Harry woke up with a throbbing headache. This wasn't an unusual situation for him; most mornings began with a fist-induced hangover-like state of mind.
Taking in his surroundings, he saw that his previously empty carriage now had 3 other children speaking quietly. One was red haired, one had bushy brown hair, and one had slicked down black hair.
He started quickly, as his post-sleep stupor faded and he recognized the young faces of Ron, Hermione, and Neville. He could barely hold himself back from exclaiming his old friends' names, and instead attempted to adopt an innocent façade.
(Hermione POV)
Hermione saw the weird boy move out of the corner of her eye, and looked over at him, quickly analyzing everything about him.
About my age, brown hair, green eyes, torn up clothing, seems generally intelligent, looks like he's in pain, generally attractive. No apparent malice present.
As a bullied kid, she prided herself in easily picking apart people and pinning them down quickly, but there was something… well guarded about this boy. Maybe he was more like her than she originally thought in her quick glances his way before getting into her discussion with that Ronald boy. She made a mental note to keep an eye on him for the time being. The boy rubbed his head, and she noticed a weird shape under his hair.
"What was that?"
"What was what?" The boy asked, confused.
"That thing on your head." Hermione said, exasperated.
"Oh, this?" Harry asked innocently, pulling his hair to the side.
"Bloody hell." "Blimey" Ron and Neville said at the same time in surprise.
Hermione looked at the boys as though she wanted to scold them for their word choice, but instead asked "What does that mean?"
"He's Harry bloody Potter!" Ron exclaimed.
"Well, that's a weird middle name." Hermione said with a slight smile on her face.
"That's not his bloody middle name, do you really not know about the Boy Who Lived?" Ron said, suddenly becoming angry.
"Would you please watch your word choice?" Hermione exclaimed, her ire raising.
"Harry Potter is the one who beat You Know Who when he was a baby." Neville said, speaking up for the first time.
"No, I don't know who, should I know who we are referring to?" Hermione said, exasperated with Neville's vague word choice.
"He was a magical terrorist, basically." Neville said. "He killed hundreds of wizards and raised an army, and almost overthrew the wizarding world."
"And Harry here killed him when he was a baby? That sounds like we aren't hearing the full story." Hermione said.
"What're you implying?" Ron asked angrily.
(Harry POV)
Harry watched his friends fight as Neville tried desperately to change the subject, becoming more and more amused until eventually Hermione and Neville left to continue their search for the ever-elusive Trevor. Ron wrapped himself tightly in his anger, occasionally mumbling angry statements under his breath as he glared ou a window.
Harry and Ron snapped out of their thoughts as their door opened, and a high, cold voice said "Well, will you look at this, Harry James Potter has graced us with his presence."
A/N Honestly, I'm sorry that my updates are so few and far between, but I am a cadet in the Army and a college student, and I am juggling a lot of time-consuming responsibilities rn, and I am honestly doing my best lol.
Anyways, the person at the end isn't who you expect, hopefully it'll be a good surprise, hopefully it'll work out well for our heroes. Harry is going to be really cautious with Neville, but eventually grows to trust him again. All of my characters are going to be OOC, in that Hermione may be more inclined to conspiracy theories, such as "The government is hiding secrets from it's people", while Ron will refuse to question the government, and Neville will end up somewhere in the middle.
Anyways, thanks for reading, remember to fav, follow, and comment.