He liked poking her and she always squirmed when he did which was funny. "you are a good observer." he knew that and he kept poking her softly as he spoke to her. "fun to poke too." as much as she acted as if she hated being poked he knew she liked when he did it to her. so he kept poking softly. Poke. Poke. Poke.

But she was quickly going through her bag and looking for what she snapped and he honestly was worried. what would she do without a wand? hmm it's be tragic. there was nothing like your first wand and it would be sad.

Waiting as she tossed things out of her bag he found himself hit in the face by several things, a quill, a licorice wand and a chocolate frog card to name a few things that went in his direction. bringing a hand up to rub by his eye, where the card had nicked him slightly, he smiled in relief. "Ah, good. good it's not your wand." now stop throwing things at him!

Squirm. Squirm.

Beverly swatted his hand away halfheartedly. She didn't mind the poking, but if he got near her ticklish spot...she'd be a giggling mess, and just no. "Jeremiiiiah," she complained, although there was a look of amusement in her eyes. "It'sgoingtotickle." But if he thought she'd let him get away with it, he was SO wrong. A few things she had dumped from her bag fell on the floor, but it didn't matter. Beverly poked Jeremiah in the stomach several times. Poke, poke right back you.

Oh. Wait. She caught that one chocolate frog card get him in the face. "I'msorry!" He kisses her and she repays him with a card-smack in the face. Just great. "I forgot I keep my wand--"

Oh crud. O______O

Right by Jeremiah was a shiny cylinder shaped object. One that Beverly sort of felt odd owning. It wasn't something bad nor illegal... Just not HER. Before he even got a chance of seeing it, Beverly snatched it up and stuffed it inside her bag. Nothing to see here.

"I-I keep my wand in an invisible holster," she continued as if nothing happened. Mellow.

Unlike others, Dima didn't have a preference of cars. Anywhere on the train was fair game and fine with him. But the Express filled up fast, and the kid had naturally assumed every compartment in the front or middle would be occupied by people who wouldn't want to talk to a lame ELEVEN year old.

So the back it was!

He chose a compartment that seemed relatively empty, considering it was quiet inside. Or at least it had been until he'd peeked around the door just in time to hear a somewhat older boy yell.

Huh? Was he talking to him?

"Actually, I'm the son of a witch!" he corrected amicably, face breaking out into a grin. "Can I sit here?"

Oh merlin.

Oh. MERLIN.

Grayson, whose hands were inside the packet of Bertie Bott's again, looked up and stared at the boy who had just entered the compartment. Merlin help him if this was one of those weirdly happy types. The ones who were nice for no reason. Grayson had done his hardest to avoid these type of people and yet, he had somehow attracted a run away cast member of a weirdly happy show.

If this wasn't the Hogwarts Express, Grayson would have thought that he had run away.

"Looks like I was wrong, then." Little kid with far too much enthusiasm. "Er, yeah, sure. Only if you're daring enough to try a Bertie Bott's bean without looking at it." His own face broke into a smile and wiggle wiggle went the packet.

She found an empty compartment, or so she thought and opened the door dropping her bag on the seat. When she went to sit she saw a boy sitting by the window. Flushing pink she ducked her head "Sorry. I didn't see you there." Maybe she should just go find another compartment. How embarrassing thinking that the compartment was empty and just barging in and taking a seat. She really didn't usually do that.

"I can go find another compartment." she murmured.

Now that he'd said his goodbyes to his grandmother, and the train had pulled out of the station, there was only one thing for it. Toby had to find Soph.

He strolled down the entire length of the train, pausing when he saw anyone who looked similar to his bestie, and kept an eye out. Thankfully the train was just a long narrow contraption, so it was relatively easy to find people. Toby kept on going down the train, holding his skateboard in front of him so he didn't accidentally hit anyone with it, and occasionally repositioning his heavy backpack.

"Soooooooooooooph," the fourth year called as he went, attempting to cup his hands around his mouth so he sounded like an announcement thingy. This was made slightly more difficult by the fact that he was having to pin his board against his chest with his elbow, but he mad do. "Sophie Broooooowwwwwwwwn. You have an unattended bestie waiting for you. Sooooooooooooph."

Marigold beamed. Cousin Dec was GREAT. She giggles slightly, then got off his back and stood on the ground again. Then she wrapped her arms tightly around his waist. "It was good! She kept complimenting my hair, which was nice. How was Peru! I haven't had time to ask you yet. Are you excited for Hogwarts? I can't wait for you to meet all my friends like Kace and Zahra and Elodie and Mitch-" She stopped abruptly, then tried to brush it off as a hop. Whoops.

