Chapter 2: The Train Ride Pt. 1
Harry sat quietly in the train-car, sneaking glances at Neville as he purchased his candy from the trolley lady. The first half of the train ride had gone smoothly. Neville was not chatty, but talked enough for the ride to not be awkward. Harry would respond every once in a while, still used to being seen and not heard. When it became apparent that Neville wanted him to respond, he was a little hesitant, but glad that he finally seemed to be making a friend. Neville didn't seem like the bullies that Dudley tried to trick Harry with sometimes, either.
Hedwig hooting softly by his side and Harry stroked her feathers, thinking about the Longbottoms. They were kind to him and even though Mrs. Longbottom was a little unusual, her hug was the warmest thing he had ever felt. When he was six, he had a kind teacher who gave him a jacket and hot cocoa at recess during the winter. She was very nice to him, but she had gotten married the following summer and moved to London with her new husband, and he never saw her again. Mrs. Longbottom's hug felt a lot like that, he thought, a longing pulling on him that he couldn't quite define. It felt dangerous to want something he knew he would never get.
Harry was jolted out of his thoughts by Neville calling his name, "Harry! Are you okay, I called your name three times."
Neville looked concerned, and Harry felt bad for causing the boy any trouble, face blushing slightly.
"I'm okay. Just lost in thought, I guess," Harry said quietly. "Did you get the candy you wanted?"
Neville smiled and nodded, "Yeah! I didn't know what candy you liked so I got you some of my favorites!" Neville held out his hand to show a small bag that held a variety of candy.
Harry just stared at the bag. He couldn't remember a time when someone had gotten him something, simply because they wanted to, without prompting from himself. He wondered what Neville wanted in return. The amount of candy in the bag looked like it had cost a lot of money.
Harry looked up, and realized he must have spoken out loud when he saw Neville's smile dim, "Harry, I… I don't want anything in return," he said hesitantly. "I just didn't want you to be upset that you didn't have anything. I wanted us to share; that's what friends do."
Neville continued to hold the bag out until Harry reluctantly took the bag from his hand, still unsure about the situation, but slightly in awe of the kindness Neville was showing him. The Longbottom's were very perplexing, but he kind of liked it.
"Thank you, Neville." The blinding smile that erupted on Neville's face made Harry warm inside. With a small blush staining his cheeks, he asked, "Which one is your favorite?"
Neville pointed to a light blue box with a picture with a mouse on it, "Ice Mice are my favorite, but Chocolate Frogs are a close second. My gran always says, 'You can never go wrong with chocolate.'"
Harry looked at Neville with a small smile and took one of the Chocolate Frogs out of the bag and began to open it. When the top was off, a brown blur came jumping towards his face, and he caught it with a deft hand before it could hit him.
Neville let out a quick chuckle, "That was some catch!"
Harry's widened eyes stared at Neville, unsure whether he was blatantly ignoring the fact that a piece of candy just flew at his face, or if living candy was normal in the Wizarding World. Harry looked back and forth between the candy and Neville for a moment, "Is it … normal for candy to be … alive … in the magical world?"
Neville's eyes widened in disbelief, "Wha-? You mean, you've never had a chocolate frog before?! ... And, what do you mean magical world?" Harry watched as Neville floundered for a moment, the silence uncomfortable in the other boy's disbelief.
"Harry, do you… not live in the Wizarding World?"
Harry's cheeks flooded with embarrassment, even though he wasn't sure what he was embarrassed about, "Um, no. I live with my aunt and uncle. They're muggles."
…
Neville knew that something was amiss in the other boy when he saw his grandmother sheppard the boy like a scared lamb. Not that Gran was rude or harsh to him, but many people did not see the kind, loving woman behind the facade she had to put on as the matriarch of the Longbottom family. Only with a select number of people did she let her guard down and when he saw the boy's shy, timid nature bring her soft side to the surface, he knew that they would be taking him under their wings.
Neville was shocked learn that the shy, trepidatious boy was the famed, Boy-Who-Lived. All of the stories and books portrayed Harry as a confident, bigger-than-life hero who defeated Voldemort and since that night, had slain dozens more villains. Real life Harry Potter was nothing like the Boy-Who-Lived Harry Potter. Neville was confused by the way Harry acted, but was endeared to the sweet boy, and wanted to help break him out of his shell a little. The train ride was slightly awkward, and Harry seemed to be lost in his own little world. Neville's concern continued to rise at Harry's reaction to the candy, but all concern washed away into complete disbelief when Harry revealed he was raised by muggles.
"You… what? You were raised by muggles? B-but, you're Harry Potter! You couldn't have been raised by muggles!" Neville was immediately ashamed of his outburst when he saw Harry curl even farther within himself. "I'm sorry. That was rude. It's just- you're the heir to the Potter line and the defeater of Voldemort, you should have been raised by your magical guardians."
Harry's eyes bleed confusion, "What's a magical guardian? My aunt and uncle are my guardians, but they aren't magical, they're just muggles. They didn't even tell me that I was a wizard. Hagrid had to tell me."
"Hagrid was the one to tell you about the Wizarding World?" Now it was Neville's turn to be confused. Although he did not have any muggle friends, he knew that the Hogwarts professors took the whole month of August to meet and introduce young muggleborn wizards and witches into the Wizarding community, and to his understanding, Hagrid was the groundskeeper, not a professor. "What professor came to give you your introduction?" Neville was willing to give the Hogwarts staff the benefit of the doubt, but it was strange to think that Rubeus Hagrid was the only connection the Wizarding World Harry would remember.
"Umm… Hagrid was the only one to come get me. Maybe when my uncle took us aw- uh… took us on vacation, the other professors couldn't find me." Harry's face was flush with uncertainty and he was picking at a loose thread on his right sleeve absent-mindedly.
