Blake was a little shocked that the start of the term was already happening. Didn't it just feel like yesterday he was in New York with Bernadette? And then he hadn't seen her all summer after, there had been some owls .... but Blake felt rather strange about it. Maybe the shouldn't have traveled together..... He was lost in his own thoughts stewing about all the could have moments and shouldn't have moments. He wasn't even sure if the compartment he sat in had any other students in it. Blake doubted he would have noticed anyone but Bernadette at this point ... well maybe Claudine ... but only because she saved all of her loathing for him.

As much as she’d been looking forward to going to a new school, Hogwarts that too, wasn’t it one of the best schools EVER? Valentina was already missing her parents. It had barely been minutes since she’d said her goodbyes to them, having promised to write to them every week, but all she wanted to do was to hug her mummy again!! She quickly walked down the corridor, sniffling a little, looking for an empty compartment because she wanted to cry in peace!

... OH, this one looked empty. She immediately sat by the window, her eyes welling up with tears again.

Sloane looked up and down the corridor, absorbing every detail she laid eyes on. She didn't want to miss any part of this experience. She would want to put every detail to parchment later when writing to her family.

Sigh. Her Family. They'd all said their goodbyes fairly quickly and without lingering, not because they didn't care about each other, but because they did. To draw out the goodbye and linger on the platform would have made it increasingly more difficult to part. Instead, like ripping off a bandaid, they hugged and kissed and promised to write regularly and then Sloane was hurrying herself onto the train.

Now here she was looking for a compartment. She was ever so tempted to find an empty one, but she knew NO ONE here and acknowledged that she would never survive Hogwarts on her own. She threw open the door to a compartment with a student sitting near the window and began to enter. Then she noticed the girl looked very upset. Maybe she won't want to be disturbed. I should go... Sloane tried to back quickly out, but the door that she'd thrown open with some force had come back at her and squished her against the door frame. Great. Awesome first impression, doofus! Sloane looked at the girl sheepishly, eyes wide like a deer in headlights.

Coby Rider-Mae, having extracted himself from the bundle of meteoric, first year energy that are Emma and her shadow Matty, had spent the majority of the last half an hour looking for an empty compartment. He knew he'd find one, there was always an empty compartment if one was patient enough. Plus, no Tavie to account for this year, so he wouldn't even have to give it up when he went looking for her.

Coby considered with a start that he would have to go find the James twins eventually, slipping into the unoccupied compartment in the middle of the train. Malia and Roma as well. But the James twins and all the rest of the Stark school kids were always with Tavie. He wondered if it would be weird now, without her. Maybe they were only his friends because of his friendship with Tavie. He was lost in these thoughts when someone wandered into the compartment, and Coby blinked.

"Erm. Hello." No more empty compartment for him. "Blake?" Coby added, recognising his year mate. He seemed a little out of it, which Coby found very relatable.

Valentina looked up when she heard the sound of someone opening the door, quickly wiping her cheeks on the edge of her sleeves. She simply stared at the girl curiously before giving her a hesitant smile. She was pretty sure her crying wouldn’t have gone unnoticed but.. oh, well.

“You may join me, if ya want.” The eleven year old said finally, her eyes wide, just like the other girl’s was. “I don’t mind.”

Blake heard his name and looked up, knowing it wasn't Bernadette's voice, but how could he just ignore his name all together. "Oh Hey there." Blake was drawing a blank on the boy's name. He new they were in the same year, obviously not the same house .... what was it ... "Have a good summer?" He kept racking his brain for the answer, his thoughts so consumed by another that it was difficult to come up with answers.... and then all of sudden it hit him.

"Coby right?" Blake hoped he was right ...... maybe it was actually Cody, Colby .... he was sure it started with a C though.

He wasn't exactly thrilled not to be alone any longer, but maybe this is good. Better than wallowing in his own thoughts. Definitely better than reading through his Ancient Runes textbook again. "Yeah, Coby. Or Jacob," he added with a shrug. He didn't mind either, as long as no one called him Jake. That was the last name he wanted.

