Luckymadhatter: I think Harry is a pretty common name, it will be explained in this chapter and a later chapter exactly why they didn't recognize Harry right away.
1 September 1991
Ron was initially quite jealous of his sister dancing around the house in her new robes while his mother altered his brothers old ones to fit his lanky frame. Then his father came in with an all new potion set and school books just for him. Hermione even came into his room that night begging him to let her have Bill's old trunk and he could have her new one. His sister hugged him tightly when he agreed, making him sputter and choke on a pasty.
Hermione danced along the crowds of Kings Cross, holding onto her mothers hand. She was bubbling with excitement to finally start Hogwarts. For so many years she was left in tears as she watched her older brothers leave her for the year. Now she was blocking out the usual anxiety driven babble her mother spewed just before leaving her babies on the train for the year. Honestly, Arthur told her every year she would get in trouble for her ramblings. It wasn't like Molly Weasley had an inside voice.
"Err excuse me..could.." A small voice interrupted her inner musings and turned, only to find Harry standing there awkwardly shuffling his feet.
"Harry! How are you?" Hermione brightly chirped.
"Err..okay just not sure how to...get on the platform." Harry mumbled quietly, looking embarrassed.
"Oh, first time to Hogwarts, dear?" Molly said in a kind voice, looking around for his parents. "Well, it's Hermione and Ron's first year as well, you can follow them through."
"Where are your parents?" Hermione asked quietly as her mother rounded on the twins to yell at them for something.
"They died when I was a baby. My aunt and uncle don't like magic." Harry mumbled uncomfortably.
"Oh, I'm sorry." Hermione whispered, stricken. She threw her arms around the small boy, holding him tightly in a hug. Harry stood stiff, unsure of what to do, seeing as he had never received a hug, or was even touched unless it was painful. Although as he raised his arms to return the hug, he thought that maybe hugs weren't so bad.
"Oi! Get your hands off my sister and let's go." Ron quickly snatched Hermione away from the blushing Harry, his blue eyes burned angrily as he glared at the messy haired boy and roughly shoved his sister towards the barrier.
"Ronnie!" Hermione squeaked, bashing her knee into Harry's trunk, making Hedwig ruffle her feathers and screech indignantly.
"Are you okay?" Harry immediately side stepped Ron and grabbed onto her arm to stop her from falling to the ground.
"Well, let's go. We need to get your trunks loaded onto the train." Molly turned her attention on the three first years and began busily ushering them through the barrier. Fred and George were quick to shove the three of them into a compartment before taking off. George stalled at their door for a moment, looking between his youngest sibling intensely.
"Keep an eye on her, yeah?" George nodded to his youngest brother who gave him a curt nod.
"Honestly, I'm right here." Hermione huffed indignantly and pulled a book from her bag.
"Yeah, I turn around for 2 seconds and some blokes got his hands all over you." Ron grumbled, glaring pointedly at Harry.
"I hugged Harry, you numpty!" Hermione snapped.
"Well, he hugged you back!" Ron shouted advancing on her. Harry looked between the two, thoroughly confused.
"Ugh, you are unbelievable." Hermione hissed and pulled her book up to hide behind, her cheeks red from embarrassment.
"And you! Keep your hands off my sister!" Ron turned to Harry when he saw he couldn't take his anger out on Hermione anymore.
"Okay, no problem...I'm Harry Potter by the way." Harry offered his hand awkwardly. Ron paled and immediately looked to his forehead. Hermione snorted.
"No, your not." Hermione giggled.
"Yes, I am. Pretty sure I know my own name." Harry looked slightly insulted.
"You look nothing like my books...are you THAT Harry Potter, you know the one that killed Vol- you-know-who?" Hermione finished off lamely after a sharp nudge to the ribs from Ron.
"Not sure, I don't remember to be honest. Hagrid says I did." Harry shrugged, avoiding Ron's awestruck stare.
"Did you save a burning village from trolls?" Hermione asked, her brow furrowed.
"Err..no, I told you I just learned about magic on my birthday when I met you." Harry snorted, bemused at the odd question. Hermione opened her mouth to ask more about his adventures when Ron interrupted.
"Do you really have the scar?" Ron blurted excitedly.
