Train time! I really liked what happened in this chapter of the book, so I kept most of it.
Enjoy!

Harry was walking through King's Cross Station with his trunk and Hedwig's cage. Hermione and Ron were on either side of him with the rest of the Weasleys following behind them. It was a large group with just the Weasleys, but with everyone else, they weren't very inconspicuous.

"Why do we need a guard exactly?" Harry whispered to Hermione.

"Just in case of Death Eater attacks. Especially with you here Harry. This is all for you anyway."

Harry sighed.

"Don't worry mate, once we're on the train, everything will go back to normal." Ron assured. "Well…" He smiled sheepishly, "As normal as any school year so far."

Harry chuckled.

They finally got to Platform 9 ¾ and put their trunks on the train.

"Have a good year Harry." Sirius smiled. "And don't let anyone get you down."

Harry smiled, "Thanks Sirius"

Sirius nodded, "You know what you saw and anyone who is worth anything will believe you."

The two hugged before Harry boarded the train.

"We're supposed to go the Prefects car for a meeting. We'll meet you later alright?" Hermine said.

Harry nodded and followed Ginny through the train. On their way they met up with Neville, who was also trying to find a seat. They finally found one with only one person in it.

"I don't know" Neville mumbled. "Maybe there is an empty one."

"There's only one person Neville" Harry said.

"Yeah, but that's Looney Lovegood." He replied.

Ginny rolled her eyes, "She's not that bad." She opened the compartment door and smiled at the girl inside, "Hi Luna, is it okay if we take these seats?"

The girl beside the window looked up. She had wavy, waistlength, platinum-blond hair, very pale eyebrows, and very large eyes that gave her a permanently surprised look. Harry knew at once why Neville had chosen to pass this compartment by. The girl gave off an aura of distinct dottiness. Perhaps it was the fact that she had stuck her wand behind her left ear for safekeeping, or that she had chosen to wear a necklace of butterbeer caps, or that she was reading a magazine upside down. Her eyes ranged over Neville and came to rest on Harry. She nodded.

"Thanks" Ginny smiled and happily sat down next to the girl while Neville and Harry shuffled into the seats across from them.

"Had a good summer, Luna?" Ginny asked.

"Yes," said Luna dreamily, without taking her eyes off Harry. "Yes, it was quite enjoyable, you know. You're Harry Potter," she added.

"I know I am," Harry said.

Neville chuckled. Luna turned her pale eyes upon him instead. "And I don't know who you are."

"I'm nobody," said Neville hurriedly.

"No you're not," said Ginny sharply. "Neville Longbottom — Luna Lovegood. Luna's in my year, but in Ravenclaw."

"Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure," said Luna in a singsong voice.

She raised her magazine back to her face. Harry and Neville shared a wide-eyed look while Ginny looked amused.

Neville cleared his throat, "Look what I got for my birthday." He said as he took out a small grey cactus out of his schoolbag.

"What is it?" Harry asked as he watched the thing pulsate and twitch. It was quite disgusting to look at.

"Mimbulus mimbletonia," he said proudly. "It's really, really rare, I don't know if there's one in the greenhouse at Hogwarts, even. I can't wait to show it to Professor Sprout. My great-uncle Algie got it for me in Assyria. I'm going to see if I can breed from it."

"Does it — er — do anything?" Harry asked.

"Oh yeah, loads of stuff. It's got an amazing defensive mechanism — here, hold Trevor for me…"

He dumped the toad into Harry's lap and took a quill from his schoolbag. Luna Lovegood's popping eyes appeared over the top of her upside-down magazine again, watching what Neville was doing. Neville held the Mimbulus mimbletonia up to his eyes, his tongue between his teeth, chose his spot, and gave the plant a sharp prod with the tip of his quill.

Liquid squirted from every boil on the plant, thick, stinking, dark green jets of it; they hit the ceiling, the windows, and spattered Luna Lovegood's magazine. Ginny, who had flung her arms up in front of her face just in time, merely looked as though she was wearing a slimy green hat, but Harry, whose hands had been busy preventing the escape of Trevor, received a face full. It smelled like rancid manure.

Neville, whose face and torso were also drenched, shook his head to get the worst out of his eyes. "S-sorry," he gasped. "I haven't tried that before. Didn't realize it would be quite so…don't worry though, Stinksap's not poisonous," he added nervously, as Harry spat a mouthful onto the floor and trying to clear the sap off his glasses.

"Oh…hi, Harry," said a nervous voice. "Um…bad time?"

