Chapter Text
As usual, the first of September was a curiously busy day at King’s Cross Station. Rey had made her way to Platform 9 ¾ nearly an hour ago, and she had since been watching schoolmates and their families arrive, occasionally noticing a familiar face. She had just said hello to a fellow fifth year when she heard a voice calling her name.
“Rey! Rey, over here!”
Rey turned around and spotted Finn with both his hands raised in the air; he was waving them back and forth, fingers splayed out, making the most motion physically possible. Her cheeks flushed, but she smiled and ran to him.
“Finn! This place is so packed I thought I’d never find you.” The last words muffled as she reached Finn and he brought his hands down from the air to hug her.
“Sorry, Mum is the world’s slowest driver. I kept telling her the train wouldn’t wait for me if I was late, and of course she just says—”
“’But isn’t it magic?’” Rey finished for him with a laugh, quoting the most popular saying among Finn’s muggle family. “Is she here? I haven’t seen her in months.”
Rey glanced over his shoulder, searching the groups of families surrounding them. Finn shook his head, placing a hand on Rey’s shoulder to get her attention.
“She had to go back home straight away,” said Finn, “One of my sisters is visiting- the one from Little Whinging. Her children are straight out of Mum’s nightmares; they were drawing on the walls when we left this morning.”
“Merlin, your poor mother.” She had lost her smile. She reached up to give Finn’s hand a small squeeze. “Come on then, let’s get a compartment before they all fill up.”
---
Rey and Finn made their way down most of the train corridor, Finn sticking his head into compartments to greet students, before reaching an empty compartment. Finn lifted their trunks into the luggage rack while Rey securely stowed Jakku’s cage, making sure he wouldn’t tip over during the ride.
“So, you’ve survived another torturous summer,” Finn teased as he sat down. Rey rolled her eyes as she fished out a handful of owl treats from her pants pocket, flicking one at Finn’s head before pushing the rest into the bottom of the cage. “Woah! No need for violence, Sunshine.”
“You’ll see violence if you keep calling me that,” muttered Rey, settling into a seat by the window and watching the station packed with waving family members shrink. “We need to get you an owl. Jakku might rebel soon if we keep making him pull double duty each summer.”
Despite the earlier teasing, Finn accepted the topic change easily enough. Summers were always a touchy subject for Rey.
“I’ll include it on my Christmas list again this year, maybe Mum will suddenly think it’s a brilliant idea,” said Finn.
“I still say we should buy one in Hogsmeade, just show up with it at the end of the year when you get off the train.”
“Right,” said Finn, “and then your owl will get a break when you have no one to write because my mother has Avada-ed me.”
Rey laughed, imagining him being chased by the older woman haphazardly waving a wand. None of Finn’s living relatives could remember a witch or wizard in their family, and Rey thought it must be someone very far down the family tree from Finn.
His parents and siblings seemed far too serious a bunch for magic, though she figured that may just be because they were all so much older than Finn and herself- she hadn’t known the term “oops baby” before meeting Finn in first year.
“Perhaps a cat then?” suggested Rey, barely hiding her smirk behind her hand.
Finn rolled his eyes. “Oh, loads better. Truly it’s a mystery that the Sorting Hat didn’t place you in Ravenclaw considering these genius ideas of yours.”
“Wow, I had no idea Hufflepuffs could be so sarcastic.”
“And I had no idea Gryffindors could be terrified by getting a bit lost in the dungeons, but you’re living proof that stereotypes aren’t reliable.”
“Hey!” squawked Rey, straightening in her seat to properly stare Finn down. “It was first year, the stupid castle was changing non-stop and—”
“And you were crying—”
“I was not crying! There was no crying, I was just—"
“Right, you stopped crying once I led you back to the main corridor.”
Rey threw her arm out towards Finn, pointer finger wagging back and forth as she talked, almost shouting now to drown out his interruptions.
“Oh, come on. You grabbed my hand and wouldn’t let go- I was basically kidnapped! If there was crying it was because of you. Your friendship skills were sorely lacking.”
Finn bent forward to bite at her finger, chasing after her hand when she yanked it out of the way. Rey’s fake indignation lost steam as they broke into a fit of laughing, both collapsing back into their seat cushions.
Sometimes Finn felt as if he did abduct Rey. He had been thrilled to be surrounded by kids his own age, eager to make friends, but shyness had kept him on the fringes his whole first week at Hogwarts. Finding Rey lost and crying outside the Hufflepuff dormitory was even better luck than his Hogwarts acceptance letter. He had no hesitation about stepping up to help someone, and then it was simply a matter of not letting go.
So far Finn had managed to hold on to Rey despite being in different Houses and struggling through lousy summers. This year they would get the pleasure of dealing with the dreaded O.W.L.S, but Finn knew they’d face that together too.
---
On the first morning of classes, Finn waited for Rey outside of the great hall, leaning against the castle wall and idly watching the staircase that led to Gryffindor Tower. She was the furthest thing from a morning person, and was likely to forget to sit at the Hufflepuff table if Finn didn’t catch her as she entered the hall.
Not that Finn minded sitting at the Gryffindor table, but it didn’t have as good a view as the Hufflepuff table and after a long summer away from Hogwarts, Finn was dying to get a good look.
So, when Rey finally showed up, hair frizzy and tie untied, Finn took her by the arm and positioned them at the Hufflepuff table with an unobstructed view of the Gryffindor quidditch team eating breakfast together. Team captain and star chaser Poe Dameron at the center of the group.
“This again?” said Rey with an eyeroll as she buttered a piece of toast. “You need help. St. Mungo’s level of help.”
“I just think he’s cute. I can find people cute.” Finn continued to stare at Poe as he spoke, letting out a small sigh as he watched Poe laugh at a teammate’s joke.
"Of course, but here's a difference between thinking he’s attractive and drooling over him,” said Rey. She reached across the table to rub her thumb against the corner of Finn's mouth. He swatted her hand away before self-consciously checking for himself, just to be safe. Rey snorted.
"Not fair,” whined Finn. “You're just desensitized because you're in the same house. I'm not exposed to him as often."
"Exposed to him? Finn, he's a boy, not a leaky cauldron. Besides, you see him plenty by attending every Gryffindor quidditch match when you don't even show up at your own house's."
"I go to those matches with you though. It's not nearly as desperate as you're making it sound...right?" Finn finally looked away from the Gryffindor table though and his cheeks were reddening; he had always been an easy blusher.
"You're hopeless. Just eat your breakfast.”
Finn sighed, throwing a final small glance at Poe before focusing on his plate. The elves had really done an excellent job this morning.
“I’m, uh, I’m going to try out for the quidditch team this year,” Rey said before biting into a sausage with a little too much force.
Finn tried not to react. Rey had arched an eyebrow though so he was pretty sure his face had done something to show his surprise.
“That’s great, Rey! You’re an amazing flyer, you’re sure to make the team.”
“Well, we’ll see,” she said, shrugging one shoulder, but Finn’s words had made her smile. “You could come watch me at try-outs, expose yourself to Dameron some more.”
Finn pulled a face. “Ok, let’s not phrase it that way anymore. But yes, I’m going to come watch- to support you! Hey!”
Rey was laughing hard enough to choke, smiling despite the struggle to breathe.
“You’re a terrible friend,” Finn muttered as he shoved his glass of pumpkin juice towards her.