“Uh– mind if I sit here?”
Harry jerked his head towards the compartment door which had been slid open by the youngest red-headed boy from the Weasley family– Ron. He shook his head and the boy sat down, looking quite relieved.
Just as Ron opened his mouth to say something, the compartment door slid open once again. This time revealing the twins.
“Hey, Ron.” Said one of the twins. “Listen, we’re going down the middle of the train — Lee Jordan’s got a giant tarantula down there.”
“Oh.” Ron said shakily, “Have fun.” He had gone quite pale, in the same way Aunt Petunia had when Harry’s very first Hogwarts letter arrived.
The other twin narrowed his eyes at Ron. “What’s gotten into you? You’ve been acting barmy since this morning.” When Ron simply didn’t answer he turned to Harry, “Anyway, did we introduce ourselves? Fred and George Weasley. And this is our brother, Ron. See you later.”
“You already know my name but I ‘spose it’s polite to reintroduce myself.” He stuck out his hand, “Ron Weasley.”
Harry shook it at once, “I’m Harry–“
Ron interrupted, still shaking his hand, “Harry Potter.” At Harry’s obvious confusion, the tips of Ron’s ears went red, “I heard Fred and George on the train station.”
“Are all your family wizards?” Asked Harry, who was obviously enthralled by the idea of an entirely magical family. One so different from the Dursleys that he was sure that one meeting with the Weasleys would make Uncle Vernon’s head turn a beautiful mauve-purple color.
Ron nodded, looking as if he had expected Harry to ask this: “Pretty much. I’m the sixth in our family to attend Hogwarts and my sister, Ginny–you saw her on the platform–will be the seventh. After that mum’ll have a fully empty nest but don’t let her sobbing over it fool you, she loves the free time.” He then quickly changed subjects as if he was an actor who had gone off script, “Anyway, yeah. You have Bill who’s curse breaking in Egypt, Charlie running around with dragons in Romania, Percy, Fred and George, and then me. Oh– and Ginny too soon enough.”
Harry frowned. He’d known Ron for three minutes and he was already rattling on about things that Harry couldn’t hope to know anything about. Curse breaking, dragons… Coming from a wizarding family seemed to mean you were intimate with the wizarding world in a way Harry had never been given the opportunity to be. He hoped he wouldn’t fall behind. How could he compete with someone whose brothers were apparently dealing with dragons and ancient curses internationally?
“Oh!” Exclaimed Ron and, as if he’d read Harry’s mind, hastily added, “But you don’t have to worry. We both know the same amount of stuff when it comes to magic. You don’t learn anything magical until you come to Hogwarts. In fact, I’d say people raised by muggles have a slight advantage because our pre-Hogwarts education isn’t standardized like you lot’s.”
At Harry’s blank stare, Ron’s ears went red, “I had a friend who was really into this stuff.”
“Usually we don’t even get taught what would be the basics to you like graphing, for example. It’s a shame because you need a lot of it for the more advanced subjects like Arithmancy.” Harry’s interest peaked and he listened very carefully. It was obvious that Ron knew his way around the school. “My brother, Bill, stayed up until like two in the morning during summer vacations trying to learn it all. Can you imagine? Staying up like that during summer vacation!”
Harry nodded. It seemed like overkill. Though—an icy chill ran through his entire body at the thought—maybe that was how every Hogwarts student studied and he was sure to fall behind if he kept up his previous study habits.
“Don’t worry though,” Ron continued, and Harry seriously started to wonder whether there was a type of magic which would allow a wizard to read someone’s mind, “That’s just Bill being Bill. My other brother, Charlie, didn't crack open a book for the entirety of his stay with us and he did fine.
Just then, a girl about their age slid the compartment door open again. She was already dressed in her new Hogwarts robes, her hair tucked into a ponytail, and her lips set into a thin line. She looked quite severe.
“Excuse me, do you mind if I sit here?” Harry noted that her two front teeth were quite large.
Harry went to shake his head again before Ron interjected, forcefully: “I thought you were helping Neville Longbottom find his toad?”
The girl’s previously haughty looking face took on an alarmed expression that Harry couldn’t explain the cause of if he tried. Ron’s question seemed rather ordinary to him. “I’ve never met him.” She started, carefully, “And you don’t have dirt on your nose.”
Both children looked at each other, similarly unnerved.
“Well I guess we should go help out poor Neville together then.” Suggested Ron, weakly while getting out of his seat and taking his wand with him.
