Chapter 3

'Hey, mind if I sit here? Everywhere else is full'.

It took a bit of pestering to get Hagrid to tell him how exactly to get onto the platform. The giant man seemed to think Harry knew the way, or perhaps had assumed everyone knew and there wasn't any need to tell. Either way it took Harry a moment to figure out how to pass the barrier, and a few moments more to hunt down a seat. Thankfully he'd sent Hedwig, which was the name he'd chosen for his owl, on to fly to the school herself. It wouldn't be right keeping her cooped up in a stuffy train for all those hours, just as cruel as it would have been to keep her at the Dursleys (He'd asked her nicely, since she seemed intelligent, to camp out in the surrounding trees, and she appeared happy with the arrangement, coming down now and then to say hello). His trunk wasn't shrunken, since he couldn't do the magic to un-shrink it back at his relatives, but he was determined to learn it while on the train. It was a place Hagrid told him would be ok to practice magic, and he'd found and memorised the spell, and the counter spell, and wand movements at the book shop. However before he had a chance to try it, the red head pulled open the door.

Harry wasn't sure he believed the other boy, but what the hey it would be a boring trip without someone to talk to. He'd gone over that potions book several times since his shopping trip, as well as rearrange his things and buy some new things (While at the bank he'd exchanged some galleons to pounds then used it to buy seven each of t-shirts, shirts and pyjamas, five smart trousers, five casual trousers, four warm jumpers, a second pair of shoes and a heavy jacket to finish it off. He also picked up a packet of black pens and stocked up on notepads, who's bright idea was it to have parchment and quills anyway?!) Now that he had his trunk he could easily hide his non hand me down clothes. He was set and ready to go.

'I'm Ron by the way, Ron Weasley'.

'Harry Potter'.

Harry fought the urge to groan as the red head's eyes went wide, he should have just given his first name.

'You're really THE Harry Potter?! Does that mean you have the…the scar?'

Stupid scar, stupid Voldemort for murdering his parents and causing so much chaos that the magical world went nuts when a baby killed him.

'Yes I have the scar, no I won't bother showing you it, if you're asking then you know what it looks like'.

The boy frowned but before he could ask any further Harry continued.

'So can you tell me anything about the magical world? I was raised muggle so I'm a bit out the loop'.

And thus came the almost two hour long discussion (very one sided, Harry was lucky to get a sentence or two in) about quidditch and Gryffindor and slimy Slytherins. He knew he should have just let the boy be annoyed at not seeing his scar and left it at that.

'Anything off the trolley dears?'

Harry didn't really have a sweet tooth, but he was interested in the chocolate frogs, so long as they weren't real frogs. The card inside though didn't interest him at all, and he was happy for Ron to take it, although the red head looked gobsmacked that he didn't want to collect chocolate frog cards. Gobsmacked turned into shocked horror when Harry, bored with the conversation, took out his potions book for one last quick run through.

'No way! You actually like potions?! My brothers told me the professor's a greasy git who picks on Gryffindors!'

'I don't want to melt my cauldron, because if I melt it then I'll have to buy another, and if I need to buy another then I'll be forced to buy more than one and I really don't want to do that. The school provides cauldrons, so really I only need one, IF I learn how to make potions properly so as not to melt it' Harry explained idly, leafing through to double check ingredient properties. Thankfully he got information pretty easily, but he just wanted to be absolutely sure.

'But…but…You're really studying…BEFORE school?!'

Harry could see being friends with Ron might be a strain, he wasn't keen on chocolate frog cards, he had no interest in chess, and while flying sounded quite fun, he really didn't care about some quidditch match. He never bothered with football clubs in primary, partly because those were the clubs Dudley liked to get into (not for the exercise sake, but to help him bully people on the opposite team without getting into trouble), he figured it would be the same here.

'Yes, there's nothing wrong with that, plus if I get the hang of potions now then once I get to school I can work on the other classes via the library and take notes. That way I won't be questioned for having no material if I can't bring library books to classes.

Ron just sorta sat there, mouth hung open, like the thought of even CONSIDERING learning outside of a classroom was barmy. Deciding the conversation was over Harry decided to return to his shrinking spell, drawing his wand and aiming it at his trunk.

