If Martyn could speak, he might have said aloud how wonderful it all was.

Platform 9 3/4 had been remarkable enough on its own, but then to see all of the other students, First Years and beyond, bustling about and stepping on board the Hogwarts Express, ready to set out and begin either their first adventure at Hogwarts or, in other cases, possibly their seventh? That had been another thing all its own.

The energy of it all almost overwhelmed him as he, too, stepped aboard the train that would take him off to what he hoped would be the greatest adventure of his lifetime. One could only read so many books filled with other people experiencing incredible things before the urge grew within them to do the same. Of course, as soon as he waved goodbye to his father and turned to take in the train cars on his left and his right, he froze, realizing with dawning panic that he had no idea how to even begin trying to speak to anyone or try and make any friends.

His upbringing, while interesting in its own right, had not prepared him for something rather important: trying to build a social life of any kind. Before, it had been easy for him, enjoying wonderful conversations with his dad and his dad's friends or editors or whomever else might have visited their home over the years. Literature - it was really the only thing he felt comfortable enough to talk to anyone about. Or so he thought.

Yet, as he finally built up the courage to turn and enter the train car on the right, and walked along the hall, passing compartments both with doors open and closed, peeking inside each time before feeling his heart begin to race harder and moving on, it wasn't long before he realized that he could not bring himself to actually enter one of the occupied compartments.

Social anxiety had crept up on him out of nowhere and now pushed him on, until he found an empty compartment towards the back end of the car and slipped inside, sliding the door almost completely shut before taking a seat in the corner and turning to look out the window at the crowded station as, finally, they began to move and, slowly but surely, slid out of the station and began the journey to Hogwarts.

And he sighed, wishing that for once he could have worked up the courage to actually speak to someone.

Saskia was still brimming with excitement. She had no real clue what Hogwarts, or whatever kind of name that was, had in store for her, but she could only hope for the best. Both her parents said good things about the school, though her father was quick to warn her about potential bullies and the heavy stereotyping that can take place. He tried not to make it sound too much of a big deal, but she knew he was just trying not to worry her. Her mother, on the other hand, brought up how there's a lot of weird and unecessary traditions and rules that take place, and that she'd have to be careful with that. This being her mother, Saskia wasn't sure whether to take it seriously, but she'd have to take her word for it.

She had already said her goodbyes to her family, though she was already planning on how she would send letters periodically to her family to let them know how she was doing. She also knew how lonely her sister would be, assuming that her father worked overtime at the hospital again, and if her tutor wasn't scheduled to teach her. And so, she also planned on keeping in touch with her.

Saskia walked down the aisle, looking for any available compartments and frowned to herself. Most of the compartments were already packed with other students, so even if she wanted to sit in an occupied compartment, she couldn't do that. There might have been emptier compartments on the other end of the train, but people were already crowding in and choosing where to sit, which made going back pointless.

Pursing her lips together, Saskia continued down all the way until she finally noticed an empty compartment. Okay, not exactly empty- there was a young boy with curly brown hair sitting at the corner, and the window was nearly shut, but it was the best she was going to go with. Besides, it didn't hurt for her to go meet new people, right? And even if he didn't want to sit with her, she could move elsewhere.

Saskia walked closer to the compartment and knocked on the window. "Hey. Sorry to bother you, but do you mind if I come in?" She asked, hopefully loud enough so that the boy could hear her through the window.

Martyn was startled from his view through the window by the sound of a knock on the compartment’s window.

Turning to see who had knocked, he caught sight of a young girl with long brown hair who seemed a nice enough sort just as she asked,

“Hey. Sorry to bother you, but do you mind if I come in?”

Eyes widening as he felt his pulse quicken for just a moment, he did his best to keep his anxious mind calm, while at the same time awkwardly hopping to his feet as he nodded and reached to open the door for her, before realizing it wasn’t locked and quickly sitting back down.

“Ah, er, yes! Please, c-come in,” he replied, practically biting his own tongue as his words seemed to alternate between eager and awkward. He mentally slapped himself, but he simply was not used to interacting with many other kids his age, and it was showing.

Doing his best to bring himself together so as not to scare off someone who might even become his friend, if he could avoid embarrassing himself too badly, he spoke up again with what he figured was a natural question to ask.

“Um, what’s your name?”

The question sounded a bit lame with the way he said it, looking anywhere but at the girl to whom he was speaking, but it was the best he could manage when he was already overwhelmed by the events of the day. He’d even thought about cracking open one of his brand new school books to calm himself, but the chance to actually maybe make a friend before reaching Hogwarts won out over his desire to dive into a book.

