So the plan to sneak Maggie in had failed yet again, but Jas did his brotherly duty of promising her endless letters throughout the year and reassuring her that Stark School needed it's reigning princess for a little while longer. All in all, he was PUMPED to be returning back to Hogwarts and made a beeline to the back compartments after giving his sister, mother, and baba big Jasper-bear hugs.

JASPER BOTROS IN THE HOUSE!

The back compartments were where the cool kids sat - hence, Jasper Botros, cool kid, snagging a back compartment.

After sliding the door wide open, he hopped onto one of the end-seats and kicked his feet up to rest them on the ones across from him. Ah. Surely his friends would join him soon - he had packed plenty of snacks to share and even brought spare change to restock during the mid-way point. The trolley lady loved him.

Serena's plan to smuggle a kitten onto the train failed. Her little brother could not keep a secret to save a life, and so the parents found out before she even stepped into the Floo. And so, this was going to be another pet-less year at Hogwarts.

Masking her disappointment with a stoic expression, she stepped onto the train, eager to get to Hogwarts and be able to use her wand once more. There seemed to be available compartments, so she stepped into the first one and--

Ah, dung.

The redhead rolled her eyes at the sight of none other than Jasper Botros. It was an automatic reaction. She was pretty sure it was embedded in her now.

Jasper Botros = eye roll.

"Why is it every time I want peace and quiet I find you?" she said, leaning against the doorframe. Then her brain went THERE...and her cheeks turned just sliiiiiightly pink. Slightly.

Lisa couldn’t believe that she was already back for a third year of Hogwarts. She searched the train for a suitable place to sit with her novel and then decided the back of the train was suitable. She was able to read, watch interactions, and just relax. She noted Serena and Jasper chilling which raised an eyebrow from her because she liked them both but didn’t want to be caught in the middle.

She hoped one of the older boys would stop by.

But she opted to read and save a seat for dear Atlas.

Jasper hadn't seen Lisa walk by, otherwise he would have called her over. But, alas. He was busy sorting through all the food he had brought with him. It was a mighty important task, calling for all his attention.

Until he heard a familiar voice, causing him to look up. An easy smile immediately made its way onto his features. Jas couldn't help it - for all that made Serena roll her eyes, made Jasper Botros grin. "I dunno," he lazily threw his hands behind his head, leaning back in his seat, nice and relaxed. "Maybe it's the universe telling you to have some fun." Destiny, if you will.

Was she blushing? Squint.

"So are you coming in or are you just gonna stare?"

"The universe?" Serena raised an eyebrow. "Don't tell me the universe sent me you to provide that fun?" If that was true, Serena wanted to have a strong word with this universe. How come it sends her a Jasper and not a kitten?

She wasn't blushing. Her brain was still traumatized by that day in the locker room.

See? See how he somehow had a way to get under her skin? See. Was anyone seeing this? Ugh.

Serena pushed off the doorframe and sat beside the food Jasper had been sorting through. "Are you trying to start your own business with all of this food?"

"It knew I was the best man for the job." He shrugged casually, still smiling wide. Serena could deny it all she wanted, but she always had fun when Jas was around. He made sure of it. You see, he was in the business of creating fun, it's what he did. A difficult burden, but one he was willing to bear.

And suuuuuureeee. She was totally blushing. And, by the way, the locker room incident was totally her own fault.

But he was mighty pleased with himself as she moved into the compartment and reached to pat the seat beside his. "That's not a terrible idea, but you're in luck 'cause I might share with you for free." He could eat it all on his own and still have room to eat all the food at the feast, but that wouldn't be any fun. He reached for a packet of sound-producing sweets, pouring a few in his hand and offered them to her.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Watson

Lisa couldn’t believe that she was already back for a third year of Hogwarts. She searched the train for a suitable place to sit with her novel and then decided the back of the train was suitable. She was able to read, watch interactions, and just relax. She noted Serena and Jasper chilling which raised an eyebrow from her because she liked them both but didn’t want to be caught in the middle.

She hoped one of the older boys would stop by.

But she opted to read and save a day for dear Atlas.

He hated leaving Araneus in her carrier during train rides, but seeing as not everyone had warmed to her fuzzy blue presence...he supposed it was the better option than her being squished underneath someone's textbook. Why that was considered appropriate and 'totally normal' behavior but if he were to kick a kneazle out of fear he would be shunned and verbally bashed was a pretty clear illustration of the inconsistencies of human logic and bias. Araneus was actually less dangerous than a kneazle, if one wanted to get down to the nitty gritty. Not that anyone ever did. Discrimination against things with eight legs is what it was.

