Ronnie walked with Jory to the carriages, holding Oliver close to her. She stared blankly at the carriage in front of her before getting on it. She blinked a few times. This was the last time she'd be riding these to Hogwarts.

She kept staring, lost in thought until Oliver meowed loudly. She jumped and blinked again and laughed. "Sorry." she muttered to Jory as she climbed on and sat down. She turned to her friend and patted the spot next to her for him to sit.

Presley shook her head, charmed by the sweet gesture. "No, thank you though." Oh! And she had a rat. Presley controlled her reaction on noticing the little rodent. She didn't believe in owning guinea pigs, or hamsters, or anything like that as pets. Those things were creepy!

Presley smiled as well. The little one seemed pleased that Presley had pegged her as a third year. She nodded sagely. She knew all about sick mothers. "Is she alright now?" she asked tentatively. She didn't want to open sore wounds if her mother hadn't gotten better, but she was curious.

When Presley was five her mother began her fight with cancer, and when she was six her mother had passed away. She really did know what it was like to struggle through the person who was the center of your family having a disease. Presley played idly with her hair. At least this explained why Sonea was alone on the carriage. And surely once she reconnected with her dorm mates, they would become fast friends.

Eliza swung her empty owl cage to and fro by her side, relieved that she wouldn't have to carry all of her luggage around with her as well. Thank goodness for nice little house elves! she thought as she strode towards the carriages. Though she couldn't see the thestrals, she knew they were there, and wished it didn't take something so horrific to be able to look at them. She'd like to pet one but the idea of reaching out at something you couldn't see just sent a small shiver down her spine.

As she grew closer, she spotted Lex and Ella in a carriage together and bounded up to it with a smile. "Hellooo," she said in a sing-song voice as she took a seat next to Lex. Tucking the owl cage carefully between her feet to hold it still, she made herself quite comfortable in the carriage. She was feeling good about her third year at Hogwarts and was excited to go to the feast. Wanting to make some friendly conversation, she shifted her eyes to both of the girls one at a time and tugged out the easiest question she could think of. "So, did you both have a good ride over?" She smiled and knew she'd talked to Lex a bit on the train, but then they'd been in different compartments for most of it. She hadn't seen Ella on the train ride, but she'd been so busy exploring and running into boys fighting and trying to cover it up that she probably wouldn't have noticed if she had seen her. What WERE those boys fighting about anyway? And who were they? she wondered to herself, and searched the carriages briefly to see if she could spot them again.

"Hey Lex," Ella greeted quietly, a small smile on her face. Company was always good so she didn't mind that the younger girl had joined her. "Not at all. It's nice to see you." Really. She hadn't seen much of anyone over the summer so it was nice to be back around familiar faces. "Hope you had a nice summer."



"Hi Eliza," Ella said as another girl joined her and Lex in the carriage. The blonde eyed the younger girl curiously as she made herself comfy. Somebody was certainly in a good mood. "My ride over was pretty good. Just up in the prefects' compartment." Nodnod. "How was yours?"

Oh and also...

"Did you guys meet the ticket guy? Cranky little man, huh?"

Last train ride back, last carriage ride up to the school, last a lot of things but Ethan really tried to put that out of his mind for now. How miserable would he be if everything he did or said, he thought about how it would be his last time. No.. he wanted to enjoy his final year of school. He followed Elise as the Siamese cat padded along the ground in front of him before jumping into an empty carriage. "I guess we'll be using this carriage?" he chuckled at the cat before climbing in himself.

Elise meowed at him in response and she jumped up on his lap once he had settled onto the seat. He lightly laid his hand on her back once she had curled up and he stretched his legs out a bit in front of him. He glanced out towards the train station, trying to catch a glimpse of Minerva. She had stopped for a word with one of her friends but he knew she'd catch up in no time. While he waited, he leaned back a bit and closed his eyes, his mind wandering about all the delicious food they would soon be eating while his growling stomach made him acutely aware of how hungry he was.

Good, she had guessed correctly that this boy was a prefect.
"Galena" she replied, and waved back to Christmas. She recognised the girl from somewhere; but wasn't exactly sure where.
At first, Galena had thought Daichi meant it was Christmas, and Galena was about to comment before she saw the other girl wave. "Ya, that ticket guy was a piece of work. He just threw the ticket at me when he gave it back."
Galena looked around at other carts, there were not many other students her age. She wondered if she were the only new Slytherin.

Alyssa frowned when she heard someone enter the carriage she was in. She was actually hoping for a nice and quiet ride up to Hogwarts. Maybe if she kept her eyes closed, the other person would think that she was asleep.

Then she heard a familiar voice say her name. She opened her eyes and smiled. It was Jory, her fellow house mate and seventh year.

