Chapter Two

Ever Mindful

"So, why did you want to come back to the Zoo, Dudley?"

It had been Dudley's idea to come back. When they'd gone for his birthday, they'd been on something of a tight schedule. Uncle Vernon had made reservations at a restaurant that day and they'd had to cut the trip short.

Dudley looked up from where he was watching an Ocelot wash in its habitat. "Huh? Oh, no real reason –just wanted to go before we all left for school. Sides, Pierce was here last time and I wanted to see some of the big cats and the snakes without him blubbering in my ear like a big old baby."

"Makes sense," Harry eyed his lemon pop. They never lasted long enough. He'd have to part with another portion of his allowance and buy another one. "Do you want to see the reptile house? It's getting hot. There're enough animals in there that we can wait out some of the worst heat. Aunt Petunia will kill us if we start the semester with sunburns."

"Worry about yourself, Mister Pasty." Dudley sipped his cola. "I'll get a manly tan. You're the one who spends all day in doors. Do us all a favor and join a sport when you get to school. You could use some time outside."

"…whereas you could use a little time inside with your text books." Harry countered. He finished off the last bits of his lemon pop. "Let's go. They spent all last week renovating the Reptile House and I want to see whether or not it was worth the money. The paper said they spent over 130,000 pounds on that thing."

"Only you would know that, Harry-head." Dudley snorted, but started off in the direction of the reptile house anyway. "You think they'll have any man eating anacondas in there?"

Harry could see when he was being baited. "I doubt even the hungriest anaconda would eat a man. For one thing they only eat once a month because it takes them so long to digest and for another thing they take so long to move that they literally just lay there and wait for things to walk into their mouths."

"You are such a kill-joy." Dudley rolled his eye. "Well at least the vipers are still cool. You can't tell me that a rattle-snake isn't vicious."

"Well, actually…" Harry broke off as Dudley scowled at him.

"Let me have my fantasies, Harry. You can tell me the truth after we get out of the house. You can talk my ear off then."

Despite the rather scathing article Harry had seen about the Reptile House, he found it was much nicer than the old one. The previous specimen had been un-air-conditioned and on the fast track to becoming decrepit. He was pretty sure it had to have been built in the fifties. The snake habitats weren't as big as the environmentalist had liked, but they were much bigger than the old ones.

"Hey, they put in water fountains. Cool!" Dudley pointed out a rather Disney-fied water fountain that appeared to be a fiberglass sculpture of a coiled snake holding up a basin of water and spitting 'venom' into it.

"I'm going to go see the Pythons, Dudley. Are you coming?"

"I'm going to see the vipers first. There's a couple of Mambas in from Africa this month. They're going to be moved next week so I want to see them now." Dudley nodded towards the special displays in back. "You go. I'll catch up with you in a mo."

It was no secret that Harry liked the pythons. One in particular. They'd moved his tank, but it didn't take long to find him. Harry waited until the tank cleared up a bit and then approached. "Hey, there. You're looking bigger since I last saw you." He murmured.

The Brazilian python lifted his head at the sound of Harry's voice. "What elssse do I have to do? I sssleep. I eat. Is it any wonder that I grow? You have ssstayed the sssame sssize. Perhapsss you ssshould do the sssame."

"I'm a human. Humans grow slow." Harry grinned. He'd learned that he could understand snakes a long time ago when he'd come to the old Reptile House on a field trip in primary school. Suring the Zoo renovations, they'd moved the Reptile House to another location in Surrey that Harry could walk to after school. The boa constrictor was a recent addition. He'd only been brought in a few months before. Harry found he and the pythons got on rather well, which was surprising. The vipers were more talkative than the big pythons, but the pythons were more level headed. The vipers were actually rather excitable.

"Mossst humansss do not ssspeak my language." The python observed as he rearranged his coils. "Where is the larger one? He's usually with you."

"Dudley is looking at the vipers in the back. There are some Mambas in one of the rotating habitats in the other room that are on tour from Africa. They're on their way to a zoo in America. He wanted to see them before they left."

"He would." The python tasted the air in his tank. "Be careful, human there are othersss…"

The python's warning came too late. Harry didn't see the other boys before one of them shoved him aside. Caught by surprise, Harry lost his balance and fell over. He slapped one hand to his eyes and caught his glasses before they could go flying.

