"Potions." Was Calliope's simple answer to Chess' question, albeit with a smile. The subject of potions has always intrigued the young girl after experiencing the effects of pepper up potion when she and her younger brother caught the common cold. She even read her Aunt's old copy of Advanced Potion-Making but she couldn't grasp the full depth of it. Expected really since it was a NEWT level textbook.

When Garreus mentioned exploring the Grounds, Calliope was about to chip in when their compartment door was opened. Another boy, this time of Indian descent came in. He reminded Calliope of Garreus in his friendliness but there was one thing that annoyed her, he didn't bother asking if he could sit with them before helping himself to a seat. She was glad to see that she wasn't the only one annoyed by this interloper. Calliope quietly shut the book and gripped it. The book already looked worn with age but with the way she gripped it, the wear marks where she held seemed more obvious.

"I-" Calliope barely started when the compartment door opened again but this time, it was a girl with blue eyes and light brown hair. Unlike the boy earlier, she was polite enough to ask if she could join them and the reason she gave made sense. It would be better to hang around with people close to their age. It also nice for Andrew to do the talking, with how Calliope is feeling, she's a little miffed.

"Yes. My name is Calliope, as Andrew stated. Its so nice to see that some people still have manners." Calliope took a deep breath to calm herself. The grip on her book visibly loosening slightly, the cover now looking a little more worn than it was earlier. "Thank you for the drinks at least, Youssef. It would be nice for you to read the room a little..."

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Chess Vatellis

School Year 1st Year

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Chess waved Youssuf goodbye before resting her hands onto lap, the book given to her slipped in her bag as she then nervously chuckle at Andrew. "Ah- alright take care, thank you for the suggestion I'll make sure to try it out in the ride" She then smiled towards the new girl, who looks quite lovely and polite, Chess has nodded at her reason, understanding the feeling of being out of place especially when most of the others years had more experience, which is understandable.

"Welcome in! There is alot of room here, though I'd like to apologise for that whole predicament! He's nice" Chess then faced towards the three of them and nodded, feeling slightly quite beliwdered and yet sympathetic at their feelings before. "As Andrew said, I'm Chess, it's nice to meet you! What's your name?" She asked to the new girl, trying to fix and ease the tension after the whole event, she felt like it was her fault for forgetting her book, in a way, she just hoped that they wouldn't be too hesitant after this.

But knowing it, chess sighed.

'...An impression does last a life time after all, let's hope that nothing bad happens more'

The girl then could only hide the bottom of her face within the scarf, face flushed red out as she now grown slightly conscious of her first impression, she has been doing well....right? Hopefully she hasn't gotten too energetic yet, maybe she might do that when she is in her house, at least nothing bad like that would happen then.

Garreus maintains a raised eyebrow as Youssuf exits the compartment, keeping a rather stern expression. "Quite the... energetic friend you have there." he says, pushing up his glasses. "Well anyway, you don't need to apologize for that, it's fine."

Feeling rather chilly, he puts on his jacket and tucks his hands into its pockets and uses his shoulders to slightly push the jacket up, to the point the collars are just about at his ear level.

"Ugh this cold weather.." he thought. "Love and hate it at the same time."

As Garreus fidgets around to make himself more comfortable, he nudges his wand, causing it to misalign from its holster. He then pulls it out to make sure he didn't damage it or such. Upon inspection, the wand was fine and he holsters it back. Looking back at the people in the cart, he starts to wonder if people received their letters just as they discovered their magic potential. Curious, Garreus looks to each of them and wonders how everyone in the compartment discovered theirs.

"So.." he says. "How'd you all find out about your... powers? And how'd you handle finding out about it? Err... you don't have to answer it if it's too personal by the way, I won't pursue if ever."

Words: 286

This had certainly turned out better than she had anticipated, but Therese wouldn’t be complaining about it whatsoever. The fact that she had actually asked to join them might have had something to do with it...at least, that was what she felt – given how they reacted toward the other boy...whose introduction left her rather confused. How would he already know what house he would be in? Nobody was supposed to know until they actually arrived.

