Chapter 13: Platform 9 and 3 quarters.
“Good news,” Mrs Silverwood offered at the breakfast table. She’d joined them that morning owing to the inability to debrief Aerie the night before. They did do a medical examination and were satisfied that despite being worn out she had suffered no further injury. “They found the judge who signed that order. He’d been on holiday, apparently. He’s now saying he never signed the order sending you back to the Dursleys and has rescinded it.”
“I’m glad,” Aerie replied with a big smile and stabbed a sausage with her fork. “Now I can stay here all legal like.”
“About that, how would you feel about adoption?” Flora asked.
“Adoption?” Aerie’s fork had stopped halfway off her breakfast plate.
“You don’t want to be adopted?”
“It’s not that. I’d be honored. It’s just that, can it even be done?”
“You are worried the people who put you back with the Dursleys might object and try to stop it?” Mrs Silverwood asked.
“That precisely.” That and Nova hadn’t wanted to stay in this world any longer than absolutely necessary. And yet, that note indicated she’d be stuck in this world all the way up into the college years. On the other hand, adoptions are a lot harder to reverse. “Any chance we can sneak it in before anyone can put a stop to it?” Aerie smiled and turned to Flora, “And I could call you mom, couldn't I?”
“Yes, yes you can. You’d still be a Potter though. Name changes are a different kettle of fish.”
“Mrs Silverwood, we’d need the cooperation of Sirius Black who is legally my God Father in the Wizard community. He’s out of the country though, due to shenanigans I imagine by the same people who seem bent on keeping me at the Dursley’s residence. There is also the problem that I’m an heiress. In the Wizard community, and I seem to have a fair amount in the Bank of England too. I was able to discover that the Dursleys were getting a sizable stipend for my upkeep. Not one dime of which was actually spent on me so far as I can tell. That is, beyond the bare minimum basic needs. If I change my name will it affect what I stand to inherit?”
“You’re an heiress?” Flora wasn’t quite sure what to think. “Well, I suppose that could explain quite a few things.”
“And a Dame too,” Mr Finch-Fletchley announced from behind the paper. The paper had a big article about Mr Dursley having a nervous breakdown due to a harassment campaign.
“Must you read the paper at the table, dear,” Flora asked plaintively.
“Mom, we are in the morning paper,” Justin pointed out.
“Our Aerie is set to inherit a Knighthood when she comes of age. The Bailiwick of Brandenburg of the Chivalric Order of Saint John of the Hospital at Jerusalem and Order of St. George, Habsburg-Lorraine,” Basil informed everyone. “Also says here that the Dursleys were receiving a substantial amount of money. The vast majority they seem to have spent on themselves, I dare say.”
“Don’t worry about Sirius,” Mrs Silverwood offered. “I know where to find him.”
Dumbledore had just received his morning paper as well, and he wasn’t happy. Of course, the headlines were “Boy Who Lived is a Girl” in large bold letters. The front page picture was Hagrid knocking a rather scruffy-looking Aerie Potter to the ground over and over. Hagrid had managed to bring the Philosopher’s stone to him, but everything else had been a disaster. Hagrid had used a spell to propel a rowboat, a minor thing, but it had been seen by muggles to include a news crew who had televised the act. Pictures of the telecast were in the very paper he was now reading playing out like little video clips. There were so many witnesses the Ministry was forced to place a motor on the boat in a hidden compartment so that the muggles would think it was a prank boat. Hagrid was being referred to as the Homeless Man, he’d managed to trash the secrecy accords no less than a dozen times, and he was being accused of starting an escalator fire.
The house fire had also been televised, which meant he couldn't just use a spell to rebuild it and adjust everyone’s memories. The house needed to be rebuilt the muggle way and that wasn’t going to happen any time soon because there were archaeologists all over the site, both muggle and wizards, all wanting to know about that cellar which even he hadn’t known about.
