1st September 2025

Sliding open the compartment door, Hugo Weasley hoisted his trunk up onto the rack. Behind him, Lily was leaning against the door frame, her long red hair falling to just below her waist. Hugo lifted her trunk up as well before settling himself on the bench and pulling a book out of his bag. It was a novel, not a textbook.

Lily seated herself across from him and pulled out a sketch pad and charcoal. They were one of the first on the train but no one else entered their compartment, no doubt because Lily's reputation preceded them. That she was the third in her extended family to be sorted into Slytherin did not come as a surprise to anyone who knew her but despite the usual Slytherin reserve, Lily still had a temper that would rival any Gryffindor. Getting on her bad side was something to be avoided at all costs.

Neither of them got up to wave to their parents as the train began to roll out of the station. They were on the wrong side of the train for starters. The silence between them was not uncomfortable, in fact, it was fairly usual. Neither of them were particularly talkative people and anything that they had needed to say to one another had been said on the journey to the station.

Lily was quick to change into her emerald trimmed school robes as she had a Head's meeting shortly. Hugo, however, decided to leave his yellow trimmed robes in his trunk for as long as possible. It was not that he minded being in Hufflepuff, he just found the robes restraining and the yellow was a rather disgusting shade of mustard that he would alter when he reached Hogwarts to make it more compatible with his long red hair.

An hour into the journey, their compartment door slide open to reveal a pale skinned boy with lustrous chocolate coloured curls that fell before his murky green eyes. His expression was stony and there was little warmth behind his greeting. He was greeting Lily of course, as Hugo himself had probably spoken fewer than ten words to him during their time at Hogwarts.

Hugo found his eyes fixed on the boy though.

"Lily, you're required in the first compartment with Braxton to go over your Head's duties before briefing the Prefects," the boy explained monotonously. Lily nodded and left without a word, the boy following after her.

~x~

Adam Nott followed Lily up to the first carriage feeling slightly unsettled. He had felt Weasley's eyes on him in the compartment and could not help but wonder what it had meant. Weasley had never looked at him before, in fact, Adam had sometimes wondered if Weasley even knew he existed.

"I'll see you in a bit Adam," Lily nodded before disappearing into the compartment and sliding the door shut behind her to reveal a plaque that read: Prefects' Compartment. Knowing he would have to come back in a few minutes, Adam decided to just wait where he was. Sinking to the floor, Adam found he could not shake the memory of those sky blue eyes on him.

It took all of five minutes before a silvery Patronus in the form of a sleek wolf glided through the still closed door of the Prefects' Compartment and headed down the train to round up all the Prefects. Trust Lily to flaunt her advanced magical abilities.

Adam stayed seated on the floor, waiting for the other prefects to turn up. It was not long before the sound of footsteps alerted him to the approach of another. Adam felt something akin to cold water coursing down his spine and knew instantly who the arrival was. He pushed himself up into a standing position and brushed of his emerald trimmed robes, refusing to look up at the eyes he knew were watching him.

Several other Prefects arrived and Robert Braxton, the Head Boy, opened the door to let them in. The Prefects' Compartment was an enlarged compartment that comfortably held twenty-six people. The Seventh Year Prefects looked bored as they took their seats in the rows of cushioned benches while the new Fifth Year Prefects kept glancing around nervously and stuck in pairs or groups.

"Sit down," Lily droned and the Prefects instinctively obeyed. Slipping into a still empty bench, Adam let his eyes scan the compartment. He noticed Ophelia Dove, the other Seventh Year Slytherin Prefect, sitting quietly across from him, her doe like eyes gazing absentminded out the window as a Fifth Year sat beside her uncomfortably. His eyes moved further back and he caught sight of Adriana Rivers, a Seventh Year Hufflepuff Prefect, cosying up to Weasley, trying to get his attention. But Weasley was ignoring her, whether intentionally or not, Adam could not tell. All Adam knew was that Weasley was not paying attention to the gorgeous Adriana Rivers because he was too busy looking at him: Adam Nott.

~x~

Nott's eyes locked with Hugo's for a fraction of a second before Lily spoke and he snapped his head around to listen to her. Hugo could not help himself. There was something intriguing about Adam Nott that he had never noticed before. Lily's words breezed over his head as he watched Nott and it was only when Adriana grabbed his hand that he realised the meeting was over.

"So Hugo," she smiled sweetly. Too sweetly. "How was your holiday?" she asked, still holding onto his hand.

"S'alright," he shrugged, not wanting to be rude but also wanting her to let go of him.

"Did you miss me," she teased, causing Hugo to cringe inwardly. It was common knowledge that Adriana Rivers was the hottest and most sought after girl in the school. It was also common knowledge that for an entire year now, she had been trying to get Hugo to ask her out. She had yet to be successful.

