Most of his baggage was stowed away somewhere on the train, and Garrett wasn't in any rush to set down the backpack on his back. It was comfortable there, not too heavy, and besides... no line at the food cart. While his metabolism geared itself up, Garrett affected as much nonchalance as an eleven-year-old can and wandered in the direction of the food cart. He didn't have very much of an ego at this point in his life, but that little bit he had recognized that it probably wouldn't be cool to be seen making a mad dash towards the food cart.

Once he got there, he started looking over everything the lady-of-indeterminate-age was selling. He recognized exactly nothing. Through some see-through packaging, he saw a chocolate frog blink at him, and promptly picked the package up, "I don't know whether to eat you or keep you as a pet."

It would probably get all sorts of dirt stuck to it, or stepped on, or melt all over his clothes. This decided, he informed it, "Sorry frog, you're going down the hatch."

His words didn't appear to alter what the frog was doing in any way, which was all that affirmation he needed that it was eating time. Once he'd picked up a bunch more things and paid for them, of course.

You couldn't keep Ari away from sweet even if you were on a train. She still had yet to put her trunk and owl in a compartment but she needed something to snack on before she got settled. Besides, she wanted first dibs on the surgary snacks...and she was going to meet Alexa and Dylan, and probably Brooklyn in here.

She peeked in but didn't notice any of her friends in there yet so she assumed she was the first one. Ari hadn't seen any of them since the train incedent when they were sent off to hand out flyers as punishment, not that a punishment was needed for what they had done, nor was it much punishment at all...

Her owl, Archer screeched loudly, but she decided to ignore him as she starred at the wonderful snacks galore...

There was no time to waste. She was finally in the train and as was previously made known she was going to be meeting up with her friends for some candy!!!

It was terrible what had happened earlier with the older kids. They had gotten some kind of ridiculous punishment that forced them to split up and she hadn't seen them since then but she knew for sure that that wouldn't be for much longer because they would see each other in here!

She walked over to the food trolley with all it's yummy goodness but was distracted by the sight of her friend. "ARI!!!" She squealed, throwing her arms around her. "Ugh you won't believe the horrible time I had after we split up!" It was truly a disturbing time in life, especially after she had gotten onto the train.

Then from the corner of her eyes she recognized another kid that she knew! "Hey Garrett, so I see you couldn't stay away from the sweets huh?" She said, giving him a wide smile. Her mouth had nearly gotten them in trouble a little while back but it was fun...right?

Ari jumped in surprise when she her name shouted and as someones arms grabbed her from behind in a huge hug.

"AHH!" She shouted before turning around and spoting her friend and returning the massive hug, "ALEXA! Oh, I know it was so boring, though I did meet this nice Slytherin girl but still... Did you manage to hand out any flyers?"

With the big reunion going on Ariella had missed the boy who had also been in the room until Alexa noticed his precence. Hmm she must not have noticed him when she had walked in, probably to busy gawking at the yummy sweets in the room. Oh how she loved candy!

"Oh! Hello, I didn't see you there when I walked in," Ari took a few steps closer to him and stuck out her hand, "I'm Ariella Day, but you can call me Ari!"

Dylan walked to the food trolley the first moment he got, and chuckled as he saw who was already there. He should have known those two would be there.. especially Alexa after their talk in the candy shop. "Hey Alexa.. Hey Ariella. Good to see you here" he smiled as he noticed that they werent alone, and watched as Ariella introduced herself energetically as if she was already on a sugar high. "Hi I am Dylan Jacobs.. DJ for short if you want to. " he also wondered if he would be getting any other weird nicknames too.. like one that he had been given not too long ago.

She smiled widely when her hug was greeted with an even bigger one. It was good that they found each other again and of course now they could have all the candy they could afford--which in her case was a lot as she had begged her father for a few extra galleons, all of which she would spend on candy if she had the opportunity!

"I knooow! It was so boring and no one even cared about the stupid bat anyway!" No matter who she went to no one wanted a flyer and everyone had just hastily told her that they didn't see the bat and they would let her know if they did; yeah right!

When she let go of her friend she shrugged as she continued telling her about her awful ordeal. "I ended up throwing a good amount of them in the trash but then there was this dude who took some and said they were against the law..." That had been the weirdest part of all but she tried not to question it.

Then Dylan walked in. "Hey you made it! Now we can feast!!" She with a wide smile. It got wider when she saw them introducing themselves to Garrett, good, now they could have more company!

When Dylan walked in Ari's smile widened even further, if that was even possible, and went to give him a big hug also!

