Oakey. She gave him a smile then eyed the badge still in her hands. "Help me, put this on?" ...Or maybe it was a better idea she attempted to first herself. As for the other kiddos arriving, they got smiles.

"Right. Okay. I know." Blank stare.

Woaaaa- no need to snap! Tora did say she was sorry after all. She was about to insert a good sharp response when the other girl had apologized for snapping. Good. That's better. Tora really didn't feel like getting in a fight right when Gram was watching on the other side of the platform...

Apparently this other girl was out of it too if she was asking whether or not Tora was going to Hogwarts. But then again she was just run over by the person in question so maybe there was an excuse.

Gram was beckoning to Tora now. She was still standing by the entrance to one of the train cars. Tora turned back to the girl in front of her and looked at her for a second or two. She did really feel bad for nearly running her over. And she didn't even answer the girl's (rhetorical?) question.
"Hogwarts." She agreed before adding,"So my Gram is calling me and we should get on The Express soon ya know. Are you waiting for someone?" Tora didn't know if the other girl would get the hint that she was offering to sit with her if she was lonely on the train. After all, it was the least she could do.

Oakey looked down at the Badge in his hand. "Head Girl?" Oakey grinned a toothy grin. "That Explains Ella's Captaining!"

Nod. "Yeah, and you're Head Boy?" He got a huge smile, because she was glad it was him over anyone else. "Ella?" ASAFDGASFTG! BEAM! This badger was proud.

Okay. Cue the awkward silence, just about now. Where was Chris?

Wade's claiming you both
 

"Hey you two." He was pushing his trolley along when he heard and saw two of his familar Quidditch teammates. Leave it to Wade to pick up on key words in a conversation. "So Ella's Captain now.." That was cool, he would have to congratulate her later on.. But for now he was right by the two Heads. "and now you are Heads.. Congrats! That is awesome." He grinned at them as Oakey was apparently adjusting her badge. "So.. good summer?"

Anyone.......!
 

Taking a few moments after emerging from the wall to decide which direction to go, Sky went north. There seemed to be fewer people on that end and most of them were fourth years and older. Which meant there was no chance of running into another weird ickle firstie. Had she been that weird way back then? She hoped not, because that would just...... well it wouldn't be good, that's for sure. Anyway, now it was time to find some other sixth years to bother grace with her presence. Joke intended, of course. She wasn't arrogant enough to actually use that phrase seriously.

Ah, here we go. She stepped up to someone else who seemed be doing the same as her. "Hello, there!" Bueller? Bueller?

for our ickle <33
 

Kurumi had a bit of time to kill before her afternoon shift at the bakery, which was perfect considering that today was the day that the Hogwarts Express was scheduled to depart for Hogwarts. Meant that she could see some of her friends off and reminisce. It still felt like yesterday that she was boarding it for the first time as an eleven year old and then again for her final time. Which made no sense at all and was something that could really only be accomplished by means of a timeturner and...

OH look! There was Elise! Sort of looking uncomfortable too. Surely she wasn't still nervous about riding the Hogwarts Express after the events of her last term, right? It hadn't broken down since then and Kurumi was sure that Hogwarts staff would not allow something like that to happen again.

Tucking a strand of her dark hair behind her ear, Kurumi made her way towards her ickle Ravenclaw. "Hey Elise!"

Bestieee?
 

West had his trunk all loaded on and all but now the important part... you know... finding Theo. He'd been watching and keeping an eye out even while he was chatting with other people and all but so far no sign of his best mate who was obviously the one West wanted to sit with on the train since the express home they hadn't sat together. Girlfriends could wait for feasts pretty much.

Speaking of feasts, West had brought food because that was kind of a good idea lately, given how his appetite had grown exponentially. He rummaged in his bag and came up with sandwiches. Yesssss! One of those went right into his mouth.

Theo was just strolling along the platform, frequently swapping the hands that held his trunk. The weight of the thing was bothering him so much, that the boy was pretty much whimpering and whining the whole way, ignoring everyone in his path like a boss. That was until he spotted a very familiar face straight ahead. Aaaaaand, he looked alone so that meant that they could catch up on things since they had a lot to discuss.

