Harriet Potter was a freak. She knew she was a freak because her family told her so, but she didn't like to think about that. It made her want to cry, but she was a big girl now and big girls don't cry. Instead, she hugged her stuffed snake (Mr. Snakey) close until the bad feeling passed. She heard loud stomping on the stairs signifying Uncle Vernon coming down. Maybe she would be let out today. She was so hungry, and the cupboard smelled bad. She needed fresh air and a hose-off. It had already been two days in the cupboard. She was locked up this time because letters and big scary birds kept coming to the house for her.

Uncle Vernon refused to let her have any of the letters. After a few days, and lots of letters and bloody owls (that's what Aunt Petunia called the scary birds) later, Uncle Vernon backhanded her and told her to stop this freakishness. She cried that she didn't know what was happening. Petunia suggested that the birds would keep coming until the letter were sent to the right recipient. Uncle Vernon was furious, but he finally gave Harry a letter. Harry looked at it, but the symbols (letters?) on the page didn't really mean anything to her because she couldn't read all of the big words. She had never been to school before.

She heard the latch on her cupboard being messed it. It must be her lucky day because they normally leave her in for at least three days. Uncle Vernon opened the cupboard and yelled at her to go straight to the backyard to hose off. "Don't dilly dally, girl, because I've got to get you to that bloody train station. I'm not keeping your freakish kind any longer than I have to."

Harry was so confused. Train? Not keeping me? Where am I going? Does this have anything to do with that letter? Now she wishes that she would have asked that nice Mrs. Figg to read it to her, but there was no time. She was put straight into her cupboard. Shaking herself out of her thoughts, Harry jumped up and ran to the backyard. She hosed off as best as she could and sat at the backdoor to air dry. She wasn't going to get the house wet from her dripping. She only had to learn that lesson once. She hadn't been able to sit for almost a week.

Uncle Vernon's yelling broker her out of her thoughts again. When you were alone all of the time, you tended to do a lot of thinking. "Why aren't you dressed and packed yet, girl!? We are leaving in three minutes whether you are presentable or not! You're going to that freak school and getting out of my hair whether you want to or not! With any luck, I'll never have to see you again! Pack all of your things. I paid my good, hard-earned money for them, and I'll not have you letting them go to waste."

Harry jumped up and quickly put on her best outfit. It was a large green t-shirt that matched her eyes and a pair of denim shorts that were held up with a rope around her waist. She didn't have any underwear, socks, or shoes as she has never needed them. Freaks don't get the privilege of wearing such things because they never go into public. Harry reckons that Uncle is taking her to the train station before the sun is up today so that no one had to see her or the other freaks at her school in the daylight. With any luck, her and the other freaks will get to school safely without being a bother to the good, normal people. Harry grabbed her two other shirts, her one other pair of shorts, and Mr. Snakey. She ran out and met Uncle Vernon at the front door.

The drive to the train station seemed very short. Harriet had never been in the car before, and she enjoyed looking at everything they passed. The sun was just starting to peak over the horizon when they pulled up at the train station. Uncle yelled, "Get out! Go find your bloody freak train and get out of our lives." His angry rambling went on for a little while, but all Harry heard was the number for her platform…Platform 9 ¾. She grabbed her grocery sack with her clothes in one hand and Mr. Snakey with the other and stepped into Kings Cross Station. Uncle Vernon pulled away as soon as the car door was closed.

She found her way to Platforms 9 and 10, but she couldn't find her platform. Frustrated and trying not to cry, she sat down to rest for a minute. She spotted an older dark-haired boy with a large trolley walking towards platform 10. She must have blinked or something, but she thought she saw him walk straight into the wall! She got up to investigate. She pushed on the wall and found that her hand went through! She hesitantly pushed her whole body through the wall. She stumbled as she went through and fell and scraped her knee. She dropped her bag and Mr. Snakey as she was falling. She hurt so bad, but she didn't want to cry. She looked up and saw the few people that were there were staring at her. The dark-haired boy shook his head and started coming towards her. She panicked. Was she not supposed to be here? Why did he look angry? Was he going to punish her like Uncle? He was so much bigger than her and he looked more physically fit than Uncle Vernon, she didn't think she would be able to outrun him. She was scared and trapped and her emotions were crazy, so she just started sobbing her little heart out.

