Steam, Spells and New Begginings

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Reducio

Word Count: 479/200

After saying goodbye to her father and successfully getting her trunk onto the train, Piper's only issue now was to find somewhere to sit. Her other problem was she would likely have to talk to people, but she would come to that later.

The corridor was crowded with lots of people chattering away, Piper ignored them all and instead focused on heaving her trunk forward one awkward step at a time. Her arms already ached, and the handle was digging into her fingers, but she was determined not to stop until she found a compartment that wasn’t bursting with loud voices and laughter.

She peeked inside various compartments as she passed — some students were already deep in conversation, laughing like old friends, opening bottles and putting their trunks away. It felt like everyone had found their place. Everyone but her.
Piper pressed her lips together and moved on.

She tried not to look lost, but the truth was, she had no idea where to go. She had hoped that she might spot someone she knew, not that there were many people that she would know. But maybe that girl from Diagon Alley. The one who liked magical creatures. Maybe she’d be on this train. Maybe she’d be in one of these compartments, saving a seat. Maybe…
Her trunk bumped hard against a compartment door, and Piper hissed under her breath. With a mutter of annoyance, she lowered her trunk to the floor, shaking out her sore hands. The corridor buzzed around her - snippets of conversation, the rustling of robes, the people bustling past. She stayed low, crouched beside her trunk, trying to look like she was just adjusting something rather than panicking.

The truth was, she hated this part. The walking-around-alone part. It was the sort of thing that made her feel like everyone was watching her, even if no one really was.
She sighed and pushed her hair behind her ears, then muttered under her breath, “Alright, Piper. It’s just a seat. It’s just one conversation. How hard can it be?”

She stood, smoothed her robes, and picked up the handle again. Finding a seat could be Problem Number One. Talking to people could be Problem Number Two.
Dragging her trunk with a little more determination now, Piper passed another full compartment - this one loud enough that she could hear laughter and the crinkling of wrappers through the closed door. She was beginning to wonder if she'd have to ride all the way to Hogwarts standing up when she spotted it: a compartment with just one girl inside.

Piper hesitated at the door, fingers tightening around the handle of her trunk. Then she slid the door open a few inches and leaned in.

“Hi,” she said, doing her best to sound casual and confident. “Mind if I sit here? Everywhere else is kind of packed.”

✧LOCATION✧ Hogwarts Express ✧DATE✧ 01|09|2024 ✧HEX✧ Thoughts Grace: #760404

✧OUTFIT✧ Reducio

563 ✧WORD COUNT✧ Morning ✧TIME✧ @Amelia Lerelle ✧INTERACTION✧ ------@Piper Hart

It was disappointment that Grace felt at that moment, it is true Catherine had always been very cold and detached from her. But this was too much. To not consider her as a sister if she had failed? That was too much even for her.
With her teary eyes from those words she had just read, she could no longer stay in that cabin. She had chosen that place because it seemed peaceful, quiet. She didn't want to spend the trip in the midst of all the commotion, but even that quiet was too much.
It was empty.
As quiet as it was, it was deafeningly loud. Four walls full of unspoken words that could scratch the mind. And at that moment she needed more, she picked up her trunk and with the other hand held the letter between her fingers and on her forearm her jacket, which at that moment had turned into the armour she had taken off too soon. She left the room, closed the door deelicately and walked down the train corridor, just as she had done before, while Catherine's words continued to echo in her mind. By now, most of the booths were packed: some full of loud laughter, others full of pats on the back, but all filled with new friendships born in a few minutes. Everyone seemed to have found their place. Everyone except her.
As she looked for a place to sit, she saw a cabin, occupied only by a girl. She did not have time to approach it when she was preceded by another girl. With her she was carrying a trunk that looked heavy. She saw her open the door and ask permission to enter.
"Hi, mind if I sit here? Everywhere else is kind of packed."
Grace stood back a few steps, hesitant about the succession of things. Anxious, her thoughts divided between returning to the booth she had come from, or... a bolder one, stepping forward and asking.
She had a choice to make and made the decision to stay. Something inside her had told her not to go .
No. I can't keep running away. She thought
Hoping to not receive a rejection, she stepped forward and spoke up. A sincere but somewhat uncertain smile formed on her face. "Hi. Sorry... I was also looking for a quiet place. May I join you? " She asked, as she tried to mask the hesitation she felt.
She stood there in the doorway, next to the other girl, while they waited for an answer. She still clutched tightly the letter between her fingers. She wanted to prove to herself that she could do it and that those words did not really affect her.
Her eyes rested on the girl sitting by the window: she seemed gentle, deep in thought.
She wondered what was going through her mind: Will we be welcome? Or will we receive a big, categorical No!?
Maybe that young witch preferred to be alone, but at that moment, three strangers, each with her own suitcase, her own thoughts and her own story were standing there together. At the edge of what could have been a beginning of something. In a space suspended between a departure and a destination.
Perhaps, without knowing it, they were on the brink of something new.
And sometimes, all it takes to begin is a simple: yes.

Piper looked over at the other girl who’d just come to stand beside her, requesting a place to sit as well. This girl seemed kind of sad, like there was something on her mind but she was trying to push it down inside herself. Piper felt a slight sense of concern for the girl but it quickly turned to nerves as she remembered what she was waiting for.

Her nerves increased as the girl sitting by the window didn’t respond. Why isn’t she responding? Piper wondered, Will she reject us and make us both find some place else to sit? Or will she accept the other girl and leave me to find somewhere else? Oh I don’t know!

