“H-Harry! You're Harry Potter!” A girl's shrill voice exclaimed.

Ron heard it, so he ran back down the train's hallway a short distance and looked for the boy that his mother said needed a friend. He saw a familiar bushy hairdo that he had bumped into earlier and she was talking to a handsome boy.

“Ta-da!” The handsome boy said and opened the door to a compartment. “The one and only famous boy who lived.”

“Ha! I knew you couldn't resist...” A boy's voice started to say then the door shut and the sound was muffled.

That can't be him. Ron thought as he walked over to the compartment. He's not wearing glasses. He peeped in through one of the windows and saw two girls and two guys inside.

The handsome boy handed the bushy haired girl a thick book and he had a nice book in his own hands.

Curses and Counter-Curses! Ron thought as he instantly recognized the large book that had been on display in Flourish and Blotts. His heart was filled with envy and longing. Mom cuffed me on the back of the head when I asked her to buy it for me!

“That's much too expensive for a young boy to have, let alone be able to perform the difficult spells inside!” Molly Weasley had said at the time and Ron had retracted his hands from the book.

Ron was tempted to knock and see what was going on, mainly to ask to read the book, then he remembered the mission he was on. He doesn't look like he needs a friend. He thought to himself, immediately dismissing his mother's words and the headmaster's quest.

“Oi!” A gruff voice yelled and Ron turned to look. “We heard a girl yell that she saw Harry Potter! Is he around here or not?”

Ron looked at the larger boy with fear, then caught sight of the second boy beside him that was practically the same size.

“Don't mind them.” A white haired boy said as he pushed the two larger boys aside, then he scoffed when he saw Ron. “Forget what I just said.” He frowned. “It's not hard to tell who you are. Bright red hair... hand me down robes... you're another Weasley.”

The two larger boys let out grunts and made a fist with one hand and slapped them with their other hands, as if warming them up to deliver a pounding.

“Get the blood traitor.” The white haired boy said and the two larger boys stepped forward.

Ron let out a sigh of resignation, because his brothers had warned him about the Slytherins and to be careful of them. He wasn't a snitch, so he didn't point to the compartment he was just looking into to give away where Harry Potter was, though.

The two larger boys swung their fists and Ron managed to dodge one, since he was used to fighting his brothers. Unfortunately, the two larger boys were bulkier than his tall brothers and he only delayed the fists he felt a moment later.

The compartment door opened up and Harry was there with his wand out. “Petrificus Totalis!” He exclaimed and there was a flash of white light. He didn't have to say the spell out loud; but, he had been warned by Bertha to vocalize everything at first and to keep his silent casting tricks to himself. The less people that knew he could do it, the better.

The larger boy was frozen into a statue, just like Dudley had been, and he fell to the floor as the handsome boy cast the spell again and hit the second boy. He became a statue and fell to the floor, too.

“What's going on out here?” Harry asked, anger on his face.

“It's nothing that concerns you.” The white haired boy said and squinted his eyes. There was no way he could get to his wand in time.

“It looks like you're bullying someone.” Harry said and pointed his wand at the other boy.

“He's a Weasley.” Draco spat, almost in disgust. “I don't need any reason other than that.”

Harry smiled and Draco didn't hear the spell as he was caught like the other two and became a statue and fell to the floor.

“Blimey, Harry.” The boy in the compartment with him said as he peered around him. “Do you know who that is?”

“No.” Harry said. “Wingardium Leviosa.” He said and levitated the largest boy over to the side of the train's hallway, then did the same to the second boy. He put the white haired boy on top of the other two like a stack of firewood.

“That's Draco Malfoy.” The boy said and Harry shrugged.

“Th-thanks.” Ron managed to say as he sat up. “Those blokes are heavy.” His face was starting to swell up from the hits he had sustained and Harry pointed his wand at his face. “No! I'm the one they picked on!”

“I know.” Harry said. “Episkey!”

“Ughhhh.” Ron groaned as his face became hot from the minor injury repair spell, then the swelling deflated and the bruise that was starting to form disappeared. He rubbed his face to get the heat to stop, then he realized what had just happened. “You can cast the general healing spell?”

“Yeah.” Harry said and pointed it at his arm and cast it again.

“Owowow.” Ron griped as his forearm was healed, then the spell was cast on his shoulder and chest.

“Anywhere else? I'm just guessing here.” Harry said.

Ron shook his head and then Harry's hand was stretched out to him. “Thanks.” He took the offered hand and stood up. “I'm Ron. Ron Weasley.”

