Archive of Our Own ^beta

“What the fuck is this?” Dean roared, tossing the letter into Eggsy’s face. The young boy didn’t flinch, just turned his head and frowned when the paper cut his cheek.

“Dean, calm down, it’s just a letter,” Michelle tried to placate him, grabbing her boyfriend’s arm and pulling him away from her son. Somewhere in the background, Daisy sobbed, the tension in the house rousing her from her sleep and scaring her.

“Is this supposed t’be some kind of stupid joke?” Dean laughed harshly, shoving Michelle away from him.

“Magic school, what rubbish,” Dean muttered under his breath. “What school would want you?” The older man looks at Eggsy and snorts. “Especially one with magic. You’d blow the whole thing up wouldn’t ya, Eggsy? You’re fuckin’ stupid and useless.”

“Dean!” Michelle yelled sharply, but Eggsy was already red with frustration.

“M’not useless,” Eggsy said softly, “or stupid.”

“You think so, do you boy?” Dean whispered back, grabbing the eleven-year-old by the neck of his shirt. “Think you’re so smart then?” The older man put Eggsy back down before grabbing Michelle, who was trying to comfort Daisy against her chest.

“What- Dean!” Michelle hissed, struggling to get out of his grasp. “Dean, what’re you doing?”

“Shut up!” Dean bit at her, “Shut up! All of ya think you’re so smart, so try to fuckin get your mum away from me, you useless sack of sh-“

“It appears you were correct in assuming Mr. Unwin would require the standard Muggleborn visitation,” an old woman hummed to her companion as she levitated Dean over to the corner of the room while Eggsy and his family stared at her with wide eyes.

“Well, it also gave me an excuse to visit,” the companion agreed and Michelle sucks in a breath.

“James,” she barely managed to get out.

“Michelle.”

“Can someone tell me what the fuck is going on!?” Eggsy interrupted, voice high with hysteria as he tried to comprehend all that had happened in the span of what was probably five minutes.

“Eggsy, language,” Michelle scolded him, covering Daisy’s ears gently, but Eggsy shrugged it off, feeling justified in his hysteria. There was an old lady in his house dressed in some weird Halloween knock off robe and pointed hat, and another man beside her in a smart suit, but holding out a stick that glowed.

He wasn’t sure he was just dreaming if he was being honest.

“It’s alright, I imagine between the letter and that man’s reaction to the contents, Gary is overwhelmed,” the woman said, not unkindly, and waved her own stick. Eggsy blinked and found himself sitting down.

“My name is Minerva McGonagall,” the woman introduced herself, “I’m the headmistress of Hogwarts. This is my colleague, Professor James.”

“I’m Eggsy,” Eggsy interjected, “not Gary.” He paused for a moment, trying to decide If he trusted these people. But they had stopped Dean from hurting his Mum and Daisy. “Nice to meet you?” He stopped again, looking up at Michelle. “You know him?”

“I worked with your father,” James explained as Michelle struggled to find words. “We were both Aurors, like the magical police. We stopped the bad guys.”

“So magic is real then? The letter ain’t a joke?” Eggsy asked. McGonagall smiled and then there was a cat in her place.

“What.”

The cat made sounds like a laugh before it grew larger, slowly morphing back into the elderly witch.

“I assure you, Eggsy, that magic is very real. And the proof that you have the capacity for it is that letter.” She raised her stick (a wand? Eggsy wondered) and summoned the discarded parchment into her hands. “Each one of these letters is written and addressed by a quill charmed by a founder of the school. It can sense when a witch or wizard is approaching their eleventh birthday and sends the letter accordingly.”

“Have you ever done anything you couldn’t explain?” James asked. “Nothing wild, but even small things that didn’t add up.”

Eggsy was silent, thinking of the bruises Dean would leave on him that disappeared in hours. The haircuts that grew back in a day, how Daisy’s blanket was always warm in their drafty flat, how the things that he lost always ended up back in his room even if he knew he’d lost it at school or in the city.

“Yeah,” he confirmed quietly. “So, do you go to all student’s houses?”

“Only the strictly muggle residences,” McGonagall answered, “if there is no wizard guardian available, a professor or myself will provide a courtesy visit.” She reached into her coat and pulled out a handful of small charms. Her wand waved over the charms and they grew into books and rolled parchment that unfolded into a display for Eggsy.

“These are a few things for you to read over before you come to school,” James said, “completely optional of course, but these books cover a few things about wizarding culture you may not learn at Hogwarts in your classes. Some of the sports, games, food, and clothes are covered here, as well as some of the holiday customs and the war. Historical figures are covered in your History of Magic class, but more recent events like Harry Potter and Voldemort will be in these readings.”

“They sound important,” Michelle spoke up suddenly, “who were they?”

“Voldemort was a Dark wizard,” McGonagall explained shortly, “he wished to wipe out Muggles and make the world, but specifically Britain, a magic only society. Harry Potter was a student of mine who defeated him at the end of a two-year war. You might have seen on the news, when the Millennium Bridge was destroyed? That was the work of Voldemort’s followers, the Death Eaters.”

“That was about ten years ago,” Michelle remembered, “sometime in 1996? I’d just had Eggsy the year before. That was magic?”

“Unfortunately there are good and bad wizards, much like there are good and bad Muggles.”

“You keep saying that word,” Eggsy observed, “Muggle? What’s that?”

“A Muggle is someone without magic. Their anatomy and souls are incompatible with a magical core,” Michelle recited, smiling when McGonagall nodded in confirmation. “Your father explained it to me when he had to reveal he was magical.”

“So my dad was…an Auror?” Eggsy clarified, tongue still tripping over the pronunciation of a foreign word. “Which meant that he fought evil wizards. And you was his partner when he died on duty?”

He knew his dad had died during work, vaguely remembered his mother being talked to buy a man in a suit, but his mum had never gone into specifics.

“Right. We worked in a sector of the Auror Department named Kingsman. We were tasked with stopping anyone who sought to break the Statute of Secrecy with Muggles for nefarious reasons. Your father and I were on assignment to capture and interrogate a wizard-muggle pair who wanted to use magic for terrorism,” James elaborated, sneaking a glance at Michelle every once and awhile to make sure he wasn’t overstepping any boundaries.

