NOVEL NEXT Chapter 4: The Hogwarts Express
I stepped out of the house, went up to the curb, and stuck out my wand to hail the infamous triple-decker bus. Severus had told me about it, but I had already known. Severus and I had talked on multiple occasions during the last month, mainly in the mornings when I was doing my run or exercises. I had spotted him tending his garden one morning and stopped to ask him about some of the potions I had read about. He seemed annoyed at first, but over the month, I think I wore him down a bit. He said I would probably be a Ravenclaw with my insistent knowledge-grabbing; I laughed and agreed.
*bang*
The knight bus appeared with a loud bang and rolled to a stop before me. The purple behemoth towered over me.
"Welcome to the knight bus," a scratchy voice said. " I'm Henry Ackford. I'll be your conductor," the elderly man coughed into a handkerchief. "11 sickles are the fare for an additional two, and you get hot chocolate, and for 15, you will get a hot water bottle and a toothbrush in the colour of your choice" the man murmured on.
"Just the fare to Kingscross station, please," I said, digging out the sickles.
I loaded my trunk myself. Henry was not fit.
"Kingscross Ernie!" Henry yelled, then hacked up a lung into his handkerchief. "Better make it the next stop; it is getting close to 11."
The knight bus didn't have seats; it had beds on wheels. Another loud bang, and we were off. The streets and cars zoomed past, and in under 10 minutes, the bus was pulling up to Kingscross.
*bang*
I got out, grabbed a trolley, and loaded my trunk. "Thanks, Henry," I said and walked into the station.
I already knew how to get to platform 9,3/4, but the directions were also on the back of the ticket. I shook my head; Harry must be obviously sometimes. Running at the wall between platforms 9 and 10, I passed through. There, I got my first look at the crimson steam engine. It was only 10:15, so I had about 45 minutes to kill, and it seemed like I was one of the first there. Hell, the driver was having a cup of tea with the trolley woman on the platform. They looked at me oddly, and I nodded in greeting. It is a bit strange for an 11-year-old to show up without his guardians to see him off, but I am a very independent person, really. I've been looking after myself for a long time. 'Though,' I thought, 'I am a bit of a loner.' Not by choice, mind you. Kids don't want to be friends with the kid from the wrong side of town. And I've been more mature for a long time.
I put my trunk onto the train, took the first cabin I came across, pulled out my book of music of the age, and got comfortable.
It was 20 minutes till there was more movement on the platform, families coming to drop off their kids. The train gradually began to fill with noise and chatter. Surprisingly, even with my cabin door open and plenty of space, no one entered. I had put my headphones on as it will probably be the last time I listen to music for a while, so I put on my chilling mix tape, closed my eyes, and drifted. A song from u2 came on, and it was one that I loved. I started to hum and then softly sing. But it wasn't a song you could sing softly, so my voice gradually got louder. •I will Follow by U2•
♫If you walk away, walk away
I walk away, walk away
I will follow♫
At that point, I opened my eyes and noticed I wasn't alone anymore. "Ah!" I yelled and blushed, looking at the two girls staring at me. "Sorry about that got lost in the music" I said this seemed to keep happening.
"That's okay it was pretty good" smiled the first girl she had ginger hair and a smile "Susan bones and this is Hannah Abbott" she introduced her self and the shy blonde girl sitting next to her.
"Eddie Carter", I replied in the introduction. "So you guys first years too?" I asked.
"Yup, you're a muggle-born, aren't you?" Susan replied.
"Bit rude, but maybe", I said, "I don't know my parents."
"Oh", Susan frowned. "I never met mine either." We fell into an awkward silence.
"But to answer, if I'm a muggle-born, you can just treat me as such; I have about the same knowledge of this world as one of them because I was raised by muggles," I said. "Haha sounds like I was raised by wolves or something ha" making a joke.
"Why didn't you take an inheritance test at Gringotts?" Hannah spoke up.
"A what?" I asked.
"inheritance test. the goblins take a bit of blood and match it against their records of vault owners." Hanah explained, "It takes a drop of blood to open a vault. It's not perfect, but youll find out if you are from a wizard family."
" Dammit, why didn't professor sanpe or the goblins tell me this?" I asked more to myself
"Goblins are greedy; if there's no one to claim a vault, they get to keep its contents." Susan jumped. "at least that's what my auntie said."
"Yeah I guess I gotta go back to gringotts at some point" I sighed.
"Whelp, I'm going to the dining cart to get some lunch."
"Dining cart, what dining cart?" Susan asked.
"Well it like a 7 hour journey to hogwarts and the snack trolley has to come from some where" I said logically "you guys want anything?"
"Sure. Just a sandwich would be nice," Susan said, Hannah, nodding her head to indicate that she'd like the same.
I smiled and left the cabin, headphones back on. I bopped to the beat as I searched for the dining cart.
It took a while, and asking a Prefect to find it. It wasn't really a dining cart because there were no tables or chairs but just a counter. I grabbed 3 chicken sandwiches for a sickle each and headed back to the cabin. On my way, I passed students happily talking and arguing. Two girls smiled at me as I passed them in the hall, and I saw Draco and his gang searching for Harry just as I reached my cabin.
"That boy is strange," Susan said to Hannah as Eddie left the cabin looking for food.
"But he's pretty cute," Hannah said in reply.
Thinking about Eddie, Susan couldn't help but agree. Eddie had messy shoulder-length black hair but gave off a wild, untamed feeling and deep ocean-blue eyes that someone could lose themselves in. He also seemed fitter than most 11-year-olds. "And his voice, I've never heard someone sing that well," Hannah said. "I could feel the emotion in it."
"Yeah like I said strange" Susan replied.
" you think he'll find a dining cart," Hannah asked.
"His logic was sound, but I've never heard of a dinning cart on the train" Susan answered.
"Hope you'll like chicken,", Eddie said, entering the cabin.
"So you found it then," Susan asked, accepting the sandwich wrapped in wax paper.
"Yup, just after the prefect cart towards the front of the train before the staff cart." Replied Eddie with a cheeky smile. "The prefects told me not to share that knowledge."
"So why did you tell us?" Hannah asked.
I was just about to answer when there was a knock, and the door opened. "Is Potter in here?" Dracos stuck up their face and looked in.
"No mr malfoy harry potter isn't in this cabin" Susan replied angry, malfoy smirked and moved on. Goyle, however, spotted my sandwich and asked, "Where did you get those?"
"Dining cart, just head up the train past the prefects. If you hit a locked door, you've gone too far." I said in reply
"Cheers for that" goyle said dragging crabe with him to find the dinning cart, a minute passed and malfoy ran passed again yelling for carbe and goyle.
We laughed, and I closed the door again.
"As for why I told you, because I love food, and hiding it from others isn't my style." I finally answered Hannah's questions.
We talked for a bit more and eventually went back to a companionable silence. Well, the girls were chatting quietly, and I had put my headphones back on.
In the book, Hermione comes to ask for Neville's toad, Trevor. "Get a Prefect to use a summoning charm,", I said after the girls said no, "but hurry, we'll probably be at Hogwarts within the hour."
"Your turn," Susan said. I smiled in thanks and went into the cabin to quickly change. I put my Walkman, cassettes, and music of the age in my trunk. The school robes were comfortable, but the tie was annoying.
All too soon, we were pulling up to Hogsmead station, and the boisterous voice of Hagrid sounded, "First years over here".