Chapter Three: Train Ride and a Stunning View
September 1st, 1991
Over the month of August, Harry, Vince, and Kathy had reviewed some of the things that they'd practiced after getting their wands. When they weren't doing that, they would ask Herbert questions- like how the sorting process worked, or what his time going to Hogwarts was like. He wouldn't tell them how the sorting worked, only saying that it was "a secret that shouldn't be shared." He was much more relaxed about regaling them with his and James' years in Hogwarts.
About a week before the start of the term, the three had received tickets for the Hogwarts Express. They saw that the tickets said the train departed from platform nine and three quarters at eleven in the morning. They were so excited that week that they couldn't focus on practicing magic. The morning of September first arrived, and all six Potters left the estate. They arrived at King's Cross station at ten thirty, and found their way to the pillar between platforms nine and ten.
Herbert put a hand on Harry's shoulder, and the other on Vince's. "Alright, you see that pillar?" The children nodded. "All you need to do is walk right through. It might be a bit nerve-wracking, but you'll be fine." Harry gripped the cart he'd put his trunk and owl cage in and backed away from the pillar as Vince and Kathy did similarly. Harry ran at it first, closing his eyes instinctively. After noticing that he hadn't crashed, he opened his eyes to see a scarlet train with several train cars being pulled by it. Soon the rest of the Potters followed, and got closer to the train. Herbert hugged his older children and then his nephew. "I know it's silly getting emotional like this, seeing as I'm one of the professors now. But I won't be going on the train with you. Just promise that you'll try to make some friends on the train."
After they promised to do that, Ceres hugged her nephew and then her older children. "Make sure that you write home every once in a while, okay?"
The three nodded, then Gaia hugged them tightly. "I'll miss you! I'm going to count the days until you come home for Christmas!"
Harry chuckled as he pulled himself out from the hug. He ruffled her hair. "It'll be here before you know it. Now, let go of your siblings. We've got a train to catch." Gaia reluctantly disengaged, and the older Potter children went onto the train.
They eventually found a compartment that was empty, and put their trunks and animal cages down. As they sat they heard another magical family arrive on the platform. The plump woman spoke first. "Herbert Potter, it's been so long! Are Harry, Katherine, and Vincent already on the train?"
Herbert smiled. "Hello to you too, Molly Weasley. As to your question- yes. They probably took the first empty compartment that they found." He then looked at the redheads that followed her. He started with the oldest. "Percy, I hope you adjust well to my teaching style." He the turned to the ones that looked like twins. "Fred and George, I hope you won't cause too much trouble for me." He then turned his attention to the young boy. "You must be Ronald. Don't worry, as long as you put in the effort, you'll do well in class." He then noticed the young girl. "Here to wish farewell to your brothers, I suppose. Gaia was here for a similar reason." He then looked back to Molly. "Give my regards to Arthur and your other sons. I best be off."
With a crack, he was gone. Ceres let out a small sigh. "Sorry about that. He isn't usually like that. Probably just because he's nervous about being a new professor." She the took Gaia by the hand. "We'll wait for the train to leave, and then we'll go home."
Harry tuned out the rest of the conversation between Mrs. Weasley and his aunt when he noticed the boys his uncle had addressed board the train. Not long after, the train started moving. After waving goodbye to his aunt and young cousin for a few minutes, they got out of sight. A few minutes later, a young redhead boy popped his head into their compartment. "Can I sit in here? I don't want to impose on my brothers and their friends, and a lot of others have said no already."
Harry, Kathy, and Vince looked at each other for a moment before Harry spoke up. "Sure, we don't mind." As the boy sat down, Harry resumed talking. "I don't believe that we've met. I'm Harry Potter." He the gestured to the twins. "They're my cousins, Katherine and Vincent."
The redheaded boy was in shock for a moment before introducing himself. "Ronald Weasley, but I prefer to go by Ron." He then looked at Harry. "Do you really have the scar?"
