Hogwarts Express
It has been an entire month and a half since Duncan received his letter, and he just can't wait to finally see Hogwarts in person. He used to hear stories about Hogwarts from his mother, and when she described the place Duncan would picture it in his mind. He would see a large Victorian castle filled with life and magic, it sounded wonderful.
"Have you gotten everything? Your toothbrush? Your underwear? Your deodorant? You know how smelly you get after Gym Class" Robert mentioned, they were standing in front of a holographic billboard advertising a new brand of self-refilling vehicles, "Papa!! I got it" Duncan chuckled, "Aren't you forgetting something?" Angelo asked, lifting a bird cage with a brown owl inside, "Talon!!" Duncan exclaimed as he snatched the cage from Angelo. "Try not to be a loser for once...in case I get accepted someday, I don't want my reputation to get soiled for your dumb mistakes" Angelo stated.
"Well...this is between Platform 9 and 10...I'm guessing you have to run past this hologram and through this wall, that what your mother told me anyway" Robert stated. "...Hogwarts here I come" Duncan smirked as he sprinted through the wall and suddenly crashed into another person when he reached the other side, they both tumbled to the ground.
"Watch it!!!" The other boy shouted. Duncan slid to the ground and hit his knee, groaning as he struggled to get up, he had a good look at the boy he bumped into, it's a kid with black and dark blue eyes, he sort of reminded Duncan of a goblin. "I'm so sorry!!" Duncan said immediately, "Are you really? Kiss my shoe then...I'll see it as a form of apology" The boy demanded. Duncan was immediately weirded out, "Huh?" Was all he could say.
"Don't you know who I am? Greg Klaw? THE famous Greg Klaw?" The boy asked, Duncan simply shook his head. Greg seemed to have taken great offense to that, "Well I-" "Greg, forget about it" another boy said, he was taller than Greg by a few inches and was way more good-looking, though he did have some dark circles under his eyes, the boy carried a book in his hand. "Greg, father wouldn't be too happy if he knew you were causing trouble already" The boy whispered. "...Fine...I'll deal with you later, you dirty little thing" Greg stomped away with the taller boy.
Duncan had already made an enemy, this wasn't very good, but regardless he wasn't going to let that ruin this day. Duncan looked back, it seems his father and Angelo won't be coming to see him off...makes sense, Angelo has to be rushed to his first day of school, Duncan hurried onto the Hogwarts Express, which seemed to have been renovated. It still kept most of its former appearance, but now the tracks were changed and the wheels of the train were removed, it was sort of like a bullet train now.
Duncan sat inside an empty compartment, setting everything down, but as he did so he heard some loud screaming outside. "POTTER!!! IT'S POTTER!!" Duncan can faintly hear. He had heard the name before, but he just couldn't remember WHERE he had heard the name from. He peeked out and saw a boy with dark brown hair wearing a fancy furcoat, "Guys Guys...settle down" the Potter boy announced, "I'm sure you're all very excited to meet me...so whoever gets me a box of jellybeans first will get to sit with us" he said before rushing into a compartment with three other kids.
Duncan suddenly moved back as a crowd of kids rushed through the hall, swarming the carts and tossing money to the woman operating it. Among the total chaos, a girl with short blonde hair stumbled into Duncan's compartment, nearly tripping.
"I'm sorry, it's quite mad out there...do you mind if I sit with you?" The girl asked. "Not at all!!" Duncan said with a smile, he was taught to always be polite and offer your seat to someone else. "Thank you...my name is Eleanor" the blonde girl said, "Name's Duncan" the boy said as he offered to shake her hand. Eleanor reluctantly took his hand and shook it, and that's when he noticed the white gloves she wore. Duncan felt like asking her about it, but knew it'd be insensitive to just outright ask her, what if it was something that she felt insecure about? He can't make her feel bad, especially not after they just met. The train soon started and it immediately speeded through the tracks at around 200 MPH.
"Sooo...is it your first year?" Eleanor asked. Duncan nodded, "Yup...my mom told me about the basics...how there are Houses, and Quidditch, and Potions class...my mom loved potions class" Deacon mentioned, "really? My grandfather used to love that class too, at least...that's what my grandma is constantly telling me" Eleanor explained. "I wonder how much things have changed since our grandparent's age...maybe we'd get TVs now!!" Eleanor exclaimed, "Oooh, or maybe we'd have WiFi" Duncan chuckled.
"I heard there used to be a friendly giant who lives in a hut near Hogwarts" Eleanor mentioned, "He's probably 117 years old by now, I sure hope we get to meet him" Eleanor mentioned, "...That is, if he's still alive" Duncan muttered, he looked up at Eleanor, she had really pretty eyes. "Who knows...he's a half-giant, maybe they live longer" Eleanor shrugged. Suddenly, the train halted to a stop, "You have arrived at your destination, please exit in an orderly manner" a voice said over the intercom. Duncan looked out the window to find an old man holding his cat, who also seemed to be growing old and losing hair. "Oh dear me, Mrs Norris...more scoundrels" the old man grumbled. "Follow me children...anyone who gets lost will be fed to the Three-Headed Dog" The old man yelled as he limped towards several large speedboats, "one at a time, get in" The old man ordered.
Duncan and Eleanor both got in a speedboat, sitting next to each other while the Potter boy sat in his own separate boy with his friends. Duncan could see Greg sitting with his own group of friends as well while the taller boy from earlier sat alone at the end of their boat, holding a novel in his hand.
Soon, the speedboat reached the other side of the lake, and as Duncan looked up at the castle, it was exactly like how he envisioned it. Soon, the castle gates opened, and Duncan knew this will be the beginning of something wonderful...