Myst at Hogwarts Part 4

Myst plastered a fake scowl on his face as he carefully edged around the perfume aisle and made his way over to the cosmetics department.

“Are you lost?” the twenty something clerk asked as Myst walked over to her.

“I wish,” Myst muttered darkly trying to make it sound like he was more annoyed than he actually felt. “I have to go to a stupid wedding and my ‘aunt’ doesn’t want the pictures ruined by my scar.” He gestured at his lightning bolt scar.

“In other words you need to cover it up,” she replied as she tried to judge what shade of makeup he’d need.

“I’m also not all that sure how to apply it,” Myst admitted.

The clerk grinned as she gestured toward the chair in front of the mirror. “Take a seat, I’ll see if I can walk you through the process.”

“Thank you,” Myst said in relief. The closest he’d come to learning to put on makeup was for drama club back in high school and he wanted to make sure his scar wasn’t visible when he got to Hogwarts, mostly because he wanted to screw with everyone’s perception. If everyone realized the stories about his scar were ‘wrong’, maybe they’d realize that the rest of the stories were wrong and give him some peace and quiet. 

He wasn’t expecting much but the look on Dumbledore’s face should be worth the hassle of putting makeup on for a week or two until everyone ‘knew’ that he didn’t have a scar. After that he could probably cover his scar with his hair without too much trouble. He smiled as he looked in the mirror and couldn’t tell where his scar was. “You’re an angel, you know that right?”

She laughed as she handed him the tiny sample sized container of concealer. “On the house, that should be enough for a couple days.”

“Thanks, you’re the best,” Myst said with a smile.

“Just tell your family where you got it and how well it worked,” she teased.

“Don’t worry, I’ll sing your praises and I’ll also take a container of it. It’ll come in useful for all the photos I’m going to be in,” Myst assured her wanting to insure he had a decent supply for when he was at Hogwarts and couldn’t get more. 

After paying he headed for the children’s department. He wasn’t particularly happy about how long it took him to find clothes that weren’t in a stupidly bright color or didn’t scream, ‘Look at that cute kid!’ He felt an unnatural amount of satisfaction when he found a stack of simple black t-shirts that didn’t make him look overly childish.

While he wasn’t an expert when it came to fashion, he doubted anyone in the normal world would consider his clothes out of place or even give him a second look. He would have picked up a jacket to complete the image but it was the middle of summer and his duster worked well enough in both worlds that he wasn’t going to bother. He finished paying for his purchases then headed for the market across the street. He wasn’t sure where Nana shopped for their food but he was getting rather tired of butterbeer and wanted to stock up on soda and various other trade goods for the year before he had to meet Remus for his last lesson before he got on the Hogwarts express in the morning.

0o0o0

Myst smirked as he watched a sixteen or seventeen year old girl old casually step backwards through the wall between platform Nine and Ten carrying a suitcase. ‘Better than running at it like an idiot.’ He reached out and touched the barrier then watched as his hand sunk into the wall with a hint of resistance. ‘I guess that makes more sense than an illusion if Dobby could solidify it.’ He stepped through the wall and kept walking toward the bright red train as he looked around the station at the students and parents wandering about.

He smiled slightly as he watched a twelve or thirteen year old girl hug her parents then hurry toward the train. He smirked as a fifteen year old boy got hugged by his mother despite his protests. ‘I don’t think I would have enjoyed going to a boarding school if it wasn’t magic.’

Myst made his way to the middle of the train and claimed the last empty compartment near the bathrooms. He flopped down on the comfortable bench next to the window and took The Standard Book of Spells out of his pocket and started reading back through it to make sure he understood everything while he waited for Hermione to show up.

Thankfully he didn’t have to wait all that long before the door opened and Hermione walked into the compartment. He smiled at his bushy haired friend as she walked over and sat down across from him. “I see you made it through the barrier of doom.”

“It wasn’t that bad though I did have to hold my parents hands before they could focus on it,” Hermione replied as she started taking books out of her bag.

“Yeah, that would be the muggle repelling charms, wizards love tossing up everywhere. I’m looking forward to learning how to enchant secret passages like that for when I build my tower.”

Hermione shook her head. “You do realize that not every wizard lives in a tower, right?”

“You’re crushing my hopes and dreams here,” Myst replied dramatically.

“If that was serious, I think you need to work on your acting skills,” she said with a grin.

“Ouch, you wound me,” Myst replied melodramatically as he clutched his chest.

