Always You

1st September, 1991

Oh my god it's actually happening . He was extremely excited about going to Hogwarts. His dad always talked about adventures he had with his friends and how he met people he considered family. Like uncle moony he always thought. He, and his sister of course, were so amazed just with the idea of seeing the castle. That would be their home for the next seven years. And Ron would be there too. The three of them at Hogwarts, and they've always talked about having a whole group of mates they could consider family one day. The Millers went to the station early, as a family. But they refused to board the train without Ron, who was late. 

“We can't leave him on his own” Ella said

He has his brothers though . But he guessed that Ron wouldn't like to spend much more time with Fred and George. Neither would him. He was constantly looking at the entrance of the station when he saw Percy. Right after the Weasley twins entered the station he thought Ron would do, but he was wrong. A dark haired boy with (broken) glasses and green eyes walked off to  leave his owl at the back of the train as they did before. 

He seemed lost, but he felt bad for him. He was alone, none of his parents showed up. He mentioned it to his dad who just looked at the boy speechless. He didn’t give much attention to it. The Weasleys were all together with the Millers. 

Fred and George entered the train for a moment. He could barely sleep last night so he was too tired to notice what was going on. They were saying goodbye to their parents, making sure they had all their stuff, Owl, quills, enough clothes. So when everything was done they left. They were alone with the red haired family.

“Ron, you’ve got something on your nose.” his mom pointed out. Which he tried to jerk out of the way but she grabbed him and began rubbing the end of his nose. 

“Mum- geroff.” He wriggled free.

“Aaah, has ickle Ronnie got somefink on his nosie?” teased Fred.

“Shut up” said Ron. He hated when the twins treated him like that. 

“Ignore them” Ella said.

“Where’s Percy?” Molly asked. 

“He’s coming now.”

He was already into his brand new Hogwarts robes and of course he was wearing his shiny red and gold prefect badge on his chest. Such a show off.

“Can’t stay long, Mother,” he said. “I’m up front, the Prefects have got two compartments to themselves –”

“Oh, are you a Prefect, Percy?” said Fred with sarcasm. “You should have said something, we had no idea.”

“Hang on, I think I remember him saying something about it,” George mentioned. “Once”

“Or twice”

“A minute”

“All summer” 

“Oh, shut up”

“How come Percy gets new robes, anyway”. 

“Because he’s a Prefect,” said their mother fondly. “All right, dear, well, have a good term – send me an owl when you get there. You too.” She was now talking to Charles and his sister.

“Write to me or John.”

“Yes Mrs. Weasley. Thank you.” The boy said.

She kissed Percy on the cheek and Percy left. Then she turned to the elder twins. 

“Now, you two, this year, you behave yourselves. If I get one more owl telling me you’ve blown up a toilet or –”

“Blown up a toilet? We’ve never blown up a toilet.”

“Great idea though, thanks, Mum.”

“It’s not funny. And look after Ron.”

“Don’t worry, ickle Ronniekins is safe with us.” Can they be more stupid? 

“Shut up,” said Ron again. He was almost as tall as the twins, he had always been super tall. However his nose was still pink where his mother had rubbed it just a minute before.

“Hey, Mum, guess what? Guess who we just met on the train?”

“You know that black-haired boy who was near us in the station? Know who he is?”

“Who?”

“Harry Potter!”

Charles knew him, well, not him, his story. He was the boy who lived. So that's why he was alone. The Potters were never discussed at home. He imagined it brought bad memories to his father since he fought for Dumbeldore's side in the first magic war. So that's all the Millers knew about Harry. But he was pretty famous. Charles turned down to Ginny who finally said a word.

“Oh, Mum, can I go on the train and see him, Mum, oh please …” It’s a boy, not a painting exposed in a museum.

“You’ve already seen him, Ginny, and the poor boy isn’t something you goggle at in a zoo. Is he really, Fred? How do you know?”

“Asked him. Saw his scar. It’s really there – like lightning.” It’s true then, he really survived the killing curse.

