...And Away We Go!

1 September, 2025
Hogwarts Express

Elspeth flexed her elbow subtly behind her back, working out the soreness she was already feeling in her lacking biceps from pulling her trunk around. She didn't expect a bunch of books to make such a difference in weight for her trunk compared to Ripley's, but they had. However, leaving them was simply not an option. If Auntie Nessie found any of the books lying about in Elspeth's bedroom at the inn, she would use them as coasters or door-props, and that was unbearable to think about. Some of those books weren't even published books. They were written by the very ghosts that lived in the inn during their lives. Priceless treasures to the ghosts, and to Elspeth. So she'd brought as many as she could fit into her trunk to Hogwarts with her, hoping that she'd learn a spell to make them less heavy eventually.

The window seat was perfect. It felt a little embarrassing to have Ripley - a boy, no less - so close to her. If she had a more confident posture, she was sure their arms would touch, but she didn't, and so her arm-modesty was perfectly safe. Despite that embarrassment, the window was right there. If she felt like the other students being rowdy outside their compartment were too much, she could lose herself in the passing Scottish highlands and her own imagination.

For now, though, she felt perfectly fine, if a bit flustered, so she engaged with Ripley.

"She was a beater," Elspeth said. Despite her soft voice, there was an obvious note of pride in it. "She played for Hufflepuff from her third year until she graduated, and her team even won the cup one year. I asked her if that was her favorite memory, and she only laughed, saying, 'No. My favorite memory was when I broke some git in Gryffindor's ankle with a bludger. He'd been pestering me for months.' I was horrified!"

Elspeth couldn't imagine her aunt playing quidditch at all, despite hearing the stories, but imagining her laughing atop her broom after breaking a boy's ankle was even more outlandish.

"She said she fancied the boy," Elspeth continued, perplexed by the very story she was telling. "It didn't make sense to me."

It truly didn't. Nessie was strange, even if Elspeth loved her. Books weren't confusing like her aunt. In books, when the main character fell in love, they would perform some grand, romantic gesture. They didn't break their crush's legs.

Stephanie did not know anyone aboard the train, no people she had seen once growing up who also happened to have magic. Nobody. So when she boarded the train she found it rather difficult to find a compartment. None were empty, and her trunk was getting rather heavy.

She switched arms again as she passed more full compartments, some with younger students, who looked her age, and others who were varying in ages older than her. They seemed to be the most daunting.

It took her a while to get through the small aisles, with the crowds and her trunk, amongst others trunks. It was quite busy, and made her quite anxious. She passed a few more compartments and looked in on the next seeing it empty on one side, and the other side had a boy and a girl, who looked about her age.

Gently opening the sliding door, she found her voice "Hi...Sorry to interrupt, can I sit with you please?" She tried to push down the timidness and slight hesitancy in her voice. The two other students looked nice and, she hoped, friendly. Her hair had been done into two dutch braids by her mother that morning, after her last home cooked breakfast until Christmas. Her trunk consisted of a few books as well as some snacks from the weekly food shop, to remind her of home.

Hi! Thank you for letting me join! Nice to meet you

Ripley stared at the befuddled Elspeth discussing her aunt's crush with a broad grin.

"Your aunt sounds amazing, truly!" he said with no sign of duplicity, "She's like a first grader who pulled the hair of the boy she loved only she broke the boy's ankle! And she was a beater and won the Cup! What did she go on to do after school?" Ripley's excitement was getting away from him just a little bit. He had to hear more about this lady who seemed to be opposite of her niece! And then the compartment door slid open and a tall, fair-skinned girl slipped her head in.

"Hi...Sorry to interrupt, can I sit with you please?"

The flow of his inquiry interrupted, Ripley looked up. It took him a moment to do the calculations around face and location. Her hair was neater and she seemed much more wound up than their last encounter -- of course, boarding a magical train to wizarding school will do that -- but yes, it had to be her.

