Apologies for the wait. Hope you enjoy the chapter.
Disclaimer: Everything in bold belongs to J.K. Rowling. RWBY characters belong to Rooster Teeth
Special thanks to my beta AuthorA97
Pyrrha took the book and opened it to the next chapter.
"So this one is called Journey to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters?" She trailed off at the end.
"Ooooo," Nora perked up. "That must be some magic, secret, train station."
Pyrrha blinked as this surprisingly made sense of this world. The thing that made it so shocking was that it came from Nora. Maybe Pyrrha had rushed to judgment on the peppy girl. She gave Jaune the benefit of the doubt, after all. Everyone at Beacon was owed that chance.
Pyrrha began to read.
Harry was with the Dursleys for one more month which wasn't all that fun.
"Damn it! He's back with those people?" Blake grunted, annoyed.
"How did the Dursleys even get off that rock?" Ren wondered.
"Maybe Harry came back for them?" Ruby guessed.
Those relatives of his were awful- truly awful. Harry showed a sort of kindness that set him apart from them. It made sense for him to go back for his relatives- left all alone on that rock in the middle of the stormy sea. Besides, where else was Harry going to stay until Hogwarts started?
Now that Harry was aware of his magic, Dudley couldn't stand to stay in the same room with him while his aunt and uncle just ignored Harry all together. The perks of that wore off after a while.
Weiss huffed. "At least they stopped treating him like a slave."
"Yeah, but now they're pretending he doesn't exist!" Yang countered. "How is that an improvement?"
Harry mostly kept to his room looking at his new books. In his history book he found a name which he decided to give his owl, now dubbed Hedwig.
"Aww that's such a cute name," Jaune cooed.
Harry took an interest in his school books and every night before bed he ticked off another day on a piece of paper he pinned to the wall which served as a calendar to September first.
"Wow, he's really excited to go to Hogwarts," Yang noted.
"I would be too," Ruby said. Her excitement over being accepted into Beacon still hadn't quite faded.
"He's going to a school for magic of all things. Not only that, he'll be as far away from his family as possible." Weiss agreed.
"That is definitely a bonus," Jaune said.
It was a bonus for me, Weiss thought to herself.
On the last day of August he went over to his uncle to ask him for a ride to Kings Cross tomorrow.
"Procrastination at its finest," Nora cheered.
"He was most likely making sure Vernon didn't go back on his word," Pyrrha figured.
"If Harry fails to show up for school, then they would send Hagrid again. And he probably would have done something even worse," Ren said. He was used to Nora procrastinating on her work. If she were ever behind (which did happen now and again), Ren often went to bring her up to speed.
Uncle Vernon agreed but before Harry left Vernon remarked about how weird it was that wizards took a train as opposed to a bunch of magic carpets.
"That would be more conspicuous," Weiss said. "No one would really take notice of a train."
"Yeah, and it would be really hot outside. Trains have air conditioners," Nora added.
"Even with the wind blowing in your face?" Jaune wondered. He wouldn't mind riding on a flying carpet.
"I don't think that's as pleasant as it sounds," Pyrrha countered.
"Plus a train would be more easy to organize," Blake said.
Vernon asked where the school was and Harry admitted he didn't know just telling them the station number which the Dursleys refused to believe existed.
"Because wizards with secret stores and alleys wouldn't also have a secret train station." Weiss scoffed.
"He's just a kid! Give him a break." Yang excused.
Despite this they still decided to take Harry up to King's Cross since they were going up to London tomorrow anyway to take Dudley to a doctor and get his tail removed.
"No! Don't do that! It's perfect!" Nora complained. The others laughed in agreement. All except one.
Blake nervously shifted in her spot. Her ears (hidden by her bow) flinched. The idea of being able to remove them...that they could be removed as if they were unwanted..it made her stomach sink. The Dursleys were so vile and disgusting that of course they would see it as an abnormality.
Her friends, her classmates, laughing didn't sit right with her either. They had no way of knowing, Blake didn't even want them to know. Still. Adam would've used it as further proof that humans were monsters.
Yang saw her partner. Blake wasn't laughing with them, shifting nervously on her seat. She decided to jump down from her bed and join Blake. Though Yang had no idea what was going on, or what was going on in her head, Yang still held her hand.
It brought Blake out of her head. She looked at Yang's hand, then up at Yang's face. The smile was still on her face. It eased her heart, helping get Adam's nonsense out of her head.
Harry woke at five the next morning and got dressed in casual clothes, figuring it would be better to change into his school uniform on the train.
