She nearly laughed when Lucas said about homeschooling and his mum not being too keen on spending more time with him. Especially at James' response! Instead she just covered her mouth and nose as she snorted. She did giggle a little when he pouted though. Making a face "He's not lying." she said shaking her head "I saw it last term, I thought it was going to eat Laura, Oakey and I." she said honestly. "It was huge and really scary!" Snorting at his calling the name Hufflepuff dumb. She couldn't agree more! Rolling her eyes at James' and the pincer thing. "You would have been scared too, so there." she said blowing a raspberry.

"Erm....one, but I know there's more, there's like six or seven I believe but some are caved in, and I just haven't found them yet." Yep, the school was HUGE and took too long to get through in just one term!

Turning to the girl who finally came over "Hi Isabella, I'm Zoe and this is James and Lucas." Nodding to each one in turn. Merlin she really was going to have to figure out which one was which eventually! She knew who was who now, because well she'd just met Lucas a bit after James, and they were dressed differently. "Yes, disgustingly scary spiders that live in the forest." she said pulling a face again.

Jory stared. Not the mean stare but one of surprise. He wondered why the girl was stuttering. "Was the natural of is it because she is nervous?'' he asked himself. Speaking aloud, he replied, "Hiya, Ali. I'm Jory.'' He grinned. "Welcome , then! I would say welcome to Hogwarts but we're not there as yet.'' She must be thinking he was silly right about now. "Nope, I'm old.'' Okay, definitely now she was thinking he was being silly. "It's actually my final year.''

"Yes, go on, Jory,’’ the seventh year thought to himself. "She must be thinking you're an idiot or something.'' He smiled again. "So, where did you transfer from?'' Not that he was poking his nose into her business but he was just curious about other wizarding schools. He had only read about them.



Jory smiled. Gwen was making him feel better already. "Good,'' he thought. "I don't want to be moping around on the first day back.'' But he didn't feel ready to talk about it. Not to anyone. Not yet, anyway. "I hope so too,'' he replied, hoping that it would be so once he got back home. Maybe his mom and dad will talk some sense into Grace.

"Sure,'' Jory responded, looking around at the crowded platform. There was no way he could spot Alyssa in this crowd. He missed his "twin sister". "I'll keep an eye out for her anyway,'' he decided and turned his attention back to Gwen. His friend was already walking towards the South End. He watched as she carefully made her way along, trying not to bump into anyone. But then he burst out laughing as she tripped on what looked like a cage and almost fell. "Hey, Gwen,'' he called, going after her with his own luggage and cages. "Need help?''

"Nope, no plans for the term,'' the boy replied. "All I have in mind right now is playing Gobstones.'' Yup, he enjoyed the games and was very much looking forward to them. "What about you?'' And that's when he remembered something. "Did you get your Apparition license?'' He had gotten his and enjoyed apparating all over the house.

"I guess there are the weekends as well." Natasha thought out loud.

Natasha go excited hearing that there was at least one secret room. "If you do find out, I would love to go find it with you!" She said happily. "Perhaps we could explore the castle together?" She wondered

"Yeah..the Hogsmeade trips are there right? I entirely skipped that part out" she said, shaking her head. It would be all fun. Dad had taken her there once, into some repair shop for instruments. But she had later dragged him to Zonko's and returned with hands full of stuff for her and her rules-only twin. "Zonko's is fun" she observed.

Amara winked. "We could be partners in crime" she said, grinning and adjusting an imaginary hat. That's what they did right? Adjust hats and smirk?

"Huh?" Blake turned slightly, finding himself facing a young girl. Younger than him, even. "Oh, are you okay?" She was still standing and breathing, it seemed. Those were good signs, yes? "You don't have to be sorry," he added, waving her apology away. "I probably shouldn't be standing here in the middle of everything. Plus, it's so busy. Frankly, anyone that can walk around here without colliding into others deserves a medal..."

His gaze lowered to the ground and noticed her things were scattered about. "Oh, your stuff! Let me help.." Blake bent down and began to collect it all together.

"All right, dear! Its time for you to left. Be good in there and keep updating us with anything happen. We will reply your mail as soon as possible. I love you, my dear Aphrodite," Father said with a bit of a hurry because within a few minutes Aphrodite and her brother should immediately up the Hogwarts Express, he did not want his children, especially Aphrodite late headed in her first year at Hogwarts. "Remember my words, dear fro. You'll always able to find new friends and you will get the best house!" Mother said, gave Aphrodite peck on her cheeks. Father do so but he just kept hugging Aphrodite. His little daughter will start her first year. "Its okay, Mother, Father! I love you too!" she said as she gave little peck on Mother and Father's cheeks. "Goodbye, Mother and Father! I will send you letters as soon as I get there!" she said, waving her hand and assisted by Theo and Aidan, Aphrodite enters Hogwarts Express. She'll be fine.

