Cared For

Chapter 20: Hogwarts Express

Published: 26th June 2019
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Harry stood in front of the mirror, brushing his unruly mop of hair. His trunk sat at the foot of his bed, packed with his wand, books and robes they had bought from Diagon Alley.

Although Minerva and Harry lived in Hogwarts, it had been Harry's dream to ride the Hogwarts Express. Every year, seeing the big kids riding the train made Harry wish he could as well. And after talking to Minerva, more like pleading with her, he convinced her to let him go.

He went to the living room where Minerva was sitting, newspaper in hand and a cup of tea to her side. She turned around to him.

"Goodness, did you even brush your hair?" she exclaimed. "Bring your brush here,"

She tried to brush them so they would sit down, but eventually gave up. They rarely ever did so, only if she would apply a large dab of Sleekeazy's hair potion. Minerva sat down and resumed reading her newspaper while Harry had the breakfast that laid on the table.

Harry scarffed down his breakfast and ran off to get his trunk because Minerva was already waiting for him. She took his trunk and made off to the gates of Hogwarts, where they were planning to apparate to King's Cross Station. She took his hand and apparated away.

Once they arrived, Harry had his mouth hanging in awe. The station was huge, not as big as Hogwarts of course, but it looked magnificent. Harry looked at the ticket he had in his hand, the ticket said the platform they had to go to was 9 3/4. They made their way through security and soon arrived at the platforms.

"Harry," she said, "see that barrier over there," she said, pointing at the wall that separated platforms 9 and 10. Harry nodded.

"Run through it and don't stop. Don't worry about the crash. See you at Hogwarts," she instructed. Harry took his trolley from Minerva and got ready to run before being stopped again.

"Harry, listen to me. You know that everyone in the wizarding world has heard your name," she told him. Harry sighed. He never liked being the centre of attention and he never liked thinking about the reason he was famous.

"There will be people who will want to be with you only for your pull and title in the world. There will be kids who only find interest with you because you are the ' Boy-who-Lived'. Be careful of who you befriend and chose the right type of friends." she warned.

"Alright. Don't worry about me, I will be fine. Bye Minnie," he said. Minerva then kissed his forehead and walked away, leaving Harry alone. He closed his eyes and ran into the barrier.

He felt a cool breeze wash over him as he opened his eyes. There was a large sign that read '9 3/4'. Overall, it looked like a normal station, only it was filled with people with robes and carrying owls. The large train had the words 'Hogwarts Express' emblazoned on the front. Harry took his trunk and boarded the train.

The compartments inside were filled with the older students who had already made their friendship groups, leaving few compartments for the first years. Harry walked inside a random, empty compartment and sat down.

Almost immediately after he sat down, a young boy with flaming red hair entered the compartment.

"Is it fine if I sit here. All the other compartments are full?" he asked. Harry nodded and he sat down.

"I'm Ronald, Ronald Weasley" he introduced.

"I'm Harry Potter," he said. Ron's eyes widened.

"THE Harry Potter? Do you have the scar?" he asked and Harry raised the hair over his scar. He knew this was coming, but he was annoyed as well.

"Wow, cool!" he exclaimed. "So that is where You-Know-Who-?"

"Yes," said Harry. There was an awkward silence for a few minutes until Ron reached into his jacket for a lumpy package. He unwrapped it to reveal four sandwiches.

"Mum always forgets I don't like corned beef," he complained aloud.

At that moment, there was a great clattering from outside and the door was opened by a smiling woman.

"Anything from the trolley?" she asked sweetly.

Harry took some of everything in the cart and paid her eleven Sickles and seven Knuts.

"Have a pasty," Harry offered, holding out a pumpkin pasty. Ron accepted, and the two of them ate their way through the cakes and pastries, talking about Ron's family.

There was a knock on the door of their compartment and a round faced boy entered the compartment.

"Have you seen a toad?" he asked nervously.

They shook their heads and he left the compartment.

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

Harry looked over at the rat snoozing away 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 raised his wand to perform a spell when a girl slid the compartment door open.

"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 haven't seen it, sorry," Harry said, but her attention was diverted to the wand in Ron's hand.

"Are you trying magic?" she inquired. After Ron's nod, she said, "Well lets see it then." She sat down as Ron cleared his throat.

"Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow
Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow,"

Nothing happened. Scabbers was still the same colour.

"Are you sure that's a real spell?" said the girl. "Well, it's not very good is it? I've tried a few spells just for practise 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, its the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard. I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?"

Harry gave Ron a look.

"I'm Ronald Weasley," Ron told her.

"And I am Harry Potter," Harry said.

"Are you really? I have read about you in our textbooks." Hermione commented.

"Oh, really," Harry said uneasily. He didn't want to be in a textbook. Hermione nodded before leaving the compartment.

Harry looked out of the window to see the familiar castle in the distance.

"Hey Ron, look. We are near Hogwarts," Harry exclaimed.

The two boys changed into their robes just as the train came to a stop. They left their trunks in the train to be collected and got off the train.

Harry was at Hogwarts, this time as a student.
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Sorry for the long waiting time. I wanted my copy of The Philosopher's Stone to write the italic parts, but I couldn't get it.