Colleen and Ron waved goodbye to their mother and sister as the train took off. Once it rounded a corner, the two siblings went in search of a compartment to sit in until their arrival. They searched up and down, but didn't find an empty seat until Ron came across one with the boy in rounded glasses and the girl with curly hair sitting in it.

"Anyone sitting here?" Ron asked after sliding the compartment door open. "Everywhere else is full."

The two children nodded. Ron and Colleen sat down across from them.

"Hey, Ron," one of the twins' voices called from the hallway. Both of them poked their heads in. "Listen, we're going down the middle of the train – Lee Jordan's got a tarantula down there."

"Right," Ron responded.

"Harry," George said as he turned to the other boy, "did we introduce ourselves? Fred and George Weasley. And this is Ron, our brother. And that's Colleen, our sister. See you later, then."

"Bye," the other children replied, and the twins shut the door closed.

"Are you really Harry Potter?" Colleen asked, her eyes wide in wonder.

The dark-haired boy nodded.

"Oh, I thought it might be one of Fred and George's jokes."

"And have you really got – you know…" said Ron. He pointed to his forehead.

Harry pulled back his hair from his forehead and revealed a lightning-shaped scar.

"So that's where You-Know-Who-?"

"Yes," Harry said, "but I can't remember it."

"Nothing?"

"Well – I remember a lot of green light, but nothing else."

"Wow."

Colleen noticed there hadn't been a single peep from the girl sitting next to Harry. She had been staring out the window in a sort of sad daze the entire time.

"What's your name?" Colleen asked her.

"Valerie," the girl answered in a hushed tone. "Valerie Dursley."

"Pleased to meet you, Valerie," Colleen smiled at her.

"Are all your family wizards?" asked Harry.

"Er – yes, I think so," Ron replied. "I think Mum's got a second cousin who's an accountant, but we never talk about him."

"So you must know loads of magic already."

Colleen shrugged. "I mean, if I'm completely honest. I did practice only a handful of charms at home."

"When?" Ron asked.

"Why do you care?"

"What if I wanted to practice, too?"

"Because I would have made you swear by pulling your thumb as far back as it could go, and then we'd both get into trouble for fighting."

"Point taken."

Harry and Valerie chuckled at their argument, and Ron rolled his eyes.

"I heard you went to live with Muggles," he changed the subject. "What are they like?"

"Horrible – well, not all of them. My aunt and uncle and cousin are, though. Valerie here has kept me company. I wish we had three wizard brothers."

"Five," Ron sighed. "Colleen and I are sixth and seventh in our family to go to Hogwarts. You could say we've got a lot to live up to. Bill and Charlie have already left – Bill was head boy and Charlie was captain of Quidditch. Now Percy's a prefect. Fred and George mess around a lot, but they still get really good marks and everyone thinks they're funny. Everyone expects us to do as well as the others, but if we do, it's o big deal, because they did it first. You never get anything new, either, with five older brothers. I've got Bill's oldrobes, Charlie's old wand, and Percy's old rat. Well, my sis here got new stuff, but they'll be passed on to our baby sister next year."

Ron then reached into his pocket and pulled out the old rat.

"His name's Scabbers," he explained while the rat slept, "and he's useless, he hardly ever wakes up. Percy got an owl from my dad being made a prefect and Colleen an owl as well, but they couldn't aff – I mean, I got Scabbers instead."

Ron went silent as his ears turned red. They weren't supposed to talk about some situations in their family with others, but sometimes it just slipped out of Ron's mouth.

Harry then began to tell about his and Valerie's lives from the time they were infants until now. Both had been verbally abused by Harry's aunt and uncle and cousin, and Valerie only adopted the surname because she didn't know whom or where her parents were. Only Harry knew what happened to his parents.

Neither of them knew what their futures would be up until Hagrid came and took them to prepare for Hogwarts.

"…and until Hagrid told us," he continued, "we didn't know anything about being a wizard and witch or about my parents or Voldemort –"

Ron gasped and Colleen shushed him.

"What?" Valerie asked.

"You said You-Know-Who's name!" said Ron in a surprised tone. "I'd have thought you, of all people–"

"I'm not trying to be brave or anything, saying the name," Harry replied. "I just never knew you shouldn't. See what I mean? I've got loads to learn…I bet. I bet I'm the worst in the class."

"You won't be," Colleen reassured him with a smile. "There's lots of people who come from Muggle families and they learn very quickly."

As the train moved out of London and sped past open fields, the four of them didn't speak until a lady with a dimpled smile and pushing a cart stopped in front of their compartment door. "Anything off the trolley, dears?" she asked.

"No, thanks," Colleen said with glum.

"We're all set," said Ron as he pulled out two sandwiches from is pocket; the same glum look identical to Colleen's on his face.

"We'll take the lot," Harry said after pulling out a few Sickles and Knuts.

Harry bought some of everything on the cart including Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Chocolate Frogs, Licorice Wands, Cauldron Cakes, and a number of other sweets. Everything was stacked in a colorful pile between him and Valerie. Colleen immediately grabbed two Cauldron Cakes, since they were her favorite; but she gave one to Valerie, who shyly took it and began unwrapping the packaging.

