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Chapter 3 – Hogwarts Express
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Hayley walked beside Hagrid as they reached to the Leaky Cauldron again.

"Have you thought of a name for her yet?" Hagrid asked warmly.

The black haired girl lifted up the cage and looked at the snowy owl inside. After a few moments she lowered the cage and looked back to Hagrid, "I'm not sure. What's a proper name for an owl?"

The large man laughed, "I'm not sure owls are named much different than we are." He said with a smile.

"Oh…well, I'll just have to think about what she looks like." She said and began to set her mind to think of a name for her owl. 'Lucie…Penny…Willow…Snowy…' She thought, but after a few moments she shook her head, 'None of those fit her at all.'

"Hayley, do you think you can take a seat while I grab something to drink?" Hagrid asked and placed all the packages he'd been holding onto the nearest table.

The dark haired girl nodded and took a seat in the stool, placing the cage with her owl in it on the stool beside her. The large man nodded and walked over to the same bartender who was there when they arrived earlier. She looked back to her owl and asked, "What do you think I should name you?"

Hoot

Hayley laughed at the response, "You're a smart girl aren't you?"

Hoot

She laughed again, "Well I'm going to give you a great name…I just don't know what it is yet." She said and looked forward. Her eyes fell on a stack of books among the stuff Hagrid had been carrying. She leaned forward and grabbed the book on the top of the stack. She turned it over and read the front cover, 'A History of Magic, by Bathilda Bagshot, Second Edition. That sounds interesting…' She thought as she opened the book, glancing over the table of contents before jumping to the first chapter. She skimmed over the words, but after a few flipping through the first couple pages, she realized the book was far less interesting than she had originally thought it would be. Hayley still gave it a chance though. After another page, she found herself on the verge of closing the book, when a name popped out at her. She looked at her owl and back the word on the page, before looking back the snowy owl once again, "I think it suits you." She said and closed the book. "What do you think of Hedwig?"

Hoot Hoot

Hayley smiled at the happy hooting coming from her owl, "I'm glad you like it." She looked back at the book, "At least this has been good for something. Hopefully it'll get better in the later chapters."

"How are ya doing over here?"

Hayley looked up and smiled when she saw Hagrid take a seat across from her and place an over-sized beer mug on the table. "Good. I finally got a name for her." She said happily.

"Whatcha gonna call her?" Hagrid asked.

"Hedwig…"

Hoot

"And she likes it." She said with another large smile, she honestly couldn't remember smiling this much ever.

"I'm glad, it's a good name." He said and took large gulp from his mug.

Now that her large companion was with her again, she found her mind going back to the man who killed her parents. Though in actuality he had never really left her thoughts completely since she learned the real cause of her parents deaths. The man whose name no one seemed to want to say. She took a deep breath and looked up to large man in front of her, "So, Hagrid…can I ask you something?"

Hagrid put down his nearly empty drink and smiled, "Sure, ya can. What did ya want to ask?"

Hayley mentally steeled herself as she asked, "The man who killed my parents…I noticed…no one seems to say his name. So, can you tell me his name?"

The giant of a man turned white at the young girl's request, "I…I…understand ya wantin' to know, but it's a bit of taboo to say his name." He paused, causing the girl across from him to nod. After a moment he continued, "But you more so than anybody else has a right to know." He took a deep breath before beginning again, "I'll only say this name once, so please don't ask me to repeat it. His name is Vol…Vold…" He started to say but paused once again.

"If it's hard for you to say, why not write it out?" Hayley asked.

"Nah, I wouldn't be able to spell it." He said and took one more deep breath before finally say, "Voldemort…that was his name."

"Voldemort." Hayley repeated, causing the man before her to noticeably wince.

"Just don't go around saying that name. It's still a reminder of everything he did." The large man explained.

"What happened to him?" She asked curiously.

"Well, story goes that you defeated him that night." He said and looked her straight in the eyes.

She could see he wasn't lying when he said that, but she still couldn't help but stare at him strangely, "But I was just a baby…"

"His killing curse bounced off of you and hit him instead. So, he couldn't kill you for some reason." Hagrid explained.

Hayley nodded slowly. She wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer to her next question, but she felt she needed to ask, "So, is he dead then?"

There was a long pause before he answered, "That I don't know, but hearin' Dumbledore talk, he doesn't believe he is dead. He doesn't think there was enough human left in him to die, and I have to say he's right."

Once again, Hayley gave him a slow nod. 'If he isn't dead…what exactly does that mean…'

Before she could finish her thought, Hagrid stood up, "Well now we really need to be headin' back. I only meant to stop in 'ere for short bit an' we've been a little longer than I wanted. So, let's be on our way."

"Okay." Hayley said quietly.


