disclaimer: i don't own any of the characters the only thing that i thought of on my own is the story prompt for this piece

She looked through the compartment door and saw him sitting there, looking small, lonely and quite pathetic in his shabby muggle clothing. In that moment a dozen thoughts flew through her mind.

What if he's just like the stories?

What if he isn't?

What if he's a stuck up jerk and refuses to talk to me?

What if the rumors are true and he's the next Dark Lord just waiting to ascend?

What if he's nothing like that and I'm pre-judging him just like a pure blooded bigot?

What if he's just lonely? What if he just needs a friend?

What if this is the chance of a lifetime and I'm about to pass it up because I'm afraid of rejection?

Will he like me?

Will he push me away like a spoiled brat?

Will we even be in the same house at school?

Does it really matter?

Am I brave enough to walk up to a lonely boy without any friends and risk rejection by saying hello?

She ignored all but the last question, to which she answered:Yes I am.

She gathered her courage and did the bravest thing she had ever done in her short life. She opened the door and walked in. As she entered the nearly empty compartment she said,more confidently than she felt, "Hi, I'm Susan Bones, can I sit here?" And in that moment her entire destiny changed. No longer was she destined to be the shy Hufflepuff relegated to a supporting role in the coming months and years of war and hardship for the wizarding world.

She was now and forevermore Susan Bones, best friend and companion of Harry Potter through all of his trials and tribulations for the next seven years and beyond.

-scene break-

Harry and Susan's point of view

Harry saw her hesitate for a couple of seconds out in the hallway before entering the compartment.

He knew how famous he was in this world, and he knew that a modest amount of hero worship was to be expected, he had already experienced it in the form of the patrons of the leaky cauldron on the day he went shopping for school supplies. By his reasoning the children of his new world should have at least twice the reaction that he had gotten from the adults, and yet not much had really happened on the platform nor had it happened yet on the train, other than those twins' reactions. He fully expected their younger brother to show up at some point, after their over-affectionate mother was finished with him of course.

And now here was this girl just walking in and introducing herself like nothing interesting had happened, she certainly didn't seem to care that he was hailed as the savior of the wizarding world before he was even two years old. In that moment all of his thoughts and plans on how to respond to his hero-worshiping fan-girls went out the window, at least where this girl was concerned. But just to be sure that his last month spent locked in a dark bedroom wasn't completely wasted he decided to test her once to be sure he was right. After she introduced herself he responded in his best James Bond voice, "Hello Susan, My name is Potter, Harry Potter."

She giggled a little to herself and answered, "Okay Potter, Harry Potter, can I sit here or not?"

"Sure, you passed my test, so be my guest." then laughed a little at his unintentional rhyme scheme.

He was surprised to find Susan laughing with him.

He stopped laughing and started to wonder about this strange girl sitting across from him.

"Susan, can I ask you a question?"he asked tentatively. She nodded and replied, "sure Harry ask away."

"Why are you so different?" she gasped a little at his abrubt and slightly rude question. But thankfully he realized what he had done and quickly corrected himself. "What I mean is: why didn't you swoon or run away form me or act like a hero-worshiping fan-girl when you saw me? What's so different about you that prevented one of those reactions? That's all I expected to get from everyone I saw at school for at least a month."

She pondered that question for a moment before answering.

"There's a very simple answer to your question Harry, but it comes with a long story that I don't want to get into at the moment in case we get interrupted so you'll have to settle with the short version for the moment."

She took a deep breath and continued, "Put into simplest terms, you and I are members of the same club, the club nobody wants to be in."

Harry was slightly perplexed at this, the Dursley's never let him do anything, let alone join a club, not even one that nobody wants to be in! Susan paused in her explanation to let the ramifications sink in, but seeing his confused face she decided to explain further.

"The club is one nobody wants to be in because somebody you know and care for has to die in order for you to get in. Both of us are in a special part of the club because both of us are orphans. I know your whole story Harry. Not the one that the rest of the world knows, I know the real one. The one where a fifteen month-old baby is left alone in the world with relatives he hardly knows to grow up without his parents, and he can't even remember them enough to be able to feel bad about it." she started tearing up as she said these things.

When she began to cry harry had no idea what to do, so he did the only thing a ten year-old boy could do, he started panicking. Until he remembered a day several years ago when another girl had been crying in the park near his house. She was sitting on a bench and a woman was hugging her. It occurred to him that maybe he should hug this girl, even though they had met barely five minutes ago. He moved to sit next to her and tentatively put his arm around her back and gave her a one-armed hug, he started in surprise when she grabbed him with both arms and began crying into his chest, after a few seconds he realized that this was what he needed to do in order to comfort her and began to hug her back, a real hug this time, not a fake one armed hug that would only fell awkward to the both of them. He realized suddenly that this was the first hug that he had ever gotten and it was because he accidentally made a very nice girl cry with his thoughtless words. It never occurred to him that she may have made herself cry by her own explanation, and that she was crying for him as much as for herself. After she stopped crying harry tentatively let her go and tried to apologize for making her cry. But Susan wouldn't hear of it. As she explained what had really happened,harry began to understand slightly.

