Quote:

Originally Posted by OwlEcho63

Hazel's attention was turned to a girl standing in front of her.

"Hi, Leah. I'm Hazel. I'm a Hufflepuff second year," she said. That was good enough for introductions. "Do you want to sit here?" After all, the more the merrier!

Leah grinned at Hazel as she asked her to sit down. She was afraid that she won't be allowed to, as a boy who seemed to be her friend appeared. "Thanks," she said, taking a seat across her. And another Hufflepuff? The first year is getting to know a lot of Puffs before she arrived at school, she secretly hoped that she was sorted into that house.

Quote:

Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19

When he heard the new voice, the second year looked around at the other girl. "Hi!'' he said. Yep.; She could join them. Lots of room.

Leah turned around to face the boy. "Hi, I'm Leah. I'm a firstie. Are you a second year too?" She asked, gesturing at Hazel. From her experience over the summer, second years understood first years best, with them being one only a year ago. "Cute toad there." She added.

Oh, how great it was to see a familiar face. "Oh, sorry. My mum and dad wanted to visit my younger brother Cole at Beauxbatons, so we had to limit our time in Diagon Alley to a day. More like an afternoon." Hazel hadn't really thought of it, but she hadn't seen her Hogwarts friends since before summer! Wow.

"Anyway, my summer was great! After Beauxbatons, we went to Rome. It was really fascinating! Although, it was much to hot for me. I prefer this." She pointed out the window to the rolling hills.

Hazel yelped as she heard the toad croak. Suddenly, her voice went calm and she began to coo at the toad. "Oh, hi Gus. I totally wasn't expecting you, but you're a pretty little toadie, aren't you?" Animals are the best. "You're one lucky guy to have a pet like that." To Adi. Not Gus.

"Never been there." Mitchell said after thinking about it for a few seconds. He'd been a lot of places. Just not anyplace as obscure as Kansas. Well... he assumed it was obscure anyway. He didn't know of anything that was in Kansas.

He nodded. "Third year here or third year in general?" he asked. Because if it was in general that meant they were in the same grade.

Level? Year?

What was it called here?

Sander smiled. He liked this boy's enthusiasm. "Sure we can do that. I'm hoping to be able to freeze a small portion of the lake when it's not winter just so that I can keep practicing my ice hockey. So yeah maybe we can skate sometime."

No you can never know how a woman felt about you. He had been trying to send out feelers trying to figure out whether Calisto had feelings for him...deeper feelings than just friendship....something that started with the letter L.

"Yes women can be complicated. Well I guess I'd better head on to the back of the train. Mika and I are sharing a compartment along with Huxley and another Alex.." Sander chuckled at the mention of his name twin.

"Maybe if you're stretching your legs and are heading in that direction, why don't you stop by. It was nice chatting with you. Catch you later." Sander stood up, stretched his body and then headed out of the compartment giving Kace a wave before heading back down the corridor to the back end of the train.

Silver looked out the window and smiled, reaching into her backpack she pulled out her small, pink magical camera and snapped a picture.

"Transfer student?" She questioned. Silver thought about it for a few seconds. "Ah. Yes I am!" Silver answered.

Hmmm. How to describe New York?...

"New York is like a stargazing paradise!" The tone of her voice painted a picture, of tall buildings and a view that looked like shining stars.

Silver's Pureblood parents were muggle-enthusiasts, that always kept the young girl up to date with the latest muggle technology!

Arwen smiled "Awesome! I hope to see you more around Hogwarts then!! I am a Ravenclaw, I was here for my first and second year. But then due to some events that happened in my sister's third year she was Frozen by this evil person I guess and so I was forced to go to the French school. It was okay nothing like Hogwarts! I wish I was able to stay at Hogwarts but my dad is protective!" Sigh Dads. "And what about you?"

He couldn't help himself, he laughed. And not just a light chuckle, but a full hearted laugh that seemed to couple his stupid smile that came along when he was genuinely amused. But I think those might just be exceptions. That was just about the most clever and equally hysterical thing he had ever heard, yeah?

After reigning in his laugh, he shook his head, "Y'know, you might just be right about that." Well spotted.

And due to his laughter he missed all the stuff on her name, which, honestly, he didn't care much about at all. No one really cared about name origins, it was the same boring conversation stuff that went along with the weather.

