Sander stood aside to let the girl find a place on his trunk first before he sat down himself, making sure that he wasn't crowding her.

So her name was Christmas. Nice name....so tell her that Sander.

"You have a very nice name. Brings out off the holiday memories for me...good ones though. My name is Aleksander, but you can call me Sander. As for my House, I guess I'll find out soon enough." he told her with a smile.

So there's one house called Gryffindor....what were the others....So ask her Sander.

"So besides Gryffindor what others houses are there in Hogwarts?" he turned to ask her.

and just when he wasn't even trying to trip anyone, someone tripped right next to him...and Sander immediately recognized her from the bowling alley.



Mika...yes her name was Mika....or something like that. Sander quickly grabbed hold of her other arm to steady her....not that she wasn't already holding on to his.

"Are you okay? Did you twist your ankle? Sander asked with concern as he looked down at her feet.

Wow...how could anyone walk with those heels?....

"You have nice shoes, but maybe you would like to take them off for awhile and rest your feet? I will guard them for you." Sander offered as he stood up and guided her to the last remaining spot on his trunk.

"Yes you rest. I can stand for awhile."....and keep a look out for the boyfriend she had mentioned about once...or was it her ex-boyfriend....

....no matter. He could still chat with both girls while standing.

....and then he saw a girl sitting by herself and she looked sad.

"Maybe she's just sad that she's has to be here. I should make friends with her too." Sander thought to himself.

"Excuse me for a minute, ladies. I'll be right back." Sander told both ladies before walking over to the girl.



But just as he was about to approach the girl, another boy walked up to speak with her, so he decided to give them a chance to talk. He could always try again, if he saw she was sitting by herself again.

Shrugging, he turned back to return to the ladies he had left sitting on his trunk.

Christmas smiled at Sander and said "Yeah thanks and yeah other houses besides Gryffindor are Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff whichever house you go to you will be very happy and yeah my name does remind people of the holidays"

He seemed please. Grace smiled a little, though she was glancing around too. She needed to find her friends. Her best friends. They weren't here. But Theo was doing good for now. "Good." Though he wasn't smiling again now. Did he not like talking to a little person? She wasn't that little. She was going to be twelve soon. In like 9 or 10 months anyway. She was looking forward to being twelve.

"I do!" She nodded, with a big big smile. Quidditch was so good. "Ooh. That's good. You must be real good" She was looking forward to watching all the matches, and hopefully playing in them too. "I have a little, with my dad and brother." He brother liked hitting her with the quaffle though. so that wasn't too fun.

The seventh year had to stop thinking about how sad it would be at the end of term and start thinking about all the fun her and her friends were going to have this term and live life in the moment now and not worry about a sad end of term. Adeline knew that she was going to break down once she saw Hogwarts but as long as she had her friends with her then that would be find. What was that voice, Adeline turned her head over to the voice.

Adeline looked at the boy, he had to be a year younger maybe? "Just memories." She smiled at him. "I'm Adeline Holiday." She extending her arm so he could shake her hand.

Adeline noticed another guy, was he eyeing her? Or was he thinking about coming over and saying something to her? Was she really that deep into her thought to not notice a guy just pretty much staring at her? Adeline smiled and waved at the guy. "I don't bite you can say hi." she half yelled at him. It was true she didn't bite, she's a Hufflepuff and they don't bite all the time, she has met a couple that do bite. But really, is it that hard to say hi to someone? It might be if you don't know the person? Adeline had been through this every year for four straight terms so she was used to all of the new students and the transfer student so maybe he was one of them.

The former Slytherin need not respond to what Sophie said. He was just happy that the worst thing he expected earlier was not going to happen. Mordred eased up a bit sensing that Sophie will not hex him. Although, he thinks that he’s not entirely sure about it since Sophie’s got friends like Ella, who will definitely punch him in the face then hex him afterwards if she sees him. He still needs to be careful. He pushed it a little further back in his head and put himself into the present. He then realized that the platform was getting more crowded and more chaotic. A little bit of looking around while hugging Sophie and he spotted a blonde young woman not too far from where they were standing.

