first things first. open closed

School would finally be starting; something Merle had been looking forward to for a rather long time. After all, while her home life was better than decent, the fact she was an only child meant she was often lonely. School would fix that, she was sure, and she'd make friends in no time. Or well, so she hoped anyways. Looking up at the frankly, intimidating train, she offered her parents and grandmother one last hug before she climbed aboard.

Her hand dragged along the wall of the corridor within the express as she walked along, peering into the windows that showed the compartments within. Most of them were occupied, obvious by the moving figures behind the glass, and though she was most certainly an extrovert by nature, the idea of barging in on a lot of people was... not appealing.

Eventually, she came upon a compartment that looked empty from the outside, and Merle slid the door open slowly. It wasn't until she'd opened it almost entirely that she realized the space was occupied by a blonde boy, and hadn't been empty at all; he'd just been mostly still, settled to look out the window, "Oh," the word was breathed out as she froze by the door. However, her impulsive nature took hold of her mere moments later, and she squared herself against the frame, "Sorry," she said, "I didn't mean to barge in. Thought the place was empty - hopefully you don't mind a little company?" here she lowered her voice to conspirational levels, "The other compartments are REALLY full, and I don't know anyone here and it's super awkward, please let me stay."

Though she closed the door behind her, so they could have a conversation without hopefully being run over by whomever may come from behind, she still stayed by the door, wondering what the boy would say. He didn't look like the friendliest sort; something about him somewhere between haughty and sad, Merle didn't know which to pick from, really. Perhaps it was the tilt of his head, or the curve of the edge of his mouth, "I'm Merle, by the way. Merle Corbyn," not that she figured the name would mean anything to him; her surname was her muggle father's one, and thus not linked to that of her pure blood mother's family line, "This is your first year too?"

COOPER RAY - RAVENCLAW - FIRST YEAR

he was definitely brooding when the door opened to reveal a pretty girl his own age. at first, she was startled by his presence and he couldn't blame her. cooper was like a cat. one who curled in the corner of the train thinking about what he should do next. but when the girl opened the door he jumped and turned to stare at her for a few brief seconds, just as she had done. his eyes were wide for a moment and then she spoke again. "Sorry, I didn't mean to barge in. Thought the place was empty - hopefully you don't mind a little company?" honestly he did mind company, but he didn't say that. prickly little tom that he was, cooper narrowed his eyes at her and studied her up and down.

she didn't seem like the type who would cause him much trouble. of course, he didn't know many witches or wizards. the only witch he knew was a woman who lived next door to them. the one who taught him some stuff about the wizarding world. "The other compartments are REALLY full, and I don't know anyone here and it's super awkward, please let me stay." she whispered this at him and he raised an eyebrow in consideration. of course, he was going to let her sit with him. there wasn't much he could say in comparison, was there? but, just as she felt awkward, he felt just as awkward not knowing anyone here either. maybe it wouldn't be so bad, even if she was his own age. it wouldn't do to just go and push himself into a group of older wizards and just pretend that he was good enough for them. he'd have to prove himself somehow.

then she closed the door behind her and introduced herself as merle corbyn. now he felt compelled to introduce himself too, and that was the annoying part of meeting new people. it meant he had to reveal the most important part about him. his name. which was the first step into vulnerability. "cooper ray." he said, taking on his father's last name just as easily. then he gestured to the seat opposite of him, inviting her to stay. "and yeah. I'm a first-year too." but he didn't want to indicate to her that he didn't know much about the wizarding world, though maybe he could learn something from this girl.

"listen, I'm new to all of this wizard stuff." he said carefully. "you probably don't know much about hogwarts, but do you think you could share with me some wizardy things?"

Oh no... he was narrowing his eyes at her. Definitively prickly. Like her Grandmother's large, grey colored tom cat who'd glare at her from a safe distance and refuse to be touched. Merle wasn't dumb; it was quite clear he did not want her there, but no sooner had the thought occurred to her, that she huffed inwardly. If he wanted her gone, he'd have to up and tell her himself, rather than simply glare his heart out at her.

Something about what she said though, seemed to soften him up, and his countenance changed enough that Merle exhaled a breath she'd been holding, walking over to the seat in front of him, settling herself by the window too. It was less awkward than sitting right by him at any rate, and anyways, at least like this, if no one else showed up, they'd have enough space that they wouldn't be invading any personal bubbles. Settling herself comfortably on the tall seat, she gazed outside for a moment or two before turning towards him.

