I've always liked stories where Harry was in Slytherin, particularly "Harry Potter and The Slytherin Selection" "On the Way To Greatness" and "Magical Relations" but there was always one thing or another that I had wished happened. That Harry was more ruthless. Or kinder, or more cunning, or something. Basically, while I love those particular stories, I wanted to give it a try myself.

Now, seeing as this is basically my first foray into writing (for HP at least, I'm not completely inexperienced. I've written a decent amount of other things as practice, and I don't usually make grammar or spelling errors.) I won't be posting chapters on a regular schedule.

The first paragraph will be taken directly from the first book, but the rest of the story won't be. Of course, it isn't that much of an AU, so most situations will likely be the same, just handled differently.

And lastly, I'm not JK Rowling. All characters and all that stuff belong to her, and although I doubt I need to write this down, I'd rather be safe than sorry. Enjoy.

Harry Potter And The House Of The Serpent

Chapter 1: The Ticket

Hagrid helped Harry onto the train that would take him back to the Dursleys, then handed him an envelope. "Yer Ticket fer Hogwarts" he said. "First o' September - King's Cross - it's all on yer ticket. Any problems with the Dursleys, send me a letter with yer owl, she'll know where to find me... See yeh soon, Harry."

Just as Harry was about take a seat aboard the train, he glanced down at his ticket, which read:

"The Hogwarts Express Departs from Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, King's Cross Station, At 11:00 AM, on September 1st."

"Hagrid..." Harry said slowly, climbing down the steps from the train for a little more privacy.

Hagrid turned around with a slightly confused expression on his face. "Wha' is it Harry?"

"My ticket says to leave from Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. Do they even have a Platform Nine and Three-Quarters? And isn't King's Cross an ordinary station? What's to stop Muggles from seeing everyone on the Hogwarts Express?" Harry asked.

Hagrid clapped a hand to his head "Blimey, Harry! I almos' forgot. Yeh gotta go strait fer the barrier between Platform 9 an' Platform 10. 'Slike the Leaky Cauldron, Muggles just don' notice it, do they?"

"But Hagrid, you said a barrier, right?"

"Yep. It looks solid an' all, but it's not. Just walk right toward it, and yeh'll go right through. Or yeh could run right through if yer nervous like I was on me firs' day. Don' you worry about it." Hagrid said with a smile.

"Thanks Hagrid." Harry said, feeling the momentary confusion and mild panic from reading his ticket disappear.

"Yeh best be off now, Harry. Yer train's abou' ter leave." Hagrid said, patting Harry on the shoulder and causing his knees to nearly give way.

While the train was pulling out of the station, Harry rose in his seat and pressed his nose against the window, wanting to watch Hagrid until he was out of sight. He caught a glimpse of him striding away, but he blinked and then Hagrid was gone.

Harry's last month with the Dursleys wasn't very pleasant, to say the least. Admittedly, Dudley was now so terrified of Harry that he refused to stay in the same room as him, while Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon didn't shut Harry in his cupboard, force or threaten him to do anything, or holler at him. Come to think of it, they hardly spoke to him at all.

Half furious and half terrified, they acted as though Harry simply didn't exist. Although this was an improvement, it did become a bit tiresome after a while.

Harry mostly kept to his room, with his new owl and books for company.

He had decided to call the snowy owl Hedwig, a name he found in his copy of A History Of Magic, by Bathilda Bagshot.

All of his school books were very interesting. He lay on his bed reading for hours and hours, wanting to be as prepared as possible for his classes. He didn't have much else to do, so he may as well learn something that would help him do well in school. Even if parts of his books were boring (which they rarely were) he figured that it would be worth it in the long run.

It was a good thing Aunt Petunia didn't come in to vacuum, seeing as Hedwig kept bringing back dead rodents through the open window. Every night before he went to sleep, Harry marked off another day on a makeshift calendar he had pinned to the wall, counting off the days down to September the first.

When the last day of August arrived, Harry figured he ought to speak to his aunt and uncle about getting to King's Cross the next day, so he went down to the living room where they were watching something on the Television. He cleared his throat to try and alert them to his presence, but they continued staring at the TV. He tried walking a bit closer to them, making slightly more noise than necessary, and still they gazed stupidly at the TV.

