"Yeah, I guess. Toad would've been cool though. Oh, I'm Su Li by the way!" She says giving a small wave.
"I'm Parvati Patil." The Indian girl with the ponytail says.
"I'm Padma Patil." Her twin with the untied hair says.
"Fay Dunbar," the braided blonde says.
"Lavender Brown!" The pigtailed blonde says excitedly.
"Oh, Mandy Brocklehurst." The brunette with the book says.
"I'm Harry Potter," Harry says before quickly realizing his mistake. He's trying to avoid people becoming friends with the 'Potter' instead of the 'Harry'.
"Ooh! You wouldn't be THAT Harry Potter would you? The one who defeated You-Know-Who?" Lavender asks, Harry can't really blame her but that doesn't mean he's overly happy about her bringing it up.
"Supposedly, I don't really know anything about it. I didn't even learn I was a wizard until a month ago." Harry says, trying to manage expectations.
"Oh! That'd be why I never got a reply to my letters. I sent you quite a few. I knew we'd be in school at the same time, so I wanted to be friends." Lavender says, looking kind of sheepish. Harry couldn't help but think this was kind of cute, and any anger he may have felt towards the girl went away in an instant.
"Sorry, didn't get any letters. If you still want to be friends though, we can try. I'm still getting used to this whole wizard thing, so I could use someone to help guide me through all of this." Harry says, trying his best to smile.
"Oh! Well I'm happy to help! My mom's a writer for the social column of the Daily Prophet, that's the biggest magical newspaper, so I know everybody." Lavender says smiling.
"That'll be great. Honestly, if any of you want to hang out at some point I'd like to make as many friends as I can. I already made one enemy, I don't really need more." Harry says, shrugging his shoulders.
"Ooh! Do tell, who has earned the ire of the boy who lived?" Lavender asks, a spark in her eyes.
"I had a bit of a disagreement with Draco Malfoy. He doesn't seem very nice." Harry says honestly. Enemy was probably an extreme word for Malfoy at this moment, but Harry simply didn't think he would get along with the boy very much at all.
"Unsurprising, no one in our age group is particularly fond of Draco. He's kind of a bully to all of us. The only ones who really hang out with him are Theodore Nott, Gregory Goyle, and Vincent Crabbe. I guess there's also Pansy Parkinson, but she doesn't seem too excited by the prospect." Lavender says, counting off people on her fingers.
"You really do know everyone." Harry says, mildly amazed.
"Well, my parents sent me here to learn as much as I can, that includes who to watch out for in the next generation!" Lavender says, puffing her chest out in pride. "Like you, you're someone to watch out for, as is Neville Longbottom. You two, along with Draco and Theodore, are the heirs of some big named families. So, we're going to have to try and see what you plan on doing with that. Draco is already throwing his name around like it's hot stuff. Nott has entered the base-line landscape and is trying to make some alliances but is being more careful with it than Draco is. Then there's you and Neville, who haven't entered that conversation yet. Neville's grandmother has been keeping him more or less removed from that conversation up to this point, but he'll be starting soon. You on the other hand are a total enigma, no one is sure what you're going to do, it's really exciting." Lavender rattles off. Harry notices that she is really into this.
"Well, I don't know anything about any of that. I'm just Harry." Harry says, trying to process this information.
"We'll find something to help you deal. Now get that toad out of here! Who's is it anyway?" Lavender asks.
"Neville Longbottom, apparently this is a toad of status." The car laughs together, and Harry bids them farewell.
The trip back to his compartment is a confusing one for Harry. His family is a big deal? Politics? He really doesn't know what to think about any of it. He's not even a wizard yet. Maybe he can find someone at the school to point him in the right direction of where to start with this stuff.
Sitting back down, he sees that Tracey and Hannah are still in the compartment, and Neville and Hermione haven't returned yet. Harry puts the toad into the small cage that Neville had brought with him, that gave the toad's name: Trevor.
"Well, Neville will be glad you found him." Tracey says, watching Harry put the toad in the cage. "Now we'll just wait for them to return. Since you're back, can you watch the compartment for us? Hannah and I both need the bathroom, and you need to change into your robes anyway."
"Yeah, I can do that. If you walk by compartment 16 on your way to the restrooms, you should say hi. They're the ones who had Trevor, they seem nice." Harry says, beginning to dig through his trunk for his robes.
"Will do! Make sure you close the curtains when you start changing, don't want to give the other girls a show they didn't pay for!" Hannah says, forcing herself and Tracey to laugh at the joke. Harry's face flushes, and they giggle more.
"You're too easy to tease. See you in a bit." Tracey says and the pair leaves.