38 chapter 6:Traveling To Hogwarts

"Bye mum, bye dad." Hermione gave her parents a hug, then looked over to where Neville and Harry were standing by the fireplace and carefully not paying any attention to her tearful separation from her parents.

"Take care." Joan smiled as Hermione finally released her hug and slowly trudged over to join the other two.

"I'm ready." She said and Harry offered the bowl of Floo powder to her. Hermione patted her pocket to ensure that her shrunken trunk was still there before taking a pinch of the sparkling powder and throwing it into the fireplace. As the flames turned green, she announced her destination.

"Platform Nine and three quarters!"

Neville and Harry watched her vanish, then Neville gave Harry a mischievous look.

"Since you still tend to come out at high speed, I'll go next so I have a chance of catching you. Platform Nine and three quarters!"

Neville vanished through the flames before Harry could launch a comeback and he looked at his smiling audience.

"It's been good having you here." He told them. "If you wish to wait before going back, Jor-El will be happy to look after you."

"Thanks, but we need to head out now anyway." Ronald shrugged. "Those teeth won't fix themselves. Look after my angel for me, won't you? I'll have the wardrobe installed in her room by the end of the day, so we won't need to drive all the way out here when we meet up at Christmas."

"I look forwards to seeing you then." Harry grinned as he returned the bowl to the mantelpiece, then threw the pinch of powder in his hand into the fireplace. "Platform Nine and three quarters!"

Harry stepped into the now-green fire and felt the world spinning around him, then something impacted him, sending him careening in a direction that he'd never felt before. The whirling fireplaces around him spun faster and faster, then he found himself flying out of the fireplace and into a place that he didn't recognize.

"Ow." He muttered as he picked himself up and looked round, pausing at the odd style of buildings outside the window of the bar he had ended up in. "Erm, where am I?"

"English?" A heavyset man with a huge beard asked and Harry nodded. "Ha! You far from England. Zis Bulgaria! How you get here?"

Harry had a brief mental image of the House Elf that had told him that he shouldn't head to Hogwarts. "I think I have an idea. However, I don't think I'll be trusting the Floo again for a while."

"Learn Apparition." The man advised, smirking slightly as he raised his beer stein for another drink while behind the bar, the Bartender polished a glass with the air of a man who had seen everything. "Floo is easy for others to control and send you where not want to go. Apparition safer."

"Thanks." Harry shrugged, then he made his way out of the building. Once outside, he reached into one of his inner pockets, extracting a metal-framed crystal. Glancing around to check no-one was within easy hearing range, he lifted the crystal so that he could speak into it.

"Jor-El?"

"Yes, Kal-El?" The AI responded through the small ear-bud in Harry's ear canal. "You do not appear to be on the train."

"I'm not. The Floo system was interfered with." Harry grumbled. "I need transport. Have you finished building that shuttle you mentioned a couple of weeks ago yet?"

"The shuttle is complete and its stealth systems are fully functional." Jor-El replied. "Calculating flight-paths now. I suggest that you head to to the outskirts of the village for pickup."

"On my way." Harry said, then he returned the comm to his pocket, then he looked round and pulled out the comm again. "Jor-El, just out of interest, exactly where am I?"

"The town you are in is called Nadarevo, sir, local time is ten to one in the afternoon. Utilising triangulation, I calculate that you are currently standing about twenty meters from the road designated 5102. I would advise turning left onto it and continuing until you reach the field on the left."

"Thanks." Harry disconnected and started walking, glancing at the sun which was past its apec. "Damn, I wonder how long the shuttle will take? And how good its stealth system is. A pickup in daylight? Not good…"

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"What happened to him?" Hermione fretted as she looked out of the window at the platform now starting to slide away. "He was just behind us with the Floo…"

"He may have mis-pronounced the name and ended up somewhere else." Neville mused, trying to calm Hermione down. "He's sensible. He'll probably send Grace to Hogwarts requesting a pickup or simply catch the Knight Bus."

"The what?" Hermione asked, distracted despite herself.

