'Only a month to go and you'll be out of here' Harry thought to himself.

This time around Harry was sort of enjoying his time spent at the Dursley's. It was nice and an improvement that he wasn't being yelled at, locked away, forced to do something, hell they weren't even talking to him. The Dursley's acted as if Harry wasn't even there for the most part. Dudley was too afraid of Harry to be in the same room with him, especially alone.

Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon were partly furious and partly terrified lately. Harry spent most of his time in his room. Knowing that his Aunt Petunia didn't come in and vacuum his room, Harry regularly let Hedwig out of her cage so she could come and go as she pleased. Hedwig would bring dead rats and mice into the room. As Harry thought of how his Aunt Petunia would react to seeing the dead rats and mice, which would be sort of funny as long as he didn't get into trouble, he marked off another day on his makeshift calendar that he had made. It wasn't a real good one though, but it worked just fine for Harry. 'How much slower can the day's go by?' thought Harry.

Harry was getting bored, so he went through his trunk and found a piece of parchment and a quill. He had decided to write a short not to Hagrid, the person he was supposed to know at this point in time.

Dear Hagrid,

Don't worry I'm good. No problems with the Dursley's. Just extremely bored. Wanted to say hi. The time is passing by so slow. Well, I'll see you September 1st.

All is well,

Harry

Harry rolled up the parchment and attached it to Hedwig and told her to take it to Hagrid.

* * * * * * *

A week had gone by without incident. Harry was in his room, thankfully in the house alone, when Hedwig flew in the open window with a small scroll of parchment attached. Harry sat up and quickly removed the scroll, unrolled it and read,

Dear Harry,

It was nice to hear from you. Glad that they are not being a problem. Don' worry Harry, it will be time before you know it. See you September 1st. I am in charge of leading the firs' years to the castle.

Hagrid

Harry quickly put the letter in his trunk so that the Dursley's would never find it.

* * * * * * *

'Just a week to go and I'm out of here, for a while any way.' Harry thought. It had become pretty boring and was starting to become depressing for Harry.

Harry decided to go for a walk. No one asked him where he was going or what he thought he was doing. He smiled and headed out the front door and started his walk, not that he had anywhere in mind to go, he just went. Harry hadn't realized how far he had gone until he noticed that the sun had started to go down. He had walked a lot farther then he had intended to. Harry immediately turned around and ran most of the way back. All he could think was that he messed up real bad. He just knew that when he got back one of two things were going to happen; 1-get locked out of the house for the night or 2-get yelled at and punished for god knows how long. Harry wanted neither to happen. He would find out soon enough.

Harry reached number 4 Privet Drive and walked into the house and expected the worst! To his delighted surprise no one looked away from the T.V. It was as though they never saw or heard Harry leave earlier or that he had just now got back. Harry quietly but quickly ran up the stairs to his room.

* * * * * * *

'Finally, August 31st.' Harry thought aloud. He jumps up and heads down the stairs. He knew he had to ask his uncle if he could get a ride to Kings Cross. Just as he entered the living room he had to hide a smile and laugh as Dudley screamed and ran out of the room. Harry manages to get himself under control, and asked if he could get a ride to Kings Cross.

When Vernon made his comment about magic carpets having holes in them made Harry want to punch his uncle so bad. He managed to keep himself at bay; he did not want to ruin anything. Harry just left things alone, and instead went up to his room.

The following morning Harry slept in an hour and a half longer than the first time. It was okay since he knew what was going to happen that day. He got up out of bed full of excitement, went over his list to be absolutely sure that he had everything. Harry was not going to leave things to chance and assume he had everything that he would need that year.

The ride to London was interesting, at least due to the fact that the Dursley's were going into London to see a doctor about getting Dudley's tail removed. They finally arrive at Kings Cross. Harry climbed out of the car. It was strange to see his Uncle be nice, even this time around. Vernon grabbed Harry's things and plopped them down onto a cart, then proceeded to wheel the cart into the station. Suddenly Vernon stops dead in his tracks and a nasty grin became clear on his face as he looks up and only sees the signs for platforms and nine and ten. It was all Harry could do to not laugh at this sight.

"Have a nice term." Said Uncle Vernon's with an even nastier smile.

Harry watched the Dursley's drove a way laughing. This made him laugh they had no idea. Harry looked around and waited until he saw the Weasley's or at least heard Mrs. Weasley talking about 'Muggles'.

After a while Harry saw them and followed. He waited until Fred and George passed through the barrier before approaching them. He knew he had do this as though he had no idea of how to do it, since it was supposed to be his first time going through the barrier. As Harry got closer he saw Ginny. She was so young here, he had forgotten how young she was the first time he saw her. Harry just smiled to himself, cleared his head, "Excuse me."

"Hello, dear. First time to Hogwarts? It's Ron's first time too."

Harry did the whole thing of not knowing how to get on the platform. He did not mind that it was being explained once again sine there was so much pride in Mrs. Weasley's face and voice.

