The Muggleborn Crew
Summary: Penelope Clearwater well remembers the day she and her parents arrived at King's Cross Station and struggled for an hour to find their way to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. Now a fifth year, and a prefect to boot, she takes it upon herself to make sure that the magical world's newest inductees find their way to the train without problem. How will this one act derail the story of Harry Potter's time at Hogwarts?
Warnings: Probably not for Ronald Weasley fans. Probably not for Albus Dumbledore fans. Probably not for Minerva McGonagall fans. Most definitely not for Draco Malfoy fans. Most definitely not for Severus Snape fans… In other words, if you're a fan of my usual work, you will probably like it. If you are not a fan of my usual work... what are you even doing here?
The Wall Between Platforms Nine and Ten, King's Cross Station, London, 1st September, 1991
"You alright there, Penelope?" asked Robert Hilliard as he approached the barrier between platforms nine and ten.
"Oh, I'm fine thank you Robert," Penelope Clearwater replied to her fellow Ravenclaw and year-mate. "Just waiting on a few people before getting onto the platform."
Robert nodded and carried on without giving much more thought to Penelope's statement. After all she was most likely waiting on a few of her female friends; nothing unusual about that.
A few steps later and he vanished through a seemingly solid brick wall.
Penelope checked the silver watch on her left wrist. 09:27. She expected that the first ones would be turning up any minute.
To any onlookers, Penelope Clearwater was just a regular fifteen year old girl with long curly blonde hair. In a simple, blue jumper and jeans, she did not look like there was anything particularly special about her. But to those who were in the know, there was something special about her.
She was a witch.
Or, at least, she was a witch in training. In just over an hour and a half, she would be on a train, being whisked off to Scotland to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Once there she would be starting her fifth year of education in the magical arts.
Penelope was a good student who, at the age of just eleven, had been sorted into Ravenclaw house, the home of the most intellectual students. As a testament to her dedication to her studies, her Head of House, Professor Flitwick the Charms Master, had nominated her for the role of female fifth year prefect for her house.
It was a great honour, or so she was told. Penelope had been at Hogwarts long enough to know that the prefect position was often eagerly abused by those who were granted the title. She would not be one of those prefects.
Penelope was a witch who, in polite company, would be referred to as a muggleborn. In less polite company, she would be referred to as a mudblood. Either way, this meant that she was a witch born to parents who were not themselves magical.
At the opposite end of the scale to Penelope were the Pure Bloods – witches and wizards who had magical parents and at the very least one magical maternal grandparent and one magical paternal grandparent (of course there were those who argued that this was not pure enough, but that's a whole other can of worms!)
Anyone in between those two poles was considered a half-blood.
Magical society, as with any society, had its faults. Worst was what was essentially a class war engaged by some of the purest purebloods against witches and wizards with parentage like Penelope's. This had, on occasion, resulted in bloodshed.
Not quite as severe, but much more widespread, was a general level of… well, Penelope didn't know what to call it really. Apathy? Neglect? Ignorance? Assumption? A combination of all four? Whatever it was, the Wizarding World was rife with it, even amongst those who claimed to like muggleborns and champion their cause against the worst of the blood purists.
Penelope could think of no better example of this than the entryway to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. Sure there were bigger examples, broader examples, but the entryway to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters was a good one.
Platform Nine and Three-Quarters was a hidden platform. From there, every 1st September, young witches and wizards from across the British Isles would catch the Hogwarts Express, a big, scarlet steam engine that would take them all away to Hogwarts School.
Because wizards and witches, somewhat understandably, did not want some poor muggle (non-magical person) to get on board that train and be whisked away on a non-stop trip to Scotland, Platform Nine and Three-Quarters was hidden by magic. Thanks to this magic, no muggle could find their way onto the secret platform. For a witch or wizard, on the other hand, all they had to do was walk towards the wall that was located between platforms nine and ten. Then they would find that the wall was actually a magical construct that let them pass through onto the secret platform beyond.
Simple.
Or at least, it was simple so long as you knew what you were doing.
And therein lay the problem. When muggleborns were contacted about attending Hogwarts, a Professor from the school came out to see them. They were escorted to Diagon Alley, a magical district of London, where they would by their wands, cauldrons, robes and other Hogwarts essentials, and then were given their ticket for the Hogwarts Express.
That ticket read "The Hogwarts Express will depart from Platform Nine and Three-Quarters at King's Cross Station at 11.00 a.m. on 1st September."
As to how to actually get onto Platform Nine and Three Quarters there was no information and in Penelope's case the visiting Professor was gone by the time anyone in her family had noticed this problem.
The result was that Penelope and her parents had spent a good hour one 1st September, marching around King's Cross Station, searching for any clue as to where this mysterious platform might be. Asking any of the station's staff just resulted in their receiving odd looks and complaints about time wasters.
Just as Penelope's father was coming to the decision that the whole damned thing was crazy and they were going home, Penelope had spotted a family of red-heads led by a short, dumpy sort of woman who was wearing clothes not of that century. That three of what were apparently her sons were pushing trolleys with large wooden trunks indicated that they were not your usual commuters. That one of those trolleys also carried a fairly large bird cage with a sleeping tawny owl contained within confirmed it for Penelope.
With five minutes to spare, she had happened across a family of wizards.
