"C'mon, Harry, I'll run with you" James Potter assured his son, as the pair stood in front of the magical barrier separating the muggle train station from platform 9 and ¾. The young Harry Potter, barely eleven years old, nodded nervously. His father grabbed onto the side of the trolley, and started a countdown.

"On three, ready? 1...2...3!"

James said, pulling the trolley as his son pushed it towards the brick wall. Harry braced himself for impact, but felt nothing. After a few seconds, the boy opened his eyes to find an old fashioned steamer train ahead of him. There were people everywhere, and the air full of the sounds of animals, parents calling goodbyes to their children, and of course the huffing of the train.

"Woah…"

Harry exclaimed quietly, turning around to get a good look at the whole station. He turned his head back towards the barrier to await the arrival of his mother and his godfather stepping through. Lily Potter smiled at her son as she emerged, walking over to stand with her husband. Harry's godfather, Sirius Black, followed through not a moment later, a smile playing on his features. Harry lead the small group forward, farther into the throng of families. He pulled his phone out of his jeans pocket, checking the time. It was 10:55am, and Harry knew that he needed to get on the train soon. He turned around to face his family. For the first time, Harry suddenly felt nervous about going off to Hogwarts. What if he didn't like it? What if he had no friends? He tried to shake the feeling, instead turning to hug his parents.

"You'll call me, right?" he asked them worriedly.

"Of course, Harry! And you can always text us whenever you need to!" his mother assured his, planting a gentle kiss on Harry's forehead.

His father nodded, ruffling his son's already messy hair. That was something he had inherited from his father, though his eyes were entirely Lily's. Harry turned and gave Sirius a huge hug.

"You'll call too?" he asked his godfather, nervousness starting to creep back into his chest.

"Of course, kiddo" he said, giving Harry another tight squeeze.

Harry stepped back from the group of them, then made sure he had all his belongings. He opened his backpack, checking to make sure he had his laptop, and his change of clothes, as well as his device chargers. Satisfied, he double checked that his trunk was shut tight, and that Hedwig was sleeping soundly in her cage. He turned back to his parents and godfather, giving them one last smile as the train let out an ear-piercing squeal that Harry could only take to mean that it was about to leave.

"Go on, Harry, get on the train!" Sirius called out as he lifted the trunk up for the boy.

"Bye! I'll call you once I get settled!" Harry called, dragging his belongings down the hall of the train.

Near the back, he found a nearly empty compartment, containing only one kid. A pale, red-haired boy with a rat sat in one of the booths.

"Can I sit here? Everywhere else is full" he asked the boy, who nodded at him.

Smiling, Harry loaded his trunk onto the rack, placing hedwig up there too, though he kept his backpack with him. Not long after Harry sat down, the train started moving, and he waved a final goodbye to his family out the compartment window. Once they got out of the station all Harry could see was some houses, then all of a sudden a whole ton of grass. And cows. And sheep. 'Jeez, we're in the middle of nowhere!' he thought to himself. Turning away from the window, Harry turned his attention to the boy across from him. He had red hair, light skin and freckles, and had a ragged looking rat dozing on his shoulder. He looked familiar, but Harry just couldn't put his finger on where he had seen him before.

"Hi, I'm Harry. Harry Potter" he said, introducing himself to the boy. "And you are…?" he continued.

The boy looked up, surprised that Harry had spoken to him.

"Ron. Ron Weasley" he answered, nodding at Harry in greeting.

Then it clicked.

"That's how I know you!" Harry cried, pointing at Ron. "You're dad works at the ministry, a few departments over from my dad!"

He continued at the confused look on Ron's face. Ron still looked puzzled.

"My dad, James Potter, he's an auror at the Ministry of Magic, and I went to visit him at work once."

continued Harry, and he saw the confusion drain from his face and it seemed that a light had gone of in the boys eyes.

"Ohhhhhhh!" Ron said, realizing what Harry meant. "Yeah, I think i've seen you there too" he added, nodding his head as if agreeing with his own statement.

They were silent for a while, and Harry didn't wuite know what to say. Luckily he was saved from having to say this by the arrival of a girl with bushy hair knocking on their compartment door. She slid it open, and stepped inside.

"Have either of you seen a toad?" she asked them, holding her wand at her side.

Harry and Ron exchanged confused looks. The girl rolled her eyes.

"This boy named Neville lost his, and I'm helping him look for it" she added, noticing that this seemed to alleviate the boys' confusion.

Harry shook his head.

"Er, no, sorry." he responded, watching the girl leave their compartment with a nod, sliding the door closed behind her. Harry turned to Ron and shrugged. They were again silent for a while, then Ron spoke up.

"What house do you think you'll be in" he asked Harry, genuine curiosity coming through his voice.

"I want to be Gryffindor! Both my parents were, and my godfather too!" Harry responded eagerly, hoping the boy wasn't planning on being in Slytherin. That would make it really awkward and Harry thought he might actually become friends with the boy. Ron nodded.

"Yeah me too. My whole family was and still is. My oldest brothers Bill and Charlie were Gryffindor, and my other brother Percy is too. He's a prefect" Ron added. "And then my older brothers Fred and George, they're twins, are in Gryffindor too" he continued.

Harry nodded along while Ron was talking. His eyes widened at the amount of siblings Ron had.

"You have a lot of brothers!" Harry exclaimed, unable to hide the shock from his voice. Ron just nodded.

"Yeah, and I have a younger sister, Ginny, too. She's starting Hogwarts next year." He said, suppressing a laugh at Harry's surprise.

Harry's phone started buzzing, and he gave a "what-are-ya-gonna-do?" shrug at Ron and pulled it out of his pocket to answer it. Harry rolled his eyes.

"Mom, I've been gone maybe an hour! Miss me already?...Ok...Well then just send it over with the owl...I think I can go a few days without it...yeah, ok...yeah love you too...bye" Harry looked up from his phone at Ron.

"Sorry, guess I forgot one of my pairs of socks at home" he said, laughing. Ron gave a chuckle too, then looked up as he heard the lunch trolley approaching. Harry was excited. He hadn't eaten a big breakfast and was looking forward to buying a whole ton of snacks. His parents had sent him with quite a bit of money, so he knew he would be able to buy a lot of stuff. When the lady asked him was he wanted, he took one look at Ron's disappointed face as he gazed at his turkey sandwich, and knew what he was going to do. Ron look up in shock as the list of things Harry was asking for just kept going on and on, seeming like it would never end. When it finally did, Harry handed over the change and shut the compartment door. Looking at all the food he had gathered on the table between him and Ron, Harry smiled.

"Help yourself!" He said, urging Ron to eat along with him.

As the two boys scarfed down their snacks, the train grew closer and closer to Hogwarts. The two could only imagine what lay before them, their heads filled with excitement and fear.