Forrest was just FIGHTING there, see? He was trying his best not to scratch himself but his neck was already irritated because of scratching. He hated it, he really did, and he just wished he could be stronger--come over this stupid thing even. What would she think of him if she heard? 'I act weird when I see or hear the word 'frog'.'

Digging his nails inside his arms once again, he said "Tell me about Gryffindor." To distract him, see?

Lex was still panicking at the itching boy. Whatever he was allergic to was probably her fault because he was fine when she first ran into him. Great going Lex. She was meant to look out for him but instead she had him there fighting with himself.

There was nothing that could make her feel worse at this point.

She blinked over at him. About Gryffindor? Er, yeah! She could do that if it would help!! "Uh...well we have a lion as our house animal thing...it's 'cause we're brave, you know, just like lions are? And we have our common room in one of the highest towers. The Common Room's real cozy and warm and you can see the Quidditch pitch from there--have you ever heard about Quidditch?" Seeing as he thought there was such a thing as a three hour test, she had to be sure.

"Oh and we have a cool house ghost that's nearly headless!" She put on a smile, trying not to worry very much about him but it wasn't helping.

LUCKILY Forrest was easy to distract.

LUCKILY she'd eaten the frog completely.

His wrists had gone numb from all the effort to keep them away from scratching skin, and it felt weird when he finally loosened his grip, but by then he'd already forgotten about f-s and was listening to her hooked. It was the word Quidditch that camed him down completely, and he shook his head to indicate he'd never heard of it--but ghost sounded much cooler than that and well, he simply stared at her open mouthed as he tried to imagine a nearly headless ghost.

Nope, nothing. She had to explain.

"How can it be nearly headless?" Yeah, he was past the 'ghost' part because he KNEW about them!

What? No. Jake was leaving her? Nuuuu. This was definitely a boyfriend brownie point reduction. You know... whatever the proper terminology of that was. She made a mental note to make up something epic later.

Alright. Now. What to do with the children?

Oh good. The loud one, aka name stealer / little A, wanted to be a Ravenclaw. "My best friend was a Ravenclaw. He graduated last year." There was no point to that story. She just felt like saying it.

"As far as I know it doesn't really matter what your family was." Not that she was an expert or anything.

Okay. "What about 'Baby Z'?" Anya asked. Why? Because it was adorable. And she might actually remember something that was adorable. Maybe. Possibly. Probably not. Was she allowed to give first years name tags?

On second thought... she'd be obligated to actually read said nametags if she did that, wouldn't she?

... ... okay. And she definitely missed something... now the ickle firstie wanted a high five...? She gave the kid a little high five back. Alllllright. That wasn't... too bad. Maybe she'd do okay with this one. Especially since she seemed fun to have a run. Like a hyperactive dog. One that ran around in circles and then into the wall.

OH! Could she teach first years tricks? Could they like... fetch her things? Oh play fetch? Or... ... rub her feet? That would be fun.

"Oh? You've got a friend? I came to Hogwarts with one of my friends." Kinda. That was kinda what happened.

It was only after he'd started calming down that she allowed herself to relax a little. Note to self, once he got better completely, find out what was wrong with him. She could do without this happening again.

His question though, it was one she had asked right before seeing that ghost herself. "It's real simple!" She said, beaming over at him. "He never really got his head chopped right so his head's like hanging by an inch or some small measurement, I'm not really sure, I just know he still has his head." But barely.

And now she decided that Forrest had to see him. No one looking that interested should have been deprived.

"Tell you what, even if you don't make it into Gryffindor, stop by the table because he's usually there at the start of the term and he's super friendly too." Nicest ghost she knew actually...next to the Fat Friar. "Did you want to know anything else about Gryffindor?"

Quote:

Originally Posted by LilFox06

What? No. Jake was leaving her? Nuuuu. This was definitely a boyfriend brownie point reduction. You know... whatever the proper terminology of that was. She made a mental note to make up something epic later.

Alright. Now. What to do with the children?

Oh good. The loud one, aka name stealer / little A, wanted to be a Ravenclaw. "My best friend was a Ravenclaw. He graduated last year." There was no point to that story. She just felt like saying it.

"As far as I know it doesn't really matter what your family was." Not that she was an expert or anything.

