His Mark [Tom Riddle's son] DISCONTINUED

Platform 9¾

His Mark
[Knowledge is Power]

1st September 2016
Thursday

Aileen

Three months later Aileen Geraint Vauxhall, or rather Aileen Geraint Gaunt stood at the train station.

He had never ridden a train before in his entire life.
After he had flinched at the first loud whistle and had almost dropped his suitcase, he was now more cautious and only briefly glanced at the trains around him.
Aileen held the leather handle of the suitcase in one hand, and Momo's now furry feline head could be seen peering out of the backpack that he wore on his back.

He had his own suitcase!

Until now, he hadn't had many things in his life that had truly belonged to him, unless he had taken them from someone.
But this suitcase and, above all, its contents belonged to him and revealed that the feeling that he had been having for eleven years hadn't deceived him.

He was indeed special.

He had something that the other children in the Orphanage would never have.
Magic!

Platform nine.
Platform ten.
In the center: only a stone wall.
Aileen looked around furtively.

Another whistle and the train from Platform 9 rolled out of the station, out of London, and out of Aileen Gaunt's life.

He nervously bit the inside of his lower lip.
The agonizing restlessness in him seemed to have spread into every fiber of his body, and the giant issue that was before him seemed to cover all other thoughts.

What if it didn't work?
For a brief moment he wondered if it would have been wiser to accept the assistance of the professor.
No.

Aileen stood a little straighter and banished the insecurity out of his eyes.
A habit that helped him feel more courageous.
No one was allowed to see him weak.

Every minute that he stood delaying here, would be more time that he'd be wondering what was waiting for him behind that wall.
He took advantage of the sudden determination that briefly flared up in him, and ran toward the stone wall.
With an effort, he tried to keep his eyes open, but he didn't succeed.
He was about to run into a stone wall!

As he continued running, he felt a strange tingling on his skin.
The world around him went dead quiet, but a second later, everything was back to normal.
Or was is it?

Aileen opened his eyes wide in amazement and looked around.
From the ceiling dangled a wooden sign that read:
Platform 9¾

The train was crimson, unlike the ones he had seen mere seconds ago.
Aileen gazed up at the wall and ran his hand over it.
The jumbled thoughts in his head seemed to have dissolved into bubbling foam, because everything that he felt at the moment was a happy daze, and more questions which seemed to slowly overcome him.

"Hey boy, get away from there! You're blocking the entrance," a man demanded and Aileen turned around quickly.
Unquestionably a conductor.
He obeyed silently and took a firm step to the side.
Not a minute too soon, because as soon as he moved, a man walked through.
There was no question that he was a wizard.
Aileen had had enough time to observe them during his trip to Diagon Alley.

The man paid him no attention, but stepped aside to make space for the rest of his family:
A blonde woman and a little boy, around Aileen's age.

"I see that you managed to get trough Daniel," said the man, and his voice sounded distant.
The boy immediately let go of his mother's hand and lowered his eyes in shame.
He was carrying a large brown suitcase.
It was bigger than Aileen's.
But the boy didn't seem to have problems with the weight.
Maybe they used a spell to make it weightless?