The Tale Begins finished

"Do you have all your books?"

"Yes, Dad."

"What about your school robes? You didn't leave any at home?"

"No, Dad."

"And your toothbrush? Did you remember-"

"Yes, Dad." Bex replied, through gritted teeth.

Similar scenes were unfolding all around them as all the parents and guardians in attendance said goodbye to their respective students for the year. To the left of her, a woman appeared to be crying directly into her daughter's hair. So yes, she supposed her own goodbye with her father could be a lot worse, but this was already embarrassing enough.

Her father, Milo, smiled at her sheepishly. "Sorry, I know that you're- It's fine. Sorry."

They stood in uncomfortable silence for a few moments, during which Bex looked around the train station awkwardly. The Hogwarts Express was a red behemoth of a train, which she supposed was a good thing seeing as the station was so full of people that, had it been a Muggle platform, she would have assumed someone would end up calling fire services to break it up. Her hometown of Leeds was quite large in terms of Muggle population, but it's Magical community was significantly smaller, and she'd never seen this many witches and wizards all in one place.

She wanted her mum to be here. She really wanted her mum to be here. She'd plotted ways to make it happen all summer, but in the end her parents had arranged it all behind her back, with Bex eating breakfast at her mum's house before her dad had arrived and taken her back to his own house, so that the both of them could floo to London. She wasn't even really sure if Muggle parents could come with to Platform 9^3/4, and hadn't ever asked, afraid of what the answer would be. Really though, she just wanted her mom to want to come and see her off. But her mom had hugged her for a few long minutes before kissing the top of her head, and sending Bex off without her.

And now she wouldn't see her mum again until Christmas.

After a few more uncomfortable moments of silence, the train let out another shrill whistle reminding all of the more emotional families that, no, really, it was absolutely time to board now. Her dad awkwardly reached his arms out to her for hug, and Bex quickly stepped into his hold. He held her for a brief moment, careful not to mess up the intricate braids that her mother had given her this morning, before releasing her.

"Good luck, love. Owl me when you're all settled in and let me know where you were sorted, alright?"

"Okay, Dad. Bye." She replied, waving to him before turning around and making her way to the train. Just before climbing in, she took one last peek back at her dad, who she saw was still watching her as she entered the train. She waved to him one last time before making her way into the narrow passage inside the train.

Despite her father's best attempts, her long brown hair was already beginning to fall out of its braids, and she absentmindedly pushed it out of her eyes as she lugged her Muggle suitcases down the aisle. Clearly her and her dad's long goodbye had put her at a disadvantage, as almost all the train cars she passed were either full past what was likely a safe occupancy, or occupied by returning students who had mostly sorted themselves by house. She quietly cursed as she felt the train begin to leave the station before she'd even found a seat, bracing her hand against the wall for balance as she quickly peeked into a few more compartments.

A few compartments later, she finally hit the jackpot and found a compartment with one lone blonde girl inside, who appeared to be gazing absentmindedly out the window. Bex knocked loudly on the door, holding onto the frame for balance as she poked her head inside.

"Hi, is it cool if I sit here?"

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*ೃ༄.ೃ࿐
Speech| Speech
Thoughts|Thoughts
Interactions| @Rebecca Lark
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𓆩ᥫ᭡𓆪- - ┈┈∘┈˃̶༒˂̶┈∘┈┈ - -𓆩ᥫ᭡𓆪

As the Hogwarts express slowly exited Platform 9 ¾ Helena enjoyed watching the scenery unfold in front of her. Her luxurious honey blonde locks swayed with the movement of the train. Helena’s head rested gently on her right hand.

The young first year was lost in her own world. Her mind wandered around definitely nervous to start the school year even more so, because the fear of disappointing her family weighed heavy on her shoulders.

A knock broke Helena out of her trance. Swiftly moving her gaze towards the cart's door frame Helena noticed a young girl standing in the doorway. Helena noticed the braid the girls hair was in looked as if it was slowly getting loose. Hearing the girl speak up Helena gestured politely across from her. Who was Helena to be if she seemed rude after all she did not wish to kick the girl out after all most of the carts may already be filled up already.

“No. Please come in. After all it would not do well to stay in the doorway after all would it?”

