Reese gave Quinn a little grin and a nod in silent thanks for her dropping the cruddy nickname she'd bestowed upon him.. She was bad at all... Just a little rough around the edges.. A real careful how ya carry it.. For your own safety kinda girl.

Then he looked over at Oli as she began to speak.. He gave her a smile.. A flat one.. He could tell she felt completely out of place.. " Ya know... I don't remember seeing ya around at the parks around Diagon Alley.. Where did ya grow up? ", he asked bluntly.. He hadn't meant for it to sound quite as rude as it had sounded, but he just was trying to learn all he could about his train companions.. " Our mum was a Ravenclaw too.. They've got a brilliant view of the grounds I reckon.. "

Can totally tell that Rylee isn't at all happy with him and by loos of it she seemed hurt by his proclamation of not worrying too much about which house he's got sorted into.. Not to mention the fact that he wasn't really keen on trying out for quidditch.. At least not right now... He had a castle to explore and classes to ace.. He just wanted to be sure he'd have a good foundation to build on at school is all.. " Don't be mad at me, Sis.. Please?.. I'll explain everything when we get there and have a moment to talk.. M'kay?"

" Wicked!.. I'd like that.. We could all team up when there's group things to do too!", Reese exclaimed when Beth agreed they could pair off for lessons and things.. He liked her cheeky sense of humor.. And she really did have a great smile.. He could see the beginnings of a brilliant friendship as they spoke and interacted..

AND... BLINK BLINK BLINK!!! Say what now?!!!

" Not her name?!... As in ya made it up? You're bloody pullin' me leg! ", Reese said as he looked to Quinn for an explanation about the whole Schmebulock thing and how in the bloody blazes it became a thing to trick people with.. It was the most BRILLIANT prank ever!!!

"Quinnlin, actually," she confirmed. "But Quinn for short." And only Quinn; not everyone had the immunity that Beth did against retaliation for undesired nicknames.

Now Quinn let the smile spread clearly across her face, but even that was more of a calculated decision than anything else. Still there was warmth to it, and oh so much pride. "Yes, we made it up," she beamed. "It's kinda our thing." She gave Reese a shrug.

It's not like it was all made up. Her parents really were awful enough to saddle her with such a name if it was fashionable enough. Her whole family was. One of her Grandmothers had the unfortunate name of Talulah, which Quinn had inherited as one of her two middle names. The key to any good story, or lie, or performance was knowing how best to use the truth.

"It's what I wish to do," Quinn, rather uncharacteristically, shared. "I want to write fiction." Or possibly act. Judging by Reese's surprise, her performance was quite possibly good enough for that. She didn't share that bit though. Wanting to be an actress was a bit of a cliche, and Quinn was definitely NOT a cliche.

Oh, the Boy's mum was a Ravenclaw? "Is it true the Ravenclaw common room has its own private library?" She had heard that, and that alone made being sorted into Ravenclaw as appealing as Slytherin. Maybe she could find a way to sneak into the Eagle's nest and copy all their books to her own.

She looked at Oli as well, as the girl had also mentioned her mum being a Ravenclaw.

She did not look to Rylee, however. Out of the two siblings, Quinn much preferred not to hear from the Girl.

Quinn watched the countryside sweep past silently for a bit. Were they close to the school yet? She was eager to get all that feast stuff out of the way so she could find the place in the castle with the best acoustics and see how her amazing her violin sounds.

"M' not mad. There's nothing to explain." Oh, no. Rylee wasn't mad at him, he could feel however he wanted to feel. She smiled softly crossing her ankles letting her feet swing back and forth as she tapped her fingers against her knee to some unknown beat for several moments.

With a light smile, Ry passed Beth one of her sugar quills before she put the rest away. "You're welcome." Her cousin had been in Gryffindor. Okay. "It is." They had an awesome Head of House and some serious epic things to do in their common room. Video games and a rock climbing wall. Yeah, she was definitely all for that. Not that any of them needed to know what happened there. The girls reply about her captain's abilities received a simple nod from her and nothing more. There was no point in continuing the conversation if they weren't into it.

Mm. So they Beth and Quinn had made up that fake name and all that silliness and shoe throwing and threats earlier were basically for nothing. Rylee wasn't sure whether to be annoyed or impressed. Her brothers reaction was a bit more than she had expected, even for him but whatever.

Quinn might have asked whether or not the Ravenclaw common room had it's own library and Rylee did know for certain that the common did. However she said nothing. Why should she.

