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Chapter 5: Train Ride Not just any girl however. I was looking at a red-haired girl with soft straight hair coming down to her hips and

Chapter 5: Train Ride

Not just any girl however.

I was looking at a red-haired girl with soft straight hair coming down to her hips and a pair of striking emerald green eyes almost identical to the ones of the boy standing next to her. The girl was also wearing clothing that looked too big on her but not to the same extent as the boy.

‘What? Is that Harry’s twin or something? And did this come about due to me feeling uneasy about possibly meeting a female Harry with Universal Calibration?’ I thought in shock before dismissing those thoughts a moment later ‘Regardless, this solves that issue.’

I was thankful for my new mental faculties as I managed to discern all of this without breaking stride and freezing like an idiot. Looking more closely at the girl I noted that unlike her probable sibling, she was able to disguise her worry much better than him.

In contrast to her male sibling who was looking in all directions with a face full of worry, the girl looked calm in comparison with a small smile on her face as she too looked around.

Her eyes betrayed her though. While the girl had a good poker face, her eyes were filled with the same amount of worry as that of their sibling.

I approached them and the noise of the trolley undoubtedly caught their attention, making them look my way. I saw none other than Harry Potter look at what I was carrying in my trolley curiously seeing that it was almost identical to his own including the owl cage. The only difference being that I had let Hedwig, now renamed to Athena, fly to Hogwarts instead of being stuck in a cage for most of the day.

The girl on the other hand had a more guarded look in her eyes even if I did catch a tiny blush that appeared on her face when she caught sight of my eyes and activated my lure.

“Are you looking for platform 9 ¾ by chance?” I smiled at them politely trying to seem as non threatening as I could knowing their probable background.

“Thank goodness! Yes please! We almost thought we wouldn’t make it.” Harry responded with his shoulders sagging a bit in relief.

“Can you please show us how to get there please? Nobody ever told us how.” The still unnamed girl said with the guarded look disappearing from her eyes and a pleading one replacing it.

“New to Hogwarts too, huh? Not to worry, I’ll show you the way onto the platform.” I said with my smile widening.

Any further conversation was halted between us when we heard the unmistakable voice of Mrs. Weasley speak her ‘packed with Muggles’ line.

Turning to the family of gingers I smiled when I caught Mrs. Weasley's sight and greeted her politely. Then I turned and found Ginny already looking at me with an intense look in her eyes, her face already red.

“It’s nice to see you as well Ginny. I thought we wouldn’t be seeing each other again until next year but this sure is a nice surprise.” My smile without my knowing turned softer as I looked at one of my companions even if she was not aware of it herself yet.

Seeing Ginny still lost in thought I turned towards Mrs. Weasley again as she introduced the rest of her family to me ending with Ron who was looking at me curiously.

“What a strange coincidence meeting you here of all places dear. I had a feeling I’d be seeing you again and it seems my hunch was right. Hopefully you and my Ron become good friends in the future.” said Mrs. Weasley as she shot her daughter an amused look while the rest of her sons now looked at me suspiciously.

“That is my hope as well Mrs. Weasley.” I said with a friendly look directed towards Ron and the twins getting a nervous one back from the youngest and playful grins from the other 2.

“Are they with you as well, Aether dear?” Mrs. Weasley said finally acknowledging the siblings standing to the side looking slightly awkward at our exchange.

“They are now. I was just showing my possible new friends here how to get onto the platform as they were looking rather lost.” I said throwing a friendly smile at the Potter siblings getting embarrassed smiles back in return.

“Speaking of, we should really hurry if we don’t want to miss the train. There’s only ten minutes left before it departs.” I said, making everyone slightly panic at my words.

With what could only be considered organized chaos we all piled up and crossed the barrier one by one with me and the Potter siblings hanging back a bit allowing me to explain to them how the process was done.

Once we finally crossed the barrier, I further helped the siblings find a compartment and helped them put up their trunks with the help of the levitation charm, Wingardium Leviosa much to the sibling’s awe.

I on the other hand didn’t see anything special about the charm since it was rather simple and one of the few HP spells I could perform properly without messing up. It was a charm taught to first years after all and we were already 2 years older than any first year in the original timeline.