Helena spoke rather softly; her sweet light tone held a bit of elegance towards it. Helena sat up a tad straighter twiddling with her hands in a shy manner. The young girls honey blonde bangs covered her left eye shyly as she smiled a small closed mouth smile towards the newcomer that joined her.

“First Year as well is it?”

Helena spoke softly trying to make a tiny conversation. Though the young girl despised making conversations and talking really she figured it would do her well to at least try. After all she did have the Rose name to uphold.

The last thing the girl wished was to disappoint her family more than she already has, especially with her shy personality. The Rose family was not very fond of this at all.

Helena quietly awaited for a response from the newcomer; she was rather curious about the newcomer; she did not look familiar nor did she look like she came from a pureblood family lineage, but of course Helena could be entirely wrong. Their was no way possible for the girl to know every single pureblood family in existence right?

Bex smiled gratefully at the blonde girl by the window. "Cool, thanks."

Bex quickly hauled her suitcases into the cart, and, with no small amount of effort due to their weight, managed to stow them away in the space provided. Her dad had told her to pack light, as she'd mostly be wearing her school robes anyways, and he could always send her up anything she forgot. She hadn't listened, though, and had instead taken everything she could manage to cram into her suitcases. She refused to admit that he'd been right, just on principal.

"Yeah, I'm a First Year, too." Bex replied, before quickly pulling off her Leeds United hoodie and shoving it in with her luggage. It was warmer on the train than she had expected, and her frantic hallway debacle hadn't helped, so she was much more comfortable now in just a t-shirt and jeans.

The other girl in the cart sounded... really posh, actually, and Bex wondered where she was from. Then again, some of the people she'd met at the shops in Diagon Alley had sounded similar, so maybe it was just common for some Wizarding people to talk so formally.

With all her things stowed away, she took a seat cross-legged on the bench across from the blonde girl, who, while smiling, looked rather nervous. Bex wondered if it was because of classes, or if she was just shy. Bex worried a bit that it was because the girl had wanted to sit alone, and Bex had just barged her way in the already spoken for cart, so she resolved to be as nice and polite of a cart-mate as possible. (Especially since she didn't know anyone here, or even have any non-Muggle friends her own age, but she was much happier shoving that particular worry out of her mind for later-Bex to deal with.)

Tucking her hair behind her ear, she reached across the cart and held out her hand for the blonde girl to shake. "I'm Rebecca. Everybody calls me Bex, though. Well, except my grandma. What's your name?"

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𓆩ᥫ᭡𓆪- - ┈┈∘┈˃̶༒˂̶┈∘┈┈ - -𓆩ᥫ᭡𓆪

As Rebecca or Bex as she called herself introduced herself. Helena continued to smile shyly, the young blonde was not much for conversation, but this young girl that was seated in front of her seemed fairly nice and ever so interesting in a way.

Helena held out her right hand in greeting smiling shyly; her ocean blue eyes seemed to waver with uncertainty but a hint of kindness.

“My name is Helena. Helena Rose it is a pleasure to meet you. Rebe-I mean Bex is that right?”

Helena wavered slightly, her face dusting with a light cloud of pink dust out of embarrassment, smiling shyly the young blonde continued to hold her hand out awaiting for the other girl to either shake back or to respond.

The sweet calming sound of the train moving swiftly towards its location, the sound of the wind slamming against the window seemed ever pleasant, the smell of the city seemed to slowly dissipate as the trim grew closer to the countryside.

Helena’s honey gold hair bounced with the movement from the train. Her ocean blue eyes seemed to swim with many emotions and feelings the young girl really did not quite understand. Her outfit consisted of a simple black dress shirt and a pleated black skirt. While the young girl wore black dress loafer on her feet.

Still awaiting a response from Rebecca, Helena’s frail pale hand still outstretched the light pink dust of blush scattered on her face. What was the worst that could happen right?

Bex shook Helena's hand before retreating back to her side of the cart, slouching back into her seat and pulling her left knee up to her chest. "Yeah, Bex is right. Bex Lark."