But, ce'st la vie and all that. Bygones be bygones...he supposed.

Strolling the corridor after hitting up the food trolley for a bit of a pick me up, Atlas was on the look out for a few people. One was a certain Gryffindor blonde who he wanted to check in with about this plan for the use of a certain object in his possession. Another was, well, he supposed the cloak could come in handy with what they may or may not get up to during this first week at Hogwarts but...it was not on the forefront of his mind. Much more do to about peas and frogs and their relationship with princesses.

Moving past the duo with the sweets (it really was a bummer that his favorite of those, the noise it caused, was attached to a flavor he liked the least), Atlas finally stumbled upon Lisa. Funny how things, people, were always in the last place you would look.

...because after you found them you stopped looking.

"Hey," he greeted while knocking on the frame of the compartment she was situated in. "Room for one more?"

“AhaahHHHAahahahaha!!!!! The scream of sheer excitement that shot out of Hooper’s lips as he and his best friend Parker walked through the train cart towards one of the compartments was loud. Very loud, but the shortish boy with the short hair neither cared for the eyes that followed him as he began to jump up and down and shake his best friend, throwing hither and thither into anything and everything. “Bro! We’re going. Together! Like, together! I just…I…" and for the first time in a long time, the older boy couldn’t find words to describe how utterly excited he was to go to school. Having thought for a small period that he’d be parted from his friend because he had to go to a different school to only then find out they were going together? It was mind boggling. Insane.

Continuing until they got the very last carriage that they could, the older of the boys entered, pulling his friend with him into an empty compartment and threw himself down onto one of the seats next to the large window, his things left forgotten in a messy heap across the compartment floor. “Did you read any of the books that we had to buy? I looked at one, but it was a total snooze fest. Something about a history about magic or something,” although that wasn’t exactly surprising seeing as he had read a grand total of 3 books his entire life, or something like that. “The one about defence spells did look pretty cool though,” he tacked on at the end, curious to see what ones his friend had looked at.

You probably couldn't find a more excited pair of eleven-year-olds if you tried.

He, Parker James Renfrow, was going to MAGIC SCHOOL with his best friend in the whole world! Like, whaaaaaatttttt?!? IS THIS REAL LIFE!? What could be better than that? Nothing. That's what. Sure, he was going to miss his family but, you know, learning REAL magic and spells and stuff with Hooper would help with the homesickness. He already couldn't wait to write them and tell them all about it! "I can't believe it," he said, slightly stunned but with a big, dopey grin on his face, in reply to Hooper's own exclamation. "I can't believe it..."

The boys made their way down the train's carriages. Parker bumped into people even more than usual and mumbled apologies to them in between blurting out excited statements to Hooper. It was all such a blur. He was trying to take everything in but there was just too much going on... too many noises... too many sensations.

The noise finally faded away when they found an empty compartment to sit in and closed the door. Just like his best friend, Parker abandoned his possessions on the floor of the compartment, immediately moving to lounge in the seat opposite Hooper. "This is so cool!" He was about to launch into yet another a speech about Hogwarts when Hooper asked him a question. "Oh, yeah, History of Magic!" He nodded, knowing exactly which book his friend was talking about. "That one sucked. I mean, I think it would be kind of cool to learn about the history of magic stuff" (because he currently knew extremely little about it) "but that book was just so... boring." There was too much text. These boys needed stimulation... pictures or bite-sized videos or something! "I read a bit of all of them," he admitted. It was hardly surprising considering how excited he was. "I liked the tra- transfig- the one where you can change something into something else," he stammered but grinned. "Potions seems cool, too, and the defence one!"

Daniel had already changed into his school uniform, minus the Hufflepuff robe, and had moved to the back cars as they were usually the quietest. He'd already placed his trunk in the luggage compartment and was looking for an empty one for the train ride.

He opened up several sliding doors, but he paused for a moment at Lisa's compartment. He sent her a 'Ssup?' wiggle with his eyebrows and a slight grin but dropped the act when he heard Atlas' voice next to him. His mind went back to Diagon Alley when the Ravenclaw girl had teased him about being jealous of the older Gryffindor, which, no he was not, but it still caused his ears to get a 'chemical reaction'. Blatantly ignoring him, the Hufflepuff pushed his way to the compartment next to theirs, as it was still empty. He sat on the couch with his shoulder bag and moved to the window, trying not to be bothered by the fact that his only good friend was with someone he despised.

He sighed as he realized he was being silly. Lisa was free to make friends with whoever she wanted. He leaned back in his seat, and his black cat, to his surprise, joined him on his lap.

