Starting this chapter, there would be instances of quotes or even multiple lines being pulled directly from the book to be used within this narrative weather to recreate certain situations or for other reasons, as usual all rights belong to original author.

003.

Day before the start of summer vacation, the brothers will be heading home today, Molly had decided she would be leaving Ron and Ginny home by themselves as she went to pick up the brothers at the station, over the course of the past year she had gained enough trust in Ron to be responsible for him and his sister. As Arthur will be working, she plan on taking them home by riding on the Knight Bus, a triple decked muggle bus enchanted to move at blinding speeds around the country servicing witches and wizards needing transportation.

It was the middle of evening when they stepped off the Knight Bus in front of the Burrow with their feet still shaking and balance compromised, they manage to haul all their luggage through the door to find Ron and Ginny playing wizarding chess in the living room. The two of them quickly got to their feet and engaged in a large six person group hug, before sitting down to finish their game while the returning students started hauling their trunks up the stairway.

Dinner time arrived and all the Weasleys were once again gathered around the table since Arthur had gotten off work, barring Bill of course who was still stuck in Egypt. The family was jolly and taking this time to catch up sharing stories with each other, the twins and Charlie had no problem engaging in chatter, and Ron had made sure to try and include Percy in the conversation, inquiring him about his school year and on his studies. Molly of course was busy shoveling food into her children's plates insisting they take in as much of her cooking as possible, Arthur was wearing a wide grin as he watched his family around the table, everyone managing to get along, he just wished Bill could have still been here.

As dinner was coming to a close, Mrs. Weasley brought out some snacks and served some pumpkin juice, and the rest of the family continued to chat about. It's at this moment Charlie brought up something that had to do with Ron.

"Mum, dad, once I leave for Romania I would have no need for this wand anymore." Charlie said taking out his own wand.

"All dragon tamers need to be using special made wands, since these wooden ones would be of no use if it get even lightly grazed by a dragon's fire breath."

The parents nodded, although they were not overjoyed at Charlie's career choices they had no intentions of standing in his way.

"So I would like Ron to have my wand, it may take some getting used to but it would help out our financial situation in the short term, and he could get another wand whenever we're ready."

Arthur and Molly struggled with the idea, for they love all their children very much, some individuals certainly made them proud and or required more attention than others, but even in trying to promote fairness among the boys they always knew some of them or someone had always gotten the lesser end of the deal. Ron the youngest had received the most hand me downs while growing up, everything from cloth on his back, to the furniture in his room, the bedding he uses and toys that came to him, all used by someone before him, maybe a sibling maybe other relatives, in short Ron rarely received anything new for himself.

As it's now time for him to start school, they know he would probably have to make do with hand me downs for the majority of his school supplies as well, everything from robes, to cauldrons, to spell books, even the school trunks that will be carrying these items will be a piece of hand me down as well, and now they were about to ask him to use a hand me down wand as well. The wand was usually the most personal part of a witch or wizards ensemble, to quote the wand maker Olivander "every wand is unique to the wizard". They would've been more worried if Ron hadn't showed any of the magical talent he exhibited in the last year, it would have been a detriment to a young wizard's development if he was both not talented and burdened by having to perform magic with someone else's wand. But even with Ron showing an extraordinary aptitude for magic, it still itched them to have to deny Ron his own wand, again he would be the only one among his brothers to not receive a new wand, at the start of Hogwarts.

Short moment of silence as everyone around the table focused their gaze at Ron, the parents, and Charlie who had offered.

"It's settled then" said Ron in a calm but firm tone, deciding to voice his opinion, he personally could care less if he inherited Charlie's wand or had his own, since as a rune master he expected himself to be continuously adjusting and tweaking his wand as he develop his magic anyway, even going as far as to possibility craft his own from scratch at some point. He would really prefer to help out his family as the wand is one of the more expensive item on a first year's shopping list, and he would much prefer Ginny to reap the benefits of a new wand.

Ron held out his right hand with his palms facing towards Charlie and chanted Expelliarmus, the whole family surrounding the table was in shock as the Ron snatched Charlie's old wand as it flew towards him, the disarming charm performed with ease and with the absence of a wand.

"There! Problem solved, as you see it would be no trouble at all, and next year when Ginge is heading to Hogwarts we could maybe afford to get her some new robes as well."

Ginny blushed at Ron, a bit shy but was amazed at Ron's magic, not to mention feeling a little spoiled by her brother.

Arthur faced was red from the shame of failing to financially support Ron like other parents will be doing, even those orphaned and using public scholarships would be better equipped than Ron, but he was smiling from being proud of Ron's magic as well as the demonstration of his care for Ginny.

