And we're going to really be heading towards Hogwarts this chapter.

Disclaimer: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is owned by Hasbro and Harry Potter is owned by JK Rowling.

"Hello"-Normal Speaking

"Interesting..."-Nightmare Moon speaking

'Huh.' -Normal thoughts.

'All mine...' -Nightmare Moon's thoughts

---

Standing near the door to the Leaky Cauldron, Harry glances down at the watch on his wrist and sighs. Looking around, he grimaces. "Where is Hagrid? If this keeps up we're going to be late."

Hovering above him, Luna smiles as she looks down. "He's coming this way."

Harry nods as Nightmare is tucked into the backpack, grumbling some. "Took him long enough."

A moment later, a red-faced Hagrid comes up. "Sorry about being late Harry. Have to do some errands for Dumbledore today and fell behind."

Harry shrugs after a moment. "No worries Hagrid."

He then goes to grab his trunk only for Hagrid to take it and pick it up as if it weighed a feather. "Here let me take tha' for yeh 'Arry." Shrugging, Harry takes Hedwig's cage before they start off. As the two make their way, Harry looks up at the giant and thanks him for retrieving his stuff from the Dursleys. "Not to worry 'Arry. Those great lumps of muggles wouldn't bother me at all."

Frowning at the words, Harry quickly covers it up and begins to ask some questions (a few of which are actually Luna's which she has Harry ask for her). Mainly they're about the teachers and what subjects they teach which Hagrid enthusiastically answers. One of them bothers Harry though as Hagrid barely says much about him at all. 'Hm... I wonder what the issue with this "Professor Snape" may be?'

Suddenly Harry realizes that he's at the station and Hagrid is setting down the trunk onto a trolley. "And here we are 'Arry." Pulling out a pocket watch, Hagrid jumps a little. "Blimy! I'm really late!" Looking around, Hagrid points in the direction of the train stops. "Sorry tha' I can't stay 'Arry, but I still got a number of errands to run for Dumbledore in the next little bit. Platform 9 3/4 is jus' ta about tha' way a little."

Giving Harry a hearty clap on the shoulder (which nearly knocks him down), Hagrid turns and walks off, Harry's shout to wait drowned out by noise as a train arrives. Soon after, Hagrid vanishes into the crowd causing Harry to grit his teeth. "Of all the bloody stupid things..."

Luna shrugs. "Not too surprising. He seems to be a bit..."

Nightmare's voice pops up from the backpack. "Scatterbrained."

Both Luna and Harry look at the bag before Luna grimaces. "Well... yes. I suppose so." She then looks at Harry. "And with his loyalty to this Dumbledore..." After a shrug, she sighs. "Well, at least his heart is in the right place."

Harry grumbles a little. "And how much do you want to bet that he's used to wizards and witches knowing where the platform is?"

Once more Nightmare speaks up just loudly enough for the two to hear alone. "No bet. Besides, you owe me money." Almost sensing Harry's expression, she chuckles. "You should have known better then to bet against me in a game of chess."

She stops a moment later as Harry shoots back under his breath. "Like you know to never bet against me in a game of poker?"

Rolling her eyes, Luna sighs. "While you two continue this conversation, I'll go and check out the area to find it, okay?" Harry nods and Luna takes off, flying just below the ceiling of the station until she comes to the platforms where she frowns as she alights upon a ledge near the train platforms. "Now then..." Looking down the row, she frowns. 'I see Platform 9 and Platform 10... where's Platform 9 3/4?' She scowls as she glares at the offending area of wall. 'It has to be there, stupid wizards and needing to hide. Now what's the trick...' Suddenly, she sees a rather stern looking woman in a black cloak and a monocle slowly walks up with a young redheaded girl in a similar cloak to Harry's uniform that's pushing a trolley. 'Well now... this looks informative.' From her vantage point, Luna watches as the girl and the woman step up to the wall and then seemingly vanish causing her to blink. "Wha...?" She then sees another older woman, this time with a large hat with what looks like a stuffed vulture and a young boy beside her start in that direction causing her to facehoof. 'And they're trying not to attract attention...' And, once more they reach the wall and vanish. "Must be a trick to fool Mundanes I suppose... Wonder what is with them and fake walls?" Shaking her head, she flaps over towards where she knows Harry is only to find him making his way through the crowd towards her. Diving down some, she comes to rest on Harry's back (that being the only open place) causing him to stumble some as she wraps her forelegs over his shoulders. "Found it and guess what?"

