There was just WAY too much going on in this compartment at once. Or at least there was a lot going on inside the Gryffindor right now to make her feel overwhelmed and like the walls were closing in. She only managed to bow her head politely to Kamalia and Louisa when they entered the compartment, a pleasant smile tugging at the corners of her lips as she did, but she didn't return anything verbally - mostly due to her not even registering that they had spoken. She had temporarily lost her voice it seemed.

Kurumi was far too distracted reliving her summer in her mind, more specifically that ONE day where she had seen life vanish right before her eyes. Kurumi almost lost herself to her tears again, her eyes watering just a bit, but there was something that brought her back. Something that sent a warmth shooting through her entire body, giving her strength, and telling her that everything was going to be okay. Okay as it could be given the circumstances. Kurumi's eyes drifted to her hand that was now being held by Lewis' and she blushed at their interlaced fingers. Lifting her gaze for a moment to meet his, she mouthed 'thank you' to him and softly rubbed her thumb against his hand.

Unfortunately, the new Head Girl was not helping the situation any when she offered Kurumi a chocolate frog and her eyes widened while her already pale features lightened even more. At least the topic of summer had been dropped. "T-T-That's alright," she blushed, her eyes looking down at Walnut for a moment. Truth was, after defeating her boggart twice in the school, it no longer took the form of a horrible monster. Nope. Now it was just one GIANT chocolate frog that jumped around everywhere threatening to smush her.

So no, we would not be having any chocolate frogs, but thank you for asking?

Her attention was now back on her best friend and the LOOK she was getting. She should just act calm, right? Only it was sort of impossible to act calm when her heart was beating about a billion miles per second. "It...goes..." she replied sheepishly. Yeah, because THAT didn't make the situation any less awkward or anything.

Not too long after Gideon made his appearance in the compartment, and Kurumi simply assumed that he had come looking for Selina...only he was sticking around. Huh? It was then that he removed a badge from his pocket and suddenly her world was flipped upside down. Before she could stop herself, Kurumi blurted out exactly what she was thinking. "Where is Adam?" She should have thought about this when Paulie had come in, seeing as that would have implied that he was taking over Adam's position, but she hadn't for some reason. Now that Gideon was here...and with another badge... she felt her heart breaking again, with betrayal. Her eyes were back on the badge and something about the almost smug tone in Gideon's voice when he asked Selina to explained what the badge meant rubbed her the wrong way and her eyes narrowed.

Kurumi had never entirely approved of Adam being given the badge in the first place given their history, but she had put that aside for the sake of their house. What this meant now, the badge not being his, her not seeing him in Diagon Alley at all, his annoying presence missing from the platform...it meant he wasn't here. He wasn't coming back to Hogwarts. He had run away...again. Run away from his problems and this time...he hadn't even had the decency to say good bye. Not only that, he hadn't even made the effort to try and fix their friendship. He had given up on everything.

Her hand tightened its grip on Lewis', but not to the point where it would hurt him. More that it would serve as an obvious indicator to him that something else was wrong - as if her facial expression wasn't enough of an indication already. Thankfully, Walnut chose this moment to rubbed his head against her stomach, providing enough of a distraction for her to avert her eyes.

Just in time too, because Paulie was talking to her now. "Professor Bentley doesn't make mistakes," she laughed. Well, at least she hoped she didn't. So far their Head of House hadn't done anything to prove otherwise at least. Which reminded Kurumi that she needed to have a rather serious conversation with her when they arrived at school. Another one she wasn't looking forward to. "Or the Headmaster." Because he always practice constant vigilance, or preached it anyway. Surely that meant he practiced it as well.

Kurumi held her breath as Walnut's ears twitched and his tail swished. That could only mean.... "Don't you dare," she hissed at the feline. Honestly, just because he didn't approve of a name was NO reason to consider peeing in Paulie's shoes. "He prefers to be called your Highness...actually."

Which was exactly what Keefer just called him and the feline showed his appreciation for the proper title by chirping loudly and closing his eyes. Yes, that was the invitation to worship the cat. "See," Kurumi shrugged, looking at Paulie. "Keefer is a winner already, at least to Walnut."

Kurumi was about to scratch Walnut behind the ears as well when she realized that her hand was still being held by Lewis. She knew what she should do, pull her hand away, but there was a comfort there that was giving her the Gryffindor courage to not become overwhelmed by emotions even if other ones were slowly creeping in in their place. Glancing back at Lewis again, Kurumi chewed on her bottom lip shyly, but did not removed her hand from his.

Aside from the fact that she was running late in general, due to her refusal to board the train at all, Ellie was most apprehensive to come to this compartment. So she took her time. Pretended to browse the trolley. Peeked into nearly every compartment. Made note of where Max was sitting so she could join him later, should she want to.

She wanted to.

But for now, Ellie was going to visit the familiar Prefect compartment. To congratulate the newly badged, of course.

So, with a pet carrier the size of a lunchbox in her hand, slightly pink eyes, and a most neutral expression on her face (she was going to fake a smile, but she wasn't very good at it), the redhead slid the door open. "Hi," she said, casting around the compartment at all the new faces.

Why did there seem to be so many?

"Congratulations," she nodded at each of those faces. Her eyes lit up a bit at Eve. At least there was one person she was comfortable with in here. That was who she sat next to. And, after catching a glimpse of Walnut, promptly pulled her feet onto the seat in front of her, and hugged Bunny's carrier to her side.

SPOILER!!: Paulie

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cedric

Oh, look! Another Gryffindorrr. "Thanks, Selina! Same to you, with the whole quidditch captian thing." He had to give her major kudos, too. Paulie Foster was severely lacking in quidditch abilities, so he could only admire from the stands.



Hmmmm, now another student entered. Although Paulie's eyes scanned for his badge, the boy must have forgotten to pin it on or something because Paulie found none. He was a Lion, though, because Paulie had seen him around the common room and such. Traces of confusion seemed to cloud the other Gryffindor boy's eyes, so Paulie went ahead and spoke up. "Hey, mate! So... I'm guessin' you're the Gryffindor prefect, yeah?"

Head boy.

Now that he was closer to the rest of the lion leaders he could see the older boy's badge. Ah so that explained the extra Gryffindor leader and allowed Gideon to relax. "Hey," he greeted the other Gryffindor, nodding as he figured out who he was. "Aye that would be me," he confirmed, "Congrats on the head boy position."

SPOILER!!: Lewis

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lislchen

Lewis kept on staring at the Head Girl in confusion when she didn't really seem to hear what he'd just said. "But...that's not my name. It's...Lewis." Didn't she understand that his name wasn't Mister Huffie? So there was no need for her to call him anything but his name, right? He blinked at her a couple of times when she added what he would get to call her. "I-is Sel your name then?" Or was that another nickname? Why was she being all confusing? Was she doing that on purpose?

WHAT?!

And now they were talking about ice cream? "I......do too?" Lewis offered, throwing Sel yet another confused look. Was that a good thing that they both liked Vanilla ice cream? It wasn't his favorite but you know, just making conversation. Or something. Now he wanted ice cream though. And she had understood that his cat was called Vanilla, though, right? Or otherwise his comment might have been quite random.

Oh good, she had. "She...she wasn't going to." Lewis replied with his eyes slightly widened as he stared at the Head Girl's head again. Why would she eat the Pygmy Puff? She would never do that. Oh, so this guy was the King of all Pygmy Puffs? He didn't know something like that existed but okay. There were always new things to learn. What did one have to do as the King of Pygmy Puffs? Was there a Queen too?

When he was about to return his gaze to Selena's face to give her an incredulous look, his eyes fell on Evelyn sitting next to her who looked...bad. Or was that just his imagination? His eyes rested on his fellow Hufflepuff Prefect for a moment longer before he dropped his gaze again, biting his liip. It was probably just his imagination. There was nothing to be scared of in here after all. Right? Or maybe she wasn't feeling well...

Lewis didn't really feel too good either when he couldn't help but notice the way Kurumi was fidgeting with her dress nervously. Her - and his - nervousness seemed to increase even more when Selina entered however, who was looking at them. At like both of them. Which made him feel even more uncomfortable in his seat and it was only because Vanilla had decided to lie on top of his shoes that he didn't make up an excuse to leave the compartment for a moment.

