The train journey home was always bittersweet for the Ravenclaw. On the one hand she was very close to her family and therefore the excitement over seeing them again was ever present. But on the other hand her classmates became a second family throughout the year and it was their companionship that she would miss. At least she was only a second year and still had numerous years to enjoy at the castle before she was forced to never return again.

Looking ‘sad’ wasn’t on the agenda however and it was rare for there to be a frown on the blondes face. She entered the train from the front and skipped her way down the corridor to reach the middle where clearly all the action would be. Or rather where Aurora could be nosey and people watch and occasionally grab a passerby to come keep her company whether they wanted to or not. It was a special talent of hers to be able to engage a stranger into conversation to the point where she talked so much it was impossible to escape. Her Ma had once remarked that if she were ever to be kidnapped it was likely that she would be returned by the assailant for over sharing. In her opinion this sounded like a positive for she didn’t particularly want to be taken anywhere anyway.

Once done skipping her way through the train she located an empty compartment which she slipped into leaving the door wide open. It was an invitation to join her of course..

Regulus was not looking for anything in particular as he sought out a seat on the train; he didn't care if a compartment was empty or filling up, nor who might be there already if the latter. What part of the train he chose didn't matter much to him either. At least, he didn't think so, and yet there was something telling him to keep moving along each time he looked through a compartment door and found it, for some reason, unsatisfactory or otherwise unsuitable.

At this one, though, Regulus stopped and stepped inside. Was it the open door? He didn't think so, though he could also see it sent a pretty obvious message. Regulus knew the girl already here, too.

"Hi," he said, and claimed a seat by the window. More words were eager to follow, but these days it was second nature for Regulus to hold them back, and let them through one by one. He wound his fingers in the hem of his shirt, was forcibly reminded of his mother's response to exactly that habit, and quickly untangled them again, glancing out through the window and sitting up straight. Poised. Self-assured. "I wonder how warm it is down south."

Seldom was it warm enough, not like Sicily. But then, maybe the appeal was that very little reminded him of that place. Except that that wasn't supposed to matter.

It wouldn’t have really bothered her whoever came to join her but the fact that it was her fellow second year (and someone she would classify as a friend whether he agreed or not) did bring a huge smile to her face. “Hi Regulus!” She giggled swinging her legs back and forth which couldn’t quite reach the floor thanks to her diminutive height. She was hoping that this summer, the summer she finally hit her teenage years, would be the time her height caught up with the genetics that her Mom and sister had.

If Aurora’s experience was anything to go by, it wasn’t that much warmer down south than it was up in Scotland where the school was located. Although to be honest she hadn’t really taken the time out to think about it either. Her family often spent part of the summer somewhere abroad, typically in the warm isles of Greece where the temperature could become unbearable at times but this year would be entirely different with a planned skiing holiday in the Andes. “It’s probably raining in London” she replied simply. It seemed like it was always raining even in the height of summer. “I made sure to keep my coat on me.. and my sunglasses.” Just in case. It WAS England after all and there was potential to experience all the seasons in one twenty-four hour period. What she hadn’t prepared for however was snow, she was hoping that there wouldn’t be an unseasonable blizzard in the middle of the city.

“Where does your family live?” She lived not far from the station at all in Shoreditch. Others she imagined were spread all over the UK and therefore had a little further to go. Not that distance exactly mattered to the Wizarding community at all considering how easy it was to just *pop* away and appear somewhere different.

Her excitement was a lot as she'd made her way onto the Hogwarts express and picked a compartment someplace near the middle. She was SO looking forward to going home and seeing Papa and spending some time with him. She was also curious to hear if there had been any developments in the set up she and Vesper had facilitated for him, especially now that it didn't seem her brother was angry with her for having done so without his knowledge. Granted... the disastrous way she handled things seemed to amuse him more than anything, so perhaps anger could still come later. But she was choosing to not think about that. Cross that bridge if they ever had to get to it.

Also, she was looking forward to working. Which was perhaps a weird thing, but having purpose sounded nice. AND there was going to be Gobstones to add to boot! It was a very exciting summer approaching, even if busy.

But for the time being? She'd try to pass the time until it was officially official summer by enjoying the train ride. Though while she didn't have any current company, she actually pulled a book from her bag and was slowly flipping through the pages as she read. She probably looked like someone entirely different given the current view.

This was certainly not the usual Vera Thanatos.

Regulus found himself grateful for Aurora's constant motion, the swinging legs, the general energy, if for no other reason than it provided a reminder to stay mindful of his own. Probably he might end up growing accustomed to it, but then... maybe Regulus didn't need reminders anymore. Maybe he was perfectly capable of remembering on his own.

