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mariesdeluluworld · 2 years

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𝙈𝙚𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙤𝙞𝙖 |𝘿𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙤 𝙈𝙖𝙡𝙛𝙤𝙮 𝙭 𝙈𝙖𝙡𝙚 𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧|𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐄𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭: 𝐇𝐨𝐠𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐞

Y/n’s last month with the Dursleys wasn’t fun. True, Dudley was now so scared of him and Harry he wouldn’t stay in the same room, while Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon didn’t shut Y/n or Harry in their cupboard, force them to do anything, or even shout at them — in fact, they didn’t speak to Y/n or Harry at all. Half terrified, half furious, they acted as though any chair with either Y/n or Harry in it were empty.

Although this was an improvement in many ways, it did become a bit depressing after a while. Y/n and Harry kept to their room, with their new owls for company. After a while, Harry kept calling her owl, Y/n had enough, and they spent one afternoon coming up with names for the owl. Finally, Harry had decided to call her Hedwig, a name he had found in A History of Magic.

Their school books were very interesting. Most of July was taken up with Y/n laying on his bed, reading his books — especially Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them by Newt Scamander and his dragon books he bought at Flourish and Blotts. His potions book was also interesting along with his herbology textbook, but Harry wasn’t all that thrilled about either of them. He was more transfixed on his Defense against the Dark Arts and Transfiguration textbook. Y/n laid on his bed reading late into the night, with Patroclus and Hedwig swooping in and out of the open window as they pleased. It was lucky that Aunt Petunia didn’t come into vacuum anymore, because Hedwig and Patrcolus kept bringing back dead mice.

Every night before he went to sleep, both he and Harry ticked off another day on the piece of paper they had pinned to the wall, counting down to September the first. And every night, Y/n dreamt of strange and magical things awaiting him at Hogwarts.

On the last day of August Y/n thought they’d better speak to their aunt and uncle about getting to King’s Cross station the next day, so after convincing Harry, they both went down to the living room where they were watching a quiz show on television. Harry cleared his throat to let them know he and Y/n were there, and Dudley screamed and ran from the room. Y/n had to fight the smirk that was threatening to form on his face.

“Er — Uncle Vernon?”

Uncle Vernon grunted to show he was listening.

“Er — we need to be at King’s Cross tomorrow to — to go to Hogwarts.” Uncle Vernon grunted again.

“Would it be all right if you gave us a lift?”

Grunt. Harry and Y/n supposed that meant yes.

“Thank you.”

They were about to go back upstairs when Uncle Vernon actually spoke. “Funny way to get to a wizards’ school, the train. Magic carpets all got punctures, have they?” Harry or Y/n didn’t say anything.

“Where is this school, anyway?”

“I don’t know,” said Harry, realizing this for the first time. Y/n pulled the ticket Hagrid had given him out of his pocket and handed it to Harry.

“I just take the train from platform nine and three-quarters at eleven o’clock,” Harry read.

His aunt and uncle stared at him.

“Platform what?” Uncle Vernon asked.

“Nine and three-quarters.” said Harry, cautiously.

“Don’t talk rubbish,” said Uncle Vernon. “There is no platform nine and Three-quarters.”

“It’s on our tickets.” said Y/n, speaking up for the first time. He was getting irritated with his uncle.

“Barking,” said Uncle Vernon, “howling mad, the lot of them. You’ll see. You just wait. All right, we’ll take you to King’s Cross. We’re going up to London tomorrow anyway, or I wouldn’t bother.”

“Why are you going to London?” Harry asked, trying to keep things friendly.

“Taking Dudley to the hospital,” growled Uncle Vernon. “Got to have that ruddy tail removed before he goes to Smeltings.”

Y/n had to run out of the living room before he either laughed or screamed at Uncle Vernon.

✧✧✧

Y/n and Harry woke at five o’clock the next morning. Both boys were too excited and nervous to go back to sleep. They spent the next hour speaking in hushed tones about Hogwarts and how excited they were to finally see the school where their parents had met and learned magic.

Finally, both boys got up and pulled on their trousers because Y/n pointed out that he didn’t want to walk into the station in his wizard’s robes — he’d change on the train. Harry agreed with his twins and pulled on his own pair of trousers as Y/n wore a worn out blue flannel he got from his aunt. It was one of Dudley's old shirts that he couldn’t wear anymore. However, the shirt was too baggy, and the sleeves were too long on Y/n. So, he rolled up the sleeves to make them fit on his arms, and he tucked the bottom half of his shirt into his trousers and wore his belt around his waist to keep the trousers from falling off him. Harry wore a similar outfit, except the shirt was a short-sleeve and he didn’t tuck in his shirt in his trousers.

Y/n and Harry checked their Hogwarts list yet again to make sure they had everything they needed, saw that Hedwig and Patroclus were shut safely in their cages, and then Harry paced the room, waiting for the Dursleys to get up, while Y/n read Hogwarts: A History.

