The train rumbled as it set off on the journey to Hogwarts.
"Excuse me, is anyone sitting here?"
Harry looked towards the door, where a red-haired boy with freckles was standing shyly.
"No one." He replied.
The boy thanked him, put his luggage away, and sat opposite Harry, looking nonchalantly out of the window but stealing glances at Harry.
Harry thought, with hair that red, he ought to be from that family.
"Hello." Harry greeted him proactively, "I'm Harry Potter."
"Ronald Weasley, or you can call me Ron." Ron extended his hand, shaking Harry's like a little adult.
Weasley?
Harry's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly asked, "Weasley? Did you say your name is Weasley?"
"Yes." Ron looked a bit puzzled.
Shouldn't I be the one asking about the Savior's glorious deeds, why is the Savior asking me...
However, what Harry was thinking of was Vice Principal Matilda Weasley, Head of Gryffindor House, who had taken great care of him at school, and his good friend, Gareth Weasley.
A silence suddenly fell between them, and Ron decided to break it.
"So, you really..."
At that moment, Ron remembered his mom's caution and held back the question about the scar.
"Really what?" Harry asked.
"You really live with Muggles?" Ron clumsily changed the topic: "That's what I heard, is it true?"
"Yes." Harry nodded, "I live with my uncle and aunt, they're all Muggles."
"How are they?" Ron asked.
"Not great, they're very against magic." Harry shrugged, enviously, "I wish I had two brothers."
"Get a couple and you'll see how annoying they are," Ron shivered at the thought, "Besides, it's not two, it's five, I have five brothers and one sister."
"Wow..." Harry exclaimed sincerely.
An ample family like that had been his dream for as long as he could remember.
He wished he had a few brothers named Potter who would stand up for him when he got bullied.
But Ron looked a bit less than pleased: "I'm the sixth student in our family to go to Hogwarts, at home, my mom always wants me to take them as examples—my eldest brother Bill was the Head Boy, my second brother Charlie was the captain of the Quidditch team, my third brother Percy just became a Class Prefect; Fred and George are always up to mischief, but their grades are always excellent, and everyone thinks they're cool."
"So, you feel a lot of pressure." Harry nodded understandingly, "Because you're expected not to be any worse than them."
"No," Ron irritably said, "If you have five older brothers, you'll never get to use anything new. I'm wearing Bill's old robes, using Charlie's old magic wand, and even have Percy's discarded rat."
Saying this, he pulled a plump sleeping rat from his pocket.
"Look, this rat is called Banban," Ron said helplessly, "It's really old, always sleeping. When Percy became a Class Prefect, dad gave him an owl as a reward, so this extra rat came to me."
Realizing he might have said too much, Ron closed his mouth and looked out of the window.
He didn't want his new acquaintance to form a bad impression because of these things.
"Look, Ron." Harry tugged at his clothes and said to Ron, "These are my cousin Dudley's hand-me-downs, see, they're so baggy they look like maternity clothes—I've been wearing his old clothes since I can remember, never anything new—you wouldn't believe it, even though Dudley is the same age, he's so fat, while I'm so small, it's easy to wear his leftovers..."
What's most precious in this world is empathy.
Harry's words made Ron feel he wasn't as unlucky as he thought and that Harry wasn't just being polite but truly understood his situation.
Such shared embarrassments can quickly bring two people closer.
As they continued talking, the train had already left London.
Meanwhile, there was a clattering sound in the corridor.
A woman with dimples and a cheerful smile opened the compartment door and asked, "Dears, would you like anything?"
It was lunchtime, as the train had left exactly at eleven, and since Harry had upset Uncle Vernon, he hadn't had a chance to eat lunch.
He was really hungry.
"No, I've brought sandwiches, thank you." Ron lowered his head, embarrassed.
Harry got up and went to the corridor, saying, "I'll have some of everything, thank you."
Even having attended school a hundred years ago for six years, he was just a sixteen-year-old at heart, still quite a child.
When it came to snacks, he had some resistance, but not a lot.
The vendor picked out an assortment for him from the cart, and when Harry checked out, he paid her one Galleon, three Sickles, and four copper knuts.
He returned to the compartment with an armful of snacks and found Ron staring intently without blinking at the snacks cradled in his arms.
Of course, Harry knew his new friend was a bit tempted.
"You're really hungry." Ron stated confidently.
"Yeah, starving." Harry pulled out a pumpkin pasty and handed it to Ron.
"No thanks, mate." Ron pulled out a sandwich from a paper bag, "My mom packed sandwiches for me to eat on the train... She never remembers I hate corned beef."
"Trade me for one, come on, trade one." Harry offered the pumpkin pasty.
"You won't like it," Ron sniffed, "She has five children to take care of, there's no time—"
"It's alright." Harry said with a smile.
He finally convinced Ron, and indeed, after Ron took a bite of the pumpkin pasty, he never touched the sandwich again. Harry also tactfully avoided mentioning the sandwich, and put his piece back on the table.
"It's really good." Harry took a bite of the cauldron cake and then pulled out a box of Chocolate Frogs.
"Did you actually buy Chocolate Frogs?" Ron asked in surprise.
"Yeah," Harry opened the Chocolate Frog box, "I've bought them in Diagon Alley before, they come with picture cards—though I'm not too interested in the cards, the Chocolate Frogs are quite nice."
"Then I've got a request, mate." Ron quickly said, "If you get Agrippa or Ptolemy cards, be sure to save them for me."
"Don't worry." Harry agreed, turning over the card.
"Oh, it's Dumbledore!" he whispered excitedly.