Middle Cars
 

Jina was both scared and excited to finally attend Hogwarts. She had heard good things about the school, so she would get to learn a lot and hone her magical skills. But recently she found out about dangerous events taking place at Hogwarts. She hoped nothing bad will happen this year. She found an empty compartment in the middle of the train and sat down by the large windows. As the train began its journey to the school, she looked out of the window nervously. The view was beautiful, so she felt slightly optimistic.

mentions of BOTH of you!
 

A small sound outside her compartment made her turn her head around. She waved back at the young girl, who seemed quite nervous. Maybe she was a first year and it was her first trip to Hogwarts. Well, Jina was not too different from first years in that respect, being a transfer student. She was wondering if she should go to talk to the girl, when someone entered the compartment she was in.

"Oh, no it's okay," she replied. She then continued to look out of the window, but occasionally glanced at the boy sitting opposite her. He seemed to be around her age. If they were going to be sitting together in the long journey to school, she might as well talk to him. "What's up? You don't look too happy."

Jina & Phoebe (good Merlin Phoebe XD)
 

She was curious about what the boy was reading. It was definitely not one of her course books and it did not seem to be in English either, which fascinated her. She would have asked about it, but got the impression that he did not want to be disturbed. She felt a bit apologetic for speaking to him in the first place.

But then a younger girl entered the compartment and snuggled up to him. She was SO cute!!! Jina grinned back at her. "Hi, Phoebe. I'm Jina Nicole Morin. I'm a sixth year and I'm ... new," she introduced herself, ending with a rather lame adjective.

Open and for Ashley!Cece at the same time because whyyy not :3
 

For Heather
 

That's meeeeee!
 

The journey that had taken Elias from his home to this car had been a true epic, indeed. Given that his father the doctor and his mother the pharmaceutical sales manager had a distinct wariness of all things magical, they'd been less than enthused about their only child racing full-tilt at a solid brick wall just because a passing man in a flowered nightgown had said it was 'the thing to do' to get to Hogwarts. Elias had pointed out, in what he thought was a logical and rational manner, that if he ended up breaking something his father was right there to do something about it.

In the end, he'd been made to wait until some other owl-toting child disappeared through the bricks, at which point his parents had kissed him goodbye and made him promise to write them twice a week. Once on the other side, he'd been jostled and bumped until he finally found his way here, to a car that seemed to have room in it.

He flopped down onto one of the seats, only then turning to eye the girl and her book. He supposed he should have asked about sitting, but he reasoned that he wasn't planning on making noise, and if she was going to be reading the whole time it wouldn't matter anyway. The door was open...

"D'you mind if I sit here, then?"

Can't believe we're online at the same time! WOW!
 

Hahaha. Ah jeez...
 

To her question of reading aloud, he shrugged. Saved him having to read it, if he were perfectly honest. He would have said as much, but when she brought up the test he changed tracks as well, "I don't mind if you have trouble reading in your head. Study away."

He'd already run through a solid brick wall today, and he was far more interested in learning how to do that magic than some test on transfigureskating or whatever she'd just said.

Hang on... first he was agreeing and now he was... waaaaait, was that a joke about her reading abilities? Bernie's eyes narrowed. She huffed and loudly turned a page in the book, taking a deep breath before she read. "Transfiguration is subject to rules, such as Gamp’s Law of Elemental Transfiguration, which has five Principal Exceptions, of which food is one." But would HE know what that meant? Bernie had kinda gotten the gist of this last year in Barlow's class. Anyway, she continued reading.

"BUBBA GAMP'S LAW means that ONLY food can be produced out of thin air. Food can be moved from one place to another by magic, or changed, OR created out of nothing. Essentially, by following Gamp's Law, wizards can never starve, and can easily transfigure ordinary, boring food into something more appetizing." She stole a peek at the boy to see if he was listening. "For example, to transfigure a ham sandwich into a sandwich cookie or biscuit, one would only need to use the incantation Pastillum fartum whilst tapping the sandwich in question."

Hmm, interesting. Was the kid believing it? All this reading was making her hungry, so Bernie pulled a chocolate frog box out of her pocket.

Elias was listening, but perhaps a little too well. He raised an eyebrow at her explanation and shook his head before resting it against the cushion on the back of the seat, "I saw a wizard 'produce' a bouquet of flowers out of the air in Diagon Alley, after he forgot his five-week anniversary with his girlfriend. She took the flowers, and then she beaned him over the head with them. It was brilliant."

He glanced over at her pulling out the box of candy and asked, "You're going to try the spell with that?"

Okay, well, that was a good description of... uh, charms maybe? What was the spell that made flowers pop out of your wand? Bernie hadn't learned that one yet.... but she was betting this boy didn't know it either or he wouldn't have called something so basic, like, 'brilliant.'

She pretended to be unamused, though she also would have hit her imaginary boyfriend over the head if he forgot their anniversary. "Cool story bro." Back to her book and her frog. The brunette scoffed a bit at his question, then pulled something from her other pocket, tossing it lightly to him. "No, this frog doesn't need any spell work to be more appetizing. That ham sandwich does though." Have at it, kid. Give it a whirl. She was practically daring him.

Meanwhile, she carefully opened her chocolate frog and immediately clamped a hand around one of its legs, holding it tightly in case it decided to hop off. The frog struggled pathetically as Bernie snapped off a different leg and dropped the chocolate straight into her mouth. Mmmm, delicious.

Who celebrates five weeks, tho...
 

Yeah, it was a cool story, especially since he thought it meant Bubba Gamp's law was a bunch of bunk. This was why he was skeptical about books and hadn't bothered to buy any new ones for school; the second-hand ones had all sorts of notations in the margins that were at least as helpful as the printed text, and he'd already found an entry in his Fantastic Beasts book that underlined a specific description of the beast's mating preferences and added the commentary of 'also, don't wear purple.' Useful stuff, indeed!

