The Potter Timeline
Chapter 1 - A Magical Journey
September, 1991
Harry stared at the brick barrier in puzzlement. To the right of the barrier, a sign with the number 9 was posted and to the left, one with the number 10. And the only thing in between these signs was this…blank wall. People hurriedly boarded trains on the platforms to either side of the barrier, but nowhere was there any indication of a Platform 9 3/4…if it actually existed.
Hearing laughter, Harry turned to see Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and Dudley heading toward the station hall, still going on about Harry's silly magical train located at a silly magical platform created out of thin air. Pursing his lips and feeling nervous, especially since the supposed Hogwarts train was to leave in fifteen minutes, Harry desperately looked for someone he might ask about the platform.
"Can I help you, young man? You look…lost," a voice chimed at him.
The boy turned and gazed up at a platform attendant standing to his right. The man wore the familiar navy-blue outfit and cap of the King's Cross station attendants, a tuft of dark hair sticking out from under the cap covering his forehead.
"Yes, sir. Could you tell me where…the train leaving at 11 o'clock for Hogwarts school is located?"
Harry didn't mention the name "Platform 9 3/4" as it seemed silly to do so. And he fully expected the attendant to reply with something like "are you pulling my leg?" or "think you're funny, do you?" Instead, the man smiled at him and leaned down.
"You're looking for Platform 9 3/4, I imagine."
Harry's eyes went wide.
"Y…Yes, sir."
The attendant nodded.
"See the brick barrier in between the two platforms?" he asked while pointing at the wall.
"Yes."
"Just take your trolley and walk briskly through it."
Harry threw the attendant a puzzled look.
"Walk…through the barrier."
"Correct. Here, let me help you."
The attendant took one end of the cart and guided it forward with Harry pushing from behind. As soon as the trolley started moving, Hedwig flapped her wings and gave out a screech at the attendant. The man gazed wide-eyed at the owl in surprise. But the look only lasted a moment as the attendant smiled back at Harry while stopping the cart just ten feet from the barrier.
"Okay. Now, you…" the man spoke before stopping and glancing back behind him in the direction of the station hall.
Harry followed the man's gaze which landed on a large family - a bulky woman, four lanky boys, and a petite girl - all of whom had flaming red hair and were making a lot of noise while heading this way. The four sons were pushing trolleys similar to Harry's. The attendant then turned back to him.
"Alright now, march straight toward the barrier with a good run up."
Harry nodded a bit nervously.
"…Okay," he told the man.
He turned and gazed at the barrier. He then lurched forward, almost knocking Hedwig off her perch. At the last second, just before reaching the wall, Harry shut his eyes and gritted his teeth, half-expecting to smack right into it. Instead, he was astonished to suddenly find himself…on another platform!
Gazing up from where he stood, Harry saw a sign with gold letters on a maroon background:
Hogwarts Express
The sound of hissing steam caught his attention and he saw a bright red steam engine sitting on the tracks with the same name emblazoned at its front. Turning back around, he saw an archway where the barrier was located. And at the top of the archway was another sign:
Platform 9 3/4
The brick wall behind the train sported a large clock with funny-looking hands displaying the present time: 10:50 am. The platform was extremely busy and steam from the engine spewed onto it, partially obscuring a multitude of people moving about. Harry noticed kids both his age and older wearing black robes with different colored fringes and badges.
Hogwarts students!
Parents mulled about, saying their goodbyes and helping their children board the old-fashioned locomotive for the journey to the magical school. Several students carried cats with them, some carried owls, a few carried toads, and one held a creepy-looking tarantula in his hand while other students gawked at the creature in amazement. A grin crested on Harry's face at all this. He was amazed, excited, and yet nervous all at once - an entirely new world awaited him…
"Told you so!" a familiar voice chimed from behind him.
