Skylar had seen it before she went down to the feast... but it wasn't until after the feast, or well, the morning actually, where she unfurled the parchment that was on her pillow. A handwriting that was all too familiar and as she'd read it, she could feel emotions filling herself up. What were these feelings anyway? She hadn't eaten breakfast, or lunch for the matter, and as she boarded the train headed first for the Prefect's Compartment, she fell short and found herself in an empty one near the front. She couldn't bare to see her fellow student leaders; not the way she was feeling. She just wanted to be alone. Alone with her thoughts, which was dangerous as she reached into her robe pocket to feel the parchment on which the words could replay in her memory without even reading it.

Always be my girl

The only girl I ever loved in a serious way

What were those things supposed to mean? And why had he conveniently decided to write such things the day before he leaves Hogwarts, leaves her? Why now? After eighteen months of nothing? Yes, a part of her still loved him, which was why the words on the page stung way more than it should have, but it was just ...... Irritating. How could she have let him get to her? How did she become so vulnerable to not one, but two guys? She was strong. She was fierce. And right now she felt weak and helpless. Was it wrong of her to just want her mother?

Maddie Kemp darted down the corridors as if she was on a mission. And she was. Her chocolate frog had gotten away from her, and she was bound and determined to get it back. "Come back, Hengist of Woodcroft!" she called out, still clutching the chocolate frog card in her hand.

MERLIN. She'd wanted that thing, too!

With a huge sigh that blew up the bangs of her hair, Maddie paused to catch her breath. "Fine then!" she called out. "Roam free! See if I care!" Ohhhh, how she cared! All that chocolatey goodness gone to waste. So annoyed that she didn't pay much attention as to which compartment door she was swinging open, Maddie entered the compartment of one SKYLAR DIGGORY.

"Prefect Diggory! Have you seen a runaway frog?" she asked.

She heard the noise of one of the younger kids before she saw them and honestly?! Skylar didn't think much of it until the kid decided to show up into her compartment?

And maybe it was the high energy contrasting with her melodramatic mood right now. Or the fact that she was running out of time to make a decision... or the fact that the girl was looking for something as trivial as a frog... or that she called her PREFECT. But the rising seventh year pretty much snapped in the worst way.

"Captain Diggory." She corrected, irritated at the second year whom she recognized as Maddie Kemp, even though she did nothing wrong "And no. I wasn't looking for one either."

Daisy made her way to the front of the train and spotted Skylar snapping at Maddie, a fellow Hufflepuff. "Is everything okay?" she asked, directing her question more towards the Slytherin. Daisy adjusted her bracelet as she stood in the doorway, debating in her mind if she should sit in the same compartment as Skylar.

Empty compartments were few and far between, so when he found one that was unoccupied, Max was quick to dart in and claim it. He took the seat next to the window and promptly set his rucksack down right beside him. That way, if someone decided they wanted to sit in here too at least they didn't have to sit next to him.

He spent the next few minutes rummaging in his rucksack until he found what he'd been looking for. A comic book and a large bar of Honeydukes finest chocolate.

Yep, he was all set for this journey!

She was looking for someone to sit with and she wasn't sure who, that was until she noticed him.

"Oh Max, is anyone sitting with you?" She hoped maybe they weren't because she kind of wanted to speak to him alone and maybe see what he was doing this summer and things like that.

Stepping into the compartment more she grinned, "What are you reading?" Though by the looks of it, she figured it was something she had never read, but she'd find something for them to talk about even if it killed her.

Peace and quiet, a massive bar of chocolate, the countryside rolling by outside and his comic book. The journey so far was going pretty well. That was until he heard the door sliding open.

He looked up to see it was Zita and uncharacteristically thought some company might not be so bad after all. "No, go ahead," he said with a small smile, nodding to the seat opposite him.

The smile faltered a little when she mentioned his comic and he quickly folded it shut. "Oh uhhh, it's nothing really. Just a comic." An AWESOME comic book about killer flobberworms but he doubted she'd find that cool.