I digress, after putting my own trunk away in the same compartment as the siblings I turned toward them with a smile.

“I hope you both don’t mind if I join you?”

“No, of course not / Of course not.” Both siblings responded at once making me nod in thanks.

“Save me a seat, ok? I have to say my goodbyes to the family we were just talking to.”

Receiving a positive response, I quickly got off the train and looked for the unmistakable ginger hair of the Weasleys. I found it almost immediately and headed their direction slightly thankful that it was only Ginny and Mrs. Weasley currently present.

I didn’t really want to deal with 3 overprotective brothers as of yet.

Mrs. Weasley immediately caught sight of me approaching and offered me a smile in greeting. I returned her smile before focusing on Ginny who was currently crying having not even noticed my presence yet. Having an idea of the reason she was crying I resolved myself to try to see if I could cheer her up a little.

“Pretty girls shouldn’t cry, you know. Unless those are happy tears coming down your face?” I felt a little silly saying such a corny line mostly due to my mental age but Communication Talent didn’t give off any negative pings so I continued. A talent I had received for free thanks to her capture coincidentally.

Ginny slowly turned in my direction with a shocked look on her face as if surprised to see me. “Aether?” asked Ginny with a small voice.

“Sorry about being a little rude earlier and leaving without saying anything. Luckily, I already got all my things on board so I thought I’d come and apologize before saying goodbye.” I said with a sheepish look on my face while scratching the back of my head.

I made sure to look at Mrs. Weasley as well letting her know that she was included in that apology too. The only thing I managed to see before my vision was filled with red was the warm smile of Mrs. Weasley as she looked at us.

Thanks to my new constitution I managed to remain on my feet as I caught what could only be Ginny in my arms. Chuckling a little at her unexpected hug I breathed in, accidentally inhaling Ginny’s scent as I brought my own arms around her for a proper hug.

Ginny smelled of flowers, ones that I couldn’t quite place but nonetheless I found myself relaxing at their scent and unknowingly dropping my guard.

“Is your offer from before still open? About writing each other during the school year?” asked Ginny with a soft whisper close to my right ear.

“Always! I’ll make sure to write to you whenever I get the chance.” I said barely repressing the urge to shiver when she whispered in my ear.

Hearing a slight cough coming from behind Ginny, I looked up and met the amused eyes of Mrs. Weasley looking at us with a slight smirk on her face.

“Sorry to interrupt you two but if Aether doesn’t get on the train, he’s going to end up missing it.”

With some reluctance we pulled away from our embrace and turned to look at one another spotting similarly flushed faces and content smiles.

“Goodbye for now Ginny. Take care of yourself alright? Like I promised I’ll be seeing you next year when you join us.” Seeing Ginny nod her head with a smile I turned towards Mrs. Weasley in case Ginny broke into tears again knowing that I would really miss the train if that happened.

“Take care Mrs. Weasley. It was nice seeing you again.” I said bowing my head politely to her.

“Thank you dear. You take care of yourself as well. We’ll be seeing you again soon, I’m sure.” Mrs. Weasley said, throwing a small glance at her daughter who had not stopped staring at me.

Throwing Ginny the biggest grin I could, I bid her another quick goodbye before turning around and running towards the train just making it on time before it began moving. I walked a few steps before I threw a tentative look behind me and like I was expecting Ginny had broken into tears again as she ran after the train waving at me all the while.

I waved back at her with the best smile I could make while silently promising myself to visit her as soon as I could. Maybe I could even give her a surprise visit via Ilulu in the future.

I stayed at the back of the train until I could no longer see the redhead before finally heading back to my compartment. I passed quite a few faces along the way, even a girl with bright pink hair and punkish looks who could be none other than Nymphadora Tonks.

Finally arriving at the compartment, I gently opened the door before entering, seeing the siblings look up and smile at my arrival. In addition to the siblings, Ron much like in canon was already sitting across from them with his pet ‘Scabbers’ lying down by his legs.

“Welcome back, we saved you a seat just like you asked.” said Harry pointing to the seat by the window across from his sister.

