Sitting Alone

"My uncle, he's an artist, but one of his models had a heart attack as he was drawing them, he drew me a picture of what a thestral looks like, they are extremely creepy looking like the horses death uses to pull his carriage if you saw the drawing I think you might agree," Margaret says quickly before Miranda spaced off. She didn't want to seem clingy by answering right before Miranda spaced off but she felt like it was polite to respond, to let her know she was both interested and paying attention. Margaret had begun to notice right before Miranda went into her own thoughts there was a 10 second time period were her eyes glazed over, but not quite.

Margaret understood why everyone thought Miranda was going to be in Ravenclaw she was very thoughtful which Margaret appreciated. This way she wouldn't have to be tired by all the chitter chat (she liked talking but at some point, it was tiring and she wouldn't be able to talk or socialize, sometimes her energy ran out quicker than other times) now she wouldn't have to feel breathless and have to endure talking on low energy because she wouldn't have to, at some point Miranda would space off and both of them could just think to themselves.

She sat in silence in her own thoughts (happy to do so) until the train stopped. Then she turned to Miranda and smiled "I guess no one else is joining us unless they move places on the train. I hope that's okay, if it's not it won't hurt my feelings if you sit somewhere else, I understand."

"Sit somewhere else?" Miranda echoed in surprise. "Oh no, I wouldn't want to. I'm perfectly happy to stay with you." She smiled at Margaret in what she hoped was a friendly way.

The jolt as the train lurched to life made her tighten her hands on her seat in a death grip, but she quickly relaxed again. It was kind of like riding a very loud Erumpent, but safer, because you weren't sitting on its back.

Cedar would love this, Miranda thought, glancing at the doors, from where she could hear laughter and chattering students. He'd probably have talked to everyone by now, and then done something stupid to make them all remember him. Not like me. I'm quite content to stay in a quieter place with less people. She smiled slightly at the memory of her younger brother. Mother and Father always wondered how we could be siblings, when we were nothing alike.

"So what is it like living with all your brothers and sisters?" Miranda asked Margaret. "Is it really noisy all the time?" I wonder what it would have been like if I had more siblings, she thought idly. I probably wouldn't have had to do as many chores.

Margaret smile back at Miranda. As the train starts she flings forward a little not expecting the sudden movement. Her heart race knowing she's about to go to Hogwarts. She was both excited and anxious. She couldn't believe that soon she would be at the Hogwarts castle and she would be sorted into her house and she would be able to use magic for the first time.

"We've all gotten used to having to be a little quieter than most people would be. Most of the time I love having 3 other siblings but sometimes it's hard, especially as the youngest. It's only really loud when we're going on a trip or something like that is happening. Everyone's searching around the house looking for heir things and talking to each other, but we usually don't make much noise or try not to and we can split up the chores, although there is also slightly more work considering there are more people, or your siblings will cover for you if you break something or do something you weren't supposed t. I accidentally broke a plate one time and they all rushed to help me pick it up and when my parents came in the all just said nothing happened. But it is nice for a couple of months they go to Hogwarts, I miss them of course, but it's calmer."

"So you have a couple siblings right? Cedar, he's your brother, right? It seems that you two get along very well, I guess you're pretty similar?" Margaret says questioningly.

"Well, not really," Miranda answered. "Actually, make that not at all. He and I get along well, sure, but no, we're not exactly similar. He's more of a daredevil than I am, for starters, and he's always getting into some form of trouble. The only time I get in trouble is when he drags me into one of his harebrained schemes."

She paused for a moment, and a small smile flickered across her face. "Once he managed to convince me to help him take a few of our Granian Winged Horses on a ride. It was terrifying, to be honest, but also kind of awesome at the same time. You'd probably know what I meant if you've ever ridden a winged horse that is unpredictable at best and straight out stubborn at worst. We were gone for half an hour or so, and the whole time was super cool, but when we got back and found our parents waiting for us..." Miranda trailed off, shaking her head and smiling at her own foolishness. "Well, they were not happy at all. Cedar and I were forced to clean the Erumpent enclosure for weeks."

She shivered in mock distress, and then smiled again. "So, have you had any interesting adventures with your family so far?"

"Your brother sounds pretty fun," Margaret says "I guess it kind of makes sense to be opposites." I smile back at you.

"I've gotten done a lot of things I should have gotten in trouble for, with my siblings, but we hardly ever get caught" Margaret laughs a little. "One of my favorite memories is going out with my siblings after school. We were walking home and my oldest brother saw this guy who pulled up by the side of the road, pretty far away from us but we could still see him. He just kicked this cat out of his car and drove away. It made us so angry that someone would do that. He drove our direction and my oldest brother just told us to follow him, so we did. We followed the car for a few blocks until it pulled into a driveway. We waited for him to go inside when my brother took this can of something out of his backpack. He told us his friend gave it to him earlier (as a joke) and he forgot to take it out of his bag. He gave me a piece of paper and a pen and told me to write 'animal abuser' on it. Tapped the note onto the can and threw it into this guy's kitchen window. It turned out to be a can of some kind of cologne that smelled like a stink bug. We ran and never got caught. I know that seems so wrong but at the time it seemed like justice. The cat was fine by the way. It was sitting right where he left it and we gave it to someone we knew was going to take care of it."

