Hogwarts Express... 9 months later.

Katherine entered the train somewhat slowly; she was greeting an old place she hadn't seen in a while - like someone who was looking if anything had changed while they were gone. Curious blue eyes surveyed the inside of the vehicle, she did miss two journeys she normally should have done, after all.

'One single mistake, and you'll never return back to that school, you hear me? Don't. You. Dare.'

She had momentarily forgotten her lovely mother's last words, hissed inside her ear while they were faking a farewell kiss ceremony; but the act of looking for a nonexistant change could distract her for only so long. The words started ringing in her mind again. Her mother's expression was hard to forget too, and her father - hopeless as he had always been. Katherine felt that her cheeks were burning in anger and hatred with fresh tears blurring her sight. She had grown used to this over the last eight months and had only cried once about it, but this was different. Even though she knew she really shouldn't make something her mother would see as a mistake, the fact that it was said out loud by her mother made it real. She either behaved, or she was never returning back to this world.

The thought of Daxton crossed her mind briefly, but she knew how to push that aside. Instead, she entered the first compartment she found (conveniently only the second compartment after the prefects' in case someone annoyed her), and threw her small luggage on the opposite seat, not bothering to put it away; then plopped down herself.

'Don't. You. Dare. You hear me? Don't you...'

She knew her mother was watching her, so she got up, closed the compartment door and got out the book Professor Hirsch had given her, although it was the fourth time she was reading it.

Alice Lupin was ready for her fourth year at Hogwarts. She wasn't sure how this year would go or even how she felt going into it. The now 14-year-old still felt a little shaken up over her summer, over not getting that big film role and things with Nathan.. It was all a bit confidence shaking.. and she was usually a very confident person.

But this would be her year, she demanded it. The bird in her birdcage was along for the ride and seemed very determined to get out of his cage. Regardless she found an empty compartment and sat down, hopefully someone would join her soon.. Henry or Tim or someone.. Maybe Olivia.

The Hogwarts Express was one of those things that Liam had been looking forward to for basically his whole life. It was like getting his wand - a right of passage, something that meant he was growing up and becoming a real life wizard who knew things and could do things.

So needless to say, this eleven year old was excited.

He'd lost his sister at some point between the station and the train and would need to find her again but for now he wanted to explore. So although he knew he should find a compartment before the train actually started moving, Liam just made his way down the middle of the train, taking it all in.

Henry could hardly believe that summer was over and it was time to go back to school. He had been determined that it would be his best summer yet and it had been really great in many ways. But it was time to tell that part of his life goodbye for now. Time to start fifth year.

The fifteen year old was not looking forward to OWLs at all, but something about fifth year made him feel rather grown. He was sure this was going to be a good year and, in all honesty, he was glad to be seeing his friends on a daily basis again.

Following his kneazle onto the train, Henry peered into the compartment windows looking for a familiar face so he'd have some good company on the ride to school. As he spotted that familiar red hair through the window, he smiled to himself then reached down to grab his feline. "Hey, Chewbacca.. why don't we try this one." And he pulled open the door. "Hi, Alice," he said, giving her a grin as he stood in the doorway. "Mind if we join you?"

And at last there was the company the Gryffindor was hoping to find. Her smile grew slowly as Henry opened the door. "Hey, i don't mind at all. Make yourself at home." Diaval squawking at the kneazle. "Excited to be heading back?" She asked, taking her feet off of the seat next to her in case he wanted to sit there instead of across.

Though she knew it was OWLs year for him. So maybe he wasn't excited about that. Alice certainly wasn't looking forward to that next year.

Henry didn't really think Alice would mind if he and his kneazle came in to sit, but he also didn't want to just assume. He didn't know if she had already planned to sit with a bunch of her girlfriends. But it seemed as if he was welcome company and he didn't miss a beat as he headed inside, allowing the kneazle to jump down to the floor from his arms.

Next to was better than across from, and he took the seat next to her once she moved her feet for him, his eyes falling on the bird in the cage as he squawked at his own pet. "Hi, Diaval." Chewbacca was also interested in the raven, but opted for a seat up on the bench once he sufficiently eyed him up. "Have you met Chewbacca yet?" he asked, turning to Alice again. He knew he had talked about him enough, but wasn't sure if she had actually seen him yet.