Oh. And now he had another reason. He hadn't really been paying much attention to the conversations going on inside the compartment so he was more than a little surprised when he felt Kurumi suddenly reaching for his hand. No, grabbing it really. A look of shock mixed with surprise and worry flashed across his face and he turned his head to look at the Gryffindor, hoping for some sort of explanation for the sudden touch.

And it was there. On her face. And it was even clearer when she opened her mouth to reply to a question somebody had asked. Summer. Of course. Lewis swallowed hard and glanced down at her hand on his for a moment before looking back up at her face. Without thinking about it he shifted his hand so that he could take hers properly, interlacing their fingers so he could give her a squeeze back. They were back on the topic of their mother and nothing else mattered right now.

Not that that meant that he wasn't blushing a little or anything. Especially when he caught Selina looking at them again. But then Selena just dropped the subject, luckily not asking Kurumi to finish her sentence. He wasn't sure if she would have been able to anyway. There was one - very very very SELFISH - disadvantage about this however. It meant that she didn't need his hand for support any longer. Which was probably for the best anyway, though.

His thoughts were interrupted by two more people (Gideon and Kimalia) entering the compartment. "Hello." Lewis greeted them both quietly, returning the girl's smile a little hesitantly. "T-thank you. You too." Though, hang on, she'd had her badge last term too, right? So there was no need to congratulate her...errr...awkward. Maybe she wouldn't notice. Plus he hadn't congratulated her on the badge yet. So they could just pretend he was like really late or something.

The two were followed suit by yet another Prefect...one who was very loud and eccentric it seemed. Lewis just stared at the Ravenclaw (Louisa) for a moment not really knowing what to say in reply. Should he yell something back? Before he got the chance to do anything though, his attention was caught by a cat who had come in with the girl and was now...at his feet. Licking his shoes. Not really minding or anything, the Hufflepuff just watched the feline for a while while Vanilla actually moved her paw to nudge it. Hullo!

KEEFER! Lewis actually smiled at the entrance of his Quidditch Captain. Finally somebody else he knew. Like actually knew. Like friend-sort-of-knew. "Hey!" In the meantime Vanilla had grown bored of nudging the other cat and sensing Evelyn's discomfort - only unfortunately not knowing the reason - had got up slowly and made her way over the the Hufflepuff, purring loudly. She even nudged the girl's legs with her head. There, feel better now?

Then he was greeted by the Hufflepuff he had met over the summer. The fellow potions lover... who was currently being friendly with Kurumi. Interesting...very interesting. But none of his business of course as long as nothing bad happened. "Hey Lewis," he created with a polite smile.

SPOILER!!: Kurumi

Quote:

Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie

There was just WAY too much going on in this compartment at once. Or at least there was a lot going on inside the Gryffindor right now to make her feel overwhelmed and like the walls were closing in. She only managed to bow her head politely to Kamalia and Louisa when they entered the compartment, a pleasant smile tugging at the corners of her lips as she did, but she didn't return anything verbally - mostly due to her not even registering that they had spoken. She had temporarily lost her voice it seemed.

Kurumi was far too distracted reliving her summer in her mind, more specifically that ONE day where she had seen life vanish right before her eyes. Kurumi almost lost herself to her tears again, her eyes watering just a bit, but there was something that brought her back. Something that sent a warmth shooting through her entire body, giving her strength, and telling her that everything was going to be okay. Okay as it could be given the circumstances. Kurumi's eyes drifted to her hand that was now being held by Lewis' and she blushed at their interlaced fingers. Lifting her gaze for a moment to meet his, she mouthed 'thank you' to him and softly rubbed her thumb against his hand.

Unfortunately, the new Head Girl was not helping the situation any when she offered Kurumi a chocolate frog and her eyes widened while her already pale features lightened even more. At least the topic of summer had been dropped. "T-T-That's alright," she blushed, her eyes looking down at Walnut for a moment. Truth was, after defeating her boggart twice in the school, it no longer took the form of a horrible monster. Nope. Now it was just one GIANT chocolate frog that jumped around everywhere threatening to smush her.

So no, we would not be having any chocolate frogs, but thank you for asking?

Her attention was now back on her best friend and the LOOK she was getting. She should just act calm, right? Only it was sort of impossible to act calm when her heart was beating about a billion miles per second. "It...goes..." she replied sheepishly. Yeah, because THAT didn't make the situation any less awkward or anything.

Not too long after Gideon made his appearance in the compartment, and Kurumi simply assumed that he had come looking for Selina...only he was sticking around. Huh? It was then that he removed a badge from his pocket and suddenly her world was flipped upside down. Before she could stop herself, Kurumi blurted out exactly what she was thinking. "Where is Adam?" She should have thought about this when Paulie had come in, seeing as that would have implied that he was taking over Adam's position, but she hadn't for some reason. Now that Gideon was here...and with another badge... she felt her heart breaking again, with betrayal. Her eyes were back on the badge and something about the almost smug tone in Gideon's voice when he asked Selina to explained what the badge meant rubbed her the wrong way and her eyes narrowed.

Kurumi had never entirely approved of Adam being given the badge in the first place given their history, but she had put that aside for the sake of their house. What this meant now, the badge not being his, her not seeing him in Diagon Alley at all, his annoying presence missing from the platform...it meant he wasn't here. He wasn't coming back to Hogwarts. He had run away...again. Run away from his problems and this time...he hadn't even had the decency to say good bye. Not only that, he hadn't even made the effort to try and fix their friendship. He had given up on everything.

Her hand tightened his grip on Lewis', but not to the point where it would hurt him. More that it would serve as an obvious indicator to him that something else was wrong - as if her facial expression wasn't enough of an indication already. Thankfully, Walnut chose this moment to rubbed his head against her stomach, providing enough of a distraction for her to avert her eyes.

Just in time too, because Paulie was talking to her now. "Professor Bentley doesn't make mistakes," she laughed. Well, at least she hoped she didn't. So far their Head of House hadn't done anything to prove otherwise at least. Which reminded Kurumi that she needed to have a rather serious conversation with her when they arrived at school. Another one she wasn't looking forward to.

Kurumi held her breath as Walnut's ears twitched and his tail swished. That could only mean.... "Don't you dare," she hissed at the feline. Honestly, just because he didn't approve of a name was NO reason to consider peeing in Paulie's shoes. "His prefers to be called your Highness...actually."

Which was exactly what Keefer just called him and the feline showed his appreciation for the proper title by chirping loudly and closing his eyes. Yes, that was the invitation to worship the cat. "See," Kurumi shrugged, looking at Paulie. "Keefer is a winner already, at least to Walnut."

Kurumi was about to scratch Walnut behind the ears as well when she realized that her hand was still being held by Lewis. She knew what she should do, pull her hand away, but there was a comfort there that was giving her the Gryffindor courage to not become overwhelmed by emotions even if other ones were slowly creeping in in their place. Glancing back at Lewis again, Kurumi chewed on her bottom lip shyly, but did not removed her hand from his.

And then Kurumi said the three words Gideon had been expecting as much as the surprise of his position. Where was the former male Gryffindor prefect? The girl didn't seem none to pleased about the layout of information and he frowned sheepish. A part of him thinking that the upset might be at least in part towards him. Did he do something wrong other then keep it a surprise?

"Um...I honestly don't know Kurumi," he answered not sure what else to say. It was the truth for sure seeing as it wasn't like he was close to the boy in question and kept in contact with him. Gideon had meerly tolerated him due to the past events with him and Selina. "I was just as surprised as ye that he wasn't continuing as prefect." Seeing the way his friend looked he wished there was something more he could say or do to make things any better.

Kennedy made his way to the Prefects Compartment with a lot more ease than last year, but this time it was due to the reason that he already knew where he was going and didn't feel like a lost puppy. He found the door and after sliding it open he walked in and with a great, big cat hanging on his shoulder. The stupid thing had refused his cage again and claimed the boy's shoulder as a bed. Kennedy didn't mind much, Oliver was...Oliver.

