The door of the compartment slid open, and Ron came in, to Harry's relief.
"Anyone sitting there?" he asked, pointing at the seat opposite Harry. "Everywhere else is full."
Harry shook his head mutely, and Ron sat down. He glanced at Harry and then at Dudley.
"Hi," said Dudley. "You're first year too?"
Ron nodded and opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by the return of the Weasley twins.
"Hey Ron, we're going to move to the middle of the train. Going to check out Lee Jordan's giant tarantula."
"Go on then," mumbled Ron, and Harry had to stop himself smirking. Ron really hated spiders, no wonder he hadn't wanted to come along with his brothers.
"Harry," said George, "I don't think we've introduced ourselves. Fred and George Weasley. That's our brother Ron. Hair might've given it away. Who's your mate?"
"My cousin Dudley," said Harry, as Dudley grinned at the twins.
"Pleased to meetcha. See you later, then."
"Bye," said Harry, Dudley and Ron. The twins slid the compartment door shut behind them.
"Are you really Harry Potter?" said Ron, as soon as the compartment door was closed.
Harry nodded, and pulled his bangs back to show his lightning scar, while Dudley looked at him with a puzzled expression on his pudgy face. Harry hadn't wanted to tell him he was famous in the wizarding world when it wasn't clear yet that Dudley was coming to Hogwarts too - it had seemed like rubbing it in a bit too much - and hadn't remembered to tell him after his cousin had gotten his letter.
Ron was still staring at his scar.
"So that's where You-Know-Who..."
"Hit me with the Killing Curse, yes," said Harry, "but I can't really remember much of it."
"But you can remember something?" said Ron eagerly.
"A flash of green light, but that's it, really."
"Wow," said Ron. He sat and stared at Harry for a few moments, then, as though he had suddenly realized what he was doing, he looked quickly at Dudley.
"And you're his cousin?"
Dudley nodded, looking at Harry in confusion. "He's lived with me and my parents ever since the accident."
Ron rose his eyebrows. "Accident?"
"Are all your family wizards?" asked Harry hurriedly. He really needed to brief Dudley on what had really happened the night his parents had died, before the wizarding world started thinking he'd lost his marbles.
"Er - Yeah, I think so," said Ron. "I think Mum's got a second cousin who's an accountant, but we don't really talk about him."
A squib in Ron's family? Harry hadn't realised this the last time around. He found it a bit disturbing that the Weasleys didn't have anything to do with the second cousin at all. That was the sort of thing he expected from the Malfoys, not the friendly and warm Weasley family.
They talked about their respective families for a while, Ron moping about the weight of the expectations his older brothers had heaped on him, Dudley regaling them with tales of how horrible Aunt Marge was. Harry had never realised Dudley hated Aunt Marge as much as he did, even if he acted otherwise for the money and toys she got him. Out of respect for Dudley, he didn't badmouth his aunt and uncle, but the story of their escape was too exciting for Dudley not to share.
"They locked you in the house so you couldn't come to Hogwarts? That's horrible!" said Ron, indignant on their behalf. "Why didn't you send an owl though?" He gestured at Hedwig.
"Didn't know how," said Harry, petting Hedwig through the bars of her cage. The conversation turned to pets, with Dudley telling them how smart his little Crookshanks was, and Ron reached inside his jacket and pulled out -
"This is Scabbers. He's useless, all he does is sleep. Percy got his owl, Hermes, from my dad when he got made prefect, but they didn't have- I mean, I got Scabbers instead."
Ron's ears turned pink, but Harry's were filled with a dull roar as he looked at the animagus responsible for his parents' death being deposited on the table. He resisted the urge to pull out his wand and curse the rat. Ron - and everyone else - would think he was deranged. He'd gone through that sort of thing back in his fifth year, he really didn't need a replay during his first.
"Don't really like rats," muttered Harry through clenched teeth.
"Oh, sorry," said Ron, and he stuffed Pettigrew back in his pocket.
The conversation flowed even more easily than it had in the other timeline, Dudley's presence seemingly putting Ron at ease. Ron was telling them all about what life was like in a wizarding household, while Harry and Dudley told him how things went in the muggle world, when the food trolley clattered to a stop outside their compartment. Harry jumped up and bought a bit of everything on the cart for his companions, tipping the sweets, cakes and pasties onto one of the empty seats.
"Don't be ridiculous," he snorted when Ron pulled out his sad little lunch. "I got some for all of us. Tuck in!"
They set to eating their way through the Honeydukes lunch, Ron explaining the concept of Chocolate Frog Collectable Cards. Dudley loved them, entranced by the little moving portraits on the cards, and Harry handed the ones that had been in his Frogs to his cousin. He wrinkled his nose at the Dumbledore card. If he needed Ron and Hermione to figure out that the thing hidden at Hogwarts was a Philosopher's Stone, he could always ask Dudley to see it again.
