Author's Note: Before we start, I want to point out two things, first if you haven't read the Side-Story or miss it when I done Dumbledore's chapter, the Longbottoms are alive and in good health. If you want to know how that happened, read Voldemort's Chapters in the Side-Story.

Next I'm altering where Hogwarts Express is located. Whilst I understand it is magic we're talking about, since I posted chapter eight, I came to realize seeing how big Platform Nine and Three-Quarters meant to be, unless they were transported elsewhere. I can't see it being still at King's Cross. So I'm changing it a bit, I hope you like what I'll do.

Chapter Nine…

The Blood Stone - Part 3!

(All Aboard the Hogwarts Express!)

1st of September - King's Cross Station:

Our chapter begins with young Harry Potter in a car that Bowser set up for him, to take him to King's Cross Station, and he was thinking about that morning. Although they knew it would come, it was hard for Harry, Charlotte and Blink to part, as they became such close friends. But they knew that it had to be done, so after tearful goodbyes, and parting gifts, they parted ways. (Charlotte got Harry a watch, that she got from an antique shop in London, Blink got Harry some hidden blades for him, who she had to do a few favours for a past client to get. As for Harry, he got them and himself a three part pendant, that would make a whole pendant which would be in the shape of an heart. Harry got it from an antique shop in London.)

Harry got to King's Cross Station at quarter past ten, more than enough time to get onto Merlin's Station. As he got out of the car, he turned to the driver and said, "Thanks for the lift Mr. King."

"it's fine, Mr. Potter, since Bowser started working with you, I've been getting more jobs as of late, something I haven't done since he retired from his old casino." the driver admitted, "Don't get me wrong. Taking it easy is good and all, but there's taking it easy and there's taking it easy. I just don't like sitting around all day and do nothing. But thanks to Bowser working for you, kid, I've gotten more work to do. Thus keeping myself busy, and preventing me from listening to my wife moaning all the time. So, thanks kid."

"No problem Mr. King, Bowser was a godsend to me, he has helped me out big time." Harry admitted with smile, "Please tell him that I'll contact him in a few days, and if you see Charlotte and Blink before I talk to them, please let them know that I'll contact them either tonight or tomorrow depending how things go."

"No problem kid, I'll tell them," Mr. King told Harry before asking, "Am I going to pick you up here at Christmas?"

"As long as everything goes to plan, you should be. I'll contact Bowser when I know what is going on." Harry explained to the driver.

"Cool kid, I'll see you later then. Take care." the driver said before driving off.

As Harry made his way to the train station, and saw how busy it was at King's Cross Station. He was glad that he sent Hedwig off to Hogwarts that morning and placed her cage into the trunk. He was also happy that all his things were in his trunk, and that the trunk was in his pocket. And that Aneira was in her transport box, even though she didn't like it very much seeing how cramped and small it was. As the place was very packed, with hundreds of people jolting their way through the crowded walkways. Seeing as how many people used trains to get to work, it was to be expected. But that didn't mean he had to like it. If he wouldn't have had his trunk, and had Hedwig and Aneira along with him, people would be looking at him strangely. And that was something he didn't want. And at this moment the last thing he would want, would be to stand out. He wanted to get the feel of the land, to see how things stood before he decided what to do.

Seeing that he had some time to kill, Harry decided that he would get something to eat and drink at one of the cafés before getting onto the train, as he didn't know what food they would serve on the train. As he sat outside the café, Harry saw a young girl, with short honey blonde hair and amber eyes, she wore a long sleeved red top and a black skirt with boots. She also had a pair of blue headphones, around her neck. Harry had to admit that the girl was quite cute, especially as she was drawing.

Normally Harry wouldn't be bothered by such a girl, but a few things stood her out. One was that she had a small trunk on a trolley next to her, with an animal case on top. By the looks of it, there was a black fox within the case. But this wasn't what stood out the most, it was what the girl was drawing. It was the crest of Hogwarts, Harry remembered it from the letter that he got, and on the book Hogwarts: A History.

Seeing the book Harry walked up to her and said, "Hello, mind if I sit with you while we wait to board the Hogwarts Express."

"Err, I don't know what you're talking about." The girl said shyly.

"Oh so if I looked in your trunk, I would not find a wand like mine." said Harry as he summoned his wand from his wand holster to show the girl.

"S-So you're like me, someone magical then?" asked the girl nervously. Harry got the impression that this girl didn't spend much time around people.

"Yes, my name is Harry Potter." Harry introduced himself.

"I-I'm Ember Veil," the girl introduced herself nervously.

"Nice to meet you Ember," Harry said with a smile, "are you excited to be going to Hogwarts?"

"I am." Ember said softly.

For a short while until it was time to board Hogwarts Express, the two of them talked, and at quarter to eleven, they left the café to board the train. Harry was happy that he found where he had to go to, to get onto the train by one of the people at the Asylum, otherwise he would feel awkward asking about a place that no one meant to know. As they got to the barrier that meant to take them to the train Hogwarts Express, he heard a female voice say, "Of all the days that we run out of Floo Powder, it would be the day that you four are going to Hogwarts. We spent money on the Knight Bus that we don't have."

The speaker was a plump woman who was talking to four boys, all with flaming red hair. Each of them was pushing a trunk, and they had an owl.

"Percy dear, do you remember how we got to Merlin's Station from this side?" asked the woman, that Harry suspected was the mother of the group. "As the last time we had to go through it was your second year."

"It was between the platform nine and ten," explained the oldest of the children, "between the barrier dividing the two platforms."

"Mom, can't I go too…" piped a small girl, also red-headed, who was holding her mother's hand.

"Sorry dear, but you're not old enough, Ginny, now be quiet. All right, Percy, you go first." the mother told the oldest, as they got to the barrier.

Harry watched as Percy marched toward platforms nine and ten. He watched careful not to blink, he wanted to see if what he had been told was true. As he hardly believed that walking through a barrier, would get you onto a platform in this area. Just as the boy reached the dividing barrier between the two platforms, a large crowd of tourists came swarming in front of him and by the time the last backpack had cleared away, the boy had vanished.

"Fred, you're next." the plump woman told one of the twin.

"I'm not Fred, I'm George," said the boy, "honestly, woman, you call yourself our mother? Can't you tell I'm George?"

"Sorry, George, dear."

"Only joking, I am Fred," the boy admitted with a smile, and off he went. His twin called after him to hurry up, and he must have done so, because a second later, he had gone - but how had he done it?

Now the third brother was walking briskly toward the barrier he was almost there - and then, quite suddenly, he wasn't anywhere.

There was nothing else to it.

"Excuse me," Harry said to the plump woman.

"Hello, dears," she greeted them, when she saw the two children, "is this your first time at Hogwarts? Ron's new, too."

She pointed at the last and youngest of her sons. He was tall, thin, and gangling with freckles, big hands and feet, and a long nose.

"Yes," Harry admitted, with Ember nodding in agreement, "but we're not too sure about how to get onto Merlin's Station. We heard that it was around here, and all we had to do was to walk through the barrier, but I find it hard to believe."

"Ah I see, not to worry," she said kindly, "it does seem strange for the first timers. All you have to do is walk straight at the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Don't stop and don't be scared you'll crash into it, that's very important. Best do it at a bit of a run if you're nervous. Go on, go now before Ron."

Harry walked up to the barrier slowly, and held up his hand, suspecting it to be solid, but he was shocked to find that it wasn't, as his hand went through it. Seeing it was real, he started to walk through the way as people jostled him on their way to platforms nine and ten, as if nothing was happening. Harry suspected that there was some kind of magic to make them not notice.

o0OoO0o

Merlin's Station:

Passing through the barrier that led to Merlin's Station was an experience in and of itself. It felt like his body was being hit with a very low electric current, not enough to be painful or even uncomfortable, but enough that the hairs on the back of his neck and arms stood on end. It was a most unusual experience.

