"No problem," Reese told him. She leaned back in her seat and looked out the window. When were they going to get to Hogwarts? She wanted to get some food, she would eat some candy, but she didn't feel like getting up and searching for the candy cart.

After thinking about food for what seemed like hours, she turned back to Jack, who was rambling on and on about Cale and him being overprotective. "Yeah, Cale is like my older brother," she told Jake, sighing a little bit. she missed Cale so much, but at least she could still write him and stuff. It wasn't like he was gone forever, right? "I think he's only nervous because I was starting to think about getting a boyfriend- and he doesn't want me to have one. Because, I've had some bad luck with boyfriends," she explained. "Nwah, being overprotective isn't such a bad thing. It's better than not being protective at all. At least you know there's people out there that love you- and care about you."

When Jack mentioned her cat, Reese looked up at her cat's cage and smiled. "I do and her name is Isabella," she told him. "You have a cat, too? That's cool." She looked back at him, still keeping that smile on her face. There was just something about Jack that made her want to smile, but, she didn't know what it was. There was NO way she could be falling for him. Yes, he was cute, but- there was just no way she could be falling in love.

Wondering if there is a food area, Ott stands up, since the girl had ignored him the whole time he was sitting there, he just walks out of the compartment. Well, I guess she isn't that interested in talking...

Heading out of the compartment he decides to start as far as he can to the front of the train and heads back looking for somewhere that has food.

Jake nodded at the two girls again, before stretching his feet across to the seat opposite, before remembering that Melanie was indeed sitting there. He hesitated for a moment, before crossing his legs and resting his feet so he was laying across the seats. He wore his 4 year old pair of purple sneakers, the ones he cared for like they were his pets... He loved his shoes like his dad loved his car.

"Weren't we still at school in mid-July?" Jake questioned the girl, tilting his head a little and looking over at the younger girl. He watched her mess about with the owl and suddenly craved the company of one of his animals. "Do you girls mind spiders?" he asked the seemingly random question, before sticking two fingers from each hand in his mouth and letting out a shrill whistle.

Within about ten seconds, a small grey tabby cat had bounced into the compartment and onto Jake's precariously balanced body. "Hey, Lolcat," he murmured, petting his one year old kitten, hearing the strong purring. "This is my cat," Jake announced. "Lolcat."

Then Melanie held out the gold, and Jake stared at it for a moment, at first not registering it, but then glaring at it like it did him a great wrong. He wanted to tell her to keep it, but he knew from experience that people didn't like charity, as they called it. He shrugged. "Dunno what you're talking about," Jake stated in an outright lie.

Ahh, so that had been why Cale wanted Jack to watch Reese. He didn't want Reese getting a boyfriend. Pssh, that was WAY overprotective. Reese could probably take care of herself, no matter what issues she had with dumb guys in the past. Still, he had a duty to uphold to his former prefect, and he was going to do everything he could to fulfill his promise, gosh darnit. "I guess that's true," he said with a nodd. It was probably a good thing that Cale was overprotective. He just didn't want the people he loved to get hurt, that was all.

"Yeah, his name is Jinx...he's an orange tabby. And kind of crazy," he said with a chuckle. "My younger siblings have him in their compartment right now...so I probably won't get to see him till next week sometime." he added with a sigh.

Wesley was shaking, nervous. She hadn't slept at all last night, twisting and turning in anticipation and anxiety. What if they wouldn't like her? What if she was late for the train? What if she got to Hogwarts and they told her it was all a mistake? What if she said something stupid? What if she lost her luggage? What if she was killed by a muggle speeding by in a Semi (not that Wesley really knew what a Semi was, she just thought it sounded scary)?

Already in her school robes, her dark brown hair sticking in clumps to her head, still wet from taking a bath earlier, Wesley nervously climbed onto the Hogwarts Express and quickly entered the first compartment she saw, anxious to get out of the hallway.

Too scared to smile, she managed to say in a small, quavering voice,"May I sit here?", her hands knotted in her skirt and brown eyes wide like a frightened doe.

