Chapter Text
"No one likes a know-it-all!" "This is why you have no friends!" "Do my homework, loser!" "She's such a bookworm." "Nobody likes you, weirdo."
They'll see that she's better than them, that she's smarter than they'll ever be! She'll show them that she can make friends, true friends, who won't use her for her genius. Then they'll be sorry.
"Stop getting in the way!" "We don't have enough money to get you new clothes, take some of Bill's." "Sorry brother, I don't have time to play chess with you." "Blood-Traitor!"
They won't be so dismissive of him anymore, he'll show them that he deserves to be heard. That he deserves to be seen! He'll make sure to show them that he can be better. They'll all be sorry.
"You're a freak!" "What a weak loser!" "You good for nothing deliquent!" "What an odd boy." "Heard his parents were drunks." "Son of a whore, I heard!" "That boy will be a criminal, surely."
He'll show them he's not weak. That he's not a freak. He'll be better than the drunks that were his parents. He'll get his revenge, he just needs to bid his time, wait till the right moment. And then they'll all be sorry.
~
~September 1st 1991 - Platform 9 & 3/4 Kings Cross Station~
Harry made his way to the wall between platforms nine and ten where he saw the red headed family walk through, assuming that this was the entrance to platform nine-and-three-quaters seeing as they walked straight through the wall. Striding up to the wall with the trolley carrying all his things, he stared at the wall for a second, deciding if he really should just walk through it, before morphing his expression into a sort of disconnected blankness that usually unnerved others, took a deep breath, tightened his grip on the trolley, closed his eyes, and pushed it towards the wall, fully expecting to crash.
But the crash didn't come.
Instead, Harry felt a wave of something completely other wash over him, and when he opened his eyes, he was met with lots of bright colours and a beautiful scarlet red steam train. Harry moved towards the train and looked around the platform.
There were people and pets everywhere, children crying while saying goodbye to their parents, owls hooting loudly at being kept in cages, cats running around on the ground, groups of teens talking to each other. Everything was happening all at once and Harry was feeling a little overwhelmed by it all.
He made it to the train where he grabbed his trunk and owl cage, lugging them onto the stunning scarlet train, before walking down the carriages, trying to find an empty compartment. He finally found one near the back of the train and walked inside, putting his owl cage on the seat before sitting next to it and staring out the window, his trunk resting between his feet. Feeling like he had a little bit of time before the train was set to depart, he opened his trunk and got out his potions text book, his mind drifting back to the past month.
Thankfully, once he was delivered back to the Dursley's after Hagrid took him from the small hut to Diagon Alley for his school supplies, they were too afraid to do anything other then avoid him like the plague, which suited Harry just fine in his opinon. Hagrid may not have allowed him to get anything else other than what was on his list, but Harry was able to slip in two books when the man wasn't looking.
Through August, he no longer spent his days doing tedious chores that were almost impossible to complete, instead, he read his course books in an attempt to be prepared for when he starts classes. Harry also read Hogwarts: A History and A Muggleborn's Guide to Magic, which gave him a lot of information about the castle he was going to learn at, and just magic in general.
Focusing back to the present, Harry opened his potions book and began to read it, when the door slid open to reveal the young red headed boy from the family Harry saw at the platform entrance. The boy's face looked a little annoyed, but was quickly schooled over into one of slight indifference when the boy looked at him.
"Is it alright if I sit with you? My brothers are being annoying." The boy asked, acting sheepish. Harry stared at him, and saw through his eyes that he was somewhat telling the truth, just not all of it. The boy started to shift nervously under Harry's stare, but refused to look away. Finally, Harry smiled at him slightly, and gestured towards the seat in front of him, which the redhead took with a grateful smile.
They sat in comfortable silence for a while, with Harry reading his book and the redhead staring out the window blankly, when the train whistle blew, signaling to students and parents alike that they would likely be departing soon. What followed after was children chaotically clambering onto the train to find compartments, and waving out the windows to say goodbye to their parents.
Harry noticed the red head pointedly ignoring the window now, instead glaring intensly at the floor. Harry didn't say anything, although he offered a polite nod when the boy caught him staring, to which the boys face relaxed a little, and he nodded back.
As the train began to move forward, leaving the station, parents, and younger siblings behind, Harry and the boy sat in comfortable silence, the boy eventually getting out a book of his own to read, chess strategies if Harry read the title correctly. They read their books for a while until a lady knocked on their door asking if they wanted anything from the trolley.