Now, while Mrs Molly Weasley had been more than happy enough to have her oldest son (Bill) show Penelope and her parents exactly how to get onto Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, there was no changing the fact that Penelope and her family had just wasted a lot of time and effort trying to do something that, for a regular wizard or witch, was so simple.
It did beg the question of why there was no one there to make sure that all muggleborns made their way onto the hidden platform safely.
Shortly after arriving at Hogwarts, Penelope had forgotten all about this situation, her awe at the sight of the majestic castle and her wonder at all the magic she was learning drove the issue from her mind.
It wasn't until the start of the previous school year when she heard a muggleborn first year complaining that the platform had been so hard to find that the issue had come back to the forefront of Penelope's mind. Asking around amongst the other muggleborns she knew, she found that they all had similar stories to tell – they turned up at King's Cross, wasted a lot of time, happened to find a magical family and then got onto the platform.
Penelope had brought the issue up with Professor Flitwick, who insisted that there could not be a problem as every year all the muggleborns made it onto the express in time. Penelope had then argued that it would be good for the parents of muggleborns to see that someone was available to help their child as they took their first few steps into a new and strange world, but Professor Flitwick had dismissed her, stating that the initial Professor visit was more than enough to show parents that their children would be well looked after and that Hogwarts did not have the budget to station people at King's Cross.
Magical families made their way onto Platform Nine and Three Quarters all the time. Any muggleborn should see them do it and follow suit. Parental reassurances be damned.
Penelope had let the matter drop, but did not forget it this time. Over the summer she had been granted her shiny new prefect badge. She had arrived early to the Platform and put her things into a compartment with one of her friends. Then she had gone back beyond the barrier to wait for muggleborns. If Hogwarts wouldn't do it and the Ministry wouldn't do it, then she would do it.
At twenty minutes to ten, Penelope spotted her first likely candidate – a small girl with lots of bushy brown hair and slightly too large front teeth, pushing along a trolley which contained a large wooden trunk, a book-bag that looked far too big for her to lift and a cat-carrier inside of which was a large, ginger cat.
A man and a woman who were obviously her parents followed on behind her, clearly looking around for any sight of the mysterious Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.
Taking a deep breath, Penny smoothed out her jumper, made sure that her well-polished prefect badge was straight and stepped forward to fulfil her first act as a Hogwarts prefect, unofficial though the act may be.
"Hello," she said in a friendly tone that caused the family of three to stop. "Hogwarts, I assume?"
The girl nodded eagerly. "Yes. I'm Hermione Granger. These are my parents, Dr Daniel Granger and Dr Emma Granger. They're dentists, a career I was thinking of going into before I got my Hogwarts letter. And you are?"
She had said that very fast. Fortunately, Penelope was from the house of Ravenclaw. First years who were sorted into that house often felt pressured to show everyone else that they did belong there. This meant that, for their first few days or weeks, they would try to inform you of everything that they knew on any possible subject. Usually this was done very quickly.
Penelope was well practised in catching every world in rapidly spoken speech.
"Hello, Hermione Granger. I'm Penelope Clearwater. I am a prefect at Hogwarts and it is my duty to help you find your way onto Platform Nine and Three-Quarters."
"Oh, that is a relief," said Hermione's mother. "We asked one of the guards just now and he looked at us like we had all grown extra heads."
"Oh dear," said Penelope. "Well, I suppose that you might look at me that way if I asked you for directions for a place that you did not know existed. Anyway, Hermione, welcome. We won't be going through to the platform just yet. There are several other students this year who are born to muggles, so we are going to wait for all of them and then go on to the platform together as a group. Hopefully it will be a good opportunity to make some friends. In the meantime, if any of you have any questions about Hogwarts or the Wizarding World as a whole, feel free to ask."
With that, Hermione was off. Fortunately, as mentioned already, Penelope was well used to fast talkers with a thirst for knowledge. She followed every word out of Hermione's mouth and answered every question to the best of her ability. However, one point she did take extra care to make sure she hammered home was that, no matter how wonderful books are, there is a limit to what they could teach you.
Hermione Granger clearly did not know how to take this assertion, but her own parents each placed a comforting hand on her shoulders and leaned in to reinforce the point. They had been trying to drum that particular notion onto their daughter for years. They hoped that Penelope's words would open their daughter's eyes.
Penelope meanwhile had moved on, having spotted another clear muggleborn who could not find their way onto the platform. After delivering her speech she introduced Sophie Roper, her parents, Phillip and Mary, and younger brother, Luke, to the Grangers. It came as a bit of a surprise to the Granger parents when their daughter and Sophie began talking. Both hoped that this was the beginning of their daughter's first true friendship that wasn't with a book.
Next was the first boy to join their group, Oliver Rivers and his parents, Sean and Miranda. Next was Kevin Entwhistle and his parents, Thomas and Cassandra, then Dean Thomas, accompanied by his mother Lailah, step-father Adam and half-sisters Jasmine, Melissa and Michela. Then came another girl, Sally-Anne Perks and her parents, Robert and Claire. Next was a boy, Stephen Cornfoot and his father, Andrew, and step-mother Marlene, followed closely by Justin Finch-Fletchley and his parents, Randall and Rebecca.
After fielding countless questions from concerned parents and eager children, Penelope was practically floating. Her idea was an unbelievable success. Already Daniel Granger, Lailah Thomas and Claire Perks had taken her aside to state how they simply could not thank her enough. That the eight gathered students were already well on the way to becoming firm friends was just the icing on the cake.
