First trip, first friend Closed

It was Adina's first year at Hogwarts. She had been waiting for the day that she would get to finally join her brother rather than wave at him from the platform as he rode off. Every time he sent an owl or returned from Hogwarts, her brother Thomas always made the place sound like some kind of never-ending vacation. Adina knew that wasn't the case, because they'd all have homework and tests and the sort, but Adina liked studying. She was certain that was practically the only Ravenclaw trait about her, the house that her grandmother was practically praying Adina to be sorted into. Adina wasn't too sure she would make it into that particular house.

The train was packed with students of all years, but they all held eager faces, clearly excited to depart from their homes to partake in a journey to the mystical castle. Adina shared that same eagerness, but she wasn't sure where to sit at, and her brother had run off with his friends after they had pulled some kind of prank on him. So Adina began looking into compartments for an available spot, preferably one with not so many people inside. Most were filled. All but the last one she opened.

Looking inside, Adina saw a boy her age with black hair. This compartment may be as empty as it gets... Adina thought to herself as she looked to where the boy pointed at. The voice he made made her smile, and she took his tone to be welcoming enough to walk in, shut the door, and sit down opposite of the boy in response to his question. "I'm Adina Rosewood." She said, holding her hand out boldly. Adina didn't talk to people, not normally. She was an introvert, and even on the days she chose to boldly speak out more, most people couldn't exactly handle her dark-mind and dark-humored jokes. That, or they were seriously taken aback. What eleven year-old actually liked reading horror books or liked talking about unsolved crimes and mysteries? Adina was...weird in most peoples' eyes.

"First year, I assume?" She asked the boy. She could have been wrong. The boy could have been a second year, but Adina had the feeling he wasn't.

Conan smiles at his companion who tells him her name is Adina Rosewood. He answered her:
- First year, yes! And you too, right? Which house are you hoping to go to? Oh, sorry, I haven't introduced myself! I'm Conan Clarck. Well, my family wants me to go to Slytherin and I wanted to, but now I'm wondering if I wouldn't rather... not do what my whole family does, if you understand what I mean!
Conan swallowed one of the many chocolates on the table and offered:
- Would you like some?
He chewed on his candy as he watched the scenery whiz by. He continued thoughtfully:
- You don't choose your home. It allows us to discover who we really are. My father often tells me that I should get to know myself better instead of running around the countryside like a 'savage'. He is very strict.
"Or maybe he's just mad at himself for not being there for us often," Conan thought to himself without mentioning his thought aloud to Adina.
She was looking at him, and he took the opportunity to look at her too. With her red hair and her big brown eyes, and that little shy air that hid mystery, he found her very interesting, because she didn't seem to be really like the others. And just as well, he wasn't either.
- Well, will you be my friend?

Adina seated herself across from Conan, setting her small bag that was held tightly at her side right beside her. Conan was talkative, which was really alright with Adina. She made a much better listener than a talker.

"I get what you mean. My family wants me to be in Ravenclaw. The whole side of my mom's family were and are Ravenclaws. However, my brother isn't. He's a Gryffindor, much like my dad was." Adina said with a small nod. "As to what house I'm hoping to be in...I can't say I'm really hoping for any of them, not that I'm not eager to attend Hogwarts. I'm just more interested in learning, getting better in my knowledge and strength, being the best of the best." Adina offered a small smile at the end of her sentence. She was competitive when it came to her and her brother and her very few friends. Competitive and eager to win. Adina hated losing, and where there were the end of the year house points to declare the house winner, Adina knew the best way to gain those points were to be at her very best. Which she always was.

Adina listened to Conan's wise words, wondering why his father was so keen on him being a Slytherin with the rest of the family. Grandmother is the very same... Adina thought to herself. Her grandmother wanted the Ravenclaw house to continue down the family line, something Adina couldn't quite understand. As they were riding the train to Hogwarts, she knew her grandmother was already making Adina blue and bronze scarves and gloves in high hopes of celebrating that her granddaughter was a Ravenclaw. Adina wasn't getting her hopes up. Knowing her luck, she'd be placed elsewhere. "My grandmother is similar. Strict, as if she can mold me into a Ravenclaw." Adina smirked, realization dawning on her that Adina did in fact hope for something when it came to the houses. She wished to be in anything but Ravenclaw.

Adina's brows raised in partial shock as Conan outwardly asked if she'd like to be his friend. Was it really that easy? "Sure." She said with a kind smile. "You'll be my first Hogwarts friend." Adina noted aloud, brushing her fingers through her short hair. "What do you like to do? Like...hobbies and such." Adina asked, recalling how her brother would go about making friends. It often included small talk to get to know the other person, but Adina didn't mind small talk with Conan. He was open and honest, which Adina really liked.

