Entanglement

Hogwarts Express

Elena's last month with the Dursleys wasn't fun. Dudley was now so scared of Elena he wouldn't stay in the same room, while Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon didn't speak to either of the two at all. Half-terrified, half-furious, they acted as though any chair with Elena or Harry in it was empty. Although this was an improvement in many ways, it did become sad after a while.

Elena and Harry kept to their room, with their new owls for company. Elena named her owl Clover, since she had always loved nature. Harry had decided to call his owl Hedwig, a name he had found in A History of Magic. Their school books were very interesting. Elena and Harry would lay on the ground between their beds reading late into the night, Clover and Hedwig swooping in and out of the open window as the two pleased. It was lucky that Aunt Petunia didn't come in anymore, because Hedwig kept bringing back dead mice. Every night before she went to sleep, Elena watched Harry tick off another day on the piece of paper he had pinned to the wall, counting down to September first.

On the last day of August Harry decided he'd better speak to his aunt and uncle about getting to King's Cross station the next day. Elena followed as he 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– We 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?"
Elena and Harry didn't say anything, just exchanged an equally nervous glance.
"Where is this school, anyway?"
"I don't know," said Harry, realizing this for the first time. Elena watched Harry as 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 at the twins.
"Platform what?"
"Nine and three-quarters," Elena finally intervened, repeating after Harry.
"Don't talk rubbish," said Uncle Vernon, "there is no platform nine and three-quarters."
"It's on our tickets."
"Barking," said Uncle Vernon, "howling mad. You'll see. You two 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?" Harry asked, trying to keep things friendly.
"Taking Dudley to hospital," growled Uncle Vernon. "Got to have that ruddy tail removed before he goes to Smeltings."
*
Elena and Harry 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 wizard's robes– he'd change on the train. Elena, however, decided she'd rather be in her robes already. She checked her Hogwarts list yet again to make sure she had everything she needed, and checked that Clover was safely in her cage, then paced the room, waiting for the Dursleys to get up, she talked with Harry about the sorting, and what he was most excited for. Two hours later, Elena and Harry's huge, heavy trunks had been loaded into the Dursleys' car, Aunt Petunia had talked Dudley into sitting next to Elena and they had set off.

They reached King's Cross at half past ten. Uncle Vernon dumped Harry's trunk on to a trolley and wheeled it into the station for him. Elena rolled her own into the station. She thought Uncle Vernon was strangely kind until he stopped dead, facing the platforms with a nasty grin on his face.

"Well, there you are. Platform nine– platform ten. Your platform should be somewhere in the middle, but they don't seem to have built it yet, do they?"