Was that disgust that Ari saw on Gwen's face when she looked at the diary? 'You don't mind it's pink, do you?' That sounded too harsh, yet not even close to the things Gwen was later subjected to. The whole loooove story. Ahem.

'What can I do for you?' Ariadne replied, concerned. Her bestie had a headache! This was a serious matter! Not quite life and death, but close enough. Maybe she should shut up for a moment or two. As soon as she got Gwen's promise to talk to Jory, of course.

Although it was still pretty quiet, the Gryffindor could hear Gwendolyn's middle name clearly this time. 'That's not so bad.' Really. Harriet was nothing compared to all those grandma names like Agatha and Ruth. No offence to people unlucky enough to be named like that...

Now it was Ari's turn to develop a headache. WHAT did Gwen just say? 'Err. Ok. You don't have a crush. Just leave it at that.' the fifth year concluded. She was confuseeeeeed.

'Seriously? You'll do it?' Ari was amazed. It didn't take as long as she'd envisioned to convince Gwen. 'I'm sure he'll tell you. Jory is not the secretive type. And he likes you just fine.' There was no problem anymore. Gwen would help! No problem for Ari, that is.

As a thank you, the girl finally decided to close the subject and move to a friendlier territory. 'So what did you think of the potions book? Anything useful in there?'

Errr. Did she mind that the diary was bright pink? ‘Of course not’, Gwendolyn said doubtfully. Though…the thing was too interesting for her to complain about its colour. Hmm. So 3…3…6… interesting combination of letters. Gwen was still examining the pages when Ari was talking about Jory, but she eventually placed the diary to the side. She will have enough time at Hogwarts.

Gwen just raised an eyebrow at her friend, who didn’t get the thing about the headache. ‘I’ll be fine’, the fifth year chuckled, actually surprised that Ari hadn’t figured it out that the love story was what was making her sick. I don’t even need any Glover Hipworth potions. Seriously. She was going to be fine… if and only IF her bestie would stop talking about Jory.

After assuring her friend that she was fine, Gwen remained silent. It was only a moment later that she decided to tell her the middle name. ‘Do explain to me how it isn’t terrible, Marchbanks’ Because honestly…it was a terrible middle name. Hmph.

So she really did manage to make Ari all confused. Lovely, the Ravenclaw told herself and showed a small grin. ‘Just what I was suggesting’ To just leave it like that. Good. So this would mean the worst topics of conversation were over?

Not really.

It looked like Gwen had totally forgotten about having to find out what Jory thought. Couldn’t she just use Veritaserum?She might have exaggerated with this one. Mehhh. ‘Right’, she said, one again doubtfully. She couldn’t believe that Jory would actually tell her just like that. ‘But…’, she still tried to find an excuse not to do it.There was nothing else she could find to refuse.‘Fine’, she finally said. She would do it.

Suddenly, Ari seemed to be back to her normal self. And has also picked a normal topic. The potions book. ‘It’s really interesting. It contains a lot of information that you wouldn’t come across in most of the books’ Like explanations about why the person who brewed the potion decided to use certain ingredients, or why it failed the first times. ‘Plus, I can’t wait to try brewing some of them’, she said with the brightest grin. Ah. She already missed the Potions Laboratory. That was one place where you could just mind your own business without being disturbed by stupid people.

After a short pause, Gwen continued talking. ‘I think the Potions OWL is the one I’m least worried about. I mean… I don’t even think I’m concerned at all’, the fifth year told her bestie. ‘Not something I could say about Divination’ Bleh. ‘I do not posses the Inner Eye or whatever you are supposed to have’ Pft. Please. Open you inner eye to see into the future. Bahaha. Funny. Good one. ‘Even without that, I can predict I could end up with Troll in Divination’ She was, of course, referring to the OWLs. Though… she really had to try and understand what that whole subject was about. After all, she couldn’t accept failure. No. Most certainly not.

But then… something crossed her mind. Gwendolyn looked a bit suspiciously at her friend. ‘Ari?’, she tried to get the girl’s attention. ‘Are you any good in Divination?’ She had been willing to find someone to study with. She already made a deal with Jory, that she would help him with Arithmancy, and he would help her with Muggle Studies. Hmm. And Nora... But the Slytherin girl seemed to be even more lost when it came to Divination than Gwen.