Hermione looked down her nose at Myst. “That was horrible,” she said the corners of her mouth twitching as she tried not to smile.

“Sorry, that’s what happens when I spend the summer by myself reading a bunch books on magic so that I can acquire the secrets of the universe,” Myst teased.

“Did you find anything particularly interesting?” Hermione asked, curious how far he’d gotten in his reading.

“What about magic isn’t interesting? I figured out how to repair things and change a mouse or rat into a bronze snuff box, which means that I can probably sell the boxes for pocket change if I need to.”

“That sounds useful. I’ve been working on trying to get wingardium leviosa to work.”

Myst set his book down on the table with a grin then pulled his wand out of his holster and pointed it at the book. “Wingardium leviosa,” he said as he flicked his wand at the book.

Hermione grinned as he book floated off the table a couple of inches. “Nice, can you tell me what I’m doing wrong?”

“I can try,” Myst offered as the door opened and he saw a redhead in hand-me-down clothes poke his head in.

“You can cast a levitation charm already?” Ron asked in surprise as he stepped into the compartment.

“Sure, wingardium leviosa, didn’t you ever see your parents do it?” Myst asked, curious if there was a reason that Ron was as clueless as he was.

“Sure, they don’t actually say the words though,” Ron complained. “The only charms I know the incantations for are cooking charms and some cleaning charms. And a spell to turn my rat strange colors, but I’m fairly sure that’s not a real spell considering it came from my brothers and they’re pranksters.”

“The cooking and cleaning spells sound useful,” Myst replied as he glanced at Ron’s rat. “I’ve been reading through the books, trying to get a handle on things.”

“Why? We have all year,” Ron replied, looking dubiously at Harry. 

“I asked around the bookstore. If we can’t do the practical work in class, we have to do essays for homework. I’d rather read the book a couple times and practice so I can write less essays. It might take more work now, but it will save us hours and hours of makework later. Plus, lots of hand cramps that I don’t want to deal with. So yeah, I’m reading ahead now so I can be lazy later. Besides, magic is awesome!”

Hermione wrinkled her nose at Myst. “Lazy?”

Myst shrugged. “I don’t like quills, the less I have to use them the better, that’s why I have a pen for taking notes.”

“Let’s see some magic,” Ron said, curious what else he knew.

“I know an awesome spell that works on rats, can I borrow yours?” Myst asked, smiling slightly as Scrabbers snored rather loudly for a rodent.

“It’s not going to hurt him, right?” Ron asked, slightly concerned about his pet.

“It hasn’t hurt anything else I’ve tried it on,” Myst replied as he pointed his wand at Scabbers. He whispered the incantation for changing a mouse to a snuff box as he waved his wand. He hid his smirk as Scabbers changed into a smooth bronze box. “Sweet, we have a box.”

Ron stared in shock at the box he was holding. “What did you do?!”

“He’s a box, it’s perfectly reversible, plus he won’t get hungry or thirsty like that.”

Hermione shook her head. “Can you reverse it?”

“Sure, no problem.” Myst waved his wand at the box as he said the incantation to reverse the transformation without pushing any magic into it. “Huh, that should have worked.”

“Try again?” Ron asked concerned for his pet.

Myst tried again with much the same results. “I guess that’s why we need teachers?” he offered with a shrug.

“Don’t worry McGonagall has a mastery in transfiguration, she can fix this in her sleep,” Hermione reassured him.

“How do you know that?” Ron asked.

“I watched her turn into a cat when she explained things to my parents; they were curious about her qualifications.”

“So yeah, don’t worry, he’ll be right as rain when we get to Hogwarts,” Myst lied, planning on making sure that McGonagall checked to see why the counterspell didn’t work which should reveal the fact that he was an animagus, if the book on animagi was correct about transfiguration requiring specific spells when dealing with transfigured animagi as opposed to normal animals.

Ron sighed as he realized she probably had a point about McGonagall, he was sure he’d heard the twins complaining about her being their Transfiguration Professor. “Fine. Who are you anyways?”

“I’m Harry James and this is the lovely Hermione Granger…” Myst trailed off as the door opened revealing a blond haired eleven year old with an underaged troll on either side of him. “Hello, something we can do for you?”

“I heard a rumor that Harry Potter was on the train,” Draco said as he studied the three people in the compartment.

“Harry James, pleased to meet you, this is Hermione Granger and…” Myst trailed off as he looked at Ron. “You never actually did give your name.”

“Hand me down robes and red hair, must be a Weasley,” Draco said snidely.

