Tessa laughed at the use of her nickname (one of many), and gave the Hufflepuff another hug. "I had to run to the station- practice ran long," she explained with a grin. All of her friends knew that she had made it onto the Harpies- but the training had been brutal. Especially since she had been out of training most of the previous school year due to... age.

"Same!" she said with a laugh. "It will be nice returning to a school for once! How was the rest of your summer? Didn't get up to too much trouble I hope," she said with a grin.

Nicholas wasn't quite sure what the "innocent cute baby thing" was, being that he was a single child and his parents weren't the type to let him get away with anything. So that got a polite nod, but not a lot more.

Aaaand they were back to sheep talk. In most circumstances this would be an ideal point in time for him to utter "That's nice" and end the conversation, but given that Sinead was the only person he'd met thus far and he guessed she would be miserable the rest of the train ride if he didn't humour her, he listened along about Cloudy's life story. He even mustered the enthusiasm to ask a question or two, "What kind of sheep is she?"

There were different breeds of sheep, weren't there? He imagined so but had never taken enough of an interest to find out.

"Yeah, was mostly in my dorm since I got the aging thing that was spreading. Makes me iffy in giving people handshakes," Or even getting close to them. Now if Jun saw a gray hair on his head, he would automatically start freaking out. Yup, yet another trauma to add to the list. "I'm in Ravenclaw, going into my sixth year,"

Jun nodded. "Drawing seems fun. Sadly not my thing," He could write, sure, but never really got into drawing. "Singing and dancing is more of my thing," Even though practices were really hard sometimes. Jun was hesitant about shaking Kace's hand. But he still extended hand hand and shook the boy's. "I'm Jun Kim,"

Hugs were awesome!

Beaming, Lux hugged Tessa again, and then nodded as her friend explained why she hadn't been seen sooner. "I still can't believe that you made it on to a team. That is incredible." Lux was really happy for Tessa, and knew that it was very unlikely that she herself would ever be able to do that.

"Yep! I am so happy to be back. I definitely prefer learning at school to at home." Not that her mother was a terrible teacher or anything. "Oh, you know me... always getting unto trouble," she joked while giving a wink. "It was nice! I hung out in Diagon Alley a lot."

Tessa grinned at her friend. "Oh come on, we knew I would make it," she told them with a wink. She would never admit to how worried she had been... or say how much training she had done when she had gotten her youth back.

But it had all been worth it! She was already starting to make a name for herself and someone had even recognized her on her dash to the train. She supposed her multi-colored hair helped.

"I'm sure- it's more fun to be learning with other students, not to mention having different teachers. Besides, if there weren't other students, there wouldn't be anyone to cause mischief with," she said, shooting a wink to her friend. She already had a few thinkgs in mind for the new school year...

"That does sound nice!" she agreed. "Any new shops or flavors of icecream that I need to check out?" she asked with a soft laugh.

Leah shrugged. "Eh, you're right. I'd better wake up." she slapped herself (lightly). The second year winked at the girl sitting opposite her. "Hello Nola, first years at Hogwarts are fun, you have lots to expect." The weird school plots and stuff such as aging had a fun side too, like, how many times would you see your friends age 50 years? "And no, don't worry, there's no such thing as a first year stench." That was exactly what Sophie had told her last year! Leah could not believe it herself.

"Well, maybe it's just that puffers love to meet new people." Leah said. It was true for her anyway. "That is GREAT! And who's Buster? Seems like a nice person."

Lucy...that was a good name. It sounded a bit like Marisol's sister's name, Lucía. This Lucy seemed a bit hyper. Now she was asking Mari a bunch of questions that she couldn't understand or answer. But of course she could try.
"I'm Spanish. Seville. Thank you." The eleven year-old laughed stiffly, although she wasn't that kind of girl. Not usually, at least.

"Book". Didn't that mean something you read? And "potion", that was easy, because it sounds like its Spanish cognate. Now Marisol really did smile proudly. Boy, did Lucy like to talk, but her companion didn't mind.
"Eh, no potion. Hard! I like books, I suppose." She must sound like some uneducated cavewoman. If only Lucy could speak to her in Spanish. Well, they'd make the best of it.

There were farms outside. Lots of them. Kyroh could see them from the corner of his eye, and although he sort of wanted to look out to see if he could try and spot a three legged cow or something these boys seemed a bit more interesting.

Just a bit.

Until he actually spotted a three legged cow.

