"Orlando? Where is Orlando?" she asked cocking her head to the side. She really should do more world geography research. "I am. I will arrive in Tokyo, but then I have to take the bullet train a few hours until I get to Niigata." It was going to be a long day of travel.

Kurumi smiled. Yes, a light hearted mood was definitely something that she would appreciate now. Especially since every toot of the Hogwarts Express' horn signaled that they were getting closer and closer to London. She swayed anxiously as she waited for Simon to open the package, and it was worth the wait when she saw the smile on his face.

Kurumi hugged him back tightly and felt her breath catch in her throat. She was wrong about thinking that talking to Conan was going to be the hardest thing she did at the end of the term. Saying good bye to her big brother lion was at least a hundred times harder. "Y-You do?" she wibbled taking a small step back herself as she received his gift. Her eyes widened as she read the small text. "It's lovely..." she smiled. "Thank you."

She nodded, "Yeah, I guess..." did she really want to talk about it? She didn't know, but she might as well give it a go, it might help.

She wrapped her arms around her legs and took a deep breath. Opening up was hard for her, it made her vulnerable and she didn't like that. "Well, the school year's been great. You know... I won a trophy for that lagoon thing and learnt some pretty awesome jinxes and stuff... but it's been difficult to enjoy it all."

She took another deep breath, "My brother's still at ST Mungo's and they don't know if he's going to survive." Tears were coming to her eyes again, she didn't even care. "And my parents are fighting a lot apparently and my sister said Mother tried to curse Father and I... I don't think I can cope with that. My parents have always been so close." she dug in the pocket of her robes for a handkerchief as the first tears began to escape her eyes. "And my best friend from back in Germany has been returning all my letters and I don't know what I've done, she was really angry when I had to leave to come here but it's not my fault and I... I just don't understand." Aurora buried her face in her knees, the knuckles on her hands were turning white from tensing so much as she hugged her legs. All she wanted was for things to be okay.

"And all I wanted was one happy celebration to try and lift my spirits and that Jimbo Farley had to go ahead and ruin that too!" she mumbled into her legs.

Penny dragged her trunk and owl cage onto the train, She was sad to be leaving this beautiful place, but really glad to be going home and seeing her family... She had particularly missed her dad, with whom she was very close to..

Finding an empty compartment, Penny sat down and withdrew a book from her bag - "A nice read always shortens a journey", she thought as she turned to page one of her new Percy Jackson novel..

This was the last time that Finlay would ever be getting on the hogwarts express, and frankly he didn't really care. Part of him was glad to get away from Hogwarts. and he really didn't like this train anyway. He was pretty sure that he'd never had a happy journey on it.
He wandered along towards the front of the train, sporting his new Montrose Magpies team Hoodie, with his name stitched into the back (it matched the magpie tattoo on his upper arm). He was excited about starting quidditch career. It was going to be fun. As soon as this train was journey. Spotting an empty compartment, he slipped into it, and shut the door behind him. Maybe he could just have a nice relaxing journey back...

Mia was moving rapidly up the corridor of the train, running into a few people along the way and having to offer apologies for those she almost knocked over. But she could see Finn up ahead and she needed to see him before the train reached Kings Cross.

And just as she stumbled over someone's bag that was for some unknown reason left in the middle of the aisle she watched him go into a compartment. Merlin, she hoped that no one else was in there.

She took a deep breath, slid open the door and stepped inside closing the door behind her. One look at him sitting there in the empty compartment and Mia burst into tears. "Finn..."

Louisa made sure to get on the train among the first group, basically because she barely could stand on her feet from the groggy feeling she had this morning. Not eating at the feast was the stupidest decision she's made so far.. and she'd done many other stupid decisions in her life.

Dragging her trunk behind her as she leaned one side against the corridor's wall, she peered into each compartment that passed by until she found a nice and empty one. The girl slipped into it, left the trunk at the threshold and closing the door, she threw herself on a seat. Lying, still and dizzy.

... when was the last time she'd eaten something? About.. two days ago. She was going to eat Aunt Brown's giant fridge once she got back. Even shrimp sounded delish right now.

ooc: For Syd

Janice wandered around the train, but it seems that no other place is empty. She saw Aurora and another Slytherin, and decided to come in.

"Hey, sorry, but other compartmens are full. Mind if I join you?" She asked.

