The Train Ride

As the three were laughing and joking with each other, suddenly Ron remembered something.

"Oh right! I learnt a spell that can turn my rat into yellow. Do you want to see?', he asked the two boys.

"Of course! I always wanted to see magic.", Harry replied with enthusiasm off the charts. Will, meanwhile, was not interested in the slightest, because he knew for a fact that this spell would not work.

"Sunshine daises, butter mellow, turn this stupid fat rat yellow!", Ron was about to raise his wand when suddenly, the three heard a knock on the compartment door. They stopped what they were doing and turned to see who it was.

"Hello. Have any of you seen a toad anywhere? A boy named Neville has lost it."

The three boys shook their head to signal that they had not. The girl was about to leave, when she saw Ron had a raised wand.

"You are performing magic? Let me see.", she said enthusiastically.

"All right.", Ron gulped nervously. With all these people looking at his performance, of course, he was not sure if he was going to even perform it properly. But, nevertheless, he raised his wand and cleared his throat.

"Sunshine daises, butter mellow, turn this stupid fat rat yellow!", a flash of light appeared. But, nothing had happened at all. Ron shook his wand at the rat multiple times, but nothing had happened at all.

"Urghh Fred must have tricked me. I was so sure that this would work.", Ron threw his wand down in frustration.

The girl laughed. "You call that magic? Well, I have been trying a few small spells at the beginning of my vacation. I'm Hermione Granger by the way. Nice to meet you.", Hermione extended her introductions.

"Ron Weasley"

"William Monroe"

"Harry Potter"

Hermione stared at Harry with shock.

"Are you really?" said Hermione. "I know all about you, of course — I got a few extra books, for

background reading, and you're in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark

Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century. And William Monroe, are you by any chance related to the wizard Arthur Monroe?"

"Yes, he is my grand father. How do you know of him?", Will asked her with curiosity. He never thought that his grandfather was famous beyond the noble circles.

"Of course. How could I not. He has appeared in many history books as one of the greatest wizards that the wizarding world has seen. Pity that he had died a time ago. I don't understand though, how is he your grandfather? By his age, he must be your great-great grandfather, by a few generations.", Hermione asked.

"Oh! I must have gotten confused. I thought you were referring to my Grandfather, who had the same name. Maybe my father was named after him, or something like that.", Will said, a bit confused about this misunderstanding.

"Well then, I must get going. I have to find that boy, Neville's toad. He is terribly worried, and we are approaching the school very soon. By the way, a piece of advice. We are going to be there very soon, so I suggest that you wear your robes", Hermione suggested as she left the compartment.

Nodding in agreement, the three boys pulled the curtains over their compartment to start putting on their school robes. After a few minutes, all three were looking like bona fide Hogwarts students. They pulled back the curtains, and started completing the rest of the snacks. Ash, who had fallen asleep on Will's side, next to the window, was now beginning to shake.

"Is it true? Rumor has it in the entire train that Harry Potter is in this compartment. It's clearly you, glasses boy. Ah! William Monroe. Quick to suck up to him quite immediately, is it?", a pale faced boy with silver hair said, in front of the compartment. Harry turned to the speaker.

"I am Malfoy, Draco Malfoy. And these two are Crabbe and Goyle.", Malfoy pointed to the two pudgy boys next to him, who were like his bodyguards."

Ron snickered when he heard the name.

"Funny, is it? I don't even need to know who you are. Red hair, hand me down clothes, you must me a weaselly.", Draco said laughing.

"Get going Draco. You are a terribly sore sight to the eyes", all of a sudden Will interjected. He had actively changed everything that was going to happen. Draco Malfoy was no longer about to tell Harry that some wizarding families were better than others. Not anymore. From this point onwards, Harry's life would change because of Will's interjection. But, would it get any better, or only be filled with more tragedy?