Authors Note:

I don't own the characters. This is just for fun, etc, etc, etc.

This is my crack at the HP Universe. I'm a fan of Harry/Hermione, and a bit of a cheesy romantic.

It's slightly AU. Hagrid didn't take Harry to Diagon Alley. Instead he got all his supplies delivered to him by owl with his Hogwarts letter. He'd never met anyone from the wizarding world yet. I hope you enjoy the ride.

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Pain.

That was the first thing he noticed.

His entire body was screaming out in pain. Everything hurt, from his toes to his hair. Slowly he tried to open his eyes, but even his eyelids seemed to hurt. Finally cracking his eyes open, he could see some soft flickering light off to his left. It was casting dancing shadows on what must be the ceiling.

He tried to turn his head, letting a out a soft whimper due to how much everything hurt to move.

Fuzzy shapes that were probably a row of beds, met his gaze.

Gritting his teeth, he tried to lift his arm, hoping he'd be able to find his glasses on the table.

Gasping for breath, he searched as far as he could, but couldn't feel them anywhere.

In a pique of frustration, he swung his arm with all the strength he could muster. A spike of pain caused him to try and swallow down a brief yelp when his hand smacked into something large and heavy.

A great crash pierced the silence as what must have been a pitcher of water hit the floor and shattered into thousands of pieces.

Suddenly the cover on the 3rd bed down flew into the air and a figure leaped off the bed. They were scrambling around the end of the bed, grabbing the post at the foot to help make the turn quicker. Before he knew what was going on, he heard a voice shouting at the top of their lungs.

Unable to focus on the sounds, he could barely turn his head fast enough to see the blurry figure reach the end of the bed next to him. Watching them grip the foot post of the neighboring bed, their feet sliding sideways as they tried to change direction, his eyes began to widen as panic set in.

Closer they came, slowly coming into focus. Running in their stockinged feet, arms reaching out in front of them, hair trailing behind, he finally saw their face. His eyes locked onto the face of the figure hurtling towards him.

A split second before they impacted, he finally made out what was being yelled. "Harry!"

His world suddenly exploded in pain, causing spots to dance across his vision. A scream gurgled from his throat, lasting a mere moment before he went limp.

His vision went black, and the last thing he remembered was a pair of warm chocolate brown eyes glistening with tears.

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Everywhere you looked there were people pushing trolleys, carrying briefcases, herding children, waving to friends. He turned in a circle, trying to find out where he was supposed to go.
Looking back at his ticket, his confusion only increased. Where was he supposed to find a platform called 9 3/4? Finally seeing a conductor, he drew a deep breath and squared his shoulders.

"Excuse me, sir."

"Yes lad, do you need some help?"

"Um, I'm trying to find Platform 9 3/4, sir."

"What are you on about? This is no place to play a joke. Let me see that." Quickly reaching down, the conductor snagged his ticket from his hands. "There's noting on this, what are you trying to pull?"

"I'm sorry sir, I didn't mean any harm. My, um, uh, friends dared me, sir. I'm terribly sorry. I'll go back now sir."

He took his ticket back from the man, turned around and started to hurry away. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw the conductor watching him with narrowed eyes. Ducking his head, he weaved between the crowds hoping to get lost from view.

He continued down the isle between Platforms 9 and 10, looking every which way hoping that everything in the last two weeks hadn't been a dream. He reached the end of the line, looking past the few people boarding the train on the left. There was nothing there, no Hogwarts Express, no magic, no place to go except back to his cupboard. He felt his eyes sting with tears, and slowly crumpled to the ground. Tightening his grip on the handle of his trolley, he shook his head.

'No! I won't go back. I'll never go back. This is real, it has to be real. Oh, please somebody let this be real.'

"Oh dear are you sure this is it?" he heard a woman ask.

"Yes mum, its just as the Professor said. Go to the 2Nd to last pillar between platforms 9 and 10, and enter through the southern wall," replied to voice of a young girl.

"I don't know, this sounds a bit fishy. I never heard of Platform 9 3/4," said a gruff voice, an older man, possibly her father?

