The Beginning of a New Adventure Open Closed

@Rose Morgan

Chezem sat down and noticed a girl sitting a book beside him before extending her hand to him and introducing herself as one Rose Morgan. "Um...It's a pleasure to meet you, Rose." He smiled shyly as he shook her hand. "AS I said, I'm Chezem. But you can call me anything really, be it Chez, Bal...and my parents call me Cheez-it." He said, laughing softly as a small blush tinted his cheeks. "Rose...Originally a Norman form of a Germanic name, which was composed of the elements hrod "fame" and heid "kind, sort, type". The Normans introduced it to England in the forms Roese and Rohese. From an early date, it was associated with the word for the fragrant flower rose, derived from Latin rosa." He said. "Sorry, I like studying names..." He said, smiling softly and shrugging his shoulders. "It's interesting finding out where each name comes from and the meaning behind it. Its all very fascinating. Are you excited to be going to Hogwarts?" He asked, finally addressing everyone in the car and feeling stupid for not even addressing them sooner, but he suppose he hadn't exactly come up with any conversation starters before this so...no harm, right?

Rose didn't know she was smiling until she realized it too late. Chezem was a weird one like herself, but not in a bad way. His features just made Rose more curious about him.

"Cheez-it...what an interesting nickname," She sighed "I only wish I got one, but my name is WAY too short."

Chuckling, she looked at him. "Don't worry about the name thing. I'm..sort of on the weird side as well. I like to observe people. And take notes." She showed him her notebook.

Rose flipped open the book and the scent of burnt applewood and cinnamon came to her senses. She'd always loved the smell. It wasn't exactly as "attractive" as rosewater or lavender, but instead, it gave off a homely and comfortable feeling. This was why Rose treasured her notebook. It gave her a feeling of comfort.

She showed the boy her notes and drawings. They had been made on the train platform, so they weren't that long yet.

She turned around and spoke to Blu and the girl named Serena. It was a bit embarrassing, but it felt good to open up. Even Rose was surprised that she was this open. She usually wouldn't talk for over thirty seconds.

It must have been the people, she smiled.

@Chezem Balthazar

Chezem found himself drawn into the girl's, Rose her name was, explanation of how she liked to take notes, occasionally pulling himself to speak with Blu and the other girl. Had he gotten her name? He couldn't remember, he was so bad at remembering names, he remembered faces so much better than just plain old names. Sure he liked studying them, but he never remembered the actual name of a person. Usually, he had to assign a clue word in their name explanation to their personality to remember it. For instance, he could remember Rose because of the scent in her notebook. Cinnamon...It went well with Roses, so he could associate her name with that. Blu was pretty simple to remember because it was three letters and quite uncommon unless you were talking about the colour, in which case it was about as common as grass outside on a farm. He pulled out his own book and showed them his notes on Potions that he had taken since getting his textbook, excited about that particular class. Imagine! Being able to brew something that could cure a disease like it had with his mum when he was just a little boy. Well, littler.

Serena nodded in agreement at Blu’s answer. “Yes, my dad always says that having a good support system can seriously change one’s life for the better.”

Serena couldn’t hide her smile when Blu said that he was alright with new people joining them. The brunette girl sat across from her and introduced herself as Rose. Serena had always thought that that name was lovely.

“Nice to meet you, Rose! I’m Serena.” She said with a little wave. Serena was about to ask Rose the same question she’d asked Blu when a knock was heard at the door once again. After everyone agreed to let the newcomer in, the bleach-blonde boy (say that five times fast…) entered the compartment and sat down, looking relieved.

“It’s no problem! Like Blu said, the more, the merrier! My name’s Serena Bowen. Pleased to meet you, Chezem.” The blonde girl said with a smile.

“Oh! And I’m a first-year, too!” She quickly added.

Serena’s eyes widened at Chezem’s knowledge about the origins of Rose’s name. “Whoa, that’s so cool! What got you interested in learning about names, if you don’t mind me asking?” She asked, tilting her head to the left.

Wait, was that rude to ask? No, it should be fine, right? It didn’t seem too personal, but maybe the reasoning behind his interest was. Gah, why did socializing have to be so tricky sometimes? And she had been doing so well, too! Serena took a couple of deep breaths as she reminded herself of what her mum had told her last night.

“As long as you have good intentions, you’ll be just fine, dear.”

Yes, as long as Serena had good intentions, everything would work out. She kept repeating the phrase over and over, her worries going away a little more each time.

@Blu Evergreen @Rose Morgan @Chezem Balthazar

"Serena. Derived from serene (calm, peaceful, tranquil), which is from the Latin serenus (clear, calm, exalted)." Chezem spouted off. "Oh, um, well I suppose I got interested in name meanings when I was about six maybe? I was getting bored waiting for my mum to finish helping a customer and I started chatting with this woman. She had a unique name and told me it meant Gods Light. She told me about the meaning behind my name and I suppose I just got hooked on the subject. I started looking up the names of every person I met, and my list just continued to keep growing and growing and growing. Its great fun learning a new name and meaning. My own name is Hebrew in origin." He said. "Sorry about rambling, but you asked and I guess I got a tad bit carried away..." He said, blushing and hiding behind his notebook. He was a shy person who couldn't shut up when he did get going and they had asked him about one of his very favourite hobbies. He was pleased as punch that the girl, Serena, had asked. Chezem loved sharing stories about names, it was always fun for him.

