busy m i n d {open}

[ransom]

Ransom had needed to be somewhere that wasn't home or a place where he did his Death Eater duties, and the train station had seemed like a good spot. Now that he had more money than he knew what to do with he could afford to ride around on trains as he pleased. He could feel the gazes of a few women following him as he made his way to the ticket booth, though Ransom was ignoring them. He hadn't so much as thought about having another woman since he and Abigail had become an official item, though needless to say things still hadn't completely normalized between them.

Ransom, though he had never thought it possible, did love her, and their unborn daughter- though he had to keep a large part of himself hidden from her. Abigail could never know about his being a Death Eater, where he went those long days and nights... "A ticket to the next train out of here," said Ransom to the man in the booth, who looked at him strangely, though nevertheless printed his ticket when Ransom gave him the appropriate fare. He tucked the ticket into the pocket of his jacket, walking over to platform ten.

He looked at the wall separating him from platform nine, memories of his youth flooding back to him. He had been eleven years old with all his school things, quite alone as Xander had already abandoned him for wanting to go to the wizard school. Ransom had watched a picturesque family go through the barrier first- a husband, wife, and their two kids, a boy and a girl. The girl had been Celeste. He came alone year after year, never a mother or father to wish him well for the term, or be there waiting for him in June.

Ransom had yet to entirely escape those feelings of loneliness, even now that he had Abigail, and come November he would have also their daughter. It was pitiful to Ransom, who had felt that he never needed anyone, not since Celeste. Perhaps he was doomed to secrecy, he thought as he boarded the train, plopping himself down in a seat, gaze out of focus as he continued to think deeply. Ransom put his elbows on his knees so he could rest his chin atop his fists, ignoring the steady stream of people boarding the train, even when someone familiar sat down across from him, he was too lost in thought to notice anything.