Was he excited to be headed back? That was certainly a question and he shrugged a bit as he offered her a smile. "Yeah, I guess I am. I wish summer was a little longer, but I think it'll be nice to head back. I'm pretty sure this will be a good year." School certainly had its perks. "What about you? Looking forward to this year?"

Ambrose had been ridiculously busy taking in everything that was going on around him. This entire situation was still amazing and he knew he was about to head to a magical school but this train felt like a throwback to the early 1900's...

Even though he had run through a brick wall to get to the platform in the first place.

It was that line of thought that led to the small black haired boy bumping into another person. His eyes widened slightly, even though it was just a small bump. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to do that I was just distracted," he offered a sheepish grin to the boy who looked like this might also be his first time...

"My name's Ambrose, nice to meet you," queue the bright grin that was usually found on the eleven year old boys face.

This would be the second train ride to hogwarts and Mason was hoping it would be uneventful. He had been a bit grumpy since last night and it hadn't gone away in the morning either. Probably lack of sleep from reading deep in to the night.

After dumping his luggage in the luggage compartment, the Ravenclaw hoisted his school bag over his shoulder and went to look for a compartment at the front of the car. Halfway through, he had to stop because a seemingly two first year stood in his way.

The first kid looked like he was memorizing every single detail and the other apologising for whaterever it was that he had done. Annoyed because they were both blocking his path, Mason cleared his throat. "Can you two move aside, please. I want to get in that compartment" seriously , it was just a train.

Liam was in the process of peering into a compartment window when someone ran into him. He stumbled slightly, catching himself on the glass before turning to see who it was.

Turns out it was a kid that looked about his age. And he was already apologizing, so Liam didn't really mind. "What were you distracted by?" He asked, curious. Because if he missed something cool he wanted to know what it was. Obviously.

And he was about to tell the kid his own name when they were interrupted. Sort of rudely. Well, the older guy had said 'please,' but his throat-clearing and tone were all Liam needed to assume that he wasn't really trying to be nice.

"What, this compartment?" He asked, innocent, casually side-stepping so that he was even more in the way. You know. Out of spite.

What was he distracted by? Ambrose beamed at the thought of that. EVERYTHING was distracting. I mean come on they were literally on a train to a magical school! "Well the train seems antique which is awesome," he voiced, glancing around the train and it's compartments again. Although... "It's kind of less magical than I expected... but then again we did run through a wall to get to the station so that feels like it's magical enough on one hand."

The other question was how did muggles not see that they were literally running through a wall and disappearing into it? Note to self: read up on that.

Somehow Ambrose hadn't even noticed that the two of them were blocking the entrance to a compartment, though it didn't seem to matter that much considering there were a number of compartments that were still empty at this point in time. He tilted his head slightly as the thought crossed his mind but didn't ask the question.

Still Ambrose smiled at the older boy, nodding in acknowledgement side-stepping from the entrance, though watching in confusion as his new friend the other boy stepped further into the older boys way.

Well, he supposed the older boy had been a bit rude?

Those two kept talking to each other despite him having asked, quite politely in his opinion, if they could step aside so he could enter that compartment. It was true that he could just slip passed them and walked on to find a different compartment and he would have done so if the first kid hadn't been blocking the door on purpose.

Now it would look like he was getting defeated by two kids if he left so instead he pinched the bridge of his nose. "yes that compartment" at least the other kid had been sensible enough to step aside. He sighed deeply after a short while of staring down at the kid who was blocking him and shrugged his shoulders. "Look, i just want to get in, you two are welcome to join" preferably not, first years were always so annoyingly loud. But he wasn't the mean kind of person, just lack of sleep grumpy which was perfectly normal. "First years?" he asked suddenly as he looked at both of them in turn.