"Oh, yeah." Harry laughed sheepishly and swept the bangs from his forehead, showing off his favorite feature. Hermione's eyes were the size of galleons as she took in the famous scar on his forehead.
She felt her face fall as she realized that none of her favorite bed time stories were true. Hermione always assumed since they were about a real boy then obviously the stories must be real not like Babbity Rabbity or The Three Brothers. Her lower lip trembled as all her dreams of fighting the evil in the stories came crashing down. Sneaking a peak up at Harry, she saw he was staring at her intensely, so she squealed and ran from the compartment to find Fred or George or Percy or any brother not sitting with Harry Potter.
"Mental that on." Ron sighed and sat down across from Harry.
"Errr, is she alright?" Harry asked hesitantly, his first a friend or hoped friend ran out of the verge of tears after finding out his name and her brother looked ready to pound him one just a few minutes ago. Now Ron was sitting relaxed with a friendly smile on his face.
"Yeah, bit upset her bedtime stories are a lie, innit?" Ron shrugged with a chuckle.
"Bed time stories?" Harry asked curiously.
"Oh sure, you've got a whole lot of 'em. Her favorite was the one about you saving a village of orphans from trolls...while it was on fire." Ron snickered, unconcerned.
"Who told her that?" Harry demanded, embarrassed that anyone would tell such stories of bravery about him.
"She's got the whole series at home. Dad reads 'em to her before bed. So, who do like for the cup this year?" Ron asked, bored of the conversation of his sisters bed time stories.
"Brazil, I guess. I'm not a huge football fan, myself. Never got picked up." Harry grumbled, his mind still on these bedtime stories that apparently portrayed him as a hero.
"Football?" Ron's questioned, looking confused. "I'm talking about quidditch."
"What's quidditch?" Harry asked absently, which was apparently the right thing to ask because Ron went into an in depth lecture on quidditch, rules, positions, players, and history. Harry let his mind drift to this new world he landed in.
"Percy, he's Harry Potter but he looks nothing like in my books. He's just a bit taller than me and has no muscles and says he never saved any villages from any trolls! Why would they lie?" Hermione cried shrilly as she paced her brothers compartment, thankful that Percy made everyone leave when he saw his sisters face.
"Hermione, they were bed time stories. Of course they're made up, why did you think they were true?" Percy asked patiently as he coaxed his sister to sit beside him.
"Well, Harry Potter is real and he defeated Voldemort- you know who- so I figured that the other stories were real too and..." Hermione trailed off with a sigh.
"What?" Percy asked, the color slowly returning to his face.
"Well, I thought if he was out there fighting evil wizards and saving orphans...maybe..I could too." Hermione mumbled quietly. Percy actually laughed at that, fearing for a moment that his darling little sister was thinking like the rest of the girls in school that she would be the damsel he rescued and married.
"Hey, you can do all that. When your 40 ." Percy smirked as his sister giggled. "You probably shouldn't tell mum about you wanting to fight crime like in Charlie's old cosmic books, she would never let you out again."
"Poor Harry, he didn't even know. He must think I'm a total nutter." Hermione sighed petulantly.
"You can be a bit...over excitable but that what makes you so...Hermione." Percy offered up a small smile, Percy always knew how to make her feel better. "Hey, how would you like to read my charms book...again."
An hour later after practicing a few charms under Percy's watchful eye, Hermione was in a much better mood. She was going to go back to compartment and not act totally barmy. After all, even if Harry never saved a bunch of orphans from werewolves, it didn't mean he wasn't a nice boy she could be friends with. All of the sudden she was torn from her musings of a certain green eyed wizard as she collided with a chubby boy with sandy blonde hair and rather large front teeth. He looked to be on the verge of tears as he looked down at her, grimacing.
"I-I'm so s-sorry. I wasn't p-paying much attention and I was looking for T-Trevor." The boy stuttered, looking close to tears. Hermione hopped up with an apologetic smile and held out her hand.
"Hermione Weasley, I can help you look for Trevor, if you like." Hermione said politely with a shy grin.
"Neville L-Longb-bottom. That would be brilliant." Neville gave her a crooked grin, blushing deeply.
"Alright, Nev, what does this Trevor look like. Is he a first year too?" Hermione chirped as she walked with him down the corridor.
