"Yeah... a misunderstanding," Aiden agreed aloud. The second year's thoughts were contradicting his words, however. The Gryffindor was only thinking about his friends, who all happened to be girls. It didn't occur to him that this term could be a good way to make new friends - guy friends, for once.

"Stinky?!" Aiden squeal/asked, as his pet was shoved back into his hands. "Mum just gave him a bath this morning!" Still, the second year sniffed his furry rodent.

"After all these years, what would make them change their minds?" he wondered aloud. He craned his head around, trying to find Cora. Maybe, if he spotted her, he could run up and give her a quick hug goodbye before they left. ARG! This was driving him mad. What if he never got to see Cora again? This WAS her last year, after all.

"It wouldn't have anything to do with what happened last year, would it?" he asked Tancred. But no, the whole students-turning-into-animals thing didn't fit with this at all...

Iggy frowned. This boy was crazier than he actually anticipated. "Or maybe they did it because they were fed up of us boys always getting pounced upon by girls." He shrugged. His sounded more likely than the rabid curse activation. "But come to think of it, the girls on the train did look rather rabid." He shook his head and smiled. Well if you can't beat them, join them.

Thornton glared at the students making their way to the carriages. They were doing too much chatter and not enough walking. His stomach growled loudly. "Oi! What's with all the chatter?" He said to a group of them. "What's the problem? How hard is it to get into a carriage?

Blast. The kid remembered his name... this was going to be embarrasing, "Course I do!" what he lacked in memory, he made up for in exuberance. He held a hand out to help the guy up into the carriage, "C'mon then, whatchoo waitin' for?"

Dan was doing wonders for Clifford's idea of simply refusing that this was happening. Not. His friend seemed convinced that Hogwarts was under these strict new rules of gender separation. What was this?? The bloody olden days??

"But.. girl's are good at copying work from in lessons!" He said, slapping a hand to his forehead and frowning. And his bestest friend ever was a girl.. he was kinda glad Evangeline wasn't here to experience this too right now.


Turning back to Stinky and Squeak, Clifford let out a snort. He was allowed to make his piggie snorty noise now. There were no girls to get all offended and icky and grossed out.

"Perhaps she forgot to wash under his armpits?" He suggested, waving a hand infront of his nose. Bleh. He just didn't like animals. "And did you say that thing was a dog?" It sure didn't look like any dog he'd seen. "It looks more like a - a -" He wasn't quite sure.. but it certainly was no dog. "Does it bark?"

"I have no idea," Tancred said with a quick shrug of his shoulders. "It just isn't right. Like I said, it's like they don't trust us or something. It owuld be nice to know what's going on. I don't feel like waiting for ages for them to tell us." He wasn't expecting this kind of a greeting for his last year.

"I have no idea," he replied slowly. "I wouldn't really know what all happened here. I was at Durmstrang all last term." He had a discusted look on his face. Why did his mother have to send him there? He could've changed into a bird and flew away. That would've solved all her problems. "I did hear about what happened, though. I wouldn't be too surprised if that's what poor of a reason they have."

He then glanced over his shoulder. Some old man was yelling at the boys that still had to get on the carriages. He was half tempted to jump off the carriage and tell this old man that if they knew what was happening thing would go a lot faster. "Maybe if you told us what was going on thigns would go a lot quicker," he muttered under his breath just enough so that Cale might be the only person that would've heard him.

"Yeah, they did. But it's probably so we can study properly for a change... maybe the ministry got fed up with all those hormonal girls chasing after us, overwhelmed by our sheer masculine force, distracting us from our studies..." Will giggled. (Yes, giggled.)

Aiden eyed Clifford curiously when he started making strange noises. How odd, he thought.

"Uh... I guess so," Aiden mumbled, not convinced. His mum didn't forget things, especially when dealing with cleaning and washing. She was something of a clean freak, honestly. "Minky's a prairie dog," he giggled. "A rodent, not a canine," the boy chuckled.

The next question gave the Gryffindor something to think about. "MinkyPinky, can you bark?" he asked his pet. The prairie dog just stared back in return.

Derek climbed into one ofthe less filled carriages. As a first year he wasn't questioning the segregation from the girls at first but then he thought about allhe had been told about how they hadn't ever done this before he hoped Alex would be okay.

Brandon climbed in one of the carriges confused.He'd come here to be in segregated class, with boys and girls!He frowned and said"We gotta make the best of it!"he looked at his shoes and then the dude with the prarie dog."I'm Brandon."he said.

Dan couldnt help but laugh at Cliffords remark, this was true, but more than that Dans best friend was a girl. He was sure that Cliff didnt believe him, or that he thought he had got it mixed up, but Dan knew it was true, even if he couldnt work out how it was going to happen. " i just cant believe it " he said simply.

Dan glanced at the boy and his pet, Dan had no idea what it was " err , silly question .. but whats a prairie dog " the question was silly, it was right there infront of him, in the boys hands.

ooc- ive got to go, will catch up tomorrow

With a small sigh, Clifford decided to push the whole separation thing to the back of his very small mind. They didn't know if this whole thing really was going to happen yet, and there was no point getting worked up about nothing was there? Nope. So leaning back into his seat, Clifford continued chewing at his sweeties.

Besides, maybe a bit of all male company would be good. He could burp the alphabet now, and show off how stinky he had let his socks get and how hairy his legs had gotten! YAY!

His brown eyes stayed focused on the 'rodent not canine' in Squeak's arms. Odd. He'd thought dogs were canines. Ah well. "Yeah. What's a praying dog?" He asked like Dan, eyeing the creature curiously, expecting it to start woofing.