Lucas giggled cheekily. "I think she was still a bit upset about the vase. You know how she gets. It was actually pretty ugly anyway." Something about it being from the past or whatever had gone completely over the 12 year olds head as he'd tried to worm his way out punishment. "D'you reckon she'll get over it by Christmas?" It would kind of suck not to get presents and his Mum was the type to hold grudges. Like big time.

"So what house do you wanna be in then?" Was there like a cool people house or something? Were you sorted alphabetically? How did it work? Lucas had so many questions!

Of course they were real. Big, hairy spiders. Gross. Lucas shuddered as his brother imitated them. "Funny," he muttered and then burst out laughing when the girl mocked his brother. Ha! So much for scaredy cat. Lucas just grinned smugly. Served him right.

But hey, it might've had spiders, but it also had chances for adventure. "You've gotta show us these!" He exclaimed delightely, already thinking up all the damage they could do.

He blinked at the introduction of Isabella and then waved. "Hi!" There was so many people!

Laura looked at Ethan and smiled. "I'm glad you like it but don't get to hyped up on the train." Laura giggled she thought it would be fun to see a hyped up prefect on the train but she didn't want Ethan to get into trouble so she was going to keep an eye on him when they got on the train, just to make sure he didn't have any chocolate or anything to add to his sugar rush.

Laura looked at Minerva and smiled. "Thanks." Laura decided that she would go off and find some of her own friends. "I'm going to go for a small walk." Laura said hoping that Minerva wouldn't ask where she was going, she wanted to give Ethan and Minerva some time to themselves, she couldn't expect to hang out with Minerva all the time right, Minerva needed to have time with Ethan on her own and this would be a nice time for them to start, she would go find one of her school friends if she could.

Ridiculous? Really, Oakey? Well, she wasn't denying it but that probably wasn't the best adjective to use in that particular sentence. Crazy, sure. Mental? Maybe. Elise had taken too many bludgers to the head to be considered any form of sane, anyway. Demented, insane, crazy. Much better adjectives than Ridiculous, but she'd take whatever compliment she was given.

"And I'm sure you carried me out of your own free will," she said, almost believably. Oakey was a nice person, but maybe he just had a problem with Ravenclaws? They din't seem to... click very well. Not at all. Blinking a few times at him, Elise grinned. "We're beaters, Mr. Head Boy." A carefully rehearsed smirk - thanks to Milton - thrown his way, she shrugged. "We'd never quite be even."

Maybe she was crazy?

Ice cream talk was making Ella quite hungry and she bounced a bit, smiling at the boy in front of her. "Too bad they don't have ice cream on the train." And she might be pouting just a little about that. "You think they have a suggestion box?" If not, they totally should. As for the poke on the nose, it earned the hair ruffler a GRIN and a nudge. "No poking." Not that she minded. She didn't. Not one bit.

Whispering and staring and Alec was really trying to drive her mad, wasn't he? The blonde just sort of smiled stupidly at him as she kept eye contact, all coherent thoughts long gone now. Huh? He was responding to something she'd said? Blink. "I...really." Yeah...Wait, what were they talking about again? Oh...Aegis and Caleb. "Yeah, they get on quite well. Caleb's happy to have a friend next door." And Ella was glad too. ...Hmmm. "Okay, we're both lucky." The blonde stood up on her tippy toes and kissed Alec on the cheek before blushing slightly. The matter was settled.

Nodnod. "Right? The babies are quite adorable and did you know one of the mothers always looks after the babies while the others go for food? Kinda like a babysitter." Grin. Was she rambling? "Um...I think I'll have a choice so I'll have to think about it." Mhm, lots of thinking to be done. Ella tilted her head to the side when Alec mentioned scary Dads and she smiled a little at him. "Were you really nervous to meet him?" And why did she find this so cute? "It sounds great to me too so yeah, it's more than okay."

BLUSH. "I....erm...maybeIwas." Shuffle. That was allowed, wasn't it?

