Candy? Check. Normal people clothes? Check. She was already for the train ride home but her train ride home would be more of going to her Aunt Raeanne and Uncle Cam's home but their home was totally her home now. She loved Alabama but Tutshill was nice too. There was nothing wrong with Tutshill and she was able to watch Quidditch games whenever she wanted to so that was also a very awesome plus. The blonde was in her favorite area of the train. It wasn't the front and it wasn't the back, it was quite simply the middle of the train and it felt cozier than any other part of the train to this sixteen year old.

Emmylou made her way and easily found an empty compartment. She would let anyone sit here just as long as there was room for Cinna, Bart and Kace. She didn't even know where those three were but then again she did hurry out of the castle just to find the best compartment here. Emmylou opened one of the bigger boxes of nerds. The best ones in her opinion, the rainbow ones! But were they really rainbow? They are more of a pastel color and she didn't remember a beautiful rainbow being so pastel like. Emmylou sat down closest to the window, that was her spot and no one else's!

Her first year was over already!! wow time just flew by, she couldn't believe it. Going up and down the Train Echo was looking for a familiar face... and thats when she saw her!!! her cousin, Emmylou.. Echo almost ripped off the door and jumped in "EMMY!!!" she shouted, it felt like at least a week had gone by that she hadn't seen her family. Her and Emmy were in different house and Echo didn't really met any best friends so she kept to herself most of the year.

"next year i make more friends" she thought while sitting down across from her cousin. "do you have any food, im starving" she rubbed her tummy as she realized that she should have packed a snack of some sorts... a reminder for her next train ride.

Tia had been half tempted to take a compartment in the front of the train because the front compartments seemed less crowded. Cause apparently sitting in the back was for the cool kids, which she was far from. Not to mention sitting near the front would mean she could get some shut-eye maybe and not have to really socialize. She was still bummed about how a lot of her first year at Hogwarts had gone, even some parts were alright.

As the Ravenclaw shuffled along the train corridor, her feet continued moving past the front compartments into the middle where she automatically slid the door open for one of the empty ones and plopped down on the seat.

Train time. Traaaaaain. You know what that meant? Home. Hoooome. Zander hadn't been this excited for something all year. But after the horrible year he had... Who could blame him right? Or uh, was he just being dramatic? Probably the latter. But either way, he was really REALLY pumped about the train. Normally he dreaded the summer holiday. There wasn't anything to do and his brothers were the WORST. But summer holiday was absolutely needed at this point. Zander needed a break from Hogwarts, time to see Kevin, and erm... He still had to explain the cruppy thing. Ahem. Hopefully the stuff Eden gave him would help convince his parents.

Anyways. All of that was totally irrelevant unless one was wondering why he had a brilliant smile on his face for the first time in months. He was carrying his cruppy in his arms as he walked down the aisle of the train. Which compartment? The badge on his robe clearly meant he was supposed to sit in the very first compartment... But thinking back to the owl from Lottie earlier in the term... She was right about that place. The Prefects' Compartment was boring. He was only really friends with Puck and Adi. Marigold was nice, but things were still weird around her since the erm, incident. Then there were the others who he didn't really know all too well. CB was great, but he wasn't all too fond of Gabe...

So yeah, Prefect compartment was out of this ruling. Ahem.

Moving forward. He didn't exactly want to sit in the front compartment... It was too close to the Prefects' Compartment. Didn't want someone noticing that he wasn't sitting in there, y'know? So yeah, not that. And the back compartments were SO far. He wanted to get off ASAP. So.... Middle it was. OH this one looked em--Tia? OH, uh, even better. Yeah. His cheeks were a nice shade of PINK as he slid the door open and popped his head inside. "Have you got room for me and Azalea in there?" Griiiiiiiiin. Azalea being the cruppy, by the way. No girl could ever resist a cruppy. It was like rule number one. And hopefully this meant he wouldn't be compartmentless for long, right? Riiiiiight?

Was Sophie Brown following Mr. Adair? Perhaps. Would she deny it if questioned? Probably not.

As the Gryffindor prefect made his way down the train corridor, Sophie followed him, ducking behind people or jumping into compartments to hide herself from his view, then when he faced forward again she continued her pursuit. She WANTED to just jump on his back, but she saw that he had his crup with him, so... she didn't want to startle the thing or make it think she was attacking Zander, right?

So, once Zander seemed to select a compartment, Sophie hurried up RIGHT behind him, squeezed both of his sides, then peeked around his shoulder into the compartment and added on to his words, "And ME?" Hiiii, housemate.