The cherry on the cake was to come in a few moments.
Checking her watch, Penelope saw that there were now just ten minutes until the Hogwarts Express was due to leave Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. After clearing her throat she announced this much and asked that the students take the opportunity to say goodbye to their parents.
As tearful hugs were exchanged and kisses to the cheek were given, a small figure with green eyes hidden behind glasses, and a mop of untidy black hair on his head made his way past a group of Japanese tourists who were standing nearby and approached Penelope.
"Excuse me," he said, somewhat nervously. "Did you say you were going to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters?"
"We are indeed," said Penelope, turning to look at him. She only just managed to avoid exclaiming "Holy hell, are you Harry Potter?"
Instead she settled on "So, what's your name?"
"Harry," the little boy replied.
"Okay Harry. Why don't you line up with the others? We'll go through in a minute."
Harry nodded and pushed his trolley, complete with trunk and a cage containing a snowy owl, over to the other students.
Hermione noticed him at once and promptly introduced herself. When Harry replied "I'm Harry. Harry Potter." Hermione looked ready to burst with an explosion of information about what books she had read that told his story. Fortunately her father recognised the name and placed a hand on his daughter's shoulder as a warning. Hermione had told both her parents about this boy and his supposed defeat of a dark wizard at the age of just one during an event that cost the lives of both the boy's parents. That was enough for him to know that Hermione should not go blurting out all that she knew about the boy.
As Dean and Oliver were introducing themselves to Harry, both clearly none the wiser as to the significance of Harry's full name, Dr Daniel Granger leaned down and told his daughter very quietly "Harry might not like discussing the night that his parents died. It is okay to talk to him about it, but don't push the matter. If he wants to learn more, show him the books you found and go through it with him. Don't force the issue."
Hermione bit her lip and nodded. She knew as well as anyone that she had a habit of spouting off all that she knew about a subject without considering if there were any consequences. It was a good thing she had met Harry while her parents were around. If it had been when they were already on the train she might have rambled on about anything, causing him to dislike her and ensuring that they could never be friends unless they happened to bond over confronting a rampaging monster, and really what were the odds of that happening? Hogwarts, A History said that the castle was completely safe, and what reason would the author have to lie about that?
"Okay, everyone," said Penelope once Harry had been introduced to everyone "We're going through now."
One by one, Penelope escorted each student onto the platform. She took Kevin through last, but as she was doing so she spotted the Weasley family. She rolled her eyes. The Weasley's were famous for always almost missing the train.
She did wonder though why Mrs Weasley was talking so loudly about how King's Cross was always packed with muggles before asking her daughter "What platform is it?"
"Nine and Three-Quarters, mummy," replied the Weasley's youngest child, a girl not yet old enough to attend Hogwarts.
Once Kevin had joined the others on the platform, Penelope led them to an open carriage door and assisted them all in getting their trunks and other possessions on board. From there, finding a compartment which could hold all nine of them was relatively easy. Hogwarts was currently down in student numbers, something which left a lot of compartments free.
Without much effort, all their trunks were stored safely in the overhead compartments and the muggleborn (or in Harry's case, muggle-raised) first years began to settle down for the journey.
"Okay guys," said Penelope as the whistle blew, signalling the train's imminent departure from the station. "I have to attend a prefects meeting in the first carriage. I'll be along a couple of times on the journey to make sure that you're doing alright. Try a few sweets when the lady with the snack trolley comes along – I personally recommend the chocolate frogs but not the Bertie Bott's every flavour beans. Try not to cause any trouble and no magic on the train. Apart from that have fun and enjoy the trip."
"Thanks Penelope!" they all called after her as she shut their compartment door and waved goodbye to them through the glass.
"Success!" thought Penelope as she made her way to the prefects meeting.
In the compartment, the group of nine sat in slightly awkward silence for a moment before Stephen broke it by asking about everyone's experience in the magical world so far, particularly Diagon Alley. Just like that, the ice was broken.
Deciding that she would have to write a letter to Dumbledore explaining that she had not seen Harry Potter in King's Cross Station, Molly Weasley ushered her brood onto the platform with just moments to spare. Percy hurried off almost at once in order to get his things stored away before attending the prefects meeting while Fred and George ran off to catch up with their friend and fellow trouble-maker, Lee Jordan.
"Now Ron," said Mrs Weasley as she used her thumb to wipe dirt off of her youngest son's nose "Remember the plan dear. I know that we did not see him on the platform, but that doesn't mean he isn't already on the train. Dumbledore told me that he grew up without any friends, so I want you to find him and put that right."
"Okay mum," replied Ron. Befriend Harry Potter. That was his sole goal for the year. It didn't sound especially demanding – who wouldn't want to be friends with the world-famous wizard who had vanquished He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named? Dumbledore saying that Harry didn't have any friends growing up only made that task look easier.
The Weasleys didn't mean anything malicious by this plot to have Ron befriend Harry Potter. In fact, it was debatable that they even knew that there was a plot. The great Albus Dumbledore wanted Ron to be friends with Harry Potter, and who were the Weasleys to question that?
As a result of his mother's fussing, Ron had to take a running leap to get onto the already starting to move train. Once safely on board, he waved goodbye to his mother and his sister before heading off to carry out his mission.