"Hello Jory. I'm doing good. Just tired from the long flight from States and the ride on the train." Alyssa yawned and stretched out her arms.

"So how was your summer? Were you able to spend some time at the Foundation and get some training?" Alyssa remembered her father sending that OWL to Jory when she told him about his interest in working in the field of Law Enforcement and security.

And now she was at the stinky carriages. Blegh. She climbed into an empty one, lightly tossing her carry on into the seat beside her and propping her feet up on the one across from her. She wished the carriages would hurry and fill up, because she didn't want to be in this thing any longer than she absolutely had to. Not to mention, after that long train ride, she was ready for the feast (even though she'd had candy with her). Sky leaned back with that and began to get lost in thoughts of what this term, her next to last at Hogwarts, would bring.

Awar hobbled to the carriage with Peggy in one hand and her stuff on the other. Spending the summer with her uncle and Presley had done some good to her soul. She felt like her old weird self. Manolo nearly crushed her to death with his hugs. She should go away more often. Anywho, its her third year at Hoggy-warty-hogwarts and she was to turn 14 soon. There's plenty to be excited about.

Minerva made her way towards the carriages looking for a certain person. Now where did he run off to, she looked around, knowing he was tired of waiting on her talking to everyone. She didn't mean to stop to talk so much, but they were back at school and back with EVERYONE of course she had to stop and talk. She didn't mind that he continued on though, she always felt bad making him stand and wait. Taking her hand to her shoulder she brushed the pygmy's fur and was about to turn and start again when she caught a glimpse of him.

Minerva got up in the carriage and sat down next to Ethan, "Sorry.. sorry.." Giving a small smile she kissed him on the cheek. As she leaned to kiss him she felt little feet pushing at her, "Fine..fine" She picked up Fluffy and set her down in Ethan's lap next to Elise. "I'm not sure we are going to be able to separate these two." She laughed a bit as Fluffy cuddled into Elise. Taking a deep breath she looked around.. Well this was full of emotion time. Trying not to let what was pushing it's way to the front of her mind in she looked to Ethan, "You ready to start the year?" Giving her best smile towards him, but she felt a bit sad deep down knowing it was the last ride on the carriages with him. Trying to shake it off, because they had all year, she told herself there was no need for sad right now.

Jory saw Ronnie watching the carriages intently and knew what she was thinking. Their final ride to the Castle. Could it all really be almost over?

Just then, Oliver let out a loud meow, interrupting Jory's thoughts. Not that he minded. He didn't want to keep thinking about the last year ahead. he just wanted to enjoy it. "Why is he meowing so loudly?'' the boy asked, giving both Ronnie and Oliver a puzzled look.

Jory followed Ronnie into an empty carriage and sat next to her. "We're almost back home!'' Well, second home, that is.



It hadn't occurred to Jory that Alyssa might have wanted to be alone. It wasn't until she started talking that he realised that. "Er, sorry about barging in. I can go, if you want to be alone.'' Really. He didn't mind.

The States? "Where did you go?'' he asked curiously. He had only been there once. To Hawaii. Millions of years ago. Hehe.

"Yes, I did,'' Jory said, enthusiastically. "The training wasn't bad.'' Honestly, he enjoyed it. He was getting into something he liked, after all. "I can't wait to start working.''

"So, how was your summer?''

Mack excitedly hurried towards the carriages, she couldn't wait to start her second year at Hogwarts. She looked around hoping to see Ronnie but she's either still making her way off the train or already in a carriage, she made her way into an empty carriage hoping that she would see her soon and be able to sit with her.

"He probably noticed me spacing out....he's most likely eager to get to Hogwarts." she said with a small laugh. She randomly felt really weird inside... she couldn't exactly describe it. But it wasn't good. It was so strange that this was her last year. It was all coming so fast..

She smiled a little as he said they were almost back home. She gave a small nod. "Yup!" she said, looking around herself at everyone around her. Oh merlin, why did she feel like crying?! They weren't even at Hogwarts yet!!

Garrick smiled down at the cute little puff of fur and said, "Well it's nice to meet you, Mags. My mum has a pygmy puff named Frances. Not very creative... but she's cute, too. Sophocles loves Pygmy Puffs. You'll have to meet him, Mags. He only LOOKS scary. He's really rather tame, though." Yes. He was a pet person and fully believed that one should converse with pets... no matter how one sided the conversations were. Heh.

And now the Lex girl was mentioned. Garrick just stopped himself from scowling at the mention. Shrugging slightly he met Lotus' eyes. "Her hexing me was never of concern. My father was a duelling champion. I am not too shabby at Defense myself. It was the mere mention of it I found offensive. And besides, I barged in. That was awfully rude of me as well. But nevermind any of that..." SMILES! He would just punch Benjy again if he got too fed up with the rude people at school. That method seemed to be working for him. MHM. "Besides, it's not your place to apologize for others." Although he apologized on Benjy's behalf quite often. Heh.

