Chapter Two: Enter Nick

"I have been riding- this- train for six- years." Harry muttered irritably to himself as he stalked down the corridors of the Hogwarts Express train, Ginny Weasley in patient tow. "You'd think I could find one vacant compartment." He stopped short as she broke into hysterical chuckles, leaning against the wall as she tried to stop.

"Stop laughing at me!" he ordered, annoyed.

She managed to stop laughing with an effort, though she continued to hiccup at random moments.

"Stop making me hic laugh, then!"

"It's not funny!"

"Is so! Come on, don't give up, there's got to be room for us hic somewhere. How about I look, and then you can laugh at me." hic

Harry thought about this.

"Fine."

She squeezed by him and headed off down the train, glancing into each compartment as she passed it.

"Hic."

Harry gritted his teeth and tried to ignore it.

"Hic."

"Can't you do something about those hiccups?" he asked before they'd gone much further.

"I would if I could, believe me. Here, look," she said, quickly changing the subject as she stopped outside a compartment. They looked in through the glass sliding doors. "There's only one person in here. Think he'll mind us joining him? Funny. I don't recognize him, do you?"

Harry looked at the boy within. He couldn't see his face, as it was turned away, looking out the window, but he could see two things; that he had light brown hair, and was completely unfamiliar.

"Nope, I don't recognize him either. Who do you think he is?"

"No idea." Ginny opened the door forestalling further pointless shilly-shallying before it could waste more time.

"Um, hello. Are you saving these seats for anyone else, or can we join you?"

The boy looked around in surprise. He had deep, dark brown eyes, almost black, and a slim face. If Harry were to guess his age, he would have said sixteen, though that couldn't be right. Any sixteen-year-old would have been in his Year at school, and he knew all of them by name. This kid was a complete stranger.

"Please, by all means," he gestured politely with the air of someone inviting an unexpected, but welcome, guest into his mansion.

"Nicholas Lendal," he introduced himself simply, extending a hand in their direction as they seated themselves on the bench across from him. "Nick," he amended with a shrug.

Ginny clasped his hand briefly. "Ginny Weasley," she replied in kind. Nick blinked, not as if in surprise, but as if storing it in a mental register of some sort.

Harry took a mental deep breath, though he'd learned long since not to show it externally. "Harry Potter," he said, shaking Nick's hand in turn.

To Harry's relief, and somewhat surprise, Nick reacted in exactly the same way that he had to Ginny's name. A blink, a nod, a general smile at both of them.

"Pleased to meet you both," he said happily.

There was something about Nick that made frankness completely natural. "I don't recognize you," Harry said baldly.

"I'd be surprised if you did. I'm new this year. Transferred into sixth year. My family just moved into the area, you see," he explained.

"Sixth year? Well, you're a grade ahead of me," Ginny said. "In Harry's year though," she added cheerfully. "What house were you put in? do you know yet?"

"Professor Dumbledore put me in Gryffindor. Are either of you in…" his sentence trailed off with a curious expression.

"Both of us," said Harry. Nick smiled curiously.

"Then perhaps can I say, I have friends there?"

"Of course you can!" Ginny assured him, and was rewarded by Nick's happy smile.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

They spent a good half-hour telling Nick everything they could think of about Hogwarts, its teachers, its students, its classes…everything. Surprisingly, they learned very little about Nick, despite his general friendliness. In thirty minutes, they learned only that he was interested in the class Care of Magical Creatures, but he loved to learn in general.

"Everything about anything," he had said with a laugh, in reply to Harry's inquiry about what his favorite class was. "Everything 101!"

"Hermione's going to like him," Harry had muttered quietly to Ginny out of the corner of his mouth, but Nick had heard regardless. She laughed as Nick bombarded Harry with more questions. Who was Hermione? Who else was their specific friend? Would Hermione and Ron be joining them later? Where were they now?

Nick's fervent questions about Hermione and Ron were interrupted only by the arrival of said pair, who entered the compartment once again looking as though the train had fallen on them.

"As I recall, you two looked like this at the same time last year, remember?" he teased them.

"Shut up, Harry," Ron said absently and without rancor, more out of habit than anything else. "Who're you?" he added, blinking at Nick.

So once again, they went through the whole little routine of who are you, oh you're new here, oh nice to meet you Nick.

"I should just put a big flashing neon sign on my head saying Hi I'm Nick Lendal I'm New Here, Who Are You? he laughed.

"You'd still get questions," Hermione informed him. "And for your information, Harry, we have a perfect right to look like this.'

"Oh, why?" Ginny enquired sweetly. "Nothing gives you the right to look like you had to run after the train for five miles. 'Cause that's how you two look, Hermione, no joke."

"I didn't deserve that, Ginny. If you knew how many more prefect duties-that's not funny, Ron, stop the gagging noises- they've piled on us this year, you'd sympathize more."

"What duties have they 'piled on' you?" Nick asked with interest, and was instantly shushed by everyone else.

"Nick, shush, don't set her off!" everyone scolded laughingly, except for Hermione, who sighed long-sufferingly, but didn't elaborate.

By the time they were halfway to Hogwarts, Nick Lendal was as deeply entrenched in Harry's little circle of friends as if he'd been there all his life.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Nick smoothly ingratiated himself into the Welcoming Feast as well. Oddly, no one seemed to mind his incessant questions. Indeed, everyone seemed almost eager to show off all their know-how, pointing out teachers, ghosts, even the ceiling. Nick heard at least four times that the ceiling reflected the sky outside, but he never seemed to tire of hearing it. He listened rapturously to whoever was speaking, no matter who. It took him approximately five minutes, maybe even less, to have everyone sitting in the palm of his hand.

"Remarkable," Hermione muttered in Harry's ear, watching Nick. "He's got everyone falling over themselves to be nice to him. How does he do that?"

"No idea."

As he glanced over at Nick, who for a short while wasn't listening to anyone, and was instead looking around with interest, examining the Great Hall closely, Harry shuddered.

Whoa! What was that? For a second, Nick 'felt' weird. Like he was someone else for a moment. The Great Hall's not that interesting. What's he so riveted by?

An instant later, Harry was ashamed of his suspicions. Getting paranoid, he scolded himself sternly. Be a little more trusting, why don't you? You can't live in a little bubble. And he's not half so odd as some of your other friends. Luna Lovegood, as example? Nick's just new: of course he'd be interested in everything. So were you.

Harry resolutely shoved his suspicions out of his head and grinned at Nick, who'd noticed his scrutiny and had his head cocked on one side, brow furrowed questioningly.

Harry shook his head, not even trying to speak over the cacophonous talking of the rest of the students in the school. Nick shrugged and went back to examining the Hall.

Resolutely, Harry dismissed his misgivings and returned to the real world, just in time to stop Ron pinching his dessert from right under his nose.