Walking up the corridor, Ewan yawned. It had been a looong day! Driving back and forth to Wales really does take it out of you. Although, he'd never complain, he'd finally made it to the train and to Hogwarts! In all honesty, he'd gone for a walk to see if he could find someone he recognised. Or for the food trolley. Which ever came first. As he continued to casually stroll of he spotted a girl he recognised. Smiling, slightly nervous, he knocked on the glass window and opened the door. "Hey, mind if I join you?, it's nice to find a few faces I recognise".

Seriously? Another one? Next train ride she was going to booby trap the compartment door. That should solve things nicely. Apparently, this kid knew some of them, and Quinn briefly scanned their faces, looking for recognition and wondering who he knew. It certainly wasn't her. She had never seen his face before. And if she had and just forgot, it was his fault for being forgettable.

Finally, Quinn shrugged. "Might as well," she said flatly. Everyone else had. And that it. She didn't offer her name, or ask him his, or any other question for that matter.

Reese was fun, sweet little red. Maybe, maybe he had some fire in him too? That would be fun to find out – if he could hold his own. Giving him a quick fleeting grin she casually watched as her compartment mates interacted – this was nice. This was fun, taking a moment she unwrapped her sandwich and pulled out a half leaving on sitting on her knee.

thanks mum, she thought in an almost forlorn way before shrugging her shoulder and taking a bite of her food. Munching away at her sandwich half she couldn’t help but smile when Reese got excited over the group classes and then the realization. That was priceless.

After swallowing the food she nodded to him and grinned, ”guilty…, its just fun” Beth shrugged and looked over to Quinn with a grin. ”I’m the only one with nickname privileges…for reasons, we’re neighbors and she’s practically family” Beth refused to elaborate more on that but she was family hands down. ”Thanks Rylee,” Beth smiled over to her in her best polite manner.

And then it happened.

Food stealer was knocking on the door…what was food stealer doing? How…was he going to steal her food again? She thought almost defensively as she tentatively reached for her sandwich but let it sit there. Other people needed to see if he stole it.

”Quinn – it wasn’t me this time” Beth smirked over to her friend before tossing Ewan a quick smile. ”Hi Popcorn Stealer…how was the rest of your summer?” she asked even though of course she remembered his name.

"I swear," Oli reasssured Rylee. Too many promises in just a single train ride. Oli studied Rylee and she concluded that the Gryffindor is going to be a very valuable alliance. She nodded to herself quietly.

Oli could feel it in her veins that the train ride is coming to a halt and she would finally see Hogwarts. She looked out the window with all anticipation.

To her surprise, Reese was talking to her after a long chit chat with Quinn. Heh. "I was at Diagon Alley. Apparently I met a really scary hag around at the food stands. There were too much food," she also wanted to add she met a few witches and wizards too. It doesn't really matter. Before Oli could also answer Quinn's query, someone with quite a familiar face came into view.

Thay guy named Ewan. From the food stands at the Diagon Alley. The HAG. The FALL (twice). Her wounded knee!

Oli made a slight bow of her head so that the guy won't be able to recognize her. But Oli guessed he already did when he mentioned about seeing faces he recognized. OR NOT. It could be Reese or Rylee or Quinn. It could be Beth. Beth is friendly. Oli turned sneakily backwards so to hide her face.

"Am I in Planet Doomed?" Olivia muttered under her breath trying to conceal her face from the guy.

She was in panic. And in a swift motion, she released her braid from its elastic hair tie and let her long curls out in the open. There were the times she would really want an Invisibility Cloak.

With a blink of her eyes, Beth was calling Ewan the Popcorn Stealer. And just like that, Beth saved the day! Oli hoped Ewan won't be able to recognize her. They could always start anew. Certainly.

Rylee would have said more to both Oli and Beth but there was a knock at the compartment door which drew everyone's attention to it. Standing there in the now open doorway was the young boy from the previous day that she had met at the Leaky Cauldron. By the looks on a few of the other girls faces she could tell they knew him too. Poor Oli over there looked like she was about to get up and run from the compartment or something, what was up with that?

Beth had called Ewan popcorn stealer which meant she seemed to know him as well. At least he had a few friends? Kinda? Rylee smiled softly. "Hey, Ewan. Excited to finally get to see everything I was telling you about?" She had told both him and Lydia quite a bit about Hogwarts while they had together talking. She had hoped that all she told them helped to ease a bit of their anxiety about everything and now he was ready to have a good time.

