The Shadow of a Soul

Hermione was, as Harry found, a veritable fountain of information, while simultaneously managing to be akin to a sponge when it came to absorbing things she did not yet know. It was honestly a refreshing change of pace, after having had to put up with the combined stupidity of Dudley and his gang, as well as the general lack of interest his other classmates always had displayed when presented with the opportunity for learning. 

The two talked for a long time - Harry had lost track of time, but he suspected it had been at least two hours - on all things magic: magical theory, magic in use, magic at Hogwarts... Hermione had, unfortunately, not realized that little loophole Harry had found concerning the use of magic outside of Hogwarts, and when she had realized that he had, in fact, already practiced magic at home, she immediately began pestering him with questions. How he had found out about it (which Harry didn't answer honestly, claiming that he hadn't seen anything saying he wasn't allowed anywhere in the books he'd read), what spells he had practiced (Harry gave a mostly complete answer to that, only omitting his practicing of the Imperius, as something - Toms voice, to be exact - told him that mentioning his failed attempts at mind control would not endear the girl to him), and what effects these spells had had (this Harry answered fully, and he shuddered slightly when he recalled the first time Dudley's old toys had come alive - that experience had been something, and he still did not appreciate Toms cackling laughter at his reaction. At least Hermione did seem slightly disturbed at the image he described, even if her curiosity was undeterred). 

"I'm surprised you didn't try to fix your glasses, with all the magic you've done", Hermione mentioned. "They sure look like they could use it."

Harry winced. "Yeah, didn't cross my mind", he admitted. "Too used to it by now."

It was true; Dudley had broken them some five years ago when he'd used his nose as an outlet for his anger, and the Dursleys had outright refused to replace them.

"Do you mind if I try?", Hermione asked, her eyes gleaming at the chance to perform magic. 

Harry shrugged. "Sure, have at it", he allowed and took off his glasses.

"Let's see... Oculus Reparo!", Hermione said as she tapped the glasses with her wand. Sure enough, the tape Harry had used to keep them together vanished, and as he put the glasses on again, he also found that the lenses were finally adjusted to his eyes.

"Wow, thank you!", he thanked her with a large grin. Hermione blushed at that, and simply mumbled something about being glad her magic had worked out, considering it had been the first spell she'd ever cast.

'Most impressive', Tom observed. 'Granted, Mending Charms aren't the hardest spells, but most first years - especially those with a muggle background - still need a few tries to get them right. That girl has talent.'

They only briefly stopped when the snack trolley came through and they bought a number of sweets - Hermione initially only bought the sugar free stuff before grabbing a few chocolate frogs, due to her parents being dentists, while Harry bought a bit of everything - but they resumed talking just after that while snacking. 

"I hope my parents don't mind", Hermione said as she snacked on one of the frogs - having overcome her initial fright at them being animated. "I'm not usually allowed sweets, with them being bad for my teeth and all." 

"Well, what your parents don't know...", Harry replied with a grin as he flipped one of the collectable cards from the frogs. Fortunately, Tom had warned him about wizarding pictures moving due to some enchantments, and Hermione had unsurprisingly already read about it, so neither of them were surprised when one of them - Morgana - winked at Harry. He already had Circe, Paracelsus, Woodcroft, Grunnion, Merlin and the afformentioned Morgana - the latter two being some of Toms idols, as it turned out, even if he tore the person responsible for writing the information on the cards to shreds. 

'Merlin can not have been a Slytherin if he lived four hundred years before Hogwarts was formally founded!', he ranted. 'The Merlin who was in Slytherin was Salazar's great-grandson, Merlin Slytherin! Named after the Merlin depicted here, who just so happened to be Salazar's master! Are these people moronic?' 

Naturally, he also had opinions on the information on Dumbledores card. 'They should have added that he used to be Grindelwalds lover', he snarked. 'Or that he merely stole the credit for four of the twelve uses for dragonblood.'

Harry, who until then had thought that Dumbledore merely looked like the stereotypical wizard - crooked nose, long silver hair and beard and all - peaked up at that. 'When you say lover...'

'Oh, trust me, these two used to be in bed together in every sense of the phrase. Wasn't until Dumbledores sister died during a fight the two had with his brother that they broke up, and I wouldn't be surprised if the old buggerer still clings to their old philosophy of the Greater Good. No idea why he's allowed to run a school...' 

'You sound like uncle Vernon', Harry scoffed. 'I mean, as long as the guy doesn't try to pull students into closets, I don't give a rats arse.'

