"Have you heard? Elliot Potter is on the train!"

Curious, eager faces peered out from the window of every compartment, hungrily searching for a glimpse of the Boy-Who-Lived.

As Elliot walked down the aisle to find an empty cabin, he shifted uncomfortably under the intense scrutiny of the people on the train, combing his fingers through his hair in a vain effort to hide his lightning bolt scar.

"Really, it's not such a big deal, I don't get why they're all staring at me," Elliot whispered to Harry.

"Must be your impossibly big ego, Elli, it's so enormous that its taking up the whole walkway. I'm sure its the real reason behind all the attention." Harry sniggered jokingly, before getting elbowed in the ribs by an irate Elliot.

"Oi, Elliot! Over here!" The twins turned to see Ron Weasley gesticulating wildly a few cabins away, looking rather proud at the attention he suddenly garnered from onlookers.

Looking slightly embarrassed by his friend's actions, Elliot hurriedly lugged his trunk over to the cabin, roughly shoving the door close once Harry had entered as well.

"Ron!" Elliot hissed, looking thoroughly humiliated. "Don't-don't do stuff like that, you know I don't like the attention."

"C'mon mate, there's nothing to be ashamed of, you're the bloody Boy-Who-Lived!"

"For something he doesn't even remember doing? Yeah, I'm sure Elli feels darn good about that." Harry remarked calmly, looking rather bored by the whole spectacle.

Ron looked rather disgruntled. "Oh, hey, Harry. Didn't see you there."

Harry didn't bother to acknowledge that greeting, simply slipping out his book (The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2 by Miranda Goshawk) from his trunk and ensconced himself in the corner by the window, decidedly having dealt with enough of Ron's shit for the day.

Harry and Ron had never gotten along well. Ever since Ron first stepped over the threshold into the Potters' Mansion, Harry knew that he would never get along with Ron. Ron was a walking specimen of all the characteristics he despised- unkempt, loud and fanatically obsessed with Quidditch. While Harry enjoyed a game or two every now and then, Ron brought obsession to a whole new level. Worse, his obsession had infected Elliot as well, dragging him away from his studies. Harry couldn't have disapproved of Elliot's best friend any more than he already did. 

Just as he had eventually grown used to being in Ron's presence, Harry soon tuned out the loud chattering in the cabin, entirely focused on his book. Time was inconsequential as he was absorbed in the text (The Engorgement Charm, he'd learnt, was a charm which caused its target to swell immensely). Harry poured over the words of Miranda Goshawk, assiduously committing the words to memory. 

"These straightforward but surprisingly dangerous charms cause certain things to swell or shrink. You will be learning both charms together, so that you can always undo an over-enthusiastic cast. There is thus no excuse for having accidentally shrunk your homework down to microscopic size or for allowing a giant toad to rampage through your school's flower gardens. This particular charm was originally meant to be performed on inanimate objects, but it has since been deemed safe to be performed on animals in the event that the caster is proficient in said charm. Variants of this charm-" 

"-en a toad? A boy named Neville has lost one." 

The obnoxious voice made Harry look up irritably from his book. She had a bossy sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair, and rather large front teeth. Next to her stood a rather plump boy who looked like the kind to be afraid of his own shadow. Harry looked back down at his book; he wasn't interested in partaking in that particular meaningless conversation. 

He heard Elliot mumble something unintelliglible before the girl settled down into the seat next to him. Harry shifted uncomfortably away from the girl, until he was almost pressed up against the window. 

"I've already memorised the books in our booklist by heart, of course, I just hope that'll be enough, I didn't have much time to try out the spells in the books because it came as a huge surprise to me and my parents, finding out that I could do magic, and, you know, it was just such a big deal because I don't know anybody who's magical, and I really do hope that I'll be able to adapt to Hogwarts-I mean, I've heard it's the best school of witchcraft by far- oh, I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you guys? And may I know what book that is?" 
Her words came out in a torrential outpour. 

Harry blinked. "Um, me? This is a charms book that I took out from my family library for some light reading, because I'm already done with the other one. And, um, I guess I'm Harry Potter."

She frowned, her brows furrowing. "You guess? Also if you don't mind, about your surname-Potter? By any chance- are you related to Elliot Potter? You see, I read about him, in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events Of the Twentieth Century. Any relation, perhaps?" 

"Well, t-that might be me. But all that stuff in those books are phoney, I'm not the next coming of Dumbledore or anything-" Elliot spoke up weakly before getting cut off by the girl, Hermione.

"Goodness, you must know a great deal about magic by now, right? I suppose you'll be in Gryffindor, just like the books describe you as, since Dumbledore was in it as well. Well, I do hope I'll end up there as well, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad...anyway, we'd better go and find Neville's toad before we reach Hogwarts, which I'd expect to be soon- you might want to change." She slid the compartment door close sharply, taking the other boy with her. 