"Music Man! You're here!" She released him from his hug and turned so she could face all three of them. She was glad she was with her friends again, she was always slightly akward when it cam to new people, "How was your punishment Dyl?"

She listened intently as Alexa gave them the run down of how her 'punishment' went and Ari couldn't help but giggle a little. She had just left the flyers on the bench she had been sitting on before boarding the train, she figured someone would find them and maybe word would get out about the lost bat, "Against the Law? That's weird... I only handed out like, two of them and then I kinda gave up."

Dylan looked at Alexa getting a little excited with the fact that he had just walked in.. but then he could see why. There was going to be a lovely feast and he couldnt wait! "Course I made it! Candy on the train and I not make it? now thats just rubbish talk! Wherever there is candy you are sure to find me.. you should know that Alexa.. remember where we met?" he chuckled reminding her of where they met.. BUT also HOW they met.. with the fact that she was like a run-away train at high speed and crashed into him nearly knocking him off his feet. If he had gotten upset at that point this would have been very awkward.

Now if he thought Alexa being slightly excited at his appearance he was certainly not expecting Ariella's reponse to his arrival. Music Man.. it would take him a while to get used to these new names he was being given.. and he decided to have some fun with it "Yes.. yes.. the Music Man is here! Let the Music begin!" he chuckled as she hugged him.. he felt like he had been pulled into a tight grip (which he was but not the kind he was imagining) ok so he was not used to these hugs but it would be rude to stop her. She then asked him how his punishement was "Boring.. come on it was just handing out pieces of paper nothing fun and entertaining about that. Handed out quite a few before chucking them into the air and running straight for the train before anyone could figure out who had done it since there was a massive crowd there" yup he could imagine them looking around wondering who had chucked those flyers into the air

Emmaleigh had left the comfort of her compartment and tracked down the food trolley because she needed FOOOD!! It really hadn't been that long since she had last eaten, but she was like a black hole for food. When she arrived, she saw a whole gaggle of little kids. Stepping in line behind the last one she gave them all a smile. "So, how many of you guys are first years?"

Ariella giggled.

"So let's see, we've got flyers in the trash can, lying on a bench, and thrown all over the ground," She thought for a moment, "Yup! It seems we have done a wonderful job at getting the news out!"

Just then an older girl, much older than than the lot of them entered.

Ariella looked around before turning back to the girl and answering, "Um all of us I assume!" She didn't know if Garett was a first year but it was a pretty good guess to assume so, "What year are you in!?"
Ari felt like she was already on a sugar rush, and she hand't even eaten any candy yet!

Dylan listened as Ariella stated where flyers were, he chuckled as he thought about it.. flyers were everywhere at least "Yeah we did do a good job.. the word is out there at least.. no matter how.. bin, bench or the air and ground. They can pick up those flyers and help find that bat of hers" he said still a little upset over the punishment. He just hoped they werent in the same house together cause that could be a little awkward for them all.

Dylan heard someone ask them a question, he turned around to be faced with an older student. There seemed to be alot of them, well the question was a simple one and had a simple answer. He looked at the girls they were first year and he assumed that the other boy was also a first year so he turned to the girl and he answered on behalf of all of them. But he also wanted to know why she was asking the question, did she have something against first years "We are all first years.. why do you ask?" he said just as Ariella answered as well. you better not have a problem with first years.. he thought after he asked that question "Is that a problem?" he asked before he could stop himself as Ariella asked her what year she was in

"I know right? It was so weird too...apparently he works in Magical Law Enforcement or something like that and he said it would have been dangerous if it got into the wrong hands...I guess you can say he confiscated the ones I had left but I didn't care sooo...it wasn't a big deal." She had been happy to get rid of those stupid papers so that Felix could get comfortable in her arms again and he was quite relieved to not have to share her arms with anything else.

She nearly chuckled when Dylan reminded her of the occasion on which they met. That had been a rather fun day and she was running on a sugar high so that made it all the more amazing. The pulse of sugar running through her was enough to make her knock right into a boy!

She laughed when Dylan mentioned that he had also thrown his into the trash. "Good choice my friend." She said with a nod. "For all we know we might have been out there for hours then missed the train." Such a horrible and scary thought.

"I don't care who they are, if I had missed the train they would have been sorry." and that statement wasn't all that empty either!

"Hey you're right!" she said to Ari. "That's a pretty good point I mean we put those flyers just about everywhere so technically we did exactly what we were told to do!!"

