"I will," said Petunia as she took the book from him. "Chapter Six," she read, "The Journey From Platform Nine And Three-Quarters."
"In other words, the mouthful chapter," Ron added.
Harry's last month with the Dursleys wasn't fun.
"Isn't it always not fun?" Hermione wondered out loud.
"Less fun than usual," Harry clarified.
True, Dudley was now so scared of Harry that he wouldn't stay in the same room, while Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon didn't shut Harry in his cupboard, force him to do anything, or shout at him – in fact, they didn't speak to him at all.
Lily glared at her sister. "You do know," she said , her voice dripping with anger, "that slavery is against the law, and abuse, especially child abuse." Petunia squirmed.
Half terrified, half furious, they acted as if any chair with Harry in it were empty. Although this was an improvement in many ways, it did become a bit depressing after a while.
"I can relate," Sirius told Harry. "My parents did that to me a lot during the last couple of years."
Harry kept to his room, with his new owl for company. He had decided to call her Hedwig, a name he had found in A History of Magic.
The Siriuses, James, Ron, Fred, and George all pretended to faint from shock, while Lily, Hermione, and the Remuses all looked him with pride. The rest just looked kind of neutral.
His school books were very interesting.
More fainting.
He lay on his bed reading late into the night,
"Seriously guys, that's really getting old."
"They're not Sirius, I am!"
Harry groaned, while Sirius flashed a peace sign at James.
Hedwig swooping in and out of the open window as she pleased. It was lucky that Aunt Petunia didn't come in to vacuum anymore, because Hedwig kept bringing back dead mice.
"Gross!" the women shrieked. Harry grinned. "The author's cat does that too." He got many confused stares. (Yes! I broke the fourth wall!)
Every night before he went to sleep, Harry ticked off another day on the piece of paper he had pinned to the wall, counting down to September the first.
"Something most people do,"
On the last day of August he thought he'd better speak to his aunt and uncle about getting to King's Cross station the next day, so he went down to the living room where they were watching a quiz show on television. He cleared his throat to let them know he was there, and Dudley screamed and ran from the room.
"Yes!" Padfoot clenched his fist.
"Er – Uncle Vernon?"
"Er's not a word," Lily chided Harry, who blushed at being chided by his own mother when she was two years younger than him. Wait no, that's confused. Anyway…
Uncle Vernon grunted to show he was listening.
"Er- I need to be at King's Cross tomorrow to – to go to Hogwarts."
Uncle Vernon grunted again.
"Such a vulgar man!" Pentunia sniffed, as if she had smelt something along the lines of rotten eggs.
"Would it be all right if you gave me a lift?" grunt. Harry supposed that meant yes.
"Thank you."
He was about to go upstairs again when uncle Vernon actually spoke.
"Oh…My…God! He spoke! HE SPOKE!!"James was cut off with a chop to the neck, and he fell onto his face, unable to move.
"Funny way to get to a wizards' school, the train. Magic carpets all get punctures, have they?"
"You can't puncture a magic carpet, idiot." James' muffled voice floated up from the floor.
Harry didn't say anything.
"Where is this school, anyway?"
"Somewhere in Scotland," Fred shrugged. "They keep the location secret," his twin added.
"I don't know," said Harry, realizing this for the first time. He pulled the ticket Hagrid had given him out of his pocket.
"I just take the train from platform nine and three-quarters at eleven o' clock," he read.
His aunt and uncle stared.
"Platform what?"
"Nine and three-quarters."
"Don't talk rubbish," said Uncle Vernon. "There is no platform nine and three-quarters."
"I doubt the thought even crossed their minds that it might be hidden," snorted Severus. He rolled his eyes. "I doubt it crossed your mind, too," he added to Harry.
"It's on my ticket."
"Barking,
"Hey!" the Siriuses shouted.
said Uncle Vernon, "howling
"Hey!" the Remuses shouted back.
mad the lot of them. You'll see. You just wait. All right, we'll take you to King's Cross.
"He's ACTUALLY being nice to Harry! THE WORLD IS ENDING!!!" the Twins screamed.
We're going up to London tomorrow anyway, or I wouldn't even bother."
"Why are you going to London?" Harry asked, trying to keep things friendly.
"Taking Dudley to the hospital," growled Uncle Vernon. "Got to have that ruddy tail removed before he goes to Smeltings."
Everyone laughed. "Oh yeah," Ron said, wiping a tear from his eye, "forgot about that."
Harry woke at five o' clock the next morning and was too excited and nervous to go back to sleep. He got up and pulled on his jeans because he didn't want to walk into his wizard's robes – he'd change on the train.
"Common sense, people!" Severus fake-announced. "It'd kind of, you know, give us all away…" he trailed off as everyone else gave him weird looks.
He checked his Hogwarts list yet again to make sure he had everything he needed, saw that Hedwig was safely shut in her cage, and then paced the room, waiting for the Dursleys to get up. Two hours later, Harry's huge, heavy trunk had been loaded into the Dursleys' car, Aunt Petunia had talked Dudley into sitting next to Harry, and had set off.
"Well, at least you didn't tie him to the roof," Lily grudgingly said to her sister. "Besides, shouldn't it have been the other way around? You convincing Harry to sit next to Dudley?"
