The Malfoys looked as pale and strict as Ben remembered from the last time he had seen them. When he, Audrey, Alycia and the possible Steve joined them, they were staring at Ebony as though she was some kind of inferior creature.

"Well, well... Look who we have here," said Mr. Malfoy, with a cold smile. "It's truly been a long time since we last saw each other."

"It feels like an eternity of pure horror and pain..." he commented.

Mr. Malfoy either didn't get the sarcasm, or decided to pretend he hadn't. His wife, Narcissa Malfoy, took a step forward.

"I believe Kath has already told you about our decision..."

He nodded. "She has."

"In that case, I really wish you understand that this is the last opportunity we are willing to give, Benjamin," she explained. Ben took a sharp breath at the mention of his full name. "We are already being too considerate to your parents by allowing you to be friends with our Draco after what happened."

Ben swallowed hard. "Alright. Where is he?"

"Already on the train, with Vincent and Gregory," answered Mr. Malfoy. "He wanted to assure he would find a good seat."

"They are waiting for you," added Mrs. Malfoy.

"You shouldn't make him wait, then, Ben," said Ebony kindly.

Mr. Malfoy's eyes widened. "Ben? What makes you think you can call him by a nickname?"

"I prefer Ben over Benjamin," he rushed to say.

"She should not even call you by your first name, she is only a maid!"

For a spare second, there was a glow on Ebony's eyes. A fierce one, like a small but dangerous flame that had been set free for an instant. But it was gone as quickly as it appeared, and it faded into an embarrassed, scared look.

Ben was about to jump to defend her again, when Audrey grabbed his arm. "Let's go to the train."

And, before he could say anything, he was being dragged away. He barely managed to grab hold of his trunk, and to shout a rushed "Goodbye!" to Alycia and Ebony.

Audrey let go of him when both them and Steve were deep into the crowd. He glared at his sister, very red in the face. "I wanted to say something to Alycia!"

"Too bad," she hissed. "Send her a letter."

"It's not the same!" he complained. "I wanted to give her something, and to tell her to talk to Grandma about her stutter. It's been getting much worse, and I'm very worried!"

Steve gave him a pitiful look. "There's still time, Audrey. The train won't leave. I can carry his stuff."

Audrey's frown softened, and she turned to her brother. "Alright, go ahead. But be quick."

"Thank you!" he beamed, and ran back through the crowd to find Ebony and Alycia. It wasn't too hard, because he could see Lucius Malfoy's platinum hair from over everyone else's heads. "Hello!"

As soon as he arrived, they all frowned at him. Ebony shot a worried look at the engine. "What's wrong?"

"I forgot to give Alycia something."

Ebony nodded in understanding, and Ben bent down to face his sister, a couple of steps away from the others. He searched in his pocket, and took out a small pin. It showed a golden dragon, whose wings were spread out to the sides. In its jaws, a rather tiny round piece of quartz glowed in a bright white colour. He extended his arm, and placed it carefully on Alycia's hand.

She looked up at him in confusion. "What is this?"

"A lucky charm," he replied. "It'll give you good luck."

Her chocolate eyes widened as a smile formed itself on her lips. "Thank you, Ben."

He smiled. "I want you to remember what I told you yesterday, Alycia. It's very important, you can't get into trouble. Not now that I'm gone, too. You're on your own, and I won't be able to protect you. So, don't argue about anything. Just listen and make them think you agree-"

"You never do that," she complained.

"It's different."

"Why?"

"Because you are much more important to me than myself," he admitted. Alycia didn't answer. "Also, I need you to tell Grandma Juliette about your stutter."

She rolled her eyes. "Stop worrying about that."

"No, Alycia, it's important," he stated, raising his eyebrows. "Mother and Father don't care about it, but I do. I want you to get better."

"Okay."

"Awesome," he said, and pulled her into a hug. Something Ben really liked about hugging her, was that her hair smelled like strawberry. Their love for berries was something both siblings had in common, including when it comes to hair shampoos.

"I'll send you letters very often," he said, pulling away.

"How often?"

"Very."

She gave him puppy eyes. "Promise?"

"Promise," he repeated.

