Chapter One
Running forwards at full pelt, Liam collided into a rather large woman, knocking both of them and a rather large amount of luggage crashing down around them. A teenage boy had suggested that he take the trip through the barrier at Platform 9¾ at a run since he was feeling nervous, but he hadn't counted on someone being stood right where he came out.
Apologising profusely, he quickly stood up and started picking up the dropped luggage, dusting off the suitcases the woman had been holding and trying to ignore the giggles of people who had witness the scene. After checking she was okay, he picked up his suitcase and rushed off, mentally scolding himself for making an idiot of himself already. Checking his watch, he noticed it was 10:50, remembering the train was leaving at 11, he set off towards the train and lugged his suitcase up the steps. Once inside he started to wander down it, looking for an empty compartment, or at least one with someone inside who looked up for a laugh.
Around halfway along the train he noticed a rather cute looking young girl sitting alone playing with a strange purple creature, curiosity getting the better of him, he stopped to look. The girl had long wavy brown hair, with matching big brown eyes. Her face was rather thin, and although she was already dressed in he school robes he could see her body was the same. He estimated that she would be around three or four inches shorter than him, though he was tall for his age at almost 5 foot.
Liam checked his reflection in the glass, rubbed off the dirt he could see from the earlier collision and ran his fingers through his medium length black hair trying to smooth it out. He noticed his pale blue eyes were slightly bloodshot due to the lack of sleep the night before, he was just to excited about today to be able to sleep.
Looking back towards the girl, he noticed she was staring right at him, and blushing again, he reached forwards and grabbed the door taking a seat inside.
"Was there any particular reason you were staring at me?" The girl asked. Blushing again Liam tried to think quickly for an excuse, finding one he answered.
" I was just looking at your um...thingie" He blushed again realising how that sounded.
"It's called a Pygmy Puff" she said, before giggling at his obvious discomfort. "I called it Mike, though I'm worried now that it might be a male...I'm not really sure how to tell"
"Well there must be some way to tell" He laughed at the thought of a female pet called Mike "I'm Liam by the way. Liam Spencer." He said, offering his hand out "And who might you be?"
"Devin Swain" She replied, offering her hand back, blushing as he took it and kissed it
"Beautiful name for a beautiful girl" He teased, laughing at the blush on her face. They sat in a slightly awkward silence for a few seconds, neither knowing what to say next. Turning back to the Pygmy Puff "Did you try asking your parents what little Mike might be?" Liam asked, fishing for information about her, "Or are they muggles like mine?"
"Yeah they're muggles too" She replied "I'm glad I'm not the only one here with muggle parents, I was worried I might be. My aunt is a witch though, but my mum only told me that after I got my letter. She was really excited by it. I guess she always felt left out when her sister went off to learn magic and she's happy I got the chance I got to go"
"Oh so your a first year like me? Must have been easy for your parents to accept it all since they all ready knew"
"Yup, I would have had no idea how to tell them otherwise, how about your parents, how did they take it?"
"Well..." He drawled, wondering how to phrase it "They don't technically know..."
"What! How? Did you run away? Wont they notice your not there anymore" She was rather shocked at the young boy sat opposite her.
"My parents were never around always to busy working to have any time for me, I was brought up by my nanny, I was being sent to boarding school this year anyway, and I just...got on a different train, my dad dropped me off and didn't stick around to check. I got my nanny to send a letter to the school explaining what was going on, and they let me order my school supplies by owl". He explained. "They never have to know".
"But what if you get caught?" She asked, still horrified.
Liam was saved from answering the last question as a smiling, dimpled woman stuck her head around the door,
"Would you like anything off the cart?"
Liam jumped up towards her, grateful of the distraction and bought a pumpkin pie, as well as a rather large amount of sweets. He didn't fancy an interrogation given the lack of sleep he had the night before.
