The train was pretty well full and after looking at his watch he expected them to pull out of the station any second.

Sure enough, he heard the train whistle and felt the compartment begin to shake. Just as they started moving a tall red headed boy all but dove onto the train, clearly out of breath from running.

A few of the other occupants laughed and the boy got up, blushing a bit from embarrassment. He made his way over to an empty seat behind Harry.

"You all right?" Harry asked as the boy settled in.

"I'm good. Overslept a bit and my brothers decided to spellotape my shoes to the ceiling."

Harry looked down to see said shoes covered in a clear tape. He could see bits of dirt and some rocks stuck to the underside of the tape.

"I bet your house is hectic if that's how your family starts the first day of the school year."

"You have no idea. I have five older brothers and one younger sister. It's a madhouse."

Harry's eyes widened. He knew some families were big but seven kids was insane.

"I don't even know how to respond to that. That's one big family."

"That's how us Weasley's do it. I'm Ron, by the way," he said, reaching out to shake Harry's hand.

"I'm Harry, nice to meet you."

"Are you a muggleborn?" Ron asked, leaning back into his seat. "I haven't seen you around before."

Harry hesitated, not sure how to proceed. Everyone he'd met in this world had acted differently when he said who he really was.

I'm going to be in class with him for the next five years at least. He sighed. Might as well get it over with.

"Well, my parents were both magical but were killed when I was a baby."

Like he had guessed, Ron's eyes widened in recognition and flicked up to his scar.

"Bloody hell, you're Harry Potter!"

Harry just nodded, "That's me."

Ron seemed to snap out of whatever daze he was in and immediately apologized.

"Sorry mate, I just got a little star struck there for a minute."

He was about to continue when a girl with bushy hair approached. She was already in her Hogwarts robes.

"Have either of you seen a toad hopping around? Neville can't find him."

They both shrugged before Harry responded.

"No, has he tried magically locating him? I think we can use magic on the train. At least, that guy over there has been making his books float in front of him since we left."

Harry nodded at the guy to point him out. He was leaning back in his seat with his arms crossed and a book floating in front of him. As Ron and the girl looked over the guy flicked his wand and the page turned.

The girl turned back around, eyes widening in excitement.

"I didn't think of that! This will be my first bit of magic."

She took out her wand and was about to do something with it when she froze, a confused look on her face. She then walked over to the nervous boy who was on the other side of the cart apparently looking for the toad as well.

That must be Neville, Harry thought.

She grabbed him by the elbow and steered him over to where Ron and Harry were sitting.

Ron leaned forward, "This one seems a little excitable, eh?"

Harry chuckled as the girl and the new boy approached.

"-find Trevor using magic!"

She was still excited and pulled out her wand again. The nervous boy spoke up.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing? I don't want to accidentally hurt Trevor."

"No, I found a spell that will make animals approach you and seeing as he's the only toad on the train he should make his way towards us shortly."

Neville nodded before stepping back, accidentally bumping an old lady who was pushing a treat trolley. At this point, Harry and Ron were rather curious to see what the girl would do.

She stood up straight and drew her wand. With a flourish she spoke.

"Accedere bufo."

For a moment nothing happened. The girl looked disappointed and lowered her wand.

"It's okay, Hermione," Neville said. "We'll just keep looking. Thanks for trying tho-"

"Eep!"

They all looked over at two girls in the corner, one of whom was standing up and backing away from the other who had picked her feet off the ground and was squatting on the seat pointing at the ground.

They're twins, Harry thought absentmindedly.

They finally saw why the girls had jumped when a fat green toad hopped out from under their seats and made its way towards Hermione who was now beaming.

"Trevor!" Neville exclaimed, rushing over to the toad.

Hermione turned back to Harry and Ron, clearly excited. She was clutching her wand to her chest and smiling so intensely Harry couldn't help but feel happy for her. Ron seemed to react the same way.

Harry was about to congratulate the girl when the treat trolley seemed to jump.

"Oh my goodness," the trolley lady said, unsure of what was happening.

At this point, everyone in the train could see the commotion and many of them gasped when the trolley door burst open, spilling dozens of brown frogs, all hopping maddly at Hermione.

