Returning the hire car, the group made their way to a secluded corner before Owen and Albert each took a child by the arm and performed a phantom shift.

Harry felt the distortion-inducing pull for the first time, and soon a small cottage with red brick and white windows appeared in front of Harry's eyes.

The courtyard was lush and green, and several huge horizontal logs had been sawn into sections and scattered throughout the garden, presumably enchanted to protect against moisture and insects, and used as seating by Luke's family.

There was also a simple swing, fixed between two large trees, with green vines and beautiful flowers entwined above the swing frame.

The whole yard was quaint and natural and vibrant, and Harry loved it at first sight; there was a sense of freedom and uninhibitedness about the place - except for the fact that there were some nettles that had somehow been planted in the garden as well, and Harry, having been pushed down by Daley into such plants before, had fond memories of the contraptions that could inflict a fiery, stinging sensation.

Morgan le Fay had taken the day off in order to welcome Harry.

The youngest daughter, Emily, hid behind her mum and probed - Luke was relieved to find that his sister was only a little curious about the boy who had survived a major accident, and not red-faced like the Weasley one.

As soon as she saw Harry's thin figure, Mrs Harris couldn't resist giving Harry a big hug.

"Harry, welcome!" Len was beside himself with a proper hand outstretched to shake Harry's proper hand.

The warm welcome didn't end there, as big sister Daisy brought out a creamy black tea and Mrs Harris commanded a plate of Sunday roast to fly to Harry.

After a full meal, Harry followed Luke to the guest room, which had a bed that looked like it had been made from the crooked growth of a tree's trunk and branches while it was still alive, but it looked strangely harmonious, and the thick mattress and quilt on top of it told him without having to try it that it must be very soft and cosy.

Although I think Harry had heard that too soft a bed wasn't good for the spine when he was peeking at the telly at his aunt's house, but apparently at the moment he wasn't at all dissatisfied, and for the first time Harry had a room that was actually his own.

Directly opposite the window was a huge desk with some books, ink, and a stack of parchment.

Next, Luke helped Harry get things organised. Lying in bed at night Harry felt like he hadn't slept a bit, "Is this what it should be like in a normal family, what a happy family."

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The rest of the day was quiet and uneventful, but every day was full of fun for Harry.

He loved waking up early and watching Luke's mother commanding various magical kitchen utensils to fly around and cook delicious meals.

In contrast to his own aunt's family, Harry was so fond of the Harris family; the gentle Mr Owen, the unfailing Mrs Morgan le Fay, the beauty-loving big sister Daisy, the serious Len, Emily, who liked to make herself read Muggle fairy tales, not to mention Mr Albert, who had gained his admiration early on.

Happy times always flew by, and even though Harry couldn't let go of the happiest time he had ever had, the start of the school year came on schedule.

On a morning that made Harry a little sad, the family packed early all the bags they were going to take with them.

Owen had used his position to borrow one of the only two magical cars left in the Ministry of Magic.

Harry watched in disbelief as Mr Harris shoved one piece of luggage after another into it.

It was obviously a small car, but the interior was far more spacious than Harry had expected.

They arrived at King's Cross at half past ten and Harry looked left and right for a long time while Mr Harris was unloading and unpacking, but he couldn't find platform 9.3/4.

Harry searched carefully for half a dozen times, and indeed he did, on one platform there was a large plastic 9.3/4 sign, on the other there was a large plastic 10 sign, and nothing in between the two.

"You're looking for platform 9.3/4, aren't you?" Luke was carrying two large suitcases and a huge rucksack on his back.

Even though Luke was much stronger than his peers, this kind of tiredness was too much of an impediment to movement, and the backpack exceeded his head by two.

Almost as soon as Luke picked up the rucksack, Luke decided that the first time they were officially allowed to use their wands when they arrived at the school, they would begin to study the Stretch Without a Trace spell, and that he would definitely look silly with all of this travelling on his own now.

Harry nodded, "I can't find station 9.3/4."

"Don't worry," Luke said, "Just keep walking straight towards the third pillar between platforms 9 and 10. Don't stop, don't be scared, just head straight in, that's important. If you're nervous, you just run. Let's go. I'll go first and you can follow me."

How to get to the station, Luke had heard Len tell him a million times, his mind was now on his parents, Jaime and Lily Potter, because he couldn't help but think of them at the sight of Harry Potter.

The day they were killed by Voldemort was 31 October 1981, and the day a number of them in this year's cohort received their acceptance letters was 31 July 1991 - a difference of 117 months, which, if you divided them by 12 to convert to adult units, just so happened to be the same for the station they were about to go in at 9.3 /4.

Whilst rambling Luke pushed his suitcase and sprinted towards the brick pillar, he had no intention of telling Harry this information now and to Harry it looked like Luke he was practically trying to kill himself.

Nothing happened that Harry feared though, in a flash, Luke was gone.

Harry pushed up his glasses, made up his mind and ran in Luke's direction as well.

As Luke passed through the wall, a crimson steam locomotive pulled up alongside a platform packed with travellers.

The sign hanging from the train read, Hogwarts Express, Eleventh Hour.

Luke looked back and saw that where the ticket gate had been was now a wrought-iron archway that read, Platform 9.3/4.

Not long after, Harry came to him as well, with a shocked look on his face.