first-year jitters
The flight was long, taking sixteen hours. June sat in couch the whole time, his mind racing the entire time. Robert, June's father outwards, looked calm and collected every inch of the military man visage he held onto in public. Inside he was even more of a mess than his fidgeting son next to him. Robert didn't touch a crumb of food the whole flight. The landing strip came into view from the window, spiking both of their nerves. Once the plane landed, father and son took off like a rocket towards a hotel near the pub where the letter told them to meet a professor from Hogwarts.
The sun was dipping low under London's cloudy sky by the time both of them had unpacked. June turned to his father as he sat on the bed. "Dad, are you sure it's ok to go? I've asked a hundred times, but I'm unsure. I've never lived with wizards before, and now ill be surrounded by them for six years." Robert smiled and sat beside his son. "hey, it's all fine. I've taught you so much, and it's not like you don't know we've been around wizards while working." June put his head in his hand, feeling a headache building behind his eyes. He took his glasses off to get ready for bed. Slipping under the comforter and setting his glasses on the nightstand. June fell into a light sleep plagued with nightmares he had long since left his realm of sleep. Visions of a cupboard, darkness, pain, and loneliness filtered behind his closed eyes. Morning brought rain and a heavy weight onto June. Father and son had less than an hour to make their way to the pub.
After a quick shower and throwing on his typical outfit of jeans, a tee, this time dark green, and his leather jacket to fight the cool London air. Pulling his messy hair back into a manageable ponytail, June took one last look in the mirror before meeting his father in the lobby. The leaky cauldron was sparsely populated this early in the morning. June let out a small chuckle as he walked in. his eyes sweeping right to the left, taking in every occupant in the room. It was a standard magical establish the fireplace and the people dressed in strange outfits, some in apparent robes. June's father moved to lean on the wall next to the fireplace crossing his arms over his chest to wait for their guide. Trepidation returned to June when a man in a turban sitting in the back corner made the lightning bolt-shaped scar burn making him winch. A tall witch in nearly black-green robes walked in a moment later. Robert gave her a nod as she looked over at him and then at the child next to him, and her eyes widened. The child was not what she was expecting. Even at fourteen, he was filling out the leather jacket and jeans with lean muscles. His bright green eyes looked guarded, looking over at Professor Quirrell. The lightning bolt scar was on display with his hair pulled back. She approached the pair but stopped when both of their heads snapped around from the open bar to look at her. "mister potter, I'm Professor McGonagall." she said with a Scottish drawl. June looked her over before giving a confused look. "sorry, ma'am, but I'm not Potter. Are you from Hogwarts by chance?" June said before turning his head a little to look out of the corner of his eye at his father. Robert shook his head but pushed off the wall. "Miss McGonagall, his name is June Gorgon," he said, his southern twang thicker than usual as he stepped before his son. "my apologies, I wasn't aware of your name being changed," she said with a smile, and then turned to the man "I take it that you're his adopted father?" "yes, I am Robert Gorgon," he said as he seemed to relax a little to her. His poster shifted slightly from his defensive pose. "do you mind if I have a word to get an idea of what young Gorgon has had as a magical exposer?" "Sure, June, why don't you get a soda or something while I have a word with your professor?" With that, June nodded and walked over to the bar. In a span of ten minutes, June was approached by several people, all calling him harry potter. Much to his confusion, even the bartender Tom called him that, but after a practiced glare and a wave of his hand, most left, with his confused and harsh denial of being said harry potter. This was even worse. He could have imagined. He just wanted to attend school, but everyone treated him like a hero. He would be happy to get attention if it was for something of his accomplishments, but he never did anything he was being praised for.
Powerful wizard? Dark lords? June was just a junior hunter, having only been hunting with his father and his team for a year. "it's going to be a long six years is in it." June said to no one as he left the bar when his father and Professor McGonagall returned from the table they sat at for their discussion. "Alright, mister Gorgon, we need to get you even more than in the letter. Follow me." June followed her quietly out the back of the pub and into Diagon Alley; the first stop of the three was Gringotts, where they ran into another hogwort member Hagrid. June noticed he was nervous and kept an eye on him as they entered the bank. Eavesdropping into the quiet conversation between them. Something about a stone and keeping it safe.
June just shrugged and filed it away for later. The next stop was for a wand. This was the most nerve-racking part of the day. June had never held a Wand before. But after a few tries, the kind man found June's wand. Apparently, it had a sister out there somewhere, whatever that meant. After that was not something complicated or even painful like the wand but something that June really was against robes. As they walked into Madam Malkin's Junes ever, curios eyes spotted a head of white hair. The tall thin man was standing off to the side, away from the measuring station. One of the stations was closed off, so June was led up to the one next to it and shrugged off his jacket begrudgingly. After a few minutes of having his measurements taken, he could hear the Professor talking with the store attendant about all the robes he would need making his eyes roll, thinking he would never wear robes unless in class. Damn, whoever thought the long-flowing fabric was a good idea.
