Bordem and a renewed love of Harry Potter have created this when I should be updating other fics and - probably - doing some school work. Oh well... have fun and R&R please!

It was all very normal; September first – that meant the usual rush to King's Cross and onto the train. As ever, there was traffic and it was more of a hassle than last year to board the locomotive.

Still, Harry and his friends were now on, though there hadn't been time before waving goodbye to find a compartment, which were, as always – packed. Harry sighed as his best friends left for their prefects meeting, enchanting their luggage to follow him as he looked for a relatively empty compartment for the three.

No such luck came until he was nearing the rear of the train where a rather odd sight greeted him.
There were three men in the compartment – well, he hoped they were all male, though the one in black heels was definitely questionable – who wore an odd mismatch of clothes, similar to wizards who knew nothing of the muggle fashions, though the clothing seemed to look oddly normal on each man; there was one with short snow white hair and blood coloured eyes – one eye was covered by the his messy hair - in white boots, which had three clasps on - though only one was fastened, black three-quarter pants, purple button up shirt with a deeper purple cravat and an odd white jacket on top that hung from his shoulders and a small brown, presumably leather, bag with a long chain running from one side to the other so the man could wear it across his shoulder. He also carried a thick and oddly crafted purple cane, which had a slanted top where one normally put their hand.

The next had short auburn hair and thin rimmed oval glasses behind which were light brown eyes, and earrings, which consisted of a thick black strip of fabric with a single gold ring attached in each ear. This man was blushing furiously as the white haired man pulled at the other's shirt; a long-sleeved white button up shirt with the top button left undone and a thin black tie, loosely done around his neck. He also had black trousers on, though they were boot cut and, Harry squinted, was wearing black converses. And judging by the only other occupant of the room, the auburn haired was the normal one.

Looking over to the compartment's last occupant, who was gazing boredly out the window to the rushing scenery and ignoring his companions, had long red hair, with a odd strand that flicked up on top of his head, there was also another strand down the centre of his face that Harry guessed had been tucked behind his right ear with the way it dangled on his face. His eyes were a dull grey tinged with brown, he wore black boots with heels around 4 or 5 inches with some sort of golden clasp where the tongue of a trainer usually went along with close fitting black pants, almost like leggings. His torso was clothed in a white cloak-type garment with a black top part outlined in gold; the inside of the clock was lined in red. He, like the first man, wore a cravat, though his was white.

"What an odd bunch…" Harry couldn't help but think. Though sadly, it was the only compartment spare, so Harry sighed and slid the compartment door open.

"Um… Excuse me?" He asked tentatively. Almost at once all three men reacted and looked at him. The white haired man looked up from his attempts to fluster and embarrass the auburn haired one, his visible eye wide with curiosity, his mouth a small 'o' shape, though he still held the other's white shirt with one hand. The auburn haired man had seemingly become more flustered by Harry's appearance and pulled his arm hard so the other lost his grip, hissing low at the white haired man who simply smiled at whatever had been said. The last occupant looked over to Harry, raising one fine eyebrow at the boy.

"Yes?" The red-head answered, eying Harry in the same manner he had viewed the scenery outside.

Harry stuttered, "Um, well there's no compartments left. And I was wondering if I could join you in this one – and my friends too when their meeting's over!" The white haired man chuckled at the babble-ish words Harry had said, joining his auburn haired companion looking towards the red haired one.

"Go on Lord Barma, the boy clearly has guts for even coming in here." Barma sighed and frowned slightly at the white haired man.

"You may join us. How many acquaintances do you have?" Barma asked flatly, and had Harry not been preoccupied getting all the luggage in – with the help of the other two men – he would have probably scoffed at the man – Barma? – and his formality.

"Just two." Harry said adding as an afterthought, "Sir." Well, for all he knew, one of these men was the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher.

Barma simply nodded and turned back to the window once Harry and the other two were seated, Barma on one side and the other two sat with Harry on the opposite side of the compartment.

"So~? What's your name kid?" The white haired one asked, with a fairly creepy smile on his face. He was then bonked by the auburn haired one, who hissed something about being rude, causing the other to smile more and chuckle, Barma simply sighed and continued to pointedly ignore both men.

Harry blinked. They didn't know him? Well, that was rare. Still, now he knew they won't going to blank him or think of him as a raving nutcase – though Harry generally wondered if any of the men were actually sane or just St. Mungo's escapee's. "I'm Harry, Harry Potter." He answered, doing his best to smile back.

None of them reacted to his name in anyway, it meant nothing to them. How odd.

"I'm known as Xerxes Break." Almost missing the introductions, Harry quickly forced his brain back to the conversation as the white haired man – now Xerxes – introduced himself and his companions, "This is Liam Lunettes," he said indicating the auburn haired man who smiled kindly at Harry, "and this is Lord Duke Rufus Barma." Barma lifted his hand in greeting before dropping it into his lap once more – the only sign he was registering what they were saying.

"It's nice to meet you." Harry said out of courtesy, because really, all he wanted was to be back at the Burrow, or back with Sirius, and find these strange people were some messed up dream. "Um, this may sound stupid, but…Why are you on the train? It's usually only used by students."

"Because we don't know where the school is!" Xerxes exclaimed before his companions could say otherwise.

At Harry's dumbfounded look, Barma decided to explain, "We were requested by the school's headmaster. Rather than give us a location for the school, we were given tickets for this train." The duke answered in a bored manner.

"How come? You're not teaching are you?" Well, there was three and as far as Harry was aware only the Defence Against the Dark Arts position was vacant.

"No, there's been some odd occurrences there recently, which we happen to specialise in – and so the headmaster asked us to sort out the matter-" Liam answered.

"Although, teaching could be fun~" Break finished amused.

Before Harry could inquire what kind of monster, the trolley lady appeared, blinking at the occupants curiously before asking the usual, "Anything off the trolley dears?"

Harry purchased a couple of pumpkin pasties whist Liam bought the three adults a cup of tea each. Break also purchased a chocolate frog and a box of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans, smiling bashfully as the old lady helped him with his wizarding money.

Growing curious at this, Harry raised an eyebrow, "So, you guys aren't wizards then?"

Liam shook his head, while Barma shrugged and said he was good at illusions before going back to his tea. Break meanwhile smirked.

"I'm more of a magician than a wizard." He said, popping an orange bean into his mouth, "huh, carrot?" He blinked, but continued to eat the bean anyway. "I'm also more into practical magic than the mundane stuff people here seem fond of."

Harry blinked, "Eh? But you were having problems with our currency, normally that means you're not familiar with wizards."

Break nodded, "True, but that's mainly because I wasn't schooled in magic, this is my first time in the so-called 'wizarding world'. Though I've used magic regularly for years." A blue bean this time caused Break to smile, "Blueberry." He explained as Liam tentatively picked out a green one, grimacing at the taste and checking the box.

"Odd sock flavour?" Liam asked blinking at the miniscule text on the box.

Harry chuckled as the previous conversation was dropped and he, Break and Liam spent the rest of the train journey trying the different beans in a 'yum yum yack' fashion. Ron later joined the three, whilst Hermione read through her spell book and Barma looked out at the ever darkening sky.

Just to clarify, 'Yum yum yack' was a game in the old tv programme 'Dick and Dom in da Bungalow' where the 'Bungalo-heads' (contestants) would go into the atic with one of the presenters and play this chocolate based game, I think about 5 of the chocolates were yack yacks and if you had 3 you lost. Meh I'll have to find a vid of it on youtube...