After dragging her trunk along the platform,and saying goodbye to her parents,Sarah clambered into the back carriages of the Hogwarts Express.
She was excited this time.Last year..her first..she had been full of fear.Fear of the unknown,and of being seperated from her family.
Having made friends at Hogwarts,however,she was now looking forward to riding the train again and catching up with them.
Looking around she could see a few people already aboard...none of whom she knew.
Walking along she found an empty compartment and shoved the door back so she could enter.Plonking herself down on the seat she rummaged around in her bag to find Nigel..her yellow Pygmy Puff.He was one of the first things she had bought herself in Diagon Alley last year and she carefully placed him on her lap and watched as he rolled around.
"I hope someone I know turns up soon," she mumbled to herself.

Her blue eyes widened and shifted to the door when she heard yelling outside her compartment. Leah shivered, and held her little gray kitten a bit tighter. The furry kritter squirmed, and attempted to get away, but only managed to stick it's head out beneath her arm. Leah continued to stroke the cat, and stared out onto the platform, eyes following her family as they left.

Don't cry Leah. Don't do it. You'll be ok. You'll see them at Christmas. She told herself sternly, and sniffled. When the door clattered open, then shut, she jumped and turned to see the little boy from the hallway. From a glance she could tell he was as uneasy about this whole thing as she was. Unwilling to offend the boy Leah smiled uneasily at him, and muttered, "hello," under her breath.

Sure, she wanted to know if this boy had followed a sibling onto the train, or if he was really going to attend Hogwarts...but that was rude...and she didn't want to make enemies before even arriving at school.

Harley decided that starting at the back of the train was the best place to start, He wandered down the aisle and came across a empty compartment so slide the door aside and took a seat. He couldnt wait to get to the school.

Amanda had decided to just play her guitar, there was no one else in the compartment to listen to what she was doing anyway. So she put Belkin back in his cage, grabbing her guitar case from against the window; she opened up the case, taking out her guitar and her pick, before closing the case again. She held the neck of the guitar in her left hand and rested her right hand on the body, holding the pick between two fingers; she began to play one of the songs that she performed while she was in Australia.

Uh oh... this was... sonotgood.

Jake sprang up straight away and made to go after the kid. It would not bode well if they reported him to an adult or one of the kid's family members. Especially for his plans, which were, of course, of utmost importance.

Jake smiled back at Jack, thinking he would give it up and just come in and sit down, but the boy acted cocky, and Jake didn;t want more attention... just yet.

"Come in and sit down," he urged, before making after the little boy. "I'll be right back."

Jake peered through the compartment doors, looking for that boy, and found him with a girl who was hugging her own knees. Opening up the door, Jake look suspiciously at the girl.

"You'll hurt your back if you sit that way too much," he stated. "Cool kitten!" Then Jake turned his attention to the other kid. He knew the boy was his own age, and starting Hogwarts, as he'd overheard one day in one of the Street's many dramatic happenings.

"Are you ok, erm... person?" he asked. Jake didn't know the kid's name or anything other than that he was an earbiter. "You aren't like, going to snitch, right? Jack can just be a bit...overly authorative and confident. Pay no attention," Jake smiled.

Winnie was ready.

She had spent the last couple of days plotting feverishly, her stomach in knots. This was HIGH SOCIETY, this was. She'd spent the beginning of her formative years locked up with a tutor nowhere near as handsome and debonaire as Davis. It was important, so sayeth Mum, to make a good impression. Everyone must know who you are when you enter a room. You must capture and captivate everyone RIGHT AWAY or no one...will ever...know who you are.

To that end, Winnie had dressed that morning in her Hogwarts uniform, impeccably clean and pressed to a crisp. (Especially her skirt, it fanned out like a tea cozy, stuck in its skirty shape. Oh well. Too much starch, perhaps.) She wore on her frizzy blonde curls an enormous floppy red bow; so enormous, in fact, that the loops of the bow grazed her shoulders. She was dressed to Stun, she knew it. She entered a car at the back of the train, her face split into a grin, ready to CAPTIVATE.

"It could ." he said smiling. But it was then gone when Chris spoke again. "Thats sad. You two were close. What happened? You don`t have to say if you don`t want to" Nosy Barry couldn`t he just butt out for once?

He couldn't move, that was simply it. His lips couldn't move so his voice would form the words he needed to tell her. The small little creature only watched her with interest. His small eyes then moved towards her lap, seeing a small gray cat on her lap. As if he weren't in the awkward position he was in, Willie moved forward and stuck his hand out to stroke the kitten's head.

Looking up at the girl, he smiled weakly and whispered shyly, "Hi."

