Chapter 38: 1st September 1991, Sunday: Part 1

Every first-year student received a ticket for the Hogwarts Express in their acceptance letters, it's a train that would take them all the way from London to Hogwarts in Scotland. Students had to arrive at platform nine and three-quarters by no later than eleven o'clock to board the Hogwarts Express, the train waited for no one. Unfortunately, platforms nine and three-quarters were located at King's Cross station in London. That meant another four-hour drive, just like when the Linwoods went to Diagon Alley. Oh, how George pined for Floo powder, but alas, muggles like his family couldn't use Remus's chimney.

Amanda was paranoid about traffic, so she made the family wake up at four in the morning. After the transformation yesterday, George was already tired so the early start came as a big shock to the system. The prospect of this whole journey was even worse knowing that they were driving south only for him to get on a train back north. Why couldn't there be an option to drive to Hogsmeade instead, that way he could sleep in for another five or six hours. The train journey did provide him with the opportunity to meet some 'important' people, so it wasn't all bad. At least George didn't look as rough as his half-awake step-sister.

Ellie was very drowsy because she hadn't slept the entire night before. This was predominantly due to one of her best friends leaving her today. Ellie quietly climbed into the back of the car with red rings around her eyes, George could tell that she had been crying. She was clinging desperately to the cage on her lap that had Blinkie inside. Amanda had made Ellie choose which owl was to stay at home and which had to leave with George. Hoot was the lucky one, he was currently back in the living room enjoying the peace and quiet. George found it quite funny how attached Ellie had become to these birds within such a short amount of time. All those months he'd dedicated to satisfying her had been dwarfed by the owls' cuteness.

Once the journey got underway, Amanda began to talk to herself like an insane person. From what George could translate of her muttering, she was checking that she hadn't forgotten anything he needed to take with him. Occasionally she would ask George an obvious question such as, 'are you wearing your watch?' or, 'did you pack those new pyjamas I bought you?' The answer was always yes. Whilst Amanda was unravelling before George's eyes, Dominic was coping with the stress via different means. He started the journey completely silent, but he ended up talking to Remus about cars towards the latter half. All the while his fingers never stopped tapping against the steering wheel.

On the other hand, Remus appeared to be very excited on George's behalf. George had been a little worried that Remus might have changed his disposition since their 'talk' yesterday. After all, it wasn't uncommon for people to change their minds after a good night's rest. If Remus's opinion of him had indeed changed, then he wasn't showing it. George would have almost considered yesterday's friendly chat a dream if not for the knowing look Remus gave him when they first met in the morning. It sort of felt like a silent bond had formed between them. It was nice for George to finally have someone he could trust, even if it was just a little.

Although sleeping was an option, George decided to use his time productively on his way to King's Cross with a method none of his family could have ever anticipated. He was going to read more books, whoop t doo. He still didn't understand most of the magical theory and needed to make some headway. The excessively long car journey with Remus should be the perfect opportunity to clear up any of his misconceptions. It might have been wishful thinking, but George really wanted to both metaphorically and literally close the book on all of this damned reading. And just like that, asking Remus about some miscellaneous questions spawned some unexpected fruit.

George had read a very cheesy book and discovered recipes that produced cheese with beneficial effects, similar to a potion. George hoped that he could pair the effects of the cheese with the potions he planned on making at Hogwarts, perhaps this would multiply their effects. Either that, or he would just explode. This didn't perturb George like it would most others, he was used to being a lab rat. The ingredients for the cheeses were quite exotic, which had initially made him rule this possibility out. But, Remus reassured George that the Hogwarts house elves would be able to acquire any unusual food ingredients for him.

There was quite a lot of traffic due to the morning rush, resulting in them arriving one hour before the train left the station. Amanda had put up with a lot of complaining from Ellie and Dominic on the journey, but her preparation was proven necessary. King's Cross station was the largest train station George had ever seen, and he'd seen a grand total of two of them. The roof consisted of several massive steel arches supported by huge stone pillars along the walkways. For one hundred and fifty-year-old muggle engineering, it was quite impressive. This was still a muggle train station, even though it was used by the wizarding communities each year, so there were many London commuters in suits and ties boarding conventional trains.

Unlike at Diagon Alley, the Linwoods, other than George, fitted into the crowd quite well. That was because Amanda had insisted that George was wearing his Hogwarts uniform before boarding the train. The uniform consisted of black leather shoes and formal grey pants with a shirt, tie and jumper. Besides the robes and pointy hat, there was nothing to suggest he was not wearing a normal muggle uniform. George felt like a right idiot wearing the black dunce hat around London, so Amanda relented and allowed him to carry it for now. Regardless, he was still getting some funny looks from commuters walking by.

Now that they had arrived at the train station, they still had one hour before the Hogwarts Express would leave. Amanda decided this would be a perfect opportunity to go and eat something at a cafe whilst they waited. Remus had informed George that there would be a massive banquet when he arrived at Hogwarts, but Amanda wasn't having any of it. She wanted to make sure that George was full before he left. His foster mother knew that George had a large appetite, and the thought that he could be going hungry on the train was unacceptable. Yesterday had been exhausting for George and he needed to eat a lot of food to regain his energy, so he was never going to turn down an extra meal.