They arrived outside the number 4 Privet Drive when Hagrid said, "Oh, before I forget. Here's the train information. This is the train that'll take ya to Hogwarts." Hagrid said and handed Hayley a paper. She took the paper and read it over quickly. "Remember Hayley, September 1st at King's Cross Station in London. Platform 9 ¾. You must be on the train by 11 am sharp."

Hayley nodded and hugged the large man as best she could, "I won't forget. Thank you for all your help today and thank you much for Hedwig!"

"Aww, 'swas nothing." The large man said with a wide smile, "I'll see ya when you get to Hogwarts." He said before starting to walk away but stopped after a couple steps, "Oh, also…now that yah 'ave a wand, you can't be doin' any magic while you are at home. You can only do magic at Hogwarts."

"Okay, thank you again." Hayley said and gave him another quick nod.

Hagrid gave her a wide smile once more, "See yah in 'bout a month, Hayley."

"Yeah, see you then." She said and bent down to pick all of her school supplies. When she stood back up, the giant of a man, who was just with her, was gone. She shook her head slightly and chalked his sudden disappearance to her new found knowledge that magic was in fact real. She now began to haul all of her supplies to her house. When she reached the door, she gave a couple knocks, not entirely sure what to expect. Would the Dursleys even let her in? She waited about a minute before she knocked again. After a few more seconds, she heard the door being unlocked.

"Oh, it's you…" Vernon said less than happily.

"Yes. This is where I live, isn't it?" Hayley asked.

"Unfortunately." The large man said and stepped aside, barely giving her enough room to get inside. Hayley dragged in all of her stuff and was about to go in to the small crawl space under the stairs, when her Uncle's voice stopped her. "No, upstairs."

The black haired girl turned and looked back him, unsure if she misheard him. "Wh-What?"

"Upstairs, I said." Uncle Vernon said in an irritated tone.

Hayley decided not to say anything else and simply head up stairs, quickly followed by her Uncle. Once they reached the top, he pointed to a room, which she knew belonged to Dudley. More precisely it was her cousin's second bedroom, where all his old and broken toys were stored. She cautiously stepped toward the room, not sure what to expect. She opened the door and was surprised to see all of Dudley's old toys had been cleared out leaving the room nearly empty aside from a bed. She turned back, "What is this?"

A frown appeared on her Uncle's face as he said, "A room."

"But why?" Hayley persisted.

"Can't you just be grateful?" He shot back.

She stared at him for a short time before she recalled the last time, she'd seen him. She remembered the threats levied on him by Hagrid and then she realized why he'd given her something he'd never seen a reason to give her before now, a real bedroom. "Thanks." She said, before making her way back down the stairs.

"Where do you think you're going?" Vernon asked as the young girl walked pasted him.

"To get Hedwig." Hayley quickly replied and hurried to retrieve her owl.

"What in blazes is Hedwig?"

Hayley quickly returned with Hedwig in her cage and showed her Uncle, "My owl."

Vernon looked at the bird in disgust, "You have one of those foul creatures."

Hayley quickly put the cage behind her back protectively, "She is not a foul creature. She is beautiful and she was a present."

"From who?" Uncle Vernon growled.

"Hagrid." Hayley said simply, causing her Uncle to turn pale. From the look on his face, he did indeed remember the large man very well.

"Fine, have you filthy owl, but the rest of you stuff will remain locked up downstairs." He huffed and stormed down the stairs.

Even though the rest of her belongings were going to be out of her reach, Hayley felt as though she had achieved a small victory over her Uncle.


The remainder of the month passed by without further event; in fact, the Dursleys all seemed to ignore her and not even acknowledge her existence. Eventually she was forced to interact with them, because September 1st was only a day away and she needed a way to get to King's Cross in London…

Hayley approached her Uncle and Aunt as they watched the tele in the living room. "Umm…Uncle Vernon?"

The large man grunted, but didn't actually say anything. She took that as for her to continue so she did, "I need to get to King's Cross tomorrow…to go to Hogwarts." She said and received another grunt. "I wanted to ask if you can give me a ride?" She said and once more merely got of grunt of the man, but she took it to be a yes, so she turned to leave when her Aunt spoke.

"Funny way for wizards to go to school a train…I would think brooms would be more your kind's mode of travel." Aunt Petunia said and snorted afterward.

Hayley decided to ignore her remarks and continue upstairs to her room, when her Uncle spoke this time.

"Where is the freak school of yours anyway?"

Hayley stopped and thought for a moment. That question had never come up when she spoke to Hagrid, even though thinking back it probably would have been a good question to ask him. "I don't know."

"How do you even know what train to take then?" Uncle Vernon said, chuckling as he spoke.

"My train ticket says Platform 9 ¾, so I'll just get on the train there." Hayley said quickly, but really she was beginning to doubt herself. Her Aunt and Uncle didn't do her any favors by bursting into laughter as soon as she said the platform she needed to be on.

"What kind of rubbish is that?" Uncle Vernon asked, making no attempt to stifle his laughing.