Finlay looked up as he heard someone burst into tears. Mia. Oh Mia. Finn sighed, standing up, and wrapping his arms around her. "This isn't goodbye Mia." Because he didn't want to never see Mia again. She was really one of the only girls who had actually stuck by him for his whole time at Hogwarts, and seeing her crying really sucked.

He tugged her over to where he had been sitting before, and sat down, still with an arm around her. Mia needed cuddles right now, and he would definetly be giving them here. Even though he hadn't actually seen her most of the term. Maybe she'd been distancing herself from him for this reason. It would clearly be hard coming back to school without him. Clearly. But it wouldn't be the end of the world.

She felt really silly for crying like this because she wasn't usually an emotional person but this was Finn. "I know." Her voice came out muffled because she had buried her face into his chest. This really sucked!

As they sat down on the seat, Mia hastily wiped at her eyes still feeling foolish. "I know we haven't seen each other much this term. But it won't be the same without you here." This wasn't supposed to hurt so much. What was she going to be like this time next year?

"So you starting with the Magpies, straight away?"

Finlay rubbed Mia's back gently. He felt really bad that she was crying so much. He hadn't thought that Mia would be so upset that he was leaving. She had tons of friend's. But he obviously mean more to her than he'd firs tthought.

Finn smiled at her, wiping her tears away. "I thought I'd done something that had upset you..." He murmered quietly. But she was here now, and that was all that mattered. "You'll be okay..." Becaue she had lots of friends. "And I can write all the time." He wasn't going to forget about Mia, he didn't think she'd let him.

"No. I'm start in September, when the next season starts" So he had the summer to enjoy himself.

Aurora nodded and waved the girl to sit down. She didn't lift her head up to see who it was - she was still crying and the tears were soaking through her robes.

She continued with her explanation from earlier, almost entirely ignoring Janice. "And so I don't know what to do and I HATE feeling helpless. I've always been in control and I just.. I don't know!" she wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her robes as she glanced at Mordred.

"No of course you didn't." How could he think that she would ever be angry with him? They'd had a couple of spats over the years but they were nothing. He was still her best friend. They had been through much together. "Ive kind of been sulking most of the term." she admitted with a wry smile. "I want to leave school and Nik won't let me." That was a good excuse to sulk, right?

Mia gave him a disbelieving look. "Yeah sure Finlay. You're going to be busy with your Quidditch and your girlfriend." She gave him a small snuggle anyway. "I'll be happy with a letter at least once a month."

So he got to have the summer off before he started. Maybe she could spend a day with him before she went back to school and he started his Quiiditch career. "What are your plans for the summer?"

She had been sulking? Finlay laughed shaking his head. He did have to admit to himself that he would probably have the same views at Mia. "He's right to not let you..." Finn began warily. He didn't want Mia to hit him or anything. "You need your NEWTs Mia..." He could've easily dropped out of school, but he hadn't.

Finlay eyed her seriously. "I will still have time for my best friend though." Seeing as she appeared to be th only one that was still there anyway. Finn smiled at her. "Well you'll definetly get one a month at least." And that was a promise, that he hoped to keep. Finlay wasnt very good at keeping prmises not really.

Plans for summer? He hadn't really got any. "Well I'm meeting Fallon's parents, and she's meeting mine..." That was bound to be interesting. "That's about it really."

"Yeah, yeah. That's what Nik said as well." Her tears were now dry and she was now wearing Ta pout on her face. She was sulking again. "The thing is, I'm not going into any magical fields when I leave school, so I don't see the point." Two years she had been apart from Nikolai and she could not take it much longer.

Well that made her happy and she smiled back at him. "You know I'll be holding you to that, right? So if I don't get a letter from you, I will hunt you down." Well...no she wouldn't because she hated violence. Maybe she could send him a Howler. Now that would be funny.

Mia raised her eyebrows at him. "Ooooh, must be serious if you're meeting the parentals." For Finn's sake, she hoped that this relationship was serious and he was going to settle down. "Maybe you and I can spend the day together? You know before school and quidditch starts."

Okay. So hje kind of understood where she was coming from. Finn didn't exactly need his NEWTS, but he'd still taken them. Finn was pretty serious on getting good grades on them. "I'm not going into an exactly magical career, and I've still taken the exams Mia..." He really wanted her to not drop out of school. It would be pretty lame. He was sure Nik wouldn't be too happy either. Thinking about that made him realise that he'd not actually met Nik properly. The last him he'd seen the guy he had thought he was turd.

