Hogwarts Express (Afternoon)

The train ride to Hogwarts was smoother than Harry expected. One of the perks of magic, he assumed. While his education up to now had plenty of Magic Theory, the Tech Element was one of his worse subjects. He'd ridden the Hexpress before, and it had a similar way of doing things, but by means of supernatural intervention. Regardless, it was nice to just sit back and watch the world go by.

His thoughts were cut short by a red haired boy who opened the door to his and Calore's cabin. "Do you mind? Everywhere else is full." he said.

"Not at all." Harry said as the newcomer sat down.

"I'm Ron by the way. Ron Weasley." Ron introduced.

"Calore Xiao-Long." Calore said, giving her name.

"Harry Xiao-Long Potter." Harry introduced as well, surprising Ron.

"So it's true!" Ron exclaimed. "I mean...do you really have the..." the boy asked, gesturing to his own forehead.

"The what?" Harry asked, confused.

"...The scar." Ron whispered.

"That's a tad rude to ask, don't 'ya think?" Calore asked rhetorically, smiling.

"Oh, sorry. It's just, I heard that Harry Potter was attending this year and-" Ron started apologizing out of nowhere, surprising the blonde.

"Geez! I was joking!" Calore exclaimed, shutting Ron up. If she had to deal with this kid's obliviousness for the rest of the year, she'd burn Hogwarts to the ground. Harry moved his hair out of the way, revealing the lightning bolt engraved on his forehead.

"Wicked." Ron said as both he and Harry grinned. Afterwards, an elderly woman walked to the door of the compartment.

"Anything off the trolley, dears?" the lady asked, referring to the cart she was pushing. Said cart was filled to the brim with sugary sweets. If Bea were here, she would have fainted out of pure ecstasy.

Unfortunately, Ron was unable to purchase anything on account of lacking appropriate funds. "No, thanks. I'm all set." he said dejectedly, holding up a plastic bag with...something inside. Neither Harry nor Calore were able to identify it.

Seeing the way Ron faked a smile, Calore decided to help. "I'll take your entire stock!" she proclaimed, retrieving a handful of Coins from her pocket. How she managed that when a single Coin is the same size as her head is unknown.

"Woah." Ron said, unable to process his thoughts any further than that.

"This can't be right, can it? "Every Flavor Beans?"" Calore asked, holding a box of the multicolored candies. With a shrug, she popped a few into her mouth.

"They mean every flavor." Ron warned. "There's chocolate and peppermint, and there's also spinach, liver, and tripe. George sweared he got a booger-flavored one once."

Hearing that, the blonde paused for a few seconds before continuing to eat. A Xiao-Long's appetite was vast and unending.

Not being blood-related to her, Harry tried finding something he could actually stomach. Looking around, he saw a box labeled "Chocolate Frog". Nervous, he wanted to clear something up. "These aren't real frogs, are they?" he asked.

"It's just a spell. Besides, it's the cards you want." Ron said. "Each pack's got a famous witch or wizard. I've got about 500 meself."

'I can't tell if that's impressive or pathetic.' Calore thought to herself as her brother opened his pack. The frog inside went straight out the window.

"That's rotten luck." Ron said sadly. "They've only got one good jump in them to begin with."

"In hindsight, maybe I should've closed that." Harry admitted before checking the card. "Albus Dumbledore."

"I've got about six of him." Ron boasted.

Once Harry's eyes returned to the card however, Dumbledore's picture was gone! "Interesting. A picture that appears and disappears at will." Calore said, astonished.

"Well, you can't expect him to hang around all day, can you?" the Weasley said, though the siblings' attention was more focused on the rat in his lap. "This is Scabbers by the way. Pathetic, isn't he?"

"Just a little bit." Harry replied. Even his aunts' braindead dog was less embarrassing.

"Fred gave me a spell to turn him yellow. Wanna see?" Ron asked, to which the siblings nodded. Other than Eye Glowing, Color Magic wasn't common in Frammentato. They'd only seen other examples in Wisps and their Hyper-Go-On Energy. Ron got out his wand and prepared to cast.

Just before Ron said his incantation, a girl with bushy brown hair ran up to the cabin. "Has anyone seen a toad? A boy named Neville's lost one." she asked.

"No." Ron said.

"Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see then." the girl said, prompting the redhead to cast.

"Sunshine, daises, butter mellow..." he started, confusing the siblings. "Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow!" A small burst of yellow light appeared on Scabbers for a second before disappearing. Seeing his spell fail, Ron shrugged at Harry and Calore.

"Are you sure that's a real spell? Well, it's not very good, is it?" the girl said, offending Ron and amusing Calore. "I've only tried a few simple ones myself, but they've all worked for me." The girl sat down after saying that. "Holy cricket! You're Harry Potter!" she exclaimed once she got a good look at the boy. "I'm Hermione Granger. And you might you two be?"

"Calore Xiao-Long." the blonde introduced.

"Ron Weasley." Ron said, his mouth full.

"Pleasure." Hermione deadpanned at the boy. "You three better change into robes. I expect we'll be arriving soon." she said before leaving.