(*MISTAKES WILL BE FIXED LATER WHEN I'M NOT TIRED AF)

- Part 1 cont: September 1st -

Woohyun let out a sigh of relief when he was finally able to settle down in his seat on the train. For the first time in weeks, he felt like he was finally able to relax. Life at the orphanage had become more complicated ever since he returned from his shopping trip in Diagon Alley. For one, Woohyun was given his own room. The owner of the Boy's Home couldn't think of a way to explain Woohyun's school supplies to the other children so his solution was to simply give Woohyun a private room. This had caused quite a commotion amoung some of the older boys, expecially the ones who were older than Woohyun. No one was brave enough to ask Jinyoung why Woohyun was given his own room but Woohyun still heard the whispers behind his back, most of which were fairly hostile and mean-spirited. It also didn't help that Jinyoung announced that Woohyun would be going to a "special school for gifted children" and that no one was allowed in Woohyun's room because the boy needed to study. All of these events led to the young boy quickly becoming alienated from his former friends and spending most of his time alone in his room with Aria. Luckily, the young pine marten was great company, playful when Woohyun was feeling especially down and a good cuddler when the attic room became chilly at night. He only felt bad that his familiar wasn't allowed to leave his room because the owner didn't want to have the other boys begging for pets as well. 

The good thing that had come out of being exiled to his room for a little less than a month was that he had more than enough time to study most of his text books. In his previous school, Woohyun had never been at the top of the class but thanks to committing quite a few long nights to studying, he could proudly say that he was a better than average student. And considering that he knew close to nothing about his new world of magic, he forced himself to put even more effort into reading through all of his class text books at least once before the start of term at Hogwarts. Unsurprisingly, Woohyun found most of his text books interesting (duh, they were about magic), the two exceptions being History of Magic and Flying. Even in normal school, history was never a topic he excelled in and magical history was even more complex. There was no text book for Flying but Woohyun did see that it was listed as a required class for all first year students. The idea of flying truely fascinated him but the idea of possibly falling to an untimely demise made him feel slightly queasy. However, regardless of what he felt about those two classes, thanks to his self-imposed study regimen, Woohyun now felt confident in at least his basic knowledge of his future classes and no longer worried about being left behind his peers. 

"Hiya! Can we sit with you? All the other compartments are full". 

A loud, energized voice pulled Woohyun away from his musings. The young wizard looked at the now open door of his train compartment. Staring back at him were two boys, the one who spoke appeared to be Woohyun's age but he found it hard to be sure because of the boy's tall height and lanky body. The other boy was much shorter than his companion and his sharp eyes, and strong eye brows would've been intimidating if it wasn't for the shocking, bubblegum pink color of his hair and wide smile. 

"Sure", Woohyun consented along with a nod of his head towards the empty seats across from him. Normally he wasn't the social type but after a month of isolation from his supposed friends, the poor boy was a bit starved for company. 

"Awesome", the duo scrambled into the small compartment, shoving at each other playfully to try and win the window seat, "I'm Sungyeol by the way and this weirdo is Dongwoo". The pink-haired boy elbowed his lanky friend but then let out a loud, contagious laugh that Woohyun could't help but grin at. 

"My name is Woohyun", he replied as he offered his hand out to both boys. 

The three new aquaintances made small talk for the next hour or so. The two boys were both quite talkative and playful which normally would've made Woohyun uncomfortable except that they didn't mind his quietness or that sometimes his only contribution to a conversation was a slight hum or consenting nod of his head. They weren't even bothered when he accidentally spaced out and were more than happy to repeat the punchline of a joke for him. Woohyun wasn't one to make quick judgements of people but he could just tell that the three of them would be great friends one day. 

Before the snack trolley came, Woohyun learned that Sungyeol and Dongwoo had known each other since they were babies because they were neighbors and that Sungyeol was the same age as him while Dongwoo was a year older and already a second year student.

"What house are you in", Woohyun couldn't stop himself from asking. Hogwarts A History had covered the sorting process and how students were chosen for each house but he still thought that seeing a sorted person firsthand was better than what a book could tell him.  

Dongwoo looked at Woohyun with a wide smile, surprised that the quiet boy had finally asked him a question but before he could answer, Sungyeol shoved a gross, sweaty palm in his face. 