Charlie was happy too, he had of course no intention of causing a scene regarding the family's finances nor wish to force Ron onto a wand that wouldn't suit him, but everything had worked out in the end. He would leaving home soon, and he has been concerned about Percy's ability to lead and watch over the younger siblings, and the twins while capable of looking out for themselves are generally of no help when it comes to others. It's great news that Ron would turn out to be so promising of a prospective student, clearly magically strong and willing to be a voice in the family.

One week later, Charlie like Bill left through the international floo system, and off to Romania he went.

…..

A week into August, the Weasleys received their Hogwarts letters, they were relieved to find little to no change in the list of required texts, which would allow them to forgo the costs of buying spell books. Also to Molly's delight Percy's letter had included a prefect badge and a letter explaining the list of responsibilities and benefits, the letter also asks the recipient to take time out of their personal school schedule to help with patrolling the corridors and assisting professors on certain duties.

Percy was obviously over joyed, being awarded the prefect badge clearly made all the effort he had poured into his school work worth it, then again the only stand outs from Gryffindors within his class were him and Oliver Wood. But Wood had just been selected to become the next quidditch captain after Charlie, and he was hoping to bring Gryffindor another quidditch championship trophy before graduating from Hogwarts, so Professor McGonagall didn't really want to burden him with the duties of being a prefect as well. Percy's excitement and joy was in contrast with the twin's feelings about the event, they practically moaned in despair upon finding out the news, which did not rub Mrs. Weasley the right way. The twins have no doubt Percy would crack down on them even harder than the rest of their mates, as showing no mercy to his own siblings would help Percy establish authority within the house. It's not that the twins were afraid of Percy, over the last school year they have basically became the uncrowned kings of school pranks and night strolling, many of their close encounters with Filch had become legends to those students who were also fond of "exploring" the school grounds. However Percy's pressure on them would make their operations more complicated to execute and just be getting in their way. Ron could foresee series of pranks heading Percy's way as the twins strive to establish some sense of dominance over this relationship.

Ron held his letters in hand, his letter was addressed to Ronald Billius Weasley, Top Most Room Under the Attic, The Burrow, Ottery St Catchpole. The letter read:

HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

Headmaster: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorcerer, Chief Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Mr. Weasley,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than August 20. Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall,

Deputy Headmistress

Ron like every other young wizard receiving their letter, was filled with excitement and looking forward to the end of the summer, he did however notice Ginny who were looking intently at his letter hoping she could go with them, even though she already knew she wouldn't be going to Hogwarts this year, and was prepared to spend the following year with Luna, who would also be staying home, all of course under the watchful eye of her mother.

Ron stepped over and handed her his letter.

"Come take a look now, you'll be getting one of these next year as well!"

Ginny chuckled somewhat amused by his joke, she could feel her spirits lifting a little.

Molly who had been reading through Percy's prefect letter, despite her already being familiar with the contents since Percy was not the first prefect among her children, was struggling to contain her excitement. Bill and Charlie was talented and successful at Hogwarts, but they didn't try nearly as hard as Percy did, for Percy to achieve this reward she truly felt he had earned it, whereas even though she was equally proud of her older two sons it was clear they were simply marginally better than the next best option.

"Oh Percy we should get you a present! How about a new pet? I know you've always wanted an owl?"

Percy had always wanted his own owl, he had no real need of one as he hadn't really been writing letters much outside the occasional letters to his family, and whenever he's at Hogwarts he would have access to the school owlery for writing letters, not to mention as a student whenever he's away from Hogwarts he was home and could use the family owl at his will, Errol was really getting up there and would often trip over things or fly into glass windows, but as far as everyone was concerned the old owl could still deliver letters and packages at least within the country.

"Nah mum, I already have Scabbers, he's not a very dynamic or interesting pet, but I am the only one to have a pet anyway." Percy had never been a great people person, but after experiencing the whole debacle with Charlie giving Ron his old wand, he had decided he would try and do his part to be more considerate.

Molly's excitement faded away just a tiny bit, before being replaced by pride, Percy had matured right before her eyes, and he was voluntarily giving up something he deserved for the benefit of the family.

Fred and George were in awe, they've always thought of Percy as being secluded from the younger siblings, and tends to act a bit stuck up when dealing with them, but they were experiencing Percy showing care for others a concept the two of them thought was impossible for Percy.

