Thick clouds of pure white smoke billowed across the busy platform of 9 ¾. Over the chatter and bustle of the heavy crowd a high pitch whistle pierced the air. "Ten minutes, that's ten minutes till departure. Anyone left on the platform will be left behind so I'd appreciate it if you'd all start to finish up and begin to board the train please." the platform master clicked his heels and then proceeded to patrol the full length of the platform.
The atmosphere was thick with tears and sobs as the new first years bitterly said there goodbyes and entered the cherry red steam train leaving their worried parents behind. With only two minutes to go the train let off another plume of steam, its sides bursting as pupils crammed into the tiny windows waving frantically to their families. If the station hadn't been so raucous then Seymour's clattering entrance through the hidden gateway might not have gone unnoticed as he pelted into the thinning crowd dragging his trunk behind him. He dashed into the first open door he could find and felt a rush of air brush past him as it instantly slammed shut behind him.
He was out breath but happy he had managed to make it in time for a mere fifthteen minutes ago he wasn't so sure he would have as he tornadoed around his bedroom frantically searching for his newly purchased Defense Against the Dark Arts book which had some how managed to find itself wedged between his wardrobe and his desk. His father mean while made no attempt to help but merely stood at his door lecturing him on how important good time keeping was if he ever hoped to work for a company like Gringotts. After howling at his dad that he in fact didn't give a "trolls bogey" about Gringotts he crammed the large book into his case and then apparated along side his father to the entrance of King's Cross Station and then saying his goodbyes before his father disappeared again leaving for work.
"Cutting it a bit close aren't you?" Robin grinned broadly as he, Alice and Lloyd pushed past the crowd of departees.
Seymour tugged roughly on the neck of his jumper and grimaced at them. "Maybe a little. We don't all get up at the crack of dawn just so that we can be the first ones to arrive." he gave a simpering glance towards Alice who had not only put her trunk away but was also full dressed in her Hogwarts robes.
"Well it's hardly sets a good impression does it?" justified Alice flashing him her brand new "Prefect" badge that was proudly pinned onto the front of her robe.
"I forgot about that." admitted Seymour looking over a Lloyd who was carrying his pet rabbit "Bludger" in a small silver cage. "Got yours too Mr. Harper?"
Lloyd sheepishly turned out the inside of his jacket pocket showing him his badge before instantly stuffing it back in.
"How come you never got one Robin?" mocked Seymour waving his hand at his two promoted friends, "A model student and a true gentleman, a prime candidate for a prefect I would've thought."
"I know, I know." grinned Robin pretending to look most affronted, "Have a few accidents here and there and suddenly your not "responsible" material."
"You nearly blew up the potions lab." snorted Alice, "If you plan on brewing your own brand of extra strong mead can you really expect anything else. You're just lucky Snape didn't curse you there and then when he saw the walls of his classroom covered in those scorch marks." she said airily.
"Who cares about the walls, what if I had drank the stuff? It would have burned a hold in my neck." moaned Robin glaring at her.
"Then there's the party you tried to hold in the common room last year just before Christmas, it woke up the entire school." she pointed an accusing finger in his face.
"What's wrong with a little farewell get together before the holidays? I didn't know Hogwarts was so uptight about having a little fun." argued Robin turning his nose up.
"It was four in the morning Rob, even the ghosts were complaining and they don't sleep."
This argument carried on until the old express train gave an awkward lurch and then began to steadily roll forward. Rows of wizards and witches waved goodbye from the platform until the old train rumbled out of sight and started its long journey towards Hogwarts school.
"I suppose you two have some special nerds meeting to be getting to?" asked Robin looking satisfied at the annoyed look on Alice's face.
"Laugh all you want Robin but you just wait, being a prefect is going to be fantastic, we get to boss naughty little students like you around all day and we get to use the prefects bathroom." she explained grinning at the thought of telling Robin what to do.
"That won't matter to Rob Alice, he doesn't wash." replied Seymour receiving a hard punch to his arm.
"They only made you prefect Alice because they knew I was far too busy. It's not my fault you don't have such an active social life." jeered Robin with a smile.
With a particularly venomous glower Alice spun around and grabbed Lloyd's arm. "Come on Lloyd we don't want to be late to the meeting. Let's leave these two little boys to play shall we?" without waiting for a reply she then proceeded to drag a gloomy faced Lloyd down the train hallway, he looked longingly back at his other two friends who both gave him a cheerful wave before bursting into laughter.
"Poor Lloyd, I bet he dreaded being made a prefect… can you imagine him giving anyone a telling off?" sniggered Robin as he watched them disappear out of sight. Seymour had to admit that even though Lloyd was an excellent student he didn't really fit the mold of a prefect, he thought Lloyd would have much rather quietly gone about his year at school without the hassle of having to keep order.
