YAY! Someone who was social and actually talked to people. Awesome. Cassia just aborted her plan of going back to the luggage compartment. There was a girl who was willing to talk here. You don't find that everyday nowadays. Sad times they were living. "That's good," She nodded approvingly at the lady. Keep it up, woman! Though, now that she had company, the snake didn't mind standing here for a while. Sitting for all the ride to Hogwarts wasn't that comfy. You might not feel your butt. She wasn't going to share that piece of info with anyone though.

They were being introduced!!

A huge smile spread on the blond's face as Schuyler introduced her firstname, lastname and her birth place. Can she hug the girl? No? Creepy? Okay, she'll wait. "Nice to meet you," She responded. "I'm Cassia...Somerlad." She pronounced her last name a bit slowly. Because there was a certain Professor who pronounced it wrong! ProffRomanos. Not that it was hard. "Oh, you're new!" Not a question, just a reaction. "Well, welcome to Hogwarts." And if she learned anything from her last encounter, it was not to say anything about the school. Nope. No scaring new students.

She hesitated then asked, "Were you home-schooled," She was forming an idea about those actually.

Wade laughed before hugging the barking Tay back quickly. "Awesome, I'm doing fine as well.. though a little hungry." He mockingly rubbed his stomach while saying so. It was cool that she was also a fan of the sweets and beans. "Yea? That's pretty cool, not a lot like the risk of getting the bogie and vomit flavors. I love when the pickle flavor comes up, how about you? Which ones do you like?" He asked casually.

"Thanks," Wade smiled back, he was going to have a lot to live up to. "I haven't been there yet, I wanted to stock up on some food since I'll probably be there for a while.. I'll let you know though afterward." So he'll have Prefect duties, studying for NEWTS, hopefully Quidditch, and.. His face reddened as he knew just who the Ravenclaw friend Tay was referring to. His Indy. The only girl who left him feeling flusterred. "Ah.. well," He ruffled the back of his hair, he couldn't help the gooey love puddle just the mere thought of Indy left him in. "We got all year.. I'm sure we'll see each other besides in the halls." He looked back at her as he then remembered. "Now what about you and your new Hufflepuff friend?"

Cassia Somerlad. Schuyler thought it odd that she drawled her last name like that, but she neglected to comment on it. Although it DID put the idea in Schuyler's head that maybe this girl was lying about her surname. She regarded the blonde's wide smile. Somehow she doubted this girl would lie about anything.

"Why, thank you," she answered, the soft smile still on her lips. The next question was a little out of left field. Home-schooled? "Thank Merlin, no." Schuyler would go crazy interacting with no one but her family. Not that she didn't get along with them, but.... that would be way too much family time and not enough friend time. "I went to Salem Academy, in the states." Mmmhm.

And, oh look! It was her turn to purchase the goooooods. Because she had already known exactly what she was going to get, Schuyler didn't take long to buy what she wanted. The Chocolate Frogs and the like. The girl gave to lady her money in return for the sweets and she stepped away from the line before gesturing to the trolley. "It's all yours, Cassia."

PHEW! No home-schooled weirdos who didn't like to talk to their fellow human beings. Man, Cassia was still shocked by that girl's reaction. And so she told her that a man died in school last year, pfffft, what's the big deal. People die all the time! That girl wasn't going to be sorted in Gryffindor for sure. That's if she made it to the castle. Ahem. Cassia wouldn't be held responsible, hopefully.

"Oh I've heard of that school," She told the girl smiling. Now that she knew Schuyler was normal and talked to people, she let her guard down and let the conversation move forward. Though she still wasn't going to talk about Hogwarts! NOPE! Not that this girl looked like she'd run away after a scarynormal story but she didn't want to push her luck.

THEIR TURN!

While Schuyler got what she wanted, Cassia dug in her pockets for money. She had lots of coins! The tips she got while interning at the Leaky. Cool, huh?! So awesome to be spending something you earned! Also stings actually? Did she really need TWO chocolate frogs. Nope. One was enough. Once it was her turn, Cassia stepped closer, reached for a chocolate frog, a licorice wand and a bottle of water. She was going to need it! She paid, stepped aside and turned to Schuyler.

