Ron I
Being one of the youngest siblings in a crowded family was great, for the most part. You’re never alone and although your siblings always tease you or find a way to make your life a living hell, they complete you in a way no one else can. And as you are not actually the youngest, you get to tease someone too (sorry Ginny). But one downside Ron saw in this whole ordeal, was that all his clothes were their first. And all his toys were actually Fred and George’s or Bill’s or Charlie’s or Percy’s. And coincidentally, all his friends were their friends first. And that wasn’t really nice, it made him feel like all his friends hung out with him because of his older brothers. So at the start of his first year in Hogwarts, Ron made sure to warn his siblings off of him.
“I don’t want you to hang out with me too much.” He’d said, the morning they got to the train. “I don’t wanna sit with you on the train, either.”
Obviously Molly was taken aback and quickly tried to change his mind, but Fred laughed. “That’s what we wanna hear, Ron.” With Percy and George saying similar words of encouragement, Ron got on the train alone, from a different door than his brothers.
As nervous as he was, he walked quickly and hopped in the first empty compartment he could find, which was a private one. Happy with his luck, Ron sat there for a moment and waited.
See, here’s where his plan of separating from his siblings in a mission of making friends might have failed. He didn’t know how to make friends, and he hadn’t asked anyone to sit with him.
“Oh Merlin, I’m gonna spend this whole ride alone.” He muttered and ignored the tears welling up in his eyes. He was such a big boy now, he couldn’t cry over something like this. Especially since this was a temporary thing. He’d for sure make friends once he arrived at Hogwarts. Right? He sighed. Being independent was harder than he thought. Then, there was a knock on the compartments door, and a boy with round glasses looked inside.
“Hi. Can I ride with you?” He asked in a voice that reminded Ron of his parent’s high society friends.
“Sure.” He said and gestured the seat across him. “You can sit there.”
The boy beamed up at him and sat down quickly. He reached a hand out and Ron took it.
“Name’s Ron Weasley. What’s yours?” They shook hands.
“Harry.” Ron tilted his head to the side and retracted his hand.
“Just Harry?” Harry nodded and looked down at his hands.
“For now, yes.”
After a beat of awkward silence, Ron spoke up.
“I’m not sure if Dumbledore has a surname either.”
“What?”
“You know, our principle, Professor Dumbledore. I don’t think he has a surname.” For a moment, Harry looked at Ron as if he grew a second head.
“Uh, I’m pretty sure his surname is Dumbledore.” The redhead laughed.
“What’s his name then, Professor?”
“It’s actually Albus Percival Wulfric Brian.” A girl with curly hair said from the doorway of their compartment.
“Sorry?” The girl rolled her eyes at Ron.
“Professor Dumbledore’s first name. It’s Albus Percival Wulfric Brian. It’s like, common sense I fear.”
Another beat of silence.
“Who are you again?” Asked Harry, not unkindly. The girl looked at him for the first time.
“Hermione Granger. I’m helping Neville to find his pet toad. Have you seen a toad?” The boys shook their heads.
“Pet toad?” asked Harry. “What’s a toad?”
“Think frog, but uglier.” Hermione was about to argue with Ron’s explanation, when she heard something and left the compartment.
“I didn’t know you could get a pet toad,” Ron was starting to question Harry’s entire being.
“It’s listed as an allowed pet in the list Hogwarts sent you. I got a rat. Scabbers. Did you not read your letter?” He didn’t mention allowed pets were listed as owls, cats and toads.
Harry looked back at his hands. He seemed to do that a lot when he couldn’t tell Ron something.
“Uh, my guardian took care of those things for me. He got me an owl.”
“He did? That’s nice of him.” From there, the two kids fall into a conversation about their pets. That conversation evolved into games, where Ron learned Harry never played games.
“Ever?” He asked with wide eyes.
“I mean, I have toys that I play with, but I don’t have board games, or anyone willing to play with me.” Ron nodded in understanding. Although he didn’t actually understand, he got that some people were born without siblings. He supposed if he didn’t have siblings, he might not have anyone to play with either.
“So you’re an only child?” Ron asked. And as Harry nodded, there was a voice from the doorway.
“So am I.” Hermione was back. “Sorry I had to run out. Neville found his toad.”
“Good for him.” said Ron, and Harry nodded. After another minute of three teens kids awkwardly looking at each other, Hermione spoke.
“Can I sit with you two? There isn’t any available seats left.” Ron looked at Harry, and he thought, that’s an only child. He wouldn’t want anyone to be alone. Coming to the conclusion Harry wouldn’t mind, he said yes.
“Do either of you know what house you’ll be in?” asked Hermione. “I’ve been asking around, and I hope I’m in Gryffindor. A lot of talented wizards were from Gryffindor, I hear.”
“All my family is Gryffindor. I’d disappoint them all if I don’t get sorted into Gryffindor.” The thought gave Ron shivers. He’d be mocked relentlessly. Hermione nodded in understanding, but Harry didn’t seem all that content with what he said.
“You know, my guardians whole family were Slytherin, but his brother got sorted into Gryffindor. That caused a huge rift between the family and ultimately led to him being disowned.” Harry huffed. “I hope you don’t get disowned.”
Ron was… taken aback by the story. Hermione too, but she seemed to think about something else at the moment, since she was visibly thinking hard about something.
“Uh, me too.” said Ron finally. “I mean, I hope I don’t get disowned.”