He eyed the admittedly sad-looking ham sandwich sitting on the seat beside him, with its sad single layer of ham and its sad lumps of butter that had sadly torn some of the bread (clearly someone had used hard butter straight from the fridge). Then he looked back up in time to see her brutalizing the chocolate frog.

"Did you know that torturing animals is a sign of future serial killer behaviour? That's like Principal One of Crime Watch Daily's laws of How To Spot a Murderer." He was fully aware of the insolent expression on his face as he flicked the sandwich back at her, "Anyway, you're the one all up and tizzied about the pop quiz. You should practice."

Tweens.
 

"What if I told you that wasn't the first time someone has compared me to a serial killer?" Bernadette calmly bit the head off the frog next, which rendered it nonmoving and made it just look like ordinary chocolate. "I LIKE animals though. I'd never torture a REAL one." He didn't think this chocolate frog was an animal, DID HE?? Silly Muggle, chocolate frogs were for wizard kids! Don't tell anyone she had this same reaction around this same time last year. Obviously this boy needed to study more transfiguration if he didn't understand wizarding candy!

She chomped through the chocolate, mannerly enough to keep her mouth closed while doing so, and flipped the sad, bruised little sandwich back to him. "I already know that spell, so Barlow will NOT be impressed by it if *I* do it. I think he'll want to see how well I've learned how to transfigure... textbooks. I practiced on mine all summer." That was half true; she wasn't allowed to use magic around her Muggle family, but there was a spell for turning textbooks into plates and bowls, a REAL spell. She'd practiced it and everything. She just needed a refresher on the incantation, and then she'd show him.

"That would make you more interesting." Perhaps odd, but true; he'd meant his original observation as an insult, but if she had additional details about concerning behaviour he definitely wanted her to dish them out. He was, after all, experimenting with the 'rebel kid' mentality that his friend Magdelas seemed to think he possessed, and making friends with questionable characters seemed to fit his idea of what being a rebel was all about.

But getting back to the matter at hand, he'd much rather she dish the deets than dish this sandwich, which once again went back in her direction, "Who's Barlow? And what can you turn your books into?"

Classic backhanded compliment. Bernadette was tempted to roll her eyes again, but instead she hid her smirk behind another bite of frog, nearly her last bite. "Believe it or not, I was also expelled from Beauxbatons last year for attacking the Headmistress and fighting with her gargoyles, but our Headmaster got it reduced to a mere suspension." She shrugged nonchalantly. Would he find that interesting? She shouldn't care about this random kid's thoughts. He probably didn't even go to Beauxbatons last year, since he didn't know who Barlow was.

"That's the transfiguration professor, of course. This is your first year, isn't it?" She eyed him and threw the sandwich back without another word about it. It could probably be molded into the shape of a ball or something, with all the handling here. "I think I'm going to turn mine into a plate, since I've been reading about Bubba Gamp's Law and food and stuff, and then put more of my candy on my plate." So practical. Wasn't she brilliant?

Bernie flipped through the pages to the section on cutlery and whatnot; she still had it dog-eared from the spring. "The spell for turning textbooks into plates or bowls is Patella Verto.... that's pa-TEL-la VER-to." That's right. And then she remembered the undoing spell of course... because she would be needing this textbook as a textbook and not a plate soon.

Anyway, onto the spell. Bernie dug her spellotaped wand out of her boot and rapped it importantly on the transfiguration book. She concentrated as best as she could, envisioning a fancy dinner plate instead of a book, and recited, "Pa-TEL-la VER-to," as she tapped the book once more. Magically, it changed shape into a rounded, brownish dinner plate, roughly the same color as the book. And if one looked closely enough, one could see the faint writing of A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch embossed on the plate. Well well, wasn't that just a nice enhancement? Bernie was pleased with her work.

Ewan! :)
 

Rylee had somehow managed to slip away from her cousins into the crowd of students. Since the moment she had arrived at the station everyone had been checking up on her. She was also one thousand percent positive that once this train started to move there would be even more people popping in on her. Which was the top reason why she wasted no time in finding herself an empty compartment and slipping inside, the door sliding shut behind her and her kneazle Cosmos.

Gently placing her bag on the floor beside the bench, Rylee sat herself down sideways, so her legs could be on the bench and her back was against the window area of the train. Pulling out her and gripping it in her right hand she cast a quiet charm to darken the compartment a little. The brightness of the compartment was too much right now.

Cosmos leaped up onto the bench to join her, carefully settling himself down on her lap in such a way that she could rest her still healing left arm up on his back, her hand on his head after sliding her wand back into it's holster. Leaning her head back against the wall of the compartment, she closed her blue-gray eyes in hope of possibly getting a few minutes of sleep.

Charlie pushed out of her compartment tired of sitting alone. So maybe being on your own wasn’t as fun as she thought it was going to be. Sure she didn’t mind the fact that she didn’t have her little brothers getting into all of her stuff. But she didn’t have here little sister around, and now she realized just how much of a little shadow she had.

Just as she rounded the doorway she saw the girl from the ice cream place. Her eyes narrowed a bit. Of course, she would be on the train. It took everything in Charlie not to glare at Catherine. She had been nothing but rude to her when she offered her table to sit at. Well she wouldn’t be so kind to offer her compartment to sit in.

Sigh, which direction had she heard the food trolley call from? She really didn’t want to have to be nice to her. But that look on her face she knew that look all to well. Fear. Sighing she walked closer tugging on her sequined skirt a bit. “I’m Charlie by the way. Wanna sit with me?” Wow she should get points just for being kind to her. She still planned on going to find the food trolley, but she supposed it could wait.