Taylor nodded, "Fine..." She tilted her head, "Why blue?" Tay grimaced at the no snake one, "Drat, I was thinking of Angelina maybe if she wasnt dating anyone... I guess I have to rack my brain about some of the other houses then." She grew silent and started to think and plot.

Maxwell smiled a little. "Thank you, i know it's not easy getting along with her." He said and then shrugged to her question. "It's my favorite color...sorry, but no more Snakes...i'm sure you'll find someone." He said confident in his sister.

Talking about the classes for Hogwarts only made Ariella more excited about getting there! If only she could somehow sneak into the engine room and speed it up a bit...Hmm she might have to go find Lexa and mention that plan to her. The games seemed to just add on the whole thing. It all sound quite magnicficant! "Wow! That must be loads of fun!," Ari thought for a minute about all of her choices for classes, it was hard for her to choose just one, "Well I guess I'm a bit excited about the history, but more anxious to start spells in classes like DADA or Charms..."

Ariella just about sqeeled with excitement when she heard Lesta was a first year too. Surprisingly, she hadn't actually ment a great handful of first years yet. She's become good friends with a couple she men, quite close now actually, but it was always nice to meet a few more! "You are! Oh that's fantastic! Do you know what house you want to be sorted into?" Ari slowed down a minute and processed what the girl had said a bit earlier before asking, "You have brothers, older I presume, I have a younger one!"

Oh. Why on Earth was he eyeing HER back?! All she'd done was look at him like he was a weirdo, which in hindsight - he was. He had been LYING down on a seat. The only place you lay down was in a bed, wasn't it? Although Elodie had lay down on a roundabout at the park. But she wasn't going to linger on that thought, purely because it was that night that had left her brother annoyed with her. And she assumed he very much so still was.

"There is still a fire hazard. Someone might make a fire by accident, or there may be a mehanical FAULT, thank you very much." Oh dear, did she sound snobbish? Nevermind. It was a fire hazard, that was it. She was right. And he was wrong. And he could have KILLED her.

Mhm. Elodie didn't look at the attempted murderer, instead; she watched her toad. Good old Gemini. The toad worked its way closer to him as Elodie watched, and he MEOWED. Yay! Good old Gemini! "Theo....dore? Is that two names? Or just one? Or...is it Theo and someone's at the..." Door. She checked it though, by glancing at the glass pane in the door, to find nothing but students passing heading towards other compartments and the food trolley.

So it wasn't about the door.

He stopped waving when they train had pulled away from the station but he kept his face near the window for a while whilst the train drove through the English countryside. It was very different from the sights on the Orkney Islands even though it wasn't that far away, compared to other countries of course, Great Britain wasn't a very big country at all. The weather was quite good and the sun seemed to reflect off the hills, he thought that the view was adequate enough for such a long journey.

His thoughts were interrupted by the entrance of a girl into his compartment. He turned away from the window which woke up Brie who squeaked in disapproval. Terry looked at her a few seconds, wandering whether he had stolen her compartment or something, she looked older and they may have 'reserved' a space on the train. But she seemed friendly enough.

"Hello" he smiled back. He nodded at her question noticing the 'too', obviously he had been wrong that she had reserved a seat. "Yeah, this is my first year but I'll be in my second" If that made any sense to her. He looked down at the owl, his mother owned a few back at home but he decided not to bring one with him. He eyed the owls beak and then his own rat, realising that some owls weren't used to rodents and saw them as food and not as a friend. He retreated Brie and placed her in his pocket just in case.

"Berry, stop, no, stop, NO!" Vee pushed the compartment door fully open with far too much energy, barely snatching her hand out of harm's way when, glass shaking, it bounced off the other side and almost closed itself. Her silver-grey cat miaowed loudly as he stared at a bulge in the pocket of a boy. Uh-oh, that must be a rat. This wasn't good.

"Stay still, gooood kittie..." Vee bent lower and began slowly approaching her pet from behind, so as not to startle the silly thing. The moment the cat decided to pounce and threw himself upwards, Vee lunged at him and caught her escapee in midair. "Gotcha!"