"That's what my ticket says." She retorted.

"Your lot is barking mad!" He said yelled, but took a deep breath to say, "I'll take you to King's Cross and you'll see. We have to go to London anyway to pick up a couple last minute things for Dudley anyway."

Hayley looked at her Uncle for a moment longer, but just continued up to her room. Mentally she was yelling at herself for not asking more questions to Hagrid when she had the chance.


As soon as he came to a stop the large man stepped out of the car and lugged her trunk out of the car. He put her trunk on to one the carts the station provided. Hayley was confused by her Uncle's kindness. She half expected him to just let her out and not give any kind of assistance. Her confusion was answered when her Uncle leaned down next to her window and with a nasty grin said, "Here we are…platform nine…and ten. Curious…your platform should be somewhere in the middle, but it's not here. Maybe they haven't built it yet?"

Hayley looked out the window and clear saw the signs for platform nine and for platform ten, but didn't see anything kind of signs for the platform she was looking for, platform 9 ¾.

"Well, get out." Uncle Vernon said and opened the door with a laugh.

Hayley stepped out slowly and examined the train platforms more than she could from the car. There was no indication of any platform aside from nine and ten. She was brought out of her examination of the train station by her Uncle.

"Have a good first term." He said with a nasty smile, before speeding off.

She glared at the car as it drove away, but eventually her thoughts traveled back to how she was going to get to school. She noticed a large clock a short distance away. It read 10:35. She needed to do something, the train was going to leave an eleven, and she was quickly running out of time. 'I need to ask someone how to get on to Platform 9 ¾.' She thought and looked around to try and find someone that worked at the station. Eventually her eyes fell on a guard that a woman was talking to. She caught the end of their conversation…

"…take a left at that sign and then just head straight."

"Thank you."

Hayley watched the woman walk away for a second before quickly stepping up, "E-Excuse me…"

The guard crouched down, so he was closer to eye level with her as he spoke, "How can I help you?"

"Could you direct me to Platform 9 ¾?" She asked hopefully.

The guard stood up and suddenly he didn't look friendly anymore. He looked more like her Uncle, "What kind of rubbish are you talking about? Get out of here kid!"

Hayley sulked away and felt like crawling under a rock. That guard looked at her like she was crazy and she couldn't deny that she was starting to doubt her own sanity. 'Could this have been some elaborate trick?' She asked herself and looked around. 'Platform 9 ¾…how did I even think such a thing existed…' She thought and lowered her head.

"It's like this every year, packed with Muggles."

Suddenly a word caught her ears, Muggles. It was a word she'd only recently learned, the word meant non-magical folk. She quickly looked up and spotted a group of red heads being led by the same voice who said Muggles. She quickly grabbed her cart that had all her things and ran after the group. She caught up with them in a few moments, because the entire group had stopped as well, right at the pillar that read 10 on one side and 9 on the other. 'What are they going to do?' She thought to herself.

"Percy, you first." The round woman said and the tallest of the boys pushed his cart of luggage straight towards the pillar.

Hayley watched in shock as he ran at the brick without any fear. She covered her mouth when he reached the wall, but to her surprise he simply passed right through, as though there was nothing there at all. When she thought about it though, it shouldn't have come as a surprise at all, but still seemed unbelievable.

"Ok, you're next Fred." The woman said and patted another one of the boys on the back.

The boy started toward the pillar as the other boy did, but stopped and looked back, "I'm George by the way. Honestly woman, you call yourself our mother…"

She shook her head, "Oh, sorry about that George."

"Only joking, I am Fred." He said before continuing through the false wall of brick.

The older woman sighed and shook her head again, "George, you're up."

He laughed at his mother for a moment before he ran forward, like his brothers had already done.

When the woman turned to the smallest boy, a voice asked, "Why can't I go with them, mum?" Hayley couldn't really see from her vantage point, but the voice sounded feminine from what she could tell.

"You're not old enough yet. You still have a year left before you can go with them." The woman explained.

Hayley watched the family with a smile. They acted just like she would have imagined a family would. There was no animosity between them and seeing them interact with each other really made her wish she had that. She really felt like she had missed something through her life. She took a deep breath and took a step towards the family. She felt so lost until she saw them, but she also felt incredibly stupid for not knowing how to get on to platform 9 ¾ and felt guilty for watching them, but she also knew she'd have to ask them if there was some secret to passing the barrier or risk missing the train. That was something that she couldn't let happen, "Ex-Excuse me, but could you tell me…"

The trio turned around and looked at Hayley, causing her to shuffle her feet nervously. Hayley was able to see the other person with them was in fact a girl, but she shared a number of the same traits as her brothers, the red hair stood out immediately. She felt uncomfortable under their stares, even though they only seemed to be looking at her with curiosity more than anything. She took another step forward as she spoke again, "How do you get to Platform 9 ¾?"

