Chapter four
The Hogwarts Express

  As the end of two weeks drew nearer, I practised harnessing Excalibur
and
driving him in front of the cart.
  I estimated it would take two hours to get to King's Cross station. I
harnessed Excalibur to the little cart at around quarter after eight. I
felt
quite foolish in my new clothe. My father had dressed me as what
Muggles
call an "Amish". So I wouldn't be noticed too badly driving a horse and
cart.
  I dragged out my Hogwarts trunk outside, but soon found that I
couldn't
heft it into the small carriage. I was scrawny for my age and needed
help.
  "Dad!" I called as I ran into our cottage.
  "What?" asked my dad.
  "I need help with my trunk, I can't lift it. Can you help me,
please?" I
nearly choked on my own polite words.
  "The sooner the trunk's in the cart the sooner I can go." I added at
my
dad's sceptical look.
  My dad seemed to be weighing my sooner absence and helping me in his
mind,
turning them over. I knew he would hate to help me, but would love to
see me
go.
  "Alright." he raised himself to his feet and walked out to the door
where
our horse was standing patiently in the lane way.
  He lifted my trunk like it was nothing into the back of the cart.
  "Thanks." I muttered and hopped up into the driver's seat. I took out
the
road map I had tucked under the seat earlier.
  I hit Excalibur on the rump with the reins and flicked the long black
whip. He trotted forward down the lane and onto the dirt road.

  An hour later, I wiped the sweat under the brim of my hat. It was
unusually hot today. We were now trotting down a Muggle highway. People
passing in motor cars beeped at me. And every time they did, Excalibur
would
shy and dance sideways.
  I took a sandwich out of my bag and started munching happily as we
went
along.
  King Arthur hooted excitedly from under the canvas hood, hidden in
the
darkness, perched on top of his cage. I reached back and fed him a
piece of
sandwich, smoothing his feathers as he swallowed the chunk of bread
whole.
  About half an hour later, we pulled into King's Cross. Stares
followed us
as we drew to a halt in a parking spot.
  I tapped the ground with my wand and a hitching post grew suddenly
out of
the pavement. I tied Excalibur's reins to it and fetched a trolley for
my
trunk. I yanked my trunk out of the back of the carriage, onto the
trolley
with a clang.
  I prodded King Arthur back into his cage and pushed the trolley in
front
of Excalibur.
  "You know the way back, don't you?" I asked the horse. He nodded his
lovely head.
  "And remember to take the back roads home." the horse nodded one more
time
and turned away.
  "Come pick me up at the end of the year! I'll send an owl back home
for
you!" I called after the back of the carriage.
  I wheeled the trolley away from the parking lot. In the station I saw
lots
of people with Hogwarts trunks and owls. I peered through my glasses at
the
plastic numbers over the platforms. There was no platform nine and
three-quarters. It went right from nine to ten and nothing in between.
  I glanced at a station supervisor in a green uniform. By the puzzled
look
he got every time he saw someone with an owl I guesses he was a Muggle
and
knew nothing about platform nine and three-quarters.
  "Excuse me," I said, approaching a couple with three children, one
boy and
two girls.
  "Oh, he's so polite, Ron." cooed the women with bushy, brown hair.
  "Yes, young man?" said the man with who was Ron with flame of red
hair.
  "Could you tell me how to get to platform nine and three-quarters?"
  "We were about to go through it ourselves!" said one of the girls.
  "Why, this reminds me of the time Harry Potter asked my mother the
very
same thing, the day we met." said Ron, reminiscing, getting a sort of
dreamy
look in his eyes.
  "Allow us to introduce ourselves, dear." said the women, reaching
forward
to shake my hand, "I am Hermione Granger Weasley and this is my
husband, Ron
Weasley. And these are our three children, Rebecca, Chelsea, and Alex.
Alex
is starting this year, too. But the twins won't start until next year."
  "And you are?" asked Ron. Alex had red hair like his father but the
girls
had brown hair.
  "Rubeus ... Rubeus Potter." I looked at the Weasley family. They were
very
well dressed and looked wealthy.
Rebecca shrieked with surprise.
  "Oh, it can't be! You're Harry Potter's son! Well, where is the old
chap?
I'm dying to see him!" exclaimed Ron Weasley looking around.
  "He-uh- he's gone already" I lied.
  "Hermione and I were old school friends of his back at Hogwarts." Ron
smiled broadly.
  "We're your godparents!" added Hermione Weasley clapping her hands
with
joy.
  "Can I come live with you?" I asked hopefully.
  The Weasleys laughed like I had been joking.
  "Oh, look at the time! The train leaves in ten minutes. Alex, Rubeus,
you
two can go together through the barrier." said Ron, looking at his
watch.
  "What do we do?" I asked again, they had never really answered my
question.
  "See that barrier over there, Rubeus?" asked Hermione, pointing to a
barrier between platform nine and ten.
  "Uh-huh." I answered.
  "Well just run at it and you'll go right through it. And you'll find
yourself on platform nine and three-quarters!" she gave me a
encouraging
push in the back.
  "I'll sit with you on the train." said Alex, rolling his trolley up
beside
mine.
  "Okay." I answered, I had made a friend.
  They headed to the barrier at a run. They were stopped though by
running
into a tall man with blonde hair, leading his blonde daughter and her
trolley towards the barrier. They were both holding their heads high,
proudly.
  "Watch where you're going!" said the girl hotly. Her father shot us a
dirty look and they disappeared through he barrier.
  "Who was that?" I asked Alex, as we got up again and brushing
ourselves
off.
  "Draco Malfoy and his snotty daughter, Veronica. Unfortunately, she's
starting at Hogwarts, too." replied Alex, pulling me to my feet.
  We walked through the barrier at a walk. And we arrived in front of a
great scarlet engine hissing and giving off steam.
  We piled into an empty compartment. We sat down, waiting for the
train to
start moving. A couple minutes later the door to the compartment slid
open
and two girls entered.
  "Can we sit here? Every where else is full." asked one with short,
light
brown hair and blue eyes. The other girl had almost black hair and
brown
eyes.
  "Sure," Alex and I said at the same time.
  "Thanks," said the dark haired girl, dropping her trunk and owl cage.
  "I'm Beth Jones and this is my friend Serena Thomas."
  "Hi!" Serena greeted them warmly.

