star-crossed

On the Train

The door to the compartment slid open and Harry looked over, expecting Elowen, to see the youngest redhead enter.

"Anyone sitting there?" He pointed at the bench across from Harry. "Everywhere else is full."

Harry doubted that, but he shook his head. "My sister'll be back soon, but she won't mind if you sit with us."

The boy sat down, glancing at Harry then quickly away, as if he hadn't looked. Harry noted with some amusement that he still had a smudge on his nose. The door to the compartment slid open again.

"Hey, Ron." The Weasley twins were back. "Listen, we're going down the middle of the train – Lee Jordan's got a giant tarantula down there."

"Right," mumbled Ron.

"Henry," said the other twin, "This is Ron, our brother. See you later, then."

"Bye," said Harry and Ron. The twins slid the compartment door shut behind them.

"Are you really Harry Potter?" Ron blurted out.

Harry sighed. "My name is actually Henry, but yes, that's me."

"Oh, well, I thought it might be one of Fred and George's jokes," said Ron. "And have you really got – you know..." He pointed at Harry's forehead.

Harry pushed back his fringe to show the lightning scar. Ron stared.

"So that's where You-Know-Who—?"

"Yes," said Harry shortly, "but I can't remember it."

"Nothing?" said Ron eagerly.

"Well – I remember a lot of green light, but nothing else."

"Wow," said Ron. He sat and stared at Harry for a few moments, then, as though he had suddenly realised what he was doing, he looked quickly out of the window again.

"Are all your family wizards?" asked Harry, who was rather excited to have another young wizard to talk to. Draco could be incredibly stuffy at times, and Harry wanted to make more friends.

"Er – yes, I think so," said Ron, scrunching his nose as he thought. "I think Mum's got a second cousin who's an accountant, but we never talk about him."

"So you must know loads of magic already." The Weasleys must be one of the old wixen families Draco had mentioned on one of his trips to Diagon, Harry was sure of it.

"I heard you went to live with Muggles," said Ron. "What are they like?"

"Horrible – well, not all of them. My aunt and uncle and cousin are, though." Harry changed the subject. "What's it like having three older brothers? El and I only had our cousin and he's awful."

"Five older brothers," Ron said, inexplicably gloomily. "I'm the sixth in our family to go to Hogwarts. You could say I've got a lot to live up to. Bill and Charlie have already left – Bill was Head Boy and Charlie was captain of Quidditch. Now Percy's a Prefect. Fred and George mess around a lot, but they still get really good marks and everyone thinks they're really funny. Everyone expects me to do as well as the others, but if I do, it's no big deal, because they did it first. You never get anything new, either, with five brothers. I've got Bill's old robes, Charlie's old wand and Percy's old rat." Ron reached inside his jacket and pulled out a fat grey rat, which was asleep. "His name's Scabbers and he's useless, he hardly ever wakes up. Percy got an owl from my dad for being made a Prefect, but they couldn't aff– I mean, I got Scabbers instead."

Ron's ears were pink as he stared out the window. He seemed to think he'd said too much.

Harry gave a friendly smile. He didn't think there was anything wrong with not being able to afford an owl. After all, he and his twin had never had any money in their life until a month ago, and he told Ron so, all about them having to wear secondhand and Dudley's old clothes and never getting proper birthday presents. This seemed to cheer Ron up.

"And until we got our letters, we didn't know anything about being magic or about our parents or the Dark Lord—"

Ron gasped.

"What?" said Harry.

"You called You-Know-Who the Dark Lord!" said Ron, sounding scandalized. "Dad says only his followers called him that! I'd have thought you, of all people—"

"I'm not one of his followers,"said Harry. "I just think that saying You-Know-Who or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is stupid and takes too long. Besides, Professor Snape said that the Dark Lord was one of the things people called him. He didn't say anything about it being only his followers." Harry sighed. "See what I mean? I've still got loads to learn... I bet," he added, voicing for the first time something that had been worrying him a lot lately, "I bet I'm the worst in the class."

"You won't be," Ron reassured. "There's loads of people who come from Muggle families and they learn quick enough."

While they had been talking, the train had carried them out of London. Now they were speeding past fields full of cows and sheep. They were quiet for a time, watching the fields and lanes flick past. The compartment door slid open again and Elowen walked in and plopped down next to Harry.

"Well, I didn't find Dray, but I did see the twins again," she announced. She looked over Ron.  "They said you were down here. Hello, I'm Elowen.