Liam studied the older boy, silent, actually surprised by the invitation to join him in the compartment. He glanced at Ambrose as if he was trying to telepathically ask what he thought about the idea. The offer was nice, at least, so maybe it wouldn't be so bad? Plus he did the whole nose-pinching thing that Liam saw adults do when they were exasperated so that probably made the offer even more... more.

And now he was asking questions. Liam was confused by the whole ordeal at this point. He stepped out of the way of the door to the compartment, though, because that seemed like a good idea. "I'm a first year," he answered with a nod before glancing at Ambrose again, waiting for the other boy's answer because he was curious, too.

"Also a first year," Ambrose confirmed, beaming at both of the others. Having a friend in his own year would be great! And the fact that the other boy was older meant that he too already knew a bit about Hogwarts... which could be a really good thing to hear about what it was like now! "What about you?"

Because Ambrose had no clue. Maybe he was a sixth year? Maybe he was a third year and he just looked old. Either way, he didn't want to make an assumption. He'd recently learnt that assuming people's ages and being way off was an excellent method of angering them.

With the older boys offer, the dark haired first year shrugged slightly at the other first year who clearly was also unsure as to whether or not he should take the older boys offer to sit in the compartment with him. So making the first move he entered the compartment, quickly dropping down next to the window.

Parting ways with his family was unusually hard on Callum Kettleburn this train departure as his parents had to bid farewell to all three of their children for the first time. The fourteen-year-old was experiencing a weird, twisting feeling in his gut as he hugged his mum goodbye, and it was almost... painful. Sure, it was natural for kids to grow up and leave their parents, but... he still felt a little guilty now that his younger sister Chloe had left the roost, too. And, yes, it was beyond words to have both of his sisters at Hogwarts now, and he was certain that elation would override any worries for his parents later, but... at the moment, he found himself oddly wishing his parents could come along with them, too. Maybe they could be professors at Hogwarts or something, just to have everyone together again.

That would never be a reality, though, he knew, so there was no use dwelling on it. He had his newly restored duty as a protective big brother now that he would get to have Chloe around full time - well, as long as she didn't turn rebellious on him and avoid him like the plague. Hopefully she would see that he was not setting out to spoil her reputation before she even got the chance to blossom into her own little Hogwarts beauty and they would get to spend ample time together. It did not matter to Callum that he was a fourth year and Chloe was just a first year; he figured it would come as no surprise to people that he would enjoy having his kid sister around as much as possible. He was not the least bit embarrassed by her.

...At least he thought he wouldn't be.

His first new Hogwarts brotherly duty was to keep tabs on Chloe and make sure she felt safe and included, but once he had made sure she was settled in with a nice group, he excused himself briefly to find Jael eventually, but first see if the flash of hair he thought he saw belonged to who he thought it had belonged to-- but could it be...?

Peering inside the new compartment, Callum lit up at the sight of its occupant and slid open the compartment door, leaning against the door frame as he playfully remarked, "Look what the cat dragged in." His smile grew broadly as he let himself inside, sitting beside the luggage on the seat opposite from Katherine, unfazed by it being there, and made himself at home. "You look great." A year had treated her well. He had grown several inches himself - he was closing in on 5'7" currently and growing taller by the day - and had undergone a voice change, but she was a beauty in her own right, did she know?

Alice looked back at him and grinned. "He loves the attention." She looked to Chewbacca who she hadn't met yet. "No, not yet. He's so cute though!" Reaching out to pet the Kneazle.

Listening to what He had to say she nodded and thought about the question herself. "I agree with that. Summer was waaaaay too short." She smiled and thought about it a bit more. "Not exactly? Like i said before summer was a bit of a bummer.. But i think this term could get a bit better." She said and winked at Henry. He was cute.. and he knew she thought so.

Lizzie stepped onto the train, after saying a watery goodbye to her uncle. She glanced around the front of the train, looking for an empty compartment. When she found one she slide up the door and plopped and a sit. She wiped her eyes, trying to get rid of the evidence of tears. She was excited to be going to Hogwarts, especially after hearing all of the stories about her mum and uncle's time at the magical school.