“Thanks.” I smiled before stepping inside and sitting down and getting comfortable. “Haha with all the rush from earlier I completely forgot that we never introduced ourselves. Let’s fix that shall we?”

Turning to face everyone I brought my right hand to the left side of my chest and bowed my head politely at them. 

“Nice to meet you. My name is Aether Cordelia. I hope we can get along from now on.”

I saw everyone give me a weird look for a moment, especially Ron, before the until now unnamed girl shook her head and smiled at me extending her hand forward.

“Nice to meet you, Aether! My name is Rose Potter and I hope we can get along as well. And thanks again for all your help so far.” said the now named Rose with a cute smile on her face, her guarded look from earlier nowhere to be found.

“Haha no worries, I know what it’s like being somewhere new for the first time.” I said with a smile taking her small hand in my own and shaking it softly eliciting a small blush from her with it only deepening as she caught sight of my eyes again.

“Ron Weasley.” said the ginger, wiping his hand in his pants for a bit before offering a handshake of his own.

“Nice to meet you, Ron. Ginny told me a bit about you so I hope we can get along.” I shook his hand, giving it a firm shake.

Ron looked at me weirdly at my comment but before he could say anything else, another hand was offered to me this time coming from Harry.

“Harry Potter. Thanks again for all your help.” said Harry with his smile widening at seeing no obvious response at the mention of his name.

“Like I said, it’s water under the bridge.” I said, shaking his hand while waving my other hand dismissively.

“Whut, what does water have to do with anything?” asked Ron with a confused look on his face.

Letting go of Harry’s hand I turned to the redhead and explained it to him. “It’s a muggle metaphor that basically means to not worry about it.” I said with a shrug.

“Oh. Why didn’t you say that then?” said Ron with a look of understanding entering his face.

“Well…” I turned to the siblings and gave them a friendly smile who were watching our interaction in confusion. “I assumed since Harry and Rose here looked so awestruck at everything around them that they probably wouldn’t understand if I used a metaphor commonly used only by wizards and witches.”

I observed silently as Rose and Harry blushed slightly in embarrassment at being found out so quickly. Luckily Ron seemed to catch on to that and didn’t ask any further questions.

“Are all your family wizards?” asked Harry with Rose looking on in interest as well.

“Yes.” I said with a nod of my head not providing any further details.

“Er – yes, I think so,” said Ron. “I think Mum’s got a second cousin who’s an accountant, but we never talk about him.”

“So, you guys must know loads of magic already huh?” said Rose. “Like the spell that Aether used earlier to make our trunks float in the air.”

Rose was now looking at me with a bit of awe in her voice and face making me smile politely in return.

With the ice seemingly broken between the group we spent the next hour talking between ourselves about any topics that came up from our home lives, muggles, family and even pets.

It was there that I finally found out the siblings had received another Snowy owl for their birthday that looked similar to Athena. I tried to keep my responses as simple as I could in order to not make Ron uncomfortable with my wealth as it would make the rest of the train ride awkward.

Ron had also introduced us to his pet ‘Scabbers’ , who was in reality the person who had betrayed Harry and Rose’s parents to Voldemort. It had taken a considerable amount of will on my part to not just kill the rat then and there but I managed.

I did manage to stamp the bastard though while he was still asleep.

When asked about what kind of pet I had seeing the cage empty, I only responded that I had let my owl fly to Hogwarts as she didn’t like being in a cage.

Our friendly conversation was cut off when we heard a commotion outside before the trolley lady slid the door open and asked if we wanted anything. I got up along with Harry and Rose and together we brought back what seemed like half the trolley after giving them a few recommendations on what to get from my memories.

Ron stared at us as we brought it all back to the compartment and tipped it into the empty seats. “Hungry, are you?”

“Starving.” said Harry and Rose at the same time, immediately taking a bite out of a Pumpkin Pastie.

“I’m just stocking up. I heard that you don’t get to visit Hogsmeade until third year.” I responded next, only grabbing a few snacks and putting the rest of them away in my bottomless pouch.

“Hogsmeade?” asked Rose curiously with her brother nodding along with her.

“It’s a wizard village close to Hogwarts which we will be able to visit after third year. It has all sorts of shops and neat places you can visit like Honeydukes which is a popular sweet shop.”

