Cass' head whipped back towards Heather, who looked like she was ready to cry "Easy there Heather...We'll find it, where did you think you dropped it? Because if its in the station, I don't see how we're going to get it back."

Lexi smiled sweetly at the boy that looked like he might faint or something. "No worries, it was totally my fault. I never watch where I am going. If my feet are on the ground there is a good chance that I might trip and fall," she said with a cute little Lexi giggle. Awww he was precious in an odd way. Well, not the kid looked odd or anything. He was just awkward. "Would you like me to clean that up for you?" she asked indicating his shirt. She knew that Tergeo would like siphon the juice up. She had used it like once before and was pretty sure she could do it again.

"Oh don't worry about me! I am totally fine. I have taken MUCH worse spills than that and have the scars to prove it," she giggled loudly. "My name's Lexi Denver. Fourth year Gryffindor. What's your name?" she said as she wiped her hand on the corridor wall and held it out for him to shake.

" You trying to hide from me "fakesis" Rex laughed. Good seeing you on the train" Rex told Emma. " I am here for you " Maiden of Slytherin" " the Knight of Gryyfindor smiled.

Her hand trembled as she took the chocolate and popped it into her mouth.
"Ok. No more." she said strictly while she had an expression of pure delight on her face. "I saw Keefer on the platform! He would FREAK OUT if you guys called him my boyfriend." she said with a giggle. "I wonder what he calls me..."

"no, no, no...i clearly remember that i had it when we entered the train!..." heather fought off tears. "it's really important that i find it...it's the only thing i can hug as a replacement for my parents." she didn't mind saying that, not really noticing that she had almost spilled out the fact that she would rarely see her parents nowadays and she pretends for the panda to be them. "maybe i dropped it outside..." she proceeded to the entrance of their compartment.

"cass, i'm going to go check out outside. i might've dropped it here somewhere while i was running to get us a compartment. i'll be back soon." she said and left, hoping that she finds her panda-before someone does.

Walking felt weird to Arya, having spent the last few weeks living in her rollerblades, but Noah had insisted that she not skate on the train and so walk she did. With her luggage stowed away in the back of the train, the young girl decided to find a seat somewhere in the middle of the train so that she would be easier to find.

With her kneazle snuggled in her bag, head peeking out and staring at passing students, she strolled down the train looking for an empty compartment. When Arya found said compartment, she opened it and took her usual seat by the window, placing her bag in her lap and letting Perseus roam the compartment as she gazed out the window at the students still bidding their farewells.

The brown-haired girl named Heather was walking around, looking for a panda doll that she evidently had dropped just outside the compartments on her hurry to find her and her friend, cassandra an empty compartment. "hmmm...i was looking at some compartments earlier..." she told herself and decided to ask around, though she knew her shyness would get the better of her and hold her tongue in.

she peeked into this one, seeing that there was only one person inside. she couldn't handle it if there were more people. The person inside seemed to be busy watching the outside from the window. "uhm...e-excuse me..." she stuttered softly. "uhm..h-have..have you seen a doll...a-around here? it's a p-panda doll...i-i..seem to have dropped it s-somewhere..."

It was strange, and then not so strange, to be on the train back to Hogwarts. He couldn't fully remember the boundaries between the end of the previous year and the beginning of this, despite the still docked position of the train at the station platform. Still, it was as if summer hadn't actually existed and at most, it had been a day trip back to their own, perspective worlds. But whether it was or not, didn't really matter, the train was here, loaded with its chatty and overexcited (and some not) students, awaiting to see what the new year at Hogwarts would bring.

A soft sigh escaped Sabel as he stepped out of the way of a couple of energetic firsties, watching them scramble down the hall, probably to find the treat trolley. When there was enough safe room for him to shift back into the walkway of the middle train compartments, he altered the weight of his shoulderbag, muttering a small apology to the black cat perched on his opposite shoulder, helping to balance out the weight. It was the first year he didn't see much of what was going on, his mind lost in a haze of thoughts that mirrored his forgetfulness of the summer.