Neville stared at Harry open-mouthed, flabbergast at the thought that Hagrid of all people was a muggle-raised introduction to the intricacies of the Wizard World. Gran sat on the Board of Educators for Hogwarts and had on occasion visited a muggleborn student when admittance was higher than normal, but he never thought that Hagrid would be an option for Hogwarts staff. The man never even graduated from Hogwarts and worshipped the ground Albus Dumbledore walked on.
"Neville… is something wrong? I… I thought Hagrid was really nice."
Neville focused his vision on the raven-haired boy in front of him and smiled thinly, "Hagrid is a gem, but he's not exactly the leading authority on the Wizarding World. He's also very… uh… easily distracted."
Harry cracked a small smile at the last statement, "Yeah, I guess. He didn't fully explain everything, I suppose. He's still very nice; he gave me Hedwig as a birthday present!"
Neville saw Harry light up at the mention of his owl. The light flush that spread across his cheeks was nothing like the embarrassed burn that had been almost permanently etched onto his face. This was radiant and made Harry look happy; Neville wanted to always make Harry look like this. Neville settled into the train car seat, content to talk about Harry's new familiar, but in the back of his mind, however, Neville was concerned how cavalier the Hogwarts staff was with the reentry of the muggle-raised Boy-Who-Lived into the Wizarding World. And why did Dumbledore lead everyone to believe that Harry Potter was raised by wizards? He'd write to Gran about what he had learned about Harry and also see if she could find out why Dumbledore lied.
…
Harry was stroking Hedwig's feathers lightly and telling Neville about Hedwig and her favorite snacks and her loving quirks and playful nips. He hadn't realized how long he had been talking about his familiar until he looked up to see Neville looking at him with slightly glazed eyes.
"What?" Harry felt his cheeks redden, he didn't know what that look meant. He hoped that he hadn't upset Neville. Bad things happened to him when people were upset. "I'm sorry for talking so much. I won't bother you anymore."
Harry looked down at his lap and tried not to feel disappointed. He probably just pushed away the only friend he had ever had by running his good-for-nothing mouth.
Neville looked a little startled, "What? No, please, you weren't bothering me! I like listening to you talk! I was just… lost in my thoughts, I guess. Please, you can talk as much as you like."
Harry peeked up at Neville and said meekly, "Okay. Sorry"
Neville huffed out a soft laugh, "You don't have to apologize, Harry."
Harry held back another apology, unsure what to do. The Dursley's always expected an apology, even if the current situation wasn't his fault. Unsure of himself, Harry looked down at his hands and fiddled with a loose thread, and nodded his head softly.
Neville seemed to realize Harry's discomfort and asked, "So, do you have any other pets at home?"
Harry looked up at Neville, "Huh? Uh no. I don't have any other pets. My aunt doesn't like animals in the house. She was very upset that I had Hedwig. I'm not sure if she is going to let Hedwig back in the house the next time I go back."
"Well, if she doesn't let you keep her, you could always let her stay with me for the summer. She can fly our letters back and forth for us."
"Really? You want to write letters to me?" Harry couldn't believe all of the things that Neville kept saying to him. He was so nice and kind. A small part of his heart refused to listen to all the warm words, wanting to be ready for the proverbial shoe to drop, but a larger, more optimistic part of Harry basked in the kindness Neville kept showing him.
"Well, I'm not a Seer, but I would like to think that we will still be friends come December, so yeah, of course!"
Harry felt an unusual warmth spread across his chest at Neville's words and smiled at the other boy and he thanked the other boy, feeling the warm feeling move up to his cheeks.
Neville had started to tell Harry about his toad, when the door to their cabin flew open to reveal a young girl with bushy brown hair, dressed smartly in a Hogwarts uniform, a blue crest with the words "Ravenclaw" etched across stood out on the right shoulder.
The unexpected girl spoke promptly to the two boys, "If you want to be dressed by the time we pull into the station, I suggest that you start changing now. We will be arriving in half and hour. It would be bad form to show up to Hogwarts in your play clothes."
With that said, the girl spun around and marched off, assumedly to speak to other students on the train.
….
Neville stared at the spot where the girl had stood, "Well, that was a bit rude. I guess it's true, though, about Ravenclaw's and their lacking social skills. We'll have to see if the rest of the house holds up to that stereotype. I sure hope not."
Normally, Neville would be less harsh, but her abrupt entrance and harsh words seemed to have frightened Harry. Neville smiled gently at Harry and siad, "We probably should get dressed. I can get our trunks down."
Harry watched as Neville got his trunk down. When Neville had moved his trunk from the overhanging rack he asked, "Is Ravenclaw the other house? Hagrid told me about Hufflepuff, Gryffindor and Slytherin. He said Slytherin made evil wizards."
Neville once again wondered what Hogwart's staff was thinking when the left Harry Potter in the daft, but well-meaning hands of Rubeus Hagrid. Neville sat on his trunk and looked at Harry.
"There are four houses at Hogwarts; Hufflepuff, Slytherin, Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. Each house has its standard traits. Loyalty to Hufflepuff. Ambition to Slytherin. Bravery to Gryffindor. Intelligence to Ravenclaw. My Gran says that none of them great only bad wizards or only good wizards, that each house has its good and bad within." Neville knew his Gran's opinion was unpopular amongst other wizards and witches, but she unashamedly stood by it, and had ingrained it into him as well.
Harry looked skeptical, but didn't say anything about it. Neville decided to let Harry mull over the new information and grabbed Harry's trunk down from overhead. When he set it down, he turned around and grinned at Harry.
"Well, I guess it's time to put our robes on! Hogwarts here we come!"
Harry looked up at him, a shy grin blossomed onto his face as he returned the toast, "Here we come."