The reached King's Cross at half past ten. Uncle Vernon dumped Harry's trunk onto a cart and wheeled it into the station for him. Harry thought that was strangely kind until Uncle Vernon stopped dead, facing the platforms with a nasty grin on his face.
"That can't be good," James muttered to himself, miraculously having recovered; the blow to his neck should have kept him down for at least half an hour.
"Well, there you are, boy. Platform nine – platform ten. Your platform should be somewhere in the middle, but they don't seem to have built it yet, do they?"
"Alright, that's just plain mean, and to a person that didn't even do anything to you up until the letter came."
He was quite right, of course. There was a big plastic number nine over one platform and a big plastic number ten over the one next to it, and in the middle, nothing at all.
"Have a good term," said Uncle Vernon with an even nastier smile.
"Very, very, mean."
He left without another word. Harry turned and saw the Dursleys driving away. All three of them were laughing.
"No offense, Petunia," Lily told her, "but your family could have been Death Eaters if they were purebloods."
Harry's mouth went rather dry. What on earth was he going to do? He was starting to attract a lot of funny looks, because of Hedwig. He'd have to ask someone.
He stopped a passing guard, but didn't dare mention platform nine and three-quarters.
"That was smart," Severus told Harry. "A lot smarter than what James would have done." James got an angry look on his face.
The guard had never heard of Hogwarts and when Harry couldn't even tell him in what part of the country it was in, he started to get annoyed, as though Harry was being stupid on purpose.
"Okay, I take it all back. That's exactly what James would have done."
Getting desperate, Harry asked for the train that left at eleven o' clock, but the guard said there wasn't one. In the end the guard strode away, muttering about time wasters. Harry was now trying hard not to panic.
"Don't panic, mate. You got on the train anyway, didn't you?" Ron asked him.
According to the large clock over the arrivals board, he had ten minutes left to get on the train to Hogwarts and he had no idea how to do it; he was stranded in the middle of a station with a trunk he could hardly lift, a pocket full of wizard money, and a large owl.
"Okay, without us, Harry wouldn't have gotten to Hogwarts," one of the Twins casually mentioned to the other one. Harry grimaced.
Hagrid must have forgotten to tell him something he had to do,
"He did."
like tapping the third brick on the left to get into Diagon Alley. He wondered if he should get out his wand and start tapping the ticket inspector's stand between platforms nine and ten.
"No, man, don't do it. Have you ever heard of trying to keep this kind of thing under wraps?" James asked Harry, who blushed.
At that moment a group of people passed just behind him and he caught a few words of what they were saying.
" – packed with Muggles, of course - "
"That's us!" the Weasleys all cheered.
Harry swung round. The speaker was a plump woman who was talking to four boys, all with flaming red hair. Each of them was pushing a trunk like Harry's in front of them – and they had an owl.
Heart hammering, Harry pushed his trunk after them. They stopped and so did he, just near enough to hear what they were saying.
"Now what's the platform number?" said the boys' mother.
"Nine and three-quarters!" piped a small girl, also red-headed, who was holding her hand, "Mom, can't I go…"
"You're not old enough Ginny, now be quiet. All right, Percy, you go first."
What looked like the oldest boy marched towards platforms nine and ten. Harry watched, careful not to blink in case he missed it — but just as the boy reached the dividing barrier between the two platforms, a large crowd of tourists came swarming in front of him and by the time the last backpack had cleared away, the boy had vanished.
"Fred, you next," the plump woman said.
"I'm not Fred, I'm George," said the boy. "Honestly, woman, you call yourself our mother? Can't you tell I'm George?"
"Sorry, George, dear."
"Only joking, I am Fred," said the boy, and off he went.
"Yes! Finally! Someone who does that!" Sirius cheered. He and James got up and started dancing while the others laughed at their absurdity.
His twin called after him to hurry up, and he must have done so, because a second later, he had gone — but how had he done it? Now the third brother was walking briskly toward the barrier he was almost there — and then, quite suddenly, he wasn't anywhere.
"It must look confusing to anyone who isn't raised by wizards," Remus observed.
There was nothing else for it.
"Excuse me," Harry said to the plump woman.
"Hello, dear," she said. "First time at Hogwarts? Ron's new, too."
"That's our Mum, kind to everyone she meets," Ginny remarked. She and Harry shared a smile.
She pointed at the last and youngest of her sons. He was tall, thin, and gangling, with freckles, big hands and feet, and a long nose.
"Lovely description," Ron remarked, as if commenting on the weather
"Yes," said Harry. "The thing is — the thing is, I don't know how to —"
"How to get onto the platform?" she said kindly, and Harry nodded.
"Not to worry," she said. "All you have to do is walk straight at the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Don't stop and don't be scared you'll crash into it, that's very important. Best do it at a bit of a run if you're nervous. Go on, go now before Ron."
"Er — okay," said Harry.
He pushed his trolley around and stared at the barrier. It looked very solid.
He started to walk toward it. People jostled him on their way to platforms nine and ten. Harry walked more quickly. He was going to smash right into that barrier and then he'd be in trouble — leaning forward on his cart, he broke into a heavy run — the barrier was coming nearer and nearer — he wouldn't be able to stop — the cart was out of control — he was a foot away — he closed his eyes ready for the crash —
"Pessimist." Hermione muttered in a stage whisper.
