Caleb was just so HAPPY! In the short time since the feast, his features had improved dramatically. He still felt like his skin was a bit too loose in some places around his neck, and his hair was still a bit peppered, but he could feel himself getting better with each passing moment. There was a new vigor in his step. He didn't feel like he might collapse into dust at any moment, and it was FANTASTIC!

Beans could tell that his owner was feeling better too and was riding happily on his shoulder as Caleb selected an empty compartment. He sat down, sighed happily and put his feet on the seat across from him. He reached into his bag and took out the small mirror he'd been using to monitor his healing - YES! His hair was basically back to normal now!

You couldn't even tell he'd been sick, really. He couldn't stop GRINNING!

"Ready to go home?" A loud squeak caused her to shake her head and laugh. She enjoyed the motion, actually being able to make it. She enjoyed the hair brushing up against her face. She enjoyed all the small things about being young that she had taken for granted. Her hand reached up to Poppy and she stroked the pygmy puff lovingly. "Me too."

She walked into a compartment assuming it was empty when she looked up and blushed. "Sorry. I should've been more attentive." She stood there awkwardly standing in the door not sure the boy would let her it there or if she should just leave. "I'm Hope."

It kind of felt weird to be introducing herself right before she was heading home but, eh, what was one more introduction.

Marigold dodged a person's leg and continued walking until she found a compartment. Sticking a head inside, she saw that Slytherin twin and a graduate (she thought). She smiled and raised her hand awkwardly. She took a step into the compartment. She could sit down in another place if need be, but she was trying to avoid someone. Someone she felt bad about avoiding, but couldn't be bothered at the moment.

So she took another step inside. "Hi?" She tightened her grip on her book. Bilbo could wait.

Awar walked by a few compartments before catching a familiar face in one, "Marigold!" She glanced to the others, cautiously, "Oh, sorry! Is it okay if I sit here? If its too full, I can go find another." She could understand. She likes space. Awar often found lonely trips on the train equal awesome naps!

Leah ran along the long corridor of the train back home with her beloved kneazle Filomena and stopped with a halt before one compartment. Hope, Marigold, an older girl Leah recognized as a Hufflepuff, and a second-year Snake, what was his name again?

The soon-to-be-second-year slid the compartment door open slowly. "Hi, mind if I go in?" She walked in cautiously. "Hey Hope, how are you feeling? Better? And that's a cute pygmy puff you have~ Hi, Marigold!" Leah beamed at all the people inside, tightening her grip on Filomena. The kneazle's love for pygmy puffs was not, well, good, often ending with the other creature running away. "For those who don't know me, I'm Leah, second year in a few months. Hufflepuff. This is Filomena, my pet." Good introduction. She plopped down onto the seat opposite the grinning boy with his mirror. That reminded Leah that she forgot her lipstick this morning. By the way, why was everyone standing?

Cutty turned from the walk way into the compartment to see some tiny body blocking the entrance like a dummkopf. He felt like pushing her out of the way...possibly out of the window. Alack, they were not in motion! Instead a tolerant smile manifested and his wand was jabbing at her back and either she'd move or it would go right through her as he passed to take a seat.




Merlin! When did Caleb get so tall!? Like a pair of legs had grown up and created a head at the top of 'em! What are you eating, Caleb Newell??! "Hey, Newell. 'Bout time they gave us that cure, eh? I thought we've be leaving as old folks." And that wouldn't have bothered Cutty too much, really. He could've opened up his own vault if he just borrowed some old man's wand. "Beans." He greeted the critter perched upon the shoulder of his once and future dorm mate, whilst still continuing to ignore Hope Evans, who he knew more about than he cared to share at the moment.

Wow. The compartment sure did fill up real fast. How many people were in it now. Four? Five? No worries, because there was indeed a familiar face among them. One who had been a pretty good friend when things got hard.



"Hey Leah!" She beamed and nodded. "I'm feeling much better. There's still this phantom ache in my hip but, ya know." She shrugged and then reached up checking on Poppy. "Thanks. He's a right pain though. Escaped from on the ride to school, let's hope he doesn't vanish again." She had opened her mouth to ask the girl how she was doing when she felt something in her back and she turned to the person in question....



