Chapter 2: Nice to Meet Choo
The Hogwarts Express whistled obnoxiously, steam pouring out its stovepipe into the grey and dreary morning. Abed rushed to get onboard, clutching the strap of his messenger bag satchel with one hand while wheeling his luggage with the other.
Fellow Hogwarts students crowded the platform, saying their last tearful goodbyes to family and friends, and Abed impatiently carved a trail through them. He wanted a window seat, but facing the opposite direction of the train's movement and preferably in one of the first few carriages because ones near the caboose tended to jostle and bump.
Once on board he decisively entered the first cabin to his right, placed his luggage in the overhead compartment and only then turned to see that it was already occupied.
A young black boy sat opposite him in jeans and sneakers, his ankles crossed and shoulders hunched forward, completely engrossed in his blue Gameboy Color.
Taking a seat in the plushy, velvet-upholstered bench, Abed ventured to ask, "Pokémon Yellow?"
"Huh?" the boy looked up, deftly pausing the game while looking up to make eye contact with his new travel companion. "Yah… I already beat it, but now I'm going back through all of the regions to buy up the entire game's inventory of potions. After that I'll probably get all the fishing poles. It's not great, but it's all I have 'til Gold comes out."
"What I like to do is go back and collect digletts. Hundreds of them. I love digletts," Abed offered, already picturing their tiny, rounded little brown heads bouncing and bobbing in Dark Cave.
"I guess?" the boy responded tentatively, surprised to be having such a candid conversation with a person he'd only just met. "What's your name again?"
"Abed. Abed Nadir," he explained, pulling out his recently purchased wand and beginning to fiddle with it.
"I'm Troy. Troy Barnes," Troy replied, shutting down his Gameboy and stowing it in his backpack for later.
The train wailed again—last boarding call. The aisle way soon flooded with latecomers.
The head and upper body of a young, sooty-faced ginger boy appeared in the cabin doorway; his face was painfully apologetic.
"Excuse me, do you mind? Everywhere else is full."
"Sure," Troy responded, moving his backpack next to him to make room for him. Behind the redhead trailed a diminutive brunette boy with wire-rimmed spectacles.
"I'm Ron by the way. Ron Weasley," the ginger-haired boy explained, smirking sanguinely and making himself comfortable next to Troy.
"Harry. Harry Potter," the brunette boy followed suit, introducing himself while plopping down next to Abed.
"Anything off the trolley, dears?" the perm-haired, vest and skirt wearing older woman with the refreshment cart inquired. Shelve upon shelve of metallic-wrapped, sugar-rich goodies twinkled in the eyes of the four boys, who admired the bounty with watering mouths, contemplating a purchase. Harry had just begun to rifle in his pants' pocket for some change when Abed, pensive, suddenly blurted,
"You look like Mrs. Doubtfire."
A/N: Heavy borrowing from the Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone movie, both the scene and some dialogue. Sorry.. The Hogwarts Express is just such a great place for a meet-cute.
