Penny's embrace was so comfortable and comforting that Harry lost almost all track of time and his surroundings until the compartment door slid open again. The youngest boy of the redheaded family that had helped him onto the platform stood there, looking rather aggrieved. He stopped in his tracks, however, his expression shifting from aggrieved to uncertain, and possibly a little embarrassment. "Uh...did you guys want to be alone?" he asked awkwardly.
"Nah, you can join us!" Penny hummed happily, nuzzling into Harry's scratches behind her ear.
"Uh..." the boy began with his expression starting to move towards panic.
"That seat's free," Harry offered, gesturing with his head to the bench across from him.
"Oh! Right!" the boy responded, relief audible in his voice as he moved to take the seat. However, he tried to avoid glancing at the cuddling pair, plainly not knowing how to deal with it.
"Hey Ron-wuh ho!"
Harry and Penny both glanced up at that startled exclamation. The twins who had helped Harry get his trunk put away were standing there with amused grins on their faces as they looked at Harry and Penny.
"Well someone moves fast!" the one on the left declared with a smirk.
"Never thought a firstie would manage that before we did!" the one on the right agreed.
"Think we should ask for pointers?"
"Would it work? I mean, he is famous."
"True enough. And he's got that waifish charm. Doubt we'd ever pull that off."
"I dunno, Fred, I think you could pull off adorable if you tried."
"As if, Fred, I'm way too handsome to be adorable."
"That's true, we are."
Harry blinked in confusion, then turned to the other boy. "So...which is which?" he asked hopefully.
"Don't bother trying to tell," the boy offered ruefully. "Sometimes I don't think even they know anymore."
"Don't be like that, Ronniekins!" the one on the left said, his tone slightly offended. "It's obvious. I'm Fred, and this is George." He gestured to his twin.
"Exactly," the other one declared. "I'm Fred, and this is George."
"In that case, I'll call you Peanut and Almond," Penny declared, pointing first to the one on the left and then the one on the right. "Your scents have a nutty undertone, so that will let me tell you apart."
The twins stared at her stunned. "I'm Fred, he's George," the one she'd called 'Peanut' quickly stated.
"Right, he's Fred and I'm George," the one dubbed 'Almond' confirmed.
Ron snickered with a wide grin. "First time I ever saw someone shut them up that fast. I'll have to remember that."
The twins shot him twin glowers that promised all sorts of wicked sibling vengeance if he spread this around, but they then turned back to Harry and Penny. "Anyway, since introductions are done," Fred continued loftily, "we're going to the middle of the train. Our friend Lee Jordan's got a giant tarantula there."
"Thanks for the warning..." Ron muttered, looking a trifle green and pale.
"If you need anything, Harry, you can look us up there," George continued amicably.
"Or look up to us there."
"Steady on, we're not role models!"
"But he is rather short compared to us."
"True enough, true enough..."
The pair left, still chatting away like they were one person with two minds almost, closing the compartment door behind them. Silence reigned for a time, during which Penny put her focus back on cuddling Harry, which quickly caught his attention as her tail brushed his cheek, leading to him returning to his own cuddle actions.
Eventually Ron spoke up. "So...are you really Harry Potter?" he blurted out.
"Um...yes?" Harry responded uncertainly, and a bit nervously.
"Oh, wow..." Ron continued in a bit of awe. "Just...I thought it was one of Fred and George's jokes. Do...do you really have...you know?" He gestured to Harry's forehead.
"So is it specifically British wizards who like being vague, or what?" Penny asked curiously. "First talking about 'You-Know-Who', now asking if he has 'You Know', what next?"
"I think he means my scar," Harry pointed out as he lifted his bangs to show Ron the lightning bolt shaped mark.
"Whoa..." Ron murmured in awe as he stared. "So that's where You-Know-Who-"
"I don't!" Penny interrupted, turning to glare at Ron. "Could someone tell me what everyone's talking about?"
"Sorry," Ron apologized. "It's just...there was this Dark Lord...he was so awful people really don't like saying his name anymore, so he's referred to as You-Know-Who or as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named..."
"Uh huh?" Penny confirmed, waiting for the rest of the story.
"He had the entire country in the grip of terror," Ron continued. "But ten years ago, he went after Harry...and somehow he died. From what I've heard, somehow the Curse he tried to use to kill Harry rebounded and killed him, and that scar is the impact point."
"That's what I've been told," Harry agreed. "Though I don't really remember it. Just...a lot of green light..."
After that, the trio spent a bit of time talking about how they grew up. Ron's tale of his rather large wizarding family left Harry somewhat envious, and Harry's tale of his hateful relatives had Penny clinging tightly to him to try and offer comfort. Penny's own tale was rather mundane by comparison.