  "Harry Potter? Really?" said Serena, leaning closer to Alex about
half an
hour later as the train trundled easily down the iron tracks.
  "What's so great about my dad?" I asked looking from Serena to Alex.
  Serena and Beth gasped in shock.
  "Why, Harry Potter was only the greatest young wizard. Before he
married
Alicia Verth, than he locked himself away in that little cottage. And
he's
your dad?"
  "Yeah, if he was such a great wizard then how come most call him a
Dark
wizard?" I had never been told such tall tales about my dad. He wasn't
exactly what you would call ‘a bad guy' but he was very anti-social.
  "Well, he doesn't really use Dark Magic on anybody but I've heard
stories
that he practises it." said Serena.
  "I have never even seen him use magic. Maybe he's lost it. That could
be
why he stays on our property almost always." I answered.
  "You can't lose magic." Beth said, "He defeated You-know-who seven
times
in his childhood. Once when he was a baby."
  "Who?" I asked. Who was this You-know-who.
  Serena and Beth gasped again.
  "Lord Voldemort." Alex lowered his voice to below a whisper.
  "Don't say the name." whispered Serena, glancing nervously over her
shoulder.
  I had heard Alicia talking about him a few weeks ago but thought he
was
just the king of some foreign land. Not some severely evil Dark Wizard.
And
now, he had risen to power again and I wasn't sure to be afraid of
Voldemort
or to join him since my own father and step-mother were his followers.
  "He's killed hundreds maybe thousands, magical people and Muggles."
said
Beth, looking astonished that I didn't know all this information about
Voldemort.
  Suddenly, the door to their compartment slid open again.