@Blu Evergreen   @Rose Morgan @Serena Bowen 

Blu smiled as Chezem rambled on about the history of names, it was so interesting that someone had the uncanny ability to memorize the meanings of names, Blu could just about remember what he had for dinner the night before. As a response for his question he smiled and said "I'm so looking forward to Hogwarts! All the classes interest me but I cant lie for me i think my favourite classes to attend would be defence against the dark arts and potions." He smiled in his response but not in a harsh way he thought that to him everything would mean more. For most of his life he had no idea about magic let alone Hogwarts itself. So everything about it was new. Having to run through a wall to get the a hidden station was already a massive rush for him! And now he's on a deep red train taking him to a magic castle!

After having a moment to himself he looked to all of them and took a breath and hoped this wasnt to invasive but he asked anyway " so.. what was everyones life like before all of this?.." He looked around and hoped that he hadn't offended anyone.

@Blu Evergreen

"So.. what was everyones life like before all of this?.."

 

Chezem looked up in thought for a minute before he began speaking. "Well, I was born and raised in Paris, France up until I was five years old, then ,y parents packed up everything and moved us to England. They said it was something to do with being closer to relatives? But we don't really have many relatives here so I kind of don't see the point in actually coming here. Don't get me wrong, I love it here, I just sort of wish I could have gone to Beuxbatons instead because then I would actually have some idea of what to do. I have no clue what to expect here. What about you?" The blonde asked as he looked around. 

He could still remember the day that he had come home from playing and his parents had sat him down to tell him they were moving from Paris, France to England. At first, he had thought that maybe his parents were joking. When that wasn't the case, he had barricaded himself in his bedroom to cry about it and about how he would miss all of his friends there in France, not being able to go to school with them anymore.

Serena felt her anxieties fade completely as Chezem explained how he became interested in names. He seemed glad that she had asked.

“Wow, that’s really cool! And no need to apologize for being passionate about something.” Serena said with what she hoped was a reassuring smile.

At Blu’s question about their lives up until this point, her smile faltered a little. While her childhood so far was mostly a happy one, that year and a half where her father was missing… Well, she preferred to not think about it.

Serena was glad that Chezem spoke up first. She forced herself to focus on his response and not think about that time in her life. It was in the past. Her father’s captors were going to rot away in Azkaban for a long time, and her dad was doing fine now. There was no reason to dwell on it anymore.

“Wow, Paris! I’m sure the transition must have been really hard. Well, if you have any questions about Hogwarts, my mum told me a lot about it, so I might be able to help,” Serena offered.

Well, she should probably say something about her own childhood in return. Serena took a deep breath.

“I grew up in London all my life. Both of my parents are Aurors, so when they both were needed on missions, I would spend time with my aunt and uncle. It was all pretty good…except for when…” Tears started to fill her eyes. Oh no…not here…not in front of people she’d just met. “N-nevermind,” Serena stuttered out.

Trying to not make eye-contact with her compartment-mates, she turned her head towards the window and tried to rub the tears away without them noticing.

@Blu Evergreen @Chezem Balthazar

Saoirse stood up, clutching her trunk and began towards the other train cars. She had gotten here early, so she just sat in a dark corner, reading. Walking along, she peeped through different doors before stopping, Yes! Other first years. She opened the train cart before regretting the decision she had made, stopping in her tracks and beginning to freak out. "I'm so sorry, I was just...looking for...a cart...and this looked...well alright. I can leave if...you need me to, find another one," the only other thing she had the ability to do was turn away from their stares.
She stood their thinking to herself, her father hadn't gifted her a dress and expensive earrings just for her to stand there and look like a scared little lamb, standing in a field with no mother. One part of her was rolling her eyes at her shyness, telling her that if this was how she was going to let her the beginning of the year, she might as well let it be the rest and return to her little corner; But she didn't move, instead however she decided to face the other children in full view, taking slow, deep breaths awaiting what they would say.

Serena heard the compartment door slide open. She turned away from the window and noticed a red-haired girl wearing an expensive-looking dress and earrings standing at the entrance. The blonde internally sighed. Serena figured that she probably had tear-stains on her cheeks, and her face was all red and blotchy. Not exactly a great first impression.

When the new girl mentioned leaving them alone, Serena was torn. On the one hand, she didn’t exactly want any more people to see her while she was in this state. But on the other hand, she would feel bad for turning the other girl away when there was still room in the compartment…

Before Serena could change her mind, she spoke up. “No, you can stay if you want…” Her voice cracked at the end of her sentence. Gah, if it wasn’t evident to the red-headed girl that Serena had been crying before, then it definitely was now.

Serena quietly cleared her throat, hoping that it would free up the phlegm that had built up there. This was not at all how she had expected her first train ride to Hogwarts to go. Hopefully, her compartment-mates ( or potential friends?) wouldn’t think she was too weird.

@Saoirse Dwight