* * * * * * *

Harry smiled seeing the sign Platform 9 ¾, he looked around. There was Neville talking to his Gran, upset because he had lost his toad Trevor. There was a small crowd surrounding Lee, he was holding a box that contained a tarantula. Harry headed over to the train to board it, Harry first found an empty compartment put Hedwig inside and, once again, had trouble with his trunk. It was pretty heavy. George asked Harry if he would like some help. With the twins help, Harry's trunk was at last put a way in a corner of the compartment. The twins then realized who they had just helped, Harry Potter! As the twins left Harry was determined to keep Fred alive, he was not going to die!

Harry sat by the window and looked out. He watched as the Weasley's grouped together and talk. Harry noticed that Ginny was looking up at him. Without a second thought, Harry smiled at Ginny and then waved. Ginny slightly blushed and shyly looked away. Harry continued to look out the window; he didn't even look away or try to hide when the twins revealed that they had just helped Harry Potter with his trunk. Ginny quickly looks back up at the window and again Harry smiled at her. Harry only stopped looking out the window when Ginny looked away. He then found himself thinking about her and what they had shared. 'Shit! I have got to stop doing this! I can't believe that I of all people would torture myself!" Harry scolded himself.

* * * * * * *

Harry looks up just as Ron was opening the compartment door. Ron asked if anyone was sitting across form Harry and that everywhere else is full. Harry lets Ron know that no one else is in the compartment. As Ron was about to take a seat, Fred and George popped their heads in.

"Hello, Harry. I'm Fred, this is George and," pointing at Ron "that there is Ron."

The twins took off to find their seats as Ron looked over at Harry, "Are you really Harry Potter?"

Harry nodded at Ron. Knowing that Ron would be asking about his scar, Harry raises a hand to his forehead and showed Ron the scar.

The two boys talked endlessly. Ron telling Harry about his brother's, Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, George and his little sister Ginny. Harry smiled, you could see how proud Ron was of his family and you could hear a complaint as well. His smile faded when his thought return to the present time, he wouldn't actually truly meet Ginny until just before his second year.

Ron asked Harry about what it was like to live with Muggles. Harry's first gut reaction was telling Ron that they are horrible. Harry made a decision to tell Ron everything as that would be the only way to fix his previous statement about Muggles, not all are as bad as the Dursley's.

"That's horrible, and to think they are your only family. I don't know if one could actually call those people family with how they treat you." Ron was really feeling bad for Harry, not sorry just bad. Ron wasn't feeling quite so bad about his family not being able to afford a lot of things after hearing Harry's story.

Harry and Ron went on to talk more about several things. Ron starts talking about his rat, Scabbers. Harry missed Ron's explanation on how he got Scabbers. All Harry was thinking about is that Scabbers is really Peter "Wormtail" Pettigrew. Harry wanted so bad to do one of two things; 1-kill the bloody rat, or 2-take the bloody rat to Dumbledore once reaching the castle and have them bring in Professor Lupin to turn Scabbers into the vile person that sold his parents out to Voldemort and that his God Father had not obliterated the foul git. Harry would do neither, even though he wanted to change Sirius' fate as soon as possible he knew he had to wait until the right time. Harry kept telling him self that 'he had to be patient', over and over.

Their conversation briefly went on about Voldemort, Harry was careful not to say the name 'Voldemort' but instead to actually say 'He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named'. Knowing how Ron really didn't like people saying Voldemort.

Harry looks up at the compartment door just as the lady with the cart stopped and asked if they wanted any thing. Ron said he was all set, and held up a bag. Harry starving as he was bought three times as much stuff off the cart than the first time. Ron's eyes were about to pop out of his head when he saw how much stuff Harry had got.

"Hungry?" asked Ron.

"Not even close…. starving actually. Have some. Go ahead. I can't eat all of this. I got enough for both of us."

* * * * * * *

As the train sailed on and the scenery was just blur Harry gazed out the window. He was lost in thought about Ginny, Fred and everything that had happened. He shook those thoughts from his mind and relished the here and now. Despite everything he was really enjoying himself.

The compartment door opens and Neville looks inside and asks if they had seen a toad anywhere. When Ron and Harry told Neville that they had not seen a toad. Neville then began to wail.

"Neville it will be okay, I am sure that Tre…. um your toad will show up." Harry wanted to kick himself in the ass for this, but didn't.

"Harry, how'd you know his name?" Ron asked.

'OH SHIT! What do I do now? Think fast. Come on now." Harry thought to himself. And then it came to him how he could fix this as long as Ron hadn't caught on to the fact that Harry just about said the name of the bloody toad.

"Platform 9 ¾, I saw him talking to some old woman and she called him 'Neville.' Harry quickly replied and he knew he really had to be way more careful in the future.

Harry was thinking like crazy, trying to figure out what he could say next to keep Ron from catching what Harry nearly said.

"Hey Ron, do you know any spells?" Harry asked and was sure that this would work

"Well, there is this one that is supposed to turn my rat yellow, but it doesn't work though."

"Give it a try, maybe it will work this time." Harry smiled to himself this was working quite well.

