The Hogwarts Express: going to school

[Anthony Dorev]

The train's whistle started to blow, and all around the train kids began to say good bye to their parents. They started to file into the train, finding empty compartments.
Anthony was one of the first onto the train. He had no one to see him off, and the sooner they got to Hogwarts, the better. He made his way to the front of the train, smiling and saying hi to all the people he knew. At the front of the train he quickly opened the prefect compartment and visably relaxed. He quickly sat down, and shivered with excitement. He loved leaving behind the dump of an orphanage and going to Hogwarts, but he calmed himself and waited for the headmistriss to come in.

Roan quickly said goodbye to his parents and jumped the three steps onto the train. He searched from compartment to compartment looking for his friends. He searched the whole train, but didn't find them. They always waited till the last minute the board he though, and with a sigh he sat down in an empty compartment and waited, sprawled out on the chairs. He took a hidden butterbeer from his bag and sat enjoying it for a few moments before getting impatient and poking his head out the sliding door window searching for Andi.

[jen]

"Hurry up son! You don't want to miss the train now," barked Dalton's father.

"It doesn't even leave for another five minutes." he replied with a faint scowl. Dalton glanced at his teary eyed mother and rolled his eyes. This was his seventh time leaving for Hogwarts, you'd think she'd be over this by now. "G'Bye," he said and gave his mother a quick hug before dragging his things onto the train.

As he walked up the isle, a younger student seemed to be tailing him. He stopped and turned around. As he did so, the boy ran into his stomach and screeched, "Sorry!"

"What'd you want?" demanded Dalton, his tone annoyed.
"I uh, was going to sit with you. Y-you look like a Slytherin, a-and I want to be one...." The boy started to stammer as Dalton's gaze became more annoyed.

"Get outa here. Wherever I'm sitting is full....go sit with the other snobbish first years." he replied. He turned sharply to the left and sifted in and out of some people, taking the first compartment on the left. As he practically barged into the rather small room, he noticed someone already there. "Oh, hey Eta." At least it was a familiar classmate and not some other bothersome person. "Mind if I sit here?"

His 'cat' stretched out its limbs in the cage and made a growling noise. Dalton's cat wasn't much like a cat though. It was bigger than a cat and was almost built as though it was a panther. If he could, he would certainly have a panther as his school pet, but seeing that he can't, he bought the next best thing. His name was Ace, and he was all black, muscular, and had bright yellow green eyes. He had bigger paws than an average cat with long, sharp claws. Ace weighs about seventy pounds and barely fits on a person's lap.

Dalton tapped the cage with his foot and the cat grumbled once more but then laid its head back down.

Jackie nodded over and over again as her dad went over some things to remember. "Keep up with your homework. Don't get in too much trouble. Be good...." he continued, but her mind just translated it into blah blah blah blah. When he finally stopped talking, she grinned and gave him a huge hug. "I'll write lots! See you at holiday break!" she called as she walked over to the train. With a last wave, Jackie stepped onto the steps and disappeared through the doorway. People had already started to crowd the isles and fill up the compartments. Near the middle, she found an empty one and plopped her things down, setting her owl beside her. Her bright green eyes wandered over to the window and she watched her felllow students say their goodbyes. It was great to be back on the train again, and she couldn't wait to see all of her friends. While she watched out the window, she rested her chin in her palm and chewed on a sour candy she had packed from Honeydukes.

[jen]

After an ongoing speech from his parents, Milo finally boarded the Hogwarts Express. A smile spread across his lips as he looked around the train. He was finally back. His luggage was dragging along behind him and his owl was perched inside the cage that he was holding. His dark eyes darted back and forth, peering into the windows of the compartment doors. He didn't spot any one he recognized, so he took the first empty one he found. Tucking his luggage away, Milo settled down into the seat and pulled out a book about nargles and cumple horned snorkaks. It wasn't usually what he read about, but his good friend, Starla, lent it to him over the summer, and he decided to reread it.

[Andi Lupin]

Andi reluctantly hugged her mother goodbye. "Mum, I feel really bad about leaving you here. What could you possibly do with your two favorite people away? I mean, sure you'll have the rest of the family, but.." Andi trailed off. Her father had taken a job at Hogwarts, the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. He wasn't sure how long he would stay, but they needed him to teach. Andi hugged her mom one last time and hopped onto the train. She dragged her trunk and broomstick behind her. she tumbled down the aisle searching for her friends. Poking her head into a compartment she found Roan. "Roan! Hey!" she ran into the compartment and sat down next to him.

