Loki had the sinking feeling that the entirety of the Wizarding World was crowded and loud. It had taken him less than a nanosecond to spot the Genjutsu over the entrance to the platform. While the space/time ramifications of such a thing were intriguing, the pure sound inside of it derailed any thoughts of studying it. He winced when he came onto the platform standing next to a roudy group of redheads, only three of the nine actually being students, the rest either too young or too old, though a pair of twins looked like they might be attending next year.
Loki inconspicuously started darkening his hair until it was a drab brown and as such unnoticeable. Apparently someone had spotted it though as a girl with bright pink hair a couple of years older popped up in front of him.
"Oh! You're like me!" Her hair proceeded to make her point by going an alarming shade of orange before turning pink again. He nodded tightly, glancing around superstitiously to see if they were being watched. She spotted a couple a little ways off watching them. One was a witch, the other obviously a muggleborn male. The girl grabbed his hand and dragged him over to the pair without even a by-your-leave. The moment they stopped he twisted his wrist out of her grip.
"Nymphadora Tonks! You should be ashamed of yourself just dragging people around willy-nilly! Apologize."
"But mum-"
"Now."
The girl bristled for a second, hair turning a riotous red before turning to him.
"Sorry." She snapped with a terse tone. "But mum- he's like me!"
Meanwhile Loki was trying to recall what was so familiar about 'Tonks' it took him a couple of seconds of staring at the girl's mother for it to register that she was eerily similar to his own mother and Narcissa Malfoy-nee-Black. He blinked as it hit him.
"Aunt Andromeda." He stated, the tone almost questioningly. The woman's attention snapped back to him. She frowned as she looked him over.
"Do I know you?"
He sighed before morphing his hair until it was pure black with tight ringlets and thinned his face minutely, eyes going black. The woman gasped, like this he was almost the spitting image of his mother.
"Loki!" She yelped. The girl stared at her mother in confusion.
"What?"
Andromeda turned back to her daughter.
"Nymphadora, this is Loki Lestrange. He's your Aunt Bellatrix's son."
Nymphadora turned to look him over again. Loki morphed back to his actual appearance, white hair, blue-gray eyes and all. The girl blinked rapidly.
"Do you like looking albino or something?"
Loki scowled.
"This is what I actually look like."
"Oh."
Andromeda interrupted before a fight could start.
"It is good to meet you dear. I'm happy Nymphadora wasn't the only one to inherit the family quirk. It seems rather sparse of late. This is your first year correct?"
"Yes, Aunt Andromeda."
"Andy dear. Nymphadora prefers Tonks as well. And this is my husband."
"Nice to meet you Mr. Tonks."
The muggleborn male grinned back.
"It's nice to meet you as well."
The whistle for the train blew and Loki and Tonks rushed for the train. Tonks was immediately swept up into a group of brightly dressed individuals and Loki found himself alone in the train corridor. After glancing into several of the cabins he found an empty one and settled in. After switching into his school uniform and robes he pulled a notebook from his trunk along with his Potions text. He was summarizing the book in a way that the medics of Konoha would understand, as well as writing it in Japanese. The notebook would later be sent to Kakashi via summons. He had already done the same with his astronomy text, leaving out what he already knew was in the konoha library. He even copied sections of the star charts into the notebook.
It also helped that writing allowed him to better retain the information. All of his clothes had been stored into storage scrolls, along with his parchment, quills, and ink bottles. This left him plenty of room for muggle notebooks, pens, and other Wizarding texts that he had picked up to summarize and read up on. He had just reached the chapter that covered sleeping draughts when the door to his compartment opened. An older boy in school robes with black and silver lining stood in the doorway.
"You the only one in here?"
Loki nodded. The male smirked and leaned his head back out.
"Found one!"
There was a few moments of movement outside before the male and three others entered the compartment. They all had the same robes. After considering what he knew of the school he decided the intruders were Slytherins. He went back to the text in his lap. Or tried to anyway. The only girl in the group interrupted him.
