Hogwarts Express

A great relief spread through Alex as the train put more and more distance from platform 9 ¾. That relief was short lived however, as word of the disturbance at the station seemed to spread like wildfire. As Alex walked towards the back of the train, he could hear excited whispers about the muggle who was cursed.

At least nobody knew that it was his dad that tortured the muggle, Alex thought. Just then, he felt eyes on him. Alex looked into the compartment to his left and saw the smaller read haired boy Ronnykins, as he was referred to by his mother, whispering to three or four people sitting around him. Alex saw him point in his direction and everybody’s head whipped around to look at Alex. Alex felt his cheeks go warm at with everybody staring at him. He quickly put his head down and hurried past the compartment, eager to rid himself of judgmental eyes.

            His dad had told him to make friends, but how was that possible after the spectacle at the train station. Everybody would either hate him or be too scared to come near him. It’s not like Alex went around torturing people for fun. Alex glanced over his shoulder and saw on the boys from the previous compartment come out into the ally started talking in excited manner to people walking by.

            Scared by the thought of more people automatically hating him, Alex ducked into the compartment to his right. He took a deep breath, hopeful that he was able to duck out of view before anybody else could recognize him.

“Close the door please”, said a slightly bossy voice from behind him.

Alex gasped and spun around to face a small girl with rather large front teeth. Her long her was messy and curled all over the place.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize anybody was in here” Alex said.

“Well don’t be sorry, just close the door” she replied rather annoyed.

Alex shut the door and sat down on the bench opposite of where she was sitting. She didn’t’ seem to instantly loathe him at first sight, so word must not have spread to her yet. Alex decided this was his best chance to talk to someone before they could judge him.

            “What’s your name?” he ventured.

She marked her place in A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot and set the book down, looking slightly annoyed in doing so.

            “Hermione Granger”, she said flatly.

            “I’m Alex Sna"“ he managed to cut himself off before he revealed his last name.  “I’m Alex”.

            “Hello Alex” she replied. “What house do you think you’ll be in”?

            “Slytherin I expect” he said glumly. “That’s the house my father was in”.

His dad would love if Alex followed in his footsteps. He wished he could tell his dad that he didn’t want to be anything like him. How can you tell that to your father though? Let alone, when your father is the second most powerful person in the world.

            “I heard that Slytherin produces most of the evil wizards. “You-Know-Who was a Slytherin you know. Did you hear about that awful business back on the platform? A wizard tortured some poor muggle. Can’t imagine the kind of person who thinks it’s ok to do that.”

Alex felt shame build up in him. She was talking about his father like he was a monster. What was really upsetting though, was that he kind of agreed with her. Felt tears start forming in his eyes and he forced himself to stare out the window.

Hermione didn’t seem to notice as she continued her rant.

            “It’s not fair that witches and wizards treat people like dirt, just because they can’t do magic. If I were in charge, things would be run a lot differently. I hope that somebody puts a stop to these horrible people soon.”

Alex couldn’t hold it in any longer. He felt the entirety of today’s events weighing him down and all of it was released as he burst out into tears. Hermione looked at him rather confused for a second before coming over and sitting down next to him. She looked directly at him and said, “I’m so sorry Alex. “Did I say something wrong”?

Alex took a second to compose himself before returning her gaze. Her face was full of worry and she seemed so inviting. Before he could stop himself, he confided in her who he was and everything that had happened. He had just finished explaining about his fears about of everybody hating him, when he noticed she was staring opened mouth at him.

There it is Alex thought. You just had to go and tell her who you were. Now she’ll never want to talk to you again.

She closed her mouth and stared at him very intently. Alex was sure that she was about to tell him off the same way she had ranted about her father before. Instead, he found his face covered in a giant mess of brown hair. Hermione had thrown her arms around him giving him a huge hug. After a second she retracted rather quickly looking a little red around the cheeks.

            “That was so brave Alex.” She said beaming at him.

            “So you don’t hate me?” Alex asked nervously “Even though you know who my father is and what he does.”

Hermione looked at him rather sympathetically. “No Alex, of course not. I try not to judge people based on who their parents are. Just because your father has some questionable views, doesn’t mean you have to share those beliefs.”

A wave of relief washed over Alex as he realized that she was sincere. Most people at the school might despise him, but there was at least one person who understood how he felt.

            Feeling a little better about life, he asked Hermione. “So what house do you think you’ll be in?”

She took a deep breath in and Alex felt another speech coming.

            “Well, I would really like to be in Ravenclaw. They place emphasis on academics, as it should be. Gryffindor would be good too I guess. They are supposed to be brave and just. Slytherins are ambitious, which I like, but they fool around with the darks arts too much. Hufflepuffs are supposed to be kind and welcoming, but their mascot is a badger. I don’t think much of badgers. One chased me around as a kid. So, I would be happy in either Ravenclaw or Gryffindor.

Alex felt his heart sink a little bit. He knew that he would be in Slytherin and she outright said she didn’t want to be in there. Maybe they could still be friends even if they were in different houses. Hermione seemed to be the only person who he could talk to. Alex was struck with a sudden idea. He himself wanted to be in a different house but his dad was Slytherin. Maybe one of her parents was Slytherin as well.

