Better be Ravenclaw

chapter 1

Harry Potter looked around the platform. How was he supposed to get onto it? "I'm glad that Professor McGonagall told me what to do," he heard a female voice say.

He recognized that name. It was on his letter from Hogwarts. Harry turned his head to look at the girl that had spoken. She had bushy brown hair and warm brown eyes. He walked over to her, "Excuse me, are you going to Hogwarts?"

"Yes," she nodded, "you too?"

"Yeah but the thing is......the thing is......I don't know how to get onto the platform. And you mentioned Professor McGonagall but someone else came for me and he didn't tell me."

"Oh it's easy," she smiled at him. "I'm Hermione Granger, and these are my parents Doctors Dan and Emma Granger. They're dentists."

"I'm Harry Potter," he responded. "It's nice to meet you both," he nodded to her parents.

"Likewise Harry," Dan said, shaking his hand. "We can't go, but the professor said that you just walk through that barrier. We'll stay here until you both go through."

Hermione looked at it, "We should be able to go together. It's very early to go, yes, but Professor McGonagall said that it was better to go early."

"My relatives dropped me off," Harry said, his ears turning red.

"It's okay Harry. Come on, we can go through together," she smiled gently. Harry decided he liked this girl. She also came from the muggle world, and while she looked confident her eyes betrayed her nervousness.

They crossed through the barrier and stared, wide-eyed, at the train. "Wow," he breathed.

"That was cool," she smiled. She looked at him, "Harry, do you want to get a compartment together? It'd be nice to have someone to talk to."

Harry nodded, smiling at her. They realized they had their pick. They were the only ones there. Harry helped her get her trunk up and then she helped him. They sat down and Hermione smiled at him. "Your parents seem nice," he said. "Thanks for telling me how to get onto the platform. Hagrid didn't tell me."

"You're welcome. But why didn't you know?"

"Well my parents are dead and I live with my aunt and uncle and cousin. They're muggles."

Her eyes grew wide, "You're the Harry Potter, aren't you?"

Harry nodded, "Yeah but why does that matter?"

"Oh I got plenty of extra books so that I could try to understand the wizarding world," she got up and opened her trunk to pull out a couple of them, "This one is supposedly about you."

"What do you mean by 'supposedly'?" Harry asked, accepting the book from her and skimming the summary on the inside of the dust jacket.

"Well you're only 11 and if you've lived with muggles until now how could anyone claim to know your life story? Plus they don't mention abuse and I can clearly see you have been Harry." She smiled sadly at him, "If that upsets you I'm sorry."

Harry ran his hand through his hair, "No I guess it's easy to tell. I'm wearing my obese cousin's clothes. They only ever give me his hand-me-downs."

"Maybe we should talk to someone at the school. They could help you."

That was not a bad idea, in Harry's mind. "I guess we could try it. No one's ever believed me before. The Dursleys just tell people I'm violent."

She sat down next to him and squeezed his hand, "I was bullied in my primary school Harry. I understand what that's like."