Cold Compartment PV Nicholas Kingsman

Waving goodbye to her father was the hardest, Alix was always so close to him and now, well she would be away at school for most of the year. Not that she wasn't excited. She couldn't wait to start learning magic! Even being Half-blood she never learned a single thing before Hogwarts. Granted she tried to teach herself a bunch, that mostly resulted in disaster. However, it always made her brother laugh and then call Alix his, "Magical little weirdo."

Alix was the last student to make her way onto the train. Her trunk gave her far too much trouble trying to get through the gate you were supposed to put your belongs in. Perfect. Just really perfect. Now every compartment is going to be full...I could always join a full one? However Alix kept marching through the hall, peeking in quickly to other compartment. She had passed a group of Slytherins who looked way older then herself, A Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff couple who was acting as though they havent seen eachother in a decade and a...boy. He was all alone, a bag of muggle cough drops next to him. He looked stressed and lonely and since his robes bore only the crest of Hogwarts itself, Alix guessed he was also a first year. She slowly opened the heavy compartment door and walked in quietly to sit across from the boy.

"Erhm...Hello, my name is Alix! And you are?" She exclaimed quite giddily. Nervous that she scared the boy, she perked down into the seat and waited quietly for his response.

Andrew was somewhat shocked by the girl's appearance. He didn’t make any attempt to rush over and shut the compartment door (wishing he could flash a “SICK. DO NOT DISTURB” sign) on the girl that had just walked in and sat down on the seat across from him, although he knew he was going to have to warn her soon about what she was sitting a few feet away from.

“Hi.” Andrew mustered a smile when the girl entered. He cared about first impressions and didn’t want to seem rude or uninviting or give off the wrong idea that he was “unfriendly” by isolating himself in the first place. Andrew straightened his posture, crunching and swallowing what remained of the current cough drop in his mouth, so he could speak properly. “I’m Andrew." He tried to perk up and introduce himself. “Sorry, I’m a little—” *cough* “I’m—” *cough* “—sick.” *cough*cough*cough* “Wait—” Andrew paused for a long second, suspending a finger in the air, before letting out a deep sneeze that fortunately didn’t spray mucus and saliva everywhere. Andrew managed to release his sneeze onto the floor, and not directly into Alix’s face, although it didn’t dampen the loud “Eh-CHOO!” that resounded inside the compartment.

“Ugh. Bless me.” Andrew wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve. Great. He couldn’t get as much as two words out without exploding into a coughing fit. At least his huge sneeze seemed to grant some measure of relief after that. He hoped his cold wasn’t getting worse…

Andrew slumped back against his seat, trying to cover up his episode with a sheepish grin and bowing his head in mock-shame. It must have looked ridiculous. He could laugh at himself right now. “Sorry,” he apologized. Resorting back to his cough drop remedy, Andrew fished out another one and unwrapped it. “I need these.” Not sure of what else to say, Andrew held the packet of cough drops out to his new seatmate, offering them to Alix. “You want some?”

He began sucking on his eighth cough drop of the day. Already, he liked this girl’s exuberance and felt she would be easy to talk to. Andrew found himself relaxing in Alix’s company.

Nick and his mother Julia got to the train station quite late, his mother had to do wonders to make the time to get Nick to the station and get him into the train. She also was confused, since she had to follow instructions from a letter Nick's dad had left, "Open it if he shows to be special... You'll find what to do", those words passed through her head while she looked for the darn thing.

However, they managed to get there when the train was just about to leave. Nick said goodbye to her mother, which couldn't help but cry a bit, which made Nick sad, abandoning her mother like this... He would come back however, soon enough. Entering the train, he clicked his tongue, "There's not going to be any empty compartments...", he wasn't planning on ignoring any kind of social interactions forever of course, but his mentality of "People want to hurt me", hadn't gone away just yet, it would take time for that.