"Weren't you a bit harsh on Alice though?" asked Seymour giving his friend a reproachful look.
Robin merely shrugged and shook his head, "She needed to be brought down a peg or two, I didn't want her getting all high and mighty with me on the first day." he then smiled warmly and patted him on the shoulder, "Besides she got us hasn't she? If she had more friends she wouldn't have the time to bother us so much. I'll make it up to her, I'll do something really bad when we get to school, that should cheer her up."
They both chuckled and then Seymour looked around the now sparse corridor.
"I would ask if you wanted to find a carriage but I know how you don't like to waste anytime on your first day back?" asked Seymour giving his friend a knowing look.
"Very right you are my good man." smiled Robin his eyes already greedily scanning the occupied carriages. "I think I saw Ginny Weasley a little while ago, I might pop in and say hello."
Seymour laughed and shook his head in disbelief. "You've got no chance mate, she's already going out with Dean isn't she?"
Unperturbed Robin looked back at Seymour. "What about Parvati Patil? I swear she was giving me the eye when I passed her earlier. I know she's older than me but you can't blame the poor girl, she's only human. Why don't you come along Sey? You could talk to that Lavender Brown she's always hanging about with, keep her occupied for me?"
Seymour couldn't help but let out a laugh, "Thanks Rob, I'm really tempted but for some reason I think I'll have to pass on this one." The thought of spending anytime with Lavender Brown was more than enough to condemn Robin to a journey alone.
"Why not Seymour, apparently Lavender quite fancies you. In fact I think Parvati does as well… no you're right Sey don't come." and quick as a flash Robin made his way down the moving train waving behind his back as he went.
Seymour had expected to spend this year's journey without his friends ever since hearing about Alice and Lloyd being made prefects but now he was finally alone he didn't really know what to do with himself. After a quick think he settled for finding a spare carriage and finishing off the last of his holiday homework, which considering he had actually done none of at all was going to take him a fair amount of time. He picked up his trunk and started to make his way down the rattling train towards the last few carriages which were usually empty.
He stopped on his way to say hello to a few of his friends he'd spotted in a compartment as he past which included Neville and Ginny who was in fact sitting very close to Dean Thomas. Grinning at Robin's reaction if he was to see them Seymour approached the last two carriages and stopped when he spotted a familiar girl sitting in the last one.
Luna Lovegood was busy gazing dreamily out of the window and looked lost to the world. The latest addition of "The Quibbler" was lying next to her and she was already dressed in her school robes which Seymour thought suited her rather well apart from the radish earrings and the laddered purple tights.
He hesitated at first but then slowly slid the carriage door open. "Hi Luna, mind if I sit in here?" he asked. She turned to face him her large grey eyes unfocused as if she had been daydreaming. She smiled warmly and gave a nod before moving a large box that was sitting on the seat in front of her. Seymour gave the brown cardboard box a curious look as he sat down and noticing this she explained.
"It's full of Popplesnaps." she gave the box a light tap with her hand as it shook slightly. "They were selling them in that shop I met you at. Invisible to the human eye and highly skilled in the art of wood carving. They really shouldn't be kept as pets so I bought the entire stock and I'm going to set them free into the Forbidden Forest when I get a chance." she beamed at him and then picked up her copy of "The Quibbler" and turned to the first page.
"Interesting." was all Seymour could say as he smiled back. If he hadn't just witnessed the box moving he would have been inclined to think she had in fact be conned into buying a box of thin air and he was still reluctant to dismiss this judgment.
"Anything good?" he asked nodding to her issue of the magazine.
"Oh yes." she exclaimed turning the pages to show him. "This article's all about Cornelius Fudge."
"The Minister of Magic?"
"Well the ex Minister, a lot of people believe he died in a vanishing wardrobe related accident two years ago and the man currently sitting in office is actually Kingsley Shacklebolt using Polyjuice potion." she said this very matter of factly and didn't notice the skeptical look Seymour was giving her.
"And you believe this?" he asked trying to hide the grin on his face. She nodded and tapped the book with her finger.
"Oh yes, makes sense doesn't it?"
Seymour was desperate to ask her what part of that story made any sense at all but decided nodding and smiling politely was the best option.
