Harry Potter, Ghost Prince

Chapter 3: Train

Harry's last month of summer wasn't fun. Mostly because of all anticipation and boredom. Harry kept to his room, with his new owl for company. He had decided to call her Hedwig, a name he had found in A History of Magic. His school books were very interesting. He lay on his bed reading late into the night, Hedwig swooping in and out of the open window as she pleased. Danny complained about feathers and dead mices she kept bringing, since it was HIS job to clean this part of house. Harry often laughed because of how ridiculous that sounds: "King of Dead cleans after owl".

Harry woke at five o'clock at 1'st September and was too excited and nervous to go back to sleep. He got up and pulled on his jeans because he didn't want to walk into the station in his wizard's robes, he'd change on the train. He checked his Hogwarts list yet again to make sure he had everything he needed, saw that Hedwig was shut safely in her cage, and then paced the room, waiting for the rest of the family to get up. Some time later Ellie phased into his room.

"What, can't sleep as well?"

"Yep"

Two hours later, their huge, heavy trunks had been loaded into the car.

They reached King's Cross at half past ten. Danny put kids' trunks onto a cart and wheeled it into the station for them.

"Well, there we are, kids. Platform nine, platform ten. Your platform should be somewhere in the middle, but they don't seem to have built it yet, do they?"

He was quite right, of course. There was a big plastic number nine over one platform and a big plastic number ten over the one next to it, and in the middle, nothing at all. Ember smacked her husband slightly on the back.

"That's simple, look," she gestured to the plump woman who was talking to four boys, all with flaming red hair. Each of them was pushing a trunk like theirs in front of him, and they had an owl.

"Now, what's the platform number?" said the boys' mother.

"Nine and three-quarters!" piped a small girl, also red-headed, who was holding her hand, "Mom, can't I go..."

"You're not old enough, Ginny, now be quiet. All right, Percy, you go first."

What looked like the oldest boy marched toward platforms nine and ten. Harry watched, careful not to blink in case he missed it, but just as the boy reached the dividing barrier between the two platforms, a large crowd of tourists came swarming in front of him and by the time the last backpack had cleared away, the boy had vanished.

"Fred, you next," the plump woman said.

"I'm not Fred, I'm George," said the boy. "Honestly, woman, you call yourself our mother? Can't you tell I'm George?"

"Sorry, George, dear."

"Only joking, I am Fred," said the boy, and off he went. His twin called after him to hurry up, and he must have done so, because a second later, he had gone. Danny snickered. Nice one.

"All you have to do is walk straight at the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Don't stop and don't be scared you'll crash into it, that's very important. Best do it at a bit of a run if you're nervous," Ember said, "And Ellie, no intangibility," Danny added.

"Er...okay," they said.

Harry pushed his trolley around and stared at the barrier. It looked very solid.

He started to walk toward it. People jostled him on their way to platforms nine and ten. Harry walked more quickly. He was going to smash right into that barrier and then he'd be in trouble. Leaning forward on his cart, he broke into a heavy run. The barrier was coming nearer and nearer. He wouldn't be able to stop. The cart was out of control. He was a foot away. He closed his eyes ready for the crash...