บท 4: Chapter 4
For Harry, the rest of the summer passed very quickly, for the first time. Except when Uncle Remus came to see him, the boy spent his time locked in his room reading his textbooks and those that Remus had allowed him to buy extra. He really wanted to start practicing magic with his own wand, but for fear of attracting the attention of his parents and that they would force him to leave it to Brian (who would do everything in his power to break it) he didn't do it. In fact, his parents were barely aware of his existence, comforting Brian because Harry was going to Hogwarts, the only time they had paid any attention to him had been when he returned from Diagon Alley where his parents and his brother had looked at his purchases and asked him what the core of his wand was.
His study of textbooks gave him a greater understanding of magic, after all, they were the basis of this art, and he even understood the basis of the concept of spells, even forming what could be new spells. It was a fun hobby, that and his potions... Now that he had ingredients he could try to make some of the simpler ones... it was quite satisfying when they came out correctly, knowing that at any time he could use it and achieve the desired effect.
He was dying to get started... dying to have something like the freedom that Hogwarts offered, Furthermore, he was really curious to know how they were going to be sorted, after all, if the four houses were divided according to the personalities of the people who lived in them, there had to be large amounts of powerful magic involved in all of that and it was intriguing. It was also true that he had fantasized about the house he was going to be put in and the truth is that if they didn't put him in Gryffindor, the house of his parents and surely his brother, he would be happy.
"Dad?" Harry asked a few days before September 1st.
"Yeah?"
"Can you take me to King's Cross on day one?" Harry asked and for a few seconds, he watched as his father frowned in concentration, as if trying to remember something.
"Ahh... yes... The day the train leaves." So he had forgotten when his son started school, typical. "I'm sorry, but I agreed to take Brian to the zoo... but we can ask Remus or Sirius..." Harry didn't answer, typical of Brian to do one of those.
The next few days, Harry didn't make any comments about his upcoming trip to school, a march that was not going to cause any sadness or longing during the school year. He was finalizing the last details for his departure, preparing his trunk, his books and anything he wanted not to leave behind (or in other words, anything he didn't want Brian to destroy during his absence) so that on the thirty-first day everything was ready for the night and despite his nervousness, he decided to rest well and go to Uncle Remus's house as early as possible so he could take him to King's Cross, Uncle Sirius, he hadn't even realized he was leaving.
The dawn of the first of September found Harry ready to leave for the station on his own when the hearth fire turned green and Remus Lupine appeared in the Potters' living room with a smile at the image of Harry next to his trunk, ready to go to school alone.
"I know you too well, Harry… I assumed that after what your father said about today, you would want to go to King's Cross alone. Go on, go to the Leaky Cauldron, I'll take your trunk and follow you."
Harry smiled amused at the situation, he had decided during the night that he didn't want to bother the werewolf and it was best to leave on his own, but it was typical of Remus to go look for him before doing something like the one he had planned. Before the noise could draw his family's attention, Harry entered the fireplace and said in a clear voice where he wanted to go... then he just hoped he could get out as quickly as possible, he hated traveling by floo.
The Leaky Cauldron was practically empty at that time, therefore, when Harry came out of the fireplace, there was no way to prevent Tom, the waiter, and the few customers who were there from staring at him in surprise when they saw him coming out of the fireplace. Knowing that Remus would be about to exit through the same chimney and also carrying a heavy trunk of luggage, he moved out of the way as quickly as possible... not two seconds later, Remus emerged from the chimney along with the trunk.
"Remus! How nice to see you!" Tom exclaimed as soon as he saw him. "What are you doing here so early?"
"I will accompany Harry to take the train to Hogwarts... James and Lily couldn't and they asked me if I could do it." He responded by putting an arm around Harry's shoulders.
"James? Do you mean James Potter?" Tom asked and when Remus nodded, he added. "I didn't know he had another son besides Brian... As they always come with him..."
"Harry is his eldest son." Remus said with a sad smile, he knew there would be many people who would react like Tom. "Can you serve us breakfast, Tom? We haven't eaten anything yet."
"Of course, of course! Of course!" The waiter responded with a smile before getting to work. Not long later the two were having a hearty breakfast.
It was approximately nine thirty in the morning when they left the Cauldron and headed by Muggle taxi to King's Cross... it was still quite early, but taking into account the complexity of Muggle traffic, it was much better to be safe. They didn't say much during the taxi ride lest they say something inappropriate in front of the taxi driver, but when they both got out of the car, the conversation continued on the fly... they still had plenty of time, the train wouldn't leave until forty-five minutes later and For this reason, the two of them took it easy both entering platform nine and three quarters and placing their luggage in a compartment in the middle of the train.