Although, the shyness quickly dissolved as a boy came into their compartment. His shoulder's tensed and he turned around to face the other boy. "Name'th Willie, not perthon." He told him, annoyed a bit at being called person. "Ye talkin' about tha' boy? Eh, why should I tell? Th'not like I'm 'fraid or thomethin'."

"Anywayth, who're you ter tell me not te pay attention?! Ye ain't me mum!" Willie snapped, glaring up at the boy.

Once again Mariel was escorted to the train station by one of her older sisters. This time her father was off on holiday with that dreadful woman, too otherwise occupied to see his youngest daughter off to school. Shrugging at the thought, the young Ravenclaw proceeded directly ahead, confidently pulling her trunk and owl cage behind her as she gave a wave to Meloria.

Finally a new term was about to begin. Her daily life at home had become quite tedious, as she made constant excuses to escape to Diagon Alley over the holidays and now she was exceptionally excited for a new school year.

As her favorite place to sit was the back of the train, Mariel boarded at that point, slowly making her way through the corridor. Too her dismay, it was already becomming quite crowded, and exceptionally noisy. Peeking into the windows, she saw many faces, most of them ones she did not recognize. Walking past those, she stopped as she noticed someone familiar sitting alone.

Pulling open the compartment door, she said, grinning, "Hey Sarah!" Figuring her friend wouldn't mind if she sat, Mariel pulled her belongings inside and stowed her trunk in the overhead. Setting Pandora's cage on the floor next to her, she glanced over at the small creature rolling on Sarah's lap. Grinning, she said, "I have a little friend for your puff to play with." Mariel gestured to the small cage holding her brightly pink Aramis.

When the boy reached out to pet Malley, Leah lifted the kitten slightly, to give him better access. Well, at least he wasn't trying to make pointless small talk. She was much more comfortable with silence.

That was when another boy barged into their room, and started talking to the smaller boy. Should he not snitch? From what she'd gathered someone out in the hall had been less than nice to him. If he told an adult...well, it only made sense. He couldn't very well go around letting everyone pick on him. It wasn't right!

"I've been sitting like this for a long time...since I was little...I'm sure I'll be ok." She told the boy in a low voice, then fell into silence. Clearly he was done with her. He'd only come in to chase after that Willie boy, that much was obvious. Leah once more looked down at her knee's, and let her curly auburn hair fall forward around her face.

Again, the door opened, Leah jumped and looked up at the girl in the doorway. She met the girl's gaze pleadingly, help, she thought. Something told her this girl hadn't expected to walk in on something like this...but somehow she hoped the girl wouldn't leave.

Lizzie looked up, expecting to see a familiar face but then smiled at the unknown boy. Sure I don't mind at all she said and indicated to the empty seats. I'm Lizzie btw.

Ruby had decided to take a walk to the back of the train and spotted a few people gathering she walked up and wondered if they would mind her joing them?

She kept checking the floor for any mess that could get on her shoes

Winnie surveyed the scene before her. An auburn-haired girl with OOH Merlin a kitten I love kittens I wonder what its name is was looking quite terrified, and she ought to be.

For who loomed over her? None other than WILLIE CROCKER.

Winnie had only seen him from a distance, and heard of him in passing through Garret Crocker (whose voice hushed with terror whenever he spoke of him). She was quite aware that Willie Crocker was a boy, a normal human boy. But for some reason, he bore a resemblance to some sort of monster. She couldn't help envisioning sharp teeth dripping with spittle and the blood of innocent forest animals, couldn't help seeing scarlet irises in his eyes. These, the eyes of judgement, were trained on some other boy.

WAS THIS BOY FOOL ENOUGH TO MESS WITH WILLIE CROCKER?! Poor unfortunate soul.

Winnie opened her mouth uncertainly.

"Oi," she croaked. "There ought not to be trouble, or the p-prefects will come," she said. "So you better...erm, stop and er...calm down?"

She sat beside the girl and the kitten YAY! "And I think you've made this girl a little uncomfortable."

Kevin wandered down to the back of the train hoping to see some of his friends as he was lonely already

"Ok, I'll call you Willie, I just didn't know your name is all," Jake explained. Then he shook his head to remind himself why he came in. "But yeah, Jack gets really reckless, and he doesn't apologise. I am in no doubt that you could definately stick up for yourself better than most students here-" you scare me enough "-so I'm not going to patronise you..."

What in the world was that pile of rotten garbage?! He was talking to a peer, not protesting for world peace.

"I'm just saying that Jack will challenge anyone," Jake shrugged, becoming a tad scared of the boy and his ear-biting powers. He scrambled around in his head trying to think of a way to change the subject.

