A Fresh Start Open Closed

@Lindsey Springhall

[font=Lucida Sans Unicode]The summer had come and gone in the blink of an eye. One minute Lizzie was just returning home from Summer Camp, and the next she was at the Platform about to board the train. It was all so quick and now Lizzie was almost officially a second year. On one hand, she was sad that summer was over because she liked the warm weather and all the outdoor things you could do, but on the other, she was really excited to return to Hogwarts for another year. Her sadness about the ending of summer was short-lived though, as she remembered how fun her first train ride had been.

She'd met Lynn, her closest friend, on that first train ride, and the two of them were planning on sitting together again. Over the letters they had exchanged all summer, they'd agreed on a meeting spot --the fifth compartment-- and now all Lizzie had to do was find said compartment. She was infamous for her inability to find her way to anywhere as well as her struggles in following directions. Despite all of that, she was certain she'd have no issues finding the compartment.

Barely five minutes after she'd said goodbye to her parents and sister, Lizzie found herself in the wrong compartment. She had been quite sure they were meeting in the fifth compartment, but clearly it was not the fifth compartment from wherever she'd boarded the train.

She was quick to bang her head against the nearest wall when the realization hit her. They were meeting in the fifth compartment from the front of the train, not wherever she'd gotten on the train. That was embarrassing. Immediately, she started on her journey to the front of the train. She couldn't believe she'd forgotten that key detail. Sure, her memory wasn't the best, but she didn't think it was that bad.

Eventually, she found the compartment where a familiar light-brown haired Hufflepuff sat. "Lynn!" she exclaimed as she slid the door to the compartment open. "How are you?! I can't believe we haven't see- IS THAT A CAT?!" Stopping in her tracks, Lizzie's jaw dropped and she stared at the small feline. If she was an anime character, she would've had hearts in her eyes. Cats were her favorite animal. Forcing herself to tear her gaze away from the animal, she put her trunk away and sat down across from Lynn and the cat. In an attempt to sit more comfortably, she hugged her legs to her chest and propped her chin on top of her knees, her gaze back on the cat. "Aww~" she cooed. "Girl or boy? What's its name?"
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@Lizzie Callaghan

She did not wait long, when the familiar red head showed up. “Lizzieee!” Lindsey jumped up from her seat immediately. And that was when the two greeted each other warmly.

Lindsey jumped towards her friend, and gave her a bear hug. “I’m finally seeing you! Did you grow taller?” she exclaimed excitedly. Herself, honestly and sadly, did not grow even a little bit over the summer. And the Hufflepuff felt a bit disappointed, since most of them did.

“I’m gre—” she just began answering Lizzie’s question, but was cut off by the exclaim of her cat. Lindsey smirked. Oh yeah, she hadn’t told Lizzie about her birthday gift yet——not in her letters. And it seemed a small surprise now.

“He’s a boy, and you could call him Napoleon.” Lindsey smiled, while dragging Lizzie down to the seat. “Here, take a seat, put your things down, and take care of Napp! I’m pretty sure he likes you a lot.” Her eyes followed on the lively Bengal, when he jumped straight on Lizzie’s knees and rubbed against her hands joyfully. “He’s my birthday gift…my family tended to give their kids a pet when they are twelve years old.” she explained.

They were not much changed. At least she thought so. Their friendship seemed lasting, and that’s what exactly Lindsey would love to see. Having a friend was much more important than nearly everything, including academics. Especially when you had a close friend, or even a best. Lizzie was definitely taking this role, and that made Lindsey felt lucky.

“By all means,” Lindsey started, “How did you do that? I mean during the camp——how could you just stay in your tent? You are much more patient than me, if I do so, I guess I’d be mad after two days.” she smirked. “And maybe you could teach me drawing sometime, have I told you that I’m rather awful at it?”

She was indeed. Drawing and dancing, two skills that most girls had but sadly weren’t possessed by Lindsey. She had tried hard before, when she was young, but every time when she tried, she failed. Her brother Edmund teased that she could make a rabbit looked like an elephant, which was just hilarious. Though she did not like it, she had to admit, that sadly Edmund was right. She hoped that Lizzie could teach her, since her friend seemed good at it——and maybe, she could play for her in return?

Open thread now! No need to owl, just go ahead and join!