And now let's change the subject, yes? "I have some Weasley's Sticky Trainers I was hoping to try out soon. You should plan to come along with me when I do." SMIRK. Benjy and he both had a pair... and he really hoped that Ethan Prefect dude got some too. HEHE.

"No it's cool, I can get some rest when we get to the castle. I'll just trying to skip the Start of the Feast or leave early if possible." Alyssa reassured Jory.

She frowned when he asked her about home. Didn't he realize that she spoke with an American accent? "The States? That's home for me. I live in California...or at least I used to live in California. I now live in Salem, Massachusetts."

"I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed the training. From what my dad told me...and he rarely tells me what happens at work. He was quite impressed with how you managed to learn everything so fast. You never know you might already have a job offer waiting for you before you graduate." Alyssa winked at her friend.

"My summer was busy. Submitting and writing my applications for Wizarding University in Salem and checking out the Training Academy in Quantico plus moving from my house to our apartment. I definitely has been a busy summer." Alyssa told him, still amazed that she managed to get a lot done in such a short period of time.

"So are you ready for our final year in Hogwarts? I just wish we could just take out NEWTs right now and get it over and done with." She whispered to him.

Text Cut: Merlin. XD

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eriin

Garrick smiled down at the cute little puff of fur and said, "Well it's nice to meet you, Mags. My mum has a pygmy puff named Frances. Not very creative... but she's cute, too. Sophocles loves Pygmy Puffs. You'll have to meet him, Mags. He only LOOKS scary. He's really rather tame, though." Yes. He was a pet person and fully believed that one should converse with pets... no matter how one sided the conversations were. Heh.

And now the Lex girl was mentioned. Garrick just stopped himself from scowling at the mention. Shrugging slightly he met Lotus' eyes. "Her hexing me was never of concern. My father was a duelling champion. I am not too shabby at Defense myself. It was the mere mention of it I found offensive. And besides, I barged in. That was awfully rude of me as well. But nevermind any of that..." SMILES! He would just punch Benjy again if he got too fed up with the rude people at school. That method seemed to be working for him. MHM. "Besides, it's not your place to apologize for others." Although he apologized on Benjy's behalf quite often. Heh.

And now let's change the subject, yes? "I have some Weasley's Sticky Trainers I was hoping to try out soon. You should plan to come along with me when I do." SMIRK. Benjy and he both had a pair... and he really hoped that Ethan Prefect dude got some too. HEHE.

Lottie couldn't help but smile widely at him as she watched his interaction with Mags rather closely. The pygmy puff appeared to be listening too, which was all too amusing, she was also bouncing a little bit, almost as if responding to him. Garrick was lovely. Mags just needed to behave, now. Why? "I might get jealous if you keep talking to my pygmy puff, Garrick Morpheus," she said, a smirk in place. She might. Probably not.

Also, Sophocles doesn't look scary. "Where is he, by the way?" His cat.

Well, actually, Lottie was very much concerned about that, because it would've made things a lot more difficult. But she heard him speak and, without even noticing what she was doing, rested her head on his shoulder. His voice was rather soothing. And he was wrong, "I'm not apologizing on her behalf, actually," because Lex won't be apologizing about this, no matter how much Lottie wished she would. But, yes, nevermind, they could leave that behind, right? She might have squeezed his hand a bit.

"You do?" She desperately wanted her invisibility cloak. That's what she thought of when he mentioned the trainers. Totally unrelated, we know. She BEAMED. "Sure, it's a date, then." Except, not like a date date, okay? Lottie straightened up almost instantly, "I mean, it's a plan." Or whatever. Why was she nervous all of the sudden? She was...never nervous. Not even when they were caught in the forest. Never, except now.

When the older girl didn’t took the Candy she wanted to share she pouted, She was never so friendly toward strangers so this girl didn’t knew that she had rejected probably her only chance to get something from Sonea without giving something in return. She looked disappointed at the older girl, not only because she had rejected her friendly gesture but also because she didn’t understood why she didn’t wanted a pink lollipop, everything what was pink was good! “Okay, then I have more for myself” responded Sonea calmly and hide her candy in her bag but away from Little princess, since she had played with the dirty rat she had saw in the Diagon Alley she had become fat! Sonea was worried that she had given her rat too much food and that that was the reason why she had become so fat, or she was sick… But the point was, Sonea tried to give her rat not too much food, one rat shack a day was enough!

