Chapter Text
September 1st
10:56am
Fretting parents. Crying younger siblings. Hooting owls begging to be set free. Luggage trolleys bumping into each other. Students reuniting after a summer that felt like it should have lasted longer.
Smoke seeped into their usual compartment through the slanted train windows. The door sat open as one of the group ran to the corridor and stuck his head out of the window, forcing a gaggle of 2nd years to push around him.
“Keb! over here!” Changmin shouted onto the platform below. The Ravenclaw looked up at him and waved before hauling his trunk towards the door to the train. He was wearing a knit jumper, coincidentally matching his boyfriend, Jacob, who had run to meet him by the door. “Changmin! Come sit down or a first year will take your seat” Chanhee said from their compartment doorway, pushing his recently dyed blond hair from his face.
“Are they wearing matching outfits?” Haknyeon asked after appearing next to Chanhee. Chanhee grimaced as he followed Haknyeon’s line of sight.
Jacob and Kevin were standing at the other side of the carriage, laughing about something, so stuck in their own little world that they were unaware of the congestion around them. They stood out like a sore thumb, towering over the first and second years scuttling around them, bringing attention to themselves in their matching jumpers.
Kevin noticed them staring and stuck his tongue out, earning himself one of Chanhee’s signature middle fingers before he dragged Changmin and Haknyeon back into the compartment.
“They’re so lovey dovey I hate it” he scowled.
“Chanhee they’re dating, what exactly do you expect?” Said Younghoon, who, as Changmin now noticed, had been in the compartment for the whole ordeal. He was already dressed in his uniform and was holding a little plant he’d probably gotten over the summer in a pot that was 10 times too big. Typical.
“They’re wearing matching outfits, Younghoon! it makes me want to throw up!”
—————
10:59am
The last of the students made their way onto the train while the conductor signalled that the train would be leaving in thirty seconds and 3 boys, two Gryffindors and a Hufflepuff, leant out of a window to say their goodbyes to an elderly woman on the platform
“We’ll see you at Christmas, grandma!”, the oldest of the 3, Sangyeon, reassured her.
“You make sure Jaehyun stays out of trouble”
“Yes grandma”
“And don’t get too banged up in that awful game of yours!”
“We won’t!” Hyunjae responded
“And take care of Youngjae! You know he’s more sensitive than you two”
The youngest’s hair flashed pink “grandma! There’s no need to announce it to the whole platform!”
“I’ll see you boys at Christmas!” She stepped away as the platform filled with smoke and the train began to depart. The three grandsons stayed at the window until they were plunged into the darkness of the tunnel leading them out of London. Students made their ways back to their compartments, leaving only a few left dotted around
Eric’s hair began to fade back to his natural black, only for the pink to seep back in as he caught sight of his cousins’ friends further along in the corridor. Hyunjae, sensing what his cousin was looking at, bit back a laugh and turned around to face his teammate.
“Juyeon!” Hyunjae called out to the Gryffindor Chaser
“Hey! Hyunjae! Sangyeon! Chanhee saved us a compartment a bit further down” he made his way down the quieting corridor “Oh, Youngjae! How are you? I like your hair, did you dye it?”
“Mhm!” Eric’s hair was an alarmingly bright shade of pink, almost matching his reddening face
“It suits you!”
“I- uh” Eric stuttered, his usual talkative self reduced to only being able to splutter random vowels “Actually I think Sunwoo is waiting for me- bye!” He took off the opposite way down the train.
Sangyeon seemingly didn’t notice anything amiss with the interaction, and began asking Juyeon about his quidditch predictions for the season. He also didn’t notice how Juyeon’s answers seemed distracted, almost as if he was too busy watching Eric speed down the train.
“-uyeon” Hyunjae cut Sangyeon off
“Hm?”
“You do realise that Eric’s a metamorphmagus, right?”
—————
11:07
“You don’t get it Sunwoo! It was so embarrassing I might actually die”
“You’re being dramatic”
“No I’m not! My hair went all pink and ugh! I can’t believe I inherited the bad half of metamorphmagus-ing. It’s like if you had a kid with Ed Sheeran and the kid was just ginger without the ability to sing”
“I’m going to pretend I know what that means”
“Why am I like this?”
“Like what”
“Gay”