"That's probably a requirement too." Pyrrha believed. "That way they wouldn't attract any unwanted attention."
A couple of hours later, Harry's things were packed and Dudley was convinced to sit next to Harry in the car. They arrived at King's Cross with half an hour to spare and Vernon was suspiciously kind enough to place Harry's things on a cart and wheel it to the station for him.
"What's he up to?" Weiss asked out loud.
They walked to platforms nine and ten and Vernon believes that Harry's platform is somewhere in the middle but it hasn't been built yet. The Dursley then leave Harry there laughing all the way back to the car.
"They seriously just ditched him there?!" Yang yelled.
"Petunia should know how to reach the platform. Her parents must have taken her there to drop Lily off," Pyyrha said.
Harry looked around wondering what to do. He asked a passing guard for a train that left at eleven but there didn't seem to be one.
"That's good. It'll most likely be the wrong one," Ren figured.
Harry looked at the clock and saw he had ten minutes left to board and he had no idea how to do it. Looked like Hagrid forgot to tell him about that bit.
"He does come off as a bit of an airhead," Blake muttered.
"Maybe he'll meet Harry there to help him get on," Ruby suggested.
"He would have showed up by now," Pyrrha told her.
Harry was contemplating tapping the ticket booth the same way Hagrid did when they entered Diagon Alley when a group of people passed him. One of them dropped the word "Muggles''.
"Harry, don't do stuff like that! You could get in trouble." Weiss scolded.
"Wait, did that person just say Muggle?" Jaune asked.
"Oh maybe it's another group of wizards!" Said Nora. "Maybe they can help Harry."
Harry spotted a group of red haired boys being led by their mother. They had large trunks and even an owl.
"Alright, another wizard family!" Ruby cheered.
"Hopefully they're much nicer than that boy in the robe shop," Ren said.
The mother asked about the platform number to which a little girl nearly hidden behind her mother piped up nine and three-quarters. She asked if she could go but her mother explained that she wasn't old enough yet before directing Percy to go first. The oldest of the boys looked to be heading to the dividing barrier between nine and ten. Harry tried to watch but a group of people blocked his vision and by the time they were gone, so was the boy.
"Ugh I hate it when that happens in movies," Yang complained.
"But where could he have gone?" Blake asked.
The woman then told one of the twins, Fred, to go next. The one his mother pointed to told her he was actually George, it's the other one who's Fred. The woman apologized but as he passed her he told her he really was Fred.
"Classic," Nora laughed.
He disappeared followed by his twin just seconds after. At this point Harry decided to go for it before the third boy went. He approached the woman asking her about the platform. The woman immediately warmed up to him and explained that Harry simply needed to go straight through the barrier between nine and ten.
Pyrrha had to pause as Jaune started snickering.
"What's so funny?" She asked.
Jaune took a breath. "I can't believe I'm saying this but Vernon was right."
"What do you mean?" Weiss asked repulsed.
"Harry's station really is in the middle of platforms nine and ten. The entrance is just covered with some illusion," Jaune explained. "Vernon was right and he didn't even notice. Could you imagine the look on his face if he ever found that out?"
At that though everyone started chuckling at what Vernon's face would look like. Pyrrha returned to the book after everyone calmed down.
The lady allowed Harry to enter before her youngest son, Ron. Harry made his way towards the barrier. He'd eventually broken into a run. This was it. He was going to crash into the barrier and hurt himself.
"Harry, come on, can you be positive for, like, five seconds?" Nora asked.
"He's almost as bad as Uncle Qrow," Yang muttered to Ruby who nodded in agreement.
Yet the crash didn't come. He kept running until he was able to stop himself and saw a scarlet engine next to a platform with dozens of people. A sign above read Hogwarts Express.
"Way to go, Harry!" Ruby cheered.
Harry rolled his cart down the carriages, trying to find an empty seat. While passing by he overheard a boy saying he's lost his pet toad while another opened a box in front of others and Harry saw a long hairy leg poking out of it.
"I get the feeling that the toad doesn't like its owner very much," Yang joked.
"Is it even legal to have what I assume is an enormous spider?" Weiss demanded.
Harry finally found an empty spot near the train and placed Hedwig in before trying to get his trunk inside. He couldn't lift it. Someone called out to him offering a hand and Harry saw the two red-haired twins he watched from outside the platform. Harry thanked them as they got the trunk inside. At that point one of the twins noticed Harry's scar.
