...
The train came to a stop in the crowded station, the hints of the train's expanded size evident given barely half of it filled up the platform's length as most of the students filled the hallways in an attempt to get out.
Evidently, the train accounted for every student getting their own compartment if they needed to. However, that might've been a delayed effect, as he hadn't noticed that it expanded, to begin with.
Blaise- Who'd actually rejoined them for the third time moments after leaving their compartment the second time, was the first one off out of their group. A somewhat hurried goodbye as he evidently spotted his mother quickly.
With mild amusement at the sight, Tracey turned towards the two of them, gave Daphne a hug, and somewhat awkwardly stared at him for a moment before she softly punched him in the shoulder and went off as well, a cheerful grin on her face.
Pity that. If he'd known punching your friends was socially acceptable, he might've befriended Malfoy.
"Well, they were in a hurry." He snorted as he calmly took a few steps away from the entrance to the train, Daphne in tow.
"Can't be helped," Daphne remarked off-handily. "Tracey's parents both have busy jobs, the fact they both managed to show up here is a credit to them really."
Leaning up against one of the empty pillars he raised an eyebrow at the girl. "And yours don't?"
The girl shrugged non-committal as she elected to stand beside him against the same pillar.
"...Not really?" She remarked. "My dad's his own boss in the family company, and my mom's a solo researcher in one of its branches." She gave another shrug. "They make their own hours so they work whenever they want to work, you know?"
The raised eyebrow on his face stayed put as he turned his head the slightest bit towards the girl. "Your mom works for your dad?"
The girl almost immediately snorted at the words.
"Not really, she started the branch alone- When it started getting really promising, they merged the two as part of the marriage agreement I think." She let out a sigh. "Family politics and what not."
He gave a non-committal hum at that. "What kind of research?"
At that question, the girl's face turned somewhat somber, indicating he might've gotten a little too comfortable-
"It's... Uh, kind of personal..." The girl sighed. "Family reasons for it and all."
"More politics I take it?"
"No." Was Daphne's only response, her gaze fidgeting around them the slightest bit. "A lot more personal than that."
After a brief moment, he made a visible showing of rolling his eyes at the girl, amusement coloring his face for a moment.
"Fine, keep your secrets!"
The girl's somber expression disappeared in favor of a more relieved one as she stared at him with a strange expression.
"Huh, and I thought that charm of yours disappeared for good."
"Nope, just put it under a disillusionment charm for the year," He deadpanned almost immediately, earning a snort from the girl. It didn't take long before the girl's gaze quickly swept to the right, at the end of the platform the forms of her three family members showed up, the two adults behind her younger sister marching towards them with sheer utter delight.
Instead of walking towards them as he'd expected, the girl turned a bemused look towards him. "So uh, my family's here, so we can wait in the actual station now,"
He blinked at that one.
"Wait for what?"
Bemusement colored her face as well at his question. "Your caretaker?" The bemusement turned into amusement as the girl crossed her arms. "Muggles can't come here remember?"
He just stared at her for those words before letting out a snort of his own.
"Yeah, like my caretaker's going to pick me up."
Needless to say, the expected amusement in reaction hadn't come.
"Why wouldn't they?" Daphne questioned with a frown, her arms uncrossing as they dropped to her side. "They're responsible for you, aren't they? They're not just going to make you go back alone..." At the look on his face, the frown on hers deepened. "Right?"
He didn't answer the action, instead tipping his head towards the girl's own family having reached them before he simply turned on his feet and made to walk off towards the entrance to the real station- Only to suddenly feel a hand on his shoulder.
Before he could say anything to the girl as he turned his gaze back, he felt himself twitch in irritation as she immediately stated her family was going to give him a ride.
With a scoff at the charity, he idly removed the girl's hand with his other hand and made to echo his goodbye, before he promptly found a younger Greengrass staring up at him with the same expression she'd greeted her sister with.