It didn't come… he kept on running… he opened his eyes. A scarlet steam engine was waiting next to a platform packed with people. A sign overhead said Hogwarts' Express, eleven o'clock. Harry looked behind him and saw a wrought-iron archway where the barrier had been, with the words Platform Nine and Three-Quarters on it, He had done it.
There were many cheers, but also many tears, as James and Lily held hands and cried. They had missed Harry's first trip to Diagon Alley, his first time on the platform, hell, they had missed most of his life when they had died.
Smoke from the engine drifted over the heads of the chattering crowd, while cats of every color wound here and there between their legs. Owls hooted to one another in a disgruntled sort of way over the babble and the scraping of heavy trunks. The first few carriages were already packed with students, some hanging out of the window to talk to their families, some fighting over seats. Harry pushed his cart off down the platform in search of an empty seat. He passed a round-faced boy who was saying, "Gran, I've lost my toad again."
"A Longbottom?" Remus asked Harry. He nodded
"Oh, Neville," he heard the old woman sigh.
A boy with dreadlocks was surrounded by a small crowd.
"Lee!" Fred and George cried, thumping each other on the back.
"Give us a look, Lee, go on." The boy lifted the lid of a box in his arms, and the people around him shrieked and yelled as something inside poked out a long, hairy leg.
Ron shivered. Harry and Hermione noticed, and smirked at each other.
Harry pressed on through the crowd until he found an empty compartment near the end of the train. He put Hedwig inside first and then started to shove and heave his trunk toward the train door. He tried to lift it up the steps but could hardly raise one end and twice he dropped it painfully on his foot.
"Want a hand?" It was one of the red-haired twins he'd followed through the barrier.
"Sweet!" Ginny cooed at the Twins, who grimaced.
"Yes, please," Harry panted.
"Oy, Fred! C'mere and help!"
With the twins' help, Harry's trunk was at last tucked away in a corner of the compartment.
"Thanks," said Harry, pushing his sweaty hair out of his eyes.
"What's that?" said one of the twins suddenly, pointing at Harry's lightning scar.
"Blimey," said the other twin. "Are you —?"
"He is," said the first twin. "Aren't you?" he added to Harry.
"What?" said Harry.
"Harry Potter." chorused the twins.
"Oh, him," said Harry.
There was much laughter.
"I mean, yes, I am."
The two boys gawked at him, and Harry felt himself turning red.
"We just love to make people do that."
Then, to his relief, a voice came floating in through the train's open door.
"Fred? George? Are you there?"
"Coming, Mom."
With a last look at Harry, the twins hopped off the train.
Harry sat down next to the window where, half hidden, he could watch the red-haired family on the platform and hear what they were saying.
"Oh no!" Lily hid her face in her hands. "Another Marauder!"
Their mother had just taken out her handkerchief.
"Ron, you've got something on your nose."
There was more laughter.
The youngest boy tried to jerk out of the way, but she grabbed him and began rubbing the end of his nose.
"Mom— geroff" He wriggled free.
"Aaah, has ickle Ronnie got somefink on his nosie?" said one of the twins.
"Gits."
"Shut up," said Ron.
"Where's Percy?" said their mother.
"He's coming now."
The oldest boy came striding into sight. He had already changed into his billowing black Hogwarts robes, and Harry noticed a red and gold badge on his chest with the letter P on it.
"Prefect Percy, our H.B.!" the Twins yelled to yet more laughter.
"Can't stay long, Mother," he said. "I'm up front; the prefects have got two compartments to themselves —"
"Oh, are you a prefect, Percy?" said one of the twins, with an air of great surprise. "You should have said something, we had no idea."
"Hang on, I think I remember him saying something about it," said the other twin. "Once —"
"Or twice —"
"A minute —"
"All summer —"
"Okay…I've got a stitch," Harry gasped.
"Oh, shut up," said Percy the Prefect.
"How come Percy gets new robes, anyway?" said one of the twins.
"Because he's a prefect,"
"Don't listen to her," Fred stage whispered to George. "He's still a Humongous Bighead."
said their mother fondly. "All right, dear, well, have a good term — send me an owl when you get there."
She kissed Percy on the cheek and he left. Then she turned to the twins.
"Now, you two — this year, you behave yourselves. If I get one more owl telling me you've — you've blown up a toilet or —"
"Bad move Mum," Ginny sighed, shaking her head.
"Blown up a toilet? We've never blown up a toilet."
"Great idea though, thanks, Mom."
"Knew it."
"It's not funny. And look after Ron."
"Don't worry, ickle Ronniekins is safe with us."
"Shut up," said Ron again. He was almost as tall as the twins already and his nose was still pink where his mother had rubbed it.
"Hey, Mom, guess what? Guess who we just met on the train?"
"Here it comes," Hermione sighed, while Ginny blushed at the memory of what was to come.
Harry leaned back quickly so they couldn't see him looking.
"You know that black-haired boy who was near us in the station? Know who he is?"
"Who?"
"Harry Potter!"
"3…2…1…"
Harry heard the little girl's voice.