But so far, she hadn’t signaled for him to stop providing Eggsy with information about his father, so he continued, “we managed to seal the wizard’s magic, but the muggle had a bomb, which we didn’t detect until right before Lee jumped in the line of the blast. He saved my life.”

There was a silence as the young man took all this information in, answering all the questions about his father that he didn’t know he’d had before.

“Why didn’t ya tell me we was magic?” Eggsy asked his mum, unsure why he was only learning about his father, and his family, now.

“I’m not magical, I’m a Muggle,” Michelle explained, rocking a now sleeping Daisy. “Your father met me on assignment and we continued to date afterwards. He told me he was a wizard after he accidentally made the kettle sing on day.”

Eggsy cracked a smile and she returned it. “When we had you, he told me there was basically a 50/50 chance you would inherit the magic. You haven’t acted out or shown any sign of magic, so I assumed you were like me.”

“Until the letter,” Eggsy commented.

“Until the letter,” she agreed.

“So now what?” Eggsy asked James and McGonagall. The older woman had introduced herself as the Headmistress of Hogwarts, and James mentioned he was now teaching at the school as the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor following Lee’s death.

“Well, now we’re going to Obliviate that muggle in the corner over there,” James said with conviction, “and then we’ll send him away. You won’t have to deal with him anymore.”

There were sighs of relief all around.

“Assuming you will want to attend Hogwarts in the fall, I’ll return to the castle and mark you as attending so we can forgo the acceptance letter via owl,” the Headmistress answered, “and then James here can help you get your supplies beforehand in Diagon Alley.”

“What’s Diagon Alley?” Eggsy asked.

“You’ll find out if you want to go to Hogwarts,” James said with a wink.

“It’s your decision, Eggsy,” Michelle whispered as she squatted down next to him. “You can go back to school with Jamal and Ryan and it’d be okay. It’s up to you.”

Eggsy frowned, his eleven-year-old mind not quite able to comprehend the complexity of the implications that his two options would lead to down the road. He knew enough that if he didn’t go to Hogwarts, he’d probably live a regular life with regular mates and go on and graduate and get a proper job. He’d probably be able to help his mum and sister after school, get back into gymnastics or something and make a name for himself.

But magic, Eggsy mused to himself. There were so many things that could happen, it was unpredictable but fantastic! How many people could say they’d gone to magic school? There would be living away from home, and having to make new friends, but everyone would be starting on about equal footing, he figured. Just have to avoid the bullies.

“I know what I want to do,” he decided.

“I’m here to take Eggsy to Diagon Alley,” James announced as he walked into the Unwin residence without a knock. Michelle looked up from where she was preparing breakfast and raised an eyebrow.

“Right, apologies,” James muttered and walked back outside.

He knocked twice.

“Oh, for fucks sake,” he heard Michelle say under her breath as she opened the door to let him in. “Eggsy is getting ready in his room.”

“Brilliant!”

“As for his supplies…” Michelle lowered her voice, “how much is it all going to be? I think I have enough to cover it all but…“

“No worries,” James assured her, “Lee had it all taken care of.”

Upon seeing Michelle’s confused expression, he elaborated, “Lee was getting tiny chunks of his paycheck taken out and put into an education fund for Eggsy. He’ll be covered for all the basics and a few extras for all seven years. In the event that Eggsy was a muggle, the money would have been converted to muggle money and given to you.”

A flash of irritation passed through Michelle’s face, but she sighed and shook her head in the end. She was always hearing about shite Lee had done only after his death. Sometimes she wished he’d just told her before all this.

“Am I dressed okay?” a small voice asked from the doorway. James and Michelle looked over to see Eggsy dressed in nice jeans and a soft jumper, the sleeves pulled over Eggsy’s hands as he glanced unsure at the two adults.

“You look brilliant,” James proclaimed. “You ready to go?”

Eggsy nodded fiercely, walking over and taking Jame’s outstretched hand.

“Have fun and be good,” Michelle said, handing him a small sack with his breakfast inside. “Don’t let James talk you into anything stupid.”

Eggsy laughed and nodded as James looked affronted.

Eggsy was quiet for most of the journey to Diagon Alley, observing the route they were taking as James steered him every which way.

“Are we lost?” he asked innocently as they appeared in front of a brick wall secluded from the main streets of London.

“I- no. No, we’re not. Just watch,” James said, flustered, pulling his wand from a wand holster and tapping on the brick wall. Eggsy looked on, unimpressed, until the bricks began to wiggle. The young wizard watched in amazement as the bricks seemingly folded in on themselves and disappeared, revealing a bustling street of witches and wizards and eighteenth century architecture.

“Whoa,” Eggsy breathed, taking in the cloaks and robes brushing the cobblestone streets, the pointed hats, the moving shop displays. There was an especially bright store close to them, a brilliant red with a twenty-foot mannequin moving a top hat up and down on top of the store front.

“Welcome, Eggsy, to Diagon Alley,” James announced, taking Eggsy’s hand and leading him through the brick wall entrance. “I know it’s a lot, but we have all day to explore and get your supplies. We’re going to stop at the bank first though.”

“The bank? A wizards’ bank?” Eggsy asked excitedly, “I know it’s called Gringotts, but is it different from the bank Mum goes to?”

“Well, the function is similar.” James steered them through a particularly large group of older kids before he continued. “Each client has a vault, their account of sorts, and money and valuable items are stored there and guarded. Each person gets a key for their vault, and if you ever lose the key, the goblins use blood magic to verify your account to let you in.”

“Goblins?” Eggsy had heard of goblins, of course, but he never imagined that they would be an integral part of magical society. All the fairytales made goblins out to be crafty and evil creatures.

“Goblins,” James confirmed, “they run Gringotts Bank, but you’ll find a few wizard or witches working as security guards on the main floor. There used to be a dragon guarding the bottom vaults, but it was released during the war.”

The war. Eggsy lost himself in his thoughts as he tried to remember what McGonagall and James had told him during their visit after stopping James. They’d mentioned the war at least once, he remembered, but then he’d read all the books they left for him and it was a lot.

“Harry Potter rode it out of the bank when he had to get the cup!”

“Very good, Eggsy!” James praised him. “You’ve been reading then?”

“I don’t wanna look dumb when I get t’Hogwarts,” Eggsy muttered, Dean’s taunts about his intelligence still stinging even if they weren’t true. James smiled sadly and ruffled the young man’s hair.