"Alright," she smiled. "Go, or you'll lose the train."

———————————————

If Ben was sure about something, it was that he did not want to join Malfoy in his compartment. He'd rather stab himself, or jump off the train while it was running. That was why, ten minutes after the engine had started moving, he was still standing next to the entrance door, trying to find an excuse to not go with Draco.

He couldn't come up with anything so, after a while, he gave up, and decided to go find him. Perhaps he could just sit in a corner without saying a word, and ignore Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle.

But he definitely hated the idea of having to look at him after what had happened all those years ago.

He walked down the corridor, looking through the windows of the compartments. He saw a very crowded one, in which an older boy with dreadlocks was showing off some huge spider, and considered asking if he could see it, too.

But, some compartments away, he suddenly distinguished a mane of neatly curly blonde hair, and almost had a heart attack as he realised it was Audrey. She was leaning on the door, talking to a rather plump short-haired girl, and to Steve.

Ben panicked for a second, afraid that his sister would see him and force him to go into Malfoy's compartment. Fortunately, Audrey had her back to him, and she would only be able to see him if she turned around, which Ben knew was very unlikely, because she wouldn't notice anything around her until she finished talking, not even if the train fell into a ravine while being set in fire, so he tried to walk away from them carefully.

But luck wasn't on his side that day, and Audrey's friend, who seemed to be bored from listening to her, was zoning out. All of a sudden, the girl's brown eyes met Ben's, and his heart skipped a beat.

"Hey, Audrey," she began, but Ben didn't get to listen to the rest, as he was already dashing down the corridor, and swung a random compartment door open, closing it behind him, and crouching down so Audrey couldn't see him through the glass.

"Hello?" said a voice from behind him.

He spun around to see two boys sitting there, each on either side of the window. One of them, the one who had spoken, was a lanky boy whose face was covered with lots of freckles. His hair was as red as summer fire, and it contrasted with his icy blue eyes.

And, on the other side, there was nothing more and nothing less than Harry Potter, who was looking at him, eyes wide open.

"Er- I'm so sorry for barging in here without asking for permission," he began apologetically. "I was trying to run away from my sister and wanted to hide somewhere, but I didn't know anybody was here."

"It's okay."

"Older siblings are a pain in the arse, aren't they?" the redheaded boy grumbled, rolling his eyes.

"They are! Merlin, sometimes I wish I was an only child, it would be much easier!"

"Ugh, tell me about it, I have five older brothers, and a younger sister."

"You have six siblings?" repeated Ben, much more surprised than intended.

"Yeah..."

Something clicked inside Ben's mind. Fiery red hair, face filled with freckles, and lots of children. "Are you a Weasley?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Yes, I'm Ron Weasley."

Ben became very stiff. "Oh."

"Why? Who are you?"

"Ben Walker."

The sweet glow from Ron's eyes faded, and they both stared at each other, silently. It felt odd for Ben to stand in front of someone part of a family he had heard terrible things about. Was he meant to act like he normally would? He assumed that's what was best. But what if he didn't want to have a civilised conversation? The Weasleys didn't like them either, and Sébastien said they envied the Walkers because of their money.

"What's wrong?" asked Harry, looking very confused.

"My family," replied Ben. Weasley raised his eyebrows, as Harry furrowed his. "And the fact that they're horrible people, and hate his family."

Weasley shifted in his seat, observing him as though he was some kind of puzzle he wanted to solve. "Why are you saying that?"

"It's the truth," he replied, shrugging. "And I honestly believe that it shouldn't stop the possibility of us getting along."

Weasley's eyes narrowed for a couple of seconds. "Alright. My dad says everybody deserves a chance, no matter who they are, or where they come from."

Ben smiled from ear to ear, and a perhaps forced grin appeared on the redhead's face.

"Do you want to sit with us?" suggested Harry.

"Really?"

"If you want to."

"Great! Thanks!" he exclaimed happily, taking the seat beside Harry's, not wanting to get too close to Weasley for now, just in case.

"Is the sister you're hiding from the one I saw before?" the black-haired boy asked.

"The one who took us away."

Harry chuckled. "I had already imagined Alycia wasn't your older sister."

