The middle? Yes, the middle. The best place to be on the Hogwarts Express. Asher entered a compartment and placed his things on the bench. Making sure to leave the door wide open, he kept meerkatting his little body, searching up and down the car, in hopes of seeing someone he knew. Sitting quietly was not on his agenda.

"Lots of room in here. Anyone is welcome to join me." He fumbled around in his pocket, looking for some money. Snacks were a must and his stomach was already grumbling with hunger. It had been almost an entire hour since he last ate. When you are 12, that's a very long time.

Quickly Mack decided on a compartment, she could easily access the front or back cars, depending on where everyone sat.. That way she could interact with everyone. Patiently she waited, she had sent Rose to town with a note for Ronnie's graduation present so she hoped that she had arrived in time to get the present before Ronnie's party.

The middle car. Just enough action, but with still enough room to be able to back away slowly if anymore drama like dementors happened to come aboard the train. Jayden couldn't believe that her sixth year had come to an end, and technically now, she was a seventh year.

Whoa.

But even though this year had been a rough one for Jay, she was already looking forward to coming back in September. Hopefully life at home was going to go a bit more smoothly than it had last time during the holidays.

Now, she could only hope that someone would take pity on her and start a conversation.

*sigh*

Home.

It was the place she'd wanted to go for weeks now and here she was, on her way. It was a weird feeling, bittersweet and exciting too. She was just conflicted about being so happy to leave Hogwarts for the summer. She'd never felt that before.

After storing her trunk, the sixteen year old settled down in an empty compartment and rested her head against the window, eyes closed. She was hiding, mostly, not wanting to say her final goodbyes to Loch Nessie and the other seventh years in the prefect compartment just yet. She also hoped that Alec might find her so that they could spend some time together. She needed a hug and just to be around him. She figured it'd do wonders for her mood.

Maybe he'd be along soon? Maybe.

It was time to go home!

Alec was very... VERY relieved about this little fact. Even if it meant leaving people behind, which he really didn't want to do, it also meant finally being able to go to a place that wasn't infested with Dementors. Plus, it was hard to be sad when his Dad was around, especially when the older man had some father-son plans for the two weeks or so they were going to see each other.

The sixteen year old walked along the train corridor, his hands dug into the pockets of his shorts. He peeked into the doors of each compartment as he went, his eyes scanning for a certain head of blonde hair. She had been upset at the feast and they hadn't really had the opportunity to hug the sadness away. So... he was looking for her. Yeah. And Minnie too because... he had kind of promised the older Hufflepuff that he'd meet her on the train. The girl would be really--

Oh?

Alec paused a little and tilted his head as he looked into a particular compartment that had one Hufflepuff sitting inside it. Yeah, this was her. He could recognise that head of hair anywhere! The boy opened the compartment door as quietly as he could. She wouldn't... mind, right?

"You're getting quite good at hiding, you know," he said quietly, leaning against the compartment door.

Ella had busied herself with tracing patterns on the window with her finger, eyes focused on what lay beyond the glass. She'd even started to hum Imagine quietly, a sure sign that she'd relaxed a bit from the feast. A quiet ride home sounded really nice right now. Maybe...she could just stay in this compartment the whole time? They didn't really need her in the Prefect compartment, did they?

The faintest of smiles played on the blonde's lips when she heard his voice and she immediately knew who it was. She shifted the tiniest bit so she could see him and tilted her head, taking him in. He was too far away, didn't he know?

"I knew you'd find me." She answered quietly, tucking a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. "You being a particularly good finder and all." And she was really happy he did.

"I really like your shirt." And, did he want to come sit? She tapped the empty space next to her and smiled a little bigger this time. Hugs, yeah? They'd agreed on hugs.

YES! Home!

...Almost, anyway.

Gemini had left her as soon as she had gotten onto the train, much like he always did. But Elodie wasn't deterred, or alone. She had Castor in one hand and a sandwich in the other as she nudged open a compartment door with her foot.

The fourth year (did you know we're almost a fifth year now?! hah!) sat down in the compartment, and set the toad beside her before pulling her feet up onto the seat and sitting on them.

Were they leaving yet?

Sad girlfriend was sad. ... Or so it seemed to the sixteen year old.

Alec would have frowned a little if it wasn't for the fact that the girl was speaking to him and actually sort of complimenting him. He smiled a little before saying, "I'm sure you would have been able to find me too... if... the roles were reversed." Nodnod. Also, that hair tucking thing? Didn't she know that that only made him want to touch her hair even more? It was so SHINY and SMOOTH and BLONDE. Look at it!

... He... was not staring. Nope.

