A/N: The second replacement chapter for me being a mug. And once more I'll take advantage of this unusual AN occurrence to say tysmmmm to everyone who's actually reading this because you read this far omg. I hope you're enjoying - Lucky is going to Hogwarts, finally! Review if you're enjoying, I love to hear what readers think 3

Today was the day.

Lukas stopped just outside the entrance to King's Cross Station while Jack and Harry forged ahead, and took a deep breath of air, turning his face up to the sun. The heat of the summer still had its grip on the day and the black fabric of his clothes burned against his limbs. Perhaps he should've worn something with short sleeves, but Lukas liked baking like this. Like a reptile. The heat warmed into his bones and uncoiled a part of him that was otherwise tangled, rigid and taut.

This would be his last time in London for a long time. Until Christmas, in fact, and that time would be spent somewhere utterly strange. He'd … miss the city. From his first memory, he'd been surrounded by the constant roar of traffic and buzz of human life. It was part of him. A mark tattooed into his skin.

Lukas inhaled again, savouring his last breath of polluted London air, and with it still tangy and musty on his tongue, he headed inside.

There was no chance Jack had missed Lukas falling behind, but he hadn't stopped. Lukas caught up easily enough anyway. The activity of King's Cross always enthralled Harry to the point of turning his walk to a tourist's stumble. The boy knocked into people and the disruption in his wake left a breadcrumb trail for Lukas to follow. Jack pushed a year's worth of luggage on the railway trolley, including a slightly dull little owl called Glimfeather, and if Harry hadn't made them an obstacle already, that trolley definitely would have.

Lukas fell in beside Jack, wiggling his fingers at Harry before pulling his notepad from his jeans. During the trip to Diagon, an 'Eezy-Shrink' notepad on sale had inspired Lukas to figure out how to do the same with his, and now it rested in his pocket when he didn't need it, about the size of a zippo.

Now he flashed a note to Jack. 'You do know where we're going, right?'

Beneath the deep black hood that he wore, Jack flashed Lukas a wolfish grin. He had to shout over the clamouring noise. "That's gotta be the hundredth time you've asked me that, kiddo. I told ya I know, didn't I?"

'You also told me you'd never used the muggle entrance before, so 'scuse the scepticism.'

"Sure, but platform nine and three quarters can't be that hard to find, right? Three quarters of the way between nine and ten. Easy."

Lukas sighed and squeezed in between Harry and the trolley, keeping his feet moving neatly so Jack didn't jam into his ankles while he wrote. 'Keep an eye out for anyone who looks wizarding.'

Jack had given Harry a big bucket hat and pulled it as tight and low over his head as it went. His glasses knocked against the fabric, but his scar was thoroughly out of sight. It looked stupid, and Lukas had told him so, earning a punch in the arm, but Harry wore it with pride anyway.

This one was nothing in the grand scheme, but Harry always liked little deceptions like this. They'd had to do a few in his time with them – what with all the legal nothing around both of them staying with Jack – but Jack had always turned them into a game. More than likely, it kept Harry feeling normal. Jack had done a really good job at making things for Harry normal, no matter how abnormal his life was.

Harry grinned cheekily, his eyes dancing behind his smudged glasses. "So Jack doesn't know where we're going?"

"Shut up, boy wonder," Jack growled.

Lukas and Harry glanced at each other and burst out laughing.

Jack ploughed through the masses with the trolley as they headed to platforms nine and ten, while Lukas and Harry let him act spearhead icebreaker for their little formation. Harry chattered his ear off about a gazillion irrelevant things while Lukas let his eyes trail over the crowds in search of wizards or something interesting.

No rush. It was still early, and they had plenty of time to find the mysterious platform when Jack, inevitably, couldn't find it himself.

At the head of the long peninsula that housed platforms nine and ten, the three of them huddled together with the trolley in an out of the way spot. If Jack knew where they were going, this would be where he'd brashly announce it and swagger over, but exactly as Lukas had expected, he just peered around the platform, clearly lost. Lukas elbowed him in the side, grinning, and Jack scowled.

"There's gotta be a sign here somewhere. Fucking hell."

"There wasn't one for the Leaky Cauldron." Harry's words were absent, an offhand comment while he scanned the platform. A moment later and he bounced up on his toes, eyes widening. "Oh, look at them! Do you think they're magical?"

