Jasmine had stowed her trunk and was now ready to find a seat for the long ride home. Home......that had a nice ring to it. She was soooo happy to finally be outside of the castle. She had been about twenty steps past stir crazy and felt like a prisoner being released from a jail cell.

Walking along the train corridor, Jasmine finally decided on an empty compartment in the middle of the train. She was one of the early arrivals it appeared because she pretty much had her choice of compartments. Sliding the door open, Jasmine went inside. She put her bag in the overhead rack and sat down by the window. Looking outside, she watched as her classmates slowly made their way to the train. One more year. It seemed like she had just arrived at Hogwarts and now she had one more year. One year to make her mark. Resting her head against the window, Jasmine reflected on her first year. It had been.........interesting.

Agatha entered the train and was about to go into one of the first compartments, but she noticed thre were people in there already and she didn't want to talk to any of those kids. After last night, she didn't want to even see the faces of some people. Many of them, actually.

She wouldn't mind Beverly, Cutty or Brynn, though. They were alright. Nice even. But since she didn't see any of them, the ballerina decided to walk a bit further down the train and enter the first empty compartment she saw.

After neatly organising her things - luckily Chess had left the Castle ages ago, so she didn't have to deal with that crazy raven either - Agatha sat down next to the window and watched the outside.

Somewhere along the way, Fern had gotten separated from her cousin, Tallulah. This didn't bother the 13-year-old however, because she knew Tallulah would find her eventually. After all, who else was her cousin going to sit with?

So instead of trying to find Tallulah, Fern went searching for her BFFL, Brynny. And when she couldn't find the Ravenclaw, she found the next best thing - one of Brynny's very good friends. Surely, with both Fern and this friend in the same compartment, Brynny was bound to turn up. Unless she was hanging out with Bart.

Ugh.

Not bothering to knock on the door, Fern entered the compartment and offered a, "Hello," before taking a seat across from Brynny's friend. Then, after wiggling around for a moment to get comfortable, the teenager dug out a compact mirror from her robe and began to reapply her bright orange lipstick.

Agatha turned her head when she heard someone opening the compartment's door and noticed it was one of Brynn's friends she didn't officially know. She'd seen the girl before, but Hogwarts wasn't exactly the smallest of places and... well, Agatha couldn't be bothered to talk to every single person she saw around the Castle.

"Hello." She answered, watching as the girl sat down, got comfortable and pulled out a mirror and lipstick from her robe. Bright orange. Snazzy. "You're Brynn's friend." The Slytherin broke the silence after spending a few seconds simply observing the girl in front of her. "She's my friend too. I'm Agatha Hapgood." She nodded once, still eyeing the girl, somewhat interested.

After rubbing her lips together to make sure the lipstick was evenly applied, Fern curled back her lips to see if she had gotten any on her teeth. And she had. The 13-year-old was in the middle of trying to clean her teeth with her tongue when the other girl spoke.

Heavily lined eyes snapping up from the mirror, Fern corrected, "Actually, I'm her BFFL. We have matching wand holsters and everything, see-," the Hufflepuff pulled down her right sleeve to expose the wrist holster, bedazzled with every color of the rainbow and the letters F E Q in bright purple in the middle. There. Now that this girl knew where they stood on the friendship scale. If she wanted a BFFL, she was going to have to look elsewhere. "My name's Fern Quimbley."

COUGH. HACK HACK.

Dylan, all bundled up in his sweater, beanie, and scarf, made his way to the middle cars as he continued his search for a compartment, coughing along the way. The horribly freezing weather had gotten to him and he now had a nasty cold. Merlin's beard, it was always hard finding a compartment when he was always one of the last to get on the train.

He wasn't exactly the last today, but he wasn't the first.

Once he found an empty compartment, he slid open the door and, after stowing away his things, plopped down onto the comfy seat next to the window. He then suddenly sneezed into his arm loudly a couple times. Sniffling, he sat up in his seat, looking out the window. He had a good feeling no one would be wanting to sit with him today on the ride home with his cold and all... unless they wore like a mask or something. Heh. But at least he had his kitty Ginger! And speaking of which...where was she anyway? He glanced up where he had put his things and saw the cat carrier. Taking it down, he let the cat out and she immidiately found herself a spot to curl up right on his lap. Smiling, he sneezed again and began stroking her fur. At least Ginger didn't mind his sneezing and what not.