"N-no, it's my toad." Neville blushed, looking down.
"Oh, why didn't you say so. Accio Trevor the toad." Hermione whipped out her wand and incanted the summoning spell. A brief moment later, a large horned toad came flying towards them. Hermione deftly snatched him from the air and handed him over.
"Are you a first year?" Neville held the toad close to his chest and looked down at the tiny girl skeptically.
"Well, I do have 6 older brothers...2 have already graduated. Percy and I like to sit and read their books..." Hermione blushed, smiling bash fully as she looked up at the boy.
"Isn't Percy that pompous prefect with the horned glasses?" Neville asked with a grimace.
"He's just proud of becoming prefect, I'm sure he'll calm down." Hermione reassured him. "I'm going to go join my brothers and Harry, would you like to join me?" Neville nodded and they headed back to the compartment.
"-and so really there are 701 quidditch fouls and-" they could hear Ron droning on about quidditch but he abruptly stopped when the door opened. Harry had a slightly glassy far away look in his eye and Ron was about to open his mouth to yell at the intruder when he saw who it was.
"Hey lads. Meet Neville, Neville, this is my twin Ron and Harry." Hermione said politely as she sat beside Ron. Neville moved to sit by Harry, still clutching his toad tightly in his hands.
"Yeah, I was just explaining the basics of quidditch to Harry, here. Can you believe he's never heard of it?" Ron asked excitedly.
"Well, he was raised by muggles. I bet there are other sports muggles play, right?" Hermione interjected quickly after seeing the flushed look on Harry's face.
"Well, yeah, loads. There's football, rugby, tennis, and cricket to name a few." Harry shrugged, embarrassed to be the center of attention.
"Wow, really? All those sports? W-We only have quidditch but I'm pretty s-sure I'd be garbage at flying, dead clumsy." Neville exclaimed, seeming to relax.
"We play quidditch all summer at the burrow. Well, me and my brothers, anyway. Mum won't let 'Mione fly unless she's with someone." Ron smirked at the blush on his sisters cheeks. Hermione averted her eyes, not wishing to admit the night she snuck out with Fred and George to fly.
"Tell us about these muggle sports, they sound fun. Maybe we could play some of those since not all of us are brilliant keepers like Ronnie, here." Hermione grinned cheekily at her twin.
"Ah...well.." Harry started to explain the the rules to the more popular muggle sports he would watch his classmates play in school. It wasn't like he was ever picked up but he knew the rules well enough. Hermione and Neville were listening to him rapt with attention as they try to envision these games Harry described. Ron was looking bored, uninterested in muggle things. He listened to his dad prattle on about muggle things all the time. Plugs were boring.
"Ugh, corned beef." Ron's groaned as he pulled the rolled up sandwiches from his bag. "She always forgets I hate corned beef."
"I think I have ham..." Hermione trailed off absently as she dug through her bag for a much nicer looking package of sandwiches. Probably because she didn't ball them up and throw them in her cloak pocket like Ron. Still listening to Harry describe the game that was cricket, she chucked the package to a smiling Ron, who immediately started digging into her sandwiches.
"Anything from the trollies, dears?" A sweet old witch with a kind smile knocked on their compartment door. The trolly in in front of her loaded down with drinks, sweets, and crisps. Ron's stomach growled audibly and she turned to see he finished off not only her sandwiches but his own as well, the pout on his face was rather pathetic as he seemed to realize he had no pocket money left. Hermione rolled her eyes and began digging through her bag to find her money when Harry stood up.
"We'll take the lot." Harry exclaimed excitedly, pulling at least 15 galleons from his pocket. Hermione's eyes bulged, wondering why he carried so much money around with him. Harry ended choosing at least 8 of everything, depositing on the table. He gestured with a small smile for everyone to dig in. Ron did not hesitate, immediately grabbing 3 chocolate frogs in his excitement. Hermione and Neville exchanged uneasy looks and pulled out their money bags to try and repay him. "No, it's fine. I've never had money or friends so..." Harry shrugged bash fully and grabbed a box of Bertie Bottes Every Flavor Bean.
"Well, thanks Harry. We'll get you back at Yule." Hermione smile brightly, snatching up a cauldron cake and a gilly water.
