#trashhhhhhh

2.

            When August 31st arrived that Sunday morning, Apollo wasn’t ready. He, of course, woke up way too early. About 5:00; which wasn’t what eleven-year-old boys did naturally so he knew his nerves were getting to him. Of course Amara and Dhurke were already up, and Datz was already over, mooching off their food as he did every day... Apollo and Nahyuta didn’t need to be up until about 8 at the earliest.  

           Dhurke was surprised when Apollo walked into their kitchen, dressed and dragging his school trunk from his room.

           “Son, we don’t need to be at the station until 10.”

           “Yeah… I know but I was thinking that we could maybe leave sort of earlier than planned…” he said scratching the back of his head.

           Amara paused before taking a sip of tea. “What about Nahyuta and Rayfa? I think they would want to see you off. It is a long time until Christmas and Rayfa doesn’t know how to write letters.”

           Apollo bit the inside of his check before sitting down at the table next to Amara. “You guys know that I’m not any good with goodbyes… I don’t want to see how sad Rayfa will be when I get on the train and as for Yuta…” His brown eyes turned downcast at the table. He took a deep breath. “I-“

           “We get it, son,” said Dhruke. “It’s perfectly understandable.” He looked at his wife, enclosing his hand around hers. “I’ll take him. Besides, we have no idea what we’re in for… It might be a good thing to get there early to scope out what to expect for the next six years. This ‘Platform Nine and Three Quarters’ business sounds tricky…” He took a sip of his own coffee and Amara chimed in. “Apollo, are you sure you’re up for this?” 

           Apollo was silent for a moment before answering. “No, but we’ve already went through the trouble of buying everything on the my list, I have a freaking magic wand that wanted me, and they sent an owl to this house with a letter. I’m going. Plus, it isn’t as it I really got along with anyone at my old school, anyway. It’s a chance to meet new people and learn new things. It’ll be interesting….” He trailed off and Amara took his hands from across the table.

           “I think it would be a good experience for you and I think you’ll thank yourself later if you go. You’ve felt so out of place your whole life. This might be your chance to find where you truly feel a sense of belonging.”

           Dhruke nodded. “…And we love you, whatever choice you make.”

           Staring at his own hands, he nodded. “Okay. Th-Then I’ll go.” He shot a smile to both of his parents. “And I’ll be fine!”

           “That’s the spirit, son!” Dhruke crossed himself as he normally did. “A dragon never yields.” Apollo smiled back.

           “A dragon never yields!”

           The station was absolutely crawling with people.

           Normal people or probably magic people, the station was all a hustle and bustle.  Apollo felt a little seasick looking at the thousands waiting to get o the trains. But, as headmaster had said to the family when he visited the house, Platform Nine and Three Quarters was hidden so that non-magical people wouldn’t get confused or notice anything out of the ordinary. 

           He had said that it was a barrier between Platform Nine and Platform Ten but when Dhurke and Apollo got there, they because confused. Apollo’s cart full of stuff was actually getting a little hard to push. What if they couldn’t find the platform in time?

           Suddenly, there was a voice behind them.

           “Are you lost?” 

           A man in a hoodie and sweatpants was standing behind them. He wore a beanie atop hi unruly looking dark hair. He held a mug of tea or coffee or something… “This guy does not look ready for his train trip… Unless he works here, which is even worse,” Apollo thought, inwardly cringing.

           Dhurke laughed, taking some random piece of paper from his pocket and acting like it was a train schedule. “Hahaha,” he laughed. ”Son, Platform Twelve is over there! S-So sorry we bothered you, sir.” Apollo started to laugh with his dad and then they started to turn away when… 

           “You run at it,” The strange man said with a smirk.

           “I-I’m sorry?” Dhurke stammered, turning fully around.

           The man chuckled, taking a sip from his cup. “The wall. You run at it. It’s perception filtered so Muggles don’t accidentally get stuck on the magical platforms.” He gestured down the side they came from. “There’s a whole bunch of ‘em, all the way down.”

           A beat.

           “You’re an incoming first year at Hogwarts, correct?”

           Apollo’s eyes must have been bugging out of his head. “Y-Yeah, b-but how did you kn-know?  You don’t l-look like anyone from Diagon A-Alley….”

