Parts of this are word for word from the first book which I own a copy of but nothing more in case you thought I did.
"What are your family like?" Harry watches in confusion as the boy frowns.
"I'm the last of six brothers to go to Hogwarts- my sister's going next year but it's not the same because she's a girl. I've got a lot to live up to. Bill and Charlie have already left- Bill was a 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 really funny. Everyone expects me to do as well as the others, but if I do, it's no big deal, because they did it first. You never get anything new, either, with five brothers. I've got Bill's old robes, Charlie's old wand and Percy's old rat." Ron seems to get progressively more upset through his speech. He pulls a fat grey rat out of his jacket, still asleep.
"His name's Scabbers and he's useless, he hardly ever wakes up. Percy got an owl from my dad for being made a Prefect, but they couldn't aff- I mean, I got Scabbers instead.' The boy's ears start going the same way as his hair and he closes his mouth to a thin line, seemingly worried.
Harry smiles at his new friend.
"Well it sounds like you'll have to find the thing you're good at. You don't have to follow what any of your brothers did- you're not the same person. Besides I'm sure you know tons more things than me." After all he'd been in the magical world his whole life, "I bet I'll be the worst in class." Or maybe average but Ron seems a little more upbeat when Harry finishes so he says nothing. The boy shakes his head.
"Nah- you'll be fine. There's loads of people who come from Muggle families and they learn quick enough." The outside world is nothing like Harry has ever seen, grass and hedges reaching out into the distance and dotted with sheep and cows.
Scabbers snores in the silence between them as they both think about their new school.
Around half past twelve there's a clattering from the corridor. The door slides open and a woman smiles at them.
"Anything off the trolley, dears?" Harry, eager to try new things, slid off his seat. Ron mutters something about having sandwiches.
"I'll get you something anyway." He steps out into the corridor before Ron can argue.
Cas had given him a good amount of money from his bank account and he should have something to bring back for everyone because they couldn't come themselves.
The trolley is piled with strange boxes with animated faces and packets with little starbursts dancing across the surface. Harry takes some of everything, paying the woman two gold coins and getting ten of the silver and seventeen of the bronze coins back.
Ron stares at him wide eyed as he pushes his way back into the compartment and tips it onto an empty seat.
"Hungry, are you?"
"Not very but my family will probably want to try some. Here-" Harry throws a pasty to the boy, "I'm not sure what it is but it looks good." The tips of the boy's ears go pink again.
"I can't-" Harry waves him off, carefully packing away the food he's saving for his family.
"I said I'd buy you something and we're friends right?" Ron smiles awkwardly,
"Yeah, we're friends." Harry opens his own pasty and takes a bite. The flavour is strange but he can't say he doesn't like it.
"What is this?" He manages somehow to make out the word 'pumpkin' around Ron's mouthful of food. He laughs and the boy's face turns red.
"What are you laughing at?"
"You remind me of one of my uncles." Ron relaxes a little.
"Oh. What are your family like?" Harry smiles.
"I have three uncles, Sam, Dean and Castiel. Sam and Dean are brothers and Castiel is their friend. They're really cool- they fight monsters to protect innocent people and they've saved my mom's and my two sister's lives a lot. Castiel was the one who helped me get away from my relatives. My mom puts bad people in prison and she's saved my uncles' lives too. When the monsters get into her town she knows how to get rid of them too. She's called Jody. My sisters are really different. One's called Claire and she wants to fight monsters too because they killed her parents- she teaches me when mom isn't watching. My other sister is called Alex and she's the opposite. Her family were bad people- Claire says they were the monsters we hunt- and she just wants to live a normal life." Harry stops himself before he mentions Rowena, remembering her warning about her curse. Ron looks impressed.
"Wow! So most of your family are like aurors?" Harry presumes they're the wizarding police so nods.
"Yeah, sort of- what's this?" He holds up a pack of Chocolate Frogs.
"They aren't really frogs, are they?" Ron laughs,
"No. Maybe at Beauxbatons- they're the French wizarding school. What's the card? I'm missing Agrippa." Harry stares at him and the boy blushes,
"Oh, of course, you wouldn't know- sorry- Chocolate Frogs have cards inside them, you know, to collect- Famous Witches and Wizards. I've got about five hundred, but I haven't got Agrippa or Ptolemy." Harry unwraps it and checks the card.
"Dumbledore." He looks older than what Harry would expect for a witch or wizard, especially after meeting Auntie Rowena who claims to be over three-hundred, "Do you want one?" Ron nods eagerly,
"Yeah! I might get Agrippa- thanks!" Harry turns the card over and reads. By the time he turns his card over again the man has disappeared. He holds it up for Ron to see.
"Are they meant to do that?" The boy looks at him oddly.
"Yeah- can't expect him to hang around all day. He'll be back though. I've got Morgana again. Do you want it? I have about six of her already and you could start collecting." His eyes stray to the pile of frogs waiting to be unwrapped.
"Help yourself- in the Muggle world people stay still in photographs." Ron seems gobsmacked.
"They don't move at all? Weird!" Dumbledore appears again, smiling up at Harry. Ron seems more interested in the chocolate than the cards but he supposes it's because the boy is used to them. He has to admit the chocolate is nicer than the chocolate flavoured candy his mom buys occasionally.
Harry adds Hengist of Woodcroft, Alberic Grunnion, Circe, Paracelsus and Merlin to his collection and opens a bag of Bertie Bott's Every- Flavour Beans.
"You want to be careful with those," Ron warns, "When they say every flavour, they mean every flavour- you know, you get all the ordinary ones like chocolate and peppermint and marmalade, but then you can get spinach and liver and tripe. George reckons he had a bogey-flavoured one once." The boy picks out a green bean, inspects it for a few seconds before carefully biting into the corner.
"Bleaargh- see? Sprouts." Harry adds another strike in the box labelled 'similarities between Ron and Uncle Dean'.