"All Aboard Hogwarts Express!"
"Every legend has to start somewhere... and apparently, ours started in a train car with crumbs on the seat, awkward eye contact, and someone already threatening to throw hands."
The platform was packed.
Parents waved. Owls screeched. Cats meowed like they had rent due. And right in the middle of the mess, Lily Evans was glaring at someone like she already had a vendetta.
“Severus. Look at me,” she said, grabbing her best friend's shoulders. “If anyone touches your hair, I’ll break their fingers.”
Severus Snape blinked slowly, his black eyes wide. “...Okay?”
She was from Texas. And Texas girls don’t play. Especially not about their chosen brothers.
Somewhere on the train, James Potter was already being loud for no reason. “This is gonna be GREAT!” he yelled, practically breakdancing into a compartment.
“Can you not,” muttered Sirius Black, trailing behind like a ghost with good hair. “I don’t want to get expelled on the first day just ‘cause you wanna moonwalk.”
James did a spin. “You love it.”
“I literally don’t.”
Meanwhile, Narcissa Black—the picture of elegance even at eleven—was sitting with her arms crossed, glaring at her fiancé like he just insulted her whole bloodline.
“Lucius,” she said, voice sharp as glass. “Stop scaring the first-years.”
“I wasn’t scaring them,” Lucius Malfoy sniffed. “I was… asserting dominance.”
Mei Black (Melanie if you’re nasty) sat beside Cissy, sipping tea like this was Bridgerton. “You told that boy his eyebrows were middle class.”
Lucius smirked. “They were.”
Narcissa sighed dramatically. “You’re lucky you’re pretty.”
Mei: “You’re lucky she hasn’t murdered you yet.”
Two compartments down, Dorcas Meadowes had claimed a window seat and was doodling on her shoe. She didn’t care. About anything. Someone sneezed near her?
“Perish,” she said flatly, flipping a page in her book.
“Can I sit here?” asked Xenophilius Lovegood, who wore three scarves and one necklace made of forks.
“Only if you stop licking the window.”
“I was checking for enchantments.”
Dorcas blinked. “…Sure.”
Later, chaos.
Because Lucius thought it would be funny to walk into the Slytherin-bound kids’ car and say, “This is my spot.”
Before anyone could speak, Lily turned slowly and said, “Go f—”
“LILY,” Severus hissed.
“—fffforget your place,” she finished.
Mei snorted. Narcissa didn’t even blink. “If you two duel, I’m filming it in my memory forever.”
Lucius blinked, genuinely confused. “Was she mad at me?”
By the time the train rolled into Hogwarts station, friendships had been made, hair had been judged, James had tripped twice, Sirius had questioned reality, Dorcas had said maybe ten words, and Xenophilius had tried to convince everyone that the fog meant the moon was crying.
Severus was clinging to Lily’s sleeve.
Lucius was already plotting.
Narcissa looked like a queen in exile.
And Mei?
Mei smiled slightly, notebook in hand.
Let the drama begin.