Deciding subtlety was never going to work on them, he finally just said "Er, Uncle Vernon? Aunt Petunia?" Dudley screamed and ran from the room, while Uncle Vernon grunted to show he was listening. "Er, I need to be at King's Cross tomorrow to - to go to Ho- School." Harry barley caught himself in time, thinking it wise not to speak the name of his school in front of his relatives.

He had also decided against using terms such as magic, wand, wizard, cauldron, witch, or any other overly-magic associated words around them.

Uncle Vernon grunted again. Harry supposed that meant he was still listening?
"Would it be alright if you gave me a lift?" Once again, his Uncle grunted. Harry supposed (or hoped) that meant yes. "Thank you." He was about to go back upstairs when Uncle Vernon miraculously spoke.

"Funny way to get to a wizards' school, the train. Magic carpets all got punctures, do they?" Harry didn't say anything. It was usually best not to. Although he still got in trouble even when he kept his mouth shut, saying anything at all was more likely to anger his aunt and uncle.

"Where is this school, anyway?" his uncle continued. "I don't know," said Harry, realizing this for the first time. He pulled the ticket that he had gotten from Hagrid, out of his pocket. "I just take the train from platform nine and three-quarters at eleven o'clock." Harry read out.

His aunt stared at him and his uncle scowled. "Platform what?" "Nine and three-quarters." "Don't talk rubbish," said Uncle Vernon. "There isn't a platform nine and three-quarters!"

"Sorry, but it's on my ticket." Harry said, pleased he knew something his uncle didn't. He could tell him about the platform's whereabouts and how to get there, but he figured it was only fair, seeing how much information his aunt and uncle kept from him for years. He decided to leave it a mystery, for the time being.

"Barking mad, the lot of them!" Uncle Vernon exclaimed, dragging Harry from his thoughts.

"You'll see, you just wait and you'll see for yourself. We'll take you to King's Cross. We wouldn't if I wasn't going up to London tomorrow, anyway."

"Why are you going to London?" Harry asked, trying to keep things civil.

Uncle Vernon's face turned purple as he gritted his teeth "Having that ruddy tail removed before Dudley has to go to HIS school. Now get out of here."

Harry hurried upstairs and busied himself with reading his textbooks once more, until he fell asleep.

Harry woke at 5 AM the next morning. He tried to go back to sleep, but found himself far too excited to fall asleep again. So he rose, got dressed and began pacing his room, being careful not to make too much noise and wake his relatives. After his legs became tired, he checked over his Hogwarts school supply list yet again to make sure he had everything, double checked that everything was packed in his trunk and that Hedwig was secure in her cage.

Checking the alarm clock he had repaired that now sat upon his bedside table and seeing it was now 06:30, he opened his trunk and pulled out one of his books, Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger, and began to read. Almost two hours later, Harry heard the Dursleys beginning to stir and hurriedly put his book back and got prepared. In no time, his trunk was loaded into the back of Uncle Vernon's car and they were on their way.

They reached King's Cross at half past ten, and Harry strode confidently towards the barriers between Platform 9 & 10.

Uncle Vernon walked up to him and said "Well, there you have it boy. Platform Nine, and Platform Ten. And your platform should be somewhere in between, shouldn't it? But they don't seem to have built it yet, have they? Have a nice term" he finished, with a nasty grin.

Harry smiled. "Don't worry, I will." he said brightly, and dashed into the barrier. He still closed his eyes as he did so, as sprinting towards an apparently solid brick wall would have you somewhat nervous. As he reached the other side, he immediately looked behind him, wishing he could see the shocked expression on his Uncle's face.

Trying not to think about what would have happened if the barrier was solid, he pushed his trolley towards the train. It was huge and scarlet, while the platform next to it was packed with people, trunks and animals. A sign overhead read "Hogwarts Express, Eleven O'clock." Harry looked behind him to where he had come from, and saw a sign that had the words Platform Nine and Three-Quarters on it. He was really here.

He was not only leaving the Dursley's, but he'd be gone for almost an entire year! He didn't know very much about where he'd be going or the world he was now a part of, but it HAD to be better than life at the Dursley's.

He hurried over to the train. Even with half an hour to spare, he wanted to be perfectly ready when the train began to leave.

Harry struggled to lift his trunk up the steps, and after dropping it painfully on his foot, he put it down and looked around. On another entry point on the train, a sandy-haired boy was struggling with his trunk. Harry got an idea and walked over.

