First Forays (Part One)

Several weeks later, Harry found himself levering his trunk up onto the Hogwarts' Express and thinking about his very first friend. Hagrid had been a wonderfully nice man all things considered but, Harry was forced to admit the gentle giant was a rather bad introduction to the magical world. Horrible even. He hadn't even told Harry how to get onto a seemingly nonexistent platform! Thankfully he had had time to read part of Hogwarts, A History so he knew about the barrier between Platforms 9 and 10 but what if he hadn't? He might've been stuck outside! Harry suppressed a shudder at that nightmare.

On the other hand, Hagrid had gotten him his beautiful owl Hedwig which really made up for absolutely anything and everything. An actual birthday present? That giant of a man had firmly cemented Harry's loyalty for life. He smiled down at Hedwig who twisted her head and hooted softly at him reaching through the bars to nip his fingers a bit.

"Excuse me, is there anyone sitting over there? Most of the rest of the compartments are full and I'd prefer not to lug this thing any further," a red-headed young boy about Harry's age asked pushing into the compartment with a large trunk in tow.

"Sure, seat's open," Harry said. "I'm Harry by the way."

"Ron Weasley. Have you seen Harry Potter anywhere? I heard he was supposed to be here this year and I wanted to say hi before we reached the school."

"Err…" Harry ran a hand through his hair but before he could decide whether or not to admit his last name Ron's eyes widened and he pointed at Harry's forehead. Harry groaned realizing far too late he'd exposed the stupid, annoying scar.

"Blimey! YOU'RE Harry Potter! Why didn't you say so? I'm Ron Weasley!"

"Yeah, I know. You already introduced yourself a minute ago."

"Oh right, well, bloody hell! Harry Potter! So how did you do it? Do you remember it? Did it hurt?"

"I'd really rather not talk about it," Harry sighed reaching into his pocket and pulling out his mother's runes notebook. She had been right, it was a fantastic way to relax and studying the runes always helped him tune the world out. Granted the world had previously consisted of Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and Dudley but the theory was still sound. Right?

"But why not? You're famous, mate! It's awesome! What I wouldn't give to be in your position!" Ron yelled out with a grin almost splitting his face.

Harry just scowled. "You'd rather have your parents dead and live with relatives who hate you? Be my guest. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to read now."

Ron's mouth dropped open and he just sputtered for a few seconds. Harry caught the boy's face turning slightly red before he leaned down over his notes. He'd already been able to correct some of his mum's mistakes, add a few new notes and he even had a few ideas on some entirely new clusters. With a bit of luck he'd be able to figure out how to finish one of the simpler ones before the end of month. Two months tops. The carving sets from the shop in Diagon Alley had had everything he needed to get started. Convincing Hagrid that he'd wanted something two years early (why Ancient Runes only started Third Year he couldn't figure out; it wasn't like it was complicated) had been difficult until Harry had pulled the 'I want to be closer to my mum' card. Hagrid had melted like putty after that.

Thankfully Ron stayed quiet for a few hours for the most part...Harry could hear him grumbling under his breath every so often. It was a bit annoying but he still left Harry to his work. By the time the food trolley rolled around Harry had finished the current cluster he'd been studying and felt a bit bad about earlier. It wasn't Ron's fault the magical world in general seemed to idolize him. He bought a few extra snacks from the woman as a peace offering.

"Here, you want some? I got a bit too much I think."

"Really? You don't want it?" Ron started to reach for the Chocolate Frogs but his hand froze midway.

"Sure. Go ahead."

"Thanks!" Ron lunged forward and grabbed two handfuls of food before ripping some of the wrappers off and stuffing them in his mouth. "You want a sandwich?" Ron asked with his mouth full of little cakes. "Mum made them for me. They're good but they're not sweets."

"Sure, thanks," Harry shrugged trying hard to hide the gleam in his eyes. That one sandwich had more meat than Harry had been allowed all week! No way was he going to turn that down. Sweet delicious ham...

The door to the compartment popped open and a set of twins came holding some sweets in their arms. From the red hair and freckles it was obvious they were related to Ron. "Hey, Ronnikins, need any chocolate?"

"Got some. Thanks."

"Sure you don't need more, o brother of ours?" Harry shuddered at the grin on the second twin – it was almost the exact same grin he got when he managed to get something over on Dudley. No way were those chocolates safe to eat!

"I'm good guys."

"Damn. Well guess we'll just have to go and find some other firsties eh, George?"

"Guess so, Fred."

"What about this firstie?"

"Nah, he's nice and quiet-like. I don't reckon it's a good idea to prank the quiet ones. At least not before the first week." George winked at Harry.

"I appreciate that," Harry said with a laugh. "I'm Harry by the way."

"George, and my esteemed brother here is Fred." Both twins bowed low with grand flourishes somehow avoiding dropping any of their candy. "You wouldn't happen to be Harry Potter by any chance would you?"

Stifling a sigh, Harry nodded. At least these two were polite about it.

"Well, 'twas a pleasure meeting you, Harrykins! Welcome to Hogwarts and I hope you'll consider joining us in Gryffindor. We can guarantee less pranks if follow us to our grand house!" Fred said as he and his brother backed out.