Ron waved, then turned back to Harry, a pensive look on his face. "I've been wondering, why does everyone think your name is Harry if you're actually Henry?"

"My parents named me Henry, Harry was meant to just be for family and friends." Harry shrugged. "Best we can figure is that whoever told the press about that night gave them the wrong name."

Ron nodded sagely. "That makes sense, it was probably a very chaotic night."

"We're friends now, so you can call me Harry, if you wanted," Harry told him, and was rewarded with a bright grin.

And they settled back into comfortable silence.

Around half past twelve there was a great clattering outside in the corridor and a smiling, dimpled woman slid back their door and said, "Anything off the trolley, dears?"

Harry, who hadn't eaten much breakfast (he was far too nervous and excited), leapt to his feet, but Ron's ears went pink again and he muttered that he'd brought sandwiches. Harry went out into the corridor.

He had never had any money for sweets with the Dursleys and now that he had plenty of pocket money, he was developing a bit of a sweet tooth — the twins hadn't actually bought much candy yet though, preferring to stick to the more familiar ice cream flavors. Now though, Harry was eager to try everything on the cart: Bertie Bott's Every-Flavour Beans, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Chocolate Frogs, Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes, Liquorice Wands and a number of other strange things Harry hqd seen on various trips in the Alley. Unable to decide, he got some of everything and paid the woman eleven silver Sickles and seven bronze Knuts.

Ron stared as Harry brought it all back into the compartment and tipped it on to an empty seat. "Hungry, are you?"

"Starving," Harry said, taking a bite of pumpkin pasty.

Elowen rolled her eyes and stood on the seat, pulling the lunch basket Tom had given them out of her trunk. "Real food first, at least, Harry."

She opened the basket, pulling out two roast chicken sandwiches and several apples, then several glass bottles. There were four pumpkin juices and six waters and Elowen shook her head fondly — Tom was always insisting that they take water with them when they went into the Alley. She offered a water and a juice to Ron, who took them with a grateful smile.

Ron had taken out a lumpy package and unwrapped it to reveal four sandwiches. He pulled one of them apart and said, "She always forgets I don't like corned beef."

"Swap you for one of these," said Harry, holding up one of his chicken sandwiches. "Go on—"

"You don't want this, it's all dry," said Ron, flushing. "She hasn't got much time,' he added quickly, "you know, with five of us."

"Alright then, just take a chicken sandwich. Tom packed us more than enough," said Elowen, who had only had her brother to share with before. It was a nice feeling, sitting there with Ron, eating their way through the lunch Tom packed and the mound of sweets Harry had bought.

"What are these?" Harry asked Ron, holding up a pack of Chocolate Frogs. "They're not really frogs, are they?"

"No," said Ron. "But see what the card is, I'm missing Agrippa."

"What?"

"Oh, of course, you wouldn't know – Chocolate Frogs have cards inside them, you know, to collect – Famous Witches and Wizards. I've got about five hundred, but I haven't got Agrippa or Ptolemy."

Harry unwrapped his Chocolate Frog, startling as it jumped away and into Hedwig's cage, who hooted disdainfully.

"Oh, sorry, I forgot to mention that they jump," Ron said sheepishly. "Just for a bit though, and it's only a small charm. For fun."

"That's okay, we have more."Harry shrugged and picked up the card that had fallen in his lap. It showed a man's face. He wore half-moon glasses, had a long crooked nose and flowing silver hair, beard and moustache. Underneath the picture was the name Albus Dumbledore.

"So this is Dumbledore!" said Harry, showing Elowen.

"Don't tell me you'd never heard of Dumbledore!" said Ron. "Can I have a frog? I might get Agrippa – thanks –"

"We've heard of him," Elowen said as she handed over a frog. "We just haven't seen him yet. He's in so many books, you'd think one of them would have a picture."

Harry turned over his card and read:

Albus Dumbledore, currently Headmaster of Hogwarts. Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern times, Professor Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel. Professor Dumbledore enjoys chamber music and tenpin bowling.

Harry turned the card back over and saw, to his astonishment, that Dumbledore's face had disappeared. "He's gone!"

"Well, you can't expect him to hang around all day," said Ron. "He'll be back. No, I've got Morgana again and I've got about six of her... do you want it? You can start collecting."

Elowen shook her head as Harry took the card. "Just when I thought the moving, talking paintings couldn't get any weirder, now you're saying they can just leave?"

