Originally Posted by jean granger

carl returned the smile. "nice to meet you too," he said to the two girls. And yay! They were all first years. All newbies. He did not have to worry about lagging behind, because he read, or at least skimmed through his text books in the past month or so.

He stood aside and watched the interaction between family/friends. "no problem!" carl said with a grin at the lady referred to as emmy. He turned his attention to the train, where students were beginning to fill in slowly. As mel said, they should get on pretty soon.

Then there was the lovely mother moment and carl moved closer to mel, not wanting to intrude. Then he heard what she said, though she was rather quiet. She didn't have a mother as well? His parents had passed away when he was a baby. He wondered what his mother would be like if she was still alive. She would probably like the fact that he was a wizard, that he was special.

"do you want to get on the train now?" carl asked brightly. He was finally going to hogwarts! He should not be thinking about his parents, on this happy day.

Originally Posted by steelsheen

the curly haired boy spun around when mel started squealing sammy's name. Awesome? He beamed back an equally exuberant grin thanks sam! he knew that sammy would appreciate his fine handiwork.

"oh... Thanks uh... Carl? Yeah, dun hafta bother really" he said as he took his things from the other boy. Being a mess in front of mel and sam was ok, they knew that about him already, but to the new boy, well tenacius had enough manners drummed into him about best foot forward and all that. Whatever that means.






salander wasn’t exactly eager for this day to come. Sure he still had that cool albeit more sophisticated swagger about him, but deep down in his heart of hearts he didn’t really want to let his boy get on the train and not see him again until christmastime. But his kid turned eleven, and the little hogwarts letter came promptly. No delays, no wild goose chases. Already his son's path to wizardhood has kicked off so differently from his own.

He strode through the wall with emmy and finchley in tow, and just as he was trying to prep himself on the heartfelt words he can impart to his son, the scene that greeted him on the other side got his jaw to drop....

"tenacius!!!" yup that was pretty heartfelt. His blood pressure can attest to that.

It was a good thing that emmy was there. While she took care of the naughty ones, sal murmured to finchley to collect all of tenacius' belongings and made sure everyone else was taken cared of. Legal entanglements can be such a hassle.


for the second time tenacius' eyes grew large. Oh no... Dad and almost mom, with that voice. He was in deep doo doo wasn’t he? Yup here comes the lecture....

... But in a way he was quietly relieved. Lectures were better if it came from emmy. His dad isnt the type to give lectures lets put it that way.

He just about squawked when he heard the girls blaming him for things. But one look at emmy and the boy didn’t raise a fuss. She had that look about her, more sad than angry. And if there was anything, he didn’t like disappointing his folks.

Although now emmy was pulling him aside with his father and the boy grimaced. Is this where the punishment was gonna kick in? But instead emmy lowered herself to his eye level and talked to him. Why she so sad? She was never sad when they would go off on adventures. And aint hogwarts a great big adventure?

"i love you to emmy." the ickle curly top murmured back. He nodded and repeated her words-- be safe, stay out of trouble. Of course he was gonna be a good boy. When was he never? don’t answer that.

he thought they were done and was about to bolt when she wrapped him in a great big hug. Emmy hugs are awesome. But hugs in front of mel and sam and ugo and that new kid carl? Aak! The other kids will think he's still a big baby. He's a big boy now. Squirm squirm squuuiiiirrrmmmm.


after emmy had sufficiently made a big baby out of his mini-me, sal crouched down next to him. The overwhelming dread and premature longing was already obvious on his demeanor, and his kid picked up on it, given the concern on the boy's face.

He gave a playful punch on his boy's shoulder and nudged his head towards the steaming locomotive "well, whutcha think? Pretty cool huh?"

"uhuh! Its super cool! Its just like the orient express!"

"umm... Not quite. Doesn’t have as much things to break..." he joked his kid as he playfully punched the boy's shoulder. "well.... Just remember everything that emmy said ok champ? And uh.... Have a great time in hogwarts-- i know i did. " the elder salander smiled at his son. He held out a fist bump as he uttered "remember what we always say: Work hard, play hard, ace--"

"--ace it all the way!" tenacius completed their slogan beaming as he gave his dad a exuberant fist bump



salander stood and watched the children clamber into the doorway of the hogwarts express as it started to toot its horn as it signalled its departure. He felt emmy's hand beside his and gripped it hard, finding solace in her presence to not get all misty eyed. Its ridiculous, he'll see his kid again at the end of the day, undoubtedly the boy will be so excited to show off his new digs to them later when they mirror.