The thought of five cats still amazed her to a point where she just laughed and smiled and nodded for a moment. "Spoiled?" Gemini..had been spoiled this summer. Alina and the kids took the cat everywhere with them and he always had milk and treats and more milk and it was sickening how well he was treated over the holidays. Elodie couldn't fathom how much more spoiled Cassia's cats must have been for them to have not been able to come to the castle, though. Maybe an endless supply of cushions and wool. Speaking of wool...had she packed her supplies to last her for her knitting? Ugh, she hoped so. She was almost finished with this whole sweater thing.

Christmas sweaters for ALL! Maybe.

She'd promised certain people some, so that was priority.

Raising her eyebrow, Elodie shrugged. "If they're looking forward to them, I'm worried about them." Blah, blah, blah for Ravenclaws being smart and all but if they looked FORWARD to exams, then they were crazy. Maybe it was Els' lack of Ravenclaw acquaintances for right now, or just her astonishment of brain capacity and stuff. Something about exams and Ravenclaws unsettled her. She wouldn't have been surprised if a Ravenclaw attempted to marry an exam paper. Her thoughts were running away with her now, and the look showed on her face as she shook her head to rid the thoughts. Or whatever.

Ravenclaws, huh.

There was the her favourite part of fifth year!!! Elodie grinned then and nodded her head, dancing about a little on the spot. "Older than more than half of the school, even! Four years below us, and two above us." They were practically in prime position for ANYTHING. For having a role model, and BEING a role model. Oh, PRIME position.

They were like.. royalty.

So...... seventh year? Yeah, so far it didn't feel any different from all the other years. Of course, the term hadn't technically started yet, but still. Same feeling.

Sky was pondering this when someone went speeding past her, barely missing her. On a skateboard. Stupid skateboarders. They were about as bad as the bike jerks. Always thinking they had to ride them everywhere. "YO, ICKLE ON THE SKATEBOARD! WATCH WHERE YOU RIDE THAT THING!!!!" she yelled after the boy, pushing her sunglasses up her nose. Honestly, she was surprised he hadn't run someone over already!

That was the sound of anger.

Tobias hadn't seen anyone else on a skateboard, so he figured the yell was directed at him. He didn't know if maybe he'd ran over someone's foot or something, but he didn't think it polite to just igNORE whatever he'd done (if anything), so the Hufflepuff shifted his weight on the board so the front of it came up and the back dragged down. He scraped the back-side down and span around as he did so, coming to a stop facing the way he'd just come. The boy was fast enough that he'd stopped before the girl had stopped screaming yelling at him, so he could tell who had spoken up.

Picking up the skateboard and tucking it under his arm (it seemed like the wrong move to ride it back towards her), Tobias rushed back, holding Unnamed Kitten to his chest with his other hand.

"Sorry!" he said with a slightly anxious look on his face as he reached the girl. "I'm really sorry. Did I knock into you? I didn't mean to if I did."

Eeeeeep.

Ethan smiled faintly back at Minerva as she confirmed that she did have the other half of their paired mirrors. That was a good thing, because he was sure he would go crazy if he couldn't at least talk to her once in a while. It was hard enough to have to live separate lives for the better part of a year. "Okay.. good," he said, squeezing her hand gently. "Maybe you could let me know when you get there?" Or even talk to him while she was on the train if she wanted but he knew he needed to provide a strong example for her so she wouldn't be too sad, even if this was just as difficult for him.

He took a deep breath as he looked at her, still keeping the same small smile, but feeling bad as there seemed to be an awkward loss of words between the both of them. He looked down for a minute, not wanting things to go this way, then looked up smiling a bit brighter as she mentioned his jacket. He captured her with his arm around her waist as she leaned in to kiss his cheek, holding her for moment before letting her go to look at her. "Not a problem.. It's as much yours as it is mine, really," he said chuckling, knowing how much she borrowed it especially when she was cheering him on at games. But he didn't mind at all. "Maybe when you wear it, it can feel like I'm close to you.. like I'm there with you." Maybe that sounded kinda lame, but he hoped that it would be even some small comfort to her. He grinned as he looked at the bear he won for her at the festival. "Possibly.. but it's all stuff you can't leave behind." Nope.. it was all necessary as far as he was concerned.

Green eyes followed the ball of fluff as she bounced around on the ground and he looked on a bit sadly. Their little pets were all so attached to each other and he was sure they couldn't understand why they had to be separated, but figured they'd be alright. "I'm going to bring Elise up to the dorm with me when I go back to get the rest of my things." He didn't want to leave his animals up there alone and figured his parents could take care of them for a few days. Smiling a bit brighter at her, he nodded to her suggestion. "Sure, let's sit down.." Still holding her hand, he led her over to the nearest empty bench and sat down near the middle, setting his things down on one side of him and allowing room for her to sit on the other.

