Paris Sykes couldn't find a place to sit. Or rather, didn't KNOW where to sit. He knew enough about Hogwarts to know that they didn't have assigned seats or anything of the like, but where DID he sit?

Was in the back better because cooler kids sat away from the authoritative figures? Or in the middle where all the action was. And the candy. But he had candy so that ruled out the middle?

He was indecisive about his seating choice and for a good few minutes chose to roam around the train, not bothered that he was being bumped into the smaller ones and used to being shoved around by older ones. His sisters tended to land on both ends of that spectrum.

It wasn't until he managed to find an abandoned compartment up in the front that he decided to snag it before anyone returned. Not that he would mind if they did. New friend in the making.

The fourteen year old slouched by the window and streeeeeetched out his legs as far as he could, pulling out a chocolate frog.

Hogwarts, here he came!

Having already found his girlfriend on the platform, Bryant lugged the two trunks and his shoulder bag onto the train and down the corridor until he found an empty compartment. Sliding the door open, he shoved the two trunks in and turned around to check to make sure Mel was doing alright with both his kneazle, Murphy, and the rest of her stuff. Seeing as he couldn't see her at the current moment, he assumed that she had gotten stuck somewhere along the way what with all the students trying to find a place to sit. Bryant himself had trod over a decent size group of people, probably crushing toes as he dragged the trunks.

Rather than fighting back through the crowds right away, Bryant lifted the trunks up onto the racks above the seats, before sticking his head outside the compartment. Where was she? He still needed to get his broom from his brother before they left, just in case quidditch was back on this term since he hadn't heard any more threats.

Mel followed with a non-too happy expression on her face. She had a lot of scratches on her arms from Elouan. "Stop it, Elouan! Leave Murphy alone! He is in his cage like a good kneazle!" Melek yelped as Elouan scratched her again. She tried to wrestle her kneazle back into her cage, wondering how the latch got to be broken. It wasnt going to well since she still had Murphy's cage in her hands too because Bryant left her in charge of both kneazle and her writing stuff. She had no clue why Elouan didnt get along with Murphy but then again she didnt seem to like Bryant now ever since they started to date. She stumbled into the compartment, placing both cages on the separate seats and laid down her writing bag. As soon as her arms were free, she tried to tackle Elouan to put her back into her cage. She barely gave a glance to Bryant since she was too busy, trying not to get scratched anymore.

"ELOUAN, you behave right NOW, missy!" She sighed and finally tackled her kneazle before glancing up at Bryant. A blush came and she chuckled a little nervously. "I dont know what has gotten into her recently..." Melek frowned and glared at her kneazle. "She used to be so well-behaved..."

Oops. The price one paid when not paying full attention to what they were saying. Adi was about to ignore the question but he decided he would be honest about it. Turning away from the window, he looked AJ full in the eyes. Gosh, he could look into them every second, every day. "She said that you and I would make a great couple and that I was in love with you. She told me this last term after I fought with her and Benny.'' AJ wanted to know, didn't she? Well, now she did.

The Hufflepuff waved a hand at AJ as he turned to stare out back at the window. "Yeah, I get it. It was an accident.'' Though how kissing someone full on the lips could be an accident, he couldn't quite figure out. "Don't worry, AJ. I'll stay away from your lips from now.'' Yeah, he would. Maybe Angel had been wrong after all. He and AJ might only be cut out for being friends. Whatever it was, he would stop having ideas about her being his girlfriend.

"No, no, no. It's definitely Hadley.'' Adi was totally loving the idea of Hufflepuff related persons ruling Hogwarts. "Herbology though. Wonder what the new Professor is gonna be like.''

Ian had struggled finding a place for his trunks and had nearly missed getting to the train on time. He was afraid he'd miss the blasted platform. His mum had really put on a show at King's Cross and he had trouble getting where he could surreptiously slide through the portal. He thought she'd gone a bit nutters this summer. He sensed she didn't like the fact he'd spent more time on the boat with his dad this summer and she'd hinted that maybe he needed to stay home from Hogwarts this term. He had needed to get his dad to intervene. It just wasn't that he loved Hogwarts, he loved his friends, and ever since Diagon Alley, he'd had a wee bit of trouble forgetting one second year class mate in particular. He wasn't sure why, it just happened.

He had unfortunately started at the complete wrong end of the train and searched for Adi and AJ. By the time he'd made it to the front compartments, he was afraid he'd completely missed them in all the hub bub. Just when he was ready to give up, he found them. Adi was already in his robes, which was a bit weird, but Ian opened the compartment door and walked in. The two were talking and he thought nothing of busting up in there. Oy! he smiled at them and asked them What have you two been doing in here all alone?