"Hello, would you like help with your trunk?" Harry said

The sandy haired boy put his trunk down and looked at him, breathing heavily. "Thanks, I could use a hand." He had a rather strong Irish accent. "As long as you help me with mine." Harry said, jerking his head in the direction of his trunk. The sandy-haired boy nodded, and together they managed to push the trunk up the steps and onto the floor of the train, where it could be dragged around with ease.

As soon as Harry and the boy were finished with Harry's trunk, the other boy stared at him awkwardly for a few seconds, then spoke up. "Thanks for the help, I've gotta go meet some of me friends." and he hurried off with a wave.

Harry thought his behavior rather odd, but he shrugged it off as he found a compartment. After dragging his trunk into the compartment after him, he went back to the entrance to the carriage to see if he left anything behind, and he spotted the sandy haired boy speaking to who he guessed were his parents.

"Mam, guess who I saw on the train?" "Who?" the woman asked "I think I saw Harry Potter!" "Who?" the man - who Harry guessed was the strange boy's father - asked. "Oh, he's somewhat of a celebrity in our world." the mother answered dismissively. "How do you know, Seamus?" "I saw a bit of his scar through his hair, it really did look like lightning!" "You better have been polite, Seamus." "I was, I swear!" "Alright, alright. Be sure not to bother him, and hurry off to the train. You don't want it leaving without you, do you?" "No mam!" said Seamus, sounding horrified. The boy began approaching and Harry retreated into his compartment, not wanting to be caught eavesdropping.

As he sat back in his seat, he wondered if everyone he met in the wizarding world would be like this. Almost all the people he had met so far were... awed in his presence by an accomplishment he couldn't even remember. Only Hagrid and Mr. Ollivander hadn't quite acted in such a way. He wasn't used to respect or reverence in any amount at the Dursley's, but this was going a bit far.

He just wanted to have a normal existence, a middle ground between being hounded by Dudley and his gang or being bowed to and told how delighted they were to meet him by strangers acting like he was some kind of royalty. Shaking off that line of thought, Harry decided to peer out the window to check the clock. The train would be leaving in 10 minutes.

After trying (unsuccessfully) to lift his trunk into the storage compartment, he retrieved a book from inside and began reading while waiting for the train to leave. While he did spend a great deal of time reading at home, Harry figured he'd more than likely be too excited to concentrate on a book after the train left the station, so he should spend the last few minutes he had, to read. As he read, more and more people boarded the train. He made sure to hide his face behind his book, hoping not to be recognized and get gawked at again. It made him feel uneasy.

Just as the train pulled out of the station, Harry put his book back into his trunk and began starting out the window, watching the scenery go by with increasing speed. His stomach jolted with excitement and mild anxiety. Despite all the time he had spent with Hagrid, he was still, in essence, completely unfamiliar with this new world. All he could hope for was that it was better than the life he had come from.

Just then the compartment door slid open, and the pale boy from Diagon Alley stepped in, flanked by two boys resembling shaved gorillas.

"So it's true then?" he asked. His previously bored, drawling voice had taken on a new note of curiosity. "Harry Potter is on this train carriage. At least that's what Finnigan said."

"Yes." Harry replied.

"So, you're him then? Well, I'm Draco. Draco Malfoy." He extended his hand towards Harry. "I'm Harry Potter." Harry replied, shaking Draco's hand. Although he wasn't sure if he disliked the boy or not, at least he had something resembling manners, so he couldn't be that similar to Dudley, no matter how much he had reminded him of his cousin back in Madam Malkin's.

"A pleasure to meet you" Draco said formally. Harry was somewhat impressed. Most adults he had met were falling over themselves when they met him, and here was an eleven year old appearing nowhere near as impressed with Harry's apparent fame.

"And this is Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle." Draco continued, gesturing towards the large boys in the corridor and taking a seat across from Harry. "Now I know why you didn't appear to understand me when I was talking about Quidditch and the houses. They say you went off to live with muggles. Are they as savage as they say?"

"Well, they were really horrible." Harry said. "At least my Aunt and Uncle and Cousin were. I didn't meet too many muggles other than them, so I can't really say." Draco grimaced. "Could you imagine being a muggle? Going your whole life not doing magic, and not only that, but not even knowing about it?" Draco said.