“Poor dear.. no wonder he was alone. I wondered. He was ever so polite when he asked how to get on to the platform.”

“Never mind that, do you think he remembers what You-Know-Who looks like?” 

“You can’t ask something like that to him, Fred,” said Charles at last.

“Oh, c’mon aren't you curious?”

Mrs. Weasley became really stern. As usual. At least when the twins did something stupid.

“Charles’ right. I forbid you to ask him, Fred. No, don’t you dare. As though he needs reminding of that on his first day at school.”

“All right, keep your hair on.”

A whistle sounded.

“Hurry up!” She said, and the four boys together with Ella clambered on 

to the train.

Already up on the train the boys (and Ella) started looking for an empty carriage until they saw Harry Potter sitting alone. Ron opened the door and asked to the boy: 

“Anyone sitting there?’ he asked, pointing at the seat opposite to Harry. ‘Everywhere else is full.”

Harry shook his head and they all sat down. Ron and Ella were opposite Potter and the brown haired boy. There was an awkward silence, glancing at each other and looking at the window, until George broke in. 

“Hey Ron, lads.”

“Listen, we’re going down the middle of the train, Lee Jordan’s got a giant tarantula down there.”

“Right,” mumbled Ron. He was terrified of spiders since he was five.

“Harry,” said Fred, “did we introduce ourselves? Fred and George Weasley. And this is Ron, our brother together with childhood friends of his, Charles and Ella. See you later, then.”

“Bye” they all said. The twins slid the compartment door shut behind them. 

“So, are you really Harry Potter?” Ron blurted out, and because of it he won a kick from his friend.

Harry nodded. 

“Oh – well, I thought it might be one of Fred and George’s jokes,’ said Ron. And have you really got – you know …”

He pointed at Harry’s forehead. 

“Ron.” I Can’t believe it.  

Harry pulled back his fringe to show the lightning scar. He just stared at him.

“So that’s where You-Know-Who –?” But this time it was Ella who asked

“Yes,” said Harry, “but I can’t remember it.” 

“Nothing?” said Ron eagerly

“Well, I do remember a lot of green light, but nothing else.”

“Wow,” said Ron. He sat and stared at Harry for a few moments, then, he realised what he was doing, and looked quickly out of the window again. 

“Are all your family wizards?” the boy next to him asked. He seemed to find the lot as interesting as they did him.

‘Er- yeah, I think so,’ said Ron. ‘I think Mum’s got a second cousin who’s an accountant, but we never talk about him.”

“Well, our grandad was a muggleborn. Apart from him I think they're all wizards” Charles finally spoke since Harry was now looking at him.

“So you must know loads of magic already.”

“Sort off.”

“I heard you went to live with Muggles,” said Ron. “What are they like?” The twins looked at Harry with curiosity.

“Horrible – well, not all of them. My aunt, uncle and cousin are, though. Wish I had three wizard brothers like you, or well, a twin like you both.”

“Five,” said Ron.”I’m the sixth in our family to go to Hogwarts. You could say I’ve got a 

lot to live up to. Bill and Charlie have already left – Bill was Head Boy and Charlie was captain of Quidditch. Now Percy’s a Prefect. Fred and George mess around a lot, but they still get really good marks and everyone thinks they’re really funny. Everyone expects me to do as well as the others, but if I do, it’s no big deal, because they did it first. You never get anything new, either, with five brothers. I’ve got Bill’s old robes, Charlie’s old wand and Percy’s old rat.” 

Ron reached inside his jacket and pulled out Scabbers which was just a fat grey rat. 

“His name’s Scabbers and he’s useless, he hardly ever wakes up. Percy got an owl from my dad for being made a Prefect, but they  couldn’t aff– I mean, I got Scabbers instead.”

Ron’s ears went pink. The Weasleys were pretty poor and Ron was a bit ashamed of it. Especially because the Millers were quite rich. But Harry didn’t think there was anything wrong with not being able to afford an owl. 

“I never had any money in my life until a month ago, I needed to wear Dudley’s, my cousin, old clothes and never getting proper birthday presents.” Ron looked a bit better after Harry mentioned that. He was never able to make Ron feel better about money because of his own family.

