it's nice, there's loads of countryside there. Where are you two from?"
"Winchester" said Hermione "it's in the south, a bit west of London"
Harry noticed that the train was beginning to move. Smoke began pouring out of the train and onto the platform. Harry saw Mrs Weasley and Ginny waving at the train.
Not a moment later the door to the compartment slid open. Ron stood there, looking rather confused.
"Ron" said Harry "this is Mandy and this is my sister Hermione"
"Hello everyone" said Ron "I never heard about you having a sister Harry"
"Well we're cousins really but my aunt and uncle raised me after my parents...you know so we're more or less brother and sister"
"Can you remember it? What happened I mean"
"That's very insensitive of you" said Hermione testily "Harry doesn't want to talk about it, do you Harry?"
"I don't mind Hermione. I can't really remember anything, just a flash of green light"
"So you've no idea how you defeated You-Know-Who then?" Mandy interjected" it's just a lot of people have been wondering..."
"No idea" replied Harry he had no desire to discuss his mother's sacrifice in public "and I'm really nothing special. Whatever I did I don't even remember it. Until a few months ago I didn't know that I was a wizard and I'd never even heard of Vold-"
"Don't say the name!" Ron shouted. "I mean, you of all people-"
"No idea" replied Harry he had no desire to discuss his mother's sacrifice in public "and I'm really nothing special. Whatever I did I don't even remember it. Until a few months ago I didn't know that I was a wizard and I'd never even heard of Vold-"
"Don't say the name!" Ron shouted. "I mean, you of all people-"
"Professor Dumbledore thinks I should" Harry replied.
"Yeah, well Dumbledore's mental. My brother's all say so"
"Why are you all so scared to say his name?" asked Hermione "we've got evil people in the Muggle world too and they don't make us incapable of saying their names"
"It's because of what happened in the war" said Mandy in a quiet voice. They all turned to look at her "they thought he could attack anywhere, at any time. My mum used to say that if you said You-Know-who's name he always knew where you were"
"Is your mum a witch then?" asked Ron
"Yeah" replied Mandy "but I don't know her very well. She left when I was just little. My dad's a muggle though, so I suppose I'm half and half"
"You're family are all wizard's, aren't they Ron?" asked Harry. He was curious to know what it was like to live in a magical family"
"Yeah" said Ron "well, almost. Mum's got a second cousin who's an accountant but we don't talk about him"
"That's terrible!" cried Hermione "you can't disown someone from your family just because they don't have magic"
"Oh. I didn't mean it like that" said Ron "he's got magic, he just doesn't want to use it ever. Too obsessed with Muggle money. Bit of a weirdo honestly. But you get weirdos in families as big as ours. I remember one time at Auntie Enid's wedding when my great Uncle Bilius…"
What exactly Ron's Great Uncle Bilius had done would have to wait because at that moment a trolley came to the outside of the compartment, pushed along by an old witch.
"Anything off the trolley, dears?" she asked. The trolley was filled to bursting with all manner of exotic sweets.
Harry had never wanted for food growing up with the Grangers but since Uncle Henry was a dentist Harry had never been allowed near any sugary foods, apart from when his friends sneaked them to him at school. Now, with a pocket filled with Galleons, he was going to rectify that problem. As he was reaching towards the trolley, Hermione made a futile attempt to stop him.
"Harry" she said "dad told us to stay away from sugar"
"Dad's not here, Hermione" Harry replied "and I won't tell him if you don't. Does anybody else want anything?"
In the end Harry got a bit of everything and so did Ron. Mandy took only a small portion and Hermione refused to take anything at all.
As one would tend to expect from wizarding food, the sweets on the trolley were most bizarre. There were Chocolate Frogs, Droobles Best Blowing Gum, Liquorice wands, Cauldron Cakes, Pumpkin Pasties and Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans. Eventually he managed to persuade Hermione to have a bite out of his Pumpkin Pastie.
"It's nice to have so many sweets" said Harry" my aunt and uncle never let me have so many at home"
"I know how you feel" replied Ron "my parents never let me have too many sweets because we can't afford- I mean because they're bad for me" a rather grim look crossed his face. Harry thought he'd better change the subject
"What's it like living with three wizard brothers?" He asked Ron.
"Five wizard brothers. Bill and Charlie left the country a while ago. And it's mental. They've all done really well. Bill works for Gringotts and Charlie tames dragons. Percy's the prefect who gets perfect marks in everything, even though he's a total git and Fred and George don't get very good marks but everyone thinks they're really funny. You could say I've got a lot to live up to"
Ron turned and abruptly change the subject "hang on, you three live with Muggles, don't you? What's that like?"
"It's alright" Harry replied "but it's a lot more dull. Magic is way more interesting than anything happening at home."
"I quite agree" said Hermione "this world is all very fascinating and these books are amazing. But I hope you can give us some more insight, Ron, since you grew up with magic"
Ron turned a bit pink "well, I don't know about that. There's really not much I know. I mean you should really talk to my dad sometime, he loves Muggle stuff"
"I would have done a spell but the only one I know that I could do here turned out to just be Fred and George joking. It's annoying having big brothers sometimes. "
"I'll tell you what though" said Mandy "they can't be half as annoying as little sisters. My sister drives me nuts sometimes"
"I know how you feel, my sister Ginny, she heard that I'd met Harry and she wouldn't shut up about it."
They sat in their compartment, talking and sharing what was left of the food for several more hours. Ron revealed that inside the Chocolate Frogs were cards pictures of famous wizards and witches that moved on their own.
"I still haven't got Agrippa" said Ron" and I've been searching for ages. I don't suppose any of you have any?"
"Nope" said Harry "just Dumbledore"
"And I've just got two of Ulric the oddball" said Mandy.
It was shortly thereafter that the doors to their compartment slid open. A plump, round faced boy stood in the doorway. "Sorry to bother you" he said "but have you seen a toad anywhere?"
"No, sorry" said Harry.
"But if you look for a little wet toad trail you might be able to find it" said Mandy kindly.
"Thanks" said the boy and he wandered off.
After a few hours, the conversation turned to what houses they were likely to be in. students at Hogwarts were divided into four houses- Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw.
"It's got to be Gryffindor for me" said Ron "my family's produced nothing but Gryffindor's for years and years"
"I agree with you that Gryffindor sounds by far the best but I think Ravenclaw sounds quite nice too" said Hermione.
"I've no idea what house I'll be in- my mum was a Hufflepuff but I don't think that's my thing. I like books though, so probably Ravenclaw. I suppose Gryffindor wouldn't be too bad though" said Mandy.
There was silence for a minute. Harry realised that everybody was looking at him. "Umm I don't know really. Same as Hermione I suppose. I like the sound of Gryffindor but Ravenclaw sounds alright too"
"Well better Ravenclaw than Slytherin" said Ron.
"Why, what's wrong with Slytherin?" asked Harry
"They're all dark wizards" said Ron "You-Know-Who was a Slytherin and all his followers came from there. Half the kids in Slytherin are their children"
I was only a few minutes later that the door to their compartment slid open again. Standing in the doorway was the pale blond boy and the two larger boys Harry had seen at the station.
"They've seen saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment" said the blond boy "is that you?"