THE JOURNEY FROM PLATFORM NINE AND THREE-QUARTERS
THE JOURNEY FROM PLATFORM NINE AND THREE-QUARTERS
Hyacinth's last month with the Dursleys wasn't fun. True, Dudley was now so scared of Hyacinth he wouldn't stay in the same room, while Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon didn't shut Hyacinth in her cupboard, force her to do anything, or shout at her - in fact, they didn't speak to her at all. Half terrified, half furious, they acted as though any chair with Hyacinth in it were empty. Although this was an improvement in many ways, it did become a bit depressing after a while.
"To be fair, I can see where she's coming from. While they were negative in aspect, she still had human interactions." Remus says in thought.
A couple days after she got back from Diagon alley, the Dursleys had an errand to do in London, she managed to 'persuade' them to let her tag along on the premise she'd make her own way back. With that deal made, she left the Dursleys behind and found her way to the Leaky cauldron. Hyacinth gets round the back without anyone spotting her, taps the bricks in the same pattern as Hagrid had, and once there is space, she walks through and heads towards Gringotts once again.
Bowing to the bank teller, Hyacinth says, "Hello Mr..."
looking at his name-plate, "Mr Sharpclaw, is there any way I could convert my gold into muggle money?" Hyacinth asks politely.
"Miss...?" Sharpclaw asks firmly but loses some of his jagged posture when she is polite.
"Always pays to be polite to those with control over your money," Sirius grins. Hera and Hestia nodded in agreement.
"Oh, sorry for not introducing myself, Hyacinth Lily Potter, at your service, Mr Sharpclaw," At this, he nods,
"Well then, Miss Potter, do you have the gold here or from the vault?" He questions.
"I have the gold here," Hyacinth says politely, placing 25 Galleons and 15 sickles neatly on the desk. He takes it and hands her £129.05 in 10 and 20 pound notes.
"Damn, that's a lot," Leo mutters. Some nod when they take into consideration that she's an 11 year old girl.
"Thank you, Sharpclaw," Hyacinth says with a grateful smile.
"No problem, Miss Potter," He responds.
After this interaction with the goblin, Hyacinth makes her way to the muggle side to get a start on her shopping....
She got back to number 4 Privet Drive moments after the clock struck 6, all her shopping done, she managed to get all the bags into her bedroom without any noise, she got in through the front door and went straight to her room.
"Smart, don't let them know what you got for them to question you about," Percy nods in understanding, having done the same thing when they'd lived with Gabe. Sally just looks apologetically at her son, not regretting being with Gabe as it was what kept Percy safe the whole time.
Her shopping consisted of 3 pairs of black leggings, 4 tank tops, 4 T-shirts, 5 skirts, 3 dresses, new pajama sets, underwear, socks and 3 pairs of shoes. She quickly puts her stuff in her trunk, knowing it's the safest place for them. Sorting out her things made her go red before she muttered
Aphrodite cheered at Hyacint, getting her own clothes, only disappointed at them being the basics.
"Did I go overboard?" before shaking her head, riding herself of those thoughts.
"No sweetheart, you didn't go overboard," Sally sighs, pulling her son further into her arms. Percy just goes along with it, lapping up all his mothers affection with a smug smile.
*****
Hyacinth kept to herroom with her new owl for company. She had decided to call her Hedwig, a name she had found in A History of Magic. Her school books were very interesting. She lay on her bed reading late into the night, Hedwig swooping in and out of the open window as she pleased. It was lucky that Aunt Petunia didn't come into vacuumanymore because Hedwig kept bringing back dead mice.
"As appreciative as she likely is to receive gifts, I don't think that mice are a good present," Hestia says, keeping her eyes on Athena's reaction to her words.
Every night before she went to sleep, Hyacinth ticked off another day on the piece of paper she had pinned to the wall, counting down to September the first.
"I did the exact same thing!" Sirius cheered happily.
"I know pads, you told us this practically every year," Remus chuckles.
On the last day of August she thought she'd better speak to her aunt and uncle about getting to King's Cross station the next day, so she went down to the living room where they were watching a quiz show on television. She cleared her throat to let them know she was there, and Dudley screamed and ran from the room.
"Pussy," Percy said between fake coughs only to be whacked round his head by his mum for swearing, causing many to stifle their laughter.
Controlling her features to not contort in amused disbelief at Dudley's actions. "Uncle Vernon?" She asked politely
Uncle Vernon grunted to show he was listening.
"Oh my goodness! I had no idea she knew how to speak Troll," George jokes, causing an uproar of laughter to overtake the room.
"I need to be at King's Cross tomorrow for 10"
Uncle Vernon grunted again.
"Would it be all right if you gave me a lift?"
Grunt. Hyacinth supposed that meant yes.
"Thank you." Hyacinth thanked pleasantly.
"Man, I wouldn't be able to be this polite." Percy says.
"We know Prissy," Clarisse snarks with an amused smirk.
She was about to go back upstairs when Uncle Vernon actually spoke.
"Funny way to get to a wizards' school, the train. Magic carpets all got punctures, have they?"
"Wow, his use of humor has gotten better, but shitty timing," Conner Stoll sarcastically sighs
Hyacinth didn't say anything.
"Where is this school, anyway?"
"It's in Scotland," said Hyacinth, remembering it from one of the books she'd read. She pulled the ticket Hagrid had given her out of her pocket.
