It Meant Family

1st of September 1993 - part 2

"i want to live i'm just afraid i won't measure up to the idea people have of me in their heads i'm afraid of getting older[...] that i'll never learn how to be happy [...] and i'll be alone in the end" - Rupi Kaur

Platform 9 ¾, London, England

When Harry got back to the platform all of his friends had already headed to the train, he'd had to run back to the car to fetch a small box of Gambol and Japes' Super Loud Invisible Fireworks that had fallen from is pocket, it held four marble sized yellow orbs that upon impact sounded like a thousand fireworks without the sparks. As he scanned the crowd for Sirius, who had his luggage cart, the boy overheard a concerning conversation.

"...it makes no sense not to tell him." Mr. Weasley whispered heatedly. "Harry's got the right to know. I've told Fudge so too, but he in​sists on treating him like a child, he's thirteen for Merlin's sake and after everything he's-"

"Arthur, the truth would terrify him," replied Mrs. Weasley earnestly "do you re​ally want to send him back to school with that hanging over him? He's better off not knowing!"

"I just want to put him on his guard!" He argued back. "You know what the boys are like, wandering off by them​selves... they've end​ed up in the For​bid​den For​est twice! They can't do that this year!" Harry watched them from a distance, they stood in a corner on the other side of the passage to the muggle station. "Imagine what could have happened when he ran away from the Dursleys if the Knight Bus hadn't picked him up, I'm certain he would've been dead before the Ministry got to him."

"But he's not dead, is he? And Black doesn't want him to know."

"Molly, they say Pettigrew is mad, and maybe he is, but he was clever enough to fake his own death for 12 years." He sounded angry, scared and concerned, which the boy found very unsettling. "It's been three weeks and no one's seen hide nor hair of him and in spite of what Fudge keeps telling the Prophet, we're no closer to catching Pettigrew now than when we first found out he was alive. The only thing we know for sure is what Pettigrew's after-"

"Harry will be perfectly safe at Hogwarts." She stated.

"Right," he frowned "because danger has never found him while he was there."

"No one's re​ally sure that Pettigrew's after him-"

"How many times do I have to tell you?" He got closer to her. "Pettigrew is de​ranged, he murdered over a dozen people and vanished, if he's come back now it's because he wants something. If you ask me, he probably thinks killing Harry will bring You-​Know-​Who back to pow​er." The boy leaned closer, careful not to be seen, but des​per​ate to hear more. "Besides, I'm more worried that Harry will decide to go out looking for him." He wondered why Mr. Weasley would think that, he knew he was no genius, but it seemed pretty stupid to go out looking for someone who wanted him dead.

To Harry's frustration they didn't say much else, so he turned around and resumed the search for his godfather, who stood fairly close to the train. They said their goodbyes quickly and Sirius made him promise one more time to stay out of trouble, he nodded half-heartedly while running with his luggage towards the porter and rushing to get back to his friends.

By the time they boarded, there were no more empty compartments, most of the Weasleys had spread out, having found sitting amongst their friends and Harry, Ron and Hermione had been left behind. The doungbomb in Percy's pocket went off as soon as he walked into the last car with the other prefects and it caused a temporary commotion, most of the passengers found it very amusing, specially the ones further away from the explosion.

The train had already started moving when they finally found a compartment for all three of them to sit together, it was the second to last before the prefects' area and still smelled slightly. Hermione walked in first, with Crookshanks asleep in her arms, Ron followed closely and Scabbers jumped desperately from his hands into one of the pockets in his muggle jacket, startling him, Harry was the last inside, only than, noticing the identity of the last occupant of their carriage.