hogwarts au

[keythatconnects]

Sora was fifteen and it was his first day at Hogwarts. Students usually had their first days when they were eleven, but Sora had been taught by teachers back home. He had only transferred to Hogwarts the moment it was possible. He knew it would take some getting used to, but it was worth it to see more of the world. England was so utterly different than the Islands.

He felt like he was doing well, though, all things considered. He was even managing being away from his dearest friends once everyone retired to their common rooms. At least the Hufflepuff common room was cozy and comfortable and everyone had made him feel welcome.

The morning he had caught up with his friends before heading to his first class.

He was trying to find the potions room now, and he felt completely lost. He knew the class was in the dungeons, but the whole castle felt like a maze. He was probably going to be late, and that made him feel frustrated. He was terrible at potions, it required too much patience, and he was going to give the professor reason to dislike him right off the bat by being late.

Maybe someone nearby would be willing to give him directions?

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[alphaophiuchi]

From afar, Draco sighed. Just a tiny one, in lieu of rolling his eyes. But that happened too, grey irises turning briefly skyward.

"Yes, I'm getting that. You've been passing the same hall for half an hour," he pointed out. "Which is hilarious, except you just keep managing to go in circles. At this point, it's not even amusing."

[keythatconnects]

Sora raises his brow, not pleased to being made fun of.

"You know, where I'm from, we don't even have dungeons. Why does a school need them anyway? It's not my fault all of these hallways look the same."

[alphaophiuchi]

"Because. It's a castle. Castles have those. You don't have castles where you're from?" He asked in return, voice mild as anything, sweet as candy. "The hallways look the same because you've been going down the same one. That usually has something to do with it."

[keythatconnects]

"We don't, actually," Sora explained. "Look, do you think you could just point me to the potions classroom?"

[alphaophiuchi]

He merely sighed at that, rolling his eyes once more, then sharply nodded towards a door across the hall.

"C'mon then," Draco replied, tone clearly exasperated as he moved towards the potions classroom. The class was just about to start anyway, and he ought to be there and ready, even if Snape would have likely forgiven him the trespass. Especially in the face of a Hufflepuff being late.

He pushed the door open, briefly holding it there - almost as though to invite Sora in first - then walked through. It was just to make sure Sora actually saw which door it was.

[keythatconnects]

Sora's eyes narrowed at Draco and he was just annoyed enough that he was still glaring a bit when he found a seat to take with the other Hufflepuffs.

This was not shaping up to be a great first day.

[alphaophiuchi]

No, it was not. But how weird was it that someone was even having their first day at this age? Come on. That's weird.

So Draco spent the full lesson, sitting with his friends, murmuring amongst themselves about the ridiculous new boy with the funny hair and the inability to find a simple classroom. And how was he possibly qualified to be here? Laughable.

If they spoke loud enough to be heard, then that was probably the point.

[keythatconnects]

Potions was never Sora's best subject, but Draco making fun of him motivated him enough to focus and do well. He even managed to mix the first potion up correctly. It wasn't the best potion ever, but even Snape could do nothing but nod at it wordlessly when he came to inspect Sora's cauldron.

By then, he still felt a tension in his back despite doing well enough in the class. At least next he had Charms, the subject he was best at - and that would get him away from this stupid dungeon and the stupid people in it.

[alphaophiuchi]

Draco had always been one of the better students, and even while making fun of Sora, he managed to brew a remarkably good interpretation almost effortlessly. His compatriots weren't doing so well, but at least he was. That was the important part.

And Sora was right, at least he didn't have to deal with them in his next class. That was purely Hufflepuffs: it would probably be fine for him. But towards the end of the day, they had Double Herbology. And then he'd have to see Draco again.

[keythatconnects]

By the time he got to Herbology he was feeling more comfortable again. He was hanging out with some people from his House. That and he knew Professor Sprout had something particular in mind with this class and was eager to partake in it.

When he came into the greenhouse and saw Slytherin colors his mood soured for a moment, but he decided not to let it get the better of him. Instead, he headed over to where Professor Sprout was moving boxes and set down his bag.

She seemed to be expecting him and she smiled as he came near. "Ah, yes! Class. Is everyone here?" she looked around to see if everyone had managed to filter into the greenhouse.

[alphaophiuchi]

Draco had, as always, made it just a few minutes early to class, just before Sora had. He and his little group - they were inseparable, especially in those double classes. All the better to properly make fun of people, after all. Being made Prefect really hadn't helped that any, either.

At Professor Sprout's greeting, there was a flood of affirmatives from the students; Draco remained silent and smug, eyeing Sora as though sizing up prey. If the other young man looked over, he'd simply waggle his fingers in greeting.

[keythatconnects]

Sora raised his eyebrow at Dracon in a way that said 'really? grow up' more than anything and then turned his attention to the professor.

She seemed rather pleased with whatever was going to happen today. "Now, class, I'm sure you remember Professor Dumbledore introducing the newest student in this class. To remind you, this is Sora. He's joining us from a small island nation that is one of the last purely magical countries in the world. Isn't that right Sora? No Muggles at all?"

Sora nodded, "Yeah. It's true." He seemed a little embarrassed at that idea, but he let her continue.

"His nation has a lot of ancient and powerful magic and they have finally opened their borders to international cooperation. As a sign of good faith, they've let students join our ranks and they have gifted us with this." She pulls out a star-shaped yellow fruit. "Sora, dear, do you mind telling the class what this is?"

"Oh!" Sora again wasn't exactly sure what she expected him to say, but he was happy to help. "It's called a papou fruit. When you share it with someone your destiny between intertwined with theirs."

Sprout nodded. "That's right class. And I want to be clear... You should treat this fruit with the same respect you would an Unbreakable Vow. Its magic is potent and nonreversible. I don't want any of you thinking that you can sneak in here and give it to your sweetie. It is a lifelong, indestructible commitment. For a long time, it was extraordinarily rare to find any in the UK, and now we have a small collection of them." She seemed far too excited to have one in her hands. "When diluted, the papou can increase the effectiveness of potions and has many other magical properties. I'm sure even Professor Snape will be relieved if we can find a way to grow our own small collection of this tropical fruit.

So, that is the project we'll be working on throughout this year. We need to use the seeds gifted to the school by Sora's homeland to foster our own garden of these potent and powerful plants. Sora will be acting as a sort of teacher's assistant this year as he is the one who knows what the tree should look like when it grows properly."

Some of the Hufflepuffs were looking at Sora curiously and he give them a grin as he scratched the back of his head.