She scowled at the boy and crossed her arms and was about to tell the boy exactly where he could stick his wand other than in her back, however, she took a deep breath and said icily. "Excuse me would have sufficed just fine. No need to jab your wand in place where it doesn't belong." He looked familiar. Seen him in classes a few times. A name floated to the front of her mind. Cutty. His name was Cutty. She rolled her eyes and decided to just sit down in an empty spot, taking her pygmy puff in her hands and it let out a loud squeak of joy. "Guess your mother never taught you manners." Or her just never listened.

Anna walked up and glanced around. She didn't know what to really do. She wanted to go talk to everyone but at the same time she didn't know if she'd able to hear everyone's happy stories of going off with their family... and she was back to a dank room alone in an orphanage. She sighed slightly and looked over seeing Marigold and a few other people she thought she recognized. She sighed again and went to the compartment across from them, holding her pillow close to her. She really was saddened to leave, even if she'd be coming back in three months.

Caelen was practically running up the compartment hall, looking for a seat. No reason to run, really, was there? But even so, she wanted to get a compartment before they were all full. The middle WAS the best place to sit if you wanted to sleep. And the little redhead did not want to sit alone. Because rides were boooooring if you had no one to talk to.

Coming across a compartment with one other girl in it, the girl with the braid opened the compartment and smiled as she went inside. Well, this was somewhat awkward. Who was this girl again? Why was the freckled face girl intruding on this other girls compartment.

"Hey, you don't mind if I sit here, do you?" She was already in the compartment, but the soon to be second year wanted permission.

Being young again, hardly anything could ruin today for her. Not only would she NOT be spending her birthday at St. Mungo's but she would immediately get to the gift shopping with her father (the only kind of shopping she could tolerate). She'd by now accepted the fact that some of her friends wouldn't be coming back and had already been by the Prefect Compartment for a bit, taking in the last few moments but now she was restless and had gone wandering around the train, kneazle in hand and candy bag over her shoulder.

"Nope, not in this one." She mumbled throwing open a set of doors but finding no one of interest to her inside. "We'll keep looking." Had Jun said where he'd be sitting? She should have asked. In any case, if she searched a bit further and never found him she'd have to give up and find Lottie. They had a tradition to keep regardless of who else she sat with during train rides.

Now where was he? Lex had already checked half the cars.

Anna looked up as someone came in. Oh... someone new, she wasn't really sure whether that was a good or bad thing. Well, as long as they avoided talking about summer she'd be fine... She hoped anyways. She'd done pretty well at not telling people the truth about her, so what was telling a little white lie if she had to about saying she'd spend the summer with her family... not stuck in a room while her caretaker looked at her like a freak.

Annaleecia gave a weak smiled and pushed her hair back, "No, not at all... Go ahead and take a seat." She nodded to the slightly younger girl, smiling slightly as Juju squeaked from her little cage, "I hope you don't mind pygmy puffs, though." She took the little pink puff out with a smile, "This is Juju, and I'm Annaleecia." The fourteen year old looked to the other girl, "And you are?"

"I’ll take care of you till the end," The boy sang as he walked through the train. Jun had already seen Char and had cleared up summer plans with her. Including the sweet sixteen he had to learn the dance to. Plus, he had finally cleared things up with his parents about making him transfer. Jun was spending the rest of the next two terms at Hogwarts. But of course there was a catch. And one he was really angry about. Taking out a piece of paper and reading it, Jun had to make sure he had everything. Or at least his Ma would get it for him. Though Kimberly should be the one to do so. It was her party after all.

Casually moving around people without looking up, Jun almost bumped into someone. A blonde someone. Finally looking up, or down, he grinned and put his paper away. "Are you looking for someone?" Because she was opening and closing compartment doors. Either way, Jun greeted Lex by giving her a light kiss and petting her vicious kneazle. He then proceeded to open an empty compartment door and slid inside. Sitting down, he swung his legs onto the seats and sighed. His youth needed to come back already. But first. "I have some news for you,"

Grace felt so goood. She felt young and awesome and his age again. It was a very good feeling. And she was going home, and summer was going to be awesome. She beamed to herself as she wandered down the train cars. She was excited to be going home. Though she was going to miss her new home. Ooh. Loookie it was Caleb. Was he that pretty before? Well then. She liked that. Mhmmm. Would have to stay around him a little.

"yes...." She murmured, coming into join the conversation between the two boys. "I'm glad we're back young.... it's been so horrible."

The fact that the majority of the student body was done being old made Ascanius' insides feel a lot better. Really, he didn't like being 'round ugly people, yeah? No one with his caliber of attractiveness should have ever been subjected to wrinnkles and ugliness. He knew-- way deep down-- that he couldn't catch ugly, but he could never be too sure.