After a short moment of silent confusion, Andrew was quick to dismiss - or at least attempt to dismiss - the notion that the girl who had just entered the compartment had in some way disturbed him, or was bothering him with her presence.

"No, no, you don't have to do that!" he gestured for the girl to remain seated. "I don't own this compartment, and there's plenty of room.".

He had personally been in a similar situation, and understood why the girl would feel shy about simply barging into a compartment that someone else had 'claimed', but that's how new friends are made. The last thing Andrew wanted to do was to make her feel unwelcome.

Justine wandered for some time through the train in search of ether a familiar face or at the very least, an empty compartment. She had had zero luck with ether, and had all but given up when she heard a voice which was pleasantly familiar to her.

Andrew!

The Ravenclaw beamed happily at the thought of her immensely clever, kind-hearted friend, and without another thought, she barged into the train compartment from whence his voice had come, only to find him conversing with a young girl she did not recognize. "Oh, Pardon! I did not mean to interrupt... " She said, speaking with her thick Parisian-influenced accent, hitching her book bag higher onto her shoulder as the awkwardness of the moment enveloped her. Should she sit? Should she leave? She had no idea.

Sophie was doing her own thing for once instead of seeking people out - she had been one of the first to board the train and had snagged up the cleanest, nicest-smelling compartment available and took refuge inside it, a knapsack stocked up with sweets on the seat beside her. Just in case she had a full compartment and Tobes, Cat, and Mo were all there. She had enough food for all of them. Totally prepared.

After awhile of watching people walk by once the train had started moving, she readjusted herself and spread out on the bench, her back against the wall by the windows so she could be more comfortable and moved her bag to the floor. Concerned, she was, as she hadn't seen any of her favorites wander toward the back of the train - did they forget about her? Mo and Cat were probably going to hold up in the prefects compartment, she assumed, but she had hoped they'd at least stop by. Toby had no excuse, though, and she wondered where he was. A few minutes had passed since the train had left the station and HE WASN'T THERE YET. HOW DARE HE.

Hehe.

Sophie wasn't really mad, but she was curious, and just as she made the move to stick her head out of the compartment and peek around for him, she heard her name being called.

Definitely Tobes.

"Stop shouting, y'dork, I'm right here," she grinned cheekily and waved her hand a little to flag him down. "Merlin, wandering around like a lost puppy. What're we gonna do with you." Griiiin. When he was close enough, she snatched up his hand and pulled him inside the compartment with her. "I got us a compartment. And I brought all your favorite sweets. She patted her bag as she sat back down. Totally nice of her, right?

Very wrong. Unless he was calling his mum a banshee, which was not nice.

Even though she sounded like one more than three quarters of the time Dima was around her.

"Okay!" At once, the kid wriggled into the seat next to the stranger, sticking his hand out for a bean. "But you can't give me a gross one on purpose." Because he really didn't want to associate his very first train ride to school with the taste of troll bogeys.

She gave him a shy smile and nodded sitting back down again "Thank you." Why was her face still red? It wasn't as if she hadn't been around boys before. Just last week she'd been stuck hanging with Dan at Floreans because their mums had decided it'd be nice to sit down and visit, rather than let them join their friends. Eric was still off in America, so she hadn't seen her brother lately but still why was she flushing?!

Settling back against the seat she offered him another smile "I'm Zoe, fifth year Slytherin. Yourself?" Unless of course he would rather just sit there in silence. With which she'd just bury her face in a book or something.

Looking up as another Ravenclaw appeared she gave her a smile "No worries, ummm as long as it's alright with uhh...sorry. Him, you can join us." Embarrassing....didn't even know the boys name. Had he been at Hogwarts before now? Merlin, she didn't even know!

The sixteen year-old rested his arm around his younger cousin's shoulder, "Oh yeah? She's been missing Rorie since she went back to California. Seeing you probably made her feel better."

Whoooaaa, that was a lot of questions to answer. He blinked trying to recall the answers to the handful of questions she asked. First one, "Peru? Uh...Peru. Peru...was interesting. Don't tell Mum, but we landed in venomous dragon territory, nearly died in a mudslide, and almost had our brains bashed by mountain trolls in the first couple weeks. But, other than that, it was really fun!" Amazingly thrilling, really. Hogwarts. "I am very excited! This summer has already proven Hogwarts is going to be way more interesting than Winchester will ever be." Oh that was a long list of friends. Popular, huh? "Are you sure you want me meeting your friends? Aren't you afraid I'm going to cramp your style?" Nudge, nudge.

