When Darkness Falls

Chapter Two - The Sorting Hat

Harry Potter sat alone on the Hogwarts Express, he had locked the doors and was gazing out of the window lost in thought. It was only twelve o'clock and yet so much had happened that day, he had met a family of overly helpful people, been told to run through a brick wall (and done it), been stared at so much that he couldn't wait to learn some decent hexes and had seen the first person who did not seem to like him. The boy's mother had called him Ronald before she clutched onto his arm again, Harry had wondered why that was, the boy called Ronald had been looking miserable and scowled at her when she did it. Ronald had also scowled at him, Harry supposed it was because the family had not realised who he was, but it was better than being followed by a hundred beady eyes. Harry's interest in the boy was not that, however, it was the feeling that Ronald was giving off, Harry could see it in his eyes that he longed to be free of that family. For some reason, Harry agreed with him, even though he had longed for a family of his own, that family was large and almost seemed suffocating, all talking at once, rowdy and all too eager to help others, even though they were late themselves. As Ronald was a first year, Harry knew he would see him again, not that he knew much about Hogwarts, he had read Hogwarts: A History, but that only told him about the castle and its founders, rather than the way it worked. He knew that there were four houses that each of the founders had created, however, due to the lack of information that the book held about the school life itself, Harry did not know what each house was like or how he would be sorted into one. When someone knocked on the door, Harry's first instinct was to be annoyed and as he believed it to be a group of wide-eyed fans, he ignored it. However, when the knock came a second time Harry glared at the door, he was frustrated at the rudeness of the people at Hogwarts and he had not even arrived yet. On the third knock, Harry unlocked the door and was about to tell the person to 'shove off and find their own compartment', when he noticed a familiar head of red hair. "It's you," Harry said bluntly instead of shutting the door in his face.
"It's me, could I sit in here? Everywhere else is full," Ronald said, it was clear that he still had not realised who he was as the boy was not excited about the arrangement.
"Umm, sure," Harry replied and let Ronald into the compartment, he sat down on the opposite seat to Harry.
"I'm Ronald Weasley." He said after a few moments.
Harry groaned internally as it meant that he had to introduce himself, the boy would have found out eventually anyway. "Harry, Harry Potter." To Harry's surprise, his answer was met with a slight grimace.
"Out of all the compartments I could have chosen," Ronald muttered to himself.
"Now do you see why I had the door locked?" Harry replied.
"Don't try getting buddy-buddy with me." Ronald snapped, which Harry was certainly surprised about, everyone else had been trying to talk to him, this only intrigued him more.
"And why is that?" Harry asked coolly.
"Because I do not want to be risking my life on some heroic escapade of yours that you are bound to have by the second week." Ronald huffed as though it was an obvious reason.
"Whoever told you I had no sense of self-preservation?" Harry said. "Oh wait, it was probably every person you've ever met as they all think they know me."
Now Ronald was surprised, the Harry Potter he had heard stories about was a hero, usually, heroes came with an entire set of heroic traits, yet this boy showed no signs of any of them. It did not seem that he was selfless, or that he adored his loving fans, he did not have a well-mannered attitude and it seemed as though he disliked being a hero just as much as Ronald disliked him for it. "You mean to say that you're not the self-sacrificing goody-two-shoes that you're made out to be?"
"Took you long enough to realise." Harry shook his head. "Why does something I don't even remember have to define all my characteristics?"
"You're The Boy Who Lived, that's why," Ronald said bitingly.
"Well that's a load of rubbish, were people really that desperate for Voldemort to be gone that they thought a one-year-old had killed him?" Harry shook his head again.
"It appears so." For the first time since they met, Ronald smiled at him. "It seems to me that you're a lot more interesting than the papers make you out to be."
Harry smiled back. "Nice to know that you see past the articles." Harry offered Ronald his hand, whose smile grew and he shook it firmly.