Jessica sat outside the train listening to her father talk. He was, once again, giving her his famous speech. "If anyone touches you just tell me. I'll hunt them down and kill them. No one touches my baby girl. Make sure your teachers don't give you too much work either. That half-breed Lupin is teaching this year. Be careful of him, and his daughter. Who knows what kind of nasty things she's inherited from him.." Draco rambled on. "Of course daddy. I'll be a little angel. If anything goes wrong I'll owl you instantly." She smiled innocently. She hugged her father goodbye and boarded the train, her father's shouts following after. She pushed through some of the first years and walked down the length of the train. She looked through the windows of the compartments looking for a familiar face. Close to the front, Anthony was seated by himself in a compartment. She slid inside and took a seat. "Hello." she mumbled. Only Slytherin I can find..


Alex walked onto the platform with his parents close behind. His father was giving him last minute Quidditch tips. "Now, don't forget to owl me if you need any help with strategies or anything. You're good, but I've been doing this longer. You need to bring some glory to the Wood family son." Oliver's deep voice babbled. Alex rolled his eyes and waved his parents off. He boarded the train and looked around for a familiar face. Not seeing any he found an empty compartment at the back and took a seat.


Starla walked onto the platform, her arms laden with strange objects. She had the latest issue of the Quibbler tucked underneath her left arm. her mother had been working, and wasn't able to see her off. Starla was used to it, so she didn't mind much. She smiled at everyone, even if they were giving her odd looks. Starla /was/ the type of girl that deserved odd looks. She bounded up the stairs, her raddish earrings bouncing as she jumped. She found an empty compartment and opened up her copy of the Quibbler. Not long after, she was immersed in her reading.

[milk]

"Bye Grandma! Bye Gramps!"
"Good bye dear," Her grandmother said, waving her off as any women would who still couldn't enjoy her retirement.
"Good bye Freddy! I'll pick you up same time next Tuesday!" Her grandfather was stuck in the past and every time he went out to drive, which is the only thing he could do by himself other than reading the newspaper in the bathroom for an hour, he thought he was driving the carpool to his old bowling league.
"Come on kid, let's go." Her sister placed her hands on Laryn's shoulders, steering her around away from their grandparents car.
"Wait! Phideas!" Laryn ran back, grabbing her owl and topping off her pile of luggage with his cage. "Ok," she said with a sigh. "Let's go."

***********************************

Thomas scowled as his mother rubbed of some chocolate from his cheek. He had dipped into his care package a bit early. His father stared straight ahead at the train while his mother cooed at him. He didn't hear any of it though, he just rolled his eyes until his father grabbed his shoulder and pushed him towards the train. "Off you go, get a good compartment, meet important people."

Thomas made a face and got on the train, ignoring his mother's wails as she cried about how much she would miss him. Yeah, she'd miss him until she realized that she wouldn't have to deal with him until Christmas. Then she'd get drunk with joy.

He shoved his Owl into someone, ordering them to put his owl in the best compartment. They just sneered and shoved his owl back. So much for that. He waddled down the aisle and turned into the first compartment he came to when the cage started feeling heavy. He put his owl down, and stared out the window to watch his parents wait for the train to leave. Once it did leave he was heading straight for the snack cart. His care package wouldn't last long.

***********************************

"Charlie! Charlie you be good at school, send a letter when you get there telling us all about it. Charlie don't forget your toad!!"

"Ok, yes mum, thanks mum, I won't forget him!" Charlie said. He was only half listening as he took his toad from his mom. He was explaining to his little brother exactly what happened at the ice cream shop. He had told it three times already just that morning. "And then he told me how he was best friends with Uncle, and how they fought next to each other during the battle. Then he said that he'd love to meet me again and talk, but then he had to go, but he made sure I got plenty of pictures."

His brother stared up at him in awe, his eyes wide in amazement. He believed any word his older brother told him, especially about Harry Potter because his brother knew everything about Harry Potter.

"Charlie! The train is leaving in t minus three minutes!"

"Yes Dad! I'm going! I love you guys!" He said before giving everyone one last hug and jumping on the train.

***********************************

"C'mere kid." Her sister said, pulling Laryn into a hug.

"Bye Jaimie! Don't get into any trouble, ok?" She said, her sister had a knack for drinking too much.

