Hey! So here's chapter one. Just warning, my updates aren't regular, so don't despair if I don't get the next chapter up right away. Just keep coming back, and I do try to update like once every couple weeks, but that may not be possible as I'm without internet most of the time. And most of the time I spend writing, I try to spend writing my original stories. Fan fiction is second. Enjoy the chapter!
"C'mon Sam! Wake up or else you're gonna be late for the train!"
Sam opened his eyes, to see his dad looking down at him. "I don't want to get up," he groaned.
Robert sighed at his son. "You're starting your third year at Hogwarts today, Sam. If you don't get up now, then you're gonna miss the train."
Sam slammed himself up at that. He'd forgotten that today he'd be going back to Hogwarts!
"I'm up! I'm up!"
Robert chuckled at his son's enthusiasm. "Let's get you going then."
Sam quickly got out of bed, and tried to get ready. However, not being fully awake did have drawbacks, as he tripped over one of his textbooks, and slammed his face into the floor. Robert went over, and tried to help his son up, but Sam pushed him away.
"I got this," he told his father.
In the past couple of years, Sam had found himself growing more and more distant from his parents. He didn't really know why, he just was more independent now that he was thirteen.
In his rush to prove he could do things on his own, Sam missed the look of hurt on his father's face.
"Alright," Robert said, trying to keep his voice light. "I'll be waiting downstairs for you. Make sure you have everything packed, even though you were supposed to be ready last night." With that, Robert left the room, and went back downstairs, leaving Sam alone to do things on his own.
Sam got ready as fast as he could (and managed to trip twice more in the process), getting done in fifteen minutes. He pulled his trunk downstairs to find his dad waiting for him.
"You sure you got everything?" Robert asked.
Sam responded with a nod of his head. Robert smiled back at his son.
"Alright, well I made toast, and I'll give you some Galleons so you can buy something to eat on the train."
Sam finally smiled at his father, as it was a well known fact in the Benson household that Robert Benson couldn't cook much more than toast (and even that ended up burnt more than most of the time). With Miranda working even more than usual the past few months, the two Benson men have had to improvise in how to get food. Sam was grateful to be given extra money so he could actually buy something decent on the Express.
"You made sure to have your permission slip so you can go to Hogsmeade?"
"It's in my trunk with everything else."
"Good, and make sure to send letters home every now and then. It's what you got Ashwood for."
Sam rolled his eyes. "I know, Dad. And thanks for Ashwood again." Ashwood was the owl that Robert had gotten Sam for his thirteenth birthday. Sam knew it was more for the fact that in his first couple of years at Hogwarts, he'd only sent a few letters hole. So, in hopes that owning an owl would prompt him to send more letters home, Robert had managed to convince Miranda to let him get their son an owl. He and Ashwood had bonded over the summer, and he couldn't wait for Percy to see her.
After grabbing the toast his father had made, Sam started for outside. Robert was close behind his son, helping him with the trunk. That was always the harder part to having to walk to Kings Cross: carrying the trunk as well. They'd tried convincing Miranda to let them use the car, but she absolutely refused as Robert didn't have a license. And it wasn't like Robert could magic the trunk to float to the train station, as that would only cause suspicious looks from the muggles, and would probably cast Robert his job at the Ministry.
So instead, this year, Robert had managed to borrow a trolley from the Ministry, and they loaded Sam's trunk, plus the cage for Ashwood, on that, and pushed it down the street. They only lived a few blocks away from Kings Cross Station, but Sam could've sworn the muggles all were giving them odd glares.
They arrived to King Cross, and ran to where Platform 9 ¾ was cleverly hidden.
Sam turned to his dad - this was always the more awkward part of the trips - after running off during his first year, Sam found it difficult to actually tell his father goodbye.
"Bye, Dad," he said softly.
Robert Benson grinned. "Bye, son," he said, brimming with happiness. He awkwardly patted his son on the shoulder. "See you during Christmas, Sam."