While most people would never think twice about something like this - at least he assumed none of the witches and wizards who passed through here did - Harry couldn't help but wonder about the barrier. What was it? How was it made? Was it a gateway? Was it some kind of passageway that warped the boundaries of time and space to instantaneously take one to their destination? Or was it something as simple as an illusion that had been placed over the platform to hide it from the non-magical population? Harry promised himself that he would eventually find out and replicate that feature someday.

The feeling of amazement and wonder about the magical barrier soon left him, when something else caused him to look around in awe. As he walked through the barrier, he found himself walking down some stairways leading himself into a long corridor. There were multiple arching intersections. Some were stairs and some just more halls. The floor was laid in polished black and white tiles in a checkerboard style. And also there were many crystal chandeliers all the way through the halls. The walls between the intersection were all decorated. Even though he couldn't figure out what it was supposed to look like, Harry believed it was made by a true artist.

Everywhere he looked were witches and wizards miles around. Filling nearly every nook and cranny of space available. After Ember joined him, Harry walked down the corridor, he saw people going down one of the other corridors, most likely to get on a train where they wanted to on. The most used one was at the far end one of the main corridor, where families were giving tearful goodbyes to sons and daughters, and many friends who looked to be returning students were chatting with each other excitedly.

As he looked at the entrance of this corridor, there was a sign overhead that said Hogwarts Express, eleven O'clock, with smoke coming from it. As Harry walked down the corridor, he found himself on a platform that he could never dream of, there was a huge scarlet and gold locomotive with the name of Hogwarts Express on the front. As Harry looked at the tracks, he found that instead of the normal classical train tracks. They were what seemed to be like crystal pyramids in the middle of the tracks, with the locomotive and carriages floating right above them. Harry figured that since it was floating right above these triangles, the wheels were there only for decoration. As he thought about the smoke too.

And around the platform, animals of all kinds roamed the platform as well. Harry saw everything from owls hooting in their cages, to cats prowling around the legs of people, and he could even get a glimpse of tiny mice darting to and from - some trying to get away from the cats - underneath the legs of students and parents alike, as many of the students were boarding. The few that already had, were poking their heads out of the windows to speak with their parents.

Harry passed a family. A mother, father, son and what Harry suspected was the grandmother. The son was round-faced, short, chubby, and had blond hair and was also somewhat buck-toothed. The mother was like the son, round-faced and blond hair, but she wasn't chubby, but slim and good looking in Harry's option. The father was tall, thin and bony, with brown hair. The grandmother was like the father, but an elderly female version of him, she wore a hat with a stuffed vulture on it and carried a bright red handbag.

"Mum, dad, I've lost Trevor again." the young boy told his parents red faced.

"Oh Neville, not again." the grandmother sighed.

"Mother leave Neville alone, you know what Trevor is like." the father told his mother.

"Frank, stop cordingly the boy, he is the future Lord Longbottom, and he needs to learn responsibility." Mrs. Longbottom told her son.

"Augusta, I know that you care for our son, but he is a child, let him be one now. He is going to Hogwarts." Neville's mum tried to reason with her mother-in-law, "He didn't have much of a childhood because of the training he has been doing, so let him be. He knows how he should act. Just let him be."

"I know that Alice, but..." Augusta began to say.

"Here he is." Frank smiled as he picked up a black and white cat. Harry passed on and took in the sight a bit more.

After taking a moment to take the wonderful sight in, Harry helped to lift Ember's trunk onto the train. He wove in between several people, gracefully sidestepping a pair of students, first years from the looks of them, that had nearly run into him. It wasn't long before he and Ember boarded the train, and after searching through the carts for an unoccupied compartment, he found one that he quickly entered.

Putting Ember's trunk down on the floor, Harry smiled as Ember sat down. He pressed the catch on his wand holster, and the wand shot out. And in a smooth and practiced motion, he caught it by the handle, his fingers already resting within the grooves. Pointing his wand at the trunk, he watched, as his smile grew brighter by the minute, as it began to lift itself into the air. Using his wand to guide Ember's trunks movements, he carefully stowed it in the compartment above her seat.

He then sat down and reached into his pocket, where he pulled out two small books the size of his palm. A small wave of his wand later, and the books Hogwarts: A History and The Rise and Fall of Dark Lords through the Ages were enlarged to their normal size, one he gave to Ember and the other he began reading, while Ember read the other.

As his eyes wove their way across the pages, his mind began wondering about the school he was going to, and the small part of him that was nothing more than an eleven year old boy couldn't help but feel excited about the coming school year.

What would he learn when he got to Hogwarts? What would his classes be like? What were the teachers like? The other students? Would he make any friends/allies?

As Harry was thinking about his future at Hogwarts, the sound of people saying their goodbyes, and the cries of sadness of seeing their children boarding for school, and saying goodbye to their families as they got onto the train, were replaced by screams of fear and panic. As Harry looked out of his compartment window, as he warned the Mystic Knights, the Acolytes were attacking.

Harry was about to decide if he was going to leave the train and hunt down the leader of this group, and defeat him, when he saw that the Mystic Knights had arrived. 'So it would seem that they actually took my warning to heart.' Harry thought with a smirk, knowing that this meant that his Asylum would be staying open. Not only that but he would be having a few undercover Mystic Knights appearing at his club soon, he knew he would have to warn Bowser later on, to give him the heads up.

Seeing that there were a few children and teenager still out there, and no way to defend themselves, Harry was wondering what he should do. Should he leave all this to the Mystic Knights, or should he help them to bring the last lot of students onto the train. As Harry thought about it, he knew he was no hero, but at the same time helping them would good publicity for him as the Boy-Who-Lived who helped Hogwarts students and family. This kind of publicity was the kind he needed, if in the future, he wanted people to turn a blind eye to his going ons should things get out of hand.

So he rushed out of the compartment and out of the train, and using the Requip Magic that Syrio taught him, Harry summoned a chest armour, and a magical blade that Syrio gave to him. As he rushed out of the train, he pushed a family out of the way of an energy ball, that almost hit them.

"Get onto the train quick." Harry told them, as mother, father and son got up and got onto the train, as another energy ball came their way. But this time Harry used, his sword to hit the thing, knocking the energy ball back to the Dark Mystic. Making the Acolyte, jump to one side to miss the attack.

Harry was about to run off to help another family, when he heard someone called out, "Harry, duck!"

Upon hearing this, he ducked as a clear like energy ball went passed him, and when he saw where it came from, it was Ember who was leaning out of their compartment window. He was shocked, more so when he saw where the energy ball went. It had hit a Acolyte, and it looked like the gravity around him was pushing him down, making it so he could not move. Seeing this, Harry wondered if Ember was a Mystic like him, and that she had some sort of gravity powers. But he would have to ask Ember later, for now he was in the middle of a fight, and needed to keep moving so he wouldn't be hit.

Harry helped the Mystic Knights where he could, making sure that the families were either on the train, or they were out of the station. Once all the children were on the train, Harry made his way onto the train, as it started to move, leaving the Mystic Knights to clean up.

o0OoO0o

Hogwarts Express:

Once back on the train, he went back to his compartment, making sure no one noticed him. It was easy enough, as they were still in shock at what had happened, and whilst he wanted the good publicity, he wanted to talk to Ember about what she did more. So that was what he was going to do.

As Harry re-entered his compartment, he saw Ember stocking her pet fox, which was laying next to her, as if nothing happened.