"How was your summer? Did you spend it here? or in the US?" She asked her conversationally as she unwrapped the frog.

Taylor smiled at him, ”I am glad that you are doing awesome.” Tay nodded and rubbed her own stomach too. ”I am too…” She giggled and smiled at him again before twirling in delight. Taylor hugged her friend again and stepped back. Taylor giggled, ”I like feeling the thrill of the chance of getting a bad flavor… it makes a good game, ya know?” Tay beamed a big smile at him then giggled, ”Pickles? Interesting choice.” She nodded then shrugged, looking at him, ”I like the… Taylor trailed off, thinking and debating on what flavor she liked the best. Tay finally decided and smiled, ”I like the blueberry pie or the…” She paused and thought again then smiled, ”Or the pizza the best right now but every few weeks, I change my mind.” Taylor giggled and smiled, twirling a few times in pure delight. ”Anytime, Head boy.” She winked, teasing him. Tay nodded at what he said, ”Okay, as long as you don’t forget to tell me.” Yep, she was teasing him a little bit more. Taylor nodded, ”Ok.” A blush came as he mentioned Nash. She tried to hide it though but she still felt the heat come up. ”Well, I was about to look for him on the train actually since we were going to sit together.” She giggled and smiled, ”I do hope I get to see him a little throughout the year though.” Taylor twisted her purple, pink and blonde curls around her finger and swayed back and forth, thinking of the extremely cute and amazing seventh year Hufflepuff that she will get to probably see in just a few moments.

Benzi appreciated that the boy took his time before answering. It was really good to see others who took the sweets business as seriously as he did. Sharing was something that wasn't really possible all the time - like, when Mummy only gave him two bars of chocolate for the ENTIRE day, he couldn't very well just give that up to people! He NEEDED it.

The eleven year was relieved though when the boy agreed, and considerably brightened at his counter suggestion. "Sounds awesome! You could get chocolate frogs... Those are always fun if you're quick enough. ONCE, when I was seven, I didn't know they moved so I wasn't quick enough to catch it before it jumped into the toilet," Benzi sighed sadly, remembering how sad he'd been over the loss of his precious first chocolate frog.

"But I think people learn their lesson after their first miss - I've NEVER let one go since then.. I usually bite their back legs off first so they can't jump," he jabbered on, not really caring if the boy was still listening to him or not, and grinned proudly at his little statement. It was SUPER clever.

Why. Was. IT. EVERY. BLOODY. TIME.

Was someone trying to torture him? If so, they accomplished their goal long time ago. Was it like, 'okay you are a wizard, but you cannot be that happy.'? Was it? If so, he wasn't happy AT ALL! He could stop being happy anytime. He could just be sad and never endure this. He was even willing to never meet new people. He would always stick to those who knew. He'd met enough anyway. Really. Because this wasn't funny anymore. He was so sick of worrying every time about the reaction he would get. He was so sick of expecting to be laughed at. If he died early, this was the only reason to it.

So it began. Once that bloody-disgusting-horrible-vomity-stupid animal was mentioned, Forrest's thoughtful face went rigid and he could hold himself only until the boy finished talking. After that, once Forrest was thoroughly polite to wait for him to finish first, he really couldn't help it: his right hand started scratching his left arm, and his left hand had already begun leaving bright red marks on his neck. Obviously, he hadn't really listened to him after the f-animal's name. His neck hurt, and he knelt down, both hands scratching his head now. This was getting worse. So far, this itching frenzy had been limited to his arms and neck. To scratch his head--the boy was surely going to think he had flea.

After five second's scratching, he could finally tuck away his hands between his upper and lower legs as he kept kneeling, and closed his eyes. He wasn't ready to see the boy running away from him. He wanted to cry out of anger, actually. He didn't want any company. He would be happy scratching and crying.

