The Pottermore RP

OOC: Alright, this is the start ^^ NOTE: There is still room for one more if someone wishes to join. I'm not going to be too picky on who it is, but I only ask two things: 1) post a bio in the discussion thread, and 2) Please be a Gryffindor so there is a balance of characters, and I don't want Tailon to be all alone Other than that, have fun ^^

EDIT: Nevermind, RMA has just filled the spot. However, as stated in the discussion thread, you can still express interest in joining, but you will be unable to do so unless someone drops out. You are still free to post a bio.

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BIC:

Ah, the first day of September, a truly glorious day. Not only did it herald summer coming to an end and autumn to soon take over, but it was also a special day for Darius Gray: his departure for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He had trekked to King's Cross station from his home, a fairly long journey of a few miles, but it was the best alternative to having his magical parents attempt to drive a Muggle vehicle.

He was standing between Platforms nine and ten in faded jeans and a plain black t-shirt, waiting for the number of Muggles in the area to dwindle significantly. His older sister Eris was with him, wearing a viridian corset with a matching ruffled dress, and heeled knee-high black boots. The saying "black as sin" was usually only a simple simile, but it was almost literal when describing Eris' short, cropped hair.

"You're a fifth year now, Darius. You know what that means? You'll have to take your O.W.L.s at the end of the year." Eris smirked.

"They're just exams that will help me determine my career." was his laidback response.

"Not just any exams though," she said. "They're so difficult you might end up among the students that drop-out or kill themselves because of them." Eris added in a sing-song voice.

Eris was a little to happy about something so potentially detrimental to his mental health, but that was to be expected from her for wanting him dead since he was born. Darius dreaded the day she turned seventeen and was able to perform magic legally outside of school. Nevertheless, he held his head high and waited for the Muggles to disperse.

In order to reach the train that would take them to Hogwarts, they'd have to walk through the enchanted column that stood between the two platforms - but their vanishing would cause confusion among any non-magical being that saw the event.

Once a large number had cleared out, he took his trolley in hand and backed up a little bit, preparing for what was to come next. On the trolley was his trunk and a small traveling cage for his siamese cat, Agamemnon, who looked up at him with his bright blue eyes, almost as if to say "Ready?" With a quick nod in the cat's direction, Darius swept his copper hair to the side in a dramatic fashion before running full-speed at the column, harmlessly passing through it and entering into the magical area Platform nine and three-quarters. Eris followed, her trolley holding her lavishly decorated trunk and ridiculously ornate cage for her black cat, Balberith.

Darius took in the sight of the magnificent scarlet train and breathed in deeply, his mind filled with memories of Hogwarts. Taking his luggage, he boarded the train without Eris, cozying down in an empty compartment. He let Agamemnon out of his cage so he could stretch his legs and relax more, the cat deciding that Darius' legs would be an excellent location to sleep. He gently petted the cream-colored feline, who purred softly in enjoyment. Both of them looked up as the whistle sounded, signalling the eleven o'clock departure from the station.

Not wanting to disturb his sleeping companion, Darius silently cursed himself for not getting a book down before releasing Agamemnon. He pulled his ebony wand from his jeans pocket and whispered "Wingardium Leviosa," bringing his trunk down from the luggage rack silently. He opened it up and pulled out his copy of Intermediate Transfiguration, which he was quite interested in, closed the trunk, and magically placed it back on the rack. He had only gotten half of a page in when the door to his compartment opened.

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OOC: I know it's short D':

Also, since there's like, a ton of different breeds of Siamese cats, this is the one for Agamemnon. Just so you know~ ENJOY THE ELEGANCE :'D

Last edited by Shocari on Fri May 04, 2012 6:01 am, edited 4 times in total.

Rose Devlin sat in the backseat of the car in silence as she took in the scenery. Her parents were singing along to some old song on the radio, while her twin brother Sidney, whom everyone called Sid, was blocking out the world with magazine and his headphones. The music was so loud Rose was surprised he hadn't gone deaf. Hers and her brother's owls sat in their cages in the back of the SUV. Meanwhile, Rose began to feel that usual twinge of excitement in the pit of her stomach as they got closer and closer to Kings Cross. They had been taking this journey for five years now and it never got old for her. Rose and her brother's time in the Muggle world was going to end in a little while as it always did come September.

“So Rose,” said her mother Priscilla who was driving. “You're not going to turn into a nervous wreck once you get on the train, will you? I mean, I know you have your big exams this year, but do try not to freak out too much.”

“I won't, Mother,” Rose said. That may or may not have been a blatant lie. As much as Rose tried not to freak out, it inevitably happened when examination time came round. Once the test actually started, she was always fine having studied properly throughout the year.

“Ah, I remember this time well,” said her father Alistair. “My mother and father had to send my sister some sort of potion to calm her down after she wrote this hysterical letter home. My brother just didn't care...”

Rose laughed. It was interesting to hear her father talk about wizarding life without a trace of bitterness or wistfulness seen in other Squibs. Filch could take a leaf from his book honestly. After a short while, the found themselves at their destination. Sid finally took off his headphones and stowed them under the seat—he wouldn't need them where they were going. Their parents helped them get their trunks and owls (a screech owl for Sid and a tawny one for Rose). Sid took his broomstick and prodded Rose with it.