           The mysterious man smiled. “These are my muggle civilian clothes. And my off time clothes. I may not look it, but I’m a professor at Hogwarts so work starts for me tomorrow. And you can always tell a nervous first-year from other children. Everyone feels like that their first year.” He set his suitcase down so he could place his coffee on the ground, muttering something like “Damn muggle coffee,” or other. Then he picked the suitcase back up. “I can go first if you both would feel better.”

           “B-By all means, sir!” Dhruke exclaimed.

           The man nodded, but before running, he looked at Apollo. “You, what’s your name again?”

           Apollo felt his face turned red. He thought. “A-Apollo Justice, sir! A-And I’m fine!” He may have been a little loud there…. Oops.

           The man smirked. “Nice to meet you, Apollo Justice. I can’t wait to have you in class.” With that, he took a deep breath and ran headfirst into the wall.

           Apollo had to stop himself from closing his eyes or cringing because he wanted to see if the man was actually telling the truth and wasn’t just some loony hobo off the street like he appeared to be. 

           But he went straight through the wall. Apollo’s mouth dropped open and he immediately glanced around the large room. No one on the platform even noticed. 

           Dhurke, who was just as surprised as his son, took a deep breath and held his hand out. “We’ll do it together?”

           “R-right…”

           And before Apollo knew it they were running with a heavy cart full of things straight at a solid brick wall… that turned out not to be so solid, after all.

           When he opened his eyes, Apollo felt like he was in a completely different world. People were everywhere- more people than there had been on the platform. Off in the distance, he could see a large train with the words ‘Hogwarts Express’ written across the side of the front car.

           Dhurke smiled. “Suppose I had better drop you off…” They walked up towards some of the doors to a part of the train and Dhurke bent down and hugged Apollo. Apollo responded with gripping arms. “A dragon never yields. And you…” he leaned back to look at Apollo’s face. “Are fine. I love you. Amara, Nahyuta, and Rayfa love you. Datz loves you. You will be fine.”

           Apollo nodded in the crook of his father’s shoulders. “I’m fine.”

           He took a step back and took a large deep breath. “I’m fine,” he says more confidently.

           “Atta boy. Now go get on that train before it leaves you behind. I don’t want to see you until Christmas break, all right?” He grinned.

           Apollo gave him a big smile. “Gotcha!”

            There were compartments down the entire train and it was littered with people walking down the hall trying to find compartments themselves. Apollo guessed they hadn’t been that early after all. It was amazing to Apollo that this wasn’t everyone who would be going to the school since it was still very early.

           At some point down the line, he found an empty compartment and huddled himself there, moving his cart against the wall. It actually looked sort of comfortable, the compartment. It was small, yeah, but the cushions on either wall reminded him of a part of a bus.

           Well… A very comfy bus.

           He started to take a book from his trunk- any old book that could get him through the long train ride, since the train just took off. He read for about twenty minutes until the compartment door slid back open. Apollo immediately looked up from his trunk.

           A boy with unruly black hair poked his head in. “Hi, there! Uhh… Do you mind if I set up camp here? All the other compartments seem to be full.”  

           Apollo blinked and scratched his head. He laughed nervously. “S-Sure… I don’t mind. Besides, I know how long it took to find an empty compartment…”

           “Awesome! Thank you!” With that, the boy wheeled his cart it, strapping it to the wall like Apollo had but like someone who actually knew what he was doing. Apollo looked at his disheveled mess and lopsided straps holding his own cart steady and cringed.  

           Trying not to stare, Apollo pretended to go back to his book, but honestly, it was a really boring one he had probably read a million times, anyway. 

           “So! I’m Clay Terran!” Apollo looked up and the other boy was suddenly right in front of him. He jumped slight, but smiled back. “I-I’m Apollo Justice! And I’m fine!”

           Clay laughed. “Okay? What’s the ‘I’m fine’ for?”