'Reducio!'

It didn't work, he didn't think it would, after all it was his first try. He went over it a few times in his head, each time performing the wand motions. Feeling that he'd corrected his mistake, he tried again, and again, and again, and about five more times before something happened.

'Wicked!'

Beaming Harry picked up his matchbox trunk and examined it. It could still open, although he was careful his things didn't fall out. He picked up the tiniest of cauldrons and grinned, placing it back inside and closing the lid.

'Alright, let's try the un-shrink spell. Engorgio!'

About twenty more times and his trunk returned to normal size. Feeling quite pleased with himself Harry shrunk it again, this time taking no more than four turns to do so, and popped it into his pocket. He gave Ron a grin and returned to his potions book.

'I think I'm going to like being a wizard'.

OOO

He couldn't see why everyone was making such a fuss, he just got sorted like everyone else. Once more Harry cursed his so called fame as he headed to the lion's table. He actually wanted to go to Hufflepuff, home of the sensible hardworking people and all that, but either the hat was getting senile after sorting for so many hundreds of years (can a hat get senile?) or the fates thought he was brave enough for Gryffindor. Bleh! But then, Hermione got into Gryffindor too and if she wasn't a Ravenclaw then no one was, so at least it wasn't just him. He wondered what the reaction would have been if he'd gone to Slytherin like the hat wanted (it was either the snakes or the lions, horrible hat). It wasn't as though Harry didn't like Slytherin, after all he did have the cunning for it, unlike Ron who seemed to hate everything snake related, and was as cunning as a…well a lion. It was just that the thought of being in the same dorm room as that overbearing, cocky, materialistic blonde brat that tried to gain his favour in the entrance hall really didn't sound appealing. Draco was rude and arrogant and a bully, very much like Dudley, and looked like someone who would want the latest whatever and wanted it now, very much like Dudley (he was starting to see a pattern there). All those flashy expensive clothes were really only saying one thing to Harry, the Malfoy family threw away money like it was going out of fashion. Who needed robes three times the price of normal ones when you were going to get them dirty and worn just the same (who needed robes in the first place, but that was a different argument entirely). If Draco was in a situation where he had to rely on the basic essentials, he probably wouldn't survive, and the thought of the blonde doing manual labour like patching his own clothes or washing his own dishes would probably make him take a temper tantrum (and most likely faint if it was anything harder). No, being spoilt was an abuse in its own right, it didn't prepare you for life. Didn't mean he had to think any better of the brat.

Then again, there was spoilt, and there was spoilt, and both the blonde and Ron were spoilt, just in different ways. It was ironic, and kinda funny, but Draco and the red head were quite similar, both prejudice, both materialistic (Harry had seen the way Ron eyed other students possessions with a hint of envy), both protected from the outside world by their parents, and both unwilling to put in the hard work to get by in life, Ron being lazy and Draco having money enough to last until his grandkids were old and wrinkly (of course the way the family were spending it Draco would be lucky to have any left by the time he hit old age, let alone his kids or grandkids). Harry had a feeling, from what he'd seen of the Ron's behaviour so far, that the red head's parents mollycoddled him a bit, or a lot, which really wasn't doing him any more favours than Draco's parents were doing for the blonde.

Harry's thoughts trailed off as food appeared on the table, he hadn't heard a single word of the Headmaster's opening speech. As he ate he planned for the next few days, since there weren't classes on a weekend. First he needed to familiarise himself with the castle's layout (which he felt could take years instead of days, but if he could at least work out where the library, great hall and his dorm room was then he could work the rest out at a later date). He also wanted to, upon finding the library, spend some time digging deep into books for transfiguration, charms, defence, history and herbology. And perhaps astrology, but from what he read in the book shop it seemed a bit behind that of muggle astronomy, he could probably get by with just a brief skim. He'd also briefly read, from Hogwarts: A History, that there were rooms in the castle filled almost completely with forgotten and abandoned items, something he was keen to look into to allow him to borrow for his classes.

'Hey Harry'.

'Hmm…oh sorry you'll be wanting your hat back. Thanks'.

Passing the dark skinned boy, a friend of Ron's older twin brothers, his hat back, Harry turned back to his meal.