"Mmmmhmm," Reese told him. It wasn't like she was going to make the same mistake she did with Lucas. She learned her lesson with that situation. She was going to find a guy that loved her and wouldn't crush her heart. She wasn't going to give some idiotic guy her heart, so he could just play around with it.

"Jinx? Awww, that's such a cute name for a cat," Reese said. "Oh, so you have siblings that go here, too? That's cool. I have a little brother who is in Hufflepuff that attends Hogwarts, as well. He's name is Jake." She sighed a little bit when she said Jake's name. He was still mad at her about the whole Cam incident. She was regretting the whole thing now. She should have never kissed Cam. It just wasn't worth it.

"So..." Reese trailed off. "Why don't you tell me a little bit about yourself?" Might as well get to know your bodyguard since he's going to be following you around. It would be awkward not knowing someone who follows you around all the time.

Reese heard the compartment door open and looked up at the girl that was standing there. "Oh, sure," she told her. "Here- you can have my seat." She stood up and headed over to Jack, sitting right next to him.

"Yeah. Two. A pair of twins--Justin and Jasmine," Jack explained with a sigh. He tried to avoid talking about his siblings if possible--after all, they were so much more successful than he was ever going to be, it just showed how lame he was in comparison to the rest of his perfect, Hufflepuff family. "They're a year younger than me."

He shrugged. There really much to talk about when it came to him. "Well, I like astronomy," he said with a grin. Maybe Reese liked astronomy as much as him? That was impossible, he was pretty sure he was the only one in the school who liked astronomy THAT much. "What's your favorite subject?" he asked. Cool, he was talking to her about school--and school just reminded him of OWLS at the end of this year. Gaaaaah.

He looked up as a shy little girl knocked on their door and asked if she could sit there. Good lord, she looked even more nervous than Jack was around prefects. "Yeah, sure," he said, pointing to the seat Reese had just vacated.

"That's cool," Reese told Jack. "Are they Hufflepuff like you? Or our they in a different house?" They're a year younger than me. So, that would make them-? She just realized that she didn't know what year Jack was in. "What year are you in, Jack? I don't think you've told me, yet." She asked him. She felt like she was piling loads of questions on Jack, who might be getting tired of answering all her questions.

"Astronomy? That's interesting. So, you like studying about the stars and moon and all that magnificent stuff? I actually do find that interesting. I've never found someone who loved Astronomy," Reese told Jack. Oh, boy. Cale was right. Jack was a nerd! Only nerds liked to talk about school, when they weren't even at school, yet. Ehhh- it really didn't matter that he was a nerd. Jack was still a pretty cool dude. "Oh, I like Muggle Studies," she told him. "I find it to be a cool class."

Now, since they were talking about school, there was one question on her mind. "Hey, Jack. Are you going to try-out for Quidditch? Well, actually, do you like Quidditch?" She asked him, trying to not get too excited about the sport. She loved Quidditch, but she wasn't going to try-out. She was the kind of person who just loved to watch the game and cheer on for her house team.

"Oh n-no, th-that's oka-" Wesley began, stuttering nervously, when the older girl offered her the seat, but the pretty girl had already moved next to the boy with the blanket.

"Th-thanks,"Wesley said earnestly, for both letting her join them and the seat, before sitting down, not bothering to smooth her robes or skirt before-hand so they laid rumpled.

She stared wide-eyed at the two other students and managed a quick smile, then, not wanting to be a bother, Wesley stared down at her black mary-janes, trying to make pictures out of the leather's cracks.

Wesley listened silently as the older girl quized the boy, Jack, about classes and Quidditch, and what she thought might be his family. The girl had a lovely voice. Wesley wished she had a nice voice too, her own was high and wobbly.

She wondered what class she would like. Probably not Astronomy or Muggle Studies. Wesley was scared of the dark, and well...muggles frightened her. Sometimes she was ashamed of how much she was scared of things, but mostly Wesley was too busy being frightened to really think about it.

Jack blinked. Hufflepuff? He never recalled saying he was in Hufflepuff. Why would she think that? He blinked before looking down and realizing he was still covered in the Hufflepuff blanket he had taken from Jennifer. Ooooooooh, that explained it. "Oh, I'm not in Hufflepuff. I'm in Gryffindor," he told her, blushing as he spoke. "This is my sisters blanket...but my twin siblings, they're in Huffie. And I'm a fifth year, so that would make them fourth years," he told her.