Only then did she seem to realize she wasn't alone. There were two other students in the compartment she had so rudely and suddenly barged into - but it wasn't as if she had had a choice, she had to catch Barry. She still hadn't quite managed to teach the two-year-old cat to overcome his hunting instincts. And every since they'd boarded the train, the multitude of rats and owls and other cats was clearly driving him crazy, she'd had a hard time keeping hold of him for a while before he'd leaped out of her grasp. But never mind that now, she had him now, and that was all that mattered.

"Oh, hi. Sorry about that. My cat still has some manners to learn, but we're working on it. I'm Vee, by the way, and this is Berry," she manipulated the cat's paw so that it moved up and down, imitating a wave. Barry's eyes never left the boy's pocket. Vee followed his gaze.

"You've got a rat there, right? Can you do me a favour? There's a lead in my bag, in the outside pocket, bright blue, could you get it out for me and clip it onto his collar? That way I'll be able to control him a bit more," she smiled at the boy and approached him, half turning around so that he could access her purple shoulder bag. The colour was a stark contrast with her red hair, but she liked that. She liked colours and brightness - they always seemed to make people happier in the long-term.

"So, are you guys new too? I'm just starting this year," she addressed her question to them both again and hoping she hadn't totally alienated them. Vee wasn't one to care too much what people thought of her, but then again, she didn't usually make scenes akin to the one which had just occurred, and she wasn't sure how it would go down. Oh, well, all she could do now is keep a better hold on Berry and hope they'd understand that accidents happen. They looked friendly and reasonable enough, anyway, she decided.

Medea took a deep breath and held her head high as she walked onto the train. She knew nobody except a few cousins that were upperclassman. She took a seat in an empty compartment and folded her legs under her and looked out the window at the platform. Everyone was moving quickly and kissing parents goodbye. Medea let out a little laugh at the thought of her parents sending her off with a kiss.

Lex had been searching for quite sometime but couldn't seem to find the little guy. Honestly, the train was only so big; how far could he have gotten?!?! With a heavy sigh she threw open a compartment door and found a girl curled up by the window--but not just any girl. "Heeeeyyy, it's you!" Though she really needed to get back to looking for her feline before they arrived, a little break wouldn't hurt and besides...not everyone was dumb enough to leave their owls unattended!

If Elijah didn't know any better, he was sure that Aspen was staring at Kurumi in such a way that made it look as if she was trying to explode the Gryffindor Prefect with non-verbal magic. Did these two not like each other or something? Aspen seemed like the kind of person who would purposefully choose to sit in a compartment with people she disliked and try and confuse them with her words... and her over-thinking... and her thought processes in general.

"Not sure of anything?" Elijah shuffled away slightly, "And what do you know of what I am sure of, 'Claw?" Perhaps she was aware of this information because she had been secretly following Elijah around. That made sense. He had had stalkers before who were far creepier than Aspen Odessa, but now that he thought on it she seemed like the dark and twisty type that could turn out to be a stalker. He didn't blame her really. He was far too smexy not to pass up. At least she had good taste.

The Ravenclaw PSYCHO'S next move took Elijah completely by surprise. Was she attempting to REMOVE his eyeball!? It seemed Elijah needn't have worried about Aspen demonstrating what keeping an eye on someone meant, because it seemed as if this TOOL had no clue either and was taking the damn saying literally! As the girl made to reach for his eyeball, his arms moved so that he could grab her arm away. However, one of his arms had still been around Aspen's shoulder and instead of releasing his arm from around the back of her (which would have taken too much time), he simply moved his arm around the front of her, taking her into a slight headlock, holding her hand centimeters from his (gorgeous) eyeball. "What are you doing you creep?"

Coulson yawned, moving around in the seat slightly toe get a bit more comfortable, but he was finding that difficult since his arms were rested against the wood of the compartment. Definitely not the most comfortable. He almost wished he'd brought a pillow. But then again, what kind of impression would that give? And Coul was all about impressions.

He opened one eye briefly as he heard a noise outside his door, but closed it back up as he'd heard the door opening. He had wanted the compartment to himself and figured that if he pretended to be asleep, they'd go away. But was he lucky enough for that to happen on his first train ride? No. Of course not.

