The teen stepped off the Hogwarts Express, and smiled. He always felt better here. This was where he belonged, in this magical world that taught potions and flying and ghosts. He hated the summers, forced to be apart from all that he loved, instead living with his neglectful family. But now, all that could be pushed to the back of his mind, because he was back home. He was back where the world made sense.
He pushed his hair out of his eyes to get a better view of the castle. She was magnificent as always, towers swooping up to touch the sky, rooms jutting out at improbable angles. He could hear Hagrid bellowing a short way away. "Firs' years, over here! All firs' years to me!"
He felt like he could stand there for hours, reveling in the beauty of the world he had claimed as his own. But after mere minutes, he was snapped out of it by a girl with long hair grabbing his arm.
"Come on, then." She said. "Let's hurry, before we have to share a carriage with Malfoy, or something." And, as he was dragged through the crowd by his best friend, he knew that everything was going to be all right.
AN: Hagrid went to school at the same time as Voldemort, so he was almost certainly gamekeeper when Lily and Snape went to Hogwarts. Also Lucius Malfoy is in school at the same time as Snape, as he was a prefect when Snape was a first year. Harry and Hermione, of course, had their own Malfoy to deal with.