The look in his eyes, the way his nostrils flared slightly, it was all very telling. Hadley honestly hadn't expected to get to him this fast or this easily. It was a little too easy. Kinda boring really. She preferred a challenge, to be honest. Something to stimulate her.

Still, he wasn't going to crack and say something first. She had to give him that. With a shrug, Hads seemed to soften, looking slightly less menacing than she might have a moment before. Her attention turned to Asher, and gave a small whistle. The ferret responded instantly, scurrying back to her waiting arms, and she gently scooped him back up, warmly lavishing him with affection. Then she turned back to Jace and shrugged again. "At least you're acknowledging me," she chuckled. "That's progress. We'll work on the whole talking thing." In English. She said it with utter assurance, as if Jace actually wanted to be able to talk to her. Only the barest hint of a smirk betrayed the fact she knew better.

If Jace wanted to be brutally honest, he'd have told her that her shirt suits her very well. Not that Gryffindors are stupid, but they can be a bit slow with things and to act without thinking first. Jace expected Haddie to know better. Didn't his expression told her to get lost and find someone else to bully?

Yeah, that's right. He won't make a sound to give her any more satisfaction. He's got a big brother who bullied him the very second he was born, so he was used to this.

Brown eyes shifted from the ferret to Haddie, and for a moment, he felt jealous of the fact that she's made a bond with her pet. He can never do it with his cat. He felt like Ichiro owned him, and not the other way around.

Jace tilted his head, wondering what Haddie was yapping about. Acknowledge her? Well, he isn't a rude person in the first place, so of course...even an unfriendly gaze would have been given. "Sure. You can try." he said dryly in his native tongue. Jace reached out for his bag and got himself an anpan. Not thinking twice, he offered the bread to Haddie. See? Good kid.

As soon as their mother let him and his brother go (fifty million teary kisses later) Bentley waited until the train was out of view and ditched his little brother. He had done a whole summer of Heath and there was no way...no way! He was riding the train back to Hogwarts with him. He'd deal with the guilt of ditching him later but right now....he needed to find his friends.

Bentley found a compartment at the back of the train and claimed it. Once he rested up a bit he'd go searching for his people. Right now he needed to clean his mother's lipstick off his face, as well as her tears.

After her little visit with Haddie towards the middle of the train she had continued on. It appeared that just walking back and forth through the aisle not only helped stretch her legs and pass time it also calmed Hagan down. The cat in which she was speaking of was now officially asleep cradled in her arms. A very soft snoring was coming from her pet as she rubbed the side of his head with her thumb.

Unable to do much with her hands without dropping the sleeping cat that meant her hair was now in her face. Sighing softly she blew some air out of her mouth in an attempt to get her hair from face and eyes at least. Not to easy a task but possibly manageable at least.

Serious he was only kidding and he was not THAT dumb. Yes he was. Well the slytherin dude she was talking about had to like her a little if the dude had given her flowers. Oh well what did Dante know. He knew nothing about flowers that was for sure.

"No way, you full on snogged already. Impressive, Dora. So do you like him?"

That was the most important question

Other than why did he care.

Kitty made her way over to the back of the train, her purse slung over her shoulder and a small crate frilled with soil in her hands. She was looking forward to meeting her friends on the train, but first she had to find a safe place to put her worms. At last she came to the end of the train and found a compartment with only one person, a boy who looked either her age or a little bit younger. "Hello. Mind if I join you?" Kitty sat down before waiting for an answer and immediately set her crate down on the floor and took out her small hand mirror to examine herself. Then she snapped it shut and turned to the boy sitting across from her. "I'm Kitty DuGray Valentine, but you can call me Kitty for short." The Goth girl extended her pale hand towards him to shake. "I've seen you a lot but I don't know your name."

Elsa was SO excited to be starting her second year at Hogwarts. Summer had been much more exciting than she antecipated, filled with trips to Diagon Alley and the JQC. She said her goodbyes at the platform and was quick to enter the train, pulling her trolley behind her, eager to find a familiar face in one of the compartiments.

She looked left and right as she walked, gazing into the faces, searching.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Davvy_Wavvy

As soon as their mother let him and his brother go (fifty million teary kisses later) Bentley waited until the train was out of view and ditched his little brother. He had done a whole summer of Heath and there was no way...no way! He was riding the train back to Hogwarts with him. He'd deal with the guilt of ditching him later but right now....he needed to find his friends.

Bentley found a compartment at the back of the train and claimed it. Once he rested up a bit he'd go searching for his people. Right now he needed to clean his mother's lipstick off his face, as well as her tears.

It'd been a ridiculously busy summer, okay?! Between all her summer ballet lessons, friendsie tea parties, SLEEPOVERS, trips with her family, DISNEY, and ROONEY'S BIRTHDAY, smol blonde was heartbroken to see it all ending for however many months. Sigh! Apparently, it was time to go back to Hogwarts and deal with booooring assignments and cohabitation with stuffy housemates that hated the best things in life. LIKE GLITTER. Oh, if they thought last term was bad, well, Liv Phillips had WONDERFUL NEWS for them.

Mhm, her dad had gotten her all sorts of glitters...and some were even edible. So, they were clearly about to go to SPARKLE CITY war. There was even a red container with Professor Flamsteed's name written aaaaaaall over it. Glitter Lion was definitely coming prepared this year. If she was being FORCED to do school, her own fun would be had. Besides....she and Roo also needed the sparkly stuff for their skits. So, you know, there was that, too.

Ahem, anyway!!! "I have arrived!" It was said in her best Disney!singsong voice as she sashayed into Bentley's compartment; a deceptively small tote slung over her shoulder. Mhm, you've missed me, haven't you, Moore? Admit it! It's good for your health!

...and he was not alone!! Oh, fun! THEY HAD GUESTS! Or....a guest! EITHER WAY, Liv loved to entertain.

"Hello, would you like to join us for tea?" She was already taking up residence beside her adventure!bestie, pulling things from her bag. Mhm, she'd begged and pleaded with her mum until Marilyn had agreed to place the undetectable extension charm on it. It was just...OLIVIA HAD PLANS FOR THIS TRAIN RIDE...and it was important to be able to carry things on. Yas!

Bentley looked up when he heard someone enter the compartment with him. For a split second he thought it was his brother so he was mentally preparing to kick the compartment door shut. But then he realized that it was a girl.

Oh

He eyed her and her grate before extending his hand lazily. "Bentley Moore but you can call me Ben." He flashed a dimpled smile in her direction before relaxing into his seat again.

"Oh yeah?" Made sense since they did attend the same school and he wasn't one for blending in.

"Well it seems like we've fixed that little problem."

Bentley didn't even need to look up to realize who that voice belonged to. In fact he didn't even look up. Instead the third year opened his arms for a hug without moving from his slumped position.

"Hey Livvy! I've missed your face." He eyed her as she started pulling things out of her bag...yeah..arms were still open for a hug here.

"Tea after I get a 'I missed you Bentley hug.'"

Hadley sighed. She didn't exactly understand a word of what he just said, as it was in Japanese...at least she thought it was, but by the tone of his voice and the look he was giving her, the message was clear. "Okay..." She shook her head at the offer of bread. As hungry as she might have still been, she wasn't going to take the bread from a boy that clearly didn't like her...not when there was a trolley full of chocolate frogs and such waiting.

"If that's how you feel..." There was a sudden tiredness about her and she sighed again. "You win." Hadley lifted Asher to her shoulder, and he gleefully climbed up, nuzzling her cheek a little. Together they stood and stepped over to the compartment door. It was starting to feel too confining in there anyway. But before she stepped out into the hall, Hads stopped, and turned back to Batboy. "Hey, Jace?" She asked curiously. "What did I ever do to you?" Hadley already knew the answer to that, so the question was more calculated than anything, but she was still genuinely curious to hear what the boy had to say to justify his animosity toward her.

"Hi Ben." Kitty smiled politely at him as she carefully moved her crate underneath her chair. "My worms are in there and I think they are sleeping now, so I don't want to wake them." Just in case he was wondering...

Kitty greeted the girl who just entered their compartment with another small smile. "Hello. Your name is Olivia, right?" Last year when she was dueling the other Olivia (the one in Ravenclaw) she had mixed them up, but Abby (the other Valentine) had explained that there were two different people named Olivia at Hogwarts. Kitty had never personally met this one until now. "I drank tea this morning with my mom. Do you like tea too?" Actually Kitty didn't really like or dislike the flavor of tea, but she drank it out of habit.