Two hours later, Harry’s and Y/n’s huge, heavy trunk had been loaded into the Dursleys’ car, and both of the boys were sitting in the back seat with their owls sitting on their laps while Aunt Petunia had talked Dudley into sitting next to Y/n and Harry. Then they had set off.

They reached King’s Cross at half past ten. Uncle Vernon dumped Harry’s and Y/n’s trunk and owl cage onto a cart for both of them, and wheeled it into the station for them. Harry thought this was strangely kind — while Y/n did not trust their uncle, not one bit and glared at him suspiciously until Uncle Vernon stopped dead, facing the platforms with a nasty grin on his face.

“Well, there you are, boys. 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.

“Have a good term,” said Uncle Vernon with an even nastier smile. He left without another word. Y/n and Harry turned and saw the Dursleys drive away. All three of them were laughing. Harry’s mouth went rather dry, while Y/n was looking like a pot ready to boil over. His face was red and if this were one of Dudley’s cartoons, he would’ve had steam shooting out of his ears.

What on earth was he and Y/n going to do? They were starting to attract a lot of funny looks, because of Hedwig and Patroclus. They’d have to ask someone. Harry stopped a passing guard, but didn’t dare mention platform nine and three-quarters. The guard had never heard of Hogwarts and when Harry couldn’t even tell him what part of the country it was in, he started to get annoyed, as though Harry was being stupid on purpose.

Y/n was ready to give him a piece of his mind, but Harry placed his hand on Y/n’s shoulder and shook his head. Sighing, Y/n let it go, but crossed his arms over his chest and started tapping his foot.

Getting desperate, Harry asked for the train that left at eleven o’clock, but the guard said there wasn’t one. In the end, the guard strode away, muttering about time wasters. Harry and Y/n were now trying hard not to panic. According to the large clock over the arrivals board, they had ten minutes left to get on the train to Hogwarts and neither had no idea how to do it; they were stranded in the middle of a station with a trunk they could hardly lift, pockets full of wizard money, and two very large owls.

Hagrid must have forgotten to tell them something you had to do, like tapping the third brick on the left to get into Diagon Alley. Y/n wondered if he should get out his wand and start tapping the ticket inspector’s stand between platforms nine and ten.

However, at that moment, a group of people passed just behind him and he caught a few words of what they were saying.

“— packed with Muggles, of course —”

Both Y/n and Harry swung round. The speaker was a plump woman who was talking to four boys, all with flaming red hair. Each of them was pushing a trunk like Harry’s and Y/n’s in front of him — and they had an owl.

Heart hammering, Y/n and Harry pushed their cart after them. They stopped and so did Y/n and Harry, just near enough to hear what they were saying.

“Now, what’s the platform number?” said the boys’ mother. “Nine and three-quarters!” piped a small boy, also red-headed, who was holding her hand, “Mom, can’t I go…”

“You’re not old enough, Gwaine, now be quiet. All right, Percy, you go first.”

What looked like the oldest boy marched toward platforms nine and ten.

Both Harry and Y/n watched, careful not to blink in case they 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.

Y/n cursed under his breath.

“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 — but how had he done it? Now the third brother was walking briskly toward the barrier he was almost there — and then, quite suddenly, he wasn’t anywhere. There was nothing else for it.

“Excuse me,” Harry said to the plump woman. The woman turned around and gave Harry and Y/n a friendly smile. “Hello, dears,” she said. “First time at Hogwarts? Ron’s new, too.” She pointed at the second youngest of her sons. He was tall, thin, and gangling, with freckles, big hands and feet, and a long nose.

“Yes,” said Harry. “The thing is — the thing is, my brother and I don’t know how to —”

“How to get onto the platform?” she said kindly, and Harry and Y/n nodded.

“Not to worry,” she said. “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. Go on, go now before Ron.”

“Er — okay,” said Harry. Y/n looked at him with wide eyes, and Harry shrugged his shoulders before he started to push 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. Y/n watched as Harry ran into the brick wall, but instead of crashing like he thought Harry was going to, he vanished. Y/n gasped and looked up at the woman.

“Okay dear, now your turn.” she said sweetly to Y/n. Y/n took a deep breath before muttering a small prayer to whatever deity that was out there. He started pushing his cart, and he closed his eyes as 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 tighter ready for the crash — It didn’t come . . . he kept on running . . . he opened his eyes.

A scarlet steam engine was waiting next to a platform packed with people. A sign overhead said Hogwarts’ Express, eleven o’clock. Y/n looked behind him and saw a wrought-iron archway where the barrier had been. With the words Platform Nine and Three-Quarters on it, He had done it.

“Y/n?” Y/n tore his eyes away from the archway and turned his head towards the crowd. In front of him stood Harry. A smile on his face. “We did it.” he said. “We did it.” Y/n repeated, a smile also on his face.

Together, they walked through the crowd. Smoke from the engine drifted over the heads of the chattering crowd, while cats of every color wound here and there between their legs. Owls hooted to one another in a disgruntled sort of way over the babble and the scraping of heavy trunks.

