The Last Compartment of the Last Car PV Closed

Howie practically skipped down the hall of the Express, still riding the high of the past few days. They had been absolutely filled to the brim with excitement. A couple nights with his parents at the Leaky Cauldron, a day of shopping on Diagon Alley, and the fact that Howie was a wizard had filled him with the highest sense of elation. 

His thoughts went back in time to a few weeks prior, it was his eleventh birthday. Howard Sr. and Dawn White had prepared a small celebration for him in the small apartment located above the family bakery. It was a humble event, just the three of them and their family cat gathered around for a few presents and a cake. Just as they had been about to cut into the delicious, double chocolate delight, a knock on the door rang out. 

His father answered the call, and a very oddly dressed woman entered, saying she was here to see Howie. The next few minutes were some Howie would never forget. She was a representative from Hogwarts, a school for witchcraft and wizardry, obviously a hoax, and was there to inform them that Howie was a wizard and had been put on a list for attendance since his birth, again obviously some stupid prank. The same jokester that must have been sending owls to their home too. It took a lot of explaining and a marvelous gesture from the witches wand to convince his parents that this was indeed a reality. Howie had magic in his blood. 

His mind snapped back to reality as the train began to lurch forward. What was he doing again? Right, he would need a place to sit wouldn’t he. He hummed and whistled a tune as he made his way down the hall. Almost all of the compartments were full, so he made his way to the very back of the train. Hopefully this last one had room, Howie would sit in the hall if he had to, he didn’t care one bit, he was on the way to a school for magic!

Reaching the last compartment he peered inside. It seemed empty, which was a bit disappointing as he had hoped to meet some new people. Always doing his best to have proper manners, he knocked as he entered. To Howie’s surprise, there was a girl sitting by the window, seemingly lost in thought. 

“Oi. Mind if I sit in here with you, all the others are full?” He asked politely. She did not respond. He reached out and knocked on the wall, hoping to get her attention. “Hello...earth to red head.” A big smile crossed his face as he amused himself with his own corny joke.

"Hello... earth to red head."

Ami turned at the sound of another human, looking up from her gaze through the window to scrutinize the boy standing in the doorframe. Apparently, he'd said something, presumably about coming inside the compartment, considering that the train had begun to move. Her eyes did a quick once-over of the boy, and she noted everything, from the way his hair was dark and relatively mussed, to the way he held himself, tall and graceful. Well, he certainly must feel excited about going to this riff-raff school! although she couldn't see why. She offered him a tight-lipped smile, her eyes not carrying the same intent as her mouth.

"Sit, if that's what you really want," she mumbled, waving a hand indifferently at the cushioned seat across from her. The normal posh British accent didn't exist in Ami's voice, so her accent marked her as American-grown child. Her dark chocolate eyes were averted to staring out the window once more, her shoulders hunched and back slouched. The perfect picture of misery, Ami Procoppio clearly didn't want to be stuck on this stupid train, going to this stupid school to learn stupid skills she was never going to need.

The trip to London wasn’t as smooth as the young girl thought it would be. Her parents said that the easilest way to get to the city was by using the apparition spell. It was a spell that her parents had constantly used to get to far away places that couldn’t be reached by driving the family’s 7-seater BMW X5. This trip was different, Aurelia had felt awfully sick when she had gotten to London. Her Mother had explained to her that it was her first time to an unfamiliar location which was the reason of her stomach twisting uncomfortably.

It was a good thing that she had gone to Diagonalley to get her stuff before hand, else she’d be late for her train. Aurelia had spent about ten minutes in the toilet cubicle throwing her guts up. The girl had barely enough time before she walked into a brick wall and board the train. She walked down the isle looking for a vacant compartment or at least one that wasn’t crowded with boisterous 5th years. Everyone of them she peered into was occupied to the brim, she walked further into the back of the train.

When she finally found one. It was occupied with a few girls. She really didn’t want cootie infected boys to join them. The girls seemed to be talking about houses. great! But even before she sat on the seat, she had excuse herself before running back to the lavatory when her stomach twisted again. When she came back, to the compartment, it was full.

The Brunette had strode down to the back of the train. She peered into the last compartment, hoping that there would be an empty seat, and thankfully enough it was only occupied with two people. A red head girl and a boy. Without asking, she plopped herself down on an empty seat across the boy, she didn’t want to catch cooties. She really hoped she wouldn’t be chased away, this was the last compartment and she didn’t want to spend the hours standing. Aurelia smiled at the boy politely.

