13 13. Fun In The Train, New Friends

Adam and Hermione found themselves a compartment but Adam didn't stay there as he put his luggage down and pulled Hermione out of the train. Hermione was confused but after a few seconds, she immediately understood what Adam wanted to do. She had already seen him running around in the Diagon Alley whenever he had a chance. He would go to different shops just to click some pictures. Most of time he would even drag her to go together till she was completely tired. It was tiring for her but she also enjoyed it.

Adam came back to the station with Hermione. He dragged her around the station clicking some pictures. He would always use levitation charm to click their pictures together, and now he had already nearly mastered the levitation charm. Now he could cast it in just a blink of an eye. If he really wanted to improve it anymore then next step could only be the wandless or non-verbal casting.

Many wizards looked at Adam and Hermione weirdly but they didn't care about their weird behaviour. There were also many little wizards and their parents from pure-blood families. They looked at Adam and Hermione in disdain but somehow they just turned around and left or ignored them. Adam was surprised by this reaction, wondering if it was also one the result of his duel with Draco but he didn't care about it. He was happy that no one was trying to trouble him.

Most of the wizards on the station were talking about the 'Boy Who Lived' - Harry Potter. Even pure-blood families ignored Adam and Hermione because they wanted to see how the boy who defeated the man who must not be named looked like. Harry was a kind of a hero in the eyes of the most of the wizards, except for the pure-blood families who were part of the Voldemort's death eater gang. With Harry's appearance in the Diagon Alley, everyone had already guessed that he was going to attend Hogwarts this year so he was once again at the centre of discussion in the Wizarding world. Adam was not that eager or excited to meet Harry as he didn't actually like Harry that much from the original story. But Adam still wanted to get to know him if he could and also befriend him if he was not as reckless as in the original story.

At 11AM, Hogwarts express finally started moving. Everyone was settled in their compartments. Luckily, Adam and Hermione got a compartment of their own. But this luck did not last that long.

Adam and Hermione were talking and laughing about the scene that they had just witnessed in the hogwarts express and at the King's cross station. It was fun to look at all the excited little wizards who were trying to talk to each other to make new friends. Adam and Hermione also talked with many little wizards but apparently Hermione's bossy attitude was not something that everyone can handle. Most of the little wizards said few words with them and left. Hermione felt bad about this but she was not that depressed as she still had atleast one person by her side who was her best friend. She had already considered Adam as her best friend, In fact, it would be surprising if she didn't think so.

As they continued to talk, there was a knocking on the door of their compartment. As the door opened, round-faced boy appeared in front of Adam and Hermione's eyes. He asked with tearful eyes, "Sorry, but can I join you here? Other compartments are mostly full."

Hermione immediately agreed as she really wanted to make new friends. Adam looked at the boy who had just entered their compartment. Adam had recognized this boy. Adam had a good impression of this boy so he didn't mind him joining them.

"Hello, I am Hermione Granger and this is Adam Taylor. You are...?" Hermione enthusiastically introduced herself and Adam. Round-faced boy was surprised, he nervously looked at them and introduced himself in return.

"I am Neville Longbottom. Nice to meet you."

"Why are you crying? Are you nervous? Is it your first time to go away from your house? Or are you also just like us?" Hermione bombarded Neville with so many questions that he even forgot that he was about to cry just now. He just looked at Hermione with stunned look on his face.

"Hermione, not so many questions at a time. At the very least, let him sit down first. Sorry, Neville. She is just like this." Adam said while giving an apologetic smile to Neville. He didn't want this new member to turn around and run away because of Hermione's questions. Adam didn't plan to be a loner in his Hogwarts life.

"What do you mean by 'She's just like this'?" Hermione said in irritated tone and glared at Adam.

"Just like you?" Neville only recalled Hermione's last question but he was puzzled by this question.

"She meant to ask if you were also muggle-born like us. You know muggle-born wizards are mostly nervous when they go to the Hogwarts for the first time. Even Hermione cried when... Oww!!! what was that for?" Adam asked in pain. He held his leg which was just kicked by Hermione while looking at Her with expression asking, 'What did I do?'