The first few carriages were already packed with students, some hanging out of the window to talk to their families, some fighting over seats.

Harry and Y/n pushed their carts off down the platform in search of empty seats. They passed a round-faced boy who was saying, “Gran, I’ve lost my toad again.” “Oh, Neville,” he heard the old woman sigh. Y/n felt bad for the boy.

A boy with dreadlocks was surrounded by a small crowd. “Give us a look, Lee, go on.” The boy lifted the lid of a box in his arms, and the people around him shrieked and yelled as something inside poked out a long, hairy leg. Y/n jumped and ran past the crowd, leaving Harry to fend for himself. He hated spiders, hated them.

Once Harry reached his twin, together, they pressed on through the crowd until they found an empty compartment near the end of the train. Y/n opened the door, let Harry go inside first as he put Hedwig and Patroclus inside. Then they started to shove and heave their trunks toward the train door. Both Harry and Y/n tried to lift it up the steps but could hardly raise one end and twice Y/n dropped it painfully on his foot.

“Want a hand?” It was one of the red-haired twins he’d followed through the barrier. “Oh! Yes, please,” Y/n panted, he wiped the sweat streaming from his brow as the red-haired boy shouted: “Oy, Fred! C’mere and help!”

With the twins’ help, Harry’s and Y/n’s trunk was at last tucked away in a corner of their compartment. “Thanks,” said Harry, pushing his sweaty hair out of his eyes. “Yes, thank you. I don’t think we’d be able to push them up here if it weren’t for you two.” Y/n said as he wiped his forehead, making his h/c locks uncover the scar.

“What’s that?” said one of the twins suddenly, pointing at Harry’s and Y/n’s lightning scars.

“Blimey,” said the other twin. “Are you two —?”

“They are,” said the first twin. “Aren’t you?” he added to Harry and Y/n.

“What?” said Harry, confusion laced in his tone.

“Harry and Y/n Potter.” chorused the twins.

“Oh, them,” said Harry. “I mean, yes, we are.” The two boys gawked at them, and both boys felt themselves turning red. Then, to Y/n’s relief, a voice came floating in through the train’s open door.

“Fred? George? Are you there?” “Coming, Mom.” With a last look at Harry and Y/n, the twins hopped off the train.

Y/n blew a sigh of relief and sat down, his shoulders slumped. Harry sat down next to the window where, half hidden, he could watch the red-haired family on the platform and hear what they were saying. Their mother had just taken out her handkerchief.

“Ron, you’ve got something on your nose.” The youngest boy tried to jerk out of the way, but she grabbed him and began rubbing the end of his nose. “Mom — geroff” He wriggled free. “Aaah, has ickle Ronnie got somefink on his nosie?” said one of the twins. “Shut up,” said Ron. “Where’s Percy?” said their mother. “He’s coming now.”

“Harry what are you doing?” asked Y/n. “Shhh!” he snapped, before tilting his head towards the window and placed his finger over his lips. Y/n’s eyes widened before nodding and he too slid over to the window. He watched as the oldest boy came striding into sight. He had already changed into his billowing black Hogwarts robes, and Harry and Y/n noticed a shiny silver badge on his chest with the letter P on it.

“Can’t stay long, Mother,” he said. “I’m up front. The prefects have got two compartments to themselves —”

“Oh, are you a prefect, Percy?” said one of the twins, with an air of great surprise. “You should have said something. We had no idea.” “Hang on, I think I remember him saying something about it,” said the other twin.

“Once —” “Or twice —” “A minute —” “All summer —”

“Oh, shut up,” said Percy the Prefect. “How come Percy gets new robes, anyway?” said one of the twins. “Because he’s a prefect,” said their mother fondly. “All right, dear, well, have a good term — send me an owl when you get there.” She kissed Percy on the cheek and he left. Then she turned to the twins. “Now, you two — this year, you behave yourselves. If I get one more owl telling me you’ve — you’ve blown up a toilet or —”

“Blown up a toilet? We’ve never blown up a toilet.” “Great idea though, thanks, Mom.”

“It’s not funny! And look after Ron.” “Don’t worry, ickle Ronniekins is safe with us.” “Shut up,” said Ron again. He was almost as tall as the twins already and his nose was still pink where his mother had rubbed it. “Hey, Mom, guess what? Guess who we just met on the train?” Y/n and Harry leaned back quickly so they couldn’t see them looking.

“You know that black-haired boy who was near us in the station, and the h/c boy with him? Know who they are?”

“Who?” asked their mother. “Harry and Y/n Potter!” Harry heard the little boy’s voice. “Oh, Mom, can I go on the train and see them, Mom, eh please….” “You’ve already seen them, Gwaine, and the poor boy’s aren’t something you goggle at in a zoo. Are they really, Fred? How do you know?”

“Asked them. Saw their scars. It’s really there — like lightning.” “Poor dear’s — no wonder they were alone, I wondered. They were ever so polite when they asked how to get onto the platform.”