“Aurelia Bezuidenhout, First year.” She introduced herself, her accent was strange and out of place. She was raised by two Dutch speaking parents and her accent was always different from the other children. It was something the bullies in her muggle primary school liked to tease her about. The young girl really hoped Hogwarts was different and that the people were nicer.

As Howie’s eyes met the red head’s, he gave her a big bright smile, still chuckling a bit at his joke. However, it was not returned. She had offered a weak smile, maybe an attempt to be polite, but her eyes told tales of misery.

“Well of course I want to sit silly. That’s why I came in here and asked you if I could sit.” He chuckled again, a habit he had when facing any kind of confrontation. He plopped down on the cushioned bench across from her, his sense of excitement not dulled one bit by her somber mood. How could anyone heading to a school for magic look this miserable?! Maybe  she was a witch who came from a magical family and this day was no big deal or something? It was time for Howie to do some investigating. 

“I take it you’re from the States then?” He asked, forcing a dialogue on her. Howie was a champion of good times and laughter, he would conquer her sadness and misery, even if it took him the whole train ride to do so. “I’m Howard by the way, but friends call me Howie.” He reached out his hand for a shake, emphasizing the word friends.

Just then, the compartment door slid open, revealing a brunette girl. She introduced herself in a funny accent. Howie turned to her and gave out another big smile. “Alright then Aurelia! Name’s Howie, and this is...” he paused waiting for the red head to introduce herself.

"The USA, America, yeah. Whatever you want to call it, I guess," she mumbled in response to the boy's questions. "I was raised there." Because, goddammit, she'd been born in London, England, the most boring place on earth. Furthermore, the boy introduced himself as Howard, no, Howie, as he seemed to insist she call him. She shook his hand delicately- well, sort of. She gave what her mother had dubbed the 'elegantly mature dead fish' handshake, brushing her fingers against Howie's from the base of the palm to the tips of the fingers- not really shaking his hand, but still doing something about that outstretched limb. Thus, it certainly was the 'elegantly mature dead fish' handshake.

Then, another girl burst into their compartment. Great, just great. Phenomenal. Just perfectly peachy. She introduced herself as Aurelia Bezui- Bezou- Be-whatever it was, and as a fellow first year. To her utter disappointment and terror, Howie proceeded to welcome her into the compartment, introducing himself and pausing to let Ami introduce herself. "Ami." Please leave, she wanted to add, but that was rude. You couldn't be rude to people who could potentially blast you into the sky with a magical stick. "Nice to meet you both," she mumbled, tucking her legs underneath herself and turning to look back out the window.

The red head didn’t seem like she was in the mood for a conversation, Howie on the other hand, was very friendly. Aurelia gave her a smile after he had introduced himself. The girl, blankly threw in her name before fixing her gaze back at the window. Aurelia didn’t mind just talking to the boy, some people weren’t as Friendly as others.

“Are you a first year too?” Aurelia asked the boy. He looked young and was possibly the same age as Aurelia. He was proabably either a first or second year.

“I’m pretty nervous what house I’d be sorted into.” The girl admitted. It was said that once someone was sorted into a house, there was no way to change to another no matter how much you disliked it. The girl’s parents was from Slytherin and Ravenclaw. Her Father has told her countless stories about his house, Slytherin, he told the young girl that Slytherins weren’t the nicest of people. She glanced towards the red head, she was most likely going to be put in Slytherin.

Her Mother was in Ravenclaw. Her Mother had told her Ravenclaws were intelligent and the most studios. It seemed frightening, even in her primary school, she wasn’t one who excelled in academics.

“What house do you think you’d be sorted into? I’m thinking that I’d probably be sorted into Hufflepuff. There are lots of stereotypes on the houses, some may not be true,” Aurelia stated.

“Yep, first year for me too.” Howie replied to Aurelia’s question. Leaning forward in his seat, he placed his hands on both of his knees. This was the moment he had been waiting for. A chance to speak with people who had come up in this so called ‘wizarding world.’ Being a muggleborn himself, Howie’s knowledge of this community was lacking, having only learned a few basic facts from the books he had obtained earlier in the week.