Forrest replied her question with an exaggerated nod and grinned back. "You're welcome." His idol was grinning, and that made him proud. He resisted the allure of opening one of the sweets and just racked his brains for something clever to say. She beat him to it though, and he was relieved.

"Yeah, it was cool." His face expression proved that too. "I could stay here aaaall the summer with my mum and aunt. I met Tobias and checked out some brooms, but didn't buy. I--" He halted talking abruptly, because he was too embarrassed to admit he had been foolish enough to dream of making it into team. There were such talents like Tobias, Minerva and Alec--how could he even finish the try-outs with dignity? "AnywaysI'lluseschoolbroomsfirst." He looked away for a moment. He couldn't really bear her pitying eyes.

"How was yours?"

Laura looked around she was really wanted to get back to Hogwarts it was going to be an awesome year, she had no exams to worry about and it was her second to last year. That was the only thing that was worrying her was the fact that she only had two terms left. She had no idea where time was going.

Laura looked around and when she saw Minnie and Ethan chatting she decided to leave them alone because she knew it must be hard for her friend. She looked around to see if she could see anyone and when she couldn't she decided just to stand on her own and wait and see what happened.

The snake wanted to pet the cat and play with it but Gemini was asleep and there was a rule about waking up sleeping, lazy cats. It'd just disturb the poor thing and Cassia had a soft side for cats and wouldn't survive the look they'd give if you cut their nap short. Nope, nope. It'd break her heart and she needed her heart intact those days. She really did. "Would you mind if I played with him during the year and stuff?" She would have said borrowed but like she just officially spoke to the girl, sharing her cat already might seem a bit too forward. She also decided not to tell her, now at least, that she had a list of cats' owners for whenever she missed her cats. That might be a little bit creepy. And, speaking of the list, two names had been removed because they graduated and took their cats with them! So yeah, it was good finding out about Gemini here.

Mental note to update the list once they were off the train.

"I do worry about them, too, sometimes." She nodded at Elodie who then got lost in thought for a bit. Cassia didn't interrupt whatever was going on in the Hufflepuff's head. People shouldn't be interrupted when having a thinking moment. The snake appreciated those who didn't interrupt her, who knows when the next thinking moment would be for her. And while we're thinking, the fifteen-year old wondered where her Eaglettes were and whether she'll get to see them on the train or til the feast.

Wasn't this gal cool?! YUP!

"Exactly!" Cassia half-squeaked. This was too exciting she wanted to jump up and down! Though, too many people and she had rules about making a fool of herself in public. But she did flail and sway in the spot dramatically.

All the excitement only made her feel the need of sugar. Shoving her hand in her pocket, the snake retrieved two a chocolate frog and a wrapped licorice wand. She had her pockets full most of the time. "Would you like?" She offered them both to Elodie to choose hoping she liked at least one. They could use the energy till they got on the train and raided the trolley. Speaking of, the train didn't leave right? Right.

She would admit that she might have been going a bit too quickly but she would never apologize for it. Her entire world went by at a fast pace which could probably be attributed to all the sugar but she'd never go admitting to that bit. Nope. Not like she didn't know what he was gonna say anyway. "Not that long, I've only made it through three terms, this'll be my fourth, doesn't seem like much if you ask me."

And here she would refrain from making a face. Cassia's year got all the new transfers. You could swear there was a ban placed on her year that no one bothered to tell her or Lottie about. Rude. Just very rude. "You'll make friends fast then. Tons of fifth years to hang out with and me if you're not opposed to younger company." If he really wasn't opposed then they could add firsties to the list too. They were nice and wanted to be friends with everyone.

Ravenclaw?

"I wanted that house...didn't really work out--but hey, maybe you'll have better luck! The hat might like you more and listen." Her own relationship with the hat was...er...complicated. "Where did you used to go to school?" Came her distracted her voice. She tilted her head and looked curious beyond him, almost sure she'd seen a flash of fur go by.

Ascanius was looking for red hair. A particular shade and length of red hair that would come along with his best friend. 'Cause, he needed to see her for reasons. Most of which included the shortbread that would no doubt come along with her when he found her. Yeah, that stuff was delicious and he wanted some of it now, especially since he had declined Marcus' offer for chips. Jeez.

