Compartment #22 Closed

Karley sat with her legs stretched against the wall and her head hanging over the seat, solving her Rubik's cube for the eight hundred and nineteenth time. She wore her cloak like a blanket over half of her body and she had her magenta hat snuggled over her long brown hair. She had a calm expression on her face as she slid the last piece into it's rightful place, her lips parted slightly as she mouthed a song that had gotten stuck in her head earlier today.

Dropping the finished Cube on the ground, Karley twisted her body until she was sitting correctly on the seat, stretching her arms wide and yawning. She opened her trunk and stared at it's contents, wondering what she wanted to do. What she really wanted to do was go back home where she could skateboard with her friends, especially her best friend Daniel, who had given her the giant chocolate bar she was munching on now. But she couldn't go back because her parents wanted to live up to their dumb reputation that they had in both the Muggle and Wizard world. They told their Muggle friends that Karley was going to a special private school for Gift Children, since she was an academic genius. And they couldn't let it be known that their child preferred only Muggles and no magic over Wizardry so they comprised with Karley that if she attended Hogwarts, they'd give her an excellent amount of money if she got the best grades at the end of the school year.

They all laughed at that; Karley never got bad grades.

Karley slumber back in her seat, trying to kick her trunk closed lazily with one foot but failed. She stared out the window, finishing her chocolate. Her dark blue eyes reflected back at her in wonder.

That's when she realized that she hadn't explore her part of the train at all, only gone to others. That was because she was one of the first people on the train and her brain had registered that her area was probably empty. But now that they were moving, some people could've filled up the compartments.

Karley stood up and brushed off and chocolate crumbs on her, crunching on a new piece of candy she had in her mouth now. Her tongue and teeth were probably stained blue now. She walked out of her compartment, one hand on the doorway as she looked both ways; it was pretty quiet. "Hello?" Karley frowned and walked into the small hallway.

It didn't take her long to find a blond haired girl sitting by herself in Compartment #22, which was next to hers. She eyed her for a moment, trying to judge what kind of person would she be, and then said, "Hi, there. I'm Karl." She grinned at the joke, which the guys had made about her back home, saying she was almost a guy for hanging only with boys.

The blonde girl looked up, away from the window, and over to the girl who stood at the compartment door. Karl, she said her name was. She had sort of a dusty blonde hair colour, much less vibrant in comparison to Alexx's blonde, which was next to platinum but not exactly white either. She seemed almost tom-boyish, much like Alexx herself. Clicking her tongue, she responded.

"Hello, I'm Alexx. Nice to meet you." Alexx was soft-spoken, yet her words carried a thick tone, it wasn't anger, but by nature, she didn't sound like the most welcoming and friendly person. That was why she found herself being so polite. "Would you like to sit?" She offered, gesturing out to all the open spaces. Alexx took note that her mix of many accents may make it hard to understand her, so she tried to be as clear as possible. Having spent most of her time in both France and the United States, she sort of sounded like an American trying to speak in a really bad French accent. It wasn't at all pretty, but she did an okay job at masking it.

She tucked some hair behind her ear and readjusted her sitting position. This was her first time on a train, now that she thought about it. The train wasn't the nerve-racking part, but now she was miles away from the only people she had ever known and was encountering a stranger, trying her best to make a friend. This was the scariest situation of her life.

Noting her mix of accents, Karley sighed, saying,"Chaque nouveau début vient de la fin d'un autre début.". Her French accent was excellent, making her sound like she was actually from there, but then she switched back to English, saying, "It's Seneca." Like that explained everything. She slipped into the seat across from Alexx, slumping back in the seat and spreading her legs wide in a relaxed position. "I learned it when I was five years old, back when I had a French nurse. She only spoke to me in that language and if I wanted some grub, I had to say it in French."