Okay. "What about 'Baby Z'?" Anya asked. Why? Because it was adorable. And she might actually remember something that was adorable. Maybe. Possibly. Probably not. Was she allowed to give first years name tags?

On second thought... she'd be obligated to actually read said nametags if she did that, wouldn't she?

... ... okay. And she definitely missed something... now the ickle firstie wanted a high five...? She gave the kid a little high five back. Alllllright. That wasn't... too bad. Maybe she'd do okay with this one. Especially since she seemed fun to have a run. Like a hyperactive dog. One that ran around in circles and then into the wall.

OH! Could she teach first years tricks? Could they like... fetch her things? Oh play fetch? Or... ... rub her feet? That would be fun.

"Oh? You've got a friend? I came to Hogwarts with one of my friends." Kinda. That was kinda what happened.

"I'm not REALLY a baby though." Just to be clear. But she clearly didn't mind. BECAUSE HIGH FIVES WERE HAPPENING! YEAH! BOOM!

After a HIGH FIVE, the BIG GIRL totally had Zahra's attention. THAT'S HOW FRIENDSHIPS WERE BORN. It is known. Zahra moseyed towards her. You know, to be closer. To inspect the new girl. Check her out. "YEAH. See. His name is Mikey. Michael." GAG. WHO CALLED HIM THAT? Silly. "Toussaint. We're going to be Gryffindors AND he's cool. You'll like him. He's probably waiting on me."

With Pig.

Zahra's tea cup pig.

That she may or may not have (TOTALLY DID LOLOLOLOL!!!) smuggled on the train.

FIRST KIDS TO SMUGGLE A PIG ON THE TRAIN.

"So was that your BOYFRIEND? With the SWEET badge?"

There had to be food around here somewhere. Mo made his way down the corridor in hopes of running into the trolley and the lovely trolley lady, purveyor of FOOD, but mostly he just kept running into people. Loads and loads of students were stacked practically on top of each other in the corridor.

"Erm... 'scuse me," he tried to squeeze by a few and may have accidentally elbowed someone in the head. Twice. This was impossible, and how was he ever going to find his way back to his compartment once he DID have food?

He paused and took a lean up against the nearest wall, right next to some chap or other who was also avoiding the masses. Oh, he knew this chap, actually. "Wotcher, Essex. My face throbs in recognition of your menacing fists. You seem to have wandered onto the Hogwarts Express."

Nod. Smirk. Lean. People Watch.

That was pretty much how Ascanius had spent the last twenty minutes on this never ending train ride. He still wasn't exactly keen on the long ride, but he would deal. There was nothing else he could do at this point. Ascanius was stuck here anyway so he was at least going to TRY to salvage it. And people watching was doing that for him.

Heh. Guys were so stupid in general. Always made him feel awesome whenever he watched them interact because he was so much cooler then them.

Speaking of being cooler then people, it was Marcus. AND LOOKY THERE. His face looked loads better. No bruises or any outstanding damage. Eh, he wasn't sure if he were pleased or annoyed by that fact. "Marcus, your face looks better." Not as great as his, but he wasn't going to talk crazy, mmk? "And well spotted." He WAS on the train. Duh.

"Right. Of course." Anya said with a nod. She wasn't going to change the nickname of course. But she'd acknowledge the statement.

She nodded. "Mikey. Yeah. I approve." ... because... obviously, Anya's opinion mattered there. She smiled a little. "We'd love to have you both. You know... assuming you're not crazy and lose us points. Then we might not be so excited. Not me personally. But the house in general."

Assuming people followed the whole house point thing.

She beamed at the mention of her boyfriend. Okay. This girl couldn't be too bad if she acknowledged the boyfriend/girlfriend relationship (unlike certain other people in the house). "Yup. Jake Keller. Gryffindor Prefect. He got it last year for being..." Erm. Why did he get the badge anyway? How were those awarded...? "... ... fantastic." Yeah. Okay. That worked.

That made more sense than saying he got it for being attractive. Which is what she normally said. Of course, she usually only talked about it with Jake. Who, like most boys, liked being told they were attractive.

Mo absently rubbed his jaw before shrugging. All things considered, Mo had come out of his physical assault relatively unscathed, which seemed to annoy Ascanius more than Mo understood. Wasn't like the other boy WANTED to hurt him. Was it?