Catherine was kind of hoping either her brother or best friend would turn up and save her so she could join them, but knowing them they were probably off already making a million new friends while she was left to fend for herself.

Great.

It was only when someone spoke relatively close to her that she realised she had been biting her nails. Quickly moving her hand to her pocket, Catherine looked at whoever was talking to her.

Oh. She easily recognised that girl from the ice cream parlour. The one that offered her a seat and then started judging her. And well, it seemed like she was about to do the exact same thing again, asking if Catherine wanted to join her in the compartment she had just come from.

The one thing that was different this time was that the girl had offered her name first. Maybe it wouldn't be exactly like last time, then. She reckoned it was because the girl had realised they were likely going to be in the same year - though unlikely to be in the same house, Catherine thought - so she might be trying to make amends.

Looking both towards the front and then the back of the train again, Catherine didn't see either of the people she had been looking for before, so she looked back at Charlie. "Okay." She offered in her most polite tone, taking her belongings with her as she moved into the compartment.

Charlie smiled and followed along side the girl. She fidgeted with her skirt more and more because she just wasn't sure if the girl and her were going to be friends or if they were going to just be... well enemies was a bit much this early on. Wait. She could have enemies at Hogwarts this early. She shivered at the thought of having people hate her already. She did not like the idea of that at all. Not one bit.

Charlie left the door cracked as the moved further into the compartment. Maybe the food trolley would make its way back through the middle cars and she could finally ask for some snacks. But for the life of her, she couldn't remember her compartment companion's name. "Hate to be that person," but did she really hate to be that person? She was pretty sure that she was exactly that person. "Don't know that I remember your name from Florean's..." she trailed off hoping that maybe the girl just misunderstood her attitude. Her pops always did say she would get in trouble with it.

His eyes widened. Whatever he'd been expecting her to say, that definitely wasn't it. Almost expelled?

...it seemed he'd have to be more outgoing than he'd anticipated, if he were truly to live up to the rebellious expectations Magdelas had for him. Truth be told, he didn't think he had it in him to attack a Headmistress, but surely he could flirt with expulsion in a more underhanded manner. One thing was for certain: if his parents could see the path his brainstorming was taking at that particular time, they would have boxed Miss Whatever-Her-Name-Was about the ears for putting those ideas there in the first place.

At her question, he nodded, "It's my first year, yeah. I just found out about magic and all that a month ago, when I got my letter."

He scooted forward on his seat to watch her do magic, and couldn't help the excited expression on his face as the book flattened into a dinner plate. He was, after all, 11 years old.

Rylee
 

After the drama of the prefect’s carriage, Ewan needed to get away and just relax. The usually calm and quiet Ravenclaw prefect suddenly found himself worked up and rather annoyed. With that in mind, he had decided to take himself out into the corridors and actually do his job and patrol the corridors, popping his head into the a few of the carriages until he got to the middle carriage where his friend/sister Rylee was seated with her Kneazle.

“Hey, what’s up girl on fire?” smiling at her now as he walked into the carriage, closing the door behind him as he walked in now. As he walked in, he couldn’t help but take in her appearance carefully, looking for any sighs that she wasn’t 100%. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t take him long to find see her healing arm or just how tired she clearly was. Sitting opposite her, he couldn’t help but say something to her about it because she clearly wasn’t ready to come back. “So how are the injuries?”

Once inside the compartment, Catherine put her belongings in a corner and checked from the corner of her eye to see where Charlie was as the girl pretty much asked her name. Catherine clearly remembered they didn't exchange names at all in Diagon Alley, and this girl must remember that fact too. Hopefully Charlie was just trying to be polite. Catherine couldn't exactly pick up any slyness in her tone. Maybe she should take her mother's advice and give people the benefit of the doubt. It seemed okay to do so in this situation.

"Catherine." She replied in a low tone, not exactly looking at the girl. The young brunette gingerly took the seat nearest the window, so at least she could distract herself with the views if it all became unbearably awkward. "...Mordaunt. First year." She added just because. Maybe Charlie was going to be a second year instead and there would be no need to be forcibly socialising.

That was how schools worked, wasn't it? Students stayed in age groups. Catherine assumed at Hogwarts that would include both age and house groups, which meant she would have absolutely no friends with her because Cecelia was already in a different year and house, and there was no way in the world Noah would ever be in the same house as her. She was doomed to be on her own until she graduated. What an awful thought.

Not because she wanted new friends, but because she wouldn't be able to spend time with her people. Truly awful indeed. The thought alone was making her feel sick to her stomach.

"I'm Elias. Elias Inkwell." He was starting to get used to not shaking hands during introductions, and he found he quite liked it. "What's Hogwarts like, Bernie? I know someone else who's going, but he's a first year too. He said there are houses we get sorted into?"

In all the excitement of getting robes with custom trim!!!, he'd completely forgotten his earlier thought to purchase a book on wizarding society. Bernie seemed like she knew what was what, so he was hoping she'd prove to be a font of knowledge on this, too.

He stared at the heaps of candy in front of him, unable to recognize so much as a single package. With all the adventurousness of a hermit crab, he picked up a pack of Sherbet Lemons and smiled at her, "Thanks! Do you normally have all this candy with you?"

