The Start Of Something New Open Closed

A short, black haired boy walked through the corridor of the carriage while breathing heavily. Can't believe I was almost late...Who knows what might hav' happened if I didn't reach her' in time... Most compartments were full, so he continued to carry his trunk behind him.
Wonder what mum might think of me if She knew I almost missed the Hogwarts Express, she sure oughta be mad..
In James' mind, figments of the past rushed to him. The day he got that Hogwarts letter. His father wasn't very happy with it, but he knew it was just a matter of time. Mum was excited yes, but she didn't know much about her husband's past, besides his magic ability.
The Niemi's were a magic family, yes, but one in which magic was heavily discouraged. He remembered his father saying, when he was just 8 years old. "Boy, you dont want to mingle with 'em wizard folk. Some of 'em are good people, but most use their gift to pretend to be better then others." He was scared. Scared he would be left out because he had never been to the magical world prior to his arrival at Diagon Alley.
Finally, he arrived at a compartment that wasn't full. He looked around before noticing a young girl sitting there.
"Heya there Miss... he said while trying to mask his countryside accent. Most of 'em carriages are full...Ya mind if I sit here?

“I would like to sit here as well!” Fiona announced, standing in the doorway of the compartment. She figured if the girl sitting there wanted to travel alone she would’ve locked the door or something so Fiona didn’t feel the necessity to repeat the boy’s question. And also, as he correctly stated, there wasn’t really a big choice as to where to sit. Actually, Fiona arrived at the station quite early but lost sense of time trying to figure out how that wall-portal thing worked. Or was it even a portal? But then the train whistled and she decided that the train itself was an interesting object for exploration and finally got on board. And so here she was.

“ So, I was just thinking, - she began talking fast, sure that the girl and the boy are going to share her excitement, - What exactly is this train we’re on? Is it magical? I bet it’s magical, how can’t it be! Maybe it’ll fly? I didn’t see anything resembling wings but it’s magic, right? No way we’re just going to choo-choo all those hours to Scotland on this ancient-looking train, right? Do you think there’s something about this train in that Hogwarts History book? Or do you have any theories? It’s always more fun to first make theories and only then check!” She stopped here for a moment, to take a breath and to give them some time to process. And then added, a little more quietly:

“And, um, I’m Fiona”.

"Uhm I ain't the most educated in this subject, but I'm pretty sure its just a regular ol' train....maybe it's fueled by magic and all, but it surely ain't gonna fly." He pulled his trunk into the compartment and sat next to it "I'm James by the way.
The sound of steam being pumped echoed through the carriages, shaking the whole structure a bit. Welp, there's your answer. Regular ol' steam train. I'm sure this would've been decomissioned if it was back in the Muggle World. By the way, where y'all from? by this time, he stopped trying to mask his accent and just sputtered words with the most glorious of the uneducated countryside accents. "I'm pretty sure y'all can figure I ain't from around the big city...
The sound of movement began to be felt. At first, steam could be heard from the chimney. James looked at the window. Parents were waving at their children, and the children were waving back. No one had stayed to see him go, his father had dropped him at King's Cross and left in a hurry. He actually felt kinda relieved he didn't have to see his mum cry because she had to see him leave.

He sat back. This was going to be a long day.

Stella let out a quiet huff as she faced the aisle of the train with the numerous compartments, most of which were stocked full with students-- some first years, some older ones that were returning for another year at Hogwarts. All of them chatting easily with smiles on their faces. Stella gulped as she passed by them, her eyes searching for one with enough room for her to join, along with nice enough people that would hopefully let her sit with them. Stella didn't know anyone that she could tag along with for the train ride, as it appeared many of the other first years did, and she had barely even made it on the train on time before it took off. She heard the conductor announce for everyone to be seated and quickened her pace, eventually finding a compartment with three students around her age. Knocking, she poked her head in.

"Ye three dorn't mind if I join ye, do ye?" Her accent came out stronger than she had intended, and she immediately covered it up with a nervous laugh. "All the other compartments appear full." She added, gesturing vaguely with her hand in the general direction of the other compartments. Her owl, Shrek, gave an impatient hoot as she regarded the three of them with a hopeful smile.

“Nice to meet you, James” Fiona said, slightly frowning at his words. He wore glasses so he had to be smart: all people who wore glasses whom Fiona had met were smart. So maybe his rational words were right? But did rationality work when it came to magic? Fiona wasn’t sure yet.