"Here we go again!" Pyrrha groaned.
"Well they're around Harry's age so I don't think they'll make as big of a deal as the people at the Leaky Cauldron," Jaune hoped.
The twins asked if he was Harry Potter and after a moment's confusion Harry confirmed it.
"'Oh, him,'" Yang laughed.
"I guess he's still not used to it yet," Ren said.
The twins just stood there frozen until their mother called out to them and with a final look at Harry they left. Harry got into his compartment and could see the red haired family through the window. The mother had just pulled out a handkerchief and was trying to rub away some dirt that had gotten on Ron's nose. The boy struggled to get away from her.
"Oh Ron, she's just trying to help," Ruby scolded.
"Boys don't appreciate being coddled by their moms," Jaune said.
The twins started teasing him as Percy joined them, already in his school uniform.
"Wow someone's eager," Nora jokes.
Percy states that he can't stay long as he's up front in the prefects compartment. This surprised the twins as Percy never said anything about being a prefect. Or maybe he did mention it once. Or twice. For like a minute. Throughout the whole summer.
"It's official, these two are my favorites," Nora said over everyone's laughter.
"But what is a prefect?" Weiss wondered.
Pyrrha let go of half the book and an envelope came out and landed into Weiss' open hands. Opening it she read:
It's never really explained but the best guess I can figure is some kind of hall monitor.
All the Beacon students groaned at that. This Percy was bound to have a giant stick up his ass.
The mother breaks up the argument before bidding her oldest farewell. She then turned to the twins telling them not to do something crazy like blow up a toilet or something. The twins stated that they'd never do that but it was a great idea.
"That sounds awesome," Nora said, getting up, probably about to go do that herself. Ren quickly stopped her.
"She's their mother! She should know better than to give them ideas!" Jaune said remembering that one time he made the mistake with his twin sisters. That had been a nightmare.
The mother scolded them again before asking them to look after Ron, which the twins teased about again much to Ron's annoyance. The twins then told their mom about meeting Harry just a minute ago. The little girl asked if she could go on the train to see him but her mother told her she's already met him. And Harry wasn't something you look at like a zoo animal.
"Thank you!" Pyrrha and Weiss shouted in relief. That really did get annoying quickly.
The mother asks how the twins knew and they explained how they saw his scar and asked him. The mother figured that's why Harry was alone when he asked about getting on to the platform. One of the twins then wondered if Harry remembers what Voldemort looks like but their mother quickly scolded them not to bring that up.
"That's really not something one likes to talk about," Ren said looking down.
Jaune couldn't help but notice Ren's expression.
Earlier Jaune had decided to get to know his teammates a little more and wanted to share childhood stories with them. Pyrrha was happy to talk about her past before she became a famous champion. Both Ren and Nora were tight lipped about their childhoods. Jaune knew better than to push the issue. In a world like theirs, it's easy to assume the worst and he can understand how hard it would be.
The train whistle sounded and the family rushed to get aboard. The mother kissed them all goodbye while their sister started crying. The twins promised to write to them lots and even offered to send her a toilet seat from school, to their mother's chagrin.
The other students started laughing again with the exception of Weiss who scoffed.
"That can not be sanitary," she said. But she couldn't help but smile along with the others.
"Please tell me we see more of these twins?" Yang asked.
"Seriously! After all the depressing crap we've heard so far, this would be a relief," Nora agreed.
The train started moving and the red haired boy's mother waved them goodbye. Their sister started running after the train. She fell back when it gained too much speed and waved at them too. The two disappeared when the train went around the corner. Harry got a little nervous. While he didn't know what he was coming to at Hogwarts, he knew it had to be better than what he had at the Dursleys.
"Here's hoping," Pyrrha said.
Harry's compartment door slid open and the youngest red haired boy from before asked if he could join Harry, saying that the other compartments were full. Harry agreed.
Right as he sat down his twin brothers showed up telling Ron where they would be as they wanted to see a giant tarantula their friend Lee Jordan brought. They then spotted Harry and introduced themselves as Fred and George as well as their younger brother Ron before bidding the duo farewell.
"Well it's nice to see them treating Harry like a normal person." Pyrrha said.
Outside of her classmates in this room, everyone always acts like they're walking on eggshells with her.
Ron then asked Harry if he really was Harry Potter, thinking that Fred and George were just pulling another one of their jokes. He even asked if Harry got the scar and Harry pulled back his bangs to show Ron. Ron started asking about Voldemort.