To be fair Percy and the twins are on the opposite ends of the spectrum as far as young wizards go. Percy is only moderately talented at magic but made up for it with hard work and relentless dedication, the twins are multifaceted and their magical talents sprawled across a multitude of different subjects, but they have no intentions of putting forth effort for educational success, no doubt they would go to extreme length to achieve their goals, but those goals often relates to quidditch or pranks. Percy devoted majority of his time studying, having few close friends among his year, and often came off as a teacher's pet in multiple situations as he would bent over backwards to please Professors. The twins are again of the polar opposite spending their time hanging out with students across multiple years in the common room, and upon discovering the Hogwarts kitchen has been providing Gryffindor tower with treats for various events. Percy is high strung and valued inter-house competition and would love to win the house cup, however his brothers who seemed to be carefree all the time tends to be the ones loosing points for them. It's no wonder they tend to be at odds with each other.

While all this was going down, Ron was looking through the supplies list. Let's see textbooks I've got, we have old cauldrons lying around that I could bring, Charlie left behind his old potion set so that takes care of the glass phials and brass scales, and I've still got Bill's telescope set, combined with Bill's old robes, Charlies old gloves and the twin's old hat and cape.

Ron sighed he wasn't really upset or disturbed by having old stuff, but it's still depressing especially when you look down the list and realize every single item would be used. Now think of it the only "new" things I'll be wearing would be shoes, since the physically active Weasleys usually wore out their shoes before they out grow them.

Ron quickly shake his head of the depressing thoughts, he wasn't going to let this keep him down.

Since most of the textbooks they already had, and they only needed to refill some potion ingredients and replenish school supplies like rolls of parchments, quills, it was decided that they would forgo the usual Diagon Alley trip, and just have Arthur pick up the stuff after work.

As the weeks of August come and go, Ron was experiencing this feeling of uneasiness and nervousness. He would be leaving home for the first time come September 1st, he has gone to many places all over England in the past, but back then he had no family and no home, of course he would have three other siblings at Hogwarts, but he would no longer get to wake up to Molly's breakfast, or listen to his father complain about how spreading nose biting tea cups to muggles have become a new trend, and he would be leaving Ginny behind. What if he feels homesick, is there a cure for that?

For the remaining days at the Burrow Ron was spending nearly all his waking hours with his family, putting magic training to the back of his mind. He spent time with his brothers and sister roaming the fields, flying in the orchard, or playing wizarding board games, of course he made sure to drag Percy along hoping to lessen the divide between him and the twins.

In a private conversation with Percy, he pointed out that as the oldest Weasley child at Hogwarts, he would no doubt be responsible for his siblings, combined with his position as Gryffindor prefect, he really needed the a better relationship with the twins if he hope to avoid open confrontation with them, whom to Ron's understanding are a lot more popular within the house then Percy could dream of being, and such incidents would only undermine his authority and image. Ron also analyzed the prefect position comparing it to being ambassadors between the students of the house and faculty members, whereas being a kiss ass to the teachers may earn their favoritism, it's ultimately your leadership and control over the students that would showcase your value at the prefect position.

Percy was a bit disturbed at first, but manages to wrap his mind around the concept, making your peers follow your orders because a teacher said so, is not nearly as impressive as them willingly accept your leadership, Percy had the academic records to back up him being a prefect, he just needed the popularity and respect of his mates to really cement his position, and since the twins are some of the most popular and vocal members of the house as well as his brother, a good relationship with them could really help out Percy.

The end result was four man/boy council held in Ron's room late one night, where the four Hogwarts student gathered to reach an agreement regarding the following school year. Percy as the prefect would let some of the lesser pranks and mischiefs slip through his reporting's, as well as notify Fred and George of his patrol schedule, and in exchange the twins agree to not undermine Percy's authority in public, as well as keep their pranks out of Percy's presence as to allow Percy plausible excuse if questioned by the professors or other prefects.

The settlement worked, and the relations between the two parties improved dramatically as the summer was coming to an end, at some point Fred even claimed that a cure had been discovered for Percy's snootiness, which earned him a glare and a small laugh from Percy.

Ron also spent time with Molly, sitting in the kitchen as his mother made dinner, asking her for stories about her Hogwarts years, which subjects and teachers she favored, what Arthur was like as a young student and the dates they went on as a young couple.

On days when Arthur would catch a break from his duties at the ministry, Ron would hang out with him in his shed, the hidden muggle artifact treasure that the mom knew about but pretended she didn't. Giving him pieces of random information on runes as Arthur "worked" on the family car, or speculating with him on the effects and mechanisms of differ muggle devices, as they were both clueless on the basics of muggle technology or even muggle lifestyle, they somehow came to the speculation that vacuum cleaners were used to scare off animals from the main living area with loud noise, since that's what the one in Arthur's stash seem to do anyway.

