Chapter 1
On a small damp bench to the left of the main doors to Kings Cross Station sat a small redheaded boy. Hunched over and crumpling and uncrumpling a little train ticket. The only thing keeping him awake was his sadness, and the only thing keeping him from crying was his drowsiness.
The sedatives running through Harry's system meant he couldn't be too upset at the cruel prank played on him, but he was certainly confused about the whole thing. He didn't think he knew anyone who would want to make a fool of him but clearly they had. He'd been at platform 9 early but no one around seemed to be willing to help him find the platform he actually needed, so he waited. Unfortunately, a large man in a High-Vis told him he couldn't be here without a real ticket and so he had to leave.
It was probably for the best anyway, he thought, it's not like he had any of the stuff on the list anyway. The sedatives the nurse gave him were making it hard for him to concentrate long enough to work out if he had ever gotten his hopes up in the first place, but he was sad and that meant he probably had.
While he sat a large family mobbed past him and into the building, shouting and arguing all the way. One of them yelled something about "Hogwarts" and Harry, even in his fugue state, knew that was the place that had allegedly written to him. Maybe they'd been tricked too?
He decided to follow them and see. it was easy to do so, a large ginger family with tall and loud children was very easy to spot ever from a distance, so he kept his head down and tailed them discreetly. He kept lightly bumping into people as he followed, awake enough to stalk but not enough to avoid people. They got to the same platform he had reached earlier and swept down the line, before reaching a specific pillar where the three oldest children disappeared into the wall.
Even in his poor state this took Harry by considerable surprise, as far as he knew he had never hallucinated before so he had to take this at face value. By the time he had recovered the rest had popped through the wall as well. Wandering over to the wall, he put his hand against the bricks. As he applied pressure he discovered he too went straight through the wall!
Following his hand through he found himself on a much different, significantly older, platform. In front of him lay a beautiful large steam train, shiny and red with ornate gold decorations and carriages all the way down the platform. Most people seemed to be on the train by now and it was primarily parents waving their children off, so he quickly hopped aboard as well and found an empty carriage to sleep in on the way.
Harry didn't really know what to expect, he realised as he dozed, but he was vaguely optimistic. He knew technically he was going to be reported missing but didn't really mind, no one would miss him much. The idea of a wizard school sounded exciting, he liked card tricks and had assumed that was what it would be. But then he'd seen the barrier, and the bizarre train station in the wall, and now he wasn't sure. He just hoped they didn't mind that he didn't have his things...
Hours later Harry awoke. He had had a very interesting dream about big red trains and magic walls, and that strange letter had been real! But his sedatives had left his system and the jitters were starting so he knew it must soon be dinner. He opened his eyes and was not in his bed. He was in a room about the same size, but it had two long benches, with plush red velvet and intricate wood carving along the backrest. He could feel a jostle under his feet, so he looked out the window, and in the low light he could make out rolling countryside! He sprang to the door with a start, and shoved his head out the opening. Looking left and right he could see more rooms, and some children down the corridor wearing robes! One looked at him strangely, so he jumped back into the room and closed the door.
He felt trapped, scared, he hadn't been dreaming. His stupid, sedated self just walked onto a train going who knows where? He didn't even know where this "Hogwarts" was! He'd been warned about this kind of thing, maybe this was how trafficking happened? He'd heard he could be shipped overseas if that happened! Harry was terrified, he could feel his hands and face getting hot. He felt his hair stand on end and his eyes begin to burn, his skin was drying out by the second and felt like it would crack. He closed his eyes and cried. He knew what was about to happen.
The train stopped at the station half an hour later and Harry, in incinerated rags, managed to dodge and weave to the back of the crowd, catching countless odd looks, so he could escape if he needed to. As the crowd filtered down he suddenly came into sight of the largest man he'd ever seen, a giant no other word came close. As the enormous man came closer he heard what he was bellowing "Come on now, keep up! This way to the boats!" Harry had never been so scared, they wanted to put him on a boat? Was he being sent overseas? He should never have come here!
For a moment his thoughts touched on the family he'd seen at the station, were they victims? Should he try warning them? Why was everyone else so calm!? But maybe they were in on it, maybe some of them weren't victims at all! How could he know who to trust?
Harry's mind raced and body shook with fear, he scrambled away from the back of the crowd, turned away, and ran for his life.