Chapter Text
Getting onto the Hogwarts Express was difficult enough because of the crowd, but trying to find a compartment while two of your best friends were arguing made it nearly impossible.
“Seriously, Ron, when are you going to stop eating?” Hermione snapped.
“It’s just a snack!” Ron argued back, clutching a sandwich protectively.
“A snack? Ron, that’s practically the entire lunch your mum packed for you!”
“It isn’t!”
“It is!”
And on and on the argument went.
Harry sighed. The familiar bickering followed him down the corridor as he quietly slipped away from the pair. Neither of them seemed to notice.
Students crowded the train’s narrow hallways. First-years struggled with heavy trunks, older students leaned out of compartments chatting with friends, and somewhere farther down the train Harry could hear laughter that sounded suspiciously like Fred and George.
The Hogwarts Express had barely begun its journey, yet the train already felt alive.
After searching through several compartments filled with students, Harry finally found an empty one near the very end of the train.
It looked older than the others.
The brass handle was slightly tarnished, and the wood paneling showed signs of age. Despite that, everything seemed intact. If anything, it felt quieter than the rest of the train.
Perfect.
Harry lifted his trunk into the overhead rack and carefully placed Hedwig’s cage beside it.
With a relieved sigh, he dropped into one of the seats.
Outside the window, the rolling countryside slowly gave way to distant hills and mountains. The afternoon sun cast long shadows across the landscape as the train gathered speed.
For the first time all day, there was peace and quiet.
Harry leaned his head against the cool glass.
Maybe he could finally catch up on some of the sleep he’d lost thanks to Ron’s thunderous snoring the previous night.
His eyes had barely closed when a rattling noise disturbed the silence.
Harry frowned.
The sound came from somewhere inside the compartment.
He sat upright.
The rattling stopped.
For several seconds, nothing happened.
Then it started again.
Louder this time.
“What now…?” Harry muttered.
He stood and crossed the compartment.
The noise seemed to be coming from the door.
Reaching for the handle, he slid it open—
—or at least, he tried to.
The door wouldn’t move.
Harry frowned and pulled harder.
Nothing.
He tried again.
Still nothing.
“Fred? George?” Harry called through the door. “Very funny.”
No answer.
He pressed his ear against the glass.
Silence.
“Come on, you two.”
He grabbed the handle with both hands and pulled.
The door refused to budge.
A strange feeling settled in Harry’s stomach.
The lights above him flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then again.
Harry’s grip tightened.
“Fred, George, this isn’t funny! Stop messing around!”
The lights dimmed.
For a brief moment, Harry could have sworn he saw something reflected in the window behind him.
A shape.
Gone before he could focus on it.
The rattling grew louder.
Harry yanked the handle with all his strength.
Suddenly—
The door slid open.
Harry nearly stumbled backward.
Standing in the doorway was a boy around his age carrying a suitcase.
A very good-looking boy, Harry noted absently.
The stranger blinked.
“Oh,” he said politely. “I’m sorry to intrude, but may I stay in this compartment with you? The others seem to be full.”
Harry stared at him.
Then at the now perfectly functional door.
Then back at the boy.
“Why were you holding the door shut?” he asked.
The boy looked genuinely confused.
“Pardon?”
“Why were you holding the door shut?” Harry repeated.
The stranger chuckled.
“I think you’re mistaken. Some of the compartment doors are rather old. They get stuck sometimes.”
Harry slowly nodded.
He wasn’t entirely convinced.
“Right…”
Stepping aside, he allowed the boy to enter.
The stranger carefully lifted his luggage into the overhead rack before taking the seat opposite him.
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Then the boy smiled.
“By the way, I’m Amit. Amit Thakkar.”
Harry blinked.
Amit Thakkar.
The name sounded oddly familiar.
“Well, Amit, I’m Harry Evans.”
The words left his mouth automatically.
Harry froze.
Evans?
Why had he said Evans?
His surname was Potter.
Harry Potter.
That was who he was.
Wasn’t it?
A strange pressure formed behind his eyes.
For a split second, the name Potter felt distant, almost forgotten.
Then the feeling vanished.
Before Harry could think further about it, a rapid tapping noise interrupted his thoughts.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Harry turned.
His eyes widened.
Hedwig.
Wait.
HEDWIG?!
He jumped to his feet.
Her cage was empty.
When had she gotten out?
Harry hurried to the window and pushed it open.
A gust of cold air rushed into the compartment.
Hedwig swooped inside with an indignant hoot, as if offended that Harry had taken so long to notice her absence.
She circled the compartment once before dropping a folded note directly into Harry’s hands.
Then she flew upward toward her cage.
Something slipped from her talons.
The object bounced against the floor.
Clink.
Clink.
Clink.
It rolled across the compartment and finally stopped against Amit’s shoe.
Amit bent down.
“What is this?”
Harry barely heard him.
His attention remained fixed on the note.
The parchment felt strangely warm.
The handwriting was unfamiliar.
As he stared at it, the paper began to crinkle slightly in his grip.
“Harry?”
He blinked.
“What?”
“Look at this.”
Harry turned.
Amit was holding up the object.
Harry moved beside him and gently lowered Amit’s hand for a better look.
The object resembled a strange metallic artifact covered in unfamiliar engravings.
Symbols twisted across its surface.
Some resembled ancient runes.
Others looked unlike anything Harry had ever seen before.
“What do you suppose it is?” Harry asked quietly.
Amit studied it.
“It looks like it contains something.”
“But what?”
Harry leaned closer.
“There’s a glow.”
Amit frowned.
“Glow? I don’t see any glow.”
“Right there.”
Harry traced one of the strange symbols with his thumb.
The symbol brightened.
Golden light spread through the grooves like liquid sunlight.
Amit’s eyes widened.
The artifact suddenly vibrated.
Mechanical clicks echoed through the compartment.
Harry immediately pulled his hand back.
“What did you do?” Amit asked.
“I didn’t do anything!”
The object unfolded.
Pieces shifted and rotated with impossible precision.
Hidden mechanisms clicked into place.
At its center rested a key.
Not an ordinary key.
Its metal shimmered with a faint golden glow.
Almost like—
Ancient Magic.
Harry had no idea why that thought entered his head.
Yet somehow it felt right.
Without thinking, he reached toward it.
The moment his fingers brushed the key—
The world twisted.
The compartment vanished.
The train disappeared.
Colours spiralled around them.
Harry felt as though he were falling and flying at the same time.
Then everything stopped.
A second later, both boys crashed onto damp stone.
Harry groaned and pushed himself upright.
Cold air filled his lungs.
The ground beneath him was uneven and wet.
A cave.
At least, it looked like a cave.
Harry immediately turned.
“Amit?”
Relief washed over him when he saw the other boy nearby.
Harry stood and offered him a hand.
Amit accepted it.
Together, they got to their feet.
Water dripped somewhere in the darkness.
The cave walls glistened with moisture.
Faint traces of golden light shimmered across strange markings carved into the stone.
Neither of them spoke for several moments.
They simply stared.
Trying to understand what had just happened.
Trying to understand where they were.
Finally, Amit broke the silence.
“Where are we?”
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