"I just need to take the train from platform nine and three-quarters at half 10," she 'read' not putting it past her aunt and uncle to be late on purpose for no other reason than to make her upset.
Her aunt and uncle stared.
"Platform what?"
"Nine and three-quarters."
"Don't talk rubbish," said Uncle Vernon. "There is no platform nine and three-quarters."
"Because, mind my language, you sack of shit, magic plays a crucial role," Remus says annoyed
"It's on my ticket."
"Barking," said Uncle Vernon, "howling mad, the lot of them. You'll see. You just wait. All right, we'll take you to King's Cross. We're going up to London tomorrow anyway, or I wouldn't bother."
"Why are you going to London again?" Hyacinth asked, trying to keep things friendly.
"Taking Dudley to the hospital," growled Uncle Vernon. "Got to have that ruddy tail removed before he goes to Smeltings."
"That's a shame, why'd they get rid of it? It'd make an interesting story," Percy pouts sarcastically. Sally just looks at her son unimpressed even with Poseidon chuckling at his son's words.
Hyacinth woke at five o'clock the next morning and was too excited and nervous to go back to sleep. She got up and pulled on her jeans because she didn't want to walk into the station in her wizard's robes - she'd change on the train. Looking at her clothes, she smiled, this was the last time she'd have to wear hand me downs from her cousin.
"Down with shitty hand me downs!" Silena cheered, one of her arms swinging round Charles Beckendorfs shoulders who was grinning at his girlfriend.
She checked her Hogwarts list yet again to make sure she had everything she needed, saw that Hedwig was shut safely in her cage, and then paced the room, waiting for the Dursleys to get up. Two hours later, Hyacinth's huge, heavy trunk had been loaded into the Dursleys' car, Aunt Petunia had talked Dudley into sitting next to Hyacinth, and they had set off.
"That boy is a wimp," Clarisse chortles, her siblings humming with agreement.
They reached King's Cross at half past ten. Uncle Vernon dumped Hyacinth's trunk onto a cart and wheeled it into the station for her. Hyacinth thought this was strangely kind until Uncle Vernon stopped dead, facing the platforms with a nasty grin on his face.
"Well, there you are, girl. Platform nine - platform ten. Your platform should be somewhere in the middle, but they don't seem to have built it yet, do they?"
"Well, that went better than I thought it'd go," Sally sighs, hand massaging the bridge of her nose, feeling a headache coming on.
He was quite right, of course. There was a big plastic number nine over one platform and a big plastic number ten over the one next to it, and in the middle, nothing at all.
"Have a good term," said Uncle Vernon with an even nastier smile. He left without another word. Hyacinth turned and saw the Dursleys drive away. All three of them were laughing.
"Pardon my French but... DICKHEADS!" Sirius shouted angrily. Those who'd admonish him for his crude language let it pass as well, he had a point.
Hyacinth's mouth went rather dry. What on earth was she going to do? She was starting to attract a lot of funny looks because of Hedwig.
"Breath, calm down, and think with a steady head," Athena says sagely, knowing that thinking while full of emotions never leads anywhere good.
Shaking her head she remembers reading how to get onto the platform, however decides to wait to see if anyone else goes through.
According to the large clock over the arrivals board, she had ten minutes left to get on the train to Hogwarts and she was beginning to get bored enough to contemplate doing as the book said even with the possibility of it being fake, hopefully she wasn't stranded in the middle of a station with a trunk she could hardly lift, a pocket full of wizard money, and a large owl.
"Damn, that was the most Lily thing I've heard her do," Remus chuckles.
"True, James would just run at it," Sirius laughs.
Hagrid must have forgotten to tell her how to get through to the platform by accident.
At that moment a group of people passed just behind her and she caught a few words of what they were saying.
"- packed with Muggles, of course -"
"Am I the only one that thinks that seems weird?" a half-blood asks.
"That was the first time we'd gone through by Muggle - means rather than using the floo," The Weasley twins say together.
Hyacinth swung round. The speaker was a plump woman who was talking to four boys, all with flaming red hair. Each of them was pushing a trunk like Hyacinth's in front of her - and they had an owl.
With a steady heart, Hyacinth pushed her cart after them. They stopped and so did she, just near enough to hear what they were saying.
"Now, what's the platform number?" said the boys' mother.
"Nine and three-quarters!" piped a small girl, also red-headed, who was holding her hand, "Mom, can't I go..."
"You're not old enough, Ginny, now be quiet. All right, Percy, you go first."
As a joke, Percy turns around as though hearing someone call his name before saying "Who, me?" with a completely straight face. Unable to keep up the facade, he starts laughing, others joining in as his laughter was infectious.
What looked like the oldest boy marched toward platforms nine and ten. Hyacinth watched, careful not to blink in case she missed it - but just as the boy reached the dividing barrier between the two platforms, a large crowd of tourists came swarming in front of him and by the time the last backpack had cleared away, the boy had vanished.
"That was sooo helpful," Sirius snarks only to be whacked around the head by Remus, and Laughed at by Percy.
"Fred, you next," the plump woman said.
"I'm not Fred, I'm George," said the boy. "Honestly, woman, you call yourself our mother? Can't you tell I'm George?"
"Sorry, George, dear."
"Only joking, I am Fred," said the boy, and off he went.
