Platform 9 ¾ was bustling with people saying their goodbyes to their children until Christmas break. Aktaeion stared at the bright red train, excited about the fact that he was finally about to start training to become a wizard. His mother held onto his shoulder tightly and squeezed it before she turned him around to give him a quick goodbye hug and kiss before her and his father left for Canada.
Her hazel eyes met his own bright green eyes before she kissed him on the forehead. "Good luck, my son." She hugged him once more.
His father clapped him on the shoulder and handed him his owl in his cage. "Don't go making friends with people of impure blood, you hear me, Tae?" He held a serious expression before giving him a reassuring smile. "I'm sure you'll be a fine Slytherin, my boy."
"I'll be sure to remember, father." Aktaeion's dark hair curtained his worried eyes. The thoughts of him being put in another house terrified him; he did not want to disappoint his pure blood, Slytherin father, nor the various portraits of their ancestors hanging on the walls at home, not that pure blood really mattered in this day and age. His parents were extremely old fashioned.
He waved at his parents as he stepped into the Hogwarts Express to find a seat. Most of the compartments he passed were full, apart from one with two third year Gryffindors. He made his way to the back of the train where he found two other first years in one of the last compartments. They were rather peculiar looking, one had light pink, curly hair, with eyes to match them, and the other was paper pale, with white hair and red eyes. They were deep in conversation while playing a game of muggle cards.
"Mind if I join you? Everywhere is full, and I refuse to sit with those third years." He scowled at the thought.
The two exchanged glances, then pink-haired girl nodded. "Sure I guess. I'm Noviel Yi." A little white mouse poked his nose out from her pink curls, and she giggled rather cutely, and Aktaeion flushed slightly.
"And who is your little friend there?" He asked kindly, gesturing to the little mouse. Noviel moved over and patted the seat beside her, indicating for him to sit next to her, and he did.
"Well this little white one's name is Athos" She moved her curls off her shoulder and two other little mice poked their heads out from behind her collar, one brown, and the other black. "And these two are Porthos and Aramis" She smiled and stroked the white one, Athos, on the head. "They're wickedly smart, these three, can outsmart any cat or owl that crosses their path." She pointed at the owl cage still clutched in his arms that contained his great horned owl. "And who might that be?"
"This is Salazar, named after the founder of the Slytherin house." Tae said it while filled with pride; his whole family had been in Slytherin, and he was expected to join it as well. He reached his finger into the owl's cage and it nipped his finger fondly.
"So, we know your owl's name, now what's yours?" The albino boy finally decided to talk; so far he's been sitting in the corner closest to the window putting the deck of cards away in its box. He stared at Aktaeion intently, as if he was trying to study how much of a threat he would be to himself.
"What's yours first?" Aktaeion smirked at him and stroked his owl through the bars of the cage.
"Navion. I'm Noviel's twin brother." He glared at Aktaeion in response to the smirk.
"Well, I'm Aktaeion Reid, pure blood." His voice was rather smug and proud, because the muggle cards indicated that they may be half-blood, or muggle-born.
"You don't say... Well, I could honestly care less about the purity of blood." Navion rested his head against the window and watched the English landscape go by.
"Ignore him, he's rather shy." Noviel smiled at him in a way that seemed like she was putting on a show to get on his good side. "So where are you from? I notice you don't have an English accent."
"I'm from Canada. My parents moved there after the fall of the Dark Lord to escape Aurors accusing them of being Death Eaters. And you?"
"We're from London, but our parents are from Korea." She smiled again. She was a rather bright person, the type who could light up the whole room if given the chance. "What kind of wand did you get?" She started rummaging through her bag looking for her own.
Aktaeion took his own expertly from his pocket. "Thirteen inches, dragon heartstring, maple, perfect for transfiguration. It was made by my uncle, who is basically Canada's Ollivander." He ran it between his fingers fondly.
Noviel finally located her own and pulled it out. "Mine's twelve inches, thestral tail hair, and made from Yew. Mr. Ollivander said it was great for charms. My brother got a 14 inch, unicorn hair core, made from an elder, I believe." Navion gave a grunt to say yes and continued staring out the window. "So, you think you'll be in Slytherin? My parents and ourselves did research on the different houses, and they think we will be in Gryffindor or Ravenclaw."
"So, you're muggle-born then?" When Noviel nodded he continued. "My father tells me to stay away from muggle-borns, but I probably won't listen to him too much, there's not enough pure blood for things to be exclusive anymore, and especially since the Harry Potter revolution" he smiled at her.
"I like you. Promise me that we can try and be friends even if we're put in separate houses?" She returned his smile with her own toothy grin. He stared out the window and slowly nodded his head.
He turned to her and stated, "I think that might work." He returned his gaze to the british landscaped zooming past and felt himself drifting off into the world of a nightmare. He was in a city that was orange with fire, and a man with platinum blond hair was leading an army to destroy everything in sight.
He woke with a start at somebody shaking him awake, he was covered in cold sweat and held his head. "Wake up and change, we're almost here now!" Noviel said excitedly, pulling her robes over her head. Navion was also pulling his robes on, and dusting off his wizards hat, he placed it on his head and practically glared at Aktaeion.
"If you're truly going to be put in Slytherin, stay the hell away from my sister and me." Navion shoved past Aktaeion and headed towards the front, a cage in his arms holding what looked like a bearded dragon. Tae threw on his robes and scowled.
"Why would I want to hang around a mudblood Gryffindor wannabe anyways?" he muttered to himself. He glanced over at Noviel, who was busy gently placing her mice into a small cage. Aktaeion couldn't help but notice she was rather pretty, despite her unusual hair color, which he wasn't sure was natural or not.
She turned as she was tucking her wand in her robes and smiled at him, and said "Ignore him," she winked and then waved as she pushed past him to join her brother at the front.
Aktaeion was left alone in the compartment, apart from Salazar. He stroked the owl fondly and scooped the cage up into his arms and grabbed his hat. On the way out he put the hat on, making his curtain of dark hair cling to his forehead. The train finally slowed to a stop, and students started filing out, the second years and above making way to the carriages that seemed to be pulled by an invisible force. Students placed their pets outside the train for somebody to bring to the castle for them. Tae placed his owl beside an unusually small barn owl.
An average sized plump woman called over the heads of the students. "First years to me, first years over here, please!" She rounded the first years together rather quickly and counted heads. "Good, you're all here. Now, as a Hogwarts tradition I will be taking you across the black lake before you join the others and get sorted. My name is Professor Mawhinney", she spoke in a strong Irish accent, and she had a rather kind looking face. "If you choose to join Care of Magical Creatures in your third year, I will be your Professor. I am also the new part-time gameskeeper, and head of Hufflepuff house. Now, if you will follow me to the boats." She turned and ushered the students to follow.
Noviel and Navion were a few people ahead of him, beside a boy with sandy brown hair. Aktaeion shoved past a few students and stood next to Noviel as they found a boat. They all clambered in and almost immediately they started to move towards the castle. The sandy-haired boy looked up in awe, and Noviel's face was lit by an ear-to-ear grin. Navion was holding his head in his hands almost as if he was going to be sick. Tae smirked and raised his head to look at Hogwarts castle.
The windows of the Great Hall were clearly visible in the darkness, the reflection of the windows twinkled on the lake. There were tons of towers, a few lit up almost as brilliantly as the Great Hall. "It's amazing, isn't it?" Noviel was turned to face Aktaeion. He nodded and fixed his gaze back to the castle.
"I can't wait to be sorted, can you?"
"No, not really." She followed his gaze to the castle, and the rest of the time they waited in silence, awaiting the moment when they step into Hogwarts for the first time.