There were three of them, older from the looks of them, probably about fifteen. Harry recognized them from the one abortive attempt at joint-school field trip with St. Brutus's Center for Incurably Criminal Boys.

"Move it, brat." One of them spat at him as they took his place at the rail.

The python simmered as much as a cold blooded creature could as the boy laughed, yelled, and tapped the glass at him.

"Lookit 'im, these things'll crush your bone. Won't they, Anthn'y?" One of them leered at the unspoken leader of the pack, a particularly large and dense primate named 'Anthony'.

Harry couldn't even begin to describe how much he hated Anthony's gang. He didn't have to deal with them so much since they gave Dudley's group some berth. They didn't like messing with folks who messed back. Still, the group delighted in tormenting the younger kids at Harry's school. Just once… just one he wanted to see them get their just desserts… just once…

Later on Harry would know that the hot/cold feeling that rushed through him was magic. Hindsight was ever perfect, after all. Still, he could only watch in silence as one of the boys reached out to lean on glass that wasn't there anymore…

The python was no slouch, despite being a big lethargic snake. He wasted no time sliding out of the habitat, right between the legs of the boy falling into his tank.

"Thanksss, Amigo." The snake murmured to Harry as he slid past. "Brazil, here I come!"

Anthony's crowd scattered like cockroaches and Dudley came running up to Harry. "I can't leave you alone for a minute, can I?" The larger boy glanced at the tank. "Tell me you didn't do it on purpose." He whispered.

"I… I got angry and they were teasing the python…" Harry felt himself start to shake in the wake of his adrenaline rush. The snake… he'd gotten loose. "Oh Hell, he's trying to go to Brazil."

Dudley sighed. "We'd better catch him. Ruddy snake was born in a tank. He doesn't know where Brazil is! It's on the other side of the bloody world!"

This wasn't the first time that Harry's magic had erupted in a display of mayhem. Dudley had been running interference for Harry ever since they were old enough to realize that Aunt Petunia didn't like 'noisy magic'. It had been Dudley who helped him get down off the roof when he'd re-appeared up there after running from some kids like Anthony and co.

With Harry's attention diverted, the glass reappeared in the front of the tank. Dudley and Harry spared a glance for the thug trapped inside and then looked at each other.

"He let the snake out. Didn't he, Harry?" Dudley declared.

"He must have gotten in there somehow to show off for his friends." Harry agreed.

A nearby adult overheard them and redirected his glare to the boy trapped inside the habitat. The cousins breathed a mutual sigh of relief as he went off for a security guard.

The snake was nowhere to be found. Dudley and Harry spent the rest of the day looking until it was time to go home or risk missing the last bus. Harry felt awful despite Dudley's assurances that they'd done their best.

"It's going to die." Harry explained. "It will probably make it through the summer, but the cold it going to kill it this winter."

"Well, at least it won't be in the cage anymore." Dudley pointed out. "You always said that's what he hated most. I think that maybe a summer outside getting to go where he wants might be worth only living a few more months to him."

Harry gave his cousin a slanted glance. "… when did you get to be smart like that?"

Dudley laughed and shrugged. "Well, usually you're the one who's got to be smart, but you can't do it all the time. I figure if at least one of us is being smart most of the time then we should be ok."

Aunt Petunia was the one to take Harry to the station. Dudley's train was leaving on the same day, but it was on a platform on the other side of the station.

"You write, Harry-head, or when I see you next summer, you'll regret it." Dudley didn't do good-byes well so Harry had just nodded.

Harry and his Aunt stood between Platforms 9 and 10 while she squinted at the ticket. "Just when Wizards start to make sense they do things like this." She muttered as she looked around. "Platform 9 and ¾. You'd think they'd involve a booklet or a map or something. Bloody…"

"… um, Aunt Petunia?" Harry moved quite to interrupt his Aunt before she could start swearing. He nodded towards a group of red-haired children clustered around a small woman in a rough brown coat and a knitted shawl. They were dressed like the people he remembered from Diagon Alley. "I think they're headed towards our platform."

"Excellent eyes, Harry. Go catch one of them before we lose them." Petunia shooed him off in their direction. Harry bolted.

"Excuse me! Excuse me, ma'am!"

The woman seemed to have that sort of instinctive awareness of when someone was speaking to her that seemed to be part and parcel of motherhood. She stopped and looked around at him. Her cinnamon colored eyes flicked over his uniform and back behind him to where his Aunt was pulling the trolley after him. "Ah… bit lost, dear? First time?"