THIS WAS IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Max was on her way to her first ever year of Hogwarts. She could not be more excited. She couldn't wait to be sorted and she was certain it would be Gryffindor, which ever house the sorting hat thought was best. But none the less she was ready to make friends and probably some enemies as well seeing as she could never keep her mouth shut.

Sitting in an empty compartment, she looked at the window, Max wondered where her sister was. The second the train departed Vera took off to sit with her friends leaving Maxine alone, but really that was okay, Vera and Max ... well they loved each other because they were family, but that was about it.

Having just returned from Bavaria a few days prior, Dia hadn't had the time to catch up with anyone from Hogwarts before hopping on the train. So she had no idea when the back of the train had become the place for the Small Ones. Where were all the other seventh years?! Or was she the first seventh year on the train? Heck, she didn't even see any fellow Slyth-oh wait, there was that dash named girl, Dos Whatever. So, one other Slytherin, then. But one of the aforementioned Small Ones, so...

Anyway, this seventh year was making her way to the very back of the back car, loudly shout-singing an extremely old song she'd heard on an equally old vinyl disc that her uncle had found in this even older house he'd been asked to clean out and had brought home (the disc, not the house). "With the lights down, it's less dangerous! Here we are now, entertain us! I feel stupid and contagious! Here we are now, entertain us!" Fellow Slytherins and seventh years would recognize this as a sign that Dia had had WAY too much sugar, but what would the Small Ones think? And did the shout-singing Slytherin really even care? The answer to the latter was: not really. Nor did she care what they would think when she started using any and all available surfaces as a drum set either. Or when she added headbanging, jumping and flips to the routine either. She was riding too big of a sugar rush.

Yes, twenty chocolate frogs in the hands of Lydia Anni Wolff was a dangerous thing, folks. ".....whatever, nevermind!"

V could hardly believe that it was time for school again! Merlin’s hat! Dance classes had taken up her summer as WELL as lots of writing back and forth to her current favorite sibling, her brother Noah. He was just…so different than her parents. While she adored her dad and respected her mother, Noah was…Noah was kind. He was thoughtful, and he was so smart. Smart in ways that her ambitious mother was not. That her willful father was not. She had taken to writing down his wiser quotes in her journal, writing his words in a golden color. Maybe if she talked to him more, she’d be nicer. V was aware she was not always nice. It didn’t feel good to be mean, but it just…happened sometimes.

It seemed like the back cars where were all her friends were at - Lisa was with Atlas in one compartment, and JASPER AND SERENA!!! In another. She was about to enter Lisa’s compartment to tell her they should just COMBINE compartments with Jas and Serena when she noticed Daniel alone in his own compartment. V knocked gently before sticking her head in. “Yoon? Did you see Lisa next door? Why’re you alone?” She asked curiously.

Just curious. Nothing else. Nope. Nothing.

NOTTA.

Also…who was that singing?????

Six years of train rides had somewhat dulled Joseph to the drama of figuring out who to sit with. It wasn't like he had any enemies, so it really didn't matter. He'd decided, already, he was going to just pick the first empty compartment and sit, and anyone who wanted to join him, well that was just fine.

Seventh year, he was a seventh year, and Misa wasn't going to be here, and by jove, he was going to enjoy his last ride to Hogwarts.

He let himself into what looked like an empty compartment, leaving the door open as he sat down in the furthest seat from the window. Then he glanced at the window and did a double take. It wasn't an empty compartment, apparently. "Oh, hi," he said, giving a gentle smile to the kid. First year, probably. "I'm Joe, are you new here?"

Daniel shook his head in surprise as the compartment door opened and the figure of V appeared on the threshold of the compartment. His face turned slightly red now that he realised he had been glaring daggers at the wall.

"I saw her" he said with a shrug of his shoulders. "Just...because" he wasn't going to say that he didn't want to sit with her because Atlas was there too. The older Gryffindor always aggravated him for no apparent reason and he refused a train ride with him in the same room. It's funny how he used to feel the same way about V, but they had grown closer over time. He still did not see her as a friend, thought that was because he was very selective about picking friends. But he hadn't made fun of her in a long time and she hadn't cried in his presence either. "Who's singing?" he tried to look past the Slytherin "They're terrible"

He turned his gaze back to V and waited to see what she was going to do. Was she going to sit here or was she going to join those two on the other side of the wall?

You definitely couldn’t find a more excited pair than these two eleven-year-olds.