Kitty watched with interest as Ben opened his arms for a hug. Were they boyfriend and girlfriend?

With her perfect, blonde curls dangling below her shoulders, Rhian made her way to the back of the train, because she figured that would be the emptiest. But it seemed like everyone else was thinking the same thing as it was pretty full already. She bit her lip and hovered in the corridor for a moment, wondering what the HECK to do with her life, but held her head up and pushed through until she found an empty compartment. It didn't take too long.

After resting her things neatly by her side, (so no one could sit in her ZONE), Rhian sat up straight, looked up, down, around, until her gaze finally decided on staring out of the window. She eyed every passerby from head to toe. Making assessments.

Carl laughed - it was exactly what he had been thinking of when he was looking for a compartment! "I was thinking the exact same thing! That is why I decided to sit somewhere with somebody I know." He grinned and wondered if more friends were going to join them. It would be cool if the compartment was filled with people.

The Hufflepuff made himself comfortable in his seat. "My summer was pretty cool. I got to hang out with my Muggle friends, went shopping in Diagon Alley and ooh, there was a Hufflepuff recording event, that was fun. How was your summer?" His holiday was not exactly packed with adventures, but he liked spending time with his family and friends. Hopefully next year, he would have a chance to travel to exotic places.

He looked up when the compartment door slid open again and a blonde girl peered in. "Hiya! Sure, it's okay. Take a seat." He said with a glance at Ariadne. She didn't mind, right? "I'm Carl." He smiled.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Davvy_Wavvy

Bentley didn't even need to look up to realize who that voice belonged to. In fact he didn't even look up. Instead the third year opened his arms for a hug without moving from his slumped position.

"Hey Livvy! I've missed your face." He eyed her as she started pulling things out of her bag...yeah..arms were still open for a hug here.

"Tea after I get a 'I missed you Bentley hug.'"

Duh! "Of course, you have...and I've definitely missed yours, too." Also, yes, Ben, your outstretched arms were dully noted. In fact, she'd already leaned into him for snuggles, giving his cheek eskimo kisses...which were NOT to be confused with REAL KISSES. Nope, these were of the nose!rubbing variety. In Liv's opinion, they were much more special, anyway. NOT NEARLY AS DISGUSTING, EITHER. "I mean, obviously, I should fuss at you for not being more available to me this summer, but I've decided to forgive you." Mhm, and she was already continuing to remove things from her bag. Two thermos', containers with cookies, biscuits, and homemade chocolates, several tea cups, spoons.......etc, etc, etc.

OH, and this girl knew her name! The Glitter Lion was hardcore preening at this point. "Yes, that is my name.....but I'm only called that when I'm in trouble."...which was often, let's be honest here. "You may call me Liv." The blonde gestured to her collection of things; a bright, happy, BEAMING smile on her small face. "I've decided to start a "tea party" Hoggie Express tradition. For funsies!"

"Because I adore tea....and pretty much all things involved in tea parties." Mhm, she was going to be a wonderful hostess someday! There would be fabulous afternoon teas, with the best pastries and tastiest tea. Everyone would be invited, too! IT WAS ONE OF HER DREAMS, ahem.

...but also..."Do you require more attention or will you partake now?" She grinned at her friend. Boys were so funny sometimes.

At that point, Jace didn’t feel insulted when the offer was turned down. He did expect Haddie to be a drama queen anyway, so everything that happened after his offer was not surprising at all. What made Jace taken aback was the fact that she’s already waving the white flag. Drawing his hand back, and placing the anpan on his lap, Jace wondered if this was Haddie’s way of...opening up to someone to be their friend? If so, then Jace is too sensitive for her. From where he came from, everyone is polite...and ever careful with the words they say. Haddie is the extreme opposite. No wonder he didn’t like her from the get-go.

Pushing himself back to the very corner of the compartment, Jace somehow felt bad for her. What if she doesn’t have many friends? Okay, definitely she does have a plethora of friends out there...but how many of them is true to her?

Blinking, Jace looked at the Ravenclaw second year who was about to leave...and considered her question. What did she ever do to him? Jace simply shrugged, and muttered the word, “Nothing.” She hadn’t been very clear with her question, and the half-Japanese boy took it in the most literal way possible.