“Never mind that, do you think they remember what You-Know-Who looks like?”

Their mother suddenly became very stern. “I forbid you to ask them, Fred. No, don’t you dare. As though they need reminding of that on their first day at school.”

“All right, keep your hair on.”

A whistle sounded. “Hurry up!” their mother said, and the three boys clambered onto the train. They leaned out of the window for her to kiss them good-bye, and their younger brother began to cry.

“Don’t, Gwaine, we’ll send you loads of owls.” “We’ll send you a Hogwarts’ toilet seat.” “George!” “Only joking, Mom.”

The train began to move and Y/n saw the boys’ mother waving and their brother, half laughing, half crying, running to keep up with the train until it gathered too much speed. Then he fell back and waved. Both Harry and Y/n watched the boy and her mother disappear as the train rounded the corner. Houses flashed past the window, and Y/n felt a great leap of excitement. He didn’t know what he was going to do — but it had to be better than what he was leaving behind.

Y/n tore his face from the window and looked at Harry. Harry felt his twin’s eyes and turned to look at him. Y/n smiled and he smiled back. They were finally free from the Dursleys. They were free. And they were together.

The door of the compartment slid open, making both boys snap their heads towards the compartment doors. They watched as the youngest redheaded boy came in. “Anyone sitting there?” he asked, pointing at the seat opposite Harry.

“Everywhere else is full.” he quickly explained, his face tinted red. Harry shook his head and the boy sat down. He glanced at Harry then at Y/n, before he looked quickly out of the window, pretending he hadn’t looked. Y/n saw he still had a black mark on his nose. The doors to the compartment slid open once more.

“Hey, Ron.” The twins were back, each had a smirk on their identical faces. “Listen, we’re going down the middle of the train — Lee Jordan’s got a giant tarantula down there.” Y/n felt a shiver run down his spine at the mention of the spider. And if he was correct, the redhead boy in front of him did as well.

“Right,” mumbled “Ron”.

“Harry, Y/n” said the other twin, “did we introduce ourselves? Sorry about that. Fred and George Weasley. And this is Ron, our brother. See you later, then.” “Bye,” said Harry, Y/n and Ron. The twins slid the compartment door shut behind them.

“Are you really Harry and Y/n Potter?” Ron blurted out. Harry and Y/n nodded. “Oh — well, I thought it might be one of Fred and George’s jokes,” said Ron. “And have you really got — you know…” He pointed at his own forehead. Both Harry and Y/n pulled back their bangs to show the lightning scar.

Ron stared at them. “So that’s where You-Know-Who —?” “Yes,” said Harry and Y/n, rather quickly. “But I — we --- can’t remember it.” finished Harry. “Nothing?” said Ron eagerly. “Well — I remember a lot of green light, but nothing else.” Harry looked down at his hands. “I remember somebody laughing and green light as well, but that’s it.” commented Y/n as he looked at Ron. “Wow,” said Ron. He sat and stared at Harry and Y/n for a few moments, then, as though he had suddenly realized what he was doing, he looked quickly out of the window again. Y/n giggled under his breath.

“Are all your family wizards?” asked Harry, who found Ron just as interesting as Ron found him and his brother. “Er — Yes, I think so,” said Ron. “I think Mom’s got a second cousin who’s an accountant, but we never talk about him.”

“So you must know loads of magic already.” Y/n piped up. The Weasleys were clearly one of those old wizarding families the pale boy in Diagon Alley had talked about.

“I heard you went to live with Muggles,” said Ron, his eyes flickering back and forth between Y/n and Harry. “What are they like?” “Horrible — well, not all of them. Our aunt and uncle and cousin are.” Y/n remarked. “Wish I had three wizard brothers,” said Harry. Y/n glared at him. “What am I? Chop liver??” Harry smiled amusedly at his twin. “No. But you know what I mean.”

“Five,” said Ron, all suddenly. For some reason, he was looking gloomy.

“I’m the sixth in our family to go to Hogwarts. You could say I’ve got a lot to live up to. Bill and Charlie have already left — Bill was head boy and Charlie was captain of Quidditch. Now Percy’s a prefect. Fred and George mess around a lot, but they still get really good marks and everyone thinks they’re really funny. Everyone expects me to do as well as the others, but if I do, it’s no big deal, because they did it first. You never get anything new, either, with five brothers. I’ve got Bill’s old robes, Charlie’s old wand, and Percy’s old rat.”

Ron reached inside his jacket and pulled out a fat gray rat, which was asleep.

“His name’s Scabbers and he’s useless, he hardly ever wakes up. Percy got an owl from my dad for being made a prefect, but they couldn’t aff — I mean, I got Scabbers instead.” Ron’s ears went pink. He seemed to think he’d said too much, because he went back to staring out of the window.