"Fanks 'Arry!" Ron exclaimed, his mouth full of sweets. Hermione smacked him in the arm for speaking with his mouth full
"Thanks Harry this was really nice of you." Neville smiled brightly, reaching over for a sugar quill. Harry shrugged him off and tried his first bean. His face immediately contorted in disgust.
"Oooo what did you get?" Hermione asked excitedly.
"Grass? Dirt?" Harry asked incredulously.
"When they say every flavor, they mean every flavor." Neville chuckled. The next few hours passed happily trying new sweets and talking about the importance of chocolate frog cards. Hermione excused herself to get changed into her school robes as soon as it started to get dark.
"We heard Harry Potter was in here." The compartment door was thrown open to show the boy Harry met at Madam Malkins with 2 hulking menacing figures behind him.
"What of it?" Ron scowled, immediately recognizing the Lucius Malfoy miniature.
"I just came offer my hand in friendship. I'm Malfoy, Draco Malfoy. This is Crabbe and Goyle. After all, wouldn't want to get stuck with a squib and a blood traitor." He sneered at Neville sitting beside him before offering his hand to Harry. "Some families really are better than others."
"I know your not talking about the Malfoys when you say better." Hermione said from the doorway just behind Crabbe with a tinkling laugh. Malfoy turned and was about to retort when he felt Harry grab his hand, drawing his attention.
"Actually, I think I can tell the right kind myself, thanks." Harry said in a cold tone as he stiffly shook his hand once.
"Suite yourself, Potter." Draco sneered before turning and exiting the compartment, looking Hermione up and down he ushered his silent friends to follow.
"That was brilliant, Harry! I've met Draco a few times and he's always been a bit of a berk." Neville exclaimed happily.
"He reminded me of my cousin Dudley. Actually you split my cousin in 3 and that would be like Draco and his friends." Harry chuckled quietly.
"I think we will be getting there soon, you should probably get changed." Hermione slipped into the compartment and sat primly beside her brother in her new robes. She smacked Ron out of his sugar induced stupor and he hopped up to change, Harry right behind him. Neville remained behind, having already changed into his robes.
"I think I've heard about you. 7th daughter of the Weasleys...they haven't had a girl in seven generations. My gran said no one even knew your mum was pregnant with twins again until after you were brought home." Neville enquired.
"Err I guess, I was a bit of a surprise, never thought about it much." Hermione shrugged uncomfortably.
"It's just, my Gran sat me down to explain all about the pureblood families last week. Who would be a good political alliance, what families were light sided and neutral, and she specifically told me about you. I don't know why." Neville shrugged.
"Maybe she just wanted you to be friends with the girl who had 6 older brothers? They've all got their niche, you know?" Hermione smiled at thinking of her brothers, completely missing Neville's face pale. "Bill's a curse breaker for Gringotts, Charlie's working on a dragon reserve, Percy wants to be minister of magic, Fred and George will either end up in a Azakaban or be world renowned for their jokes, and Ron..Ron is a brill strategist."
"What about you?" Neville asked after he found his voice. He never heard someone speak of their family with such clear devotion.
"What about me? I'm just little Hermione Weasley.. I like to read and fly. Mum says the only proper work for me would be a wife." Hermione scrunched her nose in distaste. "I want to save the world." Hermione sighed dreamily as she looked about the window.
"Oi! What do we have here!" Ron opened the compartment door with more force than necessary, looking in to see Neville looking at his sister, slightly awestruck.
"I was just telling Neville about our brothers." Hermione chirped happily.
"Yeah, they're pretty wicked when their not trying to do you in." Ron chuckled and sat next to Hermione, glaring suspiciously at Neville.
His father, Bill, and Charlie pulled him aside the night before and told him to keep boys away from his sister. So far one boy hugged her, although Harry seemed pretty alright after that, as long as he wasn't touching his sister, then this other boy comes in looking like Hermione hung the bloody moon just for him. He would need to speak with Fred and George, maybe Percy, he didn't understand why he didn't like these guys hanging all over his sister but it made him very uncomfortable. She was his sister after all, blokes shouldn't even want to chum around with girls, he only did it because she was his. Harry broke his thoughts by rushing in with a red face, looking like he couldn't breathe.
