Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone: Chapter 6 - Platform 9 3/4
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Chapter 6
Platform 9 3/4
Harry spends the next month with the Dursleys. Dudley is now afraid of Harry, and Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia pretend Harry does not exist. It is a very depressing month for Harry. But he stays in his room with his new owl for company. He names her Hedwig, a name he discovers in his book “A History of Magic”. Each lonely day, Harry checks off a box on his calendar - he can’t wait until September the first, the first day of school at Hogwarts!
On his last night with the Dursleys, he convinces Uncle Vernon to take him to the train station the next day. He seems very happy to take him there. It is obvious that the Dursleys do not want him in their house any longer.
The next day, when they arrive at the train station, Harry has no idea what to do or where to go. There is no platform nine and three-quarters! He asks several guards, but they laugh at him and think he is crazy. Harry begins to feel desperate! He tries not to panic when the large clock in the train station says he only has ten minutes before his train leaves. Has Hagrid forgotten to tell me something about the train or the platform, he thinks. Do I have to tap something with an umbrella?
At that moment, a group of people pass by Harry, and he hears some of their conversation:
“...the station is full of Muggles, of course…”
Harry looks quickly at the woman who is talking. She is talking to four boys. All of them have red hair the color of fire! Each of them has a trunk like Harry’s, and there is an owl with them!! Harry begins to follow them, pushing his cart with his trunk. When they stop, he stops and listens to what they are saying.
“Now, boys, what’s the platform number again?” asks the mother.
“Nine and three-quarters,” answers a small girl, who is holding her mother’s hand. “Mommy, I want to go, too!”
“You’re not old enough yet, Ginny. All right, Percy, you go first.”
A tall boy, probably the oldest of the four, walks towards a barrier between platforms nine and ten. Harry watches and tries not to close his eyes. He does not want to miss anything. The boy is about to reach the barrier and suddenly, a group of tourists walks in front of him. When they are gone, the boy is gone, too!
“Fred, your turn,” the mother says.
“I’m not Fred, I’m George,” says the boy. “I can’t believe you call yourself our mother! I know we’re twins, but you still can’t tell us apart?”
“Sorry, George, dear.”
“I’m just joking, mother! I am Fred!” says the boy as he walks with his twin brother towards the platform barrier. One moment the boys are there, and then suddenly they are not! They have disappeared completely! But Harry cannot see how they do it. He finds some courage and approaches the mother.
“Excuse me,” Harry says to the woman.
“Hello, dear,” she says. “Is this your first time at Hogwarts? Ron is new, too.” She points to her last and youngest son. He is tall and thin, with freckles, big hands and big feet, and a long nose. “You don’t know how to find the platform, do you, dear. It’s easy enough. Just walk through the barrier between nine and ten. Don’t stop and don’t be scared. You can run through, if you’re nervous. That might help you. Go ahead, go before Ron.” Harry looks at her, a bit confused, “Okay,” he answers.
Pushing his cart with his trunk on it, he walks towards the barrier. People around him bump into him as he walks. The barrier gets closer and closer. He will hit the barrier for sure, he thinks! He begins to run, the cart is out of control now. He closes his eyes…the barrier is right there…then it is not!
He opens his eyes, and there, next to the platform is a big red train. There is a sign over the platform that reads Hogwarts Express, eleven O’clock. Harry looks behind him where the barrier is supposed to be, but there is a sign that says Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. He has found the platform!
There are children of all kinds on the platform, with owls flying everywhere in the smoke from the train, and cats of all colors walking between the people’s legs. He pushes his heavy cart towards an empty train car. He finds an empty compartment and sits down.
As he looks out the window, the door to the compartment slides open. Ron, the boy with fire-red hair comes in. “Is anyone sitting there? The whole train is full.” “No,” answers Harry, “no one is sitting there.” The redheaded boy sits down and looks at Harry. Then he looks at him more closely. “Are you…you are, aren’t you?”
“Who?” asks Harry.