... Oh! His shirt? Alec looked down at his t-shirt and smiled a little before looking back up at her. "Thanks!" he said, heading over towards the seat next to the girl, "I found it and thought that... it might be a good idea to wear it?" Or maybe he should have saved it for the day he came over to Ella's house to stay for a while. Shrug.

"So... how come you're not in the Prefect's compartment?" And was she upset? He kind of wanted to know.

She noticed the staring and her cheeks immediately went pink the way they always did but she didn't even attempt to hide them this time. She simply stared back and nodded. "I'd look especially hard if it was you I was looking for." Just saying.

Ella looked at his shirt too and bit her lip. Trophy boyfriend, huh? Well, he was the best trophy she'd ever received if that was the case. He knew that, right? "You're welcome." She said with a smile, happy he was coming to join her. She scooted a bit closer and leaned her head against his arm, eyes straight ahead. "I think it's nice that you wore it." Really nice.

"I'm sort of avoiding goodbyes, I guess." She admitted quietly, turning to look up at him. "Plus I wanted to see you. You asked for hugs at the feast, remember?" And she was here to give them. Lots, if he wanted.

He had only been there a few minutes before he saw an older girl walking down the isle. Here goes nothing, he thought. "Hi there. I'm Asher. I don't believe we have met." He gave a little wave and stepped to the doorway of his compartment. "There is lots of room in here, if you are looking for a seat. I'm also going to get a few snacks soon, and I'm happy to share with anyone that wants some."

His stomach was turning a bit. He normally didn't say hi to older girls. Especially if the weren't in Hufflepuff. Asher hoped she wouldn't ignore him, but he knew that was a possibility.

Especially hard? "Is that how you managed to find me down at the--" ... Pause. No. No, he wasn't going to remember that time. He reached up a hand and ruffled his hair before continuing somewhat awkwardly, "... how you manage to find me really well?" Okay, so it was a lame cover-up. And he was sure she'd end up seeing right through it. Maybe.

When Ells scooted closer, he smiled and wrapped an arm around her. They could just sit there until they reached King's Cross, yeah? Although, he did need to go and find Minnie at some point... yeah. "Well... thanks! I'm glad!" Nodnod. ... "Erm... so... did you need some gummy worms?" Didn't she run out of them before?

... Oh. OH. Avoiding goodbyes... "But... you'll have to say goodbye sooner or later, yeah?" he whispered. Maybe not to Oakster because they'll see each other over the summer... maybe. "That's really nice that you remembered, you know," Really. Really really nice. "But... are you okay? Would a hug help you?"

Kace made it onto the train and found the middle compartment area. He finally sat down in his own little compartment. He had Belle's owl with him because Charlene didn't wanna go in the back of the train. He smiled when he put down her crate. "Here you go girl." he said and she got a window view. Her eyes were looking towards the window. He sat down and go out his parchment and decided to doodle a little bit.

While he was doodling he was reminiscing about the good times he had at Hogwarts and about all the awesome people he met. He did have a fun first year and especially playing Quidditch was a lot of fun. But he was excited to see his parents and go home to some nice home cooked meals.

She did see right through his cover-up and the sixteen year old frowned slightly, head tilted to the side. "Down at the...what?" He could tell her, yeah? At least she hoped he could. She was really curious now.

Ella leaned against him, cuddling close. Alec was warm and cozy and there, that was the best part. She always felt better when he was around. "Anytime." As for the gummy worm thing, she shrugged. "Tobias gave me some to hold me over so I think I'm okay for now." Great kid, Tobias was. "Thank you, though." Really.

The blonde badger nodded, looking up at Alec as he spoke. "I know. I just...it's hard." She whispered, eyes locked on his. He got that, right? "Ellaphants never forget?" And she cracked a faint smile, wrapping her arms around him in a side-hug. "I'm okay. And...hugsalwayshelp." Especially Alec's hugs. Those were the best.

See, that was the thing about having a really smart girlfriend. You just... couldn't hide anything from them. Not that he was hiding anything major but he didn't really want to remind the girl about things and stuff and was now, mentally cursing his big mouth for spilling details. "Erm... at the pathways?" Could he change the topic now?

Cuddles on the train. Alec was not going to say no to some of those. He leant closer towards the girl, rubbing her arm gently as he did so. ... Tobias? "Oh! Awesome! And anytime!" Nodnod. "Have you had any recently?" Because they were meant to help, yeah? Especially for certain gummy worm enthusiasts.

