It was around noon when a rattling came from outside the compartment door. A lady with a cart stood outside, several treats adorning the shelves. From where I was sitting they looked like Muggle candy, but upon examining the names they seemed pretty unconventional. Chocolate frogs? Licorice wands? Bertie Bot's Every Flavour Beans?

"Anything from the trolley, dears?" Asked the woman. Harry and I both helped ourselves. Ron pulled out a sandwich his mum had made, but Harry and I were quick to offer him our spoils. We all dug into the treats. Harry picked up one of the chocolate frogs.

"These aren't real frogs, are they?" He asked.

"No," said Ron. "But see what the card is, I might get Agrippa."

"What?" Harry asked.

"Oh, you wouldn't know," Ron picked up another chocolate frog. "There's a card in each of them with a famous witch or wizard on it. You can collect them. I've got about five hundred myself."

My eyes widened. That's a lot of cards.

Harry opened his. "So this is Dumbledore," he said, turning the card around to show me. I looked up. He was an older-looking man with a silvery, white beard and half-moon glasses. He smiled at me and then walked out of the frame. I skimmed over the text below him and jotted down some notes about him in my book. Harry eventually faced the card back towards himself and blinked, astounded.

"He's gone!" He exclaimed.

"Well you can't expect him to stick around all day now, can you?" Ron remarked.

"I think Harry's just surprised because pictures in the Muggle world don't move," I told Ron. "It's fascinating. I found out when I started reading last night."

"What? They just stay still?" Ron seemed very surprised by this, looking between us. "Weird."

Soon, after the chocolate frogs had been demolished, we opened a pack of Bertie Bott's. Ron warned us, but I decided to take first pick anyway. I selected a green one. I popped it into my mouth. It tasted the way that grass smelled. Surprisingly, it wasn't distasteful.

"This tastes like grass," I informed them. "But it's refreshing."

They both gave me an odd look, so I simply shrugged and took another. This one was orange. After a second or two I deducted that it was peach.

"I believe this is peach," I told them. "I've been having incredible luck so far."

"I wouldn't call lawn clippings good luck," Ron remarked, popping one into his mouth. "But suit yourself— bleargh, sprouts!"

The Every Flavour Beans were a blast. Each one was its own little adventure. I'd had my fair share of toothpaste flavored ones in the end. I liked Ron. He didn't seem at all like Malfoy or the other pure-blooded boys. He was rather funny, and his reactions to the beans were very amusing.

There was a sudden knock on the compartment door. The three of us looked at each other. Ron, bearing nearest to the door, decided to open it. In the doorway stood a rather pudgy boy with brown hair, appearing quite distraught.

"Sorry," He said, "But have you seen a toad at all?"

We all shook our heads at him. His frown deepened.

"I've lost him!" He cried. "He keeps getting away from me!"

"Why don't I help you find him?" I asked, excited at the prospect of a small mystery. "I reckon he's around somewhere, and I'm very proficient at finding things." I looked at Ron and Harry. "If you two don't mind, of course."

"Go ahead," said Harry. He then looked at the boy. "He'll turn up."

"Yes," said the boy, sounding as if he didn't believe himself. "Well, if he does . . ." He began to turn around.

I left my seat and went to stand by him. "They'll let us know, don't worry." I turned back around to Harry and Ron, giving them a wave and proceeding to shut the compartment door.

"Thanks for coming to help me," said the boy.

"It's no problem," I smiled sympathetically. "What's your name?"

"Neville Longbottom," he answered.

No way. Mature as I was, I had to hold in a laugh. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Neville. My name's Lila Holmes. Do you remember the last time you had your toad?"

"Nice to meet you too, Lila," he replied. "And I was just boarding the train before he hopped out of his cage. I think someone could have stepped on him."

"Oh," I blinked, not sure what to say. "Hopefully that's not the case. Have you been asking around?"

"Yes," he replied. "There's only a few compartments I haven't gotten to, and nobody's seen him." Poor Neville looked as if he was about to cry. I'm not very good at comforting people, so I just gave him a firm pat on the back.