The best friend was lurking and talking to another woman. Mordred stared at the both of them and loosened his hug on Sophie, held her hand and pulled her away from the train. “Ella’s spying, thought I should tell you.” Mordred grinned at Sophie then back to Ella. “I don’t need to guess, but I just know she hates me.” On the other hand, “I…can’t believe you guys are already in your seventh year.” He scanned the area and saw another familiar face. Was that Theo? Mordred grinned at him as the sixth year Slytherin checked himself out. Was he breaking girls’ hearts now? Hmm. Most probably.

The former Slytherin got his wand and non-verbally summoned Sophie’s trolley towards them, stopped it with his foot and pushed it towards the wall. Now that Ella doesn’t have a clear shot of them, Mordred faced Sophie and sighed. “I…guess I’m okay? That was…two years ago. It still hurts but I need to get used to it.”Since he was an only child, he had the luxury to spend most of his time with his parents, and he never imagined that their family will be broken that way. No amount of magic or spell could return his mother to the living, and that truth was the most painful. Mordred pressed his lips, hung his head and stuffed his hands inside his pockets. “My dad really loved mom. He’s…hurt. I mean…if that happened to me, I’ll blame myself too. Mom was Dad’s top priority, and he feels like he failed her.” And that’s what Aldrich always tells him during their rare father-and-son-talk. Mordred looked up at Sophie and wondered if she will be his top priority someday. The thought made him smile. “My own ray of sunshine for the rest of my life.” He liked the idea.

Mordred nodded and cleared his throat. “I…found out something after mom’s death. She and my aunt Cassandra—Ethan’s mom were looking for Ethan’s dad.” He paused and shook his head, still in disbelief. “… they stumbled upon documents in his old house…” A pause. “Documents about Ethan’s parentage.”He was still a bit confused as to how that happened…but, “Turned out that he’s not the father…it was someone else. That’s how mom figured out why Ethan’s dad left her sister.” Mordred swallowed the bile in his mouth and leaned on the brick wall as he continued. “After mom’s death, I took the initiative to continue the ‘mission’. With mom and Aunt Cassandra dead, I felt the need to push through with it. I…did it to make things clear for Ethan. He needs to know the truth.” How he was going to reveal it, he’s not quite sure. “That time, I remembered Uncle Aldred being, well, exceptionally sad over Aunt Cassandra’s death. I knew that something was off.” He paused and ran his fingers through his hair. “I had the theory that Aunt Cassandra might be Uncle Aldred’s ‘Top Priority’…and…guess what, I was right.” Mordred looked at Sophie and tucked a stray strand of her hair behind her ear. “Uncle Aldred is Ethan’s dad. Ethan is…my cousin from the paternal and maternal side. He’s…a Mordaunt.” Mordred tilted his head and observed if Sophie understood everything.

“Ethan…doesn’t know yet, but…I’m applying to be his legal guardian.” Mordred bit his lip and looked at the floor. “Uncle Aldred’s ashamed to step up, so I’m taking over for now.” Was he ready for such responsibility? “I…suddenly feel old. I mean…I’m too young to be a dad.” But he will do whatever it takes to make Ethan’s life as smooth as possible.

Calisto Kosmos just saw Sander she smiled then waved at him. "Hiya Sander."

As Caleb smiled at the girl who'd just approached him, his eye caught attention of the kneazle making it's way through the crowd. Oh, he knew that pet! That was Sophie's kneazle! Sure enough, Sophie was nearby, talking to an older girl and asking her if she wanted her kneazle.

WHAT?

Time to be Super!Brother. Again.

"Sophie! You can't just GIVE your pet away!" he said, crossing his arms and glaring at her sternly. "That kneazle was entrusted to YOU and by abandoning it, what message are you sending it? Hmm? That it's an unlovable, unwanted creature that will never find love!" he lectured her.

Sophie really didn't get animals, did she? UGH. Caleb KNEW his dad should have let him take the crup to school and keep her kneazle there, he was obviously the more responsible of the two!

There was a a girl suddenly beside her... a little one... younger than she. Hmmm she was just going to ignore the little brat until the girl offered her a kneazle! A KNEAZLE, FOR MERLIN'S SAKES... they like have these amazingly smart brains! If she was able to open one up, maybe she could figure out what made them so smart and then she could take that part of the kneazle's brain, and maybe open some other stupid lesser creature, and...

Grrrr... too late! A boy came to scold the girl for giving away the kneazle.

... maybe it wasn't too late? Was mother still watching though? She was still on the platform... but not looking in this direction. Elektra was demanding attention. Thanks sis!