This tone of conversation continued for the next few hours into the long winding train journey towards Hogwarts, Luna reveled in having a reason to spout off random bouts of wacky ideas and facts and wasted no time in trying to convince Seymour that all Parrots were in fact Animagi stuck in there current form unable to break out of their alteration until someone said their full name. Where she came up with this idea whether it was from a book or just her own crackpot theory Seymour hadn't the faintest but he still enjoyed listening to her in depth explanations and instead of just listening he soon found himself asking further questions on the subject and trying to come up with arguments against it. Rather than being annoyed with his skepticism Luna seemed to thoroughly enjoy trying to convince him otherwise and before he knew it the sun had long since departed from the once crystal blue sky and now a gleaming half moon shone casting a net of light over the train as hundreds of tiny stars littered the bottomless black sky.
The carriage which was once pristine now look rather less charming with scattered books and copies of "The Quibbler" all over the place in between boxes of sweets and wrappers from cakes which they had purchased from the food cart on it's second journey around the train.
"So now do you understand why the Chudley Cannons are clearly avid Death Eaters?" asked Luna her eyes set on Seymour's confused face.
"Well no… not really. What was their involvement in the attack on the World Cup again? I didn't really understand." Luna rolled her eyes slightly and was about to launch into the tale again when a shout from the corridor of the train made them both freeze.
"Get out my way. You there no smiling, 10 points from Ravenclaw." Seymour knew the owner of the pompous sounding voice even before Draco Malfoy's silver main of blonde hair appeared in front of their compartment window, he was being tailed by one of his usual juggernauts in the form of Vincent Crabbe a large fat boy with a permanent scowl etched onto his chubby face. The other person also at Malfoy's side was Pansy Parkinson a particularly spiteful girl who seemed to adore the very ground Draco walked on and made no attempt to hide the fact. It was she who turned to face the two younger students in the carriage next to them and she tapped Malfoy on the shoulder and motioned towards Seymour and Luna with a putrid smile on her face. Malfoy's grey eyes narrowed when he spotted them and his lips curled into an ugly smirk to match Pansy's. He pressed his face against the glass and tapped loudly before sliding the compartment door open with a loud bang that rattled the glass in every frame of the carriage.
"Well if it isn't Loony Lovegood the footnote in the ever growing list of Harry Potter's deluded admirers. What happened, did he cast you aside when he grew tired of your incessant rambling?" he snarled at the girl and picked up a copy of the Quibbler that lay on the seat beside him. "What a load of rubbish, should be banned from the school this sort of thing. Filling people's minds up with nothing but lies and useless prattle… it's bad enough that you're still around, I'd always hoped you'd cop it when you went off gallivanting around the Ministry."
Seymour couldn't repress his rage any longer which wasn't being helped by the vacant look Luna was giving Malfoy, didn't she care that he was making fun of her? He stood up and ripped the magazine from Draco's hand and held it tight in his own, his eyes full of fire and locked with Malfoy's.
"Why don't you shut up for once Malfoy, nobody asked you to poke your nose in… although I know that must be hard, it's big enough to fill the whole train." Luna decided to take this moment to let out a roar of hysterical laughter which caught all four of the other students off hand as they peered over giving the girl odd looks.
This soon changed though as Draco's furious face snapped back onto Seymour and he gritted his teeth pushing every word through them.
"Know your place you stupid little runt." he spat out which seemed rather daft as even though Seymour was younger than Malfoy he was a fair few inches taller than him as they stood nose to nose. One person he wasn't as tall as though was a fairly ferocious looking Crabbe who leered over Draco's shoulder and cracked his knuckles, barely containing his longing to smash the boys skull in.
"It's bad enough that pure-bloods like you hang around with cretins like that one." Malfoy motioned towards Luna who was still recovering from her earlier laughing fit. "But just because you're pureblood doesn't mean I'll show any mercy when the time comes to clear this school of unwanted guests." he looked at him like he was a spec of dirt on his robes, his bottom lip quivering in anger.
Seymour laughed in his face and glared back trying his best to ignore the massive structure of the boy next to his foe. "I wouldn't be so proud of being pureblood Malfoy, I know how fond you are of marring your cousins but if it means your kids turn out anything like your mug of a father I'd stay well clear mate."
This was more than enough to send Malfoy into a spitting, snarling, burning rage as his whole face caved in and creased all over, his teeth flashed as his lips curled around them in a hating snarl but instead of flying forward and attacking Seymour he merely stood aside as Crabbe lunged forward and grabbed the boy by the front of his jacket and slung him against the wall of the train corridor behind him. Seymour hit it with some considerable force and felt the back of his head make a heavy connection with the window sill behind him.
Many faces appeared from the compartments next to them as they quickly ushered out to see what all the noise was. Seymour tried his best to pull himself up but was far too slow as Crabbe stood over him with Malfoy at his side laughing heavily and giving Crabbe yet another nod signaling him to raise his massive fist in the air preparing to bring it crashing down on the boy who could see no means of escape.