(Arcane Tinker) Chapter 11: A Scholarly Welcome

Chapter 11: A Scholarly Welcome

1st September 1991, London

His reply was cut off by a loud whistle, and the train slowly started to move. They were officially on their way to Hogwarts, and Dean would be lying if he said that he wasn’t excited about going to magic school.

Their compartment turned surprisingly quiet when the train moved. It was probably the fact that everyone was pretty nervous about going to Hogwarts. Dean couldn’t exactly blame them; he was nervous, too. This was another change in environment right after he started to really get settled in the orphanage, and it wasn’t really a good feeling to keep moving around.

At least, Dean expected the change and had prepared himself for it. He didn’t know much about Sally-Anne’s and Lisa’s pasts – they never talked about what happened before the orphanage as an unspoken rule – but he could say that the orphanage provided a bit of a safe haven from the rest of the world, which they were now just plunged into without a second’s thought.

As the train station started to move away, he saw dozens of parents waving to their children, and he couldn’t help but feel a bit of envy and grief. He wondered if his mother would have been there waving back at him, too, if she were still alive. Maybe she wouldn’t have. The only reason Dean had activated his magic was his grief and fear after his mother’s death. It was a hard thing to set aside. Every spell he cast, every trick he learned, every achievement he would get would be built on that simple fact.

He didn’t know how people lived with that.

His silent musing was interrupted by Lisa asking a question: “Do you think we’ll get to see Neville Longbottom?”

Dean shrugged, “Probably, given that he’ll be in our year. It would be weird if we didn’t get to see him. Hopefully, it’ll be a bit quieter this time, because this is seriously ridiculous.”

He was, of course, talking about the small army of reporters right outside the Hogwarts Express. Apparently, the Aurors were called, but he wasn’t really sure if they did anything. All he could see from his compartment was the flashes of light from the photographers and some yelling. Dean didn’t know much about the boy who lived. The orphanage didn’t really waste gold on some badly written children’s books that were pure fantasy. Still, a few of the older students tended to gift them to the younger ones, who weirdly seemed to like them.

Still, Sally-Anne became weirdly animated, “Do you think he’ll talk to us? Do you think he remembers killing Voldemort? Do you think he’s been trained by Dumbledore since he was a kid?”

Even in a pretty isolated community of orphans, Neville Longbottom was still one of Britain’s biggest celebrities. If someone asked Dean, fiction book or not, it just felt wrong to just worship the ground some kid walked on, defeater of Voldemort or not. It set a lot of expectations that he didn’t think were realistic, which would do nothing but cause a lot of pain in the long run. Sally-Anne’s frankly insane questions proved this.

Dean decided not to put down her expectations much, “I don’t know. I think since he’ll be our classmate, we’re bound to interact in some way. I also wouldn’t ask about that night. He was either too young or he remembers his parents dying. You won’t get an answer either way.”

The shy girl deflated as well, but whatever she was going to say next was interrupted by someone knocking on the compartment door. It opened, revealing a pretty exhausted boy with black hair, green eyes, and glasses. Dean stiffened as he recognised the description slightly. Of course, that was when the boy spoke up, “Hey, I’m Harry Potter. My compartment got too crowded with people wanting to see Neville. Do you mind if I stay here a bit?”

He wanted to refuse. He wanted nothing to do with him or Longbottom. Unfortunately, Lisa perked up, “Sure. We have room. I’m Lisa Turpin. This is Sally-Anne Perks and Dean Thomas. We’re from Willowbrook.”

That made the boy stiffen slightly. “The orphanage?”

Dean simply nodded, “Yep. Nice place.”

“I’m sorry. It’s just that not a lot of people talk about it. I think they’re ashamed of something. What’s it like?” the boy retorted.

“It’s pretty cool,” Lisa gushed, “The matrons are nice, most of them at least, and we can do whatever we want as long as we don’t make a ruckus. The entire village is magical, so we can just go out there whenever we want, but we can’t use any magic outside the orphanage. And now that we’re going to Hogwarts, we can go to Diagon Alley too.”

“You’re lucky. I live in Godric’s Hollow. It’s super boring there, and only half of the people are wizards or witches.”

Dean, though, wasn’t really enthused by the reply: “Are you saying that we’re lucky that we don’t have any parents?”

The boy spluttered, “No, of course not… What I meant was... I wanted to... Come on, can’t you give me a break here?”

Dean raised an unimpressed stare, which got the boy to wilt even further. Lisa hit Dean in the shoulder, glaring at him, “Dean, stop that. We all know that he didn’t mean any harm.”

He simply shrugged in reply, and the Potter boy affirmed this, “Yeah, I was just talking about the place, not about the fact that you are orphans.”

“Sure, you were,” Dean drawled.

“Stop being mean,” Lisa exclaimed.

Dean rolled his eyes but nodded in agreement. The girl turned towards Potter and asked, “So, we were just talking about houses. What house do you want to get into?”

“Oh, I’m a Gryffindor boy, of course, just like my parents.”

“They were both in Gryffindor?”

The green-eyed boy nodded, “Yes. Dad was actually captain of the Quidditch team back in school. He swears he could have done that professionally, but he chose to become an Auror. He’s actually an Auror captain now, and Mum’s an enchantress.”

“Dean’s an enchanter, too, you know. He still hasn’t found his speciality yet,” Lisa revealed.

“Seriously? Shame about the specialisation thing, but it’s kinda normal, according to mum at least. Still, you’re practically guaranteed a job after graduation, no matter what your specialisation ends up being. I’m an elemental myself. I can make bursts of wind around me. It took a while, but I can pretty much walk on air now.”

“Wait a minute,” Sally-Anne suddenly interjected, “You can fly?”

