3 Chapter 3: Arrival

Beta read by Shigiya and DOOMRAIDER.

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--Hogwarts Express-

One thing I learned about Hermione was that the girl talked fast. She also spoke quite eloquently for a child her age, each word coming out of her mouth being related to coursebooks, spells and charms like a non-stop machine gun. The entire time I just smiled and nodded my head, pretending to have understood everything she said and even throwing in a few "I understand", "Of course" and "I didn't know that".

Though I didn't mind her attitude, I could see that she was having fun with someone who could actually keep up with her… for now. I was not delusioned enough to believe that I would keep being potentially the smartest in my future classes for long. I was an average learner and not a savant by any means, just a mostly 'regular guy' who tried his best, while she was a genius who also worked hard… it was merely a matter of time. I most definitely possessed a vastly better mental fortitude, but that was a skill I gained by means I never wish to go through again.

Though, there was the flaw if Hermione just memorised things but didn't try to take the time to understand them. This could be very dangerous in the wizard world, but again, I didn't know what kind of learner she was and I might be worrying for no reason. She still was just a child who would grow up and adapt with time and the many tribulations her group would face in the story.

Speaking of groups, Hermione brought up the name of the Boy who lived.

"Have you heard, Harry Potter is on this train?"

"Sure, think I caught a glimpse of him earlier." I really didn't, but she didn't need to know that.

"Fascinating, right?" said Hermione. "I know all about him, of course—I got a few extra books for background reading, and he's in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century."

"Quite the superstar, ain't he?"

"Well of course, considering his history with 'He who must not be named'. Can't believe I got to see him."

Then why weren't you sitting with them? Weren't you supposed to join the duo and become the legendary trio of Hogwarts?

"Don't take this the wrong way, but why didn't you sit with them then? I'm sure the boys wouldn't mind having you for a chat. Given your keen interest in the boy, that is."

"Well, I first wanted to help Neville find his toad, then I saw you perform magic and got curious. I think Neville is searching from the other side so he should have met Harry Potter by now." Explained Hermione, making me wonder how such a simple thing actually changed the plot so drastically. I didn't even do anything aside from taking my seat away from everyone!

Maybe Neville caught Ron performing that 'Turn this stupid fat rat yellow' spell. I felt a nagging feeling in my head when I thought about the rat, maybe a forgotten memory from my past. Given how popular the movies were, there was no shortage of spoilers being thrown at me by both my friends and just surfing through the internet. Perhaps one of them mentioned something about the rat, again, I never really paid much attention to them. After all, how would I have known that in the future my ass would end up in the exact world? I wasn't even that big of a fan in the first place! I was merely curious about the hype and had other things to worry about.

'I barely remember the second movie and didn't see anything after that… maybe a spoiler one of my past classmates or friends revealed about the later movies.'

A thought for later.

Back on topic.

"Fair warning, don't talk too much about his past. Harry may be the 'Boy who lived' but he was just a baby back then. I doubt he remembers anything from such a young age, let alone enjoys talking about an individual who murdered his parents."

Hermione gasped, "I-I didn't think of it that way… it must be horrible now that I think about it."

"Don't be too dramatic, I'm sure he's just as curious of Vol—cough! I mean 'You-Know-Who' as the rest of us. For now, he's just a kid who wishes to attend a magic school, make friends and have fun like the rest of us. Don't jump on the hype train like the other kids do, treat him like you would any other student." I had no hard feelings towards Harry, nor did I idolise him. True, most of the events in the movies circled around him, being the main protagonist and all that. But I didn't care, he managed to take care of his own problems so why would I butt in when it didn't concern me? Sure if I got bored or needed some help, I could search for him, but I wouldn't be keeping that much of a close eye on the kid for now.

I had my own life to live after all.

Things will start getting hectic in our second year, I don't recall much about what will happen which is why I would be tailing him more frequently then. Now I knew the dangers, I knew who to avoid and who not to befriend.

"Say Miss Granger, can you perform simple spells? You said you could, and since this is the first time I met someone coming from a non magic family; I can't help but grow curious." I tried changing the depressed mood into a more cheerful one.