"Oh, Mom, can I go on the train and see him, Mom, oh please…"
"She really used to be a fan of Harry," Ron explained to the people who didn't know, while Ginny blushed harder.
"You've already seen him, Ginny, and the poor boy isn't something you goggle at in a zoo. Is he really, Fred? How do you know?"
"Asked him. Saw his scar. It's really there — like lightning."
"Not just lightning, greased lightning," said James in mock awe. Harry threw the nearest blunt object at him.
"Poor dear — no wonder he was alone, I wondered. He was ever so polite when he asked how to get onto the platform."
"Never mind that, do you think he remembers what You-Know-Who looks like?"
Their mother suddenly became very stern.
"I forbid you to ask him, Fred. No, don't you dare. As though he needs reminding of that on his first day at school."
"All right, keep your hair on."
There were many widened eyes at the fact that Fred had said that to Mrs. Weasley and lived to tell of it.
A whistle sounded.
"Hurry up!" their mother said, and the three boys clambered onto the train. They leaned out of the window for her to kiss them good-bye, and their younger sister began to cry.
Hermione and Ron looked stunned. Ginny knew how to cry? Ginny was one of the strongest people they knew; he crying was pretty much unimagineable.
"Don't, Ginny, we'll send you loads of owls."
"We'll send you a Hogwarts' toilet seat."
Much snickering was heard.
"George!"
"Only joking, Mom."
The train began to move. Harry saw the boys' mother waving and their sister, half laughing, half crying, running to keep up with the train until it gathered too much speed, then she fell back and waved.
"I…I ain't cryin'," James said while sobbing.
Harry watched the girl and her mother disappear as the train rounded the corner. Houses flashed past the window. Harry felt a great leap of excitement. He didn't know what he was going to — but it had to be better than what he was leaving behind.
If swearwords could kill, the Dursleys in the future (past?) would be on their 231st lives by then.
The door of the compartment slid open and the youngest redheaded boy came in.
"Anyone sitting there?" he asked, pointing at the seat opposite Harry. "Everywhere else is full."
"Alright Ron, give it to me straight. Was everywhere else really full?" Harry asked with a completely straight face.
Harry shook his head and the boy sat down. He glanced at Harry and then looked quickly out of the window, pretending he hadn't looked. Harry saw he still had a black mark on his nose.
The Twins and Harry smirked when they saw Ron's face redden.
"Hey, Ron."
The twins were back.
"Listen, we're going down the middle of the train — Lee Jordan's got a giant tarantula down there."
Ron shivered.
"Right," mumbled Ron.
"Harry," said the other twin, "did we introduce ourselves? Fred and George Weasley. And this is Ron, our brother. See you later, then."
"Bye," said Harry and Ron. The twins slid the compartment door shut behind them.
"Are you really Harry Potter?" Ron blurted out.
"Nooooo, he's like Padfoot said before, a mentally challenged hippogriff that has been taught how to swim. Are you stupid or something?" asked Fred with an eye roll.
Harry nodded.
"Oh — well, I thought it might be one of Fred and George's jokes," said Ron.
"Yeah it was, haven't you been paying attention?" George asked.
"And have you really got — you know…"
He pointed at Harry's forehead.
"Ron will never be tactful," Hermione sighed.
Harry pulled back his bangs to show the lightning scar. Ron stared.
"So that's where You-Know-Who —?"
"Yes," said Harry, "but I can't remember it."
"Nothing?" said Ron eagerly.
"And before anyone says anything, she said it to Fred and George, not me."
"Well — I remember a lot of green light, but nothing else."
"Wow," said Ron. He sat and stared at Harry for a few moments, then, as though he had suddenly realized what he was doing, he looked quickly out of the window again.
Loud snickers were heard.
"Are all your family wizards?" asked Harry, who found Ron just as interesting as Ron found him.
"Er — Yes, I think so," said Ron. "I think Mom's got a second cousin who's an accountant, but we never talk about him."
"Ah, dearest Uncle Eddie. What a git." Ron rolled his eyes.
"So you must know loads of magic already."
"Nope, just the oldest families," Remus explained.
The Weasleys were clearly one of those old wizarding families the pale boy in Diagon Alley had talked about.
"Not really. Old? Yes. Rich? No," Ginny remarked.
"I heard you went to live with Muggles," said Ron. "What are they like?"
"Evil," said Ginny.
"Slave drivers," added James.
"Who must," included Sirius.
"Go to hell," Ron finished with an evil smirk. The others added some of their own comments. Harry smiled; he was glad so many people were sticking up for him.
"Horrible — well, not all of them. My aunt and uncle and cousin are, though. Wish I'd had three wizard brothers."
"Five," said Ron. For some reason, he was looking gloomy.
"I'm the sixth in our family to go to Hogwarts. You could say I've got a lot to live up to. Bill and Charlie have already left — Bill was head boy and Charlie was captain of Quidditch. Now Percy's a prefect.
"Prefect Percy!"
Fred and George mess around a lot, but they still get really good marks and everyone thinks they're really funny.
The Twins smirked at the others' doubting looks.
Everyone expects me to do as well as the others, but if I do, it's no big deal, because they did it first.
