As the Hogwarts Express journeyed beneath a stormy night sky, the train’s corridors were filled with the sounds of water pelting and splashing against windows panes while the muffled sounds of grinding wheels hummed through the floors. The sounds were only disrupted by one of the shaded compartment doors sliding open to reveal one of the Knight twins standing there, holding a bag by his side and wearing his un-tucked school shirt and trousers, looking back and saying, “And get your robes on, so you don’t get wet.”


Harold then stepped into the hallway and promptly slid the door shut before the giggling Gryffindor and breathless Slytherin could give him a smartass remark about it being ‘too late’.


Honestly, he didn’t think his trip back to Hogwarts would start with him asking two dating fifth years, to “not argue about quidditch where the rest of us are trying to walk?” He ended up herding the violent couple into a compartment and then, because the Slytherin was one of the overly-informed nosey types, he asked him for dating advice. Ugh. So “You should let her lead” quickly escalated into “Shit--cast a silencing charm first,” “No, do it like this,” “Ask first,” and “Is there a reason I’m still here?”


Now Harold standing in the corridor, rubbing some nail marks on the back of his neck, fussing with his hair and inspecting his reflection as he faced the waterlogged window with the type of soft and thoughtful expression that often got him mistaken for his twin.


Of course, with him wrapped up in his appearance, he wasn’t paying any attention to whether anyone else was in the corridor with him.

 

The train ride to Hogwarts could either be the most exciting or the most uneventful part of the beginning of the year. This year was leaning more towards the boring category for Kyson. He had been spending the train ride with his 'brothers' and little 'sister'. Nicola was attending Hogwarts for the first time this year and since his actual sister had graduated the year before he had taken it upon himself to do the proper brotherly thing and tease her the entire time. That was until she finally broke down and punched him in the face. The twins had laughed at him as he left the compartment in search of the bathroom to check in on his split lip. Once he got to school he'd be able to fix it up no problem but for now, he wasn't sure how the trace worked while they were on the train.

Kyson walked down the corridor between the train compartments. The lavatory train car was at the back of the train and since he had been near the front he had quite a ways to go. That was until he ran into his house and dorm mate Harold. The other Slytherin was preoccupied with looking at his reflection in the panes of glass in the compartments. He cocked his head to the side and offered a smirk.

"What's got you all hot and bothered?"

He gingerly licked at his own lip, tasting the blood there. Thankfully it wasn't gushing, or even flowing quickly but the split was enough to blossom crimson every so often until it licked it away.

As the rain continue to pelt the window pane, Harold caught sight of the shorter, smirking reflection sidle up next to his and raised his brows in recognition.

"Most likely not the same thing that split your lip," he rubbed his neck again and turned an inquisitive smirk towards Kyson, "A cat who can't cut her claws?" Harold refrained from mentioning that the Slytherin boy also had a hand in him trying to fix his appearance--an open secret rarely shared outside his housemates so that he had one less thing for his parents to nag him about.

Kyson shrugged and gave Harold a goofy grin. He touched the split and looked at the small amount of blood that transferred. He wasn't about to say it aloud but he was almost proud of Cole. The youngest of the Bagnold children was always scrappy, growing up with nearly four brothers but she had certainly learned how to hold her own against them.

"Nicola, my little quasi sister, starts this year. I kept teasing her that she's going to be in Slytherin with us. She's dead set on being in Ravenclaw. Then she punched me. Pretty sure she's got a bigger pair than most of her brothers."

For those that knew Kyson, they had heard all about how he had practically been raised by his Aunt and Uncle after his father pretty much gave up on life. The four Bagnold children - the twins Grant and Kelly, Harrison and Nicola - were more like his family than his own blood sisters were.

He cocked his head to the side and looked at the red marks on Harold's neck, "Are those scratch marks?" Kyson raised on his tip toes to try and get a better look, "Feck me Mate, please tell me you were getting some on the school train?!"

Kelvin's least favorite part of being a prefect was patrolling the train.  At least until the first late night patrol.  Then patrolling the train seemed like a pleasant memory.  The new first years were some of the worst and would have preferred to just enjoy sitting with his friends eating junk food before being back at the castle with all the responsibilities that entailed.