“Ready to see your precious Ravenclaw team fall to the might of the Gryffindor lions?” he taunted her. "Your keeper can't stop us, and your chasers will never get past our keeper. We're just that awesome."

“I suppose you're entitled to wishful thinking,” Rose said without a trace of a smile. “You're my brother and all but I can't wait to see you get humiliated in the worst way possible. And don't worry, you won't live it down. I won't let you!” She was cool now, but she also knew she'd be screaming her head off during the first Gryffindor-Ravenclaw match.

“That's my girl,” said Alistair as he kissed the top of his daughter's head.

The family said their usual good-byes. Rose vividly remembers the first time they said these good-byes. Their mother had cried as though she were sending her kids off for good. How embarrassing. There were no tears this time though. Just the simple 'don't get in too much trouble,' 'let us know if we need to send something,' and 'try to be a bit nicer this year.' That last one was aimed at Sid who had a certain reputation for being a bit of a bully quite frankly.

He smirked. “I'll be nice as long as the person doesn't make me be rude to them.”

Rose rolled her eyes but said nothing. It wasn't hard to make Sid be rude to a person. All someone had to do was be in his path and the might get shoved aside. Ah, the Gryffindor confidence at work...Once their parents had left, Rose and Sid walked up to the barrier between platforms nine and ten. They were dressed as normal muggles, Rose in her skirt, button-down, boots, and Ravenclaw scarf and Sid in his t-shirt, skinny jeans and sneakers and a jacket, but they still attracted some attention because of what they were carrying.

They both walked purposely up to the barrier and kept going. When they reached the other side, the found themselves staring at the great Hogwarts Express. As usual the place was chaos as wizarding parents got their children together to get on the train. The first years seemed to be super excited as usual. It's hard to believe they were that young and...excitable.

Rose and Sid quickly boarded the train and went their separate ways.

“See you later. Gonna meet with the rest of the team.” Sid called as he nearly knocked over a first year who was trying to find a compartment. “Watch where you're going,” he added roughly.

“Don't mind him,” Rose said to the nervous looking first year. “He can be a bit of a jerk sometimes. Do you have a place to go?”

“Oh uh,,,” he said. He looked slightly more relieved that Rose wasn't as intimidating as she seemed. “Yes, I-I have friends somewhere...”

“Just look around until you find them,” said Rose.

As he walked away, Rose vaguely wondered if she had just spoken to a future Ravenclaw. She kept his sandy hair and blue eyes in mind for the Sorting Ceremony. The whistle signalling departure sounded and was heard throughout the train. Rose herself was looking for someone and hoped she wouldn't have to look for long. It was at times like this that she missed muggle things such as cell phones. She took a chance and opened the first compartment door she came to. Luckily for her, it held the person she was seeking. He was reading a text book while his cat snoozed on his lap. She pulled her trunk and the cage with her owl, named Phantom inside.

“It's good to see you, Darius.” Rose said as she sat down.

“You’ve packed everything already, right, Laura?”

“Yes, dad,” Laura Rufford said as she looked down at her belongings and adjusted the luggage tag on her pet tabby’s, Kira’s, crate. She appeared to be of high-school age, and, to the best of her ability, tried to dress like one. She had on a golden, hooded mini-jacket, a white shirt, black tie, and a yellow and black plaid skirt with black leggings and yellow converse sneakers; her entire outfit advertised her immense pride in her house at Hogwarts. Even her dirty blonde hair hinted at her house due to its color. It was tomboyish in style, but she couldn’t pass for one even if she tried to. She was just too short and too quiet to pull off that boyish attitude she so wanted to have. It really didn’t help that her dad and older brother, both who were standing by here, were around six feet tall.

Ricky, her brother, gave her a friendly nudge. The girl flinched in surprise, but when she looked back, she only saw his unemotional green eyes, so similar to hers, staring back. “We should go now,” he said softly, and for a second Laura wondered why he was being so nice to her. When she looked closely at his gaze, though, she realized that he wasn’t looking at her, but at some point behind her. Of course, he must’ve been looking at her again. He always wanted to make himself seem better than he really was whenever she was around, and tended to do that by treating his little sister as sweetly as he could.

Laura quickly excused herself from the area.

Dragging her luggage cart piled sky high with suitcases, baggage, and other things she needed for school, the girl quickly boarded the train before the whistle could sound. She wouldn’t want to be left behind, especially not with lovey-dovey for company. Usually, Laura would sit with her brother because she was too shy to sit with other people. Occasionally she would have another Quidditch player or classmate in her compartment, but other than that, she would be with just her older brother. Last year, though, he started sending silly gushy love letters nonstop to his girlfriend, and Laura, unable to take their pet names for each other, had chosen to sit by herself.

The whistle finally blew, and she had to send a few red sparks at her brother before he finally realized that it was time to board the train. She purposely avoided looking back as she walked through the now moving vehicle, trying to find a compartment for herself, preferably one that was completely empty.

The first compartment she entered was relatively empty, save for a couple of fifth-years like herself. She didn’t quite recognize either one of their faces, though, and guessed that they weren’t in her house. Purposely avoiding them, she walked by as quickly as she could into the next compartment, which seemed to be empty. Hoping that nobody was hiding in the shadows to pull a prank on some stray passer-bys or something (she remembered that Ricky had told her a story of one of his friends doing exactly that about five years ago), Laura set her things down and, with a careful wave of her wand, managed to put all her belongings away without anything clattering on the ground.