"Why Ron, we never knew you had an inferiority complex!" Fred smiled his wicked smile. "We must take full advantage of this documentary!" his twin added. "By the way, Ron, give us your ass," they said together. Ron opened his mouth in horror and scooted over next to Hermione, on the other side of the room from the Twins, who were both grinning crazily.
You never get anything new, either, with five brothers. I've got Bill's old robes, Charlie's old wand, and Percy's old rat.
At the mention of Scabbers, Ron began muttering ways to kill rats, while Moony and Padfoot simply looked murderous.
His name's Scabbers and he's useless, he hardly ever wakes up. Percy got an owl from my dad for being made a prefect, but they couldn't aff — I mean, I got Scabbers instead."
Ron's ears went pink.
He seemed to think he'd said too much, because he went back to staring out of the window.
Harry didn't think there was anything wrong with not being able to afford an owl. After all, he'd never had any money in his life until a month ago, and he told Ron so, all about having to wear Dudley's old clothes and never getting proper birthday presents. This seemed to cheer Ron up.
"Git," Hermione said good-naturedly to Ron, who blushed anyway.
"… and until Hagrid told me, I didn't know anything about being a wizard or about my parents or Voldemort —"
Ron gasped.
"What?" said Harry.
"You said You-Know-Who's name!" said Ron, sounding both shocked and impressed. "I'd have thought you, of all people —"
"There's nothing wrong with his name, honest! At least, until that incident…" Harry trailed off muttering stuff about killing Dark wizards.
"I'm not trying to be brave or anything, saying the name," said Harry, "I just never knew you shouldn't. See what I mean? I've got loads to learn… I bet," he added, voicing for the first time something that had been worrying him a lot lately, "I bet I'm the worst in the class."
"You won't be. There's loads of people who come from Muggle families and they learn quick enough."
Everyone smiled at Lily and Hermione, the brightest witches of their respective times.
While they had been talking, the train had carried them out of London. Now they were speeding past fields full of cows and sheep. They were quiet for a time, watching the fields and lanes flick past.
Around half past twelve there was a great clattering outside in the corridor and a smiling, dimpled woman slid back their door and said, "Anything off the cart, dears?"
Harry, who hadn't had any breakfast, leapt to his feet, but Ron's ears went pink again and he muttered that he'd brought sandwiches. Harry went out into the corridor.
He had never had any money for candy with the Dursleys, and now that he had pockets rattling with gold and silver he was ready to buy as many Mars Bars as he could carry — but the woman didn't have Mars Bars.
"What're Mars Bars?" Remus asked, eyes alight with wonder.
"A Muggle chocolate, but not as good as yours," Petunia answered. Both Remuses began salivating at the thought of chocolate.
What she did have were Bettie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Chocolate Frogs. Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes, Licorice Wands, and a number of other strange things Harry had never seen in his life. Not wanting to miss anything, he got some of everything and paid the woman eleven silver Sickles and seven bronze Knuts.
"That was pretty cheap," Severus remarked.
Ron stared as Harry brought it all back in to the compartment and tipped it onto an empty seat.
"Hungry, are you?"
"No. That's you," Hermione retorted.
"Starving," said Harry, taking a large bite out of a pumpkin pasty.
Ron had taken out a lumpy package and unwrapped it. There were four sandwiches inside. He pulled one of them apart and said, "She always forgets I don't like corned beef…"
"Swap you for one of these," said Harry, holding up a pasty. "Go on —"
The women all began cooing at the two of them. They blushed.
"You don't want this, it's all dry," said Ron. "She hasn't got much time," he added quickly, "you know, with five of us."
"Go on, have a pasty," said Harry, who had never had anything to share before or, indeed, anyone to share it with. It was a nice feeling, sitting there with Ron, eating their way through all Harry's pasties, cakes, and candies (the sandwiches lay forgotten).
"What are these?" Harry asked Ron, holding up a pack of Chocolate Frogs. "They're not really frogs, are they?"
He was starting to feel that nothing would surprise him.
"Liar!" Ron screamed, while Harry jumped from the shock of Ron appearing right next to him and yelling.
"No," said Ron. "But see what the card is. I'm missing Agrippa."
"I have him," Both Remuses said simultaneously.
"What?"
"Oh, of course, you wouldn't know — Chocolate Frogs have cards, inside them, you know, to collect — famous witches and wizards. I've got about five hundred, but I haven't got Agrippa or Ptolemy."
"We've got him too." Ron sulked. "Cheer up Ron, it's not your fault we both have a sweet tooth."
Harry unwrapped his Chocolate Frog and picked up the card. It showed a man's face. He wore half-moon glasses, had a long, crooked nose, and flowing silver hair, beard, and mustache. Underneath the picture was the name Albus Dumbledore.
"So this is Dumbledore!" said Harry.
"Don't tell me you'd never heard of Dumbledore!"
"You mean you've never heard of Dumbledore?!?!"
said Ron. "Can I have a frog? I might get Agrippa — thanks —"
Harry turned over his card and read:
ALBUS DUMBLEDORE
CURRENTLY HEADMASTER OF HOGWARTS
Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern times, Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel. Professor Dumbledore enjoys chamber music and tenpin bowling.
"All the time, right there on the back of a chocolate frog card," Harry thought to himself. "Hindsight is a real bitch sometimes."