As the train quickly moved to get away from the battle, Harry sat down on the other side of Ember, and thought that if the two of them were going to be friends, their pets should at least get along. So he let his familiar, Aneira, out of her box, who only looked at the fox for a few seconds, seeing that it wasn't a threat to her or her owner, she laid next to Harry. Believing that this fox was nothing but an ignorance and nothing special to her.

"So Ember, who is your little friend?" Harry asked softly, starting of first, so she felt safe, "Mine is Aneira, and she is a Tigran, which is an Ice Tiger who can become a cat as they want."

"Her name is Vixen," Ember said softly, "I found her a few years ago, when she still was a pup."

"That's nice, I got Aneira this summer." Harry explained with a smile, "Anyway, I want to thank you for your help back there, if you didn't help, I don't know what would have happened."

Ember blushed at being praised at this, she never had someone thank her before. "It was nothing, I just did what I could to help you."

"So you're a Mystic ey?" asked Harry.

"If that's what you call those like me then yes I am, to be honest I didn't know about the Magical World until a few months ago." Ember explained shyly.

Before Harry could reply, there was a knock on his compartment door before it was opened without waiting for a response. As the door opened, a redheaded boy came in, the same boy that he saw earlier with his family. "Do you mind if I sit here?" The boy asked, " I'd rather not spend the train ride alone in an empty compartment that I've found, and the other compartments had families from the attack, and those with only students didn't want me with them."

"Do you mind Ember?" Harry asked his new friend.

"No I don't mind, if it's ok with you." replied Ember.

"So it is fine, take a seat." Harry told the boy, as the boy sat where Ember was, as she moved next to Harry.

Just as the boy sat down the compartment door opened again and the two red twins Harry saw with the boy who'd just entered burst into the room looking excited. "Hey Ron, there you are, are you alright?"

"I'm fine Fred, George, I'm just sitting with these two, I'll be fine." said the boy now known as Ron.

"That's good to hear little bro…" one of the twins breathed in relief.

"Listen bro, we're going down the middle of the train, Lee Jordan's got a giant tarantula down there!" One of the twins said giddily.

"Right…" Ron mumbled, looking a bit frightened at the thought of the spider.

The twins then looked towards Harry and Ember for the first time. "Sorry guys, let us introduce ourselves, we're Fred and George Weasley, and this is Ron, our brother." They said grandiosely, and in perfect unison. "See you later Ron." They chirped before ducking back out.

"Your brothers I take it?" Harry asked a smile.

"Yeah, they like to prank people whenever they can." Ron said with a sigh.

"Oh really, I do like a good prank." Harry commented slyly.

"Oh I think you'll like the twins then. Just be careful of what they give you; they like to prank people by giving them food that's been enchanted to do something embarrassing. I ate a biscuit once. It turned into a sock."

Harry laughed. "Thanks for the warning, Ron. Anyway, my name's Harry Potter."

"And I'm Ember." Ember said shyly, feeling uncomfortable with the new person being there.

"Blimey, are you really?" The redhead breathed, not bothering about the girl. "Do you really have - you know…" He pointed at Harry's forehead.

Harry sighed as pulled back his bangs to show the lightning bolt scar. Ron continued staring like a slack jawed moron, at least he looked like that to Harry. He ended up having to cover it up again with a hopeless sigh before the other boy blinked and broke from his trance. Harry knew he'd be getting some attention for being famous but the boy was acting like famous people were a rare thing. Some level of shock or surprise was expected, but it was like he was the only celebrity in Magical Britain or something silly like that.

"So that's where You-Know-Who…?" Ron began to ask.

"Yes." Harry answered shortly. "I can't remember it though."

"Nothing at all?" Ron investigated further.

"A green light, but that's it." The last Potter replied. He was growing annoyed, but calmed himself as he realized nobody actually knew what happened, so curiosity was perfectly natural. Even if the boy sitting across from him was being pretty tactless about it.

"Wow." Ron breathed again, like Harry had just revealed that the secret of the universe was cheese. He sat and stared at Harry for a few moments, then, as though he had suddenly realized what he was doing, he quickly looked down. As he did, he saw the books; Hogwarts: A History and The Rise and Fall of Dark Lords through the Ages sitting in Harry's and Ember's laps. "You two are reading those then?" He sputtered.

"Yeah, I read them and my other school books over the last month." Harry explained to the boy, "And Ember is reading them now to catch up."

"What!" Ron shrieked. "Did you really read them all? Didn't you have any fun at all?"

"Of course I read them all, and I had fun reading them." Harry explained. Judging by the horrified look on Ron's face Harry guessed that Ron was the kind of kid that only worked when he had to and only wanted to have fun. Thinking of a way to explain it, Harry thought of an idea while Ron was busy trying to wrap his mind around reading being fun. "Ron, is all of your family magical?"

"Err - yes, I think so," Ron said thoughtfully as he tried to remember something. "Although I think Mom's got a second cousin who's an accountant, but we never talk about him."

"So you know a lot about the history of the Wizarding World right?" Harry pressed. Ron nodded, so Harry finished his point. "That's why I read all my books, to find out everything that I can about the world I'm now entering, and lending Ember one of my books. Whilst I knew about magic for a while now, it wasn't until recently that I have decided to join the Wizarding World, but now I am, and I want to know as much as I can." Harry explained to Ron, not telling him everything.

"WHAT!?" Ron shouted in horror that the Boy-Who-Lived wouldn't be joining the Wizarding World, making Ember get closer to Harry in shock and fear.

Harry put his arm around the young girl, wondering why she was like this, he would have to ask her later. For now he had to explain himself, "I'm not sure about Ember's story, but for me I learnt about magic when I was young. I was attacked by Witch Hunters, and the Mystic Knights rescued me and informed me about it. The Mystics and the Wizarding World, and I have to admit, that because what I learnt about the Wizarding World back then, I didn't see myself coming into it. As the Wizarding World seemed to be stuck in the Dark Ages

"What do you mean?" asked a confused Ron.

"Whilst you were brought up in the world, you wouldn't understand," Harry explained to the young red head, "but for me we no long use torches and candles to see in the dark. Whilst you have Portkeys and the Floo to get around instead of horses, the Muggles have cars, planes and things to get around, sure it isn't as fast, but we have to do what we can without magic. But because of that we've been able to go into space, and land on the Moon, and a probe on Mars, and have sent things to other planets too. We have many things that your Wizarding World could never dream of to make our life better.

"And as for the class that we learn at Hogwarts, the only decent class I can think of are Potions, Charms and Herbology, the rest have no real use in the everyday life. You might think differently seeing as you live in this world, but this is how I feel. Either way, why would I want to come to a world that I see has no benefits for me to go into the world. I could easily learn magic myself, or learn from the Mystics. The only reason I am going, is to see where my parents went to learn what they knew, and see if I can find more about them."

"Ah I think I can understand that, I guess…" Ron admitted. Ron would admit he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, and that he hated to read, but he could understand from someone who he heard was raised within, to think about coming to the Wizarding World when they used to a different world. (Although it would be a horror if the Boy-Who-Lived didn't go to Hogwarts.) And with the Mystics around, it was possible for those with magic to learn a different sort of magic, something Ron didn't want to do. Sure it sounded interesting, but it would mean more work and something he did not want to do. So to change the subject, he said, "So Harry, I heard you went to live with Muggles, what are Muggles like?"

"Well most of them are awful, at least the ones I lived around, but there are a few good ones. My aunt uncle and cousin are especially awful, though." Harry commented. "So Ember, what about you? Do you have a family?"

"They are dead." was all that Ember said, she did so emotionlessly, her voice was cold and dead.

Neither Ron or Harry knew what to say to that, so to move on from the subject, Harry said, "Wish I had three wizard brothers like you."