Justine returned the young girl's smile, happy to take the seat next to her, across from Andrew. The Slytherin was rather pink, and Justine was wondering if she was alright, perhaps she was feeling overheated? It was rather warm in the compartment...

"Zank you, I promise I won't be unpleasant company," Justine said, her green eyes sparkling with slight amusement. Judging by the way the other girl spoke, Justine guessed she didn't know Andrew (is she had she would have referred to him by name). Placing her down her book bag and lying back in the comfy compartment chair, Justine was more than happy to make herself as comfortable and as at joke as she could. Carrying around her trunk and trolley through the platform had been exhausting, and she was glad to have a place to just sit back and relax.

She was on her way back to Hogwarts, a school she currently had a love/hate relationship with, what with the whole strangeness of being prematurely aged the year before and hardly making any friends, she was a bit weary of the school actually.

"I'm Justine by zee way, Justine Janvier," The Ravenclaw said, remembering her manners and turning to the Slytherin girl with her hand out for her to shake.

........................................ Jeez. This kid.

There were lots of other spaces here in the compartment and where was he sitting? Right next to him. He understood that he was good company but this wasn't necessary, little one. Probably going to start asking for hugs and a bedtime story if he wasn't careful.

Be nice, his mum had said. Be. Nice.

"To make things fair, I'll pick one out at random too, mkay?" Winks would have been given but he was no creep. Besides, he didn't want a letter from the kid's mother shouting at him for winking at her bundle of joy, thanks. Closing his eyes, he dug his hand into the packet and rummaged around before pulling out a bean. A RED one.

"Here you go," he said, placing the bean on the kid's hand, "What flavour do you think it is?"

He was amused and he totally smirking at her exaggerating his name the way she did. "Beverlllllly" he could do it too you know, cept he whispered his cause they were still super close and all, no need for loud dramatics. "Iknowitis." it's why he was doing it, duh. She poked him right back though, as he expected and he leaned forward some to try and protect his stomach as she did. "heey." of all the places!

"It's okay, ill be fine.. just a ... paper cut." were those cards even made of paper or were they more plastic? or.. some other magical thing, he wasn't sure but now he wanted to know what the card was made of.. maybe he'll take one that he has a million of apart. Sorry Dumbledore.

She kept her wand, where? His eyes followed her line of eyesight but she was quick and she grabbed whatever it was and stuffed it back in her bag. That wasn't cool. "What was that?" there was an amused smile playing on his face as he could of swore she blushed slightly. "hmm?" her wand was okay and he suddenly had no interest to where she kept it.

She had been momentarily distracted by the pokes to realize he was still pretty close, and when she did, Beverly didn't know what else to do. Except maybe grow really nervous, blush a tiny bit and poke him back, because why not? "Take it like a man, Walker," she half mumble, the corners of her lips twitching upward. According to his protest back at King's Cross he wasn't a boy anymore, but a man.

Her face fell when she spotted the small nick on his cheek. She did that. She had just assaulted Jeremiah Walker and messed with his pretty face.

T__________T

"I'm so sorry!" she squeaked, her hand flying up to his face, but not really touching. More like hovering, wiggly fingers because she didn't know what to do. They needed a healer! "I think I have a first aid kit..." Maybe.

Rummaging through her bag once more, she paused when Jeremiah asked what it was she had hidden. Suddenly every blood cell in her system decided to rush to her face. "Umm...nothing...just a bunch of...um, junk." Junk. It was just that.

Don't look at her.

Skipping down the train corridor, Lux had made her way over to the back of the train. She had seen quite a lot of people so far on her trip to Hogwarts, but there were other friends who she still needed to see. Where was Louis? Cinnamon? Emmy? There was a good chance that Louis was in the Prefect area, but maybe he would come by. And her girls had to be here somewhere, because otherwise they missed the train, and Lux would cry if that happened.

No, Emmy and Cinnamon were here. They had to be.

Continuing her way down the corridor, she kept peering inside compartments, trying to spot a familiar face.

Andrew had been just about to introduce himself when Justine entered the compartment. Instead, the breath he had taken fueled a surprised greeting."Justine!" He smiled at the girl he had met the year before. His attention quickly darted between the two girls, and he shook his head a second time. "Don't you be apologizing, come on, sit down!" He assured her, chiming in with the blushing Slytherin.

"It's very nice to meet you, Zoe. I'm Andrew." He turned his attention towards the girl who had introduced herself to him moments earlier. In the moments before Justine entered the compartment, Andrew had worried that his company wouldn't have been interesting enough, but now that Justine was here, he felt much more confident. The girl sitting across the compartment seemed approachable and friendly, and now that she'd struck up a conversation with him, Andrew felt a certain responsibility to be interesting. He didn't want to disappoint.