Many snort at the twins' joke. They stand up and bow while saying "Thank you, thank you, we'll be here for a while," with teasing winks, causing Charlie and Bill to look at them with amused but tired expressions.
His twin called after him to hurry up, and he must have done so, because a second later, he had gone - but how had he done it?
Now the third brother was walking briskly toward the barrier he was almost there - and then, quite suddenly, he wasn't anywhere.
There was nothing else to it.
"Excuse me," Hyacinth said to the plump woman.
"Hello, dear," she said. "First time at Hogwarts? Ron's new, too."
She pointed at the last and youngest of her sons. He was tall, thin, and gangling, with freckles, big hands and feet, and a long nose.
The Weasley children snort at the description given of Ron.
"Yes," said Hyacinth. "The thing is, I don't know how to -" She lies through her teeth, only doing this to be sure.
"How to get onto the platform?" she said kindly, and Hyacinth nodded.
"Not to worry," she said. "All you have to do is walk straight at the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Don't stop and don't be scared you'll crash into it, that's very important. Best do it at a bit of a run if you're nervous. Go on, go now before Ron."
"Okay, thank you," said Hyacinth politely.
"It's a miracle that she was able to have even a shred of politeness growing up with those oafs," Hera says snidely. Zeus looks at his wife with a speculating look, Hera had been acting strangely since the beginning. He wanted to know why.
She pushed her trolley around and stared at the barrier. It looked very solid.
She started to walk toward it. People jostled her on their way to platforms nine and ten. Hyacinth walked more quickly. She was going to smash right into that barrier and then she'd be in trouble - leaning forward on her cart, she broke into a heavy run - the barrier was coming nearer and nearer - she wouldn't be able to stop - the cart was out of control - she was a foot away - she closed her eyes ready for the crash -
It didn't come...she kept on running...she opened his eyes. A scarlet steam engine was waiting next to a platform packed with people. A sign overhead said Hogwarts' Express, eleven o'clock. Hyacinth looked behind her and saw a wrought-iron archway where the barrier had been, with the words Platform Nine and Three-Quarters on it, the book was true then.
Athena snorts at that, "Of course, the books weren't wrong,"
The Wizards share looks at that, knowing that there were plenty of books that were incorrect.
Smoke from the engine drifted over the heads of the chattering crowd, while cats of every color wound here and there between their legs. Owls hooted to one another in a disgruntled sort of way over the babble and the scraping of heavy trunks.
"Those poor owls." Athena and her children say their dislike to how the owls are being treated clear.
The first few carriages were already packed with students, some hanging out of the window to talk to their families, some fighting over seats. Hyacinth pushed her cart off down the platform in search of an empty seat. She passed a round-faced boy who was saying, "Gran, I've lost my toad again."
"Oh, Neville," she heard the old woman sigh.
"A toad?" Silena says offly, her face contorted in a put out expression, Beckendorf chuckling at his girlfriend's reaction.
A boy with dreadlocks was surrounded by a small crowd.
"Give us a look, Lee, go on."
The boy lifted the lid of a box in his arms, and the people around him shrieked and yelled as something inside poked out a long, hairy leg.
"AH!" Athena's kids yelp. Not one of them has had a good or even neutral interaction with a spider. Thanks a lot, Arachne.
Hyacinth pressed on through the crowd until she found an empty compartment near the end of the train. She put Hedwig inside first and then started to shove and heave her trunk toward the train door. She tried to lift it up the steps but could hardly raise one end and twice she dropped it painfully on his foot.
"Is this when?- I think it is Georgie, brother of mine," The twins say, causing others to look at them in question.
"Want a hand?" It was one of the red-haired twins she'd followed through the barrier.
"Yes, please," Hyacinth says with relief, clear in her tone.
"Oy, Fred! C'mere and help!"
With the twins' help, Hyacinths's trunk was at last tucked away in a corner of the compartment. She couldn't help but note that for all they look the same, there were subtle tells and differences between the two.
"So she has always been able to tell us apart." Fred and George say in unison.
"To be honest, mum hasn't been able to do it since you were able to change your clothes yourself," Bill says.
"Thank you," said Hyacinth, pushing her sweaty hair out of her eyes.
"What's that?" said one of the twins suddenly, pointing at Hyacinth's lightning scar that decorated the skin from her forehead to her left cheek.
"Blimey," said the other twin. "Are you -?"
"Really you two?" Bill sighs exasperated.
"She is," said the first twin. "Aren't you?" he added to Hyacinth.
"Pardon?" said Hyacinth tilted her head slightly in confusion.
"Hyacinth Potter." chorused the twins.
"Oh, her," Hyacinth says dully, her face falling. "I mean, yes, I am."
"She is so done with it already," Percy laughs.
The two boys gawked at her, and Hyacinth felt herself becoming irritated, so what? She got the scar from the psychopath that killed her parents before trying to kill her. Then, to her relief, a voice came floating in through the train's open door.
The twins grimace "Sorry Cinthie," They mutter, using the nickname they made for her.
"Fred? George? Are you there?"
"Coming, Mom."
With a last look at Hyacinth, the twins hopped off the train.
Hyacinth sat down next to the window where, half hidden, she could watch the red-haired family on the platform and hear what they were saying. Their mother had just taken out her handkerchief.
"She might take after her dad more than I thought," Sirius jokes.
"Prongs used to do this when Lily got to the station," Remus joins in.
"Ron, you've got something on your nose."