Hearing those words, his head whipped up and around so fast that sparkles floated across his view. Not more than 10 feet away stood a family of three. The first person to speak, obviously the mother, was an attractive woman. Probably in her mid 30s, with a slim build, she had a soft round face, with golden brown eyes and matching long wavy hair that hung nearly to her waist. Standing next to here was an impressively tall man, at least 6'5" with a strong athletic frame, he had a head of curly black hair, and eyes the color of dark chocolate. Facing them was a small girl, maybe slightly taller than he was, which wasn't saying too much. She was facing away from him, so all he could see was that she was wearing sandals, a pleated skirt that hung to her knees, and a pale yellow shirt that had lose sleeves that hung just pas her elbows, and this bushy mane of brown curly hair a few shades darker than her mothers hanging down to her shoulder blades.

"Please let me try, I just know it's going to work," the young girl pleaded with her parents.

Sharing a glance between each other, her mother replied, "OK sweetie, just don't be to disappointed if nothing happens," while her father sighed and nodded his head.

The young girl bounced on her feet and spun to grab the handles of the trolley her trunk had been sitting on. Taking a deep breath and squinting at the wall, she quickly started to gain speed. "WAIT!" She heard yelled out to the right just as she was reaching the wall. Snapping her head in the direction of the voice, she looked for whoever had called out. An instant before everything disappeared, their eyes locked. Emerald green met chocolate brown, and in that split second both of them felt something deep inside stir, in a place that always felt a cold and empty, there was a trickle of warmth and something gave a little stir.

The girls parents heard a young boy call out just as their daughter disappeared through a brick wall. With a mix of surprise, awe, fear, and concern, they turned to the boy who was staring at where their daughter was last seen. They were shocked at what they saw. The boy in front of them was a study in contrasts, his clothes were obviously several sizes too large for him, practically falling off his body and covered in dirt and holes. If they didn't know better they would say that he was homeless and had been living on the streets. As they were looking, his face turned to meet their stare, and they both drew in a breath at the eyes looking back at them. His skin was so pale to be almost translucent, the light shining on him gave his rounded face the glow of an angel in a Renaissance painting. Topping his head was the wildest head of hair they had ever seen, so black it nearly swallowed the light, it was sticking up in every possible direction. Lastly, surrounded by large, round, black frames, and covered in cracked, scratched up glasses, were the most extraordinary, emerald green eyes they had ever seen. They shone as though lit by fire from within, and seemed to look though you and into your soul.

Blinking rapidly, the older woman recovered first and began to approach the boy. Striding closer, she noticed he started to shrink into himself, hunching his shoulders and averting his gaze. Squatting down so as to be eye level she gave a quick smile and spoke to the boy.

"Hello, young man. May I help you?"

Looking back up into her smiling face he replied, "Um, I heard you talking about Platform 9 3/4. I was given this ticket but I don't know where it is." Handing her the same ticket he rescued from the conductor earlier, he glanced over her shoulder and saw the man towering above him with his arms crossed and a small frown on his face. Looking back down at the ground, he missed the man quirk his brow, and deepen his scowl.

"Oh wonderful," the woman cheered, "you're going to Hogwarts too. Our daughter is just starting this year, so hopefully you two can become friends. I must say it is quite the coincidence that you happened to show up just as we were discussing this. It must be fate. Yes, I do believe that these things happen for a reason. Oh my, I'm sorry, I've been rambling on again. Anyways my dear, what's your name? My name is Emma Granger, and this is my husband Daniel, you've seen our daughter Hermione haven't you. Of course you did, that's why you called out wasn't it? So, back to your question, although it wasn't really a question more of a statement really, but that's besides the point. When they came to deliver our Hermione her letter, this lovely lady sat with us to answer our questions. She was a professor at the school, McConnelly or McGonnal or something, forgive me I'm terrible with names. So she made a tea set appear from thin air, and turned one of the cups into a mouse, quite a shock I must say. It was all very impressive, I hope that our Hermione is able to learn everything. I feel bad that we won't be able to help much when she comes home. What did they show you when they delivered your letter?" Finally stopping herself, she clasped the small boys hands in hers and shot a wide grin at him.

Staring at the woman in front of him in shock, his mouth hanging open, he felt her hands grasp his and instinctively tried to jerk them away. This caused her smile to falter, and she jumped slightly when a hand touched her shoulder.

