It was 1st of September, the waiting finally ended and the time for students to return to Hogwarts arrived, the Platform Nine and Three-Quarters was crowded with students of all ages and parts of the United Kingdom and Ireand. The atmosphere was that of a mix between joy and excitement for learning new things at the school; on the other hand the idea of being far from their families was a little terrifying, specially for the freshmen students. They did not know what to excpect as the only information they had was what their parents a relative told them.

Another one that did not know what to expect was Catalaina, who had arrived from Castelobruxo thanks to the exchange program, she just watched the students talk with each other, most likely about what they did on the summer vacation. She was wearing normal modern clothes as many others students did, other were already showing off their new school uniforms. The red and gold, green and silver, yellow and black, blue and broze were almost everyone, making platform look like a festival at least once a year.

The steam locomotive used it's whistle to inform everyone it was about time to leave so the students turned their attention to the muggle manufactured transport, muggle yes but very useful, and started to get inside.
After a few minutes Catalina finally found an empty compartment, she accomodated her luggage and the cage with Quintus inside, then took a seat by the window. From there she watched the parents of the other students waving goodbye with their hands.

The girl covered herself with her trenchcoat as if it was a blanket and sighed, there was no one to wave goodbye to.
"Supongo que somos tu y yo, Quintus. ¿A qué Casa crees que seremos asignados? (It's just you and me, Quintus. To what House do you think we'll be assigned?)" She muttered to her owl in spanish as there was no one else at the compartment yet.

Dusty got in the train and waved goodbye to his parents and little sister, he sat quietly in one of the seats, his hands folded in his lap as he counted the minutes down until he was at Hogwarts, he decided to read his books his parents gave him during his years at Hogwarts. What good and bad times, weren't they?

Dusty then heard a girl talking in Spanish, he wasn't very fluent in it, but he was very fluent in French and German.

He approached the girl, who had an owl in a cage, he smiled. It reminded him of the old pet owl he had when he was a child.

"'ey 'here, love, wha''s your name?" Dusty said with his hand out for a handshake, his Cockney accent giving his words a lilt, it was normal for him to do this with everyone he met.





Seamus got on the train, just slightly late since his mother was too busy adjusting his hair, he liked it messy just the way it was.

Seamus spotted Dusty and smirked, he loved tormenting him and he still does, but decided to save all his tormenting fun for when they got to Hogwarts, he always thought of Dusty as a hounddog, always trying to find a woman to fill the poor little hole in his heart. Didn't he have enough gang friends to do drugs with?

---

The train platform had clumps of folks here, there, kids and their parents clamoring about and fussing for the next few months. Some of them just talked, some of them laughed, some of them gave sage or not-so-sage advice, some of them fiddled about with their kids’ clothing and scolded, and of all the great and grand things in life, it was a very, very loud one. Ness, for one, was not very happy about it.

She sat against one of the pillars, the little pack like a pillow against her back, hands wrapped about the legs. Oisin had wedged himself between her and her legs, a bit of a weight considering how absolutely big he’d gotten, and though his head wasn’t moving he certainly wasn’t content. Ness could hear the chattering about, vibrations through the body, and hummed a bit for her own sake and for Oisin’s sake. Too many untrustworthy folks about. Too many stupid little fools who hadn’t the good sense. She sighed, saw that they were finally allowing boarding.

“Tusa mo bhuachaillín bán, tusa mo bhuachaillín bán,” she sang-song the words, patting him on the back to encourage him getting up. As Oisin slowly stalked out from between her legs, keeping pretty well close to the ground and crouched, Ness got up. Her pack on, and wiping away the good bit of hair about her clothes, she sighed again. “Aight then, let’s go.”

She soon enough was walking down the corridor, trying to find a free cabin until it seemed evident that there weren’t many available. Of course, curious as she was here or there…ah, there was a cabin. With no one else but Appletree inside and some girl or another. Ness nearly walked on past until she paused. Who was that? Someone new or another. Letting Appletree alone with some new person didn’t seen as right as could be. He’d surely do something or another foolish, especially with his sort of language. Opening up the cabin door, with Oisin proceeding her about the legs, Ness tried for her best smile.