Harry sighed and pushed up his hair to show the lightning bolt scar. "Before you ask, no I don't recall that night, aside from a flash of green. I doubt anyone could remember anything that happened to them at the tender age of one, regardless of how traumatic."
His hair fell back in place, and Vince explained Harry's answer. "He prefers not to talk about it. Doesn't like the title he got from the press, either. The only solace he has is that dad put a hard stop to that ridiculous book series by suing the author."
Ron looked at Vince in shock, then back to Harry. "I guess it makes sense that you don't like the fame from something that you don't remember happening." He rubbed the back of his head. "All five of my older brothers warned me to not put my foot in my mouth if I wanted friends, yet I went and did that anyway. Sorry."
Harry shook his head. "Don't worry about that. I'd still like to try being your friend. What are your brothers like?"
"Well," Ron began, "Bill works with Gringotts these days, and he's a mellow kind of guy. Charlie was always more active, but he works with dragons instead of playing Quidditch like he used to. Percy is a stickler for the rules, so it's no surprise that he's been made a prefect. Fred and George are pranksters, but they do pretty well in class. I just hope that I can live up to expectations. Still, all the hand-me-downs are bit much. The robes I understand, and the wand is a bit much. It's lucky that we had no pets to pass down, or I'd probably get them."
Kathy looked at Ron with pity. "Can't be easy raising seven children. Regardless of if you follow in the footsteps of one of your brothers or forge your own path, I think your parents will be proud if you try your best."
The conversation died down, and they sat in silence for a while. Around twelve thirty the food cart came by. Ron muttered something about sandwiches, and the Potters said that they bought lunch. Ron pulled out a lumpy package with four sandwiches inside. Harry pulled out a small metal box from his pocket, and his cousins did the same. With a wave of their wands, the boxes enlarged to the size of a typical lunchbox that one might take to lunch at a Muggle school.
Ron whistled. "How'd you learn the shrinking charm? I thought that was an advanced spell?"
Harry scratched the back of his head as he opened his lunchbox. "Uncle Herbert taught us both it and the cancellation charm, but we can't do the shrinking charm reliably yet. So he shrunk them for us." He pulled out a muffin from his lunchbox. "Here, take it. I never finish both muffins anyway." Ron took it gingerly as Harry took out an apple. Lunch went on with Kathy offering one of her pears to Ron, and Vince handing him half of his BLT sandwich. The sandwiches from Ron's mom lay forgotten.
When the train reached the woods, a round faced boy knocked on the door, tears in his eyes. Behind him they could see a brown haired girl, already in her Hogwarts robes. The girl spoke. "Have any of you seen a toad? Neville here's lost one." The girl had a somewhat bossy voice, and very bushy hair.
Before the boys could answer, Kathy spoke up. "What's the toad's name?" After Neville said "Trevor", Kathy brought out her wand. "Accio Trevor the toad!" A minute or two later, a large toad was plastered on the outside of the window. She opened it, and pulled the toad inside. Kathy handed Trevor to the boy. "There you go. Might want to get a habitat enclosure for him, so he doesn't run off on you."
Neville had a sheepish look on his face. "Thanks so much. I'd better get this rascal secured before I lose him again."
Before Kathy could stop him, Neville fled. Kathy went back to her seat and sat down. The bushy haired girl had seen the whole thing and approached. "That was excellent spellwork! I've read about that spell, but I haven't practiced it. I've practiced only simple spells myself. My parents aren't magic at all, it was quite the surprise when I got my letter, but I was very pleased, naturally, I mean, it's the very best school of magic there is, I've heard - I've read all our course books ahead of time, I just hope it'll be enough - I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?"
She said all this rather quickly, and was hard to tell if she had taken any breaths. After pulling himself together, Harry spoke up. "I'm Harry Potter."
Before Hermione could react, Kathy jumped in. "I'm Katherine, his cousin." She gestured to Vince. "He's my twin brother, Vincent."
"Ron Weasley." Ron muttered.
