Chapter Text
“Don’t forget to change into your robes, dear!” Jude’s mother called after him as he lugged his suitcase onto the train. Said train being the Hogwarts Express, a scarlet steam serpent that snaked along the Scottish countryside on its termly journey to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Jude had gotten his Hogwarts letter a few months ago, and now couldn’t imagine he was going to Hogwarts itself, wand in hand (or more appropriately, in suitcase, as he couldn’t perform magic outside of school grounds) and a handful of silver Sickles in his pocket that his mom had given him. They didn’t have much but his mom wanted him to have a treat on his first day on the Express.
Dragging his bag, he searched from compartment to compartment, looking for an empty one. He wanted to make friends, yes, but he was still shy and wanted to be by himself. Eventually, he did find an empty compartment near the end of the train. He put his suitcase up at the top in the shelf and sat down near the window so he could watch the train pull away from the station. As it did, Jude cheered a little internally; his journey to Hogwarts had begun.
Soon though, Jude began to feel lonely in the compartment. It’d been about twenty minutes since the train left the station and no one had joined his compartment, not even a teacher or something. Jude liked to be on his own sometimes, sure, but it would be nice to start making friends.
As if to answer his internal wish, the compartment door slid open, revealing two very tall boys. Really, they weren’t all that tall, but for a young first year like Jude, they might’ve well been giants. One had long dirty blonde hair and sullen cheeks with a thin frame, making him look like he didn’t eat much. The other boy, taller than the first one, had his brown hair done up in a cool-guy quiff and was already sporting some facial hair. They were easily both sixteen, the second boy maybe even seventeen.
Jude didn’t say anything and just sat in awe of the boys who were so much older than him.
“Oh, Luka, this compartment isn’t empty.” The taller of the boys said, giving Jude an odd look.
“Is there anyone here with you?” The shorter one, Luka, asked Jude politely.
It took Jude a few moments to realize Luka had been talking to him. Then he shook his head.
“Is it okay if we join you, then?” Luka asked again.
Jude nodded his head vigorously.
Luka looked amused as he entered the compartment, putting a hand on Sergio’s tattooed arm to pull him in as well.
“I’m Luka and this is my friend Sergio.” Luka said as the two sat down. “What’s your name?”
“Jude. Jude Bellingham.” Jude said, acutely aware of the odd look Sergio was giving him. “Are your tattoos real?”
“Uh, yeah.” Sergio said, finally looking away from Jude. “Got them last holiday.”
“They’re cool!” Jude said.
“Thanks.” Sergio said, finally giving Jude something similar to a smile.
“You’re a first year, right Jude?” Luka asked.
“Mhm!” Jude replied.
“I remember my first year. I was so scared of messing something up, ‘cause I didn’t know anything.” Luka said, leaning in a little. “I’m a Muggleborn, you know. Don’t have any magical relatives. Do you have any, Jude?”
“My mum’s a witch.” Jude said.
“Both my parents are magic.” Sergio said. “But it doesn’t matter, really.”
“I still don’t really know much about Hogwarts, though.” Jude said. “I may still mess up.”
“Oh, I see.” Luka said apologetically. “Let me tell you the basics then. At Hogwarts, we learn magic, yeah? There’s four houses you can be in. Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin.”
“What house are you in?”
“I’m in Ravenclaw, Sergio’s in Slytherin.”
“What house is the best?”
“Slytherin!” Sergio said quickly. “We’re the baddest and the biggest. Our common room’s in the dungeons. We won the Quidditch House Cup last year too. Jude, when you’re getting sorted, ask to be put in Slytherin.”
“Sorted?” Jude asked, perplexed. “And is Slytherin really the best house?”
“No, Jude. Sergio’s just an airhead.” Luka said kindly. “And I’m in Ravenclaw. Sorting is when you get put in a House by the Sorting Hat. The houses are based on what you value the most. Gryffindor is bravery and daring, Hufflepuff is loyalty and kindness, Ravenclaw is wit and learning, and Slytherin is ambition and cunning.”
“Oh, I’m not really sure what I value the most..” Jude said.
“Don’t worry, the Sorting Hat does.” Luka said. “It’ll put you in the right house. It’s never wrong.”
“But Slytherin sounds pretty cool.” Jude admitted.
“Hell yeah little man!” Sergio gave Jude a high five.
“Oh, we’ll see.” Luka said, laughing at them both. “But I think Ravenclaw’s pretty cool. Our Head of House, Professor Guardiola, is the most powerful wizard in Hogwarts.”
“Bullshit!”
“Sergio! There are children present!”
“Professor Guardiola couldn’t even beat Professor Klopp in a duel last term!” Sergio argued, after a wary glance at Jude.
“That’s ‘cause he let Klopp win.” Luka said, wagging his finger like a substitute teacher.
“Why’d he do that?” Sergio asked.
“Because they’re a couple, idiot.” Luka said, his tone growing conspiratorial. “At least, that’s what Professor Arteta thinks.” Luka then looked like he was remembering something. “And Professor Tuchel.”
“And Professor Lampard…and Simeone…” Sergio added.
“But I think Professor Mourinho’s bothered about the rumors…” Luka trailed off, looking at how confused Jude seemed.
“I don’t know any of these people.” Jude said simply.
“You will.” Luka said. “They’re just the teachers. And they’re nice enough…just don’t mess up in Mourinho’s class…”
With that, Jude was content, so he rolled on his side and tried to get some rest, as he knew the train ride would be quite long. Luka and Sergio continued to chat, albeit in more hushed tones.