Crossing her arms over stomach lazily, watched the girl for a moment, studying her very light blond hair and wondering if she was Pure-blood. It'd figure; she sort of hard that vibe about her. She actually kind of reminded Karley of her friend named Benny, who had almost white hair and pretty skin, always attracting the wrong girls. Karley never had a crush on any of her friends, not even her best one, Daniel, who she'd agree was the hottest of them all. Sometimes she actually wonder if she was gay, or at least bisexual, but she never had a thing for girls before. Maybe she liked neither.

"Soooo...Alexx," said Karley, picking at her fingers absent-mindedly. "What do you expect from Hogwarts? And please don't go one about how much you want to learn magic, I think my brain had enough of that."

Alexx smiled, chuckling a little as well. "Non, it's not the magic that I'm thrilled for. I've been around it enough to not be filled with the same wonder and amusement in it as I was when I was a child. I'm more interested in the history of magic." She stated. It was true, Alexx was indeed a history buff. To her, it was much more interested than casting any incantation or flying a broom.

"What about you? Oh- and, your French is fantastique, for the record."

Alexx had spent years picking up French, it sometimes even feeling more like a first language to her than English. She was more at home speaking French. France was the only place she remembered having any roots to, having to move around so much. It sucked; her family being on the run all the time. She couldn't recall a single family home, even her old manor being hazy in her memory. However, she remembered vividly the busy streets of France. Chivaniac-Lafayette, the town she loved most dearly (due to its famed history), Paris, Lille, Annecy, she remembered it all as if it were yesterday. Her bright green eyes and long blonde hair flowing in the French winds, watching in amazement as the people passed her by. Alone on the streets at such a young age, so much wonder, so much adventure. It was an acquired taste.

She remembered the U.S., too, just not as much. She remembered the Long Island Sound, the waves and the forest. She remembered York City, Philidelphia, Virginia. Although she couldn't picture them as clearly, her books tell her of the colonial times, the ones she prefers. It's a prettier image. Still, she remembers Setauket, a town she held as close to her as she did Chivaniac. She could feel, even now, her eyes sparkling with the desperate memories of her past; of her home, whichever one she chose to claim to the most.

Karley muttered, "Merci." Then she slipped her hands into her pockets. In her left pocket she found her stash of drunk, mostly discarded puzzles she had wripped out of a newspaper. Sometimes she used them for luck, lick if it were a crossword puzzle, the first word she looked at had a meaning to it. Usually nothing significant happened, although she could tell that it did have an effect, but with such a big event in her life as going to Hogwarts, she needed all the luck she could get, even though she didn't know exactly why. It's not like she'd struggle in school or have trouble making friends.

Counting to seven in her head and jumping her fingers around to randomize the selection, Karley said,. "To be honest, I didn't even want to come here. My plan was to go to an actual school, one without talking statues, moving pictures, and study about changing into random animals." Her eyebrows furrowed slightly as she took out a scrap of paper. She studied it, mouthing the words as she read. " Insistence...," she whispered, rubbing the paper between two fingers. Then she crumbled it up and threw it under the seat, sitting back again.

"On the other side, I'm actually interested in the subjects, it's just I wish I were back home. It's almost a nostalgic feeling. I from Los Angeles, la cité des anges. I miss skateboarding, not that I'm not going to ride the halls of this dumb school." She crunched on the candy she was chewing, smiling and showing her blue-stained teeth at Alexx. "I want to be a Animagus, perhaps turn into a Kraken or lion." Karley nodded at her. "Where are you from?"

She hummed, listening to the interesting, almost rebellious girl. They were sewn from the same needle and thread, that was for sure. The two shared much of the same train of thought. "I'm from many places, none really being my home. I was born in Chattanooga, which is a city in eastern Tennessee. From there I was raised mostly on Long Island in New York. After a while, my parents fled to France. We ventured from city to city, mostly staying around the Chivaniac area. After that, it was all over Europe for me." The blonde girl confessed, leaning back against the red seating.