Unfortunately, Therese would have to wait until later to ask him about just that – seeing as the boy left before she could even respond, which left her rather shocked. He had asked for all their names and hadn’t even given her a chance to answer. It seemed rather rude, to be honest. She supposed, though, that she could let it slide for the time being...one of the girls seemed to be his friend. Moreover, at the very least, it made the compartment seem less crowded than it had before.

As she got herself seated, she took the chance to introduce herself, “Therese Williamson, it’s a pleasure to meet you all.”

Once that was done, she observed the others. They seemed nice. She could get along with them, right?

And then the question came about how they found out about their powers. Huh...that wasn’t something that she’d ever thought she’d have to explain. She could certainly try, though. Taking a deep breath, she answered Garreus, “Apparently, I made a cup float all the way to where I was sitting while my mother wasn’t looking.” She paused for a second before continuing, “Can’t say anything about how I handled it since I’ve been surrounded by it for as long as I can remember.”

'Good riddance' Thought Jones as he just nods at Youssuf's direction with a blank expression as he leaves his seat, now that he's gone Andrew felt like he could finally breathe a little easier letting out a subtly quiet sigh. As Chess started to apologize for the circumstances, Andrew just showed his hand to her and shakes his head before replying. "That is that, this is this." He states bluntly, although he understands the unease, she really shouldn't apologize for it, it would just make things a bit more awkward; In Andrew's eyes each person is responsible for their own actions, this was no different. Although he does acknowledge that they'll have to move on from that, no use dwindling thumbs, they have another fellow first year to greet in the compartment, so it's a relief Garreus popped in a question to at least drag the attention of the conversation elsewhere, Andrew could tell he's the reliable sort.

"It's nice to meet you Therese." Andrew turned to look at her as she introduced herself, his eyes were dull and absent of excitement, his expression didn't seem phased although it does seem more relaxed in comparison to before when that boy was around. "In my case to answer you Garreus, my friend had the bright idea to try stair sledding on his birthday, almost had a whole wardrobe of empty bottle collections toppled onto him when he crashed onto it, I somehow was able to stop it and levitated the whole furniture along with the bottles, although I was puzzled on how to put it back down. Luckily Mr. Harrington was there to salvage the situation."

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Chess Vatellis

School Year 1st Year

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Chess nodded and kept her lips pursed shut when she saw his hand, nodding before averting her gaze towards the new girl. ”It’s nice to meet you Therese! I hope that you feel comfortable here!” The girl said with a small gleeful smile, she had looked at the space and scooted to give the girl some space too sit on, after all she is smaller from the others from the looks of it then looking forwards the two boys, especially Garreus as her eyes practically shimmer, hands on her bag as she started to place it onto her bag and look for it, her arm within the inside as she mouthed and muttered the things she had, practically now eager and excited to tell hers.

“I-it’s nothing special but there is something I managed to save it from falling and fortunately. It was something that became a gift for me in the end, so this thing is really special to me” She explained, a small tongue slipping out of her lips as she furrow her brow with a focused gaze, trained in the bag, her other hand already holding books and her wand.

When she finally could get it out, her small hand took out a music box, it was authentic, homemade and carved, small golden latch keeping it close as the side of the box has the initials of C.V. Her other hand putting her books in her duffel bag and hold it with the both of her hands.

“this was one of the Prototypes of what my brother’s invention, it isn’t much nor, it could change the magical world but…” Chess’s eyes softened, her finger softly brushing onto it and opening it, hearing a soft music play, as the golden cogs started to move and turn. “It was to make musical boxes try to have an orchestral tune despite of it being so small, he wanted to make wizards enjoy and even make music of their own with just making interchangeable notes, he worked so hard on it that when it almost got destroyed, I wanted to save it and keep it safe and somehow it floated when I was already on the floor to catch it. Ever since then, it’s a memory that I like to cherish.” Chess softly and gently closed it with her palm on top, the music stopping to chime as she looked up at the others and rub the back of her neck nervously, realizing that she got too sentimental.