She watched him as he gave her his name, and inwardly, the young girl made a swift assessment of pure blood family lines; the most important ones, anyways, the ones she knew of. No Rays that she knew of, which meant halfblood like her, or muggle born. Either way, that was one less obstacle for conversation, given there would be no sneering about perceived superiority of blood lines. Granted, most of that talk was kept on the downlow, from what she'd seen, and the mentality seemed to be phasing out, but either way, it was one less mine field to walk through, and Merle was glad of it.

"and yeah. I'm a first-year too."

There was an inflection in his voice, as if the information was given reluctantly that caught her attention, and Merle's gaze sharpened a touch as she tilted her head. He continued forth, and soon enough things became quite clear to her, "Oooooh..." she nodded her head, as if this were common information, and nothing out of the ordinary, "Are you Muggle Born, perhaps? Not that there's anything wrong with that, it just means you may feel a bit like a fish out of water for a while, but then... take almost any wizard, and ask them to turn on a telly," she gave him a flat look, "Heck, you'd have them stumped at what a telly even is, for the most part anyways, let alone how to work it."

She seemed to pause here, looking out the window for a moment as the train started to move away from the station, then her attention resettled on him and she offered him a small smile, "There's not much I can show you right now; I don't know any spells... and I didn't bring any candy with me; those are always fun for muggle borns. When the candy trolley pulls up, we should get some; they'll amuse you, at any rate. They're nothing like muggle candy," it was at that point she realized she should elaborate on herself before she confused him, and thus she added, "My dad's a muggle, mom's a witch, so I know bit about both sides, though truth be told, I was brought up over in the wizarding world for the most part. Didn't mean dad didn't keep most of his technology around - it's not nearly as fun without a telly, is it?" another pause and then a head tilt, "Do you know about the sorting hat?"

@Cooper Ray

COOPER RAY - RAVENCLAW - FIRST YEAR

oh yes, she gave him lots of information. including information about herself. and that was just the way he liked things. he let her talk for a while. there was new information there. the cultures between the "muggle" world and the "wizarding" world both had their different technologies. while the muggle world had moving boxes, the other had moving pictures. it was fascinating really. to see such differences between the two communities. and cooper had a feeling that he was going to learn a lot at this school. especially with how spontaneous and uncontrollable the magic around him was. he was just excited to learn.

but of course, he wasn't going to tell merle that. he watched her with curiosity, though, without fully realizing it. he wanted to know more. and it was satisfying to know a little bit about where she came from. but that meant she was probably expecting some information back. but she didn't ask him. and that was a bit of a relief. she expected that he was a muggle-born wizard though. which he wasn't sure if he wanted her to believe that or not.

"actually." he started carefully. "I'm not sure what I am. all I know is that my mother was a witch. but I think my father had no magical powers. whatever that means."

then he looked up at her and tilted his head to match hers. "I know that the sorting hat puts you in one of three... four? houses. I can't remember what they're called or what they stand for though." reason being, his neighbor was trying to communicate with him as they went through diagon ally, but he was just distracted by everything that was going on around him. "but I don't know much more than that."

@Merle Corbyn

Something about this kid was weird, off even, and Merle couldn't quite put her finger on what it was. It was, perhaps, something about the way he watched her, that made her hesitate to talk any more. The more time that passed, the more strongly that he reminded her of her gran's cat. The way this boy looked at her was uncannily similar to the way the grey feline watched birds outside the windows of the large living room. Still, she had been well brought up, and very heavily told not to judge others; some people just had weird sort of neutral looking faces, and there was nothing they could do to help that.

Shallowing whatever gut reaction she was having to the boy, Merle offered him a smile, "Ah! Not a muggle born then, no, you're a Half blood, like me," still, what little information he had divulged seemed to indicate he had not had much contact with the wizarding world until now. There was clearly a story there, though Gran would have told her instantly how rude it would be to pry for it, and thus, she attempted to drive her curiosity away by making her smile more honest instead of forced, "Half blood means you have one magical parent, and one non magical one. Muggle born are those that are born with magic, even though both their parents are non magical - there's... other, meaner way to call them," she lowered her voice and frowned, "Never call them anything other than muggle born; it's terribly mean, and very rude..." here she paused and looked over at the door again; no one had joined them yet, and it seemed like perhaps they would remain alone the whole trip.