"Ooh, does this mean we get to visit an orphanage?" The girl- Astoria if he recalled correctly, turned her gaze towards the parents behind him. "I've never seen one!" A single beat passed as the girl ran up to her mother with a pleading look on her face. "Mom can we adopt one of them!?" Another beat passed. "Pretty pleasssee?"
Needless to say, at least the adults felt as uncomfortable with the words as he did with the entire thing. He held in the urge to narrow his eyes at Daphne, the girl's own dread at the social-shit-show clear to see as she mouthed an apology towards him.
With a sigh, he rubbed the bridge of his nose and simply walked off towards the entrance.
It didn't help that the Greengrass family elected to follow him- Mostly because Astoria refused to read the room, nor respond to her own mom's whispered orders to settle down, and was currently on his heels as if it was all set in stone.
Naturally, the moment he made it through the barrier, Astoria about to go through as well, he promptly encased himself in a disillusionment charm and swept around the pillar, if only to keep an eye on the air-headed girl- Yes, she was two years younger then him and her sister, but he certainly hadn't been that...
He sighed, unable to finish the thought.
She was what, ten? He supposed just because he never had the 'normal' childhood everyone else seemed to, didn't mean he had any right to judge them for it.
Once her parents made their way through towards the suddenly very confused, and somewhat hurt of all things, girl, he let out a sigh and walked off towards one of the station's bathrooms to remove the disillusionment charm.
He figured using magic outside the station was probably taking it a tad too far- Even if his mind called him a hypocrite for having the Transfiguration on his face held all the same.
Not that he could help it, obviously.
As part of his 'training' to master the art, his grandfather had elected to have the face he currently sported be the one his orphanage knew him as. From since the first moment, he could ever remember, his grandfather had held it before slowly releasing his hold once he himself started getting good enough at holding the transfiguration in place before eventually, he'd learned to cast it at will.
The threat of being decried as a bigger freak, or worse yet, the magical threat of having someone investigate him, essentially been an ax over his head.
Child or not, Gellert Grindelwald didn't hold back in his teaching at all.
Though how he'd ever managed to pull off the spell from his prison cell, he likely wouldn't ever know.
...
Still, to his surprise- Despite the fact the parents had clearly understood his need to leave, they had too much something in them to leave it at that.
Which was how he'd found himself waiting at a muggle bus stop, with an eccentrically dressed Cyrus Greengrass apologizing to him for his younger daughter's words.
"...It's fine," He remarked somewhat uncomfortable as he eyed the lane before him, no bus in sight.
The man nodded the slightest bit before he settled down beside him on the terribly built seats.
"I don't quite recall seeing any of your belongings, did you leave them behind by any chance?" The man questioned amiably.
He idly turned his gaze towards the older wizard before he let out a shrug.
"They're in my pocket." The words only registered in his own head as he realized he'd forgotten to undo that bit of magic before leaving the station, though considering there weren't any magicals after him for the use, or rather continued use of magic, he figured it went under the radar.
Or maybe they just didn't notice wandless magic, to begin with.
The man let out a somewhat surprised hum at his words.
"Are you not worried that the charm could undo itself?" He questioned, evidently taking his use of the actual spell itself, instead of having a modified trunk of sorts- Though considering an orphan likely wouldn't afford such a thing it certainly made sense in hindsight.
"I doubt it," He shrugged, letting out a sigh in the process as he let the silence fill the air. A part of him was somewhat hopeful the man would simply call it there and move on.
Instead, all he did was simply nod at the words before locking eyes with him with a rather pointed expression.
"I am not quite well-versed when it comes to muggle culture... But I am led to believe that backward as they are, they do take children safety very seriously." He blinked at the words. "While I am rather sure you're capable enough to handle yourself- I doubt a muggle would think the same of a twelve-year-old." A single beat passed. "So, where is your caretaker?"
After a moment of thought, he simply let a snort out at the question.
