Hogwarts Mystery [HP APPLY FIC]

year two, chapter one

With the summer vanishing behind them, the Spalding triplets pulled their trunks with them as they trekked across the train station and through the brick wall to Platform 9 and ¾.

"It's a shame the holiday's over, but I can't wait to get back to Hogwarts," Evan Wright, who had accompanied them, grinned. "Maybe we're early enough to get a cabin near the front!"

"I doubt it," Zoë sighed, saying one final goodbye to her parents before hauling her bags onto the train itself. "Need help there, Achilles?"

"I'm alright thanks, Zo," he teased.

"Don't annoy each other. We've only just got on the train," Maddie frowned at them, always the sensible one.

"Oh, look!" Evan cried out, rushing down the hall like his baggage weighed nothing. "There's Caleb!"

"I should find my friends," Achilles shifted awkwardly, clearly deciding now was the time to split off before he could be forced into sitting with his sisters.

"Your Slytherin brethren, you mean," Zoë rolled her eyes.

"Oh, don't go yet! I thought we'd ride together," Maddie shot Zoë a look that said 'don't scare him off'.

"I see them in there, so..." he trailed off, ducking into the compartment a little way ahead where Merula and Ismelda were laughing at something out of the window.

Maddie bit her lip, watching as he greeted them with a raised eyebrow and a self-assured grin. "Things have changed, haven't they?"

Zoë groaned. "Do we have to have this conversation now? We're blocking up the passageway!"

She let Zoë go into the carriage Caleb had selected, following her and sitting next to Evan, who was already talking to an excited Caleb about how his holiday was, but she didn't stop thinking about Achilles.

"Oh, hey, Anna was telling me about something pretty cool on the way here!" Caleb exclaimed, taking Maddie's attention from her musings.

"Anna's your stepsister, right?" She clarified.

"Yeah! Anyway, she was talking about a friend of hers who knows this girl called Anya, who's going to start up a Hogwarts newspaper!"

"That sounds interesting," she offered.

"It sounds boring," Zoë interjected.

"Well, I've got a high-quality camera and some good photography skills that I know are unusual for the wizarding world, so I might see if I can get involved!"

"As if!"

"Don't listen to Zoë." Maddie smiled. "I'm sure they'd love to take you on."

"Yeah, but, a second year? It's unlikely," she shrugged.

Caleb opened his mouth, presumably to get a teasing dig at Zoë in return but seemed to falter. "Hey, Evan, dude, you good?"

"What? Oh, yeah!" He took one last glance out the window before turning his attention back to the group.

"What were you looking at?" Caleb smirked as if he already had a good guess.

"Don't embarrass him," Maddie whispered. She'd also noticed Evan's eyes tracking Orion as he made his way onto the train and knew Zoë wouldn't let it go if she got the bit between her teeth. "Should we invite Orion to sit with us?"

"No!" Evan cried out, before seeming to realise his error. "I mean, uh, if you guys want to?"

Maddie shared an amused look with Caleb, who nodded at her as if to say, 'it can be our secret'.

"It's alright, I'll catch him at the feast," she spoke softly, having already lost the attention of Zoë.

Her eyes drifted to the other students bustling about the platform, hearing the final call to board and rushing a goodbye to their families.

She could see Kai, presumably scanning his surroundings for Ben as he so often was, with Camille in tow.

She waved to them, and Kai's face relaxed just a little.

Reading his lips, Maddie could fill in his voice saying to Camille, "look, there's Maddie, we should say hello as we pass".

She also picked up on Camille's responding "sure!" as they disappeared into the train and out of her line of sight.

She imagined Camille would also be hoping to find Talbott, Orion or Nadine on their search for Ben.

Maddie smiled at the thought. She liked Kai, and often ate meals adjacent to him as she considered him to be one of her closer friends.

Camille was one of her closest friends in Ravenclaw, too, simply because they'd slept in neighbouring beds for a year now. Their connection through Nadine kept them frequently hanging out, and Maddie enjoyed the quiet comfort they took in each other.

Kai popped his head through the door to their carriage. "Hello!"

"Hi?" Evan phrased the word as a question.

"Hi, have you seen Ben?" Kai answered.

"Uh, no," Caleb pitched in. "Sorry, mate."

"What's your name again?" Zoë chose that moment to speak. Maddie didn't want to be rude about her sister, but she could be rather tactless sometimes.

"Kai," he offered, not deterred. "And this is Camille."

"Hi." Camille nodded to them.

"We'll let you know if we see him," Maddie said.

"Yeah, he's not hard to miss," Caleb joked, and to his credit, Kai laughed.

"He's pretty great, isn't he? Thanks for your help, guys!"

"See you tonight, Maddie," Camille added before following Kai out of the cabin.

A few seconds later, just as the train began to move, they heard Nadine's voice down the corridor call out "Kai! Camille! We're in here!", followed by Ismelda's voice yelling "shut it, Hufflepuff", and Merula's "nice one, Murk".

Maddie's ears picked up the sound of Achilles' laughter before the door slammed shut again.

What Maddie didn't hear was Barnaby's "Hey!", and she didn't see Merula's eye roll either.

"Let it go, Lee," Merula scoffed. "She doesn't get special treatment because she's your crush."

Barnaby took all of five seconds deciding it wasn't worth the fight, instead shrugging and turning back to watch Ismelda and Achilles' match of Wizarding Chess that they had sprawled out on the seat.

"Ten galleons if Spalding wins," Delilah Nott whispered, raising her eyebrows at Barnaby.

Barnaby, who had twenty galleons in his pocket, agreed.

Delilah turned to Merula, who was at Achilles' shoulder. "Snyde?"

Ismelda and Achilles paused then, both more interested in Merula's reaction than the game.

Merula chuckled. "That bet's not worth the money."

Pacified, the other two went back to the match.

"When would you weigh in?" Barnaby asked, in that innocent manner that he often did.

She smirked. "I'll let you know."   

A/N

I'm uploading this while I'm at lunch with LIGHTNINGTHIEFGIRL don't tell her

one more week of exams!!! next chapter will be uploaded a week from now (so next saturday) 

(she's looking at me lmaoo)

anyway please let me know what you think!

next chapter is magazine centric so if your character is in the magazine that's gonna be fun!!! 

lots of love, im!! <33