“At least I don’t have to buy my friends,” Ron said, causing Draco to sputter.

“Did you have to pay them or are they following you around because they think you’re funny?” Myst asked ‘innocently’ as he glanced between the three boys standing in the doorway trying and failing to look intimidating. Draco’s attitude grated on his nerves in the worst way and made him throw aside the idea of not making any enemies before they got to Hogwarts.

“Do you know who I am?” Draco demanded puffing up.

“Rude, dismissive, and obnoxious,” Myst replied, “definitely someone lower class trying to appear better than they are. At least that’s my first impression.” 

“I’m Draco Malfoy and when my father hears about this-” Draco snapped.

“He’ll be more disappointed in you than he already is? You started running your mouth without even knowing who you were talking to. Anyone with a lick of common sense would have verified who they were talking to before they opened their gob and started making enemies. So, given your previous behavior, do you think I actually give a tinker’s damn about who your father is, you inbred swamp twat?!”

“Do you know how powerful my father is?!” Draco demanded.

“As a matter of fact, I know exactly who your father is, I did my research, he’s a Death Eater that bribed his way out of prison by claiming to be mentally inferior and the court readily accepted it.”

Draco sputtered, unable to speak.

Myst snorted. “If he actually cared about your future and wellbeing, you’d have been trained in how to deal with people of differing social classes in a manner befitting a gentleman, but he didn’t so fuck off!”

Ron laughed as the two thugs pulled Draco out of the compartment. “That was brilliant!”

Hermione shook her head, deciding not to comment about the use of foul language as she didn’t want to alienate her only friend and the blond ponce really did deserve it. It also helped that it was imaginative and not a simple recitation of foul language. “Are you sure that was wise? I read about the Death Eaters, they were insane murderers.”

“Probably not,” Myst admitted, “but I did enough research to know about who and what I was likely to run into before deciding to go to Hogwarts and anything the Malfoys would do in response is something they would do simply because I exist. So, it really doesn’t change anything except to let Draco know I won’t take any crap from him and really that’s the only way to deal with bullies anyway.”

Ron glanced at the table Hermione had stacked a bunch of books. “Ron.”

“Nice to meet you, I’m Harry and this is the lovely Hermione,” Myst said once more. “Okay let’s work on your wand handling,” he said moving behind her once she stood up. “Take the wand in your right hand and I’ll help guide you.”

Ron noticed the light blush on her face and felt uncomfortable, it reminded him far too much of when the twins had female friends over and he’d get pranked for not making himself scarce. “I just wanted to say hi, see you around.”

“Right, see you around and we can talk to Professor McGonagall after the feast about your rat,” Myst offered. He smiled when Ron turned and left to find an empty compartment, taking his trunk with him. ‘Sorry Ron but I plan on burning through the material and you’d never keep up.’

Hermione let Myst guide her through the casting motions a couple times until she got the spell right. “Thanks,” she said finding it had been quite helpful though a bit distracting being held like that.

“Any time,” Myst replied as the door opened. ‘I really should have locked the door.’

“Is there room for one more?” Neville asked hopefully, half expecting them to say no.

“Of course, come in and take a load off,” Myst said as he reluctantly stepped away from Hermione so that he could help Neville put his trunk in the overhead compartment. “How much of the books have you read?”

“I’ve read a couple chapters from most of my books and most of One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore,” Neville explained as he helped Myst stuff his trunk in the overhead compartment.

Hermione smiled as she pulled her copy of the herb and fungi book out of her bag, in case she needed to reference it. “It was really interesting.”

“I haven’t gotten all the way through that one,” Myst admitted as he used his foot to make sure the door was closed before Neville’s toad could escape. “I was mostly working on the books with spells and potions. Oh, right, practical, that reminds me, I’m Harry James and this is the lovely Hermione Granger.”

“Neville Longbottom,” Neville replied, still not sure he was in the right place.

“What’s your favorite book so far?” Hermione asked, trying not to blush from the way Harry was treating her.

“I like plants,” Neville admitted in a voice barely above a whisper.

“Nothing wrong with magical plants,” Myst replied as the train started moving. He reached over and locked the door, not wanting to deal with interruptions.

0o0o0

Myst frowned at Neville’s wand as he failed to levitate the candy wrapper he was pointing it at. “Your wand looks a little worn, like it’s seen some heavy use.”

“It was my father’s wand,” Neville said defensively.

“I spent some time with Ollivander discussing wands and they can get burned out if they are pushed too hard.”

