On loving trains and leaving home PV Closed

So far score was Clara 1 and anxiety 0. She had made a friend, as easily as breathing air. And, taking into account that she didn't have that much exposure to other kids her own age, Clara felt especially proud. Well, gran was to thank too, as she had been adamant that Clara should make as many friend as possible and, preferably, two legged.

''Video?'' her dark brows furrowed, addressing Samantha. Finally she had stumbled upon something she had no knowledge of. The word sounded vaguely familiar, but... ''I've no idea what that is. But I mean magical photographs - they move,'' she knew that, right? No, probably not. ''It's like a tiny takeout of what is going on at the moment. So, if it would be a picture of a unicorn, then you would see it grazing, maybe lifting its head and mowing about a bit. Is that like your 'video'?''

And just like that Clara was brought back to the moment at the window when she said bye to dad. Oh yes, now she understood Samantha's low mood. But none of that, she wasn't going to mope around and would certainly try to lift her friend's spirit. ''Ah, Sam! It will be fine. We will be so busy that Christmas will come in no time, I promise. And you can still write home, right? Every day, if you like,'' which probably was going to happen with her own family. Clara just couldn't imagine not talking to them for days at a time.

Their conversation was pleasantly interrupted by a lady with a trolley full of goodies. ''Yes, please!'' Clara expressed and jumped to her feet. ''Have you ever tried... no, probably not. Oh, you have got to try them all!'' she pointed at the pretty purple box. ''It's chocolate frog. And you get a card with a famous witch or wizard to collect. But be careful not to loose the frog,'' in dizzying speed she moved onto the next product. ''And these are Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. They are fun, you never know what they are going to taste like. And these are Exploding Bon Bons,'' her finger pointed at a triangular yellow box. And Fudge Flies! Peppermint Toads,'' Clara held up a light green box and shook it. ''Honestly, you've got to try everything. Probably not all at the same time though,'' the girl laughed with delight. ''I will take some toads and a bottle of pumpkin juice, please,'' Clara smiled at the lady as she reached in her pocket and produced a few coins.

''If you want the true wizarding experience I suggest either chocolate frogs or beans,'' Clara grinned at Sam. I was safe to say that her enthusiasm for sweets rivaled that of which she had for dragons.

"It sounds exactly like a video, you know what when I have my phone back I'll show you a video." "Maybe witches and wizards have just a different word for video then muggles, that would explain it," Samantha though.

"Hand writing letters and sending them by owl, that's what wizards do, right?" Samantha asked while giggling. Her sad mood was instantly over. How could you not laugh at the fact that people still send letters with birds. The wizarding world was really behind with some stuff. Muggles had been sending emails for decades now, and these weird wizards were still using owls.

When Samantha saw Clara give the lady a few coins, she turned red. How easily Clara had given the right amount of money. Samantha didn't know what which coin was and was afraid she would give the wrong amount to the trolley lady. Just for a second the though popped up in Samantha her head to just not buy any candy, so she wouldn't have to embarrass herself. But the love Samantha had for candy was to big, and this was the first time she could try wizarding candy!

'Well, then I will take both!" Normally Samantha would have chosen one thing to save money, but the young girl couldn't resist any 'true wizarding experience' as Clara had called it.

Now came the tricky part, Samantha had to pay for what she had ordered. Samantha grabbed her little purse. Next to the food her mom had made was the money Samantha and her dad had changed at the bank. Samantha had some gold, silver and bronze coins and she knew that the gold ones where Galleons, but she had no idea about the other coins.

Clara nodded. ''Yes. But you can also send a a howler, it's like a voice message. It's usually very loud though, so you wouldn't want to open that in front of other people. But owls are the usual way to get letters around, they can find anyone anywhere, even non-wizarding people,'' at least she was pretty sure they could. As it were, Clara had never sent a letter to anyone who wasn't from a the magical community.