So he simply hoped that she wasn’t too put off by his social awkwardness.

"Thanks," she said, smiling gratefully at the boy. At least now, she didn't have to deal with walking around like a lost child in the mall like she almost did earlier. She stepped in the compartment and made sure to close the door behind her.

Saskia sat across the boy, making sure to face him properly. It was obvious he was nervous, but she supposed it was to be expected. He looked to be around her age, which meant he was probably new to this whole thing as well. Going to a new school away from home wasn't easy, and she knew that- even if she was primarily feeling excited about learning magic more than anything else. Her parents' books could only give her so much information before it all got complicated and consisted of intricate formulas that she could never hope to understand.

She wondered how familiar the boy was with magic. She heard her father mention that not everyone was well acquainted with it- he himself was born with magic, despite being raised in a family full of muggles. Then there was her mother, who was born from a long lineage of wizards. Naturally, she was fully aware of magic ever since she was a child, and had that same desire to learn more about it like Saskia did. She might need to ask the boy about it later, but right now, it probably wasn't the right time to do so.

“Um, what’s your name?” The boy asked her, sounding rather awkward. Yep. He was definitely nervous. It didn't help that he wasn't even looking at her while he asked the question. She didn't mind, though. At least he was making the effort to make conversation, and she appreciated it. Plus, it was better than sitting in awkward silence.

"I'm Saskia," she replied, sitting up a bit straighter. "And you are?"

“I’m Saskia. And you are?”

At the girl’s response, Martyn’s nerves calmed just a bit and he was able to turn and actually look her in the eyes now.

“Ah, my name is Martyn,” he told her, letting a small smile ease its way across his face. That minute change in his expression, almost out of his control, was enough to further calm his nerves - he could talk to one person. It was silly of him to feel so awkward about it. Then, realizing he should probably follow up after giving his own name, he adjusted his glasses, pushing them back up from where they had slid down his nose, and continued.

“Oh and, ah, it’s nice to meet you.” At that, Martyn nodded with a bit of self-satisfaction since he’d managed to reply rather well despite his general awkwardness. He had still spoken a little more clunky than he would have liked, but that much could only be fixed with more social interaction.

Once Saskia had settled in across from him, he turned his attention back towards the window for a moment, trying to come up with something to ask next before too much time had passed and it became awkward.

Considering their current location, sitting on board the Hogwarts Express, he was lucky that it was actually pretty easy to come up with another question. It was something he had been wondering about himself for a bit now, as his father’s collection of books, while vast, had consisted mostly of fictional novels. His collection on Hogwarts had been rather limited aside from a few volumes of A History of Wizards, within which the school had taken up a bit more space than Martyn had expected it to.

“So, what do you think Hogwarts is going to be like? My Da told me about it some, but he wanted me to discover the school myself instead of spoiling anything for me,” Martyn inquired. Thinking about the school, and the mysteries it might hold, helped take his mind off of his tendency towards social awkwardness, making it easier for him to speak without sounding like a fool.

Regardless, though he still felt a bit odd to be having a conversation with someone his own age after so rarely being able to experience that before now, he was also eager to hear what Saskia might have to say.

“Ah, my name is Martyn,” he informed her. Then after a few seconds, he followed up his statement with, “Oh and, ah, it’s nice to meet you.”

Saskia couldn't help but give a small grin to the boy. "Nice to meet you, too, Martyn."

Once the introductions were over, she looked around her surroundings. The compartment itself was nice, she'll give whoever designed the train that. The view from the window wasn't so bad, either. There were plenty of trees, and she hasn't seen any buildings as they passed by. She guessed it was because Hogwarts was supposed to be isolated from the muggle community. But now that made her question how long the train ride took. Her mother only told her, 'it would take a while', but now Saskia wished she'd specify a bit better.

“So, what do you think Hogwarts is going to be like? My Da told me about it some, but he wanted me to discover the school myself instead of spoiling anything for me,” Martyn asked, distracting her from her own thoughts.

It was an easy question for Saskia to answer. In fact, it's been one of the few things that had been going in her mind recently. Her father gave her some explanations here and there, such as classes, and what she was expected to do there. He also told her some rules she'd be expected to follow, such as how she couldn't use magic outside of classes, or she couldn't stay up past curfew. It was a shame, she had expected to use her magic more often, but at least she actually could use it to an extent. Curfews might have been an issue if she felt too restless to go to bed early, but at least there was the assumption that she didn't have to actually sleep for it to count.

