Richard quickly decided he did not like King's Cross Station, he knew this by the way the yelling made his ears ring. Charlotte on the other hand seemed right in her element, skipping every step of the way. Denari was, as usual, grumbling and leaning heavily on his cane. He pulled away with a grunt and a sharp look when Richard reached to support his arm.
"Boy, I can take care of myself. Focus on what's in front of you and keep your friend in line. We're almost at the platform."
Richard nodded and hurried after Charlotte, so focused on heaping stride with her he failed to notice the other person on his path until they collided. There was a slight clatter as the stranger's glasses hit the floor.
"Richard, you klutz." Charlotte laughed bending down to pick up the glasses, she handed them back to the slightly older boy with a giggled apology. "I'm Charlotte Swift, the brick next to me is my best friend Richard Lewis."
Best Friend? Richard glanced briefly at Charlotte before Reaching down to offer a hand to the other boy. Stumbling back when Charlotte suddenly shoved him away. In her habit of getting right into other people's faces, she bent down to move the boy's hair aside.
"Wowie," She blurted. "That scar! You're The-Boy-Who-Lived! You're Harry Potter!"
"Harry Potter?" Richard repeated
"Richard, you spend your whole life buried in a book, if you don't know who-" Charlotte began
"I know who he is." Richard said flatly.
Before anyone could respond Denari's voice barked, "What's the hold up?"
"Sorry Mr. Denari." Richard and Charlotte said in unison.
Denari looked past them at Harry, specifically at his forehead. "Harry Potter," he sounded thoroughly unimpressed. "I hope I'll have the pleasure of having a famous student in my Alternative Magic class."
"Alternative Magic?" Harry Repeated.
Charlotte was about to pipe up, when Denari put his hand over her mouth and smiled, to Richard he always looked like a shark with that face. "You'll find out. Come children." He hobbled toward the train.
The train was already moving and still the three of them still hadn't found a compartment.
In a Compartment with Luna and Nevile, Harry could hear the group approaching,
"They're all full." The old man grumbled.
"This one isn't" Charlotte slid the compartment door open and greeted its occupants with a smile. "Mind if we join you?"
Luna briefly looked up. Charlotte looked at her and grinned, without even waiting for an answer she sat across from Luna and began chatting animatedly. From bits and pieces of the conversation, Harry picked up that Charlotte was muggleborn, and was the only witch in her family. Harry wondered how she was treated at home, were her parents and siblings kind to her? His train of thought was interrupted when he glanced at the satchel by Charlotte's feet. Was it… moving?
"It's just her cat." Richard looked up from his book, "She likes to sleep in there."
Harry looked over, Richard was leaning half against the window, his eyes; pale blue, showed next to nothing in terms of what he might have been thinking.
"Kid, you'll have an easier time reading a rock golem than reading Richard." The old man said.
Richard said nothing, his expression remaining flat as he watched out the window. As far as he was concerned there was nothing to say, Denari was right after all. Sometimes, he would watch people in the coven hall, talking and laughing, he'd practice a smile only for it to seem alien on his face. He didn't know why he was like this. Maybe some people were just born broken.
The rest of the train ride passed, punctuated by Charlotte's animated discussions with Luna. When they went their separate ways, Richard glanced back one more time at Harry, now reunited with two other teens he appeared to be close to. For a brief moment he wondered what it would be like to feel that sort of closeness to someone.
"Richard, put your cloak on," Denari said, thrusting said cloak into his arms, Richard put it on and pulled the hood up over his head. Like every other student starting at Hogwarts, Richard and Charlotte would need to be sorted into one of the four houses. Richard decided upon hearing this that he'd keep his hood up, in hopes that would circumvent any whispers at his expense. Charlotte, in contrast, kept her hood down and a smile plastered on her face.
"Alright, Hogwarts," She piped "Ready or not, here we come."