Opening one of the doors to an empty compartment Evie slipped in. Students were making their way from the back to the front and vise versa. She was still determined to stay out of peoples way and just mind her own business. She sat next to the widow that faced the platform and looked for her parents, and after a few minutes of scanning the faces she spotted them standing near the back of the platform. Even though Taryn had grown up in this world she looked every bit as uncomfortable as Matthew did. sigh she sat back in the seat and took a deep breath. "Alright, Evie. You can do this, for Mom. And well maybe you'll get to meet your grandparents this way. "

Chance headed to the train. It was his sixth year so he wasn't as thrilled to be going on the train as the ickle firsties that were running around. Were they getting smaller?? he grabbed his grab-on bag and headed to the middle cars. That's where you could see everything happen from. You got the down low on everything from the middle cars.

Finding an empty compartment, he headed in. He put his bag in the overhead compartment and took a seat. Chance just needed to get to Hogwarts and finish the last two years out. Then he was freeeeee.

He could do it.

Yes he could!

Lance had originally been planning on sitting in the front compartments with all the cool kids (if they'd let him), but somehow he found himself looking for one in the middle. At least kinda sorta near the front. Kinda. It was becoming more and more disappointing the further he walked down the corridor and now he just didn't even know why he was doing it. He'd passed several good and empty compartments along the way, or ones that even had a single person his own age in them. The fact that he couldn't spot his father through any of the windows made them no good. Maybe his father left?

The young lad stopped in place at the thought, right in front of a compartment with a girl (Evie) around his age in it. She looked as pleased as he did, which wasn't much at all. Although being lost in thought at the possibility of now being all on his own for the first time in forever, his focus disappeared as he stared off into space...

...totally not realizing that he was now just openly staring at the girl.

Kace was here. He was on the train back to Hogwarts. He didn't think of being on here for the last time. He was going back for his seventh and final year. GULP. He was going to have to take the Newts this year. SOOO not looking forward to it. He began to look for an open cart and see if he would be able to meet with old friends and possibly new ones. He hoped to see Emmy and Cinna before he went to the great hall. As he began to walk down the corridor, he found an empty one. Score one for him.

He took the door handle and opened it and took in a breath of relief. Aaaaahh finally some alone time. He didn't really have that much when he was home. He had his family over and then the next day he had to leave for school. He reached into the pocket of his jeans and took out his mini sketchbook and curled up near the window and began to sketch.

Once Evie had stopped talking to herself she shifted slightly, away from the window. As she moved something stopped in the corner of her eye, her head whipped around and for a millisecond her heart stopped. deep ragged breath. "Oh right, on a train." the girl reminded herself.

Outside the compartment door stood a young boy about her age staring...at her. Or was he? Blushing violently the brunette waved at him awkwardly.

No, no, no.

Wylie was NOT going to be sitting in the front of the train. And he was definitely NOT going to be sitting in the back of the train. No, he was going to find a nice, very empty and even very-er clean compartment, right in the middle. Every knew that the dirty people sat in the back of the train, because they were dirty and had to stay as far away from people as possible. And the front? Well, he wasn't quite sure why he wasn't sitting up there.

Not that it mattered anyway, because his mind was already made up and he was already making his way towards the middle. Wylie was taking his time, careful not to accidentally bump into anyone.. but the same couldn't be said about the luggage he was dragging behind him.

They were headed towards a magical school. The toes that were run over by the trunk could be magically fixed once they got there.

Too bad there wasn't enough magic anywhere to fix Lance. Why was he just standing there? Why was he just staring at the girl? Why was that girl's face so red!? "If I stare at her, too, do you think her face will turn a different color?"

Zhenya had waved her cousin goodbye and made her way onto the Hogwarts Express, which would be taking her to her final year at Hogwarts.

It was surreal.

She made her way through the front of the train, and found herself in an empty carriage in the middle. She sat down, pulled out her journal, and started writing about her upcoming NEWTs and what would happen next year.

This was his first time riding the train. The 15-year-old Korean guy hoped that he could meet somebody familiar that he had met around Diagon Alley. Being new student sucks, huh? Especially that he came from another country. Well, let's hope that he would enjoy Hogwarts as much as he enjoyed his former school.

