It took a while for Alice and Zander to find a seating compartment on the train that wasn't occupied by other groups of students.
By the time the Hogwarts Express set off, coasting through the countryside and carrying everyone off to another year of school—Alice and Zander had finally settled into a compartment by themselves, sitting across from each other and sighing with relief.
It wasn't as if they hated the other students, but neither of them were particularly social with their Hogwarts peers. Zander didn't really fit in with many other people, especially people his own age, who often enjoyed doing stupid things for fun—and Alice had given up on making new friends years ago. Some of the more pompous and well-off students often scoffed and turned their noses up at her, treating her like a second-class witch because she came from the poor, humble home that was the O'Heiden Carnival.
So—as a result—neither of them cared much for trying to make new friends anymore. Most Hogwarts students had shown how disinterested they were in befriending either one of them, and by now, neither of them bothered to try anymore. Nowadays, they preferred to isolate, and they often felt a touch of relief whenever they managed to break away from everyone else.
Now—however—the sliding door of their compartment suddenly opened, and Alice and Zander both turned their heads, each of them instantly tense again.
Three people entered their compartment and closed the door, Alice and Zander trading glances, both of them feeling somewhat invaded now. Alice quickly abandoned her bench, sitting beside Zander instead so to separate herself from the newcomers as much as possible.
Rose Weasley, James Potter, and Lorcan Scamander all sat across from the two of them, Rose in the center of the trio. She clasped her hands, raised her brows, and glimpsed over to her left, where her cousin James was staring out the window disinterestedly.
"Well?" Rose griped, ramming her elbow into him.
James's jaw twitched, turning and giving her a look. Then, he faced Alice and Zander properly, clearing his throat a few times before he spoke.
"Sorry I ran into you," James uttered, looking up and turning his head.
"Don't roll your eyes," Rose scolded, smacking him on the arm. "Do it properly—go on."
"Hey, shut up—you're not my real mom," James quipped in response.
Alice breathed out a laugh.
"I know he doesn't seem like it—but he is actually sorry," Rose told Zander. "If he's not sorry, then he usually runs off at the mouth and complains quite lot louder. Whenever he actually goes silent, then that means he actually knows he did something wrong."
"Blimey… you're talking about me like I'm a stray dog," James griped.
"Well—you act like one," Rose retorted, looking to Zander again. "So, can you accept his apology?"
"Ah… sure," Zander muttered at a loss, as he wasn't used to anyone seeking him out simply to deliver an apology. "It's not a big deal…"
Rose nodded, and everyone fell silent for a moment. James gazed out the window again, and Lorcan shifted his stringy, sandy bangs to the side, hunching over his lap and appearing to be gazing into the sleeve of his tan jacket.
Alice and Zander both stared over at Lorcan. Neither of them really knew him, just as they didn't really know Rose or James. These were people they'd only ever seen in passing before—but now, in close quarters, they couldn't help but notice that Lorcan acted a bit strangely.
"What're you… looking at?" Alice asked him.
Lorcan blinked and raised his head, only just realizing that someone was peaking to him now. He grasped the end of his sleeve and straightened up in his seat.
"Ahh… nothing," he smiled. "Nothing."
Alice squinted curiously at him, sharing another peculiar look with Zander.
Rose examined the two of them, twiddling her thumbs and seeming to want to speak, though it took her a moment to think of anything to say.
"So… we've never really talked before, have we?" she said, giving Alice and Zander a polite smile. "Are you two… um…"
"You're dating, right?" James cut in bluntly. "I mean, you two are always together, and you never really hang around with anyone else, so…"
Alice and Zander glanced at each other again.
"No… we're not dating," Alice informed. "We just… well… nobody's ever really wanted to be our friend."
"But we don't seem to have that problem with each other," Zander stated.
"Aye," Alice agreed. "So… we just stick with each other. We're just two misfits hanging out together because we don't fit anywhere else."
"I see," Rose nodded, pointing at her. "Hey… you're on the Hufflepuff Quidditch team, aren't you?"
"Have been every year," Alice affirmed.
"Wow… that must be fun," Rose smirked. "I'm just a prefect. I don't get to fly in my extracurricular activities."
"Oh my God," James groaned loudly up, tossing his head back and running both of his hands down his face. "Is this how you always try and make friends? God blind me, you're boring…"
"Be quiet. At least I'm actually trying to make new friends," Rose chided.