The youngest boy tried to jerk out of the way, but she grabbed him and began rubbing the end of his nose.
"Mom - geroff" He wriggled free.
"Aaah, has ickle Ronnie got somefink on his nose?" said one of the twins.
"Shut up," said Ron.
"Where's Percy?" said their mother.
"He's coming now."
The oldest boy came striding into sight. He had already changed into his billowing black Hogwarts robes, and Hyacinth noticed a shiny silver badge on his chest with the letter P on it.
"He seems a bit... Pompous?" Percy says when Percy W was introduced.
"He was, especially that year," George nods.
"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 one of the twins, with an air of great surprise. "You should have said something, we had no idea."
"Hang on, I think I remember him saying something about it," said the other twin. "Once -"
"Or twice -"
"A minute -"
"All summer -"
"Oh, shut up," said Percy the Prefect.
"That one definitely stuck," Fred and George snicker.
"How come Percy gets new robes, anyway?" said one of the twins.
"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."
She kissed Percy on the cheek and he left. Then she turned to the twins.
"Now, you two - this year, you behave yourselves. If I get one more owl telling me you've - you've blown up a toilet or -"
"Don't give pranksters ideas," Many in the room groan, turning towards their troublemakers, whether it be Hermes, The Weasley twins, Remus, Sirius or the Stoll brothers.
"Blown up a toilet? We've never blown up a toilet."
"Great idea though, thanks, Mom."
"What happened to that toilet seat? I don't think mum complained about a toilet seat being sent home?" Charlie and Bill question.
"It was put to good use," George and Fred nod to each other.
"It's not funny. And look after Ron."
"Don't worry, ickle Ronniekins is safe with us."
"Shut up," said Ron again. He was almost as tall as the twins already and his nose was still pink where his mother had rubbed it.
"Hey, Mom, guess what? Guess who we just met on the train?"
Hyacinth leaned back quickly so they couldn't see her looking.
"You know that black-haired girl who was near us in the station? Know who she is?"
"Who?"
"Hyacinth Potter!"
Hyacinth heard the little girl's voice.
"Oh, Mom, can I go on the train and see her, Mom, eh please...."
"Really? That's almost as bad as people are with Percy, whether its him in the mortal world as the cryptid boy, or in our world where he is the son of Poseidon," Annabeth chuckles in amusement.
"You've already seen her, Ginny, and the poor girl isn't something you goggle at in a zoo. Is she really, Fred? How do you know?"
"Asked her. Saw her scar. It's really there - like a lightning strike."
"Poor dear - no wonder she was alone, I wondered. She was ever so polite when she asked how to get onto the platform."
"Never mind that, do you think she remembers what You-Know-Who looks like?"
Their mother suddenly became very stern.
"I forbid you to ask her, Fred. No, don't you dare. As though she needs reminding of that on her first day at school."
"Thank you Molly," Sirius sighs with a soft smile.
"All right, keep your hair on."
A whistle sounded.
"Hurry up!" their mother said, and the three boys clambered onto the train. They leaned out of the window for her to kiss them good-bye, and their younger sister began to cry.
"Don't, Ginny, we'll send you loads of owls."
"We'll send you a Hogwarts' toilet seat."
"George!"
"Only joking, Mom."
"You weren't joking," Sirius chuckles, fist bumping the twins.
The train began to move. Hyacinth saw the boys' mother waving and their sister, half laughing, half crying, running to keep up with the train until it gathered too much speed, then she fell back and waved.
Hyacinth watched the girl and her mother disappear as the train rounded the corner. Houses flashed past the window. Hyacinth felt a great leap of excitement. She didn't know what she was going to - but it had to be better than what she was leaving behind.
The door of the compartment slid open and the youngest redheaded boy came in.
"Anyone sitting there?" he asked, pointing at the seat opposite Hyacinth. "Everywhere else is full."
"He's lying, the coaches are never filled up," The wizards say immediately, knowing it's part of the charms put on the train.
Hyacinth shook her head and the boy sat down. He glanced at Hyacinth and then looked quickly out of the window, pretending he hadn't looked. Hyacinth saw he still had a black mark on his nose. Turning her head away, she began to read from the book on her lap, rereading her potions book.
"Hey, Ron."
The twins were back.
"Listen, we're going down the middle of the train - Lee Jordan's got a giant tarantula down there."
"Right," mumbled Ron.
"Hyacinth," said the other twin, she tensed slightly "did we introduce ourselves? Fred and George Weasley. And this is Ron, our brother. See you later, then." At that, Hyacinth relaxed, thankful they hadn't done what those in the pub had done.
"Learning from your mistakes, good," Artemis looks upon them appraisingly, still not liking them on the basis that they were male, but acknowledging that they were good.
"Bye," said Hyacinth and Ron. The twins slid the compartment door shut behind them.
"Are you really Hyacinth Potter?" Ron blurted out.
Hyacinth 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 Hyacinth's forehead.
"It's not polite to point, every child gets taught that- scratch that, every child aside from Dudley Dursley gets taught that," Remus snarks.
Hyacinth pulled a face at his pointing, all she did was nod, the scar she gained from the raving lunatic calling himself a 'lord' trailed down to her cheek. The scar was impossible to hide. Ron stared.
Many sigh annoyed, staring is always considered rude, no matter where you're from.
"So that's where You-Know-Who -?"