Bex thought Helena was kind of built like a bird, maybe a canary with her soft blonde hair. She seemed, while very pretty, rather delicate and frail, but her smile was so genuinely kind that Bex found herself warming up to her immediately. In contrast, Bex's own hair was brown and wavy, and currently tied back a long, complicated braid courtesy of her mum. It would be the only time her hair was braided this semester before she returned to her parents during the winter hols, as she typically just left her hair free to do as it pleased when her mum wasn't around. She was small for her age, with a somewhat athletic build, and her pale skin was decorated with numerous scrapes and bruises from things like climbing trees, playing football, and falling off her dad's broom.

Helena seemed very different than her, but in a good way, and the blonde girl was friendly enough that it felt more fun than scary. All the other Magical kids Bex knew were the children of her dad's friends, who were all quite a few years younger than her, and all of her Muggle friends were back home, continuing on at school there without her. She couldn't even bring her phone here to text them, and she was too mortified to send them a letter, like it was the '90's. It would be nice if she'd found a friend here right off the bat, and it would certainly make her time at school much less lonely.

She watched out the window as the countryside rolled past, the last remnants of summer clinging to the warm and grassy landscape. It was supposed to rain today, but hadn't, and it felt like a good sign to her. She hoped it would stay this sunny all week, so she could explore the grounds a bit once she'd arrived. She wanted to try and find all the places that her dad had told her stories about.

"What house do you think you'll be in?" Bex asked, eager to make conversation.

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𓆩ᥫ᭡𓆪- - ┈┈∘┈˃̶༒˂̶┈∘┈┈ - -𓆩ᥫ᭡𓆪

Helena shook Rebecca’s hand firmly before retracting her hand gently back. Helena’s ocean blue eyes seemed to shine slightly.

Helena gazed softly at Rebecca the question that even Helena was not certain of. What house would Helena be in? Of course the obvious answer would be Slytherin every Rose family member has been in the Slytherin household. But did the house of the snake really be the place for such a shy girl as Helena.

Helena gazed downwards, interlocking her hands, fidgeting her fingers nervously, the quiet clicking sound of her nails scraping against each other as Helena kept her feet on the ground, her left leg bouncing up and down in a quick manner. Her stomach tightened in a nervous knot as the butterflies returned slamming into her ribcage.

Thinking of how to respond to Rebecca, Helena sighed softly before smiling her soft shy smile.

“I suppose I would be in Slytherin like the rest of my family. Most of the Rose family who have attended Hogwarts have been in Slytherin for many, many generations. It would be quite horrid if I was not in Slytherin. Father be rather upset, disappointed really.”

Helena spoke in her soft elegant voice; her posture was straight as the young honey blonde girl continued to fidget with her hands a bit more. Her bangs hung loosely in front of her pale heart shaped face. The pink dust that once covered her face mere seconds before had disappeared and returned back to her natural pale ivory skin tone.

Helena turned her gaze outwards as the scenery was beautiful. The vast countryside seemed cozy and peaceful unlike the large overcrowded city.

Helena turned her ocean blue gaze back towards Rebecca thinking of a few things curiosity getting the better of in some sort of way.

“What about you? Do you know which house you will be in?”

Helena questioned in a soft light tone as she continued to gaze over at the other girl. Helena was curious how the girl would respond. Though Helena was also curious about the girls blood status, but she knew it would be rather rude of her to down right ask the other girl about her blood status after all that would be rather rude of Helena and she also knew better, but the young girl also knew how her parents would react if she had befriended a muggle-born, but how bad could muggle-borns actually be right. They had magic somewhere in their lineage, but of course Helena’s parents did not see it that way at the very least.

Bex shrugged, unconcerned, in response to Helena's question.

"Ravenclaw, probably? My dad was in Ravenclaw, so it's the house I know the best, I guess. Hufflepuff would be alright too, though. Green's my favorite color, so I wouldn't mind being in Slytherin with you, and it'd be nice to be in the same house."

Bex didn't know a ton about the four houses, other than Ravenclaw, but her dad had given her the gist of them before she came. Helena seemed like a rather odd fit for Slytherin, but what did Bex know? Helena didn't seem particularly cunning, but perhaps she was just very ambitious. And supposedly, at least according to her dad, the hat would take your preferences in to consideration, so maybe Helena just wanted to be in Slytherin, which could be enough.