"Kyroh Scabior, nice to meet you." His small hand shot out to the boy beside him. Because that was how you introduced yourself. You shook hands with people and stuff. "What's your name?" Mr. Long haired guy. "And doesn't your hair get in the way of like...seeing stuff...and like..living." Because you needed to see stuff to live you know. His eyes shifted to the other guy who hadn't even answered any of his questions. Actually...he hadn't even said a word. "What's wrong? Are you broken?" Wait nononono! He knew what it was! "Are you train sick?"

Cris had just made his way back from the Food Trolley with Jasmine. He frowned when he heard another girl's voice in the compartment he had left earlier. An older girl's voice. From the conversation he had just overheard, this girl was definitely into Quidditch.

Then it dawned on him. There was only one person he knew that loved playing Quidditch...besides him of course. One person whose voice he now recognized. He turned, and placing a finger against his lips, he gestured to Jasmine to be as quiet as possible.

Cris slowly stepped forward, pushing the door slowly open and then jumped in. "Who dares talk about Quidditch in my absence?" he grinned as he looked at Tessa.

When the older girl asked whether she could get a hug from him, Cris juggled all the snacks he was carrying in one arm and with the other, wrapped his arms around the older girl. "Hey Tessa, does my brother know you're hugging other guys?" he teasingly asked the girl.

Turning to Jasmine, he reached out for her hand and pulled her in. "Jasmine, meet Tessa. My soon-to-be sister-in-law" he introduced Jasmine to Tessa. Well okay, Sander hadn't technically proposed to her, but knowing how much his brother loved this girl, he suspected it would eventually happen.

"Hey everybody, guess what we brought back from the Food Trolley?" Cris lifted up what he was carrying in his arms to everyone and then gesturing to what Jasmine was holding in hers.

So Marisol is Spanish, Penelope thought. She had learned some Spanish from her cousin or second cousin or whatever he was. "Me gusta tu nombre. Marisol es un nombre muy bonito. ¿Qué te gusta?" (I like your name. Marisol is a very beautiful name. What do you like?), Penelope said to Marisol. "I haven't really tried making potions yet," she said to Lucy. "Is anyone hungry? I have extra sandwiches."

Maybe he wasn't so bad after all. He was at least pretending to take an interest in sheep. That was nice of him. Maybe he even knew a little about sheep himself. A lot of people didn't even know that there were different breeds. Stupid people.

"Merino," Sinead nodded. They didn't have too many of the breed on the farm. Cloudy was especially unique, being the fattest sheep she had ever seen. All the other sheep were her best friends too, of course. Whatever breed, however much they weighed, she would always love her babies.

Time for sweets? Yes, time for sweets. The jellybeans, they looked nice. Every flavour? Cool! But she was a vegetarian, so hopefully she could have meat ones. Sinead picked a green one as it was most likely lime. But it turned out to be grass! GRASS!

And it was SO nice.

"Want one?" she asked just to be polite, holding out the box for him to take one.

Nicholas had no idea what a Merino was, and promptly fessed up by saying, "I'll have to look that one up later."

He'd do it, too. Even if his knowledge of and interest in sheep was minimal, knowledge was knowledge, and the whole point of going to school was to learn and increase one's knowledge pool.

Nicholas eyed the box of beans warily. His experience with Bertie Bott's was mostly limited to reactions he'd seen from other people earlier in the day, though there was the one notable exception of when he'd purchased a box as a young child and offered one to his father. The flavour had, unfortunately, been a particularly rancid troll booger, and did nothing but reinforce his father's stance that magic was inherently untrustworthy.

Still, he reached out with a, "All right, thank you," and selected a dark brown one, which he thought was rather daring on his part. He popped it into his mouth and braced for impact, but the result was...

"Hazelnut. Not bad at all."

Connor could tell the kid seemed nervous. He didnt' want to fight or anything so he was glad, the other kid seemed friendly too. Maybe they could be friends? That would be a nice, making a friend quickly. Maybe they'd be sorted into the same house.

"Oh? Cool..i've never been to france." He hadn't really been anywhere really. His father was always protective of him when he was little, still learning to use his magic, he didn't want muggles to judge him for what he could do. Or for him to accidentally use his magic in public. But he wasn't little anymore.

"Yeah, i think that was the major design flaw. A tine corridor when students have such big trunks, you know? Who decided that would work?" He said and laughed a little bit. He was also looking for a place to sit, good. "Yeah, i am. We could look together if you want. Maybe there's something a little while down that way." His hand gesturing to the other end of he corridor.

Yes, Nigel understood that look. More of a stare then a look. Fine, Nigel owed Ascanius for this. Big Time. There was going to be plenty of time to be zen in the future. So there was that. Or whatever else he wanted.

