Alice was trying really, really hard to listen to what Mo was saying, but her eyes had strayed to the bunny again. It was really difficult not to pay attention to one-handed shoe removal, but she somehow manage to process most of what he said. Kind of. Not really. It didn't make any sense, though. Had he just asked her to be his girlfriend? Was that what this was?

Nope. Definitely didn't make sense. But it was still nice.

She opened her mouth to say something, anything, really, but words wouldn't come out. And Dora hadn't instructed her about how to respond to these kinds of questions properly. And if it wasn't bad enough that Alice was kind of speechless, it seemed like Mo was having the opposite problem and kept SAYING things, and she couldn't keep up with it all. Alice wasn't really sure how to answer right, so she did the only thing that seemed appropriate at the time, leaning forward just a bit more and kissing him. And after a second or two, she pulled back to clarify. "That was a yes. Just so you know. Having a boyfriend-type-person sounds nice." In case that wasn't obvious. "And eloquence isn't necessary, lucky for you."

Today, it seemed, was Mo's lucky day.

She mulled what Seth was saying, her heart beating hard against her chest. Out of disappointment or anger, she wasn't sure. Yet. What she DID know was that Seth had used her all this time. She felt her face grow hot and tears sting her eyes, but she blinked fast to keep them from falling.

She had a few things to say to him. First: "You are SO stupid!" More than Kennedy, and Peyton never thought that'd be possible. "Burning the diary. What if she had other things written on it? Like, 'Don't be so stupid, Seth.' Hmm?!" She'd never destroy a seer's diary. It could give her the advantage over situations.

Peyton's fingers wrapped themselves around the necklace in her pocket unknowingly. She had soooo much to tell him. She didn't know where to begin. "And I can't believe you'd hurt John. He's...lovely. The best brother and..." The thought of him hurting both saddened and angered her. She could feel the tears threatening to spill over. She cover her eyes with her palms, shaking her head. "I can't believe you," she whispered, her arms falling at her sides, and added, "I liked you...a lot."

Her chest hurt. It wasn't like chest pains, but as if she'd been hit with a bludger on her chest. Her throat felt blocked and she couldn't find the right words to express herself. What she really wanted to do was open the window and throw Seth out of it along with his neat stuff.

Gosh. Why didn't she bring her bat with her?

Getting a hold of herself, Peyton glared up at Seth. "You're foul, you know that?" And her hand flew in the air, connecting with his cheek. She wanted to do much more than that, but something held her back. Peyton reached into her pocket and took out the necklace and let it fall to the ground.

Giving him a terribly disappointed look, instead of an angry one, Peyton turned, opened the door and left. Thor followed, hissing before exiting.

This was a good partnership they had going here, where Mo just kept talking until he completely ran out of words and Alice just watched him talk with an air of bemusement and... something else. A good something he hoped, and he was proven correct when she answered him with a kiss.

A kiss was good. A kiss meant she wasn't going to punch him, contrary to any advice to the contrary, and it meant she still liked him. Liked him best, though?

Yes. She was saying yes to a boyfriend-type-person, which was supposed to indicate that she preferred him to all other non-boyfriend-type-people. Mo sagged with relief and gifted Alice with a barefoot Titus right in her lap, as if that somehow signified SOMETHING. It didn't, though, aside from him being too excited to know how to communicate other than with 'here, have a bunny now, please.'

"Oh, good. Good, 'cause..." He paused. "I'm asking you to be my girlfriend, you know?" She knew. 'Course she knew. He dropped his head back against the seat. He did feel lucky today.

She liked him?! Really liked him?!

"I really like you too. That's why I couldn't go through with Jesuit's dark scheme, or even mine for that matter." Seth felt like what was left of his heart, was completely shattered.

It was the right thing to do. Telling the truth.

Seth rubbed his cheek that was now red and had Peyton's tiny hand printed on it. His tears spilled down like a waterfall. "I'm sorry" He whispered.

Watching her leave was awful, seeing the disappointment in her face was the worst.

Punching the door, he let out a tiny bit of his frustrations. But right now he was so devastated he really wanted to do some damage on anyone! He was better off alone...after all he's always been alone. Now with more reason.