“Meow!”

Okay, she thought too soon. The girl gently picked up her cat’s crate, and lifted the latch so that the creature could come out and recover from the crash. “You okay, Kira?” she asked, stroking the feline’s fur gently. As the cat purred, Laura thought how nice it was for her to have a compartment all to herself.

Then the door opened, and she had to force herself not to pull her hood over her head as somebody else walked into her compartment.

"Damn alarm clocks! Why can't they work for once!" Patrick Tennant shouted, driving the car madly through the traffic. Michael, his son, sighed, and wished he could read in cars without getting the urge to throw up. He wouldn't mind reading his Transfiguration book, or his Potions book, heck, even History of Magic would be better than listening to his dad grumble.

"Patrick, shush. We just got back from Rome, and jetlag would ensure we wouldn't wake up anyway." Sally, Michael's mother, said eyeing him evilly. Sally, the second oldest, most brilliant, and scariest, of the Tennant family. Naturally, Patrick shut up.

"I don't even see why I have to see Michael off. He knows I have lingering respect for him. He doesn't particularly need anything else from me." said Katherine, not looking up from her phone at all. Katherine was Michael's sister. Annoying, but they loved each other, no matter what they called it.

"Nonsense. You're seeing your brother off. It's his fifth year. That means those... OWL exams are on. They're really tough, apparently." Sally retorted, turning and glaring at Katherine.

"I'll be fine, mum. I can take those exams, no sweat. The problem is actually passing them. And look, we're here. On time." Michael said, the last part of his sentence filled with relief. Sally looked as if she was about to reply, but she was cut off by Patrick swearing, rather brutally, at someone who had taken his parking space. "Nice... I'll have to use that one." Michael muttered to himself, grinning at his dad's language.

***

Ten minutes later, and Michael was standing in front of the barrier between Platforms Ten and Nine, alone, and with all his luggage, and an empty bird cage that normally housed an owl on a trolley in front of them. Three, two, one... Go! Michael rushed at the barrier, but instead of crashing and most likely hurting something, he passed straight through. Normally his parents would be coming through, but they were muggles, and decided not to give away Michael's 'dirty' blood, despite the fact he proudly stated the fact in school.

Michael walked to the train and boarded, walking along. There was one carriage that only had a few people, but he moved on, until he found a carriage with only one girl. He opened the door, waved his wand so the luggage flew up onto the rack, and sat down. He noticed the girl's clothing choice, and said, "Hufflepuff huh? I like them. Nicer than Slytherins, and slightly less boastful than Gryffindors. I'm Michael. We might have met before, but I'm afraid I don't know your name. May I ask?"

OoC: Wow long and slightly pointless. But hey, I posted.

The person who came in was none other than a fellow Quidditch player like herself, though from an opposing house. Michael, the Beater of Ravenclaw: he was just slightly shorter than her older brother, and as such, still managed to tower over her by a foot. When he sat down, though, the large height difference went away, and she realized that he didn't recognize her. Perhaps it was her new haircut? Or he just couldn't see her clearly. Either way, he hadn't realized who she was, and she was somewhat glad for it.

"Laura Rufford," she said in a quiet voice, purposefully gazing at Kira as she continued to pet the cat. "We've played against each other before." Laura wasn't too willing to have a conversation with someone from another house, but from what she knew of him, Michael was decent. Plus, he was a Quidditch player like herself, and she was grateful to be sitting next to someone she at least somewhat knew, rather than with a complete stranger.

Still avoiding his eyes, the girl continued petting her cat, gazing out the window as she wondered when they were going to make it to Hogwarts already.

Three figures approached the terminal, all wearing combinations of black, green and silver. The youngest of the group of three pushed a trolley through the crowd, her dark blue eyes set forwards towards their destination. Her long black hair bounced a little as she walked. This was old hat by now, as she was a fifth year, so the screech owl resting on the cart wasn't very noisy.

Violet Vaelos walked towards the barrier to platform nine-and-three-quarters with her parents, their blatant allegiance to the Slytherin house displayed for anyone who was a witch or wizard. To the muggles around them, they were a strange lot, but with so many other people milling about with the same sort of things it was probably seen as a sort of convention. Some of them were far more used to it now, as this happened around the same time every year.

The muggle life was unknown to Violet, as her family was a long line of Slytherins. It was small wonder that she was sorted into the same house, and anyone who knew her family saw it coming. That being said, although her family were Slytherins, they were often admired for being different from most pureblood families in the fact that they didn't look down on other bloodlines. Every witch or wizard has potential, her father Bricius had said. No matter their bloodline or house, that could be a person who becomes famous for their work.

That didn't make her any less of a Slytherin. She strived to be the top of her class, and was very good with Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Dueling. Her wand seemed to pack quite a punch, so she was careful not to try to pick any fights. Her mother Christina would never let her hear the end of it if she got into trouble.

The three of them passed through the barrier together, Violet giving them both a hug before running off towards the train. She pulled everything off of her trolley, effortlessly lifting her suitcase which had charms on it to store everything that she needed for school as well as make it very light. She picked up the cage with her screech owl and stepped into the train, waving one last goodbye to her parents.