Harry turned the card back over and saw, to his astonishment, that Dumbledore's face had disappeared.
"He's gone!"
"Well, you can't expect him to hang around all day," said Ron.
"He'll be back. No, I've got Morgana again and I've got about six of her… do you want it? You can start collecting."
"Nice, Ron. Offering stuff back he's already given you," Ginny tutted.
Ron's eyes strayed to the pile of Chocolate Frogs waiting to be unwrapped. "Help yourself," said Harry. "But in, you know, the Muggle world, people just stay put in photos."
"Do they? What, they don't move at all?" Ron sounded amazed. "Weird!"
"To wizards, maybe," said Lily. She shuddered at the memory of her first time seeing a portrait move.
"To Muggles, maybe. But remember, wizards are raised with those kinds of things," Severus explained to her.
Harry stared as Dumbledore sidled back into the picture on his card and gave him a small smile. Ron was more interested in eating the frogs than looking at the Famous Witches and Wizards cards, but Harry couldn't keep his eyes off them. Soon he had not only Dumbledore and Morgana, but Hengist of Woodcroft, Alberic Grunnion, Circe, Paracelsus, and Merlin. He finally tore his eyes away from the Druidess Cliodna, who was scratching her nose, to open a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.
"You really sure you want to do that?" George asked as he remembered the time he ate a snot-flavored Bean.
"You want to be careful with those," Ron warned Harry. "When they say every flavor, they mean every flavor — you know, you get all the ordinary ones like chocolate and peppermint and marmalade, but then you can get spinach and liver and tripe. George reckons he had a booger-flavored one once."
George nodded when everyone looked at him, and Fred started having a coughing fit to cover up his laughter.
Ron picked up a green bean, looked at it carefully, and bit into a corner.
"Bleaaargh — see? Sprouts."
Every Flavor Beans. Harry got toast, coconut, baked bean, strawberry, curry, grass, coffee, sardine, and was even brave enough to nibble the end off a funny gray one Ron wouldn't touch, which turned out to be pepper.
"Pretty mild for Bertie Bott's," said James. "But I really feel for you, mate," he added to George. He sulked in the corner, while Fred had to work hard to cover his laughter.
The countryside now flying past the window was becoming wilder. The neat fields had gone. Now there were woods, twisting rivers, and dark green hills.
There was a knock on the door of their compartment and the round-faced boy Harry had passed on platform nine and three-quarters came in. He looked tearful.
"Sorry," he said, "but have you seen a toad at all?"
When they shook their heads, he wailed, "I've lost him! He keeps getting away from me!"
"He'll turn up," said Harry.
"Yes," said the boy miserably. "Well, if you see him…"
He left.
"Don't know why he's so bothered," said Ron. "If I'd brought a toad I'd lose it as quick as I could. Mind you, I brought Scabbers, so I can't talk."
"Now I'd prefer Trevor," Ron muttered to Harry.
The rat was still snoozing on Ron's lap.
"He might have died and you wouldn't know the difference," said Ron in disgust. "I tried to turn him yellow yesterday to make him more interesting, but the spell didn't work. I'll show you, look…"
Ron glared at the Twins, his best friend, his fiancée, and his sister as they burst out laughing.
He rummaged around in his trunk and pulled out a very battered-looking wand. It was chipped in places and something white was glinting at the end.
"Unicorn hair's nearly poking out. Anyway —"
"Not the safest thing in the world," Harry mentioned, remembering what had happened to Ron's wand in their second year.
He had just raised his wand when the compartment door slid open again. The toadless boy was back, but this time he had a girl with him. She was already wearing her new Hogwarts robes.
"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," she said. She had a bossy sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair, and rather large front teeth.
"How flattering," Hermione stated. "You need to work on your descriptions."
"We've already told him we haven't seen it," said Ron, but the girl wasn't listening, she was looking at the wand in his hand.
"Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it, then."
"All right, all right, I'm bossy! Just live with it!" Hermione shouted in response to the looks shot at her.
She sat down. Ron looked taken aback.
"Er — all right."
He cleared his throat.
"Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow."
Ron turned beet red at all the laughter directed at him.
He waved his wand, but nothing happened. Scabbers stayed gray and fast asleep.
"Are you sure that's a real spell?" said the girl. "Well, it's not very good, is it?
"Was I really that bad?" Hermione asked her best friends. "Erm…" was the only noise any of them could make.
I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard — I've learned all our course books by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough — I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?"
She said all this very fast.
"That's f***ing amazing! You said all that in one breath?!?" Petunia asked her in bewhilderment.
Harry looked at Ron, and was relieved to see by his stunned face that he hadn't learned all the course books by heart either.
"I'm Ron Weasley," Ron muttered.
"Harry Potter," said Harry.
"Are you really?" said Hermione.
"I know all about you, of course — I got a few extra books, for background reading, and you're in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century."
"?!?"
"Am I?" said Harry, feeling dazed.
"Goodness, didn't you know, I'd have found out everything I could if it was me," said Hermione. "Do either of you know what house you'll be in? I've been asking around, and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best; I hear Dumbledore himself was in it, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad… Anyway, we'd better go and look for Neville's toad. You two had better change, you know, I expect we'll be there soon."
