Harry still has a month to go before he can take the train to his new school and the time passes slowly.
However, he is now treated with respect, or even fear, by the Dursleys, especially Dudley.
Harry now had a companion in the form of his owl, and he decided to call her Hedwig. He also was absorbed by reading his schoolbooks and he would lie at night on his bed with the windows open so his owl could come and go as she pleased.
At last 1st September approached, and Harry had to make arrangements to travel into King’s Cross, so he asked his uncle for a lift. He agreed to do this because they were going into town that day anyway in order to take Dudley to hospital to have his pigtail removed. The Dursleys still regarded the whole witchcraft business as utter madness, especially when they saw Harry’s ticket showing the train would leave from Platform 9 ’.
At last 1st September arrived and Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia deposited Harry with the trunk at King’s Cross Station. They left him to make his own way to the platform. Harry could find no Platform 9 ’, and a guard told him that there was no train due to leave at 11.00 o’clock, so he stood between Platforms 9 and 10 receiving odd looks from passers-by, mainly curious about his large owl.
Close by, there was a woman with four boys all with red hair, each of them having a trunk like Harry. Harry heard them talking about Platform 9 ’. The woman was saying goodbye to her boys and then Harry lost sight of them as a group of tourists passed between them. When he looked again he noticed that the boys had gone, leaving the woman on her own. Harry approached the woman and asked for directions. She responded, “Hullo dear. First time at Hogwarts? Ron’s new too.” Harry spotted the last of her sons, a small boy with red hair and freckles. The woman told Harry that all he had to do was walk straight at the barrier between Platforms 9 and 10, not to stop, and not to be frightened. Harry pushed the trolley that had his trunk towards the barrier expecting to crash, but when he opened his eyes, he was next to a scarlet steam engine with coaches packed with people. There were lots of boys saying ‘goodbye’ and the scene is set thus,
“Smoke from the engine drifted over the heads of the chattering crowd, while cats of every color wound here and there between their legs. Owls hooted to each other in a disgruntled sort of way over the babble and the scraping of heavy trunks.”
Harry saw the ginger-headed boys again, two were twins called Fred and George Weasley. The oldest brother was Percy and he had been made a prefect at Hogwarts, and he was showing off his new gown with the letter ‘P’ on it. In fact there were two even older Weasleys who had gone through Hogwarts, Bill and Charlie, and they now had suitable professions.
The train was due to leave and eventually Harry struggled with his trunk and found an empty compartment on the train. However, word soon got round that Harry Potter was on the train and his peace would soon be interrupted.
As the train set off, many parents shouted to their young ones to send loads of owls to keep them informed.
Soon the youngest Weasley boy, Ron, joined Harry in his compartment, followed by Fred and George, who introduced themselves to Harry. They wanted to see Harry’s scar on his forehead. Harry obtained a history of the Weasley family and he asked whether all their family were wizards, and they confirmed this except for a distant cousin who was an accountant, but they don’t talk about him. Harry thought that Ron was very lucky to be part of a family of wizards, but Ron is not so sure because he had a lot to live up to. Harry told Ron about his recent experiences and how badly the Dursleys treated him and this seemed to cheer Ron up.
Harry had been secretly worrying about how well he would do at the school, and he suspected that he would be bottom of the class.
A trolley arrived with lots of food and sweets and for the first time in his life, Harry actually had money to spend on himself, so he bought a wide range of food such as every flavour beans, chocolate frogs, pumpkin pasties, liquorice wands etc. These he shared with Ron. The chocolate frogs were interesting and inside the wrapping were cards, and most boys collected these. On the cards were pictures of famous wizards etc., and Harry’s card had a picture of Albus Dumbledore. The card read, “Albus Dumbledore, currently Headmaster of Hogwarts,
considered by many the greatest wizard of modern
times, Professor Dumbledore is particularly famous for
