Ch 4 September First
Harry was up early September first, mentally going through all the procedures and process for the day. Getting all the students on the train, and keeping it safe, was always a concern.
It was almost impossible to keep a few students from coming through platform 9-3/4 every year. There would be a couple of people looking for strange people walking through the station. King's Cross was busy enough, and there were enough strangely dressed people in the station at almost any time, that having just a few traditionally dressed Magi was usually not too much of a problem, but it was still a problem. Harry was still, would always be, concerned that maintaining secrecy was becoming more and more difficult.
The Muggle parents were all paired with a family of Magi, and instead of going directly to King's Cross they went to the magical family'shome and from there by Floo, or occasionally by Closet, to platform 9-3/4 and the Hogwarts Express.
Robrecht VanDer Raaltee had installed a Closet in his office and warehouse at Hogsmeade as soon as he could, and the students who lived in Hogsmeade and the children of Hogwarts staff that lived on the Hogwarts ground took Robrecht's Closet to King's Cross so they could ride the train. It was odd, in a way, going to London in order to go back to where they came from, but riding the train was a rite of passage. It was a way of creating friendships before you were sorted. A sort of 'no judgement' time when children could just be children making new friends.
Very few of the older students, eighth year and beyond, took the train, but almost all of the younger ones did. You were required to take the train your first three years, and you needed special permission not to take the train until you were in eighth year or older.
Hermione was taking Hugo and Rose, plus Scorpius, to King's Cross this morning. She was very nervous about this year; it reminded her too much about her, Ron and Harry's year of hunting Horcrux. No one was on the run from evil, but somehow Albus and Cleopatra had to convince evil, in the form of Jezebel, to come to them. And to her utter frustration, her daughter Rose and Rose's boyfriend, actually more than a boyfriend she had to admit, Scorpius, were going to be involved, and that was not safe, not safe at all.
Rose was not as powerful Magi as she was, and that was frustrating to her as well. People who thought that Rose was a clone of her as a child really didn't know Rose. She was good, in an academic way, but Rose didn't quite have her instincts for magic.
All three children were in their Hogwarts uniforms. Hugo looked like a typical young teen-age boy, neither exceptionally stylish nor quite as sloppy with his shirt untucked and his tie sloppily knotted as some boys his age could be.
Rose could look stylish in a uniform. The cut of the blouse showed off her thin feminine figure, and the scarf she wore, instead of a tie, was artfully tied. There was something about the skirt, too, that was just tight enough in just the right places, to take a very average figure and make you notice. The effect of her dress was a pretty witch that was also competent and confident.
Scorpius was thin, but his shirt and tie were just precise enough, the trousers just pressed enough, everything put together well enough, to take an ordinary uniform and turn it into a fashion statement. You knew that this was a handsome, well dressed, and confident wizard. The scar at his wrist was quite noticeable, but it did not seem to bother him, and it added an element of danger and mystery to his appearance.
Scorpius and Rose were a good looking couple. Hermione was proud of both of them but scared too. They looked too grown up, and remembering how quickly she, Ron, and Harry had to grow up she was worried that they were going to have to grow up too fast as well.
Scorpius and Rose were there early, as were the other prefects. They were expected to greet the new students. Many of this year's crop of students had siblings at Hogwarts, or were from magical families, so although there was a large group of first year students there were not an overwhelming number for whom the experience of magic was totally new, and all of the first year Muggle born students were paired with an older Hogwarts student to help them.
As Scorpius and Rose walked from a Closet into the station Cindy Hudson was there to interview them, and Henry Hudson was there to photograph them.
Cindy pointed to the scar on Scorpius's wrist and asked, "Do you want to talk about that scar?"
"No," Scorpius curtly replied.
"I see you are accompanied by two Elves. They look like Mo and Jo, Potter family Elves," Cindy noted.
"Uncle Harry thought we could use some extra guarding on this trip," Rose explained. "The kidnapping of Scorpius and Cleo has the family very nervous."
"Please excuse us," Scorpius butted in with. "We have duties on the train."
Cindy showed the interview to Harry later. Harry thought that they were conveying to Jezebel and others the story they wanted to create. He hoped so; the lives of Albus, Cleo, and who knew how many others were riding on the next months.
Ginny Potter took the Closet to the King's Cross a little after Hermione, just as Hermione was getting ready to leave.
"Rose and Scorpius are already on the train," Hermione told Ginny. "So is Hugo. I'm heading to the Ministry. I guess Ron is still busy at the Wheeze's. There seems to be plenty of last minute shopping this year."
"Did the Malfoy's show up?" Ginny wondered.
"Narcissa and, if you can believe it, Draco showed up to wish Scorpius a good autumn at Hogwarts after dinner last night," Hermione responded. "They didn't want to complicate this morning, and I got the impression that neither of them wanted to face the press and talk about the kidnapping."
Ginny looked around. Donna and Bill Lionheart were heading their way, Erica waving at James, Bill Jr. waving at Lily. Harry Lionheart, who was in Lily's year, and Ginny Lionheart, who was in second year, followed. Ginny knew Harry and Ginny were not at all interested in Quidditch, to the frustration of their older brother and sister.
