Chocolate Frog Friendships Closed

Draco Malfoy now there was a strange obessession. Why would anyone go to all to pieces over a boy? She grimaced slightly. Gross. There were better things to occupy her time right now besides being goo-goo over boys, but they were fine on the Quidditch pitch or to talk to. Fun even. But the starry eyed gaze of admiration Avaris held for one of the most famous, or infamous, depending on who you were, was a little hard to fathom for her. As for the rest of what the girl said, it sounded like Hogwarts was much more then she thought. Shifting in her seat, she finished off the chocolate frog and try to think about the many ways she could have handled something like what Avaris described happening. Could she deal with that? What if she failed? Sariel wasn't one to fail usually and either muggle studies or otherwise and she didn't plan on starting that Trend now either. She would figure it out. Crossing her legs like a lady should, she wobbles on her bottom slightly and met Avaris with a confident smile. "Maybe this year will be better."

Louis on the other hand didn't seem to notice and right for asking about spells. She had seen her mother cast spells all of her life and she knew there was a trick to the wand movement in the words of each one. You have to get both exactly right for the spell to work. At least starting out anyways. Her hand inched to the inside of her black robes where they curled around the dark cherry wood wand tucked away in the breast pocket. With careful reverence she pulled it out and held it between her fingers. It was an interesting idea to learn something that nobody else could know before they got into class and she grinned at the idea. "What's your favorite one? Will you show us?"

The truth is that Marianne was disappointed with her older brother Julian, a Hufflepuff in the fifth year now. She hoped he'd stay with her in the same cabin on the train, but his brother seemed to be busy flirting with someone from the Ravenclaw and paying attention to an eleven-year-old child did not look so attractive to him anymore. The redhead was very upset and hid the urge to cry behind her pride. She stepped out of the last cabins to the first ones, looking shyly at each other to see if they still had a space so she could sit down. She had her clothes on, the wand stashed in her pocket, and she bought a pumpkin candy on the way - her favorite. Marianne still chewed on it as she passed a three-member cabin: a black-haired girl with an anxious expression, a black-haired boy with a slight fist and a wand on his hand and a white-haired girl visibly older than the other two. She heard something about spells too, which caught her attention.

Of course she knew some of them, because her pureblood family used magic for absolutely anything. However knowing was different from having knowledge and the girl was fully aware that casting spells inside a closed cabin without the supervision of a professor could be very bad. She remembered as if it was yesterday that Julian had tried something like this and was strictly scolded by their mother, ended up stopping at the hospital with swollen yellow fingers and to make matters worse he took some warning from Hogwarts. The redhead did not take more than an instant to open the cabin door, to look at them carefully and to say in a timid and worried tone: "Are you going to cast spells here? But is not that forbidden?" The voice was not loud, actually whispered the questions as if it was something very wrong - and it was.

"Oh, excuse me for coming in like this, it's just... I was looking for a place to settle in. Could it be here with you?" She took a deep breath as she looked down at her feet. "My big brother is... Busy." She said in a slightly sad way, unable to hide how moved and lost she was.

Aravis was a bit shocked that people actually asked her to do magic considering Half of her families history. She smiled happily nodding. "Of course I can. I don't know many since I'm only a second year. So most of them aren't really cool. I could show you two kinda cool ones that have a great effects. I'll use my personal favorite on Sariel." 

That was until someone interrupted. The door slid open and a rather nosy red head peeked her head in before speaking. The look on Aravis's face seem to stare into the soul of the red haired girl. The stare was one of the few reasons most people knew the white haired girl. Who was she, to burst into their conversation, and ruin Aravis's one moment to prove she wasn't as bad as the rest of her family. She changed her bitter expression to a calm one, trying to be a better person than her first year. If she had meant the girl last year she would have used a hex on her. "And aren't you just a first year? Hermione Granger did spells on the train, so have other students, we are allowed to do such on the train." Aravis stated with a slightly bitter tone. 

She was visibly stressing out. It was taking all her might to not lash out at the poor first year. After all, it wasn't like you could get 12 years of being rude out of your life. "Now, you can either sit or go where ever. I don't mind either." The white haired girl said in a neutral tone before turning back to Sariel and Louis with a sad smile. She was fighting a ear in her head currently. She decided not to pay attention to what the girl did. After all, it wasn't often someone offended and Escanora. 

"Now, I'm going to do two spells, I've practiced them many times in class, and in the dorm room." She said in a rather cherry tone as if nothing had happened. "Ok, Louis, which spell would you like to see first. Steleus the sneezing hex, or Rictusempra?" She said turning to the boy. 

