Courage

-2-

The first few carriages were already packed with students, some hanging out of the window to talk to their families, some fighting over seats.

Eventually finding an empty carriage half way down the train, Layla slipped inside, shutting the door behind her, and sat down on the comfortable seats, pulling out her blanket from her bag that was much bigger on the inside, laying it over her, and then pulling out her pillow, resting it against the window and laying her head on it. With that, she let her eyes flutter closed, deciding to take a small nap.

She didn't know how long had passed. Whether it was one minute or one hour. All Layla knew was that when her eyes fluttered open, she realised that she felt much more awake and refreshed. But that wasn't the only thing she realised... she'd also taken note that she was no longer in the carriage alone. Across the seat in front of her sat two boys, sweets sprawled across the seat in between them that the boys were busy munching on.

The first boy, who was sat directly off of Layla, was a rather small-looking boy. He seemed to be rather thin, with quite messy jet black hair and bright-green eyes, shining beneath dark round glasses that rested on the bridge of his nose. He was busy inspecting a chocolate frog packet.

The other boy, who was sat beside the first one, was around the same height as the other, but not as thin as if he'd loved off of a good portion of food his life, whereas the first boy looked like he could have been brought up on leftovers his whole life. The second boy was redheaded with bright blue eyes. He was busy shoving chocolate frogs into his mouth hungrily.

"Ah!" Layla let out a startled cry, jumping at the sudden appearances of the two boys. The boys jumped, too, turning to look at her. Layla frowned awkwardly. "Um, hello..."

"Hello," the redheaded boy grinned cheerfully at Layla. "Sorry! You were asleep and we needed a place to sit. Everywhere else was full."

"I hope you don't mind," the first boy quickly added, staring at Layla kindly. Layla looked between the two boys, relaxing.

"No, it's cool. First years?"

"Yes," the first boy nodded. "You?"

"Yep. First year," Layla then smiled at the two boys, wondering if she should try and befriend them. She'd need friends if she were to spend the next seven years at Hogwarts. "I'm Layla Lupin."

"Hullo, I'm Ron Weasley," muttered the redhead as he was busy biting into another chocolate frog, staring at the card in the packet. "I got Belby... great. I've already got three of him."

"Um, I'm Harry Potter," the first boy with black hair introduced himself. Layla turned to him and her eyes widened, remembering reading about him. Harry held his breath, not wanting to be fussed over anymore.

"I've read about you. Nice to meet you, Harry. You seem sweet," Layla smiled coolly at him. Harry released his breath, finding it refreshing how Layla knew he was famous but wasn't making a fuss about it.

"Want any sweets?" asked Harry, gesturing to their large pile of sweets.

"They're delicious!" gushed Ron, now reaching for a packet of liquorice wands, opening it and grabbing one, shoving the whole thing into his mouth. Layla chuckled at the redhead, amused.

"Um, sure," she nodded. "Got any exploding bon bons? They're my absolute favourite!"

Harry smiled and handed Layla a whole box of unopened exploding bon bons.

"Here, have them all. Ron doesn't like them and I'm too nervous to try one."

"You'll love them, I promise," grinned Layla. She ripped open the box and pulled one of the bon bons out, pulling it out of the wrapper to reveal the small white chocolate which was filled with an orange, pineapple-flavored truffle center and popping candy. She held it out to Harry. "Try it! Please?"