Chapter 5: Aboard the Hogwarts Express.

There were times—not many, but a few—when Harry was glad that he was an Esper despite all the misfortune that it brought upon him. As he awoke from the sudden breach of his locked door, it struck him that this may have been one such time. He settled tiredly against the old yet somehow unworn bench for support, a sour frown adorned his mouth as he realised who it was before they even entered the room.

"Daphne." He supplied mildly. "Is it too hard for you to comprehend the purpose of privacy charms?" There was a brief pause at the door before a girl walked in. She was tall for her age, with curly blonde hair and sharp blue eyes.

"Potter." She rolled her eyes as she took a seat opposite him, "As melodramatic as always, I see." Harry swallowed the temptation to hex the girl in front of him, if only because it would encourage her to pester him further.

"What do you want?" he asked, not unkindly.

Daphne pursed her lips, and said, "All the carriages were full, and I reckoned you were hiding away in an empty one." He nodded with an absent shake, his mind all the while slowly engaging with her own. Each mind was a puzzle, different in some respects but the core aspects remained all the same. Entering her mind was easy, the treads of thoughts gave way to the sounds of gentle tapping and all that she was revealed to him.

She was anxious.

"Ah!" Harry said, looking towards the wand in his outstretched hand. "My apologies, you came at an inopportune time." He pocketed the stick, finally able to conjure whatever strength he had left as he sat comfortably across from her.

That amused her; her eyes twinkled in realization. "Sleeping?" She said knowingly, "I have something that could help." She ruffled into her trunk and pulled out a tall glass bottle that was filled to the brim with a blue-green liquid.

He hesitated, somewhat taken aback by her generosity before taking the bottle from her grasp. He drank a pull of the potion before corking it closed, for a moment, he felt nothing before the familiar cold blazed through his stomach. It worked as intended, the cold rapidly spreading all over his body and jolting him awake and full of energy.

"Medical Grade." He assessed the bottle for a moment, waving the half-empty bottle in front of her, "Do you know how expensive normal Invigoration Potions are, let alone the ones they use in the Hospital."

"Of course, I'm aware." Daphne snatched the bottle out of his hands, "You know Astoria—" He nodded, stopping her from finishing her sentence. Some things were better left unmentioned; Harry was acutely aware of Astoria and her dalliance with the Greengrass's Blood Curse and he wasn't so cruel as to force her to explain her own sister's illness.

Harry sighed before deciding to reciprocate her generosity by levitating her trunk up on the luggage racks above them.

Daphne looked at him in astonishment. How? —wandless magic, he heard her think. More anxiety, and wayward thought, as it appeared peering into the mind of a child wasn't at all that enlightening. He decided to let her dwell on such matters in her own time and Daphne winced involuntarily as he slowly withdrew from her mind with the apparent finesse of a child.

Harry grabbed a book by his side as they sat quietly opposite each other, the silence quickly drew out, becoming awkward. He noticed several times that Daphne looked as if she wanted to say something, but then would immediately return to her thoughts.

"What is it?" He asked with a sigh.

She grimaced. "I may have left my friends without telling them so they might come and find me." He narrowed his eyes, looking at Daphne, then at the carriage door which was forced open by a pale and skinny girl.

"Daph—" The girl panted. "Do you know how long I've been looking for you?" Her attention was all on her friend, ignoring or perhaps not even realising that he was there.

"I'd rather not be in the same room as that idiot," Daphne said with some venom.

"Oh, Draco?" The girl raised a slick eyebrow and shook her head in exasperation. "He's annoying but harmless. Come now, Daphne, we are all likely to be in Slytherin."

Daphne growled, "What are you implying, Tracy."

"He's a Malfoy." She stated as if it answered the question, but Harry remained confused as to why the feared someone like Malfoy.

He snarled. "Is it because his father is a Death Eater."

Tracy whirled around in surprise, her jovial expression faded, and in its place stood something dark and fierce. "Did I hit a nerve? Were your parents' Death Eaters as well?"

Daphne narrowed her eyes at Harry. "Potter, if you say another word, I'll hex you." Empty promises, of course. He knew that besides her prodigious talent in Potions, her knowledge of combative spells was incredibly limited.

"Potter?" Tracy's gaze flickered to his forehead and found it scar-free, confusion echoed from her mind. "I thought the boy-who-lived had red hair."