"Hi everyone," he said, slightly smiling and sending a greeting nod to Kimalia and Selena. They were special, so they got more of a greeting. There were a few faces he didn't recognize, but that was to be expected.

As he set Oliver down on he almost chuckled at the way the cat sprawled himself on the seat, as if he owned the place. Kennedy sat down and scanned the compartment and his eyes briefly landed on the Gryffindor prefect. What...happened to Adam? Wasn't that his badge? He'd need a word with his trouble-making friend later. Then his green eyes landed on Eve. SHE was a Prefect?! No wonder she was all defensive and proud of her house when they were discussing in.

Hmm.

Evelyn was still a little distracted by the cats all around her when she heard someone else enter the compartment. She looked up to find..Ellie! Oh!

"Hey." Evelyn smiled and scooted over a little to make space for Ellie, although her eyes back on the cat. Jeez. And..there were even Pygmy Puffs around. Not that those creatures freaked her out but still.

"How have you been?"And..she frowned slightly when she noticed Ellie pull her feet onto the seat. Was she scared of the cat as well?



Evelyn turned to find Kennedy enter the compartment. So, he was a Prefect. The smile on her face widened to a grin. "Hey."

Then the new Puff Prefect caught his attention. "Hey, Evelyn!" Summer... spent dreading his last year at Hogwarts. Yes, that certainly qualified as lovely... "Erm, yeah, it was alright. You?" And just to be polite and all formal-like, "And congrats on the badge, by the way. Can't think of anyone who deserves it more." Which was true.



Keefer watched King Walnut's ears flatten against his head. What did I do now, eh? Then he realized that Kurumi was addressing Paulie... Oh, bad move, buddy. Walnut needed... flattery. He knew that much.

"Winner, eh?" Hopefully that played out in more than one field this year. Or pitch, mostly. "Does this mean I have permission?" he asked, looking at Walnut. He was pretty sure he knew that answer.

He reached out tentatively, waiting on tenterhooks for a snarl, tooth, claw, or anything that would symbolize displeasure from Walnut. Seeing none, his hand made contact with the feline and the scratching commenced. "You are just such a handsome cat, aren't you?" It was more of a rhetorical question. Of course Walnut knew it was true.

After a good long rub, Keefer withdrew his hand from the cat's head and resumed his search for a seat. He took the open seat that was the closest to Lewis. Because really, he was the only one that the Captain had any desire to sit by.

Talk about no physical contact this time. And the fact that he had intertwined their fingers wasn't exactly helpful either, was it? But he couldn't take it back now. Didn't want to take it back either. He was just being...supportive again. So when he met her gaze, there was absolutely no need to blush or anything. Since he was just being a friend, doing what any other friend would do.

Only he totally did blush, just smiling a little when she thanked him, while averting his gaze back down to Walnut on her lap. The next few moments Lewis sort of spaced out, just focusing on not focusing too much on the way her hand felt in his. He should probably just let go of it again. It would make things A LOT easier. A lot. But he didn't really want to.

He got pulled back into the now when Kurumi suddenly blurted out something and tightened her grip on his hand. Frowning a little, Lewis glanced back up at her face after letting his gaze dart around the compartment for a moment in search for something else that had upset her. Okay, what was going on? Adam? Adam...Adam...the Prefect? The one he had met on the train? Okay, and what was the problem now?

Hey yourself? What kind of a weird greeting was that? But Keefer was smiling so Lewis could only assume it wasn't anything bad or that he should be taken aback or anything. "I...I'm Prefect." He offered, chewing on his lip while looking up at the older Hufflepuff expectantly. Maybe he would have an explanation for Professor Hadley's choice.

And then he addressed Walnut on Kurumi's lap. Lewis could almost hear Vanilla snort derisively at that. You know, if cats could snort. And if she hadn't been so focused on Evelyn.

The more upset Evelyn got, the more persistent Vanilla's nudging became. What was wrong with the girl? Usually her nudges made people feel better. There had to be something seriously wrong with that one. She could SENSE that she was upset but somehow her presence wasn't helping.

Putting her front paws on Evelyn's seat, Vanilla tried to get up onto the seat again but lacking the strength to do so. Maybe it would help if she lay on the girl's lap. Pick me up!

And then his eyes drifted over the the compartment door again as it was pushed open by...hey, somebody else he knew. Vaguely anyway. Quidditch and all. AAAAAND she was Treyen's girlfriend wasn't she? At least he thought she was. Which made her pretty awesome already!

"Hello Ellie." The redhead even got a small smile from him. And there, see, he even knew her name. Blushing a little at her congratulations he muttered a barely audible "Thank you" while averting his gaze back down to his lap for a moment.



Before he had to make any more conversation or anything, the door opened AGAIN and Lewis looked up to see the Slytherin Prefect entering the compartment. The male one. He still didn't know who the female one was though she seemed to be one of the few who were still missing. "H-hi!" His eyes fell on the cat which was hanging onto his shoulder and he smiled a little.

People with cats couldn't be bad. Or so he liked to think.

Lewis turned in his seat a little when Keefer took a seat next to him and smiled at the Captain again. Was this the time for smalltalk now? Like asking about summer. Everybody else kept doing it but somehow he didn't want to mention the word summer again. For obvious reasons.

Maybe if he said it really quietly, in a whisper so Kurumi wouldn't hear it?

Hmm, this boy looked familiar.. Oh, heey, it was one of the boys from a Quidditch Match game who was tossing her back and forth with another one when she had the Quaffle in her third year. "Hey, welcome aboard." Okay, so maybe sticking her tongue out back then was a little childish, but it was in the heat of the gaming moment. Hehe, and ancient history anyway, as she smiled back waving. She wondered what happened to the Gryffindor boy prefect from last term.



"Hey,"Yep, she remembered Selina.. She went slightly red at the recent memory of when she lost control on stage thanks to a certain green nose. Hehe. But yep, Selina was cool, she did after all allow Kimalia the privilege to make her bleed... or well, at least look like it during a Healer seminar. "Summer was great," Greater than words could describe. "yours too I hope?"



"Hai!" Waving back, Kimalia beamed at her and her little pets. Selena had made her laugh, maybe at the worst times but still.. Ooh, Kimalia couldn't believe she missed this, extra special part pinned to her. "Whoa Selena, you're head girl." Her shock went away in a flash, lowering her voice just a tad for only her to hear "Bout time, eh?" Then returned to her normal volume, "Major congrats to you, we should have another get together soon." Yep, just like their picnic party last term.



"Hi," Kimalia waved back at the new Ravenclaw girl prefect who arrived, guess that leaves the boy and their captain to arrive next. She didn't know her name, though that was going to change as she took a sugar quill from her purse to suck on. "I'm Kimalia, and congrats on your badge!"



"Hey," Kimalia waved at.. Keefer? She believed that was his name, she made sure to know all the captains name in advance. Her team didn't get to face them last term, so that was going to change. "You ready for the Quidditch season?"


Kimalia blinked at hearing her name.. how did he know that? She wondered if he studied the Quidditch rosters to find that out. But then again, the sport is popular. Paulie.. Paulie.. Ooh, she kind of knew that name. "Oh, Paulie, pleasure meeting you." Of course she recognize the name from a certain Torpedo gum-girl, yes, she still loved that nickname she coined Victoria. "You're.. with Tori, right? How is she?"



Smiling kindly, he looked so nervous. Luckily, Kimalia wasn't the type to bite. Congrats to her too? How sweet, he must've meant for her receiving another chance as a captain. Yes, she was lucky Lafay didn't snatch it after their loss. "Thanks.." Oh right, she needed his name, "I'm Kimalia."



"Yeah, it was good, Eve." Smiling back, though Eve didn't say much about her summer, Kimalia let it slide to introduce herself. "I'm Kimalia."



Kimalia instinctively bowed her head a little too while smiling, something her friend and future sister-in-law Ruby did that made her catch on. Kurumi seemed a little distant to Kimalia, and found it a little strange to not hear her speak. Kimalia did want to point something out that she liked. "I like how your hair is up, Kurumi." Lightly touching the top of her own hair to indicate her bun. It was cute, and Kimalia wondered if she could pull that same look off. "It's not too difficult to style it, right?"