Marcus Flint POV:

He had just passed through the barrier and was checking his trolley to make sure he had everything when he looked up and it seemed everyone was staring at him. No not at him, but behind him. He turned and saw the dirty, tiny, skinny child on the ground with her bag and her stuffed snake. She looked like she was trying not to cry over the state of her skinned knees. When she finally looked up, she locked eyes with him and he saw the most breathtaking pair of green eyes he had ever seen. They were full of unshed tears and glistening, and the left eye had a large black bruise surrounding it. He took pity on the small ratty child and felt anger rise up in him over the thought of everyone just staring at the helpless thing. He quickly walked over to her and she acted like a caged animal trying to find an escape. As he was just about to reach her she started crying earnestly. He stopped and knelt down in front of her. She was shaking and on the verge of hyperventilating. He immediately scooped her up and held her close. She flinched and tried to get free and begged him not to hurt her. His normally cold heart broke at the thought of someone hurting this poor child enough to make that be her first reaction. He grabbed her things as an afterthought and looked for a place to sit down. He kept the child in his lap and tried to soothe her with mumbling kind words. He noticed Oliver Wood coming closer towards him, and he shook his head at Wood to tell him to stay back. Being the typical Gryffindor that Wood is, he completely ignored Marcus and sat down next to him to offer his own comforts to the child. This only started the girl up again. Wood noticed the dirty stuffed snake an handed it to the distraught child. She immediately hugged it close and started to calm a little. She looked up at them and again asked to not be hurt. Wood and Flint glanced at each other and made the silent promise to help this child in anyway they could.

Harriet's POV:

After crying her heart out, she felt a little silly and a lot sleepy. She was warm and someone was rubbing her back soothing her. She was almost asleep when she jerked up. Why is someone rubbing her back?! No one had ever done that before. Mortified, she remembered what happened. She turned to look at the two older boys who were comforting her, and they smiled sadly at her. One had black hair, and the other had brown.

The black haired boy spoke up, "Hello, little one. I'm Marcus. This is Oliver. Where are your parents?"

Harriet blushed deeper and said sadly, "I don't have any parents. They died when I was a baby."

Marcus and Oliver shared a look that she didn't understand before the other boy, Oliver, asked, "How did you get here? Surely a child of your age wouldn't be here by herself."

Harry scowled at him and replied, "I'm a big girl, not a baby!"

Marcus chuckled and asked again how she got here.

Harry answered, "My uncle dropped me off for the freak train." Then as if she struck an epiphany she asked, "Are you freaks too? Are you here to go to the freak school?"

Marcus and Oliver shared another strange look before Oliver asked how old she was. Sensing that these two boys were nice and probably wouldn't hurt her, she told them everything.

"I'm eleven! I got a lot of letters in the mail from big scary birds…owls! They kept coming and coming until my uncle finally gave me one. I couldn't read it though. Can you read it to me?! This morning he got me out of my cupboard and had me hose off and pack all of my things. He dropped me off and told me I was to find Platform 9 ¾ and get on the train to my freak school. He said he hopes that he never sees me again, and that no matter what happened he would not pick me up until next summer. I'm just excited to get out of there. I hate my cupboard. I hope that I will make some friends. Uncle Vernon said that freaks don't have friends, but I was hoping since this is a freak school that we could be friends with other freaks."

She took a breath before she added with hopeful eyes, "Will you be my friends?"

Marcus Flint POV:

Marcus stared at the child while she rambled on. He was furious! Freak? Cupboard? Hose off? Who drops off a child at a train station?! His heart continued to break for this child. How could be possibly be 11 years old? She looked more like a 7 year old. He looked at the girl was starting to get scared again at his angry expression, but she still had hopeful eyes.

Wood nudged him and told the girl, "Of course we will be your friends. And yes, we also go to school at Hogwarts. We are both in 4th year. I'm a Gryffindor, and Marcus is a Slytherin."

That snapped him out of his angry thoughts and he nodded his head to agree with Wood. The girl sighed with relief and gave them the biggest smile they had ever seen.

Marcus spoke again, "What is your name? We can't be friends unless we know what to call you. You said that you couldn't read your letter? Does that mean you don't know how to read?"

The girl replied, "I'm Harriet!" Holding up her stuffed snake, she said, "And this is Mr. Snakey. Until now, he was my only friend." With a confused expression, she added "What are grifdoor and slithen?"

Wood smiled at her, "Gryffindor and Slytherin are two of the houses at Hogwarts." He then proceeded to start long explanation of the houses, but Marcus stopped him and suggested they find a compartment on the train. They were getting increasingly more strange looks as more people made their way onto the platform. Wood agreed that was a good idea since it wasn't a very common site to see the two opposing houses quidditch team captains sitting amiably with a young, dirty girl, especially since the girl, Harriet, was still sitting on Marcus's lap.