"Em, you're rambling again. I doubt he understood anything you said, cause I sure didn't." He looked down on here with a fond smile, when she glanced back up at him. Turning to the boy, he stuck out his hand and addressed him. "Hello, you may have heard my wife say, my name is Daniel Granger. You mentioned something about Platform 9 3/4?"

The boy, looked at he hand offered to him and slowly reached out to give it a quick shake. "Harry sir, Harry Potter. Yes sir, that's where my ticket says I need to go, sir. I haven't been able to find it."

Releasing the boy's hand, he replied, "As you probably saw with our daughter, apparently you just walk though the wall of this divider. A mite bit strange, but it seemed to work. By the way, where are your parents?"

"Sorry sir, they're not here sir. My uncle gave me a ride, but had to go back to work, sir."

"Ah quite alright, luckily you found us." Giving his watch a quick glance, "Well it's almost time for the train to leave. You'd better hurry up so you don't miss it."

Quickly grasping his trolley again, Harry's head began bobbing like his neck was made of springs. "Thank you sir, and you too ma'am. Sorry to have bothered you. I'll be going now." Wrenching the cart to face in the right direction he heard the Grangers call out to him as he headed towards the wall.

"Have a safe trip Harry. Keep an eye out for Hermione, she's just as new to this are you seem to be."

Peeking over his shoulder, he saw them give a small wave as he vanished through the bricks.

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Emerging through a cloud of steam, he was assaulted by a cacophony of noise. The low hum of the bright red steam engine to his left, parents calling out to their children, teens calling out to each other, little kids running and laughing, the shrill pitch of someone blowing a whistle, and finally the chiming of a large clock striking eleven.

'Eleven! Oh no, the train is going to leave.'

Running forward, he jumped up and down waving one of his arms over his head calling out, "Wait for me! Don't leave yet!"

As he got next to the train, the main whistle blew and caused him to divert his attention for half a second. Next thing he knew, the handle of the trolley smacked him across the chest driving the air from his lungs. He watched as his trunk and bird cage tumbled to the ground. Startled by the fall, a beautiful snow owl awoke and started flapping its arms and screeching. Before he could move, a pair of arms grabbed him under the arms and lifted him back onto his feet, while two others bent over his owl and trunk, picked both of them up and took a leaping step onto the slowly moving train.

His helper tugged on arm and began to run, nearly puling him back off his feet. Shaking out of his daze, he ran as fast as he could to try and catch up. Another tug on his arm caused him to lurch forward. Fearing that he would fall, he began to bring his hands up to protect his face when he felt something catch his wrists and lift him clear off his feet. Panic began to set in the moment before he was put back down on the ground. Looking around him, he saw three people before him before something hit him from behind, causing him to stumble into the girl standing before him. Both bodies hit the far side of the hallway, and fell back to the floor in a mass of arms and legs.

Something was digging into his side and his ankle felt all wrong. Letting out a groan he opened his eyes to see what happened. It was darker than a minute ago, confusing him for a second before he saw the face hovering inches above him surrounding the two of them with hair. It was those eyes, the same eyes he saw as they disappeared through the wall at the station. The stirring warmth that he felt deep in his chest was back, hotter and stronger than before. He couldn't blink, he could barely breath, and only vaguely heard noised from the outside world. They were the color of rich chocolate, they kind that was given as gifts to loved ones on Valentine's, or melted to make a warm cup of cocoa on a cold winters day. They had such a warmth in them that he felt he'd never be cold again. A cough jarred his senses, causing him to blink and the face to pull away.

Climbing back onto his feet, he saw the other people around him. First was a tall boy, nearly a man. With an extended hand and a laughing smile on his face, he helped the girl back to her feet. On either side of him, were what looked to be twins. Looking back and forth between the two of them, he nearly laughed as the silly grins on both of their faces. The one of the left was holding his trunk, and on the right was holding his owl in her cage. Suddenly they began to speak, switching words back and forth.

"Well, that -"
"- was quite -"
"- the start -"
"- to a -"
"- new life - "
"- at Hogwarts," they finished together.

The tall boy in the middle, broke out into a laugh at the look on the young boy and girls faces.