He was staring. It didn't look mean but you never know. Oh Merlin, he was staring! Ali thought as she tried not to let her hands twitch nervously. "Nice to meet you Jory." She smiled back, even if it was only slightly. Maybe he didn't think I was a freak. She tried not to laugh but she couldn't help the smile that adorned her lips as he continued to speak. Pfft. Old? Not even close. "Final year? Really? Well congrats I guess, have you been going to Hogwarts this whole time then?"

"Beauxbatons." Ali replied with a slight frown. I never did like it there, my experience wasn't the greatest but don't take my word for it, I'm sure it was just fine for everybody else. Frankly I'm glad to be rid of the place with their girly uniforms, although I didn't completely mind the blue, just wished it was a bit darker. For my tastes at least. I'm rambling aren't I? Oh well, at least this is all in my head. Jory would probably think I'm a bit of a weirdo otherwise.

Aphrodite felt herself lost. Where were Father and Mother? She felt that she was on the wrong side of the platform. She had to find Theo and the others. She had to run before it's too late. #bugh #ouch! Aphrodite bumping into someone until she and that person fell. "I'm sorry, I did not pay attention to the road. I really am sorry," she said as she helped the girl who she think that was older than her to get her on her feet.

"Sorry, what Hogsmeade and Zonko's?" Natasha asked. All of this was so new to her. She had been to wizarding communities before, just not in the corner of the world.

Partners in crime? She could not help a huge smile at the thought.

Another anxious glance at the time told her that the train would be ready soon!

She froze and looked at him with eyes open wide, wordless. Don't talk to strangers, she thought she could hear her mother saying it, but mom was so far away from here... She could feel her heart beating quickly, her hands was sweating cold and her eyes started tearing up. What was the boy doing? Hum, he was collecting my things from the floor... If I just could talk with him... It didn't seem too dangerous talking to him . She tried to talk, but she began sobbing uncontrollably: "th" *sobs* "th"*sob* "than" *sobs*" It's sounds so ridiculous!, she thought and started laughing. The boy looked at her frowning, than she stretched her hand toward him and managed to say: "thank you!" She sighed deeply and looked around "It seems that l won't get a medal.". *grins*

As soon as Blake was sure he'd recollected everything, he stood up and held the items out to the girl. What he wasn't expecting, though, was for her to suddenly burst out crying. "Oi oi oi, what's wrong!?" He could hear her trying to say something between sobs, but couldn't quite make it out. Blake's state of confusion furthered even more when she started laughing! Eh?

He accepted her outstretched hand and shook it, his confusion shifting to a smile at her thank you. "Oh, no problem. Here is your stuff..I think I got it all," he murmured, looking around again and then looking back up, chuckling at her last statement. "Mm, I guess not. Maybe next year?" There was always time to improve.

She dried her tears still on her face with the back of her left hand, smiling. At least the boy wasn't scared by her nervous breakdown: "hi, I'm Anabeth. Please, forget about my nervous breakdown, but things aren't easy for me today. My parents... *sobs* they had not even come with me to the King's Cross... I'm alone and I don't know what to do... I just know that I must catch the train." She stopped talking, she was afraid of frightening him, the only one who showed to care for her over the past months.

Apparently, she had all her luggage and things, minus the cat, who had disappeared a minute ago. Umm… where was Jinx? Gwendolyn started taking a few steps, staring at the platform. Ughh. Luggage and students everywhere. And no sign of the cat.

Ughhh.

Great.

She just looked around, but she couldn’t spot the cat anywhere. Erm. Maybe she should ask someone? Gwen gave another quick look around, trying to decide who to ask if they had seen Jinx. Hmm. ‘Hey’ You there, firsties. ‘Have you seen a black cat?’ No?

‘Yeah’ Meaning that she had done some interesting things. But that didn’t mean she wanted to talk about her trip to France. Not that she didn’t have fun. On the contrary. But anyway- Gwen wasn’t generally the kind of person who would like to talk about herself.

Hmm.

Wait- what was Wade saying? ‘Norway?’, Gwendolyn mused. Now that sounded interesting.


Erm.

Alright. So she was still as clumsy as she used to be when she was a first year. Some things don’t change, do they? But anyway… maybe no one noticed.

WRONG.

So… Jory was laughing now. Even though Gwen would normally have no other reaction apart from a mental facepalm, this time she couldn’t help laughing as well. ‘No no, I’m fine’, she mumbled.

So yeah… any plans for this year? Hmm. Gobstones. ‘That sounds fun’, she commented. ‘Yes, I did’, she said, answering his question about the Apparition license. ‘And I’m sure you did too’ There was no doubt. Jory had surely done great at the exam. ‘So umm…’, Gwendolyn began saying. ‘Can I ask you something?’ It was kind of important.