"Why?" asked Ron.

"Because she's a bit short, respectfully."

Ben put on the straightest face he could. "Well, she's just very short because, in our family, we're half hobbits. My mother's a witch, but my father's a hobbit."

All the colour was drained for Harry's face. "Oh... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you-"

Ben burst into laughter, to both boys' astonishment. "I was kidding, hobbits aren't real, she's just very short. And young."

"What's a hobbit?" asked Ron.

"Very short hairy-footed creatures from a book series called The Lord of the Rings," Ben explained, and began playing with his shoelaces.

"I have never heard of that."

"They are very popular muggle books."

"Oh," replied Ron, and then turned to Ben, a frown back on his face. "Who would imagine a Walker would read muggle books?"

"Muggle books are interesting."

"And what do your parents think about it?" He inquired.

"They don't know," he replied, and turned to Harry to change the subject. "You live with muggles, right?"

He nodded. "With my aunt and uncle, and my cousin."

"How are they like?"

"Can you imagine living with three demons?"

"Easily," said Ben. The truth was, he didn't need to imagine it.

"Well, that's how they are."

"But I suppose not all muggles are like that, are they?" Ron assumed.

"No, not at all."

"Mother says muggles are worthless and dumb, is that true?"

"My cousin Dudley is very dumb, but he's one of a kind."

"Fascinating..."

———————————————

Around an hour later, the train had left London. Now they were speeding past green fields in which sheep and cows grazed leisurely, casting unconcerned glances at the train. Ron had told them a bit about his family, and Ben was beginning to think that the Weasleys seemed like a lovely family to be part of. A loud clattering was heard outside, and a short dimpled woman opened their door, smiled and said, "Anything off the cart, dears?"

Harry jumped to his feet, and Ron started mumbling something about sandwiches, ears red. Ben got up, grabbing a couple of coins from his pocket and walked towards the door. He found Harry staring at the candies with both confusion and interest.

"What's wrong?"

"I should've imagined there wouldn't be any muggle candies in here," He sighed. "Which ones do you recommend?"

"Now, that's a hard question..." he muttered, earning a chuckle from Harry. "Well, my favourite ones are the Chocoballs, you should definitely get some. But the most popular ones are the Chocolate Frogs, and Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans... Oh, and Acid Pops, even though they're, well, very sour."

"Mkay..." said Harry, thoughtfully. "Perhaps I should get a bit of everything."

"Good choice."

Ben bought a few Chocoballs and sat back on his seat. Ron was sitting on the other side, staring at a sandwich he had unwrapped with disgust. It didn't look tasty at all, to be honest, so Ben took a deep breath and walked out again.

"Could I have a couple of chocolate frogs, please?" he asked the trolley witch.

"Of course, dear."

He gave the woman the last coins he had left from his last birthday, thanked her and walked back to the compartment, closing the door behind him. Ron was looking at the other two boys like a lost puppy, and Ben dropped the chocolate frogs on his lap.

He looked up at him in confusion.

"I would've gotten you a few more but I didn't have any more money here," said the brunet, sitting back down.

"Thank you, but I can't accept them," muttered Ron, giving Ben the frogs back.

"Oh come on," he threw the frogs back at Ron. "It's not that big of a deal."

"You bought them, therefore they're yours, Walker."

"I can buy a few more later."

"You said you didn't have any more money."

"I was lying."

"You weren't."

"I wasn't..." he admitted. "But, it's still my money and I can do whatever I want with it. And I've decided I wanted to get you some of these."

With each comment, the frogs flew across the compartment, while Harry stared at both boys, trying to hold back a laugh.

"Okay fine." Ron finished, and finally stopped making the poor frogs fly from side to side. "Thanks."

Ben smirked. "No problem, Weasley."

"If you want some of these just take them," said Harry, tilting his head towards his candies.

Ben took one of the Chocoballs he had bought and admired it. "Ugh I love these, they're the perfect combination between chocolate and strawberries, my favourite foods ever."

"And what are these?" asked Harry, holding up a pack of chocolate frogs.

"Chocolate frogs," answered Ron.

"They... aren't real frogs, are they?"

