Ofim found an empty compartment at the back of the train. He was guessing that everyone else was was sitting at the front of the train, that or his parents had gotten him to the train way early. Either way he would have been sitting by himself because he didn't know anyone that went to Hogwarts. At least he had his rat was with him.

He set his things in the seat and sat by the window. He was sure that there would be some nice things to see out of it.

Ella was hiding tucked away in one of the back cars, happy to have found an empty compartment. She needed some time to think and stop blushing after what happened on the platform and this seemed like the perfect place to do it.

The blonde curled up on the seat and looked out the window, a small frown on her face. WHY did everything in her life have to be so...awkward?

Times like this she really wished she didn't promise Theo she wouldn't eat gummy worms.

Hogwaaaarts!!!! Going back to doing magic andall that stuff! BRILLIANT! Sophie couldn't be any happier. Even though she wouldn't see her parents for a while, but she had grown used to that already, so it was alright. Besides, that term was most likely to be a GREAT one!

Lalalalalaaaa!

The now fourth year walked through the train corridor, looking for a familiar face. It was alright if she didn't find anyone she knew, she was also in the mood to make new friends anyway!

Oh, look! Ella! "Hello!" She said cheerfully as she opened and quickly closed the compartment door behind her. Only then she noticed Ella was acting a bit... odd. "Are you okay?" Maybe she was just nervous about the new term? But that didn't make sense, did it? "What's wrong?" The brunette asked as she sat down in front of her friend and looked her in the eyes.

Ella jumped a bit when she heard the door to her compartment open but was relieved to find her best friend standing there. "Soph, thank Merlin!" And the blonde turned to face her friend, eager to talk with her.

"Okay? I'm..." Frown, okay was definitely not the right word. "Well I'll be 15 soon, I'm pretty sure I'm the most awkward human being alive, and I understand nothing that happens in my life so no, not okay." And she sat back defeatedly, feeling bad for unloading on her friend like that.

...Sophie had asked, though.

"So erm...how are you?"

Ethan stepped onto the train, pulling his trunk behind him and still carrying his Siamese in the crook of his arm. She was desperate to escape his grasp and he struggled to keep a hold on her long enough to find a compartment before he could set her down. The last thing he needed was to have his brand-new cat, who had yet to learn her name, run off. At least he had decided on one now...

Selecting the very first empty compartment, the boy stepped inside and waited for Minerva to join him before he would close the door. And then both of their pets could roam around the compartment. Hopefully they would get along alright, or else it would be a long train ride.

What? Ella was talking a bit fast, but luckily Sophie was able to understand everything she said. What was wrong about turning 15? She understood nothing that happened in her life? Huh? The fourth year frowned confused and tilted her head a bit.

Surely there were deeper things behind that. Ella wouldn't 'not be okay' because of those things.

"Ella, you're not awkward! Sophie truly didn't believe that, even though the blonde always said that. But that was also beyond the point. "What happened... exactly? To make you feel that way?" Sophie asked, not taking her eyes off her best friend.

Ironic how the rolls have switched this time on the train, hm? Things should just be okay once and for all! Merlin.

Not awkward? PSH! Ella was like the most awkward person at Hogwarts, except maybe for Alec. What made all this worse was that whenever the two were together it created this massive like cloud of awkwardness that just hung over them and...MEH.

The blonde took a deep breath and decided to start from the beginning, knowing that would be the easiest way for Sophie to understand. "So... things between Alec and I have been awkward for a while now and I don't exactly understand this but.." But they were awkward kids and maybe that's just how it was supposed to be? "And after the whole Harvey thing, well he's been trying to make me feel better." As had all her friends, so no weirdness there. "But then...well we got set up on this blind date which was just...well things were weird and then we went to Violet's party together and..." Ella looked at her friend, willing her to understand.

"And then on the platform Oakey's Gran came over talking about" And she braced herself, changing her voice to sound like the older woman. "YOUNG LOVE." Right? Like JHJFHFLFHLKF "And saying something about dating and gosh knows what else." So yeah, it had been super weird.