Startled, Harry spun around. The same platform attendant who helped him in the muggle section of King's Cross stood looking at the young man with a smile, his hands behind his back. And to Harry's astonishment, the uniform of the attendant was no longer navy-blue, but scarlet-colored, matching the Hogwarts Express motif. Harry returned the smile.
"Yes, sir. Thank you," he told the man.
"You're quite welcome," the polite response came back.
The attendant then looked across the platform at the other students, whose parents, siblings, and friends were helping load their trunks and parcels onto the train. Harry, however, had no one to help him and he wondered how he would lug his rather heavy trunk on board.
"Would you like me to help load your things?" the attendant now asked, seeing the perplexed look in Harry's eyes.
"That would be great, sir. Thank you again."
"My pleasure, young man."
The attendant helped Harry off-load the cart. Harry took Hedwig and her cage, while the man lifted the trunk.
"This way," he motioned with a turn of his head.
Harry followed the man into the nearest cabin door and onto the Express. They passed a couple of compartments already full of students. Then, the attendant opened the third compartment on the right side of the carriage and stepped inside - it was completely empty. Harry followed with Hedwig.
"I think you'll find this compartment satisfactory," the man told the boy while placing Harry's trunk on top of the rack above one of the seats.
Harry set Hedwig's cage on the opposite seat and smiled at the man.
"Thank you, sir," he said.
The attendant looked down at him and smiled warmly, as though Harry was his own son.
"You're welcome, young man. Enjoy your journey to Hogwarts and...good luck with your schooling!"
Harry nodded at the attendant who then exited the compartment. Briefly glancing about him, Harry sat down on the end of the seat closest to the window. He gazed out onto the platform and saw the large family of redheads from earlier. The little girl was crying and complaining to the woman, clearly the mother, while the two tallest sons, twins by the looks of it, were hauling their own trunks on board. The other boy with them was being lectured to by his mother, a frown on his face and a black smudge on his nose. The boy shook his head and the bulky woman gave him a great hug before he disappeared onto the train. Then, the train whistle erupted.
The locomotive started forward and Hedwig had to steady herself in her cage. The last view of the platform Harry had was the image of the little girl and her mother both waving at a compartment near the very end of the carriage. The magical section of King's Cross now disappeared and the green British landscape appeared outside the window. Harry took a deep breath and leaned back against the seat. He threw a look at Hedwig.
"Looks like it's just you and me, girl," he told her with a partial smile.
Harry then looked back out the window. While he was excited and curious about this new world of his, and what might await him at Hogwarts, Harry felt lonely. When he and the attendant passed the full compartments earlier, Harry gazed into them and couldn't help but notice how happy and animated the students seemed as they chatted with each other and shared snacks or played games. Yet he sat alone in this compartment with only his owl to keep him company. But Hedwig couldn't talk, and neither could she play games.
The young man sighed. He never had any real friends before, mostly make-believe ones he cooked up while living in the cupboard under the stairs. Surely, he would meet new friends at the school and looked forward to the prospect. But for now, all he could do was try to enjoy the train ride.
Feeling sleepy after all the excitement of the day's events, the eleven-year-old dozed off but awoke around twenty minutes later when a slight jerk in the train caused the carriage to lurch to one side. Harry saw Hedwig steady herself again. He gazed out the window with his chin resting on one hand.
Several minutes later, the sound of the compartment door sliding open startled him. An old woman poked her head inside.
"Anything from the trolley today, dearie?" she asked with a pleasant smile.
Harry's eyes went wide as he gazed at the trolley she spoke of. A variety of different sized and shaped packages with bright, dazzling colors and wrappings were stacked on the top and sides of the cart. By the looks of it, everything was some sort of delicious goody and Harry suddenly realized how famished he was. The bland bowl of porridge he ate at his Uncle and Aunt's house had long since vanished and he was eager for something to munch on.
Reaching into his pants pocket, Harry pulled out several Sickles and Knuts he sequestered from the rest of the money he had stashed in his trunk.