He looked in through the windows of many compartments, looking for any sign of Harry Potter. Dumbledore had shown them a photograph of James Potter (Harry's now deceased father) that was taken in his youth and told them that Harry would look mostly like that, but with green eyes.
Finally, twenty compartments in, Ronald Weasley found Harry Potter. The problem was that Harry Potter was currently sitting in a compartment with eight other first year students, all of them talking and laughing and becoming fast friends.
Ron realised the problem almost immediately. If these were Harry Potter's friends, then Ron had to befriend them too if he was to befriend Harry Potter. Making friends with nine people all at once was a lot harder than making friends with one person. And if one of Harry Potter's friends decided that they didn't like Ron, then Harry Potter might decide not to like him either.
It was a dilemma, but Dumbledore had asked.
Ron thought for a moment, trying to come up with a good way to get into the compartment. Harry Potter's compartment was full, but maybe there was something in that that Ron could use to his advantage.
Dean Thomas was just telling everyone how he was disappointed that the Wizarding World did not seem to play or watch football, but he really wanted to learn more about this Quidditch game he had heard a lot about when the compartment door slid open and a boy with red hair and freckles, clearly another first year, stepped in as far as he could (which wasn't far, to be honest.)
"Excuse me," he said. "Do you mind if I join you? Everywhere else is full."
This was the fool-proof line that his mother had given him if he needed an excuse to talk to Harry Potter.
Harry Potter and his eight friends looked around them. With Stephen, Oliver, Justin, Kevin and Sally-Anne sitting on the seats on one side of the compartment, Harry, Dean, Hermione and Sophie sitting on the seats opposite them and the luggage compartment filled to the brim with trunks and other things, there simply was no room for anyone else.
Okay, so in theory they could have sat a fifth person on Harry, Hermione, Dean and Sophie's side, but that space was being taken up by Sally-Anne's trunk as the overhead compartment could only fit four trunks per side. On top of that, Hermione had her book bag tucked securely between her and Harry.
Then there were the pets. Hermione had her cat, Crookshanks, Harry had his snowy owl, Hedwig, Sophie had her tawny owl, Russet, Oliver had his screech owl, Bandit, and Sally-Anne had her cat, Tibbles. Add in the cages that each of these animals were contained in and there was simply no room for another person, let alone their luggage, and not amount of budging up would change that.
"Sorry mate," said Dean. "Looks like we're full."
"Yeah," agreed Sally-Anne. "But if you need somewhere to sit, we saw lots of half full compartments nearer the back of the train when we got on."
The red-headed boy's ears went red as though he was angry or embarrassed (it was hard to tell) but he gave a resigned nod of his head, stepped back out of their compartment, slid the door shut and made his way towards the back of the train, deciding that he would try making friends with Harry Potter later.
Weasleys always went into Gryffindor House, and how could Harry Potter, saviour of the Wizarding World, possibly be sorted anywhere other than the house of the brave? Ronald Weasley suddenly felt much better. Yes, in just a few hours he would be in Gryffindor Tower sharing a dorm room with Harry Potter. That would be the perfect time to make friends with him. Gryffindors stuck together, after all.
A little further down the train, Ronald Weasley found himself a compartment where another first year boy was struggling to get his trunk into the overhead compartment. That the boy was the only one in the compartment settled it for Ron – he would take a seat here. He slid open the compartment door and went to loudly announce his presence when he stepped on something.
Withdrawing his foot, he looked down and realised that he had stepped on a toad. Judging by the blood and guts, the toad was dead. Without making a sound, Ron made a tactical retreat further down the train where he met three first year boys named Seamus Finnigan, Wayne Hopkins and Roger Malone. That they all liked to play Wizards Chess and exploding snap while talking endlessly about Quidditch meant that Ronald Weasley had found the perfect situation for himself. That they were happy to purchase some sweets and pumpkin pasties off of the trolley when it came around and share them with him was the icing on the cake.
As for the boy in the compartment on his own, he did manage to finally get his trunk into the luggage compartment. When he turned around and saw that his beloved toad, Trevor, had been squished, he was most upset. Fortunately for Neville Longbottom, two kind hearted first year girls named Hannah Abbott and Susan Bones came by and saw that he was upset, so they sat with him and became his friends. A short time later, the girls' friend Ernie Macmillan came looking for them and he became Neville's friend as well.
Back with the muggleborn/raised group, the conversation had turned towards their upcoming school year.
"When I was in Diagon Alley, the apothecary was really interesting." Harry was saying. "I mean, the place smelled really bad, but everything in there was fascinating. I really want to see how a wizard makes a potion out of lizard claws, dried roots and beetle eyes. Defence Against the Dark Arts sounds really interesting too. I wonder what spells can be used to repel a werewolf. I met the teacher in The Leaky Cauldron; Professor Quirrel. To be honest, he looked like someone popping a balloon would cause him to collapse, so I don't know how much good he'll be."
"Oh, I'm sure he will be alright," said Hermione. "After all, why would a school employ a Professor who is no good at teaching?"
Harry thought that she had a point there. After all, hadn't he met Professor Quirrel in a pub? Perhaps Quirrel's speech problem was due to him having had too much to drink at the time? Yes, that had to be it. Sure, Hagrid said that Quirrel was like that because of a run in with a vampire, but as Hermione pointed out, why would a school employ a Professor who was too scared of his own subject to be able to teach it effectively?
