I apologize in advance for Harry's… attitude. He may have too much of his later year's personality. Everything is coming out… snarky. If you don't like it, complain about it. I will be amused by your complaints.

Also of note, I own nothing, nothing at all. Well, strictly speaking, I own some characters from my own story which I am not currently working on, but they are of no consequence to this tale.

Grandpa Max woke his grandchildren up at 8:00 am the next morning. The cousins, used to their Grandpa's habits, got up, showered, and did everything else they needed to do to get ready.

Max Tennyson then sat his grandchildren down and said, "You will need to try to keep aliens a secret, ok?"

Ben said, "Just like always, we know."

Max replied, "Ok, then. Let's go catch your train."

They caught a taxi and went to King's Cross station. Momentarily the cousins struggled to locate Platform 9 ¾, but then Gwen sensed the magic of the veil. The pair ran into the barrier separating platforms 9 and 10. Their grandpa followed shortly. The Tennysons said their goodbyes, and the green eyed cousins boarded the train. They quickly found a compartment.

After a few minutes two boys came to the outside of the compartment from opposite directions. The lanky red head with blue eyes and lots of freckles asked, "Oi, can we join you?"

Ben said, "Yeah, sure."

The red head gave the cousins a funny look, but sat down. The other boy was small with unnaturally messy raven hair and round glasses. Both cousins were shocked at his green eyes; not only were they the same colour as Ben's and Gwen's, but also the exact same shape. They cousins noticed the red head dressed almost like a number of the aliens they met: completely mismatched. They figured out that he must be from a magical family. The other boy, with his odd lightning bolt shaped scar, seemed to be wearing hand-me-downs from someone 7 sizes bigger. The train began to move.

Ben said, "Hi. I'm Ben, Ben Ten…nyson." He had been doing that for the past year, as a private joke in between him and Gwen.

"And I'm Gwen Tennyson, this dufus's cousin," stated Gwen.

The red head said, "I'm Ron Weasley, pleased to meet you."

The raven-haired boy stated quietly, in a slightly resigned manner, "I'm Harry Potter. It's nice to meet you, Ron, Ben, and Gwen. "

Ron gaped and said, "H-Harry Potter?"

Harry, now slightly annoyed, "Yes, I'm Harry Potter; and no, I don't remember anything about that night."

Ben and Gwen looked very confused. Ron noticing their faces, said, "Muggleborns?"

Gwen said, "Yes."

Ron said, "Harry here survived a killing curse when he was a baby, defeating You-Know-Who."

Ben asked, "Who?"

Harry said, "Hagrid told me he was named Voldemort." Ron shuddered.

Ben said, "Really? You are that scared of a dead man who you never met?"

Ron looked at Ben in slight confusion. Then he said, "When you get to the castle, you'll see why he's feared still."

Gwen asked, "Why, is the castle partly destroyed?"

Ron replied, "No, but its ¾ empty, according to my grandparents. He decimated the population by killing anyone who stood against him."

Ben and Gwen looked horrified. Neither knew what to say.

They sat in silence for several moments. The snack trolley came and broke the tension. Harry, Ben, and Gwen wanted to try a little of all of this candy.

Harry asked the cousins, "So do a lot of Americans go to Hogwarts?"

Gwen replied, "No. America sort of had a 'Wizard Boom'. The Secretary of Magic asked all English speaking schools to assist them. A few students are going to each school around the world, until the existing schools can be expanded." All of that was technically true. It wasn't the reason they were at Hogwarts, but it was still the truth.

Harry wondered aloud, "Why didn't Hogwarts take all the students? I mean, Hogwarts is supposedly mainly empty, and American schools are overcrowded. It sounds like a match made in heaven to me."

Gwen stated, "Based on what Ron said, probably because Hogwarts couldn't staff for that many students."

The conversation was then interrupted when a blonde haired, grey eyed kid burst in, followed by two very large first years. The blonde boy said, "Harry Potter."

Harry sighed. "Yes, that is who I am. Who might you be?"

The blonde on stated, "I'm Malfoy, Draco Malfoy. And these are Crabbe and Goyle." Ron snickered.

"Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask yours. Red hair and hand-me-down clothes? You must be a Weasley. Potter, you'll soon find out that some wizarding families are better than others. I can help you there."

Before Harry responded, Gwen asked, " 'Better?' You're a Bigot, aren't you?"

Draco questiond, "Either a blood traitor or a mudblood, aren't you? Are you a Weasley, too? You're dressed a bit nice, but there aren't that many Weasley-ettes."

Ben bristled at the word 'mudblood'. He didn't know what the word meant, but he didn't need to; he recognized the way the word was said. He had defended a kid in Louisiana in 1953 (he didn't like to think about that adventure) who had been called the 2nd worst word (Ben couldn't even think the word. He didn't even know the first worst, only that it started with a "C") with the same intonation as was being used here.

Gwen said, "I've met your kind before: believing yourself superior due to the spe-family you were born into. No matter what you call yourself," she wondered briefly if it was clean- or pure-blood, "you are an ignorant fool."

Malfoy was shocked that a mudblood American would dare speak to the scion of the Ancient and Noble House of Malfoy in any way less than awe. Harry was relieved that he didn't have to come to a confrontation with Malfoy, even though he disliked the boy. Ben was proud of his cousin for standing up to the bully. Ron was shocked by the intelligence of the American (he had heard Americans were generally lazy and stupid). Crabbe and Goyle had yet to figure out what was said. Gwen was pleasantly surprised by how well her words flowed.

Then Harry was inspired by Gwen's vehemence and said, "I think I have found the right friends, thanks."

Malfoy stormed out, followed by his troll-like cronies, in annoyance. No one spoke to a Malfoy that way.

The four new friends talked about the houses, Quidditch, and life in general. A girl by the name of Hermione Granger came in looking for a toad. She quickly left after finding none.

As the train approached Hogwarts, the four students changed into their robes.

I'm probably gonna get flack about where I put the N-word on my implied list. You can describe people as any number of animals, or feces, or imply illegitimacy, or imply that a male is only his genitalia, or even imply sex with someone's mother, but you do not insult a woman by implying all she is good for is sex and reproduction. Racial slurs fall just below that. I take racial equality as a serious matter, but I come from a line of feminists.