"Of course they aren't," laughed Ben.

"See what the card is!" Ron exclaimed eagerly.

"What card?"

"Oh, I should've imagined you wouldn't know..." said Ron thoughtfully. "Chocolate frogs have cards inside them to collect, you know, famous witches and wizards. I have about five hundred. I've been collecting them for years, I'm only missing Agrippa and Ptolemy."

Harry unwrapped his own as Ben and Ron awaited for him to show them the card. He turned it around, revealing an old man with a very long and snow white beard. "So this is Dumbledore?"

"Don't tell me you've never heard of Dumbledore!" exclaimed Ron.

"He's gone!" Harry's eyes widened.

"Who?"

"Dumbledore!" Harry showed them the card; Dumbledore's face wasn't there anymore. Ben didn't understand Harry's astonishment, did he expect him to stay there forever?

"Well, you can't expect him to hang around all day..."

"He'll come back, though."

Harry took a small bag next to him. "What's this?"

"Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans."

"You better be careful with those," Ron warned. "It says every flavour for a reason. You can get ordinary ones like chocolate, peppermint, marmalade, cream... But you can also get spinach, tripe and even liver... Fred says he got a booger flavoured one once!"

Ron picked up a bright green one, examined it like an alchemist and bit its corner after a while.

"Bleaaaarghh!"

"What was it?" asked Harry.

"Sprouts!"

They had fun trying to guess the flavour of each bean, and then eating them. Harry got toast, coconut, baked bean, strawberry, curry, grass, coffee, sardine and took a microscopic bite off a grey one Ron and Ben refused to try which ended up being pepper.

Ron had been luckier, and got cookies, orange, rotten cheese, lemon, sausage and marshmallow. Ben hadn't been as lucky as Ron, and ended up getting watermelon, dirty sock, cabbage, vinegar and aubergine.

"Look at this one!" Ron picked up a greenish-yellow one that seemed to be full of chunks. "I bet it tastes awful."

"I dare you to try it, Ben." Harry teased.

"No way! You've already seen the horrible luck I've had today!"

"Coward..." Ron whispered with an evil grin.

So Ben naturally had to try it. He grabbed the bean and shoved it into his mouth.

"Wow..." whispered Harry, and Ben smirked to himself. But that smile was soon removed from his face when a terribly disgusting flavour filled with mouth.

"Oh no..."

"What is it?"

Ben couldn't stop himself from spitting the bean out, and it got yeeted towards the window.

"Merlin! This tastes horrible!" He grumbled as Harry and Ron roared in laughter. However, the green-eyed boy was nice enough to give him a blue sugar quill to get rid of the awful taste on his mouth.

"What was it?" asked Ron.

"Vomit."

"Gross!"

A knock in the door was heard, and a boy with a very round face came in, eyes filled with tears.

"Have you seen a toad at all?" He cried, and the three boys shook their heads in denial.

"I've lost him!" The boy wailed, "He keeps running away from me!"

"He'll turn up," said Harry.

"Yes..." The toadless boy muttered miserably. "Well, if you see him..."

And he left without finishing the sentence.

"I don't know why he's so bothered. If I had brought a toad, I'd try to lose it as quickly as I could."

"Maybe it's got emotional value," shrugged Ben.

"I don't know... But I brought Scabbers, so I can't speak about pathetic pets."

Scabbers was a very fat and honestly rather ugly rat, and it was Ron's pet. He had put it back into his pocket after Ben almost had a heart attack due to seeing it, and it was still snoozing in there.

"He might have died and we wouldn't know the difference," he said in disgust. "Yesterday, I tried to turn him yellow. You know, to make it more interesting."

"I suppose it didn't work."

"It didn't. I'll show you, look."

He got on his knees and started searching around his trunk. He pulled out a wand that looked very battered; it was chipped in many places, and there was something white glinting at the end.

"What's that white thing?"

"Unicorn hair. It's nearly poking out... Well, anyway-"

When he was about to start reciting the spell, the compartment door slid open again. The boy who had lost his toad was back, but now he brought a girl who was already wearing her new Hogwarts robes.