"Yes," said Hyacinth shortly, already having enough of this boy, "but I can't remember it." she quickly notes before he asks.
"Damn, I think that was quicker than she got bored of you Dragon," George teases Draco, placing his arm on Draco's head again.
"Nothing?" said Ron eagerly. At this, Hyacinth now has no interest in him, choosing to favor his older brothers.
"Ron! She tells you she doesn't remember anything, you keep it at that!" Charlie says, annoyed at his younger brother's lack of tact.
"Well - I remember a lot of green light, but nothing else."
"Wow," said Ron. He sat and stared at Hyacinth for a few moments, then, as though he had suddenly realized what he was doing, he looked quickly out of the window again. Hyacinth sighed, the stares she keeps getting makes her feel as though people are putting her on a pedestal and expecting her to play the role of a show pony.
"Mood," Percy says on instinct, his coping mechanism is, and always will be, humour.
"Are all your family wizards?" asked Hyacinth, who found Ron's family just as interesting as Ron found her.
"Er - Yes, I think so," said Ron. "I think Mom's got a second cousin who's an accountant, but we never talk about him."
"So you must know loads of magic already."
The Weasleys were clearly one of those old wizarding families the ferret from Diagon Alley had talked about.
"Stop calling me a ferret," Draco all but pouts.
"I heard you went to live with Muggles," said Ron. "What are they like?"
"Horrible - well, not all of them. My aunt and uncle and cousin are, though. Wish I'd had three wizard brothers."
"Five," said Ron. For some reason, he was looking gloomy. "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."
Bill sighs "You don't need to live up to any of us, we are all our own people with our own interests and skills, we aren't just copy and pastes."
Ron reached inside his jacket and pulled out a fat gray rat, which was asleep. The rat sets off alarms in Hyacinth's head, similar to those of the stuttering 'teacher' so she adds another reason to avoid this boy to the list.
"That rat looks familiar," Remus mutters to Sirius.
"That traitorous scum!" Sirius shouts in realization, fuming.
"This maiden has good instincts," Artemis says with a small smile and a nod. Fighting against her want to have the girl join her hunt, if she hadn't thought her uncle would have her head on a pike for it, she would have.
"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. He seemed to think he'd said too much, because he went back to staring out of the window.
Hyacinth didn't think there was anything wrong with not being able to afford an owl. After all, she'd never had any money in her life until a month ago, and she told Ron so, all about having to wear Dudley's old clothes and never getting proper birthday presents. This seemed to cheer Ron up.
"Well... that isn't really a good look is it?" Charlie says awkwardly, not impressed with his brother's actions.
"...and until Hagrid told me, I didn't know anything about being a wizard or about my parents or Voldemort -"
Ron gasped.
"What?" said Hyacinth, annoyed at being cut off.
"You said You-Know-Who's name!" said Ron, sounding both shocked and impressed. "I'd have thought you, of all people -"
"I'm not trying to be brave or anything, saying the name," said Hyacinth, "Fear of the name only increases fear of the thing itself.... However there are times where it is needed to avoid the given name," she said, the last part she says, her eyes becoming slightly dazed as though something or someone else were talking via her lips.
Eyes turn towards Luna, recognising the way Hyacinth had talked, "Our flower has help from above," She responds airily.
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 cart, dears?"
Hyacinth, who hadn't had any breakfast, calmly stood, but Ron's ears went pink again and he muttered that he'd brought sandwiches. Hyacinth went out into the corridor.
She had never had any money for sweets with the Dursleys, and now that she had pockets rattling with gold and silver she was ready to buy as many Mars Bars as she could carry
"She's gonna be sorely disappointed," Remus chuckles, having done a similar thing.
- but the woman didn't have Mars Bars. What she did have were Bettie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Chocolate Frogs. Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes, Licorice Wands, and a number of other strange things Hyacinth had never seen in her life. Not wanting to miss anything, she got two of everything and paid the woman eleven silver Sickles and seven bronze Knuts.
Ron stared as Hyacinth brought it all back into the compartment and tipped it onto an empty seat.
"Damn kid, even i didn't get that much," Remus laughs.
"Hungry, are you?"
"Starving," said Hyacinth, taking a small test bite out of a pumpkin pasty before deciding she didn't like the flavor of pumpkin.
"She's screwed then, that's the drink we get with dinner at Hogwarts," Draco snorts.
Ron had taken out a lumpy package and unwrapped it. There were four sandwiches inside. He pulled one of them apart and said, "She always forgets I don't like corned beef."
"It's my favorite, Ron hates it with a burning passion." Charlie says amused.
"Swap you for one of these," said Hyacinth, holding up a pastry. "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."
"Go on, have a pasty," said Hyacinth, who had never had anything to share before or, indeed, anyone to share it with. It was a nice feeling, sitting there with Ron, eating their way through all Hyacinth's pasties, cakes, and sweets (the sandwiches lay forgotten).
"For someone that doesn't like him, she seems to care," Fred snickers.
She may not have liked Ron, but she felt like being nice, rather make 'friends' or acquaintances than enemies.
"What are these?" Hyacinth asked Ron, holding up a pack of Chocolate Frogs. "They're not really frogs, are they?" She was starting to feel that nothing would surprise her.
Leo and Hephaestus' eyes sparkle in thought of the possibilities of these chocolate frogs.
"No," said Ron. "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 about five hundred, but I haven't got Agrippa or Ptolemy."