"Didn't his mother say not to bring that up?" Pyrrha asked, appalled.
"Well not to Ron. She told the twins, so Ron's fine-" Nora argued. She shrunk at Pyrrha's glare.
Harry says that he only remembers a bunch of green light. Ron just stares at Harry for a few minutes before catching himself and looks out the window.
All the Beacon students relaxed at that.
Harry then asked about Ron's family if they were all wizards. Ron mentioned a second cousin who's an accountant before changing the subject to Harry having lived with Muggles wondering what they were like.
"Disgusting," Blake offered.
"A bunch of pigs," Weiss suggested.
"Well at least Vernon and Dudley are. Petunia is more like a noisy little weed," Yang said.
Everyone snickered. Ruby high fived her sister.
Harry starts off as horrible before correcting himself that at least his aunt, uncle and cousin are. Harry thinks it must be nice having three older wizard brothers. Ron corrects that he has five brothers, his oldest two have already graduated. He then dejectly talks about what his brothers have accomplished and Ron believes that anything he does won't be as impressive as his brothers have done it first.
Ruby scoffed. She stood up, confidently standing as a hero as she gave her inspirational speech. "Don't act like that! I'm sure you've got your own special talents that will put you on your own pedestal. You just need to give it time."
The others nodded at Ruby's wisdom. Yang smiled, proud. Weiss grimaced, turning away. She was still sore about not being picked as team leader. With speeches like that, she began to understand Ozpin's choice.
Ron also laments about the hand-me-downs he gets, like Bill's old robes, Charlie's old wand, and his pet rat that he got from Percy named Scabbers.
"Wait, why does Ron have his brother's wand?" Jaune wondered. The robes and the pet he could understand. One of his younger sisters took his old shirts when they no longer fit him, but the wand didn't make sense.
"Wouldn't Charlie still need it?" Weiss asked also curious.
"It's possible something could have happened and he needed to get a new wand," Ren theorized.
"But wouldn't that be dangerous to give Ron the old one then?" Blake accused.
"I'm sure Charlie made sure it was still safe to use before he handed it over," Ruby said.
Ron then stops himself, thinking he said too much but Harry compares this to his own experience with the Dursleys, which seemed to calm Ron down.
"Harry was abused! How could Ron be happy about that?" Yang screamed.
"Something tells me Harry watered down his situation to Ron," Weiss said. She understood why Harry would not want to go into the actual details. That's what she did when Port first accused her of being spoiled. She admits that- quietly, to herself and never anyone else- that wasn't entirely the case but couldn't bring herself to confess to the professor what her father truly put her family through.
Harry even goes on to tell Ron that Hagrid was the one to tell Harry about his heritage and Voldemort. Ron starts to freak at Harry saying Voldemort's name, thinking him of all people-
"I wouldn't be afraid!" Ruby began a routine of going through punches and high kicks. "If I were Harry, and someone killed my parents, I'd have kicked their butts!"
"You wouldn't be scared?" Ren asked.
"Well." Ruby sat back down. "Maybe a little. But not scared enough to stop fighting!"
Harry denies that he's trying to be brave or anything, he just didn't know that people don't like saying the name. Harry tries to use this to confirm that he doesn't know anything about this world and would probably be the worst in the class. Ron denies this saying that lots of students come from Muggle families and they catch on easily enough.
"Those who come from wizard families don't have much of a head start anyway. Not if it takes them years for their bodies to naturally harness their magic," Ren said.
By this point, the train started passing along the countryside. An older witch entered their compartment asking if they wanted any candy. Ron said that his mother already packed him some sandwiches but Harry (who didn't even eat breakfast) was fascinated at some of the candy the witch offered and got some of everything.
"Oooo, those chocolate frogs sound yummy!" Nora cheered.
"Pumpkin Pasties and Cauldron Cakes sound pretty cliched." Blake said.
"I don't like the sound of those Every Flavor Beans," Weiss said.
Harry starts digging into the candy while Ron looks at his sandwiches finding out that their cornbeef, which he doesn't like. Something his mother keeps forgetting.
"Same thing happened with my mom," Jaune said. "She always would mix up mine and Sapphron's lunches when we were kids."
Harry offers to trade for one of his snacks. Ron insists that the sandwich is no good but Harry offers him the candy anyway. The sandwiches are eventually forgotten with all the sweets around them.
"I'd go for candy over sandwiches anyway," Nora said.
"Same!" Ruby agreed.
