Hunter was unsure of the occurring events he was experiencing that had led him to this very moment. His parents had given him clear directions towards the location of Platform 9^3/4, but he was unsure if he'd be able to reach said Platform without causing a scene. At first, he was clutching on tightly to his trunk and one would assume he was calm and focused, but closer inspection would reveal slight shaking motions of anxiety and fear. Eventually, he had let go of his trunk and felt extreme nausea come over him from all directions, leeching up his throat and causing his palms to sweat. It was all just rather too much, a new form of scenery much too different from his life at home. The crowds of people moving around with rushed taps of their feet, loud conversations as if each and everyone is trying to die out the other surrounding conversations from their own. Hunter's head took great dismay from such an environment. He enjoyed company from others, but he never experienced an environment in which too many people could be considered too much. The whistles of the surrounding trains merely made it worse for him. He had yet to transition to Platform 9^3/4 and already he was frozen, stuck in place.

"Hunter, Dear, is everything alright?".

The voice of Hunter's mother snapped him back into reality, she gave great concern and love towards her only child, and hoped he was doing alright despite clear indications that he was not.

"C'mon, hold my hand. Let's keep going, we're almost there. I know you want to seem strong and independent, but there's nothing wrong with holding onto mommy's hand."

Hunter obeyed his mother with deep relief, and clutched tightly to her hand while trolling his trunk alongside him. His father, unfortunately, didn't have time to take off work for Hunter, but he wasn't troubled as he, his father, and his mother spent all day yesterday together to celebrate, and as an apology.

Eventually, Hunter's mother began to pick up speed greatly and began to approach a rather large brick wall. Hunter, who was unprepared for the change of speed in movement, stumbled and worried about his mother's choice of actions to run at a rather large solid object. He recalls his parents explaining how to get to Platform 9 ^3/4 the previous night, but he was still rather unsure of what was occurring. He closed his eyes, still running and tightly grasping his mother's hand, and waited for a crashing feeling.

Hunter eventually opened his eyes, and was greeted by his mother's smile directly in front of him:

"Hunter, Dear, I know you are not used to all of this. I also know your gonna have trouble being around kids of your own age. *huff* I know I and your father aren't around often, but I hope you can learn much during your time at Hogwarts, okay? You'll make great friends; I just know you will. Just don't always focus on your books too much, okay? I know you find beauty in books, but try looking for the beauty in others as well. I love you, Hunter, I truly do and so does your father. Oh, and one more thing, be brave. It's okay to close your eyes, but as long as you keep walking forward, then I know you'll be able to face things with your eyes clear and open."

Platform 9^3/4 it wasn't as crowded as the previous location he and his mother were. Luckily, Hunter was calmer now and his mother waved him off as he finally reached the inside of the train despite the crowd of other students and parents. He walked down the aisle for a couple of minutes, avoiding complete eye contact with other students. Eventually, he reached an empty compartment and took his seat by the window.

"Friends?" he whispered to himself, as he looked towards the ceiling sky of the station through the glass. He merely looked towards the sky with a blank expression as he waited for the train to depart.

"Sorry bout that", as Fionn blasted past another person in the hall on train, sending them tumbling to the ground in a mess of papers, people, and random bits and bobs. He turned around briefly, saw the death glare and continued making a mental note of the first enemy he most obviously made and continued sprinting, through the door and into the next train car. He would like to believe that he normally would make a better first impression, but you gotta be honest with yourself, this is really the only outcome of they day. After all, when you dung bomb your older sister, she is gonna chase you and try to kill you. Only option is to run and hide, and not for the first time mind you.

As he broke through into another car, Fionn frantically rushed to a random compartment door, rushed in side and flattened against the side and waited. Any moment Aisling would rush past the compartment, and with a little luck, she wouldn't chance a look inside. As he waited, the thought briefly crossed his mind that this situation looked weird if anyone was in the compartment. "Probably look'in like I'm act'in the maggot". After having a bit of laugh, he suddenly shut right up and froze, and watch as a fuming sister blasted past down the hall. He let out a small breath. He was that close to loosing his head for sure, and how could he attend Hogwarts with out a head. As he turned around to take a seat in the compartment he once again had to stop. There was a person there, sitting right there staring at him. Fionn looked from side to side, not really sure what he was looking for, a way out of the awkward situation?

"Uh hey, how's the form?"

He waited, not really sure where this was gonna go.

Hunter looked through the window of his compartment with his yellow-tinted glasses, he was beginning to feel as if a slight headache was about to overcome him. His glasses usually didn't cause too much of an issue, but he presumed that having a yellow shade over new scenery of so many moving objects and people wasn't quite the best option. He removed his glasses to reveal rather dark-brown eyes barely opened. The glasses themselves aren't prescribed, nor does Hunter have any sort of visual difficulty; merely colored glasses for a look, nothing special. However, Hunter wore these glasses rather often; if not, always as if they were prescribed to him.