Dorian chewed on the pen cap stuck on the end of his muggle pen as he looked down at his lap. A word search puzzle book lay open and his blue eyes searched for the words he still had to find. It was funny how he found words that wasn't on the list but not the ones he had to find.

The Ravenclaw sighed and looked out of the window to see the scenery for a moment. The train had left not long ago so the view was still mountains and forests and the boy sat there, looking and taking in the beauty of nature before he'd be in the city. Usually when he looked away and back to his puzzle book, he'd find a word but as he did none of them popped up.

Still chewing on the end of the pen as he searched, time past, probably a couple of minutes. "Oh!" he exclaimed as he found a word and started to cross it out. Just 3 more!

He didn't mind she was going to come in and sit with him, which made her smile a little more. She took a seat on the opposite side of him and watched him roll up the comic, "Oh Max don't put it away because of me, it's okay. I haven't ever read one, but they seem interesting enough. Liam had me watch a superhero movie before. Thor was very cute." She couldn't help but laugh a little remembering how cute she thought he was.


"Though I could say you were my superhero at that crazy little town." He really was brilliant doing the shield and protecting them. She wondered if he knew how sweet he was and how helpful.


Pulling out her own candy she offered him a sugar quill, "Are you into just wizard comics or muggle as well?"

He perked up some more when Zita claimed to have watched a superhero movie and couldn't help the chuckle that escaped when she called Thor cute. Not exactly how he'd describe the superhero, but okay.

"I don't think I can be put in the same category as the norse God of Thunder," he mumbled somewhat shyly, feeling the tips of his ears turn their trademark tinge of light pink. She was just being nice. Despite what he'd heard the other kids say about her, Zita had always been nice. To him, at least. "And anyway, it was the least I could do considering how many lessons you saved my butt in this term. Especially that stupid flying class."

He leaned forward to accept one of the sugar quills she had on offer and grinned. "I like both," he said in answer to her question. He couldn't choose a favourite though, that was too tough. "I'd love to write my own comic but I can't draw very well." Not at all, actually.

Oh. OOOPS.

"Sorry! Captain Diggory! Soooo sorry!" she said. How can she get a badge-wearing prefect mixed up with the captain of a sports team? She should probably get out more. *ahem*

Well, it was obvious the chocolate frog hadn't come into this compartment, and Maddie didn't know whether to feel bad or get annoyed over the captain's reply. "Okay, well...ummm, thanks anyway!" she decided to say. She started to turn on her heels and head off, when Daisy suddenly appeared and directed her attention toward Skylar.

Ohhh, something was wrong with the older girl? Maddie suddenly felt really bad and turned back to Skylar. Now that she thought about it, the girl did look pretty upset. Double OOPS.

Flynn had gotten out of his robes and into something comfier, aka a graphic tee and a pair of faded jeans. He was still wearing his Prefect badge on his shirt so people knew he had authority in case they forgot, y'know.

He was strolling down the corridor, actively looking for Miss Olivia Phillips, when he came across the compartment that had Skylar in it. He also saw two other girls (Daisy and Maddie) outside the compartment - both of which he remembered to be Hufflepuff? He did not know the name of either one of them, but he remembered the blonde one being extremely loud. The thought of her voice was already giving him a headache, and she hadn't even spoken directly to him yet.

He glanced into the compartment and noticed how mad Skylar was. Or was she upset? The emotions of a girl confused him at times. "'Ey," he made his presence known now. "Don't you two have other badgers you can bother?" Meaning: they had about 0.02 seconds to leave Diggory alone before he started asserting his authority and friendship with the Captain upon them.

At the sound of a certain Slytherin Prefect's voice, Daisy rounded on him, her dark eyes glowering in anger but her tone showed none of that anger. "Skylar is a friend and seeing her upset and snapping at Maddie like that felt odd so I was showing my concern. If Skylar doesn't want Maddie and me in the same compartment as her, she is perfectly capable of saying so herself."