"I'll take one of everything, miss!" he exclaimed.
The woman smiled and proceeded to hand him just that. He gave her some of the funny-looking wizarding money and the woman moved onto the next compartment. Harry gazed down at the packages on the seat next to him with a wide grin. Just the thought of eating something sweet lifted his spirits.
He grabbed up a curious, decahedron-shaped box labeled "Chocolate Frog". Harry pulled the little string on top, and the box popped open. Immediately, a brown frog leaped out onto the seat, startling him. Apparently, the thing was made of chocolate but moved and behaved like a real frog. Amused, the boy reached for it only to find it leap onto the floor and shoot up under the seat. Harry grimaced but figured he'd look for it in a minute and hopefully not step on it by accident. He then pulled a card out of the box.
On its face was a picture of the classic wizard Harry had read about in stories: an old man with a long white beard, a hooked nose, strange-looking spectacles, and a tall, pointed hat decorated with moons and stars. The image moved around, to Harry's amazement, and the man suddenly smiled and winked at him.
"Wow!" Harry exclaimed. This magic stuff was really cool!
Underneath the image of the wizard was a name he recognized:
Albus Dumbledore
Current Headmaster of Hogwarts
So, this was the man that Hagrid spoke so glowingly about. Harry flipped the card over and read a short blurb about the wizard including his association with some chap named Nicolas Flamel. Flipping the card back, Harry was astonished that the man's image had disappeared.
'Maybe the card is broken or something,' he thought.
Shrugging his shoulders, Harry slid the card back in the box and picked up another curious one: "Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans". He opened the top and poured some of what looked like multicolored jellybeans into his palm.
'How can they be every flavoured?' he wondered.
He popped a caramel-colored bean in his mouth and instantly stopped chewing, a sour look on his face. It tasted like...dirty carpet. Harry grabbed an empty wrapper from the seat and spit the half-chewed bean into it, wadding it up. He then held a grey, speckled bean to his nose and his face contorted again. It smelled like cat hair.
Harry poured the beans back into the box and put it down. Not all wizarding candy was magically delicious, apparently. But before he could tuck into his little feast, the compartment door slid open again. This time, it was a boy with dark brown hair, a chubby face, and pronounced front teeth. The kid gazed at Harry nervously.
"Um…excuse me…have you seen a toad, by chance?" the boy managed to eke out as though Harry was a full grown adult being pestered by a child, "his name's…Trevor, and I've l-lost him."
Harry shook his head and gave the boy a polite smile.
"No, sorry."
"Um…okay…thanks."
The boy closed the compartment door and left. Harry turned back to his feast and was about to grab a Pumpkin Pasty when he felt something on his foot. Leaning over, he saw the chocolate frog had jumped onto his shoe. Harry slowly raised his leg, trying not to alarm the little thing. When his foot was high enough, Harry snatched the frog before it could leap away. The charmed candy squirmed in his hand while he shoved it back into its box and shut the lid. Harry didn't have the heart to bite off the head or legs of the frog and contemplated keeping it as a little pet.
Putting the box down, Harry was just about to stick one end of the pasty in his mouth when the compartment door slid open yet again. This time, there was no old lady selling candy or a quivering student looking for his toad. Instead, Harry stared at a girl with long, fluffy brown hair held back by a black hair band, which, unfortunately, couldn't control the rest of her hair falling all over her shoulders. However, she had pretty brown eyes which contained a glint of serious. The girl stared at Harry while the boy who had asked about the toad stood behind her in the corridor.
"Excuse me," she spoke with slightly exaggerated pronunciation in a bossy tone, "have you seen a toad? Neville has lost one…"
The girl's face turned to surprise all of the sudden as she gawked at Harry. He wondered if he had a chocolate or berry-colored smudge on his face.
"Holy cricket! You're Harry Potter!" she exclaimed.
Harry leaned back in surprise but guessed she had seen his scar.