"Y-yes…" Harry panted, a bit out of breath from his sprint. "Um, my Aunt and I can't find the platform." He explained.

"Poor dear, well see that pillar there?" She stepped over to Harry's side and directed his eyes towards one of the thick brick pillars that stood situated about halfway between platforms 9 and 10. "You'll want to go through there. Here, my boys will show you. Fred, be a dear and go first."

The two oldest boys gave her identical looks of exasperation. "I'm George, Mum. Honestly, and you call yourself our mother."

The witch rolled her eyes and sighed. "I'm sorry, dears…"

"Just kidding, Mum! You got it right!" Both of the twin bolted for the platform before she could go for her wand. Fred (or George) winked at him as they passed. "Keep an eye on us." He called back to Harry.

Aunt Petunia caught up to him just as the first twin (George?) went through the pillar. There was a subtle flash of light and he was gone. The second twin (Fred?) followed.

"Oh dear…" Harry heard his Aunt sigh. She patted his shoulder. "Good job, Harry. Thank you for helping us, Mrs. …?" Aunt Petunia trailed off as she realized they hadn't been introduced.

"Molly Weasely, my dear." The witch introduced herself. "Those two hellions who just went through to the platform were my twins, Fred and George. This one here…" She laid a hand on the shoulder of the smaller boy at her side, who side. "… is my second youngest, Ron. He'll be starting Hogwarts this year. This one here is Ginny, my youngest. She won't be starting until next year."

"I'm Petunia Dursley. This is my nephew, Harry." Petunia laid a hand on Harry's head and looked down at him. His thick black hair stuck up through her fingers, rather longer than it had been the day before. She gave a rueful smile and ruffled his hair. "This is Harry's first year as well. Maybe they'll find out why his haircuts don't last more than a day while he's a school."

"Ah, some crib magic will stick like that." Mrs. Weasley clucked. "He'll grow out of it. Trust me, I know. Now, why don't you and Ron go through the platform together, Harry? Best take it at a bit of a run if you're nervous."

"Come on, Mate. I went through last year. It's not like anything." Ron turned his trolley and pointed it at the wall. "You won't even feel a bump. Not unless the twins throw you through the way they did me last year."

"Here, I'll take the trolley through, Aunt Petunia." Harry took his own trolley from his Aunt. Part of his mind was still insisting that the wall was made of brick. You didn't run through brick walls without getting banged up. If he was going to charge that wall then he wanted a trolley between him and it if things went wrong.

As it turned out, the feeling was without merit. He ploughed through the pillar and onto the platform without the slightest resistance. It was as though the wall simply wasn't there, but the platform…

"Oh, brilliant…" Harry breathed.

"Yeah, it sure is something." Ron agreed as they both looked on at the Hogwarts Express resting by the platform in a vision of red, green, gold, and black.

Harry hadn't known that they still made trains like that. The ones he was familiar with were long bullet trains made of chrome and dirty glass.

"Harry! Harry!"

The sound of Hermione's voice had Harry turning towards her before he even really realized where she was. "Hermione!" He waved as soon as he caught sight of a familiar head of bushy brown hair.

The witch reached him with her parents in tow. "Isn't it amazing, Harry? I'm so excited. I've been reading my textbooks ever since we got back from Diagon Alley. I've even learned a few spells! Did you bring Hedwig? I know that Archimedes has been lonely without company."

Harry had forgotten what an experience and excited Hermione was. "Yes, Hedwig's in her cage." Hedwig hooted a serene greeting to Hermione and another to Archimedes who was in his cage on Hermione's trolley. "Hello, Hermione. This is Ron, he'll be starting Hogwarts this year with us. His mum showed us how to get onto the platform."

"Oh, it's a trick isn't it? If Daddy hadn't leaned on the wall at the wrong moment then we'd have still been outside too." Hermione agreed. "Hello, Ron. I'm Hermione Granger. Do you come from a family of wizards, then?"

"Yeah. All my brothers went to Hogwarts and both my Mum and Dad. You're a muggle-born then?" Ron stepped aside as his mother and Harry's Aunt caught up with them. "'Lo, mum."

"Hello, Hermione." Petunia nodded to Mr. and Mrs. Granger who nodded back. "I'm glad to see you made it through. Shall we get everyone loaded up then?"