The good news was: he had gotten the candy.

The bad news was: he still couldn't find his friends.

Kyroh walked down the corridor, dragon leading the way.

Last year he hadn't even HAD any friends and he had shared a compartment with Nigel and Ascanius, but the second year couldn't even think about doing that because both Ravenclaws were now graduated. With an abundance of candies in hand Kyroh peaked his head into a few compartments until he finally spotted one that was empty! Struggling he opened the door and watched Ramsey enter before making his way inside. Maybe his friends would find him her-oh. The second year blinked as his eyes fell on a boy by the window.

So the compartment wasn't empty.....

"HULLO!!!! Want some candy!?"

Was it acceptable for first years to be this nervous? Because Ophelia had passed nervous and was now sweating down her back. Though that might be also from the outfit the small but muscular girl had thrown on. A SWEATER. Who wore a sweater in early September? Apparently blonde's who woke up too late that morning for acceptable clothes. And the fact that her bag kept hitting the back of her mint green hightops didn't exactly help her mood. The kid barely had time for breakfast this morning. BREAKFAST. The most important meal of the day, and the one that kept kids from being cranky until they had access to other food.

It all started when her brother and sister apparently 'forgot' -she would bet money that this was part of an evil prank on their part- to wake the poor girl up until half an hour before she had to leave. So with Newton's help, 'Ophie threw herself into the criminally cold shower and then into whatever clothes happened to be around in her room that didn't smell disgusting. The girl's brown eyes were barely even open yet, and she had like no fashion sense, so you couldn't blame her for the white sweater with the hearts on it. It was a gift from Grandma. And besides, it made a cozy little hole if she wanted to bring her head to her chest and try to sleep on the train ride. Which didn't seem like a bad idea.

On another, much more related to now note, where was the blonde going to sit exactly? There were many spots and she was just one girl. And according to her older siblings -she should really stop listening to them- where you sat was EXTREMELY important. Which made her nervous. But a Clarke always rose to the challenge, and fingering her lion necklace, 'Ophie thought of a plan. Should she attempt to make friends? Or be a loner and spend the rest of the ride attempting to read one of the textbooks again? Ya know, the ones she read before so it would just be memory later instead of spending a bunch of time attempting to make words out of the mixed up letters that always seemed to be. Probably the first, since reading seemed so boring, and reading in cars made her sick.

Dylan had already been from the front and back of the train searching for an empty compartment, but it turned out they were all taken. Why'd he have to get here so late? He had nearly missed the train and his favorite seat in the back was taken by a large group of people. Sighing, he made his way back to the front to find someone to sit with and he spotted a girl sitting all alone in one of the compartments. Thinking she could use some company, and that he'd like to make a new friend, he slid the door open and cleared his throat to get her attention. "'Scuse me?" he asked, shooting a friendly smile towards her. "Mind if I join you?"

AJ's eyes locked on Adi's as he explained why Angel was psychic. Time stood still. The lion knew that Angel was always giving to the two of them a hard time about liking each other, but was Adi saying this in regards to Angel's supposed psychic powers a confession? He thought that they would make a good couple? More importantly though, "you love me?" Maybe she didn't have to come out and say it like that. "What I meant to ask was, you agree with her?"

A pang of guilt stabbed her in the stomach. She could tell that her little accident was causing her friend turmoil. "Don't be like that." AJ scooted over closer to him and put her head on his shoulder. Why couldn't he understand that this was a big deal, and a million emotions were flowing through her at the moment? I don't..." She didn't what? Want him to stay away from her lips? Maybe for the time being, but only so she could figure out what was going on inside of her. The last thing that AJ wanted to do was give him mixed signals, but she was so confused that she didn't know any other way to be.

"No way. The lions are going to rule the school." How cool would be it be for all of the power players to be from the Gryffindor house? "I dunno. OH!!! I wonder who my new head of house will be." That was the more important question.

The sound of someone else entering the compartment made her head snap up. AJ shot Ian a smile and hopped up to give the other hufflepuff a hug. "Hey Ian." What were they doing? "We're just talking." And having an awkward moment, but what else was new?

