"Dream, you have to explain something to me: what in the actual living fuck is butterbeer?" Alex leaned on Clay's shoulder as the whole massive group of them walked by Florean Fortescue's, strangely sweet smells coming from the open doorway.
"Stop cursing, you're traumatizing Darryl, plus you're a first year." Clay patted Alex's arm over his shoulder and didn't look up from his list.
Techno yanked him out of the way of a couple guys carrying a mirror that showed them an alternate, genderswapped reality. The blond glanced up, noticed Techno's hand still on his arm, and turned red. Techno blushed too and let go.
Clay was probably the only person besides Will Techno was really himself around. Like. The blond was cute, and funny, and really smart in a sense that he could come up with really genius ideas/ plans in seconds. He was absolutely going to dominate Quidditch tryouts this year; no doubt in Techno's mind.
"Butterbeer," Wilbur declared, cutting off the pinkette's train of thought, "is a carbonated drink that tastes like butterscotch. You can get it hot or cold, or apparently, frozen."
"Wilbur," Clay said seriously. "Why do you sound so full of yourself today?"
Techno nearly fell over laughing.
"Um... Tech, help me out here. I'm not, am I?" Will said indignantly. Techno hesitated.
He was pretty sure he was the only one who noticed Will glanced at Schlatt as he spoke.
"I mean. A little," Techno hedged. Niki giggled and looped an arm through Will's, giving Techno a sly look.
Maybe he wasn't the only one who saw.
"You telling me you've never had a butterbeer milkshake?" Nick asked from somewhere off to Clay's left.
"Not all of us are pureblood, Nick," Clay shot back. "We don't all get to spend all of our time in Diagon Alley."
"Well, if that's the case, why don't you enjoy it?" Techno tipped his chin up and made him look around. The pinkette spread his arms grandly. "We live in a magical world, Capta. Make the most of it."
"That was cHEESY AF!" George yelled, and everyone laughed.
The group decided to speed things up and get all their stuff as quick as possible, because the train left in forty minutes and they were just leaving the Leaky Cauldron.
"Hurry, hurry! Is all the stuff in the car??" Dad called from the back as everyone piled in.
"YEAH!" Will yelled back. "WE GOTTA GO, DAD!"
"I know that," he grumbled, climbing into the front seat and starting the car.
The backseats were filled with the sounds of laughing, talking, and various animal noises as the group discussed... everything they could think of.
"Sooo, how much has America changed since I moved?" Nick asked Clay and his friends.
"Eh. Not too much, I guess," Clay said thoughtfully, seeming to wrack his brain for certain memories.
"Well, they remodeled the zoo," Aurora reminded him. "They put in pandas. And peacocks and flamingos."
"PANDAS??" Nick screeched, making everyone jump and Dad to glare back at everyone in the rear view mirror.
"That's right," Clay said smugly. "Maybe if you hadn't deserted you would've gotten to FEED THEM ON THE FIFTH GRADE FIELD TRIP LIKE I DID!"
"YOU LITTLE-"
George and Aurora had to hold Nick back from lunging at Clay, who was laughing maniacally.
"It's not my fault Mom and Dad got new jobs at the Ministry!" the ravenette whined.
"But they did," Clay sang.
"Dream, I swear to-" Nick started threateningly.
"LANGUAGE!" Darryl barked pre-emptively at the same time Techno covered Tommy's ears.
"Everyone out, we're here!" Dad called from the front as the car pulled to a stop.
The next fifteen minutes were downright chaotic; a group of like twenty people running through a packed train station at eight in the morning, with several cases and a loud animal each.
"WAIT." Alex stopped at the entrance to
9 3/4 as Dad, Tommy, and Toby went through without a problem. Everyone else stopped with him.
"This isn't a wall," Techno pointed out.
"It looks like a wall...?" Aurora said nervously.
"You just watched Phil and everyone go through it." Clay shifted from foot to foot. "Listen, we have to go or we miss the train."
"Running start," Techno recommended. Clay nodded affirmatively.
Niki went first, Fundy sitting on top of her trolley. Then Nick and George.
Aurora took a deep breath, then followed. Alex, Darryl, Zak.
"Because only Jonathan Schlatt would run through a magical portal screaming 'yolo'," Clay sighed. Techno gave him an amused look.
He opened his mouth to say something, but Clay looked at him, and the pure green of his eyes caught the pinkette off-guard, stopping his voice.
Techno cleared his throat and blushed, but couldn't look away. Clay didn't try.
"Y'all gonna go, or...?" someone's voice called from behind them. They turned to see a brown-haired kid wearing sunglasses roughly their age waiting with a trolley similar to theirs, whitish cat sitting atop the mound of stuff.
"Sorry," Clay called back, giving a rueful look to Techno and stepping through the portal. Techno tried to clear his face of the red, but having no success, sighed and followed the blond.
Train pog next chapter! POV ideas?? Bc I don't rlly have a plan, maybe Will. This chapter is fucking SHORT, but at least the next update should be out sooner. Ty guys for all the reads and support!!
