Disclaimer- I don't own Harry Potter… no really- I'm supposed to let you know that.

AN: This is a double update-please make sure you've read the previous chapter.

Chapter 11- Familiar Strangers

Platform 9¾ Kings cross Station: September-1-1991
Age 11

Hermione's POV

It was like Diagon Alley all over again. Sure it looked just like an ordinary platform (if you ignored the fact that you had to walk through a solid wall to get here).The seemingly endless bright fire-engine red train was definitely an older model I remembered seeing in the museum once. But it was just that- a train, a platform and a crowd. It could have been any other day at the station … until I had to duck as stray broom flew right towards me.

It was finally happening! I was going to Hogwarts. And I was terrified.

The day I had first learned about Magic, had been hands down the best day of my life. I was suddenly in a fairy tale. All those clichés about nothing being impossible suddenly didn't sound so ridiculous anymore. But the very next day as I sat down and started to pour over all the books I had bought from Diagon Alley and the illusion of the perfect dream world had shattered.

The magical community was backwards enough that calling them medieval would not be much of an exaggeration. They discriminated against clearly sentient, intelligent creatures. Forget the creatures; they considered any one without magic beneath them. They had absolutely no regard for anything modern be it Fashion or Technology or even Medicine, if only because muggles (what an ugly word) had come up with it. I could understand the fact that electric currents were easily disrupted by ambient magic, but that discovery had been made around the time Edison was still alive! As much as I tried, I could find no evidence on further research on the subject. What about radio waves? Telephones? The INTERNET!

Of course most of my concern had disappeared quickly in the face of what magic could do. These people may have been lazy with discovering new things, but that was because they already had everything they could ask for. Would a civilization still evolve if it had reached maximum efficiency? I wondered. There was almost nothing magic couldn't do. Almost.

It appeared even magic couldn't prevent wars. It was when I uncovered that particular bit of Wizarding history that I seriously reconsidered attending Hogwarts. Pure bloods, half bloods and muggle borns. There was a social hierarchy here. It didn't matter how smart I was, I would still be at the bottom of it. Would it be worth it? To leave everything I could be in one world for everything I couldn't be in another. If I stayed here, I would probably end up as a doctor or a lawyer. I would have respect and comfort. I would have a nice 'happy' family. I frowned and looked up to where my parents were sitting, each to busy with their work to notice me, or even each other. Well happy enough at any rate…

What would become of me if I went? I frowned again and look around at all the books strewn around in front of me. I didn't know. That thought startled me. I had no idea where I might end up if I took this road. And I found that for the first time in my life- I liked not knowing something.

So here I was. My parents had dropped me off at the barrier, hugging me and wishing me well, but unwilling to follow me onto the platform, unsure if it would allow them to pass.

I hauled my trunk up onto to the train, but I could only lift up one end. Hmm… I did not think this one through.

"Do you need some help?" I looked up to see who had spoken. In front of me stood a beautiful blond girl who looked to be about my age. I was so startled at the offer that I just stood there for a second before my wits returned.

"Y-Yes please!... Thank You"

She just nodded graciously and waved her hand in the direction of my trunk. I was confused, did she just mean to taunt me? It wouldn't be the first time a pretty girl had attempted to mock me for … well for being me. But this was unusually soon, she didn't even know anything about me yet…before I could complete that thought I caught a glimpse of my trunk…my floating trunk.

"Well lead the way… We should probably find an empty compartment to drop these off in" she said casually… as if she hadn't just contradicted every single thing that I had read about magic.

I looked her over carefully… nope, no wand. And there was another trunk floating right behind her. Presumably, her own.

"Right…" I was proud that I managed to squeak out even that much. I turned and headed into the train, constantly looking over my shoulders to check if she was following. 'At least I'm not the only one' I thought to myself as I observed the curious and more often than not startled expressions of everyone that looked our way. Finally, I found a compartment that was still empty, and I slide in, holding the door open for her to follow. She stepped into the compartment and with another wave of her hands she moved the trunks up onto the rack and turned to me.

"Lyra Addison… Nice to meet you" she said, holding out her hand with a pleasant smile.

"Hermione Granger… nice to meet you too" I shook her outstretched hand and then before I could stop myself the words just tumbled out of my mouth "How did you do that? Is wandless magic common in pureblood homes? Are you a pure blood? Can you do anything else without a wand? Can you do anything else with a wand? Which year are you in? I'm just a first year you see, I don't really know much about all this," I somehow managed to stop myself.

She looked amused. Not in a You-are-such-a-nerd kind of way but in more of Such-a-cute-little-pet kind of way. "It's a secret, no, no, yes, definitely yes, and I'm a first year, just like you" She said. It took me a second to match the answers with the questions. And then I was even more confused.

