Chapter Two: In Which There is Riding of Trains and Sorting of Hats

They had been on the train for about two minutes when Owen disappeared. Well, 'disappeared' might have been a strong word for it, since it wasn't like they were all watching him and he was completely gone. They just hadn't been paying attention, and glanced up, and Owen was nowhere to be seen. This probably wasn't a good thing, considering the number of times so far he'd come close to getting in fights. It appeared that wizards found Owen even more objectionable than Muggles did, something Ianto never would have believed if he hadn't seen the evidence with his own eyes.

When they realized that Owen had wandered off, Jack just grinned. "I'll go find him!" he chirped. This would be worse than just Owen on his own, since (although they'd all emotionally regressed by now) Jack was still just as prone to hitting on everything in sight. Most of the guys he'd flirt with would restrain themselves from smacking him, since he was barely above four feet tall, but that didn't mean that all of them would.

"No," Ianto told him, beyond caring that he was ordering his boss around. Because Ianto had regressed too, and eleven year old Ianto was a force to be reckoned with. He had all the Slytherins in his year and the one above obeying his orders by the time of winter holidays, he remembered fondly. Good times. "I'll go and find him, and you three will stay here and try not to get yourselves hexed." He gave Tosh a significant look – not because she was likely to get hexed, but to let her know that she was now in charge of keeping Gwen from doing something stupid, and keeping Jack from using that as a distraction to do something equally stupid. If he had only one prayer at this point, it would be for Owen, Gwen, and Jack to all land in different houses where their influence on each other would be minimal at best.

Just to be on the safe side, he put a locking charm on the door of their compartment as he left. Tosh knew Alohomora, but he could trust her. Well, somewhat. At least he knew if things progressed to the point where she would unlock the door for the others, all hope was lost anyway.

The first compartment he found contained a group of seventh years. He left rather quickly, even though they were just Ravenclaw seventh years and therefore not prone to attacking or mocking confused first years. The second compartment held an assortment of second years, who all shook their heads to the negative when Ianto asked them if they'd seen a boy of Owen's approximate description.

Five compartments later, Ianto was getting very fed up and was quite ready to just Accio Owen, despite the numerous times in school they'd been told not to ever, ever try to Summon a human being. It would serve Owen right, running off like that. He decided one more compartment, just the one, then he'd Accio and damn the consequences!

However, the next compartment's door was already open. He stuck his head in, and was somehow unsurprised to see Owen deep in argument with that bushy-haired girl they had run into at Flourish & Blotts'. A redheaded girl who looked about their age – er, that is, the age they were right then, not their legal age – was glancing back and forth between the two brunettes with an expression halfway between amusement and worry.

"...and so's your mum!" Owen snapped, with the air of someone who has just won an argument, at least in his own mind.

Ianto blinked. Would it be worth it to ask Owen what in the world they had been arguing about? Probably not. He also finally noticed the fourth person in the room, a boy with mouse-brown hair who was probably Jack's size. Jack would be pleased to know that he might be tied for smallest kid at the school.

"Owen?"

"What do you want, tea boy?" Owen snapped at him, not bothering to turn around. Owen, at eleven, appeared to be a complete arsehole. What were the odds?

"Mostly, I want to make it to Hogwarts without having to put you in a full body-bind. Didn't we agree that there would be no wandering off?" Ianto asked, aware that he sounded more than a bit like a parent (or at least a much older brother).

"I didn't wander," Owen scoffed. "I escaped. Like I want to be stuck in there with you lot for hours. I've had enough of that." He crossed his arms and glared at Ianto.

He actually had a good point for once. Did the rest of them really want to be stuck in a room with Owen for a couple hours? The answer, for all parties involved, was an emphatic no. And besides, it wasn't like Ianto was going to be able to watch over all of them at Hogwarts – he rather doubted they'd all end up in the same house.

Ianto shrugged and sat down. Owen stared at him. "What? You had a good point," he said, stretching a bit and making himself comfortable. Which didn't last very long, since he caught sight of a rather large number of wrappers all over the floor. He didn't even think, just immediately began to clean them up. Sure he was emotionally eleven again, but years of cleaning up the Hub had ingrained certain behavior patterns in him.

Owen rolled his eyes, and flopped back down next to the tiny boy, who was practically vibrating in place with excitement. "This," he said, in world-weary tones, "is Ianto Jones. My self-appointed keeper and professional tea boy."

Ianto raised an eyebrow and smiled politely at Owen. "What, did you introduce yourself as Owen Harper, complete wanker?" he asked sweetly.

Rather than laughing at his expense, as most would have done, Owen's verbal sparring partner made a noise that sounded a bit like 'harrumph' and included Ianto in her disapproving look. Ianto would have been confused, but... he really didn't care, so he just finished cleaning up the litter and then pulled out a pack of cards (ones he had gotten the very first time he'd gone to Diagon Alley). "Exploding Snap, anyone?" he asked, innocently.