Again, he opened up one eye as the girl seemed to speak and invite herself in. Though, she was pretty and he definitely wasn't about to be rude about it. "Oh yeah? Why not?" He raised a brow, curious as to why she thought sleeping on a train wasn't something people should do.

Feeling the need to look a bit more presentable, he turned toward her and sat regularly on the train rather than his stretched out position.

Creep?

Aspen was the creep? She desperately wished she hadn't packed her dictionary in her trunk. It was almost a for sure thing that Elijah's picture was IN there, next to the word creep.

She tried to jerk her hand back, but when his arm went around her neck for a headlock, Aspen reacted immediately: She BIT the Hufflepuff, wherever she could get. BIT. CHOMP CHOMP.

Harlan watched the boy as he took a moment to look at her, not sure what was going on. She reached to her face, maybe she had a spot or something from all that candy she and Logan had been eating just before. After a quick check Harlan decided that her face was mark-free and pretty as always. She smiled to herself, of course she hadn't messed, she was too fancy for that stuff in the first place.

So far the boy seemed nice enough, Harlan decided and nodded. 'Really...? This is going to be my first year too. But I'm going to be a Fourth year.'
She smiled and stroked her owl, who was being way too nice all of a sudden. Across from her she noticed the boy take care of his rat by placing the animal in a pocket. 'That's probably smart...' She made a popping noise with her mouth as she nodded again. 'My owl isn't really that nice, most of the time anyway.'

'I'm Harlan, Harlan Isaacs, by the way.' Harlan held her free hand out to the boy.




Just then the compartment opened and a girl burst in. A very wild and evil looking cat with her. The girl took hold of the cat before she seemed to notice that Harlan and the boy were in the compartment too. Right. Witches and wizards were strange like that, nan had said so herself.
Oh. Of course. The cat had manners to learn.
Harlan eyed the cat suspiciously, not too fond of the scratching things.

She then watched as the girl proceeded to tell the boy that there was some collar the cat needed to wear and that he had to help her with it. Harlan snorted, not sure how exactly a cat was supposed to wear a collar.
'A collar..? I thought that was just for dogs..' Harlan said and added a polite smile.

Ooh. ANOTHER newbie? Brilliant. Except this one had a pet that could quite possibly eat her pet. It sure looked mean and wild enough.
'Yuppp.' She nodded. 'But I'm not a First year, of course. I'll be starting in Fourth year.' She eyed the girl, 'what year will you be in then?' Maybe whatever year the girl was in would be learning how to control crazy monster cats in CoMC.

She supposed he did have a point when it came to the Aparecium, but her thoughts didn't linger there for too long. Not when friendship came up in the conversation and her cheeks were flushing an even more rosy color. "Well, for what it's worth, I think it is nice of you to look out for me," she said with another small wink.

Of course, Lewis looking out for her was her favorite.

Ug...titles. Kurumi hated it when classmates called her such things. Then again, the Gryffindor wasn't a big fan of nicknames in general. "It's Kurumi...just Kurumi..." she said, her eyes widening when she saw the STARE OF DOOM that Aspen was giving her.

What? What did she do THIS time?!

And then nothing short of chaos erupted. Merlin couldn't she have a quiet train ride back to school? Either that, or couldn't Elijah learn to keep his attractive hands to himself. She obviously has a personal bubble that he had burst which was why she was now...


o___________________________O


CHEWING ON HIS ARM?!

After a moment or two of flailing and gawking, Kurumi somewhat leaped towards the pair and wasn't entirely sure where to start tugging first: Elijah's arm or Aspen's face. So she kind of tugged on both...

Was THIS keeping an eye on someone?! Because Kurumi was so not the type of person to use another as a chew toy.

The countryside hadn't seemed to have varied much since they had left the city of London, it was just rolling green hills and farm animals scattered around the fields. It wasn't particularly interesting to look at anymore and so the boy decided that pressing himself against the window wasn't such a good idea anymore. Plus his nose was getting too cold from the glass. The girl that was now sat opposite him was more interesting anyway.

