She nodded at his 'Oh'. The staircases were pretty interesting stuff. "You'll love the whomping willow too." She said with a grin. "It's a rather epic tree, could knock you out in a second if you get too close." It was possibly one of her most favourite things about Hogwarts. That tree. It could almost classify as one of her bestfriends but Mo said that didn't make much sense...or something like that so she supposed she couldn't have a tree for her bestfriend. BUT STILL. She loved that tree. "You should visit it some time if you get the chance to."

Lex beamed down at him for the thing he just said. "I think you'd make a great Gryffindor!!" Well, actually she didn't know him very well so she wasn't sure what he was like but the thought of new lions made her happy, so yeah, she thought he'd make a wonderful addition to the pride.

Wait hold on. Say what?

"Hahahaha!! I don't supposed you'd have some idea of who said that, would you?" It was possibly very true. They were among the nicest people in the school yet they had such cruddy luck when it came to disaster. She would say it was bad karma but how could it be? They didn't do anything wrong...for the most part. She knew they could still be rather sneaky. No one ever suspects a Puffer. "If you don't become a Puffer you should still make friends with them, they like sharing food and hugs!"

Theo found a seat at the front cars, with his best friend by his side. At last, the duo back together for another term of being the best. He sometimes wondered if he liked West too much for a friend, but he decided it couldn't be a BAD thing surely? Anyway, the train, which always made Theo feel a tad nauseous since it was such a long journey, but he had packed a lot of mints this time.

"Mint?" He offered to West as he took his seat. A nice empty compartment. They were hard to come by lately. STUDENTS EVERYWHERE.

She was standing there, in front of the compartment door, and waited for some reply from the Gryffindor. Though, she got distracted when someone yelled…

O____________o

She hadn’t seen the person arrive there, so she was easily startled when she heard the person yell ‘Ticket’ all of a sudden.

Merlin’s beard.

Did he REALLY have to yell?

Gwen tried hard not to roll her eyes as she searched for the ticket in her bag. Ehh. Order wasn’t something that characterized her… so it took her a couple of minutes to find the ticket. In the meantime, the word ‘ticket’ was continuously echoing in her mind. Ugh.

Seriously- who hired this ticket person?!

She finally managed to find the ticket and handed it over to the Ticket Man.



Alright then. He wouldn’t mind. The black cat made his way in and looked curiously at the Gryffindor before jumping on one of the seats. Nap time. And Gwendolyn stepped in the compartment shortly after handing the ticket to the guy on the corridor.

Zeke didn’t seem so upset this time. Ehh. He seemed to be in a much better mood than when they met at the station. Or maybe he wasn’t actually that happy? Mehhh. Gwen was awful at figuring these things out.

‘It’s alright, I already left my things in the luggage compartment’, she said. So it wasn’t necessary to make extra room for that. And Jinx didn’t occupy so much space. But anyway, even though there were other seats left in the compartment, she took the one next to Zeke.

‘So- happy to be going back?’

It didn't take long before she had become pretty bored with the middle cars of this train. She didn't like it, it was making her very bored already! Nicola flipped her red hair over her shoulder as she made her way to the front of the train. Seemed to be more interesting up here, so she thought here would be a lot better. She quickly found a compartment and then found herself lounging on one of the seats with her feet raised on the seat. Nicola then lifted one of her legs to rest it on top of the other. Now she was really comfortable.

She then pulled out her brush and was instantly running it through her luscious locks. It was definitely one of her favorite things to do, for one thing it helped her to relax and not only that, it always entertained her to see her red hair flowing free after it's been brushed. Although, it could get a bit problematic if you didn't do it right, but of course this was something Nicola was able to master!

Jory followed Ronnie into the empty compartment and took the seat opposite of her and Oliver. He looked outside. They were about to leave. And in a few hours they would be at Hogwarts! He was excited to be back and he wanted time to go as slowly as possible.

He looked back at Ronnie who was now stoking Oliver. "How long have you had him?'' he asked. He loved the little cat. He needed a pet. If only his mom allowed pets in the house! He was going to convince her to let him get a dog.