"He'll be alright," I said. "Sometimes, the things you lose end up finding you instead. Shall we check the other compartments?"

There were only about six left. The first three were uneventful, but in the fourth, a girl sat by herself, a rather large pile of books stacked up in front of her.

"Excuse me," I said. The girl appeared startled, looking up. I immediately noticed how bushy her brown hair was, but tried not to stare at it. I had curly hair too, so I understood that bad hair days were a very real threat. "Neville here has lost his toad. Have you seen him?"

"I'm afraid not, but I'll help you look," she said, rather quickly. "See, I've already finished all of our course books thrice and I haven't much else to do. I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, it's very nice to meet you."

"I'm Lila Holmes," I introduced myself with a polite smile. "And this is Neville Longbottom. Your help is greatly appreciated, but there's only two compartments left to check."

"I can double check the others," she smiled, a pair of buck teeth presenting themselves. They were rather cute — I never understood why my peers didn't want them. "I really don't mind."

"If you could, that would be great," Neville sniffled. I patted him assuringly again.

"Thank you," I told her. "We really appreciate it."

"It's no problem," she said. "I'll let you know as soon as I can if I find him, alright?"

Neville and I nodded, and Hermione set off on her way down the train. The next two compartments were also quite uneventful, so I decided to go back to my compartment.

"I think Hermione has everything under control," I told him. "But if you need my help again just come and find me, alright?"

"Thanks," Neville smiled sadly.

"You're quite welcome," I told him. When I reached Harry and Ron's compartment I saw the door already open — Hermione must have reached them.

"Nobody in my family's any magic at all," she was saying. I made my way to the compartment and came around to stand next to her as not to surprise her, but I think she was too invested in informing Harry about all the books he was in. I cleared my throat and she turned to look at me.

"No luck?" I asked her. She shook her head. I shook mine too. I went into the compartment and took my seat next to Ron.

"Do any of you know what House you'll be in?" She asked us. I looked between Harry and Ron. Ravenclaw sounded like the most appealing so far, from what I've heard. "I've been asking around, and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best." Hermione continued. "Dumbledore himself was in it, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad either. Anyway, I'd better go back to looking for Neville's toad. You all had better change, I expect we'll be there soon."

She left, shutting the compartment door.

"Whatever house she's in, I hope she's not in it," Ron muttered. I took slight offense to that, considering she reminded me a lot of myself, just more chatty. Harry spoke before I could say anything.

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

"Everyone's been in Gryffindor," he answered. "Even Mum and Dad. Again, I have a lot to live up to. I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be that bad, but imagine if they put me in Slytherin."

"Wasn't that Vol- I mean- You-Know-Who's House?" Asked Harry. Ron nodded, looking grim.

"You know," Harry began. "I do think the ends of Scabber's whiskers are a bit lighter." I think he was trying to cheer Ron up a little. "So what do your oldest brothers do now that they've left, anyway?"

I too had been wondering what jobs there were, though I'd still really like to be a detective. I thought back to Ollivander's advice on wandmaking, and that seemed like a pretty interesting job too.

"Charlie's in Romania studying dragons, and Bill's in Africa doing something for Gringotts," Ron answered. "Have you heard 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."

I blinked.

"But isn't Gringott's the safest place in the magical world? Aside from Hogwarts?" I tossed this over in my mind.

"It's meant to be," Ron nodded.

Harry frowned. "Well, what happened to them?

"Nothing, that's why it's such big news." Ron said. "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."

"How  intriguing," I said. "It's very curious that someone would break into Gringotts to just steal nothing. Unless, of course, the thing they wanted to steal had already been taken out of the vault."

Harry looked up at me as if he was about to say something, then seemed to reconsider speaking, and looked back down.

"What is it?" I asked him. He looked back up, startled.

"Oh, erm, nothing," he awkwardly looked away. "I had an idea but lost it. I thought you didn't notice."

"I notice everything," I said pushing away my curiosity for the sake of being polite. "But your secret is yours to keep."

