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Just a quick note: This story takes place a few years after the Battle of Hogwarts. Maybe like 5 or so. It doesn't really matter, but that explains why the same teachers are there and all that stuff.
And please remember that Julian, Logan, and Derek are only eleven here.
Chapter 3
The days passed quickly for Julian, and before he knew it, snow had fallen across the grounds and the corridors were freezing cold. He, Logan, and Derek huddled together while they queued for their last class before Christmas break. "Are you staying?" Julian asked, wrapped tightly in his robes.
"Nah," Logan said, sighing. "How about you guys?"
"No way." Derek shook his head. "You are, right, Jules?"
"I was going to. I asked to stay here. But my mum said no." Julian rolled his eyes. "She's been…really annoying lately in her letters. She's always bugging me about stuff and it gets really obnoxious because it's like, I'm eleven and I'm turning twelve in January, I can handle myself, you know?"
"You're only eleven," Derek said softly, so quietly that Julian almost didn't hear him.
"Shut up," Julian snapped. "Besides, we're going on holiday and guess who we're visiting."
"Who?" Logan asked, looking at him with the brightest green eyes, full of brightness and curiosity. Julian stared into them, realizing that they looked like Christmas trees.
"Your eyes are the color of Christmas trees," he said, almost in a trance. He didn't know why.
"Shut up." Logan cast his eyes down to the floor.
"Don't be embarrassed," Derek chimed in. "They're kind of cool."
"They're really cool," Julian said, turning to Derek. He was in an argumentative mood all of a sudden.
"Who are you visiting?" Logan asked again, changing the subject, clearly uncomfortable.
"Huh?" Julian blinked, and then remembered what he'd been talking about. "Oh, right. My cousins. I hate my cousins. They are so annoying, they're like three years younger than me and they always think I want to play these little kid games with them which I don't because as we've been over I am eleven. Almost twelve. So I asked if I could stay here. I thought it might be kind of cool. But she said maybe next year."
"At least your mum actually wants you around," Logan said grumpily. "My dad is just taking me like a charity project or something." Before Julian could address it, Professor McGonagall was shepherding everyone into the room.
"Today we'll be turning these teacups," she said once everyone had taken their seats (Julian and Logan at a table together, and Derek across the aisle with a girl he liked. He'd been hanging around her a lot lately, staying up late at night telling Julian and Logan all about her, much to the chagrin of both Julian and Logan and the other boy who lived in their dorm who none of them particularly liked: Zane. Eventually Zane had accused him of having a Babbling Curse put on him, and Logan got mad and tried to use a Banishing Charm on Zane but it was hard and he didn't really know how well it worked on a person anyway. Needless to say, Zane stayed where he was.) "Excuse me, class," Professor McGonagall said now, loudly. "Pay attention or you will become the teacups."
Everyone got silent at once and looked up at her. "Today," she repeated slowly, "we will be turning these teacups into plates."
The class groaned. Boring. But Logan turned to Julian with a grin on his face. "I love Transfiguration," he said, pulling his wand out of his bag.
"I know." Julian smiled and pulled his own wand out. "But I do have a question."
Professor McGonagall interrupted him by showing the class the spell they needed to do, and explaining for the millionth time that it was 'all in the wrist.'
"What's your question?" Logan asked as everyone around them began the attempt to turn teacups into plates.
"Why do you like Transfiguration so much?" Julian tried doing it but failed miserably – his teacup just did a little flop on the table. "And don't tell me it's just because you're good at it."
Logan rolled his eyes and performed the spell almost perfectly – his plate had a handle, but it was much better than Derek's, whose teacup had actually turned into a goblet. Derek grimaced at them. That morning he'd been talking about how he was going to impress the girl, Sylvia, with his Transfiguration skills. He'd been working with Logan in the evenings on it, but it apparently hadn't done much good.
It was no wonder; Logan wasn't exactly the most patient teacher. Julian had to keep interjecting to make sure Logan didn't turn Derek into a rat or something. Not that Logan would actually be able to do that.
"Because," Logan said, and he tried the spell again, this time succeeding and turning to beam at Julian, "I like the idea of changing something. And making it what it isn't." He looked sad for a second. "Sometimes things are a certain way and I wish they were a different way." He looked down at his perfect plate, nodded satisfactorily, and then looked at Julian's teacup. "Uh. Jules? Your teacup is still a teacup."
"And you are still rude." Julian harrumphed and then looked at Logan with pleading eyes. "Teach me?"
