An Empty Cart Semi Open Closed

@Raleigh Longwitton @Kali Köhler-Sullivan

Quinne hadn't been so confident in leaving to this mysterious school, and almost tried to back out of the whole thing entirely. His parents, as they ever were, were reassuring and happy to give him what comforts they both could before he boarded the train. Mentions of future visits and letters helped encourage him into not stalling further, and he'd finally get his own things packed away. One last hug each, of course, had been an expected 'farewell' to his parents. Part of him hoped he could've brought along his cat, but that'd be something to handle later.

His fingers toyed with his long scarf, which almost looked comical on him since it was for someone of much greater height, but eventually, it'd fit. Now he stood awkwardly in the middle of the stalls, eventually making his way into one that he thought was empty, but instead contained the silver-haired Imora. "Oh! Sorry! I didn't know this one was taken..." Well, with one person. He was hesitant again, on the verge of running from this area as he would've done with the train entirely if it was for something other than going to a new school.

"Is it alright if I just...stay in this one? I don't want to wander around and maybe not find one for myself."

The young girl had only just settled into her book when the door slid open again; she sat up immediately, a light tension in her thin shoulders and a held breath obvious in the way she pursed her lips. "Hello." Her apprehension was smoothed out with a quiet, polite greeting. Imora's stance was Proper and Prim, legs together and knees forward; she had only just begun to slump as her attention was drawn into her book. But with the presence of another Student, ingrained learning returned and she very politely cleared her throat.

"It's not. You can... Well, there is plenty of room." She thumbed the corner of her book, looking around the empty space. It certainly wouldn't be crowded if he took up the opposite space.

He remained apprehensive still, one hand rested against the doorframe of the booth and he kept the other at his scarf. Ever fidgety, but a curious look was given to the book she'd been focused on only moments ago. As to avoid being in the way of anyone passing through the aisle, he shifted inwards and closed the door behind him. "That's...that's great! Er, I mean, thank you. I do appreciate it."

To the opposite space he'd go, lacking anything for his own entertainment. Looking out the window at unfamiliar lands might be the way to go when the train was moving, but that was often fun in its own way. Perhaps he'd see something magical, too, he could only hope. His thoughtful silence didn't last long, even as he glanced from window to Imora. "Is all of this new to you, too? My family isn't...magical." Maybe he'd find someone equal in that.

His elder siblings had warned him about this.

Cart after cart was filling up and Raleigh's pockets were spilling over, and time he'd spent collecting the knickknacks was time lost to a steadily filling train.

Pockets of first-years assembled, many already looking quite at-ease with each other when he'd poked his head into their respective carts. He couldn't help but flush with a touch of nerves and envy at that; where were they all meeting each other?

He'd continued to look for a space, though his cart-hunt started to take a stranger turn once the older students filed in. He'd bypassed asking them entirely, certain he was interrupting a few things in which he'd no interest partaking whenever he was bold enough to slide those doors open. Those particular doors were then duly, unrepentantly slid shut as the boy continued his noble quest; one that comprised of rounding on cart after cart as he'd continued on his noble quest to haul his luggage down the hall.

He was about ready to just sit his trunk right down in the hallway, perhaps whip up an elaborate story about it being a sit-in strike or some other nonsense, when he'd reached the end of the car's hall.

And soon, both of the quiet children in Imora's cart were graced with the appearance of a wide-eyed, pointed little face at the door.

"May I sit in with you both? Everywhere else's..." He trailed, wobbling his hand with an exaggerated grimace. 'Full' slipped his mind, only to be replaced by the far-more-unexpected, "...Old."

"I won't be loud, I promise. Except when the trolley witch comes around." He wasn't entirely sure he misread the two, but Raleigh had figured he could read nerves rather well. The pair of them - particularly the scarf-boy - looked as he had felt, but he was the only one stubborn enough to vocalize it, in his own attempts to banish the feeling entirely.

It wasn't working. "I brought a book and a couple chocolate-frog cards, I won't be in your way."

It was a lie not one minute in as, gripping the door edges, Raleigh simply couldn't help himself as he actually bothered to take in the pair's surroundings before him. He'd leaned in slightly from his sprawling door-frame stance, looking for all the world like he could just scuttle right up it if he desired.

"What are you reading?"

The goodbye to her parents was a tearful one, filled with promises to send owls daily and hugs that lasted so long that the Hogwarts Express announced its last minute whistle. The girl tore away from her parents, gathered up her trunk, and booked it to the train where a long, loud line filed in. The girl turned around, whipping her long, coppery-red braid from over her shoulder, and waved with a huge smile towards the tall bespectacled fellow with his arm around the shoulders of a pretty woman with hair the same color as the girl‘s. She observed them for a long moment before she was rudely told to “GO” from a fierce-looking fifth year student, and jumped, realizing she was next to board the train.

And it was packed. The girl was not a particularly shy one, and had no qualms about jumping from compartment to compartment, fretfully searching for one that had room enough for her, but they all turned her away.

There was one where a black-haired boy stood framed by the door. It was likely her only chance, so she seized it without a moment’s pause. “Hey, you! I need in!” The girl breathlessly heaved her trunk over behind Raleigh with a light Scottish accent greeting him. “Please,” she breathed, doubling over, not forgetting her manners, but it was obvious that she had about as much trouble finding a spot to sit as any of them. She peered inside the compartment underneath the boy, grinning sheepishly at those inside—namely, another dark-haired boy and a pale-looking girl.

“Oh! You have chocolate frogs!” the girl exclaimed, wide-eyed and intrigued. “I have Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans! I could share them with you all!”