Passing by one of said compartments, he was spooked by a loud noise, a sneeze, he almost jumped and turned towards the origin of the noise. Through the window, he could see two people, young just like him, first year most likely. One looked like she just got there, the other really sick. Nick wasn't sure if this was the people he wanted to spend the rest of the trip with, but the girl looked pretty, and the boy too focused on his illness. Grabbing the handle, he sighed, trying to calm down, and opened the door, "Hello there..! Umm... I.. Kind of got in late, and don't have a- What I mean is.. Can I sit here?".

well this was going smoothly already...

Alix felt bad for Andrew as he introduced himself he couldn’t help coughing. He looked awfully sick. Alix wanted to help him in some way and make him feel better.

“Bless you!” Alix said as Andrew sneezed extremely loudly. She rummaged through her bag trying to find a tissue or a cloth. As she moved her bag around, Andrew offered her a cough drop. Alix almost refused since she didn’t feel any scratchy ness in her throat. Before she did she read the label and instantly changed her mind.

Alix was just about to accept the cough drop from the sick boy. (She loved the taste of honey lemon!) When another boy entered the compartment with them. He looked quiet nervous, stammering as he said hello and asked to sit down. Alix smiled at the nervous boy, to try and calm him of course.

“Hey there! I’m Alix Thompson, and this is Andrew. He is a little sick as you can see.” Alix motioned towards Andrew who was currently having a coughing fit once again. “Of course you can sit. What’s your name?” Alix looked at the boy wondering. He looked so kind and nervous, most likely he was a first year like she was. That would explain why he was so nervous.

With a hand on the back of the head and a blushy smile, Nick made his way onto the compartment. The Girl was really pretty! Even more so being on the same room, and her smile, while with the intent of making Nick calm down and make him feel relaxed, made him blush and feel butterflies on his stomach.

Alyx was her name, Andrew the one of the other kid which he wasn't paying much attention. The friendly arrival made him a bit more confident as he sat down next to her and also next to the door, as she had taken the Window seat, which annoyed him slightly, it was a habit of him to sit next to the window and lose himself to thought while watching whatever landscape was available, "Something tells me 'A little' doesn't make justice to his condition", he laughed slightly, giving himself the chance to make a joke, and also to look at the boy with a soft smile and show that he wasn't ignoring him entirely.

"The name is Nicholas Kingsman", he explained, hiding his hands on his pockets to not show how they were shaking, "You can call me Nick King though, shorter and cooler in my opinion!", looking elsewhere on the compartment and using a boost of confidence, he added, "Always thought it made me sound like some Spy, like a James Bond-esque thing, but it seems I'm a Wizard! Go figure..."

Andrew noticed Alix’s looks of sympathy when she began rummaging through her bag. He hoped he wasn’t troubling her. He hoped he wasn’t grossing her out either.

His cough drop offer towards Alix was interrupted, when Andrew was taken aback by the appearance of yet another student — a boy — who opened the compartment door.

It was mainly Alix who invited the boy inside and introduced Andrew’s name for him. While Andrew did appreciate the gesture, he was a little frustrated that he would be relying on someone to speak for him, given that he was coughing so much.

“Sorry,” Andrew apologized to the newcomer, struggling to rein in his cold. “Come on in,” he said weakly.

Now that there were two others in the compartment with him, Andrew figured he wouldn’t be able to contribute much to the conversation, but at least Alix and Nick had each other to talk to and entertain themselves, relieving some of the pressure from Andrew. He smiled as best he could, trying to show that he was still attentive, although he wished he could convey himself more using words. He liked Nick’s sense of humor. It was enough to at least break the ice and make Andrew feel relaxed again. Still, Andrew felt like he was the only awkward one among the trio, given his current state. Not that he would do something to change that, if he could.

“Are you all first years too?” Andrew asked, hoping to add to the conversation and make his presence seem less weird. Between periodical coughs which he covered with his sleeve, Andrew mostly listened and stared out the window, watching the scenery streak by and sucking on his cough drops as if they were popcorn.

