FINALLY THE TIME HAS COME!

Johnny's excitement was an understatement, he had been waiting for this moment ever since his dad allowed him to enroll in Hogwarts. His mother had a very difficult time letting the boy go but despite the tears she gave him a tight hug and wished him well. Seeing his mother cry made Johnathan a little sad but the show must go on as his grandfather says.

As he entered the coach and made his way down the line, the boy couldn't hide the huge SMILE on his face. His cheeks were sure to be sore later. Moving further down, Johnny found a compartment he found decent and settled his belongings on the cushioned seats.

BACK TO HOGWAAAAAAARTS.

Vera was very excited for her SECOND term, and feeling very grown up that she knew where she was going AND was going to get to ride the carriages again with the pretty skeletal things pulling them. She kept herself from skipping through the train corridor (because she was a grown up now), but pushed her way through students - wiggling this way and that in order to find herself a compartment. She was hoping for something more towards the back now, instead of the front like she had the last year. But as the students got older and older and OLDER, she pulled back a bit and decided middle section was the best way to go.

peeking into a couple compartments, majority seemed to have groupings of friends within already. But theeeen she got lucky and saw only one individual slip into a compartment and she followed along after him. His ~vibe~ was similar to the exuberance she usually put out, so this seemed an okay place to park herself.

Which is exactly what she did, following him in and flouncing onto a bench across from him without so much as a word. Her little legs were just a hair too short still to comfortably reach the ground, so she kicked them back and forth and pulled out some candies to nom on. It was only once she was comfortable did she hold out a box of Bertie's and offer it. "Want a snack?"

As soon as he had plopped himself down onto the cushioned seat the young boy began thinking to himself, wondering what house would suit him best in his opinion and what house the sorting hat would decide. Admittedly he was biased towards Gryffindor but his family has seen a little of each house throughout the years, so anything was possible.

Turning his attention to the unfamiliar face who appears to have trailed behind him and parked herself across from him, Johnny smiled. She was small and animated and it reminded him of his younger cousin, Violeta. ”Excited?” Johnny playfully grinned.

Jonathan was anything short of shy, he was quite outgoing and a ball of energy. The only times he was resting was quite frankly when it came to eating or sleeping. Johnny’s eyes lit up as the young girl offered the sweets! If he ever turns down food of any kind (except the food he dislikes) then the world has definitely come to an end. ”Absolutely!” He beamed! ”Is this all you brought?” Johnny asked as he reached into his pocket for his coin wallet with every intention to raid the food trolley and even share his provisions with the young girl, why not? ”I’m Johnny.” He introduced himself with a warm smile.

This had to be the WORST way to show up at Kings Cross; with her arm in a sling. Yesterdays accident was more than alarming. All Serena could think about when she was at St Mungos was how this accident was going to backtrack her on all the things she had to accomplish. She had been on a great path, and now...her arm was broken in several places, but thanks to skele-gro it was healing pretty quickly. By tomorrow morning it should be even better. The potions her dad gave her helped with the pain and concussion.

Still, this had dampened her spirits, and her usual sassy-flare self was gloomy without the viciousness. Sliding a compartment door open, Serena slipped inside and flopped into the seat. A little too hard, causing her to wince.

She really messed up, didn't she?

Maxine couldn't believe that she was on the train to Hogwarts again ... seemed almost impossible that she was starting her 3rd year already - felt like it was just yesterday when she was being sorted into a house different than Vera, but that's okay ... they had come to terms with it and found a way to get along anyway.

But none the less - she was ready for her next year, and maybe ... just maybe this year she could actually make some friends .. it seemed harder for her than she imagined it would be. But taking an seat in a compartment, she didn't even look to see if anyone was in it, she was just tired of wandering the train.

V had two new clips she had purchased for her hair for THIS exact day. They were aqua in color and shaped like flowers, one on either side of her temples. She was hoping they made her eyes extra blue and dazzling. Everything was combed and straightened perfectly, and she looked put together.

Completely and utterly.

Because if she didn’t at least control that on the outside, she thought she might explode. She was not necessarily looking forward to coming back to school yet. It was her fifth year, OWL year, and she was still feeling so WIRED from the events of last year. Where was Stewie? She was hoping to get him alone at some point this evening, but as she passed a compartment with some bright red hair she backtracked and saw Serena’s arm before anything else.

“SERENA! What HAPPENED!? Are you okay?” She dropped her bag and was at Serena’s side quickly, looking AGHAST. Utterly AGHAST!

After bidding goodbye to her family, Tahani boarded the train. First year, phew. She was excited. And nervous. She walked through the train corridors, looking for empty compartments. Most of them were full. She searched and searched until she found a compartment with a boy and a girl. She slid open the door and made her way in, smiling at the two. 'Hi, I'm Tahani!,' she said cheerfully. She opened up her box of Indian sweets that her grandmother had brought and offered them to the two. 'Would you like some sweets? It's from India, it's called Kaju Katli!,' she said excitedly. Okay was she talking too much?

