Percy Jackson and the Mirror of Erised

13) Talking to Ron

The train started moving. I waved to Mrs. Weasley and her daughter one last time before they disappeared around the corner.

I looked back at Harry and imagined I wore the same excited look. Hogwarts. It seemed impossible, yet I knew it was.

The door of the compartment opened and Ron pointed at the seat beside Harry, "Anyone sitting there? Everywhere else is full."

Harry shook his head and Ron plopped himself down.

"Hey, Ron."

The twins stood in the door, "Listen, we're going down to the middle of the train — Lee Jordan's got a giant tarantula down there."

"Right," Ron mumbled.

"Harry, Percy, I don't believe we've introduced ourselves. I'm Fred and George Weasley. And this is Ron, our brother. See you later, then."

"Bye," the three of us said to the older twins.

"Are you really Harry Potter?" Ron blurted.

Harry nodded and Ron continued, "Oh — well, I thought it might be one of Fred and George's jokes. And have you really got — you know..."

Harry pulled back his bangs to show the lightning scar and Ron stared, "So that's where You-Know-Who—"

Harry interrupted Ron, "Yes. But I can't remember it."

"Nothing?" Ron asked eagerly.

"Well — I remember a lot of green light, but nothing else."

"Wow." Ron stared for a moment before hurriedly looking out of the window.

"Are all your family wizards?" Harry asked.

"Er — Yes, I think so," Ron nodded. "I think Mom's got a second cousin who's an accountant, but we never talk about him." So they're purebloods, like Draco.

"So you must know loads of magic already," Harry said, looking a little hopeful. Probably wanted to see more, but I remember Hagrid said something about everyone starting in the same spot.

"I heard you went to live with Muggles," Ron said. "What were they like?"

"Horrible — well, not all of them. My aunt and uncle and cousin, and Percy's step dad, are, though. Wish I'd had three wizard brothers."

"Five," Ron said looking sad. "I'm the sixth in our family to go to Hogwarts. You could say I've got a lot to live up to. Bill and Charlie have already left — Bill was head boy and Charlie was captain of Quidditch. Now Percy's a prefect. Fred and George mess around a lot, but they still get really good marks and everyone thinks they're really funny. Everyone expects me to do as good as the others, but if I do, it's no big deal, because they did it first. You never get anything new, either, with five brothers. I've got Bill's old robes, Charlie's old wand, and Percy's old rat."

Ron proceeded to pull a sleeping fat gray rat out of his pocket, "His name's Scabbers as he's useless, he hardly ever wakes up. Percy got an owl from my dad for being made Prefect, but they couldn't aff— I mean, I got Scabbers instead."

I looked at Ron, "It's okay to not have money, you know. Until a month ago, I barely had anything. A few books and all my clothes were from Goodwill's in America. And it didn't help when I moved here 7 months ago."

Harry nodded and told Ron about not having anything because of the Dursley's. It seemed to cheer Ron up.

"... and until Hagrid told me, I didn't know anything about being a wizard or about my parents or Voldemort—"