Chapter Six – Hogwarts Express

"Yes! I beat you," Harry called behind him as he slowed his cart down. He was followed by Ron with his cart and the rest of the Weasley family minus Percy.

"Lucky bastard!" Ron said. "Anyway, you had a head start."

"Oh well," Harry said with a chuckle and pushed his cart between the big gap between platforms 9 and 10.

"Hey! I want to go first," Ron said and chuckled. At that, Harry ran at the barrier and went right through to Platform 9 ¾. Ron made a half-smile. Harry and him had always been friends. Even in the bad times, he and Harry had always made it through. Sometimes he questioned the way he did it, but they always made it.

Then there was Hermione. He almost always questioned what Hermione did. In his mind she was as mad as a hatter, and as smart as a Hogwarts graduate. But somehow, she always got with him and Harry. And in some respects, he wouldn't mind asking her out. But to him, she practically was a maze that never ends. He shook his head for a moment, noticing that he had been staring into space for a few seconds. He waved goodbye to everyone, took a deep breath and ran for the barrier, passing through to the platform and almost into a person standing in the way.

"Watch where you're going, Weasley," Draco Malfoy said in a drawling voice. "You wouldn't want to get in a fight with me."

"In fact, I think I might…"

"Lay off, Malfoy," said Hermione from behind Malfoy. He turned around and glared at her.

"Looks like you need that Mudblood of a friend of yours to fight your battles, Weasley. How droll." Malfoy snickered as he walked away towards the train. Ron glared as he left, then looked over to Hermione.

"You didn't have to do that," Ron said and went off towards the train, as Draco had done. Hermione sighed and went after him.

*****

Damien came back over to the platforms, hoping that someone would know how to get onto the platform or he would miss his train as two red-haired boys ran towards a barrier in the middle of platforms 9 and 10. Damien closed his eyes, fearing the loud crash. When nothing happened he opened his eyes to see that they had vanished. When he saw a woman smiling at the barrier they had run at, he went over to her.

"Excuse me, ma'am," he said tapping her on her shoulder. She turned to him with a smile still on her face. "This may sound like a crazy question but…do you know how to get to Platform 9 ¾?" To his surprise, she smiled at him.

"Of course dear, you can go after my daughter, Ginny," she said, gesturing to the little girl beside her. Ginny smiled and took a deep breath. She then took off towards the barrier between platforms 9 and 10. What a crazy thing to do. Why crash into a barrier to get to a platform? Suddenly, she got to the barrier and went right through. Damien had to do a double take before he believed it.

"Did she just…?" Damien asked.

"Now, just run right through the barrier," the woman said. Through? Did she say through the barrier? "Don't look back and don't be scared or you'll run right into it. Best do it at a run." Was this woman crazy or what? Run into a wall like you don't care? Damien smiled weakly at her and positioned himself in front of the barrier. He took a large deep breath and started towards the barrier. He got faster as he got closer. He ran faster as the barrier came up. He almost found himself being scared before he hit the barrier. But it never came.

Suddenly, Damien found himself on a platform like no other. There were many people around getting on the train and telling their parents goodbye. He saw a sign saying "Platform 9 ¾" near a wall. He was so amazed at the station and big red steam engine train that he didn't realize that he was still moving. Suddenly…CRASH!!

He flew into the air a little ways and landed right next to his fallen cart. When he got up, he noticed he had slammed into someone else's cart as they had been talking to, what looked like, his grandmother.

"Oh, sorry, sorry, sorry," Damien started saying, as he got up.

"Neville, I thought I told you to keep your cart out of the way of others," his grandmother scolded him. Neville sulked down, taking the abuse.

"I'm sorry, ma'am," Damien interrupted, "But it was all my fault. I was going too fast with my cart. It's not his fault." She looked at Damien for a moment, then at Neville, who seemed to be shaking uncontrollably.

"Well, thank you for your honesty," the woman said. "I guess I shouldn't have yelled at you, Neville." With that she pecked him on the cheek and started to leave.

"Sorry about that."

"It's okay, I'm used to it by now," Neville said, starting to pick up his things and put them back on his cart. Damien started to do the same.

"I'm Damien Finch," he said, extending a palm. Neville took it and shook it.

"Neville Longbottom." Damien smiled at him. "Hey, are you a yank?"

"A what?"

"Sorry. American. A transfer student." Damien nodded. Neville smiled. "I thought I had never seen you at Hogwarts before. Have you been sorted already?" Damien gave him a weird look and shook his head.

"Sorted? What do you mean 'sorted'?" Neville got up and pushed his cart over to a person that took it to the cargo compartment. Damien did the same and followed Neville onto the train, while he explained the sorting and the houses.

"I'm in Gryffindor," Neville ended, "They say it's the best house at Hogwarts."

"Sounds like a great thing they got," Damien said, sitting down next to Neville in the compartment.

"Yeah, but I don't know why I was picked for Gryffindor, though," Neville mummered. Damien looked shocked.

"Why? You seem like nice enough a person."

"Well, I do show some things that make me think I belong but…but I just think I'm too cowardly and bumbling to be in Gryffindor." Damien widened his eyes. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Don't think like that, Neville," Damien said. He thought for a moment then remembered something. "You're only as good as you think you can be. Don't forget that. If you think you can be brave, then you can be brave." Neville smiled at him.

"Thanks," Neville said, "I think I'm gonna like having you at Hogwarts." Damien chuckled and patted Neville on the back. Neville didn't seem that bad. He just needed a spark to catch flame, that's all.

