𝙒𝙤𝙡𝙛𝙨𝙗𝙖𝙣𝙚 || 𝙍. 𝙇𝙪𝙥𝙞𝙣

New Friends

Kings cross station was more crowded than Ast had expected. They struggled to get inside the actual station due to the absurd amount of people commuting to work.

They reached platform 9 and 10, made sure no one was looking, then stepped through the wall. Her eyes took a few seconds to adjust to the dark; but when they did she saw a large, bright-red train. Students were rushing to get an empty compartment while parents were saying their goodbyes. They squeezed through a crowd of people to get to one of the train doors.

Dorian stopped, "alright, new school time. Oscar, Ast, I want you to have fun, okay?"

"Yes dad," Ast said, rolling her eyes.

"I'm serious, Ast. No misbehaving, no detentions, I don't want the school owling me at stupid o'clock in the morning saying that you climbed one of the towers for a dare."

"It was one time!"

"I better hope so."

"That's enough, Dorian," Tina warned, pressing a light hand on his arm.

Dorian used his wand to lift the suitcases off of the trolley while Tina turned to her son.

"Try and make some friends this year, wolfy," She said.

"I'll try to, but you know it's hard mum because of you-know-what." Oscar admitted.

"I'm aware of that, but Hogwarts isn't like Durmstrang. You're going to make friends there and they're going to accept you."

Oscar avoided her eyes and said, "we'll see about that."

Tina pulled Oscar into a tight hug. They pulled away and she ruffled up his hair. She wished him good luck and then turned to Ast and hugged her.

"You'll look after him won't you?" Tina whispered into Ast's ear.

Ast felt her heart sink in her chest. She loved her brother, she really did, but sometimes she'd wish that he wasn't always the centre of attention. She understood that he was special and all and she hated to admit it, but sometimes she'd wish that he was never born at all. That their parents threw him out when they knew what he became.

"Of course mum," Ast said.

"And you'll be on your best behaviour? No misbehaving or causing trouble or pranking, alright? This is a new school so it's a new fresh start for you."

"Yes, mum."

"Okay, have fun and watch over your brother, make sure he takes his Wolfsbane and we'll see you at Christmas."

Ast picked up her trunk and waved goodbye to her parents before joining Oscar and entering the train. As she walked on, the train whistled and everyone who wasn't on quickly rushed onboard. She and Oscar looked for a compartment that seemed moderately empty. They managed to find one that was completely empty and they set their trunks on the railings above them. Miles came with Ast and he curled up into a ball on her lap.

They heard laughter outside in the corridor, and the compartment door opened up. She looked and saw them, the group from the ice cream parlor.

The first one with glasses opened the door and asked,
"Is it okay if we sit here? Everywhere else is full."

Oscar shrugged so Ast nodded. They filed in one by one and sat down. It was quite cramped but everyone managed to fit.

The same boy said, "I'm James Potter by the way, this is my best friend Sirius Black."

He indicated to the boy with shoulder-length black hair.

"That's Peter Pettigrew," he pointed to the short and timid boy.