As Persephone proclaimed herself a Slytherin, Aaron briefly wondered if he was as well. He instinctively doubted that he belonged in the same house as the blonde. They seemed like such polar opposites. Here he was trying to drag her out of her shell, and there she was trying her best to stay inside it. But maybe at heart they were the same? He didn't really know her yet, so he couldn't be sure about anything right now. He decided to listen to the rest of the houses, and see if any of them seemed better suited.

Listening to her description of Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, Aaron could tell Persephone wasn't the biggest fan of the other houses. From what he gathered, though, Gryffindor stuck out to him. Being unafraid was something he admired. In all the TV shows and video games he played, the hero of the story was brave! Surely, he could be as well? In Taekwondo, he wasn't afraid of getting hit. And he wasn't afraid of spiders and bugs like most people were. He even helped his mother get rid of them whenever they were in the house!

But Persephone had described them as stupid, so Aaron wasn't going to tell her that he thought he might belong there.

"Wow, Slytherin sounds great," Aaron said, offering a smile now that she had finished her descriptions. "Will, strength and power... I bet that really suits you! And you're saying Gryffindors are like do-gooders, Ravenclaws are smart - I bet that's where my brother Avery would be - and then Hufflepuffs are nice people," he summarized, nodding to himself. "I'm excited to see where I end up."

It was at this moment that a particularly large bump in the tracks led to the compartment rattling. Aaron looked around and noticed his bag had been knocked out from under the seat. He got up and went over to it, reminded of something he had inside. "So, do you wanna play a game? My mum packed me some cards so I'd have something to do during the ride," he said, grabbing the deck from his bag and then shoving it back under the seat. He retook his seat across from Persephone and once again offered a big smile.

"Ever played Spit?"

@Persephone Barret

@Aaron Jones

Slytherin was everything Persephone was, a class of the elite, not in matters of the bloods that coursed through them and defined their status with parentage, but the willful and strong. Future role-models, leaders, wolves drowned in the shedding wool of sheep. To blend in and be a nameless face that wandered without purpose, void of reason or relevance to the world that gave them the curse of breath, it was a personified nightmare. All around the two, compartments holding people who would do nothing but eat, breathe, and sleep, waste space and air until it fell down on them with its weight. Make no impact. Persephone couldn’t share this fate, the sheer thought was sickening.

Simultaneously, however, it wasn’t just about an inclination to the house of the snakes, but a distaste for the others. Such a distaste, in fact, that the bare idea of placement contributed to her greening face. She wouldn’t show bravery without justification, let alone knot and tangle it with false chivalry, a dead concept. To be sorted into Hufflepuff of all the nauseating possibilities, to be classified with carbon copies of her own mother, Aaron would see her uncomfortable demeanor take over like a sleeping demon.

As the train jerked forward, pulling its riders with momentum, Persy could feel her body and soul being left kilometres behind, in the dirt, wallowing. Home, she was impressionable. Manipulable. At Hogwarts, the person she was born to be would erupt in a burst of flames, rising from the underworld to beautify its queen in their flicker. However, on the train ride between, it was rather empty. No longer resembling the tender ripples of tranquil water, but not yet decorated in singed flesh. A certain numbness, still contaminated with human desires to express and receive kindness. Sympathy. The rush of the wind would blow that away.

Aaron had smiled at her, and it hadn’t been returned with anything more than a tugging smirk. The girl hadn’t needed to be reminded of the perfection of Slytherin, she dwelled in that revelation all on her own. He also proceeded to echo her with twice the enthusiasm, an intelligent parrot. “It does suit me. And yes, that about sums it up.” The innocence and gentle smile he preserved, it resembled that of a badger, but it couldn’t be said certainly. With her own chubby cheeks and wildfire freckles, perhaps Persephone could be interpreted similarly. However incorrect it may be.

The tracks hit a strong bump, sending a wave through the compartment like the tide against the water. When his bag tipped, the brunet boy wandered over to it, piecing together its shards. Persy hardly moved, overjoyed of the increasing distance rather than frustrated by its inconvenience. Following that, he made an unexpected offer, one that got more physical recoiling than the powerful jolt that sent his idea flying through the binds of his mind. But the passage of time was slow; there was little point in refusing such a gesture other than the preservation of a dignity she didn’t possess.

He grinned again, ear to ear, an expression that looked painful to its wearer. “I haven’t played that.” She would shift in her seat, one leg pulled over the other as the joints tensed all over. “Care to explain it?”