At precisely 9:30 am 3 people step out of the mist onto platform 9¾, the only people around are the engineers and a couple of wizards in blue robes. The wizards look up curiously before going back to their conversation.
A minute later a severe looking woman in blue robes, that have fancy detailing on the shoulders, appears with a red headed girl holding a trunk. The girl looks mulish for a moment before she notices the other two children on the platform. Tugging the blue robed woman's sleeve, she says something and points to the other people.
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Harry looks around the empty platform curiously now that the train is actually here. A faint crack attracts his attention and he nudges Marianne before looking over.
Marianne glances away from the steam engine and back, before double taking, "Who do you think she is?"
"I have no idea. Honestly, it's not like I've been anywhere that you haven't."
"I know, but she's probably some sort of nobility, so maybe you read about her."
"Mari, why don't you just ask her? After all they're coming over here."
Morgana places a hand on each of their shoulders, "Hush, and remember what I've told you about names."
The lady in the blue robes leads the way in what is obviously a protective position, the girl following behind her obediently. Once she get's within a couple of paces, she stops, "Good Morning, are either of you heading to Hogwarts?"
Morgana smiles, "My son is. I'm known as Morgana Danann, and this is my son Harry."
"What else are you known as?"
"Dr, Bitch, Devil teacher, you know, the usual."
"Dr?"
"I have a PhD in Archeology and Ancient Cultures. It stops people asking if I'm a Miss or Mrs."
The woman laughs, "I'm Amelia Bones, head of the DMLE and this is my niece Susan. Who's the other girl?"
Morgana smiles, "This is Miss Kincaid."
Amelia looks surprised, "The witch hunter?"
Marianne grouches, "Don't, I'm just glad I'm a girl so that when I get married I get to change my name. Call me Mari."
Susan frowns, "Why does it have to be you changing your name? Wouldn't it depend on who you're marrying?"
Morgana places her hand on Marianne's shoulder, "We don't actually live in the magical community. In fact we didn't even know it existed until Harry got his letter."
"Wait, does that mean that you're muggles?"
Morgana shakes her head, "No we're not, and that term is pretty offensive. If you must use a term, try mundane or non-magical."
"Are you both going to Hogwarts?"
Marianne shake her head, "I'm not, I wish I was but my magic isn't strong enough to use a wand. Mrs Danann is teaching me Celtic magic instead."
Amelia's eyebrows try to hide in her hair, "I didn't think there was anyone alive that knew Celtic magic. They certainly didn't leave any writings on how to do it."
Morgana shakes her head, "The Christians were very thorough. My family has been practicing it for thousands of years, and we're very reclusive. If it wasn't for this one here," She ruffles Harry's hair, "you would never have met us."
"What's special about Harry?"
"He wandered into our territory as a toddler. I tried to find his parents, but they're dead. He's now my child by blood."
"I see, well it's fortunate for us that it happened. Harry got a good home, and there's a chance for a lost magic to be rediscovered."
"Indeed, though I refuse to allow any Christians to learn Celtic magic."
Amelia laughs, "Apart from a few mug… mundane born, you won't find any Christians in the British magical community. Anyway, I came over to ask if it would be ok for you to watch over Susan, as we're short staffed today, so I'm overseeing the magic on the station today."
Morgana nods, "Sure, it will give Harry a chance to get to know someone before all the crowds turn up."
As Amelia turns away, Marianne screws up her courage, "Mrs Bones, would it be ok for me to ride the train with Harry. I can get home safely on my own."
Amelia turns back and looks at Morgana who sighs, "I'll let her mother know. They've been friends since playschool… A place that toddlers go to be around other children and learn through play."
Amelia crouches down in front of Marianne, "Mari, the train won't get to Hogsmeade until 8 o'clock tonight, are you sure you can get home safely and in time for bed?"
Marianne nods, "I'm sure."
"Then it should be fine, I'll let the conductor know and he'll make sure you're not trying to sneak into the school."
Marianne shakes her head, "I'm not going to sneak into the school today, I've got my own school to go to tomorrow."