"I think that everything taught at Hogwarts sounds truly fascinating," said Hermione. "But I think I'm most looking forward to transfiguration. The Professor who teaches that subject was the one who visited me and my parents. Professor McGonagall. My dad thought she was talking a lot of nonsense until she changed the coffee table into a goat. Turning something into something else could be really useful."
"Yes, Transfiguration does sound good," agreed Sophie. "But I'm looking forward to charms more. That's where you learn things like levitation and conjuration. Imagine being able to conjure up a comfy armchair out of thin air or being able to levitate a heavy storage box on top of your wardrobe without having to struggle to lift it yourself."
"Well, my favourite subject at school was History," said Justin. "My father and his father are both Historians and I was looking to follow in their footsteps. Being able to learn the history of a hidden world promises to be very interesting. I hope the Professor is passionate about his subject. History buff though I am, even I know that the subject can become tedious if the teacher is just reading from the textbook in monotone."
"Well, my dad works for the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew," said Kevin. "I can't wait for Herbology lessons to start so I can tell him all about the magical plants I've been shown."
"I just want to get up on a broom," said Oliver. "I was really disappointed when the letter said first years can't have their own broom, but at least we get flying lessons."
"Astronomy sounds like it could be fun," said Stephen. "I wonder if wizards have the same names for stars that we do."
"I can't wait until we get to see some magical creatures," said Sally-Anne. "I opened up Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them the moment I got home from Diagon Alley and could barely put it down. And if the book was interesting then the creatures themselves must be spectacular. I wonder when we'll get to see a unicorn."
"Oh, I expect the first creature we will see is the school's giant squid," said Hermione. "I read about it Hogwarts, a History. It lives in the large lake situated in the grounds of the castle."
"Wait, I thought giant squids are animals known to muggles," said Sophie. "How can they be considered a magical creature?"
"Yeah, and don't squids normally live in the sea?" asked Dean.
"Well, Hogwarts, a History calls it a giant squid because that's what it's commonly called," explained Hermione. "It's actually a freshwater kraken. A wizard from Norway donated it to the school because he felt the lake was incomplete without a large lake monster inhabiting it."
Sally-Anne already had her copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them open in her lap and was turning through the pages.
"Here we go," she announced a few moments later. "I knew I saw them in here."
She held up the textbook to reveal the contents of two pages. On the left page was a large, black and green bodied squid with hooks on its tentacles and what looked like scales that were linked together like armour plating. The text beneath the image began with the title - The Oceanic Kraken. On the opposite page was a smaller, pink bodied squid with the title The Freshwater Kraken.
"According to the book," continued Sally-Anne "while the oceanic kraken is a highly dangerous creature, the freshwater kraken is pretty tame, especially once they are used to people."
"In Hogwarts, a History it says the squid likes being petted," said Hermione. "On hot days it likes to bask in the shallows and have its tentacles petted."
"That's pretty cool," said Oliver. "I wonder what else the castle has. Hermione, does Hogwarts, a History say anything about other animals? Maybe as guards? Imagine a troll guarding the entrance to the castle or a three headed dog guarding a secret passageway?"
"Oh, I wouldn't think Hogwarts has anything like that," said Sally-Anne before Hermione could answer. "Trolls and Cerberuses are very dangerous creatures. It would be downright irresponsible to let either of those anywhere near a school full of children."
"Quite," agreed Hermione. "But there are some other magical creatures living around the castle grounds. The forest is home to centaurs, unicorns and bowtruckles, which are a kind of imp. The gamekeeper also looks after a herd of hippogriffs."
"What the hell is a hippogriff?" asked Dean
"Put simply, it's the front end of an eagle with the back end of a horse," answered Sally-Anne. "More complexly, it's what you get when you cross breed a griffin and a horse."
"Well, if that's how you get hippogriffs, how do you get centaurs?" asked Stephen.
"Eew!" exclaimed Hermione, Sophie and Sally-Anne together, scrunching their noses up at the implication.
Just then the compartment door slid open and a pale boy with white-blond hair and a pointed chin entered as far as he could. He was flanked by two other boys, both of whom were of stocky build and glared into the compartment silently but menacingly.
Seeing that he had the attention of everyone in the compartment, the blond boy began, "Is it true? They're saying up and down the train that Harry Potter is in this compartment."
His eyes roamed over each one of them in turn, looking disgusted at the sight of the muggle casual wear they each wore. Finally his eyes landed on Harry and he glanced up to his forehead where the lightning bolt scar was on display.
"So it's you then, is it? Tut-tut, Potter, fancy sullying yourself already, surrounding yourself with mudbloods like this. You ought to get away from them before you catch something."
Harry frowned at the boy and replied "These mudbloods, whatever that means, are my friends. You on the other hand haven't even bothered to introduce yourself and yet you feel entitled to boss me around."
The boy sneered but said "My name is Malfoy. Draco Malfoy. You will soon find, Potter, that blood and family names are important in the wizarding world. It would be a disgrace for you to make friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there."
Malfoy held out his hand to Harry, offering to shake, but Harry didn't take the bait.
"I think I can tell the wrong sort for myself, thanks."
Malfoy sneered again as he lowered his hand. "You ought to be careful Potter. Your father went around sullying himself with mudbloods and look how he ended up. It's a shame that the noble Potter name was dirtied when he married your mother."
