The next morning, Naruto woke up early—when I say early, it was barely six in the morning, and she was supposed to leave at ten. She unwrapped herself from her blankets, also moving the rabbit aside, before getting up and preparing for the day. She was quick with everything, though her head, as usual, got stuck in her sweater.

She finished packing her things in the trunk, including the rabbit, before closing it. She stowed her wand in the kunai pouch and tied it to her waist. The weather was constantly shifting between warm and cold, and Naruto was excited but also nervous and somewhat shy.

When she arrived with her things at the Hokage's office, Turtle was there and approached her. "Is everything packed and stored?" Naruto nodded. "Toothbrush?" She nodded again, rolling her eyes and pouting. She wasn't a little kid. She stopped pouting when Turtle pulled out a blue fabric lunchbox and then a bento. He used to do this when he had field days at the academy. The wrap was orange and had little bears on it. He packed the bento with a pair of chopsticks and a thermos that was likely to contain something cold instead of something hot.

When he closed the lunchbox and handed it to Naruto, she said her goodbyes. "Well, I think I should go." She was nervous, looking at the clock which already showed ten in the morning. "Goodbye, Hokage Jii-chan, goodbye Turtle." She bid farewell before taking the card that had appeared in an envelope yesterday, which said where to go, and picking up her things with the other hand. "Platform 9¾," she said aloud, then shook her head when the wind swept her away. "Not again." She closed her eyes tightly, feeling the sensation of being sucked in.

"Do you think she'll be alright, Hokage-sama?" the ANBU asked. Naruto was brilliant, but not like the prodigies or anything.

"She'll be fine," the Hokage affirmed, but added, "I hope so."

When Naruto opened her eyes to the sounds of people speaking a different language that she still understood, people were appearing as Naruto had, and others were simply arriving from somewhere else. She felt a bit lost, looking at the card. "Which way do I go?" she asked aloud, looking around. "Platform 9¾," she murmured when she spotted a trolley that other people were taking to carry their luggage. She left her cauldron on top of her trunk, better adjusting her lunchbox, and set off to find this "platform."

"Oh, Naruto!" She jumped at her name and turned around to find Harry there, along with a bunch of redheaded people.

"Harry!" Naruto ran to catch up with her friend. "Hello, believe it or not, do you know how to get there?" she asked excitedly upon their reunion. Harry nodded.

"We have to go through that wall," he pointed, and Naruto could read 9¾ in a corner. It made sense, but to "go through a wall"? Were they going to break it? The orange-haired lady had spoken to some kids who looked similar when one of them went through the wall. Naruto gasped, especially when the other one did it too. "Do you want to go first?"

"Of course!" She exclaimed, grabbing her trolley. When she was next to the lady, Naruto gave her a smile. "Thanks for telling my friend where it is. I'm a bit lost, believe it!" The lady just laughed and nodded. By using the word "lost," the woman realized that Naruto was a girl.

"It was a pleasure, dear. Now go ahead, the train departs in half an hour." Naruto nodded and looked at the wall as if it were her target to crash into before running, not stopping.

"Wow." When she went through it, she marveled, turning around to look around. She saw big things on wheels and smelled the burnt coal, which wasn't a bad smell. Although the occasional whistle hurt Naruto's ears.

"Wow," Naruto said, and she heard Harry say the same. "What's that?" Naruto pointed at the big machine emitting smoke. Harry looked at her in surprise.

"You've never seen a train?" Naruto shook her head. "Then how do you travel?" Naruto had told him that she would be a ninja one day and that she would go to many places.

"I run, believe it! I'm very fast." Naruto mentioned. When they entered the train, Naruto was nervous while Harry looked for an empty compartment for them. When they found one, there was another problem. Harry couldn't lift his trunk, but that wasn't a problem for Naruto. The problem was that Naruto was short, and she jumped, but as she couldn't see over the trunk she held above her head (people usually didn't notice that Naruto sometimes used female pronouns, and if they did, Naruto might use male pronouns next time).

