"How long the train ride is?" Angelo repeated, humming in thought. He glanced outside the window again for the millionth time, trying to gauge how much longer the ride would be just from the scenery. Which was a stupid move, considering he didn't know where the train was going exactly and where in the countryside they were, but Angelo's mind was elsewhere, so he didn't put much thought into the action. Thank God we changed topics... any longer and I'm going to suffocate on my own thoughts.

"It looks like it'll be long, probably," he responded, noting the sky— the sun was creeping back towards the ground, the sky dusted with light gray clouds and a hint of yellow on the horizon. He kept any extra comments to himself. I hope the train is enchanted or something so it's faster, was one of them. Looks like it might rain tonight.

Slowly, his attention drifted from the window to subtly glance at the two others. Roman looked... well, he couldn't tell what emotion Roman had on his face, but it for sure wasn't positive. And Zephyrus looked just as equally as miserable as Angelo did.

Angelo pursed his lips. Was he the one to cause the weird feelings between everyone? Maybe both Zephyrus and Roman would've had a better first time on the Hogwarts Express if Angelo hadn't sat with them. His eyes barely softened, a twinge of guilt and self-doubt crawling up his chest. Maybe I should say less from now on just to be safe... No, wait, don't think that way, Angelo. Chin up. The awkward and uncomfortable silence was just broken by the time topic that Roman proposed, and Angelo didn't want to make everyone feel worse for a second time. I wish I were good at starting conversations. What should I say?

He began thinking of some conversation starters, and came to the realisation that he was absolutely terrible at them. Maybe I should ask them what they had for breakfast... wait. Seriously, Angelo? This is a whole new level of hermit.

After a small moment of internal struggle with deciding another topic, he spoke. "Ah, um..." he stalled at first, before finding his voice. "Do you guys have any experience with magic? I mean, before this whole Hogwarts and owls and chocolate frogs ordeal. And what do you think classes will be like?" He fiddled with the hem of his shirt, hoping his comment would at least alleviate a bit of the sour mood that plagued everyone. It was either the conversation was going to be better or worse, and he didn't want to let down two of the few people who showed him human decency.

‘The train had been going for a very long time. But I guess that makes sense. Hogwarts is pretty far out from any muggles or people in general.’

Zephryus’s head turned towards Angelo. It was clear that he was feeling bad. He wasn’t very good at concealing his emotions. And Roman.. seemed to be just as awkward as the rest of us. That just made Zep’s own eyes soften. We weren’t new to magic, but we were definitely new to this.

‘That’s okay.’ They may want to call them friends, but they don’t have the see Zep as one. That just made Zep more determined to earn their trust, seeing them try to strick up more conversation.

“My first instance of magic? Well it has been a while since then. It was my eighth birthday, I believed. I was at a skating rink with my family. Some older kids were making fun of my twin brother. Probably heard our dad call his name and thought it was funny.”

Zephryus scowled at the memory. Back then, they didn’t even realize it was magic they did. But it’s the first unexplainable event they could remember.

“They ended up pushing him and skating away. I was too far to catch him out I reached a hand out anyways and suddenly- poof! He was right side up again.”

Zep let out a hum before finishing up their story. It was weird to think that they a simple fall had led to this; a train ride to a magical school. They would still prefer to be going with their twin, but maybe they haven’t fudged being friends with these boys instead. ‘Just might.. take longer to make that connection.’ They mused.

"How long the train ride is?" Angelo responded. The boy waited a bit before continuing. "It looks like it'll be long, probably."

Roman nodded. He could actually feel his heart beating in his chest. Normal conversations weren't supposed to be scary or anything. Neither of these people were what Roman's family would constitute as "threats", so in theory he should be fine. Hopefully talking would get a bit easier over the length of the year.

There was another silence, and Roman feared it may continue forever, but Angelo (thank goodness) came up with something else.

"Ah, um... do you guys have any experience with magic? I mean, before this whole Hogwarts and owls and chocolate frogs ordeal. And what do you think classes will be like?" Angelo seemed pretty uncomfortable saying it, like he was going through conversation starters in his head. Roman didn't blame him- he was doing that as well. He was beginning to think Angelo and him would make a good match, if only by virtue of neither of them being able to hold a conversation for 5 minutes. He wasn't sure about Zep yet- they seemed nice enough, though Roman sensed they were a bit more complicated than they let on.