Her parents also told her about the housing system. From what she remembered, every student was sorted into four different houses. She didn't know why it was there, but her mother informed her that it was an important part of her experience in school, so it must have been a big deal. She herself was curious on where she would end up. She didn't remember her parents specifying the houses to her, but maybe it was because she wasn't paying attention. Oh well. At least she'd be able to figure it out once they actually arrived.

"Well," Saskia paused to think about what she was going to say next, "So far, I think it's going to be an interesting experience. Or at least that's what my parents tell me." She shrugged, before continuing on.

"But personally, I think it's going to be exciting. I've always known that magic exists, but I've never had the opportunity to fully explore what I could do with it, what with all the secrecy laws and all. My father say it's going to be a lot of hard work to do really well, but I'm up for a challenge." She was almost starting to ramble from her own enthusiasm, and she had to stop herself from talking too fast, or she'd probably confuse Martyn. Still, she stood by what she said. She was definitely looking forward to the school year.

"What about you? You've already told me you only heard a bit about it, but what do you think about it, from what you already know?"

As Saskia rambled on about Hogwarts and what she had heard about it from her parents, Martyn felt his own enthusiasm begin to grow.

Though her own knowledge on the specific workings of Hogwarts could not have been much greater than his own, it was still exciting to talk about it with someone else who was going to be seeing the school for the first time as well. Not to mention that at the very least, her general knowledge of Hogwarts was probably far more than his own. His Da had loved Hogwarts - one of the only things he had told Martyn about his time there was that he had been a proud member of Ravenclaw - but that had also led him to the idea that his son should be able to experience everything there without any bias.

And so here he was, on his way to a school for wizards and witches, eager to learn more about magic and to delve into his classes, which he was sure would be incredibly interesting.

"What about you? You've already told me you only heard a bit about it, but what do you think about it, from what you already know?"

Saskia's question pulled him out of his own thoughts and back into the conversation, and he found his smile growing now that he was able to focus on the excitement of the experience rather than overthinking his lack of social experience with anyone his own age.

"Oh, I'm beyond excited. I don't know too much, but I know enough. Just the thought of getting a look at the Hogwarts library makes me want to jump up and down," he began to reply. He paused there, realizing that he should probably explain why he was so eager to see the school's library, of all things. "Ah, my Da is an author. We have a lot of books at home, and I've read almost all of them, so I've loved reading for a long time."

Finishing that, he turned his attention back towards finishing his initial answer.

"Other than the library, though, I'm just as happy to go to class and learn more about magic! It's enough to make you stop and wonder at it all," Martyn continued, his voice growing wistful as his mind started to drift off into his imagined Hogwarts experience once again. He shook his head though, forcing himself to snap out of it and keep his focus on Saskia.

Then he realized how forward he had been speaking, as if he owned the conversation, and his face turned red as he turned away, his awkwardness breaking through again. Though he had not really been saying anything overly forward, it didn't stop his own mind from overthinking his words.

It probably wasn't needed, but regardless he added a quick, mumbling, "Ah, um, sorry..."

Saskia leaned forward, listening intently at what Martyn had to say. It was interesting, hearing someone talk so eagerly about Hogwarts. The only times she could talk about this kind of thing was when she was with her parents, and she was sure they would have soon been fed up of her constantly talking about the subject. Her sister was a good listener- mostly because she wasn't talkative to begin with, and therefore didn't usually offer her opinion, but she wasn't sure how much she was aware of the school to begin with. Her parents didn't discuss it much with her, as far as she knew, so she imagined talking to her about it would have resembled a conversation with a brick wall.

"Ah, my Da is an author. We have a lot of books at home, and I've read almost all of them, so I've loved reading for a long time," Martyn had said.

Saskia raised her eyebrows. His father was an author? Well, that definitely explained his particular interest in the library. She wondered if her parents had any books that he wrote. She didn't know Martyn's last name, so she couldn't confirm it for sure. There was also the chance of his father using a pen name, so even if she did know his last name, it might not have helped. Although judging from her parents' library of books, there might have been something there, at least. It was worth a shot to ask Martyn more about it. "That's pretty cool. What were some books that he wrote?"

She continued to listen to him talk. He had similar reasons for being enthusiastic about Hogwarts as she did. Obviously, she didn't have the same interest to the library as he did, but he was interested in learning about magic, like she was. It was reassuring that she wasn't the only one who thought that.