“Well, it’s more like hopping through the air and gliding down more than anything. I can’t exactly stay stationary in mid-air, unfortunately.”

The boy had muttered that last part, but Lisa didn’t seem to care, “I bet it’s really fun though. All I have is this telekinetic invisible hand that I can control.”

“It is pretty fun to play Quidditch without a broom, but I get tired very quickly,” he then turned to Sally-Anne, “What about you? I know Dean’s an enchanter, Lisa’s an elemental, what’s you’re magic, Sally-Anne?”

“I’m a Warder. I can make a place around me hard to notice,” the timid girl replied in a small tone.

“That’s perfect for making pranks. You guys are so cool!”

Lisa preened, “We are, aren’t we?”

Dean rolled his eyes and decided to change the subject. “Anyway, I’m curious as to how you know Neville Longbottom.”

The boy simply shrugged, “I don’t, not really. Our parents were friends before, you know... I went to his house a few times when we were children, until some Death Eater was able to break in somehow. Ever since then, his grandmother hasn’t allowed anyone into their home or let Neville leave. My parents told me to hang out with him and introduced us again at the station. We sat in the same compartment, but the moment people started to talk to him, he forgot all about me. I got annoyed after a while and decided to leave. I don’t even have my trunk on me. I’ll probably have to go back and get it when we stop.”

Lisa leaned forward, “So, what’s he like?”

“He acted like a bit of a prat at the start, but he mellowed out after we talked about Herbology. I have no idea why, but he’s weirdly into plants of all things. It might be his magic, but that’s just me guessing. Like I said, I don’t know him that well.”

Dean rolled his eyes. “He’s a guy our age and a national celebrity, probably hailed as a hero. How do you expect him to act?”

“He did get along pretty well with that weird redhead fan. I think his name was Russel or something. No. Ronald, maybe. I’m not exactly sure. But by the time I left, half the train had gone to see him.”

Any other reply was interrupted by the trolley lady asking if they wanted anything. Dean didn’t really have the funds to splurge. He wanted to try out the candy, but he was saving up his allowance in case he needed to buy something later. Lisa and Sally-Anne were probably on the same boat. Orphans didn’t really have the privilege of indulging in candy, after all.

Harry seemed to take that as an affront and paid for a small pile of candy for them to share. In Dean’s humble opinion, whoever came up with Bernie Botts's Every-Flavour Beans was insane, and so were the people who actually bought it. Seriously, why would anyone want to eat a grass-flavoured jellybean? To be honest, even the chocolate frogs creeped him out. There was no reason to animate the frogs. It was just disturbing, even if the cards were pretty cool.

All in all, the ride to Hogwarts was pretty calm. Unlike the stories, Hermione Granger didn’t barge into the compartment looking for some toad, not that there would be one, since he didn’t think Neville would have one. Draco Malfoy didn’t come in trying to intimidate them.

It was just a train ride with four people, just talking to each other. Dean found Harry to be a kind boy, if a little mischievous and outgoing, probably due to his father’s influence on him. In the books, James Potter was a known prankster after all. The boy was also obsessed with Quidditch and spent a good hour bragging about how good he was and his favourite team, Puddlemere United.

Dean hadn’t known what to expect from Harry Potter, but he was just a normal boy his age. To be completely fair, he wasn’t the boy who lived and didn’t have a scar on his forehead. He didn’t have some obscure destiny of defeating an immortal dark lord, or anything like that, and the boy looked better for it.

In what felt like the blink of an eye, the sky had gotten darker, and the train conductor announced that they were five minutes away. Deciding to let the girls change first, Dean got out of the compartment alongside Harry, who quickly went to get his trunk from his former compartment. When it was their turn, he grumbled, “I don’t know how I’ll wear that damned robe every day.”

Harry chuckled in response, “You aren’t. Robes are kinda out of fashion as daily wear. They’re really only used for events and stuff. Mum told me that we’ll only have to wear ours during the feasts or if some big events are being hosted in the castle. Other than that, we only have to wear our uniforms, which are more or less normal clothes.”

The boy had a point. Their school uniforms, other than the cloak, hat, and robes, wouldn’t really be out of place in a normal posh boarding school. They were pretty stuffy, but not anything really serious. Still, he felt ridiculous while wearing that pointy hat.

With that done, Dean noticed that the Potter boy was oddly silent and had a nervous look on his face. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing. I’m just worried about the sorting.”

“Why would you be worried?” Dean asked, confused.

“You wouldn’t get it. My father always bragged about being a Gryffindor. He practically painted my room red and gold. What if I don’t end up there?”

“Look, I don’t know your parents, but while they might be disappointed if you don’t follow in their footsteps, from how you described them, I don’t think they’ll be angry at you or anything. It’s just a house, in the end. It doesn’t really change anything about who you are.”

The boy didn’t look very convinced, but he was less fidgety than before.

Finally, the train stopped, and they stepped down, leaving their trunks in their compartment. Before he could even wander where they were supposed to go, he heard a loud voice, "Firs'-years! Firs'-years over here!"

He turned and saw a giant man holding a lantern, and Dean smiled to himself. It was time for his magical adventure to truly begin.

AN: Like the other AT chapters so far, this isn’t part of the weekly schedule. Tomorrow will be an EM chapter, like you guys chose in the last poll. I mostly uploaded this chapter on a whim, more than anything, and also to tell you all about the poll I’m planning to make tomorrow. I decided to make a poll every 2 weeks, so that you’d vote on what you’d like to see for that duration. There will be more details on it tomorrow.

As for this chapter, I decided to make Harry Potter a friend of Dean’s. It’s mostly because his presence, as well as his parents’ survival, could open the door to a lot of storylines in the future. As usual, I don’t mind rewriting this depending on your feedback, so please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions.