Izaac wasn't sure what to do with himself once he had left his mum at the platform. So much so that he was feeling a little overwhelmed, and being on his own didn't help. Deciding he wanted to be closest to the grown ups (the driver), Izaac found the compartment closest to the front of the train which was easy as he seemed to be one of the first to board.

Dumping his stuff beside him, Zac wedged himself close to the window and looked out of it frantically for his mum. But he couldn't see her ANYWHERE. Before he could cry about it, he thought about how excited he had been up until now. His new wand. His new school. He was about to meet the sorting hat, for crying out loud! He took a deep breath, and it seemed to calm him down as he searched the crowds again.

He looked for Marsha, too. Anyone.

OH. MY. GOODNESS. LOOK. AT. THAT. TRAIN!

Okay, so Rusty had been on a train before, yes, but THIS ONE WAS HUGE AND RED AND A STEAM TRAIN and stuff. It was awesome, and it was going to take her to MAGICAL SCHOOL and stuff.

Anyway, the second the doors opened she was on the train - her trunk stowed away by some adult or another - and bouncing down the corridor, looking for someone to sit next to and make friends with.

Nope. Nope. Empty. Empty. AHA!

Rowan looked into a compartment at the front of the train and opened the door. "Hi. My name's Rusty. Can I sit in here?" No, the other compartments weren't all full, but there was nobody around to sit with yet. "I'm new so I don't know anybody yet." Cue your name, mysterious boy.

Abby had just got on board the train and found an empty compartment up the front of the train she yawned and got comfy for the long journey to school

The more his seat was beginning to warm up, the more comfortable Izaac was feeling. The butterflies that were making him feel sick were starting to turn into the excitement he had been used to. He eyed his rucksack where his wand was just poking out of the top. His hand moved to grab it, since his mother wasn't here to tell him to 'put it down until you get to school', but he jerked it back as if he was in trouble, when the door opened.

No mums here, just some girl. He was attracting ALL the girls so far.

"Hi." Oh, OH... she was new. Izaac's face lit up like a Christmas tree! "Yeah, you can sit in here!" Since he was Billy-No-Mates, too. "My name is Zac. I don't know anyone either. Well, I do know this one girl, but I couldn't find her here." Zac shrugged but smiled wide at her.

"Is Rusty your whole name?" Or a nickname, maybe. His head tilted a little. He'd never heard of that name before. Maybe it was a real wizardy-witchy name.

Yay! NEW FRIEND NUMBER TWO! Rowan wasn't entirely sure what happened to New Friend Number One Natalia, she'd kind of taken off as soon as the train had arrived. She should go and find her at some point and say sorry for that. But right now it was okay because NEW FRIEND!

"Thanks!" Rusty walked into the compartment and sat down opposite him, putting her bag on the floor by her feet. "Maybe she'll find you and then I can be friends with her too." Because yes, Rusty was gonna need a lot of friends, because being away from everyone back home was going to be so WEIRD.

Her whole name? "Nope. My WHOLE name is Rowan Elizabeth Fields but everyone calls me Rusty cause I like going outside in the rain."

Phew, thank goodness she sat opposite him instead of right next to. "Yeah! That'd be cool 'cause she's a first year too! AND she said she knows another first year called..." Izaac paused and squinted one eye. "... can't remember his name, but imagine if we could all know each other before school even starts!?" It was important. Newbies had to be in this together.

Well, he hadn't meant her WHOLE-FULL name but that was still good to know. He was right about the nickname thing then. "Why didn't they call you Rainy?" He said, pondering. Yes, let's question new friends' nicknames! "I mean, but Rusty is still really cool, though..." Move on! "My whole name is Izaac Bill Dafforn. But people call me Zac 'cause it's shorter." If they were going for formalities.

"D'you know when we're leaving?" It had to be any second now. The platform had cleared up a bit, leaving parents waving and stuff. He looked for his mum again and actually SPOTTED her! Zac sat up properly and waved to his hearts content!

Wow, summer was over. Lux couldn't believe it. Back to Hogwarts for another year. And one more after that. Then FREEDOM!!

She loved the school, but yeaaaah. She was over it.