Conan's affection for Adina grew even stronger when he learned that, like him, one of his relatives was placing her own dreams in her offspring. As if they were a second chance for a faded youth.
When she told him that he would be her first friend at Hogwarts, he couldn't help but add:
- You'll be my first real friend in my whole life.
The landscape was now speeding by and the train was belching out smoke proposed by the Hogwarts Express.
When Adina asked him what he liked to do, he couldn't help but laugh, realising that she too was a little uncomfortable and didn't really know how to start a friendship. For Conan, too, it was a completely unknown concept, having been raised as any wizard-born, safe from muggles, with his only "human" friend being his brother, who was also nine years older than him.
He looked deeply into the girl's eyes, with that sly smile that never left him, and his blue eyes reflected in hers.
- You don't know how to start a friendship either, do you? I don't know either. I mean, I like to walk alone in the nature with my big dog, Dixit! He is a huge beige dog with very long hair. He likes to swim and run around and as I grew up with him, I inherited his character a bit. He sort of replaced my brother when he went to Hogwarts when I was... two. I don't remember my life before he left for Magic School. And by the time I finally got into Hogwarts, he was already living his adult life. He's always one step ahead of me. It's weird, I usually have a bit of trouble starting a conversation.
He swallowed a chocolate (the pile on the table was slowly diminishing) and added:
- And you? What do you like to do?

Adina didn't know how to respond to Conan's sudden statement. It was out of the blue, even if the topic was over friends, and saddening. Adina wasn't much of a social person, even if her family pushed her to be more social, but even she had a few friends. Mostly her brother's friends, but Adina wondered if they counted as friends if they were much older than her. Perhaps not. Of course, Adina had other friends too...plant friends. "Of course plants can be friends, Thomas!" Adina recalled an argument that her and her brother had when she was younger. He was mocking her, like he liked to do, that she didn't really have any friends, and when she had claimed that her plants were her friends, her brother's mocking smile turned serious as he worriedly expressed that plants were not people, and therefore could not be friends. Adina never cared much. Plants, animals, humans, your own imagination...whatever. Anything could be labeled a friend.

Adina tilted her head as Conan laughed. Had she said something funny? It was soon revealed why Conan was laughing, and Adina rubbed the back of her neck as her cheeks burned red. Was it hat obvious? Adina had thought she was doing this whole...start a friendship thing right. Adina cleared her throat quietly and listened to Conan's interest with his dog, Dixit and how he replaced his brother because his brother was much older.

"Was your brother a Slytherin?" Adina asked, unable to help herself. "I like a lot of things. I like reading, crocheting, things that most people my age would find to be absolutely boring. My mother says I have an old soul within me, whatever that means. But what I really enjoy doing is growing my garden. I grow loads of things. I also have a brother, by the way. His name is Thomas, but he's five years older than I am. He's always hanging out with his friends, so I tend to spend a lot of time on my own, not that I don't mind. So busying myself with a garden is always nice. You'd like Thomas, he's a lot better at talking than I am."

When Adina said that Conan would surely like his brother who was more talkative than her, he smiled gently at her:
- 'It's true that I'm a bit chatty, but I'd love you less if we were that chatty. I've never known anyone before who listens to me so carefully.
She then told him about her activities, crocheting, reading, and growing plants. She told him that her mother said she had an "old soul". He laughed and added:
- We don't have the same kind of mother! Mine says I have a wild soul. It's true that I can't stand still. But I also like plants. You know, my grandfather has a vegetable garden, but I hate having to garden with him, I don't like pumpkins and gourds!
He was silent for a moment. He could see himself as a child, grumbling about a pumpkin he couldn't carry.
- My Aunt Amy, on the other hand," he continued, "has a greenhouse at the back of our manor, and it's so big I can't stand it! She's quite an extravagant woman, she travels a lot and brings back a lot of exotic plants that I've always been interested in. She doesn't talk much and she hates all the social gatherings between big wizarding families where you have to waltz and wear long dresses. I know she doesn't share much with my cousins. A girl and a boy, twins, who are fifteen years older than me. They are snobs and don't like anything, I don't hold them in my heart either.
He got lost again in an endless dream, with his cousins, always with their noses in their law books, refusing to go out and hating to get their clothes dirty in the dirt.
- She loves me very much and I too am fascinated by her activity. I am sure she will love you! If you don't do anything during the next holidays, I could invite you to the manor, you'd love it! And then you would meet Dixit!
The train entered a tunnel and Conan took the opportunity to let his friend digest all this information. When the sunlight warmed the window again, he resumed:
- If you crochet, I'm counting on you to make me a warm jumper for the winter!

