The Unknown: A Harry Potter Story

Chapter 3: King's Cross

"Well, that was...something," Jason stated. Though he was glad he had found a wand that felt like an extension of himself, he was still attempting to gather his thoughts following Mr. Ollivander's ambiguous comments regarding his wand. As well as the startling revelation about Harry's wand concerning "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named." Pulling himself together, he turned to the two people beside him, "I didn't actually get to introduce myself, as Mr. Ollivander said, I'm Jason Fortescue," he said, offering a smile.

"Nice to meet you," the giant of a man replied, "I'm Rubeus Hagrid, the keeper of keys and grounds at Hogwarts, but you can just call me Hagrid, and this young lad is Harry Potter." Hagrid was genuinely colossal, with long, wild black hair and an untamed beard that matched his black eyes. However, as scary as the man looked, he had a friendly attitude and a smile to match, "You're that young quidditch prodigy if I'm not mistaken."

"Quidditch prodigy?" asked Harry, looking at Jason curiously.

"I wouldn't say prodigy," Jason said quickly, "but I do play."

"Nonsense," Hagrid laughed "both of his parents are professional players, and from what I hear, he does more than just play, people say that it would be shocking if he doesn't follow in his parents' footsteps. Speaking of your parents, did they ever mention me? We used to know each other."

"I'm sorry, I can't remember them ever mentioning you," Jason could see the disappointment in Hagrid's eyes and not knowing what to do decided to address Harry instead.

"Nevermind me. You're more famous than I'll ever be. I've heard about you all my life, but I guess you could say I know a little more about you than most," Jason said, turning his attention to Harry.

Jason noticed Harry's emerald green eyes becoming clouded with confusion, "Why's that?"

"Oh well, our fathers were close friends when they were at Hogwarts. I used to hear all about the trouble they would get into."

The excitement in Harry's voice was palpable, "Is your dad here? I'd love to hear more about mine."

"No," he shook his head, "he didn't come with me." Deciding that the conversation had become a little too awkward, he said his goodbyes to Hagrid and Harry, going off to look for Grandpa Richard.

Jason found Grandpa Richard by the exit to Diagon Alley back into the Leaky Cauldron, and the previous awkwardness was replaced with joy when he found out what his grandfather had been doing. Grandpa Richard presented him with a large cage containing a brown and white tawny owl. Grandpa Richard explained that having an owl would make writing letters back home much easier, so he had decided to buy one for Jason as a present to celebrate his first year at Hogwarts.

A month had passed since the trip to Diagon Alley, and it was finally time to head off to Hogwarts. Early in the morning, Jason had packed up all of his luggage and supplies into a large trunk, and with the owl, which he had decided to name Toc, in its cage, he was all set to head out. His younger sister Jessy had said her goodbyes the night before as she didn't want to wake up early to see Jason off, and Grandpa Richard had taken him down to King's Cross station on his way to work. Jason now sat outside of the station, waiting.

Two nights before he was to leave for Hogwarts, a letter had arrived from his parents explaining to Jason that they would not make it to King's Cross to see him off and had instead asked their friends the Weasleys to meet him there. The letter described the Weasleys as "a large family of red-heads" and that he would "know them once he saw them," so now Jason sat and waited for them to arrive. After waiting for a while, Jason knew that the letter was right as a plump woman with red hair approached him and was trailed by four boys and a girl, all with the same red hair.