"If they have another portrait," Ron said. "Chocolate Frog cards are all the same portrait that just moves between frames, according to my brother Bill." Ron's eyes strayed to the pile of Chocolate Frogs waiting to be unwrapped. "Why would moving paintings be weird?"

"Help yourself," said Harry. "But in, you know, the Muggle world, people just stay put in photos."

"Do they? What, they don't move at all?" Ron sounded amazed. "Weird!"

Harry stared as Dumbledore sidled back into the picture on his card and gave him a small smile. Ron was more interested in eating the frogs than looking at the Famous Witches and Wizards cards, but Harry couldn't keep his eyes off them. Soon he had not only Dumbledore and Morgana, but Hengist of Woodcroft, Alberic Grunnion, Circe, Paracelsus and Merlin. He finally tore his eyes away from the druidess Cliodna, who was scratching her nose, to open a bag of Bertie Bott's Every-Flavour Beans.

Elowen had a pile of beans laid out on a napkin and was eating them one by one, occasionally pausing to pick out all the beans of the same color. Harry watched amusedly.

"What?" she asked when she looked up to see both boys watching her. "If a color is gross I don't want to eat it again."

"She's got a point. You want to be careful with those," Ron warned Harry. "When they say every flavour, they mean every flavour – you know, you get all the ordinary ones like chocolate and peppermint and marmalade, but then you can get spinach and liver and tripe. George reckons he had a bogey-flavoured one once." Ron picked up a green bean, looked at it carefully and bit into a corner. "Blegh– see? Sprouts."

They had a good time eating the Every-Flavour Beans. Harry got toast, coconut, baked bean, strawberry, curry, grass, coffee, sardine and was even brave enough to nibble the end off a funny grey one Ron wouldn't touch, which turned out to be pepper. Elowen kept a count of who got the most good flavors between the two (Ron won, but Harry insisted it was just experience and they decided to play again on the end of year train, when Harry had had more time to figure out which beans were the bad flavors.)

The countryside now flying past the window was becoming wilder. The neat fields had gone. Now there were woods, twisting rivers and dark green hills.

There was a knock on the door of their compartment and the round-faced boy Harry had passed on the platform came in. He looked tearful.

"Sorry," he said, "but have you seen a toad at all?" When they shook their heads, he wailed, "I've lost him! He keeps getting away from me!"

"He'll turn up," said Harry.

"Yes," said the boy miserably. "Well, if you see him..."

"Have you asked a prefect if they could summon him for you?" Elowen offered. The boy shook his head slowly.

"That's a good idea, I'll have to find one." The boy left.

"Don't know why he's so bothered," said Ron. "If I'd brought a toad I'd lose it as quick as I could. Mind you, I brought Scabbers, so I can't talk."

The rat was still snoozing on Ron's lap.

"He might have died and you wouldn't know the difference," said Ron in disgust. "I tried to turn him yellow yesterday to make him more interesting, but the spell didn't work. I'll show you, look..."

He rummaged around in his trunk and pulled out a very battered-looking wand. It was chipped in places and something white was glinting at the end.

"Unicorn hair's nearly poking out. Anyway."

He had just raised his wand when the compartment door slid open again. The toadless boy was back, but this time he had a girl with him. She was already wearing her new Hogwarts robes.

"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," she said. She had a bossy sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair and rather large front teeth.

"We've already told him we haven't seen it," said Ron, but the girl wasn't listening, she was looking at the wand in his hand.

"Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it, then."
She sat down. Ron looked taken aback.

"Er – all right." He cleared his throat. "Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, turn this stupid, fat rat yellow." He waved his wand, but nothing happened. Scabbers stayed grey and fast asleep.

"Are you sure that's a real spell?" said the girl. "Well, it's not very good, is it? I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard – I've learnt all our set books off by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough – I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?"

She said all this very fast.

Harry looked at Ron and his sister. Neither of the twins had memorized their books and Harry was a bit relieved to see that Ron clearly hadn't either.

"I'm Ron Weasley," Ron muttered.

"Henry Potter," said Harry.

"Elowen Potter," said his twin.

"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 and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century."

"Are we really?" Elowen frowned. "I don't think we've gotten around to reading those books yet."

"Goodness, didn't you know, I'd have found out everything I could if it was me," said Hermione. "Do either of you know what house you'll be in? I've been asking around and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best, I hear Dumbledore himself was one, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad... Anyway, we'd better go and look for Neville's toad. You three had better change, you know, I expect we'll be there soon."