Harry looks up at her. "It's a wall you can walk through?" Seeing her confusion, he rolls his eyes. "I heard you say as much."

Luna furrows her brows some. "I didn't know that I said that out loud... And you heard me? Over this noise?"

Harry shrugs a little. "It was really faint. Could barely even hear it." Harry then glances at her. "Could you please get off my back? You're kind of heavy."

Her next comment causes him to gulp as he can feel her glare. "Are you calling me fat?" Rapidly paling, Harry shakes his head causing Luna to smile as she pats him on the cheek. "Good boy." Ignoring the glare, she waves on. "Tally ho!" Rolling his eyes, Harry makes his way through the crowds and steps through, though Luna turns her head as she hears someone loudly asking which platform goes to Hogwarts. She notices that it's coming from a woman leading a group of red headed children just as Harry steps through the wall. A moment later she forgets about it as she catches sight of the train. "Well... that's impressive."

Looking the train over, Harry simply nods before answering. "Yeah... it is." Pulling the trolley, Harry gets onboard and Luna hops off and glares as Harry playfully sighs in relief before shaking her head. Gesturing down the empty hallway, Harry smirks. "Well shall we your Highness?"

Giggling some, Luna makes a small motion with her hoof. "We are most pleased kind Sir. If you would lead Us to our cabin?" The two laugh as a snorting sound is head before they turn to see Nightmare poking her head out of her backpack causing Luna to raise an eyebrow. "Yes?"

Nightmare just shrugs. "You seem awfully excited. That's all."

Luna rolls her eyes before giving a small glare at Nightmare. "Considering that we'll be somewhere new where we can learn new knowledge... I think that we can be excited."

As the two bicker, Harry rolls his eyes and opens a cabin door to find a bushy brown haired girl reading a book that he recognizes as "Hogwarts: A History". Also there is a slightly pudgy boy and an older, teenage girl with hot pink hair who's hurriedly writing on a piece of parchment while mumbling to herself. 'Hm. Doesn't look that full...'

Harry's thoughts are interrupted by Nightmare as she points with her hoof at the pink-haired girl. "What the hay is up with your hair?" She then shakes her head as Harry faceplams while the people inside turn towards them. "Seriously? Pink? And hot pink at that?"

The pink haired girl scowls at her for a moment before glaring, her hair seemingly getting spikier. "And what, exactly, is wrong with pink?"

Nightmare holds her gaze for a moment before sneering. "Don't like the color and that's all you need to know."

The girl sneers as well showing rather large canines that Harry didn't notice before he blinks as her nose scrunches up looking almost like a pig's before he blinks and it's gone. "Too bad you little raggedy Ann wannabe."

Nostrils flaring and eyes wide, Nightmare rises to her full (rather unimpressive height) on Harry's shoulders. "DO YOU NOT REALIZE TO WHOM YOU ARE SPEAKING YOU FOAL! I AM THE MAGNIFICENT NIGHTMARE MOON! MISTRESS OF THE NIGHT AND -"

She gets cut-off as Harry grabs her muzzle holding it shut as she struggles to get free. "Please don't mind her. She's... kind of grouchy at times." Ignoring her glare at the moment, he uses his free hand and rubs the back of his head. "Sorry about this. My name's Harry."

Giving one last glare to Nightmare, the pink haired girl shrugs before her face seemingly transforms as she smiles causing the others in the cabin to blink. "Name's Tonks and that's all."

The bushy haired girl (who up to this moment has been watching with her jaw open) shakes her head and looks at him with it held high before introducing herself with a slightly bossy tone. "Name's Hermione. Hermione Granger."