@Lindsey Springhall @Amelia McCarthy

[font=lucida sans unicode]Lizzie wasn't surprised the first thing her friend had brought up was her height. It was no secret in the Callaghan family that their middle child was going to be tall, and in the previous year, she'd grown almost 5 inches. The growing pains had been real, luckily most of them had been during the summer, as she'd grown 3 inches in the summer alone. "Yeah!" she exclaimed. "I was 4'10 last year and I'm now 5'3!" Muggle media often said tall girls often wished they were shorter and didn't like that they were tall, but Lizzie was absolutely ecstatic to be so tall. The novelty may wear off eventually, but only time will tell.

Although the redhead was curious if Lynn had grown over the summer as well, there were more important things than her curiosity, namely the absolutely adorable cat that was now in her lap. Her hands absentmindedly stroking the majestic creature as she fawned over it, her voice much like the one used to talk to little children (and cute animals). After a second, she looked up and coughed awkwardly. "Sorry," she laughed, a bashful smile on her face. "I really like cats." Pausing, she tried to remember what she wanted to ask the Hufflepuff. It was something related to what they were talking about before she got to hold Napolean... It was about-

Lizzie laughed as summer camp was brought up. "Yeah..." she muttered. "Looking back it was sorta stupid that I wasted all that time drawing and not actually talking to people and participating in those events." She smiled almost sadly, reminiscing on that fairly lonely week in which she rarely talked to anyone. "I could definitely try to teach you how to draw." she nodded, replying to the second part of Lynn's comment. "I've never tried to teach it before, so no promises that I'll be a good teacher," she laughed, her laugh fading, though, as she heard the tell-tale sound of the compartment door opening.

A small redhead (probably a first year, Lizzie thought) stood in the compartment doorway, looking rather nervous. In a quiet voice, she asked if she could sit there and confirmed Lizzie's suspicions that this was her first train ride. With a quick glance at Lynn, Lizzie answered. "Yeah, of course, you can sit here! I'm Lizzie and-" she cut herself off, not sure if she should introduce Lynn for her. Mentally shrugging, she didn't speak again, sure that Lynn would introduce both herself and her cat.
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[font=Times New Romans]Lindsey was a bit surprised hearing her friend’s height. She didn’t notice whether @Lizzie Callaghan had grown that much or not when she came in the compartment. But…wow. That was tall. Taller than her now. Lindsey hadn’t grown much through the year and summer, and she hoped that she may be taller one day. “I haven’t grown much you know…” she grinned. “I’m now shorter than you, I guess! About 5’1.”

She watched joyfully when Lizzie played with Napoleon. It was fantastic that Lizzie loved cats. She was a little bit concerned whether one of her friends would be allergic to them when purchasing this young lad, but now it seemed alright. Maybe exceedingly great, cause her best friend loved him.

Laughing pleasantly when hearing Lizzie talked about drawing in the summer camp, Lindsey slowly turned her eyes towards the clear blue sky outside the window. “You’d definitely be a great teacher I promise!” she encouraged, even though she wasn’t looking at her anymore now. “Professor Lizzie, of Drawing class.” she smirked.

The trees were passing the window quickly, and the time was passing quickly as well along with the scenery. That was when a red head girl @Amelia McCarthy knocked, and timidly asked if she could join the two. She was a fairly petit girl, so Lindsey perceived her as a first year —— that was, a newbie.

Lizzie greeted the new girl almost immediately, and introduced herself. But she stopped when about to say Lindsey’s name —— which made Lindsey gave her a thankful glance. Lizzie was caring. Though she would be fairly happy even if Lizzie introduced her, and maybe even Napoleon, but the little caring movement made Lindsey smiled a bit.

“I’m Lindsey,” she introduced, smiling. “And that’s my cat Napoleon.” The Hufflepuff pointed at the cat, who was still resting pleasantly on Lizzie’s knees. “Do take a seat!”

Lindsey hoped that it was a warm welcome. Or she believed so. People always regarded her as friendly, and she hoped not to lose that title. So again, she started. “You are new here, right?” she asked the new girl kindly. “We two are second years, and welcome to Hogwarts!”[/font]

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@Lindsey Springhall @Lizzie Callaghan @Amelia McCarthy

Oh gosh, not again! Paisley had been rushing far too many times this week. She wasn't a fan of it, and she was looking forwards to when she could just sit on the train and calm down for a moment. The train would be peaceful, wouldn't it?

