On the Way to Hogwarts... Open Closed

Aaron's excitement highly amused Eirian. She found herself grinning back at the brunette as it was also very contagious.

When Aaron plucked the book from her hands, she dropped one into her lap and picked up her wand with the other. She began twirling it once again, finding she needed something to do with her hands.

Aaron's pirate comparison made Eirian giggle as she pictured a Niffler in a tiny pirate captain hat sitting atop his pile of gold and shiny objects.

She actually fully laughed at Aaron's dramatic realisation that dragons were real.

"Well, I've never met a dragon, unfortunately. I wish." Eirian sighed a bit wistfully, "But Mr Scamander gives pretty detailed examples of all known types of dragons so you can start there learning about them. He also says they're very dangerous, five Xs and all, which makes sense."

She paused to think before answering Aaron's last question.

"Some people have ridden dragons, but I don't think there are that many who have. I mean, you might not have heard about them as a muggle-born. Still, Harry Potter and his two best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger escaped a huge fight at Gringotts bank on the back of a Ukrainian Ironbelly during the second wizarding war. Which is insane and also absolutely brilliant!" Eirian grinned at Aaron again, "Hungarian Horntails are the most dangerous kind, I think, and I've heard that when he was in his fourth year at Hogwarts, Harry Potter had to defeat one in the Triwizard Tournament."

Eirian stopped for a breath, having rushed through most of what she had said, "Sorry. Got excited. I hope that wasn't too much too fast. I really love magical creatures."

Another brief pause, then she remembered something, "Oh! Have you heard that there are mermaids in the lake at Hogwarts? And Grindylows too, apparently. Plus the Forbidden Forest is full of magical creatures too!"

Aaron wasn't sure what five Xs meant, but she guessed it was equivalent to SSS ratings in video games. If this author man had gotten close enough to study all these incredibly dangerous beasties in depth, there must be ways of befriending them. And Aaron loved a challenge. She carefully examined the illustrations with great interest. There seemed to be dragon all over England. How did no one ever see one? Or maybe they did, and the wizards just spelled them silly to forget. She looked up at Eirian when the other girl continued talking, and laughed at the verbal explosion of information.

She grinned when she heard there were beasties on the school grounds. She wondered if they were allowed to hunt for them. From her experience, forbidden did not mean unattainable. She didn't know what a Grindylow was, but that just meant it was an adventure in the making.

"Harry... Potter.... Harry Potter is who again? I think I've heard that name before.... doesn't he have his name on a line of products at that magical joke shop on Diagonal Alley? Is he a magical inventor?" she asked, her mind drifting back to the wonderful chaos of the joke shop. She couldn't remember the name, it was a mess of alliteration, but she'd have spent every coin of hers there if her mother hadn't held them in her strict clutches. She could only stare curiously into the windows as they walked past.

"Magical joke shop...?" Eirian furrowed her brow. "Oh! Weasley's Wizard Wheezes!"

Eirian chuckled, "No, Harry Potter isn't a magical inventor. I think he's an Auror now or something. The joke shop is owned by friends of his though; I think he helped them open it years ago. That joke shop is amazing, though. A must visit when I'm in Diagon Alley for sure."

She paused and chewed her lip, trying to remember everything she'd heard about Harry Potter over the years. It was a lot, and she wasn't sure what was actually true and what wasn't, but she could try to sum it up for Aaron.

"Alright, this is probably gonna be a long explanation, but I'll try to tell you what I've heard about Harry Potter."

She took a breath to prepare herself, adding some false build-up to whatever she was about to say.

"So, I guess we have to start when he was a baby. Voldemort, the biggest baddest wizard to ever live, tried to kill him but failed because his mom died to protect him or something. Then he lived with his mum's muggle family until he started at Hogwarts when he was eleven and formed his group with Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley who he did everything with."

She contemplated how much detail Aaron needed, "I'll tell the big stuff, I don't think the little school stuff matters. So, in his first year, one of the professors was trying to bring back Voldemort, and so the trio stopped him and some plot involving the Philosopher's Stone. Second year young Voldemort possessed Ron's younger sister and made her open the Chamber of Secrets, so a bunch of students got petrified by a Basilisk."