He crossed into the next carriage only to hear something he really wished he hadn't.

"Feck me Mate, please tell me you were getting some on the school train?!"

Of course it would be Kyson, though it was surprising that he was asking the question.  Not being asked.  Kelvin approached the two other sixth years.  "Really?  You'd better not be doing that on the train.  What if one of the younger kids walked in on you."  Not to mention who wanted to start the year with detention, which is exactly what would happen had Kelvin, or another prefect, caught them doing more than talking about it.

The taller Slytherin snorted at Kyson, "Surprisingly, brothers aren't always all they're cracked up to be."

When Cavanaugh stood up to loudly inspect his scratch marks, Harold leaned away from his housemate and poked a finger at Kyson's forehead--hopefully to push him away from his personal space. Sadly, his housemate's outburst attracted the attention of a prefect.

Rather than just stand there for the scolding, Harold turned back towards his rain-splattered reflection and ran his fingers through his hair once more, "Ah Kevin, I assure you it was strictly educational-" The Slytherin then spun around with a casual, business demeanor, "-Completely safe for 3rd years, and older, to walk in on with only mild embarassment or loss of innocence." Well... at least it was when he left the compartment.

Kyson rolled his eyes rather loudly as the pair of Slytherins were interrupted by the Ravenclaw Prefect. He really had nothing against Kelvin, all in all he was actually a pretty cool dude, if not completely uptight and a little prudish. However he wasn't about to say so. It wouldn't do him any good to tussle with a Prefect before even getting to school. Despite what a lot of people assumed of him Kyson wasn't actually a troublemaker. Crude, rude and seemingly without filter but he abided by the rules and did his best to be a good student.

"If the younger kids saw, just call it educational. How else are they going to learn? They're parents? The Professors?" Kyson chuckled remembering the awful Sex Ed seminar they had suffered through the previous year.

He looked to Harold then over to the compartment the Slytherin seemingly came out of, "Now I'm just confused. What the bloody hell have you been doing?" He glanced over at Kelvin as if the Prefect knew better than him, which in most cases he did but he wasn't entirely sure this would be one of them. Harold was being a little too vague for Kyson to be able to wrap his head around.

"If only there weren't first and second years on the train."  Kelvin said unamused.  As much by Harold's response as by him yet again refusing the get his name right.  He'd never understood how Blake and Harold were twins, sure they looked the part but everything else just didn't make sense.

"And the idea, Kyson, is that its not you teaching anyone.  We can all agree that's a bad idea, surely." Frankly, Kelvin would be glad to not hear about sex from Kyson or anyone else.  Just cause he wanted to make out with someone before he took his N.E.W.T.s didn't mean he wanted to talk about it, or more, with anyone.  Or walk in on people doing it on the train.  Or an empty classroom.  Or in the hallway.

And it was awkward as all get-out to then have to give detention for it.  Really, why the hell was a he a prefect again.

Ignoring the prefect's lack of amusement, Harold crossed his arms and nodded in agreement as Kyson asked how the kids would learn. Then he shook his head with an exaggerated frown as Kyson went through the other questions. Of course, when Kyson asked him what the 'bloody hell' he had been doing his frown skewed into a more genuine one.

Once they were in their dorms, he maybe might try and outline when to be nosy and when not to be nosy, where this moment was an example of the latter.

But when the Ravenclaw gave his input, Harold's frown turned into a smirk and he raised a suggestive brow towards the prefect before turning back to Kyson with a little too much mirth in his voice, "Hear that mate? You're not prefect-accredited." Harold shamelessly gestured towards the prefect-in-question and then continued without clarifying what he was insinuating, "Didn't even get threatened with detention! For shame. Best go find yourself a prefect and work on that before we start sharing lesson plans."

While Harold how absolutely no clue how his brother's friends felt about sexuality and romance, the Slytherin was fairly certain that he-who-was-not-named-Kevin was on some sort of spectrum of 'uncomfortable with most of it.'

Kyson was about to come back with something akin to 'That's not what your mom said' when Harold chimed in as well. He gasped and placed a hand on his chest giving an expression of mock hurtfulness.

