Just a small drabble of the train ride home for Christmas holidays.

word count: 987

"Is all your family magic?" Harry asked, absentmindedly peeling apart a liquorice wand.

Louis rested back against the opposite seat of the train compartment and shook through his box of Every Flavour Beans, inspecting carefully. "Yep, every one. Well, all 'cept my dad. He and his family are all Muggles, but we don't see them much. And when we do it's hush-hush about all things magical." He selected a grassy green bean and a warm yellow and popped them both into his mouth.

Harry nodded in understanding, thinking of his own Muggle step-father's family.

Louis continued, "My mum's the proudest witch who ever was, though, and she told my dad all about it even before they planned on getting married." He smiled and brushed at his long fringe hanging in his eyes. "I remember," he chuckled, "hearing of this one time my mum brought my dad over to her house for dinner with her parents, but she didn't tell them he already knew about it all, and my grandmum almost shoved the cat into the roast trying to hide some bit of magic."

Harry breathed a laugh and a grin split onto his face, letting the dimple on his cheek peek out. Louis' stare locked onto it for a bit longer than it should have, and he swallowed and smiled back at Harry's eyes briefly before going back to digging around in the carton of Every Flavour Beans.

There was a bit of a silence before Louis asked, "So what about you then, Curly? Much magic go on 'round your place?"

"Not really, no," Harry said thoughtfully. "I mean there's some magic in my outer family, but in my house, I'm the only one."

Louis gave a very interested look, his lips drawn in a question and his eyebrows raised. "Really! How's that?"

Harry cleared his throat a couple times from the lingering taste of anise that coated his mouth and said, "Erm.. Well I have a couple magic aunts and uncles, I guess. And like, cousins probably. But my mum isn't magic and neither is my sister. My dad was, and more people in his family were, I think. But I, like... didn't really grow up with it, you know what I mean? Cause my dad left right before I started showing signs of it, but I was pretty late, and because Gem hadn't either I think my parents just assumed the magic had skipped our generation."

"That is so weird," Louis mused as he set aside the candy in his hand. "Me and all my sisters are magic. I wonder why it's so different?"

Harry shrugged. "Who knows?"

Louis stretched and twisted in his seat to wake his bones while Harry watched and licked his lips unconsciously. "So, um" he cleared his throat again. "How many sisters ve'you got?"

"Four," Louis replied, giving him a pointed look. "All younger."

Harry offered an empathizing laugh. "Sounds rough. They get to you?"

"Nah, not much. It's quite nice not seeing them for so long while I'm at school, makes me excited to see them when I come home for the holidays."

"You said they're all magic; when do they get to come up themselves?"

"Actually, Lottie's just started her first year. Sorted into Gryffindor," Louis said proudly.

Internally, Harry huffed in frustration. Why hadn't he known Louis before, or at least even heard about him? He tried thinking back to this year's sorting ceremony in desperation, wracking every inch of his brain for a memory of a young Tomlinson girl being called to the wooden stool, but got nothing.

"Is she coming home then, too?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, she's somewhere around here," Louis waved a hand dismissively. When Harry gave him a condescending smile, Louis added, "I made sure she got on the train!"

"So will all your family be waiting for you at the station?" Harry asked. As soon as the question tumbled out of his mouth, he thought of how strangely personal he was getting with the lad opposite him. But Louis just trilled a laugh and shook his head. "No, no, quite the opposite, in fact. I think they came with me to the station all of once to see me off my first year, and that was that. Quite a long drive for the little ones, you see."

Harry nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I'm sorry I have to make my mum drive all the way down to London when I'm pretty sure the tracks pass right through Chesire."

"I didn't know you were a northerner as well!" Louis smiled. "We're almost neighbors, you and I."

Harry laughed. "It'd been nicer if we really were." He clamped his teeth shut and felt his face flush. Jesus, what was wrong with him? Around Louis, he either clammed up with nothing coherent to say or he couldn't shut his mouth to save life. Mortified, he concentrated his attention on unwrapping a Pumpkin Pasty and shoving the entire sweet into his mouth.

But Louis just smiled fondly and leaned further back into his seat, a slight blush crawling up his cheeks as well. "Timing didn't really work out this year, with my family and me. Mum couldn't get off work to come get me this year, she likes to do that," Louis' smile grew, but he shrugged. "So I'll be hopping off this train to get right on another headed for home."

"I told my mum it'd be simpler for me to do that, just take the train back up, but she still wanted to come get me herself," Harry gave his eyes a roll. "It's not like it's been years since she saw me, and I've ridden the train before!" Harry's shoulders slumped and his mouth stretched out a yawn.

Louis laughed. "Maybe next year, young lad, when the journey won't tucker you out."

Harry made a face and chucked a pack of Droobles at him.