Harry was excited, yes that was the best way of describing his last month before going to Hogwarts. He couldn't wait to start actually doing magic and he would have endless conversation with Hermione about how they thought the lesson would be liked or wondering what house they would be in. They were both afraid, though neither one said it out loud that they wouldn't be sorted into the same house and what that would do to their friendship.
The one subject that Harry looked at more than anything else was Potions. If fact it was the only subject he looked at.
"Harry, why are you reading your whole Potions book?" Hermione had asked him one day near the end of August.
"You're one to ask that, haven't you read every single book we have to for this year," Harry said.
"Yes, but...."
"And haven't you read about a hundred extra books too," Harry added with a chuckle.
"It's not a hundred," Hermione mumbled. "And still, I like reading, it what I do."
"That's true, but I like reading, too," Harry said.
"Hmph," Hermione said rolling her eyes. "Not like this you don't. I doubt you even opened up your other textbooks."
"That's not true, I looked through my History of Magic textbook," Harry said.
"Sure, but only so you could find a name for your owl," Hermione said, "by the way, I think Hedwig is a beautiful name."
"I like it, too," Harry smiled. "And you should have seen her expression when I tried to call her Eirwen..."
"I can imagine," Hermione chuckled, Hedwig definitely had quite the personality, but it was clear the owl already cared a great deal about Harry. "Okay, so you opened one other textbook..."
"Fine, I'll tell you the reason," Harry sighed. "Padfoot told me about the Potions Master."
"Is he bad?" Hermione as softly for Harry had paused there, looking sad and thoughtful.
"I have no idea," Harry shrugged. "I just know that my dad and Snape, er... that's the Potions Master's name.... that they were enemies throughout their years at Hogwarts."
"Oh," Hermione said. "And you think that Professor Snape will take out this rivalry on you."
"I'm not sure," Harry said honestly. "Which is why I'm reading this. I don't want to look stupid in this class in case he wants to pick on me."
"Harry... there's something else," Hermione said in her voice that always seemed to say I know your keeping something from me and I really want to know what it was but if you really don't want to tell me I'm not going to force you.
"He was my mum's best friend, Moony told me," Harry said looking at Hermione. "My mum was a Muggle-born just like you, and just like you she meet someone before she even got to Hogwarts. I don't really know much about this, Remus just said that they were good friends at Hogwarts, despite the fact that they were in different houses, Gryffindor and Slytherin to be exact, and you know their rivalry is supposed to be the worst. Anyways they were friends until fifth year and.... I don't know what happened but they just stopped being friends."
Hermione listened to this with a sad frown. She couldn't help but think of her relationship with Harry and worried even more than ever what would happened if they were sorted in a different house. Harry was the only friend she ever had after had and she didn't want to think about being at Hogwarts without him. She force her mind back to what Harry was saying, but she wasn't sure what to say.
"And now I don't know if this guy is going to hate me or... I don't know," Harry said.
"I'm sure it will be okay somehow," Hermione smiled at him reassuring.
"All the same, I think I'm going to keep reading," Harry shrugged.
"Alright, do you mind if I join you," Hermione said, taking out not her Potions book but her now worn out looking copy of Hogwarts, A History. Harry rolled his eyes at the fact that she would even ask that and she sat down next to him.
**********
Again, Harry was annoyed by the fact that Sirius and Remus wouldn't be talking him to King's Cross Station, though this time he was at least going to be going with Tonks. She was going to transform herself to look somewhat like his aunt was suppose to look.
"Pup wait," Sirius said before Harry could leave, "there's something that I have to give you before you go."
"What?" Harry eyes him suspiciously.
"Good boy Harry, never trust anything this git give you," Tonks chuckled, but in her disguise it made Harry shiver a little.
"Oh quiet you," Sirius glared at her and then look back at Harry and handed him a small square mirror. "Here, this should be useful."
"A mirror?" Harry said looking at his uncle with a raised eyebrow.
"He's not as vain as you are Sirius, thank Merlin for that, I don't think he needs a pocket mirror," Tonks chuckled, again.
"Didn't I tell you to shut it," Sirius growled at her.
"This isn't just any mirror," Remus said chuckling at the cousin bickering.
"Yeah, this is the old two-way mirror James and I used to use when we were in separate detentions," Sirius smirked. "It was quite useful than, kept me from going mad with boredom."
"So you mean I could use this to talk to you," Harry smiled at them. "Brilliant."
"I know, I am brilliant, aren't I?" Sirius said smugly.
