“Wondering what I seemed like in your world.”

     King’s Cross Station had always been a busy place, full of people, and Byun Baekhyun hated overcrowded places.

A new year begins for the sixth-year student, and like for every new school year, the Slytherin boy had his little habits. He would always come a bit earlier than any other students to avoid a mass of Muggles. They walked without care because they were too afraid to miss their train. Thus not considering your insignificant presence under the same station, seeing as how they are blindly in a rush.

Baekhyun did have some privileges as he comes earlier to the 9 ¾ Platform. He could have the best place for him to sit. It’s a peaceful seat which was not easy to have in a train filled with teenage students. Baekhyun would instead prefer to sit the farthest he can from crowded compartments. Not to mention in particular Hufflepuffs’ one; those guys were the loudest. The sixth-year student is used to travel in complete calm, looking through the window or reading a book which he always prepared if he gets bored.

Baekhyun looked through the window as he glanced at the few students left on the platform. They still saying goodbyes to their family, either because they were first-year students or just because they loved their parents a lot. It wasn’t the case of Byun Baekhyun. Neither his mother of his father was there to wave at him, their only son, leaving the house for a year, again. No, they didn’t really care about Baekhyun, and the boy did too. It would be awkward for him to get some attention. He didn’t like it even a bit.

The last students took a dozen of minutes to embark. As the train started to move slowly, the Slytherin boy couldn’t leave his eyes from some mothers waving to their beloved children for one last time before letting them go. Their almost teary stares followed the Hogwarts Express until its way out the station.

Here’s begin the long travel trough Britains’ beautiful lands, composed of big green valleys, massive forest and some beautiful lakes. What a fantastic sight; the waters reflect the only shining star in the middle of a day as their surfaces were crystal-like. Like usual, the train crossed the urban’s side of the country first. Baekhyun couldn’t wait to see the natural landscape. The boy likes this kind of scenes, it made him feel secure and at home. As he would always do, he opened the window ajar, so the perfume of the land could go through his compartment. Indeed the breeze started to caress his brown hair, sneaking into the inside from the outside.

For a while, he looked at the view going by, head filled with nothing, taking some pleasure to admire the painting. In this atmosphere, he felt like devouring a book. He was now completely relaxed, far away from the noise of the excited students.

From his little bag, he picked up the book he prepared for the trip. His grandma gave it to him when he visited her during the summer holidays. Baekhyun’s grandma is the only person in his family who he really loves from the bottom of his heart.

When he was little, she would always come home and teach him how to read, or put him to bed, reading him some fantastic books for children to dream. He inherited her passion for books, and when he comes at her’s, she would always give him some books from her big collection library. That is of what Baekhyun’s happiness is composed since his grandma suggestion of books is excellent, it became a habit between them. So, this novel was one of his grandma’s.

He always liked the books she gave to him for aesthetic reasons too. Majority of these were ancient, she must have collected them during her lifetime, and some had travelled centuries, for sure. It was as much as for the story of the book – they had been given from hands to hands until his, and for its content that Baekhyun likes ancient editions. For this one, the cover was red, in a leather fabric with some gold ornaments. As Baekhyun opened up the book, he could tell this one was aged. The mixed smell of old paper and leather came into his nose, and he could feel the fragility of the object. Pages were thin, like the writing. It was a manuscript, but the ink of the fountain pen was still clear to read.

Baekhyun picked up his glasses from his bag and put it on his nose. He can now start to being filled with the book words.

Concentrated on his reading, Baekhyun did not notice the sky grew darker. Clouds had taken their places in the high atmosphere, making the weather gloomy. A cold breeze came snaking between his brown curls, and an unpleasant shiver came end itself on his nape. Baekhyun looked up at the window, leaving his reading for an instant. Putting down his fragile book on the couch, he got up and closed the open window. As the train kept moving farthest in the land, the grey sky started to grow more obscure. Baekhyun held his stare on these vast clouds, then saw some raindrops crushed themselves against the glass. A familiar scent of wet soil invaded the small cabin.

The lonely boy switched on the little lamp beside his couch as the daylight wasn’t bright enough anymore to light up the tiny room, and he went back into his reading. The story was fascinating, the boy turned back in quickly, as the author writing was utterly captivating.

The novel dealt with the subject of “soulmates”. It has been a hot topic in the current wizard literature nowadays, according to a lot of love stories witch fans, even if Baekhyun thinks the book is older. He wasn’t fond of romantic things, so he never read this kind of writing before, but the content of this one is more in-depth than any of it. He didn’t know if this was pure fiction or there were some experimental reflexions.

Soulmates could exist… does it sound weird? He wasn’t into the subject for a very long time, and he felt as he didn’t have the right to judge. The boy kept in the corner of his mind to search for books questioning this point in the school library. More he reads about this work, more his curiosity was growing, but a sound interrupted his reading.

Suddenly, the doors of his compartment open up widely. The sound of it had made him startle – he was really drawn into the book. His eyes met familiar ones.

