Ch. 20 Hogwarts Express

Fuck this is so much more terrifying than I thought it would be. I stared at the stone pillar in front of me. My parents were behind me, snickering as I held my roller suitcase behind me. The stone pillar that acted as a gateway to Platform 9 ¾ looked very solid indeed. There was no way in hell I was running full force into that.

Walking into an active fireplace and screaming a random location while throwing powder? Thats cool, just don't walk in naked. Sit on a disturbingly thin broomstick and zoom around at breakneck speeds? Easy. But running straight into a stone wall? That just sounds idiodic.

I glared behind me at my parents who had begun to give me light shoves.

"Aww, is our whittle Weigis swared, want us to hold your hand?" my mom said, her lips pursed and eyes gleaming.

I glared at her.

"Dear its okay, maybe he's just lost. Okay son, you see that pillar right there? Run at it with everything you've got," my father said, shaking his head as if I was a dimwit.

"No," I said simply. "I'm going to walk."

"You can't walk," dad said.

"Why?"

My dad opened his mouth to speak but my mother spoke over him.

"It's dangerous not to. The enchantment only works when you reach a certain speed."

I stared at her, but her eyes were completely clear and honest as she looked at me. Letting out a breath I looked back at the very very solid stone pillar.

Deciding to take the leap I charged forward, but halfway there the fear overwhelmed me and I began to scream. I heard the rauchous laughter of my parents, and knew I had been tricked, but before I could stop I hit the barrier.

Dozens of eyes turned to me as I entered Platform 9 ¾ screaming my head off.

I slowed down, a blush marring my face. With one hand I adjusted my tie, and smoothed my hair.

"My apologies ladies, I thought I saw a spider," I said to the nearby beautiful witches escorting their equally beautiful daughters.

My parents followed behind me a moment later doubled over with laughter. That drew even more stares and I grabbed my father and pulled him, and in turn my mother who was grabbing onto him for support away from the nearby crowd.

"I hate you," I said venemously.

"Aww, wanna see the pictures?" mom said without any sympathy.

"Pictures?" I asked, horror dawning on my face.

She pulled out her wand and tapped it, a camera appeared from where it had been disillusioned following behind me. She pulled out a cartridge and several magical photos. Me screaming my head off as a I ran at the pillar and me on the other side my scream dying on my throat and a sea of witches looking at me in confusion.

"Geminio," my mother said to the pictures, and handed me a few copies.

"Something to remember us by."

"I'm going to move out," I said seriously.

"Good, we're tired of hearing your girlfriends' screams."

A few of the nearby witches looked at me with a smirk and what I thought was a muggleborn looked at me with fear. I think she misunderstood what kind of screams they were talking about.

We walked to the red steam engine train. My eyes constantly scanned the area for any witch or wizard I could recognize. I thought I saw Cho Chang, Harry's love interest at one point.

The high pitch squealing that was a fanclub drew my attention. Once I saw the source of the commotion I couldn't help rolling my eyes.

Cedric Diggory, walked through the portal to Platform 9 ¾ a girl on each arm and a kind smile on his face. His father, the significantly less attractive Amos Diggory preened like a cat behind his son. Wasn't Cedric a third year now, as in twenty years old? Why was his dad still taking him to the King Cross Station?

"Thank Merlin your grandfather isn't here. He'd just embarrass us by not keeping his mouth shut," my mother murmured to me.

"Oh I don't know, I think it would be kind of funny."

"Of course you would, I bet eighty years from now you'll be a carbon copy of the man," my father said with a smirk.

"Oh please don't put that bad juju on me. Its bad enough I've been getting a reputation at the Yuletide parties after his blatant insult to Miss Poppins."

"I thought you apologized to her?"

"I did, but a certain Rita Skeeter had apparently heard the whole thing and left that part out."

"I hate that woman," my mother said. "It's surprising how big of a gossip she could be when she spent most of her time on her knees with a dick lodged down her throat."

I laughed and my mom gave me a triumphant grin.

"Now, Reigis, I know your grandfather gave you a goal to reach for your Coven by the end of the year. And while I don't think you'll have any issues, don't feel the need to break your back trying to get to it. Even if you don't its not like he's going to un-name you Heir. Make some friends, even a male on or two if you can," dad said patting me on the shoulder.