Hyacinth unwrapped her Chocolate Frog and picked up the card. It showed a man's face. He wore half-moon glasses, had a long, crooked nose, and flowing silver hair, beard, and moustache. Underneath the picture was the name Albus Dumbledore.
"So this is Dumbledore," said Hyacinth, continuing her thoughts in her head 'the headmaster that had my key..'
"Good, don't let up on your questions, otherwise how else will you learn," Athena praises.
"Don't tell me you'd never heard of Dumbledore!" said Ron. "Can I have a frog? I might get Agrippa - thanks -"
Hyacinth turned over her card and read:
ALBUS DUMBLEDORE
CURRENTLY HEADMASTER OF HOGWARTS
Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern times, Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the Dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel. Professor Dumbledore enjoys chamber music and tenpin bowling.
Hyacinth turned the card back over and saw, to her astonishment, that Dumbledore's face had disappeared.
"Holy shit! How!" Leo shouts, amazed.
"Magic," Percy laughs.
"He's gone" She muttered to herself.
"Well, you can't expect him to hang around all day," said Ron. "He'll be back. No, I've got Morgana again and I've got about six of her...do you want it? You can start collecting."
"Of course you can't expect him to stay in the picture," Percy says sarcastically.
Ron's eyes strayed to the pile of food waiting to be eaten.
"Help yourself," said Hyacinth, bored of eating. "But in, you know, the Muggle world, people just stay put in photos."
"Do they? What, they don't move at all?" Ron sounded amazed. "Weird!"
"As though moving pictures that arent videos aren't weird," Remus says, lily and many muggle borns faced a similar issue.
Hyacinth stared as Dumbledore sidled back into the picture on her card and gave it a tiny glare, this man was a walking bag of questions.
"She's so pretty," Percy sighs at Hyacinths glare,
"He is so whipped," Annabeth laughs to Grover.
Ron was more interested in eating the frogs than looking at the Famous Witches and Wizards cards, but Hyacinth couldn't keep her eyes off them.
Soon she had not only Dumbledore and Morgana, but Hengist of Woodcroft, Alberic Grunnion, Circe, Paracelsus, and Merlin. She finally tore her eyes away from the Druidess Cliodna, who was scratching her nose, to open a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.
"You want to be careful with those," Ron warned Hyacinth. "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 booger-flavoured one once."
"Its true, how come he didn't believe me," George pouts,
"I have no idea, brother mine," Fred 'comforts' before they both burst out into laughter.
"And that is why," Charlie says with an amused grin.
Ron picked up a green bean, looked at it carefully, and bit into a corner.
"Bleaaargh - see? Sprouts."
Deciding to give into interacting with Ron, they had a good time eating the Every Flavor Beans. Hyacinth got toast, coconut, baked bean, strawberry, curry, grass, coffee, sardine, and was even brave enough to nibble the end off a funny grey one Ron wouldn't touch, which turned out to be pepper.
"Well, the Potter luck is going to strike, although at that point it would be the Potter unluck," Sirius laughs.
The countryside now flying past the window was becoming wilder. The neat fields had gone. Now, there were woods, twisting rivers, and dark green hills.
There was a knock on the door of their compartment, and the round-faced boy Hyacinth had passed on platform nine and three-quarters came in. He looked tearful.
"Sorry," he said, "but have you seen a toad at all?"
"Im sorry, but we haven't seen your toad," Hyacinth says apologetically.
Ron shook his head as well then the boy wailed, "I've lost him! He keeps getting away from me!"
"That poor boy," Aphrodite says sadly.
"He'll turn up," said Hyacinth comfortingly.
"Yes," said the boy miserably. "Well, if you see him..."
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."
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..."
"Is he going to try the 'spell' we gave him?" The Weasley twins ask themselves with smirks.
He rummaged around in his trunk and pulled out a very battered-looking wand. It was chipped in places, and something white was glinting at the end.
"Unicorn hair's nearly poking out. Anyway -"
He had just raised 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 sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair, and rather 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.
"Athena, she one of yours?" Hermes snickers. Athena just glares at him. Hera and Hestia just look at the girl with discontent.
"Where are her manners?" Hera says snidely.
"Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it, then."
She sat down. Ron looked taken aback.
"Im sorry, but were are your manners?" Hyacinth says appalled. "Not only did you barge in here. You didn't introduce yourself. You asked a question and then ignored the answer. Now you're demanding something from someone you had no prior interaction with."
Many cheer "You go, Hyacinth!" was said the loudest by a proud Percy.
The girl looked embarrassed.
"Now, watch your manners, and run through that again," Hyacinth said.
"... My name is Hermione Granger. Have you seen a toad anywhere?" Hermione replies politely, looking embarrassed at her lack of manners.
"Hello Hermione, my name is Hyacinth, Hyacinth Potter, and no we haven't seen a toad anywhere." Hyacinth replies.
"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." Forgetting the manners speech Hyacinth had previously given her.
Hera sighs "Athena dear, is she yours?" Hera asks the same question as Hermes. Athena just thinks to herself.
"Those books are more than likely false." She says in response. Hermione looks affronted at being told her books were likely wrong, but she keeps quiet.
Half bloods and gods alike turn to Athena at that, truly wondering if she was an Athena kid.
"Ron, could you show us that spell you were planning on using please?" Hyacinth says politely.
