Finding the Right Contacts

The day of George's departure had come and that meant another long journey back down south. Due to Amanda waking the family up bright and early, they were able to set off with Remus and arrive at Central London with an hour to spare before the Hogwarts Express departed. The exhausted family walked into the bustling King's Cross station and was welcomed by the largest train station George had ever seen.

This was still a muggle train station, even though it was used by the wizarding communities each year, so there were many London commuters in suits and ties boarding conventional trains. Unlike at Diagon Alley, most of the Linwoods fitted into the crowd quite well. George was the exception because Amanda had insisted he wore his Hogwarts uniform before boarding the train.

George still had one hour before the Hogwarts Express would leave the station so Amanda decided this would be a perfect opportunity to go and eat something at a cafe whilst they waited. Remus had informed George that there would be a massive banquet when he arrived at Hogwarts, but Amanda was very insistent. She wanted to make sure that George was full before he left.

The family sat at a table outside a cafe as they ate and got distracted watching people going on their daily commute. Remus could feel the tension in the air, so he invented a little game to help the time pass by. He would occasionally point out people in the crowd and ask if they were wizards or not. Dominic and Ellie seemed to find the game quite engaging, but George found it way too easy.

Once it was quarter to eleven, Remus decided this was the right time to go to platform nine and three-quarters. He abruptly stood up, grabbed his coat, and looked back at George's foster parents.

"Are you sure we can't come along to see the train?", Amanda asked whilst already knowing the answer.

Remus looked back at her empathetically, "there is a barrier between the muggle platform and platform nine and three-quarters. It affects muggles' perception so that they don't pay attention to it, and they certainly can't pass through it. It would be best for George to say his goodbyes here where the barrier won't be messing with your heads."

George stood up beside Remus and looked toward his family. None of them looked happy even though they were trying to pretend otherwise, Amanda, in particular, looked like she was about to cry. George decided to indulge her and raised his arms gesturing for a hug. His foster mother didn't hesitate to embrace him and pulled him in tight, George was being suffocated against her chest. His arms weakly flailed about as she squeezed the life out of him. It took Dominic to interfere to separate the two.

Amanda's eyes were watering as she said, "you're going to write home every single week, do you hear me? If so much as one week goes by and I don't receive a letter from your owl, I'll burn your entire book collection and paint your room pink."

Luckily, George had brought all of his important books with him in his enchanted sack so the threat was rather empty. Speaking of which, the sack was currently pressed between his thigh and trousers like a hip flask, its silhouette was neatly hidden against his body.

Dominic gave George some words of advice in his own special way, "take good care of yourself and try to make a few friends. School is not only about learning, it's also about making contacts. Some of my most lucrative deals were with people I met from school, you should never underestimate the benefit a childhood relationship has with a business partner."

Amanda didn't look very impressed as she punched Dominic in the shoulder. He didn't seem to care as he had become desensitised to Amanda's way of correcting him. Finally, George looked toward Ellie and subtly gestured with one hand for her to hand over the owl cage. Ellie only ended up wrapping her arms around the cage tighter as a final form of rebellion.

George's face turned stern as he ordered her, "give me the cage."

Ellie's head turned to one side, she pretended that she didn't hear him. Then Amanda leaned over and whispered something into Ellie's ear, her little face changed to one of shock after hearing what Amanda said. Following that, Ellie practically threw the cage at George, stunning him in the process.

Amanda noticed George's surprise as she explained, "I told Ellie that if she doesn't give you Blinkie, then we would have to get rid of Hoot back at home instead."

Remus picked up George's suitcase, "right then, better be off. You shouldn't worry yourself, George is going to have a great time at Hogwarts. Four months will just fly by, and then you'll get to see him again, so it's not really saying goodbye. It's more like, I'll be seeing you later."

Remus placed one arm on George's shoulder and directed him to walk towards platform nine and three-quarters. George looked over his shoulder and could see that Amanda was now crying while Dominic was holding her hand. Ellie noticed Amanda was getting upset, so she hugged her mother's dress and waved goodbye. George gave his family one last big toothy grin before turning around and heading deeper into the train station with Remus.

Once Remus and George disappeared into the crowd of muggles, they walked across the platforms until they reached the dividing archway between nine and ten. A brick wall roughly five feet wide separated the two platforms.

Remus turned around with a playful expression, "any guesses on how you get to platform nine and three-quarters?"

George didn't provide Remus with an answer, instead, he power-walked directly into the wall headfirst. Remus stepped out of the way in surprise to clear a path for his advance. George instinctively squinted his eyes in anticipation of hitting the wall, but just as he had expected, his body passed right through with no resistance.

