First Journey to Hogwarts Open Closed

@Amelia Faye @Blair Rhodes @Mathias Pride @Gabriella Haworth

Jessenia was surprised noone had asked why she had reffered to her birth mother's occupation in past tense, but they were probably doing it out of courtesy, not that she would have minded it's not a sore topic. Her mother had left as soon as Jessenia was born. God knows why. But she just up and left all Jessenia knew about her was that she was a Healer and a Slytherin. She didn't even know if she still worked as a Healer, hence why she spoke in past tense.

Jessenia's attention was brought back to Amelia who asked her about her father's work. "Yeah he's an Unspeakable, but I have no idea what he works on. He isn't allowed to say, all I know is that it is top secret and is to help protect this country." said Jessenia. What Amelia had said about Death Eaters being in the Department of Mysteries in the past had irked her. From what her father had told her Death Eaters were very bad people. She didn't want them to think her dad was a bed person because he works in the same place now. "I didn't know Death Eaters used to work there... But my father is a very kind, responsible and generous man so I think whatever he is working on would be good for us." said Jessenia confidently trying to reassure them. "Before the Department of Mysteries though he worked in the ICW, but he said he didn't like it because 'the old farts talk too much' and 'looked down on him because he was young', my dad's words not mine, so he moved to the Department of Mysteries." Laughed Jessenia.

Amelia then talked to Gabriella before turning her attention to the boy. He seemed shy but seemed like a nice guy. Her ears perked up when he mentioned that both of his parents worked for the Ministry of Magic and wondered what Department they worked in. Maybe their parents knew each other, but seeing how big the Ministry was, it was unlikely. The conversation had already moved onto about houses. Three of them had mentioned Hufflepuff, or in Gabriella's case Huffleduff.

Jessenia personally did not mind whichever house she got into. Her father was a Ravenclaw and her step-mother was in Hufflepuff. "Before I got onto the train my dad gave me a full lecture on being proud of whatever house I get into, he said 'the house does not define the person, the person's actions and intentions defines the person' so I'm okay with any house." explained Jessenia.

Gabriella asked what classes they were looking foward to. "I think I am looking foward to History of Magic and Care of Magical Creatures. I love learning about the past and I love animals." said Jessenia.

Gabriella listened intently to Jessenia's words, desperately trying to siphon any information she could from what the girl was saying. The Department of Mysteries, Jessenia had said. Would Gabriella sound ignorant if she asked what that was? But then, it sounded like nobody was supposed to know what went on there anyway. But what was the Ministry? That, at least, seemed to be common knowledge. Common knowledge that everyone shared - except her, that was.

She wondered whether anything would have actually been gained if she had read her books. After all, she had been asked to get Magical Drafts and Potions and The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection, not A Beginner's Guide to the Wizarding World. Was that even a book? If it wasn't, Gabriella decided it should be. That's the book a muggle-born wants to read, not Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

"I'm really looking forward to Care of Magical Creatures too," smiled Gabriella, honing in on a term Jessenia had used. To be fair, it did sound fun. What magical creatures would they be caring for, she wondered. Were wizard magical creatures the same as the magical creatures of the Muggle world? Unicorns? Dragons? Or were they more like the mythical creatures found in Greek mythology? She remembered the time in year 5 when she had developed an unnerving interest in the more... gruesome parts of Greek mythology. She smiled fondly at the beasts from the stories. Gorgons, harpies... why are you thinking of those stories? They were fake, but this was completely real. She was entering a real world of magic and mystery - no point in dwelling on stories from the past.

Interacting with @Gabriella Haworth @Blair Rhodes @Jessenia Vidal @Mathias Pride

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Mathias," Amelia smiled at him, "I definitely hope I'm in Hufflepuff. That was my mum's house, you see." she explained. Gabriella had said that she was hoping to be in 'Huffleduff', Amelia laughed slightly and turned to Gabriella. "It's actually Hufflepuff, but don't worry. I'm sure it's hard not knowing what anything is, but once you get to Hogwarts you'll learn everything you need to know!"

She wonders how it would feel to be muggle-born and to be put in this entirely new world and be overloaded with all this new information about things you had only read about in Fairytales. Amelia was quite glad to be a Half-blood, she had all the benefits of knowing about the wizarding world and the muggle world. She turned her attention back to Jessenia, who was talking about the Department of Mysteries. "It's all really weird that we can't know what goes on there, but I don't even know if I'd want to know."

"Classes? Hm, I'm probably most looking forward to Flying and Defence Against the Dark Arts. Transfiguration sounds interesting, but it's also meant to be really hard." she told Gabriella, who had asked everyone what class they were most looking forward to. "Care of Magical Creatures would be cool too, I also love animals, but I don't think we start that until our third year." Amelia frowned.