"Five brothers," Ron corrected automatically. For some reason he was looking gloomy, "I'm the sixth in our family to go to Hogwarts. You could say I've got a lot to live up to. Bill and Charlie have already left the house - Bill was Head Boy and Charlie was Quidditch Captain for his team. Percy's a Prefect. Fred and George mess around a lot, but they still get really good marks and everyone thinks they're really funny. Everyone expects me to do as well as the others, but if I do, it's no big deal, because they did it first. You never get anything new either. Not when you have five brothers. I've got Bill's old robes, Charlie's old wand, and Percy's old rat."

Ron reached inside his jacket and pulled out a fat gray rat, which was currently asleep. Before he could explain anything about the rat Harry quickly said, "Ron can you put your rat back in your jacket."

Ron did so, wondering what the other boy was so jumpy about all of a sudden. "Why? Are you afraid of rats?"

"No, but Aneira here might eat it." Harry replied as he pointed to his Tigran, and then pointing to Ember's fox, "If not Aneira, Ember's fox, Vixen, might."

"Oh, I didn't even notice them, thanks for the warning. Anyway, his name is Scabbers and he's useless, he hardly ever wakes up. Percy got an owl from my dad for being made a Prefect, but they couldn't aff- I mean, I got Scabbers instead." Ron's ears went pink. He seemed to think he said too much, because he went back to staring out the window.

'So Ron's family doesn't have much money?' Harry thought with interest, this could be useful and dangerous to him. Useful as he could use that fact that he was famous and had money to get them on his side. Dangerous as if one or two were the jealous type, they could backstab to others to make a name for themselves. And if they were the kind of people who didn't care about money, then there could be a different type of problems to deal with. For now Harry would have to see what Ron was like, and act accordingly.

Harry was thinking about changing the subject, when he looked out of the window and saw that they weren't in a tunnel like they were earlier. They were above ground and moving away from London.

With one last look out of the window, Harry asked, "So, tell me, what you think we should do until we get to Hogwarts, if you're so averse to reading?"

This got Ron thinking, what should he do, and then he thought of something, "Do you know the game Exploding Snap?"

"No, how do you play it?" Harry replied, with Ember nodding in agreement.

With that Ron started to teach Harry and Ember how to play Exploding Snap.

o0OoO0o

It has been about two hours since Ron started to teach Harry and Ember how to play Exploding Snap. There seemed to be three variants of Exploding Snap. The first one, the "Classical" Game, is quite simple, however it requires some reflex. The rules are simple: when you see two identical pictures, hit the card with the top of your wand – one point is yours. The player with the most points wins the game. The hard part is, the cards shuffle faster and faster. The second one, the "Patience" Game, is a bit harder. You have twenty cards and you reveal them in pairs. You have to find two identical pictures. Cards explode soon after you reveal them for the first time (of course, if you don't find a pair before). The third variant is Bavarian Rules Snap. In this variant, cards are dealt in a circle, with identical cards to those already dealt being placed in the centre. The identical cards must be tapped in a limited time frame, or else all of the cards will explode.

As they played Exploding Snap, Ember just sat next to Harry, nervously as the cards exploded every so often. Whilst she wouldn't talk about her past or family, Harry got the feeling that she wasn't used to being around people and wasn't used to loud sounds. Not for the first time since Harry met her, he wondered what happened to her to be like this. It didn't mean he didn't like the outcome of it, for whatever reason she had glued herself to him, and he was thinking about how to use that.

Ron talked about his family, and from what Harry could tell, he was the jealous type, and wanted the easy life, not wanting to work for thing, Whilst Ron didn't say it out loud, Harry got the feeling that Ron suspected things to be handed to him, because he had a hard life. Harry could laugh at this, Ron knew nothing of hard life, and that to get a better life he had to work for it, just like Harry did himself. But Harry knew that it was still early, and Ron might yet be useful, so he would keep an eye on the red head, but would be careful around him.

As for Harry, he talked a little about himself, nothing big that would reveal too much about himself. Only that he was attacked by Witch Hunters when he was younger, which allowed him to learn about the Magical World and his parents, and went to Mystic Island. He also admitted he could do Wandless Magic, but not that he had other powers other than knowing how to use Requip Magic, that he learnt over the last two weeks.

During their time, Ember admitted hearing about what Harry could do, and that Ron was from a Wizarding Family, she would be the worst in her year. But Ron assured her that she wouldn't be, as there were loads of people who came from the Muggle World as well, and even those growing up in the Magical World weren't that far ahead, since most people couldn't do magic until they get their wands when they turned eleven.

They also talked a bit about Merlin's Station and how the Mystics were involved in the creation of it. It started when Harry asked why people took the train instead of a Portkey or the Floo, when Ron admitted that although he didn't know why, he did know that it was thanks to the Mystics that Merlin's Station came to be. From what Ron remembered one of his brothers telling him, when the Mystics learnt about how the old Platform Nine and Three-Quarters was made, was worried about how much magic was used to create it and that should something happen to the old Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, it could not only destroy King's Cross, but also half of London with the explosion of magic.

So to make sure that it wouldn't happen, they helped to create Merlin's Station, where not only would there be a train to Hogwarts, but most of England. Ron thought that the Hogwarts Express was created for Muggles, because of the laws surrounding them, and over time it only came common for them to use the train, and didn't think twice when Merlin's Station was created, and now often use it to get to places. And if what Ron heard from his father was right, they were trying to create more magical underground stations to be able to travel around the world and not only in England. Ron also explained that unlike before where the train only stopped once they got to Hogwarts, the Hogwarts Express would take a different route to pick up students around the country. As the Mystic found it stupid for people to travel far to get to London and return to wherever they came from, this way they would go to key points where the Mystics created so that new students wouldn't have to go far. And to make up the time travel to and from London and Hogwarts, they made the train faster.

During his talks about the Mystics, Harry sensed that Ron might have a problem with the Mystics, so he asked the redhead about it. Ron admitted that he wasn't sure what to think about them, seeing he was brought up within the Wizarding World, he didn't like them changing things that didn't need to be changed. He like his mother didn't see the reason for change, when thing were fine as it was, and the Mystics was forcing change on them when many didn't want the change to happen.

On the other hand, Ron had to admit that the changes that the Mystics did make, were good ones and if some of them weren't trying to change the WIzarding World's believes and customs, more would be willing to be okay with them. For now Ron was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, and make up his own opinion of them.

As they played Exploding Snap Harry felt good to finally be a kid, and not Maverick, and running a business. It's not like he didn't enjoy being Maverick, and running his business, and working on to become a famous Dark Lord. No, a Overlord. But it felt nice to just be a kid. So he decided that whilst he was at Hogwarts, he could take a break for a while and just be a kid.

After finishing another game of Exploding Snap, Harry was feeling hungry, and so looked at the watch that Charlotte give him and saw it was one o'clock. And asked Ember and Ron, "Hey guys, would you like to come with me to the restaurant carriage that I saw at front?"

"Sure Harry." Ember said with a smile.

"No thanks, my mum made me some lunch." Ron sighed as he took out a lumpy package and then upon unwrapping it, revealed four sandwiches. He pulled one of them apart, "She always forgets I don't like corned beef." Ron declared glumly.

"Are you sure about that?" Harry asked with a smile, but inside he was hoping that Ron would deny the request, but part of his plan for going to Hogwarts required this. He needed to be seen making friends with the light sided people, and from what Harry could tell Ron was from such a light sided family. So he needed Ron to cover his bases, so knowing this he said, "Your sandwiches seem dry, why not come with me and I'll get you something fresh. I would like us to be friends, and I help my friends out. And do you want to spend all your time in this compartment all the way to Hogwarts, it would be no fun?"

