You bang your bag down in the seat next to you and sit down in the silent compartment. You rest your hot forehead against the cool window and gaze out at the English scenery, wondering what the New Year, new country (!) could bring. You suddenly hear a noise outside and jump up. Oh why do you feel so damn twitchy! The babble of voices enter the compartment, they all stop dead at the sight of you.

"Oh, er hello," says a girl with bushy hair, stepping forward and holding out her hand,

"Bonjour!" you reply eagerly, shaking her hand.

"Oh! But you're French!" says the girl excitedly, and goes into a flow of perfect French to which to answer eagerly. The boy with red hair standing behind her coughs hesitantly.

"Er, Hermione, as eager as i am sure you are to show off your linguistic skills, could i offer a slight titbit of info? Me and Harry don't speak French!" The girl, whom you had discovered to be called Hermione looks a bit put out by this and plonks down in a seat and determinedly folds her arms. You laugh lightly. The boy with red hair goes a shade to match it and looks down at your feet. You decide you have to speak- otherwise nothing would get done!

" Hello, my name is Amilie de Migntot, I will be going to your 6th year," you say

"Hi" says the boy behind him, stepping forward. "Harry Potter,"

You smile softly, remembering,

"But, of course." You say, he looks a bit surprised at your reaction, but smiles at you and takes your hand.

"And this," he says, gesturing to the boy beside him, "is Ron weasley,"

"Yes!" you say excitedly; "I knew your moth..." you trail off. Biting your lip anxiously. But too late, Ron looks at you suspiciously.

"How can you know my Mum!" he exclaims.

"Ah, my English is not so very good, a, how do you say? A slip of the tongue?" You reel off, relieved, of course your English is perfect- but they don't know that! You really must be more careful in the future!

You all chat for ages, just getting to know each other! Finally, you guys run out of things to talk about. You see Ron, on the other side from you, snoring lightly, with his mouth open and giggle; Hermione also seems to be asleep. You turn to Harry in the seat next to you and smile at him.

"So, why did you move to England, parents get new jobs?" he asks.

"Er, no, actually my parents died, professor Dumbledore is actually my closest surviving relative, so this is just how things kinda panned out," you say, looking at anywhere but him. At first he looks sympathetic, then slightly jealous when you say about Dumbledore.

"I'm sorry," he says uncomfortably. "If it's any help, I know what you're going through, you know about Voldemort and all," he trails off.

"Its ok, it happened. Well, a long time ago." A very long time ago, you think

"Soooo, any idea what house you'll be in?" he asks, obviously trying to change the subject.

"None, I think I'll take a leaf outta Ron's book and try get some sleep, if you don't mind," you say, you have a lot of things to think about.

"Nah, corse not," he says, smiling. You wriggle down further into the seat and gently doze off.

HARRY'S POV

Harry stared at your sleeping figure. Wow, he didn't know that a girl could just be, so , right! If you ever found a pretty girl, then she'd be brainless, or obsessive or cheat on you or something! He stared at your long hair and wondered if it felt as silky and gorgeous as it looked, he stretched his hand out tentatively, and ever-so-gently, took a piece. It was like thin wisps of the sun, he let it fall, watching it cross his palm, strand by strand. The look on her face, the sound of her voice, everything about her just drew him to her. Made him want to hold her, protect her. He had never felt this way about a girl before… was this love?

BACK TO YOU

You feel Harry's eyes burn into you, and feel, ever so gently, the soft touch of him caressing your hair. Tears like hot needles prick at the back of your eyelids, remembering, regretting… so many memories. You relive them all, the second time you sit on the Hogwarts Express at 16 years old...