Harry Potter was in the middle of the best birthday of his entire life.

Of course, he had nothing to compare it against - his Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia had hardly even acknowledged his birthdays - but surely no future birthday could ever be this great.

In the days leading up to his birthday, Harry had begun recieving letters adressed very specifically to him, down to the exact room he slept in. Uncle Vernon had taken the letters and burned them before Harry had had a chance to read them; and when the letters hadn't stopped coming, he had tried leaving the house to get away from whoever was sending them.

When the letters had arrived at the hotel they were staying at, Uncle Vernon had taken them to a miserable hut on a rock in the sea. That was where Harry's birthday came in.

At midnight, the very second Harry had turned eleven, a giant man called Hagrid had barged into the hut, told Harry he was a famous wizard, and given Harry his letter. It turned out to be a letter saying he was going to go to a wizard school, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Hagrid had told Harry that his parents had not died in a car crash like Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia had told him, they had actually been murdered by a dark wizard named Voldemort (Hagrid called him You-Know-Who), and when Voldemort had tried to kill Harry, the spell backfired and Voldemort went missing. That was why Harry was famous.

They had slept until dawn before Hagrid took Harry to Diagon Alley, a long street lined with wizard shops. Harry now stood with a bag full of wizard money - gold galleons, silver sickles, and bronze knuts - just inside the robe shop, Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, while Hagrid went to get a pick-me-up after the winding carts of Gringotts wizard bank.

Madam Malkin led Harry to the back of the shop where a pale boy about his age was already being fitted for his new school robes, she stood Harry on a stool, threw some robes over his head, and began to pin them to his size.

The boy looked Harry up and down, his eyes lingering on Harry's thick red hair. Harry wondered whether the boy could see the thin lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead or if his hair was covering it.

They stood in silence for a while, the boy now staring at the window.

A few times, Harry thought he ought to say something. But his companion seemed to be more interested in avoiding eye-contact than possible conversation and Harry wasn't even sure what they would talk about anyway.

Soon enough Harry was finished and Hagrid had arrived to fetch him, carrying two large ice creams, and they finished their shopping.

Hagrid insisted on buying Harry a birthday gift and had him pick out an owl, so Harry went home with a beautiful snowy owl along with his new wizard things.

For the rest of the summer, Harry kept to his room. His new school books were enough to keep him from caring that his Aunt, Uncle, and cousin were now terrified of him - Hagrid had tried to turn his cousin Dudley into a pig and instead given him a pig's tail in his anger when Uncle Vernon had insulted the Hogwarts Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore.

Harry decided to call the owl Hedwig after a name he had found in A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot. She was completely silent, never hooting, and her wings didn't even make a sound as she flew in and out of the window.

It turned out to be lucky that Hagrid had given Dudley a pig tail, Uncle Vernon seemed to imply that the only reason he brought Harry to King's Cross station was because he needed to go into London anyway to get Dudley's tail removed, and without it Harry would've been on his own with no way to get to the station.

Just when Harry began worrying that he wouldn't be able to get onto platform nine and three-quarters, which was what was written on his ticket, he heard someone say the station was packed with Muggles, the wizard word for non-magic people.

Harry turned to face a family of red-haired children. The mother, also red-haired, was directing them to the platform. They ran at the barrier between platforms nine and ten, but Harry couldn't quite see what they were doing.

A hand touched his shoulder. "You next," said the witch.

Harry and the witch made eye-contact.

"Oh, sorry dear, I thought you were one of mine. It's always confusing having so many redheads."

"That's OK," said Harry, "But could you please tell me how to get on the platform?"

"Of course! It's Ron's first time, too," She gestured to her last son, who grinned sheepishly. "Just walk straight at the barrier between platforms nine and ten, don't be worried you'll run into it, best do it at a bit of a run if you're nervous."

***

The door to Harry's train compartment slid open again. The first few times had been a boy named Neville who had lost his toad, the second time joined by a bossy sounding girl called Hermione Granger. This time it was neither.

Three boys walked in, Harry recognised one as the blond boy from Madam Malkin's.

"Rumor has it Harry Potter is in this compartment." He said, looking between Harry and Ron.

Harry nodded, "That's me."

The boy looked amused. "I thought you were a Weasley."

Harry looked over to his new friend, who had introduced himself as Ron Weasley. "I can see why." They both had red hair and old-looking clothes. Neither of them had changed into their robes yet.

"This is Crabbe," said the boy, gesturing to the taller of his companions, "And Goyle, and my name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."

Crabbe and Goyle stood behind Draco Malfoy on either side of him like bodyguards.