Aurelia went on to speak of being sorted into a ‘house’ at Hogwarts. Ah ha! This was some of the juicy bits. Howie had read about the fours houses in Hogwarts: A History. He knew that upon his arrival at the school, that he would go through the Sorting Ceremony and be placed into one of the houses. It was something he had been fixated on ever since learning of it.

“Not so sure to be honest. I’m the first wizard in my family that we know of, so nothing really to look back on. I read that it isn’t hereditary, but often families get sorted into the same houses. Is it true they’re going to put a hat on our head and let it decide where we go?” The thought seemed a bit rediculous to Howie. Why wouldn’t the educators decide?! “So you reckon it’ll be Hufflepuff for you? Hmm.” His eyes broke contact with Aurelia’s, drifting back over to Ami, who was stubbornly still looking out the window. “Come off it Ami, you can’t stare out the window for the whole trip. C’mon tell us, what you reckon about all this ‘house’ business? Where you think you’ll end up?”

Ami was only partially listening to the other two's conversation about houses. Who cared about houses? You were there to learn, not to make friends- or, so her mom had told her. School was for learning- if you wanted to make friends, you broke into a club. And who cared which house you got sorted into? That didn't necessarily define anything about you, it was just a place for you to sleep in and store your textbooks. But personally, hopefully, she'd get Hufflepuff. Yellow didn't look too shabby on her, unlike blue and green, and there was no way she would want to be in Gryffindor. 

"Come off it Ami, you can’t stare out the window for the whole trip."

Try me, b****, she wanted to hiss, but Howie had been nothing but cordial to her the entire time, and once again; you don't offend people who can blast you sky-high with a magic stick. He proceeded to inquire about her opinion on houses and such, to which Ami nearly slammed her head into the window. Why did it matter, anyway?


"I think it's bullshit," she said simply, turning to face the other two. "The whole house thing. A sentient hat is supposed to define who you are for the rest of your life? Nuh-uh, no thanks- I'll pass." She wasn't going to let a stupid hat define who she was as a person- no, she'd do it herself, through growth and maturity as a person, learning through experiences and mistakes. She didn't need an all-knowing object to tell her who she was.

Oh, hadn't Howie asked a question about where she thought she was going to end up? Right, she should probably answer that. "I'm not going to end up in Ravenclaw, I'm too dumb for them," Ami said, ticking the houses off one by one on her fingers. "Gryffindor can go jump off a cliff, for all I care, and green looks terrible on me. Hufflepuff..." Ami hesitated, considering the house once again. "I don't belong in Hufflepuff," she said simply. 

Prickly and bristly, Ami turned back towards her new favorite window, leaning her hot and flustered cheek against the cool glass. Did she really just say all of that? She must've seemed rude, but at that moment, she didn't quite care enough. Nope, that was a lie... she hated that all of that had just spilled out of her mouth with no control, no filter, no thorough examination. That's it, you're screwed... no one's going to like you if you keep it up, some part of her whispered, while another part countered with, But isn't that what you want? Sweet, sweet solitude? Privacy, where no one can see the blood drip down your arms, where no one can hear you scream? Shut up, shut up, shut up. Blinking and biting her lip, Ami only continued to stare out the window morosely.

“Yes an old hat. My parents say it’s quite loud when it speaks.” The girl laughed slightly. She didn’t know if The sorting was according to hereditary traits or not. Most of her Father’s side of the family had Slytherin after Slytherins it was possible that Aurelia might be sorted into the house. Not all members from her mother’s side of the family came from Hogwarts and Aurelia wasn’t aware of the houses her other Aunts and Uncles were put into.

Howie has also mention that he was the first wizard of his family. It was something that bewildered the young girl. It was quite rare for muggles producing magical babies and it’s also hard for the parents to except that thier child was a witch.

“A muggle born? Like Hermoine Granger? That’s so cool,” Said the eleven year old.

Howie turned to Ami and encouraged her to join in the conversation, however, she didn’t seem interested and even said the sorting was “bullshit”. It wasn’t a word the eleven year old was unfamiliar with. She had very so often hung out with street kids in her hometown Cheshire Everyday after her primary school classes ended. Even now, her parents are still unaware of her relations with them. She had never told them as they would most likely freak out if they knew. The streets kids had taught her a lot of new words, but Aurelia never used them.

“You still have to be sorted into a house wether you like it or not,” Aurelia said.