Once the Hogwarts Express had traveled further away from the city and disappeared into the countryside, Atlas had every intention of opening up a window and tossing the 'health food' snacks dad had bestowed upon them prior to departure. It was one of the lingering repercussions from dad's ordeal during the war, something he felt like he could do to keep everyone healthy and safe.

...but it tasted like rubbish.

Thankfully the THIRD year had been meticulous about his allowance and had galleons tucked away in his 'luxury expenses' savings so he could afford a dozen licorice wands or so. Hopefully there were some Fizzing Whizzbees too.

Hoping Aries had caught his declaration of booking it to the trolley so his brother didn't think he abandoned him, the Gryffindor stroked his square jawline (he was still pretty obsessed with this physical development) and gave everything a lookover.

...maybe a box of Bertie Bott's too...

Violet went out early to the Food Trolley, before there were too many people in line, and found only Atlas Flamsteed ahead of her.

She'd lost about ten pounds during the last term, thanks to so-called-Healer Poppy and her candles, but the up side was that she'd been eating whatever she wanted all summer to make up for it. Hmm, probably ought to stop that now, before she gained back too much--she'd actually started caring about her appearance lately.

But, one more day wouldn't hurt...perhaps a pumpkin pasty would tide her over until the Great Feast tonight.

"Hi, Atlas," she remarked from behind him. "Have a good summer?" Violet was bound and determined to start talking to people more this year, no matter what weird thing happened at school.

Yeah, for sure a box of Bertie Bott's to play a bit of flavor roulette back in the dorm tonight. Busy counting his sickles and knuts, the galleons he was trying not to use for all these small purchases, Atlas nearly jumped when his name was suddenly said from behind. Thankfully he did not, but his head did suddenly jolt upwards before pivoting around on the ball of his left foot to see who it was.

Violet Blackwood...Blackwool...Blackhorn....Black...somet hing organic.

"Oh...hello," he nodded with a thick swallow of apprehension. "Yeah. Better than last, I suppose. Won a couple of robotics awards. 2105 Young Investigator award and was a finalist for the FIRST LEGO League Innovation Project." And he had only just lost out too, so the third year was pretty sure that he had it in the bag next summer. Dad had taken everyone on vacation again too but...that wasn't as exciting as his accomplishments. "Did you go to the festival in the Alley?"

Violet looked at him with renewed interest--"robotics"? She'd seen mechanical things called robots on Muggle tv a couple of years ago, but had thought that was just fiction.

"Is that something to do with robots?" she asked curiously. "Is that a real thing, then? I had thought it was just made-up, for television and such. And...are 'leg-goes' part of robotics?" Violet had no idea what LEGOS were, the word sounded like some weird kind of spell.

"Yes. Well, just for a little bit. I was with my uncle, who'd recently gotten out of St. Mungos, and it was so crowded, we didn't want to stay long. But Uncle Horatio liked it," she went on, brightening up. "I think he had fun. He seems nearly like his old self again." Which was a relief. Even though she knew it wasn't her fault, she still felt guilty that her uncle had suffered spell damage coming to Hogwarts to try to save her from the Neo-Alliance, and it something permanent had happened to him, she wasn't sure she could have dealt with it.

"Did you go to the celebration, then? What all did I miss?"

What was this? An opportunity to talk about one of his passions and skillsets? Why, don't mind if he do!

"Yup! All about them, actually. The design, construction, operation, and use of robots. Most people assume that they have to take on a humanoid appearance and form, but they can really look like anything. I personally try to avoid humanoid shapes. They are too expected." And he would rather be hit with a Bat-Bogey Hex ten times over than be labeled as 'predictable'. "I compete in muggle competitions and was part of a club at my primary school, but once back at Hogwarts where I can properly use magic...I'm hoping to start applying what I know of Metallurgy and Metal Charming." And if he could learn a bit of alchemy and create his own magically imbedded alloys...that would be even cooler. "Legos are little plastic blocks that you can snap together and build things. They are awesome to play with and worse than dragon dung when you step on them. I've got about a dozen model kits...one of them takes 11695 to complete it and I'm only half way done with it. Finish it next summer. Also have the Tower Bridge model that I finished this summer before starting on the map and using my pieces I pulled together enough to make the Gryffindor crest out of them. Dad got that one all glued together and hung it up.""