Amelia stands up and hugs Susan, "Be good Susan, and I'll try to see you off."
"I know Auntie, I'll hope to see you then."
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Morgana looks at Susan solicitously, "Have you eaten this morning?"
Susan nods, "Cimmy wouldn't let me leave without breakfast, it's why Auntie was late."
Morgana nods thoughtfully as the children still didn't make a move to talk to each other, "Why don't we get your trunk on the train and then head out to the main station. I seem to remember seeing a WHSmith when we passed through before."
Susan looks doubtful even while the other two look excited, "Um, sure, but I'm supposed to be meeting my friend Hannah here at 10."
Morgana nods seriously, "I understand, that's only 10 minutes now why don't we get your trunk on board and see how long it takes. If there's only a couple of minutes left, then we can wait for your friend. Otherwise, we'll head to WHSmith and let these 2 loose before coming back for your friend."
"Um, sure."
It only takes them a couple of minutes to get the trunks into a compartment on the train. Frowning thoughtfully at the door, Morgana creates a sheet of velum with the names of the three children on it. She then sticks to the inside of the window of the compartment door. When she looks down at Susan, she sees relief on her face.
"Well, come on then. And don't forget your ticket."
Alarm crosses Susan's face and they have to get her trunk down again so that she can search through her things for the ticket. By the time they're finished, more people have started to arrive than the few early birds like them.
As Susan descends the stairs she spots Hannah and her mother, "Hannah!" Jumping down to the platform she runs over and catches Hannah in a hug. As they're wandering over, Marianne nudges Harry, "See, we're not the only friends like that."
As they approach, Susan turns animatedly, "Hannah, Mrs Abbott, this is Mrs Danann, Harry Danann, and Mari Kincaid. We were about to go to the muggle side and look at a shop called W H Smithes or something."
Morgana shakes her head as she gets close enough to use conversational language, "Susan, what did I say about that word?"
"Um?"
"It's offensive, use mundane or non-magical instead."
"Sorry Mrs Danann."
"Call me Morgana. If you must use my clan name, at least call me Dr Danann."
Mrs Abbott looks up interestedly, "Are you a mundane healer?"
Morgana shakes her head, "No, I have a PhD in Archaeology and ancient cultures. Though I do have some skill in healing, it was really more my sister's area of expertise."
"Oh, that's a shame. My husband was born to a mundane family. Anyway, where are my manners, I'm Anika Abbott, please call me Anika. Is Madam Bones around?"
Susan frowns, "Sorry, Auntie had to work at the last minute as someone was sick. She asked Mr… Morgana to look after me." Seeing the look on Morgana's face she switches to using her first name mid-sentence.
"Oh darn it. I was hoping she could keep an eye on Hannah until the train left."
Morgana smiles, "I'm already keeping an eye on 3 children, another one won't be a problem."
Anika smiles in relief, "Oh thank The Morrigan, with the new clinic open in Hogsmeade we're constantly short-staffed now. Normally the journeymen and apprentices would take up the slack, but there haven't been enough of those in the last years."
"Why do people keep doing that?"
Anika looks at Morgana in confusion, "Doing what?"
"Using The Mórrígan's name for things she wasn't associated with."
"Whatever do you mean?"
"The Mórrígan was a goddess of battle and fate, well more precisely doom but that doesn't translate well to modern English. She was also considered to be the Great Queen of the Tuath Dé."
"Oh, um, well we usually see her as the goddess of witches as well."
Barely audibly Morgana mutters, "Maybe I should check my domain for changes."
Anika kisses Hannah on the forehead, "Be good for Morgana, and have a good time at school. Don't forget to write."
Once she stands up, she turns on the spot and disappears with a loud crack.
After getting Hannah's trunk into the compartment, and adding her name to the list, Morgana guides the 4 children to the WHSmith.
"Ok, Harry, you've got your pocket money, so you're paying for Mari's stuff, we're going back to the train in 30 minutes." With a squeal of excitement, the two of them run off into the store together and make a bee line for the comics. With a sigh Morgana turns to the other two girls and takes two £5 notes out of her purse, "Here's some money, when you see the other two tell them that I said they can only buy 1 soft drink and one bag of sweets each. The same goes for you two as well."
