XII. A weasel and a dragon

Harry looked around King's cross station in wonder. It really was beautifully built.

Tom had brought him to London and explained to him how to get to the hidden entrance to platform 9 ¾ before hiding in the shadows again, just in case something went wrong and Harry needed to escape.

Of course Harry also had an emergency-portkey, activated by the word "home" in Parseltongue, but he'd rather be safe than sorry.

He watched, a bit enviously, as a big, redheaded family, that was obviously magical, wandered to the direction of the platform.

It wasn't that he wasn't happy with Tom or anything like that, because he really was! After all, Tom was the best that had ever happened to him. But sometimes he still wondered what it would have been like to have had a normal family, with a mom and a dad, and maybe even a little sister, or something like that...

But he had Tom.

And aside from Nagini – who was a snake – he didn't have to share him with anyone! Tom was all his and would always be, and that was by far better than some family!

Especially considering what his family would have been like...

He shuddered as he remembered what he had learned so many years ago from that scary looking man.

No, Tom had saved him – two times even – from his family, and Harry was very thankful for that.

He went on and looked around himself to make sure that no muggle was looking directly at him and then quickly ran through the barrier, closing his eyes so he wouldn't actually stop and reconsider running straight into a seemingly solid wall.

He felt a shower of magic around him, stopped and slowly opened his eyes.

The platform was packed with people of all ages.

Parents kissing their children goodbye and little siblings hugging their big sisters and brothers, telling them to bring some gifts from Hogsmeade.

After a few seconds he actually spotted the tell-tale blonde hair of the Malfoy family and nearly went there to greet Draco, but remembered, after three steps, that he wasn't supposed to know Draco yet. They would "meet" and "befriend" each other in the train.

At that thought his eyes glided to the side and he, for the first time, took in the fiery red steam locomotive that would bring them to Hogwarts.

It really was beautiful, and he was sure that it would be gigantic on the inside. After all, a normal, little muggle train wouldn't be able to transport all the students that attended Hogwarts to school.

He slowly went to one of the doors, tugging his trunk after him and still gazing at the beautiful train.

He started lifting his trunk, supposed to be charmed with a feather-light weight charm, to the door... and groaned in frustration.

They had forgotten to equip the trunk!

Or maybe, knowing Tom, he had done so on purpose as to not gain suspicion... but he had far too many books and other stuff in there to lift it himself! He was after all only a small, scrawny eleven year old boy. How was he supposed to get that thing in there?!

He still tried.

He'd be damned if he gave up without a fight!

But after about three minutes of trying and failing, he knew that he was fighting a losing battle.

He was about to just drop the stupid trunk and lower himself to asking someone for help, when suddenly his trunk didn't feel heavy anymore.

'Need a hand?' said someone in front of him.

Holding the other end of his trunk stood a tall boy with red hair.

'Y-yeah, that would be very much appreciated,' Harry answered

'Oi! C'mere and give me a hand!' the boy shouted and another redhead, looking just like the first as Harry would have noticed, had he paid more attention, turned up looking at the trunk quizzically for a few seconds before wordlessly taking the end Harry had been holding before. They easily pulled it unto the train, making Harry really fell like a weakling. It wasn't a very pleasant feeling.

'So, shorty, first time at Hogwarts?' one of the two asked

'Yeah,' Harry nodded, and then looked around to see that Draco wasn't where he had been before. Bugger, he'd need to search for him now 'well, thanks for helping me, but I really need to get in there now,' he said and started going into the train.

'It was nice to meet you too!' shouted one of the redheads, Harry just distractingly agreed to him and opened the next best door to an empty compartment.

He let himself fall into a seat with a sigh. Now he only had to wait for Draco and this would be perfect!

He closed his eyes contently and dozed for a bit, until he heard the sound of the compartment door sliding open.

'Can I sit here? All the other compartments are already full...' asked a boy that looked entirely too tall for his age, or just recently had a growth spurt and hadn't had the time to grow horizontally yet.

Harry felt quite envious about that...

He had red hair and freckles and wore clothes that looked like they had been worn by at least three different people before and not been tended to too well. Harry was reminded of how he had had to wear Dudley's old hand me downs and felt sorry for the poor kid (even though he still totally envied him for his height...) and nodded.

There was silence between them as the train started moving and the tall boy leaned out of his window to wave his mother, father and little sister goodbye, as did so many others, until they could not be seen anymore. Harry just watched the scenery fly by.

As the tall boys eyes fell on him again he smiled, his blue eyes shining with pleasant anticipation.

'My name's Ron, by the way. Ron Weasley,' he introduced himself and reached out his hand to Harry, who in return smiled too. Maybe he'd make some other friends aside from Draco!

'I'm Harry. Harry Potter,' he said and shook the others hand.