"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," she announced serenely with a bossy tone. Her hair was light brown, and it surrounded her face like a bush.

"We already told him we haven't seen it," Ron answered, but the girl wasn't paying attention. Her brown eyes were fixed on the wand on his hand.

"Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it, then," she said smugly, showing her large front teeth.

She sat down between Harry and Ben, and looked at Ron, who was visibly taken aback.

"Er- Okay..." he cleaned his throat. "Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, turn this stupid, fat rat yellow."

He waved his wand, but nothing at all happened. Scabbers was still grey, and fast asleep.

"Are you sure that's a real spell?" she asked. "Well, it's not very good, is it? I've tried a few simple spells just for practice, and they all worked for me. Nobody in my family has magic at all, it was such a surprise when I got my letter..."

She continued speaking for a while, but Ben wasn't hearing anything. She was the first muggleborn person he had ever come across with, apart from Ebony. He heard his family's voices inside his mind, complaining and ranting about the existence of wizards and witches with muggle parents, and observed her with intent.

He heard Harry say Ben's name, and then his, but he was still deep in thought. That was something that happened very often to him; zoning off and not really noticing things around him.

When he came back, the girl had left, taking Neville with her.

"Whatever house I'm in, I hope she's not in it." Ron threw his wand into his trunk furiously. "Bloody spell! George gave it to me, I bet he knew it didn't work."

"Who was she?" asked Ben. Both boys frowned at him in confusion.

"Didn't you hear her?" inquired Ron.

Ben blushed. "Um... Yes, but I was thinking and, er-"

"She said her name's Hermione Granger," said Harry. "And that she wants to be in Gryffindor."

"Oh."

"What house are your brothers in, Ron?" he asked.

"Gryffindor." He replied grimly. "Everyone in my family's on Gryffindor. I don't know what they'll say if I'm not in it too, I don't want to know either, to be honest."

"But there's other good options, right?" Harry wondered.

"I mean, I don't think they would mind if I got into Ravenclaw," he pondered, shrugging. "But imagine if they put me in Slytherin."

The simple mention of it sent a slight shiver down Ben's spine. He suddenly got very tense on his seat, gaining a confused look from Harry, and a knowing glance from Ron.

"That's the house in which Vold-, I mean, You-Know-Who used to be, right?"

"Yeah," Ron flopped back into his seat.

"Hagrid told me all dark wizards were in Slytherin, is that true?"

"Mostly all evil wizards came from Slytherin, but that doesn't mean everyone is Slytherin is evil," stated Ben, stiffly.

"You're only saying that because all your family is there, and you don't want us to think badly of you when you end up there too," accused Ron.

Ben was clearly shocked by that, but he was technically not wrong.

"Why I said it isn't what matters."

"Is all your family really in Slytherin?" asked Harry.

"Well... My uncle Christophe used to be a Hufflepuff. He was disowned and murdered at the war, though... Oh, and my great-aunt was a Ravenclaw-"

"But the rest of them were in Slytherin," Ron cut him off. Ben clenched his jaw, trying his best not to snap. "It's been like that for centuries."

"Why did they disown your uncle?"

"He fought against the Dark Lord," he replied proudly. "He was an exceptional wizard, and he took down many Death Eaters."

"Such as your family," muttered Ron, probably not expecting anyone to hear it. But Ben had.

He stood up, eyes glowing in anger. "What the hell is your problem, Weasley? I get that you don't like my family, but I don't, either. And it wasn't my choice to be part of it."

And, before he could say any of the offensive and spiteful things that were running through his mind, he stormed out of the compartment, slamming the door shut behind him without looking back.

A/N: If somebody who read the first version of the book is reading this, you might have noticed that Ben's reaction to meeting Ron and Hermione is different to the one in the first version. I did this because, even though he doesn't agree with his family's beliefs, it was unnatural for someone who's grown up in a family like the Walkers (or the Blacks/Malfoys) to act completely normal and chill with a muggleborn and a "blood traitor". But that doesn't mean he's prejudiced against them, though.

Anyways, sorry for the wait, I've been studying for exams, and I've been struggling with some mental stuff, so I didn't really feel like writing.

Love you all :)