Blink.

Oh hi, Kitty. "He can have some...if he's allowed?" Totally. Ellie had enough sweets to last twenty train rides. Maybe.

"'M Ellie," she said, eyeing the hand. Was she the ONLY person who thought that shaking hands was odd? EVERYONE else seemed perfectly fine with it. Nevertheless, Ellie took the hand and gave it a small shake before releasing it. Meh.

Last time? "Are you graduating...graduatED, then?" Or was there some crazy reason about psycho parents concerned about her going to Hogwarts and not allowing her to return next term.

Apparently things like that happened.

Waiting... Waiting...

Oh hey, he had heard her.

'I like to think it was.' So that was a yes then? He was smiling, so she decided she'd assume it was.

Party? Game? ...Ohh, the Championship game/party. The memory of it brought a smile to her face. "Thanks," she said. "So were you." Both teams had played really well in the game in her opinion. Great game, it was. And she wasn't saying - well, thinking - that just because Ravenclaw had won. Or she liked to think she wasn't, at least.

"Did you have fun at the party?" she asked. Even if it was sort of, y'know, celebrating Hufflepuff's loss in a way. Surely it was still a fun party for all the houses, right?

Annie nodded her head. "Yeah, he can eat...just avoid giving him any chocolate, he's sort of cocoa intollerant." Weird kitty, but it was true. Last time he tried a chocolate barr, Annie ended up with a barfed pillow and messed up bed that smelled bad for about a week.

Ellie, cute name. Annie kind of grinned at her response to the handshake. It reminded her about the first time she stepped into the train; she was a girl who hated skin contact with others.

"I'm graduated..." She answered, trying not to sound sad or upset about it. "I don't see any point in leaving Hogwarts earlier..." Annie commented, since some students decided to do that and just leave their studies behind, or go somewhere else. "The place is great as it is..." Despite some events. Yeah.

Oh yay!

She dug around her bag to find the few non-chocolate candies, and pulled them out for the kitty. "What's his name?" she asked, as she reached out to pet him. He was CUTE. Bigger than Little Professor's kitty, but CUTE.

"Congratulations!" Annie had survived Hogwarts, then. And aaalll those exams. Even if the worst were cut this term. Maybe SHE was at least sensible and happy about that. Unlike that Lexi girl. Exam-love Lexi.

Ellie shook her head, "I don't either." Yet, she knew people who had. "Any post-Hogwarts plans?"

Taking the silence as an answer she quietly slipped out of the room after all, she didn't see the seventh year there right then and he seemed deep in conversation. Maybe, just maybe, she could sneak off to get some food and ponder why she had actually felt so awkward and off walking in on that little conversation there. Taking a deep breath she grabbed her bag, and decided it was time to change into her muggle clothes and to collect all of her things - including Chester her little owl.

"Thanks for letting me sit here for a bit," she smiled softly to both Kurumi and Simon. "I'm just going to go ya know need to collect my trunk and make sure my owls tucked away...don't want him to get hurt" she smiled seeing the owl was still flying outside the train - odd thing. "Anyway, um...have fun" she smiled hoping she could get out of the awkward tensions that she'd encountered in that little compartment. She just had bad timing like that.

"Copito." Annie answered immediately, shaking his head at her cat's behavior about the candy. Copito was purring, and accepting the petting. He could turn into the sweetest cat if he wanted something, although if he sensed any kind of danger about his owner, he'd scratch...hard and bloody scratch.

With a grin, she sort of smiled, "Thanks..." And then a gulp came. "In fact, I'm moving away for a year to Russia, for a football camp." She was terrified about it, no doubt, but she was sure to go, and it was making her happy at some point. Except for...Drew. Russia was far away from Germany.

"How about you? What are your plans for this summer?" Maybe Annie could invite her to her graduation-birthday-good luck in Russia party.

Copito. That was an adorable name. Very different from 'Screech'. Pshh.

Grin.