She turned sharply when she heard another voice. Could it be that in all her candy admiring she had missed when the other girl got there? Well now she was quite obvious as she spoke. "Oh we're all first years." She said, beaming proudly as if it were a title she had worked long and hard for. "I'm Alexa and you are?"

Ah excellent, one, two, three, four firsties. She grinned as three of them started talking all at once. Trying to respond to them all, she pointed to each of them in turn. To girl one, "Seventh," Boy kid got "I don't know, because some of you guys could have been second years?" and Alexa girl got "Emmaleigh." Looking back at the boy she shook her head. "Problem? no" she said a little take aback. This kid was awfully gutsy. She'd definitely place a bet on where he would end up. "We all start out as first years somewhere don't we?"

Ariella giggled, AGAIN, as the three of them all started talking at once. It amused her even more at how well the older girl had handled the situation that had been thrown at her. She listened as Alexa introduced herself and the seventh year responded back, giving Ari a name to work with...

"I'm Ariella, but you can call me Ari!" She said sticking her hand out to shake. She seemed to be extremly happy for some reason, must be the gitters! They were actually on their way to Hogwarts!!

She listened as Dylan asked if she had a problem with them being first years, the girl seemed to be very confused by that question and Ari couldn't help but mutter under her breath, "Well some have already seem to have a problem with us..." Ari had been thinking of that missing bat girl and that other one that had punished them. They didn't have a problem with them because they were first years, just that they had climbed the train, but it was all for a good cause...

Lex tried to focus her train of thought of the girl as she spoke, answering all of their questions. That was pretty good...she might have had to ask them to repeat their questions...especially now when her brain was turning to mush without her candy...

She was however awe stricken when the girl didn't give the predicted answer to Dylan's question of there being a problem with them being firsties. With the way the other older kids were acting you could have sworn that being firsties was some kind of plague...though there were some nice ones.... yeah...some really nice ones.

She nodded, backing up Ari's statement 1020% because it was just that true.

"Yeah they have! Can you believe they punished us for climbing the Hogwarts Express to save the life of an innocent owl?" The indignity of it all was enough to set her into another rant...but she would try to let it go...

"I know!" Ari turning to head so she was looking at Alexa, "I mean, Archer is traumatized for the rest of his life now, terrified of of anything with whiskers! Imagine what would have happened if we didn't go up there! And it's not like anybody else was doing anything to help us!:

The only thing anyone had done while the three of them were up there was yell and shout, and that had done absolutly no good!

“Nice to meet you Ari,” the puff said taking the girls hand and giving it a firm shake. Catching the girl’s comment, Em frowned. “Probably because they forgot what it was like being a firstie.” As she said this, she couldn’t help but think back to her first year, when she was a nervous wreck, how Lafay scared her, and her best friends.
But then she caught the other girl’s statement. Did she really just say that? “Well, I don’t think it’s a good idea to ever climb on any train, even the Hogwarts Express. And my experience with owls has taught me that they rarely need saving. They are usually pretty good at staying out of trouble.” Except for Bubba, but that bird was nuts. “And I can assure you all that you were lucky it was student that found you. Any professor’s punishment would be ten times worse I’m sure. And some of them,” like the potionsmistress, the girl though, “would have put you in detention until you were seventh years.” She hadn't meant to get all serious on some firsties on the train ride in, but apparently kids had gotten way crazier in the last few years.
Anyways, Em noticed that the food trolley lady didn't seem to be helping anybody at the moment so she decided to go ahead and order. "Ma'am, can I have four chocolate frogs for my friends here, two pumpkin pasties, a licorice wand, and a pumpkin juice?" she asked, setting her payment on the trolley. "Thanks" she said, placing the bag with the pasties into her messenger bag, and handing the frogs out to each of the kids.

Having found her friend in one of the compartments, the fifth year went in as well. She needed to get to the food trolley, but maybe the best thing to do was to wait for the other students to find a place to sit as well. She really hoped she wouldn’t end squeezed somewhere on the corridor, on her way to the food trolley. Since the train was already moving, Gwen figured that the corridor had to be less crowded than when she boarded and tried to find a compartment.

Wrong.

There were still quite many students wandering along the corridor, to Gwen’s joy. Great. After a while, she managed to get to the food trolley, and waited at the queue.

After getting on the train and loading her trunk and stuff. Cassia forgot to put some candy in her pocket and she didn't want to open the trunk to take some of the stock she had for the term. So she headed to the food trolley to buy some candy for herself because she couldn't just sit around without any candy at all!