After saying goodbye to Micky, Jackson walked through the middle train to find a compartment. He didn't mind if he had to share with other students because he loved making friends. He needed more friends! Looking around, he found an older student sat alone in one of the compartments. Well, she looked a bit serious with her journal. Would she mind if he joined her? Maybe. But... Maybe he had to asked first. "Excuse me, noona*" He asked. "Do you mind if I sit here?" He spoke with his Korean accent.

The movement from the girl's arm made him blink, bringing him back to reality before that oh so familiar burn started to creep up on his neck and ears. Had he been staring at her? Did it even count as staring if he didn't notice he was doing it? He gave an equally awkward wave in return, a hesitant smile forming despite the alarmed expression he had.

FLAMING FISHSTICKS!

Lance flinched, staring with an even MORE alarmed expression at Wylie. He just showed up out of nowhere! "Wha- I..." his mouth mimicked that of a fish as he looked back to the girl. Oh. She was a little red. "That could just be her face... and I wasn't staring." Just in case Wylie was wondering. WYLIE. Who was standing next to him HERE. On the SAME TRAIN. TO HOGWARTS. He couldn't not beam at the darker haired boy. Best friends in the making, right?? They were totally going to sit together.

Adjusting his white hat, Lance smoothed out his surprisingly clean shirt a little and perhaps stood up a bit straighter, giving an actual friendly and not at all hesitant smile to the girl. Ahem, "Do you mind if we sit here too?"

Noona? What's a noona? Zhenya's eyes lifted from the page to look at the new occupant of the compartment. She took two seconds to snap out of her deep thoughts, and snapped her diary closed unintentionally. "Oops," she said, and put it in her bag. One, away from eyes which might see too much, and two, so that she didn't appear to be rude. "Of course," she said, letting her smile creep up on her face. She sat up straighter, because her back was starting to hurt from being hunched over. Never learns!

"Um… can I ask what noona means?" she asked curiously. She settled in to get to know this foreign student, who looked like he had never stepped foot in the Hogwarts Express. How did she know? Zhenya thought she was pretty good with faces, and that face was new. Besides, the non-Brits should stick together, right? Her Russian tongue was itchhhhhing to speak to someone who didn't sound local.

She’d talked to Zac. She hadn’t stayed long, just long enough to check they were still friends and to meet Rusty. Then she said she had to go and find Lance so that HE wouldn’t think that she had forgotten about HIM because that wasn’t nice. Nope, she wouldn’t do that to the other friend she made over the summer. Lance, was awesome. He had single-handedly helped her reach books that she was too short to reach, and in her book (ha!) that was a friend indeeeeed.

Glancing into all of the compartments as the tiny red-head made her way down the train, she tried to figure out how long it was, because it was taking FOREVER to find Lance. She sighed softly and kept looking, for the blonde mop of hair from her fellow shorty… Not that you can realllly tell someone’s height when they are sitting down. Sigh.

OH! OH!

Sliding open the compartment door, she grinned at Lance. ”Hi!” She looked around at the boy and girl she didn’t know and waved. ”Hiya… I’m Marsha… Can I join you?”

She looked at Lance again and smiled BIIIIG. ”I said I’d try and find you on the train… It took me ages as I found Zac first - he’s up at the front of the train with a girl called Rusty she’s also a first year… and then once I knew that he still wanted to be friends, I came to find you.” Marsha paused to take a deep breath and then tilting her head to the side, very seriously asked, ”How is your bruised elbow? Did it heal?”


ooc: Heya, so my net is down at my Dad’s house (where I will be tonight) so once I leave for work, I might be slow on replying until I’m back at mine tomorrow at some point after 4pm GMT.

Annoyed that his best friend hadn't been allowed to come and see him off at the station this year, Dalton said his sulky goodbyes to Travis alone before boarding the train. He made quick work of storing his trunk in its designated area, for it was never going to be massively heavy - he didn't own enough things, and then set off in search of a preferably empty compartment to sit in.

He found one towards the middle of the train and made sure that the door was shut firmly behind him. Contemplating whether or not to actually make the effort to at least try and enjoy magic this year, he dug out a comic Aled had leant him and curled up in the corner.

Maybe it could be useful, if he wasn't such a sulk.

Straight from the luggage compartment after pausing a few time to say hello to persons, Adi continued down the train corridor, glancing into occasional compartments. Gus was still with him, still on the shoulder and seemed to be just as happy as his owner to be back with all that croaking he was doing.

