Closed Impatient waiting for the trip

Jac found their way into the train a little later than most of the rest of the students, having to separately say goodbye to their parents. They dragged their trunk behind them, the hand-mounted wheels spinning behind them (the path was a little wobbly- the wheels hadn't been mounted perfectly in line, and enthusiasm had not helped a patent lack of craftsmanship). The child frowned lightly as they found the first compartment occupied, then the rest. It would be good for them to interact with others, but they seemed to be faced with blank face by hostile face. Bleh.

Overall their bearing was Muggle enough with their robes still tucked within the trunk- a printed hoodie with the hood disengaged and some casual pants that were just this side of sleepwear. Their tongue poked out from between their teeth as they looked through compartment after compartment, an affectation of body language that they'd picked up from simply reading about it. They were trying to decide whether finding a compartment empty by themself or simply not finding one would be worse- whilst one would have no element of social humiliation, the other might allow them to force some interactions, which they learned could always be interesting.

«Better close your eyes», — Finley's father said encouragingly as they stood in front of the pillar separating platforms nine and ten. The fact is that the boy could not gather his thoughts and just prove to himself that he could run through the wall. It looked solid and Finley had pictures in his head of how he would meet his forehead with the wall with all his might, and his father would laugh at his son's gullibility. His father was already getting annoyed and glancing at his watch while Finley stood undecided. Eventually, the boy closed his eyes and ran forward, trying not to think about what was about to crash into the wall. He ran and ran, and in the complete darkness it began to seem to him that he had been running for at least a minute, but suddenly Finley felt something grab him by the fabric of his T-shirt and pull him back.

«Are you crazy?!» — Someone barked at him, and Finley finally opened his eyes. He was standing almost on the edge of the platform and a couple more steps, as he would have fallen onto the tracks. He was being held by a young man, much older than him, in a robe, and there was a small group of girls nearby, apparently his classmates. The young man shook Finley, — «You need to look where you're running! What if you had fallen?»

Finley raised his eyebrows and peered carefully over the edge of the platform. If he had just jumped, it would not have been high at all, but if he had fallen with his eyes closed, he probably would have definitely smashed his nose or head.

«Thanks», — the boy grunted and twisted out of hands. The girls standing nearby giggled. At the same moment, his father came out of the wall with all his belongings.

Soon Finley was dragging his things around the carriage. He came in from the end of the train, and therefore almost immediately found an empty compartment with only one girl inside. Once inside, Finley scratched his head and cleared his throat.

«Is this seat taken?» — he asked, pointing to the seat opposite the girl. In fact, Finley strongly doubted that the girl was waiting for three people at once, so he immediately put his suitcase away so as not to get in the way, and plopped down into an empty seat.

Finley was about to say hello in a normal way, when suddenly, patting his pockets, he realized that he had dropped his wand. Of course, it was too big to fit in a boy's pocket, and therefore only one third fit there. Finley just didn't notice how it fell out. Eyes wide, the boy looked around and suddenly saw her lying in the aisle. Running out of the compartment, Finley raised his wand and exhaled with relief. He was afraid that he had left her on the platform. Looking up, Finley suddenly saw a student walking around, looking into different compartments.

«Hey, come here, there's an empty seat!» — Finley called out, smiling broadly, having already somehow forgotten about the girl.

Rosheen, torn from her thoughts, noticed the boy who had entered. He looked funny, she wanted to immediately sit him down in the next seat and ask him everything he thought about the train, about the world of magic and, of course, which Hogwarts House he wanted to enter. Regan didn't really think about where she wanted to go herself, she was surprisingly interested in the very concept of the existence of a school of magic. Immediately looking at all the stranger's belongings, his face and clothes, she smiled broadly and jumped up on the spot, like a rubber ball that was thrown on the floor.

«You're a first-year student too, right? I knew that I would definitely meet someone just like me! What's your name?» — And immediately interrupted her loud, ecstatic cry as soon as she saw that the boy, obviously forgetting something, darted into the aisle.

«No way», Regan thought, and flew after him, grabbing his shoulders and pulling him back into the compartment. She wasn't interested in why he interrupted her unbridled enthusiasm, it was much more important for her to get to know this mysterious clumsy as soon as possible.

«Don't go away!» — She exclaimed and hugged the boy tightly to her, shifting from one foot to the other and even jumping up a little — «I still have so much to learn, and you're running away! What a gentleman to leave a young lady like that with just a greeting!»

Her words were full of feigned annoyance, but in general, Rosheen was genuinely amused. All her hair stood on end, creating a curly halo of chaos around her head. And yet, for a few moments, her attention shifted from the boy to what had attracted his attention. There was another student standing in the hallway. The girl's joy knew no bounds.