Someone very tall was standing there, with his luggage. The little one couldn’t see very clearly who it was because of the darkness of the wagon corridor. But he could guess the arrival identity. His shadow resembles very much to a certain Slytherin of his year… Park Chanyeol. He wasn’t wrong. It was him, with his dark hair, styling in a messy way – but for unknown reasons, girls always find it charming, his large and big ears, and his green and silver uniform already on him.

Baekhyun was staring at him since his sudden coming into his compartment. He threw him an interrogative look. Chanyeol would usually be with his friends.

“Ah… Hi Byun. Would you mind if I stay here? Prefect said that it’s too dangerous to stay in an overcrowded cabin while there’s this… kind of hurricane outside. Not safe.”

Baekhyun did not respond at first, turning his head toward the window first, to make sure the giant wasn’t making fun of him. Well… the train entered some forests, indicating to the brunet the almost-end of the travel to Hogwarts. He could see by himself the wind making the branches of trees bend theatrically. He sighed slightly, then came back into his interlocutor.

Again their stare locked into each other while the little was thinking very hard. The boy was very peaceful alone, and he didn’t want to talk to Park Chanyeol. So the last hour of the trip would be very awkward. As he was considering for too long the demand of the other boy, this one growled as he failed to fall because of the instability of the train, and this, made Baekhyun gets out of his thoughts. A few kilometres with this kid will not kill him, right?

“You can”, he finally says.

“Thanks.”

Park Chanyeol installed himself on the couch in front of the smaller’s. Tension could be felt between these two. They knew each other for a long time now, more than six years of school. Their parents were friends, and their kids were too, but for a reason, he couldn’t remember, Chanyeol and he stopped seeing each other. They would always play in the other’s home during their childhood. Baekhyun might have found the reason why, but he didn’t want to mislead into a misunderstanding.

Anyway, it’s not like he would try to recreate a friendship with the giant, because he hates the kind of boy he became. Baekhyun was his contrary, a very quiet and discrete student, hardworking for high marks, just living his life on his own. The Park kid was one of the favourite students in Hogwarts, even though he’s a Slytherin, everybody loves him. Well, except the brunet.

Baekhyun, as a Slytherin too, can say that Park Chanyeol was the most famous boy in their house. To the eyes of people, he is the kind of perfect guy. Captain of their Quidditch team, with always goods grades even if he doesn’t study as hard as Baekhyun, and professors love him. Everyone is whipped for Park Chanyeol, but Baekhyun couldn’t say why felt like this toward the taller. He’d always felt like something was off about the boy, as if he was hiding something from the others.

In every instance, Park Chanyeol never treated him nice. But, he was so friendly with the others? Baekhyun could only have a lousy impression of him. Moreover, recently, he overheard his parents talk about the Park family – they knew each other very well; he couldn’t hear all of the conversations, but one of the subjects was their significant contribution to the Dark Lord. Maybe he was thinking wrong, but now, he’s on his guards concerning Park Chanyeol.

As Baekhyun thought, the rest of the travel was very awkward. He couldn’t even escape this tension by reading. He couldn’t concentrate enough, and that was frustrating him because he knows how much this book is fascinating, but the other boy’s presence perturbed him.

The brunet found a reason for disappearing for a while. Baekhyun left Park Chanyeol alone in the cabin, but the smaller didn’t take enough time to change himself to make the time pass. As he came back from the restroom with his Slyterin’s uniform, he saw the boy’s face again, and it made him sigh in his head. Baekhyun sat down at his seat, and he decided to pack his things since their arrival at the castle was soon. He put his glasses and his book inside his small bag.

He came back contemplating at the scenery going by, ignoring the heavy stare on him for the end of the travel. He didn’t have the energy to argue with his interlocutor.

The last hour on the train felt like an eternity, but they finally arrived at Hogwarts. Baekhyun could feel his happiness talking inside him, but he didn’t show anything from the outside. The Park kid had fallen asleep on the couch in front of him, but Baekhyun didn’t take the time to wake him up. Or he didn’t feel kind enough to wake him, and went out of the compartment.

There was a lot of students on the platform, waiting for some organisation orders. As usual, the first-year would follow Hagrid to take the barques and pass through the lake to join the castle whereas the other year students took the carriage pulled by the Thestral. Those are beautiful colossal horse-like creatures. Well, Baekhyun could see them, for specific reasons, and he found these animals majestic and elegant.

As he shared the carriage with Park Chanyeol and his friends, the short travel was a little bit too loud for the smaller, who was quiet during all the way.

He had miss Hogwarts, its huge corridor, its architecture, the feeling of security there. Baekhyun felt at home here, and he couldn’t be happier. Like every new school year, the ceremony of repartition is held, and the banquet goes, spoiling the students with a lot of foods. Out of a yea, it’s the only day the brunet felt like eating in the Great Hall with all these people. He didn’t eat a lot. It suits his mood, and for this night, he was very excited about getting back at school.

Tomorrow, a new year begins, and a lot of surprises was waiting for him.

❃