Okay, the absolutely LAST thing that Skylar wanted was a compartment full of people. This was pretty much why she was avoiding the Prefect's Compartment. She would write Olivia and Tenacius and Etta an apology later, wishing them the best of luck and maybe even arrange to see them before they all headed off to their next great adventures.

But apparently not, because the rather persistent Hufflepuff from the library was now at the doorway, asking if everything was okay. Honestly, could she just see that NO, everything was NOT okay??

But before she could answer, the other girl (Maddie) was apologizing for the title mixup and then just starting turn back around because no frog here. And then Flynn showed up, which was about the last person she expected to see or defend her, considering they hadn't really been seeing eye-to-eye this past year. Or past two years. But he was somehow still one of her best friends and it seemed it was showing just now; it seemed everything from the past two years had just faded away and he would still protect her.

And Daisy was talking again. Way too loudly (which wasn't that loudly) but it was loud enough for the sixteen year old's emotions to handle.

"Well thank you for concern and no. Everything is obviously not okay. But it's nothing I'm talking about with you." Okay, harsh, maybe, but the girl was only thirteen, fourteen? She didn't need to subject her to those kinds of talks. She had Hattie and Vivian and Kye... even Flynn. So basically, they should listen to Flynn, before she said some more hurtful things or decided to use THEM as her Kleenex.

Daisy was now barely controlling her temper. It seemed that Skylar had forgotten that Daisy almost carried her to the Hospital Wing. "I am sorry for showing concern just like I did when you decided to scoff the laced cookies. I am so sick of certain Slytherins here thinking you can treat Hufflepuffs especially me and Maddie like rubbish!"

Daisy furiously turned away and started to head for another seat on the train.

Zita didn't mean to but she couldn't help feeling her own cheeks blush as he chuckled when she called Thor cute. She didn't know why it was funny, but maybe because he was a guy or something. Maybe Black Widow was more his type. She started wondering if she could pull off a black widow costume for Halloween before her focus went back to the boy in front of her.

"I don't know about that. Thor has a hammer that helps his power to help people, you have your wand. I see similarities." The smile on her face wasn't leaving and grew as she glanced over at him. Now it was her time to chuckle. "I didn't do much and I probably got you more on the bad side of professors than not." She just stood up to what she believed in unless it made her image look bad then she would fake sick if she didn't want to do something. Though after this term she wasn't even sure what image she had or cared to have any more.

His own comic books, now that was interesting. She sucked on her sugar quill and listened. "I bet you could learn, there are loads of art people around school, or do some lessons. Though not everyone does their own drawings, right? I mean that's what Author and Illustrator is for. So you could maybe be the author of the comic and someone else be the illustrator." That could always be an option. "Have you tried to write at all?"

Homeee. She would be home sooon. And she was so excited. The summer was going to be so good. And it was going to be her last proper summer before she graduated and had to start working. So she was going to enjoy it. But now, she was going to enjoy her train ride home. The blonde was wondering down the corridor, near the front cars. She was looking for her friends to sit with, especially Sky. They'd had a pretty interesting year, and she wanted to start enjoying summer with her. Sky was her oldest friend, so it made sense. She looked up, frowning as she heard a commotion. Oh. She could see Maddie and Daisy, her fellow puffs, at the edge of a compartment. Was something the matter?

She sighed, walking up to where they are. "Daisy..." She began, before she noticed who was there too. Flynn and Sky. Two of her best friends. She smiled, waving at them. "Hi guys...." This worked out well. Now hopefully she could spend time with them too. but now she needed to sort out this situation first.

"Honestly Daisy.... Slytherin's aren't as bad as you make out. These two are my best friends, and I'm a hufflepuff. So trust me..... they don't hate us" She mused with a smile. "They can just be a bit grouchy some times" She teased, grinning at her friends, before her features softened into a smile as she looked at her fellow house mates.

