Kurumi boarded the train, but didn't head directly to the prefect compartment. Still with her white backpack on her back, Kurumi instead headed towards the food trolley. No one could be upset that she sought to get some snacks for the train ride first, right?

Truth was, Kurumi was dreading entering the prefect compartment now. After what had happened on the platform with Ellie, realizing what all had happened and that it was even more clear that Treyen wanted nothing to do with her...it had crushed her spirits. Kurumi felt the badge in her pocket and frowned slightly as she scanned the trolley for some licorice wands. She had promised a few first years that she would share some with them.

EAting always seemed to be the pickme after a trying a day. And Harlow needed a pick me up. Being a big girl was one thing, watching your mommy disappear through a wall for an entire year was another thing.

With heavy footsteps and slight pout on her face she found her way over the food trolley. Her brown eyes scanned the offerings looking for something to soothe the ache in her heart.

Patterson sometimes couldn't figure out whether she preferred staying at home or at Hogwarts. It had been exciting the first three years but this summer, something strange had been going on with her body. The girl wondered if it was the effects of being distant from the castle she was she so fond of but her Mother decided to have a talk about these changes in Lulu's body leaving the girl permanently scarred.

The brunette had spent the rest of her summer in a daze, wearing baggy sweaters and going from sweatpants to basketball shorts all in order to not shatter the false illusion she had built for herself. Puberty was not welcome. Lulu did not extend her arms to it so why did it insist in enveloping her with all the hormones it could carry? It made her legs longer, her hips wider, her chest--well, chestier. It was almost enough to make the girl break down and cry.

Oddly quiet, Patterson practically dragged her feet towards the food trolley once she had put her school trunk away. Sir Robin, as usual, clung to her shoulders and neck, his nose twitching rapidly as it sniffed the air. There was a girl in front of her. Lu nodded at her solemnly.

"'Scuse me," she muttered as she bumped her hip against the girl. "Got meself to feed. Yes, meself. S'not like anyone else will do it." Using a lot of elbow room that she probably did not have due to a girl sharing her space, Patterson picked out several pumpkin pasties, cauldron cakes, and some chocolate frogs just in case. As she looked up, one arm carrying her heavy load, Lulu noticed another sad looking girl. What was putting her in the dumps? Was puberty really this bad?

"Mum says nothin' beats comfort food. 'Cept there's no proper food here, I'd say. Chocolate frogs help," said the Slytherin out loud, one hand fumbling inside her pockets for coins.

While Evelyn was particularly happy to be back where she belonged, in her boyfriend's arms, it didn't make her forget which compartment she was supposed to be sitting in. And that just made her also realize she had yet to mention anything to Josh about that certain badge that currently was in her front pocket.

Having excused herself to the food trolley, saying something about buying him something as sweet as he was or whatever it was that she said, Evelyn crossed her arms and shoved made her way to the trolley. Oh. Great. Cookie Girl beat her here already.

And she was taking forever. Maybe staring straight at the back of her head would make her move along a little faster.

Harlow wasn't her usually cheery self and she wasn't really paying attention anything as she tried to hold everything in and not look like a baby. But thumb sucking was her fallback comfort and her thumb was inches from her mouth when someone bumped into her. She stumbled forward and had to brace herself against the wall to keep from pitching forward. "I feed Legalos at my tea parties," she answered. He liked being feed anyways. Did the girl want someone to feed her like that?

She wasn't in a mood to talk but the girl actually made her smile in spite of her longing for her mommy. "My mom says fried chicken always brings out the smiles," Harlow told the girl with a small smile and her thumb sucking hand tucked behind her back.

Kurumi nearly toppled over when she felt someone collide with the side of her body. She reached out for the closest thing to her, which happened to be some licorice wands hanging off the side of the trolley, and used those to keep herself from making unnecessary friends with the wall to her left. Unfortunately, she also stretched the poor sweets out to the point that one probably could have used them to jump rope.

At least the girl had excused herself before she had bumped her?
While she was hanging by a licorice wand, Kurumi felt the too familiar burning sensation on the back of her head that only meant one thing:

Cookie Hater was right behind her.

o_______________________O

Kurumi timidly turned her head around to glance over her shoulder and saw...shoes. Right, she was leaning at at least a 150 degree angle at the moment. Raising her head just a bit, she wished that she had kept her gaze on the shoes. Kurumi was sure that one of these days one of Cookie Hater's looks were going to kill her.

"H-H-Hello," she said with an awkward smile.

Hmm, Cookie Girl couldn't keep up on her feet this year could she?

The sight just made her somewhat laugh, which could've sounded like a grunt to someone else, but she leaned against the corridor wall and continued to stare until she was noticed. Thank Merlin it didn't take long.

Her expression was blank as she stared RIGHT at Cookie Girl, even when the younger girl stuttered. Merlin, she forget the Gryffindor did that. How long had this summer been?

