Chapter 4: Journey To Hogwarts

The train began to move and Fred and George had left me on my own. As I looked for a place to sit, I passed by the compartment that the black haired boy was sitting in.

He was all by himself and staring at the window. I couldn't help but think that maybe the twins were having me on. This couldn't have been the famous Harry Potter that took down You-Know-Who as a baby. Shouldn't his clothes be finer than that, and not look so bulky? Shouldn't he be surrounded by adoring fans? His clothes looked more worn than mine did.

I took a gulp. Even though he was indeed sitting by himself, he looked friendly enough, so I took a chance, and slid opened the compartment door.

"Anyone sitting there?" I asked, pointing to the seat across from the boy. "Everywhere else is full."

The boy shook his head and I sat down. I tried to get a quick glance at his forehead without him looking, but he caught me so I swiftly looked out the window.

"Hey, Ron."

The twins were back.

"Listen, we're going down the middle of the train. Lee Jordan's got a giant tarantula down there."

"Right," I mumbled, not really caring.

"Harry," said Fred. "Did we introduce ourselves? Fred and George Weasley. And this is Ron, our brother. See you later, then.

"Bye." we both said. The twins slid the compartment door shut behind them.

I couldn't stop myself from asking. "Are you really Harry Potter?"

The boy smiled and nodded.

"Oh. Sorry. Thought my brothers were joking." I said. "And have you really got... you know..."

I pointed at Harry's forehead. Harry chuckled and pulled back his bangs to show the lightning scar.

"Wicked." I whispered as I looked at the reddish scar on his forehead. I still couldn't believe it. I was sharing a compartment with the most famous wizard in the wizarding world.

Suddenly, I felt very put out. Should I even be sitting here? Would he actually want me speaking to him? I was dirt poor, I didn't have the status to be addressing someone like Harry Potter.

"Are all your family wizards?" asked Harry, seeming genuinely interested.

"For the most part, yes." I said "I think Mum's got a second cousin who's an accountant, but we never talk about him."

"So you must know loads of magic already." said Harry.

I know enough, but since I'm only 11, I can't actually do anything." I said. "So I heard you went to live with Muggles. What are they like?"

"Horrible" scoffed Harry. "Well, not all of them. My aunt and uncle and cousin are, though. Wish I'd had three wizard brothers."

"Five." I corrected him. "I'm the sixth in our family to go to Hogwarts. You could say I've got a lot to live up to."

As I sat and told him all about my brothers and sister, Harry looked at me as if he was fascinated to hear about my life. It felt weird, but also pretty cool. A famous wizard interested in what I had to say, someone that was just as interested in learning about me as I was to learn about him. Who would have thought?

We kept talking, swapping stories about our homes and lives and soon, an old woman slid back our door and said, "Anything off the cart, dears?"

Harry got up quickly and went over to her. I sat there and pulled out my nasty corned beef sandwich. I looked at it, very much disgusted. Mum knew I hated corned beef.

I stared wide eyes as Harry came back with a mountain of treats in his arms and plopped them onto an empty seat.

"Hungry, are you?" I asked.

"Starving," said Harry, taking a large bite out of a pumpkin pasty.

I took the wrapping off my pitiful sandwiches "She always forgets I don't like corned beef." I said glumly

"Swap you for one of these," said Harry, holding up a pasty. "Go on!"

"You sure you want this? Its pretty dry."

"Go on, have a pasty," said Harry, taking the sandwiches out my hand and replacing it with a pasty. I smiled and thanked him. Then sank my teeth into the warm treat.

"What are these?" asked Harry, holding up a Chocolate Frog pack. "They're not really frogs, are they?"

"No, its just a quick spell. Besides, its the cards you want. I'm missing Agrippa myself."

"What?"

"Oh, of course, you wouldn't know. Chocolate Frogs have cards, inside them, you know, to collect. Famous witches and wizards. I've got about five hundred, but I haven't got Agrippa or Ptolemy." I explained.

Harry unwrapped his Chocolate Frog and picked up the card.

"So this is Dumbledore!" he said.

"Can I have a frog? I might get Agrippa." I asked.

Harry then picked up a box of Every Flavor Beans and showed me, asking about them.

"You want to be careful with those." I warned him. "When they say every flavor, they mean every flavor. There's chocolate and peppermint, but then you can get spinach and liver and tripe. George reckons he had a booger flavored one once."

Harry stuck out his tongue. I picked up a green bean, looked at it carefully, and bit into a corner.

"Yuck! Sprouts." I said, spitting it out.

We started making a game out of the beans as the train moved swiftly on, the scenery changing

A boy came by crying about his lost toad and if we had seen it. When we told him no, but we will keep an eye out for it, he left, almost sobbing.

"At least he doesn't have a rat." I said, pointing to a sleeping Scabbers on my lap. "I tried to turn him yellow yesterday to make him more interesting, but the spell didn't work. I'll show you, look."

I pulled out my wand (which had the unicorn hair sticking out some at the top) and was about to wake it, when the compartment door slid open again. This time, it was a girl.

"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one." she said.

"We've already told him we haven't seen it." I said, but the girl wasn't listening. She was looking at the wand in my hand.

"Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it, then." she said, sitting down as if she was invited.

I looked at Harry and then back at her. Bit of a nutter she was.

"All right." I said, clearing my throat. "Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow."

