Here we are at last, the second chapter! Hooray! This chapter contains a bit of fluff, but it's not very obvious, so you'll have to watch out for it or you'll miss it. I promise, later chapters will have lots and lots of fluff, so much fluff that it will rot your teeth out!

Somebody stop me from my rant! Gah!

Chapter 2

All Aboard The Hogwarts Express

"Come along, Blaine. We can't let you miss the train." Lily's long red hair danced on the back of her neck as she turned around to make sure their son was still following behind them.

"I'm coming, Mum," he called back, pushing the trolley through the sea of passerby.

Skye screeched in her cage, rustling her feathers.

"Don't worry, son, we're almost there," John said.

Once Blaine had caught up to them, Lily put her hand on his shoulder. "Are you nervous, sweetheart?"

"Not really. I've heard that the O.W.L.s fifth year aren't so bad as long as I study hard."

"Well, we can only trust that you will," she said, smiling.

But Blaine didn't seem to really return the smile.

"Oh, you'll be fine. I remember my O.W.L. exams very well."

John nodded in agreement. "As do I. They truly do help you figure out your plans for the future. You do still want to be an Auror, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do. It's the only career I've ever wanted to have."

"Then we can only hope that you'll do well, for your sake."

Blaine looked up at his father. "No pressure, right?"

John chuckled. "Don't worry, we know you'll be brilliant.

"We're there," Lily spoke up as they reached the barrier that separated Platforms Nine and Ten.

"Shall we make haste?" John said, making a gesture for them to go forward.

"After you, Dad."

He grinned. "Very well," he replied before walking up to the barrier and leaning against it casually. A moment later, he was gone.

None of the passing Muggles seemed to notice.

"I'll follow you," Lilly told her son, taking her hand from his shoulder.

He nodded. Walking the distance up to the barrier, he imitated his father, leaning against the brick. He tightened his grip on the trolley, and before he knew it, where he had been standing a split second ago, a crowded platform waiting for the next train, was now jam-packed with a variety of witches and wizards; and right in the middle of it all, was the Hogwarts Express itself. Blaine found his father standing in front of him again.

His mother appeared through the wall a moment later. "Well, here we are."

"You know, Mum, I think I'm really ready to go back."

"As ready as you'll ever be, right?"

Blaine grinned. "Yeah."

The train's whistle blew, and the rustling of the engine was gradually becoming louder.

"I guess that means you have to go."

Blaine turned to his mother and gave her a small sad smile. "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you, too, sweetheart, but we know you'll enjoy yourself so much this year."

"You'll probably forget about us once you get there," John added.

"Hardly."

He gripped his son's shoulders affectionately. "Well, just know that we're still at home thinking about you."

"And don't forget," Lily said, "we'll be writing you soon, and we expect a reply."

Blaine nodded. "Don't worry, you'll get one."

The whistle blew again, and the rest of the young witches and wizards began stuffing their baggage into the chambers under the train, and began to fill in through the train's doors.

"Gotta go, can't miss the train."

Lily brought her hands up to cup Blaine's face and kissed his forehead. "Take care of yourself."

"I will, Mum," he said, picking up his own suitcase out of the trolley and taking it over to one of the chambers. When he walked back over, he reached in and snatched up Skye's cage.

Skye hooted at him and flapped her wings excitedly.

Blaine grinned at her. "Come on, girl, let's go." He stepped up to the door with a last look at his parents before disappearing inside. As he walked through to the back of the train, he found an unoccupied open window, and stuck his head out of it. He spotted his folks still standing beside the barrier. The train began to move, and he called to them and waved, as did the rest of the students.

They spotted him and both flashed him smiles, happily waving at him as their figures began to get smaller and smaller until they were no longer in sight.

Blaine edged his head back inside and began to make his way to find his friends. He searched through the corridors for someone he knew, but the first thing he found was an empty compartment; so he opened it and stepped inside. He sat down in one of the seats and set Skye's cage down next to him. He sat there for a few minutes, just staring out the window as the outside world flew past.

Skye hooted softly in her cage beside him.