Charlie and Catherine, hi <3
 

"Elias." Bernie repeated the name, testing it out to see if she liked it. Hmm, sounded alright for a wizard. Plus his last name was very legitimate; she used inkwells every day at school. Speaking of... she leaned in to divulge this next bit of information. "Right, the thing is, I haven't technically been to Hogwarts yet. The school was closed due to a boggart infestation last term, so we boarded at Beauxbatons all year, and that was my first year EVER being a witch. So I suppose this will be my first time going to Hogwarts too." She eyed him a bit to see what he'd make of that. "The house thing is real though. We still did that at Beauxbatons. There's four of 'em at Hogwarts. I'm a Gryffindor, in the red house. We're lions and brave and all that." She waved her hand. Any house could be brave, if they tried well enough. "There's also Slytherin, the green house, which everyone says is full of Dark wizards, but mostly they're just sneaky and kinda whiny. I still like them though." She shrugged; he could see this for himself later. "Oh, and Ravenclaw, they wear blue robes, and they're a buncha bookworms and know-it-alls," she thought of Ilya Belrose, "but they're alright too, and then Hufflepuff, the golden badgers, which are like, the nicest kids, they never wanna hurt anyone's feelings, but I dunno too many Puffs yet."

Bernie had to pause for a breath. She really wished the food trolley sold butterbeer bottles and not just pumpkin juice. "Anyway, that's about it for the houses. The Sorting Hat is what decides where you go, but you can tell it off if you want. I did. It ALMOST put me in Hufflepuff, but I was like, what's a Hufflepuff? And I'm not going there? And it listened, so." She should probably stop being her usual talkative self lest she scare the boy off. It didn't seem like he was going anywhere yet, and he did still have her ham sammich, so....

"You're welcome!" And yes, she did always have sweets on her. "This is kinda my thing. I love sugar and cooking and baking. Sweets give me energy." Clearly.

"What's a boggart?" Something serious enough that an infestation of them could close a school, apparently. Elias thought of the stack of textbooks he'd been required to purchase and wondered, yet again, if it might be worth cracking them open in advance of being taught things by professors.

He listened to the description of the four houses, and after popping a Sherbet Lemon in his mouth he stated quite matter-of-factly, "I don't think I'd do well in any of those. Is there another?"

Oh, Merlin. Had she been like this last year, with all the questions? Bernie held in her sigh. Look how nice she was being today. Did anyone notice? Was there a prefect around? Perhaps someone could give her some house points for her wealth of knowledge, and she could get a few bonus points since it was inevitable that she was going to lose some?

"A boggart is a Dark creature-thingy that takes on the shape of your worst fear as soon as you see it," she explained. "I haven't seen one yet, but maybe, if we're lucky, there's a leftover one hiding in a cupboard somewhere." She was planning to check the kitchens FIRST THING when she got to Hogwarts. After the feast. And after checking out her dorm. And after seeing how close she could get to the Forbidden Forest.

She had a long to-do list, actually, but boggart cupboards were pretty high on the list.

"That's a Hufflepuff thing to say," the Gryffindor replied idly, remembering just now that she'd forgotten to check her Chocolate Frog card from earlier. She rustled through her candy wrappers that were discarded on the seat next to her to find the old box. "Derwent Shimpling," she announced with a soft, "huh," of interest. "Ate an entire venemous tentacula once, all on a bet." Neat. She'd totally try that. Maybe.

Eiji and Jina
 

Elias sat back again, crossing his arms and thinking that over. His worst fear... he had no idea what that was, but he was inclined to agree with what Bertie was saying: if these things took the form of your worst fear, and you didn't know what your worst fear was, then logically confronting a boggart and seeing what it came up with meant that you'd suddenly know, didn't it?

Did that make him a Ravenclaw? He still wasn't sold on the whole bookworm thing.

The more he thought about it, the more his brow creased; in the future it might translate into a sexy!brooding face, but right now his childhood baby fat got in the way and just made him look an unfortunate mixture of confused and slightly constipated.

"But what would happen," he said slowly, reasoning it out to himself, "if your greatest fear was falling? Does the boggart throw you into the air and make you fall? Or does it turn into a giant hole in the floor and you're standing right on the edge?"

"Look, you're thinking too hard on this, which is a Ravenclaw thing to do, actually." Bernie shook her head at him and opened her next chocolate frog box, though she didn't release the frog just yet. She just wanted to see the card, so she had to slam the lid shut pretty quickly. "The best way to find out 'bout your fear is to just... meet a boggart. Simple. I'll make it happen for ya, alright? Just look me up when we get to Hogwarts. We can hunt one down together."

Speaking of... were they there yet? She peeked out the window, but mostly just saw fog and trees. Now, who was on this card? "McGonagall," Bernie groaned, "I've got like, four McGonagalls. D'ya want it?" She wafted the card in Elias' general direction. "She's a master of Transfiguration. Right up your alley, mate." Or at least, it COULD be, but he'd never practiced on his ham sandwich, so. Opportunity = l o s t.

"I'm going to do that!" He protested. It's just that they weren't AT Hogwarts yet, so what else did he have to do but think about it, Bertie Bernie???

He took the card from her, looking down at the face on it. McGonagall looked like a pretty no-nonsense lady who knew her stuff. Neat.

He'd well and truly forgotten about the ham sandwich, to be honest. It was now half-buried in candy wrappers anyway, and it wasn't even his: his parents had packed him a chicken caesar wrap with carrot sticks. He looked out the window as well, his little arms still folded as he thought thoughts and wondered if she was going to call him a Gryffindor or a Slytherin next.

Alright, she'd leave the kid alone for the next few seconds, she supposed. Bernie glanced at her plate to see what candy she could get into next. Perhaps it was time to switch to gum? She did want to warm up her jaw before the feast, heh heh.

Bernie started chewing her Droobles and working on a big bubble. She wondered if she should pepper Elias with more questions, or....? "So, how'd you like Diagon Alley? Did you get to go down Knockturn Alley?" Questions it was. The girl could NOT stay quiet for long. Being quiet was, like, s'boring.