"I just don't understand what is happening." She finished, putting her face in her hands. "Growingupissoweird." She mumbled, face still covered.

As soon as it was time to board the train, Penelope sorta lost sight of the two people she'd been talking to on the platform, Jake and Zack, but that was okay. She'd probably see them again at the feast. But right now, the feast actually wasn't a concern of hers. She just wanted to sleep. And hopefully not dream.

After dragging her trunk to the luggage compartment, her cat was perched on her shoulder as usual as she wandered down the corridor searching for an empty compartment. Fortunately, she found one fairly quickly once she reached the back, which she entered immediately, shutting the door behind her. She sat down on one seat and let Spot climb down and jump onto the floor before Penelope laid down on the seat and curled up. She shut her eyes as Spot sat on the floor watching the door and listened to her purring. It was always pretty soothing to the girl and gradually she was able to relax...pushing all thoughts, good and bad, out of her mind...

...slowly...

...slowly...

...falling asleep...

Sophie's frown disappeared as Ella explained he was like that because of Alec. She was about to smile when Harvey's name came up. The brunette still wasn't sure about what she thought of it all. She till couldn't understand why they had broken up, but maybe she just wasn't supposed to understand some tuff about other people's relationships, right?

But as her best friend kept talking about Alec, a small smile started to form on Sophie's face. She even covered her mouth and held back a giggle when Ella metioned Violet's party. Bitting her lip as she tried to stop smiling, Sophie put her hand down again and blinked as the blonde mentioned Oakey's grandmother. fkngjkgndfjklgdnlkjg "She did WHAT??" Sophie exclaimed finally letting out a tiny giggle. That old lady was so sweet! Just the mention of her already plastered another smile on Sophie's face.

Oh boy, she was supposed to give Ella some advice or...? She couldn't stop smiling though! "Ella, you and Alec..." She waaas trying to stop smiling, for real! But it was SO hard! "You... you two..." Sophie thought of her next words for a bit. "Well, you said it yourself that you guys have been on two dates already! You..." Oh Merlin, here it went! "You clearly like each other!" SKJGNDFDDJKNGDKJFNGKDFJD HEEHEEHEE!!! They diiiiddddd!!! Aaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

Sophie bit her lip again and looked down at her hands, managing to make her smile a bit smaller. "Sorry..." She glanced up at her friend again with a straighter face. "I'm sorry, I was supposed to be helping you." She said in a less excited tone. But Ellec was just... they were MEANT TO BE, no?? They liked each otheeerrrrrrr! Gah!

Taking a glance at the door to make sure no one was there, Sophie then eyed Ella. "Look, remember how I used to... really like Mordred?" Sophie said seriously. She meant business, she was talking about her ex platonic love there! "Well, I really did like him a lot..." And there wasn't enough emphasis she could put on those words. "But when it was time to move on... I struggled... a lot..." Emphasis, once again. "But I was finally able to get over him." Right? Look at her now! Even talking normally to him and all. "And getting over him also made me realise that he wasn't the only boy around. And actually... it made me realise he wasn't the one who I was supposed to be with!" Sophie grinned. Then she sat up straighter and gestured a tiny bit with her hands. "What I mean is... sometimes we... may think someone's the 'right' one, when they're really not... and we have to give other people chances as well!" How eeelse would she be with Oakey now, hm? Living proof right here!

That meant... go on and date Alec alreadyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!! Of course Sophie didn't say this out loud because it wouldn't help her friend at all, but... hehehehehehe!

The train wasn't crowded yet and that was perfect because it was easier to find a compartment and not get annoyed by lots of people walking around. Even though most of the compartments were empty Nina walked straight to the back because for some odd reason she preferred it and probably all the firsties were going to be in the front. She chose a random compartment, opened the door with a fair amount of strength and saw that there was a cat and a girl curled up in one of the seats probably she had been sleeping, "I..I'm sorry" Nina apologized.

Nina didn't mean to wake the girl, she thought the door was hard to open which wasn't and...well...good job.