"Stephanie, right?" Ripley asked, "we met last month in Diagon Alley...At Dogweed & Deathcap! I was the one going wild about the herbs." The boy laughed.

"Come in! Sit with us. This..." he motioned to a seat opposite himself, then to his friend by the window, "...is Elspeth. She was just telling me how her aunt used play quidditch at Hogwarts."

Interacting with: @Ripley, @Elspeth, @Stephanie, @Marcus, and @Majata
Outfit- Hair Outfit
Thoughts- Italics

How hard can it be to just find a compartment on a train? To Laurie, it seemed like she had higher chances of eating spaghetti with socks next to a werewolf in a castle. But she spoke too soon- she was just going to a castle full of this stuff. Every compartment responded with either a shrug, a flat no or a sympathetic look. Great start to the school year.
Finally, she found a compartment that looked like it had some vacant spots in it, calling Laurie's name.
She slid the door open, and found three children sitting inside it. First years, just like her. They looked normal. For some stupid reason Laurie had been imagining Hogwarts students to have some magical glow, have a witchy cackle or something like that. But these people didn’t seem like that at all. They were just like her friends back at Wales.
She asked for permission to enter and for the first time was greeted by a friendly yes, and that approval made her mood rise significantly.
“Oh my legs.”
She groaned as she put her trunk up. Then, to make an icebreaker for the awkward silence, she introduced herself unenthusiastically, because right now her body organs were killing her for having been standing for so long. She immediately felt apologetic, because this could result in her losing some friends, even if she had only known them for about five minutes, and was about to have the curtesy of getting to know their names.
Ripley, Elspeth and Stephanie.
They sounded trusting, and maybe the four would be friends with each other with a friendship as strong as the legendary trio of Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Just maybe.
She thought she should try to indulge in conversation, but she was usually the shy one, so she sat down with her hands on her knees, her eyelids drooping out of exhaustion.

Smack! The door behind Marcus closed with a loud slam, and through the window in the door, he could see his family waving him off. It was very clear from their smiles and the tears in his mother's eyes that they were very proud to send him off to Hogwarts.
Marcus turned around, facing a long train corridor. He never thought that a corridor could seem so far and staggering. He had heard a lot of stories about "the first" train ride to Hogwarts, how important it was, and even that one could find the truest of friends on this special ride. Enzo's voice flooded his thoughts - "Now, little half-pit, you´re off to Hogwarts. I hope for your sake that you aren´t put into Slytherin. You don´t want to end up like Granny Yvaine!" Marcus shook his head. This wasn't the time for self-doubt and worries; he had to find an available compartment, where he could rest and store away his trunk.

- ´Well... Here I go!` He bent down to pick up the pulling end of the trunk, but before he could get a good grip on the handle, it slipped right out of his hand and fell to the floor with a thump back on the hardwood floor. Marcus quickly dried his nervous hand off and placed his edition of The Quibbler under his arm, ready to give it another try.
After a while, he passed a couple of compartments and even went to a new train car; every compartment was filled with either older students or students from the look of it, and also first years just like him.

After a small battle with his trunk on his way to change train cars, he straightens his back, and a faint click sound of a sliding door opening and a girl's voice springs down the new train corridor and catches his attention. The girl and her trunk disappear, a girl's voice once again springs from the compartment; - ´Oh my legs.` The sound of a sliding door closing is heard, cutting off the conversation inside.
In one instance, Marcus picks up his trunk again and walks purposefully towards the compartment where the girl disappeared. Right before the compartment, he stops, takes a couple of deep breaths, and straightens his clothes. Just like mamma always says, first impressions are key. He readies himself and, once more, and hopefully the last time, bends down to pick up his trunk again and straightens his back and his head held high, signaling confidence and a bit of pride. He pushes the door aside and looks inside. Four surprised faces look back at him. Two girls he has never seen before, a girl with blond hair made into two Dutch braids with icy blue eyes, and another one with darkish brown hair, also with hypnotizing blue eyes. The last two, a boy with long dark blond hair and with a physique that reminds Marcus of his brother Enzo, and a rather small girl with very long unruly brown hair, but she has some very gentle and soft grey-blue eyes, it is clear that they aren't as new to each other's company.

