Chapter-9 : Platform 9¾ and Hogwarts Express

## 1st September 1988 ##

The day finally came, he was going to the Hogwarts.

He woke up a little early today this morning due to excitement. He had already packed his bag but decided to go over all the things again in case he forgot anything.

With his mom, Sid and Boppy the he reached Kings Cross railway station, getting through the barrier and reaching platform 9¾, he saw the red engine that was releasing steam, it was 10:05 am, there were till about 55 minutes in departure of the Hogwarts express.

He said goodbye to his mom while handing out a small chest like container, which had all the potion ingredients which he got inside the vault. Though he was proficient in potioneering, he wasn't a master at the art, his mom was. so he decided to give them to her, maybe she would even be successful in her attempts at ancient potions she was trying lately.

"what's that Mikey ?? "she asked him

"Hust a little gift "

She knew it would be more than a 'little' gift.

Hugging him for the last time she gave a kiss on his forehead. seeing that he was going for a long time she felt sad but thinking that he would be making new friends and maybe her daughter in law but thought that it would be good if she had daughters in law and have a whole battalion of grandchildren.

For an unknown reason, a chill crept up Michael's spine.

Saying goodbye he moved towards the train and there he saw the infamous family of redhead wizards, the Weasley family. though he did not want to mingle with the redheads, he knew that it would be good if his relationship with them is good as it would help in portraying a good image in front of dumb-old-door.

He saw Bill, Charlie, Percy getting ready for boarding the train and the 10 year old Fred and George, the future prank masters, a clueless looking Ron and a cute Ginny with the elder Weasley duo waving at them.

Shaking his head lightly, he boarded the train and found an empty compartment towards the end of the train and sat alone. Taking out some books on 7th year material, he started reading them.

The train started moving at exactly 11:00 am. He was reading the books and was engrossed in them. After about 3 hours he was interrupted as the door of his compartment opened, there was a 14 - 15 year old girl at the door, she had tear marks on her beautiful face, looked like she just cried recently. The wierd thing was that the color of her hair was changing constantly.

"Hello, my name is Tonks, I had an argument with my friends just now and don't want to talk to them, can I sit in here??? " she said.

"Ah, yes please come in" he said as he cleared some space for her (his books were literally everywhere in the compartment)

He recognised her as Nymphadora Tonks, the metamorphmagus witch. But she looked way more beautiful than portrayed in the books or the movies. She was a member in the order of the fiery rooster, had married Remus Lupin, had a child with him but both Remus and her died at the hands of the forces of V-man.

Michael always felt that she deserved a lot more than what she got in the canon. She was a beautiful, strong (being an Auror and training under the 'mad-eye' Moody makes her actually alot stronger than most of the wizarding population), and a selfless(if her joining the order to fight against V-man and his shit eaters is any indication) witch.

He had decided to ask her out after his OWLs.

If he interacted with her now, it'll set his image a a cute little boy( though he looked older than most 11 years old, he still needed to go through puberty to advance from cute to handsome )

"So, are you a new student??" she asked.

"Yes, just got the letter a couple of weeks ago. Ohh, My name is Michael, Michael Blest, you can call me Mike" he said politely.

She had shock written all over face and her hair turned bright orange in colour. She said :

"Blest, as in the ancient Blest family?? the holy Family??"

"I don't know if there is another blest family..."

After an hour of history about his family she asked him to change the previous topic. "So which house do you think you would get sorted into??"

That got me into thinking about the four houses in Hogwarts.

Slytherin is out for obvious reasons. Most of them are just bigot backstabbers. Another reason being it's evil reputation, I don't want to alienate myself from other 3 houses.

Hufflepuff is also a no go as I don't have it's qualities, the only people I am loyal to are me and my family. Also, being in Hufflepuff will undermine my image.

There was a tie between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. Though I posses smarts and the thirst for knowledge but I am still reckless and have a headstrong personality. along with my habit of poking my head in others business, I could be in either Gryffindor or in Ravenclaw. but Gryffindor is a little too open for my style, also I need personal space for my future plans and research. so, I decided that I will join Ravenclaw.

"I think I will be in Ravenclaw as I like to read very much. "

"yeah, I can see that much" she said after seeing the books lying around and continued "too bad you won't be with the Puffs, it would be good I you were around"

After some idle chat, she decided to take a small nap but slept all the way to hogsmeade. during which he was first reading the books, then started his meditation and occlumency practice, as there was no such thing as too much practice.

But he was awakened from his meditation by a voice from Tonks, she was mumbling under her sleep. He watched the time, there were still 30 minutes until they reached Hogsmeade.

He just sat there and kept watching her beautiful face for the rest of the time.