“Ouch” Fiona almost fell then the train suddenly shook. She probably needed to sit, so she did that and pushed her trunk under the bench. She looked out of the window, saw that train wasn’t flying even a little bit and sighed. It was actually kind of sad to look at all of those people and not see her parents. She will see them next time only on Christmas, and she already missed them. A little. Fiona shook her head to get rid of those thoughts and agreed reluctantly: “Yeah, I guess you’re right. But then why do we even need this train? I’m sure it’s not that hard to make a portal to Hogwarts if you can hide the whole platform and even the whole street from all the normal people – muggles, I mean” or maybe Fiona had to read more about magic to make more solid theories and statements and arguments. And until then just shut up so James and others don’t think she’s completely stupid. Oh, right, James asked something. She tried to concentrate and answer:

“I’m not from the big city either. Shadforth, you probably never heard of it” She smiled and turned to the red-haired girl. She didn’t really pay attention to the people’s accents, she got used to people talking differently – but she didn’t see many red-hairs in real life, so she stared at the girl with interest. These compartments seemed to be designed for more than three people, so Fiona nodded: “Sure, come in. I’m Fiona” And she tried to imagine how much people there are in this train if it is actually full. Hogwarts Castle did look big on the pictures but would it be big enough?

“I can’t wait to learn everything about magic!” Fiona said and smiled wider. This was going to be a long day and she was going to take as much as she could out of it.

"Alright, it appears we all are quite settled in". So Fiona was it, from y'er incessant questioning, I presume you ain't much used to the Magical World". He paused for a second. Well he actually never bothered to think about why they can't all apparate to Hogwarts. Maybe it was too risky? Maybe mass apparition wasn't feasible? "I know some of the wizard folk can teleport, I saw my father do it once or twice."

"And also welcome, my unnammed friend! he looked at the red haired girl. Mind to introduce yourself to us all?, he thought that might've come of as a little rude, but again, he was just making small talk. If he was gonna spend the whole day, well maybe even the whole year near these people he might aswell try to break the ice.

They were off the station now. The train started slowly speeding up, as the people behind turned into tiny little dots. He got a glimpse of the magical version of King's Cross Station. Beautiful, with its clocks and brick walls.
Such a large part of the world, and yet so many people would never get to experience it. That thought made him feel sad. He felt sad for the muggles missing out on this beauty.

Stella nodded, flushing a little and stepping in. "Yeah. I'm Stella. Stella Dawson." She ignored how I'm came out more as Aam and instead sat next to the girl who had introduced herself as Fiona. Part of her was excited to have already met three other students in her year-- and the other part was anxious that they wouldn't like her. Stella didn't really know how to socialize. Growing up she'd never had any friends other than her siblings. Being the oldest, she took it upon herself to entertain her brother and sister so they weren't constantly in her parents' way.

Setting her stuff down, she turned her attention to the boy who'd initially prompted her for the introduction. "An' whit might yer nam be?" She questioned, pulling her unruly curls into a high ponytail so they were out of her face. At this point, she'd given up on weakening her accent since it showing through her words was practically unavoidable.

She unwound her scarf and set it in her lap. It was a simple yellow scarf with frayed ends, but it was her current favorite. Her mother had given it to her for her last birthday, and even though it didn't have any fancy designs or anything, Stella had immediately loved it. Of course, Stella would soon end up with a scarf relating to whatever house she would soon be sorted into, but she doubted she would stop wearing the one she was currently wringing around her fingers. Looking up, she decided to try and make an attempt at conversation again.

"Whit house do ye troaps--er, guys-- think you'll be sorted into?" While she'd given up on weakening her accent, she still wanted her sentences to make somewhat sense. After all, she was in a completely different place.

"I'm James but you can call me whatever James sounds like in your accent hehe." he chuckled at his own joke. "Sorry, didn't mean to be rude.." He was doing the thing where he hid his insecurities again, oops.
"I don't know about what house I'd like to be in...Ravenclaw would be nice...or Slytherin...I'm not really sure" He really didn't know much about the houses, he barely heard about them during his ime with his family. His father was a Ravenclaw, so that must be the best one right? Did it even matter which house you went to? James realized he was spacing out and probably looked like a complete fool and stopped to fix his hair.
So you from a magical family? Or a muggle one?
They were now entering the green pastures. The warm morning sun bathed the Hogwarts Express. James looked to the window. How did they keep this all secret? Was it invisible? Was he only able to see it because he was a wizard? If a Muggle sat inside the Hogwarts Express would he be able to see this? So many questions and so little answers....
He felt quite bored, so he picked up his trunk to retrieve something.

Stella blinked before realizing he had made a joke. Laughing, she shook her head. "It's jist James, but most woulds translate it tae Jimmy, in mah region, at least. Mah main goal is to try an' expand mah vocabulary durin' mah time at Hogwarts. 'at way I won't automatically assume th' Scottie way of sayin' everythin'." She admitted, tangling her scarf in her fingers and gazing out the window at the fields.

"True. Ah don't have a preference. Ah'll be fine with any of the houses, as long as my parents are happy." She replied, looking back at James. He appeared to be retrieving something from his trunk, which reminded Stella that she'd brought some of her money with for treats along the way. She'd buy some later, when the lady came by.

"Magical. Mah family's pureblood. Ah've been waiting for this day since ah can mind." Her parents had been coaching her on preparing for her first year for the past year or so. They'd wanted to make sure she knew the rules and basics so that she wouldn't get lost or confused. They'd even gone so far as to build a magical Hogwarts simulator so she knew her way around the halls.