Acquaintances in a Train

Please Read and Review. I'd like to know what I'm doing right (to keep doing it), and what I'm I doing wrong (to correct it).

"Very well, I'm here, where's Potter? I want to talk to him."

"Hey! Who told a slimy snake like that you could just come into our compartment?"

Harry facepalmed at the inevitable explosion of Mount Ronubius. He had waited for far too long to tell his friends about his plans, and stopping to talk to the Lovegoods had made him lose a few precious minutes. To his relief, he could see over Greengrass' shoulder that they had chosen the compartment where Professor Lupin was already sleeping.

He cleared his throat to announce his presence. Daphne Greengrass turned around, surprised. "Potter!"

"My apologies, Miss Greengrass. I had thought I would have time to explain the situation to my friends, but I... um.. sorry, I boarded the train a bit later than I expected." He turned to his friends. "Ron, Hermione, allow me to introduce Miss Daphne Greengrass."

Hermione waved a little. "We know each other, sometimes we are at the library at the same time. Hello, Greengrass."

The blonde girl nodded, a bit calmer, "Good day, Granger."

Ron was fuming still. "What do you want, Greengrass?"

It was Harry who answered, "I invited her, I am planning on forming a multi-house study group." Ron rolled his eyes, while Hermione's brightened.

"Miss Greengrass is the only Slytherin I considered, she has been consistently in the top three spots in several subjects, and I think it would be good for all of us to study together. I asked members of all houses if they would be open to a multi-house study group. The others should arrive shortly. Now, I am just asking everybody to be civil to everybody else, okay?" He held up his hands conciliatorily.

Ron got up, grabbed Scabbers out from Crookshanks's paws, and stomped out. "We are just coming back to school and you want to study with slimy snakes? You are mental, mate. I'll go look for Fred and George." He almost pushed Daphne out of his way.

Harry let him pass, shaking his head sadly. He composed himself. "My apologies, Miss Greengrass, I hope you'll still be willing to hear me out."

"No wonder Malfoy is always needling him. His temper is awfully short." Daphne allowed Harry to guide her to a seat, next to Hermione. Remus Lupin snored softly. Harry suspected he must have been exhausted. His furry little problem, no doubt.

Daphne tilted her head towards Lupin, "Who is our companion? I thought only students made the trip to Hogwarts by train."

It was Hermione who answered, "Professor Remus Lupin." Daphne arched an eyebrow, "You know him already, even by reputation?"

"No, I..."

Daphne raised a hand, "Let me guess, you follow Mr. Holmes deductive reasoning, right?"

Hermione grinned and nodded. "Then..." Daphne looked over Lupin, while Harry watched with great interest and curiosity, "Ah, I see, his name is clearly marked on his luggage. Very good. Then, he must be our new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor."

Harry answered, "Must be, Lockhart... well, he won't be coming back." He shrugged, changed subject immediately, "The others should arrive shortly, in the meanwhile, would you tell me how did it go with the book?"

Hermione perked up immediately, Harry knew exactly how to manage the Monstruous Book of Monsters, and had already told her. It had been a strange reading, but the book was very interesting.

Daphne tilted her head and arched an eyebrow. "Your information was... precise. I've had no problem with the book, at all. Not really. It even purrs!"

"Yours too?" Hermione asked with enthusiasm.

A soft knock at the door preceded the arrival of the Patil twins, Padma, a Ravenclaw, and Parvati, a Gryffindor, followed by Neville Longbottom a couple of seconds later.

Once everybody had exchanged formal greetings, to some amusement from Daphne, as the other Gryffindors were extremely polite to her, they took their seats. An expansion charm activated by itself, allowing everybody to seat comfortably.

Susan Bones, from Hufflepuff, was the last to arrive. Harry sat next to her, practically at the compartment's door. He shuddered for a moment, knowing what would happen a few hours later. But he wouldn't allow anybody else to suffer a Dementor's attack.

He hid his dread well.

"Okay, now that we are all present; except for Ron, who decided not to stay; I want to explain why I asked you all to come."

Padma raised a hand, "You mentioned a study group. I was a bit surprised when Parvati invited me. I thought it would be a Gryffindor only group." The others nodded.

Harry nodded. "A fair assumption, but no. I wrote to you because I think it is time for us to listen to the Sorting Hat's advice. Every year, it says we should work together, but we mostly keep to our houses; except for friends we already know, or family." The Patil twins nodded. He turned towards Daphne. "The gap between Gryffindor and Slytherin is both wide and traditional. But it really doesn't have to be. The Founders were friends, for Merlin's sake!"