Imora's mouth hesitated but smiled at the boy, her fingers fidgeting with the edges of her brand new book. Custom dictated that she keep it in her lap and conduct pleasantries, but she desperately wanted to lose herself in its words… Instead her eyebrows rose at the question, a pause as his words registered. "Oh, you're a muggle." There was a hint of breathless curiosity, but otherwise her voice remained sweet and reserved, not meaning any insult despite how bluntly it came out. Well no, muggle-born was what she meant, but she hadn't the time to properly apologize and correct herself before another, and then one more, pushed their way into her (her?) cart.

"Old?" Immediately her mind went to teachers and not students. "I don't mind." Brushing her long hair from her face, Imora looked around as if she needed to check for a free seat (there were plenty) before rearranging herself to take up as little room as possible. There was no need for it.

"It's... um." She hesitated, fingering the book and glancing at her present company, afraid someone might take offence. Well, surely the muggle-born would see nothing wrong with it, but she hadn't pegged Raleigh yet, or Kali, who had entered rather bluntly, giving her barely enough time to respond to one question before the next. She held it up slowly, the cover a gaudy, unmoving, high-resolution photo of a nebula. Everything about it screamed 'muggle'. "It's uh--it's a book on astronomy." 'Cosmos'. Definitely above her learning level, but she wouldn't admit it. She didn't have the muggle prerequisites of sciences and maths, but at least it wasn't 'The Universe in a Nutshell'.

She hurriedly settled the book back into her lap; it had been a present from her parents, and she gripped it protectively. "I like chocolate frogs."

"Oh, well, my parents are." Him, not so much. Imora didn't have a chance to correct herself, because in came Raleigh, and Quinne turned his attention towards him next, eyebrows raised briefly in surprise. He would've asked the same thing as the pale-haired girl, but didn't want to bombard Raleigh with the same question. "It's more up to her than me. She was here before me!" Imora seemed fine with it, atleast, but now he had other questions.

"Chocolate frogs? How often does the trolley come through? I have a little bit of money." Prior to the entry, he'd gotten some of his own money converted, of course. There wasn't a lot left, but enough for treats, he was sure. Kali stood out as someone a little bolder than the other three, outside perhaps Raleigh in some aspects.

Albeit a little bewildered by all the new faces, Quinne moved closer to the window so either of the pair could sit next to him. "Hi! I wouldn't mind trying new things." The books were interesting, but given how Imora clung so protectively to him, he was sure they could bring it all up later.

"Maybe I can find something I'd like on the trolley." He was forgetting something that he shouldn't have prior to bumping into the booth. "My name is Quinne...Lawson. I'm new to all of this! Muggle, as she said." Since they surely missed that mention. "Er, muggleborn." He added, as his own correction. Back to feeling anxious again, as the odd one out, and he'd remove his scarf as if needing to smooth it out.

Raleigh was sprawling, propped in the doorway as much as his small and spindly little frame would allow - and then a wild patch of ginger was suddenly poking under his shoulder demanding entry, and the boy was rather relieved he didn't scale the entire wall at her appearance!

"Yeah. 'Mean - you could sit if it was up to me! Which it's not. ...hi." He finished, somewhat lamely. "Yeah. Yeah-sorry!" His mad scramble out of the way was an even-more-mad scramble into the car, one which eventually led him to sitting next to the first girl, and across from the other boy.

It gave him a proper look at her book, too. It didn't move and he'd squinted at it and frowned at first, resisted the temptation to outright poke it, as if it was just simply broken and needed a little extra help. But he'd caught the name then and after another beat, brightened in recognition. "Oh, you'd like my dad. He's a Muggle, but he'n Mum were all about us getting our muggle education right along with all our proper wizarding lessons. Something like, we all have to know how both sides work if we wanted to get the whole picture." It came with a slightly stuffier voice and a slightly straightened posture; it might have been a middling impression of one of his parents. And he settled back into the seat and shrugged. "He LOVES this guy. I didn't read any of his stuff," - likely didn't yet sprout the attention span for it if his rapid-fire focus was any indication! - "but I liked his room full of planets and the bit with the time-travel and the brothers on the bikes." Raleigh would more likely be the flavor of Sagan that stood outside the ocean unironically making whale noises.

He'd fidgeted around in his coat pockets before finally producing a meticulously-folded Chocolate Frog box, emblazoned with CHOCOLATE FROG: THE FINEST CROAKOA and re-fashioned in a way only a dedicated child could as a temporary envelope in which two little cards appeared to rest. "Wish I brought the whole thing to share, sure she's got some on the cart."

And then he perked up in his seat, sitting up straight and bright-eyed as the other stranger spoke up. "Muggleborn? OH so this is NEW." He couldn't help but gawp at Quinne with an entirely genuine mix of enthusiasm and sympathy. Clearly it fell to him to show the poor guy what was what.

"Well. You're missing out and so are the Muggles, and I saw all sorts of things on that cart." He cracked his knuckles as if preparing for a daunting task, and promptly did absolutely nothing with them. "Plenty o'beans like she's got!" A bob of his head towards the ginger.

"So...Chocolate Frogs. They're, well. That." Phenomenal start, Raleigh. He waved the envelope. "White chocolate, normal chocolate, dark chocolate, that really bitter garbage that doesn't taste like much at all. Wiggly. All of it's good except for the bitter ones of COURSE, it'd be a disaster to ruin chocolate - but here's the good part." He passed Quinne the envelope...and then added.

"Raleigh Longwitton."