"I don't have to try—I've got Weirdo McAnimal-Lover over there," James said, swatting over at Lorcan, who appeared entranced by his jacket sleeve again. "We've been best friends since—Lorcan—what the hell are you looking at right now?!"
James leaned forward and stared down the bench at Lorcan, ogling him bizarrely. Everyone else stared at him as well, and Lorcan slowly raised his head, wearing a childlike smile and raising his sleeve upright.
Then—everyone watched in awe as a dark, tiny creature poked its head out of the sleeve, revealing two massive ears that almost resembled bat wings. It had big, shiny, and orb-like eyeballs, its little fingers craning around the edge of the sleeve as it slowly crawled further out.
Rose's mouth drifted open, James gaping at the creature in befuddlement. Alice raised her brows at it interestingly, and Zander merely stared, looking vexed.
"L-Lorcan," Rose breathed, her tone suddenly high. "That's a doxy. Why do you have a doxy?!"
"I found 'im," Lorcan grinned, gently tapping the creature on the head with his finger. "Right as I was leaving home to go to the train station… this little guy flew right out of the trees. Li'l bugger…"
He continued to gingerly stroke the doxy with his finger.
Everyone else merely stared at him with bemusement.
"Lorcan… you do know that doxies are extremely venomous, right?" Rose said warily. "If that thing bites you, then…"
"He hasn't bitten me," Lorcan assured, holding his arm higher for everyone to see. "He doesn't want to. Look."
The others watched as Lorcan continued to pet the creature with his finger, and the doxy's eyes closed as the finger ran down its tiny head, its wide mouth unraveling into a calm, content smile.
"You are out of your mind," James muttered, shaking his head at his friend. "That thing can poison you in a second flat, mate… and you're sitting there petting it like it's a fairy you found."
"All right… just keep it in your sleeve," Rose said, extending a hand out toward Lorcan. "If it bites you, or if it flies out at one of us… then I'm stunning it."
"And I'm killing it," Zander mumbled.
"Aha—yes," James yelled, snapping his fingers and pointing at Zander. "Yes—you see that? First thing we agree on, right there."
Zander scoffed out a faint little noise.
"You could just let it out the window," Alice shrugged.
"Aww… but I like him," Lorcan smiled, holding the doxy to his face and practically snuggling it. "And he likes me."
"Yeah… speaking of being a freak with no friends, this is exactly why he doesn't have any friends other than us," James ranted, jutting a finger out at Lorcan. "He's a complete nutter with an animal obsession. Rose doesn't have any friends, either, because she's a stuck-up know-it-all… and me? Well…"
He paused, clasping his hands and making a shrug.
"People tend to think I'm cocky or something," James said. "I dunno why."
Zander blinked, raising his brows at him. "You don't…?"
Alice clasped her mouth and quickly stifled a laugh.
"Well… I mean, I am cocky, don't get me wrong," James added, holding up a hand. "But I'm not mean cocky, like everyone thinks I am. I'm just confident cocky."
"Point is… the three of us are misfits, too," Rose surmised. "But… I suppose we are a bit different from you two."
Alice and Zander exchanged glimpses.
"Well… you're a Hufflepuff and a Slytherin," Rose shrugged with a laugh. "You know what they say about Hufflepuffs and Slytherins."
"They make the best friends out of any pairing, supposedly," James uttered, scratching his messy hairs.
"There's no supposedly to it. It's true," Rose insisted. "I mean, just look at Professor Ozais and Professor Crowley. One was a Hufflepuff, and the other was a Slytherin. They're both the heads of their old houses now… and you can tell they're still good friends with each other."
"Aye… those two have always been my favorite teachers there," Alice smirked. "I guess that might be why…"
"Aside from the fact that Professor Ozais always conveniently overlooks when you sit at the wrong table in the great hall," Zander mumbled to her.
"Well… yeah, obviously," Alice snickered. "He told me he always used to do that same thing when he was in school, just so he could sit with his Slytherin friends. Professor Ozais is the best."
"He really is great," Rose agreed. "I mean… there's been a lot of talk about how he might handle the Triwizard Tournament, but… I think he'll do fine. He might come off like a hesitant pacifist, but I really think he's capable of remarkable things. I've heard some stories…"
"Ooo—speaking of the tournament," James interrupted, practically hopping in his seat. "I'm gonna enter! I'm gonna enter and you can't stop me!"