"It was alright. Went on holiday for a bit. Read a lot. How was yours?" he asked politely, shifting in his seat to get comfortable. They had a long train ride to go.

Maybe that's where Blake's initial confusion came from. The boy had 2 names really, Blake thought it a little odd that he didn't go with Jake as his nickname ... since it first name was actually Jacob .. but who was he to judge. Afterall here weren't many nicknames afford to a guy named Blake.

"I had a pretty good summer, I was in New York for the first part of the Holiday." Blake was reminiscing about all the time he got to spend with Bernadette. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to for a 14 year old boy to dwell so much on it ....... "Maybe that's why it seem like September 1st got here so quickly this year." Blake was still in shock he was already on his way to a new school term. He was going a 4th year ... still seemed surreal.

Sloane pushed the compartment door off her side, glaring at it briefly, before stepping fully into the compartment. She took a seat diagonally across from the teary-eyed girl and placed her shoulder bag on her lap. "Thanks for sharing the compartment. My name is Sloane." Sloane debated pretending she hadn't noticed the girl crying, unsure if she expressed concern that it might be misread as nosiness. In the end, she decided she couldn't ignore the girl's sadness or an opportunity to potentially help, and asked as gently as possible, "Um, are you okay?"

Coby perked up. "That's so cool! I've never been to New York. How was it?" he asked quickly, imagining in his head the pictures he's seen of the famous city. He's always wanted to go, and Emma was born there, but Mum isn't fond of it. Maybe once he's old enough he'll go with friends.

Coby didn't think that September had rolled around quickly at all, and just shrugged in response. In fact, by the end of the holidays, he was quite looking forward to returning. He liked Hogwarts, even if the school sometimes liked to scare the living daylights out of him. Like last year. These thoughts lead him back to Tavie, and he slumps again. He already missed her terribly.

"My grandparent live there ... or well only my grandma now, so I've been to New York loads." Blake added "It's a pretty cool city though, there is literally always something going on, the lights and noise are crazy." Blake had a love/hate relationship with the city actually, mostly hate since his grandpa died ... but moving on.

But you said you went on Holiday right? Where did you go?" Blake had spent more time roaming American then Europe to be honest.

Torin was still stunned with school being just a train ride away. Summer felt like it went by in a flash helping his parents on the farm. At least there was some comfort in have his kneazle with him for the train ride.

"Why do I always wait so long to get on the train? Finding a compartment is so hard." He said to himself as he searched for an empty compartment or at least one with a friend in it. He could hear Kalista getting restless in her cage as he continued down the hall.

Being alone, he already was missing his family and friends back home. Hopefully this year will have something exciting to keep him busy and make the time go quicker.

Coby's brow furrowed at the way Blake phrased that sentence, and he wondered if his loss was recent. He isn't any good at consoling people, but he is good at listening. Perhaps he should offer a listening ear? They weren't that close, but it would be polite. "Um," he began, unsure, but Blake then continued to talk about New York and Coby relaxed. "It sounds intense," the fourteen year old agreed, picturing the image he painted easily. He doesn't like noisy places all that much, but he's sure he'll enjoy visiting New York.

"We went to Cyprus, my whole family and I," he grinned as he talked, remembering the quiet hotel and smell of the beach. He liked the beach a lot. "My little brother is a first year this term, so we went for a whole week to celebrate."

“Adam? Adam? Oops. Sorry.” Ingrid couldn’t help but scowl as she walked through the train corridor looking for her brother. Having already checked the front of the train, she still couldn’t find him and people seemed to get really grouchy when a first year pokes their head in shouting someone’s name. So far, her journey from King’s Cross really had confused her somewhat. She really had hoped to spend the journey with her family and yet, they were nowhere to be found.