Blink. She was staring at him again. What was with him and the younger people on this train and staring at him? It had to be his face. He was, after all, super attractive. S'not his fault. "Yeah?" he questioned.

Hazel was glad that Leah decided to sit with her. She seemed nice. She could remember last year when she was just a little firstie. Oh, the good old days. "How was your summer?" she asked Leah. Right, the summer after graduating muggle primary school. Or not, if they didn't go to primary school. "Did you go to a muggle school before this?" Not that it mattered.

An ickle firstie! Awesome! "Nice to meet you, Leah! I hope you're gonna be in Hufflepuff. The best House ever!'' He was always pleased to tell everyone he was a Puffer. "I'm Aditya, by the way but you can call me Adi like everyone else.'' Yes, he knew he had an unusual name to some people. He grinned at the compliment Gus got. "Thank you. I see you're not one of the girly girls.'' He grinned. "So, are you excited to go to Hogwarts? Did anyone in your family attend it?''

"Sounds like you had fun though, Hazel. But I didn't know you had a brother. What year is he in?'' He grinned as he asked the next question. "Did you bring me back a souvenir?''

Oh great! Another girl who wasn't that girly. "Gus's head is going to swell with all these compliments,'' Adi said with a laugh. "I know. I got him at the pet adoption.'' He never told anyone but Sophie about the who croaking the alphabet thing as he had never actually heard Gus do it. Adi looked back at Hazel. "All set for second year?''

Tora wasn't paying any attention what so ever to where she was going. She was far too busy thinking about all the things that had happened over the summer. She remembered that it had clearly started off horribly with a visit to her mother and father in London. With the twins of course. Those Muggles didn't care about her or her brother, Drew. It had lightened up a bit when she was able to go shopping, but after that she had learned that her good friend, Forrest wasn't going to Hogwarts anymore and she brought up the tail end of the summer with an awful fight with Drew which Gram had decided was completely Tora's fault and had grounded. That meant no quidditch. That meant no trips to Diagon Alley. That meant no going to visit any of her magical friends and worst of all, that meant cleaning and doing chores around the house while Gram way away at work. Without magic. One would think that any hard feelings she felt against Gram would have faded by now, but she had gotten into another fight right after being ungrounded and had stomped off to the train in a huff.

She regretted not saying goodbye and was now making her way in a blind rage at herself through the corridors of the Hogwarts Express. She tugged open what looked to be an empty compartment and plopped down on the seat to have a silent fight with herself. She was so intent on hating herself for not saying goodbye and being such a teenager that she didn't notice the other occupant of the compartment.

Haruka tuned out as she imagined New York after listening to Silver's description. It sounded amazing! She'd been to Tokyo, sure, and it was pretty amazing in it's own right. But New York was something else! "Wow!" She whispered. Haruka realized that she'd spaced out and shook herself back to life.

"So, do you know what house you're going to be in?" Haruka asked.

He was laughing! A happy laugh that Lana was pretty sure wasn't making fun of her. And that made the girl GRIN. She had no idea what was so funny... but she didn't understand a lot of jokes, so it didn't bother her that she didn't understand one she herself had made. It was okay.

Oh, and he even said she was right! Yes, she thought she was. She beamed again.

She looked away quickly at his question, but then back to him after a moment. "I was just looking," she told him. "I don't know any older boys." Except for Jake. But he didn't count. So, yes, the looking continued.

He heard the door of the compartment open before changing his focus on the window to the reflection and not the scene outside of the train. His eyes slit. Oh, this was going to be a comfortable ride, wasn't it? That couldn't be Tora Gallaway. Of all of the people to enter into the compartment. His expression cooled and he watched as she took a seat and seemed to be lost into her own thoughts. Would anyone else enter? Perhaps, but for the time being they were alone.

Well, let's begin this shall we?

"Enjoy your summer, Gallaway?" Cutty laid this down casually and turned to face her wearing a ...no, it was a smirk and his tone suggested that they spoke all of the time and were ...friends. Bwahahahahaha!

Tora blinked as she came to realize that the "empty" compartment was not so empty after all. It could have been occupied by one of her friends, or even a stranger, but no. The compartment jut had to be occupied by none other than Snake who was acting like they were the best of friends. Why? There was no reason for him to be nice to her, and she certainly didn't feel like being nice right now. Especially to Cutty. However, she knew that she wouldn't be getting any answers just by being angry so she smiled back and gave a little nod of recognition.