Third year felt like a very important year to Yukie. Suppose it came with the idea that everyone in their year would be a teenager now, even if she had already been a teen for a while courtesy of being a November baby. It also meant having to choose electives! It felt like a big step because of that too. To 'celebrate', for the lack of a better term, the new term, she'd even cut her own hair just hours before leaving home. It's shorter than her usual bobcut now! A lop haircut is what they called it, if she recalled correctly. But anyway, she was now sporting her shortest haircut ever and not gonna lie, the Hufflepuff was enjoying it so far.

The babiest Rasting was already making herself comfortable inside her chosen compartment, with her cat Smol lying on the floor like she owned the place. Yukie had placed her container of soup beside her, careful not to make unnecessary movements that would spill its contents. Soup in the train was considered weird by many, but it was Dad's tradition and she didn't have the heart to stop it. It was only when she heard her compartment door open that she looked up. "Oh...hi, Maxine," Yukie greeted her classmate with a warm smile. "How are you?" She wanted to talk about summer, but the Gryffindor looked....tired? It's only been half the day?

Guess who was back for round three?! A certain third year Gryffindor and his best friend and they were ready to unleash mayhem on Hogwarts! Or at least, that was what Hooper had been hoping for! His summer had been amazing and now that they were both back together at Hogwarts? Life was only about to get better.

With his feat up and his head leaning against the window, Hooper had his eyes on the door as he chatted away to his best friend Parker who was sitting next to him as he watched everyone walk past. “Man, I’m starving. How long do you think it’ll take to get there?” he moaned, all the while stuffing his face with a chocolate frog from the trolley. “Don’t get me wrong, the food at the bowling alley is good and all but those house elves…they sure know how to cook”. Was he salivating? Quite possibly although that they have had something to do with the fact he’d shoved the whole of the chocolate frog into his mouth in one.

As he talked about the bowling alley, Hooper’s mind flitted from there to the person who ran it, his mother, and an uncharacteristic scowl flited across his face for the briefest of moments before it quickly disappeared. He would not think about her now.

The redhead was deep in her thoughts, formulating ways to continue her training one-handed. Hopefully this wouldn't hinder brewing potions. It was no issue for flying, she had mastered the one handed maneuver before this happened. Her mind was skipping towards combat training when V's concerned voice made her jolt from her seat.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," she said in calm voice for V's sake. "Took a nasty hit yesterday during quidditch practice yesterday, but I'll live." She still wasn't sure what happened. One moment she was dodging bludgers left and right, and the next...she blacked out.

Shifting the attention from herself, Serena added, "You look cute with your hair like that." Her good hand motioned at the little flower clips.

THIRD. YEAR. LET’S. GOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

HOGWAAAAAAAAAAAAAARTS!

Parker Renfrow was ready to be back, couldn’t you tell? Despite the fact that Hogwarts was pure insanity at least 65% of the time, he was really enjoying his time there. He had learnt so much magic and stuff! "Me too!" He exclaimed enthusiastically when Hooper mentioned being hungry. In his defence, he had only had breakfast so far today... and many some snacks, of course. That went without saying, though, and didn’t count. "Gotta be at least another... five hours, bro." Something like that. Probably. Maybe. He was guessing, okay? "YESSSSSS!" He practically jumped out of his seat at the thought. Boy, did those house elves know how to cook! How did one go about getting a house elf, anyway?

As Parker shoved another handful of jelly slugs in his mouth, and attempted to put thoughts about the house elves’ cooking aside, he completely missed the expression that had flitted across his best friend’s face. Instead, he followed his train of thought somewhere else and asked Hooper a question. "What crazy thing do you think will happen this year?" Because something was bound to happen, right?

"Oh hello Yukie, I'm doing well thanks, you?" Maxine replied looking up to see who had said her name. Though she didn't have many super close friends, she knew the students on her own year, and several other really, she just hadn't had the chance to get to know more than their names. Turning her full attention on to Yukie's arrival Maxine smiled. "Did you have a nice summer? Ready to start third year? What electives do you plan on taking" Jeez she rattled off those questions in rapid fire, poor Yukie would barley get a breath.

Waiting for the answers and taking a deep breath, waiting was not one of Maxine's strong suits, she had a million other things she could add on to ask to make small talk ... but ... at least let her answer the first.

If he were to ask Vera, her answer would have likewise been VERY biased. Because Gryffindor had her AND Sia AND Dot and how could that make it not the most awesome house? Professor Panini M was also one of the best heads of houses, which she could obviously draw an opinion on given her vast experience of.... one.