"Hunt me down Mia? Oh I look forward to that." Finlay grinned, nudging her side gently. He'd try to remember to owl her though. He'd hate to lose contact with her. It would be pretty sucky. He'd already lost contact with some friends, so he was determined not to lose contact with Mia.

Pretty serious? Finlay nodded with a shrug. "Yeah, I think we're getting pretty serious..." Which was kind of fun? It was different. "I really like her Mia...really really like her." He'd always come to Mia to talk about girls. She understood everything about him really. "ooh...that'll be fun."

She was really temped to roll her eyes right now, but she managed to refrain from doing so. Everyone was an expert on what she should do with her life. And she so wanted to argue but decided now was not the time and because she had the feeling that it was going to be like to talking to Nik and the conversation was just going to go round and round and go absolutely nowhere. "Don't worry Finn, I'll be back at Hogwarts next term." She won't have a choice quite frankly. Nik would no doubt drag her there personally.

Laughing, Mia nudged him back. "Of course you would." she said giving her hair an exaggerated flip. "Who wouldn't?" She gave him a wink to let him know that she was just joking. Nikolai was rubbing off on her more and more everyday. Although she was sure that her ego would never be as big as his.

"Well that's good to hear. I'm happy for you." She really hoped that it worked out for him. Mia knew that he had been through a lot this year. Which made her feel a little bad for not being there for him, but he seemed to be managing. "It will be fun. And maybe at some point we can bring our other halves with us." She would have to do a lot of sweet talking to get Nik to agree to that.

"Good." Finlay nodded with a smile, resting his feet on the other seats on the other side of the compartment. He'd forgotten what it had been like to just be able to have a laugh. That was what his friendship with Mia was all about. He would probably miss it last year. Mia was someone he could always have a laugh with, she was really one of akind.

Finlay rolled his eyes. "Vain wench." He smirked at her. He remembered when Mia hadn't been this vain, and he did prefer he like this. It was fun. She was kind of just like him, but then different. It was good. Finlay smiled. He would really miss her next year. Oh well. He'd have to make sure he could come to hogsmeade sometimes so that he could see her.

Finlay smiled. He really was so happy with Fallon. She had changed him for the better. "I'm so happy..." He didn't think he'd ever been happier. Bring their other halves? Finlay grinned. "That will be fun."

Carrying the huge cage of his rather wild and vicious looking, large barking owl and the trunk Josh made his way through the crowded corridor. The expression on his face suggested that he was not feeling any better than he did during the feast so he was not really paying attention to where he was going, just looking for an empty compartment. Yes, he was still angry yet on the other hand did not know what he was supposed to do. Pausing for a moment, the Gryffindor boy looked around for...no apparent reason at all yet when his gaze stopped at a nearby compartment, he spotted some familiar faces there: Kurumi and Simon.

Well...maybe going and sitting with some friends would be way better than sitting alone, thinking over it over and over again, getting angrier and angrier. So, taking a deep breath Josh moved towards that compartment, stepping inside right after opening the door...abrupty. Then he practically threw the trunk to an empty corner and slammed the cage on it making the bird inside complain loudly. ''Shut up.'' Josh snapped at it ''It is you who left nowhere...not-bitten on my arms.''

Then he turned back to face the other two Gryffindors giving them a kinda forced little smile and added a nod at both of them as a silent greeting. And...he leaned against the compartment door, still staring at them. ''Si, that has settled down. I am going to kill him.''

Kurumi continued to play with Simon's gift, wonder where best to pin it. She had seen pictures of her mother back when she was in high school wearing a skirt with similar things pined to it to keep it from blowing up whenever there was a strong breeze.

But her thoughts were suddenly interrupted.

o_______________O

By a Josh who looked angrier than a troll having its eyebrows plucked. But he had an ADORABLE owl with him!

Kurumi clapped her hands together and chose to use her selective hearing to not hear what he had to say about the owl. "Josh!" she chirped waving shyly. "Who is this? He is lovely."

But it became clear that Josh had other things on his mind...LIKE KILLING SOMEONE?!