"I thought you'd be older" he smiled but there wasn't a massive difference between them and it didn't bother him that he was talking to an older student, as long as she wasn't a bully or anything and he very much doubted that. "I don't want your owl to think my rat is lunch, not that she'd let that happen. She's much too clever." She was a strange rat, far too superior, or at least she thought, for her own good. Queen rat.

"I'm Terence Radley. But I prefer to be called Terry. Terence is a bit old manish" he nodded. Being 12 years old, he didn't want to be viewed as old before he had even reached his teens.

SPOILER!!: Vee

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paintbrush

"Berry, stop, no, stop, NO!" Vee pushed the compartment door fully open with far too much energy, barely snatching her hand out of harm's way when, glass shaking, it bounced off the other side and almost closed itself. Her silver-grey cat miaowed loudly as he stared at a bulge in the pocket of a boy. Uh-oh, that must be a rat. This wasn't good.

"Stay still, gooood kittie..." Vee bent lower and began slowly approaching her pet from behind, so as not to startle the silly thing. The moment the cat decided to pounce and threw himself upwards, Vee lunged at him and caught her escapee in midair. "Gotcha!"

Only then did she seem to realize she wasn't alone. There were two other students in the compartment she had so rudely and suddenly barged into - but it wasn't as if she had had a choice, she had to catch Barry. She still hadn't quite managed to teach the two-year-old cat to overcome his hunting instincts. And every since they'd boarded the train, the multitude of rats and owls and other cats was clearly driving him crazy, she'd had a hard time keeping hold of him for a while before he'd leaped out of her grasp. But never mind that now, she had him now, and that was all that mattered.

"Oh, hi. Sorry about that. My cat still has some manners to learn, but we're working on it. I'm Vee, by the way, and this is Berry," she manipulated the cat's paw so that it moved up and down, imitating a wave. Barry's eyes never left the boy's pocket. Vee followed his gaze.

"You've got a rat there, right? Can you do me a favour? There's a lead in my bag, in the outside pocket, bright blue, could you get it out for me and clip it onto his collar? That way I'll be able to control him a bit more," she smiled at the boy and approached him, half turning around so that he could access her purple shoulder bag. The colour was a stark contrast with her red hair, but she liked that. She liked colours and brightness - they always seemed to make people happier in the long-term.

"So, are you guys new too? I'm just starting this year," she addressed her question to them both again and hoping she hadn't totally alienated them. Vee wasn't one to care too much what people thought of her, but then again, she didn't usually make scenes akin to the one which had just occurred, and she wasn't sure how it would go down. Oh, well, all she could do now is keep a better hold on Berry and hope they'd understand that accidents happen. They looked friendly and reasonable enough, anyway, she decided.

The atmosphere in the compartment had been fairly calm and quiet until a girl burst in chasing something. He blinked a couple of times, just blinked. But then there was a cat by his pocket and he frowned down at the cat, protecting Brie with his hand.

She picked the cat up and Terry finally looked at the girl properly. Brie usually wouldn't bothered to wake herself up, she was much too engrossed in her sleep but she peeped through the 12-year-olds fingers and stared with her black beady eyes at the cat. She squeaked loudly, staring and wiggling her whiskers in a menacing manner. No cat was competition for her! After a few seconds of out staring the silly creature, the rat retreated back into his pocket and curled back up to sleep.

"That's okay" he smiled and shuffled up closer to the window in case the girl wanted to sit down. The more the merrier right? "I'm Terry" he grinned at her then glared warningly at the cat. He didn't blame it though, all creatures had to survive didn't they?

"Yes. Her name is Brie" he looked down at his pocket. She then asked him a something and although taken off guard, he agreed. The boy unzipped her back and ruffled around inside, feeling a little guilty that he was looking in her bag but she had asked him too. He finally found the lead and took it out, handing it to her. "There you go." Interesting, a cat on a lead. He'd helped his mum walk crups before but never had he been asked to assist her on a cat walk but if it kept the cat away from Brie, then he would go along with it.

She was going to the school for the first time too? "I'm going to be a second year but this is my first year at Hogwarts, I was home schooled" he nodded. Terry was about to ask her what year she'd be in but Harlan had got there before him and so he didn't say anything.

Nervous. Nervousnervousnervous.