In a second Harry was on his feet, Hedwig's cage tumbling sideways into Crookshanks' carry case as Harry drew his wand angrily. The tip of the wand began to glow an angry red and several sparks shot out of the tip as Harry aimed it at Malfoy's face.
"Say that again," Harry practically snarled as a particularly large red spark shot from the tip of his wand and struck Malfoy to the right of his nose and just below the eye.
Malfoy yelped and staggered backwards into his two bodyguards, clutching his face in both hands.
"Get lost Malfoy," spat Harry.
"My father will hear about this," snarled Malfoy. As he did so he lowered his hands, revealing an angry red mark where the spark had hit him.
"I'm terrified," retorted Harry sarcastically, not lowering his wand.
Malfoy's two bodyguards pushed him behind them and stepped forward, cracking their knuckles.
Dean, Justin, Stephen, Kevin and Oliver got to their feet as well, each one drawing their wands as Harry had done. After a moment Hermione, Sophie and Sally-Anne mirrored their actions.
"I said get lost," repeated Harry.
Malfoy was not in the mood for backing down and pulled his own wand from his pocket, but before he could raise it, a voice asked "Is there a problem here?"
Malfoy rounded on the newcomer, ready to tell them to clear off and mind their own business, but at the last moment he caught the glint of a prefect's badge on the front of her robes.
"No. Nothing," he said, shoving his wand back into his pocket. "Crabbe, Goyle, we're leaving."
The two thugs gave everyone one last menacing glare before turning and following their leader out of the compartment.
"I leave you alone for five minutes and already you're causing trouble," said Penelope, jokingly.
"I think we just met the bullies of our year group," explained Justin as everyone set about finding their original seats.
Penelope sighed and replied "Yeah, we get those. We've got a couple in my year – Terrence Higgs, Bowen Duffield and Simon Dedworth are the main ones in my year. Real bunch of charmers they are. But what did that little git do to you to have you drawing your wands on them?"
"He was rather rude," offered Hermione after a few moments.
"He called us all mudbloods," said Dean. "Whatever that means."
"He said my dad dirtied my family name when he married my mother," said Harry.
Penelope cringed and looked down at the floor of the compartment for a few moments. She had been hoping to avoid needing to explain this, at least for a little while. She wanted them to experience the awe of Hogwarts as she had before being exposed to the more distasteful side of wizarding society.
It was a tight fit, but she managed to slide the door to the compartment shut behind her before turning and beginning to explain some of the blood prejudices and the reasons behind them.
It was a largely subdued group of muggleborn first years who stepped off of the Hogwarts Express when it arrived at Hogsmeade Station. Penelope's talk had certainly dampened their mood, though they were grateful for the heads up on the matter.
At first it had seemed extraordinary to them that the war with Voldemort, the war that had cost Harry his parents, was caused by something as trivial as the circumstances of one's birth, but then that opinion quickly changed when Harry revealed that his Aunt, Uncle and Cousin hated him for having magic, which they had always referred to as "his freakishness."
Dean and Oliver had also been on the receiving end of unwarranted hatred, though for them it was because of their skin colour. Sophie meanwhile told how her aunt had once been pretty much driven out of her dream job because of sexual harassment.
This drove home to them that the muggle world, the world they were familiar with, was rife with prejudiced people. They realised then that they had been naïve to believe that the wizarding world would be free of something similar.
Penelope had put some minds at rest however, as when it came to skin colour, the wizarding world was largely colour-blind while gender equality had been achieved long before the muggle world even thought of the idea.
Still, though, the truth did weigh on their minds as they crossed the black lake on the boats, meaning that their first view of Hogwarts did not quite have the same effect on them as their fellow year mates.
Hagrid left them with Professor McGonagall, who gave them a speech about how they would be sorted into one of four houses, which would be like their family.
Harry really hoped that the people in his house were nothing like the family that he had grown up with.
When they entered the Great Hall, thoughts of prejudices were put aside by the sight of the enchanted ceiling, which Hermione helpfully informed them was bewitched to look like the sky outside.
Then they were all gathered in front of the staff table and were told that they were to try on a tatty old hat that would sort them into the appropriate houses.
Harry heard the red-headed boy from the train telling a sandy haired boy about how one of his brothers had told him that you had to wrestle a troll to prove which house you were supposed to go into.
"Abbott, Hannah" went into Hufflepuff and was quickly followed by "Bones, Susan". "Boot, Terry" went to Ravenclaw; "Brown, Lavender" went to Gryffindor and "Bulstrode, Millicent" went to Slytherin.
Of the group of friends, "Cornfoot, Stephen" was the first to be called up and after a few moments' deliberation, the hat called out "Ravenclaw!"
A few more names went by, and them Professor McGonagall called out "Entwhistle, Kevin."
"Ravenclaw," announced the hat.
As Kevin went to join Stephen at the table where the students had a blue trim to their black robes, Professor McGonagall called out "Finch-Fletchley, Justin."
After thirty seconds under the hat, Justin was placed in "Hufflepuff!"
To the six friends still waiting to be sorted, it came as a shock. Despite being told they would be sorted where they would do best, the notion that they would be separated had not entered their minds. This was foolish, but there we are.
After "Finnigan, Seamus," "Goldstein, Anthony" and "Goyle, Gregory" were sorted, the group's fears were realised when "Granger, Hermione" was sorted into Gryffindor.