“You’ll be fine, and if anyone gives you any trouble you come find me, alright?”

“Alr- is that building crooked?”

“What?” James asked, baffled, before he looked in front of them. “Oh! This is Gringotts. No one’s quite sure why it’s liked that.”

“Do I have an account here already?” Eggsy realized that they were going to the bank to get money, but was it his or James’ or the school’s?

“An account was set up for your family by your father, in case you ever moved to the Wizarding World,” James repeated what he’d told Michelle as the two walked between marble columns to enter through burnished bronze doors into the bank. A wizard stopped them briefly, running a device (“Probity Probes,” James whispered) over them before letting them in.

“Whoa,” Eggsy gasped, the long marble hall overwhelming for the small boy. There were gold accents a top dark marble columns, and giant chandeliers lighting up the space. But what truly caught the boy’s attention were the hundreds of goblins at the top of huge desks or carting piles of coins down the hall and through a giant door.

“How can I help you?” a low voice rasped and Eggsy jumped, not realizing that James had led him in front of one of the goblin tellers.

“We’re here to claim an account that was set up by Lee Unwin?” James explained, “he died before he could leave anyone the key and it should be within the vault.”

“Name of the vault recipient?”

“Gary Unwin.” James motioned to Eggsy and he waved at the goblin.

“We’ll need to confirm this, of course.” The goblin did not look impressed.

“Of course, of course.” James bent down to Eggsy’s level. “Remember what I told you about blood magic to access vaults without keys?” Eggsy nodded. “Right, so they’ll need to take a bit of your blood and it’s going to hurt. I want to make sure you’re okay with this. I’ll be healing you right after.”

“Is it just pricking my finger?” Eggsy wanted to clarify. He’d pricked his finger before at the doctor’s for tests before. James shook his head.

“They’ll have you sign your name on the vault request form with a special quill they have here. The quill’s magic takes your blood for ink. It’ll feel like you’re writing your name into your skin. One time doesn’t leave lasting damage, but it’s unpleasant.”

Eggsy made a face and rubbed the back of his hand. “But you’ll heal it?”

“We’ll even get ice cream after.”

“Today, if you will Mr. Unwin,” the goblin sighed. James shot the goblin a glare, but turned back to make sure Eggsy was alright with the ritual.

“It’s okay,” Eggsy said, “I’m ready Mr. Goblin sir.”

The goblin tilted his head and looked closely at Eggsy. “My name is Noknord, Mr. Unwin.”

“I’m ready, Mr. Noknord, sir,” Eggsy corrected himself and stepped up to the desk as a stool appeared out of nowhere. A short parchment laid out on the desk, with an innocent enough looking quill beside it.

“Sign at the bottom of the document,” Noknord instructed, “if the blood magic confirms allowed access to the vault, the key will be summoned from the vault and the goblin tasked with the account will take over.”

Eggsy nodded and bit his lip as he began to sign, flinching as he felt the tugging on the back of his hand from what felt like the top of a quill bit. There was a light scratching sensation, but it wasn’t too bad as his name was short. Suddenly the young man felt bad for anyone with one of those long names, like Benedict Cumberbatch, or multiple names like that one rapper, Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Bongo Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam.

“It appears to be a match,” Noknord noted, writing something down as a key shimmered into existence next to the document Eggsy had just signed. “Take that key to the door down the hall and someone will be there to assist you.”

“Thank you Mr. Noknord!” Eggsy said, grabbing the key and hopping down from the stool.

The rest of the visit went rather quickly in Eggsy’s opinion. Another goblin named Ragnuk takes them through the main doors and onto a cart to the Unwin vault and lets them in with the newly acquired key. The vault is a decent size, with all the coins stacked in neat piles, and a bag on the wall. James explained that the bag was charmed so that you could hold more money inside with the bag expanding, so no one knew exactly how much was in it except for the user. Eggsy took the bag and let James drop the coins in as he explained what each coin was and approximately how much they were worth.

“So this is a knut.” A handful of small bronze coins fell into the bag. “They’re the lowest form of currency, worth about one cent.”

“A sickle.” Silver coins joined the knuts as James continued, “29 knuts make a sickle.”

“And galleons,” large gold coins clinked loudly as they fell in last. “493 knuts to a galleon. That’s 17 sickles to a knut, and about the equivalent of five pounds.”

Eggsy had walked out of Gringotts with heavier pockets, new knowledge of Wizarding currency, and a magical sheet of paper that told him how much money was in his vault and/or change bag at any time.

“Unless you get a job, those are all the funds you have for the next seven years,” James had warned him as Eggsy looked excitedly at the numbers on the sheet. Eggsy was a little less excited after that, but it was nice to know his mum could use the money she made from her job for herself and Daisy for once and not worry about expenses for two children. Maybe if there was enough money left in the vault after, he could give it to his mum. Ragnuk had explained that you could convert magic money to muggle currency and vice versa after all.

“James!” an unfamiliar voice called out, jolting Eggsy out of his thoughts as James stopped to turn around.

“Alastair,” James said cheerfully while an older man in glasses approached them with two children trailing after them. “Taking the children out for school supplies? Thought you would be finishing your lesson plans for this year.”

“My lesson plans were finalized months ago,” the man, Alastair, said with a raised brow. “You’re the one who told me that you’d barely started last week.”

James sputtered while Alastair knelt to see Eggsy. “Hello there, I’m Professor Alastair, I teach Arithmancy at Hogwarts. And you are?”

“Hi, my name is Eggsy Unwin,” the young boy said, suddenly shy as the kids behind Alastair got closer.

“Lee’s son,” Alastair realized, “I knew your father. He was a good man.”

“Thanks,” Eggsy whispered, hiding a little behind James. The children, a girl about Eggsy’s age and an older boy, flanked Alastair, looking up expectantly at the man.

“Right,” Alastair acknowledged them, standing back up. “Eggsy, these two are my niece and nephew, Roxy and Harry. Roxy will be starting Hogwarts with your this fall, and Harry is going into his third year.”

“Nice to meet you!” Roxy chirped cheerfully, extending her hand. Eggsy shook it gently, smiling brightly at how friendly she was.

“Hello, Eggsy,” Harry said, opting to wave as Roxy wouldn’t stop shaking Eggsy’s hand.