"If it makes you feel any better, I'm not much interested in Hogwarts, either. Not that I'm not proud of my heritage and abilities, it's just- it isn't me. I would rather learn about world history and algebra. I want to know all about sports that don't involve brooms. I'd kill to take a test on a computer, with pencil and paper; real lined paper." Anyone older, someone from a different generation, they would have though Alexx arrogant. Who wouldn't love to be able to produce magic, go to a magic school, have magic friends, right? Magic everything. But to her, it just wasn't as fascinating as the rest of the world.

"As for being an Animagus, if I were to take up the craft, I suppose I'd turn myself to a snake. Sneaky, yet dangerous. And that isn't even a hint towards the house my family has ascended from, either."

Karley snorted. "Let me guess - Slytherin?" She laughed, looking out the window. Usually she didn't care for Pure-Bloods. Most of them thought of themselves as the most superior, like the upper-class of the wizard society, but they still had skin to wash and teeth to brush just like every other human being, magical and non magical, on this rotting planet. But Alexx seemed to value the new world over the old school wizard world, and to that Karley could relate. Thankfully she had gone through that Medevial phase when she was younger or she would never had gotten use to writing with quills and ink.

Karley picked at a scan on her arm from a skateboard accident. "That's the difference between me and you, I never got to travel, except for when I went to Chivaniac-Lafayette to visit my Nurse Elize after she was diagnosed with breast cancer." Karley looked like she wanted to cry but was fighting it back. She never cried anymore but thinking about the person she'd spent time with most dying was very hard for her, especially when the last thing that she said to her was, 'Construis ta vie sur tes rêves parce que les rêves n'ont jamais de mauvaises fins.'.

Suddenly her hand struck the seat next to her and Karley burrowed her head in her arms, breathing heavily. "This school better be worth it, I swear." She lifted her head and sighed. "I want to be like my parents, equally active in both the Muggle and Wizard communities but I feel like one day I'll only favor one of those, and I don't want that. I love both magic and nonmagic lifestyles but..."

Karley thought back to when she pulled out the paper, which said the single word that could me her luck or her burden. "Incistence..." Her eyes suddenly grew wide. "I think that I'm going to have to choose one or the other."

She nodded, listening to the understanding story. "Slytherin through and through." She confessed, chuckling a little bit. Her family had been in Slytherin for as long as she could remember, and valued the Slytherin traits. Even though they had never been a typical wizarding family, her folks held the importance of ambition, resourcefulness, and cunningness very close to them. Other families had religions, Alexx's had values. And as much as she scoffed at the 'importance' of these traits, there was no denying that she, herself, was a Slytherin by nature. It was embedded in her blood, it's what made her her.

"I'm terribly sorry for your loss, by the way. Et rien ne peut nous appeler la nôtre, mais la mort et ce petit modèle de la terre stérile qui sert de pâte et de couverture à nos os. Pour l'amour de Dieu, assoyons-nous sur le sol et racontons des histoires tristes sur la mort des rois." Alexx had never been good at comforting people or being sympathetic. Instead, she had the happy talent of sharing words of wisdom through Shakespeare quotes. Now, of course, the original quote was written in English, but it sounded much more poetic and meaningful in French. "On a happier note, Chivaniac-Lafayette is beautiful. And, you should travel more often if given the chance.The earth has music for those who listen."

"I understand the feeling entirely. For years I've been plunged into the muggle world, it feels more like home than the magical one. I fear that no one here will understand people like you and me, those of us who are tethered to both sides of the spectrum." Her words were dry and unamused. She knew how magic folk worked, those of them that were raised traditionally. Especially pure-bloods. They held a certain level of disgust for fellow wizards who found themselves engulfed in muggle culture. In Alexx's case, she couldn't much help it. But no one could know that, so she just had to suck it up and bare with whatever came her way. That wouldn't be hard, she kept her head high and had a hard shell. Some saw her as untrusting and cold, but if there was any quote she lived by, it was one spoken by Dallas Winston in The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton: "Get tough like me and you don't get hurt."

"If you're stuck between two roads, take the one that calls to you the most. Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom." Silently, in her mind, she cursed herself for using three different quotes in a conversation. She decided she had offered enough wisdom for one day.