In between the muggle platform and nine and three-quarters was a brief dark space that felt like being in a low-pressure environment, not too different from being on a plane. Then George passed through the wall to the other side revealing a completely new platform and the giant red steam engine. A few seconds later, Remus passed through the wall and nearly walked straight into George.

He looked very surprised at George's boldness, "how did you know to walk through the wall?"

George shrugged his shoulders innocently, "I didn't. I just took a chance and it paid off."

Remus chuckled and ruffled Georgie's hair, "I love the confidence, but you're going to have to be a little more careful at Hogwarts. I don't want to hear that you spent a few days in one of Madam Pomfrey's Hospital beds just because you have been walking into walls."

George exaggeratedly faked disapproval, "ye of little faith. What happened to calling me one of the greatest wizards of our time?"

Remus avoided answering the question as he pointed towards the train, "come on now. All the good seats will be taken if you don't get on. You've been enough of a nuisance to me as it is."

They headed towards the train which had many families gathered around wishing their children final farewells.

George turned to Remus to say his goodbyes, "I better get going. You have been a great help, Mr lupin. And in more ways than one if you know what I mean. I don't know what I would have done without you."

Remus waved his hand, "just call me Remus. Calling me Mr Lupin makes me feel like a teacher, and I've had quite enough people nagging me about that. Don't forget to send me those letters, and remember you can always tell Professor Dumbledore if you're struggling with you-know-what. I promise he will understand your situation."

George held out his arm to Remus, "well then. Goodbye Remus. See you in four months."

Remus returned the handshake, "goodbye George. Go and make your family proud."

Remus handed the case over and George boarded the train with his arms full. After one last wave goodbye, George turned around and entered a poorly lit carriage with no windows. There were iron shelves full of cases and trunks on either side of the carriage, and some pets in cages toward the back half. George found an empty spot for his modern case among all the antiques and weighed up what he should do with Blinkie.

The little pest had been trying to escape the cage ever since it had been parted with Ellie. It knew the separation was a bad thing, and it desperately wanted to be reunited with its bountiful supply of treats. If this owl was anywhere near as good as his step-sister at escaping, then it was for the best if he kept it with him at all times.

After leaving the storage carriage, George came back on himself and entered the student compartments. The corridors in these train carriages were very narrow which required him to shimmy sideways every time he wanted to pass a group of excitable first years. He passed plenty of perfectly serviceable seating compartments, but George kept shuffling along.

Each compartment had an open glass door which made it easy to see inside. He stopped once he spotted a girl with bushy ginger hair, she was seated next to the window reading from a book titled 'A beginner's guide to Transfiguration'. Hermione wasn't the only one in this compartment. Opposite her was a feeble little boy with black hair and a chubby face, he had a toad resting beside him.

George knocked on the glass plane to get their attention. Hermione's head lifted from her book as the pair both looked toward him.

George formed his signature friendly smile, "do you two mind if I join you? The other compartments are getting a little full now that the train is about to leave."

The timid boy just shook his head back and forth, but Hermione didn't give an immediate response. Instead, she seemed to have recognised George as she cupped her chin with her hand.

"I swear we've met before. Your voice sounds familiar."

George nodded, "I believe we have Miss Granger. We met over a month ago in Flourish and Blotts bookstore. You were with your parents and Professor Sprout, I believe you were leaving after purchasing some books when we met."

Hermione's eyes widened in realisation as she clicked her fingers together, "ah yes of course. How could I forget? You're that boy who said he could see the future."

George's smile widened as he entered the cabin and held out his hand, "George Linwood. It's a pleasure to meet you again. I see that you're learning about Transfiguration, I would love to compare my thoughts on that subject with you sometime."

Hermione smiled with equal intensity and eloquently shook his hand, "it's a pleasure and I would love to. Transfiguration is such interesting magic, the fact that you can turn an inanimate object into an animated one is unbelievable. I was just reading that more advanced transfiguration can even conjure things from nothing. How could that be even possible? Surely you can't make something from nothing, it's just not scientifically possible."

Since she was doubting the existence of conjuration magic, and George so happened to be particularly gifted in that field, he felt now was a good time to perform a little demonstration. He pulled out his wand and pointed it towards the palm of his left hand.

Then he spoke the magic word, "Incendio!"

A tennis ball-sized blob of flame fell from the tip of the wand onto his palm, the flame held the structural consistency of a water balloon. George grasped the flame, which he was able to squeeze in his hand, and raised it into the air above his head. He tilted his head back, allowing the flame to fall into his mouth, and swallowed it in one gulp. The glow of the flame could be seen travelling down his neck proving that it wasn't an illusion.