She was on the traaaaaaain, it was time to go home!!!

Eeeep, Lux was so excited. She could not wait to be back in London where she could see her boyfriend, her family, and her friends. So many plans would be made - HAD been made. There was her third anniversary with Bay, and Willa's engagement party. So much awesome stuff!! Honestly she didn't care in the slightest that she wasn't going on the trip to Scotland; her anniversary and Willa's party were way more important even if Cinna didn't see the big deal.

Big smile on her face, the redhead searched everywhere for compartment to sit, making her way towards the back of the train. Popping her head into different doorways, there were ones either filled or containing people she did not know. Hmm, normally she was totally up for meeting new people, but right now she liked the thought of being with people she was familiar with.

Up ahead she spotted Zander and Sophie heading towards a compartment and popping their heads inside. "Mind if I join you guys?" she asked as she reached them. Oh, and there was Tia. "Hey there, Tia!" Wave.

After getting some snacks from the food trolley, Leah wandered down the train corridor in search of a random compartment, while her kneazle walked off to find something more fun to do. For some people, deciding which compartment to sit in was a major source of debate. Fortunately, it wasn't for Leah. She did not care whether she was up at the front, in the middle or at the rear end of the train. She did not mind whether she sat with her best friends or complete strangers.

So when she found some of her good friends crowded outside a compartment door, she silently joined them by their side. "Hey, guys," she grinned at Zander, Sophie and Lux. Because of her short height, she could not see the person already seated. Must be a celebrity of some sort, to have so many students wanting to sit with them. "Can I sit with ya all?" Leah asked, peering around the Gryffindor Prefect to try to see who else was in the compartment.

It was time to go home, Hady wasn't all that sure how she felt about it honestly. Sure she was happy to see her parents and her friends back home but she was going to miss all her friends at school. At least she was getting to go on the Summer trip so she'd get to see some of them then! That was a nice plus.

Shifting her smaller shoulder bag with her snacks and a few other things inside up on her her shoulder the small girl was able to hold her cat Hagan in a more comfortable way. Lightly stroking the fur between the cats ears she was greeted with a soft purr that made her grin a bit. Happily continuing the petting of her cat Hady carefully made her way through the train and around anyone that may have been standing about talking until she located an empty compartment.

Perfect.

This is what she had been looking for. Pushing the door open she slipped inside the compartment and set her bag down on the seat before sitting beside the window. That moment she was sat Hagan curled himself on her lap demanding more pets which she easily gave to him. Now all she had to do was relax for the long ride home.

The shut eye thing? That lasted for maybe thirty seconds before she heard the door slide open to reveal the smiling face of the Gryffindor Prefect (were his cheeks flushed or was it the lighting?) ........ Tia GRINNED back at the fifth year. "Just Azalea," she teased holding her hands outstretched for the cruppy. Yes, she wanted to hold it.

And there was a Miss Brown in the shadows. Which meant she should scoot over toward the window so company wouldn't have to walk past her. "Hiiii Sophie! Of course. Plenty of --"

... and another joining them. Now all they needed was a Slytherin and they reached the quota from each house. "Always room for your smiling face, Lux!"

And why did the three look beat? Probably something to do with those exams they had not too long ago; maybe she should convince them for pointers ... But not before another girl made an appearance; Zander wasn't going to get all bashful and CUTE was he? This girl though, Tia hadn't met yet but she was nearly positive she remembered seeing her in some of her fourth year level classes. "Of course. I'm Tia by the way ..." she beamed at her and would have stuck her hand out for a handshake but ... CRUPPY hehe. "You're also a fourth year, right?"

Zander didn’t even have to turn to figure out who the “And ME” was. Obviously Sophie Brown. He could recognize her voice from a mile away. And BEFORE Tia could even respond ANOTHER person came up. Zander was around 89% sure that he could recognize this voice too, but he peeked around just to— Lux. It was Lux. So Tia, cruppy, Sophie, Lux. Merlin. So. Many. Girls. Ahem. But he did give a grin to all of them as a ‘hello’. Yeah. Polite.

Oh wait. Another one. Another GIRL there were so many of them. Was he allowed to phone a friend? Drag Simon in here too?? Because when it was just Zander…. He was outnumbered, y’know? WAY outnumbered. Four million to one. Not that he minded girls or anything… But knowing Sophie Brown… He wouldn’t get off easily and uh… Oh? They were invited in? Well… His cruppy was invited in, but the smile on the Ravenclaws face said he was too. Unless he was misinterpreting things which in that case— Wait no.