Violet already knew the O.W.L.s were coming up, so she would have to do a lot of studying. She was already wearing her uniform, so she didn't have to change when she got onto the train, just find a place to sit down. She found two compartments that weren't already full, one with two people that weren't from her house and another that had at least one. It always pleased her to see a fellow Slytherin, so she politely knocked on the door before opening it.

"So nice to see a fellow Slytherin," she said, searching her memory for a name. "Darius, right? You're in my year, if I'm not mistaken. If you don't mind me joining you and your friend?" Violet didn't wait for much of an answer before putting her things overhead.

She turned to look at the girl that was with him. The blue and bronze in her scarf was a telltale sign that she was a Ravenclaw. The house was most respected for their brilliant minds, but sometimes that made them think that they were better than everyone else. Violet hoped this girl wasn't one of those people, or there would be hell to pay.

"Ravenclaw, huh?" she said, giving the girl a small smile. "A good house, one for the clever of mind." It was an offhand compliment, but she wanted to seem at least somewhat friendly, outstretching her hand in greeting. "My name is Violet Vaelos. I don't believe we've had the pleasure of talking before?"

The girl introduced herself as Laura, and Michael remembered. "Oh yeah! You're Hufflepuff's seeker, right? I couldn't recognise you. A haircut maybe?" Michael said. He paused, and noticed the Laura's averted eyes.

"Am I being annoying? There was a relatively empty compartment back there, I could move, if you want." Michael said, starting to get up just in case. Blood rushed to his face, and he suddenly felt very awkward. "Sorry." he said, grinning sheepishly.

OoC: short, but there wasn't much I could do. Oh well.

"Fifth year for you, right? Big year, though you didn't need me to tell you I'm sure."

The young woman who said this, former Hogwarts student Lynn Troughton, looked over to her younger brother, a boy by the name of Brodie, with an encouraging grin on her face as he stared blankly at the barrier that concealed Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. Five years...had it really been that many already? Time was definitely flying by.

"Yeah...guess it is. O.W.L.s are gonna be brutal I bet." He responded, still keeping his eyes forward.

"Ah, don't worry about that. Most of them aren't as difficult as everyone makes them out to be. You'll do just fine."

'Says the former prodigy...' He thought to himself grimly. Though he knew his sister only had the best intentions in her words, she wasn't exactly calming any of his nerves with this talk of the exams being easy. She had been in the Ravenclaw house for a reason, and for that same reason, he currently wasn't.

"In any case, just try not to get all anxious about them so early on. After all, you said you wanted to get your face out there this year, didn't you? Well, now's your chance!" She added, giving him a pat on the shoulder. Brodie just let out a sigh and shook his head.

"I don't know...I have a feeling it's just gonna be another year as the 'other Troughton'."

"Oh, don't give me that! You're not just the other Troughton, you're Brodie Troughton, seeker for the noble Gryffindor Quidditch team! And a fine student at that, when you actually decide to study of course. Really, you could be much more popular, if you just acted a bit more socially."

"I know, I know..."

"Yes, and I know you know, but I also know you haven't done anything about it. Come on, Brodie. We both know you're capable of doing much more than you claim you can. You've always underestimated yourself. You've got to go beyond that if you want to succeed."

Brodie finally cast a glance at his sister after she said this.

"You're right...though that's no surprise, is it?"

She let out a laugh at this. "I've been wrong plenty of times before, you know that, though I'd very much appreciate it if you go off and prove me right this time."

"I'll see what I can do." Brodie said in response, a small smile forming on his face as he grabbed his trolley, holding his trunk of supplies and the cage of his screech owl, Hypnos (an ironic name, as it would imply a quieter nature than the creature provided), and started towards the entrance. "Guess I'll be seeing you later then." He called back before disappearing from view, hearing Lynn's last words of "Good luck" before appearing at the busy platform full of wizards and witches.

Brodie calmly boarded the large train with his supplies, looking around for a compartment still available. He reached to open the door leading to one before he heard the sound of a conversation from within. He hesitated at this and planned to turn away, but stopped himself, remembering Lynn's advice on acting more socially. He took a deep breath before opening the door and walking into the compartment, only to realize he had walked in on a rather awkward pause in the chat between the two students already inside, a Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw by the looks of it, and both very familiar ones at that. It was hardly surprising that he recognized the two, both being Quidditch players themselves, and one being a fellow seeker at that, but familiar figures aside, that didn't get rid of any of the awkwardness emanating from this scene.

Unsure of what to do, Brodie stood quietly for a moment, before finally attempting to break the unsettling silence.

"Uh...I apologize if I'm intruding upon anything here. Just looking for an open compartment. They're filling up pretty fast, but I'm sure I can find another somewhere if I'd be too much of a bother to you guys." He murmured, not moving from his spot at the door until he knew whether he was welcome or not.

Last edited by Mr.RMA on Wed May 09, 2012 3:05 am, edited 1 time in total.

"You're sure you have everything? Your wand and books, everything?"

"Yes Mother, I'm sure nothing has disappeared since you checked ten minutes ago." Alan Mourve sighed, his mother checking his things over for the fifth time. She always got like this when he was about to head out for Hogwarts. Even in his fifth year she was just as clingy and fussy as ever. She had straightened his brown aviator jacket over his "Weird Sisters" T-shirt yet again. As she tried to smooth out his chaotic hair once more, Alan shot a desperate look to his father.