*****

Harry sat back in his seat and yawned as the train started up. He didn't feel as if he had gotten enough sleep last night. It had also been egging him all summer about Cedric's death. And it was all his fault. Or so he thought. He kept thinking there was something he could have done, but the more he thought about it, the more he felt guilty. Ron seemed to notice his bad mood.

"All right there, Harry?" Ron asked patting him on the back.

"Yeah," Harry lied and smiled weakly.

"You don't look so good," Hermione said, looking over the brim of the book she was reading, A Guide to Transfiguration, Grade 5.

"Do you have to read all the time?" Ron asked sarcastically. Hermione glared at him at went back to reading her book. There was something about them that Harry just couldn't put his finger on. All of them had been friends for as long as they had been in school, but they had always fought. He was most times in the middle of it all. Sometimes he wondered if they had a feeling inside wanting to snog each other passionately. Then he snickered audibly. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing, Ron, just nothing," Harry said and stopped laughing. The snack trolley came through and the woman looked straight at Harry.

"Oh, Mr. Potter, what would you like today?" she asked in a sweet tone. Harry smiled at her.

"Just the usual," Harry said cheerily. Harry took out his small bag of money and took out about 15 galleons. She took the money and unloaded most of the candy from the cart. She smiled one more time and moved along. "She a sweet lady." Ron immediately reached over and picked up a chocolate frog. He opened it and the frog tried to jump away, but he took it and bit his head off. Suddenly, he looked at the card he got and dropped the headless frog.

"Agrippa!!" he shouted triumphantly and the old witch in the card smiled at him.

*****

"Yes!" Damien cried triumphantly. He had just gotten the one Famous Wizards and Witches card that he was looking for: Agrippa. He had been looking for it for months now. It didn't complete his collection but he still got it finally. Neville chuckled beside him.

"Find a card you were looking for?" Neville asked. Damien nodded and put the card in his pocket.

"But you're pretty cool, Neville," Damien said. Neville widened his eyes.

"Cool? Me?" Neville asked.

"Of course, you aren't," said an unwelcome voice. Damien turned to see a pale boy with silvery hair and grey eyes staring over at them. Behind him were two large musclebound, yet fat kids. Damien could tell they were practically his "henchmen".

"And who are you to say who's cool?" Damien asked him, getting up from his seat. Draco looked him over, sneering.

"Draco Malfoy," the boy spat. "And I don't seem to know your name?"

"That's because I never said it. But for your information, it's Damien. Damien Finch." Malfoy chuckled. His friends seemed to chuckle with him.

"Finch, eh?" Draco said. "I've never seen you at Hogwarts before. What are you doing here?"

"That's none of your business, Darco," Damien said, getting into his face.

"That's Draco, you twit," he said, and pushed him away. Damien looked at him with anger, wanting to punch his face in. "And you obviously don't know anything about Neville Longbottom."

"What's there to know? He's a better person than you are," Damien said, glaring. Draco glared back at him. The two goons behind him stepped forward, but Draco pushed them back.

"You obviously need to learn some manners, boy," Draco said into his face. Damien pushed him out of his face and wafted a hand over his nose.

"And you obviously need a Tic-tac," Damien said, sitting back down. Draco looked at him blankly, not knowing what a Tic-tac was. "Now, if you don't mind, I'd like you to leave, Darco." Draco opened his mouth to say something then closed it a moment later. He made an enraged look at Damien who only raised an eyebrow. After that, Draco motioned his goons behind him and left the compartment. "What an ugly guy."

Neville just sat there shocked.

"You just stood up to Draco Malfoy," Neville said with admiration.

"Yeah, so," Damien said, taking out a Pumpkin Pasty and biting into it. Neville looked amazed at him. Damien chuckled at the thought of Neville doing so. He had gone through worse troubles than Darco Malfoy and his goons, so it was easy. If that's the worse this school had to offer, then he had nothing to worry about.

*****

Ron took another bite into the Licorice Wand he hand been eating and tasted its gooey goodness in his mouth. Suddenly, the door to the compartment busted open. In came Draco Malfoy, the silver-haired boy that everyone hated with an angry look on his face.

"What's wrong, Draco?" Ron asked, "Get in a fight with a mirror and lose?"

"Shove it, Weasley," Draco spat at him. Ron looked weirdly at him. Draco passed right by them and went on to the next compartment.

"What's his problem?" Ron asked.

"What's not his problem?" Harry said, chuckling.

"I'm serious," Ron said. Harry stopped chuckling. "He seemed really mad about something. I wonder who told him off."

"He needs someone to tell him off," Harry said.

"Be fair," Hermione said. "I thought I saw him crying."

"He needs to let out some tears one of these days. And why are you thinking about him all of the sudden?" Ron said.

"Why are you?" Hermione said glaring. Ron glared back. Hermione rolled her eyes then looked at her watch. "Oh, goodness, it's getting late. And I think we're nearing Hogwarts. I'm gonna go get changed. You two should do the same." With that, she got up and left the compartment, leaving them alone. Harry and Ron both shrugged and started to change their clothes into their robes.

*****

Damien pulled his robes over his head, and that was when he saw it around the bend. It was beautiful. There were more towers than he could count and it was much bigger than he had imagined. There were so many windows that he couldn't count them all. It was like a castle from a fairy tale. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, his new school.

"Wow," was all he could say. Neville looked up as he finished with his robes and looked out the window, noticing the school.

"It's not that bad a school," Neville said, fixing his red and yellow striped tie. Damien made a weak smile at him and pulled down the rest of his robes as the train stopped. He was finally at Hogwarts. He made a sigh and went over to the door, opening it to see the crowds of kids heading outside.