[Chapter Size: 2000 Words.]
---------------------------------------
During the month leading up to the start of the school year, Harry lived comfortably at the Dursleys' house.
Although Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia strongly disliked magic and anything related to it, they had long known that there was something magical about Harry. Now, they were merely confirming it.
Moreover, they didn’t want to upset Harry, who now clearly had magical powers, and naturally, they preferred not to anger him.
Aside from Harry himself, the most excited person about this was Dudley.
Even though Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon were reluctant to let Dudley get involved in anything magical, he was in the same house, after all. Avoiding magic completely would have been difficult unless Harry deliberately hid it.
"Oh, Harry, can you turn into XXX for me?" was the question Dudley asked most frequently over the past month.
However, the answer was always no. After so many refusals, Dudley gradually lost interest in magic. In his opinion, nothing seemed impressive, this wasn’t good, that wasn’t good, and magic wasn’t all that great either.
Harry felt a bit embarrassed. He wasn’t sure whether the kind of magic Dudley expected was even possible, he just knew that he, personally, couldn't do it. After all, he was a complete novice who hadn’t even entered the magical world yet. What embarrassed Harry the most was that his lack of ability made Dudley look down on the wizarding world.
Still, Harry tried his best and managed to perform a few simple spells:
The Unlocking Charm (Alohomora), now Harry never needed to carry his keys when going out.
The Lighting Charm (Lumos), rendering flashlights useless.
The Levitation Charm (Wingardium Leviosa), Dudley loved this one, as Harry could make him float in the air for a short time, as if he were swimming.
The only downside was that Harry couldn't sustain the spells for long. He figured it was because his magical power was still too weak.
However, as he flipped through his first-year textbooks, Harry noticed something odd, there was no mention of words like "magic" or "spells" in them. That struck him as strange.
According to Hagrid, once first-year students arrived at Hogwarts, something called the Trace would be placed on them. This spell allowed the Ministry of Magic, the governing body of the wizarding world, to detect any magic performed outside of school. As per the current regulations, underage wizards weren’t allowed to use magic outside Hogwarts until they turned seventeen.
Harry found this rule ridiculous, but Hagrid had spoken seriously about it, so he made a note of it. Fortunately, there were no such restrictions before the school year officially began. This allowed Harry to show off his abilities in front of Dudley.
————————————
On September 1st, Uncle Vernon drove Harry to King's Cross Station in London.
Initially, Harry had considered taking the Knight Bus, but after thinking it over, he decided against it. Hagrid had warned him about avoiding magic around Muggles, and Harry wasn’t sure if summoning the Knight Bus in broad daylight counted as a violation.
A triple-decker bus appearing out of nowhere and then vanishing was certainly noticeable.
That morning, Uncle Vernon drove Harry to London.
Dudley threw a fit, crying and screaming that he wanted to go as well. However, he was forced to stay home since he also had to report to his new school that day. Harry figured Dudley would be sulking for days unless Aunt Petunia bought him something she normally wouldn’t allow.
If you didn’t already know about it, it would be hard to imagine that a train to the wizarding world existed inside King’s Cross Station.
Hagrid was a rather contradictory person.
He could be quite absentminded, yet he had remembered to give Harry a birthday present on July 31st, a beautiful snowy owl.
At first, Harry had considered naming her Jennifer or Fisher, after his two favorite actresses. However, while reading A History of Magic, he felt that Hedwig sounded much better.
But despite all his attentiveness, Hagrid had completely forgotten to tell Harry how to find the right platform.
Fortunately, Harry had assumed that wizards wouldn’t board the same train as Muggles, so he had researched the topic in advance.
Books provided plenty of information about Hogwarts. According to what he had read, it was the oldest school of magic still in existence. Since the castle was hidden by enchantments, it could only be reached through specific means.
In the past, students used a magical object called a Portkey to reach the school. However, that method had since been replaced by the Hogwarts Express.
Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!
Because the wizarding world was kept secret from Muggles, the platform for the train was concealed within a normal train station. Entering it required a special method.
Harry arrived early at the train station. He saw many children like himself, carrying large and small bags, accompanied by strange animals, walking straight through a solid wall on the platform, sometimes alone, sometimes with their parents.
What Harry found most interesting was that, aside from himself, no one seemed to notice this bizarre scene. After all, even though the station wasn’t particularly crowded, there were still enough people around to make it rather unusual for someone to run straight into a pillar and then vanish.
A Confundus Charm!
This was a spell Harry had learned about from Hagrid and his textbook, A History of Magic. It wasn’t mentioned in other schoolbooks, including The Standard Book of Spells.
Harry figured it must be a relatively advanced spell. According to Hagrid, the entrance to The Leaky Cauldron was also concealed using a Confundus Charm, ensuring that ordinary people never even noticed the worn-down little pub.
It seemed likely that the barrier between Platforms 9 and 10 operated on similar magic, making Muggles completely oblivious to it.
Even though Harry was fairly certain about his theory, he still waited for a moment when no one was watching before stepping forward. Crossing the barrier felt no different from walking through a tunnel, and in an instant, he found himself standing before a gleaming red steam locomotive with a sign that read:
"Hogwarts Express."
"Wow. Retro style!" Harry nodded seriously.
