Slytherin, Raised By Wolfstar: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

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Chapter Nine: Aboard the Hogwarts Express

There was a definite end-of-the-holidays gloom in the air when Harry awoke the next morning. Heavy rain was still splattering against the window as he got dressed in jeans and a sweat-shirt; they would change into their school robes on the Hogwarts Express.

He, Canini, and Theodore had just reached the first-floor on their way down to breakfast when Harry over heard the end of something Remus was saying.

‘—I can’t believe he is the one replacing me. Dora is lucky she started her training when she did or she wouldn’t have gotten to finish under him—oh good morning kids. Ready for a fresh year?’

‘You mentioned just now Tonks’ mentor?’ Harry asked, ‘What has Alastor done?’

Harry had grown up on tales about the great auror Alastor “Mad-eye” Moody from Remus’ time as an auror. Remus had described him as one of the few wizard in his department that he trusted. The greatest story him and Sirius had told Harry though had been a lie. They had told Harry for years that after Peter Pettigrew killed his parents, Moody came in and rescued him, but the truth had been that Voldemort killed his parents and that Moody only arrived hours later. The many other tales rang true however, which was why Harry’s interests were now peaked.

Remus looked at Harry and smiled, ‘You will learn tonight. I’d tell you now but I have to go, more wizards vandalized the cafe last night and Mr Long is freaking out. I’ll see you all later at the station.’

And with that he made his way to the door, but the paused for a moment. ‘Sirius dear, will you be able to get the kids to King’s Cross on your own?’

‘Of course love, you might have grown up with a muggle mother, but I am the expert of this family.’

Remus playfully rolled his eyes. ‘Ok, then I am off. I will see you all in an hour or so.’

And he was off, leaving just Sirius and the three kids.

‘Padfoot?’ Harry asked, ‘why has Mad-eye brought up in the first place?’

‘Oh, Nymphadora and I had a floo conversation this morning and she told me how Mad-eye hot in a spot of trouble this morning. Something about thinking there was an intruder but it was really a trash can. It probably wouldn’t have been a big deal but local muggle law enforcement came to investigate he ruckus so Ministry workers had to come in and Obliviate everyone involved.’

‘Is he ok?’ Harry thought it would be a terrible for a crazy hero like Moody to be arrested for what Sirius described.

‘He’s fine, it’s the neighbourhood that’s shaken. He hopefully will just have to pay a fine and that’ll be it.’

Soon they had flooed to the Leaky Cauldron and took a taxi to King’s Cross station, which Sirius just barely had enough muggle money to pay for.

The rain was coming down harder than ever, and they got soaked carrying their trunks across the busy road and into the station.

Harry was used to getting onto platform nine and three-quarters by now. It was a simple matter of walking straight through the apparently solid barrier dividing platforms nine and ten. The only tricky part was doing this in an unobtrusive way, so as to avoid attracting Muggle attention. They did it in groups today; Harry, and Theodore went first, accompanied by Hedwig and Theodore’s toad named Phileas; they leaned casually against the barrier, chatting unconcernedly, and slid sideways through it...and as they did so, platform nine and three-quarters materialized in front of them.

The Hogwarts Express, a gleaming scarlet steam engine, was already there, clouds of steam billowing from it, through which the many Hogwarts students and parents on the platform appeared like dark ghosts. Sirius and Canini came through moments later and the four of them quickly found Remus amongst the crowd.

Theodore wasn’t much for physical contact so he just verbally said his goodbyes, but Harry and Canini both received big hugs from their parents.

‘Now all three of you behave this year. Try you best to stay out of trouble.’ said Remus seriously.

‘But also remember to have fun.’

‘Yes, I have a feeling this year is going to be very special, so enjoy as much of it as possible,’ Remus said, then quickly looked at Canini. ‘Remember you can only start taking your weekly potion after your birthday, you’ll get a refill at Christmas.’

‘I will,’ she said with a smile.

‘Now go on, you probably want to see your friends then hang out with the two of us.’

‘Thanks you guys,’ said Theodore happily.

‘Love you Paddy and Moony,’ said Canini.

‘We’ll miss you,’ said Harry.