Ron looked thoughtful at this, before deciding, "If you don't mind I would like that, as you said, it would be no fun spending all my time in here."

So with that the three of them left the compartment, leaving Aneira and Vixen behind, and headed off to the restaurant carriage of the train.

o0OoO0o

As Harry, Ember and Ron walked through the carriages, they saw many of the compartments full of parents with their children. It would seem that none of the parents wanted to leave their children until they reached Hogwarts, after an attack on their children Harry could understand this. He was glad that none of them recognized him yet, sure he wanted the publicity, but he wanted to wait at least until he got to Hogwarts before it happened.

Either way, as they got to the restaurant carriage, Harry and Ember saw it was like a few café back at King's Cross. The counter was found at the bottom of the carriage, and they had to pass a few tables to get there, a few of them were attached to the windows, and some tables were set of as booths. There was soft music playing as they came into the carriage.

As they got to the counter, it was set up with a refrigerated display case as the counter, where all the cakes and other good food was kept. Along the wall was not only a hot display case to keep the food hot, but a cooler to keep the drinks cool, and a few other hot food stands too. And at each end of the refrigerated display case, there was two vending carts full of sweets. In one cart, they had the basics sweets Harry knew of, and in the other they had Bertie Bott's Every flavour Beans, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Chocolate Frogs, Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes, Licorice Wands, and a number of other strange things Harry had never seen in his life. Ron's eyes was almost popped out of his eyes as he saw this, and said, "I have to give it to the Mystics, they do know how to do a setup like this."

"This is nothing, on some high class Muggle Trains, they have some better things than this." Harry informed Ron, "Now you two, pick a few things and I'll pay for them."

Ron got a few of the Wizarding World sweets and drinks, along with some hot food, Harry was glad that he didn't over do it. Not wanting to miss anything. Harry and Ember purchased a mixer of Muggle and Wizarding items, a few of the things that they got was Chocolate Frogs for himself, Cockroach Clusters, Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans and a few other items. Ember was confused until it was explained to her that the Chocolate Frogs and Cockroach Clusters were just enchanted chocolate and not candy coated frogs. Although they were warned that when they said Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, they meant every flavoured and should be careful when eating them, as they wouldn't know what they were eating.

Harry was about to pay, when the lady behind the counter said, "This is free of charge Mr. Potter."

"Why is that?" Harry asked the sales lady curiously, "Is it because I'm the Boy-Who-Lived?"

"No, although I would have give you a discount," the lady said with a smile, "no, this is for what you did earlier."

"What did Harry do?" Ron asked curiously.

"Haven't you seen the news yet?" asked the sales lady.

"No we have, we've been in our compartment." explained Ron.

"But didn't you use your Viewing Lacrima in your compartment?" asked the lady, "There's one in each compartment."

"Didn't know there was one in there." this came from Harry.

"Oh I keep on telling the boss that we should have a list as to what compartments have in them nowadays." the sales lady said with a sigh. Without another word she pulled her wand out of her side-holster, and waved it, and a few seconds later a Viewing Lacrima lowered from the ceiling, and as she turned it on, she said to Ron, "This is what I mean about what Mr. Potter did."

Harry and Ron saw a white male seating at a disk, with the letters WNN, behind him, they didn't know what the channel was, but they watched on to see why the lady put it on.

"Welcome back to Wizardry News Network, I'm Nick Fox," said the male news reporter, "For those who are just joining us, let us recap on the main news so far today. At eleven o'clock this morning, Merlin's Station was attacked by a group known to the Wizarding World as The Acolytes. Those who are new to the Wizarding World, The Acolytes are a group of terrorist from ten years ago that whilst depended for a while, still make a noise of themselves."

As he was saying this, behind him was a film of the attack as it happened. "I know many of you are worried about this, but you don't have to be. This was the first big attack in years, and it was stopped thanks to the Mystic Knights. Whilst that alone would be news by itself, what made it bigger and the reason that our cameras were there in the first place was who helped with defending the students and their family, was none other than Harry Potter, or those in the Wizarding World call him the Boy-Who-Lived." And film changed to where Harry was wielding his sword, as he defended the students and their family, the reporter went on to say, "Those who are new to our world, Harry Potter is known for -"

That was all Harry and Ron saw, as the sales lady flicked her wand and the Viewing Lacrima went back into the ceiling. "Wow Harry, did you really do that? How come you're using a sword?" Ron asked in fear, awe and shock, but with a hint of jealousy. Harry could tell that Ron didn't like that someone else was getting the attention and not him. He knew that would have to be careful around the kid, as Harry knew that jealousy can become a problem.

But for now he would bare with it, in time Ron might get over himself and be a better person, so he said, "That's me, although I wasn't suspecting that there would be a camera there, I did what I had to help those who needed it." That was a lie, he knew that there was a camera, not a news reporter though, as he set it up for one of the people he worked with to be there with one. So that should the Acolytes attack and the Mystic Knights didn't come, it would be recorded and so he could leak it to the news out later. And if the Mystic Knights did take his warning seriously and defend the train, should Harry decide to help, they would be there to take the pictures and leak them to the news. Harry never suspected the news reporters to be there, then again he should have, he was the Boy-Who-Lived and to everyone concerned this would be the first time back in the Wizarding World and news reporters would want to get a picture and an interview with him if they could talk to him.

Either way back with Ron's question about the sword, he answered with a half-lie, "I learnt how to use the sword over the summer, as I learnt that magic can't always win a fight and would need another way to defend myself. Which is why I learned to use a sword, I'm not that good yet, I'm only alive now because they weren't expecting me to fight back using a sword. Next time I might not be so lucky."

"Okay…" was all Ron said, not really getting it, but the sales lady smiled but said nothing, as she did. As magic can't always win a battle, either if the other person was more powerful, or they had some other way to defeat the other person's magic.

Anyway, after they got their sweets and were told about where the Viewing Lacrima could be found, the three eleven year olds returned to their compartment to eat their sweets. The first of the magical sweets that Harry and Ember tried were the Chocolate Frogs, which they found would jump around for a few moments before they stopped so they could eat them. It was disturbing at first, as they looked and acted like real frogs, it was only until they ate the first one that they realized they won't. But the three did have fun watching Aneira and Vixen playing with them as they jumped about to get away from them.

As they finished eating their frogs, Ember was about to toss her wrappers away, only to pause as she found small cards with a person on the front among the wrappings. "What are these?"

"What?" Ron asked, looking up from where he'd been wadding up his Chocolate Frog wrapper into a ball. Seeing the cards in Harry's and Ember's hand "Oh, you two wouldn't know about those would you? There are collectible cards that come with the Frogs. Ooh, that one's Agrippa, I'm missing that one!" Seeing the card in Harry's hand.

Harry absently tossed him the card and looked through the cards from the Frog he'd eaten earlier, one of them was a very stereotype of a wizard staring back at him testily. He wore half-moon glasses, had a long, crooked nose, and flowing silver hair. His beard and moustache were truly wizard quality, and Harry wondered if it was a requirement for Wizards to have beards, after having met Hagrid. Underneath the picture was the name Albus Dumbledore.

"So this is Dumbledore!" Harry said thoughtfully.

"Don't tell me you'd never heard of Dumbledore!" Ron said only to remember their previous conversation.

"Oh I know of him, but I never seen a picture of him." explained Harry as he flipped the card over and read the information on the back.

ALBUS DUMBLEDORE

Currently Headmaster of Hogwarts

Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern times,

Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the

Dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the

twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work in the field of

Alchemy with his partner, Nicholas Flamel. Professor Dumbledore

enjoys chamber music and tenpin bowling.

Harry turned the card back over, Ember saw, to her confusion, that Dumbledore's picture had disappeared. "He's… gone?" Ember wondered aloud.

