Finn stood in between platforms nine and ten at King's Cross Station and stared at the seemingly normal brick pillar before him with a furrowed brow and mouth set in a straight line. The ticket tightly held in his small hand stated in nicely printed font that the train he wanted—the Hogwarts Express—was scheduled to depart on this day, September 1st, at eleven o'clock in the morning, from platform nine and three quarters. This had made no sense to Finn the moment he read it, but his Hogwarts liaison, a white faced, skeletal looking man by the name of Snoke, had given him no more instruction on the matter. He'd simply given Finn the ticket, told him not to miss it, then disappeared amongst the hustle and bustle of the station's patrons.
Forgetting about all that, Finn returned his attention to the matter at hand. Checking his watch, he saw that he had almost a full hour to figure out what he needed to do to get onto this mysterious platform. He'd seen a family completely vanish into the pillar just ten minutes ago, but he hadn't been able to call out for help. By the time his mind registered what had happened, they were already gone. Puckering his mouth, he wondered if it really was as easy as it looked. Did he just have to run at the pillar? Or was there some sort of spell or incantation he had to perform to be accepted in? Looking down at his wand, he hoped he wouldn't have to perform any magic. He'd only just discovered he was a wizard about a month ago, after all. He didn't even know any spells!
Hearing hurried footsteps behind him, Finn peered over his shoulder, glanced back at the pillar, then snapped his head back to look at the family of three walking his way. They were obviously magical, Finn's gut told him so. The father of the group stood tall and relaxed, like he hadn't a care in the world. He had soft brown hair that reached past his ears, but not quite his shoulders, and a twinkle in his eyes that screamed of mischief. The mother looked like a woman ready to engage in battle with her spine as straight as a iron pole and a set jaw that made her look so terribly cold and unapproachable. The son, surprisingly, looked like neither of the parents. He had black, wavy hair, large, protruding ears, and a sloppy smile that made him look naively good.
"Hurry up, Han," the mother called back to the father, who began to lag behind. "We don't want to miss the train!"
"The Hogwarts Express doesn't leave for another hour, Leia," he responded calmly with a lazy smirk creeping onto his lips. "Relax."
Pinning her husband with a sharp look, Leia hissed, "Don't say that so loudly!"
"What? Hogwarts Express?" Han snorted, "What do you care if the Muggles hear? It doesn't make sense to them anyway."
Leia opened her mouth to respond, and the young boy's smile began to droop with disappointment, but Finn interrupted before anymore of the family dynamic could unravel. "Uh, excuse me," he puffed out his chest, hoping to look confident, but knew his facial expression gave his fear and uncertainty away. "Are you going to platform nine and three quarters?"
Leia's eyes, which had been so hard and sharp just a moment ago, immediately softened as she surveyed the young boy in front of her. She smiled at him and Finn felt overwhelmed with how beautiful she looked when she wasn't completely terrifying him. "Platform nine and three quarters? Yes, we are! Are you going as well, young man?"
"Yes—yes ma'am, but, uh, well, I don't know how to—to—"
"To get on to the platform?" She finished for him with a nod, "First year then? Oh, you'll love it. It's Ben here's first year, too! Come along, then," she placed her arm around Finn's shoulders and led him back towards the pillar he'd been staring at just a moment before. "So what we need to do is go through the pillar. Now, you have you're ticket—ah, there's a smart boy," she nodded again after Finn's showed her the crumpled ticket clenched in his fist. "Han, Ben, you two go first so . . . I'm sorry dear, what's your name?"
"Finn."
"So Finn here knows what to do. I'll go with you after so you're not afraid. We'll walk briskly through the pillar and just like that," she snapped her fingers, "we'll be on the platform. Han, Ben?" She looked at them expectantly.
Rolling his eyes good naturedly, Han looked down at his son. "Ready, kid?" Ben nodded his head vigorously and the two started off towards the pillar, Ben's cart. Finn watched intently as they went. He didn't want to somehow accidentally mess everything up last minute. "Okay, okay, you'll be fine. You're gonna do great," he whispered to himself under his breath.