Lukas and Jack followed Harry's jabbing finger to a large, entirely ginger family. There were five kids – four boys and a tiny girl, who clung to her mother's hand – all with the same flaming orange hair. The mother was bustling around, tapping heads and straightening luggage on the array of trolleys. Most people who passed by looked at them with disbelief, eyes like pennies as they drank up the gargantuan stack of trunks, the owl crowning it, and their very bad muggle clothes.

Yep, wizards. What were they doing here?

When Lukas had asked Harry to look for someone magical, he'd meant look for a muggleborn with trunks and pets like theirs, not a whole damn wizarding family. Lukas glanced up. Jack's lips twitched outward, hesitating right on the brink of a grimace. A moment later, he groaned and pulled his hood lower.

"Weasleys," he hissed under his breath. Lukas nudged him and turned his palm up, raising his eyebrows. Jack beckoned him a little closer while Harry was distracted and leant into to murmur in his ear. "Super light purebloods. I can't go over there. I'm a famous face for that lot." Lukas tilted his head. "I'll explain later, but they know me. Trust"

"Hey?" Harry dragged his eyes from the family, tugging at the edge of the bucket hat as he turned back to them. His nose scrunched up like it did while he was thinking. "What do you think? Should we go ask?"

Lukas held up his finger to stop Jack's no. 'We're probably better just watching. I don't want to talk to them.'

A little well of disappoint lifted behind Harry's big green eyes, and Jack snapped onto it instantly. He jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the shops lining the head of the platform. "Why don't you go get me a coffee and yourself something sweet, kid. Me and Lucky'll keep an eye."

Harry's face lit up like a beam of sunshine. "Alright! What can I get?"

"Anything you like, boy wonder." The moment Harry grinned like that, it echoed all dopey on Jack's face. Lukas shook his head, forcing his grudging smile away. Idiot.

Once Jack handed Harry a tenner and sent the kid packing, Lukas wrote a note. He held it up high to where Jack kept a hawk eye on Harry as he trotted over to the shop.

'Tell me who they are then.'

"Old pureblood family. A light one. That's Molly Weasley over there. She and her husband were both in the Order during the war. I told you about that, right?" Lukas nodded. "Sure. Me and Corb were with Barty and the three Lestranges when they killed brothers – I mean, I didn't actually do shit. Call it, uh…" A grimace spread across Jack's lips and he scratched the back of his neck beneath the hood. "Call it me being too high and causing trouble, huh? Good thing too, or I would've gone right down with 'em. Plus, Mik killed her husband's uncle during his little ritual back in the forties." The expression on Jack's face changed when he mentioned Mikael. Lukas wouldn't quite say improved. "Yeah, I've fought her a couple of times in raids. Pretty vicious like, and she'll have been paying attention to all our mugshots."

Lukas wrinkled his nose as he held his note up. 'Here's hoping I don't have to deal with one.'

"Eh, far as I knew all their kids were older than you, but there're two little ones with her too—" Jack nodded over at the Weasleys, who were now talking to Harry—"so she might have more. What'd I tell you about them pre-whatsits you always get anyway, huh, kid?"

'Preconceptions?'

"Yeah, that's the one." Lukas stuck his tongue out and scowled, and Jack laughed. "Yeah, fuck off. You know you keep doing it. I ain't never seen anyone you didn't decide you don't like before you even meet 'em."

Lukas wouldn't argue with that, but it wasn't like he'd ever been wrong. But if Jack was making a point, now Lukas would have to make a point not to. Maybe they wouldn't be too hideous. Anyway, lots of Light families wound up in Gryffindor, and Lukas doubted he'd end up there. Bold and courageous. Lukas shook his head, smirk curling his lips. Like hell. He'd probably end up in Ravenclaw.

"Hey."

Lukas glanced up at Jack, then followed his finger across the milling crowds. A few pigeons streaked above it all in a fluster of squawking and ruffled feathers. Molly Weasley had her hand on one of her son's shoulder, squaring him up with a place she indicated with a short, freckled finger.

Then he was off. The boy struggled through the crowd, pushing his trolley before him. A few times, gaggles of travellers swallowed the sight of him, but Jack, much taller than Lukas, kept track, pointing the ginger kid out when he re-emerged. When he disappeared from both of their sights, it was in plain view … straight through a brick pillar.