"Well, until my eleventh birthday when Hagrid took me to Diagon Alley, I didn't know anything about it all, let alone that I was apparently famous and my parents were wizards and that they got... you know. They told me they died in a car crash."

Draco looked horrified. "They actually told you they died in a CAR CRASH? One of those muggle contraptions? What use would a wizard have for one of those? Unbelievable."

"Well, they are the best way to get around if you can't do magic." Harry said. "Are they really? Fascinating." Draco replied, with a face of mild interest.

While Draco seemed slightly intrigued by Harry and his knowledge of Muggles, Harry was wondering what sort of things Draco could tell him about the wizarding world. "So, you say you grew up knowing about magic?"

"Of course!" Draco said, pointing his chin up and looking dignified. "The Malfoy family is among the oldest and wealthiest in Wizarding Britain." he said, sounding as though he had said this exact sentence hundreds of times before.

"So, what can you tell me about Quidditch?" Harry asked, interested.

"Well, it's the very best sport in our world, you see. It has seven players all flying on brooms, and there are multiple positions to play." Draco began.

"There's the Keeper, who guards the three goalposts from anyone trying to score on them with the Quaffle. The Quaffle is the main ball, it's rather large, and the three Chasers, that's another position, attempt to score it through the hoops the Keeper is trying to defend. Each goal is worth ten points, by the way." Draco was talking animatedly, different from before, as though this wasn't something he had rehearsed countless times before.

"Then there's the Beaters. They carry around these brutish bats and smack around another ball, the Bludger. It's smaller than the Quaffle and flies around on it's own, trying to knock players off of their brooms. It's the Beaters' job to keep the Bludger away from their own team and direct it towards the enemy players. Then lastly, there's the Seeker. He's the most important player, by the way." Draco paused for a breath, and Harry was sitting there nodding intently, eager to hear more. It did sound somewhat like football, as Hagrid had said.

"It's the Seeker's job to catch the Golden Snitch. It's the smallest ball of all, and the match doesn't end until the Snitch is caught. The Snitch is worth 150 points, so usually it's whichever team's seeker catches it that wins the game." Draco finished.

"So what about the houses?" Harry asked. He didn't really know that much about them, other than Voldemort was in Slytherin and that Hufflepuffs were thought of as "Duffers"

"Well, there's four of them. Slytherin, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. They're all named after the founders of Hogwarts. They each have their own unique traits that the founders themselves had and that everyone sorted into that particular house are expected to have." Draco said.

"Slytherin, of course, is the best of them. All my family have been in Slytherin for as long as anyone can remember, and I do expect to end up there as well. Slytherin's value ambition, resourcefulness, cunning, determination and subtlety. Of course, you might have heard somebody say it's the "evil house" or that all dark wizards in history came there, but it's simply not true." Draco continued after scowling slightly.

"They always say that because the Dark Lord was in Slytherin back when he was at school, but they can't really name any other dark wizard who was in Slytherin. Of course, a lot of the Dark Lord's followers were in Slytherin, but he had followers from all the houses, including a one or two well known Gryffindors." He paused, eyeing Harry uncertainly.

"So basically, you shouldn't really listen. They can't really name anyone other than the Dark Lord, and each house has it's share of dark witches and wizards. And if it appears that Slytherin had more, it's only because the other three houses don't want to admit to it."

Harry was pretty sure at this point that Draco was biased in favour of Slytherin, but he decided to wait until Draco was finished describing the houses before he formed his own opinion.

"Then there's Gryffindor." Draco continued. "Their traits are "bravery" (he said this with his fingers making quotation marks in the air) nobility, daring, courage, chivalry, and a bunch of other things that essentially mean the same thing. While it is true that a lot of famous adventurers and warriors were in Gryffindor, something a lot of Gryffindors don't seem to understand is that there's a very fine line between bravery and stupidity combined with recklessness. Knowing when it's best to stand and fight or come back another day when you've got the advantage. That sort of thing. So that's Gryffindor. Basically for those who have more courage than brains." Draco finished.

Harry thought about that for a moment. It did sound nice to be brave and noble and courageous and all those things, but when he thought about it, he was never all that brave. Hadn't he run away from Dudley, rather than stand and fight? Hadn't he always avoided confrontation with his relatives, particularly Dudley, preferring to outwit or outrun them instead?