Reese was Having a grand time chatting and all with the girls that made up his train companions.. So far he'd met a pair of trick-playing girls, a mostly quiet, but polite girl.. Oli seemed really nice.. But he could tell that most of what the group had talked about seemed to amaze her. This was something that in the coming days he was sure to inquire about.. He liked learning about people AND what made them tick.

" Fair enough, but why mess with people like that?.. Ya could've offended someone.. What if there had been some poor bloke named Schmebulock?... ", he warned the pair of pranksters, still very much being cheerful regardless.. " As unfortunate as that would be... Ya never know... ". Mhm.. That's right.. He wasn't a complete turd.. Not really anyhow.


And then there was a knock on their compartment door and there was a boy roughly his age it seemed, standing there asking if he could join them all. Internally Reese was all Can't this kid see we're already full up?!

On the outside he was all, " Sure.. Might as well.." Especially, since the kid was already talking to Beth about stolen popcorn and ... Wait! What?!.. Rylee knew this boy too?! Where had he been when his sister had met this clown? And now he was looking this Ewan over like a stain on a white button-down shirt.. How does he get rid of the male invader of his compartment? Begone, Vermine!, he thought inwardly.

Quinn simple grinned while Reese fauz-chided them for the trick. Why mess with people like that?
She shrugged. Why not? She would have responded directly in that manner, but he had switched to the possibility of offending someone. That got a slight tilt of the head and slightly less slight raise of an eyebrow. Did she look like she cared about offending someone? And what if someone was actually saddled with that name. "Woe to them, I suppose."

So apparently the when the new boy said he recognized a few faces, he meant everyone but Quinn. Beth and Rylee confirmed it out right, and Oli's body language practically screamed it. The reactions over all were not favorable.

Or, apparently not everyone else. Reese's reaction to the request to join us mirrored her own, which got her attention.
Quinn studied the Boy closely, watching the play of emotion and reaction on his face. Maybe, Reese and her had a bit more in common than she thought.

She was quite impressed, to be honest.

.



Ewan walked a little further into the compartment, turning now to a voice and a face that was unfamiliar to him. There seemed to be a certain amount of indifference in her voice, or was it, annoyance? Smiling in her direction, Ewan quickly turned away from her quickly, not wanted to make an enemy before he'd even got to Hogwarts.

Now that was a face that Ewan recognised. Smirking now, he winked at Beth, remembering how much fun he'd had throwing her popcorn up in the air and catching it in his house. "Hey Annabeth, I didn't recognise you there without your popcorn". His smile increased as he spotted her sandwich. "Don't worry, you can keep your sandwich. Here, I've come with a peace offering". Pulling his rucksack off of his back, and held out a packet of muggle sweets. His favourite. A mixture of sour strawberry laces and jellies. "Help yourself!". He really did love those sour, sugary red laces that would often make his face twitch, but honestly, he'd never had anyone else to share with before.

Smiling now, hopefully reassuringly, he held out the bag of sweets towards Rylee. "Hey Rylee, how was your holidays?". Leaning against the door, not wanting to make anyone feel awkward, he continued, "I can't wait! You made it sound amazing! Almost too good actually".

Chuckling now, he scanned the carriage with his eyes, until they briefly rested on one of the girls who wasn't looking at him. Wait. Was that. No. Really? Not wanting to make a scene, he turned to the other boy in the compartment, "Hey, I'm Ewan". With a little nod in his direction, acknowledging the boys presence. Maybe it had been a mistake... walking into the compartment. He seemed somewhat, Defensive? He wasn't quite sure.

Then again, he wouldn't have long to find out seeing as they were finally here! At Hogwarts!! He'd made it!

The first few hours Oli met/studied the younger of the redhead siblings, she made a mental note that he was the elusive type. His likes, when he talks and whom he talks. As she gets farther from home but to a foreign place, Reese seemed to be playing along so well.

"Some of my books fell on the ground where the hag was carrying out her affairs," she said in a low voice focusing at Reese alone. "I had to collect one that fell right exactly at her foot."

Back at Quinn. Of course she could use the nickname to turn all the attention back at Quinn. "You're too hard on Quinn," Oli almost giggled. Honestly, the nickname was too long. She couldn't even pronounce it right. "But I guess we could all agree that calling her Quinn is easier than some schmooooppp made-up nicknames."

As for the new foreign entity at their compartment, the boy looked like he was not able to recognize Oli. Or was this what they call the calm before the storm?