All Aboard
Looking over the platform, Reggie and Dream observed the parents and the children. It was busy, loud, and everywhere they heard enthusiastic voices, the hoots of owls, and the meowing of cats. Reggie sat on Dream's right shoulder with Isis on his left shoulder and stared around in wonder. No one saw them, Dream had made himself invisible. Reggie had asked if she could go to the train station. Because she would never experience this herself, Dream had agreed. He was glad to be there, to see Reggie enjoying the absolute chaos around her.
Isis had come along out of curiosity. She looked at the children and the adults with different eyes and scanned the crowds for people who meant to harm her charge. Her gaze fell on a family with red hair. There were quite a few of them. A mother who held her daughter, Isis assumed, close to her. In addition, there were twins with a mischievous look in their eyes and a boy with also red hair and a rather long nose, and a bunch of freckles. The robes they wore were somewhat older, as were the boys' trunks.
The girl clearly didn't like the fact that she didn't get to the school and her older brothers, or so the older raven again assumed, teased her about this. Looking further at the mass of people Isis saw the wife of the DADA professor. She took their son to the train. A white-haired boy, with an aristocratic face, gray eyes, and clothing the opposite of the family with the red hair.
A little further on the platform were several people who felt very uncomfortable. Isis nudged Dream with her wing. Dream followed her gaze and he saw one of the parents standing next to a girl with a bunch of wild brown curls. Dream nodded. ‘I know, she is a so-called Muggleborn witch. She is the only daughter of that couple, so clearly they are a bit unsure about all this.’
Reggie looked over at the girl that Isis and Dream were talking about. She saw that the girl was very tense and fidgeted with her clothes. She had already put on her school robes and looked around, clearly wondering what to do. ‘Can I go and meet her?’ Dream shook his head. ‘Not here, but maybe we can arrange something when the train starts moving?’ Reggie agreed and the three of them watched as the students boarded the train. The parents started waving as the train started to move and the moment the train disappeared from sight, the people left. Dream materialized himself on the train and used his powers to go unseen and walk through the train.
There were many compartments and it took him a while to find the one where the girl with the wild hair was sitting. She was not alone. There was a boy with a somewhat rounder face. Dream heard the boy say that he had lost his toad. He seemed terribly upset by this fact. The girl kindly suggested that they go find the toad and Dream watched them leave their spots to look for the missing pet. Following them, Dream and Reggie peered into the compartments. Isis had left them when the rain departed, insisting that she should be at the Tower today. Dream and Reggie kept following the boy and girl, in their search for the missing toad, whose name was apparently Trevor, which Reggie thought was a bit of an odd name for a toad.
Eventually, they came to the compartment where one of the red-headed boys was in. The youngest one, it seemed. With him were three other children, all boys. Before Hermione could ask if anybody had seen a toad, the red-haired boy was explaining that it had been a shame that the Potter girl had died, for he was sure she would have been a Gryffindor and that they would be best friends. It was not just the statement he made, but the way he had spoken, that caused Dream to swallow the sudden urge to strangle the boy. Instead he watched as Hermione gave the boy a cold look.
‘Did you really just say that you think it’s a shame that she is dead, for now, you cannot be her friend?’ Silence followed. ‘And you are?’ was the reply the boy was giving her causing the other boys to laugh. Straightening her spine, the girl answered in a clear voice what her name was and Dream saw a sneer on the boy’s face after learning her last name. ‘So you are a Muggleborn then?’ he bit out. ‘What do you know anyway? You are nothing!’
‘Apparently, I know good manners, and you, clearly do not possess them.’ With that, Hermione turned around and left. Dream smiled. He liked her. He did wonder about the boy though. There was something in his statement, almost like the conviction that Regina would be his best friend. Why would she? She would have only met him for the first time on the train. Bold statement. He opened his mind to Isis, conveyed his thoughts, and asked her to keep an eye out.
‘He was not really nice,’ stated a subdued Reggie. She was a bit alarmed over the fact that the redhead was so unkind, simply because Hermione was a Muggleborn. What should that matter? ‘No he was not, but for now, leave him be.’
They followed Hermione and Neville, as they walked further through the train. Eventually, they came to the compartment where Draco was sitting, together with his friends. ‘Draco!’ Reggie chirped happily. Dream grounded his teeth…really? Hermione asked the same question and received a chorus of no, no-one had seen a toad.
‘Can’t you find the toad for the boy? That way they might go back to their compartment and I can meet her?’ Dream shrugged, snapped his fingers and the toad appeared on the floor. ‘Hey look, there is a toad here, was this the one you searched for?’ Draco had opened the door to his compartment and called after Hermione and Neville. Neville let out a huff of contained tension and picked the toad up from the floor. ‘Thank you!’ Hermione nodded at Draco, who noticed that she was very subdued. ‘Are you all right?’ Hermione shrugged. ‘I just had a very shitty encounter with someone who said something rude about Regina Potter and then he had a problem with the fact that my mum and dad are Muggles.’
This was it, Dream thought. Now it would show if the Malfoy family really changed their views. He and Reggie looked at Draco, who for the first 10 years of his life had learned that Muggles and Muggleborns were trash. Looking over his shoulders to his friends, Dream saw that Draco swallowed, turned around again, and said in a very serious voice for an eleven-year-old boy: ‘I am sorry. Please understand that not everyone thinks this.’ His friends gave each other looks of what-the-hell-just-happened?
Draco smiled and offered Hermione his hand. She took it and smiled back at him. ‘Would you both like to meet my friends?’ Neville and Hermione accepted the invitation and sat down. Introductions passed and by the time the trolly with candy came, Hermione and Neville had made friends. It seemed as though Draco’s friends were a bit surprised, no one questioned him about it. Dream had a feeling that would change once they would get him alone.
Reggie, however, was becoming increasingly annoyed that she still was not given permission to meet Hermione properly. ‘Drea…heam, you promised.’ She pouted. Dream sighed deeply, and pinched the bridge of his nose before he nodded.
‘Fine, on one condition. You can say hi, you can introduce yourself, talk to them, but, and I mean this, little lady, you will, under no condition Leave. This. Compartment. Am I making myself clear?’
Reggie nodded subdued. ‘Yes sir.’ She hated it when Dream treated her like she was a new raven. She could fly like the best of them, she had magic, she could take care of herself. But she also hated the fact that he might be peeved with her. ‘Sorry for nagging.’
Dream moved his shoulder. ‘Off with you then. When you arrive at Hogwarts train station, call out for me, I will pick you up and deliver you to Severus.’ Reggie pressed her head against his cheek and with a bit of Dream’s magic, she became visible and flew into the compartment.