Long Road Ahead PV Closed

@Percival Rainwood

Christine entered the train. She had heard stories from her father about the Hogwarts Express. He had met his closest friends from school on the train. Christine hugged her sketchpad close to her chest as she was jostled about by all the other students boarding the train. Christine was a shy girl, so she waited for all the other students to enter their passenger cars, so as to not be kicked out because "This seat is saved..." She hated people who thought they could have everything simply because their families were "better."

She looked to her left. Full. She looked to her right. Ful. She moved on to the next pair of cabins. Full, the both of them. Christine came upon a passenger cabin with a boy sitting alone. She entered the cabin and placed her luggage on the rack. She took a seat. "Do you mind if I sit here?" she asked. She mentally chided herself. "What does it matter?" she asked herself. "You're already sitting here. Why are you asking?" She sighed. "Oh well, you already asked. And as father said, 'Be kind, words can't rewind.'" As she waited for a reply, she opened her sketchpad and began to draw her little sister.

Percival's gaze had been looking out the window of the passenger car. He watched as families big and small bustled around preparing off their first years. He wondered whether or not he will get to meet some of these kids. There were so many of them that it seemed nearly impossible that he would see them again. Besides, he had heard that Hogwarts was a rather large castle.

The boy was brought out of his musings as the passenger car door was opened quickly. His gaze quickly snapped up to a girl with long brown hair. She seemed to be about the same age as him, and he guessed that she must be a first-year like himself. Percival watched her walk in and place her luggage on the rack above them. He found it very peculiar that she asked to sit next to him after the fact. Percival glanced at the girl awkwardly before he went to reply to her. "Not like there's no room." he said with a small shrug.

Percival's brown eyes looked down at her sketchpad and wondered what she was drawing. "What are you drawing?" he asked voicing his thoughts. "My names Percival Rainwood." he offered in hopes of carrying a conversation with the stranger.

@Christine Garner

@Percival Rainwood

From the moment Christine asked to sit after sitting, she knew the boy's reaction would be kinda awkward. Surprisingly, it wasn't overly so. He simply told her she could and shrugged. "Thanks," she said. She took a slight break from her drawing to look out the window as the train pulled away from the station. She felt nervous to be away from her parents for so long, but excited to be experiencing this.

Christine looked back down and began to draw her sister's curly light-brown hair and green eyes. The boy looked at her drawing curiously. His brown eyes looked it over a few times and then he asked her what she was drawing. "This?" she asked, referring to the sketchpad. "It's a really bad sketch of my sister Isabel. It's no good, though. I've done better." As she spoke, she sketched the white-to-blue gradient off-the-shoulder sundress that her sister so often wore to play in.

After Christine spoke, the boy introduced himself as Percival Rainwood. "Pleased to meet you, Percival," Christine said. "I'm Christine Garner. I'm a half-blood from Bath, England. I am beginning my first year at Hogwarts," She hoped she hadn't given him too much information about herslef. She had never really had friends, so she didn't quite know how to interact with others. In hopes of continuing the conversation, she added, "What about you?"

Percival shrugged at Christine's thanks. The boy did not mind if she wanted to sit there or not, and he did not think she had thanked him for letting her. "Yeah your welcome." he said off handily as he played with one of the buttons on his coat.

His gaze flicked back towards her drawing to study it. Indeed he could see a girl with fairly curly hair and green eyes staring back at him. The boy wouldn't describe the drawing as bad, and he thought it was pretty good. "Really I think it looks nice. Better than anything I could ever draw." he joked giving the other a grin.

Percival quirked his brow up as the girl, who he could now call Christine, began to tell him a little too much about her. It was surprising to say the least when the girl gave him her blood status. He chuckled slightly before leaning back into the soft cushion of the seat. "Well, you already know my name. I'm from Chester England if I remember correctly Bath is pretty far away from Chester," he said with a slight chuckle.

"You won't believe the drive I had to take to get to the Platform." he said with a dramatic sigh. "It honestly felt like forever." he chuckled. Percival swung his legs slightly as he continued their conversation. "I'm also a first year. What house do you want to be in?" he asked looking towards the other.

