🖇·˚ ༘ ┊͙[ chapter one ] ! ˊˎ

╰─▸ train rides, breakdowns, and corridor collisions

     I HAD NEVER BEEN CLAUSTROPHOBIC BEFORE and yet as soon as I felt myself push through the wall between platforms nine and three quarters, the almighty flood of people overwhelmed me. Now, you'd expect this station to be a happy place. And sure, parents were saying goodbye to their eleven-year-olds and this would be the longest they would be away from them, but they were starting the next stage in their life: learning the art of being a witch or wizard.

     I never saw it that way. And honestly, I hated the next few hours and until I could crash out in my dorm room, away from all the crying parents and confused first years, I was pretty much in a bad mood. My two friends might possess the ability to lighten the mood but I still wasn't as happy as some.

     Maybe I didn't see it as a big deal because on my first day of Hogwarts my father was the one that had the joy of dropping me off. I imagine my mother was working, so that meant the 'goodbye' was as dull as ever. She takes the happiness with her. I don't see it as this ambivalent experience of both sadness and pride, because mine was emotionless. I didn't even get a hug goodbye.

     I could smell them too as I walked past. The people I mean: an unholy fusion of perfumes, body odour and over-applied cologne. You could call the crowd of parents and students a river of people. If that river had an unmerciful current and sucked you in if it had the chance. I was counting how many times people were crashing into me as I tried to weave myself and my load of a trolley out of people's ways. I was currently at four. Apparently, no one else was doing the same. Except the platform wasn't even that busy. Or overcrowded. But the way people moved around, it made it feel that way.

     As I blocked out the cries of the mother's around me, I braved it and slipped into the crowd hoping to make it out to the other side. And I did. Passing over my bags off of my cart to the man, I stared into practically nothing, awaiting the dreaded journey to a place I wasn't even sure if I wanted to go back to.

     "Oi, y/l/n!"

     I waited until all my bags were safely secure until I turned around where I saw a relatively tall girl with yellow blonde hair and immediately recognised the girl before me.

     "Medlar," I nodded. She ran up to me and pulled me in for one of her Spencer hugs. "Someone's missed me." I chuckled as she pulled away to look at me.

     "And you haven't?" she queried.

     Spencer was the kind of girl that always had a smile on her face. She was a Slytherin and a lot of things pissed her off, sure, but she saw the good in a lot of things.

     "Well maybe. Just very glad to be returning to the place I love most in this wonderful world." I replied with a sarcastic tone.

     She knew how much I hated school and sighed at the fact I had already complained. "Ohh come on. We haven't got that long left." She replied, throwing her arm over my shoulder as we boarded the train.

     "Don't remind me that I still have to put up with two years of this crap." I groaned.

     Don't get me wrong, Hogwarts was a great school. And sure, lessons were exceedingly boring and most of the time it pained me to sit in a classroom for the duration of a lesson, but it was the best Wizarding school out there. I just hated the people. With a few exceptions of course.

     We reached our usual compartment to find three small first years sat awkwardly at our seats. I scowled at them as I walked over to one of them, picked up her bag, and placed it outside the compartment, suggesting they should leave as soon as possible. The other two immediately ran out in fear and as they left I didn't break eye contact.

     "Y/n, that was mean."

     Sure maybe, it was a bit out of order, I could see that, but it was too early and I wasn't in the mood to put up with some first years that got in my way.

     "Did you want to go and find somewhere else to sit?" She shook her head and leaned back, laughing slightly. "Besides, you and I both know the first years are the pests of this school. Along with those Hufflepuffs."

      She just shook her head and chuckled, not agreeing, or disagreeing.

     "Alright pea brains?" I looked over to see Ava, standing in the doorway.

     Ava was the kind of girl to not have a care in the world. She was beautiful. So was Spencer, of course, but she cared too much about school and her future to be as free-spirited as Ava.

    "Ah Miss Griffiths, nice of you to join us. Nice summer?" I smiled.

     "Yeah not too bad," she replied, throwing her bag onto the overhead shelving. She slumped down onto a seat next to me. "Yours?"

     "Pretty good actually. That is if Will wasn't there."

     "Oh, how's he doing?" Spencer asked.

     "Why do you care how he is?" I questioned, my eyebrows furrowing.

     She held her hands up in defence, "Oh god sorry. I was just asking how your bloody brother is y/n. And didn't your mum say you had to look after him, you know cause it's his first year and all?"

     "I'm sure he can navigate his way onto a train by himself Spence but thank you so much for worrying," I said sarcastically, putting my hand on my heart.

' ੈ˚ ❃ 

     THE RIDE WAS LONG and it felt like we had been on the train for years. It was going relatively smoothly until it suddenly came to a halt.

     "What's happening?" Spencer asked.

     "We can't already be there," I replied, and looked at the two girls who were just as confused as I was. Chills began crawling around my skin, as the temperature seemed to drop rapidly. "Ae you cold?" I asked them. They nodded their heads and I tightened my scarf around myself.

     The windows then began freezing up and ice formed around the windowsill. I began hearing distant whispers from other carriages and I tried to look out onto the outside.

     "I can't see anything," I shrugged. "Maybe it was an engine problem?"

     "But y/n, the train runs on magic."

' ੈ˚ ❃ 

     THE TRAIN HAD SHORTLY begun moving again. Still slightly spooked, I checked my watch and stood up, "Okay, we should probably go and get dressed."

     "I'll go in a bit. Let me just finish this chapter." Ava replied, gesturing to the half-open book in her hands.

     "I'll go with Ava; I can't be bothered just yet," Spencer said, returning to the newspaper in her hands.

     I nodded and started making my way to the changing rooms.

     I was almost there when I bumped into a tall boy, that ended up towering over me until he stumbled back at the collision. He had scruffy, brown hair that flopped over his perfectly chiselled face and beautiful grey eyes that seemed to glow in the dim light that was shining from the ceiling of the train. I must admit he was quite attractive; anyone could see that. My momentary feelings seemed to worsen when I saw the yellow emblem, engraved onto his robes. I scoffed and simply continued looking down and began walking past him.

     "Excuse me?" he said turning to me. ''I think an apology is in order."

     I actually couldn't quite tell who was at fault. Surely a guy at his height could see me. I'm not exactly six foot and I was looking where I was going.

     I turned around to face him, "Didn't you walk into me?" I questioned.

     "I-" he stumbled on his words, yet didn't come up with an answer.

     "Good day." I smiled sickly sweetly and continued walking to the onboard changing rooms.

     "Where are your manners?" he called back.

     I didn't turn back around but just yelled: "Guess I don't have any" back to the boy, with a shrug, who was still standing, pretty stunned, in the middle of the hallway.