Harry and Hermione arrived at platform 9 3/4 with plenty of time to spare. Despite knowing Dobby wouldn't be locking the barrier again, being early couldn't hurt. As Harry came in for one last hug, Sirius assured him that they did in fact want him back for Christmas and he absolutely did not have to stay at Hogwarts and of course, Hermione was invited if her parents said yes. The two children boarded the train and entered an empty compartment, waving goodbye to their guardians on the platform below with a bittersweet smile.
The more time that passed, the bigger the bubble of children's chatter became. Friends reuniting, laughter and squealing filling the train, "This", Harry thought to himself, "This is what Hogwarts is supposed to be about." After some time, Neville came and sat in their compartment; after the initial "Hellos" and "How were your summers", Neville couldn't help but stare at the metal sitting in Hermione's mouth. She laughed and explained. Despite knowing her braces would look out of place in the Wizarding World, they were temporary, and she already found herself smiling with the confidence she knew she'd have after they were removed.
"...and then most other days was just me and Nana having tea," Neville said with a smile as the chiming of the clock at the platform struck 11.
"Finally," Harry sighed. Coming at 9:30 was definitely overcompensating, it felt like they'd been waiting in this little cabin forever. The sound of a couple of latecomers boarding the train at the last minute could be heard as the train began to depart. As the three Gryffindors were finally settling in for the journey, the compartment door slid open revealing two young red-heads.
"Room for us," Ron swung his trunk in as the seated Gryffindors sighed and recoiled. He threw himself down on the seat next to Neville. Ginny sat by Hermione who refused to look anywhere but out of the window at the moving platform. Harry nudged her leg slightly with his. She nodded a little. She'd be fine, she knew that, but a few hours in a compartment with the Weasleys wasn't exactly her dream.
Harry wasn't particularly comfortable either. Ginny was staring daggers into him. Dead quiet and staring him down - Harry had to admit, while adult Ginny was cruel, child Ginny was downright creepy. After a while, she pulled out a notebook and began scribbling away in it, looking up at Harry every few words. Whether she was drawing him or writing an encyclopedia about this never-ending train ride, Harry could not tell. Either way, the compartment was stiflingly uncomfortable. Neville could not stand being sat in the middle of all this. Ron had never tried to talk to him, and if he even attempted to interact with Harry, Ron tried to bulldoze his way into the conversation. No one could tell if it was worse to sit in silence or try to conversate with the Weasleys in the cabin. Harry was trying to work out whether this, or crashing into the Whomping Willow in a Ford Anglia was a worse fate. Either way, he ended up stuck with Ronald, they both felt like a punishment.
After what felt like an eternity, the Hogwarts Express finally slowed to a stop and the three non-Weasleys very quickly ran out of the train. Neville borderline ran towards Dean and Seamus, trying to get out of the very awkward air that still suffocated them. "Are you ok, Hermione?" she looked as though she had barely breathed on the whole ride over.
"Yeah," she sighed, "that was just not how I wanted to start the year." She let out a slight laugh.
Harry ran his fingers through his hair, "Yeah that could not have been more awkward. I don't know if Ron's chattering or Ginny's silence was worse." They began heading up towards the castle, the faint sound of Hagrid calling out for the first years fading out behind them. "You saw her book though, right?"
"Yep, I looked over at it and definitely saw ink appearing where she wasn't writing," Hermione smiled a little, "You wouldn't believe how she talks about The Great Harry Potter to her bestie Tom."
Harry nudged her away playfully, "Trust me, I do not want to hear it."
The first day of classes went by a lot easier than they had in the previous timeline, at least for Harry anyway. The teachers didn't seem totally annoyed at him for crashing a car into the Whomping Willow and Hermione wasn't giving him the cold shoulder for it this time either. "Why were you so mad at us for that, Hermione? Practically every other student was singing our praises," Harry said as they headed towards Transfiguration. Herbology had gone by uneventfully; Lockhart hadn't had a reason to approach Harry yet, and Harry couldn't be more thankful for that.
"You could've gotten seriously hurt, Harry," Hermione shrugged, "and it was immensely stupid. And I was worried when you guys didn't show up on the train or in the Great Hall. And then I heard you guys were expelled for it. I was scared and I was upset and I didn't want to lose you, I'd barely made any other friends at Hogwarts in my entire first year. I was probably overboard with how angry I was at you but it upset me how little you guys seemed to care about consequences and I hated that it felt like everyone was praising you for it too." She knew she was rambling a little, but thinking about her first run at Hogwarts often brought up a lot of anxiety for her. In all honesty, she knew Ron was Harry's favourite friend when they were first here, she was just the boring, strict, nerdy friend that forced them to work when they'd rather play. But when she'd had time to think about it, most of her behaviour could be explained as her being an anxious, insecure young girl who just needed to work on her social skills. Yes, she'd been hard on them about classes and tests and homework, but she couldn't bear the thought of them being expelled or having to leave for any reason, behavioural or academic.