"Mom's a historian, Dad's an archaeologist," she explained readily. "They're both magic, though my Shifting is from my Mom, but despite that they've chosen to live in the Muggle World except for getting me my magical education and our heritage." She shrugged. "We travel all over the place, and Mom and Dad seem to know everybody everywhere. I got to know all kinds of people traveling with them, though I've never really been in one place long enough to get really close to anyone."
"You seem to have gotten real close to Harry pretty quick," Ron observed curiously.
"What? You heard his story! He needs hugs!"
Ron shrugged, unable to really argue with that. "What'd you bring for a familiar?" he asked curiously.
"Didn't get one," Penny admitted a trifle ruefully. "Toads just don't mesh with me, and the owls and cats all looked like they wanted to eat me." Hedwig let off an offended bark from her cage. "Well I didn't meet you at the Emporium since Harry already had you!" Penny pointed out. Hedwig seemed to think about that for a time, then gave a shrug and an irritated 'Prek' sound. "And I didn't know that I could get other animals. I'll just have to see what works out for me in the future."
"In the meantime, Hedwig seems to like you," Harry observed with a smile, making Penny smile widely in return.
"And maybe Scabbers will get along with you, too," Ron offered, pulling out a rather ancient looking rat, fat, gray, and fast asleep. "Well...if he ever wakes up enough to get to know you..." Penny couldn't help but giggle at that.
A clatter outside the compartment drew their attention, and a door slid open to reveal a smiling, dimpled woman pushing a trolley. "Something off the cart, dears?" she offered warmly.
Penny briefly hopped off Harry's lap to check her pockets for spending money, while Ron looked rather morose as he refused, pulling out a couple sandwiches he'd apparently brought. Harry, however, quickly went to the cart and got an armful of everything available, just to try it...even if he was a little surprised at the variety. While Ron was uncertain about accepting Harry's offer to share at first, he was quickly won over, and Penny was more than eager to join in...even if what she went for first caught the others off guard.
"Really?" Ron asked in surprise. "You like Cockroach Clusters?"
"Do you have any idea how many of the countries I've been to consider insects a treat?" Penny countered as she nibbled rather adorably on the cluster in her fingers. "And that's just the Muggle side, not counting what gets done in the magical. With how much energy I burn through in a normal day and how much protein insects have per mouthful, it's only natural I got used to the idea of eating them...and once you are, these actually taste pretty good! The crunch is very nutty, there's a caramel coating, and the gooey center has the same consistency as nougat. Honestly, it's a bit like eating a cross between a Reeses Pieces and a Milky Way."
Ron simply stared in shock. "...I dunno what those candies are, but I don't think I'll ever be able to eat them now..." he offered ruefully as he bit into a pumpkin pasty instead.
Harry glanced over the magical treats laid before them that looked everything from the odd to the bizarre to the truly strange. "Well, I might as well dive right in," he murmured as he picked up a Cluster and - before he could actually think about what he was doing - tossed it into his mouth and bit down. Much to his surprise, Penny's description of the flavor and texture was rather accurate. As long as he didn't think too hard about what it was called, it was actually quite enjoyable. "Not bad," he observed thoughtfully once he swallowed, making Penny send a smile his way.
Ron stared between the pair of them, then swallowed convulsively. "Well, my whole family's been Gryffindor, and Gryffindor's charge ahead..." Before he could lose his nerve, he grabbed another Cluster and downed it. He visibly winced as he chewed. "This should not taste this good..." he groaned as he forced himself to swallow before knowledge of what he'd eaten could make it come back out the other way.
"That's the spirit!" Penny declared happily as the trio decided to work on the other candies for a time, Penny's own exuberance - and willingness to try just about anything at least once - pushed both Harry and Ron to be a little more adventurous, especially when it came to the Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. Despite Ron's distaste for the vegetable flavored ones, Penny more than happily downed them while Harry and Ron focused more and finding the more normal flavors. They finished off with the Chocolate Frogs...only for Harry to laugh the hardest he ever had as Penny found herself pouncing after the frogs as they jumped about the compartment, not even caring if she slammed into something in the process. At one point she even shrank completely out of her robes, racing out as a full squirrel - though slightly larger than most squirrels normally grew - to chase the frogs up the walls before pouncing and sinking her teeth into them before scrambling back down and diving into her robes before shifting back.
"Vicious little thing, ain'tcha?" Ron asked in surprise after witnessing that.
Penny shrugged. "Some places, you gotta bite your food first before it bites back," she allowed with a wide grin.
"I'll have to try that sometime," Harry observed with a smile as her tail once more came up to wrap around his shoulders. It may have led to Ron giving them an odd look...but he could get used to that. It felt...really nice.