The twins pulled everyone's trunks up onto the train. They also showed Hermione and Harry where they could put the owls. The train apparently kept a small caboose for them where it was dark and quiet so the birds could nap through the ride. They all sat together by mutual consensus, except for Ron's other brother, Percy, who'd apparently made prefect that year and was sitting in a separate car.

Aunt Petunia stood on the platform waving with one hand while she kept the other wrapped around her waist. Harry waved back through the window until the train pulled away and he couldn't see the platform anymore.

" … butter mellow, turn this stupid fat rat yellow..." Ron sighed as the spell fizzled out and died. "I've been had." He muttered.

"It doesn't seem like a very good spell. All the ones I've seen involve Latin or something like it." Hermione eyed Ron's fat sleepy rat, which lay comatose in the young Wizard's lap. "What book did you read about that spell in?"

"I didn't. The twins told me about it." Ron sighed.

Harry looked up from his transfiguration text. "Well, that explains it. They were probably having you on." He looked back down to his text and grimaced. "I hope this gets easier with a teacher to explain it. The first chapters are all right, but the later chapters are just so dry that I feel like a need a drink of water just opening the book."

"Well, I have some study guides that Mum got for me." Hermione offered. "They're supposed to have been written by a muggleborn to help first generation witches and wizards. That might be one of the problems you're having with your spell, Ron. The author talks about the power that belief has on magic. The way he says it the wands and spells are just… well, foci for the magic. The biggest edge the hereditary witches and wizards have on the muggleborn variety is that they know about magic and have been seeing it since they were born. They don't question it, especially the spells they see their parents do everyday. He says that to perform a spell you don't need skill as much as you need desire."

"So what? My spell didn't work because I didn't want it to? That's silly. I wouldn't have been casting it if I didn't want it to work." Ron groused.

"That's not what I'm saying!" Hermione huffed. "I'm saying that you didn't believe that it would. Look, I'll show you. Give me that rat." She held out one hand in an imperious manner.

Ron hugged his rat close. "No! I'm not going to let you cast a spell on him! You might hurt him."

Hermione colored. "Well… well, FINE. Be that way you… you boy." Harry bristled a little at that last comment and Hermione turned back to him. "Oh, I'm sorry, Harry. No offense meant… to you, anyway."

"Bossy little know-it-all." Ron muttered.

Hermione colored and turned her face away from Ron with one sharp motion.

"Ron, you're being a prat." Harry sighed. "Hermione isn't any of your brothers. She's not going to hurt Scabbers and she's not looking to pull a prank on you. Yes, she's being a bit bossy, but you're being a prat about it too."

The other two children eyed each other and snapped their gazes away towards opposite walls with identical (mulish) expressions. Harry sighed and started to count to ten in his head.

Hermione was the first to crack, but only by a little. Harry had only reached the number five by the time her stiff shoulders deflated and she turned in her seat to look at Ron…by the count of six Ron had done the same. They looked at each other again and without a word, Ron held out Scabbers to Hermione.

"Be careful with him. He's an old rat." Ron warned her as Scabbers squeaked in distress.

"I won't hurt him." She promised.

The young witch arranged Scabbers on her lap and drew her wand out of her sleeve. "Sunshine and butter mellow. Turn this rat yellow!" Harry noted the expression of utter conviction in her eyes. Maybe she was bossy enough to even make magic do what she wanted…

A subtle shimmer of magic drifted down from her wand to envelop the rat. Scabbers shuddered as his fur took on a downy yellow hue… the same color and texture of a baby chick's down.

"Oh, brilliant…" Ron breathed. "It can be done! You're a genius, Hermione!"

The girl blushed and smiled. "Not really, I just read a lot. Um… now how do we turn him back?"

"He should change back on his own after a while, depending on how much power Hermione put into the spell." Harry turned a page. "Transfiguration isn't a permanent change, its temporary. Objects… well, they remember what they're supposed to be. After a while your magic isn't enough to hold it and it snaps back to the way it was. Living things go faster… see? Look, there he goes."

Scabbers had gotten a look at himself in the reflective metal that lined the car door. He shook himself until his downy yellow fur puffed out and then smoothed down to its former hue. With an extremely disgruntled expression, the rat eyed his owner who collected him back.

"Guess he didn't like that." Hermione observed. "Sorry, Scabbers." She apologized.

