Chapter 12 - The train

Disclaimer:

Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K Rowling.

I own nothing but the original characters I make.

"Dialogue"

'Thoughts'

$Parseltongue$

Chapter 12

The train

The day to go back to Hogwarts has finally arrived. Lorry was finishing packing Harry's clothes when Harry went to check on his owl, who was currently sitting on a tree branch, right outside Harry's bedroom window.

"Alright Nagini III." The owl looked at him and gave him an angry hoot.

"What? Don't tell me you don't like the name?." The owl bobbed her head up and down.

"mmm, that's strange. Is a good name. Well, you'll get used to it." Harry just dismissed the owl's complaints. He didn't want to come up with another name.

"Anyways. I want you to go directly to Hogwarts. There is no point in you riding the train. I trust you know the way?." The owl seems offended at his doubts and gave another angry hoot.

Harry raised his hands in the air. "Alright alright!. Well, off you go!." He said before turning his attention to his house-elf. This one noticed his master was looking at him and said.

"Master everything is ready. Shall I take you to the station?"

Harry just nodded and they took off.

The Hogwarts Express was exactly like he remembered it. It brought back so many memories of the past, not all of them good.

He took a seat in an empty cabin at the back of the train, took a small book out of his jacket, and started reading. Soon enough his door was carelessly open with a slam and a small redhead boy entered.

"My brothers told me they saw someone that could be Harry Potter, is that you?" The boy said while pointing his finger at Harry.

Harry sighed, he was already expecting this. He has seen the books they made about him and what people expected him to be like.

Seein no reason to hide it anymore, he answered. "Yes, I am Harry Potter."

The red-headed boy was taken aback by the declaration for a moment.

"B-but , you don't look like Harry Potter!, you have long hair, you are dressed like a Malfoy, and…" He kept looking toward Harry's forehead. "Where is your scar? show me" He demanded.

The day had just started and Harry's patience was running thin already.

"I do not have to prove anything to you boy. But for the sake of making this interaction shorter…" He moved aside his hair to show a thin white line in the shape of a lightning bolt.

"You can barely see it!... but I suppose it is really you then. Ohh I'm Ron Weasley by the way. Let's be friends! " He smiled at Harry and sat down on the other side.

Harry sighed again. He had the feeling he was going to that a lot that day.

"Fine, you can stay but be quiet, I am trying to read."

"You read for fun? why?... I like to play quidditch to have fun. Do you know how to play Harry?. What is your favorite team? mine is the Chudley Cannons. Do you know any magic already? Well of course you do , i mean YOU are Harry Potter right?. My brothers told me about a spell yesterday. Here, let me show you " He then proceeded to look around for his wand.

Harry on the other hand was seriously considering stunning the boy and throwing him out of the window when the door to his cabin opened once more. This time a little girl with bushy hair and buck teeth stood there.

"Have any of you seen a frog? a first-year boy has lost it." She then seems to notice Ron waving his wand around. "Ohh? Are you going to do magic? let's see it then. I have tried a few spells already." She then stood expectantly at the entrance of the cabin.

Ron proceeds to take his rat out of his clothes and point his want at it. He started saying a bunch of nonsense words that he believed were a magical spell.

Harry was not listening to a word he said, instead his attention was completely focused on the rat in Ron's hands.

'That's!, it can't be. What is he doing here of all places?!.' He stared at the rat for a while and considered what to do with that information.

Wormtail has been a fairly loyal subject in the past, but he was only loyal because of his fear of Lord Voldemort.

'I wasn't planning on approaching any of my former death eaters yet. I just don't trust them to keep my identity secret. Besides, I still haven't decided if I want to reform the organization. For now, I'll just keep an eye on Wormtail. I may have use for him in the future.'

Ron has finished embarrassing himself with his 'magic' demonstration and the girl asks him if that was even a real spell which seems to embarrass the boy even more. She then turned towards Harry.

"My name is Hermione Granger by the way. What are yours?" she asked

"Harry Potter" He answered dryly. He didn't hate mudbloods as much as his former associates but he still rather not be around them too much.

Ron tried to introduce himself but was interrupted "I am Ron Wis-"

"Are you really THE Harry Potter?. Oh, I read all about you in Famous Wizards of the 20th century and The Downfall of a Dark Lord. There are other books, but those seem more like fantasy, i mean, you don't actually have a pet dragon right?."

"No, I do not have a pet dragon…" Harry answered with a blank expression.

She doesn't seem discouraged by his lack of enthusiasm in their conversation and continues.

"I have to say. You do look very different from how you are described in books. You are normally depicted to have short messy hair, glasses, and the very famous lighting bolt scar on your forehead. Why is that? Are you going for a change of image? "

"I only looked like that when I was little and I have never needed glasses. Now, would you let me be? i am trying to read" Harry said, losing what little was left of his patience.

She seemed taken aback for a moment and a bit flustered. "Ehm. FINE" she said before leaving the cabin in a rush while muttering something about rude boys.

"She seems like a nightmare. I hope we don't see her much at Hogwarts" Ron claimed.

'You are as much of a nightmare' Harry thought.

He was regaled with almost an entire hour of peace before the doors of the cabin opened again. This time, there was a blonde boy surrounded by two big kids.

"I heard that Harry Potter is in this cabin. Is it true?." He gave a glance at the two occupants of the cabin for a moment before stopping at Harry.

"YOU!. You are the mud…wait a moment, YOU are Harry Potter?."

When he failed to answer in a quick manner Ron saw it fitting to answer in his place.

"Yes. He is Harry Potter. The boy who lived." He proclaimed proudly. Like he had achieved something important.

"Soo, you thought it was amusing to deceive me uhh? Well, you made a grave mistake. I was willing to let you be one of my subordinates like Crabbe and Goyle here." While he was going about his monologue, Ron seemed to find it amusing and left a chuckle.

Draco turned towards him. "Is there something funny?. I don't even need to ask who you are. Red hair and second-hand things. You are a Weasley. My father says that you are all worthless blood traitors." While Ron's face was getting red, he turned toward Harry once more.

"Is this who you want to associate with?. You will learn soon how grave of a mistake you have made today Potter!. Let's go!" He turned and left. His two minions promptly follow.

'Well, at least I didn't have to say anything to make this one leave.' Harry thought.

Ron spent a few minutes complaining about Malfoy before finally shutting up. The rest of the trip was fairly quiet, much to Harry's satisfaction.