And she left, taking Neville with her.

"Whatever house I'm in, I hope she's not in it," said Ron. He threw his wand back into his trunk. "Stupid spell – George gave it to me, bet he knew it was a dud."

"She seems nice enough, if a bit... overexcited and talkative." Elowen frowned. "Maybe it's just nerves?"

"Maybe," Ron agreed, though he didn't look much like he agreed.

"What house are your brothers in?" asked Harry.

"Gryffindor," said Ron. Gloom seemed to be settling on him again. "Mum and Dad were in it, too. I don't know what they'll say if I'm not. I don't suppose Ravenclaw would be too bad, but imagine if they put me in Slytherin."

"What's wrong with Slytherin?" Elowen asked. "Is that the house the Dark Lord was in?"

"Yeah," said Ron. He flopped back into his seat, looking depressed.

"You know, I think the ends of Scabbers's whiskers are a bit lighter," said Harry, trying to take Ron's mind off houses. "So what do your oldest brothers do now they've left, anyway?"

Harry had been wondering what a wizard did once he'd finished school.

"Charlie's in Romania studying dragons and Bill's in Africa doing something for Gringotts," said Ron. "Did you hear about Gringotts? It's been all over the Daily Prophet, but I don't suppose you get that with the Muggles – someone tried to rob a high-security vault."

Harry stared. "Really? What happened to them?"

"When did this happen?" Elowen added. "We've been staying in Diagon the last month but we didn't get the paper."

"Nothing, that's why it's such big news," Ron answered them. "It happened at the end of July and they haven't been caught yet. My dad says it must've been a powerful Dark wizard to get round Gringotts, but they don't think they took anything, that's what's odd. 'Course, everyone gets scared when something like this happens in case You-Know-Who's behind it."

Harry turned this news over in his mind. He supposed there had been quite a commotion at the bank around then, but he and his sister hadn't gone to investigate, Fortescue had told them it was better to stay far away from anything that made the goblins angry.

"What's your Quidditch team?" Ron asked after the twins had been quiet for some time.

"Er – I don't really know any yet," Harry confessed. Draco had mentioned quidditch a few times, and Harry thought it sounded fun, but the season hadn't started yet and Harry had yet to see a game. "It sounds like fun but I haven't seen a game yet."

"What!" Ron looked dumbfounded. "Oh, you wait, it's the best game in the world..." And he was off, explaining all about the four balls and the positions of the seven players, describing famous games he'd been to with his brothers and the broomstick he'd like to get if he had the money. He was just taking Harry through the finer points of the game when the compartment door slid open yet again, but it wasn't Neville the toadless boy or Hermione Granger this time.

Three boys entered and Harry recognised the middle one at once. Draco walked in, scowling at the twins.

"There you are, Harry, Elowen," he said. "I have been up and down the train looking for the two of you."

"Hello, Draco," Elowen greeted, smiling brightly at him. "I looked for you before the train left but I didn't see you."

"We got to the platform rather late," Draco informed her. "When we didn't see you, Mother was worried you might have missed the train. She insists that you write her about your Sorting."

"Of course," said Harry, noting Ron looking a bit shocked and irritated. "Who are your friends?" He was looking at the other boys. Both of them were thickset and looked extremely mean. Standing either side of Draco, they looked like bodyguards.

"Oh, this is Vincent Crabbe and this is Gregory Goyle," said Draco carelessly, noticing where Harry was looking. "Their fathers work with mine."

"Work for, you mean," Ron said as he gave a slight cough, which might have been hiding a snigger. Draco Malfoy looked at him.

"Think that's funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles and more children than they can afford."

"Draco," Elowen sighed. "Ron is our friend, please don't antagonize him."

Draco stared at her for a moment, then nodded slowly. "Well, I suppose you could do worse. You'll soon find out some wixen families are much better than others. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there."

"As long as you don't say Ron is the wrong sort," Harry said coolly.

The two boys behind Draco sniggered meanly.

"I'd be careful if I were you, Potters," said Goyle slowly. "Unless you're a bit politer you'll go the same way as your parents. They didn't know what was good for them, either. You hang around with the Weasleys and it'll rub off on you."

Draco whirled around. "Gregory!"

Both Harry and Ron stood up. Ron's face was as red as his hair.

"Say that again," he said.

