The Rise of a Dark Lord

Better be...

Harry had no difficulties boarding the train, although there were many people on the platform nobody paid him any attention. Even if there were people looking for 'Harry Potter' they had absolutely no idea what he looked like and that suited him just fine. He had no wish to entertain the adoring public.

Not wanting to be surrounded by children he went to the last compartment on the train, closed the door, and hoped that nobody would disturb him. He took his trunk from his pocket, enlarged it, and changed to his uniform immediately. Seeing as the train would take a while to arrive he chose to take a book out as well. Having done everything he needed he put his trunk in the rack above his seat, sat himself in a comfortable position, and started reading his book.

It was a book about runes for beginners he had bought but hadn't had the opportunity to finish. He found it rather fascinating, and could hardly wait to have the subject. He didn't understand why they only started it in their 3rd year. Sure it was a little difficult, but it was like learning a new language, the younger you started the easier it would be for your brain to create the pathways necessary for you to speak it.

Almost twenty minutes after he arrived he heard the whistle signaling the departure of the train and Harry felt his excitement growing. He was finally going to Hogwarts.

Harry had spent a lot of time thinking about how he was going to behave. He ended up concluding that the best thing to do was to wait and see. The books he had read had indicated that he was seen as some kind of hero and that he was rather famous. That meant that people would keep their eyes on him and any little thing he did would be judged and gossiped about. Something he loathed but it couldn't be changed so he just had to be a little more careful, he was sure that he could do it.

He also found out that most of the population were rather prejudiced against wizards that came from muggle families and those that were half-bloods. It was rather stupid in his opinion, for him, magical blood was magical blood; he didn't really care where they came from as long as they were useful.

But all that contributed to his decision. He would wait, learn more about the society, see how they would react to him, and then choose his path. He was still young, he had time.

Harry was rather enjoying the train ride, a blond boy had looked into his compartment, looked at his book, and went away, aside from that only the trolley lady had disturbed his peace which made him rather happy.

Unfortunately, his luck couldn't last forever and his peace and quiet was rudely interrupted. The door of his compartment was violently opened, hitting the wall and a girl with bushy brown hair, followed by a round-faced boy who looked to be on the verge of tears entered his compartment.

Harry looked at them expressionless, he was a little peeved about the interruption and also about the way they entered his compartment.

"Have you seen a toad?" the girl asked and Harry noticed that she had rather large front teeth, "Neville lost his, we are trying to find it."

Harry assumed that Neville was the boy with the round face. Who the hell would want a toad as a pet? But as it had nothing to do with him he answered with a simple "No." and promptly went back to his reading. If the both of them were even a little bit intelligent they would realize that he was dismissing them and that he would like to be alone.

However, it appeared that neither of them understood what he was implying. Oh God, he hoped that not all the students had their level of intelligence.

"Oh, that book wasn't on the student list, was it? When you're finished could you lend it to me? My parents are muggles, you know? I knew nothing about magic. But I read all my books and all the spells I tried worked perfectly, of course."