"Hi, Ellie." Waving, which never got old for Kimalia. "Good summer?"


Kimalia waved back smiling at Kennedy, yes, she knew him a little more personal than the others here. So she didn't need to ask how his summer was, though was a little preoccupied by his guest. "Aww, what a cute cat." Remembering Aurora's comment, Kimalia did seem to notice an air of sureness with him now. Though, that was their business to discuss, not hers. "Ready for the new term?" Now that left one more Snake and Claw to join them.. Kimalia mainly wondered who the new girl Slytherin prefect was.

Selena waved hellooo at the next person. Even though she shouldn't have to because this girl didn't eat chocolate that much - which was completely insane. Selena eyed the cat though. Stupid cat. That made a total of three felines in this one compartment and one pygmy puff, right?

"Your cat's not allowed to eat my pygmy puff."

Best to lay down the rules now as opposed to after the pygmy puff was eaten right? "Kent's here! His name isn't superman!" Selena huffed, pointing at her head. That was where the pygmy puff belonged. And the cat belonged in a cage. Along with the other cats. Where they'd all fight for survival.



Selena looked at the next person in and waved. He was the huffie person who flew on a broom. Selena didn't like brooms, those things were scary in flight. "Hellloooo~" Selena greeted with a bright smile on her face. Welcome aboard indeed... second to last time on this train... Selena wasn't ready for her seventh year! Or getting old for that matter.



Selena noticed him looking at her badge. He wasn't allowed to take her badge, it was hers. He had his. Even if her badge was obviously the cooler one, he wasn't allowed to have it. Or touch it for that matter because it was property of Selena Zabini-Riddle; for now at least.

"Hiya Gryffindor," Selena replied. Because as far as Selena was concerned, he didn't have a name yet.

Was he questioning her pet naming abilities?! He was way out of line if he wa- oh. He was complimenting the names. "I know, Kent is the KING of all pygmy puffs and Clarke is his best friend!" Selena said beaming from ear to ear. And Clarke would EAT all the cats here... y'know... if Clarke was with Selena right now.



Selena didn't like the look the Hufflepuff was giving her. Selena wasn't insane, as far as Selena was concerned... he was the insane one. "I know, you told me," Selena said. And she wasn't stupid, yup. She was a smart cookie, or just smart, she didn't want to be a cookie because then people would eat her. "Mister Huffie could be like... your nickname," she explained. Like how Apple was Sierra. See, perfectly normal. Perhaps she ought to give all the prefects fruit nicknames. "Selena is my name, but Sel is shorter," she said. Really, how did this kid become prefect if he couldn't put two and two together? Selena just hoped the kid liked pygmy puffs and chocolate.

Was he also asking what he liked? People were so confusing these days. "That's nice," Selena said slowly, eying the cat. "Cats are not allowed to eat my pygmy puff, okay?" Selena said, eying the cat that had been distracted. Good. It was gone. And she was going to have to find a way to get rid of all the cats here.



Selena kept the smile on her face. "HAI. I'm Selena. Head girl. Slytherin. Epic." she introduced. Because this kid wasn't going to go first, apparently. Which just confused Selena, people ought to just spit out their names quickly so she didn't have to ask everyone.



Selena nodded. "I want cake too," Selena decided. Did anyone have cake here? Or ice cream? It would be pretty nice right about now. "I have a chocolate frog!" Selena offered. Because she had tons of those. It was a yummy treat after all.



Ehhhh? Gryffindor didn't want a chocolate frog? This was absurd. "Suit yourself~" Selena said in a singsong sort of voice. She shrugged her shoulders and pat her pygmy puff before opening the box, slightly distracted as she watched the door open yet again. The chocolate frog seemed to have hopped out of the box without being frozen. When Selena looked back down at the box... Wait... what?

Where was her chocolate? Perhaps she had eaten in subconsciously or something? Selena simply took another frog out, ready to eat, but just as she had been distracted before, the frog leaped away.

Whatever, it didn't matter. Whoever caught it could eat it. Selena had a more important issue to settle. "Will your cat eat my pygmy puff?"

Because Selena wanted to shove the cat into a cage. With the other ones.



"HAI!" Selena exclaimed, distracted for a moment as she waved at the girl. She had seen the girl a few times and this girl was the one on the broom too. Selena still didn't like brooms.



Selena waved hello at the next Slytherin to enter, a big smile on her face. Until she saw the cat.

"Your cat's not allowed to eat Kent."

She should put a sign up outside, that would be a smart idea, right? No one was allowed to eat the king of all pygmy puffs? Because she wasn't letting the Slytherin's evil cat eat it.



Selena beamed at Kimalia. Kimalia didn't have a cat so Selena automatically liked this girl. "Thank you!!" Selena grinned, hugging the girl and allowing her pygmy puff to fall off her head and onto her lap. When she let go of the younger Slytherin she quickly placed Kent back on her head. "How was your summer?" she asked, kicking her legs back and forth as she opened her next chocolate frog. She wasn't going to let this one get away this time.

Selina wanted to run out of the prefect compartment screaming. There was way too much going on for the fifth year Gryffindor to comprehend. Bodies moved swiftly in and out, new faces and old faces, news was cycling like a printing press, and everyone was trying to talk to everyone, which made organizing ones thoughts very, very difficult. Just when Selina thought she had caught up to the present conversation she blinked and something new was buzzing in the prefect's compartment. Maybe if she slowly walked out no one would notice her absence. Although, THAT was unlikely.

Organizing her thoughts, she nodded to Louisa and said, "Hey there Louisa, same thing to you.". Then she turned her attention to the newly entered Keefer. She smiled at the other captain, "Hey there Captain..." It was nice to see Keefer back in the compartment, but she was not surprised. The Hufflepuff's had spent the previous term having an AMAZING season. Keefer had lead them all into victory time and time again, and, although Selina was in competition with him and his team, she could appreciate his talent and his team's dedication.

When she heard Kimalia return her question, Selina turned to look at her and said, "Glad your summer was good. I have to say mine was pretty good as well..." That was partially true. She had enjoyed spending the summer with her father at summer training, but other parts had not been so wonderful. This summer was the epitome of change... so much had happened that she could barely fathom that it all had occurred.

Then she turned to Kennedy and returned his hello, "Hey there Kennedy." She also saw Ellie enter the compartment and it hit her. Ellie was a seventh year and was graduating... what a weird concept? "Hey there, Ellie." It was not that she knew Ellie well, or really at all, but the fact that she was getting older also signified that Selina herself was getting older.

She was about to respond to Selena's alien comment when Gideon had arrived. There was no other emotion or any type of response on her face besides shock. Then, when he took his badge out, she swore her jaw ached from hitting the ground. He had been made prefect and had not TOLD HER? When did this happen? How did this happen? She was unable to form words, but she was shaken from her shock when Kurumi snapped at Gideon.

The redhead quickly turned her head to where Kurumi was going off. Was she serious? Yeah, sure Adam was important and all, but she was going to yell at Gideon who had done nothing wrong except be proud of the fact that he was prefect. Sure, Selina was not exactly sure how she felt about the fact that Gideon had not told her, but she was still trying to figure that out.

Shaking her head of the way Kurumi had just acted, Selina replied to Gideon, "Y-y-ou.... when... how... um... but.... prefect? Since when?"

Penelope had been running late, which she blamed entirely on her stupid cousins. If they weren't so obnoxious and annoying and so tempting to punch, she probably would've gotten to the train station place sooner. It was a good thing she'd had an old person like her cousin Vashti to do that disappearing thing to get them there in time. Thanks to her Penelope had managed to run through the wall - THAT was pretty cool - and jump onto the train just a few seconds before it started moving.

Once she had arrived on the train, the eleven-year-old had opened the little pet carrier thing that held her cat, Spot, and let the cat climb up and perch herself on her shoulder as always. Spot was much happier there than being cooped up in that little box. Penelope understood that feeling too.