Harry nodded and looked back down. We traveled in silence for a few moments longer before we started to talk about Quidditch. Ron was getting really into it after Harry and I told him that we'd never heard of it until recently. He explained all of the rules and the positions and the balls to us. He was just getting into all of the broomstick models when the door slid open again.

It was Malfoy and his goons again, Malfoy with an enormous smirk on his face. Ron sort of hid me from view, so they didn't notice me; and their eyes were trained on Harry, so I don't think they really noticed Ron either.

"Is it true?" Asked Malfoy. "They're saying up and down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?"

"Yes," Harry said, though he seemed rather concerned with the large boys beside him.

"Oh, this is Crabbe and Goyle," said Malfoy. "And my name's Malfoy. Draco Malfoy."

Ron coughed, but it was definitely hiding a laugh at the boy's name. I couldn't blame 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." Malfoy spat. Ron's ears turned red. I decided to stick up for him and cleared my throat.

"If I'm to be honest with you, I'd say he has good reason for laughing," I answered. "It's very hard to take you seriously with that hairdo."

Malfoy took notice of me and grimaced. I'm not sure why, because conflict was never really something I enjoyed, but I took a very large amount of pleasure in seeing that cocky smirk replaced with such a displeased look.

"We meet again," I said brightly. Harry and Ron both turned to me, seeming surprised. I then pointed to Crabbe. "That one's the one who helped me with my luggage. He's cleverer than he looks, when he's not standing next to ferret-face over here."

"Oh, so you're still here?" Malfoy sneered at me.

"Well, yes," I rolled my eyes. "It's not like I would move after Crabbe so kindly put my things away. That would be incredibly rude. Though, you seem used to being rude, so you wouldn't understand."

"Shut it, scum," he snapped at me. Harry and Ron looked like they were about to jump up, but I shook my head at them. It wasn't worth it, and besides, something told me I'd have plenty of opportunities to get under Malfoy's skin.

"You'll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter." Malfoy said, extending a hand for him to shake, though he continued to glare at me dangerously. "You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there."

"I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks," Harry said coolly. I couldn't help but grin.

Some color appeared in Malfoy's pale cheeks.

"I'd be careful, 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."

The three of us stood up. Ron and Harry, likely to punch him, me, because I couldn't see over Ron.

"Well, that's no way to convince someone to be your friend." I crossed my arms. "You mustn't have many, and I bet the ones you do have your parents made for you. That way you won't be such a bother."

As soon as I said it I felt bad for saying it. I saw the anger rise to his eyes, and I knew it had to be masking nothing other than pain. So that was his issue. Neglect.

"You'd better watch your tongue." Malfoy spat. "If you're not careful, you won't survive the first week, you filthy-blooded skank."

I blinked several times at this, taken aback. I wasn't angry, just stunned. That was a new one. Filthy-blooded skank. Malfoy definitely earned points for originality, that was for sure. Harry and Ron, however, were quite mad.

"Say that again!" Ron snapped, face steadily growing very red.

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

"If you don't leave," Harry replied.

"But we don't feet like leaving, do we, boys?" Malfoy sneered. "We've eaten all our food and you still seem to have some."

Everything seemed to happen in a flash. Goyle began to reach for the sweets and Ron lunged at him before Goyle let out a terrible yell. Scabbers, Ron's rat, was sunk tooth-deep into Goyle's finger. He waved him around until Scabbers flew off and hit the window. In a blink, all three of them disappeared at once.

Seconds later, none other than Hermione Granger was standing in the doorway, appearing rather concerned and quite confused with all of the sweets on the ground. "What has been going on?" She asked. She probably heard the ruckus from her compartment.

"I think he's been knocked out," said Ron, ignoring her and looking at Scabbers. After peering closer at him, he gasped. "No — I don't believe it! He's gone back to sleep!"

"You've met Malfoy before?" Harry asked me. I nodded and explained about how they'd bothered me while I was putting my things away. "Good Lord, has he ever heard of melanin? He looks as if he'd never seen the sun." I quipped. Judging by the look on Harry and Ron's faces, I assumed that they hadn't heard of melanin either.