She held her hands up in a time out 't', "Basilisks are in the book if you want to look at them, they're super dangerous giant snake that will kill you if you make eye contact."

Eirian dropped her hands, "Back to the plot. So Hermione actually got petrified I think, and so Ron and Harry had to go down to the Chamber and stop Voldemort again. Onto year three Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban, and everyone thought that he was the reason that Harry's parents died and that he wanted to kill Harry. Still, it turned out that it was actually Peter Pettigrew who betrayed his parents AND that Pettigrew had been living in hiding as Ron's rat, which is weird as hell. It also turned out that their Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was a werewolf. Werewolves are also in the book, but I'm pretty sure muggles have myths about them too."

She stopped and took a breath. "What next...? Oh, so in the fourth year the school hosted the Tri-Wizard tournament and brought students from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons, including the famous quidditch player Viktor Krum. Each school was meant to have one champion, but Hogwarts ended up with two because ANOTHER plot to kill Harry." She paused briefly, "I said I wouldn't do details but this one is special because of magical creatures. The first task they had to steal a golden egg from a dragon, which is what I mentioned before. Then in the second, they had to rescue a friend from the bottom of the lake which had mermaids and grindylows in it to stop them. All in the book, of course. The third task had no animals but at the end of it, both Hogwarts champions got transported to a graveyard where Cedric Diggory died and Voldemort was brought back to life."

"Uhmmmm," Eirian had to think again, there were so many stories. "In year five some crazy ministry lady took over the school and made it suck so Harry and his friends started a secret club where they taught Defense Against the Dark Arts. I think the lady got carried off by centaurs at one point...?" She shrugged, "Year six, Dumbledore filled Harry in on a bunch of Voldemort secrets, but then Dumbledore died. Basically, he was very unhelpful then Harry just had to find a bunch of Horcruxes with no leads or anything. Then he and his friends didn't go to school for year seven because Voldemort pretty much took over the wizarding world and they had to find the Horcruxes. Blah blah blah, drama and everything. Then there was the Battle of Hogwarts where a bunch of people died on both sides and eventually Voldemort died for good."

She let out a long sigh. "That was a lot. Sorry. There are just so many stories about him that go around. I think that's the important stuff."

Aaron simply stared at Eirian as the girl gave her the rundown of this apparently famous wizard.

"Wow, talk about experiencing all the world of magic has to offer, negatives included" she said with a slight, shocked huff of laughter. "As for this Voldemort, talk about a villainous baddie straight out of a novel. How did one person get so evil and powerful? And you're saying this wasn't too long ago? Wow"

Aaron hadn't considered the dark side of magic either. Obviously it held dangers, but she hadn't expected a magical supervillain in such modern times. In a world with computers and cellphones and the like, desires for world supremacy seemed like something you only found in a history book.

"Y'know, I hope to tale part in at least one event of epic proportions during my time at Hogwarts. I want a story I can tell proudly while half drunk in a pub" she continued with a grin. "Attending magical school just doesn't feel complete without at least near death experience. Ooh, I hope it gives me a wicked scar." She started tracing lines across her face, arms, and torso, like she was trying to decide where would be best to receive a battle scar. Aaron loved telling stories, probably as a biproduct of hearing so many children's tales when she was younger and having lots of wild open land to fuel her imagination at her fingertips. She fully believed herself to be a hero of a story someone was reading, and made sure her every action fulfilled that expectation.

She was about to ask Eirian what an 'auror' was when the door to their compartment slid open and an elderly lady peeked in with a warm smile.

"Hello dearies," she said in a perfect loving grandmotherly tone, "Anything from the trolley?" She stepped back to reveal a pushcart loaded with appeared to be every type of sweet under the sun, many of which Aaron had never seen before. She was at the door in the blink of an eye, excitedly sorting through the sweets. Her mother had given her a small pouch of coins with the promise of more in a few weeks, and Aaron was ready to buy one of everything if she could. She'd just picked up a box of something labelled Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans when she remember her companion. She looked over her shoulder at Eirian, grinning wildly.

"Want anything?"

Eirian laughed along with Aaron, "It definitely sounds like a movie or tv show with all the drama for sure. And yeah, not all that long ago. Guess the muggle governments must have explained all the chaos away somehow."

