The train moved out of London.
The buildings outside the window changed to green fields and trees.
Rain from the morning dried up.
The sun came out and warmed the glass.
Inside the train compartment, things felt peaceful.
Harry turned the pages of his comic book.
Edward leaned his head back against the seat and looked out the window.
He liked the quiet hum of the wheels on the tracks.
Suddenly, the compartment door slid open.
A boy stood in the doorway.
He had bright red hair and freckles.
He wore clothes that looked a bit worn out.
He held a sleeping grey rat in one hand.
The boy looked at them.
“Can I sit here?” he asked.
“Everywhere else is full.” Edward looked at Harry.
Harry looked at Edward.
Edward just shrugged his shoulders.
“Sure,” Harry said.
“Come inside.
Take a seat.” The boy smiled in relief.
He dragged his trunk into the room.
He grabbed the handle and tried to lift it up to the luggage rack.
He struggled.
The trunk bumped against the wall.
Edward stood up.
“I can get that for you.” He reached out and took the handle.
He lifted the heavy trunk with one hand and slid it onto the rack next to his and Harry’s trunks.
The red-haired boy watched him, his mouth open a little.
“Thanks,” he said.
“That thing is heavy.” “No problem,” Edward said.
He sat back down.
The boy sat down next to Harry, facing Edward.
He put the sleeping rat on his lap.
“I am Ron, by the way,” the boy said.
“Ron Weasley.” “I am Edward Brooks,” Edward replied.
“And I am Harry,” Harry said.
“Harry Potter.” Ron stopped moving.
He stared at Harry.
His eyes went wide.
“Are you really?” he asked.
“I thought my brothers were playing a joke on me.
Have you really got the…
you know…” Ron pointed at his own forehead.
Harry reached up and pushed his dark hair out of the way.
He showed Ron the lightning-bolt scar.
Ron stared at it.
“So that is where You-Know-Who did it?” “Yes,” Harry said.
“But I do not remember it.” “Nothing at all?” Ron asked.
“Well, I remember a lot of green light, but nothing else,” Harry said.
Ron looked amazed.
He sat back in his seat and stared at Harry as if he were looking at an animal in a zoo.
Edward sat quietly.
He watched the exchange.
He tilted his head.
“Wait a minute,” Edward said, looking at Harry.
“I did not know you were a celebrity in the magical world.
Why did you tell me you had never heard of magic before you got your letter?” Harry looked embarrassed.
His face turned a little red.
“I really did not know!” Harry explained quickly.
“I grew up with my aunt and uncle.
They never told me anything.
I did not know about magic, or my parents, or Voldemort until Hagrid told me last month.” When Harry said that name, Ron let out a gasp.
He flinched and looked terrified.
Edward looked at Ron.
Ron looked pale.
“What is the matter with you?” Edward asked Ron.
He looked curious.
“Is that a racist word or something?
Are we not supposed to say it?” Harry dropped his jaw.
He looked at Edward in shock.
Ron just looked confused.
“A what word?” “A bad word,” Edward said simply.
“Why did you jump when he said the name Voldemort?” Ron shivered.
“You should not speak his name.
People do not say it.” “Why not?” Edward asked.
“Because he was bad,” Ron said, his voice dropping to a whisper.
“He was the worst dark wizard ever.
People are still scared of him.
They say You-Know-Who instead.” Edward thought about this.
He rested his chin on his hand.
“What if all the wizards in the world said his name at once?” Edward asked.
“Would he come and kill all of them?” Ron got a thinking expression on his face.
He actually considered the question.
He frowned.
“I do not know,” Ron admitted.
“Probably not.
He could not be everywhere at once.” “Exactly,” Edward said.
He leaned forward.
“Names only have power if you let them scare you.
What if we call him something else?
What if we call him Voldy?” Harry let out a snort of laughter.
“Or Voldishorts,” Edward added with a straight face.
“Or Lord Vomit Earmold.” Harry started laughing harder.
He put his hand over his mouth.
Ron did not know what to do.
He looked at Harry laughing, and he looked at Edward sitting there with a grin on his face.
Ron looked like he wanted to laugh, but he was also terrified the dark wizard might burst through the window.
He just sat there in a dilemma, a nervous smile twitching on his face.
Before Ron could decide whether to laugh or panic, a loud clatter came from the corridor.
The compartment door slid open again.
A smiling woman with a cart full of food stood there.
“Anything off the cart, dears?” she asked.
Harry stood up right away.
He had not eaten much breakfast.
He walked over to the cart and looked at all the strange sweets.
Ron looked down at his lap.
His ears turned pink.
“No thanks,” Ron mumbled.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a lumpy package wrapped in foil.
“I have sandwiches.
My mother packed them.
Corned beef.
She forgot I do not like corned beef.” Harry saw Ron looking sad.
Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of gold Galleons and silver Sickles.
“I will have some of everything, please,” Harry told the woman.
He bought Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes, Licorice Wands, and a large stack of Chocolate Frogs.
He paid the woman and carried the pile of food back to his seat.
He dumped it all on the empty space between them.
“Have some, Ron,” Harry said.
He reached over and picked up Ron’s foil package.
“I will trade you for a sandwich.” “You do not want these,” Ron said, trying to stop him.
“They are dry.” “I want to try them,” Harry smiled.
He took a bite of the sandwich.
He looked at Edward.
“Take some, Ed.
There is plenty.” “Thank you,” Edward said.
He reached out and picked up a piece of chocolate shaped like a cauldron.
He ate it.
It tasted very good.
Harry picked up a blue and gold box.