"You know that boy, Dominic Denton-" No... Donnymick Dental... "-the Hufflepuff Prefect... you might have erm... got caught on his ear... by your teeth..." Jake nearly chuckled. "Anyway, we're getting him back later, for everything he's done to all the first years. Thought you might like to know..."

Jake looked up towards the girl again. "Well, as far as I know you can do some serious damage to your back, and that would be... like... painfull..." Jake explained, mentally facepalming. You total pillock.

"My name is Jacob Upstead, or Jake, it depends," Jake introduced. "People call me whatever they like."

But then... Hang on...

"Did you say you've been sitting like that for a long time? So you've been on this train since you were little?!" Jake went bugeyed. "Do people have to, like, move you about because you're stuck like that?!"

Well, I was right about it being bad for you...

What the... someone else?

"I'm not causing trouble, there's nothing going on!" Jake explained, feeling indignant. All the while, his brain just scream JACK STARTED IT so loudly that he was surprised nobody else heard. Then he frowned. "I don't believe I intentionally made anyone feel uncomfortable," he muttered. "I did nothing wrong."

Typical elders... LORDING it over!

Marcus excitedly walked along the train, looking for someone he knew. Smiling with relief he opened the door of the compartment and sat down with a sigh. Hi Liz he said and nodded politely at the boy who was also in there. Turning back to the girl he said That was awsome, to walk through the wall like that.. I guess it was quite a good idea to start at Hogwarts anyway. How has your summer been?

Ruby heard a boy speaking and walked into that compartment she looked at him and said "hello do you mind if i sit here for a bit? my name is Ruby Sawyer" she extended her hand politely

Hi Marcus! Lizzie said happily, smiling at him. I had a good summer, how about you? Grinning at his excitement she added I know, I'm glad too about you starting at Hogwarts. Do you know which House you're in yet?

Robert got onto the train carrying his trunk and Snow Drop's cage. Wandering around he looked for someone he knew and not finding Mariska or Elizabeth on the train yet grabbed an empty compartment at the back of the train. Walking into the compartment he lifted his trunk into the top and set his owls cage down on the seat. Well this is sure to be a fun filled year... He sat down on the seat and reached into his bag to pull out the copy of Quidditch Through the Ages that he still had yet to finish.

Yeah I'm in Gryffindor he smiled. Is that the same as you? You're about the only person I know so far. All the people my age already have friends. But I actually met a few people in Diagon Alley. And I got a wand! No more using Jesper's old one! As he thought about his siblings he lowered his voice and said I got a postcard from Becky last week, she's in New Zeeland!! He shook his head and laughed.

Jack looked at Jake with a glazed expression "Uhhh..." Jack saw Jake walk away and he followed him

Jack walked into the compartment after Jake "You wanna watch your mouth kid" Jack told him as he walked right up to the kid, he felt powerful when he was taller than someone.

Looking down at the hand Jake blinked for a second. This was another test. It wasn't palm up, so she didn't want something. The arm wasn't bent with the palm facing towards Jake. That was it!

Jake shook the hand in greeting and smiled. "My name is Jacob Upstead. Or Jake, whatever you want to call me."

Then, grinning, he explained. "I just came in here for a few minutes, my stuff is in a compartment further down towards the back, but yeah do whatever," Jake smiled again. This girl, Ruby Sawyer, seemed nice.

Snapping out of her daze,Sarah looked up at the sound of the door being opened.Seeing Mariel she grinned..."Hey! I'm so glad you're here,I don't know any of the others...and they looked to be chatting amongst themselves anyway."
She watched as Mariel stored her things and put her owls cage on the floor.Then she looked over at the bright pink thing Mariel was gesturing towards.
"Awww Nigel you have a friend," she said,holding her puff up so he could see.

Turning her attention back to her friend she smiled, "Did you have a good journey to the station? My dad got lost again...like always.He is so not good with directions..even though he did it last year." rolling her eyes in mock exasperation she giggled.
"I can't wait until we set off,the sooner we get to Hogwarts the better! I,for once,actually want to hear the speech!"
Laughing she set Nigel down on her lap again so he could continue rolling around.

Kevin sighed and made his way back up the train to where his compartment was

Wow, New Zeeland that's cool Lizzie said, then added But I guess you miss her..? She knew about Marcus crazy sister travelling around the worlds on instinct... That stupid girl. Giving Marcus a comforting smile she said I wouldn't really like it if John just randomly took off like that. But then again, he's only 14 so far. She recognized his feelings, she'd been sure she wouldn't find any friends one year ago, and now she had a lot of them. I'm sure you'll find nice people to hang out with! And yes, I am in Gryffindor as well she grinned.