Sam nodded his head, and then ran into the barrier. He emerged onto Platform 9 3/4 , and grinned at the sight amongst him. Witches and wizards everywhere were rushing to get on the train, but Sam was looking for one boy in particular. Percy and him normally met up on the train, but Sam always looked for him first.
And he spotted a group of redheads, and Sam grinned. He was well aware that Percy's family were all redheads, so Sam made his way over to them, pushing his trolley.
"Percy!" he called cheerfully.
The redhead looked up, and he waved his hand. "Hey, Sam," he said. "You actually made it before the train left."
Sam rolled his eyes at his best friend. "This is the rest of your family, huh?" he asked to change the subject. "You gonna introduce me?"
Two identical boys stepped forward grinning.
"Hello," the one said. "I'm Fred."
"And I'm George," the other continued.
"Are you actually insinuating that you and Percy are friends?" Fred asked.
Sam grinned. "Yeah, your brother is pretty cool."
The twins looked confused, and Sam turned to Percy. "You going to introduce us, Weasley?" he prompted again.
"Okay," Percy replied, in a tone that made it clear he wasn't amused by Sam's impatience. "Sam, this is my mum, and my sister Ginny." He pointed to a plump woman, and a little girl who was slightly hiding behind her mother, while also looking at everything in awe. "You've already met my brother Charlie. Fred and George just introduced themselves," he shot a glare at the twins, "and this is my youngest brother, Ron."
Molly Weasley turned to Sam, a wide smile on her face. "Hello, my dear. What's your name?"
"Sam Benson, ma'am," Sam responded.
"Nice to meet you, Sam," Molly told him. Then she turned back to her children. "Do you guys have everything you're going to need?"
When her children nodded, she turned to Percy, and Charlie. "You two will make sure that Fred and George behave, right?"
"What?" Fred asked, looking hurt.
"Us, misbehave?" George asked, also looking hurt. Sam laughed quietly at the twins' obvious over exaggeration. He had a feeling that they were going to be hilarious.
"What would give you the idea we would misbehave?" Fred questioned.
"Yes, don't you trust us?" Fred demanded.
Molly gave her sons the staredown. "You two will behave, alright? It's your first year at Hogwarts."
"Oh, but don't we always behave?" George countered.
"Not even slightly," Percy murmured to Sam, making the darker haired boy laugh again.
"Don't worry, Mum," Charlie spoke up. "Percy and I'll make sure they stay out of trouble."
"Good," Molly responded. "Well, I'd best get Ron and Ginny back home. I'll see you all at Christmas." She turned to Sam. "It was nice meeting you, Sam." She gave each of her kids a firm hug, before taking the two youngest Weasleys away.
Charlie smiled, before excusing himself to go sit with his friends. Before going, he warned Fred and George not to get into trouble. And then he waned Percy not to be too harsh on them. Then, with a quick have fun to Sam, he was gone.
"Let's go, Sam," Percy said, as he lead the brown-haired boy onto the train. Sam smiled, as he followed his best friend. Once they bordered the train, one of the conductors grabbed his trunk, and Ashwood's cage. They did the same with Percy, and his trunk as well. When they were free of their stuff, they quickly found an empty compartment. However, it didn't stay empty for long as they were soon joined by George and Fred.
"Can't you two go bug someone else?" Percy scowled.
"Mum told you to watch us," Fred stated.
"Plus, we're curious to see if Sam is insane or not. I can't possibly imagine why else anyone would want to hang with you, Percy."
Sam had to hold in a chuckle when he saw Percy narrow his eyes. He hadn't realized just how annoying his friend found his brothers. It was slightly obvious with his interactions with Charlie that Percy wasn't overly fond of is older brother's more carefree attitude, yet it was also obvious that he looked up to the boy as well, as he was doing well in most of his classes, and last year he had been made Prefect. However, Percy rarely talked about his young siblings, so it was interesting to see how he interacted with the twins. And it was definitely clear he found his two younger brothers more annoying than funny.