Alix listened to the new boy introduce himself, he seemed to have gained even more confidence. Confidence looked good on the boy, Nick he said his name was. Nick King was his nickname, Alix giggles when he mentioned James Bond. Being a Half-blood she understood muggle references. He still looked slightly nervous, hiding his hands in his pockets. Alix saw a small blush that still layer on his cheeks. She wondered where it came from? Maybe because he was so nervous? Alix didn’t exactly know. Then Andrew joined the conversation asking if they were first years. He seemed left out because of his cold. Alix immediately turned to face him, giving him a smile to show that she acknowledged he was still there.

“I am! Loads of my cousins on my dads side went to Hogwarts though! I’m a Half-blood, my mums a muggle and so is my older brother Travis. He calls me his little magic werdio. Our own inside joke you can say.” Alix laughed a little thinking of her brother. He always made her laugh and smile. She was going to miss him so much. Her face got visibly sadder as she thought of her brother back home. How was she to live at hogwarts without him?

As all of the members of the Compartment started to participate on the conversation, Nick couldn't help but smile, it seemed like this trip would be a good one. Genuine social interactions like these were strange lately on his life, all thanks to that Darn Baldwin... He shaked his head, he didn't want to think about him right now, or ever for that matter. He was on a train, to a new world, one he didn't have any idea how it worked, "Yes, I am a First year too, guess we're all First Year buddys", having someone on his same situation, at least partly, was a relief on Nick, who had been worrying about... Well, everything!

What if Mages didn't say X thing? What if Mages didn't know what X is?! All of those questions and hundreds others circled through Nick's mind since that first letter arrived. The memory of receiving it was still fresh on his memory, it was so strange seeing a paper letter on 2018, that yellow-tinted paper... The Red seal that kept the letter closed... It was surreal to put it onto words, and that's not even counting what the letter actually contained.

The fact that Alix was a half-blood made him happy, because he was it too it seemed, but at the same time, she had family who had gone to Hogwarts, so their situations weren't exactly the same, "I've... No real experience with this... 'Magical World' other than the letter I received from Hogwarts", his face turned more serious as he explained himself, "I'm half Magical, I think... At least that's what my mum tells me, kept it a secret that my dad was a Wizard until I showed magic", he half-smiled at the memory of Baldwin and his goons flying through the air, "T-Thinking about it makes me feel nervous... Uneasy... I don't know anything about magic afterall"

Muggle. Hearing the word felt like a sharp prick to Andrew’s skin, something that his mind wanted to cringe and yank away from. Which was odd, because Andrew didn’t consider himself to be the type that would take things too personally. He was new to the magical world, and his only real experience among the wizarding folk had been during his trips to Diagon Alley, but if there was one word that Andrew quickly learned the meaning of was “Muggle”. It didn’t take long for him to realize the negative connotation that came with it, as well as certain prejudice.

Now that everyone else was sharing their stories, Andrew couldn’t help but feel self-conscious as he began searching for common ground with Alix and Nick, things he could relate to. He was a little jealous that Alix seemed to know more about magical stuff than him, so it wasn’t entirely new territory for her. Even though Nick was also a half-blood, at least Andrew could relate to Nick’s level of magical understanding, which was little to none. But when it came to magical heritage, Andrew still felt like the odd one out. Unlike Nick, he hadn’t shown any magical sign prior to getting his letter from Hogwarts. Frankly, Andrew didn’t consider himself to be any more “magical” than his parents and siblings.

“I’m… Muggle-born.” Andrew assumed there was no point in hiding it. “My whole family are muggles. I have an older sister Stacy, she’s thirteen; and a little brother Kyle, he’s eight.” He shrugged, “I don’t know anything about magic either. Tried reading some stuff about it, with my textbooks. It’s a little…confusing. Too much for me.” He was more of a visual learner anyways. Andrew figured he would save reading for school. Magical homework... He wondered how that was going to be.