A new beginning . . . or Another Mistake? Complete

It's been a few months since a wizard came to Samantha's home and told her that she's a witch, that she is capable of doing magic. Honestly, Samantha didn't believe that bizarre news at first, although she was hoping for some sort of explanation as to why weird things happened to her since she let her emotions out forcefully. Even after Samantha bought the things she needed in Diagon Alley, she still thought to herself, 'Magic is real, and am I really a witch?'

And then that fateful day arrived when Samantha is supposed to board Platform 9 3/4. As someone who had very little experience in anything magical, Samantha was confused how to get into the llatform. Even her father and mother who were with him could not see how to get to the platform. Luckily, they took a glance at a family who completely phased through a pillar as if it was mist; they assumed that it was the way to the platform. Samantha and her parents followed suit, and sure enough, they got into a platform that they swore would not be part of the station's architecture.

What Samantha first noticed was the crimson red train. Looking at the smoke billowing from the front, Samantha could tell that it's a steam-engined train. It was such a strange yet wonderful sight for the little girl since she got used to seeing electrically powered trains in her entire life.

Samantha also noticed that the people inside the carriages were such a rowdy lot indeed. She could see that some kids were playing games that surely wasn't a thing in the Muggle world. She could also notice them playing pranks, but not those ones she knew like the water balloon ones, or even the fake snot; she could've sworn she saw some kids dropping miniscule, brown balls in some compartments that caused some people to gasp for air.

As Samantha was surveying her surroundings, her mother, a kind and gentle soul, gently placed her hand on the little girl and smiled brightly. "It's okay, Samantha," she said. "New school, new friends, remember? Your dad and I may not have attended here when we were your age, but I suppose that it would just be like any other school."

"Except that you guys get to learn magic," Samantha's father comtinued. He was just as amazed as Samantha was when he was looking at how grand the place was. "Think of it, Samantha: At first we believed things like magic don't exist, yet here we are in a platform that clearly isn't part of the architecture! How did they do this? It's just amazing."

"Now now, Tom, don't get too fascinated. We still have to give our little sweetheart here our words of encouragement," Samantha's mother said sternly to her husband.

"But I'm not little anymore, Mom," Samantha said as she pouted.

"You'll always be our sweetheart to us, kiddo," Samantha's dad said as he knelt down, making his height seem the same as his daughter's. "Now, you might be in some school that none in our family knows about, but you need to do good, alright? Study hard, be a good student, and you'll be fine. I know you're a beautiful, intelligent girl, Samantha. Don't worry about what happened to you back then; I'm sure that there will always be someone who can be there for you."

Samantha stared straight into her dad's eyes and listened intently. She wasn't a hundred percent sure about someone being friends with someone like her. The things that happened in her last school was enough to traumatize her. In the end, Samantha decided that she would believe in her dad and just focus on having fun in her new school.

"Now, get in the train, kiddo. You don't wanna get left behind, don't you?" Samantha's dad said.

Samantha ran to the train as she carried the her luggage. Before going inside the train that would take her to Hogwarts, she took one more glance at her parents who were smiling at her; they were so proud of how their little girl grew up to be despite bing unexpected.

"You'll come home for Christmas, right, Samantha?" The girl's mothee shouted.

"Of course I will, Mom!" Samantha replied. "I'll make sure to send you a letter every week. I love you!"

"I love you too, sweetie. Take care!"

And with that note of farewell, Samantha got inside the train and looked for her compartment, hopimg she could find someone who could be her friend. With that, her new journey to Hogwarts had begun.

Ming had known he was stepping into a new world, but as he lugged his trunk behind him on the first minutes of his ride in the train, something became clear to him: he would not fit in with these kids one little bit.

His ticket did not specify a seat, which meant that he had to find a compartment all by himself. Which would have been fine, but for one thing: the other, older, kids who'd boarded the train were louder even than the kids he'd had at school. After walking past several cabins of oddities - some were talking loudly about something called 'Kwiddich', another group was speaking animatedly of duelling (wasn't that the medieval thing where people shot each other for the honour of their lovers?), one cabin had kids who were playing with cards that had actually exploded on them.

It was all very loud, and chaotic, and....and...unrefined. The realisation made a sadness well up inside of him, a crumbling of his hopes of fitting in. Hopes he hadn't quite realised he'd had until that moment.

Never lose control of your emotions in public, a scolding voice remarkably similar to his mother's chided at the back of his mind. Emotions and weaknesses are to be had behind closed doors.

