CHAPTER 7

The Journey To Hogwarts

Severus stepped out of the Potter's fireplace to find them sitting and waiting patiently for him.

"Oh, honestly!" he exclaimed in annoyance. "Couldn't you have started?"

"You know, Severus," Mr. Evans said in mock superiority. "A promise not kept is a promise never made. And so we waited. You are a part of us no matter how much you deny it."

"Pat's right, dear." Mrs. Evans said. "But don't you worry, we haven't been waiting long. We just finished speaking to Petunia." She sighed and continued with resignation, "I wonder where we went wrong. She and Lily used to be so close."

"Never mind," Mr. Evans said, patting his wife's hand. "Let's get this party started!"

Severus shook his head and tore off a piece of parchment from the roll on the table and ordered for some stew, some pork chops, a vegetable casserole, fried chicken and a green salad along with three small cakes, chocolate, strawberry and lemon flavoured respectively and a fruit salad.

And they tucked in and enjoyed themselves.

Severus had not felt so free and relaxed in years. They spoke of many things and the children asked many questions and Severus was able to refrain from naming the people responsible for this great room... and all in all, Severus was happy to see them eating with gusto.

He learnt that they decided to call their new owl Hedwig and that the Evans' would come to visit them regularly and that it was planned amongst them that the triplets would spend every Sunday of their summer holidays with them in Cokeworth. And that was when Severus was reminded of Neville Longbottom.

"There's something else, I need to bring to your attention. Do you remember that boy, Neville Longbottom, the one who was put down severely by his grandmother just because he was afraid of people?"

The triplets sobered and nodded.

Severus put his words carefully, "A month after Lord Voldemort was defeated, this boy's parents, Frank and Alice Longbottom were captured by Death Eaters who were in desperate need for the knowledge of their master's whereabouts. Neville's parents refused to devulge anything which resulted in them being tortured to insanity -"

"How terrible!" Mrs. Evans cried.

"Poor Neville!" Blaire exclaimed sadly. Ethan and Harry paled considerably.

Severus took another deep breath and said, "Those Death Eaters have been given a life sentence in Azkaban, the wizard's prison. However, just this afternoon, there was another Death Eater attack outside Gringotts and Longbottom's grandmother was killed."

This time, there was no reaction from any of his listeners. And Severus knew he did right by not telling them that they were actually in search of the Potter triplets.

He continued, "I have just one thing to ask of you."

"You want Neville to stay with us?" Ethan said abruptly.

Severus was taken aback but he nodded.

"Of course!" Blaire and Harry said at once. "We'll have him!"

Severus turned to the Evans' who exchanged a look and Mr. Evans said, "I think I can do with another grandson, seeing that my elder daughter doesn't want her son to have anything to do with us."

Severus regarded him carefully.

"And when Petunia finally agrees to let Dudley Dursley bond with his grandparents?"

Mr. Evans shrugged, "We'll have another grandchild... I'm not complaining."

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The professor looked relieved and he smiled.

Then he said, "But you must remember not to mention to him anything about his parents or grandparents - his grandfather died when he was younger - and I will come every holiday to take him to visit his parents at St. Mungo's... It's a wizarding hospital in London that has kept the Longbottoms in a special ward. They were Aurors - wizards and witches trained to catch dark, evil wizards and witches - but against four of the most dangerous Death Eaters, they had no chance."

After their grandparents kissed and hugged them good night, (their Grandma was offering to wait till they fell asleep, which they collectively and enthusiastically but politely declined) they and the professor left, and Ethan, Blaire and Harry were so tired, they fell asleep as soon as their heads touched their pillows.

The next morning passed quickly and the children obediently sat at the table and went through their textbooks. Blaire even took down some notes here and there. They were interrupted just before lunch by a sounding of the doorbell and rushing to the verandah, they saw Professor Snape accompanied by a pale and trembling Neville.

