A Trio of Serpents

2: James

Summary: Ron gets his letter. And meets a potential friend.

All his life, Ron had known he was a wizard. He came from a magical family, after all, the Weasleys. But sometimes it could be overwhelming, especially when you have six siblings, only one of them being younger.

Bill and Charlie had left Hogwarts already and were doing their own things. Percy would be next in three years, and Ron could see a successful future for him as well. Even Fred and George, as much as they goofed off, would probably find something in life to accomplish.

And Ron? Well, he didn't know what he'd do. Or what his parents would think of him even if he was successful. If he became prefect or Head Boy, someone would've already earned it. Made the Quidditch team once past first year, Charlie had been there, done that.

So when his letter arrived, Ron didn't feel quite as elated as he probably should have felt. If anything, he became anxious when he overheard his mother fretting in a hushed voice to his father about how expensive everything would be.

Secondhand. He always got secondhand. Ron didn't blame his parents for it — he knew it wasn't their fault — but there was something depressing about never getting something of your own. Percy had gotten a new owl for his new status as prefect, but Ron was stuck with his pet rat, Scabbers, who was probably the most useless pet ever.

Still, Ron took very good care of him. And he sometimes asked Percy for advice when Scabbers was looking ill since he had been Scabbers' previous owner.

Ron's mother, Molly, took him, Percy, and the twins to Diagon Alley the next day to get their supplies for the year. Ron didn't really need too much. He was to use his brothers' robes and wand, but they had to get new books since some of the ones they had were falling apart.

Fred and George went off to to look at Zonko's and Percy went with them to ensure they stayed out of trouble, leaving Ron and Molly alone in Flourish and Blott's.

As Molly went to checkout, Ron wandered off to look at some other books. He knew he wouldn't be able to get any of them, but that didn't mean he couldn't look.

In one of the aisles, there was a small, scrawny boy with messy black hair reading. Ron caught a glimpse of what the page he was on had and made a small noise of recognition.

"Reading about Harry Potter?"

The boy tensed and slowly nodded.

"Everyone likes to talk about him," Ron said. "Kinda gets tiring after a while. I don't know about him, but I don't think being orphaned by a dark wizard is something he'd want to be reminded of constantly."

The boy cast a sidelong glance at him. "No, I don't think he would. What would you do if you met him?"

"I'd be surprised, of course. I won't lie, I wouldn't mind meeting him. But he probably has better things to do than hang out with a blood traitor."

"A what?"

Ron looked at him. He must be Muggle-raised. "Blood traitors are wizards and witches who associate with Muggles and Muggle-borns in some way. Non-magical people," he added for the other boy's benefit.

The boy considered this. "I think Harry Potter would like you all right."

Ron doubted it, but he didn't object. "My name's Ron, by the way. What's yours?"

"Uh, James."

"See you at Hogwarts, James." Ron went back to his mother, who had just finished paying.

"Who was that boy you were talking to?" she asked as she put the books into her bag.

"His name's James. Think he's a first year."

"He certainly looks pretty small," Molly said, casting an anxious glance to where the boy was walking out.

Now that she mentioned it, Ron remembered how skinny he had been. He hoped his parents didn't treat him badly.

"Come along, Ron. We need to find your brothers."

"Probably still at Zonko's," Ron muttered, but followed anyway.

Most of the chapters will be from Harry's perspective and hopefully longer. But I'm going to try not to focus too much on word count. If a chapter only has 600 words, it only has 600 words.