With some effort, the East Asian boy screwing up his face into something resembling neutrality. Then, in a burst of determination, he would all but march through the train in search of an empty compartment to claim for himself.

He would push open the doors to the first empty compartment that he saw and storm inside, all but ignoring the poor girl who was coming the other way on the train.

Interaction(s): @Samantha Foster @Avery Chen

If Samantha thought the train looked chaotic from the outside, it was nothing compared to the commotion that was going on inside it. Samantha was overwhelmed with the people conversing loudly about things she had never heard before.

'Chocolate Frogs? Are they made of real frogs? Jeez, I sure hope they aren't,' Samantha thought when she passed through one compartment. She didn't mean to eavesdrop on anyone's conversations, but she couldn't help it. She just shrugged it off and moved on.

'K-Kwidich? Is it some sort of food people here usually eat? It sounds like it. Can't wait to try one,' she thought once more as she passed by a compartment filled with athletic kids.

'Houses? We literally stay in houses in this school? Sweet, no small, messy dorms for me,' Samantha contemplated as she passed by a compartment of kids talking about the school's Houses.

Samantha passed by a lot of bizaare things, each of which she still couldn't comprehend was real. It's not as if they made her uncomfortable; on the contrary, she would love to try and explore what this new world has to offer for her. She decided, however, to keep quiet for the meantime and look for someone who was just as lost as she was.

Luckily for her, she finally found a compartment that wasn't filled with a bunch of kids. She saw one East Asian boy about her age sitting there alone. It seemed like he didn't know the ropes of this magical world yet. Samantha decided to open the compartment door gently and to smile slightly.

"Excuse me," Samantha started. "Are these seats taken? If not, can I please sit in this compartment?"

Hildegard was looking for a compartment, because of her disability it took her some time to walk inside the Hogwarts Express.
She was looking for one where she could have a seat on the window's side since she loved to look outside and she knew the travel would be long.
As she was walking she found one that might fit her need, there was already two people inside but it's not like she was looking for a compartment alone, being alone was kind of scary in a new environment after all.
There was an asian boy and a four-eyed girl who was in the middle of entering in it, she looked at them and decided to sit in here without asking them permission, as there was not much place left.

-Excuse me, she said as a way to stay polite and go past the girl.

With some difficulty with her limping right leg she sat on one of those seat that had a direct view on the outside.
The little witch briefly stared at them hoping they were not bad people, upon doing so she decided to introduce herself briefly.

- I am Hildegard Schneider,first year, nice to meet you. Sorry but there is not much place left so I came here.

Interactions/s:@Hui Ming @Samantha Foste

Hui Ming blinked in surprise, brought out of his ruminations by a girl addressing him. A large girl, some 5'3". That made her almost half a foot taller than him. A senior then, definitely. He could tell even though she wasn’t yet wearing her Hogwarts uniform. But why would she approach him, of all people?

"Of course," he replied after a moment, in as polite a tone as he could muster. Better to not give her any more reason to focus on him than absolutely necessary. “Feel free to make yourself comfortable Miss, I don’t expect anyone else will be coming in.” Hopefully, he added the last word silently in his mind.

Politeness and manners are the basis of all social interactions , the nagging voice at the back of his head chided. You need to strive to be a gentleman at all times, Hui Ming!

There was a moment of silence before another girl, a pale-looking normal-sized one, walked into the compartment.

"...Uhm. Scratch that, then. All seats are free except for that one," he gestured towards the seat next to the window that was occupied by the self-assured newcomer.

"I'm Hui Ming," he replied hesitantly, not entirely certain what the appropriate social protocol here was. He wasn't technically a first-year yet, after all. So he turned back to the taller girl. "..uh. Do Need help with your trunk? Putting them away all by yourself is a bit troublesome, I’ve found.”

That she was much larger and possibly stronger than the wiry, bespectacled kid was left unmentioned.

Interaction(s): @Samantha Foster @Hildegard Schneider

Samantha was a bit taken aback when the boy called her Miss. Could it be that she looked a bit older than she was supposed to be, or was the boy just too polite? Either way, she just shook her head in response before shaking her hand. "No need to call me Miss," she said. "I'm still eleven, after all."

Before Samantha took her seat, she put away her trunk under the table; she considered putting it beside her, but there might be other people coming in.

And sure enough, someone else came in the compartment. The girl looked sickly pale, and it looked like she had a hard time getting on the train. Samantha was about to open her mouth and offer her seat, but the boy beat her to it. 'This guy's a huge gentleman.'