She turned to the creature, squatted down to its lever and gave it her best daddy-i-love-you smile. "Hey there little guy..." She said rubbing the feline's head, "Aren't you precious..." she said as if talking to a baby. She kept her squat and looked up at the boy and girl... they seemed about the same age. "Thank you, Sophie, Is it? Thank you Sophie, but I couldn't just take your kneazle from you... I mean I'd love to... you see I've never had a kneazle, and I always wanted one." She turned to the boy and smiled at him too. "Plus your boyfriend here wouldn't want you to miss her." She gave him a wink. "And don't you worry she wouldn't have been abbandoning it, I'm a very loving girl."

Yeah little boy and older girl is smiling, winking and practically flirting with you... go tell your little buddies so I can seal the deal with Sophie here.

At first Sophie didn't quite understand what was going on when Mordred pulled her somewhere else. She looked back and saw some more students hopping onto the train and bit her lip. She would have to leave soon, too. Sigh.

Oh, Ella. The brunette looked over to where her best friend was and smiled weakly. The thought that Ella was looking after her made Sophie feel warm inside, but at the same time she knew Ella wouldn't approve of how she was reacting to the whole Mordred-is-back situation. But Sophie couldn't help it! It was Mordred!! Blimey, it was flipping Mordreeeed! And he was back! This made Sophie happy, even though she was also sad. Yep, her feelings were all over the place, but it was Mordred, so yeah. Deep down Sophie thought it was worth it. And seventh year... "I know." The Hufflepuff gave him a small smile. "It feels weird to be going back for the last time." Last time... Merlin, that was weird.

Sophie watched her trolley come towards them and the nice feeling she felt whenever Mordred did something 'cool' like that made her smile. But back to the serious topic. Ugh, the poor thing! Sophie felt so sad for him at the moment that she completely forgot she was supposed to be feeling other things as well. Could she hug him? Would Ella hate her for that? She couldn't, really, because she had no idea what was going on in his life... Sophie'd have to tell her as soon as possible. But right now all she wanted was to comfort Mordred. And his poor dad as well, but that would be impossible for her now. "No, he shouldn't..." She held his hand and squeezed it; she knew he wasn't a big fan of physical touch, so she refrained herself from hugging him all the time. "And you shouldn't either." If he had ever considered blaming himself for it, that was. Sophie honestly hoped he hadn't.

This whole thing was getting more complex than Sophie could ever imagine. Mordred's words were supposed to make everything clearer, no? But the confused expression was still on Sophie's face as she placed her free hand on the trolley and pondered about everything Mordred was telling her. Merlin, that was a lot to take in. And blimey, Ethan's mother was dead too! How?? When? Why?? So much had happened these past two years and Sophie had loads of questions to ask, but she would keep them for later. He was... right about his uncle Aldred and everything. Wow. Sophie blinked and the confused expression changed to a surprised one. "I-- Wha-- Whoa..." She couldn't take her wide eyes off his eyes again. So much happening and... and the poor thing! Was he all alone? Ugh, he was probably so sad and still needed to deal with all of this!

And then THAT! "His... legal guardian??" Her eyes widened even more and her eyebrows were now raised. Mordred was only 19! How was he going to do that? Merlin! "What exactly-- Are you--" She blinked a couple of times and shook her head slightly to try and organize her thoughts. "Did you ever finish school? What are your plans for the... future?" Sophie was truly concerned, alright. He was only 19 and had to think of all that! That was mental! "Financially speaking, I mean." Did he have a job or...? What was going onnnn??? Sophie had no idea what Mordred was doing with his life anymore. "Is there... is there anything I can do to help?" And yes, she actually meant it.

Benjamin turned back to Adi only briefly noticing the shift in clothing, or rather hat. He didn't exactly get the wearing of the hat period but to each his own. "Aye...it did," the lion said with a nod of his own and a polite smile. "I wonder if its the same for all the years." He might just have to play closer attention to the passage of time and the mirade of events if that was the case. Ben wanted it to last a bit at least so he could enjoy it like he was told he should.

He watched as Adi leaned down to speak to the owl, keeping watch lest any more trouble errupt. A raised eyebrow as his human companion hooted at the bird. "Nice to meet you as well," Ben returned, relaxing the expression realizing the other boy was simply trying to be friendly to Conrad. "I'm in Gryffindor house." And then there was a toad added to the picture...Gus Adi called him. That got another cautious eyeing as the owl stumbled back with wings fluffing at first before simply standing and observing the creature now in his view.