"My sister got all freaked and healed it. I wanted to keep it bruised for a few days at least, but... she wasn't happy. I didn't rat you out, though... you'd already know if I did. If you ever see a pretty and incredibly scary blonde girl, you should walk away very quickly. And don't make eye contact if you can help it." He grinned suddenly, although a bit crookedly, and offered his hand.

"I mean to say... you're on the train to Hogwarts, but you said you go to Durmstrang. Transfer?"

Quote:

Originally Posted by LilFox06

"Right. Of course." Anya said with a nod. She wasn't going to change the nickname of course. But she'd acknowledge the statement.

She nodded. "Mikey. Yeah. I approve." ... because... obviously, Anya's opinion mattered there. She smiled a little. "We'd love to have you both. You know... assuming you're not crazy and lose us points. Then we might not be so excited. Not me personally. But the house in general."

Assuming people followed the whole house point thing.

She beamed at the mention of her boyfriend. Okay. This girl couldn't be too bad if she acknowledged the boyfriend/girlfriend relationship (unlike certain other people in the house). "Yup. Jake Keller. Gryffindor Prefect. He got it last year for being..." Erm. Why did he get the badge anyway? How were those awarded...? "... ... fantastic." Yeah. Okay. That worked.

That made more sense than saying he got it for being attractive. Which is what she normally said. Of course, she usually only talked about it with Jake. Who, like most boys, liked being told they were attractive.

Oh. She did? This girl liked Mikey? Well cool. He was cool, so that was cool, but Merlin only knew how this girl KNEW Mikey. He must get around. She briefly wondered what he was doing again...? ....And if she could get him down with the BODY PAINT stuff. How cool would it be to raise their shirts after the HAT yelled GRYFFINDOR to expose RED BODY PAINT WITH GOLDEN G'S ON THEIR TUMMY's.

Only the coolest ever.

Zahra was like... thinking hard about this. While that girl went on about...??? What? Uhm...

Zahra gave the older girl an entirely blank, glassed over look that only needed drool to be complete. She didn't drool though.MIKEY TOTALLY DID THOUGH LOLOL that Mikey.

...

...

"FANTASTIC!" Zahra grabbed onto the last word. "AWESOME. GRYFFINDOR!" She TOTALLY JUMPED up in the air, did a SPIN, and took an elbow to the FACE. The combined ELBOW with the FORCE of one firstie's excited JUMPING....

...caused a volcano like eruption of a nose bleed.

"WHOOOOOOOA." Whoa. Whoa. WHOA. WHOA. "I'M OKAY." MOSTLY. Except for the blood and the tears, but OTHER THAN THAT! TOTES OKAY.

Anya watched...

... with WIDE EYES.

She quickly covered her mouth. Ohonoes. Okay. She just broke a hyperactive first year. Minus this really wasn't her fault. But... whatever.

FLAIL! Okay. It was a good idea Anya knew what to do, right? She could blame years of first aid training. Sure... there was probably quicker ways with magic... but... she wasn't a healer.

She dug in her pockets and held out a handkerchief. "IfyouwantIcan... my parents are doctors..." Of course... she wouldn't blame the ickle kid for not wanting her face touched by someone she barely knew. "And I know how to make ice." In case that reassured her at all.

She also wouldn't tell anyone that the little kid was crying.

She then cast a semi-apologetic look at Mo. Why? She wasn't quite sure. It's not like she was responsible for what just happened.

Was he rubbing his jaw? Ugh, ninny. Come on, it was done and over with. Time to move on. Ascanius totally had and out of the TWO of them Ascanius had come off worse. His punching skills were not as up to par as he would have liked. Marcus pointed that out. So Marcus got a bruise and a nick, SURE, but Ascanius got humiliation. Essex boys knew how to punch. Whatever, he was just gonna go with the fact that Marcus was defective and his technique was fine.

His SISTER healed it? Oh come ON Marcus. No need to have your big, ol' sister do that for you. Ascanius wanted to just hit the Marcus again so that he could wear the bruise properly, but it WAS his first day. He was gonna give himself twenty-four hours before he started being all Essex everywhere. Bam.

Oh? The sister was pretty? Well then. Ascanius wasn't gonna RUN from her. That was beside the point. Pretty girls meant you stayed and besides he wasn't afraid of some girl. Psh.