Weird. With a small sigh, she up the corridor before eventually coming to a stop close to an older boy “Excuse me, I’m looking for my twin Adam. Long hair. Big head. Have you seen him?”, a smile on her face, clearly not bothered that he seemed to be several years older than her. For a moment, her eyes didn’t register the presence of the Kneazle until it started to make a noise in it’s cage. At that point, the first years eyes instantly locked on to it and her face changing, morphing into her curious face.

“Awww…your kneazle. What’s it’s name? Is it okay? Do you mind if I…. Not bothering to really give the boy an answer, the freckly first year walked straight up to the Kneazle, pulled a cat treat from her jacket pocket and offered it to the cat without hesitating. “This might help it calm down”.

Noah was growing restless. After spending a good portion of the train ride at the Front Cars, he decided to stretch his legs and go exploring. Who knew? Maybe he would find Minjae, Avalon, or Aboli around here? Then again, maybe he'd meet someone new? Either way, he just needed to stretch his cramped legs. The boy stopped midway through the corridor and grabbed his right ankle, pulling it slightly behind him as he bent his knee.

Oh Meeeeerlin.

He was getting old.


....Then again he could have just been sitting in an awkward position for the majority of the train ride. Yeah. That was more like it.

Ashley chased her cat down the corridor. Somehow Luna had escaped the front cars and was running around here. She did not have the energy to chase a cat. Her back would probably give out too. "Luna!" she called. Luna jumped into her arms. As she turned to leave, she bumped into another person who was crouching down. "Sorry," she said quietly. "Didn't see you."

Cool, I've been to Cyprus, my mum's a muggle and her family is all from America ... she met my dad over here and never left .... I suppose that's mostly my fault." When his parents had been married it wasn't a sacrifice for his mom to stay ... now he got the feeling she was waiting her time to move back.

"You have a little brother that's cool to. I'm an only child." Blake realized he was babbling, he hadn't shared his 'life' story with anyone really. But then again he hadn't really had many friends other than Bernadette and she already knew all of these things. "Aren't siblings usually put in the same house?" Blake wondered how strange it would be to 'compete' against you sibling in a sense with them being in a different house.

WHERE were his friends?! He refused to sit the whole train ride alone in a compartment! Had they decided not to come back this year? He had heard talk of people having enough of the dangerous situations they were put in almost each year but if his friends had decided to study somewhere else couldn't they at least send him an owl?!

While he was searching, he did notice a cat walk past him but he paid no attention to it. Where are they? He thought as a moment later he stepped aside to let a young girl chasing her cat through.

Wait... Was that? He let out a sigh of relief once he spotted Noah at the end of the corridor and as he walked up to him he overheard the young girl apologizing.

"Stop bullying the first year, Noah" he said with a grin which obviously showed that he knew that he wasn't doing that. "Cute cat" he turned to look at the animal with a small smile. His bunnies were cuter though.

Looking down when he heard a small voice Torin saw a young girl, now looking at Kalista. He was a second too late in stopping the firstie when she fed his kneazle a treat.

"No!" He yelled. Doesn't she know that kneazles aren't always suitable for children to be with? Torin pulled the cage back and found Kalista to be happily eating her treat. Strange.

"I'm sorry if I frightened you, but Kalista doesn't take too well to the younger kids. I'm surprised you didn't get scratched. The only reason I've been allowed to bring her with me this year is because she's my family kneazle and I'll be turning 15 before I come home." Torin tried to explain and really was sorry. It wasn't right to be yelling at a firstie like that. Maybe he should buy her a treat to make up for it.

Huh? What was that? A cat? He turned his attention towards the friendly feline but then CHAOS erupted when a first year appeared and then... she was apologizing?

Oh, no, no, no, no. It wasn't a big deal... REALLY.