Wait...ungrin. "That sounds amazing." Buuuut Annie sounded off about it? "You play football?" Ellie didn't know anything about it other than the black and white ball, and the two goals on each end of the field you were supposed to get the ball into. Oh and you kicked.

"I'm going to spend time with my cousins." It was confirmed now. "They're muggles, so it should be...interesting." She was excited. She wanted to learn things like football, and other muggle sports (apart from ballet) and muggle games. Fun, fun, fun.

Copito was licking the candy whilst he was being petted by the girl speaking to his Annie. She seemed nice, so he was to be nice to the Ellie girl. Mhmm.

"Yeah, I'm a year to go semi-pro...and the rest, it all depends on what I do for the next two or three years." And the goal was to join Madrid's Women Soccer team. Yush. That sort of made her enthusiastic about it.

That sounded more fun, "That's amazing. You'll have fun, no doubt. And if you are watchful, you could learn a lot of things, anecdotes to talk about at Muggle Studies." Annie knew about it, though half...since she had always spent her life between magic and Muggles.

Semi-pro? So...she couldn't just go pro? Was that, like, the equivalent to making Reserves in Quidditch? Yeah. Ellie was just going to think of it like that, rather than ask and potentially get confused. "That's awesome!"

"True." Maybe she'd even appreciate Muggle Studies more after this summer. It usually just kinda bored her.

Ellie took her hand from Copito and peeked into her bag again, ultimately producing a chocolate frog. They were the best. Definitely. She could eat thousands. "Do you want something?"

Sharing is caring.

Elyon spun around when she heard the voice of her dance partner. "Rex! I'd love to!" She was glad she'd get one final dance with her graduated friend. Once they got off the train, she'd have to go back to dancing by herself. Though it was still fun, it was never the same as having a real friend.

"Of course I'll be good at Hogwarts! I always am!" She giggled cheerfully. "I hope you're good at your dance studio and with Renee!" She just wanted Rex to be happy, and if he wasn't being good, then chances are, he'd wind up very unhappy. She certainly hoped not!

Elyon spun into the compartment, her hair flying all over her face, arms stretched out like a bird. She sat down across from where Selina, who was still at the door, had been sitting. Chunk was trailing behind her, very close to being locked out. She brushed all of her hair out of her face, Chunk curled up at her feet nibbling on the toe of her left shoe.

"Oh it's alright Sely! It only hurt my feelings a little bit!" She said happily. "You seemed rather upset, and I know you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," she didn't like pressing issues that people felt uncomfortable talking about, "but as long as you're happy now, so am I!" She cheered.

"Thank you!" Elyon's face was glowing now, she loved when people said she was a good friend. She didn't have many, but she tried to be the best she could be, as a bad friend wasn't really a friend at all. She liked having friends. It was nice to have people like you for a change.

"Are you excited to go home?"

"I guess it is." Being at the bench was horrible, and not a very good reference unless you wished for some player to give their spot at the game during some time, and well...women weren't that easy to convince in the way of sharing their places.

Annie was curious now, though. "And what year will you attend next term?" She asked, wondering if she had met Ellie before, at Hogwarts. Maybe...they had met at the opening feast, or maybe she was part of the Quidditch team. Probably the second was the correct answer.

When offered a candy, Annie indeed nodded, even smiled wider. "Thanks...and do you have any kind of coconut bar or something? That'd ease this...nerves." Because she was acting weird about going back home. UGH. Ellie was being so nice...

"Seriously, have we met before?" Random question. She knew.

"Only guess?" Because, really, Ellie would be overjoyed to do something she loved so much after school. Unless Annie didn't love football...but then, why would she continue playing if she didn't love it?

"I'll be a fourth year." OH. MY. MERLIN. She'd NEVER said that before. Ever, ever, ever. It was...wicked!

Coconut? Hmmm...Maybe? Ellie searched through her bag for something. And there, in a little plastic bag marked 'coconut', were little coconut chocolates. Oh those house elves, covering all their bases like that. "Here." She tossed the back onto the seat beside Annie. She could take as many as she wanted that way.