It was only Merlin's decisive hop off his shoulder and prance into a nearby compartment, around a peeking girl's legs, that bought his attention and set his feet to follow and stop just behind the rather distressed looking child. But it was the third year inside that caught his attention. "Arya?" Nevermind the whitefluffball Merlin had decided would serve well as a cotton playtoy.

Cass watched as Heather's brown hair disappeared through the doors as she was left alone once more. She wanted to help, but she couldn't leave the compartment. With a frustrated sigh, she plopped down on the chair and waited for Heather to return. "Its lonely here." She said to herself as she looked around the nearly empty compartment

Arya was completely lost in thought while she gazed out the window, her eyes scanning for a familiar face but only seeing fresh faces. It was the sound of a small firstie that pulled her out of her reverie. She let her eyes wonder over to the little girl and smiled warmly at her. Panda doll? "Sorry, I just got up here, haven't seen any doll. If I do see it, I'll come find you though."


She would have said more, the badger was distracted by the black cat the pranced into the compartment and went over to play with Perseus had distracted her. He looked oddly familiar, but before she could even place the cat an even more familiar voice pulled her eyes up to the compartment door. Her smile grew wider her brown eyes lit up when she spoted her tall friend. "Sabel!" She waved wildly at the boy, gesturing for him to join her in the compartment.

Had the litte firstie not been standing between them, she would have ran over and gave him a biiig hug. As it was, all she could do was ask him to join her, the hug could wait until he was in the compartment. "Where have you been?" She asked, having last seen him when the term ended.

A weak smile tugged at the corners of his lips at the confirmation that it was her. He wasn't sure who else he thought it could have been, but for the time being he would give the excuse that she had grown quite a bit since last year, even though the time of summer held no placement in his mind. Making his smile a little bigger, he glanced down at the girl in the doorway. "I'll keep my eyes out as well." With a small bow of the head and quiet excuse, he slipped into the compartment and moved over to where Arya was, tossing his bag up overhead.

"Long story. You'll probably find it boring as all baking soda flavored toothpaste." Came the delayed reply as he plopped down in the seat next to her. "How are you?"

Rae half smirked and half smiled when the boy made the comment about seating someplaces. "Guess we should find someplace.. Unless you were looking for someone?" She wouldn't mind sitting with him, if he didn't mind sitting with her. He wasn't very recognizable but maybe that was just because she spent all her time last year with Xylon, and if not him, then Evelyn and Destiny. The thought saddened her a bit that she would have to go through the next 3 school years without Xylon here. At least she would have Evelyn and Destiny around.

Rae gestured to the empty compartment she was nearest to as she started to speak"I'll be taking this one here... You can join me if your not meeting someone else on the train." She started opening the compartment door.

Sending one last distracted smile to the firstie standing in the doorway, she turned all her attention to Sabel as he slipped into the compartment. It had been too long since she had last seen him, albeit it had only been a few months, but the summer seemed like it had been longer when she looked at her friend. If it was even possible, he seemed to be taller than when summer began. When he plopped down in the seat beside her, she wraped her arms around him for biiiig hug hugs. "Nonsense. I love long stories." She grinned as she settled back down beside him. "I'm great, ready to be back at Hogwarts."

She spared the window one quick glance to peek at the clock outside before turning back to Sabel. "How are you, Sabel? Haven't heard from you all summer."

Heather flushed red after squeaking when an animal went pass her. she was also embarrassed that she got the full attention of the older girl inside the compartment. after hearing the reply, she let out a small sigh.

"uhm..uh...th-thank you...." she said and waved a small good-bye before leaving, almost bumped into who was behind her and went hurrying about her way, looking for a lost little panda doll.

He had forgotten how good it felt to be hugged by his friends. How much he had missed them over the past few months even though the time hadn't seemed to exist. He let the hug linger for a moment longer than he had intended before pulling back, resting his head against the seat and slouching a little in the comfort of the cushions. It took him a moment to realize Arya had spoken, by that time the memory of her words was nothing more than a faint buzz in the back of his skull. "Sorry?"

Heather looked at the person behind (whom she almost bumped into, backing away from the compartment) and squeaked. seeing his smile and his reply to her question, she sighed in relief. Someone was willing to help her find her lost doll! she smiled at him and the girl in the compartment and gave out another squeak of thanks.