The cross-country flight of the Dursleys had been treated as a kidnapping, heavily covered by the media, and Hagrid was being accused of turning Dudley into a pig boy by Aerie herself.
Fixing it was going to be difficult because the Dursleys were now at Her Majesty's pleasure in an unknown location and the people at the ministry were livid.
McGonagall was furious with him as well, and he still had the hex welts to remind him. If only he’d let the girl have what she wanted, he could have worked with that. The problem was that he’d refused to give up on the belief that there was a Harry Potter. Unfortunately, the only person still alive and in their right mind who knew if the potter child had been a boy or girl no longer lived in England. Well, there was that Silverwood-Swan woman, but she wasn’t likely to cooperate. And Sirius Black wasn't exactly on speaking terms with him either.
A note appeared on his desk. He let out a sigh, picked it up, and read it. Lucius Malfoy, Bartemius Crouch, Arthur Weasley, and Cornelius Fudge were here to see him. Malfoy, Crouch, and Fudge he could understand, but Weasley?
Dumbledore put down the note, got up, and headed down to the main hall where he would find the men.
“Et Tu, Arthur?” Dumbledore asked on approaching the men. They were presently sitting at the Gryffindor table drinking coffee.
“Professor, I thought you could use a friendly face, that, and who do you think they got the motor from to put in that damn boat?” Arthur replied as he got up. “That and some of what Hagrid did kind of rolls over into my area of jurisdiction. A boat does count as a muggle artifact, and he enchanted it.”
“Dare I ask what you have in mind? After all, he was working on my behalf, even if he did exercise poor judgment.”
“Extremely poor judgment if you ask me,” Crouch objected as he and the others got up from the table.
“Professor Dumbledore…” Malfoy said in that smarmy tone of his that just made you want to punch him in the face. “We just want his wand, which if I remember correctly, had been broken when he was expelled from school.”
“Charges against him in the death of Myrtle warren were dismissed,” Dumbledore pointed out.
“He brought an acromantula to school,” Fudge countered out tersely. “He’d have been expelled anyway. The wand he is using, and we want promises that nothing like this will ever happen again. Dumbledore, we are doing you a favor if for no other reason than I'd just assume there be no investigations. If he were to say, be charged with a crime, you, who sent him on that mission to pick up a prospective student who apparently doesn’t exist, could also face charges. And I can just see it snowballing from there.”
“I… I see. I suppose if it must be done then we must deprive him of his wand.”
“We’ve agreed to just do whatever we must to just make it go away,” Malfoy offered knowing full well Dumbledore would now owe him big time. Granted he'd no desire for any investigations either.
Platform 9 3/4🚂
Aerie had had to reassure the Finch-Fletchleys that nine and three quarters did indeed exist. She’d also gotten a panicked call from Hermione that reminded her of a certain purple pony. “Hermione, one of the things wizards are capable of is warping space,” Nova had explained. “The entrance to the platform is literally the divider between nine and ten.”
“But there’s no divider?!” Hermione protested.
“That’s where it’s supposed to be… I guess we’ll just find out when we get there.”
In the end, the Finch-Fletchley family ended up meeting up with the Grangers at King’s Cross station. Justin and their parents were right behind Aerie and Hermione.
“If you’ve never been then how do you know?” Hermione pressed. They each had a cart on which they had their trunk full of school supplies and clothing. Nova also had a cat carrier inside of which Moonie was dutifully playing the part of a cat.
“I just know. It’s just part of my weirdness,” Aerie offered as they pushed their carts along. “Now, look there, up ahead at that group…”
“What’s with what they are wearing… where’d they go?”
“It’s set up just like the Leaky Cauldron. It’s a double layer of security. You’ll see in a bit. Though to be perfectly honest I’m glad we spotted them.”
“You mean you weren’t one hundred percent sure where it was, is it?” Justin suggested.
“Not having ever been down here, no. That and the divider won't even be seen with a casual glance thanks to the spells hiding it.”
“So are you two brother and sister yet?” Hermione asked.