Schuyler pushed her lips to the side. Hmmm.. "Do you have a thing against people who were home-schooled?" Maybe this girl had had a bad experience being home-schooled at some point. "My friend Olly was home-schooled. Well.. up until this year." And now Schuyler was very glad that the girl was coming to Hogwarts instead. Speaking of whom, where WAS Olly on this train?

heh. Most people had heard of Salem. Or so thought Schuyler. She smiled and nodded. "It was a great school. Is a great school," she corrected herself. To be honest, though, she hadn't heard much about what Hogwarts was actually like. But really.. it couldn't be too different, right?

Schuyler examined Cassia's selection. Water, licorice wand, chocolate frog. Not much, but then again, the girl did say that she had some snacks in her luggage. She began walking back through the corridor as the blonde opened her lone chocolate frog. "I spent most of it in America, but we moved here in August. Where are you from, then?"

Now here comes the question. She did NOT have anything against the home-schooled kids. One of her mother's friend's kid was one and he was sane. However, that perspective of hers changed just recently. Exactly when she stepped into the compartment at the back of the train and met the home-schooled girl who didn't appreciate the conversation and was not probably telling the driver to pull over because she wanted to get off the train. Good luck with that. And Cassia totally had nothing to do with it, nooope, what makes you think sooo? "Naah," She finally answered shrugging. "Just...Some might not be used to..interacting with people." She said choosing her words carefully. And she was glad she did after hearing Schuyler's next words. Did she say she had a home-schooled friend? GULP. Naah.. she shouldn't be that paranoid. Coincidence.


This girl was cool. She didn't hold a handkerchief and wipe her tears while talking about her old school. Cool I tell you. The snake smiled at that. "I bet every school is great if we have the cool people to hang out with." She totally believed in that.

Cassia tightened her grip on the frog not allowing it to hop away. Lots years of practice that no frog got away since her first year. "Did you get to hang out in see Diagon Alley?" She assumed that she did unless she wasn't the one that bought the school requirements. "I'm from here, England." She told her after nibbling the frog's arms. "I live in the lake district," A bonus info. "Though, this summer I had spent much of it in the Diagon Alley, it's a cool place really. I was interning at the Leaky Cauldron." She lost count of how many times she bragged told people about it. She wanted to go on but she had the entire frog in her mouth so she needed to swallow.

Interesting. It almost sounded as if Cassia had met Olly herself. Maybe they had? Though maybe they hadn't. Of all the Hogwarts students.. "Aah. Yeah, maybe sometimes." Maybe some home-schooled students were sheltered, but Olly seemed anything but sheltered. And Schuyler had the feeling that the girl's difficulty with people stemmed from a place separate from anything that had to do with how she went about her previous years of schooling. Her mind lingered on her other friend until some words broke her from her thoughts.

Schuyler smiled and nodded to Cassia's theory that one's definition of a 'good school' could not be complete without having good friends. "I think you're right, Cassia." Maybe she would be one of those friends..

Another nod. "Yep, I got to explore Diagon Alley and all its shoppes." Or, most of its shoppes. She glanced over at the girl when she mentioned that she had had the opportunity to intern in Diagon Alley this past summer. And, if Schuyler wasn't mistaken, it looked like something she was quite proud of. "That's really cool - what kind of stuff did you do?" The Leaky Cauldron was one place where Schuyler hadn't gotten to dine.

As she was walking, she turned away from Cassia to look forward. Hey.. there was Olly! Hah. What a coincidence. A grin flashed over Schuyler's face and she took the blonde's arm as she looked to her again. "That's Olly! She's the one I just told you about." The fifteen-year-old cast her eyes on Olivia Clarke again, and she lifted her arms so her hands flanked either side of her mouth as she called out, "Olly!"

Even after downing most of those chips she'd nicked from Mo and that poor little first year who thought Alice was a cannibal, she was still famished. Growing girl, you know? If she wanted to be anywhere as tall as Dora was and catch up with her height, she really ought to have been eating more.

So that was exactly what she was doing.

Speaking of her best... where WAS she? The sixteen year old had sneaked away from the Prefect's Compartment for food, but friends were even better reasons. And Alice knew her well, so she also knew that Dora was always prepared with snacks for others.