"Hello, Ivana," Harry called to Ivana Romanoff, as he held out his hand. Ivana shyly offered her hand. Ginny looked at the two. Ivana was a year older than Harry, but they were obviously friends. Donna smiled at Ginny as to say, 'that's interesting.' Ginny and Donna watched at their children paired off and headed to the train, James and Erica, Bill Jr. and Lily, Ivana and Harry, with Ginny following.
Henry Hudson took photographs of the two families, but Cindy did not try to interview them. Photographs of the Potter family were always sought after by the Prophet and photographing Ginny with her one time Quidditch teammate Donna Lionheart was sure to be in the paper.
Dudley Dursley and his witch wife Belinda waved at Ginny and came over, their three children in tow. "Where is Harry?" Dudley wondered."
"I think he is trying to ensure that the train is secure," Ginny replied. "I understand that you have another one going to Hogwarts this year."
"Harry Vernon is accompanying his sister Perri," Belinda replied. Belinda looked down at the nine-year-old holding her hand. "That leaves just one at home, Violet."
Looking at the child holding Ginny's hand, she added, "I see little Minerva is with you."
Five-year-old Minerva Potter put her hands on her hips in a very good imitation of her mother and grandmother. "Am I always going to be little Minerva?" she wondered.
"No," her mother answered. "We all grow up."
Ginny looked at Minerva, who was small for her age. If she grew up to be as short as Ginny, especially if she was with her namesake who was taller, she might always be 'little Minerva.'
"I'm going to leave before the last minute people show up," Ginny told Donna. "Harry says it is safer for us to be gone before it gets too crowded."
"See you this weekend at the Harpies game," Donna replied, as the two mothers took their leave.
Albus and Cleopatra took the Floo from twelve Grimmauld Place to Professor McGonagall's office, along with their Elves Frerin and Dis, late morning, and after putting their luggage in their respective dorm rooms had lunch in the Great Hall. There was a smattering of other students, almost all of them older or, in the case of the children of staff, younger, eating lunch. After lunch they retired to the portrait room next to the Great Hall to wait, sitting next to each other in one of the comfortable overstuffed pieces of furniture in the room.
"You are even more on edge than is normal for you, Albus," Cleopatra noted.
"All the prophesies point to some sort of climax during the next four months," Albus pointed out, "but nothing tells us what will happen, how it will happen, when it will happen. How can you prepare for something if you don't know what you are preparing for?"
"Are not you the one telling me we have to pray? We have attended church services this summer, and I know I have begun to pray every day," Cleo told Albus. "This Saturday we have church services. We pray. We prepare. And we trust. Didn't you say that the omens say we will probably succeed?"
"Probably, but not certainly. We could lose, that haunts me," Albus sighed. "Also, that victories seldom come without casualties. Who is going to die? Who is going to die if we do something wrong, even if we win? Fifty people died at The Battle of Hogwarts. More than fifty of the defenders of Hogwarts, but also people on the other side. Some of the students we have met have lost relatives on the other side."
"Jezebel is an awful person, killing people almost every day, Albus!" Cleo exclaimed. "We have to stop her!"
"I know," Albus sighed, as he pulled her into a hug and kissed the top of her head. "I am just worried about the price we and the world of the Magi will have to pay, even if we are successful."
"I thought the Appleleaf children were little!" Rose exclaimed as Tolman Appleleaf was sorted into Ravenclaw.
"You have just been too busy to notice," Parry Finnigan scoffed. "Tommy was little when we were first here six years ago, but he and his sisters have grown. I didn't know his legal name was Tolman, though. We always called him Tommy."
"It is just like Vern Dursley is legally Harry Vernon," Rose thought. "Vern was named after Uncle Harry and his father's father. His oldest sister Perri is named after two flowers to honor Dudley's mother's side of the family, Periwinkle Pansy. I think they thought it would make old Mrs. Dursley like the children more, but Perri says they almost never see her. Even though their mother's family is in the West side of the Americas, they see them more often."
"Families can get very complicated," Hanna McGonagall mused. "I'm younger than my brother's oldest, and the whole McGonagall clan is large enough and so many generations old that who is close to who and who goes to Christmas or other holidays with who has become very complicated."
"I only have grandmother Granger on my mother's side," Rose told the witches she was sitting with. "There are a few distant cousins, but I almost never see them. I keep meeting more people related to the Weasley clan, however. There were a number of Weasleys on the Continent or in America, still are. You need a chart to see who is related to who."
The sixth-year Gryffindor witches talked about family until the sorting was finished. Rose then accompanied the other prefects to welcome the first year Gryffindor students.
"There are not many first years from the old Pure Blood faction," Albus noted. "Simon Lestrange is, I know, from one of the old families that supported Tom Riddle, but he is the only one who stands out."
"We have two of the younger siblings of the MELL students, Marian Edington and Ronald Wang, I see," Scorpius pointed out. "I know they are allies or should be. Their siblings can take care of them, but I am going to make sure I make a friend of Dante Malfoy. We are related, after all, even if not as close as our common name would suggest."
As the opening banquet was dismissed Scorpius took his place with the other prefects in guiding the First-year students to their house and welcoming them.
And so another year began, with abbreviated classes Thursday and Friday, and the first full week of classes starting September fifth.
2022