"Fred, George, be nice. They don't need you two to confuse them anymore." Turning to face the new kids, he introduced everyone. "Hello, I'm Cedric Diggory, these two clowns are Fred and Greorge Weasley. They won't hurt you, but don't believe anything they say."

"Oy!!" Exclaimed the twin holding the trunk. "I ain't Fred, I'm George."

"No George, I'm Fred." replied the other. "And we take exception to your remark Cedric."

"Don't tell the firsties that. You've hurt my feelings."

"Alright you two, just shut up. Sorry about them. Glad you could make it aboard. What are your names?" Cedric asked, turning first to the girl.

"My name is Hermione Granger. Thank you for your help getting my trunk on board. I'm so excited to be going to Hogwarts. I've read all of Hogwarts: A History, is it really as wonderful of a castle as it sounds to be? I can't wait to see the Great Hall, they talked about the charms on the ceiling and it sounds like it's beautiful. Is it really difficult to learn magic. I've read through all my books, and I really wanted to try something, but I was told that we weren't allowed to do magic out of school. Do they teach Latin or Greek? I think that would be important to know since most of the spell names seem to come from those two languages. Potions sounds quite intriguing, hopefully I'll be good at it even though I'm not very good at cooking. My mother says that I would burn water if I tried, but everyone knows that it's impossible to burn water, it only evaporates when it boils. Have any of you taken Muggle Studies? Is it an accurate class? I wonder if there is a Wizard Studies class for people whose parents aren't wizards. Oh I'm looking forwards to Transfiguration, Professor McGonagall came to my house to deliver my letter..."

Hermione finally stopped talking once the three older boys burst into laughter, leaning on each other and nearly falling over. She narrowed her eyes at them and turned to her right. She was met by those green eyes again. Every time she looked into them, that empty spot in her chest filled her with more warmth than before. Taking a second to look, she saw the same wild black hair and pale white skin that so entranced her mother just moments before. Sticking out her hand she addressed her new companion. "Hermione Granger. I saw you outside as I was entering the platform. I'm glad that you made it in time. I saw you yelling and waving, and luckily was able to get their attention. The twins grabbed your stuff, and Cedric helped you to the train. Another few seconds later and I don't think you would have caught up."

Staring at the girl in front of him in a daze, he absently shook her hand. "Eyes."

This caused her to scrunch her forehead. "Excuse me?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, please forgive me. Harry, Harry Potter. Tha..."

"POTTER?" All three boys gasped.

"You're -"
"- Harry Potter? -"
"- Defeater of evil, -"
"- slayer of -"
"- He-Who- -"
"- -Must-Not- -"
"- -Be-Named, -"
"- the one, -"
"- the only, -"
"- the Boy- -"
"- -Who-Lived?"

Harry looked back and forth as the twins spoke in their ping-pong fashion. "Huh? What are you talking about?"

"Oh wow! I've read all about you. They talked about you in The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts!"

Harry turned back to her in confusion. "What are you going on about?"

Cedric saw that Harry was completely unaware of what was being discussed and decided to explain it to him. "Harry, every wizard knows you. You're famous for being the only person to survive the killing curse. After You-Know-Who killed your parents, he tried to kill you, but you survived and he was destroyed."

Harry backed into the corner and started shaking his head, "No, no, no, you have the wrong person. My parents died in a car crash when I was a baby. It was rainy and something happened and they drove off the road and I got a scar. I don't know who you're talking about."

The twins looked at each other in surprise. 'He doesn't know? Killed in a car crash? Why wasn't he told?'

Hermione gasped in shock and felt tears in her eyes. 'Oh no, I can't believe I said that. He's going to hate me now.'

Cedric looked back down the hallway and saw a few heads beginning to peak out of their compartments due to the twins exclamations. He opened the door to the compartment on the left and swiftly shuffled everyone in. Turning around and brandishing his wand, he muttered a spell under his breath and the door flashed a bright blue and squelched shut. Pocketing his wand again, he sat down between the twins again, and watched as Harry curled up into a ball on the opposite bench while Hermione's tears began to roll down her cheeks. Glancing at the twin on his right, he nodded his head in the girls direction and got up to switch seats as Fred/George/whichever pulled her into a hug, stroking her hair whispering softly to her as she cried. Now next to Harry, he reached out to his shoulder, quickly pulling back his hand as Harry jumped from the contact and tried to curl up even smaller.

