Julian sighed and leaned back against the train window, trying to block out more of the light that was filtering through the blinds. Every jostle on the tracks let the curtains pull away from the window slightly, causing sunlight to stream into the cabin for a split second. This periodic strobe effect was leaving him with a raging headache and feeling rather nauseous in spite of all of the medications he was on.

“Are you ok?” Malcolm Harlow, the Slytherin prefect he was sitting with, asked as he noticed the increase in the boy shifting around.

“Yeah,” Julian said quietly as he pulled out the potions manual he brought with him. Maybe a little light reading would help him relax?

“Do you need me to get Professor Kettleburn?” Malcolm asked, already halfway out of his seat.

“No!” Julian snapped. “I don’t need Kettleburn. I don’t need anything off the trolley. What I need is for this shade to stay put!”

Julian leaned back more against the shade and dove into his book, missing the loss of color in the Slytherin’s face.

“I’ll … I’ll be back in a minute, ok?” Malcolm said, quickly backing out of the compartment and shutting the door, not waiting for an answer.

The prefects had always reserved a few compartments just for them so they could discuss plans for the upcoming year and welcome the new prefects into the fold. None of them had been too happy when they received word that they would be having to keep an eye on an ill, incoming student, but they decided to make it work by watching him in shifts.

That had worked for all of an hour.

Daphne Greengrass had been the first to watch Snape Jr. She had lasted just under an hour in the room with him. Something about him was… off-putting. Apparently, she had been trying to be nice to him and was trying to strike up a conversation but he was having none of it. From what they could understand through her tears was that he just kept staring at her and it felt like he was looking straight through her. She was thoroughly freaked out by it.

The next to try sitting with him was Alexandra Ashford, the seventh year Slytherin prefect. She too felt the boy was staring at her soul, his large green eyes magnified by the thickness of his glasses. She, however, managed to stay in the compartment with him for the entire hour and a half they had agreed to. Seven years of dealing with the boy’s father seemed to have given her an advantage.

Malcolm had agreed to go next, believing he had the same advantage plus he was confident he could build some sort of rapport with the boy simply because he was a boy too.

Julian was having none of it. He sat in a ball on the seat, alternating between reading a book and resting his head on his knees. Any time Malcolm tried to speak to him or ask him questions, the most he got in response were one word answers. There was simply no conversation the boy wanted to be a part of.

Things had only gotten worse when the snack trolley had come around. Julian had thought he had enough spare coins on him to purchase a blood pop, but was saddened to find there were none available. In fact, there were no candies he could have that he could afford.

Malcolm had purchased a few pumpkin pasties, which he offered to share with the boy. He could see the longing in the child’s eyes as the trolley continued on, and thought it was a nice gesture to offer one of his. Julian had taken it, but upon smelling it, immediately handed it back. The overwhelming scent of pumpkin and cinnamon made his mouth water, but not in a good way. It was such a sickening smell it was all he could do to not gag immediately.

They had sat in relative silence for the next half hour as Julian tried to get the smell of the pasty out of his nose. As the train made its final northward turn and the sun began to dip to the west, Julian began to realize the fatal flaw in the train’s design: all of the compartments were on the west side of the train. The sun was beating down on the side of the train he was on, the curtains were fluttering, and his headache was growing.

When Malcolm left the compartment, presumably to get Professor Kettleburn, Julian breathed a sigh of relief. The horrible stench of pumpkin was finally gone from his nose. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath.

After months of only being around a few people, it was odd being in such close proximity to such a large number. If he listened closely, he could just about hear their conversations. A deep breath and he could smell them, the blood coursing through their veins, the raging teenage hormones.

The overwhelming scent of cologne.

Julian wrinkled his nose in disgust as the smell of several different colognes permeated the air. How was any of that a pleasant scent? Tucking into his book, he relished in its scent, the smell of parchment wafting from the book reminded him of all the time he spent in Severus’s book-laden house and quarters. True, he had been so weak and sickly for most of the summer that he couldn’t enjoy it much, but the scent still triggered some of the few good memories he had.

He had barely read more than a paragraph when the cabin door slid open.

“What?” he snapped, not looking up.

“Julian?!” a familiar voice called out. “You made it!”

“Hello, Draco,” he said, rather meekly. Ever since the ill-fated trip to Diagon Alley, Julian hadn’t heard anything from the towheaded boy. “I’m sorry about what happened at Diagon Alley.”

“Severus said you weren't well. Are you feeling better now?” Draco asked. His father had warned him to stay away from Julian, but there was something about him that seemed more genuine than any of the pure-bloods he had been forced to meet over the years.

“A bit,” Julian said, stepping back out of the corridor and into his compartment again. “Would you like to join me?”