"It was brilliant!" He'd used that description before, and he knew that, but it didn't make it any less true. Maybe if he hadn't ultimately had such a great time he would have used the word 'overwhelming,' because for the first half-hour or so it had definitely been that as well, but he'd quickly been drawn into the excitement of dozens of children shopping for Hogwarts materials. Plus he'd bought his magic mirror there; it was tucked securely in its shatter-proof wrapping, and had given him a final pep-talk about how very wizardly he looked before he'd left the house that morning. He wondered if he should tell Bernie about it, but then decided not to. He didn't want anyone to think that he needed to be told how great and smart and etc. he was.

"I had to-- I mean... my parents trusted me enough to go by myself, and I got to see all kinds of things! I wanted to get an owl, but mum and dad said don't bring home anything that's alive, on account of they saw a witch walking out with a hamster that had three heads and fifteen legs. BUT I got these." He showed off his Hogwarts robes, which had CUSTOM TRIM on them in silver and black.

"And no, I didn't go into the other alley. I looked, but I'd made a friend by then and his dad said no." And Mr. Maunder had looked both fast enough to catch Elias and brown-nosey enough to tell his parents about it after, so...

He liked it! Bernie couldn't help it; she beamed with a little bit of pride at the first year's reaction to Diagon Alley. She'd felt the same way about it all, honestly, and was low-key impressed that he'd been allowed to shop all by himself. "I don't have a pet either! But don't worry, the school has owls you can borrow if you need one," she reassured him kindly. WOW, a hamster with three heads and fifteen legs?! That might be worth looking into. Maybe she could ask the Care of Magical Creatures professor about them? Since Beauxbatons had been allowed a pet dragon, at least Hogwarts could get something with two or three heads, right? The school had probably never ever even had a three-headed pet before...

She leaned forward to check out his robes and raised her eyebrows some. "They look nice, Elias. I like the trim." He'd even made friends already?! That was something Bernie still struggled with, but she didn't want to admit that... she had, after all, run into one of her Slytherin um, buddies, in the Alley.... "Maybe next summer we can check it out." That's right, Bernie was looping him into her shenanigans. "I heard there's a shop in Knockturn Alley that sells shrunken heads and dried hands that have special powers." Sounded neat, right?!

"Thanks!" He beamed right back at her, and not just because of the compliment to his robes; her own beaminess was encouraging general beaminess, and he was sure that if there were another student in here with them, they would be beaming too. But also his robes were very cool and it made him happy that she liked them.

And shrunken heads? Dried hands with special powers? Ooooeerrr, he was so tempted to show her the magic mirror after all. But no, no, he'd said to himself he wouldn't and so he wouldn't. Yet. Maybe tomorrow though.

"We should do that, yes." Nod nod nod. "D'you know where they get the heads from? What kind of special powers? Do you have to have an adult to go there?"

And fifty other similar questions. Elias was still under the belief, as he'd been on the day of his shopping, that Diagon Alley obviously had all sorts of protective spells to prevent little kids from being accosted, lured off, and all the other terrible things his parents had warned him of. What good was magic if it didn't protect people, right?

Hey, this was going surprisingly well. Maybe Bernadette should say something stupid to ruin things, huh? :upside:

Alright, he was IN. "Um," W O W he had a L O T of good questions. As a naturally curious child, OBVIOUSLY she respected that, and tapped her chin as she thought of some good answers. "I do NOT know where they get the heads from; I'm assuming they come from PEOPLE? Maybe AZKABAN? Maybe they're all the prisoners who DIED there in the last year?" Ooooh, that was a terrifying thought. She LIKED it. "The hands are Hands of Glory! I think they can open like, secret doors?" She crinkled her nose. "I...I'd have to do some more research..."

She trailed off somewhat. Bernie didn't ACTUALLY possess that much more knowledge about Knockturn Alley... except... hmm. Good question about the adults.

"Nah, I'm pretty sure if we just had a tall kid with us, we'd be alright." Who wanted to take an adult with them? There weren't spells to require that, were there?!

Elias also liked it, although he was also glad she'd mentioned that bit about prisoners because he'd had NO idea what Abazkan (close enough) was until she did. Prison. Got it.

"Do the heads talk?" His imagination was off and running again, "What if they were falsely imprisoned prisoners and they died? Do the heads say they're innocent? I guess if they talked, all the heads would say they were innocent, even if they were the lowest scum of the earth."

He'd picked up that phrase -- 'lowest scum of the earth' -- from one of his father's friends, and had been low-key looking for a place to use it. Now seemed the perfect time.

Elias let out a 'hmm' and glanced out the still-open compartment door at the other students occasionally wandering by. A tall kid...

"And they should have a beard. To make them look older."

No discrimination for a boy or a girl candidate, either; he'd seen a bearded lady smoking a pipe outside the Leaky Cauldron, so if one of the girls at the school wanted to grow a fullsome beard who was he to comment negatively? Plus, if she were old enough to grow a beard, she'd certainly know enough magic to turn him into an undignified smear on a wall somewhere.

"Really?" Elias opted to go with curious surprise on his face, because there was a zero percent change, nuh uh, NO WAY, that he was going to admit that he had no idea who Dumbledore was. He'd heard a few other kids in the train corridor grumbling about History of Magic and how it had a reputation for being boring, but he was now firmly convinced that it would be his lifeline to understanding just what the what was going on in the wizarding world.

"So um, I don't want to be rude, but I couldn't help but notice..." He did an I'm-not-pointing-because-pointing-is-rude-BUT gesture in the direction of her wand, "Why does your wand have tape on it?"