And he missed his bestie so much, *wibble!grabbyhands*

Cool, so. "WEST!" Theo momentarily dropped his trunk and did a mad dash over to him. Hug? Bro hug? Yea, bro hug. He did a sort of hug/slap on the back/patting motion then backed away immediately. "Hi."

Any spare sandwiches going? ..... Trunk... TRUNK... Where did he put his trunk?!

*FLAIL*

It wasn't as if half a sandwich took long to eat, West was ready to start on the other half when he saw something WONDERFUL!

"Theooooo!" West ran at him TOO and the hug thing happened with a slap thing and even a gleeful little leg lift on West's part and then ahem. Yeah. Cool. He was cool. They were cool dudes and staunch and stuff.

"Sup." Also, here. He thrust his half sandwich at his mate and rummaged in his bag for another for himself. Only certain people got food priorities, Theo was one of them.

Elise stared nervously at the empty tracks, waiting for the train to arrive but somehow dreading it at the same time. What if she got lost on her way to the Prefect Compartment or what if the whole badge thing was a joke? That would be really humiliating. Or even worse, what if the badge wasn't a joke and she turned out to be a bad student leader? She couldn't match up to Bee or Kurumummy or Selina or any of the other female student leaders, much less try to coordinate a team.

Even the thought of it scared her.

Hearing her name and the familiar Japanese accent, Elise turned around quickly, recognizing the voice before she even caught sight of its owner. "Kurumummy!" she squeaked, wrapping the elder in an impulsive hug. She'd missed the ex-Gryffindor a lot since she'd graduated and left Elise behind which was totally unfair. "Or am I supposed to call you Kurumi now?" Cause Elise didn't want to call her Kurumi. She'd always be Kurumummy to her, no matter if Elise was 70.

Pulling away, she put her left hand in her pocket nervously as she felt for the cold piece of metal. She bounced nervously on the balls of her feet before mustering up enough courage to say something. "Uh... Kurumummy? I have something to tell you." Please don't freak out, please?

SQUEEEEE!Giggle.

Theo smiled widely at his best friend, and had a sudden whoosh of images of them being awesome at school for another term. Awesome as in, awesome at Quidditch, and awesome at classes and awesome at EVERYTHING. They really were an ultimate duo.

'Scuse me, what just happened? No. Theo made a face, handed the half eaten sandwich back at West and then took the new one for himself. Even at their stage in the relationship, sharing saliva and germs like that was a no-go area.

"Nothin', just thinking of getting on the train early." Ehh but now that he had found someone to talk to, maybe he'd wait. "Anyway, wassup? I haven't seen you since like, forever." Since like a few weeks like WOAH.

West cracked up. "I hadn't bit it yet, its cut, see?" Sandwich that was. But it went in his mouth all the same. He did feel better already now that he found his Theo. Sorry Dora and Bliss but you know how it is. "I got more food so we don't just have to eat trolley sweets." Because just a sugar hit wasn't enough anymore. He had sandwiches, fruit, some cold sausage rolls and a couple of muesli bars. Essentially West was set. He pat his bag.

What was up though. West's grin faded a bit. There were important things to tell but not here, not where just anyone could hear what wasn't any of their business. "I'm just real glad to see you and stuff. And to go back to school. And Quidditch. And everything." He put his tough face on. The cool one. The 'I am West Odessa and I am bamf' face, pretty much.

Kurumummy. That word alone brought a smile to the Gryffindor's face as she returned the girl's hug. She had missed these sorts of gestures. People just didn't go around university hugging each other. At least she had never felt the impulse to hug any of the older students that were helping her figure things out. Then again, dragonology was not exactly the most touchy feely of subjects.

"You can always call me Kurumummy," she laughed back as she gave the girl another tight squeeze before releasing Elise from her hug. "That name is reserved only for you, you know." Anyone else calling her that would seem unnatural.

And now Kurumi could tell from the body language going on that something was bothering Elise. "What is it?" she asked, eyeing the girl carefully.

Nate walked through the platform with all of his Hogwarts items, followed by his older brother, Thomas. By nate's eyes Thomas seemed happy. Though you never know. Thomas was the best one in the family to conceal his true emotion, with an emotion completely different. With that being said as soon as Nate and Thomas came through the wall Nate immeadiately found his sister Tanner. So he walked up to her and said "There you are ya little squirt. Try not to do this to me at Hogwarts. Trust me the last thing I need is to lose you at Hogwarts." That's when my brother started to talk.