He was outnumbered. He had a RIGHT to take a seat…. Yeah?

Ahem.

The Prefect HAPPILY handed over his cruppy, having held her all the way down to the train and all, then took a seat right ACROSS from TiaMarie. Looking over at Sophie to see where she’d sit. Housemate or Zander? HM? Actually, he didn’t really mind wherever any of them sat. As long as someone sat on his side too, otherwise he’d REALLY feel outnumbered.

”So uh, everyone excited for the holiday?”


… Was it too late to phone a friend?

Sophie rested her cheek against Zander and let out a melodic, "Yayyy!" when Tia let them come inside. And then LUX! And then LEAHHHHHH! "Welcome to the party, Lux 'n Leah," she greeted them dramatically but cordially, nudging Zander further inside, then grinned when he sat across from Tia. Good. Goooood.

Since there was no crup in his lap, Sophie hopped right over and sat on the prefect's lap. "Since we're the place to be and all, I figure more people'll wanna join us, so we'll save space this way." She patted Zander's head while grinning at his blushing cheeks, then made herself comfortable. "Thanks, Zanderpander."

NBD. Just hangin' out.

Soph smiled at the girls introducing themselves to each other, then hummed at Zander's words. Excited wasn't the word she would use, and since there were three other people present, she would let them go ahead and answer. It was much better for her to not dwell on all the things that the summer months entailed for herself.

After maybe ten minutes had passed Emmylou stopped looking outside and started to read her book the book that she knew all too well and really loved to read on the train ride home from Hogwarts, Peter Pan. Emmylou really didn't show it lately but she really did love Peter Pan still. Maybe Kace is Peter Pan and she, herself was Wendy Darling. That would be amazing but then again even if people don't think that fairytales are really she knows that her relationship with Kace is like a fairytale but only better. Hearing a very load, little girl voice she jumped and her book went flying on the floor. The blonde looked at the compartment doorway and smiled when she saw Echo. "ECHO!" She beamed and stood up to hug her!

Food? Emmylou nodded and sat back down at her window see as Echo sat across from her. "I have nerds? The little Willy Wonka candy." She loved muggle candies there were so much to choose from but wizarding candy was really amazing too.

SNORT. Poor Zander, being surrounded by girls. And yep, there was another one. "Heya, Leah!" Looked like there was going to be a party in the middle cars. They only needed a Slytherin then all four Houses would be represented, with her both being a Gryffindor and a Hufflepuff.

Lux happily walked inside the compartment and took a seat by the window. She could definitely settle in here for a while. Everyone was so nice. Zander asked if they were excited for the holiday, and well....it should be pretty obvious that she was!! "Yes! I have been waiting for this forever. This term dragged on for aaaaaaages." Looked like the other two would as well.

Bleh.

"So who is going on the trip? I'm not." Maybe she was the only one not going, but eeeeh she didn't care.

Time to go home. Woah he never thought this day would come. I mean he was just in his sixth year and now he was going to be an adult soon. That was too scary but right now he wanted to focus on getting home. He did miss his huge ranch house and his animals and even his dorky sister. He grinned and knew he was gonna have a teasing when he got home. Anywho time to find people. He scanned around the carts and walked all the way down and noticed Emmy was sitting there eating some nerds. He chuckled and shook his head and thought it was typical. He opened the door and saw her with someone else he thought was familiar. Oh wait a minute this was her cousin Echo.

He sat down and greeted Emmy with, "Heyy babe eating nerds again I see.." and kissed her cheek and then he nodded towards Echo. "Hello Echo.." he said as well. "How was your first year so far?" he asked.

She got a CRUP in her lap which was enough to satiate the Ravenclaw for now at least. Entertaining herself with rubbing its nose against hers, she then let it curl on her lap as she absently scratched its tummy and ears. If she had not been aware of Sophie's relationship with Tobes though, then she might have envied her seat, but it was all play.

"Yes and no. I mean, I don't know about Leah here ..." cause that was the girl's name, that Lux had used, yah? "... but well, finishing this year means this is our last free Summer before we have to buckle down for OWLs." Yes she'd seen firsthand the stress of them from Zander and Sophie. "I'm counting on you three to give us pointers." Yes, even Ravenclaws wanted pointers; these exams were supposed to be EXHAUSTING and they had a BIG IMPACT on their future.