Harry looked curiously at the numerous looking wizard sweets avaliable, noticing how the boy politley refused while holding up a sandwich, he didn't look very excited at the idea of eating it though. Harry noticed a compartment seperate from the sweets, and looked to the kind old witch.
"Do you have anything savoury?" He asked quietly, voice a little raspy from disuse. The witch smiled and opened the compartment Harry noticed, and pulled out a pastry, a sandwich, and some biscuits. Harry noticed the boy eyeing the sandwich and a sweet with a purple wrapper before looking away again.
"We have pumpkin pasties, a chicken and cheese sandwich, as well as a variety of savoury biscuits." The lady repiled, smiling at them kindly. Smiling back at the witch, Harry ordered two chicken and cheese sandwiches, one pumpkin pastie, and the sweet the boy was eyeing, paying for them with some left over galleons from his trip to Diagon Alley. The witch left and Harry handed one sandwich and the sweet to the boy beside him, ignoring the shocked look he got in return.
"Thanks... I'm Ron by the way, Ron Weasley." The boy, Ron, said awkwardly, smiling a little at Harry in thanks. Harry smiled slightly back, privately hoping that they could be friends in the future, maybe even best friends if Harry wants to be wishful.
"I'm Harry, it's a pleasure to meet to you, Ron." Harry replies, purposely leaving out his last name. Harry wants friends to like him for who he is as a person, not for this boy-who-lived shit people have been spewing out for the last decade. Harry has come to the conclusion that most wizards and witches don't have a lot of common sense (if they have any at all that is), and that is why Harry became famous for something he doesn't remember, and that his parents were the ones who probably did something to defeat Voldemort.
After all, how could a baby, who was no older than about fifteen months and who was still most likely in nappies, defeat the supposedly "Worst Dark Lord" Britain has ever seen? It's absoloutley proposterous!
But anyway, Harry is getting sidetracked, and so he focuses his attention back to Ron, who was quietly eating the sandwich Harry bought for him while reading the book on chess stratigies again. Harry smiled and went back to reading his own book while nibbling on the pumpkin pastie, savouring the taste by eating it slowly.
He also made sure not to eat too much, unless he wants to spend his first time at Hogwarts trying not to throw up in front of everyone. That would be embarassing, and Harry has prayed to whatever God or Deity there was that Hogwarts would not be like his muggle primary school, or anything like the Dursley's for that matter. He would most definately get a target on his back if he showed any weaknesses.
Focusing back on his book for what had to be the hundreth time already, Harry barely reads two pages before theres a knock at the door again, this time when it's opened, there's a girl with wild brown curls, and large front teeth standing beside a boy who has blonde hair that shines in the light, and appears to be leaning more on the larger size than average. He looks at Ron and Harry timidly, glancing at the girl next to him every few seconds.
Harry realises that he seems on the verge of tears, and frowns slightly, about to ask if he was alright when the girl spoke up, her voice strong yet caring at the same time.
"Sorry to interupt, but Neville here has lost his toad. We were wondering if you had seen it?" The boy beside her, Neville, hunched his shoulders and flushed slightly, looking away at his shoes in embarrassment and shame.
Harry looked to Ron in question, who looked back and shook his head, silently answering Harry's unspoken question to if he's seen the lost toad. Harry frowns slightly before getting an idea to help find the missing toad.
"We haven't seen your toad, but I'm sure if you find a prefect and ask nicely they can summon it for you." Harry quietly repiled, voice still raspy from continuous disuse at the "care" of the Dursley's. His throat hurts a bit now, as it always does if he talks more than a few sentaces every few hours or so, but he doesn't make the pain show on his face as he sees Neville's eyes light up with hope.
"Thank you! We'll go find a prefect now, I'm Hermione Granger by the way. Thanks again for your help, and enjoy your reading!" Hermione beams at them, then guides Neville away, presumably to a prefect.
Harry smiles slightly, glad to have been able to help, before he winces at the soreness in his throat, knowing he wouldn't be able to speak again until night time unless he wants his throat to bleed. And from experience, that doesn't feel good, nor does it end well for anyone involved.
Looking up, Harry realises that Ron is staring at him in concern, his eyebrows furrowed slightly and his mouth pulled down into a frown. Harry unintentionally tensed slightly at the look, not knowing if the outcome would be bad or not.
"Are you okay? You seem like you're in pain." Ron askes quietly, concern in his voice as he continues to look at Harry worriedly. Mentally, Harry started to panic at the intense focus and emotion being aimed at him from the boy sitting infront of him, and quickly shook his head, waving his arms slightly in a way to say 'no' in a way where he doesnt have to talk.