"Her what?" Agatha raised an eyebrow. Maybe it was a Muggle expression for a relative of some sort. "Are you a Muggleborn?" She asked bluntly, still looking at the person who seemed around her age. ...Matching wand holsters? Were they trying to act like twins or something? If they were, it was not working very well. They didn't look anything alike. Maybe that was what that odd expression meant, then.

But Agatha would leave that be. Brynn was a nice kid and if that girl... Fern? was her friend, maybe she was alright. Or not. Wasn't Brynn friends with Bart too? Ugh. Yeah, Agatha wouldn't jump into conclusions. Always watching, she was. "What's your house?" If she gathered this information, along with whether the girl was Muggleborn or not, maybe she could draw nearer a proper conclusion. "And do you know Bart Maroon?" She decided to ask, not making any effort to hide her disgust when pronouncing his name. There. With that she could definetely decide whether this girl was worth talking to.

Though there was something about Fern that made Agatha interested in watching her. It was probably the bright orange lipstick. Probably. Huh... what an odd little creature.

Wanting to stretch her legs and go for a bit of a walk, Lux left her compartment so that she could explore the train.

Toffy was perched on her shoulder squeaking and enjoying the warmth while Arya was running along at her feet. The poor things did not like the cold either, but now it was warm and they were happy. Oooh, there is Dylan. Beaming, she opened the door. "Mind if I keep you company for a bit?" Probably not, but she had no idea if he was waiting for other people.

Arya running off to play with Ginger caused Lux to laugh. "She missed her friend."

With his scarf hoisted up, wrapped under his nose, Dylan felt somewhat like a cowboy. He just needed to turn his beanie into a cowboy hat and he'd be set. As he chuckled to himself at the thought as he looked out the window, he suddenly heard the door slide open and he turned to see Lux. Smiling under his scarf, and sneezing once more, he gave a wave. "Hi! Sure you can...but I have to warn you, I do have a bit of a nasty cou- A-ACHOOO! ....c-cough." he told her with a sigh. He then watched as Arya ran straight away to Ginger and he half laughed half coughed as the two played together. Hopefully he wasn't scaring Lux away.

'Her What?' Fern looked at Agatha in open-mouthed disbelief. How was she Brynny's friend if she didn't know what BFFL meant!? Then again, Brynny didn't have the best taste in friends, but they were working on that. "Her B-F-F-L. Best. Friend. For. LIFE."

"And I am not a Muggleborn!" What was this girl implying? Was she one of those... purists? "Don't you know the last name Quimbley!? My family's been raising the fastest winged horses since twelve hundred thirty-four!"

"Hufflepuff; what's - DO I KNOW BART!?" Fern's face, already flushed from being interrogated, turned even darker at Agatha's last question. "I HAAAATE THAT LOSER!!! WHY ARE YOU ASKING ME ALL OF THESE QUESTIONS!?"

Closing the sliding door, Lux heard Dylan sneeze. Oh no! He sounded really sick. Poor boy. Frowning, she took the seat across from him; she knew that he wouldn't want to make her sick.

"Have you taken anything for your cold? I wish I had a potion to give you for it." The only vial she had on her was from Professor Culloden and that was for calming creatures. Obviously that wouldn't help in any way since Dylan wasn't an angry Unicorn.

Best friend for life. ...Wow. People did have a lot of creativity and that could make them a bit... tacky. Agatha decided not to say much, but she just kept looking at the girl with a raised eyebrow until Fern said she wasn't a Muggleborn. Her expression went back to normal and she shrugged. Fine, she wasn't a Muggleborn. Not that Agatha would've minded it that much anyway. Simon was a Muggleborn and he was alright.

Fern's next comment, though, made Agatha's eyes widen and she sat up much straighter, even leaning forward a bit, and stared at Fern in awe. "Winged horses?! What kind of winged horses??" Not that it mattered that much; ANY type of winged horse - or even just a normal horse - was already AMAZING. It was like she was looking at Fern in a completely different light now. See, she KNEW there was something interesting about this girl. She must be her friend. She MUST. "Can you ride them??"

And oohh! The way she reacted to Bart's name was even better. Agatha was impressed and even smirked amusedly at the girl's sudden outburst of anger. She was usually on the other side in situations like this, and she admited watching someone getting angry like that was rather interesting. Especially if the subject also made you angry. "I hate him too. I was wondering if you liked him because Brynn hangs out with him a lot." The Slytherin explained and didn't even get mad at Fern's yelling. "I asked you that because I wouldn't be your friend if you liked Bart." Agatha said casually, leaning back on her seat again, never ceasing to watch Fern. Nevermind Brynn was friends with Bart. She had befriended Brynn before knowing the Ravenclaw knew that stupid boy. "That was a good answer." Smirk.