"Now....let's all be friends, and enjoy our train ride home!"

But Daisy appeared to already be walking off, so maybe that was a little moot. Oh well. Maybe now she could have some bestie time with Sky?

Thor had a hammer and he had a wand. That was probably where the similarities stopped. Thor was big and strong and Max... Well, he still hadn't had a proper growth spurt and was kinda weedy compared to the other boys his age. Still, it wasn't every day that you had a pretty girl compare you to a superhero though and the fifteen year old sat up a little more proudly.

"I don't mind being on the bad side of Baldvinsson," he admitted wryly. "But you were awesome in Ancient Runes. I reckon you'd be a good cursebreaker. Hey, if I'm Thor you can be Lara Croft! Have you ever heard of her? She's really cool."

He chewed on the end of his own sugar quill while considering her next words. He hadn't really thought about having someone else draw his ideas, but it made sense. He wasn't sure how he would feel about sharing his ideas with someone else though. "I have a few ideas but I haven't actually written anything yet," he answered with a little shrug of his shoulders. "I don't have any summer plans so maybe I'll do that. What are you gonna do with your summer?" He realised they'd been talking about him a lot and Louis had told him girls liked boys who listened to them, so...

She sucked on her sugar quill more and glanced out the window for a moment. She really didn't mind blushing, but when she was trying to act calm and just normal and the blush happened it wasn't something she felt needed. The last thing she wanted to do was scare him off or something. She knew what people said about her and she did care whether she didn't want to or not. Part of her wondered how he really felt about her, but she didn't want to ask.

She couldn't help but giggle when he said he didn't mind being on his bad side. "I wouldn't have even been there if it wasn't for Divination, I really hope they never do that again. How rude of them to think we all fly." Maybe next time she would just skip that all together. "Oh, I think it might have been a lucky guess, I'm not that great at Runes." He was complimenting her though about something she actually didn't have much confidence in and that made her felt good. It wasn't about her looks, it had been about school, something she never tried her best at on most days.

A curse breaker, she had never thought about that. Could she really do something like that? "I've never thought of that, I mean I've always assumed I'd just end up being a model or something with my dad's company. Though what I really want to do is design hair accessories and jewelry." Though she couldn't help but now think if she could really do something like that. Giving a curious look she thought for a moment going through people in that movie, "She wasn't in that movie, who is she?"

Summer was a good time to work on things, "Can I read it if you do? I would love to see what you make." If he created a super hero she thought it could be a good one, "Oh, no, I don't have too many plans other than I was picked to participate in the Miss Teen Wizard Pageant. So I have that." Giving her sugar quill another lick she gave a small smile, "I have a pool and stuff, so I'll be swimming a lot if you would want to come over... I mean you can to swim or maybe we could go out for dinner or hangout or something." Did he want to do that, maybe he didn't and she just messed up and put a foot in her mouth.

He raised his eyebrow when Zita claimed her Ancient Runes skills had just been 'luck.' Nope, he wasn't buying it! "Don't be silly," he started shaking his head quickly. "It definitely didn't look like luck to me. Maybe you're just a natural." The head shaking had made his glasses wonky and he hastily moved to adjust them.

She'd never heard of Lara Croft!?

"Oh, she's super cool. She explores ancient ruins and finds rare treasures. But she's really smart because she has to avoid booby traps and she's really strong and really pretty and..." Breathe, Max. He took a breath and grinned sheepishly. Nerd alert much? "Maybe you could combine them? You could find rare treasures and then use them to make jewelry!"

He finally finished his sugar quill while taking a moment to consider her request. Was she really interested in seeing his comic book creation? Or was she just trying to be nice? She certainly seemed genuine enough. "If I come up with anything, I promise I'll let you see," he finally decided. It'd be good to have a second opinion after all, right?

