first day of the rest of your life | caius

[Hugo York]

01 SEPTEMBER 1974

the hogwarts express
shortly after departure

Hugo's hand swiped angrily at his cheek, trying to get his mother's lipstick signature to disappear. She had kissed him goodbye and his father had cried as if he was going off to war. He appreciated their care, but he'd be lying if he said he hadn't been relieved to get away from them as he crossed the barrier onto the platform.

He'd wasted no time getting aboard and getting his things put away, but he had not gotten in a hurry to find a cabin. Instead, he'd lingered in the corridor to watch the platform go by.

By the time the train was well into London, he realized that he needed a compartment for the journey rather than just hanging out in the walkway in between.

He made his way down the long rows of doors, passing by several bustling ones. He attempted to even enter a few, but the looks of confusion given to him by the people inside who didn't recognize him were more than enough to turn him away. He just kept walking until he found an empty compartment all the way at the back of the train.

He stepped inside and sat down on the bench in the seat closest to the window. With a sigh, he kicked his shoes off and laid himself out long ways across the seat.

Brilliant work, Jinx, he thought to himself. You're riding to school all on your own..

He laid his head back on the soft padding of the bench and closed his eyes, letting himself doze off a bit. He wasn't sure how long he'd been out when his eyes snapped open at the sound of the door to his compartment opening up.

"Oh sorry, I can move."

He looked up at whomever had entered and smiled wide.

"Oh, well, never mind. I'm not moving an inch. Not for you," he said with a laugh.

[Caius Ellwood-Luxe]

Truthfully, he'd thought it was empty.

Jack had dashed off to wherever fairly immediately after Aunt June and Uncle Marius had said good-bye to them on the platform. To find Niamh, Caius supposed.

Caius had received no communication from any of his usual companions during the week between the end of camp and now, and as such he wasn't sure who he might expect to spend time with.

He hadn't seen Ephraim, hadn't heard from Rocío, knew Lorelei wouldn't be anywhere near civilized company for the evening-- Caius had rather expected to be alone.

But Hugo peered at him from the corner of the compartment, sitting up noncommittally from his frightfully relaxed position, stretched longways down the bench.

Caius raised his eyebrows, turning to shut the compartment behind him.

"Don't let me interrupt your beauty sleep," he said, amused, flinging his messenger bag on the bench opposite. Caius dug through it a moment and extracted his book of the moment: the latest in the series of detective novels that he enjoyed: Spellbook Confidential volume eleven, Sins of the Sorcerer.

It wasn't literature, but it was fun. Like junk food for the mind. Aunt June had passed it to him as a gift for entering his seventh year, along with a signature care package for the start of term.

But escapism was looking unlikely.

Tucking himself into the corner of the bench and crossing his long legs one over the other, Caius held the book loosely in his hands, but did not open it.

The noise of the train clattered around them, and Caius watched Hugo soberly.

"So you made it to the train." he offered after a moment. "You nervous?"

[Hugo York]

“A little,” Hugo said, shifting down a bit further into the bench.

He hadn’t been until he got to King’s Cross with his parents. They had promised him all week that they were going to hold it together on departure day, but the second they got there, they both started trying to convince him to change his mind. They were really fearful of what awaited their son at Hogwarts, and for the first time, Hugo really saw what that looked like in their eyes.

For a split second, he’d debated his own choice. But he had to go. He had to. He’d fought for it for so long, and now it was in front of him. He’d be a coward if he turned away. A loser of the highest order.

So there he was aboard the Hogwarts Express. Nervous, yes, but committed.

He didn’t much want to talk about the nerves though. He could keep them at bay, at least for a while longer, if he focused himself on all that there was to look forward to. New experiences in a new place. A grand old castle that was bound to be ripe with places to explore and plunder in. He’d even heard about a room that could be anything and everything he wanted it to be if only he thought it into reality.

Yes, there was plenty to be excited about.

“Sins of the Sorcerer is a good one by the way,” Hugo said, nodding to the book in Caius’ hands. “But wait until you get to book fifteen. The Curious Incident of the Bavarian’s Boggart is a real page turner. Read it in a day.”

[Caius Ellwood-Luxe]

He lifted an eyebrow.

"You've read the Oswin Quickmire mysteries?"

It wasn't that Caius was surprised that Hugo had heard of the series in general. They weren't unpopular-- quite the contrary. The series was quite popular, but not amongst boys their age. The target audience, by what Caius had surmised, was older witches.

"I thought there were only twelve. There's fifteen?"

Finding out there were in fact at least four more books in his stupid mystery series, rather than just one more, cheered Caius more than he wanted to admit.