           Heat filled Apollo’s face, as he wasn’t aware he even said it. “O-Oh… I uh… guess I’m a bit nervous… It’s this voice training thing I do every morning and I guess I wasn’t completely done with it this morning and it’s just a weird habit my dad taught me to do when I was really little and-” 

           “Okay! It’s totally fine,” Clay said with a slight snicker.  “It’s okay to be nervous! Everybody is on their first trip, from purebloods to muggleborns!” He thought for a moment. “At least that’s what my dad told me.”

           Remembering the man on the platform, Apollo’s eyes narrowed. “Huh. Funny. This guy who helped us at the platform told me that too… Must be a wizard thing…”

           “Really?” asked Clay.

           Apollo nodded. “It was pretty strange. I mean he didn’t even seem like any of the witches or wizards I saw at Diagon Alley…  He was in sweatpants and a hoodie. Everyone else is wearing cloaks and stuff. Said he was a teacher…” 

           Nodding, Clay took some candy of a compartment in his trunk. He held some out to Apollo who shook his head. “That is strange. Never heard of a Hogwarts teacher doing that. I’ve had aunts and uncles who’ve gone to Hogwarts, and most of them say the teachers are incredibly smart and just a little eccentric. Not… well, not that strange.”

           “No kidding,” Apollo thought absently. He was silent for a minute, looked out of the window of the compartment and watching civilization change to fields of grass that went on for miles. He could see the caboose of the train as it turned a corner. It must have been huge.... “It’d have to be to transport all of these kids from the station to this school,” he thought. “Wonder how big Hogwarts is anyway…”

           “So what house do you think you’ll get sorted into?”

           Apollo turned back to Clay, eyebrows rising. “Wait, what?”

           “Oh come on! They had to have told you about that! There are four houses at Hogwarts! They’re like…. Uhhh” Clay closed his eyes to think of the word. “They like different groups that fit into four different personality traits. So that like minds stand together, you know? Of course, I guess you could choose if you really wanted to, but I’m going to let the hat tell me which one I fit into.”

           Apollo gave him a blank stare. “Wh-What?” A talking hat? This place seems to get weirder and weirder.

           “Well, not actually a talking hat. It’s enchanted. Has been for a really long time. It’s in one of out textbooks, ‘Hogwarts, A History’.”

           Oh yeah. The textbooks. Apollo hadn’t looked at those since he and Dhurke had bought them and he had so many chances to, too! Maybe he should read up and study for clues on what he might be in for….

           “Oh! But- I mean, it’s fine if you haven’t read that stuff yet! I just read all of my textbooks because I was so excited! Those details are so minimal, though! Probably a lot of people who aren’t utter nerds like me haven’t read their textbooks yet!”

           “Right. That’s just me all over. Unprepared as usual…” Apollo thought, gloomily. “What if I don’t fit into this school either?”

           Clay bit his lip and cocked his head to the side. “I don’t think anyone else has had a chance to read them either so don’t stress out about it! Though, I did because I was super excited about the Astrology class.”

           “You read the whole Intro to Astrology book?” Apollo exclaimed, eyes probably bugging out of his head. That book was huge and the words were so small. Maybe there’s a spell that can help me read books faster… Hmmm…  

           Clay laughed. “I skimmed it a little. It looks awesome! I guess I’m something of a space geek. My mom says that being an Astronaut isn’t a very good job for a wizard because of all the muggle technology but I completely disagree.” Clay smiled and his eyes closed dreamily. “Maybe, I can start a whole wizard space exploration thing when I grow up!! Wouldn’t that be awesome?”

           Apollo wasn’t completely sure about that. Still, at least Clay had some goals and ideas about the future. You know, for an eleven-year-old. Apollo’s only plan was getting through the next seven years…

           Just as Apollo was thinking of some playful and sarcastic remark, the boys heard some voices talking right outside their compartment.

           “I can’t believe your dad got us here late, Daryan. Now all of the compartments are full.” 

           “It isn’t as if your brother would have made it here any faster either. His apparating’s always been a little off.”

           “At least he would have attempted to get us here on time!”

            “Well sorry that dad isn’t as punctual as your crazy brother!” 

          A sigh. “He isn’t crazy. You take that back, Daryan.”

           “Oh, calm down. Look, this compartment only has two people inside!”

           “Looks pretty full to me...”

           “Get that pout off your face, Gavin! No one here knows you well enough to pity you!”