"What do you think of everything so far, Harry?"
"Magnificent." He laughed. "All this almost seems unreal to me. I have the feeling that I'm going to wake up at any moment."
"It's all very real, Harry." Remus laughed. "I'm going to miss you a lot during the course."
"Me too…"
"Do you carry everything you need? Haven't you forgotten anything?"
"No, Uncle Remus."
"And your inhaler? Do you carry it too?"
"I've got everything I need, Uncle Remus."
"Well... don't forget to write to me, have a good time, and learn a lot..." The werewolf told him as he accompanied him to one of the Express entrances. "Good luck tonight in your sorting... you'll see how everything will go very well." Here Harry gave him a look that clearly wondered about his sanity, but he nodded and boarded the train, then ran to the window of his compartment.
"Goodbye Uncle Remus."
"Until Christmas!" The man said before disappearing.
Harry watched as all the students ran to the different windows to say goodbye to their parents and in a way he felt sad... It's not that he didn't like that Remus had brought him, on the contrary, but he also wished that his parents had come... A slight noise at the compartment door made him get away from his bad thoughts and he turned towards the door to find out what had caused it... meeting a boy more or less his age... of course, it was a first year, because it still did not have a house emblem.
"Hello," said the boy.
"Hello."
"My name is Terry Boot, I sit in the next compartment."
"I'm Harry Potter." Harry didn't know how to react, he had never had more company than his brother and Uncle Sirius's son, but since none of them liked being with him...
"Do you mind if I come to your compartment?" Terry asked him. "Both you and I are alone and I thought that this way we would be more comfortable."
"OK…"
"Yeah? Hang on a minute!"
Terry disappeared for a moment, only to reappear two minutes later carrying his trunk, which he placed on the luggage rack without any effort. Obviously, one of his parents was magical and had placed a charm on the trunk to make it lighter.
"Okay, Harry… Can I call you Harry?"
"Yeah."
"Good! Tell me, how long had it been since you arrived before the train left?"
"That?"
-"When I arrived at twenty to eleven, you were already here and I was one of the first to arrive... I'm curious."
"At ten-fifteen. We left very early."
"I see, you also want to start." The other laughed. "I've been awake almost all night... This morning at six I was already stumbling around, the thing is that my parents haven't let me get ready until half past seven. What time did you get up?"
"At five-thirty... I wanted to come alone, but Uncle Remus caught me... We went to have breakfast at the Leaky Cauldron and then we came here."
"Do you live with your uncle?"
"Oh no! With my parents and my younger brother, but sometimes I would like to live with him."
Terry remained silent after Harry's comment, it didn't take a genius to see that his new friend did not have a good relationship with his parents, For a moment he wondered if he was a Muggle-born and his parents were intolerable towards magic... Not wanting to discuss that topic, and trying to cheer up the other boy, he changed the subject.
"And tell me... which house do you think you'll be in? I think I will be in Ravenclaw, I love books and I like to learn."
"I also like books and learning... but the truth is that I don't know what my house will be... My parents were Gryffindors and I suppose they expect me to be one too... but that matters little to me."
"Bah, that has little to do with it, my parents were a Hufflepuff and a Slytherin. Can you imagine a stranger combination?" The boy laughed amused. "You say you like books... What was the last one you read, not counting the ones at school?"
"Oh... A book on occlumency. Uncle Remus gave it to me for my birthday."
"About occlumency? Wow! The last one I read was about the key concepts of creating potions... 'Perfect perfection, how to achieve the best in your potions' "
"From Christopher White?" Harry asked.
"Yeah! Do you know him?"
"Yes... I read it three years ago, it was very interesting, especially the section on medicinal potions." The boy said.
From that moment, the two became immersed in a conversation about the concepts that the book covered for creating potions, as well as what they should keep in mind at all times when creating them. Both boys were delighted at the chance to talk to someone so invested in a topic so "boring" to the rest of their classmates at magical elementary school, or in Harry's case, someone who didn't consider that there was anything more interesting than spending time messing with others.
At the same time, Terry was amazed, Harry seemed to have been reading complicated magic books all his life and understood them in a way that many scholars were unable to understand. Harry had said that he didn't know what his Hogwarts house would be, but the truth is that from his point of view, the boy couldn't be anything other than a Ravenclaw, no one else could have such a love for books as he was showing... and If by chance he didn't enter the same house that he was very clear that he wasn't planning on abandoning their friendship, screw the rivalry at home.