Walking through the corridor and making sure to be spotted in ordered not to get smashed by bigger and taller students the twelve year old finally spotted the food trolley and the crowd surrounding it. She inhaled and pushed her way towards the trolley crouching under arms and sliding herself between bodies. Being small also had advantages of being able to fit in the smallest spaces.

And finally Cassia stood in the queue grateful that she had made the trip safely. But standing there Cassia stared at the person's back who was standing in front of her. Cassia peered at the girl's right profile ,"GWEN!" She suddenly said. She had agreed with Gwen t meet on the train but Cassia thought to go and search for her friend after buying some candy. How great it was to find her here ,it made it so much easier. Though Cassia hoped that she didn't startle Gwen for nearly squeaking her name out of the blue and from behind. "It's great to see you here," Cassia added grinning.

It was getting a bit boring to stay in line… Mehh… at least she didn’t end up squeezed somewhere. With the train corridor crowded as ever, Gwen was relieved that she managed to get to the food trolley. And it didn’t take her as long as expected. Not bad, the girl told herself, waiting to buy some chocolate frogs… or maybe pumpkin pies?

Hmmm.

She still had some time to figure out what she wanted to get. Her thoughts were interrupted by a voice, coming from a person who was standing quite close to her. Hmm. Who was it?

Gwendolyn tracked down the source of the voice, and, even though it did sound familiar, the fifth year couldn’t figure out who it was until she spotted the younger Slytherin. ‘Hi!’, she greeted Cassia. She wanted to hug her friend, but maybe once the place would get less crowded? ‘You too’, Gwendolyn said simply, with a grin on her face. She glimpsed back at the food trolley for a second, and, realizing that she’d have plenty of time to wait in line, Gwen drew her attention back to Cassia.

This time, she wasn’t worried that Jinx would start wandering around the train corridor in her absence, since she left her cat with her friend. He was surely playing with Pluto. ‘Looking forward to getting back to Hogwarts?’, she asked the young Slytherin.

The twelve year old stood smiling her big grin that appeared whenever she felt excited, which is most of the time and whenever she met her Eagle friend. She beamed at Gwen greeting her. Cassia had been worried about standing in the queue doing nothing. But the problem had been solved having found Gwen here.

"I'M dying to go there!" Cassia said beaming at her friend in a response to the question about getting to Hogwarts. "Finally we're on our way there. Though I had so much fun during the summer ,I was so eager to return." She told her friend. Remembering now herself sleeping in her bed and looking forward to get back to Hogwarts, she felt it was ages ago when it was actually a couple of days. She will really miss her house and family but she will owl them.

"So what do you think of this year?" Cassia asked Gwen. As having spent four years at Hogwarts Gwen must have some kind of ability which defined whether this year is going to be exciting or not. "I'm so eager to meet the new headmistress," Cassia said. maybe Gwen was like most of older students who were sad because Professor Tate left but Cassia barely knew the man but she liked him, he was a nice man. Nontheless she was excited to know about this new headmistress. It was cooler to have a woman ruling the school. Cassia thought, women always had special charm.

Food!

Oh Merlin Terry's stomach was rumbling so much, a chocolate frog or two would go down very well. And as he wandered down the corridor, Brie the rat peaking out his pocket, the first thing that caught his eye was the trolley woman coming towards him with a cart full of sweet delights.

He grinned as he picked up a chocolate frog and some of those every flavour beans and paid for them with his loose change he had lying underneath Brie. He was so starving he didn't even want to walk back to his compartment before consuming something. He tore the packet open and bit into the frog.

It tasted so good!

Watching Bubba use his beak to do the latch on his cage,"Oi Bird brain your not getting anything off the cart .The only reason your on the train is I know Em will want to see you "Flipping the latch back down on the door to the cage to lock it and pulling out jerky for him to munch on till trolly had passed.
Pulling out his potion book he goes back to work,Looking over to see Bubba lifting the latch with beak again,"Bubba for the love of Merlin RELAX. If I dont get the last touches on this potion done befor we get back to the school Em will know,I will be mad and you will be Hippogriff food, So have some Jerky." Slipping a large thin slice between the bars for him to munch on"I know you are excited so am I but just let me do this"

Hungry? Nah. Ariadne just needed her daily dose of sweets. Leaving Gwen in their compartment to try and decipher the code, she was on the lookout for the trolley lady. Suddenly, she noticed a boy eating a Chocolate Frog.

Bingo!

'Excuse me, have you seen the lady with the food trolley?' He must've. Surely. Wait! What was that?! 'You-you have a rat?' As much of a Gryffindor as she was, the girl was terrified by rats. They were so dirty and they always made funny noises. And crawled. And spread disease.