Isla had been nervous about boarding the train and heading off to Hogwarts all by herself. Well, not exactly by herself, but this was her first time going so far away without her mom and dad. As she boarded the train, though, excitement took over, and any nervousness or sadness she might have felt disappeared for now. She was heading to Hogwarts, and she was about to be sorted!

She just knew she'd be a Gryffindor. Out of all the house traits, she thought that one fit her the best. So as she wandered down the aisles looking for a seat, she couldn't help but think to herself what it would be like to be a lion. It looked like she was early to board the train, too. The whole front of the train didn't seem busy at all. Either that, or everybody had gone to the back of the train. She wasn't brave enough to go back there yet. She kind of thought that all the older kids might be back there.

She finally settled on a random compartment and slid the door open. Empty. Empty except for her, who was now the sole occupant. She sat down and stared out the window. Supposedly, she was in for a super long ride.

No. No. No!

This was not happening! Not today, not again! Cole was going to curse his uncle Alfie for putting him in this position for another year in a row. What was his father going to say? Would he get a howler at breakfast? Last time he had vomited all over the feast table and now he didn't want to even think about this new issue that had arisen without his fault. As the thought hit him hard in the gut he stopped in the middle of the train corridor and just hyperventilated as his face whitened. How was he going to explain this to Professor Sandu or worse Headmaster Trent? This was a fullblown nightmare. He didn't have one pet with him to school as expected, but FIVE and he had misplaced lost all of them.

Not seing or really knowing where he was going Cole pushed opened the door to the first compartment and stared inside at the occupant for a good whole minute in silence. Blinking he cleared his throat as his eyes locked on the several years younger girl and he mumbled out in a slightly desperate tone to her. "You haven't seen a small colony of magical rats run by here by any chance have you?"

If he had to be honest, Minjae had been feeling a bit sad that his parents hadn’t seen him off at the Platform and that Mike his chauffeur had driven him to London to catch the train. He enjoyed his company though but he was going away for a year now, only returning home for Christmas and his parents had been too busy working. But he wasn’t going to let that minor disappointment get him down so with his head held up high, he entered the train.

After having experienced the Beauxbaton carriages last year, traveling with the Hogwarts express seemed rather boring. It was small, too crowded and the compartments didn’t look elegant at all. He highly preferred the carriages at Beauxbaton. A plus side about the train was the breathtaking scenery as the train would pass through beautiful landscapes.

But he wasn’t here to look out of the window. He first had to find a seat in one of the compartments. He had dropped off his suitcase in the luggage carriage and had only taken the necessary items with him. Too bad he couldn’t play on his Nintendo Switch cause he would have spend his time with that if he could. He had bought it with him as he knew that there was a room where Muggle electronica worked in. He hoped it was still there though…

Before he opened a compartment door, he looked over at Cole standing in the doorway of another compartment and the Hufflepuff listened. What had that guy done now? Overhearing something about magical rats, Minjae shrugged as it was not his problem. He entered his own empty compartment and placed his bag on the seat before he sat next to the window. He was bored already, why couldn’t they use the Floo Powder to get to Hogwarts? It would be much faster and easier.

Okay, so Isla wasn't the kind of girl to have self-pity, but right now, she was feeling pretty lonely and bored in this compartment. She'd only been sitting here ten or so minutes, but it felt like an eternity. Also, she'd heard this ride was something like seven or eight hours long. She wasn't even tired, so if she didn't find something to do or somebody to talk to, she was going to go crazy before they reached Hogwarts.

That was what the door to the compartment opened, and some boy looked inside. Blink. "You lost a whole colony of rats on the train?" she asked. When she had had time to let that sink in, she added, "Cool!" to the end of her statement. "I mean, not cool for you, obviously. I can help you look for them if you want?" Tracking down a colony of rats would certainly make the train ride more interesting!

"How many are we talking about here?" she asked. There could be a lot of rats in a colony, but at least he'd said it was a small colony. This was going to get pretty interesting, especially if there were people on the train who weren't exactly the rodent type.

At least the Sinclair family made it to Platform 9 3/4 with plenty of time to spare this year. Avalon was quite relieved that her punctuality was finally rubbing off on her mum and dad. Plus, she had only gotten in an argument with her sister Amelia once during the car ride to the train station. A pretty successful morning so far, if you asked her.

Wandering toward the front of the train, she poked her head into a few compartments, trying to find some friends to sit with. To her disappointment, it didn't seem like they had made it onto the train yet, or they had chosen seats elsewhere. Just before she committed herself to plopping down in an empty compartment, she overheard pieces of a conversation a few doors in front of her. "Missing rats, do I hear?" she called down the train corridor. It seemed like at least once every train ride, a student lost their pet.