Ignoring the others that were there, although keeping mental note on the one that said none of the food here was proper food because Evelyn thought that was totally true, the Slytherin girl heaved a sigh and replied without a smile, "Hello...Kurumi." Vico did say she had to be nice this term. "Good summer?"

Lulu finally found the coins at the bottom of one pocket, along with a nice amount of lint. She dropped both things on the cart for the lady to pick up. Of course, Patterson had gone and overpaid because she hadn't bothered in counting so now she needed to wait for her change. Lu did so patiently. At least she wasn't surrounded by the enemy.

"Wot's a Legalos?" asked Patterson as she quirked a dark brow. "Your Mum sounds sensible. Watcher name? Mine's Patterson."



The girl she had bumped/elbowed was still standing on her two legs and with licorice wands in one hand. Lulu allowed her dark eyes to fall on them for a moment before looking up at girl's face. Why she looked so petrified was beyond Lulu's knowledge. Still, she followed the girl's gaze to find someone else had joined them.



"Hullo," greeted Lulu as she blinked. There seemed to be some weird tension in the air. Lulu glanced from the nervous girl to the err, the last one. "You lot know each other or somethin'? I'll move out of yer way in a bit. Just let me get me change." Which she did. Lulu pocketed those as well as her assortment of goodies. Some of them peeked out of her un-enchanted pockets, threatening to spill over.

The girl who had bumped her seemed to be judging Kurumi...at least, her eyes were kind of scary. Kurumi looked at all the things in her hands and was about to ask if she needed help with all those sweets - although Kurumi needed help herself - when she heard something...

Merlin. The girl snorted at her...or was it a grunt? Kurumi's eyes widened as she continued to cling to the licorice wand for dear life.

That is...until it snapped and she made contact with the floor.

Scrambling back onto her feet, Kurumi paid a few sickles for the damaged wands, as well as bought a few more to share with the first years.

Kurumi nearly fainted on the spot when Cookie Hater had used her actually name. No Cookie Girl. No Gryffindork. No nerd. No "bring me some tea you." Just Kurumi.

She probably looked like a deer in headlights right now, or a fish out of water.

"H-H-Hello..." she repeated adding a slight bow. She ought to use the girl's proper name too, right? "Evelyn."

And now they were going to have a proper conversation? Kurumi must have died. Yep, she had fallen while holding onto the licorice wand, smacked her head so hard against the wall that she had died. What else could explained it?

"It was good...I was rather busy though. Studied abroad in New York, spent a week at a friend's in Florida. How about you?"

Harlow giggled, "He's my cat of course," she said sensible. She thought that was obvious, but it was no matter. She had someone to talk to and thats all that she mattered.

Her smile face pouted as the girl mentioned her mom. She sighed and hitched her smile back on her face. Her dimple twinkling. "People call me Harlow," she said as if it weren't really her actual name. She dipped in a small curtsy for the girl. "Pleased to meet you Patterson." It was an unusual name for a girl, but she liked it.

Lulu still thought those two girls were having a rather awkward conversation. Patterson never understood the point of talking to someone you could avoid if you didn't like them. It wasn't like you were forced into conversations, were you? No one threatening with pouring down a bucket of slime in your trousers if you said: 'No, no thank you. I rather not say hi.' But she saw this situation often enough to accept it as 'normal' amongst her peers.

"Ohhhh!" exclaimed Lulu as she nodded, her attention once more back on the smaller girl. "Pleasure," continued the girl, extending her hand to Harlow. "Don't go gettin' mad at me fer askin' but, are ye a first year?"

She hadn't really noticed the other two girls, but she didn't think they were friends. Harlow smile at both of them and gave them a small wave.

Her attention was pulled back to Patterson however as she continued to speak to her. Harlow shook her hand firmly, well as firm as she could. She didn't think she was that strong as her brothers always wiggled out of her headlocks. "Yes I'm a first year." Harlow exclaimed happily as she bounced a bit on the balls of her feet. "I'm eleven too. A very important age." she informed Patterson, in case she didn't know. She took in the womanly shape of the girl and guessed she was no first year. "What year are you in?" she asked as she tried to stare at the girls figure. Harlow was looking forward to getting her girl figure.

Lu couldn't remember the last time she talked to a first year. It was good to be nice because you never knew when they would be in your house and things would get complicated. They'd expect apologies and friendship and--Lulu tried not rolling her eyes in the presence of others. She failed a little but flashed a smile hoping the young girl wouldn't take it wrongly.

"Every age is important if you ask me," declared Lulu releasing the girl's hand. "I'll be starting me fourth year. Do I look it?" asked Patterson glancing down at her long legs. "Mum says I look older than I am so she got me longer school skirts. I have no idea what she meant by that."

Harlow nodded, Patterson was right. "Then I will be important my whole life," she thought. If every age was important. "Well everyone is taller than me, but you do look like a woman." she said with envy bouncing around her face. "I think skirts are nice," Harlow said looking down at her white poodle skirt with the black poodle etched on the him. She thought girls in skirts were uber feminine and girly. Especially in white.