“... and until Hagrid told me, I didn’t know anything about being a wizard or about my parents or Voldemort –”

Ron gasped, Ella and Charles remained silent.

“What?” said Harry. 

“You said You-Know-Who’s name!’ said Ron, sounding both shocked and impressed. “I’d have thought that you, of all people..”

“I’m not trying to be brave or anything, saying the name,” said Harry. “I just never knew you shouldn’t. See what I mean? I’ve got loads to learn ... I bet,” he added, voicing for the first time something that had been worrying him a lot lately, “I bet I’m the worst in the class.”

“You won’t be. There’s loads of people who come from Muggle families and they learn quick enough.” Ella mentioned.

While they had been talking, the train had carried them out of London. Now they were speeding past fields full of cows and sheep. They were quiet for a time, watching the fields and lanes flick past. 

Around half past twelve there was a great clattering outside in the corridor and a smiling, dimpled woman slid back their door and said, “Anything off the trolley, dears?”

Harry, who seemed hungry, leapt to his feet, but Ron’s ears went pink since he was embarrassed and he muttered that he’d brought sandwiches. Harry went out into the corridor. And so did Charles who was about to buy four chocolate frogs for each of them.

Harry got some of everything and paid the woman eleven silver Sickles and seven bronze Knuts. Ron starred as Harry brought it all back into the compartment and tipped it on to an empty seat. 

Hungry, are you? Here, a chocolate frog” and he handed each of his friends one of it

“Starving, cheers” said Harry, taking a large bite out of a pumpkin pasty. Ron had taken out a lumpy package and unwrapped it. There were four sandwiches in there. He pulled one of them apart and said, “She always forgets I don’t like corned beef.

“Swap you for one of these,” said Harry, holding up a pasty. “Go on –”

“You don’t want this, it’s all dry,” said Ron, “She hasn’t got much time,” he added quickly, “you know, with five of us.”

“I've got some french fries in here if you want them. You know I don't fancy fried food.”

“I could do with those, thanks” his sister said, grabbing the bag.

“Go on, have a pasty,” said Harry. 

And all of a sudden they were all eating pasties and cakes. It was a nice feeling. The four of them eating and having a chat. This was something he had dreamed before, and they were not even close to Hogwarts yet. It was so exciting. 

“So, what are these?” Harry asked Charles, holding up the pack of Chocolate Frog he gave before. ‘They’re not really frogs, are they?’ 

“Nah,” Ron said. “But see what the card is, I’m missing Agrippa.”

“What?”

“Oh, of course, you wouldn’t know. Chocolate Frogs have cards inside them, you know, to collect, famous Witches and Wizards. I’ve got plenty of ‘em, but I'm missing Agrippa and Ron is missing her and Ptolemy.”

Harry unwrapped his Chocolate Frog and picked up the card. 

“So this is Dumbledore!” said Harry. 

“Don’t tell me you’d never heard of Dumbledore!” said Ron while unwrapping his own frog. “I might get Agrippa this time.” 

“What did you get, Ron?” asked Charles

While Harry was reading the back of Dumbeldore's card, Ella was taking out of her bag Hogwarts: a history to entertain herself since she never collected chocolate frogs and was probably bored.

“HEY I GOT HER!”

"WHAT? NO WAY”

Harry had finally turned the card back over and saw that Dumbledore’s face had disappeared. 

“He’s gone!”

“Well, you can’t expect him to hang around all day.”said Ron.

“He’ll be back. Ugh, I’ve got Morgana again. Do you want it Harry? You can start collecting.” Charles said

“you know?, in the Muggle world, people just stay put in photos.” he said, taking the card.

“Do they? What, they don’t move at all?” Ron was amazed.

“Why are you so surprised? You came to my house thousands of times and I've got muggle posters in my room.”