Sitting there with his best friend, it almost felt like a dream for him. How had this happened? How had he been invited? How had they both been invited? Well, he wouldn’t question it that was for sure. “Neither can I bud. Neither can I.” If there were any tell-tale signs that Parker were going to miss his family, it was not the same for Hooper. He was fully focused, set and ready for the next stage of his life…as a magician. As someone who knew how to do magic tricks!

“This is cool. Like, how are we allowed to like, get on a train and just go to school? I feel like, super old. Like I’m 16 or 17 or something.” It was strange to have so much freedom and yet, unsure exactly what he could do. Hooper listened to Parker for a moment before a smile came across his face. “Yeah? You think it’d be cool? I mean, I guess. We don’t really know anything so it could be useful as long as it’s not a load of boring dates and stuff. Or a bunch of Kings and Queens. It wasn’t that he didn’t like history, it was just that it could be sooooo tedious and boring sometimes and he struggled to focus at the best of times. Like now…his attention, even to his best friend, was failing him as his eyes drifted to the window.

He did however just catch the end of something. “You mean the transfiguration book?” his eyes not wrestled back to his friend. “Yeah, I scanned that too. Some of the stuff looked cool but my Mam wouldn’t let me try to cast any of the spells” he shrugged then as if he hadn’t tried to take his wand without her knowing to try it and failed. “I read the Quidditch one. That seems wicked. I think I want to try out for a team maybe,” his mind now moving to how cool he’d look on the broom, centre of attention for all to see.

Why was Daniel turning red? V could not figure it out! It WAS kind of funny, though. V decided not to comment and merely took a seat. “I thought you and Lisa were, like, SUPER close,” she said with an eyebrow raise. Maybe she had miscalculated how close they were. Had they had a fight?! OMG What if they DID? V was dying to know all the details NOW.

V hadn’t caught sight of the singer before sitting and shrugged. “Dunno. I didn’t see who she was. But I agree. She IS terrible. However, I am too lazy to get up right now to tell her to stop. SooooOOoo we will have to just deal with it,” she shrugged and glanced out the window as she got more comfortable. “Are you friends with Jasper?” She asked curiously since she did NOT at all remember that she had complained to Jasper back in their first year about how RUDE Daniel was and they had had a confrontation.

Oops.

Serena scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Man? You just turned thirteen." He didn't even have chin hairs. Not even a peach fuzz. Good one, Jasper. Deep down, even if she didn't want to admit it, Jasper's goofiness was fun. Sometimes. Rarely.

Uhuhhh. She wasn't going to start to point fingers, but she will give herself props for not losing her cool completely. ANYWAAAAAAAAAAY--"Is someone strangling a cat?" she asked when she heard singing coming from the corridor. That hurt her ears, so she went ahead and closed the compartment door before returning and accepting the seat beside Jasper.

The redhead crossed her legs and examined sweets he was offering. One, she was making sure his hands were clean. Boys had the rep of not washing their hands as often as girls, and she didn't want to get Jasper-germs, thank you very much. Her stormy blue eyes looked up at him. "I don't need luck for you to share your sweets with me for free, Botros," she smirked, wiggling her eyebrows at him. And she demonstrated by plucking a random sweet from his palm. See?

Darius was just about to chill in a compartment by the time the usual rustle and bustle came about with the other students. It was so weird going back for his final year at Hogwarts. He expected it to be chaotic, like practically every other term here, but for now the peace on the train was his calming matter. Along with him flipping through his Quidditch Times magazine.... until the singing came about.

"I didn't realize Drama Club tryouts were taking place on the train this year.." Darius commented. It was quite distracting from his reading. "Are you alright?" He asked. Sounded..... concerning? Not that he really cared, but it would help to know what she was up to.

She was so focused on the chapter that she was devouring. The author was rewarding her patience with a beautiful scene between the heroine and the dangerous, mysterious man who had walked into her life. Her heart began racing and then she glanced over at the next words when she heard knocking followed by a casual ‘Hey’. She imagined the man with dark suave hair and a smug smirk on his lips (in her mind, this character looked like Naveen from the Frog Princess movie) as he said the casual greeting.

Hey!!? Why was this the first word he said to the dear heroine!??!!? WAH! No way. Not after chapters of passing notes and exhaustingly painful descriptions of gazes. That had to be... Oh wait. The dialogue in the book was different from what she had read.

Suddenly she became aware that she was not alone.

Glancing up from her book, she saw Atlas knocking on the frame and smiled. A pretty friend. “Of course! I’d love to have you join,” she spoke as she closed her book abruptly because she had been reading a ... ahem ... romance novel. Her cheeks were flushed but she still smiled. “How was your summer?” she asked but the last word of her question was drowned out by Daniel and the commotion.