Rose gaped at him for a second, then gave him an odd sort of smirk. "I wasn't planning to stop you… but okay."
"You're entering the tournament, huh," Zander muttered, intertwining his fingers. "I guess… that officially makes us rivals, then."
James blinked. "What… really? How?"
"Probably because he's planning to enter it, too," Rose said caustically. "Wow, your intellect is remarkable."
"Remarkable? I'll tell you what's remarkable," James shot back at her. "I am remarkably more fun and interesting that you will ever be—and I'll take that over being smart and stuck up any day!"
"You really ought to think about it, James," Lorcan suggested, patting the doxy on the head. "That tournament can be really dangerous."
James stared at him incredulously for a second, his mouth hanging open, extending his arms out toward Lorcan and giving everyone else a look of amazement.
"This coming from the bloke who's got a poisonous anti-fairy sitting in his bloody sleeve right now," James said exasperatedly.
Alice and Rose both giggled.
"Well… I wouldn't worry much about the tournament," Zander shrugged dismissively. "The Goblet of Fire will only choose a person who's exceptional and worthy… and if you're chosen, then you ought to be able to keep up with the tasks in the tournament just fine."
"Fair point," Lorcan agreed.
Alice nodded quietly down at her lap, thinking of Zander, and now of James, not to mention everyone else at Hogwarts who might have been thinking about entering the tournament. She was beginning to feel discouraged; after all, with so many more skilled wizards planning to put their names into the Goblet of Fire, what chance did she really have of being chosen? It was as Zander said; the Goblet of Fire would only chose a person who was exceptional and worthy, and despite how good she was at flying and fire spells, she wasn't sure she was quite worthy of competing in the Triwizard Tournament.
Still—she knew she had to give it a try.
Alice glimpsed over at Zander, wondering if she should tell him, but she silently decided against it for now. This wasn't really the time, and he probably wouldn't think much of it, anyway…
Moments later, the door to the compartment slid open, and the snack trolly stopped beside their door. James and Lorcan instantly stood to begin selecting their candies and snacks of choice—Lorcan quickly stuffing the doxy deeper into his sleeve—and Alice stood and hunched over them as well, surveying all of the candies longingly.
Once James, Lorcan, and Alice had handfuls of Licorice Wands, Chocolate Frogs, and Bertie Bots' Every Flavor Beans, they paused, suddenly realizing that none of them had the money to cover it all. They began muttering to each other, discussing what they should put back, all while Rose pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head down at the floor.
Zander sighed, leaning back and digging several galleons out of his pocket.
"Oy. Here," he said, reaching his feet and handing off the money to the candy lady. "That'll cover it, with a bit extra. Get a few more things for the rest of us."
Alice raised her eyebrows at him, as did Lorcan, and James grinned from ear to ear.
"Oooh—well hello, my new best friend!" James exclaimed, trying to give Zander a one-armed hug and instantly dropping many of his candies to the floor. "Aaah, bloody hell…"
Everyone laughed—even Zander, making a few light chuckles under his breath—and they gathered all the candies they wanted before reclaiming their seats, the candy lady closing the door and marching away.
James bit the head off a chocolate frog almost savagely, waving its limp body over at Zander. "Oy… y'think we'd get in trouble if we all tried to sit at the same table?"
Zander stared at him. "What… are we actually supposed to be friends now?"
"Well yeah, mate—why not?" James laughed, wiping a smear of chocolate from his face. "You don't trade conversation and buy candies for people who aren't your friends. Don't you know how this works?"
Zander glanced down thoughtfully for a moment, Alice opening a Licorice Wand and gently placing it on his lap, as she knew it was his favorite. He lifted the candy and slowly took a bite, making a mild shrug as he did.
"I dunno… I guess," Zander mumbled as he chewed. "I just never really… I dunno…"
"You never get the friend treatment from people," Rose guessed, nodding once at Alice. "Except for from her."
Zander paused, giving Alice a brief glimpse, then nodding sideways and making another shrug.
"Well… I like it," Alice beamed. "I think we should all be friends. I just don't know how we'd all sit at the same table. Professor Ozais always lets it slide with me… but if there's five of us doing it, I dunno…"
James laughed. "Yeah… we're a Gryffindor, a Ravenclaw, a Slytherin, and two Hufflepuffs. There's no way we could do it without being really bloody obvious."