She had opened this bag of proverbial worms though, and it was her job to see it through. As such, she took a deep breath and continued, "Pure blood are those that come from entirely magical lineage," her eyes sought the boy's for a moment, "If you're new to this world, you may not know about it's past. People used to put... too much value in the purity of blood; I think it's nonsense. So does my granny. Wars were fought over it. I think the terms are not very nice. Pure blood, Half blood... too much emphasis on blood can't be good."

Shaking off the blues from the dreary topic, she perked right up at the idea of walking about the hat, "It's sentient, you know," she told him, "The hat I mean. They put it on your head, and it talks and everything! I hear that every year, it also sings a song! Puts you in one of four houses. Gryffindor, where the brave and strong go, Hufflepuff where the loyal and diligent go, Ravenclaw where the intelligent and thorough go, and Slytherin, where the cunning and ambitious go. Granny was a Slytherin, and I believe mother was a Hufflepuff."

@Cooper Ray

COOPER RAY - RAVENCLAW - FIRST YEAR

honestly... he was rather enjoying listening to her prattle on about different wizardry things. she was definitely more interesting than his next-door neighbor. she at least had a personality and it brought him great joy to learn about something that he was unfamiliar with. besides, it was amazing how much this girl talked and he barely had to say anything in return. and he was learning quite a bit. maybe he'd just have to keep this girl around more. especially since she was so generous with her information.

that is, until a second person came into the little room. and two was already a crowd for cooper, but this third person seemed to be in his own little world. and while that in of itself wouldn't have bothered cooper, simply because he was used to awkward silence in classes. but this was already a small space, and he had an unfamiliar and strange air about him. something that made cooper feel a little more than awkward. at least merle was open and socially familiar. this one... this one made him uncomfortable.

then he asked the strangest question. "do you two work for the Ministry?"

cooper's lips thinned and he stared at the other boy with a blank expression. the fuck was the ministry? his eyes drifted over to merle in a straight-up question. this kid had said the word "ministry" as though it were some kind of mysterious entity. what the hell was he supposed to say to that other than 'how the fuck should I know.' but this boy didn't seem like he was going to give any sort of answer to his question. he was only going to make more... wasn't he? and that did not sit well with cooper. not at all.

@Merle Corbyn && @Irakma Fultran

The previous prattle was rather effectively cut short when the train compartment door slid open and revealed a new, dark haired boy in muggle clothes. Something Merle thought rather odd, given both she and Cooper were wearing their school cloaks even now; if she'd thought the light haired boy was odd, she thought this one was much worse, appearing oddly distracted to the point he even pushed his luggage in place without taking one look at them. A small huff of air was released by the young girl as she got up from her seat and decided that she would, in fact, take the one by the grumpy boy over risking this strange boy sitting by her. At least with Cooper she was sure she knew what to expect from him. This new kid... she wasn't all too sure.

At least not yet anyways.

The new child asked if he could stay, and Merle, whom until then had been rather talkative, looked vaguely unsure, side eying the blonde before hesitantly nodding her head, "We don't own the compartment. You can sit wherever you want," she'd been about to continue her explanation of the houses and what to expect from the large castle (That she knew of), when the newcomer spoke up again.

"Do you two work for the Ministry?"

Merle opened her mouth and then closed it, only to repeat the process twice more before any sound came out, "I'm sorry?" she asked, sounding more than slightly confused; an obvious hint for Cooper that this was not a normal sort of question, "I... we're eleven. Of course we don't work for the Ministry, that would be... that's ridiculous!" she scrunched her nose as she said the word, "Are you okay? Like... are you feeling quite well?" she stopped just short of asking the kid if he was experiencing some sort of high; perhaps a sugar high? Too many chocolate frogs? "Do I need to go fetch a professor or someone to help you?" a pause followed, during which Merle was very glad she'd chosen to sit by Cooper, and turned her head to catch him giving her an almost pleading, confused look her way, "Uhm... the Ministry is like er... the government. Like, you know, Wizarding Britain's government? He's pretty much straight up asking if we work for the government, which given the fact we're eleven years is a touch well, you know. Odd."

@Irakma Fultran & @Cooper Ray