After hooking the carrier to her trunk to make it all easier to drag along, Penelope now had to figure out where she was going to sit for this train ride. The bad thing about arriving late, she quickly figured out, was that the majority of the compartments seemed to be full, and none of them seemed interesting enough either.

Until this one.

This one had some sort of label on the door. She squinted up at it. Perfect Compartment?

Now THAT sounded like a good compartment. Who wouldn't want to be in the perfect compartment?

Quickly she grabbed the door and shoved it open.

"Oh." There were people in here. Of course there were. Like she'd thought, who wouldn't want the perfect compartment? "Is there still room?" She was quite small, so she was sure she could fit. Spot too, even if there were other cats in here.

Evelyn suddenly noticed that Kennedy had a cat as well, that was now sitting on her shoulder. Great. Just...great.

Shifting her eyes back to Keefer, she smiled. Oh, how was her summer? "It was alright." She said, with a light shrug. It was okay..except for the parts where her family annoyed her. "You looking forward to this term?" Stupid question but before she could give that much thought, she flushed red at his next few words. She smiled again at him before she said, "Erm..I..uh..thank you. That's nice of you to say." She looked down at the cat again, her face still flushed.



Evelyn nodded with a smile. At least, someone had a good summer. "Nice to meet you, Kimalia." Evelyn said, politely and extended her hand.



Evelyn grinned. "I wish I had some." She said, with a dreamy sigh. Unfortunately, she hadn't packed any food and she was starting to feel a little hungry. Maybe could get something to eat from the Trolley later. Yep. Chocolate frog? "I love Chocolate Frogs but..I love cake even better. And, chocolate." Of course, how could anyone forget chocolate?

All this talk about cake and chocolate made her completely oblivious to the fact that the cat was trying to climb onto her seat....



...she jumped lightly when she saw that the cat had almost jumped onto her lap. OH. Maybe, it wanted to lie on her lap or something? Erm. She wasn't sure if that was good idea. She chewed on her lip nervously. She looked friendly enough and the way Ellie was sitting..it looked like the Claw was scared of cats as well. Big time.

Hesitating, Evelyn extended her hand and lowered it. She gently tapped the cat's head..still not feeling good about this. She quickly pulled back her hand. "You happy now?" She looked at her, her eyebrows raised.

SPOILER!!: SelEna

Quote:

Originally Posted by iBeJenn

Selena kept the smile on her face. "HAI. I'm Selena. Head girl. Slytherin. Epic." she introduced. Because this kid wasn't going to go first, apparently. Which just confused Selena, people ought to just spit out their names quickly so she didn't have to ask everyone.

"Um sorry."

He probably should have introduced himself but he wasn't aware of how it was done and seeing as a lot of people already knew each other, he simply went along with letting it be. "Nice to met ye Selena and congrats on the head girl. I'm Gideon, prefect, Gryffindor." That was enough wasn't it? No telling everyone that a certain quidditch captain was his girlfriend?

SPOILER!!: SelIna

Quote:

Originally Posted by fanficfanatict

Selina wanted to run out of the prefect compartment screaming. There was way too much going on for the fifth year Gryffindor to comprehend. Bodies moved swiftly in and out, new faces and old faces, news was cycling like a printing press, and everyone was trying to talk to everyone, which made organizing ones thoughts very, very difficult. Just when Selina thought she had caught up to the present conversation she blinked and something new was buzzing in the prefect's compartment. Maybe if she slowly walked out no one would notice her absence. Although, THAT was unlikely.

Organizing her thoughts, she nodded to Louisa and said, "Hey there Louisa, same thing to you.". Then she turned her attention to the newly entered Keefer. She smiled at the other captain, "Hey there Captain..." It was nice to see Keefer back in the compartment, but she was not surprised. The Hufflepuff's had spent the previous term having an AMAZING season. Keefer had lead them all into victory time and time again, and, although Selina was in competition with him and his team, she could appreciate his talent and his team's dedication.

When she heard Kimalia return her question, Selina turned to look at her and said, "Glad your summer was good. I have to say mine was pretty good as well..." That was partially true. She had enjoyed spending the summer with her father at summer training, but other parts had not been so wonderful. This summer was the epitome of change... so much had happened that she could barely fathom that it all had occurred.

Then she turned to Kennedy and returned his hello, "Hey there Kennedy." She also saw Ellie enter the compartment and it hit her. Ellie was a seventh year and was graduating... what a weird concept? "Hey there, Ellie." It was not that she knew Ellie well, or really at all, but the fact that she was getting older also signified that Selina herself was getting older.

She was about to respond to Selena's alien comment when Gideon had arrived. There was no other emotion or any type of response on her face besides shock. Then, when he took his badge out, she swore her jaw ached from hitting the ground. He had been made prefect and had not TOLD HER? When did this happen? How did this happen? She was unable to form words, but she was shaken from her shock when Kurumi snapped at Gideon.

The redhead quickly turned her head to where Kurumi was going off. Was she serious? Yeah, sure Adam was important and all, but she was going to yell at Gideon who had done nothing wrong except be proud of the fact that he was prefect. Sure, Selina was not exactly sure how she felt about the fact that Gideon had not told her, but she was still trying to figure that out.

Shaking her head of the way Kurumi had just acted, Selina replied to Gideon, "Y-y-ou.... when... how... um... but.... prefect? Since when?"

Gideon watched as Selina seemed to go through a whole cycle of reactions to the news, hoping against hope none of them were bad for him. He would hate to be in the doghouse because of what he had done by waiting to tell her and whatnot. At least with her reaction to Kurumi, he wasn't the only one taken aback by her response to Adam's absence.

"A few weeks," he answered reaching the hand that held the badge up to rub the back of his neck. Feeling it, he lowered his arm and moved to pin it on his robes like he supposed it should be. "Kinda took a while to sink in at first...and then I...tried to think of the best way to tell ye. Telling ye in person seemed best and then things got busy." Boy was he still getting used to handling things more couple-friendly then just friend-friendly.

Lewis's reply confused him. He was a Prefect. Yes, Keefer had actually managed to gather that much information himself. Seeing as he couldn't be the Puff Captain for obvious reasons, that only left Puff Prefect. So.. yeah. There was no other reason for him to be here... "Yes, I noticed," he said, with a half amused, half confused smile. "And an excellent choice, I think." Hadley had really outdone herself this time with her choices. Both brilliant candidates, in his opinion.

As he sat, he noticed Lewis look at him expectantly. Um, yes? Er, do I have something on my robes? He glanced down. No. Maybe I'm supposed to tell him something? The Captain wracked his brains, but couldn't really think of anything he had forgotten to say. So he settled for, "Good holiday, then?"




Hearing someone address him, he leaned a bit to see around Lewis. It was the Slytherin Captain, the only one he hadn't had to face last year. Oh, Quidditch! "Well, we'll see. We graduated our be-- Um, we lost our veteran Chaser," he said, with a sideways glance at Lewis. "And we may be down another Chaser, depending on... certain things." Another glance at Lewis. And Kurumi. "So we may be weak in that area, but I also have some enthusiastic hopefuls that may fill the gap very nicely. You?"



And a wave from... the Head Girl? "Nice badge, Congrats!"



"Yeah, same here." He wondered if she was having the same mixed feelings as he was about their final year. Perhaps that feeling was what motivated her next question? "I guess. It will certainly be busy, what with Quidditch and NEWTs and all.." he trailed off, dancing around the obvious fact of it being his last year at Hogwarts.. ever.

Seriously! Why did girls always get all red in the face when he talked to them lately? He needed Treyen Lockhart more than ever. Maybe I'll just have to visit WADA or something.. "Well, it's the truth, so I said it," he said bluntly, though not unkindly.

Unlike a certain other firstie, West just barrelled on in casually, like he owned the place. He found a spot to squeeze into , put his feet up on someone's trunk and casually scooped up a packet of Jelly Slugs that were just sitting there all invitingly.

Oh Rumi. He knew her!

"You know, there's a awful lot of cats in here." DID THEY NOTICE? THERE WOULD BE MORE SPACE FOR WEST IF THERE WERE LESS KITTIES.