"God, I really was awful." Ron and Harry squirmed. The two of them had… disliked Hermione up until the troll incident, and neither of them wanted to be reminded of that.
And she left, taking the toadless boy with her.
"Whatever house I'm in, I hope she's not in it," said Ron.
"In hindsight, I'm glad that didn't come true," Harry said to Ron. "D'ya think we would have survived until the end of the year without her?"
"Nope." Lily and James frowned at the thought of their son getting himself killed at the tender, tender age of eleven.
He threw his wand back into his trunk. "Stupid spell — George gave it to me, bet he knew it was a dud."
Hermione hit Ron. "You need to stop listening to your brothers sometime."
"But he's so easy!" the Twins whined. "Especially in bed," they added, a maniac glint in their eyes. Ron's eyes got wide, and he began to slowly back out of the room to many gales of laughter.
"What house are your brothers in?" asked Harry.
"Gryffindor," said Ron. Gloom seemed to be settling on him again. "Mom and Dad were in it, too. I don't know what they'll say if I'm not. I don't suppose Ravenclaw would be too bad, but imagine if they put me in Slytherin."
"There's nothing wrong with Slytherin!" Severus exclaimed hotly. "It's the other houses' goddamn prejudice!"
"That's the house Vol-, I mean, You-Know-Who was in?"
"Yeah," said Ron. He flopped back into his seat, looking depressed.
"You know, I think the ends of Scabbers' whiskers are a bit lighter," said Harry, trying to take Ron's mind off houses.
Ron and Harry had to raise their 'coo shields,' Ron having come back in the room after a warning look at his brothers.
"So what do your oldest brothers do now that they've left, anyway?"
Harry was wondering what a wizard did once he'd finished school.
"Charlie's in Romania studying dragons, and Bill's in Africa doing something for Gringotts," said Ron.
"Did you hear about Gringotts? It's been all over the Daily Prophet, but I don't suppose you get that with the Muggles — someone tried to rob a high security vault."
"What the hell?!?" Everyone from the magical cauldron exclaimed.
Harry stared.
"Really? What happened to them?"
"Nothing, that's why it's such big news. They haven't been caught.
You could hear the sound of jaws hitting the floor from downstairs.
My dad says it must've been a powerful Dark wizard to get round Gringotts, but they don't think they took anything, that's what's odd. 'Course, everyone gets scared when something like this happens in case You-Know-Who's behind it."
"Why did you never say Lord Voldemort?" Harry asked his friend. "Didn't it save our lives once?" was the reply.
Harry turned this news over in his mind. He was starting to get a prickle of fear every time You-Know-Who was mentioned. He supposed this was all part of entering the magical world, but it had been a lot more comfortable saying "Voldemort" without worrying.
"Call him Voldemort," James ordered his son.
"Nah, I don't think so. I think I'll call him…," Harry paused for dramatic effect, "Tommy-Boy! Can you imagine what he'd do if I said that to his face? Here, Tommy-Boy! Don't kill me Tommy-Boy!" Everyone burst out laughing, and they took a small break so that they could all calm down and wipe their tears away.
"What's your Quidditch team?" Ron asked.
"Er — I don't know any." Harry confessed.
Every Quidditch nut (James, Sirius, Padfoot, the Twins, Ron, and Ginny for a review) gasped and started mock crying from shock. Harry simply rolled his eyes.
"What!" Ron looked dumbfounded. "Oh, you wait, it's the best game in the world —" And he was off, explaining all about the four balls and the positions of the seven players, describing famous games he'd been to with his brothers and the broomstick he'd like to get if he had the money. He was just taking Harry through the finer points of the game when the compartment door slid open yet again, but it wasn't Neville the toadless boy, or Hermione Granger this time.
Three boys entered, and Harry recognized the middle one at once: it was the pale boy from Madam Malkin's robe shop.
"Who? Oh wait, nevermind. The slug."
He was looking at Harry with a lot more interest than he'd shown back in Diagon Alley.
"Is he gay or something?" James wondered.
"I don't know, Pansy Parkinson's ugly enough to turn any straight man gay," Ginny replied.
"Is it true?" he said. "They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?"
"Yes," said Harry. He was looking at the other boys. Both of them were thickset and looked extremely mean. Standing on either side of the pale boy, they looked like bodyguards.
"Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle," said the pale boy carelessly, noticing where Harry was looking. "And my name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."
"A major reason why I always preferred Andromeda," Sirius remarked. "Though Narcissa was my second favorite cousin."
Ron gave a slight cough, which might have been hiding a snigger.
"It was."
Draco Malfoy looked at him.
"Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford."
"Evil git," could be heard by Kreacher, who was several floors down. The Weasleys present beamed at the support.
He turned back to Harry. "You'll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there."
If there hadn't been charms and wards on number twelve, Grimmald Place, "Evil git" could have been heard from outside.
He held out his hand to shake Harry's,
"Noooooooo!!" Ron screamed in fake slow motion.
but Harry didn't take it.
"I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks," he said coolly.
Draco Malfoy didn't go red, but a pink tinge appeared in his pale cheeks.
"You mean he isn't always completely white?!"
