A.N: All the characters of Harry Potter belong solely to JKR and I am just using them.

And some changes were made in chapter 1 and some things were added, so better check it out once.

Thanks to Jui (FGHermione) for her great beta work.

Chapter 2

Ginny looked at the others, not quite understanding why Malfoy left suddenly. They looked like they didn't have any idea either except that he looked like he had seen someone he hadn't expected nor wanted to see. He had seen the new boy. The others turned to see the new boy and now Ginny could get a good look at him. There was nothing extraordinary nor scary for Malfoy to run away after seeing. In fact, like Ron said earlier, he looked like a strong wind would knock him out.

Ginny felt a pang of sympathy seeing his face, which had a few scars that looked like they must have hurt badly.

"What was that about? You would think he saw a blast ended skrewt," said Ron, breaking the silence. He too was looking at the bespectacled boy.

"I don't know Ron. Something is definitely up. Though it's a good thing a fight didn't start," said Hermione.

"Well, he doesn't look very healthy," said Luna stating the obvious.

"Probably a wrackspurt infestation," said Ron, grinning. Hermione elbowed him, though she too was smiling. Hermione had finally gotten used to Luna eccentricities. Otherwise, they would still be arguing about the existence of heliopaths.

"Wrackspurts make you confused, not unhealthy," Luna stated like it was an obvious fact.

Ginny too smiled to herself and started solving the crossword in The Quibbler with Luna. Ron took a chess board and challenged Hermione to a game which she accepted, looking determined to beat him this time… which she couldn't.

Harry could feel himself shaking, something which his sleep fogged brain couldn't quite grasp, and then all of a sudden, his brain came into an immediate function mode and grasped the fact that he wasn't just shaking: he was being shaken. A week of being held captive did not help with his dislike of sudden touches, and he pushed whoever the offender was to the compartment wall and raised his fists, ready to punch even before his eyes came into focus, all the while mentally kicking himself for being so careless to drop his guard; though a part of him was happy that he had managed to have a good sleep despite his sleeping draught being used up.

Now that his eyes got adjusted to the surroundings, Harry could make out that the person he was holding was a redhead with blue eyes and a lot of freckles. He was long and lanky and could easily throw Harry off if he wanted to. He held up his palms in a peace gesture,

"Whoa mate, slow down there. I was just trying to see if you wanted anything to eat," the boy said, his voice like any other boy who had hit puberty. He was gesturing towards the door of the compartment. There was a lady holding a trolley which contained some assortment of things from which Harry could only identify half of. She was looking on with wide eyes. Harry could also see that there were other people in the compartment who were holding their wands half raised.

Harry removed his hands from the redhead, feeling himself flushing in embarrassment and said to the trolley lady,

"No I'm not hungry", which was a lie, but Harry didn't want to waste his money when he would probably eat in a few hours at the school.

After the lady went off muttering to herself, Harry once again took notice of his surroundings. There was a bushy brown haired girl with brown eyes beside the redhead and was checking over him. On the opposite side there was a dirty blonde haired girl with protuberant blue eyes and a red haired girl who must be the sister of the boy. She had waist length hair and chocolate brown eyes and freckles sprinkled across her face. All of them were staring at him clearly waiting for him to speak.

"I'm sorry, I was startled. I didn't hurt you, did I? Harry asked the boy, still feeling embarrassed about the whole thing.

"Nah! I'm alright. I am Ron, Ron Weasley by the way," he said, offering his hand. Harry shook the proffered and then the bushy haired girl introduced herself as Hermione Granger and the dirty blonde hair girl as Luna Lovegood. After introducing herself, Luna immediately went back to reading her magazine and is she holding it upside down?. The red haired girl, as expected was the boy's sister and her name was Ginny Weasley.

Harry introduced himself, "I'm Harry, Harry Potter."

"Potter as in the Potter? Wasn't he dead?" blurted Ron, then probably realising that his statement may be taken as offensive, said, "Of course you are not dead, I just mean…"

"No, I am just Harry Potter, a muggleborn, I think they said," Harry said, still not completely used to all the terms.

"But- you said Potter," Ron said.

Harry understood his confusion.

Dumbledore had told him that the Potters were a very well known family who were all now dead, killed by that Voldemort guy. Before he could say anything, Hermione answered Ron's question.

"Potter is a common name in muggle world, Ron." Hermione then turned to Harry, looking at him speculatively. "I have never seen you at Hogwarts, which house are you in?"

"I would be worried if you had seen me at Hogwarts, I am a new student here. I will be joining in sixth year," said Harry.

"We all are in sixth year except Luna who is in her fifth year. How come you are joining Hogwarts this late? Are you some transfer student? We don't see transfer students here often," said Ginny.

"More like never," said Ron.

"Well, I am not a transfer student. Dumbledore thought I am eligible for sixth year," said Harry running his hand at the back of his neck, feeling uncomfortable with the way the conversation was heading.

He knew this would be inevitable sometime or another, though they all seemed good enough, he just didn't know them, and he didn't really want to go into everything that happened.

They must have understood his hesitation because they immediately switched topics.

"So which house do you wanna be in?" asked Ron, and he chucked a small box at him. It was a chocolate frog like the Tonks' had given him, which actually jumped around. Wizards' brains seemed to work really weirdly, though he was one of them now.

But Harry tried to refuse, he was starting to feel really awkward now. He could tell they had questions but were refraining from asking, for which he was grateful. But he was feeling like an odd one and he didn't know whether he should accept the chocolate or not. For all he knew Ron may have given it to him because Harry didn't have any and he felt obligated to give him.

But Ron said, "Go on mate, it tastes good," and chucked a chocolate frog in his mouth.