"Then there's Ravenclaw. There's not as much to them as there is to Slytherin and Gryffindor. They're basically a bunch of anti-social bookworms. Their traits are a desire to learn, intellect and an open mind, but most of them are just weird. They don't talk to people, always with their nose in a book. And when they do finally talk, it's usually about some bizarre idea they had, and then they go and embarrass themselves without even knowing it. Completely socially inept." Draco sniffed.

Harry thought that Draco's assessment was rather unfair, especially seeing as Draco hadn't even been to Hogwarts to interact with Ravenclaws before. But he didn't really think of himself as exceptionally intelligent. He'd never exactly done well in school. If he did, he was punished for outperforming Dudley or accused of cheating or both. And he never usually went out of his way to study, as extra knowledge didn't do him much good in class, lest he do better then Dudley.

"And finally, there's Hufflepuff. The other houses tend to think of them as a joke, even Ravenclaw. They're sort of the house of leftovers. They're not especially daring like Gryffindor, they're not cunning or ambitious or resourceful like Slytherin, and they're not even know-it-alls like Ravenclaw. They say Hufflepuffs value hard work, loyalty, dedication and fairness. Which I always thought of as pointless." Draco said with a slight sneer.

"You can usually choose to do hard work or be loyal and dedicated to something, but the other houses' qualities aren't something you can just choose to do. Sure, you can do something reckless and claim you're being brave, but most of it comes as a natural talent that's unique to each house." With that, Draco had completed his lecture on the houses, leaving Harry to think for a moment.

Harry wondered what house he'd be in. Although he wouldn't exactly call himself brave and courageous and daring, he hadn't really been given many chances to prove that he was. While he was forced to do hard work, he figured that was different than being a hard worker. And he never really had anyone to be loyal to. As for Ravenclaw, he wondered how intelligent you needed to be to be accepted into Ravenclaw. That left Slytherin.

He wasn't what you'd call ambitious, but he was resourceful, in a way. Making games with old household objects he found in his cupboard, wearing and repairing his old Sellotaped glasses and shoes, living off of much smaller portions of food than Dudley got. As for cunning, he did make (in his opinion) clever insults directed at Dudley that his cousin rarely even figured out, and he did devise the clever scheme to meet the mailman at the corner. And it would have worked, too, if Uncle Vernon hadn't been waiting on the mat. All in all, he found it more and more likely that he might be sorted into Slytherin. At first he had his misgivings with what Hagrid had said about it being the house of Dark Wizards, but now that Draco had cleared up a lot of it, it sounded alright.

He was pulled from his musings by Draco standing up. "I'm off to go find some of my other friends, I guess I'll see you at the sorting. Let's hope you're in Slytherin. You can count on me to be around to make sure you don't hang out with the wrong sort, I'll look out for you there. Bye." and with that, Draco left with Crabbe and Goyle in toe.

Harry thought about what Draco had said. First, he had said "other friends" did that mean he considered Harry his friend? Besides Hagrid, Harry had never really had any friends before. Nobody wanted to hang out with that odd Potter, who everyone knew Dudley and his gang despised. But not only that, but Draco was from an apparently rich and respectable family, and he wanted to be friends with him?

He had also said he'd help make sure he doesn't hang out with "the wrong sort" whatever that meant. Harry guessed he meant "Bad" witches and wizards. Ones who were going dark, like Hagrid had said some do.

Alone once more, Harry pulled out The Standard Book Of Spells, Grade 1 by Miranda Goshawk and began to read, temporarily forgetting there was passing scenery to gawk at. A few minutes into the book, he came across the Repairing Charm. Noting his broken, taped together glasses and falling apart trainers, he pulled out his wand and decided to do the first bit of magic since Olivander's shop.

Just as he was pointing his wand at his glasses, preparing to say the incantation, a girl with bushy brown hair walked in and started speaking.

"Have you seen a toad? a boy named Neville has lost on-" she stopped in mid sentence "Oh, are you doing magic?" she sat down next to him, eyeing him eagerly.

"Er..." Harry said uncertainly. "I was just going to try and fix my glasses and maybe my shoes." "Well," the girl replied "Can I see? I'm always excited to see magic. I was ever so surprised when I got my letter, my parents were shocked but happy nonetheless, it was an explanation to the odd things that would occasionally happen around me. I've practiced a few spells myself, and they've all worked for me. I've learned the entire set of books by heart so I can be as ready as possible, as I'm the first in my family to have any magic at all. My name is Hermione Granger, by the way." She said this all in one breath, and very quickly.