"Well, you can't expect him to hang around all day." Ron joked, as if it was obvious. "He'll be back. Bollocks, I got Morgana again and I have about six of her ... do you want it? You can start collecting."

"In the Muggle World people just stay put in photos." Ember revealed.

"Do they? What, they don't move at all?" Ron sounded amazed. "Weird!"

But Harry smiled at his new friend and said, "I know how you feel Ember, when I first found out about magical pictures being about to move, I also found it strange. Although from what I've been able to find out, the pictures that have frames in other homes can move between them so they can talk to the people in the homes. But for cards like these, I have no idea why they leave and where they go to. I never thought about collecting them to be honest, no real point, but if you're into such things go ahead."

Ember stared at the card as Dumbledore sidled back into the picture on his card, just like Ron said it would do. Ron was more interested in eating the frogs than looking at the Famous Witches and Wizards cards, but Ember couldn't keep her eyes off them. She found them interesting, and wanted to collect them, as it looked fun and would get some cool pictures that could move. Soon she had not only Dumbledore and Morgana, but Hengist of Woodcraft, Alberic Grunnion, Circe, Paracelsus, and Merlin. After a while, she finally tore her eyes away from the Druid Priestess Cliodna, who was scratching her nose, to snatch one of his bags of Bertie Bott's Every flavour Beans from the seat next to her.

"You want to be careful with those." Ron warned Ember, "When the sales lady warned us that they do every flavour, she wasn't kidding, she did mean they do every flavour. Oh you'll get all the ordinary ones like chocolate and peppermint and marmalade, but then you can get spinach and liver and tripe. My brother George reckons he had a booger flavoured one once."

Ron picked up a green bean, looked at it carefully, and bit into a corner. "Bleaaargh! See? Sprouts!"

They had a good time eating the Every flavour Beans. Harry and Ember got toast, coconut, baked bean, strawberry, curry, grass, coffee, sardine, and was even brave enough to nibble the end off a funny gray one Ron wouldn't touch, which turned out to be pepper.

o0OoO0o

Soon they begun to see the countryside, now flying past the window, was becoming wilder. The neat fields had gone, replaced with woods, twisting rivers, and dark green hills. Every so often they would go underground to pick up the students going to Hogwarts. A few parents got off the train when they did so, as they had other children back home that they left at King's Cross to get back to, but the rest stayed on the train.

As the time passed, there were a few people coming into the compartment to give thanks to Harry for helping them at Merlin's Station. At one point there was a knock on the door of their compartment and the round-faced boy Harry had passed on Platform Nine and Three-Quarters came in looking like he had lost something.

"Sorry, but have you seen a black and white cat at all?" He asked with a sniffle.

When they shook their heads, he wailed, "I've lost him! He keeps getting away from me!"

"I'm sorry that we couldn't help you." Harry said, only for a bit of knowledge to pop into his head. "Have you looked in the Luggage Compartment? He may have ended up there to sleep, to get away from all the sound at."

"If you want, I can check if he is there for you." Ember told the young boy.

"Can you really?" asked the boy.

"Yes, if I remember his name is Trevor right?" Ember asked as she remembered the boy and his cat from earlier.

"Yes it is." said the boy.

And with that Ember closed her eyes, and got a clear image in her mind of the cat that she saw, and within a few moments she got an image. The image was of the black and white cat that she saw earlier, surrounded by cages, coats, trunks and other things around it.

Seeing this, Ember said with a yawn, "Ha-Harry's right, h-he's in the Luggage Com-Compartment."

"Thank you, I'll look there now." The round-faced boy said without question, before he hurriedly left to find his toad.

"Ha-Harry, I'm go-going to sl-sleep," Ember said with another yawn, "I-I've used t-too much magic to-today. Please c-call me when we-we get to H-Hogwarts."

"That's alright Ember, thank you for your help, you were very useful today." Harry said with a smile, as she lay next to him.

"Th-Thank you Ha-Harry." Ember said as she went to sleep with a smile on her face, as all she wanted for a long time was to be useful to someone.

"What is wrong with her?" Ron asked Harry.

"I'm not too sure, but with helping me this morning during the fight, and using that little magic, I would say she used too much magic and her body can't handle too much power." Harry explained to the red head, "As you may or may not know, whilst Mystics are used to magic, unless they keep a healthy body and train it to sustain the magic, we grow weak and sleepy until we get our strength back. So Ember is just resting to regain her strength."

"Never really thought about it, my family only used wands to help us use magic," explained Ron, "so we never we had that kind of problem unless we use too much magic - which is rare."

"I see, for now allow her to sleep." Harry said with a smile, as her fox Vixen jumped up next to her master.

"I'll be honest here, I'm a bit jealous of you two." Ron said honestly. "You two have two great pets, and all I have is Scabbers." He pointed towards his pet; the rat was still snoozing in his pocket."He might have died and you wouldn't know the difference." Ron grumbled in disgust. "I tried to turn him yellow yesterday to make him more interesting, but the spell didn't work. I can show you, if you'd like?"

"Sure, just let me get a hold on Aneira so you can cast it." Harry said before picking Aneira up and setting her in the crook of his arm on her back, gently rubbing her belly just how she liked. Normally cats didn't like lying like that, but Aneira loved it; it was the only time he'd ever seen her drool. She hissed and scratched him when he teased her about it. He remembered that with a small wince.

Whilst Harry was doing this, Ron was rummaging around in his robes and pulled out a very battered-looking wand. It was chipped in places and something white was glinting at the end. "Unicorn hair's nearly poking out," said Ron, as his ears going pink again as he took Scabbers out of his jacket. "Anyway -"

He had just raised his wand when the compartment door slid open again. A girl entered the compartment; she was already wearing her new Hogwarts robes. "Has anyone seen a black and white cat? A boy named Neville Longbottom lost one." She asked. She had a bossy sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair, and rather large front teeth.

"He stopped in earlier. Harry told him to look in the Luggage Compartment." Ron answered, but the girl wasn't listening, she was looking at the wand in his hand.

"Oh! Are you doing magic? Let's see it, then." She blurted, entering the compartment and setting across from Ron, next to Harry, and leaning forward to see the spell up close. Ron looked taken aback by her initiative.

"Err, all right." He cleared his throat.

"Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, turn this stupid fat rat yellow." Ron began to chant as he waved his wand, but nothing happened. Scabbers stayed gray and fast asleep. So he put the rat back into his jacket.

"Are you sure that's a real spell?" The girl asked, her bossy tone coming out. "Well, it's not very good, is it? I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family is magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard - I've memorized all our course books by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough - I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?" She introduced herself, seemingly all in one breathe.

Harry looked at Ron, and was relieved to see by his stunned face that he hadn't learned the entire set of course books by heart either. He'd read all his books, and even a bit extra, but he hadn't memorized them. If that was the norm he'd be in trouble. Thankfully, that didn't appear to be the case, and he wasn't going to be left in the dust.

"I'm Ron Weasley," Ron muttered.

"Harry Potter, and the girl sleeping next to me is Ember." Harry said as he waved his hand over Ember, barely finished before the girl was suddenly invading his personal space.

"Are you really?" Hermione gushed, seemingly ignoring the small growl from the cat in Harry's arms that was quickly getting louder. "I know all about you, I got a few extra books for background reading. You're in Modern Magical Historyand The Rise and Fall of the Dark Artsand Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century."

Harry quickly scratched a few spots on his pet to calm her down before she transformed and did more harm than good, namely crushing him and then ripping the throat out of the bushy haired girl. "I've read those books too, and I can tell you that they're nothing but lies," Harry argued. If there is one thing that he hated it was people who assumed they knew things about other people.