A snort escaped her when she saw the silly wiggle of his eyebrows and as he retreated, she covered her mouth and nose in shock as her face turned bright red. NO WAY! How embarrassing. She had just snorted in front of... Fortunately she didn’t have time to be embarrassed because as soon as Daniel slipped by, she heard a loud voice. She cringed. “That’s got to be hurting her vocal chords. All that shouting and she’ll ruin her voice more,” she frowned and lifted her nose up a little higher in the air. Normally she would have been worried what others thought of her comments but she felt comfortable with Atlas about expressing her likes and dislikes. Yes, attending theatre camp for six summers in a row clearly made her an expert on acting and vocal control... not that she had much room to talk because she would belt songs in the shower without properly warming up. Hmph. Then she spotted V and Daniel together. And the singing. And Serena and Jasper. She felt like she was beginning to short circuit.

Gfhdgfgdfdggfgdsfdsf.

What in Merlin’s Magical and Mystical World was transpiring on this very train?

She turned to the older Gryffindor and loudly whispered (a la stage whisper), “Atlas, can you pinch me? I think between Daniel, the singing, Daniel and V sitting in a compartment together that I may be hallucinating...”

Ruari Fuller-thompson was thoroughly over the moooooon. he had enjoyed a wicked summer- vacations, swimming, eating good food, growing two whole inches, painting, flying- and he was ready to show off, to regale everyone with his adventures and hear their stories in turn.

his dorm mates, aurelia. he was on the hunt, but so far he hadn’t spotted hide nor hair of his fellow ravenclaws. It was annoying. he was much too much full of energy to keep it all to himself and he was much too much impatient to keep on looking. so, he grabbed a snack and settled into a compartment near the back of the train where he could keep an eye out for his friends and enjoy the train ride.

"Yeah, and?" He didn't like when people reminded him that he was the youngest in their year. Being the youngest wasn't relevant when he was one of the STRONGEST. He could thank his rigorous workout regime for that. He kept up with it over the summer with baba and he planned to keep it up this year as well, even though Auggie had graduated. It was more fun to workout with friends, but Jas had enough discipline to keep at it on his own too. AND. He did have a chest hair. At least one. He checked on it every morning to make sure it was still there. (AND IT WAS!)

"Either that or they're being strangled," though Jas didn't actually believe that to be the case, otherwise he would've jumped into action to save the day. "Thanks," for getting the door. His ears were ringing. Geez.

His grin didn't falter as she sat down and inspected his offering because, honestly, he figured there'd be some hesitation. Things were never easy with Serena, though he didn't really mind. It was fun and he was competitive, so it all worked out. "You're welcome," he chirped back in reply, taking one of the sweets for himself and popping it into his mouth. It took only but a moment before the effect took place and he "ROAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR"-ed just like a lion. King of the Jungle. Jasper Amir.

He laughed boisterously just as the sweet's effect wore off. That was too good. "Your go - I hope you get a parakeet!" Yes, this is what he was thinking about.

Matilda was nervous.

She’d had a nice summer vacation. The second year had the best time with her siblings and tried to forget about school and magic related things but here she was - starting another term at hogwarts, feeling somewhat uneasy. Pausing to anxiously run a hand through her hair, she set out to find an apartment near the back.

Stepping into the nearest one, she looked at the boy who seemed to be about her age. “Can I.. uh.. sit here?”

"And that doesn't make you a man." She didn't mean because he was the youngest. Serena was probably one of the oldest in their year--her birthday being Halloween--and she didn't assume to be a woman because of it. She was probably the most experienced thanks to her dad's training this past summer. Combat and endurance training, survival skills--all of which she was still going to keep up during school, as well. "What makes you a man?" she asked after her eyes made a quick sweep of him. He didn't look like a man.

Serena paused and then shrugged. "That'd be unfortunate." If someone was being strangled then they were going to stay put right here. She's heard stories, not just from books, but from her very own family members about ugly things happening on the train. She enjoyed being and staying alive, thanks. Unless it was Lisa that needed help. Then Serena would be out of there so fast Jasper would think she disappeared in thin air.

She was about to pop the sweet into her mouth, but Jasper beat her to it. Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd...it was funny! She let out a laugh as he roared. And then laughed a little more. Hah. Like often, she composed herself and smoothed her hand over her jeans. "That actually fits you. Surprise you're not a Gryffindor."

The sweet went into Serena's mouth. "A para--?" A LOUD trumpet sound came out of the redhead's mouth before she could even complete her sentence. She pressed her hands on her cheeks as she tried to stop herself from laughing again, but it didn't work. She sounded like a laughing/choking elephant.

HAH!