Making her way across the front of the train, the redhead tried to spot any of her friends. Oh look, Abby! HAAAAAI. Not even bothering to ask permission, Lux took a seat across from the younger girl. "Hey! You not sitting with your boyfriend?" Lux would have sat with hers if he still went to school.

Abby smiled at Lux and said "Well no i kind of could not see him in the crowds at the station but i may catch up with him at some point soon" Abby was glad to have some company

Tyler who been in the middle compartment with To and everyone else, had to get away some to see where Abby was, he haven't seen her since their date in Diagon Alley at the ice cream shop. Walking out of the compartment he walked down the corridor to see where Abby was at. Not having to walk thst far, he seen Abby and Lux and smiled warmly at them. "Hello ladies!"said Tyler before walking in. "Hey Abbs, sorry was with my friends,we gotten a compartment in the middle of the train."said Tyler as he kissed her on the lips. Sitting beside her he intertwined hands with her before looking from her to Lux. "So how was your ladies summer? "Tyler asked them.

...And there he was.

Wow, it was almost as if Lux had summoned Tyler by asking Abby about him. If only that was a real ability; not only would it be cool but she'd also have Bay on the train with her. Ah well, one could dream... "Heeeey!! My summer was awesome. Yours?"

She did smile as he kissed Abby. Now that was cute. She didn't mind seeing people kiss anymore, so long as it wasn't snogging. As fun as that was to do, it was just awkward to witness. Thank goodness no one subjected her to it because that would be a very cruel punishment.

Abby smiled at Ty and said "Hey that is cool and my summer was good it was just a shame that i did not see you enough during the holidays Ty" Abby just smiled at Lux she was happy that Ty had found her

Getting on to the train wasn't hard. At all. Leaving her Tad, Mam and little baby sister Alis behind, however was. It would be okay though - she had older... relatives(????) at school so if she ever needed them, her Mam and uncle Thunder had told her to find Gabe or Ruby, and her Tad had told her to find Hayley. Not that they were closely, or at all blood-related but in their family that didn't matter... Family was the people who stuck around and were there for you.

SO. With that being said, she had to find her NEW family.

She had told Zac AND Lance that she would find them on the train... So, she would do that. She would be good to her word. She would be thereeee.

Waving one final time to her family she pulled her self together and went in search of the boys she had met over the Summer. Thankfully, she didn't have to search for very long before she found Zac.

YAY!

Sliding the compartment door open, she grinned at the boy. "Hi Zac!" Hopefully he remembered her. 'Cause otherwise this was embarassing.

Taking a step into the compartment, she closed the door behind her and took a seat just inside the door, at the opposite end of the bench that Zac was on. Her back against the compartment glass as she looked towards Zac and the other girl. "Hi, she added with a wiiiiide smile. "I'm Marsha, its nice to meet you." Manners were good. They would equal friends!

Right?

ooc: My net is still down at my Dads (where I am tonight) so I might be slow to reply until tomorrow afternoon after 4pm GMT. <3 Sorry, but she's here! <3

"That would be so cool!" Yeah, honestly? Rowan had been a liiiiittle bit worried. Because most of the magic people she'd met so far had seemed a bit... snooty. Or uninterested in her. So it was nice to know she was already going to have friends. "How many people do you think go to this school? I didn't know there would be this many magical people. I was really surprised when we went to Diagon Alley. They're so good at hiding it from people who can't do magic, which is a bit rubbish really, cause it's so cool."

..Rainy? "I dunno. It's cause I'm ginger. Alan said I'd been outside in the rain so much I'd gone rusty, and the buttons on my favourite dungarees went all rusty too so I think that's why." To be honest, it was so long ago she didn't actually remember it. She only remembered what people told her. Rowan didn't even remember to answer to her real name most of the time, but her grammy had told her she might have to if the teachers called her that. "Dafforn? That's kinda like daffodils." She thought about that for a second, fiddling with the daisy hair clip in her hair. "I think daffodils are my third favourite flower after daisies and sunflowers. So it's a cool name." Her love for daisies was evident, considering her bag was patterned with them and she wore one in her hair. Rusty was all about flowers. She LOVED them.

