Chapter 3: Magic Carpet Ride
With the train underway, Harry and Hermione sat across from one another, nervous tension starting to seep into the compartment.
"So you said you like to read," Harry started, looking for something to start a conversation. "What's your favorite book?"
"Well that's tough to say. I really liked the BFG when I was growing up; the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe were fun- oh and the Lord of the Rings, I loved the Lord of the Rings. Recently, I've been getting into Mark Twain and Charles Dickens who I both find interesting. Then there's Mary Shelley And Jane Austen. It's nice have something written by women, you know…"
On she went talking all the stories and adventures she grew up, how her father would read to her when she was young and how they really bonded over literature.
"…then there's our course books which are simply fascinating. I was just reading through One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi. It's interesting to see how the plants work with different potions and the different reactions that come from them…"
Harry made a note to re-read that book. Of all his chores at HMP Dursley, his favorite by far was cooking and potions sounded like magical cooking. He continued to listen to her, smiling at her passion roiling off her.
"Oh listen to me, I've been speed talking for 10 minutes now. I talk when I'm nervous, I mean I talk like this when I'm nervous. I'm going to shut up now," Hermione's smile vanished and she seemed to fold inward.
"No, don't do that! This is my first real conversation with someone my age in a while, maybe ever."
"Yeah but we're not really talking. You're just listening to me ramble on about all the boring books I've read."*
"It's been nice to hear your passion and I can see why you love them so much. I just wish…"
"Wish what?"
Before Harry could respond, the door to the compartment opened and a sandy-haired boy looked in.
"Have either of you seen a- TREVOR!" The boy said as he spied the toad in Harry's hand. "Oh I thought I lost him. Thank you for finding him."
"It was no big deal. He tried to examine the bottom of Hermione's trunk and I thought that probably was not the best idea." Harry said, handing the toad over. "I'm Harry, by the way."
"Neville Longbottom," Neville said, offering the hand that was toad-free. "Nice to meet you, Harry and… Hermione, was it?"
"Hermione Granger," Hermione said as she shook his hand.
"Granger? Haven't heard that surname before. Muggleborn?" Neville asked.
"I prefer First-Generation Witch, myself. Muggleborn always seems so… condescending. Is that important?"
"It is to some. Some families think they're better than others because of it. They look down on anyone who isn't a pureblood but I know better. I'm a pureblood and everyone thinks I'm a squib- a non-magical child born to magical parents," Neville explained at their confused looks. "My mum's best friend was a mugg-First-Generation Witch and she was the best in the whole year. Well I should return to my compartment, let Hannah and Susan know I found Trevor. Thanks again for that, by the way."
"Take care, Neville," Harry said. "And don't worry about the Squid ("Squib," Neville corrected) business. You wouldn't be here if you didn't have magic."
Neville nodded and exited the compartment, a thoughtful expression on his face. As he left, Harry looked back at Hermione.
"What were you saying?"
"What?"
"You were saying 'I wish' but then you stopped when Neville came in. It seemed important."
Bollocks, I was hoping she wouldn't remember. No, I can't do this. Have to stay strong. Show no weakness. You'll only get hurt, Harry thought. Yeah but that's a hard way to make friends, a second voice offered. He looked into those amber eyes, took a deep breath and started.
"I just wish I had someone who read to me growing up. My parents died when I was a baby. I was sent to my relatives, my mum's sister and her husband. They're muggles and they hate magic, especially Petunia. They thought that, if they just tried hard enough, they could 'squash the magic out of me.' If I wanted to read anything, I'd have to be careful. Anything I did get my hands on, I had to smuggle to my cupb-room. My cousin, Dudley, isn't what you would call studious unless you count punching things but that's not really something you learn out of a book. And now I'm heading to a school where apparently I'm famous and my parents are war heroes/martyrs and everyone expects great things from me but I'm not anything special. I'm just Harry."
As Harry finished that statement, he ran his hands through his hair.
Almost said cupboard. Watch yourself, Potter, he grimaced.
"Holy cricket, you're Harry Potter!" Came the sudden reply. Harry's eyes shot to her, realizing only too late he pushed his bangs back, drawing attention to his forehead like a lightning rod. "You're in so many books! Some say you're off training, others that you're hiding but none of them mention you living with your muggle relatives."
"Muggle relatives!?" Came a new voice from the corridor. "The bloody Boy-Who-Lived, living with Muggles!?"
