Chapter 8

Make Friends and Influence People, Part 2

"So it's true." A voice sneered from behind him in the hallway of the train. "The great Harry Potter has decided to grace us with his presence." Harry turned around to face a group of strangers, about his age. In the front of the pack was a boy with silvery blonde hair and sharp features, his arms crossed lazily in front of his chest. "Pansy. Come here." A petite girl shoved her way through to the boy's side. "Meet Harry Potter." The boy tilted his head toward him. "She's quite a fan."

Pansy's upturned nose wrinkled in disgust. "He looks like a muggle! Don't you know anything? We're supposed to change into our school robes before we get to Hogwarts." Sure enough, Harry realized they were all wearing dark robes with green snake patches.

The boy stepped closer and extended his hand. "Draco Malfoy. And this here is Pansy Parkinson." Harry shook his hand and nodded to Pansy, who was still looking at him as if he were an especially ugly insect. "We're the Slytherin prefects." He gestured proudly to the small badge on his chest.

"Harry, are you all right?" Ron had left the compartment and now stood behind Harry, eyeing the Slytherin group at a careful distance.

"Lessons to be learned, Potter," Draco said smoothly, "a man can be judged by the quality of his company, and a Weasley can be spotted by a head full of ugly red hair and tatty robes" He twisted around to face Ron. "Why don't you mind your own business, Weaselbee." Draco drawled, taking obvious delight in the angry flush that quickly overtook Ron's face. "Or would you rather fight it out? This time, maybe without your sister's help?"

"Leave Ginny out of this, Malfoy." Ron growled, pulling himself up to his full height which, in all honesty, was a good head taller than Draco.

Pansy stepped forward, whipping out her wand in the blink of an eye.

"Let me do this one, please?" She simpered to Draco, who gave her a smug nod. She raised her wand and smiled prettily. "Hmm. What shall I turn you into this time? I thought that rubbish bin was particularly inspired..."

Ginny had rushed out into the hallway with her wand raised. "Leave Ginny out of what?" She mocked, with a grin. Just before she could shout out something else, Harry saw a frizzy haired girl pushing her way to the center of the action.

"Everybody, freeze!" The girl shouted. "Really, how childish. Back to your compartments, or I'll be speaking to your heads of houses. And prefects! You should know better!"

"Granger, do you have to spoil everything?" Pansy pouted, reluctantly slipping the wand back into her robe. "Don't you have something better to do? Like fix your hair?" She let out a high pitched laugh and turned on her heels. Draco muttered something snide under his breath and followed Pansy back to their compartment. The rest of the pack followed.

"Ginny, this is not some kind of game. I have told you numerous times to stay out of-"

"Really, Hermione." Ginny shot her an annoyed glance. "You can go ahead and tell McGonagall. I don't care."

The frizzy haired girl walked stiffly over to Harry. "Yes, I heard you were on the train. It's nice to meet you, Harry. My name is Hermione Granger, and I'm one of the Gryffindor prefects. Dean should be around here somewhere, doing rounds. I do hope you plan to stay out of trouble." She shot Ginny a dirty look. "If you need any help with anything, please feel free to ask." She gave a curt nod and walked off down the hall.

"Who is she?" Harry asked, trying to store away all that he had learned from the quick scuffle.

"A bossy little know-it-all." Ginny sniffed, heading back toward their compartment. "Absolutely no sense of humor."

"What was all that anyway?" He continued, trailing back to their room while shooting an occasional glance back toward the now empty hallway.

"Slytherins," Ron growled angrily. "They're snakes for a reason, y'know. Every dark wizard who ever lived came out of Slytherin."

At this, Ginny snorted. "Oh please, Ron. I doubt that. But that's not to say I like them. Because I don't."

Harry simply raised an eyebrow. A part of his mind sparked at the thought of what kind of damage one of those wands could do. He wished that girl Hermione could have held off just a little longer.

"Hogwart's is separated," Ginny explained. "There's Gryffindor... Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw and Slytherin...well, you'll see for yourself in the sorting."

"I'm in Ravenclaw." Luna stated softly, reminding Harry of her presence in the compartment. "Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure." She added in a sing-song voice.

"Er, right then." Harry said, puzzled. "What are you lot then?"

"Gryffindor, of course!" Ron laughed. "All the Weasleys have been, for ages, except for our great-uncle Ignatius, and no one ever talks about him."

"Of course." Harry echoed, dryly.

"When I got up to the sorting hat as a firstie, I thought for sure I'd be stuck somewhere awful like Hufflepuff."

"What's wrong with Hufflepuff?"

Ginny scowled at Ron. "Nothing is wrong with Hufflepuff. Every Hufflepuff I know is perfectly sweet."

Ron shrugged his shoulder. "Just a little, well... they're Hufflepuffs!"

Ginny ignored her brother and instead focused on Harry. "Er, not to be rude or anything, but we all figured you'd start up at Hogwarts at eleven, like everyone else. You'd have been in Ron's year, right? What happened?"

"I was at a different school." Harry replied vaguely. "Didn't get a letter because...Dumbledore... he couldn't find my address."

"Couldn't find your address?" Ron looked unconvinced. "Really, you out looking for You-Know-Who, right? Because that's what I heard. Some muggles spotted him somewhere in Egypt and you ran away to go look for him."

"That's not true." Harry said stonily. Ron's face drooped with disappointment, where as Ginny continued to peer at Harry curiously.

"So you were at another school then?"

"None of your bloody business what happened, now is it?"

She stared sharply at him for a moment. "No." She finally answered in a crisp tone. "I guess it's not."

Ron shot an warning glare at Harry. "Hey. Watch it."

"You have no idea," Harry grumbled, "with your magic wands and your... Quickditch or what... no bloody idea what my life has been like, so why don't you both just shut it." He snapped his head around to face the window, and proceeded to ignore the trio until the train pulled to a final stop.