Harry Potter (fan fiction)

CHAPTER 6- The Journey From Platform Nine And Three- Quarters

Harry and Lilian last month with the Dursleys wasn't fun. True, Dudley was now so scared of Harry and Lilian they wouldn't stay in the same room, while Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon didn't shut Harry and Lilian in the cupboard or attic, force them to do anything, or shout at them – in fact, they didn't speak to them at all. Half terrified, half furious, they acted as though any chair with Harry and Lilian in it were empty. Although this was an improvement in many ways, it did become a bit depressing after a while.

Harry and Lilian kept to their room, with their new owl for company. Harry had decided to call he Hedwig, a name he had found in A History of Magic and Lilian named her owl Celeste. Their school books were very interesting. They lay on their bed reading late into the night, Hedwig and Celeste swooping in and out of the open window as they pleased. It was lucky that Aunt Petunia didn't come in to vacuum anymore, because Hedwig kept bringing back dead mice. Every night before he went to sleep, Harry and Lilian ticked off another day on the piece of paper he had pinned to the wall, counting down to September the first.

On the last day of August he thought they'd better speak to their aunt and uncle about getting to King's Cross station the next day, so they went down to the living room where they were watching a quiz show on television. Harry cleared his throat to let them know he was there, and Dudley screamed and ran from the room.

"Er – Uncle Vernon?"

Uncle Vernon grunted to show he was listening.

"Er – I need to be at King's Cross tomorrow to – to go to Hogwarts."

Uncle Vernon grunted again.

"Would it be all right if you gave us a lift?"

Grunt. Harry supposed that meant yes.

"Thank you."

He was about to go back upstairs when Uncle Vernon actually spoke.

"Funny way to get to a wizards' school, the train. Magic carpets all got punctures, have they?"

Harry and Lilian didn't say anything.

"Where is this school, anyway?"

"I don't know," said Harry, realizing this for the first time. He pulled the ticket Hagrid had given him out of his pocket.

"I just take the train from platform nine and three-quarters at eleven o' clock," he read.

His aunt and uncle stared.

"Platform what?"

"Nine and three-quarters."

"Don't talk rubbish," said Uncle Vernon. "There's no platform nine and three-quarters."

"It's on my ticket."

"Barking," said Uncle Vernon, "howling mad, the lot of them. You'll see. You just wait. All right, we'll take you to King's Cross. We're going up to London tomorrow anyway, or I wouldn't bother."

"Why are you going to London?" Lilian asked, trying to keep things friendly.

"Taking Dudley to the hospital," growled Uncle Vernon. "Got to have that ruddy tail removed before he goes to Smeltings."

Harry and Lilian woke at five o' clock the next morning and were too excited and nervous to go back to sleep. Harry got up and pulled on his jeans because he didn't want to walk into the station in his wizard's robes – he'd change on the train. He checked his Hogwarts list yet again to make sure he had everything he needed, saw that Hedwig was shut safely in her cage, and then paced the room, waiting for the Dursley's to get up. Two hours later, Harry and Lilian's huge, heavy trunk had been loaded into the Dursleys' car, Aunt Petunia had talked Dudley into sitting next to Harry and Lilian, and they had set off.