“I'm Harry. Harry Potter.” Harry said and heard several mumbles from the human firewood that he had stacked in the hallway. “I hate bullies.” He said and took a step towards them, then felt a hand take his. He turned to look and Hermione was there.

“It's not worth it.” Hermione said. “Don't become like them.”

“Hermione, wouldn't you want to get back at them for what they did?” Harry asked.

“Yes, but... it's not worth becoming a bully myself.” Hermione said. “Please.”

Harry didn't quite sigh, then looked at Draco. “You're really lucky Hermione's here to stop me.”

Draco mumbled something and Harry didn't have to know what he said to get the gist of it.

“Yeah, I know what people like you are like.” Harry said. “Whenever you want to try it, come and find me.”

Hermione pulled on his hand and he stepped back into the compartment.

Ron stepped into the compartment as well. “We can't just leave them there, can we?”

“Why not? It's only three more hours to the station.” Harry said and shut the compartment door to several chuckles.

Ron sat down after introducing himself to the two Hufflepuff second years, then eagerly read over Harry's shoulder as he looked through the large book of spells.

*

About an hour later, the conductor came across three petrified people stacked in the hallway. He laughed in his mind as he cast the general counter spell to free them from the body bind spell, then shooed them off to their own compartment. For once, he was glad that a student didn't immediately resort to blowing things up during a fight and only subdued his opponents.

He was definitely going to keep an eye on Mr. Harry Potter from now on. He whistled under his breath and continued his rounds to make sure that no one else had gotten out of hand or caused some damage.

*

When the train was half an hour from the station, Harry's watch rang a little bell for him. “It's time to get changed into our robes.” He said, to everyone's surprise. “There's enough time to change and for packing things back up in our trunks.”

“I guess we better go.” Hermione said and closed the very interesting book. “Thanks for letting me read this.”

“You can keep it.” Harry said.

“Wh-what? No, I... there's no way that...” Hermione said, completely flustered.

“I already read it.” Harry said with a shrug. “It's just been sitting on my shelf.”

“I... I'll pay you back for it!” Hermione gushed and hugged it tightly.

Harry had a hard time not laughing at her reaction. “Sure. Let me know when you get a job.”

“In at least seven years!” The Hufflepuff boy said and laughed. “Now that's an investment!”

“Ooo, charge her interest, compounded daily!” His sister said and laughed, too. “She'll owe you for the rest of her life because of one book! Ha ha!”

Everyone started laughing, even Hermione. She knew now that it was a little silly to promise such a thing, so she reached out and took Harry's hand. “Thank you.”

Harry shrugged again. “I copied out what I wanted from it, too.”

“You did?” Hermione asked, surprised. “I thought I was the only one who did that!”

Harry chuckled. “Someone gave me the spell to make my own envelopes from parchment and it was done out just like it was a spell from the school book. That gave me the idea to write out the general household spells the same way. Once I did, I discovered that it was easier to visualize the spells and how they work when I did it.”

“Me, too!” Hermione said. “It's so much easier to learn when you copy it out!”

Harry nodded. “You better get back to your compartment to change.” He said. “Unless you want to wait for me to change and I'll go with you?”

Hermione had to think about it. “Um... I'll...”

“She'll wait.” The Hufflepuff girl said. “Just in case Malfoy and his goons are out there.”

“Good point.” Harry said. “Girls on that side, boys over here.”

Hermione and the Hufflepuff boy switched sides, then Harry stepped in front of his trunk and waved his wand. A bright red curtain appeared between them and cut the compartment in half and everyone gasped at the sight.

“Blimey!” Ron exclaimed. “How did you do that?”

“Madam Malkin.” Harry said and opened his trunk. “I didn't understand why she taught me that spell as a household spell until now.” Harry stepped down the stepladder and took out a set of robes. He came back up and closed the trunk, then quickly changed. Thanks to Madam Malkin's lessons, he dressed almost as quickly as he would have while changing muggle clothes. He waited for the Hufflepuff boy to change, then asked if his sister was done.

“I'm decent.” She responded and Harry dispelled the curtain.

“Let's go.” Harry said to Ron and Hermione, and the three of them left the compartment.

“Blimey.” The Hufflepuff boy said. “He sure is something.”

“Yeah.” His sister said. “I regret scoring so high on my exams last year now.”

Her brother laughed and put an arm over her shoulders. “As second years, we'll probably never see him again.”

“Unless he gets sorted into Hufflepuff.” She said, then the two of them laughed. After what they had seen him do to Malfoy and his goons, there was only one house that Harry was going into, and they both knew what it was.

It has to be... Griffindor!