Hermione just snorted angrily and looked at Neville, waiting for him to answer her questions.

"No. All of my family members are wizards." Neville said with a proud smile on his face but when Hermione heard his words, her face immediately lost her colors and appeared cold. She had guessed from Neville's words that his family was one of the pure-blood families.

Adam noticed Hermione's expression which totally had the 'Dislike' word written on her face. He knew that she still had bad thoughts about the pure-blood families. Adam didn't want Hermione to act like this so he had tried to calm her emotions and thoughts about pure-blood families but he was unsuccessful. Now Adam had the opportunity to persuade her with the help of Neville who was really a good kid, atleast in the original story.

"Hermione, you can't be like this. Do you really have to hate all pure-blood families just because of that one bad Malfoy family? Didn't Mrs.Greengrass help me? Trust me, not every pure-blood family is bad like the Malfoys. There are many good pure-blood families too who don't discriminate because of the blood status." Adam said calmly. But then he saw that Neville was looking at him with confused expression so he explained, "Don't mind her, Neville. She had a bad experience with the Malfoys so she thinks every pure-blood family is bad and discriminate people with their blood status. I hope you can tell her about your family so she could change her mind."

Adam could feel Hermione's death glares but he ignored them while Neville who listened to everything didn't know what to say.

"umm... My family is not like Malfoy family. Malfoy family hates everyone as long as they are not pure-blood families. Sometimes they even look down on pure-blood families that are not that good with their wealth or strength." Neville stopped speaking when he saw that Hermione didn't pay any attention to his words. Adam knew that she was listening to Neville but just didn't show it on her face, But he didn't say anything.

Atmosphere became weird as no one spoke in the compartment. Adam was fine but Neville was extremely nervous with this situation. Adam knew that Neville might just run away if this continues so he decided to break this silence, "So Neville, why were you crying just now?"

"Oh! I forgot about Trevor!" Neville stood up as he said this. He continued, "Sorry, I have to go. My pet toad ran away, I was trying to search for him."

"Let us help you, Neville. We can quickly look for Trevor if we work together, isn't that right Hermione?" Adam said as he looked at Hermione who was silent for a while now which was completely contrary to her usual appearance.

"No! I can look for it. I don't want to trouble you." Neville said, he was about to leave the compartment but then he heard Adam's next words which stopped him in his tracks.

"Come on, Neville. What's there to be troubled about? Isn't it normal to help your friends? Or do you not think of us as your new friends?" Adam asked but did not wait for Neville's reply as he continued, "And if you don't like to become our friend then we can still help you as your classmates, can't we?"

Hermione could see that Adam was trying to help her make friends which made her happy but she was still conflicted if she should be friends with Neville, a pure-blood wizard or not. She didnt think Neville was a bad guy like Lucius and Draco but she was still vigilant in her heart after thinking about Lucius's polite appearance.

Neville was panicked after hearing Adam's words, he quickly said, "No, no... I didn't mean that. I would like to become your friend. I just didn't want to trouble you." Neville's voice was getting smaller and smaller but he still finished his words.

"Then we are friends?" Adam stood up and stretched out his hand towards Neville, who stood at the door. Neville looked at Adam's hand for a few seconds, then he understood what Adam meant. Neville quickly held on to Adam's hand and shook it before saying, "Friends."

Adam looked at Hermione in a meaningful way. She knew that Adam was asking for her to take initiative to make friends. She stared at Adam for few seconds before getting up from her seat and facing Neville, she said " I am sorry for acting like that. I would like to be your friend too and help you look for your toad."

Neville was surprised by Hermione's apology but he still shook her hands and smiled happily after gaining two new friends. Neville didn't have much self-confidence because of his grandmother's constant chiding words about him not living up to his family's honour. He tried very hard but he always heard these words from his grandmother and great-uncle which made him feel insecure about himself. Neville always felt that he would not be able to make any friends in Hogwarts because he was not good enough but now that he already got two new friends, the influence that lack of self-confidence had on him was greatly reduced which would help him a lot in the future.

