Harry Potter and the Heir of Slytherin

Trouble on the Hogwarts Express

Harry's apparition point was one that he had planned a week in advance. Now that he knew where King's Cross was, it was very easy to just apparate there. Apparition required not only clear knowledge on where something was geographically located, but also a clear image that could be conjured within one's mind in order to create the 'wormhole' as Harry had taken to calling it, from one point to another.

His apparition point in this instance was a small restroom stall that he had placed a muggle repelling charm around the last time he had been at King's Cross. He had used enough magic to make it last a few days. Any non magical human who went near it would suddenly remember they had something better to do than use the stall he had chosen.

His appearance was nowhere near as silent as it usually was this time, such was the haste in which he had apparated. The crack was loud enough that one of the people using the urinals several feet from the affected area of his repelling charm yelped in surprise at the sound and spun around, spraying urine all over the floor.

"God dammit! Shit!"

Harry ignored the swearing as he stepped out of the stall he had apparated into. He was about to begin heading for the door when the man who had been using the urinal stopped him.

"Eh? What are you doing here, kid? I don't remember ―"

Before the man could go any further, Harry waved a hand in front of his face. The face of the man who was wearing a gray business suit went slack jawed and his eyes glazed over.

"You will forget you ever saw me here."

"I will forget I ever saw you here," the dazed man repeated in a droning voice that reminded Harry of Professor Binns.

"You will also inform someone that you had a bit of an accident in the restroom and it needs to be cleaned up."

"I will inform someone that I made a mess and it needs to be cleaned up."

Harry nodded his head, then turned around. He paused, however, then turned back around and waved his hand one more time on impulse.

"By the way, these are not the droids you're looking for."

"These are not the droids I'm looking for."

Satisfied and feeling more than a bit amused, Harry left the restroom and stepped into the busy walkway of King's Cross station. Despite how crowded the station was, with people moving to and fro in every direction and leaving very few gaps in between where someone could slip through, the raven haired youth still managed to seamlessly work his way into the flow of traffic and begin walking towards his destination.

It did not take him very long to reach the small gateway that led to platform nine and three-quarters. Harry used his unnatural grace and cat-like agility and reflexes to deftly swerve and side step incoming people as he moved ever closer to the gateway that was illusioned to look like a wall. He walked directly over to the wall, prepared for the tingling sensation as the magic washed over him...

...And then walked right into it.

Into it. Not through it.

"What the...?" Harry blinked in confusion several times as he looked at the wall before him. He pressed his hands against the brick and gave it a firm push. Nothing. His hands did not slip through the wall like it was made of some kind of quicksilver. He was not allowed passage through to the other side of the gateway... because the gateway was apparently no longer there. Harry couldn't even feel the small tingle in the back of his neck that signified a place that was heavily saturated in some kind of magic.

Harry ignored the strange looks he got from a few of the people around him as he turned around and pressed his back against the wall. He slid down it until he was sitting, then crossed his legs underneath him and began to think.