Clara stood patiently at the food trolley, third in line to pick out something to gnaw on during the long train ride. Of course she had arrived prepared with food from home, but there was nothing better than the constant nostalgia that came with picking up something from the train.

And this boy at the front of the line was really taking his time. Clara internally whined at his indecision, although she was sure she would probably be indecisive once it was her turn as well. Clara shook her head and reached into her bag for some money, trying to sort out all the coins ahead of time so as not to annoy the other students in line.

The trolley lady let out an exasperated sigh as the extremely hungry boy finally picked out a very large Chocolate Frog. Slightly relieved that the line was now going to move much faster, she glazed over the remaining food items and tried to make a choice...hm...pumpkin pasties or cauldron cakes, pumpkin pasties or cauldron cakes...

Shannon bounced on her toes, trying to see over the tops of the head's of her fellow train travellers. It didn't help that she was TINY, and barely came to the shoulder of the girl in front of her. So getting a view down the other end of the queue was probably beyond her, but it didn't stop her trying. One foot, then the next, getting higher and higher each time, until she was springing up and down like a newborn lamb, her newly bought cloak billowing around her.

She was so excited! And hungry. Her mummy had put some snacks in her bag, but she'd eaten those before the train had even started moving, and now her stomach was grumbling. So if those tall people could just kindly hurry up and buy their stuff, she would be very happy. And filled. With sweets. Lots of sweets. As many as the handful of coins she had would buy her. Once the trolley lady had counted it out, because she had no clue how much she had.

Azura slowly slunk into line behind her fellow classmates.. The small girl didn't want to be here but her cousin had practically forced her to move out of her compartment and made her go get something to eat.

She sighed as she leaned wearily on the wall as she waited her turn.. She hadn't eaten much in the past week and she didn't really want to eat anything now..

But she would get Wes's chocolate frogs and then head out.. Food tasted like ash lately.. And who wanted to eat that?

She ignored the churning of her stomach,and the slightly shaking of her hands. So far she hadn't run into any of her friends.. And she hoped she would be able to put on a good face for them..

No one needed to know what happened..

No one.

Colt was packed into his compartment already. He just managed to find an empty one. He put his belongings and realized he was starving. He massaged his stomach and went to walk down to the food trolley. He whistled down the corridor and he spotted a young girl he knew. She didn't seem alright at all. She seemed pale and looked like she was gonna pass out.

He looked down and noticed the slight shaking of her hands. He raised an eyebrow and began to look at Azura. He leaned next to her, "You know you look like death right?"

Dull purple eyes flicked upwards to see Colt standing there by her.. And for a moment she looked up at him rather mournfully. She didn't look like death.. She lived and breathed. She had color.. Unlike the pale face of her mother..

Azura forced a smile onto her face and she looked up at Colt as she pushed away from the wall.

"Do I?" She asked him with that same smile. "I was up late last night, I was so excited about the train. " A warm smile hid the lie that she told him and she looked up at him. "How was your Summer Colt? You look taller. "

Kye couldn't believe she was already here! Well, she meant the Hogwarts Express of course, but she was rather excited for the Food Trolley too. She could feel herself bouncing slightly as she tried to look at what was available for the trip to Hogwarts.

Clara spotted the lone pumpkin pasty still on the table. She drew out a slow breath as the girl in front of her took some cauldron cakes. The trolley lady made a sort of waving motion for the girl to pay her. Making sure that she had enough money, Clara unclenched her right fist to count again. So that's five sickles...seven...yep, that's the correct amount. By the time she finished checking her hand, the girl in front had already left with her snacks.

Clara smiled with as much politeness as she could muster. "Hello, could I have the last pumpkin pasty?" she asked. The trolley lady replied, "Yes, of course, dear. Do you have the money?". Clara nodded and placed the coins in the woman's hand. Two seconds later, Clara had her pumpkin pasty. Satisfied with her decision, she turned around and saw that the line had gotten longer. Glad that she escaped the chaos, she went to go look for an open seat. The train had only left the station a few moments ago, so there was still time...

It had already been a long day. Hadley had been snuck out of her house and to King's Cross before even the sun was up, with only a bag of pretzels and mustard for breakfast. The hour of sleep she got once the Hogwarts Express showed up and before the other students had arrived, as well as the energy drink Bernie gave her, had taken care of the tiredness. But not even the bagel and chocolate frogs that Bernie also brought had been enough to appease her hunger.

And thus the Californian had made her way to the food trolley to get more. An ash colored ferret was draped calmly across her shoulders, playfully nipping at her hair. Despite the fact she didn't turn 13 until tomorrow, she already looked like a teenager. Hads absently petted her ferret's head while she waited in line for the trolley. She didn't mind waiting. It felt good to be up and about for a bit.

Having her sister, her twin, on the train was such a nice and welcome change this term. Sometimes the blonde really needed her sister, Chloe was not the talkative one out of the two of them, and her presence lifted her spirits loads. She went from annoyed and standoffish to less so. Not much less but the change was there. That was the power of the twin.