"Now Marigold stop fussing over the boy. His things aren't going to get up and walk away." Alan's father said, putting his hand on his wife's shoulder. As she finally began to leave Alan alone, Alan's father cast a sideways glance at the trolley carrying Alan's trunk, "They can't get up and walk away, can they?" he asked his wife quietly. Alan snickered abit at his father's usual reaction to anything remotely related to magic. Sometimes his muggle father just asked the silliest questions.

With his mother's maternal assault over, he wheeled his trolley, with his trunk and his snoozing screech owl Terra, around to face the barrier between platforms nine and ten. With a visible grin on his face, he ran at the barrier. But instead of colliding and having a healthy breakfast of brick, he harmlessly passed through emerging on Platform 9 3/4. The Hogwarts proudly sat on the tracks billowing steam, waiting to take another group of students back to the magical school. Looking fondly at the scarlet engine, he hurried to board the train.

Once Alan had entered the train, he began searching for a compartment that wasn't full. He noticed one compartment was open. A boy was standing in the door with two more students siting in the compartment; all three were rather silent. Alan recognized the girl in yellow as Laura Rufford, a fellow Hufflepuff and an acquaintance. Alan waved to her from outside and happily greeted her, completely oblivious of the awkward silence, "Hello, Laura! Have a good summer?" Alan suddenly became aware that he had completely ignored the other two and decided to introduce himself. "Oh, hello there. My name is Alan, Alan Mourve. Nice to meet you both."

((OOC:Finally found some time to post! Sorry, late-ish post is late...ish))

"No, you can stay, Michael," Laura replied, her voice shaking a little as she spoke. She really didn't like coming off as antisocial, and hated it when she made people feel awkward. Where was that preppy Quidditch girl personality she wore around her fans and during games when she needed it? Running a few fingers through her short hair, she continued, "Yeah, got it cut last-"

The door suddenly opened again, and Laura glanced up just in time to see another Quidditch player, her tall Gryffindor counterpart, stepping in. He, too, began to feel the permeating unease surrounding her and Michael, and looked rather uncomfortable in the silence. "It's cool, you can si with us! I'm... we're okay with that, right?" she said, eyeing Michael's general direction and forcing herself to smile. She was about to make some comment on one of last year's Quidditch matches when another familiar figure burst into the room, dramatically announcing his arrival for everyone in the compartment to hear.

Alan, oh, dear Alan, always the one least able to read the atmosphere. Laura was glad for his intrusion, if only for the reprise from the earlier awkwardness bewteen her, Michael, and now Brodie. As full as the room was getting, she was glad to be sitting with people she knew rather than by herslf or, worse, with complete and utter strangers. However, four was quite enough for here, and any more would've made her possibly consider moving to another compartment.

Feeling obliged to introduce the boys to each other, Laura said, "Hey, Alan, glad you didn't miss the train. This is Michael of Ravenclaw and Brodie of Gryffindor, both fifth years like us and Qudditch players like myself." She motioned towards each person in turn, and added, "Brodie's the one who snatched the snitch away from my grasp last year. He might not look it, but he's one of the best Seekers I've ever faced." Her competetive side began showing at this point, and Laura somehow gained enough confidence to nudge the large guy playfully before realizing what had just happened. Embarrassd, Laura walked back to her seat and sat back down, not even remembering when she had gotten up in the first place.

Carefully stowing Kira back into her crate, Laura realized that she was the only one in the compartment who knew everyone else there, and felt, again, that it was her duty to help her friends get to know each other. "So, um, by brother reminded me that we have to take the O.W.L.s starting this year, and I'm kind of worried about not passing them," she managed to stammer out, quickly reverting back to her quiet and shy persona. She found herself chewing on her lip, and felt her palms sweating so much she had to wipe them against her skirt. Hopefully she could get everyone talking, at leat for a few minutes before they reached Hogwarts?

Steam billowed past the windows, then rose into the sky as the mighty locomotive left the station, transporting hundreds of young witches and wizards to Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

An older boy, heading into his fifth year, stomped through the train, a large trunk hovering behind him, an owl in his cage on top. He wore the uniform school robes, lined in the crimson of a Gryffindor, and held a long wand made of cedar, waving it every few steps, causing the trunk to follow him.

He came upon a compartment with a boy and two girls about his age sitting inside. He waved his wand once more as he stepped inside, dropping the trunk on a seat. Raising his wand to point at the boy, he bellowed, "DARIUS GRAY," and slammed the door behind him, "It's good to see you again, how was your summer?"

Garrick Alder waved his wand again, muttering, "Wingardium Leviosa," then steering it up onto the rack, leaving his owl on the seat next to him as he sat down.

"It's good to see you, Darius." said the girl that walked in. As she sat down opposite himself, Darius noticed the bronze and blue scarf she was wearing - a Ravenclaw. There weren't too many people outside of Slytherin that called or even knew Darius by name, so she had to be...

"Nice to see you too, Rose." he replied, cracking a smile. Rose was one of the few good friends Darius had, Slytherin or not. "How did your summer holiday go?" Perfectly timed to the end of his question, another girl walked in, already in her school robes. It didn't take any accessories of hers for Darius to recognize her: she was Violet, a fellow Slytherin.