"Oh, I don't know, I hope it's soon, I wanna go and learn some magic!" Rowan watched Zac waving at someone - his mum? - and scanned the crowd. ... Grammy was STILL THERE! "I thought she'd gone home already!" Rusty waved very enthusiastically at her grandmother, her new charm bracelet jingling on her wrist, and Grammy Helen waved back... in a much calmer fashion. She fit right in here, Grammy Helen. It was a shame she wasn't a witch like the others, cause she looked like one, with her long plaited grey hair, woven with flowers, and her brightly coloured, flowing clothes. Rusty had always suspected she could do more magic than she let on, but then she'd have been to a special school, wouldn't she? Sigh. Well. Rowan could just TEACH her.



OH! NEW PERSON! "Hi Marsha! I'm glad you found us, Zac said he knew you." Rowan BEAMED at the other girl, and positioned herself so she was looking at them both, rather than out of the window. "My name's Rusty and I'm new too." So they could be FRIENDS.

"Are you guys new to magic or can your grown ups do it?" Rusty asked, skipping right past any more introductions and getting into the real talk - cause she was SO curious. "Cause everyone was so surprised where I live. There was a ministry person and he was surprised at all the people in my family and he told my mum and my grammy all about the school and then we went to Diagon Alley and I lost my mum there cause she was so amazed by the magic stuff that she was lagging behind so I went to see the owls. Did you know they make owls carry all their letters and packages even the big ones?!" Yeah, Rowan was still APPALLED at that, and she would continue to be so until an owl told her it was okay. And since she couldn't speak owl... that was going to be difficult.

Hady rubbed the fur between Hagan's ears earning herself a soft purr from the small ball of fur curled in her arms. The cat hadn't left her arms all day, it was as if he knew she needed him right now. Grinning slightly at her cat she walked slowly through the aisle between the compartments every so often peeking into one to see if it was empty or not.

Right now the teen really only had two things in mind. Find someone she knew or find an empty compartment. Either would do really at the moment. However this was proving to be of no good. Hady hadn't seen anyone she knew yet nor were any of the compartments up here empty. Okay well one of the compartments had some people in it she knew (Lux and Abby) but a boy she didn't know was in there with them and she hadn't wanted to disturb them so she had kept going. It wasn't a big deal though there were plenty more compartments further back on the train if she didn't come across one up here.

There she was! As if he had summoned her from just mentioning her to Rusty! "Hey, Marsha!" He grinned as she joined them. He was most excited for her to meet Rusty. "I tried to look for you on the platform... but it was even busier here than Diagon Alley was, I think!" Zac suddenly wondered about that other first year that Marsha was going to introduce him to. All the main friends to be made on the first day, of course!!

"Really?" He began, turning back to Rusty. "I reckon there's gonna be hundreds of people there. Maybe THOUSANDS. The castle is sooo big, you know?" The question HE was wondering about was... "How many people do you think will be in first year with us?" He also hoped at least one of these two new friends would be in the same house as him. Otherwise he might not see them as much. Maybe. He didn't know how the dorms worked. But he was very excited to find out.

Well, that was a fair enough reasoning for the nickname. Rusty the redhead! Zac chuckled, "He said you went rusty?" Hehehe. "That's funny, but a cool nickname." Referring his surname to Daffodils, though? Zac made a 'hmmm' noise as if he had made a breakthrough, "Maybe that's another sign that I'm gonna be good at Herbology. The wand shopkeeper said I'm gonna be good at that." He nodded. Mr Dafforn the Herbologist had a nice ring to it.

He eyed his wand again, "I can't wait use my wand." But apparently they couldn't use it outside of school so he was afraid to even touch it. How would the magic police even know if he had used it, though? HOW DID IT WORK? He'd find that out, for sure.

"I'm kinda new to magic. My dad is a wizard and my mum is a muggle. But I live with my mum so my dad doesn't get to teach me much." Zac shrugged. He kind a liked the idea of having a fresh mind and skillset for Hogwarts anyway. From the way Rusty was talking, Zac guessed that she was from a muggle background. He grinned widely. "My mum was like that when we went to Diagon Alley too! But I think she was a bit creeped out as well. She stayed in the Leaky Cauldron." GIGGLE. Doing know whos what. Besides, she was used to some things on account of his dad being a wizard. "Are your parents muggles?" He asked.