Ellie bit on her lip, and stared into Annie's eyes...because that would totally help. In the end, though, she only shrugged. "Maybe?" There were a LOT of people at Hogwarts. And Ellie didn't have the best memory ever. Ask Treyen.

"I am used to be the super star at the games, and now it's like...starting all over again, be at the bench, and only coming into the field whenever there was any nice mate that would share her position. I think you know what I mean..." Yep, that was Annie's explanation, apart from the fact that she'd be so far away from home, from her Drew.

Annie grinned. "That was the year I came to Hogwarts. You will indeed have a lot of fun. Good luck." She honestly said and took the coconut bar from Ellie's hand. "Thanks..." That was her reply as she opened the cover and took the first bite.

She was at the Quidditch team, no doubt. "Quidditch, right?" Annie liked to be at the games, and recognized most of the players, wearing their uniforms. Not outside the field, though.

One end of Ellie's mouth tugged to the side. She could understand that. That would be AWFUL. And she honestly didn't know what to say back.

So, she moved on.

"Oh really? I'm excited." Mhm. There was no reason she shouldn't be. "Thanks." For the 'luck'...though she didn't understand why she'd need it, really. And, "You're welcome." For the chocolate.

OHQUIDDITCH. BEAM. "I play, yeah." BEAM.

Ellie so failed at being modest. She was trying, though, and not saying anything about the Championship...yet.

"Yeah, I'm excited. Like really, really excited. I can't wait to see my Mom and Dad, but I can't believe my first year is over. Are you ready for our second year?" Selina asked. Everything was over now and was ready to be put in place for the next six years at Hogwarts. In a blink of an eye her first year was gone and the small Selina was no longer so small anymore. Her time in Quidditch she had become toned and a little taller.

Halle walked around looking for a compartment. She found Emily and Nika and popped in. "Do you mind one more?" she asked. She smiled at them, oh how she was going to miss them. "I can't wait for summer surfing. Having you two come is probably the best thing ever." she said excitedly. "Did I tell you two when we're leaving?" she couldn't remember.

After having wandered around for some time, pacing the length of the train Emily finally came to settle in one of the compartments, choosing to sit in a seat by the window. Her last ride on the Hogwarts express... she never thought she would miss it... but she would.

Emily pulled out a chocolate from from her pocket and broke its legs off.... it was just easier that way. She began to eat it... slowly....

She could hardly believe how quickly the last year had gone... she remembered arriving at the start of term feast.... then everything else passed by like a whirl wind. All hazy memories.

A smile was on his face now, all the heaviness of the former conversation with Jake was completely forgotten.

"Oh, no, I don't what happened to me in there," she didn't have to be nice about it, but Treyen still needed to learn to accept that niceness. "Either way...no one was hurt." And that was the most important thing. Though, everything could be blamed on the war paint they'd decided to wear that day. Yet, it was all worth it, because seeing Ellie so happy was the highlight of the day.

Then Vashti was asking about the party itself. He couldn't help but chuckle, "I did, actually." There was minor gossiping, which he had no problem with...he'd mess up things with Neptune, he didn't have a problem with that either...he got a kiss from Ellie, definitely the best day EVER...so, yeah, he had fun. "It was to celebrate Hufflepuff's second placing." That was one optimistic way to look at it, too.

Then again, the day could've been perfect if he hadn't seen Ellie dancing with that other boy, and if Kaia hadn't flicked him, but yeah.

Almost perfect was still good.

"I suppose your year was great as well?" yes, he forgot to ask that before. It looked like NOW was the perfect time to ask it.

Football subject out. Ellie was nice avoiding some subjects, and Annie liked that. "Just curious, what do you think you'll do after Hogwarts?" That question was not asked very often, but it had a simple answer in fourteen, and fifteen year olds. Sometimes they'd give funny answers.