“Do you mind if Crabbe and Goyle sit with us as well?” Draco asked, gesturing to the two large figures on either side of him. Without squinting, Julian could only make out that there were two large boys standing behind Draco on either side.

“That’s fine, if they don’t mind the dark.”

Julian quickly backed back into the semi-darkness of the compartment. It felt much nicer with someone he knew sitting with him, as opposed to sitting with the prefects. It had felt so strange to have to sit with someone, and it stung a little when they started changing out. He knew they had friends and their own duties to attend to, but it still hurt that they didn’t want to sit with him. Having Draco there, even though he had only spent a small amount of time with him, was far more comforting.

Once the other boys were in the compartment, Julian could get a better look at the two larger boys. Neither of them were particularly bright looking, but he supposed both of them would make good body guards. In fact, he was rather sure that was exactly what Draco was using them for.

“Hello,” he said, looking at one of the boys. “I’m Julian Snape.”

“Vincent Crabbe,” the boy grunted, offering his hand to the smaller boy.

“Gregory Goyle,” the other behemoth said, following suit.

Julian shook both boy’s hands, noticing both had a distinct, rather acrid smell about them. It wasn’t overwhelming, but it smelled… dark. As though they had both recently been around someone or something which had been performing dark magic. Draco’s father had had a similar smell, though his was more faint than even these two boys were.

“How was the rest of your summer, Julian?” Draco said, cordially.

“It was alright once we got my potions in order,” Julian said, leaving out that most of his potions were actually muggle medication. “I almost had to go to St. Mungo’s after Diagon Alley.”

Draco’s eyes widened in shock. He had known Julian wasn’t feeling well at the time, but to hear he was nearly hospitalized because of his illness was shocking.

“What’s wrong wit’ ya?” Goyle said, looking only mildly concerned. “Ya look a bit peaky still.”

Julian smirked slightly. That was an understatement. He had thought he was just a bit small and that Dudley was just oversized. Being around other people of roughly the same age was really beginning to put his actual size into perspective. ‘Peaky’ was like calling a cave ‘just a bit dark.’ Julian was excruciatingly small in every aspect and pale as a ghost to boot.

“My stomach doesn’t like to process any foods,” he said, rubbing it lightly. “Hasn’t for years. It’s getting a bit better, but I still get really sick really easily.”

“Have you ever had pumpkin juice?” Goyle asked suddenly. “Or cauldron cakes?”

Julian raised an eyebrow at the boy. Judging by his weight, he had never missed a meal in his life. The idea of not being able to eat must be terrifying for him.

“It only started a few years ago,” Julian said, strategically sidestepping the questions. He had never had pumpkin juice or cauldron cakes, or really any food item from the magical world outside of blood pops and the occasional piece of chocolate. Though, to be fair, the chocolate was only slightly different from the chocolate in the muggle world.

Goyle grunted, accepting the answer before pulling out a chocolate bar and taking a bite of it.

Suddenly, the door was flung open and a rather thin professor poked his head in. He was tottering slightly on a pair of prosthetic legs of slightly uneven height and had one arm in a sling.

“Any problems here, boys?” he said in a rather gruff voice. “Malcolm said you were looking a bit off.”

“None thus far, Professor Kettleburn,” Julian said. “Though would it be possible for you to put a sticking charm on the curtains? Every time the train rocks, the curtains move and I’m getting a horrible headache.”

Mumbling under his breath about having to get up and how he hated travelling by train, Professor Kettleburn pulled out his wand and quickly stuck the blinds to the wall, preventing them from flapping about.

“Anything else I can do for you boys?” he said, leaning on the door as the train rocked.

“No, thank you,” Julian said, looking at his book again. At this rate, he would never get past the first potion in the book!

Mumbling under his breath again, Professor Kettleburn began limping back towards his compartment before turning back and opening the door once more.

“Your father told me to remind you not to forget your potions,” he said before limping heavily back to his compartment.

“Who was that?” Draco asked, looking after the man.

“Professor Kettleburn, he teaches Care of Magical Creatures. He volunteered to be on the train in case I needed … medical assistance,” Julian said, looking at the pocket watch Severus had given him in lieu of a watch. Apparently watches were a more “muggle” accessory.

With a sigh, he peaked out of the curtains. The sun was finally touching the horizon, meaning they would be getting to the school in a few short hours. He had hoped he wouldn’t have to change any of his feedings in front of people, but it looked like that wasn’t going to be the case. He could already feel the gnawing hunger beginning to grow as he hadn’t had any iron in nearly six hours and the albumin was bound to be running low.

Taking his backpack off and unzipping it, he removed the small pile that was his uniform from the top and set it aside. It would be time to change soon anyways. He then pulled out one of the large glass vials containing albumin and set it aside before pulling out a much smaller syringe filled with a brown fluid from a side pocket.

