*And suddenly, their wardrobes were empty, their trunks were packed; notes were handed out to all students, warning them not to use magic over the holidays ('I always hope they'll forget to give us these,' said Fred Weasley sadly); Hagrid was there to take them down to the fleet of boats that sailed across the lake; they were boarding the Hogwarts Express; talking and laughing as the countryside became greener and tidier; eating Bettie Bott's Every Flavor Beans as they sped past Muggle towns; pulling off their wizard robes and putting on jackets and coats; pulling into platform nine and three-quarters at King's Cross Station.
It took quite a while for them all to get off the platform. A wizened old guard was up by the ticket barrier, letting them go through the gate in twos and threes so they didn't attract attention by all bursting out of a solid wall at once and alarming the Muggles.
People jostled them as they moved forward toward the gateway back to the Muggle world. Some of them called:
'Bye, Harry!'
'See you, Potter!'
'Still famous,' said Teddy, grinning at him.
'Not where I'm going, I promise you,' said Harry.
He, Teddy, and Millicent passed through the gateway together.
'There he is, Mom, there he is, look!' It was Ginny Weasley, Ron's younger sister, but she wasn't pointing at Ron, who had not come through yet. 'Harry Potter!' she squealed. 'Look, Mom! I can see--'
'Be quiet, Ginny, and it's rude to point.' Mrs. Weasley smiled down at them, then noticed Ron coming through the barrier with Hermione and Neville, and moved to greet her son.
Teddy gestured toward a man standing alone, and said it was his father. 'See you, Harry. Stay outta trouble.'
'I'll try, Ted,' Harry called after him.
'Ready, are you?' It was Uncle Vernon, still purple-faced, still mustached, still looking furious at the nerve of Harry, carrying an owl in a cage in a station full of ordinary people. Behind him stood Aunt Petunia and Dudley, looking terrified at the very sight of Harry.
'You must be Harry's family!' said Millicent.
'In a manner of speaking,' said Uncle Vernon. 'Hurry up, boy, we haven't got all day.' He walked away.
Harry hung back for a last word with Millie. 'See you over the summer, then. Maybe.' If Snape would let him. He hadn't said 'no' when Harry had asked, but, 'We'll see.'
'Hope you have -- er -- a good holiday,' said Millie, looking uncertainly after Uncle Vernon, as if shocked that anyone could be so unpleasant.
'Oh, I will,' said Harry, and a grin spread over his face. His friends didn't know about Snape coming to stay, or that their Potions Professor would be taking him away from the Dursleys after two weeks, but he had already imagined all sorts of pranks he could play on Dudley. 'They don't know we're not allowed to use magic at home. I'm going to have a lot of fun with Dudley this summer....'
THE END
A/N: And that's it for 'Better Be Slytherin!: Year One'. Celebratory peppermint frappachinos for everyone! I'm gonna be working on 'Before the Dawn' and some of my other tales for a wee bit, and then will start on Year Two. Like JKR, I'll put the summer session at the beginning of each 'year.' Anyone with title ideas for Year Two, please let me know.
*These scenes were snitched almost whole cloth from the original, with minor changes to fit the Alternate Universeness of my story.
