Ch 6. continue of 6th chapter

The oldest boy came striding into sight. He had already changed into his

billowing black Hogwarts robes, and Harry noticed a shiny silver badge

on his chest with the letter P on it.

"Can't stay long, Mother," he said. "I'm up front, the prefects have got

two compartments to themselves --"

"Oh, are you a prefect, Percy?" said one of the twins, with an air of

great surprise. "You should have said something, we had no idea."

"Hang on, I think I remember him saying something about it," said the

other twin. "Once --"

"Or twice --"

"A minute --"

"All summer --"

"Oh, shut up," said Percy the Prefect.

"How come Percy gets new robes, anyway?" said one of the twins.

"Because he's a prefect," said their mother fondly. "All right, dear,

well, have a good term -- send me an owl when you get there."

She kissed Percy on the cheek and he left. Then she turned to the twins.

"Now, you two -- this year, you behave yourselves. If I get one more owl

telling me you've -- you've blown up a toilet or --"

"Blown up a toilet? We've never blown up a toilet."

"Great idea though, thanks, Mom."

"It's not funny. And look after Ron."

"Don't worry, ickle Ronniekins is safe with us."

"Shut up," said Ron again. He was almost as tall as the twins already

and his nose was still pink where his mother had rubbed it.

"Hey, Mom, guess what? Guess who we just met on the train?"

Harry leaned back quickly so they couldn't see him looking.

"You know that black-haired boy who was near us in the station? Know who

he is?"

"Who?"

"Harry Potter!"

Harry heard the little girl's voice.

"Oh, Mom, can I go on the train and see him, Mom, eh please...."

"You've already seen him, Ginny, and the poor boy isn't something you

goggle at in a zoo. Is he really, Fred? How do you know?"

"Asked him. Saw his scar. It's really there - like lightning."

"Poor dear - no wonder he was alone, I wondered. He was ever so polite

when he asked how to get onto the platform."

"Never mind that, do you think he remembers what You-Know-Who looks

like?"

Their mother suddenly became very stern.

"I forbid you to ask him, Fred. No, don't you dare. As though he needs

reminding of that on his first day at school."

"All right, keep your hair on."

A whistle sounded.

"Hurry up!" their mother said, and the three boys clambered onto the

train. They leaned out of the window for her to kiss them good-bye, and

their younger sister began to cry.

"Don't, Ginny, we'll send you loads of owls."

"We'll send you a Hogwarts toilet seat."

"George!"

"Only joking, Mom."

The train began to move. Harry saw the boys' mother waving and their

sister, half laughing, half crying, running to keep up with the train

until it gathered too much speed, then she fell back and waved.

Harry watched the girl and her mother disappear as the train rounded the

corner. Houses flashed past the window. Harry felt a great leap of

excitement. He didn't know what he was going to but it had to be better

than what he was leaving behind.

The door of the compartment slid open and the youngest redheaded boy

came in.

"Anyone sitting there?" he asked, pointing at the seat opposite Harry.

"Everywhere else is full."

Harry shook his head and the boy sat down. He glanced at Harry and then

looked quickly out of the window, pretending he hadn't looked. Harry saw

he still had a black mark on his nose.

"Hey, Ron."

The twins were back.

"Listen, we're going down the middle of the train -- Lee Jordan's got a

giant tarantula down there."

"Right," mumbled Ron.

"Harry," said the other twin, "did we introduce ourselves? Fred and

George Weasley. And this is Ron, our brother. See you later, then.

"Bye," said Harry and Ron. The twins slid the compartment door shut

behind them.

"Are you really Harry Potter?" Ron blurted out.

Harry nodded.

"Oh -well, I thought it might be one of Fred and George's jokes," said

Ron. "And have you really got -- you know..."

He pointed at Harry's forehead.

Harry pulled back his bangs to show the lightning scar. Ron stared.

"So that's where You-Know-Who

"Yes," said Harry, "but I can't remember it."

"Nothing?" said Ron eagerly.

"Well -- I remember a lot of green light, but nothing else."

"Wow," said Ron. He sat and stared at Harry for a few moments, then, as

though he had suddenly realized what he was doing, he looked quickly out

of the window again.

"Are all your family wizards?" asked Harry, who found Ron just as

interesting as Ron found him.

"Er -- Yes, I think so," said Ron. "I think Mom's got a second cousin

who's an accountant, but we never talk about him."

"So you must know loads of magic already."

The Weasleys were clearly one of those old wizarding families the pale

boy in Diagon Alley had talked about.

"I heard you went to live with Muggles," said Ron. "What are they like?"

"Horrible -well, not all of them. My aunt and uncle and cousin are,

though. Wish I'd had three wizard brothers."

"Five," said Ron. For some reason, he was looking gloomy. "I'm the sixth

in our family to go to Hogwarts. You could say I've got a lot to live up

to. Bill and Charlie have already left -- Bill was head boy and Charlie

was captain of Quidditch. Now Percy's a prefect. Fred and George mess

around a lot, but they still get really good marks and everyone thinks

they're really funny. Everyone expects me to do as well as the others,

but if I do, it's no big deal, because they did it first. You never get

anything new, either, with five brothers. I've got Bill's old robes,

Charlie's old wand, and Percy's old rat."