"What do you want now?" Uncle Vernon's uncouth voice reached their ears. But the professor's reply was too soft so they could only imagine his response for after a minute, Uncle Vernon yelled, "This house isn't an orphanage!"

Professor Snape's voice rose a bit and the children could just make out his reply, "I assure you Dursley that neither Mr. Longbottom nor the triplets will have an urge to leave their room and they do not expect to be fed either. They will not be using your electricity or your water, so will not have to pay anything on their account."

The professor had probably lowered his voice again, for the triplets couldn't hear anything for a while. They finally assumed that the Professor changed tactics and used threats, for then Uncle Vernon yelled, "FINE! Take the boy in, but remember, one sound from you, you and those three brats are out of here!"

"I shall be the judge of that, Dursley." Professor Snape said cooly. "Come, Longbottom."

The triplets rushed to the door and Ethan threw it open and together they waited for the professor and Neville to arrive. They heard the approaching footfalls get louder and soon enough, the Professors billowing robes could be seen, the professor came soon after, his hand on Neville's shoulder. Neville looked so small in front of him.

In his hands was a huge toad and floating behind them was a trunk.

"Longbottom," the professor said. "These are the Potter triplets, Ethan, Blaire and Harry. And you three, this is Neville Longbottom. I know you met outside Ollivander's but I felt the introductions to be absolutely necessary." The Professor let his eyes wander to Dudley's room in the corridor and Harry could only imagine his fat cousin standing against it with his ear to the keyhole!

The professor lead them into the room and he shut the door.

"I've told you everything that you need to know now. Is there anything you want to ask me?"

The professor looked down at Neville rather seriously and Neville shook his head with vigour.

"Alright then. But if you do know, I am just a floo call away, just ask the triplets for the password. I do not recommend conversations outside in this corridor, and I shall advise you four, that in future, you will not be so careless when you open this door. I do not want a cause for violence from your Uncle's side. And henceforth, your visitors and visits shall be via the floo."

The tiplets nodded in understanding.

"I shall take your leave. Please be nice to each other... The four of you are more alike than you'll ever know."

With that, the professor flicked his wand and the trunk settled down besides the triplets in a corner of the room and with another flick a bed, a cupboard, a bedside table with a ball of light on the stand and a chair appeared. With yet another flick, the professor had Neville's trunk opened and his things were all put in their respective places.

Then Professor Snape said, "I have taken a subscription to the Daily Prophet for you. The Daily Prophet is the Wizarding Newspaper that will keep you in touch with the happenings in this world... The owl who delivers it will want to be paid...it will have a pouch on his leg. All you have to do is put five knuts into the pouch. Have I made myself clear?"

They nodded.

Then the professor nodded too and left the room.

"Come, Neville." Blaire said kindly. "Have a seat, you must be hungry." She directed him to the round table, while Ethan cleared out all the books and placed them on the rack.

Then Harry tore a piece of parchment that they permanently decided to leave on the table and said, "What would you like to eat, Neville."

"A-Anything is f-fine." Neville stammered and as Harry wrote down their lunch, Blaire pointed to the toad now hopping around the room and asked Neville, "Who's that?"

"That's Trevor." Neville said smiling a little. "He's my pet. I'll be taking him to Hogwarts."

"Oh, that's nice." Blaire said.

In half-an-hour, she had got him in a lively conversation of the famous Wizarding sport, a game called Quidditch that was played on broomsticks! Apparently, Neville loved to watch the sport, but he hated riding on broomsticks... He hated heights in general.

That evening, their grandparents - who insisted that Neville call them Grandma and Grandpa too - arrived with freshly baked cookies. They had a wonderful time and later, their grandpa taught them some rather cool card games.

The days passed on and the triplets learnt that Neville liked dealing with plants. He knew a lot about them, both magical and non-magical. Professor Snape arrived one day and took Neville to Ollivander's to get him a new wand and Neville returned a cherry wood wand with a unicorn hair core.

