[LOG] Flashback: Hogwarts, The beginning

[of-gunmetalgrey.livejournal.com]

Where: The Hogwarts Express
When: September 1, 2017 (first year)

Scorpius pulled the compartment door shut and settled down. His father had helped him stow his things, and Scorpius gave his parents one last good bye wave before steam obscured the view of the platform and the Hogwarts Express eased its way out of King's Cross Station. Pulling his brand new bookbag from under his seat, Scorpius opened it and found that his mother had slipped him a couple of fresh meat buns for the journey, wrapped in some foil and charmed with a warming spell. When his mother had managed that sleight of hand Scorpius didn't know, but he was thankful and realized with a twinge that he was going to miss her, he was going to miss his Dad, and most of all he was going to miss his grandparents and their cave home carved into the mountains in China, where had spent a good deal of his time as a kid. Thinking that he was all grown-up now, Scorpius blinked back some tears and decided to take his mind of his already burgeoning homesickness by pulling out the book he'd saved for the train ride, a fantasy novel about a famous Chinese alchemist and adventurer set in the 12th century.

The compartment he sat in was empty, a small thing tucked in the back of the last train car, a little off to the side and right next to the toilet. It was probably the least desirable compartment on the Hogwarts Express, which meant to Scorpius that he was the one who probably wanted it most. Pausing in his reading, Scorpius let his eyes flit over the green countryside and the gray, cloudy day, thinking that despite his blond hair and fair skin, he was still a bit of a stranger in this country, and briefly wondered whether the Sorting Hat would put him in Ravenclaw or Slytherin.

His Malfoy grandparents wanted him in Slytherin of course, as per the pride of their lineage. His mother and father had both been from Slytherin too, but Scorpius found that he really didn't care which house he was sorted into, as long as the students there left him alone when he wanted to be left alone. Scorpius had barely flipped to the next page of his novel when the loud slam of the opening compartment door startled him and he looked up from his page at the boy who'd just disturbed his reading. Scorpius pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose in a very adult manner he'd seen his mother do occasionally when she was cross, and stared silently at the intruder.