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thursday september 1st 2011
jeno wouldn’t particularly describe himself as sociable, not really. he had friends, sure. but they weren’t there. they were probably preparing to go to muggle secondary school, like jeno was before that one fateful morning when an owl flew passed his front door, dropping on a letter addressed to him.
jeno wasn’t stupid. he knew it was probably some of the older kids on his street messing around with him. there was no was he could be a wizard. he was normal. his parents were accountants, normal. jeno did make things happen without knowing how. once he’d fallen off a tree while playing with his friends, but instead of landing with a thud, jeno could have sworn his falling stopped briefly before he touched the ground, saving him from a few broken bones. but that was probably his imagination.
jeno began doubting himself when a man in a pointy hat came rolling out of his living room fireplace, introducing himself as junmyeon kim, charms professor and head of ravenclaw house at hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry. that day, he learned that he was a wizard.
fast forward a few months later at 11:13am on september 1st 2011, jeno found himself on a scarlet steam train speeding towards a castle somewhere in scotland with no idea what he was doing. he didn’t know anybody. he didn’t know any magic, he was going to be so behind on his classes. all he had that was familiar to him was his copy of the lord of the rings (gandalf was a wizard, jeno figured it would help) and bongsik who was asleep in a travel box above his trunk as he dragged it along the corridor.
soon enough, he found an empty compartment and hauled his things onto one of the seats. he sat down next to them and looked out of the window. by the looks of it, they were just outside london. jeno knew it would be a long time before the train halted at hogsmeade station.
he wasn’t stupid enough to attend a new school in a completely different world without doing some background research. he knew that hogwarts was founded by four old wizards and a talking hat sorted you into your house based on your personality and each house was named after a founder. he also had a rough idea of what classes he would be taking- but he had no idea what would happen in those classes. what the actual heck was transfiguration. jeno didn’t know.
sure, he was worried about the classes, but the thing he was most anxious about was making friends. he liked to think that he was pretty likeable but most wizarding kids probably had some magical hobbies that jeno didn’t know about, making him look like an idiot. he hoped that he’d find someone that was at least part muggle (non wizarding- as he’d learned from professor kim) maybe then he’d be able to talk about something he actually knew about.
his opportunity to make friends came not long after the train started to chug through the countryside.
“can i sit here?” the boy asked. he was wearing a hoodie and jeans- pretty non-magical if you asked jeno. but then again, he doesn’t think any wizarding kids would willingly walk around in long robes and pointy hats. the boy looked around his age, but then again he was a bit tall to be 11.
“yeah, sure, go ahead” said jeno quickly. he wasn’t willing to give this opportunity up.
“the only other carriage with room had a boy with six toads in it- it looked like some sort of ritual” the boy laughed as he sat down, pulling his trunk onto the seat. “i’m jaemin na, first year. nice to meet you”
“jeno lee. first year” jeno replied “nice to meet you too”
“you’re a muggle born aren’t you?” jaemin asked out of nowhere
“huh?” jeno was caught a bit off guard “is it that obvious?” he played with his hair nervously.
“not really. it’s just that you’ve got a muggle book on top of your trunk” he smiled “i’ve got that one at home”
“i’m half and half see?” jaemin carried on “dad’s a wizard, mum’s a muggle. i’m a bit like hannah montana”
jaemin laughed at his own joke and jeno joined in. ‘this is it’ thought jeno ‘maybe i’ve finally made my first friend at hogwarts’ and he wasn’t even there yet!
it wasn’t long before the witch with the sweets cart made her way down the narrow corridor. jeno got ready to take his new wizarding money out of his pocket but jaemin shot up
“nope! i’m paying. you’re trying everything on this trolley even if i have to force feed you”
——14:56pm——
“what house are you hoping to get into?” jaemin asked as he bit into a chocolate frog
“not sure- pass me a cauldron cake” jeno replied, reaching over to take the cake out of jaemin’s hand.
“i like gryffindor. my cousin, jaehyun, is a fourth year and he’s in gryffindor. you’ll see him. he’s on the quidditch team”
jeno had a rough idea of what a game of quidditch was like. 3 balls, 7 players on broomsticks, 3 big hoops, normal stuff.
“he told me that there were all sorts coming to hogwarts this year. there’s a part veela boy called eric i think. jaehyun knows his brother apparently. he says the veela side is weak enough for it’s only effect is for them to be a bit more likeable. oh! and there’s this kid called renjun huang. his grandma killed a load of muggles in the war and got sent to askaban, wizard prison, last year. jaehyun says his older brothers are okay though, i’m pretty sure he’s friends with the middle one.”
jaemin’s cousin seemed to know everyone, but jeno wasn’t complaining. he was pretty happy that he knew what to expect when he arrived at the castle, even though he didn’t actually know what a veela was. he’d learn. his mind did wander to renjun huang, the boy who’s grandmother was sent to wizarding prison. what kind of reception would he get at hogwarts? jeno’s thoughts were wiped out of his mind as jaemin held out a box to him.
“jelly bean? they’re usually pretty good. unless you get the vomit flavour”
——
later that night, jaemin was sorted into gryffindor, just like he’d hoped. jeno was placed in hufflepuff. the yellow house, who valued loyalty and kindness if jeno remembered correctly.
jeno noticed renjun huang sitting quietly at the slytherin table, but focused his attention on dejun, a second year, offering him more roast potatoes.