Due to all the thoughts running through her head, Piper nearly missed the girl by the window hastily accepting the two of them. Oh what a relief! Piper thought as all her thoughts came to a screeching halt and she walked into the compartment.

Piper quickly took the seat opposite the girl by the window, hoping that this way there was no chance of her changing her mind. After settling into the seat, no one talked. The silence began to grow and the awkwardness came suddenly, Piper had no idea what to do. This was bad, terrible, not going well at all. The silence was becoming too much so Piper made the decision to break it.

“What are your names?” Piper asked the two girls before she could second guess her decision.

She smiled slightly, instantly regretting breaking the silence but relieved at the same time. Piper hoped that something would come from this encounter, good preferably but something nonetheless.

✧LOCATION✧ Hogwarts Express ✧DATE✧ 01|09|2024 ✧HEX✧ Thoughts Grace: #760404

✧OUTFIT✧ Reducio

307 ✧WORD COUNT✧ Morning ✧TIME✧ @Amelia Lerelle ✧INTERACTION✧ ------@Piper Hart

She wasn't sure what to expect when she crossed this threshold. A refusal? A polite grimace? Or maybe a shrug with a simple 'Sorry, it's taken!'
And instead... none of this happened.
Just a simple, sincere surprise from that lonely girl sitting by the window, as if she wasn't expecting anyone.
When she invited them in, she and the other girl, Grace felt relieved. It wasn't exactly enthusiasm, or at least not entirely.
The first girl to enter chose the window seat, and Grace decided to sit right next to her, probably because they were in the same situation.
She moved the trunk between her legs and the door, so as not to disturb anyone too much, and placed her jacket on her knees, stroking the fabric.
She gently folded the letter, which until a few seconds ago she had been clutching between her fingers like a precious treasure, and put it inside one of her jacket pockets. Perhaps she was not yet ready to part with it completely.
For a while, no one said anything. There was only the sound of the train and a slight swaying of the cabin.
But then, with a courage she almost envied, the other girl broke the silence.
"What are your names?" she asked them.
A question as harmless as it was simple.
Grace took a deep breath. It seemed silly to be nervous about answering that question, but she was. Yet she looked up and gave them both a sincere half-smile, the typical one you can manage when you're trying to look as confident as possible.

"Grace", she replied.
"My name is Grace."
Then she let out a half sigh, and crossed her arms over her lap.
"So... has anyone already decided whether to get noticed right away or wait at least the second day to create a scandal?"

Piper was relieved that both girls had responded - that they’d answered her question and not let it sit there and be consumed by the awkwardness she thought would creep back into the compartment.

“I’m Piper, Piper Hart,” she said softly, suddenly consumed by worry. What if they didn’t like her? What if they thought she was weird? What if, in this new magical world where anything was possible, she still felt out of place?

But no, she wouldn’t think of that now. Instead, she decided to focus on what the two girls had responded with.

Focusing on the girl by the window - Amelia, she said her name was - Piper asked shyly, “Can I call you Millie? I don’t know, you look like a Millie to me. Well, I mean…” She trailed off, unsure what to say.

Since she couldn’t think of anything else to say to Amelia, Piper turned her attention to Grace’s question, letting out a small chuckle—it struck her as an amusing one.

“I kind of hope not to be noticed at all, to be honest,” Piper said quietly, though her confidence was growing with each word. “I mean, it would be nice, but… as long as it’s by the right people and for the right reasons, then… well… yeah. Hopefully not because of anything scandalous.”

With every word, the tension continued to ease, and her confidence steadily grew. It was like watching morning mist dissolve quietly under the gentle touch of dawn - slow, subtle, but certain. Her shoulders relaxed just a little, and she let herself believe that maybe - just maybe - she could belong here.

✧LOCATION✧ Hogwarts Express ✧DATE✧ 01|09|2024 ✧HEX✧ Thoughts Grace: #760404

✧OUTFIT✧ Reducio

265 ✧WORD COUNT✧ Morning ✧TIME✧ @Amelia Lerelle ✧INTERACTION✧ ------@Piper Hart

Those introductions had broken that veil of tension that had formed in the cabin, indeed even her shoulders felt lighter.
“Millie, Huh?” said Grace, tilting her head and with a much more natural smile.
"It's a great nickname Piper, and you know it suits you too Amelia. I have to say it's really sweet. But I have to say I also like Lia, it gives me that thought of mystery."
She paused briefly, then added in a lighter tone, "However, you have to like them. Nicknames must sum you up otherwise they just look like masks."
Then she adjusted her jacket, smoothing the fabric with her fingers and leaning her back against the seat. She had decided she could relax, the trip had just begun, but something familiar had formed in that cabin.
Then she looked at Piper, and a smile returned to her lips.
"You know, I understand you. I'd rather not be noticed the first few days for the awkward reasons, too. Like stumbling in front of half a castle."
She paused, ironic but affectionate, her eyes twinkling.
"But ... a hint of curiosity is there. I'm curious to find out who will launch into becoming a legend as early as breakfast. Or a legend in jokes. I'm sure, in fact I would bet there will be at least one."
She finally turned to both of them, more serious but with the same calm and sincere tone.
"Anyway, I'm glad I found this cabin. I don't know about you, but ... it seems like a good start. Better than I hoped for, honestly."

Mentions: @Piper Hart and @Grace Mitchell