Harry and Hermione were seated in an empty compartment, they both arrived 3 hours early so they had the entire train for themselves. They still took the last compartment, though.

"No way! You actually said that!" Harry exclaimed. They've been talking for a while and Hermione was telling him how she finally stood up to her three years in a row bully.

"Yeah! You should've seen her face! It was like someone dropped ice down the back of her shirt!" They laughed at that, then descended into a comfortable silence. That is, until Harry realized something important.

"Hey! We've been talking for a while, now, and yet we don't know each other's name."

"Yeah, that's right. Haven't noticed that." She looked deep in thought. How exactly did they forget about that? 'Doesn't it matter, now, does it?' "Well, my name in Hermione Granger."

"I'm Harry Potter."

"Harry Potter?" Her eyes went wide. "The Harry Potter?" He nodded, confused. "I've read about you!"

"Pardon?"

"You are in history books! I remember reading about you in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century!"

She read about him in books?

"Ooooooookaaay…?"

"Well, it's really amazing. How you banished the Dark Lord and saved the Magical World, I mean." She said. She was expecting many things from him at the moment: pride, smugness, arrogance, but she never in a million years thought she'd see hurt.

'Of course she's likes the fame. No one wants to be my friend.' He thought somewhat dejectedly. "It's not." He told her.

"What?"

"It's not amazing. I don't even remember what I DID!" His frustration was building up. He didn't want to yell at his so called first friend, but he couldn't stop now. The door was opened and everything was spilling out. "FROM THE SECOND I LEARNED THAT I'M A WIZARD, EVERYONE'S BEEN HARRY POTTER THIS AND HARRY POTTER THAT! I DON'T ENEN KNOW WHY PEOPLE ARE SO HAPPY! I DIDN'T ONLY KILL VOLDEMORT THAT NIGHT! I-I also… L-L-Lost my… p-p-parents." He sobbed out at the end. And before he even knew it, he was wrapped in her arms and crying openly on her shoulder.

Harry didn't cry often, he didn't want anyone to think he was weak. But he couldn't help but trust this girl. A girl who's caring for him. A girl who's holding him so tight he thought he'd break. A girl who's whispering soothing words to him like "Shhh," and "It's going to be okay." A girl who he felt safe in her arms.

"I'm sorry." A sniff. "I wet your shirt." He said, gesturing to her now soaked white T-shirt.

"It's okay, really." He waved off his apology, then she pulled out her wand from her backpack that was sitting on the floor, and waved it on the wet spot while muttering an incantation. Her shirt became completely dry in an instant.

"Wow! How did you do that?"

"It's just a simple drying charm."

"Can you teach me?" He gave her his best puppy dog eyes he could make, trying to get her to agree. Once she nodded he scrambled to his trunk and pulled out his wand.

"Alright, like I said, it's fairly simple. All you have to do is wave you wand like that and say…" And she began to teach him the spell, and when he perfected that they moved on to other spells, like match to needles, Lumos, Oculus Reparo (which she used to fix Harry's glasses), and Alohamora.

They didn't know how long they were sitting there, learning spells. They didn't notice that they were sitting together, practically pressing against each other.

They didn't realize that they've been holding hands as soon as Harry pulled out his wand.

Before they knew it the platform was filling with people (some already wearing school robes, while others are wearing some poorly convincing Muggle clothes), and they began to fill the train. Seeing as some people are already in their robes, Harry and Hermione agreed to change into their school wear. Harry was going to change in the compartment while Hermione went to the girl's loo.

Five minutes later (after Harry was finally changed and was waiting for Hermione), the compartment door opened and a mass of red hair came into view.

"Excuse me, can I sit here? Everywhere else is full." When he Harry agreed, he put away his trunk, and joined him.

"Hi, I'm Ron Weasley."

"Harry Potter."

"Wow! You're The-Boy-Who-Lived!" Either Ron was blind or completely dumb, because he didn't notice the look of utter annoyance on his companion's face. "Do you…. " Then he leaned in and whispered with a really low voice that Harry barely heard him, "Do you have The Scar?"