"What happened, mate?" Ron asked as Harry sat down.
"Some girls opened the door while I was changing and asked if they could see my unicorn." Harry said in a strangled voice, refusing to meet anyone's eye. Neville and Ron immediately turned red and sputtered while Hermione broke into pealing, tinkling laughter. All three boys looked at her like she's grown a second head. "What is so funny about that?"
"In one of your books, you rescue a foal and raise her as your own...you named her sapphire and ride her around the grounds of your castle." Hermione smirked, hiding the hurt she felt at knowing her favorite stories were not true.
"They think I have a castle and ride a unicorn?" Harry gasped.
"Oh, that's not all...you save the world in every book, usually find a nice girl to save too, and well...the description of you is slightly different." Hermione blushed.
"Anyway, mate, looks like your going to have a bunch of barmy birds following you around." Ron snickered at the stricken look on Harry's face.
"What do I do?" Harry cried.
"Well, you can either play it up...joke will be on them and when they realize it, they will all hate you. You can ignore it, eventually they will leave you alone. Or you can be a moody git and snap at them all, completely ruining the idea of the Boy-Who-Lived for them." Ron said after a moment of thought.
"Told you he was brilliant!" Hermione gushed proudly and kissed him on the cheek. Ron's face turned bright red as he looked at his sister in horror.
"I told you, you can't do that anymore!" Ron hissed. "Anyway, Fred and George taught me a new spell now that I finally have my own wand." Ron cleared his throat and pulled out his pet rat Scabbers.
"What does it do, Ron?" Hermione asked wearily.
"Watch." Ron cleared his throat dramatically and started a short rhyming incantation that that made Scabbers whiskers spark.
"Ron, I think they were having you on." Hermione giggled at the affronted look on her brothers face.
"I thought I was going to see my first bit of magic since Hagrid gave Dudley a tail." Harry moaned in disappointment.
"Oculus Reparo." Hermione flicked her wand out to point it at Harry's face, the bridge of his glasses mended as well as the small crack in the right lens.
"Wicked." Harry said in awe as pulled his glasses off his face, inspecting them. Ron sat back moodily, frowning at his sister for showing off, Neville smiled nervously, hoping that he wouldn't have to show off magic next, and Hermione quickly stowed her wand away in Charlie's old wrist holster.
"Who's Dudley?" Neville asked quickly.
"My cousin." Harry said absently, still in awe looking at his glasses.
"Hagrid was muggle baiting?!" Hermione screeched.
"What's muggle baiting?" Harry asked.
"Its when wizards use magic on muggles, usually tormenting them. Their father is head of a department that protects muggles from enchanted wares. He's been trying to pass a bill making muggle baiting illegal." Neville explained quickly.
"Right pain it is, dad gets called out all the time. Last summer he was gone all the time because of some regurgitating toilets." Ron scrunched up his face in disgust.
"Dudley was eating my birthday cake." Harry said weakly. Ron burst into laughter and and Hermione huffed in disgust. She quickly pulled out her book to ignore her cabin mates for the rest of the trip.
"First years! Over here! First years!" A booming voice carried over the see of students on the platform. The four first years looked up to see a huge looming figure calling them over. Harry's face split into a wide grin as he lead his new friends towards the keep of keys of Hogwarts. "Four to a boat!" Hagrid smiled briefly at Harry as he was ushered down a slippery bank where boats were lined up.
"Eep" Hermione slipped and instinctively grabbed onto Harry's arm to keep herself up. Harry held a hand out to steady her, she smiled up at him thankfully and gripped his hand tightly.
Ron was taking in his surrounding with trepidation, surrounded by dark woods. Harry held onto Hermione's hand as they stepped into the boat to sit beside each other. Neville and Ron following along after. Hermione wasn't even paying attention to the scowl on her brothers face, Neville's blush, or even the warm hand in her own, she was looking at the castle on the other side of the lake. Screams filled the air as the boats jerked to life suddenly. Looking around they say Hagrid in a boat to himself and a giant tentacle popping out of the water. Neville nearly fell in out of shock but he grabbed onto Ron's robe quickly.
"It's beautiful!" Hermione sighed as they came up to the shore, looking up at the castle.