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

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

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