"So, what's the plans after this term?'' Jory asked.

Christmas saw a girl sitting all alone in a compartment and made her way into the girl's compartment and said "Hey can i join you?"

[color=#226A45]Tora turned from saying goodbye to her grandmother and stepped a couple feet into the corridor of the train. She looked down the row to see if she could immediately spot an empty compartment. She couldn't so she started walking (looking behind to make sure Isobel was following) looking for an empty compartment.

She didn't find one quite yet, but she did find the ticket collector. ...who seemed a bit creepy. She watched him go in a couple compartments and staaaaareee at the passengers before asking for their tickets. Creeepyyyyy.
"Hey Isobel" she whispered over her shoulder. "You should probably get out your ticket now."

Sarah raised her eyebrows in surprise "so you really do speak? So does that grunt mead ticket - in what language does it mean that? How do you say Sarah in that language? Oh, Let me get my ticket," She held onto her trunk with her one hand and dug her other hand into her coat pocket. "it is meant to be here... my mother told me to put it somewhere accesible yet safe you see." Out of her pocket came some crinkled tissues (clean), an old buss ticket, a letter for the train written by her mother -for the start of her third year (she had her fourth year one in her satchel), a black gel pen and a tiny rubics cube that she brought along in case she got bored.
She shook her head, "it aint there..." she said, her smile was not present for a bit and she stuffed her things back into her pocket. Then her face lit up with another smile, "I know, it is in my satchel, i remember putting it there" she said brightly. She leaned against the wall just in case her trunk slipped and dug with her free hand into her satchel. She had to scratch around a bit yet at the bottom there was the ticket, which Sarah pulled out triumphly. "HERE IS MY TICKET" she said with delight. "Yet I am not giving it to you unless you say the magic word, which is please. Demanding a ticket is not polite, you have to say "Ticket please"."
Sarah was a bit taken aback at Alexa's reaction to hand me down. For Sarah it was a non-issue. "I don't have to, I want to. My parents pay for me to get educated at Hogwarts, and would rather like education for myself and my siblings instead of getting brand new textbooks. It is no big deal that some one used the textbook before me" well, her textbooks, like almost all the books the Edwards had was dog eared yet Sarah never really took any notice. "Sharing is good, also the textbook belongs to the family, not a particular person. If I was desperate for something of my own I could go buy it myself, textbooks is a need, yet NEW textbooks is a want, so I would have to pay for it you see. It is a long time policy in my family and it makes sense, it makes us responsible adults too" Sarah thought her parents raised her well, the Edwards kids neither spoiled not deprived, it was a perfect balance. "By the way I have one thing of my own and I hate it. I have my own bedroom at home yet I would love to have a roomate. I hear my brothers talking in bed, joking around a lot and I get FOMO- which stands for fear of missing out. I wish I had a sister, older or younger I would not care. However when all my brothers are married I wil have seven sister in laws which will be awesome. And maybe my future husband will have sisters...." .
Sara chuckled a bit at Alexa's part about the economy, Alexa was so niave and adorable. "When I meant economical I meant for my parents, imagine having to by eight kids a new set of robes every year, that will mean about fifty six pairs, that will never be used again! The same with textbooks and the rest."
Sarah smiled again, and quickly corrected Alexa, "my nephew? Ruin it? Never! I love my nephew, infact I love all babies of all shapes and colours. From their tiny fingers to their tiny toes. When they smile I need to smile to. Seeing a baby always makes my day. I like babies,, they are so innocent and they are so genuine - i mean a baby does not judge anyone, they don't care if you short or thin, fat or pimply, they just love you for being you and loving them. They are also happy at the littlest things..." Sarah could wax on poetically for hours about babies, yet she decided to stop there, she did not want anyone to be jealous of her for having such a cute nephew. "Y'know Alexa, I want to be married and have a baby already..." she said dreamily

Somehow, being told a tree could knock him out in a second and then that he should go and visit it some time didn't seem like the best idea in the world. Unless, of course, she was suggesting that he stand a good distance back and watch someone else invoke the wrath of the tree. Maybe someone from Hufflepuff?

