Chapter Two: The Wrong Place for Normal
A bump in the tracks jolted Harry out of his thoughts. He realized that he'd been sitting there, imagining Hogwarts from his parents' descriptions, for a good twenty minutes. Worried that something might be missing, he stood up and checked the compartments above him. Owl, books, and suitcase were in proper order. So was the package, and Harry realized he hadn't opened it yet.
"Later," he thought. "I'm going to go explore."
He stepped out into the hall, mostly: the boy he'd bumped into yelled in surprise and Harry jumped back.
"Sorry," said Harry.
"Watch it," said the boy, who had blond hair, a slight build, and a somewhat conceited air. "You alright?"
"I'm fine," said Harry.
"My name's Draco," said the boy, and Harry thought of the man at the station who had greeted his father and, in retrospect, was a fifty-year old version of the boy in front of him. Draco gestured to a small giant behind him. "This is Crabbe."
"I'm Harry. Wait—can you do any magic yet?"
"Not really," admitted Draco. "I know all the words, but nothing happens when I try. Don't bother asking him," added Draco when Harry turned to the silent Crabbe, "He's not too bright." Crabbe murmured assent.
"Well," said Harry, "I can't do anything except the spell Ollivander tested me with. Although, this one Christmas, I saw a giant bowl falling towards my cat. I don't know exactly what happened, but I think I must've accidentally rocketed her into the pudding, because she was covered in it afterward and it was all over the house."
Draco laughed at the story. "We have a house elf for all that," he said. Harry shrugged; it wasn't unheard of. He'd never seen one. Draco smiled, a gesture that he didn't seem to have much experience with. "You know, you could be a good friend of-" He paused, and seemed to suddenly figure something out. He gave Harry an unreadable look. "Are you Harry Potter?" Draco asked him.
"Um, yes," said Harry. "What's wrong?"
Draco's face was pale to begin with, but even so, the transition to a terrified white was noticeable. "Well," he said, "I've got to go back to my cabin, make sure everything's still there and all- come on, Crabbe!"
With that, he ran back down the aisle, with an even-more-confused-looking Crabbe following him.
Harry stared after them, then shrugged and walked back into his cabin. He didn't know what Draco's problem was, or why his own full name had any significance, but it didn't matter to him. One could only expect strangeness in the Wizarding world.
He reached inside the compartment above his seat and took out the package. There was a knock at the door and a red-haired, tall boy came in with two suitcases.
"Hi," said Harry, then, noticing the boy's disconcerted look, added, "You alright?"
The boy nodded. "My brothers are blowing up their car. I figured I'd better leave before they jinx me or something. My name's Ron."
"Harry. No brothers," replied Harry.
Harry sat down, and Ron sat next to him. "What's that?" asked Ron.
Harry shrugged. "A present from my parents. I was about to find out."
Harry pulled off the string, which vanished. "My mom does that," Harry explained. He pulled off the wrapping (also charmed) and was left with the box, which he opened.
Unable to identify the golden surface inside, Harry flipped the box upside down, at which point the glittering cloak inside flowed onto his lap like water.
Harry and Ron stared, dumbstruck, at the cloak. Slowly, Harry reached down and cupped some of the fabric in his hands, feeling the silken texture.
"Your parents give you Invisibility Cloaks for presents?" asked Ron in awe.
"I didn't even know we owned one of these!" said Harry, equally awed. He gathered the cloak in one hand, and it draped over the edge and almost brushed the floor. He gulped, then threw the cloak over himself.
He looked at Ron from under the cloak, which was more than big enough for him. He didn't feel particularly invisible. "Well?"
"It's a Cloak, all right," said Ron. "You're gone."
To make sure, Harry crept over to another part of the room. Sure enough, Ron continued to stare at the spot where he'd been.
"I could get used to this," said Harry, causing Ron to jump. Harry took off the cloak and handed it to Ron. "Want to try?"
"Stow it," said Ron. "No, the cloak," he added upon seeing Harry's open mouth. "The snack trolley's coming."
Harry put the cloak back in the box and picked it up as the door opened. "Snacks?" asked the witch.
"A chocolate frog and some pumpkin juice," Harry said. Then, noticing Ron shifting uncomfortably, he added, "Erm…two of both."
"Normally, we don't get to bring too much money to Hogwarts," said Ron once the witch had returned to her cart.
Harry was about to speak when the witch returned with their snacks. "You're going to the wrong place for normal," she said. "Eat up."
Ron stared at the witch's back as she left. "What's with her?" he asked. "Last I checked, she was a waitress, not a soothsayer."