Not long after they left the inhabited places behind and the landscape changed from city to countryside, Harry began to hear a sound in his compartment that made him a little nervous. It sounded like croaking, but that wasn't possible because neither he nor Terry had any animals on the train. After a few moments, the boy put aside his conversation to begin searching for the origin of the sound throughout the compartment, Terry at first looked at him in surprise, but not long after, he too heard the insistent croaking and helped his new friend in his search... which lasted a few more minutes, before finding what appeared to be a toad from under the car's seat.
"What is a toad doing here?" Terry asked surprised. "Is it yours?"
"No, I don't have pets and it's not because I don't like toads, but if I had the choice, I would choose a kitten." Harry responded as he stroked the toad's head.
"I wonder who it belongs to... Do you think we should look for its owner? They will surely be looking for it."
"If you're looking for it, it won't take long before you leave your compartment and then we'll never find it."
After that, the two also kept an eye on the people in the hallways, to see if there was anyone looking for a toad and at the same time paying attention to their conversation and the toad, lest it try to escape again. They were starting a conversation about different magical animals when the compartment door opened revealing a girl with bush-like brown hair and a somewhat chubby blonde boy.
"Excuse me, have you seen a toad?" The girl asked. "Neville has lost his."
Neville was evidently the boy accompanying her, as he seemed to look around eagerly, although he had not said a single word.
"Yes," said Harry. "A while ago we found this toad in our compartment."
He said showing them the toad in his hands.
"Trevor!" Neville exclaimed, running to catch him and murmuring affectionately. "Don't run away again, will you?"
[T/N, That Toad's getting more love than my boy Harry]
"It's a pretty mysterious toad." Terry laughed. "It's sneaked into the compartment and we still don't know how. My name is Terry Boot and this is Harry Potter... what are your names?"
"My name is Hermione Granger and this is Neville Longbottom."
"Longbottom?" Terry asked. "Are you the son of Frank and Alice Longbottom?"
"Yes," Neville said very quietly.
"Wow, your parents are very famous for everything they fight against He Who Must Not Be Named..."
"I know." The boy laughed proudly. "They are very good aurors."
"Mmm... although I don't recognize the name Granger, are you a muggleborn?"
"Yes, is something wrong because it is?" Hermione responded angrily.
"No way! My grandfather was a muggleborn."
"And my mother too." Harry added.
"Ahhh... it's just that some kids said that muggleborns shouldn't come to Hogwarts."
"Don't pay attention to them, they are pureblood fanatics... half of them are completely stupid and the other half are so conceited that they can't move because their ego weighs them down," Harry said angrily.
For the remainder of the journey, Hermione and Neville remained in their compartment, talking about everything they expected for their classification or their classes, at the same time that they informed the witch about the current situation, Voldemort. Despite everything, the trip was very pleasant, especially when they introduced the witch to wizard candy (and Harry too, since the candy had always been for Brian, not him), a fun experience considering that between the candy had bought Bertie Botts dragees and they had a mini competition to see who was braver to try dragees.
When it began to get dark, Hermione and Neville said goodbye to Harry and Terry to go to their own compartments and change clothes, after all they were about to arrive at school, and they had to change into their uniforms. Then both wizards looked with fascination at the lights of Hogsmeade as they approached the station and later the train stopped completely. The two ran to vacate their compartment and go out to the platform where for a few moments they looked everywhere without knowing where to go.
"First year! First years, follow me!"
The two looked at what looked like a giant (although they knew it wasn't possible because giants were huge, much bigger than him), with a lantern calling to them. Once all the first years were with him, he began to guide them along a wooded path, full of stones and potholes, forcing them to be completely careful not to fall.
"If you look to the right, when we pass that curve, you will be able to see Hogwarts." Said the giant.
Harry looked to the right excitedly expecting to see the school where he would live for seven years. When they could see it, Harry's breath caught… It was beautiful! It reminded the boy of the castles in the fairy tales that his mother had read to his younger brother, plus, there was such a feeling… a feeling that came from the castle that welcomed you like a mother welcomes her child.
Not much later, they found an immense lake, where about ten or twelve boats were waiting for them to cross it. The giant entered one of them and shouted that no more than four children should enter per boat, then he touched his with a pink umbrella and as one, all the boats began to move across the dark waters. Harry, accompanied by Terry, Neville, and Hermione watched with fascination the image of the castle reflecting against the black waters...
The journey ended somewhat abruptly when they entered a cave where a kind of port appeared where the boats docked and allowed the children to disembark. After that, the group walked almost in complete darkness, before reaching some immense stairs and a large door. The big man raised his hand and called, making the sound echo throughout the cave, and then they waited...
[T/N, Agh so much dialog!!!!! My wrists hurt. If you find a mistake that has given me the slip, don't hesitate to tell me and please drop some stones.]
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