'Harry Potter?! Like in the-boy-who-lived?!' the other exclaimed, making Harry grimace a bit at the title, but he still nodded. He really didn't like that kind of attention...

'Do you... do you really have the scar?' Ron asked wide eyed.

'Yeah...' Harry mumbled and brushed his fringe slightly to the side so that it could be better seen. That scar was after all something that he was proud of. It showed his connection with Tom, that he was his Horcrux.

Ron stared at him, mouth agape, and Harry stared right back.

If he was going to be studied, then he could do the same. After all Ron was the first wizard aside from Draco and Tom that Harry had ever really seen.

Ron had a bit of mud smudged across his nose that Harry hadn't noticed before. Maybe he was playing outside a lot?

He was quite engrossed in studying the other wizard so he actually jumped and let out a small squeal when something brushed his hand, which in turn made Ron jump too. He didn't squeal though, which made Harry blush slightly in embarrassment.

'Oh gosh, I'm so sorry! I hadn't realized that Scabbers was out,' he exclaimed as he jumped forward to catch something in his hands.

'Scabbers...?' Harry asked, staring wide-eyed at the thing in Ron's hands.

'Yeah... it's my very useless rat... I got it from my big brother, he found it in the garden when he was small,' he explained and Harry nodded, now studying the ruffled looking animal.

He hadn't known that rats could be held as pets. He'd only ever seen them as food for snakes, specifically Nagini.

'So...' he started a bit unsure of what to talk about, now that he couldn't study Ron anymore, and the rat wasn't half as interesting. He had seen a lot of those already '...how old is... Scabbers now?'

'About ten years old I guess?'

'Rats can get that old?!' Harry asked aghast.

'I think that's the only good trait it has... I'd much rather have an owl or something. This thing is just useless,' Ron complained and Harry could only nod sympathetically. The rat really did look useless... and ugly.

'At least you have some pet,' he said, trying to console the other boy.

'You can have it, if you want to.'

'No thank you,' Harry said at once.

They stared at each other for a moment before they both burst out laughing

'I wouldn't have wanted it for free too. It's so useless!' Ron exclaimed

'And ugly,' Harry added and they snickered a bit more at the rats expense that seemed to be offended by their words and went back into Ron's bag.

After that it was quite easy to keep talking. Ron was an obsessive Quidditch fan – more precisely Chudley Cannons-fan – and could talk about it for hours on end if he wanted to and you let him.

Harry could tell him about muggles, which Ron found very interesting, and subtly could make him see that muggles in fact were not always nice. He just hoped that that was enough to sway Ron to their cause, because the boy had at some point started talking about how awesome Dumbledore was and Harry couldn't just leave it at that if he wanted to be friends with him.

After a fair while of the two of them just talking Draco still hadn't made it to their compartment. But someone else had.

Rudely throwing the door open, without knocking, two identical redheads made their way into the compartment, making Harry jump and the twins grin evilly.

He really should work on his vigilance.

'Well, Ronnikins...' the right twin started

'since it's your first day away from home...' the other continued

'wethought we should check on you,' the first one finished and the way they talked really confused Harry. He was sure, that if they kept this going for longer he'd lose track of what they were talking about.

'Don't call me that!' Ron exclaimed

'So, found a friend already?' one of them asked and sat next to Harry, putting his arm on the brunettes shoulder.

'Fred, leave him-'

'Ah, it's you!' the other one, apparently not Fred, said, while sitting down on his younger brother effectively stopping all sounds and protests coming from him.

'Really, Ron, did you have to choose the smallest – '

' – scrawniest – '

' – weakest – '

' – first year there was as a friend?' they asked

'Hey!' Harry exclaimed, feeling his cheeks redden slightly.

It wasn't his fault that he was small but... well, if anyone was really to blame he guessed it was his parents. He wondered if the Dursley's treatment of him (of his reflection, he reminded himself) had anything to do with that too. He'd have to ask Tom... And he wasn't weak!

'I'm not weak!' he exclaimed at least not magically he added in his head.

'Yeah, yeah, if it makes you feel better,' Fred said, reaching over to pat his head.

'But you'd never make a good beater,'

'Or keeper,'

'Or chaser,'

'Could you stop this? I'm getting a headache...'

'maybe you'd make a fine seeker,' they said together and Harry groaned.

The twins were discussing his height and abilities a bit more while Harry had given up on saying anything at all, when Ron finally succeeded in throwing his brother off.

'Seriously, what the bloody hell did you come here for anyways?! And stop harassing Harry!' he exclaimed and Harry threw a grateful look at him.

'Harassing Harry?'

'Now that sounds funny!'

'We could make it a game!' they said, making Harry pale. He really didn't need an advanced version of "Harry Hunting".

Ron seemed to think so too.

'Stop it, both of you, or I'll tell mum. Or I'll sell you out to the teachers before you can even try to pull any prank.'

'You wouldn't...' one of them said in a terrified voice, but Ron didn't falter.