Chapter five
To the Castle

  "Oh, sorry," said Veronica Malfoy, not sounding sorry at all, "I
didn't
realize this compartment was so full, and so foul smelling."
  She flipped her golden hair back and smirked.
  "You must of knocked your senses a-skew when you crashed into us."
retorted Alex.
  "Yeah, it smells fine in here." I agreed, glaring at Veronica. Two
muscular, tall girls their age stepped out from behind her. One had
gorilla
like arms and the other had fists the size of cantaloupes.
  "Allow me to introduce you to my -er- friends Melissa Crabbe and
Patricia
Goyle." Veronica said in a silky voice, "Come on girls, let's find
somewhere
else to sit." she beckoned to her bodyguards and left.
  A few minutes later a plump witch pushing the lunch cart came up to
their
compartment.
  "Lunch, anyone?" said asked smiling down on them.
  I took some money that was left over from my trip to Diagon Alley and
bought a dozen of chocolate frogs, a stack of cauldron cakes, and a
bulging
bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. I passed my goodies around to
my
new found friends. I hoped they didn't care that my dad was suspected
to
practise the Dark Arts.
  We played a few rousing games of Exploding Snap and chatted casually.
We
got dressed into our school robes and soon the Hogwarts Express came
screeching into a halt. The students piled out and I was lost in a sea
of
young witches and wizards.
  My friends and I walked over to a very tall man who I recognised as
Hagrid. He was yelling "Firs years! Firs' years o'er ‘ere!"
  A pile of about forty students my age gathered around him and he led
us to
down a dark path.
  "Soon we'll be gettin' ter the lake and yeh'll be able ter see
‘Ogwarts."
he called over his shoulder to the students.
  "Oh, look at that great ugly oaf." I heard Veronica Malfoy whisper to
her
cronies.
  "He is not an oaf!" I cried spinning around to face Malfoy.
  "Sticking up for the half-giant, are we?" she sneered and Crabbe and
Goyle
sniggered.
  "I think very highly of Hagrid, as matter of fact." I said, clenching
my
fists. Hagrid had been awfully kind to me and it was the least I could
do to
stick up for him.
  "Come off it. He's a big bumbling fool."
  "Shut up." said Serena, whipping around and pulling out her wand from
her
robes.
  "You've taken a liking to him too?Serena dear, I would have thought
you
would have better taste in friends, being a pure blood and all."
  "It does not matter what kind of so called blood you have, pig."
Serena
horked back and spit on Veronica's polished boot.
  "Ugghh. Okay, if that's the way you want to play it,fine." she took
out a
purple hankercheif and handed it to Goyle. She stuck out her spit-on
foot
and Goyle stooped to wipe it clean.
  They walked swiftly to the front of the crowd.
  Our group emerged from the thick trees. Infront of us was the black
lake,
sparkling in the silver moonlight. A short distance away was a small,
log
cabin. There was a Quidditch pitch, three greenhouses, and-
Hogwarts itself. A gleaming gray, massive castle rose into the dark
clouds
splashed with light from the full moon. The marble front steps led up
to two
tall oak doors which creaked open.
  There stood a very tall, very slender witch with sleek black hair,
which
hung loosly, framing her delicate features. She was wearing robes of
shocking violet and a matching pointed hat.
  "Thank you so very much, Hagrid." she said. She had a warm, floating
voice. Then to the students, "Welcome to a fantastic seven years at
Hogwart's school of Witchcraft and Wizardry! Follow me, if you please.
My
name is Proffesor MacGonagall-"
  A small wave of snorts of disbelief rippled throught the first years.
  "I think you're parents described my mother to you. As I was saying,
the
Sorting is about to begin. This is where you put on a hat and it will
tell
the school what House you belong in and you will sit at that table."
  She led them into a small, warm room that was past a giant marble
entrance
hall. The rosy fire crackled and spat as Proffesor MacGonagall shut the
door. The students could hear hundreds of feet shuffling past them and
into
the Great Hall.
  Proffesor MacGonagall entered again and beckoned the first years
outside.
I was nervous but excited, too. I was here, I was really here! I
glanced up
at the ceiling were a lot of people pointing at. The ceiling appeared
to be
enchanted to appear show what was going on in the sky out of doors.
Right
now the stars were winking and shining at the students, who were all
seated
except the first years, along with a huge, round white moon. It was
like a
huge grey pearl floating in a black pool of deep water sheltered in
trees
with splinters of light peeking out through the boughs, I thought.
Alicia
said I was always too poetic.
  Proffesor MacGonagall stepped to the front of the hall and waved her
long
wand. A scroll magically appeared and unrolled itself and floated
infront of
her.
  She cleared her throat, "Hat?" she said, looknig at a tatty old hat
that
was flopped over on a three-legged stool. A rip near the brim opened
wide
and to the first years' surprise it burst into song.
  "A long time ago, when this castle was new
Four great wizards, a plan in their minds did grew,
To teach young students of the magical kind,
Different were the students they wanted to find,
For Gryffindor,
Brave-hearted were his choice,
Sweet Hufflepuff,
Kind-natured were her joys,
Lovely Ravenclaw,
Quick-witted were her prize,
Sly Slytherin,
Ambitious were the best in his eyes,
So put me on and sit right down,
With a pause, in thought, or a frown,
Before too long, which house
I'll tell where you should belong!"
  The Great Hall thundered with applause.
  "That's all we have to do? Just sit and wear a hat?" I said, hardly
daring
to believe the simplicity.
  "Yup, I guess so." whispered Serena.
  "Anderson, Richard." rang out Proffesor MacGonagall's voice.
  A quivering boy hurridly sat on the stool and jammed the hat onto his
head.
  The hat went through several people before I started to relax a
little and
I looked around. At the front of all the students was the long teachers
table, seated in the middle was Proffesor Ambrosius, the headmaster. He
was
young, average height man with a short black hair and deeply tanned
skin. He
winked and gave me a gave me a mischevious grin when he caught my eye.
A
little embarrased I turned away and watched Hassan Palik be sorted into
Ravenclaw.
  "Potter, Rubeus."
  "Oh, God." I whispered and tried to block my ears from the thousands
of
whispers following me. I finally reached the stool and sat down. I put
the
hat on my head and waited.
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