"I have a younger sister too, she's eleven. Her name's Elyon. I think she's gone to sit with some of her new friends. She's really nervous about getting sorted." Christopher sighed and leaned back on the seat. He couldn't wait to get back to Hogwarts. They were so close to his home! He stared down at the cat and started petting it.

Wow? how bad would i look when im older? Tay said she looked better which he didnt know how she could get any more beautiful than she is but he didnt mind. Did he still have long hair? A beard like his dad? Did he have his tattoos? A lot of things raced through his mind at the prospect.

"I dunno baby, it seems that only you have that type of gift. But you were able to project Arianna to him so who knows the possibilities you have within you" he said smiling at her.

She began to tell him of meeting her friends which made his stomache ache again. Most of her friends back home liked him but there was the occasional posh or uppity people that gave him scowls. Then he started thinking about the sorting again. He had heard the sorting hat was a sarcastic and scary thing.

"Whatever the case baby, your friends should be easier to deal with than that old hat" he said half laughing.

Amber looked at him and shook her head.

"The hat is nothing Draven, your stressing over nothing really" she said as she glanced at Tay winking.

Christopher's eyes widened and so did his smile. "Really? It's a relief to finally meet someone who enjoys the Classics!" He sighed and thought of all the times someone thought he was so weird for liking them. Finally, that was over. "Taming of the Shrew's great! My favourites would have to be a tie between A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Tempest."

Tay laughed- "Oh, you'll be fine." she said, nudging him and giggling. Tay remembered that- "Believe me, it's not that bad. All it said was something about my family and then Slytherin." she said, looking up at him and grinning cutely, kissing him on the nose.

But she did remember it scaring a couple of people- but Draven was pretty brave, so she didn't think it would phase him at all.

Tay picked up her bag and pulled out her make up bag, she got out her compact to check her face and put on some more lipgloss, before smiling at Draven again. Gosh he was so cute!

Walking to the back of the train Jamie kept silent as she looked for a compartment that could have maybe possibly one person there? If not she would be content enough to sit on her own, but making a new friend or two would be better than spending the rest of the term alone.

Selina sat upright as he named off his favorite two, "I love Midsummer Night's Dream, it actually has my favorite character in all of literature in it. Puck the fairy, he just makes me laugh with all of his antics. And The Tempest I like because, it may be childish, but it has Ariel in it. She is one of my favorite Disney Princesses. Funny right?"

Looking up with wide eyes she continued, "So do you like classic music too? Or just the books?"

She simply nodded when she thanked her. "No problem. I think you've just saved me from a few hours of utter boredom." Obviously, staring out the window would have gotten pretty dull after a while. Melanie definitely preferred talking to someone. "Nice to meet you too." she replied politely, stretching out from her curled up position on the seat. Melanie smiled slightly when she told her she was a seventh year. "Ditto. I'm a seventh year Hufflepuff." And a proud one at that.

Noticing the book the girl had gotten out, Melanie raised an eyebrow curiously. "Ohh, whatcha got there?" she asked nosily, leaning over to get a look. She personally liked fantasy books, but ones on adventure were alright too. It all depended on the writer, though, really.

Utter boredom that wasnt good. "Im glad I could be some help" she said " No one likes to be alone well... most people dont like to be alone." Rene was glad that she had managed to find a compartment it look as though it was going to be a crowded school year but that didnt worry her "So cool. Im glad to meet some seventh years besides my fiance. I transfered her last year and everyone thought I was a first year so I made alot of first year friends." she said. Now those friends would be in thier second year.

"Its a Lewis Caroll book Alice's Adventure in Wonderland" she said "Its like the childs story but more intresting for.. well an older audience than a nine year old or something" she added as the girl leaned of over to look at the book Rene's eyes caught sight of the badge once more "Nice badge" she said

That's what she had feared. The OWL's were going to be harder but according to Simon not that bad. Mia made a face and then ran her hand through her hair. "Maybe not for those who are actually good at magic. I'm not really that good myself." Well at least she had stopped inadvertently setting things on fire. She gave Simon an appreciative smile, she was grateful that he had been trying to make her feel better about them. "All I can do is try eh?"