So he was looking above the crowd for her, because of height reasons, and having little luck. C'mon, Snaps, where are you? She had to be around here somewhere. 'Cause the train was leaving soon, yeah?

Derry had dumped her trunk already, and was holding Lando in her arms - the cat seemed to be introducing her to people and she would quite like if he would stop running off from her. She was exhausted enough today without having to get her head around new people and more names etcetera. She'd got up late, after sleeping in the stables - it was her last night at home and she'd spent the previous week in Fife with her grandparents so she had to see the horses.

Anyway, she was here now. Still in her riding gear - she'd sneaked one last ride in before leaving muahaha - and with bits of straw stuck in her hair, she glanced around the platform to see who she could find. Hmm... Lando was purring in her arms, and squirming... which meant he'd seen something... Derry turned round to see... the back of her best friend's head. Yep, that was probably what Lando saw. She walked up to him and prodded him in the back. "'Scaniuuuuus."

Leave it to Derryth, who had BRIGHT RED HAIR, to be the one person that Ascanius couldn't find on the platform. She was extremely taxing like that and of all the people he knew Derry could really push his-

SPPPPPPAAAAAAZZZZZZ!flail.

Turning around with a snap from the poke that he had just gotten, Ascanius grimaced, "Who in the- Snaps." Jeez, of course it was her. The fact that he had even taken a moment to consider it was foolish on his part. And what had he said about poking him in public. He didn't like it, s'not his thing.

Derry got a pointed look, before he turned his attention to Lando quickly scratching him behind the ears. Then he looked back at Derry and said, "I've told you about the poking and..." He stared RIGHT at her chest.

A badge. Yep. West had been right. "Captain...you're gonna make me try out, aren't you?" Ugh, he felt sick already.

Hehehehehehehehe! Derry giggled at Ascanius' flailing - it was her favourite thing okay. Or... one of them anyway. Muahaha. "Hi!" she beamed innocently at him. Because she'd never done anything to him nosiree. She was also still trying to figure out if she like the whole... Snaps nickname he had going on. It was kinda cool to have a nickname. She'd never had one before.

Of COURSE the cat was purring and getting attention, sometimes she thought she was the least important person in this friendship - Lando loved that boy. Pfffffffft. "I know you have but... I haven't seen you in ages." So that was fine. But then he was staring at her chest. "Hey. My eyes are up here." she said, laughing a bit.

Oh..kaaay..? Nobody seemed to be particularly excited about this whole captaincy thing so far... hmmmm. Though she kinda got it from Ascanius, he didn't like the whole flying thing... "You already said you would..." she pointed out. "Don't call me captain though, yeah? Unless it's like... practice or something. It's weird." She didn't think he would but... she felt the need to point it out.

Any other girl who would have given Ascanius innocent little eyes and a smile would have gotten themselves a smirk and a wink, BUT he wasn't buying it from Derry. He knew that she was full of it and the spazz that she had just made him was not appreciated, yeah? He'd remember that. Yeah, he would.

So she did NOT get a hello in return.

He continued to pet Lando and scratch his ears because he was a good cat. Minus the few times he nearly mauled Ascanius whenever they wrestled, but he was attractive and manly and could handle a cat. Smirk. So he just kept on. And that was no excuse Der, "You didn't forget. No excuse." None.

Yeah, he knew where her eyes were. Why was she? Oh. Pfft, he was looking at her BADGE. Jeez, Derry. Smirking at her, he just said, "I know."

"That's if I make the team," Ascanius pointed out. He and flying weren't friends. How he had made the first string, let alone the team last germ still baffled him. He got sick before every match, had panic attacks and couldn't handle being off the ground did not make for a functional Quidditch player. But everyone kept him in the sky. Why? He had no idea. The thought made him ill.

"I never said I forgot." she said, shrugging and grinning at him a bit. Just that she hadn't seen him in ages, and he'd probably done something over the past few weeks that deserved a good old fashion poke, okay? Okay. So he could deal with it. Muahahaha.

Hehehe. She knew he knew. She was joking, and he knew it. Or if he didn't know it she really needed to reevaluate the best friend thing, and she didn't want to do that because putting him in that title to begin with had required a lot of effort in the making friends department and Derry only had so much energy to spend on it, okay? Okay. She winked at him - West would be proud - but couldn't manage to keep a straight face and starting giggling instead. Oops.

