Chapter 1
Trains and Talks

September 1, 1991

Kings Cross Station, London, UK

Harry Potter maneuvered his way through the crowd of hugging and crying families and to the train. Hagrid had abandoned him after their trip to Diagon Alley with only the instructions to: "Find yer way to tha wall between Platforms Nie and Ten. The' yer take off runnin' throu' tha wall." Harry did exactly that.

Once on the train, Harry entered the first compartment with someone close to his age in it.

"Can I — uh — you know — uh — sit with you?" Harry stuttered.

The girl turned her head and her blonde locks spun around her head, glittering in the sunshine. Her cold, violet blue eyes met his emerald irises as she spoke. "Fine, but don't expect me to speak to you."

Harry muttered a thanks as he refused to back down. He felt as if she had challenged him and he promised himself that he would be braver and more outgoing once starting this school. His aunt, uncle, and cousin had already taken too much from him in the past, but they would not take away his chance at making friends simply because he was too nervous.

He lifted his trunk to the bars above the seats. He softly sat, but was on edge from the awkward silence in the compartment. Soon after, another girl with long brown hair and bright blue eyes bounced into the cabin like a tennis ball.

"Hey Daphne!" She exclaimed. "Are you ready to start school? We've been waiting for this forever!" Finally looking over at the other occupant of the compartment, she added, "Who are you?"

"I'm Harry Potter," Harry answered, already exasperated by her very bubbly personality.

She laughed. "You're funny. Who are you really?"

"No, I'm really Harry Potter. Why is that so funny?" He asked, genuinely confused.

Until then, Daphne had done little more that look at the other girl with a warm smile. Now, however, she gazed at Harry with interest.

"Stop lying. If you're really Harry Potter then you wouldn't be so confused," Daphne said thoughtfully.

"I thought you weren't going to talk to me," Harry retorted to Daphne.

"Well things change," she snapped back.

"Okay, whatever, you two," the other girl snapped. "Back to the important stuff. Do you really not know who Harry Potter is?"

"Well, of course I do. I am Harry Potter. I just don't understand why the fact that I'm him matters," Harry huffed.

"Because you're the Boy-Who-Lived!" The brunette nearly shouted.

The train's whistle sounded loudly, and the train began to rattle as it went along the tracks. "Tracey! Calm down. He's obviously messing with us," Daphne scolded the other girl who was now identified as Tracey.

"I'm really not. Yes, I'm Harry Potter. I was raised by my non-magical aunt and uncle, and I had no idea that magic existed until less than a week ago. Now why am I so important in your society?" Harry asked in a raised, exasperated tone.

"Because you're the Boy-Who-Lived," Tracey said quietly. Not understanding, Harry raised an eyebrow at both her and Daphne.

"Here, I'll explain," Daphne said after letting out a huff of air.

Daphne went on to explain how the Potters were killed in an accident on Halloween night of 1981. She explained that the dark lord of the time, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, killed Harry's father before facing his mother. He shot a killing spell at the baby but Harry's mother jumped in front of the toddler and took the curse instead. With Harry's mother then dead, the Dark Lord had a clear shot at Harry. No one knows why exactly, but the curse did not kill the boy, but instead caused You-Know-Who to die. Harry was left with a lightning shaped scar and he dropped off the map.

Harry showed the two girls his scar by lifting the hair from his forehead. Their eyes grew wide at this revelation of the scar.

"You— you really are Harry Potter." Tracey scampered.

Daphne was opening and closing her mouth like a fish. "I — I don't understand. How is that the first time you've been told that story?"

"I really don't know." Harry answered glumly. "My aunt and uncle told me that my parents died in a car accident and that the scar was a result of that.

Daphne seemed to get a grip and her face suddenly morphed into a blank mask. "Stop it with the Ice Queen persona, Daph," Tracey said with a roll of her eyes.

"How many times have I told you to not call me Daph?" The blonde answered dryly.

There was a knock on the compartment door as a woman opened it with a trolley. "Food."

"Here, give me as much as this will buy." Harry said, handing the woman a handful of golden coins from his pocket. Tracey and Daphne's eyes bugged out as they handed her a few coins and asked for certain candies. "I'll share. I figure that will buy a lot based on your faces." Harry told the girls.

"Okay, thanks!" said Tracey.

The woman handed the three young children an assortment of candies.

"So I take that the two of you know what school will be like," Harry said in an attempt to gain some knowledge so he did not appear to be an idiot when he entered the school.

"Pretty much. What do you want to know?" Daphne said while opening a package of jelly beans with the name Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans on the front.

"I don't know — everything?" Harry answered.

"Well first of all, there will be a sorting hat there to sort us into our houses when we get there. The houses are Slytherin, the house for the sly and cunning; Gryffindor, the house for the brave and rash; Ravenclaw, the house for the smart people; and Hufflepuff, the house of the loyal. Most purebloods, like myself, are in Slytherin. Tracey is a half-blood but will still likely be in Slytherin." Daphne said off-handedly, pausing ever so often to inspect one of the beans before eating it.

"What are purebloods?" Harry asked.

"There are three blood types in the wizarding world. There are muggleborns, witches and wizards that were born from non-magical parents; half-bloods, witches and wizards who have a muggle or muggleborn parent along with a half-blood or pureblood parent; and finally, there are purebloods. They are born to the families that have almost no association with muggles or muggleborn." Tracey said.

Harry opened a package titled chocolate frog, and the frog-shaped chocolate jumped onto the window. Harry yelped in surprise before snatching it out of the air before it landed on Daphne's face.

"Wow. You'd be a great seeker!" raved Tracey.

"A — what?" Asked Harry.

"A player in the wizarding game quidditch." Daphne clarified.

"I'll ask about that in a second but first of all, who is this and why is he moving?" Harry asked, referring to the card he was holding from the chocolate frog package.

Daphne laughed and Tracey said, "That's Dumbledore, the headmaster at Hogwarts, and he is moving because that's what magical photos do."

Daphne and Tracey continued to explain things about the wizarding world to Harry as the train continued on its path. When it was time to get off, the trio headed to the boats that Hagrid was shouting about.

A/N I'm going to end it here. This was a little long for my usual chapters, but I plan on making further chapters longer.

I am trying to decide if I want Harry in Gryffindor or Slytherin in this but I cannot decide. Review and tell me what you think. That does not mean that this is another of my trademark make-it-up-as-I-go fanfics because I have plenty of plans.

I hope y'all liked this first chapter! I know it was kinda boring but it's setting the scene and I wanted it to be kind of funny. I'll try to update once a week, probably on Sundays but no promises.

10-1-19 Fixed some mistakes pointed out to me in reviews.

-T