The final occupant, the shy pudgy boy and wrings his hands for a moment before adding his own. "Um... my na-name is Neville. Neville Lon-Longbottom."

Harry just smiles for a moment before gesturing to the empty seat. "Mind if I join you?"

As the other two his age just shrug, Tonks just leans back before pointing at Nightmare. "Sure, as long as you keep Raggedy Ann over there away from me."

Ignoring Nightmare's struggles, Harry pulls out his wand to hide the fact that he's using the Levitation spell Luna taught him to put his trunk on the overhead. Hearing a whistle, Harry turns to see Tonks watching him with a huge grin as Hermione and Neville watch in shock. "What?"

Tonks just chuckles. "A silent Levitation Charm? Not bad for a little Firstie." Seeing his glare, she holds up her hands in a warding gesture, still grinning like a Cheshire Cat. "Hey, didn't mean anything by it. Kiddo."

It's at this point that Neville speaks up with some awe. "Wow! That was... incredible. Some of my relatives can't even cast a spell silently."

Swallowing nervously, Harry just gives them a slight smile. "Well... you know what they say... practice makes perfect!"

While the others take that at face value, Tonks narrows her eyes some. 'Yeah, but the amount needed to not only silent cast but also barely have to move a wand to cast... You are a very intriguing person.'

At that moment a red headed boy with a smudge on his face looks in before moving on as Harry sits down with the now freed (and freely scowling) Nightmare Moon plopping down beside him. And, unseen by anyone other than Nightmare and Harry, Luna positions herself on the rack above them as she examines each occupant. That is until a clearing throat catches their attention causing Harry to turn to Hermione. "Yes?"

Shifting a little, Hermione takes a breath. "Can I ask you where you got your... er, stuffed toy? Never heard of something like that and I've been reading a lot of books on magic."

Using a slightly stuttering voice, Neville speaks up. "Um... they're uncommon but not rare. Pretty expensive too depending on how intelligent they are."

Harry just shrugs before leaning back with his eyes closed. "Well, I made her when she was only a stuffed doll and it wasn't for a while before she... 'woke up' if you will." A small, sad smile crosses his face. "I... didn't have many friends."

The other three occupants nod, but make no comments. After a while, Neville freaks out a little. "Trevor!"

Seeing this, Tonks blinks. "Problem kiddo?"

Neville nods a bit while blushing. "Ye... yeah. My toad, Trevor, he's gone!"

Seeing that he's panicking, Harry lays a hand on Neville's shoulder. "Hey, it's okay. We'll look together and find him, right?" Hermione and Tonks both nod with them getting up. "Okay then, guess that we'll head out?"

Walking to the door, and opening it, Tonks jerks her thumb towards the front of the train. "I'll head up this way and check, you guys go towards the back, okay?" Seeing their nods, she walks out. "Meet back here in about two hours."

As Harry and the others walk out, they continue to chat as they walk down the halls with Nightmare checking the spots they can't (and grumbling about it). Coming to an entrance to a cabin, they open the door and peak in to see the red headed boy from earlier with a rat in his hand with the wand poised over it while a young girl watches. Hermione takes charge of the conversation before anything can be said. "Have you seen a toad in here, Neville's lost his."

Catching sight of the wand out, she's about to say something when Harry lays a hand on her shoulder causing her to slightly flush at his small smirk before he turns to the occupants. "So, have you seen Neville's toad then?"

Scowling, the boy shakes his head. "Nah, haven't seen any toad."

Of course, Hermione interrupts wanting to see some magic and after the boy shows off his "Spell" which doesn't work, Harry shakes his head as Hermione keeps lecturing before grabbing her shoulder. "Anyways, thanks for helping. Got to keep looking after all!"

Harry then guides her out of the cabin and back into the hallway where she gives him a scowl. "What was that for?"

Harry simply sighs. "He was starting to get angry and I would rather not start a confrontation before getting to school..." He then notices a familiar boy walking down the hallway and groans. "Sadly, doesn't seem like I'll be getting my wish..."