She agreed wholeheartedly with Aaron's sentiment of adventure, "I fully intend on getting into a lot of trouble. Well, I intend to do things that might not be allowed. Whether I get caught to not..." she grinned mischievously, "I'm sure there will be some drama and near-deaths. This school seems insane even without a big bad wizard threatening the war. I might pass on the scar, though. At least, I'd prefer none on my face or anywhere important."

Eirian lit up when the trolley lady slid open the compartment door.

While Aaron immediately leapt up and went to the trolley, Eirian began digging through her bag for the money she had somewhere inside.

When Aaron looked back and asked her if she'd like anything, she got to her feet with her money pouch in her hand.

"Hmm, there are so many choices..." she mused aloud while she looked over the selection, "You've never had any of this before. Between the two of us, I'm sure we could buy a good amount and try pretty much everything."

As she spoke, she selected a couple of chocolate frogs and a handful of liquorice wands. She then also picked a bag of jelly slugs and a box of Bertie Botts even though she saw Aaron also holding one.

"These are some good basics, but also pick out anything else that looks interesting." she grinned at Aaron.

It's a mistake to give Aaron Hastings free reign over something. She has no sense of self restraint, which is why her mother always tried to keep her on some sort of leash. Having been given something akin to permission, Aaron proceeded to grab anything and everything that caught her eye, tossing it lightly onto the train bench to be totaled at the end. She also consulted the kind trolley lady, who pointed out the most popular goodies. She also made sure Aaron took a few pastries, telling her a candy-centric diet was sure to give her a stomach ache.

When Aaron had taken her fill and the money had been handed over, the lady smiled her sweet old lady smile and bid the girls a wonderful ride, before sliding the door shut and continuing on her merry way.

Aaron immediately started investigating her purchases, wondering which to pick first. She decided to heed the old lady's warnings and grabbed a pumpkin pasty to start. She sorted through the pile as she munched, making a line of snacks in order of which she wanted to try most.

She picked up the Every Flavour Beans again, curious as to what counted as "every flavour", and nearly choked when she read some of the examples. Not only was there every type of fruit and vegetable imaginable, there were full meals contained in a bean. And some truly awful flavours too. She was simultaneously repulsed and made incredibly curious by the idea of tasting dirt in jelly bean form.

"Does this really contain every flavour imaginable? How on earth to they make them all? Their warehouses must be ginormous!" she exclaimed. "I'd love to visit one."

Having finished her pasty, she promptly tore open the package and popped a bean into her mouth. She chewed carefully, staring at the ceiling. Her eyebrows furrowed at the unmistakable taste of fresh cheese. Not the worst flavour, but definitely not one befitting a jelly bean.

While digging pieces of candy out of her teeth with her tongue to prepare herself for another, she offered the box to Eirian.

While Aaron went wild, grabbing one of nearly everything on the cart, Eirian picked up a couple of pumpkin pasties then paid the trolley lady for her total.

She sat down before Aaron was done shopping, occasionally picking up packaged sweets that had missed Aaron's bench.

When she finally finished, Aaron seated herself among her pile of sweets. Eirian laughed a bit at her as she started sorting through them and putting them into a line.

Aaron's enthusiasm about the Every Flavour Beans amused Eirian more than anything else; she was in for something once she tried them.

"I mean, yeah. There's any flavour you can think of in theory. Obviously, there are only so many in one box, but there are probably thousands of possible beans in all the boxes." That might not have been true, Eirian didn't actually know for sure, but there were a lot of flavours.

When Aaron opened up the box and popped one into her mouth, Eirian watched her expression. She stared at the ceiling while chewing it and didn't react much.

"Well? What was it?" Eirian asked her with a raised brow.

Eirian took a bean when Aaron offered and tossed it into her mouth without looking too much at it; she wanted to be surprised and not to guess the flavour.

She cringed outwardly as she chewed and coughed a little, "Oh, ew, yeah. I think that's the dog food one." She choked it down then almost immediately began eating a liquorice wand to get the flavour out of her mouth.

"Some of them are god awful," she warned Aaron, "Worse than dog food, even."

"Fresh cheese," she responded, finally digging the last of the bean chunks out of her teeth, "A curious jellybean flavour to say the least."