She turned her attention to the countryside outside of the window, it was flying past in a blur of green and the young witch wondered how far away they were from the castle.

Word count: 266

@Amelia Faye @Blair Rhodes @Mathias Pride @Gabriella Haworth

Jessenia smiled at Gabriella when she said that she was looking foward to Care of Magical Creatures too and felt nice that there was someone else that liked animals as much as she did. Jessenia turned to Amelia who listed all the classes she was excited to take. Jessenia was told by fer father that Defence against the Dark Arts and Transfiguration were very hard classes, so to hear that Amelia was excited for those classes must have meant that Amelia was really smart.

Amelia reminded Jessenia of something she had forgotten. "Oh yeah, I had forgotten that." sighed Jessenia. Third year was a long way away. She thought to herself. "But, Nevertheless, I'm still looking forward to it. And there's definitely going to be loads of books for me to go through in the library, so that makes up for it." said Jessenia brightly. That was another thing Jessenia was looking forward to. She would spend hours in her father's library just taking out any books she could reach and started binge-reading them. Not that she could understand what half of them were talking about, but she liked reading them regardless.

Jessenia wondered what classes Mathias and Blair were looking forward to and moved her attention towards them to see what they would say.

Natalia was… well… what was the word? Confused? Nervous? No… bewildered. Bewildered and really excited. Just months ago, she’d thought she was the only one who could do magic. Heck, a year ago, she didn’t even know magic existed. Then an owl had arrived with a letter for a magical school… And here she was, now… off to a school where she’d learn to do magic, actual magic, not just accidentally levitating something when she got frustrated.
She hugged her knapsack close to her chest and smiled, pulling the rest of her luggage behind her as she walked. Wait. Where was she going again? ‘Hmm…,’ She thought to herself, still walking. Admittedly, she’d never actually been on a train before, just read about them in books. ‘At least I can say that my first time on a train was magical…’ She laughed inwardly at her own joke. ‘I saw other kids were going into those rooms on the sides… compartments, I think they’re called? Better find somewhere to sit.' She looked to the right. Full. To the left, also full. She walked up and down the corridor, looking for a compartment. Finally, after what felt like half an hour (though she knew it was much less than that), she came to a compartment with five other kids that looked about her age. She took the last vacant seat by the window, across from the boy; all the seats in the compartment were filled now. “Hey, my name’s Natalia, hopefully I’m not disturbing anyone. I hope you don’t mind me sitting here, ‘cause there isn’t anywhere else I can sit on the entire train.” She grinned warmly and pulled her digital drawing tablet out of her knapsack. She didn't really feel like talking right now- and that was saying something. She wanted to think- and drawing was her go-to for when she wanted to consider something. For now, she wanted to draw, sink away in her own world, and let all of this sink in. ‘I wonder wether wizards know about tech… It’d be the absolute most wonderful thing if I were the one to introduce it!’ That last thought lingering on her mind, she let her thoughts flow onto the screen of the tablet, not really taking much notice of anyone else… she'd find time to socialise later.

@Amelia Faye @Blair Rhodes @Mathias Pride @Gabriella Haworth @Jessenia Vidal

@Gabriella Haworth @Amelia Faye @Jessenia Vidal @Mathias Pride @Natalia Moonflurry

Blair giggled as she heard Gabriella refer to Hufflepuff as Huffleduff. "Don't worry, I quite like the name Huffleduff." she said kindly, nodding. She knew that Gabriella probably felt lost when talking about things like Houses and classes, and tried her best to make her feel as comfortable as possible.

She listened intently as the topic of conversation moved on to classes. She had thought long and hard about which classes she was most excited for. There were so many choices, and they all sounded so interesting. She nodded as she heard Care of Magical Creatures mentioned several times. "I can't wait until third year so I can take Care of Magical Creatures! I absolutely adore animals, both Muggle and magical. But, until then, I'm very excited about Charms and Transfiguration. Potions seems like it will be very difficult for me." she said, feeling excited about classes. However, she also felt nervous, because she was scared that she would not excel like her mother wished for her.

Blair turned her attention to the new girl who had walked into the compartment. She was very pretty, and she said her name was Natalia. "Hello, Natalia. I'm Blair. It's nice to meet you! What do you have there? We don't have a lot of stuff like that at my house." she said, studying what Natalia had pulled out of her knapsack.