"I have to go," Hugo muttered. "Lily is waiting for me," he lied, indicating to where Lily had just vanished out the door. Adriana looked crest fallen. "I'll catch up with you later?" he tacked on, trying to make her feel a little better. He was a Hufflepuff after all. Adriana smiled sweetly again and nodded before releasing his hand with a sigh. Hugo practically ran from the compartment but not before he heard someone snort quietly.

~x~

The moment Hugo left the compartment, Adam snapped back to the present, trying to forget the thought that had just flickered through his mind. Ignoring the death glare Adriana was sending his way for his snort, he slunk out of the compartment and, knowing he had several hours before he needed to patrol the train, began walking down the corridor to where he knew the other Seventh Year Slytherin boys were. When he reached their compartment however, Adam hesitated. Did he really want to sit with them for the remainder of the journey? Not really. His mind was too muddled to be able to deal with their discussions.

Turning away, Adam continued down the train until he reached the compartment where he knew Lily was. Lily and Weasley. Adam stood there for several minutes, fighting between the urge to run and the need to come up with an excuse to enter. In the end, his decision was made for him. The trolley lady appeared from nowhere and opened the compartment door. Adam swiftly retrieved his wallet from the folds of his robes to make it look like he was buying something.

Lily appeared first, buying three chocolate frogs. When she saw him her expression changed to one that he knew was her idea of smiling: a softening of her usually hard eyes and a gentleness to her lips. "Adam," she nodded in greeting. "Perfect. I wanted to show you some ideas for the new Prefects bathroom. Vector said they hadn't been able to repair the old one over the summer. Are you busy or would you like to see them now?" she asked out of politeness, knowing full well that he would not risk refusing her.

Adam swallowed a lump in his throat and nodded, trying to ignore the fact he was becoming a little hot under the collar. The trolley lady moved away and Adam slipped into the compartment. He sat on Lily's bench, refusing to look at the other occupant of the compartment and focusing on what Lily was saying.

"I thought we could keep it as close to the old design as possible but I wanted to add a few changes…" she started. Adam looked down at the drawings she was handing him, glad to have something to focus his eyes on. "I was thinking we could install a few showers as well and the privacy settings need to be readjusted… Maybe we could wall off the bathtub but make everything else accessible at all times?"

"Perhaps you could fit another bathtub in as well," a deep voice murmured from much closer by than Adam had anticipated. He had to refrain from jumping out of his skin when he realised that Weasley had come over to sit beside him on Lily's bench to see her drawings. "What do you think?" he murmured again, his eyes fixated on Adam's. Adam fought the urge to move away from him as he nodded quickly.

"I don't know, it would cramp the space and how many people actually used the bath all that often," Lily mused, unaware that neither of the boys was listening to her.

~x~

"You two should probably start patrolling the train now," Lily stated, glancing at her silver watch. Hugo glanced over at Nott to see him shift uncomfortably before getting up at the same time as Hugo. They both reached for the door handle, Hugo's fingers brushing ever so slightly against Nott's before Nott yanked his hand away. The second the door was open they both attempted to slip through it at once, resulting in their bodies pressing against one another. Hugo gritted his teeth and stepped back, allowing Nott to leave first. By the time Hugo, ignoring Lily's raised eyebrow, stepped into the corridor, Nott was already in the next carriage.

Hugo ran a hand through his long red hair before deciding it would be best to walk in the other direction. He needed to cool off. Nott was tantalizing and Hugo could not shake of the impression the he had been waiting outside their compartment for an excuse to enter. Maybe he was into Lily. Most boys had had a thing for Lily at some point or another during their time at Hogwarts but none of them had ever been brave enough to make a move. Besides, Hugo knew that Lily's heart was otherwise occupied. He just hoped she would let Nott down easy.

His mind was in turmoil but there was one thing he knew for certain: he had made Nott uncomfortable. He couldn't help it; he was just so alluring to look at. Hugo didn't understand it. He just knew that I would have to learn to control himself. He would distance himself from Nott as best he could. He could not risk him getting the wrong idea.


Author's Note:

Hello there readers! Just a quick(ish) note to say hello and give you a few warnings. This story obviously contains a male/male pairing, it will also contain a lot of smut so if that makes you uncomfortable, don't read on. Also this story it mainly focused of Hugo/Adam but will also feature scenes between other characters such as Lily/Teddy, Rose/Scorpius and possible Albus/OC. As I am neither male nor gay, please let me know if I am doing anything embarrassingly wrong, your help is much appreciated. This is also my first time writing a slash story so let me know what you think.