“Yes, and no,” Aerie admitted. “I’ve been adopted, but Sirius Black is still my magical guardian, and I’m still listed as a Potter. They had to do some really interesting legal gymnastics. Although… it’s got a plus side in that the harder it is to set up, the harder it is for someone to undo it.”
“I see.” Hermione wasn’t going to say anything more on the subject in that Aerie had a legitimate reason to worry. “By the way, any idea where your Aunt and Uncle are?”
“Don’t know, don’t really care,” Aerie replied. “They are at Her Majesties Pleasure somewhere. Just one more layer between them and me.”
“We’ve arrived. Care to demonstrate, dear sister of mine?” Justin teased.
“I’m guessing it’s an energy barrier of some sort,” Aerie offered as she approached the end of the wall. Touch it, and it feels solid, but … Mom, Dad, I’m thinking you’ll need to be right on our heels or you may be locked out. “One good strike with a cart,” Aerie pushed forward rapidly increasing her speed, Flora hesitated but a moment; a moment later Aerie and Flora had vanished into the wall.
“Hey!?” Hermione called and made a dash at the wall followed by her parents who were in turn followed by Justin and Basil.
Aerie and the others now found themselves on a ramp that dropped down into a subterranean passage. An old forgotten subway by the looks of the place. There was one track on which was a shiny red passenger train that had at the head a brand new diesel locomotive. Well, maybe not brand new, but is certainly wasn’t the steam engine Nova had expected. Spotting Lavender Brown Aerie pushed her cart over to her and her parents.
“Lavender, I was expecting a steam engine?”
“Hi Aerie. Word is the owner of the rail line chose to replace the old steam engine with a diesel locomotive because the steam engine was becoming too noticeable to the sort of muggle known as Rail Fans,” Lavender offered.
“Makes sense to me,” Aerie replied.
“Wow, it’s an old 1968 class 20 Stephenson and Hawthorn,” Mr Granger said. He was perhaps more in awe of the train than the fact that he was presently in the company of people who could actually do magic.
“Oddly enough, I can see where that might be a problem,” Hermione offered with a big grin on her face.
“What say we go find ourselves a room?” Aerie suggested. “There are rooms and they haven't modernized to coaches have they?”
“Only one way to find out,” Lavender replied and went to give her mom and dad a hug.
“We’re going to go board the train now,” Lavender said to her parents who were more than happy to help her with her luggage which consisted of her trunk and a cage with a smallish owl.
First years were directed to the end of the train, but then again, Nova was delighted to find old-style coaches that still had working doors on the outside of each compartment.
“I’m going to sit in the next compartment,” Justin offered as they approached their car.
“Understandable,” Aerie replied with a smirk. “I mean, we are probably going to talk about, boys, make-up, and fashion the whole way up.”
Aerie, Hermione, and Lavender opened the door of an unoccupied compartment and climbed on in. The first thing they did was stow their luggage in the overhead luggage rack. Nova stood there for a moment looking at her trunk wondering how it could possibly fit or why the whole thing hadn't imploded. She decided that she simply wasn’t going to think about it, and then sat down to wait with the others, their parents right outside to encourage them. That and to get that last moment goodbye.
“Hi Draco,” Aerie called on seeing him.
“We do not speak to commoners,” Mr Malfoy growled.
“Mr Ollivander told me the wand he tried to sell you had been chosen by Professor Dumbledore,” Nova called. “And I’m hardly a commoner.”
Mr Malfoy stopped, turned, and faced the girls. “Care to repeat that? That bit about the wands.”
“Professor Dumbledore has been pressuring Mr Ollivander to provide specified people, Draco and myself among that group, substandard wands. The one he tried to sell me was wholly unsuited, and that’s when Mr Ollivander admitted to what he’d been doing for Professor Dumbledore,” Aerie explained. “I thought Draco should know.”
“That’s Aerie. She’s the one who doesn't believe it’s possible for a muggle to produce a witch or wizard.”
