Author Notes: Thanks to all the readers and reviewers. Answers/replies to questions and comments are/will be posted at www fanfiction net/topic/135718/89507238/1/

Update 14 July: Many thanks to Aletheya for proofreading this chapter.

Chapter 5 - The Hogwarts Express

Once again Harry was keen for the summer to end so he could see Hermione. Unfortunately the Grangers' already busy work schedule had filled up with more conferences and meetings, and Harry and Hermione had been told they would be unable to organise another outing together. The two had to be content with sending letters and chatting occasionally on the phone.

When September the 1st finally came around, Harry was so keen to get there that the train trip to King's Cross seemed to drag on forever. His distraction led to him swapping to the wrong train during one line change. Tom had just laughed when Harry had asked him why he hadn't warned him and had replied that catching trains had never been his preferred method of transport.

When he got to platform nine at King's Cross and saw other people pushing trolleys with large trunks, boxes and bags stacked up, he was ever so glad that he had invested in the shrinking trunk tucked away in his pocket. His eyes opened in surprise when he saw one family pushing a trolley with an caged owl on top; he wondered why they hadn't sent their owl on ahead. They didn't look like muggles to him.

He waited until a bench became available and then sat down to crowd watch. He would have preferred to read a book but, surrounded by muggles, he didn't think it would be appropriate to pull out one of his textbooks. Luckily, he didn't have long to wait till Hermione and her parents arrived.

Greetings were quickly exchanged.

"Hello, Harry."

"Hi Hermione, Dan, Emma. Hope you enjoyed the rest of your summer."

"Thanks, Harry. We did, I am sorry we couldn't arrange another time to take you out for a picnic."

"It's okay, Emma. It gave me plenty of time to study."

"Indeed. It was difficult to get our Hermione here to leave her bedroom. She wanted to spend all her time reading or writing letters to you."

"Dad!" Both Hermione and Harry blushed at her father's words.

"You both look after yourselves, okay? Hermione, please make sure to leave yourself some time to relax, sleep and eat properly. Harry, you too, and please look after our daughter."

"Yes, sir."

Emma Granger and Dan both gave Hermione a cuddle before stepping back.

Hermione chewed her lips as she eyed the barrier that she knew separated them from the magical world and the train that would take them to Hogwarts. With a small smile and wave at her parents, Harry led Hermione through the barrier.

Two jaws dropped as they stared out at a sea of wizards and witches, many of them in brightly coloured robes. Scattered amongst them, were children of many ages chatting and laughing and towering over them all was a massive bright red Hogwarts Express steam train.

The two of them walked slowly forward, dodging and ducking members of the seething crowd as they pushed the trolley with Hermione's trunk towards the train. They had seen plenty of wizards and witches at Diagon Alley, but it had been nowhere near as busy or as exciting as here.

'Harry, the serious looking woman with the monocle is the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. One of those two girls with her must be her niece. Go introduce yourself and ask if they are first years as well. She would be a very useful ally.'

Harry gave a mental sigh but, grabbing Hermione's hand, pushed the trolley with the other, "Come on Hermione, let's go make some friends."

Dragging a rather surprised Hermione, Harry approached the two girls and smiled. "Hello, are you first years as well?"

The taller of the two girls nervously played with one of her long blonde pigtails and muttered, "Ah, yes, hello."

The other girl giggled at her companion before giving Harry and Hermione a bright smile and straightening her back. "Hello. My name is Susan Bones, this is my friend Hannah Abbott and this is my Aunt Madam Bones. Pleased to meet you."

Harry also stood up a little taller before bobbing his head to the lady and giving the two girls a cheeky grin "Madam Bones, Miss Bones, Miss Abbott. Pleased to meet you too. This is my dear friend Hermione Granger and my name is Harry Potter, but please just call me Harry."

Both girls gave little gasps and their eyes shot straight to Harry's scar. Harry had long ago changed his hairstyle so that the scar, whilst not emphasized, was not hidden either.

Madam Bones raised one eyebrow slightly before mildly scolding the two girls, "Girls, enough of that." She nodded to Harry. "Indeed, it is a pleasure to meet you, Mr Potter... Harry. Though I would prefer to dawdle, the world waits for no witch. I wish you all the best for your school year. Susan I trust you will see everyone on to the train with no delay?"

The short redhead nodded. "Yes, Aunty."

A round of thank yous and goodbyes ensued before Susan, proudly but with a cheeky wink at Hermione, led the four onto the train. "Let's find an empty compartment so we can sit near the windows."

It was still early, so they easily found a suitable compartment and Harry lifted up the girls trunks and put them up on the luggage rail.

Susan asked the obvious question, "Harry, where is your trunk?"

Harry took out his shrunken trunk and enlarged it with a tap of his wand, putting it with the others. "I bought one that has built in shrinking charms as I had to make my own way to the station and dragging a big trunk the whole way would have been hard."

"You took the Floo?"

Harry shook his head, "I was raised by muggles. I took three trains to get here."

Both girls were rather shocked and Hannah spoke up for the first tone since her shy hello. "You were raised by muggles? But I thought you had been receiving special training and traveling the world?"

Hermione shook her head, "You read the same books that I did. They are all lies. I think Harry should sue the publishers."

Susan asked "Who is Sue?"

Hermione's explanation and Susan's translation into Wizarding terms took them up to departure time.