@Christine Garner

⊰ ── '✧ ( ❝ ＡＤＥＬＹＮ ＳＩＮＣＬＡＩＲ !! ❞

indentAdelyn hadn't meant to enter the cabin of the boy and the girl with so much fierciness. She was sure that she had scared the living daylights out of them with how the blonde girl threw back the door, swung herself in, and closed it with as much precision as she could as to not make a single sound. She crouched down, pressing her ear to the door while she clutched something underneath her coat, her green eyes flickering over to the two as if to say 'Please, don't say a word!'

indentA sound of feet storming through the cabins thin halls, along with voices of two boys, sounded a bit angry, passed by their cabin. "The hell is she?" One of them yelled out, before his footsteps faded into the distance. Adelyn, locks of blonde hair falling in front of her face, let out a mighty sigh of relief before slowly peering over the window of the cabin door to ensure that she was really in the clear. Then, she stood up slowly, dusted herself off, and opened the cabin door in a slow manner before peering out of each side. Within a few seconds, petite footsteps could be heard hitting the train floor, accompanied by soft pants of exaspiration. Adelyn, apparently involved with the young girl (who appeared her age), giggled in a kind manner.

indent"Boys are so dumb." She teased, handing the girl a stuffed teddy bear. The girl, red in the face, nodded gratefully and stuffed the bear out of sight, apparently embarrassed that he had gotten out into the public eye. With a smile, Adelyn straightened herself up, closed the door, and looked to the two strangers that she had so rudely barged in on.

indent"Oh! Shoot, I'm so sorry. I hope I didn't interrupt anything. I was just - and these boys - probably third years - and they took her bear and-" Adelyn cut herself off, pushing the loose blonde strands from her face before taking in a deep breathe and starting over, "Hi. I'm Adelyn. First year." She grinned brightly. There was still a tint of red that stuck to her cheeks from the adrenaline pulsing through her veins. Boy, standing up to some dumb third years sure was fun.

@Adelyn Sinclair, @Percival Rainwood

The boy complimented Christine's drawing. "Thanks," she said. "I know I shouldn't be so hard on myself, but I just know I can do better than this. Sometimes I forget that others can't." She finished the last few sketch-lines of Isabel's shoes and flipped the sketchpad back to the cover. She stuffed it in her pocket and put her pencil behind her ear.

The second she finished introducing herself, she knew she said too much. This was in part from how many words she spoke, but it was mostly due to the strange expression on his face. "Sorry," she sighed. "I just don't talk to people much, so I don't really know how to introduce myself." The boy appeared to not care, as he simply said where he was from and made a comment about the distance between their hometowns and the platform. "Yeah," she said. "I thought I had a long drive, but your is definitely worse." She did some mental calculations. "Yours is probably about twice as long as mine."

She was about to answer his question about what house she wanted when a blonde girl burst in. She crouched down and placed her ear to the glass. Christine heard a couple of angry sets of footsteps pass by. Then, the girl cautiously opened the door and stepped out. She handed a furry object to a young girl about their age. The blonde girl then walked back in and told a story that left her quite out of breath. The girl cut herself short and simply introduced herself as Adelyn, a first year. "Nice to meet you, Adelyn," Christine said. "I'm Christine," she said, pointing to herself. "and this is Percival," she added gesturing to the boy next to her. "We're both first years as well."

Christine motioned for Adelyn to take a seat in the cabin with them. "We were just talking about what house we hoped to get in," Christine said. "I'm hoping for Ravenclaw, what about you guys?"

Percival shrugged his shoulders as Christine spoke. "It's fine really. Everyone has to be bad at something." he said with a chuckle. The boy put his hands in his lap as he watched the girl put away her sketchbook. Not wanting to seem nosy he glanced out at the platform. They should be leaving the train station soon.

The boy gave Christine a smile in hopes of calming the other girl's fears. "Don't worry about it. I don't mind." he said with a small chuckle. Percival let out a small sigh confirming the girl's calculation. "Yeah while I am glad to go to Hogwarts. The drive was truly horrendous." he stated.

Percival jumped slightly as he watched another girl run into their car. "What in heavens are you-" he started but stopped when he heard people running down the hall. It seemed like this new girl had already started making enemies.