"Hungry are you?" Ron said.

"Starving," said Harry.

"Me too," Valerie chimed in.

Ron started to unwrap his sandwich and then let out a groan, "She always forgets I don't like corned beef."

Colleen giggled as she bit into her pastry.

"Swap you one for these," Harry said as he handed out one of the candies. "Go on–"

"You don't want this, it's all dry. She hasn't got much time, you know, with six of us."

Harry persisted, and Ron took it, tossing the sandwich aside. Despite growing up in a home where neither him nor Valerie were allowed hardly anything except a place to sleep, food, and hand-me-down clothing, Colleen could see the kindness in their hearts. She had a way of reading people just by watching them. If two people shook hands in greeting, Colleen could tell if they were close friends or meeting for the first time. Valerie was coming off as shy, but Colleen knew she wouldn't hurt a fly.

As Harry and Ron were busy with their conversation about Chocolate Frog and the trading cards they came with, Colleen took the opportunity to try to get to know Valerie more.

"So what House are you hoping to get?" she asked.

"I'm sorry?" the curly-haired girl replied with a confused look.

"House. Hogwarts has four of them: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Mum says we're sorted to be with others who might be our closest friends."

"What are you hoping you'll get?"

"I'm not sure yet."

"It'll be Gryffindor," Ron chimed in. "All of the Weasleys have been in Gryffindor for centuries."

"Ronald," Colleen rolled her eyes, "I might not. Only the Weasley bloodline has been in Gryffindor."

"But your last name is Weasley, is it not?" Harry asked.

"It is. You see–"

"Sorry," a round-faced, teary-eyed boy interrupted them, "but have you seen a toad at all?"

The quartet shook their heads.

"I've lost him!" the boy cried. He keeps getting away from me!"

"He'll turn up," Valerie reassured him.

"Yes. Well, if you see him…"

"Want me to help you?"

The boy turned red. "S-Sure."

Valerie stood from her seat and followed him out of the compartment.

"Don't know why he's so bothered," Ron shrugged.

"Ronald, be nice," Colleen snapped.

"Well, if I'd brought a toad I'd lose it as quick as I could. Mind you, I brought Scabbers, so I can't talk. You've actually got an owl, sis."

Colleen just scoffed.

"He might have died and you wouldn't know the difference," Ron continued. "I tried to turn him yellow yesterday to make him more interesting, but the spell didn't work. I'll show you, look…"

He pulled his, in this case Charlie's, very old wand out of his trunk. A little bit of white was poking out if the end.

"Unicorn hair's nearly poking out. Anyway–"

Just before he could chant the spell, a girl with bushy brown hair followed by Valerie and the round-faced boy entered the doorway.

"Has anyone seen a toad?" she asked, a bossy tone in her voice. "Neville's lost one."

"We've already told him we haven't seen it," Ron replied.

The girl didn't seem to hear him as she took the seat next to Colleen. "Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it, then."

Ron cleared his throat. "Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, Turn this stupid fat rat yellow."

Nothing happened. Scabbers stayed grey.

"Are you sure that's real spell?" the girl chuckled. "Well, it's not very good, is it?"

Colleen smacked her forehead in frustration. "I'm so sorry. He's one to fall for our brother's too easy."

Ron stuck his tongue out at her, and Colleen did the same.

"I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it'll all worked for me," the girl continued. "Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard – I've learned all our course books by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough – I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?"

Everything that had spilled out of her mouth came at such lightning speed that Colleen almost didn't catch what she said except for her name.

"I'm Colleen Weasley," she introduced herself as she shook hands with Hermione. "I see you've met Valerie Dursley, and the magician across there is my brother."

"Ron Weasley," he said.

"Harry Potter," said Harry.

"Are you really?" Hermione's eyes grew wide. "I know all about you, of course – I got a few extra books for background reading, and you're in Modern Magical Historyand The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century."

"Am I?"

"Goodness, didn't you know, I'd have found out everything I could if it was me. Do any of you know what House you'll be in? I've been asking around, and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best; I hear Dumbledore himself was in it, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad…Anyway, we'd better go and look for Neville's toad. You had better change, you know, I expect we'll be there soon."

She then left, Neville trailing behind her.

"Whatever House I'm in, I hope she's not in it," Ron said before chunking his wand back in his trunk. "Stupid spell – George gave it to me, but I knew it was a dud."

"Don't believe everything Fred and George tell you, Ronald," Colleen reminded him.

"You said that everyone in the Weasleys has been in Gryffindor," Harry said.

"Yes," said Ron. "I honestly don't know what they'll say if I'm not. I don't suppose Ravenclaw would be too bad, but imagine if they put me in Slytherin."

"That's the House Vol-, I mean, You-Know-Who was in?"

"Yeah."

Colleen then reached into her trunk and pulled out her robes. "I'm going to find a lavatory to change."

"Hurry back," Ron joked.

The strawberry-blonde girl exited the compartment and made her way down the hallway.