Chapter 3. Train To Hogwarts

When I was outside I hurried over to the flu my father and I entered from while whispering to my snake. “I’ll get you some water soon, Just a few more minutes.” The snake looked at me for a bit before slithering a bit solemnly. “Ok… Sorry.” I felt my heart stop from the guilt of making him sad. “Don’t be sorry. I’ll make sure you never go thirsty again!” I said with fervor while I almost made it back.

I made it to the flu, and spoke of my home while dropping the powder. I then opened my eyes to see my living room with my Mother relaxing and reading a book in her favorite chair. She looked over at me, and sprung up from her chair to embrace me. “Welcome home Lucas!” She cheered as she enveloped me. I returned her hug with a small smile. I did love my parents, but we could never see eye to eye on things that I truly believed in.

I had hidden my beliefs ever since I strayed from their teachings. That night was an eye opening experience that I would never forget. I had decided to not believe everything they ever taught me. Hierarchy, Purebloods, right and wrong. Ever since that night I had come to my own beliefs, but always kept quiet to fool my parents. “Did you manage to find everything? Did any gross mudblood give you any trouble? You were gone for so long!” My mother was checking me to see I was ok.

“I’m fine Mother. It just took a while for Ollivander to find the right wand for me.” I pushed her back a little to let me get some air, and began to move my school supplies into my room. “Oh! Let me see it!” She quickly clapped her hands while she sat back down on her chair. I took out my wand, knowing that she would be unable to know what was inside beside unicorn hair. ‘Horned Serpent is so rare nobody would know unless they had felt it before.’ I let her hold it, and she stared at it while the wood’s color almost churned in my hand, but not hers.

I left while she was in a daze, and headed off into my room. I placed all my belongings on my desk, and called out for my house elf. “Nalby!” “Yes master!” He appeared quickly beside me, eager to help in any way. “Can I get a glass of water?” He smiled and within a second he handed me a glass of refreshing water. “Thank you.” I said and he disappeared with a large smile. After he left, I quickly opened my cauldron, and brought my pet out. “Sorry little buddy… Is this enough?” I said to him while pouring it into his empty bowl. He slithered beside it and licked the water, before taking the plunge. “I like this!” He chirped happily while he splashed around inside his watering bowl.

I quickly took out a small notepad, and a pen while taking down notes of what he might say. He talked like a kid, so he could be a child. ‘In that case, I might not get a lot of his species from him, but I could learn with him.’ I smiled from having such an amazing talking pet. “Do you have a name?” I asked my first question. The snake kept playing about happily while he spoke. “No, I never got one. I was told by others that whoever brought me home would give me one. Can you!?” I smiled with excitement and thought of a name for him.

I kept pondering, wanting a name that could capture the kind of creature he was. Then a sudden name came to mind. “Valdemar. Val for short.” The little black snake paused for a second while he thought. “Valdemar is my name… I like it! My name is Valdemar! You can call me Val!” My smile grew while I giggled in glee from making a close friend with another magical creature.

The next day came around and it was already time to go to school for the first day. I had already packed all my things, and stayed up at night making better tasting food pellets with Val, and Nalby. I made sure to hide Val from everyone except Nalby, the one I could trust. I knew that unless my Father specifically asked for information, Nalby could give half truths to keep me and Val safe. However I found out last night that my speaking with Val was mostly because of me, and knowing parseltongue. I was shocked at first, but didn’t mind it too much. In fact I was excited to know a language that might help me communicate with other mythical beasts.

The most important one was definitely Val. I gave him taste tests, and wrote down his likes and dislikes from the food Nalby could summon. Val liked food that had been raw, more than cooked. He only liked meat, never being able to do more than lick fruits or veggies. I had eventually figured out his favorite food was fish. His favorite was to cut it up finely, and make it into a ball for him to swallow. I couldn’t have raw fish on me though, so I had to seal each small ball inside a film of something to keep the smell in, and stop it from rotting.

I eventually figured deep frying it for a few minutes to seal it from air contact, helped with the smell, while keeping most of what Val liked on the inside. Val appreciated this, and I felt our bond deepening. Val was on the inside of my robe, coiled around my left arm to hide from everyone. I wanted to make sure that I could bring him, despite my parents, and school rules. ‘Stupid rules, not allowing anything else besides owls, cats, or toads. Don’t get me wrong, owls are cool, but why nothing else? Kids are too stupid to take care of other kinds of pets?’

After my little rant inside my head, my parents gave me their goodbyes. My Mother was first, smothering me in her embrace while she shed a few tears for my goodbye. “Make sure you eat plenty there. Hogwarts has good food. Don’t be afraid to ask for what you want them to make you. Study well. Make sure to make lots of friends.” She would have kept going on if it wasn’t for my Father placing his hand on her shoulder. She let me go with a sniffle while my Father gave me his small pep talk with his hand on my shoulder. “Be the best. Those mudbloods don’t hold a candle to you. I’m sure you’ll do fine.”

We both nodded at each other with serious expressions. I got my cart full of my belongings, and backed up for my run down the platform. “Make sure to send letters back when we write!” My mother yelled as I ran through the wall, taking me directly to another platform labeled 9 ¾. I sighed, and mentally prepared myself for my first year of school. I knew that I would have to be Slytherin to avoid any suspicion of my beliefs, and that I wouldn’t be able to make any real friends who held the same beliefs as my parents. I would have to fake it though. I would have to make fake friends to make sure that none could tell my parents about how I was like here.

‘This is going to be hell… But it will be worth it. Just 7 years. 7 years, and I can be free.’ I reaffirmed my goal, and walked towards the red steam train. I got on board along with a multitude of other students, all already in friend groups talking amongst themselves. I got to a cabin uninhabited, and cracked open my book of ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’. I grinned from all the amazing magical beasts that the book depicted that I had never seen before. After I had shown interest in these creatures, Father destroyed all books concerning beasts that I might forget, and focus on magic, or potions to become the Ministry of Magic like him.

However I wouldn’t forget. I couldn’t forget the wonder that I had when I first found a magical beast he deemed nothing but a vicious animal without a shred of intelligence. But I had seen something alive in those yellow eyes. Something that was curious about me, just as I was about it. I kept flipping through pages, Val looked at the pictures while I was explaining each creature to him with wonder.

The train was moving before I knew it, and I was glad to know that nobody else had come inside. I felt much better by myself and Val, rather than having to hide him from any student. I flipped the page on Basilisks, which interested Val the most. He kept staring holes into the book while I explained every detail about them the book had. ‘From how dangerous one of these could be, it makes sense they don’t explain how to make one… I kinda do… What makes it evil? The fact it can kill easily? What about dragons? Or do they not want 30 wizards making these things willy nilly. Definitely not students.’ I scoffed from my thought process, and began explaining Billywigs.