“Dia dhuit, mind if I join you two?”

Hye-Jin had passed through into the platform just as the announcements were being called, tailed by two older asian men who stopped her to say a few things in Chinese. The girl quietly replied to them and they seemed to accept the response before the two vanished off without creating too much of a scene, which was followed by a sigh of relief from the girl as she was finally alone. Well, as alone as one can be on this packed platform. She turned around and realising she was close to late hurried along her bags following after her one of them narrowly missing what looked like a first year being nervous about leaving their parents behind to get on this large train.

She was able to get someone's attention quickly enough to get her bags loaded, although anyone nearby could hear a slight scolding from the man for her using magic to make the bags deliver themselves so openly even though they were at the platform now. She didn't snap back though, just nodding and speaking a quiet apology before picking her owls cage out of the air to take as well as putting her backpack on her back. The situation cleared, she quickly moved to jump onto the first carriage that wasn't blocked at the doorway by excited chatting kids, which was further down from the main train.

The girl pulled her hood over her head once the doors closed and looked down the carriage as the people clamouring for an open space. She'd hoped to arrive earlier and get a seat to herself, but that would be impossible now. Taking a small breath she lifted her head and started strolling through, peeking through carriage windows as she did so, hoping for one at least partly empty or having someone she knew in already.

(ooc: open for interactions)

With just enough time to get to the platform, Lauren almost flew around the train station, quickly getting to the place where she'd have to get into the real platform. She was alone, as always, her parents car leaving her outside with just enough time to get on time, no more, no less, no space for mistakes. She took a breath, the need to get through a wall to get to the train always stopping her for a second, part of her mind still not trusting. She counted to 3, and crossed the barrier with all her things.

After the barrier, the platform was pure noise. Sky, her owl, had been half asleep all the trip, but with all the sound had woken up, letting out an annoyed chirp. "Oh, Sky, it's not that bad" she teased the little owl "At least you don't have to be ready to socialize just yet, honey" she complained, lowering her voice. In the middle of the disaster that was the platform, she moved to the head of the train, leaving her things with a muttered Sorry for her pet, and entered as soon as possible.

The ambient inside was far more peaceful, at least for teenagers standards. She walked around for a bit, saying hello to a few of her classmates, playing the perfect girl, trying to keep her image. As soon as she considered she had been seen enough, she moved to one of the cabins, knowing that it couldn't be that full yet. She found an empty cabin just to the back, and sat there, opening her book to make time, Knowing fully well that her friends and housemates will appreciate having a place for them. They were usually late

As another door closed Hye-Jin sighed internally. She kept walking on, moving past a group blocking another of the cabins, before spotting a small ray of hope; a cabin that wasn't being touched on the next carriage along! She peeked behind and seeing some younger people she didn't know grouping together decided that it was worth a risk. That carriage looked quieter.

Moving through the doors to the next carriage she peeked into the cabin. It wasn't empty, however it only had one person. A girl (@MooiEen) with her owl and a book. A familiar girl with a familiar small cute owl that she was pretty sure almost never made a noise. This would be the best cabin for sure.

There was a gentle knock on the frame and Hye-Jin peeked in, giving Lauren her best impression of a smile. "Heya" she said after a moment "can I join you?"

For a brief moment Catalina thought she was going to be alone during all the way to Hogwarts however a Hufflepuff arrived, the girl paid almost no mind to him until he talked. The way he called the uruguayan "love" sure freaked her out and she was about to shoot some sharp reply when another student, also from Hufflepuff, showed up asking if he may join.

"Ah..." Catalina doubted for a second, wondering if all Hufflepuffs were like this first one "...Yes, sure. Make yourselves comfortable" She replied with an accent that gave away she was not from around there and also ignoring Dusty's question about her name.
She quickly took the cage with Quintus inside and placed it on her lap, thus leaving more space for students to sit and tried to smile but it was noticibly fake as the situation was a little weird. Perhaps they use to call "love" to everyone, she thought.