Ravenclaw teenage angst was already well upon her.

That and, well, she was just judgy.

Looping her arm in her sister's, she managed their way to the food trolley and glanced at Clara, "What do you want?" She was holding on to the money that their mother gave them because nobody trusted Clara with money. Especially their mother.

Was she happy about these new arrangements Mummy had forced the redhead to currently deal with, ABSOLUTELY NOT, but was she happy about being with her twin though? OF COURSE. That was at least something to be content with for these terrible new circumstances. As much as she would rather be with Daddy, who was currently traveling to Tanzania by now, being beside her twin was just as good!

Arm in arm with Chloe, the two had found their way towards this woman pushing a food trolley. "What an odd way to serve snacks. Doesn't she ever get claustrophobic from such a narrow path as this. I know I certainly would feel closed-in, or like the walls were closing on you! That could happen you know!" Was she speaking to Chloe? Or was she speaking to the Food Trolley lady? Or was she just voicing her opinion as she often did out loud to whomever was around?

From the looks of it, it looked like it was that third one.

But when her sister asked if she wanted anything, her attention went straight to Chloe. "Well, I wouldn't mind one of everything, for taste bud purposes, but seeing as to how Mummy doesn't allow such things, I could settle for-" Her eyes quickly scanning everything on the trolley before settling on something peculiar, "I want that!" From what it looked like, the redhead had decided on some kind of chocolate treat in the shape of a cauldron.

Chloe pretty much tuned Clara out as she talked to herself. If it was something important she could always count on her twin to get her attention. So there was that.

And look, she did.

The blonde chanced a look at the whole cart and then her sister. Unimpressed, she told her, "You can't have one of everything." Their father was weird about anything processed and while Chloe had broken that kind of diet a while ago she still couldn't handle one of everything. And she knew Clara couldn't either.

"That's a cauldron cake," she told her and asked for two from the trolley lady. She deposited the money in the woman's hands and passed off one of the cakes to her sister.

If Chloe was listening or not, didn't surprise Clara in the slightest, she was used to being the one holding a conversation most times. But she couldn't help it if she was too curious & outwardly nosy, nor was she sorry for it either!

"Yes, yes I know you're right." She had never been exposed to such treats before because of their father, but she had heard enough stories about how awful they are & why they should never be consumed, but there she was again with that curiosity. So she was determined to figure out what was so bad about these treats.

A Cauldron cake? "So...they turned a cauldron..into a cake?" Once Chloe had handed hers to her, she looked at it very closely, turning it over slowly checking out every side of it. She even went as far as to smell the cake.

Y'know, all this crusin' around still takes up quite a bit of energy, so naturally this curly top was zeroing in on the food trolley like a torpedo to its target.

So what to choose to quiet the growling monstrosity that is his tummy? " I'll take a handful of everything! Two handfuls for the chocolate frog and jelly slugs too!" he beamed at the Trolley lady, just before dumping a whole bunch of coins in front of her

"No," Chloe said, taking a bite out of the chocolate brownie-type cake, "It's a cake shaped like a cauldron. Simple as that." No magic, no nothing. It just tasted really good. And if Clara was going to be weird about it she was certain she could pawn off the cauldron cake to some Gryffindor for twice the price. They were predictable like that.

With a smile, she pulled her sister off to the side and asked, "So are you excited for school?" Chloe was excited for her. Traveling all over the world was hardly stable. It was nice to have a stationary home, okay? As opposed to whatever it was their father preferred.

Matt was READY FOR ANOTHER SCHOOL YEAR, YEAH.

He was also ready to EAT. Sweets. Not healthy rubbish, noooo, thanks. Sweets. ALL the sweets.

"I'll have one of these. And this. I'll have a Chocolate Frog as well, please. And some Beans, yeah. Yeah, I'll have some more, yeah. Thanks. Oh, and some Cauldron Cakes too, please. Some, ma'am, not one."

Sheesh, deaf old people.

What was that? Money? What? "Oh, right, hold on."

...

.....

"Uuuuhhhhh..." Had he even brought his money bag with him to the train at all?? DID OLLIE STEAL IT FROM IT?? "OLLIE!!" NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

Clara was disappointed to find out those who created this so called Cauldron Cake, hadn't been clever enough to actually turn a cauldron into a cake, although perhaps it might have been for the best. What if there were still the effects of a potion that was boiling would have now been baked into the cauldron?! That could be potentially dangerous!

..And yet it looked like it may be alright & it could be possible she was just over analyzing things.

But to be safe, she waited for Chloe to take the first bite just to see any kind of disgust or something that could be wrong with the cake. She waited & waited...nothing. Even when Chloe had pulled her to the side to ask if she was excited about school, Clara watched her sister's face very intently. "You know that I'm not excited about this..This is just going to be so counter-productive for my research. How am I supposed to help Daddy save the planet if I'm confined to a desk jotting down notes?" She sighed dramatically.