"Can't keep quiet, eh, Guster?'' Adi asked cheerfully as he looked through the glass to another compartment and catching sight of... ZHENYA! There was another guy talking to her but Adi went up to the compartment and waved to the girl inside, a broad grin on his face.

Front car's TOO noisy, and the Back car's...TOO far for the sixth year, so the fair-haired Slytherin swaggered around the Middle Cars, checking each and every compartment, hoping he'd find one that is empty. It wasn't the same case when he was younger because he'd usually not mind the noise, or a crowded compartment. The teenager thought that he was finally 'growing up' to want and value silence.

Ethan did a double take when he thought he found an empty compartment. He blinked several times and contemplated whether he should bother the kid who was...sort of in a bad mood. Everywhere else is full, and the back cars isn't an option, so the older Slytherin knocked on the door first, opened it and stuck his head inside.

Hmm.

Kid's alone, but definitely NOT one to be bothered.

"Mind if I share the compartment with you?" He could always play the bigger student card, but he didn't want to be rude. Besides, he'd seen that face back in the Common Room before.

The knock on the door came just as Dalton was turning the comic page, and he looked up from Wolverines claws into the eyes of a clearly older boy. A Slytherin, if he wasn't much mistaken, for he recognised the face, and seeing as he'd spend ninety eight per cent of his free time within the confines of the Common Room last year, it wasn't likely that he'd be wrong.

Oh. He wanted to share. Was he even allowed to say no to politeness? As much as he wanted to roll his eyes and sulk some more, he settled for a moody shrug, a nod and a, "Why not?"

That was polite enough, wasn't it? Not that he cared too much: the second year just hoped that the older guy wasn't the kind to decide that he was now his mentor, or mate, or something just because they'd shared the compartment.

"Thanks." Ethan gave the younger boy a grin, and swaggered inside the compartment and plopped down on the seat farthest from the little monster darling kid. Ah yes. Aren't they all the same? Brooklyn, Maggie, Hugo, and Dante? Yep. Pretty much.

Ethan got his pack of gum from his pocket and offered it to the boy. "Looking forward to the new term?" Should be exciting since...well, when was Hogwarts NOT exciting, if not deadly?

Okay. He could handle to company, especially if the boy was going to stay sat in the farthest seat from him. He nodded again in recognition of the thanks, and was about to turn back to the comic when he saw the hand go out. Holding something... Offering something.

Dalton eyed the packet slightly suspiciously: he'd been on the receiving end of enough of Clarks' pranks to just take one, and if the boy could do magic, then his pranks could be ten times worse than the Muggle's. He shook his head. "Er, no thanks." Better safe than sorry right?

"Er." How did he phrase this? Why did the older boy want to make conversation. Stifling his inward groan, he just managed to shrug again. "Not really." Was he supposed to ask if the other boy was? But clearly he was. He could tell from the LEADING question. Why was socialisation so difficult?

The Korean guy smiled when the older student let him sit in a compartment together with her. "Thank you." He said, though it sounded more like "Sankyu." because of his thick Korean accent. Maybe it would take a long time to make his English more fluent and sort of eliminate his accent because sometimes people didn't really understand his words.

What does noona mean?

"Oh! It's uh..." He tried to explain. "So, in my homeland it's necessary to call a senior with this... call, yeah. If I met a girl senior so I call her noona and if I met a guy I call him hyung. Although I'm not in Korea anymore but I still like to use that... You understand my speak, by the way?" He asked back. "Sorry uh... This is my first time here. I'm from Seoul and I still need to.. work with my English. So.." He chuckled. "Anyway my name is Jackson, I will be fifth year." He said as he extended his hand.

Then he noticed there was another student came to their compartment. It seemed like he knew this girl. "Hello there, hyungnim." He greeted that boy who looked tad a bit older than him. "It's uh... how I usually call older guy, by the way." Jackson explained about the hyungnim meant.

Bored, Lux decided that it would be a fun idea to venture over to the other compartments and visit with her friends. This was going to be a long trip and sitting in one place for too long always made her antsy.

Making her way down from the front, she peeked into compartment windows and waved at familiar faces. It seemed that a lot of people were in groups. Normally, she would join them, but Lux decided that it might be better to keep someone all by themselves company. No one should be alone on the train ride.