"I'm afraid my brother is busy elsewhere," He said flatly. "But if you're one of his fans, I'm sure I can get you his autograph." Tracy was affronted but did not voice her displeasure, and soon the silence between the three of them grew stark. Though even that did not seem to deter Tracy, who sat down beside her friend and eyed him with ever-increasing interest.

Harry simply returned to his book, enjoying the brief freedom from the awkwardness around him. "Lazarus." Tracy mimed, "Aren't you a first year? There's no way you can understand Alchemy."

He shrugged.

Daphne nodded. "It's only taught as an optional module in our sixth year, and from what I've read, there's rarely anybody that picks it."

"And there's a reason for that," Harry murmured, judging the two of them carefully. "Alchemy isn't something that can be taught in two years. It is a lifelong endeavour, Lazarus died before his findings on the Laws of Transmutations were realised."

They appeared shocked by his knowledge of the topic, admittedly, his mother had warned him that he had read far beyond the syllabus, but he had assumed it was not uncommon. His dad was already practising sixth-year transfiguration spells during his third year, and though Sirius and Remus were gifted in their own right. He had little doubt that it was his father's talent that allowed the marauders to become Animagi so early in their tenure at Hogwarts. He had assumed that many first years would have received some magical training, but from what little he had divined from Tracy's mind had proven to be the complete opposite.

"You mean, you're not trained to use magic?" He asked with a frown. That seemed to take both of them by surprise, stopping and looking at each other for what seemed like a while.

Tracy swallowed, "And you were?" His silence seemed to speak for itself. "You are one of the few exceptions. It's rare for anyone to be able to learn magic before Hogwarts. It's not allowed, you see—Ministry rules."

Harry took out his wand and inspected it for a moment. "It's the first I've heard about this."

Daphne snorted. "No one could find your family, and even if the Ministry could, I doubt they would ever risk arresting anyone related to your brother." Whilst her theory had some credence, Walburga mentioned that her family would often be trained before they attended Hogwarts, and even Dumbledore never mentioned anything about the Ministry's magical tracking capabilities. That likely meant that there was some sort of wards or charm that protected Grimmauld Place and his home from such magic.

Tracy stared at the wand in his hand, for a moment, she seemed afraid that he was going to curse them. "Show us then." She demanded.

Harry swiped the air around Nyx, twisting and jabbing his wand towards the gold cage. "Diffindo." The top of the cage shook before it was completely ripped off, leaving a sizable hole for the raven to fly out of and onto his shoulder.

"Oh! That was a severing charm." Harry heard from the door, and he cursed himself for not using a locking charm to close the door. "I've tried it on a few occasions but the best I could manage was to shred some parchment." A bushy-haired girl spoke with an over-excitable voice. "I've read that metal was incredibly hard to cut."

Harry nodded. "The Severing Charm was created to assist seamstresses in their job. Severing metal requires a different set of wand movements." He pulled a small journal from his pocket, flicking through it until he found what he was looking for. "I believe it's written it's covered at the end of our second-year charms textbook."

The reaction of the girl amused everyone in the compartment, her emotions cycling between curiosity and growing anxiety. "Is it expected for us to read so far ahead—"

Daphne snorted at the girl. "Please. He's obsessed with learning magic. I doubt anyone has read that far ahead."

"You make that sound as if it is a bad thing."

Tracy deadpanned. "Clearly, you despise being around people. I have a feeling that you'd end up as a hermit if you were left alone."

Harry pointed his wand at Tracy. "I'm not Uncle Alphard, alright. Stop comparing him to me." Tracy froze at the name; it had been a while since he had met that perverted old bastard, but it seemed that despite his self-imposed exile his fame had not waned in the slightest.

The girl at the door shuffled uncomfortably as Daphne looked her up and down, her state of dress unlike most wizard raised children was indicative of a taboo topic. "You're a muggleborn." Daphne asked.

Harry narrowed his eyes at the blonde, a silent threat looming through the room.

The girl crossed her arms against her chest. "I'm Hermione Granger." Firm and resolute in her identity, Harry was surprised that she was knowledgeable enough about traditions to detect the veiled insult behind Daphne's words.

"Harry Potter."

Hermione's doe eyes lit up. "I met your brother a while ago. He's—interesting." She spoke as if amused, bemused. Her expectation of him must have been contorted by Jaime, likely a result of one of his pranks.