Jack clapped a hand to his forehead and laughed.

"Shit, that was what Lovegood always talked about! Check that out, Lucky, I told ya I'd work it out, didn't I?

Exactly when someone else had shown him all of it. Lukas grinned and shook his head, settling back against the brick pillar to wait.

Once the last of the Weasleys had vanished and Harry had returned with a coffee for Jack and something sickly sweet for himself, the three of them made a beeline toward the pillar with the trolley, By now, Lukas had a … vague concept of how it might work. At least in a nuts and bolts sense. Concretely, he didn't know a sliver of as much magic as he'd need to figure it out.

Lukas went through first. He held his breath, but he kept his eyes wide open. Not that it was particularly interesting. The world around him blinked out of existence for a moment, as if he passed through a paper-thin sliver of … not-reality, and then an entirely new sight filled his vision.

The platform wasn't really different to King's Cross – not in the structure of it – but everything else… Well, it was as if he hadn't just passed through a skein between places, but between worlds. A parallel universe where everything Lukas had known had been turned on its head. The same crowds bustled about, and the same teary goodbyes or business-like boarding went on. A sense of transition still haunted the place as if it existed only for this moment and once the train departed it, the next projector slide would slot into place, and a new world would burst into existence, the old forgotten but for the litter of ticket stubs and forgotten things tracked into the dusty tiles.

And what a train this was! A great, sleek, scarlet behemoth that belched steam from a tall funnel. It floated down the long chain of carriages and over the platform like an atmosphere beneath the vaulted glass roofs.

But the familiar made the frame that cast the oddities into stark, fantastical relief.

Just before him, tearing his attention from the train, a woman waved her wand, easily and carelessly, and an agitated owl's feathers turned from vivid pink back to soft browns and golds. As its beak shrunk from a duckbill to a more reasonable size, the owl gave a hassled hoot, and an older boy sulked as his mother admonished him.

All around him, these tiny acts of magic went on without a soul giving them notice. Trunks levitated, clothes snapped into shape, wayward toddlers staggered back on invisible leashes. It was bizarre, but the way these people went about it made it so ordinary that his vision seemed to swim with altered perception.

As Lukas stood there with saucer eyes and a racing heart, his held breath escaped in a small gasp. This was it. From this moment hence, he was officially part of the wizarding world. He had an entirely new place to carve out for himself. He could be an entirely new person. In this moment, Lukas Black didn't exist.

He was utterly free.

Harry bobbed up beside him, and a jagged rattling emerged behind him as Jack stepped through the arch, and just like that, the moment vanished.

Oh well. Lukas Black had never really existed anyway. Lukas was himself – nothing more, nothing less. He was no one else's parenting and no one else's genetics, that he maintained. Losing his all his childhood memories gave him one thing, and that was an independence in himself that no one could ever take away.

"This place is amazing!" Harry's shout drew the attention the people nearby, and most spared him an indulgent smile. His wandering steps took him into the path of an elegant man with long, platinum blonde hair, who nearly walked right into him. Ruffled, he spared Harry and Lukas a single salty glare before ushering on a pretty woman and a boy about Lukas's age with matching hair.

Lukas wrote a note when Harry came back. The kid bounced on the balls of his toes, and his cheeks were flushed pink with bushy-tailed excitement. 'It's just like Diagon.'

shot him a crafty grin that said he knew exactly how much of an aloof front Lukas put on. In Diagon, Lukas had felt as much like an outsider to all the wonder as he did now, but this time, he knew he was on his way to become part of it. When he came back to this station at Christmas, he'd truly be a wizard.

Jack pulled the trolley up beside Lukas, the shadow of his hood shading his eyes as he hunkered low over the bar. "Jeez, you're a miserable little bugger, Lucky." Lukas gave him the finger and Jack winked while he ruffled Harry's hair. "It's cool as shit, ain't it, boy wonder?"

"Isn't it?" Harry bounced on the balls of his feet again. Lukas honestly had no idea how so much exuberance could reside in one body. "I can't wait to go next year! Let's go find you a carriage, Lucky. It looks pretty full already."

Lukas nodded and ducked into a dramatic bow, gesturing Harry onwards and sending the boy into a fit of laughter.