...and then there was her brother, being Superman once again.

"Get a grip on yourself, Caleb," she said, crossing her arms across her chest and rolling her eyes. "Really? Are you just going to pop up everywhere throughout our entire time at Hogwarts and make sure I don't step a single toe out of line?" It was annoying, really. "You're such a Gryffindor."

Sophie turned toward the other girl and added, "You'll have to excuse us. Someone has a case of In-somebody-else's-business-itis." She watched the older girl interact with the kneazle. "Yeah, you're right." Meaning she was agreeing with the fact that the girl couldn't just take her kneazle. "I can't just give it to you either. My mom got it for me and would have a fit." She paused then added, "Not because she really likes the kneazle, but because I had to talk her into getting it for me in the first place."

Happy now, Caleb? She gave him a sideways glare.

So those were the names of the other houses huh. Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. Sander wondered which house he would be sorted in...

"Wait do they even sort 7th year transfers? Wouldn't it be just a waste to do that? Or is because we are in houses for certain reasons?" Sander was interested to know.

....then he noticed the girl he had seen earlier who looked sad turning to look at him. Had she noticed his attempt to talk with her.

Wait she was smiling and waving at him....was it him though? Sander quickly turned around to look behind him just to make sure she wasn't waving at somebody behind him.

...but she wasn't....she was waving at him and she was actually almost yelling to him.




Sander laughed and called back, "I know you don't bite...or at least I believe you when you say you don't bite. I just saw you talking with another guy, so I didn't want to interrupt your conversation." he called back.

"I'm Sander by the way. 7th year transfer from Durmstrang and as you can see beginning to make new friends." he told her.

Then he heard the one voice that was the most familiar to him. Sander quickly turned around and smiled.




"Hey there. Man am I glad to see you. I should have waited to come here with you. I thought it was going to be simple, just finding the platform. I didn't think that it was that complicated." Sander walked over to meet Calisto and gave her a great big hug.

"Did you have problems finding your way here?" he smiled down at his best friend.

Turning to the other girls sitting on his trunk, he introduced them to her.

"Callie, meet Christmas, she's a Gryffindor at Hogwarts. I think you've met Mika and the girl over there....I don't really know her name yet." he waved over at the girl sitting nearby.

Mika wasn’t really sure how it all had happened. One minute she was fine – wobbly but fine. Had she hurt herself? Well she really didn’t know if she had hurt herself. Using his arm she put a bit of pressure on her ankle to see if she was in fact fine. “I’m…” she gulped her face reddening from the pain and her eyes widening as she stood there. “Fine, not as bad as a bludger to the face…never had that but I’m sure its not as bad as that” she tried not to wince as she stood there which was proving impossible.

Glancing up she heard a somewhat familiar voice, she’d heard that voice when she was much younger. It was before Kaiden had left, before Nash had arrived. She glanced up and immediately smiled at the older Hufflepuff girl. ”Hey Adeline right? You came back to Hogwarts! Its great to see you and you look amazing” she beamed brightly.

She had a feeling Asher would be happier with Adeline at the school…maybe they were still together right? Or did Asher just well not like anyone else? Oh and her saying the name to the guy whose shirt she absolutely adored. Anyone who liked Poe was top notch in her books.

Beaming to Poe-shirt-boy Mika smiled, ”I like your shirt, Poe is top notch.” She beamed to Brad and who looked to be about her age – and seemed nice enough. She had no idea, the Poe had just scored HIGH very HIGH in her books. Hah, books.

Okay so Sander disappeared… and then was back again. Okay. Weird.

Glancing up at Calisto when she appeared because she had heard her name of course she just smiled. ”Hi Callie! A Gryffindor? Really, but shouldn’t the hat decide like put it on your head and hear it go…let me see how about Gryffin-no Ravenclaw. She looks like she could be a Ravenclaw maybe.” Mika nodded definitively.

”Anyways…its nice to meet you Gryffindor Callie – oh…wait you know your name is like one letter off from one of our Professors she’s the head of my house Ravenclaw that is!” she beamed, brightly and realized she hadn’t said Professor Edgewood’s name. ”Her name is Calista Edgewood she’s cool the divinations Professor” she beamed brightly and sent another look at Brad’s shirt. One day she was going to ask where he got it so she could have one of her own.