But when the older girl responded to what she had said about her mother and her home situation she looked aback. She already felt stupid that she had spoken to the girl without thinking and now she asked questions! She wondered what she needed to say, that her mother had a burnout and that she didn’t understand why? The truth was that she really didn’t knew why her mother had been sick, she only knew that the problems at home all had started after her mother’s sickness. But… she was okay now and she was allowed to go back to Hogwarts!

“Eh, I- My mother is better now, she is no longer sick” said Sonea unsure. She had spoken the truth, her mother was no longer sick, but now there were other problems and she had no idea what was happening at home! But… She didn’t planned to talk about it with a stranger, she refused to look like a small child who was afraid because her mommy and daddy where fighting after the sickness from her mother… No, Sonea was stronger than that, she needed to be! She forced herself again to smile at the girl and tried to look calm. “Everything is okay now” lied Sonea.

Bag slung over her shoulder and her cat's cage in one hand, Beezus made sure her fellow Ravenclaws have settled in on a carriage before going off to find one that she can occupy herself.

After a few minutes of searching, she finally found a vacant one.

The brunette momentarily just stared at the creature on the reins which others couldn't see but she could. Certain thoughts filled her mind then and it took a while before she could push them all back down to her subconscious.

But when she did, Beezus hefted herself up into the carriage and took a seat.

Merlin, she was starting to get hungry. She hoped the Headmistress' speech later during the Feast wouldn't take too long.

She looked a little too upset that Presley hadn't taken her candy. But they had like, a half hour till dinner. It wasn't as if Presley had snubbed her. She had just said no-thank-you to a piece of candy.

How carefully Sonea had worded that. 'She is no longer sick.' Presley felt bad for her. She saw a lot of herself in this young girl. The child trying to pretend everything was okay, and her life was perfect. Presley still tried to pretend that, but she hid things a lot better now. She didn't challenge the girl, she just smiled and nodded.

"Do you want to see a picture of my nephew?" Presley changed the subject. She was intensely excited about this little being that she had barely met this summer. He was adorable, and Presley just wanted to hold him all day long. Her father was of a different opinion. He didn't much like small children, or that Leo and Presley had both taken to teasing him about being a grandfather.

He would get over it. Grandfather was an easier job than father, and as of today, Presley was seventeen, and her father no longer had any children that were minors. Both of his kids were adults.

Sarah and her entourage of belongings approached one of the carriages. She opened the door and leviated all her things inside, she could use magic now after all. After placing her owl cage on her lap she looked around. Who was she lucky enough to be with this time?
It was none other then the Ravenclaw Prefect. "Hi!" she said. Her stomach rumbled in response, she could not wait for the feast. "happy to be back?" she asked

Eliza did a mental eye roll at herself when Ella mentioned the Prefect compartment. She'd completely forgotten about that existing for some reason, which was weird since Ethan and Daichi surely had been in it as well. Was she a Prefect last year too? I don't think so...but maybe? She didn't want to seem clueless, but she really did want to be sure. "Oh, right! What's that like in there?" she asked, not wanting to say anything too specific until she'd figured this out. "Mine was...interesting." she replied in regards to her own ride. Well...no need to be so cryptic, ey? Maybe she knows something about them...Oh! Finally the little tidbit came back to her. She couldn't have been a Prefect last year, since you have to be at least a fifth year and I'm pretty sure that's what Ella is. now She smiled and rewound the topic for a second, "Congrats on being a Prefect by the way, Ella, that's really neat!"

But back to the train ride. "But yeah, there were these two boys that I didn't recognize really. And well, I went to say hi and then the one hauled off and hit the other one out of nowhere," she said, holding her hands in front of her to show her empty palms, her lack of understanding the whole situation. "One had sort of shaggy blondish hair and the other had shorter bright blonde hair. I dunno," she shrugged, not really sure what all to say about it. It had been weird and awkward, for sure.

And that ticket man? "Oh yeah, he was positively strange." She remembered the way he'd stared at the students. "Why do you think he was there? There aren't like...student security issues are there? Stowaways trying to go to Hogwarts?" she asked curiously. Maybe Ella had some ideas about it, after all, she was a Prefect and they were pretty good at a lot of things, so maybe deduction was one of them.

Surprised she looked at the girl and had not suspected the change in the subject. But… She was happy about it and even now that she was not really interested in the child on the picture, she nodded to the older girl. She had just like the older girl also a nephew and a niece but she had never met them, so she did not knew how it was to have a younger child in the family. She even didn’t knew the names from her nephew and niece! She only knew that her uncle has married to a muggle woman and that her parents were fighting with her uncle as long as she could remember it.

She looked also a little jealous at the older girl because she wanted to have a nephew or a niece for her own, is she had a niece who was younger than she was then she would have played all the time with her and when she would be older she would take her niece to all the cool places she knew, she was sure that they would be best friends! But… She didn’t knew them and asking her mother or her father about them was not such a good idea.