All of the carriages at the front of the train were packed with students laughing with friends or chatting with family members. All that chaos would drive him mad, so Lukas hustled them all down to the end of the train. Here, most carriages were still empty, doors hanging invitingly ajar. He picked one at the end of an empty car, and Harry and Lukas took in more of the sights while Jack hauled the luggage up into the racks.

When he was done, Jack collapsed onto the steps, hand pressed to his chest and his face flushed. Lukas pushed Jack's loosened hood back over his eyes as he dangled the note before Jack's face.

'All tired out?'

"Fuck off," Jack growled. "How did you get so much shit?"

Harry jumped up onto the stairs beside Jack, hanging from a railing. "It's all of Lucky's books."

Jack's fingers dug into his shoulder while he glowered at them, massaging. "Yeah, and don't I know it."

'Better get on the weights. Gonna have even more when I come back.'

"Here's a challenge for you, kiddo. Learn the featherweight charm by Christmas."

They sat and talked for a little. Jack gave out tips on getting around Hogwarts and rehashed the old advice on the disposition of the professors that he thought might still be in Hogwarts. Lukas kept an eye on the clock, only half listening to Jack's rough drawl, and when the minute hand on the huge, wrought iron clock high on the platform wall hovered somewhere around the nine, Lukas nudged Jack, pointing it out. Soon as Jack's eyes set on it, he hissed a curse and jumped up from his seat on the steps.

"Shit, I better go, Lucky. I gotta job for Matthias at eleven." His grimace widened, baring a flash of teeth as he glanced at the clock again. "Already gonna be late…"

For a moment, Jack's eyes lingered on the train, a purse gathering around his lips, and then he planted his hand on Harry's bucket hat, the palm spanning almost the entirety of the top. "Hey, kid, you mind if I talk to Lucky by himself a mo?" Harry shook his head, grinning, and Jack instructed him to wait in the carriage while Lukas drifted off to where the cars met.

A rough-edged sigh slid from Jack's lips as he leant against the carriage beside Lukas, shoulder against the scarlet paint and his arms crossed. "You don't want some soppy goodbye, do you?"

Lukas mimicked his position, head turned up so he could see Jack's face and his hands clutching his notebook in front of him. Slow, he shook his head. Maybe he did want a hug, but that didn't belong to Lukas. The touch would only make him sick.

But Jack smiled anyway. A bit of a weak thing, but he smiled because he knew. "Just be careful up there, kid. Not everyone's as wilfully oblivious as Sevs. When they hear your name called at the sorting, they'll know exactly who you are, or their parents will when the kids write them about the mysterious Black kid, and not all of them are gonna good intentions. I know I don't gotta tell you that, but y'know…"

Lukas wrote a quick note, thankful for the moment to duck his head from Jack's eyes. He'd always loved overcast days but seeing the clouds of Jack's eyes so heavy with rain just made his chest tight. A little hard to breathe. 'I'll be careful, I promise.'

"Thank you." They were the sincerest two words Lukas had ever heard from him. "And you remember what I said about Dumbledore, right?" Lukas nodded.

"And if … shit—" Jack scratched his fingers in the side of his hair, knuckles pushing against the fabric of his hood. He tipped his head back, a short huff of breath as his eyes turned to the glass sky. "Just if anything – anything – seems like it's not right, tell Snape, okay? He'll get to me quicker than an owl will. Like I ain't just babying you, kiddo—"A weak smile on his lips, Jack caught Lukas's eyes again—"I mean whoever did all that shit to you when you were little, the old coot or not, they're still hanging about, and I'll bet they don't have any good ideas about you."

Lukas held up his notepad again with the words 'I promise' from the last note underlined twice. Jack smiled at him. It was a watery sort of smile and it put a twinge through Lukas's chest. If it were anyone but Lukas, Jack would probably be crying, but because it was Lukas, he stopped himself.

"I know you will, kiddo. Little fuckin' genius. You probably got it all covered, but even so…" Straightening up from his lean against the train, Jack stuck his hand into his jean pocket and dug around. "I wanted to give you, uhhh … there it is! This—"

In the centre of his palm sat a small ring of unembellished silver. It was thin and looked cheaply made. Lukas picked it up, the tips of his fingers brushing against the warmth of Jack's palm, and slipped it onto his index finger – a perfect fit. Jack scratched the back of his head when Lukas gave him a quizzical look, his lips stretching out tight while his eyes drifted off across the platform crowd.

