The Hogwarts Express (Part 1)

1st Sept 1991

Hogwarts Express

The first few compartments were already full, so we had to venture further inside. As we were passing the middle of the train, a toad leapt out of the compartment in front of us trying to escape. I reached down and snagged the daring amphibian, before taking a peak at the occupants of the carriage.

A chubby looking brown-haired boy was sitting opposite to a bushy brown-haired girl. She was already dressed in her Hogwarts uniform and was holding open 'Hogwarts: A History' in front of her face. The boy looked uncomfortable and unsure of what to say to the clearly upset girl, given the girl's teary-eyed expression that she was trying to hide behind the book.

Ah, Neville Longbottom and Hermione Granger. So that must make the toad Trevor, who took advantage of Neville's distracted state to make his escape. Neville looked shy and nervous, the result of being raised by a strict old biddy and the lack of loving parents. Hermione, on the other hand, looked like she was about to cry.

No doubt after not being able to make friends in primary school, she must've come here thinking that she will be among like-minded people, only for that fantasy to come crashing down when some pureblood must've made fun of her muggle heritage.

I decided to extend a hand to these two. It wasn't an entirely altruistic choice. The two of them, along with Harry will go on to become very powerful in the future. Right now, they were at their lowest. If I help them now, I could gain not just three trustworthy allies, but true friends for life. Of course, in return I'll save them from a lot of pain and trauma.

"Hello there. Anyone lost a toad?" I said walking into the compartment, holding up the errant toad. Neville was instantly on his feet.

"Trevor! Thanks for stopping him. He is forever trying to escape." He abashedly explained, taking the toad from my hands. I gave a small chuckle.

"No worries, mate. Got yourself an adventurous toad, huh? Say, do either of you mind if we sit here?" I asked, looking at them both. They both shook their heads.

"Splendid. Come on, Harry. Let's go say our goodbyes." We left our trunks in the compartment and went back to the platform.

"Do you have everything? Toothbrush, wand, underwear?"

"Mom!" I groaned.

"I'm just asking." Yeah right. "If you forget clean underwear, I'll have to owl them later."

"Please stop." I put my face in my hands to hide my embarrassment, as Harry chuckled lightly next to me.

"Alright fine." She finally relented. "I'm just sad to see my baby boy leave." she pouted.

"Oh mom", I leaned forward and gave her a hug. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw that the Weasley family had finally arrived. Mrs. Weasley took a handkerchief and moved towards Ron. He tried to get out of the way, but she grabbed him and began rubbing his nose. I smiled and broke the hug. Surprisingly, mom then hugged Harry, who looked uncomfortable for a moment before easing up. I went down and embraced my little sister who looked like she was about to cry.

"Hey there, princess. None of that now. You'll be in Hogwarts soon enough. This year will go so fast, you won't even know it before it's over. Besides, I will write so many letters telling you everything about Hogwarts."

"You promise?" she asked, looking at me with tearful eyes.

"I promise, I pinky promise." I said, solemnly raising my finger. We both laughed as we intertwined our fingers.

"Woof woof," Teddy started jumping around trying to get my attention. I picked him up one last time.

"Of course I'm not forgetting about you Teddy, you're my best bud. Aww, I'll miss you too." I said, as he tried to lick my face. "You take care them now, okay?" He gave a confirmation woof.

Dad then came forward for a last word. "You boys have a good term now." He said, holding Harry and me by the shoulders. "Take care, but more importantly, have fun." He gave a wink as a whistle sounded nearby. "Go on."

We both got on the train just as it started moving. I waved goodbye to my family from the window. A red-headed girl, probably Ginny, started running after the train and Teddy joined in. They both tried to race the train until it gathered too much speed and finally left the station.

We stood there for a moment before heading back to the compartment. Neville and Hermione were still seated, although Hermione had put the book down and was now looking outside the window.

"Hello again," I said, plopping down beside Hermione. "Leaving home for the first time is quite the experience, isn't it? I'm Benjamin Carter, by the way. First year" I introduced myself.

"N-Neville Longbottom", Neville muttered.

"I am Hermione Granger", stated Hermione.

"Hermione, you say? From 'A Winter's Tale'? I guess your parents must be Shakespeare fans." I said

"You know Shakespeare?" she asked, surprised.

"Of course. 'To be or not to be, That is the question'" I stood up and did a mock impersonation of Hamlet, before smiling and sitting down. "Why the tone of surprise?"

"It's just that not many people of our age read Shakespeare", she explained quickly.

"True", I agreed. "But they should."

"Indeed"

She then turned to Harry, who said, "I am Harry Potter."

Both Neville and Hermione did a double take. "Are you really?" said Hermione. "I know all about you, of course...I got a few extra books for background reading, and you're in Modern Magical History & The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts & Great Wizarding Events of the 20th century."

"Am I?" said Harry, looking dazed.

"Goodness, didn't you know? I would've found out everything I could if it was me", said Hermione.

Harry didn't reply to that. He stood up and started trying to put up his old battered trunk in the overhead racks. Honestly, did he not even buy a new school trunk because it wasn't on the list? This is what happens when you send Hagrid for shopping.