"So nice to see a fellow Slytherin. Darius, right? You're in my year, if I'm not mistaken. If you don't mind me joining you and your friend?" she asked politely, placing her things in the luggage rack.

To Rose, she said, "Ravenclaw, huh? A good house, one for the clever of mind." She extended her hand. "My name is Violet Vaelos. I don't believe we've had the pleasure of talking before?"

Darius gave a silent sigh of relief at the tone of her voice. She probably wouldn't berate him for being nice to other houses, which meant he got to keep his sanity for a little while longer.

If Rose responded to Violet, Darius didn't hear it as the compartment door opened once more, and was closed a little forcefully. This time it was a boy, who, like Violet, was also in his robes, only his were lined with the valiant crimson of Gryffindor.

He pointed his wand at Darius, then yelled, "DARIUS GRAY." Following it up was the unexpectedly pleasant "It's good to see you again, how was your summer?" before levitating his trunk up on the luggage rack, but keeping his caged owl down with him. The brash young man was none other than Garrick Alder, whom Darius shared a friendly rivalry with.

"It was okay, I guess, Garrick." Darius laughed. "If you can count getting in a duel with my sister every other week 'okay' ". Feeling he should introduce in case Rose or Violet didn't know him, "Garrick, this is Rose Devlin of Ravenclaw and Violet Vaelos, also Slytherin. Girls, this is Garrick Alder of Gryffindor."

Before Rose and Darius could get into a conversation, a Slytherin girl entered their compartment and addressed Darius. Rose had to fight to keep her face composed. She knew how Darius was around his fellow Slytherins and so she was very interested in how he would respond to this girl. Rose had certainly seen her around, but had never actually spoken to her. The Slytherin girl then turned to introduce herself to Rose.

"Ravenclaw, huh? A good house, one for the clever of mind." She extended her hand. "My name is Violet Vaelos. I don't believe we've had the pleasure of talking before?"

Rose shook her hand without hesitation. “I'm Rose Devlin. Pleased to meet you,” She added with a slight bow. Rose's mind immediately began to race. Violet was eerily polite and formal—as though she were sizing up Rose. As much as she hated to admit it, Violet intimidated her ever so slightly. It was ironic on Rose's part considering most people seemed to find her intimidating. Rose's first mental reaction was to be on her guard around Violet. But as her father said, just because you might have preconceived notions about a person doesn't mean you have to act on them. Perhaps, Rose was off base entirely... after all, she didn't even know Violet at all. Throughout the mental conflict, Rose was still impressed that Violet came and outright introduced herself.

Suddenly, the compartment door opened again and boy swept in like he was a tornado with an owl and a trunk in tow. He rather violently slammed the door shut and waved his wand to put his trunk on a seat. He then pointed his wand at Darius. Before Rose could get properly alarmed, he and Darius greeted each other like old friends. Rose got a closer look at the Gryffindor boy and saw that he looked very familiar.

Darius, being the good host that he was decided to introduce him to them while the boy magicked his trunk into the rack above them. "Garrick, this is Rose Devlin of Ravenclaw and Violet Vaelos, also Slytherin. Girls, this is Garrick Alder of Gryffindor."

“Oh, I know exactly who you are now,” said Rose as realization dawned on her. “You're on the team with my brother Sid. He said that our chasers wouldn't get anything past you. Guess we'll see about that, huh?”

To Rose, quidditch was serious business and she could go overboard at times. Nevertheless, she always loved to talk about it at any given opportunity. Who knows how this conversation would go. She was glad Garrick came and broke the ice.

OOC: So I'll hopefully get to display Rose's personality a little better next time.

Brodie gave a light chuckle at the realization that Laura hadn't changed much since that aforementioned match the year before.

"Heh...that was quite the memorable game, I gotta admit, though I think I just got a lucky break. Had that snitch not veered a little to the right, you probably would've pulled away with it." He responded humbly, as he was prone to do whenever someone commended him for something. It was a wonder that he didn't get sorted into Hufflepuff himself due to that little trait of his.

In all honesty though, it really was a match he wouldn't be forgetting any time soon. It was, in fact, the first match he won as Gryffindor's seeker, and probably the only reason why he kept hold of the position at all, after a particularly dreadful debut game against Slytherin, and one in which he was looking forward to redeeming himself in for the upcoming season.

Letting that memory go for now, Brodie gave a nod in greeting towards the boy who just recently showed up, another Hufflepuff by the sound of it.

"Pleasure to meet your acquaintance, Alan. Always interesting to meet others in my year from different houses, 'specially considering I haven't really made much of an effort to meet with anyone new as of late." He then took a seat, gently placing Hypnos' cage beside him as he heard Laura say something about the O.W.L.s.

"Hey, join the club. I'm bloody petrified of failing them myself. Doesn't help that my big sis passed 'em all so easily. I swear, sometimes I don't see how the two of us are related at all the way her mind works."

Alan chuckled at Laura's remark as she introduced everyone, "Miss the train? I wouldn't miss this train for all the gold in Gringotts. You don't think I'm that forgetful do you?" Even as he said it, he realized he probably shouldn't have said that.