One side of his mouth lifted into a smirk, and Caius' eyes dropped for a moment, rifling the pages of the book against his thumb, then moved back up.

"Don't tell me what happens. I don't think these books would be half as good without the surprise twists. I'm just glad they finally moved beyond the cult subplot."

[Hugo York]

“Read them cover to cover more than once!” Hugo answered with a wide grin.

“My mum likes them a lot too. She let me borrow her collection to read them the first time, but my dad bought me my own set after a while.”

Hugo sat up from his lounging and lifted himself off the bench. Up above him was a small bag he’d carried onto the train with him. He pulled it down and rummaged through it for a second before pulling out a book of his own. He held it out to Caius to look at.

“It’s book fifteen. I usually keep it on hand because I like to speed read it. Don’t have the ones in between yours and this one with me but maybe you can find them in Hogsmeade.”

He smiled, looking down at the book.

“You can borrow my copy when you get to this one. I won’t tell you what happens. Promise.”

He sat the book down and then sat himself back down on the bench. He kicked off his shoes one by one and then laid himself back down, only this time on his side so he could look across the compartment at Caius.

“I didn’t peg you as the type to like reading stuff like this. You’ve got a very serious face. Thought you’d be more tapped into old sonnet collections and sterile biographies. Serious books for a serious lad.”

[Caius Ellwood-Luxe]

Caius took the book with an almost cautious upward glance, grin fully blooming as he brought the book down one-handed. Looking over the cover briefly, he flipped it to read the synopsis on the back, then handed it back.

"Thanks," he said, shortly indicated his current volume by holding it up. "I'll let you know when I've got through this one. I'd been chatting to my aunt about them, as she reads them too, but-- well--"

One shoulder raised into a noncommittal shrug, lips pursing, eyes traveling to the window. Aunt June was lovely, but she was Aunt June. She was rather more interested in which of the rotating cast of supporting female sidekicks Quickmire would eventually pick, rather than the grisly murders he solved.

Watching Hugo kick his shoes off, Caius' foot bobbed thoughtlessly to no particular rhythm, and he retreated into his thoughts for a moment as he stared through, rather than at, the floor, at the line of shadow beneath the bench.

It had occurred to him suddenly that he hadn't gone on a single Hogsmeade weekend trip last term. He'd have to endeavor to go at least once more before he graduated. Before he graduated.

Hugo's voice found him, and Caius looked up mildly. He took a short breath, then laughed, looking away.

"Well, I-- I do read those things. Quite a lot. The library at my uncle's house in Wales is made up mostly of old and dusty things like that. I made do with what was on hand. I especially like Greek and Roman classics. But--" here, he held up the book again. "-- it's nice to occasionally read something you don't need to think very hard about."

A pause. Abruptly, Ephraim's words in his mind, you never asked me any questions--

"You were-- in Germany, right? Is your family from there?"

[Hugo York]

Caius laughed, but he also looked away as he did so. It wasn’t the first time Hugo had seen Caius do something like that. And just like every other time he’d seen it, he didn’t really know what it meant. The laugh said one thing, looking away said another.

Hugo hoped he hadn’t said something offensive by accident.

“I don’t think it’s a problem that you read those things too, by the way,” he added quickly. “I think it’s cool actually. It means you’re very mentally well travelled.”

And he meant it.

But the conversation turned around then and now faced Hugo. For a moment, he was a little shocked that Caius remembered the details about where he was coming from. They’d talked about it so briefly over the summer. It had just been a throwaway line, really. Caius hadn’t really asked about it then, and Hugo hadn’t really brought it up since.

But Caius remembered, and he was asking now. Hugo smiled.

“No, my family is from Trafford. Germany only came into the fray after my parents did a little bit of research. Their goal was to find a small school that didn’t really attract the same kind of student body that Hogwarts did but that also taught similar disciplines with a similar depth.”

He didn’t really know how his parents had stumbled upon that specific school now that he thought about it.

“It was a small place. Couple hundred students tops. The classrooms were in this round building in the middle of a valley, and our dormitories were arranged in square satellite buildings all around it. There was a dining hall off to the side in a small building, but we mostly all ate in our dorms because it wasn’t hardly big enough to seat more than half of us at once. It was charming, I suppose. Very old place. Very poor students. The fact that I lived in a real house that my parents actually owned set me apart more than my being British I think.”

