Chapter Eight.
Platform Nine And Three-Quarters.
The last month with the Dursleys was exactly how I imagined it to be – complete and utter hell. On our arrival home, Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon went ballistic Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon went mad about our new pets however they seemed too terrified to take them from us so they agreed to allow us to keep them if they remained in our bedroom. Although to Harry and my surprise, Uncle Vernon had cleared Dudley's second bedroom of the unneeded items and replaced the single but with a bunk bed and presented it to us as our new bedroom.
Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon didn't lock us in the bedroom – despite the four padlocks that had been securely on the outside of the door – but they didn't speak to us at all, half-terrified and half-furious, they acted as thought any chair that Harry and I sat in was empty. Dudley was furious about the giving-way of his second bedroom but he never argued about it to mine and Harry's face and he avoided us at all costs.
Harry and I kept to our room, Harry's owl swooped in and out of the window as she pleased, he decided to call her Hedwig, a name that he had found in A History of Magic. We had been reading our school books since we got back, they turned out to be very interesting. My Bengal kitten whom I named Milo, curls close to my body at all times. It was lucky that Aunt Petunia didn't come in to hoover anymore because Hedwig kept bringing back dead mice for herself and Milo. For two creatures who are suppose to have natural instinct to hate each other, Milo and Hedwig were incredibly friendly to each other, some mornings I wake up to find them curled up together.
Every night before Harry and I slept, he would tick off another day on the piece of paper he had pinned to the wall, counting down to September the first. And on the last day of August, Harry and I discussed that we better speak to our aunt and uncle about getting to King's Cross station the next day, so we adventured down to the living-room, where the Dursley's were watching a quiz show on television. I cleared my throat to let them know we were there and Dudley took one look at me, I stuck my tongue out at him which caused him to run from the room screaming.
"Uncle Vernon?" Harry asked nervously.
Not turning his head to us, he grunted to show he was listening.
"W- we need to be at King's Cross tomorrow to – to go to Hogwarts."
Uncle Vernon grunted again whilst Aunt Petunia cringed at the name of the school. Feeling we were safe, Harry and I stepped further into the living-room. There was a moment when our aunt flinched and our uncle shifted slightly in his chair but we tried to ignore them.
"Would it be all right if you gave us a lift?" I then asked slowly, Uncle Vernon grunted again therefore Harry and I took that as a yes, we mumbled our thanks but just as Harry and I were about to turn and leave, Uncle Vernon actually spoke.
"It's only because we're going up to London tomorrow, or I wouldn't bother." he snapped.
Curiosity bubbled inside us, "Why are you going up to London?" I question, trying to keep things friendly.
"Taking Dudley to a private hospital," growled Aunt Petunia, "He's got to have that tail removed before he goes to Smeltings."
Harry's face almost cracks into a smile and before we both could burst into laughter, Harry and I thank Uncle Vernon once more before dashing upstairs, closing the door and laughing freely. Before bed, Harry and I sat together on the bottom bunk – which I claimed as mine – we had just finished looking through A Beginner's Guide To Transfiguration, this sounded like the best class ever, it focuses on the alteration of the form or appearance of an object, animal or person.
The next morning, Harry awoke at five o'clock and felt no shame in waking me at the ungodly hour. He was so nervous he couldn't get back to sleep, I told him to try because there was no point in winding himself up over nerves. This was the first time Harry and I had our own beds, I planned to revel in the perfectness for a little while longer, and considering Harry was unable to keep his mind from wandering and his butt from moving, I told him to make sure we both had all the stuff we needed for Hogwarts.
Despite my hope to fall back asleep, Harry had too made me nervous therefore I was unable to rest. Signing heavily, I got up and put on some clothing Aunt Petunia had allowed for me to pack – we'd change into our robes on the train. Once Harry and I had triple checked that our trunks were packed with everything required and that Hedwig and Milo where safely secure in their cages, labelled with our names. Then we both continually paced our bedroom, waiting for the Dursleys to get up.
Two hours later, both our heavy trunks where loaded into Uncle Vernon's car, Aunt Petunia spend a while talking Dudley into sitting next to me and they had set off. They reached King's Cross at half past ten, Uncle Vernon removed our trunks from the boot of his car and placed them on two separate trolleys and pushed them inside whilst Harry and I carried our pets.
"What platform is your training leaving from?" Uncle Vernon questioned.