Harry was staring as Dumbledore sidled back into the picture on his card and gave him a small smile. Soon he had not only Dumbledore and Morgana, but Hengist of Woodcraft, Alberic  Grunnion, Circe, Paracelsus and Merlin. Harry started to  open a bag of Bertie Bott’s Every-Flavour Beans. 

“You want to be careful with those,” Ron warned him. “When they say every flavour, they mean every flavour. You know, you get all the ordinary ones like chocolate and peppermint and marmalade, but then you can get spinach and liver and tripe. George reckons he had a bogey-flavoured one once.”

Ron picked up a green bean, looked at it carefully and bit into a corner. 

“Bleaaargh – see? Sprouts.” 

“Eugh- here have a napkin”

They had a good time eating the Every-Flavour Beans. Harry got toast, coconut, baked bean, strawberry, curry, grass, coffee, sardine and pepper. Which was pretty lucky for Charles’ opinion since the first he tried was spicy which he hated. Ella refused to eat any after she got soap at the first try and Ron kept getting the worst of them all.

The countryside now flying past the window was becoming wilder. Now there were woods, twisting rivers and dark green hills. 

There was a knock on the door of their compartment and a round-faced boy who seemed to be a first year too came in. He looked like he was about to cry. 

“Sorry,” he said, “but have you seen a toad at all?”

When they shook their heads, he wailed, “I’ve lost him! He keeps getting away from me!”

“He’ll turn up” said Harry. 

“Yeah, don't worry” he said 

“Yes,” said the boy miserably. “Well, if you see him let me know.” 

And he left. 

“Don’t know why he’s so bothered,” said Ron. “If I’d brought a toad I’d lose it as quick as I could. Mind you, I brought Scabbers,  so I can’t talk.”

“It must be important for him, you never know” said Ella, who finally took her nose out of the book.

The rat was still snoozing on Ron’s lap. 

“He might have died and you wouldn’t know the difference,” said Ron in disgust. “I tried to turn him yellow yesterday to make him more interesting, but the spell didn’t work. I’ll show you, look …”

“You really shouldn’t-” Charles advised him.

He rummaged around in his trunk and pulled out his wand. It was chipped in places and some Unicorn hair was glinting at the end. 

“Unicorn hair’s nearly poking out. Anyway –”

He was about to raise his wand when the compartment door slid open again. The toadless boy was back, but this time he had a girl with him. She was already wearing her new Hogwarts robes. 

“Has anyone seen a toad? Neville’s lost one,” she said. She had a bossy voice which Charles disliked immediately, lots of bushy messy brown hair and quite large front teeth. 

“We’ve already told him we haven’t seen it,” said Ron, but the girl wasn't listening, she was looking at the wand in his hand. 

“Oh, are you doing magic? Let’s see it, then.”

She sat down next to Charles. Ron looked taken aback. 

“Er – all right.”

He cleared his throat. 

“Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow.”

He waved his wand, but nothing happened. Scabbers stayed grey and fast asleep. That spell had never worked out.

“Are you sure that’s a real spell?” said the girl. “Well, it’s not very good, is it? I’ve tried a few simple spells just for practice and it’s all worked for me. Nobody in my family’s magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it’s the very best school of witchcraft there is, I’ve heard. I’ve learnt all our set books off by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough. I’m Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?”

She said all this very fast, still tired he couldn’t catch everything she said. At least he remembered her name.

Neither Ron or Harry looked like they had opened any of their books.

“I’m Ron Weasley,” He muttered. 

“Charles Miller, and my sister..” He pointed to the girl in front of him.

“Name's Ella.”

“Harry Potter,” the other boy said. 

“Are you really?” said Hermione. “I know all about you, of course. I got a few extra books for background reading, and you’re in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century.”

“Am I?” said Harry, he looked uncomfortable. Since he grew up with muggles he may not know things about himself . It must be weird for him that a complete stranger knew everything about him.

“Goodness, didn’t you know, I’d have found out everything I could if it was me,” said Hermione. “Do either of you know what house you’ll be in? I’ve been asking around and I hope I’m in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best, I hear Dumbledore himself was one, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn’t be too bad ... Anyway, we’d better go and look for Neville’s toad. You four had better change, you know, I expect we’ll be there soon.”