Ron was sure he'd miss his parents, and they would in turn miss him and the other children, but he also know them to be adults and would be able to coup with it just fine. He was more worried about Ginny, the he had become the closest to her, since the two of them spent last year home separated from their brothers. Ron was admittedly protective of Ginny, she was the lone girl among the siblings, as well as the only one to be younger than him, and next year she would be by herself.

….

Soon it was the night before the train ride. The family was a mix of emotions as they sat around the dinner table, as it is with most nights Mrs. Weasley had laid the table full of food, she had spent much of afternoon busy, washing and folding everyone's laundry in preparation for their school year, cooking dinner and preparing sandwiches for the train ride, anything to keep her from getting emotional, like years in the past she planned on letting it all out after the kids depart, but for now she would do her best to keep up her role as the busy, caring housewife.

The dinner was relatively quiet, only light chatter passed around, no one was making the effort to be engaging. After dinner the family moved to the living room, resting for a bit before having to go upstairs to finish up packing their school trunks. Ginny and Ron pulled out the Wizarding chess set and were playing one last game.

Some timer later Molly had gotten up to finish cleaning the kitchen as Arthur decided to excuse himself and spend some time alone in his shed, the older boys decided to go up and finish packing leaving Ginny and Ron alone in the living room.

The chess game was coming to an end, even with Ron holding back the game was still fairly one sided. Pausing briefly between making a move, Ron decided to engage in a bit of conversation since he expected tomorrow to be quite chaotic, and now seem as good a time as any.

"I promise I will be writing to you every week! Tell you all about the classes and my classmates, and keep you up to date on what the others are doing as well." He smiled as she looked up from the board.

"Not to mention we'll be back for Christmas, so it'll only be about three months, that's not that long at all."

"Yeah, I guess it's not that long, I mean I'll be spending time with Luna as well, and mom also promised to let me help with this year's knitting." She was clearly still feeling a little bit down.

"Not to mention next year both you and Luna will be at Hogwarts too, no need to feel too left out Ginge."

Ginny just give him a weak smile, and the two of them proceed to finish the game. After they were done putting the restored pieces back in their box, Ron got up from his chair and gave her a hug.

"I gotta go upstairs and finish up packing, I'll see you tomorrow morning." Then Ron reached out his one hand to swiftly rough up her hair before sprinting off for the staircase.

Doing one last check to make sure all of his school supplies and clothing were neatly stacked in the school trunks, Ron set down his wand atop his night stand and decided to try and get some sleep.

Let's hope tomorrow goes smoothly. Ron thought, thinking back to last year, and how they barely made it to the station on time.

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Ron woke up to the mildly panicked voice of his mother, as she rushes up and down the stairs knocking on the different doors until they all got dressed and brought their luggage down the stairs. Like last year breakfast was rushed through, and they quickly packed themselves in to the car, only five in the back row this year, and set off to London.

Their timing this year was even worst then the last, they arrived at the station with barely ten minutes to spare, and they quickly gathered up their luggage on to carts and moved towards the magical entrance.

"Like always this place is packed with muggles!" Molly complained as they gathered in front of the entrance, sorting themselves in to groups and waiting for the muggles around them to look away ever so briefly before sending the Percy and the twins in.

As the rest of the group was getting ready to cross the barrier, they were approached by a young boy, just a bit shorter than Ron with medium length dark hair, and pair of cracked round glasses. The boy like them were pushing a cart loaded with luggage and had a snow colored owl with him.

"Excuse me…." The boy said, before being cut off by Molly as time was ticking.

"Hello dear," Molly said, noticing the boy was here by himself, and put on her motherly voice. "First time at Hogwarts? Ron's new, too."

Ron looked over and nodded at him.

"Um… The thing is, I mean how do you.."

"Get on to the platform?" Molly interjected kindly, trying to speed this up a bit.

The boy nodded in response.

"Not to worry, all you have to do is walk straight into the barrier between the two platforms. Don't stop and don't be scared you'll crash into it, very important. Best do it at a bit of run if you're feeling nervous. Go on, go before Ron."

"Erh… okay." The boy replied.

Ron moved his cart slightly to allow the boy an angle to the entrance, and watched him move towards the barrier head down slowly picking up pace, and then disappeared into the magical entrance along with his cart.

Ron shrugged and followed suit.

They quickly stowed their luggage on the train and got back on to the platform to say their goodbyes.

