Alex felt weird stepping on the Hogwarts Express for the last time ever. The train ride had always been rather uneventful for him, but for some reason, since this was his LAST train ride, he felt...weird. He couldn't really explain it. He was pretty sure this weird feeling would last for quite a while, though.

He picked a compartment near the center of the train and set his bag down on the bench with a sigh. To be honest, he'd KIND of been hoping that he'd spend his last train ride in the prefects compartment. He'd tried not to get his hopes up too much, but still, it was slightly saddening. Whatever, he didn't need to dwell on that nonsense, not when he had more IMPORTANT things to worry about this year.

Things like NEWTs. Eww.

Ellura had left the luggage compartment in search of a seat on the train somewhere. She was torn; a part of her nervous and wanting to be along while the other didn't want to be antisocial and put perhaps people off all in one go. Perhaps she could find one of her year-mates she had run into at the ice cream shop over the summer, the third year looking around for a familiar face as she walked but finding none.

What did you expect...its a big train, she berated herself as she continued on.

Coming up to the middle of the train, Ellura absently pulled open the door to a random compartment about to just settle in it for the moment. However she had just turned and taken a step or two inside when she noticed another student within already and froze. An OLDER student. "Um...sorry for interrupting," she said making a move to slowly back out in case she really was interrupting.

Alex had been staring off in to the wilderness, wondering just how hard the NEWTs would be at the end of the year when he heard someone enter his compartment. Sierra? Nope, it was someone he didn't recognize...he had no idea who this person was, but she was staring. Staring at him like he had three heads or something. Did his new buzz cut hairstyle look menacing or something? Or maybe it was just the fact that she was clearly younger than him and he was older. Older students were scary.

"No, you're not interrupting," he said with a smile. There was no one for him to have a conversation with. "You can take a seat if you'd like," he added, pointing to the empty bench across from him.

Seth found an empty compartment. Knowing that other fellow students were going to quickly fill them, he carefully arranged his stuff in order to fill up the compartment he was in.

"Come on, Figarro." Seth tapped his knees, as the tiny feline jumped onto his lap and purred.

He pulled out a book, from his backpack and began reading. Reading was one his most treasured hobbies.

A smile.

She got a smile out of the boy which was a good thing... Wasn't it? His words of assurance as well as his invitation certainly made it appear as if it was the case. Ellura debated for a moment as she stopped once more biting her lip, debating if she wanted to stay in the compartment or if it would just be awkward, finally taking the dog by the teeth per-say.

"Thanks," she said as she took the invitation, moving to take the offered seat, setting the cat carrier down beside her. Hopefully the presence of a feline wasn't going to effect her new companion's friendliness. "Hope you don't mind Awena," Ellura remarked, the Siamese in question curled up inside her home at the moment.

A train to get to school. He was having to get a train to school. That never happened in beauxbatons. Not at all. It was really weird. Clement dropped his hands into his pockets, and stepped aboard the train. The last train he'd gotten on was the one that had taken him from Paris to London. That had been a weird train. It had gone under the water. Why his father didn't just apparate with him, was beyond him. But the man had said he needed to find his own way to England if he wanted to take part in this exchange program. He was sure that the girl wasn't having to make her own way to france. But he was here now, so it didn't really matter.

Cle stood in the train, glancing either way. Which way should he go? Down to the front? Or to the back? He had no idea at all. He stood there for a few minutes, pondering the direction. He didn't know anyone, so it didn't really matter. Making a decision he turned to his right, and headed down towards the back of the train.

Lilly walked along the corridor towards the first compartment she saw, which looked empty, her shoulders slumped. She wasn't going to cry. She wasn't going to cry. She clutched her backpack tightly and breathed in and out slowly, calming herself. The girl had never walked along these corridors without Violet beside her. Ever. They were usually with Rose, who found them a compartment which quickly filled up with all of their friends. It was happy and cheerful and she never felt alone. Thinking about it, she had never been on a journey anywhere without her twin sister. Now she would be in a compartment all by herself, sitting there silently.