"T-Thank you v-very much!" she said and happily strode off, but at the same time, still worried of where her doll went. never the less, she was happy to meet such nice people on the train and it totally completes her day.

Sadie tilted her head to the side slightly as she considered what he just said.

"And why might I do something as silly as that?" she questioned him, knowing that she really wouldn't want a turtle on her head at any point in time. It may get lost in the mess of curls.

She watched as he just started to explain splitting the turtle in half but suddenly it bit him on the head and he set it down. "No I think I'll pass on petting your turtle. I'm not a big fan of turtles or anything else reptile-like." That was the truth.

The girl walked in, uninvited, and took a seat opposite of him. "Though you should really meet my fwooper, Quinn sometime," she suggested, knowing that not many people owned a bird quite that extraordinary like she herself did.

Her eyes flicked to the firstie when she squeaked before going to the wrestling cats, a small grin crossing her face. Obviously Perseus had missed his friends as much as she had missed hers. "No problem....I hope you find your panda doll." Arya would hate to have lost something before the term even started.

Smile still present though somewhat faint, she surveyed her friend as he made himself cozzy in his seat. He seemed.....distracted, which was weird since he sould be excited about returning to Hogwarts. Especially with the tournament being held this term. She tilted her head to the side, ignoring his apology since she hadn't written him either. "'s fine. Are you okay? You seem distracted?"

Right when he had gotten on board the train, Demarcus had let his cat out of her little cat kennel. He hated having to keep her cooped up inside, and he knew that he could let her out on the train without getting scolded by his parents. If they had been riding the train with him to Hogwarts, poor Bubbles would be stuck in her kennel the entire trip. And if being locked Azkaban was bad (which it was), then a kennel had to be just as bad.

So, being the gracious owner that he was, the boy let the ancient fat cat out of her kennel. However, instead of staying obediently by Demarcus like a good cat, Bubbles had run off ahead of him.

“Get back here, Bubbles!” Demarcus shouted after her, rather shocked at how quickly she had moved. Because he didn’t want to lose her, he chased after her, almost tripping on his untied shoe. By the time he had found the cat, he noticed that she was brushing herself up against Grayson’s legs. Uh oh.

He inched closer toward them slowly and stopped when he was a few feet from Grayson and Bubbles. Demarcus then waved his arms like crazy, sure that would catch Grayson’s attention from her muffin eating. “Psst, Grayson. Whatever you do,” he whispered, for the poor cat couldn’t hear as well as she once did, “don’t make any sudden movements. Or we’re all going to need bubble-head charms.”

Spotting someone... could it be? Lexi turned to peek around the boy she had been speaking to. Yeppers! It was him. SMILLLLEEEEE! Turning her attention back to the boy she said, "Excuse me one moment, I will be like RIGHT back." She then took off toward the compartment she had spotted Sabel in.

Knocking on the window of the compartment right to the left side of the door she peeked her head around she said happily, "I thought that was you, Sabel Dakest!! And Arya! May I come in for a moment?" Not really waiting for a response she slipped into the compartment and stood near the door. "OMG I have missed you so! I would really like to talk to you for a moment if you don't mind..." she said rather jovially and bounced a little where she stood. Happy new and improved Lexi was TOATLLY stoked to see her.. friend? If he would still have her as a friend, that is. She wiggled her fingers at Arya and said to her, "Good to see you without bugs all over you." She gave a little giggle at that and waited to see if they would ask her to have a seat.

Heather lingered longer outside the compartments, occasionally moving aside, giving way to other excited students walking or running up and down the way. she was hoping to find her doll soon, and praying that it didn't get trampled on.

she had asked some higher-ups awhile ago, peeking into their compartment and shyly asking if they have seen a lost panda doll. it seems, they haven't, but said they'd keep an eye out for it and find her if ever they find the doll. that made her blush and be happy at the same time.

as she continued, every step she took, made her more and more depressed thinking that she will never find the one thing she treasured most. she was almost on the verge of crying. 'daddy gave me that panda doll and i just lost it...' she sniffed. she stopped for a moment and let a group of students pass by her, and when they did, she started walking again. She hadn't realized she was walking back to her and Cassandra's compartment. 'guess, i'm just going to have to accept that it's gone. how am i going to tell dad? he'll be so upset and mom'll send me a howler for this scolding me i keep losing things...' she sighed, imagining the scenes in her head.

just then, heather felt something soft and fluffy on her feet. she stepped on it again. "huh?" she looked down. It was her doll! Heather's depressed face turned into a happy one as she bent down and picked it up (brushing away the dirty foot print she made on it with her handkerchief and successfully did).