One of the candies Harry tires is called a Chocolate Frog, which makes Harry think these are real at first. Ron assures that that's not the case but talks about the card. At Harry's confusion, Ron explains that a Chocolate Frog pack contains a card detailing famous witches and wizards. Ron himself has about five hundred of them.
"Wow that's a lot of cards," Weiss said.
"That sounds like fun. I wonder if people made games out of them," Jaune thought.
Harry unwraps his frog and looks at the card which was Dumbledore. The book described him as an older wizard with a long white beard and ridiculous looking robes.
"So that's what Dumbledore looks like," Ren noted.
"I'm starting to think we should have re-read the first chapter for you guys," Blake said sheepishly.
"It's alright. We didn't miss all that much anyway," Pyrrha assured her.
"All we need now is McGonagall's description and we're set," Jaune said.
"Just picture an older Goodwitch with dark hair in a tight bun." Yang said, causing Nora to snicker.
Harry reads the back of the card which has more information on Dumbledore. The card notes him defeating a dark wizard named Grindelwald in 1945, as well as his discovery for the many uses of dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with another wizard, Nicolas Flamel. The card ends with Dumbledore liking chamber music and tenpin bowling.
"A man of taste, I see," Weiss said, approving his choice of music.
"But why call bowling tenpin? Is there a kind of...wizard bowling that doesn't have ten pins?" Pyrrha asked.
A letter appeared on top of the pages. Opening it up, she read it for her friends.
There are five different types of bowling. Tenpin is the most common one but there is also 9-pin, which not only involves one less pin but also requires a team of two. 5-pin which also has the balls small enough to fit in your hand. Candlepin, which has the pins shaped like candle sticks. Lastly, Duckpin, which has shorter pins.
"Well that's interesting," Blake said.
"This world has all kinds of variety doesn't it?" Ruby said.
Harry turned the card back to the picture only to find that the picture disappeared.
"WHAT?" Everyone shouted.
"Don't tell me Harry damaged the photo already?" Weiss asked.
"But how? Harry only just turned it around," Pyrrha noted.
Harry was surprised by this but Ron shrugs it off saying that pictures move around all the time.
"The pictures move," Yang says as she was processing this. "I don't know if that's weird or awesome."
"I'd go with awesome!" Nora declared. "Think about it. You could have a locket with someone in it and if it can talk to you, you can have a portable friend."
"That actually does sound really sweet," Jaune said.
Ron looks at his new card and sees that it was one he already has. He eyes the rest of the Chocolate Frogs and Harry tells Ron to help himself while telling him that Muggle photos don't move at all. Something that Ron finds weird.
"Oh and the moving pictures aren't?" Weiss asked in disbelief.
"Well if pictures usually move in their world then it would be weird to Ron," Ruby said.
Harry watched the card in his hand as Dumbledore slid back in it and smiled at Harry. He then helped himself to some more frogs and was able to collect several more famous cards. He then started trying Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.
"I hope that includes strawberries," Ruby pined.
"That is one of the more popular candy flavors so I'd think that would be a given," Yang said.
Ron warns Harry about the beans as they not only had common stuff like chocolate and marmalade, but also things like spinach, liver and tripe. He heard from George about getting a booger-flavored one and then took a bean only for it to be sprouts flavored.
Everyone was looking dumbfounded at the book.
"What is wrong with these people?!" Yang demanded.
"Did nobody tell them to stop making the weird flavors?" Jaune asked.
"Adding strange flavors, I can understand, but grass and liver? That's too far." Blake added.
"I actually would like to try that. I bet grass tastes awesome!" Nora said. Ren just shook his head.
Harry got pretty lucky with the beans, getting things like toast, grass, coffee and even tried a funny color that Ron wouldn't touch which turned out to be pepper.
"Now I really want to try them," Nora said. "It's like a whole meal in the palm of my hand."
As it started to get later, there was a knock at their compartment and the door opened to show the boy with the toad that Harry spotted on the platform. The boy asked them if they'd seen said toad cause it keeps getting away from him.
"That toad really doesn't like it's owner," Blake joked.
"Why does that toad have to be so mean?" Ruby asked.
Harry and Ron said they hadn't seen it and the boy left. Ron was confused why he's so worried since he'd be the one ditching the toad if he ever had one. Though he couldn't really talk since Scabbers is a rat.
"Is he even allowed to bring that?" Pyrrha asked. "The letter said that they are only allowed to bring either an owl, cat, or toad."
"Like little kids are actually going to listen to the rules," Weiss replied.
"And Scabbers is pretty small so Ron could easily get away with it," Yang added.