That being said,she is never been away from her uncle for an extended amount of time since she moved in with him after her parents died 6 years ago. She pulled her photo album, from her backpack, and started flipping through the pictures looking at her family, while day dreaming about her future at Hogwarts

It annoyed him that he was not yet off age because he would have cursed himself for inviting the two first years in to the compartment instead of going in alone and read the book that was hidden in his bag. Or even sleep during the journey which he knew he wasn’t going to get with two first years nearby . Because everyone knew that first years equals questions. I'm a sixth year, but this will only be my second year at Hogwarts"

As one of them entered the compartment and sat down by the window, Mason didn’t even look at the other one who had blocked the entrance earlier, and walked inside as well. Sitting on the opposite bench, the Ravenclaw pulled open his bag and took out the book he had wanted to read. “Practical Defensive Magic and Its Us Against the Dark Arts” and opened it on his lap.

They WERE going to be quiet right? Hmmm?

Cass got her brother onto the train and helped him get his trunk stored away but that was that. She really didn’t want to have her younger sibling tagging along behind her the entire time. Brotherly love only went so far, especially been teens and preteens. Not to mention surely there were plenty of students his year to befriend and get to know. It was never too soon to meet someone that you were likely going to be around for the next several years of your schooling.

So with their belongings in the storage compartment at the back of the train, the fourth year headed up for the front. There was bound to be options of seating anywhere along the way. “Easy there…” Cassie mused, petting her familiar as the feline shifted in her arms. The cat could be a pain sometimes, not liking to stay in a cage or alone yet not always liking to be around the crowded train.

Diaval was an awfully cool bird. He'd reach over and pet him through the bars of his cage, but Henry was comfortable where he was. He was glad that Chewbacca left him alone for the most part, knowing how cats and kneazles could be with other certain animals. He smiled as Alice pet Chewbacca. "Thanks.. he likes attention too. Well, sometimes. He can be kind of selective about it, but I think he likes you."

Henry nodded. Summer was the best, but it was like he never had enough time to squeeze in everything that he wanted to do. It was busy and it was too fast, but he still wouldn't trade it in. He loved summer. And he grinned at her wink. "Well, maybe your summer could have been better than it was, but things are bound to look up." Things usually worked that way in his experience. Well, sometimes at least. "A new term is a good time to move forward. I'm sure you'll have a great year." He was hoping the same for himself, to be honest. Sure, he was typically a positive person, but that wasn't a bad thing in his opinion.

"Hey, did I tell you I finally saw your movie with my cousins?" And yes, he made sure to point out to them that he knew her personally.

It had taken more than a few minutes to shake off her muggle mother's clutching hands at the station- not that Sinead wasn't sorry to say goodbye. She was just more interested in the future which finally awaited her after years of awaiting Hogwarts, tantalised by the weekend visits to her father's house, which to her was a place filled with unimaginable magical wonders. Her stepbrother hardly helped matters, teasing her with mentions of Hogwarts and his everyday magical life. That wouldn't matter anymore, though- she was here now too, and everything would change.

Her arms hardly wrapped around the cage of her new pride and joy, a silvery Abyssinian cat her father had brought her as a present for starting at Hogwarts. That seemed beyond bizarre, that she could bring a pet to school with her- yet as she boarded the train, she could see that she was far from the only one dragging a cage along with them.

It hadn't really occurred to her until this moment that she was going to have to find some friends- namely, right now, other first years to sit with. Trying to be subtle as she peered into the compartments she passed was an impossibility, but as luck would have it, not too far along she overheard the snippet of a conversation as three boys disappeared into their own compartment- two of them had just identified themselves as first years.

Stepping up behind them, she shifted her grip on the cat cage so it didn't obscure quite so much of her face and peered into the carriage with an unconscious frown.
"You're other first years? May I join you?" Her voice was quiet but assured until she realised that she wasn't sure of their connection to the older boy. She didn't mean to stare, just a quick glance to see if he looked welcoming or- well, she didn't really know what else. Either way, though, she was fascinated to get the chance to study another Hogwarts student besides her stepbrother, as well as by the book he was holding. Her first year textbooks were fascinating, but she could bet that whatever he was reading would trump them easily.