"If you couldn't tell, Dongwoo's pretty dumb so he got put in Gryffindor, with all the other brawns over brains kids", Dongwoo let out a muffled protest at the insult but was completely ignored by Sungyeol who continued on, "Hopefully, the Sorting Hat sees my obvious talents and puts me in Ravenclaw...but I guess Slytherin wouldn't be too bad either. My Dad told me that their common room is in the dungeons of the Castle and that you can see into the lake!" 

While Sungyeol's attention was diverted, Dongwoo yanked his friend's hand off of his mouth and snorted at the lanky boy's reason for picking Slytherin as his second choice of house. As smart as the tall prankster was, he could be really childish sometimes. "Geez, Yeol, shut up for a bit so Woohyun can talk", Dongwoo nudged his friend jokingly before turning to their new friend, "So, what house do you wanna be in, Woohyun?"

Woohyun tilted his head slightly as he contemplated the question. All of the houses had good traits. The brave Gryffindors, cunning Slytherins, inquisitive Ravenclaws, and hard working Hufflepuffs. Being a highly pessimistic person, it was hard to think of himself possessing any of those traits. If anything, they were all traits that he hoped to one day have. It also crossed his mind multiple times that they were all only kids when they first came to Hogwarts. Surely, most of them didn't have any concrete, set in stone personalities at the age of eleven. So, maybe the sorting wasn't about what you already were but what you wanted to be. 

"I'm not really sure. I'm more interested in learning about magic so I don't really care which house I get put into", Woohyun finally replied when he couldn't decide on just one house. As curious as he was about which house he would end up in, what really mattered to Woohyun was the fact that he was actually getting to learn how to use magic and the various branches of it. 

Woohyun flinched in surprise when Sungyeol playfully kicked at his shin. "Stop trying to be cool! It totally doesn't match you", the lanky boy teased causing the lifelong neighbors to breakdown into peals of laughter. The dark-haired boy pouted at being called uncool but couldn't help himself from joining in their laughter, the fun-loving nature of the two other boys proving to be contagious. The trio laughed and laughed uncontrollably until tears of mirth began to form at the corners of their eyes. 

Just as they were finally able to control themselves, the door of their shared compartment opened, revealing an older girl who was already dressed in her school robes. Dongwoo immediately straightened up in his seat, instantly recognising the Gryffindor prefect. 

"Soojung!", the pink-haired boy squeaked in shock. Before you get the wrong idea, Dongwoo wasn't a troublemaker. He was just clumsy and always happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Because of a few unlucky accidents, the second year was very well acquainted with both of Gryffindor's prefects. 

The older Gryffindor stared at her fellow housemate with a raised eyebrow before shaking her head. "I'm not even going to ask about your hair", Soojung said with an exasperated sigh before turning to the two first year students, "Hello, my name is Soojung and I'm a prefect for Gryffindor house. I just wanted to let you guys know that we'll be arriving at Hogwarts in about twenty minutes so you should start changing into your uniforms. Hopefully, we can meet again after the Sorting". And with that, the older girl left their compartment, her hair flicking back as she made a sharp turn, already on her way to the next compartment. 

The two first years continued to stare at the spot that the female student had occupied only a few seconds before. Dongwoo snapped his fingers in front of the boys' faces, drawing them out of their trance. 

"Don't even go there", he warned his younger friends, "One, you're both first years so she would never go for you. Second, you're only drooling 'cuz she's got Veela blood in her". 

"I wasn't staring", Sungyeol retorted with flushed cheeks, slapping the back of his neighbors hear. Woohyun felt his own cheeks redden. He could admit (at least to himself) that he had been staring but that was only because he had grown up at an all boys orphanage and gone to a school were boys and girls were taught in separate classrooms. This was the first time he had seen a girl up close and definitely the first time one had talked to him. 

"What's a Veela", Woohyun asked partly because he actually didn't know what that was and partly because he wanted to change the topic of their conversation. 

Dongwoo pushed his lanky friend away to stop the boy from pinching his sides. The older boy contemplated for a bit before answering, "A Veela is a magical creature from like, Bulgaria, or something...I think. They look like girls and they make guys fall in love with them just by being around them. My friend who's in Soojung's year said that Soojung's great-grandmother was a Veela or something like that and the traits got passed down to her well, minus the wings and wanting to kill her mates". 

Woohyun's eyes widened to the size of saucers at the last little tidbit. Sungyeol laughed. "I didn't know your eyes could get that big!" The shorter boy sent a kick in the cackling boy's direction before standing up with a huff to change into his school robes. 

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