After a few hours, William managed to cast the levitating spell. Since it was the first time he practiced magic seriously, it tired him greatly after stacking the rest of the trunks on top of each other.
"Can we… Can we rest for a while? I know I said I wanted to master it, but I'm getting tired" His breath was heavy.
"Good for me" "And me" The other two answered and before they could say anything, the compartment door opened, and an old woman with a trolley full of candies looked inside.
"Anything off the trolley, dears?"
Allen and Armand looked at each other, but Allen just shook his head.
"No thank you" He answered.
"Yes please, can you get me three of everything? And water for the three of us would be nice as well" Armand told her, taking out a bag full of what Allen supposed to be galleons.
"No mate, you don't have to do that" William responded, panicked a bit.
"Yeah, you don't have to buy us anything Armand" Allen agreed.
"But I want to, come on, we are friends, aren't we?" He smiled at them.
"I- yes" Allen responded, not really sure if spending a few hours made them close enough friends to warrant such a squander of money.
"Of course we are! But that's a lot of money!"
"Don't worry, my parents give me money all the time, but since I'm always home I don't really use it, so I've been saving up"
Allen and William sighed after looking at each other "Fine"
"So three of everything dears?"
"Yes, please"
"Oh, dear me, for the water I'll have to go to the Buffet Car, could you dears wait for me? I'll bring it right back"
"Sure, take your time Mrs" Finished Armand, taking all the candy and putting it next to Allen's seat, since it was empty.
"Well, what are you guys waiting for? Go ahead"
"Thank you Armand"
"Yeah, thank you"
"Be careful with the Bertie Bott's, when they say every flavor, they mean it" William warned Allen, remembering that this was the first time he came in contact with the magical sweets.
"I quite like them, it's like a Russian roulette, you never know if you'll get chocolate or something completely opposite"
"You are insane Armand" William looked straight at Armand's eyes. But he just laughed it off.
Allen wondered if his eye sight would show him something different in the sweets, so he activated it again. He could see that every bean had a small light, it was divided between two colours, one half of the box was shining brightly with a green light, while the other half shone with a red light.
Green light go, red light stop, uh, I don't know if it's like this because of my knowledge of colours or because it's a universal thing, but lets give it a try. Then Allen took out only the beans which their light shinned green.
Every time he picked up a bean, Armand and William looked at him, expecting him to suddenly spit it out or complain about the taste, but Allen continued eating only the ones with the green light, until he finished them and closed the box, putting it aside.
"Ah, what are you doing, you haven't finished them!" Complained William.
"No, I have, the rest of them are the ones that taste bad"
The two of them looked perplexed by Allen's declaration "You can't be serious! You didn't even taste them!"
"You are more than welcome to try them" Allen passed the box towards William and he took it from him, he looked around for one that seemed decent enough and put it in his mouth.
Then he spit it out just as fast as he ate it "You were lucky, I'm sure there are some in this batch that are still good!" William complained.
"You can have it then, and continue to try" Allen laughed.
"How did you do it? Did you use magic to check which one taste good and which one taste bad? But from what I understand, no one has been able to tell the beans apart, since they always change the process to make them" Armand looked more serious than anything, fishing for an answer.
"Mm, no, just got lucky I suppose, then felt like my luck ran out and decided to stop"
Before Armand could say anything else, the Trolley Witch opened the door to their compartment again, bringing a jar of water in a tray, with three glass cups.
"Ah, thank you, here, for the trouble" Armand passed a galleon to the old lady as she left, saying how kind the students were.
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After getting their full on sweets, they continued talking, a topic which Allen didn't really want to speak with people whom he just met.
"So, what about your parents? What house were they in? Both my dad and mum were in Hufflepuff, so I guess I'll go there" William asked as he tried another one of Bertie Bott's beans that Allen left, which he spat out almost immediately.
Allen not really wanting to answer, ate his chocolate frog, faking being busy, then Armand took it upon himself to answer the question.
"Both of my parents were in Slytherin, the Malfoy line doesn't really go to other houses, or the Black line for that matter either.
What about you Allen? Where were your parents when they attended Hogwarts?"
Allen let out a sigh. It's not a bad thing to ask, and it's not like they are going to make fun of my parents, so let's just tell them.
"Gryffindor, both of my parents were in Gryffindor."
"Eh, so we have almost a full Hogwarts house here!" William exclaimed in excitement.
"Calm down, it's not like we are gonna be in the same house as our parents" Allen told him.
"While I do agree with that, it's not something out of question to be in the same house, after all, my dad, my grandfather, and even beyond that, all of them were in Slytherin, so it would surprise me if I were to be in something else than in the house of snakes"
"Do you wanna go there?" William raised an eyebrow, eating another one of the beans and spitting it out again in a napkin were he was keeping the ones he tried already.