*innocent look*

What?

It was comfy in here! He slurped down one of the Jelly Slugs and offered up a gummy smile.

Selena nodded in agreement. Did someone keep some ice cream with them at all times? That would be pretty cool... if ice cream didn't melt that is. Selena bit the head off of the chocolate frog to take her mind off of the prospect of arriving at Hogwarts and getting cake. Selena liked cake. "I want pie, pie always taste good. And chocolate chip pancakes," Selena said with a grin.

She wondered if they would have chocolate chip pancakes at the feast this time. Breakfast for dinner? Selena could live with that.



Selena wondered why he was saying sorry. Whatever, he could be weird like everyone else. Selena was totally the normal one in this compartment. "Thank you, Gideon," Selena said with a big smile on her face, shoving the rest of her chocolate frog in her mouth. "What happened to the other Gryffie prefect?" Selena asked. The one who wanted the chocolate party too. Selena liked that prefect, he was nice. This one didn't seem as nice.



Selena grinned from ear to ear. "Yes, it's a verrrry nice badge! It's shiny!" Selena exclaimed clapping her hands once in excitement. "Thank you! You have a shiny badge too!" Not as shiny as hers of course, but it was still shiny and Selena liked shiny.



Selena was counting the prefects and Quidditch captains in her head. All of the Gryffindor people were there... and the Hufflepuff people were there too. If there was an extra Gryffie, there would be an extra Slytherin right? So Slytherin was missing one little prefect... and Ravenclaw was missing a prefect. That made sense to Selena. So she was ready to greet the Slytherin or Ravenclaw prefect when the compartment door opened to reveal...

A first year? Had either of the two missing prefects drank some potion? Nope. This girl was new. And then there was another firstie who walked in. Selena watched as the male plopped himself down and put his feet up on... was that her trunk? Nope, Selena had put a green sticker on it somewhere? Unless his feet were covering the sticker? Selena wasn't quite sure.

The girl also had a cat.

"There's also an awful lot of people in here," Selena told the boy before looking at the girl there. "There's room till the other two prefect come in," Selena told the girl, eying the cat in the carrier. Would any of the other prefects or quidditch people mind if Selena stuffed the other cats into that little carrier right now? It would make everyone so much more comfortable in there. Anyways... "I'm Selena Zabini-Riddle, I am awesometastical, I invented that word so I get to define it, and I am Slytherin head girl, and I like chocolate frogs, and this is Kent," Selena said quickly, pointing at her head at the mention of Kent. Everyone needed to know who Kent the pygmy puff was.

And more importantly. "Who are you two and what are you doing here?" Because Selena was pretty sure they weren't fourth years. Therefore, they wouldn't be able to be prefects. Perhaps they were like... the younger siblings of someone in here? If not, they were just lost. Perhaps they needed a pygmy puff to guide them.

Kurumi felt Walnut's position on her lap shift suddenly and she looked down to see Walnut's tail flicking back and forth in agitation. What had his whiskers in a knot? Looking up, she saw that Ellie had entered the compartment and she cocked her head to the side as she shushed the feline who looked as though he were about to take a flying leap across the compartment.

"Hey....Ellie..." she managed to say, her eyes only meeting hers briefly before looking out the window.

Kurumi was sort of still lost in her thoughts, namely how Adam hadn't even bothered to tell any one that he wouldn't be coming back and just how inconsiderate and pompous of him that had been. Was he expecting her to then write him, begging for answers about why he had left and not told anyone? Well, he had obviously told Professor Bentley, but that was beside the point. Well...too bad for you, Adam Burn, Kurumi was done. She would put the same effort into being friends as he was: none.

"No...I mean... of course you don't..." she stammered, noting Selina's look. What? She hadn't raised her voice at all nor had her tone been anything less of shock and confusion. Her eyes went back to Gideon now, chewing on her lip nervously as her hand loosened its grip around Lewis' just a little - but it still wasn't going anywhere.

"Um...congratulations," she offered him a weak smile, but her thoughts and feelings were too wrapped up in confusion to be able to really do much more. Once she wasn't an emotional wreck about everything...whenever that happened.
"Hey Kennedy," Kurumi said with a faint smile, again. Kennedy and her had had a few moments last term, opening up about things regarding the family situations which had some what surprised the Gryffindor. Not to mention he had sort of become her dueling partner whenever there was some sort of practice going on.

Kurumi's smile widened a bit more as Keefer spoke. "I'm pretty sure it does." But it looked at though the Quidditch captain didn't need to be told so as he was already reaching out and scratching her cat behind the ears. Still, Kurumi couldn't help but hold her breath JUST in case he tried something.

Walnut was clearly pleased with being called handsome, but her preferred to have a long string of compliments attached to said word. He did have the sleekest coat around and the best tail. Although...Vanilla's tail wasn't so bad now that he looked at it.
Kurumi's eyes locked on Lewis', wishing that this time she would be able to transmit a message with her brown eyes but knowing that this was far too complicated to be understood by just a look. Not that the previous messages they had shared with unspoken words were not, but this time there was a history. A long one.

Kurumi leaned her head in towards Lewis. "I'll...tell you later..." she whispered so that only they could hear, her eyes meeting his again briefly before sitting straight again.

She didn't notice the rise in color of Lewis' cheeks, but her own were certainly matching and her thumb was back to softly rubbing against his hand.
Kurumi's attention was back on Kimalia now as she continued to chew on her lip a little. Merlin, she needed to pull herself together or else people were going to be back to asking if she was alright and, well, that would be bad for Lewis since she would probably cut off the circulation to his hand because she was squeezing it too hard.

Her hair? Oh, right. The hand that had been scratching Walnut reached up and touched the bun on top of her head, her cheeks flushing just a bit more. "Oh...um...thank you," she said, still unable to take compliments from anyone since, well, she never thought she deserved them. "Not...really... I sort of just did it as I was running out the door..."

Which was sort of a lie because the silkiness of Kurumi's hair always made styling it difficult. It was why she usually just wore it down. Just run a brush through it and done sort of thing.


It did suit...er...herself? Kurumi sort of just bowed her head again in appreciate for the offer, but chocolate frog would forever be a thing of nightmares for her. Yes, thank you Charms for forever making her afraid of hopping chocolate.

"He wouldn't if he knows what's good for him," she said, eyeing Walnut as his tail swished back and forth - his eyes still on Ellie.

But then...something happened that caused Kurumi to jump slightly and scoot even closer to Lewis - almost to the point where she was sitting on his lap. THERE WAS A CHOCOLATE FROG ON THE WINDOW!!! "Kyaaa!" Forget Lewis' hand, Kurumi's arm wrapped around his and she sort of clung to him as Walnut LEAPED off her lap and dove across the compartment to Ellie's where he stood on his hind legs and staaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaared at her.

The frog jumped off the window, on to Kurumi's head and somehow mangaged to get itself tangled up in Lewis' hair. "Oh, Merlin," Kurumi whimpered as she saw the thing struggle to break free. THERE WAS A CHOCOLATE FROG IN LEWIS HAIR! EW EW EWEWEEW! Kurumi inhaled deeply and, now that her one hand was free, began to tangle it in his hair to try and rid if of the MONSTER.

"Lewis...just hold still," she said, her eyes focused entirely on the chocolate frog in his hair and trying to untangle it. Admittedly, Kurumi did momentarily forget that she was trying to get the frog out and twirled a few locks of hair in her fingers before returning to the task at hand.

"There!" she chirped as the frog LEAPED out of his hair, only to land on Selina's chest and stay there for a few moments before it made another jump...this time right in the direction of two first years who had made their appearance at the compartment.

Where was Walnut during all this? He was still staaaaaaaaaaaaring at Ellie while sitting on her lap.

There was still a delay with Selina and her brain. She could not fathom quite yet that Gideon was a prefect- the Gryffindor prefect, which would explain why she had stuttered and had not been able to form a coherent sentence when he had spoken to her earlier. It was not that she was inept, it was just that functioning and fathoming what Gideon had said to her was a sort of difficult feat. Once she had finally swallowed what he had said Gideon was already moving on to explain further when he had gotten his badge. It was lame, but all she could conjure up was a small nod of understanding.