"Not exactly," he shrugged, "I got kicked out and had to go somewhere." APPARENTLY, Headmasters got all whipped up when you nicked their pants. Chafing reasons and such. But hey, points for being creative, no? Yeah. Anyway, not that it mattered at this point. He was out of dodge there and every other school he had gotten kicked out of.

Garrick was no longer put out with the train ride... PEACE HAD BEEN RESTORED. Although, he kind of wished Lotus and he were sitting together... but that awful Gryffindor was to blame for that. Psh. Anyway.

He shoved his hands deep into his pockets and grinned as he watched Sophocles, his Maine Coon Cat, rub against several people's legs as he meandered along. He was just happy to be out having a walk. MHM.

Then... he saw one vaguely familiar boy (MO) and another who mentioned... Durmstrang. Interesting.

And then...

Sophocles' hair stood on end and the rather large feline began to hiss at the Durmstrang boy for no apparent reason. Crikey! Rushing forward Garrick scooped the usually docile cat up and shot an apologetic smile at the kid. "Sorry, mate... he means no harm, though." Was this socializing? He was unsure...

Apparently Mo had pointy, dangerous elbows. Merlin, he'd just been standing here and then some firstie ran him over and was now bleeding like... like a...

"You're not okay, not actually," Mo offered the littler girl his sleeve, even going so far as to mop at her face a bit. Please please please let him NOT have disfigured a first year today. It was already such a very long, hard day without damaging people too.

"No, I lied. You're fine. Red is your color. And you're being so brave... bet you'll be a Gryffind... I know you, don't I?"

Mo was definitely definitely getting the idiot look from Ascanius, which was a bit unfair. He hadn't even said anything yet, so how could he already be an idiot. Maybe Ascanius was the idiot and Mo was a genius or something. Maybe!

"Might as well come to Hogwarts. I think death is pretty much the only disqualifier there. You'll have to do worse than nicking pants to get expelled, although I wouldn't try that particular trick on our Head. She's sort of finicky about her clothes. You might actually get fed to the squid or something." He was talking a lot but saying absolutely nothing, so Mo opted for shutting up next.

SPOILER!!: FIRST AIDE

Quote:

Originally Posted by LilFox06

Anya watched...

... with WIDE EYES.

She quickly covered her mouth. Ohonoes. Okay. She just broke a hyperactive first year. Minus this really wasn't her fault. But... whatever.

FLAIL! Okay. It was a good idea Anya knew what to do, right? She could blame years of first aid training. Sure... there was probably quicker ways with magic... but... she wasn't a healer.

She dug in her pockets and held out a handkerchief. "IfyouwantIcan... my parents are doctors..." Of course... she wouldn't blame the ickle kid for not wanting her face touched by someone she barely knew. "And I know how to make ice." In case that reassured her at all.

She also wouldn't tell anyone that the little kid was crying.

She then cast a semi-apologetic look at Mo. Why? She wasn't quite sure. It's not like she was responsible for what just happened.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cassirin

Apparently Mo had pointy, dangerous elbows. Merlin, he'd just been standing here and then some firstie ran him over and was now bleeding like... like a...

"You're not okay, not actually," Mo offered the littler girl his sleeve, even going so far as to mop at her face a bit. Please please please let him NOT have disfigured a first year today. It was already such a very long, hard day without damaging people too.

"No, I lied. You're fine. Red is your color. And you're being so brave... bet you'll be a Gryffind... I know you, don't I?"

Zahra held her head back. It wasn't her FIRST nose bleed ever. Though this one was pretty good. She'd give it a 8.2 at least. But really, she didn't seem to mind too much.

She looked between BIG GIRL and ... Elbow.

Or as it turned out.... EL-MO.

HAHAHAHA

Zahra snorted blood and laughed and punched him on the arm like it was NO BIG DEAL. "MO! ELBOW MO." She REMEMBERED him. Her dad or something knew his mom or something and one time they played together and that was cool. She hadn't bled from her face that time though.

She looked back to big girl...whose name she still hadn't gotten. Big Girl it was. SHe was totally going to let Big Girl AND Mo stop the bleeding. SHe was okay with their combined hanky and sleeve on her face.

"....we usually just find stuff to wad up and stuff up there." She looked at big girl. "You could stuff ice up my nose." Truly, she could. Zahra leaned her head back MORE, prepping her nostrils for stuffing.