"So. You are not worried that most Dark Wizards come from Slytherin, Potter?"

"Why is that, Daphne? Do we really know the reason for that? There have been Dark Wizards from all houses, you know, even Gryffindor is not exempt of that. Slytherin has the largest number, true, and Hufflepuff the least; but every one of us has the potential to be a Dark Wizard or Witch." He paused, "I'm not so conceited to believe I couldn't fall into that role, you know."

Everybody gasped. "Not you, Harry, you are the..." Susan said, before Harry put a hand up, stopping her.

"The Boy-Who-Lived? I really hate that title." He shook his head. "I am not a hero, not really. Morgana's staff! I was a baby when V..." He remembered what Shinji had told him about the true reason Wizarding Britain feared to use Riddle's assumed, false name. The Taboo. Dumbledore's advice for him to use the name only served to put Harry apart from everybody else! Practically setting him as a fearless hero! Or a deluded disrespectful fool, depending on each person's opinion of Voldemort. Therefore, he had decided to not enter that particular quicksand pit, and follow the custom of not naming Voldemort directly. At least, not in the presence of others.

He continued, "...when the Dark Lord tried to kill me along with my parents. I really doubt I could have done anything to him, except maybe throwing a stuffed toy at him. No, I'm sure it was something my parents did." He shook his head sadly.

Hermione squeezed Harry's hand in mute support. He looked at her big brown eyes, and smiled. Nodding again, he changed subject. "I'd like for us to meet, at least once a week, and study together, all of us are very good in at least one subject. We can help each other to improve our grades."

"No offense, Longbottom, but your performance is really lacking in everything." Surprisingly, the comment came from Padma.

"He is a prodigy in Herbology, though." Harry added. "Now, Neville is very good at theory, so that is his forte, Hermione's and Daphne are very good at theory too. I don't do as well in that, I'm mostly practical. So, while we can all help Neville to get better at other subjects, he could tutor us all in Herbology. I do best at DADA and getting my spells to work, I can help here. Daphne and Hermione are the best at most subjects, and both work very hard."

"What about Susan and me, Potter?" Asked Padma, "Neither of us is particularly brilliant at a particular subject."

"You're underestimating yourselves. You both have the best work ethic, and are great organizers. And you, Parvati, are a good student, but I'd like your help with making connections. Not everything we learn at Hogwarts is academical. We are supposed to network and establish connections with other students and their families. Due to some things I really don't want to discuss, with anybody, I am woefully behind in that area! You and Lavender are the best connected students in all seven years at Hogwarts."

Parvati smiled. It was nice to be acknowledged. "I'll have to discuss this with Lavender, can she come too?"

"As long as both of you can be discreet about what happens in the group, sure."

"Yeah, about that, what's the matter with you and Loony Lovegood?"

Harry's smile disappeared in a split-second. "Don't call her that, please. She has been nice to me."

"Ooohhh... she's your friend then, or something more?" Parvati leaned towards Harry.

"So far I have only spoken with her once, right before boarding." Harry answered, feeling like he had somehow wandered into a minefield.

"But you like her, don't you?"

"Well, yes. She's nice." Had Harry had an inkling of exactly what Parvati was implying, he would have blushed a bright red. But he was so occupied trying to decipher exactly why Parvati was so interested in this, that he missed the fleeting look of sadness in Hermione's eyes.

Author Notes:

TitusVorenus: Absolutely right! The little girl is Nozomi Horaki. So far, the only images I know of her and Kodama (the big sister of the Horaki family, and indirect instigator of the infamous kiss) are from a promotional set of either buttons or pogs I found while I was looking for an image of Hikari as an EVA pilot.

I needed it for reference purposes, as I was painting the resin kit inspired by said image. (I would really like to complete the set of alternate pilots, I already have Toji with the plugsuit, but I don't know if there's enough interest for a Kensuke pilot fig!)

Sakura Suzuhara will apear too, eventually.

Shinji has quite a trip ahead, in more than one sense. I really like your idea of having him interact with Lily Potter. I will give it the due consideration and planning, while Shinji deals with the other passengers on board.

I want to write them a really cool scene!

To Guest, Comments on Chapter 24

Revealing Fawkes participation would probably also reveal that Harry survived being poisoned with basilisk venom. So… enhance his position on two accounts.