Both Y/n and Harry didn’t think there was anything wrong with not being able to afford an owl. After all, they’d never had any money in their life until a month ago, and so, Harry and Y/n told Ron all about having to wear Dudley’s old clothes and never getting proper birthday presents. This seemed to cheer Ron up.

“ . . . and until Hagrid told us, We didn’t know anything about being a wizard or about my parents or Voldemort —”

Ron gasped, effectively interrupting Harry. “What?” said Harry, he was confused. “You said You-Know-Who’s name!” said Ron, sounding both shocked and impressed. “I’d have thought you, of all people —”

“I’m not trying to be brave or anything, saying the name,” said Harry,

“I just never knew you shouldn’t. See what I mean? Y/n and I got loads to learn . . . I bet,” he added, voicing for the first time something that had been worrying him a lot lately, “I bet we’ll be the worst in the class.”

“You won’t be. There’s loads of people who come from Muggle families and they learn quick enough.” reassured Ron. Y/n smiled at that and gave Harry a look. “See? We’ll be okay, Harry. Just try not to get on any professor’s bad sides.” joked Y/n.

While they had been talking, the train had carried them out of London. Now they were speeding past fields full of cows and sheep. They were quiet for a time, watching the fields and lanes flick past.

Around this time, Y/n had brought out one of his textbooks. He was reading vigorously when around half past twelve there was a great clattering outside in the corridor and a smiling, dimpled woman slid back their door and said, “Anything off the cart, dears?”

Y/n looked up from his book and smiled at the woman. He and Harry hadn’t had any breakfast, so both boys leapt to their feet, but Ron’s ears went pink again and he muttered that he’d brought sandwiches. Harry and Y/n went out into the corridor. Y/n had gasped at the sight of the candy and sugary sweets. He had never had any money for candy with the Dursleys, and now that he and Harry had pockets rattling with gold and silver they were ready to buy as many Mars Bars as they could carry — but the woman didn’t have Mars Bars.

What she did have were Bettie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans, Drooble’s Best Blowing Gum, Chocolate Frogs. Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes, Licorice Wands, and a number of other strange things Y/n and Harry had never seen in their life. Not wanting to miss anything, they got some of everything and paid the woman each eleven silver Sickles and seven bronze Knuts.

Ron was staring as Harry and Y/n brought their sugar back into the compartment and tipped it onto an empty seat.

“Hungry, are you?” he asked. “Starving,” said Harry, taking a large bite out of a pumpkin pasty. Y/n had chosen a Cauldron Cake and moaned in delight at the taste.

Ron had taken out a lumpy package and unwrapped it. There were four sandwiches inside. He pulled one of them apart and said, “She always forgets I don’t like corned beef . . .”

“Swap you for one of these,” said Harry, holding up a pasty. “Go on —” “You don’t want this, it’s all dry,” said Ron. “She hasn’t got much time,” he added quickly, “you know, with five of us.”

“Go on, have a pasty,” said Harry, who had never had anything to share before or, indeed, anyone to share it with -- besides his brother. It was a nice feeling, sitting there with Ron, and Y/n eating their way through all Harry’s and Y/n’s pasties, cakes, and candies (the sandwiches lay forgotten).

“What are these?” Harry asked Ron, holding up a pack of Chocolate Frogs. “They’re not really frogs, are they?” He was starting to feel that nothing would surprise him. “Oh God I hope not.” Y/n said as he looked in disgust.

“No,” said Ron. “But see what the card is. I’m missing Agrippa.” “What?” asked Harry. Y/n was looking at Ron strangely.

“Oh, of course, you wouldn’t know — Chocolate Frogs have cards, inside them, you know, to collect — famous witches and wizards. I’ve got about five hundred, but I haven’t got Agrippa or Ptolemy.”

Harry unwrapped his Chocolate Frog and picked up the card. It showed a man’s face. He wore half-moon glasses, had a long, crooked nose, and flowing silver hair, beard, and mustache. Underneath the picture was the name Albus Dumbledore.

“So this is Dumbledore!” said Harry as he turned the card over to show Y/n the picture of the man. “Don’t tell me you’d never heard of Dumbledore!” said Ron. “Can I have a frog? I might get Agrippa — thanks —”

“No problem,” said Y/n as he watched Harry read his card before handing it over to him.

He turned over the card and read: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE CURRENTLY HEADMASTER OF HOGWARTS Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern times, Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon’s blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel. Professor Dumbledore enjoys chamber music and tenpin bowling.

Y/n turned the card back over and saw, to his astonishment, that Dumbledore’s face had disappeared.

“He’s gone!” exclaimed Y/n, drawing both Harry’s and Ron’s attention. “Well, you can’t expect him to hang around all day,” said Ron. “He’ll be back. No, I’ve got Morgana again and I’ve got about six of her . . . do you want it? You can start collecting.” Harry took the card with a thankful smile as Ron’s eyes strayed to the pile of Chocolate Frogs waiting to be unwrapped.

“Help yourself,” said Harry. “But in, you know, the Muggle world, people just stay put in photos.”