He listened intently when she spoke about her summer, making sure to nod in all the right places just like his older brother had advised. Miss Teen Wizard Pageant? He didn't even know that was a thing. Before he had a chance to wish her luck though... Was she inviting him over? To her house? The tips of his ears burned pinker and suddenly Max felt himself nodding. "Okay. Okay yeah. I'm not a very good swimmer but I do like eating." ... And now he felt like an idiot because what a stupid thing to say. Doh!

Hogwarts never really ran out of drama. This was something Vivian learned from her almost seven years as a student.

Once the prefects' compartment became a bit too suffocating from the number of visitors Ace loudly invited, the Slytherin found herself stealing a sandwich and a cupcake before turning around to vacate the area. Despite holding a feast at their exclusive compartment wasn't something this blond would do, she'd forgive Ace for that, though, since the older prefect was a graduate now. At long last, right? Seven years in school was a great accomplishment, indeed.

Free from the crowd, Vivian made her way down the corridor and peeked around for any sight of her friends with space in their compartment. The task, really, wasn't that hard to accomplish when she found most of her friends huddled around a compartment. Phew, luck. She was just about to join then when the young puffer, Daisy, exited. That... didn't look good. "Whoa. Uh, hi," the prefect said, her eyebrow raised.

So much anger in such a small kid.

As for the other young girl (Maddie), whom Vivian didn't know by name but has definitely seen her around, the prefect offered a small smile. "Hello," the blond said to everyone in particular--Skylar, Coleslaw, Hattie. She took a moment to observe things and realise the growing tension in this compartment. There wasn't enough room.

.... Huh. "Anything a cupcake can fix?" Vivian asked, her eyes falling expectantly at Skylar, who surely didn't look too well for obvious reasons that the blond knew, of course. She had seen it.

She was blushing more and really had no control over it. Many classes she would fake how much she really knew not wanting to look like a nerd or show how smart she was, but in Runes she really did feel lost and not at all smart, so the thought of him thinking she was a natural, really? Could she be? "Well thanks, it's nice to hear even if I'm not fully sure that I am. I get lost with all the runes and stuff." She pushed hair behind her ear and glanced down to look at her hands a little more shyly then she would usually act.

Her eyes went back to him though as he explained this new character and Z couldn't help but feel amazed, "Wow that sounds cool. Are their movies of her or just comics? I might need to learn more about her." She felt the blush stay on her cheeks as he went on and on about this character, calling her pretty and stuff. Did Max think she was pretty too and maybe that was why he was saying it or just because of the Runes? This thought made her mind wander for a moment, but soon she was back to his words. A thought crossed her mind and she smiled, "Maybe next Halloween you can be Thor and I can be here." That would be fun and entertaining, wouldn't it? Though what if the costume would be not cute, what would she do then? She could make anything look good if she tried, so she would figure it out.


Combine the two, that was an option that she would have to think about. "That could make me really famous, finding rare stones to use." Would she be allowed to use them if they were rare enough or would they be forced into museums and things. When he said she could read the comic Z felt the excitement to see it, "I can't wait but no pressure, I mean enjoy your summer if you don't get it done it's okay." She wasn't forcing him or anything. "I just think it's really neat to hear about other people's passions, you know, like comic writing, it's not just Quidditch player or Potion, like so many seem to like." She knew there were many other things but it seemed so many enjoyed these the most.

"I mean if you don't want to come over that's okay too. I was just thinking it could be fun to get to hang out with you more and you know spend time together..." Now it as her time to breath and calm a little, why was she nervous. It was 2095 girls asked guys out all the time, but what if he didn't like her or what if all the things about her got around and it was pointless to even be doing this. Could she take it all back, forget it all was asked, where was a memory charm when she needed it. "We don't have to swim or I could help you, I mean we could even just go somewhere not my house like a date or well not a date, or... "

Really she should just stop right now and leave. Her flight instinct was truly there and she didn't know why she couldn't bring on the wall that she kept herself hidden behind as she acted like nothing bothered her and could just go on snogging boys, she joked about snogging Max before but she never actually did it, she always just chickened out when she thought about doing it and she never figured out why.

