Meetings and Houses

Ron Weasley had been wandering the express since he had heard that the 'boy-who-lived', Harry Potter himself, was supposed to start this year, after vanishing from the wizarding world at birth.

The twins had been happy enough to cast a featherweight charm on his trunk when he promised not to bother them for the rest of the year.

He wasn't having much luck.

His parents had known the boys parents, at least in passing, so he knew what to expect.

They agreed that the books were likely to be right about Harry having black hair, green eyes, glasses and, given the reports from the night, a lightning bolt scar.

Knowing that Harry hadn't been seen since his disappearance he ignored the compartments with lots of people; they mostly came from people who knew each other beforehand, according to his parents.

He paused outside a compartment with a black haired boy reading a book.

When he brushed his hair out of the way and Ron saw that he didn't have glasses or a scar, unless they weird whisker marks were scars, he moved on.

Good thing that wasn't the boy-who-lived.

Harry would need him to help him learn about living in the wizarding world, but he didn't want to have to deal with a bookworm throughout his time at Hogwarts.

[|]

Harry looked at the young witch who was asking to join him in the compartment.

Her looks immediately screamed 'civilian' to him.

A lack of physical training, a couple of oversized teeth, brown hair, unfamiliar clothes that didn't look like they fit the 'wizarding world'.

It took just moments to complete his analysis of the appearance of this obvious 'muggleborn'.

"Sure," he told her, before going back to his book.

He wasn't entirely sure what sort of things civilians talked to each other about outside the hidden villages, so he was hardly going to start a conversation with her.

"Thank you, when I asked everyone else that had space they were often rather rude," she told him, dragging her trunk in. It took her a few minutes to get the trunk onto the rack, not once thinking to ask him for help.

With the trunk settled she sat opposite him, and promptly spoke again.

"What are you reading?"

"One of the course books. I was raised outside the country, so need a translation spell to understand them. The one I had when shopping wore off so..."

"A translation spell? I've heard they can be highly variable. Not that I've been able to track one down. Where did you grow up?"

It was already clear that the girl couldn't stand not knowing things.

"I'm not sure where exactly."

"One of the hidden communities then? Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce myself didn't I? Hermione Granger."

"Namikaze Harry. Sorry, Harry Namikaze. I keep forgetting you put your names the other way round."

"Somewhere from Asia then? I wonder why you were invited here?"

He could already tell this was going to be a very long journey.

[|]

It was a relief when a boy opened the door to ask if they'd seen his toad, his apparently missing familiar.

It was a perfect opportunity to get away from the overly talkative witch.

As soon as he assured the boy, Neville his name was, that the toad hadn't made his way into the compartment, he suggested that they search the train to help, heading opposite directions of course, to save time.

It was the perfect opportunity to get a break from the witch who had been questioning him almost non-stop since she came to his compartment, his only break being when a witch passed by selling snacks off a trolley. She had been as surprised at the variety of foods available and they had an unspoken truce to try a sample of all of them.

If she was a representative of what he could expect from this country, even this first year could be enough to drive him out of his mind.

Sending Neville back the way he came in case the toad had headed the opposite way upon first escaping, he made a quick check of each compartment in the opposite direction. Hermione was left in the compartment to watch over their trunks.

His time in the academy had taught him about how to find missing animals, which he had wondered about at the time, but was thankful for now. It was only once he was out of the compartment he remembered that the translation charm was unreliable as to who it translated, so he wasn't able to ask everyone if they had seen the toad.

There was no sign of the toad until he caught up with the trolley witch, who was now on her way back from selling snacks to everyone who wanted some.

"Here for more dear?"

"Someone lost their familiar."

"Ah, there's always one. Tell him not to worry, there are house elfs to take any missing familiars or unattended luggage straight to the castle before there can be any incidents. Are you sure I can't get you anything?"

"I'm fine, thank you."

He would have to ask Neville about these 'house elves' when he got back. He would ask Hermione, but chances were she'd just use it to start another round of endless questions he had no answers for.

At least if he waited for Neville one of them would have the answers.

[|]

Hermione hadn't precisely been happy about his telling her that he hadn't found the toad but knew where it was, without letting her know where or how he knew.

Fortunately his refusal to explain had led to her stopping questioning him about everything and anything to instead glare at him.

Given the times he'd had Hyuga glare at him, and they were experts at the art, no civilians glare could affect him.

After a peaceful wait Neville returned from his search down the other end of the train.