"It's one of the alternative ways of getting places." Neville began his explanation. "My gran hates it, but that's because it isn't very comfortable. It's a purple triple-decker bus…"

Hermione listened, absolutely fascinated, as Neville explained about the vehicle in question.

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The comm in his pocket vibrated and Harry reached for it.

"Yes?"

"The shuttle has arrived, sir. Please prepare for pickup."

Harry looked round at the horizon, seeing nothing more unusual than a few oddly-shaped clouds. "I don't see it. Where is it?"

"Directly above you and descending, sir."

Harry blinked, then looked up. For a long moment, he only saw the overcast sky, then as if by magic, a line appeared in thin air, expanding to reveal the inside of what was obviously a cargo hold.

"Extending stealth field and activating tractor beam, sir."

Harry grinned as he was lifted off his feet, rising into the invisible craft.

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"Мисля, че може да са имали твърде много бира ..."

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Harry looked down at the shrinking gap between the closing doors, then he felt himself being lowered onto them as they finished closing, forming the deck of the hold.

"Cool." He admitted, then looked round. A line of emitters ran across the mid-line of the top of the hold, one of them powering down from its task of plucking him from the field. Towards what was obviously the front, a wall-mounted ladder on the left led up to a balcony and an open door through which the cockpit was probably located. Below the balcony, the hold continued (albeit at a significantly reduced height) until it ended at an angled ramp.

"This is a cargo shuttle." Harry said slowly. "I thought you'd send a passenger one."

"The passenger shuttle is still under construction, sir." Jor-El's voice echoed through the cargo bay.

Harry looked round again, then strode over to the ladder. Climbing up it, he stepped onto the balcony, pausing just long enough to glance down through the mesh that served as the deck, then moving to the hatch leading to the cockpit. Stepping through, he paused again.

"What are behind these hatches?" He asked, gesturing to the doorways flanking the main hatch.

"That would be the refresher unit and the galley, sir. The toilet, sink and sonic shower are behind the hatch to your left while the galley is behind the hatch on the right. Bunks are located on the bulkheads facing forwards."

Harry stepped forwards and looked. Sure enough, there were three bunks built into the forward bulkheads of the two compartments.

"…huh. Nice. Hmmm, may as well get changed. Shame I don't need a snack or a nap at the moment…"

.

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"So, here you… where's Potter?"

Hermione and Neville looked up from the game that they were playing and the new arrival stared blankly at the board with dozens of plastic pieces on it.

"What's that game?" Draco asked curiously.

"It's called Risk." Hermione said. "We were just getting started. And something happened to Harry, he's making his way to Hogwarts separately… we think…"

"Oh, okay." Draco shrugged, then his gaze sharpened "Is that a map of the world? What's the aim of this game?"

"World conquest." Neville shrugged, picking up three red dice while Hermione scooped up two white ones.

Draco turned and hissed a couple of words to Crabbe and Goyle, causing them to nod and then shamble off, before turning back to the confused Ravenclaws.

"It looks rather interesting. May I join in, please?"

Hermione gave Neville a startled look at Draco's unexpected politeness.

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"We have arrived, sir." Jor-El said and Harry sat up, looking out of the window.

"Yep, there it is. Are you getting good readings on it?"

"I am indeed, sir, despite the large amounts of magic surrounding it."

"Those would be the wards." Harry shrugged. "Drop me just outside the gates, will you? I don't know what effect the wards will have on this shuttle."

"Understood, sir." The AI said. "I have already deployed scanner remotes, once they are in position I will be able to give you a real-time plot on all living beings within this… building."

Harry grinned at the mild disdain that infused the last words, then he picked up his trunk as the hatch hissed open.

"I'll be back for the Christmas break. Or I may pop back for the weekends via the trunk."

"Very good, sir. With your permission, I'll find a place nearby to park the shuttle, just in case you need it."

Harry dropped down to the ground and began walking towards the gates of Hogwarts, noting the armed centaurs flanking it.

"Heh, I wonder what Hermione will say when she arrives." He laughed to himself.

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"Yes! I've broken through your defenses!"