Harry looked up and caught a pale face with polished, aristocratic features in crisp suit, flanked by what he assumed were two trained gorillas.
"I'm Malfoy. Draco Malfoy," the boy drawled. "That's Crabbe, this is Goyle," he vaguely gestured to the primates behind him. Harry couldn't for the life of him tell who was who.
"You're going to learn quick, Potter, that there's Wizards and Wizards. You don't want to get caught up with the wrong sort" he cocked his head toward Hermione. "I can help you."
Malfoy pompously proffered his hand for Harry. Hermione flicked her eyes between the two boys, waiting for the shoe to drop. Now's where he leaves. Way to get your hopes up, Hermione.
Take care of her Mr. Potter, Richard's words from earlier echoed in Harry's ears. Harry stood, and shook the hand.
"Mr. Malfoy, thank you for such a stellar introduction." Making his voice saccharine sweet as possible. He brushed Draco to the side and turned to the boys, Rabbit and Boil, was it? "I'm sorry, I caught your names but I'm not sure who is who."
"Vincent Crabbe," the thicker of the two grunted and shook Harry's hand.
"Greg Goyle," the taller one said, shaking hands as well.
"Gentlemen, good to meet you. Hope we can get along at school." Harry turned his attention to a shocked Malfoy. "Now, Mr. Malfoy, I do remember you. We met back at Diagon. You didn't make a great impression then and you're not making one now. You walk with an air of nobility, but there is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.' Now I would suggest you apologize to my friend here and be on your merry way."
"You'd like that, wouldn't you, Potter," Draco spat. "The heir to the Malfoy legacy cow-towing to a mudblood. Not all of us are James Potter. Some of us know better than to sully our name with that sort."
Draco turned on his heel and stormed back into the corridor with Crabbe and Goyle following after a quick glance back at Harry, who inclined his head toward them in turn.
Harry sat back down and let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. Hermione sat there, petrified, wondering what happened. Did Harry just stand up for me? Wait, he said 'friend.' And where did he learn Hemmingway?
"I thought you didn't read much," Hermione asked with a smirk.
"You pick up a bit here and there," Harry responded. "I'm sorry about that and sorry about dumping all that on you. I don't know why… but I feel like I can trust you. This is a day for new experiences, I guess."
Harry looked toward the corridor that Malfoy just moved down.
"What a jerk. Didn't even properly introduce his friends, like they were his bodyguards or something. You said you brought a lot of books?" Hermione nodded. "Do you happen to have any about wizarding culture and society?
Hermione shook her head. "I didn't think about it but it makes sense. It's almost like its own country and each country has its own rules and customs. According to Hogwarts: A History, Hogwarts is supposed to have the best library in all Europe, maybe they'll have something in there."
"Good idea. There's bound to be more like him. It would be good to know what is expected of us," Harry said as he rubbed his face with his hands. As he did that, the tape that was holding his glasses like bubble gum on a rope bridge lost all cohesion. His glasses fell from his face in two perfect pieces before landing on the ground in hundreds of imperfect pieces.
"Well that's less than ideal."
"I got this," a blurry, bushy head said. He saw vague motion and heard a Latin phrase. Suddenly a hand was in front of his face, holding a perfect pair of black glasses. The lenses were intact, the bridge stronger than ever and they even looked cleaner too.
"Wow! Thanks, Hermione!" Harry exclaimed. "Wow, the lenses are better than they've every been! I can actually see you clearer!"
"Well, we couldn't have the 'Boy-Who-Lived,'" she air-quoted, "arriving in broken glasses now can we?"
"And the same goes for my friend Harry," she finished with a smile.
Harry smiled back. It's nice to have a friend.
A kind-looking witch popped her head in next.
"Anything from the candy trolley, dears?" She said
Harry shot to his feet, excited to finally get to try the treats Dudley so often ate, often times savoring his treats in front of Harry to torment him. He was confused when he didn't find any Reese's, Lemon Drops, Toblerone or Cadbury. No he was confronted with Chocolate Frogs, Licorice Wands and Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans. A tier below them sat packages of Pumpkin Pasties and Cauldron Cakes.
When in Rome, he thought and bought a little of everything with two bottles of Gillywater. He stepped back into the compartment, arms laden with his purchases.
"Anything for you?" the witch asked Hermione.
"No thank you," Hermione replied and the witch moved on.