“Do they? What, they don’t move at all?” Ron sounded amazed. He turned to look at Y/n who nodded. “Yep. They’re rather boring if you ask me.” “Weird!” Ron exclaimed.

Y/n smiled at Ron once more before he looked back down and stared as Dumbledore sidled back into the picture on his card and gave him a small smile. Ron was more interested in eating the frogs than looking at the Famous Witches and Wizards cards, but Y/n and Harry couldn’t keep their eyes off them. Soon, each had not only Dumbledore and Morgana, but Hengist of Woodcroft, Alberic Grunnion, Circe, Paracelsus, and Merlin.

“Circe?” questioned Y/n, looking down at the card of the beautiful witch on his card. “But she’s a minor goddess in greek mythology. Why is she --?”

Ron looked up at Y/n and gave him a strange look. “Greek mythology? What’s that?” Y/n gave him a horrified look before he delved deep into the complicated ins and outs of the Greeks and their mythology and myths. By the time Y/n was done explaining Ron was giving him a blank stare.

“So . . . they married each other’s brothers and sisters?? And Kronos ate his children except for the one kid, Zuke --”

“Zeus.” corrected Y/n.

“Right, er, why are you??” Y/n could immediately tell that Ron was lost for words and Y/n sighed and waved his hand. “Never mind.” He said and quickly made a mental note to look up Circe at the library Hogwarts had -- Hogwarts: A History is an extremely helpful book and Y/n’s tried to get his brother to read it but his attempts were for nothing -- before he was distracted by Harry.

Harry finally tore his eyes away from the Druidess Cliodna card -- who was scratching her nose -- to open a bag of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans.

“You want to be careful with those,” Ron warned Harry. “When they say every flavor, they mean every flavor — you know, you get all the ordinary ones like chocolate and peppermint and marmalade, but then you can get spinach and liver and tripe. George reckons he had a booger-flavored one once.”

Y/n gave him a disgusted look. Ron picked up a green bean, looked at it carefully, and bit into a corner. “Bleaaargh — see? Sprouts.”

Harry and Ron had a good time eating the Every Flavor Beans. Harry got toast, coconut, baked bean, strawberry, curry, grass, coffee, sardine, and was even brave enough to nibble the end off a funny gray one Ron wouldn’t touch, which turned out to be pepper. All while Y/n watched and passed judgment on them and complained about the beans (he finally gathered the courage to try one and instead of getting kiwi he got boogie).

The countryside now flying past the window was becoming wilder. The neat fields had gone. Now there were woods, twisting rivers, and dark green hills. There was a knock on the door of their compartment and the round-faced boy Harry and Y/n had passed on platform nine and three-quarters came in. He looked tearful. “Sorry,” he said, “but have you seen a toad at all?” When they shook their heads, he wailed, “I’ve lost him! He keeps getting away from me!” “He’ll turn up,” said Harry, trying to sound upbeat. “Yes,” said the boy miserably. “Well, if you see him…” “We’ll let you know,” smiled Y/n. The round faced boy gave him a small tearful smile before he left.

“Don’t know why he’s so bothered,” said Ron. “If I’d brought a toad I’d lose it as quick as I could. Mind you, I brought Scabbers, so I can’t talk.” The rat was still snoozing on Ron’s lap. Y/n glared at Ron as he made fun of the poor boy. “He might have died and you wouldn’t know the difference,” said Ron in disgust. “I tried to turn him yellow yesterday to make him more interesting, but the spell didn’t work. I’ll show you, look…”

He rummaged around in his trunk and pulled out a very battered-looking wand. It was chipped in places and something white was glinting at the end.

“Unicorn hair’s nearly poking out. Anyway —” He had just raised his wand when the compartment door slid open again. The toadless boy was back, but this time he had a girl with him. She was already wearing her new Hogwarts robes.

“Has anyone seen a toad? Neville’s lost one,” she said. She had a bossy sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair, and rather large front teeth. Y/n instantly liked her. “We’ve already told him we haven’t seen it,” said Ron, but the girl wasn’t listening, she was looking at the wand in his hand. “Oh, are you doing magic? Let’s see it, then.” She sat down next to Y/n. Ron looked taken aback.

“Er — all right.” He cleared his throat. “Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow.” He waved his wand, but nothing happened. Scabbers stayed gray and fast asleep.

“Are you sure that’s a real spell?” said the girl. “Well, it’s not very good, is it? I’ve tried a few simple spells just for practice, and it’s all worked for me. Nobody in my family’s magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it’s the very best school of witchcraft there is, I’ve heard — I’ve learned all our course books by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough — I’m Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?” She said all this very fast.

Y/n was smiling in delight at the girl. She was a joy to be around.

“I’m Ron Weasley,” Ron muttered. “I’m Harry Potter,” said Harry.

“And I’m Y/n Potter. And I must say that it is excellent that you’ve already tried a few spells! Ever since my brother and I got back from Diagon Alley, I’ve been reading up on all of Hogwarts and magic. I can’t wait to try out all that I've learned and memorized with our professors.”