            “A lot of times people are put in the same house as their parents.” Alex told her. “What house were your parents in”?

She fumbled around nervously with her backpack not meeting his eye. Finally, after a couple seconds, she muttered, “My parents didn’t go to Hogwarts.”

            “Oh…did they go to one of the other schools.”? Alex asked.

            “Yeah something like that”. Her voice drifted away and she became suddenly quiet defensive.

They sat in silence for a while, just listening to rumbling of the train along the tracks. Alex had always been a smart boy and the way she because suddenly shy, made an idea pop into his head. He had to figure out the right way to approach this without scaring her. It was one thing for him to confess but her problem was much more serious.  Finally he decided that it was best just to be direct.

            “Hermione” he called to her nervously. She awoke from her daydream and looked at him inquisitively. “I don’t care if you’re a mudblood. That doesn’t matter to me.”

She gasped when he said it and looked around nervously as if he was going to attack her. Alex was a little hurt by that but decided that she problem had good reason to be worried, so he decided to just push on.          

            “Look, you told me yourself that you don’t judge people based on their parents. I just wanted to let you know that I’m the same way. If it doesn’t matter to you that I’m Severus Snape’s son, then it certainly doesn’t matter that you’re parents weren’t magical.”

This time it was Hermione that broke down. She buried her face into her hands sobbing.

            “Oh Alex, I haven’t been able to talk to anyone about that. If people knew that..that. Well you know. Well I’d have to get registered like the others.” She was almost hysterical now. “The way that they treat us, like we’re less than human.”

Alex felt shameful again. He knew that his father was a big part of the problem.  Hermione must have read the look on his face because she quickly added. “I know you’re not like that Alex. I mean I just met you, but you seem like a very nice person. I couldn’t imagine you wanting to hurt anyone.”

Alex and Hermione smiled at each other and an unspoken understanding passed between them. It didn’t matter what other people thought, they knew the truth about each other.

            They sat for the next couple of hours talking about each other’s lives and the stark contrast of it. Alex was born into a rich and powerful family, given everything he wanted. Hermione on the other hand came from a very poor family and had to lie about her magical ancestry in order to avoid registration. Muggle-born (as Hermione called herself. Mudblood was apparently offensive.) witches and wizards had to register with the palace. Those who didn’t were hunted and executed by DEs. That was almost a better fate than those who did register. They were forced to work in menial jobs for very little pay. They weren’t allowed to go to Hogwarts where normal wizards went. They had to attend Epsilon Academy where they learned how to cook and clean or do manual labor. They talked about how awful the world is and what they would do to make things better once they were in charge. It was fantasy mostly, but it made them feel better.

            They were interrupted by the sound of the food cart rolling by.

            “Want anything?” Alex asked Hermione.

            “Well I’m not exactly familiar with these treats” replied looking over the menu. “Besides”, she said frustrated, “I need to save my money for school materials”.

            “Well there are some advantages to being Severus Snape’s son”. Alex said as he pulled out a moneybag and winked at her. She smiled happily and Alex couldn’t remember ever being happier to be a Snape.

While the food lady was calculating how much Alex owed her, he the back of someone go into his and Hermione’s compartment and closed the door. He wanted desperately to see who it was, but the lady was extremely slow giving him his change. A couple seconds later he saw the red haired boy backing nervously out of the compartment with a wand pointed at his face.

            “I’ll have you know that I am quite aware of exactly who he is and know him much better than you do Ron.” He heard Hermione’s voice shouting. “And, I believe I am quite capable of deciding who to be friends with thank-you-very-much. Now I’ll ask you to mind your own business unless you want to spend your first week at Hogwarts in the hospital wing!”

            Ron staggered backwards and glared at Alex before escaping very quickly into a different compartment. Alex walked back into their compartment and at down next to Hermione. He set the candy between them and said, “Looks like people don’t want you to be friends with me.”

Hermione pursed her lips and said; “Don’t make threaten you like I did Ron.” She gave him a sly smile afterwards and they both burst out laughing. By the time Alex and Hermione had finished their sweets, a train attendant came through and told them to change into their dress robes.

"We'll arrive at Hogwarts in twenty minutes". 

Reviews

[Kaliope]

A lovely continuation, I certainly hope they'll both end up in Gryffindor :-) I spotted a few typos and a few missing words. Try reading the story out loud, slowly, word by word. That's how I catch most of them :-)

[Rudi J.P. Lejaeghere]

Very interesting, I'm hooked I think. I have not much time to spent this evening, but I had to read the next chapter. I like it very much and I'm very curious how it goes on. Liked it very much, well done.

[Jennie Baron]

It seems natural for Alex and Hermione to be friends, especially with no Harry around, and Alex even seems to be a wedge separating Hermione and Ron. It'll be very interesting to see how this plays out. An excellent tale so far and I don't have any criticisms except for a few typos and the like, which would be easy to fix.