"Ooh, but do get that Fleur girl you keep talking about. I don't even know if she's real we haven't seen her once," mom said.

I rolled my eyes but actually agreed. The issue was that Fleur had a very busy family life. Her father had been a french diplomat, her mother a diplomat for Veela and other magical races, and apparently her sister Gabrielle was a part of a magical dance group since she was eight.

"I'm going to see her now. She told me where she'd be on the train."

"Well maybe bring her over for the holidays," dad said shrugging.

"Only after you make sure she gets along with Daphne and Tracey," mom warned.

"Alright alright. I'm going to go now," I said to them.

They both gave me a bone crushing hug. I hugged them back, my smile widening.

"I love you," I told them boarding the train.

"Love you too Reigis!" they called after me.

Thankfully I had enough money to get an extended suitcase for all my stuff. I had thought about getting an owl, but eventually decided against it. Yeah it was every Harry Potter's fans dream to have one. But I would have to deal with feeding it, taking care of its droppings and making sure it didn't kill Nessy.

Nessy of course was coming with me. Not only had I grown to care for the gentle garden snake, but I could use her as a scout inside Hogwarts.

I neared the front of the train peeking into the compartments and ignoring the sudden bashful looks from the witches inside.

Finally I found my quarry. That being Fleur of course.

She sat in a compartment by herself leafing through a book absently. I could tell by her posture that she was nervous though, her fingers played with the edges of the pages and her eyes were not focused on the page. Her gaze looked up to the window and saw me looking through. Her beautiful blue eyes widened and a smile tugged at her lips.

"Reigis," she said as I opened the door.

"Fleur," I smiled back.

She stood putting the book down on the seat before pulling me into a hug.

"I'm sorry we haven't seen each other much," she said looking at me.

I had forgotten what her allure was like so it took me a moment to get ahold of myself and clamp down on my Occlumency shields. Good thing too because just her perfume was starting to get me going.

"It's okay, though you did have me worried if you were leading me on," I teased.

"Oh never, mother just can't seem to let France go. We're always on the move somewhere."

"You know you are an adult right? You don't need to go with her."

She smiled at me.

"Well I just can't seem to let France go either."

We sat down on the seats and she told me about the Veela enclaves she visited, of Gabrielle's performances in Spain and Germany. It was surprisingly easy to talk to her despite not meeting up much this past year and a half.

"You can't imagine the amount of issues we have traveling through the muggle side. Wizards have an innate protection against the allure, even if it doesn't work that well. Muggles though have none of that. We have to wear these enchanted objects that shut off our allure, but it feels like we are being stuffed in a coffin so most Veela stick to the magical side. At the time I obviously thought my mother was exaggerating. Well being the dumb thirteen year old I was I decided to go to this place I heard about called McDonalds. Luckily I got there without incident, even if the streets of muggle Paris are confusing and super loud, but once I went up to the counter to order I ran into an issue."

She smiled, her hand trailing down my arm.

"The, I forget what they're called there. The store attendant wouldn't stop staring at me open mouthed, drool coming out of his mouth. Finally I was able to get him to put down a Big Macer, but I didn't have muggle money so I tried to hand him a Sickle, being as out of it as he was he accepted it, but when our fingers touched he…" she blushed, trying to hide her laughter and embarrassment.

"Well I didn't know at the time, but he moaned and collapsed to the ground, and…" she began to laugh fully now. "He came in his pants. Right there, from just a girl's touch."

I looked at her horrified.

"That's the most terrifying magical power in the world," I said, then began to laugh with her. "What happened next?"

"The other employees came, and were super confused, one of them touched my shoulder, trying to ask me what happened, but he fell over too. One of the girls screamed and nudged me out of the way to check on him, but then she collapsed, moaning. I- I was so scared at the time, the customers had come to see and a few of them accidentally touched me too and fell. Eventually my mother found me, a dozen muggles on the ground around me all came in their pants and the rest running for their lives."

She was smiling.

"I had nightmares for weeks, but its pretty funny to look back on."

I shook my head, my shoulders shaking with laughter.

"We should definitely go out to the muggle side some time."

"Oh I don't know, my allure is much more powerful, they might just fall over from the sight of me."

"A sight to behold."