Mia watched him with amusement as his hand rubbed the back of his neck. All boys seemed to do that and still she wondered why? At his confession however, her eyes widened a little and an even broader smile spread across her face. "Oh hey! That's great. Congratulations!" She wondered why he seemed so self conscious about that?

"I've never seen a game of quidditch." She mused looking out the window of the train, thinking of all the things she had missed over the years. Mia turned back to look at Simon again. "You must be really good, huh?"

Jamie turned at the voice and smiled at the girl. She looked like an older student, kind of scary when your only eleven, but she seemed friendly enough. "Thank you." She walked into the compartment and smiled. "My name is Jamie."

Christopher laughed. "Puck's great! He's one of my favourite fictional characters too! Oh and I love Disney! The Lion King and Hercules are two of my favourites! Though I'm not much into the princesses...." He grinned. He was glad to be friends with Selina, she was really cool.

He laughed again. "I do enjoy the classical music, Beethoven and Bach are some of my favourite composers, but I like modern music too."

Vashti frowned. She didn't know how people treated Squibs however long ago Thaddeus Thurkell had been alive either, but she couldn't imagine they made a habit of turning them into hedgehogs. Did they? Surely not, otherwise Mr. Thurkell wouldn't be all famous for it. But then, like Treyen had pointed out, Squibs were pretty rare, so very people would've had seven Squib children. "Still though," she continued, "he's an awful person for doing it, no matter what his reasons were or whether that was a common practice on Squibs or whatever." Squibs were people too, weren't they? Just because they couldn't do magic didn't mean they deserved to be treater like a lesser being. Hmph. "I've never met one either," she admitted. "Or at least," she paused, thinking, "I don't think I have." Was it possible one of her relatives was actually a Squib rather than a Muggle? Perhaps at the next family reunion she'd go around asking them all... It would be one interesting reunion, that's for sure.

Not a Slyth- what? Slytherin? Heh. So perhaps she wasn't the only one who sometimes defined Slytherins as creepy and evilish and things like that. Unless he meant the actual word "slithering" which...would be weird because obviously he wasn't slithering right now. But she simply nodded again and agreed, "Yeah, it's definitely evil, and you don't seem like an evil person."

He didn't know? Well, she couldn't really blame him - she couldn't remember him on the pitch or in a game or anything. Of course, it had been over a year since they'd had any Quidditch games, so she decided she'd use that as an excuse if she had to. Keeper and Seeker? Um...yeah, she still couldn't remember. Merlin did she have a bad memory. "I'm guessing you did pretty well as a Seeker?" This was based simply on the huge smile Treyen was now wearing. He certainly wouldn't smile if he was a horrible Seeker, now would he?

Vashti nodded too. "That's a shame. He was a pretty good professor."

Oh, good! And he seemed to like Gilderoy Lockhart too so she wasn't bringing up any bad memories or relations or anything like that. "Yes, I am," she answered with a smile. "So how are you related to him?" And why wasn't he in Ravenclaw too? Gilderoy Lockhart had been a Ravenclaw...or she thought he was. She could have sworn she'd read that somewhere, but of course she could be wrong.

He smiled as they teased him about the sorting hat. He wasnt so much scared as he was just nervous. This was a big deal for his family and god forbid the hat put him in Hufflepuff. It wasnt a bad house but the name alone would make his dad shake his head. But he put it out of his mind and decided to deal with that when it presented itself.

Draven watched as Tay put on some lip gloss and and smiled at her while doing so. He looked over at Amber and the question popped in his head which he knew was going to be funny.

"So Amber? Are you going to try out for Quidditch like Tay is? She needs a beater to protect her as a seeker. I hear there's going to be a really good beater at Hogwarts this year so she will need GREAT protection" he said smiling.