'No problem Harry, happy to oblige'.

Lee and the twins seemed nice, Harry thought, their happy go lucky behaviour was contagious. They were worth keeping a friendship with.

'Wait, didn't you buy a hat Harry?'

He glanced in the girl's direction, she was the one who came in their compartment on the train asking about a toad.

'Nah, there wasn't much point, you're only obligated to use it fourteen times in your school lifetime. You don't even need it for classes'.

'But it was on the list!'

Harry rolled his eyes.

'A lot of things were on the list, and a lot of things weren't. I didn't get any cause I'd be useless at using them, but quills, ink and parchment weren't on the list, does that mean you didn't get any cause they weren't noted down?'

'That's not the point Harry! You need things on the list, otherwise they wouldn't BE on the list!'

Harry groaned, he really didn't want to get into an argument when all he wanted to do was finish his meal and sleep.

'Hermione, everything I own can fit into my trunk. I didn't get the deluxe model, or the super deluxe, and yet I still have absolutely everything I need. If I discover that I really really needed something, then I can place an order for it and ask my owl to deliver it to me. I don't need a hat cause it'll just lie in my trunk getting dusty, I didn't need the books cause the library has them stocked, with the exception of the potions book I got since I don't want to blow up my potions, and I certainly didn't need the telescope, or the scales, cause the school provides them. I got a cauldron, because unlike telescopes and scales, cauldrons can be melted and if we kept melting school cauldrons then they'd eventually run out. I was talked into getting some phials since they can be used over and over, and I got the gloves cause I really like my hands the way they are thank you. I have black pens and notepads to take notes, and I've got thick jumpers, warm shoes and a jacket to wear in winter, no need for a cloak. The only reason I got the robes, was because they would protect my clothes from getting damaged, and even then I needed to be talked into it. I'm excited to be learning magic, but that doesn't mean I'm going to change who I am and how I behave, and I like to have only the daily essentials'.

'But that's against the rules! They don't use pens and paper here they use parchment! And it's better you have your own things! I can't understand why you wouldn't even buy books, what about over the holidays?!'

Boy she was being persistent.

'Pens and paper work fine for me, if the teachers ask for parchment then I suppose I'll buy parchment, but I'm not buying quills and ink, and really they're just going to hand our homework back to us so why do I need to give them parchment in the first place? If they can read it then why should it matter? As for the book issue, I can take notes on what I need, or learn the copying spell and use the information that way. I can then use those notes over the summer. The potions book served a real purpose, what purpose would I have in carrying around several heavy books to class when you can just have a pad of notes, its daft!'

Hermione seemed to deflate a bit.

'Does…does everything you own really fit into a standard trunk?' she asked quietly, somewhat in disbelief.

'Yep, that way if I need to leave in a hurry, then I just go. I've got no treasures, no excess clothing, and very little in the way of other items. In fact, I could probably list everything out and it would take less than five minutes. I can earn money by using my skills in the neighbourhood, or even in the magical world, they would surely need someone to do manual labour. Hermione we all start with nothing, and when we die we're left with nothing. If there is an afterlife, which considering there are ghosts floating around makes me believe there is, then we'll have plenty of memories, but you don't take what you own with you when you die, it just lies there waiting to be passed on to the next person or rot away in some dreary corner. In place of my possessions I've got skills that I've learned as I've grown, those skills have done far more for me than some trinket sitting on a shelf. I know how to cook, and keep a garden, and sew, I can use certain electric tools and have a fair bit of woodwork knowledge. I've volunteered in shops, which has taught me a bit on how to categorize and sort out paperwork for stock, plus it's given me people skills. I've got a mental list of things I'd like to learn, and magic jumped to the top of that list when Hagrid first came to visit me with my letter. All of this, to me, is way better than the latest toy or a bookcase full of books'.

Hermione looked thoughtful, still somewhat really to argue her case, but at least she'd calmed and allowed him to eat.

'So what do you have in your trunk then?' one of the twins, who'd been listening in along with his identical sibling and Lee, asked.