"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.
"Are you sure that's a real spell?" said Hermione. "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 learned all our course books by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough -, who are you?" Hermione rambles, once again forgetting Hyacinth's admonishment about manners.
"Child! Watch your manners!" Hera raises her voice, annoyed at her inability to keep to basic manners.
Hyacinth gave Hermione a flat look, annoyed at being ignored.
"I'm Ron Weasley," Ron muttered.
"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 in it, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad....Anyway, we'd better go and look for Neville's toad. You two had better change, you know, I expect we'll be there soon."
And she left, taking the toadless boy with her.
"My us, if she isn't one of Athena's spawn, i will eat my winged shoes," Hermes says.
"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."
"Ron, there is no need to be so rude, I understand that she's a bit... intense... but that doesn't mean you have to be rude." Hyacinth says, Ron looks appropriately embarrassed.
"Imagine having to be mothered by the girl who lived," Bill chuckles only for the rest of the Weasleys, Draco, Luna as well as Remus and Sirius to look embarrass "Really? I mean Draco and Luna, I understand, but you guys?" Bill laughs
"What house are your brothers in?" asked Hyacinth.
"Gryffindor," said Ron. Gloom seemed to be settling on him again. "Mom 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."
"That's the house. Vol-, I mean, You-Know-Who was in?"
"Wow, again? Damn Ron, teach us your ways. She makes everyone flinch using his name," Fred jokes.
"Yeah," said Ron. He flopped back into his seat, looking depressed.
"You know, I think the ends of Scabbers' whiskers are a bit lighter," said Hyacinth, trying to take Ron's mind off houses. "So what do your oldest brothers do now that they've left, anyway?"
Hyacinth was wondering what a wizard did once they'd finished school.
"How will we ever live up to the awesomeness of you two," The twins say overdramatically with crocodile tears falling down their cheeks.
"I guess you never will," Bill and Charlie joke with them. Causing most of the room to chuckle at the Weasley siblings antics.
"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."
Hyacinth 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."
"I bet you were going to find out about what happened with the vault and who was behind it, with Hyacinth being in danger when we find out, " Charlie sighs, causing people to turn towards him. "What? I read."
Hyacinth turned this news over in her mind. She was starting to get a cold feeling down her spine every time You-Know-Who was mentioned. She supposed this was all part of entering the magical world, but it had been a lot more comfortable saying "Voldemort" without worrying.
"What's your Quidditch team?" Ron asked.
"She's new to the wizarding world and you ask her about a wizard only sport," Bill says sarcastically.
"Er - I don't know any." Hyacinth confessed.
"What!" Ron looked dumbfounded. "Oh, you wait, it's the best game in the world -" And he was off, explaining all about the four balls and the positions of the seven players, describing famous games he'd been to with his brothers and the broomstick he'd like to get if he had the money.
He was just taking Hyacinth through the finer points of the game when the compartment door slid open yet again, but it wasn't Neville the toadless boy, or Hermione Granger this time.
Draco realises what happens next and he flushes with extreme embarrassment, knowing that he's probably going to have to hide.
Three boys entered, and Hyacinth recognized the middle one at once: it was the pale boy from Madam Malkin's robe shop. He was looking at Hyacinth with a lot more interest than he'd shown back in Diagon Alley.
"Is it true?" he said. "They're saying all down the train that Hyacinth Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?"
"No," said Hyacinth, thinking that if this ferret of a boy didn't think to second guess her answer at the sight of the scar stemming from her forehead to her cheek, then he didn't need to know.
"I knew it was her, i just wasn't paying that much attention in Madam Malkins," Draco says, his tone already starting to become meek.
She looked at the other boys. Both of them were thickset and looked extremely mean. Standing on either side of the pale boy, they looked like bodyguards.
"Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle," said the pale boy carelessly, noticing where Hyacinth was looking. "And my name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."
Ron gave a slight cough, which might have been hiding a snigger. Draco Malfoy looked at him.
"The name's Bond, James Bond," The Weasley kids and Percy say together with a laugh.
Thats when Draco realises thats why Ron had laughed.
"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."
"That was uncalled for," George says looking at Draco firmly,
"I have changed," Draco says in response. Luna nodded to his words, verifying their truth.
He turned back to Hyacinth. "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 held out his hand to shake Hyacinth's, she shook it firmly.
"I think that you need to keep your manners in check mr Malfoy, your attitude isn't befitting of someone in your position," she said coolly, hoping the sweep of the Wizarding world she's done was correct when it noted that he was the heir of the house of Malfoy.
"Yes!" Athena cheers before turning to Poseidon "I am going to steal your spawns soulmate," Athena says resolutely. Only for Poseidon and Percy to let out identical squawks of shock.
Draco Malfoy didn't go red, but a pink tinge appeared in his pale cheeks.
"I'd be careful if I were you, Potter," he said 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 like the Weasleys and that Hagrid, and it'll rub off on you."
"My Gods, it was definitely your father that was in charge of your education, Narcissa would have never let you even think about uttering those words," Sirius says with annoyance at this kid having the balls to say that about dead people.
Hyacinth's eyes squinted, wondering where this boy gained the audacity from. "Heir Malfoy, I can't help but note that you were not only going against the training imposed on you as the heir to your noble house, but you also slighted against the now dead members of the Potter family, ones that had members from your maternal family," Hyacinth glared.