"I'm sorry," Harry said, taking her arm in his, "And to be honest with you, it was more scary than cool - it was only afterwards when everyone seemed so impressed that it didn't feel so awful."
Transfiguration turned out to actually be a strong point for Harry. He couldn't really tell if it was because they'd done this all before or if it was actually a strength of his when he focused, but he was just happy to turn his beetle into a button and be done with it quickly.
During their lunch break, he, Seamus, Dean and Neville sat in the courtyard discussing their summers. Harry felt like he was being watched the whole time. At breakfast, it had very obviously been Ginny. He was struggling to remember if Ginny had any friends in the previous timeline other than Hermione, and later Luna, both of whom she met through Harry. It seemed she'd spent so much time focusing on procuring Harry, that any other aspect of her social life was completely lacking. This time, however, he couldn't seem to see Ginny anywhere. He didn't like the idea of just feeling constantly on edge just because she was now at Hogwarts. Thankfully, this time he happened to be wrong about who was watching him.
"Hey Harry, look up, behind you." Seamus pointed to the steps behind Harry. A small mousey boy with a large muggle camera was staring down at Harry. His face went bright red at Harry looking back up at him. Harry remembered him, of course, Colin Creevey had been a little annoying during their last time at Hogwarts, constantly vying for Harry's attention in their Second Year. The image of him lying dead in Hogwarts after the final fight against Voldemort was burned into Harry's mind. Colin was a little too fanboy for Harry's taste, but ultimately he'd been harmless, just excited about entering a new world. Before coming back to Hogwarts, Harry couldn't quantify the regret he'd felt at not being just a little nicer to the kid.
"Hello, Harry," the boy stepped forward to introduce himself and went on his long spiel about his milkman muggle father and how exciting it was to meet Harry, "...so maybe one of your friends could take a photo of us? And then maybe you could sign it." He looked imploringly at Harry.
"Signed photos? You're giving out signed photos, Potter?" Draco's voice echoed around the courtyard as he approached, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle. "Everyone! Queue up!" Draco called out to the students in the yard, "Harry Potter's giving out signed photos."
Harry stood up with a laugh, "And no one sounds more excited to get one than you, Malfoy. Hey, Colin, was it?" The boy nodded his head vigorously, completely in disbelief that Harry Potter just said his name. "Take a photo of me with my biggest fan, Mr. Malfoy over here, and then I'll gladly take one with you." Draco looked slightly taken aback, unsure of how to respond. A few students were tittering in the yard around them.
"Come on, Malfoy," Harry strode over to the Slytherin and put an arm around him, "Big smiles!" As Colin's camera went off with a flash, Draco pushed Harry away. "Get off!" He stomped away, really not sure how he lost the upper hand there. Harry laughed as he walked back over to the first-year Gryffindor, it couldn't hurt to take just one photo for Colin to send home.
Oh, how wrong he was.
"What's all this? What's all this?" One, Gilderoy Lockhart, strode over to the group, his turquoise robes flouncing around him. "Who's giving out signed photos?" He flashed a large smile at seeing Harry. "Shouldn't have asked, Harry Potter, a pleasure to meet for you, I'm sure," he grabbed Harry's hand and shook it hard enough for Harry to be sure it was about to come off. For you? Harry thought to himself, Is he somehow more arrogant this time? Before Harry could say a word, Lockhart began speaking again, "Here boy," he pulled Harry to his side and faced Colin, "A photo of the two of us is easily front page of The Daily Prophet. I'll be sure to sign a copy for you too," he smiled down at Colin. The bell rang for classes, and Harry knew he still wasn't safe from the Professor. Their next class of the day was Defence Against the Dark Arts; Harry turned back to mouth a quick Save me! to his friends who laughed as Lockhart guided him by the arm to class as he spouted some lecture about it being "too early" in Harry's "career" for signed photos, and he should be "grateful Lockhart was there to save the situation". The classroom could not come any slower. Hermione and the Gryffindor girls were already waiting at the door, most of them giggling at their new favourite professor's arrival, Hermione smiling at Harry's predicament.
As students filed into class, Harry sighed. This year already felt like it was going to be a hundred times longer than last time.
My first new chapter in like forever! I really hope you guys liked it! Thank you so much for sticking by me, these past couple of years have been so hectic but I'm super excited to get back into writing. Please Vote and Comment letting me know what you think :)