Chapter 8: Hogwarts Express (Part 1)

// was originally going to make this chapter longer(2000+ Words) but decided to split it into two parts since im really tried.

Chapter 8: Hogwarts Express (Part 1)

1991, September 1st.

London, King's Cross Station.

Alan stared down at his ticket for a moment before looking up at the small sign that read 'Platform 9 ¾'

He looked around to see if anyone was staring at his conspicuous attire and trolley packed with a trunk and an owl, which would undoubtedly make him stand out.

However, no one seemed to even glance at him.

Alan stared momentarily at the pillar between platforms 9 and 10 and rushed in a sprint after a moment of hesitation. 

Alan felt he had pierced through some invisible membrane and appeared in a wrought iron archway.

Walking out of the archway, Alan saw a platform full of people, and a crimson steam locomotive stationed near the right.

A sign on the train read: Hogwarts Express 5972.

Walking towards the train Alan entered.

Perhaps because he arrived a little late, most compartments were already occupied.

This was, of course partially his fault after assuring Hagrid he could handle himself, which he could, though the process was a bit slower than what he had planned since he had to take a bus from the leaky cauldron towards king's cross which was dozens of kilometers apart.

Initially, he wanted to take the knight bus, but after careful consideration, he decided that he still wanted to keep his food in his stomach.

After walking all the way, towards the second half of the train, Alan finally found an empty compartment sat down near the window, and pulled out a book titled 'Law & Literature ' from his trunk that was recommended to him by the manager of Flourish and Blotts.

'He said it would be a very informative but boring book about wizarding laws, culture, and people's views of them when they were enacted.' Alan mused.

He had a lot of time before he arrived at Hogwarts, so the task of using his talent was put on a short hold.

When he was about to start reading, the sudden sound of the compartment door opening brought his attention back to reality.

"Excuse me, do you mind if I sit here? Everywhere else is full."

A slightly tall and thin red-haired boy with freckles asked awkwardly.

Alan recognized him immediately as he looked like a mesh of his movie counterpart and book counterpart.

"Sure, make yourself comfortable."

Alan said with a smile.

The boy brightened up at this walked into the compartment and sat opposite of him.

"I'm Ron by the way, Ron Weasley." The boy introduced himself

"Nice to meet you Ron, I'm Alan, Alan Potter."

The boy went almost still for a moment, which amused and irritated Alan at the same time.

With a polite smile, Alan answered Ron's rampant questions one by one until it came to the part of him asking whether he remembered anything.

"I'd rather not talk about that," Alan said solemnly.

The boy, for once understanding he had gone a little overboard hurriedly spoke again.

"Sorry, I didn't mean for you to recall.." He cut off his words as they slowly turned into whispers.

"It's alright, I know you're just curious. It's not every day people meet the famous Alan Potter. Though I'll bet none of the things written in books actually happened." Alan said with a smirk.

This seemed to ease Ron's mood somewhat.

"Yeah, well, you wouldn't believe the things I've read," Ron said, chuckling nervously. "My mum's always told me not to believe everything in the Daily Prophet, says it's mostly rubbish but still... meeting you in person is something else."

Alan nodded with a grin. "Well, don't worry, just consider me as a regular wizard, same as you."

They both started talking, mostly Ron, as Alan listened.

At the same time, Alan finally decided to test his newly acquired talent.

'Eye of Insight.' He mentally thought as he felt an odd sensation before a lot of information came to his mind.

[Name: Ronald Bilius Weasley

Age: Eleven

Bloodline: none

Talent: Strategy(Level 2)

Personality: Lazy, hot-headed

Magic Power: 3(Normal)

Charms: 3 (Normal)

Black magic: 2 (Below Average)

Prophecy: 0 (No talent)

Transfiguration: 4 (Above Average)

Potions: 1 (Horrible)

***

Ancient Runes: 8 (Extraordinary)

Alchemy: 6 (Excellent)

Skills: None

Character Evaluation: Ronald Weasley has a lot of potential.

His talent in strategy (Level 2) suggests a knack for tactical thinking, which could be honed into a significant strength with proper encouragement and practice. However, his lazy and hot-headed personality hinders his ability to fully utilize this talent without external motivation or discipline.