With that Harry, Theodore, and Canini set off to find seats, and were soon stowing their luggage in a compartment halfway along the train. They climbed on board, closed the door behind them, then went their separate ways. Canini went to sit with her fellow second year Hufflepuffs, while Harry and Theodore went to find their shared friends.

As the pistons hissed loudly and the train began to move, Harry and Theodore found their other two friends clearly looking for them.

‘Harry! Theodore!’ Before they could react, both Harry and Theodore were wrapped in the arms of Tracey Davis. Her deep hazel eyes. ‘When I heard what happened I was in a panic, there were so many rumours it was impossible to tell what was real or not. Then I got your letters and it was like a mountain was lifted off my chest. Still, I should have been there, I should have let Allison take me as her guest.’

‘You didn’t know this would happen,’ said Harry, reassuring her. ‘You aren’t that big of a Quidditch fan so it makes sense you wouldn’t have gone. We’re taking up a lot of room, let’s find a compartment.’

As they walked by they passed a compartment holding Draco Malfoy, Daphne Greengrass, and Millicent Bulstrode. Harry overheard the end of something Malfoy was saying.

‘—is going to be incredible, did you know that my father actually considered sending me to Durmstrang rather than Hogwarts, you know. He knows the headmaster, you see. And they have such a better curriculum than—‘

They had entered an empty compartment and closed the door behind them, blocking out Malfoy and his friends voices.

‘Which wizarding school is Durmstrang again?’ Tracey asked.

Harry didn’t know much, but he shared what he knew. ‘That’s the school Canini went to for half a year. It mostly teaches kids from more eastern and Northern European countries. It specializes in the Dark Arts.’

‘That is where the dark wizard Grindelwald learned all that he knew,’ said Allison with a shiver.

‘Where is it located, the name sounds Slavic?’ Tracey inquired.

‘If you can keep a secret,’ Harry began, those who attended were encouraged never to reveal its location, but the man that had informed Canini of her acceptance had told Remus, and he trusted his friends could keep their lips shut. ‘It is located in the mountains of a tiny island called Svalbard, it is the most northern populated locations in the world.’

'What do you think made Draco bring it up?' asked Allison.

'I'm not sure,' said Harry, 'but his father works at the Ministry, and they are planning to do something at Hogwarts this year, perhaps other schools as well if Draco is talking about Durmstrang.'

The rain became heavier and heavier as the train moved farther north. The sky was so dark and the windows so steamy that the lanterns were lit by midday. The lunch trolley came rattling along the corridor, and Harry bought a large stack of Cauldron Cakes for them to share.

Several of their friends looked in on them as the afternoon progressed, including Terence Higgs, Susan Bones, Ella Wilkins, and Colin Creevey, a mousey, third year Gryffindor boy who was born to muggle parents. He had sat between Harry and Theodore the good news.

‘Guess what, guys? My brother's starting! My brother Dennis! He got accepted to Hogwarts!’ Harry was quite impressed, Harry knew from History of Magic classes that two muggleborns from the same family was very rare. ‘I’ll introduce you at the sorting ceremony, he’s right now meeting other first years.’

‘That’s great news,’ said Harry.

‘I can’t wait to meet him,’ Theodore said with a smile. ‘Your family must be so proud.’

Colin and the others eventually left, leaving Harry and his closest friends to discuss the Quidditch World Cup.

‘Despite the attack that happened after, I still would have liked to have been there,’ said Tracey disappointingly. ‘Even if Quidditch isn’t my favourite it sounds like one of the most eventful matches in history.’

‘It really was incredible,’ said Allison stoically, but with excitement still twinkling in her blue eyes. ‘Theodore, do you have any merch still on you to show?’

‘Sure do, one sec...’

He rummaged in his trunk up in the luggage rack and pulled out a miniature figure of Viktor Krum as well as the Irish banner.

‘Is that who I think it is?’ said Tracey enviously as Theodore lent it to her to inspect.

‘We almost met him personally,’ said Harry. ‘After the game he was in the same box as us. It was like being in the shadow of greatness-‘

‘Well you must know a lot about that, Potter,’ came an annoyingly high voice Harry had come to hate in recent months. ‘Thinking you are so high and mighty, but really only a dim flicker in the blinding light of true greatness.’