"So…what brings you here?" He asked softly.

Hermione bit her lip, and he saw her flush with embarrassment. "I was looking for a toad, Neville's lost one. Guess, you just caught my eye." She quickly turned to the door, muttering something as she retreated out of the compartment.

Daphne sighed. "Good riddance. That one's more excitable than Tracy."

"Hey!"

"I quite like her," Harry replied, confused when both girls blinked owlishly at him. "I was going to teach her the four-point spell."

Tracy muttered. "She'll fit right in with the Ravens."

And once more, the prospect of which House he was going to get sorted into resurfaced at the fore of his mind. He asked. "Why do you say that?"

"Ravenclaws' are known for their overbearing pursuit of knowledge." Daphne recited from a passage from Hogwarts, a history. "If you ask me, I think Ravens are a bit too eccentric and obsessive for my taste."

Harry rolled his eyes at her displeasure for any house besides Slytherin. "I personally don't put much stock in the Houses nonsense. I mean Dumbledore was a Gryffindor and he's the most knowledgeable wizard I've ever met."

Tracy nodded. "Still, I'd like to keep the family tradition and go to Slytherin." Daphne agreed with her friend, Harry shrivelled at the thought of being among Death Eaters and their ilk. A Potter had never been in Slytherin, and Harry liked to believe that he was not the sole exception.

"Potter! Come back, here." Harry heard someone shout from outside the compartment, the quick and pounding footsteps heading towards them. "If you don't turn me back—"

Tracy looked at Daphne, "Is that Draco?"

Harry jumped to his feet; his wand drawn as he moved towards the door in time to drag Jaime through. Heavy breaths and muffled laughter came from his brother.

"What did you do, Jaime?"

Jaime grinned and moved his head towards the open door, a blonde with purple skin burst into their compartment, flanked by two giant pudgy boys. He pointed his wand angrily at Jaime, "I'm not going to ask again."

Harry laughed.

The blonde glowered, "What are you laughing at."

"You can't even undo a simple colour change charm." Harry frowned at the odd patches of pale skin, "And not a very good one at that—You're losing your touch, Jaime."

"I was in a rush…Malfoy's was too cowardly to face me on his own. Decided to set his lackeys on me." Harry evaluated the two boys behind Malfoy, intrigued by the odd thrall and obedience they had for Malfoy. They seemed to be utterly at the blonde's behest.

Simpletons.

Malfoy looked around the room with an odd smirk. "Greengrass. Is this your idea of company?" There was some clear disgust in his tone, Harry wondered what Daphne's family had done to earn them such a reputation.

Tracy snickered. "You're purple, Draco."

If it were at all possible, Draco's skin darkened further from embarrassment. He growled, "You're laughing at me?" It was so easy to guess what the boy was going to do next; Harry didn't even need his legilimency to discern the silent order as Crabbe and Goyle stepped up from behind Draco.

They cracked their fists in what they thought to be a threatening manner. But what good was physical strength against magic, Harry didn't hesitate as he jabbed his wand towards one of them. "Flippendo." The silver jet struck Crabbe in his midriff and sent him spiralling out of the door, he hit the wall with a painful thud. The boy's back spasmed as he tried his best to get up, only to keep falling back down.

"You were saying?" Harry said venomously, his wand was levelled against Draco now. "If you don't want to follow suit, I'd advise you to leave."

Draco levelled a glare at Harry, though it appeared smug. "You attacked him for no reason. My father will hear about this."

Jaime wasn't impressed. "Go on tell your daddy—It's all you can do anyway." Draco twirled around with as much grace as a human grape could muster and left the room.

"You better watch yourself, Potter."

There was a little pause and a burst of laughter erupted from Jaime's lips. "I've never met such a prat in my life."

Harry asked. "Why were you running?" Jaime knew more magic than Malfoy, and if that little encounter showed him anything, it was that Malfoy or his lackeys would not have been a challenge for Jaime.

Jaime muttered. "There was a girl with them." Harry caught the vision with his mind, it was too dark and grainy to uncover the girl's identity, but he had an odd feeling that he had met her before. "She burnt a hole through the door."

Harry sighed. "It's not even our first day and you've already made enemies, Jaime."

Jaime shrugged. He looked towards the others, grinning with interest as his eyes fell upon Daphne. "You must be the one my brother keeps rattling on about." And Harry wished at that moment that he had learnt a way to silence people. Daphne gave him a sneaking glance, her emotions layering her mind to the point of incomprehensibility.