Which meant.. she'd eventually appear there sometime.

So she waited. And waited. And tried to choose some snacks while she was at it. And then waited some more.

It was really crowded in that compartment. Dora didn't do crowds, but because most of them were her friends she tolerated it for as long as she could before she had to get out. She already had food, she didn't need more, but it WAS a good excuse to leave and get some air and alone time.

Dora apparently didn't have enough of this over the summer. Cause of boyfriend reasons, and all her other friends. And her best. Who happened to be at the trolley, wasn't that convenient? The fifteen year old was just wondering if she could steal her away from the prefects compartment, and now she didn't have to.

Tugging gently on her hair, she grinned and joined her at her side. "Taking a break, Captain?"

After a few interruptions on the way - like checking to see how fast the train was actually going in one of the compartments - Olly had finally made it to the front of the train somewhere. Or close to it anyway. Somehow she wasn't entirely sure how long the train was so she couldn't be sure where she was exactly. But she had definitely made it further towards the front.

And she still didn't quite know how to get off it.

Though, she figured that she could just slip away at Hogsmeade station, owl her parents and have them come pick her up there. They would understand right? That was like the ultimate reason for her not to go to Hogwarts. Meaning she could stay home. Somebody had DIED. And not just somebody. A STAFF MEMBER. Like what kind of place was this Hogwarts school where Dementors could just roam the grounds freely and eat people. Or their souls.

Even worse. Sort of. Why was she even-

Someone was calling her name. Stopping Olly mentally (or perhaps verbally too) cursed her lack of height as she realized she was surrounded by people taller than her. Meaning that she couldn't actually see much. But that was definitely her name being called. Standing on her tiptoes she glanced about quite frantically until..."Schuyler!" Thank Merlin she had found her! Maybe they could get off the train together.

Her sole focus was on her friend as she elbowed her way through the crowd and towards her. "We can't go to Hogwarts." She stated once she'd reached her. "Somebody was killed there last year." That was reason enough, yeah? Definitely. It was only then that Olly realized Schuyler was NOT alone. No. That rude girl who had told her about the groundskeeper in the first place was with her. Great. "Ask her!" She pointed her finger at Cassia's face, almost poking her in the eye in the process.

Yeah? yeah! Schuyler agreed! Then it wasn't just Cassia thinking so then. IT was a common fact to the public yet the snake had just found out about it. Man, how come no one told her. Next time when she decided to welcome new students to school, the first thing she wanted to do was asking whether they were home-schooled. If the answer was yes, she was leaving! Let someone else handle it. Now, she only needed to remember.

She knew she was right but she didn't she knew, might be taken as a sign of cockiness. She so wasn't! LIES. Good think, Schuyler agreed, this girl was cool. No really, she was.

The frog was officially in her stomach. The sugar had a magical effect on her. She felt refreshed and all the strength that was drained out of her after the story-telling was refueled. She totally could tell another story, now! Eeeh, probably not a very good idea. She uncapped her water bottle and chugged from it while listening to Schuyler. Awesome, so she's been to the Alley. "Umm..Mostly waitressing as well as cleaning the guest rooms, changing bed linens. That kinda of stuff," Sounds less interesting being said though. They weren't that boring when she did them.

Who was Schuyler calling....? O___O

UH-Oh.



Talk about coincidence.

Cassia's jaw dropped open seeing who Schuyler's friend was. But hey! At least she now knew the angry girl's name? That's an up to the situation. Though, when Olly was getting closer, the snake's only thought was to GET AWAY before the angry one started yelling about dead people again and making a scene. Not to mention saying Cassia's name in the same sentence as /died/. She still wasn't over it, you know. Bad luck! Totally!

However, it was crowded and by the time she recovered from her shock and decided on fleeing, Olly has already joined them. Could she still duck and dissolve in the crowd. Perhaps it was too late.

