He shook his head at his now much more viewable room. For the last year or so he had gone with Petunia to flea shows, thrift stores, even a couple of dumps with the owners permission. He had gathered a LOT of material, using it to repair and strengthen the house, make changes and additions to furniture, even make clothing for his family. But even with all that, his room had been filled with refined material till it had almost felt claustrophobic again.
Now that it was all stored away, he could really tell how large his grass room had been. It almost felt lonely without his piles of clean bricks and woven blankets of cloth.
He glanced at his hand. Thankfully it didn't feel any heavier. Then again, Harry never really felt weight when moving things with his ropes... maybe this was a similar thing. Maybe he could store food in there?
A quick internal debate with Jim determined that it was late enough in the morning for everyone to be waking up, so Harry went to the kitchen. It was almost time for more experiments!
It was almost time to head to the train station, and the Dursleys were having a rough time. Dudley was really trying not to cry, his big bro was going to be gone for the whole year. He had kind of hoped Harry would go to Smeltings with him. They had other friends, but... well, it wasn't the same.
Vernon had never really gotten comfy with the idea of Harry's abilities, but he did love how happy Petunia and Dudley had become. He was worried the house would seem emptier without the boy. Petunia was trying really hard to pretend Harry wasn't going anywhere. Even so, she kept tearing up every now and again, straightening Harry's perfect clothing, or giving quick hugs every once in a while. The breakfast she had made had been so large the table had groaned.
Harry felt a strange mix of excitement and fear. He had tagged each of his family with a thread of his magic so Jim could keep track of their health and location, but he still was worried how they would be without him around.
He had actually learned how to tag people by studied the way his magic connected to the red network and attempting a similar connection to Hedwig. That was a MASSIVE mistake, it had almost knocked Hedwig out with the amount of magic she received before he lowered the thread thickness to near invisible.
She had smacked his head for hours, but their connection was much stronger after that. She had also gotten a bit larger, and her eyes had changed to have a band of green in them like his power. It had been her idea to 'Just attach a thread to them dummy', as she so elegantly put it.
It would have been easier to focus really if Jim hadn't been laughing at him getting his head smacked.
So he could now feel his family in his magic, along with a small area around them. It was easiest with Petunia, since her threads seemed to feed data like the red network does, allowing Jim to monitor the area around her to some extent. Still...
He worried.
Breakfast had been fairly quite, each member handling the stress in their own way.
Vernon finally put his paper down. "Well boy, time to get going. Got your things?" Harry nodded, getting up and almost making it to the door before Petunia hugged him again. "Now you be good Harrykins, don't let anyone hurt you and make lots of friends, and you should write us at least on the weekends, and eat right even if you are not hungry, and..."
He hugged her again, stopping her comments. "I will, Aunty." She gave a watery smile at the boy and hugged Dudley as everyone moved into the car and headed toward a train and a new world.
King's Cross was BUSY.
Harry watched families and strangers weaving through the steam filled terminals, much yelling, grumbling, and mechanical noises flooding his senses. His power was wrapped tightly right now, since there were clearly lots of non-magicals around. He had made his family trunk book sized, since it had everything not stored in his hand he only had to worry about Hedwig. Petunia had suggested they use the cage she had come in, but Harry and Hedwig had not enjoyed the thought.
She was far to elegant for cages... and Harry didn't like getting winged in the face.
So Hedwig was fallowing from above.
Still, the crowds were confusing and exciting. The Dursleys moved along the platforms until they reached the boundary between platform 9 and 10... and were now stuck.
As it got closer to 10am, Harry lost his cool and unwrapped enough of his core to see threads. His eyes glowed green as he saw the multiple colors... witches, wizards, enchanted items, all moving in one direction. Pulling on Petunia's arm, he led the family to a beautiful wall between the two platforms. It seemed to be a heavy mesh of threads, dozens of colors, patterns, and individual threads were twisted into shapes and seemed merged into each other. Petunia hugged him again. "Are you sure this is the right spot Harry?"
Harry looked at the light show behind them. "Well, uh. Yeah. It is kind of VERY obvious. Like a firework show."
Dudley managed a small giggle before he hugged his brother. "Harry, I... I will miss you. And don't tell anyone, else. Ok?"
Harry, now much taller than his little D, gave him a squeeze. "D, don't worry about a thing. Everyone will know before Christmas." Harry smirked as he dodged a smack from the boy. "Now now, you almost got me that time."
Dudley sniffed as he gave a mock-glare. "Yeah, next time." He looked away. "Just be safe, bro."
Harry grinned. "OF COURSE! I be the mighty Harry, of COURSE I will be amazing!"
Vernon tapped the boy's head. "Course you will. Now don't get in no trouble now." He rolled his eyes. "No Uncle, I won't get in trouble." He checked the station time. "You guys better move along. I am expecting someone and I don't want to miss their family."
Dudley snickered, still a bit teary eyed. "Ah, the book girl you were talkin bout?"
Harry shifted his eyes. "Uh. No. Now move along people, nothing to see here."
Petunia gave him another hug before Vernon pulled her and Dudley back to the car. The boy would do fine, he had already survived more than anyone he knew. He hugged his wife and son as his other young man waved them off.
Harry probably should be less nervous at this point, but for some reason waiting for Hermione and her family was REALLY making his hands sweat.
They had exchanged owl messages a few times, but the first few had been hasty scribbled comments like "BOOK SORTING TALK LATER" and such. He had to finally call them on the phone to confirm when they were heading to the station, and even then he wasn't sure they knew who they were talking to.
All he had heard was grunting, paper rustling, and the occasional "DON'T DROP THAT!"
He assumed it was bookcase trunk related.
Finally he saw some brown hair lugging a Hogwarts trunk followed by two taller adults.
He waved. "Hermione!" The girl looked at him and nearly stopped, her parents saying some less than charitable words as their shins hit the trunk. Harry moved toward them, dodging some people (Magical and not) who were late to their trains.
"Um... are you related to Harry Dursley? Like, his older brother?" Hermione's stare was now joined by Jean and Tom Granger. "What?" Harry looked down, realizing that down was farther than he was used to. "Oh, the height thing." He smiled at the girl, now shorter than him rather than the other way around. "Well, I decided to be taller for Hogwarts. I asked Professor McGonagall how tall boys my age are supposed to be after we finished shopping."
Jean Granger seemed to recover first. "So... you just changed your height? Was it like a spell or ritual or something?"
Harry shrugged. "I had an incident when I was younger. I only grow if I want to now." Ignoring their slack faces, Harry leaned over and examined Hermione's trunk. "Is there a reason you are dragging this around?"
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