Eridanus was getting ready for his first year at Hogwarts and to say he was nervous would be an understatement. He still tried to remain calm on the outside, with his usual impassive expression. However, Draco knew him too well and could see right through his act.

“Are you nervous, Eri?” His younger cousin teased as the two bustled about his room, getting things ready and packed.

Eridanus, never liking others, even if it was his own family, to see him anything but calm, scoffed as if the notion were ridiculous.

Draco could still see through the other boy and slightly chuckled at his denial. “Well don't worry. I don't doubt that you'll be sorted into Slytherin and we’ll most likely share many classes as well so you'll rarely be alone.”

Although Eridanus would never admit it, he was thankful for his cousin always being there for it and showed his appreciation by slightly smiling at him. Yet one thing kept popping into his mind that couldn't cease his nerves: What if he wasn't sorted into Slytherin? He came from generations of Slytherin's and he couldn't imagine the embarrassment that would follow if he wasn't one. The last time someone in his family wasn't sorted into Slytherin was Sirius Black and everyone knew how that turned out.

However, he didn't bring up his concerns with Draco, not wanting to worry the other boy when he was clearly ecstatic for Eridanus to be attending Hogwarts with him.

It didn't take long for the two to be finished packing as they had slowly packed the week leading up to their departure. Therefore, the only things that really needed to be packed were last minute items, such as toiletries.

It wasn't long before 11 o’clock that the two boys and Lucius Malfoy were setting out, not leaving much time before the Hogwarts Express was due to leave. This made Eridanus extremely anxious as he worried they would miss it.

“Relax,” Draco soothed as he put a reassuring hand on Eridanus’ shoulder. “It’ll take us barely a second to get there leaving plenty of time to spare.”

“Alright, if you say so.” Eridanus was still nervous but agreed nonetheless.

Draco nodded triumphantly and left his hand on the taller boys shoulder as his father grabbed his own and in a second they were apparating to Kings Cross. They quickly ran through the barrier (Eridanus not being hesitant as he knew how magic worked). He looked up at the large clock and saw that they still had ten minutes which caused him to let out a sigh of relief.

Eridanus could see their house elves bringing their suitcases to the train and snapped his attention back towards his uncle once he cleared his throat.

“I expect both of you boys to be good this year. And make sure you two stick together.” Were Lucius’ short words of wisdom.

Both boys nodded obediently and with an appreciative nod of his own, Lucius sent both boys to the train.

Eridanus followed behind Draco quietly as they made their way onto the train. As they went, Eridanus examined the train which was painted a beautiful bright red, adorned with gold and black accents. Eridanus knew that the colours were quite Gryffindor (Draco having told him all summer about the house and how Hogwarts seemed to have a bias towards it, much to his dismay) yet he couldn't help but admire how beautiful the colors looked together.

Him and Draco continued, walking down a narrow corridor until they stopped upon a compartment, which Eridanus noticed had the letter M on the door. Upon entering, Eridanus was disheartened to find that there were people occupying it as he had hoped that he could experience the journey in solitude. It seemed, however, that the two people sitting in the compartment recognized Draco as they immediately shot up as soon as he arrived.

“Draco!” A rather chubby boy exclaimed from his seat as another chubby boy next to him smiled and waved at Draco.

His cousin simply nodded in response as he sat down across from the two boys, close to the compartment door. Eridanus took the hint that he too should sit down, which he did after shutting the door. Eridanus chose to be quite close to the window as he enjoyed getting lost in the outside world.

Draco cleared his throat before finally introducing the two boys to Eridanus. “Crabbe, Goyle, this is my cousin Eridanus Lestrange. Eridanus, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle.”

The three boys barely said any words of introduction, merely nodding their head at the other, acknowledging that the other existed. After that, Draco and the boys - Crabbe and Goyle as he now knew them as - were launched into a conversation on what they did over the holidays. Draco, being the obvious leader of the trio, did most of the talking while the two other boys stared at him in awe, as if he were Merlin himself. Eridanus simply ignored the conversation, seeing as he had been there for every one of Draco’s stories. Instead, he occupied himself by watching as the large terrain passed them by.

The Lestrange boy didn't know how much time had passed while Draco was retelling his summer adventures but by how the sky had darkened slightly, he could only assume that it had been a few hours.

The compartment wasn't quiet for long, however, as it soon welcomed a new member in the form of a short, dark haired, pug faced girl. Even though her features resembled those of a canine, she was still cute, in a somewhat odd way.

“Draco!” She exclaimed as soon as she saw the pale blonde, her voice shrill with excitement. “I've been looking everywhere for you.”