"I see you need some help. Let us give you a hand," when Naruto heard a voice behind her, she jumped, but when her trunk was taken, she could turn around. "Oh, it's heavy. I thought it was light the way you carried it." The boy was tall, maybe thirteen or fourteen years old. He had orange hair just like the lady, freckles, and Naruto remembered him as the boy she saw go through before her, who encouraged her just by seeing him.

She watched as another identical boy helped Harry. "Clones, but were they solid?" she thought when both boys put down the trunks and cauldrons. The one who helped Naruto looked at her carefully.

"Nice whiskers ," Naruto blinked at that, and then the boy pointed at her cheeks. "Right, Fred?" The other identical boy approached, looking at Naruto. After they both looked at her, the word came out of her mouth.

"Freckled clones!" Both twins looked at each other and then at Naruto, who covered her mouth. The boys just laughed.

"He called you freckled clone," "Fred" told the other boy.

"Hey, that's for you too, freckled clone." It was strange. Usually, people get angry or leave, but laughter, of course, not. Harry covered his mouth, understanding that Naruto said clones because as soon as they were done, the boy whose name she still didn't know wiped away a tear from laughing. "You're funny, Whiskers. I'm George Weasley, and he's my brother Fred Weasley." Naruto wrinkled her nose at the nickname "Whiskers" but she just shook her head before smiling at them.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki," she said, while Harry became the center of attention.

"I'm Harry Potter," Naruto noticed the looks the boys gave Harry—more people to add to the list of those who already knew about Harry...

When the siblings left the cabin, Naruto asked Harry what he had been up to for the past two months, telling him that he had to return home to his bad relatives. Meanwhile, Naruto shared a bit more about the academy.

"So, where you live, do they not have schools?" Harry wondered, thinking about what it would be like to live in such a place.

"Well, there's the academy and the regular civilian school. The academy teaches the same things as the school, but faster, and then it prepares us to become ninjas. On the other hand, the school sticks to the basics and prepares kids for different tasks," Naruto explained, though she wasn't entirely sure how the civilian school worked.

When the train gave its final warning, the loud whistle hurt Naruto's ears as she noticed the ground starting to move. "Oh?" Harry smiled as Naruto leaned against the window. "Harry, the ground is moving!" she exclaimed, pointing. Harry couldn't hold back his laughter any longer.

"Naruto, the ground isn't moving; we are," he said. If Naruto's eyes could have lit up any more, this was the moment. She jumped to her feet and kept her gaze fixed on the window.

"I saw you looked confused earlier with the twins. Isn't it common in your town?" Naruto turned her head like a curious and puzzled kitten.

"What are twins?" she asked, and by this point, Harry wasn't surprised.

"Twins are siblings born on the same day, and they can be identical or not," Harry explained, prompting Naruto to let out an "Oh," but she couldn't look out the window again.

"Excuse me," when the cabin door slid open, Naruto and Harry looked at the person standing in the doorway. "Can I sit with you? The rest is full."

"Of course!" Naruto said loudly, overshadowing Harry, who was also saying the same thing.

The boy, who undoubtedly resembled the twins, had freckles on his cheeks and nose. Naruto would describe the hair of these boys as "carrot" color.

"I'm Ron Weasley. I saw you at the platform, hope you remember me," the boy sat down next to Harry.

"I'm Naruto," she was getting tired of her last name by this point. Shortly after, Naruto disconnected from the typical "Are you Harry Potter?" and "Do you have the scar?" and instead marveled at the landscape.

"Where do you come from, Naruto?" Ron asked, making Naruto turn to look at the boys again.

"Konoha, well... Mmh, a place very far from here," she tried to explain.

"Konoha? I don't recognize it. I could ask Percy later," Ron mentioned, making Naruto's eyes sparkle.

"You have more siblings!" Ron was startled by the young girl's enthusiasm. "We saw your twin brothers a while ago." Ron made a noise of recognition.

"Yes, there are seven of us in total, counting me, of course."

"Incredible!" Ron murmured, "It's not that incredible," but Harry understood Naruto's reaction. Such a large family had each other to take care of.