Oh GOOD, she wasn't the only one not going on the field trip! Tia beamed at Lux; "I'm not going on the trip either. I was kinda bummed at first that my mum wouldn't give me permission cause she wanted more time with me or something, since well me being away at Hogwarts is like the longest I've ever been away... but it's good there are others not going. We'll have to keep in touch though ... all of you." And as soon as she spent her time in Italy, she'd be back in London as soon as possible.

Making her way down the train corridor Puck just grinned when she spotted Zander in a compartment with a bunch of girls…seriously he had had the same idea as her. Avoid the prefects compartment…it was boring. Sure, she’d stop in later maybe just to say hey…hi…yes I just wanted to be with friends and that was where she was going! Seriously, she wanted to be there with Lux, but the compartment would be so crowded…like she’d only fit on the luggage rack. And that didn’t sound comfortable at all.

Looking into a compartment not far off she just chuckled. Seriously if the two compartments could be combined it’d have been perfect…almost all of her friends together in one place! She grinned and tapped on the doorframe. “Hey, mind if I join you guys?” she asked kindly.

Angel had lost everyone, she had totally lost everyone, this was going to drive her very crazy she wanted to find her boyfriend Benny but at the minute she was totally lost and had no idea where he would be... she decided that she would look for him in a bit but for now finding an empty compartment she sat in it and thought about a few things that had happened this term.

Hehe, Zander was the boy in this group. He might have looked slightly awkward, but Leah did not notice anything. She grinned at all of them when they gave friendly greetings. Hanging out with people from many many houses was fun! As the Fifth Years began walking into the compartment, she saw the person already in it. Aaahhh she knew this girl! She was also a Fouth Year like her - Leah always remembered people in her year. She took a seat across from where Zander and Sophie were squashed sitting together and right next to the girl. She smiled as Tia introduced herself. "Hi Tia, I'm Leah. Yep, I am a rising Fifth Year too."

Then the usual topic about the holidays came along. Leah sat listening to Lux talk. She smiled, about to agree to her opinion, when Tia spoke about her summer too. OWLs. She had almost forgotten about that. "UGH, I'm anxious about OWLs too," she nodded, YES advices were welcome. "I am planning to use my holidays wisely this summer." By wisely she meant spending most of the time playing and hanging out with friends. NOT studying. Studying was school stuff.

Oooh, the Summer Field Trip! That was one of the things the girl was looking forward to. She was surprised that both Lux and Tia were not participating though, after the Headmistress' speech, she thought most students would sign up for it. Well, everybody had different ways of spending their holidays. "I'm going! My parents also wanted to spend more quality time with me, but they like me making my own choices," she said. "Yeah Tia, let's keep in contact over the holidays, I feel like we can be good friends." Leah's Hufflepuff instincts coming up here mmm.

And just as he had sat down, a Sophie Brown was approaching. Oh. So she was going to sit next to— Ooph. Ha ha ha ha. Sophie Brown were you trying to kill the boy? Probably, yes. If only it were possible to control the amount of red that his face was getting at right about now. Soooophie. Of course she did this kind of thing all the time, but not when there were tons of other people around??? O_____O Girls for that matter. Tons of other girls around. Sophie Brown. What were you doing?

But her explanation made sense. So he turned his look of ???? into one of understanding. Of course they’d want to conserve space if— Wait what? And he was back to that ???? look again. Because uh, couldn’t they just tell other people that their compartment was full? Plus they still had a bit of room left and…

How come everyone else seemed to move on so quickly? Sigh.

”Pointers?” he was looking over Sophie now so that he could address Tia properly, thank you very much. ”Uh, yeah. I can try to help. I’ve got loads of great notes for Herbology,” the others were questionable…. But herbology was his best. And Creatures too. Those were GREAT classes. Zander very much approved.

But she probably had her own notes anyways. Ravenclaws always seemed on top of that stuff. Like that Banner guy, Merlin. He had it together. You know, whatever it was, anyways. As for the field trip though, he frowned when both Lux and Tia said they couldn’t go…. Was anyone even going? Damien said he’d have to think about it. Now these two. Had Zander signed up without any of his friends??? SURELY SOPHIE WAS GOING.

… Right?

Oh, well at least Leah was going. Even though he knew this girl less than he knew the others in the compartment. ”I’m going too, but only ‘cause I think I’ve got to…. You know, sort of need to prove my worth again after everything this term.” Professor Flamsteed would be there as a chaperone. And hopefully Thuebridge too. Had to show them that he wasn’t a complete screwup. And Professor Quigley too, but uh was Catman even going? And now to Sophie Brown. PLEASE say you’re going, Soph.

