Chapter 2: Train Journey

On the first day of September, Grandma Rosier personally dropped Alyssa and Toby off. Over the last two months, Toby developed two new spells, respectively one to talk to animals and the all-time favorite, Rasengan. Since his mana quantity had doubled again, approximately bringing him to the mana quantity of a fourth-year student, he could use and start creating more powerful spells from now on. He also used the diary and obtained an eye patch. His diary contained a new entry

Zaraki Kenpachi's eye patch: Surpresses magic power by forty percent. When removed, power is shortly amplified to 120%.

His birthday consisted of him being congratulated by a bunch of wizards from the Alliance. Although Wilson, Cedric, and Cassandra couldn't drop by, they still sent him a letter and gave him some gifts. Toby also received a special gift from Alyssa. It was a rare albino snake. His eyes were ruby red, which went well with his white/pinkish scales.

Unfortunately, Toby was not a Parseltongue, but he had the next best thing, magic. He created a spell to talk to all animals. This allowed him to bond with his newly named snake, Mitsuki. Mitsuki was a pretty curious snake. She loved to slither around and stare at prey as if judging whether it was worth the chase.

When they reached the station, Rosier checked all their belongings.

"Alyssa, did you bring your totem?"

"Yes"

"Your Suitcase"

"Yes"

"The portkey disguised as a bracelet"

"Yes"

"Wait," interrupted Toby," Why does she need a portkey?"

Rosier sighed," This year, I'm not coming with you. Naturally, I would be nervous. I have added some black magic artifacts to protect Alyssa if she is attacked and some items are enchanted to teleport her to the mansion."

After saying goodbye to Rosier, Toby and Alyssa settled down in an empty compartment. They were joined by the rest of the members of Pandora's box successively. Wilson wanted to talk, but Alyssa stopped him by shaking her head," Not yet, let the journey begin."

Once the train started, Wilson began to talk," Three Months! Why hasn't anyone contacted me in three months?"

"Er- Prefect Wilson, you didn't give us any method to contact you. Especially since you don't have an owl," said Toby.

"Forget about that," said Alyssa," Cassandra, show them our new form of communication."

"Is it done already?" Cedric looked forward to the new sense of common identity.

Cassandra pulled out a deck of cards from her suitcase."This deck is called the Starry Sky. It is made by an inventor that I hired. Each card costs 30 Galleons so don't come up with stupid excuses like 'I lost my card' or a dark wizard suddenly ambushed me and broke my card.'"

"30 Galleons!" exclaimed Wilson," Are you sure that you weren't scammed by that inventor."

Cassandra rolled her eyes," Each card is made of precious materials and the magical circuit is finely laid. Trust me, it's definitely worth its cost."

"So what does it do?" asked Cedric.

"On the back of the card," said Cassandra," We can think of a message."

Cassandra held a King of Hearts card and thought of something in her head. Immediately, the back of all the cards started glowing red and a king and a heart symbol appeared on the top right corner. In the center of the card, the stars started glowing red and realigned to read," Meeting at 9:00 at night."

"Wow," Toby voiced out what everyone was thinking.

Satisfied with everyone's reactions, Cassandra pulled out the Joker card and gave it to Alyssa.

"Alyssa, this is your card. It is the 53 card that exists outside the deck. Whenever you think of a message, all the stars shine purple, which is your unique color. Red cards glow red and the black cards glow blue."

Alyssa took the remaining 52 cards and searched through the deck. She pulled out the four king cards and said," Since you four are my first followers, you can become the four kings of the deck respectively. As king, you have the highest authority in selecting other members of Pandora's box."

Cassandra went first and took the King of Hearts Card. Cedric closed his eyes and randomly selected the King of Diamonds. Wilson took the King of Clubs, leaving Toby with the King of Spades.

Alyssa smiled," I did not select you four randomly to become kings. I chose you guys for a reason. Wilson is graduating in two years. He will be the first of us to exit Hogwarts, so he needs to build forces outside of Hogwarts. A house of clubs, consisting of high-end members of society from all around the world. Cassandra's task is to recruit undercover wizards so that no one will suspect that we are related. In the eyes of the outside world, Cassandra and I have a competitive rivalry, so she is best suited for this task. Cedric's task is to gather elites. People good at fast and silent spellcasting can be collected. Any questions?"

"What about me," asked Toby.

"Toby… I am going to let you remain autonomous. You don't have any specific stream to develop in, so just gather your own forces independently. Just check in with me before you invite anyone." said Alyssa.

"Like a hole card?" asked Wilson.

"Hole Card?" asked Alyssa, unfamiliar with its terminology.

"It is an unpredictable advantage that we have that others do not," said Wilson. "That's what my uncle told me the last time that we went to America for vacation."

"Wilson, you're part American?" asked Toby.

"I'm not American," said Wilson," My mother's sister married an American and they moved to the U.S., so I sometimes go there for vacation. They even adopted a dog. Her name is Helen Green, but now she's Helen Wick."

'Wick? Why does that name sound so familiar?' thought Toby, but he didn't remain on the topic much longer.

…

In another compartment of the Hogwarts train, a fateful meeting was taking place.

