Harry Potter: Pandora's Box

Chapter 4: The Hogwarts Express

Summary: Not the best trip...and revelations about Hogwarts.

Chapter 4: The Hogwarts Express

Harry settled into the compartment a good hour before the train was due to depart. He'd come early in hopes of avoiding being spotted in the crowd, and so far it had worked. Torn between people watching and pulling out a book, Harry split the difference and did both badly. Usually able to focus and memorize with extreme ease, he found himself reading the same details repeatedly. He wasn't make any progress at all, really, on the muggle 'How it Works' book he was reading, as he got distracted by every new arrival on the platform. He could feel the intensity of Pandora's own focus, hers entirely on the arrivals. A very few of them were recognizable enough from her donor memories that she labeled them in Harry's vision. August Longbottom with a nervous-looking boy Harry assumed to be Neville Longbottom. Ameila Bones, seeing off a redhead right next to a blonde girl the same age, whose parents went unlabeled. A few others with older students, but not many were labeled. Many of those the younger doners had known well enough to identify after over a decade ago had died in the war. And Euphemia's memories were mostly regarding older generations, rather than those with Hogwarts aged children.

Harry wasn't at all sure if he was relieved or disappointed when no one had joined his compartment by the last warning whistle. Though it was certainly with a bit of humor that he saw a large number of redheads arriving at the very last moment. That particular family was unlabeled but interesting, the entire group seeming to swarm with the sort of chaotic energy usually found in storms. The boisterous pair of twins among them most of all. All but one of the children managed to board at the last moment, with the little girl frantically waving to them all as they left. Shaking his head, Harry went back to his book as he felt the train finally start to move. Maybe now he could actually get past the page he'd been stuck on for half an hour? Well, he'd give it a good try, anyway.

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It was almost ten minutes later, with Harry actually having managed to get wrapped up in his book, when there was a knock on the frame of the compartment door. Harry had left it open, half-hoping someone would take the invitation to join him, and he blinked in surprise as he looked up to find the youngest of the redheads he'd seen earlier looking at him nervously.

"Mind if I sit here? Everywhere else is full..."

Harry smiled. "Not at all! I was hoping someone would decide to join me. The ride might have been a bit dull, by myself."

It wouldn't have been. Not with Pandora always available to talk to. But Harry could seriously use some social interaction that wasn't with her. Pandora herself fretted over that, periodically, when the bits of her that were Lily and Euphemia came out the most strongly. He wasn't really sure, himself. It had been just him and Pandora against the world for so long that he honestly wasn't sure what to do with regular people. He supposed he'd just have to wing it.

The redhead, meanwhile, looked relieved. He tugged his trunk into the compartment and struggled to lift it. Without really thinking about it, Harry lifted his hand...then nearly cursed as Pandora flashed a warning in his vision and he realized he'd been able to use wandless levitation. Flicking his wrist in a motion he'd practiced a thousand times in the last few weeks, he flicked his wand out instead. Giving it a rough swish and flick, he cast the spell and the redhead yelped as the trunk he was struggling with suddenly lifted and fit itself onto the overhead rack. He turned to gape at Harry an instant later.