He decided now was the best time to maybe close his eyes, and rest a bit. He wasn't sure of how long the journey would be, but if his headache continues, then he can at least try to rest it off. However, just as Hunter had begun to close his eyes, a rather loud sound of rushing footsteps began to go down the aisle of the train. At first, Hunter had figured it was another student being rather rowdy, but soon after Hunter jolted a bit, eyes-wide-open, as he heard the door of his compartment open rather quickly, but not be closed. Hunter looked over and noticed a young boy pushed against the wall of the compartment and looking at the wide-opened door. The boy seemed of Hunter's height with reddish-brown hair and a few freckles upon his cheek. The boy spoke something about maggots that Hunter couldn't quite grasp at, for he was a bit shocked as to why this boy had barged in, and why was he looking at the door so amusingly. Soon after, Hunter noticed the boy began to chuckle a bit, but then swiftly closed his mouth. With the boy now quiet and almost frozen like a paralyzed mouse, Hunter soon began to hear rather loud footsteps approaching down the aisle. The steps were fast, and had a bit of a rough tempo to them as a girl walked right on by. Again, another bizarre action that Hunter was not anticipating, but just as soon as the girl walked by, a slight smell hit Hunter's nose. The smell itself was rather unpleasing, if not grotesque. Hard to describe, and even if he could describe it, the description would only make his stomach churn more from the thought. Hunter clasped his hand over his nose, and looked back at the boy. The boy himself was also now looking towards Hunter, no longer frozen in place. The odd lad spoke, "Uh hey, how's the form?"

This question wasn't one that Hunter was too familiar with, also, when he and the boy looked at each other, Hunter began to have another unsettling feeling of anxiety wash over him. Hunter grabbed his glasses, placed them back on, and immediately faced towards the window. His stomach was a bit unsettled from the previous smell from when that girl had passed by, but he didn't want it to make it worse from the risk of making eye contact with another person he was unfamiliar with. "Now's your chance," Hunter thought. A chance to speak to someone, someone of his own age. Despite the swift smell that passed by and the actions, the odd boy had performed, Hunter was interested to finally be able to speak to someone that wasn't just a family member.
"I-I-I assume that was your doing?" Hunter finally said, in a rather shaky tone. He removed his hand from his nose, but answered with his head still turned back to the other boy. "I-I-If you need to h-h-hide, t-then you can certainly stay in here." His voice was still shaken, he wondered if he already botched this chance at conversation due to his nervous feelings. However, despite his anxious feelings, a new thought came to his mind. His voice got a bit more strict, more calm and serious, Although, not to be rude. I must request that whatever you did to that girl, you don't do to me." Hunter still refused to look at the boy as he stated this, but his tone was rather new, even to him. It gave himself even a slight chill down his spine.
WC: 712

Elizabeth hated being late. And that was just what had happened this morning on the way to Platform 9 3/4. This morning her brothers had been set on mayhem, with the youngest throwing around their food and the oldest (other than Elizabeth herself) refusing to comb their hair so they could leave.

"I think they're just Jealous," Elizabeth thought. When she voiced that to her mother, a proud pure-blood witch of 40, her mother replied, "Don't be ridiculous, Eliza, they are not trying to be jealous of ruin your day. Do not be overdramatic." With a sigh that was every bit of pre-teenage drama, Elizabeth went to wait outside while her mother corraled her siblings. Elizabeth took this moment to think about what was to come. Ever since she heard her mother's tales of Hogwarts, the mischief she had gotten into, and the courage she had shown, Elizabeth knew that she could do amazing things there. "I know I can succeed at Hogwarts. I can be an even better witch than my mum, and show everyone that I am not just another freckly-faced girl."

As the minutes passed, Elizabeth looked down at her watch, when at that moment her parents bust out of the house with her siblings in tow. Her parents, smiling amidst the order of children, looked very much in love, even 25 years after their first encounter. Her dad, Jonathon, was by all accounts a very normal muggle man. How he had made her magical mather fall in love with him was a mystery to Elizabeth, but she loved both her parents nonetheless.

Once they all piled into the magically enlarged interior of their car, they were off towards Kings Cross. Elizabeth looked out the window and wondered if she would ever look at her flat the same again. On the ride, Elizabeth started to pour over her books, obsessed with learning as much as she can. She had to be the best witch in her class, and she would do anything to achieve this goal. So focused on her potions textbook that she didn't even realize they had arrived at the station.

