Summary: Harry/Alex and Beth leave for Hogwarts, where they, Ron, and Neville meet Hermione during the train ride. Beth and Hermione become immediate friends, while the boys are hesitant, since in her nervousness, Hermione comes across as a bit of an annoying bossy know-it-all.

September the first arrived and it was time to leave for Hogwarts. While Alex would miss his family (except for his cousins that were already attending), he was also very excited to be at Hogwarts, spend more time with Ron and Neville, and possibly even make some new friends. Beth in particular wanted to become friends with another girl, for while she was friends with Luna and Ginny, they wouldn't be starting Hogwarts next year and she didn't want to be the only girl with Alex, Neville, and Ron.

The Romanovs arrived at King's Cross Station at half past ten and found trolleys for the two trunks. They then went through the barrier between Platforms Nine and Ten to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. Neville and Mrs. Longbottom were already there, the former clutching tightly to his toad as Trevor kept trying to hop away. The Weasleys arrived a couple of minutes later, Ginny rather upset that she couldn't attend Hogwarts yet and stuck alone at home with her parents, even if she did have two friends to keep her company.

Alex, Beth, Neville, and Ron found an empty compartment at the end of the train and stowed their trunks away. After that, they came out to say good-bye to their families. Ginny was still a bit upset about not being able to go to Hogwarts, but Beth promised to write her tons of letters. Alex also added that she had Luna, David, and Jonas to keep her company. Jonas came over from saying good-bye to his siblings Vera and Ivan and pointed that he was only nine and had to wait two years, while she would only have to wait one. To further help cheer Ginny up, Fred said that he'd send her a Hogwarts toilet seat. When his mother scolded him, he added that he was only joking.

Mr. and Mrs. Romanov hugged and kissed Alex and Beth and told them to do the best they could in classes and have fun at Hogwarts. Their grandparents then hugged and kissed them and added, "Before you know it, it'll be the Christmas holidays and we'll be together again until school resumes." The aunts and uncles joined in the good-byes.

A couple of minutes later, it was eleven and the Hogwarts Express began pulling out. Ginny, David, and Jonas ran after the train until it drew too much speed and then they fell back, waving. A minute later it rounded a bend and the platform couldn't be seen any more. Fred and George left at this point, as their friend Lee Lordan had said that he had a giant tarantula and they wanted to see it. Ivan and Cara left as well to find their friends. Vera did the same, but not before saying, "If you guys need me for anything, don't hesitate to ask, all right? I'm happy to help my younger cousins and their friends. Oh, and I hope at least one of you gets Sorted into Ravenclaw like I did."

Alex, Beth, Ron, and Neville settled in their compartment. The previous day, Alex had finally made the decision to let his friends in on the secret of his true identity. He had taken the four of them and Beth to his room and revealed that he was really Harry Potter and explained everything. Once they had gotten over their shock and he had shown them the scar, they all promised to never reveal it. Luna had been the one that was the least shocked, but that was to be expected considering her normal behavior. She believed everything that her father published in The Quibbler, no matter how bizarre, and had an insightful nature so that whenever she said something that wasn't weird, it was generally wise. How much this had to do with her mother's death when she was nine was uncertain, but Luna had definitely gotten a little stranger after that, even with her friends' mothers taking over as her mother figures.

"Alex, you're sure about keeping this up?" asked Neville. "The entire wizarding world is freaking out over Harry Potter's disappearance. Gran brought it up again last night."

"Yes, I'm sure," answered Alex firmly. "I don't want people fawning over me just because I'm famous for something I don't even remember. And I find it very funny that everyone is looking for me, when I'm right under their noses."

"Yeah, and if it keeps up, it could become the longest-ever prank in history," added Ron with a chuckle.

At this point, the door to their compartment slid open, revealing a girl with bushy brown hair, brown eyes, and already dressed in her Hogwarts robes. "May I join you guys?" she asked hesitantly. "I was sitting in another compartment, but when the other occupants realized that I was Muggleborn, they made me leave."

"Of course," said Beth at once, moving her cat carrier to the floor so that a seat was cleared. "I'm Elisabeth Romanov, Beth for short. That is my brother Alexander, Alex for short, and those two are our friends Ron Weasley and Neville Longbottom."

"I'm Hermione Granger," replied the other girl, stowing her trunk away and taking a seat. She smiled nervously at the others, revealing rather large front teeth. "Isn't Romanov the surname of the last Czar of Russia?"

