St Mungos and The Hogwarts Express

St Mungos Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, Janus Thickey Ward.

Keith sat on the side of a bed as he looked at the woman in front of him. She had messy brown hair that was in the middle of wavy and curly, just like his own hair. Her thin face adorned a warm smile as she looked at her son.

“You’re about to go to Hogwarts right?” she asked as she caressed the back of Keith’s hand.

“Yes.” he said softly as he felt her fingers on his hand. He felt warm, but he also felt like there were hundreds of needles poking his heart. Seeing the woman who gave birth to him, sitting on the bed helplessly… had always made him feel rage.

No one told him how it happened, but something deep inside him just knew that it wasn’t an accident. But now, he was sure that it wasn’t.

He had heard his father’s words a few days ago.

‘Some people were our for my father’s life…. And maybe it’s the same people who did this to mother.’ he thought as a strange glint flashed in his eyes.

Then, he felt a soft pull and looked up at his mother who was still smiling at him.

“Come on, give mama a hug before you leave. I’ll probably only see you next yeARRGGHHH!! KRRRR!”

She began to drool as her body shook violently. Her grip on his arm tightened until he felt like it was getting crushed.

But he grit his teeth and jumped into her embrace.

She was warm, like she always was and yet, he felt heat on his back. Her nails ran across his small back, ripping his shirt in the process.

“Good lord!” he heard someone yelp nearby and soon, he felt his mother relax. He continued to hug her tight as tears streamed down his face.

‘I’ll avenge you… I’ll avenge you mama, no matter what happens.’ he made a promise to himself as he began to sob.

Then he heard a soft voice from above him, filled with love and warmth.

“Keith? What’s wrong?” Scarlet said as she patted his head like nothing had happened a few moments ago.

Keith didn’t tell her either. Instead, he just shook his head and spoke, his voice muffled.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“I’ll miss you mama.”

“Aww darling, mama will miss you too!” she said and kissed the top of his head.

A few minutes later, Keith walked towards the door and looked back at his mother before waving at her. She returned it back with a wide smile.

Andromeda placed her hand on Keith’s head as they closed the door, “Neville and his Grandmother should also be done in a few minutes.”

Keith nodded slowly before grabbing her finger, “Mom… hug.”

*********

The next day at almost ten in the morning, Keith stood in front of the brick wall and looked up at his family before he confidently walked directly at it.

His trolley passed through first, and then even he did. He looked around to see that the platform wasn’t too crowded yet, but he knew that in thirty more minutes, people would start entering in droves.

“KB, are you ready for your first year? I’m sure you’re excited!” he heard a voice behind him.

He nodded, but didn’t look back, “Yeah, I am excited… I think I’ll be in Ravenclaw or Gryffindor.”

“Well, I don’t know about Gryffindor but you do have a high chance of being a Ravenclaw.” Tonks said as he moved forward.

Andromeda and Ted stood beside Keith. His mother patted his head while Ted placed his hand on Keith’s shoulder.

“Both Nymphadora and I were Hufflepuffs while Andy was a Slytherin. It’s a common occurrence to be in the same house that your family was in.” Ted said as he looked around.

“…..” Keith silently stared at the trolley in front of him and then spoke softly, “My father was a slytherin and my mother was a ravenclaw wasn’t she?”

Andromeda sighed softly and ruffled his hair, “Listen here Keith, Slytherin is a prestigious house, but I hope that you don’t get into it. They value connections and most of them are selfish. I don’t think you’ll fit in a house like that.”

“Yeah.” Tonks said heavily, “Better Hufflepuff than Slytherin. You might not win the house cups or quidditch, but you’ll make the best of friends there.”

A snow white kitten purred as it nuzzled against Keith’s knuckles.

“See? Even Snow agrees with me.”

“Oh well, we’ll see how it goes.” Keith said and pushed his trolley to one of the train’s carriages before pulling his trunk out of the trolley and carrying it in. Once he got his two large trunks inside, he hurried to the window seat and looked at his family.

Tonks stood there grinning like an idiot, looking slightly prideful as she saw her cute little brother sitting in the train she first boarded seven years ago.

“Mom, I think I’ll miss him a lot…” she muttered with a slight frown, to which Andromeda smiled, “Well, I feel like we’ll all miss him and his antics.”

“Yeah, I won’t have to clean all those darn potion stains from walls regularly anymore.”

Keith grinned as he watched the banter before running out. He pounced on Ted, hugging him tightly, “I’ll miss you too, so write to me regularly please.”

The family of four talked for almost fifty more minutes until they heard the loud honk from the train.

“I reckon it’s better to get back in the train KB.” she said and then looked at the chubby little boy who was standing beside her brother, “You too, Neville. Get inside quick.”

“Y-yes!” Neville said and turned to look at his grandmother, “Bye Grandma.”

Keith walked in and went straight to his compartment with Neville following right behind.

“Keith, did you umm practice some spells before coming here? I wanted to, but granny didn’t let me.”

“Yeah, I just practised one spell over and over again but I did try some out from the standard book of spells.” Keith replied as he sat down beside the window and waved at the trio.