Hurrying to reach the empty compartment before anyone else did, Lilly ran along the corridor, coming to a quick stop when she got to the door. She opened it and entered, closing the door behind her. The girl sat down on the seat, staring out of the window. She was lost in her own little world, once again. But this time it wasn't the Lilly world of music. Her guitar was with her luggage, anyway. And Violet's sketchpad. Violet. She curled up into a small ball on the seat and hid her face. Then she began to cry.

Lilly needed a friend really. Violet, preferrably, but that was hardley going to happen. Ira or Harvey would do. Or maybe Ronnie. No, not Ronnie. She only spoke to the twins because they were Rose's sisters. And because she was a good person who was friendly enough to say hello when they passed each other.

Siiiighhhhhhh.

Having already deposited most of her belongings in the luggage car Rowan walked through the middle cars looking for a car, preferably NOT an empty one. Not finding any of her friends she decided to approach someone new. Spotting a boy about her age sitting alone with his cat she decided to poke her head in. "Hi. I'm Rowan,"
she introduced herself, "and this is Pandora, my cat. May we join you?"

Furious. Xavier walked until he found an empty compartment somewhere in the middle of the train. It was bad enough he had to put most of his possessions in another compartment. Even worse, he was being sent to this school instead of Durmstrang for the remaining three years. What was wrong with Durmstrang? Nothing. Strict training along with prestigious teachers and classes. Being sent to Hogwarts, it had to be punishment. For what? Nothing he could possibly think of.
Xavier kicked up his feet and put them on the other row of seats. Long train rides, another thing he didn't fancy.

After placing her luggage in the luggage compartment, Melanie, walked down the train corridor trying to find an empty compartment. It was saddening to think of how much emptier it would be this term, going to and from Hogwarts. She bit her lower lip as she slid a door open. Queen Alice would be with the other badge holders in their compartment and Landon... wasn't going to Hogwarts. She blinked her eyes quickly. No. She wasn't going to think about him despite how hard it'd be. He was her best friend and her boyfriend. Alice was her best friend too but it was a little bit different.

She slid into a seat next to the window and rested her head against it. A quiet compartment... Melanie was definitely not looking forward to that. Maybe she should've joined someone else? Queen Alice had said that she would find Melanie on the train though... Melanie let out a sigh and opened her bag, taking out some cookies to eat.

Might as well eat if there wasn't anyone to talk to.

Alice felt odd, like something had changed. Maybe it was the fact that she was actually allowed in the Prefect Compartment now? Or it could be that there was no Kurumi on the train this year. It could be that her Mama Selina was wearing the Head Girl badge instead of the Captain one, or that she was wearing a badge herself. Maybe she was feeling different because her hair was the wrong colour, a light brown, caramel shade instead of her natural blonde, or because her owl wasn't with her today.

But the truth was, she just felt unusual because she wasn't with her best friend.

So, after slipping out of her compartment with Mo and Lex and greeting the other badge holders, the lioness and her trusty bat set out in search of Melanie. This meant that she went around and poked open doors with Selina— the BAT, not the person—, peeking inside to see if it was her royal fruit. Alice was kind of tired afterwards, as people became awfully angry when you disturbed them, and she hadn't even found her princess.The girl was just about to give up when she saw a girl, one with locks just like Melanie's, head into a compartment in the middle of the corridor. Of course, Alice followed and burst into her compartment with a huge, goofy grin spreading across her face.

"MELANIE." And she had COOKIES.

She continued to nibble away at her cookie before she heard the door sliding open and bumped her head against the wall. Oops. "Owie," Melanie muttered, shaking her head and rubbing her head. Immediately seeing Queen Alice made Melanie grin from ear to ear. "Queen Alice!" Melanie greeted.

It was definitely nice to see Queen Alice, especially with the shiny badge that the girl now wore on her robes. She pat the seat next to her. "Take a seat, I have cookies!"

And she would share them. Melanie wondered if she would be keeping Alice away from any duties the girl may now have as captain. Hmm. "Tell me everything about your summer. I want to hear everything." Well, Melanie had talked to Queen Alice loads over the summer, but who knew if there would be anything different that had happened the day before they had boarded the train or something. She wasn't sure about that stuff. Melanie also took note of the bad that the girl was holding.

Was that safe? Shouldn't the bat be in Alice's trunk?