Harry quickly put his glasses back on with his Trevor-free hand. A very pretty girl with long, shiny black hair was standing in the doorway smiling at him: Cho Chang, the Seeker on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team.

"Oh…hi," said Harry blankly.

"Um…" said Cho. "Well…I just thought I'd say hello…'bye Harry." She closed the door again, rather pink in the face, and departed. Harry slumped back in his seat and groaned. Of all the times for her to see him, he was covered in sap. What a sight he probably made.

"Easy enough to clean up I think." Ginny said, whipping her wand out. "Scourgify!" The sap vanished, leaving the compartment spotless.

/

When Hermione and Ron had finally returned, the food trolley had already passed and everyone in the compartment was contentedly eating.

"Aw, we missed the trolley?" Ron whined, "I'm starving."

Harry chuckled and passed an extra chocolate frog to him.

Ron smiled in thanks before eagerly tearing the package open and biting into the frog.

"How was the meeting?" Ginny asked.

"Dreadfully boring" Ron groaned.

"They gave us our roles." Hermione said. "We're supposed to patrol the corridors every so often. We can also give out punishments."

"That's probably the best part of the job." Ron said gleefully. "I can give detention to any Slytherin I want."

"You can't abuse your position like that Ronald." Hermione scolded.

Ron pouted, "It's not like I'll be the only one." He turned to Harry, "Malfoy is one of the Slytherin Prefects."

"Really?" Harry's eyebrows raised in surprise. "Who is the other one?"

"Pansy Parkinson" Hermione said in disgust. "Why Dumbledore would ever make that cow a Prefect is beyond me."

"What did a cow ever do to you Hermione, to have one compared to Parkinson?" Harry said.

Everyone in the compartment chuckled; all except Luna who threw her head back in a full body laugh. She laughed so hard, her magazine slipped from her grasp and onto the floor.

"That was funny." She shrieked, tears streaming down her face.

Harry looked at her in shock, he didn't think it was that funny. His gaze went down to her fallen magazine. Harry was semi-surprised to see a picture of the statue in the Ministry that his dad had morphed. Underneath was an article describing the scene, who Tony Stark was and about his new tablets. It was very well written, despite some of the strange sentences splashed through the article. He picked up the magazine and handed it back to Luna, who was breathing heavily after her laugh attack.

"I like it, don't you?" She said once she had calmed. The others were confused, but Harry smiled at her and nodded.

"Anything good in there?" Ron asked, peering at the magazine in Luna's lap.

"Of course not," said Hermione scathingly, before Harry could answer, "The Quibbler's rubbish, everyone knows that."

"Excuse me," said Luna; her voice had suddenly lost its dreamy quality. "My father's the editor."

"I — oh," said Hermione, looking embarrassed. "Well…it's got some interesting…I mean, it's quite…"

Luna frowned and raised the magazine back in front of her face.

Harry frowned towards Hermione. She had the decency to look apologetic.

/

When the train arrived at Hogwart's station, the six left the compartment and traveled to the horseless stagecoaches that would take them to the castle. The group approached and Harry did a double take. The coaches were no longer horseless. There were creatures standing between the carriage shafts; if he had had to give them a name, he supposed he would have called them horses, though there was something reptilian about them, too. They were completely fleshless, their black coats clinging to their skeletons, of which every bone was visible. Their heads were dragonish, and their pupil-less eyes white and staring. Wings sprouted from each wither — vast, black leathery wings that looked as though they ought to belong to giant bats. Standing still and quiet in the gloom, the creatures looked eerie and sinister.

"What are those things, d'you reckon?" he asked Ron, nodding at the horrible horses as the other students surged past them.

"What things?" Ron asked.

"Those horse things" Harry replied.

"What horse things?"

"The ones pulling the carriage"

"What are you talking about Harry?" Hermione asked, "There's nothing pulling the carriage. They pull themselves."

"That's what I thought, but there is obviously something pulling the carriage now." Harry replied, motioning to the skeleton horse.

"I don't see anything Harry, are you feeling alright?" Ron asked.

"I…yeah…" Harry felt utterly bewildered. The horses were clear as day in the light coming from the train car windows, and yet, no one could see them.

"Well come on then, don't want to be late." Ron said as he walked toward the coach Hermione and Neville boarded.

"Yeah" Harry replied, but didn't move to follow.

"It's alright" said a dreamy voice. He turned to see Luna standing behind him. "You're not going mad. I can see them too."

"You can?" Harry asked.

She nodded, "I've seen them since I first came here. They've always pulled the carriage. You're just as sane as I am."

With a faint smile, she boarded the carriage. With a sigh, Harry followed her.