"How troublesome." Harry waved his hand in a dismissive nature. "Why don't you go check up on Weasley. I'm not in the mood." He didn't care if his wand was still out and pointing in the general vicinity of his brother.

Jaime chuckled, "See—I'm surprised that he even allowed you to stay." He plopped himself down beside Harry's seat without a care in the world. "Anyway, I thought I'd just tell you that I may have also pissed off one of the Slytherin Prefects."

"Are you daft, Potter?" Daphne asked, "Do you know who the Slytherin Prefects are? You're lucky they didn't send you to St Mungo's."

Jaime was not at all fazed at the prospect. "Do you know who I am?" He said with such cocksure arrogance that it made even Tracy cringe.

"Not sure that's going to work. Last I saw, it was you who was running away from Malfoy." Harry said, noting the time on his watch and the settling of dusk over Scafell Pike. They were still a while away from reaching Hogwarts.

Tracy giggled. "Lucky for you, Malfoy can't spin the story in his favour without having to explain why he was turned purple." And it was just as likely that the Slytherin Prefects would not try to find them either if only to spare Malfoy from further embarrassment. Especially since Draco's father was among one of the most influential names in Wizarding Britain.

"See. All according to plan." Jaime said with a noisy clap.

The door slid open for the fourth time today, a pudgy woman leaned her head forward whilst navigating a cart filled with treats between two running students. "Anything of the trolley, dears?" she asked.

Jaime shook his head. "I've already had too much."

Harry leaned in to take a better look and found that they had nothing that he liked. "Can I have a chocolate frog and some pumpkin juice?" Tracy, on the other hand, seemed to want to have everything, simply buying dozens of sweets with odd names and colours that Harry had never heard of.

Ice Mice.

Whoever came with these names should be fired, and yet Harry felt tempted to try one regardless. Tracy quickly unwrapped her chocolate frog, biting it before it could leap away, her smile dwindling as she inspected the card within. "Damn—Tremlett, again." She threw the card away, "Never liked their music anyway."

Jaime nodded enthusiastically. "I think he's one of the most common cards, I've got like twenty of them."

Daphne seemed not at all interested in the conversation, instead decided to enjoy her pasty's with some ice tea.

Tracy asked whilst chewing on some l. "So, mmhmm, who did you get?" Harry looked at his card with some interest, it was someone that he was not at all familiar with. It read, 'Jeanne d'Arc', her frame was empty for a second before a beautiful woman with golden hair and green eyes appeared. Dressed in a knight's uniform, she drew her sword and levelled it towards him.

Jaime reached over to look, "Joan of Arc, huh. That's a quite rare card."

Tracy snorted. "Rare. She's a Platinum Card, they're impossible to get." Harry assumed that the cards had different rankings and that their value and rarity corresponded with their colour. Tracy continued to eye the card with some jealousy. "I'll trade you ten golds for one."

"Not a chance." Harry smiled, turning the card around and began reading the brief description of the woman.

Jeanne d'Arc.

The Maid of Orléans (1412 – 1431)

Known simply as one of the greatest warriors in French History, Joan of Arc had not even graduated from Beauxbatons when she won a decisive battle against the British in Orleans during the Hundred Year War. Noted to be one of few occasions were both sovereign states employed wizards and witches in secret, it was Jeanne's ability on the battlefield as well as her rare ability to divine the future was the singular reason for France's turning of the war. Eventually captured, accused of witchcraft and killed by Muggles, her story remains a lesson and a warning to the wizarding world at large about the importance of the statue of secrecy.

Harry placed the card into his pocket, making a mental note to collect more in the future if only to read more about historical figures.

Daphne looked at the card with interest and Harry noticed an eerie similarity between them. "I still don't understand how she is a Platinum and Dumbledore isn't," Jaime said. "I mean isn't he the more powerful wizard."

"Power isn't everything," Daphne replied. But Harry disagreed, Jeanne D'Arc was powerful enough to singularly turn the tide of the war in her teens. If anything, it demonstrated the importance of power in the wizarding world. Even if she wasn't as powerful as say Dumbledore, her legacy still endured hundreds of years after her death as a symbol of the beliefs of the wizarding world at large.