Eliza half held her breath as she waited for the girl's reaction to her sudden burst of attitude. No hexes yet, so she took that as a good sign. A semi joke back? Good...good. Or is she joking? She still wasn't sure, but she didn't sense impending doom or anything, so she let herself relax slightly. Enough to let out a little laugh at the mention of a solo-only career choice. She looked up at her and gave another short shrug when she repeated the words back to Eliza. Yeah, I can be useful, believe it or not, she thought as she watched a strange expression forming on the older girl's face. It wasn't an expression she was familiar with, but she seemed to be considering something. Whether or not to kick me out mayhaps? she wondered, watching the taller girl glance down at her from the doorway. Maybe I bit off more than I can chew with this girl, debating with herself she reviewed the encounter and decided, No. I've got this. I'm no push over. I can...I can hang with the big dogs. I'm not so delicate, just because I might not know as much about spells yet.

And then she nodded her into the compartment. Her authoritative tone still brushed against Eliza's nerves a bit, but she was willing to let the girl control the situation if she wanted. Eliza was interested in getting to know more people and definitely could use some more excitement in her life. Maybe joining this Slytherin on the ride home would be just the right thing for that. As you wish, she thought, satisfied, as she entered and took a seat opposite of where the girl had been sitting previously.

And now what? she thought, egging herself on to make some sort of interesting conversation so as not to lose her invitation. But what did she know about this girl? Nothing really. No basis to begin much of anything. She didn't want to be on the defensive for the entire upcoming exchange, but she didn't want to start off on the wrong path. Decisions, decisions. She measured her thoughts as she waited for the compartment door to slide closed. She wanted to say something as equally pompous as the girl had to her when she first poked her head in, but thought it would be just a tad more abrasive than she really wanted to be. She'd save the good stuff for people who'd actually upset her. She decided to start off easy.

She put a serious look on her face and hardened her hazel eyes. "So. Come here often?" She could barely get the ridiculous phrase out before she cracked a smile and let out a small chuckle. Okay really though, Eliza, get a grip. "I'm Eliza," she announced and held her pale hand out to offer the other girl a friendly shake. Snake, meet Claw. Claw, meet Snake.

Patrick slowly paced down the train, running his finger along the windows and staring out as he made his way past the cars, completely forgetting to check inside them. He was by no means an anti-social person, just a little shy. He just wanted to find at least one person he knew. He found it so awfully difficult sometimes to make conversation with strangers, and if he had to sit alone for the whole trip, he'd go mad. Of course, walking down the train the way he was, forgetting to even look at the cars, it wasn't likely he would get anywhere in his pursuit of company.

He suddenly remember what he was doing, snapping out of his little daze. He looked over his shoulder down the train, and all the cars he had passed without even so much as a glance. 'Oh Patrick, you have to stop this..' He thought to himself, annoyed that this sort of thing kept happening. Letting out a sigh, he prepared to backtrack to have a gander at the cars he'd missed, but out of the corner of his eye, he could see into the car he had stopped next to.

"Chloe?" He asked aloud, sounding almost ecstatic at the sight of his best friend in the whole wide world. Sliding open the door and poking his head in, his face lit up the moment he realized it really was her. "HI!" He yelped, the way she often did, closing the car door behind him.

With a relieved smile sat Sonea down in the middle of the train, she was relieved that she had ended her first year on Hogwarts without much problems. She had thought that it would be difficult for her to start on Hogwarts in the middle of the school year but she realized that it was not that hart after all. And now, a few months later she was already heading home! Sonea’s smile disappeared when she thought about her home and wondered if her mother would be waiting for her and if her father would be interested in how her school time had gone. Sonea hoped that her mother would be waiting for her in London but she was afraid to be disappointed, she assumed that her mother had send a maid to wait for her and to bring her home. She stared absent at Little princes and was curious if the maid who was waiting for her would be afraid of rats and if she could bully her…

Mack had enough of not talking and decided to see who else had taken a compartment in the middle car, she saw a small girl she had not seen before sitting alone, she slid open the door and smiled "Hi, I'm Mack, Care if I join you?" The girl looked about her age so surely she wouldn't have any problem with another first year sitting with her.