Paisley leapt onto the train, hauling her suitcase up behind her. She had said goodbye to her parents at the entrance to the train station, and now she was alone. A small child alone in the big world for the first time. It was a wonderful concept when you were watching a movie, but not so much when you were living it.

The lone girl walked up and down the halls of the train, looking for an empty compartment. She didn't like to admit it, but she was scoping out potential friends at the moment as well. She had already said no to a few open seats because she wanted to find the right group of people to spend her time with. A few of the others she had seen hadn't looked very nice, and that was not her idea of a peaceful train ride. She needed a place to sit with some nice people, or alone.

At last Paisley came to a peaceful looking compartment. There were three girls already in there, and they weren't cackling or cracking their knuckles, so she supposed it would do. They seemed to be talking about something, and Paisley felt a little awkward about coming into their conversation.

"Uhm, hi. I'm Paisley. Could I-" she took a deep breath, her heart fluttering in her chest. She didn't like this part of the movie, even when she was a spectator. "I hope you don't mind me."

All was peaceful for a moment, and then Paisley saw it. It was the whiskers first, and then the lanky body. Every movement it made had Paisley's blood boiling. She widened her eyes at the cat, momentarily petrified. She couldn't reveal herself like this. It was her first day, and she hadn't even gotten to school yet.

When she was sure no one was looking, she glowered at the cat, and clenched her fists tightly. She didn't ask it's name, and she didn't need to know. All she knew was that she and the cat were mortal enemies. All cats were enemies.

Paisley's attention snapped back to the girls. "Can I sit?" she asked quietly, a hint of anger in her voice. She felt her face turn a bright shade of red as she stuttered again, "I mean, can I sit please?Wow, nice going Brown. Real nice. Just come out and say you hate cats, why don't you? She groaned at herself inwardly. She was off to a 'great' start.
Edit: I accidentally called her a Gryffindor before the sorting ceremony

INTERACTIONS | @Lizzie Callaghan @Amelia McCarthy @Paisley Brown
OTHER | Napoleon the cat

She smiled kindly at Amelia. She seemed nice…actually everybody’s quite nice in Lindsey’s opinion. She moved Napoleon to the new girl’s knees. ( “Do pet him! He’d be glad to be pet.”)

Amelia asked whether there were things she had to know before taking classes. “Well,” explained Lindsey. “You would take seven compulsory subjects in your first year…Charms, Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfigurations, Astronomy, History of Magic, Herbology, and Flying. That’s…eight. No, Flying doesn’t count as a subject, my mistake. It’s…um, a skill lesson, maybe?” she looked at Lizzie, as if she wanted help. Maybe her friend could explain it better than her…she confided in Lizzie.

“And you’d be sorted!” she said excitedly. “That is —” then she was cut off, cause someone else had entered.

The newcomer introduced herself as Paisley. A nice name…and she inquired whether she could sit. “Do sit!” Lindsey smirked. Meeting new people was always nice, by all means. Maybe that’s why she was sorted into Hufflepuff. “The name’s Lindsey, Hufflepuff second year. How about you?” she asked, pleasantly. She perceived that this one’s a new first year too, because she had never seen her around — Lindsey was on time at most events. Except the secret blossom ball, probably.

“We have four houses in Hogwarts — Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Lizzie’s in Gryffindor!” playfully she started again. “Gryffindor values courage, Hufflepuff prefers kindness, Ravenclaw likes smartness, and Slytherin seeks ambition. You’d be sorted by an intelligent hat as soon as you arrived. Any ideas on which house you’d be sorted into?” the words were mostly to Amelia, but still to Paisley as well. She wasn’t very sure whether the brunette was in her first year, so she started cautiously.

“By the way Lizzie, how’s the Gryffindor common room? Nothing bad happened, hopefully?” not wanting the other two who probably hadn’t experienced those frightening things to hear and panic, she made herself closer to Lizzie. “We had a terrible fire in our common room around April. It was frightening, really.”

Reducio

So guys I was busy IRL last month, but is much better now! Let’s keep the thread moving! No posting orders, reply if you could! My reply wouldn’t be that late anymore — mostly it would be around 4 to 5 days, up to a week