They were eating Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, exclaiming and laughing over the flavours they got, when someone knocked on their compartment door. It turned out to be Neville, who looked close to tears.
"Sorry," he said, "have you seen a toad around here?"
When they shook their heads, he wailed, "I've lost him! He keeps running off!"
"He'll turn up," said Harry. "Want some Bertie Bott's?"
Neville shook his head miserably. "I've got to find Trevor. Thanks anyway."
"Don't know why he bothers," said Ron, after Neville had left. "If I'd brought a toad I'd be happy for it to stay lost. Mind you, I brought Scabbers, so I can't talk."
Harry privately agreed, and looked up when the compartment door slid open again a few minutes later.
"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost his," said Hermione, and Harry grinned. He'd been looking forward to seeing his other friend again. Young Hermione sounded a lot more snooty than the more laid-back Hermione from the future, and had rather larger front teeth, but aside from that it was like seeing his Hermione in miniature.
"He hasn't been along since we last saw you," said Dudley to Neville. "Harry can make things fly towards him though. Why don't you try it on his toad, Harry?"
Four sets of eyes focussed on Harry, who sighed inwardly. Ah well, better to get a reputation as a prodigy from the start, right? It'd give him some sort of cover if he forgot not to use any spells they hadn't learned yet. He flicked his wrist, and his wand flew from its holder into his hand with a soft thwap.
"Oh, are you doing magic? I've been practising at home myself, I think it's so important to get a good start, don't you?" said Hermione, sitting down next to Ron. "Just a few simple spells of course, but they've all worked for me. Go on, let's see it then."
Harry concentrated on Trevor, picturing the toad in his mind's eye, and said: "Accio Trevor!"
They sat in silence for a few moments as nothing happened, and Hermione was about to open her mouth to tell him that well, that spell was not very good, was it, when a panicked sort of croaking suddenly drew nearer, accompanied by a faint wooshing sound.
"Trevor!" exclaimed Neville as the toad zoomed into the compartment. Harry caught the toad with two hands, thankful that the compartment door had still been open. He really should have checked that before Summoning it.
"That's amazing!" said Hermione, who was looking wide-eyed at Harry. "Summoning Charms are really advanced. You must be a brilliant wizard!"
Harry couldn't stop himself from blushing slightly. Hermione had always been far more abundant with her criticism than her praise, and even if this was her eleven-year-old self, he still felt inexplicably pleased that she'd been impressed.
"Thanks, Harry," piped Neville, taking Trevor off his hands.
"You're welcome," said Harry. "Now, will you help us eat these sweets? We can't possibly finish them off on our own."
They agreed, Neville helping himself to a Pumpkin Pasty, while Hermione selected a Flossing Stringmint. They all introduced themselves to each other, and Hermione gasped predictably when Harry told her his name.
"Harry Potter? I know all about you, of course - I got a few extra books for background reading, and you're in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century."
Harry, who had bought himself the same books, feigned ignorance. "Really? I'll have to get a copy of those then, I wonder what they wrote about me."
"Do you know what house you'll be in?" continued Hermione. "I've been asking around, and Gryffindor sounds the best from what I've heard, but I suppose Ravenclaw would be alright as well."
"If you got all those books for background reading, I'd reckon you'll be going to Ravenclaw for sure," said Ron, and Hermione looked pleased. "Yes well, intelligence and knowledge aren't everything, you know," she said, and Ron rolled his eyes when he was sure she wasn't looking.
"I'll probably be in Hufflepuff," said Neville gloomily.
"I wouldn't want to be in Hufflepuff," said Dudley, who had learned about the Hogwarts houses from Harry over the summer. "Sounds like that's where all the people who do all the actual work go!"
Harry suppressed a chuckle, and when Ron said that his entire family had been in Gryffindor, told him that his parents had, too.
"We could be housemates," he said, grinning broadly, and Ron grinned back a little uncertainly.
The talk went from Houses to quidditch (Ron enthusiastically explaining the finer points of the game to an intrigued Dudley) to the break-in at Gringotts, which had made the front page of The Daily Prophet. Hermione turned the conversation to the subjects they'd be studying at Hogwarts, and Neville ventured that he'd be looking forward to Herbology, as he enjoyed spending time in the greenhouses of Verdant Court, the Longbottom estate. He was just telling them about a run-in he'd had with a Venomous Tentacula, after some encouragement from Harry, when the compartment doors slid open again.
Harry looked up to see Draco Malfoy standing in the doorway, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle. It was odd to see Crabbe again. The boy had wanted to kill Harry rather than turn him over to Voldemort, wanted to kill him so badly that he hadn't thought twice about destroying the Room of Requirement with Fiendfyre, and had perished in the attempt. Harry shivered, suddenly feeling very cold.