Hugo was nervous. He was really nervous. He had been at this school for seven years already. He was scared. Scared of the NEWTs he'd been studying for all summer already, scared of leaving his second home, scared of losing his friends of which he already didn't have a lot, scared of life after Hogwarts scared of everything.

He tried to calm himself as he sat down in an empty compartment. Last year. Right. He took a book out of his bag and got more scared when he saw the words on the cover indicating that this was a book for seventh years. He didn't want to go. He didn't want to leeave. Hugo felt a lump in his throat grow.

Riiight, back to reading. Read read read.

"OOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!"

He may have avoided having his eyeball pinched from the Ravenclaw lunatic, but now he was receiving something, arguably, ten times sorer! Elijah was absolutely certain that she manually sharpened her teeth considering how painful this was. "WILLYOUGETOFFOFMEYOUCRAZYSONOFAWITCH!!!!"

He had tried to push her head away from his arm, but that only tugged on his skin considering her grip was so tight, which made it even sorer. He had been so focussed on the pain and trying to get Aspen off that he hadn't even seen Kurumi appear to his aid, and in fact, when she put her arm on his to help separate the two, Elijah mistook it for one of Aspen's arms attempting to shove her 'dinner' further into her gob. So, he retaliated... He bit down on HER arm as payback. Although, I'm sure he'd soon find out that it wasn't quite the her he was wanting to pay back.

Creep AND son of a witch?

Crazy she could handle, but the other two terms describing her were bothersome. Bothersome in the way that it'd keep her up at night.

But there wasn't TOO much time to think about it, since her FACE was being pulled and pushed against by The Real Creep and Prefect. She felt her point had been made anyway, so she did release Elijah from her jaw's grip.

Much to her amusement and delight, the Puff bit the Prefect. Haahaaaa. Aspen LAUGHED. LOOOL. Laughed a lot. It was too funny. Even with Elijah still man-handling her and the Prefect being typically annoying/helpful - Aspen laaaaaaaughed. "Your turn, Kurumi."

Haaahaaaaa.

Taylor sighed, "Your welcome... and no, it isnt easy because she hates my guts for some odd reason." She pouted then crossed her arms. To the finding someone thing, she smiled again and uncrossed her arms, "I am sure I will find someone for ya." Tay nodded, confident in herself as well.

Dora reached into her pack and dug around for a chocolate frog, all the while analyzing this new sleepy boy. Why would sleep on a train? Was he one of those muggleborns that was used to riding them and found the ride comforting? She couldn't tell, but she could tell, or at least guess, that he wasn't bothered by her presence.

That was always a good sign.

"'Cause I know some of the kids here, and they like to pull pranks on people who sleep in public. And some kids steal." She informed him, clearly all knowing about this sort of thing. She did hear stories after all. "It's a good thing I came along. I won't mess with you or steal your stuff, so if you wanna sleep you can. I'll watch over you."

Though, it was obvious Dora was angling to get something out of this deal even if she didn't say so or make it obvious what she wanted.

"R-really?" McKenzie asked the pretty older girl. She smiled and took a few small steps towards the window seat that was opposite her. "I don't want to intrude..." She said politely - though she finally took a seat. She shuffled backwards, and her feet dangled away from the floor.

She felt tiny on this train... She'd never felt little before - though she was much taller than Kyroh was... So that wasn't going to help in her height equation. Hmmmm. She was going to be little with all of the older students milling around. Great.

"Selina?" She repeated, looking back at the girl. "That's a really pretty name." She said, with a large smile. "I'm McKenzie." She said, with a grin as if she was chuffed with herself. "It's really nice to meet you... You're the first person who has said anything to me!" She said, wondering if it was natural to not really talk to anyone else.

Maxwell ignored the part about Ariana. "I'm sure you will, Ariana claimed i was a 'house hopper' because i've dated someone from every house..." He said laughing a little and wondering if that was a real thing.

Tay nodded and then looked at him, tilting her head, "You havent dated a lion to my knowledge though... so many I should set you up with one." Taylor smirked.

"Actually i have, my first girlfriend. Her name was Josephine." He said trying not to feel the sting he always did thinking of her, She'd passed soon after first year. "But i don't think i'd mind another Lion." He said with a smirk.