Compartment 7 Finished

Michelle stood and turned to see a wand flying at her and she was too slow to block it as it made contact with her forehead. "What the bloody..." she cursed covering the spot with her hands. It only stung quickly so she rubbed it and looked at her attacker. It was the quiet dark-haired boy and he looked terrified and mortified at the same time. "Sorry.." he apologized and she realized that it was the first time she had heard him speak. 

"It is quite alright, It didn't hurt that much. You don't seem alright though?" she reassured him with a laugh and then prompted him to answer. She stepped a little closer but not to close as to give him his space and knelt down to see his face. He had been quiet and reserved the whole time but he ran into the compartment ready to fend off anything in there, he even made sure Adam was safe. For someone so shy he seemed very courageous and brave. Just then she heard Adam behind the door, this prank had really really not gone very well and she would be sure to never prank a wizard family kid again.

Kaegen's childhood had been nothing but fens. Magical creatures, carving, outdoor skills. He soon learned how to be fast enough, quiet and smooth enough, to observe the magical creatures without being detected. He took naturally to it, like a fish to water. He had heard stories of the war from his father. Mother had even decided it would be best for Kaegen to take her last name, instead of father's. Father had agreed, and told him to say it with pride. He was young then, didn't understand it.
But wizards worried him. He labeled everything, and after that one day, he had decided to label all wizards as extremely, extremely dangerous.
The girl was asking him if he was alright, he should answer. He should reassure her that it was just fine, regardless of how scared he was. The other sounds of hushed breathing were probably coming from the other girls. He needed to calm down. His grandfather used to say that to survive, you had to be Fine as wine and smoooth as velvet.
Grandfather was gone now, but that had to come later. Focus on the present. His voice was shaking, like a bunch of branches rattling slightly, a cold wind blowing through them. "Sorry" When were they going to be there? This confounded train had him rattled, this prank made him lose it and hogwarts was still nowhere in sight. Or maybe it was, he wasn't really sure. "You seem really nice" He hoped that maybe would help. At least then she would know he didn't hate her or anything. She would probably be in hufflepuff, that was the nice house, wasn't it? Kaegen was bound for slytherin, if he kept this up. Another problem to add to a growing list of anxieties, jostled and amplified by the train.

Eris had been ready to hide, but peeked her head out at the sound of someone in pain. She had wedged herself into the corner, and was ready for the prospect to jump somebody but clearly the situation was different. Pulling herself out of the corner, Eris stared at Kaegen throwing the wand. "What the bloody hell are you doing!?" she yelped, looking extremely pissed off.

"We were just trying to have fun and you hurt her!" She blinked, mind flashing back to times she and her sister were just playing and their father had screamed and hurt them for being too loud. Eris didn't notice she was shaking, as she pointed a shaking finger at Kaegen, eyes welling up, she realized over the roaring in her ears that he had said sorry. Eris shakily put down the finger and as she opened her mouth to speak she did something odd. Eris promptly burst into tears. Wrapping her robe around herself, Eris counted to ten in her head, reminding herself that this was a different situation than ones in the past with her father and that she was making a fool of herself.

"I-i'm sorry for reacting like that I-i just got frightened." She choked out, not wanting to explain what her father had done in the past that had made her act so extremely. What was wrong with her? Why did she react like that? Oh god, they must think her fools. Muttering an excuse about fresh air, Eris staggered out of the compartment. What on earth had just happened? What if they all hated her now for being weird and acting like a total hothead? The boy wasn't her father, this wasn't her home. This was the freaking Hogwarts Express. After a couple of minutes, Eris walked back into the compartment, feeling a bit calmer.

"I'm sorry." Eris looked at Kaegen as she said it, hoping he would forgive her for reacting terribly.

As Eris jumped down from the storage and began crying she sat oddly, she hadn't really been around other people crying before and she didn't like it. It kind of made her want to cry. As Eris calmed down though and apologized, Michelle reassured her that It was alright and that she understood.