"Shouldn't I be telling you that?"

They both laughed and hugged again.

"Send Phideas as soon as you get to a parchment, OK?" Jamie said, still holding Laryn tightly in her arms. Laryn told her she would, and they finished their long good bye with a few seconds to spare. Laryn jumped on the train, turning around once she got on for one more wave good bye, then it was off to Hogwarts!

[Anthony Dorev]

Roan's smile lit up when he saw Andi. "Hey Andi," he said brightly, and as she sat down, he instantly swung his legs over to rest on hers, and resisted almost all trys to get them off. "So, how was your summer?" he asked casually, while Andi was struggling to get his legs off her. He smiled again and rest his head against a cushion. Man it was good to be back.

Anthony glanced up in surprise and gave Jessica one of his rare genuine smiles. He was... just so overwhelmingly happy to be back at Hogwarts. "Hey Jessica," he said, acting like he hadn't seen her over the summer. "How was your summer?" He glanced out the window, willing the train to start.

[Andi Lupin]

"Roan! Get your legs off me!" She tried to push him off, but no matter what she did she couldn't push him off. She glared at him and gave up the fight. "My summer was fantastic. I practiced a lot, I'm hoping you did too. You do anything interesting over break?" Andi sighed and took up her struggle to push his legs off her again.

"My summer was fine, and yourself?" Jessica mumbled. She wasn't fond of Anthony. He always struck her as a bit, different. Maybe, like he had something to hide. She wasn't going to pursue the subject though. She wished she could find some other Slytherins to speak with, but wasn't much in the mood to get up.

[Anthony Dorev]

Remus Lupin kissed his wife goodbye and promised to write her almost daily. He slowly got on the train, and searched for a near empty compartment. He usually liked to great some of the first years, or at least see how they react to him "sleeping" there. He found a compartment that had only one first year, sat across from him, and settled down into waiting.

[Anthony Dorev]

Roan smiled at Andi, and as quick as he could, shifted around so his head was in her lap. "Do you have any grapes you could feed me? I'm starv- woah!" Andi had shifted her kness and he teetered at the edge of the seat before doing a faceplant on the floor. "Woah," he said, dazed, as he propped himself up with his elbow.

Anthony was about to reply when some of the other prefects came in, and he greeted them with a smile and started talking avidly. He whittled down the time till the train set off by talking to them about meaningless things he didn't care about, but had to pretend he did. Annoying, but he didn't care.

[milk]

“Now I don’t want to here about any more of these trips to the headmistresses office, you here me young lady?”

Brett and her mother played tug of war with Brett’s hat as she attempted to get away from her parents and onto the train. “Mother please, let go of my hat, I won’t get into trouble.”

Of course, this was a lie. She hadn’t planned anything yet. Usually everything was just on a whim. But she would be doing everything that she did last year and more. Her mother gave her an ‘are you really telling you the truth because I’m serious’ look, and she stared innocently back until her mom released the death grip on her hat and turned her attention to the twins.

Brett turned to hug her father, who told her not to forget to say good bye to her mother, which made her quickly turn to pick up her brother, who told her that he was ten and didn’t need to be picked up anymore.

“Is that any way to say goodbye to your favorite sister?” She said, setting him down and ruffling his hair. He smiled and tackle-hugged her, saying a muffled goodbye.

Then all that was left was her mother. The looked at each other, both with their head tilted to the side and arms crossed. Mother and daughter, so alike when they think they’re so different. She slowly walked the few feet between them and gave her mother a sincere hug. “I love you mom.”

“I love you too. Be good.” Her mother said, and this time Brett didn’t complain about her mother bugging her, she smiled and fixed her hat, following her sisters onto the train.

[bellatrix]

Eta stood on the platform looking at Saiph, appologizing to him as best she could without being heard. 'Cissy's fault,' she thought. Saiph was sealed in a cage hardly big enough to fit him. Eta didn't like it, and she'd have him out by the time she was seated.

"You behave yourself," Narcissa said, straightening out Eta's hair.

Eta's face was still plastered with a scowl.

"I don't want any letters from your professors, this is your final year and you're an adult now. I expect you to act your age. And for heaven's sake, keep the snake locked up, the last thing we need is for it to bite someone."

Eta wanted to argue that the snake never bit anyone, but kept her mouth shut. She barely noticed that her aunt had stopped speaking.