Ron met up with the other six, as the twins were claiming that the young boy close to them at the entrance was actually Harry Potter, the boy who lived. Ron's eyebrow twitched a bit as he saw Ginny's face lit up with excitement.

"Ohh! Mom could I go sneak a look at him, please?" Ron placed one hand on his forehead, lightly grasping at his temples, feeling somewhat speech less, as Ginny went full fan mode.

Molly firmly rejected Ginny, explaining that the young child was not a zoo animal, and not to be googled at.

"Oh Fred you reckon he'd remember what you know who looks like?" George said turning to his twin, clearly interested in the topic.

Molly immediately swapped to a stern and serious face.

"I forbid you to ask him, Fred. No, don't you dare. As though he needs reminding of that on his first day at school."

"All right." George said clearly disappointed.

A whistle sounded, and they all gathered around for their mum to give them a goodbye kiss as they step on the train.

Leaning out the window, Ron looked at Ginny.

"Don't worry Ginge, I'll send you lots of owls, …"

"We'll send you a Hogwarts toilet seat." George interjected, then received a look from their mother.

The train began to move and the boys waved as the train slowly moved away.

As soon as the train was in steady motion the brothers disbanded, Percy moving over to the prefects' compartment, wanting to get to know the others before school starts, the twins said something about finding their friend Lee Jordan, and disappeared down the hallway, leaving Ron to find an empty seat among the compartments.

It wasn't until the end of the trains when Ron finally spotted a relatively spacious compartment with only Harry Potter seating in it.

Sliding open the door, Ron stepped inside the compartment.

"Anyone sitting here?" Ron said pointing to the seat opposite of Harry. "Everywhere else is pretty full up."

Harry shook his head, and Ron sat down.

"You're Harry Potter right? My brothers said something about helping you with your trunks."

"The twins?"

"Yep, I'm Ron by the way, Ron Weasley, the twins are Fred and George, Percy my other brother is on the train as well."

A brief awkward silence followed, until Harry broke the ice and asked.

"Are all your family wizards?"

"I think so, mum once mentioned a second cousin who's an accountant, but I haven't seen her for the last few years."

"So you must know loads of magic already." Harry said, Ron could tell from his tone, he was a bit nervous about starting the school year already being behind.

"Don't worry about, most people don't start using magic until they get into Hogwarts anyway, as long as you've done a bit of reading, skimming through the first few chapters you should be just fine. What about you, I heard you were sent to live with some muggle relatives?"

"It wasn't great, they didn't want me there, and I don't really want to be there either, they really despise magic, and they wanted to keep their lives as normal as possible. I wish I had three wizard brothers."

"Five if you count the two oldest who've graduated already, Bill is a curse breaker working in Egypt, and Charlie is a dragon tamer in Romania."

The ice in the room fully broken and melted down, the two of them continued to share stories. Ron told him about the burrow, his father's job at the ministry, living with six other siblings and what bits of information about Hogwarts he's gathered from the older siblings, Harry in turn shared his life with the Dursley's and how before meeting Hagrid he had very literally owned nothing new, a point he and Ron shared.

About an hour or so into the trip they heard a tapping noise on the glass door. A middle aged women pushing a snack cart pulled open the door.

"Anything off the cart, dears?"

Ron quickly pulled the enthusiastic Harry to the side and warned him.

"Don't fill yourself up too much, there will be a feast for dinner just get some snacks if you want to check out some wizarding snacks."

Harry nodded his head and quickly surveyed the cart. He ended up getting a piece of Cauldron cake for lunch and grabbed a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, and a few chocolate frogs, came down to five Sickles and four Knuts.

Ron shook his head at the lady, she closed the compartment door and continued pushing her cart along the corridor.

Harry immediately unwrapped the Cauldron cake to find it similar to pound cakes, and started by taking a small bit on the one of the corners.

Ron chuckled watching Harry hesitantly bite into the snack cake, pulling out a wrapped sandwich from his pockets.

"My mum made these for me," Ron said, explaining to Harry. "It's corned beef."

Harry quickly eliminated the cake and turned his attention to the chocolate frog. "These aren't, you know? Real frogs, are they?"

"No, they're real chocolate transfigured then charmed to behave like a frog would, careful don't let them escape out of your hands. They also come with collectors cards, with famous wizards printed on them."

Harry unwrapped the first one, and swiftly reached down with his neck and bit off the frog head to stop it from squirming in an attempt to escape. Somewhat confused and appalled by his action, Harry diverted his attention to the cardboard card included in the package.

