Compartment 451

Part 18

Warmth from Harry leaning against his shoulder helps Zayn's body to ward off any chills. Niall had started a fire when they first got to their abandoned room that night, but the secrecy element of where it was located made heat difficult to retain. When Liam left for a prefects meeting a few minutes before, the opening of the door allowed for heat to escape and cold air to enter, so Harry coming over to watch him sketch was greatly welcomed by Zayn.

Almost any time he brought out his notebook dedicated to all things non-school related, namely future research ideas and useless illustrations, Harry would come over and sneak a peek. He and the Hufflepuff had Transfiguration to work on, but Zayn wasn't about to let his drawing go unfinished before then.

"You know those tattoos we're all going to get next summer?" The boy asks offhandedly.

Zayn hums in response, too focused on his lines of the dragon to be bothered to say much else, but still letting the other know that he was listening.

"You should draw them."

During their ride up to the castle in September, they had all reminisced on meeting and how significant the Express compartment was to their friendship. It was something that came before the sorting hat and signified their ability to see the importance in their friendship without the separation of houses. Getting its number tattooed on each of them only seemed right.

Zayn's had a whole slew of tattoo ideas scattered about in his notebook for ages that he was just dying to get once he turned eighteen, but the rest of the group had only recently come around to the idea; the number '451' the perfect first tattoo in size and importance. Niall hadn't actually said yes yet, but by the time summer comes around, Zayn's convinced he'll be so sick of listening to them complain about how he didn't care about the four of them as much as they cared about him, that he'd come around.

"You think?" Zayn replies while finishing up shading the dragon's shadow with precision.

"I agree with Harry," Louis adds from the couch, completely unfazed by his boyfriend being in such close proximity to Zayn. Not only was he confident in their relationship, but such physical contact with each other wasn't worth batting an eye at anymore. "You can draw one for us to all get or do a different font for each of us."

Niall doesn't even look up from his book to try and come up with a compelling argument as to why he doesn't want to be included in this 'each of us' claim. It'd just be falling on deaf ears.

Putting down the pen that he brought from home, Zayn took in the finished sketch. "Yeah I'd be down for that." Once he closes his notebook, satisfied with the drawing enough for it to be complete, Harry sits back down in his chair.

Since it's a Thursday, they should be diligent and get their work done for the last class of the week tomorrow, but Zayn's feeling exceptionally lazy.

Observing the room from where he's sat, a thought comes to the front of his mind. "How would you guys feel if I showed Elijah this place?" Three pairs of eyes turn his way. "As like a pass down sort of thing. It'd still be ours until we graduate, I'd make that clear, but just to let him in on."

"As long as he doesn't try and collect his inheritance from you before then, I don't see why not," Louis responds while gazing over at the fire to make sure it was still on.

Niall dog ears the page that he's on, Zayn noticing and wincing at the ill treatment. "Yeah, I'm alright with it."

"Fine by me," Harry affirms with a friendly smile.

"And you already know that Liam thinks your words are law, so you've got the stamp of approval." Louis adjusts himself so that he can see Zayn and Harry properly from the sofa. "How are things going with mini-Zayn anyway?"