Train Ride

When the time came Quentin with his parents left for King's Cross Station. He had all of his things ready to go. Him and his parents were on their way down the station looking for platform 9 3/4 as they were told.

"I don't see it."

Quentin was looking everywhere around them. All he saw was an older man sitting on a bench, a large family of redheads standing near a column, and a wife and husband trying to quiet their squealing child. He took a second glance and realized that the family of redheads also had carts full of strange and magical things.

"Here we are."

His mother pointed at the column the redheaded family was waiting near.

"What do you mean?"

"Just watch."

As he was looking he heard a familiar voice in the distance.

"Can you tell me where platform 9 3/4 is?"

Quentin looked towards the voice and saw Harry looking rather worried.

"Harry! Over here."

The boy with messy black hair glanced in his direction and smiled. He started heading towards Quentin with visible excitement. When he arrived he immediately asked a question.

"Where is platform 9 3/4? All I've heard today is that it doesn't exist."

"I don't really know, but my mom said to watch the column over there." He pointed.

They decided to do as told and watched the column until something happened.

"All right Percy, you first."

One of the older redheaded boys, Percy, moved away from the rest of his family and towards the column. He started running and was about to hit the brick wall. Then, against all reason, he disappeared into the column. Both Quentin and Harry looked at the wall confused.

"Where did he go?"

"I don't know, maybe platform 9 3/4. It is magic."

They waited until all of the family members had gone through the brick wall.

"Okay, now you two go."

Quentin looked at his mother.

"Do we just run at it, or is there something else we have to do?"

"Just push as hard as you can and you'll make it through."

Quentin looked at Harry, who looked back at him.

"You first?"

"Sure."

Harry ran as fast as he could towards the wall with Quentin close behind him. Then before he knew it, he heard loud voices. Shouting and calling to others. He heard a large whistle blow. He looked to the large red train resting on the tracks.

"What now?"

"You've got to find a compartment."

Both Quentin and Harry turned to see Quentin's mother behind them.

"Now off you go. Both your father and I have got work so we can't stay forever." She said with a smile while pushing the both of them towards the train.

They left towards the train, stepped on, and found an empty compartment. Once they had sat down and had all of their things away they started talking.

"What do you think Hogwarts is going to be like?"

"I think it will be a lot harder to enjoy then we think."

"What do you mean?"

"It may be a magical school, but a school none the less."

Harry and Quentin went on to talk about other things as well until one of the redheaded boys from before opened the door.

"Can I sit here?"

He looked a bit worried. Harry looked at Quentin and said,

"Sure, we have room."

The boy sat down and looked at the both of them before saying,

"My name's Ron Weasley."

"I'm Quentin Keene."

"Hi, I'm Harry Potter."

Ron looked at Harry for a short while with a shocked expression.

"Do you have the... the thing?"

Harry looked confused for a second before coming to a realization. Then with one hand he pushed up his hair so they could see his lightning bolt shaped scar.

"Wicked."

Quentin didn't really know what was going on and just looked at the both of them. Not really caring, he just forgot the exchange.

"Anything from the trolley dears."

An older woman pushing a cart full of candy opened their door. Ron looked excited for a second before emptying his pockets finding nothing.

"We'll take the lot."

Quentin looked at Harry who was holding a handful of galleons.

"Harry, look how much candy is on the trolley, you'll be keeping candy from everyone else on the train."

Harry looked at the trolley and thought for a second. Before he could say anything however, the older woman spoke up.

"Never mind that dearies, I get more when the trolley runs empty. Take as much as you like."

Ron and Harry began smiling as they took everything off the trolley and sat back down, now with more weight in candy than the two combined. Quentin looked at the both of them disappointed, it's not like they would be able to eat that much candy anyways. So after thinking for a short period of time, he decided that if they were to not let the treats go to waste he would have to help the two of them eat as much as they can.

After eating for a time Ron was about to try a spell his brother had taught him to turn his rat, Scabbers, yellow when the compartment door opened. All three of them looked up to see a girl with an absurd amount of brown wavy hair. She looked at the candy around them and to each of them separately before asking,

"Has anyone seen a toad, a boy named Neville has lost one."

Ron looked at the girl and said, "No."

The girl looked at the wand that Ron had raised and asked,

"Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see then."

Ron cleared his throat before beginning the spell.

"Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, turn this stupid, fat rat yellow."

There was a small light. However, the rat didn't turn yellow and the girl looked smug.

"Are you sure that's a real spell? Well, it's not very good is it?"

Ron looked to the both of them with a strange look.

"Of course I've only tried a few simple ones myself, but they've all worked for me."

The girl moved into the compartment and sat next to Quentin, looking towards Harry.

"For example."

She pointed her wand at Harry's face. He looked shocked and a little scared.

"Oculus Reparo"

A fluttering noise could be heard as the tape around the middle of Harry's broken glasses flew off. However, instead of his glasses falling apart they seemed to be perfectly fine. Harry pulled them off his face and looked them all over.

"That's better isn't it."

She seemed to notice something that shocked her.

"Holy cricket, you're Harry Potter. I'm Hermione Granger. And you two are?"

She looked to Ron first.

"Umm... Ron Weasley." He had a hard time speaking with all the candy in his mouth.

"Pleasure." Hermione said, though her tone said other wise.

She then looked to Quentin.

"Quentin Keene. Nice to meet you."

"Likewise."

Quentin then looked to Harry who was still looking at his newly fixed glasses.

"Thank her now would you."

"Oh right, thanks Hermione."

She smiled at Harry and said,

"No problem. Anyways, you three should change into your robes I expect we'll be arriving soon."

She got up and started to leave, but not before turning and smiling to Harry and Quentin. She walked out of the compartment before turning and coming back. She looked at Ron.

"You've got dirt on your nose by the way. Did you know?" She moved her hand towards her face and scratched her nose, "Just there."

Ron wiped the dirt off his nose and looked at Harry,

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Didn't really notice."

Quentin stood up and walked to the door, pulled it shut, and turned to the two of them.

"Best get dressed, she's probably right."