"I don't like this," said Sally-Anne. "I thought we were all going to get to be friends together."
"I'm sure we can all still be friends," said Oliver. "There must be common rooms and things where you can get together with those from other houses."
More names were listed off by Professor McGonagall. A pair of identical twins, "Patil, Padma" and "Patil, Parvati," were sorted into separate houses (Ravenclaw and Gryffindor respectively) before McGonagall called out "Perks, Sally-Anne."
As she stepped towards the sorting hat, Sally-Anne noticed the Patil twins exchanging anxious looks at being separated.
The hat decided that Sally-Anne was to join Justin in Hufflepuff and Professor McGonagall called out "Potter, Harry."
Immediately the hall broke out into a cacophony of whispers as Harry made his way to the stool. As he sat, Professor Dumbledore raised ha hand and the entire hall went silent.
The silence in the hall could have been cut with a knife as everyone waited to see where the famous Boy-Who-Lived would end up.
Finally, after almost two full minutes, the Sorting Hat called out "Gryffindor!"
The sudden burst of sound what like a cannon blast. All along their table, Gryffindor students broke out into thunderous applause, with a pair of ginger twin boys getting up on the table to dance a jig while chanting "We got Potter! We got Potter!"
Meanwhile some of the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws were, somewhat jokingly, booing the decision while more than a few Slytherins were openly jeering.
Harry made his way over to the Gryffindor table and was promptly pulled into a hug by Hermione, who voiced the worry that she might end up in a house all on her own.
It took almost ten minutes for the furore over Harry's sorting to die down.
Oliver was sorted next, joining Justin and Sally-Anne in Hufflepuff. Sophie went after him and joined Harry and Hermione in Gryffindor. That left Dean.
Dean had to wait for "Runcorn, Alana" to be sorted into Slytherin before it was his turn. Like Sophie, he joined Harry and Hermione in Gryffindor.
"Turpin, Lisa" joined Ravenclaw, "Weasley, Ronald" (the ginger boy from the train) joined Gryffindor and lastly "Zabini, Blaise" joined Slytherin.
"Anyone else think it's odd that there were forty of us first years and the sorting had managed to sort us so that there were exactly ten in each house?" Hermione asked Harry, Dean and Sophie as the Slytherins finished clapping Zabini's sorting.
"Yeah," said Harry. "It's a bit odd considering we're supposed to be sorted based on our personality traits."
Any further talking on that point was cut off when Professor Dumbledore stood up and announced "Before we begin our customary start of term feast, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit, blubber, ointment, tweak. Thank you."
"What the heck was that?" asked Dean as many of the older students clapped.
As Harry, Hermione and Sophie shrugged their shoulders, massive amounts of food suddenly appeared on the table before them.
There were pies of the steak and kidney, chicken and mushroom, and cottage varieties. There were sausages, ham, roast pork, roast beef, roast chicken, roast lamb in mint sauce, turkey legs and salami. There were mashed potatoes, roast potatoes, baked potatoes, boiled potatoes and fries. There were Yorkshire puddings, stuffing balls, onion rings and gallons upon gallons of gravy, ketchup, barbeque sauce, mustard, mayonnaise and vinegar.
Harry and Dean quickly began filling their plates in front of them with meat, potato, pie and a liberal helping of gravy, and were just about to tuck in when Hermione cleared her throat.
They both turned to look at her in confusion. She didn't say anything, just tapped her fork on the edge of a large platter that contained a large array of vegetables, including carrots, parsnips, sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, peas, runner beans and cabbage.
Harry grinned sheepishly and added a spoonful of carrots and another of peas to his plate while Dean opted for the cauliflower and runner beans. Hermione and Sophie exchanged eye rolls at the behaviour of the two boys.
As everyone settled in to eat, the group of four found themselves becoming involved in the conversations around them. Their year mates Neville Longbottom, Seamus Finnigan, Lavender Brown, Parvati Patil and Fay Dunbar all introduced themselves and seemed nice enough.
Ron Weasley took a little longer as he was a bit preoccupied with all the food in front of him, but once he did introduce himself, it quickly became apparent that he had taken an interest in Harry. A huge interest in Harry, actually, to the point where he was trying to make sure that Harry focused solely on him and no one else. Oftentimes this involved talking across others, interrupting conversations to get himself heard. It was quite rude.
Harry tolerated it at the first few times it happened, when Ron interrupted Neville, Lavender and Fay, but when Ron interrupted Sophie, Harry found that he had to say something.
"Ron, you keep interrupting people. Please stop. It's not polite."
Ron's ears turned red and he went back to his steak and ale pie with a grumpy expression on his face. Harry frowned at this behaviour, trying to work out why Ron seemed to feel Harry's attention should be entirely on him.
Harry wasn't even entirely sure what Ron's last name had been. Wheezer, or something like that.
He shook his head to put the matter out of his mind and turned back to the others. "Sorry, Sophie. What were you saying?"
Fortunately the conversation continued on as if the interruption had not happened and for the rest of the main course the only noticeable downside was Ron who seemed to take his bad mood out on his food, stabbing his sausages and roast potatoes with unnecessary force and chewing rather loudly, without closing his mouth.
Finally the plates and platters from the main course disappeared and were promptly replaced by the desert course, which consisted of more ice cream, whipped cream, cherries, chocolate sauce, peanuts, cakes, soufflés, pastries, trifles and tapioca puddings than any of them had ever seen before in their lives.