Adam didn't know that his little manipulation of words had played this kind of role in Neville's life but he was still happy, looking at the excited faces of Hermione and Neville who just got their first new friends. Both Hermione and Neville were insecure when it came to friendship so they were really excited and happy to have new friends.

Adam and Hermione had chose a compartment in the middle of the train. They had many compartments to check on the both sides. Adam and Hermione seperated from Neville and went looking in different directions.

Adam just wanted to walk around to see if he could see any familiar faces while Hermione who really wanted to help Neville to find his toad went on ahead with disturbing everyone without any hesitation till she finally opened a compartment where the couple were snuggling and probably kissing. Adam didn't see it clearly as Hermione immediately shut the door before quickly moving towards the next compartment with her red face. After this small event, she finally learned to knock before opening the compartment doors. Adam saw many familiar faces while looking around in the train. He didn't recall everyone's names but he still managed to recognize a girl who was rather polite and well-mannered when she spoke with them. She was Cho Chang, who was also Harry's temporary love interest for a while in the original story.

After the trio returned to their compartment after the failed attempt of looking for Neville's toad, Adam managed to convince Neville to stay and wait till they are about to reach their destination then go to seniors to ask for help with their magic. Adam still had not learned the summoning charm, so he thought of asking senior students who might've learned this spell.

After few hours elderly witch came by their compartment to ask if they wanted to buy any sweets. Adam did not like sweets that much but he still wanted to try these things at least one time so he bought some of everything available on the cart.

"You can't buy so many sweets. Your teeth will definitely go bad if you eat so many things." Hermione retorted Adam's behaviour which he did not take seriously. He had already heard these words for the past month so he was already numb to them.

"Come on, Hermione. You know I don't like sweets that much. I just want to try these atleast once in my life." Adam said as he opened Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans and put one in his mouth. It tasted like a coconut which was not that bad.

"Haven't you already tried them in the Diagon Alley?" Hermione was even angrier at Adam as she got up and hit him with small book that she had in her hands. She was reading all the way since they had returned from the toad search.

"It's different Hermione. You can see that many of these are different. You can try some too." Adam said but he could see that Hermione was still dissatisfied with his answer. He loved to see this look on Hermione's face so he always tried to tease her.

Hermione was just about berate Adam when she suddenly felt like something had entered her mouth when she opened it to speak. She looked at Adam in surprise, just to see him smiling at her while shaking the box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans in his hands. She subconciously chewed on it but the moment she did, she regretted it very much.

Hermione's face had turned red. Her eyes had tears in them. She started sweating profusely. Adam was shocked by sudden change of expression on Hermione's face. He looked at his hands to see if he had fed her something wrong but then he thought of something when he looked at the the box in his hands. He understood that Hermione had quite the badluck today as she got chilli powder flavoured bean. Adam had already tasted this flavour once and he knew how it felt to eat this one.

Hermione was in tears while Adam just simply took out his camera. He knew that he was going to get scolded by Hermione when she calms down after a minute. Chilli powder flavoured bean somehow only worked for a minute so it was still not that bad even if you eat one.

'If I am to get scolded anyways, then why not do something more deserving to get scolded.' Adam thought to himself.

Adam took Hermione's pictures which made her even angrier but she could say nothing about it as her mouth was not even listening to herself. She tried to snatch camera from Adam but he didn't let her get it which finally caused a small brawl between them. Ofcourse, they did not hit each other but they were still entagled. Adam suddenly noticed Neville who was laughing wholeheartedly, looking at the lively scene in front of him. Hermione also noticed Adam's gaze so she turned her head towards Neville. Adam took this opportunity to throw the camera to Neville and quickly told him to take their pictures while he held Hermione from moving towards Neville.

Neville was stunned but he still followed Adam's words and took their pictures. He had seen Adam take pictures with this camera so he simply followed the same process. After the effect of chilli powder bean finally calmed down, Hermione started to rebuke Adam for his actions while Neville was also caught in it for taking pictures. This lasted for nearly five minutes before Hermione looked outside the train from the window and ignored Adam.