Eeeh, Blake really wished she would stop crying. It wasn't that it was silly or anything, it was the fact that it put him in a spot where he had no idea how to react. His mind was telling him to pat her shoulder or something and give her a 'there,there', but that just seemed really awkward. Particularly so, if one considers the fact that he had just met this young girl.

"Well, it is nice to meet you, Anabeth. I'm Blake." This was a good start. "Uhmm, I'm really sorry to hear about your parents, that is very unfortunate." Perhaps now was not the time to mention how his own parents had nearly smothered him just a few moments ago. "But, I'm sure everything will sort itself out once you get to the school...and catching the train is a good start," he added, nodding. "I'm sure you've got nothing to worry about."

He was staring. Oh Merlin he was staring. Ali panicked slightly as she tried not to let her hands fidget from being so nervous. She didn't do well with change or new people. "Nice to meet you Jory." She said as she tried not to laugh at his words although she couldn't help the smile that adorned her face. "Final year? Really? That sounds exciting! Have you been going to Hogwarts for your full schooling?"

"Beauxbatons." She admitted with a slight frown. I'm glad to be going to Hogwarts though, I really hope it turns out better here then Beauxbatons. Don't take my word for it though, I'm sure others have had a far better experience. And now I'm talking to myself. Awesome.

Laura was suddenly looking up into the sky, that was odd one minute she had been talking to Ethan and Minerva the next well she was on the floor, she looked up to see someone helping her up. "It's okay." Laura smiled as she brushed herself down, and checked to make sure there was no injuries. "nothing to appologize for." Laura decided that she would introduce herself. "I'm Laura Hope Hyde, but everyone just calls me Laura, you can't expect them to call me my by full name, well my mother does when I'm in trouble." Laura sighed, it had been a long summer but well enough of that, "and these here are Ethan and Minerva." Laura smiled pointing to them both. "There an item." Laura thought she'd get that in. "Anyway want a hand with anything?" Laura was going to be helpful.

The no ice cream on the train thing made Alec frown ever so slightly. "Yeah... it's a long journey to and from Hogwarts," And ice cream really would be perfect for that journey. When the girl mentioned something about a suggestion box, Alec's eyes lit up and a grin started spreading across his face again. "I hope so!" GRIN. ... "None at all?" he asked, nudging the girl back. Actually that might probably be a good idea. Maybe.

Really. So she really meant what... she had been saying before? Alec blinked some more, slightly confused as to what they had been talking about. "That's... erm... that's really really nice, you know..." he whispered. Yeah... he was going to have to stop himself from getting distracted by this girl one way or another. "That must be really great! I mean... he has a friend that's close to his age and... yeah," It did sort of remind the fifth year of himself and Anya. Just a bit. Alec shook his head a little and opened his mouth to say something else when the girl kissed him on the cheek. "Thanks?" he said, reaching up a hand to gingerly touch the spot on his cheek where she had kissed him.

"Ells? Do you... like all baby animals?" Because she did like baby elephants a lot and baby turtles and now baby giraffes as well? He was also not going to ask her whether she liked babies. "Really? So... they treat the other baby giraffes as if they were their own babies?" Why did this remind him of Hadley? "That sounds like a lot of thinking." GRIN. ... "I... well... he's your Dad! Of course I was nervous about meeting him," he said, reaching up a hand to ruffle his hair, "Awesome! I'll be over a lot more then!"

"I... erm..." He grinned sheepishly at her words, secretly proud that someone like her could be checking him out. "That's not... a bad thing, yeah?" GRIN GRIN GRIN.

Did he catch a look when he mentioned books? Ethan wasn't sure if he had imagined it or not, but he was fairly certain Minerva had picked up on the word or something.. but then the look was gone just as quickly. Maybe he was just imagining things. Shaking off the thought, he turned his attention back to Min and Bay, chuckling a bit as she mentioned talking to people.. a lot of people. Yeah, that was an understatement. "Back of the train is where it's at," he agreed with a grin. And wasn't it convenient that they were at the South End where it was prime location to get onto the back.

His eyes fell on Bay as she mentioned just where she lived. Oh. That seemed awfully unfortunate. He knew she mentioned not having parents, but he thought she had someone.. not living in an orphanage. He looked on a bit sadly, quickly changing his expression to a small smile, certain she didn't want to be pitied. "I bet that was quite a shock," he said, smiling bigger as she mentioned finding out a few days ago. Must have been just the day before he ran into her. No wonder she seemed so out of sorts.. well, besides the lack of guardianship thing.