Finally, after what seemed like minutes of just nodding her head, she spoke up slowly at first, "Yeah... I think that telling me in person was wise.... I just am... um... yeah. You're prefect." If there was an award for stating the obvious Selina would surely have won it a million times over. When she was at a loss of what to say her muscle memory automatically went and stated facts. Pretty soon she would be listing the order of the kings of england.

However, she did catch the look that Kurumi had given in response to Selina's look. It was not that Selina was mad at Kurumi, it was just that the girl had been a bit odd when Gideon announced his prefectship. Selina was just as surprised as the next person, but it was no need to blurt out about Adam. Again, she could not condemn Kurumi for reacting the way she had. After everything that had gone on between Kurumi and Adam who would not be upset with him for not returning.

She did not have a chance to say anything to Kurumi in particular though because Merlin let the gates of Tartus fly open! Suddenly, the greatest evil of the world was set loose among the people in the compartment! First it flew to Kurumi and Lewis and then, to punish Selina for an evil she had done in her past life, the bloody thing landed on Selina's chest!

......."AHHHHHHHH GET 'ER OFF!!!!!"" Get off! Get off! Oh Merlin! The evil was plotting to make the world a miserable, miserable place. Hadn't they already put Selina and Kurumi through enough strife?

Selina could feel her eyes sting with fresh tears. She flailed until the thing flew off of her chest and headed straight toward... the firsties....

Kennedy grinned and bit his lip, now a bit shy because of the way he had behaved. He hadn't meant to come off as competitive, but it was what it was. He was proud of his house and well...no one could change that. "So, you're Hufflepuff prefect," he mused, with the tiniest of smirks playing on his lips. Hey, at least it was nice to see a familiar face. Last year had been awkward since he knew almost no one by name.

The prefect turned to Hufflepuff and grinned. He followed his gaze and shrugged at the heavy cat. "His name is Oliver." Yeah, he was introducing the Hufflepuff prefect to his cat. So what? It was the polite thing to do, right?

Kennedy grinned looking down at Oliver and then chuckled. "He's more of a pain in the butt if you ask me," he said. He did think Oliver was cute, but that had been months ago when the cat was just a tiny kitten that struggled to jump onto his bed. Now, he was more like a pixie trying to have bite at his hair. He looked up from the now waking up feline and said, "Yes, ma'am. You?" They DID have great leaders this term, except he didn't know who the female Slytherin prefect was.

Hopefully someone that was easy to get along with.

The boy's smile faltered a bit at Selena's comment and snapped his eyes back at Oliver, who was stretching his paws out in front of him. Kennedy almost thought the cat had already pounced on its prey...not that he would target Kent. Or, at least he hoped not.

"I don't think he will," Kennedy said with a nervous smile.

He was not responsible for Oliver's actions. The cat was just too independent minded to listen to him.

Kennedy then turned his attention to the two Gryffindor girls that greeted him and sent them a grin. This time around it was nice to know people that knew his name. He didn't have to go through the awkward phase of trying to introduce himself. That was good.

He was about to pull out a book from his trunk when several things happened. Two first years entered the compartment, began touching the Hufflepuff prefect's hair and then the Gryffindor Captain was shrieking. THEN Oliver jumped off the seat and toward the same girl.

"Oliver!" Kennedy yelled, trying to wrap his arms around the cat, but failing. As the chocolate frog jumped of the girl, the cat moved to...over to the first years.

Were they even allowed in here?

The Great Oliver had pounced to action when he heard the lady in distress yell. He had acted, his agile paws on the ground. His yellow eyes followed the bouncing frog and that's when his eyes landed on the two little humans.

He WANTED the frog.

He also wanted that furry thing one of the girls had, but that could wait. Jumping prey was much, much more fun.

He crouched, his furry tail up in the air and his bottom wiggled, ready to pounce on the frog...and the children.

Penelope hadn't been standing there long waiting for an answer before some other boy she didn't know randomly appeared and plopped himself down in a seat. Did he not SEE her standing there? SHE was there first. That seat should belong to HER.

Rude.

Spot meowed at the boy from her perch on Penelope's shoulder, but all Penelope responded with was, "You know, that seat should be mine." Because she was here FIRST.

Yeah, there were an awful lot of people in here, Penelope could agree with that. But she was sure she could fit. And if right now she couldn't, they could just kick the random boy out, and then she could. Simple.

Other two prefects? "What's a prefect?" That was a weird word. Then... Selena Zabini-Riddle? Awesometastical? Invented a word? Slytherin head girl? What did that mean? She was in the Slytherin house - that much Penelope knew of - but...head girl? She was a girl with a head? Didn't ALL girls have heads? Otherwise they wouldn't be alive. Or would they? Hmm.

And then there was something about chocolate frogs and the girl with a head was pointing at a ball of fluff on top of her head and calling it Kent. It looked like those fluffy things she'd seen at that joke shop in Diagon Alley. Whatever they were called. Something puff. Penelope liked "Kent" better.

But now the girl wanted to know who they were and what they were doing there. "Penelope Greenwell." She pointed to the cat perched on her shoulder. "This is Spot." Whoever the random boy was, she didn't know. He would have to introduce himself. "And I'm here because I'm going to Hogwarts and need some place to sit for the ride." And the perfect compartment seemed the best place to stay.

Then chaos broke out, with a chocolate frog leaping from one boy's hair to a girl's chest and then - right in Penelope's direction.

Clumsily, she tried to draw her wand - she didn't know what spell she could possibly use but she was SURE if she concentrated hard enough SOMETHING would happen - but Spot was already ahead of her. Not noticing the other cat getting ready to pounce, eyes focused solely on the frog, Spot, with a MREOWWW!, leapt from Penelope's shoulder and straight at the frog, intending to tackle it in midair.

Well, this was a first.

All of it, really. Sierra Greingoth usually never rode the train. She lived in Hogsmeade, and there just wasn't a need for it. She wasn't a sociable person and could care less what everyone did over their summer break, so the whole train ride to and from school thing just never quite came together for her.

...until now, that is.

Of course she'd ride the train now that she was a prefect. She wore a mischievous-type smirk on her face as she walked through the corridors, heading straight toward the prefect's compartment. She wasn't all that amused about spending the ride there socializing with the others, but to be able to ride in an exclusive compartment not available to just anybody was an offer she couldn't pass up.

Stepping up to the compartment, she slid the door's open as if she'd been doing this all her life. She walked in, cool and confident, and took a seat in the midst of all the others. No sooner had her body come into contact with the seat, she heard the loud wail of some pathetic-sounding creature. "Dear Merlin!" she half-fussed, her eyes already ablaze with a look of pure annoyance.

West was having trouble COUNTING the kitties. There were too many. And a Pygmy Puff called Kent? What was with all the pets being CUTE? It insulted his future manliness!

His eyes came to rest on the Head Girl, the one that had the Pygmy Puff called Kent, and West immediately juuuuudged her in multiple ways, both positive and negative.

Of which I shall list for you.

1) Her pet was too cute -con
2) She had POWER cos she was head of... girls? And girls were often icky and West rather thought that when he wasn't making them do stuff they would do well with someone heading them and keeping them in line - pro
3) She felt it necessary to say that she liked chocolate frogs. Everyone liked chocolate frogs. It was weird to say it - con
3a) however, she liked chocolate frogs - pro
4) Her name was too long. She was now Lena - con
5) awesometastical was not a word - con
5a) even if it was, he was totally sure he'd heard it before. It wasn't even clever to combine awesome and fantastical - con
6) She was a Slytherin like his dad - pro

There were a lot more cons than pros but numbers 2 and 6 outweighed all the others by lots.

He blinked at her and went ahead and introduced himself as she'd aaaasked. "I'm West Odessa, I don't know what house I'm gonna be in yet, but it will be the best house, obviously! Awesometastical isn't a word, its two words jumbled together." Just so she knew, "Your name is real long, I'm going to call you Lena." Okay. There. He smiiiiiiiiled adorably. Yup. Practiced that in the mirror. It usually got him chocolate, or sometimes meant he got away with stuff. "And I'm sitting." He was. "And talking to you." That too.