Ron reached inside his jacket and pulled out a fat gray rat, which was

asleep.

"His name's Scabbers and he's useless, he hardly ever wakes up. Percy

got an owl from my dad for being made a prefect, but they couldn't aff

-- I mean, I got Scabbers instead."

Ron's ears went pink. He seemed to think he'd said too much, because he

went back to staring out of the window.

Harry didn't think there was anything wrong with not being able to

afford an owl. After all, he'd never had any money in his life until a

month ago, and he told Ron so, all about having to wear Dudley's old

clothes and never getting proper birthday presents. This seemed to cheer

Ron up.

"... and until Hagrid told me, I didn't know anything about be ing a

wizard or about my parents or Voldemort"

Ron gasped.

"What?" said Harry.

"You said You-Know-Who's name!" said Ron, sounding both shocked and

impressed. "I'd have thought you, of all people --"

"I'm not trying to be brave or anything, saying the name," said Harry, I

just never knew you shouldn't. See what I mean? I've got loads to

learn.... I bet," he added, voicing for the first time something that

had been worrying him a lot lately, "I bet I'm the worst in the class."

"You won't be. There's loads of people who come from Muggle families and

they learn quick enough."

While they had been talking, the train had carried them out of London.

Now they were speeding past fields full of cows and sheep. They were

quiet for a time, watching the fields and lanes flick past.

Around half past twelve there was a great clattering outside in the

corridor and a smiling, dimpled woman slid back their door and said,

"Anything off the cart, dears?"

Harry, who hadn't had any breakfast, leapt to his feet, but Ron's ears

went pink again and he muttered that he'd brought sandwiches. Harry went

out into the corridor.

He had never had any money for candy with the Dursleys, and now that he

had pockets rattling with gold and silver he was ready to buy as many

Mars Bars as he could carry -- but the woman didn't have Mars Bars. What

she did have were Bettie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Drooble's Best

Blowing Gum, Chocolate Frogs. Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes, Licorice

Wands, and a number of other strange things Harry had never seen in his

life. Not wanting to miss anything, he got some of everything and paid

the woman eleven silver Sickles and seven bronze Knuts.

Ron stared as Harry brought it all back in to the compartment and tipped

it onto an empty seat.

"Hungry, are you?"

"Starving," said Harry, taking a large bite out of a pumpkin pasty.

Ron had taken out a lumpy package and unwrapped it. There were four

sandwiches inside. He pulled one of them apart and said, "She always

forgets I don't like corned beef."

"Swap you for one of these," said Harry, holding up a pasty. "Go on --"

"You don't want this, it's all dry," said Ron. "She hasn't got much

time," he added quickly, "you know, with five of us."

"Go on, have a pasty," said Harry, who had never had anything to share

before or, indeed, anyone to share it with. It was a nice feeling,

sitting there with Ron, eating their way through all Harry's pasties,

cakes, and candies (the sandwiches lay forgotten).

"What are these?" Harry asked Ron, holding up a pack of Chocolate Frogs.

"They're not really frogs, are they?" He was starting to feel that

nothing would surprise him.

"No," said Ron. "But see what the card is. I'm missing Agrippa."

"What?"

"Oh, of course, you wouldn't know --Chocolate Frogs have cards, inside

them, you know, to collect -- famous witches and wizards. I've got about

five hundred, but I haven't got Agrippa or Ptolemy."

Harry unwrapped his Chocolate Frog and picked up the card. It showed a

man's face. He wore half- moon glasses, had a long, crooked nose, and

flowing silver hair, beard, and mustache. Underneath the picture was the

name Albus Dumbledore.

"So this is Dumbledore!" said Harry.

"Don't tell me you'd never heard of Dumbledore!" said Ron. "Can I have a

frog? I might get Agrippa -- thanks

Harry turned over his card and read:

ALBUS DUMBLEDORE

CURRENTLY HEADMASTER OF HOGWARTS

Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern times, Dumbledore is

particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in

1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his

work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel. Professor Dumbledore

enjoys chamber music and tenpin bowling.

Harry turned the card back over and saw, to his astonishment, that

Dumbledore's face had disappeared

.

"He's gone!"

"Well, you can't expect him to hang around all day," said Ron. "He'll be

back. No, I've got Morgana again and I've got about six of her... do you

want it? You can start collecting."

Ron's eyes strayed to the pile of Chocolate Frogs waiting to be

unwrapped.

"Help yourself," said Harry. "But in, you know, the Muggle world, people

just stay put in photos."

"Do they? What, they don't move at all?" Ron sounded amazed. "weird!"

Harry stared as Dumbledore sidled back into the picture on his card and

gave him a small smile. Ron was more interested in eating the frogs than

looking at the Famous Witches and Wizards cards, but Harry couldn't keep

his eyes off them. Soon he had not only Dumbledore and Morgana, but

Hengist of Woodcroft, Alberic Grunnion, Circe, Paracelsus, and Merlin.

He finally tore his eyes away from the druidess Cliodna, who was

scratching her nose, to open a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.

"You want to be careful with those," Ron warned Harry. "When they say

every flavor, they mean every flavor -- you know, you get all the

ordinary ones like chocolate and peppermint and mar- malade, but then

you can get spinach and liver and tripe. George reckons he had a booger-

flavored one once."

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