Now the kid won't stop talking. Nigel did say he could sit down after all. Sigh. Wait, did he say his last name was Scabior? Like the former Professor. Nigel raised an eyebrow at that. He had not heard that name in years. Interesting. He shook the kids hand because it was completely random and Nigel liked random. But insulting his hair was not cool man. Not cool at all. "Nigel and my hair does not hinder my sight." There was no more explanation needed.

Great Hair = Great Living.

Nigel was just going to smirk as Ascanius tried to dodge the three questions Kyroh asked.

”That’s nice.” AJ was glad that her sister seemed to be making new friends as well. As much as she loved her sister, she wanted to be able to have friends outside of her and didn’t want to have to rely solely on her. ”So you actually said goodbye to mum? Did she seem mad that I wasn’t there? There wasn’t much that she could do about it now, but a heads up it always nice.

She could feel the cold radiating from her sister and was glad that she wasn’t going to be rude to Ian because of it. ”Not still mad at me are you?” The whole alley thing was old, and they both made it out alive so there was no reason to still be mad about that. She hoped that Angel managed to keep that to herself though and that their mother was none the wiser.
Angel was definitely trying to be polite while ignoring her at the same time. This was typical Angel behavior. She looked back at Ian and smiled. ”Siblings huh.” He would know all about them.



As she listened to their conversation she was already making herself at home. Ian was sweet for asking if it was okay, but Aubrey was not going to wait for an invitation from her sister. She drug her trunk into the compartment and waved Ian on. ”Of course we can join here. Come on it.” Pick a seat. ”You can sit by me.” Who knew how long Angel would talk to her anyways. “Besides we have lots to talk about. She was sure that Angel would be interested to know what all Ian knew, but she could pout if she wanted to.

Aubrey waited to see what book Angel was reading and to see if she was going to be particularly chatty before she launched off into full conversation mode. ”So Ian what else should I know before I get to Hogwarts?” She didn't think he would lie to her.

Calen sighed and looked out the window. Travelling too long was boring! If the redhead were five years old, she'd have flailed her limbs like a spazzing mental patient. But the brace face was twelve now; and so that was sooo beneath her. Though, she WANTED to flail about. Where were the peeps? Train rides were only fun if you could talk about who did what and what Hogwarts was like and what your parents did and things like that. And the second year COULD do that. If she wanted to talk to herself and look like a complete loon in front of her peers.

"Uggh, losers." The short girl jested. But seriously, she wanted her crew! They weren't actually her crew, but the sentiment was still there. Apparently, they had run off to do something. And a flash of something hot like electricity ran through her body like a stray wire. Clenching her jaw against the feeling, the Ravenclaw tried to steady her random feelings. What were these things? Was the blue eyed girl sick? Or was it that random love thing Rockwell was talking about. Uggh, better not be. She had seen her brother and his girlfriend in love and it was pretty gross. All of the kissing and the little small talk and.... no. That wasn't her. But they had better not be canoodling!

Wait, how did she know that word? Why did the freckle faced care? Not that Caelen did. Because she didn't. Care that is. she didn't do that at all. So what if Paige, someone they had just met over the summer, was running around with her friend for like two years now. No biggie. Right? Because someone was going to have to tell her heart or something. Because it wasn't getting the message. It was still rather jealous. Realizing that the jealousy had made her lean forward in a thinking position, the kid slammed herself back onto the seat. Because, even though she WAS a calm and mature twelve year old, this love thing made her feel like she was three. But that wasn't what it was, right? Couldn't be! Was she blushing again? Oh, Merlin!

Lucy said: "Well done Penelope! You speak a bit Spanish!Thanks for the sandwich .. I'm hungry!I hope that the train will soon come to Hogwarts..!"

Angel smiled at the guy, he actually seemed nice and she was a bit confused as to why her sister would want to hang out with someone who didn't want to cause mayhem. "Nice to meet you too." Angel beamed, she had no idea what to say so went back to reading her book, she was a bit shy now.

That was until the guy decided to speak again. "Oh I'm just reading up on the History of the United Kingdom." Angel thought it was a cool book. "I've up to the great fire of London and there has been a lot happing." Angel showed the guy the page she was on. "It's an amazing book, there's 5 volumes in the serious, this is from 1600-1800. This is the 4th volume, I've read three others already and I've also read about gardening because I love it." Angel had all Aubrey's brain cells she was sure.

"No idea." Angel said truthfully. "I said goodbye quickly and then went and found a few people I met in DA and also made a few friends." Angel really hoped her sister Abby was okay, but she was sure her sister could take care of herself.

"No I'm not mad." Angel rolled her eyes. "I'm not mad you nearly got us killed." Angel was scorching mad now, why had her sister had to bring it back up. "You didn't listen to me did you and you got a stinging spell on your arms and how you hid them from mum, I have no idea." Angel stopped being mad and started to giggle. "I seriously thought she was going to find out." Angel looked at her sister. "Let's just forget about it okay?" Angel gave her sister a hug.