"Yeah...pretty much anything space related. You know NASA? I'm fascinated with them! I think it would be soooooo cool to go into outer space!" he exclaimed, getting a bit overexcited about it as he spoke. "I'd LOVE to be able to travel all the way to Jupiter and see it up close...and to study the Red Spot, and find out more about the hurricane on there. It would be AWESOME!" he said, chuckling and then snorting in delight.

"Quidditch? Erm...I dunno," he explained. He was debating it, that was for sure--in a way, he wanted to give his dad a reason to look at HIM for once, and since his dad loved the sport, what better way than to be a star member of the Gryffie team? "I'd love to give it a go...do you play Quidditch?" he asked. Then, it occurred to him that he hadn't asked her house. "What house are you in?" he asked.

Quote:

Originally Posted by imaginarynumb3rs

"Oh n-no, th-that's oka-" Wesley began, stuttering nervously, when the older girl offered her the seat, but the pretty girl had already moved next to the boy with the blanket.

"Th-thanks,"Wesley said earnestly, for both letting her join them and the seat, before sitting down, not bothering to smooth her robes or skirt before-hand so they laid rumpled.

She stared wide-eyed at the two other students and managed a quick smile, then, not wanting to be a bother, Wesley stared down at her black mary-janes, trying to make pictures out of the leather's cracks.



Wesley listened silently as the older girl quized the boy, Jack, about classes and Quidditch, and what she thought might be his family. The girl had a lovely voice. Wesley wished she had a nice voice too, her own was high and wobbly.

She wondered what class she would like. Probably not Astronomy or Muggle Studies. Wesley was scared of the dark, and well...muggles frightened her. Sometimes she was ashamed of how much she was scared of things, but mostly Wesley was too busy being frightened to really think about it.

Jack glanced over at the younger girl who had joined them and realized that she hadn't spoken since she sat down. Poor girl--she seemed truly terrified of them--it was an emotion Jack was not really used to getting from people. "What about you? What's your name?" he asked her with a polite smile. "I'm Jack, and this is Reese." he explained. It was much easier to not stutter when he was starting the conversation, he realized.

"Shay!!!!!!!" after hugging Jesse, she ran over and hugged Shaylee. She followed them into a compartment and sat down. "I've been great. My summer was great! Everything is just great!" Dem was sooo excited to finally be returning to Hogwarts and to be with her friends again. "So I'm guessing Chris is in the Prefects Compartment." she told them. She was so proud that Chris was a prefect, but she kinda wanted him here with them. "So we definatly have to room together again." she told Lizzie and Shaylee. Ever since first year they've roomed together, that's how they met . "Chocolate frog anyone?" she pulled out a few boxes from her bag and set them on the seat.

"Yeah, I spotted him when I was passing," Jesse said, leaning back in his seat. He supposed he should be proud of Chris. He was his mate after all and now he was a prefect. Go him. Whoopee. But that meant he had authority, and that can change people. Oh, shut up Jesse. You've been paranoid about stupid stuff like that ever since you ran away from home. He pushed the whole subject from his mind, perking up a bit when Dem brought out the chocolate frogs.

He grinned, "Thanks, Dem," he said, reaching for one, removing the card and taking a bite. He'd gotten Albus Dumbledore. He shoved it in his pocket, forgetting that was where Robin was lodging. A disapproving squeak rmet his ears and Jess quickly removed the unhappy green pygmy puff, rehoming him on the window sill. "His name's Robin," he said indicating to the green fluff-ball, "Got him as a birthday present,"

Jack was so excited about going to hogwarts for the first time. He found an empty compartment and sat down in it.

Wesley smiled, her nervously clenched expression melting, while Jack talked. He was so loud and...Wesley struggled to find the right words...full of life. He had a nice laugh, it made her want to laugh to- especially when he snorted. His enthusiasm seemed to lighten the room's atmosphere, and for the first time all day she felt relaxed. It was so nice to just listen. Wesley loved listening almost more than anything else.