“Have you started shopping for supplies yet?” Alastair asked James while the children got to know each other. James shook his head. “Excellent, and have you had lunch yet?” Another negative. “We were headed to the Leaky Cauldron for a meal and then Florean Fortescue’s afterwards.”

“I promised Eggsy ice cream after the vault verification, so that works,” James admitted. To the children he asked, “are you all ready to eat?”

The cheers were deafening.

“Now Eggsy, you’ve got all you need, right?” Michelle fretted, smoothing down her son’s hair as they stood in front of Kings’ Cross Station. He was dressed in simple enough jumper and trousers that he could change out of on the train, and his luggage cart was full of his trunks and other storage boxes, with a small pug a top it all.

“Yes mum,” Eggsy confirmed as he held his baby sister close to his chest. To Daisy he said, “and you’ll be good for mum?”

Daisy babbled in response, grabbing part of his jumper with her tiny fist and tugging. Eggsy smiled and let Michelle take Daisy back into her arms, the older woman brushing at her watery eyes.

“It’s gonna be okay, mum, I’ll write lots!” Eggsy promised, “Roxy said she would show me how to use the owlery.”

Michelle weakly grinned at that. Eggsy hadn’t been able to stop talking about the new friends he’d made during his trip to Diagon Alley, and Michelle was glad that he wouldn’t be starting the school year without knowing a single soul.

“They said they would meet you between Platforms Nine and Ten inside, so you should get going,” Michelle said, taking the arm that wasn’t holding Daisy and bringing her son closer to her. “We’ll miss you, but have fun. Study hard but have fun.”

“I will mum,” Eggsy muttered into his mother’s leg, wrapping his arm around her once more before grabbing his luggage cart. “Love you.”

“I love you too.”

Eggsy let his mother kiss the top of his head before he began his journey into the station. He turned around once he got inside, waving at his family before sprinting towards the platforms, towards a new beginning.

“Eggsy, you made it!” Roxy called out as she saw him approaching. The young girl was dressed in her Hogwarts uniform, with a large muggle coat covering it so she wouldn’t draw attention to herself. Harry was by her side, holding on to both of their luggage carts, but he nodded in acknowledgement with a smile.

“I did!” Eggsy stopped his cart right in front of the cousins, reaching out and grabbing his pug’s cage before it could slide off the top.

“Oh you did get a dog! I’m so glad they included smaller breeds in the approved pets section of the letter this year! Harry is a little bitter because he was only allowed an owl by Uncle Alastair when he started, but he let me get a toy poodle!”

“I got a pug!” Eggsy announced, letting Roxy reach through his dog’s cage and stroke his fur. “I thought he was a bulldog at first, but they told me that bulldogs get too big. His name is JB.”

“Nice to meet you JB,” Roxy cooed, “I sent Victoria ahead, my poodle, with Mr. Pickle and Alastair. I didn’t know how she’d react to the train, she’s still a little jittery.”

“I can’t wait to meet her and Mr. Pickle,” Eggsy said sincerely, grinning at the name of Harry’s owl.

“We should get moving,” Harry reminded them, pointing at the clock in the station. “Are you ready Eggsy?”

Eggsy bit his lip, uncertain how entrance onto 9 and ¾ would really work. Harry had explained it to him before, but it didn’t sound…real.

“You can watch me first,” Harry said softly, reassuring the young boy. “Just follow my lead.”

And with that, the older boy took his luggage cart firmly in hand and directed it at the brick column between platforms nine and ten. He took a step back and then launched himself into the bricks, Eggsy watching in awe as the bricks seemed to dissolve around Harry, accepting the wizard inside before returning to their solid state.

“Bloody hell,” Eggsy breathed, holding tightly onto his own cart.

“You’ll be fine,” Roxy said, “I’ll follow after you.”

Eggsy swallowed nervously, but he positioned himself where Harry had been just moments before and began to run forward. He closed his eyes right before he hit the bricks and opened them in a new platform. Harry was just a few steps away with a wide smile and kind eyes.

“You did it,” he congratulated Eggsy, helping him move away from the entrance just seconds before Roxy came through.

“That was fun,” Roxy exclaimed brightly, but Eggsy barely heard her as he looked around at his surroundings. The actual platform was not unlike the rest of Kings’ Cross, but the train. The train was black in the front, with the words Hogwarts Express painted clearly on the front with the Hogwarts crest on top. The rest of the train, the carriages, were painted a rusty brick red with the Hogwarts crest repeated periodically along the length of the train. Children were waving goodbye to their parents from windows, or from the steps as they got ready to leave. Luggage carts were being taken by staff, who waved their wands and the trunks disappeared to be sent to the school.

“Harry.”

“Oh, Merlin!” Harry greeted the newcomer, a boy his age with short black hair and smart glasses dressed in a patterned jumper. “Roxy, Eggsy, this is Merlin. He’s a Ravenclaw in my year. Merlin, you’ve met Roxy, and this is Eggsy who’ll also be starting this year.”

“Nice to see you again, Roxy, and good to meet you, Eggsy,” Merlin said politely before grabbing Harry. “The Head Boy summoned us, we’ve got to go.”

“What does Jack want now,” Harry grumped, but went along with a quick good-bye to the first years.

“Well, we should find a compartment,” Roxy figured, “get JB and let’s get on the train.”

Eggsy followed Roxy towards the train with his luggage cart, thanking the staff who transferred his trunks as he took JB out of his cage and cuddled him to his chest. The two of them boarded the train, shoving themselves between the hoard of other children who were fighting to get compartments or to wave out the window to their parents.

“Oh, here we go,” Eggsy said, stopping Roxy as he dragged her into an empty compartment. “Sweet relief.”

“It’s crazy out there,” Roxy agreed, watching as more students struggled to push through the tiny corridor to empty seats.

“So what house do you think you’ll be sorted into?” Eggsy asked, setting JB beside and watching his pug curl up on the seat.

“It would be nice to be in Slytherin with Harry,” Roxy mused, “so that I know someone already. But I’m also partial to Ravenclaw.”

“Ravenclaw?” Eggsy asked, surprised. “Oh, for Merlin?”

Roxy blushed, “shut up. What about you?”

“I think Hufflepuff,” Eggsy answered honestly. “It seems the most comfortable and nice. But I would be fine anywhere.”

“I think you’d do good in Hufflepuff,” Roxy complimented him, right before there was a knock on their compartment door. A tall boy with curly hair stood outside with a scowl on his face and cat clinging to jumper. Eggsy chuckled at the site and unlocked the door, letting the boy in.