Suddenly, Marcus realizes that he has seen the last two, the boy and the small girl, before. They were the ones standing a bit from the entrance to the platform, and he was playing with some sort of feathery-thing, and she was sitting on her trunk talking to him. A bit later, they rushed right by Marcus and his family, and they, the boy and girl, boarded the train together.
By that thought, he was back in the compartment, and he cleared his throat and said;

1 September, 2025
Hogwarts Express

There was something lovely about talking to someone her own age, Elspeth decided. There was something even lovelier when that person was genuinely interested in what she had to say. Elspeth didn't meet many children, other than the occasional tragic child ghosts at the inn, so she hadn't expected to hit it off with someone like this so easily. And he was asking to hear more about Auntie Nessie.

Elspeth was happy to oblige.

"Oh, she's just the -" Elspeth began, only to be interrupted when the doors to their compartment opened.

Ripley said her name was Stephanie, and that they'd met before.

"Hello, Stephanie," Elspeth said, smiling. Ripley had taken care of her introduction for her, so that was one less thing for her to worry about. "We were talking about my Aunt Nessa, who-"

But before anyone could learn what Aunt Nessa did, the door opened again, another student coming in. She seemed to be the same age as them, based on the fact that Elspeth was only a bit smaller than her as opposed to her size in relation to the older students. She introduced herself as Laurie.

Elspeth returned an introduction, feeling almost comical with the sheer number of introductions being offered in one go between the now four of them, but Laurie seemed quite tired, and the complaint about her legs as she offloaded her own trunk hadn't gone unnoticed.

"We'd've been happy to help you with that," Elspeth offered, gesturing toward Laurie's trunk. "Believe me, I know just how heavy they can get."

She glanced at Ripley, still feeling a bit guilty for accidentally convincing him to lift her heavy trunk.

"We were just talking about -" Elspeth began, only for, unshockingly, the door to the compartment to open once again, revealing a boy with curly, dark hair and impeccably cared-for clothing. He asked if there was room for one more.

"There is," Elspeth nodded, then, in a gauntlet that should have been insurmountable given her social anxiety, she pushed herself to her limit, gesturing to each person in the compartment.

"I'm Elspeth, this is Ripley, this is Stephanie, and this is Laurie," Elspeth said, taking a deep breath after rattling off each name, proud of herself for remembering them since she was usually so infamously terrible with names.

"We were talking about my aunt, who broke a boy's ankle in quidditch because she fancied him," Elspeth blurted, crudely summarizing the story she'd told Ripley as best she could given her slight social anxiety around non-ghosts and non-family.

@Ripley Cunning@Stephanie Kensington@Laurie Holmes@Marcus Contarini Crawford

Ripley smiled in light-hearted amusement as Elspeth kept opening her mouth to delve deeper into a favored topic (and satisfy his curiosity) and every time she did, the door would swish open and another child would appear, lugging yet another dense trunk. Three times over this happened and the girl who was usually so reserved was obviously becoming exasperated. Good for her, Ripley thought, quietly pleased that his reserved friend had pluck -- that there was something boiling beneath the sensitive surface.

And each of these entrants, each with their own brand of butterflies. Stephanie timidly entering and awkwardly introducing herself, Laurie shuffling in as if she'd just spent the entire morning climbing Escher's stairs, and Marcus holding his chest out like a Greek phalanx bearing it's shield but with nerves hiding within. And was he holding an issue of The Quibbler? That's not something you see everyday with kids our age, Ripley noted to himself.

They all look cordial in their own way, Ripley mused, but how to get them past their jitters so we can really know each other? Thankfully the mouse, who seemed to be channeling her absolutely tremendous aunt, was already on the case. Surely, everyone would unite around admiration of this interesting person. And if not, then perhaps it would be a test to see whose temperament is not attuned to our wavelength.