"Immensely enjoyed my summer, thanks," she said lightly while casually leaning back against the seat. Not at all aggressive, no sign of hostility here. "Was your summer nice?" she couldn't say his name because she was certain she would accidentally at some point call him"Snake" and that wouldn't make for the best of train rides. Though if she remembered right, he actually liked the name. Whatever. She fought to remain relaxed and actually succeeded in keeping the friendly smile on her face.

Not to be conceited or anything, but Ascanius didn't exactly look like normal older boys. He was undoubtably the exception, yeah? S'the jawline and the charm and the general face area. So her observing her, while flattering in some weird way, was not going to help any research she had going on teenage boys. That was if she even had any.

"I doubt you don't know any," he offered up, leaning back and getting comfortable. Older boys that was, 'cause they were just always 'round.

Especially at Hogwarts. He had never known more guys to be in one place then his specific class at Hogwarts, which was nice. Meant that dorm life was way more interesting then it was for him at Durmstrang. Then again, he virtually hated everyone there.

Adrienne was in a bad mood, for a number of, in her personal opinion, very valid reasons. To start with, she wasn't particularly keen on going to school again after she'd gotten so used to being free to do whatever she wanted. Then, she'd stayed up late last night eating biscuits and reading a book, so she'd had such trouble getting up today that Maman actually ended up getting fed up with her and threatening to just leave without her, which was of course ridiculous because they were going to send her off to Hogwarts. So she had had to travel by Floo Powder, which again, she always hated, and they'd barely made it here in time when she realised she'd forgotten her favourite quill at home, and it had been too late to get it before she was shuttled into the train.

And now she was standing here with her heavy trunk behind her and her new rat roaming around in the cage she held in her left hand, looking around for someone she knew. To Adrienne's relief, she recognised Tora through the glass of a nearby compartment and, with a deep breath and a whispered, "Let's start this school year out well," she managed to compose her face into something slightly less dour-looking and entered the compartment.

"Bonjour, mes amis!" Adrienne said cheerfully, sitting herself and Wilma down next to Tora and dragging her trunk in with her. "Er... mon amie. Who are you again?" She addressed this remark to the boy sitting across from her now. She knew she'd talked to him before - Slytherin, right? - but couldn't for the life of her manage to remember his name.

ooc translation: "Hello, my friends! Er... my friend."

The smirk fell from the boy's face as he realize Tora's response. What replaced it was a sort of blank look, neither happy nor sad and not quite calm or melancholy. There was an opportunity here, there was.

"I had a fantastic summer." And then he searched for a manner in which to elaborate what he meant by that. Something not terribly expensive or even true. "Egypt was nice, but Canada was better." Mostly because Cutty's father had a tendency to buy favour and his new step-mother, whose name Cutty was ever-forgetting on account of his actual mother referring to her as 'The Painted Niffler', followed suit showering him with attention and giving him access to her house-elf.

Deborah...or Desiree...or whatever. Something with a D. Or perhaps it was a W.

Their peaceful veneer (or was it a veneer?) was interrupted by a second girl who seemed to have known Gallaway. Dieu merci! however, the newest girl spoke French. This could potentially be interesting. His blankness washed out as he offered the girl a smile. "Cutty Mordaunt. Slytherin." He didn't have an over-abundance of house pride, but that was perhaps why he had offered her this information. "And you are?" He asked matter-of-factly and noticing the rat.

Mack smiled as she watched her new friend as she held Jellybean. "Don't be nervous, you will love it there!" She thought back to her first train ride to school and how much she had enjoyed it. "You'll make tons of friends and hopefully you'll be in Gryffindor and we can hang out and I can introduce you to people" The blonde grinned

She turned to the girl who had entered the compartment, "So what year will you be?" she decided she would forgive someone for being rude once. I mean since she didn't know the girl.

Bri grinned feeling a bit better after what Mack said, and petting Jellybean."Will we still be able to hang out, even if I am not sorted into Gryffindor?" She asked, not sure she had the traits of Gryffindor.

Bri turned to Raven, waiting to find out what year she is in.