"Yes, but I doubt my family has any relation to them," responded Beth. "We're Roma, or Gypsies, and both sides of my family haven't been living in Russia since the 1700's. You must be really smart if you knew that about our last name, Hermione."

Hermione looked pleased. "I love to read. And I suppose I did get top marks in primary school."

"Maybe you'll be in Ravenclaw then," remarked Alex. "Our cousin Vera is in that house, and she's really smart like you."

"That would be nice," said Hermione. "However, I would like being in Gryffindor more. It sounds by far the best. I read that Dumbledore was in that house."

"All the houses are equally wonderful," said Beth. "Uncle Tobias and Aunt Maria were in Hufflepuff. Dad was in Ravenclaw. Mum and Aunt Sarah were in Gryffindor, and Uncle Nikolas was in Slytherin. Among our cousins, Vera is in Ravenclaw, Cara in Hufflepuff, and Ivan in Slytherin. David and Jonas are too young to attend Hogwarts yet."

"Mr. Petrov was in Slytherin?" asked Ron, surprised. "But he doesn't seem like it. And your Aunt Sarah is Muggleborn!"

"Just because Slytherin has a reputation of producing dark witches and wizards that believe in pureblood supremacy doesn't mean that everyone in that house is one," said Beth patiently. "Considering the prejudice Gypsies have faced from Gejos, Muggle and magical alike, for centuries, it would be hypocritical of us to be prejudiced. Besides, Aunt Sarah is also Jewish, and you know Jewish people have faced prejudice from Gentiles for centuries, too, the latest and most widespread during World War Two with Nazi Germany."

Hermione looked at Ron. "You really shouldn't assume things. By the way, you've got dirt on your nose. You should wipe it off."

Ron stiffened indignantly, but before he could make a retort, Beth gave him a look and handed him a handkerchief. He sighed and rubbed at his nose, whispering to Alex at the same time, "If Hermione's like this all the time, then I hope we don't end up in the same house." The conversation then turned to the classes at Hogwarts. Hermione revealed that she had learned all their course books by heart and hoped that it would be enough. Alex and Ron exchanged looks at this. They had looked through their books, but certainly hadn't learned all the contents by heart, other than in Potions, and that was mainly due to the past two years of Potions lessons from Alex's mother.

"You'll be fine, Hermione," said Neville. "There's lots of Muggleborn students and they do well. You'll probably do better than me in most subjects anyway, since you're so smart and know all the material already. The only things I'm really good at are Herbology and Potions, and with Potions, that's only due to all the lessons Mrs. Romanov gave me, since she's a Potions Mistress. I probably won't be much good with anything involving spells, since I've only had three incidents of accidental magic."

"Neville, you're a great wizard," said Beth firmly. "And I'm certain you'll do well in Charms, at the very least. When Dad taught us some simple wandless magic last year, you learned how to levitate objects and change the color of things pretty quickly. You certainly got it faster than me."

At that point, the door to the compartment opened again, this time revealing a smiling witch with a food trolley. "Anything off the cart, dears?" she asked.

Ron turned pink and muttered that he had sandwiches. The other four went out to the hall to see what was available. Hermione looked interestedly at the wizarding sweets and Beth told her all the names. Between the four of them, they ended up buying some if everything and brought it inside the compartment. Ron took apart one of his sandwiches and frowned when he saw that it was corned beef, which he didn't like.

"You know, there are many poor and starving people in this world who would be happy to have one your sandwiches, Ron," scolded Hermione.

Ron opened his mouth to retort angrily, but Alex spoke first. "Hermione, does it really matter? It's not like we know enough magic at the moment to send a sandwich to one of the starving orphans in Africa if Ron doesn't want it. Here, Ron, have a pumpkin pasty."

Ron gave Hermione an annoyed look before picking up a pasty. He had no problem with sharing the food, since he had been sharing things with his friends ever since the friendships had formed. The conversation resumed, and after awhile, Ron took out his rat, Scabbers, who had originally belonged to Percy but after getting an owl for becoming a prefect, had given the rat to Ron. "He does nothing but sleep," complained Ron. "I tried doing a spell to turn him yellow, but it didn't work. Here, I'll show you."

He took out his wand, waved it at Scabbers, and recited, "Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow. Turn this stupid fat rat yellow."

Nothing happened and Hermione asked, "Are you sure that's a real spell? Well, it's not very good, is it? I've done a few simple spells for practice and they've all worked for me. Here, I'll demonstrate." She took out her wand and repaired a torn gum wrapper.

Neville looked impressed with the spell, Ron became annoyed again, and Alex sided with him, since Hermione was coming across as rather annoying at the moment. Beth sighed and whispered something in Hermione's ear. She blushed and said, "I'm sorry if I offended you, Ron."

