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There!
Ron looked so small and thin and… freckly. And terribly nervous. Harry distinctly remembered thinking Ron was tall, gangly, freckly, and only somewhat nervous the first time around.
Harry smiled.
And there were Fred and George – together and naughty and shamelessly playing off of each other.
With both ears.
And alive.
Harry nearly cried. He wanted to touch both of the twins like he had Dobby but neither would stand still and let him paw them. Everyone at Hogwarts would know he was strange in the head before the train left the station.
It was somewhat bittersweet seeing all of the people that he knew and liked, loved, or was irritated by so many years younger. For one thing they were all alive and for another they were so much… lighter. And if he did things right, they would stay that way.
He tried to make sure that everything went exactly has it had the first time. Sadly, Dobby made that impossible by solidifying the barrier just as Ron and Harry ran at it.
Crash!
Harry blinked up at the ceiling of the station. Nearby, Ron groaned.
When a nearby guard yelled at them, Harry gasped the same lame excuses as he had in their second year. Meanwhile, Molly Weasley was alternately fussing over him and Ron and stabbing at the wall with her wand.
"It's most peculiar" she mumbled. "I've never heard of this happening."
'House elves are a bloody menace to society' Harry thought fuzzily as and Ron gathered up each other's stuff and flashed each other awkward grins.
"There's nothing for it" she decided with a frown. "The platform is sealed off." At their anxious looks, she ruffled both of their hair comfortingly. "Don't worry. We'll just use the public apparition point on the platform to get across. I'll take you one at a time. First Ron, then Ginny, then you dear."
Harry grinned. "Brilliant!"
After Mrs. Weasley got them onto the platform, everything else went exactly as Harry remembered it. Except for the part where he dropped his trunk on his foot twice. That part, Harry hoped, could be safely skipped.
Harry waved his new camera at the Weasley twins, an odd sort of lump in his stomach.
"D'you mind?"
The twins looked at each other and then grinned at him.
"That's our line."
"About photographing you!"
But they posed for the picture anyway.
It sort of hurt when little Ginny wanted to meet him because he was Harry Potter and not because he was her Harry.
Harry snapped a picture of the Weasleys on the train platform anyway.
Mrs. Malfoy sort of made up for that when she called goodbye to him though, her voice probably made louder by a sonorous charm. Harry sort of loved her just a little bit for remembering him on Draco's first day of school. As he leaned out the window to shout his goodbyes to her, Harry snapped a quick picture of Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy.
When Neville and Hermione came by to look for Neville's lost toad, Harry grinned brightly.
"Haven't seen it" he said, and snapped a picture of them standing together just because he could. Hermione sniffed. Neville blushed. And Harry snapped another picture of them.
When Ron showed Scabbers to Harry, it was all Harry could do not to crush the life out of the rodent.
"I don't like rats" Harry said shortly to Ron. "Most people raised by muggles don't."
Harry hefted his camera as Ron put the fat, sleeping Scabbers back in his pocket.
"D'you mind? It was a birthday gift."
Ron shrugged and grinned.
Harry snapped a picture of him. Then he pointed at Scabbers.
"Put him on your shoulder."
"I thought you didn't like rats."
"I don't. But he's your rat."
So Ron put Scabbers on his shoulder and Harry snapped another picture of the pair. Then Ron took a picture of Harry alone then a picture with Hedwig on Harry's shoulder.
When Draco showed up, posturing and angry about something, Harry grinned again.
"Taste this!" Harry ordered and shoved a suspiciously yellow Bertie Bott's bean into Draco's mouth, halfway through his "I know who you are!" speech to Ron. He had yet to say something really offensive and with any luck, that could remain the case.
"Eugh!" Draco gagged, clutching his throat and bending double. "Snot!"
He spat the bean onto the floor of the train.
Ron laughed. Harry grinned and peeled a chocolate frog out of its wrapper. He cheerfully shoved it into Draco's mouth. This time, Draco was too grateful to protest. He did glare at Harry however.
Harry snapped a picture of Draco then held up a deck of exploding snap cards. "I bought them in Diagon Alley last week. Want to teach me how to play?"
Ron looked a bit dubious but soon enough they were all settled on the floor – even Malfoy who wrinkled his nose and looked like he wanted to protest before he spotted that Harry was already settled on the floor. Then he sat down quickly enough.
Ron and Draco practically shouted over each other in their attempts to be the one who taught Harry how to play cards. Crabbe and Goyle just looked confused. For his own part, Harry nodded and smiled and was secretly grateful that he already knew how to play otherwise nothing they said during their back and forth snarking and shouting would have made the slightest bit of sense. The rest of the trip to Hogwarts passed pleasantly enough until Hermione came back to tell them that they were almost there.
Harry made her take a picture of the lot of them playing Snap.
Later he made Hermione take a picture of him with Hagrid.
Harry shared a boat with Neville, Hermione, and Ron just like the first time. Hagrid was good enough to snap that photograph for him.
When Professor McGonagall told them to smarten themselves up and the others started talking about what sorts of tests they might have to take, Harry looked around at all of his year mates. They were all so young and frightened! One in every four of them could not possibly be evil or worthless. Harry smoothed his hair a bit and, remembering how things had ended up with the Slytherins before the battle of Hogwarts, turned to the nearest Slytherin-to-be girl.
"I'm Harry. What's your name?"
Her eyes became huge. "Daphne Greengrass."
Harry offered his arm to Daphne Greengrass in a move that he had seen Mr. Malfoy make to Mrs. Malfoy every time he had gone out to lunch with them. Admittedly, the only other time he had seen anyone escort anyone else like this it had been during an old American television program about a weird but extremely wealthy family of squibs. While watching it Harry had wished he had been left on their doorstep.
Daphne stared at him.
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Want to know what happens next?100+ advanced chapters await you on Patreon! Be the first to read what others will have to wait for. Join the community and read ahead today!
(P).(A).(T).(R).(E).(O).(N)
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