"It's, uh – It's enchanted. Twist it left once and right twice and I'll know and … y'know, I'll come to wherever you are. Straight away and no matter what I'm doing. Just … use it if you're in a really bad mess and getting Snape to fetch me when he can find me ain't any good, okay?"

The note made another good excuse to look down. This time to hide the unwilling trembling of his own lips. 'Thank you. I will.'

A smile flickered across Jack's lips as he read the note, softness drenching his features behind the awkward way he grimaced and wouldn't quite look at Lukas. "And it's not just for, uh … external dangers. Like, whenever you need me, use it. It don't matter what for."

Lukas felt his throat tighten. You know if I were anyone else, I think I'd be crying right now. All the same, he could feel that oppressive tension in his chest that he didn't much like but Jack always seemed to cause. Happiness. 'Thank you.'

Like a breath of relief, Jack laughed, a grin spreading proper across his face now. "It ain't no problem, kiddo. Like, I just want you to remember that I'm always here for you, y'know, and now you can let me know when I'm needed."

Lukas nodded, but no matter how much he wanted to keep holding Jack's eyes and smile back, he couldn't. Turning so his back was against the carriage, heat baking through the metal into his skin, his eyes slipped away and the ache in his chest eased a little. They'd always had their moments, but nothing … big like this. Subtle actions and absent words – that, Lukas could deal with. But not this.

Jack must have known Lukas struggled with it, because when he looked back, all that melancholy had vanished behind a grin. The rest of the departure was smooth-sailing, and Lukas twiddled his fingers at Harry from the steps of the carriage while Jack led him off until they were both out of sight.

Lukas settled down beside the window. The final students trickled out of the crowds and onto the train now, the reverberation of slamming doors carrying down the carriage. A few more minutes and he'd be gone too, miles and miles and miles away from Jack and home and everything he knew.

The ring on his finger scratched against the one beside it, rough edge nicking flesh, and Lukas brushed it, careful not to turn it. A thrill in his chest echoed the press of warming metal, something thin and bloody, a little jet shooting up his throat. Something new awaited him, but it wasn't really away. Maybe that had been the goodbye he'd been craving all this time: nothing but a see you soon.

•─────⋅ ⋅ ⋅─────•

The journey to Hogwarts ticked by pleasantly. The seats were soft and pliable, and the width of the compartment was just small enough that Lukas could kick his heels up on the seat opposite, and so he lounged for the journey. He attempted the odd spell as it came to mind but mostly just watched the scenery and daydreamt about what lay at the end of the railroads.

A little bit of him planned as well, vague scenarios murmuring through his head as the land rose into heather moors. Jack had said Slytherin would be living hell if he stuck to the muggleborn story, so he'd nip that in the bud quickly and ominously. Most of the dark pureblood parents would see Jack as a reliable source when it came to Mikael and the Valrssens, so there shouldn't be much trouble on that front.

It seemed as if Lukas's mass-murderer great-uncle would come in useful after all.

When the train slowed down, Lukas changed into the stuffy Hogwarts uniform, and he'd just finished straightening out Harry's uniform when the train drew to a complete stop. Out in the corridor, students vanished into the crowds like they were swallowed beneath the surface of a lake – and while Lukas didn't mind crowded streets, presses like that put his nerves on end. He turned his back to it and messed around with his backpack on the seat.

When the train had almost emptied out, Lukas hurried out onto the platform. All of anything he could see was a sea of pointed hats – pointed fucking hats, it was abysmal – with a current easing over to a flock of just-visible carriages. So pointy hats, carriages, and bloody giant swinging a lantern about and shouting for the first years. Lukas snorted and slipped into the milling crowd. The real wizarding world experience.

By the time he got there, the half-giant already led the group down a steep, muddy slope – "Mind yer step now," the half-giant shouted. Lukas ended up beside a boy with vividly red hair, who gave Lukas one sideways look then stepped in behind Lukas when he pioneered the path. It was a miserable route, full of slick mud and ankle-snapping roots, and the giant's distant lantern barely illuminated the pitted ground beneath their feet. The group was pleasantly silent as they traipsed down the hill.

"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," the giant called from ahead, "jus' round this bend here."

A moment later, a chorus of oohs and aahs erupted from the front of the crowd. Whatever it was, a rocky outcropping studded with wind-cowed trees blocked Lukas's sight. The half-giant had disappeared around it with most of the group, leaving the rest of them in near-complete darkness.