"Totally. He probably had a big bushy beard by like, 17, you know, like his Chocolate Frog card." Bernie gestured as though she were tickling her own beard. She'd always wondered what it would be like to have facial hair that you could tickle yourself? She'd LOVE a mustache to twirl like an old timey villain from time to time.

Oh no, her wand. Bernie's cheeks took on a sudden red tinge as she hastily snatched her wand off the cushion and stuffed it back into her boot where it belonged. "Um, um, well, it's kind of a long story, but basically, a gargoyle bit it?" And RUINED it? "But the headmaster fixed it for me, kinda, mostly." She didn't want to talk about it, OKAY? And she also did NOT want to take it back to Ollivander's to see the disappointment on the shopkeeper's face, okay!?!

Oops.

Elias may have been an 11-year-old boy, but he could tell he'd well and truly stepped in it, as the expression went. The happy beamy Bernie was suddenly looking like she might possibly cry, and he felt a sinking in his gut that he didn't really understand at this particular moment; he just knew that he had to fix it.

...but seeing as he had the emotional depth of a puddle, he couldn't exactly go the sappy 'so sorry' route (and sort of didn't think that would help?). So instead, he adopted his 'totally a bad-butt rebel' voice and commented, "Whoa, you fought a gargoyle? And you must've beat it too, because you're alive and everything. That's first rate, that is."

Quick, someone change the topic! CHANGE THE TOPIC, DARN IT! Maybe Bernie could accidentally hide her upset face behind this plate, which was now just basically a trash bin for candy wrappers? She was not above littering in order to (literally) save her face.

She looked up from pretending to study a scuff on her boot, secretly hoping... he genuinely meant that? "Um," blushblushblush, "thanks? I mean, I DID send RED SPARKS into its mouth, and it backed off, so, I did defeat it, in a way?" Did she sound a little bit proud of this moment?

She did not mention the follow-up class to that horrible gargoyle one, in which she and her friend had been forced to wear beekeeper clothes. Or were they fencing outfits? Either way, they were essentially fireproof padding. Because first years could not be trusted with wands.

"I'm impressed." He was, actually. He'd never met a wizardy gargoyle before, of course, but he'd seen them on buildings in the Muggle world and they were huge. He didn't know how he'd have reacted to one attacking him -- he liked to think that he'd cast some kind of spell and come out on top -- but Bernie had actually done that.

"You're definitely supposed to be in Gryffindor. You said that's the brave house, right?" Elias smiled at her, "For sure. Miss Gryffindor."

Oh, staaaaaaaahp, silly. Bernie kinda made a shooooo shoooo gesture at Elias, but honestly, could he keep the compliments coming??? Too bad HE wasn't a taller kid with a beard. He was just what she needed this year.

A loyal manservant.

Just kidding! Where were these thoughts coming from?! Bernie was still a little red-faced, but not just because her new friend was saying ALL the THINGS she wanted to hear. She was having THOUGHTS about this stranger on the train. She shook her head rapidly as though it might help cool down her stupid blushing and smiling face. "Thanks," she replied humbly, still wondering how she could change the topic from herself??!?? This was just TOO MUCH. Too much for an afternoon. Maybe this hot head of hers was a side effect from her decade of sugar consumption?? Was she having a heatstroke????

"I like being in Gryffindor. We won the House cup last year. We had more points than ANYONE. I earned 205 points meself, even though I lost like 10 of them in Potions class." Well, she had to point out that Schmoe stole cookies. She'd also HAD to taste the sugar-water they were using before they used it in a potion. Had to make sure it was real, y'see.

"A loyal manservant" ... Kellen, from miles away "RUN KID, RUUUUUN!" XD
 

There were a lot of EMOTIONS going on on the other side of this compartment, and Elias wasn't sure he knew what they all were anymore. Lots of flustery shooey... things. Stuff. It made a really stupid grin pop up on his face though, so it's not like it was bad, right?

"I hope I get in Gryffindor, too." Also Magdelas. All three of them could be in Gryffindor together, conquering the school with mad!fashion and daring do. He wasn't sure where Magdelas has ended up on the train, and he found himself hoping that the boy had actually made it: his overly-enthusiastic father tended to get distracted and wander off, after all.

"How do you get points? Homework and stuff?"

lmao RIP TO KELLEN jk jk.... but where IS he now? :P
 

Haven't a clue. Probably tinkering in his greenhouse somewhere.
 

The more he talked to Bernie, the more Elias liked the thought of teamwork. He vaguely remembered his father saying something about it making the dream work, but at the same time his father was a doctor whose team was five nurses who he jokingly stated kept him from giving penicillin to a patient who was allergic.

And while Elias liked to KNOW STUFF, he wasn't sure he'd enjoy 'spouting' it at whatever teacher asked. If they already knew the answer, why did they need him to tell it to them? Just tell him the stuff, assume he didn't have cotton in his ears and was actually paying attention, and move on. But he SUPPOSED that if it were for points and teamwork and such, he could make an effort.

"So basically, don't be a prat." Ho ho, look at him testing out a minor swear. So daring. So... rebellious? He grinned in an attempt to make it a charming swear. That was a thing, right?

Even with her eyes closed, Ry knew that voice anywhere. And it appeared that Cosmos did as well, as the kneazle lifted his head off of his owner lap just enough to show he had noticed the tall Ravenclaw Prefect who had just entered the compartment. Stretching his front paws outward across her lap, back arched and bum in the air he gave his tail a flick as if beckoning Ewan over before he laid back down again. Rylee's fingers gently scratched behind the kneazles ears resulting in a light purring sound.

The nickname brought a smile to her face and even though he had been calling her that since they met it seemed to really fit her now. "Hey, Pan." The ginger lioness had been calling her 'brother' that for sometime now and not many really seemed to catch on that it was short for 'Peter Pan'. "Mm' not much. Resting my eyes a little. The compartment was a little bright when I walked in." Nothing if not honest. "I took care of the problem though." If he hadn't already noticed that she had dimmed the lights in the compartment a tiny bit.

