𝐋𝐄𝐆𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐒 ↳ 𝗛𝗮𝗿𝗿𝘆 𝗝𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗣𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗫 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿

FIRST YEAR: Train Ride to Hogwarts

"Wow," said Ron. He sat and stared at Harry and Y/N for a few moments, then, as though he had suddenly realized what he was doing, he looked quickly out of the window again.

"Are all your family wizards?" asked Harry, who found Ron just as interesting as Ron found him.

"Er — yes, I think so," said Ron. "I think Mum"s got a second cousin who"s an accountant, but we never talk about him."

"So you must know loads of magic already." Y/N said excitedly.

The Weasleys were clearly one of those old wizarding families.

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

"Horrible."" Said Harry and Y//N together and laughed.

Harry continued. "— well, not all of them. My aunt and uncle and cousin are, though. Wish I"d had three wizard brothers."

"Five," said Ron. For some reason, he was looking gloomy. "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 well 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 reached inside his jacket and pulled out a fat gray rat, which was asleep. "His name"s Scabbers and he"s useless, he hardly ever wakes up. Percy got an owl from my dad for being made a prefect, but they couldn"t aff — I mean, I got Scabbers instead."

Ron"s ears went pink. He seemed to think he"d said too much, because he went back to staring out of the window. Harry and Y/N didn"t think there was anything wrong with not being able to afford an owl. After all, Harry"d never had any money in his life until a month ago, and he told Ron so, all about having to wear Dudley"s old clothes and never getting proper birthday presents. Even Y/N joined in saying how she had to wear Lizzie"s pink frilly tutus half her life. This 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 —"

Ron gasped.

"What?" said Harry.

"You said You-Know-Who"s name!" said Ron, sounding both shocked and impressed. "I"d have thought you, of all people —"
"I"m not trying to be brave or anything, saying the name," said Harry, "I just never knew you shouldn"t. See what I mean? I"ve got loads to learn. . . . I bet," he added, voicing for the first time something that had been worrying him a lot lately, "I bet I"m the worst in the class."

"You won"t be. There"s loads of people who come from Muggle families and they learn quick enough."

While they had been talking, the train had carried them out of London. Now they were speeding past fields full of cows and sheep. They were quiet for a time, watching the fields and lanes flick past.

Around half past twelve there was a great clattering outside in the corridor and a smiling, dimpled woman slid back their door and said, "Anything off the cart, dears?"

Harry, who hadn"t had any breakfast, leapt to his feet, but Ron"s ears went pink again and he muttered that he"d brought sandwiches.

Harry went out into the corridor, Y/N following suit. She had never had any money for candy with the Smiths, and now that she had pockets rattling with gold and silver she was ready to buy as many Mars Bars as she could carry — but the woman didn"t have Mars Bars.
What she did have were Bertie Bott"s Every Flavor Beans, Drooble"s Best Blowing Gum, Chocolate Frogs, Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes, Liquorice Wands, and a number of other strange things Harry had never seen in his life. Not wanting to miss anything, he got some of everything and paid the woman eleven silver Sickles and seven bronze Knuts.

Ron stared as Harry brought it all back in to the compartment and tipped it onto an empty seat. "Hungry, are you?" "Starving," said Harry, taking a large bite out of a pumpkin pasty.

Ron had taken out a lumpy package and unwrapped it. There were four sandwiches inside. He pulled one of them apart and said, "She always forgets I don"t like corned beef."

"Swap you for one of these," said Harry, holding up a pasty.

"Go on —" "You don"t want this, it"s all dry," said Ron. "She hasn"t got much time," he added quickly, "you know, with five of us."

"Go on, have a pasty," said Harry, who had never had anything to share before or, indeed, anyone to share it with.
"Here, take this too." Y/N handed him a small amount of beans in his hand.

"Oh, you can take mine." Ron hastily shoved a sandwich into her hand which she gratefully accepted.

It was a nice feeling, sitting there with Ron, eating their way through all Harry"s pasties, cakes, and candies (the sandwiches lay forgotten).

"What are these?" Harry asked Ron, holding up a pack of Chocolate Frogs. "They"re not really frogs, are they?"

He was starting to feel that nothing would surprise him.

"No," said Ron. "But see what the card is. I"m missing Agrippa."

"What?" "Oh, of course, you wouldn"t know — Chocolate Frogs have cards inside them, you know, to collect — famous witches and wizards. I"ve got about five hundred, but I haven"t got Agrippa or Ptolemy."

Harry unwrapped his Chocolate Frog and picked up the card. It showed a man"s face. He wore half-moon glasses, had a long, crooked nose, and flowing silver hair, beard, and mustache. Underneath the picture was the name Albus Dumbledore.

"So this is Dumbledore!" said Harry.
"Don"t tell me you"d never heard of Dumbledore!" said Ron. "Can I have a frog? I might get Agrippa — thanks —"