Freaks: Year Two

A Hat Stall

"You're telling me you've never had sweets before?"

Alabaster shook his head. "Never."

Oliver stared at him, and so did Fiona and Felix. "You're joking."

"I'm not."

"I know some pureblood families can be strict," Fiona started, "but really? Never having sweets?"

Alabaster shrugged. "We never had things like that in the house."

"Well, the trolley witch should be around soon," Oliver told him. "You should buy something!"

"I don't have money," Alabaster said. "My parents gave it all to my cousin to supervise." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "I don't think they trust me to spend it wisely."

Felix threw Alabaster a little package. He attempted to catch it but fumbled. When he had a better grip on the package, he looked to see what it was. "It's a chocolate frog," Felix informed him. "Try it."

Alabaster opened the package, and a frog made out of chocolate hopped into his hand. "Whoa!" he exclaimed. The frog then hopped around the compartment, all their eyes following it. Felix even tried to catch it, but before he could, the frog jumped out the open window.

"Maybe something that moves was not a good first sweet to try," Felix sighed. "You now have a card though, that's the coolest part. Who did you get?"

The man on the card had light brown hair with bits of grey in it, and large front teeth that showed with his nervous smile. He was holding a briefcase and had a niffler on his shoulder. "Newt Scamander, I think," Alabaster said.

"I think I have two of him," Felix said. "So many repeats," he sighed, slouching in his seat.

As the other three continued their conversation, Alabaster started watching the trees rush by through the window. He was so excited at the prospect of finally seeing Hogwarts, he didn't really care about the trolley witch coming with all the sweets. Alabaster just could not wait to finally go to Hogwarts. He could not wait until he was actually there in the castle walls.

Sadly, it was not just excitement, it was nerves as well. He desperately wanted to do well in his classes and make sure no one found out about his "problem" as his parents had deemed it. On the brighter side of things, he had already done a pretty good job at making conversation with children his age. He had been quite nervous about that since his talk (if you call it that) with Severus Snape, but again, maybe Severus was just having a bad day. Everyone had bad days.

Alabaster was just relieved he had not completely embarrassed himself in the talking portion of things. Now all he had to do was go to his classes and ensure he do well in them.

Oliver waved his hand in front of Alabaster's face. "Hellooooo? Are you there?"

Alabaster nodded quickly. "Yeah sorry, I just got distracted."

Oliver handed him a package of Bertie Botts and Alabaster wondered if he had missed the trolley witch coming entirely or if the people he was sitting with had brought sweets with them for the train ride. "Try one," he held the green striped box out. "Now."

Alabaster picked one out. It was this orange and brown colour with little specks all over it. He popped it into his mouth. It was cinnamon. "Oooooo."

"What flavour did you get?" Fiona asked.

"Cinnamon."

"Lucky you got a good one," Fiona said. "The first one I ever tried was vomit."

Felix laughed and Fiona hit him in the shoulder.