"Glad you asked," said Hermione as she pulled out her wand. "I've learned a few spells, not complex ones with the rules imposed by the Ministry of Magic when it comes to the use of magic outside the wizarding world. From my limited options, I've learned 'Oculus reparo' to fix simple cracked glasses and this." She extended her wand forward.

"Lumos." The tip of her wand lit up with a dim white light which slowly turned brighter by the second. Only to die down right away after she said, "Nox".

I clapped my hands at the display. Sure it wasn't anything special, but for someone who grew up with normal parents outside the wizarding world—that was indeed impressive.

She preened and held her head high from my claps.

"Well done, Miss Granger. You certainly have the talent to be a wonderful witch in the future. You future housemates will surely be glad to have you on their side." I said, sincere with my words and even excited to see how powerful she would become in the future.

"Now that you mention it, do you know what house you'll be in? I've been asking around, and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best; I hear Dumbledore himself was in it, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad." Well, she did have the qualities of an exceptional Ravenclaw member. I always wondered why she was sorted in Gryffindor, she looked so out of place there with her studious attitude which no one else in the house but her had. Granted, she did have bravery and other qualities for a Gryffindor, but weren't as pronounced as her Ravenclaw attributes.

'Maybe she also persuaded the hat.'

"Oh and, please call me Hermione. Miss Granger feels weird since we're the same age."

"Sorry, force of habit my mother instilled upon me." Narcissa hammered the concept of etiquette in my head, which was very impressive. She should have gotten an award for her achievement. "Anyways, Hermione, Gryffindor is a very good choice. It has created many exceptional wizards whose names are still heard till this day. For me, I'm not sure yet. Probably Slytherin, because it will be fun messing with the kids there and also because of my lineage."

That shocked her a bit.

"Slytherin? But that's…"

I interrupted her before she could mention anything else, already knowing where this conversation was going.

"Yes, I know, not the house with the best reputation and people for that matter. Most of the students of that house are contemptuous towards people of non magical descent. They can be cunning, petty, scornful and just a jerk in general." She started giving me a wary look, unsure if she should talk to me further or leave the cabin. "But that does not apply to all. Cunningness is not an evil trait, being prideful of our heritage is not a bad trait… don't you think so?"

"... I guess."

"Out of curiosity, do you want to know what a 'true' Slytherin is in my opinion?"

Hermione just continued to look at me unsure on what to say.

"They are ambitious, resourceful, determined, and clever. That is what truly means to be a real Slytherin in my heart, the current batch of students have been spoiled and brainwashed by their parents of what they think a Slytherin should be. A single bad egg — a couple in this case I won't lie — in the group has ruined the reputation of an entire house. Isn't that unfair? Slytherins are not evil, at least not all of them, just misguided by outside factors. We all have a bit of Slytherin in all of us, including bits of Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. It is up to you to make the choice of which you want to embody the most."

I believed that I went on a long and unnecessary ramble. For god's sake, I was supposed to be an eleven year old kid; not a hundred year old philosopher! The last thing I wanted was for someone to start making comparisons between me and Dumbledore.

I should be fine though, I could continue carrying the image of a 'genius' as an excuse for my knowledge. Who the fuck would ever think I was actually a old soul from the void who got reincarnated?

Legilimency could be used against me, but whether they see my current memories of this life or my past one is unknown. My past memories were hazy while my current memories held strong and fueled my desire to live. So it was very likely that these memories would fill the space in my head the most.

Still, I had read about Occlumency from Lucius's library. It was vague and hard to understand, but with time, I would make the necessary progress to shield myself from potential enemies.

"I… I'm sorry," apologised Hermione, her head lowered as she whispered quietly.

That caught me by surprise.

"Why?"

"I shouldn't have been so judgemental. If Slytherin was an evil house then why would Hogwarts and Dumbledore let them continue existing? He wouldn't, which makes me think he treats all houses equally and without bias. I should be the same."

"Well you weren't completely wrong," I said to her. "Despite everything I've mentioned just now, Slytherin still has its fair share of issues. My previous point of most of them being huge jerks towards non magical families still stands. Things are complicated and not as black and white as others may think it to be. It's understandable for people to hold the house of Slytherin in such a bad light. The blood purity thing is unfortunately a real idea that Salazar Slytherin brought into the house hierarchy. Of course, aside from messing with my fellow students, I also plan to change the house in itself and its core beliefs. All I ask you is to follow your heart and choose the house you really want to belong in."