Speaking of staying mindful of things, it was a moment - typically enough - before Regulus replied. The people he still caught himself calling his family - the blood relatives on mother's side - mostly resided in prison or in the ground, back in Italy. Papà's blood relatives were mostly in the west country, in Godric's Hollow. The question was probably about where he lived though, and even that made him pause for a little longer, careful not to misstep with such crucial information. "I live with my dad; he has a house a little way north of London. So if it is raining in the city, we'll probably get some of it too."

Regulus glanced out of the window again. "I hope it isn't. I'd like a nice summer, at least by the time my birthday gets here." He turned his eyes, once more, to Aurora. "What do you do in the summer? You have a sister, don't you?" It wasn't until he'd said it out loud that he realised why those two things were linked - his own half-sibling, who may or may not be there at papà's house still, sharing the space. Still, not knowing why he spoke until after he'd said the words; it made him uneasy, though he kept his expression schooled and tried not to seem anything other than completely engaged in the conversation.

Energy was something that came in abundance for the Ravenclaw, it was hardly believable that such a tiny person could withstand so much electricity flowing through her veins without physically exploding. If her legs weren’t swinging back and forth then she’d be humming or twitching or jigging on the spot. She blamed it on having active parents and therefore a physically active childhood too.

It was always raining in the UK, it was rare for them to have a summer where there wasn’t at least one wet day that usually sprung out of nowhere. “You’re not too far from me. I live in Shoreditch so it’s kind of North London.. well it’s north of the Thames anyway” she giggled.

Regulus was evidently one of the youngest in the year too if he was to celebrate his birthday during the summer. “My birthday is at the end of July. We usually spend it at the beach but Mom wanted to change things up this year.” Whatever that was supposed to mean. Not that Aurora was complaining, she was happy to float along with whatever decision her parents were making for her considering how indecisive she could be. “Yes! Her name is Ariadne and she is Ravenclaw and in sixth year.. although I suppose she is now a seventh year which means she is going to graduate next term.” But then whose dorm was she going to sneak into and whose shoulder was she going to lean on?

“We’re going SKIING! Did you know that in August in South America there is still snow on the mountains because it’s their winter?” Wasn’t the world COOL? Literally in the sense that she was referring to. “Ma and Mom and Ariadne and I go somewhere every year but usually it’s Greece where it’s warm and we spend a lot of time on the beach.” Poor Regulus had opened a whole can of worms with his line of enquiry which meant that once he’d got Aurora started it was going to take an awful lot to get her to stop.

Hope was struggling with her luggage--she had a lot of it, because she would be going with her aunt and uncle straight from the train to a portkey site and from there, back to Virginia, without even time for cup of tea (or so she'd been told). She thought it sounded quite uncivilized. But right now, she had clambered onto the Hogwarts Express with the last stragglers and was hunting for an empty seat. Spotting one, she stumbled into a carriage one of the middle cars and, panting, shoved her things under the seat before plopping herself down.

Only then did she notice another girl there--a Gryffindor, and a fourth year at that, and she was immersed in a book, it looked like. Hopefully she wasn't disturbing her. "Sorry, is it all right if I take this seat? There aren't many left."

"I used to live in London. I think it was North London too." Not for long though, and he'd never been told the actual address or even the specific area, though by now Regulus understood why they'd never told him. Aurora's words did seem to ring a bell... though it didn't really matter, he supposed, given he didn't live there anymore, and rarely saw the city when he did. But they had lived closer, once.

Regulus was a good listener. A very good listener. It had long been drilled into him how effective it was to focus on listening, not talking, but even without that he found it just as interesting to listen. Always he had questions, but was careful with which he spoke aloud; anyway, most people tended to answer most of his questions eventually, as long as they kept talking. Again, most did.

Like right now, he was already learning plenty about Aurora he didn't know already. Like that she had two mothers, and the sister that he had known about, and that probably there were no boys in her family, because it seemed likely they'd have come up in the talk of Greece. He knew roughly when Aurora's birthday was, roughly where she lived, and surmised she'd be in South America in the summer. Granted, none of it was entirely dangerous information to share, but it was... well, it was just interesting.

"No, I didn't know that," Regulus said dutifully, though he did. Or, at least, he knew that the seasons were flipped below the equator, and he knew South American had mountains and cold climates, and might have put the two together, had he considered it. "Is that where you're going, South America? Where have you been in Greece? I-" He paused, cleared his throat like he might have had something stuck in it for a moment, then went on, then smiled apologetically, and continued. "I've been there before. I used to live in Sicilia, and it isn't very far from there. Did you like it?" Not that that mattered so much with magical transport, but still. It was close enough to warrant a mention, he thought.