Spotting Harry, Draco sneers as two large boys step up behind him. "Well, well, what do we have here? The ragamuffin and his raggedy doll. Do you wear a pretty dress as well?"

Raising an eyebrow at the insult, Harry's about to retort when Nightmare does it for him. "Hm. I did not realize that it had rained enough for the worms to be crawling out of the mud now. How strange..."

Contorting his face in rage, Draco grips his wand tightly. "Watch what you say doll. Or you might just find yourself where you belong... in the trash."

Now it's Harry's turn to sneer. "You know, the dress comment is a little weird coming from you..." He then looks over the two large boys. "Tell me something? Do your little friends there follow you everywhere?"

Caught off guard for a moment, Draco goes back to sneering. "Of course." He then looks at each one of them with a nasty smirk. "Afraid are we? Wish you had the same I suppose?"

Harry gives a small snort and shakes his head. "I just found it odd that... someone like you would be walking around with two large strapping lads behind you at all times is all. But, that's your lifestyle I suppose."

After a moment of confusion Draco snorts. "You only wish that you could have the same lifestyle I enjoy."

Lips twitching as he fell for the bait Harry just shrugs non-commitively. "Not really, no. Not into that kind of thing."

Draco is about to retort when he hears Hermione smother a snort causing him to focus on her. "And who might you be?"

Slightly off-balance, Hermione answers. "Hermione. Hermione Granger."

Her eyes widen a moment later though. "'Granger'?" Making an expression as if he just got something dirty in his mouth, Draco's sneer gets worse. "You're nothing more than a Mudblood that doesn't belong in our world."

Harry's about to do something when Tonks walks into view. Upon seeing Draco, she scowls pretty fiercely causing him to step back. "Well, well. Why am I not surprised that you're here causing trouble? Why don't you go back to dear ol' daddy cuz."

The others (Harry, Hermione, Neville, Nightmare, and Luna) all whip their heads around to stare at her incredulously) as Draco looks as if he bit into something sour. "How disgusting. Mudbloods and Blood Traitors in the same-"

He gets cut off as he finds himself and his two body guards shoved up against a wall and held there a few inches above the floor as Harry glares at them, his wand out and glowing slightly. "Want to say that again? Please continue..." For once, Draco listens to that little voice in his head telling him to keep his mouth shut and doesn't say a word. After a few moments, Harry drops Draco and his bodyguards to the floor before snarling. "Get out of my sight, now."

Watching as the three take off down the hallway, Harry keeps breathing deeply before turning and stumbling. Thankfully, he catches himself before he would have fallen. A moment later he finds Tonks hoisting his arm over her shoulder before she smiles at him. "Here, let me give you a hand there kiddo." Her eyes widen a bit but then she shakes her head. "Seems I got something to ask you about." Looking at Neville, she shakes her head. "Couldn't find your toad. And I don't think that we should bother going in the direction that the Three Stooges left in, do you?" Seeing Neville shake his head, she nods. "Well then, let's head back." Soon after they get back and once Harry's seated, Tonks gives him a frown. "Now then... when were you going to tell us that you were Harry Potter? I thought that we had something."

Shocked, Hermione turns to look at him with amazement, "You're Harry Potter? I read all about you in a number of books. Like Modern Magical History, Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts!" She then notices Nightmare glaring at her, and behind the possessed plush unseen by all bar Harry and Nightmare, so is Luna, causing Hermione to jerk back a little before give the doll a puzzled look. "What?"

Nightmare just scowls causing Hermione, Neville, and Tonks to step back a little. "That kind of reaction was exactly why he didn't say anything little girl."

Harry just shrugs as Hermione looks at him in shock. "Pretty much what she said. I hate that kind of attention. And, before you asked, I honestly looked at the books and what they said and I think that they're probably complete rubbish for the most part. And don't get me started on the story books either."

Her jaw dropping a little, Hermione sputters a little bit. "Bu-but the books!"