Susan looks down at the note, "Um, how do I know how much things are?"
Morgana leads the two girls over to a shelf, "Most things will have the price on a label on the shelf, numbers on this side of the dot are pounds, while the other side are pence. Some things will have the price written on them somewhere, mainly the books and magazines, while a few others will have a sticker like this. Go have fun, and if you're not sure come back and ask me. I'll be by the door so that you know where to find me."
Susan and Hannah both explore the shop for a bit, picking up bits and piece before putting them back again due to not knowing what they're for. It doesn't take them long to find Harry and Marianne bickering over magazines.
"Um, Harry?"
Harry looks around, "Hi, do you need any help?"
"If I'm honest, probably we have no idea what most of this stuff is."
"I don't promise that we can tell you what they're for either, but we'll do out best. The children's comics and magazines are on the bottom shelf over there." Harry points at a collection of brightly coloured newspapers, "I've picked up a Beano and My Little Pony. This section is for crafts and hobbies, and we were just arguing about blacksmithing magazines as I can only afford one if we want any puzzle books and sweets."
Hannah perks up, "Oh, your mother said that you're only allowed 1 soft drink and one bag of sweets. How can a drink be soft?"
Harry shrugs, "I don't know, we can ask mum when we've finished."
As Morgana tracks the progress the children are making through the store, she grabs a few pads of squared paper and a pack of normal pencils and a pack of coloured pencils, as well as a sharpener. She's almost ready to go looking for the children when the 4 of them come to the till chatting merrily about nothing. She shares a glance with the cashier when Susan arrives with a copy of the Hobbit and Hannah puts a travel pillow down. Seeing that neither of the two girls bought any sweets or drinks, she quickly picks up a couple of mixed bags from a display and a large bottle of Cola and Orangeade. Once all of the shopping is paid for, she leads the children back to the train and into their compartment, where they find a blond haired girl sitting next to a dark haired girl.
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Daphne Greengrass, heir to the Greengrass apothecary empire looks up at the door as it slides open. Recognising Susan Bones she inclines her head, "Greeting Bones, I hope you don't mind but Davis and I decided to join this compartment to avoid Malfoy and Nott."
Susan looks back at the two witches behind her who both shrug, "Sure, more the merrier."
Daphne's eyes widen momentarily when she sees the plastic bags they bring in, only to shift back to their guarded state almost immediately. Tracy isn't nearly as restrained, "Are those muggle shopping bags? Where did you get them?"
There's a cough from the door and Daphne looks up at the adult, slightly alarmed that she didn't notice them there, "Miss Davis, I've told Susan here a couple of times already, but muggle is an offensive term. Use mundane or non-magical if you need to differentiate them from other people. I'm going to wait on the platform Harry, so stay safe and don't forget your home-schooling. Mari, I expect you home by 8:15, I'll be very disappointed if I have to come looking for you."
Mari nods quickly, "Yes Morgana."
When the door closes, Daphne turns her gaze to Marianne and looks at her as though expecting an explanation. Marianne, who is used to such looks from her father, just ignores it.
"Susan, what magazines did you get?"
Susan digs out a Judy comic, "That's these ones right?"
Harry shakes his head, "Those are comics, as they're almost exclusively pictures with speech bubbles. I picked up The Beano as my comic, and I've got the My Little Pony magazine, which has comics in it, but also has drawing and written articles. We also picked up a couple of adult magazines on blacksmithing, because the weapon nut here wanted one with swords."
While Susan is sorting through her bag for the other magazines, Daphne says snootily, "Excuse me, but aren't you going to explain that?"
Harry deliberately looks confused, "I just did."
"Not you, Mari."
Marian looks up, "Hmm, nope. Harry did a good enough job at it."
"No, I mean what the woman said before she left."
"Huh? I thought it was fairly self-explanatory, muggle is offensive, a bit like calling a black person Nigger is offensive, so don't do it."
"I meant the bit about having to be home at 8:15."
"How about no. I have no idea who you are, and I don't know you well enough to talk about that sort of thing."