He looked over at her and stuck a hand through the metal bars to gently stroke her feathers.

And then he heard the compartment door slide open.

"Do you mind?" a strangely familiar voice asked. "Everywhere else is full."

Blaine looked up and met eyes with the same brunette boy he had met in Diagon Alley a few weeks ago. He felt his heart flutter as he gazed into his beautiful blue eyes. "Kurt."

Kurt's lip curled. "Blaine."

Blaine grinned. "I would love for you to join me."

Kurt stepped inside and closed the door before he sat down on the seat across from Blaine. He was holding an object with a cover over it.

Blaine heard a hoot that didn't sound like Skye. "You have an owl, too?" he asked curiously.

Kurt slowly grabbed the cover and pulled it over the top of what turned out to be a beautiful young white barn owl.

"Blaine, meet Pavarotti; he was my birthday present last year."

"He's beautiful."

Pavarotti hooted again.

"So, how have you been, Kurt?"

Kurt leaned back in the seat and crossed his legs. "Life is alright, I guess, but it's nice to be finally going back. Hogwarts has really become home to me."

"And real home feels like the second home?"

"Exactly."

"Mm, I feel the same way."

"And how have you been, Blaine?"

Blaine nodded. "Alright."

The room was suddenly encompassed in silence, but oddly, Blaine didn't feel uncomfortable by it. He was simply just staring at Kurt, who was now feeding Pavarotti an owl treat from his pocket.

"So...you know so much about my family..."

Kurt looked up.

"Why don't you tell me about yours?" At first, he expected Kurt to seem flattered by Blaine's interest in his background.

Instead, Kurt's smile simply vanished, and Blaine immediately regretted even asking.

"Sorry if I seem to be invading your private life, I was just a bit curious-"

"It's fine, Blaine, I don't mind."

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want-"

"It's alright. It's just...my childhood...it was...hard."

"Really?"

Kurt nodded. "My mom was an Auror. When I was eight, they sent her to find the headquarters to some secret dark wizard group, and she found it, and...one of the group's members hit her with a killing curse."

"I'm so sorry."

"It's alright. I still have my dad..."

"...Yeah..."

"Well, and my stepmother, Carole; my dad married her a few years ago. She's such a sweet woman, I adore her. And besides, it's been so many years since I lost my mom, so I'm mostly over it."

"Tell me about your dad."

"He works at the Ministry," Kurt began.

"No kidding? Which department?"

"Magical Transportation."

"Oh, that's cool. My dad works down in the basement, in the Courtrooms."

Their conversation was interrupted by a loud knock on the glass of the compartment door.

Both of the boys looked up and saw a blonde girl standing outside waving at them.

She slid the door open. "Hey, babe! I found you!"

Kurt's smile faded. "Oh, hey Brit."

She shut the door behind her and, much to Blaine's surprise, sat down on Kurt's lap. "I've missed you since last night," she said with a flirty tone, wrapping her arms around his neck and nestling into his chest.

Kurt seemed rather uncomfortable by her affections. "Brittney, you know I don't like you being all touchy with me when I'm in the middle of talking to my friends. It's rude."

Blaine had to suppress the grin that was trying to force its way out of him. He already considers me a friend, he thought.

"Oh, sorry, babe. I didn't hear you guys talking through the glass, so I assumed you weren't."

Kurt gave her a funny look. "...Okay..."

Blaine was beginning to feel awkward, and, for some reason, a bit angry. He didn't know why, but he didn't really enjoy watching this girl hanging all over Kurt in front of him. No, he thought, it's none of your business. He looked over at Skye just to have something else to look at, when Kurt let out a loud yelp. Blaine looked up and saw that he was shuddering into the seat; he looked where they were staring and saw something that almost made him jump.

Sticking out right at the foot of the door, was the head of a black and white striped cat. Literally, half of it was in, half of it was out of the compartment.

Kurt huffed in frustration. "I thought you said you were going to get that Intangibility Charm off of him!" he said.

"Oh, I was, but I realized I like it that he'll be able to pop up whenever I'll need him for help on my homework."