His strong points are his ancient runes, alchemy, and transfiguration, which could be extremely versatile in combat, Runes would allow him to set up traps, alchemy could add into that with tools and transfiguration could help in changing the environment for tactical advantages.

His personality, however, is what's mostly holding him back from shining: being lazy is detrimental to his overall abilities, and being hot-headed and quick to rush into things would do him no good at what he is good at.

Solution: To maximize his potential, Ron should focus on leveraging his strengths in Ancient Runes and Alchemy, possibly exploring advanced studies or special projects in these areas. 

Developing better self-discipline and managing his temper will also be crucial for him to reach his full potential as a wizard. ]

Alan didn't expect Ron to have such potential, honestly, he expected him to be average at best.

But when Alan thought about it, In the original work, Ron is extremely good at wizard chess, he does have tactical thinking but it's probably clouded by his hot-headedness in real combat or real-life situations unlike when he's only playing a match of chess which requires that kind of thinking specifically.

His talent in ancient runes was never really displayed since he never chose that as his elective in his third year, and he certainly didn't make the effort to read a book about it due to his inherent laziness, this included his alchemy talent as well.

As Alan listened on and conversed with Ron, his conversation was interrupted by the sound of the compartment door opening once again.

Alan glanced up, his eyes meeting the curious gaze of a bushy-haired girl who looked slightly out of breath. She had a no-nonsense air about her, and a sense of urgency radiated from her.

"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," she announced, scanning the compartment for any signs of the missing amphibian.

Alan recognized this moment from the original story and couldn't help but smile. "No, we haven't seen a toad," he replied honestly before offering his help.

"Though I could help catch it, Do you know the name of the toad?"

The girl looked relieved at the offer of help. "It's named Trevor," she said, glancing around the compartment as if hoping the toad would magically appear. "I'm Hermione Granger, by the way."

"Nice to meet you, Hermione," Alan replied with a smile "I'm Alan, and this is Ron."

Hermione gave a small nod to Ron before turning her attention back to Alan. "It's nice to meet you both. So, can you help find Trevor?"

Alan nodded. "Sure thing. Let me try something."

He pulled out his wand and focused on the corridor. "Accio Trevor!"

A few moments later, a toad came flying through the open compartment door and landed safely in Alan's hands. "Here you go," Alan said, handing the toad to a very surprised Neville, who had just appeared in the doorway, looking extremely anxious.

Neville's face lit up with relief and amazement. "Tha- Thanks!" he said a bit nervously as he held Trevor carefully.

Hermione looked slightly curious and amazed, her brow furrowing slightly. "Where'd you learn such a useful spell? I haven't seen anything similar to that except the levitation charm" she said a bit haughtily.

Alan shrugged with a smile. "I learned it from a higher year textbook, the spell is 'Accio' quite draining but it's an extremely useful spell in a lot of situations"

What he said was somewhat true, while he did learn the spell from the system, it only gave him the corresponding theoretical knowledge of it, he needed to practice it on his own for it to actually work well.

Hermione gave a reluctant nod, clearly torn between chastising him for reading ahead since that could be dangerous and her curiosity to learn it herself.

"Thank you." She said in a less haughty tone this time.

Ron, who had been watching all this with wide eyes, finally spoke up. "Blimey, Alan! That was brilliant! I didn't think we'd be doing magic like that till at least we arrived at Hogwarts."

Alan chuckled. "Thanks, Ron but I'm sure if you put in the hard work you'll be able to do the same."

Alan stared at Hermione and Nevile who were standing near the compartment door and asked.

"Why don't you join us, Ron was just explaining how quidditch works, considering I've never played the sport it seemed interesting, perhaps you might be interested in knowing more about it too?"

Alan gave a genial smile at them.

Hermione also seemed to want to learn about what Quidditch really was, while Nevile seemed to just go with the flow.

Both Hermione and Neville joined them in the compartment. The conversation quickly turned from Quidditch to Hogwarts, their expectations, and so on...

Chapter end

// hopefully u enjoyed this chapter so far :) leave a review it helps me understand what you guys think of this story so far :D