"Well, we could just… have dinner somewhere else," Alice suggested. "I know of a place we could go."
James, Rose, and Lorcan all stared at her in confusion—but Zander turned his head, staring intently at her.
Alice faced her friend, only just noticing the look on Zander's face. Then, she decided not to bring it up to everyone else right now.
After all—it was a secret place, a place only Alice and Zander knew about, and it has always been their retreat from everything else in the school. Perhaps it wasn't time to share that place with anyone else—at least, not yet.
"But… we'll try to just get away with crowding the end of the Slytherin table first," Alice snickered. "Who knows. Maybe Professor Ozais won't care at all."
"Let's hope not," James smirked. "I mean, Christ… we're gonna have two other schools worth of people crowding us this year. I doubt if anyone sitting at the wrong table will even get noticed."
"I heard the students from Ilvermorny and Mahoutokoro are gonna show up a day after tomorrow," Rose said knowingly. "That's when they'll give us the whole rundown of the tournament… and, presumably, when we can start putting names in the Goblet of Fire."
"Well… I heard the Ministry's sending an auror to Hogwarts to keep watch over everything," James told them. "I dunno why, but apparently there's some security thing they're worried about…"
"Well… it is the first Triwizard Tournament to happen, ever since… y'know," Lorcan muttered.
"I can't imagine anything like that happening nowadays," Zander remarked. "But… can't blame them for playing it safe, I suppose… even though there aren't really any dark wizards rampaging around the world anymore…"
Alice looked down, wearing a distant expression as she listened to the others talk, her mind venturing off to a far-gone memory as she gently stroked along the necklace that hung overtop of her shirt, a shiny silver necklace in the shape of a sleek, beautiful cross.
Rose stared at her, surveying the necklace and giving her a thoughtful look.
"That's interesting," Rose commented a moment later, nodding at the necklace. "I mean… it's really beautiful, but… I've never seen anyone attending Hogwarts who wore… something like that…"
Alice met her eyes, flashing a smile and holding the cross a little tighter.
"It was my mum's," she told her softly.
Rose made a slow, understanding nod, choosing not to speak on the topic any further.
Zander glanced over at her, sighing and saying nothing.
James felt the sudden tension in the room, then decided to break it for everyone. "Oy—Alice—you're Irish, right? You sound Irish."
"Aye," Alice nodded.
"D'you know who owns that wizard-run carnival in Ireland?" James wondered. "I always heard that place caters to muggle customers… but the people working there are all wizards, and the Ministry allows it, because the muggles all just see the magic shows as parlor tricks. Still haven't been able to go there, but I want to…"
"Ehe… yeah… that's my home," Alice said happily. "And the owner's my father."
"It's the O'Heiden Carnival," Zander added with a flat sort of tone, giving James a look. "Who did you think owns it?"
James shot him a glare. "Like I know her last name—"
"Oh—I just got a dreadful idea," Lorcan said out of nowhere, looking to James and smiling. "You should join the dueling club."
James gaped at him. "Why d—how d—why?"
"Well… you said he was in the dueling club," Lorcan said, waving over at Zander. "Can you imagine if both of you were? You'd be sparring with each other."
"More like trying to kill each other," Rose mumbled.
James opened his mouth to retort, then paused, turning his head and giving Zander a look of intrigue.
"That's actually a good idea," he said, wagging a finger at him. "I think we'd both completely unleash on each other. We wouldn't hold back at all."
Zander stared, his mouth curling, forming a faint little half-smile. "Sounds like a challenge."
"Hell yes, it does," James grinned. "We'd fine-tune our skills to the point where we'd be unstoppable. This might be the best thing we do for ourselves all year."
"And look at that," Zander smirked proudly. "Now we've found the second thing we agree on."
Rose sighed and shook her head at the ceiling. "Boys…"
Lorcan began playing with the animal in his sleeve again, and Alice simply laughed, watching as Zander shared something of a friendly conversation with someone he'd nearly battled with only a short while ago.
It was strange; during all of their train rides to and from Hogwarts, Alice and Zander always tried their best to avoid people, either sitting alone, or sitting in silence around a group of students whom they didn't know, and didn't feel comfortable sharing close quarters with.
This was the first time they'd ever shared a compartment with other students and actually traded laughs and conversation with them—and, to beat it all, it was quite a pleasant experience all around.
Perhaps their final year at Hogwarts would really be their best one.