She absently watched as Samantha picked out her sweets, while opening the bottle of pumpkin juice. All the talking had made her quite thirsty. Clara looked up just as her friend had retrieved the money pouch and the pause Sam gave peaked her interest. Did she know how money worked? Well, sure, everyone knew how money worked, but maybe Sam had not used wizard money. In a spur of the moment, Clara stepped a bit closer and pointed at the big gold coin that lie on the top of the pile. ''Just give that. I'm not sure how much any of this stuff costs,'' and with a nonchalant shrug she turned back to sit down. Hopefully that would be helpful enough to Samantha. She didn't want to sound patronizing, but Clara couldn't help when she saw somebody in doubt. And it was a tactic she herself had employed on those occasions when their family traveled to muggle places - just put down the biggest bill you've got and let the locals sort it out. If Samantha wished for her to explain the problem in more detail she could do so later.

While waiting for Samantha to come back, she peaked inside the box she had purchased and giggled as bunch of tiny toads rattled the box and gave of a sharp smell of peppermint.

"A howler, that's sound pretty serieus. Have you ever gotten a howler?" Samantha hoped that it was true what Clara said about owls being able to find anyone. It would be pretty bad if she would write a letter and her parents would never get it.

Clara pointed to the biggest coin. Samantha was relieved, it wouldn't turn out to be to embarrassing after all. After Samantha gave the women the Galleon she got some silver and bronze coins in return. As Samantha's hands where full with the money and the candy she sat down in the car again which now smelled like peppermint. "Thanks for helping, would you please hold this for a second so I can put all of these coins in my bag?"

Samantha was doubting what she should try first, the Chocolate Frog or the Every Flavor Beans. "Are they serieus about every flavor? Do they really mean every flavor, like also bad ones?" If they did Samantha would first try the Chocolate Frog. Samantha remembered that Clara had said something about the fact that in the Chocolate Frogs were carts of famous witches and wizard. Samantha was really curious to know which witch or wizard she got.

''No, I haven't. But my gran LOVES sending them, especially to dad,'' the young witch smirked. ''She once sent him a howler while he was visiting the Ministry. Everyone heard that he was expected to be home by dinner time or else,'' gran had a weird sense of humor and Clara seemed to share it as the girl laughed out loud.

''Oh, sure!'' she took the box with the frog and beans while Samantha sorted out her money. The little toads jumped in the opened box and she gave them a grin. Once Sam was done, she handed back the sweets and fished out one of her own and popped it into her mouth. The toad was acting just like a real amphibian would, kicking its legs and trying to spring free, up until the moment Clara popped it into her mouth. First bite and for a brief moment every sense in her body was overwhelmed by peppermints and it felt like a brain freeze.

Clara chewed the milky chocolate and fresh spearmint with satisfaction. ''Yes,'' and there was just a little bit of childish evil behind that smile she gave Sam. ''Everything you can imagine you have ever tasted, good, bad and neutral. I always wondered how can anyone know what earwax tastes like, if they haven't tried it before, but the moment it hits your tongue you just do,'' Clara winked. ''Try some, I promise - it's fun.''

Samantha giggled: "That must have been embarrassing!" Samantha hoped she would never get a howler. She probably wouldn't since her parents had no idea how to send it.

After Samantha had sorted out her money she turned around to see Clara put something in her mouth. Whatever the girl just girl just ate Samantha though she saw it moving, but she wasn't sure. "What did you just put in your mouth? Did that thing move?" Samantha asked horrified.

Fun? Tasting earwax didn't sound like Samantha's idea of fun. Samantha looked at the box that was filled with colored beans. "I'll take one if you take one to" Samantha picked one beans avoiding any beans that could be earwax. Samantha ended up with a red bean, red like an apple or blood. Samantha held the container in front of Clara's face so she could get one to.

Samantha got the box of the chocolate frog in her hand. "A chocolate frog must taste like chocolate, there is no way I'm getting surprised with this thing," though Samantha, well she hoped. Samantha opened the box to be surprised by a moving frog. Before she had time to proces what she just saw the frog jumped out of the box.

With no reluctance, the girl picked one bean out of the box Sam had offered her and, noting the pinkish white color of it, popped it right into her mouth. One bite and Clara's face contorted in distaste. ''Wheh! Soap,'' she stuck out her tongue as if that would help get rid of the taste. ''It's not too bad, though, everything still tastes a bit like peppermint,'' but soap was soap, it didn't taste good no matter what. She even tried to wipe her tongue against the sleeve of her jumper, which didn't do much. ''Your turn.''