The boy didn't comment as Adelyn stumbled over her explanation. Feeling a little put off by the girl's sudden appearance. Percival was slightly glad that Christine came to his rescue, and introduced them both. Bringing his right hand to rub the back of his neck he slowly pulled a response from his head. "Nice to meet you." he said.

Percival grinned as the topic shifted into what house they hoped to get into. "Oh good heavens I could never be a Ravenclaw. I'm not exactly book smart." he said with a laugh. Percival thought for a second before hoping into the conversation. "I want to be in Slytherin, like my Uncle." he stated with a grin.

@Christine Garner @Adelyn Sinclair

⊰ ── '✧ ( ❝ ＡＤＥＬＹＮ ＳＩＮＣＬＡＩＲ !! ❞

indentWith a light shade of pink rushing to her cheeks, Adelyn quickly placed herself down in the car, hoping to no longer disturb the two with any unexpected events. The girl seemed more than okay with it, but the boy seemed a little... overwhelmed, for lack of a better term. She could hardly blame him, though. Even back home in London, her best friend Marlowe - much more introverted than Adelyn - had often mentioned to Adelyn that her consistent shenanigans were difficult to keep up with. The blonde was always around, saving someone from a bully or pacing as she studied. She just had so much energy, she hardly knew what to do with it.

indentListening to the two chat, Adelyn furrowed her brow a bit, her head cocked slightly at the mention of houses. Nothing in the letter had mentioned any sort of "houses"... Come to think of it, Adelyn hadn't even thought of where she would be staying. Maybe she figured that she would merely be provided a sleeping bag and instructed to lay on the ground somewhere in the hallway, and hope to not be placed next to a snoring sixth year? That would be fine by her. There could be a girl hallway and a boy hallway... Sounded great to Adelyn.

indent"Houses? I've never heard of those before." Adelyn admitted. Realizing that the two wizards might be beyond shocked that a witch had absolutely no idea how Hogwarts worked other than the horrendous name, Adelyn rushed to explain herself, "I'm a muggle-born. I really have no idea how any of this works." She grinned, trying to suppress the embarrassment from creeping its way onto her expression, "I can certainly guess, though. Ravenclaw... that sounds like a crow house. And Slytherin... like a snake?" This guy wanted to be a snake? What a weird choice.

ＷＯＲＤ ＣＯＵＮＴ！x❝307❞

@Christine Garner @Percival Rainwood

@Adelyn Sinclair, @Percival Rainwood

When Adelyn had entered the car, Percival began a surprised remark, but cut himself short when he realised what she was doing. When she finished handing the furry thing back to the young girl and introduced herself, Percival seemed, he seemed... "what was the word?" Overwhelmed, distubed, annoyed. Those were good descriptors. 

Christine asked about houses and her wish to be in Ravenclaw. Adelyn seemed slightly confused, but Christine hardly noticed that, as Percival had already began speaking. He voiced his wish to be in Slytherin, like his uncle. Christine was slightly disturbed by this, but she didn't want to say anything. Her father had told her some not-so-nice things about the Slytherins in his year. They had beaten him up and bullied him non-stop. "But," she thought to herself. "They can't all be like that, can they?"

Then, Adelyn said why she looked confused at mention of the houses. She mas muggle-born, and if Christine could remember correctly, the letter said nothing about houses. This girl had a right to be confused. She then connected the houses to animals. "There are four houses," Christine began. "Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Slytherin, and Ravenclaw. When we get to the castle, we will have a sorting ceremony. They will place this old hat, called the Sorting Hat, on your head and it will place you in the house that best fits you as a person. Gryffindors are usually brave and daring. Hufflepuffs are kind and loyal. Slytherins are ambitious and cunning. Ravenclaws are smart, witty, and creative. Sometimes, thses traits don't show up immediately, but my dad always told me that there was always a reason for your house." Christine stopped and took a breath. She had been talking for a while. "Each house has dormitories somewhere in the castle where we'll be sleeping." Christine was about to finish talking, but remembered what the girl had said about animals. "Each house has an animal that repersents it, kinda like a mascot. What you said was pretty close. Gryffindors are lions. Hufflepuffs are badgers. Slytherins are snakes. Ravenclaws are, I think, eagles." Then, turning to Percival, she added. "Did I miss anything or get anything wrong?"