Snow in September Closed

Oliver Blackthorne was having a, well, he was having a bad day.
Bad year, really.
About a year ago, on his eleventh birthday, September 16th, he had been informed in no uncertain terms, his father white in the face, that his mother was a witch, and, by result, he was a wizard. He had listened without listening, breathing without breathing, looking without feeling as the man told him that he would be going to Hogwarts (what kind of a name was that?) next year on September first to learn about magic.
And then the man had left his father to explain.
And, slowly, he had, about his mother, about how she died, about some 'dark business' as his father had called it, and about how everything he had previously believed about her was untrue.
...yeah. A lot to take in.
But he had a year to do so, so he was significantly less shell-shocked than some of the people that had gotten on the train with him.
Snapping out of his reminiscent state, he heard a voice inquire of him.
"May I sit with you?"
Oliver shoved away those thoughts and smiled slightly.
"...Yes, of course you can," he said.

Michael smiled and opened the door, rubbing his cold hands together. "Gods, tie 5 minutes after the time you're suppose to get here, and it seems everyone wanted to be early. Whole trains nearly full. Its mad" he said as he claimed two seats, one for himself and another for his bag.

He smiled and closed his eyes as he warmed up, then opened them as the train started up slowly. He looked out the window, watching snow fall and parents and siblings wave goodbye. Then he looked over at the boy. "What's your name? I'm Michael, Michael Miller, this is my first year going to hogwarts but I've read all about it, it's a rather crazy place, nearly killed the chosen boy, bout 20 years ago? I don't remember" he ranted, mumbling the last sentence. He blushed slightly. "Im rambling aren't i? Sorry, i do it when im nervous, and this is a big, no huge change for me so im very very nervous. Like. . i think i might habe a panic attack" he said his eyes widening. He shook his head, calming himself slightly. "Sorry, sorry. Im a bit much aren't i?" He asked sheepishly. Gods he just met this boy and he's already making a fool of himself.

@Oliver Blackthorne

“It’s okay. I’ve done plenty of rambling in my time,” Oliver said, smiling at the boy. “It is a big event, so It’s understandable that you’re nervous. Expected, even.” Oliver said, still smiling.
The boy had read about the school - something that Oliver envied very much about him, obviously coming from a wizarding family. Oliver was mainly envious that he had more information than him, because Oliver felt unprepared. Ridiculously unprepared. And he hated feeling unprepared - disliking that he had a noticeable disadvantage to the others who were from wizarding families, being able to hear tell of the school, which sounded wonderful to him, but he wasn’t really getting the facts, which he despised.
“Yeah, It’s my first year, too,” He said, sighing. And it was a chaotic, all over the place wreck of a first year, so far, but, hey, he guessed that was everybody. It really was a good experience, going through the border, turning up on the other side, buying stuff from diagon alley, if not horribly overwhelming for someone who had never been there before or really done any of it. Enjoyable, but tiring and overwhelming.
"So, You said you were from a wizarding family?"
@Michael Miller

"Yeah, the Millers, my mom says they off-branch from Malfoys, but my dad says they off-branch from Yaxleys" He said, reaching in his bag and getting out a bag of muggle candy, "But our family tree seems to have neither. So honestly its a mystery, though my dad got both his and my mother's blood tested and its pure" he said and held out the bag, "Want one? Its chocolate, milk chocolate to be exact" he said with a smile.

"What about you? Muggle or Wizarding family? Also you look older than me, and your a first like me? How?" he asked as he unwrapped a candy, popping in in his mouth. He always liked muggle candy better than magical and thankfully his dad's parents seem to use that as the only way to connect with him. He put them up after eating nearly half the bag. He had the bag packed with the candies and books.

He looked through his books before frowning, he forgot two books, one of his sketchbooks and a book on the forbidden forest. God he wish he could just turn the train around and get his books, maybe the library has the book, but a sketchpad. Maybe he can just use Parchment paper.

@Oliver Blackthorne

Oliver hesitated and then accepted, taking the chocolate from Michael, smiling at him briefly. Although normally he wouldn't take food from strangers, he was trained not to do so, he didn't look at all like he wanted to poison him or anything, although dark chocolate was obviously the best (I'll fight you, I don't care) and his favorite, he took a bite and enjoyed it, feeling some of the stress of the day evaporate slowly.
"My mom was a witch, apparently. I never met her. I'm a half-blood. Best of both worlds," he said, smiling. "My birthday is the Sixteenth, so I was given the letter then, and I had to wait a year after that - so I'm older than pretty much everyone here - the first years anyway," Oliver said, looking around the train. It appeared he was older than many of the first years, the ones that looked skittish and shell-shocked, which gratified him, because he felt secure in being older than the others - there was just something empowering about it. Finally, something went his way, after so much that didn't.
"Forgot something?" He had noticed that Michael looked like he forgot something - obviously something important.
@Michael Miller

Michael hummed as he listened to him. Half-blood. . never met one, but to be fair I haven't really met anyone out of my family. He couldn't phantom never meeting his mom, like he doesn't like her, but never meeting her would be hard. He hummed as he heard about the other boy's birthday. "Mine's May 9th." He said as if the other boy asked. He wondered if the boy ever cared, maybe.

Later, after his hunt through his bag, and Oliver's question, he hummed. "Forgot two things actually, two books," he said and turned back, slouching in his seat. "My sketchbook is one of them . . " he nearly pouted. he straightened up all of a sudden, blushing. He was acting like a baby in front of someone else because of a book. He straightened his clothes. "But it's fine, it wasn't that important, just a book." He said, though it was important to him. He had drawn it the book since he was 5 and it was just lines. He had years of memories and drawings in it, and it sucked he hadn't packed it too.

To distract himself from the problem at hand, he smiled and asked the other boy, "What house do you think you'll get in?"

@Oliver Blackthorne

Oliver frowned when Michael talked about losing his sketchbook. Obviously it was important to him, and he could understand why, as creating things can be as important as life itself to some people - Michael was probably one of them.
He looked up again as Michael changed the subject, postulating about what house they'd be in.
Oliver knew some about the Houses, and he didn't really know - or care. They were all the same to him, Loyalty, Bravery, Cunning, Smarts, they were all good traits in his book, so he really didn't care. He hoped he would make friends in any house, and across them, too, but there was a problem...
Oliver didn't understand why they had to be sorted into different houses. From what he understood, which wasn't a lot, the separation into different houses had only really caused trouble. Bad things were thought of the other houses, especially between Gryffindor and Slytherin, so it seemed... counterproductive to him. Yes, the people inside houses ended up being closer together, while the relations between houses steadily declined. It was just downright confusing for him to see this happening - and nobody speaking up or doing anything about it. Really, really, stupid, in his opinion, anyway.
Well, he couldn't say all these things, so he settled for a "I don't know" and left it at that.