Clara grinned as she chewed. ''It was a toad. A chocolate covered peppermint toad,'' she knew why Samantha looked so shocked. ''It's magical candy, animal shaped ones often act like they are real. Don't worry, they're not. But be careful with the frog, it tends to escape if you are not...'' and sure enough, Samanthas frog escaped as soon as the girl opened her box. ''I told you not to let it go!'' the young witch laughed as she dove after the chocolaty creature.

It looked confusedly around the train car, shifting its head this way and that, made a gurgling sound and, as soon as Clara's hands were anywhere near it, it jumped forward and landed on the opposite seat. ''Don't let it get away!''

Samantha eat the bean: "It's blood, it's not that bad, but I hope there are better tasting one." Samantha now wanted to now what the others taste like, so she fished an other bean out of the package. "Hmmm, I like this one! I think it is birthday cake." Samantha couldn't explain how she knew it was birthday cake, she just knew.

Samantha tried to grap when it jumped out of the box, but it was to fast. Luckily for her Clara dove after the chocolate frog. Samantha's head turned red. Clara was just explaining that she had to be careful and she still let it go.

The frog landed on the seat opposite to Clara. Samantha saw that the frog was focused on Clara and made her move. She grabbed the frog when it didn't look and held it in her right hand. Samantha first looked really proud that she had caught the frog, but after realizing she had to eat it her expression changed. The chocolate frog was moving like a real frog in Samantha her hand. If she didn't know it was made out of chocolate she would have sworn it was a real frog. "It looks so real," Samantha explained to her friend,"I don't know if I want to eat it." Samantha loved chocolate, but she didn't love the idea of eating a frog.

''Oh, it's fine. They might taste all weird, but the beans are all made from the same stuff, so it's note like they are made from actual blood,'' Clara's nose wrinkled in distaste at the though. She would bet a whole galleon that whoever had come up with All Flavor Beans idea had done so by chance. Probably a bunch of candy fell into a potions cauldron and then also got accidentally zapped by a charm. After all, most of the best things in life were accidental.

Samantha had done a clever thing by catching the frog while its attention was on Clara. The girl sighed and got up from the floor as her friend inspected her catch. ''I know, right? They used to freak me out when I was little,'' to be fair, it was mostly gran's fault as she thought it to be a good idea to get a bunch of chocolate frogs for children's party and then set them loose on the overgrown toddlers. Clara had never before, nor since, screamed so much as she run through the house trying to get away from the chocolate monstrosities set out to certainly kill her.

A slight tug forward and back started to slow down the train. ''I think we might be arriving at Hogsmead station soon,'' Clara perked up and looked out of the window. They lost speed gradually and soon houses and the little town come into the view.

Samantha took a deep breath and closed her eyes before taking a bite out of the moving frog. The frog stopped moving and Samantha's mouth filled itself with the lovely taste of chocolate. "It's not that bad. " Samantha said smiling while opening her eyes, "I just got to get used to it!"

Samantha remembered that there was a card of a wizard or witch that came with the chocolate frog. She read her card out loud: "Leopoldina Smethwyck, First British witch to referee a Quidditch match." Quidditch, she had heard of that before. "Quidditch is a sport for witches and wizards, right?"

Samantha also looked out of the window, filled with excitement, they where almost there! "Should we change into the uniform?" Samantha had never had to wear any uniform to school, so she didn't know if they had to wear their uniform right away. Samantha looked at the clothes she was wearing. It were muggles clothes so it probably was a good idea to change.

Samantha looked at her big suitcase that the girls had put on the luggage rack above their heads. Samantha hoped it was easier to get the suitcase down then it was to get it up. Samantha looked at Clara with guilty look: "So, you know my suitcase... The one we putted up there," Samantha pointed to her big suitcase, "my uniform is in there. Would you help me get it down" Samantha smiled at Clara and hoped she would help her.