After taking it all in, she looked at Harry. "So you're really him? Not much on you in any books I've found. It might be interesting to get to know you personally." She then asked a question. What house do you suppose you'll be in? I've asked around, and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best; they say Dumbledore himself was one, though Ravenclaw wouldn't be so bad... Regardless, you four should change into your robes, we should be arriving soon."
She walked away, and Ron sighed. "Whatever house she's in, I hope I'm not in it. Downright suffocating, she is."
Harry pulled out his robes from his trunk, and his cousins followed suit. "Well, she's not so bad in my book. Could make a great friend." Kathy left the room, presumably to change into her robes. Harry pulled off his jacket and pulled on his robes. "What house are your brothers in?"
"Gryffindor," an air of gloom settled on Ron as he spoke. "Mom and Dad, too. Don't know how they'll react if I'm not. I don't think Ravenclaw would be so terrible, but imagine if I wound up in Slytherin."
Vince chuckled after changing into his robes. "You've nothing to worry about, Ron. Your parents will still love and support you no matter what house you end up in. Besides, Slytherin isn't the house of evil. Grandma Dorea was a Slytherin, and she turned out just fine."
Ron let that sink in, and Kathy came back into the compartment. "As for us, the three of us hope to be in the same house. It's not a big deal if we aren't, though."
Harry pulled out his copy of The Daily Prophet that he'd grabbed that morning. "Some fool tried robbing Gringotts, but they got nothing from it. Wouldn't be surprised if it was a crony of the Dark Loser."
His cousins snickered at the nickname, and Ron filed that away for later. "You guys got a favorite Quidditch team? Mine's the Chudley Cannons."
Before they could answer three boys entered. The one in the middle was the pale blonde from the robe shop. He was looking at Harry with substantially more interest than last time. "They say Harry Potter is in this compartment. So it's you, then?"
Harry recalled what Uncle Herbert had told him about dealing with people like this after leaving Diagon Alley, so he spoke confidently. "Yes, I am. The twins over there are my cousins, Katherine and Vincent." He then looked at the two thickset boys beside him.
The blonde boy noticed the change in Harry's attention. "Those two are Crabbe and Goyle, personal friends of mine. I'm Malfoy, Draco Malfoy." He then turned to see Ron giving a slight cough. "Laugh all you want. I don't need to ask who you are. Father said that you Weasleys all had red hair and freckles." He turned back to Harry, and held out his hand. "You'll soon realize that some magical families are superior to others, Potter. You don't want to make friends with the wrong ones. I'll help you there."
Harry looked at Draco for a moment before sighing. "You really are as bad as Uncle Herbert thought you might be. As you are now, I don't think we can be friends."
At that, Draco sneered. "Fine, I can tell when I'm not wanted. Crabbe! Goyle! Let's go." The trio left, and Ron changed into his robes. The rest of the train ride was uneventful, and they exited the train after it stopped at a tiny, dark platform. A lamp was swaying overhead, and Harry heard a familiar voice. "Firs' years! Firs' years over here!" The Potters and Ron followed the voice to see the giant of a man that Harry had seen at Gringotts.
The group of children all followed the man down to the edge of a lake where several small boats were floating on the water. Perched high above was a magnificent castle situated on a hill. Its windows glittered like gems in the night, and its towers pierced the sky. The giant man spoke. "A beauty, ain't she? That's Hogwarts castle, where you'll be learning magic." He then gestured to the boats. "No more'n four in a boat!" Harry and his cousins were followed by Ron, while Neville and Hermione shared a boat with a brown haired boy and a blonde girl.
After everyone was in the boats, the boats started moving after the giant gave the call to move. All of the children were enthralled with the view, and they all ducked under the cliff as they passed. Not long after, they reached the harbor that led into the castle. They climbed out and walked up to a large door that led inside. The giant then knocked on the door.
Author's Note: That's going to do it for this chapter. Yes, I feasibly could've stitched on the Sorting Ceremony, but the chapter was getting long as it was. That's just going to have to wait until the next chapter.