And she took another bite of the bar.

"Congratulations, for the cup. It had been a long time since I last heard Ravenclaws won it." Actually, Annie had never heard when was the last time that event had happened. Odd. "And what position do you play?" Another curiousity hit.

"If I do get to return, then yes. I'm very ready! I already can't wait for summer to end." She glanced longingly at Hogwarts disappearing in the distance, wishing it was already Sptember 1, once more. Nothing had really changed about Elyon. She was maybe a centimeter or two taller, but she'd still hadn't reached 5 feet yet, as she was still he tiny size of 4"7 (which was quite strange due to the fact that she came from quite tall parents and had a tall sibling).

"What will you being doing over break?" Elyon wondered how similar and different the two girls' summers would be. It was always fun to think of what some one close to the heart was doing at that same time as you, no matter how far apart. After all, distance never really kept friends apart. Sometimes, it just pulled them closer.

"Not returning?" Selina squeaked. Where would Elyie go? She could not lose her friend like that. Not after all that they had been through together. They were too close to lose one another and Selina would not let her leave. She couldn't lose another friend.

Ellie gave an exaggerated shrug. "Dunno." She'd never thought about it. And figured she had plenty of time to.

BEAM.

She nodded. She knew it had been a while, but not sure exactly how long. "Oh, I've played on all positions. Beater's my favorite."

Again, trying NOT to brag or anything.

"Do you play?" If she played football, that would make her athletic, yeah?

Elyon was a little curious about Selina's confusion and worries as to the fact that it was possible that she may not be coming back. Hadn't they discussed it before? Maybe wrackspurts had crawled into Sely's ears and fuzzed up her brain, causing her to have missed their conversation. "Do you need a pair of Spectra Specs? I have some if you need to borrow them, it's the only way you can see those silly wrackspurts!" Elyon giggled and shook her head, remembering her friend's original question. "Remember? If anything happens to Daddy, Mummy is going to send Christie- I mean Christopher and I away. Most likely to some orphanage in the city, though we may be separated, as I don't think they have co-ed places like that, now do they?" Hmmm, that'd be very bad. She would miss her brother so much! He was, besides Selina, her best friend!

"Smart answer, Ellie." Because most kids her age would say a bunch of things that sometimes changed in the least expected moment of their lives. Like the desire to go far far away to do something that you'd only accomplish for three or four years without failing at it.

Beater. "Wow...you must be one of the tough ones, then." To have a beater's bat, it was enough to just look at the person...though Ellie seemed nice and sweet. Only Merlin knew how she behaved on the airfield.

Annie shook her head. "No...no ...no. In fact, I am terrified of heights. I can't get on a broom without the desire to run away and hide under my bed." True. Though she wondered how that fear came into her life. "Though I'd like to...it's my...goal, sometime in the future." Yeah...distant future.

Nika took a seat next to her best friend and returned the smile. The pudding did seem to have a great effect on her mood. "We are going home aren't we." Nika didn't want to think about it. "Yeah I will introduce you! Oh and maybe you will get to meet my sister!" She was sure that her sister would have to had miss her.

"HALLE!" Nika smiled at her friend and tapped on the seat beside her. "Sit, SIT!" She smiled cheerfully. Yep, definitely back to normal. Well as normal as normal could be with Nika. "Er no you didn't? When!?!"

"REX!" She gave her friend a hug because she wasn't going to se him for such a long time afterwards.
Even thought they were on their way home Nika felt completely back to her old self. She was smiling widely and waved enthusiastically at a familiar girl as the seventh year walked in. "Hi, Emily right? We met in the charms practice hall!" Nika smiled some more and looked at her other friends in the compartment.
"Hey Elyon!!" Nika noticed yet another friend. Wow, she knew so many people and she didn't even realize it. "Hi Selina!" She noticed the other girl who Elyon was talking to. Nika had only really talked to Selina once, but the girl had seemed nice.