Hugh was here. In the simplest sense. Perhaps he wasn't really here, to. Existence was a fickle, fickle thing and he knew well enough NOT to trust his perception of the world to really know if he was actually here or not.

So...Hugh was here? Maybe.

If maybe was right then Hugh was also making his way to the closest, emptiest compartment he could find. On the trip he really wanted to make sure he got some reading done. Freud mostly because his analysis of the mind was fascinating. Less philosophical but still interesting perspective.

Plop. Let's do this Freud.

So this was it, she was going back to Hogwarts and would hopefully be seeing her boyfriend Benny soon, she had missed him loads but she had been ill since the trip ended, she had no idea what had been wrong, but she had totally had to leave all her shopping until very late in the summer.

She looked around the train and as soon as she found an empty compartment she sat down and took out a book, if anyone wanted to join her she didn't mind.

Henric made his way to the front, trying to walk through the narrow walkway wasn't easy. It took a lot of maneuvering skills to avoid clashing with them.Hmm...he noticed there were many first years this term, he smiled at them before walking past their compartments. Hey, who knows..they might be in Hufflepuff and they really need more hardworking students so they could win the housecup for the second time in a row.

Henric took a peek inside to see if the compartment was empty and it was. He left the door open, in case anyone new or his friends might want to share a compartment with him.He heaved his carry-on luggage on top of the rack before settling down on his seat. As usual, he stared out of the window, amazed at the amount of parents who came to see their children off. Suddenly, he thought of the muggle orphans he dearly missed back at his hometown orphanage. He loved doing youth volunteering work during his summer vacation and thinking about them made him sad. "If only they could go to Hogwarts...wouldn't it be wonderful?"he thought to himself.

He sighed, knowing he couldn't tell them all about his wizardry or the magical world he was living in. But that didn't mean, he never sneaked in a few dragon naptime stories.

SIGH. Evangeline didn't know WHO she was going to sit with. Kody was obviously out of the question (she was still surprised she hadn't bumped into him yet, NOT that she was looking for him), Sophie and Caleb were in the prefect's compartment which she apparently was not allowed to enter (rude), and she hadn't seen Eden, Damien, OR Paris all day. So, she was alone. She was just hoping she could find an empty car, or nearly empty and one of her friends would find her later.

Upon seeing an empty one with a face she didn't recognize, Evie peeked her head in. A pair of green eyes poked out of her side bag and peered at the boy. "Mind if I join you?" she asked nicely.

Bleu quickly found an empty compartment. It was so hard to find one at the front of the train but she was lucky enough to get one. She was hoping Dylan would have been around here somewhere already but he wasn't. She was pretty sure he would be around soon. She placed her owl up in the luggage rack. All their luggage was generally packed at the back of the train. All they needed to worry about was small bags and their animals and anything else they had with them.

She pulled out a book from her purse and got comfortable. It was going to be a long ride, but hopefully Dylan would be her entertainment soon enough.

”The platform was way more crazy than I thought it would be!” She agreed with the boy, nodding her head. Marsha was excited, she loved meeting new friends. ”It’s realllly nice to meet you. I’m so happy I’ve met people before school has even started - I was worried I would know no-one at all!” Nightmare material that was. Or, it had been until she had met Lance and Zac and Jenna in Diagon Alley… Though Jenna was older so she wasn’t really sure if she would see her again this term… but that was okay. She had been really nice anyway.

As she sat, she listened to the ends of their conversation, after all she had just interupted and Mam always told her that was rude. Then she broke out in a HUUUUGEEEE grin at Rusty’s ginger comment. ”All the best people, have red hair…” She tried to be serious, honestly she did - but she couldn’t help it and very quickly ended up giggling at herself. Really, she just liked having red hair. Reeeeallllyyyy liked her red hair.