Michelle sighed as the boy apologized once more and she smiled when he complimented her. "Thank you, I don't think anyone's told me that before," she replied a small blush on her cheeks. She didn't think anyone had complimented her before, other than of course her mother. 

She sat on the floor looking around for a moment before studying the boy. He still seemed frightened and she didn't know how to comfort him when he little brother had been like this she always sung him a song or rubbed his back but that seemed highly inappropriate to do with a stranger. Funny enough she didn't even know this boys name, she wondered if he knew hers. Maybe she should introduce herself, maybe he didn't like strangers an introduction might help. 

"My name is Michelle, I've only just realized we hadn't been properly introduced." she didn't expect an answer as the boy was very shy it seemed. "I believe we will be at Hogwarts soon, so if it's the train that's bothering you then don't worry it will all be over soon." she smiled and tried to reassure him. She wondered what made him this way, was he hurt as a child? Maybe he just hasn't seen many other people kind of like her.

Eris mumbled that her name was Eris after Michelle introduced herself, as she risked a glance at Michelle. She seemed to be very forgiving. Eris had a feeling she was going to be in hufflepuff. Wasn't that a hufflepuff trait? To be nice. Maybe Ava was lying when she said all hufflepuffs were lame, or maybe Michelle would be a ravenclaw. She also seemed very smart, although she didn't know about the wizarding world.

Eris also couldn't help wondering why nobody had complimented Michelle before, and why she was so happy to be called kind. Wasn't it obvious to Michelle she was very kind? Shrugging her shoulders, and sinking lower into the seat Eris turned to study the boy. Was he okay? He didn't look like the sort of boy who had ever been on a train before. In fact he looked half wild, with his knife and carved ball. Maybe he lived in the wilderness. He was probably around other kids even less than Eris before getting onto this train. Maybe that was why he was acting the way he was. Eris smiled faintly. Even though she had yelled at him, maybe they could still be friends. Maybe she could still be friends with everyone in the compartment.

That girl was screaming at him. He had expected as much, he did just throw a wand at that other girl after all. He would take the yelling, it wasn't anything too bad, and he certainly deserved it. This girl would probably be in gryffindor. They yelled alot, didn't they? Kaegen had just made up his mind that he would wait until the girl finished yelling at him, and then apologize, when she started tearing up. This was something much worse than getting yelled at. He had no idea what to do, but he realized all to well how embarrassing it was to cry in front of people. The feeling of weakness that settled on your heart like a bunch of cold wet moss.
He should not have come to this confounded school. He turned a day of fun on the trains into this. But how could he know they were just trying to prank him, that they weren't going to hurt him. The girl left the compartment and Kaegen briefly wondered what it must look like to the other boy, the one he slammed the door on to keep him 'safe' When the red haired girl came back in, she apologized. Kaegen wasn't sure what to say to that. He was the one apologizing most of the time.
But his mother had taught him some manners, what did she tell him he was supposed to say? After a moment of confusion, Kaegen remembered. "You're welcome" Well, at least he didn't screw up that.
He should really do something about his voice though. It sounded so weak and distant.
It was strange that no one had complimented that nice girl before. He resolved to compliment her more, if he could. That might help make up for the wand to the face. And now she was asking if he was alright. "What are you?" He finally got the question out. There was logic. He knew about logic and this did not follow any of it. He hit her in the face with a wand and now she was asking if he was alright. "If you're real, then take this. Please." Kaegen passed her the carved ball in a cage in a cage. It rolled around on it's own. But the enchantment was nowhere near as hard to do as the carving. He didn't use any magic to make that. Just his knife. He hoped it was good enough.
Kaegen closed his eyes, and started to hum.

"What are you?" the question totally took her by surprise cause, of course, she was human or Wizard actually. "If you're real then take this. Please" the boy handed her the intricate carving and she almost said no but after he handed it and closed his eyes she didn't feel like arguing.  

Michelle stood with a sigh and rubbed her eyes, this train ride was long and she had been interacting with so many new people and it was really catching up on her. She plopped down into a seat and looked out the window, she really hoped the Sorting ceremony would be fast so she could go to sleep and rest up for her first day of school. 