Even though he was sick, she still decided to sit with him. The badger smiled under his scarf, and he let out a tiny sneeze once more.

Oh, boy.

He was still extremely happy inside to have some company. Watching the kittens play-wrestling about, he turned his attention to Lux as she asked him a question. He shook his head. "Sadly, not," he said, shaking slightly. Even though it wasn't cold in the train, he felt really cold for some reason. Bloody hell, he just needed to get home and get into bed right away... "I didn't have time. This cold wasn't too bad when I awoke two days ago so I thought I'd be fine, but it got worse near the end of the feast. So, I didn't have time to get something for it." he said with a sigh. "Figures..." he thought in his head. "But enough of that," he said, because he didn't want to make Lux feel bad for him and have a sad train ride home. "How are you? Excited to finally get home?" he asked.

Noticing Dylan shivering despite the warmth of the train and his layers of clothing, Lux took out her wand. Maybe she didn't have any medicine for him, but she did know how to help make him feel warmer. Casting Ventus at him, she hoped it helped. "Is this better?" If the hot air was too much she would stop. Glancing over at the kittens made her smile again. "These guys are great heaters too." With a nod towards them, she giggled; Arya had been a warm ball in her lap many times.

Listening to him explain how he hadn't had time to deal with his cold, Lux nodded. That made sense. "I can try to brew a potion for you if you'd like." He was one of her best friends and she loved making potions so one that could make him feel better would be great. "And I am awesome. So excited to go home. How about you? Besides being sick I mean," she added as an afterthought.

There. That was better. Basking in the girl's attention, Fern sat up straighter in her seat and gave a slight hair-toss before answering, "Thoroughbreds, obviously. We can trace all of their pedigrees back to the Carlson and Skjeggestad Granians. And of course I can ride them. One day, I'M going to be a jockey." That is, as long as she didn't grow any taller. But Fern was confident she wouldn't. She was approaching her fourteenth birthday, surely there were no more growth spurts in her future.

One moment the girl was looking at her like Fern was the most wise, beautiful, popular person she had ever seen. The next moment, she was giving Fern a smug little look that reminded the Hufflepuff of Cuthbert, and this overshadowed the fact that Agatha didn't like Bart either. "Stop looking at me like that!" she snapped, "If you keep on making that face, I won't be your friend!" So THERE!

Sophie had wanted to be smuggled across on the boats with Cat and Mo so she could spend as much time with them as possible before they left her forever, but it didn't work out, so Soph was stuck taking the carriages to the train with all the other non-seventh years. She arrived sooner than they did, too, and when she peered back out over the lake, the boats were only maybe halfway across the water. So, instead of waiting around for them, Soph set out in search of a vacant compartment to reserve for her friend group. Totally nice of her.

After stowing away her trunk, Sophie moved down the corridor with purpose, peeking into every compartment as she went for the first available vacant one, only glancing briefly at each compartment's habitants - until she thought she spotted one Jasmine Guidry and did a double take. Ah. Yes. Good.

Sliding the door open, Soph wasn't bothered that the girl appeared rather glum - instead, she went on to say as if she didn't think anything was wrong, "Hey. Jasmine. Congrats on being Ravenclaw's top point earner. S'quite a first term for you, yeah?" Even though the older girl had only been there for one term, Soph had her sickles bet on this one as Ravenclaw's prefect replacement for Dora. Well-deserved, especially since Jasmine seemed much nicer and less sassy than Dora. And seemed to try harder all-around. Dora was still cooler, though. She had to be, since Mo liked her so much.

Jasmine jumped when she heard the compartment door open. Her mind had been far, far away for a moment. Turning toward the door, she smiled when she saw her housemate entering the compartment. Hi there Sophie. Thanks. Yes, it was quite a first term in more ways than one. I can't say I'm sorry that it's over though. Come on in and have a seat."

Jasmine was glad to have some company and Sophie seemed like a nice girl, even though Jasmine didn't know her very well. That could be easily remedied on the train ride. "Congratulations to you too. You were right behind me in the points race." Jasmine was going to have to work twice as hard next year because the younger Claws were going to be tough competition.

"Are you excited for summer? Have any big plans? I know I just can't wait to be warm again." Just getting away from the castle had helped Jamine's body temperature start to return to normal, at last.

Did she... just flip her hair? Sweet Morgana, this girl was just like her! Agatha was impressed and for a moment though she was a cool kid. Because y'know, she reminded her of herself. But at the same time she couldn't help but think she was still a better version of herself. Obviously.That made sense.

