Closed Surprise Reunion

[Lucas Fletcher]

Even now that he was here, Lucas was still half convinced this was either some sort of joke or some sort of mistake. Even after the letter and the explanation by the person who claimed to be from the Ministry of Magic, Lucas still wasn't sure if he believed that not only magic was real, but he was a part of the magical world. But here he was with robes and spellbooks and a wand. It was hard to believe, but unmistakably real. Lucas had a grin on his face he was unable to wipe away. Not only was magic real, but he wasn't the only one. Everywhere he looked he saw kids, either his own age or older, and they would soon be his classmates. As guilty as he felt about it, Lucas was honestly a little excited to make new friends. He had felt abandoned by Seb, even if he knew that wasn't fair. At least here he could make friends again, even if he would miss Seb and his siblings a lot. After saying goodbye to his parents, giving them both a big hug, and allowing his sisters to muss up his hair, it was time to head to the train. Pulling his trunk along, Lucas made his way over to the train. He then paused, as he had no idea how to get the trunk actually into the train compartment. It was pretty heavy. Hesitantly, he looked around for anyone to help him. Maybe he should ask? Or maybe there was some magic way to do it, and he simply didn't know it yet.

 

[Madeline Kaimarama]

Going back to school was always an odd time. It was easier now that both her brothers were getting on the train with her, but Maddy always missed her parents and home while she was away. And it was hard to see how they were growing away from the Fletchers, all three of them. They'd been so close before Hogwarts, and now . . . they still saw each other in the holidays, but it wasn't the same. It couldn't ever be the same, when they had to lie to their friends. But Maddy was also eager to see her new friends at Hogwarts again, looking eagerly around for Cyzarine or Sierra or Jasper, or Elliot and Lars. But that wasn't who she spotted. "Guys - wait - is that - Lucas?" Maddy could hardly believe her eyes, but she'd know him anywhere. She didn't think about it any further before she was running, sprinting down the station towards him. "LUCAS! LUUCAAS! YOU'RE HERE! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!"

 

[Lucas Fletcher]

Lucas had decided to approach an older boy who wasn't standing too much further away, figuring it wouldn't hurt to ask. Maybe it would make him look a little silly, but surely he could't be the only one here who didn't know what to do and couldn't lift his own trunk yet. But then he heard someone call his name, and he turned automatically even though a part of him knew that couldn't possibly be meant for him. Lucas wasn't an uncommon name, and he didn't know anyone here. But then his eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw Maddy running towards him, his mouth dropping open. "W-what?" He said, blinking quickly in the hopes that it would help make sense of the image he saw in front of him.

 

[William Kaimarama]

William couldn't bring himself to be enthusiastic about returning to Hogwarts. He had always been excited more than anything to see Abian again after the holidays, but now... his best friend had a girlfriend, and William had spent the holidays stewing in how he felt about that. He had finally come to the conclusion that whatever he had felt for Abian... had to be in the past. It was obvious that fixating the way he had wasn't doing him any good, and at this point, William was just sick and tired of always being upset about his feelings. With that new outlook, though, it was hard to really look forward to going back to school. Lost in his thoughts, without the drive to spot Abian as soon as possible, William wasn't paying any attention to his surroundings until the shriek of his sister's surprise almost blew out his eardrums. "Oi!" William protested, rubbing his ear as he finally processed what Maddy was actually saying. Lucas...? He looked in the direction Maddy had run off, shocked to actually see Lucas standing there. "Oh, no way." William breathed, following after Maddy in shock. "What are you doing here?!"

 

[Sebastian Kaimarama]

Returning to Hogwarts was inevitably a bittersweet time for Sebastian. He loved Hogwarts and learning magic and the friends he'd made there, but he hated leaving home and his parents. And the Fletchers . . . Seb was painfully aware that Lucas in particular hadn't really forgiven him for leaving, or his parents saying he couldn't come to their mysterious school, and there was nothing he could do about that, but he still missed them. Seb was trailing behind his siblings, lost in thoughts of adventures and fantasy, when Maddy started yelling and ran off. It took him a while to parse what she was so excited about, but when he did look . . . Seb's heart leaped into his mouth. He stood staring for a moment, struggling to process what he was seeing, to think through the implications. Lucas was here. Lucas was a muggleborn? He'd lied to Lucas all these years, and he hadn't needed to? Sebastian had to run to catch up to his siblings, but when he caught up, he almost forgot about them entirely. "Lucas," he breathed. Sebastian was painfully aware that in this moment he was the only one who truly understood what had happened, what they had done to Lucas and how he must feel about it. "I'm so sorry."

 

[Lucas Fletcher]

Lucas' eyes grew impossibly wider at the sight of William and Seb who joined Maddy. Slowly, it was dawning on him what was happening. Things started clicking into place in his mind. The mysterious school they all went to, the inability to call them while they were at school... the uncomfortable silences when he asked for details about their school life, and his conversation with Seb, when he had asked if he couldn't go to the same school as all of them. His gaze moved to the youngest boy, his best friend. Lucas had been so overjoyed only moments before, but now he felt both humiliated and sad. When Sebastian apologized, Lucas shook his head slowly, taking a step back without taking his eyes off him. "You lied." He said shakily. "You lied to me, all that time. You must have thought I was s-so stupid, talking about magic... asking to go to school with you." He swallowed. "You knew it was real and you never told me!" His mind was frantically going back over the years of friendship for any hints about this, any hints that his friends had been wizards and witches all along. "W-were your stories... in our games just things that really happened to you?" He asked in a small voice. In his mind, he could easily see the three of them having magical adventures together, only to water them down and tell them to Lucas later in the form of a game. Tears started forming in his eyes, he had been left out of this all along.

 

[Sebastian Kaimarama]

Sebastian had known his friend would be upset, but to see him backing away from him like this, like he didn't trust him anymore, was more than he could stand. Seb wanted nothing more than to hug him and tell him it would be all right, but that wasn't what he needed right now. Lucas' words hurt, even though Seb could see the reasoning behind them, and he had to make him understand that had never been the way it was. "No, it wasn't like that!" he said, his voice cracking. "We had to lie, it's illegal to tell mu- non-magic people about any of this. We would've gotten in huge trouble. We hated it." Sebastian felt tears prickling at his eyes, remembering all the times he'd wanted so badly to let Lucas know. "I wanted to tell you, I wanted to get you to come with us so badly. I knew you'd love it." Lucas' last, unexpected accusation was the worst of all. Seb knew that he was upset, he wasn't thinking straight, but the thought that all the effort he had put into writing stories for them could just be brushed away as things that had actually happened . . . Sebastian could barely get the words out to tell him he was wrong. "No! No, my stories were always things I made up. For us. For all of us."

 

[Lucas Fletcher]

Lucas was finding it difficult to see the Kaimarama's through the tears forming in his eyes, and he angrily wiped at his eyes. "I WOULDN'T HAVE TOLD!" He yelled at them, his voice cracking. "I will love it! On my own!" He added, his sadness and anger making it impossible to look at Seb any longer. He turned his head away, his fists clenched. He swallowed down a sob. "Why should I believe you?" He asked, his voice now quiet and trembling. "You lied the whole time." With that, he turned and walked away from them, dragging his trunk behind him angrily, not caring that it bumped against his legs painfully. He just wanted to get away.