The family sat at a table outside a cafe as they ate and got distracted watching people going on their daily commute. Remus could feel the tension in the air, so he decided to invent a little game to help the time pass by. He would occasionally point out people in the crowd and ask if they were wizards or not. Dominic and Ellie seemed to find the game quite engaging, but George found it way too easy. He could see the small quirks that Remus was picking up on, nobody else would notice if they weren't looking for them. For example, wands were not the easiest thing to conceal. Just like a firearm, there were ways to recognise whether or not someone was carrying one.

Most people would carry their wand in their pockets or their sleeves, some found creative places to hide them such as in a walking stick. The witches and wizards' behaviour also differed slightly from muggles, their attention seemed to deviate from the majority of the crowd around them. Most were heading in the same direction and didn't seem to be in a rush. Ellie was right fifty per cent of the time, she was clearly just guessing, and Dominic got it right seventy-five per cent of the time. Amanda didn't participate in this game as she seemed far too distracted.

The time was quarter to eleven, and Remus decided this was the right time to go to platform nine and three-quarters. He abruptly stood up, grabbed his coat, and looked back at George's foster parents.

"Are you sure we can't come along to see the train?", Amanda asked whilst already knowing the answer.

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Remus looked back at her empathetically, "there is a barrier between the muggle platform and platform nine and three-quarters. It affects muggles' perception so that they don't pay attention to it, and they certainly can't pass through it. It would be best for George to say his goodbyes here where the barrier won't be messing with your heads."

George stood up beside Remus and looked toward his family. None of them looked happy even though they were trying to pretend otherwise, Amanda, in particular, looked like she was about to cry. George decided to indulge her and raised his arms gesturing for a hug, it was best to leave his family on good terms. His foster mother didn't hesitate to embrace him and pulled him in tight, George was being suffocated against her chest. His arms weakly flailed about as she squeezed the life out of him, it took Dominic to interfere to separate the two.

Amanda's eyes were watering as she said, "you're going to write home every single week, do you hear me? If so much as one week goes by and I don't receive a letter from your owl, I'll burn your entire book collection and paint your room pink."

George did not take that threat lightly, he didn't doubt that she would do it if he forgot. Luckily, he had brought all of his important books with him in his leather sack so the threat was rather empty. The sack was currently pressed between his thigh and trousers like a hip flask, its silhouette was neatly hidden against his body. George still intended on writing weekly because he still had to go back during the Christmas holidays. He didn't want to see what fury Amanda would release if he forgot to write for a week or two. George held out one hand towards Dominic, and his foster father smiled while returning the handshake.

Dominic gave George some words of advice in his own special way, "take good care of yourself and try to make a few friends. School is not only about learning, it's also about making contacts. Some of my most lucrative deals were with people I met from school, you should never underestimate the benefit a childhood relationship has with a business partner."

Amanda didn't look very impressed as she punched Dominic in the shoulder. Dominic didn't seem to care as he had become desensitised to Amanda's way of correcting him. Funnily enough, George was already planning on taking full advantage of his fellow students. He had no doubt he would make Dominic very proud if he wasn't planning on keeping it all a secret. Finally, George looked toward Ellie and subtly gestured with one hand for her to hand over the owl cage. Ellie only ended up wrapping her arms around the cage tighter as a final form of rebellion, did she not realise that it was George's owl in the first place?

George's face turned stern as he ordered her, "give me the cage."

Ellie's head turned to one side, she pretended that she didn't hear him. Amanda leaned over and whispered something into Ellie's ear, her little face changed to one of shock after hearing what Amanda said. Following that, Ellie practically threw the cage at George, stunning him in the process. He was very confused at what magic words Amanda could have said. Even a boatload of pancakes wouldn't be enough to convince her to surrender the owl so willingly.

Amanda noticed George's surprise as she explained, "I told Ellie that if she doesn't give you Blinkie, then we would have to get rid of Hoot back at home instead."

Ellie knew just as well as George that Amanda's threats were never empty, she always resorted to blackmail to get things her way. Remus saw this as the right moment to excuse himself with George. He picked up the suitcase on George's behalf because he was currently occupied carrying Blinkie.

Remus told the family, "right then, better be off. You shouldn't worry yourself, George is going to have a great time at Hogwarts. Four months will just fly by, and then you'll get to see him again, so it's not really saying goodbye. It's more like, I'll be seeing you later."

Remus placed one arm on George's shoulder and directed him to walk towards platform nine and three-quarters. George looked over his shoulder and could see that Amanda was now crying while Dominic was holding her hand. Ellie noticed that Amanda was getting upset, so she hugged her mother's dress and waved goodbye. George gave his family one last big toothy grin before turning around and heading deeper into the train station with Remus.

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