D'aww. Cute Mo was cute. Lookathim! He was offering his sleeve. Was Anya allowed to hug him and say he was adorable? Because she wanted to. She really, really did.

But that was highly inappropriate given the current situation. She'd save that for later. She'd just... walk up to him, say he's cute and hug him and walk away.

She'd plan it for a Tuesday. That seemed like a good day.

Anya blinked. Stuff it up there? How... ... ... not proper. And painful sounding. Plus... she should be leaning forward.

Anya moved the girl's head forward and held the handkerchief up to her nose. "Pinch there for a few minutes and we'll see if the blood stops by itself." she suggested.

And then, hopefully, crisis averted, right?

They can all go home happy. Or... whatever the equivalent to that phrase was given they were currently on a train to school. They could all get to school... happy? Heh. Whatever.

... and she'd have a pretty fun story to tell Jake later.

Forrest laughed at the idea instead of being grossed out about it. Playing with the button of his bag, he was deep in dreams imagining ghosts in general and what kind of magical abilities they had, until she said 'If you don't make it into Gryffindor...' His face fell a little. He knew he wouldn't make it there. It was just a pleasant idea, one that wouldn't happen in a million years.

Well, now he knew people from every house (because he'd definitely end up in Hufflepuff). He wanted to ASK everything there was about ghosts, magic and well, EVERYTHING but it was getting dark and he was yet to wash his face.

"Thank you for all, Alexa," he BEAMED at her because she was basically his hero now. "But I need to go to toilet..." He flushed a little. "I'll see you around at school." Did she say 'visit our table'? He was allowed to do that, yes, even if he was in Hufflepuff?

Smiling at her shyly again (he never managed to say proper goodbye to people), he got up and went towards the toilet.

Elise was pretty much okay with being dragged out of the compartment that was quickly filling, anyway. She had duties, right? She wasn't even sure if Captains had to patrol, but she supposed so. Student leader things, probably. It would be unfair to simply leave the prefects to do all the patrolling. Who knew the amount of things that happened on the train that were not supposed to be happening.

"Heeey, it's fine!" she said, turning to her best friend and shrugging. After a brief pause, Elise broke into a small smirk. Having two Slytherins for her best friends would generally rub off on someone. That wasn't even considering the fact that she had to cope with Milton and his ways for three term. All these things put into a bowl and mixed together gave you the ability to use smirks and sarcasm where necessary.

"Besides, imagine how ridiculous you'd look patrolling alone!" That's what besties were for, as well. To absorb the stares that you got when you patrolled and talk about random things. It was in the job description. Not to mention that she was also kind of looking for a certain Slytherin named Christopher Stylinson.

Walking down the corridors was weird enough without a badge, now with one, the stares were inevitable. Still... LOOK AWAY, PEOPLE. Gosh.

Kat could've done it alone, yes. Oakey did it alone. The Gryffindor Male Prefect, Jake, did it alone too. She was not going to show weakness to those males, but she'd rather have someone to talk with while patrolling. Being alone and walking passed compartment was unnerving, honestly. Add in the stares the other students gave you. It was a bit intimidating to Kat if they just stared at her. She didn't deserve stares because she was doing her duty. And Elise shouldn't be getting them either. Kat watched as the others walked passed them. Yeah, stop the stares... seriously.

It's fine. That was a good thing, right? Kat sighed in relief and offered a small smile!smirk (is that even possible?) to her best friend. "I just needed to get out of the compartment," Kat admitted. "Everyone was getting in and I thought I should get out from the crowd." If this was mistaken for claustrophobia, that's wrong. Kat was not claustrophobic; she only hated places that lacked space.

Oh right, patrolling. That was another reason why the Slytherin Prefect went out of their compartment. Although she wasn't so enthusiastic about it, she'd have to do it anyway. "Yeah, where do you want to start?" the blonde asked at Elise. "Or should we go find your boy candy?" Wink. Kat knew her bestie wanted to find Chris so she'd let her. Well yeah, finding your girl/boy was part of patrolling now, apparently.

Oh? He was leaving already? But they just got here...waaait...Lex looked around. The lights were now on in the train and outside was getting to be dark. They'd be arriving soon wouldn't they?

Where had the time gone???

