Septem - Sidemen/Harry Potter fan fiction

Introduction

A deep fog swirled across the expansive moat, its slender fingers reaching out to brush the skeletal trees on the riverbank. Through the thick mist, turrets stood proudly against the rising sun, giving way to the impressive structure of a castle, its floors soon to be set alight with the footsteps and conversations of students.

Elsewhere, a different kind of fog obscured the view of passengers on a scarlet train. In four separate carriages, seven boys sat, each staring through the soot covered windows as trailing lines of steam clouded above the platform. Each of the seven harboured an important component of the Septem, a rarely spoken of legend from ancient magic, come to surface in a prophecy spoken once, many years before.

Their seven names had only been joined in one sentence in the history of magic, a list that was lost to all when the prophecy was shattered in a great fight in the Ministry of Magic. However, there was an attraction between them that ran deeper through their veins than magic itself; a force of incomprehensible power that would seek to pull them together at all costs, not just for the sake of the wizarding world but, by extension, for the boys themselves.

The first two sat together in a lone carriage, two pure blood wizards who had grown up surrounded by magic. They were very much at home on the train, their journey to Platform 9 3/4 about as exciting as any muggle's commute to school. The first boy, with warm, blue eyes found his usual, easy courage failing him slightly, despite the normality of everything around him but vowed to keep up appearances in front of his friend. The other boy, who had darker skin and a more built up frame, had his usual self-assured expression firmly plastered across his face, the mask perfectly hiding the pressure he felt to live up to his family name.

Two boys sat alone in conjoining carriages, surrounded by other students but electing to remain isolated. One was a short boy of Indian descent, his deep brown eyes eagerly absorbing the sight of the platform, his last reminder of the muggle world. He was the first wizard in a family of non-magical people, desperate to prove himself having finally found something to set him apart from his high achieving, older siblings. The books he had purchased from the wizarding shops in Diagon Alley, had only taught him so much; nothing had prepared him for the wall in King's Cross that gave way to a whole new world, so far detached from his own normality.

The other lone boy was uncomfortably avoiding the conversation that buzzed around his carriage. He had dark brown hair and pale skin, illuminating his hazel eyes which were scanning the faces on the platform with naive hope. Growing up with one parent, a muggle, had been hard. He had been sheltered from the world his dad grew up in for his entire life before a letter had turned up on his doorstep. No longer was he the bland, typical boy of his age; a welcome revelation for the eager student but a less than appealing idea for his mother who refused to accompany him to the platform. But maybe, he had hoped, his dad would somehow be expecting him to turn up in his half of the world and perhaps he would have wanted to see him off. Turning back to the window, he continued to clutch at this small shred of reassurance.

Three of the boys had already found each other in a compartment, immediately settling into easy conversation. One had dark skin, similar to the shade of the confident pure-blood merely doors away from them. He was a half-blood with a point to prove to his reluctant father who had always wanted him to do well in school and go to muggle university. The second boy sat opposite, his feet pulled up on to the seat next to him, a confident smile turning the corners of his mouth up slightly. He was more than accustomed to the hectic crowds of the platform, one he had walked many a time but never as a student. Finally, after years of watching other people board the train for the first time, he was finally one of them and was determined not to waste his opportunity. The third and final boy was fairly average looking; with brown hair and blue-grey eyes; but possessed a loud, playful laugh that could be heard echoing down the corridor beyond the doors of their compartment. He had the natural comfort of a pure-blood, seeming at home in the magical environment surrounding him but was in fact a half-blood. He had never known his muggle father and instead spent his childhood wandering the streets of Diagon Alley, enviously watching new students getting their robes fitted and picking up new textbooks, impatiently awaiting his turn to do the same.

Some were polar opposites, others were so similar that their personalities would inevitably clash. But despite all of this, the unstoppable force of fate would be doing everything in its power to pull them all together for they, as a seven, had a vital task to carry out that, if failed, would throw the balance of the wizarding world into turmoil.