His face fell a little as Violet continued and spoke about her uncle being released from St. Mungo's, which begged a couple of questions and the first one was blurted out before the third year could debate whether or not it was too invasive a query. "Because of the war?" It was uncomfortable how the shared experience could make you feel connected to others. It was...it was like you could never get away from being reminded of what happened and sometimes Atlas woke up to screaming in the middle of the night ... only to realize that it was his own voice screaming. The night terrors were worse, but at least he did not remember those.

Uh...little bit of an awkward transition, but Atlas didn't dwell on that fact much at all. "I did. My brother and I made fireworks and then Remy had me make matching ice cream tote bags with her. It was pretty cool all around. Pretty neat to be a part of a 600 year legacy."

Her compartment was hopefully secure, where she had left her cat, Binx, keeping guard. She absolutely had to fill up on snacks to help with the long journey ahead, so she sought out the food trolley. Aaaand it hadn’t taken long to find, usually with a gathering of students around. Remy immediately recognised the back of one of her good friends, and took the opportunity to sneak up behind him. Hopefully it wasn’t his twin brother because THAT would’ve been embarrassing.

Remy crept over and covered his eyes with her cold hands. “Guess whoooo?” It wasn’t until after the matter that she remembered the time she tried to scare Ash and it resulted terribly, but hopefully this wouldn’t be the same situation. Her eyes fell on the girl he was talking to and she really hoped she hadn’t interrupted something important.

Violet found this fascinating--something she had regarded as...science fiction, as the Muggles called it...was actually a reality. And yes, combining magic with Muggle technology sounded wicked fun! Of course, one might get in trouble with the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts division of the Ministry--but only if they caught you. "Have you thought of trying to use alchemical practices with that, too?" she asked curiously. Miss Howard had started teaching her a bit about alchemy earlier in the summer--just a bit, mind you, but Violet intended to read up on it at Hogwarts this year.

And all that stuff about -- LEGOS, was it? Violet had felt she was all up to snuff on Muggle culture after nearly a year with her father in New York, but now she realized there was a world of things she still didn't know. Funny how much you think you know when you're young, and then you feel stupider the older you get--it ought to be the othe way round
Violet could have kicked herself when she mentioned her uncle and then saw Atlas' face, because she just then remembered that he had lost his mother in the war. Violet had been so happy her uncle seemed like he was going to be okay that she just wanted to share it with everybody, and had spoken without thinking. But other people had suffered much, much worse.

"Yes, he came to the battle at Hogwarts," she replied sheepishly, "to try to save me. And he's just not the battle type, so of course he got hit. Luckily my grandfather is a lot more...capable {she was about to say 'dangerous'} and got him out. I...I guess I shouldn't have brought up the war, but Uncle Horatio is about the only good thing that's happened to me this year."

Just as Violet was trying to think of something to say to make this better, Remy popped out of nowhere, edged in front of her, and snuck up behind Atlas. Oh right, they were friends, weren't they? Violet had been trying very hard to make friends the past three years, to make up for that lost second year, but with ghost possession, Neo-Alliance takeovers, and candle-drugging, something always seemed to interfere with her attempts. She always felt like she was on the outside looking in, except in class.

Atlas knew entirely too much about science fiction. An embarrassing amount, really, as dad liked to go into lectures at the drop of a knut about it and how imagination and creativity presented in the genre would then become inspiration for actual inventions used later. Science fiction predicting the future and all that. Which Atlas had then pointed out that he thought his dad did not like nor put much stock in divination (predicting the future and all that) and it had been the best thing ever to see dad's head seem to launch into orbit. Another couple lectures on the difference between divination and scientific method soon followed, but he had tuned them out almost exclusively. "Eventually," he nodded with an impish grin. "One perfection at a time." Meaning focus his efforts and not spread himself too thin. Toast tasted best when you could actually get a little flavor of jam all across it rather than just in concentrated pockets. Especially blackberry jam. If not blackberry than raspberry would suffice.

