Hermione blushed slightly at how close the taller version of Harry was. "I need my stuff, don't I?"
Harry pressed his hand on the Hogwarts Crest and muttered "Shrink". Hermione almost fell over as she was now holding a book sized trunk. "Much easier like this, no?"
Tom looked at the tiny trunk in horror. "Please tell me that those trunks can't all do that?" Seeing Harry's confusion, he pointed. "I have been moving trunks all over the house for the last MONTH since we bought them! Sure they are light, but I kept banging my fingers and stuff on the doorways."
Hermione had a sheepish smile. "Oh yeah... I must have forgotten the size charm thing. I had new books and stuff, and then we had to find all the books that we had misplaced and... uh. Yeah." Jean swatted Tom on the back of the head. "You know you were well repaid, love." She gave him a quick kiss that left him slightly glossy eyed and the two kids feeling awkward. Smirking at her little girl, she gave her a hug. "Now you be safe dear, and make sure to work hard."
Harry tried to not intrude on the tearful goodbyes, focusing on the children moving through the portal on the wall. As each child started to pass it, he could feel a wave of threads that tried to make people look away for a second. It actually felt nice, like a light breeze.
He turned back as Hermione got ready to go. "Got your things Harry?" She was still having issues with his new height, but she felt stuff like this probably happened all the time in the magic world.
Harry waved his Family Trunk-book. "Yep, and it looks like the entrance is over there." He waved a hand at the wall, seeing both Tom and Jean look past his pointing. "Hmm. Looks like magic is required to even notice it. Well, shall we?"
Hermione straightened both shoulders and got a determined gleam in her eyes. "We shall." Together they walked into the barrier, Harry shivering from the cool magic washing over his shoulders.
A bright red steam engine caught their attention. LOTS of people were on the platform, some seemed to be looking for someone... Probably him, Harry grumbled. After all, everyone knew his birthday, so they knew this was his first year.
Smoke from the train waft over the crowds, families hugging children and waving at faces already on the train. The number of robes was astounding, enough to make Harry feel slightly awkward to be in normal... uh, non-magical clothing. He absently grabbed Hermione's hand as they wove their way through the crowds, heading to one of the entrances to the train. A boy with a round face was talking to an older woman about having lost a toad, some boy with wicked dreadlocks was showing off what seemed to be a spider (He felt Hermione grab tighter as they passed).
Before entering the train, Harry paused as Hedwig landed gently on his shoulder. He faced the owl. "Hedwig dear, this train ride will likely take hours. Do you want to just fly along to Hogwarts and wait for me?" She nodded, and then flew off.
Hermione seemed overwhelmed by the crowd, so they moved onto the train. The first few cars were full of older students, and seemed fairly hostile to strangers. They moved on to a car that was mostly empty except for two girls, a bond with pig-tails and a red head. He knocked on their open door. Harry smiled at the two surprised girls. "Excuse me, can my friend and I sit here? It seems really busy today."
The red head blushed, but the other girl spoke up. "Sure, come on in! I am Hannah Abbot, this is my friend Susan Bones."
Susan blushed again, clearly uncomfortable but trying to move her trunk up to the racks where the other one was.
Harry grinned. "Nice to meet you Susan, Hannah. This is my first friend in the magical world, Hermione Granger." He ignored her blush as well, using his hand as well as the subtle use of a rope to lift Susan's trunk to the upper ledge. "And my name is Harry, nice to meet you both."
Both of the girls seemed to start a little at this before looking at his forehead. He hid his grin knowing the scar was a distant memory at this point. He sat down next to Hannah, Hermione sitting next to Susan. "Yeah, Hermione is just now entering the magical world, and I didn't even know about magic until just recently. Any advice for a first generation magical?"
Susan seemed worried. "You did get the list of stuff for school, right? You should have trunks too."
Harry pulled his family trunk from his pouch, waving it with his hand covering the crest. "We spent some time and more than a little coin getting trunks that shrink. Great shop in Diagon Alley for it."
Hermione nodded. "You would not BELIEVE how many trunks they have! We got a lot of Bookcase trunks, and we STILL have room for more books! We even filled it with most of the downstairs library!"
Hannah caught Susan's eyes before both nodded, "Ravenclaw." Harry grinned. "No doubt. I am aiming for it too, there is just too much to learn about magic really."
The minutes seemed to fly by as everyone got more relaxed. Hermione seemed to light up as they talked about spells and the different school houses, Hannah seemed light and open to begin with, and Susan started talking more, with much less hesitation. She even swatted Hannah, which seemed to be a regular habit.
Harry shifted again, slightly pinched from holding his threads in. Susan, who had been watching more closely than he had realized, leaned closer. "Harry, are you ok? You seemed to be in a bit of pain."
Hermione almost instantly worried while Hannah was giving him a calculating glance before poking his shoulder. "Stop that, sheesh." He grinned as he swatted her hand away. "It is nothing big, it just starts to sting the longer I hold back my magic."
He looked up and saw three pairs of wide eyes staring at him.
"What?"
Susan tried to get Hannah to say something with her eyes before she sighed. "Harry, why are you holding back your magic? I didn't even know a wizard could do that!"
Harry tilted his head. "You mean that you guys aren't? How do you prevent non-magicals from feeling the power?"
Hermione was playing with her book sized trunk. "Harry, could you relax your magic now? We don't mind, and you are allowed to use magic on the Hogwarts Express." She seemed to shrink a bit when everyone looked at her. "It uh.. It is in Hogwarts: A history." Harry shrugged, and relaxed his threads.
Hermione had been shocked when she arrived at the train station and saw her friend. Her suddenly TALL friend, with very apparent muscles. His face seemed slightly leaner, like he was about to run or sprint, and his eyes seemed an almost faded green, not the vibrant hue she remembered.
Still he had seemed really up-beat, and Hermione didn't know much about magic except the books she had picked up. Maybe this happened to all magical boys when they started school? But if boys got to pick their height that seemed unfair.
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