The rat snorted at her and turned its back so that it faced Ron before it hunkered down into a ball and fell asleep. Ron patted the little grey knot that was his rat. "Don't be offended. That's his reaction to everything."

There was a soft knock at the door and Hermione, being the closest, pushed the door open. A pale boy with dark hair and high color on his round cheeks poked his head into the cab. "Ah… I'm sorry…"

"Oh, let me do it." Harry blinked as a second boy pushed the door all the way open and strode inside. The boy was about Harry's height with pale blonde hair and icy blue eyes. His uniform was of a slightly better make and fabric than Harry's. After a moment, he realized that he recognized him from the tailors at Diagon Alley. The boy's parents had ushered him out of there the moment they'd laid eyes on Dudley and his Aunt. The boy examined the compartment. "Has anyone in here seen a toad?" He sighed.

Harry frowned. "Not that I noticed. Have you lost one?" He peered around the blonde boy to the smaller one who stood behind him.

"Y-yes, his name is Trevor… he's a good toad… but he g-gets lost…" The boy managed a smile for Harry and a shy wave.

"Well, we haven't seen him in here." Hermione declared. "When did you last see him?"

The boy looked helpless for a moment and shrugged. "I was on the platform and… but I saw him in my pocket when we'd gotten on the train… D-draco saw him hop by, but didn't catch him…"

"Well, I didn't know he'd gotten away from someone. My aunt let hers hop all over the place. Well, if any of you see him then let Neville or I know. We'll probably be roaming the halls of this bloody train."

"Wait a moment." Harry put a bookmark in his textbook and stood up. "I'll help you look."

Draco eyed him for a moment. "Wait a moment, I know you from somewhere… you were getting fittings at Madam Malkins a few weeks ago, weren't you? Your friend there was too. You were with the muggles."

"Yes, they were my aunt and my cousin… and Hermione's parents too." Harry cocked his head. "Are you all right?"

"Ah… yes, yes. Of course I'm fine. Come on then." Draco moved with a sort of theatrical grace that made his over-robe billow and swirl behind him. "I don't have all day."

Neville stepped closer to Harry and pulled his should down so that he could whisper into Harry's ear. "Don't mind Draco. He's a bit snotty, but he's all right. Just don't take him too seriously."

Harry nodded and chose not to comment on the fact that Neville hadn't stuttered once. Maybe it was because he was whispering, but there was no real way to know. "Of course," He agreed. "Hermione, can you and Ron stay here and keep an eye on my bag? We shouldn't be long. If the lady with the cart comes by can you get me a mars bar?"

"Sure, Harry." Ron agreed. As Harry and Neville left to follow Draco he heard Ron ask Hermione, "… what's a mars bar?"

Trevor had managed to get into the Owlery cabin. They might not have found him if Hedwig hadn't started up a racket as they passed. Neville collected his toad with every evidence of pleasure.

"Trevor, you naughty boy!" Neville chided the toad. "You're lucky these are Wizard-bred owls. A wild owl would have eaten you up."

Draco sighed at Neville, but it was a tolerant sigh. "You've got a smart owl. The Snowy Owls are supposed to be intelligent, but she's something else. Do you know which breeder she came from? My Owl is nothing but vicious. I actually named him that you know, Vicious."

"Well, no one is going to mess with your mail then." Harry pointed out.

"That's what my father said." Draco shook his head. "Easy for him to say, he doesn't have to handle the beast. I have to use a sleepy charm on him every time I want him to take a letter."

"You can use Hedwig when we're at school if you like. I got her from Eeylop's Owl Emporium, she was a present from my cousin." Harry tugged at Neville's sleeve and directed him back into the main corridor. "Come on, let's go back to the compartment. Where are you both sitting?"

"I… I didn't have a chance to find a seat, neither has Neville." Draco's blue eyes shifted in a manner that suggest to Harry that it wasn't that the other boy hadn't found a seat, but rather that he had a seat he didn't want.

"Well, there's plenty of room in our compartment. You can sit with us. Do you have anything you need to fetch?" If there was one thing Harry knew, then it was how to talk around an issue in a polite fashion. His Aunt was a mistress of the art and she'd passed it on to him.

"No, I've got an enlarging charm in my sleeves." Draco reached into one of his sleeves and pulled out an elegant lunch tin and a thermos. "The cook made me a lunch for the train, but she always makes enough for four or five people."