"You getting anything?" He asked Devin, turning round to smile at her
"Nah I brought my own lunch with me, thanks anyway". The woman smiled, bid them goodbye and carried onto the next carriage. Liam sat down again and started to munch on his pie, watching Devin as she pulled a sandwich out of a plastic bag next to her. She Stared down at the floor as she ate apparently lost in thought. She looked up as she finished and noticed him staring at her again. She blushed as he winked at her, laughing.
"Are you trying to flirt with me?" She asked, grinning.
"Maybe, maybe not" He teased, laughing he unwrapped a packet of sweets "Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans" He read out loud "Want one?"
"Eww no. I had some of those when I went to Diagon Ally last week, some of the flavours were awful" She said pulling a face.
"Oh come on, they can't be that bad" He popped one in his mouth. Devin burst out laughing at the look of disgust now on his face. Liam quickly spat the bean back out into his hand, frantically looking round for the drink he bought off the trolly.
"What did you get?" she managed to ask through fits of laughter "I did warn you".
"Chilli. Really, really, hot Chilli!" He spluttered in between swigs of pumpkin juice. He put the sweets to the side, not daring to try another and depositing the half eaten bean in the napkin that came with his pie.
"Maybe one of these will take the taste away" Devin said, handing him a bag of sweets she had pulled out the carrier bag. Liam took one, eyeing it suspiciously
"What is it?" He asked, eyeing up the sweet, it was a black skull with a green snake curling out it's mouth.
"I'm not really sure, I got them in a joke shop in Diagon Ally, the tub said Edible Dark Marks but I'm not sure what that is. I guess we'll find out at some point soon though". She popped one in her mouth, and Liam, after seeing nothing bad happen to her followed suit.
"So what's Diagon Ally like then? I never got a chance to go" He said, sucking on his sweet "I'm hoping I'll get to go soon though"
"It's umm, wizardy" She glared at him, "Stop laughing!"
"Sorry, just... Wizardy?"
"I didn't get to stay there long, and it was a bit overwhelming, everywhere was busy and everyone was wearing robes and there was magic everywhere. The shops I went in just had school supplies and things, and weren't really that interesting. I'd love to be able to go back and explore the other shops there though, some looked really interesting".
"We'll go together then" He said smiling at her "You can show me around". He said, flashing her a big smile. "So where are you from anyway?" He asked, starting up the conversation again "I'm from Cambridge"
"Liverpool" She replied "It's..." She started to say before being interrupted by an older girl sticking her head around the door. Noticing the prefect badge, they both turned to see what she wanted
"Just letting you know we'll be there in about 20 minuets, so you'll want to get changed into your school robes before we get there" The prefect told them, before walking off to the next carriage to tell the next group of students.
Liam stared at Devin for a few moments, before she realised with a start what he wanted, laughing and covering her eyes. He opened his suitcase and pulled out a set of slightly creased robes.
"No peeking" He teased, before quickly changing out of his jeans and t-shirt into his robes.
"Nice boxers" Devin teased, laughing through a gap in her fingers at the look of horror on his face,
"I said NO PEEKING!" he flustered, quickly pulling the robes over his head, trying to smooth out the creases while glaring at the girl in front of him.
"Oh comon, tell me you wouldn't do the same thing if you had the chance" She giggled, ignoring the dirty looks he was shooting her.
He sat pretending to sulk for the next few minutes, until they felt the train shudder to a halt. He watched her out the corner of his eye gather her things together. She moved in front of him and held out her hand,
"Truce?" She asked
"Oh go on then" He took her hand, accepting with a grin "We better go find out where we're going" He grabbed his suitcase and they walked out on to the platform together.
Looking around confused, trying to work out what was going on, they followed the flow of the crowd of students, looking for someone to ask for help, until they heard a booming voice cry out,
"Firs' years, this way firs' years, follow me"
They turned to look at each other, intimidated by the large giant of a man stood in front of them. Trembling slightly, Devin slipped her hand into Liam's.
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This is my first time writing anything longer than a couple of pages in around 5 years so I'm still getting back into it. Any feedback on ways to improve this will be very helpful :)
I'm hoping to update this around once a week, but it should be a bit more often to start with to get it going.