"Yeah, yeah I can Mom." Hermione says into her mothers chest. Harry takes a moment to ground himself after seeing this, an unfamiliar tightness in his chest appearing seeing the exchange.
"Now then, you and Harry here need to get to the train. It wouldn't do for you both to show up two hours early and not get the best seats! Harry, would you be a dear and stay with Hermione for the trip? I imagine you'll both feel better if you have a friend to ease your worries." Rose says, releasing her daughter from her grasp.
"I'd be happy to Mrs. Granger; wouldn't have even found the platform without Hermione here anyway, it's the least I can do." Harry says, excited that he has possibly made his first ever friend.
"Alright! Davie! Line up Hermione's cart for her. We'll have her go first, and then Harry." Rose says, looking at her husband.
"One thing first!" David says, before picking up Hermione into a bear hug, and swinging her in a circle. Hermione let out a squeak of surprise, embarrassment or excitement, Harry is unsure which. "You're going to do great my little Queen of Sicily, now go on before I decide you're too young to leave me and your mother."
"I'll try to write as often as I can! Maybe I'll find a wizarding family who lives close by, and we can have them pick up an owl for you so you can write to me too!" Hermione says, eyes starting to fill up with tears.
"I'll hold you to that, now off! You've got a big day ahead of you! We expect a letter by Friday at the latest!" David says, before giving her a quick push and sending her through the pillar.
Harry feels a small smile creep to his face, as he waves goodbye to the Grangers and makes his own way through the pillar.
From there he sees a most glorious sight: a bright red steam locomotive with the words "Hogwarts Express" written in gold letters on the side of the engine. A few other students with carts are seen milling about and Harry is pleased to see that he doesn't stand out quite as much as he feared he would, as many faces seemed in awe of the train, and also portrayed the same nervous excitement that Harry felt to his very core.
Harry however took this moment to internalize something that Rose has said to Hermione, and under his breath he whispers: "Hello wizarding world, I'm Harry Potter, and I'm the best."
Rose had been right in that simply having Hermione, someone who Harry knew was going through the same experience as him, had decreased his anxiety about the situation considerably. This did not mean however, that he was not anxious, just simply less so than he would have been otherwise. Hermione and he had managed to secure a spot towards the front end of the second third of the train which they hoped would maximize their chances of meeting new friendly people without overwhelming either of them with the sheer number of people on the train. Hermione had made mention of the fact that Hogwarts had between three and six hundred students on average in the past fifty years, as the population of magical Britain tended to shrink rather than grow. Coupling that with the war and the casualties from it that ended roughly ten years ago, our group is not expected to be very large at all.
"That's a bit sad isn't it?" Harry says, seeming to be disheartened by that news, "Those people went through all that effort to end the war, and its effects are still being directly felt a decade later."
"It is," Hermione starts, "but it could have been far worse. Speaking of the war, you wouldn't happen to be the same Harry Potter who defeated… You-Know-Who would you?"
"Supposedly," Harry states. "I don't know anything about it, really. My parents died and then I spent the rest of my life in the norm- I mean, Muggle world. I didn't even know who they WERE until Hagrid told me a month ago."
"Oh no! I'm so sorry to hear that. That's not good at all. Well, we won't talk about that. Have you looked over any of the school material yet? I've done my best to memorize all the texts, I've even tried practicing a few spells. Would you like to see?" Hermione asks, thankfully changing the subject.
"I'd love to." Harry says genuinely. Beyond the pigtail Hagrid gave Dudley, seeing actual spells being done was something he hadn't experienced yet. "What are you going to do?"
"Well, your glasses are broken, I could fix them!" Hermione says, pulling what Harry assumes is her wand from a small bag around her shoulders.
"Go for it, the tape is kind of itchy anyway." Harry says, trying to encourage Hermione.
Her face drops into a look of fierce concentration, there is a brief wand flourish and then…
"Oculus Reparo"
From there, Harry can feel the metal of his glasses bend and stretch around them, as he notices just simply how broken they had been compared to when he had first received them. The Dursleys had never wanted to pay for them in the first place, but fear of reprisals from the school he had been sent to had them purchase them regardless. The frames bent themselves into the proper shape, and even the small scratches that plagued the surface of the glass had filled themselves in. Harry hadn't seen quite this well in years!
"Wow! That was amazing! Way to go Hermione!" Harry said, utterly amazed by his new friend.
Friend. That was a new word to Harry. He'd never had one of those before. Any attempt to make them had been thoroughly quashed under the non-insignificant weight of his cousin Dudley. Either by actively bullying people away from him, or by spreading rumors that he was psychotic, or a murderer, or other similarly nasty things. Here however, was his first chance to have one.