Pansy Parkinson had appeared in the doorway, her pug-face scrunched up in disgust. Behind her stood Blaise Zabini, Crabbe and Goyle, her tall, arrogant or thick headed thugs, all of whom appeared to have grown at least a foot during the summer. Crabbe and Goyle had originally been Draco’s goons, but after Draco’s trauma at the end of their second year and Pansy filling the power vacuum, they had followed her and Zabini ever since. Evidently they had overheard the conversation through the compartment door, which Terence had left ajar.

‘Not enough room for your gang in here, Parkinson,’ Allison hissed. ‘Two pigs, one giant, and a snake with an ego the size of the ocean.’

‘Davis? What is that ugly thing?’ said Parkinson, pointing at Tracey’s trunk. A silky piece of orange fabric was sticking out of it, swaying with the motion of the train, Harry wasn’t quite sure what it was.

Tracey tried to stuff whatever it was out of sight, but Parkinson had already gotten a good look and seemed to figure out what it was.

‘That is your dress robe, isn’t it?’ said Pansy in ecstasy, emphasizing the disgust in her voice, ‘What an obsoletely hideous colour. You’ll look like you are wearing vomit.’

Pansy was now laughing, alongside Zabini. After a moment Crabbe and Goyle caught on too and laughed as well.

‘Well you don’t need a dress to look like puke, Pansy,’ Tracey fired back.

‘Man, you would have to enter to bring any honor to your muggle loving family,’ said Zabini with a sneer.

‘And maybe use the prize money to buy some robes in a more flattering colour,’ exclaimed Parkinson.

‘Pansy!’ Harry said while starting to lose his temper, ‘What in blazes are you talking about?’

‘Are you going to enter this year?’ she repeated. ‘You’ll probably enter, Potter. With your psychological need for fame you’ll probably be the first one to enter.’

‘Explain what you are talking about Pansy or just go away,’ said Allison, who was keeping cool.

A horrible smile spread across both Pansy and Blaise’s face.

‘You two don’t know, Davis, Runcorn, do you? You both got parents in the ministry and you don’t know. My mother told be weeks ago.’

‘Maybe Albert Runcorn thinks his own daughter is untrustworthy,’ Zabini laughed.

All laughing once more, Parkinson beckoned to Zabini, Crabbe and Goyle, and the four of them disappeared.

Allison looked so mad that Harry was worried she was going to go after her and beat her up. Theodore calmly got up and closed the compartment door.

‘Father does trust me, his work is just confidential,’ Allison said very frustrated.

‘Of course it is Allison, they were just trying to get under your skin,’ said Theodore. ‘Her mother seems to have loose lips as I remember Arthur Weasley saying whatever is happening is meant to remain a secret until announced.’

Despite the gang being gone, their collective bad moods continued for the rest of the journey. They changed into their school robes, and were still in a funk when the Hogwarts Express slowed down at last and finally stopped in the pitch-darkness of Hogsmeade station.

As the train doors opened, there was a rumble of thunder over- head. Allison bundled up her cat Shabaz in her cloak and the other three had the top of their uniforms pulled up over the top of their head to shelter them from the rain. The rain was now coming down so thick and fast that it was as though buckets of ice-cold water were being emptied repeatedly over their heads.

‘Hi, Hagrid!’ Harry yelled, seeing a gigantic silhouette at the far end of the platform.

‘All righ’, Harry?’ Hagrid bellowed back, waving. ‘See yeh at the feast if we don’ drown!’

First years traditionally reached Hogwarts Castle by sailing across the lake with Hagrid.

‘Are you sure it is safe for them? The water is probably very violent right now and they are only eleven.’ said Theodore fervently, shivering as they inched slowly along the dark platform with the rest of the crowd.

‘We’ll manage. Don’t you worry.’

After a minute or so they arrived at the hundred horseless carriages stood waiting for them outside the station. Harry, Tracey, Allison, and Theodore climbed gratefully into one of them, the door shut with a snap, and a few moments later, with a great lurch, the long procession of carriages was rumbling and splashing its way up the track toward Hogwarts Castle.