He puts his hand up before opening his trunk and rumaging through it to find one of his cousins old notebooks and pens. Finding them, he takes them out and flips the book open to a blank page, before writing down what he wants to say, then giving it to Ron.
"I can't talk much very often during a day, because my throat starts to hurt. If I talk too much in a certain amount of hours my throat starts to bleed a little. It's not a very fun experience."
Looking at Ron for his reaction, Harry sees the boy go pale as he reads, and gulps slightly before a determined look takes hold of his face, and he turns to Harry while giving his book back. Before harry can even begin to worry about losing his first possible friend, Rons opens his mouth and starts talking, his words making all of Harry's fears leave his mind and body.
"It's alright, mate. I'm sorry that you can't talk often, but if you want I can help explain stuff to people if they ask so you don't have to write it down if you can't speak." When Harry just looks at him with an unreadable expression, too shocked to let any emotions actually show on his face, Ron flushes in embarassment, his face going almost as red as his hair as he sputters something. "Of course, if you don't really need the help then that's fine too, I just meant that- Uh- You know what, I'm really sorry for annoying you with the question, it's totally alright if you want me to leave and stuff-"
Ron abruptly stopped talking as Harry leaned over and placed his hand on the boys knee, not only surprising Ron, but himself at him willingly ignitiating touch to someone, but Harry quickly shook off the surprise before smiling at the boy in front of him. Harry took his hand off Ron's knee and gave him a thumbs up, letting him know everything was okay.
Ron let out a shakey breath and smiled back, looking at Harry apologetically, though relaxing slightly when he saw that Harry wasn't mad. Harry sat back a little and wrote in the notebook again once he saw that Ron had relaxed a little.
"If you could, it would be great if you explained things to others if and when they ask. You could even tell them go away if I can't say it myself. Also, would you like to be my friend?"
When he read the words, Ron grinned brightly at Harry, nodding his head. "Of course, you can count on me to help you when you need it. And I'd love to be your friend!" Harry smiled at Ron's words, and felt a warm feeling in his chest at finally having a friend. Hopefully they can stay friends, although Harry knows better than to hope.
Harry and Ron start to read again, and after a while they were back in a comforting silence. Until someone knocked on the door again, seriously, what is it with people knocking on our door. It opens to a grinning Hermione and a teary-eyed smiling Neville, who is holding his toad.
"Sorry to interupt again, we just wanted to thank you for your suggestion, as you can see Neville has his toad back." Hermione says, voice a little fast. She takes a breath at the end of her sentence, before turning to Neville, who wiped his tears with a shy smile.
"Um- Thank you, Gran would've killed me if I lost Trevor." His voice wavered a little, and Harry narrowed his eyes slightly at the subtle fear in his voice when he mentioned his grandmother. Quickly schooling his face into a smile, he nodded at them and gestured to sit down with them, hoping Ron wouldn't mind.
"Oh! Thank you, let me quickly get my stuff and I'll be back!" Hermione said happily, before leaving to get her trunk and belongings. Neville stood awkwardly in the door before Harry patted the space next to him, and he flushed a bright red before moving to sit down, taking out a tiny trunk from his pocket. Harry watched confused as Neville placed it between his feet and tapped it. Harry gaped as it grew to a normal sized looking trunk in a matter of seconds, and he grinned when it stopped growing.
Harry looked to Ron it astonishment, to which he grinned back, laughing a little at Harry's shocked expression before turning to Neville.
"That's got a shrinkable charm on it right?" Ron asked him, gesturing to the trunk. Harry watched as Neville smiled shyly as he nodded.
"Yeah, and a featherlight charm too." He replies, rubbing the back of his neck a little. "It used to belong to my dad, it still works pretty well obviously, much more than his wand has so far..." Neville pulls out out his wand, which he said belonged to his dad, and sighs a little, shoulders drooping slightly. Harry looked at him confused, remembering the words Mr Ollivader said to him when he went to get his wand. The wand chooses the wizard. Mr Ollivander also mentioned that a wand will never work propably if it doesn't choose you.
Harry frowns, looking at Neville's fathers wand. 'Why would they not give Neville his own wand? They're setting him up for failure.' Harry thought to himself, looking at Ron to see him frowning slightly too looking towards his own wand that was lying next to him on the chair. 'Does Ron not have his own wand either?' Harry's frown deepens at that thought, and he turns to write in his notebook.
"Sorry if my question is a bit sensitive, but why would your dad give you his wand? Doesn't the wand choose the wizard?"