"Ready?" Leia asked him. Finn nodded, gripped the rail of his cart tightly, and jogged towards the brick pillar with his eyes wide open. He must have blinked—or it seemed like he had—because his surroundings went dark for a moment, then not even half a second later everything around him had changed. Finn's jaw dropped open and he turned himself in small circles as he took everything in. The ceiling was raised higher than that of King's Cross and made of glass which enabled him to look out to the slightly cloudy sky outside. A massive and shiny red steam train idled off to the side, blowing out copious amounts of pure white smoke.
"Over here!" Han shouted, waving his arm over his head to gain his wife's attention. "No trouble getting through, then?"
"Of course not," she smirked, "but then again, I wasn't the one that got stuck between the gate once upon a time."
Blushing and immediately losing his 'cool-guy' persona, Han glared and pointed at her, "Well, I wouldn't have gotten stuck if—"
"If mom hadn't chased you into the gate, making you drop your ticket," Ben's tired, monotonous voice finished for his father. Rolling his eyes he continued, "Everyone knows that story, dad. Come on, Finn," Ben smiled brightly at him. "Let's find a carriage before they all fill up!"
"Okay!" Finn readily agreed, secretly tremendously happy that Ben invited him to find a carriage. If he hadn't, Finn wasn't sure what he'd have done. After finding a carriage and securing their trunks, Ben said goodbye to his parents, and the two boys were left alone.
"So," Ben said slowly, tentatively, "You're a first year, too?"
"Yeah!" Finn replied, his lips widening into his biggest smile of the day.
"Cool!" Ben nodded several times, "What house do you want to be in? I'm hoping for Slytherin, myself. All the men in my family were Slytherin," he said proudly. Then, as an afterthought, he rolled his eyes and added, "Well, except for Uncle Luke. He was in Hufflepuff. But he's kinda weird."
"Oh," Finn's smile dimmed a bit as he thought. "I don't know. I hadn't thought about it."
"Well, what houses were your parents in?"
"I don't know," he said again, this time a little sheepishly. Giving Ben a shrug, he continued, "I'm a Muggle-born."
"Oh," Ben said slowly, then shrugged himself. "That's okay. My great grandfather was Muggle-born, too—on my father's side. My mother's side is completely Pure-blood, though. Just, um," he became uncomfortable, his shoulders hunching into himself, "some people at school, well, they might not be okay with you being, uh, you know . . . Muggle-born, so if anyone asks just say Half-blood, okay?"
Finn nodded as if those words meant anything to him, "Um, okay—yeah I'll do that." Biting the inside of his cheek, he looked around the carriage in hopes of starting a new line of conversation. Thankfully, he didn't have to because the next minute the carriage door opened up and two new children stepped in: a boy and a girl. The boy was small, small boned, with sharp, delicate facial features and flaming red hair. The girl behind him stood taller than any eleven year old Finn had ever seen. Her white blonde hair was cut close to her head and her dark eyes seemed to pierce straight through Finn's core.
"Ah, Solo, so this is where you've been hiding," the boy sneered, his upper lip slightly curling. He and the girl walked in and took seats on either side of Ben. "Who's this?" He asked.
"Hux, this is my new friend Finn. Finn this is Hux," Ben introduced, his pale cheeks reddening with either embarrassment or frustration.
Hux held out his hand all official like, "Pure-blood," he said as a way of greeting. "And you?"
Finn took his hand, glanced at Ben quickly, then responded, "Half-blood."
"Shame," Hux pulled away then shook his head. "Phasma here is Half-blooded, too. Most students at Hogwarts are, actually." His eyes flickered towards Ben, "Don't you think it's a shame, too, Ben?" His lips twisted into a cruel smile as he waited for his answer.
Crossing his arms and slouching down into his seat, Ben turned his face away to glare at the door of the carriage. "Bloody shame," he finally mumbled under his breath. Finn didn't know what was going on, but it seemed like Hux had the upper hand over Ben and he didn't understand why.