Wesley thought it was awfully brave of Reese to have tried not just once, but twice. Actually, she thought Reese was brave for just trying at all. Wesley could never be brave enough to do that. But she sypathized with the watching part. Wesley didn't really enjoy watching Quidditch players, she was always scared they would fall, but she did understand the happiness of watching other people be happy

Wesley was startled, surprised at having the conversation directed at herself. Having the focus suddenly directed at her made her freeze, and then turn bright red. She hadn't introduced herself! Wesley mentally started beating herself up. Mother- what would Mother have said if she had saw how Wesley had acted!? So rude! And Father! Father would have taken her by the cuff and marched her off the train and given her a stern lecture...maybe even a beating! Why!? Why!? Why!? Why am I so rude!? Wesley questioned herself, upset. She wished she could start all over. Now they hated her...she knew no one would like her. And oh! She had wanted friends so bad. Wesley never wanted to be so rude. She always tried to be nice. But sometimes she just wasn't a very good girl. Wesley was so ashamed. She wanted to be nice. She really did! She could feel her face burning, tears starting. Wesley wanted to hide.

But she couldn't hide! She had to be strong. She was going to Hogwarts, wasn't she? Forcing herself to look up, she was caught off guard by Jack and Reese's smile. Maybe they didn't hate her. Maybe not yet. Maybe it wasn't to late... "My-y n-name is W-Wesley R-Reag-gan. P-Pleased-d to-to m-meet y-you," she answered formally, mentally wincing at her stuttering. Father would be so mad.

Reese raised her eyebrow when Jack looked at her weird when she mentioned him being in Hufflepuff. What was- oh, he wasn't a Hufflepuff. He was a Gryffindor. She blushed at the mistake, how embarrassing. "Sorry about that. I just saw the Hufflepuff crest on the blanket and thought- yeah, I'm sorry about the mistake," she told him. she looked away for a moment, hoping that he cheeks weren't too red. Then, Jack said he was a fifth year. "Oh, really? You're in the same year as me. What a coincidence," she said, looking back at him.

Reese tried so hard not to laugh while Jack got so excited about NASA. She was scared to tell him that she didn't know what NASA was, he might freak out on her or something. so, she just leaned back in the seat, and listened as he rambled on about traveling to space. She liked watching Jack laugh, he had a cute smile, then he snorted. Haha. "I bet it would be awesome," she finally said, after he finished talking. "And, Jack, you have a lovely laugh. Just thought I'd let you know that," she added while winking at him.

"You should give it a try," Reese told Jack. She frowned slightly when Jack asked if she played Quidditch. "I don't play. I did try out during my first and second year at Hogwarts, but I didn't make it, so I didn't try out anymore," she explained. "Now, I just like watching people play. It's entertaining."

"Oh, I'm a Slytherin," Reese answered Jack, then turned to the girl, when Jack introduced them to her. She smiled sweetly at her. Poor little thing, she looked so scared right now. There was nothing to be scared about. Jack doesn't bite and she doesn't bite. Well, that was a lie. She DID bite Cam, but he deserved that.

"So...hello," Reese said, directing her hello to the little girl. Then, the girl introduced herself and she smiled. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Wesley." She would hold out her hand, but it was stuck right between her and Jack. Was it so bad she was sitting close to Jack?

"Awww he's so cute!!" she took a very sleepy pygmy puff out of her bag and set her next to Robin. "Robin I would like you to meet Rosie." she smiled at Jesse.

"Oh, don't worry about it. It was an understandable mistake," Jack told her with a smile, folding up the blanket and placing it on the seat next to him and Reese. Even though he still had the chills, he felt awkward being covered in a blanket while he was talking to other people. He couldn't really explain the feeling...it was just weird. "You're a fifth year too? Cool...excited about OWLs?" he asked. That was a dumb question, he mentally scolded himself a second later. Was ANYONE excited about OWLs? Noooo. Well, he was looking forward to the Astronomy, naturally, but other than that...not so much.

