The Boy's Compartment

If Minerva McGonagall was impressed by Diagon Alley, she was positively astounded by Platform 9¾ at King's Cross Station. Once she got over the shock of walking through walls (after all, it wasn't everyday that her mother commanded her to run full-speed-ahead at a brick wall with the trolley carrying her trunk and a cage with Puddy safely wrapped up in a myriad of blankets and old jumpers), she stared about in awe at everything there was to see.

Everywhere she looked, people were milling about wearing cloaks and pointed hats of all colours - many black, but some were jewel tones or tartan and even some that shimmered like silver and gold. She spotted Florean Fortescue across the platform, his face being wiped by his mother's handkerchief as she doted over him, clucking her tongue and shaking her head. "How do you manage -- haven't even been out of the house but ten minutes --" she was muttering as Minnie and Isobel walked by, pushing her trolley. Minnie waved tentatively at Florean and walked trotted along as he waved back over his mum's shoulder.

Further down, Minnie saw the girl she'd seen at the robes shop in Diagon Alley, and Fleamont - sorry, Charlus - Potter with his broomstick talking loudly with a couple other boys she didn't know - a young blonde-haired boy with the most brilliantly blue eyes she'd ever seen, and a very short, chubby boy with brown hair and thin wire glasses. Charlus Potter was laughing and the blue-eyed boy seemed to be telling a joke.

Isobel smiled and greeted some of her old friends, people who seemed surprised to see her back in the wizarding world, who doted over Minerva and tried to keep her attention, although she was very much distracted with all of the owls hooting and shouting children and the hissing steam of the scarlet engine that hummed and groaned beside the platform on the tracks. There were wizards loading trunks into the storage compartment and Minnie took up Puddy's cage so they could take her trunk and she stared after it as they loaded it in beneath the engine's body.

It was a whirlwind - and soon she was hugging her mother goodbye, telling her to be sure to take care of da and Robbie and, if she must, Malcolm as well, and Isobel promising to write and Minnie reminding her to send along all of Dougal's letters, if he stopped by the manse with any that is, and Isobel kissing Minnie's forehead and wishing her a happy term and promising to be there at King's Cross to pick her up at holiday and Minnie nervously carrying Puddy on board the Express as a wizard in blue trousers yelled for everyone to climb aboard.

Inside was no less chaotic. Minnie walked carefully down the aisle of the train, her heart in her throat, carrying Puddy's cage, her palms sweaty with nerves, unsure what to expect. There were older kids shouting greetings and ducking in and out of compartments, shoving past her at a run and throwing balls of paper about. She looked into the compartments as she went, trying to decide where to sit, and she spotted Charlus Potter, yelling loudly about Quidditch and hovering just off the floor on his broomstick, his toes dangling as he clutched the handle and the blue-eyed boy nodded to Minnie looking in and Charlus waved.

"You know her?" asked the blue eyed boy - his accent nearly as thick as Dougal's.

"Sure, that's Minerva McGonagall," Charlus answered. "She's one of Florean's friends."

She stepped into the compartment nervously. "Is - is Florean sitting here with you?"

"Not yet he ain't -" Charlus said, smirking, "Still tryin' to peel himself away from his mum out on the platform." He thumbed at the window. Minnie glanced over and saw poor Florean desperately trying to break away from a hug while the kind man that hadn't charged her for the ice cream during the summer touched his wife's shoulder and tried to draw her back. Charlus smirked, "Bit of a momma's boy, he is."

"Bit of one?" asked the blue-eyed boy, then, "An ickle bairn, he is."

"So he gets along with his mum, is that really so bad?" Minnie hadn't even noticed the tiny brown haired boy from the platform was there until he spoke, and she looked down to see him sitting on the bench beside where she stood, so short his little legs didn't even touch the carpet. They barely hung over the side of the bench at all, really. He saw her eyes sweep to his feet and he said, "I'm half Goblin, if it concerns you."

"Oh, not at all. That's very interesting, being half Goblin, actually." She felt her face was red, though. She'd never met a Goblin before, but she'd seen them at Gringott's Bank at Diagon Alley and her mum had said they were fierce. But this little half Goblin boy didn't seem fierce at all. "I'm Minnie McGonagall," she said, holding out her hand to shake his.

He jovially shook it. "Filius Flitwick," he announced.

"We just call him Fil, though," Charlus said. "And that's Al."

"Moody, Alastor." the blue-eyed boy said in a very serious tone of voice.

Minnie was about to ask Al what part of Scotland he was from - she thought she might recognize a bit of a lilt like home, but before she could, she was jostled aside. "BLOODY HELL I THOUGHT THE WOMAN WOULDN'T NEVER LET ME GO!" cried Florean, jamming his way into the compartment. He squeezed his way past Minnie and shoved an owl cage up on the shelf over the compartment. "Have I got lip colour all over my face now?"

"Just a smidge," smirked Charlus. "Ohhh wait. No. That's just a load of freckles!"

"Don't start," Florean said. Charlus grinned as Florean sat down, "Hullo Minnie. Are you going to sit with us?"

Minnie was about to ask if they minded when Charlus said, "But she's a girl."

"So what if I am a girl?" Minnie demanded.

"So this is the boy's compartment! If there's a girl in the compartment then we can't talk about boy stuff, like Quidditch," Charlus said, rolling his eyes.

Minnie said, "I'm perfectly fine with talking about Quidditch. It sounds really exciting. I'd like to learn to play. You said back in the Fall that you'd show me."

Charlus said, "Did I?"