Louis was too busy vibrating in his seat out of excitement, both for being able to see a real spell in action and because a beautiful black and blue butterfly had floated in to their carriage and he had been trying to catch it, to really do much but pat where he was sitting and moving over to sit next to Sariel, who was both the nicest and oldest one he knew. Flashing her a happy grin, he listens as Aravis spoke.

“Oh! Oh!” He says rather eloquently, unzipping and rifling through his trunk and carefully withdrawing then Book of Spells to look up exactly what Recumsempra was, before once again carefully putting it back in the trunk and zipping it up again, eyeing the bloated case as if it were some sort of dangerous animal.

Looking once more towards Sariel, he glances towards his wand before remembering what Mr. Ollivander had told him about hownit was good with healing and hexes. Really just a no-brainer, and he cheerily answered Aravis with a “Sneezing hex! Sneezing hex please!”, throwing his hands up in the air as his smile practically glowed.

Having answered the question he had enough time to look at the new girl. Where were all the boys? Well, it didn’t matter, they could all be his friends but still! Would be nice to have one. Her hair was pretty though, and he made sure to give her a happy smile and a wave.

I'll use my personal favorite on Sariel. That got Sariel's true attention. Avaris made it sound like it was an honor to be cast on by her given the tone and suddenly she grew a little wary. The caution was nothing to do with the girl being a pure blood or a Slytherin. Why was it her who had to be the lab rat? Weren't there spells she could do that didn't involve casting them on someone? Sariel shoved the thoughts aside. If this girl wanted to play with magic, she would meet her toe to toe. Putting on a brave smile, she started to ask what exactly was her 'personal favorite' spell when the door to the compartment opened revealing a girl with red hair and a more timid demeanor. Almost sad looking. The quick exchange between Avaris and the newcomer sparked a small ember of annoyance with Sariel. “You should come sit with us,” she said to the girl firmly, patting the seat across from her, “I don’t mind and there’s plenty of room. I'm Sariel, this is Louis, and that's Avaris.” She wasn’t going to leave someone wandering around looking like that or dismiss her like Avaris had.

As the girl stood there at the door a pretty, black and blue butterfly floated in. She could tell it had been spelled there, probably by one of the older students, but it was real enough and Louis seemed enamored. The boy alighted next to her with a brilliant smile to play with the fluttering creature which landed in his hair briefly, opening it’s iridescent wings then closing them again. Glancing to Louis, she dropped her voice some while Avaris spoke on. “Papilio Ulysses,” she told him, nodding to the butterfly, “My mom conjures them in the garden at home. If they land on you, some say they grant you a wish. Make a wish, Louis.”

Finally, she turned her attention back to Avaris when the girl mentioned a sneezing hex and another spell, Sariel wasn’t familiar with. Louis seemed all for it. His enthusiasm scattered the butterfly away from his unruly brown hair and it flittered its way out of the compartment door to go grant more wishes. “A hex, huh? You do know how to undo it, once it’s done right?” she asked Avaris earnestly. Even if she had to get herself hexed to learn how she would do it but the spell was no good without knowing how to reverse it.

Masika stood in the cramped train bathroom glowering at her reflection as she worked to wash soot off of her olive skin. Of all the compartments she might have chosen, she had to end up in one with an immature group of brats that wanted to play Exploding Snap. With a faulty deck. That nearly blew the small space off of the train.

"Already off tae a good start..." the muttered to herself. She looked down at her teal cardigan and sighed in exasperation, "Ayyy... pour que yo?" There were patches of soot in three different places and Papi and Baba had only just bought the sweater for her to help her deal with the colder climate. She sighed and gave cleaning herself up as a bad job. She'd have better luck waiting until she got her dorms, and most of her skin was clean at least.

Masika turned around in the tight space and stepped back into the hall to where she had left her trunk. She leaned over and picked up the belt she had wrapped around one of the handles, before she used it to continue dragging her well-worn traveling trunk along behind her. She thanked the gods that Baba had the foresight to charm it lighter for her, otherwise she probably would have had to leave it in that disaster of a compartment that she had left earlier.

She made her way down the hallway, passing several full compartments, before she found herself held up behind a rather noticeable head of red hair. Given that she couldn't really make her way past the girl while toting a trunk as she was, she leaned forward to peak into the compartment that the girl was standing in the door of, noting that it was about to reach capacity if this girl joined it as well. She ran her fingers through her thick black curls, trying to gauge if she might be able to politely squeeze by, before she concluded it would probably backfire.

Well... her parents had told her to try and make friends, she supposed. "What's all this then?" she asked, her voice carrying enough to be heard by those in the compartment, but not much more. She moved forward until she was standing within a couple feet of the girl, her dark brown eyes taking in the scene. More to be polite than anything else, she spoke again, her accent an odd mix of a subdued Irish lilt and at least one other language, "Is everythin' alright?"