"Now remember once you get to Hogwarts try not to get in trouble. Try to get in on the quidditch team. Please don't get any detentions. I'll write to you guys around Christmas. Make new friends. And most importantly, do you have everything you need?" He asked the both of them. Though it was more towards Tanner because he asked Nate before they walked in, and Nate said yes.

Finally, her "brother" was here. Yeah, she'd be blaming this all on him. How dangerous was it letting an eleven year old walk though the platform like that alone! She could've gotten kidnapped or something! Yeah, that sounded like a good way to do it.

Her eyes looked Nate up and down, and then traveled over to Thomas, where her face turned from an amazed jaw drop, to a frown. Thomas was her least favorite of the family. He was so boring it actually hurt Tanner.

She studied the older boys face as they walked towards her, looking for any indication that he was mad. There was none, but she had learned in her year at this house that Thomas was good at hiding what he was feeling. You could never be sure with him.

"Don't call me squirt." Other people in the family might take that name, but she wasn't going to. She wasn't that short (okay she was about 5'0 even) and even so, she wasn't fond of nicknames. Not until she knew someone better. The rest of Nate's speech was boring. Don't go running off (yeah, right) and then something about losing her at Hogwarts. Whatever.

And that thing about not getting into trouble was unfair. Trouble seemed to follow her around like a shadow. Either that or she was just good at finding it. The rest was just standard older brother talk that she didn't really care about. Turning to Nate, she played with the rope bracelets on her wrist as she talked.

"So where do I go now?" After the fiasco crossing over she was ready to take direction. That didn't mean she was going to be polite exactly, but she was going to take direction.

To say that James and Jack Charlton were disappointed to see this was just a regular, Muggle-style (as they were taught the word by Forrest) would be an underestimate. They'd expected MAGIC, of course, magic everywhere, people casting magic, wands flying in the air and I don't know what else! But here all the wizards, well mostly the students, looked pretty normal. They did nothing but chatter. The father and son had risen early out of the bed for nothing, after all.

Except, to say goodbye to Forrest, who had got quiet since this morning.

"Call us when you reach school," was all his father had to say to his little son, apparently. They were oblivious to many wizard customs, and they simply assumed they used the same technology. Forrest nodded, his face pale. "Is your wand, money and ID with you?" His younger son nodded again. If he talked, he knew he would cry and make a scene in front of all the esteemed wizards, and then they would laugh at the Charlton family. "Do not leave your bag at anywhere, you know how much money--"

"He's leaving and you talk of money--!"

"Well, I'm just warning him! Be nice to your teachers; do not break rules, I don't want anyone calling home to say--"

"James!"

"--your son's been misbehaving; do well on that sorting test and get in Ravenclaw; don't make too many Gryffindor friends, I don't like this 'bravery' talk; study well and make us proud." Not that they had any wizard relatives, not that he'd talked to any wizard about houses. He had deduced that Gryffindors were useless heros, that Hufflepuffs were cowards; that his son had to be either in Slytherin or Ravenclaw solely based on what Forrest had learnt from Daichi and Amelia. Both had spoken only one good word about every house, but his father was that great to guess what everything really was based on only one word.

Forrest nodded again to all these as he shifted uncomfortably on his foot. He wanted to learn magic and take revenge from Jack, but he didn't want to leave his mom as well. He didn't want to be seperated from his friends in Saudi Arabia. What if they would think he betrayed them? What if no one here would like him? They must already know TONS of stuff, they were probably perfect at magic too; whereas he came from a Muggle family and knew absolutely NOTHING. His magical abilities were pathetic (he couldn't even control it!) and he was sure to make fun of himself at classes. Plus, there weren't even one wizard in the family, how was he one now? He had never been that lucky... surely it was a mistake, surely at the test, he would fail and be sent back... would his father talk to him again if he failed the wizardry test? How could he endure Jack's taunting afterwards anyway? He had to pass this wizarding test Daichi talked about, but if he was a Muggle, he just couldn't fool all the wizards there...