... Hard. Goodbyes were hard. The boy frowned a little and nodded, his grey eyes locked onto her green ones. "Maybe it's not goodbye? Maybe it's... see you... some other time?" That had been his mentality when it came to saying bye to Oakster. Alec couldn't ponder on this for much longer, though, because before he knew it, the girl was talking about Ellaphants and he let out a small bark of laughter. "I should have known!" ... Okay, though. And hugs. Right. "Well... then we should hug properly?" And with that, he let go of her and opened out his arms wide. Hug time? Yeah?

The pathways...oh. Ella's eyes widened slightly and she nodding in understanding. "That...was a scary day." She whispered, eyes on the floor. They really didn't need to talk about it.

This was perfect. Ella's eyes fluttered shut and she relaxed slightly, enjoying the feel of her head leaning against Alec's chest, his arm around her. It was just...really nice. She looked upwards at his question and smiled the tiniest bit. "Not recently, no." Did he have some on him, then? Had he known she'd want some? He really did know her well.

"Maybe you're right." He usual was. Alec Summers was really smart about this sort of thing. Much smarter than she was. "I'll try to think of it like that too, okay?" Maybe it'd help. She brightened considerably at his laugh and smiled sheepishly. "Yup, you should have." And he had a nice laugh, Alec did. She really liked the sound of it. She also liked the way his arms were open wide, ready for a proper hug. The sixteen year old wasted no time and fit herself right into that space, wrapping her arms around him and squeezing gently. There, proper hugs.

Yeah... he was starting to regret mentioning that place. They really didn't need to talk about it though, right? They could... talk about something else? Maybe... maybe... "I heard there was an elephant somewhere that can paint," ... Pause. That was probably the best he had when it came to changing the topic.

The Gummy Worms girl hadn't had any gummy worms recently? Alec was sure that this went against... all the gummy worms rules. Maybe. "Well... you might be in luck," he said, reaching into his shorts pocket and taking out a packet of gummy worms, "Thought these might come in handy..." And look! They had practically swapped roles. Maybe this meant that he could wear the pants in the relationship sometime too.

"Maybe!" Nodnod. "Yeah? Well... I hope this type of thinking works for you." Really. Because the alternative was the blonde girl probably ending up in tears and there was no way he was going to let that happen. "Thanks for letting me know, then?" Ellaphants didn't forget... heh. That was nice. And what was even better was the way the girl hugged him and just seemed to fit into his arms. He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her a little, giving her one of his super!hugs. "Does this help?" he whispered.

Alec...just had this amazing way of making her smile no matter what they were talking about. He just knew what to say. How did he know what to say all the time? The blonde cracked a smile and her eyes lit up, thoughts of dementors forgotten. "I heard that too." Nodnod! "And I heard that there's a gallery somewhere where you can view the paintings." It was sort of far away, though.

See? He was doing it again. Ella watched with a warm smile as he took out a package of gummy worms, trying not to make grabby hands for them. She wasn't that addicted. ...Nope. "You're the absolute best, y'know." Honest. And he even got a kiss on the cheek for being so sweet.

"I hope so too." And she knew she had to be better about facing things that made her uncomfortable. Changing the way she thought about those things was only going to aid her in doing that, facing them. "You're very welcome." She was always willing to share Ellaphant secrets with Alec. She was also hoping she could just continue hugging him for just a bit longer because super!hugs were her favorite. She buried her face in his shirt and smiled, nodding her head. "It helps lots. Does it help you?" He's the one who'd asked for them first, yeah?

Oh look, a firstie! And he looked a bit nervous. Goodness, surely he didn't think she was going to eat him or something... "Hey there! I'm Jayden, nice to meet you!" She grinned, extending her hand for him to shake. Meeting new people could be a challenge sometimes, especially people older than oneself. This Puffer had courage. Jayden approved.

"Well thank you! I'd love to join you!" She added, grinning from ear to ear as she sat down beside him.

Yay friends.

So it turned out that his strategy of changing the topic to artistic elephants was actually working! Especially since the girl was smiling and... look at her eyes! Alec smiled back and nodded enthusiastically. "Do you think it's easy to find the gallery? And visit it?" It didn't really sound like a bad idea. It just sounded... kind of difficult. What if it was in a completely different country or somewhere really remote?

"You said that in your Ancient Runes letter too," Yeah, he remembered that. He also got really happy once he had decoded the runes but... she didn't need to know that. "But thanks? And... they're all for you." The gummy worms. In case she was wondering.

Alec kept his arms around her and continued hugging the blonde girl for a while, not caring how this might look to anyone who happened to walk past and take a peek into the compartment. Nope. Because it was a nice feeling just standing here and hugging, especially knowing that it was helping Ells. "I'm really glad it does," he whispered, reaching up and playing with the ends of her blonde hair. Man, her hair was so blonde! "Yeah... yeah, this helps me too. So thanks!" Really. Best Girlfriend award went to a Miss Ella No-Middle-Name Bishop. Hoorah!