“Got to be some magic there somewhere,” Aerie offered and gave a wink to the Grangers and the Finch-Fletchleys who gave her a curious look.
“Indeed,” Mr Malfoy replied skeptically. “But tell me, if Professor Dumbledore is in deed pushing unsuitable wands on people…” he shifted his head back and forth like he was truly perplexed.
“Well, an unsuitable wand could lead to frustration and resentment of others. As for the wand they tried to give me, I’m to understand the core matched You Know Who’s wand.” Mr Malfoy gave her an odd look, and she quickly pushed up her bangs. “Matching cores would make the wands useless against each other. Or so I’m to understand.”
“So it’s true… Harry Potter is a girl after all.” Mr Malfoy said softly as Aerie dropped her hand.
“All I did was survive,” Aerie offered. “That scar was caused by a piece of shrapnel no one bothered to remove. Pulled it out myself a while back. If someone had bothered to provide proper medical attention I’d likely not even have a scar now.” Nova knew it was dangerous to engage the man in this way, but figured that he was trapped in his role. On the other hand, it would provide him with information that strongly suggested that Dumbledore was playing some sort of game. Only… Dumbledore’s game, his house of cards, was falling apart.
“Lucius Malfoy…” Called a squat little red-headed woman as she approached. Trailing her were four boys, a little girl, and what could only be her husband. All gingers.
“Now Molly…” her husband pleaded.
“Lucius Malfoy, I just bet it has to be you who’s started that awful rumor about Harry Potter. It’d be just the sort of thing that you’d do. Anything to make Professor Dumbledore look bad.”
“I can assure you that Professor Dumbledore can manage that without my help,” Lucius offered in a smarmy tone. “Surely you saw the papers?”
“Bye mom, dad, see you in December,” Aerie called, shut the door, and sat back into her chair as far as she could push.
Hermione busts up laughing.
“What just happened?” Lavender asked.
“She’s hiding from the true believer,” Hermione quipped.
“It’s not funny!” Molly protested as several adults around her desperately tried not to laugh.
“What?” Justin asked as he stuck his head out the open door of the compartment that he was in.
“I think your sister is hiding,” Flora informed him.
“Hey, Aerie, are you hiding?”
“Aerie?” Molly asked.
“We’ve adopted her,” Basil offered. “Her name is Aerie Lily Potter.”
“The girl who lived,” Lucius Malfoy offered, turned, and continued on to an as yet unoccupied compartment even as young Ronald Weaselly was joining Justin in his compartment. They were joined momentarily by the Crabbe and the Goyle families.
“But it can’t be true, can it?” Molly asked as she looked up into the compartment Aerie and her friends were in. “Aerie Potter? Not Harry?”
Aerie decided to get up and open the window.
“I’m sorry, Mam,” Aerie offered. “I can’t tell you if there is or ever was a Harry Potter. Blame it on Hagrid if you must. Or you can blame it on the people who on hearing Aerie transposed that in their heads to Harry because they’d rather their savior was a boy. But, I am no savior. I did not defet You Know Who. All I did was survive.”
“All these years…” Molly said softly.
Aerie on the other hand had spotted a familiar fiery redhead. “Sunset? Sunset!”
The girl turned to look. She looked around her and realizing she was the person being addressed, walked over and said, “Sorry, no. You must have mistaken me for someone else.”
“By any chance is it Aurora then?” Aerie asked.
“Aurora Summers. Do I know you?”
“Maybe. Come on in,” Aerie offered and opened the door. “By any chance do you know someone who calls himself Discord?”
“Sounds like you’ve met my dad.”
“Perhaps I have. What about a Celestia who works as an educator in a little town called Canterlot?”
“Second or third cousin. My mom is Celeste Summers. You’re not Tsuki Hoshiko, are you?”
“I’m Aerie. Come on up.” Aerie offered and opened up the door.
“Aren’t we saving room for Padma and Parvati?” Lavender asked.