'Sides, male Slytherins in general had a quota of attractiveness to keep up. He wasn't going to slip up. Ever.

So he was rather glad when he could walk through the close corridors on the train and no ugly, old people were rubbing elbows with him. Now everything was the way it should have been. The people who were walking by him were just less attractive then him on principle, not because they were old.

Finally, he found a compartment and slid in. His hands reached for his drumsticks and he started to twirl them aimlessly.

Lana was skipping down the train, humming to herself and smiling at people she passed. Soon, though, she realized she should probably find a compartment to spend the rest of the train ride in. So she peeked into the closest compartment, and, seeing only one person inside, took that as an invitation to join.

Plus, she knew the guy! Funny name. Ascanimus? Something like that.

She slid up to him - as close as she could get without being hit by the drumsticks he was twirling - and beamed at him.

"Remember me?"

Caleb looked up as a girl wandered in, clearly thinking the place was empty. Eh, why not let her sit there? He could use some company since his twin was nowhere to be found. "Hey Hope - have a seat if you want," he said, moving his feet. Beans was eyeing the pygmy puff suspiciously, like the rat was trying to figure out if it would eat him or not.

"I'm Caleb, by the way," he added. It had been a while since he met someone new!

However, it didn't stay quiet very long because a moment later, Cutty had joined them. Cutty didn't seem to notice Hope - or he was deliberately ignoring her. Probably the latter. Caleb glared at him a bit for being rude but then sighed and scooted towards the window to make room for everyone. Typical Cutty, being - well, Cutty.

"I know, right? Took them long enough," he grumbled. At least he was all better now, no more peppered hair and wrinkled face! "Oi, what was all that at the feast? With Flamsteed?" he asked, referring to the polyjuice thing. He was more occupied on the cure at the feast but now that THAT had passed, he was curious!

WOW this compartment was popular. Now Grace was in here - he smiled and gave the daughter of his parent's former classmates a wave of welcome as she walked in. And then there was a Hufflepuff girl, who very loudly introduced herself and gave basically her whole life story to them in one breath. She seemed to know Hope? Caleb gave her another friendly smile, despite the fact that he didn't really CARE what year she was and all that. Puffers - always oversharing.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Caleb," he said with a smile. He didn't care about her little ramble BUT he wasn't going to be rude either!

Kace was walking down the middle of the train cart when he noticed a familiar puff. He wanted to talk to her some more since he didn't get to at the feast. He crept up on her slowly and said, "BOO!!" loudly and he hoped he scared her yet again. He was getting pretty good at this.

"Hey so i didn't get a chance to talk to you at the feast. What are your summer plans?" he asked her.

Awar jumped, a hand flying to her chest. She turned around and rolled her eyes, "KACE! Again? You!" She playfully punched him on his arm. Wow, it was getting crowded in here. "Wanna find another compartment?"

She walked with him down the next empty compartment, "Summer plans? Hmm..defintitely have to squeeze in as much possible with my friends, such as yourself, and my brother before, you know, the big move."

Ever since he'd woken up that morning, Tobias had been aggressively clearing him throat. It was getting to the point where it sounded like he was angrily trying to call attention to himself, but really, it was just his darn voice. Sure, that potion would probably cure this old age thing gradually, rather than all at once, but couldn't it just get his voice back to normal? Because this was getting annoying.

During the feast the night before, Tobias had gone from speaking in that old aged croak to a weirdly low voice which hadn't suited him at all. Luckily, that only lasted a short while, and by the time the feast was called to a close and everyone went off to bed, Toby was left speaking in an odd sometimes-squeaky sort of voice, which was frankly all over the place. He'd hoped he'd get past this stage by the time he'd woken up... but no. Added to that, his reflection didn't look right at ALL. Toby was SURE he'd looked younger than that. Maybe everything would be back to normal once the last of the wrinkles and grey hairs disappeared.

Thankfully, one of the first things to return had been Toby's energy. He'd woken up ready and raring to go, eager to get moving. Almost nine months of basically sitting completely still seemed to have led to this odd state where he was just kind of BUZZING.

So, after he'd ridden in the carriages down to the station and loaded his trunk into the luggage compartment, Tobias found himself making his way down the train, with a pleasant spring in his step. The bounce was back.

At his feet, Bludger, Toby's young black cat, sprang along beside him, attacking the Hufflepuff's foot with every step.