Harry hands the notebook over to Neville, who's face scrunches up in pain as his eyes get a little watery. Alarmed, Harry chooses to ignore the consequenses if he talks, and opens his mouth.
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to-" Harry cuts himself off as he chokes a little, coughing up blood into his hand. Neville exclaims in panicked shock when he sees the blood, as Ron quickly opens his trunk and gets out some water, rushing over to give to to him.
Harry grabs it greatfully and takes small sips from the bottle, feeling the pain subside a little as the water rinces his throat of the blood. He sighs slightly, nodding his head to Ron in thanks. He nods back with a worried frown, handing Harry a hankerchief to clean his bloody hands, which he takes and does just that, wiping the bottle as well to get the blood off.
"Um- Are you okay?" Harry turns his head at the sound of Nevilles voice, and sees him looking at him in concern. Harry flushes in embarssesment, ducking his head and giving him a brief nod and a thumbs up.
"He can't talk much because of personal reasons, because if he does his throat will- well, you know, bleed." Ron explained to Neville, giving Harry a reasuring smile, to which Harry smiled back. "Is it alright if I see your throat Harry? I just want to check if you'll need to see a prefect or the school healer." Ron asks, looking at him questionably.
Harry hesitates for a second, knowing he'll need to see the healer, but he was going to have to see them anyway to tell them his allergies. Mind made up, Harry, nods and opens his mouth so ron could see. Ron grabs his wand and casts the spell Lumos, in which a small light flickers into existense at the tip of his wand. Ron points his wand near Harry's mouth and tilts Harry's head up a little. Harry witholds a flinch at the contact, but otherwise relaxed and stayed still as Ron looks at his mouth and throat.
"It looks very irritated, do you want to tell a prefect or wait till we get to Hogwarts to tell the healer?" Ron states before asking Harry what he wanted to do. Harry closes his mouth as ron takes his wand away and does the counter spell, Nox, to get rid of the light on is wand, before Harry holds up two fingers.
"Waiting it is, but if it feels worse let me know yeah?" Ron says, smiling when Harry nods. Harry looks to Neville, who has been quiet, and pats his knee while smiling at him, letting the boy know not to worry.
Neville smiles back shyly and hands Harry his notebook back, his smile turning a little sad as his eyes look down at the question Harry wrote down before.
"My father didn't give me his wand, my Gran did. My parents are in the Janus Thickey ward at St Mungos Hospital, they've been there since some of You-Know-Who's follwers tortured them into insanity in 1981." Neville explained, ignoring Ron and Harry's look of horror. His eyes looked haunted, and his face was blank. "They were both Aurors, Gran wants me to honor them by using my fathers wand." At this he hunched his shoudlers slightly, as if he realised what he's just said.
It was silent for a minute, then Harry grabbed Neville's hand and squeezed gently, letting the blonde know he was sorry for asking, and that he was there to support him. Harry felt Neville squeeze back and smiled slightly.
It was somber for a few more minutes until Hermione came back with her belongings, stopping short when she saw our expressions. A frown tugged at her mouth as she looked at the scene.
"Is everything okay..?" She asked slowly, looking confused and concerned as she looked at us. Ron was the one to break the silence and answer her question, looking towards her with a warning look.
"We were just talking about what happened to Neville's parents." He said. "And before you ask, Neville isn't in the right mind to explain it again, he'll tell you when he's ready." Ron added, looking to Neville in reasurence, to which he smiled back.
Hermione looked concerned as she looked at Neville's blank expression, but listened and stayed quite as she set up her place next to Ron, who moved over to give her room. He looked towards Harry for a second before turning towards Hermione again.
"Also, for personal reasons, Harry won't be able to talk right now. If he does his throat might bleed again, so just keep that in mind." Ron said, much to Hermione's shock. She turned to him worriedly, to which Harry offered her a thumbs up and a small smile, letting her know he was okay. She realaxed a little bit into her chair at that, smiling slightly back.
It was an awkward but somewhat comfortable silence that followed, with Ron and Harry going back to their books, and Hermione and Neville quietly talking about classes, where Ron sometimes gave his input of information that his brother's gave him about the castle. Slowly, the tense atmosphere went away, leaving four curious kids excitedly waiting to get to Hogwarts Castle, to begin their magical journey.
Harry couldn't help but feel happy for once in his short life, he was going to a school to learn magic, real life magic! And he even made some friends! 'Maybe.' Harry thought, 'Maybe, I'll be able to be a normal kid.' With that thought in mind, Harry smiled, and turned to look out the window at the passing landscapes. 'This'll be my new start.'