They also exchanged letters with the Weasley twins who, the triplets deduced from the few discreet statements, hadn't even told their five other siblings about meeting them.

Every night, before going to bed, Ethan would enter the day's events on his new diary, whom he decided to call Dee. Within no time, he developed a liking for the sudoku on the Daily Prophet, but what intrigued the three the most was the pictures that moved just like their parents portraits, whose racks were now filled with mystery books. Their ceiling also changed sceneries from unimaginably beautiful mountains to the dangerous seas on a stormy night.

Neville and the triplets got along fine and little by little, he began feeling more confident of himself and all in all their life was amazing.

The professor arrived again on the last week of September and got the four of them to begin packing. He even gave them a list of what to pack, and the triplets made it a point to keep their Mum's letter and the photograph tucked in the small gap between her trunk portrait frames and the lid of their trunks.

The first of September arrived and by now, Neville and the triplets could be almost classified as the best of friends. After breakfast, they went through their trunks to see if they had everything and then they sat patiently at the table waiting for their grandparents to arrive.

Their grandparents arrived fifteen minutes later with a lot of sandwiches. They helped carry their magically light trunks to their recently painted jeep whose insides were probably magically enlarged by Professor Snape.

They reached King's Cross at ten o'clock and as per the Professor's instructions, they put their trunks in four separate carts with Hedwig in Ethan's and Trevor in Neville's and one at a time, the six of them ran at the barrier between platform nine and ten and came out on the other side.

The secret platform was empty save for a few other people and they had almost all the compartments in the train to choose from. Their Grandpa took them to the last compartment of the train and he and Grandma settled them down there and waited with them until the crowd started increasing.

After a lot of instructions and a warning that they all had to work hard and do as well as they could in their academics (their grandmother was a retired teacher), and a lot of hugs and kisses, they got off the train when there were only five minutes left for eleven.

And by then, Ethan wrote in his diary later that night, our Journey had begun and I started missing our room already. Blaire wasn't helping, she simply stated that, that was why Professor Snape had told us not to get attached to it. In some ways, I suppose she's right.

Fred and George are brilliant. They came to visit us and we introduced them to Neville, our new brother. The twins were very nice about it and said we could come to them should we need anything. It's a pity they have such a nosey twit for a brother.

Ron Weasley's is a redhead like the twins, but he's a bit of a git. He came in and insisted on knowing if we were the 'Potter triplets'. It wasn't any of his business. Why couldn't he and the other people mind their own? It's stupid! We need our privacy!

That's not all. Once we said yes, he demanded to know which of us was 'the Harry Potter'! Poor Harry, he looked very uncomfortable. He even wanted to see his scar! Doesn't he have ones of his own that he can adore? What's his problem? And can you believe it...In the end, it was Neville who chased him out!

But if I considered Ron Weasley's behaviour to be arrogant, it was nothing compared to another boy who barged in a little later. He was blonde and was flanked by two hefty idiots. Blaire gave them a telling off, this time. Well, I helped too. It was amazing! But you should've seen it for yourself!...

What had happened was, the second those three boys entered, no, barged into the compartment, they and the triplets and Neville simply stared at each other in silence for a moment after which the blonde boy said rather impatiently, "Well? Which of you is Harry Potter?"

"Have you ever heard of the words 'common decency'?" Blaire said sounding thoroughly irritated.

"Eh?" the blonde boy said now completely taken by surprise by the change of topic.

"You know," Blaire continued, "the behaviour that is expected to be shown by people, everyday at all times and locations?"

"What's that got to do with anything? All I wanted to know was which of you was the Harry Potter!"

Harry blushed brightly and Ethan heard Blaire's voice in his head, "Continue Ethan."

Ethan cleared his throat and said, "It's got to do with everything, er, what's your name?"

"Draco Malfoy."