"Whether I want to or not it's another matter, It's just a house, like any other, it just has bad connotations because of past events." Armand explained to William, but more so to Allen, realizing that he was probably raised as a muggle.
"Oh, but I did hear from my father that Slytherin has been winning the house cup the last couple of years, so that's a nice addition, if it continues to win I could use the benefits coming from winning."
"Uh? What benefits? My parents just told me they gave the house who won the House Cup and that was it!" Exclaimed William.
Allen frowned. Benefits? There shouldn't be any benefits to the House Cup, at least there weren't in the books, it was just a measure to keep kids in check from acting out, or making too many pranks.
"Yes, benefits, while they are few, they are worth something for students who are in higher grades, you get preference over the restricted section, so if your house won, a teacher is more likely to give you permission, with the right reason, of course. The whole house also gets extended library privileges, which lets you take out five more books than the others, not as useful for us, first years, but I can imagine how much it can help when you are preparing for your N.E.W.T.s"
Both Allen and William listened intently to Armand talk about the privileges, which seemed to appeal more to the older kids than the youngers, meaning that while the house cup was to keep the kids in check, the perks were to keep the older ones in line as well.
"And while this is not a cup perk, it is more likely to give it to the house that won the previous year. They invite successful people from the winning house to teach you about their career, how they are doing and what worked for them, again, for the older students, but I believe it can be interesting, even if we are still far from adulthood"
Allen and William stayed silent, looking with their eyes open as big as plates, as if they saw something strange.
"Wh- What?"
"You talk like an adult Armand" Said William, and Allen just nodded.
Then Armand put his fist in front of his mouth and coughed, embarrassed by the situation "It's just what my father told me, you know, since he is one of the governors, he knows about all that kind of stuff" A tint of red appeared on Armand face as he tried to change the topic.
"So winning the house cup isn't that important for us right now, but later?" Allen asked.
"Hey, now that I think about it, all those perks are only for the older students, what about us?!" William complained.
"We get bragging rights, I suppose" Finished Armand, trying to end the topic.
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They continued to talk for a while until an older student knocked on their door and opened it "We are about to arrive, all of you should change right now"
"Right, thanks" Answered Allen.
"Man, what's with his attitude. Who does he think he is to boss us around?!" Exclaimed William, moving his fist in the air in a threatening manner.
"Most likely a prefect, they are tasked to warn all the students to wear their uniforms and all kind of stuff" Armand explained.
"You sure are knowledgeable Armand" William answered to Armand as he casted Wingardium Leviosa to put down their trunks so they could get their uniforms.
"Well, it's just normal stuff that we will end up learning at Hogwarts, I just learned it a bit early" Shrugged Armand.
"Right, let's just get changed, I can tell the train is getting slower"
"Okay" Answered the two of them in unison.
After changing to their uniforms, their stomachs growled.
"Ah, hahaha, I guess we are kinda hungry, looks like just candy wasn't enough" Allen laughed, scratching the back of his head.
"That's right! The candy!" William shouted "There was only one left in the Bertie Bott's box. He put the last bean on his mouth which was promptly rejected, making him cough.
"Wha- What ugh, disgusting, that was poo-"
"I don't wanna know"
"I don't need to know William"
After answering at the same time, they laughed again by the silliness of the situation.
Then, the train suddenly stopped.
"Guess it's time" Allen shrugged.
"Yeah, I guess it is, hey, let's continue to be friends even if we end up in different houses, alright?"
"I'll try to" Allen put a hand on William's shoulder and massaged it lightly.
"Me too, but I can't promise anything" Answered Armand, putting his hand on William's free shoulder and smirking at him.
"Argh, come on don't be like that!" William moved his arms, taking their arms off his shoulders.
They laughed as they left the compartment.
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After leaving the train, they could hear a loud voice shouting "First years 'ere!"
"Guess that's our cue, let's go" Allen patted their backs as they quickened the pace.
Just as they were about to board a boat, William suddenly shouted "Ah! Our trunks! We left them at the train!"
He made a U turn and tried to go back to the train, but Allen and Armand stopped him, grabbing him from the hem of his robes.
"They told us to leave them, don't you remember?"
"Ah… that's true… hahaha…" William scratched the back of his head as he laughed "Let's um, let's go?" He pointed at the boats and both Allen and Armand sighed.
"Sure, let's go" And they embarked one of the empty boats.
"All aboard? Then we depart!" Shouted Hagrid and the boats moved all in the same direction towards the castle.
I guess this is it, time get laughed at by the whole school this time. Allen sighed, looking at the bright night sky and the castle.
He tried to put those thoughts behind. He was finally at Hogwarts, he was a wizard, and more important than anything, he wasn't with Harry Potter, so he could enjoy a few years in peace before he arrived.
As he thought about the positive things, he closed his eyes, enjoying the night breeze.