The moment Jared had gotten his letter he had been thrilled.
Of course, the letter hadn't exactly come as a surprise, Jared was a half-blood, his mother a muggle-born and his father a pure-blood. He'd been ready for this day for years, and now here he was, standing on the platform of nine and three quarters, trunk in hand.
"Are you sure you have everything?" His mom asked.
"We can always owl him anything he might've forgotten." His dad added.
"Right, right." His mom smoothed a hand through Jared's hair. "I can't believe our little boy is growing up!"
Ugh, both of parents were too emotional. He just wanted to get on the train and not see them for another couple months.
"Don't forget to be nice to Evan, his mother said he's been going through a hard time." His mother reminded him gently.
Yeah, he remembered Evan, he had his heard from his father that his mother had come to the ministry in a panic. His mother was a muggle and his dad a pure-blood, so when his father left them, his mother didn't know how to care for a magical child.
Jared guess she figured it out, as he spotted Evan down a little ways on the platform, his mother looking nervous and out of place as she seemed to try and cheer Evan up. The pudgy boy was begging her not to leave him, that he'd go to a muggle school, and she almost looked like she wanted to agree with him.
Before she did, the train roared as it rolled into the track, stopping magnificently before them. Jared's mother squeaked.
"You're going to have so much fun, Jared!" She smiled. "I'll write to you every week, no, twice a week!"
"Oh good." Jared mumbled, tugging his trunk over to the entrance, where everyone was lined up. "Bye, love you." He got into line before they could shower him in embarrassing good-bye kisses. It's not like he was dying, he'd see them in a couple of months. However, as soon as he got into line, he began to wish he had stayed back for a bit.
"Hi, I'm Alana!" The girl in front of him turned around. "I can't believe this is actually happening! When my family first got my letter, we all thought it must've been some sort of joke, but then I got all these instructions on what to pick up and what magic was, things started making sense! While I was in Diagon Alley I picked up a bunch of books on the wizarding world, and it's absolutely fascinating! I used to want to be a lawyer, but I've been researching careers and I think that I want to study hard to be a healer."
Dear lord, does this girl breathe?
"Oh, yeah, cool." Jared replied. "I'm Jared."
"It's nice to meet you!" Alana beamed. "Oh, we should sit next to each other on the train!"
"Yeah, that'd be great." Jared said with absolutely no sincerity, but it didn't seem that Alana picked up on that hint. The two climbed onto the train and found an empty cart. He flopped down near the window and Alana sat across from him.
"I've also been doing research in the houses at Hogwarts, it's such a great idea that they split everyone off according to personality, it'll make it easier to make friends!" Alana chimed and Jared gave her a hum in reply, leaning his head on the window.
There was a slight tap on the door as Evan slid inside awkwardly, "Can I sit with you guys?" He asked. Jared frowned at the boy, his robes were a mess. Was it possible to get clothing fifth-hand?
"Of course, come take a seat next to me!" Alana patted her seat and Evan complied, sitting down next to her.
"Hi Jared, how have you been?" Evan asked, giving Jared a small smile. God, was Jared gonna be stuck with these two?
