4 First impressions

Sept 1, 1991

"Are you sure, you have packed in everything? what about your toothbrush?....."

I tuned out of Mother's worried rants, it would seem that she was more nervous than me. Well, I couldn't blame her, this will be the longest I have been away from her, it would be a lonely 3 months for both of us.

Collecting my thoughts, I spoke up

"I have triple checked everything mom, so don't worry. I promise that I will write to you every week. Okay?"

"Well, if you say so honey," she said with a sad smile. I hugged her and got on the bus( a normal one, coz I was broke on wizarding money.)

After I paid for the fare and got seated, I took out the Hogwarts express ticket, Minerva gave it to me when she dropped me home. The barrier between 9th and 10th platform had a muggle repelling ward so unless I hold to my mother's hand, she wouldn't be able to pass through. Either way, I was not comfortable with bringing my mother to the wizarding world for now due to my own reasons. I feared that she would have a panic attack if she was surrounded by all those wizards as it will bring back painful memories of helplessness and loneliness. I didn't want her to relapse into alcoholism.

I was brought out of my musings by the conductor's whistle, we had reached the destination.

Looking at my old wristwatch, that mother presented me a few years back, I still had about half an hour before the train departs.

As I neared the barrier I removed my watch and took out its battery, I had read that magic interferes with operating electronic circuits causing them to short circuit( the wizarding wireless still used the outdated vacuum diodes instead of transistors). This was the reason why wizardkind congregational sites which were built upon the intersection of ley lines had CCTV malfunctions and no one has accidentally captured the magic on the footage.

I would be needing research on enchanting if I wished to use my wristwatch at Hogwarts, well I added it to my list of pet projects.

My pet projects for this year included

1. Gathering information on the philosopher stone. I had my doubts whether Nicolas Flamel gave the real stone to dumbles.

2. Research protective enchantments and get started upon warding,(Hey I am not claiming to master it, just get started, get a feel for it, if you catch my drift)

3. Check my name on the Marauder's map and if possible studying its charms. I planned on replicating it if possible.

The list was still open and I would add things that intrigue me.

I made my way towards the barrier separating the wizarding station, once I reached that place, I slowly started to run towards it, as I got near it I couldn't but help close my eyes on reflex, it felt like brushing against a soft fabric before I opened my eyes. The first thing that I sensed was the cacophony of mixed conversations, the platform was packed and behind them stood the majestic red engine. It was very nice indeed.

I had to make my way squeezing through crowd to board the train, then it took 5 minutes to find an empty compartment, I didn't know which one Harry and Ron would eventually occupy but I didn't care as I would meet them soon enough, with these thoughts I stored my trunk in my compartment and came outside to look for things that could catch my interest.

The platform did indeed have a newspaper kiosk and a...... candy shop? why were they so hung up on candy, there will be an old lady selling candy in the train too, were these kids jacked up on sugar all the time. Putting that thought behind, I went towards the kiosk.

I looked through the headlines without actually buying any paper, they had Daily Prophet, a French paper and surprisingly, the Quibbler.

The Daily prophet talked about the lowest number of students attending Hogwarts since the end of Grindelwald war. Well, that was true, Voldy and his friends did kill many eligible parents.

My attention soon turned towards the people on the platform, I looked for anyone resembling an important character. After a few tries, I did find a few.

There was an old man, who I assumed was Amos Diggory, as he was bragging about his son "Cedric this.....Cedric that.....", there was a blushing boy near him, it must be Cedric. I feel you, bro, I too would be embarrassed.

There was a middle-aged lady with a monocle, she was with a petite ginger head girl who was talking animatedly with a brown-haired girl, so that must be Amelia and Susan Bones and her friend must be Hannah Abbott I guess?.

Then there was this stern looking, old lady, who was doting on a chubby blond boy, if I hadn't seen the toad in the boy's hand then I would have never guessed the old lady to be Augusta effing Longbottom. Well, you can't blame me, I was led to believe that she would be wearing the stuffed vulture hat all the time.

I was brought out of my musing when I heard a loud chattering noise behind me, I turned to see a group of tall redheads followed by a raven-haired boy coming my way, well "Enter Harry Potter". Was tallness a Weasley trait or Prewett trait? I didn't know.

I moved out of their way and watched from distance, the twins were the most prominent ones in the group, making jokes about their stuck up the ass brother Percy who acted like he wasn't related to these people. Percy after taking to Molly(i was sure) made a beeline towards an older girl wearing a Ravenclaw prefect badge who was smiling at him. Ah, that must be Penny Clearwater, a Muggle-born if I remembered correctly.

The other prominent member of their group was a little girl who was giggling at the twins jokes, I got to say, Ginny Weasley was cute as hell.

I noticed that Harry Potter didn't stay and left as soon as he crossed the barrier, I surmised that he was kind of jealous about the whole family thing. The whistling of the train brought me back from my 'Sherlock deduction mode' and I hurried to board it. I found my way to the compartment where I kept my trunk and found it occupied by a few older students as their robes had house colours. I was glad that Harry Potter was not in my compartment as I didn't want to deal with Malfoy just yet. I am new to this world and I didn't have the connections yet. I could still be killed at a blink of an eye and people wouldn't care. Mind you, I wasn't afraid of Draco, as I know, I am powerful in my own age group, it was Lucius and the upper year goons he has hired to watch out for his son that I was worried about.