As Olly started explaining to her friend, the blond didn't speak a word. Maybe if she didn't speak she won't be noticed. Somehow she kept trying that technique and it barely ever worked. It was worth the shot. And not surprisingly, it did not work. "First, calm down," Cassia said taking a step backwards. HER EYE PLEASE! Thank you. She kinda needed both. "There kids around, no need to freak them out." She could only think of how many of those heard her yelling in the back cars. Poor things, must be terrified now. The Slytherin insisted she had nothing to do with it. Noope.

"And hey, people die all the time," That was definitely the smart thing to do. "It won't happen again," Hopefully. Then turning to Schuyler she said. "It was an accident." Please do not freak out, you toooo. "The Headmistress said there will be ministry people and you know..." She kidna forgot what the red-headed said. MAybe she should make something up! Sure. "Some measures taken to prevent it from happening." Bunz totally owed her for making her sound like a Headmistress who so far didn't lose three professors on her watch. You're welcome, Bunz! Too bad Cassia couldn't show off about it.

Ah, so the girl grew up with muggles, just like himself and had no clue either. Figure out together? But how? Angeal glanced at the trolley again. "You don't suppose... They're like the Chocolate Frogs, do you?" he asked with a slight tone of worry in his voice as he raised his finger to point at boxes of Peppermint Toad. It shocked him enough when the Chocolate Frog jumped out of the box, around the house when he first opened one.

One thing was, chocolate melt easily, therefore he didn't feel too gross to practically have a frog in his mouth. But with Peppermint Toad... It would probably be different if they are charmed like the Chocolate Frogs.

Adelaide's eyes wandered over to the peppermint toads. Peppermint sounded amazing right about now, but the little first year had her rethinking things slightly. The only thing she didn't like about the chocolate frogs were the fact that they moved around. Other than that they were perfect.

"I honestly have no idea. And if they are...that doesn't sound like they'd be very easy to eat." At least they both seemed to be on the same train of thought. At least from what she could tell by the young boy's expression.

Despite having attended muggle school for a few years, Benzi still struggled endlessly with simple addition. His brain just didn't WORK like that. Plus wizard money was terrible for calculations - lots of sevens and nines and not enough oh's and fives. Psht.

His faces scrunched up as he tried to work out how much all of this would cost him, he didn't really notice what was happening beside him. After a few seconds of intense calculations, the eleven year old decided to give up and turned to the boy for assistance. "Hey, how much i- MERLIN'S KNICKERS BROTHER WHAT'RE YOU DOING?!" he exclaimed, VERY AFRAID of this new itching monster thing in front of him.

O_____O

Perhaps he was mental? OR, POSSESSED?! OR OR OR maybe the SWEETS WERE CURSED?!?!?!?? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. NOT THE CANDY. ANYTHING BUT THE CANDY.

... And now he had stopped itching and was kneeling. Er. Benzi blinked, unsure of what to do. He looked wildly around him for a second, before cautiously dropping the ground to crouch in front of the boy, being very careful not to touch him.

"Was it in the candy??" Benzi whispered anxiously, trying to get a read on the boy's face. This was IMPORTANT. He had to give him this information in case he died or something. IT WAS OF UTMOST URGENCY.

Schuyler could hear Cassia gulping down that water. Sounded like the girl was parched! So, she had interned at the Leaky Cauldron, where she waitressed and changed bed linens and such. It was probably good pocket money, and Schuyler wondered if she interned there because she wanted to open a bed and breakfast or something when she was older. "Interesting."

Yay, Olly! Wait. Why did she looked so worried and rushed? Schuyler opened her mouth to ask WHY they couldn't go to Hogwarts when Olly went ahead and answered that with her next statement. "What?"The smile had dropped from her face, by the way, causing her eyes to appear even bigger. KILLED? As in murdered?! Immediately, she turned her head to Cassia for confirmation of this. And do you know what this crazy girl said? 'PEOPLE DIE ALL THE TIME.' That's what she said. "Oh my God. How did he die? ..Is there anything else we should know about Hogwarts?" And why had no one told her this before?