Adam loved to see Hermione get angry but he didn't want her to be angry at him for a long time so he tried to calm her down.

"Hermione, don't be like that. I am really sorry for this but these will also be our precious memories in the future. I won't do it again so forgive me, please?" Adam tried to calm her down which finally succeeded after few minutes. But Hermione did not just let it go as she proposed, "If these are really our precious memories for the future then you should also be part of it. Now you will try these beans and I will take your pictures."

Adam was stunned by how Hermione quickly turned his own words against himself. But he still did not give up and said, "I will taste one then you will try one. We both take each other's pictures. If not, then I won't eat it."

"You!!!" Hermione was angry but she didn't want to lose this opportunity so she accepted it which she regarded as the duel. Neville who was left alone didn't feel dejected but was relieved as his luck with the Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans was so bad that he would mostly pick all the bad ones.

Adam and Hermione continued their every flavoured beans duel while taking turns to eat them and take pictures. Both of them tasted some strange flavors but luckily those were not that bad. They tried to control their expression as well but apparently these beans had a strong flavor which made it impossible for them to hide their expressions.

After a while, Neville finally stopped the two of them and reminded them that they had to search for Trevor the toad. Adam and Hermione started it as a duel but they were also enjoying it. Even Hermione had forgotten that she was actually eating and enjoying the things that she was trying to forbid Adam from eating.

The trio left their compartment and decided to look for the toad once more before asking seniors for help. They looked around every compartment that Neville had previously checked to see if he had missed a place. Finally the trio arrived in front of the compartment with the open door. There was a black smoke coming from inside the compartment. Hermione took the lead to ask them about the Neville's toad while ignoring the smoke. Adam looked into the compartment just to see that there were two boys in the compartment, one with the black hairs while the other one with red. Red haired boy held onto a rat which was releasing this black smoke. Adam could not help but be surprised to see this scene.

'So this happens to Pettigrew the rat, if Hermione doesn't arrive here when Ron the red-head casts his spell on the rat. It looks like he continued using his non-existent spells because there was no Hermione to interrupt them.' Adam thought as he looked curiously over to Harry Potter to see if there were any changes in the saviour of the wizarding world.

"We've already told him we haven't seen his toad." said Ron, but Hermione didn't pay attention to him. She was more curious about the black smoke exuding rat in Ron's hands. Hermione asked in surprise, "Were you doing the magic?" Before Ron and Harry could reply, Hermione turned around to Adam and asked him a question, "What spell can cause this kind of black smoke? It looks different than the one in the duel. "

"Spell that was used to create white fog in the duel was a Smokescreen Spell. Maybe if we can make some changes in the spell, we might be able to create black smoke. But this doesn't seem to be the case here. This smoke should be the result of failed magic." Said Adam, he could see that there was no control over this magic so there was no way that Ron Weasely could cast this spell.

"You're right. Is there a way to stop this?" Harry asked as he felt that Adam was quite knowledgeable. He could only hope that Adam could stop this magic or they might just suffocate in this compartment.

"Oh my god! You used the magic spell without knowing how to use it? Do you know how dangerous it can be? Adam, how to stop this spell? We must help them." Hermione scolded Harry and Ron before turning to Adam for help. She knew all the spells that Adam knew but she was still dependent on Adam when he was with her.

"General counter-spell might do the trick. Try it." Adam said as he wanted Hermione to learn to do these things by herself. He didn't want her to be dependent on him all the time. It was a good feeling that a girl was depending on him but in the wizarding world, it might be very dangerous if Adam was not with her and she could not handle the dangerous situations properly.

"Finite Incantatem." Hermione's wand produced a red light which was not that bright showing that her spell was still not that powerful. But it was still enough to get rid of the black smoke that was coming out of the Pettigrew the rat.

