Ronan waited for a few seconds and then Harry came along from the barrier. The boy had a big smile on his face seeing the scarlet stream engine and the varieties of wizards and witches on the platform. It is then Ronan moved forward, “Wanna look for a seat together,” the boy nodded, and off they went.
The first few carriages were already packed with students, some hanging out of the window to talk to their families, some fighting over seats. They pushed their trolley off down the platform for an empty seat. They pressed on through the crowd until they found an empty compartment near the end of the train. Harry put his white owl, Hedwig, inside first and then started to shove and heave his trunk towards the train door. Ronan moved and helped him get his trunk inside.
Then Harry helped him get his trunk inside, and they finally sat down on their seats, with beads of sweat on both of their foreheads. Their trunks were very heavy.
“So Harry,” the boy looked at him, “Excited for school?”
“Kind of. I am very nervous, you see I dont know anything about magic. I only got familiar with it recently.”
He waved his hand, “Dont worry about that. I am a muggle-born. According to Professor Sprout, there is no difference between people like us and people born in magical families.”
“Well, that is good to hear, by the way, who is Professor Sprout?”
“She is a professor of magical plants or something. She was the one who took me to buy stuff for the school.”
“I was taken by Hagrid, he is a gamekeeper of the school.” It was then a whistle sounded, and Weasleys who were outside their compartment started hurriedly boarding the train.
“So where are you from Ronan?” Harry asked, “Me, I am from Little Whinging, Surrey.”
“Really? I am from there as well?”
This time Ronan was surprised, “Really? Where did you go to school?”
“St. Grogory’s” And now he was taken aback, he went there as well, “You are kidding me, I went there as well.”
Harry was surprised as well, “How come we have never met before?”
“Oh.” Ronan finally understood why he hadn't seen Harry before, “I studied in 12th grade, you must have been in what, 5th grade?”
It was then Harry opened his wide apart, “I do know you.. You are Ronan Johanson, the genius kid who was about to graduate from school at 11.”
“Oh, so you have heard of me?” Harry nodded, “Everyone in the school has heard of you, it is just that I never saw you before.”
“That would be on me, I used to spend a lot of my time in the Library.”
The door of the compartment slid open and the youngest redheaded boy came in.
“Anyone sitting there?” he asked, pointing at the seat opposite to Harry, beside Ronan. “Everywhere else is full.” Ronan shook his head and the boy sat down.
“Hello there, My name is Ronan Johanson.” The red-haired boy shook his hand, “Ronald Weasley.” Then Harry also put his hand in front of the boy, “Harry Potter,” Ron smiled at him.
Ronan noticed that there was a black mark on Ron’s nose, before he could say something about it, their compartment door slid open.
“Hey, Ron.” The twins were back. “Listen, we’re going down the middle of the train… Lee Jordan’s got a giant tarantula down there. And word is that Longbottom is also on this train, we will go search for him as well,” The surname Longbottom felt familiar to Ronan, but he couldnt put his finger, where he heard that name.
“Right,” mumbled Ron.
“Hey,’ said the other twin, “Did we introduce ourselves? Fred and George Weasley. And this is Ron, our brother.”
Ronan smiled at the twins, “Ronan Johanson” and then Harry spoke, “Harry Potter.” The twins nodded, “See you later, then.”
“Bye,” said the trio and the twins slid the compartment door shut behind them.
It is then Ronan tried gathering some information, “So, who is Longbottom again?”
Ron turned towards him, “You dont know him? You must be a muggle-born.” He nodded, “That I am.”
“Well, Longbottom is the hero of the wizarding world. He is the one who perished, you know who.”
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“I know who?” He questioned.
“You know… You know who…” He didnt understand, “I dont what are you talking about,”
It is then Harry spoke, “He means Voldemort, he was an evil wizard.” Ron flinched when Harry spoke the name of the evil wizard, while Ronan on the other hand was shocked.
‘AYO! Wait a minute! Wasn't Harry supposed to be the one who killed that snake-nose bastard? How come another guy killed him, and who the hell is this Longbottom fellow?’
“So, what is the deal with this Longbottom fellow?”
Then Ron proceeded to tell them about the story of how Voldemort perished at the hands of Neville Longbottom. How Alice and Frank Longbottom were killed by Voldemort on 31st October, and Voldemort wasn't able to kill their small baby. While Ron was telling the story, Ronan noticed that Harry got very uncomfortable with it, but he didnt ask what was bothering him. He wanted information first.
After they were done, Harry asked the question “Are all your family wizards?”