"Is there anything you think you'll miss at Hogwarts?" Margaret asks.

Miranda laughed at Margaret's story. "I'll have to agree with you on that one. That guy definitely got what he deserved."

She paused to listen to the other girl's question, her head tilting to the side unconsciously as she thought about her answer. "Well, I'll miss my brother, that's for sure. My parents...not so much. It's not that I don't love them," Miranda added quickly. "It's just that I'm sure they'll send me loads of owls, and it's kinda nice to be, well more independent."

"Cedar and I, we've always been pretty independent whenever we can be, but our parents are always within hollering distance most of the time, so it's not really on our own on our own, you know what I mean?" She shrugged, her gaze trailing to the window. "I know, I guess I'm just strange, but that's how I see it. That's also the only reason I agree to most of Cedar's escape attempts."

Miranda shifted in her seat slightly, and tucked a lock of pale gold hair behind her ear. "So. What about you? Are you going to miss out on dealing justice to animal abusers?" She grinned at her joke, and sat back on her chair.

"I get what you mean, I like being more independent too. My parents watch us pretty closely which is surprising since there are so many of us, you'd think they couldn't keep track, but they're very vigilant."

Margaret makes a laughing breath and smiles at Miranda's joke "I'm sure I'll miss lots of things, I'll probably miss more and more the longer I stay. I'll miss my parents and older brother but I'll get used to it, I'm sure my brother will send owls as well as my parent but half of my family's here with me, which I find comfort in knowing. Even if I won't really see them they'll be here and I don't think they'll mind if I say hi once in a while."

Margaret smiles and looks out the window "it's so exciting that we're going to learn magic but sometimes I wonder if it'll get boring at some point, you know eventually it'll just be everyday life. I hope I don't ever get bored of it, you know I hope I'll always see the magic in magic. (Margaret snickers a little at the funny way that sounds). I really hope Hogwarts will be fun. I guess I'm worried because I used to like school but eventually I stopped liking it, I just hope that never happens."

"Do you think you'll miss anything from the muggle world or any of your muggle classes?"Margaret asks looking back at Miranda.

Miranda shrugged. "I've never gone to a muggle school. My parents have always home schooled me. They think that I should learn about everything, not just some muggle government's curriculum." She sighed. "Of course, that means mostly learning about magical animals. And how to do chores properly."

The train suddenly jolted sharply, and Miranda almost fell out of her seat. "Whoops," she said with a grin, resettling herself.

I wish they'd shown me some spells before I left so that I'd have some beforehand knowledge, she thought with a sigh. It would also be nice if First years could take Care of Magical Creatures. Mother and Father never really bothered to teach me about plants, or charms, or potions that didn't affect animals...my knowledge won't come in handy for the first couple years.

"So have your many siblings told you anything about the professors? Like, which ones are nice and which ones are strict and which ones you should probably avoid?" Sometimes, Miranda wished she had an older sibling who could of told her things like that. Maybe they could have taught me a few things, too, she thought wistfully. Well, I guess it's too late for that now. I'll have to figure that out for myself.

"I think our parents might get along" Margaret laughs "my parents didn't agree with the muggle schooling system either, but instead of homeschooling me they put me into a classical school."

Magaret lurches forward as the train suddenly jolts. She catches her self on the chair. Margaret smirks as Miranda flies forward.

"I asked them which teachers I shouldn't get on the bad side of and they just told me to find out for myself. They didn't want to ruin my impression of any of the teachers, in case they had change. They didn't want my image of anyone to start off badly. Some of their borderlines of what they should and should not tell me were weird, but they always seemed to have reasons. Apparently They didn't want to tell me what teachers were mean and which were nice but they could teach me some magic, I always thought that was strange but I didn't bring it up, I liked learning magic and didn't want to stop. They gave me a short book of magic spells to do if I wanted."

Margaret pulls her bag and unzips one of the pockets and ruffles through it. Finally, she pulls out a thin, cardboard cover book. She flips through some of the pages and stops around the 4th or 5th page "here's an easy one" she says "do you want to try it?" She asks pulling out her wand. I hope she says "yes" if she doesn't this will be incredibly awkward.

Miranda nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, please! My parents haven't even shown me any spells yet!" She fumbled in her pocket and pulled out a wand made from cherry wood and snallygaster heart string. It looked brand new, which it was, and never used.

She remembered going to Ollivanders. Her parents had insisted that she go alone, which had been disconcerting, but nowhere near as odd as the wandmaker had been. She shivered at the memory of his pale face and bulbous, unblinking eyes. Creepy. It had also been weird when he'd measured her with his magical measuring tape. I mean, how does knowing how wide my nose is help him find me a wand anyways? Miranda wondered. And then it'd even taken six or seven tries to even get the right wand. She remembered her excitement when one of the wands - the one in her hand - had finally given off a shower of sparks.

I hope I don't make a fool of myself. If I'd been smart, I would have tried a few of the spells in my books, regardless of what my parents said, she thought. Too late for that now, though. I guess I'll just have to get better.