Now then, time to find a certain bestie.

If there was one thing Lex couldn't appreciate it was people who bumped into you--or well it was stupidity but that kinda led to the bumping in the corridor that wasn't even crowded. She wasn't old and decrepit anymore but her bones weren't completely back to normal. Did they WANT to have her breaking something on her birthday?? This wouldn't do. A scowl fixed itself on Lex's face and her eyes flashed toward whoever it had been, fully ready to give whoever it was a solid piece of her mind but the scowl quickly melted into a smile after seeing who had done the bumping. This was okay. Definitely. "Might have been looking for you."

She watched him pull another door open. Had she checked that one already?....Yeah...it was empty. Lex followed him inside, shutting the door behind her. People could join them but at what cost? There was the million galleon question. She flopped into the seat opposite his--merlin she missed being able to do that--and pulled her own feet up, sufficiently occupying the entire seat. Felix wasted little time in curling up after that. He wouldn't sleep just yet but he loved comfort. Lex looked over at him. News? "Does it have anything to do with me being 16 today?" She could have been subtle, but right now she didn't wanna be. "Do go on--unless it's not what I want to hear in which case you have no news." If he wasn't staying, she wasn't interested.

Jun grinned. "Well, you found me, Cambridge," Not that he was hard to find anyone. Just look for the tall boy with the unnatural colored hair. He'll stick out like a sore thumb. "Hope your search wasn't too much trouble. Should try the food trolley first next time," Because who wouldn't be there, right? He had stopped there before finding the midget and now here. Though he sadly didn't have his candy bag on him. The cravings hadn't really come back yet since taking the cure. But at least his joints didn't hurt. Bless the heavens for that too. That meant he could practice dancing soon.

Oh? Her birthday. "Y'know, you should mention that to people like months before the day. That way they have time to prepare," Not like he wasn't or anything. But a heads up was nice in a while. "Either way, Happy Birthday!" Slowly getting up, Jun kissed the top of her head and put two badges on her lap. He finally finished the 'Daddy's Little Girl' one. But then had put extra work into the other that now read 'Birthday Prefect'. Though the writing should be changed soon. Sitting back down, Jun swung his legs over and took up all the space on the seats again. "Okay, so I'm staying until I graduate," There, straight to the point. "But there's a catch," And Jun was pretty sure he didn't even want to think about it. All those years of practice gone down the drain. "I can't audition for the trainee program until I graduate," And that was a long time from now.

It took a few minutes for Ascanius to really feel like he was alone before he started acting like...he was alone. That meant drumming on the wall, head banging, being ridiculous...and looking like an idiot. Not something he was adept at because he was so nice looking, but something he was managing none-the-less.

So when someone walked into the compartment and he was halfway through a a head bang...he froze.

Jeez. Why was it that every time he let go of some of his inhibitions something of this nature happened?

Clearing his throat and THROWING himself down into a seat, he tried to look cool and shrugged, "Yeah...you're that first year...Lana...?" That was her name. yeah?

Kace chuckled and knew he succeeded. "I scared you again twice now. I think this maybe a new record." he teased a little bit. He did notice this compartment was getting a little crowded and he nodded. "Sure we can find another." He was following her and knew this would be the last time to see her. It was quite upsetting because Awar was here when Belle was here.

He nodded when she told him her summer plans. "Ah i see. Do you have to move? I mean i can make space in Belle's room and you can stay there." he offered.

Sophie was glad she didn't have to gulp down potions every few hours anymore to keep a relatively youthful appearance. It had been less than twenty-four hours since they all took the cure, and she hadn't had to take ANYTHING since. She could move well and she even went for one last run around the grounds - which she hadn't done since autumn, so it didn't go all that well, but she still felt good.

So, naturally, when she made her trek up and down the train corridor looking for Cat, Mo, or Tobes to hang out with and she saw the back of Toby's head farther down, she was more than thrilled to take off after him. Sophie dodged around people in the small walkway, slipping by them with ease and quickness - she glanced into the compartments along the way, assessing which ones were vacant and which were not - until she reached Tobes, his cat unnoticed. For a moment, she contemplated launching herself onto his back to announce her arrival, but worried about hurting him in case the potion hadn't progressed his de-aging enough - instead, she decided upon giving his sides a single gentle squeeze from behind and chimed an elated, "Toooobes," with a grin on her face, then retreated into the nearest vacant compartment, fully expecting him to follow.

Because, well, why wouldn't he?