While Ronan got busy with his thoughts…
‘Alright, so this is an alternate version of the universe. My little sister told me about fan fiction that she had read, in which such a small difference could change the canon forever. But that doesn't mean I cannot navigate through it. I just need to concentrate.’
And there were other questions that were bothering him as well, like if Harry’s parents weren't killed by the snake bastard, then what happened to them? Are they alive, and if they are then how come he is living with the Dursleys? He knew for a fact that Harry was living with that family because of his clothes, as they were oversized, which was the biggest sign that he was living with Dursleys.
While they had been talking, the train had carried them out of London. Now they were speeding past fields full of cows and sheep. They were quiet for a time, watching the fields and lanes flick past. Around half past twelve, there was a great clattering outside in the corridor and a smiling, dimpled woman slid back their door and said, “Anything off the trolley, dears?”
Harry jumped on the opportunity to get something, while Ron’s ears went pink and muttered that he had some sandwiches. Ronan was feeling hungry, but he didnt have money to buy anything, nor did he have anything to eat so he just looked outside the window, gazing at the big green fields as the train went past them.
“Hungry, are you?” He heard Ron say, he turned around to see huge quantities of sweets and pasties that Harry had brought for himself.
“Starving,” said Harry, taking a large bite out of a pumpkin pasty.
Ron took the lumpy package and unwrapped it. There were four sandwiches in there. He pulled one of them apart and said, “She always forgets I don’t like corned beef.”
‘Bitch, at least you have something to eat.’ Ronan wanted to grab Ron’s neck and strangle him because of how ungrateful brat he was being, but controlled himself.
“Swap you for one of these,” said Harry, holding up a pasty. “Go on… Ronan come, join me.”
“You don’t want this, it’s all dry,” said Ron. While Ronan on the other hand shook his head, “I am not that hungry.”
“Go on, have a pasty,” said Harry, then passed on a piece to both of them. There was something about the pasty, that made Ronan unconsciously put his hand on it, and both of them started devouring it, joining Harry in the noble quest. While on the other hand, the sandwiches lay forgotten in the corner.
It was then Harry came across the chocolate frog, seeing the scene before, Ronan remembered the scene. Like in the movies, Harry opened the pack, with a live chocolate frog inside. He remembered the chocolate frog leaping out of the window in the movies, but nothing that sort happened here. Harry ate the frog and got Dumbledore’s card from it. He requested Harry to see the card, only to realize that Dumbledore's picture in the card was no more.
“Well, you can’t expect him to hang around all day.” said Ron, as if this was a normal thing to happen.
Ron was very surprised to hear that the pictures in the muggle world remains stationary, which according to him was weird. While Ronan concentrated on the card…
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Albus Dumbledore, currently Headmaster of Hogwarts. Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern times, Professor Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon’s blood and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel. Professor Dumbledore enjoys chamber music and tenpin bowling.
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After that they spend their time talking about the cards, eating Bertie Bott’s Every-Flavour Beans. Harry got the sprout flavored, which he spitted out immediately. As they talked more, Ron told them about Hogwarts and how it was divided into different houses. This prompted Harry to ask him the question, “What house are your brothers in?”
“Gryffindor,” said Ron, then further added, “Mum and Dad were in it, too. I don’t know what they’ll say if I’m not. I don’t suppose Ravenclaw would be too bad, but imagine if they put me in Slytherin.”
This made Ronan ask the question, “What is wrong with Slytherin?” He knew that Draco Malfoy was in Slytherin. That guy was a pain in the ass in the movies as well, but to hate everyone from the single house is just insane, according to him.
“That’s the house Vol– I mean, You-Know-Who was in?” Ron said, then further added, “Most of the evil wizards and witches from the house. That is why I dont like them.”
Ronan understood that Ron was a lost cause, he had generalized a common observation and had made an opinion on something, and it would be stupid to say something to change his mind, so he kept quiet. After that, Ron introduced them to Scabbers, an old house mouse. And Ron then also introduced them both to quidditch which according to him was the most brilliant game in the world.
As they were talking, Ronan remembered that the third character of the golden trio, Hermione Granger would be coming into their compartment at any moment now. But when the compartment door opened the next time, he saw a trio enter the compartment. Leading the trio was a boy with short stature, pale blond hair, and a pompous arrogant smirk on his face. Following him were two rather tall of their age, fat buffons, who look stupid as any buffon out there.
Seeing Draco Malfoy for the first time, Ronan frowned. Hermoine was supposed to enter their compartment, not him, and he didnt like that canon was changing so much.