Hermione looked at Y/n with admiration in her eyes. “Are you really?” said Hermione. “I know all about you and your brother, of course — I got a few extra books, for background reading, and you’re in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century.”

“Am I?” said Harry, feeling dazed. “We are?” asked Y/n.

“Goodness, didn’t you know, I’d have found out everything I could if it was me,” said Hermione. “Do either of you know what house you’ll be in? I’ve been asking around, and I hope I’m in Gryffindor. It sounds by far the best; I hear Dumbledore himself was in it, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn’t be too bad . . .”

“I hope to be either in Ravenclaw or Gryffindor as well!” said Y/n, while smiling at Hermione. “Really?” Hermione gave Y/n a toothy smile before clearing her throat and standing. “Anyway, we’d better go and look for Neville’s toad. You three had better change, you know, I expect we’ll be there soon.”

“See you later Hermione!” called out Y/n as she left, taking the toadless boy with her, all while waving in goodbye.

“Whatever house I’m in, I hope she’s not in it,” said Ron. Y/n snapped his head towards Ron. He was starting to not like him.

Ron threw his wand back into his trunk. “Stupid spell — George gave it to me, bet he knew it was a dud.”

“What house are your brothers in?” asked Harry. “Gryffindor,” said Ron. Gloom seemed to be settling on him again. “Mom and Dad were in it, too. I don’t know what they’ll say if I’m not. I don’t suppose Ravenclaw would be too bad, but imagine if they put me in Slytherin.”

“That’s the house Vol-, I mean, You-Know-Who was in?” said Harry. “Yeah,” said Ron. He flopped back into his seat, looking depressed. “You know, I think the ends of Scabbers’ whiskers are a bit lighter,” said Harry, trying to take Ron’s mind off houses. “So what do your oldest brothers do now that they’ve left, anyway?” asked Y/n. He was wondering what a wizard did once he’d finished school. “Charlie’s in Romania studying dragons, and Bill’s in Africa doing something for Gringotts,” said Ron. Y/n had perked up at the part about dragons. But Ron didn’t seem to notice. “Did you hear about Gringotts? It’s been all over the Daily Prophet, but I don’t suppose you get that with the Muggles — someone tried to rob a high security vault.” Harry stared. “Really? What happened to them?”

“Nothing, that’s why it’s such big news. They haven’t been caught. My dad says it must’ve been a powerful Dark wizard to get round Gringotts, but they don’t think they took anything. That’s what’s odd. ’Course, everyone gets scared when something like this happens in case You-Know-Who’s behind it.”

Harry and Y/n turned this news over in their mind. Both were starting to get a prickle of fear every time You-Know-Who was mentioned. Y/n supposed this was all part of entering the magical world, but it had been a lot more comfortable saying “Voldemort” without worrying.

“What’s your Quidditch team?” Ron asked, wanting to change the subject. “Er — we don’t know any.” Harry confessed. “What!” Ron looked dumbfounded. “Oh, you wait, it’s the best game in the world —” And he was off, explaining all about the four balls and the positions of the seven players, describing famous games he’d been to with his brothers and the broomstick he’d like to get if he had the money. He was just taking Harry and Y/n through the finer points of the game when the compartment door slid open yet again, but it wasn’t Neville, the toadless boy, or Hermione Granger this time.

Three boys entered, and Y/n recognized the middle one at once: it was the pale boy from Madam Malkin’s robe shop. He was looking at both Y/n and Harry with a lot more interest than he’d shown back in Diagon Alley.

“Is it true?” he said. “They’re saying all down the train that Harry and Y/n Potter is in this compartment.” His grey eyes were switching back and forth between Harry and Y/n, before landing on Y/n. “So it’s you two, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” said Harry. He was looking at the other boys. Both of them were thickset and looked extremely mean. Standing on either side of the pale boy, they looked like bodyguards. “Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle,” said the pale boy carelessly, noticing where Harry was looking. “And my name’s Malfoy, Draco Malfoy.”

Ron gave a slight cough, which might have been hiding a snigger. Draco Malfoy looked at him.

“Think my name’s funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford.” Ron had shut up immediately.

He turned back to Harry and Y/n. “You’ll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter’s. You don’t want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there.” He held out his hand to shake Harry’s, but Harry didn’t take it. “I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks,” he said Coolly.

Draco Malfoy didn’t go red, but a pink tinge appeared in his pale cheeks. He glared at Harry before turning his attention to Y/n. “And you?” he asked. His hand was still out and in front of Y/n. It looked cold and inviting. Y/n was torn between his brother and the boy before him.

“Y/n can also tell who is the wrong sort for himself.” snapped Harry as he pulled Y/n closer to himself. Malfoy’s eyes narrowed. “I’d be careful if I were you, Potter,” he said slowly. “Unless you’re a bit politer you’ll go the same way as your parents. They didn’t know what was good for them, either. You hang around with riffraff like the Weasleys and that Hagrid, and it’ll rub off on you.”

