Chapter 2

Rodrick snorted as he read through another chapter of the book, according to the book, Muggles only saw a danger sign should they ever come anywhere close to Hogwarts, said sign was supposed to keep them from attempting to enter the castle. He knew full well that such a sign wouldn't have stopped him, let alone muggles who, he was certain, had a bigger death wish.

Hogwarts was a fascinating castle, it was said to have been built almost 1000 years ago, no one really knew the exact time as such records were lost over the years. The more he read, the more he realised how much he'd missed out on whilst stuck in the orphanage, it's not that he wasn't allowed out but more that he simply found the idea of magic really existing impossible. Until he'd received his letters. So far, it looked like he'd chosen the right school. As he was about to turn the page, Rodrick heard the rustle of the compartment door open, there in front of him was the girl he'd met on the platform.

...

The girl broke the silence first.

"Hello, I am Daphne Greengrass..." This seemed to earn no response from the boy, "from the platform, you helped my sister," her eyes slightly narrowed as once again he didn't reply, leaving the girl confused at his sudden memory loss.

"I remember, I am just curious why you're standing there," Rodrick eventually said with a small smile. She didn't like the smile if the scowl on her face was anything to go by. I must look rather pretentious I suppose. Getting rid of the smile, Rodrick stood up and offered his hand to shake properly; this received a better response.

The girl quickly took a seat opposite him.

Rather forward of her, didn't even ask for permission... although I suppose I don't own this compartment so perhaps she doesn't need it? Even then politeness demands some attempt of... ah forget it. "I imagine you're looking to be in Slytherin?" This caught the girl by surprise but she didn't seem to be upset her if her tugging lips had anything to say about it.

"Yes I suppose I am, either that or Ravenclaw, my parents were in those houses," She had a longing look in her eyes when she mentioned her family.

Wonder what that feels like, thought Rodrick.

Daphne followed with, "what makes you say that?" Her voice sounded sincere, I think so anyway, I am not sure what sincere sounds like, for all I know I could confuse it with contempt. Rodrick only just realized how big a different world an orphanage was to the wizarding world. Or basically any other place that wasn't't an orphanage...

"No reason," was all Rodrick answered with, this met two slightly narrowed slits, yup straight to Slytherin was his last thought.

Daphne eyes went over to the book beside and widened when she saw the book, "Reading a book like that? On a train?"

Confusion was writ over Rodrick's face, wondering if he'd made a mistake. "Is that bad?" he asked in a slightly wavering voice.

She studied him for a second before answering, "Well you said you're from an orphanage... I had thought you'd prefer the view over reading about a castle you're bound to learn about,". She finished with a raised eyebrow.

Content with the answer Rodrick deflated to his seat.

"I can watch the view next year if I make it out Hogwarts alive this year, I ought to prepare for that don't you think?" He said the last part with a hint of amusement; this earned a small chuckle out of the girl.

"I hardly see the danger, Hogwarts is the largest wizarding school in Britain and the safest," she looked about to continue the argument but stopped abruptly for some reason. If Rodrick sensed the abruptness, he didn't show it. He stared back at the book and spoke.

"I would rather not be turned into a frog on my first year, preferably would be better if I possibly turned someone else into a frog to set off some form of intimidation, " Rodrick said this without a hint of sarcasm, This made it all the funnier for the Greengrass. the sudden laughter had shaken Rodrick before a small scowl appeared on his face. "What?" he quietly asked. He knew very well it was possible, he still hadn't learned how to counter it, even with how much he knew regarding the branch of magic... Trying to use magic in frog form was for some strange reason harder then any other form.

After attempts to contain herself, the girl finally looked back at him and said: "I didn't realize muggle borns thought of witches and wizards as people who only know how to turn others into frogs." Rodrick quickly cut off anything else she was planning to say as he spoke up.

"I am not Muggle-born," he said with a stoic face. This earned a rather confused look out of the girl in front of him, before she could say anything, however, the door slammed open.

There stood a girl with bushy looking hair staring at them, both Daphne and Rodrick stared at the girl with mild annoyance at the rudeness shown but neither said anything.

"Have you seen a toad?" she asked expecting everyone to know the context.

Rodrick saw the look on Daphne's face about to entertain the girl further, before he stopped it. "No we haven't I am afraid," this prompted a harrumph out of the girl, her eyes wandered over to Rodrick's book before she proceeded to start babbling on about something or the other. Rodrick blocked all of it out and only stared at her waiting for the rant to finish. The other girl didn't look to do that as she attempted to converse with the girl. Pointless thought Rodrick. After the initial stream of information, the girl finally decided to leave but not before introducing herself as Hermione Granger. She was gone after receiving introductions from the two passengers who now only stared at each other trying to think of a subject.