"Ok, Draco Malfoy, common decency says you should knock before you invade someone's personal space. Once you're given entry, you begin a conversation like this, 'Hello, I'm Draco Malfoy, I'm pleased to meet you.' and then you say, 'What are your names?' Then we'd introduce ourselves and shake hands and by asking nicely, you'd have got your answer. Or you could have tried this other approach -"

Neville giggled at Draco Malfoy's sour and pink face.

"Should I go on?" Ethan said with a smile.

"Oh, forget it." Draco Malfoy said irritated. "I'll find out at Hogwarts anyway."

He stomped away angrily followed by the two hefty boys.

Harry rushed to the door and said aloud, "Hey! You forgot to say goodbye!"

If possible, Draco Malfoy got pinker.

Harry shut the door and the four of them burst out laughing. The four were left alone for the next hour.

Then the witch with the trolley came by their door around one o'clock and they bought some chocolate frogs and a few packets of every flavoured beans, which they had after their lunch. Neville had to explain to them that every flavoured literally meant every flavour...But then, Harry got a bean that tasted so disgusting, that he decided against eating anything else for the rest of their journey.

The views passing by the window kept getting prettier and Ethan made it a point to paint some of the forest like sceneries on canvas whenever he got the time at school.

They were alone for most of the time only to be interrupted by the Weasley twins who came to apologize for their brother, who according to them 'lacked tact of any kind'. Later, when Neville left the compartment to visit the bathroom, he found Ron sitting in a compartment with Tilly Ollivander and the two of them seemed to be getting on well.

Neville had never been more happy in his life and with friends like his, he didn't think life could get any better. And all through the journey he thought nothing could bother him...that was until they began to wonder about their sorting ceremony.

Professor Snape according to the triplets hadn't told them what was going to happen during the ceremony. And the twins refused to disclose anything, save for the fact that they were going to be put through some kind of a test. And now that they had reached the Hogsmeade station, Neville was almost positive that whatever he had learnt during the holidays wouldn't help him during the 'test', that he would surely be the bottommost of the first years.

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Severus would never never admit it, but behind his cool expressionless mask, he was excited. No surprises there, he could practically consider himself to be their maternal uncle, if not the godfather and which type of guardian with the exception of the Dursleys would not be excited over their ward's sorting... specially if he had four of them as well as the opportunity of witnessing it?

But Severus already knew which houses the four of them would be in, he was so sure of it, he placed a bet worth five galleons each with all the other Heads of House. He, by now, knew the four very well.

And then, Minerva walked through the Great Hall that was rapidly filling with students and into the entrance hall and out of Severus's view. It was all he could do not to fidget with impatience. Minerva returned with the Sorting Hat and stool and disappeared again only to return with the new eleven year olds.

Severus looked over at them recognising quite a few, Lucius's brat was the first to catch his eye, followed immediately by another Weasley next to Ollivander's shy granddaughter who looked scared to death. And she wasn't the only one. Severus noticed the sons of Nott, Crabbe and Goyle too, all resembling their father in appearance. Severus hoped they wouldn't imitate them in behaviour.

And then Severus's eyes fell on them, there at the end of the line looking quite pale. Severus sighed and turned back as the Hat sang its ridiculous song and clapped along with the rest when it bowed.

Then Minerva gave the first years the usual instructions and read out the first name from her parchment and the piggy tailed Abbot girl was sorted in Hufflepuff. Then came Amelia Bones' neice who turned out to be a Hufflepuff as well. The sorting went on and Crabbe and Goyle got sorted in Slytherin.

Soon it became Neville Longbottom's turn and the boy hesitantly made it to the the stool and put the hat on his head. After a period of two long minutes the hat yelled, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Severus almost smirked, Minerva owed him five galleons, she had thought the boy to be a Hufflepuff.

Then Draco Malfoy got sorted into Slytherin, followed by Theodore Nott. Then Matilda Ollivander got sorted into Gryffindor and Severus was quite surprised, he had expected the girl to be a Ravenclaw.

