Finished First Train Ride and First Friend PV: Ava Winchect

Ava was in good spirits after she woke up from her nap. The train had pulled into the station and more people were around, though most were on the train already. She knew from her few experiences on a train to get a compartment before they were all full. She rushed onto the train and got one of the compartments in the back. She was thinking about what the term mud blood could mean. The boy had offered no explanation, just small clues. All she knew was that it was bad. Mud. Blood. Mud in her blood? She shivered, feeling that she had hit the nail right on the head. She wished she had a friend to talk to on the train, but most people already seemed to know each other. She was alone for this adventure. She desperately wished she could explore the train but she was afraid to leave her belongings alone. She weighed the options in her head. She couldn’t stand to be stuck in the compartment for longer than was necessary, so she opted for coming back as soon as she noticed anyone coming her way.

She pulled open the door and stuck her head out, not expecting to see an owl right in front of her head.
“Ah!” She screamed, ducking back. She waited a moment before coming back out. “Sorry, you surprised me. Is that an owl?” She said and the girl nodded. She was already in her school robes and Ava had to be surprised. She had assumed it was a fancy school and they wore fancy clothes. She had dressed in a dress, did her hair and her makeup. She blushed when she realized she was probably the fanciest on the train. She hoped it didn’t show under her makeup as she excused herself back into her seat. The robes, she assumed, were only for special occasions. But apparently not, because when she checked again most people had changed into their robes. Her robes were buried deep in her trunk and she would have to empty everything out to get to it. Fish them out before anyone saw her. She grabbed her trunk, opened it, and started neatly stacking the clothes and items into piles. She was almost there when another girl slid the door open.

The other girl offered her name and her help, and all Ava could say was a simple, ‘Hi’. She didn’t want to hurt the girl, Charlie, by declining her help, but she didn’t want to need help from a stranger. She could tell the girl was looking at her peculiarly, and she didn’t want to get lost on the train with an armful of clothes.
“I’m Ava.” She took a deep breath. “Sure,” she waited for the girl to stand up before following her out the compartment and to a different car where she could change. She quickly was in her school robes and had a pink poofy dress to carry back. Her hair was probably messed up too. When she stepped out she was greeted with stares. But not from Charlie. Charlie just followed her back to the compartment. There was something about Charlie that made Ava like her. Maybe it was the way she shot a glare at the people who gave Ava funny looks, or the way she had waited while Ava changed, but Ava could tell Charlie was starting to grow on her. When they were back and settled in Ava pulled out a book. It was, in fact, a spell book. There was one spell she was determined to learn. It was a spell that would make something dance. It was similar to what she had done in her first instance of magic, but this was intentional. She read the page again, glad for the many details.

The other girl was talking to her! She was glad to close her book and listen to the description of the houses. Charlie seemed to know that she did not know anything about the Wizarding world. There were four houses, she learned. The loyal, the brave, the cunning, the smart. Each house had its own attributes. Ava already had a guess for what the other girl's house would be. There was one thing about Charlie that she had already proved. She was loyal to someone she hadn’t even met. Ava had no doubt that she would be a loyal Hufflepuff. As for herself…
“I’d love to be a Ravenclaw, or a Hufflepuff. Or maybe a Gryffindor! They all sound awesome.” She sighed as she processed all the choices. There were many, and it was hard to decide which would be the best. She realized she probably wouldn’t get to choose her house, and that she had left one key house out. “It would be cool to be a Slytherin too.”
She fell into a silence as the possibilities flew through her head. But one thing that most people forget, is that you never quite describe yourself correctly. Ava couldn’t really see herself in Hufflepuff, reasoning that the Magic she had already performed on her step-mum proved she was a wicked being. She wasn’t a very brave soul either, that she was correct.

She said Ava could be a Hufflepuff, but Ava didn’t want to scare her away with her feats of magic, and didn’t mention anything. Now Ravenclaw, she could see.
“I’d love to be in either!” That was true, but she could only see herself in one of the two houses. She wasn’t sure what made Charlie’s face so sour, until she asked the one question Ava had been hoping to avoid since earlier that morning when that boy had called her a mudblood.
“Why? Does that matter?” She crossed her arms in front of her chest and turned her face away. She was sure that mudblood and muggle were related somehow and she now knew that a muggle was someone who had no wizard parents.
She starts talking about her parents and Ava had to keep her face turned away so that Charlie doesn’t see the sympathy laced through her features. But by the time Charlie finishes talking Ava is feeling bad.
“I’m sorry. When I was born my mum died and then my dad got married to my step-mum.” Ava bit her tongue so that she wouldn’t continue to describe her step-mum. Ava wasn’t sure, but maybe she and the girl were becoming friends?

Ava watched as Charlie pulled out a lunch and Ava’s eyes grew wider with each addition. All Ava had brought was a ham and cheese sandwich, which she pulled out of the brown sack along with the little bit of donut she had saved from the morning.

Her dad had once told her a story of her mum, and in it her mum was obsessed with the story Hansel and Gretel. In the story Hansel leaves a trail of breadcrumbs that leads them home. Her dad had said that it was strange that her mum didn’t know the story, but she became so fixated on it that he was sure it was a story from her childhood. Her mother always had a little bread on her and would drop some of it when she went to new places. Ava had no memories of her mum, and it was her honor to carry out the tradition her mum could not. Ava opened the window and let a little bit of the leftover donut flutter in the wind before shutting the window. Call it superstitious, if you may, but it was more tradition.

She could feel Charlie’s eyes on her as she waited a few moments before turning back. She watched the door open and an old woman with a trolley full of sweets walking in. Ava’s eyes lit up, for she had never been allowed to eat sweets as a child. Now, she had extra money from her school shopping, and this seemed the perfect opportunity to spend it. She let Charlie buy first, not sure what was good and what wasn’t. Charlie bought some chocolate frogs and something called Every flavour beans. Ava didn’t want to get too much, so she only chose a chocolate frog when she stood up. When Charlie began reading the description from the card Ava tilted her head, a thing that she sometimes did when she was listening. Charlie offered her the card but Ava only shook her head, not wanting to take it from her.

When Ava opened her box of what looked like Jelly Beans, Ava gladly plopped one in her mouth, but quickly regretted it as she looked for somewhere to spit it out at.
“What was that!” She grumbled to Charlie after she managed to swallow it.