He shook his head, "I have no idea. It was just something I heard while I was walking. They don't really get used as body shields, do they?"

And against what? It seemed a little mean-spirited to put all the food-sharing, affectionate people in one dormitory and then use them as cannon fodder against... well, whatever the wizarding equivalent of a cannon was.

would it be acceptable to let salazar out of his cage and just go at him.. biting? eh, maybe that wasn't the brightest of ideas. She still sat there staring.. all bored and what not even as he got all close to her face with that hole punching thingy. she simply took a step back and turned to Peyton " pretty boring actually.. Spent a month in Louisiana.. where nothing happens.. it was pretty lame, i'm actually excited to be going back." which was BIG news because ariana was not fond of school, only her friends there, and quidditch, not the studding and tests and stuff.. Boringgg... Plus Oakey was at school and that was a plus. Just then a small stupid smile fell on her face when she thought of him. Where was he? it was odd that she hadn't seen him yet.


Then as if he could read her mind he was There! she looked up and behind the ticket guy as she saw him and she smiled wider, if that was even possible he was cute and she liked him a lot and he looked all excited which made her excited, until he was telling her to not be difficult and well, she just had to listen.. Taking her ticket out of her pocket she handed it over to the ticket guy while still keeping eye contact with Oakey he could keep the damn thing for all she cared at the moment. she let out a slight squeak of excitement as she walked around and behind the Rude!Ticket guy and went over to Oakey giving him a hug.

-------------------------------------

Was he still Following? Ariana opened her compartment door and saw salazar still asleep in his cage.. good bird.. she then motioned for him to go in before she stepped in as well, but she kept the door open a bit you know in case this weird guy tried to kill her or something, she had an escape route.

Once she did sit down beside him, he couldn't take his eyes off her. Of course, he did NOT plan this to happen. It just so happens that when she was standing by the door, Zeke was looking out the window. And now she took the seat beside Zeke which was by the window.

.....STARE. Those hazel eyes of hers were still unfathomable. Sigh. Who knows what an Ice Princess could be thinking about? But on another note, who was Zeke to be wondering about such stuff?

Ohwaitwhat? Did she ask a question? Blink. "Come again?" he asked as he woke back up to reality, slightly loosening his stiff position. Gee, the Gryffindor didn't even realize that he was so tensed a while ago. Was it because the girl of his dreams was right beside him and he couldn't do a thing about it? Or because he was so helpless that he got into such a situation as he's currently facing? 'PSH, man up mister. You're almost 18. Heck, you're almost a graduate. And yet, you're lost.'

Lost....yes. That was perhaps the best word to describe him, considering the mess he's in.

Oh look an adult.

Ew. Go away. Shoo.

Oh, no it was one of those ticket people. Fine, no need to look so cross. Jeez. Authority figures were always looking at him so cross. They had pills that helped with that, yeah.

Rolling his eyes, he took his ticket out of his pocket and unraveled it because, well frankly, it was folded up into a million pieces. Ascanius lifted his finger up for the guy to wait as he unraveled it. Once it was done, he handed it over and leaned back into his seat. Smirk.

Well come on, he didn't have ALL day. Places to go, people to see, naps to take.



She didn't want to sit next to him? Shrug. Eh, whatever. Her loss because he knew how awesome he was... awesome and handsome. But at least she was going to be sitting in the compartment with him, which was a plus for him AND for him. This girl, the one with the red-ish hair, was awful nice to look at. One of the really pretty types, yeah. So she could sit there all she liked.

Leaning back against the seat, he smirked over at her, "That's fine. Wherever you're most comfortable, gorgeous." 'Sides, he had a nice view of her face from here so that was cool with him.

And then he was looking at her all strange like. Not the same time of look that he got when girls looked at him for his face. No, this was different. She was almost squinting at him. Ah. Gotcha. "I am, beautiful." He winked, "And you'll be seeing me around this term. I'm Ascanius, gorgeous." Now this was the part where she told him HER name.