Aravis noticed looking rather uncomfortable with the thought of being used for a spell. Aravis had planned on using both of them so they wouldn't be shocked when they had it done to them. At this point she was unsure if she should even do a spell. "It's actually Aravis, not Avaris." She corrected Sariel with a hint of sadness in her voice. She began to think she wouldn't make a friend by the time the train ride was over, as per usual. 

She sighed before speaking again. "Sorry Louis...I'm...I'm not going to do any magic actually. I don't feel well enough, it could effect the spell somehow, I was told not to if I was getting..." Getting what Aravis? Getting angry? Is that what you were going to say? A voice in the back of her head echoed as she trailed off speaking. This wasn't going as she had planned. Second year was supposed to be a fresh start for her. "And Sariel, it wears off after a few seconds or two. By the way, you'll have to cast it on yourself at school. Just so you've been warned." Not to long after she spoke another girl poked her head in. "Everything is fine, care to join us? I'll be leaving shortly to find my twin." Aravis said with a slightly sad smile. She felt like it was time for her to leave. She no longer felt welcomed, other than by Louis who had been entertained with some sort of butterfly earlier probably missing the whole situation. 

Well, Marianne did not expect the older girl to stare at her with such anger in her eyes. Frightening the way she changed the aggressive expression to a calm one that bordered on sociopathy - opinion of a child who grew up reading and listening to tales of terror of the older brother. The redheaded girl had been paralyzed for a moment and could not divert the attention of the white-haired girl. She wanted to retort that argument that was nothing more than an excuse to cast spells, but her voice did not come out. If she had not been so bad for being abandoned by her brother, Marianne would have started a discussion and possibly a fight. She was ready to retreat and try another cabin just to avoid greater chaos, but she heard the girl suggest Rictusempra. She made a grimace of indignation and still in the door Marianne gestured at the other two in the way they had managed not to accept such a spell - not that she would be noticed by that movement, of course. She did not know the enchantment and imagined that the others there did not know either, so it sounded very dangerous to realize it. Of course she wanted to see it all happen and it looked like fun, but... Now the redhead did not want the white-haired girl to get her way.

Before interacting with the other two from inside the cabin, Marianne felt that she was disturbing the passage from the corridor to a brunette with beautiful curly hair. "Oh, I did not mean to be rude." She was taller than Marianne was, so she looked up with a sympathetic but slightly sad expression.

The only boy inside the cabin waved and Marianne returned the gesture, but only went to sit in the cabin when the other girl named Sariel invited her to do. Then the redhead sat before her in the cabin. "Thank you." She thanked the black-haired girl, and a more amiable smile came over her face. "My name is Marianne." She introduced herself a little more at ease. The butterfly also caught her attention and Marianne was delighted to look at her and could not distinguish the spell of a real insect. Shortly after that she indicated the vacant place beside her for the girl still standing at the door and waved for her to come. "Come on, there's still a place for you too. Your bag looks heavy, do you need help?" She offered cordially before Sariel asked Aravis a smart question. It was not a question that went through her mind before and it seemed very important to undo the spell once it was released.

Then the white-haired girl looked uncomfortable, apologized, and announced that she might go out to meet her twin. "H-Hey ... Aravis ... I did not want to get in the way of casting the spell or even being rude, I was actually worried you might get hurt. My brother once tried to cast a spell on our house and set fire to his own room, as well as being warned by the Ministry not to do so while he was not old enough. I did not know that was allowed here." Although she had felt bad about the way Aravis had treated her at the beginning, she would feel worse if the girl left now that she had sat in the cabin.

Aravis listened as Marianne spoke, she seemed nice enough but Aravis wasn't too sure of her. She nodded listening. "I understand, I can see why you were worried. It' was just a sneezing spell and the other was a tickling charm we learned at Hogwarts. I apologize for exploding, I'm schi-" She stopped speaking again. Would she want to tell these people that was bi-polar, schizophrenic, and had multiple personalities. She wasn't sure. That might run them off even more. "I'm a very tense person. It was not my intention to lash out at you." She said with a small yet upset smile. The only reason she was tense was because her upbringing. Everything that could go wrong in a kid seemed to be happening to Aravis. 

She took a deep breath to calm herself down a bit, feeling as if she was going to explode for no reason again. She had already manage to weaken any chance of friendship with Sariel it seemed. Marianne seemed sweet enough, but she was still unsure, Louis didn't seem to react to Aravis's outburst- which was a thing she was glad for- and then Masika missed the whole thing almost. Maybe there was still somewhat of a chance...or so Aravis hoped. Frankly the white haired girl couldn't miss any chances at friendship.