There it was. A question about her well-being. At least this was about her injuries rather than how she was doing. Ewan probably knew that him asking how she was doing would result in a simple 'I'm fine'. Asking about her injuries would get him a more detailed response. "Not entirely healed up yet but getting there. The burns are healing up better than I had thought honestly." Any burns that wasn't to her arm or shoulder as those were still bandaged up, had either healed nearly completely or wouldn't be seen thanks to the uniform she would be wearing. "My arm is going to take some more time though."

Phoebe and Eiji
 

She could not imagine anyone calling Phoebe not nice words. Sure, she barely knew the younger girl, but she could tell that she was friendly and smiley, which was nice!

Jina listened with a smile as she went ahead and introduced the boy as well. "Thanks, Eiji. Are the two of you ... siblings? cousins?" she said in response to his welcome, then asked curiously. They seemed really close, even more so than brothers and sisters typically were (some of the siblings she knew tried to stay as far away from each other as possible). So maybe they were just really close friends.

"Yes, I went to Ilvermorny before. It's in North America? I moved to London recently," she explained. Oh ... yep, she was lucky that she missed the Beauxbatons term. Having heard about what happened from Carsyn, she was not too shocked by what Phoebe said, though she hoped she was joking about the jail part. She nodded and pretended she was not worried about what might happen this year at Hogwarts. While the girl's stomach growled loudly, Jina's was in knots.

Still, Eiji's cookies looked delicious and chocolate cookies were her favourite! She could not pass up the chance to eat cookies. "Thanks, it's really good! I also brought some granola bars if you guys want some," she said. While munching on a cookie, she pulled out her own snack box from her bag. Inside were enough healthy snacks for her to share with her new friends on the train ride, according to her mom.

Giving the Kneazle a little scrunch behind the ears, he couldn’t help but smile, happy that his friend was here, despite the fact she most likely shouldn’t be. “Hey Cosmos, how’s my favourite Kneazle?”.

Ewan didn’t intentionally mean to ignore his nickname. It was just he had more pressing matters on his mind. Rylee was like a sister to him after all and he just knew all too well that she would most likely underplay how severe it was, even to him.

Resting her eyes? Hmm…likely story. Ewan couldn’t help but worry for his friend, even if she did look a little better than she did last time he’d seen her. “Well, you look better than you did in the summer anyway so I guess that’s one thing” His eyes on the passing fields now rather than on her, his mind actually taking in what she was saying rather than actually seeing what was through the foggy glass in front of him, he couldn’t actually help but wonder if she was actually telling him everything. Maybe he’d have to write to Rian for an update instead. “Well I guess Quidditch is out of this question for the foreseeable future I guess” If it was him, he wouldn’t have really cared but he knew that this may be an issue for her. The again, she had her N.E.W. T’s to worry about to so maybe she’d be too busy.

“If you ever want to blow off some steam, you can always come running with me in the mornings if you want anyway” This should be a good middle. Something that wasn’t too taxing for her body and that would allow her to still keep fit and healthy. Stefan also didn't seem to mind if she did this too so there was also that.

:d
 

Bernadette and Elias ... sorry to intrude
 

Blake having searched and searched and SEARCHED through what felt like the whole stupid train FINALLY found a face he recognized .. and of course it would be Bernadette because well ... frankly because Bernadette and Claudine were the only people he knew and he hadn't seen Claudine since the end of the last term.

So without really even realizing he was being rude ... or maybe he did know was was rather jealous of Bernadette talking to another boy. Blake stomped in and sat down next to them. "I've been searching all over for you." He added with a smile, this felt like home. Bernadette and him arguing about Merlin knows what, this felt safe and familiar. "I'm Blake" He added to the other boy that Bernadette was talking to. If she could make new friends so could he!

*waits for Heather* :D
 

Cosmos butted his head up into Ewan's hand as if to say 'Me. You're talking about me'. There was a happy bit of purring on the kneazles part as well while he received that scratch behind his ears.

"Thanks? I'm trying. Most of the burns are healing up really nicely... others are being a little bit more... stubborn." With this she nodded down at her arm that was taking longer to heal. This was likely due to where she had been hit and having landed upon it when she had fallen. The mention of Quidditch was hard. She had sat down with Remy just the night before and had a seriously long discussion on about it. There would be no Quidditch this term unless she asked to play Reserve and than and only than if absolutely necessary would she be able to play a game. It was heartbreaking. "No. I've only been given permission to play as Reserve and even that is pushing it as I won't be able to properly train with the team." As of right now there was only so much she could do with her arm and being a Beater wasn't one of them.

Rylee smiled a bit. "I'll have to confirm it with my Healers but once they give me the okay I'll happily join you." She was stubborn but she didn't want to go around messing up her own recovery.

After his recent adventures back home in Canada, Ewan’s love for all creatures both magical and non-magical had grown immeasurably so when Cosmos started to purr happily, Ewan couldn’t help but laugh. “Come on now Cosmos, you know you love me” stroking the Kneazle for a for more moments before settling back on his side of the compartment.

“Well obviously they’re being a still more stubborn, they’re a part of you” a small smile on his lips now as he replied. She didn’t do anything with less than 100% so it made sense that even her burns would put up a fuss and fight too. Ewan couldn’t help but feel a little relieved that someone else who was in fact a healer had told her the same thing too. At least now he didn’t have to be the ‘bad guy’ now. “Well reserves is something at least. I mean, there’s a possibility that you can still make the team if you’re ever feeling okay enough to return”. She could always just help run the team too. Do a little more of the managing side of things? If the captain didn’t mind, obviously.