He knew Amber wasnt going to do that, she was even more girly than Tay and sports in general appalled her except when watching the boys. Back home she would watch the local boys in Quidditch play but never would get her nails dirty or anything of the sort. Amber looked at him,

"Uh, OMG, noooo!"

"Your not really trying out are you Tay? You could get hurt girlfriend" she asked her not really realizing that Tay already played to some extent and has been throught he ringer with Marauders and near death already.

"That's okay. I wouldn't expect you to be into Disney Princesses, but I like the other stuff too. And I like Hercules, but it is so Mythologically incorrect you know? But the music is good and I love animation. But my favorite non-princesses movie by Disney is... um, Hunchback of Notre Dame."

She smiled back at his grin. Selina really enjoyed talking to this boy. He had this quirkiness about him that was really fun. "Yeah me too. I like a lot of Handel, but modern stuff is good too. I guess I'm just a music person in general. But I can not sing to save my life." Selina laughed. She was not musician, she could appreciate music. Putting into practice was another story.

Tay laughed- at first she had hated Quidditch, and then she realised just how fun it actually is! "Oh, I'll be fine. I have distracting the opposition down to a fine art. It's so much fun though! I mean, at first I really didn't like it. But now- I don't even break my nails doing it. And my nails are pretty important to me!" she said, looking down at her perfect manicure- diamante encrusted nails and all. "And I'm sure I can make that uniform look cute. Well... maybe." she laughed- "[B]Because I like to think that I totally rock this uniform![/B" she giggled, peering down at her rolled up skirt- cute tie positioning, knee high socks and gorgeous ballet flats. She smiled and looked over at Amber. "Do you like my flats? I only got them from Topshop but they're gorge!" she gushed, adjusting the green ribbon in her blonde curls and smiling.

"Amber! I have to show you something!" she said, pulling out her sketchbook and holding it close to her, opening it up to the page with the drawing of her wedding dress on. She held it so Draven couldn't see it- "I want one like this." she told her. It really was a proper Princess dress that she had drawn out- a massive poofy skirt and a cute corset top.

Rene saw a girl walk past the compartment. She looked as though she was bout to give up hope on finding a compartment. "Hey" she called out as the girl passed the door. She stood up and poked her head out the compartment "You wanna join me?" she asked

Violet replied,"I don't blame her! I'm freaking out about the entire thing myself! I'm beyond scared!" She watched him lean back. "You're lucky you've already been sorted and don't have to worry about that anymore! What was it like?" Violet looked at him eager to hear his answer.

And Treyen couldn't agree more with Vashti. He still liked the fact that the knarl was named after a person that should have been turned into a hedgehog. "I agree, and I bet this Thaddeus will be different," it was obvious, since the knarl couldn't possibly use magic of any sort. The little creature yawned and moved closer to the window. Yeah, Thaddeus was comfortable. Nothing to fear, then.

What Vashti said next got him to think. It wasn't as if people had a sign that said "I'm a Squib". So, he actually didn't know if he'd met one. What if Mr. Masterson had been a Squib and he had no idea?! No, no, he'd seen the man conjure up a sleeping bag that one time. Or at least he thought he did. Mmmmhmm.

Grin. No, he wasn't evil. He worked for the greater good. Yes. "You don't seem evil either," and that was a compliment. And a fact, because knarls tended to identify evilness around. He couldn't wait to try it on Salander, really.

Quidditch. Simply awesome. "Well, I caught the Snitch, so I guess I did," he nodded, though he knew that Jake could've been faster than him, after all. "Do you have a favorite team?" and oh, please, don't be like Ellie with her top three nonsense.

But, yes, Nolan, Nolan was gone. Glitter!girl was also gone. Thank Gilderoy.

YES! She was NOOOOO Slytherin. This was just brilliant! "Oh, he was brother to my great-grandfather...so...that would make him...great-great-uncle? I don't know," something like that, yeah. And Treyen was the closest relative to be ever proud of Gilderoy. "He was a Ravenclaw, you know," but this boy over here was more than happy to belong in the House in which both his father and grandfather had belonged to. Also, his sister. But yes, he was a happy Huffie.

