Changed (Drarry)

Chapter 4

They were running late for the train, which was making Harry feel really quite worried, he hated being late to things, and while he had clearly lost some of the safety this year, it was still the closest thing Harry had to home and he wanted to get back there and if they were too late then they wouldn't be able to get there.

Harry went through the barrier first, and immediately ran to the train, trying to look for an empty compartment. He caught a glimpse of Draco Malfoy and went a different way, of course he knew that Draco- Malfoy!- was no good, but for some reason, when Harry saw him, Harry's face heated up. He wished he didn't like Malfoy, but he clearly did, why else would his cheeks flush when he saw him?

It didn't matter anyway, Malfoy had always been harassing them, especially Harry. There was no way that Malfoy would change so much after a single holiday.

Harry found a compartment that only had one person in it, unlike all the others he had passed where there were multiple students in them. It seemed odd that this man was in there, as he was an adult, and the teachers normally didn't take the train. Harry didn't actually know how they got to Hogwarts now that he thought about it.

The man had a dog sleeping on his lap, but both of them were asleep, and Harry was also tired, so he decided to sit in that compartment with them. He was sure he had never seen the dog or man before, but somehow they felt familiar, and calming in a way he was sure he had only felt in the Weasleys' before, he felt comfortable, safe, in the compartment with the two. It was odd, he had never liked dogs thanks to Marge's hell hound like dogs.

"Why are you sitting in here?" Ron complained, almost sneering as he saw the man and dog, which made Harry feel a little uncomfortable.

"It was the emptiest compartment I could find though." Harry said a little quietly, trying not to wake them up, as Ron grabbed his wrist and dragged him aggressively out of the compartment.

Harry felt like the skin where Ron was gripping too tightly was crawling or burning, and his heart was beating almost painfully as he was pulled out of the compartment, but he tried not to let it show. If any of them had the right to be upset about being in that compartment it was Harry thanks to the fact there was a dog in there and Harry was scared of them, but he had never heard anything about Ron being scared of them, and even if it was Hermione that would be fine, but Ron could at least be less violent as he dragged Harry out.

The train had already started moving as Ron pulled Harry behind him, walking more quickly than Harry could thanks to his longer legs. Hermione was rushing behind Harry too, and shrugged at Harry when he looked over his shoulder at her.

"We're going to sit with Ginny." Ron said, not letting the other two argue against him, opening the door and making the blonde girl with Ginny look up, her dreamy eyes focusing on Harry as she tilted her head at him, Ginny also focusing on Harry.

"Hello, Harry Potter." The blonde girl said slightly dreamily as she looked Harry over, focusing around his shoulders, but it didn't feel like she was analysing him, or even looking at him, more like something around him.

"Uh, hey." Harry said with an awkward smile and wave.

"We met a few times before last year, but you weren't with-" the extremely pale blonde girl said, pretty much only breathing it out rather than talking before Ginny put her hand over her mouth, muffling the voice to the point Harry couldn't hear her anymore.

"This is Luna, my friend." Ginny said, shifting to the side slightly as Ron practically shoved Harry into the space next to Ginny, almost making Harry bounce on the definitely not bouncy seats.

"Nice to meet you." Harry said, holding his hand out to Luna, which she didn't take.

"There are a lot of nargles around recently." Luna said, as if in explanation for not taking his hand, after Ginny retracted her hand from Luna's mouth, really quite quickly considering how annoyed she looked when she covered Luna's mouth in the first place.

"Oh...?" Harry said with an awkward smile and his voice rising as he tried to look for words, pulling his hand back and feeling a little stupid as Hermione and Ron sat on the other side. Hermione looking more like Ron had pulled her next to him, and Luna also seemed to fix Ron with a suspicious glare.

"Luna's father writes the Quibbler, so she talks a lot about magical creatures that there's little to no evidence for, but then again, there's not exactly more evidence for them not existing than there is for muggles that magic doesn't exist." Ginny said, grabbing Harry's arm with both of her hands.

"Um, what are nargles supposed to do?" Harry asked, trying to subtly pull his arm away from Ginny so as to not embarrass her, but make it clear to her that he didn't like it, but she only cling on harder, and Harry didn't want to annoy Ron more than he clearly already had by insulting Ginny.

"They affect the mind, make you lose thoughts." Luna said, reaching over Ginny to swat at the air around Harry as though she was batting away a small cloud of the bugs that gathered in summer.

"Oh, that's annoying." Harry said with a small smile, it was definitely awkward, but he liked Luna.

"Do you have any proof about any of that?" Hermione snapped at Luna as she sat back into her seat, Ginny shuffling closer to Harry, making Harry try to move away, but he was already in the corner and had nowhere more to move away.

"You've never been so negative about these creatures before, Hermione." Luna said, turning to Hermione, looking confused.

"It just doesn't seem realistic!" Hermione argued, crossing her arms and turning away from Luna.

"Does it matter if it's realistic to someone who has lived in the muggle world? Our worlds are pretty different." Luna said, holding her copy of the Quibbler close to her and looking at Hermione with a sad look.

"Are you implying that I don't matter because I'm muggleborn!?" Hermione asked, her eyes flashing as she yelled, sounding offended as she got to her feet.

"How did you get that from what I said? I was saying that our world is different to the muggle world. You're different this year, I don't like this you." Luna said, getting up herself and leaving the compartment, making it only more obvious that Ginny wanted to be practically wearing Harry.