What if...

The Sorting

"Alohamora!"

The compartment door shook, but stayed locked.
"Good try, Neville. Can I go now?" Harry asked, already pointing his wand to the door. Hermione and Neville nodded.

Harry took a deep breath and uttered the spell.

And the door jolted open..

"Hah! I did magic!" Harry celebrated. Hermione laughed.

"Okay, I want to try this one!" Hermione said enthusiastically. She loved learning perhaps as much as she loved her parents.

She pointed her wand at Harry's glasses.
"Occulus reparo." She said. The cracks in Harry's glasses fixed themselves and the bandage holding the two lenses together flew off with a pop, fading into white dust, which eventually cleared to reveal a fully-repaired pair of glasses.

"Woah, thanks, Hermione! You're brilliant!" Harry praised, examining his glasses. Hermione turned scarlet and smiled to herself.
"All I did was perform a spell." She said timidly.

"I'm hopeless." Neville said sadly.
"Maybe it's your wand?" Hermione suggested.
"It's my father's, my grandma said it would work." Neville twirled the wand in his hands.

"Mr Ollivander said the wand chooses the wizard, maybe it's not working because it didn't choose you?" Harry said.
"Harry, that's brilliant!" Hermione exclaimed. Harry's ears turned red.
"Thanks. So are you going to buy a new wand? Oh, yeah, I can buy you one. I forgot to tell you guys, I'm rich." Harry said casually.

"What?!" They chorused.

"Yeah, but it doesn't really matter, I'm just happy to finally be away from my aunt and uncle." Harry shuddered as he remembered the bruises. Hermione and Neville looked confused.
"Oh, I just meant that I was already excited to learn about the world my parents came from." He said quickly. They weren't convinced, but they decided to let it be.

"I'm so excited for the sorting! I think I want to be a Ravenclaw, but Gryffindor wouldn't be too bad, either." Hermione decided.
"I don't think I'll get into Gryffindor, I- well, I'm not the bravest." Neville admitted.
"What's Ravenclaw for?" Harry asked Hermione.

"It's for the students who are really clever." She said matter-of-factly.
"So you, then." Harry deadpanned. Hermione blushed.
"Well, y-yes, but- hey, you did a spell too!" She pointed out, trying to hide her crimson face.
"Pfft. I opened a door. You fixed my glasses." Harry said.
"Yes, b-but, that's, well- completely- um-" Hermione stuttered, getting flustered.

"It's ok, I'm just teasing you." Harry reassured.
"Well, um- thank you, Harry. You're the first person to ever be nice to me and mean it." Hermione smiled down at herself for some reason.
"You too, Hermione." Harry smiled back.
Neville cleared his throat.

"I can see the castle." He said, drawing their attention. They both rushed out of their seats to get a good look at their new temporary home.
"It looks big." Harry observed. Neville nodded in agreement while Hermione rolled her eyes.

They sat back down, when the compartment revealed a very tired looking tall-ish redheaded boy.
"Have you seen *pant* Harry *pant* Potter?" He asked quickly. Everyone shook their heads, trying not to laugh.

"If you see *pant* him, tell me. I'm *pant* going to be *pant* his best friend. *pant*. Dumbledore's told me." Ron panted. Then he left in search of a boy he had already found.

All three students looked at each other in confusion.
"Dumbledore told him that he would be my friend? Isn't that a bit controlly or whatever the word is?" Harry asked. Hermione facepalmed.
"Controlling." She corrected. "But it is strange that he told that boy that you were going to be his friend."