First day of riding on the Hogwarts Express. Kace could not believe he was here. He was actually going to the school his sister went to. Kace was looking down the front car and knew he was the new kid. He was a first year after all....

Kace found his own cart and put his luggage in it. He was sitting alone and he got his Owl to keep him company. Chester was small but he had a big heart. "Hey dude." he smiled to his owl.

Wow. Just wow. Lex didn't even know where to begin anymore. Sarah wanted to share things with her siblings and she was even going so far as to say she wouldn't have minded sharing her room with someone too. Honestly. Maybe it was just her but she wasn't getting it. What was the appeal. Someone needed to explain to her quickly because she was inclined to believe that just maybe, Sarah had a fwooper at home that she listened to whenever no one else was around.

"I really can't see how that makes you responsible but I guess if you say it does then it must be at least half true." Sarah, was responsible, she would admit that. She would also admit that Sarah was the most grown up girl she had ever met. Something else she didn't understand.

Didn't every kid get a chance to be spoiled, even once in their lives. She knew for a fact that her whole life almost, had been centered around her and what she wanted so hearing that all...it wasn't quite getting through to her. "I don't think you're missing out on anything. You get your own room so no one can annoy you at nights plus if you think you're missing out then you can always owl a friend or call them on the phone." She had to call Jeremy because the bloody idiot was afraid of owls and Will lived next door so all she needed to do was open her window. Her Hogwarts friends, she usually ran into down in Diagon Alley. Outside of that, she needed no one.

Lex thought over the calculations. "I guess that would be excessive but why have so many children then if you won't be able to give them what they want? It seems kinda unfair to the kids." To her anyway.

Oh and now Sarah was talking about babies and getting married and...ewwww. "That's...er...wonderful, but..." She wrinkled her nose a bit. "Why?"



"Meh, it probably doesn't matter who said it anyway, the point is it's mostly true and kinda funny." but she didn't expect him to see the humour just yet. Nah. That would come once he was fully integrated into the
school environment and was seeing things unfold in live-action. Then he would see the humour...but by then he would probably be running for his life, no matter what house he was placed in...unless he was a Puffer, in which case he would probably never see the humour.

"But honestly...no. No one has ever, in my knowledge, been used as a human shield. We all look out for each other to make sure that stuff like that doesn't happen." The snakes maybe...but in general, no one would do that.

She tilted her head and looked over at him, suddenly very curious about something. "Can I ask you a question?"

Eliza'd nearly run into the man in the uniform with the grumpy face as she went to explore the train. Not fully understanding why he was there, she eyed him cautiously and looked to see what others were doing...about him. He didn't seem to be very friendly, standing there all stiff and quiet like. She tried to give him a wide berth and stepped away to slide past him unnoticed to the train. He's odd. And...sort of giving me the willies, she thought as she tried to make herself as invisible as possible.

She looked up and saw a flash of a Lex further into the train and called out to her. "Hey Lex!!" she said grinning and waving excitedly. And she could come save her from the weird man any time now. And also, Lex looked different somehow to Eliza. She looks...taller? And, wow her hair is long and nice and, and...she got prettier over summer! She nodded to herself at the assessment. Yep that's definitely it. I mean she was good before too but now she's like, yunno...boy approachable pretty. But Lex won't care about that, right? She's not going to change or not be friends because of that? Nah... This caused her to wonder about herself. She hadn't felt like she'd changed at all. Maybe I'm better now too? Well...I don't know... She felt the thought drifting away from her as her attention went back to the funny man next to her.

"Yeah, the beach was great. My cousin and I would surf there whenever we get the chance." Wade was lucky to have grown up with that sporting influence. Oh right, why he went to Norway. "I was born there, and lived there until my dad and I moved here last year.. the rest of our family still lives there though, so it's always fun to go back." He beamed at that.

"Cool," So she did some travelling on her own. "So are you also from the U.S, or just part of your family?" He thought it was pretty cool, that another student travelled to out of their home country to go to another school. If that was the case. It was even cool to know she worked in the hospital. "Wow, so I take it you want to be a Healer?" He knew that took a lot of work to become one.