Well, in spite of Olly's efforts, there was no getting off the train now - they were probably half-way there! It was kind of cute, though, that her friend was so on edge. Surely Hogwarts was all safe NOW. Right? "Okay, okay.. Olly. You and I are running away at Hogsmeade. I know of a cardbox box we can live in." ..That was a joke. Maybe it was weird, but Schuyler was KIND of more interested in Hogwarts now. Not that she was wishing for somebody to die, but she wouldn't mind a little excitement. Although, maybe her thoughts would change AFTER Cassia informed her how this dude died last term..

FINALLY someone who had an appropriate reaction to the news of a staff member's death last term. See, that was why she liked Schuyler. Or well, one of the reasons anyway. She seemed just as upset about it as she was. And it wasn't like she was scared or anything. Just why on Earth would you WANT to go to a place where things like that happened. There was simply no good reason.

Before Olly got the chance to throw Schuyler an approving look, the Cassia girl decided to cut in and speak. A lot. Again. This girl never did shut up, did she? And she was going to ignore the fact that this time she herself had asked her to speak. "Oh, shut up, Cassia." About the kids. Seriously? The kids, they should hear. They should hear all about it. They should all owl their parents and tell them what exactly was going on at Hogwarts.

There were Dementors. Who would send their child to a school like that? Nobody, exactly.

And since Cassia was apparently too busy rambling on about those Ministry people who were supposed to make Hogwarts a safer place than to answer Schuyler's question, Olly did. "Dementors. He was kissed by a Dementor." She deadpanned, raising her eyebrows expectantly at Schuyler. Did she understand why they couldn't go to Hogwarts? And preventive measures? "Oh great. Like, I don't know, maybe NOT letting Dementors onto school grounds in the first place?" Olly suggested sarcastically, her eyes briefly flicking back to Cassia. Who was, of course, still talking.

Back to Schuyler though. She was nodding along with her when she said that they would run away after the train had stopped at Hogsmeade. Yup, sounded good. Right until she suggested the cardboard box. That earned her a glare and a poke on the arm. "Stop! I'm serious." No making fun of her. This was serious business. Sort of. No it totally was. It was INSANE going to Hogwarts.

Okay, okay. She could fix this, she really could. Or maybe she shouldn't bother and let them just go home? Yeah? Ehh..she'd try. Two girls running away from the station and eventually caught! And Olly didn't seem to have a problem telling people that Cassia was the one who told her about the death of Mr.Firth. Well, the snake didn't like this. Maybe she'd tell the girls to pretend they never saw her and never talked to her! Like that would work. It's not a good thing to go by in school as the person who caused two new students to flee. For the sake of her reputation which she's been working on so long, she was going to try.

At least, Schuyler wasn't yelling in the middle of ...the train! not really middle. If only Olly would stop glaring, poking, eyeing and telling people to shut up. Which by the way, was very funny, did Cassia look like someone who would shut up. Really? Take another look. And heey! She was going to tell the story, the snake's eyes narrowed at Olly who stole her favorite part. "With all due respect to the deceased man, eh, he was the only one who couldn't conjure a patronus." She paused sending I'm sorry vibes to him. Hoping they'd be received. She only was saying this for the greater good, whatever that was. "It was a total accident," Not sure how saying that helped though. See, she was trying to figure out the right thing to say, still no luck.

And...why were they looking at her like she was heartless. Yeah, people die all the time, didn't they know? Where did they come from again? "We all were sad and it was so devastating," She said as a proof of the existence of her heart and feelings. Except for the fact that she looked like she was completely over it. Summer does this.


Cassia tried not to laugh at the cardbox idea. Good thing someone still had their sense of humor. Two points to Schuyler...who was poked. Ouch. "You can't get off the train and you can't run away." She said looking at Olly in the EYE! " If Hogwarts wasn't a safe place to go to, do you think it would have opened or people would be here," She said her eyes flickering between the two girls trying to sound SO sure. She kinda was convincing herself. She wasn't a Gryffindor after all, but she was used to Hogwarts madness. So far, it the Professors that were dying, once it's the students turn, Cassia would be outta here. "Unless..." She said casually shoving her hands in her pockets. "..You're always that....scared. You can go home to mommy," That should do it. Stirring up the girl's ego or whatever. So far, Olly looked like the she wanted to show people she was tough. Answer to THAT! HA!