Damon sighed getting onto the train... Second to last time he'd be getting on it. He gave a sad smile and sat down in one of the compartments. He was kinda ready for the year to be over actually... But only so he could start going to college and to get away from Ariana certain people.

Taylor came to the back and knocked on the door, opening it a little to see if someone was in there. Tay half smiled as she saw Damon, "Do you want someone to join you?" She had cleaned up her tears and sighed. This time last year they had been dating but now she was heartbroken over Brodie and he was crushing if not even dating Belle.

As Belle was exploring the train for her prefect duties, she noticed a familiar face in the back carts. Belle knew it all too well. Belle smiled and said, "hey stranger."

Penelope had drifted off to somewhere between being awake and being asleep when there was a sudden sound of the door opening. She twitched slightly but that was enough to jerk her awake. Meh. Maybe taking a nap was going to be harder than she thought.

She rubbed her eyes and mumbled an "It's okay" when the girl apologized. At least that meant she hadn't done it on purpose. Maybe she was distracted too or something. "You wanna take a nap too?" Penelope asked.

Belle heard a familiar voice. It sounded like Ella. Belle walked over and noticed her hands were in her face. Belle smiled and walked over but she was with someone else. Belle waved to be polite and Belle gently put her hand on her shoulder, "Hey Ella you feeling alright?"

Wade casually walked through the corridor, he had been on trains before so this wasn't new to him, only the destination. Aha, a free compartment, Wade opened it and took a seat after setting his bag in the overhead carts.

It looked like a peaceful ride for Wade as he rested head behind his joined hands against the wall.

Sophie was smiling. ...SMILING! Ella just stared at her friend, frowning. Didn't she know how serious this was? How confusing? This was certainly not a smiling matter. SHEESH. Oh! There! That was a reaction she wanted. Ella nodded seriously, throwing her arms up in the air and flailing about. "I knowwww" GROAN. "It was just SO awkward, Soph!" Like seriously Granny Gunter, way to make things worse!

And Soph was still smiling which made Ella blush like mad, even though she still didn't understand why this was making her friend so happy. STARE. The blonde watched her friend, waiting for her to spit out what she was trying to say. You...you two "We what, Sophie?" Because all the hesitating and such was making Ella extremely nervous and she was afraid to look at her friend cause all the smiling was not helping.

O_____________O

CrazySmilingBestFriendSayWHATAboutLikingEachother? !?!?!

"We...you think we...b-but we..." BLINK. "WAIT...WHAT?!"

The blonde just stared at her friend, biting on her lip nervously. "Sophie we..." BLINK. "I don't think that's true. I mean...h-he can't like me." She'd know if he did, wouldn't she?

And now Soph was being serious and Ella sat back, listening to her best friend as she talked. The blonde nodded at the Mordred comment, remembering how much Soph had liked him in the beginning. Oh...Sophie meant with her and Harvey, yeah? That he wasn't the only one for Ella? The soon-to-be fifteen year old shrugged, looking down. "I still care about Harvey...I mean I...Well I think about him and hope he's happy but it's..." Different now, very different. Frown. "So erm...w-what you're trying to say is that I...well I should...erm" BLUSH. She couldn't say it...she just couldn't.

"Erm what exactly are you trying to say?"

...

And then Belle came in and Ella smiled a little at the older girl, shrugging. "Oh I um...we were just." BLINK. "I'm okay."

"So erm Belle, excited to be going back?"

Belle knew Ella was kind of lying and covering it up but she let it slide. She had a little sister who did the same thing. Belle smiled and said, "Yeah i am excited to go back, I know i will be learning a lot of new things but how about you?"

This was it....It was finally here..

Seventh year..

Violet was still awestruck about the whole thing. She was really feeling overwhelmed. Had it really only been a couple of months ago when she was sitting on the train to return back to Kings Cross from sixth year? It really felt as if time was racing by without her even knowing. She was feeling so overwhelmed that she had decided to head to the back of the train to give herself a moment to think..