Sander wondered whether Mika had indeed her foot, especially because she was massaging her foot. He would have offered to rub it for her....he who had lots of experience with sprained feet especially with his own. When you play Ice Hockey, there are definitely lots of sprained feet and arms...and heads...

"Here you should sit down and nurse that ankle." Sander offered her again, the other spot on his trunk.

Then he heard her acknowledge the girl who had called out to him. So her name was Adeline. Nice name.

Then she heard her welcome Calisto. Wait! Callie wasn't the Gryffindor, it was Christmas.

Need to clarify her mistake.

"Mika you have it wrong. It's Christmas here who is a Gryffindor. Callie still needs to be sorted like me." Sander told her.

Then he noticed her glancing at the boy that he had seen talking to Adeline. Did she like him.

Sander grinned.

Christmas smiled at Sander and said "Well transfers sometimes get sorted with the first years but most of them get sorted seperatly and well things can get chaotic if there are loads of people needing to get sorted" Christmas turned to Calisto and said "Pleasure to meet you Calisto welcome to Hogwarts i hope you have a fun term"

Bart just kept an eye on the girl. She had dived places for her kneazle before. Kneazle? His eyes widened, “It’s not going to eat Toad.” He shifted and put his hand over his pocket. “No I wasn’t joking, let’s see how good you can do with all these people and the tracks right there.” Come on girl if she thought she could do better he wanted to see, but he figured she’d probably ruin her clothes or something, but he was a little more curious about the creature now. “So does it get away often? Where does it like to go?” Maybe it had a special place or something that it ran off too. He thought about the possibilities of places to explore just because Toad would get away.

He stuck out his chest a bit decent dive see she could see cool when there was one. That’s what he was going to stick to at least. “and what does it take to impress you?” not that he really cared, but he figured it was some weird girly stuff nothing cool and fun that he would do. “You can snuggle a frog see…” He pulled out his frog and moved quickly putting it to the side of her face. “See cuddle cuddle” pulling it away he chuckled a bit. “I wouldn’t sleep with your mouth open though Toad’s known to hop in once in awhile.” He knew that from experience unfortunately so now Toad slept on the opposite side of his mouth or on the floor depending on where the frog went off too. He handed her one of the sugar quills as he chomped on his own. “Got to sugar up for this trip.” He wanted to be wide awake to see what he could get into on the way to school.

"BOYFRIEND? Gross, she's my sister!" Caleb exclaimed, not that the older girl could have known that...but wasn't it kind of obvious? Same sort of hair color, similar facial features, same eyes...or maybe the girl was just messing with him.

Oh. She'd WINKED at him. An older girl winking at him? That hadn't happened before. Before Caleb realized it, he was blushing. Oh Merlin how embarrassing. BLUSHING. Caleb Newell didn't BLUSH. That was for...for...HUFFLEPUFFS!

He cleared his throat. "Yes, right, Mum would be furious. And so would Dad. You know how he is about animals," he reminded her. Where did she think he got HIS love of animals from?

"Maybe you'll like it. If you actually get to know it," he reminded her. "Just keep it away from Beans," he added. He did NOT want his rat becoming a casualty of Sophie's neglectance.

Genie sprang up and looked at the girl. Really?!? She was going to take back her offer?? WHY!!! She narrowed her eyes and then relaxed...

She couldn't just GIVE it to her...

... so the girl wanted money. Well! She was in for a surprise.

"I understand... you may not realize it, but you probably love the little thing... cute and furry and just all together sweet. Any sweet, loving child would not want to part with it." Wuss... "And you seem so nice... I mean to even offer me the feline... was just." She held her hand on her heart and added "touching."

Aww, the boy was blushing. "Oh you're her brother!" She said smiling even wider. "Well thank Merlin! I mean to say, I just thought, such a handsome guy like you... well... you must be what 15? 16?" She went close to the boy and continued pouting her lips a bit, "You know I've always wanted a kneazle... I love animals, and I had one when I was really little... but my brothers... they..." and she began sniffling, and grabbed his arm, holding herself closer to him, and using his shoulder to sniffle in. "Well... I just can't say it. See I really wanted another pet... to love and to hold, and pet and... and..." She pulled off the boy and looked at him with big crocodile tears in her eyes, "your arms... are so strong."