"OH! OH! Mr. Panda! i thought i lost you! oh!! i'm so happy! but wait a second...i ran out of the compartment, i should have found you by then....hmm...i must've missed that..." she giggled at herself. 'i always do miss things when in panic and it's right in front of me all along! hehe...' she looked at the medium-sized doll that was almost 1/4 of her body ("how do i even manage to lose something big?" she thought wonderingly.) and hugged it tight. "oh mr. panda, wait until Cass sees you! maybe she'll be in a better mood seeing you!" she said and ran back to the compartment she and her companion shared.

she burst open the door and was practically jumping and squealing. "CASS! CASS!" she yelled. "I FOUND IT!! I FOUND IT!! IT was right outside all along!...

..MEET MR. PANDA!" heather said with a huge smile on her face, not minding if she was the noisiest on the entire middle car. she was just too eager to have found her lost doll again.

Damon was lucky because he saw a fully empty compartment. Sitting down in one of the seats he made sure his owl was next to him. As it was it was going to be another long and interesting ride to school. Damon sat back and sighed. The train seemed like it was shaking and for that reason Damon did not know why.

Cracking open one eye, he turned his head a little to blink at Arya, making a small mental note that they hadn't even left the station yet. It was going to be a long ride. "Long flight. Haven't slept for a while is all. My apologies if I'm about as spacey as the first monkey flown to the moon."


He was on the brink of letting his eyes slip closed again when a sharp rap brought him straight up in his seat, his eyes snapping over to someone he barely recognized. Bouncy, smiling and beyond happy he could have sworn it was another mind in the same body. "Lexi...." Someone he hadn't been excepting to see so soon. His eyes flicked over to Arya in question of the other girl's request. "Sure..." It came out as more of a question for Arya's approval than a direct response to Lexi.

Jimbo blinked at her. "Who wouldn't want a turtle on their head?" It wasn't silly at all. Well, actually Jimbo was glad Pebbles wasn't on his head anymore. Who knows what he could have done up there.

And whilst he was somewhat able to understand her dislike for reptile-like animals, he could not for the life of him understand her like for flying animals. Had it not been for the fact that she looked like a nice person, or that she had just been crying, or maybe even that she was already sitting beside him and there is not much he can do about it, he would have kicked her out.

But he didn't. Yet, he can never understand anyone who likes birds or anything alike to them. He could be friends with Monty despite the fact that she liked butterflies, which were the worst flying thing ever, but she didn't OWN any butterflies, whereas this girl who intruded in his compartment OWNED a FWOOPER. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a completely different situation.

"Uh, you know what? I'll pass." he replied, his voice a little shaky at the mere thought. And to calm his nerves, busy his suddenly twitchy hands and change the topic of conversation, Jimbo decided to offer her some of the candy he was packed with. "You want some candeh?" Hmm. That little twist on the last word wasn't exactly intentional. Well, he hadn't yet gotten over his fear of birds. He was getting better with the butterflies, but that was pretty much the only thing he could handle..somewhat. The birds are the worst though, just look at him shaking! And it wasn't even anywhere near! It was just mentioned. There really is no helping the poor boy, is there?

Arya just grinned at Sabel when he made reference to a monkey going to the moon. She decided that since he wasn't in a bad mood, she wouldn't worry about his unusually calm deminor. "Next summer come back earlier so we can get something to eat in Diagon before the term starts. Then you won't be so teird."

The third year would have leaned against the boy and prepaird herself for a long train ride when someone else entered the compartment. Grinning at Lexi, she nodded her head in response to both of their inquiries. She liked Lexi, despite the fact that the older girl didn't find bugs as interesting as she did. "Of course you can join us! All the bugs are in my trunk." She giggled, where that was she had no idea.