After hearing the explanation for Wolfie's behavior Elly gave no indication she thought less of her. Honesty let her relax finally, tension unwinding from her shoulders in turn produced the barest of grins on Wolfie's face. She had been right about Elly all along. She did like her.

"So me and my friend were getting a ride into Chicago from this kid right? She said she was going to pay him, but I don't know how because she didn't have any money. She doesn't. As we were coming in, she runs out of the car out of the car at a light. So I try to too. But he grabs me by the hair. I start swinging." Wolfie said, throwing mock punches.

"Before I knew it I was outside of the car and a block away. To this day I don't know how that happened. We find each other and my friend says I disappeared like - woosh - and I had left him with a broken nose." Wolfie said, cocked her head to one side and shrugged. She then smushed her nose with one hand, mimed driving around with the other and crossed her eyes.

"He's probably still driving around with a crooked nose." Wolfie was not the type to comfort others. Not the way girls typically did. But the boys she usually hung with had their own way of doing that. A simple joke. In this case making light about an event that had hurt her in the past. It was the indirect way boys said to each other, hey, I've been hurt too, but now I'm okay, and I want you to be okay too. Caring about a friend while also never ever explicitly owning up to it. Underneath the surface Wolfie had always found the world of boys was a more subtle, even sophisticated one, than stereotypes portrayed it to be.

Asked about the Owls Wolfie's eyebrows then knotted and she looked down trying to concentrate on a memory.

"Hmmm, I think I asked my mom about that one time. She told me some owls were magic like we are. And like normal birds that can fly a long way and always return home, magic owls can always find who a letter is addressed to. I don't think they knew where you were. The owls did when they got the letter. Only tracking magic like that I've heard of is a map of Hogwarts that tracks everyone inside it." Wolfie paused. "I want that map."

Having told Elly about the Chicago incident had Wolfie remembering some other things. Like the hunger she had felt without anyone taking care of her. She wondered if Elly had eaten breakfast. Thankfully, her own parents were happy she was trying to be a good girl again had done something uncharacteristic of them. They'd stuffed her luggage with all the food she liked. She opened a bag of hers with breakfast bars, apples, and juice boxes.

"Hey, my parents put too much crap in here. Some of it is edible. Help me lighten the load before the train gets here?" Wolfie used the excuse to continue pretending she didn't feel human emotions. She pulled out some bars, an apple, and a juice box; and extended them towards Elly.

Elena smiled, "I call that 'going off', like when you're scared you just go off, and then can't remember what happened. I've done that before, apparently I beat up a kid twice my size, according to one of the kids, Eliza it was amazing. I wouldn't know though, I woke up an hour later after passing out."

"Oh, it's just that the letter was addressed to 'The Alleyway between John and Garden streets', which isn't exactly a home..." Elena frowned, she still didn't believe that the professors didn't know about what was going on, "A map that can show where everyone is! That sounds amazing, I'd love something like that. It would be just amazing, to be able to make sure that no matter what you can always avoid awkward conversations or to be able to have peace and quiet. So cool, and there's always mischief of course."

Wolfie was an interesting girl, it seemed she was peeking at the edges of Elena, finding out whether she didn't like her. Whether Elena would shun her like other people. It was a sad but familiar dance to the blue haired girl.

"Apples and a juice box!" Elena gasped, "I love those! They're the best."

She stabbed the straw into the juice box and began sipping away happily, before munching on an apple, she put a breakfast bar in her pocket. Never let it be said Elena Jones didn't know how to squirrel away food. The sound of a train could be heard in the distance, and as she finished the juice, it had pulled into the station.

Wolfie nodded at Elly's experience of going off. In her case the disappearance had been seen by her friend though. It was the first indication of magic use in Wolfie.

"I actually disappeared though. Like magic." Wolfie did some magical jazz hands and an uncharacteristic half twirl. "But then to keep my powers secret I had to convince my friend I had trained in like, ninja arts. She believed me." Wolfie's half grin made another appearance.

Wolfie nodded at the mystery of the Owls. It was weird, but she wasn't really an expert on that kind of thing. And Elly's reaction to the map told Wolfie they were on the exact same page. She made a mental note that Elly was down for adventures. She would definitely be getting into those at Hogwarts. Having some experienced with adventures would be essential for her.

Wolfie took a huge bite of her own apple and tried to tell Elly her own love of apples. This came out rather garbled however.

Having to spend years at the Wizard school, surrounded by wizards she had trouble relating to, cooped up all day and night had seemed like a terrible sentence just a short while ago. But maybe with Elly it would be survivable. Yes. The ease with which she found someone she had things in common with suggested there were also more to find. This proved she could make new friends. Better friends than the ones back home in fact. Wolfie also reasoned she couldn't be the only one apprehensive about coming to the castle. How droll in fact. It would have been be melodramatic to assume she was the only one.

Wolfie was so absorbed in the conversation that she didn't notice the train until it had become rather loud. She took down a breakfast bar in one mouthful and then drained a box of juice as it approached. Trying to chew through the mass she shut her bag back up and put it back on her cart. The train came to a stop. She paused to listen for any instructions and observe how the older students did it.




"I hope we end up in the same house Elly." Wolfie said. Did Elly know about the houses, she wondered. She'd have to explain the details later as boarding had begun.

"Magic?" Elena whistled, "If I wasn't standing here with a magic wand I'm not sure I'd believe you. I still can't quite believe it, I mean, you gave me a juice box. Life complete, pinch me I'm dreaming!"

The sad thing was Elena wasn't being sarcastic, she was easily pleased by a little bit of food, and a little bit of kindness. She was scared in a way, of going to this school. There wasn't a lot to leave behind, but in the end what she was actually scared of was making friends. Deep down, Elena thought that she'd have to leave, or get kicked out. The others had always said that Elena wasn't going to find anything with other people, not friendship, not family, and certainly not mercy. Elena Jones told herself she didn't believe them, but deep down she wondered if maybe they were right.

Elena got up and grabbed her cart, "I hope we end up together too! It's been awesome meeting you Wolf. Thanks for the juice box, and for the food! They were really good."

Elena smiled at her new friend, as she pushed her cart toward one of the train entrances, maybe this adventure wouldn't be so bad.