"I could always try setting Shadow loose. But there's no guarantee she'll bring them back alive," Avalon quipped with a smirk, gesturing to the fluffy black cat tucked under her left arm. She made her way over to the two students. "How'd you manage to lose a whole colony of rats?" she asked the boy curiously. Or maybe he didn't actually lose the rats. Avalon had just overheard the younger girl saying so.

Today was the day! He was FINALLY on the train to Hogwarts! Asher was in full hyper mode right now, so much so that his leashed one-eyed cat was more or less being dragged behind him.

"C'mon, Moody, we gotta hurry and get a seat! Maybe we'll find Kenny and sit with him and his friends."

He had no clue where his brother was, but he figured the front of the train was a good place to start looking. One by one, the boy poked his head in the compartment windows and found himself walking down the corridor bit by bit. Empty, empty, full, occupied, empty, empty... While chubby Moody was not feeling all the walking that was going on or the idea of a train ride in general, the boy was determined to find his older brother or at least someone he knew so he wasn't spending the entire train ride alone.

Moody then suddenly started to pick up the pace and was now walking ahead of his owner. Little did Asher know that the part-kneazle had overheard the word 'rats' and was interested in knowing that that was all about. "Whoa! Easy there, boy!"

Glancing up where his cat was heading, he noticed those standing in the corridor outside one of the compartments. Were they having a party or something? "Hi! What's going on here?" Oh, look! That girl had a cat! Maybe they could set up a play date or something!

He then peeked inside the compartment and saw someone that looked familiar. "Hiiiiiiii, Isla!"

Someone else was getting involved, and apparently this person had a cat she was going to let loose on the train to help find the missing rats. This kept getting more and more interesting! "Letting your cat loose on the train to chase down the rats sounds fun, but I don't think he wants the rats dead," Isla said with a laugh. She wasn't laughing at dead rats. She was just making their conversation light-hearted. "Oh, yeah, how did the rats get loose anyway?" she repeated. She hadn't even thought to wonder about that part of things.

It wasn't long before another person joined them, and oddly enough it was somebody Isla actually knew. And he remembered her! "Hey, Asher!" she said. Yes, she remembered him, too. "A whole colony of rats got loose on the train! We were just about to try and find them, when she offered to let her cat loose to go chase them down!" she excitedly said. She had gestured from person to person as she explained things, so hopefully Asher had followed along.

So on THAT note, what was the plan? She turned back to the boy who'd lost the rats in the first place, waiting for him to chime in. Either way, it was showtime on the train!

Putting up a finger at the girl Cole said "Shhh! Not so loud, I don't want to alert the whole train of my predicament. I'm Cole by the way and you are?" Walking further inside the girl's apartment, he let his eyes wander, searching high and low for any sign of something small brown and furry. This was a nightmare...This train ride was supposed to be uneventful. Not like this. So in his own thought's Cole hadn't heard the cool comment or he'd probably have said something slightly irritated back. However he did hear the girls offer to help and he said with a weak smile playing over his lips to her. "Yes please and, thank you. 4 eyes are a lot better than 2 eyes when looking for quick footed magical rats."

"We're taking about 5 magical rats in total, so not a big colony at all. My uncle isn't exactly ontop of knowing the school rules." Or any rules for that matter. Cole was so upset and angry at him. This was a mess. Before he knew what happened Avalon stuck her head in the door offering to set her cat loose to track them down. Face whitening at the prospect he shook his head vigorously as he eased down on one of the empty comparment seats trying to breath. ”No Avalon! Keep your cat in check. I don't want my new rats killed.” Cole said with a frightened look over at the eagle girl.

Concentrating on something other than the image of dead rats he mumbled out an explanation as he stared out the compartment window to the girls. "I lost my rats because firstly i didn't know i had them. My uncle bought me a new pet, but didn't let me see what it was since it was supposed to be a SURPRISE. He just gave me a draped over creature cage with a time lock spell on the door. When the cage door eventually opened in one of the front compartments i was expecting a kneazle not 5 rats. I got pretty shocked as you can imagine and in my dazed state they disspeared out the door." It was the truth. Before Cole could do or say anything another student, a boy this time peeked in with another cat at his heels. Lovely. This just got better and better. Standing up again Cole asked as he looked around "Can you guys help me ask around in the other compartments for a sign of my rats? I really want to find them before they become cat food?” Avalon and Ashers cat's had made it very clear that rats would be yummy to feast on.