"I'm getting all excited now," the redhead behind Lukas said. "I do hope it lives up to expectations."

Lukas laughed, as did the girl just in front of the pair. The redhead winked at Lukas when he glanced back. It seemed to be more of a confiding wink than a flirty one, so Lukas winked back. Immediately, the redhead's friendly smile slackened an expression of jaw-dropping amazement, eyes fixed on the horizon above Lukas's head. Was that…?

They'd passed around the bend, and in front of them, a magnificent vista bloomed across a vast, mirrored lake. Perched atop a sheer cliff above that slick expanse could only be Hogwarts. The night was dark, the sliver of moon concealed by thick clouds, and all it left of the castle was a parade of bright lights shining from its many windows. Each light glinted like tiny suns spangled across the night sky, eclipsing and replacing the stars. The way the lights peaked and fell hinted at soaring turrets and swirling towers, and the crouching bulk of a colossal structure below.

The black waters of the lake winked the spectacle back at them. Each mirrored pinprick made shimmering lanterns just beneath the surface – marsh will o' wisps, tricky fae creatures lurking beneath the surface, awaiting, luring…

The half-giant had halted on the shore of the lake, waiting for the stragglers to catch up while the students stood with their mouths ajar, breathing in the stunning view. Once the last of the first-years had stepped off the path onto the beach, the half-giant raised his lantern, illuminating a fleet of tiny, rickety boats with no obvious paddles or sails. "No more'n four to a boat!"

Lukas wasn't entirely certain that those boats would hold one person, let alone four, but he got in dutifully, losing the redhead somewhere along the way. The boat hardly rocked as he stepped lightly inside.

Once everyone was seated, the half-giant's voice boomed over to them. "Everyone in?" He scanned the shore but didn't wait for them to answer. "Right then — FORWARD!"

And with that, the little boats lurched into motion and skimmed along the surface of the lake. The silent ripples they left in their wake were the only mar on the glossy surface.

His boat companions introduced themselves. Introduced themselves nicely even, favouring Lukas with wide, nervous grins. It was weird. Maybe he did look pretty normal today. True to his word, Jack had taken him to buy coloured contact lenses, and he wore a combination that made both his eyes the same dark blue. Plus without his clothes, what more stood out past this hacked-up punkish haircut?

Lukas rolled his tongue against the back of his teeth. Normal. He didn't like that. And he probably ruined it when he just smiled vaguely at the other three and didn't give his name. Past that, nothing else broke the eerie silence while Lukas turned to the looming cliffs.

The journey across the lake lulled Lukas's mind to a zen as clear as the water ahead of them, and the hypnotisation of the will o' wisp lights beneath the surface smothered his mind. A shout rung across the lake and Lukas almost jumped out of the boat, his eyes flying up to face the ivy-coated cliff face.

The words of the shout kicked in a second later. "Heads down!" Lukas obeyed with haste, and as they reached the ivy, it parted for the boats in vine-like clumps and revealed a low arch passing straight through the cliff. The rock ceiling of the tunnel glistened with some soft, sourceless fluorescence, and Lukas breathed in the musty scent of algae. Water dripped on his upturned face, fresh little beads of ice that brightened his mind.

The long passage opened into a stony inlet that climbed steeply into a breath of sky and tree. The giant led the hike up the stony beach, and then across a wide expanse of soft grass that rolled like a vast red carpet turned greyscale by the moonlight right up to the castle stairs. At the humongous oak-slab doors, the giant raised his huge hand and gave the door three thunderous knocks.

Before the echo died out, the door opened – a mere crack in the scale of things – and revealed an older witch, dressed in deep green robes. Old she might be, but her expression and posture were formidable, and Lukas might've called her Head of Slytherin if he hadn't already met Snape.

They followed her into the castle, passing through a room with ceilings towering out of sight and a marble staircase at the far end. It was all so mammoth that Lukas's head spun whenever he looked anywhere but right down at the floor, so for now, he did just that. His dull black shoes tapped like shadows across the flagstones, each worn as dull and featureless by age as the next.

Plenty of time for looking around here. A small smile crooked Lukas's lips as he trailed at the back of the crowd. Plenty of time for everything.