"Gran gave me a lunch too." Neville spoke up. His stutter had eased over the past half hour so Harry had to assume it took him a bit to warm up to new people.

Harry has made his own lunch and Dudley's too while his Aunt had rushed to get everyone together. He wasn't sure how that would make him appear to the other boys so he just smiled and gave a nod. "Of course. Did you need to get anything, Neville?"

"Ah, no… I…" The boy blinked and took a deep slow breath. His gaze was riveted on something just above Harry's eyes. "You… you didn't mention what your surname was…"

"Oh, I'm sorry." Harry ran his hand through his hair in a nervous gesture. "It's Harry, Harry Potter. I guess we missed out on formal introductions."

"Harry…oh, I see." Neville stole a glance at Draco, who seemed speechless for once. "Um… it's… it's good to meet you. So, Draco said you… you grew up with Muggles?"

Harry nodded. He wasn't sure why they were staring. Was there something wrong with him? "My aunt and uncle took me in after my mum and dad died in a car wreck when I was really little. My cousin was about the same age so we grew up together. My aunt didn't know much about the magical world except what my mum had told her in passing so it was kind of hard for her to tell me much about what I was. I mean, I knew I was a wizard… but not much about what that means." Harry realized that he was babbling and shut up. "… well, there's not much of a story to tell. I'm pretty boring."

"I… I see…" Draco sounded faint. "Ah… we'd better not stand around the halls talking like this. The cart lady should be coming by any time now…"

Ron and Hermione were in animated debate by the time they returned. The cart vendor had been past and sadly, did not carry Mars Bars. As a consolation, Hermione had gotten a little bit of everything to share with Harry since neither of them knew much about Wizard confectionaries.

Harry gladly split the bill with her and unloaded the contents of his lunch box to share out among his new friends. In the back of his mind he made a mental note that next yet he'd have to bring a bigger lunch box and make sure he had enough for everyone. He'd indulged and made up some fried pork-cutlet sandwiches with lettuce and spicy mustard with some German potatoes and green bean vinaigrette salad. He'd also made up some of the Ceylon tea that his Aunt had gotten him for his birthday.

Draco's cook had made a chopped steak sandwich for him. Harry was pretty sure that it was Kobe beef. It had that sort of marbled texture and color that he'd seen on the telly. The sandwich was arranged in a small nest of lettuce with the condiments and toppings arranged to the side. He had some honey glazed carrots to go with it and a braised pear for dessert.

Neville's grandmother had very English notions when it came to food. He had ploughman's lunch of solid bread, a nice cheese, a bit of beef, and an apple. Ron's mother had given him a liverwurst sandwich that he eyed with dismay. Hermione swapped him for her roast beef.

"I tell you what, Harry. If your aunt wants another kid I'll volunteer in a minute. These sandwiches are great!" Ron wolfed one down and Harry chuckled. "Whoever made these is a top notch chef. They could give lessons."

"Well, thank you." Harry took a breath. There was no point in hiding it. "I didn't think I'd get another chance to muck around in the kitchen, so I got carried away this morning. Next year I'll bring extra."

Ron blinked. "You made this?"

Harry shrugged. "I like to cook and my Aunt usually needs the help."

"Harry, these sandwiches are really very good. I'm impressed! You should be going to culinary school!" Hermione had come up with the idea to cut all the sandwiches into quarters so that everyone could have some of each.

"I'll get that recipe for the cook at home." Draco offered. "She's always looking for new things to try." He leaned back with a pumpkin pastry. "I'm absolutely stuffed. If I eat anything at the welcoming feast then I might very well explode."

"I think we just had our own feast." Hermione agreed. "I do hope at least some of us end up in the same house. I'd had to have to start out alone in a new house."

"Well, hopefully some of you will end up in Gryffindor with me." Ron gulped down the last of his own pastry. "Weaselys always end up in Gryffindor. I've got five brothers and not one of them made it into another house, not even Percy and by all rights he should have ended up in Ravenclaw."

"My father says that Weaselys have 'righteousness and tiresome nobility' engraved into their bones." Draco observed and Harry hid a sigh. The two boys had been sneaking measuring glances at each other all afternoon. It had only been a matter of time before they got into it.

"Well my father says that Malfoys go into Slytherin because they feel more comfortable with the snakes." Ron bit out.