Before she can say anything, Harry gives her an amused look. "Can you tell me something Hermione? According to those books, the only people in my parents' house that night besides me and them was Voldemort, correct?"

Ignoring their flinch, he waits until she nods in slight confusion before her face lights up a little. "Is this because they weren't there?" She then frowns thoughtfully. "I suppose then they wouldn't know..."

Harry just chuckles. "It's actually not so much that they weren't there, though I will admit that plays a part, and more like the fact that they wrote a hypothesis as fact that I have an issue with." He then gives a half-shrug. "Not to mention that they never showed any proof for their hypothesis of what happened."

Neville blinks at this. "A... um... hypo what?"

Hermione, Harry, Luna, and Nightmare all stare at him with an incredulous look before Nightmare puts her thoughts into words. "You mean to tell me... that you have no idea what that is?" At Neville's blushing headshake, Nightmare facehoofs. "The more I find out about wizards and witches and the more I wonder how the hay you even survived to this point..."

Flushing furiously, Neville gives her a slight glare. "Hey!"

Nightmare just waves him off though. "Eh, I suppose I can leave you pass. You are a young foal after all." Unable to determine if she just insulted him or not, Neville stays silent and sits down as Nightmare turns to Tonks. "You, on the other hoof, have no such excuse."

Tonks just upturns her nose at Nightmare, making said Alicorn blink since she could swear it just changed shape... "I don't make such excuses. Besides, I know some muggle stuff thanks to my Pops' being Muggleborn."

Harry's about to respond when a knock at the door catches his attention. Opening it, he sees an elderly witch pushing a cart full of various sweets and pastries. "Would any of you like something from the trolley dears?"

Not having had much of a reason to treat himself before (and seeing Luna drooling at the treats) he buys some for several Sickles. Laying them out on the table, he looks at the others before pulling out one of the Hot boxes from the Leaky Cauldron, as Hermione does the same across causing him to raise an eyebrow. "You got some too?"

She just nods as she opens it and the smell of roast beef wafts into the air. "Yes. Was quite a surprise to come downstairs for breakfast and see him writing an advert for it on a chalk board." Reaching into her bag, she pulls out a thermos. "He said that someone gave him the idea and I was lucky to notice as soon after there was a line as you would not believe."

Hanging his head to hide his smirk, Harry opens his leaving the smell of the vegetable soup drift out along with the smell of fresh bread and ham. Placing the bowl of soup and dinner rolls behind some of the treats and his bag on the part of the seat beside him, along with his own thermos, filled with Hot Chocolate to Hermione's tea, putting them out of sight. Unseen by the others, Luna comes down and, after touching Harry's arm with her wing, begins to eat the soup and some of the bread. Seeing the amount of food, Tonks snorts. "Hungry much?"

Harry simply shrugs as Nightmare disappears under his cloak. "Very."

Tonks shakes her head in mock exasperation. "I suppose that you're a teenage boy and all."

Harry just chuckles some as he rubs the back of his head before taking a bite of his ham. "Well... I am a growing boy."

He continues to distract them with small talk until Luna's half way finished with the soup before he places the potatoes that had come with the ham into the box and takes the bowl and the rolls, (some of which are gone). He then places the still opened box where Luna is causing her to smile. "Thanks Harry."

She then begins to eat the potatoes as Harry nods. Taking a bite of a roll, he swallows and looks at Hermione who's looking at the treats with slight distaste. "Um... is there a problem?"

Hermione starts a little and flushes. "Well... not exactly." Seeing the interested looks shot her way, Hermione sits a little straighter before explaining. "My parents are dentists you know. Sugary treats are... in short supply in my house."

Neville is about to say something when Nightmare pokes her head out of Harry's cloak. "So your parents are professional torturers then?"

Seeing the annoyed look on Hermione's face as well as Neville's slightly horrified one, Harry scowls before admonishing her. "Nightmare. That's enough."

Huffing a little, she holds her nose up before going back under the cloak. "Not my problem that it's true."

