Tom wakes Harry up the next morning with his usual toothless grin and a cup of tea. Harry gets dressed and is just persuading a disgruntled Hedwig to get back into her cage when Ron bangs his way into the room, pulling a sweatshirt over his head and looking irritable.
"The sooner we get on the train, the better," he says. "At least I can get away from Percy at Hogwarts. Now he's accusing me of dripping tea on his photo of Penelope Clearwater. You know," Ron grimaces, "his girlfriend. She's hidden her face under the frame because her nose has gone all blotchy..."
"I've got something to tell you," Harry begins, but they are interrupted by Fred, George, and Polaris who look in to congratulate Ron on infuriating Percy again.
They head down to breakfast, where Mr.Weasley is reading the front page of the Daily Prophet with a furrowed brow and Mrs.Weasley is telling Hermione and Ginny about a love potion she'd made as a young girl. All three of them are rather giggly. Polaris suddenly gets up from the table and walks outside to presumably smoke a cigarette.
"What were you saying?" Ron asks Harry as they sit down. "Later," Harry mutters as Percy storms in.
Harry has no chance to speak to Ron or Hermione in the chaos of leaving; they are too busy heaving all their trunks down the Leaky Cauldron's narrow staircase and piling them up near the door, with Hedwig and Hermes, Percy's screech owl, perched on top in their cages. A small wickerwork basket stands beside the heap of trunks, spitting loudly.
"It's all right, Crookshanks," Hermione cooes through the wickerwork. "I'll let you out on the train."
"You won't," snaps Ron. "What about poor Scabbers, eh?"
He points at his chest, where a large lump indicates that 'Scabbers' is curled up in his pocket.
Mr.Weasley, who has been outside with Polaris, sticks his head inside.
"They're here," he says. "Harry, come on."
Mr.Weasley marches Harry across the short stretch of pavement towards the first of two old-fashioned dark green cars, each of which is driven by a furtive-looking wizard wearing a suit of emerald velvet. Polaris is sitting next to one of the windows, which is open, and Harry sees smoke come out of it.
"In you get, Harry," says Mr.Weasley, glancing up and down the crowded street. Harry gets into the back of the car opposite Polaris and is shortly joined by Hermione, Ron, and, to Ron's disgust, Percy.
The journey to King's Cross is very uneventful compared with Harry's trip on the Knight Bus. The Ministry of Magic cars seem almost ordinary. Though Harry notices that they can slide through gaps that Uncle Vernon's new company car certainly can't manage.
They reach King's Cross with twenty minutes to spare; the Ministry drivers find them trolleys, unload their trunks, touch their hats in salute to Mr.Weasley and Polaris, and drive away, somehow managing to jump to the head of an unmoving line at the traffic lights.
Mr.Weasley keeps close to Harry's elbow all the way into the station. "Right then," he says, glancing around them. "Let's do this in pairs, as there are so many of us. I'll go through first with Harry."
Mr.Weasley strolls towards the barrier between platforms nine and ten, pushing Harry's trolley and apparently very interested in the InterCity 125 that has just arrived at platform nine. With a meaningful look at Harry, he leans casually against the barrier. Harry imitates him. In a moment, they fell sideways through the solid metal onto platform nine and three- quarters and look up to see the Hogwarts Express, a scarlet steam engine, puffing smoke over a platform packed with witches and wizards seeing their children onto the train.
YOU ARE READING
The Mysterious Heir
Fanfiction2 Years before Harry Potter is born, Voldemort conceives a son to take his place if he died before he reached immortality. After he is born, Voldemort enchants him to be more powerful than himself. This is the story of Polaris Cygnus Lestrange, The...