"I'd be careful if I were you, Potter," he said slowly. "Unless you're a bit politer you'll go the same way as your parents.
First there was silence. Then, an outburst of swearing so bad, Draco Malfoy would have died out of sheer fright the instant he heard it.
They didn't know what was good for them, either. You hang around with riffraff like the Weasleys and that Hagrid, and it'll rub off on you."
"Shut up, you evil, loathsome, disgusting ferret!" Ginny screamed at the book. Everyone who knew grinned at the word ferret.
Both Harry and Ron stood up.
"Say that again," Ron said, his face as red as his hair.
"Oh, you're going to fight us, are you?" Malfoy sneered.
"Unless you get out now," said Harry, more bravely than he felt, because Crabbe and Goyle were a lot bigger than him or Ron.
"But we don't feel like leaving, do we, boys? We've eaten all our food and you still seem to have some."
"Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!" Sirius cheered.
Goyle reached toward the Chocolate Frogs next to Ron — Ron leapt forward, but before he'd so much as touched Goyle, Goyle let out a horrible yell.
"Fi-Huh?"
Scabbers the rat was hanging off his finger, sharp little teeth sunk deep into Goyle's knuckle — Crabbe and Malfoy backed away as Goyle swung Scabbers round and round, howling, and when Scabbers finally flew off and hit the window, all three of them disappeared at once. Perhaps they thought there were more rats lurking among the sweets, or perhaps they'd heard footsteps, because a second later, Hermione Granger had come in.
Ron sighed. "That was the only thing he did for us," he moaned to Harry.
"What has been going on?" she said, looking at the sweets all over the floor and Ron picking up Scabbers by his tail.
"I think he's been knocked out," Ron said to Harry. He looked closer at Scabbers. "No — I don't believe it — he's gone back to sleep."
And so he had.
"This sounds a lot like Wormtail," Remus mentioned to his best friends. "Although, everyone seems to really hate him."
"You've met Malfoy before?"
Harry explained about their meeting in Diagon Alley.
"I've heard of his family," said Ron darkly. "They were some of the first to come back to our side after You-Know-Who disappeared. Said they'd been bewitched.
"That's a load of crap."
My dad doesn't believe it. He says Malfoy's father didn't need an excuse to go over to the Dark Side."
"Third truest thing I've ever heard."
He turned to Hermione. "Can we help you with something?"
"God, you were the rudest person I ever knew," Hermione told Ron. George raised an eyebrow. "Were?"
"You'd better hurry up and put your robes on, I've just been up to the front to ask the conductor, and he says we're nearly there. You haven't been fighting, have you? You'll be in trouble before we even get there!"
"Scabbers has been fighting, not us," said Ron, scowling at her. "Would you mind leaving while we change?"
"Sorry, 'Mione," Ron whispered to her.
"S' okay Ron," she whispered back.
"All right — I only came in here because people outside are behaving very childishly, racing up and down the corridors," said Hermione in a sniffy voice.
Fred and George tried to look innocent, but failed because of the wide grins on their faces.
"And you've got dirt on your nose, by the way, did you know?"
Ron glared at her as she left. Harry peered out of the window. It was getting dark. He could see mountains and forests under a deep purple sky. The train did seem to be slowing down.
He and Ron took off their jackets and pulled on their long black robes. Ron's were a bit short for him, you could see his sneakers underneath them.
A voice echoed through the train: "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately."
Harry's stomach lurched with nerves and Ron, he saw, looked pale under his freckles. They crammed their pockets with the last of the sweets and joined the crowd thronging the corridor.
"Did you keep the chocolate?" the Remuses asked. They shrugged.
The train slowed right down and finally stopped.
People pushed their way toward the door and out on to a tiny, dark platform. Harry shivered in the cold night air. Then a lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students, and Harry heard a familiar voice: "Firs' years! Firs' years over here! All right there, Harry?"
Hagrid's big hairy face beamed over the sea of heads.
"C'mon, follow me — any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!"
Slipping and stumbling, they followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It was so dark on either side of them that Harry thought there must be thick trees there. Nobody spoke much. Neville, the boy who kept losing his toad, sniffed once or twice.
"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here."
There was a loud "Oooooh!"
Everyone sighed as they all, except for Petunia, remembered how majestic Hogwarts looked when you first saw it.
The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black lake. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers.
"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Harry and Ron were followed into their boat by Neville and Hermione.
"Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid, who had a boat to himself. "Right then — FORWARD!"
"March!"
And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood. "Heads down!" yelled Hagrid as the first boats reached the cliff; they all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbor, where they clambered out onto rocks and pebbles.
"Oy, you there! Is this your toad?" said Hagrid, who was checking the boats as people climbed out of them.
"That toad must have something to do with the plot, why would it be mentioned so many times?" Severus spoke up.
"Trevor!" cried Neville blissfully, holding out his hands. Then they clambered up a passageway in the rock after Hagrid's lamp, coming out at last onto smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle. They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge, oak front door. Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad?"
"Definitely part of the plot." Ron and Harry snickered, since they knew how much Trevor had to do with the plot; nothing whatsoever.
Hagrid raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door.
"Epic cliffhanger!" the Twins screamed as loud as they could, which made them all hold their ears in pain.