Harmony and the Philosopher's Stone

3-The Hogwarts Express

The next thing I knew, the girl and I were transported to a different station, with a sign: Platform Nine and Three Quarters.

"We made it!" I said gladly.

"Phew," the girl said. "I thought we were going to get a concussion or something."

The girl and I boarded the train, and walked down the aisle.

"Look," she said. "An empty compartment!"

"What luck," I commented. We went into the compartment. There were two long cushioned seats right across of each other. I sat on one side, and the girl sat on the other.

"So, what's your name?" she asked me.

I thought for a minute. I was ashamed of the name Smith at the moment. She probably didn't care about my last name, though.

"Harmony," I said. "And you?"

"I'm Hermione Granger," she said proudly. "I'm also a muggle born. What about you?"

"What's a muggle born?" I ask stupidly.

Hermione smiled. "A muggle born is someo e who is born into a family of muggles, or non-magical families."

"Well..." I paused. The Smiths were 'muggles', then, but what did that make me? I wasn't born into the Smiths. I didn't even know who my real parents were. I wondered if they were wizards, or if muggle borns were common. "I don't know, actually."

"Oh." Hermione knew that this must have been an uncomfortable subject, so I was thankful when a young boy came to our compartment.

"Help!" he said.

"What? Are you okay?" I asked, concerned.

"No," he said. "I've lost my toad, Trevor!"

Hermione and I exchanged glances.

"Um, I haven't seen a toad-"

"We can help you look for it," Hermione said,  cutting me off. Great, now I have to look for a toad.

"Wait!" Hermione called as the boy left. "What's your name?"

"Neville Longbottom!" he replied, dashing down the corridor.

I closed the door to the compartment, and yanked the curtains closed as much as I could. "I think we should change before we look for a toa, don't you think?" I questioned.

"Right," Hermione said. "Priorities."

I turned my back from Hermione, and quickly swapped the clothes that I was wearing for my robes. When we were finished, the two of us left the compartment.

We went to open a door of a comoartment down the aisle.

"Excuse me," Hermione said, peeking in without knocking. "Have you seen a toad? A boy named Neville has lost one."

The two boys inside the compartment looked quizzically at Hermione. "A toad? No..."

The other boy, one with hair as red as mine, looks up at us. He had a tiny amount of dirt, just on his nose.

In his lap, there was a rat eating away at a bag of junk food that must have been from the trolley. The boy had his wand out, but wasn't using it.

"Oooh! Magic! Are you performing a spell? I've done a few myself, but let me see what you can do." Hermione sat down across from the boys, and I stood in the doorway.

"Uh... I was just going to show Harry here how my brothers turned Scabbers yellow," the ginger said. "By the way, I'm Ron Weasley."

"Pleasure," Hermione responded, disgusted by how Ron was halfway through a bag of colourful jellybeans when he told her.

"Wha abouf youh?" Ron asked me.

"Um, I'm Harmony," I said.

"Oh. Nice to meef youh." Next, Ron muttered something and pointed his wand at Scabbers- but all he accomplished was shooting away the bag of candy that Scabbers was eating out of.

"Let me try," Hermione said- I mean, ordered. Ron set Scabbers down in his lap, and Hermione whispered something. Instantly, the rat turned yellow.

"Wow!" Harry said in amazement.

"Wait, are you Harry Potter?" Hermione asked the dark haired boy.

He almost sighed. "Yes, that's me."

"Awesome. I'm Hermione Granger." Hermione shook his hand, then stood up. "Just tell me if you see a toad, okay? I'm only a couple compartments down. And," Hermione said, looking at Ron, "You have dirt on your nose. Right... there."

Ron looked surprised, then rubbed his nose quite roughly.

"And I would get your robes on, if I were you," Hermione said. "We should be arriving soon."