"Who are you, little firsty?"
"Loki."
"Loki? As in the god of mischief? How amusing. Loki what?"
He looked up at her and stared for long enough that she blinked and glanced away reflexively.
"Loki Rodulphus Lestrange."
The car went eerily quiet for several seconds.
"Son of Rodulphus Lestrange?" The first boy asked. Loki nodded. The male returned the nod and held out a hand.
"Marcus Flint."
"Loki." He repeated, shaking the boys hand.
"Astrid." The female introduced herself. "Astrid Montague."
"Damien Torseen." Said a burly, black haired male.
"Michello Zavier." The last boy, of Italian descent, introduced.
Loki nodded back to all of them before giving a pointed look to the lot and going back to his book. The talked quietly among themselves after that. The only other interruption of the trip was when the trolly went by. Loki looked it over but didn't spot anything he liked and decided against getting anything.
When the train came to a stop the older students easily cleared a path with their mere presence and Loki followed in their wake for a quick exit from the train. A booming voice greeted the students on the platform.
"First years to me! First years this way!"
Loki followed it over to a giant of a man with long scraggly hair. He had the oddest impression that Gai would like this man. A shudder went through him at this thought. He loved Gai like a brother, but sometimes he was just too much.
Once the first years were gathered they were led down to a dock and taken across the water. Loki was the only student who didn't trip on the beach or make an audible sound when he first spotted the castle up on the cliffs. The sight was breathtaking though. The thought of exploring such a big place excited him. There would be plenty of places to hide, and areas not easily reached. He frowned thoughtfully, he would have to find someplace to train. The group was led up a set of steep stone steps and across the grounds to the front door of the castle. The giant man knocked and the door was answered by a tartly dressed woman.
After a brief warning to 'smarten themselves up' and an introduction of the four houses they were left alone for a few minutes. Loki blinked as he registered some kind of chakra to the back of the group. Since he was facing that direction he was the first person to spot the ghosts. He watched them idly while the other students freaked out, trying to decided if they were real ghosts or not. When the woman came back he shrugged the thought away and turned around.
The first years were led in two lines into the Great Hall, where the rest of the student body was already seated. That annoyed Loki. Were they trying to terrify the students on purpose? What better way than to get stuck in front of a bunch of people you don't know, who are avidly staring at you. His attention snapped back to the front of the room when the hat that had been quietly sitting on the stool burst into song. He had to blink rapidly as his mind worked over the implications of a talking hat, that could apparently read your mind.
He listened half-heartedly as the names of First Years were called and the nervous students were sorted. There was a sudden stressed hush when his name was called. He cringed inwardly, knowing it was because of his mother's nefarious reputation.
"Lestrange, Loki."
As he was walking up to the stool, Loki wanted more than anything in the world to move out of his mother's reputation, to be seen as a person, not the son of a torturer. Those were the kind of thoughts running through his head when the hat slipped over his eyes.
There was a brief amused chuckle in his mind before the hat spoke.
Well, if that's what you want. ..Better be "Slytherin!"
It took him a moment for him to realize the last had been shouted out to the hall. He tugged the hat off his head and strode over to the Silver and Green table. There was polite clapping, and quite a few smirks from his Housemates. He sat down across from another first year that had already been sorted into Slytherin. The boy appeared to be nervous still, jittery. Loki raised an amused brow before turning to watch the rest of the sorting. It finished off with the last student going to Ravenclaw. The Headmaster gave a few start of term warnings and then they were allowed to eat.
Loki pointedly didn't react to the sudden appearance of food. Reacting, would be like showing a red flag to the bulls that were the older Slytherins. It was better to appear unfazed. He ate only small portions, not feeling up to the heavy british foods, and listened to the chatter around him, only replying when asked a direct question. The other first years eventually caught on that he wasn't interested in talking and let him be. This seemed to amuse the older years, but Loki was just too tired to care at this point. It was amazing how doing absolutely nothing could tire a person out…