"So you're not a pure blood?" I asked confused. "You can't possibly be a muggle born if you already know magic like that before even first year! So a half blood then," It would really sting my pride if she was a muggle born. I was used to knowing more than the kids my age. Coming here I had accepted that children from magical homes would know more about magic than me, at least in the beginning. But if she was a muggle born…

"Well technically yes, I'm a half-blood" She answered, still looking amused. I never got a chance to ask her what she meant by technically, because right then, we were interrupted by a nervous looking boy our age.

"E-excuse me, H-have either of you seen a toad?"

Lyra's POV

Persuading the Dursley's to let Harry go with us had not been all that difficult. They had simply been told that we were heading to London that day, where I would be attending school, and that we could drop Harry off at the station. There really wasn't any need for them to know I was a witch. Although from the look on Petunia's face I wasn't too sure that she hadn't already guessed.

Once we got here, I managed to delay us at the newspaper stand, just until I saw the crowd of red-heads. That was my signal, and the second act begins. I dropped the paper, saying it wasn't anything I hadn't already read yesterday. Then dragged a very confused Harry and a very amused set of parents to the barrier between platforms nine and ten. We got there just after the eldest of the present red-haired brothers disappeared behind the barrier.

"Excuse me!" I raised my voice slightly to catch the Weasley matron's attention. She turned to us with a pleasant enough expression and started to say something, until she saw my mother's face. At which she clammed up and stepped back seemingly on guard if not a little confused.

I trudged on despite the less than reassuring reaction. "Do you know if people without magic can get through to platform 9 ¾." I asked in the most polite tone that I could.

"Without magic?" She looked even more confused as she glanced between me and my mother.

"Yes" I was starting to get impatient. This thing with people half-recognizing my mother and half-assuming she was someone else was starting to get really old. "My parent can't do magic you see, I was wondering if they could come onto the platform with us." I said pointing to Harry and myself.

"Oh! I see" She looked mildly embarrassed at her earlier reaction."Pardon me I thought you were… someone else, well I've never seen Muggle parents at the platform before… I'm sorry, I don't think you can." She really did look sorry, like it was the most terrible thing that they couldn't see us off.

"It's all right, they're more than capable of looking after themselves, my little monsters" Mum said, ruffling Harry's hair (mostly because, nothing she ever did to my hair ever made a difference, it always just settled back to the way it was- it's no fun ruffling hair if it isn't actually ruffled, she would always say) I don't think he minded very much if the smile on his face was anything to go by.

Molly Weasley smiled at us and then turned to her own –rather large-brood that was looking at us curiously. She instructed Fred to go through next. Which he did, after berating her for not knowing he was George… or Fred as it happened. If I'm being completely honest- by the time the twins both disappeared I wasn't sure when they'd been lying and when they'd been telling the truth. Anyway, I was starting to get rather late, I turned to my parent and gave them each a hug, waited for Harry to do the same, then grabbed his hand and ran towards the barrier, waving back at them all the while.

Once we were on the platform, I caught a glimpse of a certain bushy haired witch. Well, I might as well satiate my curiosity.

I told Harry I'd meet him on the train and rushed of in the direction I'd seen Hermione in. After a moment of dragging along my –rather heavy- trunk and the ungainly empty cage (my little barn owl, Flynn had already been released and sent ahead to Hogwarts along with Hedwig), I paused. Why was I dragging it again? It wasn't like I was supposed to hide my magic here. I was among other Wizards and Witches. I considered hiding the full extent of my abilities for a second, then I dismissed it. There was no benefit in hiding what I could do. It's not like I was going to be anonymous anyway. I was already Harry Potter's friend. I was going to be watched closely. It would be impossible to hide, so why not flaunt it. This way at least I'd have the benefit of being respected by all the different political fractions in Hogwarts, despite my heritage. People would take me a bit more seriously. It would certainly help if I wanted to warn someone about their future.

So with that in mind, I turned to my luggage and merely looked at it, and it floated into the air. I turned to walk again, ignoring the gasps of surprise and the dumbfounded expressions as my trunk followed me like a puppy on a leash.

When I finally found her, she was having luggage troubles of her own. This provided me with a perfect opening. "Do you need some help?"

Neville's POV

Trevor was GONE! I couldn't find him anywhere, and Gran had already left, and the train was just about to start off. I didn't know what to DO!

I knew a toad was not the most fashionable of pets. Owls were useful, cats were intelligent, and toads were… slimy. But I couldn't just stop looking for him. What if he got hurt? What if he got trampled? What if he got eaten by someone else's pet? At that last thought I finally got up and started searching for him. He wasn't anywhere in my compartment, so I steeled myself and knocked on the door to the compartment next to mine. It was open, I peered in to see I'd interrupted two witches that looked to be about as old as me. I had never spoken to someone my age before (Or any age under 80 for that matter)

"E-excuse me, H-have either of you seen a toad?" I winced at how I had stuttered. If Gran had heard me like that…

"No we haven't. Why have you lost one?" Said the brunette, not unkindly.

I could only nod .

"We'll help you look then" The blond said and the brunette agreed with a nod.