Sonea was still deep in thought when she heard how somebody opened the door and talked to her. Sonea frowned when she saw a girl from her own age she hasn't saw before, what was not so strange because she had been only a few months on Hogwarts and nodded to the girl. "Hi, I'm Sonea" said Sonea and called for Little princes to hide in her pocket, she was not sure if the girl was afraid for her rat and she did not wanted a lot of drama in the train, not now anyway.

Mack entered the compartment and closed the door behind her taking a seat across from Sonea. "What's in your pocket" the blonde asked curiously, she thought she saw a tail poking out. And if that was a rat then she knew she had made a new friend, her grandmother was always scolding her about playing with the ones in the basement of the estate but they were pretty cool and she had named them all. Not wanting to seem overly excited and annoying she held off on her question about what year she was.

Alice was trying really hard not to comment on some parts of what he had said, because she didn't want to mess stuff up or ruin their happy little moment, so she didn't. "I know what you're asking." She was trying really hard at other things, too, like attempting to wipe that goofy grin off her face, the one that appeared whenever Mo was around. And failing miserably.

She rubbed the barefoot rabbit, now located in her lap, behind the ears distractedly. "Girlfriend." Funny word, wasn't it? "It doesn't sound very Alice. But I'll get used to it." She could do that, did he know? For him she could.

Chloe was still thumbing through the magazine eagerly when she heard a voice that she recognized very, very well. She looked up instantly when she spotted Patrick. "Hello you!" she squealed excitedly, moving and gesturing for him to come into the car. She watched as he closed the door and she stood up, dropping her magazine carefully to engulf the boy into somewhat of a big hug. She'd only seen him the day before, but still. Oh, she was glad to be getting home for a little while. It'd be nice to see her parents and her siblings. Her parents had had her very young, and her siblings were all much younger than her, her sister Savannah about to reach the age for Hogwarts though.

Chloe and Patrick had met as babies, quite literally.
Their Mothers had taken them to the same wizarding mum and toddler group, the women had clicked instantly and so obviously their children were set together to play. Chloe had been a bit of a loud, grabby and quite frankly bossy toddler and had scared Patrick at first. But they grew on each other, and had been best friends ever since.

But was it more than that now? It was hard for her to tell.

The blonde gestured for him to sit down opposite her, she picked up her magazine again and smiled at him over the top of it as she opened it back up. "Have you got any sweets on you? I'm dying for some sugar" she laughed.

"Yeah," Mo sat back up again and gave Alice that silly, puppy-dog face of his, shaking his head to wipe the grin away. Girlfriend was a particularly dumb word, and it didn't seem to apply at all to an Alice. She was her very own thing, and he wanted to be part of that thing... whatever it was. Boyfriend was worse, because it had some sort of specific meaning that was well beyond Mo's comprehension.

"It doesn't sound very Alice, but we could call you something else. Made-up word or some word you like better. Doesn't really matter, 'cause the meaning is the same." Mo lifted her hand up to eye level and studied the way her fingers fit around his. "You have good hands, you know? Maybe as good as your teeth. Strong and useful. Little bit scary what you can do with them. Pretty, though. Suits you."

Awar took a seat in an empty car. She sighed, tiredly. Another year done it seemed and she wasted this one wallowing in stupid pity. Well, next year she is to be a third year and 13 and that was something to be excited for. She missed Belle already...

"It's okay. I like it just fine." Girlfriend. Girlfriend. Girlfriend girlfriend girlfriend. Alice mouthed the word to herself again and again, overturning his hand and spelling the letters out onto his palm. G-I-R-L-F-R-I-E-N-D. That's what she was now, wasn't she? "Boyfriend, though. Cacti aren't boyfriends. Most people would want something more pleasant and non-prickly for a companion. Maybe we should we rename you."

Her hands? She studied her own, too, because she'd been looking at his for a very long time and had already mostly memorized the way they felt and how fit into hers. "They're okay, I guess. Very capable of doing scary things. But I like yours better." Because his ones could hold hers and touch her cheek and make jelly slug jewelry. Better, see?

Oh, hmm. Mo shifted his gaze from their hands to Alice's face and stuck out his tongue in the Most Mature Move Ever. He was a boyfriend now, and so obviously very mature. "I like being a Cactus, though. I'm good at it." And it was his Alice-nickname. Did anyone else even have one of those?