Wishing that the train ride is over, Jace sighed as he picked up the wrapped bread from Japan and stretched out his legs on the length of the compartment seat. Wiggling his toes in his socked feet, he unwrapped the sweet bread and began to munch on it. There’s no way he’d be able to nap with a grumbling tummy anyway.

Did he hear right? Did she just say that her worms were in that crate? Hmmmm...he'd seen pet spiders, pet snails, pet snakes and even a pet rock but he had never seen pet worms. He tried to hide the fact that he found with very good by offering the girl a smile and a nod. "Got it...your worms are..sleeping. We'll try not to wake them up?"

Hugs and snugs from Livvy. Bentley beamed and coiled a little bit of her golden locks around his finger for a short time.

"You obviously can't fuss at me Livvy. You were the one completely booked out for the whole summer." Was he right or was he right? Not that he didn't have a busy summer too, what with his friends over and all, plus the party and the new Bellaire babies.

He leaned back again and even put a foot up while casually listening to the conversation between the two girls.

"I suppose a little tea doesn't hurt. Right Kitty?" He turned his attention to the other girl and flashed her a smile.

"Thank you, I appreciate it," said Kitty to Ben's promise of trying not to wake up her worms. "We probably couldn't wake them just by talking, but I don't them to be bumped or anything."

"It's nice to meet you Liv," said Kitty smiling, unsure if she should extend her hand since Liv seemed preoccupied at the moment. "My name is Kitty Valentine, but you can call me Kitty. Are you guys dating?" Sincere question.

"And sure, I'd love to have tea with you two," Just then Kitty caught sight of someone (Elsa) passing their compartment looking for a place to sit. "Do you mind if I invite a fourth person into our compartment? I think she would like tea too."

So there Tenacius was, just cruisin along, his loot from the Trolley stuffed in his pockets to bursting. He was just unwrapping a delectable chocolate frog--

-- then it decided to make like a prison break and leaped out of his hands!

"Oi! Come back here!!" he yelled after it, stumbling out of his cruiser as he desperately tried to catch it. He saw the frog enter a compartment and the Gryffindor burst into it, only minimally aware at who was inside "Catch that frog!!" he bellowed as he flung himself against furniture, trying to body slam the confectionery criminal.

So...he was in the habit of hating people for no reason at all? That was good to know. Part of her wanted to point that out to him, and a few months ago, she probably would have. But the Hadley of today didn't really see the point of doing so. Oh, she had an inkling as to why Jace hated her long before they had even said two words to each other. The same reason Mossy and others in the Ravenclaw tower didn't like her.

The reason her shirt was meant to illustrate. She was not now, nor would she ever be, a true blue Ravenclaw. The sorting hat might have put her in that house, but it wasn't her house, and it was never going to be. And Jace and the others were like every other superficial kid she'd ever gone to school with. If you didn't fit in, didn't conform to them, you were automatically an outcast. Someone only worthy of disdain and contempt. She might be stuck in that house, with them, but that didn't mean she couldn't point out where she really belonged as much as her heart desired.

But... when did she start caring so much what Jace and the others thought? It plagued her for a second before she realized she was still in the cabin with Jace. "Okay," Hads said, giving the boy a shrug that Asher seemed to find enjoyable. "Just as long as we got that cleared up. See ya around...Batboy." Then she was gone; stepping out into the hall and walking off so quickly that if Jace had blinked it might have appeared as if she'd just vanished into thin air.

Maddie didn't think uni would be too bad, if that's the road Dot decided to take. She could study fashion and dance, the two things she loved. Still, she liked the renewed fire her rejection had given her and the brunette wanted Dot to use it and prove those daft folks on the WADA admissions board wrong. She knew the red head could.

"That's become a regular things with the boys in our lives lately, it seems." But she had yet to experience it with Kyroh. "Weird how?" She'd need more details, yeah?

Kye was surprised that both of her parents had made time to take her to King's Cross Station. They were usually caught up in this or that, not to mention they were a long way from home. Going to London on the way to Hogwarts was like taking the Floo network somewhere to use their Floo to get to your neighbor's house... Did that make sense? Kye didn't know anymore, but she had been up for quite some hours now and had in fact taken the Floo Network to a family member's house who lived much closer to the Station.