If he made the team. ... Oh. Oh no... She was going to have to EVALUATE HER FRIENDS AND CHOOSE THE BEST ONES AND THAT WAS JUST MEAN WHY WOULD THEY EVEN MAKE HER DO THIS SOMEBODY TAKE THE BADGE AWAY! GIVE IT TO WEST, HE DESERVES IT!! ... Nowaitgiveitback... ierjkhgdsfnijkd. Derry wasn't sure how to convey all these emotions, so her eyes just widened a little at the thought. "Well... you're a really good flier when you actually get to flying." So... yeah...Uuuggghhhh this was going to be harder than she thought.

..................Oh. Well then, this was slightly awkward.

Lenny did a tiny shrug with his shoulders. "You know my memory isn't the greatest, Shoebox."He grinned after speaking, knowing she wouldn't appreciate the old nickname making it's return. If she honestly thought she was going to see him and NOT get faced with that ever so great nickname.....she was wrong. Most defiantly so wrong. Oh hey, she looked really interested in why he was here. "Didn't like the crowd of friends I made. Muggle loving types."His voice was practically coated in sarcasm. He rolled his eyes at the end of his little sassy remark.

Yeah, his parents were one of those type of people. The true irony was the fact that he had turned out to be everything they didn't want. Lenny thought it was funny and was not planning on changing a single bit. Suck it up, mama and papa and deal with your child being his truly awesome self.

He felt a tug on his hair. Meh. He should have expected it. An unimpressed look graced his face though he made no complaints. Well, hair does grow so."Such a sarcastic teen he was. He should have expected people to end up touching them and yeah, because it wasn't exactly a common sight to see a dude with some LONG dreads. He liked being different. It was apart of who he was. "Oh, you know....I'm trying to blend in, I think it's working..."OH SUCH SARCASM.

Elodie moved the bag a little to check on the toad that was pretty hidden, and made sure he was alive too. The cat and the toad had became pretty close and slept all cuddled up a lot of the time. Cutie patooties! "I suppose so, yeah." No doubt Gemini would take to Cassia pretty well, actually. So long as she gave him attention, he'd be all for loving HER. Attention seeking silly nilly. "I'm suuure Gemini won't mind a new face around in his life." And the attention. The attention for definite. Cassia was in the same year as Elodie too, so it meant that they'd be at school for the same amount as time as one another from now until graduation, so Gem wouldn't LOSE his new friend for a few years. Unless Cassia hated him or something.

WHICH WAS IMPOSSIBLE BECAUSE GEMINI WAS A ROBERTSER.

ROBERTSER'S WERE LOVABLE.

Lots and lotsa love.

Oh thank the heavens! Cassia seemed excited about being older than everyone as MUCH as Elodie did. Not as much as to join in with her little dance, but enough to SOUND excited. "We're old, but not. It's like..the best time of forever." The absolute best time in her life as well. She supposed. Maybe. Until graduating and travelling. If that was what she still wanted to do. SO MUCH TIME TO THINK ABOUT IT. But right now was right now and she STILL had to get that statue date happening with Cat, and they had best friend things to do and she had nails to paint and hair to twirl and corridors to sock slide down. THINGS. TO. DO.

Was that food? Oh, food! Els considered whether the food she had had before leaving was enough to last on until she decided to get the food trolley and love on everything there. It wasn't at all. "Mmmm, I would, thanks!" And with that, she took the licorice wand and started at it.

OH SUGAR.

Shoebox. Schuyler made a dramatic sigh and rolled her eyes. "I do not understand why you call me that." Why couldn't he call her something pretty, hmm? Like Sunflower, or Kaleidoscope. Those were cool nicknames. But Shoebox? Well. She was accustomed to it, at least. She frowned a little for him because it was sad that his parents were so against muggles and those who befriended them. They were so completely opposite of Lenny that sometimes Schuyler wondered how in the world he was their kid. "At least you'll be with yours truly," she smiled, trying to brighten things a little.

Really, she knew he was going to say something like that in response to her hair comment. She simply hit his shoulder in response. Her mouth formed a sort of half-grin. Blend in? Clearly. "Aah, right. And you're doing a superb job there." May she be the first to tell him.

Moving on. "Did you hear about the houses? Which one do you think you'll get?" And yes, Schuyler had been putting some deep thought into this.

Yeah, that was what he figured, the not forgetting bit. How could she? Derry had spent the better half of his trip to her house poking him...because the other part had been her bothering him in other ways. Yeah, it had been a real productive trip. Demon sheep.

Had Derry just...winked at him? Well then. THAT was unexpected and that was saying something since Ascanius was the king of winks. Smirk. Just ask Lottie, that girl knew his wink better then anyone. Ahem. So anyway, he was at a loss of what to say to her. That wink was jarring. Derry's shouldn't wink, ever, yeah?