He did notice her look a little sad. Oh, did she not do so well- Ah.. "Eleven, that's a healthy amount." Way more than he did, but oh well. She probably needed them more than he did, "Oh yeah, we got time before our NEWTs come." As scary as that sounded, he was pretty happy at the lighter topic. Quidditch.

"Yeah," Wade nodded at her, that's what made her voice sound familar to him. "I remember that, you well with it." He definitely couldn't, seeing as he would have to know every player's name beforehand. Heh.. Extra practices however, "Yeah?" Wade queried. Not sure if it would good for him to possibly hurt someone beforehand.. though, that could mean he would learn how to redirect from Minnie if it came at her. Yeah.."That's not a bad idea." He beamed at that, along with about the cups. "Same here. Since, trying was what he did best.

In all the hustle and bustle she could have sworn that she heard someone calling her name. She whipped around in all directions, sure that she wasn't going mad or anything.

There standing just a way off was Eliza! She grinned widely at her. "ELIZA!!!" So she was being loud, was that a problem? She didn't think so. Not while other's were being loud too. Besides, the train was filled with children, no one in their right mind would expect it to be quiet and very organized. That was asking too much.

She inched a bit closer to her while being mindful of the people she was currently talking to then gestured for the girl to join them. "Hey! Are you having a hard time with the ticket man too?" The man that was too grumpy to smile.

HMPH!

When Jory asked how long she had had Oliver, she looked down at the cat thoughtfully. "Since my..." she thought for a moment. How long had it been...? Oh yeah! "Fifth year!" she said with a firm nod.

She clearly remembered getting the little guy. She smiled at the memory. It had been Harvey who took her to get him and convinced her to get a new pet after her pet rat had died. She was so glad she got Oliver. He was a great cat, and SUPER cute!

She then shrugged at his next question. "Oh, I don't even know...I'm not totally sure yet." she said, biting her lip. She probably needed to figure that out soon. The year would be over before she knew it... "What about you?" she asked.

"Thanks." West took one and collapsed down on a seat, stretching out his increasingly lanky self and somehow taking up the entire thing with lazy angles. He had to find Bliss at some point. Definitely. He sort of partly didn't want to since he was worried about what she'd say but he would find her. He had to. He couldn't NOT find her, given... things.

He sort of needed Theo!times to bolster himself.

"So, what do you reckon, this term?" West wasn't even sure he could make a guess about what it'd be like. And he was trying very hard not to think about having no Aspen.

And y'know, no Mo.

NOT that he needed a Mo. West had done just fine without a Mo for two whole years before he'd come here. It would have, everything, just been easier if Mo had stayed at Beauxbatons. It just would have. Then they could just go on calling each other friend but having grown apart and not really knowing each other at all. It would have been fine and far less upsetting.

But he had Theo. The best friend in the WORLD. West made appreciative thank-Merlin-you're-here-mate eyes at him and leaned his head against the window, one hand automatically and subconsciously resting against his pocket.

Isobel couldn't force down a grin as she stepped onto the Express. She was finally, finally going to get to go to Hogwarts. Finally! She'd been waiting for this as long as she could remember, and it was actually happening. Suddenly she was nervous, and then excited again. In the meantime, separate from her emotional rollercoaster, she dimly noticed a guy shouting 'ticket!' at people.

"Right..." she murmured, reaching into the right back pocket of her jeans and searching around with two fingers. Okay, no thin slip of white and gold paper in there, maybe the other pocket? Isobel panicked for a moment before remembering that she'd switched it to her front pocket, and pulled out her ticket triumphantly. "Aha!"

Minerva was just walking around. She liked visiting with everyone and it was making the trip less long. She was really enjoying herself, and it kept her mind off not having Damon or Belle around. Plus with Ethan busy this kept her busy as well.

Minerva heard someone and turned, oh must be a first year. She smiled at him, but for some reason this one looked familiar. Had she met him before?? She didn't think so, but why did he look so familiar. "Hello, I'm sorry to bother you, but do I know you?"