I entered the compartment to retrieve my own robes and went in search of the loo to change.

I took my sweet time to change because there was no rush, most dumb fucks would procrastinate till the last moment, fight over who goes first, and throw in a bit of house pride and rivalry to it then we get the recipe on 'how to get detention even before the term starts'.

As I walked back to my compartment, I came across Neville, all teary-eyed and meek, he was currently talking to one of the seniors in my compartment, and they were mocking him. Neville being the good guy he was didn't get angry and came outside to continue his search for his toad.

I simply couldn't make a connection between this one and what he will turn into at the battle of Hogwarts.

I decided to make contact but I didn't want to be seen as too eager so, I just tried to walk past him acting uninterested.

As I anticipated he stopped me " Hey, have you seen a toad?, I lost my pet Trevor, he is this big, brown with a lot of warts"

Target took the bait, okay moving in for the kill

" I haven't seen one, but I know of a way to find it,"

His face lit up with hope, and he waited for me to continue.

"It would cost you a sickle" I reached out my hand.

He looks at me like I grew a second head, didn't he know that people don't do shit for free, how pampered was he anyways......... come on he was a pureblood for Pete's sake.

After gawking at me for like a minute, he takes out a man's purse and gave me a sickle.

I pocketed it and took out my wand and placed it in my palm like a compass.

"It's a simple spell, and you would have to perform it yourself as I haven't seen the toad in flesh, place your wand like I have and imagine your familiar, and say 'Point me'. The wand will then point in the direction of the toad"

My wandless summoning wouldn't have worked as I didn't know how the toad looked, without a precise mental image the magic will not be able to pull off the charm. So, I used this simple spell instead, which one can find at the end of the 1st year charms book, it wasn't particularly popular spell as it could be easily warded against with enchantments and it doesn't tell you the distance. Well, I guess that's why it was available for public access.

His face assumes a pained look, he lowers his head and whispers something, if I were not close, I would have missed it "I can't do magic properly"

I took in a deep breath, he is admitting defeat even before he tries, what is wrong with him, his low self-esteem would need major work I guess.

"Look, um what was your name again?" I had to fake it as I cannot show familiarity with anyone in this world.

"Oh sorry, my name is Neville Longbottom, pleased to meet you" he even did a small head nod, jeez these purebloods, I need to get used to them real quick or I might accidentally offend someone too powerful for me to kill.....yet

"Well, hello Neville, my name is Nathanial Storm, its a pleasure," I too imitated his little head nod.

"Okay Neville, let me ask you this, did you get your Hogwarts letter?" he nods, "Then you can do magic fine enough to get accepted. Alright why don't you first try it, just visualize the toad and say 'Point me', it's simple, I will correct you if you're wrong, sounds like a deal?" he nods again.

The first attempt was a failure, the second attempt too was a failure, he looks at me accusingly.

I sigh deeply "Is your toad precious to you Neville? do you care about it? for all you know some devious fellow might be preparing your toad to make a potion ingredient out of it, how would that make you feel? try to focus on that emotion and do it again. No pressure."

His face paled at first, then it became red with anger and he nearly shouts out the incantation. This time his wand moves pointing in the direction towards the front of the train.

"There you go, Neville, you did brilliantly, now let's go collect your Toad shall we?"

His face cracks up a smile and he nods enthusiastically, so we set out in the direction pointed by the wand.

It turns out the toad had made its way to the coal feeding area of the engine, it was there for the heat I surmised, how it could stand that heat? I had no idea. Thanking the driver, who was a very old dude, we made our way back, only to run into Hermione.

"Hey Neville, I couldn't find..... oh it seems like you found it," she said and turned her gaze towards me, furrowing her eyebrows, I suppose she recognized me from somewhere but didn't know from where.

I saved her the trouble and introduced myself.

"Hey, my name is Nathanial Storm, we met at the orientation...."

She finally remembered and just nodded "Hello, I recognized you but I couldn't remember your name, my name is Hermione Granger, nice to meet you....again." she finished.

"Thanks for the help earlier Hermione, Nathanial here taught me a spell to find Trevor, it is the 'Point me' spell," said Neville excitedly.

"Yeah I know, so I will get back now, you should probably change into your school robes, we will be arriving soon" she walked away to her compartment.

Well, I guess she didn't want to use magic and instead use the toad as an excuse to try and make some friends I guess.

After that, I said goodbye to Neville and made my way to my compartment but not before Neville ran after me to give me a chocolate frog as a thank you gift.

Well either he loves his toad too much or he bats the other way, I prayed it was the first option.

Neville's compartment.

Neville shared the compartment with, Hermione, Lavender Brown, the Patil twins.

Lavender and Parvati were heatedly discussing the fashion choices listed in this weeks "Witches Weekly", while Padma was reading a book.

Hermione entered the compartment and opened up her trunk to retrieve her spell book and searched for a spell in the index.

'Arggh, I can't believe I forgot about that spell......, I even bragged to Harry effing Potter that I read all the term books by heart. Oh god, I must use the remaining time to revise all I have learnt' she started a revision frenzy.