Al grinned and said, "Well aren't you two just a delightful little couple."

Charlus stuck out his tongue at Alastor Moody. "Yeah right, me and the weird-o that doesn't know about Quidditch? You're more a pair, you and her, seeing as you've both got that funny accent!" He ducked, swerving the broomstick, as Alastor kicked at him.

"Excuse me. You. You're not to be flying that thing on the Express. Down, please." A boy in a blue cardigan with a crest with an eagle stood in the doorway. He had a pin on his chest that said Prefect across it and a stern look. "Down, I say."

Charlus groaned and dropped to the floor. "Happy?"

"Thrilled. Now be sure to stay down! If I catch you at it again you'll have a detention!" The boy with the Prefect badge left.

"Who was that?" Minnie asked.

"Lyall Lupin," said Florean, "My brother's mates with him. He's in Ravenclaw, a prefect this year. Never did a boy fit being prefect better than Lyall Lupin. He's such a goody-two-shoes."

Charlus stowed his broomstick away in the overhead and flung himself onto the bench beside Fil so hard that the poor small boy bounced noticably on his end and had to straighten his glasses. Florean sat beside Al and waved for Minnie to sit in the space beside Fil, opposite him. So she sat gingerly at the edge of the bench and put Pud's cage down between her feet.

"What've you got in there?" Charlus asked, nodding at the cage.

"A cat. His name's Puddy," replied Minnie.

Florean leaned down and peered through the door of the cage. "Hullo Puddy," he said.

Merrrow...

Minnie said, "He says hi," without thinking. Then, flushing, "I mean, he would, if cats could talk."

Charlus said, "I have a dog at home. Wish Hogwarts had let students bring along dogs, they're a good sight better than cats."

"Says you," Minnie said, "Cats are smarter, though, and they say that people who like cats are more intelligent so --"

Al snickered, "Hear that, Flea, you're stupid."

"Shut it, Al-ass-tor," Charlus replied, and he kicked at Al.

Fil said, "I've heard the same, that cats are more intelligent than dogs and their owners are likewise. A dog is loyal even if you beat it, but you have to earn a cat's trust. Smart."

Minnie smiled at Fil. She liked him.

Florean was still peering into the cage. "You know, your cat looks an awful lot like a kneazle."

"A what?" Minnie asked, unsure if he was making fun of Pud or not.

"A kneazle. It's a magical creature. They're even more intelligent than regular cats, a bit bigger, and have a longer life. They live nearly as long, and possibly longer than, a wizard. Read about them in Fantastic Beasts loads of times."

Minnie remembered seeing that book at Flourish & Blott's, but she'd been far more interested in Beedle the Bard. She stared at Puddy, and thought that she'd have to ask him about it later on if she got the chance to be alone with him. It did seem that she'd had Puddy far longer than she'd had any of the other cats...

Suddenly the train lurched forward and Florean was thrown back onto the bench by the velocity of it and he stared at the window nervously. "Ohhh I hope I don't get motion sick!" he moaned.

"If you do, and you have to toss your biscuits, you best do it into your hat because I swear to Merlin I'll hex you the moment I learn a hex for it if you throw up on me!" Charlus swore.

Al laughed and leaned back in the corner, his feet up across Florean's lap, "Settle in, mates, we're in for a long ride. My brother says it takes hours to get to Hogsmeade Station."

"Have you all sibilngs at Hogwarts?" Minnie asked.

"I'm an only child," Filius spoke up.

Charlus answered, "My sister, Ottilie, won't start until next year. Thank Merlin! A whole year without her!"

"Have you any siblings, Minnie?" Florean asked.

"Two brothers," she nodded, "But I don't know if they're magical or not."

"How old are they?" Al asked, "They should be showing signs of accidental magic if they are."

"Malcolm's going on nine, and Robbie's just turned six," Minnie said.

Al opened his mouth to say something when the door banged open again and a girl stood in the frame. "Anyone seen a black cat?" The older girl wore her school robes already, lined with yellow silk, and she had a shiny badge like the one Lyall Lupin had worn. Under her arm stood another girl whose eyes were damp. Minnie recognized her as the girl that had been at Madam Malkin's robe shop when she'd gone for her uniform. "She's escaped from her cage."

"Haven't seen it," Florean said.

Minnie looked about at the others, then stood up, "Do you need help finding her? I'm very good at finding cats."

"So Minnie's a Hufflepuff then," whispered Charlus to Fil, winking and nudging him.

"Stop it," whined Florean.

"Really? You're going to be mocking Hufflepuffs while a Hufflepuff prefect is in the room?" the older girl asked, glaring at Charlus.

Charlus grinned in a friendly way, "Mocking? Never."

"Mhmm... I've got my eyes on you," the girl replied. Then she turned to Minnie, "My name is Mona Sprout. What's yours?"

"Minnie McGonagall."

"And this is Mia Black," Pomona said, pointing to the smaller girl.

"Black?" Charlus said, his voice dark with disapproval.

Mia flushed.

The other boys all looked down.

Minnie wasn't sure what had just happened. But she felt bad for the poor girl, whose cheek were bright pink and eyes were sad from missing her cat. "What's your puddy's name?"

"She's named Ebony."

"A black cat named Ebony," murmured Charlus with a snicker. "Unique."

Minnie glared at him and he shut his mouth quickly.

Minnie pushed the cage containing Puddy towards Florean, "Could you watch him for me while I help look for Ebony?"

Florean nodded and pulled the cage against his shins.

"Good luck," called Charlus, smirking after them as they went out the door.