'I was referring to his Greater Good shite', Tom corrected. 'Guy could screw that poor rodents backside for all I care, doesn't change that I can't stand him.' 

Harry merely mentally rolled his eyes and focused on Hermione again, who was currently talking about which house she hoped she'd be in - Ravenclaw or Gryffindor. "I hope I'll be in Gryffindor, heard only good things on that house, and supposedly it was Dumbledores old house, though Ravenclaw sounds exciting as well..." 

'Why does everyone want to go to Gryffindor?', Tom wondered. 'Other houses are nice, too! Especially Slytherin!'

Harry was about to respond when a soft knock interrupted the conversation. Both children turned to the door to see another first year - a short, chubby boy with a round face and blonde hair who looked like he had cried. "Excuse me", he mumbled. "But have you seen my toad, Trevor?"

Harry and Hermione looked at each other; no, they hadn't seen any toads in their compartments, and they told the boy as much. His shoulders slumped when he heard it. "I lost him again!", he moaned. "He always manages to escape!"

The two of them exchanged another look. "Do you want us to help look for it?", Harry finally offered.

"No, no... I don't want to bother you guys...", the boy answered as he slumped his shoulders even further. 'If he isn't careful, they'll be in Australia by the time we get there', Tom joked before Harry shushed him.

"It's fine", Hermione said. "Six eyes see more than one, and we were running out of conversation material anyway." 

Harry wasn't too sure about that last point, but Hermione wasn't wrong, the three of them would likely have an easier time finding the toad in question, especially if Tom were to help - though with his grumbling on toads and their lack of usefulness, he somewhat doubted that the soulshard would be of much help.

"I mean, if you really don't mind...", the boy mumbled. "I'm Neville Longbottom."

"Hermione Granger", Hermione introduced herself.

"Harry Potter", Harry joined suit, and sighed when Nevilles eyes went wide with shock, apparently being afraid of having annoyed the Great Harry Potter with his toad woes.

"Whoa...", he let out. "And you're sure it's no bother? I mean, I really don't wanna impose..."

Harry cut him off. "It's fine, really", he reassured Neville. "We'll find Trevor, promise."

He had, in fact, already thought of simply using the Summoning Charm to summon the toad, but Tom had quickly shut that down - something about the charm being dangerous to use on living creatures. So, the three decided to split up to cover a bit more ground, and agreed to meet back at Harrys and Hermiones compartment once they had searched the train.

Unfortunately, Trevor proved rather elusive, as Harry found upon walking from compartment to compartment in vain. "Excuse me, have you maybe seen a toad?", he asked once again as he opened another compartment door, while Tom was busy trying to think of any summoning charms for living creatures.

"Nah, sorry--bloody hell, you're Harry Potter!", the boy inside let out as he caught sight of the scar.

Harry sighed again. 'Fanboy', he immediately categorized the boy - a tall and lanky redhead with freckles and a large nose - as he prattled on. 

"I'm Ron - Ron Weasley", he introduced himself - 'figures, they all come with that hair and these freckles', Tom commented - "Bloody hell, I thought Fred and George were joking when they said you were on the train. Wow, I never thought -- hey, check this out!"

'This' seemed to be a sleeping rat Ron had placed on his lap, though the boy soon procured his wand - a visibly used piece of wood, with a silvery streak leaking out at the top - and tapped the rat as he said: "Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, turn this stupid, fat rat yellow."

Harry inadvertedly raised an eyebrow as the rat very much remained grey, while Tom snidely commented: 'He's not very bright, is he?'

Rons ears turned red with embarassement. "Bloody hell, should've known this spell was bogus, George told me about it", he mumbled as he tossed his wand back into his suitcase - 'careful, boy, that wand has seen better days' - and continued to prattle on about his brothers. It turned out that Ron had a whole brood of them, and that he was the youngest boy - though he did mention having a younger sister - and based on his face and tone, Harry gathered that the other boy seemed to be somewhat envious of his older brothers, and judging by the fact that he was on the receiving end of handdowns, his family was rather poor. 

'One of the good things of not having family', Tom hummed after Harry had excused himself away - still having to look for Trevor the Toad, an excuse Ron had eagerly accepted before expressing hope that they'd see each other again at Hogwarts, "hopefully in Gryffindor!". 'Not being forced to live up to expectations.'

'I'd still have some proper family instead of all the gold in my trust vault', Harry replied. 'Though both wouldn't be bad. It does sound like Rons family is short on that.'