Jude was woken up much later by Luka.
“The train’s almost at Hogwarts…you’d want to get your robes on.” Luka said helpfully, already in his. Sergio seemed to be slipping into his as well. Luka’s robes were lined in blue, and Sergio’s in green.
Jude quickly got his suitcase and got out his robes. His robes were disappointingly black. Jude expressed this to Luka and Sergio woefully.
“You’ll get a color when you get Sorted, don’t worry.” Luka said, winking.
Soon enough, the train came to a stop and they all got off. Jude lugged his suitcase off the train and then dropped it where all the first years seemed to be leaving their stuff.
“Jude, first years have to go with Poch on the Black Lake. In the boats.” Luka said responsibly, using his short wand to point to a stocky man near the aforementioned lake’s shore.
Jude shuddered at the thought of being alone.
“Don’t worry, I’m sure all the first years are just as scared of being alone as you are.” Luka said helpfully.
“You’re a good kid, you’ll make friends.” Sergio said. Luka gave Jude a final encouraging pat on the shoulder then the two headed over to the carriages. Luka stopped for a moment and seemed to stroke the empty air in front of the carriages, which were seemingly drawn by themselves, magically. Jude just shook his head.
Begrudgingly, he headed to the Lake. There he found a crowd of kids like him, all being herded by a stocky man with small eyes and a wide smile, holding a lantern that illuminated his round features and curled brown hair.
“Oi! First years, stay ‘round me, please.” The man, who Luka had called ‘Poch’, said. “My name’s Professor Pochettino! I’m taking you all to Hogwarts!”
There was a general cheer at the mention of the school.
“That’s right! Now, everyone, you need to get in a boat. Normally, it’s four per boat, but there’s not a lot of you…so just two, maybe. Or three.”
The first-years began scrambling for boats. Jude ended up on a boat with a moldy bottom, with two boys, one with chocolate skin and short, black hair who said his name was Ryan and the other with ginger hair and pale freckled skin called Cole.
Once all the first-years had successfully boarded a boat, Professor Pochettino got into one all by himself and waved his wand. The boats all began to move, as if being rowed forward by invisible oars.
Jude gasped in awe as the Hogwarts castle came into view.
“My friend Cody says the castle’s so big, the staircases keep changing so you can get to where you need to go on time!” Ryan said, pointing at one of the towers.
Soon they reached the other end of the lake. After all getting off, Pochettino led them into the castle.
“They’re all yours, Jurgen.” Pochettino said to a man in deep purple robes with dark red accents, a wide smile and graying hair tucked under a very Muggle-looking face cap. With that, Pochettino waved goodbye kindly to the first-years, then swooped off in the direction of the Great Hall.
“Children!” The wizard, who Pochettino had called Jurgen, boomed. “Welcome to Hogwarts! I’m Professor Klopp, the Head of Hufflepuff House! I’m sure some of you will be joining my ranks in the Sorting Ceremony today. Accompany me into the Great Hall, alright? Single file, single file.”
The first-years quickly shuffled into single-file. Jude ended up behind a boy with skin the color of teakwood.
Professor Klopp waved his wand and the giant doors of the Great Hall swung open, revealing hundreds of students sitting at four long tables, then a high table with a bunch of adults who only had to be the school’s staff. Jude recognized Pochettino up there. The table seemed to have equal staff on either side, with a tan, bald man in the middle who was wearing a rather jaunty cap at an odd angle sitting in the middle. Upon their entrance, the man rose, spreading his arms forth.
“Let the Sorting commence!” The man boomed.
Professor Klopp smiled back at the first-years then headed up to the raised floor of the teacher’s table, in the middle of which stood a wooden stool with an old-looking hat on it. Klopp extended his hand into thin air, and from green flames, a piece of parchment appeared in his grasp.
“When I call your name, you come up here and put the Sorting Hat on your head.” Klopp instructed. “Okay, let’s begin.”
“Fati, Ansu!”
The boy at the front of the line shuffled up to the stool. In his mind, Jude wondered how they’d known who was at the front, given the fact the kids hadn’t lined up in any particular order.
A few moments after the hat touched his head, the Sorting Hat yelled “HUFFLEPUFF!”
The table with the yellow-dressed students burst into cheers.
The line continued to wind down until it got to Jude.
After the boy before him (who’s name was Karim something) had gone to the Gryffindor table, Jude waddled up to the stool. The hat barely even touched his head.
“SLYTHERIN!”
The Slytherin table erupted in the appropriate cheers, Sergio towering over the lot of them, banging his goblet with shouts of “Little man! Little man!”. Jude’s robes became magically lined with green and silver and he proceeded to the Slytherin table.
Sergio pushed aside a crop of third or fourth-looking years to give Jude a seat.
“Glad to see you’re on the right side of history, kid.” Sergio said, ruffling Jude’s hair, making him giggle.
“So, do I do my classes with you?” Jude asked.
“No, you do your classes with other first-years. But you can still see me in the Common Room, and if you wanna try out for Quidditch, I’m our captain and Beater.” Sergio said the last part with pride.
“Quidditch?” Jude asked.
“Oh, right. You’ll find out what that is soon enough.” Sergio said ominously.
Jude took that answer as sufficient. So, as the Sorting Ceremony wound down and more Slytherins were sorted, Jude clapped for them till his hands ached, glad to be part of his new House.