"Apology accepted," said Ron stiffly.

"Your twin brothers gave you that 'spell', didn't they?" asked Alex. "It's all right, Ron. You know how Fred and George like to play pranks on everyone."

"Hey, where's Trevor?" asked Neville suddenly, looking around. "I thought I put him on the seat next to me."

"Maybe he escaped when we bought the snacks," suggested Ron. "We'll help you look for him."

The five of them began searching for Trevor. However, nobody seemed to have seen the toad. In one compartment, which contained a boy with a pale pointed face and blond hair, two other boys that looked heavyset and mean, and two girls, one who looked pug-faced and the other a plain-looking redhead, the occupants turned out to be rather rude. The blond boy sneered at Neville for having a toad, and the two girls joined in, while the heavyset boys nodded in agreement.

"Hey, leave Neville alone!" snapped Alex. "It's not his fault that he has a toad! It was a gift from his great-uncle."

"Don't tell me what to do!" retorted the other boy. "Who do you think you are, Harry Potter?"

Alex stifled an urge to snap back that he really was Harry Potter and instead said, "You shouldn't be so rude. Didn't you parents teach you any manners? Who are you, anyway?"

"Draco Malfoy," said the boy proudly. Seeing Alex glance at the other people in the compartment, Draco added, "That's Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle. The two girls are Pansy Parkinson and Daphne Greengrass. Now, who are you guys?"

"Alex Romanov," answered Alex. "That's my sister Beth. And those are-"

"Wait, don't tell me," interrupted Draco. He looked at Ron and continued, "You must be a Weasley. My father told me that all Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford." Ron flushed and Draco's gaze rested on Hermione. "And you're the Mudblood that we kicked out of this compartment."

"Don't call Hermione that!" snapped Ron, forgetting his annoyance with her in his anger at Malfoy.

"Apologize to her at once, Gejo," snarled Alex, taking out his wand and pointing it at Malfoy. Normally he didn't use the Romani word for a non-Gypsy, since his friends weren't Roma, but Malfoy was so rude and annoying.

"Don't!" hissed Hermione. "You'll get in trouble for fighting before we even get to Hogwarts, Alex!"

"I'm not apologizing," spat Malfoy. "And what did you call me?"

"My brother called you a Gejo," responded Beth. "Which is what we call those that aren't Roma in the Romani language."

"Oh, you're Gypsies," sneered Pansy. "Halfblood trash. Well, well, this little group of friends certainly deserve each other."

Daphne nodded. "Yeah, there's two Gypsies, a Mudblood, a blood traitor, and a pathetic boy looking for a toad."

"If not being a Gypsy or blood traitor means that I'd be a pureblood snob like you guys, then I'd rather die," snapped Alex. He lowered his wand and strode angrily away. The other four glared at Malfoy and his associates and then followed Alex.

The five of them finally found Trevor in an empty box on the food trolley. They returned to their compartment, Alex still fuming over Malfoy, Pansy, and Daphne. "Those idiots will probably end up in Slytherin," he raged. "Well, I certainly don't want to be Sorted there if I have to be around them all the time. Why can't more Slytherins be decent like Ivan and Uncle Niko?"

"Draco's a Malfoy," said Beth simply. "He was raised to be a prejudiced pureblood git. Especially considering who his father is. You know that Lucius Malfoy escaped being convicted of being a Death Eater by claiming to have been bewitched, but that's not true. And with all the money and connections he has, he made sure he was believed."

"It's not so much what they said about us," said Alex. "The Roma people have faced prejudice for centuries, and I can handle that. But insulting our friends!"

"It's not that big a deal," said Neville. "We can stand up for ourselves. And you know I can be-"

"You are NOT pathetic!" interrupted Alex, firmly "You are a great friend and a wonderful person, Neville."

"Yeah," seconded Ron and Beth. Hermione nodded in agreement.

After Alex had calmed down, the boys changed into their robes. Beth went to the bathroom to do the same and Hermione left with her. When they returned, the five of them talked about other things until the Hogwarts Express arrived at the station. The gamekeeper, Hagrid, met the first years and took them across the lake in boats. All gasped in awe when they got their first glimpse of the castle.

Once they reached the other side, they walked up a path towards the school. It was rather dark, and Neville stumbled once and would have fallen if Beth hadn't grabbed the back of his robes. Once at the front doors, they stopped and Hagrid knocked loudly.

Next chapter: The Sorting and the welcoming feast.