"Albus Dumbledore, Current Headmaster of Hogwarts. Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern times, Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel. Professor Dumbledore enjoys chamber music and tenpin bowling." Harry read out loud, then was surprised as the picture on the card winked at him and then disappeared.

"Oh yea, wizarding photos can move about once they've been specially developed in a magical ink."

"Wait magic pictures can move?"

"Well, you did just said the word magic didn't you? If you're interested you could start collecting them, it helps younger witches and wizards learn about historical figures, I've got a stack at home if you're interested."

Harry continued through the rest of the chocolate frogs, receiving Hengist of Woodcroft, Alberic Grunnion, and Merlin.

Then the two of them opened up the box of every flavored beans.

"Gots to warn you though, these crazy people actually mean every flavor, anything from chocolate and peppermint to things like chicken liver and fermented cabbage. George swear he once got a booger flavored one, makes you wonder how he knows what booger tasted like though."

Ron picked up a light green one, carefully grinding his teeth over it for a second and declared that it was Brussels sprouts flavored.

They proceed to take turns picking at the box, making a simple game out of it. They were getting along quite well, Harry was a bit nervous at first but quickly opened up as they talked more. Harry was still a bit nervous about learning magic, brought up how he saw Hagrid's failed attempt to transfigure Dudley, and he was worried about it being difficult since the textbook repeated state transfiguration as one of the more complex and potentially dangerous subjects.

"Yes, transfiguration is one of the harder subjects for students to master. The subject starts out with lots of memorization of information, and detailed manipulation of your magical powers, but as you get deeper into the subject it actually gets even more difficult. First year will start with transfiguring matches to needles. Essentially transfiguring a non-living object in to another non-living object with relatively similar weight, size, and shape."

Ron pulled out his wand, to give a short demonstration. When he had received the unicorn haired wand from Charlie it had been a bit battered up with scratches on the outside wood, and tip slightly bruised from being used to poke at something. Ron had been magically mending it, pushing his own magical aura into the wand repairing the damages from years of use and lack of maintenance or care, the added bonus to this project is the strengthening of the bond between Ron and his wand. Even though by disarming the wand from Charlie, he had in technicality "conquered" the wand, but that sort of bond is considered to be fickle and weak, and no good if you intend on using the wand long term.

"For example look at this bean," Ron gestured at the sprout bean he had taken a small nibble out of, "Consider the ingredient, weight, shape and size of this bean, any element you attempt to change would require some of your magical powers and the fineness to execute those changes precisely."

Pointing his wand at the bean, Ron transfigured the bean in to a round shaped bean, retaining the same color, visual texture, as well as size. Watching Harry's eyes widen with surprise, he continued explaining.

"Right here, I changed the shape of the bean, but left other qualities of the original product unchanged. If you bite into it right now it will no doubt still taste like sprouts."

Giving his wand a small wave, the bean once again began to change, this time becoming clear and acquiring the shine of a marble ball.

"Now I completed my transfiguration, but as you can see it's still soft with the texture of the flavored bean, next I would like to change the material of it"

Ron then tapped the marble ball with his wand once and tossed it to Harry, who proceed to tap the marble against the glass door creating a clear sound. Harry held the marble ball in his open palms still in disbelief of the changes it just went through.

"It's not incredibly difficult magic, heck you'll probably be able to do that in no time, if you put some effort into it."

At this point a girl pulled open the sliding door, and stepped in. She had bushy brown hair, and had already taken the time to switch into her Hogwarts robes.

In a slightly abrupt tone, "Have any of you seen a toad? Neville lost his." She said as she pulled a slightly shaken boy out from behind her. Ron knew who Neville was, he had never met the boy, but had heard through some house wife gossip from their guests, that the young boy from a well-respected pure blood family was magically challenged growing up.

Harry shook his head in reply.

The girl was now looking at Ron's wand, "Oh, were you doing magic? Let's see it then!"

She sat herself down next to Harry and "guided Neville to sit down on the opposite seat next to Ron.

Ron shrugged and with a simple wave of his wand transfigured the marble ball Harry had in his opened hands back to the green sprout-flavored bean, and tucked his wand away.

"Wooh! How'd you do that, I've been trying my hands at the match to needle exercise for over a week now, but it only showed minor changes," the girl said in a rushed voiced, "Some of the spells I've been able to work out, like with repairo, I've been able to repair small and simple things like pencils and what not. Oh and none of my family were magic, so it was such a surprise when I got my letter, I thought I've been pranked. Once that got cleared up I was so pleased, I mean Hogwarts is like the best Wizarding school in the continent, I even read all of our course books already, really hope it's enough to keep me caught up. I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you."