"Allow me, Harry", I said, retrieving my wand from my jacket's inner chest pocket. "Levitate" I said, pointing at our trunks and giving an upward wave. Both trunks smoothly rose and settled down on the racks.

"You've been practicing ahead as well!" Hermione gasped in delight. "I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and its all worked for me. I've learnt all the course books by heart, of course. I just hope it'll be enough." she said all that really fast.

Of course, she says. I was feeling amused. If I was a normal 11-year old, I would've taken her statement as arrogance. But it was clear to me that the rapid babble was a desperate attempt to make a good impression by someone who had little to no idea how to interact with her peers.

She also seemed to be operating under the mistaken belief that wizarding children would be naturally studious and eager to master their gifts. Boy, she was in for a rude awakening.

"Breathe Hermione", I said, with a little smirk. "I hear it's important for you."

She seemed a little embarrassed at her outburst. "What was the spell you just used? I didn't recognise it from the textbooks."

"I used the levitation charm", I answered.

"But you simply said 'Levitate', while the incantation of the levitation charm is 'wingardium leviosa', and the wand movement is sort of a swish and flick", she said, confused.

And that is exactly why I did it. I knew Hermione would call me out on it, and this would give me an opportunity to break her absolute trust on books and rules. I leaned back into my seat and got into lecture mode.

"Tell me Hermione, do you know about the various magical schools throughout the world?"

Harry, who had just been sitting quietly, said "There are other magical schools?"

"Well, excluding Hogwarts there are 7 wizarding schools. Beauxbatons Academy in France, Durmstrang institute in Scandinavia, Ilvermorny in the USA, Castelobruxo in Brazil, Koldovstoretz in Russia, Mahoutokoro in Japan and Uagadou in Uganda, I believe." said Hermione with a confident expression.

I am impressed. That's some memory she's got. "Excellent, Ms. Granger", I said, at which she preened. "Now tell me, do you think 11-year old children in Brazil or Uganda use Latin to actualize spells?"

She had no answer to that, but I could see that she was about to fall back on her default 'the book says...', so I pressed on. "Words give shape to our thoughts and intent. They are helpful but not absolutely necessary. Case in point, Harry", I turned towards him and asked, "would you mind standing up and unrolling your pants and sleeves, please?"

Confused, he stood up and did as I asked. I pointed my wand at him and just gave it a wave. Harry's baggy clothes shimmered instantly. His sleeves shot up to rest comfortably on his wrists, while the shirt resized itself to fit perfectly on his body. Same thing happened to his pants. At the same time, the old faded colours had also changed. His pants were now black instead of grey, while his faded orange shirt was now checkered blue. His shoes too, now looked brand new. I gave another wave, and the piece of cellotape holding his glasses vanished and they too looked good as new.

"There, much better", I said, "I've been meaning to do that since I saw you."

Harry took a moment to realise the change. "Th--Thank you", he stuttered. "That was brilliant. How did you do that?"

"Oh, just a couple of shrinking, mending and colour-change charms. You'll learn them in your 2nd year, unless of course you study ahead."

"2nd year? You've already studied spells from the 2nd year?" Hermione asked frantically. "Are we supposed to do that? But the list only specified spellbooks for the 1st year?"

"Relax, Hermione. You don't even need to study ahead the 1st year books. You get a whole school year to do just that. Regardless, my point is that you don't need to utter an incantation to use a spell."

"Then why do the books say the incantations are important?"

"Because they are important...for children. Children have short attention spans. Their minds are easily distracted. Presenting the idea that 'if you say these words correctly the spell will work', means that the children make themselves believe that when they say the exact words, the spell will happen. Thus, when they say the correct words they visualise in their mind the spell working. And that is what makes magic happen - visualisation and intent. You need to picture the spell working, and you need to intend the spell to work."

There was a brief silence in the compartment as everyone digested these words. I gazed outside the window at the passing scenery, hoping that my words will help them in some small way.

"Okay, I understand the part about the incantation." Hermione rallied back. " But how did you avoid performing the proper wand movement?"

"That...is a bit more complicated. Tell me, have you ever seen the inside of a wand? The part where the core and the wood are connected?" I looked at them as I asked.

Understandably they all shook their heads. After all, it's not like wands are just lying around for people to pry them open and take a looksie.

"Well, don't go trying to open up your wands on my account. But if you're ever fortunate enough to see a wand being crafted, you'll see that there are dozens of tiny Runes carved along the entire inner length of the wand. You'll learn about them if you take Ancient Runes as an elective in your 3rd year.

These Runes allow the wand to move your magic in specific pathways needed for the spell formation. If you're able to move your wand in the correct pattern, while visualising and intending the spell to work, the wand will shape your magic in the right form and the spell comes into existence.

Of course, if you can shape the magical energy by yourself, you wouldn't need to move your wand. It'll only help by reducing the magic expenditure of casting the spell."

A beat passed in silence before Hermione spoke up, "How do you know all of this? None of it was in the books I read." She looked frustrated, as if disappointed in the lackluster performance of the almighty books.

"It's what I do", I said, giving her a mischievous smile, "I sing and I know things."