Oooh, it was Kace.

He seemed to be busy drawing something, so hopefully he wouldn't be bothered by her presence. Opening the door, she stood hovering outside. "Is it okay if I join you? Or are you waiting for Emmy and Cinna?" Yeaaah, she didn't want to feel awkward.

"Great! Now there are two of them..." Evie inwardly groaned. Two boys now stood outside the compartment just staring. After a few moments of trying to seem uninterested the girl began openly staring back, mi acing the boys and hoping they realized how obvious they were being.

Finally the first boy spoke up, "Umm sure.." was this how everyone in the wizarding world behaved? If so she wasn't sure she would make it here.

Evie was beginning to shift even more awkwardly when the compartment door slid open once more. And with it stood a red haired girl her own age who introduced herself as Marsha. Evie didn't have a chance to say anything to the other girl as she continued to talk to the boys, or just one rather.

Yep. Right there.

The hesitation was noted, and Ethan can't help but be reminded of his older cousin, Mordred. A true greenblue Slytherin who is ALWAYS suspicious of things, and is ALWAYS sulking like the world was always pooping on his face. Ethan had learned how to deal with him though, and surprisingly, Mordred's very affectionate with his family. Let's just say that it was a good thing that he shares the same Mordaunt blood with him.

Ethan nodded, got a piece of gum, unwrapped it and popped it inside his mouth. If the kid didn't want it, 'tis okay. More for him then. His loss, really.

The older Slytherin sank deeper in his seat, propped his feet up against the opposite seat and crossed his arms. His eyes studying the kid in the corner. Ethan can't understand HOW a child could survive without interacting. If he was to be asked, he'd die because of stale saliva.

Ethan tilted his head in curiosity. Huh. He just found the right company then if the kid's not looking forward to the new term. It could only mean that he'd be very quiet for the rest of the trip...and that he could have his own down time before the chaos starts which is Hogwarts. "How come?" he asked. Finally. Everyone he knew were excited to start the new school term.

...

Unless they are all secretly Hufflepuffs.

Grace was excited. It was time to go back to Hogwarts. She'd been looking forward to this all summer. She adored being at Hogwarts. So going back was very excited. She'd said goodbye onto her parents and headed onto the train. She had to find a good spot to sit for the journey. Hopefully away from her annoying brother. Though she was sure Frankie wouldn't want to be away from her. So that worked well for her.

The fifth year hummed to herself as she wandered along the corridor. Aah there was a empty compartment. Smiling, she slid the door back, and went and sat down.

The good thing about summer break ending? He got to go back to his friends?

The bad thing, well, it just meant another few months till he saw his parents and his baby sister. Kyroh boarded the train, his face uncharacteristically void of any real emotion. He just didn't know how to feel? Should be be SAD because he was probably going to miss Jade's first word and he wouldn't be able to hug his mum ever day? Or should he be HAPPY because now he could see Maddie and Dima and Dot whenever he wanted?

It was weird.

Taking a deep breath he peaked into all the compartments until he found an empty one. YEAH. His friends would come to HIM and then they would play games and- swinging open the door of the empty compartment, Kyroh blinked because....well....it wasn't empty at all.

"Oh....sorry...Hullo!!"

Sweet mother of Merlin, for the life of her Hayley couldn't find either of her little first year charges. How was that even possible? Given, she wasn't very familiar with Marsha, or at all really - it was a miracle she even knew who to look for, and Vincent.. her sweet, crazy little cousin.. Hayley didn't want to think about what he was up to, but she was certain whatever it was - and wherever he was, - the Krum would be fine.

If nothing else, he would find her. Right? Right.

Sweeping a dark lock of hair back behind one ear and away from her face, Hayley glanced here and there as she wandered the train corridor, careful not to run into anyone or be the one being ran into, not particularly interested at all in finding the compartments which held her friends. She wasn't quite ready to see Benzi at the moment, and Merlin.. definitely not Noel. Chloe was an option, as was Grace, but.. hm.

Brushing off absent thoughts, Hayley slid open what she had initially thought to be an empty compartment and paused in the doorway, spotting a certain Gryffindor. "Oh, sorry. Hi, Chance." Hayley bit her lower lip, and shifted her crup in her arms. "I didn't realize this one was taken."