Owen, who was a bit obsessed with the game (not as much as Gwen was obsessed with Quidditch, granted), immediately counted himself in, dragging the other boy (who he introduced with a distracted, "Colin, he's Muggleborn,") in with him, and after a brief hesitation the Weasley girl joined in as well.

"You know," Ianto mused as they began to change into their uniforms for the final approach to Hogwarts, "I probably should have gone and told Tosh and the others that it was fine to leave the compartment." Owen snorted.

The bushy brown-haired girl – Hermione Granger, he'd finally managed to get out of her – sent them all one last glare before she hurried over to the carriages that the upper years would take.

"What the hell are those?!" Owen cried, also staring at the carriages.

"Thestrals," Ianto remarked, just a bit uneasily. "You can only see them if you've seen death." When he'd first gone to Hogwarts, of course, he'd thought they were horseless carriages pulled by magic. He'd learned otherwise in Care of Magical Creatures, but he still had never seen them.

"Oh." Owen looked a little freaked out. But, Ianto thought, glancing back at the carriages, that was probably because he had caught sight of Jack, who had run over to the carriages and was petting one of the skeleton horses while cooing at it. Ianto shook his head, but resisted the urge to march over and drag Jack away.

Thankfully, when Hagrid called the first years over, Jack came along of his own free will. Ianto waved at Tosh as he joined Owen in a boat with Colin and the Weasley girl; it appeared that the others had made a friend, a dreamy-eyed blond girl who immediately leaned over the edge of their boat and began talking to the water.

If there was one thing, only one thing, you could count on about Hogwarts, it was that the introductory speech given to the first years was always going to be exactly the same every single year. It was amazing, Ianto thought, how so much could change, and yet everything stayed the same. For instance, Peeves came by and heckled them, just as he had done in Ianto's first first year, but this time around Ianto had to put himself in between Owen and Gwen to keep them from killing each other, rather than just finding a quiet alcove to people-watch from.

"Bloody PC Cooper," Owen muttered, crossing his arms and pouting. Ianto tactfully did not point out that until just a few weeks ago, Owen had been shagging that 'bloody PC Cooper'. Colin bobbed his head, although he didn't really have any idea what was going on, and Weasley just sort of scooted closer to them as anxiety began to set in.

Whispers filled the room, the same, "We have to fight a troll!" and "We have to do calculus!" that was always rumored. Ianto muttered, "It's a hat," under his breath, but didn't speak up. The panicking was all part of the process of being sorted.

McGonagall gave the same speech as always, and the Slytherin in Ianto bristled at the dark undertone in her voice when she listed Salazar's house. Everyone was forever insulting Slytherin, and they all wondered why Slytherins tended to turn to the Dark Arts.

Ianto didn't realized that he was grumbling darkly until Owen smacked him on the back of the head. "Oi, tea boy, quit scaring the kids!" That was the one main difference between pre-teen Ianto and adult Ianto – pre-teen Ianto had a bad tendency to say most of what he was thinking. It was a horrible habit he hadn't broken until he was in uni, and he wasn't looking forward to babbling in front of his coworkers. Really, he was going to just Obliviate everyone after this, otherwise he'd never live it down.

(Or, the Slytherin part of his mind said, he'd have to get blackmail on the rest of them. It would certainly be a lot less strenuous.)

With a start, Ianto realized they were moving. He really had to cut out these long inner monologues.

"Cooper, Gwen."

Hm, quite interesting. You're much older than you appear, aren't you? No matter. The Sorting's the same whatever age you are. Let's see... a good deal of curiosity, oh yes, and courage and empathy. Not terribly cunning, and you're not very interested in learning, are you? I suppose it had best be...

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Harkness, Jack."

...well. This is certainly unusual. It's not every day I get to sort someone over a hundred years old, you know. Too bad this is such a straight-forward sorting, takes hardly any time at all. Well, I must get it over with, but do come and chat with me again!

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Harper, Owen."

Ah yes, another one of you. Fairly intelligent, decently ambitious, not too noble... You do seem to look after your friends, though, don't you? You'd do well in Ravenclaw, I think, and Slytherin wouldn't be too much of a stretch, but you'll do much better in...

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Jones, Ianto."

I've already sorted you, you know. But my, how things have changed in the past thirteen years! You're still cunning, of course, but it appears that love and loss have changed you more than I could have predicted. This time, I think you'll fit in with...

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Sato, Toshiko!"

Ah, this is a far simpler one than I've had so far. You're very loyal, but your love of learning is far greater than anything else.

"RAVENCLAW!"