"I did it!" Hermione exclaimed as she saw that black smoke had stopped coming out of the rat. Even though there was still black smoke in the air, it was just a matter of time before it would disappear but Adam did not have that much patience. Adam took out his wand and cast a spell which created a faint grey light at the end of his wand, "Ventus" A jet of strong and spiraling wind was created by Adam which blew out all the black smoke in the compartment through the open window.

"That was brilliant. What kind of magic is this? It was really great. Thank you very much for helping us." Harry was excited to finally see the proper magic which was far more better than Ron's magic with funny incantations. Harry really hoped to use this kind of magic soon.

"That was the general-counter spell which can terminate the effects of many types of magics. It is really helpful when you fail to perform magic spells and this kind of thing happens. As for the second spell, It was a windy spell. It can create wind from the tip of your wand. It can be very helpful when used properly. You should really not try to perform magic that you don't know about. It can cause serious injuries. I even read in the book 'A History of Magic' that many people have died trying to experiment with new spells so you should be careful. If you want to learn new spells, then you should try easy spells from our school books. I only tried easy magical spells but they worked perfectly fine for me. It is really easy to learn if you read books. I even memorized all of our First-year books. It was really fun. By the way I am Hermione Granger and you are?" Hermione introduced herself in her usual unique way that had made most of the little wizards run away. She was not trying to brag about her ability to use magic spells or about her memorizing all the content of First-year curriculum, which even Adam found incredible. He had also read all the First-year books but he couldn't remember them all. She was just trying to make others know about her ability which could help her get some new friends. But unfortunately, it had the opposite effect.

Harry was stunned by this introduction. He looked at Ron who also had the same expression so he breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that he was not the only one who had not read these books for the past month. He was so excited about his wand and the fact that he was a wizard, it took him the entire month to calm down from this excitement. Part of the excitement was also by the fact that he could now leave Dursley's house to go to the magical school which his parents attended.

Harry introduced himself, "I am Harry Potter." Then he looked at Ron who was still stunned so he introduced Ron as well, "And this is Ron, Ron Weasely."

Neville who stood behind Hermione opened his mouth nervously. He was also stunned by Adam and Hermione's magic. He was wondering if he could be their good friend as he was not able to cast these spells, even though his great-uncle and grand mother tried so hard to teach him the magic. "I am Neville Longbottom."

Adam patted nervous Neville's shoulder before introducing himself, "I am Adam Taylor."

"Are you really Harry Potter?" Hermione asked and then continued speaking, "I read about you in many books. I got some books so I could learn about this magical world. You are in the books 'Modern Magical History', 'Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts' and also in the 'Great wizarding events of the twentieth century'. You are really famous in the wizarding world. Even Mr.Ollivander mentioned you when Adem and I went to get our wands."

"Am I really that famous?" Harry was feeling dazed after hearing about how his name was so famous in the books. He asked, "Did Mr.Ollivander mention me? Why?"

Hermione rolled her eyes at Harry's question but answered him anyways, "We went to Ollivanders a day after you went there. Mr.Ollivander mentioned how you broke his flower vase. You see, Adam did the same thing and broke Mr.Ollivander's flower vase once again on the very next day he fixed it."

Harry smiled wryly, not knowing what to say about this.

Adam looked outside the window to see that it was getting darker which meant that they would soon arrive at the Hogsmeade station. He looked at Harry who looked like he wanted to talk more about the magic and smiled at him, " We will reach our destination soon. I heard some seniors say that we will reach the station when it gets dark. So both of you should change into your school robes. Let's talk more later when we reach the school."

At this moment, there was a croaking sound behind Adam and Neville. They immediately turned around to see that Trevor the toad was leaping in the corridor. Neville shouted his pet toad's name before following it quickly.

Adam looked at Hermione and said, "You should go back to our compartment. I will be back in 2 minutes with Neville and his toad." Adam quickly left when he saw Hermione nodding at him. Hermione knew that Adam told her to go back so she could change into her school robes so she smiled at him. After all, they could still understand each other's thoughts quite clearly even after a month had passed since their wand event.