"I made myself cry, Harry. I just thought of how neither of us has never known our parents."

Harry nodded in understanding.

"But why did the thought of me not having parents either make you sad? And how did you even know that? Nobody else seems to realize it."

"You don't know it but we've seen each other before today. It was five years ago. I was beginning to ask my auntie some very difficult questions about my parents, finally she couldn't avoid it any longer and she had to explain how my parents were dead. But how do you explain death to a six year old? Obviously, she found it hard to explain it in terms that I could understand. But Finally she thought of a way, as the new head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement she was privy to certain information, specifically the area where you were living. She was the only person with high enough clearance to deal with accidental magic done by the Boy-Who-Lived, because for some reason your location is top secret, not even the minister of magic knows. Anyways, one day she found an incidence of accidental magic in a park by your house."

Harry interrupted, hoping to inject some levity into the morbid conversation and cheer up his friend, "Hey I remember that day! Aunt Petunia had cut my hair in a stupid way and then took us to the park to show Dudley off to the neighbors again, I didn't want anyone to see my haircut but Mrs. Figg was sick and Aunt Petunia wouldn't let me wear a hat. She didn't notice my hair had grown back until we got home, she was so mad, I was in my cupboard for..." he trailed off, his desire to cheer up his new friend having overridden his sense of shame about his treatment for a few seconds. He desperately hoped that she wouldn't notice the cupboard comment, but she had. "For what?" She asked curiously.

Harry looked down in shame as he answered, "For two weeks."

Susan gasped in surprise and anger at the woman who would do a thing like that to such a sweet boy. Susan was sure that she would have to drag his past out of him kicking and screaming, but she would get to the bottom of the puzzle known as Harry Potter. For now she had a story to finish before she lost the nerve to tell it.

"We'll have to have a talk about that later, but for now I need to finish my story. Now, as I was saying before you so rudely interrupted me," she said with a fake glare in his direction, "Aunt Amelia had been waiting for awhile to be able to explain my parents' deaths to me and she hit on a good idea. She knew the real story, the one that was told before the journalists found out about what happened and changed it to be more heroic. So, after she'd handled the people who saw your accidental magic she went to our house and picked me up from the babysitter, saying that she wanted to take me out for lunch. The place she really took me was the park by your house. She sat me on the bench and explained to me your real story and how your parents had died as heroes, and explained what it meant for you, that you were an orphan. She then explained how my parents died in the same way, as heroes, and that I was an orphan just like you. After that she held me as I cried my eyes out for twenty minutes before she took me home and took the rest of the day off just to be with me as I grieved for my parents. I'm sorry to say it but there were times that the only thing that kept me going was the fact that I wasn't alone, that you were in the same situation I was. Whenever I felt lonely I'd remember that somewhere out there was a little boy my age who felt the same pain I did and I knew that if he could get through it then so could I."

Harry sat speechless for a second before he fully comprehended what she had been saying.

"But you didn't answer my real question. I wanted to know what you see me as? Since you have such a different reaction to seeing me." he asked quietly. "I don't feel like some amazing hero or super powered savior of the world. I don't want to be any of those things they've been saying I am. I just want to be a normal boy with normal friends going to a normal school for a normal education."

Susan looked at him for a moment as if considering how to word her answer, which indeed was exactly what she was doing.

"I really did answer your question but I did it in the way that you least expected. Here's the shortest version I can offer you. I see a boy who was alone in the world until just a few minutes ago. I see a future leader of our world. I see a boy who will never be normal, going to a school that is anything but normal, who will most likely never make normal friends and will probably never have a normal life, all because he is a wizard. I see a boy who has no idea of the implications his fame has for his life. I see a boy who isn't normal even in the magical world. But most of all, I see a boy, who is still the same as any other boy, I see you Harry, not Harry Potter the Boy-Who-Lived, I see just Harry. A boy who I would very much like to be my friend."

Harry's face had gone through so many emotions in the last fifteen seconds that it would have been funny if not for the seriousness of the conversation. After a few seconds of thoughtful contemplation, mostly to translate her words into terms he could readily understand. He looked up straight into her eyes and said four words.

"Friends it is then."

Susan was so happy that she hugged him again without realizing what she was doing. What surprised both of them was the fact that Harry didn't flinch or even try to get away as he should have, and would have even five minutes ago. They didn't realize it, but this was his monumental first step on the road to recovering from his mentally abusive relatives.

A/N: this may be a one shot or i may continue it. i left it open for either case. if anyone wants to continue it for me then just message me your idea and i'll probably give you permission to use it along with any ideas i have for the future of this fic if i have any.

A/N2: yes susan seems older than 11 but she grew up with the most powerful woman in the wizarding world as her role model, of course she's going to be mature about this. she's also had 5 years to think on this stuff as well. the idea for the club nobody wants to be in is not mine but i forget where i read about it.