Chapter 16— Hogwarts Express

~Fun Fact: Dumbledore wanted students to go after the stone, not only did he not ward the entrance to the third floor but even basically dared the students to explore the third floor.

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There was one day left until September first and we were currently in Diagon Alley because someone, I shall not name names, forgot to stop by The Magical Menagerie so that Harry and I could buy ourselves a pet. So that's where we were on our way to. We had just finished our Potions lesson with dad and were walking down the streets of the Alley. The Magical Menagerie was a pet shop located in the northern side of Diagon Alley across the street from Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour.

As we walked into the shop, a bell rang overhead and the sound of it signalled complete pandemonium. There wasn't much room inside the shop. Every inch of wall was hidden by cages. It was smelly and noisy because the occupants of these cages were all squeaking, squawking, jabbering or hissing. You could see all kinds of animals — Streelers, Fire Crabs, sleek black rats that were very intelligent, owls, ravens, cats of every colour, Puffskeins, transforming rabbits, snakes and much more. My gaze was immediately drawn to a cute black kitten with Amber eyes (See paragraph comment). Carrying it as if it were fragile, which it probably was, I looked to see the gender of the kitten.

'Hey diddle, diddle. It has a fiddle.' I thought as I walked over to the counter. I cleared my throat, gaining the tired looking saleswoman's attention.

"Excuse me ma'am, how much for this kitten?" I asked politely, holding up the kitten.

"Well considering that it's pretty much a full blooded Kneazle, it'll be 15 Galleons please." She said, yawning.

"Hold on a moment." I said, running back to dad. "Dad, I need 15 Galleons for my pet. Can I have some money please?"

"Sure" He said as he handed me a sum of 15 Galleons. His eyes darted around the room, finally settling on the snakes, as he folded his arms and started tapping his foot on the wooden floor.

'I reckon dad has mild ophidiophobia.' I thought as the ex-psychology student in me resurfaced. (See paragraph comment for definition)

I walked back to the counter and handed the saleswoman the money. Picking up the kitten from the counter, I patted his head as I thought of a name.

"Hmm...Your name will be Ozzy!" I declared, the now dubbed Ozzy purring in what seemed to be contentment.

I looked for Harry, whose attention seemed to be fixed onto a majestic snowy owl with intelligent eyes perched near the only window in the shop.

'If that's who I think it is...' I thought.

Walking up to Harry, I tapped his shoulder.

"Hey Harry!" I said, grabbing his attention. "What've we got here?"

"I like this owl. Plus I read that Wizards send each other mail through the Owl Postal Service." He said.

"Come on then, dad seems like he has half a mind to bolt out of the door." I said.

He looked towards dad and laughed as he walked towards the counter, owl in hand. Harry, unsurprisingly, decided to name his owl Hedwig. Paying the price for the owl, we walked out the door and across the street to the ice cream parlour.

"Hey there Florean!" Dad said genially as he walked up to a young, Auburn haired man.

"Oh hello Adam, little Yan and Harry." He said grinning. "I see you've just bought your pets."

Mr. Fortescue was the owner of Fortescue's Ice Cream parlour and since we'd come to his shop every week for ice cream after our lessons, he knew us pretty well.

"Hi Mr. Fortescue." Harry and I said happily.

"Yeah, look at this cutie!" I said showing him Ozzy.

"What'll you be having?" He asked, chuckling at Ozzy.

"Vanilla for me, cookie dough for Yan and chocolate for Harry please." Dad said, bringing out a pouch.

"Alright, that'll be 3 Galleons please." Said Fortescue, as he began scooping our orders.

When he was finished, he put our orders on the counter.

"Hey little buddy." I said to Ozzy. "I'm going to eat ice cream so can you find somewhere on me that you can sit on until then?"

I stared at his intelligent amber eyes as he nodded imperceptibly. He then climbed onto my shoulder and settled down into a comfortable position.

'Damn, that's one smart cat' I thought proudly.

Walking out of the shop, we found a bench that we could sit on as we ate our ice creams in peace and quiet.