"Probably hoping I ended up dead in a ditch somewhere," A single beat passed. "Can't say I wouldn't find my day made if someone else had taken over the orphanage in my absence." At the completely unsettled expression on the man's face, he chose to elaborate. "The caretaker cares about two things- Cash, and adoptable children." He deadpanned. "Never really got off on the wrong foot, more the wrong side of the room- She thinks I am a freak and I think she's a penny-pinching old hag."
"...That's very troubling of you to say," The man remarked warily.
"What? You should see her face, she really resembles one."
"I was talking about your caretaker- I can't imagine what sort of situation allows a child to discern an adults true feelings for them-"
Between Snape's attitude towards Potter, and his own caretaker's attitude towards him, he found that hard to believe.
"Well, I mean she started the nickname over a dinner once." He deadpanned, his brow furrowing in thought after a moment. "Pretty sure that was the last one I bothered sharing with the rest actually."
He wasn't particularly sure why he was even talking about this with someone. Maybe it was the boredom in having to wait for the first of two busses he'd have to take to get to that place, or maybe it was the sheer cathartic feeling one got from talking about someone behind their back and getting a positive response- Either way, he supposed much like the orphanage itself and everyone in it, it didn't really matter.
Still, the man's rather dark reaction, something that sent a rather calm feeling throughout him, was somewhat surprising.
He figured a Pureblood would find any chance at proving muggles were inferior to be rather more entertaining- Yet all he found on the man's face wasn't smugness or such- But... Sheer disappointment, with hints of anger even.
It only occurred to him then that he might've known more about the previous year's going ons than he'd realized- Daphne always did have a habit of sending letters to her family throughout it.
"...Children are liable and rather allowed to call us whatever they wish." The man stated uneasily. "My own daughter once called me a dark lord for a month over not allowing her to have candy as a main meal." The man paused for a second, a small smile filling his face. "In a restaurant."
He couldn't help the snort at that.
"Astoria's really got a mouth on her doesn't she?"
"I was talking about Daphne actually."
At that he couldn't help out the laughter that came out. The laughter that for whatever reason seemed to lighten the mood between them.
"All the same, an adult on the other hand is not allowed the same frivolity." The man's gaze darkened. "Especially one responsible for an impressionable child."
...In hindsight, the man would probably lose his mind if he found out about his grandfather- And not because of the usual reasons either.
"Hardly take the hag seriously anyway," He snorted, his gaze finally landing on a bus coming up in the distance. Without another word from himself, he calmly stood up and indicated his coming ride.
Cyrus' gaze switched between the two for a moment before to his surprise, the man offered him a ride with his family if he wanted- Evidently the orphanage's location he hadn't told Daphne or anyone else about was on their way home.
He gave the man another snort and refused.
"Daphne's got enough fire to use against me as it is- If she sees where I live, she'll have enough to burn a forest down if she ever wanted." He deadpanned.
Noticing the joke for what it was, all he got was a resigned smile from the man, yet just as he was about to turn away from him and leave- Evidently acknowledging his decisions.
The man gave him one more look and explicitly told him he was not in fact a freak, and a rather adaptable child as he sort of repeated his own words against him, before he turned on his feet and walked off.
He wasn't entirely sure how long he'd stayed glued to that spot at those words- Unsure of why the man felt he ended to say them, unsure of why they seemed to elicit a reaction out of him.
It wasn't as if he'd ever believed them when they called him such.
In fact, he'd taken the very word as a compliment for his talents in a way.
...Getting called normal- At least that's what he'd taken the man's second comment as, felt rather... Odd, if he was honest.
Needless to say, all that introspective thinking had led him to miss his bus.
He blamed Daphne, naturally.
...
So this chapter was supposed to introduce said orphanage- But it seemed to get away from me almost halfway through, and before I knew it, hit the 2k mark.
Originally I had considered Rodrick taking them up on their offer, but in that particular draft, it almost felt a little too... Fast if that makes any sense? Felt like there was almost no build-up to it on both, Rodrick's side accepting such an invitation, as well as the parent's happy-go-lucky Weasley mindset with magically-famous orphans.
Regardless, Hope You Enjoyed! Don't Forget Feedback!