"I met him too," Harry said. "In Diagon Alley." He told us about that unpleasant experience. I did not envy him in the slightest.

"I've heard of his family," Ron said, seeming annoyed. "They were one of the first to come back to our side after joining You-Know-Who. Said they'd been bewitched. My dad doesn't believe them — says Malfoy's father didn't need an excuse to go over to the dark side."

"Is there something I can help you with?" Ron finally asked Hermione.

"I've just been to see the conductor, and he says we're nearly there. You'd best get your robes on," said Hermione. "Have you been fighting? You'll be in trouble before you're even there!"

"Scabbers did the fighting, not us," Ron grimaced. "And would you mind leaving while we change?"

"I just came by because people are behaving very childishly in the corridor, and I was going to offer Lila my compartment." Hermione said very pompously. "Oh, and you've got something on your nose," she said to Ron, except, unlike me, she seemed to know that it was rude. In fact, I do believe that such was the intention.

"Of course, Hermione, thanks for offering," I smiled at her to break the tension, and she smiled back. I grabbed my robes. "I'll be right back, you two."

"Don't worry about Ron, I think that's just the way he is," I told Hermione as soon as I shut the compartment door. She was correct, there were a lot of people running around in the corridor. "But I can assure you that he's not all that bad. Just wait till you meet Malfoy—"

"Oh, trust me I have," she said. "Quite unpleasant, the lot of them."

"I could agree," I said. After changing, instead of going right back to Harry and Ron like I'd said, Hermione and I got into a conversation about our Muggle lives and finding out about Hogwarts. I found out that her parents were dentists, and that McGonagall had come to visit her too. After hearing the five minute warning, however, I decided that it was time to go back to Harry and Ron.

"Fascinating, how they do that." I remarked, talking about the way the voice resounded through the train. "I should probably get going, though. You could come with me, if you'd like?"

"I'll probably just meet you by the boats," Hermione said. "I don't think they're very big fans of me."

"They'll come around," I assured her. "And I'll put in a good word for you, alright?"

"Thanks, Lila," she smiled. "It's been really nice talking to you."

"It's my pleasure," I grinned. "I hope we're in the same House — we'll talk more there."

"I do too," she replied. We waved goodbye to each other and I made my way back to Ron and Harry's compartment. I nearly bumped into Harry because I was about to go in right as they were coming out.

"What took you so long?" Ron crossed his arms.

"I was talking to Hermione," I answered. "She's a really nice to talk to, you know. You should give her a chance."

"I'll consider it," said Ron, though his tone said that he wouldn't. I looked at Harry pleadingly, but he just shrugged and awkwardly looked away. Boys will be boys, but at least she had me.

Once we left the train, I heard a loud, gruff voice shouting for the first years. It was the bearded, giant of a man from the Leaky Cauldron. Hagrid. Harry seemed very happy to see him. Once we were separated from the other years, I immediately caught sight of Malfoy. His pale hair was impossible to miss. I told Ron and Harry I'd be right back as I crept over. He caught sight of me and seemed very confused. I still felt bad about what I'd said, and figured the sooner I apologized the better. Before I changed my mind.

"Malfoy, I'm sorry for what I said on the train," I told him. He gave me an odd look. I sighed. "That was very out of line."

He scowled. "Are you expecting an apology back, Holmes?"

"Of course not," I laughed. He seemed even more confused. "I'm doing this for my own moral conscience, not yours. Unless you were considering it?"

"Obviously not," he sneered, though his hands fidgeted by his sides. "I'd never apologize to filth like you."

"Of course. Filthy-blooded skanks like me are beneath you," I grinned. "I still stand by what I said earlier, however. You are a compelling adversary, Malfoy," I looked him dead in the eye put my hand on his shoulder, knowing he was going to flinch, which he did. "Compelling, but predictable."

I removed my hand from his shoulder, gave him a small nod, and walked back towards Ron and Harry, who were already in a boat. I took