“All the other compartments are full; may I sit here?” the boy forced out, as if asking permission was physically hurting him. Eggsy looked over to Roxy for permission and she shrugged.

“We’ve got room,” Roxy answered, closing the door behind the boy. “What’s your name?”

“Charlie Hesketh,” the boy answered easily as he pulled at the cat to try and detach it from his jumper. “First year. And you two?”

“Eggsy Unwin, first year.”

“Roxy Morton, also first year.”

“Morton,” Charlie said, recognizing the name, “like Andrea Morton? The creator of the Purity Potion?”

“That was my aunt, yeah,” Roxy confirmed, smiling as Charlie’s cat leapt onto her lap and purred.

“I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you, I wasn’t particularly close to her, but it was so sudden.” Roxy pet the cat, laughing softly as the cat bat at her hand like a toy.

“What happened?” asked Eggsy. This wasn’t in any of the books James and McGonagall had given him, but it sounded like recent history.

“Harry’s parents,” Roxy said, as if it explained everything, and in a way, it did. Eggsy remembered Roxy telling him how Harry had come to live with her and Alastair. Her own parents had been dead for as long as she could remember, her father killed in a duel and her mother passing away from grief after giving birth to Roxy. She’d lived with her Uncle Alastair her entire life. But Harry’s parents had been killed during his first year at Hogwarts. His mother, Andrea Morton, had been killed by purebloods who were furious that her potion proved that their blood was not as pure as they’d been led to believe. His father, Henry Hart, had tried to fight off the intruders, but he’d fallen just as quickly as his life.

Harry never went back home, just went to live with Roxy and Alastair without a word.

“Oh,” Eggsy whispered softly, reaching down to seek comfort from JB, the pug making a happy noise at the touch and curling closer to Eggsy.

“Well, to happier thoughts,” Roxy changed the subject, “where do you think you’ll be sorted Charlie? I think Slytherin or Ravenclaw for me, and Eggsy thinks Hufflepuff for him.”

“Slytherin,” Charlie said with no hesitation, “the Heskeths have always been Slytherins. It’s the only house for me and I will do my family proud.”

Eggsy frowned. “That sounds really rehearsed. What house do ya actually want to be in?”

Charlie paused. “What?”

“Like, do you want to go to Slytherin, or do you have to go to Slytherin?”

The curly-haired boy just stared at Eggsy.

“Well, we’ll find out very soon,” Roxy interrupted, pointing out the window, “because we’re almost at Hogwarts.”

“Watch your step!” a giant man called out as the Hogwarts Express pulled up to the Hogsmeade station. “Careful getting off the train! First years with me! Everyone else to the carriages!”

“Who’s that?” Eggsy asked Roxy and Charlie as they were herded towards the giant man and a selection of boats.

“That’s Hagrid, he’s the groundskeeper,” Charlie whispered back as they got closer.

“He’s one of Harry Potter’s friends,” Roxy added on, “he brought Harry’s body back to Hogwarts during the fight.”

“Oh, I read about that,” Eggsy said, the name jogging his memory as he remembered the recent history book James had given him.

“Alright, no more than four of ya on a boat,” Hagrid announced once all the first years had gathered close to him. “The boats’ll take ya right to the Headmistress and then you’ll be sorted.”

Eggsy, Roxy, and Charlie quickly found an empty boat, trying to avoid the rush of the other students fighting for their own seat. Once they sat down, the boat kicked forward, to their surprise, and began to guide itself through the lake towards what Eggsy supposed was the school. There were rocks and trees in the way, building the anticipation in his mind before he was met with the sight of an honest-to-god castle.

“Holy crap,” Eggsy gasped, and he heard Roxy and Charlie gasp as well from behind him.

The castle was massive, beautiful, and tall. A huge tower stood out amongst the rest, with a series of smaller towers sprouting from the top of it. Somewhere, a clock rang, as if greeting the new students, and Eggsy was suddenly more excited than ever to be at Hogwarts.

The boat continued forward, underneath the school’s foundation where there was an entrance in the rocks, and through an ivy curtain before stopping in front of a harbor.

Eggsy, Roxy, and Charlie carefully got out of the boat, watching their new classmates do the same before they headed towards the only door in the area. The doors creaked open by themselves, much to everyone’s surprise, and the curious first years climbed on through, finding themselves in the middle of staircase where Headmistress McGonagall stood at the top.

“Welcome to Hogwarts,” she greeted them kindly. “Through these doors is the Great Hall, where you will have your meals and gather for school announcements. The Welcoming Feast will take place inside momentarily, but first, you will be sorted.”

She watched as the first years talked excitedly amongst themselves, whispering about what they thought the sorting process was like and what house they would be sorted in, before she raised her hand for silence.

“I will explain the process once we are inside. Now follow me.”

The Great Hall doors opened just as the harbor doors had and Eggsy felt like he was being blinded. He blinked several times, adjusting to the new source of light before he realized that there were candles floating in the Hall’s ceiling.

Floating.

“This is amazing,” Charlie spoke up, surprising both Roxy and Eggsy. His companions nodded in agreement, wordlessly looking around the Great Hall as the first years pushed forward into the space between two tables.

Headmistress McGonagall stopped the group of students at the end of the tables before stepping up on a raised platform where other professors sat at a table. Roxy and Eggsy waved to Alastair and James and received relieved smiles in response.

“As I call your name, each student will sit upon this stool and will be sorted by the Sorting Hat,” McGonagall explained, gingerly lifting both a scroll of names and a wrinkled pointed hat.

“Sounds easy enough,” Roxy commented.

McGonagall began to list the names in alphabetical order based on the last names of the first years. Abeson, Carrie was sorted to Gryffindor. Barker, Digby to Slytherin, and so on. Charlie began to appear more and more nervous as the names went on, finally gulping with the last names began to begin with H’s.

“Hesketh, Charlie!” McGonagall called out, and Charlie looked like he was about to faint.

“You’ll be fine no matter what,” Roxy told him, squeezing the curly haired boy’s hand before he made his way to the stool. McGonagall placed the Sorting Hat on his head and Eggsy watched as the Sorting Hat began to hem and haw. It was a few minutes of awkward tension before the Hat finally came to a decision.