Eridanus glanced at his cousin and noticed how sour his expression had turned. “Yes, well you found me. What do you want, Parkinson?” He snapped, obviously quite irritated with the girl. Eridanus almost felt like scolding Draco for his disrespecting tone as they both learned to never speak to a woman that way. He stopped himself though, knowing that him reprimanding Draco in front of his friends most likely wouldn't turn out well.
Parkinson’s lips pursed in annoyance at being snapped at, her flushed cheeks adding to Eridanus’ theory that perhaps she had a bit of a crush on his cousin.

“I just wanted to say hello,” she snapped back with a roll of her eyes. “I also heard that a new student - your cousin - was joining Hogwarts and I’d thought I'd introduce myself.” Ignoring Draco’s protests as he didn't want Eri anywhere near Pansy, the girl stuck her hand out with a sly grin on her face. “I'm Pansy Parkinson, and you are?”

Eridanus admired how much she seemed to radiate feistiness and with a smirk, he took her hand before leading it up to his lips and placing a gentle kiss to the back of it. “Eridanus Lestrange, pleased to make your acquaintance.”

Pansy’s blush deepened tenfold - as did Draco’s glare but the two teens ignored him.

“Wow, what a charmer you are.” Pansy commented, cleary impressed.

Eridanus simply shrugged in reply, his smirk still intact.

Draco huffed in annoyance before standing up and guiding Pansy out of the room. “Alright Parkinson, you said hello, you introduced yourself, now it's time for you to leave.”

Pansy nodded yet left anyway but not without a wink in Eridanus’ direction. “Welcome to Hogwarts,” she called out as she left, the door making a loud bang as Draco slammed it shut behind her.

“That wasn't very nice,” Eridanus teased, snickering once Draco shot him an unimpressed look. Eri knew when to stop before Draco got too mad and therefore left his teasing at that as he stood up and prepared to leave.

“You're not going to see Pansy again, are you?” Malfoy asked incredulously resulting in a slight smirk and shake of his head from the older boy.

“Don't worry, I'm just going to the loo.”

Draco eyed him suspiciously but let him go with a sigh. “Alright. But don't take too long otherwise we'll have to send out a search party for you.”

Eridanus let out a snort and left without another word, not sparing the other two boys a glance as he went. He already didn't care too much for them, even if they didn't talk much. Eridanus just wasn't used to being around many people and had just gotten used to Draco. He knew his first year at Hogwarts would be challenging but he figured with the things he went through daily, school would be a piece of cake. Oh, how wrong he was.  

Eridanus never thought of himself as a lucky person as almost nothing good had come from his life. Actually, he could think of one thing but that thing had too been stripped away from him like everything else.

So it wasn't a surprise that as he was coming back from the loo, he ran into Mr. Harry Potter, the one person that he had been hoping he'd never see again. And yes he knew that would be basically impossible as they would be in the same year at Hogwarts.

It's not that Eridanus had anything personally against Harry, at least not yet, it's just that he knew how much his family disliked the boy. If Draco or Lucius found out that he had come across the famous boy without tormenting him, they would be deeply disappointed in him.

Therefore, Eridanus hoped that he could simply ignore the boy as he had no real reason to hate him.

Harry, of course, wanted to deny Eridanus of his hopes as he called out for him. Now, Eridanus could have been rude and walked away, however, there was something that pulled him towards the Potter boy. What it was, he had no idea, but he thought he might as well stick around and see.

“Yes, Potter?” He asked, annoyance seeping through every word.

Harry didn't back down though as most would at Eridanus’ harsh tone, instead, he squared his shoulders defiantly as if he were preparing to go into battle. Eridanus had to hold himself back from rolling his eyes, Potter looked like the exact opposite of intimidating with his scrawny form and muggle clothes. A child wouldn't even be afraid of him. Eridanus was the exact opposite, however, with his tall stature, dark clothes and steely expression, it didn't take much for him to make babies cry. He supposed that was just one of the many differences between him and Harry Potter.

Eridanus stared - or glared more like - at Harry for a few moments before the boy finally cleared his throat and shook his head. “N-Nothing, nevermind, sorry.” And with that he scurried away.

Eridanus was utterly confused on what had just happened, shaking his head while walking back to his compartment. Harry Potter was a lot odder than people said.

Draco looked at Eridanus curiously as he re-entered their compartment as he completely ignored whatever Crabbe was babbling on about.

“What took you so long?” The blonde asked suspiciously as Eridanus sat down beside him, next to the window. “We really did almost send out a search party.”

Eridanus shrugged nonchalantly as he mentally debated whether or not he should tell Draco the truth. He ultimately decided on no; he didn't want to worry his cousin and he doubted that anyone had seen his and Harry’s reaction therefore Draco would never know. Plus Eridanus mostly didn't want to admit that he let Potter talk to him freely, without saying one bad thing back - although that was sort of a lie.

“Nothing,” he replied as he looked out of the window. “There was just a long line.”

Draco looked at him disbelievingly, obviously not falling for Eridanus’ excuse. Yet he decided to drop the matter with a shrug of his shoulders. Perhaps Eri would tell him later without Crabbe and Goyle around.