What to hear a funny joke?

Eloise as Prefect

Maybe it would not be hilarious but would make Eloise laugh. Not like it ever happened and she was glad it didn't. AND not like it was ever even thought she would get it. Anyway, back on that Hogwarts grind she goes. She couldn't say her summer was boring or anything that moody and dramatic. Mostly it just went by too fast. Internship, OWL grades yada yada yada. Even this morning was different because it was not just her going to Hogwarts like it had been since second year. Now it was her, Alex and Benji. Which will be fun once the year starts but not right now when she has to worry about them getting everything on the train.

-__-

It be like that sometimes.

No Navid for fun and well being around him. dramatics dramatics dramatics and now Calyx would be with Nina and yeah no thanks.

If it was a normal year she would be up at the Prefect Compartment talking to whoever just got the badges and making jokes. Not like she ever took anyone seriously who has the badges. In a authority way. Now she was just looking for anyone she knew to sit

The now sixth year red-head went into her pockets to see if she brought her music player with her for the ride and welp as if the day could not start off worse.

She had forgotten in at home

Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh

It was strange to Ronan how normal it felt to board the Hogwarts Express after not using it at all last year. Did he really remember so much from his second year? He was a fourth year now, much taller and smarter. Not as tall as Maxie, nor as smart as most of his peers, but definitely older. Ronan expertly dodged people and animals alike as he walked down the train looking for JC or Maxie or Luz when he heard talk of rats. His own rat was safely in his bag - just Biscuit this term, Cracker needed to stay home because she was ill and he felt bad about sneaking her in - and he wondered if he had finally found someone else with a rat as a pet.

Drifting towards the conversation, Ronan frowned. This guy lost five rats? "Hey, mate," Ronan called out as he joined this.. merry group? of people. "Finding rats is hard, have some older student try and summon them for you maybe? I got some rat treats if you want to try laying those out but I don't think they'll help." The fourth year nodded to greet everyone else, recognising the Ravenclaw from the year below him.

And now there was another young student joining them, and by the looks of it, the other first year already knew him. Avalon deduced from their exchange that the boy's name was Asher. "Cute cat! Is he part-kneazle?" she said, reaching down to pet the furry feline. She knew from watching her grandfather's kneazles the trademark signs of the creature - extra big ears and a fluffy tail. "Shadow's just a plain old longhair," she added, gesturing to her own cat, who was staring intently at her new half-kneazle friend.

Avalon couldn't help but giggle at Cole's frantic response to her offer. "I was just joking, Vance, lighten up!" she said with a smile. She couldn't imagine receiving five rats as a surprise pet. Talk about a disappointment, especially if you were expecting a kneazle. "I can go see if anyone's spotted them. And don't worry, I'll keep the beast constrained." Patting Shadow on the head, she gave the familiar fourth-year Hufflepuff a friendly wave before disappearing down the train hallway. Trying to track down a bunch of random rats wasn't quite how she expected to spend her journey on the Hogwarts Express, but figuring that she didn't have anything better to do, she decided she'd help Cole out. Besides, she couldn't find any of her friends yet. Perhaps they had found seats in the back of the train.

Rowan was dragging along his suitcase in one hand and his kitten cradled in his other free arm, helplessly looking for a spot to sit. He was trying to find some familiar faces, but given that he only had about three acquaintances at all, it was hard to find a familiar face to sit with as most people were still strangers to him. After checking the back of the train, he was right back at the front, feeling as lost as ever. He wished he had branched out a little more last year, but Beauxbatons had been so... unexpected. It really threw him off, and therefore delayed his branching out.

And now here he was, in the front of the train... looking like an idiot with a cat pawing at the drawstrings on his hoodie, reminding him that he ought to change into his robes at some point. And he would do so, but there was a large group of students in the corridor all talking about a pack of rats and Rowan was terrified of rats and didn't want any chance of running into any...

With a sigh, he turned to the compartment nearest him and gave the boy inside a smile as he slid the door open. "Mind if I join you?" he asked quietly. "I'm a bit nervous to run into any, erm... rats...." he laughed nervously.

Whoa! A whole COLONY of rats were on the loose?! No wonder Moody was so eager to move at a faster pace all of a sudden. The boy glanced down at his pet, only to see him eyeing up the other girl's cat.

But wait a minute. So there wasn't a surprise party going on? Bummer. Buuuuuuuuut a rat hunt sounded pretty fun! What a great way to spend a part of a long train ride!