He could tell by Reese's lack of comment on his little NASA rant that he had lost her, probably back around the whole Jupiter bit. He blushed...he had gotten stuck in a ramble. As usual. "Yeah I mean...just going to space would be cool, or landing on the moon. I'm so jealous of all those muggle astronauts," he added with a small frown. "You think my laugh is lovely?" he asked, resisting himself from snorting again. She must have been joking with him. "Thanks," he chuckled, joking back with her. She HAD to have been kidding. Obivously.

"I wanna play Chaser...like Cale," he said with a grin. Cale was just soooooo cool on a broomstick! And Chaser was by far the BEST position on the team, and now that Tobi, Cale, AND Lexi were gone, Jack had his sights set on that position. "Aww you should try again--it would be fun to play against someone I knew," he added with a grin.

He turned to Wesley and smiled. "Nice to meet you Wesley," he said, trying to be as friendly as possible. He didn't bite...and he didn't want this girl to be terrified of him, that was for sure. "So, are you a first year?" he asked. He could only assume so by her timidness. "Excited for school?"

Wesley relaxed slightly, feeling her face cool; they didn't hate her after all. Smiling back, a full grin of slightly crooked teeth, she nodded, "Yes. I'm very excited!," and then admitted, more softly and uncertain, "And kinda nervous too." Taking the opportunity to ask a question, and hoping she wasn't being annoying, Wesley asked, "What is it like at Hogwarts?"

Wesley wondered who Cale was. Judging by how Jack had said his name, she guessed he was someone very important, or at least a friend. Wesley was sure that Cale must be nice, because Jack was.

Wesley settled back a little in her seat, happy to be included, even though she was younger than the others.

Natasha was walking down the hallway, looking for a compartment. Hopefully she'd be able to find somewhere to sit with not too many people in it, because she doubted there would be many empty compartments left.

She stopped when she heard voices coming from a compartment, where there were only a few people. She opened the door with a smile. "Hey, do you guys mind if I sit here?"

"I didn't know there was an owl species called that..." Melanie said, trailing off. So it wasn't so original, but it was still a cute name. "I like it." she informed her, continuing to absentmindedly stroke the owl's soft feathers. "Sweet! Thanks!" Melanie exclaimed happily, reaching out to take one of the treats Hayley offered her... though she was brave, she wasn't exactly brave enough to stick the treat into the bird's mouth or let him eat it from her hand...That was just asking to get her fingers bit off.

"Yeah...sure, I don't see why not. You just have to let him get used to you first." she answered, with a slight smile. He wasn't the most friendly of cats, but he liked certain people better than others...She was pretty sure he would like Hayley anyway. He tended to like girl's better than guys...most of the time anyway.

"So," she began, glancing up at the first year. "Have you thought much about what house you want to be in?" she asked her curiously. Yeah...the question was probably far worn out, but she truly wanted to know...

Melanie gave him a funny look as he extended his feet over to where she was sitting, raising an eyebrow. Apparently he'd only forgotten she was sitting there though, because, just as soon as they were there, he'd moved them back onto the other seat.

Melanie shrugged, at Jake's question, still a bit absorbed as she gave Hayley's owl attention. She'd been pretty sure they'd been during the summer then, but then again maybe she was wrong...She hadn't had much of a celebration so it didn't really matter.

Melanie bit her lip as he asked if they liked spiders and quickly made a decision. To lie. there was no way she was admitting to him she didn't like spiders...or anyone else for that matter."Umm no!" she answered, a bit to quickly, glancing around the compartment, seemingly casually, but someone who knew her well enough may have seen fear in her eyes. Melanie looked back at him carefully, attempting to act calm. Anyways he'd never said there were any real spiders in question. "Why?"

AWWW! Melanie eyed the kitten that had jumped happily onto Jake. "It's so cute." she observed, looking up to be sure her own cat was still serenely sleeping. "Hey, it's like a pet fest in here." she commented lamely, looking around at the few animals in the compartment. There were just as many pets as they're were humans.

At his next comment Melanie's jaw almost dropped to her knees...and it would have if that weren't physically impossible. Of course she wouldn't be surprised if it had happened, because quite a few other things physically impossible had just taken place. However, one was the most utterly outrageous, unbelievable phenomenon in the history of the entire universe. It just had to be.