It was like the chewing on her sleeve bit. Things Derry shouldn't do. He was gonna write a guide.

And then Derry got a little twitchy. Pfft. 'Course he was gonna notice things like that because he knew her pretty well. Mhmm. But the question was why? He had never seen Derry antsy about Quidditch. It was the only place she wasn't a complete and utter klutz. Smirk.

Analysing her, he replied, "Well, we'll see, yeah? Captain's choice." Who was her. Weird.

Yay it worked! The wink thing... Just like West said. Weirding people out who weren't expecting it. Muahaha. She made a mental note to do that again, with the flaily hands and the pokiness and stuff... that was all on the list of things that got that look from Ascanius. Hehehe.

And she could tell that he was doing the thing. The noticing thing. Pfft. Don't do the thing, Ascanius. Don't do the thing. She was freaking out about a hundred different things at once and she wasn't in the mood to talk about it at the moment. Maybe later.

"...I think Lafay lost her mind." she said, glancing down at the badge. "Half the team deserves it more than I do." she added quietly. Would it be ridiculous just to take it off and hide it in her pocket for a while? Whilst she got her brain to stop picking out all the things that could go wrong n stuff. That'd be nice... but also obvious. Instead she just cuddled Lando closer and hid her face in his fur for a minute. "OWL year too..." she mumbled, peeking up at Ascanius. "'Sgonna be a busy year."

.. So, this girl talked a LOT and Stan just couldn't keep up. She probably liked hearing her own voice.. or maybe, she was just excited. Because people talk a lot when they're excited. Heh. Who knows?

"Well, I'm glad to hear that." Glad to hear that he was going to make a lot of friends.. according to her, anyway. Opposed to younger company? Not really. He liked interacting with people in general, and he wouldn't mind hanging out with Alexa either but he really wished she talked a little less. Not that he'd ever say that to her. Stan just wasn't rude.

"Does the hat actually listen to us?" Stan looked faintly surprised. But then, before he could get too excited about it, the girl jumped to another question. Okay, seriously!? What was with the talking?

"I went to a private school in Dublin."

Red came onto the platform, she left her parents the other side of the barrier, she didn't care about them one bit, and nor did she want them to wave goodbye to her. Luckily, she wasn't going to be seeing them at Christmas. She made sure everything was with her and looked around for someone to talk to, preferably, from her year so she could get to know someone from her year.

She saw a girl, a lot older than her and decided that it was good to know someone from higher up in the school, so she went over and introduced herself, "Hello, I'm Red, first year, although, I suppose my small height would tell you that," she said, stumbling over her own words.

Laura was just looking around thinking about what she was going to do when suddenly someone was speaking to her. "Hello Red." Laura smiled, "I'm Laura, sixth year, Hufflepuff." Laura smiled. "I was just thinking about my first year here actually." Laura remembered a lot of things, the funny three legged race, meeting new people.

Laura also remembered about the bad things but they were fun as well like what had happened last year. "So what house are you hoping to be in then?" Laura thought it would be good to spend sometime with some of the new students.

" Nice to meet you Laura," Red said smiling, "honestly, I don't know, my father would probably want me to be in Slytherin, that was his House, but I don't want to be like him, I'm not like him," Red couldn't wait to begin her first year, and get away from her family.

"I can't wait to find out my house anyway, no matter what house I'm in. I hope Hogwarts is as good as people say it is!"

Laura listened to Red and smiled. "I wanted to be a Gryffindor when I first started at the school." Laura had heard that was an amazing house, "But then I got sorted into Hufflepuff whilst my sister got sorted into Ravenclaw." Laura had hated that but then she found out what a great house Hufflepuff was. "I love Hufflepuff and I really like all my friends in all the houses." Laura really did.

Laura looked at Red and decided to be truthful. "Hogwarts is the best school ever and I mean ever, it's a lot better than the primary school I went to before I was accepted to Hogwarts, but then again that was a muggle school and this is an amazing school for magic." Laura hoped that Red was following what she was saying. "If you ever need any help though you can come and find me and I'll try and help you out." Laura smiled as she held her hand out for Red to shake.

"I can't wait for school to begin, my primary school w great, but I got bullied quite a lot, hopefully I won't here though." Red had heard how amazing Hogwarts was, not from her father obviously, but other people she had met told her about it, "Thank you, Laura, I probably need help, I always struggled in primary school, I can't talk to boys or men, I get really nervous around them." Red smiled and shook Laura's hand, she had made a friend, be that a friend from a different year, but it was good to have older influences.