"It was my idea," Remus pointed out.
"But it's my mirror, so naturally the credit has to go to me," Sirius said and Remus and Tonks rolled their eyes as Harry chuckled.
"We won't be able to write to you much, but his way we'll still be able to talk to you," Remus said and then he hugged Harry. "Have fun at Hogwarts, cub, I know you're going to make me proud."
"Yeah pup, make sure you cause plenty of trouble for me," Sirius said, hugging Harry as well, it was a lot harder for them to say goodbye than they thought it would be.
"Don't worry, I will," Harry said.
"Which one of us are you talking to?" Remus asked.
"Both of course," Harry chuckled, and it was then that he realized just how much he was going to miss them. He loved talking to Remus about just about anything he could come up with and pulling pranks with Sirius, or on Sirius, both were rather fun. He has been waiting to go to Hogwarts since he had first heard of the place but right now, as he got into the car and waved at Remus and Sirius, he wished that he didn't have to be away from them.
"Don't worry," Tonks said as they drove to London. "It's hard leaving the first time, but after a week at Hogwarts you won't even remember their names."
"I doubt that will happen," Harry sighed, but he chuckled at Tonks's comment, too. "Tonks.... How famous am I going to be here?"
"Hm..." Tonks said thoughtfully. "Probably more famous than even you will like."
"Gee, thanks," Harry groaned.
"You're really not looking forward to having everyone stare at you," Tonks said. "You're less like Sirius then I thought, thank Merlin for that."
Harry rolled his eyes, "I just don't like the fact that people will be looking at me for something that I can't remember.... Not to mention it's something I don't want to remember," he added his voice small, and he was thinking about his mum. He longed to see her, know more about her, but it was always a little sad when he hear something about her, too.
"I know pup," Tonks said, putting a hand on his head and messing up his hair. "I'm guessing that's why you grew out your hair so much, you don't want anyone to see your scar."
"Yeah," Harry said moving away from her hand. "Hermione said she read about twenty different things about my scar.... I figure this might stop me for being recognized at first."
"Yeah, that might work, you know, until your call up to the first to be sorted," Tonks chuckled. "Then everyone is going to know what you look like."
"Oh, shut up," Harry grumbled, "and how are we sorted into our houses..."
"Come on Harry, you know I can't tell you that," Tonks laughed. "It would spoil the fun."
"Yeah right, fun," Harry said, thinking about what he over hear Sirius and Remus talk about. They were talking about perform a spell against some kind of challenge, but Harry wasn't so sure about that. He had a feeling that his uncle was playing a prank on him, but he couldn't be sure.
"Don't worry, I'm sure you're up for the challenge," Tonks said, noticing Harry's almost worried expression and playing along as she had told Sirius she would.
"Whatever," Harry said, trying to look nonchalant but he was starting to feel a little nervous about this. The rest of the car ride there Harry and Tonks talked about many things. Her first week in the Auror training, she had some amusing thing to say about that. Harry told her about how he was preparing for classes, which wasn't much admittedly. Soon enough they were at the station and Harry was hugging Tonks goodbye and was all on his own.
Harry knew exactly what he had to do, but finding the right platform took him a little while. Luckily he saw a family saying something about Muggles, and he followed them. He noticed right away that they all had red hair and he had a feeling that this was probably the Weasleys. After he watched the twins pass through the barrier, hearing their wisecrack he was sure of it.
"Hello," a girl that look near his age, but he thought she might be a little younger because when she spoke she looked so sad. "Are you here for the train?" she said looking towards the barrier.
"Hi," Harry smiled at her, it was rather clever of her not to mention Hogwarts in case he was actually a Muggle. "What makes you think that?"
"I saw you watching Fred and George disappear behind the wall... you don't seem shock at all," the girl said with a shrug.
"Ginny, who are you... oh, hello," the girl's mother said looking at him, giving him a kind smile. The boy that was on the other said of her mother looked at him curiously, his blue eyes only looked at Harry for a minute before turning back to the barrier, and he looked just as nervous and excited as Harry felt.
"Do you need any help?" the girl's mother went on kindly.
"No thanks Mrs. Weasley, I know how to do it," Harry said and then ran towards the barrier, chuckling softly at the shook expressions on all three of the redhead's faces.
"How did he know your name?" he could hear the girl, Ginny, asked as he went and that only made him chuckle more.