As for her assertion that his hands were better... agree to disagree on that one. Maybe better when they were holding her hand? But that was possibly the cheesiest thing ever said, and Mo was determined not to be cheesy if he could help it. Instead he just shrugged. Rather eloquently, he thought, but still just a shrug.

"Vivi's invited me to come visit for my birthday, and I can stay until she decides she hates me again. We ought to plan an adventure. Maybe several adventures. One every day for as long as Vivi likes me."

"You are good at it, aren't you? Best I've seen." Selina had SAID stuff about certain people visiting certain flats, hadn't she? Alice nodded along and started examining Titus again. "Your birthday's in July, right? Is it late July? 'Cause I'm coming in August, so you'll have to make sure she doesn't hate you for a bit, then."

There were supposed to be more people coming over, too, weren't there? "This guy named August is coming as well, and then West is supposed to stop by sometime, and Lex maybe." And she already had SOME stuff planned. "I'm supposed to go practice with the Harpies and Selina one day, and then she's taking me kickboxing, and I'm going to try to bake but actually burn stuff with Vivi and then maybe meet this August person and.."

She trailed off, taking a deeeeep breath before opening her mouth to say MORE. "And you can do some of that stuff with me, possibly. And then we can do some things, just us." Alice didn't know what yet, but they could figure that out when they needed to, because it was more fun deciding things last-minute anyway.

"It's near the end of July, but I probably won't come to stay until the very end of the month. My mum just really likes to celebrate birthdays," Mo offered in an off-handed tone, although since he sort of adored his mother, he was willing to hang around for birthday cake and such. Plus there might be a party, and West might have time to celebrate too.

"As for Vivi, I'll do my best to stay on her good side for as long as possible," Mo extricated himself from the floor and moved up to the regular seat, tugging lightly on Alice's hand as he did so. She should move up and sit on the seat with him.

All those many many things Alice had listed, and it sounded like her summer with Selina was already very full. That made things easier, but it meant seeing her was going to be harder. Maybe that was the point... it meant more if he had to work for it. "I'm doing Quidditch training with Vivi too, but I dunno if that means kickboxing. And I'll help with baking, only I don't burn things. She wouldn't either if she paid attention, considering she's awesome at potions. And they have a pool in the building, so we can go swimming sometimes, plus I have a map how to get to Diagon Alley. So I think we'll survive... mostly."

"Oh, this is my rat, Little princess" smiled Sonea and now that she knew that the gril probably was not afraid of rats she called for her little friend to show herself. When Little princess sat on her lap she looked proud at her rat. "I have ordered a maid to color Little princess pink because pink is my favorite color and i only want to have the best!" Sonea stared absent at the rat on her lap and thought about home and wondered what she could do in the next few months during the vacation and had no idea, she would probably demand her maids to do things for her... "Do you have a pet from you own?" asked Sonea suddenly and shrugged her thoughts off.

Throwing his bag onto the seat next to him, Patrick excitedly squeezed Chloe as tightly as he could. He gently raised her off the ground when she hugged him, just like he did almost every time. After setting her down again, he plopped down on the seat opposite her and smiled with the most radiant, relaxed, and content expression anyone had ever worn, second only to Chloe's. She was always so beautiful, cheerful and happy, it was almost impossible not to be infected by her attitude. Or maybe Patrick was just happy to be around her. He couldn't tell.

"Sweets?" He repeated, digging through his pockets. He looked over at his bag, which was sitting next to him on the seat. "Well.. I actually do have these.." He said, digging out a small paper bag, stuffed to the brim with Sugarmuffins. "I was going to give them to you later when the train stopped, but since you're craving something sugary right now.." He grinned, taking out one muffin and handing the bag over to Chloe.

"These are about the sweetest things you can find." He smiled, biting into the sweet, sugary pastry.