Marsha smiled, ”There are lots of people, at least from what I know from my aunts and things.. I think my Mums cousins and extended family are finally finishing up at Hogwarts.” She said, thinking about the few extended family members she was hiding from who were in the top three years. She hoped they would be too busy studying for their OWLs and NEWTs to bug her. Maybe? She could hope they wouldn’t look out for her and embarrass her too much. She also knew that her family were trying to look out for her but she was almost twleve! She wasn’t tiny anymore.

The Welsh girl couldn’t help but giggle at the name Dafforn - or the link to Daffodils… but she supposed her name of Hanover reminded her older cousins of a hangover which was awful! So she couldn’t say anything against Zac’s last name. Nope. WAAAAAY better than her own. Ohh, she loved flowers and Zac was going to be good with herbology. ”I hope that I’m good with the animals - I love them… in fact, my cat Duchess is around here somewhere, she jumped out of my arms and started to chase smells as soon as I took her out of her carrier in the luggage room, hold… thing.” She told them with a soft smile. Hopefully she wouldn’t pick any fights with the other cats.

Looking out of the window, Marsha grinned at the people on the platform who were smiling at family. She had already said goodbye to her parents, Alis was only little and it was cold outside - she didn’t want to get a letter next week in the post telling her that she had gotten a cold because of her. Nope. So she had given them all cuddles (okay, so Alis had a really LONG cuddle) and then hopped on the train. Like an adult. A really SMALL adult, but a grown-up all the same… Right?

“Oh, My parents met at Hogwarts,” Marsha started, taking a deep breath. ”But, my Mum died when I was really little so my Grand-parents and my Tad took care of me, and my Mam and Tad got married when I was like five or something…” The girl shrugged, showing it wasn’t a big deal. She loved her Mam. ”And my little sister Alis turned one a few weeks ago.” There… that was that out of the way… and there was no way she was explaining the aunts and uncles and extended family… Though if they managed to track her down she might have too…. Hmm, she would figure that out when she had to. Heh.

She giggled when Zac told Rusty about his Mam staying in Leaky Cauldron. ”It’s true!” she piped up, as if Rusty might think he was lying. ”That was the day we met. I bumped into him and my Mam was staring at a dress in a shop window and Zac was going back to meet his Mam in the pub for lunch.” She nodded her head, grinning.

Frowning slightly, Marsha tried to remember how any of her non-magical friends and family sent mail. Her head titled to the other side as she looked at Rusty. ”But… how do you send mail if you don’t use owls? Pidgeon? Hawk? EAGLES?” Her eyes went wide as the elven year old imagined a flock of EAGLES carrying post. It would be a glorious sight to see, she was sure of it! The light catching on their feathers. Ohhh. Beautttiful.

Hugh didn't even look up before he was shooting his dumb mouth off, "Yes. I mind." Fo' real. How was he supposed to get reading done if he had a mouth breather up in his spaaaaaace, yo.

Oh wait. What was it the woman always said? Even if you don't want to tolerate people you have to, W-

.....

Let's try that again. "I take it back. You can sit there. Even though I don't want you to." Much better. He wasn't trying to be mean. Hiugh was just too literal for his own good.

.... WELL then.

Evie continued to stand there and look at him, taking a moment to see if he was actually serious. His next comment did seem genuine though. She was debating leaving or not, but then her little black kitty jumped out of her bag and sauntered into the compartment before hopping onto the bench and curling up on its side.

"The cat has spoken," she said. Evangeline ignored the boy and stepped past him, plopping herself onto the bench against the window. Her kitty then moved and curled up on her lap instead. The boy CLEARLY didn't want her there, so she didn't speak. She just wanted a place to sit.

Well, she was no longer an ickle firstie so Janelle had that going for her. Having dispensed with her luggage, she set out in search of a place to sit. The problem with being one of the last ones on the train was.........seats were hard to come by. Discreetly peeking into compartment after compartment, Janelle stopped when she saw a familiar face. Surprised to see Angel alone, Janelle slowly opened the door to the compartment. She leaned in hopefully and said, "Hi Angel".

Janelle stepped into the compartment and added, "Mind if I join you?" She knew that Angel was most likely waiting for her sister or boyfriend or something like that. Anyway, Janelle figured that she could keep her company in the meantime. "How was your summer?", she asked. Summer had gone by waaaay too fast and here they were, back on the Hogwarts Express.