Chapter 5

A/N: NOT MINE!

I was beginning to think that Harry Potter had the luck of the devil. If I remembered correctly, he had found an empty compartment almost immediately and had it almost to himself until, get this, another first-year student found him. Two first years with a compartment all to themselves.

I, too, in all my naivete, had looked for an empty compartment at first. It was only after walking through half the length of the train did I realise one simple fact. There wasn't an empty compartment for a first year. and every compartment had at least one individual who had basically reserved the whole compartment for their entire clique.

I was beginning to think that I might have to find Harry Potter myself just to get a seat on this forsaken train. Who knows, I might even get a few chocolate frogs out of the deal. Thankfully, before I could contemplate the matter further, I was rescued from misery by an unlikely source. Or, should I say unlikely sources?

"Look, George, we might have a firstie on our hands."

"Indeed, Fred! Aren't you?", he said that last part looking at me.

Ah, the Weasley twin. Troublemakers extraordinaire. Their freckled faces topped by red hair had a look upon it that suggested that they conspiring to do some of their trademark mischief. And so, I had my first meeting with the Weasley family.

"Ah, yes. I am a first year. Would you be kind enough to help me? I am having trouble finding a compartment."

"Say, George, should we help out this ickle firstie by sharing our compartment?"

"I say we do, Fred, kind spirits that we are!"
Although I was intimidated by the thought that I might have just made myself a target for their pranks for the entirety of this journey, I truly lacked any other options. Soon, I found myself in a compartment with the Weasley twins, who had already bamboozled with me with their twin speak and their best friend, Lee Jordan.

Lee Jordan was the one to initiate the conversation when I had finally settled myself in the compartment.

"So, what's your name?"

"Neville Longbottom."

"Fred, it looks like that we might be in the company of a distinguished heir. Well, Neville Longbottom, as you may have deduced, this is my brother, Gred Weasley and I am Forge Weasley. A pleasure to make your esteemed acquaintance."

I couldn't help but play along, "Don't you mean, Fred and George?"

"Do we now? Say, Forge, have we confused our names by mistake?"

"We might have, Gred. But Neville here knows the correct one, don't you?"

Lee butted in at this point, "Cut the firstie some slack, won't you? It's his first day after all!"

Addressing me, he said, "I am Lee, by the way, Lee Jordan. Any idea what house you might be in?"

I couldn't help but release a sigh at that. "Not really, no. My parents were in Gryffindor though, so I wouldn't mind being put in that house."

"Cool, we are in that house too. It's the best house there is, although I am admittedly biased."

Fred, or was it George?, spoke up, "You can't go wrong with the brave house of lions. Anyway, all houses are fine, I guess, except if you turn out to be a little snake."

That frayed my nerves a bit. I knew Neville originally had gone into Gryffindor but I didn't know how much my transmigration might affect that. Having no idea if the sorting hat could find out that I was a completely different person altogether was another matter that didn't help my paranoia. All I knew with absolute certainty was tonight would be a roller coaster of emotions.

Hoping that my nervousness didn't reflect on my face, I replied, "I don't think so. I am neither cunning nor ambitious enough for Slytherin, in my opinion."

Before either of the twins could reply, Lee Jordan exclaimed excitedly, "So, Neville, want to see a tarantula?"

I shrugged, "Sure, I guess."

As soon as he heard my reply, he reached into a box beside and took out what was the biggest spider I had seen in both my lives. He scared the living daylights out of me when he reached out with his hands and asked, "Want to hold it?"

Not waiting for my response, he threw the spider towards me. In my already fearful state, I didn't react on time and the tarantula fell on the floor and scuttled out of the compartment, leaving behind silence in its wake.

In the midst of that silence, I exclaimed, "So, that happened!"

Before anyone else could speak up, our compartment was invaded by a bushy-haired girl who looked around our compartment before her gaze landed on me.

I pointed towards the lump in my pocket and said, "I already have my toad, thank you!"

I received a puzzled look in response before she asked, "What?"

"Nothing!"

I awkwardly shifted my gaze away from her and brought out Trevor from my pocket and began to poke it.

"Which year are you guys in? You don't seem to be first years."

"Astute observation, my lady. We are third years, except Neville over here, with his toad. He is an ickle firstie, just like you."

"Hello, I am Hermione. Would you mind if I asked you a few questions?" Without waiting for a response, she began asking questions at a rapid rate about the school curriculum. Her questions and the speed at which she was talking had us exchanging incredulous looks.

"Is transfigurations as hard as they say? What do we cover in the first year of transfiguration? I imagine it's pretty basic stuff. I hope we get started on non-living to living transfiguration. I have already learned all the course books by heart, of course. I even tried a few spells, although they were very basic, just small charms and the like."

