Chapter 6- Journey to Hogwarts
After Narcissa had said those 3 words Sirius worked quickly apparating bother her and Draco to a safe place where he was able to talk to Narcissa properly. It turned out that during the 19 years that they had been married, he had been abusing both her and Draco and isolated them both so that they could not ask for help. At first, Draco had been cautious about Sirius and Remus, but after a few days, he became more relaxed around them.
Even though Narcissa had gotten herself out of the hell hole that she once called home, Lucius Malfoy still saw her as his property and in relation her son. A week later while Sirius was at Gringotts dealing with the dissolvement of Narcissa's marriage, she received a letter from him. When she opened, she could not believe what he had said and went straight to Remus for help. Remus read the letter out loud saying “YOU ARE MY WIFE, I WILL NOT LET YOU LEAVE WITH MY HEIR. You can go. I don't need you any more but, if you are to go, I will take everything. Including your beloved son. If you were to stay you would still have everything. I am a very forgiving man, but even I have my limits Narcissa. You have the rest of today, if you do not come back to me or let me have my heir then I will have no choice but to take what is mine. There is nowhere you can hide where I cannot find you. With all my love, your dear husband Lucias”. As soon as he finished reading the letter, he grabbed his wand and sent out a patronises to call Sirius back. when Sirius arrived Narcissa handed him the letter to read. “That son of a -” “Language Sirius, the kids are about somewhere” Remus cut Sirius off before he could finish. That night they all agreed that it would be best for Narcissa and Draco to move to Grimmel Place as it was the most secure property other than Potter Manner.
The next few weeks were hectic, with the kids preparing to go to school, getting classes worked out and helping Narcissa settle into Grimmel place. September 1st approached very quickly. That morning was organised chaos. With Remus and Sirius having to head to Hovawarts early the three kids stayed with Narcissa and Draco for the last three days of summer. The first time they walked into the house a portrait started screaming at them. “HALF-BLOODS AND BLOOD TRAITORS IN MY HOUSE. GET OUT. AND YOU MY WORTHLESS SON I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO LEAVE THIS HOUSE AND NEVER RETURN. AND YOU... YOU WORTHLESS BEASTS YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED THA” The next moment it was silenced with the curtains drawn. Sirius and Narcissa had their wands out and had shut that horrid portrait up. When Sirius turned around, all three kids had tears running down their faces and Remus was trying to comfort all of them. “hey come here it ok. I'm so sorry about that, I didn’t know her portrait was here. Narcissa are you and Draco ok staying here? There are other properties that you could-” Sirius stopped when Narcissa went over and pulled him into a hug asking if he was ok.
Once those words were said he broke down. Years of abuse he had received because of his dear mother. when he started to sob Narcissa held him tighter murmuring assurances that she could never hurt him again. Once the children calmed down Remus went over to his husband and held him once Narcissa let him go. “You did so well baby, it's ok she can't hurt you anymore,” he whispered into his ear trying to calm him down. Just as Sirius was nearly calmed down Kreacher popped in. “nasty master be needing anything” Kreacher sneered. “Kreacher, treat Sirius with respect. He is the lord of the House of Black” Narcissa snapped. Kreacher refused to treat Sirius with respect causing Sirius to spiral further. “I don’t want the kids around him. He’s just as bad as mother was”.
So Narcissa packed hers and Draco's bags and they moved into Potter Manner where they were welcomed with open arms by the elves in the house. With everyone safe in Potter Manner Sirius and Remus went over to Hogwarts so that they could get everything set up for the first week of classes. Sirius made his way over to Professor McGonagall's office as he would be splitting the classes with her.
The Morning of September 1st was chaotic, to say the least. With 4 kids all off to Hogwarts Narcissa called in some backup. With Andromeda Tonks and Agusta Longbottom there to help they were able to get all the kids to platform 9 ¾ early and were able to get them all on the train before the crowds were there.
After about half an hour the train started moving and katie left to go and find the Weasley twins, Lee Jordan and Angelina Johnson. With katie gone the three boys started to get comfortable. As the train got faster and faster, they saw houses flashed past the window. Harry felt a great leap of excitement. He had heard so much about Hogwarts from his uncles, aunts and his sister. He just hoped he would have some adventures like everyone else in his family. He just hoped that no one would compare him to his dad and what he would do or have done.
Just as Harry was about to fall asleep, the door of the compartment slid open and the youngest of the Weasley boys came in. Ron Weasley had been friends with Harry and Neville for years, he was Harry's and Neville's best friend, but he was always insecure about himself. And felt like he could never live up to his brothers' accomplishments.
"Can I sit with you guys?" he asked, pointing at the seat opposite Harry. "Everywhere else is full." "Hey, Ron." The twins were coming over. "Listen, we're going down the middle of the train -- Lee Jordan's got a giant tarantula down there." "Right," mumbled Ron. "Harry," said Fred, “have you seen Katie, we can't find her anywhere” George finished. “She went looking for you and the others she might be with Angelina but I don’t know,” Neville said not lifting his head from his herbology book that he was reading. "Bye," said Harry and Ron. The twins slid the compartment door shut behind them.