Kye had everything packed in the back of one of the cars... except for her kitten. Heck no was she going anywhere without her kitten. She said her goodbyes to her parents, who then started talking to other parents on Platform 9 3/4. Who they were, Kye didn't know. Old friends perhaps?

Kye entered the Hogwarts Express and her eyebrows went up. Goodness, these people were all older than she up here in the front. Everyone seemed to tower over her. She slipped through the growing crowd and made her way back. The students seemed to be getting younger as she went back, and she remembered the girls she had met in Diagon Alley. Oh how she hoped to run into them.

Finally she had made her way to almost the very back of the train, and by chance had looked back to see if there was an empty compartment when she noticed none other than Ariadne sitting in a compartment (with others around their age at least!). Sighing with relief, she knocked on the compartment door and tried to make eye contact with each of the three in there.

"Hello, mind if I join?..." and directing her attention back to Ariadne she asked her, "Remember me, Ariadne?"

As was usual on train rides to Hogwarts, Esme felt the need to get out of her compartment for a little while and check up on her friends. Some of them she hadn't seen in a few weeks, and others she hadn't seen since the end of term. That meant a lot of catching up and this was the perfect opportunity for it since the feast could make discussion a little difficult because food.

Peeking into one of the windows, she spotted a rather sad looking Azura. Okay, something had DEFINITELY happened and whatever it was had been really BAD. Frowning, Esme slid open the compartment door and gingerly stepped inside. It was hard to comfort people who were upset and she had no idea if her friend even WANTED comfort; some people preferred to be left alone to deal with whatever was wrong. She would see for herself soon enough..

"Azura?"

Dot pointed her foot again and admired her bootie, although mostly she was just trying very hard not to think about how she needed to get to the prefect compartment. And soon. It wasn't really optional to blow it off completely, even if it was unlikely anyone would even care.

"He showed up after I heard from WADA and tried to cheer me up, but it felt a little too much like old times. He must have thought so too, because now he's avoiding me. I feel like I have to work too hard to keep being friends with him, when all he wants to do is walk away." She shouldn't have to convince people to keep her in their lives.

As the slytherin was busy exploring the train because why not? I mean it was boring in here just staring at the windows watching the field pass by. He needed something to do. He was going towards the back because he was never around here. He was looking through the compartments when he saw a familiar face. He had to do a double take. He squinted and saw Hady. Wait a minute little Hady has all grown up. He stood there wide eyed and then shook himself out of it.

He opened the door and cleared his throat. Smooth Colt smooth. "Hey Hady.." he greeted her with. He saw she was with a companion. He nodded towards the cat. "What's its name..?" he asked. He couldn't stop staring at her because she did a lot of growing up during the summer that is for sure.

Ariadne had just gotten the words out her mouth and was awaiting a reply from Carl, when the compartment door slid open. Her brown eyes flickered from Carl to the door, and she was surprised to see a blonde-headed girl she'd never seen before. Must be a new first year, which was cool, because that meant the girl was about Ariadne's age! Ariadne nodded in reply and scooted over. "Yeah, sure. It's cool. It's just the two of us anyway," she replied. "I'm Ariadne Greingoth." She would say Carl's name, but she figured he kind of wanted to do that.

"A Hufflepuff recording event?" she commented, turning her attention back to Carl. "That sounds cool! What was that all about?" She wanted to hear all the details! "What'd you record?" Hanging out with Muggle friends also sounded cool, although, Ariadne didn't have any of those kind friends. Her family was Pureblood, and since they'd always lived in a Wizarding village she hadn't had much exposure to the Muggles. "My summer was good. We didn't go anywhere special. There were some Quidditch matches my sister was in, but that was all. I was just happy to be back at home with my mom and dad."

There was a sound at the door again, causing Ariadne to divert her attention to it once again. Wow. The compartment was HOPPING. This was awesome! She was glad she didn't have to worry about riding alone. Ariadne looked carefully at the girl asking if she remembered her. Ohh...SHE DID! "Flourish and Blott's!" ... "Kye, right? Of course I remember you. Come on in!" she replied. "This is Carl and..." ...a new girl she didn't even know yet. She looked at the new girl, realizing she hadn't yet mentioned her name.