“My first instance of magic? Well it has been a while since then. It was my eighth birthday, I believed. I was at a skating rink with my family. Some older kids were making fun of my twin brother. Probably heard our dad call his name and thought it was funny." Zep looked thoroughly pissed remembering this. Roman wondered what it would be like to be a twin. Ethan and Asher were twins, but they were a full 8 years older than him and never talked to him about it (or anything, really).

“They ended up pushing him and skating away. I was too far to catch him out I reached a hand out anyways and suddenly- poof! He was right side up again. Come to think of it, later I had sent a very pointed look towards one of the guys after and he ended up suddenly tripping over nothing. Hm.”

"Pretty cool that your first magic was to help someone. Mine was the opposite... I was four, and my brothers were twelve, and our mum and dad were out of the house for some reason. So they dragged me to the bathroom and starting applying Mum's makeup to my face, which I hated. I tried to get away for like, 20 minutes, until finally I started screaming and lipstick, blush, concealer, and everything else went flying at them." Roman laughed a bit remembering it- it was one of his first memories, and a good story for his first use of magic.

"Of course, Mum and Dad were appalled when they got home, but I'd say it was worth it. Anyway, about classes? Yeah, I really don't know what to expect. I know basic non-wand stuff from my parents and brothers but that's pretty much it. I'm definitely looking forward to Defense Against the Dark Arts though, it's like Charms but cooler and more useful."

'Finally feels like we're having an actual conversation.'

Angelo listened with interest, nodding along slightly as he listened to their stories. Zephryus managed to help their brother and make one of the people who bullied him trip over nothing? The scene, in his head, was both admirable and amusing. And then Roman talked about the whole makeup event, and Angelo was impressed too. Magic at four seemed like a talent. On top of that, he knew some wandless magic as well! But he couldn't really relate to the whole siblings thing, since Angelo was an only child.

An almost expectant silence rose again, until he realised he would probably have to share his own first instance of magic as well. He was hesitant to— in his mind, it sounded lame and the scene itself was just... depressing. It concerned his mother and every time he tried to talk about her in front of his dad, he always felt himself freeze up for no explanation. It shouldn't be that way, right? In reality, he had blurry memories of his mom and spent so little time with her he shouldn't have this much of an emotional reaction. But imagine how terrible it would be opening up to people he just met a few hours ago! A few thoughts ran through his mind, debating whether or not to share it. He didn't want to leave either of them on a cliff-hanger.

Well, Roman and Zephryus were already so kind to him (Angelo's definition of kindness was pretty low), he decided he should just go all in. And maybe he'd leave out some details to save him some face. If they shared their stories, he should share his as well.

"My first instance of magic... well, it was sort of recently... I was ten, and I asked my dad about my mom. You see, she uh..." he trailed off, swallowing hard, before speaking again. "...she never really was present in my life. My dad said she left for a job, or something, when I was two. Said it was for our safety, or something like that." He shook his head internally. I'm being an attention seeker. It's not as bad as it sounds...

"Yeah, well... I asked my dad about her frequently and he never really had the heart to tell me until then. We had a long talk and even though it was recent... I don't remember half the words he said." He rubs the back of his neck. "Anyway, I went up to my room to think about her and when I was pretty much done my brooding, I looked up to see that my doorknob was kinda frozen in a block of ice. My dad was on the other end trying to open the door. It was kind of funny seeing him try to thaw it out..."

After he got that off his chest, he expected a terrible feeling to overtake him or to receive odd looks. Surprisingly, he felt a little lighter. Maybe his dad was right about the whole bottling up thing.

"Ah, sorry for rambling. And for classes? I have no idea what Charms and Defense Against the Dark Arts is, but they both sound cool." He felt himself look a little forward to Hogwarts, and his feeling of homesickness was slowly melting away.

The boys own magical incidents were both as equally star-stricking. Roman had his at such a young age? And Angelo could make ice out of nothing? When Roman answered about what classes he was looking forward too, Zep’s mind soon registered the other question that was asked.

“Ah- classes.. I’m not really sure. I guess.. Herbology? I think plants are interesting. But if we dove down deeper into that, I actually prefer the ones with toxins. I think that a single plant could either harm or help you would be very useful.”

