The Number Seven

Chapter Two: The Hogwarts Express

September 1st, 1938.

He didn't know how time had gone quite so fast. All he knew was that the night before, he didn't get a wink of sleep. No, instead he was pondering what Hogwarts would be like. No doubt, it would be full of strong and capable wizards, just like himself. There would be no disgusting nonmagical folk like his mother around.

And when nine o'clock finally rolled around, and the sun rays threatened to shine through Tom's closed curtains, he was ready.

"Tom please, we insist someone go with you to the station. I mean, you're just a little boy," Mrs. Cole followed him to the entrance, attempting to catch his attention with every step he took.

"I'm not a little boy, Mrs. Cole. I went to Dia- I went to school shopping all by myself; I'm sure I can handle a short trip to the train station," Tom reasoned with her. He just couldn't have her waiting for a train that would most likely have all kinds of magic on it, he wouldn't want to have to end her life for seeing such things that her eyes weren't meant to.

"But-but Tom!" Tom was halfway outside of the Wool's Orphanage gate by the time she could think of anything else to say.
The journey to the station wasn't a particularly hard journey. It mainly consisted of a ton of walking and inhaling secondhand smoke from the potheads on every corner. He hopped on the nearest bus to take him to the station as soon as it came.
It was clammy and uncomfortable, the stench of nonmagical people became quite obvious once Tom realized what he was.

Tom could finally see the train station from his seat on the bus, and rushed to get off at the next stop.

As he stepped off the bus, he realized one problem. There was no platform 9 3/4 that the letter Dumbledore gave him said to go to.

Was this all just a cruel joke? Would he have to go back to the orphanage and live a miserable boring life like he always thought he would?

He hadn't gone very often, but-he stopped in his tracks. Had he just seen a person run through a wall?

And as he looked closer, he saw that another one was running, and this one had a school trunk just as he did.

He knew that this must be how to get on the train.

He walked over to the wall between platforms nine and ten and looked around. Nobody else seemed to have the need to go through the strange brick wall, and so Tom slowly approached it. Looking around once more to check if any nonmagical folk were looking, he walked slowly through the wall.

It felt like nothing he had before. He was defying the laws of physics---which he didn't seem to think existed anymore at this point.

When he opened his eyes, he saw a vast train station.

What looked like hundreds of students were hugging their parents and waving. Then, he caught sight of it.

A huge red train with big broad letters.

'The Hogwarts Express'.

Tom spent a lot of his time looking for a compartment to sit in, and even when train went off, he still had no place to sit.

He had tried to sit in a certain compartment earlier, but a gaggle of older girls sat in with him and started chatting loudly, so he was forced to seek his fortune elsewhere.

There was only one compartment left open, and a lonely-looking boy sat on the farthest corner near the window, with the hood of his jacket fully covering his face, while another slightly skinnier brown haired boy sat on the closest side to the door. He looked Tom in the eyes as Tom stared in the compartment longingly.