"B-but the books said -" Hermione began.

"I know what the books said, and while they have a few good theories as to how I survived," Harry admitted, "That's all they are; theories. There were only two people that knew what happened that night. You-Know-Who certainly wouldn't say anything; even if you agree with some of the theories that think he's still alive out there somewhere. And me, and seeing as I was only a baby, I don't remember what happened that night apart from a flash of green light. And I never given an interview, it wasn't possible for me to say anything. So unless there was a third person there - and they'll have a lot to answer for if there was - all the writers are only guessing as to what happened that night."

"B-but…" Hermione tried to say something, but went silent as she realized he was right, if there was anybody alive who could argue with the history books, it was the boy in front of her. Harry sighed as he realized he was venting at her; she didn't deserve that. "Look, I'm sorry; I didn't mean to throw all that at you. I'm just sick of people assuming they know everything because they read what some hack wrote for a quick Qui-err, Galleon. It's a good lesson though, not all books are completely correct, just because it's published doesn't mean books are free of human error." Harry explained.

"…Yeah … I need to think about this." Hermione said softly. Harry couldn't really blame her, he knew her type, and what he did had, hopefully, just flipped her view on the world on its ear. "I'll go and find Neville and help him find his cat while I think this out." Just as she was leaving, she turned, seemingly regaining some of her bearings, "You two had better get changed, I've we'll be at Hogwarts within the next hour or two. You should wake your friend up too, so she can get dressed too."

"I'll wake Ember when we're closer to Hogwarts, she not long went to sleep," explained Harry, "I'll let her rest a bit more."

Hermione just nodded at this, before she left.

"Whatever House I'm in, I hope she's not in it." Ron mumbled as he threw his wand back into his trunk.

"Normally I'd agree with you, I really don't like people like that, know-it-alls, but I'm hoping what I told her will make her calm down before she gets too jealous about it." Harry defended the girl who just left.

"Oh boy, another Percy, he's like that." Ron said with a sigh, ignoring what his friend had been trying to do. "Stupid spell - George gave it to me, bet he knew it was a dud."

"You told me that he and his twin are pranksters, is it possible they give you a spell as some sort of prank?" Harry asked with a smile, as Ron had a look of realization as he realized he had fallen for one of their pranks again. Than with interest he asked. "What House are your brothers in anyway?"

"Gryffindor," gloom seemed to be settling on him again as he answered, "Mom and Dad were in it, too. I don't know what they'll say if I'm not. I don't suppose Ravenclaw wouldbe too bad, but imagine if they put me in Slytherin."

"I've been told that's the House Voldemort was in, right?" Harry asked curiously.

"You, you said You-Know-Who's name." Ron said in shock.

"Well in the Muggle World we have a say, 'Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself,'" Harry explained to the young boy, "so I don't see a reason to fear saying the name. What is the worse going to happen? He'll jump out at us? Isn't he meant to be dead, so why fear his name? So if I don't fear his name, someone who have more reason to than most, why should anyone else fear it?"

"Hmm, you might be right, but those who were brought up in this world are brought up to fear it," explain Ron, "it'll be hard to impossible to change that. But yes, he was in Slytherin, or so they say." Ron replied sourly. He flopped back into his seat, looking depressed.

"So what do your oldest brothers do now that they've left, anyway?" Harry asked, trying to take Ron's mind off Houses. He'd also been wondering what a wizard did once he'd finished school.

"Charlie's in Romania studying dragons, and Bill's in Africa doing something for Gringotts," Ron answered, he wasn't too sure what Bill did since his second oldest brother moved around so much. "Did you hear about Gringotts? It's been all over the Daily Prophet - but I don't suppose you get that with the Muggles - someone tried to rob a high security vault."

Harry blinked. "Really what happened to them?"

"Nothing, that's why it's such big news, they haven't been caught. My dad says it must've been a powerful Dark wizard to get around Gringotts, but they don't think they took anything, that's what's odd. 'Course, everyone gets scared when something like this happens in case You-Know-Who's behind it."

Harry turned this news over in his mind.

"What's your favourite Quidditch team?" Ron asked, trying to help his new friend get his mind off the news when he noticed how hard he was thinking about it.

"Err… I've never seen a game of Quidditch," Harry told Ron, "as I've never been able to watch or play the game from where I came from."

"What!?" Ron looked dumbfounded. "Oh, just you wait, it's the best game in the world -"

And he was off, explaining all about the four balls and the positions of the seven players, describing famous games he'd been to with his brothers and the broomstick he'd like to get if he had the money. To be honest, Harry didn't really see the point of Quidditch, as more often than not, the winner of the game was when someone called the Seeker, caught the Snitch, as it scores one hundred and fifty points. So he might not join the school team, but he would have to see how things goes how what people suspect of him. Anyway, Ron was just taking Harry through the finer points of the game when the compartment door slid open yet again. It wasn't Neville or Hermione this time though.

Three boys entered, and Harry recognized the middle one at once. It was the pale boy from Madam Malkin's robe shop; Draco Malfoy. He was looking at Harry with a lot more interest than he'd shown back in Diagon Alley.

"Is it true?" He said. "They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?" Draco said with a sneer.

"Yes Draco, it's me." Harry replied. He was looking at the other boys; both of them were thickset and looked extremely mean. Standing on either side of the pale boy, they looked like bodyguards. "Although I have to wonder what took you so long to find?"

"Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle." Draco tossed out carelessly, noticing where Harry was looking, ignoring Harry's question, "I'm sorry about how I acted back then."

"Do you know this kid mate?" Ron asked.

"Yeah this is Draco Malfoy." Harry said.

Ron gave a slight cough, which might have been hiding a snigger. Draco Malfoy looked at him. "Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford." He turned back to Harry. "You'll soon find out some Wizarding Families are much better than others, Harry. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there."

He held out his hand to shake Harry's, but Harry didn't take it. "I think I can tell who are the wrong sort for myself thanks." He drawled, using a similar tone to the one Draco had just used.

Draco didn't go red, but a pink tinge appeared in his pale cheeks. "I'd be careful if I were you, Potter." He said slowly, his mood doing a 180. "Unless you're a bit politer you'll go the same way as your parents. They didn't know what was good for them, either. You hang around with riffraff like the Weasleys and that Hagrid, and it'll rub off on you."

Both Harry and Ron stood up. Harry could sense that Ron was going to say something, so to stop Ron from doing something stupid Harry smirked and said, "I see… for someone who wants to be in the House of the cunning you're still not acting very cunning at all. In fact, one could even call the tactic you're using brash and, I dare say… Gryffindor"

Draco pulled out his wand. "How dare you say that I'm a Gryffindor? Wait until my father hears of this." Draco cried his controlled and cultured voice flying out the window, replaced with a petulant whine.

"Still crying to your father when you can't get your own way, what a Daddy's Boy," Harry waved dismissively, his own wand appearing his hand as Aneira, in a small flash of frost, suddenly grew to the size of a large dog. And Vixen who was resting next to her master, jumped down next to Aneira ready to fight to. Ron sniggered as Harry gave his ultimatum. "Either you use that wand, and please do, or leave us alone. I'd prefer it if I can claim self defence when the Professors are trying to punish me for sending you to the infirmary."

Seeing the strange wand and the Tigran, Malfoy made a wise choice and left in a hurry.

A second later, Hermione appeared in the still open doorway. "What has been going on?" She said her tone significantly less bossy than the first time she'd appeared. She blinked as she caught site of Aneira changing back, and Vixen jumping back up to her master. "What… is that? She looked like a tiger a second ago."

"So you've met Malfoy before?" Ron asked, ignoring Hermione's question in favour of asking Harry what he wanted to know. Seeing as Hermione looked curious as well, Harry gesture for her to take her old seat before he explained his and Draco's meeting in Diagon Alley.

