Reacting to the Potter Quadruplets

The Journey from Platforms Nine and Three Quarters

Harry,Harper,Liv,and Logan's last month with the Dursleys wasn't fun. True, Dudley was now so scared of Harry,Harper,Liv,and Logan he wouldn't stay in the same room, while Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon didn't shut Harry,Harper,Liv,and Logan in their cupboard, force them to do anything, or shout at them -- in fact, they didn't speak to them at all. Half terrified, half furious, they acted as though any chair with Harry,Harper,Liv,and Logan in them were empty. Although this was an improvement in many ways, it did become a bit depressing after a while.

Harry,Harper,Liv,and Logan kept to their room, with Harry and Harper's new owls for company. Harry had decided to call her Hedwig, a name he had found in A History of Magic. Harper named her owl Rose. Their school books were very interesting. THey lay on their beds reading late into the night, Hedwig and Rose swooping in and out of the open window as they pleased. It was lucky that Aunt Petunia didn't come in to vacuum anymore, because Hedwig and Rose kept bringing back dead mice. Every night before they went to sleep, Harry,HArper,Liv,and Logan ticked off another day on the piece of paper they had pinned to the wall, counting down to September the first.

On the last day of August they thought they'd better speak to their aunt and uncle about getting to King's Cross station the next day, so they went down to the living room where they were watching a quiz show on television. THey cleared their throats to let them know they were there, and Dudley screamed and ran from the room.

"Er -- Uncle Vernon?" Liv said.

Uncle Vernon grunted to show he was listening.

"Er -- We need to be at King's Cross tomorrow to -- to go to Hogwarts." Logan said.

Uncle Vernon grunted again.

"Would it be all right if you gave us a lift?" Harper asked.

Grunt. Harry,Harper,Liv,and Logan supposed that meant yes.

"Thank you." Harry said.

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,Harper,Liv,and Logan didn't say anything.

"Where is this school, anyway?"

"I don't know," said Harry, realizing this for the first time. He pulled the ticket Hagrid had given him out of his pocket.

"We just take the train from platform nine and three-quarters at eleven o'clock," Liv read from over Harry's shoulder.

His aunt and uncle stared.

"Platform what?"

"Nine and three-quarters." Logan said.

"Don't talk rubbish," said Uncle Vernon. "There is no platform nine and three-quarters."

"It's on our tickets." Harper said.

"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.

Harry,Harper,Liv,and Logan woke at five o'clock the next morning and was too excited and nervous to go back to sleep. THey got up and the girls went to the bathroom. Logan and Harry pulled on their jeans because they didn't want to walk into the station in their wizard's robes -- they'd change on the train. THey checked their Hogwarts list yet again to make sure they had everything. They needed. The girls came out of the restroom in their robes; they were both beaming. Harry and Harper saw that Hedwig and Rose were shut safely in their cages, and then paced the room, waiting for the Dursleys to get up. Two hours later, Harry,Harper,Liv,and Logan's huge, heavy trunks had been loaded into the Dursleys' car, Aunt Petunia had talked Dudley into sitting next to Harry,Harper,Liv,and Logan, and they had set off.