"Oh, er, my name is Harry Potter." Harry said, in somewhat of a daze. Remembering what he had been doing, he waved his wand in the prescribed manner, and uttered the incantation "Reparo"

Instantly, the cracks in his lenses fixed themselves, the Sellotape fell off and the frame was all in one piece once more.

"Well done." said Hermione. "Are you really Harry Potter? I've read about you in some other books I got for extra reading. You're in The Rise and Fall Of The Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events Of The Twentieth Century."

"Am I?" said Harry. He felt somewhat worried about the fact that she had learned the entire set of books by heart, in addition to reading some extra books with him in them. Although he did read frequently, he'd barely even finished all of his books, and he had by no means memorized the entire thing.

"Yes, you are! Didn't you know? If I was famous, I'd want to read about myself as much as possible." Hermione said.

"Well," Harry began "I was only allowed to spend money on the books on the school list. I might take some books out of the library once we get to Hogwarts then."

"You should definitely check out some of the interesting ones I've bought. In addition to Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events Of The Twentieth Century, there's also Hogwarts: A History. The history behind the school is fascinating! Most of the other books I brought are really just extra information for some classes." Hermione said.

Harry was feeling somewhat intimidated by Hermione. He couldn't remember if he'd finished reading the entire set of books, let alone memorized them perfectly, and here this girl had apparently memorized the whole set and even read several more books. He was beginning to worry everyone would be far more prepared then he was.

Just as he opened his mouth to reply, a round faced boy stepped into the compartment, and he was holding a toad.

"I've found him!" he said excitedly. "I was asking around in some of the compartments, and when I asked this boy named Cedric about Trevor being missing, he got up, waved his wand and said something, and Trevor came flying up to me! it was so cool!"

"Do you know what spell it was? It sounds useful." said Hermione, looking thoughtful. "No, sorry" the round faced boy said. "It was something with an A, I think, then he said Trevor's name. Thanks for helping me look for him anyway, Hermione-" Just then the boy noticed Harry. His eyes darted up to Harry's scar.

"O-oh, sorry." the boy stuttered. He fumbled a sweaty hand forward. "My name is Neville Longbottom, I'm pleased to meet you." Harry shook Neville's hand, somewhat amused. If he thought he felt nervous, it was nothing compared to this boy. "Well, um. Nice meeting you, I've got to go." and with that, Longbottom hurried off.

"Well, he was kind of... excitable." Harry said uncertainly.

"Oh, he's just nervous. His grandmother is very strict, and she bought Trevor for him, and he was so worried he'd lost him." Hermione said. "Do you mind if I stay here? While I was looking for Trevor, I noticed most of the other compartments were full. And I must say, the corridors were filled with people running back and forth, acting very childish."

Harry shook his head.

"So, what house do you think you'll be in?" he asked Hermione.

"Well, I've read about them, and nobody really knows what house they'll be in untill they get sorted, do they?" she asked.

"No, I guess not."

Sorted? Draco hadn't said anything about that, but he should have known there'd be some way they ended up in their houses.

"I don't suppose Ravenclaw would be too bad, and my parents certainly thought I'd end up there. I do study a lot, and do very well in school. In fact, I'm usually in the top of my classes."

This put Harry somewhat at ease. If what she said was true, not all people studied or read as much as her, so he wouldn't be the only one who hadn't memorized the entire set of books.

"Although it would be nice to be in Gryffindor." Hermione continued. "It's the house Headmaster Dumbledore himself was in, and he's apparently the greatest wizard in centuries and everyone admires him. How about you?"

"Er, I don't really know." he confessed. "I don't really feel all that brave or loyal or smart or ambitious, but from what I've heard, Slytherin is likely."

"Really?" said Hermione. "I've heard lots of people say it's the house of dark wizards, which I find to be very narrow minded. I've looked into it, and there have only been two dark lords who went to Hogwarts in the last three centuries, and one of them wasn't even in Slytherin." "I think it has to do with Voldemort. I mean, he's recent in everyone's minds, right? He was around just over ten years ago - what?" Harry stopped speaking at the expression on Hermione's face, one of surprise and curiosity.