Logan sighed and covered Julian's hand that held the wand with his own. "Do this…"
Julian waved as Derek was led away by his parents. "Bye! I'll see you when we get back!"
"Wait!" Derek turned around and ran back to Julian and Logan, who were standing in the middle of Platform 9¾. "What do you want for your birthday?" he asked quickly.
"Chocolate," was the first thing to pop into Julian's mind, so he said it.
"Okay." Derek shrugged. "See you Jules! Lo!" And he turned and walked away.
"What else do you want?" Logan asked, hands folded across his chest, a smirk on his face. "Certainly there must be something other than chocolate…"
"Well you'll just have to be creative and think of something on your own, because I have no ideas."
Logan rolled his eyes. "I'll just make you a card or something."
"That would be terribly rude."
Julian's mum found him then, and she grabbed his hand (he tried to pull away but she wouldn't let him) and tugged him away from Logan.
"Bye!" he called. "I'll see you in a few weeks!"
"Write to me! I'll write to you!" Logan called back, waving.
Dear Logan,
I wish you could see how annoying they are. My cousins. I can't stand them. I wish you were here so you could turn them into plates. Or punch them in the face, you could do that too.
My mom was happy to see me, though, so that's one plus. Sometimes I feel like she only likes me because I'm kind of like my dad. But that's depressing so we won't get into that.
Write me back if you haven't already… Maybe our owls will pass each other.
From,
Julian
Dear Derek,
My cousins are so annoying and my aunt and uncle are annoying too and can you please come on your broomstick and save me? PLEASE?
Speaking of broomsticks, I hope you're practicing because we're going to get our butts kicked by Gryffindor in the next game if you don't score like 100 points for us.
Anyway, hope your Christmas goes well! Two days left to get me a Christmas present. Except you don't have to, remember. You just have to get me extra chocolate for my birthday. So two days left to get Logan a Christmas present.
From,
Julian
Dear Julian,
My Christmas is terrible. Probably better than yours with your crazy cousins, but my parents are NOT letting me practice Quidditch because it's too cold.
I HATE THEM.
Next year we're all staying at Hogwarts, okay?
From,
Derek
Dear Logan,
You haven't written me yet and it's been five days. Did you die? Did your owl die? Did your dad die? Did ANYONE die?
WRITE TO ME.
From,
Julian
Dear Derek,
My holiday is good.
I'm fine and so is everybody else.
From,
Logan
Dear Derek,
Has Logan written to you? He hasn't written to me. Do you think he's okay? He said he would write. He told me at King's Cross.
From,
Julian
Dear Julian,
Barely. He sent me two sentences on a scrap of parchment. Do you think he's okay?
From,
Derek
Dear Logan,
How was your Christmas? Was it good? Will you answer these questions in the letter that you send? Will you send a letter? Did you forget about me? Why did you forget about me? Why did you write to Derek and not me? Did you meet another guy that's a better friend to you?
From,
Julian
"Bye, Cal." Logan waved, his fingers catching on the air and dropping to his side as Cal Johnson slipped out of view, into his car. Cal waved back through the glass, smiling.
Logan frowned as the car got smaller and smaller in the distance.
"We need to leave, too, Logan," his father said, grabbing Logan's sweatshirt and pulling him roughly toward the car.
Logan stumbled and, catching his balance, glared up at his father. "I was just saying good-bye to my friend."
"Your friend." John Logan Wright Jr. seemed nonplussed as Logan got into the car and slammed the door behind him. He crossed his arms and sulked all the way to London.
"Well, well, well." Derek and Julian were sitting across from each other, both in the middle of their benches, in a compartment near the front end of the Hogwarts Express. Julian had spoken first, after looking at Logan for a few tense moments. "Look who decided to acknowledge our existence."
Logan entered the compartment and sat down heavily next to Derek. "Not now."
"What happened?" Julian asked, kind of upset that Logan was sitting next to Derek and not him. Julian and Logan were closer than Logan and Derek were because Derek was always at Quidditch practice and was always working really hard on homework and stuff and Julian and Logan were always hanging out together while he was busy.
"Nothing." Logan put his fingers on his cheeks and clawed downward toward his neck.
"Doesn't seem like-"
"I just realized some stuff that I didn't like, okay? Get over it, Larson!" Logan shouted this and Julian pressed against the back of his seat. The train started moving and he realized that none of them had waved to their parents.
"I'm sorry I-"
"Just don't talk to me." Logan then crossed his arms over his chest, turned to Derek, and said, "How was your Christmas break?"
And then he ignored Julian for the rest of the train ride.