almost hog... not quite yet...

Hermione and I seat ourselves on the bench seats of the cabin across from each other.

"That book... I read through it at home. I've tried only some of the simplest spells in it, but everything worked for me."

"Same for me. But I didn't have any time to read them before now since my family did our shopping just a couple days ago."

She nods.

"I see. Are your parents magical too?"

"No, but my sister is. Alice is a second year."

"Oh! Did you know you were magical before you got your letter? I didn't. It was certainly a surprise! Have you learned much magic from your sister?"

"Well... I'd say no, but there was a bunch of weird "accidental magic" that's happened to me."

"The same happened to me! There were times when I was going to go get a book, and it just appeared in front of me. I thought I was seeing things or just forgot that I moved the book, but things like that kept happening."

"Yeah. One time I accidentally turned my teacher's hair purple." I look upwards, remembering.

"What? Really? Why?"

"Well..."

I think for a moment, stopping in the middle of my sentence.

'He was yelling at me for something Dudley had done. I couldn't handle it, and I just lashed out with my magic... it could have easily done something more dangerous now that I think about it...'

I shiver.

"I had gotten a bad grade on a test, and I was upset." I lie.

She nods in understanding.

"Do you want to work through the spell book a little with me?" I ask.

'Again, I don't care if my power level is known. If anything, I think it will help me in the long run. Though that's not to say there aren't any disadvantages.'

"Sure. What have you done so far?"

"I was just messing around seeing what all I could do to modify the base spells. I went through all the spells one by one."

"Really?! I never even though of doing that! I just did all the spells as it says... The book doesn't say anything about that though... did you really manage to do stuff that the book doesn't talk about?"

"Well... yeah." I say dumbly.

"What all can you do then?"

"Well for the wand-lighting charm, I was able to change the brightness, color, and even disconnect it from my wand and make it float around."

"Can I see?" She asks, her eyes sparkling.

"Um... that's probably not a good idea" I shake my head.

"What do you mean? Why not?"

"Well, when I tried it before..." I pause. "Let's just say you might go blind."

She tilts her head.

'Oh no... the head tilt... one of the legendary cuteness attacks.'

"Ok?" She speaks. "I haven't heard of that problem in any of the books I've read." She tries to rack her brain trying to remember anything helpful.

I stop her before she overheats.

"It's fine. My guess is that it's because I have more magic than other people, so I just lack the control to use a small amount of magic. I should be able to get it down with some more practice."

She nods.

"That makes sense. I could look through the Hogwart's library for any information on that if you want." She offers with hope in her eyes.

'~You got a friend in me~' The song pops up in my head randomly.

"That sounds good. I'll join you when I get the chance." I nod.

"Oh! I just thought of something!"

"What is it?" I ask, confused at the sudden outburst.

"I read in Hogwart's: A History that there are four different houses that students are sorted to. What house do you want to go to? If we are in the same house, it would be great! We could study together even more!"

"Oh~... I was hoping to get into Ravenclaw. I heard that they have private rooms and even a library in their common room!"

Hermione's eyes sparkle at the thought.

"I was hoping to go to Gryffindor since that is where Dumbledore studied when he was a student, but... that sounds too good to pass up! Where did you hear it? Are you sure it's true?"

Well...

Fanfictions...

But I can't tell her that.

I might even be wrong.

"I don't know if the source is accurate, but I am inclined to believe it."

"Alright..." She says in contemplation. "If you're aiming for Ravenclaw, then I think I'll go there too, if I can. It is my second choice anyways."

I smile.

"Great!"

--- Time Skip (A Few Hours) ---

"Reparo." I wave my wand at the mess of my card deck's remains courtesy of a few accidentally overpowered Diffindos straight to the face.

The cards magically reassemble and merge back together in their proper place. Hermione leans over, looking closely at the phenomenon.

She sits up straight when it finishes.

"Wow..." She says blankly. "I'm still not used to..."

"Magic?" I finish her sentence.

"Yeah..." She nods.

Suddenly a voice sounds out across the train.

"We will be arriving at Hogwarts in five minutes. Please don your school uniforms before arrival."

My face lights up.

"We're almost there!" I look out the window, only to see more of the same green fields we've been passing by the last several hours.

Hermione smiles. I can feel her happiness and nerves at the idea of getting there.

I feel the same.

Everyone else does too, I can feel it.

Because seriously...

Hogwarts...

It's magic!