"So Finn," Phasma started, her voice as cool and melodic as a steady stream, "What house will you be in?"
"Oh, um," he looked at Ben again, trying to figure out how to once more answer this question. Deciding to go with the truth, he told her, "I don't know."
Phasma's eyes narrowed and she tilted her head, calculating his answer. Then, with a smirk, she turned to look at Hux and Ben, "Well, everyone knows what house these two want. Slytherin, of course."
"The only truly acceptable house," Hux told him with more severity than an eleven year old should be able to muster. "Every single member of my family was Slytherin. Ben here should be Slytherin, too, unless he's as much of a disappointment as his uncle." Ben's cheeks burned a brighter red. "Phasma," he paused, then smirked at her, "There's no way you'll even be considered for any other house."
Phasma smirked with him conspiratorially, like it was some inside joke of theirs. After another beat, however, they all seemed to pull themselves out of their own worlds and started a new line of conversation. After a while the train began to move and Finn regained enough confidence to join in the conversation. After the initial awkwardness and what Finn took as mild hostility, Hux and Phasma both seemed to warm up to him—in their own way, anyhow. They listened to what he said and even agreed with him on some things.
Everything was going perfectly fine until ten minutes after the train departed. A girl with dark brown hair tied up into three buns opened the carriage door, "Hello," she greeted, her hazel eyes wary, but friendly as she surveyed them, "Everywhere else is full. Mind if I join you?"
Finn opened his mouth to say she could, Hux asked, "Depends. What's your blood status?"
"My what?" She asked, her eyes narrowing and her voice deepening as she sensed the threat that was an eleven year old boy.
"Your blood status," Phasma tried to clarify, though her sneer seemed to imply that she already knew the answer to the question. "You know," she said slowly, "Pure-blood, Half-blood . . . Mudblood."
Ben's head snapped up. He first looked to Finn, his eyes wide with warning, then to the girl. He tried to discreetly mouth the word 'Half-blood' to her. The girl understood what he was doing, that he was trying to help, but wouldn't accept the hand out. "Mudblood," she said proudly, starring down her two aggressors without a lick of shame. Before Hux even had a chance to send her away, she slammed the door to the carriage shut and walked away with her head held high.
Finn watched her go, wishing he had half the confidence she had. He didn't know what the term Mudblood meant—from the context he could take a pretty good guess—but that girl obviously did, and she decided to own it instead of hiding away behind the term Half-blood. "Can you believe that Mudblood," Hux spat, his face turning blotchy with rage. "How dare she speak to us like that."
"She'll be Gryffindor," Phasma told them sagely, "The stupidity practically wafts off her in waves."
The rest of the train ride was relatively subdued. Hux and Ben spoke almost completely of Quidditch and Phasma had pulled out a book almost immediately after that began. Finn, not knowing much about the sport besides what he gathered from their talk, kept pretty quiet, only speaking when directly spoken to. As a rule of thumb, he agreed with Ben on all things. If Ben favored the Puddlemere United, then so did Finn. If Ben thought the Plumpton Pass should be illegal, then so did Finn. Hux and Phasma might be nice—well, relatively—to him, but their friendship would be one of walking on egg shells. The only one he could really call friend and so far trust with his secrets was Ben. Hopefully they'd be sorted into the same house so he wouldn't have to give up this brand new friendship so quickly.
It was dark before the train stopped again. First Years were piled together and brought to the castle separately from the other students. Once they reached the castle, Finn couldn't keep his jaw from dropping, and eventually just left it hanging. The castle was amazing! Moving stairs, paintings that spoke could leave their canvases, and Finn swore he saw a little elf or goblin or something magical scurry off around a corner. Sticking close to Ben, Finn noticed that he was having a similar reaction to the surroundings. It seemed the only person not impressed with the castle was Hux, who kept his gaze level and straight before him.