"That was the first time she'd talked sense into him," George snorts in wonder.
Ron had been up with his hands in fists at the verbal slight against his family.
"Oh, you're going to fight us, are you?" Malfoy sneered at Ron.
"Unless you get out now," said Hyacinth, annoyed at this ferret's audacity.
"Okay, I deserved being called a ferret, and worse." Draco admits.
"But we don't feel like leaving, do we, boys? We've eaten all our food and you still seem to have some."
Goyle reached toward the Chocolate Frogs next to Ron - Ron leapt forward, but before he'd so much as touched Goyle, Goyle let out a horrible yell.
Scabbers the rat was hanging off his finger, sharp little teeth sunk deep into Goyle's knuckle - Crabbe and Malfoy backed away as Goyle swung Scabbers round and round, howling, and when Scabbers finally flew off and hit the window, all three of them disappeared at once. Perhaps they thought there were more rats lurking among the sweets, or perhaps they'd heard footsteps, because a second later, Hermione Granger had come in.
"The only good thing that traitorous rat has ever done," Sirius sneers.
"What has been going on?" she said, looking at the sweets all over the floor and Ron picking up Scabbers by his tail.
"I think he's been knocked out," Ron said to Hyacinth. He looked closer at Scabbers. "No - I don't believe it - he's gone back to sleep."
"Always were the lazy type, weren't you Peter," Sirius mutters with hatred and anger coating his words.
And so he had.
"You've met Malfoy before?"
Hyacinth recounted their meeting in Diagon Alley.
"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. My dad doesn't believe it. He says Malfoy's father didn't need an excuse to go over to the Dark Side."
"Don't judge a person based on their family," Hyacinth sighed.
"That's my God-daughter," Sirius cheers. Draco tears up, even when he'd been nothing but a rude annoyance to her, she still stood up for him.
Ron turned to Hermione. "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. "Would you mind leaving while we change?"
"All right - I only came in here because people outside are behaving very childishly, racing up and down the corridors," said Hermione in a sniffy voice. "And you've got dirt on your nose, by the way, did you know?"
"No one wants to be mothered by a girl they barely know," Many say, knowing this first hand.
Ron glared at her as she left. Hyacinth peered out of the window. It was getting dark. She could see mountains and forests under a deep purple sky. The train did seem to be slowing down.
Hyacinth and Ron took off their jackets and pulled on their long black robes. Ron's were a bit short for him, you could see his sneakers underneath them. Thankfully nobody cared about what was under their robes on the first day at hogwarts.
"It would be stupid if they did," Charlie snorted.
A voice echoed through the train: "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately."
Hyacinth's stomach lurched with nerves and Ron, she saw, looked pale under his freckles. They crammed their pockets with the last of the sweets and joined the crowd thronging the corridor.
"At least they're not allowing them to go to waste," Remus shrugs, unsure of what to say.
The train slowed right down and finally stopped. People pushed their way toward the door and out on to a tiny, dark platform. Hyacinth shivered in the cold night air. Then a lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students, and Hyacinth heard a familiar voice causing a bright grin to split her face: "Firs' years! Firs' years over here! All right there, Hyacinth?"
"Gotta love Hagrid, no matter his flaws, his heart is always in the right place," Charlie says, thinking over the dragon incident that year.
Hagrid's big hairy face beamed over the sea of heads.
"C'mon, follow me - any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!"
Slipping and stumbling, they followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It was so dark on either side of them that Hyacinth thought there must be thick trees there. Nobody spoke much. Neville, the boy who kept losing his toad, sniffed once or twice.
"Why was he even given a toad?" Silena asked with a grimace, "I highly doubt he asked for one,"
"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here."
There was a loud "Oooooh!"
The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black lake. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers.
"Good old Hogwarts, still magnificent, no matter how much i've seen it," Sirius sighs, earning nods from those that have been.
Those who hadn't been to Hogwarts couldn't help but marvel at it, Annabeth's mouth practically salivating at the sight, Hogwarts was an Architect's dream and nightmare.
"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Hyacinth and Ron were followed into their boat by Neville and Hermione.
"Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid, who had a boat to himself. "Right then - FORWARD!"
And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood. Hyacinth couldn't help but feel comforted at the prospect of being so close to the water, it had always been like this for as long as she could remember.
Percy and Poseidon grin at the girls feelings towards being near water "Are there animals in there?" Percy asks, in reference to the body of water.
"Plenty of creatures in there," Remus says with a grin, purposefully not saying what creatures had made Hogwart waters their home.
"Heads down!" yelled Hagrid as the first boats reached the cliff; they all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbour, where they clambered out onto rocks and pebbles.
"Am I the only one that thinks this sounds similar to when Charon took us through the river styx?" Percy asks Grover and Annabeth, only for them to disagree.
"There's no overwhelming feeling of despair and regret," was Annabeth's response, earning looks of astonishment.
"Oy, you there! Is this your toad?" said Hagrid, who was checking the boats as people climbed out of them.
"Trevor!" cried Neville blissfully, holding out his hands. Then they clambered up a passageway in the rock after Hagrid's lamp, coming out at last onto smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle.
"I really think that this boy needs to get a different animal," Demeter says worried.
They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge, oak front door.
"Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad?"
Hagrid raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door.
"I bet ya Minnie is going to say the same speech she gave us," Sirius laughs to Remus.