SOMEBODY GIVE ME THAT KNEAZLE ALREADY!! That or the Wizarding Award for Dramatic Arts... she was ON FIYAH!

Adi figured Benjamin was wondering why he was wearing his hat so low. "The light,'' he answered the unasked question. "It hurts my eyes.'' Thank goodness it wasn't hurting much. But he grinned as the other boy said ''aye''. "Are you secretly a pirate?'' Adi asked. He thought pirates were cool. "I reckon it is.'' Hmmm. "I guess there's no way we can slow down time, is there?'' He seriously hoped Benjamin figured he wasn't stupid and he was just kidding around.

"I'm a Hufflepuff,'' Adi said proudly. Yep. He was mighty proud of being in that House. "Gus isn't going to hurt you, Conrad. He just wants to say hi.'' And right on cue, Gus gave an almighty croak. Adi laughed. "See? Can you say hi, Conrad?'' Adi just loved animals. They were so much fun!

So he needed to get sorted. Interesting....very interesting. He has heard that a hat was used to do that but wondered what it's participation in this sorting ritual involved. Sander was interested to find out.

He was glad to see that Calisto was making friends. He had to be honest and admit that she always had no problems doing that for not only was she beautiful, she was also very nice and approachable.

Not that he wasn't..he just wasn't as beautiful as she was.

Christmas smiled at Sander and said "When i transferred to Hogwarts in my fourth year i had to get sorted, there is nothing hard about it the hat does the deciding for you and where abouts are you transferring from Sander" Christmas was just trying to make polite conversation

So that was how the sorting worked. The hat did the deciding? Could it be bribed? Sander laughed to himself. He would have to study it carefully.

Then he realized Christmas was saying something to him. Pay attention Sander.

"Oh I'm a transfer from Durmstrang. 7th year. So is Calisto? Do you know of any other students transferring over?"

Oh please say yes. That way we can all be lost at Hogwarts together.

Sander looked around as the girls he was with chatted among themselves. Was it just his imagination or did there seem to be more girls at Hogwarts then there were guys?

Sander hoped not, even as he looked around hoping to see a fellow male student.

Was that one approaching right now?

Christmas looked at Sander and nodded and said "Yeah cool and no i do not know of any other transfer students maybe we will see each other around more i am in my seventh year myself"

Sophie gave Caleb a 'you-have-got-to-be-kidding-me' look. This girl winked at him...and Caleb BLUSHED? He was such a Gryffindor. Why he hadn't actually been sorted there was beyond her. She followed that look with an eye roll before turning back to whoever this girl was.

She was calling Sophie's bluff, that's what she was doing. Sweet and loving child? Riiiight. Caleb might fall for things hook, line, and sinker, but fortunately for Sophie, she actually had some sass to back up that Slytherin sorting. "You mean...just like you're so sweet and loving to want to take him from me?" she asked. She was scared of her brothers?! "Whatever your brothers did, you should really make them pay for it." She paused. So, ..what was it? What'd they do?

She watched this girl's interaction with her brother. Caleb? Strong? "Don't be such a Gryffindor," she said to him. It was a challenge. Will you fall underneath this girl's pressure? She waited to see the tiniest bit of evidence that Caleb was a snake after all. She really doubted it, though.

Sophie's GLARES were all it took for Caleb to snap back into reality. How could Caleb be such a FOOL? This girl was making the moves on him just to get him wrapped around her finger - she was probably going to try and use him to make someone jealous or destroy Sophie...academically, or something, he wasn't sure what problems this girl had with his sister but if he let himself fall under her spell he'd be like a weapon against her! His own flesh and blood!

MERLIN CALEB. STOP BEING SO STUPID.

"Thanks for being interested, but this kneazle was entrusted to Sophie," he said. "And the Newells," he added. Because knowing Sophie it'd end up being a family pet soon enough. "So we'd really be doing the poor animal a disfavor if we handed him off to you right away," he added. "We don't even KNOW you. For all we know, you could be a kneazle skinning coat manufacturer." he said with a smirk, as if daring her to say otherwise.

He decided that now was as good a time as any to finally get on the train and get away from this girl. "Come on, Sophie, let's get a good compartment on the train," he said, grabbing his bag and walking away, glancing over his shoulder to see if she'd follow.