I really should stop talking. I kinda messed up canon already with her being here instead of Harry and Ron. Didn't want to screw things too much to the point of accidentally causing a catastrophe early on.

Hermione was lost in her thoughts, she was staring intently at the floor and muttered, "ambitious, resourceful, determined, and clever…"

"..."

I felt a disturbance in the force, a creepy sensation crawled up my spine when I heard those words.

Before I could ask her what she was thinking about, another knock came from the door and an old lady came in view with a trolley of sweets, confectionery and drinks. "Anything off the trolley, dears?"

Hermione, who came back to her senses, checked her pockets and frowned. Since she came from a Muggle family, I suspected that she didn't bring enough change with her. She wasn't poor from what I understood, maybe she was saving up for future expenses in Hogwarts.

"Don't want anything?"

"I'm afraid not, I couldn't bring much with me… not to mention I don't know if we'll need some pocket money in Hogwarts and there's that book I was recommended to buy. Are you planning to buy some?"

Heh, some?

"I'm telling you right now, you'll never find someone with a bigger sweet tooth than me. No one!!" I brought out my coin bag which I actually saved up for the last few months — with more on the side, of course. The thing was literally rattling with sounds of hundreds of coins like those money bags in cartoons.

And just to fuck with the passengers after me.

I brought the entire trolley!

The entire thing was worth a few silver sickles—maybe a galleon—at most, so I gave the lady four galleons to 'convince' her. Being son to the one of the richest dads in the wizarding world really was a great boon.

Sorry Harry, you would be going hungry for a bit longer and won't get to eat that chocolate frog. But I know Ron would share some of his food, he was a good kid. Who was I kidding, the lady probably had more treats reserved for such cases.

"Are you even going to eat all of this!?" Hermione exclaimed in shock as she couldn't believe what I just did.

"What are you screaming for?" There were many sorts of sweets and pastries, Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Chocolate Frogs, Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes, Licorice Wands, Pumpkin juice—which tasted like shit—and much more.

"Are you even hungry?" She asked.

"A bit I won't lie, even though I just ate a large feast before coming here." I said while munching on a chocolate frog, while continuing to stuff my mouth with a large bite of a pumpkin pasty. "Well? Don't give me that look, help yourself!"

"Really? Even if you can't finish the entire thing I don—"

"—Ah, stop your babbling! We're friends now. Real friends always share such things. But don't take them chocolate frogs, they're mine! Damn, I got Helga Hufflepuff… again." For some reason, I kept missing Dumbledore! I have at least hundreds of Helga cards! Why did I keep getting her!? Was someone doing this on purpose? Did Dumbledore have some hidden vendetta against me? Maybe he was threatened that I would steal his entire stock of candy under his stinky grey beard.

'Humph, I don't need your cards anymore, old man. See if I care.'

"..." Hermione went all silent again.

"Okay, maybe you can have one. But not any more!"

"R-Really?" She whispered softly. "A friend?"

"Hm?" I couldn't really talk with my cheeks filled. "Shpeak upf." Couldn't even talk properly for that matter.

"You're okay being my friend?"

I just gave her a deadpan look, I was not going to have a tear-jerking conversation about feelings, emotions and the power of friendship. With a kid no less. I already talked enough about the whole house thing and wanted to enjoy my time.

Pa!

"Hey!"

I threw a box of chocolate frogs at her head.

"What did you do that for!?" She screamed in anger.

"I just gave you a chocolate frog, that should answer your question."

"It really doesn't," said Hermione.

"For me it does. You're a clever girl, just take a guess. On a side note, I don't even give my brother a piece of my stash."

Hermione looked at me for a bit longer before smiling. "Thanks," guess having a friend was a big deal for her. Wait… I didn't have any friends either! The house elves don't count, Dobby was weird and quirky but he still viewed me as his master. Whitley didn't count as well, for obvious reasons. Was I really that lonely all this time?

Wow, how sad.

On the other hand,

Huzzah! I finally had my first friend! I had to thank her for this occasion. Only one way to do so.

Pa!