With a huff and an annoyed look (which Ron was still oblivious to), he moved his black locked out of the way to show him his forehead. "Wow." Said Ron. "Must be cool to be so famous, isn't it?" Harry had no idea how that happened but the one sided conversation shifted from him to Ron, to his brothers, to Quiditch. And Harry stayed silent the hole time for the sake of his mental health.

'Man, Hermione was way easier to talk to.' Harry though. 'Where is she anyway?'

After five, long, agonizing minutes, the lunch lady came and asked them "Anything for the road, dears?"

"No thanks, I brought my own lunch with me." Answered Ron, holding up some sandwiches.

But Harry didn't think that Hermione had any with her, and he's pretty sure that he didn't either, so he took out some Galleons from his pocket, looked at the lunch lady and said "We'll take the hole stuff!"

Once he brought in the candy, Ron immediately helped himself to a few Cauldron Cakes, while Harry looked at him strangely. 'Doesn't he have any manners? I didn't even buy the stuff for him!' Harry put the food in paper bags and stored them beside his trunk for him and Hermione to eat latter.

"My brothers, Fred and George, tought me a spell about a week ago. Wanna see?" Asked Ron.

"Yeah, sure." Answered Harry, who was hoping that letting him do the spell would make him shut up.

Ron too out his wand pointed it at his pet rat Scabbers who was sleeping.

Just then, to Harry's ultimate relief, the door opened and Hermione came in. "Sorry I took so long, Harry! I was helping a boy named Neville find his toad." She took a seat besides him (her fingers unconsciously interlaced with his again. Not that either of them noticed. Or minded), and, after he nodded at her, turned to Ron who still had his wand raised. "Oh! We're you going to cast a spell? Well, go on then. Let's see it."

Ron looked slightly annoyed at being interrupted (Serves him right.' Thought Harry) but carried on with the spell.

Well, Tried to, anywayHe was interrupted, yet again, by the door swinging open.

Three boys entered, and Harry recognized the middle one at once: It was the pale boy from Madam Malkin's robe shop. He was looking at Harry with a lot more interest than he'd shown back in Diagon Alley.

"Is it true?" he said. "They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, isn't it?"

"Yes," said Harry. He was looking at the other boys. Both of them were thickset and looked extremely mean. Standing on either side of the pale boy, they looked like bodyguards.

"Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle," said the pale boy carelessly, noticing where Harry was looking. "And my name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."

Ron gave a slight cough, which might have been hiding a snigger. Draco Malfoy looked at him.

"Think my name's funny, don't you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford."

He turned back to Harry. "You'll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there."

He held out his hand to shake Harry's, but Harry didn't take it.

"I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks," he said coolly.

Credit to Draco Malfoy, didn't go red, but a pink tinge still appeared in his pale cheeks, though.

"I'd be careful if I were you, Potter," he said slowly. "Unless you're a bit politer you'll go the same way as your parents. They didn't know what was good for them, either."

"I think it's time for you to go, Malfoy." Said Hermione, who was silent the whole time, and gave her meanest glare she could master. Which pretty much had the ferrit running away with the classic "This isn't over"

Ron, who now is glade to have the spotlight back on him again, cleared his throat and proceeded with the spell.

"Sunshine daisies,

Butter mellow.

Turn this stupid

Fat rat yellow!"

The spell was as stupid as it sounded because the sleeping rat didn't even twich.

Hermione looked strangly at the red head and said "That can't be a real spell. Spells don't sound like that."

Then with her free hand, she took her wand, pointed it at a cracked part of the window, and said "Reparo!" and the glass was fixed in a blink of an eye. When she turned back to the angry looking red head she said "We're going to arrive soon, so I suggest you get into your school robes."

Ron was stomp ing out of the compartment and Harry swore that he heard the other boy say "Bloody show off" right before the door slid closed.

'Well. I better be careful around that red head." He thought, tightening his fingers around Hermione.

Much to Hermione's delight.