“Alright, well anyway,” he began slowly, drawing Eridanus’ attention back to his cousin. “The train is due to arrive soon so we should be getting dressed into our robes.”

Eridanus regarded Draco for a moment before ultimately agreeing with him as they brought down their suitcases and took out their robes. Eridanus’ was just a plain black one as he hadn't been sorted into a house yet. He was told that once the time came, he would go up with the first years and be sorted then. The Lestrange boy could already tell that it was bound to be an awkward affair, especially since it was on display for the whole school, but figured that people would leave him alone as soon as they figured out who he was.

Eridanus wouldn't dare change in front of anyone, so he made the trek all the way back to the loo to change. He quickly glanced at himself in the mirror and smirked as he noticed how well the robes fit him and he just hoped he had the Slytherin crest to add onto his look.

Draco, Crabbe and Goyle were already dressed when Eridanus got back - which he was extremely grateful for, he had no desire to see any of them naked.

Thankfully, they didn't have to sit around in their robes for long as they were soon pulling up to the station, Eridanus catching a glimpse of Hogwarts as they did.

Draco was the first to jump up, clearly excited by the prospect of showing off his cousin at school as he rushed the other three - mostly Eridanus, out of the compartment.

“Come on, Eri, follow me.” Draco declared, glancing over his shoulder as they began making their way down the hallway, which was too cramped in Eridanus’ opinion. “Crabbe and Goyle too.” He added as if an afterthought.

Eridanus followed Draco closely, his shoulders tense as he brushed by other students. Once they made it onto the platform, Eridanus breathed a sigh of relief, glad that he wasn't cramped in between all those people any more. It took everything in him not to hex anyone into a coma if they so much as looked at him. Eridanus Lestrange was definitely not a people person.

The four boys continued walking until they reached where the carriages were taking off from. The carriages, which would take them directly to Hogwarts, were pulled by magnificently ugly animals, which also resembled a horse. Eridanus, who had read many books on Hogwarts during the summer, recognized them as Thestrals. He also know that only few could see them as they only appeared to those who had witnessed death. Therefore, it wasn't surprising to him that he could see them, Eridanus had witnessed enough deaths to last a lifetime.

A group of three people rushed past them, bringing Eridanus out of his thought on the creatures and he looked to see none other than Harry Potter and his friends, whom had also been at the Quidditch World Cup.

“Hey, Potter,” Draco called out, causing the three teenagers to stop in their tracks and face the other four. Eridanus almost groaned in annoyance, hoping that his cousin and nemesis wouldn't get into a fight. He really wouldn't like to get blood on his new robes.

“There's a line, in case you missed it. I would ask if your mother taught you manners but that would be pointless since she's dead.”

Harry's face reddened and Eridanus imagined steam coming out of his ears in anger. The Lestrange boy couldn't blame him, that was quite a line to cross - especially since Draco knew about Eridanus and his own situation. Yet, he didn't say anything and continued to watch the events unfold before him.

The bushy haired girl on the right of Harry, held his arm back before he could lunge at Draco, whispering into his ear. That seemed to calm him down as he took a deep breath while nodding at whatever Hermione was saying.

Harry, however, still scowled at Draco, most likely wishing for the phrase ‘if looks could kill’ to come true. Potter didn't even realize that Eridanus was there for a few moments yet when he did his eyes widened fractionally. This was the first time that Eridanus and Harry were quite close to each other with other people around so it was that moment that Harry noticed the foreboding air around him. Potter couldn't quite place it but it made the other boy stick out like a sore thumb, as if he had a sign over his head that read ‘stay away from me’. That just made Harry curious.

While Harry was thinking about Eridanus and his aura, the Lestrange boy looked the Gryffindor up and down as if sizing him up before licking his lips - which Harry had definitely noticed and gulped audibly.

“Potter.” He muttered darkly before brushing past everyone and getting into an empty carriage.

Harry stared after him, perplexed on what had just happened, before Draco narrowed his eyes and shoved into him, making the other boy slam into the redhead.

Draco glanced at Hermione, having noticed her inquiring looks at his cousin, before scowling at Harry. “Keep your filthy mudblood away from him,” he sneered in disgust while Hermione flinched at the insult. “He is not a project for her to analyse.”

And with that he stormed off, leaving the trio in equal parts confusion and anger. 

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So I know this took forever and I'm so sorry! Please dont get mad at me especially once you guys know I've had this written for months. However, I had no motivation for this story and wasnt into writing but since I've decided to try and make a comeback here, I thought maybe posting this chapter would get me inspired again.

Anyway I hope you guys liked this chapter, what did you guys think of this chapter? What do you think of Harry and Eridanus' interactions. How about Eridanus and Draco's relationship? What kinds of things would you like to see/think will happen in future chapters? Please let me know all of your guys thoughts!