Fred sat down next to Percy, while George took the seat next to Sam. The ginger threw his arm around Sam and grinned. "So, what house are you in?" he asked. "You look like a Ravenclaw."
Sam rolled his eyes. "Nah, Ravenclaws are alright, but it's not my house."
When it became obvious that Sam wasn't going to outright admit what house he was in, the twins both narrowed their eyes.
"You a Hufflepuff, then?" Fred queried.
Sam snorted. "The hell is a Hufflepuff?" It was one of his favorite things to say, as he remembered his mum saying it back when his dad had been explaining all the Hogwarts houses when Sam had been five. It had become sort of a running joke in the household whenever the house was mentioned.
That caused Fred and George to laugh, and it certainly didn't escape Sam's knowledge when Percy smiled, even if it was just a small one.
"Good one. We'll have to remember that one, right George?"
"Correct, Freddy. Alright, so you're not a Ravenclaw or a Hufflepuff. Please tell me you're Gryffindor?"
Sam nearly choked. "Gryffindor? Ha, that's great. Gryffindor's are so unbearable. Unless you're talking about Percy. He's cool."
Percy shook his head sadly. "I feel you say that just because we're best friends."
"Wait, you're a Slytherin? Seriously? I thought all Slytherins were slimy gits with sticks up their…" Fred broke off when he saw the look Percy was giving him.
"You really shouldn't listen to those awful stereotypes," Percy scolded, his blue eyes narrowed.
Sam put a hand on Percy's knee, and met the redhead's eyes.
"It's okay. There's plenty of stereotypes for different houses. And your brothers can't help if all they know about the other houses came from those stereotypes. They haven't had the chance to go to Hogwarts yet." When Percy still looked uncertain, Sam had a feeling he still was going to scold his brothers even more.
Percy was a good kid - intelligent and not one for trouble. He was strict, and there were plenty of times during their first two years at Hogwarts that Percy had kept them in the library late into the night, working on homework assignments. However, Sam liked proving that he was the only person who got the Gryffindor to smile and laugh most of the time. It always made him glad that he was able to bring that rare smile upon Percy Weasley's face.
However, as Sam did not want to see Percy lecture his brothers, he decided that he best divert the topic of discussion away from the houses and their stereotypes.
"So you guys any good at Quidditch?"
Sam did not miss the quiet groan from Percy, who while enjoyed watching the sport did not find it necessary to speak a lot of it, nor did it go unnoticed that the eldest ginger in the compartment pulled out a book from his trunk and opened it to read.
Letting his best friend read the book, Sam and the twins talked about Quidditch and other things for a while. After about an hour, the twins bid their adieus, and left to find some other first years to make friends with.
Once they were gone, Percy looked at Sam, finally putting his book down.
"You done talking a storm up with my brothers?" Sam couldn't be sure, but he could've sworn he heard jealousy in Percy's voice, but that didn't make sense. Unless Percy was jealous that Sam had been talking to Fred and George instead of him.
"You know, you could've joined in on the conversation," Sam said softly.
Percy scoffed. "You know what I think of discussing things like Quidditch." His blue eyes softened however when he saw Sam's hurt face. "Sorry Sam. I know you must get bored with my presence some days."
That made Sam laugh. "Do you think I'd still hang around you if I found you boring? Honestly, Perce, you're my best friend for a reason."
That got the frown off Percy's face, and while the ginger wasn't really smiling, Sam still found great happiness in seeing his friend's spirits lifted. And he knew just how to get Percy to smile.
"So, what do you think we're going to learn this year?"
Sam let Percy ramble on about everything he'd already learned from the textbooks he read already, and just how he thought that the professors at Hogwarts were going to go about teaching it to the third years. Sam was well aware that most people would of gotten bored with Percy talking so enthusiastically about academics, but the brunette never once got tired of listening to Percy speaking so excitedly about something that made him so happy.