She was slightly confused when he suddenly apologized. He said it rather quietly, probably because he wasn't directly apologizing to her. Still she didn't see any reason why he should have done it. He didn't do anything wrong, as far as she was concerned. And sure, she could brush the apology off, but it didn't feel right. She had to at least make sure he wasn't feeling too uncomfortable. "You don't need to apologize," she reassured. "I might not know exactly why you're apologizing, but either way, it's okay," she continued, hoping what she said helped somewhat.

She tilted her head as she tried to think of another question to ask him. It was only fair- he already asked her some questions, and now she had to do the same. What else was there to discuss? There was a lot, but she wanted to narrow it down to one, for now.

"How much about magic do you already know about?" she finally asked. Hopefully, it wasn't a weird enough question to ask. "From what I can remember, there's these different types of magic, limitations, history, and whatnot, but do you know anything else about it?"

Saskia's engagement with the conversation helped to finally settle Martyn's nerves enough that his level of awkwardness was likely as low as it could be for now.

"That's pretty cool. What were some books that he wrote?" she asked him, in response to his explanation of his father's work. Talking about books was where he was his most comfortable, and he sat up a bit straighter, quite proud of his dad, as he responded.

"Well, if there's any series my Da is known best for, it would be The Trials of Merlin the Second. He focuses on fictional novels, you see. The Trials of Merlin the Second as a series is set in the wizarding world, and follows the life of a young boy who discovers that he's a descendant of the original Merlin, and is the only one who can stop the return of the evil Morgana! He read the books to me as they were released, and they're probably my favorite of his," Martyn said. He could not help the grin on his face as he talked about it, letting his mind drift back to the first time his father had cracked open book one.

It was even better because the books were enchanted, so that as you read them they projected themselves onto the world around you and you could literally see the events as they unfolded, fictional though they were. Then he realized he had rambled on quite a bit for a moment about the books, and refocused on the conversation.

Of course, her next words made his face turn red for a moment.

"You don't need to apologize. I might not know exactly why you're apologizing, but either way, it's okay," Saskia assured him. Almost instinctively he opened his mouth to apologize again, except he caught himself, realizing that he had been about to apologize for apologizing, which would have only been more awkward. So instead he chuckled a little nervously and shrugged.

"I'm just... not used to talking to anyone my own age. Or close to my age. My Da taught me at home, so I've never really had any friends other than his friends and the people he worked with in the literary world. I'm not very good at... well... talking to people, you see," Martyn sighed, feeling as though some sort of explanation should be given as to why he was acting a little oddly. Though, he quickly made sure to add, "But you're being very nice to me, even though I'm a little awkward, and that helps, so... thank you."

He chuckled again, turned red for another moment, then took a deep breath and once again turned back to the conversation, happy to move to the question that Saskia asked next.

"How much magic do you already know about? From what I can remember, there's these different types of magic, limitations, history, and whatnot, but do you know anything else about it?" the girl inquired, and immediately Martyn's mind turned towards some examples he might be able to give of the magic he had experienced in his own life.

He could not perform any examples, of course - his own experiences with actually using magic in his own right were limited to the rare accident or two over the years, including the most recent time, when he rescued his father's favorite copy of The Iliad from having a cup of hot tea spilled all over it without even being aware of what he was doing. Not to mention that he was not allowed to perform any magic yet, even if he knew any, as far as he was aware.

"Well," Martyn began, smiling wistfully as his mind returned to the very example he had thought of before, involving his father's books, "my Da specializes in enchantments. He used them on the books he published for wizards so that they would project what was happening as someone read them onto the area around them, but only so that anyone touching the books could see it."

As he spoke, he found himself wishing that he had thought to bring one of his father's books with him to Hogwarts, but knowing that it was far too late for that he simply sighed and continued.

"Other than that, I saw some housekeeping spells around our apartment for simple chores over the years, but my Da never really uses much more magic than that. At least, not when I'm around," Martyn finished. He wasn't sure if that was the norm or not in the homes of wizards, but he supposed that beyond leaving him with few examples of real spells, it didn't matter much.

Well, at least not to him. He hoped that his limited answer to Saskia's question about what kind of magic he already knew about would be enough.

The Trials of Merlin the Second? She couldn't remember seeing any books with that particular title. Her parents may have had many books, but a lot of them specialized in non-fiction. It was unfortunate, considering how she could never understand the majority of those books as a child. There were admittedly some good fictional books, but once again, most of them were heavily reliant on symbolism and other things that confused her. Still, from the description that Martyn provided for the series, she was already interested in knowing more about it. If she could find the books in the school library, she would definitely give them a try later. She just had to make sure to remember what the book series was called.