She beamed back at him. "No problem! Glad I could help!!" And she had kinda forgotten that he needed to go to the bathroom too. Hopefully she hadn't kept him too long. Lex, herself, needed to be places, like the food trolley before they pulled into the station because her candy bag needed some extras. The term was long and they didn't exactly get to go to Hogsmeade every weekend.

"I'll definitely be looking to see you around, maybe even the feast once you know where you belong!" She secured her kneazle and her candy bag, stood returned his last smile then continued on her way.

CAAANDY.

If these stares she was getting from the rest of the student body came accompanied with smiles, Elise probably wouldn't mind as much as she did. They weren't, though. They were just plain stares. Didn't their parents ever tell them that staring at someone was rude? Even if they did have as amazing features as the two of them. No excuses.

Elise just nodded at her bestie, though. She totally knew the feeling of not enjoying being stuck in a compartment with what felt like everyone inside. Granted, it was much larger than the other compartments, but it still held all the student leaders in the whole school. "The ticket guy was starting to make me want to get my bat," she confessed, staring at her shoes for a bit. So maybe she wanted to hit the guy with her bat for being so rude with everyone. Would it really kill him to say please?

Start? "We could just start here and go all the way down the train or something like that?" Don't ask her! It wasn't exactly a part of her job description as Quidditch Captain. Captains held tryouts and practices and led their teams in matches. They didn't prefect. That was the prefects' job.

B-boy candy? Blinking at Kat, Elise turned a bright shade of red that was more suited to a tomato than a face. Nope. No boy-candy. Was that even a word in the first place? Besides, Kat had a duty to fulfill. She, unlike Elise, was a prefect.

Not really knowing where she was going or what she was going to do once she got there, Arlene was just roaming around the train. She enjoyed looking at the older students as they made their ways to meet their friends after holiday.

The tall first year pushed some of her red hair away from her face and continued to slowly walk in the train corridor. The next thing she knew, Arlene came face to face with the floor of the train after tripping on her own two feet. "Lovely." She said to herself with a sigh.

Oh jeez. He was talking again. Did Marcus know that he rambled? Yeah, he was a rambler. Did he know what they called people like that in Essex? Hospitalized. Mhmm.

Lifting his hand to silence him, Ascanius shook his head and said, "Woah, woah. Slow down, mmk? Jeez." They were having a conversation. No need to talk AT him. Really. He was not slight in the head, he would have been able to handle broken up conversation. Back and forth type speaking. "And your Head is a girl?" Smirk. Yeah, he was REALLY gonna enjoy having female teachers on account of they were females. Pretty and stuff. Smirk.



And then something was hissing at him. Ascanius tilted his head down to look at some dumb cat hissing at him. Okay, an animal was about to get kicked in the face if it didn't move out of his way. The only cat that he liked was Spot for OBVIOUS reasons. 'Cause it was Penn's and stuff. And he liked everything about her. Smirk.

But this cat was none of the above... so it was gonna get kicked in the face unless someone got it out of his face. And that was not a threat. It was a promise. Honestly, let's go.

He looked over at the boy and sighed, "Move the cat.... or I'll kick it." Legit.

They were NOT stuffing ice up her nose. That was frightening. Would ice even FIT up there in her nose? Mo wiped uselessly at Zahra's face (see! He remembered her name too!] before giving it up as a bad job. She wasn't crying, which was remarkable, and he was suddenly aware that he was covered in blood.

"Erm... I think you're not to lean your head back like that. You lean forwards," he demonstrated and nearly bowled into the wall as the train his a rough patch. "Or maybe sitting? Sitting is probably even better because then there is no falling."

He gave Anya a big-eyed look, like he really needed her to use her super Gryffindor beautiful person powers to make everything better, including his bloody shirt and hand. Please please, pretty Anya?

"I have a lot of stuff going on in my brain at any given moment," Mo offered with an almost-casual shrug. He talked a lot, but he had a lot to say. Almost none of them were empty words, and they definitely weren't thoughtless.

"But yeah, Headmistress Truebridge is a female. Pretty, too, if you like that ardently scary type." And Mo had a deep respect for that type, considering his family. Mo fell silent as Ascanius threatened a nearby cat, which seemed... unnecessarily violent, but perhaps Ascanius had good reason. He had to have, but still Mo's hand crept to his pocket protectively.