The pink tinge to her cheeks definitely had gone unnoticed. And honestly, if anything, it made Max feel a little better. A little more confident. He wasn't normally great at talking to girls and he had heard the other kids say stuff about Zita that sometimes made her seem kind of scary. But her pink cheeks were proof she wasn't totally scary. She was a person too.

"Her character started out as a muggle video game," he grinned, happy that she seemed interested and hadn't upped and left thanks to his minor nerd out. "But she's so cool she had movies and comics made about her too. I probably have some comics I could lend you... If you want?" Or maybe that was a step too far? He chewed his lower lip shyly but only for a moment because her next words had him cracking into a smile again.

"I'll definitely have to lend you some so that you can get inspiration for Halloween! You'd look great as Lara." His teenage boy brain suddenly pictured Zita dressed as the fictional archaeologist and the blush that ensued probably could've broke records. He momentarily glanced out of the window again, watching the countryside zoom past as he willed his cheeks to cool down.

She thought it was really neat to hear about people's passions? Max had no idea where her bad reputation had come from, but clearly, everyone was mistaken. The Zita he was chatting to right now was actually all kinds of awesome. And she wanted to hang out with him during the summer holidays. She wanted to spend time with him Maxton Carden the unpopular, antisocial nerdy kid who had never been invited to anyone's house let alone a girl's.

He chose his next word's carefully, not wanting to mess things up and ruin his chances. His brother's advise when it came to girls had been to just be himself and that's what he was trying to do. "It'd be nice to visit you over the holidays definitely. I can bring the Lara Croft comics then if you want?" You know, so she could get inspiration for her future Halloween costume! "And swimming and eating sounds good but as long as it's in that order because I read somewhere once that eating and then swimming can give you cramps. And I'm not a very strong swimmer so if I got a cramp I could drown and that would be embarrassing..." And what was this rambling?

She really needed to learn more about muggle stuff, she knew it enough, but some things were still a bit of a mystery, "Video games, do you have those are your house?" She knew many people that did and maybe she should see about learning more of them, but they always seemed a bit boring to her. This superhero or girl seemed very interesting and Zita was hanging on his words, so she started to notice the pink in his cheeks. That was cute, did he know? She smiled and nodded, "yea I would love to borrow some if you don't mind. I'll give them back I promise." Knowing some people were a bit more possessive of their things, her included than others she made sure to promise to give things back.

"You didn't say you would be Thor you know." A playful grin crossed her lips as she called him out on ignoring her request of him being a superhero. "I think you would make a very good Thor." Taking a piece of her hair and wrapping it around her finger she watched him for a moment, "What does she wear, I mean is it cute?" That was still on her mind, though it wasn't a top priority at the moment, they had plenty of time before next Halloween and she wasn't going to rush summer.

She started to wonder why Max hadn't come to her pool party last summer but if he didn't like to swim that was probably the reason and then she thought about everything that went on at the party and the kiss with James and then this term and maybe it was good that Max hadn't been there. She actually started to feel like this was a lost cause if he had heard any of those stories, but Max wasn't telling her to leave and they were friends or at least she thought they were friends, so maybe it didn't matter who she had snogged and what others thought.

That thought seemed right as he seemed to want to come over and hang out with her this summer. "Yes that would be great if you brought them over. If you have the movie we could watch it and stuff too. I mean I have a TV and stuff." He was talking about eating and swimming and then about being embarrassed, Z couldn't help but chuckle a little, "You don't have to worry about that at all. I'm a great swimmer, I love to be in the water, I wouldn't let you drawn, but we can swim and then eat if you want. I mean we don't ahve to swim at all if you don't want." He was going to come over and Zita was excited about this. Andi would be there like every day, Soyara was going to be around a lot, and many of her other friends, but having Max coming over certainly made her feel a bit a butterflies or something in her stomach. She'd make sure the house was clean and stuff before he came over.