So... okay.

West just watched that Newell girl with detached amusement. Billywigs? For a first, he didn't believe it. Slytherin. For a second, if it was somehow true then... well so? It'd be kinda interesting wouldn't it? And he'd probably catch one to experiment with or something.

And then some firstie appeared and West didn't react much to that either. He'd spent his first train journey in this compartment too. Yep.

He greeted Kaiden instead, with a big smile and a sup nod. And returned other greetings too. And just y'know, pretty much kept watch on Theo to make sure he didn't get too stroppy. Things were good. They were here. As planned. He gave Theo a little shoulder nudge and smiled at him. Here. He was right here see? Got yo back bro.

... and what was Dora's problem?

Bentley continued his tugging and he wouldn't stop tugging until he got what he wanted. What he followed her here for. "Candy!" Maybe if she gave him one frog he'd find his way back to his grandmummy."I want candy please?" He said please, he was asking nicely. This usually got him what he wanted so, why was she saying no? He didn't understand it.

He looked at the other girl she was talking to, (Ella) and tried his luck there, though he didn't let go of Alexa's shorts. "Candy?"

Theo didn't notice Alec's awkwardness around him. Wasn't he awkward all of the time anyway? His attention was more focused on someone else, who he frequently sneaked looks at whenever she wasn't looking. OH OH OH, she was talking to him. Dora. Talking. To. Him... "Alright?" It wasn't really asked as a question, just as a greeting. And possibly the laziest greeting he had ever given.

Woah, woah, what was up with the KIDS?

"'Bout time they put in a prefect password on this place." He muttered to West, then folded his arms all grumpy-like. And there had better not be any Billywigs in here. Soon enough he was distracted, and he smiled big back to Ella. A bit too big actually. Maybe it would make Dora jealous, he thought. MAYBE, or most likely, she wouldn't even notice.

He sighed but half smiled at West. He was doing good, despite the droopy face, right?! He still needed a much bigger distraction, though. Theo gazed longingly out of the window.

"What was that about billywigs?"

Contrary to those feeling creepily sentimental in here, Alice entered without a second thought. She arrived quite a bit after everyone else, due to tiny Hufflepuffs blockading the corridors and having to go drop off her ocelot in the luggage compartment, but the Gryffindor finally made it.

And then wished she hadn't, because there were... children. Two tiny not-quite-teens and a toddler hanging off of Alexa's shorts. Merlin.

"Newsflash, kid," she informed the young one who seemed to be confusing his E's and R's as she navigated around him, "this is the Prefects' Compartment. Not perfect." And he certainly was far from perfect anyway, seeing as he couldn't even read properly. Hmph. First years.

Certainly didn't mind if the miniature Slytherin girl wanted to drag him into the corridor, though. Fine by her. Shoo, little people.

"And... what's that... thing? On Cambridge?" Kids. Ew. Who let that on their train?

Not surprisingly sitting here seemed to be very casual. It was literally like sitting with friends. No one in here was one she minded or felt like avoiding. Phew. She sucked at awkward situations. Speaking of, her eyes flickered to Theo who had reasons to be a liiiittle bit not happy. He seemed to be fine. And he had a West right next to him. So far so good.

"Thanks, guys," she smiled at the head couple as put by Nigel and Dora. And of course, Dora got a special smile. Though she didn't have her badge shown, Cassia knew. "Hey, yourself," Wink wink!

Sooo, that was it? Prefects just sit here and chat? She sort of was hoping to find out huge secrets she didn't know of before. But nope. So far it was a very ordinary gathering.

Well, that until Caleb's sister showed up.

And somehow it didn't surprise her that the first time she was hearing Cutty's name this year was related to releasing Billywigs. The snake, chuckled lightly. Because it was funny. No really. Did the now-second-year start a business that was related to billywigs?

Then there was that kid demanding candy from Lex. Kid came to the right place. Smart one. "Give the kid something, Lex," Cassia suggested knowing she was going to receive looks. The Gryffindor surely was loaded with candy.

Just when you'd think that was the end of it, a firstie comes in claiming to be perfect. Kids those days. Alice took care of that, though. Cassia just watched like it was some kind of a muggle show. What else was going to happen?

Did the ride always include interesting… happenings? Apparently. Seeing that most were unfazed by it all. But then again, hogwartians were hard to impress and surprise.

Alright?

That was an interesting response to a greeting. Dora nodded like... it was a step in the friendship direction she supposed. She missed when all of his smiles were just for her, and couldn't not watch when he was smiling at Ella. Nice smile and all.

But the kids.... Dora didn't want to stay any longer, but Alice walked in and she didn't want to leave that much anymore. She patted the empty seat beside her and half smiled at the gryffindor.

It was too crowded in here, which was why Mo had avoided the place like the plague. But he wanted to see who the Heads were, and he ought to give a nod to his new prefecty female person. And say hello to people. Whatever. It was just the friendly thing to do.

"That's the youngest prefect I've ever seen. Did it escape from someone? Should we tell the trolley lady?" Mo eyed the tiny person who was NOT a prefect or a QC and did not belong in here. Who was that kid?

Oh, heyyyy, friends. Mo nodded at West and Theo before dropping down to sit right on top of Dora. And y'know... in Alice's seat.

Well.

"Marcus Orion." She nudged him in the ribs lightly, looking pleasantly amused for the first time since she she'd arrived back in London. All things considered, he was a sight for sore eyes. "Is this any way to treat your new female prefect?" The correct answer was no. She nudged him again. And kept ignoring the kids cause not her job.

