A Strange Encounter
A nervous Harry Potter boarded the Hogwarts Express for the first time and what was the first thing he saw? Why, the blond boy from the robe's shop being pinned down by a slightly bigger blond with his arms twisted at a painful angle, of course.
"Say you're sorry, Malfoy," his tormentor said, nodding his head in the direction of a plump, dark-haired boy that stood to the side, twiddling his thumbs.
"Fine, fine, I'm sorry!" Malfoy shouted, breathing a sigh of relief when he felt the other blond's weight shift off of him.
"Here you go, Neville," said the older boy, placing a small toad in the chubby boy's hand. The aforementioned boy smiled at him.
"Thanks, Balisk!" and he was gone into a compartment.
Harry turned to the others to see if this was normal behavior on the train. Ron had rolled his eyes at the smaller blond at muttered something about an "Annoying git," while Fred and George were smirking at this 'Balisk'.
"Well, if it isn't my two favorite gingers," Balisk grinned and then looked down at Ron, "And my second favorite."
"That doesn't make sense," Ron said, "If they're your two favorites, then—"
"They count as one person, at least in my mind." When Balisk's gaze shifted to Harry, he tensed. It wasn't that he was scared of being recognized, but that Balisk's eyes weren't exactly normal.
One of the eyes was a clear, crystal blue. The other, however, was a bright, blood red that sent shudders through Harry.
"And who do we have here?"
"My name's Harry," he answered numbly, still a bit shaken from the strange calculation in the way Balisk looked.
"Ah, well then, it's nice to meet you Harry," Balisk smiled and offered his hand as a greeting. He and Harry shook hands.
"So how've you lot been, hm?" Balisk straightened and shoved his hands in the pockets of his loose, black pants.
"Fine. Mum's been on us about the, er, thing that we worked on last term. She thinks that all of us should pay more attention to our studies."
"Mum doesn't know I do your homework, does she?" Balisk asked, a smirk crossing his thin face.
"If she did, then she wouldn't worry about our grades," Fred grinned and clapped Balisk on the shoulder, "So how was it at Ana and Becker's house all summer?"
"Some new type of unholy hell that I was unaware existed," Balisk almost instantly deflated, "They wouldn't let me so much as send a bloody owl. I had to deal with that Malfoy git going on and on about how he was going to Hogwarts and how he was going to be the pride of Slytherin. I told him if he kept talking like that, he'd end up in Hufflepuff. Shut him right up."
"I'm sorry that you're related to an idiot like that."
"As far as I'm concerned, I'm not. A second cousin is a bit too close for comfort," Balisk waved his hand and went in search of a compartment, Fred and George chatting animatedly behind him.
"Er, who was that?" Harry asked, turning his head to Ron.
"That was Balisk Acton; he's one of Fred and George's friends. They've been friends forever because his mum is friends with our mum and he spends a lot of time at our house. That's why he doesn't call our mum "Molly" or something. His parents are kind of messed up since Balisk's older brother disappeared off the face of the planet. Mum kind of sees him as one of our brothers at this point."
Harry nodded and walked down the passage way. Hopefully, he wouldn't have too many times in which he had to be the center of Balisk's attention.