I hit her with another of my remaining chocolate boxes.

"What is wrong with you!"

"A lot of things, also, that was as a thank you for being my first friend as well."

Now she looked at me with widened eyes. Shocked at my casual confession of being alone all this time. Who would have thought my first friend in the world of Harry Potter would be Hermione Granger of all people.

I really did fuck up canon, didn't I?

The compartment door slid open yet again. It wasn't Neville, Harry or even Ron.

"I knew it was you who stole all the food!" Draco said with a reddened face when he saw the full trolley in front of him. Turns out I was wrong and the lady really didn't have any more treats reserved. There were other kids behind him who were giving my chocolate covered face a harsh glare. "I'll have our father know about this!"

Tch

Tch

Still too naive.

"Go ahead, it's not like this is the worst thing I did in his eyes. Don't you remember that time he burned my book collection I acquired from the muggle world? Or that time when he went all red after I covered his walls with posters because I didn't have any space left in my room?" Not having the internet sucked, still, I learned to focus on other old habits aside from reading about magic and sneaking in some comics.

Draco was rendered speechless.

"Oh alright, here take as much as you want, you all can help yourselves as well." I still kept a large portion to myself, but most would just end up spoiled by the time I would get to them.

Many cheered before taking a handful and going back to their seats.

Draco took a moment to recompose himself. "By the way, they're saying all around the train that Harry Potter's in one of the compartments."

"Yes, I've heard." I said while motioning to Hermione who kept looking back and forth between me and Draco. She must be surprised that I had a twin brother.

"Also mentioned he was accompanied by a boy with red hair, freckles and a hand me down robe." He sneered, "Another Weasley, more children than they could afford."

That comment didn't go well with Hermione.

"Excuse me, that's rather rude of you to say to another person." Her bossy attitude came back with vengeance.

Unfortunately, this only made Draco glare at her. "And you must be a Muggle born, seeing as I know nothing of your family, and you don't even recognize a Malfoy. Honestly, I don't understand your fascination with these kinds of people, brother, you don't want to go making friends with the wrong sorts."

Damn bro, what side of bed did you wake from today? He usually wasn't so mean.

'Alright, before Hermione decides to have her fists make contact with Draco's face, I'll need to end whatever's going on here.'

"Draco…" I was longer kidding around. My voice held that slight edge which he recognised immediately. "Go back to your seat, now." I loved my brother, I really did. But when push came to shove, I never hesitated to get a bit more… forceful.

"Right… nevermind," he said before immediately stuffing his pockets with some of the candies and even swiftly stole some chocolate frogs from my pocket and ran away before I could even react to his actions. "You twerp!"

I brought out my wand, scaring the remaining kids away and was just about to chase him down before I decided that it wasn't worth it and I should just plan a revenge prank on him later on.

I sat back down.

"I didn't know you had a twin brother. Can't say I appreciated his comment about me. And the people outside are behaving very childishly, racing up and down the corridors"

"Don't mind him, he may look like a jerk but he has a good side. Give him some time, he'll come around."

She nodded her head, not looking the least bit convinced.

"I should go to the front and ask the conductor how long till we reach our final stop. Since we are already wearing our robes, I don't think we have much to prepare. I'll be going through the different compartments to remind everyone," she really was a hard working girl.

"Alright, see you soon."

After she left, I once again wandered in my thoughts and peered out of the window. It was getting dark. I could see mountains and forests under a deep purple sky. It gave me a haunting feeling, like there was something out there looking at me. The train did seem to be slowing down.

A voice echoed through the train: "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately."

"Hermione certainly wasted her time, can't let these sweets go to waste." I gathered everything and crammed my pockets under my robe till I looked like a walking ball. No way I would let them go to waste.

The train slowed right down and finally stopped. My heart quickened once again when I realised that I was so close to Hogwarts.

"Time to go."

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The next 5 chapters of Snafu, Harry Potter and my 3 other Fate fics (Fate Coiling Sword with 3 chapters, A Fake Familiar Reborn with 3 chapters and To love a sword having 4 chapters) are already available on my P@treon. With 4 more Broly chapters at /NimtheWriter. Also, I post monthly commissioned arts on each story, already posted a few on an Archer's Promise, Broly and Snafu.