And she left, taking the toadless boy with her. 

“Whatever house I’m in, I hope she’s not in it,” said Ron. He threw his wand back into his trunk. “Stupid spell. George gave it to me, bet he knew it was a dud.”

“Did you really trust George that much? C'mon, cheer up mate.” Charles said.

‘What house are your brothers in?’ Harry asked Ron.

‘Gryffindor,’ said Ron. He was still worried. ‘Mum and Dad were in it, too. I don’t know what they’ll say if I’m not. I don’t suppose Ravenclaw would be too bad, but imagine if they put me in Slytherin.’ 

“This again, Ron?” Ella shutted her book down.

“That’s the house Vol- I mean, You-Know-Who was in?”

“Yeah,” said Charles.

“In which house would you like to be?”

“No idea.”

“He'll probably be in Gryffindor or Ravenclaw.” Ella rolled her eyes “I reckon I'll be on Hufflepuff or Gryffindor as well.”

Ron started to look a but depressed so they tried to change topic. 

“So what do your oldest brothers do now they’ve left, anyway?’ said the boy with glasses. 

“Charlie’s in Romania studying dragons and Bill’s in Africa doing something for Gringotts,” said Ron. “Did you hear about Gringotts? It’s been all over the Daily Prophet, but I don’t suppose you get that with the Muggles. Someone tried to rob a high-security vault.’ 

Harry stared. 

“Really? What happened to them?”

“Nothing, that’s why it’s such big news. They haven’t been caught. My dad says it must’ve been a powerful Dark wizard to get round Gringotts, but they don’t think they took anything, that’s what’s odd. ’Course, everyone gets scared when something like this happens in case You-Know-Who’s behind it.”

This was no better than the house's talk. Harry seemed pretty off with Voldemort's mention.

“What’s your Quidditch team?” he asked. 

“Er- I don’t know any,” Harry confessed.

“What!” Ron looked shocked, again.. “Oh, you wait, it’s the best game in the world. This idiot is incredibly good at it.” 

And then they were off, explaining all about the four 

balls and the positions of the seven players, describing famous games they'd been to together and the broomstick they would like and got. They were just explaining the finer points of the game when the compartment door slid open yet again, but it wasn’t Neville or Hermione Granger this time. 

Three boys entered, leaded by a pale blond boy. He was looking at Harry with a lot of interest. Maybe more than needed.

“Is it true?” he said. “They’re saying all down the train that Harry Potter’s in this compartment. So it’s you, is it?”

“Yes,” said Harry. They were looking at the other boys. Both of them were thickset and looked extremely mean. Standing like bodyguards behind the blondie.

“Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle,” said the pale boy carelessly. “And my name’s Malfoy, Draco Malfoy.”

Ron gave a slight cough, trying to hide a snigger. Malfoy looked at him. 

“Think my name’s funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles and more children than they can afford.” He wanted to stand up and punch the short boy right to the face but before he could do anything Malfoy spoke again, turning back to harry.

“You’ll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don’t want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there.” He almost stood up but the boy held out his hand to shake Harry’s right across him, but he didn’t take it. 

“I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks,” he said coolly.

  Bloody amazing.

Of course, Malfoy didn’t think what Harry said was cool. He didn’t go red, although  a pink tinge appeared in his pale cheeks. He clearly tried to maintain his composure.

“I’d be careful if I were you, Potter,” said Draco, slowly, “Unless you’re a bit politer you’ll go the same way as your parents. They didn’t know what was good for them, either. You hang around with riffraff as the Weasleys and that Hagrid, and it’ll rub off on you. The Millers are at least a bit more respectable.”

The three boys stood up at those last words of the blond kid.

“Say that again,” Ron said, he was just as red as his hair.

“Oh, you’re going to fight us, are you, Weasley?” Malfoy sneered.

“Unless that you get out now,” said Harry, bravely.

“But we don’t feel like leaving, do we, boys? We’ve eaten all our food and you still seem to have some.”