Looking at the trolley's supply, Kye became very focused. "Hmmm.... I'd like two chocolate frogs, chocolate dragon fudge, a handful of puckering sour swirls, two sugar quills, some fizzing whizbees, two cauldron cakes, aaand a box of sherbert drops please."

The old woman seemed to look at her a if to say, Is this really the best use of your money deary? but Kye ignored her. She didn't plan on eating all of it on the train, but she wanted to make sure she had some snacks for herself if she so chose.
She handed the woman the 4 Galleons and 4 Sickles owed and took her little doggy bag of goodness to find a seat on the train.

Colt nodded in agreement. "Yeah it looks like you hardly got any sun this summer. Did you do anything?" She probably didn't by the looks of it. He eyed her and knew she was lying but he let it go. "Mhmm I'm sure you were. The train isn't that exciting to say the least. The only thing exciting is right here eating the food.." he nodded his head toward the food cart. Nice change of subject there little girl. He let it slide.

"Well my summer was pretty good. I just did some sports camps as usual and visited my cousins and all that. I did some surfing and went to the beach a lot." Yeah all the usual. He looked taller? He laughed and agreed. "Yeah I guess I did have a growth spurt. My mom even told me I looked different but ya know."

Azura looked up at Colt as he spoke and she shook her head a little, she was most likely annoying the older boy, just like she had at Floreans earlier that summer. She could easily tell that she was bugging him and so she just shrugged as he asked about her summer.. He probably didn't really care so she didn't respond.

"Yeah, you do look a little different. " She agreed as she looked up at him. He really did, he looked so much older.

Azura decided she was going to face her cousins wrath because the sound of food just made her stomach churn. "Well see ya Colt." The tiny girl waved her hand and then disappeared..

Unlike her sister, Esme hadn't thought to pack herself a couple of sandwiches because she knew that there would be a lot of options for her at the food trolley. She was in the mood for sweets, figuring that she could always eat a proper meal when they reached the castle. Yep, she was being so good today.

Not.

Joining the line, she spotted a couple people she knew and sent them smiles.It was so nice to be heading back to Hogwarts because no matter how much she had enjoyed the summer, she missed the place.

Contessa looked around for a bit, new to this whole train thing... especially the Hogwarts Express train. She was accustomed to car or plane so this was an entirely new experience. She had founded herself standing in line. She blinked and leaned to one direction, looking to see what she was actually waiting for. She smiled and straightened up. oh... food trolley... food sounds really good right now... The little girl rocked back and forth on her heels, jiggling her coins a little. Everything else about her was proper and in place.

Her father would have killed her for rocking back and forth and making coin noises but this girl was bored already. Yep.. bored... She looked around, trying to figure out what to do to pass the time while waiting in line when she spotted the girl in front of her. She seemed older than her by a lot but she was not a good judge of age. As soon as she started speaking, her Italian accent was very thick. "De line is very loooong, no?" She was trying to make simple conversation to pass the time waiting.

Okay. WHAT WAS A TRAIN RIDE WITHOUT A SUGAR RUSH?! Dora was bouncing through the train corridor happily... until she saw that queue. UGH. She was impatient and HUNGRY! Couldn't everyone see that? She was basically WITHERING away as she stood there. UGH UGH UGH. Oh well... nothing she could do about it, right? Sidling up behind another girl she SIGHED LOUDLY and took to peeking around her every so often. WAS THE LINE EVEN MOVING?

OH HEY LOOK AT THAT!! Chloe Newman was up there. DID SHE SEE DORA?! DID SHE? They were totally friends, you know! And there was Colt also! DID HE SEE HER? He was definitely getting HOTTER as he got older. MAAAAN.

Oh... and there was a ferret. "That can't be healthy for your hair, you know? Letting it bite it that way." And did she not know that ferrets stunk to high Heaven? ACK!

Hadley turned and raised her eyebrows inquisitively at the speaker. The girl looked familiar, but why, Haddie couldn't recall. "And?" It was a legit question. After all, it was Hadley's hair, not the girl's, and obviously it hadn't been hurt at all after a summer of Asher nibbling on her hair. So? What? As if to further emphasis the question, Hadley gave the ferret so gentle scratches on his head.

Then she figured out where she knew the girl from. The Observatory. They had talked so briefly about favorite constellations or something that Hadley didn't really recall the encounter that much, or what the girl's name was. Something with a C or a K? Maybe? Something like that. Or was it her favorite constellation that started with a C or a K?

"Cassiopeia, right?" Not the girl's name, obviously, just her favorite constellation.

When Azura left the trolley, she seemed really down in the dumps and he couldn't do anything to help. He wasn't good for that sort of thing. Ah well she will get over it. He turned around and noticed Dora was there. He nodded and gave her a half smile. "Hey Dora.." he waved to her. He began to walk towards her. "What's been going on. How are things?"