Ron hurried away from his brothers, hauling his trunk behind him. His mum had put a slight weightlessness charm on it to help him drag it, but that would wear off soon and he didn't want to get stuck anywhere near the twins, especially not on his first trip to Hogwarts. The thought filled him with excitement, despite his hurrying; he was finally going to Hogwarts! Although if he couldn't find a compartment that wasn't full of older students he'd be spending it with Fred and George and probably Lee, and Lee seemed to have brought a tarantula.
Eventually, Ron found the dark-haired boy who had approached them in the muggle train station reading a book in his own compartment. With a sigh, Ron slid open the door to the compartment and stepped inside. It wasn't ideal, really. The boy, though he looked to about Ron's age and was certainly considerably shorter than Ron, had an air about him of trouble… though how much of this was a result of his appearance Ron wasn't sure. He had four thin, jagged, parallel lines running diagonally across his face like he had been slashed by a large animal, and he favoured his left leg when he walked. But he'd been polite enough when he approached them and had a sort of strength about him that both scared and intrigued Ron; on the whole, he was like no one he had ever met. More importantly, he wasn't an older student. As far as Ron was concerned, that meant he was safer than his brothers, so he'd have to do.
"Anyone sitting there?" he asked, gesturing loosely to the seat opposite the boy and trying, for some reason, to avoid making any sudden movements, "It's just, everywhere else is full."
The boy lowered the book and fixed piercing green eyes upon Ron, making him take an involuntary half-step back. "No," he said shortly, and then returned to reading his book.
If Ron hadn't known better, he would have said the boy looked uncomfortable, like he wasn't quite sure what to do with company. Hesitant, Ron sat.
"Hey. Umm… I'm Ron."
"I know, your Mum said," he replied, and then hesitantly lowered the book. "I'm Harry."
"Hey," said Ron again, because he wasn't sure what else to say.
The following moment of uncomfortable silence was thankfully broken by the twins, who slid open the compartment door and told Ron that Lee Jordan was just down the train with a tarantula, so they were going to hang out with him. They were about to leave when they noticed Harry, who had returned to hiding behind a book.
"Ooh look, Ronniekins made a friend!"
"The same kid from-"
"-King's Cross."
"Hi Ron's friend-"
"-what's your name?"
"I'm Gred Weasley by the way, and this is Forge."
Harry blinked, confused. "Harry. I'm Harry. Nice to meet you… Fred and George?"
He was met with two identical grins from the twins. Ron was about to but in and tell the twins to bugger off when Fred (probably. Might have been George) asked "What, no last name?".
There was a pause as Harry studied them, considering. What was so important about a last name? Ron wondered; Harry looked like he almost didn't want to tell them at all.
Eventually, he hid himself behind his book, honestly looking afraid for their reaction, and whispered the two words that would change Ron's life.
"Harry Potter."