"Isidora Yelena. I hope you don't say that thinking you'll surprise me. You made it into this shrake tin, didn't you?" He patted the side of the car fondly, but Mo also obediently slid off Dora's lap and took up the seat beside her.

Still Alice's seat. Hehe.

"But congratulations. I'm furious with you for not owling me as soon as you got your badge. What if I'd gotten you a badge for your birthday? You'd have two, and no one needs two."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Making it into here is no feat, just look at all the small people breathing my air." A small wave of acknowledgement was sent in their direction but no looks. Still not her problem. And that was Alice's seat. He could deal with her.

"Is this your furious face?" She questioned thoughtfully. If so, it was sort of disappointing. Dora was always expecting something like on the muggle cartoons. "It's not something I'm overly fond of. If you got me a badge I'd demand it be changed to something much better." Dora was always demanding.

"Do you want me to stick it out in the corridor?" Mo dropped his voice and nodded subtly at the short stack occupying Dora's precious air space. It wouldn't be hard at all to just pick the kid up and leave it outside the door, although... someone in here obviously had thought it acceptable to smuggle a kid on board. They should be responsible for it now.

"I really only have one face. Furious looks a lot like happy looks a lot like tired and pleased and grumpy. It's part of my mysterious nature." All not true. Mo was an open book, and he had more than one facial expression. He wasn't a sociopath. "And I didn't get you a badge, so settle yourself. I just thought about it. The point is that your communication skills leave something to be desired."

........... was he okay? Yeah? Holding up? Yes?

Anyways...

........ were they supposed to have like some kind of meeting or something?


West looked expectantly at Ella and Alec. Yes? Say things? Or could they go? Because there were much better things to do around here...

And yeah. Hi Alice. He saw her. And Mo. Being... overly friendly toward Dora. Interesting, that.

Really?

Really.

Theo staaared at Mo when he lounged all over Dora's lap, right in front of him. Sure, they were friends, whatever, but Theo was quite clearly annoyed by it. Especially since he had finally started to like Mo, since they played Quidditch together over the summer and all. "I'm gonna go..." He muttered to West and Cassia, but decided on giving a fake excuse just in case anyone thought he was being a jealous sissy-pants.

"Gonna get a snack from the food trolley. Back in a sec." Yeah, he wasn't coming back. Theo smiled at his two friends, then extremely casually, strolled out of the prefects' compartment. Hands stuffed in pockets. Trying the cool approach.

Just...what even?

Sophie Newell. Ella would remember this. Also, by how quickly she was trying to make her exit, the blonde was going to guess the billywigs were not a thing. Nice try though. Also, this other kiddo. The perfect one. Yeah, Ella would let this Sophie girl teach him the not so skillful art of trickery if she wanted. The blonde had a tiny person to pull faces at cause n'awwww, ickle! MEEP!

"It's not a thing, Hulk. It's a tiny boy person." A little kid! A cute one too, didn't she see? As for whether or not she had candy, she didn't. Alec did, though. She looked over at him and made big eyes. Could she share with the baby little guy? COULD SHE? "I wonder if he has any allergies."

And looks. People were giving people looks and Ella noticed cause she was observant like that and yeah. Awkward sauce. She sort of frowned when Theoman made an exit and was pretty positive about his relationship troubles at this point so she didn't object. And yes, Odessa. We'll give out orders or whatever now.

Merlin, this badge could be stressful. Couldn't she just go back to ordering people around on the pitch. She'd finally gotten used to that.

Ahem.

"Okay, so we're meant to start patrolling. Make sure no one is doing anything ridiculous, yeah? And if they are, just make sure it's nothing that'll get them killed or land us all in detention. I haven't heard any screaming yet so I'm assuming it'll be pretty okay out there but you never know." So yeah, West could go look for Theo now. But before that, she smiled encouragingly at Alec to see if he had anything to add.

She almost felt like she was part of decoration here, doing nothing. Just watching. Were they not going to discuss how to rule the school? No? Prefects don't do that? What a pity.

The sixth-year simply sat watching. She noticed the brief interaction between the people but remained silent. She was observing. Better not talk a lot, yeah? She got a grip on that. Better to let herself babble when she's with close friends. Too many people here.

Cassia nodded at Theo as he left and hoped he was gonna be fine. He probably needed time. She, though, was glad to see Dora casual. She cared about both of them , of course.

Then finally Ella spoke up and there was something for them to do!

"I got the corridor," she announced standing up obviously glad she had something to do. Of course anyone was free to join her there.

...

Okay this one was just a lot cause. Sophie frowned and shook her head in disbelief. She should go. It was getting sort of run-of-the-mill boring in here, and she'd done what she came to do anyway. Besides, the prefects were going to start patrolling soon, and when they did, she didn't want to be within their reach. What when they found out there really weren't any billywigs around after all.

"Right," Sophie said to the kid. "You just stay here if this is where you think you belong, but I'm out." She gave a parting look to everyone else in the compartment then made her way out.

Dora seriously considered the option for a moment, then shrugged. "No. They can stay. I don't plan on being in here long." She preferred much more solitude on her train rides, but certain people she wanted to see where here, so here she sat.

Theo didn't go unnoticed, because some habits took longer to break, and her smile simmered a bit at the sight of him leaving. He'd be back, sure. And she'd be gone, most likely.

"That's a lot of expressions rolled into one." She turned her attention back to Mo, however distracted her thoughts became. Her brows raised amused. "You, Marcus Orion, are about as mysterious as a puffskein." She shrugged again. "Well I'll make it a point to work on that this semester."

And Ella was talking about patrols. Dora made a face and then turned it out the window. Nah. When she left this compartment, it would be for everything but prefecting reasons.