She squealed and tried to climb over Harry to the empty seat next to him, nearly taking them both down. Ron was laughing so hard it looked like he had trouble breathing. If Harry and Hermione weren't so busy they would have noticed the rest of the cart laughing as well.

A calm voice rang out among the laughter. "Immobulus!"

The frogs froze leaving Harry all but tackled by Hermione. She looked around, her panic subsiding, replaced with embarrassment. She blushed and climbed into the empty seat next to Harry leaving him disheveled and his glasses hanging from one ear.

She mumbled an apology while he straightened out his clothes and glasses. He let out a short laugh.

"Don't worry about it," he said, smiling at her. "I'd have jumped too if I was being attacked by a hundred frogs."

She gave him a half smile, still clearly embarrassed. He turned back to the frogs on the ground before looking at the trolley lady. She seemed more flustered than Hermione did. The good looking guy was helping her up."

"Are you alright ma'am?"

"Oh, I'm fine dearie, just a little shook up is all."

He helped her stand. "Here, let's get these frogs cleaned up."

"Oh, they're out of their boxes. I can't sell them now."

The trolley lady looked a bit upset about it.

"How much are they?" Harry asked, digging around in his bag for his coin purse.

"One sickle and 14 knuts."

Harry did the math in his head, and pulled out the amount needed plus two galleons and handed them to her.

"There, no harm done."

He stood, looking around the train compartment before speaking.

"Anyone want a slightly used chocolate frog?"

A few people chuckled and approached him, taking a frozen frog and saying thanks.

The trolley lady thanked him profusely and cleaned out all the empty boxes from the trolley.

"Mind if I look at the cards?" Ron asked, eyeing the stack of boxes.

"Go for it," Harry said.

"That was a nice thing you did."

Harry looked up and noticed the good looking guy standing there.

I've got to stop thinking of him as the 'good looking guy'.

"My name is Blaise. Blaise Zabini."

Well, there you go.

"Harry," he replied, shaking his hand.

"Potter right? I noticed your scar earlier."

Harry frowned, not exactly thrilled that his "fame" was that noticeable.

"Yeah," he said, not really wanting to continue the conversation.

"Sorry, I know what it's like for people to jump to conclusions about you. Anyways, I just wanted to say that it was a nice thing and thanks for the chocolate."

Harry nodded, "No problem."

Blaise looked at Hermione who seemed to be burrowing into the space between the seat and the window.

"Next time be more specific in your incantation, that way the spell is not so broad. Good first try though, especially for a muggleborn."

Hermione nodded, still embarrassed but had a somewhat thoughtful look on her face.

Blaise nodded and thanked Harry for the chocolate again and then made his way back to his seat. Ron was still going through the cards in the boxes.

Harry turned back to Hermione.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, just a little embarrassed. That was my first attempt at magic and it went so wrong."

"That's not the way I see it," Harry replied.

"What do you mean?"

Harry thought for a second before responding.

"The magic did what you wanted it to do just with some unintended side effects. The way I see it is you just need to learn how to focus the magic to a more specific goal."

"I guess," she said, not totally convinced.

"Look at it this way. You cast a spell on the first day and it worked. Now, you get the next few years to perfect it."

At this, Hermione brightened a bit before sitting up straighter.

"You're right. I just need to study and practice. I'll get there."

Harry smiled and nodded.

"I'm Harry, by the way."

Her eyes flicked to his scar but she quickly pushed past it.

"I'm Hermione, it's nice to meet you Harry."

"You too, would you like a chocolate frog or are you too traumatized?"

She laughed and nodded.

"Thank you, I'd like to take a big bite out of their heads for scaring me like that."

For the next few hours while the train was making its way to Hogsmeade, Harry, Ron, and Hermione talked. Harry and Ron couldn't help but get caught up in Hermione's excitement about the school. Eventually, Ron started telling them about growing up in a magical family.

Ron had just finished a story about his older brother Charlie becoming a dragon handler when Hermione said they probably needed to get changed into their robes. Twenty minutes later and everyone on the train was dressed as they pulled into Hogsmeade station.

The nervousness seemed to spread as everyone quieted and stepped off the train. Each one wondering what this next chapter of their lives would bring.