Kurt gave Blaine a look that seemed to say "Help me out of this, please!"

Blaine quirked an eyebrow in confusion.

The blonde seemed to finally give up and slid out of Kurt's lap. "So, babe, who's your friend here?" she asked as she picked up the cat.

"I'm Blaine," he said quickly.

She smiled at him. "I'm Brittany," she flashed him a flirty smile. "I'm his girlfriend." She held the cat in front of him. "And this is Lord Tubbington."

Blaine fought back the urge to wince; the foul smell oozing off the cat disgusted him. "Nice to meet both of you."

Pavarotti shrieked in his cage, and Skye flapped her wings angrily at the cat.

Both of the boys had to struggle to keep them calm.

"So, what were you guys talking about?" Brittany asked, not seeming to pay much attention to them.

Kurt glanced at Blaine, who shrugged. "School, the usual."

"Oh..." Brittany paused. "Well, okay." She shifted to look at Kurt. "Come on, babe; I want to go find the candy trolley." She stood up and gripped Kurt's sleeve.

"I-uh, okay," he stammered out as she dragged him away. "See you later, Blaine."

"Yeah, see you later..."

He watched as Kurt was tugged out of the compartment and into the corridor. Blaine leaned back in his chair and sighed, glad that the awkward moment was over.

A few more minutes passed by as Blaine sat there trying to sooth Skye; Blaine knew how much she hated cats.

Another knock on the door.

Blaine groaned. "What now?" he asked himself under his breath. He looked up, but his annoyed expression transformed into one of relief.

The door slid open again, and in walked the very girl whom Blaine had been looking for before.

"Hey Santana."

"I finally found you. Have you been in here this whole time?"

Blaine nodded.

"Sorry; I was looking for you, and I managed to find Artie, but there was no sign of you anywhere."

"S'alright. I was occupied for a while."

"I saw another guy come in here not too long ago, from Slytherin."

"Kurt."

"Yeah, him. Were you talking to him?"

Blaine looked confused. "Yeah, why?"

Santana frowned. "I don't know about him, B."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, he is in Slytherin."

"So?"

"Slytherins are nothing but trouble, B; you don't want to try making friends with them."

"Seriously? You're telling me who I should befriend based on who's in what house?"

"Look, I'm not trying to judge anyone; all I'm saying is that they can't be trusted. They're not necessarily bad people, they just aren't the type that...a Gryffindor should be wasting their time interacting with. You both are complete opposites."

"Well, I guess opposites attract."

Santana's eyes went wide. "Oh no..."

"What?"

"Don't tell me...you're into him?"

Blaine could have sworn he felt his heart drop. "I- what?"

"What you just said...you like him!"

"No! I mean, I just...I can't."

"Why?"

"He has a girlfriend, which means he's probably straight."

Santana snickered.

Blaine quirked an eyebrow. "What?"

"You seriously think he's straight?"

"Well, I guess."

"Oh, please, the entirety of him screams 'gay' to me! And you know how good my gay-dar is."

"You don't even know him!"

Santana snorted. "I bet I know more about him than you do," she retorted jokingly.

"You didn't even know his name a second ago!"

"Oh? And you're already on a first-name basis with him, are you?"

"Actually, yeah, I am."

Santana rolled her eyes.

"He's a nice guy; what's wrong with that?"

"Never mind."

"No, tell me what you were going to say."

"Just drop it, B. I know you, and no matter what I say, you're gonna be defensive about it."

"I am not being defensive!"

Santana smirked. "I rest my case."

Blaine slumped back in his seat. "Ugh, whatever Santana."

"Just be careful around him, okay? I don't want my best friend getting hurt just because of some stupid boy."

Blaine just smiled appreciatively at hearing the "best friend" part of her statement. "Don't worry about me. By the way, you said you saw Artie, right?"

"Yeah."

"Where is he?"

"He's with Finn and Quinn. We should go find them; they were worried that you might not have gotten on the train."

Blaine chuckled. "Okay."

And scene! Next one will probably be up some time next week. REVIEW!