Aiden giggled again. "It's..." the boy was slightly at a loss for words. "Minkus," was all he could come up with. The Gryffindor shrugged, holding his pet up, closer to the other boy's face. "Prairie dog." He shrugged again.

Aiden giggled again as Clifford asked the same question. It was as if everyone was animally-deprived.

ooc: Prairie dog.

Will looked on at the boy's animal with interest. Okay, that would be equally cool to coat with a potion that would make it enormous and crazed... heck, even just casting engorgio on that thing might make it fearsome. Those teeth!

"That is totally cool..." Will said, smiling at Aiden. "I'm Will Jones; I don't think we've met. What does your... dog... eat?" Please say people... please say people... he thought as images of a hoarde of the things set loose on the castle ran through his mind, attacking in silent black and white like an old Muggle horror film. While he wouldn't want that to really happen, the idea of it amused him to no end.

Clifford was very intrigued with the dog that wasn't quite a dog, and his head tilted with curiousity as he watched it wriggle around. It was actually quite comical to watch, and he was waiting for it to bark.. or pray.. it was a praying dog after all.

"I have an owl." He told Squeak randomly as some other guy popped up to ask some questions about the strange creature. "But I never did get round to naming him. In fact, I dun even know where he is." He said distractedly. That was how much he loved animals. Eh.

Trey scoffed and rolled his eyes upon seeing the leader of their carriage. What kind of rubbish was employed by this school he thought to himself. The fact that Kaytee was not around and he wasn't for sure when he'd see her left Trey angry inside and he started reverting back to his high class ways. As he saw the man pull the crumbs off his stomach and eat them, Trey peered evily his way, this man would be under his house elf Tritan the Kingston Manor. Trey took a seat, near whomever was wearing green Slytherin clothing and crossed his arms. He peered towards the girls carriage, wondering.

" I refuse to take this lying down Jason Potter Weasley said. " I will see Jamie and on one is going to stop me" Jason told everyone. "Look if you boys want to be boys and not like girls, that is your problem but I am going to see my girlfriend" jason told all the boys who are acting like they never saw a girl in their lifetime.

Travis entered the boys carriage, confused that they were riding seperately from the girls. This seems unusual...I wonder the reason behind this new way of transporting the students to the castle.

Aiden jumped at the sound of another boy; he hadn't even realized there was anyone else in their carriage- other than the two he'd been talking with.

"Ahoy, Will!" Aiden said, giggling as he began to introduce himself to this boy. "I'm Aiden." Rarely did this Gryffindor introduce himself with both his first and last name.

"Uhh. Minky likes chocolate," he offered. Never had Aiden really researched the proper feeding for prairie dogs. He just gave him whatever was around. "And butterbeer," the second year whispered, for at the mention of his favorite drink, Minkus often got overly spazzy.

"Really?" Aiden asked. "Mum won't let me get an owl; she says Minkus wouldn't get along with one." The boy giggled, imagining MinkyPinky in a fight with a bird.

"You should name him..." Aiden paused, a thoughtful look on his face. "Benvolio!" he finally shouted, eagerly punching a fist in the air.

"For Merlin's sake, pipe down." Will said with an authoritarian voice he didn't realize he possesed. "They'll get the whole thing sorted when we get to the school, like that Professor on the platforms said. It's not a matter of not liking girls-- I like them very much. It's a matter of respecting and obeying school rules, Mr. Weasley. This is how they want to manage our trip, so let's just calm down and see what they have to say when we get to school." Dear Merlin, he sounded like his father!

"Chocolate and butterbeer? Shweet!" Will grinned. At least it wasn't something that smelled bad, like... cruppie food. "Nice to meet you, Aiden. This is Ignatius Potter--" he gestured to Ignatius. "What year are you?"

" I am calming down because I taked to my girlfreind Jame and I am doing it for her" Jason told Billums. " I will still fight tooth and nail for Hogwarts because this sounds like Durmstrang and Beauxbatons. " Jason said. " I do not singn up for Durmstang" Jason told him.

Did owls eat dogs? Or vice versa.. Clifford wasn't entirely sure. Nor was he really sure of why he seemed to bother so much. But it was kinda ... interesting. "Owls are pretty boring anyway." He said honestly, with a shrug. "They don't bark.. or pray." Could you get praying owls? He wasn't sure.

Benvolio? That was totally random.. but actually not so bad. He could be Benny for short! That was if he ever found the owl again. "Okie Dokie Squeak! Benvolio it is!" He grinned, looking up to see Jason going off on one.

"Ooh ooh. Jason! All guys might be cool!" He said eagerly with a nod. "Lookie we can do this!" And gulping in a great lungful of air, Clifford forced out a gigantic belch. Ahh.

Will fixed him with a quizzical look. Durmstrang and Beuxbatons are both co-ed academies, Mr. Weasley. This is something... else." Deep down, he almost hoped he was right about there being a magical curse preventing the boys and girls from interacting, even though it meant he'd not see his lovely Jaimine... They could fall in love through impassioned notes sent by owl; how incredibly romantic! And then one night, he would rescue her from the tower where she waited for him (okay, Slytherins were in the dungeon, but she'd be in a tower at the time) and they'd run away to someplace fabulous like Paris or... or Tahiti. Yeah.

"Besides, for all we know this is a temporary thing. And anyway, we're here to learn, not to find True Love." he said. Well, not only to find true love. But if true love found him, why would he fight it?

Zander did not want to leave Lola at the girl's carriages, but he had to respect the rules. It seemed that this year would bode much better for him. Maybe he could finally get that teaching post he'd been applying for. "It probably wont fly," he spoke to himself as he entered the guys carriage, "because you know too much dark magick."