“We’ll be an even six when they get here,” Hermione pointed out. Nor did it take long for Padma and Parvati to arrive.
As For Mrs Weasley, she set about fussing over her boys while giving Aerie furtive looks like she expected Aerie to just vanish at any moment.
“Are you really some kind of goddess?” The Weasley twins asked from the corridor in the car.
“I’m a goddess now?” Aerie asked, their gawking at her was making her feel all creepy. “Fred, George, if I were a goddess I’d already totally have you two pegged for the sons of chaos that you are. Now go away before I tell your mother you two are being a pain.”
“We’re going, totally going,” Fred replied as he backed away from the door, and pushed his brother down the corridor.
“They’ll be back,” Lavender stated dryly.
“Ya, I know. I figure that right now they are trying to figure out how I know who they are.”
“How did you know who they are?” Aurora asked.
“Who hasn’t heard of the Weasley Twins,” Padma commented more than asked.
“True, their reputation precedes them,” Hermione offered. “Even I’ve heard of them. Granted that might have something to do with the company I’ve been keeping.”
“Ron, come here, you’ve something on your nose,” Molly said outside on the platform.
“Aaaah, has ickle Ronnie got something on his nosey,” one of the twins said from around the corner followed by Ron telling him to shut up. The girls couldn't help but giggle.
“Fred, George, you aren’t even supposed to be in that car, get down from there. Now!” Molly Weasley ordered.
“Coming mother,” The twins chimed. This time Fred and George were at the outside door.
“Can we see the scar?”
“No! Go away or I’ll give you one to match. Mrs Weasley!”
“Fred, George, get down from there this instant!” Molly Weasley shouted.
“Coming mom,” the twins chimed, and then with a last look hopped off the train.
“Where’s Percy?” Molly Weasley asked the twins.
“Off prefecting I’d imagine, the twins offered.
“Do they always speak in unison like that?” Aerie asked.
“Yes, and it’s very annoying,” Padma stated.
“People keep expecting us to do the same,” Parvaty added.
“That sounds really annoying,” Aerie offered. “Still though, I get the feeling there’s going to be a lot of people wanting to see the scar on my forehead. Like it’s any of their business. I’m glad none of you do that.”
“I didn’t even know it was a thing until I’d read up on the wizard war,” Hermione offered. “Even then any time the name Potter came up it was always Harry Potter they talked about.”
“I’ll admit I was curious when we first met at school, but then we got to know you for yourself and not some overblown legend,” Lavender offered.
“Us too,” Parvaty added to indicate her sister as well as herself.
“How exactly does one become famous for not having died?” Aerie asked.
“Dad said it was Hagrid,” Lavender offered. “According to him, Hagrid showed up at the Leaky Calderon to show you off and announced that you’d defeated the Dark Lord.”
“I imagine I’m lucky I survived Hagrid. And you mean that all this nonsense was because of Hagrid?”
“Afraid so,” Lavender supplied.
From outside the train, Aerie heard a little girl asking, “Mom, can I go on the train and see her? Please mom, oh please…”
“What am I a freak show now,” Aerie grumbled.
“Ginny, she is not something you ogle at in a zoo,” Molly Weasley scolded.
“She’s sensitive about that scar,” Flora added. “And the people she’d been placed with were absolutely horrid.”
“The poor dear,” Mrs Weasley offered. “And so well mannered.”
“Her Aunt and Uncle would beat her if she wasn’t,” Flora offered in a hushed tone, but Aerie could still hear her. “We were awarded temporary custody after an incident involving her cousin and a gang of boys who’d designs on assaulting her. I’m to understand that she’d had quite enough and gave back better than she got with a good measure of payback added in. Poor thing had hardly the time to relax at our place when someone forged a court order to send her back. The theory is that someone was using her parent's bank accounts to launder money…”
“Launder money?” Mr Weasley asked.