The witch, who'd introduced herself as McGonagall, hustled them through a small door beside another towering set of oaks, and the door shut behind Lukas with a snick when she flicked her wand above their heads. McGonagall slipped it away as she faced the little crowd gathered in the antechamber.

They all stood silently at first. Without the clatter of footsteps, a low rumble permeated the walls. Voices, a great muddle of them all talking at once. If he closed his eyes, it was almost like home. Almost like nights spent above the city with Jack at the other end of the sofa, like wandering down a busy street or hunching through a supermarket while Jack grimaced at the fruit.

Just like home, until he looked about him at the worn stone walls and the torch sconces hooked to them, casting their flickering orange light across the room. Then it was nothing but strangeness, a threat that buried a pit in Lukas's gut and trembled in his fingers.

He'd never gone to school. Harry had, but he and Jack both knew Lukas didn't need to, and they both knew Lukas wouldn't play nice with the other kids. Except now he'd gone and dropped himself into it. Not just that, but there was no home time at the end of the day. The other people in this room, the faceless voices behind the wall, they'd always be around. Missteps and attention surrounded him.

Lukas swallowed hard and closed his hands into fists. The rough metal of the ring bit into his finger and he focussed on it. It'd be fine. Everything would be fine.

While Lukas steadied his breath, McGonagall went on a yarn about houses and sorting, all pepped up by her thick Scottish brogue. It wasn't anything he didn't know about from Jack anyway. There'd be a hat and he'd put it on his head, and it'd talk inside his mind and tell him which house he'd join. Jack planned to keep it grinning secret from Harry next year, but he'd told Lukas all about it.

Damn, was he glad of that now.

McGonagall opened a different door to the one they'd entered through, letting in even more of the noise the Great Hall, then turned back to them.

"The Sorting Ceremony is ready to start. Form a line and follow me."

The first-years bumbled into a rag-tag line and followed her through. Lukas fell in behind another stranger.

The Great Hall was even vaster than the Entrance Hall. Four long trestle tables ran vertically, and students wearing matching ties sat at each one. Lukas identified them as Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor from left to right. At the head of the hall, atop a delicate dais, the teacher's table ran perpendicular to the other four, and in the centre a wizened old man with a ridiculously long beard and matching white hair beamed down at them,

He had to be wearing the most garish clothes Lukas had ever seen, and that was counting Kev's obscene fashion choices. Dandelions capered across sky blue fabric to a beat that made Lukas a little nauseous. Like he hadn't already been feeling nauseous. This would be the infamous Albus Dumbledore. For all appearances, utterly harmless, but that just made Lukas all the more wary.

The ceiling … the ceiling stole every breath he had left in his lungs. The vaults of each grand arch were obscured, lost to shadows of themselves in the silky darkness of the night sky. Twinkling stars dotted the expanse, dancing brightness that looked realer than truth. Some swelled as big as the nail on his pinky finger while others were clusters of little pinprick winks studding the velvet. The stars wound into familiar constellations, no matter that each was so crowded with glimmering siblings the shape got lost in the mass.

It was the most beautiful thing Lukas had ever seen.

McGonagall ushered them all into a little herd at the foot of the dais before trotting up the stairs. A spindly three-legged stool with a ragged witch's hat sat in the centre, and as soon as McGonagall stood beside it, a rip opened in its brim and it began to sing.

Lukas groaned and put his fingers in his ear until it was over. It rhymed. He could just picture those gruffly Scottish lyrics rattling around his head for hours later that night while he tried to sleep. Only when the raucous applause pushed at his muted hearing did Lukas lower his hands, his curiosity burning as he watched the hat take crumpling bows to either side of the room, low chuckles slipping from a curl of that rip in the brim.

How fascinating. How sentient was it?

McGonagall cleared her throat and with a flick of her wrist, unfurled a thick roll of parchment. Once she had everyone's attention, she called the first name. "Bell, Katie!"

A girl with pigtails yelped and hurried up to the stool. The brim of the hat flopped against her nose when she put it on, oversized and a little ridiculous. Maybe she was smaller than most of them, but where that girl looked a little cute, Lukas would just look stupid. Great.

A few seconds later, the hat shouted, "GRYFFINDOR," and the second table from the right, full of students wearing red and gold striped ties, erupted into applause. Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw echoed it, but Slytherin remained silent and cool. Once it all died down, McGonagall cleared her throat and called out again.

"Black, Lukas."