Demigod Days: Hogwarts is Real!

Chapter 9 - We meet the golden trio

Nat's P.O.V.

"Normally I'm the one who makes the jokes, the platform doesn't even exist!" Leo rants while the others stare dejectedly at platforms 9 and 10. I stifle a large yawn. I totally shouldn't have stayed up until the early hours reading my new schoolbooks. It was just too tempting to hide under my duvet and read By the light of a lumos spell. Fortunately the trace doesn't affect us since we were given our magic by Hecate rather than being born wizards. "Owwww!" Leo kicked his trunk and now he's hopping all over the place. "You want to know where the platform is?" I ask with a cheeky smile. What I do next will really freak them out. They all start nodding enthusiastically, please they look like those dogs people put on their dashboards. "It's straight through that brick wall." I sprint at the wall with my trunk in front of me and passed straight through. The gleaming red engine puffs smoke out in front of me. I'm really here, at the Hogwarts Express. This is really happening. I turn to see seven other matching faces of awe. "We had better get on it's going to leave soon," Annabeth says sensibly.

We clamber on dragging our trunks and Homer in his cage. The first carriage is full but the second only has one sleeping first year curled up by the window, already changed into her robes. There is room for six people in each carriage so Percy, Annabeth and I volunteer to find ourselves a different carriage. We continue down the corridor but my trunk feels like it's getting heavier. Heck I'm a witch now. I pull my wand out of my pocket and focus. "Locomotor Trunk." After a slight wobble it rises, perfect. I take a few steps backwards to see if it'll follow me. It does but I bump straight into someone. I turn around to apologise to my brother but see instead a girl with frizzy brown hair and a head girl's badge on the front of her jumper. "Hermione Granger," I stutter.

Hermione's P.O.V.

"Hermione Granger." The small girl looks up at me with her deep sea green eyes peering out from under her blond bangs. That magic is too complicated for a first year but I don't think I've seen her before. "That was an impressive spell. How old are you?" I ask with a welcoming smile. McGonagall has made me head girl after all so I should try and do the role justice. "I'm ten, my birthday's in May," she replies. She's ten and she performed that spell! I couldn't do it until at least third year. I try to keep the shock off my face but I'm probably failing massively. "Do you know of a carriage with space for three people?" the girl asks politely. I've got over the initial surprise enough to notice her distinct American twang. "Sure there is enough space in my friends and I's carriage," I say and she follows behind me to our carriage at the back of the train. The girl is towing a much older boy and girl behind her but introductions can wait until we have more space.

Harry's P.O.V.

It's awesome to be going back to Hogwarts but I never thought I'd be redoing this year to get my NEWTs. Ron and I were both just going to go off and be aurors but Hermione persuaded us to come back. It's going to be strange in our dorm as Seamus is not coming back, he's got a job with George and has already expanded their range of pyrotechnics. Neville just wants his herbology NEWT and I don't know if Dean is coming back or not. "Do you want to get a chocolate frog?" Ron asks. I love it when things feel almost normal. "Yeah," I reply. We go to stand but get interrupted by a particularly chirpy Hermione.

"Hi guys, these new students needed somewhere to sit so I said they could share with us," she practically bubbles. She takes her seat next to Ron, who is across from me next to the window, and   a small, first year girl sits beside her. The two other new students, who must be about our age, sit next to me with the girl closest to the door. The boy has slightly scruffy black hair and green eyes but that is where the resemblance between us ends. He is tall and quite muscly, I bet he could get any girl he liked. The girl beside him is hot but in a deadly way, she looks like she kick your butt any day. That makes me think of another girl with her unbeatable bat-bogey hexes. I haven't seen Ginny since this morning, she's sitting with Luna, Neville and a couple of others.

"Hey, I'm Percy Jackson," the boy next to me says, "This is my girlfriend Annabeth Chase," he smiles at the girl beside him. It's clear they adore each other. "And that's my sister Natalie Locket." "It's Nat," the first year buts in. Ron, Hermione and I glance at each other, all trying to get our heads around the same thing. "We're step siblings," Nat explains answering our questions, "We've got the same dad but our mums' surnames. Our family's complicated." "We're American exchange students," Annabeth says. Well at least that explains the accents, but I didn't think Hogwarts ever has exchange students. "What school do you go to in America?" Hermione asks. Nat answers, she's pretty confident for a kid her age, "We go to a Summer camp but it's mainly focussed on physical activities. We only learn the magic we learn from books so some of us.." she glares at Percy, "..don't know anywhere near as much magic as the rest of us." He just shrugs at her and I can't help but smile. They seem cool but I can't bring myself to trust them just yet. Since the war I can't trust anyone easily.

The trip passed quickly as we chatted and joked around, all while stuffing our faces with sweets. Leaving our trunks on the train, the six of us head out to the coaches and the Americans get their first glimpse of Hogwarts castle. Annabeth starts rambling about the architecture but I ignore her, I've just spotted my biggest friend. "Hey Hagrid," I call out with a wave. "Good t' see ya Harry," he replies with a thumbs up. "That's Hagrid," I tell the exchange students proudly, "He's keeper of the keys and grounds at Hogwarts. He's so tall because he's half giant." Annabeth and Percy's eyes go wide and they only just stop themselves from stepping backwards. "Don't worry he's a good friend," I reassure them and they visibly react.

When we reach the coaches Percy and Nat rush straight up to the threstrals and start stroking their noses and whispering to them. I glance at Ron. He's a bit nervous, he didn't like them when he couldn't see them and he doesn't like them now he can. "What are they?" Annabeth asks as we climb up and take our seats. "Threstrals. You can only see them if you've seen death," Hermione explains as usual, "And you can all see them can't you." She gets a nod in response. "All of us exchange students will be able to, but I didn't know that Nat would until now." "How many of you are there?" Ron blurts out. "Eight," Nat says as we start to move, "And I was with Grandad when his life support was removed." That rather killed the conversation and we travelled in silence.

As we walk up the steps to the main entrance we start chatting about houses. Annabeth and Percy are clueless about their sorting but Nat thinks she might end up in Ravenclaw and I wouldn't be surprised if she does, she seems like a smart cookie. Too soon they go wait with the first years and five older children who must be the other exchange students. "We'll save you seat with us for if you join us in Gryffindor," I tell them, "We'll save seats for all eight of you, but all of you in the same house would be almost unheard of." We split with a laugh and get ready for the sorting.