Just as the train started to move, a chubby short blonde boy peered in and stuttered something. He looked like he was about to move on when Susan lept up and dragged him into the compartment. "Hi, Neville! Come join us. You already know Hannah, but this is Hermione Granger and Harry Potter, but all the stories in the books are lies. Harry, Hermione, this is Neville Longbottom. Our families are friends."

'So that is Neville Longbottom. He also fit the prophecy, but Voldemort considered the Potters as more of a threat, so presumed it was you that could vanquish him. Guess he choose correctly since the chubby boy sure doesn't look like dark lord defeating material.'

"Hey, let him be. He's only a eleven and hasn't had a crazy old voice in the head teaching him since he was two."

'So that is how you repay my tireless efforts to train you? By insulting me?' Tom's voice was obviously amused.

"Shush you. I want to listen to my new friends."

Neville turned out to be as shy as he looked, but Susan and even Hannah were used to it and managed to pull him out of his shell enough that he eventually joined in their conversation.

They all talked about their families, though Harry was asked the most questions and Neville only talked about his grandmother, uncle and aunties.

Susan asked the most questions about muggles, while Hermione asked the most about wizards and witches. Harry had to remind Hermione a few times to calm down when she got over-excited. Mostly, however, only a little nudge was needed. A reassuring smile from him and the others made sure she didn't get embarrassed.

Tom remained mostly quiet, though he did occasionally prod Harry to ask a little more detail about certain cases and individuals Susan mentioned when she was talking about her Aunt's work.

A few of Susan and Hannah's friends came by and introductions were made. They all stared at Harry's scar and were told that all the stories were lies. Soon, all the kids were taking turns doing the introductions and explaining about the lies to the newcomers, even Neville.

The news was obviously passed beyond just their friends, as eventually an arrogant blond boy with two brutish sidekicks came by.

He looked around the room with a sneer plastered across his face finally settling on Harry, "So you're Harry Potter." He puffed up his chest. "I'm Malfoy, Draco Malfoy. Pleased to meet you." He stuck out his hand without moving forward so that Harry would have to stand to shake it.

"Tom, what do I do?"

'Greet him and stick out your hand, but don't get up. We don't know the whole situation yet so don't burn any bridges, but you shouldn't show weakness either.'

Harry did as advised and stuck out his hand without standing so there remained a two foot gap between the two hands. "Pleased to meet you as wel,l Malfoy. I heard that your father is one of the school governors. Is that right?"

Draco fought the impulse to make a rude comment for a moment, before he stepped forward and shook Harry's hand. He took a deep slow controlled breath before replying, "You heard right. You can always find a Malfoy in a position of power. I'll be seeing you around Potter."

"Harry is fine and I look forward to it."

"Right then... Later, Harry. " Draco did his best to slowly and calmly exit the compartment, pausing just at the exit to add "You can call me Draco." Then he was gone.

Susan gave Harry a little applause. "We'll handled, Harry. I'm impressed, that didn't go at all like he expected."

Hermione looked rather perplexed, "Can someone please explain to me what just happened? Why were you both so formal, Harry?"

And so the rest of the journey was spent educating Hermione on some of the nuances of pure blood politics and power plays. Neville turned out to be a font of information on customs and proper behaviours, though he often had to be prompted by Susan or Hannah. Harry picked up a lot of useful information and he hoped that he might be able to hold his own someday without always relying on Tom's help.

When the announcement came that they were five minutes away, Neville and Harry replaced their jackets with robes, exited the compartment and guarded it whilst the girls changed. Eventually, as the train was beginning to slow, the girls tapped on the door to let them know they had finally finished changing. Both boys wondered why it took so long to just throw a robe over their other clothing, but they didn't question it nor did they hear anything of what was said in the compartment when they were outside of it.

Hermione and Harry got to say hello to Hagrid as he led them toward the boats. Hermione still hadn't discovered Hagrid's birthday, but there was no opportunity to ask at the time.

Following the path towards the lake, they came around a bend and were able to see Hogwarts for the first time. There was a long pause as everyone stood astounded at the splendor of the lit castle glistening on the other side of the dark lake.

"Wow."

'It's a powerful place, Harry. Strong magic in those walls and in the surrounding lands. Spending time here will help your magic develop.'

"It's beautiful."

After the mad scramble to find a boat, Harry and Hermione found themselves in a boat with Neville and a redheaded boy who introduced himself as Ron Weasley. Harry had to roll his eyes when Ron starting asking questions about how much he remembered of the night Lord Voldemort was defeated. Everyone else he had met had at least tried to pretend to not be so interested. Both he and Neville jumped to Hermione's defence after she reported that all the books were lies and Ron retorted with a fairly rude comment about how could she possibly know. The tiff didn't come to blows, but it did put a damper on the second half of the boat ride.

It was soon forgotten as they ducked under a thick curtain of ivy. Harry, wondering how Hagrid could possibly get under it, turned and watched as Hagrid just pushed the heave vines aside and went through the gap, letting it close behind him.

The lanterns floating alongside the boats spread out to light up a large cavern and a stone dock. Soon, they were getting out of the boats and climbing up the steep stairs towards a massive door that seemed to lean out over them.

Harry handed Neville back his squirming toad that he had taken from the nervous boy before they had climbed into the boats.

"Use two hands, Neville, and just let the legs hang free. That way, he can't kick off. Later, ask one of the House Elves to put together a glass box that he can live in."

"House Elves?"

"I'll tell you about them later, Hermione."

'I have a feeling that may be a long conversation.'