However, as soon as he was through the barrier he didn't feel like chuckling anymore. He just stared at the steam-engined train he was about to take, it was just as magnificent as Remus had said it was and he couldn't help but stand there looking at it for awhile. Eventually he did move on and as he walked towards the train he looked around at everyone there. He was hoping to see Neville or Hermione among the crowd, though he had promised Remus and Sirius that he wasn't going to run over to them. He was supposed to act like this was his first time in the magically world (which it sort of was) and that he didn't know anyone there. He supposed, now that he thought of it, he shouldn't have said what he did to the Weasleys, but they were good people, Tonks had told him that enough to know it was true.
When he finally got on the train he found it difficult to manage his trunk, he didn't seemed to be strong enough to lift it on the rack. However, he didn't have to try doing it himself for long, because one of the twins came to him and asked if he could help. With Tonks's warning in his head, he was a little wary of what they might do, but he pushed that aside and thanked him for the help.
After they had successfully put the trunk on the rack Harry brushed his sweaty brow and the twins stared at him in astonishment. It only took him a second to realize why they were looking at him like that and that he had every reason to want to hind his stupid scar.
"I don't believe it..." the twin called Fred said.
"It's can't be," the other twin said, George.
"What?" Harry said dully.
"You're Harry Potter," they said together.
"And You're Fred and George Weasley," Harry said in the same excited tone as the twins had just used.
"Are you mocking us?" Fred raised an eyebrow.
"I would never dream of mocking the incredible Weasley twins," Harry said looking horrified at the accusation.
"Yep, he's mocking us," George said chuckling. "You not so bad Potter..."
Before anything else could be said however, Mrs. Weasley was calling for the twins and they ran off. Harry sat in his seat, he could see the Weasleys all talking but he choice not to try to listen to him. Of course when his name was mentioned it was harder not to listen.
"That was Harry Potter," he heard the girl, Ginny squeal. He looked in that direction and meet her eyes, which had widen with shock before she hide behind her mother, turning bright red.
Harry looked away again, he was starting to feel really nervous and he wished that his friends were with him now, but they must have found different seats somewhere. He mused that he probably should have gotten on the train at the front entrance, that way he would have likely have spotted them, but there was nothing for that now.
"Excuse me, can I seat here, everywhere else is full," the boy that he had seen in front of the barrier said.
"Sure," Harry said, and he could feel the boys eyes on him, obviously the twins had told their brother that he was Harry Potter.
"Hey Ron... Harry" one of the twins said, and Harry had no idea which one it was. "George and I were going to go down to Lee compartment, he has tarantula, do you want to come."
There was something about the way that Fred said that that made Harry think this was some kind of joke. He didn't get it, but didn't say anything.
"Nah," Ron said looking out the windowing and Harry noticed the twins were frowning now, obviously the joke didn't go over how they wanted it to.
"Well, it was nice to see you again Harry," George said and soon he and his twin was gone.
"Are you really Harry Potter?" Ron asked, and Harry had a feeling that he was dying to ask that since he came into the compartment.
"Yeah," Harry sighed, yep, this was going to be annoying.
"And do you really have the scar?" Ron said, seemingly not to noticing Harry's less then thrilled attitude.
Harry wasn't quite sure why he did it, but he decided to show Ron his scar, before flattening his hair back down. Perhaps it was a good thing that he had shown him though, for Ron seemed to realized how rude he was being, his ears turned red.
"Er... Harry?" Ron said a little while later. "How did you know it was my mum on the platform?"
"Oh," Harry said. "Er... I've heard that the Weasleys all had red hair and were very kind."
"Oh," Ron said, blushing a little but looking pleased, too. "Who told you that, I thought you were supposed to be living with Muggles."
Harry raised an eyebrow at that. "How do you know that?"
"Everyone knows that," Ron shrugged.
Harry sighed, he supposed all this stupid security that Remus and Sirius kept talking about really did have a purpose after all. "Er... Hagrid told me about them."
"Hagrid?" Ron said, a little confused and then his face lighted up, "oh that's right, Charlie's told about him, he's the games keeper at Hogwarts. Charlie reckons he's a good person to have a chat with, always has interesting stories to tell."
"Yeah, Hagrid awesome," Harry beamed. "And who's Charlie, was he that other block with you..." he added, feeling a little bad that he had to lie like this.
"Nah, that was Percy, Charlie graduated last year," Ron said.
"Wow, you mean you have five siblings," Harry said.
"Six," Ron corrected. "I'm the sixth boy in the family."