They weren't alone, but it was understandable that Ian missed Benny since he was standing up almost in the corner. "You remember Ben, right?" They all shared a compartment last year on the way home.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Somnium

Mel followed with a non-too happy expression on her face. She had a lot of scratches on her arms from Elouan. "Stop it, Elouan! Leave Murphy alone! He is in his cage like a good kneazle!" Melek yelped as Elouan scratched her again. She tried to wrestle her kneazle back into her cage, wondering how the latch got to be broken. It wasnt going to well since she still had Murphy's cage in her hands too because Bryant left her in charge of both kneazle and her writing stuff. She had no clue why Elouan didnt get along with Murphy but then again she didnt seem to like Bryant now ever since they started to date. She stumbled into the compartment, placing both cages on the separate seats and laid down her writing bag. As soon as her arms were free, she tried to tackle Elouan to put her back into her cage. She barely gave a glance to Bryant since she was too busy, trying not to get scratched anymore.

"ELOUAN, you behave right NOW, missy!" She sighed and finally tackled her kneazle before glancing up at Bryant. A blush came and she chuckled a little nervously. "I dont know what has gotten into her recently..." Melek frowned and glared at her kneazle. "She used to be so well-behaved..."

Seeing Mel break through the crowd, fighting to keep her kneazle in check, Bryant backed as far away from the door as he could so that she could come in and just dump everything... which she proceeded to do. When she went to stuff her kneazle back in it's cage, Bryant double checked Murphy's just so they wouldn't have two fighting animals. He could tell Murphy was clearly angry as the kneazle's hair was sticking up on end and he was hissing even as Bryant tried to stroke his pet. Deciding it was probably best to leave Murphy alone for a bit, Bryant placed the cage up on the luggage rack and covered it with his jacket.

Turning back, he noticed Mel finally managed to get Elouan back into the cage."Sorry about that..." He said, apologetically, realizing he probably should've taken one of the kneazles too. He waited for a couple moments to let Mel get settled before heading towards the door of the compartment once more. "I'll be right back... gotta grab my broom. Want anything off the trolley while I'm up?" He asked, barely waiting for an answer before rushing off to go grab his broom before the train left.

Kace finally boarded the train and he hoped to find some friends to sit with. He finally managed to shake off his mom and his dad. They were hesitant to let him go to Hogwarts but he convinced him otherwise. He couldn't deal with being home all the time and plus he would miss his girlfriend too much. Speaking of his girlfriend, he turned around and noticed her crunching on some nerds. He saw the logo on the box. She was searching for a place to sit. He looked next to him and saw a train corridor. He smiled and waved to her, "HEY PANDA!" he called out. "There is a compartment right here." he pointed towards it. It was completely empty. Maybe Lux, Cinna and Bay will join them. Maybe some others too.

Adi had been expecting the question. Yes, he did love AJ. He had admitted it to himself last term. Not that it mattered now. Apparently she was over him. He felt a twinge of regret. Regret as he flashed back to that day at the Lake, wishing now that he had not convinced AJ she just had a little crush on him. But he ignored the question. He didn't want to lie to her.

Adi had not expected to feel AJ's hand on his shoulder. He wanted her hand to stay there but at the same time he didn't. He still remained silent, completely aware that she was sitting closer to him. Yet he didn't want to look at her. He needed to figure out things. She didn't what? "You don't what?'' he asked just as the compartment foor opened.

The Puffer looked around, expecting the ever so crazy and hyper Angel. But he found himself looking at fellow fourth year and Hufflepuff, Ian. "Hey, Ian!'' Adi purposely jumped up from his seat, making AJ's hand fall away from his shoulder. "We're not alone.'' He nodded towards Benny. "Have a seat.'' Next to AJ preferably, so he didn't have to sit there. He wasn't mad at her or anything. Adi just didn't feel like talking to her much right now. He edged over towards Gus and Conrad. "Hey, Benny. Can we let Conrad out a bit?'' Nothing like their pets to distract him a bit.

Someone slid her compartment door open, making the blonde tear her dark brown eyes away from the window and towards the isle. Someone was there, asking for a seat. Well hello, mysterious seat boy. Never mind the fact that she had wanted to sleep the duration of the ride, or the fact that Ophelia was not very good at conversation, how did this boy get here late enough that no other compartments were open? She was practically late, and even she snagged one of her own. Mysterious seat boy, or msb, must have been 'ran out the door with no breakfast late.' Poor kid. Maybe she would share some of her candy if the time came. Adjusting her stupid Valentine's day style Grandma sweater that was completely and utterly fuzzy, Ophelia nodded before she spoke, playing with the lions head necklace on her neck.