"Ah, so this is the infamous Cutty." Sure, maybe infamous was a bit too dramatic of a word to describe him, but Adrienne had heard about him, and definitely not good things. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you," she said, sticking out her hand to shake. He was polite, more so than she would have expected, but she figured she'd best act in kind. "Adrienne Rebecca Colbert, Ravenclaw. Third year," she added, somewhat proud of the fact that she was still at Hogwarts after two whole years and hadn't blown anything up and gotten the boot or anything.

She caught his glance at Wilma, and moved to open the cage door. "She's new, I just got her at the whole Diagon Alley adoption thing. I was hoping for a kneazle, but their dumb form matched me up with this silly thing instead," she said fondly. She really did like the rat, and she was certainly a step up from her toad she'd had the past two years, who did nothing except for sit around and make weird burping noises occasionally. Wilma at least seemed excitable enough, and over the summer she'd managed to teach her to recognise her name and when she was being called (not that she always paid much attention to that.)

*nod nod nod* "Oh of course we can still hang out!! But it would be awesome if we could like all the time!! " Mack was giddy, she hadn't been this excited since this morning when she remembered that it was time to go back to Hogwarts.

" Oh good." Bri replied happily. She could tell how excited Mack was, and it was quite contagious. Bri looked down at Jellybean, before asking. "Is it hard taking care of a Pygmy Puff? I might get one, though I already have an owl."

Quote:

Originally Posted by OwlEcho63

Hazel was glad that Leah decided to sit with her. She seemed nice. She could remember last year when she was just a little firstie. Oh, the good old days. "How was your summer?" she asked Leah. Right, the summer after graduating muggle primary school. Or not, if they didn't go to primary school. "Did you go to a muggle school before this?" Not that it mattered.

Leah was really grateful to the two people for asking her to sit down and talking to her too. She looked up at Hazel. "My summer was quite boring, really. Apart from visiting Diagon Alley for my school supplies, I stayed at home all summer. You went to Rome? Cool. It's been years since I've traveled aboard." She said. "No, I'm er, pureblood you know, so I've never been to a muggle school. Though it would be cool to go to one." The first year answered, shrugging. "Did you go to a muggle school before Hogwarts?"

Quote:

Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19

An ickle firstie! Awesome! "Nice to meet you, Leah! I hope you're gonna be in Hufflepuff. The best House ever!'' He was always pleased to tell everyone he was a Puffer. "I'm Aditya, by the way but you can call me Adi like everyone else.'' Yes, he knew he had an unusual name to some people. He grinned at the compliment Gus got. "Thank you. I see you're not one of the girly girls.'' He grinned. "So, are you excited to go to Hogwarts? Did anyone in your family attend it?''

Aha, another Hufflepuff! "Hi, Adi. You do have a unique name." Leah said, smiling. "Yeah, I'm used to toads, because one of my family members has one." She used to dislike toads, but she changed over the years. "I'm definitely excited for Hogwarts. Nervous, too. My family's a pureblood, so most of my family members have attended it. And most of them were in Hufflepuff!" She finished, proudly. "So I do have quite a lot of possibility in being sorted into that house."

"Yeh, it was really fun. My brother's 11, so he just started Beauxbatons this year. That's why we visited," said Hazel. She laughed. "Of course I brought you a souvenir!" She pulled a mini sculpture of the colosseum from her small bag and handed it to him. "You're welcome. And make sure Gus doesn't swell. He's so cute!" Again, going crazy over a toad. "Only if you're ready!"

Hazel smiled at Leah. "Diagon Alley's still fun, though," she said. "Yeh, I went to Rome. But only for like two weeks." Good old days in Rome. Good old days as a firstie. Good old days in France. Good new days right now! "I'm half blood, but since both of my parents are magical, I didn't go either." Then just to clarify, she added, "My mum's muggleborn."

Lana just shook her head at Ascanius' comment. "It's true. I just know boys my own age. And my brother, but he doesn't even have any friends that come to our house so he barely counts." See?

"It's okay, though. Because there will be more at Hogwarts. In classes and things." Because Ascanius couldn't be the only one. She'd seen more on the platform. He just happened to be the lucky one to come into her compartment.

Speaking of classes, though... "What are classes like?" She was instantly excited again. "Are they fun? I bet they are. Do you get to use magic a lot or is it just learning?" These were important questions.