"Yes…I am."
The girl squinted at him slightly with a smirk before stepping into the compartment completely, letting the door close behind her. Neville, as Harry now knew his name, looked flustered as the girl apparently forgot all about him…and his toad. Harry watched him disappear and then focused his attention on the girl who now took the opposite seat from him, sitting right next to Hedwig.
"You're famous, you know? I've read all about you in…" the girl quickly rattled off the names of several books in a row.
Harry was gobsmacked.
"I'm…really in all those books?"
"Of course! You didn't know?"
Harry shook his head in amazement.
"No. I only learned quite recently that I was a wizard. All of this is new to me."
The girl smiled at him.
"Well, I'm from the muggle world myself. My parents are muggles - dentists, actually."
Harry couldn't help but smirk at this, considering the girl's large front teeth.
"I'm Hermione Granger, by the way," she informed him with that bossy tone again.
"Nice to meet you…Hermione."
'That's a pretty name,' Harry thought to himself. She continued.
"I've been reading about the wizarding world ever since I got my letter from Hogwarts and it's quite fascinating, I must say. What House do you think you'll be sorted into?"
Harry was just about to ask what a 'House' was period, but Hermione beat him to the punch.
"I hope I'll be in Gryffindor. I've heard that's the best house. However, Ravenclaw wouldn't be bad. I don't think I'd like to be sorted into Hufflepuff, though."
Harry, still not knowing what the dickens she was talking about, decided to just go along with it.
"Me, neither," he muttered.
'Right, who would want to be stuck in a House called Hufflepuff?' he wondered to himself. It made him think of cream puff. But perhaps that was because he was still hungry.
Hermione now leaned forward, her brow furrowing as she studied his face.
"What's wrong with your glasses?"
Harry nearly went cross-eyed trying to look at the cellophane tape holding the broken center frame of his glasses together. He was suddenly self-conscious.
"Oh…um…my cousin punched me in the face and broke them."
Harry didn't mention that Uncle Vernon refused to have them repaired because he thought Harry deserved getting punched in the face.
Hermione squinted at him again with look of concentration.
"Well, perhaps I can help. I've been working on all the spells we're required to know for first term. Let me see…"
She pulled out her wand and pointed it right between Harry's eyes. He shrank back at this and sincerely hoped she knew what she was doing. He didn't want to walk into Hogwarts sporting a full-grown beard or a green face…or both.
"Occulus Reparo!" She uttered.
A brief flash of light erupted from the wand tip and Harry shrank back again at seeing sparks and something flapping in the middle of his glasses. But when he pulled them off, he was astonished to see that not only had the embarrassing tape disappeared, but the center frame was mended like new.
"Wow!" he exclaimed, "thanks!"
Hermione beamed back at him.
"You're welcome."
The girl then gazed out the window, her face contorted in serious contemplation of something. She then stood up.
"Well, I guess I better go help Neville find his toad. Oh, and you might want to change into your robes, the conductor told me we're nearly there," she stated with that bossy tone and serious look.
"Okay."
She marched to the compartment door, slid it open, and turned before stepping into the corridor.
"See you on the platform, Harry?" she asked with a hopeful look.
He smiled at her in amusement.
"Sure," he replied with a nod.
Hermione beamed back at him and then disappeared into the corridor. Though the girl was quite the chatterbox and appeared very enthusiastic over her book knowledge, Harry felt this exchange was rather pleasant. And she was kind enough to fix his glasses too.
But thinking about what she said after, Harry got up and stood on the edge of the seat to lift the top of his trunk. He pulled out the shirt, tie, and black robe required for all Hogwarts students. He then grabbed up all the goodies on the seat and stored them away in his trunk for later, save for the pumpkin pasty and a small treat for Hedwig.
Harry changed into his robes and gave the treat to the owl who purred softly while eating. Harry then sat by the window and finished his pasty, wondering what strange things he might encounter next.