-1 year before -

Suga squezed through the narrow corridor between the different cars of the Hogwarts Express.
His suitcase rattled behind him, occasionally bumping into glass doors on his way to his usual car. Internally he cursed himself for having been late at the platform. He just had to hope that his carriage wasn't occupied by someone else already.

His carriage was now only a few meters away and he quickly glanced into it sighing as he saw a group of presumably first years already sitting in it.
His best friend was nowhere in sight.
He remembered seeing a group of Gryffindors sitting a few carriages away. Maybe they knew where to find him.
Clumsily he tried to turn around in the small passageway hitting his shin against his suitcase, hissing at the pain.
Merlin, he really hated this...

He made his way down the train again, peeking his head inside the other carriage which was stuffed to the brim.
There were atleast 6 guys packed in there. All of them were Gryffindors except for one blond-haired Slytherin who Suga vaguely recognized from their common room. He was glad that he also knew two of the boys from classes the Slytherins had shared with the Gryffindors before. Altleast it wouldn't be fully akward...

"Er- excuse me?", the carriage went silent and all of them looked at him now. He smiled nervously. "Sorry to interrupt, but do you maybe know where Yaku Morisuke is? I arrived a bit late and our carriage is already occupied."
A guy with short brown hair went to answer him with a friendly smile but was interrupted by the Slytherin. "And why would we tell you?", the blond eyed him suspiciously.

"Tsukki!", a green-haired Gryffindor exclaimed beside him.
"No. He's Sugawara Koshi, the one I told you about? I bet he's just searching for Morisuke to hex or curse him", the Slytherin looked at Suga with disgust.

Suga should have known it would go this way. It always did anyways.

The brown-haired boy from earlier looked furious. "Tsukishima-", he began but was interrupted once again, this time by Suga though. "Oh, it's reasonable, really. I know my family isn't the greatest... Um, I promise I'm not like them though. I don't really think all these blood-purity things really matter", he cracked a smile, feeling rather uncomfortable now. He should have just looked for an empty car...

"No, it's totally not okay of Tsukishima to just assume things only because of what your family may have done", the brown haired boy finally got to talk, glaring at the younger blond.
"I personally don't know where Morisuke is, but you could sit with us if you'd like? I think one more person could fit", he smiled at Suga again.

"Yeah. Tsukishima's a dick sometimes. Don't mind him", replied another boy, who looked as if he was only in second year.
Suga didn't even think about it. He was already ready to reply that it really was fine and that he would just go and look for an empty carriage, when a shout from down the corridor interrupted their conversation.

"Suga-san!", exclaimed a loud voice and the next second an orange-haired boy appeared in front of him, bouncing up and down with a sparkle in his eyes.
Suga relaxed immediately.
"Hello, Hinata. How were your holidays? Got your hands on any books about History of Magic?"

The boy swiftly avoided the question and looked into the carriage of Gryffindors instead.
"Yuck, Suga! Why are you talking to slimy Tsukishima?", he asked with shock clearly on his face. The blond scoffed. "Excuse me?!"
But Hinata didn't let him talk and just turned to look at Suga again.
"Ah, I just saw that people were already in my carriage from the previous years and Yaku wasn't there, so I thought they would maybe know where he was."

"Oh, I was just at the bathroom. Got sick again, you know. Me, Kageyama and Kenma already have a carriage though. You can join us!", the orange-haired exclaimed exitedly.
Suga grinned and turned to the carriage once more.
"Sorry, but it seems like Hinata here wants me in his car. Thanks for the request though."
His grin changed into a soft smile at the last sentence, which he directed at the nice brown-haired boy, who immediately turned red.

Suga didn't notice that though, because he was already following Hinata down the passageway again.

-----------

As always the train came to a halt at Hogsmeade Station and the new first years got sent to Hagrid, who took them down a different route to the lake.
Meanwhile the other students walked over to the coaches with the thestrals. Suga saw a second year who stared at the animals in shock and he immediately felt bad for the kid. Even more as his friends didn't seem to see anything and made fun of him for seeing things.

Suga liked the thestrals. They were scary at first, but the more you'd look at them, the more of their beauty you'd see.
He didn't mind being reminded of having seen death every time he looked at them. It was oddly comforting in a way, that Suga couldn't explain. He simply liked it.

He waited for an empty coach, because he couldn't spot Hinata and his friends anymore. They were robably already on their way to the castle.
The drive was bumpy and Suga had to share the coach with two third year Ravenclaw girls who were whispering and looking at him the whole ride.
It was really uncomfortable, to say the least, and he was glad when they finally arrived at Hogwarts and he could slip into the crowd of people, wandering towards the castle.