*****

Harry and I woke at five o'clock the next morning, too excited to go back to sleep. I got up and put on a black turtleneck sweater and jeans. There was no way I was going to walk in the middle of the station dressed like a madman. We checked our Hogwarts lists to make sure we had everything we needed, doubled checked that Hedwig and Ozzy were shut safely in their respective cages, and then went down for breakfast. Surprisingly, mum and dad were already awake. Mum said that she knew we wouldn't be able to sleep so she and dad got up at 4:30 to make us pancakes. Luckily for me and Harry, we both loved pancakes so it didn't take long to make and it took even less time to eat. An hour later, our suitcases had been loaded into dad's car and we set off for King's Cross.

We got to King's Cross at quarter-past ten. Mum and dad put our suitcases and pets inside two carts and wheeled them for us. It was then that Harry pulled out the ticket to the Hogwarts Express.

"Um, guys." He said, gathering our attention as we slowed down. "The ticket says that the Hogwarts Express departs from platform nine and three-quarters at eleven o'clock. But there is no platform nine and three-quarters, is there?" He asked, confused.

Mum and dad gave him equally mysterious smiles. "Don't worry, you'll find out soon enough." Dad said, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

We walked on for a while until we came to a stop in front of platforms nine and ten.

"Ah, here we are. Platform nine -- platform 10." Dad said. "Now boys, the name of the game is simple. You're going to run at the wall in-between platforms nine and ten."

"W-We're going to do what?!" Harry exclaimed.

Mum and dad's bodies shook with mirth as they wiped tears from their eyes.

"Alright that's enough teasing, Adam." Mum said wiping the last of her tears away. "Don't worry boys, each of us will run in with you. Adam and Yan, you guys go first and then me and Harry will follow you."

Dad came up behind me as he put the palms of his hands on the cart handles just next to my hands.

"Alright little Yan, you ready?" He asked me, smiling.

"Yup!" I said, grinning back at him.

We started running as we gradually picked up speed and got closer and closer to the wall. Although I knew that we wouldn't crash into the wall, I still closed my eyes at the moment before impact. Slowly opening my eyes, I saw a scarlet steam engine waiting next to a platform with a few parents and their very nervous children spread out sparsely across it. Smoke from the engine drifted over the heads of the few people on the platform and the first few carriages seemed to already be occupied by a group of children hanging out of the window to talk to their parents. However, my sightseeing was interrupted by Harry yelping as him and mum passed through the barrier.

"Hey Harry, how was the wall?" I asked him, laughing.

"Oh shut it Yan! I saw you close your eyes just as you entered!" He retorted, effectively shutting me up.

Mum and dad laughed at our little squabble.

"By the way Harry." Dad said. "Look behind you."

We both turned as we saw a wrought-iron archway where the magical wall had been, with the words 'Platform Nine and Three-Quarters' on it.

"Oh." Said Harry as he turned around and looked at a sign overhead that read 'Hogwarts' Express, eleven o'clock'. "I guess it really is a platform."

*****

Around fifteen minutes had passed and it was now quarter to eleven. The platform had gone from being relatively abandoned to being packed with people. I even saw a sea of flaming red hair in the distance. Dad clapped, causing Harry and I to look at him.

"Alright boys, I think it's best you two find a compartment." Dad said, wiping non-existent tears from his eyes. "Oh they grow so fast! It was just yesterday when they were little ankle-biters and now look at them, leaving the home and going to boarding school! Next thing you know, they'll be bringing girls home!" He said, his palm on his forehead as he posed dramatically.

Harry and I laughed at dad's silliness as we walked forward to hug him. We both knew that although he was joking about it, he really was sad to see us go.

"Now, now boys." Mum said. "Aren't you forgetting somebody over here?" She said, raising her eyebrow.

After hugging dad for an acceptable amount of time, we ran into mum's embrace as she made circular motions with her hand on our backs. Dad eventually joined in as it became a group hug, his broad shoulders and long arms encircling us.