"Is this your first time honey?" The round woman asked kindly.

Hayley nodded her head, "Y-Yes, it is."

"Oh, well it's Ronald's first time too." She said and motioned to the red headed boy to her left. Hayley gave him a slight wave, which he returned. "What your name, honey?"

"Hayley. Hayley Potter." She replied quickly.

The woman's eyes widened, her son, Ron, who hadn't really given her much thought was now staring at her, making her feel a little uncomfortable. The young girl, who had previously been hidden behind her mother's legs, was now looking at her with an awed expression, though she was still mostly hidden behind her mother. "Well, that is something…" The woman said and paused for a second, "Oh where are my manners, I haven't even introduced myself. Molly Weasley. I've already introduced Ronald and this is Ginerva." She said and urged the young girl behind her forward.

The young girl looked horrified when she was placed in front of her mother. She looked like she'd rather be anywhere, but there at the moment. Hayley wasn't sure if she was the reason for the girl's current feelings or if it was something else, but she felt sorry for her nonetheless.

The young red head turned to her mother, "Ginny, Mum."

"And you know I prefer Ron, Mum." The boy beside the older woman said.

"When you introduce yourself, you should always use your full name, not a nickname." Mrs. Weasley told her children. She looked over to Hayley once again and extended her hand, "It's really nice to meet you."

Hayley reached out and shook the woman's hand. "I'm glad I met someone who doesn't think I'm crazy." She said and smiled slightly. "Is there some kind of trick to get on to Platform 9 ¾?"

"Oh yes, Platform 9 ¾, it's very simple dear. You only need to walk between Platform 9 and 10." She explained and pointed at the brick pillar Hayley had already seen her children go through, but she didn't say that. "Since this is your first time, I recommend getting a running start." Mrs. Weasley said and gave her a warm smile.

Hayley nodded and gripped her cart tightly before charging forward. Just before she was to hit the wall she closed her eyes. She half expected to be turned away from by the pillar, but she didn't feel anything, so she quickly opened her eyes. "Wow…" She said in amazement as she took in the transformed train station. She stepped forward slowly and stared at the red and black train that had the words, 'Hogwarts Express' written across the first compartment in gold letters. She glanced around the train station and saw it looked very similar to the one she had just left. There were people bustling about all around her, all getting ready to board the single train at the station.

There were students all over the place pushing carts just like she was, many had owls and many others had cats of all sorts of colors. The birds seemed to be enjoying the commotion because there was a lot of hooting back and forth between them.

She walked alongside the train and looked over the train some more. As far as she could tell the first two compartments were already full of students, so there wasn't any reason to even try to find a spot on them. She continued walking down the platform, over hearing a conversation with a boy and his grandmother.

"Gram…I can't find Trevor." A young boy said worriedly.

"Oh…Neville." The elderly woman said and gave an exasperated sigh.

She didn't really pay them any mind though as she continued trying to find an empty or at least a near empty compartment.


"What held you up?" George asked, prompting Ron to point forward, toward a young black haired kid staring at the train. "Who is that?"

"Hayley Potter." Ron said the wonder evident in his voice.

"Pretty scrawny isn't he?" Fred commented.

"Manners, Fred." Mrs. Weasley quickly reprimanded.

"That's mean, Fred." Ginny scolded as well.

"I can't be mean if it's the truth." George countered.

Mrs. Weasley looked at her bickering children, "That's enough." She said and turned to the tallest boy, "Percy, why don't you direct Hayley?" He nodded and walked over to the young kid in question. She looked back to her other children, "Ron, good luck with your first term."

The young red headed boy smiled, "Thanks mum."

Mrs. Weasley then turned her attention to her twins, "Would it be too much to ask that I don't receive any owls from school this year?"

"Come on mum, you'd think something happened to us otherwise." Fred said quickly, causing his mother to sigh and shake her head.

"I want to go too Mum." Ginny said and tugged on her mother's arm.

"Ginny, we've already gone over this. Next year you'll be going." Molly said again.

"Don't worry Ginny, we'll send you loads of owls." Fred said, trying to cheer up his sister.

"We'll even send you a Hogwarts toilet seat." George said in a hushed tone.

"You'll do no such thing, George." Mrs. Weasley told the twins. "Now get on board, before you're late."

"Yes, mother." The two boys said in unison.

After taking a couple steps toward the train, George turned around and motioned over his shoulder, "We'll at least get you an autograph." Ginny looked confused initially, until she looked where her bother was pointing and turned a light shade of pink and looking down.

"You are a fan, right?" Fred said with a smile.

Ginny quickly looked up, "N-No."

"Sure." The twins said together.

"Just get on board boys." Mrs. Weasley told them.


