𓏲 . THE BOY WHO LIVED . .៹♡
                                                    CHAPTER FIVE
─── THE JOURNEY FROM PLATFORM NINE AND THREE-QUARTERS

The month of August had come and gone before anyone noticed. Charlus and Harry kept in contact with Alistair while they had to spend their last month with the Dursley's. Dudley was now so scared of Harry  and Charlus he wouldn't stay in the same room, while Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon didn't shut Harry und Charlus in their cupboard, force they to do anything or shout at they– in fact, they didn't speak to them at all. Half-terrified, half-furious, they acted as though any chair with Harry and Charlus in it was empty. Although this was an improvement in many ways, it did become a bit depressing after a while.

Throughout August, Charlus kept to his room, with his new owl for company. He had decided to call him Phoenix,  after a Fantastic Beast he had found in Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them. He sometimes lay on his bed and read his new books, which he found very fascinating, or did something with Harry, who called his owl Hedwig, a name he had found in A History of Magic, or he wrote Alistair again.

Phoenix swooping in and out of the open window as he pleased. It was lucky that Aunt Petunia didn't come in to hoover any more, because Phoenix  kept bringing back dead mice.  Every night before he went to sleep, Charlus ticked off another day on the piece of paper he had pinned to the wall, counting down to September the first.

When the month of September came around, Alistair had made it known to Charlus and Harry that he would meet them at the Hogwarts Express at the station. So they asked their uncle and aunt if they could drive them there. After a long discussion, they both agreed.

With that, the boys ran up to their rooms and got changed quickly because they didn't want to go to the station in their wizard robes - they would change on the train. Charlus was wearing black pants, a dark blue sweater and a black hooded jacket that had a zipper, while Harry was wearing gray-green pants, a gray t-shirt and a blue and white plaid shirt that was too big for him.

Ten minutes later, Charlus and Harry's huge, heavy trunks had been loaded into the Dursleys' car, Aunt Petunia had talked Dudley into sitting next to the twins and they had set off. When tthey arrived at King's Cross, Uncle Vernon loaded Charlus and Harry's suitcases onto two trolleys and wheeled them into the station for them.

 Harry thought this was strangely nice until Uncle Vernon stopped and looked at the twins with a nasty grin on his face.  "Have a good term" said he before he left without another word. Harry and Charlus turned and saw the Dursleys drive away. All three of them were laughing.

"What platform is it, Harry?" Charlus asked. "I don't know."  said Harry, realising this for the first time. He pulled the ticket Hagrid had given him out of his pocket and look at the platform number. "Well, it says here that it's platform 9 and 3/4- but that can't be right, can it?"

Before Charlus could say anything a group of people passed just behind them and they caught a few words of what they were saying. "– packed with Muggles, of course –"  Harry and Charlus swung round. The speaker was a plump woman who was talking to four boys, all with flaming red hair. Each of them was pushing a trunk like Charlus and Harry's in front of them – and they had an owl. "Come on, boys! Platform nine and three-quarters this way!"

Heart hammering, Charlus pushed his trolley after them, Harry was right behind him with his own trolley. They stopped and so did the twins , just near enough to hear what they were saying. "All right, Percy,  you go first." She waved the oldest boy over and without thinking much about it, he  marched towards platforms nine and ten.

Harry and Charlus watched, careful not to blink in case they  missed it – but just as the boy reached the divide between the two platforms, a large crowd of tourists came swarming in front of him, and by the time the last rucksack had cleared away, the boy had vanished.

As he disappeared, she looked at her twins. "Fred, you're next." She smiled at the taller of the two, who looked at her uncomprehendingly with  the other one. "He's not Fred, I'm Mum!" His twin said angrily and he agreed with him. "Honestly, woman,and you call yourself our mother?" He asked her accusingly, to which she grimaced apologetically.

"Oh sorry, George!" With that she signaled him with her hand to copy Percy and he positioned himself to gain momentum, but before he started, he looked back at his mother. "I'm joking, I'm Fred!" He gave her a superior smile.

A smile tugged at Charlus' lips as Fred went off before he could get a telling off from his mother.  His twin called after him to hurry up, and he must have done, because a second later, he had gone – but how had he done it?

Now the third brother was walking briskly towards the ticket barrier – he was almost there – and then, quite suddenly, he wasn't anywhere. There was nothing else for it. 

 Just before the last boy walked up Charlus walked up to them and Harry soon followed close behind to catch up." Uh excuse me?" He turned their attention to himself and Harry and the family turned to them. 

"Can you tell us, um, like how..." Harry seemed quite unsettled next to Charlus and couldn't finish his sentence, but the woman knew what he meant. She smiled at them both and placed a hand on each of their backs.