“Make illegally acquired money look like it was legally acquired,” Basil offered. “Both the Bank of England and Gringotts locked down the Potter accounts so that she’d be the only one with access and put a watch on shared accounts. Any suspicious activity will get reported directly to the investigators working on the case. And yes, there is a joint task force. There was also a sizable stipend going to her Aunt and Uncle. Who, I’m glad to say thanks to that Mr Hagrid’s bumbling, are no longer getting any of it. The majority goes into her account now. We get a portion of it to augment the cost of a new mouth to feed, but we’d have taken her in any way.”
“She’s the sweetest, most loving girl I’ve ever met,” Flora offered. “And I’m honored to have her as my daughter.”
“Never mind that, do you think she remembers what you know who looked like?” asked one of the twins.
“Fred, you should be ashamed of yourself,” Molly Weasley scolded. “Furthermore I forbid you to ask. And no asking someone else to ask. You will not pester that girl in any way shape or form. Do you understand me?”
Basil put a hand on the boy's shoulder. “I’m to understand she’s got a really mean right hook. So do have a care you don’t aggravate her too much.”
“Dad!?” Aerie protested from the open window the door now shut again. “Don’t be telling him things like that. Honestly, he’ll want to find out for himself.”
“She’s not wrong,” Molly offered with a smirk. “And now,” She redirected her attention to the twins. “If you don’t get on that train, on the appropriate car for your year,” They’d started back for the first year carriage. “Hurry it up or you're going to get left behind.”
“We’ve got lots of time…”
The train whistle blowing the warning said otherwise and the two were forced to scramble for their car. They’d only just gotten their luggage on when the conductor called out all aboard.
Aerie waved at her new parents and they at her as the train pulled out of the station and into a dark tunnel. Nova decided she’d best close the window at that point.
The girls fell back into their seats and just waited. For what, they weren’t quite sure. Not like there wasn’t any light in the carriage. There was some, but it was still mighty dark.
Suddenly sunlight came streaming in the windows as the train exited the tunnel onto the mainline. Only to plunge right back in a moment or two later. It didn’t last as it wasn’t long till they were in daylight again and Hermione decided to get a book out. Mixed housing and industrial areas sped past followed by Finsbury park station and Finsbury park, as Hermione started to read her book. More housing went by, a rail yard, more housing, Alexandra park, housing, another yard, and once more into a tunnel. Cityscape, tunnel, cityscape, tunnel, cityscape, tunnel, and so it went until they were well clear of London. The line was mostly countryside now with scattered urban areas and the occasional tunnel.
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Sounds like the one steam passenger train that runs around the US during the sumer. Don't have to see schedule for it. A rail fan will have it on YouTube within days. Even the time it pushed a freight train up a mountin cause the diesel engines were not anough and they did not want to wait for an extra engine.
i am loving this story soooooooo much.
aw yes Dumbledore is having such a good time. and there is so much more good heading his way.
11359831
and you are talking about the Big Boy.
11359831 there are a number of scenic railroads around the US that still run steam engines. Still waiting for Dumbldore to try and get things his way again though of course he might be trying to find Harry still
11359896
I imagine this one to be more like how Dumb-ildor feels after everything happens!
11360301
i like that, it even kind of looks like Dumbledore
11359897
Yes, the big boy.
11360490
I actually got to see the Big Boy pushing freight around in the Chyanne, WY yards when I was in the Air Force.
Found one
11361337
I'm in rawlins wy and my dad works for that company so whenever they use the big boy he brings us out to see it lol
I know in one story Harry was all but engaged to marry ginny when they became adults and the reason for that was a certain headmaster deciding that the possible marriage would keep the kid under his control more. Of course since this was an au he engaged to cmcs and a few other girls and everyone least loved headmaster found that he lost all power over the boy.
11627791
I've heard that a lot of fans were ticked off over Harry Marrying Ginny. Harry and Hermione just seemed a natural couple. Not Hermione and Ron. And yes, I've probably read that version.