[Caius Ellwood-Luxe]

Caius had seen very little of real poverty. He had his share of hardship, perhaps overmuch, but the things he had needed in the face of those hardships were never physical: he'd had food, shelter, clothing throughout. He found himself weighing his challenging childhood against the former peers at Hugo's faraway school somewhere on the continent, and it leashed an uncomfortable tightness. He brushed it aside.

"Sounds... unique. Nice, though. I like the sound of a small school. Though, having to eat in your dormitory sounds a bit--"

He considered his next word narrowly, lips pursed.

"-- lonely, I suppose. Compared with how we have meals at Hogwarts."

There wasn't much else for him to compare it to. Perhaps Caius was well-read-- mentally well-travelled-- but he abruptly felt his own physical limitations acutely, how few experiences he'd had comparatively, how few places he'd visited.

"Do you know much about Hogwarts? The Great Hall, and that. I'd read about it before I went, and my great-grandmother had told me some things, but it was grander than I'd imagined, the first I saw it."

He grinned, a little, at the memory. The momentum of the train had him swaying, and he folded himself rather more effectively into the corner, laying his head against the wall. He considered Hugo, and his mess of dark hair, round, honest eyes.

"Do you have an idea what house you'll be put in?"

[Hugo York]

“I only know what little bits I’ve been able to collect from talking to people,” Hugo said with a bit of a shrug.

“My parents never told me anything about it other than it was a dangerous place for someone like me. Said it was a Pureblood playground, and told me not to think too much about it. I didn’t really pay much attention to it but I also never really bothered to look into anything but the houses.”

He was walking into a situation that he was remarkably unsure of. He knew all there was to know about the four houses but what existed outside of them? It was a complete mystery to him. He knew the school had a long and detailed history, but he knew none of it.

He had spent so much time trying to make friends that he had forgotten to really prepare himself for everything else he was going to have to handle upon entering the school.

He was sort of fucked, he thought.

“Well initially I thought that I was going to be in Gryffindor. My mum always jokes that I’ve got Main Character Disease, and that seems to be their modus operandi.”

He laughed a bit.

“But now I think I may end up in Slytherin. I’m not really looking for power or influence or anything like that. But I reckon I’m ambitious in some ways. I have dreams, things I want to do, and I’m not really interested in letting anyone stand between me and them.”

[Caius Ellwood-Luxe]

He laughed before he knew it was happening.

"Main character disease. I like that."

Listening as Hugo continued, Caius nodded, amused.

"You might like Slytherin. That's where I am. Though--"

There were plenty of main character types in Slytherin, though many of them were the sort that were walking egos with the power and money to back up their ridiculousness.

"-- that would be the pureblood playground house of your parents' nightmares. There are more stereotypical purebloods in Slytherin than other houses, I'd say."

He wasn't himself a purist. Putting himself on the side of the line that forced on him the idea that some of his closest friends were somehow lesser due to the amount of magic in their immediate family had always seemed ridiculous to him.

Still, Caius' surname preceded him in most circumstances, and historical reputation blended messily with modern reputation: Ellwood-Luxes were simultaneously known for their ancient, bloodthirsty purism, and the flagrant disabuse of it.

It was a strange line to walk. Whether Hugo had any preconceptions thereto wasn't something Caius wanted to prod particularly hard to find out.

Then, something occurred to him, and he stifled a grimace.

"You've met Ephraim, haven't you? Prothero. If you're in Slytherin, you'll have to share a room with him."

[Hugo York]

“Yes, well, if that’s where I get sorted then I’m glad to have a sea between me and them,” he laughed.

Really, he knew his parents would poke holes in any house he was sorted into. But Slytherin in particular was a house that was going to set their heads on fire. He knew what that house’s reputation was, and he knew immediately what conclusions his parents were going to jump to.

They would threaten to pull him out of the castle, he would protest, they would spend all of Christmas fighting about it, and he would return.

He wasn’t looking forward to it, but he was looking forward to getting a chance to prove himself able to withstand the things that they were sure would bring him down.

Like Ephraim Prothero.

“Oh, we’ve met,” Hugo said, a wicked grin spreading across his face.

“I pranked him and he wasted little time sharing exactly what he thought of me. To be honest with you, Caius, I hope that I got sorted into Slytherin just so I can ensure he never knows a moment of peace.”

Hugo laid back flat on the seat, looking up at the ceiling of the compartment, his smile still beaming and wide.

“I am absolutely not a fan of making people upset. It’s actually my least favorite thing in the whole world. I want people to be happy. But I draw a line at the kind of thoughts he’s got. I will bend over backwards to please people and make them feel nice, but not if they think like him. They don’t deserve it.”

He turned his head and looked at Caius.

“He thinks he scares me but…I’m not too worried.”