"Ah, there you are," said Malfoy, smirking at Harry. "They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment, you know. I'm surprised there wasn't a throng of admirers laying in wait outside the door, trying to get a look at you."
"Hi Malfoy," said Harry, forcing himself to return the smirk. "I'm glad there isn't. Want some sweets? We got a ton left over. Who are your friends?"
"Very kind of you," said Malfoy, sitting down in the single remaining seat, next to Dudley. "And they're not my friends, they're just..." he paused, trying to think of a word, and failing, "there. Anyway, these are Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle. My name is Draco Malfoy," he added for the benefit of the other people in the compartment.
Ron disguised his snigger with a badly-acted cough. Draco looked at him, narrowing his eyes, and Harry hurriedly said: "Cauldron Cake?"
Draco accepted the cake, still eyeing Ron, but he kept quiet. The conversation started up again, occasionally interrupted as Harry prevented Ron or Draco from leading the conversation into potentially dangerous territory. Crabbe and Goyle simply stood outside of the compartment, eyeing the remaining sweets with greedy eyes, but remaining silent.
Harry peered out of the window, listening to Hermione and Draco talk about Transfiguration, which they both seemed to agree was the most interesting subject by far. He idly wondered how Draco would react if Harry told him Hermione was muggleborn - he'd probably run off to have a shower for having dirtied himself with the presence of a mudblood. It was extremely odd to hear one of his best friends and his sworn enemy have an amicable conversation, while he coud still vividly remember cheering Hermione for slapping Draco across the face. Ron and Dudley were chatting about the differences and similarities between quidditch and football, while Neville had fallen quiet, absentmindedly petting Trevor. Crabbe and Goyle had wandered off a while ago, looking for some other compartment so they could sit down.
It was getting dark. Mountains and forests rolled by the window under a dark, purple sky. We must be getting closer to the castle, Harry thought, and said so to his companions.
"Oh! We'd better hurry up and put on our robes," said Hermione, rising from her seat. "Come on, Neville."
Hermione and Neville left, followed by Draco, who claimed he'd better go find Crabbe and Goyle before they managed to miss their stop.
"They seemed nice," remarked Dudley, rubbing his belly contentedly. He was responsible for most of the discarded wrappers littering the compartment.
"I dunno about that Malfoy kid," said Ron darkly. "I've heard of his family. They were some of the first to come back to our side after You-Know-Who disappeared. Said they'd been under the Imperius Curse all along. My dad doesn't believe a word of it. He says Lucius Malfoy didn't need to be cursed to go over to the Dark Side."
"Malfoy's not his parents though," said Harry. "Look at Dudley, he loves magic, while his parents hate it." Dudley nodded in agreement.
"I guess..." said Ron doubtfully.
They got up and changed into their robes, while a disembodied voice echoed through the train: "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately."
Dudley looked as nervous as Harry had felt the first time he arrived at Hogwarts, and Ron was looking pale under his freckles. They joined the crowd gathering in the corridor, being pushed and shoved as more people came out of their compartments. Harry winced as his foot was trodden on, and almost fell over as the train came to a full stop. People pushed their way toward the door and out into the cold night air, onto a tiny, dark platform. Harry braced himself as he stepped down the stairs, timing his moment...
He tripped and fell forwards, flinging his glasses into the crowd milling around on the platform.
"Are you alright?" he heard Ron say, as he scrambled upright again.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Stupid stairs. Lost my glasses, though," replied Harry, squinting into the dark. Everything around him was obscured in a haze.
"Harry, are you okay?" Neville's voice, drawing towards him. "Where're your..."
Harry heard a crunch, and Neville let out a sorrowful "Oops." That wasn't quite part of the plan, Harry thought, but he supposed broken glasses would do just as well as lost ones. Neville pushed Harry's glasses into his hands, and apologised over and over for being so clumsy as they made their way towards the lake. Ron and Dudley helped him navigate the steep, narrow path downwards, for which he was very grateful.
"It's alright Neville, it wasn't your fault. You couldn't have seen them in the dark. I'm sure one of the professors can fix them," said Harry, as people started ooh-ing and aah-ing over their first sight of the castle.
"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, and Harry, Dudley, Ron and Neville clambered into one of the little vessels. It was a shame that he was missing the impressive view of the castle from the lake, but Harry had reckoned that getting Snape to be more agreeable would involve him looking as little as his father as possible. Hence why he'd gotten rid of his glasses on purpose, and why his otherwise unruly hair had been tamed with a quarter bottle of Sleekeazy's.
The little fleet of boats set off towards the castle, gliding across the lake, wrapped in a cocoon of nervous silence.