"Not at all," Alex said with a smile, although he secretly hoped the cat would stay on HIS side of the compartment. Alex didn't do animals, and they didn't seem to like him much either. He wouldn't know what to do if the cat somehow crawled on to his lap or something.

"I used to have a frog," he told her in hopes of starting a conversation. "But he got away from me in my fourth year, I think he's living in the lake now," he chuckled. A fate that many runaway frogs at Hogwarts seemed to run towards.

Alice would describe what she did as 'gracefully seating herself next to Melanie, crossing her legs like a lady and all', but she actually plopped down on the cushion and folded her legs in a pretzel. Classy, wasn't it? "COOKIES." She reached for one and nibbled on it, as delicately as she could manage, pausing to speak to Melanie. "I think you'd know my summer better than I would, don't you think? Since almost every minute was spent with you," she said, beaming. "Tell ME about yours. How was America? Did you do fun things with Munchie and your parents and your grandparents?"

Breathe. Between all the Melanie questioning and the cookie eating, Alice had to remind herself to do that.

And why was Melanie eyeing her precious bat like that? "Doesn't he look pretty? I just polished and buffed him this morning. He's all SHINY now." She beamed proudly, holding up her beloved Selina for her to inspect. He was a beaut, wasn't he?

Another relief, though it wasn't as if Ellura was about to release the feline to roam the compartment. Or she would surely risk some unpleasant reaction or worse...an escape into the rest of the train and undoubtedly a search of other compartments high and low. Not the way the third year necessarily wanted to meet people.

"Aww...probably found an amphibian friend." Okay so a lost frog or pet of any kind was a sad thing but he didn't seem too broken up so she let it go. Ellura awkwardly chuckled realized she had made a faux pax. "How silly of me to give you my familiar's name and not my own. "I'm Ellura."

Honestly, Melanie had been expecting Alice to just fold her legs while sitting. Alice had never seemed like the whole cross-legged, hands folded in her lap, type of girl. It made Melanie giggle quietly then she gave the girl a giant hug. Queen Alice was just as important to her as Landon, if not, more. "Well, when I was in America, surely you did something interesting," Melanie pointed out, eating her cookie. Because she hadn't really talked to Queen Alice as much then. She didn't think she did at least.

"America was wonderful. I had a lot of fun. I went to the zoo with Sabrina and Jason... I went to a street fair with my cousin. I hung out a lot with my cousin, Elaine, actually," Melanie said as she nodded her head and thought about it. She had missed her cousin terribly. "I did a lot of shopping, and just had a lot of fun in general," Melanie said, smiling to herself more than anything. She was excited for winter break to come so she could hang out with her parents some more again and just see everyone back home. Though at the moment, she wasn't sure if she'd be staying in London for Christmas again or traveling back home. As an afterthought, Melanie added, "I missed you loads, of course." Always.

She looked at the bat that was indeed very beautiful. She nodded her head in reply to Queen Alice's question. "Shouldn't you have left it in your trunk though?" Melanie asked. Because that was where Dumplings was. Dumplings was in her trunk on the very top of everything else.

Oomph. Melon hug. Alice squished her friend back, hugging as tightly as she could. "I've MISSED you." She had. She had missed her loads. And Melanie couldn't ever leave her again. It had only been a couple months of not being her roommate, but it was still way different. "Um. I went to this party with Gramps for the Board of Governor's stuff. And I whacked a bunch of stuff with my bat." She beamed. Yeah, that was basically all she did. FUN. .. Oh. Sabrina. And Jason. It made the lioness kind of envious, hearing about Melanie's American friends. Besides, there was a new trio now, wasn't there? Alice, Melanie, and Landon. They spent so much time together last year.. but now one-third of them was at Durmstrang. It felt kind of weird.

"How was the zoo, then?" Alice asked skeptically. Oh. ELAINE. She liked Elaine. "I want to meet her one day, Elaine. She sounds nice." AND she liked the colour that Alice had dyed Melanie's hair. Which meant she had GREAT taste. "I missed you, too. I always do." She sounded like some gushing old geezer, didn't she? Ah, well.