Ron started telling Harry about a spell George gave him that could turn Scabbers yellow and decided to demonstrate. He pulls out a wand which looks really worn out. Some of the unicorn hair was even starting to come out of the wand.
"And yet they just gave it to their youngest son," Weiss said, annoyed.
"They probably didn't have much choice," Jaune said, sympathizing with Ron. While his family was by no means poor, raising eight kids would be a financial strain.
Ron raises his wand just in time for their compartment door to open again to reveal the toadless boy from before along with a new person. This one was a girl with bushy brown hair and buck teeth.
"This book isn't all that flattering with the description is it?" Nora asked.
"Well they are still kids," Blake said. "Maybe they'll look better when they're older."
The girl asked if they saw the toad the other boy, now named Neville, lost. Ron pointed out that they already told him they hadn't seen it but the girl wasn't paying attention. She was more interested in the wand in his hand and wanted to see the spell Ron was about to perform. Ron was surprised but performed the spell. It didn't work.
Everyone started laughing.
The girl wondered if that was a real spell as it wasn't a very good one. She's already tried a few simple ones herself and she could get them to work. She went on rather quickly to say about how no one in her family had magic so it was a surprise when she got her letter, but she was happy as Hogwarts is supposed to be the best wizard school out there and she already knows all the books by heart and hoped it would be enough. She finally introduced herself as Hermy- Hermo- Hermen- Granger and asked for their names.
"What's up with the first name?" Jaune asked, noticing Pyrrha struggled with it.
"I have no idea how to pronounce it," Pyrrha admitted.
"How is it spelled?" Blake asked.
"H-E-R-M-I-O-N-E"
"Yeah, I don't know how to pronounce that either," Yang said
Pyrrha tried shaking the book again thinking their mysterious friend would give them a pronunciation but nothing came out.
"Why don't we just call her by her surname then," Ren suggested.
Everyone agreed. Weiss noticed something the fictional witch said earlier.
"She's learned all the books by heart?" she asked, impressed.
"School hasn't even started yet!" Ruby yelled.
"There's nothing wrong with wanting to be prepared." Ren figured.
"She said no one in her family has magic, right?" Blake asked.
"Yeah, so that makes her a Muggleborn!" Nora realized.
Blake nodded. "Right, so she's probably doing this as a way to fit in."
"She should find another way to go about it. This might make her a bit of a show off," Pyrrha said.
Harry and Ron introduce themselves and Hermione already knows who Harry is as he's in several books that she got for background reading listing some of the books that he's in. This came as a surprise to Harry which in turn surprised Hermione as she'd want to know everything she could if she was in his situation.
"But no one really knows what happened!" Ruby said. "We don't even know what happened and we read the first chapter!"
"Yeah how can there be books about him with such little information?" Blake wondered.
"Obviously the books can't be all about him. They were probably about other people too, and Harry Potter was the most recent addition." Weiss told them. "If that Dark Wizard was as scary as everyone says, it makes sense that everyone is going crazy over Harry."
"Okay, fine, but if nobody saw it, then how do they know Harry did anything?" Jaune asked.
Weiss turned to glare at him. He squeaked, ducking behind a bed post.
Hermione then asks if they know what house they'll be in, having asked around and hearing Gryffindor seems to be the best, even Dumbledore himself was in that house, though she thinks Ravenclaw would be fine. She and Neville finally leave to go look for his toad.
"She's not completely terrible," Weiss said.
"Bit of a conversation hog," Ruby muttered. Yang nodded in agreement.
Ron hoped that she wasn't in the same house he would be in. Harry asks what house Ron's brothers were in and Ron explains that all of his brothers, as well as his parents, were in Gryffindor. He wasn't sure what they would say if he wound up in another house.
"I doubt they would really care," Jaune said.
"What's the big deal about what house you go into anyway?" Ren wondered.
Ron agreed that Ravenclaw may not be bad but dreaded the thought of going into Slytherin.
"Why is no one talking about Hufflepuff?" Nora asked hotly. "They make it sound like the worst house next to Slytherin, and that one only has a bed rep because of Voldemort."
Harry noticed how dejected Ron looked by the conversation so he switched to asking what his two oldest brothers are doing now that they left school.
"That is a curious question," Ren stated. "There could be other options outside of the school and posts in the government or shops."
Ron said that Charlie works with dragons in Romania and Bill does stuff in Egypt for Gringotts.
"One of his brothers works with dragons?" Ruby asked excitedly. "That's so cool!"