He finished his demonstration by blowing out a ring of black smoke from his mouth whilst rubbing his stomach as if he had just devoured a spicy meatball. Once the act had been concluded, George put away his wand and was happy to see that his stunt had the desired effect. Hermione seemed to be completely in awe at what he'd just accomplished, her mouth was open, but no words came out.

The feeble boy was the first to speak, "that was awesome. Can you show me how to do that?"

George looked towards the boy with an empathetic smile, but surprisingly, Hermione didn't even give him the chance to speak.

She practically yelled, "Neville, do you have any idea what he just did!? That was Conjuration magic, it's a very advanced form of Transfiguration. It's only taught to sixth years and above."

Neville cowered away from Hermione as she loudly explained the difficulty of George's spell.

Hermione looked back at George and demanded, "how did you do that?"

"It's nothing special, just a lot of hard work and practice", George brushed off.

Then he turn to the boy and attempted to redirect the conversation, "anyway, I've been awfully rude. I'm guessing that the name is Neville? It's nice to meet you. Oh, and before I forget. You didn't miss-hear Hermione, I can see the future. Would you like to know your fate?"

"Don't listen to him. He's a fraud", Hermione rudely butted in.

George ignored her, "come on, Neville. Don't you want to know who you'll grow up to be? The dangers you'll face, the people you'll befriend. It's all up here. All you have to do is ask?"

Just as Neville was on the verge of opening his mouth, Hermione had to go and spoil the fun.

"He has done this to me before. It's nothing more than an elaborate trick. You'll see", she said snarkily.

George glanced over at her, "pardon me, officer. I didn't realise the fun police were on board."

"I just think it is wrong to lie to people", Hermione responded.

"Okay, have it your way", George turned back to Neville, "sorry, your future will have to remain a mystery."

George held his hand out, and Neville reciprocated the handshake like he was wrestling a snake.

"I'm Neville, Neville Longbottom. That was so cool, swallowing the fire like that. Could you do it again?"

Neville was still shaking his hand frantically. It took George to pull his arm away forcefully to awkwardly end the handshake.

George gracefully declined, "it's nice to meet you, Neville. I'm sorry, but if I did that trick again, then I wouldn't be able to taste anything for a week. Enough about me and my silly fire magic. What sort of magic are you interested in?"

Neville looked taken aback, "err, I haven't really thought about it. I've read a few books that my nan gave me about Herbology, that's pretty interesting, I think?"

George pretended to be enlightened by that revelation, "really, Herbology. I have to admit that Herbology is an area of magic I know scarily little, so you'll have to recommend some good books for me to read. It's funny that you should say that you're into Herbs-n-stuff, Hermione and I have already met Professor Sprout. She's the Head of Herbology at Hogwarts."

Just as George finished speaking to Neville, he suddenly tossed the owl cage onto the seat and fell to the ground. George grabbed the oily toad that was about to hop out of the cabin. He gently lifted the toad off the floor and returned it to its owner. Neville's face was filled with equal part worry and relief. However, Blinkie looked furious at George's betrayal.

"You better keep an eye on that toad of yours, he had been eyeing the door ever since I entered", George said whilst wiping the toad's slime on his trousers.

Neville placed the toad beside him before saying, "thank you, I don't know why Trevor keeps running away."

George looked at the shelf above Neville, there was a trunk and a small cage, both were labelled with Neville's name.

He pointed at the cage, "why don't you just put the toad... I mean Trevor in that cage?"

Hermione chipped in at that moment, "that's exactly what I told him to do, but Neville thinks it's cruel."

Neville shook his head shyly, "it's not like that. It's just... I don't like leaving him in a small cage for hours when he should be jumping around freely in a pond."

George held up the cage with the annoyed owl inside and said jokingly, "Blinkie here doesn't seem to mind."

To show its 'love', the bird forced its beak through the bars and 'kissed' one of George's fingers. Neville smiled at George's comment, but he didn't look like he was going to change his mind.

Hermione looked at Blinkie, "oh, so you've brought an owl with you. I read that the owls sold at Diagon Alley are far more intelligent than wild owls. Is it okay if I say hello?"

George sat down on Hermione's side, but he placed the cage alongside Neville.

"I wouldn't if you want to keep all your fingers. Blinkie can get nasty around strangers", he lied.

The train jutted forward, and George checked his watch to find it was indeed eleven o'clock. The Hogwarts Express had officially set off and was now moving out of the train station. Hermione and Neville looked out of the window and watched as all the parents waved the students goodbye.