What was that other firstie on about? This seat should be hers? West just sort of stared at her. She could squish in elsewhere right? And what, her name was... Penelope? tooooo long! What was with all these long names???? West wasn't sure yet if she was a Pen or a Loppy, but he'd figure that out in due time. "Well I'm not gonna move cos you were slow." He said reasonably. "There's other spots."

The business with Rumi's escaped chocolate frog? That had been in hair of that puffy prefect? It didn't even make young West bat an eyelid, except when it came flying across the compartment, followed by a cat and then met by another? The one from the other firstie's shoulder. And ANOTHER apparently called Oliver belonging to that boy Slytherin Prefect.

"My galleons are totes on the weird stubby one."

... They all knew which one he meant, riiiight?

OH LOOK SOMEONE NORMAL AND COOL HE KNEW HER HE DID HE DID THAT WAS SIERRA GREINGOTH!

He made big impressed eyes at her. She was a PREFECT? And Slytherin. That was cool. Like his dad. AND like her dad. West knew her dad on account of his dad and her dad were friends and such.

"You can sit by me, Sierra." He beaaaamed at her.

Sierra tried to ignore the business with the pitiful creature that was thrashing about the compartment. It wasn't bothering her, and she could care less what it did to the others. They could fight their own battles. If the cat even came near her, though, she'd shove it down to the ground and hold it there until she'd deprived it of every whisker it had.

Then she happened to glance over and notice some little kid staring her down like he was starving to death and she was the last bite of meat on Earth. Funny. He didn't look old enough to be a prefect. Maybe he wasn't. Sierra had once ventured in here herself when she'd only been a first year. "Why?" she asked him, wondering why he was suddenly so interested in her sitting right next to him. "Who are you?"

Funny thing was, he did look sort of familiar...

Almost right after Louisa settled down and threw her 'hi's and the comments that came afterwards, someone else entered. "Hi!" She greeted the boy back. "You're the Quidditch Captain, right?" Whose name she should know but forgot due to her I-Don't-Care-About-Quidditch vibes. "I'm Louisa," because he definitely didn't know her.



Giggling she shook her head, "Just let's not turn the school into a circus, okay?" Because Paulie had the power to do that if he wanted to. Louisa might've underestimated the boy before but he's proving himself unintentionally with time. As for her loving the nicknames, "As long as they're not silly like John." GLARE. Yep, she hadn't forgotten him calling HER a boy name. No matter how cool John was to Robin Hood.

Louisa looked down at his shorts and their color. She raised her eyebrows and snorted, "Thank Merlin we're not Siamese." Coz that would be... awkward and annoying. She wouldn't mind if it was someone more serious though like Joao.

"Why thank you, Big Head Boy. Yours looks fascinating though," she smirked at him, "I would say I was proud but don't want to break our bickering agreement." Duh. As for her OWLs, Louisa crossed her legs and moved her feet underneath her. Too many cats to spread her legs forward. "I've got two E's. And an Acceptable." So nope, not all excellent. Shrugging she went on, "I'm quite proud of my Defense Against the Dark Arts acceptable than all the others O's though. Weird, huh?" She was terrible at that subject. Good thing she hadn't failed it. "How did the rest of your summer go? Funtertainment with Tori?" Mischievous grin.

Louisa nodded friendly at Evelyn - OH! "So you two are friends now?" She leaned her back against the seat addressing both Paulie and Evelyn. The Hufflepuff girl told her about Paulie calling her 'the other woman' and her annoyance was at its peak. Heh. With a grin she went on, "My summer was average, thank you." Louisa's features went slightly serious when she dropped the next comment, "Joao's back to Hogwarts." Dun dun dunnn. Not that Eve cared but the Ravenclaw felt like saying this for some reason, she'd held it back for so long. "How's your summer?"



From the corner of her eye she caught Viola pausing at someone's feet. WHICH usually meant she was eating their shoes. Shooting the pet a glare, Louisa moved her attention to the Prefect boy with an apologetic smile, "Sorry, that's her way of embarrassing me with strangers." Pause. "Not that I consider you a stranger!" She blurted out waving her hands before her crazily. GAH! Her tongue was the embarrassing one, "I mean, she just likes licking shoes for some reason." She shrugged one shoulder and looked down at his hand.

... which wasn't only one hand. But two. No, like, he was holding Kurumi's hand. And she was moving her thumb over it. Slowly. Like, gently. Like, not very friendly. Louisa's eyebrow furrowed together. Would Jonathan actually approve of this? Wasn't he the one supposed to be holding her hand like this? Louisa only assumed that because of that flirting act she pulled off with Paulie last year. She'd hold his hand and done the same thing with her thumb.

PFFFFT. She probably was just overanalyzing things.

However, the Gryffie prefect did not answer her question about the holiday merely nodded her head. Huh. Interesting. Louisa just let it go.

Viola, on the other hand, merely stared at the nudging other cat for a moment before meowing at her for a couple of times as a friendly response and then followed her (Vanilla) to the girl (Evelyn) to lick her own shoes. THERE WERE JUST SO MANY TO CHOOSE FROM. And it appeared that her owner did not mind this time. PURR.



Then Ellie the Captain walked in and congratulated them. Louisa bounced on her seat waving at the red head, "Hi! Thank you!" EEP. Oh, the girl then walked to sit nearby where Evelyn was sitting. Mhmm. Cool. "How're you?" without Treyen. Coz they were... distant friends. They'd seen each other at the wedding so yeah, Louisa was going to chat with the soon-to-be graduate.

Then Aurora's boyfriend walked in. Louisa beamed up at him even if she didn't really know him that well and replied, "Hi there Kennedy. Fancy seeing you here." You know, in this particular compartment. Hehe.



"Thank you, Kimalia! I'm Louisa Carter." Did she have to say that SHE was the new Ravenclaw prefect? Probably not. Where was Eino, anyways? She never saw him on the Express before. Hmm. "So.. how was your summ-" Louisa was asking when the havoc of chocolate frogs, firsties and cats started. The Ravenclaw's feet were already up so she just curled up into a ball and buried herself in Paulie's side. He was the boy, he could get chocolate all over him not her. Other than that she did nothing.

But when the Slytherin girl walked in so quielty and snobbishly, Louisa couldn't agree more with her. Yeah, dear Merlin.

As for the Head Girl, Louisa fought a laugh and just nodded, "Yeah, of course. Viola's busy with the other cat now.." she pointed at her cat snuggling to Eve's leg along with the other one... that wasn't Kurumi's. Whose was it, then?

Kent, riiiiight. Well she was close, no? "Yeah, right. Kent." Louisa looked up at the ball of fur and made an ingenuine excited wave at him, "Hi Kent! How's it going in there?" Who used their hair as pygmy puff's nests? Silly.

The firsties got a curious stare from Louisa as the Head Girl dealt with them. Only one of them had a cat about to jump across the compartment! D: Louisa quickly grabbed her head and protected her vital organs, just in case.

Hey!

Kennedy recognized her. If his mind served him well, they had been partners in one of the Divination lessons. Yep, that's where he met her. He waved and then tilted his head to the side. "Why wouldn't I be here?" he asked out of curiosity. Was he expected somewhere else?

Kennedy launched off his seat and captured Oliver in his arms before he pounced on the little kids. They seemed awfully comfortable here, which in some form was comical because they were the smallest people in the compartment.

The cat made a sound between a hiss and a growl, but Kennedy managed to get a firm grip on him. The last thing he wanted was someone to sue him for not controlling his pet.

"I'd bet on Walnut," he said. "He's got a reputation." Just saying. He's heard of the things Kurumi's cat got up to and because of that he'd bet on it. His Oliver would most likely just bump into a wall and knock himself out.


He looked up from his seat when the doors slip open and his right eyebrow lifted on its own. He's only met her once and they had this...strange conversation, practically telling each other their life story. Which he still thought was odd. Anyway, he grinned at her. "Congrats on the badge, Sierra." She was top point earner in their house, so it was no wonder she was named prefect.