”ah! Sorry! Did I say too much?”

"Nice to meet you too Therese." says Garreus, nodding his head gesturing a little bow.

Garreus leans forward, hearing each of their individual responses, intrigued by how everyone else discovered their powers. "How interesting." he says, turning his attention to Therese. "You weren't shocked when you made the cup levitate? Could only imagine it would've come as a shocker at the time... Well, that's just me anyway."

After hearing Andrew's response, Garreus leaned back and let out a small chuckle as he pondered on the thought of it. Although a rather odd and rather unsafe stunt, the idea of it seemed entertaining. "Stair sledding?" he chuckles. "Ah pardon me, glad to hear that it turned out well in the end, although the thought of it seemed rather funny to me. Still, seems to me that instinct kicked in and I suppose one thing lead to another from there, and then here you are with us."

As for Chess, he lets out a little smile, ready to hear her story. At some point, she pulled out a rather beautiful looking music box, it didn't look factory made or such. "Hmmm, a music box?" he thought. Upon hearing the rest of her story, Garreus' eyes widen a little trying to picture the scenario in his head. "Wow, your brother must be really talented." he says. "Sounds like quite the treasure you have there, he's really lucky to have you there to save it. I thought it was a really nice piece."

He raises his hand slightly towards Chess as she realizes that she was getting rather sentimental. "That's alright, I thought it was a rather brilliant story. This is of course likewise for Andrew and Therese as well, I found them rather interesting. I suppose it's my turn, it was rather... instinctive as well, although I'm really glad that it happened. I was just taking my dog out for a stroll and the little guy decided to catch me by surprise and ran off to chase a cat or something. The little sudden burst of speed made me lose my grip on the leash as I chased after it. I eventually caught up to him but we were in the middle of the road, and a car was just about to hit us. Apparently because of magic, I was able to stop the car and we got out of there unscathed. Should've seen my folks after hearing about it though, what a ride it was."

Garreus then turns to face the one person who hasn't answered yet, Calliope. "What about you Calliope?" he says. "If you don't mind us asking, what's your story? How'd you discover your powers... or magic?"

Calliope was rather pleased with the fact that Youssouf left. Other than that, she decided to back to reading, opening up the book back to the last page she was at from memory and feel. As she resumed reading the Tale of Three Brothers, the new girl introduced herself. Therese Williamson was her name.

"Its a pleasure to meet you Therese. My name is Calliope Tan." She introduced herself in return, looking up from her book to flash her a small brief smile before she went back to reading. The conversation was picked up by her as she continued reading. It seems the topic has moved to their first act of magic and their reaction to it as suggested by Garreus. Therese went first, she talked about how she made a cup float. Next was Andrew's and his made her stop reading and look up.

"Stair sledding? Just the name is enough to deter sane children." Calliope stated, both amused and impressed. Levitating a cup was one thing but a whole wardrobe? That's another thing altogether. With a small huff she closed her book, deciding to focus on the conversation now. Next was Chess who went beyond that and showed the others an interesting trinket she managed to save. It looked like a music box but based on what it played and her explanation, it was more akin to a miniaturized orchestra than a simple music box.

"No no, Garreus is right. That music box is amazing. I hope your brother succeeds in making the perfect music box." Calliope was peering at the music box in a rather catlike way and was visibly disappointed when Chess closed it. Her disappointment was short-lived as Garreus' first instance of magic was stopping a car with barely a scratch.

"That's... wow..." Calliope muttered as she thought about what it was like to be a Muggle-born discovering their magic side for the first time. She has heard that Hogwarts would send someone to explain when they turn 11 but for a Halfblood like herself, magic was an everyday thing. Speaking of, Garreus then turned to her to ask about her first instance of magic.

"Oh me? Hmm.... Compared to some of you, mine is simple. I just managed to summon a cookie jar into my hands. I wasn't really surprised by it since my Aunt's a Witch and both my parents a capable of Magic themselves. Its just a fact of life for me really." Calliope simply said with a small shrug.