Harry was just about to grab a spoon in order to dig into some ice cream when Dean had an idea.
"Hey, how about we grab Kevin and Stephen and then join Justin, Oliver and Sally-Anne for desert"?
Harry, Hermione and Sophie all felt that this was a great idea and got up out of their seats. Almost as soon as they did the noise level in the Great Hall began to diminish.
The group of four did not notice this at first and had already made it half way to the Ravenclaw table to grab Kevin and Stephen when the voice of Professor Dumbledore caused all remaining noise to disappear.
"Mr Potter, why have you and your friends left your seats? The feast isn't over yet?"
Harry looked around and saw that all eyes in the Great Hall were on himself, Dean, Hermione and Sophie.
Looking back to the Headmaster, Harry explained "We were going to sit with some of the friends we made on the train."
"Students sit at their house tables during meals, Mr Potter," replied Dumbledore.
Harry wanted to reply, but the amount of eyes on him was quickly becoming unbearable. Nothing more was said, but the continued staring was doing the job and within moments Harry, Hermione, Dean and Sophie had all returned to their seats at the Gryffindor table, keeping their heads low.
Once they were seated, the noise began to pick up once again.
"Well, that was awkward…" muttered Sophie.
"Harry, mate," said Ron, his mouth half filled with chocolate cake. "What d'you wanna go an' sit wiv' ovver people for?" He swallowed and continued "You're in Gryffindor now. We're the best there is. No sense wasting your time with Puffs or Claws, or worse, those lousy snakes."
Something about Ron's words struck Harry, and almost instantly the memory of his meeting with Malfoy on the train came back to him; "You will soon find, Potter, that blood and family names are important in the wizarding world. It would be a disgrace for you to make friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there."
From the looks on the faces of Hermione, Dean and Sophie, they had caught it too. Ron, meanwhile, did not seem to feel he had said anything wrong and helped himself to a massive scoop of ice cream.
Harry suddenly didn't feel hungry anymore, no matter how good that black forest gateau looked.
A short while later, the desert plates disappeared and Dumbledore stood to make a speech.
"Just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start of term notices to give you. The first years should note that the forest in the grounds is forbidden to all students. Also, our caretaker, Mr Filch, has asked me to remind you all that no magic is to be used between classes in the corridors. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of term, so anyone wishing to try out for their house teams should give their name to Madam Hooch. And finally I must tell you that this year, the third floor corridor, on the right hand side, is out of bounds to anyone who does not wish to die a most painful death."
Looking around, Harry noticed that Dumbledore had just in effect waved a red rag in front of at least two dozen bulls.
As if he had not just told them that there was something deadly inside the school, Dumbledore announced that it was time to sing the school song.
Once the song finished, there were two very clear conclusions to be made. Firstly, no one in the magical world knows how to write songs. Second, no one teaches Hogwarts students how to carry a tune.
Once the feast ended, the first year Gryffindors were instructed to follow the fifth year prefects, Percy Weasley and Eleanor Birchgrove, who would lead them up to Gryffindor Tower, where the house common room and dormitories were located.
"So," said Percy once they were all gathered in the Gryffindor common room. "This is the Gryffindor common room. Most of your free time will be spent here or in the library. Boys' dormitories are up the left staircase. Girls, you're up the right staircase. All of your belongings have already been brought up.
"Any questions?" asked Eleanor.
"Yeah," said Dean. "Percy said that most of our free time will be spent either here or in the library. I was just wondering when we get time to mix with students from other houses?"
"You will be taking lessons with students from other houses," replied Eleanor. "You also have the opportunity to join them for quiet study in the library."
Hermione put her hand up and when Percy called on her she said "I think what Dean meant was if there is a communal common room, somewhere like the Gryffindor common room, only where we can invite our friends from other houses."
"We have nothing like that at Hogwarts," said Percy. "Don't worry though. You're fellow Gryffindors will soon be like family to you, so you won't need to worry about your social lives.
Harry, Hermione, Dean and Sophie did not like the sound of that. Between the common room arrangements and the fact that they were not allowed to sit at other tables at meal times, it was starting to feel like they weren't meant to be friends with anyone outside of Gryffindor House.
Those four weren't the only ones not entirely happy about this arrangement. Parvati was wondering just how she was ever meant to spend time with her twin sister, Neville was most annoyed that he had not been sorted into Hufflepuff with Hannah, Susan and Ernie while Seamus was a bit miffed that he was going to struggle to spend time with Wayne Hopkins and Roger Malone, as they had seemed like a good laugh on the train.
But it was Harry, Hermione, Dean and Sophie who were hatching a plan…
And that's all I have on this one so far. Hope you enjoyed it!
Will Hermione have a bit more success in preventing Harry from doing stupid things now that she has some backup?
What will happen with the troll at Halloween now that Hermione has friends?
Will Harry, Hermione, Dean and Sophie figure out a way around the rules so they can spend their free time with Kevin, Stephen, Justin, Oliver and Sally-Anne?
What will Snape's reaction to Harry's altercation with Malfoy be?
How will Dumbledore react to finding out that Harry and Ron aren't friends?
Will Hogwarts live up the the muggleborns' expectations?
All this and more will be revealed, if I ever get around to making a full story out of this, as I hope to!