"Have you heard?" suddenly spoke the dark haired girl in front of him, "Harry Potter's on this train to Hogwarts!" she said the last part excitedly.

"Who?" was all that was needed to be said to send the girl in front of him to confusion. Her green eyes stared back in shock. "Joking, I know who he is. I am looking forward to the year, what house do you think he'd be in?"

"If you're going to joke make it believable," her serious tone didn't reach her eyes. "And I assume he'd be put into Gryffindor."

"I suppose I won't see him much then," he replied naturally, "Although I think a friendship would be quite Difficult." He accidentally said the second part out loud.

"How so?" intrigue ran all over her face. she was staring at him with a contemplative look.

"I would like to join Slytherin; it'd be the only place I'd belong in," the tone of his voice was almost despondent. if she noticed it, she said nothing.

"You told me you weren't Muggle-born..." she stopped herself there once again not trusting herself to talk anymore. If he was a pureblood, calling a muggle-born was an insult...

He nodded along, but before he could continue, the compartment door quickly opened up again revealing the trolley lady, Rodrick stared at the sweets silently wishing they'd disappear, Daphne, on the other hand, took a small bag of coins she used to get some candy of the trolley. Once she was done the lady turned to Rodrick expecting a response, He shook his head to signal his answer, the Lady took it with an understanding look and left.

Daphne Greengrass was currently sitting next to a mountain of sweets, she picked one of them up, quickly throwing it to the other wizard, The Boy was a little surprised by the gesture before he thanked her. The thoughtful look didn't help, but he wasn't in any place to complain.

He popped the sweet into his mouth before feeling a sudden hot burn as the sweet melted in. Rodrick almost screeched from the pain causing the girl to hold back her laughter. Better than the previous look by far. He thought to himself.

"How long did you live in the orphanage?" She suddenly asked. The immediate question didn't leave the boy fumbling for too long before he composed himself.

Rodrick Thought to himself quickly before he gave his answer. "My whole life, I never met any of my parents," he added on to settle any possible questions regarding his family.

"You don't know who your family is then?" She asked with a small twinkle in her eyes. A single shake was all it took to grab the girls attention. "Oh?" she added leaning a little closer now, "Who were they?"

"I only know my family name; it came with the letter...But I would rather not..." He wasn't sure how to finish. There didn't seem to be any harm in letting her know, but something in the back of his mind stopped him. The girl noticed this and nodded to move on with to something else. He smiled at the action. She was rather considerate for a pureblood.

"Is there any reason you sought this compartment out?" Rodrick asked. "Besides me helping your sister I mean?" He quickly added on, he was genuinely confused about the girl's reason for showing up there, he knew most of the other compartments hadn't been full.

"Well," the girl started with a contemplative look, "I was curious, you seemed to do wandless magic like it was nothing, almost everyone around here saw you. even at the station." She spoke, unsure where she was heading herself.

"Is it weird?" the boy asked back with a slightly resigned look.

"Yes, but in a good way," she quickly added, she looked up again and "It's impressive to do wandless magic in the first place but.. to do it in your first year... it's really..." she stopped again unsure of where to go with it.

"Hopefully, it will be enough to put me in Slytherin," the boy said quite quickly. Daphne gave him a strange look.

"Why do you want to be in Slytherin? Family tradition?" she added with a small smile of amusement. The questioning look came up again when he shook his head.

"I don't know what house my family members were in or even if they were in Hogwarts; I just know that it's the place I can fit in quite easily."

before the girl could ask his reason, he continued.

"Gryffindor is too packed together, I'd be involved with too many people, and I am sure you can quite tell I am not very good with socializing," she almost couldn't help the tugging lips when she heard that.

"Ravenclaw has a bar so high you could fall to death from it, no, the pressure there would kill me before the end of the year," she found herself nodding along to this, She was about to question it been only the first year but realized he was looking long term. "Hufflepuff... wouldn't even notice my discomfort no matter what I did, If I screamed it in their faces they'd probably shove a chocolate bar down my throat to calm me down... no, I really don't want to murder anyone before the end of the first term," she couldn't help the laughter at this part. while he was most likely exaggerating, she could very well see the scene happening before her. "That leaves Slytherin where you're tempted to mind your own business, hide in the shadows and plot in peace, although I just want the peace part out of it,"

Daphne found herself smiling at his explanation wondering how accurate it was.

"You've done a good job at convincing me to go to Slytherin, who knows, we both might end up there," she said with a glint in her eyes that screamed trouble.

"Evil" was his reply prompting a light slap from the girl. Both were laughing at the end of it.

Change into your school robes was heard inside the compartment, not needing another word, Rodrick got up and waited outside the doors for the girl to finish changing. After the girl had finished, they switched places.

With both changed they sat in silence finishing of the sweets.