"More like dangerous," Jaune gulped nervously.
"It sounds like they live really far from home though," Blake noticed.
"Oh please, these wizards can teleport. I'm sure they could pop over and visit whenever they want," Weiss scoffed.
"There could be a limit on how far they can teleport, or to how often," Pyrrha stated. "Not to mention that their respective works could still keep them very busy."
When Ron thought about Gringotts he remembered a report in the Daily Prophet that someone tried to rob a high security vault. Harry asked if they were caught which Ron replied that they weren't which is why it's such a big deal right now. Ron's dad theorized that a powerful dark wizard did this. But nothing had been taken. Ron said that people are freaking out on the off chance Voldemort is behind this.
"Seriously!" Everyone shouted.
"I thought their security was top notch?!" Weiss screeched.
"Remember, Ron said that nothing had been stolen so whoever it was didn't get what they wanted." Blake reminded her.
"But still, the fact that they got away is impressive enough," Ren said.
Harry was thinking over this news in his head. He also noticed a small bit of fear whenever someone called Voldemort, You-Know-Who, but he figured that's just what living in this world was about. Though he felt better when he actually said Voldemort.
"Yeah, don't let some stupid made up name scare you," Ruby cheered.
"You think Voldemort made his name up?" Jaune asked.
"I said it in the first chapter and I will say it again. Who in their right minds would name a child that?" Ruby said.
"That's actually a very good question," Nora whispered to Ren.
Ron then asked Harry what his Quidditch team was and Harry admitted that he didn't know any. Ron was shocked before going on about the game which involved seven players and four balls before going into details about some of the games he's been to.
"Wait, seven players and four balls? That's all we get right now?" Pyrrha asked dumbfounded. Clearly Harry knows more of the details by now but the book was glossing it over.
"Well that blonde kid said that the school had house teams," Blake reminded her. "Maybe we'll see them play against each other."
"Yeah," Yang agreed. "Or Harry could even join the team in the next book."
As Ron talked, three more boys entered the compartment. Harry recognized the middle one instantly. It was the pale boy from the robe shop. And from the look on his face, he now knew who Harry was.
"Not this guy," Jaune mumbled.
"He doesn't think he can try to be friends with Harry now, does he?" Yang asked.
"That's exactly what he's going to do," Weiss answered. It's what her brother would've done.
The pale boy explained that the whole train is talking about how Harry Potter is in this compartment and asks if it is him. Harry confirms it while eyeing the two other boys who looked more like bodyguards.
"They probably are," Jaune said, having seen these types of bullies before. A smaller ring leader who hurts with words and one or more big brutes to do the physical pain. Those kinds of people were frighteningly common for him growing up. Granted, Jaune was their target more often than not. Being the youngest and weakest of his family for so long, easy pickings for that kind of bully. He was glad things would be different at Beacon.
The pale boy introduced them as Crabbe and Goyle before introducing himself as Draco Malfoy. Ron started coughing though it might have been to cover up a laugh. Draco didn't like that and also knew who Ron was, saying that his dad told him all the Weasleys were red haired with freckles and were very poor.
"I thought he was trying to get on Harry's good side?" Yang asked.
"Yeah! First he insults Hagrid now Ron! This guy is just mean." Ruby added.
"Even if they didn't meet in the robe shop before, this would still not be a good first impression," Pyrrha said.
Draco spoke to Harry again telling him that he'll find out that some wizard families are better than others. The last thing Harry needed was to go making friends with the wrong sort, looking at Ron as he said that. He offered to help Harry find out who the right sort was and offered his hand.
"Oh come on! I was way nicer to Pyrrha when I tried to be her friend!" Weiss yelled knowing full well everyone could hear her. She didn't care, she believed Pyrrha had figured her out from the start and was now ashamed of her past actions. She was trying to be better than her father. It wasn't a good start, but she had time to make it right. "Sorry about that, by the way."
Pyrrha was taken aback by the sudden apology but was nonetheless thrilled about it. "Thank you," was all she said.
Weiss sat back down and Pyrrha got back to reading.
Harry didn't take the hand saying he could already tell the wrong sort for himself. Draco went pink, warning Harry to be careful as hanging around with people like Hagrid and Ron will get him killed like his parents.
"You little brat!" Nora screeched standing up.
"How dare he speak about the dead like that," Blake said.
"No respect whatsoever." Ren put his hand on Nora's arm. She quieted, turning to him. "Let's see how Harry handles it." Ren added, trying to settle Nora down.