Harry noticed that Ron was looking sad about something, but he didn't know how to ask about it. "Cool, you have enough to form a Quidditch team."
Ron chuckled at that, "do you follow Quidditch?"
"Not really... I just learned about it," Harry said, realizing just in time that he really shouldn't have known about it. "But Hagrid told me some things... it sounds cool."
"Oh, it's bloody brilliant!" Ron said excitedly. "My brother Charlie could have play professionally but he decided to go chase dragons instead."
"Dragons!" Harry said in astonishment.
"Yeah, I know, he's crazy," Ron chuckled.
"So what does your other brother... er.... I don't think you said his name," Harry said.
"Bill," Ron said. "He's works at Gringotts, he's a curse breaker."
"Really," Harry said, looking impressed, he knew that was a difficult job. Remus had described it to him once and Harry had the feeling that Remus had given that job some serious thought as a career but obviously he never did that. "You mean he works with the goblins..."
"Yeah, he's pretty crazy, too," Ron said. "Oh.... did you hear, someone broke into Gringotts!"
"What?!" Harry said, honestly never hearing this.
"Yeah," Ron said, "talk about crazy right."
"Yeah," Harry agreed, "what happened to them?"
"Nothing!" Ron said. "That's what's so shocking about this, they weren't caught!"
"Wow," Harry said, that was amazing, he didn't think the goblins would ever let anyone get away with something like that.
"Excuse me, have you seen my toad," someone said for the compartment door and Harry turned to see Neville standing there.
Harry smiled at his friend as Ron said, "sorry, no."
"Do you want us to help you look," Harry said, starting to get up.
"Nah, that's okay," Neville said with sigh, "I've got a friend helping me already."
"Okay, well, we'll let you know if we see him," Harry said, he had a good idea who Neville's friend was and wondered if Tervor, the toad Neville got from his great uncle for his birthday present, was really missing or if it was just an excuse to come an find him.
"I don't know why he bothered, if I brought a toad I would lose him as fast as I could," Ron said after Neville left, "of course all I've got is this rat, Scratch, so I can't say anything."
Harry was upset about that comment, he was always very protective of his friends after all, and Ron seemed to notice Harry's mood so an uncomfortable silence filled the room.
"He was Percy before," Ron said, trying to get thing back to the way it was before, he liked talking to Harry. It was nice talking to someone that wasn't related to him and he never imagined it would this easy to talk to Harry Potter. But the other boy didn't really seem so different than him, and nothing at all like the hero he had imagined Harry to be. He hoped his hadn't said too much and ruin this already, his mouth was always getting him in trouble, though of course that was usually with his mother. "But when he was made a prefect Mum and Dad got him an owl and I got stuck with this," he said raising the rat, to show Harry was he meant.
They rat didn't look so good, it was pure black with matted hair and looked as if it was very old.
"So your brother is a prefect," Harry said, looking at the rat and Ron's hopeful expression he couldn't really stay upset any longer.
"Yeah," Ron said, but he didn't seem to pleased about this new directions of the conversation. His shoulders slumped and he looked out the window again. "Bill and Charlie were prefect too, and Bill was even Head Boy. And Charlie, he was Quidditch Captain."
"That's cool," Harry said uncertainly, for Ron didn't looked pleased about this fact at all.
"Yeah, they're all brilliant, even Fred and George are brilliant, though I think they would rather die then be prefects, they're really funny," Ron sighed, "it's a lot to live up to."
Harry frowned, he had a feeling the last thing Ron said was more to himself then anything. He didn't like the sound of this at all, he was going to have to do something to baluster Ron's confidence in himself, of course that would be difficult now, seeing as he didn't really know much about Ron, but he'll figured it out.
"Fred told me this spell," Ron said, seeming to want to change the subject and Harry let it go. "It's to turn Scratch yellow."
"Sounds interesting," Harry smiled.
Ron pulled out his wand and blushed at the white strand that was poking out of it, "the unicorn hair is nearly poking out of it, it used to be Charlie's."
Harry frowned at that, didn't the Weasley know that using someone else wand would only hamper Ron's ability? At least that's what he learned from the book that Remus had on wands. Before he could say anything... not that he was going to anyways... the compartment open again and Hermione, with Neville standing behind her, entered the room. She smiled at Harry before Ron could look up at them and when she noticed the wand in Ron's hand her eyes widen in excitement. Harry had a bad feeling about this.
"Yes?" Ron said, staring at as as if to say, what are you doing here?