"Are you two friends?" Harry and Naruto looked at each other, not wanting to answer for the other until Harry finally smiled at Naruto.

"Yes, we are," a small smile appeared on Naruto's face in response.

The door was called, and Ron, who was closest, opened it to reveal a lady with a cart. "Children, any treats from the trolley?" Naruto saw the cart and remembered she still had some money she had exchanged at Gringotts.

"No, thanks, I already have," Ron said, wrinkling his nose a bit. Naruto stuck out her tongue at the sight of a squashed sandwich.

When Harry had eaten everything on the trolley, Naruto finally noticed the rat eating from one of the candy boxes. "Oh, right, you were distracted. This is Scabbers; he used to belong to my brother Percy, but... well," Ron gestured to his worn-out clothes, indicating that "he inherited them."

Naruto felt something strange when she looked at the rat, but she didn't pay much attention. "Don't you want candy, Naruto?" Harry asked, offering her a chocolate bar with mint flavor. She accepted it but left it on her seat.

Her stomach growled in protest, but Naruto just hummed, opening her bento box and taking out her meal. "Strict parents?" Ron asked, seeing that Naruto was about to eat her lunch rather than a chocolate bar.

"No parents, but..." Naruto shook her head, stopping Ron from apologizing. "This meal was made by someone who takes care of me, and they'll be mad if they find out I ate candy before having a 'real meal'," she smiled.

"Well, I was also curious about something," Ron said as Naruto nibbled on her bento. There were two croquet sticks and a bit of rice on the other side, nothing too big. She took the chopsticks, surprising Ron and Harry when she effortlessly picked up some rice. "Are you a Muggle-born, Naruto?" This was the second or maybe third time Naruto had been called a Muggle-born.

She thought for a moment, not knowing how to answer. Her parents... she didn't know much about them, but she knew that where she lived, magic was something not even the third Hokage had seen. "I don't know; I never met my parents," she answered with a shrug. "They died on the day I was born," she spoke matter-of-factly before grabbing one of the skewers.

"Who has taken care of you since then, the person who made that meal for you?" Ron asked, pointing and also watching as Naruto wasted no time devouring it.

"Uh, not really. At first, I lived in the orphanage, but..." she had no memories of it, and whenever she asked, the Hokage avoided giving her a straight answer. Naruto smiled, but there was something more in her gaze. "I've been too cool and lived in different places with different people," she finished her last skewer and closed the bento, putting it back in her lunchbox. She then took out her thermos and took a sip, noticing it was lemonade, very sweet, just the way she liked it. "Do you want some?" She offered her thermos, only to realize the looks she was receiving. She gave them a genuine smile, knowing they had realized there was more to her words.

They talked about light topics until it started to get dark. "Do you want to see Scabbers change color?" Naruto nodded, watching as Ron took out his wand. She might learn it if she memorized it. She leaned a bit closer to Ron. "Sunbeam," Ron was interrupted when the door opened.

A girl with long, brownish hair in a skirt uniform entered. "Hi, have any of you seen a toad? A boy named Neville lost it," the girl looked at the wand and then at the rat it was pointing to. "Oh, you're doing magic. Carry on."

Ron rolled his eyes and went back to what he was doing. "Sunbeam, daisies, turn this silly rat yellow!" Instead of turning yellow, sparks flew, and Scabbers ran away from Ron.

Naruto gave him a sympathetic look; she knew what it was like to make a

mistake. "Are you sure that's the right spell? Well, it doesn't seem very effective," the girl remarked before looking at Harry and appearing surprised. "Oh my God, you're Harry Potter. I'm Hermione Granger." Then her gaze went from Ron to Naruto.

"Ron Weasley," he simply said, not too interested in the girl who seemed to think she knew everything.

"Naruto Uzumaki, nice to meet you, Hermione-chan," she said, raising an eyebrow at the smile she gave Naruto.

She knew the boy had found her annoying right away. "You should get changed; we're about to arrive, and..." Hermione looked at Ron. "Clean your nose." Ron pointed to the wrong side, and the girl pointed again. "Here." When she left, the door was closed again.

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