Ron paused briefly, a bit taken back that she had just went on that tirade without even taking a breath.

"I'm Ron, Ron Weasley, and this is Harry, Harry Potter." Ron said, as Harry who was a bit uneasy at how much the girl had prepared before showing up on the train.

"And Neville, Longbottom right? I've heard a bit about you, looks like your magic came through?" Ron made sure to address the round faced boy, trying to engage him in the conversation since he's just been quietly seating there.

Neville showed him a shy look, and nodded confirming Ron's question.

"Are you really Harry Potter?, I mean I've read about you in books like Modern Magical History and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century." Hermione said, having shifted her gaze from Ron to Harry, who were feeling a bit surprised at the sudden attention given to him.

"Am I really?" Harry clearly have yet to accept his fame.

"Wait you don't know?" She said, surprised at his lack of awareness for his own fame. "If it was me I would've found out everything I could. Anyway we'd better continue looking for Neville's toad," She pointed to the outside window as the sky was starting to go dark, "Think we'll be getting there soon."

She grabbed Neville and was about to leave the compartment when Ron stopped her.

"Um Neville does this happen often? You know does your toad often wonder away and does he come back?"

"I guess it happens quite a lot, ever since my great-uncle got me Trevor, he's been hiding and reappearing all the time."

"Then I wouldn't worry too much about it Neville, it's probably just playing with you. Wizarding pets or familiars often have certain extraordinary traits, your toad probably has the blood line of some sort of magical creature that can turn invisible, and has just been stringing you along in this game of hide and seek."

The three of them were surprised, Harry and Hermione had of course no prior experience with pets in the magical world, and Neville hadn't been paying attention at the relevant information.

"Yea why do you think we use owls to send and receive messages? They've been bred to be highly intelligent and able to locate their owner at will, they also make excellent companions." Ron said looking at Harry, since he know he's got a snow owl.

No longer in a hurry to find Neville's toad, the two of them sat back down, and Hermione continued to pester Ron with questions about Hogwarts and wizarding life.

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"I told you already the wizarding cameras work similar to muggle's original design about light reflection, but magically enchanted to capture the essence or emotions of the moment, allowing the viewers to later see what was going on "first hand", but unlike magical paintings which is much harder to accomplish, the pictures taken with a camera has no self-awareness and doesn't interact with its surroundings."

The compartment door suddenly slide open, and in come three boys, they are all dressed in their Hogwarts robes. The one in the middle one was pale with light blonde hair, he was flanked by two larger than two larger than average build boys.

"Is it true? They've been telling me Harry potter is in this compartment, so is it you?"

"Yes."

"My name is Malfoy, Draco Malfoy, this is Crabbe and Goyle." He said gesturing at the boys on his sides.

Ron raised one eye brow, he recognized the name, his father has on multiple occasions complained about the Malfoys and how Malfoy senior had this beef with Arthur on Arthur's stance regarding muggles and muggle-born treatment in the wizarding society.

Not to mention their history of being dark wizards during Voldemort's control, as well as managing to get away scot free.

Draco took a look at Ron, recognizing him as one of the Weasleys, thanks to their prominent red hair, freckles and less than stellar clothing.

"You'll soon realized that some wizarding family are much better off than this," pausing to shoot a glance at Ron's worn out muggle jeans, "You should consider sticking with my group, don't want to get mixed up with the like of them."

Ron let out a small sigh in the back of his mind, urh another stuck up brat, not that far off from how dad described Lucius Malfoy.

"I think I can tell who's the right kind of people to hang out with, so no thanks." Harry replied, his voice cold, as he rejected Draco's outreached hand.

Draco's face were a bit flustered at the rejection. "You better watch out, if you keep hanging around the likes of Weasleys and that Hagrid, you'd end up like your parents."

Ron feeling this comment had gone a bit too far, with a swipe of hand pushed boys back, pinning them to the compartment door.

"You're allowed your own opinions regarding my family and Hagrid, but do not speak ill of the dead."

As Ron released his hold on them and their feet once again touched the train floor, Draco gave him a glare and stormed out with his goons, slamming the sliding door shut.

"Don't worry too much about it Harry, his family is very public about their stance on blood purity, and looks down on muggles and muggle-borns. Since my family's stance is more pro better treatment of muggles, his father and mine been rivals for the last few years." Ron said as he try to reassure Harry.

Hermione who'd been quiet during the altercation spoke up. "How did you do that? Also it's probably a bad idea to get into it like that before even getting in to the school."