Harry Potter was just a young eleven-year-old boy who had been told that he was actually a celebrity in a society that consisted of wizards. When a boy is thrown into this scenario, he might grow complacent and arrogant, but Harry is different. He was not consumed by arrogance, but he looked forward to this exciting new world.

While sitting alone in a compartment, Harry looked outside the window when a red-haired boy knocked on the door and asked," I'm sorry, all the other compartments are full. Is this seat taken?"

Harry recognized Ron as the son of the Weasley family. They had just helped him in finding platform 9 ¾, so naturally, he held a good impression of them.

"Not at all, there's plenty of room here," said Harry.

Ron settled down on the seat opposite of Harry's.

"Hey, Ron. " The twins that Harry had seen before were back. Harry instantly labeled them as a mischievous sort.

"Listen, we're going down the middle of the train -- Lee Jordan's got a giant tarantula down there. "

"Right," mumbled Ron.

"Harry," said the other twin, "did we introduce ourselves? Fred and George Weasley. And this is Ron, our brother. See you later, then. "

"Bye," said Harry and Ron. The twins slid the compartment door shut behind them.

"Are you really Harry Potter?" Ron blurted out, to which Harry 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 Harry's forehead. Harry pulled back his bangs to show the lightning scar. Ron started.

"So that's where You-Know-Who -- ?"

"Yes," said Harry, "but I can't remember it. "

"Nothing?" said Ron eagerly.

"Well -- I remember a lot of green light, but nothing else. "

"Wow," said Ron. He sat and stared at Harry for a few moments, then, as though he had suddenly realized what he was doing, he looked quickly out of the window again.

"Are all your family wizards?" asked Harry, who found Ron just as interesting as Ron found him.

"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. "

"Actually, we are not allowed to learn magic before we get our wands," said Ron,"I dunno why but at least we won't be behind everyone else, right?"

"Yeah," agreed Harry. Harry also shared some of his life experiences. After all, he'd never had any money in his life until a month ago, and he told Ron so, all about having to wear Dudley's old clothes and never getting proper birthday presents. This seemed to cheer Ron up.

". . . and until Hagrid told me, I didn't know anything about being a wizard or about my parents or Voldemort--"

Ron gasped.

"What?" said Harry.

"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 Harry, "I just never knew you shouldn't. See what I mean? I've got loads to learn. . . I bet," he added, voicing for the first time something that had been worrying him a lot lately, "I bet I'm the worst in the class. "

"You won't be. There are loads of people who come from Muggle families and they learn quickly enough. In fact, there are two really amazing wizards who are actually muggle-born like us."

"Really!?" Harry leaned forward in anticipation and curiosity.

"My brothers told me about them," said Ron," Toby and Alyssa are the ones who joined just one year before us. I don't know much about Alyssa, but everyone in my family knows about Toby."

"What about Toby? What did he do?" asked Harry.

"Toby pulled out the Sword of Gryffindor." said Ron excitedly.

"The Sword of Gryffindor?"

"It's the artifact of Gryffindor. It is said that only a true Gryffindor could pull out the sword. With the sword, Toby has a right to compete to be the principal of Hogwarts. It's a shame that Toby went to Ravenclaw."

"Why?" asked Harry.

"No one knows," says Ron," But now everyone is hoping that some can pull out the Sword of Gryffindor again. There's a lot of pressure this year. "

As they continued talking, they heard a knocking sound, disturbing their conversation. A round-faced boy Harry had passed on platform nine and three-quarters came in. He looked tearful.

"Sorry," he said, "but have you seen a toad at all?"

When they shook their heads, he wailed, "I've lost him! He keeps getting away from me!"

"He'll turn up," said Harry.

"Yes," said the boy miserably. "Well, if you see him. . . "

As the boy left, Ron commented," I can't see why he's complaining. If I had a toad, I would have lost it the second I received it. Looking at his appearance, I don't think he has a chance of pulling out the Gryffindor sword.

"Don't say that, Ron!" Harry frowned," Maybe the toad is very meaningful to him."

Ron pulled out his pet rat," 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. . . "

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.

"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. Scrabbers stayed gray 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.

"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 dazed.

"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, 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.

"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, I bet he knew it was a dud. "

"What house are your brothers in?" asked Harry.

"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. "

Ron continued the conversation, talking about quidditch this time, when the compartment door slid open yet again, but it wasn't Neville the toadless boy, or Hermione Granger this time.

Draco Malfoy entered with his two henchmen Crabbe and Goyle. "Is it true?" he said. "They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?"

"Yes," said Harry. He was looking 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 Harry 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.

"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. "

He turned back to Harry. "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 Harry's, but Harry didn't take it.

"I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks," he said coolly.

A pink tinge appeared on his pale cheeks because of this humiliation. He wanted to continue to argue, but suddenly, a Perfect announced that Hogwarts was approaching and told everyone to change their clothes.

Draco gave them a stink eye and said," We'll continue this again. This ain't over."

Harry reflected on his day so far. His compartment had been barged into three times. He was mentioned in about a dozen books. Everyone treated him like a hero, but only he knew that he was nobody special. He had already made enemies with a pompous rich brat. Based on his experience dealing with Dudley, he inferred that Draco would not let him go that easily. Suddenly, he was not looking forward to the school year.