"Well It's not like I've done anything wrong. I'm not the one with scratches on their neck." He narrowed his brow at Harold for a moment wondering if the fellow Slytherin was trying to get rid of him or just being playful.

He looked to Kelvin again who seemed just about as uncomfortable with his own existence as Kyson's. He tongued his bloody lip and looked past the pair further down the corridor, "uh maybe I should go freshen up after all."

"I could give you both detention if it will make you feel better?" Kelvin looked between the two of them.  Why couldn't he have run into the twin he liked.  Or really anyone from his own house that he at least generally liked.  Or even one of his Slytherin friends.  People who got his name right instead of purposefully never getting it right.

He watched Kyson lick his split lip, "I can take care of that, if you want?"  Kelvin didn't make a habit of casting spells on people without asking, even if it was a minor healing spell that Kyson obviously needed.  Who wanted to show up at the feast with a split lip.  Even if Kyson had probably deserved it. "I'm going to assume it happened before the train and you didn't start a fight." 

He pulled out his wand and looked questioningly at the boy who actually got his name right.  Kelvin wasn't going to touch the scratches on Harold.  He hoped they hurt.

At Kyson's reply, Harold played along by with a sudden, exaggerated gesture to cover his mouth, as if in faux-scandal, before turning back towards the prefect.

Harold curled his hand into a fist and tucked it under his chin as he looked back at the Ravenclaw with a more furrowed and serious expression, "No, of course not,"  he said with a low, reverent tone. Then he turned a smile back to Kyson and bopped  the other Slytherin's shoulder with his fist and a more teasing tone, "Not on the first night back!"

As the offer was given to fix Kyson's lips, Harold crossed his arms leaned back against the train compartment door so that the two room for magic as he continued talking with the same tone, "Of course not, Kyson doesn't start fights." That of course, didn't mean that Cavanaugh didn't end fights, or even bait the fight to begin with. In fact, whether Harold's statement was completely true was probably a matter of interpretation.

"If I wanted a detention, I would have made sure to earn it." He gave a cheeky smirk and a wink to the Prefect. Despite what many thought of him, Kyson wasn't one to get detentions on the regular. He had been sure to avoid them in fact not wanting to risk anything ending up on his permanent record. He needed to work hard now that his future was really just around the corner - only two years left at Hogwarts after all.

He nodded slightly, "uh, actually that'd be brill." He put his hands at his side and allowed Kelvin to perform the quick mending spell. He winced slightly as his skin fused back together and licked the remaining blood off before gingerly touching it with his fingers. A large smile splitting his lips, "Cheers Watkins."

He gave the Prefect his most innocent look, "I would never dream of starting a fight." Besides, getting into a tussle with a sibling hardly counted as a fight.

"How about not for the entire year?" Kelvin snapped at Harold.  First night back.  They weren't even at the castle yet.  Not that he should be surprised.  And Harold had a certain way about pushing buttons.  And thankfully not just Kelvin's, though that wasn't much of a consolation.

He cast the spell and watched the lip heal and Kyson lick the blood off.  "See that you don't."

Kelvin stashed his wand back in his robe and looked at his two classmates. "Just get in a compartment and don't make anymore trouble."  He started down the corridor to the next carriage.  "I won't even bother asking you to set a good impression for the new students."  He said raising his voice and continuing through the door to the next carriage.

"Just don't set a bad impression."

The door shut behind him.

Exeunt Kelvin

Harold's smiled dug deeper into his cheek as the prefect snapped at him and turned his back on both Slytherins. With his exit and final request Harold looked back down at Kyson.

"I think that's one the most Ravenclaw way I've heard someone tell me to keep a low profile."

Then, there was a thump on the door behind him and some low murmurs and sighs began to fade into hearing.

The Knight sibling pulled himself off the door, picked up his bag, pulled out his school robe, and kept his gaze anywhere except on the compartment door.
 
"So uh… all fixed up? Let's leave them to it yeah? Wouldn't want to be late," Harold patted Kyson on the shoulder and turned him away from the direction of the prefect's exit and towards an exit on the opposite car door, "We can catch up in a different train car, or on the carriages."