Bex was quiet for a moment as she thought, before continuing. "Probably Ravenclaw, though. But my dad says the hat always puts you wherever you're supposed to go, so I'm not too worried about it."

In truth, Bex had felt too disappointed about being sent away to magical boarding school while all of her other friends got to continue school (if not all together in the same building, then at least in the same city) to do any real soul-searching on what house she'd like to be in. Not only would she not be able to hang out or talk with them, but she could never really tell them what Hogwarts was like. It was like turning 11 had irrevocably severed her from the people she'd grown up with. In the face of all that, there wasn't much room left inside of Bex to be excited about Hogwarts or her future house one way or another.

She wanted to love magic the way her dad seemed to, but could never quite figure out how. The closest she'd ever gotten was when riding a broom, and they wouldn't even let First Years bring one.

"Your whole family was really all in the same house? Are there a lot of you?" Bex asked. Based on how different her family all was from each other, she couldn't imagine all of them having been in the same house, had they all gone to Hogwarts.

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𓆩ᥫ᭡𓆪- - ┈┈∘┈˃̶༒˂̶┈∘┈┈ - -𓆩ᥫ᭡𓆪

Helena listened quietly as Rebecca talked to the young girl. Helena continued to fidget with her hands as she sat quietly across from Rebecca.

Helena thought quietly to herself when Rebecca asked the question about her family. Tilting her head to the left side Helena scrunched up her brows in a bit of thought biting her lower lip softly a soft subtle hum escaping her lips.

“Everyone in the Rose family, at least to my Knowledge has been apart of the house of Slytherin for decades really. I am not sure to my knowledge if a Rose has not been in Slytherin it would be a disgrace honestly. The Rose family has a name to uphold do not want any disgrace on to the Rose family name.”

Helena spoke once again in her soft to the touch elegant voice. Sitting up straight once again Helena gazed softly at Rebecca thoughts that seemed to run inside the honey blonde girl's mind. Biting the inside of her cheek Helena figured it would not hurt much to get to know this girl a bit more.

“You said your father was a Ravenclaw correct? I hope you do not mind me asking, but what house was your mother in?”

Helena questioned the other girl softly. Helena’s ocean blue eyes seemed to hold many hidden emotions and uncertainties were one of the many she felt. Helena felt the butterflies in her stomach swarm around in a nest. While the young girl continued to fidget with her hands the clicking of her nails softly echoing throughout the cart. The soft tapping from Helena’s feet echoed gently against the cart floor.

Soft sea blue eyes gazed over at the brunette hair girl in front of her. Helena slowly analyzed the other girl. Though she seemed well kept she also seemed fairly talkative for sure which was not very new for Helena she was used to others being talkative and mainly doing all of the talking for her anyways.

Awaiting for a response from Rebecca quietly Helena continued to examine the other girl smiling softly and shyly at Rebecca. After all Helena wanted to show that she meant no harm by her question she was genuinely curious after all. Both her parents met at Hogwarts well sort of.

Bex stared at Helena, a little stunned to hear that she would be somehow "disgraced" if she was in a house other than Slytherin. Bex's dad would definitely be thrilled if she was sorted into the same house as him, but she couldn't imagine her dad being disappointed in her if she was sorted somewhere else. While their relationship was awkward, at the moment, she was comfortable in her surety that he would be happy for her, no matter where she ended up. She felt incredibly sad for Helena, and did her best to assuage her fears.

"I don't think you need to worry, you'll end up where you're supposed to. I'm sure the hat will listen if you ask to go to Slytherin."

Bex frowned as she watched Helena fidget nervously, and resolved to change the subject as soon as possible. Bex had a vested interest in both one, avoiding tense conversations whenever possible and two, alleviating her cart-mate's obvious discomfort.

"My mum didn't go to Hogwarts, I think she went to Wetherby? At least for sixth form. It's a Muggle school in Leeds. Oh! My step-dad sent me with biscuits, do you want some? They're just store bought, none of my parents bake."

Going through the process of pulling her suitcase out, fishing out the biscuits, and trying to shove the bag in again would be annoying (and she'd just gotten into a comfy position on her seat, ugh) but hopefully the biscuits would help calm Helena's nerves at least a little bit, and help them move on from the topic of school houses.