Walking past each compartment as she often did, she always tried looking for one that wasn't being used. Not that she didn't want to be alone, just so that it would be easier for her to put her luggage away. Which thankfully, just as she was thinking this, she found one and smile crept upon her face instantly.

Violet opened the door entering the empty compartment and got herself settled on one of the seats. In the process of her doing that her luggage levitated above her as it always had and placed themselves firmly in the carriers overhead. She crossed her leg and began twirling the ends of her hair, which was tied up by a ribbon that just went so well with her outfit!

Feeling rather settled, she let out a soft sigh and looked out at the passing scenery going swiftly by. She bit her lower lip and softly whispered to herself,"This year is going to be amazing...I know it.." With that another smile was brought upon her face and she leaned back in her seat. Violet then opened her little bag (of course having an expansion charm within it like always) and felt around for a moment until her arm came out of the bag holding the latest copy of Witch Weekly. Within seconds her nose was already buried inside the magazine reading the latest dish!

Damon smiled at Taylor, "Hey..." Could she come in? He gave her a playful smirked, "No, I don't want my cousin's company." He chuckled and stood and hugged her, "I'm kidding, come on in." He stepped back to give her room. He was about to sit down when he heard another familiar voice, "Hello," He turned again and gently pulled Belle close to him, kissing her forehead lightly, "How are you?"

Belle said "Hey..." when she was being pulled in closer. Belle always got the butterflies when Damon kissed her. She never got tired of it. Belle smiled and said, "I am great. Excited to start the new year." Then Belle saw he was talking to someone else in the room. Oh where was her manners. "Damon who is this? I am Belle by the way" she said to the girl Damon knew.

Minerva followed a little behind Ethan, after stopping and talking to people along the way she tried to hurry and catch up feeling a bit bad that she always talking to someone. She had told Susan where they were going to be so she could find them if she wanted, but Min wasn't sure if she would go meeting new friends and not want to be near her cousin. Looking into compartments she smiled when she saw some of her friends, but they weren't who she was looking for.

Finally she found the compartment Ethan was in and turned into it, but caught her trunk on the corner and tripped falling into the compartment with a nice crash. Sitting on the floor she looked at the cage to check on Fluffy, she seemed mad, but fine. Then she looked up at Ethan and laughed, "Well glad I'm starting the new term off with a crash." Laughing she got up and tugged her trunk into the compartment and sat down.

After apologizing Nina decided to leave because probably the girl wasn't in a good mood. Well, she knew that if someone did the same to her she would be pretty annoyed . Luckily the girl didn't react the way Nina expected. Good.

And no, she didn't want to take a nap. "Not really" but thank you? "Mind if I seat here?" or should leave and look for another compartment? "I'm Nina" she said "I'm new here, going to be in fourth year"

Harvey walked through the train quite slowly looking into each compartment wondering what he would ACTUALLY say to her once he saw her, he looked into one compartment. There she was he was about to walk in when he saw that she looked ike she was having a very important conversation with Sophie, he stopped and watched for a while before deciding it was best he saw her later. She was probably wanting some advice from Sophie. There was another puff there too, he turned around and walked away. He hoped that Sophie wasnt telling her to forget him, although it would probably be beneficial for her. She would probably be happier or something, he was glad to see that her friends were around her whenever she needed them at least. That was good he didnt want her to be alone and no-one knew more than him that having people around was important in healing after a breakup. He walked passed another compartment and looked into it seeing another puff he knew, the very puff he had met on this train five years ago today. He had dated her and now was her best friend, he just watched for a little before wondering if he should disturb their little one on one moment for a little fun.. cause he needed something like that right now. But he realised that they had probably not hung out much over the summer due to her internship, so he moved on and walked to the front of the train reluctantly trying to find an empty compartment to sit in. While his heart was trying to pull him back to Ella, it had been doing that alot whenever she was around.. pulling Harvey as hard as it could towards Ella. But Harvey was stronger.. he cared about Ella more than that heart of his and pulled his heart away from her every time. He saw an empty compartment at the front of the train and sat down in it.