'Well, that was actually the tamest response I've gotten to my name in the past month!' Harry thought grinning. The tact gene may have skipped their brother but the twins were pretty cool.

Ron grumbled before pulling out a rat and trying to feed it a piece of toffee. It was probably a good thing the rat was uninterested. It'd likely send the poor thing to the great sewer in the sky.

"Uh, Ron…why do you have a rat?"

"This is Scabbers. He's my pet. Been in the family for ages. Percy had him years ago." Ron scowled down at the rat. "He's really lazy though and kind of boring. Want to see a spell? Fred and George gave me one that's supposed to turn him yellow!" he said leaning over for his wand.

"Okay," Harry shrugged. It would be awesome to see some actual magic but...if the twins had given it the spell? Harry was not going to be holding his breath for this one.

As Ron pulled out his wand the compartment door opened again and this time a girl with bushy brown hair and a nervous looking boy entered. "Have either of you noticed a toad around here? Neville's has escaped."

"No," Harry said with a shake of his head. "Have you tried asking any of the upper years? They might have a spell to help search."

"No, we haven't but that's a good idea. Oh are going to do a spell? I've tried some of the simpler ones myself already and haven't had any issues at all. Come on then, what are going to do?" The girl plopped down on the seat next to Harry and stared at Ron.

"Um, well okay. Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow!" A small bang came from the end of Ron's wand but nothing happened to Scabbers.

Harry groaned and covered his face with his palm. Before he could say anything the girl beat him to it. "Are you sure that's actually a spell? It certainly didn't seem like one did it? I suppose it could've been a sort of ritual but those tend to have a complicated set of diagrams drawn out before the incantation is started at least according to my research. Most normal spells seem to be in Latin, though I've read other countries use spells in different base languages which imply there is quite a bit more to the spell itself than simple motions and words which I assume we'll be learning all about when we get to Arithmancy and advanced spell theory. Here watch, your glasses are broken, yes? Sit still!" The girl brought her wand out pointed it between his eyes. Harry froze but before he could say anything she uttered a short phrase – in something that was probably Latin from her earlier comments – and the tape that held the bridge of his glasses together spun off while the plastic stitched itself back into one full piece.

Forgetting his quick lapse, Harry took his glasses off and stared at his brand new pair with his mouth slightly agape. 'What's more impressive, that she managed to finish that speech on a single breath or that she fixed my glasses before we even got to school?' he thought slipping them back on and turning to the girl.

"Wow, thanks! The tape was getting a little annoying. I haven't read most of the spells yet, I've been looking at…other things." He shifted a bit trying to discreetly cover his mother's notebook.

"You're welcome," she said, sitting up straighter as a wide grin spilled across her face. "I'm Hermione. Hermione Granger."

"Harry. Nice to meet you."

"Yes, well Neville and I should really be off. Trevor's still missing after all."

"Do you guys want help?" Harry asked.

"No thank you, I think we'll just go and ask one of the prefects for their help."

After Hermione and Neville walked out Ron turned to Harry with his face red and his tone angry. "Why'd you offer to help? She was such a know-it-all!"

"That's not a reason to not help someone find their pet," Harry frowned. Ron's tone reminded him too much of Dudley at the moment. "Besides she was right. That spell obviously wasn't real. You said your brothers gave it to you right? I've known them for less than five minutes and I can already tell you they seem like the type to do that for a laugh."

"Well yeah, they would," Ron grumbled and leaned back slipping Scabbers into his pocket again. Harry shook his head feeling sorry for the ugly little thing. The way the rat was squeaking and squirming made Harry think of Boba Fett being dragged down into the Sarlacc.

The door to the compartment slammed open one more time and a blond haired boy with two stocky bodyguards stood outside. Harry just sighed. This one he remembered from the robes store. "So rumor has it that Harry Potter is in this compartment." The blond turned to Harry and smiled upon seeing the scar through his hair. "Ah so it's true." He stuck out his hand. "I'm Draco Malfoy. It's a good thing I came to find you. My father has told me all about the Weasley brood and a man of your status certainly shouldn't be forced to hang around with the wrong sort like them." He stuck out his hand completely missing Harry's narrowed eyes.

"Mr. Malfoy, we've met before and not only was I apparently insignificant enough to not remember but, you also managed to insult one of my first friends back then. Had you been a bit nicer now I'd be willing to let you try again but, again the first thing you do is insult who I'm with. Congratulations, you've just proven yourself as stuck up as my relatives." Harry scowled and continued in a low voice that practically left ice on the windows, "I deal with the Dursleys enough at home; the last thing I need is to deal with them here too. I'd appreciate being left alone."

Malfoy's eyes widened and his hand stayed extended for a moment before he sneered and pulled back like Harry had struck him. "When my father hears about this you'll regret spurning House Malfoy!"

"Am I supposed to know who your father is?" Harry scoffed with a low laugh. "Obviously I don't so, that's really not much of a threat now is it?"

Malfoy just snarled and turned around slamming the compartment door behind him.