"Don't sweat it Hermione, wizards take altercations between younger members lightly, not to mention Hogwarts's general policy is you only get punished if you get caught, or else I wouldn't have heard all those stories from my mum about going for night strolls, and as long as no one was seriously injured or suffered actual losses, nobody really cares that much. Of course you're right that it would rub some of the professors the wrong way, if you appeared to be a difficult student right from the start."

"You shouldn't be too concerned Hermione, the Malfoys are notorious pure blood elitists, and you're a muggle born witch, Hermione, it doesn't matter how polite or courteous you are, the chances of the two of you becoming chums are very unlikely. You just got to hope you don't get sorted into Slytherin with him."

"Wait do you already know which house he would be sorted into? I've read through Hogwarts A History, and nowhere in it does it mention how the students are sorted. I hope I could get into Gryffindor, it sounds best out of the four, and I hear Dumbledore was in Gryffindor too, which houses are you guys thinking of?"

"The Malfoys have been a Slytherin family for the last few generations, not all of them were in Slytherin mind you, but the ones that don't make it in usually end up being shun away from the rest, and often get written out of the family wills or kicked out. I remember George saying something about fighting a troll to get sorted, but I'm pretty sure it's meant as a joke, there seem to be this weird tradition among Hogwarts students to keep this hidden just so there could be all these stories circulating around." Ron paused, seeing he's captured everyone's attention.

"I'm the sixth child, all five before me were in Gryffindor, as well as both of my parents, so there's a good chance I'll be in it too. As for Harry, I think everyone expects him to be in Gryffindor, and the Longbottoms have been spread out through Hufflepuff and Gryffindor in the past."

"I hope I can land in Gryffindor, it would please my gran, since my dad was in Gryffindor, but in truth I'll probably end up in Hufflepuff." Neville said, feeling unconfident and nervous.

They continued talking after switching to more light hearted topics, it was now completely dark outside the train, at some point during the last hour of train ride, Trevor had poked out from underneath their seats and hopped onto Neville's lap, Trevor the toad was not nearly as slimy as Harry had expected, he was after all a magical toad.

"Attention! We will be reaching Hogsmeade train station shortly, please leave your luggage on the train, we will be taking it to school separately."

The train conductor's voice echoed through the train.

When the four of them stepped off the train and onto the platform, they were met by an unusually large man, at least eight foot tall, the wild hair and beard man held a lantern in hand and shouted

"Firs' yeas! Firs years over here, you all right Harry?" Hagrid had saw the four of them and greeted Harry.

The crowd around the platform moved about as the smaller first years slowly wiggled their way towards Hagrid's direction, forming a group. The older students apparently know where they were going and in a few minutes had all disappeared off the platform.

After calling once more for any first years left behind to join the group, Hagrid told them to follow him as they walked away from the platform and onto a steep and dark narrow pathway.

"Yeh'll get yer firs sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called as the group stumbled forward.

After making a turn the narrow passage way had opened up to shores of a great black lake, and on the other side of the lakeshores was Hogwarts perched atop a hill.

Ron of course recognized the lake and the castle, he smiled as he feel Hogwarts magical ward casting over them in preparation for the magical ceremony of crossing the lake, and completing the magical contract between them and Hogwarts.

Hagrid point the first years to the small fleet of boats sitting by the shore.

"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, as the kids started to fill up the boats.

Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville slid themselves in to the boat directly behind Hagrid's custom made large boat.

After seeing everyone had gotten in to the boats, Hagrid shouted, "Forward!"

The fleet of boats moved all at once, clearly connected by magic, and glided across the surface of the lake. The crowd was quiet as they approach the castle, at shore they got up out of their boats and climbed up a stretch of steps up towards the castle.

Once Hagrid made sure all the first years had made their way up the steps, and were gathered by Hogwarts's giant oak front door, He raised his fist and knocked three times.

….

A/N

1. Extra long chapter, but was unhappy with the end point so took extra time to extend to include the duration of the train ride. Next chapter hopefully will go from them getting sorted to settling down in their beds.

as before, please excuse mistakes in my English, and all rights belong to original author.

envisioned Ron to be the more matured voice among his peers and look after his friends, decided to cut out Percy's personal owl mainly because haven't quite figured out what to do with Peter, and didn't want to have his whole mess sorted out so early.

huge thanks to the three reviews so far, not to mention stonegnome1, for catching the thing about Percy and allowing me to go around trying to patch things up.

update probably in two or three days if things go smoothly, really enjoying writing.