Then everyone inside the train felt how it started moving. They were finally on the way to Hogwarts.

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@Thayr @flat lovenote

Dusty smiled and sat next to Catalina, she seemed very nice, and he kept on reading his book, his eyes flicking to her pet owl every so often. "Nice owl you go' 'here, wha''s i''s name?".





Seamus smirked at Dusty once again, trying to act friendly to a girl? One of his tactics to pull one in his charms, he assumes. Seamus was shaking in anticipation, he couldn't even wait to start picking on Dusty. God, he was just as bad as his dead little sister, wasn't he? He looked over to Ogy, his faerie dragon companion, she was in her cage, resting peacefully. Her scales were as shiny as any bright star in the sky, and she was as white as the Moon itself. Seamus was lucky to have gotten her during his first year at Hogwarts, she was so tiny when he first got her, but she still is somewhat small.

Seamus kept on reading a book about magical herbs, Herbology was always his favorite class at Hogwarts and he always kept up to date when there's been new plants discovered, and he always used them for certain magical purposes.

---

Ness let Oisin go on ahead, the large cat occupying a spot on the seats across the pair before she followed. Taking off her little pack, keeping it wedged between her legs, the Irish witch got comfortable sitting down next to the window. A heartbeat’s length followed, one arm up to rest on the windowsill, before she looked over at her companion. Oisin, for his part, broke away from staring at the pair of students across to return the look languidly. Well, alrighty then, she thought, turning away with some measure of disinterest.

Quick enough, Ness could feel the Kneazle paw over slowly, the seat shifting under his weight, before the cat weaved himself through one arm to get seated in her lap. Claws kneaded into her thick-woven cloak for a moment, that damn fluffy tail wisping up to wave in front of her face. Her hands were soon enough petting Oisin, though the Kneazle turned his head over to keep watch still with the two other occupants. It seemed well enough obvious that he bore absolutely no interest to the owl in its cage, though in all reality Ness doubted the owl had a similar degree of understanding the exact standing of the two’s relation.

She paused, though, watching Dusty try - and Ness hoped for his sake not fail - at small talk while the other girl seemed to be nervous about the whole of it. The smile just seemed…well, not to reach the eyes, wholly. Yeah, she wasn’t having any good time of it. She gave her own little smile, though, and gingerly weaved her arm over Oisin to extend her hand.

”Don’t worry, Appletree always is like this. M’name’s Ness, though, and this is Oisin. Yours…?”

Dusty just smiled and let Ness talk with the other girl, the two were somewhat good friends, they've known another for six years during Hogwarts. Then he spotted Seamus, the one who tormented him for so many years, even before they were in Hogwarts.





Seamus passed Dusty a Chesire grin, and he waved to him slowly, he was definitely going to tear Dusty to shreds more and more this year. And he would get away with it, with style, since he was from a rich family.

"Allo, tere, Appletree..." he said, with the grin still on his face.

"Christ, Seamus, can'' you ever chip me alone faw one second?" Dusty asked with exasperation in his voice.

"Nil, in fact, i tink ya deserve ta be tormented, can't wait until we get ta Hogwarts." Seamus looked back down at his book, deciding not to pay Dusty anymore mind.

Catalina watched the Hufflepuff girl take the seat by the window just in front of her. This girl looked much more polite than the first Hufflepuff that showed up, her cat however...did not look as polite. But wait that was no ordinary cat...the blonde quickly realized it was a Kneazle, big cat-like creatures known by their iltelligence.
The girl's thoughts were interrupted as the student introduced herself as "Ness" and extended her hand. Catalina immediately did the same and shook her hand softly while smiling, this time a genuine smile.

So he has been always like this? Catalina didn'tknow whether to feel relieved or worried, if he was like that with all the girls then he sure had gotten slapped more than once.

"I'm Catalina, Catalina Martinez. It's nice to meet you. Oh, this little boy here is Quintus. You guys are from Hufflepuff, right? I still don't get used to the colors." She replied, Quintus on the other hand could not take it's eyes off the big cat.