'Their own bloody fault', Tom grumbled. 'I actually went to school with a Weasley, Septimus. Bloody idiot, and a degenerate gambler if I've ever seen one. Would've gambled away his fiancée if he could've. Still don't know how he landed Cedrella Black... I guess she was attracted to his looks. Or maybe he dosed her with a love potion, wouldn't put it past that moron, what with the Black family fortune...' 

Harry simply sighed and rolled his eyes as Tom reminisced while he went through the waggon - and promptly came face to face with the pale, ferret-like boy he had briefly met at the clothing store.

"So, it is true", the boy, who was flanked by two other boys - both first years like him, though they were far larger than either Harry or the ferret-like boy - "Harry Potter is, in fact, on this train."

"That's right", Harry commented as he eyed the two other boys - he had been in these situations before, curesy of Dudley's gang, and he knew full well that fighting was no option, while flight was. 

Ferret-boy seemed to notice his gaze and waved his hand in a dismissive manner. "Oh, that's just Crabbe and Goyle", he explained. "Don't mind them. My name is Malfoy. Draco Malfoy."

'A-ha! I knew it!', Tom rejoiced.

'Let me guess: you went to school with a relative of his?', Harry asked amused.

'Abraxas Charlus Malfoy, same year as me. One of the finest wizards I've ever known. Brilliant potioneer, brilliant duelist... he was a good friend of mine, helped me figure out Hogwarts during my early years.'

"Harry Potter", Harry introduced himself formally with a nod. 

Draco Malfoy returned that nod. "I am quite relieved that I found you, actually. I was hoping I could invite you to join me in my compartment - wouldn't want you to fall in with the wrong crowd, after all."

'Yup, just like Abraxas back in the day. Already playing politics', Tom observed. 

Harry meanwhile quizzically raised an eyebrow. "Forgive me for asking, but whom do you mean by 'the wrong crowd'?", he asked, not sure he'd like the response. Draco had come off like a slimmer version of Dudley in attitude back during their conversation at Madam Malkins, and something told Harry his response now would be in the same vein.

He was not disappointed. Draco waved his hand as he responded. "Oh, the usual sorts: Blood traitors, half-humans, mud--muggleborn... you'll find that some wizarding families are better than others, and the less I say on the other kind, the better. I could help you tell the difference, you know."

'If that's what passes for playing politics, it's no wonder that ministry is in such poor shape', Harry commented to Tom. 'That guy just basically admitted to believing that people like Hermione are the wrong crowd, and I'm pretty sure he was about to use a slur.'

'Mhm, yes, he does lack Abraxas' sublety. He's not wrong about the blood traitors, though. Idiots want us to sack the Statute of Secrecy and let the muggles in... Still, I'd be careful with how you treat him. House Malfoy is incredibly influential, and if Draco is anything like Abraxas, he'll have a vindictive streak about him.'

'So, don't call him a ferret to his face, got it. Don't like him at all, though.'

Tom sighed. 'Yes, he does remind me more of Piggy than of Abraxas. Shame, really... Still, be smart about this. I could give you some pointers, here...'

"I quite appreciate the offer, Mr. Malfoy", Harry answered, following Toms suggestions. "However, I have already found a compartment with a promising young witch for company, and I only stepped out to aid a fellow wizard find his pet - it ran off, you see, and Mr. Longbottom hoped to find it, lest it be injured. Still, I am certain we'll have opportunities to converse in the future, once we arrive at Hogwarts."

Draco made a face upon hearing Nevilles last name, though he seemingly swallowed down whatever comment he wanted to give. "A shame", he instead said. "Though I do understand, and I do hope we'll make time for conversation sooner rather than later. We should arrive soon anyways, father told me the journey only really lasts three hours." He scrunched his face. "Honestly, I do not understand why we even bother with this train."

Harry didn't understand it either, but he was saved from further comment when he heard a croaking and, upon looking, found a brown toad jumping out of a compartment. He caught it as it jumped, cringing at the consistence of the animals skin, and immediately used it as an excuse to return to his compartment - he had to give Neville his toad back, after all.

'Here's hoping we didn't just steal anyone's pet', Tom drolly commented.

'Yes, well, considering no one came yelling for it, I doubt that we did', Harry replied as he moved away from Draco and his two goons. 

"We shall be arriving at Hogwarts Station in five minutes. Please leave your luggage in the train, it shall be brought to school for you", a voice announced just as Harry arrived back at his compartment - Neville and Hermione hadn't arrived just yet.

'And here we go', was Toms only response.