"Harry, can you hear me? You're going to fine. No one is going to hurt you. I just want to talk to you for a minute." Softly touching Harry's shoulder again, he was able to turn the small child back towards him as he began to uncurl.

"Harry, I'm sorry if we offended you at all. Please just listen to us for a few minutes, and then we'll answer any question you have. Alright?" Harry gave a small nod. "OK, this story begins about 20 years ago. There was a very powerful and evil wizard who decided that he wanted to take over the world. He gathered a group of followers called Death Eaters, and for over 10 years, they caused chaos in the wizarding world. Lots of people were killed, many were terribly injured, and many just disappeared. On Halloween night, in 1981, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named went to kill you and your parents, no one seems to really know why, but they had been fighting against him and were some of the bravest people I've read about. When he came to your house that night, he killed your mother and father, and tried to kill you. Somehow you didn't die, but he did instead. It was said that you survived the killing curse, and that is how you got your scar."

At hearing this, Harry's had shot to his forehead and felt the scar that his relatives always yelled at him about. He looked around the compartment they were in while Cedric continued the story, telling about how everyone grew up hearing about the Boy-Who-Lived, and that he was hidden from the wizarding world for his protection. Harry looked at the faces of those surrounding him, noting that Cedric was facing him with a questioning look, the Twins were both looking at Hermione with concern in their eyes, and Hermione was staring back at him with tears on her face and a heart-wrenching look of sadness in her eyes. He gave her a bit of a smile, so she wouldn't be so sad. In a blur, he was pinned to the bench with arms wrapped around him and a face full of hair.

The Twins broke out into smiles with laughter dancing in their eyes as they watched Hermione tackle Harry into a hug, and start crying on his shoulder, mumbling incoherently about being sorry. Deciding to help the shocked boy, they continued Cedric's tale.

"Harry, we're sorry -"
"- if we caused you -"
"-any problems."
"Keep in mind -"
"- that we grew up -"
"- hearing the story -"
"- of how you survived -"
"- so you are a bit -"
"- of a celebrity -"
"- to our world."
"Please, if there -"
"- anything that you need -"
"- to ask about -"
"- what Cedric has -"
"- just told you?"

With Cedric helping extract Harry from the clutches on Hermione, he began to process what they had just said. "Um, but that's not what my Aunt and Uncle told me. How do I know you're not making everything up?"

Twin #1, he gave up trying to figure which was which, rose and started digging around in his trunk, finally pulling out a worn book. Sitting back down and flipping through it, he found what he had been looking for. Handing the book to Harry, he replied, "Here, this should show you we're not making it up."

There on the top of the page, was the chapter title "The Boy-Who-Lived". As he read the text below, he was a bit scared that everything that he had been told on the train so far was true. He never though he would be more surprised until he turned the page, and there he saw the most amazing thing ever. It was a picture, similar to all the ones on the walls back in Surrey, but with one major difference. This one moved! He stared in awe as the couple in the photograph smiled at him and gave a little wave. When they both looked down at something, it was then that he noticed that in the woman's arms was a baby only a few months old. The baby appeared to wake up and gave a little cry before opening his eyes and looking at the camera. Those were his eyes! He looked back at the parents, and now saw the similarities. The father had the same mass of unruly hair his Aunt complained about constantly, and the woman had the same eyes he saw every day in the mirror. 'Oh my god, those are my parents.' Glancing at the bottom of the page, in a flowing script he read, James and Lily Potter, and Little Harry.

Suddenly everything became blurry and started to get dark. He saw the book slide off his lap, and the world tilt dangerously. As everything went black he thought he heard a high-pitched laugh, a woman call out his name, and a flash of green, then he knew no more.

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A/N: Just making some typo edits, and adding the spacing between paragraphs. This story isn't being beta'd at the moment so forgive my grammar/spelling.
A/N²: If anyone has any suggestions as for what to do with Draco, I'm all ears.
A/N³: Damn, it keeps taking out my spacings and break lines.... PITA!!