Laura introduced the other two boys as Quidditch players for Ravenclaw and Gryffindor. As he sat down, he took note of Michael and Brody. He had definitely never met michael before but he remembered last year's match and Brody's game winning capture of the snitch well enough. "Oh, I remember that game! We lost, excellent catch though Brody." Alan said, with no loss of joviality.

"A pleasure to meet you as well, Brodie." Alan said, returning the greeting. As Brodie and Laura began discussing the O.W.Ls, Alan looked at them quizzically. "I don't really get why everyone is so worried about the O.W.Ls already. It's just a test, right?" Alan continued as he needed a little explanation. "I mean, it's almost a whole year away. Until test day all we can do is study and try hard, so why worry now?" Alan looked at everyone else, genuinely puzzled as to why they were already worried several months in advance.

Just after greeting Rose, the compartment door opened and slammed for the last time, a Gryffindor standing in the wake of the noise. He pulled out his wand and pointed it at Darius, and suddenly it was like everything was in slow motion. Her hand went to grip her wand, the basic protection charm almost laced onto her tongue.

Instead of doing something drastic, the Gryffindor greeted Darius like a friend, and her heart began to slow again. She let go of her wand and faced towards the boy, now identified as Garrick. The familiarity of it struck her as odd at first, and then Rose mentioned something about Quidditch. It didn't help very much, as Violet didn't follow Quidditch very often - in her mind it was a dangerous sport.

No, there was something else about him that was familiar. An epiphany came to her mind as she looked over the boy's features. A smirk pulled over her lips as she looked to the young man, memories flashing through her mind of the five years that she had been at school.

"Double Potions and double Defense Against the Dark Arts," she said with a cool tone, a flash of fire in her eyes. "You're that Gryffindor who's really good at them, if I'm not mistaken. We're something of rivals." Garrick and her almost competed for the best result in those classes that their houses worked together. Her father's words repeated in her head, and the true cunning of a Slytherin pushed through her mind, as she stuck out her hand again.

"There's nothing saying we can't be friendly rivals," she said, the smirk still plastered on her lips. The wizard was impressive, but there was one thing that she knew she could hold over his head if needed. Violet was really good at dueling.

"No, you can stay, Michael," Laura said, and Michael sat back down. Laura tried to fix the ever-increasing awkward moment by commenting on how she had gfot her hair cut, when the door suddenly opened. The Gryffindor standing there was very familiar, and Michael knew why. This particular Gryffindor was the seeker of their houses' Quidditch team, and Michael had sent a bludger his way on more than one occasion. The Gryffindor had seemed to sense the awkwardness, but before he could leave, Laura said, "It's cool, you can sit with us! I'm... we're okay with that, right?" she looked at Michael as she said this last part, who needed his agreement.

They had all been seated, and Rose seemed to be about to say something, when someone else burst into the room. The boy was unfamiliar, but Michael was quite certain he had seen him around the Hufflepuffs before. Laura introduced both Michael and Brodie to the boy, Alan, and commented on his seeking skills. Michael felt compelled to add to this sentence by saying, "He's a pretty good acrobat, too. He managed to dodge every bludger I sent his way in our last match. Flattened us too, might I add."

Laura sat down - Michael hadn't even noticed her stand up - and so did Alan. The sense of awkwardness was back, slightly magnified by the four people in the carriage. Finally, Laura spoke up, saying, "So, um, my brother reminded me that we have to take our O.W.L.s starting this year, and I'm kinda worried about not passing them."

"Hey, join the club. I'm bloody petrified of failing them myself. Doesn't help that my big sis passed 'em all so easily. I swear, sometimes I don't see how the two of us are related at all the way her mind works." Brodie replied, and Michael could relate to the whole mystery of the siblings thing.

"I don't really get why everyone is so worried about the O.W.Ls already. It's just a test, right? I mean, it's almost a whole year away. Until test day all we can do is study and try hard, so why worry now?" Alan stated, and Michael nodded in agreement. Suddenly feeling like it was his turn to talk, Michael replied.

"I agree. I mean, they're on the other side of the school year. Yeah this year's going to be hard, but don't forget, the first year was difficult too. I'm not overly worried about passing them, my teachers say I could get high marks in everything if I tried." Michael stated, and started worrying the he might have sounded pretentious, or arrogant. Shrugging to himself he thought, Hey people are people. If they think you're arrogant, so what. That just means they miss out on a friend.

(OOC: Sorry for the delay! T_T)

"But that's not fair, you guys," Laura said nervously. "Brodie, you have your sister, it must be in your blood or something. Michael, you're a Ravenclaw, I wouldn't expect less from you about the O.W.L.s. A-and Alan knows that... well, you've-"

She was saved from having to say any more when the compartment door opened again, and a lady walked in, wheeling a large cart full of candy, pastries, and other sweets. "Anything from the cart, dearies?" she asked with a smile on her face. Laura sighed with relief as she fished around her bag for her coin purse. She bought a good two dozen boxes Chocolate Frogs, a pack of Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, and a few pumpkin pastries for Kira. She moved away from the cart, carrying her mountain of sweets, and let her companions buy some sweets. As she set down her goods, Laura heard Kira's crate rattle a bit before the creature gave a little meow.