But that winged horse talk was simply brilliant. Though Agatha didn't know what she was talking about when she said about Carlson and whatwasthat Granians. The Slytherin nodded her head when Fern said she'd be a jockey. "I am too." She said proudly, ignoring the fact she didn't own any horses. Yet. "And a professional ballerina, of course." Of course. And she could totally be both, because she was amazing like that.

Agatha's smirk almost turned into a suspicious look when Fern told her to stop looking at her that way. 'If you keep on making that face, I won't be your friend!' THAT made Agatha's smirk vanish completely and she raised an eyebrow at the girl. Really? Morgana... Maybe this girl wasn't that much like herself then. The Slytherin stared at her with an unamused expression and folded her arms across her chest, still leaning back with a cold look.

Don't say anything stupid, Agatha, you need to befriend this girl. Winged horses and all that. "Fine." She said dryly, looking at the girl with a blank expression. ....To be fair, she couldn't MAKE the girl be her friend because that took way too much effort and Agatha didn't really feel like it; besides, Fern seemed like she was a bit crazy. But the Slytherin wanted the winged horses.

Forget Bart, forget friendship too. Let them talk business. "Do you have any Aethonans?"

Oh, she hadn't meant to make the older girl jump - Soph politely pretended like she didn't notice she'd scared her, though, and simply smiled. "Oh yeah?" Jasmine was all set and ready for the term to be over, hm? Well. That made just one of them.

Soph scoffed a little with a grin, waving a dismissive hand. "No need to congratulate me. Out of the top five, I'm right where I should've been, probably - you and Mo in first and second since you're oldest, then me in the middle, and our super cool first year class bringing up the rear. Those kids are great, aren't they?" They were very lucky to have such a dynamite class of firsties this past term, Sophie thought. Endearing, cute, and full of potential, just the way they should be.

"I'm... excited for lots of warm weather. M'goin' on two trips, one with Professor Culloden to study wandlore - I wanna be a Wandmaker, see, and he has all sorts of connections with people who can give me some firsthand experience, so he's gonna take me to set me up as sort of an unofficial internship kinda thing - and another trip to the United States with some friends." So she had lots to look forward to, really, but... she still couldn't help but wish this term wouldn't end. Because when it did, things were never going to be the same. No more seventh years. No more Cat and Mo.

And it hurt.

"What about you?" She forced a smile - despite any passing sad thoughts, she was polite enough to ask back.

She was going to be a jockey too? Fern didn't know how she felt about that because being a jockey was her THING, and she suspected maybe Agatha was a copycat and had just made that claim up on the spot because she wanted to be like Fern. The 13-year-old couldn't decide whether she should be pleased that she was so popular she had wannabes, or if she should inform Agatha that if she became a jockey, Fern and her horse would smoke them in every race. But then the Agatha said something that made her forget about that. "A professional ballerina!?" Fern exclaimed, and for the first time since entering the compartment, she really looked at Agatha. The Hufflepuff couldn't help but be impressed by how put-together the other girl was, and Fern thought to herself that if Agatha wore makeup and got a signature color, she might be almost as beautiful as her. "Do you dance!?" Then, "Can you tap!?" Professor Glendower could tap, and Fern wished she could too.

Fern also crossed her arms and sat back. But her face took on a gloating smile when Agatha agreed to do as she wished, and she primly replied, "Thank you. We can be friends now."

At the mention of Athonans, Fern leaned forward in her seat, "I wish! But we only have thoroughbreds, like I said."

Aha. Agatha now felt really important and proud of her very few achievements. Yes, she was really going to be a professional ballerina, so she nodded her head with a solemn expression on her face and tucked a stand of her hair behind her ear. "I do. That's why I'm going on a summer ballet school for most of the holidays." That and because she's been doing that for the past... 7 or 8 summer breaks, so why change a habit now. And also because it was simply amazing. "I don't." The Slytherin wouldn't say she couldn't tap because she had never tried it, but she was sure she WOULD be able to tap if she wanted to. Not that she cared that much about it though. Ballet was already the best thing on earth, why bother dancing anything else, really? "Do you?" Agatha asked, but not that curiously. Although it would be cool if the Hufflepuff could tap.

...What? The girl said they could be friends now? Morgana, Fern was indeed crazy. Agatha blinked and stared at the brunette in front of her for a bit more as if she was studying her. Were all Hufflepuffs like this? That Adi kid was strange, too, but in an annoying way. Hopefully Fern wasn't annoying like him.

