The whistle was blowing.
"Hurry up George! The train is about to leave!"
George Weasley scrambled onto the Hogwarts Express, and not a moment too soon. As soon as the door had closed, the train began to move.
I looked up and down the corridor of the train anxiously.
"I hope there's a free compartment," I looked at George. "Do you want to go and see if we can find one?"
"You can if you want," replied George, with a mischievous glint in his eye that I knew only too well. "I'm gonna go and find Percy and annoy the hell out of him until we get there!"
With that, George wandered down towards the front of the train in search of our older brother.
Guessing that I would have more luck at finding an empty compartment at the back of the train, I set off in the other direction.

As it happened, there weren't any empty compartments, but there was just one boy sitting in the last one. I hesitated, then slid the door open. The boy looked up and smiled. He was incredibly good-looking.
"Hello," the boy greeted me,"looking for a seat?"
I nodded.
"Come in then! I'm glad I have some company now, this journey can be pretty lonely."
I slid the door shut and sat across from the boy.
"Thanks," I said, smiling gratefully. "I'm Fred by the way. Fred Weasley. This is my first year here."
"Are you a first-year? Blimey, I thought you looked older. I'm Oliver Wood. I'm in third-year."
"Do you play Quidditch at all?" I asked, trying to find a common interest with Oliver.
"Yes, I absolutely love it! I'm the Gryffindor Keeper," he said with a grin.
"You're in Gryffindor? My whole family have been in Gryffindor and they won't be too happy if I'm not in it as well... I love Quidditch too. I play a lot of it at home; my twin and I always play as Beaters."
"You've got a twin? Cool!" Oliver looked genuinely interested. "I don't have any brothers or sisters," he said after a moment.
"You don't have any?!" I gaped. "I've got five brothers and a sister."
"There's seven of you?!" It was Oliver's turn to look shocked.
"Yep. You're in Gryffindor you say? You'll know probably know some of them; Bill, Charlie and Percy Weasley?"
Oliver slapped his hand to his forehead.
"Of course! I know all of them; Bill is a prefect isn't he?, Charlie I know through Quidditch and Percy's in my year."
"Bill is Head Boy this year, yes. I don't really like Percy," I said quietly.
Oliver looked at me thoughtfully.
"I like Charlie better," he mused.
I looked at him. His gaze had moved from me to the view from the window.
"Nice day," he commented after a while.
"Yeah...how long is this journey Oliver?"
"Erm...I'm not too sure...I'd say we maybe have about an hour to go?"
"Should we get changed then?" I queried.
"That's probably a good idea Fred," he replied.
We stood up and quickly changed into our robes. He had a very lean, muscular body I noticed, probably from the Quidditch.

Just as we sat down again, there was a knock on the door. It opened and there stood the lady with the food-trolley that Charlie was forever talking about. I now understood why. It had everything; Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Chocolate Frogs, Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes and Liquorice Wands. I looked longingly and, not for the first time in my life, wished we weren't so poor.
"Anything off the trolley dears?" The woman asked.
"No thanks," I muttered.
"Two Chocolate Frogs and some Every Flavour Beans please," said Oliver, handing over his money.
The woman smiled, gave him the sweets, closed the door, and walked away.

"Catch!" Oliver said when she left, and with that, he threw me a chocolate frog.
"Are you sure?" I asked as I caught it.
"Of course!" he said with a smile.
"Thanks!"
"Hmm...I sure could do with someone to help me eat these Beans," Oliver said with a grin.
I laughed and moved to sit beside him.
"Here I am!" I said.
We fell about laughing until we arrived in Hogsmeade station.