Ch 6. continue of 6th chapter

"You want to be careful with those," Ron warned Harry. "When they say

every flavor, they mean every flavor -- you know, you get all the

ordinary ones like chocolate and peppermint and mar- malade, but then

you can get spinach and liver and tripe. George reckons he had a booger-

flavored one once."

Ron picked up a green bean, looked at it carefully, and bit into a

corner.

"Bleaaargh -- see? Sprouts."

They had a good time eating the Every Flavor Beans. Harry got toast,

coconut, baked bean, strawberry, curry, grass, coffee, sardine, and was

even brave enough to nibble the end off a funny gray one Ron wouldn't

touch, which turned out to be pepper.

The countryside now flying past the window was becoming wilder. The neat

fields had gone. Now there were woods, twisting rivers, and dark green

hills.

There was a knock on the door of their compartment and the round-faced

boy Harry had passed on platform nine and threequarters came in. He

looked tearful.

"Sorry," he said, "but have you seen a toad at all?"

When they shook their heads, he wailed, "I've lost him! He keeps getting away from me!"

"He'll turn up," said Harry.

"Yes," said the boy miserably. "Well, if you see him..."

He left.

"Don't know why he's so bothered," said Ron. "If I'd brought a toad I'd

lose it as quick as I could. Mind you, I brought Scabbers, so I can't

talk."

The rat was still snoozing on Ron's lap.

"He might have died and you wouldn't know the difference," said Ron in

disgust. "I tried to turn him yellow yesterday to make him more

interesting, but the spell didn't work. I'll show you, look..."

He rummaged around in his trunk and pulled out a very battered-looking

wand. It was chipped in places and something white was glinting at the

end.

"Unicorn hair's nearly poking out. Anyway

He had just raised his 'wand when the compartment door slid open again.

The toadless boy was back, but this time he had a girl with him. She was

already wearing her new Hogwarts robes.

"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," she said. She had a bossy

sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair, and rather large front teeth.

"We've already told him we haven't seen it," said Ron, but the girl

wasn't listening, she was looking at the wand in his hand.

"Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it, then."

She sat down. Ron looked taken aback.

"Er -- all right."

He cleared his throat.

"Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow."

He waved his wand, but nothing happened. Scabbers stayed gray and fast

asleep.

"Are you sure that's a real spell?" said the girl.

"Well, it's not very

good, is it? I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's

all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such

a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I

mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard --

I've learned all our course books by heart, of course, I just hope it

will be enough -- I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you.

She said all this very fast.

Harry looked at Ron, and was relieved to see by his stunned face that he

hadn't learned all the course books by heart either.

"I'm Ron Weasley," Ron muttered.

"Harry Potter," said Harry.

"Are you really?" said Hermione. "I know all about you, of course -- I

got a few extra books. for background reading, and you're in Modern

Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great

Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century.

"Am I?" said Harry, feeling dazed.

"Goodness, didn't you know, I'd have found out everything I could if it

was me," said Hermione. "Do either of 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.... Anyway, we'd better go and look for Neville's

toad. You two had better change, you know, I expect we'll be there

soon."

And she left, taking the toadless boy with her.

"Whatever house I'm in, I hope she's not in it," said Ron. He threw his

wand back into his trunk. "Stupid spell -- George gave it to me, bet he

knew it was a dud."

"What house are your brothers in?" asked Harry.

"Gryffindor," said Ron. Gloom seemed to be settling on him again. "Mom

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."

"That's the house Vol-, I mean, You-Know-Who was in?"

"Yeah," said Ron. He flopped back into his seat, looking depressed.

"You know, I think the ends of Scabbers' whiskers are a bit lighter,"

said Harry, trying to take Ron's mind off houses. "So what do your

oldest brothers do now that they've left, anyway?"

Harry was wondering what a wizard did once he'd finished school.

"Charlie's in Romania studying dragons, and Bill's in Africa doing

something for Gringotts," said Ron. "Did you hear about

Gringotts? It's been all over the Daily Prophet, but I don't suppose you

get that with the Muggles -- someone tried to rob a high security

vault."

Harry stared.

"Really? What happened to them?"

"Nothing, that's why it's such big news. They haven't been caught. My

dad says it must've been a powerful Dark wizard to get round Gringotts,

but they don't think they took anything, that's what's odd. 'Course,

everyone gets scared when something like this happens in case

You-Know-Who's behind it."

Harry turned this news over in his mind. He was starting to get a

prickle of fear every time You- Know-Who was mentioned. He supposed this

was all part of entering the magical world, but it had been a lot more

comfortable saying "Voldemort" without worrying.

"What's your Quidditch team?" Ron asked.

"Er -- I don't know any," Harry confessed.

"What!" Ron looked dumbfounded. "Oh, you wait, it's the best game in the world --" And he was off, explaining all about the four balls and the

positions of the seven players, describing famous games he'd been to

with his brothers and the broomstick he'd like to get if he had the

money. He was just taking Harry through the finer points of the game

when the compartment door slid open yet again, but it wasn't Neville the

toadless boy, or Hermione Granger this time.

Three boys entered, and Harry recognized the middle one at once: it was

the pale boy from Madam Malkin's robe shop. He was looking at Harry with

a lot more interest than he'd shown back in Diagon Alley.

"Is it true?" he said. "They're saying all down the train that Harry

Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?"

"Yes," said Harry. He was looking at the other boys. Both of them were

thickset and looked extremely mean. Standing on either side of the pale

boy, they looked like bodyguards.

"Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle," said the pale boy carelessly,

noticing where Harry was looking. "And my name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."

Ron gave a slight cough, which might have been hiding a snigget. Draco

Malfoy looked at him.

"Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father

told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than

they can afford."

He turned back to Harry. "You'll soon find out some wizarding families

are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends

with the wrong sort. I can help you there."

He held out his hand to shake Harry's, but Harry didn't take it.

"I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks," he said

coolly.

Draco Malfoy didn't go red, but a pink tinge appeared in his pale

cheeks.

"I'd be careful if I were you, Potter," he said slowly. "Unless you're a

bit politer you'll go the same way as your parents. They didn't know

what was good for them, either. You hang around with riffraff like the Weasleys and that Hagrid, and it'll rub off on you."

Both Harry and Ron stood up.

"Say that again," Ron said, his face as red as his hair.

"Oh, you're going to fight us, are you?" Malfoy sneered.

"Unless you get out now," said Harry, more bravely than he felt, because

Crabbe and Goyle were a lot bigger than him or Ron.

"But we don't feet like leaving, do we, boys? We've eaten all our food

and you still seem to have some."

Goyle reached toward the Chocolate Frogs next to Ron - Ron leapt

forward, but before he'd so much as touched Goyle, Goyle let out a

horrible yell.

Scabbers the rat was hanging off his finger, sharp little teeth sunk

deep into Goyle's knuckle - Crabbe and Malfoy backed away as Goyle swung

Scabbers round and round, howling, and when Scabbets finally flew off

and hit the window, all three of them disappeared at once. Perhaps they

thought there were more rats lurking among the sweets, or perhaps they'd

heard footsteps, because a second later, Hermione Granger had come in.

"What has been going on?" she said, looking at the sweets all over the

floor and Ron picking up Scabbers by his tail.

I think he's been knocked out," Ron said to Harry. He looked closer at

Scabbers. "No -- I don't believe it -- he's gone back to sleep-"

And so he had.

"You've met Malfoy before?"

Harry explained about their meeting in Diagon Alley.

"I've heard of his family," said Ron darkly.

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