"Of course you can have some," Laura said, reaching down and opening the crate. The tabby calmly walked out and sat on Laura's lap, patiently waiting for the girl to open a pack of pumpkin pastries. Before Laura could, though, the Honeydukes Express lady was already walking into the next compartment, and the cat gave another meow before chasing after the cart.

Not wanting to lose her pet, Laura muttered, "Don't take my food," and ran after the creature, deftly opening the door out of her compartment and following Kira into the next one. The lady from earlier didn't seem to notice them, but Kira was already trying to climb onto the cart. "Oh no you don't," Laura said, leaping at her cat and managing to tackle it away-

Only to find herself at the feet of Garrick Alder, Gryffindor's Keeper, who also happened to be in her year.

Laura gave a small squeak in surprise and felt herself blush. For a second, she wondered why she felt so nervous around him, and she just passed it off as being embarrassed for someone in another house to see her make such a fool of herself. Taking a quick glance around, she noticed other faces, half-familiar only because she might’ve passed by them in the school halls once or twice. “I- I’m so sorry!” she managed to say before dashing out of the door back to her compartment, carrying a mewling Kira in her arms.

When she made it back to her seat, she locked the cat back in the crate, making a note to ground the creature in there for a good week or so.

"Heh...yeah, in my blood... from my extremely thin bloodline..." Brodie said, though not so much as a response, but rather simply thinking out loud. Throughout both his and his sister's years enrolled in Hogwarts, neither of them really brought up their muggle-born heritage very often, if ever, so it always made the boy a little uncomfortable mentioning it. He wasn't at all ashamed of being born and raised by non-wizarding folk, but he knew some people who wouldn't take the news very positively, and if there was one reputation that he didn't want to have, it was one in a negative light. As such, he kept his family mostly under wraps.

Fortunately for him, Laura didn't continue on with this conversation for long, being interrupted by the trolley lady carrying along her usual fare of sweets, none of which Brodie would be purchasing himself. He was always very conservative with his money, even if the hole in his family's pocket from the Nimbus 2001 had finally been filled since the year before. No need to waste precious currency on sweets...no matter how tempting it was to do so. As Laura went back to her seat with a fairly hefty assortment, Brodie took out his own source of food to tide himself over: merely a few sticks of celery. It may have seemed rather pathetic of a snack on a long trip such as this, but he couldn't afford to eat anything too fattening. He was already massive enough by seeker standards, no need to get any bigger. While he gradually nibbled away at one stalk, humorously handing a small piece of another to Hypnos, (only getting the usual screech in dissatisfaction,) he watched as Laura's cat suddenly leapt off her owner's lap and went after the trolley as it proceeded to the other compartments. Naturally, she went off after her pet, telling the rest of the group to keep their hands off her food as she rushed off in pursuit. Brodie just gave a small chuckle before looking at Hypnos again.

"Now don't you get any ideas," He warned the bird, getting a blank stare in response. "Yeah, that's what I thought you'd say." His focus drifted back over to the other two wizards still in the compartment, deciding he should try his own hand at starting up a conversation for once, choosing to get back to the subject of Quidditch, since that was one of the few things he could consider himself truly knowledgeable in, outside of muggle studies, but that rarely tickled anyone's fancy.

"So, Michael, that match last year, I wouldn't at all say we flattened you. I mean, more than once you nearly knocked me off my broom with those bludgers. I swear it was just by some miracle that the last one didn't get me." At that point, he heard a small thumping noise outside, and was about to go see what it was when Laura returned with her pet clutched in her arms, storing it back in its cage. She seemed rather embarrassed over the whole ordeal, though that was understandable, especially if it explained where that earlier sound came from.

"Nice catch. Getting a head start on training there?" He asked jokingly, hoping to quickly keep the mood up before any awkward silence could set in.

Michael actually laughed at Laura's suggestion that he'd get high marks, simply because he was a Ravenclaw. "Laura," he said, "just because I'm a Ravenclaw doesn't mean I'm automatically going to get high marks in everything. I'm a lazy idiot. Even I'M not sure why Mr. Hattie put me in Ravenclaw." he was interrupted by the trolley lady coming in and asking if they wanted anything. Laura bought some candy, whilst Brodie just took out some celery. Michael shook his head and said, "I'm fine, thanks."

Laura's cat, who Michael hadn't noticed get out, suddenly jumped off her lap, and went after the trolley as it left. Laura quickly went after it, after telling them all to not touch her food. Brodie started having a conversation with his owl, Hypnos, and Michael looked up at the empty bird cage.

Athena had been gone for a while now, having been sent to deliver a letter to a friend of his, Gabriel, whilst they were in Rome. Michael guessed that Athena had already reached Hogwarts, and was probably waiting patiently with a reply.

Michael was snapped out of his musings by Brodie saying, "So, Michael, that match last year, I wouldn't at all say we flattened you. I mean, more than once you nearly knocked me off my broom with those bludgers. I swear it was just by some miracle that the last one didn't get me."

"Miracle shmiracle, you're great at your job. I swear It's only because I beat the the crap out of Slytherin's old seeker in our third year that they actually kept me." Michael replied, eyebrow up in his hair. He heard a thump outside, and turned to see Laura come in, looking embarrassed.

"Nice catch. Getting a head start on training there?" Brodie asked, and Michael grinned, before looking out the window.

Can't be too far to Hogwarts... he thought.