“Brilliant! We definitely should do that,” the girl replied and turned to Harry, “Bye then, Harry.”
“Uh– bye?” He was sure that he hadn’t told the girl his name.
Ron and the brown haired girl were gone for quite awhile. Within that time, Harry had bought out the entire sweet trolley and become acquainted with the famous Neville Longbottom, who had, true to Ron’s word, lost a toad.
(“Sorry,” said Neville, “But have you seen a toad at all?”
“I haven’t,” said Harry, “but have you seen Ron Weasley and a girl with brown hair around anywhere? They left to go find your toad and I haven’t seen them since.” Harry had grown tired of sitting in a silent compartment by himself and the previous elation from finding someone his age to sit with had died the longer Ron left him.
“Who?” Asked Neville, who now looked quite frightened. “No one’s come up to me the entire trip. I’m sorry…”
Harry frowned. “No, no, it’s not your fault. Well, tell me if they turn up and I’ll tell you if I see your toad.”
Neville nodded, looking very miserable, “I’ll keep an eye out.”
And then he left.)
After some more time sitting in silence and munching on cauldron cakes (he had been far too scared to open another chocolate frog after the first one had leaped out of the box and jumped out of the train window), the compartment door slid open again.
Harry excitedly jerked his head towards the door but it wasn’t Ron or the girl with brown hair or even Neville, the toadless boy.
Three boys entered, and Harry recognized the middle one at once: it was the pale boy from Madam Malkin’s robe shop. He was looking at Harry with a lot more interest than he’d shown back in Diagon Alley.
“Harry Potter?”
“Yes,” said Harry. He was looking at the other boys. Both of them were thickset and looked extremely mean. Standing on either side of the pale boy, they looked like bodyguards.
“Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle,” said the pale boy carelessly, noticing where Harry was looking. “And my name’s Malfoy, Draco Malfoy.”
“Potter. Harry Potter.” Said Harry who had no idea what else to say at that moment but was desperate for someone to talk to at that moment. He stuck out his hand the same way Ron had and started to re-introduce himself.
Draco stared at him and then said, blithely, “Well yes, I think I've made it very clear that I know that.” Harry turned red and wished that Ron would come back from whatever it was that he was doing.
After a few minutes of icy silence, Draco seemed to realize that he would need to start up a conversation again. “Have you decided on your house, then?”
“No.” No one had explained them to him. He knew Slytherin and Hufflepuff, courtesy of Malfoy but little about them except for Hufflepuff being the house of duffers and Slytherin being the house of Voldemort wannabes.
“Well as I told you at Madam Malkins, I’m sure I’ll be able to get Slytherin. Although Ravenclaw isn’t too bad.” Crabbe and Goyle nodded. Harry wondered, absently, if they could even talk.
“Mm.” Harry hummed, and he realized with horror that he was acting almost exactly like a Crabbe-and-Goyle knock off. Something about Malfoy made it very hard to put together words that weren’t filled with icy disaffectedness.
The compartment filled with silence once again as Malfoy studied Harry so closely that it made him uneasy. “So you’re just eleven years old now?”
“Pardon?” Harry asked, but Malfoy had already gone back to whispering with Crabbe and Goyle.
He wished Ron would come back; he’d prefer to be quizzed on the British standardized testing system rather than continue a conversation with Draco Malfoy. Or maybe even Neville asking for help with his toad. Even the loud bushy haired girl would be fine.
“Well…” And then it seemed that Malfoy really had no idea what he was going to say, “Hm– I’ll be off then.”
Harry nodded. “Oh, well bye.”
Malfoy walked out, Crabbe and Goyle in tow, and didn’t spare Harry a second glance.
As soon as he exited, the brown haired girl and Ron came crashing in. “Harry!” yelled Ron, “Malfoy didn’t give you any trouble did he?”
“Ron!” Harry yelled back, delighted by the sudden enthusiasm Ron had gained for him. No one had ever been so excited to see him before. “And no, he just came in here, stared around and left. It was a bit odd.”
Harry knew he had made a mistake when Ron and the bushy haired girl’s heads snapped up and they both gave each other the same curious, wide eyed expression. “Nevermind, Harry, it looks like we’ll have to leave for a little bit again.” The compartment door slammed behind them but not before he heard the girl yell, “My name’s Hermione Granger by the way! Pleased to meet you!”