Deep breaths. That was what Forrest tried to do unsuccessfully. Who could just take stupid deep CALM breaths when the possible-friend might run away any time? Forrest really tried, but he just wanted to scratch and cry and cry and scratch. Wasn't he going to just have a normal, stress-free life?

He wanted Benzi to go away and stay at the same time. He wanted him to go because he didn't want him to see his humiliation, but he wanted him to stay too because he didn't want anyone to think he was mental. His whisper calmed him down a little, and he met his eyes to show he was NORMAL.

"No. It's the name of it, that animal," he blurted out with difficulty. Would Benzi understand? He brought out his hands and locked his fingers firmly together. He couldn't afford another scratching attack, although he died to scratch crazily.

He shakily got up. He was ready to FORGET and be NORMAL and HAPPY. He only had to make sure Benzi didn't think he was an idiot or mental.

PHEW.

It wasn't the candy. The eleven year old visibly relaxed, almost smiling as he listened to the rest of the boy's words. He soon realised that while the sweets were ok, there was something else that wasn't. Like, SUPER really wasn't. The smile slipped from his face as he stared at the shaking boy. Benzi was HIGHLY confused as to what exactly was happening here - he couldn't really see why the boy had sort of flipped out. His eyebrows furrowed together as he struggled to take in exactly what the boy was saying. The animal?

"What animal?" he asked, meeting the boy's height as he stood, eyeing him. He was.. being sort of weird, with holding his own hands and that slightly mad look on his face. It was freaking Benzi out a little bit. A little bit a lot.

Forrest was oblivious to his relaxation, but he did see the smile. He was laughing at him, wasn't he? Who wouldn't? If he didn't start scratching immediately, even he would have laughed at himself. He looked pathetic. Someone who was deadly afraid of ffffffffff-thing, laugh of the century.

He tried to convince himself that it was a good sign the boy hadn't run away, but he knew it wasn't. He was pretty sure the boy only lingered to see what other tricks he got. Well, show was OVER. He could leave like RIGHT NOW.

"F--f--them!" Forrest retorted impatiently. His face was at its palest though, rather than flushed when he was annoyed. "Just forget it, okay? I'm normal." The last part was almost silent. He wasn't sure if the boy heard it. He didn't care. He just wanted it to be over and avoid Benzi for the next 230392197 years.

Benzi was utterly and thoroughly BAFFLED.

o_________O

One thing he'd managed to understand - this boy was SUPER scared of something. MEGA HUGELY GINORMOUSLY scared. It was all very very odd. Benzi really didn't think he knew how to deal with people like this. WHAT was this kid so scared of anyways?!

"You're weird. Are you like, afraid of the letter 'F'? It's just a letter you know, not an animal! It won't bite you," he insisted, looking rather impatient. THIS BOY was messing with his mind and calling letters animals - who even did that?! Mummy said there were bound to be all sorts of people at Hogwarts but he'd HOPED they'd all at least be normal.

Wait. Perhaps he was scared of an animal that STARTED with the letter 'F'? OH, HE WAS SO BRILLIANT. So clever. HE SHOULD BE GIVEN AWARDS. "K, so which is? Foxes? Fish? Ferrets? Flies? OH MERLIN, you're not afraid of FLIES are you?" he asked, rolling his eyes. Girls were afraid of flies.

Tallulah needed food. Real food. Savoury food.

The trolley lady would have something like that, right? Tallulah really hoped so. She didn't want to only have peanut butter chocolate cake to eat until they got to Hogwarts.

Making her way to where she ASSUMED the trolley lady would be (based on her knowledge from Muggle train journeys), Tallulah smiled satisfactorily when she saw she was right.

There was so many other students waiting, though...

She supposed that just gave her time to think about what to get, then. Maybe she should consider getting something for Fern - like water, or a piece of fruit, to counterbalance all the cake she'd eaten so far.