Unexpected (A Harry Potter Fanfiction)

Chapter 2

2.

I arrived at King’s Cross Station at about 10.15 am. The day had finally arrived. I was going to Hogwarts. As I had got up that morning, the excitement that pulsed through my body was unbelievable. I’d never been more excited about anything in my entire life. We had arranged for my parents and me to travel up to King’s Cross and to meet the Weasleys on the platform. Having had 5 children who had already experienced their first day at Hogwarts, they were more than prepared for Ron’s first day, however for my parents this was a new experience. Of course they had been to Hogwarts themselves, but they had never had to wave their own child off knowing they wouldn’t see them for a whole term before. I imagined it would be quite hard on both of us, but once I was at Hogwarts I was sure the time would fly.

I pulled the trolley containing my trunk, cat and other things I would need for Hogwarts, as we heading to the wall between platforms 9 and 10; otherwise known as the entrance to Platform 9¾ for wizards. As we approached the wall, I felt my stomach churning. Of course I knew that you just had to run at the wall and you would run into the platform, but the act of running head first into a wall was daunting to say the least. Luckily I had my mum with me; she grabbed my hand and led me forward while my dad grabbed my heavy trolley. This was it. My mum started jogging, pulling me with her. My excitement got the better of me and I broke out into a run. I squeezed my eyes shut and braced myself against the upcoming crash with the brick wall, but the impact never came. I cautiously opened my eyes to be met with a completely different environment. Yes we were still on a train platform, but the train ready to depart was a scarlet steam engine, much more magnificent than any type of muggle train. The platform was packed with various children and their parents, all pushing trolleys filled with trunks and school equipment. There were cats running around and owls screeching. I’d never seen anything like the chaos, but I loved it.

I tried to look out for Ron through the bustle of Platform 9¾ but I couldn’t spot him anywhere, or any of the Weasleys for that matter. I knew that all of them apart from Bill and Charlie would be here for the new school year at Hogwarts. Even Ginny, who wouldn’t be starting for another year would be waving off her brothers as they boarded the Hogwarts Express. I figured I would meet Ron on the train as he was nowhere to be seen.

I looked up at the clock; it was ten minutes to 11. Ten minutes until the train would leave and I would start my journey to Hogwarts. My parents helped me load my trunk and cat carrier onto the train and I stored them in one of the baggage compartments. Jinx didn’t look too happy about being left alone with a load of other animals, but I gave her a scratch behind her ear and left her to sulk. Once my belongings were safely stowed away, I gave my parents a huge hug; I wouldn’t be seeing them until Christmas now. They wished me luck and promised that they’d write and I returned the promise. All too soon the whistle was blowing to announce the departure of the train. The doors were shut, and all along the train children’s heads poked out of windows waving goodbye to their families. I was one of these kids, offering a huge grin to my parents as I waved and the train chugged out of the station.

When the platform was completely out of sight, the corridors were full of children looking for empty compartments in which they could sit. First years were trying to make friends, and other years were greeting old friends whom they hadn’t seen all summer. I made my way through the bustle of the corridors, checking each compartment for the mop of ginger hair I knew belonged to my cousin. It seemed that every compartment in the whole train was full, and I was starting to doubt whether Ron had even managed to find a seat for himself, let alone for me as well. That’s when I spotted him. He wasn’t alone like I had expected, but he was in an almost empty compartment, sitting opposite another boy who I presumed to also be a first year. He had circular glasses and black messy hair that fell over his forehead. I slid the glass door open, hoping I wasn’t disturbing a friendly introduction between the two boys. As I shyly stepped into the compartment, both heads turned to face me. The black haired boy looked a little confused, but Ron’s mouth spread into a grin as he recognised me.

“Leah, there you are! I thought you’d managed to get lost already!”

I blushed. I had a habit of getting lost when I went out, a fact that Ron knew well due to the amount of time we’d spent together growing up. Unfortunately my sense of direction hadn’t improved with age.

“Nope, not yet” I replied, chuckling slightly to myself. I looked between Ron and the other boy, hoping one of them would tell me who he was so I could stop standing in the doorway so awkwardly. I raised my eyebrows at Ron. This seemed to break him out of his little daydream.

“Oh, sorry! Yeah, Harry this is Leah, my cousin” Ron said while looking at the boy. He turned back to me. “Leah, this is Harry. He’s a first year too”.

I smiled at Harry, “Nice to meet you”.

“You too” He replied, returning the smile.

I sat down next to Ron, and that’s how we spent the rest of the journey to Hogwarts. When an old witch came down the corridor offering sweets, Harry decided to buy the whole trolley full. I expect it was because he felt sorry for Ron with only his homemade sandwich to last him throughout the journey, but what better way to get to know Harry a bit more than over a feast of sweets and chocolates. What I found out is that when Ron had introduced me to Harry, he had forgotten to mention that he was in fact Harry Potter; in other words the boy who lived. After his parents had been killed by You-Know-Who, he had been brought up by his muggle aunt and uncle, who really didn’t like him very much. He had only found out he was a wizard on his 11th birthday, which happened to only be 10 days before mine. I tried not to pressure him too much about his back story; although it was pretty cool meeting such a famous wizard, I didn’t think he would have wanted too much attention on his first day at a wizarding school, so I treated him like I would have treated any other first year that I had met on the train.

The only other interruption of the journey was when another first year, Hermione, came to ask if we’d seen a told that a boy named Neville had lost. Of course we hadn’t, but Hermione stayed to watch Ron perform some dodgy spells that his brothers had tricked him into performing, and she also fixed Harry’s glasses which had been taped together to stop them falling apart. She also informed us before leaving that we would shortly be arriving at Hogwarts and should change into our school robes. Once changed, the prospect of going to school at Hogwarts became a lot more real than it had felt previously. I couldn’t help the butterflies that erupted in my stomach as I looked out of the train window at the castle, rapidly growing in size as we got closer, that was to be my school, and more importantly my home, for the next seven years.