Jamie turned at the voice and smiled at the girl. She looked like an older student, kind of scary when your only eleven, but she seemed friendly enough. "Thank you." She walked into the compartment and smiled. "My name is Jamie."

Tigger, growing impatient with Hugo not petting him anymore, looked up at the boy who had fallen asleep with TIgger in his prescene.
SO Tigger yawned widely and smacked Hugo and Adam with his paw.

Adam looked around, and felt something sharp run across his face. Realizing the criminal was Tigger he said "Sorry."TO Hugo too, who seemed to have gotten a little of Tigger's attack."This furry guy, is the devils cat...Seems we both fell asleep and he didn't like that..."

The girl acpeted and she walked back into the compartmetn and took her seat. "My name is Rene. Your a first year I persume." she said "How are you liking the journey so far?" she asked.

OUCH!
Hugo woke up instantly. He shook his hair around and scratched his cheek.
"Now I get the part about it being evil and dangerous," he said, feeling the place the cat had slapped. It was pretty funny. He started to chuckle on the inside, and patted the little dude. He really wanted to shout "WHY YOU LITTLE" and choke it, but whatevz. Best just be nice, than the cat would go easy on him. "How'd you sleep? Are we almost there?"

Adam took a hold of Tigger and made the kitty look out the window.
"No. I don't think so...I can still see many thick bunches of trees and no light is showing in the distance.
You know if you want you can adopt this guy...I feel like you two have a good friendship, besides the little wake up slap he gave us both..."Adam said, handing Tigger to Hugo again to pet .

Smiling, Jamie said, "Well thank you Rene for inviting me into the compartment and yeah I'm a first year, sadly." She hesitantly pulled at her new skirt, "Well, ummm it's okay, I guess. Kind of scary. I don't know what to expect. it's also been kind of lonesome because well I don't know anyone."

Amber listened on in amazement as Tay explained her love for the game. She did laugh when Tay told her of how distracting to the male players that she was.

"Yea, i believe it! Go girl power!" she said to Tay.

"Gosh! i cant believe you play. Thats so awesome but ill be rooting for you on gamedays!" she said smiling at Tay.

Tay wanted to show her the sketch she made of her wedding dress to which Amber bounced up and came over to them sitting next to Tay.

"Oh Tay, thats so pretty! You know, my mom knows some people at various material plants so if you need some help getting materials to make it just let me know. She can get some real high end stuff cheap!" she said giddly.

"That might be a great idea Tay. Although im sure you can afford anything getting something cheaper is always good, plus it helps out the lower class a little bit".

He didnt mind that Tay's family was well off but he and his family always did try to help those who didnt or couldnt afford certain things. Many of the people of Ashbourne worked very hard and sometimes some of the families struggled when they came back from the seasons without making much. It was one of things that drove the Wattsfay's out of the village to begin with. But they never came back to help out in the end and that still bothered Draven.

He knew Tay and her family had not part in that but it would be nice if they could take the time to help those in need. This is why his parents really appreciated Anna and Richard's help with the shop. He continued to watch Tay and Amber smile over the sketches. He put his earbuds in and finished listening to the UKJ cover of Cat Stevens "Cats in the Cradle". It was a pretty song and always made him tear up because he knew how much his dad wanted him to be his successor and be a great man. And then he thought about Sven and his dad Hadrian listening to the lyric,

Quote:

I said "I'd like to see you if you don’t mind"
He said "I'd love to Dad, if I could find the time.

Quote:

And the cats in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man on the moon
When you comin home, Son, I dont know when,
But we'll get together then, Dad,
You know we'll have a good time then.

He thought of how Hadrian may have not said he loved him before Sven died and Draven's eyes began to tear up. Maybe someday Tay would be able to use her power to create a sphere for Hadrian. Just so he could say his goodbyes to Sven and Ellyn. He would really love something like that. Soon the Sanctuary cover of "White Rabbit" came on and he shook off the sadness from before and began nodding his head again.