Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Rewritten

Chapter 7: The Hogwarts Express

Harry's month with the Dursley's passed quickly if not peacefully. He had several arguments with his aunt and uncle. The first, and worst one, was about his owl. Harry had named her Hedwig after a famed female warlock he'd found mentioned in his books.

His aunt had only wrinkled his nose when Harry had dragged his trunk and her cage into the house. But within hours Hedwig had hooted and honked in anger at being locked up in her cage. Uncle Vernon had yelled at him about the racket and so Harry had opened the cage and let Hedwig out. Then Hedwig had swooped in and out of the windows. Aunt Petunia had yelled at him about what the neighbors would think if they saw an owl in her house. Fortunately, Hedwig had flown off at that point, averting an argument.

It had exploded in an even worse way when Hedwig had returned an hour later, with a half-eaten frog clutched in her beak. Uncle Vernon had demanded that Harry make the bird go away. Harry had tried explaining that he couldn't even if he wanted to. She'd come back to him. Uncle Vernon had then threatened to call Pest Control Services. Harry had fibbed that Hedwig had magical powers that would come out if she was attacked and then they'd have a difficult explanation to give to Pest Control Services.

So, they'd compromised; Harry spent his mornings doing chores for Aunt Petunia while Hedwig slept. Then he took her with him to the park where he sat on a bench flipping through his new books while Hedwig flew around or dozed. At night, she went hunting. Harry always made certain he was outside the house when she returned so that he could dispose of anything she brought back.

Their second argument had come when Harry had openly discussed his school at the breakfast table. Uncle Vernon had forbidden him to utter any word that was related to Harry's world. Other smaller arguments had followed when Dudley had resorted to his usual sport of Harry Hunting and found out that Harry wasn't going to take things lying down anymore. Harry had threatened Dudley with his wand and Dudley had gone straight to his parents at once. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon knew that Harry couldn't use magic in the Muggle world; perhaps Dumbledore had mentioned it. But Harry had said boldly that he was allowed to use magic if it was in self-defense. There had been some quibbling about whether this was true or not and whether some harmless fun that Dudley engaged in would qualify as a situation where self-defense was needed. But in the end his aunt and uncle had made Dudley leave him be.

On the last day of August, Harry came into the sitting room to talk to his aunt and uncle. Before he could get in a single word, his aunt spoke, telling him that she knew his school began on the first Monday of September and that he'd need to get to King's Cross the Sunday before that to take the train to school. Harry was amazed by this display of knowledge. He wisely didn't comment on it. Aunt Petunia continued speaking, informing Harry that Uncle Vernon would take him to the train station tomorrow. Harry thanked his aunt and uncle and then retreated back to his cupboard.

The next day Harry very carefully didn't say a word to any of his relatives. He needed a ride into London and couldn't afford to upset anybody. When they got to the station, Uncle Vernon asked brusquely, "What's your platform number?"

Harry fished out the ticket Dumbledore had given him from the pocket of his jeans. "Platform Nine and Three Quarters" he read aloud. Uncle Vernon stared at Harry as though he'd gone mad.

"There's no such thing."

Harry checked his ticket again. "It says so on my ticket."

A rather nasty grin appeared on Uncle Vernon's face. He grabbed Harry's trunk, put it on a trolley and wheeled it into the station for him. He came to a halt between platforms nine and ten. "Your platform should be in the middle, boy but I can't see it, can you?" With a nastier smile, he waved at Harry and walked off.