Finally when she reached the next to last compartment she found one that was empty, which was exactly what she was looking for. She grabbed Hedwig's cage and ran it inside first. She returned outside and position her cart, so she could pull it up the steps up to the train. She grabbed it tightly and pulled as hard as she could, but was only successful in lifting the heavy cart off the ground a couple inches. She took a deep breath and tried again, but didn't do much better the second time. 'How am I supposed to get this up here?' she asked herself and tried to think of a better way to go about things when she saw one of the boys with Mrs. Weasley approaching her. This was the first time she saw him from the front and now that she did, she noticed he was wearing a silver patch on his black robes with a capital 'P' embroidered on it.

"Would you like some help with that?" The red head asked.

"Yes, thank you." Hayley said quickly and grabbed one side of the cart's handle while Percy grabbed the other. After a few pulls they successfully brought the cart on to the train.

The older boy extended his hand, "The name is Percy Weasley. I'm a prefect."

Hayley stared at him curiously, apparently she was supposed to know what that meant, but she had no idea, so she just went with, "Okay…thanks."

"Now that you are situated I have to head to my car." Percy said and was off without another word.

Hayley shrugged and sat down next to the window and got comfortable. 'This is really happening.' She thought to herself gleefully, when the compartment door slid open.

"Do you mind if I join you?" He asked as he stuck his head inside.

Hayley recognized him as the youngest Weasley boy, Ron. "Don't you want to sit with your brothers?"

"Nah, I spend enough time with them already." He said quickly.

She just shrugged her shoulders then, "Okay, if you want to."

He smiled and took a seat across from her. "I'm Ron, but I guess my mum already told you that."

"Yeah…" She started to say when the door suddenly opened again. This time it was the Weasley twins.

"Hey Ron." The boys said together.

"Word has it that Lee Jordan has a huge tarantula, so we're going to check it out." One of the boys said, Hayley wasn't entire sure which one.

"Okay." Ron mumbled.

Before leaving the two boys turned to Hayley, "You're Hayley Potter, right?" One of them asked.

She nodded, "Yeah, I am." She had a feeling this question was going to coming up again and again.

"We haven't introduced ourselves yet, but I'm Fred…" One of the twins said.

"And I'm George. We'd like say hi and anything our mum may have said about us isn't true." George said with a smile.

"Actually, whatever she may have said is probably true." Fred corrected.

George conceded with a nod, "Well, we'll see both of you when we get to Hogwarts."

"Hope you get into Gryffindor, Hayley!" Fred said before the twins made an abrupt departure.

Hayley smiled at them and watched the door for a few more seconds, even though she didn't really know what they meant about Gryffindor. Eventually she felt like she was being stared at. She turned back to Ron, but he quickly looked away, only making his staring more obvious as a result. "Do I have something on my face?" She asked and almost laughed at the irony because the red head had a smug of something black on his nose.

It took him a few seconds to turn back to her, but eventually he finally did. "So…do you have it?" He said and pointed at her head.

Hayley looked at the red haired boy strangely, "Have what exactly?"

Ron gulped and craned his neck to look around her face, making her feel uncomfortable, "Th-The scar…"

"Oh…yeah" She said and brushed back her bangs to reveal the lightning bolt scar on her forehead.

"So that's where You-know-who cursed.."

She nodded, "Yeah, but I don't really remember."

"Really…nothing." He said, sounding a little disappointed.

Hayley nodded her head again, "Yep. I mean I thought about ever since I was told, and the earliest memory I can recall is a flash of green. So, that may have something to do with it, but I'm not too sure." Ron nodded in understanding. Hayley thought it was a good time to change subjects, "So, is everyone in your family a wizard?"

"Yep, as far as I know at least. Actually, I think mum may have a cousin or something that isn't but that's it." He explained and paused for a moment, "So, you live with Muggles, right?"

"Yeah, with my Aunt and Uncle and my cousin. They're horrible…well they are, not all Muggles." She corrected herself and added, "I wish I had magical brothers or sisters, like you."

"It's not all that great. I'm the sixth son to go to Hogwarts and next year Ginny will go, she's the only girl in our family." Ron explained.

'I feel sorry for her, always surround by boys, except her mother.' Hayley thought as she tried imagine being in that position.

Ron continued without knowledge of his companion's thoughts, "Bill and Charlie have already graduated. Percy is in his fifth year and Fred and George are both in their third year. All of them have done well in school, so I have to live up to that. Plus, everything I get is hand me downs, even Scabbers here." He said and pulled a large rat out from his jacket.

"I know about hand me downs..." She said and stood up. "Everything I'm wearing was my cousin's, even though everything is too big, I still get his stuff. And until I met Hagrid, I didn't even know this world existed. I didn't know anything about my parents or Voldemort…" Ron gasped, causing her to stop. "What is it?"

"You said You-know-who's name!" He exclaimed.

"He killed my parents Ron. I think I have a right to call him whatever I want." She and paused when she received a surprised look. "I'm not trying to be brave or anything, I just don't really know these things." She said and paused, "If you prefer, I'll try to not say his name." She looked over to Ron, who gave her a nod. "Okay, I'll try." She said and took this moment to look outside.