"I'm just... not used to talking to anyone my own age. Or close to my age. My Da taught me at home, so I've never really had any friends other than his friends and the people he worked with in the literary world. I'm not very good at... well... talking to people, you see. But you're being very nice to me, even though I'm a little awkward, and that helps, so... thank you."

She had to restrain herself from widening her eyes in surprise and awe. Martyn was home schooled as well? She always knew there were some kids who were taught at home, but as far as she was concerned, a lot of kids were sent to public schools, which made it even more difficult for her to make friends with the other children. Technically, the only way she could interact with the other kids were through random encounters at the nearby parks, or in occasional sports games in the nearby fields. But even then, she was never much of a team player, especially with so many strangers, and it turned out that the kids were already close friends in their own school. Even the kids at the park were not always consistent with their visits, and most of them were already with their other friends. She didn't even know if any of them were like her- if they were magical as well. She grew up, used to the fact that she may as well be surrounded by muggles for the rest of her childhood, which wasn't necessarily bad in itself, but the fact still remained that there was an invisible distance between them that she couldn't get rid of. Knowing that the boy was home schooled made her slightly reassured that she might not have been the only one who had the same experiences of loneliness.

She shook her head, giving the boy a bright smile. "Don't worry about it. I think you're doing okay, actually. Talking with other people, I mean. Just don't think about it too much, and you'll be fine."

So Martyn didn't have much first-hand experience with magic. Saskia wasn't really surprised. With the secrecy laws and the laws against underage magic, kids weren't allowed to explore what they could do with their magic until they attended a magic school. She herself discovered her magic at the age of seven, and it only took around four years for her to be given that chance to use her magic. And even with the chance to go to Hogwarts, she would probably be hindered by these restrictions until she graduated. It was disappointing, but she would have to learn to work with it.

Her parents used magic quite often, although her mother was more reliant on using it for mundane tasks than her father was. It was to the point she would open doors with her wand, as opposed to using the door handle. Although she suspected that her mother stopped using magic as often after Saskia discovered her own magic, probably to discourage her from abusing it and getting the whole family in trouble for underage magic. Her mother still frequently used magic to break curses on artifacts for her job. She forgot how she did it exactly, nor could she remember whatever artifacts she found. Her mother was careful enough to hide those details from her. She didn’t understand why. It wasn’t like she could tell anybody else of what her mother did. It was annoying- she may have been still a child, but that didn’t mean she had to be continually sheltered by other people. Her father was already strict enough, and she couldn’t even go to a regular school with everyone else. Going to Hogwarts was one of her few chances at freedom, and she was going to try to make the best use of it.

She thought about her father's job. She always admired his work in the hospital, and how he could do so much to help people in need. It wasn't something she would personally like to do, but as she grew up, she could see why her father chose to do it. As a healer, he had to use different varieties of magic to treat his patients. The last time she visited her father in the hospital, she was pretty sure he was treating one of the patients with a potion that helped regrow bones. Now that she thought about it, it was weird how bones could reconstruct so easily and quickly. She wondered if it hurt for the patient. She didn't remember the their exact reaction, although she remembered that the patient didn't react too strongly to it. What she did know was that they perfectly recovered, and were able to leave the hospital within a few days or less.

Of course, there were her own injuries. As a younger child, she had several minor ones that her father quickly fixed within a spell or two. She recalled a time when she broke her arm after she fell off the roof of her own home. It hurt immensely, and she had to wait for a few hours until her father came home. Eventually, he did, and he went to fix her arm- after a needed lecture, of course. She remembered drinking the same potion that patient drank before. It tasted horrible, and it wasn't exactly comfortable to feel her bones literally regrow and reshape itself, but it got the job done. At least it served as a good reminder for her to be more careful.

Thinking back on topic, she also learned that Martyn's father specialized in enchantments, and how he used them on his books. She was intrigued- she barely heard of anyone using that kind of magic, nor could she think of anyone else that used magic that was equally innovative. It was no wonder why Martyn was so fascinated by books. She'd probably be more motivated to finish reading some of the books in her home if they were magically enchanted as well.

"Well, your father definitely sounds interesting," she said. "Are you two close with each other, if you don't mind me asking?"

She noticed that he had been talking a lot about his father, though it was slightly odd that he never mentioned his mother. Still, she wasn't one to pry into really personal things, so if he didn't feel like talking about his mother, then that was his choice.