Scabbers was snoozing in Ron's lap.

"He might have died and you wouldn't know the difference," he said to Harry, disgusted, "I tried to turn him yellow yesterday to make him more interesting, but the spell didn't work." Harry looked suddenly interested at the sound of magic. Ron was suddenly hit with a desire to show off to his new famous friend. "I'll show you, look…."

He rummaged around in his trunk and pulled out his very battered-looking wand. It was chipped in places and something white was glinting at the end.

"Unicorn hair's nearly poking out," he said with a sigh. "Anyway –"

He had just raised his wand when the compartment door slid open again. The toadless boy was back, but this time he had a girl with him. She was already wearing her new Hogwarts robes.

"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," she said. She had a bossy sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair, and rather large front teeth.

Ron stared at her a few moments more than he would anyone else before saying "We've already told him we haven't seen it," in a weak sort of voice, but the girl wasn't listening, she was looking at the wand in his hand.

"Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it, then."

"She sat down. Ron was taken aback; he didn't know whether to refuse and call her rude for entering their compartment without asking, or to try the spell and hope that he'll amaze her with his magical expertise.

Of course, the latter won. "Er – all right."

He cleared his throat.

"Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow,

Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow."

He waved his wand, praying that something would happen, but nothing did. Scabbers stayed gray and fast asleep.

"Are you sure that's a real spell?" said the girl. "Well, it's not very good, is it? I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all and it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard – I've learned all our course books by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough – I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?"

She said this all very fast.

He wasn't sure exactly what to make of the girl, but he decided, in the wake of his frustration with not being able to impress her, that he didn't care for her much. Nursing hurt feelings, he focused on the way she spoke too quickly, and how she had read course books over the summer; she obviously was a book-loving know-it-all. The thing that unnerved him, though, was that he had to try to dislike her. Why was that?

"I'm Ron Weasley," he muttered, dealing with his internal conflict.

"Harry Potter," said Harry.

"Are you really?" said Hermione. "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.

At this, Ron felt jealous, but he wasn't entirely sure why. He was used to be overlooked, he had grown up with five older brothers, but there was something about the fact that Hermione was the one overlooking him that didn't sit well with him.

"Am I?" said Harry, sounding dazed.

"Goodness, didn't you know? I'd have found out everything I could if it was me," said Hermione. "Do either of you know what house you'll be in? I've been asking around, and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best; I hear Dumbledore himself was in it, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be so bad…. Anyway, we'd better go look for Neville's toad. You two had better change, you know, I expect we'll be there soon."

And she left, taking the toadless boy with her. Ron watched her bushy hair bob out of sight and tried to think of what it was about her that made it impossible for him to truly dislike her. She was bossy, book-smart, and all too similar to Percy, so why couldn't he stop thinking about her?

"What ever house I'm in, I hope she'd not in it," he said, throwing his wand back into his trunk and trying to forget about Hermione altogether and look forward to arriving at Hogwarts.