"How to get onto platform?" she laughed, to which the two brothers nodded with a smile. "Yes of course dears, it's Ron first time to Hogwarts as well. " she said then  and pointed at the red haired boy next them. Ron smiled at Harry and Charlus, although it looked more like a cry for help.

"Now all you've got to do is this:" she brought the boys back to her, who listened attentively. "You're walk straight at the wall between platforms 9 and 10. Best do a bit of a run if your nervous." She explained to them with a smile and Harry and Charlus nodded their thanks. "Good luck." said the little red haired girl to them.

Charlus took a deep breath and started to walk towards barrier.  People jostled him on their way
to platforms nine and ten. Charlus walked more quickly. He was going to smash right into that ticket box and then he'd be in trouble – leaning forward on his trolley he broke into a heavy run – the barrier was coming nearer and nearer – he wouldn't be able to stop – the trolley was out of control – he was a foot away – he closed his eyes ready for the crash – It didn't come ... he kept on running ... he opened his eyes.

A scarlet steam engine was waiting next to a platform packed with people.There was a sign on a pillar that had the words 9 ¾ and the Hogwarts crest above it.  Less than five seconds later, Harry was standing next to him. "Wow." he said behind him. "Wicked awesome more like." Charlus said in agreement.

They then looked around for Alistair, who Charlus could only assume he was at the station. Sure enough, a boy came up to them with his packed trolley and gave the twins a big smile. "Hello!" Charlus gave him a small wave while Harry gave him a small smile. 

"So, survived?" Alistair joked as he followed Harry's gaze to the wall. "Um, yes, I think so." he laughed and turned his gaze back to him. "Come on, we should get on before the train leaves. Otherwise it won't do us any good at all that we survived the journey here." said Alistair with a grin and walked ahead.

They hurried to the train together, where they gave their luggage to a man and then boarded the train. They wandered through the whole train until they found an empty compartment. Harry and Charlus sat down next to each other, while Alistair took a seat opposite so that all three could talk.

Alistair, Charlus and Harry had a long conversation for a while. None of them noticed that the train had already left. After a short while the compartment door was opened and the boy from before was standing in the doorway. " Sorry didn't mean to interrupt you three but do you mind if I sit with you?"  he asked them,  who had to end the conversation, but then all three smiled when they saw him. "Everywhere else is full." he added.

" Of course!" Alistair answered for his friends and patted the bench next to him. "You can sit here." "Thanks." he smiled at the boy and sat down next to him. "I'm Ron, by the way. Ron Weasley." He then introduced himself.

Alistair smiled before extending his hand out to the ginger haired boy. "Pleasure to meet you Ron. I am Alistair Black." Ron sat there looking at the boy in awe for a moment before coming to his senses and shaking his hand. "Cool." he said before he looked at the other two questioningly.

"I am Charlus Potter and this is my brother,Harry." The eldest Potter introduced himself and also his brother.  Ron's eyes widened at the mention of the two names. "Is that really true?"  he asked them both immediately. "I mean, do you really have the..?"

The twins looked at Ron in confusion as he motioned to his head. "The what?" they asked him in unison. "I think he mean the scars." Alistair told them, pointing his finger at his forehead. "Oh right! Yes!" Harry and Charlus smiled at the red-haired young boy and lifted their hair so that he could see the lightning-shaped scars and his eyes grew big again. "Wicked!"

Harry and Charlus had to laugh a bit and just then a woman rolled up with a candy cart. "My dears, do you want something sweet?" she asked the four with a friendly smile. "No thanks, I'm all set." Ron said and held up something that look like sandwiches.

Charlus realized he wasn't exactly happy. He took a quick look at Harry and Alistair and saw that they had the same thought as him. "We'll take the lot!"  Charlus then said before the other two could say anything and pulled a bunch of coins out of his pocket. "Woah!" Ron said in disbelief that he would spend so much pocket money on this.

So they were still sitting at the pile of sweets an hour later. "Bertie Bott's every flavored beans?" Harry asked, visibly irritated and Alistair nodded in agreement while Ron ate a red rubber snake. "They mean every flavor."  Ron agreed and Alistair nodded again.

"You can get chocolate, peppermint or cotton candy...But there's also spinach, liver, diapers or tripe." Alistair now listed the different flavors. Charlus watched Harry in amusement as he grimaced in disgust and quickly put the beans out of his mouth.

"George swears he once had the taste of boogers."  Ron told them, which made Charlus grin. Alistair had to laugh too and Harry also had a smile on his lips again. "These aren't real frogs, are they?" Charlus asked now as he held a pack of chocolate frogs in his hand. 

"No, it's just a spell. But actually it's all about the cards anyway." Ron explained him and you could hear the euphoria about the sweets in his voice. Alistair nodded in agreement before he added to Ron's statement. "Each pack's got a famous witch or wizard."