«Yay!» — She almost started dancing in one place, — «Yay, yay, yay! Let's all go to the compartment together! I want to start this journey as soon as possible! My name is Rosheen Regan, but you two can call me Sheen! Only my friends call me that, remember, it's very, very important!»

Regan's understanding of personal boundaries was really not okay. Perhaps, for people who do not really appreciate the noise, fuss and endless stream of literature, time next to a red-haired beast would be torture. But on the other hand, her eyes were burning with a sincere desire to learn everything possible about new people. Castles were already being built and dragons were flying in the young lady's head, there was just not enough opportunity to share this with someone.

Jac was having a perfectly average time being rejected by all the separate compartments when suddenly, like a sign from the heavens, a random other student (first-year, probably, they thought- they had that sort of facial baby fat that marked one of their peers) dove out of a rather loud-sounding compartment into the halls for- was that a wand? Huh. And spoke to them. How convenient. How incredible.

"Oh, thank you!" Jac said, smiling into something that was almost a beam. "Hello, I'm-"

Before their words had settled into the air a ginger came soaring out of the compartment and snatched the baby wizard back like some sort of giant predatory badger. Jac took a moment to steel themself before peering in and was a little surprised that there was just the two of them there. That girl was loud.

They tried very hard not to be intimidated by social encounters.

The introduction was similarly noisy, a little grating on the senses but overall bearable as soon as their ears began to adjust. They tugged their trunk behind them into the compartment and held out their hand for a shake between the two, listing toward the boy because he was the person they saw first. "Hello. I'm Jac Llywarch." There were the softer vowels of a Welsh accent in there, if it wasn't clear enough from their name. "It's- er, nice to meet both of you."

It wasn't that Finley wanted to ignore the girl, it was just that she started talking the moment he discovered that he had lost his wand, and therefore didn't have time to react to her questions. And in the corridor he saw another student, but he only managed to nod in a sign that he could hear it, as the red-haired beast had already pulled him back into the compartment. She practically screamed in his ear, and Finley boiled over from such a shameless attitude towards himself.

"Let me g-go, minger!" he yelled, getting out of her arms. It wasn't that he really wanted to call the girl names, but he was really scared when she grabbed him like that. Moreover, again, she was shouting right in his ear, which didn't reflect well on him either. Despite the fact that, standing in front of Rosheen, Finley was breathing heavily and frowning, the tips of his ears turned very red. Another student entered the compartment. Finley felt even more uncomfortable.

«Hi. Um... I'm Finley. Finley Laird. You can sit d-down, there's still an emp-pty seat here," he said, nodding vaguely towards the seats.

His ears turned even redder. Because of this whole situation, he became nervous and began to stutter more, although in ordinary life his speech defect was almost imperceptible.

Regan blushed like a tomato with indignation and stood there for a few seconds, trying to make sense of what Finley had said.

«Oh so! Oh, so I'm minger! Well... Well! You are fool! And anyway, your ears are big and your nose is like a potato, but you're all like a huge potato, dirty and ugly, ugh! No girl will ever want to marry you! Forget what I said, I'll only be friends with Jac, that's it!» — And proudly waving her hair, making sure that a few strands hit Finley right in the face, the girl went to the seat and sat by the window, crossing her arms over her chest. In general, to be honest, she did not think at all that Laird looked like a potato, Rosheen herself did not know why she said that, but when the boy pressed on it, the nasty words came out of her mouth by themselves. Although, the girl thought, she probably isn't even ashamed. Well, maybe just a little bit, just because the boy looked good. In any case, he deserved it, you can't call girls names, and worse, calling them ugly is the most insulting thing in the whole wide world. Hunched over like a big red kitten, Regan pressed her neck into her shoulders and frowned. Tears were coming to her eyes. She didn't want to cry at all on her very first day at Hogwarts. Even worse! After all, she hadn't even reached school yet, and she had already managed to quarrel, be offended and regret that she was so happy at all.
Deliberately sniffing loudly, Rosheen wiped away a large salty tear that clumsily dripped from her nose and raised slightly reddened eyes at Jac.

«I will be friends with you. That's it», — She was silent for a few seconds, swallowing a lump of resentment in her throat. The girl really wanted to say something else nasty towards Finley, but she restrained herself, because everything could end in a fight. So she turned back to Jac, — «Do you know anything about Hogwarts? Which House do you want to enroll in? I don't even know, I like everyone. Maybe you can do it all at once? I would wear a scarf with all the colors of the Houses, it seems beautiful to me! My mom told me that it doesn't work like that even at magic school, and I tell her no, I can do it. Do you think I can?»