Both Harry and Ron stood up. Malfoy tried to goad them into a fight, but Harry gave the chance to let the other three leave now.
"That's good of him. Giving Malfoy the chance to leave peacefully," Ren said.
But Draco didn't want to leave as they had eaten all of their sweets and it looks like Harry and Ron still had some left.
"Oh come on, it can't be that far from dinner," Weiss scolded. "You boys can wait."
Goyle reached out for a chocolate frog but then Scabbers shot out and bit Goyle on the finger. Holding on for dear life.
"Yay Scabbers!" Ruby cheered.
"Make it hurt!" Nora shouted.
"Huh, so that rat does have some use," Weiss said smiling.
Goyle was able to get Scabbers off and the rat was sent flying until he hit the window. The three quickly made their exit.
"Oh I hope he's okay," Ruby said.
Hermione came in demanding to know what's been going on.
"What's that got to do with you, huh?" Nora asked, starting to get annoyed by her.
Ron picked Scabbers up thinking he was knocked out only to note that he was sleeping again.
"Gets bored that easily, huh?" Jaune jokes.
Ron asked Harry about Malfoy and Harry explained their prior meeting. Ron had heard of the Malfoy family having previously worked for Voldemort though they claim to have been bewitched. Ron's dad doesn't buy it though, claiming they don't need an excuse to work with someone like Voldemort.
"He's right. With the way Draco's acting I'd bet he would jump at the chance if Voldemort ever came back," Weiss said.
Ron then asked Hermione what she wanted and she told them that they needed to change into their robes, claiming that the conductor told them that they were going to arrive soon before scolding them about their fight. Ron pointed out that it was Scabbers not them before telling Hermione to give them some privacy. She left pointing out about how people keep running up and down the corridors like kids and pointed out that Ron had dirt on his nose.
"Who died and made you their mother?" Nora asked.
"Acting like kids! Does this young girl fail to realize that she's the same age as them?" Pyrrha said.
I get the feeling she's going to be one of the main characters but so far she's not making a good impression," Blake said.
"Maybe that's why she should be friends with the boys," Yang suggested. "They'll get her to loosen up."
The boys got changed while an announcement came on stating that they would reach Hogwarts in about ten minutes and that their luggage would be taken to the school separately. Both the boys grew nervous as they shoved their remaining sweets in their pockets and joined the crowd going down the corridor. The train finally rolled to a stop and everyone got off. A lamp came bobbing up to them and Harry could hear Hagrid's voice calling out to the first years.
"Wonder where Hagrid is going to take the new students," Blake said.
"Maybe he's taking the students through a special route to the school since this is their first day," Ren suggested.
The students fumbled behind him as Hagrid guided them down a narrow path that had thick trees surrounding them. Everyone was quiet, save for Neville who Harry could hear sniffling a couple of times.
"I take it he hasn't found his toad yet," Jaune figured.
"That thing's probably gone for good now," Weiss said.
"Don't say that. He'll probably turn up at some point," Ruby hoped.
Hagrid guided the students around a bend and everyone was able to see Hogwarts for the first time. A vast castle was set on top of a mountain. It had towers and turrets scattered over the top and the windows softly glowed in the night sky.
"Wow," Ruby breathed. "It sounds beautiful."
"It seems to be bigger than Beacon," Pyrrha noted.
"Well Beacon does serve as a college school. Hogwarts seems to be a secondary school that houses students from 11 to 17 so they would need more room," Weiss said.
"If that's what the outside looks like, then I can't wait to see the inside," Yang said.
Hagrid led the students to the shore of a lake where many boats awaited them. Harry and Ron shared a boat with Granger and Neville. At Hagrid's command, the boats moved on their own.
"Now that would be an awesome view," Nora said.
Everyone ducked their heads as they entered a tunnel which led to an underground harbor. As they climbed up the rocky steps Hagrid called out to Neville as he returned Trevor to him.
"How did that frog get so far ahead of his owner?" Weiss asked bewildered.
"Maybe he hitched a ride with one of the other students," Jaune suggested.
"And nobody noticed?" Weiss demanded. Jaune couldn't find an answer for her.
Neville reclaimed his toad and Hagrid did one final head count before knocking on the door.
"That's the end of the chapter," Pyrrha announced.
"Aww it's over already," Ruby groaned disheartened.
"We can read more tomorrow," Yang reminded her.
Pyrrha gave the book back to Blake and they all said their goodbyes and headed for bed.