After a short time, the door slid open once again, but this time it wasn't a student, it was an old lady pushing a cart. "Anything from the trolley, dears?"

"Got sandwiches." Ron mumbled.

Hayley hadn't had breakfast or lunch so she was starving, so she stood up and approached the cart to see what the woman was offering. As she looked over the names of all the treats, she quickly realized she was unfamiliar with all of the things she had to offer. "Umm, can I get two of everything?" Hayley asked.

The older woman's eyes widened for a moment before she simply said, "Sure you can dear." She paused for a moment to add up her total. "That'll be eleven Sickles and seven Knuts." Hayley handed over the money and returned to the compartment with her hands full.

Ron's eyes widened, "Hungry?" He asked.

"Yeah." She nodded and looked over everything, "Plus, I've never had any of these." She said and looked over to her companion, "You can take anything you want. I got more than enough." Ron still looked hesitant, so she simply grabbed the first thing closest to her and showed it to him, "You like these?" When she received a nod, she threw the 'Pumpkin Pasty' at him. "Take it, like I said, I have more than enough and I just wanted to try everything." It only took him a moment more to put down his sandwich and ripe open the pumpkin treat.

"Thanks." Ron said quickly between bites.

Hayley smiled, "You're welcome." She said and went back to looking through all the treats she bought. She picked up a box that said, 'Chocolate Frogs'. She held up the package to Ron, "These aren't real frogs are they?"

"'Course not, but they are enchanted to hop around like frogs, so be careful." He said and quickly finished off the Pumpkin Pasty he was eating. "If you get Agippa, I'll trade you for it."

Hayley tilted her head to the side, "What?"

"Oh, sorry I forgot you don't know. Inside every box of Chocolate Frogs there are cards of famous witches and wizards to collect." Ron explained.

She nodded her head and opened the box. As soon as she did, the frog leapt away, but she was more interested in the card inside. She pulled it out and pictured was an old man with half-moon glasses with a long silver beard and long silver hair. The name inscribed beneath his picture read, Albus Dumbledore. "It's Dumbledore."

"I got at least a dozen of him." Ron said and eyed the other Chocolate Frogs box, "Can I have the other one, I may get Agippa?" He asked.

Hayley reached over and picked up the other box before tossing it to Ron. He thanked her, but she was still focused on the card in her hand. 'Hagrid said that Dumbledore was a great wizard.' She thought and turned the card over.

'Albus Dumbledore, currently Headmaster of Hogwarts. Considered by many to be 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.'

She turned the card over and was shocked to see no one in the picture, "He's gone!"

Ron looked up, "Well, of course, you can't expect him to just hang around all day." He said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Nothing moves in Muggle pictures." Hayley explained.

"Really?" He questioned and received a nod, before he added, "That's weird."

Hayley sighed; she was going to say the exact same thing about magical pictures, when the compartment door opened again. A young boy with a round face glanced around inside, who Hayley remembered passing as she was looking for a suitable compartment, now he looked to be on the verge of tears.

"I'm sorry to disturb both of you, but have you seen a toad anywhere?"

Both Hayley and Ron shook their heads, negatively. "But I'm sure he'll turn up." Hayley said optimistically.

He lowered his head, "I hope so." He said before exiting the compartment.

Once the door was shut Hayley said, "I feel sorry for him."

Ron just shrugged, "I wish I was in his position, but Scabbers is too lazy to run away." He said paused before adding, "I tried to turn him yellow yesterday, but the spell didn't work…I'll show you." He said and got up. He went over to his trunk and rummaged through its contents, until he pulled out his wand. It looked to be in a pretty sorry state, with what looked like threads of something coming out one end. He sat back down and cleared his throat, before raising his wand, only to stop when the compartment door opened yet again.

Both occupants looked up when the door slid open again and this time a young girl with bushy brown hair appeared. She glanced around inside before asking, "Have you seen a toad anywhere around? Neville is looking for it."

Both Ron and Hayley shook their heads, "No, he just came by actually and asked the same question." Hayley said.

The other girl nodded, "Ok, well if you do he goes by Trevor." She said and was about to close the door when she noticed the red haired boy had his wand out. "Are going to do magic?" She asked already moving inside.

"D-Did you want to sit with us?" Hayley asked nervously.

"Sure." She said and stepped inside; dragging Neville in with her, sliding shut the door behind her. She came inside and sat beside Hayley, but focused on Ron, who still had his wand out. "Well, what are you going to do?"

"Just watch." Ron cleared his throat and pointed his wand at the rat in his hand, "Sunshine, Daisies, Butter Mellow, Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow." He said and flicked his wand. A flash of yellow was emitted by the wand, but nothing happened to the rat. Scabbers quickly wiggled out of Ron's grasp and ran underneath his seat.

