[Hogwarts Between] Platform Nine and Three-Quarters: Cyrus

[Patrick McCartney]

--- Margaret Dean <margdean at erols.com> wrote:

> [OOC:  This was composed by William even though it's
> being sent
> from my email address; Operamail and our home
> computer are not
> playing nicely together at the moment. --MD]
> 
> 	"Put that bird in its cage!", shouted Daphne
> Windermere's shrill
> voice. The bird in question, Cyrus's owl Barnaby,
> was flitting
> around the ceiling, hooting in a disgruntled manner
> concerning
> the bustle surrounding him. Daphne was attempting to
> stuff
> Cyrus's socks into the already groaning suitcase. 
> 	"C'mon, Barnaby," coaxed Cyrus. He was standing in
> the middle of
> the room, holding the owl's cage. "It'll just be for
> a little
> while."
> 	"Lying to your own bird now, eh?" said Gideon,
> coming through
> the door with another hamper of clothes. He and
> Gerald, Cyrus's
> elder brothers, had been drafted into preparing for
> the departure
> to London. "It'll be wonderful," he commented
> sarcastically to
> Gideon, who was coming up behind him. "Five hours in
> the car with
> our darling brother, his owl, and that suitcase. A
> real joyride."
> His voice fairly dripped with with irony.
> 	"Be nice to your little brother," scolded Daphne.
> "This is a
> very big day for him." She scowled menacingly at the
> brothers,
> who shuffled their feet and retreated downstairs.
> They nearly ran
> into Eugene, who was coming up with a grin plastered
> on his face.
> 	"Hullo, folks!" he commented brightly. "How's it
> coming?" Daphne
> muttered something heated under her breath, which
> luckily no one
> could hear.
> 	"We're fine, dad," replied Cyrus, who was shutting
> the door of
> Barnaby's cage.
> 	"So you're finally going to Hogwarts," Eugene said
> to Cyrus in a
> low voice. "How do you feel? Excited? Nervous?
> Scared?"
> 	"I... uh... I'm fine, dad," said Cyrus. 
> 	"Good," said his father cheerily, clapping Cyrus's
> shoulder.
> "Time to go!"
> 
> 	The ride to London was unpleasant, to say the
> least. Everyone in
> the small, shabby car was constantly hitting each
> other and
> various of Cyrus's possessions with elbows and feet.
> Barnaby kept
> up an almost constant ruckus throughout, putting
> everyone's
> tempers on edge.
> 	Cyrus, though, spent most of the journey in silent
> contemplation. He pretended to pore over his school
> books, often
> not noticing that he had reread the same paragraph
> five times. He
> finally gave up and pulled out his wand. The slight
> prickle in
> his fingers as he held it told him that it was no
> ordinary length
> of wood. "Ten inches, willow, with a unicorn's tail
> hair,"
> Ollivander had told him. "Nice and flexible, and
> wonderful for
> charms." Cyrus slowly rolled it over his fingers,
> feeling the
> faint power that rested in it.
> 	His reverie was shattered by a sudden jolt, as the
> car rolled
> into King's Cross Station. "Here we are!" said
> Eugene, and the
> Windermeres piled out of the car almost before it
> stopped moving.
> Daphne went off to find a cart, while the others
> began unloading. 
> 	"What do you have in this bag," asked Gideon in
> disbelief.
> "Bricks?"
> 	"No, that's the one with my books and cauldron,"
> Cyrus replied. 
> 	The immense pile of luggage barely managed to be
> crammed into
> the cart. Eventually, though, Eugene trundled it off
> towards the
> platforms, Barnaby's cage balanced precariously on
> top. Eugene
> whistled unmusically as he walked, the rest of the
> family
> straggling along behind him. "Platform 7, Platform
> 8, Platform
> 9... aha, here we are!" he said. "Here" was an
> imposing brick
> barrier between platforms 9 and 10. The other
> Windermeres looked
> at him as though he were insane. And rightfully so,
> as he began
> to push the cart directly towards the barrier,
> gathering speed.
> "Eugene, stop!" shouted Daphne. And then he was
> gone, as though
> he had vanished into the bricks.
> 	Minutes, passed and Daphne had a look of horror on
> her face.
> Finally, Eugene popped back into view. "Well," he
> said
> impatiently. "What are you guys waiting for?" He was
> a bit
> surprised whn his wife rushed into his arms and
> hugged him
> fiercely. "Where did you go?" she asked scoldingly.
> "Where's
> Cyrus's cart?"
> 	"Oh..." said Eugene, realizing that he had never
> explained
> Platform 9 and 3/4. He proceeded to do so quickly,
> and then
> demonstrated by having Cyrus lean against the
> barrier. He did so,
> and disappeared.
> 	
> 	Cyrus found himself swept into a crowd of people.
> He looked back
> and saw nothing but a plain brick wall. Suddenly,
> Eugene swept
> out of nowhere and took him by the arm. He began to
> steer Cyrus
> through the press of people towards the cart, guided
> by Barnaby's
> faint hooting. Cyrus looked around himself, and
> couldn't help but
> snicker at the odd assortment of clothes people were
> wearing. One
> man had managed to put the coat of his 3-piece suit
> on backwards,
> and was trying to figure out what he couldn't move
> his arms.
> Another gentleman, wearing a flower-patterned
> evening dress, was
> talking to a lady in knickerbockers and a one-piece
> bathing suit.

[ Rollback:  The descriptions of the people who have
arrived is very good.  We need to roll back the last
paragraph.  The train can't be seen at this time. ]


In front and to the left of Cyrus is one girl about
his age with an old man.  Just in front of him is
another girl about his age with a lady.  To his right
is a black fence.  To his left there is the corner of
the brick building that is behind him.  Beyond the
corner is a boy holding onto a trunk and looking back
and forth as if he is looking for something.  Everyone
has an expresion of concern.  They are all mulling
around as if they do not know what to do.

Cyrus can't see any train.