Harry stared out the compartment window at the waves of black cloaks coming onto the train. They were loud and excited the high pitch laugh of young girls, the grunts of boys pushing each other, and the flash and breaking glass of Colin Creevey's camera going off. Harry shut the window and the curtains.
"Creevey, not today!" Harry can hear Ron shouting even through the window and the low mumble noise o the crowd. Ron is a loyal one, Harry will give him that much, he should have been a Hufflepuff. Usually David is so good with little Colin. David will give Colin a pose whenever the boy finds David, it's almost like its a game between them. Harry doesn't think he'd be so generous if he had to be the Boy-Who-Lived.
The compartment door slides open and Luna walks in and sits across from Harry without acknowledging his existence, but who knows, at this moment Harry might not exist on whatever plane Luna is living on. Harry watches her intently as she pulls out a piece of her hair from her scalp, she plays with the hair, bouncing it, straightening it, licking it.
"So delicate," she says, "just like so many powerful things."
She pulls a pouch out of her cloak and from that pouch pulls out a handful of bottle caps with holes punched in the middle. She slides the caps onto her hair.
"But delicate things are hardly ever defenseless. It's an obvious riddle, but I hope you'll figure it out before the hair breaks."
She puts her hand behind her ear and pulls out a muggle paper clip. She ties the paper clip to one end of the hair and at the other she ties a loop.
"And if you don't at least you have a pretty necklace."
Luna hands the finished bottle cap necklace to Harry. Harry holds it in his hand; it is covered in spit and just hangs there looking like a little kids craft project.
"Thank you Luna." Harry puts the necklace on. A little bit of spit dribbles onto his cloak. This is the first time she has talked to him directly, not through Nargles or whatever. Luna inspects the necklace and nods in approval.
The door opens again Hermione Granger pokes her head in.
"Ah," she says "there you are Harry. Neville and I were looking for you."
Harry rolls his eyes to the roof of the compartment. Every train ride these two find him and sit with him. He knows they are all, him included, the outcasts of their houses, but that doesn't mean they can be friends. Harry tried, in first year, he really tried to be friendly to the two, but it made life in Slytherin hell. Harry remembers in first year when Ron Weasley bumped into Granger in the hall making her drop all her books. The boy had said sorry, but had continued running on to the next class. Harry had stopped and bent over to pick up one of Hermione's books.
"You don't have to do that," she had said, "feel sorry for me."
Harry handed her the History of Magic book. He bent over again and picked up her Defense Against the Dark Arts books and handed it to her with a smile. Hermione smiled back. "See you in the library?" Harry nodes and Hermione went on her way. Harry rounded the corner towards his next class. The hall was empty and he was surely late by now. A hand took him by the collar and pressed him up against the wall. Harry looked up. It was Daniel Parkinson the seventh year who had helped him the first night.
"Never talk to that girl again Potter. She is not our kind."
"Slytherin?"
"I'll forgive you because your new. She is what is wrong with the wizarding world. Never talk to her kind again."
Daniel let Harry go and disappeared down another hall. That day Harry wandered around the castle, going to his classes in a haze, until he sat at dinner. Daphne started filling his plate with veggies before he got a chance to fill it with "that other garbage" as she called it. Daphne did the same to all Slytherins in Harry's year, even Crabb and Goyle although those two just piled on the other garbage on top of the veggies, but it was the thought that counted.
Daphne noticed Harry wasn't eating. And Blaize asked the question, the question that would separate Harry from most of his housemates.
"What happened?"
"Blaize, what's wrong with Hermione Granger? I mean, why shouldn't I talk to her?"
"Are you daft Potter?" Malfoy chimed in from around Daphne "Everyone knows Granger is a Mudblood."
There were nods from Crabb, Goyle, Nott, and Parkinson. And there was silence from Daphne, Millicent, and Blaize.
"What's a Mudblood?"
"Filthy blood Potter," Malfoy said "any wizard who mates with a muggle is polluting our gene pool. And magical children are freaks of nature."
And then the split.
"That doesn't make any sense."
For the rest of the year Slytherins were only cooly polite to him in public and berated Harry for every little offense against "the noble name of Slytherin" that they caught.
Later that night in the library Harry sat alone. Before, at least Blaize or Daphne would come by and study near him, but that night, that year, they sat three aisle away. Harry was looking at notes from potions when Hermione came and sat across from him. They didn't talk or ask each other for help, but they sat close to one another. That was enough for the other Slytherins to keep away from Harry, but Harry never got up from the table when Hermione came over or even Neville, though he was a Gryffindor as Malfoy said "at least Longbottom is a pureblood."
So now, Hermione sits down next to Harry and pulls out her test scores. Harry smiles past the memory of that horrible first year, past the feeling of David sitting in his gut, and Malfoy's questionable motives, and pulls out his own test score. This is the one safe place to talk. Two times a year, Harry, Neville, and Hermione sit like they did on that first train ride to Hogwarts.
"What is it this year?" Neville asks Hermione. Hermione was frowning down at her score card. Neville took the card from Hermione and Harry pretended to ignore how close the two were, what and easy friendship they had. Luna caught his eyes. She lifted her bottle cap necklace and she put it in her mouth, she smiled again showing a row of bottle cap teeth. Harry gave Luna a very Snape eyebrow raise, but the smile on his lips told Luna he appreciated the gesture.
"I don't get it," Neville said, "what's wrong with this? You got perfect scores."
"I'm not ranked first in our class anymore."
Neville looked at the sheet again an his lips formed an 'oh'.
"Ah," Neville said "I'm sorry Hermione."
"I'm ranked first this year." Harry said.
Hermione snatched the score card from Harry's hand and seemed to read over it twenty times at lightning speed.
"So you did," she said.
"Congratz Harry," Neville said, "Right Hermione?"
"Everything was fair, yes, congratulations Harry."
She was still pouting in her corner and the air in the compartment gained a heaviness. The train whistle blew and the train rolled out of the station.
The compartment door opened again and Malfoy stood with Crabb and Goyle at either side of him.
"Ah," he said "there you are Harry." A piece of Harry's spine seized at hearing his first name from Malfoy's lips, he had to fight to keep his face from frowning. Slytherins never show house distinction, ever. Malfoy looked around the compartment and gave Harry a look to say 'really Potter? This is who you choose to assassinate yourself with?'.
"I thought you might like to discuss our summer plans before we arrive. Father wont want to be bothered with too many questions when we arrive."
It was an offer Harry couldn't refuse if he wanted to survive the summer and they both knew it. It would also mean offending the few people that didn't distrust or dislike him. Harry nodded his head, stood, and walked to the compartment door. Harry held out his hand to Neville. It took a moment for Neville to realize what Harry was after, but he handed back the test scores with forced cheer.
"Thank you," Harry said to the entire compartment. The compartment door shut, Harry turned down the hall to follow behind Malfoy.