To conserve energy Michelle closed her eyes and focused on her thoughts. She wondered which house she would be sorted into, as far as she knew there was four house and each had their own dominant trait. Gryfinndors are brave, Slytherins are cunning, Ravenclaws are smart and Hufflepuffs were kind. She really didn't know where she would fit in she felt as though she would be a combo of Hufflepuff or Ravenclaws, she wasn't very brave or cunning so it felt as though Gryffindor or Slytherin was out of the picture. 

She sighed and came out of her thoughts placing the gift beside her and reached to grab her robe and put it on. To her surprise, there was a sweet that she had taken from the trolley inside. "Nice, I thought I had eaten everything," she mumbled to herself as she munched on some every flavour jelly beans, her face screwing up in distaste after getting a particularly nasty one.

Adam rolled his eyes. They had to be kidding him. Had he really gotten so scared for a simple prank? He apologized to Eri for making her get up, and then looked down at the group on the floor. He had swung the door open and leaped in with his wand ready, prepared for a duel, and found a state of dishevelment had filled the compartment. Eris was crying angry tears, quickly drying, and apologizing to Kaegen, who was sitting with his eyes closed and humming again. Michelle had a red mark on her forehead that gave Adam pause, but he quickly connected it to the wand rolling across the floor. It looked like Kaegen's. Oh god, did he throw it at her? Why would he ever do that? Aside from the injury, however, Michelle seemed to be one of the only calm ones in the room. Avalon was nowhere to be seen; maybe she was still hiding, or maybe she had gone for a walk, he didn't know. Pocketing his wand, he looked down at Kaegen and said, "Usually that signal means stop. Thanks for the high five, though. Is everyone alright?"

How they had ended up like this, Adam didn't know. Everyone seemed to be very tense as they drew closer to the castle. It was probably just the increased pressure of their new lives waiting for them. Sighing, Adam slid down the wall until he was sitting, and looked at his compartment-mates. Slowly, a smile formed on his face. "My question still stands, and I do care about you guys, but...."

".... do you have any idea how ridiculous you three look right now?"

Eris broke the silence following Adam's question with laughter. "I daresay we look as ridiculous as monkey riding a broom." Speaking of brooms, did wizards ride brooms like they did in the stories? that would be so cool. Eris would have to ask about that, after all the drama died down. "Remind me not to play pranks on wizards again... for a while." She said, offering Adam a sly grin. It was much easier to be funny than it was to sit with her feelings. If there was one thing Eris had learned from her family life in London, it was to move on fast before you got hurt for staying in the past. Feelings came and went, it was important not to hold onto them. Eris still was shaken, but she wasn't going to make her new friends think she was ridiculous by crying in the corner.

Getting up, Eris opened her trunk once more and carrying as much candy as she could from the trolley, deposited it into her trunk. She did this three more times, and even though she wasn't asked she shrugged. "I wouldn't want Ava's money to go to waste. " With that, she plopped a berty botts into her mouth. A second later she spit it out. "Ewwwwww. It tastes like egg salad!"

Michelle shook with laughter Adam was completely right, they all overreacted and it was hilarious to her, maybe it was the fatigue but she just couldn't stop laughing. This was supposed to be a funny prank but it was blown way out of proportion. She was laughing so hard she could barely keep the jelly beans in her mouth so she covered it so it wouldn't seem so gross. It really didn't help when Eris told her monkey joke, Michelle nearly choked. 

When Michelle finished she took a couple of deep breaths and sighed, "Terribly sorry for that, I've got a weird sense of humor and its... just the way... Adam came..." She busted out with laughter again thinking about Adams' face as he heroically barged in and the state he must have found them in. She couldn't help herself she absolutely loved laughing and the uncontrollable laughter reminded her of dinner with her family when her dad stuck peas up his nose. 

She sighed and took a deep breath wiping away the tears of laughter once more, finally done with her fit of laughter. She shook her head. "Yeah, we really are a strange bunch of kids." she smiled hopefully no one would take offense to her joke.