Quote:

Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie

Kurumi smiled. Yes, a light hearted mood was definitely something that she would appreciate now. Especially since every toot of the Hogwarts Express' horn signaled that they were getting closer and closer to London. She swayed anxiously as she waited for Simon to open the package, and it was worth the wait when she saw the smile on his face.

Kurumi hugged him back tightly and felt her breath catch in her throat. She was wrong about thinking that talking to Conan was going to be the hardest thing she did at the end of the term. Saying good bye to her big brother lion was at least a hundred times harder. "Y-You do?" she wibbled taking a small step back herself as she received his gift. Her eyes widened as she read the small text. "It's lovely..." she smiled. "Thank you."

Simon simply nodded as she questioned him, discretly sniffling and wiping his eye as the Kurumi was distracted by the simple wrapping. The seventh year offered a smile in return at her reaction, glad to see she liked his choice. "I had seen it in passing and immediately thought of you," he stated as if it needed an explanation but it had been how he decided on her gift.

"You're welco--" he started to say interupted by the sudden addition of another friendly face as his abrupt actions.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lara_the_Firelady

Carrying the huge cage of his rather wild and vicious looking, large barking owl and the trunk Josh made his way through the crowded corridor. The expression on his face suggested that he was not feeling any better than he did during the feast so he was not really paying attention to where he was going, just looking for an empty compartment. Yes, he was still angry yet on the other hand did not know what he was supposed to do. Pausing for a moment, the Gryffindor boy looked around for...no apparent reason at all yet when his gaze stopped at a nearby compartment, he spotted some familiar faces there: Kurumi and Simon.

Well...maybe going and sitting with some friends would be way better than sitting alone, thinking over it over and over again, getting angrier and angrier. So, taking a deep breath Josh moved towards that compartment, stepping inside right after opening the door...abrupty. Then he practically threw the trunk to an empty corner and slammed the cage on it making the bird inside complain loudly. ''Shut up.'' Josh snapped at it ''It is you who left nowhere...not-bitten on my arms.''

Then he turned back to face the other two Gryffindors giving them a kinda forced little smile and added a nod at both of them as a silent greeting. And...he leaned against the compartment door, still staring at them. ''Si, that has settled down. I am going to kill him.''

Quote:

Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie

Kurumi continued to play with Simon's gift, wonder where best to pin it. She had seen pictures of her mother back when she was in high school wearing a skirt with similar things pined to it to keep it from blowing up whenever there was a strong breeze.

But her thoughts were suddenly interrupted.

o_______________O

By a Josh who looked angrier than a troll having its eyebrows plucked. But he had an ADORABLE owl with him!

Kurumi clapped her hands together and chose to use her selective hearing to not hear what he had to say about the owl. "Josh!" she chirped waving shyly. "Who is this? He is lovely."

But it became clear that Josh had other things on his mind...LIKE KILLING SOMEONE?!

Seeing his friend overwhelmed by the animal, Simon moved to settle Josh's trunk up on the rack from where he had thrown it in haste. As an added addition, he quietly cast a lightening charm on it so the other boy had an easier time when he went to retrieve it later on. "I thought I told you no killing...even of annoying owls," he remarked adding the last remembering a previous threat on the bird even if she didn't fall under the 'him.'

Wandering the train. That's what she has resulted to.

And for the love of Merlin, it was BORING.

Either she missed where her friends were seated and walked right past them, or they really were in the front of the train. What happened to sitting in the back, hmm? That's where they always sat. The train ride was so BORING without them.



Whether her friends were in the front of the train or not, she paused and backtracked her steps a little, glancing inside the open compartment. Josh!

Having finally realized he was a tad weird at the feast, especially since they didn't really get to talk, (why did the noise level have to be so loud?), Evelyn grinned and placed her hands on the edge of the sliding door, and the compartment entry frame. "Hey Josh."

And...Josh wasn't the only one there?



Eh...why was he hanging around her?

"Kurumi." she muttered, a lot less slightly colder greeting before she turned her gaze over to Simon. Goodness, it was a whole Gryffindor party in here! Thank Merlin she arrived then. Slytherins just made it so much better.

"Simon. Congrats on graduating." She didn't get to see him at the feast and say that. Wait, was he at the feast? The girl couldn't remember.