Draco winced as Hermione plucked his last army off the country it was defending and moved nine of her own armies in, clearing the way for her to stab into his virtually undefended interior.

"I think I'll stop for now." Hermione decided and Draco blinked.

"What? Why would you… oh, I get it! I'm out of position, so I can't launch a proper counter-attack yet against your current forces but if you advance further, I could nip in round behind you. Clever."

"My turn." Neville said as he picked up the red dice. "I'll attack the Western United States."

"Nuts." Hermione groused as she picked up the two defending dice and glowered at the two armies she had defending the territory. Both of them rolled and Hermione sighed.

"You're lucky with those."

"Luckier than you think." Neville smirked as he removed the defending armies and replaced them with two of his own. "That's eighteen territories I hold, with at least two armies in each."

Hermione and Draco both glared at the mission card that Neville had triumphantly placed on the board, then Hermione sighed.

"I had Conquer Asia and South America. You?"

"Conquer Asia and Africa." Draco sighed, dropping the relevant card on the table and glaring at the area both had been sparring for control of and yet which was almost completely under Neville's command. "Good game, though. I see that I'm going to need to work on my tactical skills."

Hermione began tidying up, placing the plastic armies in their relevant compartments and Neville gathered the cards, shuffling them into a neat pile. Within moments, Hermione was closing the box and Draco glanced up at the luggage rack, frowning at the lack of trunks on it.

"At the risk of sounding ignorant, what happened to your…"

Draco trailed off as Hermione placed her shrunken trunk on the floor and tapped it with her wand to expand it.

"Ah, that explains it." He noted before standing up. "Thank you for allowing me to play. It was very interesting and I believe I learned quite a bit from it. Until later."

Bowing, Draco exited the compartment, leaving the duo staring after him.

"What the hell happened to him over the summer?" Hermione finally asked.

"Not a clue." Neville replied. "Not a clue. Think it'll last?"

Hermione shrugged.

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"Ah, Lord Potter. Eager to resume learning?" Dumbledore twinkled as Harry descended the stairs from his dormitory, having placed his trunk at the foot of his bed.

"Headmaster." Harry returned politely.

"I am surprised that you are not on the train with your friends however." Albus continued.

"Something went wrong, so I had to use alternative transportation." Harry admitted."It got me here quite fast and I had Hagrid let me in… after a bit of a discussion with the centaurs guarding the gate. I see Norbert's grown quite a bit during the summer. There seemed to be quite a few people there, too."

"Yes, she has." Albus agreed. "Unfortunately, she is starting to get too big for the area we keep for her. Within the hour, she will be being transported to Romania."

"Hagrid'll be disappointed." Harry noted.

"Bereft would be a more appropriate word, I feel." Albus sighed, causing Harry to nod in agreement. "His heart is perhaps the only thing bigger than his stature. Apropos of nothing, I read about your little party with interest…"

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Draco entered a compartment and sat down, looking across to where Crabbe and Goyle were sat, then to beside him where Nott was giving him a curious look.

"What?"

"Where were you?" Nott asked and Draco snorted.

"I was trying to take over the world. It was quite an interesting experience and proved to me that we Purebloods don't have the monopoly on worthy ideas."

Nott stared at him, obviously trying to work out if he was joking.

"Longbottom was the victor. He's a lot sneakier than I thought, I'll have to keep an eye on him."

Nott continued staring and Draco rose, reaching up to pull his trunk off the luggage rack.

"We should be arriving soon, I think it's time for me to get changed."

"Wait." Nott said and Draco glanced at him. "I have to know… why?"

"My mother was given an interesting list by one of her friends a while back and I decided to use one of the items on it." Draco smirked. "Declare peace every so often. It confuses the hell out of your enemies."

Nott's eyes widened with sudden understanding.

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"There's the station!" Ginny Weasley bounced in her seat while Luna looked up from the book that she was writing in.

"I hope I get sorted into Ravenclaw." The blond girl smiled. "It will be nice to finally meet our pen-pal in real life."

Ginny nodded in agreement as the train began slowing to a stop.