Adina gave a small smile in return to Conan's words that he very much liked how she listens rather than talks. She always listened. Adina was the kind of person that could listen to someone ramble on for hours on end, and she would still have the calm and easy smile on her face that she had from the beginning. It's what she did for her brother. He certainly talked a lot and enough for Adina to never get a word in, and she often wondered how he could speak so much without needing to catch a breath of fresh air.

When Conan mentioned his mother always claimed he had a wild soul, Adina couldn't help but laugh. Conan seemed a lot like her brother so far, minus the family dynamics. "Pumpkins are only fun to grow to see how big they can get, though mine can never get that large. My garden has a lot of fruits though. Strawberries, blueberries, Oh! My absolute favorite: boysenberry. You can turn them into delicious syrup for your waffles and pancakes and other breakfast or dessert items. It's very delicious." Adina had a sweet tooth, she also really enjoyed spicy things and sour things. She liked a lot of things. "I couldn't live without my small garden." Adina practically glowed with excitement at the thought of her garden, though she was also very nervous about it. Leaving her garden alone for nearly a year was going to be devastating. What if her grandmother killed her plants? What if she forgot to water them and tend to them accordingly? What if she got so upset with Adina being in another house (assuming she would be placed elsewhere) that she purposely ruined the plants. Adina shook her head at the ideas of returning to pale and droopy leaves and rotting fruits.

"A large greenhouse? I've been dying to have a greenhouse large enough to hold all plants of every kind." Adina spoke eagerly, her eyes bright and full of life as she could only imagine what Conan's aunt's greenhouse looked like. Conan's family seemed...strict, all of them. Rich and strict, and she wondered just how different their families could be. "Does your family often do such extravagant sounding social gatherings?" She asked with a tilt to her head. It sounded boring, especially with all the talk about his cousins and how snobby they were. "Your aunt sounds awesome." Adina pointed out. She couldn't say the same for his cousins though.

"Oh? Well if my own family doesn't really have anything going on, then I'd love to! And I'd love to see Dixit too." The idea of traveling elsewhere for the winter break was exciting, but scary. She didn't know Conan. She didn't know his family. She knew she would get to know Conan soon though, and Adina found herself hoping that they were in the same house. She stared at her feet as the train rolled on, passing under a tunnel, rolling further into the middle of nowhere. New territory. Unknown places. It sounded like an adventure if she ever knew of one. Hogwarts was a whole new adventure in itself.

"Sounds like I've got a deadline then." Adina smirked, never one to turn down a challenge. "Would you like me to wait until after the sorting ceremony to make one out of your house colors? Or do you have a favorite color?" She asked with a tilt of her head. "I certainly hope we share some classes at the very least, even if we aren't in the same house." The probability of them being in the same house was low, but a girl could hope. "Speaking of classes, are you excited for a particular one? Or dreading any classes?"

Conan smiled when Adina asked him if his family still hosted extravagant parties.
- Often, yes. I've known how to waltz since I was five! Normally you're supposed to learn at four, but since my brother was my teacher at the time, instead of dancing we went wandering around the countryside without our parents knowing. But eventually they found out and I changed teachers.
He winked at her as he continued:
- If you ever come to my house, you may participate, but don't let yourself be impressed! At worst, we'll go for a little night out.
Conan's thick, black hair rose slightly in the wind and the boy straightened it with his hand.
He glanced at Adina, who was looking down at her feet. As if reading her mind, he moved closer and took her by the shoulder:
- Don't worry if we're not in the same house. We have to spend a year at Hogwarts, we'll have plenty of time to see each other.
He sat back in his seat as the sweet cart passed by. Without much thought, Conan bought a packet of chocogrenouilles and swallowed one on the fly. Seeing Adina's surprised look, he said:
- I've got to take advantage of this! My great-great-aunt was a dentist, so my brother and I always have to hide to eat them!
The girl asked him what colour she preferred for the jumper. He thought for a moment while chewing his chocolate, then finally answered:
- You know what? I don't want you to make me one in the colour of my house. I'd like you to make it your favourite colour, so you'll have more fun making it and when I wear it I'll think of you.
He smiled at her, hoping she would agree.
Then the boy looked out the window and gave a shout:
- Hogwarts! Come and see!
He gently took her by the arm and led her to where he had been earlier. The dark shape of the great castle stood out against the cold Scottish landscape. He gazed at his future second family in amazement.