“Harry Potter!” he says.
“Oh, him,” says Harry, feeling embarrassed, “yes, I’m him.”
“Is that…the scar? Wow! So, that’s where…You-Know-Who did…you-know-what?”
“Yes,” says Harry, “but I can’t remember anything. Just a dream, a green light, and nothing else. Are you all wizards in your family?” Harry asks Ron quickly - he wants to change the subject.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t introduce myself. I’m Ron Weasley. Those other boys you saw are my brothers. Percy’s the oldest, and Fred and George are twins,” says Ron, feeling embarrassed for being so rude. “Yes, my family is full of wizards and witches. I’m the sixth in my family to go to Hogwarts. This is my first year, and everybody loves all my brothers. I think everyone has a lot of expectations for me. I’m not sure what’s going to happen. All I know is that I don’t have anything that’s new for me - all I have are my older brothers’ things. This wand and even Scabbers here.”
At that moment, Ron reaches into his pocket and takes out an old, fat gray rat that looks more dead than alive. “All he does is sleep. He’s almost useless!”
“Well, until Hagrid told me, I didn’t know anything about magic, or Hogwarts or anything! You’re lucky. I’m probably going to be the worst in the class.”
“You won’t be, Harry! There are lots of new students, and you’ll learn quick, I’m sure!” Harry doesn’t know if he believes Ron, but he feels a little better.
As they are talking, the train begins to leave the station and take them out of London.
After some time, Ron says, “Watch this!” He takes out the old wand his older brother has given him. “I’ve been practicing a magic trick. I’ve been trying to turn my rat yellow, but I’ve been having some difficulty.” He waves his wand and is about to say some magic words when the compartment door slides open. There is a girl in the doorway. She is already wearing her new Hogwarts robes. “Has anyone seen a frog? One of the other boys has lost his.” She has lots of bushy hair and a very bossy voice.
“We haven’t seen one,” answers Ron, holding his wand in the air. “Are you doing magic?” the girl asks. “Let’s see it, then.” She comes in and sits down without asking. Ron is shocked! “Er…all right,” he says. He clears his throat and begins, “Sunshine and daisies and butter mellow, turn this stupid, fat rat yellow!” He waves his wand over the rat, but nothing happens! The rat is still asleep, it is still fat, and it is still gray.
“That’s not a very good spell, is it?” asks the girl in her bossy voice. “I’ve tried a few spells, just to practice, and they have all worked for me, and nobody in my family is magic at all. I’m Hermione Granger, by the way. Who are you?” She says all this very fast.
“I’m Ron Weasley,” Ron answers in a low voice. “Harry Potter,” says Harry. “Are you really?” says Hermione. “I know all about you, you know. I bought some extra books, just to be prepared, and you’re in ‘Modern Magical History’ and in ‘The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts’ and in ‘Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century’.” “Am I?” asks Harry in amazement.
“Of course you are! Do either of you know what house you’ll be in? I hope I’m in Gryffindor. It sounds like it is the best house. They say Dumbledore was in Gryffindor when he was studying at Hogwarts. But Ravenclaw sounds good, too. Anyway, we need to look for Neville’s frog that he lost. And you two should change into your Hogwarts clothes - we’ll be there soon.” Hermione stands up quickly and leaves.
Ron leans over towards Harry and says, “Whatever house I’m in, I hope she’s not in it!” Harry and Ron both laugh loudly. “What house are your brothers in?” Asks Harry. “Gryffindor,” answers Ron. “My whole family was in Gryffindor. I’m afraid what they will think if I don’t get in, too. What if they put me in Slytherin!”
At that moment, the door to the compartment slides open. Harry recognizes the boys. They are the boys he has seen on Diagon Alley, the ones saying mean things about Hagrid in Madam Malkin’s robe shop. “Is it true?” the pale boy in the middle says. He appears to be the leader. “They are all saying that Harry Potter is in this compartment. It is you, isn’t it?” “Yes,” says Harry. Harry is looking at the two other boys who are very big. They look like bodyguards.
“Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle,” says the pale boy. “And my name’s Malfoy, Draco Malfoy.” He looks at Ron with a mean look on his face. Then he says to Harry, “You’ll soon discover who the best wizard families are, and it is certainly not the Weasleys, with their red hair and freckles. You don’t want to make friends with the wrong kind of people. I can help you there.” He puts his hand out for Harry to shake it, but Harry does not take Malfoy’s hand.
“I can tell who the wrong kind of people are myself, thanks,” Harry says with more confidence than he feels. “I’d be careful, Potter, if I were you,” Malfoy says slowly and meanly. “You should be more polite or the same thing that happened to your parents might happen to you. They didn’t know what was good for them. If you hang around the losers like the Wesleys or Hagrid, you may learn some bad habits.”
Harry and Ron both stand up. “Say that again,” Ron says, his face is as red as his hair. “Why? Do you think you are going to fight us?” asks Malfoy with a mean look in his eyes. “We’ll fight you, unless you get out of here now!” says Harry. He does not feel like he can win a fight against Malfoy and his “bodyguards”.
“We were leaving anyway,” says Malfoy, “But we’re hungry. Goyle…” Goyle reaches for some of the Chocolate Frogs that are still on the seat, and then screams very loudly!
Scabbers the rat has bitten Goyle’s finger! Goyle swings his hand around and around in pain. Scabbers flies off and hits the window with a thud! The three boys run away in fear. They think there might be more rats in the compartment!
“I hate Malfoy!” says Ron, angrily. “Have you heard about his horrible family?” Harry shakes his head, no. “They used to be on the side of You-Know-Who until he disappeared, then they came back to our side. They say they were bewitched. My dad doesn’t believe them. He says Malfoy’s father doesn’t need an excuse to go to the Dark Side.”
At that moment, the train begins to slow down. There is a voice on the train’s loudspeaker: “Attention! Your attention, please! We will be arriving at Hogwarts in five minutes. Five minutes ‘till we reach Hogwarts. Leave your luggage on the train; it will be taken to the school separately.” The boys quickly put on their wizard robes. Ron’s robe is too short for him. His sneakers stick out from under the robe!
Finally, the train stops, and all the people exit the train onto the dark platform. It is night. The air is cold, and Harry shivers. Then, in the distance there is a light that comes towards the students, and Harry hears the familiar voice carrying the light: “First year students, over here! First years with me! Hello there, Harry?” Hagrid’s big hairy face appears in the yellow light of the lamp.
All the first year students follow Hagrid down a dark path through the trees. After some time, Hagrid says, “You’ll be able to see Hogwarts in just a moment, around this turn in the path.” Then all the students say together, “Oooooooh!” The path opens onto the edge of a large dark lake. In the distance, on the top of a high mountain on the other side of the lake is Hogwarts. It has many windows full of light, with many turrets and towers.
“Everyone, get into one of the boats. No more than four in each boat.” There is a fleet of little boats on the shore of the lake. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville, the boy who has lost the frog, get into a boat together. “Is everyone in?” asks Hagrid “Ok - FORWARD!”
The fleet of little boats moves off at the same time across the lake. The lake is as smooth as glass. Everyone is very quiet. No one talks. They look up at the massive castle above. They pass through a dark tunnel and soon come to an underground harbor. It seems like it is underneath the castle. They get out of the boats and wait on a rocky beach. Hagrid is helping the children when they need it. “Hey, you there!” says Hagrid to one of the boys. “Is this your frog?” Hagrid has found the frog in one of the boats.
“Trevor! Where have you been?” cries Neville happily. He takes the frog from Hagrid and follows the other children as they move up a long passage. The passage leads to a large grass field in the shadow of the castle. “Is everyone here?” asks Hagrid. “Right then!” They follow him up a large flight of stairs to a huge front door made of hard oak wood. Hagrid raises a gigantic hand and knocks three times on the castle door.