“Are you really that desperate?” Charles said.

Meanwhile Goyle reached toward the Chocolate frogs in between Ron and Ella. Ron had leapt forward, but before he’d so much as touched Goyle, the bulky boy let out a horrible yell. 

Scabbers was hanging off his finger, sharp little teeth stuck deep into Goyle’s knuckle – Crabbe and Malfory backed away as Goyle swung Scabbers round and round, howling, and when the rat finally flew off and hit the window, all three of them disappeared at once. They had maybe thought there were more rats among the sweets or perhaps they’d heard footsteps because just a moment later, Hermione Granger reappeared.

“What has been going on?” she said, looking at the sweets all over the floor while 

Ron was picking up Scabbers from his large wormtail.

“I think he’s been knocked out,” said Ron to all of them. Harry and Charles took a closer look to Scabers. “No, I don’t think so, he’s gone back to sleep” 

And so he had.

“You’ve met Malfoy before?” Charles asked. And the boy started explaining how they’ve met in Diagon Alley in Madam Malkin's a few weeks ago. Which was not an exactly pleasant meeting.

“I’ve heard of his family,” said Ron darkly. “They were some of the first to come back to our side after You Know Who disappeared”

“Said they’d been bewitched, our parents don't believe a word tho. My dad says Maloy’s father didn’t need an excuse to go over the Dark Side, and so believes Mr. Weasley.” Ron nodded at what his friend said. And turned to Hermione, who was now looking at Ella since she pulled her book back. 

“Can we help you with something?”

“You’d better hurry up and put your robes on, I’ve just been up to the front to ask the conductor, and he says we’re nearly there. You haven’t been fighting, have you? You’ll be in trouble before we even get there!”

“Scabbers has been fighting, not us,” said Ron, scowling at her. Charles chuckled. “Would you mind leaving while we change?”

“All right – I only came in here because people outside are behaving very childish, racing up and down the corridors,” said Hermione in a annoying stiffy voice. “And you’ve got dirt on your nose, by the way, did you know?”

Ron glared at her as she left. Ella handed a napkin announcing she should leave too so she could change into her robes. It was getting darker outside and the train was slowing down so they all took off their jackets and pulled out of their trunks large black robes. He noticed that Ron’s were a bit short. Maybe there was a spell to make them a bit bigger. He told himself to research it at hogwarts. There was a huge library there after all.

A voice suddenly echoed through the train: “We’ll be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes’ time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it’ll be taken to the school separately.”

Charles was full of excitement, he had waited this precise moment his entire life. The children crammed their pockets with some few sweets (which also were the last) and joined the crowd thronging the corridor. They reunited with Ella just then. 

The train slowed right down and finally stopped. People pushed their way towards the door and out to a tiny dark platform. There was a cold night air, which Charles loved. Then, a lamp ca,e bobbing over the heads of the students. A an enormous wizard with thick black hair and a beard talked: “Firs’ years! Firs’ years over here! All right there, Harry?” he said to the boy standing right next to him. Charles guessed that was Hagrid. His dad had mentioned him once or twice back at home. 

"C'mon, follow me — any more firs' years? Mind your step now! Firs' years follow me!"

Slipping and stumbling, the first years' followed the gigantic wizard down what seemed like a steep. It was really dark and nobody talked much. It looked like there were trees all arround. Charles was dying to see the castle, he was lost on his thoughts, wondering how it would look like. Which were interrupted by Neville, the boy who lost his toad, who sniffed a couple of times, and then by Hagrid.

"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in just a sec," the man called over his shoulder, "jus' round bend here."

There was a loud "Ooooohh!" from the other students. Charles could just stand in there, looking with amazement to what was in front of him. 

The narrow path had opened suddenly on the edge of the Black Lake. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, there was a vast castle with towers and turrets, loads of windows stalking in the sky. Hogwarts. It was nothing like he imagined, it was better . A thousand times better. It was precious, magical. He felt nothing but joy at the moment. Nervous, like everyone next to him, but full of joy.