"You said You-Know-Who's name. Nobody I've talked to does, and all the books say Dumbledore is the only one who says it. Even these days, people are too scared to say it."

"Well, it just gets confusing after a while." Harry said. "And going around saying "You-Know-Who" and "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" makes him seem a lot more creepy than if you just said Voldemort."

"Well, most people say Dumbledore is the only one who uses his name because he was the only one that You-Know-Who was afraid of. But it does seem rather superstitious, doesn't it?"

"I don't mean to be brave or anything, it just slips out."

Hermione opened her mouth to reply, but at that moment there was a great clattering, and a plump, dimpled witch pushing a trolley stopped in front of their compartment. "Anything off the trolley, dears?" she asked. Harry got up immediately. He hadn't noticed until now how hungry he had gotten while the countryside flew by. And he had never been given sweets at the Dursleys. Even if his Aunt and Uncle ever got some for him, Dudley would have stolen it from him right away, even if it made him sick.

And now with his pockets clinking with wizard money, he was going to buy himself a bunch of Mars Bars. Or perhaps Oreos? but when he stood up and eyed the cart's offerings, he didn't see Mars Bars or Oreos. Instead he saw Cauldron Cakes, Liquorice Wands, Pumpkin Pasties, and countless other things. Deciding to buy a bit of everything, Harry sat back down with his arms full and his pockets notably lighter.

"Anything for you, dearie?" the witch asked Hermione.

"No thanks." Hermione said, shaking her head. With that, the witch pushing the trolley left.

"Why don't you want anything?" asked Harry.

"My parents are dentists." Hermione said. "They disapprove of sugary snacks like that. They say it'll rot my teeth." she sniffed.

"What, you mean they never let you eat any candy or anything?" Harry said, surprised. He thought he'd be the only one who had never been allowed sweets in his life.

"I do get to have some at Halloween, but it's always special sugar free sweets." Hermione said. "They'd always get rid of all the sugary ones."

"You know they're not here now." Harry said, offering her a Cauldron Cake after he finished his own. They were quite tasty.

"I couldn't do that! Go behind their back and eat sweets the moment they're gone?" Hermione asked, horrified.

"But they'll never give you permission. You're going to go your whole life without ever eating regular sweets?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, that may sound silly, but I don't really need to. Plus they did say it's unhealthy." she said, looking unsure.

Harry smiled slightly. He was ready to disobey the Dursleys on a moment's notice, especially seeing as how they kept the wizarding world a secret from him. He had already spoken to more people his own age in this one train trip than he probably had during all his years at school. Clearly, things they kept from him were more than likely to make him happy. Sweets, being a wizard, that sort of thing.

While Hermione wasn't allowed sweets just like him, it was for a completely different reason. Her parents were not allowing sweets because they cared about her and wanted her to be healthy, and she couldn't imagine sneaking around behind their backs. They were her apparently loving parents! Unthinkable.

It was just amusing how they were both not allowed the same thing, but for entirely different reasons.

"How unhealthy? Let's just say you eat sweets on the train ride over here. Even if you do this every time, that's only 7 train rides. Is really eating sweets one day a year for seven years going to make all your teeth fall out?" Harry said with a slight grin.

"Well no, of course not."

"Well, try one! They're really good. I've never had sweets before either, my cousin would've taken them even if I was allowed any by my Aunt and Uncle. They kept it all to themselves."

"That doesn't sound very nice." said Hermione, with a frown. "Well, they didn't really like me." Harry said grimly. "I never knew why until I got my letter, then it made sense. They hate magic."

"You mean like Muggles in the middle ages?" "Sort of. It's not like they tried to burn me or anything." Harry said, thinking of the witch burnings he'd read about in A History Of Magic.

"They just... punished me over the littlest things, and made me do all the housework and cook breakfast every day, and whenever I accidently did magic and I didn't know what it was, I'd be shut it my cupboard for days and I'd have to sneak food from the kitchen once they'd all gone to bed."

"That's horrible!" Hermione exclaimed, shocked. "All the books say most muggles are more tolerant these days, and my parents certainly were! They were very proud of me for getting accepted into the most prestigious school of magic in Europe! Didn't you tell anyone? Did you say your cupboard?! You should have gone to the police!"