THE TOBY TRAIN WAS HEEEEEEEEEERE.

Ha. Hahaha. HahahAHAHAHA. The TOBY TRAIN was ON the HOGWARTS TRAIN. Man. MAN. That was FUNNY, riGHT? Even as Toby THOUGHT of it, charging down the train at a hundred miles an hour, barreling past and through people like he didn't even register they were there. It was a miracle he'd made it onto the train at all today. PACKING hadn't even started until waaaaaay after the sun had risen that morning, after all, and it had been a rushed job... though everything was a rushed job for this kid at the moment.

NYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM.

Like the way he careered down the train corridor. His usual exuberance EXACERBATED by the fact that he now realised THEY WERE GOING HOOOOOOOOOOOOOME. AT LAST. Words could not describe the relief Toby felt.

SO... as he was charging down the train, Toby CAUGHT SIGHT of a few familiar faces. Or, no... actually it was more like FAMILIAR BLURS OF HAIR. He stopped DEAD IN HIS TRACKS and immediately backtracked.

"FRIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENDS!" Toby cried out gleefully, as he beamed into a compartment full of people, including SOPH and ZAN and LUX and a couple people he didn't know well enough to have a grasp of their names. PUCK THE PREFECT was standing there with the door open, so he DUCKED UNDER HER ARM and darted into the compartment.

And sat himself RIGHT THERE on Soph, who in turn was sat on Zan. Good job Toby was still pretty small, probably not so lucky that the concept of 'careful' was currently lost on him.

Now THIS was a chair to be proud of. Toby BEAMED at Soph and Zan and RUFFLED BOTH THEIR HAIR and then grinned at everyone else present. HI FRIENDS HI. He seemed quite unabashed at having just charged right on in. In fact...

"SURE, Puckington. Come ON IN."

Everyone else was excited for the summer, which was to be expected, but people weren't going on the field trip? Whyyyy would they pass up such an opportunity? Tia's reasons made sense, and Leah - what a cutiepie, wanting to keep contact with a girl she'd just met! Sophie could give pointers if Tia really wanted her to, but until she got her results, she didn't want to try to guide anybody in anything. Just to be safe, y'know?

It was good that Zander was going. Sophie didn't know if she was going to go or not, even though she had signed up. There were a lot of factors that were going to come into play for the whole summer, so... err. "I'm signed up to go." That was a safe response. Not a definite yes that she was going, but no one would probably pick up on that, eh?

TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOBES.

Sophie's previously somber thoughts turned delighted when her Hufflepuff came bounding into the compartment and chose to sit RIGHT ON HER LAP. HEHEHEHE. "Tooobes," she giggled, wrapping her arms around his middle and hugging his back closer to her. She didn't even feel a little bad for Zander under her - THEY WERE A TRIOOOOOO. GIGGLING at the hair-ruffling, Sophie squeeezed his torso and chimed, "The trio's all togetherrrrr." Then she wiggled her bum against Zander to make sure he didn't feel like a third wheel. TRIO.

Yuck, OWLs. Lux knew all to well the stress caused by those exams since she had to endure them all too recently. "I can try to help as well. I studied everything extensively last term as I did all 12 of the tests." So if they were needing advice or someone to assist them with studying she was there. They could all work together as a team maybe!

So Tia wasn't going on the trip either, though Zander, Leah, and Sophie were. "I would have gone if the date for leaving was better. July 1st is my third anniversary with Bay and my sister's engagement party. I'd rather miss a trip than either of those." Not like she couldn't go there another time. There were loads of opportunities for vacation. But what on earth was Zander talking about with needing to prove his worth again? "You have already proved you are worthy of the Badge, Zander." He was a good Prefect and needed to accept it, as did Puck.

Speaking of Puck, there she was outside of the compartment? Why wasn't she coming in? The more the merrier in her mind and the Gryffindor was always welcome. The only person missing was her boyfriend, but he would never be on the train again and that thought made her sad.

Toby was definitely not sad, however, as he practically bounced into the compartment. Lux could totally understand the hyperness because she too was thrilled at the prospect of heading home. It was absolutely fantastic and she couldn't wait! "Heya, Toby! You going on the trip?" She'd guess yes, that he would be going with Sophie. "And yes, come in, Puck! Don't make me come out there and get you." BEAM.