Harry Potter and the Order Of the Phoenix [27]
“Thanks Mrs. Figg,” said Harry, wondering when he’d be seeing her. She put her head back in, and drove off, leaving Harry with only Hedwig.
Harry started walking to the platform that would lead him to the train that would take him to Hogwarts. There was something different about this platform though, it wasn’t really there. It was between platforms 9 and 10, it was platform 9 ?. The first time Harry had to arrive there, he was clueless on how do to do. Now, though, he had done it four times before, so he was quite used to it. You had to walk into a brick wall that separated the two platforms, and unless you were used to doing it, it was quite unnerving.
As Harry was walking toward that wall, he kept an eye out for Ron and Hermione. By the time he had arrived there, there was still no sign of them. Harry shrugged, and ran through the brick wall.
It was as though he just walked through a doorway. All around Harry were wizard students, younger and older than he, each was dressed in their black robes, all of them except for Harry who just realized he was still wearing his normal Muggle clothes.
“Oh well,” though Harry, “no big deal, I’ll just change on the train.” He walked towards the golden train that just blew its whistle announcing that it would not be waiting much longer.
Harry stepped on the train, and sat down in the nearest compartment. He set all his stuff next to him, and decided to copy Hedwig who was sleeping. Harry leaned back, and closed his eyes, listening to the sound of the train slowly moving.
Just then, the door to Harry’s compartment opened, and a very red-headed, very tall boy stepped in. It was Ron. He was clutching a newspaper in his hand, and he had an exasperated look on his face. He looked at Harry as though he was a ghost. Ron just showed the front of the newspaper to Harry but, Harry could only make out the title: Sirius Black Is Caught!”
Ron walked over to the seat opposite Harry, and sat down, still staring at him. Harry was about to say hello to Ron when the door to the compartment opened again. Harry saw a bushy-headed girl step in.
It was Hermione. She, like Ron, had a newspaper in her hand. It was exactly the same as Ron’s. What did they think, he didn’t know? Well, that might be the case, thought Harry to himself, for all they knew, he was at the Dursleys ever since he left Ron’s house and Harry was oblivious to the wizarding world, even the most important events he knew nothing about.
Hermione though, unlike Ron, had a look of sadness on her face. She sat down next to Ron, and they were all silent for a while. Each of them knew and loved Sirius just as much as Harry did. They were among the very few wizards who knew the real story about him, and they felt for him. Hermione opened her mouth, as though ready to say something when, once again, the door to the compartment was opened. This time, however, the visitor was not welcome.
“Hello Harry,” said Draco Malfoy. If Harry ever needed another enemy besides Voldemort, his next choice would be Draco. He and Harry were enemies, like Clark Kent and Lex Luther, like Voldemort and Dumbledore, like King Arthur and the Frenchman. Draco came from a wealthy wizarding family who prided themselves on being ‘pure-blood’ that is, each member of their family had been a wizard, no Muggles. Malfoy’s family were also big supporters of Voldemort, though they escaped the accusations that they were accused of after his downfall.
“Hullo poor-boy, mud-blood,” said Draco, nodding to Ron and Hermione. A mud-blood was a nasty name for a wizard or witch who was from Muggle descent, Hermione, whose parents were both Muggles, was Malfoy’s favorite target for this insult.
“Go away Draco,” said Harry calmly.
“You know, I’d rather not,” he responded. Draco’s two friends, Crabbe and Goyle, appeared behind him. They both looked more like very muscular and stupid apes rather than humans.
“Just heard about your god-father there Harry, dreadfully sorry,” he smiled, though there was a hint of truthfulness in his voice. “He was a great