There was a rap at the door, an older boy with dreadlocks walked into the room. Harry noted his large muscular frame that towered over them. "We're almost there." The boy spoke softly, "Please leave your luggage here and dress into your robes if you haven't already." He stopped and regarded Jaime for a moment before simply nodding.

"Damn that guy was scary," Tracy murmured. "Anyway, Daph and I better find someplace to change into our school robes."

Jaime stood. "I should head back." Harry extended the courtesy and left the girls to get dressed on their own. He leaned against the wall outside the door, watching as their train approached a small village but it was the brief silhouette of a castle in the backdrop that he was most enthralled with.

The train slowed, eventually coming to a halt with a loud screech as they pulled into a deserted station. Harry watched as the students scrambled to check that everything was in order, he wondered if he had forgotten something but decided against returning to the comportment in fear that he might walk into something unseemly. Immediately, he regretted not turning back as the harsh cold winds of Scotland settled around the platform.

He shivered, unable to move until he felt a warm feeling erupt from inside him. "Wotcher, Harry." An arm wrapped around his neck, "See ya forgot your cloak." Tonks said with a teasing smile.

"What are you doing here?" Harry asked whilst looking around the platform. "I thought you already graduated."

"First assignment as a Trainee." She grumbled, "Something of a tradition around the department, you see." She lit the environment around them with a wave of her wand, Harry looked towards the far edge of the platform where a giant of a man held a bright lamp and stumbled his way to the front of all the students.

"Firs' years! Firs' years, over here!" He spoke with a thundering voice that likely travelled far beyond the station.

"On you go, Harry. I have a few rounds to do." Harry waved as Tonks vanished with a sudden crack. He slowly made his way through the tiny platform, trying his best to avoid getting hit by the stray elbow or leg.

"C'mon, follow me – any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!"

Harry eventually managed to reach the pile of first years at the front of the station. The other students seem to hang on back and stray away from their path. Stumbling in the dark and rocky environment, they followed the giant down a narrow and jagged path in the forest. Harry heard several gasps ahead as he rounded the turn into the edge of a black lake that had been lit up by a castle perched upon a tall mountain. Harry was transfixed by the sight, it was magnificent, ageless, and majestic in its beauty. Sprawling in its size, Hogwarts imposed itself on the view around it, it's vast towers and turrets blocking any and all view of the mountainside and the valleys around it.

The giant pointed towards a fleet of small boats anchored on the platform. "No more'n four to a boat!" And just like that everyone seemingly disregarded the sight in front of them and dispersed in a whirlwind of havoc, names being shouted out as friends and newly met acquaintances tried to set themselves into their boat.

"Hey, Harry!" He heard Tracy call out. "Come join us." Climbing onto the rocking boat was harder than it seemed, he was afraid that he would fall into the ink-like lake.

Daphne smirked at him. "Thought I saw you get lost."

Harry shrugged. He looked towards the dark-skinned boy sat in front of him, "Hello." Was the best that he could muster at the moment.

The boy simply gave him a curt nod.

'Rude' Harry thought but he supposed not everyone would be so courteous. The giant addressed them all once more, and soon they were off at his behest. The boats moved along the black lake on their own, slow enough for him to appreciate his surroundings.

He could feel something rumbling in the water below, a long tentacle burst out of the water, splashing a good portion of them with a torrent of water. The Giant laughed, "Don't mind 'er—She's harmless, don't you worry." Daphne and Tracy seemed to shiver at the prospect of a giant squid underneath them.

The rest of the trip was rather uneventful, Harry caught a glimpse of the Quidditch grounds and some rather interesting variants of fish but otherwise, he enjoyed the stillness of the lake and the soft rocking of the boat. Halting underneath an underground pier, Harry and the other students jumped out of their boats, occasionally laughing as a few students missed the jump and fell back into the lake.

The Giant led them up a winding path towards the castle gates, and Harry felt more than a little winded by the end of the journey. They came to a stop in front of two massive wooden doors, the giant turned to check on them before pounding against the door three times.

The doors creaked open; they had finally arrived.

A/N: I was planning on including the sorting, but I thought against it due to how disjointed it felt. Sorry that it took me so long to post, I've been trying to speed up my update cycle but it takes me a long time to edit. If anyone's interested in becoming my beta reader, feel free to PM me.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and as always do leave a review. I always enjoy reading your thoughts on the story, both good and bad.

Till next time.

PS – Thanks for 500 follows.