A Snake's Son

The Scarlet Train

The next day was bright and sunny but Harry had woken up much before the others in the mansion, even Draco. It was odd to think that in just a couple of hours he would be on his way to Hogwarts, naturally he paid no mind to Draco's rest and immediately went to wake him up. Only later finding out that he had woken at 4 in the morning, the dawn choruses should have given it away. At 7 o'clock all the adults were up and Voldemort had appeared, apparently, he wanted to see Harry before he goes. By 8 all the bags were packed and everyone had eaten, Harry and Draco spent the rest of the time chatting until Voldemort, having finished giving orders, came over and shooed Draco away so he could speak with Harry privately.

"Harry, I just want to wish you well for your new school year and check if you had any questions?"

"Why am I special?" Harry asked with a grin that caused the small lifts at the sides of the Dark Lords mouth that were rarely ever seen anywhere else but around Harry.

"I told you, all in good time. I have something for you little snake." He said holding out a package wrapped in brown paper. "It is a two-way mirror, I have the other one. I would not give anyone else the luxury of being able to contact me anytime they chose, but you are the exception. I have the other, just speak my name into it and I will answer." The mirror was small and compact set in a silver frame shaped like vines and snakes, the leaves and eyes made from emeralds. It was beautiful and the thought of being able to talk to Tom when wanted made him weirdly happy. He couldn't help himself, he found out a while ago that even though he was mostly made of light Tom could still be touched, he hugged him. There was silence in the room but that didn't put Harry off, Tom was surprisingly warm. Next thing he knew he was being hugged back albeit a bit uncertainly. When he pulled back he got a full-on smile from the feared dark lord, "I am afraid I wasn't able to find any prisoners for you, but I am sure I will have something sorted out for you next summer."

"Don't worry about it Tom I will be fine for now. Thank you for the gift."

"Your welcome little snake, don't let me down."

"I won't." Harry said with conviction

Soon he was getting into a black limo with Draco and Mr and Mrs Malfoy, he waved goodbye to Tom from his seat, he was going to miss it here but he knew he was coming back in the summer, never again would he live with the Dursleys.

They reached Kings cross at 10:50 and walked through the station until they were standing between platforms 9 and 10. On the ticket it had said platform 9 and three quarters so he looked around expectantly but didn't see anything. Soon though it was all explained to him, they walked through onto platform 9 and 3/4 the place was full of steam but that didn't stop Harry from spotting the train. He took a few pictures to send to Imperi and followed the Malfoys, soon they had boarded the train and were Draco was saying his last goodbye to his parents before they left. As Harry looked out over all the children on the platform he could see lots of different sized shaped and coloured smoke clouds. 

Harry wandered down the train looking for an empty compartment that he and Draco could use, eventually he came across one. It was conveniently empty and spacious, he set his trunk down and looked out the window just as Ron looked through. Draco came through into the compartment and spotted Ron, a quick wave and within a minuet Ron joined the other two.

Finally, after Ron saying his goodbyes through the window they all sat down just as the train lurched into motion. Harry sat with the window on his left across from Draco Ron on his right.

"So how were your holidays Ron?" Draco asked.

"My Mum kept us locked up in the house helping with Dumbledore's plans, he thinks that you-know-who is back." He said with a bit of a laugh, then looked confused when the other two shared a look. "What?"

They spent a good half of the journey explaining everything to Ron, the mission and everything that had happened at the mansion. Just as they finished explaining about Imperi when the door to their compartment slid open to reveal a bushy haired girl. Immediately Draco demanded to know what she was doing here.