Sighing at her attitude, Harry turns to Neville as he can see he's more than a little disturbed. "She's joking. A Dentist is a mundane tooth doctor."

Blinking, Neville flushes some. "oh... so... um... they're like a mediwizard or witch who works on teeth then?" Harry just nods as Neville slumps in his seat with an embarrassed expression. "Oh..."

Hermione on the other hand scowls as she crosses her arms across her chest. "Why do people always do that?"

As she heads off into a rant, no one but Harry notices several of the pastries going missing as their attention is focused on her. Finally done, Luna makes her way back up to the luggage rack before settling down as she licks a stray bit of frosting from her lips, her head peeking out from over Harry's trunk where she's laying on top of it. "Oh, that was good."

Hermione's rant soon winds down and, other than some small bits of conversation, the trip passes in quiet. Eventually, Hermione's about to reach into her bag but stops as she sees Harry and Nightmare pull out two books themselves (with Nightmare placing a pair of glasses on her snout). Harry's being Redwall doesn't cause much surprise, though Nightmare's... "Why are you reading Lovecraft?"

Nightmare just gives her a look over the rim of her glasses before snorting. "Because I find his stories interesting of course." She then shrugs. "He is one of the first, and greatest Masters of the Macabre after all."

Hermione scowls deeply. "He was a racist, sexist bigot."

Nightmare chuckles and shakes her head. "As were many an author from that time and before. He is still a great author in my opinion despite it."

Hermione grimaces for a moment before shooting back. "He's not that great an author since his views are easily seen in his stories."

Harry and the rest of the occupants watch as Hermione and Nightmare get into a debate with both eventually throwing thinly veiled insults regarding each other into their arguments. Lips twitching, Luna leans in close to Harry's ear. "She seems to be enjoying herself."

Harry smirks as he whispers under his breath acting as if he's reading a bit out loud to himself. "She certainly is."

Turning to the book, Harry starts reading from where he had left off as Luna lays her head on his shoulder reading alongside. After a few minutes things quieten down and a few hours later Harry stretches as he looks up before seeing a sight that causes him to grin. Which is a sleeping Tonks leaning on a heavily blushing Neville who looks like he's about to faint. Hermione also looks up and, seeing what's going on, rolls her eyes before getting up and shaking Tonks awake. "Wha..."

Hermione then gestures at the clock in the cabin and gives a bit of a bossy look to everyone. "We're starting to get close so time to get changed." She then looks at Harry and Neville. "So you boys get out so we can get ready."

Shaking his head slightly as he knows this is something he can't win, Harry leaves with Neville along with their clothes. "Come on, I think the washroom is nearby."

Once they're out, Hermione gives a slight glare to Tonks. "That was mean you know."

Tonks gives her a mock innocent look as she starts to get changed. "Whatever do you mean by that?"

Hermione just huffs a little in response. "I know that you were awake the whole time, I saw you smirk."

Shrugging, Tonks grins saucily at her. "So? That kid is so fun and easy to tease. Besides, it's all in good fun."

Both freeze as a new voice speaks up. "True." Turning they see Nightmare Moon giving them a questioning stare. "What?" A moment later she's thrown out the door and it slams shut. Shaking her head, she gets up and dusts herself off before glaring at the door as she shouts. "I don't know what your problem is. Not like they're very impressive. Quite the opposite!" The door starts opening a moment later and she opens her mouth to say something when she starts having to dodge spells causing her to cackle. "Oooo! Hit a sore spot did I?"

In the bathroom down the hall, Harry sighs as he overhears the shouts and yells. He then sees Neville about to head over and grabs his shoulder. "Don't bother. Nightmare is up to her usual tricks right now. A few moments later the sounds cease with one last screech of rage before a door is slammed shut. They finally leave and stand outside the door as Nightmare slinks out of some shadows with a massive grin on her face causing Harry and Luna to sigh. "Do you really have to do this?"

Nightmare's grin just grows even more. "Yes. Why? Because I want to and it's fun."

Shaking his head, Harry just sighs. "This... may be a long year..."