Seth Rollins was not the sort of kid who believed in fairytales, he was a rational person, always had been. So when a live owl flew in his window with a letter clutched in its beak, he knew he must be dreaming. But after 12 pinches left his skin red and sore, the first of many things he knew to be true came crumbling down.
Now, here he is, standing in a foreign country, miles away from his home in Iowa, with a case of luggage, filled with as many different books as he could fit, and a secondary backpack filled with robes, skinny jeans, and band tees. He held up the letter, attempting to rid it of the wrinkles and creases it had gathered from several days in various pockets by rubbing it on his chest with his free hand. He really wished his parents had enough money to come to London with him. He read the tiny neat script.
"Platform 9 ¾," he read aloud to himself. Sure enough, another illogical bit of the experience. He looked around. Lucky for him, in the milling crowd was a kid a bit older than him in what appeared to be one of the robes he'd bought at Diagon Alley, although it was sleeveless. Seth scurried over to the kid, who upon getting closer was with another young boy, Seth's age.
"No, Dean, this isn't just any school, this is the best fuckin' school in the world," the kid said, and started playing with his lip ring with his tongue.
"I don't care if there's fucking candy everyday, I hate school," The kid next to him said. They were an odd couple, and if the sleeveless robe the older one wore wasn't strange enough, his slicked back dark hair, lip ring, and white fingerless gloves with bold black X's on them was. The younger kid was dressed more normal than the other, old jeans, and a tee, a few curls of his red brown hair was popping out of the gel he had slicked it back with, in an apparent attempt to look like the older boy. Another plus to Seth was the fact that they had a middle American accent. He finally caught up.
"Hey, guys, do you know where platform 9 ¾ is?" Seth called to them.
"Whoa there slick, maybe keep your voice down about that, will ya?" the kid with the sleeveless robe said.
"Sorry," Seth said.
"Don't mind him," the other said, with a half hearted smile, that was actually more of him tightening his lips after the sentence.
"I do, anyway," the older kid said. "The name's CM Punk by the way."
"Wha- what's the CM stand for?" Seth asked, confused.
"Circus Master," he replied quickly.
"Isn't that a ringleader?" Seth asked.
"Shit," Punk said. The other kid rolled his eyes.
"I'm Dean," he said, "Dean Ambrose, we're step brothers."
"Good to meet you," Seth said with an awkward nod. "I'm Seth Rollins."
"Seth freakin' Rollins," Punk said with a nod of interest, "Nice shirt."
Seth looked down at his shirt awkwardly, it was his Asking Alexandria shirt.
"Thanks, I… like your robe."
"Thanks kid," Punk said, "anyway, I was saying, there's no mom to tell us not to ride broomsticks-" he said continuing to talk to his step brother.
They were walking right towards the brick wall between the 9th and 10th platforms.
"Um, guys, there's a wall there," Seth said.
The step brothers stopped an inch away from the wall.
"Show 'im Deano." Punk smirked.
Dean went to hit his head against the wall, but instead walked right through it.
"See, its magic, ya know, since Hogwarts is a magical school." Punk said. "Go on," he said gesturing for Seth to go first.
Seth took a deep breath and walked towards the brick wall, eyes closed, but he did hit something solid. He opened his eyes, expecting to see Dean and Punk laughing at him, but instead, he realized he'd simply walked into another kid. And they were on an entirely different platform.
"Sorry man," he said.
"Watch where you're going ya filthy mudblood," the kid said.
Dean was at Seth's side in seconds.
"Fuck off Ciampa, nobody likes you," he said.
Punk was now through the wall too.
"Ooh, a fuck Ciampa party?" he yelled.
A couple kids nearby in similarly sleeveless robes turned when they heard that.
"Fuck Ciampa!" they yelled.
Punk walked over to them fist bumping the two of them, quickly joining the conversation. The so-called Ciampa grumbled several obscenities under his breath before slinking off into the crowd.
"So you're muggle born?" Dean asked, as the two of them started walking to the train.
It was the biggest, oldest looking engine Seth had ever seen, and it was in great shape, bright red, like a fire truck, Seth figured it was helped by magic, since apparently everything else was too.
"Yeah, I'm from Iowa." Seth said, trying to climb the stairs with all his luggage.
"Muggle means non-magic, not American," Dean said, then whispered "wingardium leviosa" while pointing his wand at the luggage. The weight was immediately lifted for Seth, and the bags began to float.
"You already know magic!?" Seth said, ecstatic. This was some of the first wand-based magic he'd actually seen.
"Well, yeah, Punk's showed me a few things."
"You really call him 'Punk'?"
"Yeah, even my parents do. Apparently the teachers are super lenient about it, too. Nearly all the Hufflepuffs have new names," Dean said, walking into an empty compartment.
Seth followed. They put their bags on the rack above the seats then sat on either side of the compartment.
"So what is this about houses?" Seth asked.
"Oh yeah, um, so basically there are 4 houses, Slytherin, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw. I'm gonna be Slytherin, like Punk. They're the good leaders, and ambitious and shrewd or whatever."
"Cool! What do you think I'll be?"
"I dunno, hopefully not Hufflepuff, they're boring."
"What're they like?"
"Loyal, patient, boring." Dean listed on his fingers.
Seth laughed.
"Ravenclaw are the smart guys. They're real fast with problems and everything, less boring, still boring. Then there's Gryffindor, our biggest Quidditch rivals."
Seth had read a bit about Quidditch from some of the books he'd read over the summer. If he were honest, he'd been reading more about charms and transfiguration than the other required reading, but he could read fast. Maybe he'd be Ravenclaw, he thought.
"They're the 'brave' folks, real stuck up if ya ask me," Dean continued.