Then after a few more eleven year olds including a pair of Patil twins who were put into different houses making the triplets look more worried than ever, Minerva called out "Potter, Blaire."

The hall became silent and Severus's pretty goddaughter walked shakily to the stool and put the hat on. The hat took around two long minutes again and then yelled, "RAVENCLAW!"

The cheers were quite loud and most of the ruckus came from the Ravenclaw table and Severus was barely able to resist a smile. And this time, both, Filius and Minerva owed him five galleons.

The Hall remained quiet with expectancy as Minerva (who hid her surprise surprisingly well) read out, "Potter, Ethan!"

Ethan walked nervously to the stool and put the hat on his head and it was less than a minute later that the hat yelled, "HUFFLEPUFF!"

Severus watched with a small frown as Blaire and Ethan shared a devastated look amidst the loud cheers of the students, especially from the Hufflepuff table. Pomona let out a few sympathetic titters as the boy made it to the table and sat next to Diggory, who patted him on the back in sympathy or to congratulate him, Severus wasn't quite sure. Oh, and both Pomona and good old Minerva owed him five galleons each.

Then the Hall became silent again and Severus could almost see the tension coming from Gryffindor table, which was desperately wanting to get its hands on the prize. The Slytherins seemed almost disinterested... A now very slightly flustered Minerva called out "Potter, Harry" and the boy walked to the stool more composed than his siblings and put the hat on his head.

Whispers that began the moment Blaire put the hat on her head intensified as Harry did the same. It took eternity for the hat to decide, around more than six whole minutes, and just as Severus began to doubt his guess, and as he prepared to lose five galleons to Minerva, the hat yelled, "SLYTHERIN!"

Severus won thirty galleons in a single sorting ceremony!...Minerva lost twenty galleons in a single sorting ceremony. Severus made a note to stay out of her way for a couple of weeks.

The half-hearted cheers from the said table the other two Potters, Longbottom and the Weasley twins besides the staff table, as well as audible gasps and whisperings from the other tables was all the encouragement Harry got. Severus cast a worried frown at the boy's expressionless face as he moved to the table. Harry sat next to Malfoy and the boy seemed to say something to Harry who glared half-heartedly at him and looked tentatively at Blaire and Ethan and Neville, each giving him supportive smiles in return. But Harry didn't seem reassured, no, not in the least.

Severus was worried. He knew Harry would be sorted in Slytherin, but he hadn't expected such a cold shoulder from the rest of the school and looking at the expressions from the four of them, Severus knew all the time he took to prepare them, in case they weren't all in the same house, was in vain.

He was so caught up in his thoughts, he hadn't realised that Dumbledore had stood up until after the food appeared on the table. Severus served himself a healthy proportion of food and before he tucked in he turned to look at his four wards again.

Neville was eating but the other three hadn't even piled food onto their plate. Diggory, Severus could see, was trying to persuade Ethan to try the roast. Severus scowled, this had to cease. With a swift movement of his wand, he vanished some food from the staff table and made in appear in equal amounts on the triplets plates. They all stared at their plate in open mouthed wonder and Diggory looked pleased. As one, the triplets turned to look at him and he gave each of them a very pointed look. Enough to get them eating. They couldn't afford to skip meals, hadn't they realised that already?

Severus huffed and returned to his meal.

After the dessert, (the triplets served themselves this time) Severus, who was doing his best to ignore the stuttering Quirrel by his side was glad when Dumbledore stood up to make his announcements and once the students were sent on their way, Severus made himself invisible and followed his Slytherins to make sure Harry wasn't too overwhelmed.

Cedric Diggory seemed to have taken Ethan under his wing and Blaire had found a friend in Penelope Clearwater, a fifth year prefect and Severus knew the two were in safe hands. Even Neville had the Weasley twins to back him up. He, on the other hand, needed to see that the boy in his own house wasn't trampled by the rest.

