Flint and Flame

Chapter 1 - Vulcan

As the train trundled on slowly, Vulcan found himself getting easily bored. Venus had quickly produced an ancient runes book and was poring over the old symbols and letters. Fae seemed content to just sit and stare out of the window for now, so he figured he wouldn't be missed. He grabbed his school robes and muttered something about stretching his legs before leaving the compartment and heading down the train.

For the most part, people were confined to their compartments but he wasn't so lucky when it cam to where he wanted to go. Vulcan had a forbidden friend. A Gryffindor, from the Quidditch team, called Julian Prince. They'd had a friendly rivalry for a while, but over time it had become more friendly and less rivalry. However, when he located the compartment containing this unlikely friend, Oliver Wood was just leaving it. Wood was the captain of the Gryffindor team, and gave Vulcan a curt nod as he walked straight past. He walked at least three compartments down before turning back in the direction of Julian. His plans were foiled again, however, as up ahead Wood emerged from a different compartment after a very short conversation. He glanced at Vulcan and then at the compartment he'd just walked past and raised an eyebrow, but said no more. The Flint boy took a deep breath and carried on walking with purpose. Finally, Oliver ducked into a different compartment up ahead. Vulcan took the opportunity immediately, turned, and hurried back to the compartment he'd passed by twice now.

He shut the door quietly behind him, and it was then that he noticed the strange position the other boy was in. His back was on the seat and his legs were up against the wall. He held out a book at arms length and seemed to be reading it quite peacefully. Vulcan sat down on the seat opposite and tilted his head to look at him.

"How can that be a comfortable way to read?"

"Don't hate it 'till you've tried it." The brown haired boy responded with a smile. So Vulcan lay back and kicked his legs up, mirroring Julian's position on the other side of the compartment. "So?"

"Okay, this is actually pretty comfortable." He admitted. Julian went back to reading and Vulcan drummed his fingers quietly on his chest, observing his friend.

Julian scrunched his nose up trying to make out a word, and Vulcan smiled. He somehow felt more comfortable watching the Gryffindor try to blow hair out of his face than he did staring out of a window with his own siblings. He only noticed he was staring when Julian met his eyes, and he blinked and looked away. The silence was almost awkward, but he felt to comfortable to truly feel uneasy.

"Does Venus know you're here?"

"Of course not." He responded quickly. You know I can't tell her, for the same reason you can't tell Iris. We're not supposed to be friends." He sighed.

"I hate that. Supposed. I was supposed to grow up with parents and yet someone decided that I was not. I am supposed to be able to have my own wand at the Carrows house but they thought differently. I was supposed to have a home. What did I get? The house my parents were murdered in. I am supposed to have good dreams, happy dreams. What do I get? I get to watch my parents die over and over again." Vulcan felt rather out of his depth.

"All right, Mr Angsty." He laughed, trying to lighten the mood.

"I am supposed to be able to choose who I am friends with," Julian continued, "and I intend to do so."

"Very well, friend." Vulcan smiled. "So how was your summer?"

"Well living with the Carrows was as crappy as ever, but Iris, Evelyn, Estelle and I became animagi." Vulcan stopped drumming his fingers, and turned his head to look properly at Julian.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Iris is a fox, Evelyn and Estelle are both wolves and I am-"

"Let me guess." He cut him off. "A lion."