Chapter 9. A Fond Farewell.
It was 6 AM on the morning of the 1st of September, and Princess Victoria Jane had already been awake for an hour in her bedroom at Buckingham Palace. She was triple checking her large Hogwarts trunk's contents.
Her new female snowy owl, whom she'd now named Whitewings and who had so much reminded Harry of Hedwig was sitting on top of a large and overly ornate antique wardrobe in her room, quietly digesting a dead mouse that Victoria Jane had fed her. It had been a frozen one that had been shop bought for the purpose, one that she'd kept in a closed plastic storage box in her room overnight, to allow it time to 'defrost' for the owl's 'breakfast'. Victoria Jane was a very practical and sensible young girl, and knowing that this was the natural diet of owls she was not in the least squeamish about feeding her new pet appropriately. Because Whitewings was a newly acquired owl it was, she'd been advised, not a good idea to let her go out and hunt for mice herself in the Palace gardens and surroundings Royal Parks in London overnight, at least not until her loyalty had thoroughly imprinted itself upon Victoria Jane. Whitewings, however, seemed to be well along in the imprinting process, having gently and affectionately nipped her hand when Victoria Jane had fed her and and was watching her young mistress sort through her school things, with what seemed to be an expression of intelligent interest on her feathered face, or at least Victoria Jane thought so.
The young Princess satisfied herself that she did indeed have all her school books, quills, inks, parchment etcetera in her trunk. Plus spare clothes, (both spare uniform items and some muggle clothes, to relax in at weekends), along with all her other things, including a selection of joke and prank materials from George Weasley's enormous gift box that he'd given her. The ones that she had were those items that Harry and her parents had deemed safe, or at least fairly so, and appropriate for a First Year and she hoped, there'd be enough to last her until the Yule/Christmas Holiday.
Harry, as he'd promised, had personally been to Windsor Castle the day after the Royal 'shopping spree' and inspected the gift for any possible 'dodgy' items, finding that George had, for once, been fairly sensible and conservative in choosing it's contents. However, just before he opened the huge box Harry gave it a swift 'magical scan' using a security auror procedure. This safely detected a spell just under the lid that George had placed there, a spell which would turn to bright blue the hair of the person who first opened the lid of the box. Seeing however that it was only intended to be a short lived spell and not too malicious Harry just simply went ahead and opened it anyway, his temporary 'blue rinse' look, which only lasted about ten minutes, highly amused both Princes Victoria Jane and her parents, the King and Queen alike.
Victoria Jane having assured herself that indeed she would have all she needed with her and sighing in satisfaction and feeling raring to go, finally closed the lid of the trunk and locked it.
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After having breakfasted the Royals, plus Minister Hermione Weasley and Harry Potter in his role of Head Auror, who had both joined them, went out into a rear courtyard of the Palace to inspect the transportation that would carry Victoria Jane and her parents, (plus a small four man party of both muggle and magical close protection officers), in a small, and discretely unmarked convoy, to King's Cross Station to meet the Hogwarts Express. The three vehicles were all fairly nondescript looking. The largest was a comfortable 'people carrier' type vehicle, which had darkly tinted windows and was to carry the Royal Party themselves, plus Harry and Hermione and a trained driver. This car was in actual fact very well armoured, but this did not show on the outside.
There was also a normal looking, but also well armoured, small saloon for the protection squad officers plus a small anonymous 'white van', for the luggage
The Royal parents had sensibly enquired why it would not have been easier if the family and Victoria Jane's luggage were to simply travel to Platform Nine and Three Quarters, in the same way they had earlier to The Leaky Cauldron, that being by apparition.
Harry explained to them that the magical platform at King's Cross was surrounded by a mass of spells, hiding both it and the Hogwarts Express train itself from the muggles. These spells included some similar to those surrounding Hogwarts itself and thus apparating onto the platform was impossible. Harry also pointed out that even if it were possible to do so it would be a hazardous exercise, since the platform was only a few feet wide, swathed in billowing clouds of steam and would be crowded with a great many people and their goods.
Even though there would be no danger of actually materialising within any solid object or person, (that being a magical impossibility and against Gelfling's First Law of Apparition), it would still be too dangerous to attempt such a thing. Stumbling or tripping over the many items of luggage, luggage trolleys and people there, which might well be shrouded in steam, would be all too easy. Especially if a person was even momentarily disoriented by their magical arrival method. By doing so one would risk ending up being injured and even falling under the train was itself a distinct possibility. No, Harry concluded, the cars were the best option.
The King asked, "But what about when we arrive in front of the station? People will be bound to spot us as we get out of the car and realise who we are. It could provoke a mobbing."
Hermione replied, "Don't worry Your Majesty, we have a special type of spell called a Disillusionment Charm, which can effectively make an individual or a small party of people invisible to those around them. Also our aurors can use a more easily applied variation of that spell, one which ensures people simply do not notice you if you are cloaked by it. They can actually see you, so unconsciously will avoid bumping into you, but your presence will not register on their conscious mind. That's what we'll use at the station to get you onto the platform."
The King and Queen were obviously satisfied by Harry and Hermione's explanation of the arrangements and so after checking that Victoria Jane's luggage would soon be loaded into the 'white van', the Royals, along with Harry and Hermione went back into the Palace for a while, to have another cup of tea before setting out to take the Princess to catch her train.
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So, it shortly came to pass that the Royal Party safely arrived at King's Cross, Platform Nine and Three Quarters, at about twenty to eleven, that morning. Everyone in the magical world of course knew that the Royal Princess would be boarding the train that day, but a strong appeal for privacy to the members of the magical public in the Daily Prophet and the presence on the platform of many alert aurors kept a small section of the platform clear for the Royal Party's exclusive use . Other aurors patrolling along the platform ejected the few over-enthusiastic people who had turned up despite the 'privacy request'. If a person was there who could not prove they were genuinely parents of one the other children boarding the train, having been spotted as not 'fitting the profile', they were gently but firmly told to leave and made to do so if they refused.
It had been decided that once Victoria Jane was safely aboard the train she would then only need one 'magical guard' to be aboard, and even she would be disguised as a new teacher travelling up to Hogwarts to take up a post there, and what's more need not even be in the same compartment, but just remain nearby. Victoria Jane herself had been very firm with both her parents and also Minister Hermione and Harry that once at school she would only accept being treated exactly the same as all the other pupils and not smothered in security. The one guard loosely escorting her on the train was a compromise that Victoria Jane had readily accepted, as long as even she would leave her once they had entered the school grounds, which were, of course, strongly magically protected anyway.
After a slightly tearful goodbye from her parents and having satisfied herself that her luggage and her owl had definitely been placed on the train the Princess then proudly boarded the Hogwarts Express and shortly it steamed out of the station as she waved out the window. Her loving parents, plus Harry, Hermione and many others present enthusiastically waved her off in return. Princess Victoria Jane Windsor, a Very Important Witch, was on her way to Hogwarts!
Author's note: For any, who like myself have fallen a bit in love with this clever, talented and sensible young witch, fear not. Princess Victoria Jane will later re-appear in a far longer story, or possibly series of stories, about her adventures with her new friends at Hogwarts School. That is to say she will as soon as I can get my hard drive a bit clearer of some of my other half-written material. Blessings all, byeee! :o)