Had he known Violet's thoughts, he would have told her that it was news to him that his mum had died in the war...and he really did not need to think about another imposter Polyjuicing as one of his parents...so it was actually for the best that such sentiments had not been brought to light. Though he was pretty darn tootin' certain that mum was mum. That weird finger tap thing she and dad did while only in private was sort of the give away. "I mean...it's kind of impossible not to bring it up. It happened. Pretending that it didn't is a disservice as well as dangerous," he replied with a small shrug. "Glad he is okay enough to leave though. Mungo's, I mean."

It was...nice hearing about people recovering. Gave hope. Made shadows regress.

Speaking of shadows, uh....darkness, Atlas jumped a bit when soft warm hands covered his face and his first instinct was to give whoever it was a firm elbow to the stomach. Thankfully for the person, however, there was a cute and cheery little 'guess whooooo' attached to it that calmed his flustered nerves enough to keep his elbow close to his side. And, uh, he hated guessing games where he was not totally confident in the answer...because he hated to be wrong. Obviously it wasn't Aries catching up to him - even when his brother tried to disguise his voice it was never as pleasant sounding as this. It wasn't Quinn, because he could recognize that voice from practically across the Alley on a crowded day. It wasn't Andromeda, his sister, because she had graduated. This left a very finite few who would cross lines and burst personal bubbles to cover his eyes. Lisa Nam and Remy Gaeltheos.

And he felt confident in his conclusion.

"A flobberworm, I think," he mused while reaching his hands up to take ahold of hers and pull them down from his eyes.

HA! Geddit? Throwback to her and her not being able to hold her Toxic Waste.

Violet had a sudden flash of memory that Atlas's mum was quite all right after the battle--why had she thought she had died? She must have been confusing her with someone else. It hurt to think too clearly about that time, but ever since the past year, Violet had episodes of forgetfulness and confusion, no doubt from whatever potion Poppy (Violet refused to dignify her with the title "Healer" anymore) had been using on those candles. Merlin! Violet hoped this wasn't a long-term effect. This was her fifth year, and that meant O.W.L.S. at the end--she couldn't afford to be off her game this year!

Trying to shake off the brain fog, Violet tried to concentrate on what Atlas was saying, because she was actually kind of addicted to science fiction novels now and it wasn't like she could discuss them with her family. In fact, she'd been sneaking them in and out of the house all summer--so far, no one had figured out that Violet had applied for a Muggle library card, and she didn't feel a strong need to tell them. "Maybe some time you could recommend some science fiction books to me," she said a little shyly. "I just discovered it a few years ago and no one in my family knows much about it." She didn't add the part about not approving of it.

She waited curiously to see what Atlas's reaction to being suddenly bushwhacked from behind would be. Violet would probably have elbowed whoever was behind her in the stomach if she'd been startled like that, but either Atlas's nerves or reflexes were calmer than hers, because he just responded with a snarky remark, which made Violet chuckle.

Remy was relieved that he hadn’t reacted badly to her sneaking up on him. She wouldn’t know what to do if Atlas was ever mad at her about anything. Despite her tendencies to say the wrong things to others, often when she was being selfish, she didn’t really act like that around him. The hairs on her arms stood tall when he held her hands to pull them down, and his comment made her laugh. “Oi!” She gave him a light nudge in the arm, then she peered around to face him to reveal herself. “You’re the only Flobberworm I can see.” She stuck out her famous tongue expression before giggling away.

Her giggle trailing off into a smile, Remy’s eyes laid on Violet again and she lifted her hand as a sort of wave. “Hi.” She said simply. “Sorry, hope I didn’t interrupt.” It was more of a comment to the older girl, because she knew Atlas wouldn’t mind her company.

Violet gave a slight smile and murmured "No...of course not..." She envied the easy camaraderie between Atlas and Remy. Of course, they were close in age. She was probably too old to be trying to strike up a conversation with Atlas. That was always how it seemed to be to Violet--either she was older or younger than the other kids she found herself among. She should never have skipped her second year, because things had been off-kilter ever since.

All those years before Hogwarts, learning about everything under the sun from Miss Howard and her uncles, but she hadn't learned how to make friends, and it showed, because she was pathetic at it. But even so, Violet was determined this year to change that, or fail trying--she would talk to everyone, join in everything, try to figure out how other people talked to each other and do a better job at it. Because Violet Blackthorne did not just quit, not at anything.