Mack squealed with delight as she saw the rat exit Sonea's pocket, she was pink! She had never before seen a pink rat but once the girl gave her the explanation of color she understood why. The blondes ears perked up at the word maids, so she too was pureblood and wealthy, something they had in common, Mack made a mental note of this, she would have to ask grandfather of the family. She realized she was being asked something and had briefly heard the words "pet and own" so she rather assumed she asked about her Mack's pet. "I do, an owl named Rose, she isn't on the train though..." Mack looked out the window, looking to see if maybe Rose realized that she had moved up the train from where she had let her out, never mind Rose would find her way home long before they were due in London, funny owl she was.

She looked a little worried when she heard that the other girl had a owl, and owls liked it to eat rats and other small animals... Sonea checked immediately if the windows were all closed before she relaxed again. "Rose is a nice name" responded Sonea and gave Little princess something to eat, she had a few things in her pocket special for her rat and she smiled at the girl who liked her rat obviously. But before she wanted to make friends with the other girl she wanted to know if she was good enough for her, her mother would not tolerate it if she would talk with a half blood or worse, a witch who was born in a muggle family. "Sorry if I'm rude, but where are you from? Are you a witch? I mean, a real witch? And not a half blood or something like that? Because if you are one, i think that it would be better for us to not speak with each other... My mother would not like it, sorry" said Sonea slowly and hoped that the girl was from a good family so that she could make friends with her.

Mack couldn't help but giggle at the girls unsettledness over Rose, "don't worry she doesn't eat rats, she only eats worms and bugs" she hoped that her statement eased the girls mind about Rose. Mack smiled at the girls question so she was a pureblood "don't worry, we can be friends. I am pureblood. Dads from right outside London and mums from Germany originally but came to Hogwarts during her second year." the blonde beamed, while she didn't have a problem with halfbloods, but her grandparents had been raised in pureblood mania.

When the other girl laughed at her actions she looked at first annoyed at Mack, she didn't liked it to be laughed at but she didn't responded to it, her maid had told her once that she had a temper and that she needed to learn to be more polite to others... Not that she had listened to her maid, she didn’t liked all of them and she had scolded the maid for speaking freely to her, when her parents were not around she was the boss in the house and she would NOT tolerate it that a maid who was working for her parents was telling her what see could do and not! No, Sonea had yelled at the maid but because the maid was older then she was she had not won the conversation… But she had tried it and she had begged her mother to dismiss the maid and she had won after all.

“I had thought that owls always ate mouse and rats…” Sonea frowned and wondered if it was allowed to bring more than one pet to Hogwarts, a owl was handy if she wanted to send a letter and if she had a owl of her own she didn’t needed to use the school owls any longer, she didn’t liked it to take one because she didn’t trusted a animal from somebody else. Her mother had not liked it that Sonea had chosen a rat as her pet and she had wanted her to have a cat or a owl, but she had not listened to her mother, as usual and had found Little princess in the animal shop. Her mother had been furious at her and her father had only been disappointed at her. But now, a few years later they had accept it but they still didn’t liked it.

When Sonea heard that Mack was a pureblood like her she looked relieved, her parents had raised her strictly and she had learned that there was a difference between the normal witches and wizards and the purebloods. Her mother always talked about ‘the lower classes’ when she had talked about half bloods and people who were friends with muggleborns. “I’m happy to hear that! Maybe we can be friends next year on Hogwarts! I’m still not used to the school because I have started in the middle of the year. I needed to return home when there were some family problems and now I have missed a lot and I don’t know much other students…”

the rather annoyed look on the girls face didn't escape Mack's attention, but she dismissed it, she was learning very quickly that the girl had been raised in a similar way to that of her grandparents, which honestly the girl found sad. Hadn't she realized that in order to keep the wizarding world going we had to have halfbloods and muggleborns. Still she didn't want to offend her new found friend and maybe over the next few years she begin to see the good in all people. Mack sighed she knew it was this quality that had placed her in Gryffindor, she no doubt inherited it from her father. She liked the look that appeared on Sonea's face when she mentioned her blood status, the girl had a brilliant smile and she hoped that she could learn to find more to smile about. "I'd like that very much! Oh I understand, getting settled into a new place can be scary sometimes" she knew the way she felt when she first arrived at Hogwarts. "will you be in Diagon Alley any this summer, I'd love to be able to meet up." Mack was unsure if Sonea would fetch her school things herself or send one of the maids that she had mentioned earlier, but it couldn't hurt to ask could it?