Throwing his leather jacket back on and stepping out of the station, the white hair seemed to be multiplying now. Next to the tall man was a guy about his age talking quite together. The younger of the two blonds turned to him as he shut the door a little too hard in his frustration. The blond looked June over a few times before raising an eyebrow at the muggle clothes he was wrapped up in. Feeling the look was different than the others who had been trying to approach him all day, June cocked his head to the side and gave a slight grin approaching the blonds, his black combat boots clicking on the stone floor. "Hey, do you mind helping me out? I need a hand with shrinking my robes?" June said, tilting his head to the bags of robes set to the side. "you don't know how to shrink something?" the blond boy asked, "no, I don't. You see, I grew up with muggles. I don't know a lick of magic." this seemed to make the older blond scowl, but June ignored him he was not the one June wanted to talk to. "The names June by the way. What's yours?" "You don't even know who I am?"
June just shrugged, but internally he was laughing. "I am Draco Malfoy, heir to the Malfoy family." The blond said with such an air of superiority that June wanted to knock him down a peg. "Anyway, are you going to Hogwarts by any chance?" June said in a lazy drawl letting his southern accent push through his words. The more prominent twang to his words seemed to get the Malfoy more than the brush off of his title. "y-yes, YES, I am." Malfoy said wrong-footed, losing a bit of his pure blood mask. "Then I guess ill see you on the train," June said as a fact, not a question, and grabbed his bags and left to find his father. The rest of the day was filled with shopping, from books to ingredients. The last stop was the familiar shop. "Professor, if I get an owl, would I be able to get another familiar?" June asked, eyeing the snowy owl in the window, which was watching the trio. "Why do you want another animal besides an owl?" she said as they entered the shop. June smiled as they looked around, noticing a small terrarium with a brightly colored snake curled around a heating rock. June waved the shopkeep down and had him open the tank. "Hello, little one," June hissed out, making the shopkeep and Professor McGonagall jump. The snake lifted its head from the rock. "a speaker, such a rare thing to find," replied happily. "would you like to come with me? My name is June." the snake nodded its head and slithered away from the rock to June's waiting hand. After the snake slithered up his arm and curled itself around him, sooking up his body heat June turned to the others. "Can you please get me everything id need to take care of this little guy? Only the best, please." after a tank and the other items needed for the owl and snake were shrunk and put away into his pockets, June retired back to the muggle hotel for the night. They spent the next week staying there. During that time, June started to take notes on everything he could remember from the trip. Also, naming the owl Hedwig and the snake Gin.
June stood in the train station between the ninth and tenth platforms. "How the hell?" he said out loud. His father scratched his head, looking at the blank brick wall. June's cart of belongings sitting behind him. As the two stood confused, a herd of redheads approached them. June watched as they walked through the bricks one by one like they were thin air. With a nod from his father, June stepped up next to a redhead that looked to be his exact age. The redhead cocked an eyebrow at June, then his eyebrows rose sharply. "bloody hell, are you harry potter?" June rolled his eyes and started to walk onto the platform with a sigh. A moment later, the boy followed, "For your question, no, I'm not. The name is June." he said, tired already, then left the other boy to board the train. Once seated in a cabin to himself, the same redhead tracked him down. He threw the door open and looked down at the sitting June with a frown.
"You have the scar. You must be him." his voice was already starting to sound like grating nails on a chalkboard. "Fucking hell, do you not know when to quit? The name is June Gorgon. Not shitting harry potter. Just leave me alone." well, can't blame a guy for trying, thought June as the redhead sat across from him. Ignoring the redhead's attempt to talk, June pulled out a book and read some of the material for defense against the dark art. ignoring everything around him, he missed the bushy-haired girl asking about a toad. Even with all the new wonders surrounding June as he and the other first years made their way to the castle, he felt on edge. But a head of white hair stood out in the sight of people being led through the gates by Professor McGonagall. June marched through the crowd to find Draco sitting with two large boys and other pompous-looking people. "Draco, I missed you on the train," June said as he stepped beside the blond. The others shot him a look that, if he was any judge, they didn't like him. "oh, June, or should I call you Potter?" he said with a glare of his own. "don't you fucking start to its June not whatever wonder boy everyone thinks I am! Now scoot over. I want to sit." the two large boys stepped in between June and Draco. "And why would I do that?" Draco said lazily, inspecting his nails with his wall of meat between them. "Because I wanted to sit with you. Is that wrong?" June said, ignoring the others around him that were starting to whisper to each other. "ok, this is ridiculous. Move you two before I make you," June growled out, his eyes hardening with a dangerous glint. "don't lose your head, June. Just take a seat." June pushed the larger boys aside and flopped beside Draco. "now, how was your ride here?" June tried to make small talk with Draco and the others sitting at the table with him, but all except Draco refused to give him the time of day. Soon the sorting began, and June watched the talking hat call out which house the first years would be staying in. Still, as he was relaxing, Professor McGonagall read out Harry Potter, and in a bout of frustration, he slipped into parseltongue, throwing curses from his tongue like a sailor. The hall seemed to grow quiet as he stood up and made his way to the stool glaring at the teacher. "We will talk about this." his voice was a dangerous whisper as he sat. in the hall, watching closely as the-boy-who-lived was sorted. A few moments after June gritted his teeth, the hat yelled, "Slytherin!"