"So, which house do you want to be in," asked Hermione, throwing a half exasperated, half fond look at Ron who had finished the entire frog in one go.

"Um… I really haven't given it much thought," said Harry, but in reality he thought that this was all a big mistake of sorts and he wouldn't end up being sorted into any house and would wind up going back to his old life.

"Well whatever house you happen to be in, better hope it isn't Slytherin," said Ginny, appearing to be very serious about it.

Seeing his confused look, Ron said, "They are a nasty bunch, the Slytherins. The whole lot of them are dark and evil."

"You shouldn't judge the whole house based on a few people, Ron," said Hermione, though she didn't sound very sure herself.

Ginny scoffed, "Few people, Hermione? More like more than half of them. And would you suggest him getting into Slytherin? He is a muggle born. They will all hate him on principle and hurt him too. Don't worry, though. I don't know any muggle born getting placed in Slytherin," directing the last sentence towards him.

Harry didn't believe there was a whole house of evil people and everyone let them be in school without saying anything, though he kept his thoughts to himself.

"Some Slytherins just keep to themselves and don't act like Malfoy and his gang. Though I think it's the Blibbering Humdingers' and Wrackspurts' influence that makes them all act like they have lost half their brain cells," said Luna. She was still reading the magazine upside down and had a quill in her fingertips and a wand behind her ear, and she… she had radish earrings. He had never thought he would ever meet anyone as odd as Dumbledore, but he was proven wrong.

"What are Gibbering Humdinger and Wrackspurts?" asked Harry. He was still quite enthusiastic about the magical world, though there was a war going on and he had experienced it personally. Harry always liked to forget about the past and just move on with life. He had always thought that the past hindered everyone; he has mostly succeeded (at least he hoped so), but it wasn't always easy. Sometimes the past didn't like to be forgotten, so it always chose to make him not forget it. It may not be healthy to just brush away whatever happened to him, but that's how he always coped.

"They're called Blibbering Humdingers, and they add unnecessary thoughts into your head. Wrackspurts make your brain confused," said Luna earnestly, lifting her head from the magazine. Ron and the others were looking like they were holding their laughter.

"Well, that explains Crabbe and Goyle's gormless expressions- a troll appears more intelligent if you compare," said Ron, who was now laughing along with everyone. Harry felt totally out of place as he didn't understand whom Ron was talking about nor did he know what a troll looked like; except having some imagination about how it may look.

Harry was now having new thoughts about them making fun of someone who wasn't there. He hoped they weren't some sort of bullies; he was starting to like them.

A part of his brain said, they wouldn't be kind to you if they were bullies now, would they?

Well, maybe they are waiting for the opportunity, said another part of his brain.

Harry knew now he was overthinking about the whole thing, but he couldn't help it; he was like that. Seeing Harry's baffled state, they went into another round of laughter.

After taking a deep breath, Ginny said, "Don't worry, we all are a bunch of oddballs."

"Yeah, I could see that, and I am not one you would call normal either," Harry said, with a slight grin. Ginny laughed again and Harry thought it suited her.

"How do we get sorted?" asked Harry. He had been wondering about this for a long time.

When asked, Dumbledore had just said "I wouldn't want you to miss out on the experience, Harry," with twinkle in his eye which he had come to associate with Dumbledore.

"Well, you have to battle a troll and then complete a set of tasks," said Ginny seriously. Harry was sure she was having him on, but he couldn't be completely sure. These wizards sure seemed like the type to set a battle with a troll for a sorting and a battle with perhaps a dragon for graduation.

Hermione looked about to say something but stopped herself and nodded seriously, though he could swear he saw a hint of a smile at the corner of her mouth. Ron grinned evilly and looked like he was enjoying himself, but his demeanour changed suddenly as though remembering something and said, "They are just having you on. You don't need to fight a troll or anything. I won't spoil it for you, though."

Ginny had her mouth open and even Hermione looked like she hadn't expected this.

"You are no fun, Ron. The twins aren't wrong, Percy is rubbing off on you," said Ginny.

Ron looked scandalised at the very thought, but Harry blurted out,

"You have three more brothers?"

Harry knew they could have taken offence to his statement, but he was just shocked that there were three more brothers.

They all grinned at that, and Ron said, "Not three, but five more. We are total seven," he sounded a bit embarrassed at the end. But Harry thought it was great to have such a huge family.

"Well, it must have been fun growing up," Harry said, a note of wistfulness escaping through his mouth. He hoped they didn't catch it.

"Well, I wouldn't say growing up with these gits and pricks was fun," said Ginny, and Ron swatted at her playfully. Hermione rolled her eyes at them, and Luna simply smiled.

"Well, I hope you get sorted into Gryffindor, it would be good to have another boy in the dorm. My dormmates are good and all, but, you know, we are not that close," said Ron.

"Yep, it would be good to have at least one boy who isn't completely dense," said Hermione.

"Hey!" exclaimed Ron, acting like a wounded puppy, while Ginny nodded enthusiastically and laughed.

Harry didn't know why he was feeling a warm comfortable weight settling in him, it was just an offhand command.

"It would be good to have you in Ravenclaw too, but we wouldn't have classes together," said Luna, her voice not sounding as dreamy as it did when she was talking about her magical creatures.

"Isn't Ravenclaw the house for the intelligent? I don't think I am that intelligent," said Harry. If he was sure about one thing, it was the fact that he wasn't a coward. And he also knew he that despite not being very intelligent, he wasn't dumb. But there was a lot of difference between both.

"Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure, and sometimes that treasure is hidden till the right moment," said Luna.

And before Harry could think about the quotation she had said, the train gave a huge jerk, and a loud sound of something heavy falling on the train reached his ears, and someone screamed very, very loudly.

A.N: You may be wondering where Neville is, he is in the next chapter.