There she goes again with the Blushing thing. Smirking to himself he raised his eyebrows as he was poked once more before being told to take it like a man. ............. Scuse him! "Im taking it like a man, thank you.. it just...." he paused for moment as some of her hair went by his face, "tickles." he mumbled that last word for emphasis or something as she smiled slightly. he saw that, he did.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! "It's okay, it's okay im not dying. im fine." reaching for her hand up by his face as he talked he smiled at her. "I dont need a first aid kit, i'm ok." her concern was uber adorable though as she still went through her bag.

Yeah... That.. we saw you grab it! "Junk.. seemed like real secret junk to me." realllly secret junk and he was interested mhm. it was something that she was obviously embarrassed to tell him about which is why he poked at her even more. Poke Poke.

Tell us!

Toby had known that would work. How could it not? He'd nearly reached the end of the train, so the only places that Sophie COULD be were all within earshot. He beamed widely when he saw her own grinning face and sped up to reach the compartment that she'd apparently taken over. It was good to see her again; Tobias had missed her, even if he had seen her over the summer. It just wasn't the same as when they were at school.

He allowed his hand to be grabbed and followed Sophie into the compartment and soon took a seat in one of the free seats across from her, dumping his skateboard and backpack (which made an unmistakeably loud and uncharacteristic clattering sound) on the seat beside him.

"I've been looking all down the train for you," Tobias revealed, brushing his hair away from his eyes, though it wasn't even in his eyes to start with. It was just a new fidgety habit he'd developed. "Figures you'd be hiding from me right down here."

Toby gave Soph a cheeky grin, and then his eyes lit up. "Ooh, let's see the goods. I brought us some muggle sweets too, from the shop in Kings Cross. We can have a pre-Feast feast."

Food. Just all of the food. Since all the summer Quidditch had started, Toby's appetite had increased tenfold, if possible. But it was fine, because he was easily burning off all that excess food. There were a lot of pros to being perpetually in motion.

"Then no complaining." Poke, poke! Men didn't complain. Not in her books anyway. Grin widening a bit, she pushed her hair away, grabbing a about an inch of it, and held it above her top lip like a mustache. "How do you like my new accessory?" She twirled the end she wasn't holding between her fingers. You like mustaches, Jeremiah, eh?

Yeah, he wasn't dying, but she marked his face and that was enough to make her feel guilty. He had a pretty face. Had it been all troll-like she wouldn't have minded. Leaving her hand in his, she might have pouted the tiniiiiest bit.

Oh, he noticed. Of course, he would, it was Jeremiah. "It's nothing," she mumbled, face growing hotter and hotter as he paid attention to her. He was going to think it was silly anyway. Maybe it was, but it was more stupid than anything.

Ben had lost sight of his younger shadow somewhere from the platform to the train which was in a way fine by him. He wasn't all too used to being around girls on their own, only in a class or group setting like the common room or Great Hall. One on one felt awkward and they had lost Bay totally from the otherside of the barrier. Just like he had lost his trunk in the luggage compartment making his traveling through the crowded train a bit easier when he just had Conrad's cage to contend with.

Now to find a seat somewhere. Anywhere. A task harder then one might think if they had never been aboard the Hogwarts Express on September 1st. Coming up from the luggage area into the back cars of the train, Benny walked and wove down the inner corridor insearch for either an empty compartment or at least enough room for a thirteen year old boy and his owl.

Anywhere around here like that?

"Okay!" Dima responded, ever the good sport. Really, if the boy had argued his prior request and given him a gross bean on purpose, he probably would have still eaten it. It was worth not having to find another seat, right? Plus he was making a new friend!

Hm. Red. "Ketchup? Cranberry? Blood?" Supposing there was only one way to know for sure, he popped it into his mouth.

It was sort of good, actually. A bit tangy in a w... HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT-

"Ch-" Cough. "Chili powder." Oh merlin oh merlin oh merlin someone SAVE his TONGUE.

With Charmander on his shoulder, Jun came back from the food trolley with only Fizzing Whizzbees. For some reason, it was the only candy he was eating lately. Then again, it was his favorite candy so no complains from him. Heading for his already snagged compartment, which he almost fought younger years for, he let his ferret get a head start; keeping a close eye on him. Poor creature didn't want to stay in his travel cage. Might as well have him out and about; he's basically going to do the same in his dorm. Sliding the door open, Jun let Charmander go in first before following behind. He flopped face down on the seats. Feeling the ferret curl up on his back, he ignored him and continued eating his candy. At least he was going back to the school where he was probably more welcomed at. Depending on who was welcoming him and what not.