Two large double doors opened up and they were led into the castle's Great Hall. Four long tables stood in the room and were surrounded by hundred of students wearing multiple colors. Finn looked up and, after being amazed by the lack of ceiling, saw the house banners dangling above each table. Figuring that each table represented a house, Finn wondered which house was which. He didn't have time to figure it out, though, because suddenly a small, ragged hat that sat upon a stool began to sing. Finn's eyes bugged out of his head as he watched the object move and almost dance.
A man with sandy blond hair and matching beard stood beside the hat and after it finished its song, pulled out a long parchment and began to read off the names written there. "Dameron, Poe!" A small boy with olive colored skin and dark, curly hair walked up, sat on the stool and waited for the hat to be placed on his head.
After a moments silence, the hat's stitched seam opened again and it called out, "GRYFFINDOR!" The table on the far right of the room, decorated with red and golds, clapped and cheered the arrival of their new student. A few more names were called, all being sorted into either Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, or Gryffindor.
"General, Hux!" Was the next name called. Hux preened and made his way up the dais and onto the stool.
The hat barely touched his head before shouting out "SLYTHERIN!" The Slytherin table, on the far left hand side of the hall, cheered louder than any other table so far since Hux was their first Slytherin of the night.
"Plutt, Rey!" The girl from the train, with three buns in her hair, stalked up to the stool. Her brows were furrowed and her mouth set in a line. Finn thought she looked ready to take on their world all alone and if he had any money to bet, he'd bet on her to win.
The hat took a bit longer to determine her house, but eventually seemed pleased with his decision and called out "GRYFFINDOR!" Rey, with no change in her facial expression, quickly slid off the stool and made for her table. Ben made a small noise in his throat and Finn thought he looked almost disappointed that she'd been sorted to that house.
Some more named were called. Three girls into Hufflepuff, two boys and a girl into Ravenclaw, four boys and four girls to Gryffindor, two girls and another boy into Slytherin were all sorted before another familiar name was called. "Rines, Phasma."
Again, the hat barely had to think, "SLYTHERIN!" Five more students were sorted after: two Ravenclaws, one Gryffindor, and two Hufflepuffs.
"Solo, Ben!" Ben gulped and walked up to sit on the stool. The bearded man gave Ben a friendly wink and placed the hat on his head. Then, with barely more than two seconds worth of thought, the hat made its decision.
"SLYTHERIN!"
Finn let out a shaky breath. Ben smiled brightly and made his way over to his cheering table. He gave Finn an excited two thumbs up before sitting down and Finn's mouth turned dry. "Trooper, Finn!" The bearded man called out. Finn hesitated, his feet frozen to the floor, before the other around him nudged him into movement. Stumbling his way up to the dais, He climbed up on the stool and waited for the hat to be placed on his head.
Once the hat was placed upon his head, all the noise within the Great Hall disappeared. Finn worried he'd done something wrong when the hat's voice sounded in his mind, "Hmm, where to put you, where to put you," it pondered. Finn's mind flashed to Ben and the hat laughed, "Friendship, eh? That's what's important to you, hmm? Well, if that's the case Hufflepuff is the house for you!" But Finn didn't want that. He didn't want to be separated from his friend. His only friend. The hat chuckled softly, "You've got drive, that's for sure, and a good mind. You've discovered a good many thing for yourself in such a short amount of time. Shows your cleverness. You have ambition, too, that's good. Hmm, better be—
"SLYTHERIN!"
A/N: Ever since I wrote the Hogwarts drabble with Rey and Kylo, my friend and I gushed about all the other characters and which houses they'd be in. We especially talked about Finn in depth and how he goes from Slytherin House and hanging with the First Order gang to hanging with Poe and Rey. So after that all happened, I saw a post on tumblr about how few fics there are about Finn (there are apparently more Hux fics than Finn fics) and I immediately thought: I can fix that.
Anyway, reviews are always appreciated! Next chapter will probably be in two weeks or so? I post updates about my writing projects on my tumblr: scribomaniac