Minerva looked at him oddly for a second, surfing?? Wizards surfed.. Not they couldn't but she had never heard that before, did he do muggle things, she was curious and had to ask. "Don't take this the wrong way, because I really don't mean it, but I've never heard anyone at Hogwarts use the word surfing before." she bit her lip not sure if she sounded a bit dumb, "I guess I was wondering if your family was muggle or not with surfing. It doesn't matter either way, most of my family is muggle, I was just curious." She knew she was sounding stupid now. "You know what.. never mind.. Surfing and a beach sounds like an amazing summer."

Minerva smiled a bit, "Yes I am from the States. My mom was the reason I came to Hogwarts. She had went here and wanted me to go to the same school. Have you ever been to the States?" She loved talking about her home, it was a great place. She sighed a bit with his healer question.. that was the million dollar question, "Well yes I'm really thinking about it. I really liked working at the hospital. I'm hoping to get back into the hospital next summer for more experience." She knew it meant working extra hard after that dumb A in charms was just not good enough for what she wanted. "Do you know what your doing yet?" They had two terms counting this one so if he didn't it was no big deal, but she figured she would ask.

She looked a bit at him, "Let's not talk about NEWTs just yet, we have some time for those." she chuckled knowing she would already start worrying about them, who was she kidding she had thought about exams since entering school, but he didn't need to know that. She felt herself blush a bit with him saying she was good, she only got to do the first match last term, but she loved doing it. "Thanks, I do really enjoy it, but I miss being on a broom chasing the bludger around." She did miss that and it was fun over the summer. She saw his hesitation and smiled, "Only if you want to. I just thought it might be nice to get some extra flying in. We could make it a game kind of like catch, but just hit the bludger back and forth." Honestly if he wasn't up for it, she would understand.

As Isobel searched for her ticket, Tora took her own advice and rummaged in her pockets for hers. Finally she pulled it out, slightly bent and flattened it between both palms. Okay! Time to find a compartment! The ticket collector would come around and find them once they were seated.

She continued walking down the rows of compartments until she came to an empty one and stepped inside. Plopping her mini messenger bag down on the seat (since she had put the rest of her luggage in the luggage compartment) she sat down and beckoned Isobel in after her.
"So! What house do you want to be in?" She asked cheerily. Although the conversation starter was a bit typical, it was still a good one (and very valid for the time).

Isobel followed to the compartment, and sat down with a pleased sigh. She'd been standing for far too long, not to mention Side-Along Apparation always made her feel queasy afterwards. She pulled her cat cage into her lap and nearly unlocked it before she remembered that she wasn't alone. "Sorry, d'you mind if I let Nudge out? She hates being in cages."

"Oh, well, that's kind of a tricky question." Not that she hadn't spent hours and hours thinking about it whenever she had the chance. "I kind of want to be in Gryffindor, but I'd also be fine with Ravenclaw, maybe even Slytherin." Her dad had been a Hufflepuff, her mum a Gryffindor, and she was just nervous she'd somehow manage to embarrass herself in front of the entire school at the Sorting. "What about you?"

The only animals Tora didn't like were llamas and alpacas (they reminded her of her siblings) so she was all for letting Nudge out. "Sure! I love cats! And I would hate being in a cage too." She grinned and stretched out her hand before snatching it back quickly. "Wait- can I pet Nudge? or...?" She asked worriedly.

"Gryffindor's cool, but I really want to be in Hufflepuff like Gram. Er, well just like my grandmother." She said. One issue... she was claustrophobic. And she wasn't accepting of anything. But she was sure she could be loyal if she really wanted to!

Oh, well that was a relief. You know, just in case he was sorted in Hufflepuff after all. Not that he would call himself affectionate, being eleven and a boy, but if someone asked for a hug he'd give one. Surely Hufflepuff had more requirements than that.

"...okay?"

It was going to be an awkward question, wasn't it? Nobody asked if they could ask a question unless it was going to be awkward.