“Hufflepuff!” the Hat cried out, and Charlie looked scared shitless, but slowly walked over to the Hufflepuff table as his tie and robe symbol both turned yellow and grey. There was a rumble from the Slytherin table, but Eggsy ignored it as McGonagall quickly called through the list of names before she made it to Roxy.

“You’re good to go,” Eggsy said and watched as his friend sat confidently at the stool.

The Hat hadn’t even made it on her head when it called out “Gryffindor!”

Roxy beamed in Eggsy’s direction before scampering off to the red and gold table.

And then Eggsy was all that was left in the crowd without anyone he knew as the names continued to be called. Why did Unwin have to be so far down in the alphabet, he lamented to himself, the sorting feeling longer and longer by the second.

“Unwin, Gary!”

Eggsy took a deep breath and walked up to the platform, making eye contact with James who gave him an encouraging smile, before he sat down on the stool. The Sorting Hat was placed on his head.

“What have we here?” the Hat asked in Eggsy’s head. “A little bit of cunning within you boy, I dare say even some wit. But no, not Slytherin for you. No Ravenclaw, much too structured for one like yourself.

“Gryffindor?” the Hat continued to muse to himself, “you’d do well there, but not your best. No, no, it best be Hufflepuff!”

Eggsy beamed as he leapt off the stool and joined Charlie at the Hufflepuff, wrapping an arm around the other boy as Charlie looked like he was about to faint.

“My parents are going to kill me,” Charlie whimpered, “there’s going to be a Howler about this tomorrow, I can tell.”

“What’s a Howler?” Eggsy asked before he could help himself. He berated his insensitivity and continued on, “never mind that. It’s going to be okay. Me and Roxy will help you.”

Charlie looked at him with wet eyes. “You will?”

“We will,” Eggsy promised.

“Mr. Unwin, get back here!” Madam Pince hissed, but Eggsy was already out of the library with Roxy following right behind him.

“I can’t believe you did that!” Roxy laughed, patting him on the back once they were out of range. “I thought she was gonna hang you by your balls!”

“Why are we hanging Eggy by the balls?” Charlie asked, walking up to the red-faced duo as they struggled to catch their breath while giggling.

“I got it!” Eggsy announced proudly, brandishing an old and tattered book. “I got the book!”

“It only took you three years,” a new voice said from around the corner. Eggsy reacted quickly, shoving the book behind his back and turning to see Harry joining them.

“Three years for what, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Eggsy said, his face flushing as Harry raised a single eyebrow.

Circe, why did he have to be so hot?

“It’s the only thing you’ve been talking about stealing from the library since first year.” Harry reached behind Eggsy and took the book, ignoring the younger boy’s complaints as he flipped it around to examine it. “Who would’ve thought you’d go through all that trouble for erotica?”

“It’s not just erotica,” Eggsy denied, yanking the book back, “it’s Madam Pince’s that she hides in the library! We all thought it was a legend, but it’s real and in my hands.”

“You’re right, it is in your hands,” Harry acknowledged, “which is why I’ll be taking ten points from Hufflepuff.”

“Harry!” Roxy smacked her cousin’s arm. “You can’t do that!”

Harry raised another eyebrow and pointed at his robe where a Prefect badge was pinned beside the Slytherin crest. Eggsy remembered when Roxy had flooed him over the summer to complain about how Harry was going to be able to give and take points and “now he’s gonna become one of those Prefect twats with huge egos and not be cool anymore.”

“I think you’ll find out I can. Eggsy is in possession of stolen property. A staff member’s stolen property,” Harry explained, “but I could be persuaded to give those points back.”

“And I’m leaving,” Charlie said suddenly, recognizing Harry’s tone after three years. “Come on, Roxy, let’s go.”

“Wait, where are we going? Charlie!” Roxy protested, but the Hufflepuff successfully led her away, leaving Eggsy and Harry alone.

Eggsy coughed awkwardly, the third-year unsure of what to do now that he was alone with his childhood crush.

The past three years had passed by so fast, and Eggsy never expected his transition to Hogwarts to be so smooth, and so welcoming. His friendship with Roxy and Charlie was stronger than anything he’d ever experienced before, like they were his second family. Charlie had taken a few months to crack, years of family expectations and stereotypes having been drilled into his head. The boy had put a fight to Eggsy and Roxy’s friendship at first, especially once he found out Eggsy was Muggleborn. But Eggsy had proved himself loyal and ready to help Charlie, defending him against Slytherin first years who spit in Charlie’s face, calling him a blood traitor and disgrace to his family name.

Harry had helped then, only a third-year in Slytherin, but still commanding the respect of the younger students. He had caught them one of these occurrences, scolding the younger Slytherins and bringing to his Head of House.

Charlie’s parents disowned him, but his aunt had been surprisingly accepting, adopting Charlie as soon as he came back home for the summer. He’d mellowed out by the start of second year, and had apologized to Roxy and Eggsy for being a lil shit the previous year.

It’s only taken a handful of chocolate frogs, but they’d forgiven him easily.

When Eggsy had first met Harry, he hadn’t been attracted to him. He’d been eleven for Circe’s sake, but then Harry and Merlin had spent more time with the trio during second year. And then Eggsy had gone to stay with Roxy and Harry at Alastair’s during the summer after.

And now Eggsy was just well fucked wasn’t he.

“A-and how am I gonna get those points back?” Eggsy finally managed to say, Madam Pince’s book forgotten now. Harry’s face turned a beet-red, the older boy unsure of how to proceed.

“Well, I, um,” Harry sputtered.

“Ten points back to Hufflepuff for getting Harry flustered,” Merlin joined in, causing Eggsy and Harry to jump. The Ravenclaw Prefect stared at both of them, unimpressed that they hadn’t noticed him before.

“We’ve got Prefect duties to attend to,” Merlin told Harry. To Eggsy he said, “you can leave now.”

“Right, right, I’m just gonna, bye,” Eggsy rushed out before he scurried away, catching up to his friends who weren’t terribly far away.

“Merlin why.” Was all Harry could say once they were alone.

“You’ve been pining, it’s getting quite sad actually. Ginger is setting up bets with the other Prefects now. Jack has seven galleons on you finally confessing to the boy after graduation when you can run away if he rejects you. Which he won’t.”

“I’m not pining,” Harry moaned, leaning against the castle walls for support. “He’s thirteen!”