It said ‘Chocolate Frog’ on the front.
“Be careful with those,” Ron warned him, taking a big bite of a pumpkin pasty.
“They only have one good jump in them.” Harry looked confused.
He opened the top of the box.
Immediately, a brown frog made of solid chocolate leaped out of the box.
It jumped straight toward the open window.
Before the frog could reach the glass, Edward moved.
His hand shot out.
He caught the chocolate frog in mid-air with perfect ease.
Ron stopped chewing.
He stared at Edward’s hand.
Edward brought his hand back and handed the frog to Harry.
“Fast,” Ron said, looking impressed.
“Thanks.” Harry quickly bit the head off the chocolate frog before it could jump again.
He looked inside the box and pulled out a shiny card.
“It has a picture,” Harry said.
“They all have cards inside,” Ron explained.
“Famous witches and wizards.
I collect them.
I have about five hundred.
I am still missing Agrippa and Ptolemy.” Harry looked at his card.
“I got Dumbledore.” Harry read the back of the card out loud.
It talked about Dumbledore being the Headmaster of Hogwarts, defeating a dark wizard named Grindelwald, and discovering the uses of dragon’s blood.
Edward listened quietly.
He watched them enjoy the candy.
He felt a little hungry himself, but he wanted real food.
Edward put his hands into his deep coat pockets.
He reached into his hidden space.
He thought about the large bucket of fried chicken he got from his system.
He pulled his hands out.
He held a massive red and white paper bucket filled with warm, crispy chicken.
The smell of fried food filled the compartment.
Ron stopped eating his pasty.
His jaw dropped.
He looked at the giant bucket, then looked at Edward’s flat pockets.
“Where did you pull that from?” Ron asked, completely amazed.
“My pockets,” Edward said simply.
“There is a spatial charm on them.
I can fit anything I want inside.” Ron’s eyes widened.
“A spatial charm?
But you are only a first-year!
My dad has a bag like that for work, but it cost a lot of money to make.” “I bought them in Diagon Alley,” Edward lied smoothly.
He set the bucket on the seat.
“Do you guys want some chicken?” Harry and Ron looked at the bucket.
They abandoned the candy and reached for the chicken.
They sat together, eating and watching the countryside roll by.
The trees grew thicker.
Hills appeared in the distance.
They talked for a long time.
Ron told them all about the magical world.
He explained Quidditch, a sport played on flying brooms with four balls.
He told them about the four houses at Hogwarts: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin.
“All my brothers were in Gryffindor,” Ron said, sounding a little worried.
“If I do not get in, my parents will be upset.
I just hope I don’t go to Slytherin.
You-Know-Who was in Slytherin.” “I am sure you will be fine,” Harry said.
Ron looked down at his lap.
His grey rat was still sleeping, even with all the noise and food.
“This is Scabbers,” Ron said, looking annoyed.
“He is useless.
He just sleeps all day.
My brother Percy got an owl for becoming a prefect, so I got his old rat.” Ron reached into his trunk and pulled out a wand.
It looked chipped.
The white core poked out at the end.
“My brother George taught me a spell to turn him yellow,” Ron said.
“I can show you.” “Let’s see it,” Edward said, leaning back.
Ron raised his wand.
He cleared his throat.
Before Ron could speak, the compartment door slid open again.
A girl stood there.
she had bushy brown hair and rather large front teeth.
She already wore her black school robes.
“Has anyone seen a toad?” the girl asked.
Her voice sounded a bit bossy.
“A boy named Neville lost one.” “We have not seen a toad,” Ron said.
The girl looked at Ron’s hand.
She noticed his raised wand.
“Oh, are you doing magic?” she asked.
She stepped inside and closed the door behind her.
“Let’s see it, then.” She sat down on the seat next to Edward.
She looked at Ron, waiting.
Ron looked a bit nervous.
He looked at Harry and Edward, then back at the rat.
He pointed his chipped wand at Scabbers.
“Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, turn this stupid, fat rat yellow,” Ron said.
He waved the wand.
Nothing happened.
Scabbers stayed grey and kept sleeping.
The girl did not look impressed.
“Are you sure that is a real spell?
It is not very good, is it?
I tried a few simple ones just for practice, and they all worked for me.” She pulled her own wand out of her pocket.
She pointed it straight at Harry’s face.
Harry leaned back, surprised.
“For example,” the girl said.
“Oculus Reparo.” She gave her wand a little flick.
The tape holding Harry’s glasses together vanished.
The broken bridge of the glasses snapped back into place.
They looked brand new.
Harry took his glasses off and looked at them in wonder.
The girl looked closer at Harry.
Her eyes went wide.
“Holy cricket,” she said.
“You are Harry Potter.
I am Hermione Granger.” She turned and looked at Ron and Edward.
“And you are?” “Edward Brooks,” Edward said politely.
Ron had just taken a bite of a chocolate frog.
“Ron Weasley,” he mumbled with his mouth full.
Hermione looked at Ron’s messy face.
“Pleasure,” she said.
She stood up and smoothed her robes.
“You three better change into your robes.
I expect we will be near Hogwarts soon.” Hermione left the compartment, shutting the door behind her.
Ron swallowed his chocolate.
He looked at the closed door.
“Wicked, that one,” Ron said, shaking his head.
Edward chuckled.
He opened his trunk and pulled out his black school robes.
Harry and Ron did the same.
They pulled the robes over their heads.
The sky outside the window turned dark.
The train began to slow down.
Edward felt a sense of quiet excitement.
Their journey was ending, and the real start of his new life was waiting just outside the train doors.