Here We Go Again PV: Dahlia Lee

——————————————————————— date : september 1st, 2026 location : hogwarts express with : @jay valkyrie action : n/a word count : 538 speech : #818199 collage credit : marigold wesley !! code credit : myself ———————————————————————

The crux of a new year was upon the students of Hogwarts and, once again, the school's administration had failed to find fault in the tradition of the Hogwarts express. Dahlia was twelve years old and even she knew that better wizarding transport solutions existed. A muggle train was terribly slow in comparison to a portkey, the floo network, or apparition. Furthermore, it made little sense for northern students to make the journey south to London only to turn around again.

Thankfully, Dahlia was a Londoner so she did not have a long journey to the station. Her parents accompanied her as far as the platform at their insistence. She had an inkling of a guess that the measure was precautionary in regard of the incident. As much as Dahlia had regularly subverted duty, her own parents did not yet trust that she would keep her word— a thought that left a sour taste on her tongue.

She had no desire to perform niceties with her classmates but it was not as if the Gryffindor would start a fire in the thirty minutes between her arrival on the platform and boarding the train. She did not have the materials on her to do such a thing. Rather, she resorted to conversing with her parents, fidgeting with her trunk, and scanning the crowd in search of the presence of anyone she had met in the last year. The Dahlia of moments later would slap her for her quick assumption but the Dahlia of the present was none the wiser.

The witch had, according to her mother, nearly reached her full height. This was a travesty in Dahlia's eyes. The twelve-year-old wished to grow to at least 170 centimeters if not six feet. However, if genetics had their way, the girl would be stopping at 5'3 or 5'4 maximum. The sea of heads easily swallowed her as she stood on her tiptoes, attempting to peer over the shoulder of a particularly beefy male who she expected to be a part-giant.

Alas, Dahlia failed to locate anyone before the sound of an approaching train drowned out all conversation. She wrapped her arms around her parents absentmindedly before turning towards the compartment doors. Where to sit? She may as well talk to someone new in honor of the new year. Perhaps she would meet a gullible first year who she could convince to believe in an array of bogus magical creatures. She had sketched out a few drawings in advance as a means of preparation.

A compartment at the top of the train was superior to one at the end. Or so Dahlia decided. The front of a train always reaches a destination before the end. Either way, she took hurried steps toward the frontmost compartment and took an overview of the free seats. One group, first years most likely, were occupied in conversation already. On the opposite side sat a blonde, alone. This was her jackpot.

Without a second look, Dahlia slid into the seat opposite the individual without as much as a question of whether they minded. "Hey! I assume you're a new first year, yeah?" She spoke casually, arms folded on the table shared between them. "Are you excited?"

STA 5 | EVA 5 | STR 3 | WIS 9 | ARC 6 | ACC 7
half-veela & lovely creature