It suddenly accrued to Harry and I that we hadn't checked. From his jeans pocket, Harry pulled out the envelope Hagrid had handed him, he removed a flat golden ticket and scanned it quickly, "Platform nine and three-quarters." Harry said.
Uncle Vernon let out a sharp laugh, "There is no platform nine and three-quarters." He then let go of the trolleys with a nasty grin, "Have a nice term." he said evilly before turning sharply and without another word, he left. Me and Harry turned around to see the Dursley's driving off, all three laughing.
Suddenly, I felt sick, what on earth are we going to do? People were beginning to stare because of Hegwid. We walked quickly, pushing our trolleys in the direction of the busy platforms. We continued to draw attention as Hedwig squawked as the new surroundings confuse her. We followed the signs to platform nine and ten.
My mouth went dry and I was on the verge of panicking, what if I couldn't find the platform? Harry asked a passing guard where platform nine and three-quarters was, the guard just laughed before asking if we thought we were funny. I then went on to ask if there was a train leaving at eleven, the guard replied no before moving on mumbling about time-wasters.
"The train leaves in ten minutes!" Harry hisses.
I look around frantically, "It has to be around here somewhere! Maybe Hagrid forgot to tell us something."
I thought back to Diagon Alley, maybe we were suppose to enter the platform by tapping certain bricks on the wall. At that moment, a group of people passed just behind us and we caught the past few words of what they were saying.
"– packed with Muggles, of course –"
We both swung around, the speaker was a plump woman with faded orange hair, who was talking to four boys, all with flaming red hair. Each of them was pushing a trunk like Harry and mine in front of them – and three of them had owls.
"Platform nine and three-quarters this way!" piped a small girl, who was also red-headed.
Like rockets, Harry and I bolted after them, what looked like the oldest of the boys marched forwards to the brick wall between to signs marking platform nine and ten. He didn't blink in case he'd of missed, but just as he reached the wall, a large crowd of people came swarming in front of him, and by the time the last person had cleared, the boy was gone. With a gasp, Harry and I kept watching.
"Fred, you next." the plump woman instructed softly.
"I'm not Fred, he is!" one twin exclaimed.
"Honestly woman you call yourself our mother," said the other boy.
The woman signed, "Sorry, George."
One of the identical boys stepped forwards, "I'm only joking, I am Fred." he laughed and off he went. His twin followed swiftly telling his brother to hurry up, and he must of done because a second later, they both had vanished through the wall – but how had they done it?
"Excuse me?" I call in desperation wheeling my trolley over to the plump woman who smiled warmly. "How – how do you –" I couldn't finish my sentence due to nerves but I gestured using my head towards the wall between platform nine and ten.
"How do get onto the platform?" she said kindly, Harry and I both nodded silently, she chuckled playfully, "Not to worry dear, it's Ron's first time to Hogwarts as well." the woman said about the last boy standing behind her, I turned to look at her son, he – like all of this siblings – had red hair, he was a little taller than Harry and I with gangling limbs, freckles spotting his face with a large nose. He smiled politely and I couldn't help but smile back. "All you have to do, is walk straight at the wall between platforms nine and ten, best to do it at a bit of a run if your nervous."
Harry and I nodded, "Thank you."
It was silently agreed that Harry would go first, from where we were, not far from the wall, Harry began to jog towards the wall that looked incredibly solid, I kept my eyes open so I could see for certain that what the woman was saying was real, and then he walked through the wall. I gasped.
Ron smiled and so did his mother, "I'm Molly Weasley," the plump woman introduced herself.
I smiled, "Grace Potter."
The woman's smile never faulted, "Well, go on dear, don't want to be late, the train waits for no one."
Exhaling carefully, I gripped the handle of my trolley before walking towards the wall, then after a few paces I broke into a heavy run – the barrier was coming nearer and nearer – I can't stop now – the trolley seemed to be pulling me towards the wall – wasn't far now – I closed my eyes ready for the crash...
"Grace!" a voice called my name. I opened my eyes to see Harry standing with me on a wide platform pointing to a scarlet steam engine that was waiting on the tracks next to a platform packet with people. On the front of the train read Hogwarts Express and a heavy sign hung overhead reading, Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.
We had done it!
We made it!
A/N: Getting closer and closer to Hogwarts! I called Grace's cat Milo because I thought it was adorable and my little brother suggested it. Now, what will happen on the train I wonder... Please review, follow and favourite, I really enjoy reading your feed back!