"It's okay, I can just help our new friend here keep her trunk somewhere... if it's alright with you," Samantha said, looking at the girl named Hildegard after Hui Ming offered to keep her trunk. "I'm Samantha Foster, by the way. This is my first year in Hogwarts, and I do hope we three get along well."

It's fine I don't need help, replied Hildegard.

The pure blooded witch did 2 small kicks to her trunk.

-Now come on don't be lazy, she said while looking at the seemingly ordinary trunk.

Her trunk made a small growl, and the zipper opened in two different parts to make holes.
Very shortly after it was on 2 legs, at least what seemed like legs.
The trunk walked on it's own to a side it would not bother anyone.

-I'm sorry my trunk is kind of old and lazy, I'm thinking of replacing it soon. Hildegard addressed to Samantha.

-oh wait give me some candies. The young girl asked.

The trunk stopped walking turned around and another part of the zip opened, it slitted a little bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans on Hildegard's hand.
Schneider looked at her trunk.

-Are you dumb ? Not that ! Something that doesn't have some scary tastes !

She thrown the little bag back to the trunk who ate it and coughed a sugar quill this time, Hildegard took it and made a sign to her trunk to tell it to go to the corner it was heading to.

-Anyway which house do you guys want to go to ? I ... don't think I can fit in any of them.

Interacting with @Hui Ming and @Samantha Foster

Hui Ming started horribly as the trunk grew legs, and then responded to the prompts of its owner like a rather well-behaved pet, despite the way the sickly girl was speaking to it. Perhaps the trunk was like a dog, and only responded to the tone of voice, rather than the actual words used?

“Lì hài!*.” The Asian boy exclaimed, momentarily forgetting his decorum ad the use of the English language in his excitement at having seeing this new and wonderful device. It would be so awesome if he could get some of his things to work like this - his backpack could pack itself so he never packed the wrong items, or his pencils could take notes in classes by themselves without him getting cramps in his hand trying to keep up with the tutors. "I didn't know trunks could do that!"

Having almost immediately realized that he'd spoken out and that the focus was on him now, the boy turned beet red. "S-sorry about my little outburst. I never quite saw anything like this before, and I got a little bit carried away."

The Schneider girl had asked something, had she not? What was ...?

He cleared his throat, trying to get back to a normal flow of conversation.

"From what I've read, I think I'd fit in best with Ravenclaw. I wouldn't be disappointed if they end up putting me in Gryffindor, though." He spoke very deliberately, carefully enunciating his words; a part of him was glad that he had spent some time reading ahead. "Not that it matters, since we won't be sorted for a whole month, I don't think."

"What about you, though, Miss Foster?" He asked the other girl, rather formally. Despite her friendliness, they had just met, after all. "Where do you think you'll end up in? Ravenclaw or Gryffindor. Hufflepuff maybe, or Slytherin?"

*Lì hài or 厉害 in Mandarin translates to English roughly as “That’s awesome”, or “That’s sick”

Interaction(s) @Hildegard Schneider | Samantha Foster

Samantha jumped back to her seat as she was surprised by the sudden movement of Schindler's trunk. It kind of reminded her of those monsters from that one video game she heard of... from Dark Souls, probably. After the initial shock, Samantha sighed in relief and stared intently at the trunk.

"Well, that's not something you see every day in London," Samantha remarked. "It's... it's so cool! Where'd you get one of those? I always wanted to conveniently bring my stuff everywhere without having to feel thw weight of my stuff."

Samantha stopped to think for a moment about what Schindler said after she got a treat from her trunk: The subject of Houses. Every kid her age seemed to be so excited when they talk about which House they would get into, but Samantha had little, if there is any, clue about what they are. She did some advanced reading before she got to school, but all she read were a few spells and potion ingredients that seem interesting to her.

What made Samamtha more confused was Schindler's tone when she said about her not being able to fit in any of the Houses. This made Samantha worry a bit. 'Come to think of it, is there a possibility that someone might not get into one of these House things if they don't belong?'

Before Samantha could try and say words of encouragement to the pale-looking girl, she heard Hui Ming asked him somewhat the same question. This time, Samantha felt pretty stupid once the boy spouted the names Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin.

'Are they names of places or something? Or probably the owners?'

"Uhh, can any one of you guys give me context, please?" Samantha asked, regretting that she didn't read a bit on the school she's about to attend. "Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin... what are they supposed to mean?"

ROLEPLAYER'S NOTE: For the monster Samantha thought of, refer to Mimics from the Dark Souls franchise.