Chapter 10 : What happened, the Express and the arrival at school

Harry had passed two years in the house of Arcturus Black. There he learned so much, he knew he still had a lot to learn about being a Lord, but as Arcturus said he would just need experience now. He enjoyed his time there, having a sibling relationship with Susan and Apodis.

He trained the finesse of his wand movements with Susan and under the supervision of Arcturus. They both got quite proficient that way and there was even a day when Amelia and Sirius observed how they progressed and were proud of them for their level. Harry knew that once in school it would be really easy to learn the spells as he already had the movement drilled.

The two years passed swiftly from his point of view, this was thanks to the fact that he barely had a free moment. If he wasn't studying he was training with Susan and said training felt like a game to him. He learned so much in the short amount of time he was there that it felt mind boggling how much he didn't know before and how lacking what he would learn at Hogwarts was. He knew that because he read the books that covered the subjects and they were absurdly thin.

He found the school book stupidly thin as a dedicated wizard could learn a dozen hundred spells in a year, especially with how codified they were. Fact of the matter is an Occlumens, which means all Nobles in the wizarding world, could learn tens of thousands of spells in a year through the help of quick reading goggles and their talent in memory sorting. So Harry could not even fathom how children in a school, so in a dedicated environment, could barely learn a hundred spells in a year, especially since it was well known that children learned faster than any other wizards.

While he was at the House of Black manor, he had the time to make his casting ring. Casting charm with a ring is the smoothest way to cast charm. It looks and feels like there is no focus and thus makes it look like magic out of fiction. Harry was proud to have made his first focus, his father told him he was able to have one for charms if he was ever able to make it and after having read the book and its wording Harry understood why. The way the book was written manipulated the reader to think about the consequences of his decisions.

After the two years passed, he got back home and his father gave him seven books on wandlore and guided him to make his own wand. It took him so long that when he finally made it he felt so satisfied, his wand was his pride. First, thanks to the divination instruments of his father he could determine the best wand wood for him. He had to use the crystal ball in the living room just to see the tree, then he had to identify it and only then did he have the base for his wand.

The core, however, was an issue. The creature shown was almost extinct and only two reserves in South America had some. This was an issue as the MaCUSA did everything it could to prevent any part from leaving the continent, trying to keep the resources from getting to Britain or any other community that they believed did not follow their rules on the state of secrecy.

If it wasn't for the major powerhouse of Britain being old wizards that experienced two wars, one world scale and the other limited to their own country, then the MaCUSA would have already begun influencing the country to take over. Or that was what Arcturus and his father explained to him and proved to him.

His father had to go to Knockturn Alley to buy some from the black market, he accompanied him then as he had to learn where to go and how to navigate the criminal alley safely. They had bought enough for him to have thirty tries. He barely managed to do it at the last allowed try, of course his father would have bought more if needed, but Harry didn't like to lose.

When he got his letter, he went right to Diagon Alley with his father and Benjamin. He liked Benjamin as he was always here to help him. To be more precise, no matter what Benjamin would always support his siblings. There he met the girl with the best study and by extension work ethics. Hermione Granger. He immediately hit it off with her as they shared the same passion for study and magic.

She was a muggle born, or as Arcturus and his father told him to call them, first generation wizards. The reason for this nomenclature is the fact that either all muggle are born from squibs and thus wizards, which would make the term muggle born stupid as muggle are still wizards in a way, or wizards are all born from muggles, which then would make wizards ingrate as they were in the end all born from muggles.

The only difference between a pure blood and a first generation is the lack of Ritual blood. Ritual blood is the consequence of a Ritual that link a family with magic and in magic, the family will have to reproduce the Ritual every so often, usually during Yule which is why Dumbledore was quite scorned by every pure blood as he wasn't just destroying the culture, but also the country with it.

He made a promise with Hermione to stay with her in Hogwarts, he knew she would have a hard time there as she didn't learn as much as he did before joining school. Sure, she could read all the books in a month and train herself to cast the household spells, but it would never be as thorough as the wizards that are born in the wizarding world.

Weeks passed by and the time to board the train came. Once in the compartment with Susan, Hannah and Hermione, they began talking with each other, Hermione now understanding who exactly was Harry as she read some of the books she bought in the alley. She didn't pay it any mind as she did before, especially since both Susan and Hannah didn't seem to care.

Barely an hour after they began talking, a boy asked if he could join them, a toad smugly croaking on his head. The boy was blond and a little chubby. Susan, Hannah and Harry occupying one seat, Hermione let him next to her. They included the boy swiftly in the discussion.