Then as his older Slytherins passed by, Severus put his hand on the shoulders of two prefects, forgetting that he was invisible. The two boys looked around wildly as their housemates passed by unaware of their dilemma. Severus spoke in a low voice, "Calm down! It's me."

"P-Professor Snape?" the first boy said.

"Yes, Adrian, Marcus. Come to my office."

Severus saw the boys exchange bewildered glances and chose to ignore them as he made himself visible and strode down to his office. The boys entered as soon as he did and he got them to sit.

"What do you think of the Potter in your house?" he asked them without any preliminaries.

Adrian Pucey frowned, "Er, he's okay, Professor. Keeps to himself, from what I saw. The Malfoy boy kept trying to provoke him, and I was quite surprised when Potter chose to ignore him."

"What about you?" Severus said to Marcus Flint, his new Quidditch captain.

"Professor," Flint said steadily, "Potter has a long road ahead of him."

"Why do you say that?" Severus said.

Flint seemed reluctant, "Well, as I left the Hall I heard some people from Slytherin itself and even from Gryffindor speaking of our Potter, er, I mean, the Potter in our house, and they weren't happy with the hat's decision."

Severus closed his eyes. These two boys had been honest and Severus knew from previous experience that he could trust them.

He opened his eyes and said in an expressionless tone, "Slytherins protect their own."

The boys nodded in confusion.

Severus sighed, "The two of you are responsible for the boy's well being."

They opened their eyes wide.

"Yes and don't go out of your way and stick by him, just be there on the outlines. I've got a chance to meet the boy and he hates showing weakness of any kind. Can I entrust you with that?"

The boys nodded, still wide eyed.

"You may go. Good night."

"Good night, Professor." they said and got up to leave.

Severus stopped them at the door and said rather moodily, "Try and be nice to the other Potters and Longbottom. Our Potter is quite protective of them."

The two boys nodded slightly amused and left leaving Severus with his own thoughts.

Severus took out a piece of parchment and began penning down a letter to the Evans' telling them about what happened. Then he magically sent the letter to the kitchen table of the Evans' home in Cokeworth.

He had had enough of excitement for one day. He was going to spend the rest if his night sleeping.

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"Harry? Harry!" Blaire's voice penetrated Harry's dull mind. Oh why did they have to be separated?

"Harry, can you even hear me?"

"Of course I can." Harry replied grumpily.

"Are you alright?"

"Oh course I am!"

"Enough of the of courses, Harry." Ethan said sounding very serious. "We're really worried about you and Neville. How are you?"

"I'm fine, Ethan, Blaire." Harry sighed. "No one's bothered me, they're just staring though. What's your dormitory like? Ours has a cubicle for each and the walls are so high, I don't think I'll be able to see over even once I grow up! And my cubicle has a huge bed, a table and chair and a stand to keep my trunk and even a small cupboard-cum-bedside table with a lamp. What about you?"

"Er..."

"Well?"

"Mine's just a huge room with four-poster beds Harry with yellow curtains and a bedside table." said Ethan.

"So's mine, Harry!" Blaire said, "But the curtains are blue with white borders. You are so lucky!"

"Yeah," said Ethan. "And you certainly need it! Malfoy isn't giving you any trouble so far, has he?"

"No." Harry replied and then chuckled. "But, does he hate being ignored!"

Then Ethan said, "I'm worried about Neville. He must be so scared and alone there, with Ron Weasley at that!"

"We'll meet him tomorrow at breakfast, Ethan." Harry said reasonably and yawned. "Anyway, I'm off to bed. Good night!"

"'Night!" came two simultaneous replies. And Blaire added, "Oh, Mum says she and Dad will be by your side as soon as you open your trunk and whisper for them."

Harry sighed and climbed into his soft bed and before he knew it, he was fast asleep, blissfully unaware that he too was scared for Neville and completely unaware that his, Blaire's and Ethan's fear combined resulted in another bout of accidental magic.

They were in for a big surprise tomorrow.

tbc...