"Jake Upstead, you just lied to my face." she said, in an shocked voice, to match the expression on her face. "Go on...take your money..." she urged him, still holding it out in the air. She noticed the glare he was giving the bag of coins clutched in her fist and wondered what a bag of money could possibly do to receive such a look. "What did it do to you?" she asked, without mockery or bitterness, and solely curiosity, though she was getting a bit impatient. After all, what kind of person doesn't take a bag of money that's right fully his anyway?!

Seeing a familiar face standing out in the aisle way, Melanie beckoned her in, with a friendly smile on her face. "Sure." she replied, happily. "I don't mind anyway." she added, scooting over so Natasha could sit next to her if she wanted to.

"Well, yes. Especially when you sit alone in a compartment." He grinned and leaned back, to get more comfortable. "Were you waiting for me to find you? It would have been easier if you also came looking for me too." Or maybe she wasn't looking for him, she had just happened to be in Miles' path. Although, he was actually looking for her.

Why wasn't she looking for him? Hmpf.

"Awww." Miles cooed, and ruffled her hair slightly. "Who are the other prefects? Are Evie and Clifford still the ones for Slytherin?" He hoped so, they always did a good job keeping the little rebel first years under control. Miles smiled as Vannie took out her prefect badge. Such a show off, hehe. "Sure." He said simply, as he took it for her and pinned it to her shirt ... and made sure it wasn't wonky. "I'm sure it'll look fine even if it was wonky." He said, laughing a little.

"Okay, cool," Jake nodded, not recognising the way Melanie had answered too quickly. He was never good at noticing those things. "Charlie," Jake stated, both as a way of answering Melanie's and calling his other pet. A tarantula, still small and very much a baby, scuttled down from the luggage rack where he had been sleeping on Jake's bag. The spider settled on Jake's shoulder and regarded the two girls, before seeming to relax.

On his chest, Lolcat sat bolt upright, his wide eyes watching Hayley, shifting to the owl every so often. Jake scratched him under the chin and the cat curled up and went to sleep straight away.

BLAH! She knew he was lying... well of course she would. Jake just couldn't lie. This was the second time he had ever lied, and both times they knew. "I know..." he murmured, looking away from the pouch. "I don't want it."

Some people would call it dirty money, but Jake wouldn't understand that. He doubted it was that anyway... he didn't like it. "Keep it. Give it away. It's not like-"

It's not like I don't have plenty more.

Jack smiled as he thought about how to reply to that one. To be honest, he had always found his life at Hogwarts to be pretty black and white--he went to class, did his homework, watched the Quidditch games, and tried to stay out of trouble so that Cale and Anna wouldn't be disappointed in him. No need to tell this young girl that he had all of about--three acquiantances, and he had met all three of them in the last two weeks. "It's awesome, the classes are amazing--especially astronomy--and the castle is just grand," he told her truthfully. "What house do you think you'll be in? They're all great, don't listen to any of those stereotypes about the house rivalry--Reese here is a Slytherin and I'm a Gryffie and we're not tearing each other apart," he joked.

Choo Choo!

Oh wow, another year at Hogwarts, Varius wasn't sure if he could handle this. Speaking of Varius, he had changed over the summer. He wasn't as insane, he had given up on impossible goals and he learned not to set Hufflepuff Prefects on fire. However, as well as changes there were things that stayed the same: he still rubbed heads in salutations, he still had a lot of random facts and he was the Sheesh Kebabs number one fan.

Choo Choo!

He needed to find a compartment. He couldnt stand for this entire trip! No siree. "ANY AVAILABLE VACANCIES!???" he screamed down the corridor of the front of the train, "ANY AVAILABLE COMPARTMENT SPACEEE!?"

... Choo Choo!

"Oh, hey Melanie." Natasha said with a smile, finding it odd that she had seemed to run into Melanie again. But Natasha didn't mind. She sat down beside Melanie and looked at the other people in the compartment, curiously.

"I'm Natasha," she said.