"Sure." The word came out more as a yawn, but the small girl waved the boy in and moved her light blonde colored braid to the left side with her other hand. So much for that French braid her sister practically forced on her in the car. Also, forgive the poor firstie if she had a lipstick stain on her cheek, her mother was trying out a new color this morning of all mornings. Because OF COURSE she was. And he wouldn't know this because he was a boy, but lipstick didn't come off your face easy. The tan girl had enough kisses from Aunt's to know that. Grooossss. Anyway, she supposed a train ride in complete silence would be dumb, so conversation time.

"Hello. I'm Ophelia, but you can call me 'Ophie. What's your name?" Because names were important.

Ian blushed as he hadn't noticed Benny. He looked over and waved. Sorry, mate. You can tell the powers of observation are strong with me. He looked back to Adi and noticed something shiny on his robes. He looked a bit closer, and remembering Ella wearing something similar he smiled at his friend. A prefect? How cool is that? I'm sure that you'll be a great one and won't let the power go to your head at all. He patted his buddy on the shoulder and took a seat next to Benny.

She sighed and glanced at him, "Not your fault... it is Elouan's. I dont know what has gotten into her lately..." Melek ran a hand over her scratches and grimaced slightly before glaring at her kneazle. "This hurts, Elouan... you are grounded... no more cardboard boxes until at least Christmas break!" She gave a firm nod, "And you arent getting out of your cage until you are in the dorm... at least! Maybe even longer..." Mel grumbled and placed the cage above the seat opposite of the one that Murphy was above. She threw her cloak over the cage. "Now you are going to take a nap because I dont want to deal with your attitude and get all scratched up again!"

She huffed and plopped down on one side, propping up her feet. Melek glanced up at Bryant. She was going to answer him but he seemed to have rushed off. Mel sighed then shrugged, just closing her eyes and leaning her head back. Melek just laid there, waiting on her boyfriend to get back... if he ever did get back... he might have been stopped by a group of girls who found him cute... he was cute... though she hoped that he had enough brains to remember that he was taken... Mel did get jealous if there was a reason but she figured... or more hoped that he wouldnt ditch her just for a cuter girl. She wasnt cute like he was... just average looking but who knew...

Apparently Adi was just going to completely ignore her. What was the point in bringing anything up when he had no intention of answering her question? So much for not having any more awkward encounters. She wasn't even sure where she went wrong. Did Adi just expect her to go weak at the knees because now he decided that he liked her more than a friend? He may not have come out and said it, but there was no denying that Adi liked her. All doubts were erased from her mind. If anything that was why he was ignoring her question.

She didn't know what to say. If AJ said that she didn't want Adi to stop kissing her then that would go against everything that the lion had done. Ugh. Why was this so hard? Why was she being so reserved when it came to Adi? Why, why, why? "I dunno. Maybe we should talk sometime... just the two of us." That way they wouldn't have an audience and maybe she could sort her feelings before then.

Now it seemed like Adi was flat out ignoring her. Fine. Once she broke free from the hug that she gave Ian, she plopped back down where Adi was originally sitting, and took her turn looking out the window. Where was Angel? She needed a distraction, and when Angel was around everybody usually focused on her crazy.

The frog almost got away, almost. He had relatively quick hands though, and caught the charmed candy midair, snatching off the back legs immediately to prevent repeat attempts of escape.

That was about the same time a kid younger than him stumbled into the compartment and Paris blinked at him in surprise. "Nah, I got some right here." He held up the legless frog, and smiled. "Thanks though. You can sit with me if ya want?" Why was that a question. "I don't mind sharing. Name's Paris. Paris Sykes." The fourth year shoved the legs into his mouth, wiped his hand on his pants to clean it off a bit before offering it to the other boy for a shake.

Well fine then don't take the candy, blinking older kid who he had never seen before. Kyroh just bobbed his head. "I don't know you. So I don't know if I want to sit with you, but I'll do it anyways, okay?" Because this boy had the possibility to be a new friend, and why not? Walking over to the opposite side of the boy Kyroh dumped the candies on the seat.

"I don't mind sharing either. Which is why you can have some more candy if you want. Oh- but not the Fudge Flies because Bodie like chocolate but her favourite colour is variations of blue and I have a feeling that today her favourite colour will be Fudge Fly blue." As in the Fudge Fly box blue not the chocolate blue, because chocolate wasn't blue okay? He pushed those off to the side. "And if you're going to take any of the beans just make sure you leave all the toast flavoured ones because Dima's favourite candy is toast." Or something like that. Eyes flicking up from the stash to the boy and his out stretched hand Kyroh grinned.

Simple rules right?!

Grabbing Paris' hand Kyroh shook it, all adult like. "Really? Paris? I'm Kyroh! Like the city except not, cause it isn't spelled that way." But STILL. "Kyroh Scabior." Kyroh shook again before plopping his butt down.