           Clay and Apollo looked at each other simultaneously. Why are they so loud? And why is that voice so close? But it was all too late when he recognized one of the voices. Really? So soon-

           The compartment door slid open and the exact person Apollo thought it was poked his head through, his voice taking a complete 180 from the moody one Apollo just heard outside. “Ach! Forehead! I knew I’d find you somewhere!”

           Were you actively looking for me? There’s probably hundreds of people on this train… “Apollo,” Apollo corrected, scowling back at him.

           “Right, right. Mind if we sit with the two of you? Everywhere else is full,” Klavier asked, smiling brightly even though Apollo had an idea that the smile was fake.

           Clay and Apollo looked at each other simultaneously, the two boys sitting across from one another. They both had the same thought, but Apollo got to it first. “I call Gavin over here, he seems the nicest.” Clay made a face, glancing at the other boy or ‘Daryan’ and Klavier had called him and let out a defeated sigh. 

           Klavier, on the other hand, feigned flattery. “Why, Forehead, I’m speechless!” Apollo rolled his eyes and scooted over a little. That left Clay to suck on his pride and let Daryan sit next to him, though the latter seemed the more upset about it than the former.

           “So…” Apollo trailed off attempting to break the silence. “You two got to the station late?” He was met by a bitter chuckle from Daryan.

           “HARDLY. Klavier thought we were late because we weren’t the first ones here! He’s always doing that, talk about anxiety-“

           “My brother has always said that if you are not on time you are dangerously late! And it isn’t stupid! Kris has a point!” Apollo paused for a moment and remembered his initial meeting with Klavier with Nahyuta outside of the wand shop.

            “That man… Could he be...?”  He shook the thought out of his head before turned to back Klavier and sizing up the other boy’s stressed out face. His narrowed eyes and mainly his gritted teeth.

           When Nahyuta said that Apollo was human lie detector, he wasn’t joking. Klavier pouted, his teeth slightly gritted and- “Gotcha,” Apollo muttered under his breath. 

           Klavier blinked glanced back at Apollo. Now the whole situation in the wand shop made more sense. “Why are you looking at me like that, Forehead?”

           Apollo jumped in his seat, forgetting for a second where he was. “Er, I… uhh… Well…” he scratched the back of his neck and finally broke eye contact.

           “What a weirdo. The way he was staring at you,” Daryan said harshly. Apollo looked at him for a minute before looking back at Clay, as if to ask ‘was I really?’ even though he already knew the answer. Clay responded with a quick nod and a snicker.

           Apollo felt his cheeks redden. “N-No, I-I just… I- that man who y-yelled at you outside of the uh wand shop… I was under the impression that was your, um… Dad.” He scratched the back of his head and nervously looked out of the window. He could feel Daryan staring, probably thinking something like “Nice save, dork.”

           With a chuckle and a strange wince around his eyes, Klavier put forth a small smile. “Nein. Older brother. I do admit he is… A little aggressive but he actually would have gotten us here earlier and on time.” His eyes moved back to Daryan. 

           Daryan threw his hands up. “Alright! I get it, Bloody Hell. It’s all my fault. Won’t happen again, Your Perfect Gavinness!” Daryan bowed his head slightly and flourished his hand. Klavier scowled back. “That’s not funny, Daryan.” 

           “Candy from the trolley, Dearies?”

           The boys looked away from each and looked at the compartment door, where an elderly woman pushing a cart full of candy and food, stood. That was when Clay stood up and walked out into the hall. “Yeah, I’d like two Pumpkin Pasties and a pack of licorice wands, if you please?”

           Apollo sunk into his seat and took his book back out.

           “Aren’t you going to buy anything, Forehead?” Klavier asked. Apollo bit the inside of his cheek but didn’t look up, even though he could hear Amara in his head telling him to.

           “No… Not really a fan of sweets…”

           The three boys turned to stare at Apollo. Clay and Daryan look sort of confused, though, while Klavier only grinned at him. “Must be a muggle thing,” he said, shrugging leaving it at that. He walked out the door to pay for some candy.  

not entirely edited. posted for @wordshakerofgallifrey asdfghjk

may not even keep any of this may suck sorry in advance