Today I'm weak, Tomorrow I'll conquer the world by WyL

It was fair to say the boys had felt out of their depth after the tiring shopping trip for only a day and a half. It hadn't been very hard to sleep rough in the nighttime, since that's what they had been doing for years already, but it was quite scary hanging around in a strange magic alley in the nighttime. At some point, they had spotted a few ominous figures lurking around the entrance to the alley that connected to this one, the one which they had purchased many of their items from. The daytime was a breath of fresh air for the boys (except for maybe the stench which they likely exuded from the outdoor conditions). Exploration was a saving grace, Harry had claimed, stating that he possibly would have 'died of boredom' had the streets not been filled with fascinating and mind-blowing experiences.

"Look a' that, H!" Dudley's eyes widened to the size of plates as Harry looked over to what the boy was pointing towards. Nearby was a large group of people, all with ginger hair, exiting a car that had just quite literally flown to the ground. "Is that a-"

Harry exclaimed before he could finish his sentence. "A flying car? There's no way..." His loud squeals of excitement had clearly caught the attention of the family who had exited the car, and the older woman's expression looked quite concerned as she rushed over to the pair.

"What are you boys doing over here? Arthur, these two muggle boys must have gotten lost, oh my-" Her rambles were quite difficult to understand at first.

Dudley held his hands up in a defensive motion. "I'm sorry miss, but we aren't muggles, you see-" They had discovered during their time in the alley all sorts of information, including wizarding terms such as muggle. "We are wizards, me and Ha- Me and H." He stumbled over his words clumsily before painting a confident look on his face once more. "We got our Hogwarts letter."

"Ahh! My apologies boys, first years then? Hmm..." She looked deep in thought. "What are you doing all the way over here in Diagon then? You better catch the train, it leaves today!"

Harry stood stock still, shocked at this information. He had assumed that they had more time before they had to catch the train. "What do you mean, Ma'am?" He asked politely.

"The Hogwarts Express takes you all the way to the school. It's at King's Cross, where are your parents anyway?" The lady looked around for any adults who may have been supervising the boys, however returned to look at the pair once more after finding no one who looked suitable.

Dudley glanced briefly at Harry before answering for them. "Well, you see they work real hard and really wanted to be here, but they couldn't, so we had to come alone today." He hoped the lie was convincing enough, and whether it was or wasn't didn't matter, as the orange-haired lady ushered them towards her family.

"Would you boys like to travel to the station with us? It won't be any hassle at all-" The children who had been standing with her looked towards them both with curiosity and at some point, the boy had scrunched and covered his nose as to block out the displeasing smell which they had been emitting. Harry noticed this action and scowled. Of course, he knew that they probably looked worse for wear, but the boy had clearly exaggerated and it irritated him.

At some point, Dudley had agreed to travel with the family as to make it easier for Harry and himself, not having to travel all the way there only to have missed the train. The flying car journey was entertaining, not only had the car somehow expanded and allowed for more space for all of the children, but also Harry constantly stared out of the window in awe and disbelief. The journey was short, however, but that may have been due to the man's ungodly driving speeds within the air, Dudley was certain some laws were broken. The car was parked swiftly, and everyone was ushered through the station and towards platform 9.

"The twins will go first, they'll show you what to do." The twins had been quite funny during the car ride, constantly cracking jokes together and pulling everybody's ears (actually, quite literally.) Fred and George sprinted towards a wall on one of the pillars, and Harry's heart almost dropped to the floor thinking they were running head first into a brick wall, however was left even more breathless when their figures simply disappeared through the other side of the wall, now no longer visible. He had zoned out, not realizing that everybody else had also gone before he was being dragged by Dudley towards the wall. It was scary at first, but the pair let out a relieved laugh after they made it through the other side without receiving a nice bruise on their foreheads.

The large family exchanged goodbyes with each other, which only made Harry jealous and so didn't care to stick along much further after offering their sincere thanks to the woman, Mrs. Weasley. Luckily, any luggage that Harry and Dudley carried was light, since they hadn't purchased all too much, and so they were able to carry the bags easily onto the train and onto their empty cart. Harry secretly hoped that the younger Weasley boy sat in a different compartment, but felt quite guilty for thinking so afterward, after all, it isn't fair to judge a person based upon first impression.

Only minutes later, all of the children who remained on the platform rushed onto the train as the conductor announced their departure, and it didn't take long for the compartment to fill more. A shy-looking dark-skinned girl with cropped hair who looked a few years older than themselves sat quietly across from them, offering an awkward but sweet smile to them both before grabbing a book from her carry-on. A boy who looked even older than the previous girl also entered the compartment, however, he seemed a bit more confident in his greetings.

"Freshies! Oh my god, Cole! Look how small they are, god- My age is showing..." He muttered the last part before a second, somehow even taller male entered behind him.

Cole shot apologetic looks their way before slapping his friend's shoulder playfully. "Sorry about him, Jay, he is a bit... Err- Eager. I think his head's gotten too big, being a prefect and all..." He whispered light-heartedly. Harry and Dudley didn't mind, however. All three of them seemed welcoming, and it helped calm them both as the train set off towards Hogwarts. A lot of the conversation onwards was led by Jay, who seemed eager to include the rest of them in very strange conversations, but Dudley found it to be the funniest thing ever, apparently.

"Right? And the beetles began to run away! As if they hadn't just been a regular stirring spoon seconds prior! Snape was so pissed..." The nonsense he spouted gave them an insight, however, into the school itself. The incident he had described had happened during a Potions lesson, I mean who could imagine them learning how to make real-life potions?

At some point, a lady with a cart had come down the train corridor with snacks she was selling, however, Harry was almost certain the measly pennies he had left were enough to purchase anything. This didn't prove to be an issue, as Cole and Jay had bought a pile the size of a bowling ball of pure sugar and candies.

"Here!" Jay yelled before throwing a chocolate frog box right at Aaliyah's head, who had quickly ducked to avoid the impact. With no injuries, the boys began to introduce new magical candies to the pair who barely even ate muggle candy in the first place.

"This is my favorite," Harry announced, his mouth stuffed with Jelly Slugs, whilst Dudley munched on a freshly caught chocolate frog. At that moment, Harry and Dudley had looked like children for the first time in a while, simply stuffing their faces with sugar with little to no care in the world. (Maybe a narrator would call this Small Mercies.)