For some reason he had chosen the longest length of the train to start searching, so heading back left him with less space to cover.

"Did you find him?"

"Not exactly. I know where he is. Apparently there are house elves who take missing familiars to the castle."

Neville was clearly relieved. "He should be safe then. I was so worried..."

"What's a house elf?"

Neville had a shocked expression. "You don't know about house elves?"

"To be honest I was hoping you could tell us," Harry admitted. "I mean, neither of us exactly grew up surrounded by magic."

"I suppose... it's just I've always had some around so I've never met anyone who didn't know about them. Basically they are creatures bound to a magical household. The magic of the household grants them an extended lifespan and unique abilities in exchange for serving the family. It isn't entirely clear if an unbound elf has the same magical abilities as when they have a household to serve, nobody has ever been interested enough to study them properly..."

"It sounds like slavery!"

Hermione was clearly unhappy about what she was hearing.

"Do they get any money for their work?"

Neville looked confused. "They don't need money. Their household provides them everything they need."

"That's just about the definition of slavery! Can they at least find another household to serve?"

"A more important question would be how much their life is extended. If you don't need to spend any money, what would you rather work for, money or lifespan?"

It was clear that Hermione wasn't happy about his question.

"That doesn't mean their household should get away without paying them anything!"

"Actually, most households leave their house elves in charge of their money, they have a better grasp of the conversion rates between galleons and knuts."

"You mean they leave their money in the hands of those they oppress?"

Neville was starting to get annoyed. "Most house elves are perfectly happy. Try finding one and asking them if they like their lives. It's only the worst sorts of wizards that upset their house elves, and at that point they are likely to be freed accidentally and find a new household soon enough."

"How can they be freed accidentally?"

"If a house elf receives clothes it frees them, unless they decide otherwise. And who do you think does the laundry?"

"You mean house elves can leave whenever they want?"

"I guess..."

It was clear that Neville had never thought about this, much like the rest of the wizarding world if Harrys guess was right.

"You need to know what you're talking about before coming to conclusions," Harry told Hermione, before turning back to Neville. "How do you know so much about house elves?"

"I'm a pureblood, from an old family. My family... weren't around much growing up so it was left to the house elves."

Harry frowned at the hesitation. There was a story there, and from how much Neville was reminding him of Hinata (the lack of confidence, old family...) he was already classifying him as a friend. And any problem a friend faced was his problem as well.

He made sure to ask Neville about the wizarding world, sticking to topics he would know.

It should help his confidence, and as long as he asked about things Hermione was interested in she didn't interrupt. It was a much more interesting leg of the journey than before they met Neville.

At least until a blond kid interrupted by barging in on them without warning.

"I heard that Harry Potter is on this train."

Harry frowned. He knew he'd heard that family name before. "Isn't it considered rude to ask for someone elses name without giving your own?"

The kid seemed to puff himself up out of some kind of self-importance.

"I am Draco Malfoy. These," he indicated the thuggish looking civilians behind him, "are Crabbe and Goyle."

"My name is Harry," he responded, deliberately missing out his other name to find out what this 'Draco' wanted.

"You'll soon find out some families are better than others," Draco told him, casting a certain look at Neville. "I can help you."

"For example?"

The question drew him shocked looks from Neville and Hermione, but he ignored them.

Draco looked inordinately pleased by his question. "The Longbottoms have long been notable, but are currently fading into obscurity, no need to bother with them. The Weasleys are nothing but trouble. You'd do better to spend your time with the Parkinsons, Notts and us."

Harry nodded. "Avoid Parkinsons and Notts and spend time with Weasleys and Neville."

Draco looked furious. "That isn't what I said."

Harry shrugged. "Yeah, but I don't like your attitude. I certainly don't trust you."

"You haven't heard the last of me, Potter."

"Namikaze actually. Just because I said my name was Harry did't mean I was the same Harry you were asking about."

With a final glare Draco stormed out of the compartment, slamming the door behind him.

When he was sure Draco wasn't listening he turned to Neville. "What was his problem?"

"The Malfoys have been in Slytherin for generations, and everyone knows that his father was one of the top supporters of You-Know-Who."

Harry frowned. "Slytherin? And who do you mean, You-Know-Who?"

"One of the houses at Hogwarts. The house for cunning and ambition. As for You-Know-Who... the dark lord? He Who Must Not Be Named? He placed a Taboo on the name he used."