Taking another sip of his espresso, Ethan nearly choked as he started laughing at what Minerva said. "Alright.. this is my last one, promise. I'll try not to bounce off the walls too much." He chuckled a bit more, though he couldn't really help himself.. he just loved his espressos too much. And he was so reliant on that caffeine to get him going in the morning. He nodded, agreeing that maybe Laura did see him drinking them. That wouldn't be too surprising as he had at least one or two daily, but it was still surprising to him that she would file that away in her memory bank. "Thanks again, Laura," he smiled at the younger Puff girl. "That was awfully observant of you.." Not to mention really nice.

He nodded to them both as Min asked if he would understand their need to have some time together. "Of course.. I'm familiar with girl time, girl talk, girl's night.. whatever you call it." It was like some unspoken requirement for females, wasn't it? Like they needed to say a certain number of words a day to each other or something terrible would happen.. probably why they always went to the bathroom in groups. He obviously didn't know what he was talking about and shrugged it away. "Sure.. gotta make time for your friends." That much he knew was true.

Ethan glanced at Laura as she mentioned going for a walk. He nodded, then said, "Don't go far.. we expect you to sit with us on the train." He knew Min had been worried about her and he didn't want her wandering off just now. Besides, the train would be here soon. He just lifted his green eyes to the tracks in search of any sign of it when he heard a bit of a commotion. He turned just in time to see Laura on the floor with a girl about Bay's size.. maybe another first year? He started to walk over to offer a hand but they had already straightened themselves out. "Hi.. yeah, I'm Ethan," he said as Laura introduced him and Min, chuckling a bit as she pointed out his relationship status.

She smiled. "You might be right. What a shame! I can't believe I cried in the middle of the crowd. In my former school it would be the most than someone needs to get a bright sign on the forehead telling "loser" in capital letters... A great way to start a new term." She noticed that the boy could be a little confused without knowing she was joking. She explained: " I mean, I'm kidding." *nods* "I guess you're second year, right?" She couldn't understand the expression of his face. "Blake, you're probably wanting to find your friends and I don't stop talking."

Frowny Alec was frowny. Ella reached down and grabbed his hand, lacing her fingers with his. "It's really really long." And she'd probably need to spend some of the time sitting in the prefects' compartment, yeah? Captains sat in there too? Hmm. "Would it be alright if I came to find you on the train? I have gummy worms." Y'know, just to sweeten the deal. Her smile matched his when he seemed excited about her idea. "Yeah? If not then...we could suggest one?" Giggle. "Where would you make a suggestion to make a suggestion box, anyway?" And who even thought of things like this? Grin. "Not unless you want to start a poke war, Summers."

"You're really nice," She whispered back, smiling up at the boy. It was just the truth. He was really nice, and he looked nice, and his hair was nice too. All around just a nice guy, Alec was. "Yeah, he's a lot less lonely now that Aegis is around to play with. I'm glad he's got such a good friend." Even if Aegis did seem to inspire Caleb to get into trouble every now and again. The blonde smiled sheepishly as she continued watching the boy who was now...touching his cheek? Grin. It was nice when he did that too.

"Yeah?" Nodnod!Bounce. "I love them. Baby animals are the best." And they were cute. Like...ridiculously cute. That made them even better, yeah? "Is that silly?" To love animals so much? She did get kind of crazy over them. "They do, yeah. They watch over the little ones until the other moms come back with food. That way they're safe." Nice giraffe mommies were nice. "It is a lot of thinking so...I guess I'll wait and see how I feel next summer?" And then she could make a decision. ...GRIN. "Well...you don't have to be nervous anymore, yeah? I was really nervous about meeting yours as well." Just so he didn't think he was the only one. BEAM. "Thatsoundsbrilliant!"

He was smiling a lot so it meant he didn't think she was weird or anything, right? Right. Grin. "Well you just...lookreallycute." So she couldn't help it, okay? Sheesh.

"Hello, its nice to meet you Zoe." Isabella said with a little wave. "Wow. Have you seen these spiders. I mean their not ever in the castle right?" not that she was worried or anything. She wasnt scared of spiders, just didnt want them jump out at her. Turning she smiled at the two boys. 'which was which.' she thought looking between them. "Hi, Lucas. And James right. Its nice to meet you both." smiling at them both. "What years are all of you?" she asked hope they could all be friends and stand up to the big spiders if ever she wanted to go look at them.