The girl in the compartment was familiar in the way all of her less interesting classmates were, Vaguely. but there was something here, something itching at the corners of Aslan's mind to remember as she stood by the doorway of this particular compartment.

Something important.

Something new.

Something blue in nature.

But what was it? Aslan purses her lips and continued subtly watching the reading girl out of the corner of her eye. Not Bastien, not Brian- nor minnie- the connection was elsewhere formed...

Was it dax-

A voice, and a form decidedly male sprung into Aslan's view and rudely interrupted her thoughts. Naturally, it was one of her fellow Gryffindors and a Kettleburn for that matter.

Kettleburns. Toussaints. They were everywhere, you couldn't escape the lot if you tried. At the very least, the brunette witch was grateful that this time it was the younger Kettleburn and not Charlotte-sunshine.

Silently, subtly and with a thinly veiled interest Aslan spied the brief interaction and introduction as she decided whether to slip herself into this equation for better research or to come back when Moss was once more alone.

...Callum.

Callum was here. The Callum who was her friend, and one of the few people who could make her smile broadly back. She grinned - it felt weird to be grinning after so many months, but it also felt natural to do so for him.

"Callum Kettleburn, always the gentleman," she remarked as she noticed the changes - the height, the voice, the general look of puberty and growth on him... "You look great yourself. Puberty suits you."

She looked at her friend with curiosity, happiness and gratitude. Grateful that he still wanted to be her friend, for the silly jokes and intellectual conversations they'd had...

Before they began any conversation, she got up to close the door. She didn't want any more guests in her compartment - she only wanted to see two people anyway, one of them was here and she'd find the other one during feast. Her hand went to hold the handle, but then she saw her - who was his acquaintance at the very least, or maybe even his accomplice - or else, what were they doing on the steps of Knockturn Alley? - she was here, which meant he must be somewhere close. Her face went pale and her mouth felt dry all of a sudden. Blue eyes were transfixed on the girl as a million thoughts raced her mind and her heart started to beat rapidly. But Callum was here, and Daxton wasn't the type to really bother someone unless he was bothered, evenifhewasclosehewouldn'tenter -

Katherine blinked a moment later and shut the door, maybe a bit more forcefully than necessary, and returned to her seat, clearly upset at the encounter.

So this was the famous Hogwarts Express?

This was AWESOME. It was better than what Simon had described to her in all his letters. Reading the description was completely different from living it and being there in person. This was just so incredible. She walked slowly through the train, trying to find the perfect place to sit. As she passed different compartments, she watched as she saw old friends meet up. Olivia couldn't help and smile at all the excitement. She felt herself becoming more and more giddy from the excitement. The girl thought about going to join a random group but then decided against it so she could relax for a bit before the sorting. Truth be told, she was nervous about the sorting and a little embarrassed that she would get sorted with first years. However, she would probably see Brent there. He was a transfer too. At least she would have someone chill to hang out with. The thought of seeing a familiar face immediately calmed her worries about which house she would be in.

Finally, she found an empty compartment and sank into a seat. Even the seats were comfy! This was all so incredible. Reaching into her bag, she looked at the music albums that she had picked up from the music shop in Diagon Alley. Which one should she listen to first? TDK or perhaps Fallout Boy? Or maybe a different album completely...

Decisions were hard.

Dora had wandered from the food trolley in search of a certain Ravenclaw... or one of his siblings, at least. Hehe. But AS it was, she had yet to have any luck. Ugh. This train was always so FULL of yelling, shouting people. Hehe. It was great, really, but it was her teen thing to pretend that she didn't care anything about it.

Her attention was drawn, though, when she noticed a girl slip into a compartment alone. Creeping closer to the window in the door, she peeked in and saw her pull out some vinyl. Awesome. Without a knock, no fanfare, or the like, she pulled open the compartment door and plopped right down on the seat opposite the other girl.


"You don't look familiar. New? Transfer? What vinyl do you have?" The Gryffindor then pulled some ice mice from her bag and offered one over. Seeeeee... it was that easy to make friends! "What house do you hope to be in?"