"Have either of you seen a toad, Neville has lost his," Hermione said, still looking at the wand.
"We've already told him we haven't," Ron said.
"Are you going to do magic," Hermione said. "Let's see then."
Ron looked at her oddly, as if he had never seen anyone quite like her before, before turning back to his rat and waved his wand over it. Harry had trouble not laughing when Ron started saying the 'spell', for it was clearly not really a spell at all. However, his feeling of forbidding was strong enough now to make it not as funny. Ron didn't really need a shot at his ego.
"Was that really a spell," Hermione said looking disappointed nothing happened. "Well it wasn't a very good one was it? I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard — I've learned all our course books by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough — I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?"
Harry put his head in his hands, he could hear it in her voice, she was very nervous and she was trying to make friends, but he couldn't see how Ron would know that. He looked at Ron, who was looking at Hermione like she was crazy or something, and he also looked slightly hurt about the shot she made about his spell. Nope, this wasn't going well at all.
"Ron Weasley," Ron answered Hermione's question uncertainly.
"Harry Potter," Harry said, realizing that he had to introduce himself to her.
"Are you really?" said Hermione, there was a twinkling in her eyes and Harry could see that she was highly amused by this. He had a feeling that she was about to tease him and Neville's smirk made him sure that's exactly what was going to happen. "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."
Of course she would mention all the books she had read about him, having gotten them when she was in Diagon Alley with her parents. She had then told him that there really wasn't much truth to any of the books he read, but that didn't make him feel any better, it just made him realize more clearly how famous he was going to be in this world.
"Am I," Harry answered, he had to admit it was hard for him not to smile, though he was annoyed, too. It looked like Hermione was having trouble for smiling.
"Goodness, didn't you know, I'd have found out everything I could if it was me," said Hermione, who indeed couldn't understand why Harry never read any of the books about him. She thought it would prepare him for his up and coming fame better.
"Whatever," Harry shrugged. "And Ron, I don't think you should listen to Fred any more, he was obviously trying to mess with you with that 'spell'. Hagrid told me your twins brothers were... er...."
"Gits," Ron hissed. "Yeah your right. Still, I didn't think they would make me.... er..."
"Obviously they know no limits," Harry said. "We should get back at them for this."
"Er... I don't think so," Ron shook his head, looking a little terrified at that idea.
"Suit yourself," Harry shrugged.
"I'm a bit lost... what's going on," Hermione said curiously.
"His brother gave him that spell," Harry said. "Nice prank don't you think."
Hermione grimaced, the look Harry was giving her quite clearly stated that she reacted badly to this. She sighed, and said in a soft voice, "no, that wasn't very nice at all."
"Whatever," Ron shrugged, his ears were a little red and he didn't seemed to like the continued talk about his subject.
"So what house do you think you'll all be in?" Harry asked.
"I've heard that Gryffindor is the best," Hermione said, and she had heard enough for Sirius and even Remus, to believe that. Of course, Tonks had tried to convince her that Hufflepuff was best house but she still didn't think that was the house for her. "Of course, I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be so bad either," she had to added because it was really sounded like a house that would suit her. Still, she longed to be in Gryffindor.
"It is the best, all my family has been in that house," Ron said, but he didn't seemed too proud about that, he looked a little ill. Harry sighed, was there nothing that he could talk to Ron about that wouldn't cause the other boy to look down. It looked like Ron was just as worried about the sorting as all of them were, despite the fact that his family was all Gryffindors.
Harry looked at Neville than and noticed that his friend was shifting uncomfortably and he wanted to ask his friend what that was about, but before he could Ron was talking.
"Aren't you supposed to be looking for a toad or something."
"Oh," Hermione said standing up. "Yeah, we are. Come on Neville, lets go."
"Okay," Neville said and soon the two of them were gone.
"Merlin, I know one thing for sure, whatever house I'm in, I hope she's not in it," Ron said staring at the door, looking at it incredulously. Harry could feel the angry fill him again, how could Ron say that, Hermione wasn't that bad was she. Okay, so she came on a little strong and in a way made fun of Ron, but to actually wish that they weren't in the same house.... that was a little rash.
Harry sat back in his chair looking out the window, he had a feeling that it was going to be difficult being friends with both Ron and Hermione. He already knew that he was going to have to try, he liked Ron, it was easy to talk to him, and he could really see them becoming good friends. Still, if things don't change with Hermione soon, that friendship really was going to be difficult.
"So it is true," a drawling voice said, breaking Harry out of his thoughts. "Harry Potter is here."