Harry cut in quickly. "Yes, now we know what both of your fathers say. That's nice. However, it's stupid to draw conclusions based on a generality. After all, we know what happens when one assumes…"

Draco barked out a laugh. "I didn't think anyone said that except my mother! All right, all right." He held out a hand to Ron. "I won't hold you dad against you if you don't hold mine against me."

"All right…" Ron took the proffered hand and shook it gingerly. "Uh… so what does happen when you assume?"

"It's an old saying." Hermione explained. "It goes: when you assume it makes an 'Ass out of U and Me'. It breaks down the word, although it's a bit of an awkward stretch. Still, it's something of a truism."

"Oh, all right then." Ron subsided. "I probably will go into Gryffindor though. I think my family ghosts would revolt if I didn't, I'd never get another night's sleep again."

"You're telling me." Draco sighed. "You should have heard my father this morning. He's already ordered my scarves and gloves from Madam Malkin. 'Well of course he's going to be in Slytherin, Narcissa. In ten generations no Malfoy has been sorted into any other house except for Bellisima and you know what they said about her'."

"That sounds rough." Hermione eyed Ron and Draco. "It looks like you two have more in common than you thought." She added as an innocent afterthought.

"I think it's safe to say that Harry and Hermione are headed straight for Ravenclaw." Ron shifted the topic away from him and Draco. "Did you know that Harry's read all his textbooks already? He's on his third time through."

"Well, I know who I'm studying with." Draco declared. "Ah… speaking of… Harry, did you mind if I asked you some questions? Tell me if I get too personal."

"Well, sure." Harry set down his potions text. Actually it was only his third time through the charms text. Everything else he'd only read once, except for potions which he'd read twice.

"Did you parents… name you after the Boy Who Lived?" Draco looked slightly pained. "I'd… I'd heard that a lot of parents did that around the time we were all born… some of them even put scars on their kids. I don't mean to be a prat, but you have Neville a scare when he saw your forehead."

"Beg pardon… what about my forehead?" Harry blinked in confusion. He touched the scar on his temple by instinct. "This? Oh, no… my aunt said I got it in the car smash that killed my parents… it's the only scar I've ever kept actually. I… I uh, tended to heal things when I was young, Baby magic, you know? My aunt says it's probably why I lived."

"I'd read about that." Hermione chimed in. "The Ministry of Magic made the parents change most of the names back, but if you were living with… well, in the non-magical world then it makes sense why they might have missed you. Harry, did you know about that?"

"No, actually. I'd read a little about the Dark Lord's Fall in my History book, but it's got the same problem that most History texts have with current events. You know, it assumes that the reader knows all about it." Harry sighed in frustration and Hermione patted his hand in sympathy.

"I understand, well one of my neighbors is a wizard and he told me all about it." She looked at Ron, Draco, and Neville. "Stop me if I get any of it wrong. I haven't cross-referenced any of it yet. I thought I'd ask the teachers when I got to school."

"O-of course, Herm-hermi…" Neville sighed in defeat. "Of course."

"Well, this is the abridged version… about ten years ago there was a dark wizard, sort of like a terrorist." Hermione paused. "Well, come to think of it he was a terrorist. He was called Lord Voldemort. Most people won't even say his name. They call him 'You Know Who' or 'He Who Must Not Be Named'. Well, for one reason or another he targeted this one family. He killed the mother and the father, but when he went to kill their son…. Well, something happened. It was big. The Dark Lord died and the house was absolutely leveled. The baby who did it was named Harry Potter. No one knows what happened or why, but the boy was named a hero: The Boy Who Lived. More to the point, a lot of parents who had children about that age started changing their baby's name to Harry Potter. Some did it to honor him, but some tried to pass their baby off as Harry Potter. A lot of them went so far as to put a replica of his trademark scar on the baby's forehead."

"Well, it won't be so much of a problem for you, Harry." Draco made a careless sort of gesture towards the rest of the train. "In theory he'll be starting school with us this year, but I doubt anyone's going to go mistaking you for him. For one thing, I doubt the infamous Boy-who-Lived would be caught dead making his own lunches. Speaking of…" Draco's blue eyes drifted down to the makeshift picnic they'd arranged in the middle of the cabin and he snatched the last pork sandwich. "He'll probably be in Gryffindor with Ron here." He added, ruffling Ron's red hair.