"Ooh, I know what that is!" said Gabriella excitedly, pointing and waving at the item Natalia had pulled out of her knapsack and not even bothering to introduce herself. "That's a drawing tablet!" She turned to Natalia, glad she might finally have someone to talk to about the Muggle side of life the others in her compartment didn't seem to have witnessed before. "I'm guessing you're a muggle-born, like me," she chattered, "someone with non-magical parents, you know, a first-generation wizard, if you see what I mean." She stopped to draw a long breath, before carrying on. "I wonder if technology will work in Hogwarts? My parents said I didn't need to bring any but then I don't have much anyway, I don't have a phone so it was only my camera and my parents said there was probably a magic way of taking photos!" she laughed. She turned to those on the compartment who were from wizarding families - Blair, Amelia, Jessenia and Mathias - and asked them a question. "You lot know more than I do - do wizards have their own way of taking photographs? Do you... even know what a photograph is?" she added, trying not to sound presumptuous, but then again trying to avoid being condescending.

At the sound of the dark-haired girl's voice, she looked up.
"So that's what we're called! I had no idea we were called muggle-borns... but yeah, I actually had no idea magic existed, let alone have magical parents. I thought I was a psychic or something, then the letter came and I was so very excited. Hopefully technology will work at Hogwarts though, otherwise I'd be a bit disappointed." she said to the girl with dark hair. "I didn't really catch your name, though, what was it?"

Turning to the brown-haired girl who'd asked her what the tablet was, she said, "It's great to meet you too, Blair! As for your question," she took a deep breath, "As she said," gesturing to the dark-haired girl, "this is a drawing tablet. Instead of using paper and canvas and paints and things to draw, you can use this, and it simulates, let's say, the texture and look of oil paint or the roughness of charcoal. When you're finished, it saves your work, so you can look back on your drawings and see what you've done, or use them for an animation project. I carry it around pretty much anywhere."
She was chattering very rapidly. She took another deep breath, calming herself.
"Sorry about that.. I got a bit ahead of myself," she said with a chuckle."When it comes to tech, I can get the tiniest bit excited." She laughed again and turned the tablet off, returning it to her knapsack, decidedly no longer interested in drawing.

@Amelia Faye @Blair Rhodes @Mathias Pride @Gabriella Haworth @Jessenia Vidal

@Amelia Faye @Blair Rhodes @Gabriella Haworth @Mathias Pride @Natalia Moonflurry

Jessenia was elated to hear that Blair also adored animals. She felt like she had found a great group of friends with a lot of similar interests. A new girl walked into the compartment taking the last available seat. Jessenia gave a friendly smile and waved at her. The new girl introduced herself as Natalia before taking out a strange squareish item that looked like it was made out of glass.

Jessenia knew some muggle items as her muggle-born step-mother had introduced her to many muggle items, but she did not know what this item was. It was like a bigger version of a mobile phone. Jessenia was grateful when Gabriella started to animatedly explain what it was. Natalia followed it up. Drawing tablet? Thought Jessenia. Jessenia loved art and drawing and her step-mother was an artist but she never used anything like that. After hearing Natalia's explanation she was fascinated and hoped she could ask Natalia one day to try it, but she didn't have the courage to ask her now. Jessenia turned to Gabriella when she asked genuinely if technology worked in Hogwarts.

"I read about this in Hogwarts: A history, but Muggle Technology does not work in Hogwarts because of the interference of all the magic. But we do have cameras and photographs." she added to Gabriella's second question. She took out a photograph of her father and step-mother from her wallet. "That's my father and that's my step-mother." Jessenia explained. The couple waved at her whilst smiling to which she waved back at them. She extended her hand out towards Natalia and Gabriella so they could see. "My name is Jessenia by the way! I probably should have started with that." Laughed Jessenia and smiled towards Natalia.

From the very morning Alena felt anxiety, she would have to leave her house for such a long time. In the chest, she collected only the most necessary for her studies, realizing that it was scary to take important things for her. What if something gets lost? Mom's owl screamed disgustingly outside the window, announcing that for some time it was she who would deliver letters to the girl. Worst of all, she doesn't speak English well. Muggles often laughed at her, and the realization that now it is necessary to meet new people only frightens her even more.
The road to the train was instant. All the time Alena remained in her thoughts.
- И не молчи постоянно. Попробуй найти друзей (And don't be silent all the time. Try to make friends.) - My mother said as she escorted her daughter to the train.
- Я знаю. (I know.)
As she made her way to the train, the girl waved goodbye to her mother for the last time. Half the seats were already filled. Alyona hears a bunch of voices that merge into a single noise. The fear had already left her body, leaving only excitement. Обнаружив свободное место, она открыла дверь.
- Hello. Can I? - The thick Russian accent was terrible even to her.