Draco and the other boys watched in shocked horror as their smaller compatriot pulled vial after vial and syringe after syringe from his bag. Draco had known he was ill, but to see this was a reminder as to how different the boy’s life was from his own.

“What is all that?” Draco asked, trying to hide his shock at the sheer size of the vials. They looked unlike any potions vials he had ever seen, but Severus was a potions master and must know what he was doing.

Julian ignored him for a moment as he reached into the bag and pulled out a bottle of water and one last large syringe. He then pressed a few buttons on the small machine at the bottom of the bag and a few beeps were heard.

“What is all of that?” Draco asked again, more insistently.

“It’s my potions,” Julian said, by way of explanation as he worked at pulling the metal cover off the top of the albumin bottle. “Can one of you get this off for me? I just need the metal bit removed.”

Crabbe took the bottle and looked at it as though he had just been handed a vial of poison. It was a rather large bottle containing nearly a quarter of a liter of pale fluid unlike anything Crabbe had ever seen. A white label graced the front of the bottle, declaring it to be 5% albumin. When he moved it, Crabbe could see the liquid in the bottle sticking to the walls of the vial as though it were syrup. A small, metal cap covered a dark grey rubber cork.

The two other pure-blood boys watched in fascination as Crabbe peeled back the metal with relative ease though he was quite careful to not cut himself. Julian, meanwhile, pulled out a small container which contained a miniscule tablet which he slid under his tongue before reaching his hand out and taking the now metal-less albumin vial from Crabbe.

“Thank you,” he said, swallowing harshly as the tablet made his mouth water. Why anyone would think grape was a good flavor for these tabs, he would never know.

“What did you put in your mouth?!” Draco said, rather frantically at the sour look on the other boy’s face. “Are you ok?”

“The tablet is so I hopefully don’t start getting sick during the feast tonight,” Julian said, rather annoyed he was having to explain this to the other boys. At least his headache was finally going away. “These potions are an additional food replacement on top of the nutrient potions I take.”

Draco still looked rather pale as Julian removed the grey cork from the large vial and began pouring it into a bag which was clipped into place in his backpack. Even Crabbe and Goyle were looking intrigued as to what the boy was doing, as was the red-head standing in the doorway watching.

“And you are?” Julian said, raising an eyebrow at the newcomer. This was just great, even more people to watch as the freak fed himself.

‘Dad’s going to be so mad if he knew you kept calling yourself that,’ a voice in the back of his head whispered to him.

“Percy Weasley. I’m supposed to sit with you for the remainder of the trip,” the red-head said, closing the door behind him and forcing his way onto the bench next to Crabbe and Goyle. Julian could just make out the scent of apprehension on him.

“You don’t have to sit with me, you know,” Julian said as he replaced the cork in the now empty albumin bottle and poured half of the bottle of water into a cup he had pulled from the depths of his bag.

Percy scoffed, “ I was given instructions from Professor Dumbledore himself to watch you until we get to Hogwarts.”

“You’re just scared of my dad,” Julian said quietly but rather snidely, lifting his shirt to de-access his feeding tube momentarily so he could give himself the iron and flush the tube with the water.

“What the bloody hell is that?!” Draco demanded, interrupting Percy’s indignant response and looking at the tube coming out of Julian’s stomach. He vaguely recalled Julian saying he had a tube in his stomach, but hearing about it and seeing it were two totally different things.

Julian ignored him, choosing instead to finish his routine. There would be time for questions later, now wasn’t it. Leaning his head against the back of the seat, he relished the feeling of relief the iron supplement brought him. For two long years, he had felt as though he were constantly starving. And he had been. Now, after only a few months of being fed, or attempting to be fed, he was finally beginning to feel more normal. Stronger. Healthier.

“Julian?” Percy’s voice cut through his thoughts. “A-are you ok?”

Julian cracked one eye and saw that Percy and Draco had switched seats. Draco was still staring at the bag Julian carried with a mix of awe and horror, however Crabbe and Goyle were resolutely ignoring it.

“I’m fine,” Julian said, resting a hand on his stomach and taking a deep breath.

“If you’re sure,” Percy said, sounding sceptical. “We’re getting rather close to Hogsmeade, you boys ought to get changed into your robes.”

Julian just nodded, undoing his belt and untying his boots.

“We’ll see you later Julian,” Draco said as he and the other boys got up to go back to the compartment where their trunks were stored. He then nodded curtly to Percy and said haughtily, “Weasley.”

Percy sneered slightly in response, making sure to shut the compartment door behind them just a little too loudly causing Julian to jump slightly at the sound.

Farther towards the front of the train, a whistle was heard. Moving the curtain slightly, Julian saw the sun had finally set. Peering off into the distance, he could just make out the southernmost tip of the lake.

He was almost home.