Kicking her legs a little more as she nommed on a couple beans, she beamed at the boy across from her as he questioned if she was excited, giving a small nod at the question. "Of COURSE! It's a new term! AND with the new Sphinx in the forest there's even more cool creatures on the grounds." And in the forest, which... she was still determined okay? "Aren't you?" She didn't recognize him at all, but he seemed a lot older so she assumed he was very seasoned with Hogwarts. Plus... her ability to recognize people was very limited, not remembering someone was just another Tuesday for her.

wAs ThIs AlL sHe BrOuGht?! The question was near OFFENSIVE to her as she eyed him, before deliberately pulling out sweet, after sweet, after sweet from her bag. It was primarily chocolates, some that looked rather... questionable given she and Vasco had made them THEMSELVES, but still delicious! Maybe "I have a lot of options! My Papa works at Sugarplum's and he makes some of the best desserts." Which she constantly liked to reap the benefits of. She relaxed when he introduced himself though, shoving a chocolate in her mouth before attempting a smile back and a muffled, "M'Vera!"

Hearing the compartment door again, Vera noticed someone else coming into to join them, and she put some of her sweets away now that her point was made, only to make some more room. The more the merrier! and this girl was far closer to her own age, and Vera was HOPEFUL she was younger because oooooh how she wanted to be the older experienced student! Smiling at the girl, she eyed the box that was immediately presented before not wasting any time in selecting one. Was this really a candy she didn't know yet!? "This looks yummy! What does it taste like?" Only then did she also remembering manners should at least be attempted at introduced herself again. "Hi, Tahani! I'm Vera! Do you want to sit?"

That was nice to hear, and at least Yukie was assured Maxine wasn't feeling ill or something. "If you're feeling sleepy, it's alright. You can take a nap. Smol and I will be very quiet," the Hufflepuff smiled and then pointed at her cat. Smol, curious and sassy as ever, was staring at Maxine. "That's Smol. She's nice, I promise!" Sometimes people needed assurance that creatures meant no harm.

Oooh, that's a lot of questions! No matter, Yukie was more than happy to answer them and she too was more than capable of matching anyone's energy. "I had a lovely summer! I spent most of it in Japan," she shared. She and her siblings do, every summer. Even if they did study there for the summer term, Yukie never minded and always found many ways to appreciate their time there. "I think I'm ready for third year! I guess we'll find out. As for electives, I'm a 100% certain I'll take Care of Magical Creatures! I haven't really decided on the others." Maybe Muggle Studies? She knew she'd like that class. But Runes was also interesting and new. Yukie wasn't sure about Arithmancy—too many numbers and charts—or Divination. Divination was more her sister Mitsuki's thing.

"What about you, Maxine? What are you looking forward to for third year? Oh, and I bet your summer was fun!" Yukie can't imagine anyone NOT having fun during the summer. That's exactly what summer is supposed to be!

Tahani beamed. She was happy to see someone fairly her age and very friendly too. Also, she had a lot of sweets? 'It iiiis yummy. It's an Indian sweet made mostly out of cashew, sugar and clarified butter. The silver foil thingy on top is a kind of filigree foil, but thinner,' she explained the delicacy. This was one of her favourite sweets. Especially the ones her granny made. She loved to share them with others. 'Hiiii Vera, nice to meet you!,' Tahani said, smiling brightly. This was turning out to be a good train ride.

FIVE HOURS? Was he serious? “Oh man, this train ride kills me every time! Like, can we not just y’know…POOF there and back! I swear they do it all the time in anime’s and that’s like magic, right?”. This summer certainly had been interesting for him and finding a new love for anime or rather, one in particular that had a lot of screaming and blonde character powering up, had made his summer that little bit more bearable. Sighing a little, Hooper turned his attention away from the pile of snacks that sat next to him and focused his eyes on Parker a little more as his best friend practically jumped out of his seat with excitement at the thought of the kitchen. Sometimes, he honestly thought they could have been twins they were so in sync. “Y’know, the kitchen’s are close to your common room apparently. We should give them a look this year! I kind of want to learn how to cook. Y’know, if I’ve got time after all the other stuff I want to do,” like learning how to cast the disillusionment charm so he could blend in even more than he already could!

Hooper considered Parker’s question based on all of the mad things that have happened in their previous years and then gave him a shrug in an attempt to play it as cool as possible. “I’m not sure man. I can’t wait to see though. I love all of that stuff! Y’know, the wild and crazy things that happen every year. It’s honestly, like, so much fun! I don’t see how some people don’t enjoy death defying situations,” his expression a little excited now and not at all fake. He wasn’t slightly scared of something happening. “We’ll be fine though. I’ve got your back bro! Nothing can tough us!” his smile a little more genuine now. If one thing was certain in this craaaaazy school, it was that he had Parker’s back and Parker had his.

Luther silently looked for an empty compartment. He was looking forward to living and going to school at Hogwarts but he was also very nervous. He decided to wait and see if anyone would come and read a book meanwhile.

Tahani saw a little boy of her age (approximately) standing outside. She could make some new friends. And he did look nervous, maybe she could help? She slid open the compartment and said 'Hi, I'm Tahani. Would you want to join us?,' she asked.

Luther looked at the girl at the door, she definitely seemed like a First-Year, It wouldn't hurt to have friends, I guess. thought Luther. "Hello, I am Luther Starriver. I would like to join you but may I ask who is this "us"?" said Luther cautiously.