She then watched the little scene between Dusty and Samus "What was all that about?"

___________________________

@Thayr@flat lovenote

Dusty turned back around, looking at Catalina. "Oh, i' was no'hing, i''s 'ha' li''le prick over 'here; Seamus Fi'zpa'rick. 'e 'hinks jus' because 'e's Sly'herin an' I'm a 'ufflepuff, 'e 'hinks 'e's be''er 'han me." Dusty just rolled his eyes.

"Ya know I can hear ya over tere, right?" Seamus looked up from his book and closed it.

Dusty rolled his eyes again. "Jus' mind your Jack Jones fuckin' business, S."





"Wouldn't ya look at tat? Self-proclaimed loyal and innocent Hufflepuff, Dusty What's-His-Last-Name curses at a Slytern who did nil harm." Seamus smirked.

"Oh really? You did no 'arm? Maybe explain 'o 'he girl nex' 'o me 'ah you killed your li''le skin and blister when you were 'en years old because you didn'' knah 'ah 'o 'andle siblin compe'i'ion." Dusty shot back.

Seamus' face flushed with embarrassment and shock that he would bring that up. He did kinda regret it since her spirit now constantly haunted him. "T-tat's not true... he stuttered, the lie sounded unbelievable even to his own ears.

---

Dead eyes stared out and off into the window - and coincidentally the same King’s Cross station as they’d been at for the shortest time ever - as the irritation within Ness grew. Of course some little creature like Seamus would want to show up still, and of course they would decide that the best place to come and exist would be near Appletree. She breathed out once...twice…long periods between each exhale, long with sharp inhales with the nose, before closing her eyes. Rubbing at her nose, Ness swallowed. Oisin, for his part, seemed to get the message. He head had perked up, eyes up, tail flicking back and forth like a whip.

”That would be little fools who get told they’re brave, or smart, or ambitious, and then try to make it all they ever are, that’s all it is. No imagination to be themselves. Gryffindors bullish, Ravenclaws assume genius, and Slytherins be bullies.” Ness spoke with a harsh tone, flint in the end of every word as she seemed to say it to the window.

Her head half turned, hand gone from the face and to her side, to better address the Slytherin. The Irish witch’s hand had gone to a claw, clenching in and out, in and out, with all the muscles along it tight.

”Seamus Fitzpatrick, is leir don saol e an firinne ye little shit. If needs be I will beat your head in again, I swear. Shut up and get out of this car. Go to the First Years where you belong.”

Seamus saw red when Ness said that, he still remembered the defeat from the challenge last year, and it tasted like sulfur on his tongue. "Maybe I could come over tere and beat ya fucking head in, Nessy..." Seamus growled dangerously. "Maybe I could push ya out of tis goddamn train, right now.. And who would even miss ya, if I did tat?"





Dusty's anger flared, he immediately stood up and stormed over to Seamus, grabbing his shoulders and moving him close to his face. "If you say one mawe 'hin abou' Ness like 'ha', maybe I'll push you ou' ov 'his damn 'rain myself, an' you'll end up jus' like your skin and blister."

Seamus scoffed and spat in Dusty's eye, Dusty flinched back and wiped his eye, he then lunged forward and tackled Seamus to the ground.

"Enough already!" Catalina yelled at both students and stood up, getting herself in between Dusty and Samus, and showing she was the same height as Samus. "If you two have something to settle then you better wait until we get to the school.".

She focused her eyes on Samus, her crystaline eyes showing she would challenge him anytime. However getting into trouble before even reaching the School would sure give the exchange student a bad reputation.
"As for the time being I strongly suggest you find some other place to sit..." With a single snap of her right fingers Quintus's cage opened and the animal walked out free, as if it knew what Catalina was thinking the owl placed itself on the last free seat, it seemed quite comfortable with the place.

"All seats here are taken, you see" She told Samus without even blinking.

