One Day They'll Know Your Name

Nameless

The next month was filled with reading his books and exploring the alley. Harry became relatively good friends with Tom, who once he was past the whole Harry Potter thing was actually pretty decent. Harry read through all of his books at least once, and his books about the wizarding world in general he read several times. He didn't want to stand out more than he already did.

On September first, Harry grabbed his trunk and lugged it downstairs. He asked Tom to shrink it for him so he would be able to carry it easier and got directions for how to get onto Platform 9 ¾. He then went outside, found a relatively deserted area, and held out his wand. According to Tom, there was a bus that helped any wizards who needed transportation, so he decided to try it out. A triple decker bus slammed into the pavement next to him.

"'Ello, I'm Stan Shurnpike. Welcome to the Knight Bus, transport for the standard wizard. Where ya headed?"

Harry got on the bus and asked for King's Cross station. He was barely seated before the bus suddenly zoomed off the curb. The seats slid around, and if Harry wasn't almost carsick, he'd think it was the most brilliant thing in the world. Actually, he still did think it was the most brilliant thing he'd experienced, except the goblin carts.

A few moments later, the Knight Bus slammed back onto a curb, this time at King's Cross. He found the right pillar, took a glance around to make sure no one was watching, and ran through it, not quite trusting that it would let him through. It did, and he found himself on the platform. He stood there for a moment, allowing himself a full minute of gaping before getting his expression mostly under control, although he couldn't help the huge grin as he continued to look around. He quickly found an empty compartment on the train and pulled out one of his books after tapping his wand to his trunk to unshrink it like Tom had said to do. He had bought a couple more books to supplement his school books, noticing that the potions book just gave instructions but didn't give detailed instructions like how to cut ingredients if the directions called for a specific cut, and that a few other of the books were also infuriatingly vague.

A few moments later, a red headed family came bursting through the barrier, with three boys, who he assumed was their mother, and a girl. The youngest boy looked to be about Harry's age, and he hoped they could be friends. Harry had never had friends and more than one friend would be amazing. Two of the boys were almost exactly identical. Harry couldn't tell them apart, but he knew that even identical twins had some distinction between each other. The oldest boy looked very uptight and like he was a teachers' pet.

In a stroke of luck, the boy his age came to his compartment. "Can I sit with you? I'm Ron Weasley, by the way."

Harry thought for a moment, then decided to play a slight joke on Ron. "Harry Carmichael. Is this your first year?"

"Yeah! What House are you hoping for? I'm hoping for Gryffindor, personally, all my family have been there. I've heard that all Slytherins are slimy snakes, but so are my twin brothers, Fred and George, and they're in Gryffindor. Plus they're not too bad, except when they put spiders in my bed," Ron rambled.

"I don't know what House I'll be in. I wouldn't mind any of them really. They all sound fascinating. I met one boy who hopes he's in Slytherin, and you hope you'll be in Gryffindor. I honestly don't mind where I go."
Speak of the devil, Draco came to the compartment just then. "Hello, Harry," he said. "I see you found your way to the train well enough."

"Yes, thanks," Harry replied politely. "Ron, this is Draco, the friend I told you about who wants to be in Slytherin. Draco, this is Ron, my other friend. I hope you'll be friends too, it'd be brilliant to have friends in other houses no matter where I end up."

Draco looked a little put out, but in the end he seemed to decide that it was worth whatever trouble he seemed to think it was. Ron also agreed. Harry was thrilled.