"I've heard of his family." Ron said darkly. "They were some of the first to come back to our side after You-Know-Who disappeared. Said they'd been bewitched. My dad doesn't believe it. He says Malfoy's father didn't need an excuse to go over to the Dark Side." He turned to Hermione. "Can we help you with something?" He said rudely, ignoring Harry's hard look.

"Yes, what is that tiger, uh, kitten?" Hermione corrected herself as saw it transform into a kitten.

"Oh Aneira is a Tigran." Harry answered, "She has an ability to transform into the animal you just saw."

"I just came to tell you that you'd better hurry up and put your robes on." She answered Ron's question, "I've just been up to the front to ask the conductor, and he says we're nearly there. You haven't been fighting, have you? You'll be in trouble before we even get there!"

"No we weren't fighting." Ron snapped, as he scowled at her, "Would you mind leaving while we change?"

"All right - I only came in here because people outside are behaving very childishly, racing up and down the corridors." Hermione snapped back at him, something Harry couldn't fault her for, seeing as Ron was being rude. Cutting them off before they could start sniping at each other Harry said, "Alright, thanks Hermione. Can you wait outside for a bit? I'll wake Ember up and send her out to talk to you as we change if you want."

Hermione shook her head. "No thanks, I need to get back to my compartment to put my books away; I'll see you once we get there?" She asked, to which Ron glared at her. Harry ignored him, giving the girl a smile and a quick "Sure." before she left.

Once she left Harry woke Ember up, so she could leave and he and Ron could change. He wasn't worried about her seeing him naked, or he she, he was used to that back at the Asylum. No he didn't want Ron seeing her naked for some reason, the mere idea just made him mad. About ten minutes later both he, Ember and Ron had gotten their robes on, Harry peered out of the window. It was getting dark. He could see mountains and forests under a deep purple sky. The train did seem to be slowing down. Ron, who'd procrastinated, finally put on his robes. Harry couldn't help but notice they didn't seem to fit him; he could see the boy's sneakers underneath the hem of his robe.

A voice echoed through the train. "We will be reaching Hogwarts in ten minutes time. Please leave your luggage on the train; it will be taken to the school separately."

The three of them crammed the last of their candy wrappers into their pockets, in Ron's case, or into their trunk in Harry's and Ember's, before joining the crowd thronging the corridor. Aneira was once more cradled in the crook of Harry's arm, relaxing on her back and drooled ever so slightly on Harry's sleeve as he scratched her belly.

Ron finally got around to saying what he'd been meaning to say for a while, "Bloody hell mate, you have a pretty cool Familiar there. I was wondering why you had two pets."

"Thanks Ron." Harry said with a proud smile. "I think she's pretty cool too."

Before Ron could ask more, the train slowed right down and finally stopped. People pushed their way toward the door and out onto a tiny, dark platform. Where some of the students were saying their goodbyes once again to their families, who stayed with them until now. Harry shivered in the cold night air, huddling Aneira closer to his chest, both for personal warmth and so she didn't get cold; which he would later realized was pointless, consider her race, she was probably more comfortable in the cold than he was anyway. A lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students, and Harry heard a familiar voice; "Firs' years! Firs' years over here! Aw wight 'here, Harry?" Hagrid's big hairy face beamed over the sea of heads.

"C'mon, follow me - any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!"

As Ron, Ember and Harry followed Hagrid, Harry felt that this was a new start for him, and many interesting things were waiting for him around the corner.

TO BE CONTINUED!

Author's Note: Here ends the third part of the new saga of The Blood Stone Saga, I would like to thank you for reading it, and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. I would love to get any ideas and suggestions you might have. If you don't like the story… don't bother about leaving a hate review… it doesn't affect me or how I will be writing in the future, then I'm not interested. If you feel that there needs to be a little improvement then please point that out to me and any suggestions how to the story better. I'm happy to say this chapter has been my biggest one yet, sadly unless I can come up with something, the next chapter won't be as big.

I'm also still looking for ideas for pranks, and I hope you can help with this as I'm wanting a few magical and non-magical ones. Please help me out here, as I'm after some ideas and would like to use some of them soon.

Seeing that so many are against the idea of the Confundus Charm, I would like ideas of how Harry's friends become Dark and join him. Any and all ideas are welcomed.

Now some of you don't like the idea of the Outcasts, but they are a plot idea, and can't be removed. I can try and delay adding some of them. But by the start of third year, the Outcasts will be important to the story. The Outcasts from the last version are as following,:

Hermione Granger.

Melody Granger.

Hannah Abbott.

The Patil Twins.

Luna Lovegood.

Daphne Greengrass.

Blaise Zabini.

Tracey Davis.

Moaning Myrtle (House Ghost)

Susan Bones.

(These are the popular kids, so might be hard to fit into the Outcast.)

Angelina Johnson.

Katie Bell.

Alicia Spinnet.

The Weasley Twins.

Cedric Diggory.

Three final things, the first two is from my new Beta Reader, he has pointed out to me that I tend to have the indicator of who is talking after. Example: "I won't do it" said Harry. And he thought that I should swap it to "I won't do it" Harry said. I'll be honest and say I have no idea what he is talking about, and so would like your thought and what you think about this.

Second, my Beta Reader, Benny37760, as started his first ever story a Harry Potter/Bleach story called The Fall of London, and asked me to ask you my readers if you could spare some time and read his story. As he would like to hear what you think of his first story.

And lastly the OC Mystic that appeared in this chapter, the Mystic Ember Veil was created by Belphy. (I'm going to change a few things, but this is the profile that he sent me.)

Name: Ember Veil, but is called Nue by everyone

Age: 12

Gender: female

Appearance: small for her age, with short honey blonde hair and amber eyes. Quite cute. Usually wears a long sleeved red top and a black skirt with boots. Always has a pair of blue headphones.

Personality: is very quiet and soft spoken. Spends most of her time talking to her familiar, a fox. Is often considered a doll due to her not showing many emotions at all.

History: often spent her time watching anime, she soon discovered that she could replicate certain powers shown in her favourite shows, however an incident with her powers resulted in her burning the house down killing her family. Running away she met her familiar kit, the fox who helped her control her powers. Ember eventually came back into society with her letter for Hogwarts.

Powers: Ember has the ability to manipulate Gravity, she can also use clairvoyance to find people and see things occurring from far away. She based her gravity powers on Adolf K Weismann's and the clairvoyance on Kushina Anna, both from the anime K project.

Strengths: she is able to see things occurring far away and can track anyone down so long as she has an image and name of the person. Using her gravity powers she can create quick getaways since she can also use the power on others so long as they are nearby. She can also float in the sky and avoid combat that way.

Weaknesses: Her weaknesses are her lack of strength and stamina, to much use of her powers knocks her out and she is hopeless at combat. She is also afraid of people close to her dying, and gets attached to easily.

Alignment: she doesn't care what side she's on so long as she is needed and that they treat her well.

Either way, I would like to thank you once again for reading and I hope you spare a few minutes to leave a review and let me know what you think of the chapter, and any ideas you might have for the future chapters, and any powers you would like to be used in the story. And so you know, there's a poll on my fanfiction profile, that'll decide which story I should work on next, I hope you leave a review of you can't vote, and if you can, please do so.

Next time on Rise of Overlord Vulcan: In the next chapter, we'll have the Sorting… there's not much else about it, so thanks for reading. I do have a request, I'm looking for first year fics, where Harry is Dark and is a Gryffindor, if you know any that's NOT slash or Harry as a female, please let me know. As I would like to gain a few ideas as to what to do once I sorted him into Gryffindor.