A slight digression from this unpleasant situation gave Rosheenn the opportunity to exhale a little. Although she still didn't look in Finley's direction, she tried not to pay attention to him even out of the corner of her eye, as if the boy didn't exist at all.

«And I also like your hoodie! I also have one at home, but I got it from my dad, it's very big and there are several spots. Mom said I needed to look decent and forbade me to take it with me. But I took it anyway! I'm going to sleep in it at night, because it's so big that it reaches my knees like a dress!»

Oh, dear. Jac personally thought that if they were the one being grabbed they might also be yelling some extremely unkind things, but it was a little bit of a blessing that they were not so nobody ever really had to find out. "Here, it's just- um." They looked to Finley for encouragement but looked back before commiseration, if any, could be given and focused on a spot on the compartment wall. That was probably safe to stare at. "Thanks for the invitation."

The eleven-year-old perched awkwardly on the edge of their seat after putting away their trunk, an awkward smile in place. "Let's- um. Not be confrontational if possible?" They asked, a little bit sheepish, and tugged on the strings of their hoodie awkwardly until the hood shrunk noticeably against their back.

"Oh, yes, I know some," Jac said, a little relieved at the change in topic. "Some things about Hogwarts, that is. The school we are enrolling in. You don't really get a choice in which House you get into- well, you get a little bit. It's sort of based on personality, though I think I might do well anywhere- Hufflepuff could be nice. And it's one House at a time."

"I mean, you can wear any number of colors however you want, I think. It would be strange to ban certain colors, but I could be wrong."

The young student made a face. "Thanks! It's nice to have some casual clothes just for running around and sleeping in. I think robes are kind of mandatory but what we do in the privacy of our own rooms seems a little strange to regulate, right?"

The boy pursed his lips when he saw Jac's sympathetic face. In fact, Finley was even grateful to the student for his concern, but it was still a shame. As soon as Rosheen turned away from him, Finley immediately surreptitiously touched his nose to make sure that it was normal. And that the ears are normal, too.

Of course, there's nothing to be offended by any girls, especially such noisy ones, so Finley tried to swallow his resentment, but pointedly did not notice the conversation next to him.

He didn't know where to sit. He could have sat next to Jac and turned away, but then the girl would have been directly opposite, and they would still have had to cross eyes. It was possible to sit next to Rosheen, but closer to the exit. That would mean just sitting next to Regan. Frowning harder, Finley snorted with indignation at this hopeless situation. He could just leave the compartment, but it would look demonstrative.

While the two were talking, Finley just stood there for a while, trying to solve this difficult dilemma, but eventually sighed and muttered a quiet "Sorry" and plopped down on the seat a little further away from Rosheen, watching their dialogue. Finley didn't really want to get involved in that, so he just listened to what they were talking about, although he itched to also express all the joyful expectation that he had accumulated during this time.

Soon the train was moving, and Finley's heart jumped into his throat with delight. They went to Hogwarts.

Rosheen looked at Finley out of the corner of her eye and sniffed. Her face was already the same color, and her eyes were not watering at all, she pretended that she was still terribly upset, at least for the seriousness of the moment.

«Okay» — the girl said softly and chuckled.

The train moved off, slowly picking up speed. From the window, smoke could be seen flying past in white flakes, driven by the wind. The floor shook slightly from the sound of the wheels, but this monotonous sound was very soothing to Regan, like a lullaby. Appeased by Jac's modest neutrality, Finley's conciliatory gesture, Rosheen relaxed and climbed onto the seat with her legs with a smile, hugging her angular knees and hugging them to her chest.

«It's a pity that it still won't be able to enroll in all Houses at once. But if that's the case, then I'll be the best at one! I will collect more points than anyone ever! And also, you're absolutely right! No one can forbid me to walk in our rooms the way I want! Even the parents. After all, now we are so grown-up and independent, we can do what we want, eat what we want, walk where we want...» — the girl sighed dreamily, raising her eyes to the ceiling. It seems that she has already painted on it with the colors of fantasy where she conquers the whole school, together with teachers and students, surprises the entire magical world with an amazing array of talents.

«What House do you want to go to at least?» — she suddenly turned to Finley, as if an eternity had passed after this situation, not a couple of minutes.

Maybe there was a slight atmosphere of doubt between them, but Rosheen almost instinctively smiled from the top of her mouth, trustfully tilting her head to listen and absorb other people's fantasies. She liked to get to know other people's dreams.
Maybe if Laird had given her something sweet, Regan would have thawed even faster, stepping on the same rake and rushing to hug her new friend. But without motivation, she approached him cautiously, afraid rather not to offend, but to be offended herself, in the end she did not want to get a new name-calling at all.