Traveling with Alec sounded really amazing, actually, but Ella was pretty sure he didn't know where the gallery was. "I've read that it's in California, actually. I'm sure it'd be easy to visit but we'd sort of need to get there." Ella had only ever been to America when she was a small child but not since. What she did remember, though, was a really long flight.

She had said that, hadn't she? "Well, only because it's the truth." And hopefully he didn't get tired of hearing it because she didn't intend to stop reminding him any time soon. "You're welcome and I..." Grin. "I plan on sharing." So hopefully he was hungry. She gently took the bag from him and opened it with a smile, reaching in to pull out two green ones. "One for you and one for me." Limey, just the way she liked them.

The playing with her hair thing? Ella really liked that. She smiled to herself and made a mental note to add this to the list of things she loved about him. Was it totally lame to have an endless list like that? "You're welcome." She whispered back, pulling away the tiniest bit so she could see his face properly. He had a nice face, Alec did. One she didn't mind staring at which...was exactly what she was doing right now. Just casually staring. Not at his lips or anything. Nope. Not there. Um... "So I'm excited for summer." And she totally wasn't blushing, okay? Gosh.

Asher reached out and took her hand. Giving it a good shake before letting, he smiled and stepped aside so she would be able to enter the compartment. "It's nice to meet you, Jayden. I think I've seen you around, but never had the chance to say hi." He nervously fumbled with his robes. He never new what to say around girls. It didn't seem appropriate to chat about the size of worm he dug up earlier that day to feed his owl.

"So, do you have any plans for the summer? You are a sixth year, right?" He knew she was older, but he wasn't sure how much older. She didn't seem like she was a seventh year, but definitely older than a fourth year. Either way, she wasn't a first year.

Ronnie walked along the middle of the train, peeking into each compartment for an empty one for her and her Jory. What she needed right now was to just be alone with her boyfriend. That sounded just perfect right now.

Once she found an empty one, she slid open the door and then shut it behind her. Placing her bag of sweets on the seat, she sat next to it and looked out the window. It was finally time to leave Hogwarts. She still couldn't believe she'd never come back...the red head looked down at the leather seat she was sitting upon and slowly ran her hand along the smooth surface, recalling her first train ride there. Smiling a little at the memory, she looked up back out the window and sighed, watching the scenery go by.

Trees, bushes, and the occasional house were now passing the windows of the train. By now everyone should have found their compartments so Mack decided it was time for her to begin finding her friends.

A few first years has joined her in the compartment she had chosen and were now talking excitedly about all they had learned during their first year. This made The blonde happy, it wasn't the best year Hogwarts had ever had but these first years had been able to see the good in it.

After politely excusing herself Mackenzie left the compartment, looking into other compartments as she passed them, the third compartment from hers held someone who the young Gryffindor considered family...Ronnie

A grin spread across Mack's face, she knew that she had to keep her emotions in check for Ronnie's last train ride so sliding the door open the blonde tossed a chocolate frog into the red heads lap. "A token of our friendship" she laughed as she thought back to the day that they had met and sharing candy with each other in Diagon Alley. "we definitely have to start a tradition if meeting for chocolate frogs" Mack sat down beside the and opened her own candy. Nothing, not even a demeantor, was going to ruin this train ride home.

Jayden nodded, "Yeah, you may have seen me around, I'm a bit invested in exploring around the castle..." She grinned, thinking about her and Elliot's late night adventures. "Well, I'm certainly glad you took the time to say hello now, most firsties are terrified of me, though I don't know why..." She added, tossing her black ringlets over her shoulder.

"I'm planning on spending a lot of time at home, my mum had my baby brother four years ago, and up until now, I haven't really spent much time getting to know him because I've either been at school or working as an assistant in the shops in Diagon Alley..." Jayden replied, smiling weakly. She always felt terrible for not spending time with family as much since starting school. And after the birth of her brother, there had been a bit of a disconnect with her and her mother. She was hoping to get that relationship back.

"Yeah, I'm a sixth year, at least until September, then I will be starting my seventh year. Pretty terrifying really..." She sniffed, blinking a bit as she tried to hold back tears. It was going to be really hard next year without some of her friends that had graduated this year, and even harder to grasp the fact that come next year, she too would have to leave Hogwarts. "Have you had a good year despite all of the drama with the Dementors? That was all a bit horrifying... I certainly hope they get it all under control..." She added nervously. Her experience with them in the Room of Requirement had been one of the most terrifying experiences of her life..