“And you’re fifteen, it’s not the end of the world,” Merlin said, rolling his eyes. “You’ve thought he was adorable since you first met him. You barely sent me owls until you met him in Diagon Alley, then suddenly I’m getting parchments describing your crush.”

“He was eleven then,” Harry muttered petulantly.

“And you were thirteen. It’s like you’re only two years apart.”

“I hate you so much Merlin.”

“You love me, really. Not as much as you love Eggsy, but still. Now I wasn’t kidding about Prefect duties, let’s go.”

“Rox, I think your cousin is trying to kill me,” Eggsy mentions casually in the middle of a Wizards Chess match with Charlie. The Gryffindor looked up from where she was reading a book curled in a chair next to the fireplace. She wasn’t a new sight in the Hufflepuff common room, and the other Puffs had just adopted her into the house as an honorary member.

“What’s Harry done now?”

“He keeps sending me things during breakfast. I mean, anonymously? But he uses Mr. Pickle so I know it’s him.”

“And how is that killing you?”

“Right,” Eggsy organized his thoughts as he captured one of Charlie’s knights. “So I think you might have mentioned the potion I’m working on? The one I’m trying to create that’ll let the drinker see other individual’s intentions through their auras?”

“I think he was in the room when I was describing your project to Uncle Alastair. Alastair’s really impressed that you’re trying to create a new potion, by the way, especially since the prototype you made actually registered faint intention auras.”

“It took a lot of trial and error,” Eggsy said shyly, still unwilling to take the credit for his more major accomplishments. Roxy shook her head, desperately wanting her friend to realize that he was top of the class for a reason. She couldn’t even be bitter about it, Eggsy just had some knack for magical theory and potion creation.

“Anyway,” he continued, “I guess he found out what kind of ingredients I needed and sent me a few packages with them in it? But all the ingredients are kind of potentially fatal if mishandled and I had no idea what it’s any of the packages, and I almost died today.”

“You what?” Charlie interrupted. “You didn’t say anything during breakfast!”

“I figured out what was in the package so I didn’t want to worry anyone!” Eggsy defended himself. “I had James dispose of it properly since the ingredients had begun to go bad.”

“You think Harry tried to kill you on purpose?” Roxy demanded, setting her book to the side so she could focus on Eggsy.

“He’s smart enough to know about how those ingredients need to be handled!” Eggsy wailed, “I don’t know if he meant to or not, but I could’ve died!”

“You two flirt so weirdly,” Charlie muttered as he took Eggsy’s queen. “Checkmate.”

“What.”

“Your flirting,” Charlie clarified, “with Harry? It’s weird. He could do a normal thing like ask you to Hogsmeade but instead he sends you deadly potions ingredients because you guys don’t know how to flirt like regular people.”

“It’s probably because we’re not flirting,” Eggsy said, reeling back as Charlie and Roxy both hit him with deadpan fed up expressions.

“Let me count the ways you’re flirting,” Roxy began, walking closer to the boys as she began to count off on each finger. “He’s always taking points because you’re constantly antagonizing him to. He sends you obscure potions ingredients because you mentioned you needed them to someone. You both gaze sorrowfully across the Great Hall at one another, and I’ve seen you eat your meals moodily because he’s talked to someone other than Merlin once.”

“Harry does the same thing when you talk to anyone else in Hufflepuff,” Charlie interjects.

“The play shoving! The pigtail pulling! The getting detentions when you get in detentions even though he’s a Prefect! The following us around like a lost puppy!” Roxy continued, her voice getting higher.

“I saw Harry fix his hair once when he spotted Eggsy in the hallway,” a random Hufflepuff commented from across the room. Roxy made a “see what I mean” expression and pointed at the contributor.

“I- you- you’re seeing things,” Eggsy denied.

“Unwin, look me in the eyes and say you don’t have a crush on my cousin.”

“I-“

“Say it. To my face.”

Eggsy gulped.

“I knew it,” Roxy crowed, holding her hand out towards Charlie. “You owe me a galleon.”

“He’s got to say it first,” Charlie rejected with a smirk. “Bet is a bet.”

“No chance, no way, I won’t say it no no,” Eggsy hummed under his breath, high-fiving Charlie while Roxy rolled her eyes.

“Fine, be that way. But the fact of the matter is that Eggsy has a crush on Harry and Harry has a crush on Eggsy.”

“So now we just need to get them together,” Charlie agreed.

“Don’t I get a say in this?” Eggsy asked weakly. The looks on his friends’ faces told him all he needed to know.

Harry was a little irritated that Merlin had forced him off his Prefect shift and told him to meet him at the Three Broomsticks and then just didn’t show up.

Honestly, why were they even friends?

“Harry? Thought you was on a shift today?”

Harry looked up from his table to see Eggsy standing in front of him, wrapped up so nicely in a Hufflepuff scarf and earmuffs. His nose was red from the cold weather outside, and his eyes were wide with surprise, and Harry wanted so much to just reach out and touch the younger boy.

“Merlin was supposed to meet me here for something. He said it was important, but as you can see, he never showed.”

“That’s not like Merlin,” Eggsy said with a frown. Merlin was so keen on being on-time and keeping schedule. To just ditch his best friend was out of the ordinary.

“If you want, I’m on my way to meet Rox and Charlie at Honeydukes,” Eggsy offered. “That way you don’t have to sit alone and you can make something of your day off.”

Harry pretended to contemplate the offer, but he already knew what he would say. Somehow he knew Merlin had planned this.

“That sounds good,” Harry agreed, blinding Eggsy with a smile and watching as the Hufflepuff’s face went flush so his whole face was red. It was such a fetching color on him.

Harry got up and went to pay Rosmerta for his drink, quickly, and returned to Eggsy’s side. “Shall we go?”

Eggsy nodded and the two prepared themselves for the cold outside, shivering as they left the comfortable warmth of the Three Broomsticks and exchanged it for snow.

“Here,” Harry offered, taking out his wand and casting a warming charm on Eggsy’s scarf and then his own. Eggsy let out a long sigh, burying his face further into his scarf and letting out a muffled “thanks.”

“No problem,” Harry said, and they began their walk to Honeydukes. It wasn’t physically very far from the Three Broomsticks, but with the snow and hordes of students, it took longer than expected to reach the sweets shop.