It took Zep a moment to realize that normal eleven years olds don’t usually find toxic plants interesting. Or useful. Where said interest had spawned from was back at home. When their parents were out of the house, or maybe just busy, Zep and their brother would often find themselves outside. Their house was almost entirely surrounded by woods, so there was a lot to find.

The first time Zep had brought home something that could be put into the category of dangerous, or poisonous, or toxic, it was a spider. Their mother had flipped and almost incinerated it on the spot. Luckily she hadn’t, since the spider was still in Zep’s hand. It was funny seeing her face change when she turned back around and their hand was empty.

Their face had changed into one of mild embarrassment. ‘Let’s save the childhood stories for later.’

“Ehhh… I also like space! So I guess I’m excited about astronomy too.”

Zep paused their words as they noticed that the train was slowing down. They stood up and walked towards the window, trying to angle themselves to see towards the front of the train.

“I don’t think we’ll have to wait very long to find out. We’re here!”

After Roman finished telling his story, the unspoken rule was: Angelo goes next.

"My first instance of magic... well, it was sort of recently... I was ten, and I asked my dad about my mum. You see, she uh..." Angelo paused for a bit. Roman was surprised the boy hadn't done any magic at all until he was ten; he knew his personal age of four was a bit early, but the average was around seven, so ten seemed like a really long time to wait. His thoughts got interrupted when Angelo continued.

"She never really was present in my life. My dad said she left for a job, or something, when I was two. Said it was for our safety, or something like that."

'Ah, man... that sucks. I hate my mum a lot of the time but she's still my mum. I don't know what I'd even do with myself if she just abandoned me.'

"Yeah, well... I asked my dad about her frequently and he never really had the heart to tell me until then. We had a long talk and even though it was recent... I don't remember half the words he said." Angelo awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, which Roman could sympathize with. He hated talking about his family, so he thought his fellow first year was pretty brave for sharing all of this.

"Anyway, I went up to my room to think about her and when I was pretty much done my brooding, I looked up to see that my doorknob was kinda frozen in a block of ice. My dad was on the other end trying to open the door. It was kind of funny seeing him try to thaw it out..."

'Huh, I've never heard of a first use of magic involving ice I don't think. Usually it's just changing something that already exists, not creating something.' Roman was becoming more perplexed by Angelo the more the boy shared.

"Well, that's pretty cool. Uh... sorry about your mum, but I'm sure you hear that a lot, so just ignore me I guess."

'Please one of you, break the silence.. God, I never know what to do when somebody talks about something sad or death, I just stand there like idiot and say sorry.'

"Ah, sorry for rambling. And for classes? I have no idea what Charms and Defense Against the Dark Arts is, but they both sound cool."

'Wow, how thick is he... no Roman, that's your parents talking.'

"Oh, well, basically, Charms is just... spells, you know? They do anything really. Like Lumos, where you make a light appear on your wand. And Defense Against the Dark Arts is what it sounds like, I guess. Just... defensive magic, what to do in a battle."

Roman was rather bad at explaining things. What wasn't he bad at? Zep then told the boys that they were interested in Herbology, specifically the toxic ones. Roman had to stop himself from having a visibly disgusted reaction to this. He knew his parents' judgement was seeping into his mind, and he really was trying to be open, but plants were so dreadfully boring to him and he couldn't comprehend how anyone could prefer that over Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Roman gave a polite nod and smile. 'To each their own, I guess.'

“Ehhh… I also like space! So I guess I’m excited about astronomy too.”

'Alright, that one's not too bad, but still doesn't hold a candle to using a wand and real magic that you can use in battle.'

Zep then popped up and neared the window. “I don’t think we’ll have to wait very long to find out. We’re here!”

Roman did indeed feel the train slowing down, and felt a flash of maybe-panic-maybe-excitement rise in him. 'Oh my goodness... it's really about to happen. I'm about to be a Hogwarts student.'

Despite himself, the boy stood up and joined Zep at the window. They couldn't see Hogwarts yet from here, but they could see where the lake began. Many small boats were scattered across the shore, and Roman could already picture boarding one of them and getting his first look at the beautiful castle that would be his home for most of the next seven years.