"Hey. I'm Harry Potter, this is Susan Bones, Hannah Abbott and Hermione Granger." Said the boy while pointing at each girl when he mentioned them. "You are ?"

"I'm Neville Longbottom. You can call me Neville."

"Sure, call me Hermione."

"The same, call me Susan."

"L-Like Susan… call me Hannah."

"Well… Now it'd be awkward if you don't call me Harry."

This caused them to giggle a little before speaking like they were friends since their birth, a talent which only children knew the secret of. They spoke at length about what they were doing before school and who they were exactly. While Harry knew everyone at least by name, Hermione didn't and with Harry's help she reigned in her excessive know-it-all and lesson giving tendencies.

Everything was quite smooth until a platinum blond boy and his two goons opened the compartment. He talked to Harry while being less than polite, but he clearly didn't mean anything bad, he just seemed like the perfect example of someone whose parents excessively doted on.

"Listen Malfoy, I have nothing against you and I have quite a large amount of respect for your father despite his choices. You can stay here and become friends with people that will try to help you rise and make you a better wizard and individual, you'd only have to leave Crabbe and Goyle behind, or you can stay with them both and simply listen to two goons that will only flatter you and cater to your ego." Said Harry.

He hated long speeches, but it clearly was needed here, especially since his father asked him to befriend Draco as was asked by Lucius Malfoy to him. Lucius, as his father explained, was an opportunistic man. One that made the wrong choice moreover. Despite being opportunistic, Lucius was also a family man, he loved his wife with all his heart and doted on his son like he was the greatest gift that Merlin gave him personally. This also meant that he didn't want his son to follow him in his fall, which needed him to distance himself from the extremist faction and thus Crabbe and Goyle.

"Well… That… their fathers and mine are friends so I don't…"

"Malfoy, my father, Thomas Preacher, said to me that no children have to follow in their parents footsteps. If you want to make your father proud you don't have to be like him, you just have to be the best you can be."

That seemed to calm him down and Malfoy finally told Crabbe and Goyle that at least he'll see if he can have a good relationship with Potter, Bones and Abbott, while Longbottom didn't have a lot of power, it also was still good to have a friend that had parent who were Aurors. Harry, by being tolerant and patient, finally began to also like the boy. He was a proud boy that only wanted to do good by his father, but he didn't know how at all.

Thanks to the behavior of Harry, everyone also was tolerant of Draco and they all ended up hitting it off, Neville explaining things about magical plants, Hermione showing off her vast book smart which was still not as complete as it could be, Harry, Draco and Susan explaining things about standing and Nobility as the three of them were heirs and Hannah teaching to Draco how to make friends that would not betray you nor abandon you.

Hannah was also quite the shy girl but still able to explain how friendship worked, she also hinted to him that muggle had greater knowledge of the mind than wizards as unlike them muggle did not have magic to explore, only their minds. While Draco was shocked, when she showed him some books from the muggle world on psychology for newbies he was swiftly convinced.

It was a very smooth and pleasing journey until a ginger boy, most likely a Weasley as Harry deduced from what he learned about Noble families, came in the compartment despite clearly seeing it was full and immediately insulting Draco.

"Blimey you four ! Why are you with Malfoy !? You shouldn't be with someone that is bound to become evil !"

"Evil ? Nobody's bound to become evil. Unless one's stupid beyond belief." Instantly retorted Harry without really thinking about it. Surprising everyone in the compartment.

"Which could be argued that you can fit in the description. This is surprising coming from a Weasley, many of them are known to have a good head, perhaps have you forgotten yours ?" Added Draco, following the advice from the book that he borrowed from Hannah about insulting someone with subtlety when you are getting insulted as it makes you appear more intelligent while avoiding making you appear like a doormat, granted he needed to work on it but it was a good start.

This made the poor Weasley speechless, he didn't know what to retort smartly before he simply lost his marbles and began hurling insults at them both for a really short amount of time before Thomas appeared before them and most importantly behind Ronald. The kind look of his father toward him and Draco spoke more than any of his words could.

They went back inside the compartment and stayed silent for a short time before laughing from the sheer absurdity of what had just happened. Then once they calmed down they began speaking as they had before.

They changed clothes, thanks to Harry and Susan the compartment had a curtain that cut it perfectly in two and ten minutes after they got into robes the train arrived at Hogsmeade. Where Hagrid guided them to boats, He shared his boat with Hermione, Draco and Neville. Once at the castle, Professor McGonagall guided them to the great hall.

There four long tables were aligned with the long side of the room and a table was placed perpendicularly to it while being higher, on the four tables there were students so it clearly meant that there was a table for each house and the last had Professors and faculty members.

When they stopped in front of a chair with a hat on it, the hat began singing.