'Fine! We're sorry Harry! – '

' – we won't harass you again... '

'Thanks...?' said Harry, not sure, but having the feeling that he had just escaped hell... he ought to thank Ron again for that...

'So, what did you come here for?' Ron asked again with an eagerness Harry didn't understand

'Oh yeah, Lee brought something really cool!'

'Wanna see it?'

'Hell, yeah!' he exclaimed and looked questioningly at Harry who shook his head, suppressing a shudder. He had heard the name of the boy, Lee, when he had passed him before at the station, and the long hairy leg that had reached out of the shoe box wasn't something that he wanted to see up closer, thank you very much.

'Ok... Well, I'll see you later then?' Harry nodded, smiling, and the three redheads went off to find their friend.

Only a few minutes later found Draco finally getting to Harry.

'There you are! Did you really have to go to the very front of the train?' he asked after he had closed the compartment door behind him.

'Well, I thought you'd find me here sooner rather than when I'd been somewhere in the middle,' Harry defended himself.

'Harry, no. The front is Gryffindor territory. You can't just come here!' Harry just rolled his eyes at that. Really, Draco could be so narrow-minded.

'Want to play chess?' Draco asked after they had just enjoyed the scenery for a while sitting in companionable silence.

'Sure.' And they started talking about what had happened and what they'd done since they'd last met. They both of course left out quite a few things that just couldn't be discussed in a train, but they still had a lot to talk about.

Just as Draco told him about how his family had gone to France for two weeks the door to the compartment opened again.

'It was a spider Harry! A spi-' and everyone, for some reason, stopped mid-action.

Draco stared at Ron and Ron at Draco. Then he glanced at Harry and back at Draco again. A few more seconds passed by in shocked silence, and in Harry's case confusion (he really felt like he should inform himself a bit more, so he wouldn't always have to be the confused one) and then an ugly sneer placed itself on Draco's face.

'Red hair, hand me down clothes and a stupid complexion... you must be a Weasley,' he sneered and Ron's face grew redder with every word.

'Malfoy, you stupid git! What are you doing here?!' he exclaimed angrily. Harry wondered if the two already knew each other.

'Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like I'm playing chess. It's a game you know. With a bit of training I'm sure even someone like you could play it... maybe.'

'I know what chess is!' he exclaimed even angrier now, then he turned to Harry 'Harry, what the bloody hell is going on here?!'

'Uhh... we were just playing chess...' he repeated Draco and if possible, Ron's face grew even redder.

'But, er... what's going on anyways?' the brunette asked, as he still didn't understand the hostility between those two, but both of them looked at him with very little understanding at his question. Then, after a while, Draco sighed heavily, getting both of their attention.

'Harry... this really isn't the kind of person you want to be seen with,' he said, as if it were obvious.

'Why, you little...' Ron looked like he was about to explode 'Harry, you can't tell me that you want to hang out with that git?!'

'Who would not want to spend time with me, Weasel?' Draco said haughtily.

'You stupid little-' Ron started advancing on Draco, his fists clenched, but was interrupted by a loud 'Stop!' from Harry who stepped between them, before Ron could actually punch the blonde.

'Both of you, whatever your problem is, can't you just try to get along? For my sake? I want to be friends with both of you...' Harry said, as tears gathered in his eyes.

'You aren't... going to cry, are you?' Ron asked shakily, and Draco's lips quirked slightly upwards. Harry knew his acting lessons had to be useful at some point. He threw Draco a warning-glare, when he saw that he was about to laugh and then turned tearfully to Ron, who paled in record time.

'Please don't cry, ok? I'll even get along with him if you want to, but don't cry...' he said hastily as Harry sniffed.

'Ok...' he said pathetically and rubbed at his eyes. Who knew some people would really be this compliable when confronted with crying people?

Ron said down heavily at that, and threw a glare at Draco, as if to tell him to agree, so Harry wouldn't cry.

'Fine. I'll get along with Weasel,' he said exasperated and Harry's face contorted into a big, shining smile.

'Great!' he exclaimed as if he hadn't been crying a second ago and sat down across from Draco and next to Ron again.

'So, who's turn was it?' he asked, indicating to the chess game

'Mine.'

'Oh, Ok. So, what was it that happened in Versailles?' he asked and the rest of the ride to Hogwarts passed without any more big fights.

~oOo~

So, chapter 12 is done! YAY! Please leave a review :) criticism is welcome as always too :) (so long as it's nicely formulated)

Oh, and yeah, I know for some reason everyone hates Ron... but Why? I mean, c'mon, aside from his jealousy issues he's a nice enough lad! I like him. he's not stupid. I'd learned a new word from him when I was small, so he's NOT stupid! Alright? :)

Btw, what do you think of slash? :]

Oh, and I passed all of my exams! :D YEAY! Till next time!