Hayley looked at Ron a little sadly; she was really hoping to see real magic being performed. 'I really hope magic isn't that hard to do.' She thought to herself.

"Are you sure that's really a spell?" The young brunette girl asked. "I've tried a few simple spells myself and they've all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, it's the best school of witchcraft there is I've heard. I've learned all the course books by heart, of course. I just hope it will be enough. I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?"

"Ron Weasley." The red head said without really looking at the girl who asked the question.

Hayley wasn't entirely sure if she was directing her question at just Ron, who was trying to do magic, but she decided to answer anyway, "Hayley Potter."

"Wow, you're in a ton of books, you know." Hermione said and turned toward her.

"I am?" Hayley asked as she looked at the other girl curiously.

"Of course, you were responsible for You-know-who's defeat." Hermione said as though it was the most logical thing. She seemed to be thinking for a moment before she rattled off, "Let's see you're in, 'Modern Magical History' and 'The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts' and 'Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century."

'I guess that would be news…' The dark haired girl thought and looked to the compartment's floor, "It's a little weird being famous for something I don't even remember." She said and paused before adding, "I was only just recently told about in fact."

"If it were me though, I would have done as much reading on what was written about me." Hermione interjected.

"I didn't have access to my school books because my Uncle locked them up as soon as I got back from Diagon Alley." Hayley said and paused for a moment before adding, "Besides, everything written in books isn't necessarily true. I'm pretty sure I know myself better than how any book would describe me."

"Well that can be true, but people often base a lot of their opinions on what they read." Hermione stated.

"I guess that may be true, but if people are judging me without even knowing me, I don't really care what they think." The black haired girl retorted. "You aren't one of those people are you?"

Hermione looked at Hayley for moment and opened her mouth to say something, but stopped and tilted her head to the side slightly, "Your glasses are broken." She said changing the subject.

The dark haired girl nodded, "Yeah, they've been like that for ages now." She said, not entirely understanding the purpose of discussing her beaten up glasses.

"Well, why haven't you repaired them?" The brunette asked curiously.

"Well, my Aunt and Uncle didn't really care too much about fixing them so…" Hayley was saying, until the other girl cut her off.

"No, that's not what I meant. You got a wand, right?" Hayley nodded her head slowly, not really following where the other girl was going. "You could have fixed them yourself." Hermione said and pulled her wand out of her pocket and pointed it at Hayley's face and gave a small wave as she said…

"Oculus Reparo."

Just about immediately after the words left the brunette's mouth, the tape that had been holding Hayley's glasses together unwound. She was a little surprised that her glasses didn't simply fall into her lap, instead they remained in place. She quickly took her glasses off and inspected them. After a few moments she exclaimed, "Wow, there as good as new."

"I know." Hermione said, as she looked at her handy work with a pleased smile on her face. "I would recommend changing into your robes soon; I expect that we are nearly there." Hermione got up and exited the compartment with Neville.

"Stupid spell…" Ron muttered, obviously still focused on the spell failing again. He must have retrieved his rat, because he was holding him again as he spoke.

"So, what do your older brothers do anyway? Bill and Charlie." Hayley asked, trying to get his mind to think about something else.

"Oh, well Charlie is studying dragon's in Romania and Bill is doing something in Egypt for Gringotts." He said and paused, as though an idea just struck him, "That reminds me, did you hear about Gringotts? I doubt there would be coverage in Muggle news, but it's been big news in the wizarding world for some time now. Someone tried to break in and rob a high security vault!"

Hayley inched up in her seat, "Really? What happened to the burglar?"

Ron inched forward now too, "Nothing. That is why this is so big. The person or persons haven't been caught. My dad believes it had to be a powerful dark wizard to get past the security. Something this big brings back fears about You-know-who." He said, almost whispering.

There was something about referring to someone as 'You-know-who' that didn't sit well with her. She knew he was a bad guy, evil in fact, but not using his real name seemed to only increase the fear surrounding him.

"So, who is your favorite Quidditch team?" Ron asked, suddenly changing the subject.

"Umm…I don't really know any." Hayley said, a little sheepishly. "Honestly, I don't even know anything about the sport." She confessed.

"It's only the best sport in the world." He said and began going over all the basic of the game. She tried to keep up with everything he was saying, but it seemed really complicated. "We have Quidditch teams at school too, one from each house." He said excitedly. When he said that, her thoughts went to thinking the game would make more sense if she actually saw it being played.

Just then the compartment door slid open again, prompting Hayley to wish there was a lock on it. This seemed like the dozenth time someone had taken it upon themselves to enter their compartment. She half expected it to Neville again or even Hermione Granger, but it was neither of them. Into the compartment walked three boys, only one of which did she recognize, the one in the middle. Draco Malfoy, the boy she met at Madam Malkin's.

"I wondered what compartment you would be in." Draco said as he shut the door behind him.