“Don’t worry,” Harry smiled and Ron thought it was really pretty, also really creepy. “I like you, if you get disowned I can convince my guardian to take you in. And I’m pretty sure you have some sort of say in your sorting anyway.”
They talked for a while, mostly about whether or not one has a say in their sorting. After what felt like a couple minutes, Hermione looked out the window.
“Look at that!” She pointed at the view outside. “I saw this mountain in Hogwarts: A History. We must be close, we better get changed.”
She was right. Soon Ron would find out she’s usually right about everything. But for now, she was right about being close.
After being escorted to the castle by passing the river, all the first years arrived at the Great Hall. Professor Dumbledore gave an introduction speech, and...
And the sorting started.
A woman who introduced herself as Professor McGonagall started the sorting by reading names off of a list. The students whose name was read got up to the stand and put on the hat. Ron was pretty sure if it wasn’t a magical hat, everyone would have lice by now.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Harry looking at something intently. Following his line of sight, Ron saw just who he was looking at. He was staring at one of the professors. Head of the Slytherin house, to be specific.
“Mate, you got a problem with him?” he asked in a whisper. Harry answered without looking away.
“I can’t believe they let him teach here. What about my safety?” He muttered the last part to himself. Before Ron could ask what he meant, he was called to the stand.
He tried not to think of their talk at the train. When the hat was put on his head, there was a silence for a moment.
“Gryffindor.” He whispered. “Gryffindor. Gryff-”
“Gryffindor!” he was cut off by the hat. He sighed in relief and gave Harry a smile as he took his place next to Hermione. After a couple names were read, Professor McGonagall stopped in shock.
“What is it, Minerva?” asked Professor Dumbledore.
“I believe there to be a mistake,” she gestured to the list. “A name that’s not supposed to be here is in the list. I believe there wasn’t even a letter sent.”
She clearly tried to be silent, but the whole Hall heard it. Whispers arose from the crowd, and Ron caught the eyes of a blonde, slick back haired kid in the Slytherin table. He was Draco Malfoy, whose name Ron remembered from the sorting, and he had a smug look in his eyes. He was also looking at… Harry?
Professor Dumbledore’s voice raised above everyone’s.
“If it’s written in the sorting list, it cannot be a mistake. Please continue as usual,” he gave an open handed gesture. Professor McGonagall sighed and put the list in her eyesight again. With a shaky voice, she spoke.
“Harry Potter.”
There was silence so great you could hear a pin drop. Everyone, including the Professors, looked shocked. Ron himself couldn’t believe his ears. The silence was broken when someone rose from the crowd. No, not someone. Harry. With more confidence than an eleven year old kid should have, he walked to the stage.
“Actually Professor,” he started as he took his place in the sorting chair. “It’s Potter-Black now, with a hyphen, if you could fix that.”
His words awoken something, as the students all started whispering at the same time. The whispers quickly got louder as no one could hear each other, and soon there was chaos.
“He’s the Harry Potter, for real?” Ron heard Fred ask George. He turned to Hermione.
“Did you know?” She shook her head.
“I met him after you.” Ron nodded and turned to look at the stage.
In a matter of seconds, everyone was back to being quiet. They were all eagerly awaiting the results of his sorting.
Professor McGonagall lowered the hat to his head.
The Gryffindor dorms weren’t what Ron was expecting, really. Maybe it was the way he grew up, or the fact that he heard Fred and George mention their three other roommates, he was expecting the rooms to be a bit more cramped. He was staying with four people, yes, but the room was big enough for all of them. He felt a sense of loneliness, wishing he could dorm with his brothers instead. But he knew he was being unfair.
Neville was one of the kindest people he’s ever met. Him and his toad (Trevor) were a welcome break from all the rowdy Gryffindors around. It was strange in a way, all his older siblings had told Ron they felt right at home when they got sorted. Ron didn’t feel at home. In fact, he felt weird thinking of himself as one of the rowdy Gryffindors.
Seamus and Dean seemed to get along nicely. They weren’t as calm as Neville, but they weren’t as wild as Ron’s twin brothers, so he counted it as a win.
Then there was Harry.
When he was on the stage, the Sorting hat had almost screamed “Slytherin”, but Harry looked at the Head of Slytherin House (whose name was Snape, Ron learned) straight in the eye, cut of the hat and declared in the loudest voice possible without shouting;
“Anywhere but Slytherin.”
“That kid has some balls,” George whispered to Fred. After that declaration, it was no surprise that he got sorted into Gryffindor.
Ron didn’t know how to feel about him. When the sorting ended, they all ate dinner together, but Harry didn’t answer any question directed at him and just kept talking like he did back in the train. So the dinner didn’t ease his mind either.
Now, if Ron was a more emotionally available adult, he could’ve understood where Harry was coming from. Parents murdered by the most evil wizard to ever exist (not really, but okay), was kidnapped from his crib as a baby the day his parents were murdered, everyone in the wizarding world assumed he died with them… It was a lot, and it wasn’t like Ron or anyone else wouldn’t recognize him immediately upon hearing his full name. He was one of the most famous wizards alive! But, Ron was raised in a family where he couldn’t get to feel his emotions, because there were just too many of them for their parents to consider each of their feelings, and he was an eleven year old kid. He took the fact Harry didn’t tell his surname and hid things from him personally.
He laid down on his bed as the other four boys laid on theirs. Looking up at his ceiling, Ron felt like crying. He wouldn’t dare cry. He was a big boy. He didn’t need anyone to hold his hand and be his friend. If Harry didn’t want to be friends, so what. It’s just a shame that Ron had actually liked him.