"Heh, lady. I think you might have got the wrong Weasley. My brother, Percy, is the one you are looking for. You might find him in the prefect's compartment."

The other twin continued, "Yes, red hair like us. Puffed up chest. Not as handsome. Might be busy shining his prefect badge."

Hermione huffed at their reply before turning her attention back to me.

"Have you tried any spells?"

"Yeah."

"Show me."

Not knowing how to refute her, I just took out my wand and spelled out, "Lumos"

The compartment was illuminated in bright light before I muttered out, "Nox" and the light was gone as soon as it had started.

"Oh, I have tried that spell too. Although, my light wasn't as bright as yours. Do you know what you might be doing differently?"

I just shrugged at her. "Not really, no."

She got up with a huff after that, "Pleasure meeting you all, I suppose. See you at school."

Before she left though, I spoke up, "Be careful in the corridors. There's a tarantula about."

The rest of the compartment nodded in response to my statement. She gave us all an irritated look before leaving the compartment, shutting the door behind her. There was a silence in the compartment after Hermione left the compartment before Fred asked me, "So, Neville, play any quidditch?"

"Not really. My body doesn't cooperate with me enough. I don't mind watching though. Do you guys play?"

The twins were quick to reply in unison, "Of course we play."

"How could we not play the greatest sport in the world? We are beaters and I'd say we are pretty good since we play for our house team."

I whistled in appreciation, which had them preening a little. The rest of the ride passed in a similar vein, with talks of quidditch and pranks and chocolate frog card collections.

I was so engrossed in the twins' shenanigans that I didn't even realise that we were approaching Hogsmeade. Fred spoke up when the train finally started slowing down, "You'd better change into your school robes. We are approaching Hogwarts."

I looked out of the window that darkness had indeed descended we quickly changed into our robes shortly before the train stopped at Hogwarts.

The platform was as dark as the night was cold. Neville couldn't help but shudder a little, due to the darkness or the cold, he couldn't tell.

A giant man was looming over everyone at the end of the platform. The lovable half-giant, Hagrid.

"Firs' years! Firs' years over here! All right there, Harry?"

Turning to look around at wherever Hagrid was staring, I got my first look at the infamous Harry Potter. The Boy-who-lied. The Chosen One.

He was underwhelming! I knew that he was a malnourished, emotionally abused child but I still expected more. It might have been unreasonable for me to the extreme but it was hard to associate the meek, wide-eyed child in front of me to the vanquisher of Voldemort.

Hagrid quickly led to the boats which didn't look too secure for my liking. But I couldn't bring myself to care as I had caught my sight of the magical castle. An inevitable "Wow!" escaped my lips as I took in the magnificence of the structure in front of me, the promise of a magical future waiting in the halls.

I found myself with three other boys who I couldn't recognise from the books or the movies. All of us just kept to ourselves, busy looking around, or making sure that the rickety boat didn't capsize.

I could barely make out Hagrid shouting, "Everyone in? Right then- FORWARD!"

There was no conversation on the boat as the boats started moving on the lake. The lake remained perfectly still, as not a ripple could be found despite the boats gliding across the lake. I kept glancing towards the lake, hoping for a glimpse of the giant squid but to no avail.

We entered a dark tunnel after ducking under some ivy at Hagrid's alarm which led us directly to a harbor under the ground. No one could hold in their excitement as we disembarked. Even I, an old soul in a new body, found my feet moving slightly faster than normal pace.

Hagrid knocked on the castle door three times and the doors swung open to reveal Minerva McGonagall, looking every bit as stern as the books portrayed her to be. Her eyes scanned through the gathered first years before saying, "Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."

She swung the doors and I felt insignificant for the first time in my either lives. The entrance hall was so big that it could only have been a product of magic. The ancient walls were well by torches that never seemed to dim or waver and the ceiling couldn't be made out.

And all that mattered little to me. For at that moment, magic rushed out towards me, as it had never before. The only thing I could even compare it to was the rush I had gotten when I had held my wand for the first time. Even then, everything was different.

Getting my wand had been an ethereal feeling. A feeling of finally finding the part of you that you weren't even aware of but was missing all the same. Complete and utter faith that no matter how the tide turned, I could count on the complete loyalty of my wand.

The feeling I got from the castle was one of insignificance. Unworthiness. Like I was staring at the ocean from a cliff, knowing that all I could do was look but never comprehend. Never comprehend its depth or the life it contained in it.

The magic emanating from Hogwarts was uncaring and unyielding. As if it didn't care that I walked through its halls and gathered knowledge from it. It would allow no more than that until it judged me worthy. I would never belong, not as long as it didn't want me to. And wasn't that a sobering feeling?!