"Would you like to share?" Harry asked.
"I'm not sure I should. My parents are dentists, remember?" Hermione looked conflicted. "I guess a little couldn't hurt..."
Carefully they worked their way through and soon found themselves surrounded by containers of the treats. Finally, they arrived at the beans.
"Wonder what they mean by any flavor?" Harry asked.
"I don't know, maybe it's a figure of speech? Here, have one," She held a yellow one out to him.
"What do I look like, a sap?" Harry asked
Hermione gave him a look that clearly said "yes." Harry relented and popped the bean into his mouth.
"Ugh! It actually IS sap!" Harry said as he spit the bean out to Hermione's general amusement. He grabbed a red one. "Alright, your turn."
"Hmm! Strawberry! Tasty!" Hermione said with glee. She held up a Brown with white spots.
"Uh uh, Granger. Not that easy. If you want me to eat that, you'll have to earn it."
As Harry finished, he opened his mouth. If he had paid more attention, he would have noted the mischievous look on his friend's face. Next thing Harry knew there was a bean sailing perfectly through the air into his open maw.
"Ha! Two points!" Hermione celebrated.
"Not bad. Mushroom, I think?" Harry said as he reached for a Chocolate Frog.
"I wouldn't have thought these were actual frogs but now I have trust issues," Harry considered aloud. "You first this time."
Harry untied the string, opened the box and saw a brief glimpse of brown before it tried to hop away. With cat-like quickness, Harry snatched the frog out of the air, holding it out for Hermione to grab.
"Wow, nice reflexes. If I didn't know better, I'd have thought you were a Jedi."
"Enough stalling. Is it a frog or is it chocolate?"
Hermione took a tentative bite of one of the legs.
"100 percent chocolate. Rich, tasty chocolate!"
"You have all the luck." Harry chuckled at first. Then Hermione laughed while trying not to choke on her chocolate and before long, uproarious laugher filled the compartment.
"Oh look it comes with a card," Hermione noticed. There was indeed a card at the bottom of the box. Harry grabbed the card and read aloud.
"Oh it's Albus Dumbledore!" He said as Hermione moved to sit beside him. "Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern times, Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the Dark Wizard Grindelwald in 1945, the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel."
He turned the card back over. "He's gone!"
"How can he be gone?"
"I'm new to this whole thing but my guess would be magic."
Hermione swatted him on the arm. "Guess I'd walk out of the frame too, if I could. Life as a portrait sounds rather banal."
"Imagine the Mona Lisa just deciding, 'screw you guys, I'm going home.'"
Hermione gigglesnorted before breaking down in side-splitting laughter, leaning up against Harry to keep from falling over.
That was the cutest sound I've ever heard, Harry thought as he joined her chorus of laughter. Wait? Cute? Where'd that come from?
With the tension well and truly broken, they soon fell into easy conversation about Hogwarts, its houses, which house they wanted to be in, what classes they were excited for and other easier topics.
Hermione glanced toward the window, only realizing how dark it was. "Oh we must be almost there. We best get changed into our robes."
"I'll wait outside and then we can switch."
"Protecting my honor, Mr. Potter? How gallant."
"Always, Miss Granger."
After both had changed into their black robes with matching black ties, the train started to slow as it entered Hogsmeade station.
"Onward?" Harry said.
"Second star to the right, and straight on till morning, Mr. Potter."
They exited the train, joining the other black-clad students heading toward the castle they would call home for the next seven years.
Next up: First look at the Castle and sorting
(A/N) Thank you for the notes on length. It has been a while since I wrote so I'm getting more comfortable writing longer chapters. Chapters are probably going to get longer as we get into the meat of the story. Comment if they're getting overly long
*This dialogue is heavily-inspired to the dialogue between Marie and Jason in the Bourne Identity. It just synced up so well, I had to leave it.
And yes, I did just make the Mona Lisa quote Eric Cartman.
There's going be few facets of Harry. There's going to be the more kind, sincere person he is to those he trusts, which is going to be very few people. To anyone he might perceive as a threat, he'll have what I call Sarcastic Harry, a creation out of years of abuse to distract anyone he might come across from getting too close. Then there's the third: Angry Harry. That's one most will rarely see. Enemies beware, ye who encounter him. Hermione is still going to have her bossy moments but with her already making a friend, some of that bossiness borne out of nervousness will not be as prevalent.