Now that everyone seemed to be settled, Ripley put all of his attention back onto Elspeth even turning to her slightly: "Okay, now that we have quorum. Please say more about this amazing lady. What did she do after Hogwarts?"

Marcus tried to take in all the new faces, but everything was strangely blurry, his heart was pounding like a war drum, and he hoped it wasn´t visible through his shirt, even though somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew that it was impossible. The spell was broken by his mother’s voice, calming him and saying: “Come on amore, introduce yourself!”
Marcus puffs up his chest and adorns his face with a well-rehearsed and polite smile. - ‘Hello everyone... I´m Marcus. Marcus Crawford. Very nice to meet you all!’

Immediately after his little introduction, he turns to put his trunk away. Despite his slender and relatively small stature, he manages to put the trunk away, however, a bit clumsily.
He turned around and saw that the seat across from the blond-haired boy was available – Marcus took a deep breath of relive and picked up the magazine and sat down.

Finally, a bit of a respite, after what felt like an age of looking, and in a compartment with people who looked to be pleasant. After taking his seat and dusting off his pants, and placing “The Quibbler” in his lap, the little, gentle-eyed girl suddenly says: - ‘We were talking about my aunt, who broke a boy´s ankle in Quidditch because she fancied him.’

Marcus was a bit taken aback by that statement, and for a moment, his expression was written on his face. Quickly, some thoughts started to bubble up: “Is this why Enzo loves Quidditch? -Is this the only way to get someone to like one?”

The boy or Ripley was smiling and didn´t react like Marcus, just like he had heard it somewhat before, and he answered with: - ‘Okay, now that we have quorum. Please say more about this amazing lady. What did she do after Hogwarts?’
Just like Ripley, Marcus was fascinated by this snippet of a story introduction. Automatically, Marcus turned towards the girl called Elspeth and with an expression of “Now you got my attention”, - ‘Yes, Elspeth, please do? – Won't you please tell us more of this exciting story?' .....

1 September, 2025
Hogwarts Express

Elspeth's eyes followed Marcus's copy of the Quibbler as he set it down onto his lap. She'd heard of the Quibbler before, of course. Every self-respecting witch or wizard at least knew about it, even if their reviews of the periodical were typically mixed. Some considered it to be the most brilliant publication to grace an enchanted printing press, while others considered it rubbish unworthy of stepping on. Aunt Nessie herself had said that it was certainly rubbish, but it was her favorite bit of rubbish. She had an active subscription, claiming the publisher was 'deceptively brilliant,' whatever that meant.

But they weren't talk about the Quibbler, were they? No, Ripley and Marcus were, either strangely or kindly, interested in Aunt Nessie, and Elspeth felt the strangest sensation. It was a feeling akin to digging a hole but having no way to get out once you finished digging. She'd been talking about Nessa's experience as a Hogwarts student, and now they probably had some grand ideas of what she was like. What could Elspeth say that would possibly live up to the hype? Well, the truth was all she had, in any case.

"Well," she began hesitantly. "She worked for the Ministry for a few years. She was an..."

Elspeth trailed off, wondering if she would get in trouble for divulging this information, but it wasn't as if Nessa had ever told her many details of her time in the Ministry. It wasn't a crime to divulge her position within the government, especially if Elspeth knew nothing about what she actually did.

"She was an Unspeakable," Elspeth's voice was as silent as a mouse. "She retired a few years ago, but she wouldn't even tell me what she did. Now, she just runs the Inn with my mum."

Elspeth's fingers tapped against her thigh as she told her story, nerves of talking about herself and her family beginning to get to her. She focused on the first change of subject to come to mind - Marcus's Quibbler.

"I don't know many our age who read the Quibbler. What's gotten your interested in it?" she asked.

@Ripley Cunning@Stephanie Kensington@Laurie Holmes@Marcus Contarini Crawford