"A Taboo?" It was Hermiones turn to ask a question.

"It mean that if you spoke his name, his followers would be alerted and all but the absolute strongest wards would be broken, allowing them to launch an attack on whoever dared to use his name. We lost most of the better fighters and multiple ministers before anyone realised."

Harry frowned. "How exactly did he manage to cast a Taboo like that?"

"Everyone knows it's because he's the heir of Slytherin. He must have inherited a book on the magic from his ancestors. He used it to seek immortality."

"You keep mentioning Slytherin as though it was more than just a house..."

"The houses were named after the founders," Hermione told him, clearly surprised he didn't already know. "Salazar Slytherin, Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff and Godric Gryffindor for Slytherin, house of cunning and ambition, Ravenclaw, house of knowledge and skill, Hufflepuff, house of loyalty and hard work, and Gryffindor, house of bravery."

Harry frowned. "And you're saying it was Slytherins who followed this 'dark lord'? When if he'd won they'd have left themselves with an immortal in charge of them so they limited their potential future power to what he permitted? The house of ambition?"

They hesitated. "I think their goals were the same as his, so they didn't really care about the power, or thought he'd share his power with them."

Harry shrugged. "Sounds like they should have been in Gryffindor, much like Draco."

"What do you mean, Malfoy should be in Gryffindor," Hermione asked in disgust. "I was hoping to be in Gryffindor, like Dumbledore."

"He charged straight in with no type of plan of what to do. And you're clearly a Ravenclaw, asking questions all the time. Neville, I'd say you would be a Hufflepuff, when you realised your toad was missing you put in the effort to track him down manually, rather than finding someone to help or discovering he would have been taken to the school already."

"If you think so," Neville replied, strangely downcast. "But what about you?"

"Slytherin. I like to think of myself as being at least somewhat cunning, and my dream is definitely ambitious."

The other two, particularly Neville, drew away from him.

"What?"

"Slytherin is considered... dark. It is said that no wizard ever went dark who wasn't from Slytherin. I mean, I remember reading about some who weren't, but..."

"Ambition and cunning aren't inherently evil. It's like looking down on people for working hard, putting the effort in. If anything, it's Gryffindor people should worry about. A house of people who jump in without thinking about it is likely to cause more problems than any dark lord. In any case, if people like Malfoy," he must have gotten mixed up between personal and family name earlier, "end up in Slytherin we clearly aren't just sorted based upon our personality."

It was only reluctantly that Neville got into the discussion as to what the houses actually meant, which was pretty much nothing in Harrys mind.

Hermione was much more involved, expressing an interest in Gryffindor due to her minor hero worship of Dumbledore for his role fighting Grindlewald when he tried to conquer the world, and his discoveries in various fields of magic.

It seemed she felt that being sorted into Ravenclaw would mean she would be stuck in a research role while Gryffindor would mean freedom.

The only break they had in the discussion, which covered notable witches and wizards from each house, was when the prefects came by to remind everyone to change into their uniform and they took turns using the compartment.

It felt like no time at all before they reached the school.

AN: It is remarkable how much about the last couple of chapters fit together without planning. I had forgotten about needing the translation spell, but it made the perfect excuse for Ron to ignore him and set the stage for a friendship with Hermione. Although when I realised about the translation spell I had intended to have Hermione translating for Harry and Neville (by repeating what they said) to draw them together, but it didn't work quite as well as I'd thought.

As for replacing Ron with Neville. It was clear why the trio would be pureblood, halfblood and muggleborn, but Ron didn't act as source of knowledge as to the wizarding world that the pureblood should. Further, the only major skill he was shown as having was with chess, which was only important in the first book, while Nevilles herbology would have come up multiple times.

Finally, why it really should have been Neville in canon, the romances. The trio is two male one female, so two of them were always going to end up together while the other would end up with the closest female to the group. With that being Ginny, it immediately cut the secondary male of the trio from the secondary character romance, meaning the protagonist would end up with a character who the movies wouldn't have time to show the character development of, not to mention who would appear as 'runner up prize' compared to the other member of the trio. If Neville and Ron had their roles swapped, Harry could have happily been paired with Hermione, who would always have her potential for character development present, while Neville would have been able to end up with Ginny, whose character development, while present in the books, would still be missing from the films, but without causing such an issue with fans.

Of course, I won't be doing the romances like that, so it is entirely a lesser reason for trading Neville in.