Since he hadn't seen her pass by his compartment, Dallin had decided that he was just going to go searching the train for Louisa himself. The front seemed like a good place to start, too, so he had been looking into every compartment he passed to see if she was in there.

He opened the door of one, and - oh. There she is. "Louisa!" he said, surprised that he had actually found her. "Do you mind if I, um, come in? I need to talk to you."

"Florida. In America," he smiled. Could she not tell by his accent? He could tell by hers that she wasn't from around here. He was in awe, "You have been on the bullet train?" He had never been on that.

Mordred listened carefully as Aurora opened up to him. After she told her story, Mordred could not help but feel guilty. Friends were supposed to share problems with each other, right? And he wasn’t there for her. Mordred looked away and tried to remember the name of Aurora’s brother. “Kryspin, right?” he asked. He then realized that somehow he was spared from problems like Aurora’s. He doesn’t have a brother or a sister, and he always thought that having one could be a lot of fun. The boy was sure that Kryspin meant a lot to Aurora.

She then mentioned her parents fighting. Sure, his parents fight too from time to time, and he reckon they were more dangerous since both are exposed to the dark arts and all that stuff. But he never saw either of them try to curse the other. “Merlin, Aurora had a lot this year.” He thought.

Thinking it was the end, she then mentioned her old best friend returning her letters. Mordred sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. Chloe. He was able to get his mind off her ever since school started. He got so worried with DADA that he was able to put her aside. Thinking that his story about Chloe will make Aurora feel better, he thought maybe he should give it a go.

“You know, I too had a best friend. Her name was Chloe.” he said softly as his mind wandered. “Well, she was my first friend back when we both attended Charms School.” He continued remembering every detail about the place. “Her father’s a wizard, and her mum’s muggle born.” He said the word ‘muggle’ with a little bit of hatred. “We got along well since Day 1, and she became the friend I trusted the most all throughout our stay in Charms School. But before leaving the place for Hogwarts, her father learned about my background, and my mother being related to the Blacks.” Mordred continued as he stared out of the window. “Her father got paranoid and…” he said as his words trailed off.

*“YOU STAY AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER! I WILL NEVER, EVER PERMIT YOU TO BE FRIENDS WITH HER!”*

The words rang inside Mordred’s head as if it just happened moments ago. “He—He told me to stay away from Chloe. He was disgusted with my family.” He said softly. For years now, the Mordaunts are trying their best to get rid of that kind of reputation. Sure they were powerful, but they use that gift to fight the dark arts. Heck, even Mordred’s parents dedicated their lives to stop and capture –what ignorant people will say – their kind.

“She sent her last owl before term started. She said she’s now in America studying at the Salem Institute. I kept sending her letters, but I never got a reply.” He said as he looked at Xchylar in his cage. Everytime Xchylar comes back to Hogwarts after a long flight from America, Mordred noticed that his owl doesn’t seem tired – or hungry upon his return. He realized that maybe, after delivering his letter to Chloe the owl was being taken care of, before heading back to him – without a reply. How he wished he didn’t realize that theory; that just made him feel worse.

“You know Aurora, I’ve decided to just forget about the bad things that happened to me. Maybe you should too.” He said as he watched her release her emotions. “We still have next term. Who knows what’s going to happen in a few months time.” He said with a grin. The boy knew it wasn't going to be easy for her, but Mordred will try his best to boost her morale.

Mordred looked up and sat straight on his seat. "Sure." he said. Now that there's three of them, he thought maybe he could use the Muffliato spell to keep his conversation with Aurora private.

...this soothing movement wasn't doing the girl any good, on the contrary, she was feeling her head exploding and her eye sight already went blurry. She should get something to eat..like REAL soon. Beside, it was a stupid idea to put the trunk in the door's way.. nobody could get in if she passed out.

Oh. Yeah. It was only a trunk and anyone could jump over it. She was lying on the seats on one side, and her arm covered the upper part of her face. Sleeping seemed like a great idea at the moment.

..huh? Did she hear Dal? Louisa groaned in a low voice, now she was hallucinating!! No. Enough was enough! She should get up and get something to eat NOW! Louisa removed her arm from her face, and straightened up very slowly because she could roll over to the floor in any hasty move and sh-

O__O

It wasn't hallucinations! He was actually standing in front of her. She stared up at him, confused, and yellow faced. "Huh?"