Charlus immediately opened his package and they could hear the chocolate frog croaking, which promptly jumped onto the window. "Watch it!"   Ron wanted to warn, but the chocolate frog climbed up the window to the open hatch and tried to jump out, but was blown away. "It's rotten luck, they've only got one good jump in them to begin with."  Alistair said, disappointed, and took a bite out of a licorice wand.

Charlus watched the frog for a moment until he took out his card and turned it over. He saw a brown haired man with red and yellow robes on. He twirled a sword around and looked about. Charlus looked over the card and underneath saw a golden ribbon with writing on it, presumably the man's name.

"Who'd you get?" Ron asked the boy with interest as he looked up quickly. "Godric Gryffindor?" he answered and showed Ron his card. "He's the one I haven't got! Lucky!" He exclaimed. Charlus looked at the card again and held it out for Ron to take. "Got it." He said and shook the card. Ron's face lit up as he immediately took the card and put it in his pocket.

Harry ,Charlus and Alistair now looked wide-eyed at Ron's lap, where a fat rat was looking for something to eat in an empty shaft. "This is Scabbers by the way, pathetic isn't he?" Ron asked the three of them and looked at his rat.

 "Just a little." Harry answered his question with a sympathetic tone.   "Just a little?" " Charlus asked his brother incredulously. He already disliked the rat and now looked at him with disgust. "He's pathetic."

"Fred gave me a spell to turn him yellow. Wanna see?" Ron then asked the three again and Charlus raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Yes."  Harry smiled with total enthusiasm as Alistair sat with a bored expression. "Sure." he answered.

Ron took out his wand. He cleared his throat and began to wave his wand, but before he could cast his spell, a bushy haired girl with dark brown eyes stood in their doorway and took a quick look around at them. "Has anyone seen a toad? A boy named Neville's lost one." She asked the four boys with her head held high and a bit of arrogance in her voice.

"A toad just jumped out the window." Alistair said, and her eyes wide, but he started to laugh and shook his head. " Just kidding. We didn't see any." he reassured her, but she didn't really seem amused by his joke. Quite the opposite to the other boys next to him.

"Very funny." she murmured, but then her eyes fell on Ron's wand. "Oh, you're doing magic? Let's see, then." She smiled challengingly and looked at Ron, who cleared his throat again and began to wave his wand around. "Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, turn this stupid fat rat yellow!" he said.

A spark ignited but the only thing that happened was that he pushed the box off the rat's head, causing it to squeak.  "Are you sure that's a real spell? Well, it's not very good, is it?" Ron looked at Harry, Alistair and Charlus with a look that was meant to say ''what does she want from us?'' but they said nothing, just watched the strange girl.

"Of course I've only tried a few simple ones myself but they've all worked for me."  she said, very proudly of herself. With that she took out her wand and threw herself in front of Harry, who she held her wand directly in his face. "For example!"

Harry's eyes were wide open and Ron, Alistair and Charlus also looked rather uncertainly at her and then at Harry. "Oculus reparo!" she said, whereupon the small white tape Charlus had used to fix Harry's glasses quickly disappeared with quickly disappeared and they were repaired again.

They all looked at her with wide eyes and in disbelief, Harry took off his glasses and examined them. "That's better, isn't it?" she asked him until she suddenly gasped for air. "Holy cricket, You're Harry Potter! I'm Hermione Granger!" she immediately introduced herself befor she looked at his brother next to him. " And so you must be Charlus Potter."

Alistair rolled his eyes and then the girl looked at him expectantly.  "Alistair Black." he introduced himself politely. "Ah... and you are?"  she now asked Ron disparagingly, who was eating a chocolate frog while smacking his lips. "I'm Ron Weasley." He replied with his mouth full and  Hermione looked at him with disgust.

"Pleasure. " she said simply and then looked back at Harry and Charlus. "You four better change into your robes. I expect we'll be arriving soon. " she told them and looked at their everyday clothes before she stood up.

She was already in the door when she turned back to Ron ."You've got dirt on your nose by the way, did you know? It doesn't look nice." she instructed and pointed to a spot on her own nose. "Just there."

Ron, who had a rubber snake in his mouth again, tried to remove the dirt and glared at her, but she just left. "Just who does she think she is. 'Are you sure that's a real spell'" Ron imitated her and threw his wand back into his trunk. "Well, she seemed nice to me." Charlus said in a simple tone and looked at the door where Hermione was just at but quickly received a sigh from Ron in response.

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━━ AUTHORS NOTE

Another beloved chapter is out, did you love it a lot or a little? Next chapter is them at Hogwarts being selected , I'm excited 🤧

It would mean a lot if you could vote, like, comment, and share this story with your friends!

Until next time < 3