The train was scheduled to depart at eleven o’clock. Wizards, it seemed, had a terrible sense of time. Harry had arrived at ten-thirty, yet the train was still nearly empty. He pushed his cart forward and stepped aboard.
The old-fashioned train carriages were quite refined, with separate compartments. Judging by the numbering, each was meant to hold four people, but Harry was fairly certain that unless someone was the size of Hagrid, each compartment could easily fit at least eight.
He stowed his luggage beneath the seat and placed a few smaller bags, along with Hedwig’s cage, in the overhead rack. He had considered letting Hedwig, his snowy owl, out to fly, but after a moment of hesitation, he decided against it.
Instead, he thought it would be more interesting to chat with his future classmates, or perhaps some older students.
Today, Harry had deliberately worn a plain white T-shirt and tied his hair up in a high ponytail. Yes, his mischievous side had surfaced once again. He had fooled over a hundred of his Muggle classmates before. Now, it was time for the wizarding children to experience the dark nature of humanity.
As eleven o’clock approached, more and more people began entering the platform.
With less than three minutes until departure, a tall, thin man with red hair and a slightly tired expression entered the platform alongside a plump woman and six children.
Despite the increasing number of students boarding the train, Harry still sat alone in his compartment.
For some reason, most students who glanced inside chose to move on, preferring another seat.
"Ha, so here you are."
An arrogant voice came from the doorway.
Harry, who had been gazing out the window, turned in surprise. Standing at the entrance was a girl with bushy brown hair, her arms crossed as she looked at him with a self-satisfied expression.
Her lips curled slightly into a pretty, playful smile, though there was an unmistakable air of superiority about her.
It was the girl Harry had met at Madam Malkin’s robe shop.
"Looks like you don’t remember my name.”
The girl was sharper than he expected. Raising an eyebrow, she dragged her trunk inside, took a seat across from him, and extended her hand.
"Well then, let’s introduce ourselves properly this time. My name is Hermione Granger. Hello, Mr. Harry Potter."
Harry found her quite intriguing, far more interesting than any of his previous classmates. He immediately reached out and shook her hand.
"Hello, Miss Hermione Granger! Nice to see you again."
"You don’t sound very happy about it."
Hermione raised her delicate eyebrows, which made her already-large eyes seem even bigger.
"Back in Diagon Alley, why didn’t you tell me you were so famous? I bought a lot of books after I got home, and so many of them mentioned you."
Harry let out a sigh and spread his arms.
"If I told you that I learned about my own history at almost the same time you did, would you believe me?"
"How is that possible?"
Hermione looked skeptical, but after a moment, she seemed to realize her questioning tone might be rude, so she softened her voice slightly.
"I mean, how could that be? You’re famous, you know, some newspapers even call you ‘The Savior.’ Well, that paper stopped publishing a few years ago, but I saw a photocopy of an article in Modern Dark Wizard Tactics."
Harry blinked, then chuckled awkwardly.
"Well, I might have to take back what I just said. Looks like you know more about me than I do. At least, I’ve never seen that article before."
"Really?" Hermione still seemed doubtful, but then she seemed to remember something.
"Oh! The book said you were raised by relatives. And your relatives are… hmm… Muggles?"
Harry smirked at her hesitancy.
"Yes, my uncles are Muggles. Or, to use wizarding terminology, they’re ‘non-magical people.’"
Hermione shrugged, clearly seeing no issue with this fact.
"Haha, then our situations are quite similar." Harry smiled.
"I live with my aunt and uncle, my mom’s sister and her husband. They’re Muggles too. Before the day I met you, I didn’t even know wizards existed."
"Seriously?" Hermione’s eyes widened in shock.
"Then, do you at least remember Voldemort?”
Before Harry could respond, an unfamiliar, nasally voice came from just outside the compartment.
"Did I hear that correctly? Someone actually dares to say the Dark Lord’s name?"
A boy with platinum blonde hair and pale skin stepped halfway into the compartment. His expression was one of mild curiosity, though his tone carried an unmistakable air of superiority.
Behind him stood two large, bulky boys. Harry’s first impression was that they could have been Dudley’s cousins.
The pale boy glanced around the compartment before his gaze landed on Hermione. It was obvious he had identified the source of the previous comment.
His eyes swept over her critically, and then he let out a short, amused scoff.
Both his tone and expression were dripping with disdain. It was almost impressive how vividly he could convey arrogance at such a young age.
"A Muggle-born, huh? Well, that explains it."
Without waiting for a response, he turned and walked away, his two companions following closely behind.
Hermione sat frozen for a moment, seemingly too angry to react. Then, as if snapping out of a trance, her face flushed red with indignation.
"How can someone be so revolting?"
Harry raised an eyebrow.
"He’s annoying, for sure. We should give him a good beating if we ever get the chance."
Though he disliked resorting to physical fights like Dudley did, Harry had picked up a thing or two from his rough childhood and action games.
At the very least, taking down that scrawny, smug-looking kid wouldn’t be a problem.
What Harry didn’t consider was that, in reality, he himself looked even more delicate than the other boy.
After all, most people still mistook him for a girl.
----
you can read more 20 advance chapter on my patreon:
pat reon.com/DylanBriak