Silence descended on the occupants of the cabin. 

Ron and Elliot stared at each other disbelievingly; Harry just shrugged and returned to his book. Whatever house she ended up in, it had nothing to do with him. 

He continued reading, already progressing past the chapter on the Engorgement Charm. The next chapter regarding the Freezing Charm (Immobulus, which caused the actions of the target to halt, and when used on inanimate objects, would cause it to stop working temporarily.)

"This spell, which is taught to most students in their second year, is often used to stop movements and actions of the target. It's popularity in battle spells eventually dwindled over the years, but has gained popularity in the medical aspect. In theory, it makes a person unable to move, similar to the Full Body-Bind Curse. However, unlike the aforementioned curse, the Freezing Charm is-"

The compartment door slammed open.
Harry calmly bookmarked his page. 

"Elliot Potter, is that right? Everyone's been talking about you on the train, saying that you're in this compartment. So it's you, is it?" The middle boy-who was sandwiched between two other boys-addressed Elliot. 

Harry recognised the boy at once, and so did Elliot. 

 "Yes, what about it, Malfoy? I've heard loads about you, too." Elliot replied coolly.

The boy puffed out his chest. "Well, I would expect you to. My family is part of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, so I suppose you've heard of our trademark silver-blonde hair. Anyway, I've been looking for you on the train. You should know, us of the purer blood should stick together. Wouldn't want to go making friends with riffraff of the wrong sort like that. Imagine what people would say, hanging out with blood traitors like the Weasleys." Draco said haughtily, gesturing at Ron.

Ron's face turned the same colour as his hair, piqued by the clear provocation on Malfoy's part. However, before he could even retort back, Elliot had already risen from his seat in defense of his best friend.

 "What's that supposed to mean, Malfoy? Ron's been my friend longer than I've known your name. You can take your 'Sacred Twenty-Eight' and shove it up your ass, I'm not interested in that kind of blood purity shit. My parents didn't raise me the wrong way."

Malfoy's cheeks turned a slight shade of pink at the crass remark.

"Careful, Potter. You'd find that some families aren't so understanding of such ignorant remarks like that. I suppose your mother, that mudblood-"

Harry rose to his feet upon the vulgar slur. Nobody was allowed to get away with insulting his mother. "Shut your trap, Malfoy," Harry said quietly.

Malfoy turned to look at him. He sneered. "Who the hell even are you?"

"He's my brother, you stupid prat. Now get out of our cabin." Elliot sneered, subtly positioning himself in front of Harry, as if in an attempt to protect him from Malfoy. 

Malfoy snorted. "A fourth Potter? Oh, so it's true that you actually exist? I mean, I wasn't sure you were real, especially since you're always omitted from most of the news involving the Potters. Oh, you poor thing, how's your life going in obscurity? Doesn't it ever suck, being the forgotten twin?" He jeered in faux sympathy.

Harry saw red.

Everything happened so quickly; there was suddenly a loud bang and Malfoy went flying backwards, colliding against the door of the opposite compartment before sliding to the floor, making pathetic whimpering noises. 

Breathing heavily, Harry redirected his gaze towards Crabbe and Goyle. They scrambled over each other in an attempt to leave the cabin, helping Malfoy to his feet and dragging him alongside them. 

Harry waved a hand, and their compartment door slid shut. 

Elliot and Ron stared at Harry in stunned silence. 

"Blimey, Harry! I-I didn't know you could do that! Where did you learn that from? Why didn't you ever tell me you could do that?" Elliot badgered, swinging around to face Harry.

Harry blinked, flabbergasted. He looked down at his own two hands, in utter disbelief over the magic he just displayed. "I...I didn't know I could even do that," he said in awe.

"That was some pretty cool wandless magic just now, Harry." Ron admitted begrudgingly, awkwardly patting Harry on the back. Still dazed from earlier, Harry accepted that compliment absent-mindedly. In fact, he was so dazed that he didn't even make a face at Ron's sweaty palms coming into contact with him.

For the rest of the journey, Elliot demanded answers to a few more questions that Harry didn't have a response to, and then the train pulled to a halt and they all hurriedly changed into their robes before clambering out of their cabin.

Harry became taciturn as the boy named Neville joined them on the boat ride across the lake. He remained in pensive silence as they waited for the doors leading to the Great Hall to open up. And even as Elliot tightly grasped Harry's hand in anticipation and fear over what awaited them in the Sorting Ceremony, Harry stayed reticent.

Then, the doors to the Great Hall opened, and that marked the start of where everything started going wrong in Harry's life.

17.01.21