Hayley stood up, as did Ron, and she eyed the smallest of trio cautiously. The two boys on either side of him were considerably bigger than Draco and looked mean, they reminded her of Dudley. Standing on either side of the smaller blond, they looked almost like body guards.

"This is Crabbe and this is Goyle." Draco said and pointed to each boy in turn. "You remember me I'm sure, Draco Malfoy."

Ron snickered beside her and she wanted to elbow him in the side. They were outnumbered and certainly looked out manned with the two brutes next to Draco.

"Is something funny?" He asked but didn't wait for an answered as he quickly sized the red head up, "I guess there's no point asking who you are. My father told all about the Weasleys, red hair, freckles, and hand me down clothes. I wasn't talking to you anyway, Weasley." He said and turned back to Hayley. "I told you that you'd have a choice to make when you came to Hogwarts." He said and glanced over to the boy Hayley had been talking to. "And by the looks of who you are already spending your time with, I can see you are going to need my help with that. So what do you say?"

Hayley stared straight at the blond haired boy, "Thanks for the offer, but I think I can decide for myself who are the right and wrong sort."

Draco's eyes flashed with anger, "Be careful Potter, this is a one-time offer."

"I believe I've already made my decision Malfoy." Hayley said, copying Draco's use of her surname.

"You're going end up just like your parents. Hanging out with riff raff like the Weasleys and that half breed Hagrid, it'll rub off on you." Draco said threateningly.

Ron took a step forward, "Say that again." He warned.

"Oh, showing a bit of a backbone for your girlfriend." Malfoy mocked.

Ron looked at Hayley confusedly, while she turned beet red and took a step forward as well, "Excuse me. I know your sort just fine, and you're nothing but a bully. If you wanted to start something, you didn't need to bring your boyfriends along."

"What did you say?" Malfoy said and noticeably balled his fists at his sides.

She wasn't entirely sure where her confidence was coming from, but she wasn't going to back down now, "You heard me. Why don't you and your boyfriends run along?"

"I don't think we want to leave now…do we, Crabbe and Goyle?" Malfoy said dangerously.

The three boys stepped forward and then something completely unexpected happened. All of a sudden Ron's lazy fat rat, Scabbers, jump out of his hand and leapt at the closest person to him, Goyle. The rat bit the large boy's hand, he howled in pain and he began to flail around to try and get the rat off. In his wild movements he nearly stuck both of his friends, but in the chaos the other two boys ran out of the room. At that point, Goyle had successfully detached Scabbers from his finger and ran after his friends, "Wait for me!"

Both Hayley and Ron couldn't hold back their laughter at the events, "Who would have thought, Scabbers?" Ron said and reached down to pick up his rat. He quickly examined him, "I don't believe it! He fell back asleep!"

Suddenly the door shot open again, "What have you boys been doing?" Hermione exclaimed as she burst inside.

Ron ignored her and turned to Hayley, "How do you know Malfoy?"

"I met him in Diagon Alley when I was shopping for my supplies." Hayley explained.

"I heard what was going on here; you two were going to start a fight." Hermione said.

"You were spying on us." Ron accused.

Hermione turned a light shade of red, "I was not. I could plainly hear you in the next compartment!"

"If you could plainly hear us, you would know we weren't starting anything." Hayley said quickly.

"It doesn't really matter, does it? You'd still get in trouble for fighting even before we made it school." She said in a know it all sort of way. She paused and looked at both of them for a second before saying, "You still need to change into your robes. I was just up by the conductor a few minutes ago and he said we would be there in a couple minutes." She started to turn away when turned to Ron, "And you've got dirt on your nose…right there." She said and pointed her finger at his nose. She turned around and exited to compartment, but Hayley quickly followed her out.

Hayley took a couple steps out of the compartment she was sharing with Ron and called to the retreating brunette, "Hermione!" The other girl stopped and looked back, "I told you that you shouldn't trust everything you read in books…I'm not a boy." She said and quickly stepped back inside her compartment, shutting the door in the process.

End Ch.3


Hayley and Hermione really didn't get off on the right foot did they?

In case anyone didn't know, Hayley is a unisex name, so it could be a boy's name or a girl's name. Though it is more commonly a girl's name, it's not always, like actor Haley Joel Osmond. Umm…I don't really have much else to say, aside from saying that I hope everyone enjoyed this installment and was enjoyed the minor changes here and there. Oh, I did have to change one word the barkeep at the Leaky Cauldron said, to keep continuity though. I changed Ms. Potter to Hayley Potter, I wrote Ms. without really thinking about, sorry about that.

Oh, if anyone is reading this that is also reading 'Our Future', I'm sorry for updating this first, but I had to write what was on my mind and while I did make progress on 'Our Future' it is still a little away from being completed. Hopefully I can give that my full attention this weekend, because I actually don't have to work this weekend. So here's hoping (I'm crossing my fingers).