He hadn't realised his father and Jack going off in another direction to discover all the platform. It was only his mother and him now standing in a little back. She crouched in front of him to look him in the eye.

"Don't you mind your father, you know how he is." She tried to smile, but upon seeing his son's tears, she simply reached forward and pressed his head on her shoulder. "There's nothing to cry for! You are a wizard, Forrest, you won't fail the test! It's not the end of the world even if you fail, anyway."

"But what about dad? He will never--" His voice was thick with the pressure as he tried his best to hold back the tears.

"He will always talk to you! He's so proud of you even now, he won't be mad at you for failing to do what you can't. Besides, you are a wizard Forrest, in the letter it says so!

"But Daichi said there can be mistakes! There were students sent back!"

She pulled back to look into his eyes again. Her look was something between stern and caring. "What about the wand, then? It chose you, didn't it?"

"Yeah, but--"

"I don't know anything about this world, but if you weren't capable, logic says that it wouldn't work. It didn't work for Jack, remember?"

Forrest giggled at the memory as his face wet with tears shone in the sunlight.

"You'll do fine, Forrest. Just believe in yourself."

Before Thomas's little brother could say anything Thomas said "Well I'll see you later next year. Have fun at Hogwarts. Make plenty of friends. Remember even if you two are in different houses, you can still sit at each others house table." Then before even his sister could say anything (knowing her she would've tried to say something like "Don't leave me here") Thomas was out of the Northern Platform, and through the wall.

"We have to wait for it to be time to board the train. So let's walk around, and make new friends shall we? Just don't leave the northern platform. I'll meet you in the second cabin to the right on the north train car. Unless you want to follow me, but if not remember don't leave this platform!" Nate stated in his very authoritive British accent. Well it was an accent to his younger sister because she's from America. To him though she had a weird accent. With that Nate looked around to see Forrest the first year he had met at Slug and Jiggers.

So Nate walked over to Forrest and said "Hey Forrest. How's it going?" He asked the little first year. Who if he was on Hufflepuff Nate would most likely look after as well. This is great...two first years Nate would have to look after. And by the way Tanner's attitude is Nate thinks that she might just end up in Slytherin. Which was the only house that no one in his family has been in. Though she wasn't blood-related so that might explain a little bit if she gets in Slytherin.

Isobel smiled apologetically- she always felt bad when her voice came out sounding sharp and she was just startled. She watched as the girl waved at the old woman by the entrance, and felt a pang of longing. For the first time since she'd arrived, she wished her mum had come with her. Toddler gymnastics or no, this was a really important day for her, and couldn't Katie have skipped just the one? Honestly, sometimes she wished she were still an only child.

"Oh, no," Isobel replied, pulled out of her thoughts, "no, I'm alone." Unfortunately. "D'you want to sit with me?" she blurted out, then backtracked as quickly as possible. "I mean, as long as you don't have anyone else you wanted to sit with, that is, if you want to sit with anyone at all..." Wow, she was really bad at talking to people. Back home, everyone she knew she'd known since she was tiny, so they were already established friends (or enemies). Isobel laughed nervously and looked at the girl, questioning.

Ronnie crossed through the barrier with Jory and appeared on the platform a second later. She peeped at Oliver who was sitting in his cat carrier. He meowed loudly and pawed at the door. "Aww, do you want out buddy?" she asked. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to letcha out for a little bit..." she said as she opened the cage and scooped her kitten into her arms.

She then turned to Jory, holding the kitten out to him to pet. "He's missed you, you know. He really likes you." she said with a chuckle.

Jory looked around when he heard Ronnie speak. Who was she talking to? He hadn't heard the purr, or else he won't be wondering that. But he realised it was Oliver she was speaking to when he caught a glimpse of the little furball.

"Hiya, Oliver,'' he said, stretching out his hand. "I missed him too.'' He petted the cat. Oliver meowed. "I'll keep him for now, if you don't mind.'' He was amused as he watched Oliver stare intently at his pygmy Puff, Furball and owl, Tobias. "Now, Oliver, be a good cat.'' Jory grinned. Proud owner of three animals. "Don't tell Ronnie that,'' he said to himself.

"Wonder how long more before the train arrives,'' he said. It was crowded all around, with students and their owls and other animals. He couldn't wait to get a compartment.