Sheesh.

"Oh." But... Agatha had always thought Aethonans were thoroughbreds too. She didn't want to make a fool of herself in front of this girl who seemed to have been around winged horses since before coming out of her mother's womb, so she kept the thought to herself and made a mental note to do a research once she was back home. Or maybe ask her mother or uncle about it. They should know. "So, do you own any of the winged horses? And do you know where I could buy an Aethonan?"

"Summer ballet school!? What's that like!? Do you sleep in bunk beds and get T-shirts?" All Fern did in the summer was help on the ranch and go to races. As a tween, she had also gone to Hexy Boyz concerts, but that had ended when she realized Dante Dark was not her true love after all. It wasn't that Fern didn't love her summers at home (especially now that she realized how many losers there were in the world), it was just that sometimes she wished she could have the same experiences as other witches her age.

When Agatha shared she was not a tap dancer, Fern gave a little sigh of disappointment and slumped back in her chair, "No I don't tap dance either...but," she straightened with a sudden thought, "I am an exCEPTional ballroom dancer." If only she hadn't been chained to Cuthbert in Professor Flamsteed's dance class. She would have shown up everyone.

"Yes," Fern answered Agatha's first question with pride, "Her name's Pink Princess; she's six years old, and I was there when she was born. She's got a white snip and fetlocks." As for the second question, this gave Fern a pause; the Hufflepuff squinted her eyes, "Do you have a barn and a field, and also can you perform a disillusionment charm?" She wasn't naming any names until she had the facts.

"Yeah, it's five weeks long and we learn tons too." Agatha nodded her head and fixed her beautiful hair again. "It's really nice because we get to learn so much and we always put up a performance at the end." Mmmmhhhm, and it was brilliant too. SHE was brilliant. Yes. "It's boys and girls, but it's not as horrible with the boys because we are all very disciplined there and we all just want to dance all day long." Actually, Agatha didn't recall getting into any trouble with any of the boys in ballet summer school. See, dance did wonderful things to people.

Fern did ballroom?? Cool. See, there was just SOMETHING about this girl. Agatha knew it all along. "I've watched loads of ballroom competitions and I might start it next year." You know, when boys her age stopped being so stupid. Sadly she would be paired up with kids her age and they were just a no no. "I might start tap as well." You could never get too much of dance, really. "I wonder if they allow us to start a dance club at Hogwarts?" Agatha pulled a thoughtful face and looked out the window for a few secods as she pondered. "Oh! Brynn told me there's this room on the Seventh floor that--" What was it? "...gives us anything we need when we enter it." Or something like that. She couldn't remember what the room was called, but she was definitely visiting it next term. "She said she studies cello in there and also that she'd join me in my dance practice, playing the cello. I'm going to create routines for the songs she plays." BRILLIANT, huh? Uh-huh!! "You could come along if you want." The third year added casually. The idea of making Fern her friend had not been completely discarded after all.

Pink Princess. "Nice." The Slytherin said after a moment of silence in which she had to try and put her jealousy aside. That didn't quite work because she was still very jealous. She wanted a winged horse too. Fern's questions made Agatha sat up straighter. "I don't have a barn, but I have a field and I can get my uncle to build a barn if I want to." She really could. And the Disillusionment Charm... "No, but my mum and uncle can." That was a DIFFICULT spell, alright. People her age weren't supposed to know that yet anyway. She wouldn't ask Fern if she could perform that spell though, because she didn't want to feel even more jealous of the girl in case she gave the answer she didn't want to hear. "So where can I get one? And how much are they?" Come onnnn, tell her!

Watching as Lux took out her wand, he wondered what spell she was going to use...and then she cast Ventus on him. Smiling at the warmth, he pulled off his scarf. Yeah, he felt a lot warmer now. "Thank you so much, it's nice to have that scarf off of my face." he told her with a laugh. Lux was such a great friend, and so sweet for doing that. Looking to the kittens as Lux did, he chuckled, nodding in agreement. She was right, they were. Kittens were the best kind of heaters, that was for sure! Although Lux's spell seemed to be just fine, and the kittenes were having too much fun over there anyway.

A potion? That wasn't a bad idea. Although Dylan felt bad; Lux having to do all the spells and potions and such to make him better. He should be able to do that on his own although he was so awfully tired. "If you can, that would be really nice. But you don't have to." he said.

She seemed quite excited to be going home, and Dylan couldn't blame her. He was sure everyone on this train was just itching to get home and away from the cold. "I'm pretty good, just sleepy and ready to go home." he said in reply to her question.