"Make sure you write to us once a week, alright?" She said, sniffling a little.

"Okay mum/Aunt Sophia." Harry and I said softly, patting mum's back.

After our emotional and a little tearful group hug, Harry and I got up and walked to the steam engine, dragging our suitcases behind us. The first few carriages were already packed with students, so Harry and I walked down the carriages in search of an empty compartment. As luck would have it, we found one towards the middle of the train as Harry and I, with great difficulty, put our suitcases atop the luggage rack, panting afterwards. After a little while, our compartment descended into a comfortable silence as Harry was reading a second year Potions textbook. I closed my eyes, leaning against my seat, as I really wanted to get a nap in before we arrived at Hogwarts.

*****

I didn't get to sleep for long as not even half an hour later, there was a knocking at the compartment door. Harry looked at me, as if telling me to open it. After a short staring contest, consisting of many head movements, I gave up, getting up and opening the door. In front of me stood two girls. One had pale blonde hair and blue eyes whereas the other's hair was sunny blonde and she had green eyes.

"Excuse me." Said the green-eyed girl, extending her hand towards me. "My name is Tracey Davis, and this is my friend, Daphne Greengrass. Would it be alright if we sat with you?" (See paragraph comment for their images)

I stopped myself from raising an eyebrow. 'So, she's greeting us the Pureblood way, huh. I guess she's trying to see whether or not we're safe company for her.' I thought.

Amongst the books dad bought us a few years back, there was also one on pureblood etiquette, per dad's request in case one of us ended up in Slytherin.

I held the girl's palm, bowing slightly and kissing her knuckles. After I did so, the girl let out an audible sigh of relief.

"Greetings Miss Davis, I'm Aayan Barak and my friend over there is Harry Potter." I said, hiding a smirk at her surprised face.

Since Harry was sitting opposite me, Daphne decided to sit next to him and Tracey decided to sit next to me.

Over the course of half an hour, we exchanged small talk which mainly consisted of me, Harry and Tracey talking while Daphne listened quietly, asking Harry questions from time to time.

'She seems to have studied Occlumency but why is she so adamant on controlling her emotions?' I wondered.

Clearing my head of such thoughts, I asked the girls which houses they thought they'd go into.

"Slytherin." Was Tracey's immediate reply as Daphne nodded in confirmation.

I raised an eyebrow. If anything, from what I've seen, Tracey leaned more towards Hufflepuff but then again, I've only known her for half an hour.

"How about you Mr. Barak?" Asked Tracey.

"Please, call me Yan." I said. "And probably Hufflepuff, though I also may be a Ravenclaw if you consider my love for all things magical. My mother was also a Hufflepuff but don't let that fool you, she was a Professional Duelist before she had me."

I decided to flex my proverbial muscles to the two heiresses as I didn't want them to look at me as just 'Harry Potter's friend'.

"Is your mother perhaps Sophia Barak, The Hellish Beauty?" Gasped Tracey, wide-eyed.

'Wait, Hellish Beauty?!' I though surprised. 'I knew mum was scary but not to the point of being given such a moniker.'

None of my surprise showed on my face however, as I was using Occlumency to make my facial expression a calm one.

"Yes she is." I said.

This opened up the flood gates as Tracey asked me question after question about my mother.

'It seems that mum is Tracey's idol.' I thought, somewhat proud.

A few hours later, we approached Hogsmeade and I realised that none of us were changed into our robes.

"Maybe it would be best if we left the compartment so you ladies could get changed. We'll take our turn afterwards." I said, as Harry and I got up and stood outside the compartment, our backs against the door.

"They seem nice." Said Harry, smiling happily.

"I know, maybe we'll hang out with them during the year." I replied, waiting for the girls to finish getting changed.

Soon afterwards, it was our turn. Once we were finished, the train pulled up at Hogsmeade Station as we walked across the platform. I looked up and saw the castle in the distance.

'Hogwarts, here I come.' I thought as Harry, Tracey, Daphne and I walked down the platform towards Hogsmeade village.

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