"Thanks!" Asher replied to the girl with the cat after she said that Moody was cute. The boy didn't really think his cat was cute because of Moody's more-often-then-not moody attitude and then his general appearance. He personally would have considered his pet rough and tough over cute, but to each their own. "Yes, Moody here is part-kneazle. Normally he's pretty lazy and doesn't move around much, but I guess all this rat talk has him interested."

He looked over to the boy that had lost all his rats and gave him a sincere look. "Don't worry. Moody won't eat any of your rats. He's on a strict rat-free diet. And I'll keep an eye on him while we look around, just in case." Oh, by the way, he was totally joining the hunt.

Another person's voice then sounded, and Asher looked at the boy who had all the advice in awe. "You can summon rats? How do you do it?" Needless to say, he had never seen anyone summon animals before. But, more important, he didn't know any spells, so this was the perfect opportunity to learn one before stepping inside Hogwarts' walls.

"Scattering rat treats around sounds like a good idea. It's better than nothing if you ask me. ... Oh. Is there anywhere on the train a good amount of food can be found? Maybe they wanted a snack. I know I could go for a snack right about now. We could start looking there."

Isla didn't think she'd been loud enough for anybody outside their little rat party to hear, but she nodded her head anyway. She could understand how worried Cole was. At least, she could only imagine. Her own pet owl was tucked safely away (she hoped), so she didn't have to worry about any of her own runaway creatures. "I'm Isla Bellchant," she said. She would have followed that up with an 'It's nice to meet you' line, but she doubted Cole was up for that sort of thing right now. She pushed herself away from her seat and joined the group crowded by the window.

The older girl (Avalon) had headed off down the corridor, so she guessed she should do the same. Asher had a good idea, too. "I like the rat treats idea! Anybody have any?" she asked. Probably Cole? Other than that, the only thing she could think to do was go door to door, interrupt everybody's onboard activities and conversations, and just ask around. She smiled at thought of the chaos that would erupt when people started finding out about the rat colony. Isla wasn't scared of rats, but she didn't really like the idea of them running wild either.

"There's the food trolley," Isla said, replying to Asher's question. "I don't know if Cole's rats are the jelly slug type, but who knows? I've heard some rats will eat anything." Although scattering food around the train might attract every creepy, crawly thing hiding around here. This whole thing just got weirder by the second.

With an open compartment door it was bound to draw more people over so it was no surprise to Cole when a slightly younger boy joined in with some good ideas. Turning to face the boy he thought was a badger and called Ronan, but in a younger year than him he said kindly. "Trying to summon the rats won't work I haven't even named them yet and i don't want the whole expresses rats to come in here." It'd be a little too interesting for Cole's taste. "Thanks for the idea though,! Feeling around in his jeans pocket, realizing that he hadn't brought any treats with him he looked over at the boy again. "Can I please try laying out your rat treats even if it's not guaranteed to work?" Why did he have rat treats in his pockets though? Did Ronan have a rat?

Turning to Avalon he felt bad for having bursted out earlier so he said quitley. "I'm sorry Avalon, I didn't mean to burst out like that at you. I'm just a bit stressed about these rats." Which Cole really didn't expect to get, when he had wanted something else entirely. "Thanks for asking around!" he called after Avalon and her cat as they dissapeared down the train corridor. Cole had turned back to looking out the window when Asher said something odd that caught his attention. Turning to the younger unsorted boy he repeated a little confused "Your cat doesn't eat rats? How have you managed that?" It was worth asking since it was practically in every cats dna to hunt and eat rats.

Isla who had introduced herself earlier chimed in before Cole could mentioning the food trolly. Shrugging his shoulders he said "Sure we can go look if any of my new rats are munching on bertie beans and jelly slugs by the Trolly Lady. It's worth a shot. It's better than not doing anything." Sitting idle had never been his fortee. He prefered taking action in some way. Straightening up looked around at Asher, Ronan and Isla "So who's coming with me? We can lay out Ronan's rat treats on the way."

Not caring about the commotion outside of the compartment and just wanting to have a normal and relaxing train ride, Minjae stared out of the window. The green scenery was beautiful to look at and it reminded him of the huge garden at home.

As the door opened up, Minjae raised an eyebrow at the boy standing in the doorway. His dark brown eyes moved to the cat in his arms and they softened for a second. He always had a soft spot for animals. Not replying to his question but holding out his hand and gesturing it for him to take a seat, Minjae glanced at the door before he looked at back at him. "Why does he even have a colony of magical rats if he will just lose them?" he judged, shaking his head. "who's that?" he asked as he pointed at the cat.