Lulu nodded. "Yeah, and don't let Boys...erm anyone," corrected Lulu, her hands on her hips once more. She rolled her eyes thinking back to her brothers who were stuck at home most likely tormenting her Mum with their rowdy behaviour. "Tell you any differently. Some like bringing others down. A girl needs to be sure of herself."

That sounded really hypocritical of her--in part--as she was having a tiny bit of an identity crisis.

"You'll grow. My friends used to be this short too," explained Patterson patting the air above Harlow's head. "They're much taller now."

Hmmm, did they not greet one another already?

Raising a brow as the younger Gryffindor bowed to Evelyn, since she hadn't seen Cookie Girl do THAT to her in quite a while, the Slytherin took a deep breathe and...

Smiled.

It hurt her cheeks to do so, but she did it. She smiled at Kurumi. New York. Florida. She had no clue where those places were, but she heard the word 'studying' so, that seemed like a reasonable summer to her. "Same." Evelyn responded with a usual one word answer for people she had a tough time...getting along with. But... "Studying and such with a few friends of family." Or was it just family? Which excuse did she usually give?

Turning to actually look at the sweets on the trolley, Evelyn's other brow raised at the other girl who just greeted her. Hmmm, for someone who said they didn't have any proper food here, she sure was buying a lot of it.

"I guess you could say that..." she trailed off, glancing from the girl to the sweets. Not gunna respond to that last part. If she didn't, the girl would probably move faster. Besides, there was too much chocolate in burning distance that distracted her. Bleh. She'd just get...everything else that didn't have chocolate in it.

Like those licorice wands. Except she wasn't buying the ones that may have come in contact with Cookie Girl's hands.

Harlow took in Patterson's words. She knew about people like that. When she got her books published some of her friends in her primary school were a bit nasty to her, but she didn't associate with people like that. "Ok." she said. She would make sure she was sure of herself.

Harlow shook her head, "I like being short most of the time." She just wanted to look like a girl, and not a fluffy ironing board.

However she knew she wasn't going to get that much taller. All the women in her family were extremely short. "Do you get to wear lipgloss?" she asked the older girl. Harlow didn't have any older sisters to gab with, she just had Persia who was four and Cuba who was sticky. They didn't count.

Kurumi felt like the collar of her red blouse was trying to strangle her. This felt more awkward that talking with Dragon Lady. Kurumi, literally, smack her forehead when she called the Potions Mistress that name. She really needed to not do that now.

Kurumi nodded as Evelyn described her summer, however brief. She dropped one of her licorice wands - one of the ones that wasn't broken - and bent down to pick it up when...

o_________________O

Her prefect badge fell out of her pocket and tumbled across the floor, landing right in front of Evelyn's foot.

Feeling hungrier from the moment she stepped out of her compartment, finally she found the food trolley. There were quite a lot of older looking students than she is. She is rather shy to approached them and make friends. All she could think at the moment is to secure her stomach with the necessities it needs. FOOD!

She eyed the foods at the trolley and without asking what they were, she bought some and proceeded to a corner and open something that looks like a candy. She couldn't wait to get to their compartment first before eating some of them.

Being on the train for so long made Aurora's stomach rumble with hunger. She looked at the lunch that her mother had packed for her but she didn't feel like eating it.

Opening her compartment door, she overheard some students say that they are going to find the food trolley.

That sounds interesting she thought to herself so she stepped out of her compartment and went to find the food trolley.

From the corner, she eyed the girl going to the food trolley rather looking hungry as much as she is. For once, she thought she's going her way but she didn't. She would loved it if she would talk to her and they'll eat together.

Looking at all the goodies, the seventh year didn't really want to choose any of them, however, she was mostly buying stuff for Josh. What did he like anyways? That didn't have chocolate in them.

Reaching for the licorice wands since she remembered that he had gotten those a few years back when they were in Hogsmeade, Evelyn's gaze suddenly turned downward to her shoe when she felt something tap on it. Thinking that perhaps she had knocked over a candy, the seventeen year old bent down to pick it up but...

That...wasn't a candy. No. It was a...

Prefect badge.

Picking it up, her gaze lingered on it for a few seconds before slowly lifted it up, and stared at Kurumi. Not with a blank stare, nor with her usual smirk or glare either, but...one of...slight shock? Noooooo. Nooo! Someone...someone tell her this wasn't...

Aurora found the trolley quite easily and immediately brought a little of everything. With her arms laden with goodies, she turned to go back the way she had come--when her gaze shifted to fall on a girl in the corner eating her treat.

Thinking quickly and wanting so badly to start making new friends, she stepped up to the girl.

"Hi. I'm Aurora. What's your name?"

Oh my God! She did. She did. She did went in her direction. She wanted to get up from the floor but too late, she introduced herself, "Oh, hey! I'm Erin. Hungry as well? I do!" then she laughed. "Wanna join me here. Well, if you would like of course, but if not. It's okay." How could she asked her to sit with her. She looked stupid enough.