'Clothing wise I have ten pairs of boxers; ten pairs of socks; seven t-shirts; seven shirts; seven pairs of pyjamas; five smart pairs of trousers and five casual pairs; four jumpers; two of them warm; three robes; two pairs of shoes; a light jacket and a heavy one, and a hat, scarf and pair of gloves. Granted I'm wearing some of these.

With stationary I've got a pack of black pens; my pencil case which had a couple of pencils, a blue pen, a rubber, a ruler and a sharpener; a calculator and twenty notepads, ten A5 ones for general notes and ten A4 for homework. For toiletries there's still two toothbrushes left from a pack of four; toothpaste; a comb; soap and a container for it; shampoo; hand wipes; a bath towel and a hand towel, and I've got one toilet roll left that I figured I'd just bring with me.

The last group consists of my school bag; a large fold down shopping bag; a purse; one set of cutlery; a water bottle and a small sewing kit. The of course there's my cauldron; four glass phials; my potions book; the dragon hide gloves and the cleaning kit for my wand, though why I needed a book to know how to clean a wand I don't know. I have treats for Hedwig, my owl, as well.

Before I got my letter everything I owned went into the shopping bag and my school bag. I made Hedwig a perch, but since I didn't need to bring it here I just left it at the Dursleys, and I've got my wand in a holster on my arm. The school letter's tucked away in one of the notepads, though I'm not really sure why I'm keeping it. Oh and I've still got some juice cartons and some chocolate spread left'.

'And all that fits into your trunk?!' Lee asked in amazement.

'Why do you have loo roll?!' the second twin exclaimed.

'I know it sound like a lot but really it's not. The standard trunk is rather large, and really you take out the clothes and the cauldron and there's very little in there. I bought a few more articles clothing and another pair of shoes before I came here cause I wouldn't be able to get into the muggle world for a while, so I'll be ok if something tears. I bought loo roll cause I wanted to be completely self reliant. I wanted to know that everything, or most everything that I used was things I'd bought with my own money. The roll's around half done and what's left from a pack of two, that normally does me a week'.

'Harry I really don't think they'd let you use pens here' Hermione spoke, proving that she still had her mind on their previous argument.

'Why not? They've got ink just like quills and are way easier and cleaner to use, plus they're cheap. I stocked up on the stationary as well, just to be sure. Hermione I'm not saying the magical world is bad, it's brilliant, but there's no reason to make things difficult for yourself when there are far easier options there for you. I've been living off of most of what I've just listed for most of my life, adding in food and drink, and I'm perfectly happy with it'.

'You didn't list any toys or things like that Harry' Ron pointed out.

Harry shrugged.

'I'm not really a toy person, I mean sure educational toys are all fine and good, but you can learn those kinds of skills without them. There's a play park near my relative's house, and the library's not too far away. I'll sometimes draw pictures in one of my pads but I don't bother with colouring in, really I just sketch. My cousin Dudley always begged for the latest toy, and he usually broke it within days of getting it, which is such a waste. Why bother?'

'Don't you do anything fun?!' Ron exclaimed.

'Well sure, I like to play outdoors, climbing trees and making secret dens. In primary school I loved solving word and picture puzzles, and sure I did play with some of the toys there, but I never had the urge to own them. Just like with books, I like reading, and I'm pretty quick at picking up things, but I don't want row upon row of books in my room. And there really isn't much point in me having trinkets and collections if all they're going to do is lie on a shelf or in a box somewhere'.

'Guys shh! The headmaster is talking!' another red head hissed from up the table, and the discussion ended as they turned to the head table.

OOO

'Dangerous forests and blocked off corridors, what stupidity! This is supposed to be a school! What the heck is wrong with the magical world?! First that creepy Knockturn Alley and now this! What next, three headed dogs, giant snakes and deadly competitions?!'

He snorted to himself.

'Nah, surely even the magical world can't be that stupid'.

Could it?

He only hoped that the junk rooms he was looking for wouldn't be on that third floor corridor, he preferred being alive thank you. Harry yawned and grabbed his things, nipping into the bathroom to see to his nightly duties before crawling into bed. His roommates were still downstairs, still too hyped to go to bed, but Harry knew that he would need all the time he could to both find and search the library for his book list. Giving one last yawn he pulled the curtains shut and drifted off to sleep.