"Hey! You've got more to worry about than I do." Ron gave Draco a taste of his own medicine and scrambled Draco's perfectly slicked back locks. "No celebrity is gonna hang out with me. You're the one who'll probably have to put up with him."

"What happened to Gryffindork camaraderie?" Draco sniffed and he put his hair back into place. "Besides, what Gryffindor is going to be caught dead with a Slytherin… besides you, anyway?"

"I think we're going to arrive soon…" Neville commented. He'd been showing Trevor the view from out the window. "I think I can see the castle."

"Oh, brilliant… let me see. I've never seen a castle!" Harry dropped his book and rushed to the window, followed closely by Hermione. They both craned to see.

"Well, it's kind of behind that hill… but see, there's the turrets." Neville pointed at a series of sharp points as they rose over the Scottish countryside. "See!"

Even Draco couldn't hold back a breath of awe as the ancient building came into view.

Their school was actually a massive castle made of granite that looked black against the setting sun. Every window was burning with amber light and shimmered over the lake below. The school was surrounded by a lush forest with trees bigger than any Harry had ever seen. It was a safe bet that no one had ever tried logging there.

"Take that, Smeltings." Harry murmured.

They arrived in a small town within walking distance of the school called Hogsmeade. There was a tiny platform there just for the Hogwarts Express and a large man stood there waiting to greet them.

"That's Hagrid." Ron told them all. "He's the gamekeeper for the school and he tends to do errands for the Headmaster… like picking up the students."

"First years come over to the side w'me." The man had a faint burr to his speech. Harry had to assume he was a native Scotsman. He was certainly big and hairy enough to be descended from the original picts!

As Harry passed the man caught his eye and gave him a merry wink. "Good ta see you." He rumbled. "Now, ye stay over 'ere an' outta trouble. I knew yer Da."

"Well, isn't that a bit of luck?" Draco commented as they went to gather with the rest of the first years. "I bet he's got plenty of stories to tell you."

"Well, my mum and dad both went here." Harry mused. "Still, I… I don't know much about them. It feels good to know that I might be able to learn something more."

"Family is important mate, especially in the Magical world." Ron came up to them with Hermione and Neville. "Lookit me an' Draco. Our dads have been at it for years because our grand-dads got into it in their first year. Last time they met in Diagon Alley they got into a fist fight."

"Which, I might add, my father won." Draco drawled.

Ron eyed him. "Where were you? Your mum won that fight. She broke her umbrella over both our dads' head and screamed at them for brawling in the street like fishermen."

"Oh… I forgot that part." Draco shrugged. "Well, it's still a win for the Malfoys."

"Well at least my mum wasn't there. She casts a nasty hex that I wouldn't wish on anyone." Ron grimaced. "So of course she taught it to my baby sister."

"Now boys, behave yourselves." Hermione chided. "Oh look, boats!"

The platform for the train let off by a dock right on the lake. There were about a dozen little rowboats tethered there. As Harry noted that the last of the carriages were being filled up with the upperclassmen, he realized that the boats were meant for them. "I think we're going to be riding in those." He mused.

"Well… maybe we are going to have to fight that squid, Ron." Hermione teased and laughed as Ron blanched.

"D-don't say things like that, Hermione!" He sputtered.

Harry grinned as the good natured bickering surrounded him like a warm blanket. Well, Dudley had been worried for nothing.

This felt like the start of something good…

Notes: Well, here it is: Chapter Two already!

Ok, so this isn't supposed to be a 'Draco's Redemption' sort of fic. However, while I was thinking on how things might have progressed… it occurred to me that even something as minor as Hermione's placement during the train ride would have drastic results. For example, in the canon Draco did show signs of reaching out to Harry in Madam Malkin's shop where it was clear he didn't know Harry or his lineage from Adam. I kinda figure that he might have gotten a lecture from his father about that and it would have colored his reactions later on.

Also, Neville is a pureblood himself. Now if Draco had come across Neville hunting his toad alone then its possible (especially if Crabbe and Goyle were elsewhere) that he might have helped out from some sort of sense of Noblesse Oblige… especially if Neville wasn't accompanied by a bossy little muggleborn. I love Hermione dearly, but she gives bad first impressions.

After that, well… it's just going with the flow. Draco's still not entirely comfortable with his new friends, but… well… given a choice between Harry and Co. or Crabbe and Goyle… well who would YOU pick?