________________________________________-

@flat lovenote @Thayr

Lauren looked up as the door open, a familiar girl looking inside. She was Hye-Jin, also known as Chloe, as Lauren still remembered her trying to teach some of her housemates how to pronounce her name. Until she quit completely. The half-Irish knew a few things about the other girl, but mostly that she tended to be quiet and peaceful. Not a bad trait to share her cabin.

Hey there! Sure, come on in!" she said, with a far better smile than the other girl. She could see that the Korean was slightly uncomfortable, probably she would have preferred not to share or to share the space with some of her friends. Well, sorry, should have come earlier.

As the other girl sat inside, Lauren got back to her book, even if now she felt somewhat distracted. Part of her needed to start some conversation, the need to talk over the silence overcoming her easily. She battled with herself, not really wanting to socialize but too used to small talk to really stop it. "So... Ready for the year?" she asked, lamely, before trying to improve it "How was your summer? Got to get back home for a bit?"

---

Interacting with: @medalliah, Open to others

(Interacting with @MooiEen, others still welcome!)

"Thank you" Hye-Jin replied with a nod, entering without taking the hood off her head. Putting a backpack on the floor in front the seat by the window opposite Lauren for a moment and sitting then taking out a large older looking book with Chinese writing on the front before putting her backpack back on her lap to serve as a desk of sorts. She opened the old tome on a marked page, wordlessly speaking something which seemed to pull a notebook out of one of the pockets before she put the tome on the bag, and the notebook over part of the page. She then started making notes.

...And visibly stiffened at the question when it was asked. There was a slow look up at the other girl, taking a few moments before she spoke again.

"Um...yes. I went home. I mostly studied, before...." she looked out of the window thinking what to say. If the girl had asked this then maybe it hadn't been reported over here? She idly hoped it had so people wouldn't ask but it was not to be. She put her pen down, and took a breath. Idly fiddling with her necklace as she considered how to say things but there was no avoiding the question.

"I lost my parents. Then I came back here, final year to finish school then go back to Korea." Another pause, before she turned back to the girl and again forced a smile. "What about your summer?"

She looked at the other girl for a second, then looking through the window to give her some time to think. At her answer to the question, it was clear that Lauren did hit the bone without even trying. That was good information to have just in case, but there was no need to play mind games while still on the train. Ans it was not a good time to find an enemy, either.

"Oh, God, I'm sorry for your loss" she answered quickly, internally sighing at her own mess. "I didn't want to bother you with a difficult question, sorry for that too"

Luren let the slightly awkward moment steep for just a second, finding the fast change of topic too much of a rude answer to try it. After a few silent moments, she got back to answering the girl. "Mine was... mostly boring, I guess." she started "Did the summer assignments soon enough, and spent most of the summer playing perfect girl for my family and studying." she finished, shrugging. Hearing just the tiniest growl, she added "And with that thing over here, of course. She hates not being taken into consideration" she smiled, trying to scratch her little Sky just to be almost bitten by a bitter owl.

---

Interacting with: @medalliah, Open to others

(Interacting with @MooiEen, others still welcome!)

Hye-Jin let the moment linger as she turned back to her book. It was a tough subject for her for numerous reasons, so when the girl replied again to talk about her own summer she was thankful. There was a small laugh when the girl tried to touch her owl and nearly got bitten, saying "she does not seem fond of travelling. First time I travelled with Jae she screeched so loud I learnt how to help her sleep through train rides" she peered over at the covered cage she had put down before looking back Lauren again.

"The summer assignment was too easy, I finished all of them one week after going home. Lucky I still talk with my old teachers at Fenghuang so I could do more work. They do not teach same as Hogwarts though, like mm...I forget the english name" she started to fiddle with her necklace, putting her finger on the gem and speaking a few words which caused it to glow. She then spoke again, and the words "spells without sticks, spells with pictures" followed in a very monotone style translated by the necklace. She let go and let it stop glowing and added "I think that is right. Not that I was allowed to do the second one as it was advanced classes in Fenghuang with requirements that I did not meet."

She picked up her pen and started writing again, before adding "do you feel ready for final year?"