"Okay." Ron seemed hopeful, Harry knew that it wouldn't work but he had to keep Ron's mind busy so he didn't catch the error Harry had made a moment ago.

Ron got up and rummaged through his trunk for his wand. It was pretty beaten up; the unicorn hair was nearly poking out the end. Ron had just raised his wand when the compartment door opened.

Harry looks over and sees Hermione standing there with a whimpering Neville behind her.

"Neville here has lost his toad. Have either of you seen it?"

"We already told him that we haven't!" Ron replied rudely.

"Oh, are you doing magic? Go ahead.' Said Hermione as she took a seat.

"Uh…okay." Said a surprised Ron.

Ron clears his throat: 'Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, turn this stupid, fat rat yellow'

Ron waved his wand and nothing happened. The bloody rat just stayed there curled in up in Ron's lap a sleep.

Harry didn't pay any attention to what Hermione said, not that he had too. He did catch that Hermione was going on about how Harry was in some books. Harry played surprised and nearly laughed when a shocked expression washed over Hermione's face.

"Well, the two of you should get changed, I expect that we will be arriving soon." And Hermione left the compartment.

Harry and Ron went back to talking as though they had not been interrupted. The subject of Quidditch came about. It was so hard for Harry to act like he knew nothing of the sport he loved and loved to play, Quidditch!

Once again the compartment door opened. 'What now?' Harry thought to himself. When he looked towards the door he saw none other than Draco Malfoy, and his two followers, Crabbe and Goyle. Harry was annoyed by Draco's arrogant and self-righteous attitude and body language.

It was really funny the way Draco introduced himself, so he could understand why Ron used a cough to cover up the snicker. Draco glared at Ron for a moment then turned back to Harry to tell him that some Wizarding families are better than other's and that Harry didn't want to go making friends with the wrong sort and that he, Draco could help with that.

"No thanks. I have a brain; I'm not an idiot. I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself. Besides I'm not a follower."

Draco did not like being told off like that especially in front of Crabbe and Goyle.

"You should be politer, you just might end up like your father and Mudblood mother. They didn't know what was good for them either. And if you keep hanging out with riff-raff like the Weasley's and Hagrid it'll rub off on you." Declared Draco.

Ron and Harry stood up full of rage.

"Yeah, well Draco I hope it does rub off on me. If my choices are between them rubbing off on me and you, well like I said I hope it does rub off on me." Harry said

"Say that again." Ron said pissed

"Oh, you want to fight?" Asked Draco.

"Only if you don't get out of this compartment and now!" Harry said with courage, bravery and confidence despite the size of Crabbe and Goyle.

"Well, we don't want to go so we won't. Now what?" Draco replied, trying to sound tough and an attempt to stand his ground. He wasn't exactly alone.

Harry and Ron stepped closer to Draco, Crabbe and Goyle. Before Ron or Harry could do anything Goyle started screaming like a little girl.

Scabbers had sunk his sharp teeth into one of Goyle's knuckles and holding on. Goyle was trying to shake the rat off. Draco and Crabbe were backing up and out of the compartment. Goyle flung his hand one more time and Scabbers went flying through the compartment until he slammed into the window. All three took off out of the compartment and down the isle.

Ron quickly ran over to check on his rat. He had thought Scabbers was dead, once picking the rat off the floor Ron could tell that the bloody rat was once again asleep.

Hermione pokes her head in, "What is going on? Don't tell you two are already fighting with others. Do you want to get into trouble on the first day?" Hermione questioned them.

Harry and Ron looked from Hermione to each other and started talking as if Hermione was not there.

"So you met Draco before?"

"Unfortunately. I was getting fitted for my robes."

Harry felt a little bad for snubbing Hermione like that but she was really bossy. It did not seem like she was quite that bossy before.

"You two should get changed into your robes we will be arriving real soon." Hermione then left the compartment and walked down the isle to who knows where.

They hear a voice echoing though out the train 'we will be arriving at Hogwarts in five minutes. Please leave your trunks on the train they will be brought up shortly.' Ron and Harry stopped talking and quickly changed into their robes as the train began to slow down.

Harry shivered as he stepped of the train and on to the platform. He forgot how cold it was.

* * * * * * *

Harry looked around for Hagrid and then he saw the bobbing of a lamp and then the familiar voice and call, "Firs' years! Firs' years over here c'mon follow me."

The group of first years followed Hagrid down a steep narrow path; no one said a word. The path then opened up on the edge of a great black lake. From there you got your first glimpse of Hogwarts.

"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called out.

There on the lake was a fleet of boats. Harry, Ron, Neville and Hermione climbed in the same boat. Once every one was in a boat they begin to glide across the lake.

* * * * * * *

The boats reach what looked like an underground harbor. Once the boats stopped everyone clambered out onto rocks and pebbles.

"Trevor!" Exclaimed a delighted Neville who picked up and held on to the bloody toad.

"Every one here? You there, you got your toad?" Hagrid's voice boomed out and the he knocked there times on the doors.