"Oh, you're going to fight us, are you?" Crabbe sneered.

"Unless you get out now," said Harry, more bravely than he felt, because Crabbe and Goyle were a lot bigger than any of them.

"But we don't feel like leaving," Goyle said. "We've eaten all our food and you still seem to have some."

As Draco just gaped at him, Goyle reached towards the Chocolate Frogs next to Ron – Ron leapt forward, but before he'd so much as touched Goyle, Goyle let out a horrible yell.

Scabbers the rat was hanging off his finger, sharp little teeth sunk deep into Goyle's knuckle – Crabbe backed away as Goyle swung Scabbers round and round, howling, and when Scabbers finally flew off and hit the window, both of them disappeared at once. Draco looked back at the twins.

"I don't know what's gotten into them," he said. "I'm sorry, I'd better go after them before they start spreading lies about what's happened. I'll see you at school?"

"Of course," Elowen assured, and with a last apologetic look, Draco disappeared after Crabbe and Goyle. A second later, Hermione Granger came in.

"What has been going on?" she said, looking at the sweets all over the floor and Ron picking up Scabbers by his tail.

"I think he's been knocked out," Ron said to Harry. He looked closer at Scabbers. "No – I don't believe it – he's gone back to sleep." And so he had. Ron shook his head. "You've met Malfoy before?"

"We met him and his mother in Diagon a few weeks ago," Elowen told him. "We've been sending letters back and forth with them and Draco visited us several times. We're friends."

"Well, I've heard of his family," said Ron darkly. "They were some of the first to come back to our side after You-Know-Who disappeared. Said they'd been bewitched. My dad doesn't believe it. He says Malfoy's father didn't need an excuse to go over to the Dark Side." He turned to Hermione. "Can we help you with something?"

"You'd better hurry up and put your robes on, I've just been up the front to ask the driver and he says we're nearly there. You haven't been fighting, have you? You'll be in trouble before we even get there!"

"Scabbers has been fighting, not us," said Ron, scowling at her. "Would you mind leaving while we change?"

"All right – I only came in here because people outside are behaving very childishly, racing up and down the corridors," said Hermione in a sniffy voice. "And you've got dirt on your nose, by the way, did you know?"

Ron glared at her as she left. Harry peered out of the window. It was getting dark. He could see mountains and forests under a deep-purple sky. The train did seem to be slowing down.

They all pulled out their long black school robes and pulled them on. Ron's were a bit short for him, you could see his trainers underneath them. Elowen quickly braided her hair and tied it with a black ribbon.

A voice echoed through the train: "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately."

Harry's stomach lurched with nerves, Elowen looked just as nervous as he did, and Ron, he saw, looked pale under his freckles. The boys crammed their pockets with the last of the sweets and they all joined the crowd thronging the corridor.

The train slowed right down and finally stopped. People pushed their way towards the door and out on to a tiny, dark platform. Harry shivered in the cold night air. Then a lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students and Harry heard a gruff voice: "Firs'-years! Firs'-years over here! No shovin' now!"

A large, hairy man towered over the students. "C'mon, follow me – any more firs'-years? Mind yer step, now! Firs'-years follow me!"

Slipping and stumbling, they followed him down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It was so dark either side of them that Harry thought there must be thick trees there. Nobody spoke much. Neville, the boy who kept losing his toad, sniffed once or twice.

"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," the man called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here."

There was a loud 'Oooooh!' as they turned the corner. The narrow path had opened suddenly on to the edge of a great black lake. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers. Harry felt a strange sense of coming home as he stared in awe at the castle.

"No more'n four to a boat!" the man called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Elowen, Harry and Ron were followed into their boat by Hermione. When he looked around, Harry could see Neville looking anxious in a boat with Draco and two others - a dark haired girl and an Italian boy.

"Everyone in?" shouted the giant man, who had a boat to himself, "Right then – FORWARD!"

And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood.

"Heads down!" yelled the man as the first boats reached the cliff; they all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy which hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbour, where they clambered out on to rocks and pebbles.

"Oi, you there! Is this your toad?" said the man, who was checking the boats as people climbed out of them.

"Trevor!" cried Neville blissfully, holding out his hands. The toad was deposited into his hands and Neville scrambled back to stand next to Elowen and Hermione. Then they all clambered up a passageway in the rock after the bobbing lamp, coming out at last on to smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle.

They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge, oak front door.

"Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad?" The man raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door.