I looked around at my peers and couldn't help but wonder if any of them hade felt the same thing as I had. I found myself disappointed pretty quickly. Everyone was excited and scared and anticipatory of what lay ahead with the sorting. But no one, not a single soul had learned that the castle had deemed them unworthy of its time as soon as they had entered. They were just another batch of students to it. Like the many who had come before them and the innumerable that would come after.

I realised that I had missed McGonagall's spiel about houses and Malfoy's altercation with Potter while I was busy sorting my emotions. By the time I had gotten ahold of myself, everyone was waiting for McGonagall to come in and escort them to the sorting. Before that could happen, however, the famous ghosts of Hogwarts streamed through the walls in the direction of the first years, causing many of them to startle or even scream in fear.

Finally, McGonagall arrived and escorted them to the Great Hall. The Great Hall was…well…magical. No amount of description could do it justice. The ceiling alone seemed to be a product of magic well beyond the scope of just seven years of studies.

Excited whispers broke out among the rest of the populace as they finally took in a new batch of students entering these hallowed halls. Even I had to admit that it was slightly intimidating to be surveyed by what seemed like the entire hall. It seemed like a massive invasion of privacy to be sorted in front of such a large gathering. The sorting seemed personal, just like getting a wand. Although privacy might be a foreign concept in the magical world, what with legilimency and memory charms.

The sorting hat finally made its appearance as McGonagall placed it onto a rickety stool. Everything was silent for a moment before a seam tore in the hat and it broke into a crescendo, singing about the various qualities that the members of different houses must possess while glorifying its own intelligence. Rather narcissistic, if I may so.

And then, it was finally time for the dreaded sorting. Professor McGonagall stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment before she started calling out names.

"Abbott, Hannah!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!", shouted the Hat.

"Bones, Susan!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

And so it went until my name was called out. The only thing of note that had happened in regards to the main plot was that Hermione Granger had ended up in Gryffindor, although the hat did take its sweet time.

"Longbottom, Neville!"

I stepped forward, hoping against hope that my trepidation wasn't showing. I had barely sat down on the stool before McGonagall dropped the hat on my head.

The hat was silent for a few moments before it finally spoke in its characteristically loud voice in my head, "Oh, thank Merlin, you don't know how relieved I am to meet you!"

To say I was stumped would be an understatement, "What do you mean?"

"Well, you are the first dimension traveller I have met, apart from myself, of course. Do you know how infuriating it is to be a mere object, dependent upon the whims of others?"

Did I say I was stumped? Well, now I was shocked beyond comprehension.

"You are a dimension traveller too?"

"Glad to see you have caught on! Did you think you were unique? Never think that, ever! Yes, I am a dimension traveller too. Although I do like the term 'World Walker'. It has a nice ring to it!"

I took a moment to collect myself as I didn't trust myself to speak. And then, I asked the first question that came to my mind.

"No offence but why the fuck are you a hat?"

The hat made a disgruntled noise at that before replying, "Well, I wasn't one when I arrived in this dimension."

"Well then, why are you one now?"

"You see, I was searching for a way to be immortal. And this was the best I could come up with."

"What, becoming a talking hat?" I couldn't keep the exasperation out of my voice as I couldn't comprehend why anyone would willingly subject themselves to such an existence.

"Well, sorry to disappoint you, Mr. World Walker. But I didn't come from a world where Harry Potter was fiction. So, no foreknowledge. I did the best I could!"

"Cool! You just proved that other dimensions can be travelled to."

"I am not sure. By the way, you will have to research immortality too, you know. Don't think you will survive a dimension jump without it. and no Horcruxes."

"Okay but you gotta help me."

"Oh, I will do what I can! Don't think I can leave the Headmaster's too often, can I? And, remember, when you do figure out a way to leave this place, take me with you."

I nodded mentally before saying, "Can you place me in a house now, Hat?"

"Will do. Any preferences?"

I had thought about it a lot. To accomplish my many goals, I needed to make sure that I didn't have too much attention placed on me and for that, I needed a distraction. A boy-who-lived shaped distraction, to be precise.

"Gryffindor!", I replied emphatically.

"If you are sure, then you better be GRYFFINDOR!"

That last word he said loudly to announce my selection to the whole hall. A smattering of applause broke out before I made to take off the hat only for it to say some final words.

"Remember, this may be a fictional world to you. But these are real people, with real lives. Change things for the better when you can. It would be the least you could do with all the opportunities you have in front of you with your foreknowledge."

"Make a difference, kid!"

Before I could reply, the hat was off my head and I found McGonagall staring at me as I walked down the steps. It seemed as if I had taken up too much time to be sorted as the entire hall was shooting curious glances at me.

I sat down at the Gryffindor before I looked back at my fellow dimension traveller as he sorted Draco Malfoy. Proof that I wasn't alone. Proof of other dimensions.

This changed things!