"You will?!" I hadn't expected that.

"Of course, besides three heads are better than one" the brunette said. The blond looked really amused at that and in a whisper that was still fairly audible said "I wonder if you'd still think that by the time the year is out." I looked over to brunette but she was just as confused as I was.

"Any ways, Lyra Addison, Pleasure to meet you" The blond introduced herself.

"And I'm Hermione Granger" the brunette said as she smiled.

"N-Neville Longbottom" I managed to say that much at least.

Addison and Granger, they were both muggle names. I'd never met anyone who was muggleborn before (then again, I hadn't met many people). I wonder how they were different from me, that is, if they were different from me.

"We should split up, it would be fasted to search the train that way" Hermione said in a slightly pushy voice. It didn't seem to frazzle the other girl though. "Alright, Neville, why don't you go that way," She pointed to the front of the train, "And me and Hermione will search in the other direction, if you don't find your toad by the time you reach the front, maybe you can ask one of the prefects for help, I heard someone say they're usually in the first carriage… we'll meet back here once we're done… Okay?" Lyra seemed to be just as bossy as Hermione. But there was something different about her, like I was talking to an adult, I hadn't felt that when Hermione spoke. I half expected Hermione to be angry with Lyra, that's usually what happened whenever I saw two really pushy people in the same room. But Hermione was just looking towards Lyra , smiling .

"Okay" I agreed easily, and turned to walk towards the front carriage "And Neville," I turned to see Lyra look at me almost…fondly? "Don't worry so much, I'm sure he'll find you, even if you don't find him" She said. I'm not sure I understood what she meant, but her words made me feel better anyway.

Lyra's POV

When we reached the cabin which Harry was sharing with Ron, Ron had just been about to cast a spell at The Rat.

"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," Hermione said before I could greet Harry. Then she saw Ron with his wand in his hand "Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it, then." She sat down. Ron looked taken aback. "Er - all right." He cleared his throat. "Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow."

He waved his wand, but nothing happened. Scabbers stayed gray and fast asleep. "Are you sure that's a real spell?" She said. "Well, it's not very good, is it?"

"Oh I don't know Mione…" She looked startled, whether it was at the interruption or at the nickname I don't know.

"Hey Harry! Has Malfoy been here yet?" I couldn't remember whether the incident with Malfoy had been before or after this.

"Nope" He replied with a smirk. "I hope I'm there when you run into him though"

Ron who looked slightly put off when Malfoy had been mentioned now looked curious.

"I live to serve, Your Majesty" I said with almost practiced sarcasm.

"What did you mean? About the spell not being a bad one? Because I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me." She turned to the boys and said " I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?"

"Oh! Sorry about that Hermione, right, this is Harry Potter my best friend, and this is…?" I waited for Ron to introduce himself… All my other powers were fine, but no way in hell was I letting anyone without occulmency know that I could foresee.

"I'm Ron Weasley," Ron muttered.

"Pleasure to meet you, Lyra Addison" I waved at him. Hermione was staring at Harry looking as if she were itching to say something, so I decided to distract her before she could.

"What I meant was, the spell doesn't matter so much as the intention behind it" I looked at Ron and gestured to The Rat and said "May I?"

He shrugged and nodded.

I looked at the still sleeping animal, and hoped the loathing wasn't too visible in my face and repeated the dud spell. "Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow," There was a lot more venom in my voice than there should have been. I felt my magic gather at my fingers to do my bidding, and released it with a wave of my hand.

Scabbers turned bright yellow. That was oddly satisfying. I couldn't reveal the rat for who he was yet ( they might just throw him into Azkaban without questioning him, or they might believe he was just a very, very confused old wizard, who thought he really was a rat… I didn't trust the ministry as far as I could throw it- which means I didn't trust them at all –The only way Sirius would definitely get a trial, was if he was safe and away from Dementors first. I didn't want what happened to Barty Crouch Jr to happen to him.) Still, making the ugly rat as miserable as I could for the next two years felt like the least I could do.

Hermione and Ron stared at me with identical expressions of disbelief, while Harry watched on amused.

"That was a real spell?" Hermione asked looking incredulous.

"Nope… that 'spell' was a complete dud, I just said it out loud for the fun of it," Ron scowled and muttered something about 'stupid…George…should've known…'

"But then I find most spells are unnecessary," I continued " the wand motions and pronunciations just optimize the effect of the magic, but it is still possible to do magic without them, you just need to be able to focus really really hard that's all"

Hermione seemed to be reluctant to accept that explanation "But the books said-"

"Would you believe something you've read over something you've seen?" That made her stop and think.

Ron on the other hand was still skeptical "You did wandless magic!"

"Yes I did" I replied in a deadpan voice. He didn't seem to know how to respond to that.

"We should go, Neville will probably be waiting…" Hermione reminded me.

"Right! We'll see you boys in a little while" I waved and left with Hermione.