Ah ha! There was something he didn't know. And Sinead imagined he knew most things, at least a lot more than she did. He was clever in a bit of a know-it-all way, from what she'd noticed. But he wasn't terrible.

And he was brave too. Because he took one of the beans, a dodgy brown one, although he was clearly aware it could be totally disgusting. She'd underestimated him, it seemed.

But he got hazelnut. She resisted sighing in disappointment. It would have been slightly amusing to see him choking and spluttering at some unnatural and revolting flavour.

"I was lucky too, I got grass." Which was unsurprisingly nice.

Sinead picked another one, this time red, coming to the conclusion that it was either sheep blood or cherry.

But noooo, it just had to be tomato soup. "I hate tomato soup," she murmured, swallowing it quickly and trying to get rid of the taste by shoving another handful in her mouth. The mix of different flavours wasn't too great either.

Jasmine and Cris had finally made it back to the compartment after braving the long food trolley line. Their arms were filled with just about every kind of treat available. Suddenly, Cris motioned for her to her to be quiet. It seems that their had been an addition to their group while they were gone. Jasmine was introduced to Tessa. Ahhh, the brother's girlfriend from Beauxbatons. She looked familiar and Jasmine was sure she had seen the older girl around the school at some point. Extending her hand, she said, "It's nice to meet you Tessa" Then Jasmine looked around for a good place to deposit their snacks.

Ascanius could have slapped Nigel for the......female dog that he was being right now. S'bad enough that he had let the kid sit in on their compartment, but now he was chatting little Mr. Anxious Five Million Questions up like they had been mates forever. He could have spit. Stupid underclassman had come in and messed up his nap schedule, yeah?

Oh jeez. The kid was asking him questions straight up. Y'know, Ascanius wasn't really good talking to people who weren't girls-- 'cause they were nice to look at-- or his friends. He was a pretty insular human being. How to talk to this kid? Did he even want to? Not really.

He tried with a straight face, "Nothing's wrong. M'not broken. And m'not train sick, yeah?" There. That was answers...or at least the ones he was gonna get from him.

Of course she got grass. And of course she would think it was good. Given what he knew of the odd little girl across from him, he could only imagine that her patronus would be a sheep. It must be easy for her family and friends to buy her Christmas gifts.

...and then she went and shoved an entire handful into her mouth, and he promptly informed her, "You're insane."

Sinead snorted. "Haven't I heard that before." Many, many times.

"You know, you're not the most normal person I've ever met either," she replied and then proceeded to grab another handful. Just for the sake of it. This time, they seemed to be slightly nicer flavours, but only slightly. she grabbed some water out of her bag and took a sip. Much better.

Noticing that Jasmine was looking for a place to lay down the snacks they had brought, Cris reached under his seat and pulled out his trunk. "Here Jasmine, you can use my trunk," Cris offered as he emptied his armload onto the trunk before reaching to help her with hers.

"So is anyone hungry. We brought back some Cornish and pumpkin pasties, chocolate frogs, Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Beans, some cauldron cakes, more cucumber sandwiches for you Lux and a couple of bottles of butterbeer. Hopefully, there's enough for everyone. If not, I can go back and buy some more," Cris informed everyone as he picked up a Cornish pastie and bit into it before drinking from the botte of butterbeer.

"This is delicious," he pointed at the pastie before taking another bite.

It's not that different from the UK, I guess. Better food probably. I've never been to the States, but I imagine it's pretty different." Kohen knew about the States from movies and books of course, but all that was probably more fantasy than reality. Family holidays had always gone back to Scotland or to Spain, which he had always found pretty lame. Transferring to Salem instead of Hogwarts, now that would have been something to be more excited about, he was sure. Then again, he didn't really know anything about Hogwarts yet, so maybe it was even going to be better than Beauxbatons... At least the girls could hardly be more stuck up.

"Pretty small people, I'm guessing," he grinned, giving Connor a nod as he suggested continuing their search together. "Sounds good. Everything that way looked pretty jammed with people," he said, pointing behind him.

Together they continued down the corridor, glancing into compartments until after about five minutes they actually found an empty one. He knew it was bound to happen, seeing how they had come across compartments with 10 and more people crammed into them when there were only 8 seats, but he was still relieved when they entered and closed the door behind them. Dragging his trunk around had really started to get on his nerves.

"So... Do you know anything about Hogwarts? I'm Muggleborn, so I don't really know what to expect," he asked when they finally sat down.