Nothing happened. I just made myself look like an idiot in front of this random girl and the most famous wizard there was. I wanted to crawl into a hole.

"Are you sure that's a real spell?" said the girl. "Well, it's not very good, is it? I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me. Nobody-"

It was then that I started tuning her out and looking her over. She was okay looking enough as far as girls went, with more hair on her head than I had ever seen on a person. Her teeth were bucked, her skin looked somewhat tanned, and she was rather on the short side. Then again, compared to me, everyone was on the short side. She was already dressed in her Hogwarts uniform.

"Oh yes. I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?" I heard her say as I tuned her back in.

"I'm Ron Weasley," I muttered.

"Harry Potter."

"Are you really?" said Hermione. "I know all about you, of course. I got a few extra books for background reading, and you're in Modern Magical History, The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts, and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century."

"Am I?" said Harry, looking awestruck. Did this kid not know how famous he really was?

"Goodness, didn't you know? I'd have found out everything I could if it was me." said the slowly getting annoying girl. "Do either of you know what house you'll be in? I've been asking around, and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best. I hear-"

Again, I tuned her out. She talked entirely too much for my liking. Besides, who did this girl think she was? She seemed like she had a broomstick stuck up her-

"You two had better change, you know. I expect we'll be there soon." she said, pulling me away from my thoughts. She then turned and walked off.

I could already tell that this girl and I would never get along .

"Whatever house I'm in, I hope she's not in it." I said, shaking my head as I put my wand back in my trunk. "Stupid spell. George gave it to me, bet he knew it was a dud."

"It's alright. Maybe he did it as a joke, you know? You did say they liked to play tricks." said Harry, biting into a Cauldron Cake.

What house are your brothers in?" asked Harry.

"Gryffindor. Mum and Dad were in it too. I don't know what they'll say if I'm not. I don't suppose Ravenclaw would be too bad, but imagine if they put me in Slytherin." I said, rolling my eyes.

"That's the house Vol- I mean, You-Know-Who was in?"

"Yeah. As well as a bunch of people that liked him from what Mum and Dad told me." I said. "Don't want to be wrapped up in that."

The conversation soon turned to Quidditch. Harry knew nothing about the sport, and I was delighted to tell him absolutely everything when again, out compartment door opened.

This time, three boys entered. Two big round gits with a scrawny pale haired boy in the middle, eyeing Harry as if he were a giant Chocolate Frog.

"Is it true?" he said. "They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?"

"Yeah, I am." said Harry, eyeing the big meaty boys that looked like they were guarding the other boy.

"Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle," said the pale boy, noticing where Harry was looking. "And my name's Malfoy. Draco Malfoy."

I couldn't help but snicker. I had heard that name before. Dad talked about a Malfoy giving him grief all the time. This must have been his uppity son.

The pale git glared at me.

"Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask who you are." he said snootily. "My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford."

I never wanted to hex someone so badly in my life.

He turned back to Harry. "You'll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there."

He held out his hand to shake Harry's, but Harry didn't take it.

"I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks," he said coldly.

Malfoy huffed a little bit. Must not have like that little comment.

"I'd be careful if I were you, Potter." he said slowly. "Unless you're a bit politer, you'll go the same way as your parents. They didn't know what was good for them, either. You hang around with riffraff like the Weasleys and that Hagrid, and it'll rub off on you."

We both stood up fast. I may have not known any hexes, but I did have a mean right hook.

"Say that again." I said, feeling my face heat up

"Oh, you're going to fight us, are you?" Malfoy sneered.

"Unless you get out now," said Harry, stepping up beside me, putting his fists up as well.

"But we don't feet like leaving, do we, boys? We've eaten all our food and you still seem to have some." said Malfoy, eyeing Harry's stash.

Goyle reached toward the Chocolate Frogs next to me. I reached out to push him away, but before I could make contact, Goyle let out a horrible yell.

Scabbers was hanging off his finger, sharp little teeth sunk deep into Goyle's knuckle. Crabbe and Malfoy backed away as Goyle swung Scabbers round and round, howling, and when Scabbers finally flew off and hit the window. They left our compartment in a flash, and then right after that, Hermione showed back up.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Nothing." I grumbled. "Just making friends. Can we help you with something?"

"You'd better hurry up and put your robes on. I've just been up to the front to ask the conductor, and he says we're nearly there. You haven't been fighting, have you? You'll be in trouble before we even get there!" she argued.

"Scabbers has been fighting, not us!" I said with a scowl. "Would you mind leaving while we change?"

"All right - I only came in here because people outside are behaving very childishly, racing up and down the corridors." said Hermione in a voice that reminded me of Percy's when he was having a pompous attitude. "And you've got dirt on your nose, by the way, did you know?"

I glared at her and rubbed the side of my nose as she left once again. Merlin, she was bloody annoying.

We changed as the conductor announced that we would be arriving in five minutes.

When we arrived, we were greeted by the biggest man I had ever seen in my entire life. He was huge with a bushy and dry looking beard and long dark hair. Harry greeted him like an old friend. This must have been that Hagrid he had mentioned.

He directed us to a dark lake that had little boats lined up at the coast. He told us to get in four to a boat. Harry and I got in one, followed by that Neville kid and Hermione. I said a quick prayer that she wouldn't run her mouth.

As we started to sail on, Harry and I looked ahead. Both our mouths dropped at the sight that was in front of us.