Harry looked up to see that he was facing the same blonde hair boy he had met at Madam Malkin's robe shop. This time the boy had two other boys with him, rather large boys that gave Harry the impression they were the blonde boys body guards.
"This is Cabbe and Goyle, and I'm Draco Malfoy," the blonde boy said when he noticed where Harry was looking.
Harry's eyes widened slightly. Oh, he had heard about the Malfoys from Sirius and knew they weren't really the kind of wizards that he would likely get along with. However, he also knew that this Malfoy was related to him. Well, just as much as Tonks was, seeing as he was her cousin. He didn't know how he felt about that but he knew he didn't particularly want to fight him. He remembered how Kreacher had described Nassica (when Harry had asked the elf about Regulus, he would often bring up the other Black family members), who was Draco's mum, and she never sound too bad. Still, looking at Draco smug face, Harry had a feeling that he took after his father's side of the family more.
"Think that's funny, do you?" Draco said, looking at Ron with disdain, for Ron had snorted when Draco had said his name. "No need to ask for you name. My dad told me the Weasleys all have red hair and more children then they could afford." He then turned to Harry and said, "you'll find that some wizarding family's are better than others, I can help you there."
Draco Malfoy was holding out a hand to him and Harry wasn't sure how to handle this. Obviously he didn't want to take the offer hand, he didn't really like Draco or the speech he just made, but to refuse it outwardly would just make the blonde boy his enemy, and though he didn't like him, he didn't like that option either.
"I believe it would be more prudent for me to see which family is better," Harry said coldly, he couldn't stop the frostiness for his voice.
"Well, you're obviously not making very good choices in that if you're hanging around riffraff like this," Draco nodded his head towards Ron.
"And obviously you don't have a mind of your own if your just going to judge everyone on what your daddy tells you," Harry couldn't help but snapping back, oh, curse his temper.
Draco glared at him and then said in a cool voice, "I'd be careful if I were you, Potter, Unless you're a bit politer you'll go the same way as your parents."
Harry stood up then, his wand clutched in his hand, and sparks seeming to be coming out of it as he rage rushed through him. How could this guy say something like that so casually like that. He noticed that Ron was standing, too, he was going to back him up even thought they were outnumbered.
"I would suggest you leave Malfoy," Harry said coldly, "before I make you leave."
"But I don't feel like leaving," Malfoy said, with a smile, but Harry could see his eyes flicker to the wand in Harry's hand. "Do you feel like leaving guys," he called back to his bodyguards and the both shook their heads no. "I didn't think so."
The three of them walk more into the compartment, looking at the sweets that Harry had gotten when the trolly had come by, as they got closer Ron pointed his wand that was still in his hand from when he tried to turn his rat yellow and said, "Rictusempra!"
In a flash of light Crabbe was on the floor laughing, and Ron was pointing his wand at Goyle now, as Harry had his on Malfoy.
"I repeat, you should leave now," Harry said and that was exactly what they did, Draco glaring at him the whole time and Harry was sure he had made the enemy that he didn't want to have. But he didn't feel so bad about it. The guy was a bullying git.
"That was brilliant!" Harry turned to Ron when they were gone.
"Thanks," Ron said, his ear were red. "Fred taught me that one, too."
"I supposed he does give you some good advice sometimes," Harry chuckled.
"Yeah," Ron laughed too. "The trick is knowing when he's lying or telling the truth."
"What is going on here?" Hermione said at the compartment door, she looked worried. "I heard that you were fighting."
"I don't see how that's any of your business," Ron snapped at her.
"I... I just don't think it's smart to get in trouble before you even get to school," Hermione said, looking slightly hurt.
"Look..." Harry said, hoping he could stop the growing tension between the two but neither one of them seemed to be listening to him.
"They were bullying gits, and I was just helping my mate out," Ron said. "So you can just butt out."
"Well," Hermione said, looking at Harry with worry, obviously wondering what happened. Harry could also see something else in her eyes but he couldn't tell what it was. "Fine, suit yourselves, I just came to tell you the train is almost to Hogwarts, you should change into your robes now."
"Thank you," Harry said before Ron could say anything.
Hermione turned to go, the same expression Harry couldn't read was on her face and he really didn't like that at all. However, she turn back are and said, "you have dirt on your nose, by the way, did you know?"
She left after that and Ron glared at the door rubbing his nose. Harry sat down shaking his head, yes he was definitely going to have a hard time with them.