"No, it's fine now. Once I started getting the letters, they started acting weird. I guess they were afraid of me or something, because they let me sleep in my cousin's spare bedroom."

Hermione was still frowning at him, so he decided to change the subject by handing her a liquorice wand. She accepted it and began eating it and looking like she was about to say something.

Realizing he had probably said too much, he decided to steer the topic away from his relatives by holding up a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. "What d'you think every flavour means?" he asked her. She shrugged, looking thoughtful.

"Wizarding food is different from normal food. Earlier I saw someone unwrap one of those chocolate frogs," she said, nodding towards one of the packages next to Harry "and it got up and started hopping around. They're not alive of course, but they're enchanted to move around."

Harry opened the beans and pulled out a funny looking grey one. As soon as he put it in his mouth, he began coughing and sputtering.

"What's the matter?"

"P-Pep-er! Pepper!" he managed to get out. "It was a pepper flavoured bean. I guess they mean every flavour." he said with a grimace, once he stopped coughing. Deciding to be more wary of these beans, he began carefully selecting them and taking cautious nibbles. He did get a few normal flavours like jam and chocolate, but he also got grass and sprouts and pizza. After that, he opened a Chocolate Frog for himself while handing one to Hermione.

As soon as he opened it, the frog hopped off the seat and onto the window. It was climbing towards the opening, hoping to get away. He quickly grabbed it before it could succeed in it's bid for freedom, and took a bite out of it. It tasted just like regular chocolate, thankfully. After the beans, he was ready to believe anything.

"You know they come with a card about a famous Witch or Wizard, right?" asked Hermione, reading her own.

Harry looked down and noticed that there was a tiny wizard in the back of his chocolate frog card. He was wearing half moon glasses, a purple cloak, and had a large silver beard. Underneath that the card read:

Albus Dumbledore

Current Headmaster of Hogwarts, Considered by many to be the greatest wizard of modern times. Professor Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindewald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicholas Flamel.

Professor Dumbledore enjoys chamber music and tenpin bowling.

"So this is Dumbledore." Harry said, holding up the card for Hermione to see. She glanced over at it, interested. Once she was done reading, she offered her own card, Fulbert The Fearful.

The time soon flew by, with them eating chocolate frogs and exchanging the cards inside them for the other to read, until one of them noticed it was getting dark out. "We should change into our school robes." Hermione said. "I'll be back when I'm changed, you can use the compartment to put yours on while I'm gone."

And with that, she went off to the bathroom to change. Harry quickly changed into his own black school robes and tie. They were quite comfortable, and the pocket in his robes held his wand better than the one on his jeans. Shortly afterwards, Hermione returned, and she looked as nervous as he felt. They spent the rest of the trip in anxious silence.

In what seemed like no time, the train began to slow down as the sky darkened even more. Finally, the train pulled to a stop and Harry and Hermione left the train car, about to take their luggage with them when a voice echoed through the train, telling them to leave it behind. With a shrug, they stepped off the train.

It wasn't long before Harry heard Hagrid's booming voice calling out over the crowd: "Firs' years this way! firs' years over here!" Swinging a large lantern, he noticed Harry and waved. "Alrigh' there, Harry? Off yeh go, the boats are tha' way." He said, pointing with a massive hand. Harry and Hermione walked down the winding pathway that seemed to be leading towards docks on the shore of a lake.

Once there, they were shortly joined by Hagrid. "Alrigh', no more'n four to a boat." With that, Hagrid took an entire boat to himself and set off. Harry and Hermione were joined by Longbottom and a red haired boy, and soon the entire fleet of little boats was following in Hagrid's wake. Up ahead, Hagrid called out to everyone: "Pretty soon you'll be getting your firs' view of Hogwarts!"

And soon enough, as they rounded a peninsula covered in trees, they looked up and saw a magnificent castle. Dozens of people let loose "Ooohs" and "ahhhs" of amazement. Countless turrets, towers so tall you had to crane your neck to see their tops, countless bright windows pouring light out into the night. This is where he would be spending the next seven years learning to do magic. It was all so wonderful.

Shortly afterwards they passed through a curtain of low hanging vines, and stopped at another dock. After all the students had disembarked from their boats, they followed Hagrid up a pathway that lead to a giant oak door. Raising a huge hand, Hagrid knocked three times.

Author's Note:

Please review to let me know if I'm doing this right. And remember to be constructive.