This chapter is the first of four in a similar style, each covering the first time Harry and Ginny say goodbye to each of their children at Platform Nine and Three Quarters. I should have posted this yesterday really, but better late than never! J.K. Rowling owns.
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1st September 2009
Harry was proudly pushing the trolley through King's Cross station, which was laden with a heavy trunk. A small boy was following him, his hair a mousy brown. The boy walked alongside his grandmother. The small group walked over to the barrier between platforms nine and ten. And then suddenly, they had disappeared.
Harry pulled his godson's trunk onto the train, ignoring the stares he was getting from various strangers. You'd have thought, that after ten years, in which he had married a Quidditch star, had three children and a promotion to head of the Auror office, the public would have got bored with "The boy who lived longer than expected". But no, they still enjoyed a good stare when he walked past.
Harry walked back along the platform to where Teddy was saying goodbye to his grandmother. He looked at the little boy, his hair the colour it always was when he was upset or nervous.
Harry pulled the eleven-year-old into a hug. "You're going to be all right," he said, ruffling Teddy's hair.
"I'm scared," he whispered. Harry could understand how much it had taken for him to admit that. "I'm scared to go where… where they died."
Harry pulled away and looked into his eyes. "I know. I was too. But if you miss them, you can always go and visit them." He pulled out the mokeskin pouch that Hagrid had given him so long ago.
"I want you to have this. If there's anything you want to keep with you at all times, something small, keep it in here. No one else can get it out." He pulled from his pocket the photograph.
"Kingsley gave me this. He wanted me to give it to you." It was an aged photograph, from which Teddy's mother and father laughed, with their son cradled between them. Harry and several remaining members of the Order had put together an album of Teddy's parents, much as Hagrid had done for Harry so many years ago. However, this picture had slipped through the radar and only been discovered a few weeks ago.
Teddy looked at the picture. "Thanks Harry," he said, hugging his godfather. Andromeda watched them, smiling.
"You'll be absolutely fine," Harry said.
"But what if I'm not as good as the other kids? What if I don't make any friends? What if people think I'm weird? No one will want to talk to me" They'll think I look funny! What if they laugh at me?"
Harry pulled out of the hug and looked his godson directly in the eye. "If they don't want to talk to you, then they're not worth talking to. Remember, Teddy, there will be people on that train who didn't even know they were wizards until they got the letter. You have grown up in a world of magic, and it's your job to help the people who didn't."
Teddy nodded earnestly.
"And as for not being as good as the other kids, well, I bet none of them can turn their hair blue," Harry said. "You'll be absolutely fine! You'll be having so much fun, you won't even remember to miss us!"
"But do remember to write to us," Andromeda said, reaching down to hug her grandson again. "I want to know everything. And don't forget to write to Victoire as well!" Harry grinned. Teddy and Victoire had been almost inseperable for the past nine years. She was extremely angry and upset that he was going away.
"I will!" Teddy promised.
The whistle blew. "Now, cheer up Teddy and go and find some other first years," Harry laughed. Teddy smiled, his hair definitely brighter than before. He climbed back onto the train, and waved as the guards shut the doors. Harry stood next to Andromeda waving, as the train began to move, picking up speed until it slid around the corner.
One down, Harry thought. Twenty-seven left to go.
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