“Hey Eggsy! And…Harry?” Roxy greeted them as they barreled into the store, brushing off snow from their hair.

“Hey Rox!” Eggsy cheered, “Merlin abandoned Harry, so I brought him along.”

Roxy raised an eyebrow but shrugged. “Fine by me, did you tell him what we were doing today?”

“You aren’t just shopping?” Harry asked, moving a little to avoid small children in the store with their parents and running to the various displays.

“We’re running a workshop,” Charlie yelled from the back for the store, “and I could really use some help!”

“Workshop?” Harry asked as he followed Eggsy and Roxy to the back of the store. Eggsy nodded while he took off his scarf, gloves, and earmuffs, dropping them in a box near the back and motioning for Harry to do the same.

“We started it during our first trip to Hogsmeade,” Eggsy explained. “There’s always kids in Hogsmeade since their mums or dads are shopping, so we asked the Honeydukes owner if we could do a candy making workshop.”

“And how does that work?”

“Well, magical kids have that bit of fairy magic yeah? The little fits of magic that can’t really be controlled?” Eggsy motioned to where Roxy and Charlie were working with a group of ten kids. “We basically have them try to focus it on the candy to change the shapes and colors and flavors.”

A child squealed in delight as what was a previously white piece of toffee turned a bright pink with yellow polka dots before landing in her lap, as if you punctuate Eggsy’s point.

“That’s actually really clever,” Harry mused, joining Eggsy, Roxy, and Charlie at the table with the kids and watching as the third-years helped the kids focus their energy and efforts into the candy. “One of the smaller issues of magic control is young children who lose control of the fairy magic.”

“It was Eggsy’s idea,” Charlie said, “he just roped us into it after one of his magical theory sessions with James.”

Eggsy scowled but didn’t deny it. He was in the habit of reading and experimenting with new magical ideas, and discussing it with James often to make sure that the theories were sound and wouldn’t cause any massive issues if he played with them inside Hogwarts’ walls.

“It’s a good idea,” Harry told Eggsy softly, once Roxy and Charlie were distracted again, bumping his shoulder with the Hufflepuff’s. Eggsy smiled back shyly and whispered a “thanks” before turning his attention to the child vying for his attention.

Harry watched as Eggsy carefully and patiently explained to the child what they should do, and his heart started bumping in double time as Eggsy laughed with the child and encouraged them after they created a toffee flower.

Eggsy was good with kids and apparently, that was doing something for Harry.

He was so fucked.

“I know you did that on purpose, Merlin,” Harry complained, bursting into the Ravenclaw boys’ dormitory.

“How was your date with Eggsy?” the other boy asked without a hint of regret. Harry made a face, but just collapsed face first into Merlin’s bed and grabbed a pillow.

“It was really nice,” he admitted into the pillow. Before Merlin could gloat, however, he turned around to finish his sentence, “it wasn’t really a date though. Roxy and Charlie were there.”

“The whole time?”

Harry thought back to Honeydukes and how the other Hufflepuff and Gryffindor had suddenly disappeared with half of the children.

“No… wait, are you conspiring behind my back with Roxy?”

“The pining is getting terrible, Harry, you weren’t going to do anything, so we did.”

“I have the worst taste is friends and the worst luck in relatives,” Harry grumbled, burying his face back into Merlin’s pillow.

“You better do something soon though,” Merlin mentioned. “Word through the grapevine says Tilde is going to ask Eggsy out to the Yule Ball.”

“You’re bluffing.”

“Do you really want to find out?”

“Hey Eggsy,” Tilde purred as she slid up next to him in the Great Hall. “I was wondering-“

“Eggsy!” Harry shouted, and Eggsy whipped around so fast, Tilde could feel the rejection from a mile away. “Eggsy, I need to talk to you.”

“What is it Harry?” the Hufflepuff asked, completely ignoring the blond Ravenclaw beside him who rolled her eyes and strutted away with a huff.

“Can we talk outside the Great Hall?”

“Yeah, just, hey Charlie will you watch my stuff?” Eggsy managed to spit out as he hurriedly pulled his legs out from under the bench and stumbled to Harry’s side. Charlie gave a thumbs up and Eggsy grinned, following Harry out of the hall and into one of the more secluded spots outside.

“So, what do you need?”

Harry looked so nervous, Eggsy observed, unused to seeing the Slytherin so unconfident and unprepared.

It was cute though, to see him so flustered.

“The Yule Ball,” Harry started, “are you going?”

Oh. Oh, was this…was this it? It couldn’t be…but could it be?

“I hadn’t asked anyone,” Eggsy said, avoiding the question, “and no one’s asked me. But if they did, then I would.”

“Would you go with me?” Harry blurted out.

Oh, hell the fuck yes.

“Yes,” Eggsy breathed, “I would, I would love that. To go. With you. To the Yule Ball. Yes!”

Harry let out a relieved sigh, reaching down to straighten Eggsy’s tie.

“I would love to go with you, as well.”

“And would you like to the Hogsmeade weekend before the ball, together?”

Harry laughed, “I might be able to swing a shift change, but I would like that. I had fun last time.”

“It was the most fun I’ve had in a while,” Eggsy admitted, “I always have fun when you’re around. I like having you around.”

“You make my days a little brighter,” Harry confessed, “it’s why I would always mess with you.”

“I know, Roxy told me.”

“Roxy is the worst sort of person.”

“Oi!”

Harry and Eggsy turned to where Roxy was hiding behind a suit of armor, eavesdropping on their confessions.

“Absolutely the worst,” they said at the same time.

“I’m regretting the plan to get you guys together now.”

“It’s your own fault,” Harry said smugly, wrapping an arm around Eggsy and pulling him into an embrace. “Want to go sneak into the kitchens, Eggsy?”

“Of course.”

“I don’t know what’s happening, and I don’t think I want to know,” James lamented, sipping from his flask as he watched Harry and Eggsy on the dance floor.

“Poor me more firewhiskey, I need to burn this image from my mind,” Alastair agreed, holding out his cup for James to pour into.

Charlie and Tilde also looked horrified from where they were sitting by the punch, but Roxy and Merlin were having the time of their lives, laughing hysterically when Harry finally dragged Eggsy from the dance floor and they both disappeared.

“Fourteen.” James shook his head, “I was never getting that much action at fourteen.”

“Shut up,” Alastair groaned, “that’s my nephew.”