"LEAVE MY BAT?" Was she crazy? Alice couldn't leave her beloved. He was a baby! He needed to be taken care of! "Never. Someone would probably TOUCH him. And no one is allowed to touch the bat. The bat is special." Of course, Selina had touched him before, but it was only for a few seconds. And Selina was. different. She was the bat's namesake, so the lioness supposed that gave her special permissions.

One thing that Sky had always disliked about going to Hogwarts was the train ride there. Yeah sure, she guessed that she should be glad that it wasn't a bus, but really there were faster ways of getting them there. Like a subway. Or plane. Then again, there were still a lot of purebloods in the world that didn't approve of muggle methods. Which was a same, because they'd really help cut down on instances like the one she found when she walked into the least full compartment that didn't contain a crying girl she could find.

"And you don't think that someone may have to sit in that seat?" she asked, nodding at the seat where the guy had placed his feet. Like, really? Shoes got dirty and then one puts them on a seat? It was a rude and gross habit. One that to avoid, Sky sat on the seat beside the dude. And he would just have to deal with it, too.

Xavier sat starring out the window, how long did this train take to finish boarding anyway? And yet, trying to think of a reason why he deserved this kind of punishment, there was no reason.

His head turned when he heard the compartment open. Just his luck, she was going to sit here. Xavier kept his feet placed right where they were. "No I really don't. Most people would tend to walk away when they see a possibly occupied spot," he smirked. Xavier normally didn't mind company, actually the more people the better, but this wasn't Durmstrang. Remembering what he learned from his old school, which did include how to be a proper gentleman, he could at least introduce himself. "Well since you seem to be staying" he said coldly. Did she not get the feeling he preferably just wanted to be alone? "I'm Xavier Lancaster".

Laura was sat down on her own reading her book, she had decided that it would be a perfect time to read a book since she couldn't find Mick anywhere which wasn't cool, she had missed him loads since she had last saw him at his house, that was one of the highlights of her summer seeing his family, she was a bit sad that he hadn't met hers though in someways she was glad since her parents where a bit mean about her kissing him and maybe they would have shouted at him, she was hoping that next year she could introduce him to her parents and her twinnie.

Laura flipped over the page of the book she was reading it was an awesome adventure book, she thought it would make a change from the books that she had been using to study, she wanted to speak to Professor Romanos about a challenge she had thought of during the summer, but she would have to wait until she could speak to her either at the start of term feast of in Professor Romanos office, now though she wanted to chat with people but she didn't want to disturb anyone.

Having already deposited most of her belongings in the luggage car Rowan walked through the middle cars looking for a car, preferably NOT an empty one. Not finding any of her friends she decided to approach someone new. Spotting a girl about her age sitting alone she decided to poke her head in. "Hi. I'm Rowan,"
she introduced herself, "and this is Pandora, my cat. May we join you?"

Eeeep!

Finally! Peyton Baltazar was going to Hogwarts. How long has she waited for this? Since EVER!

The red head skipped down the train corridor...tried to at least, because she was tugging along her trunk. Once in a while she'd peek in to see if any of the compartments along the way was filled. Peyton, although, she didn't seem it sometimes, was shy when it came to strangers, so she avoided the too filled compartments.

She then stopped when she saw a familiar face. Hehehe. Peyton shoved past people and strutted inside Seth's compartment. Then cleared herself a seat and flopped herself down. "Thanks for saving me a seat. It's full out there!" He had saved her a seat, right? Right.

Awarlesta spotted an empty compartment and raced right in. She hadn't seen any of her friends in this car and it was making her uneasy. She set Pegasus next to her and fed her a treat. "Well, Peggy. It's the beginning of a new adventure." Her owl screeched in response as Awar reached into her bag for her comic.

Laura was just sitting down reading a book when a girl about her age spoke up. "Hi Rowan, I'm Laura Hope Hyde." Laura suddenly giggled, she had just realized she always introduce herself with her full name. "You can call me Laura." Laura smiled as she looked at the cat. "Your cat is awesome, my owl Blinky is asleep in his cage up there." Laura pointed to her owl, she was sure it was tired, saying that it had been hurt a few years ago but it seemed better now. "Of course you can join me." Laura beamed she loved making new friends.