The curly haired boy felt entirely numb as he walked through the train trying to find somewhere to sit. He was nervous, and a bit scared - wondering if anyone else was going through the same things that he was currently going through. Was he the only one that didn't know anything about this wizarding world?

Well... anything was an exaggeration. He'd forced himself through 'Hogwarts, a History' over the last few weeks since he'd bought the stuff he'd needed for school but still, it felt like a pitiful amount in comparison to the people he'd seen in Diagon Alley looking completely at ease.

Finally, reaching an empty compartment he sighed, sitting himself inside and rubbing his hands nervously as he leaned his guitar against the window next to him. Biting his lip he decided to try and deal with his nerves in the one way that he knew how, pulling out his guitar and starting to softly play one of his favourite songs...

But he still couldn't get over how scary this whole thing was.

Tessa found herself a somewhat empty compartment and noticed a boy sitting playing a guitar. "May I sit with you?" she asked hopefully to get a seat. He looked friendly enough.

Leonard jumped slightly, not having noticed the girl walk into the compartment as he'd been absorbed in playing but sent her a soft smile anyway, a faint blush tainting his cheeks from having been caught so off guard as he nodded in response.

"Yeah sure, go ahead" he tried to respond, moving to put his guitar away as he looked at the girl across from him. "I'm Leo... first year... you?"

'Keep it together Leo' he told himself harshly, not used to being so shy. He blamed it on how little he knew of this new world.

Tessa watched the boy jump in his seat and a blush going across his face. She laughed. "Thanks," she replied. She sat down, a book at her side. "Tessa, I'm a first as well," she responded, holding her hand out to shake. She was for one of the first times in her life, not so shy. It was a shocker to say the very least. "You excited?" she asked him.

Talk? That was the last thing he wanted to do. It would just make things more confusing. Actually, he was starting to see clearly now. AJ just wanted his friendship. Cool by him. Friends it would be. And to prove he meant that, he would act as though nothing had happened. "Okay, sure. Whenever you want.'' He'd probably try to avoid that one on one conversation though.

Adi grinned at Ian. "No worries. Benny is lost in his own world right now, anyway.'' His bestie still had his eyes closed. Had he fallen asleep? "Thanks, dude.'' He laughed. "Watch it pal, or I'm gonna have to report you for disrespecting me.'' Hehe. "Just kidding. There won't be any swollen heads here.''

Since Benny had not woken up from his thoughts, Adi sprang open Conrad's cage's mini door and watched the owl cautiously hop out. "There. Don't go flying off, Conrad. You and Gus can have a nice, long chat.'' Adi was a crazy Hufflepuff, wasn't he? LOL. He placed Gus on the top of Conrad's cage. The two friends were now eye to eye.

Soooo. Adi need to sit. Ian had taken the seat next to Benny's. Hmmm. The Puffer could just take Benny's. Yeah, that'll work even though he would be forced to look at AJ. His eyes wouldn't be able to keep away, he was sure of that. Still, he'd rather be sitting opposite to her right now. So, sitting in Benny's seat it was!

She was totally making things up, Maddie was. She figured it all seemed legit, though. The brunette had a good noggin so why NOT make up her own rules as she went?

"I think he feels stuff more deeply than some other people." Which is probably why he cried so much. He's SENSITIVE. He wasn't a baby or anything but YEAH. Much different than Maddie and he was probably better off for it. "I don't waste my time missing people because I know no one at home is missing me." 'Cept maybe mum on occasion but she was so busy with work, she could easily put a stop to that.

"Do you miss anyone?"

Ian saw Adi try to get closer to his side, and he wasn't exactly the 'most' comfortable with people all up in his personal space so he began to slide over to sit beside AJ. Things were kind of weird and then AJ hugged him (once again, making him feel all kinds of happy. Maybe she would feel how strong his arms were again) and sat down beside where she was sitting. She was staring out the window and he poked her in the side. He didn't know what was going on, but things were a little uncomfortable. Something had changed since they had left Hogwarts, but he wasn't sure what. He was kind of glad of that.

Oy, AJ! What'ya doing over there. It is acceptable for friends to speak to one another. He grabbed a pack of exploding snap cards from his pocket and showed them to her. Wanna play?

Ian laughed as his buddy talked about docking points. Of course it would be hard for Adi to do that to a housemate and Ian didn't have any concerns of a swollen head for Adi. It would be all good. Everything was going to be great this term. Ian told his friend, Don't worry Adi. If I think I notice your head getting a wee bit bigger, I'll do what I can to help.