“Wicked.” said Harry and Rose with excited smiles on their faces.

Without saying anything I grabbed a few snacks and passed them along to Ron whose ears turned pink at my action however before he could offer any refusal Harry and Rose joined me and did the same. Ron relented at our combined assault and within minutes we found ourselves chatting again while trying out all the different snacks.

We were once again interrupted when we heard a polite knock on the door before it opened and a blond chubby boy looking all tearful was revealed.

“Sorry,” he said, “but have you seen a toad at all?”

We shook our heads and the boy started to wail. “I’ve lost him! He keeps getting away from me!”

“Cheer up. I’m sure he’ll turn up.” said Rose with Harry and Ron nodding in agreement.

“Don’t worry. All you have to do is find a student from an upper year and have them perform the summoning charm.” I reassured the boy with a smile making the boy look at me in hope.

“R-really? But won’t they think it’s a bother?” asked the boy.

“That’s why your best chance is finding a Prefect. They should be easy to spot, they have a shiny badge on their chest with the letter P on it. It’s their job to help out firsties like us.”

“My brother Percy is a Prefect. You’ll have to find him though, I’ve no idea where he is.” Ron chimed in in support.

“Thanks. I will.” The boy hurriedly left now with a smile on his face.

“That was very kind of you, Aether.” said Rose with a small smile on her face as I got back to my seat.

“I didn’t really do anything, just directed him in the right direction. Besides, the boy looked devastated.” I said with a shrug.

“Do you know any spells other than the one from before?” asked Harry with an excited grin on his face.

Looking at the boy I nodded once and pointed my wand at him, this being the one that Ollivander had made for me with a shard of Maya’s horn, and gently tapped his glasses once making him blink. “Reparo! Good as new.”

Harry slowly pulled his glasses off and inspected them looking amazed at his now repaired spectacles. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” I waved him off. “Let me show you another quite useful charm.” I waved my wand twice this time in Harry and Rose’s direction. “Reducio!”

I watched with some amusement as the siblings exclaimed in surprise as their clothes shrunk until they no longer looked like they were 3 sizes too big.

“There, that’s much better, right? I found this charm in the second year course books. It’s pretty simple to learn if you’re interested.”

“Thanks a lot, Aether.” said Rose gratefully after finishing inspecting her clothes. “D-do you think you could teach it to me? It’s just you seem to be really knowledgeable about a lot of things.” Rose suddenly got flustered and turned her head away.

“O-only if you want to, of course!”

“Sure, I don’t mind.” I said with a smile making her look at me in surprise before a smile broke out on her face. 

‘Seems I will need to buy Educational Talent and the Don’t Stand so Close to Me perks as soon as possible.’ I thought privately.

“Than-

Her response was drowned out by the sound of the door being pulled open again before a girl with bushy brown hair popped in.

“Has anyone seen a toad? Neville’s lost one.” she said in a bossy sounding voice.

“He already stopped by here. I told him to find an older student to have them summon it for him.” I said, silently inspecting Hermione.

‘She’s cute. Though she could use a haircut, all that hair is doing her a disservice as it hides her face.’

Looking around at everyone else, Ron and Harry looked taken aback at the girl and her abrupt entry. Rose on the other hand looked a little annoyed at her interruption.

“Why didn’t I think of that?” Hermione exclaimed, slapping her hand gently to her forehead before taking on a curious expression. “And a spell you say? I never read about any spell like that in the 1st year course books. Are you from a different year? I’m Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?” said Hermione, speaking very fast while taking a seat next to Harry much to his and Ron’s mounting confusion.

“I’m Ron Weasley.” said Ron with a mutter.

“Rose Potter.” said Rose next in a monotone voice dropping all pretense at hiding her annoyance for the girl.

“Harry Potter.” said Harry.

“Are you really?” exclaimed Hermione before launching into a tirade about all the books she had read about him and even asking him bluntly if he had any relation to Rose. When she received a slow nod from him, she continued talking nonstop for a few more minutes about Hogwarts, classes, Houses and a number of other things before abruptly standing up and leaving, though not before telling us to change into our robes.

‘Well, what do you know? She does speak rather fast.’