Both Harry, Y/n, and Ron stood up. “Say that again,” Ron threatened, his face as red as his hair. “Oh, you’re going to fight us, are you?” Malfoy sneered. “Unless you get out now,” said Harry, more bravely than he felt, because Crabbe and Goyle were a lot bigger than him or Ron. “But we don’t feel like leaving, do we, boys? We’ve eaten all our food and you still seem to have some.” Goyle reached toward the Chocolate Frogs next to Ron — Ron leapt forward, but before he’d so much as touched Goyle, Goyle let out a horrible yell. Scabbers the rat was hanging off his finger, sharp little teeth sunk deep into Goyle’s knuckle — Crabbe and Malfoy backed away as Goyle swung Scabbers round and round, howling, and when Scabbers finally flew off and hit the window, all three of them disappeared at once. Perhaps they thought there were more rats lurking among the sweets, or perhaps they’d heard footsteps, because a second later, Hermione Granger had come in. “What has been going on?” she said, looking at the sweets all over the floor and Ron picking up Scabbers by his tail. “I think he’s been knocked out,” Ron said to Harry. He looked closer at Scabbers. “No �� I don’t believe it — he’s gone back to sleep.” And so he had.

“You’ve met Malfoy before?”

Harry explained about their meeting in Diagon Alley. “I’ve heard of his family,” said Ron darkly. “They were some of the first to come back to our side after You-Know-Who disappeared. Said they’d been bewitched. My dad doesn’t believe it. He says Malfoy’s father didn’t need an excuse to go over to the Dark Side.” He turned to Hermione. “Can we help you with something?”

For the hundredth time, Y/n glared at how rude Ron was today.

“You’d better hurry up and put your robes on, I’ve just been up to the front to ask the conductor, and he says we’re nearly there. You haven’t been fighting, have you? You’ll be in trouble before we even get there!” “Scabbers has been fighting, not us,” said Ron, scowling at her. “Would you mind leaving while we change?” “All right — I only came in here because people outside are behaving very childishly, racing up and down the corridors,” said Hermione in a sniffy voice. “And you’ve got dirt on your nose, by the way, did you know?” Ron glared at her as she left. Harry and Y/n peered out of the window. It was getting dark. They could see mountains and forests under a deep purple sky. The train did seem to be slowing down. He, Harry and Ron took off their jackets and pulled on their long black robes. Ron’s were a bit short for him, you could see his sneakers underneath them.

A voice echoed through the train: “We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes’ time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately.”

Y/n’s stomach lurched with nerves and Ron, he saw, looked pale under his freckles. They crammed their pockets with the last of the sweets and joined the crowd thronging the corridor. The train slowed right down and finally stopped. People pushed their way toward the door and out on to a tiny, dark platform. Harry shivered in the cold night air. Then a lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students, and Y/n and Harry heard a familiar voice: “Firs’ years! Firs’ years over here! All right there, Y/n, Harry?” Hagrid’s big hairy face beamed over the sea of heads.

“C’mon, follow me — any more firs’ years? Mind yer step, now! Firs’ years follow me!” Slipping and stumbling, they followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It was so dark on either side of them that Y/n and Harry thought there must be thick trees there. Nobody spoke much. Neville, the boy who kept losing his toad, sniffed once or twice.

“Yeh’ll get yer firs’ sight o’ Hogwarts in a sec,” Hagrid called over his shoulder, “jus’ round this bend here.” There was a loud “Oooooh!” The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black lake. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers. “No more’n four to a boat!” Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Harry and Ron were followed into their boat by Neville and Hermione, and Y/n had to find a boat for himself. He sighed and climbed into a boat with a short chubby girl with red hair, a tall lanky girl with blonde hair, and a boy with brunette hair.

“Everyone in?” shouted Hagrid, who had a boat to himself. “Right then— FORWARD!”

And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood. “Heads down!” yelled Hagrid as the first boats reached the cliff; they all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbor, where they clambered out onto rocks and pebbles.

“Oy, you there! Is this your toad?” said Hagrid, who was checking the boats as people climbed out of them. “Trevor!” cried Neville blissfully, holding out his hands. Then they clambered up a passageway in the rock after Hagrid’s lamp, coming out at last onto smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle. They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge oak front door. “Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad?” Hagrid raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door.

Authors Note:

Hello everyone! I don't know if you noticed, but I decided to write Ginny as trans, so her old name is Gwaine and she'll start her transition from male-to-female during her third/fourth year. I won't be going so in-to detail about her transition because as a cis-female and asexual I don't want to make mistakes with writing her journey.

If you would like to be tagged in future stories, please respond to this post!!

#harry potter fanfic #harry potter fanfiction #harry potter fandom #draco fanfiction #draco malfoy x male reader #draco malfoy x reader #x male reader #male reader insert #ginny weasley #ginny wealsey is trans #lgbtqia

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