Noah offered a smile to the younger year when she appeared and was JUST about to reply to her when Minjae appeared out of thin air and started SCOLDING him. He winced at first. "But.. I.." he began before whipping his head to see that his mate was grinning. Oh right. He was just teasing. "Yes, I'm a big bad bully. Maniacal even. I'm plotting to take over the world," he winked before turning to the younger year. With a thumb pointed to Minjae, he smirked. "He's my accomplice."

"No worries. No need to apologize." he said with a smile to the younger year. Seriously. He understood. He had experienced several moments over the summer where his own cat tried to pull a fast one on him and escape down the corridor. "She's a cute cat." He smiled at the young girl before feeling rather awkward just.... being there without introductions. He cleared his throat. "I'm Noah and this is Minjae," he nodded. "We're sixth years."

Sixth years already. Yep. Totally getting older.

Ashley hugged her cat somewhat nervously. "Thanks. You can pet her if you want." She paused. "I'm Ashley, and I'm a first year. I didn't know about all this before my letter. Oh no. You're not REALLY gonna take over the world right? Right?" She pretended to be scared. "Haha. But seriously, you could be taking over the world for all I know. hahaha." she laughed. Hold up. Stop laughing. She didn't wanna look crazy. She stopped laughing and said awkwardly, "Well, um... uhhhhhh..... well.... now that I have my... uh... my cat, I should... uh, I should probably go back to my compartment... yeah." She shifted uneasily. Way to not look weird Ashley. Also, why did she just say that? What a great way to make friends, leaving when you didn't really want to. Ashley felt dumb. She attempted to salvage the situation. "So.... how was your summer?"

Oh, introductions.

Valentina enthusiastically extended her hand, like her dad had always taught her to. It was polite, he’d said. “I’m Valentina but you may call me Val or Tina but whatever else you prefer.” Her smile faded a little, suddenly feeling sad all over again. The eleven year old nodded slowly, rubbing her hands together just.. for something to do. “Yeah. I miss my parents, that’s all.” Would Sloane think that’s pathetic?

Taking over the world? Minjae snorted at Noah's words. How was he going to take over? With sunshine, daisies and buttermellow? Noah was probably one of the most harmless people he had ever met. Except for when they went to play lasertag over the summer. Merlin's Beard he had never seen that side of him and he was still annoyed that he had lost. Friends or not, Minjae was competitive and played to win.

Leaning against a closed compartment door to balance himself as the train swayed, Minjae crossed his arms over each other. Accomplice? "I prefer business partner" he said. Speaking of business, he had to tell Noah that he had refused to take over his father's million dollar company but that could wait for later because it seemed that the poor first year was struggling between leaving or staying.

"Oh? You're a Muggleborn? I am as well!" he said while reaching a hand to pet the cat. He was not going to refuse such offer. Personally, Minjae was not really in the mood to tell how his summer was so he simply shrugged his shoulders "It was fine" he said.

Boy did people talk about almost anything. At Ana alarmingly loud level too no less. Charlie had come from the front cars moving further back shaking her head and her bouncy curls. Sighing she mumbled “first years.... never learn” because seemed like they never did learn. Who talked about bringing a dragon to school? She hoped to Merlin by dragon the silly girl had named her cat dragon. Shaking her head she moved further back the train fiddling with her muggle clothes. She totally detested those ugly uniforms and tried to put off wearing them until she absolutely had to.

Tucking a stray curl her brown eyes followed the windows of the carts she was looking in. There were a ton of you get faces she didn’t know which had to mean they were first years, right? Then she saw a few older boys talking. She glanced at them longer than she should have but ... boys. Man not even a teenager yet and she was in her boys phase, her mom was not going to like that when. She came home.

Finally spotting an empty compartment she slid the door open and bounced in. Ah no more y’all of dragons, younger students being full of questions. She was here in her small piece of paradise. But the more she thought about where the train was headed the more she dreaded wearing the uniform. “I wonder how many points I’d lose for not showing up in my uniform to the feast?” Because to her it felt more unfair to have to hide her fashion knowledge than showing up in that dreaded drab robe.