Eirian gagged the moment her bean touched her tongue, which Aaron couldn't help but laugh at. She pulled out a second bean and was comforted by the sweet taste of watermelon. She savoured it for a moment, before turning her attention to her line of sweets. Eirian was still gnawing on a licorice wand to rescue her from the taste of the dogfood, so Aaron tried one herself. She found licorice to be an acquired taste, but years of sneaking licorice pieces from her grandmother's cupboard without her noticing had helped her develop a taste for them.

"What's your favourite wizard's candy?" she asked, sucking on her licorice wand. "I'm excited to try the chocolates. My mum had a secret stash of chocolate hidden in the kitchen. I used to practice my pickpockets skills by breaking in and stealing some without her noticing. She did catch me a few times, which landed me with a few solid spanks and punishment dish duty. But if you ever need something stolen, I'm your girl." She gave Eirian a wink that she hoped communicated a request to be partners in crime.

Propping her licorice between her teeth, she rummaged again in her pile and pulled out a chocolate frog. The package twitched and she startled, nearly dropping it.

"Lordie, is this alive?? Why is it moving?" she squawked, prodding at the package with a finger. The Wizarding world had offered a lot of surprises so far, and she knew they were many more to come, but living food had not been something she could have guessed. She may have to revise her expectations

Interacting with @Eirian Blake and @Aaron Hastings

Nora ran through the corridor, unable to believe what she had just done. Had she really stormed out on her only new friends? She wiped tears from her eyes and had no idea where she would go. It was just like boarding school all over again--how did she keep finding herself in these situations? She really wanted to be a normal, happy girl!

The walkway was mostly empty: she brushed past a couple students who didn't say anthing except perhaps "Oi!" or "Watch where you're going!" But then, as she hurried along, she saw someone step into the hall ahead of her--and she knew she was in trouble. She had an instinct for these things. He was taller and looked older, and she realized his school robes had a shiny gold pin. He locked eyes on her immediately.

"Wha--alright then, you," he said, "Nice try, time to find a proper place to sit."

With no other choice, Nora was led down the train corridor. Her stomach lurched as she saw other students through the windows. Everyone was chatting and having a good time. Finally the Prefect found a compartment and opened the door.

"These look like two nice young ladies!" He said, ushering Nora inside, scooting her trunk in so it sat at her feet.

"You lot have a nice time, then!" He said and left, closing the door behind him. She couldn't hear his footsteps and wondered nervously if he was hovering nearby in the hall.

Nora stood there awkwardly. She realized her boarding school uniform was very out of place--a blouse, vest, pleated skirt, tights and black dress shoes.

The two girls both had dark hair. One was more demure with straight hair and the other looked fun and jubilant with curly hair. They were pretty and she had heard them laughing and talking just before the boy opened the door. Candy was scattered all over the seat and hit Nora with a wave of curiosity. All of these things made Nora apprehensive. Clearly these two girls were having fun and now she was interrupting them. Perhaps she could sit on the far end of the bench and they wouldn't mind her being there too much.

"Er... I'm Nora," she said softly, looking all the world like she'd rather disappear.

"Uhm, my favourite wizard candy... I like these," she held up the liquorice wand she had been eating, "Also jelly slugs are good. The yellow ones are the worst of them though. I don't know who made banana flavoured candy but they shouldn't have."

She chuckled at Aaron's stealing offer, "I'll keep that in mind." she winked at her friend, "I'm more the person who gets caught but manages to get out of it somehow, though usually, I get into trouble for 'attitude' and misbehaviour, not nicking things. Still a shenanigans girl, though. Like yourself, it seems."

Eirian laughed at Aaron's shocked reaction to the chocolate frogs.

"No, no. They aren't alive they're just charmed to move. Once you bite into it and like... subdue it, it'll stop moving and you can eat it." She crinkled her nose, "That sounded weird but it's just chocolate shaped like a frog."

Eirian turned to the compartment door as it opened, not at all minding someone coming to join them in the compartment.

"Hello," she greeted the very nervous seeming, formally dressed girl cheerily, "You're welcome to come in and join us." As an afterthought, she moved her bag to the floor at her feet to leave some more space open on the bench.

"I'm Eirian," she offered the girl a friendly smile and her free hand to shake, "Nice to meet you, Nora."

Interacting with: @Aaron Hastings @Nora Fletcher