“Really? None of the books mentioned that happening,” Hermione complained.

“It’s usually only ever seen in wands used by aurors’ and hitwizards.” He was reasonably sure it wasn’t impossible for someone to burn out a wand though he couldn’t think of any actual cases from the books. “Was your father an auror?”

“Both of my parents were aurors,” Neville admitted.

“In that case, try casting with mine,” Myst offered as he held out his wand. “You might get better results.”

Neville transferred his father’s wand to his left hand then grabbed the offered wand and pointed it at the candy wrapper. “Wingardium Leviosa,” he said as he swished the wand at the candy wrapper. He stared in disbelief as the candy wrapper shot up into the air then fell back to the table as he stopped concentrating on the spell. “It worked…”

“Of course it worked,” Myst said as he clapped Neville on the back. “Try a couple more spells. I suggest Lumos.”

“Lumos!” Neville blinked as Myst’s wand glowed brightly.

“Awesome,” Myst congratulated him. “You’re on a roll,” he encouraged, hoping that he’d be able to convince Neville to get a wand that wasn’t horribly mismatched or possibly burned out. He wasn’t sure why Neville’s wand was horrible, he just knew it didn’t work for shit for Neville. He sat down and watched Neville run through a couple more spells before Neville handed his wand back. “See, you just need a different wand.”

“Grams is going to blow her top,” Neville complained. 

“Talk to your head of house, they should be able to explain the need for a new wand to your grandmother. Worst case, I’ll lend you the galleons and we can talk McGonagall into letting us go to Hogsmeade to get you a new wand.”

“You’d do that?” Neville asked in surprise.

“Sure, friends are hard to come by and you seem like a decent sort,” Myst assured Neville.

“Thanks mate,” Neville replied as a voice echoed through the train, “We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes’ time. Please leave your luggage on the train it will be taken to the school separately.”

Hermione nodded. “We should get changed. I’ll use the restroom if you want to change in here.”

Myst rolled his eyes as he took his duster off then pulled his robes out of his bag and pulled them on over his head. “There, done.”

“Boys,” Hermione muttered.

“What? They’re work robes, I’m wearing clothes under them in case I have to toss them because of potions, miscast spells or fire.”

Hermione raised her eyebrows. “Fire?”

“We’re in a magic school,” Myst replied, thinking of Seamus’ tendency to set things on fire in the books. “Besides, we’re in Scotland, it’s not exactly the warmest region of the world,” he reminded her as he helped Neville get his trunk down so he could get his robes.

“Point,” Hermione admitted as she dug her robes out of her bag. “Any idea which house you’ll end up in?”

“Not really, I’m going to try for Gryffindor but I’ll be happy as long as I don’t get stuck in Slytherin.”

“People like Malfoy aside, they can’t all be that bad,” Hermione’s said, her voice a bit muffled as she pulled her robes over her head.

“For most people, not so much, for me, just a bit…” Myst trailed off not sure how to explain that he hadn’t been entirely forthcoming about his last name.

“Is this because you weren’t raised in the wizarding world?” Hermione asked.

“That and because I sort of left off a name when I introduced myself,” Myst admitted sheepishly.

“Left off a name, Harry James…” Hermione trailed off then stared at Myst as she connected the dots. “Potter, you’re Harry Potter?”

Myst bowed dramatically. “Harry James Potter at your service.”

Neville raised his eyebrows. “Where’s your scar?”

“Under about a pound of muggle makeup,” Myst replied smugly as he combed his hair back with his fingers, wanting the fact that his scar was missing to be blatantly obvious when he got sorted.

“Why go to the trouble?” Hermione asked. “It’s not like you’ll be able to hide it forever.”

“I don’t have to hide my scar forever, just long enough for people to reconsider what they think they know. They’ve built The Boy That Lived up into a legend with their insane stories and books. I figured if I walked into Hogwarts without my famous scar, people would have to question the stories and maybe I’d get some peace and quiet.”

Neville adjusted his robes. “I think you’re underestimating how famous you are and how crazy the wizarding world is.”

“Probably but it’s worth a shot. Either way, I wanted to tell you before we walked into Hogwarts and they announced my name.” Myst stuffed his duster in his bag.

“For the best,” Hermione agreed, knowing she would have been upset if he hadn’t told her before they got to Hogwarts.

Myst smiled as the train came to a stop, distracting everyone from the previous topic. “This is the start of a glorious adventure.”

“I’m not sure I’m cut out for adventure,” Neville muttered as they made their way off the train.

0o0o0