Tracy nudges Daphne, "You know, she's got you there. You have been exceedingly rude, and you've not even introduced yourself. Anyway, I'm Tracy Davis, a half blood on my mothers side."
Marianne nods then glances at Harry before replying, "I'm known as Mari, I'd rather not give my surname as I'm not proud of that particular heritage."
Harry smiles, "I'm known as Harry Danann, though I prefer to just be called Harry."
Tracy grins at him, "You know, if you cut your hair and wore a pair of glasses you'd look just like the boy on the cover of the Harry Potter books. Especially if you added… a… scar like that one. You're Harry Potter!"
Harry shakes his head ruefully, "I really need to find a better way of hiding that scar. And no, I'm not Harry Potter, my mum adopted me by blood. We practice Celtic magic, and part of that is never giving out your private name. That's the name your parents give you at your naming ceremony. My mum says that you can do a lot with a persons real name. From summoning them to binding them to a geas, though I'm not good enough to do stuff that subtle yet."
Susan asks, "What do you mean by that?"
Harry leans back and looks at the ceiling in thought for a moment, "Ok, so I've read through our first year books, and it looks like they're going to teach us about 30 different spells with a wand. I've been learning Celtic magic since I could walk, and I only have about 10 things that you could equate to spells that I'm anywhere close to mastering. Part of that is my magic is still growing, part of it is that I'm still growing, and part of it is that I just don't have enough experience to do it."
Daphne suddenly lets down her mask, "Look, Mari, I'm sorry. I'm Daphne Greengrass, Heir apparent to House Greengrass."
Marianne holds up her hand, "Look, I don't care about that stuff. I'm confident that Harry doesn't either. Outside the magical community nobility doesn't really mean anything anymore. What matters is who you are, and how good you are at what you do. At least that's what my father says. Morgana says that hard work brings mastery, and mastery brings rewards. If you want to be friends, then great. I'd love to have more friends, but I want to be friends with Daphne not some Heir to a name that doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things."
Hannah looks at Marianne strangely, "Did you practice that?"
Marianne shrugs sheepishly, "Maybe once or twice after talking to the lady that made our dresses and Dottie, the one that embroidered them."
"Where was that?"
"Imber, she's got a stall in the permanent market there. Both of them have funny ways of talking, but they've got great stories."
Daphne frowns, "I think my father has mentioned Imber a few times."
"Could be the weekly market. Apparently pretty much everyone who sell to the shops and businesses goes there every Tuesday."
Daphne nods, "It could be, my family processes ingredients into potions ingredients."
"What do you do for fun?"
"Read, play the harp, visit Tracy."
"What about your other friends?"
Tracy looks over from the magazine she's looking at with Susan, "What other friends? The only reason I'm her friend is that we practically grew up together."
"Trace!"
"What, it's true. You've dragged me along to enough dances to know that."
Marianne looks aghast, "I can't imagine living like that."
Reaching the end of the page, Susan looks up, "It's not that bad for all of us, my family and the Abbotts would be considered nobility. However we both had a lot more freedom growing up, we still had to attend some of the same events though. I remember us playing at the DMLE a lot, as Auntie sometimes had to work at the same time as Mrs Abbott. There's also quite a lot of games, like chess, exploding snap, and Gobstones."
"What about sword practice?"
"You mean like fencing?"
Marianne shakes her head, "No, I mean proper swords. Harry show them your sword."
Harry sighs and holds out his hand and pulls his sword out of the mist, "Careful it's sharp. I prefer a spear or shield over the sword, but I'm ok with a sword."
Marianne clips him around the back of the head, "Stop down playing your skills. When he says he's ok with a sword, he means he can beat people 4-5 years older than us."
"That's only because I've got more experience than they do."
With the ice finally broken, the 6 children start chattering with each other about the things they're doing or reading as the miles go by. The sweets that were bought are shared out after a few hours. Daphne and Tracy reciprocate by buying wizarding sweets to share from the trolly lady when she passes by. Harry also makes sure to buy some actual food to share so that they've at least had a proper meal.