Harry shrugged. "I hear there are tons of weird people at the castle," he said, putting the cloak back above them. He handed Ron a box and a flask of light orange liquid. "Want them?"
"Sure," said Ron. He opened the box, and barely missed the catch as the frog inside came to life and leaped over his head.
The next few minutes saw Harry and Ron chasing the stray frog throughout the cabin. When a brown-haired girl entered, she saw Harry and Ron lying on the floor in exhaustion, with Ron triumphantly holding the wriggling frog in his hand.
"It escaped," explained Ron meekly, upon noticing the girl.
The girl looked at him, confused. Harry thought she had good reason to be, but the girl suddenly seemed to realize something and said "Oh, charmed food," as if that explained the scene. "I'm Hermione Granger. May I see?"
"Ron Weasley, and it's a Chocolate Frog," he said, holding it up and giving her a look as though, even considering that he and Harry were lying on the ground after chasing a frog, he thought her by far the stranger. "You've never seen one?"
"Well, no," she said. "I'm Muggle-born."
"Oh," said Ron, which seemed to explain everything to him. He got up off the floor, which Harry did as well. "They start hopping around as soon as you open the box. They've got collectable cards in them."
"And they don't feel pain when you eat them?" asked Hermione. Ron stopped and stared as if he'd never thought about this before, and was about to open his mouth to answer when Hermione added, "Well, no, they wouldn't. Animation charms usually include motion and directional senses only, and then disappear when enough of the original animated object is destroyed. Or eaten."
"I thought you said you were Muggle-born," said Ron, raising an eyebrow.
"Well," said Hermione, blushing. "I looked through some of my books before-"
A black-haired, plump-faced boy appeared next to her. "Neville Longbottom. Sorry to interrupt, but has anyone seen a frog?"
Ron showed him the Chocolate Frog. "No, a real one," replied Neville.
Harry shrugged. "Not in here," he said. "I'm Harry Potter, and I actually managed to hold on to my frog-"
"There he is!" yelled Neville exasperatedly, looking at something down the hall. He pulled his wand out from his pocket, took aim, and yelled, "Flipendo!" An orange jet of light shot out of the wand, which was followed by a bang and a subsequent croak further down.
"You can do magic already?" asked Harry, amazed.
"Just that spell," replied Neville. "Gran taught it to me before I came. She said I have potential for learning magic."
"Guess so," said Harry, looking down the hall. An upside down toad lay there, wiggling webbed appendages. "Go get it before it gets up," Harry said. "We had some trouble with our own Chocolate Frogs a little while ago."
"Right. Thanks for your-erm-help," said Hermione, and headed down to retrieve the toad. Neville turned to leave, and in doing so caught Harry's eyes again.
What happened next happened so suddenly that, in retrospect, Harry had a hard time remembering exactly what had triggered it. A blinding pain erupted between his eyes, and the world seemed to lose clarity, to lose reality. Harry knew that something else was real to him then, but he couldn't tell what he was seeing. He heard something however: a woman's voice, throaty and unrecognizable, saying, "And the Dark Lord shall mark him as his equal…"
The vision broke like a dam, and in its place flooded reality, Harry's reality, the reality of the world around him. "You alright?" asked Neville, looking concerned.
"I'm fine," said Harry, reaching up and rubbing his forehead, feeling the smooth skin. "How long was I…um…out?"
"You weren't," said Neville. "You just appeared sort of…distracted, for a moment."
"Well, alright," said Harry, confused. "See you around."
Neville went off down the hall toward Hermione. Harry closed the door and looked at Ron, to find a quizzical stare awaiting him.
"What do you mean, out?" he asked before Harry could say anything.
"Well…didn't anything happen to me?" asked Harry. "I, er, blacked out. I heard some words too. Maybe it didn't take as long as it felt like, but did I collapse or anything?"
"Your eyes glazed over for a second," said Ron, "but that's it. Normally, I wouldn't even mark that down as unusual. Wonder why Neville noticed it that much. Do you feel okay?"
"We've been through this," said Harry. "I'm fine now."
They went back to their seats. As Ron bit down into his frog, Harry thought back. He had given up on making any sense out of the words he'd heard almost as soon as he'd come out of it, but the event confused him.
He had heard voices, seen images, which wasn't normal even in the Wizarding world. Still, as the witch had said, they were going to the wrong place for normal. But he decided, as he bit into the frog, that he would keep an eye on Neville. Something in his expression told Harry that Neville had known more than he was telling, maybe even understood what had happened.
He sighed and swallowed the first bite of chocolate frog. It was going to be a long ride.