“Hey, what's your name,” Ron said looking at Draco, not recognising the boy that was sitting with them. “I'm Draco Malfoy, you must be Ron Weasley. Harry and Neville talk about you all the time. Is it true that your brother works with dragons, I would love to see one but father always said that they were horrible beasts that should be put down. But I don’t agree with him I think there magnificent”. Draco rambled a bit nervous, the Weasleys and the Malfoys had, had a blood feud for centuries but he doesn't want to have to feud with him he seems nice. Ron stared at him and said “yeah, my brother Charlie lives in Romania and work in a dragon enclosure and I agree with you I think they are cool Aswell” Ron said hoping to try and be friends with Draco because his mum always taught him to be kind to others and his dad said that it doesn't matter who their family is it doesn't make them good or bad people.
As the train ride went on Ron, Draco and Harry were playing exploding snap. 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?". Harry, Neville and Draco jumped up and went to buy stuff for their lunch as their uncle moony and uncle Padfoot said the stuff off the trolly was the best. With the others getting food off the trolly 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.."
"Swap you for one of these," said Draco, 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." "Go on, have a pasty," said Harry, it was a nice feeling, sitting there with Ron, Neville and Draco eating their way through all their pasties, cakes, and candies (the sandwiches lay forgotten).
Later on in the train ride, they ended up playing a game with the barite bots, where they dared each other to eat the different coloured sweets. hey, do you want to see a spell that the twins taught me yesterday” Ron said to the other boys. “sure” Neville said knowing that if the twins taught you anything then it probably was a prank. “ok” 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. A girl stood in the doorway. She was already wearing her new Hogwarts robes.
"Has anyone lost a toad? someone seemed to have lost one" she said. She had a bossy sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair, and rather large front teeth. "Oh, Trever I didn’t even know he was missing,” said Neville, 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. 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.
"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 learned all our course books 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.
Harry looked at Ron and was relieved to see by his stunned face that he hadn't learned all the course books by heart either. "I'm Ron Weasley," Ron muttered. "Harry Potter," said Harry. “Im-” Neville went to say but he was cut off.
"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, feeling uncomfortable about being in a book about what had happened that night.
"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 in it and he is one of the best wizards since Merlin himself, 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."
“Dumbledore is not all that great” Katie said as she stood at the door. “How can you say that he is one of the best wizards in the world and he is the greatest headmaster Hogwarts has ever seen,” Hermione said sounding offended on behalf of Dumbledore. “Yeah, Dumbledore is so great, then why did he want to send me and Harry to an abusive house” katie replied. “Well, it was probably for the greater good” Hermione said getting a bit flustered. “Wow, hope you don’t become an auror or a teacher, because that mentality is horrible. How is it for the greater good for a child to be abused? And it's not the first time that he has turned a blind eye to abuse, our uncle had unforgivable's used on him but when he asked the headmaster for help, he was told his family loved him. Justify that, he was 12 years old” katie said her eyes glowing gold and her veins turning black.
Just as Harry and Neville stood up to help calm her down, the twins and Percy came to the compartment. Fred and George, seeing that katie was about to turn dragged her away back to their compartment along with Percy so she wouldn’t tear apart the person that upset her so badly.
“I think you should leave” Ron said upset that she would try and defend someone who tried to have his best friend abused for the ‘greater good’. "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." Trying to change the topic and maybe lighten the mood Ron asked "Did you hear about Gringotts? It's been all over the Daily Prophet, 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 around 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."
Harry turned this news over in his mind. He was starting to get a prickle of fear every time You-Know-Who was mentioned. He supposed this was all part of the magical world, but it had been a lot more comfortable saying "Voldemort" without worrying.
After discussing the Gringotts robbery for a while they went back to the Bertie Bot's game. Everything was going well until Draco got a vomit favoured sweet and ended up gaging while the other boys laughed. A second later, Hermione Granger had come in. "What has been going on?" she said, looking at the sweets all over the floor and picking up Scabbers by his tail. “None of your business and put him down he doesn't like to be picked up like that” Ron huffed. He 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!" Harry turned to her annoyed and said “We weren't fighting were having fun, laughing isn't breaking the rules”. Ron, scowled 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?"
Ron glared at her as she left. Harry peered out of the window. It was getting dark. He could see mountains and forests under a deep purple sky. The train did seem to be slowing down. Harry, Neville, Draco 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. 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."
Harry's stomach lurched with nerves and Ron, he saw, looked pale under his freckles. They crammed their pockets with the last of the sweets and joined the crowd thronging the corridor. The train slowed right down and finally stopped. People pushed their way toward the door and out onto a tiny, dark platform. Harry shivered in the cold night air. Then a lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students, and Harry heard a familiar voice: "Firs' years! Firs' years over here! All right there, Harry?"
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 Harry thought there must be thick trees there. 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.
"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Harry and Ron were followed into their boat by Neville and Draco. "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. "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.
"Oy, you there! Is this your toad?" said Hagrid, who was checking the boats as people climbed out of them. "Trevor! you can't keep running off" 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. 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.