“Well let me know, either way”. He was so used to running alone that part of his did want a running partner. Another part of him also wanted to continue to run alone too but he didn’t mind making an exception for his sister.

(He's judgy, but harmless: promise!)
 

"You should come with us," he said to Bernie. About the boat rides, that is. If boat rides were a rite of passage, and she'd missed them, did she even go to Hogwarts? Honestly, it would be much better if she took a boat.

...

He eyed the newcomer with a mixture of interest and skepticism. Blake had been looking for Bernie all over, and just now found her? They were in the middle of the train and their door was open. Bad sleuthing skills, there. Elias listened to the exchange between Bernie and Blake before offering up a noncommital, "Hi."

Were they friends? He supposed friendship came in all shapes and varieties. Shrug shrug shrug.

Eiji and Jina
 

Rylee laughed softly. "We both know he does. You earned a purr out of him which is more than most people get." Cosmos was more iffy about whom he trusted and went to than Lamb was. Lamb, her small munchkin cat that she left home in the care of her little nephew. She wondered how they were doing now.

The thought that her burns were being stubborn because they were a part of her and she was stubborn brought a hint of a grin to her lips. It made sense. Everything about her was stubborn, so why not her injuries as well. "Yeah, I started off as a Reserve for the time back in my first year. It all depends on what Remy tells me in a few months." Right now there was to be no proper training of any sort.

"You know I will. The moment I'm in the clear to resume any form of training or running I'll be back out there." Until then her studies and plant work would have to be enough to occupy her time.

Annnnnnyhow. "How's being a Prefect treating you so far?" She wanted to know ALL the things!

Sometimes, he just had a way with animals. He was always so good with the one’s on the farm back home and Kingsley, well Kingsley obviously loved him but that really wasn’t that hard. Kingsley loved most people. “He’s a little fluff ball really. Aren’t you?” he replied, making a silly face over to him now from his seat.

Ewan really didn’t see the big deal about not being able to play but he knew she liked it so he did have a little sympathy for her. “Well as long as you recover, I’m sure you’ll be back”.

How was being a prefect? Well the truth was it was neither here nor there right now. They’d had a meeting and now he was in the middle of patrolling the corridors. “Honestly, it’s been okay I guess” his face a little neutral now. Despite being annoyed about a certain Head boy, he wasn’t about to go and shout about it around the train, even if he wanted to do a little ranting. “We’ve just had a meeting and now I’m patrolling the corridors. Nothing interesting”. Maybe something a little more interesting would happen soon but right now, it was just like every other train journey.

Cece and Catherine
 

Man this girl was skeptical. Charlie was only trying to be nice, and here she was giving her the stink eye like she was going to poison her suddenly. She nodded her head at the name. It sounded fancy, unlike her own. She wanted to make the girl feel more at ease but she wasn’t exactly sure how. And she couldn’t tell if telling the girl her year would put her more at ease or make her look more like she sucked on a lemon.

No sooner than she was about to try, and she really did mean try, to be friendly with Catherine another girl came bouncing into the compartment. Now this girl looked like someone Charlie could be friends with. The young girl found herself smiling as the she introduced herself. Catherine was friends with thisCece? Taking a frog she smiled, “thanks, I’m Charlotte Rivers.” she didn’t get a chance to tell her she goes by Charlie.

Wait, she was a first year too? She looked so confident and sure of herself. Oh, maybe she was one of the students who hadn’t gotten to go to hogwarts last term because they had to go to Beauxbatons. Man was Charlie ever great full that she was missing out on that one. Her smile was firmly on her face because she liked this one, she could see them being friends. Catherine on the other hand.... she’d be better of as Cat cause she was kind of quiet and judgy like a cat. It took everything in Charlie not to chuckle at that thought.

See even Bernadette admitted they were friends. "Oh a firstie." Blake added looking a the new kid... well that wasn't really fair Blake was new kid as far as Hogwarts went .. but Blake new wayyyyyyyyy more magic than this firstie could even dream of ... right??? ... well for sure... Blake puffing up his chest to assert his dominance or something "Well Bernadette here just loosing points mostly .. like by throwing apples at your head." Blake laughed at the memory of when he had actually met Bernadette and so began their love hate relationship.

"Should be a good year though!" Blake was excited and ready to actually start his first year at Hogwarts.

Ah, should she? Bernie would be answering Elias shortly, but first: Blake Ryan was happening. Classic Blake. What was he doing over there? Why did he look like someone's pet bullfrog? Did he always have to embarrass her by referencing that one time in Charms class???

"Yeah yeah," she rolled her eyes at the Slytherin, "apples are cool though." And also, she didn't THROW them at him, she used the spell they were supposed to be learning to throw them at him. And was he laughing at that now? Wow, who WAS he??

Bernie eyed him for a sec and turned back to Elias. "I'd probably lose points by joining you on the boats, but I think it's worth the risk. I mean, you only get one shot to see the school from across the lake, right?" She nudged Blake now. "What do you say? Want to take the first-year boats to school when we get off the train? I'm doing it. Elias is doing it, obviously." If she knew Blake at all, right about now was when he'd begin turning squirmy and awkward at the mere suggestion of some rule breaking.

To Blake's puffed chest, Elias raised an eyebrow. What was up with this kid? He turned his head slightly to send That Question to Bernie with the powers of facial expression and eyes: What's up with this kid?

And then she agreed about the boats and he turned up all smirkity smirk not that he was aware of how smug he looked. Yeah, he was for sure doing the daring thing that might lose points, and it definitely wasn't because for him there was absolutely zero risk of losing them. He turned back to Blake, "It's basically a rite of passage."