"You risk paying the consequences if you don't obey your aunt's wishes," Lucius said coldly.

"Yes, uncle," Eta said sharply. Lucius wasn't pleased, but didn't want to make a scene.

"Now, you're sure you've got everything?" Narcissa asked. "Books, quills, uniforms? Where's Riegel?" She meant the owl.

Eta raised his cage, which she had been holding in her hand. The Northern Hawk owl stared with his large yellow eyes.

"Alright, off you go then. Be good." Narcissa kissed her cheek and hugged her.

"Yes, Cissy," Eta responded. "Good-bye, Uncle Lucius," she added stiffly. He nodded.

Eta pushed her trolley to the luggage compartment and left it, taking only the cages with her pets in them and her small bag with her uniform.

She picked an empty compartment and sat contently. Thank goodness she was away from her doting aunt.


All the while, Cygnus remained ignored, with the exception of his uncle casting glares in his direction every few minutes warningly. He took his owl after dropping his luggage off. He knocked on Eta's compartment, and she looked at him with complete disgust.

He slid the door open with a smile, if that's believable. "Hey, off to another year right? I think it'll be a good one," Cygnus made an honest effort wth his sister. She scowled and looked out the window at everything she was leaving behind, wishing Cygnus was out there with them.

"Look, I think it would be better for the both of us if you just keep your fat trap shut."

Cygnus withdrew a little bit, feeling slammed. He was only trying to be friends with her, but she wouldn't have it. He thought about what his favorite relative, Sirius Black, might've done in this situation.

[milk]

Thomas stared at the man who had just sat down in his compartment. He just walked in and fell asleep. Too weird. Thomas was about to leave when someone else came in.

"Hi! I'm Charlie, what's your name? Can I sit here?"

Thomas stared at the boy, then at the man, then back at Charlie, "Er... I'm Thomas. Yeah, go ahead." He said, and immediately Charlie sat down next to him.

"This year is going to be the best year of my life. I met Harry Potter and I get to go to Hogwarts! Is it going to be the best year of your life too?"

"Sure." Thomas said distractedly. His last week hadn't been the best... But maybe once he made some friends he wouldn't have to deal with those older students.

**************************

Brett looked around for some other seventh years while her sisters ran off to be with their nerd friends. She wondered if Cygnus or Cydney had gotten on the train yet.

She peered through a few of the compartment windows. Eta was in one, so she figured Cygnus must be somewhere around. And on the other side of the same compartment, there he was! She knocked on the window and called out his name. "Cygnus! Hey, Cygnus!"

[bellatrix]

Cygnus looked up with his common happy-go-lucky smile. He waved her in, to which Eta frowned. She grabbed Saiph's cage and unlocked it, putting him in her lap.

"Hey, how were your holidays?" he asked, increasingly happy now that a friend was there. His own vaction had not been much fun, but he didn't care, he was away from home now, and wouldn't have to go back. He did want to bring Seric, the house elf who had practically raised him from toddler-hood, though.

Seric was Cygnus' best friend and semi- guardian. He always wished the elf could join him at school, thinking he would've lived a happier life if he had been able to work in the kitchens.

[milk]

Brett opened the door excitedly, sitting down across from Eta and her snake. "It's soo great to be back. My holidays were extremely PG... And very lacking in fire whiskey."

She balanced in her head the pros and cons of saying hello to Eta. Normally Brett wouldn't eventhink of saying Hello to a slytherin. She was Cygnus' sister though, and he was so intense on trying to be closer to her. Well, she'd hold off for now.

"How was your summer?" She asked Cygnus as she attempted to ignore the snake. Thinking about Eta brought her attention to Saiph and she hadn't yet decided if he freaked her out or not.

[bellatrix]

"Oh...not too bad. I learned a few tricks from Seric," Cygnus smiled, failing to mention that week that Seric had been sent away by Lucius and Cygnus had gone unfed. He passed out after the third day and was nearly dead by the time Seric returned. The Malfoys had refused him food, but he hadn't cared, he hadn't ever wanted to be associated with them anyway.

Saiph made his way up and coiled around Eta's neck. Eta finally noticed Dalton. "Not at all, please do sit down," she slid over a little. She and her brother were evenly matched now. She resisted the urge to ask him how his holidays had been, that would seem awkward, seeing as Cygnus had just spoken that question. Instead she blankly looked out the window. She wasn't good with small talk anyway.