She hurried out of her car, with her parents and siblings trying to match the eleven-year-old's excitement, until she finally came upon 9 3/4. She turned around and saw her brothers, her parents, and the bustling train station and took in the moment, this was the moment when her life was going to change. She rushed to hug everyone and without looking back, she ran through the brick wall, leaving her muggle-wizard family behind.

She entered the train and realized that many of the compartments were already full, most likely due to the delay caused by her younger brothers. Elizabeth started to panic and rushed to find any with open seats. She spotted a compartment with a hastily closed door and rushed to it to find two boys sitting there, one looking quite frightened at the red-head across from him.

Elizabeth flung open the compartment door and said rather enthusiastically, "Hello, Elizabeth Caraway. Excited to be here and to become one of the brightest witches of our age! Nice to meet you!"

She thrust out her hand to shake with the boys and without even waiting for a response, she said, "mind if I sit with you all? The rest of the train is quite jammed!"

Fionn was silent for a brief moment, he was confused and nervous, unsure how to proceed with this strange lad. First he had sat completely silent and watched him make a absolute fool of himself, and now the stranger was talking into the window. Plus he had yellow glasses, which in Fionn's humble opinion marked him out as goon if ever there were one. What to do, Fionn wasn't sure, should he take the lads offer and have seat or should he just legg it and find a new compartment? Suddenly he became aware that he had left the door open aswell, "Bleedin' Melter" Fionn spun around and quickly gave a glance out the compartment and down the hall. A quick check told him it had worked, Aisling was farther down the train now, so he latched the door shut, took a deep breath to calm himself.

Normally, he thought, he was confident, but he had never met this kid before. Sure it was easy to act tough in front of all his friends, most of whom were cousins, but this was different, this was a new kid. And he certainly wasn't making it easy to talk to him with his head glued to the widow. He took another breath, his ma's words cam back to him,"Remember, best to take life head on. Even if yer scared, 'specially if you are scared". Time to just deal with it, Fionn flipped back round and with his patented mischievous grin said,"Right, thanks a million bud, me aul'sister was havin after me head, and all 'cause I may have dropped a dungbomb in her bag. I was only havin the craic with her! Fionn gave an exaggerated sigh as he flopped himself down on the seat across from the strange lad, and smiled. He thrust out his hand,"Fionn O'dare, at yer service

He tried to put on his best most winning smile, though somehow he felt certain the nerves were showing. Suddenly the thought hit him like a ton of bricks, this kid thought he was gonna get dungbombed. The thought made Fionn chuckle, "Don't sweat the bombs, I make it habit not to mess with class acts such as yourself Sunshine" His smile couldn't be helped at this point, and he hoped the kid understood the nickname was a joke, and he kept his hand out wait for him to take it.

Before he even got Sunshine's name, Fionn was startled by the door opening. Suddenly in front of him was a pretty tall, albeit thin girl "Hello, Elizabeth Caraway. Excited to be here and to become one of the brightest witches of our age! Nice to meet you! Mind if I sit with you all? The rest of the train is quite jammed!" He wasn't really prepared for it, and if you pushed Fionn for his opinion, he'd say she was probably a bit forward, though to be fair he wasn't any better, and definitely had a bit of snootiness abouts her. But hey, first day am I right, plus more people to defend him if his sister showed up. He jumped up and grabbed her hand briefly before pushing her aside to get to the door. "Cracking, Fionn O'Dare, now please quit faffing about in the doorway, if ye don't it's me head" He quickly slid the door shut then took up his spot back on the bench, looking back and forth between the weird kid whose name he wasn't sure of, and this Elizabeth wan. "How's the form Elizabeth?" He debeted in his head couple of names for her, Lizzy Spice was the first to pop in, but he thought better. Wasn't sure how she would take it, especially since he had kinda just pushed her out of the way. Hopefully she would brush it off.

Hunter was already on edge from the red-headed boy who, from the sounds of it, was a bit of a troublemaker. Hunter had heard of people pranking others with rather amusing and magical knick-knacks, but he didn't know that there were people who would prank their own family members. The boy, Fionn O'Dare as he claimed to be, reached out to Hunter with his hand, possibly in hopes for a handshake and introductions. Hunter wasn't exactly too keen on shaking the boy's hand, but he knew to be polite enough to at least introduce himself. For once, Hunter turned away from the window, and sat properly across from the boy. His eyes were more focused on the boy's hand, rather than the boy himself. Eye contact wasn't something Hunter was very comfortable with, and would avoid it on multiple occasions with new people: "I-;" however, just as soon as Hunter opened his mouth, so did the door of the compartment. A rather slim and tall girl with curly brown hair had opened the door and barged right on in. Hunter had a slight issue in noticing any other key-colored features of the girl, for the headache in his head had still yet to cease while he wore his glasses. He was, once again, startled by the random intrusions of another student. Hunter thought she was another trouble-maker, maybe even a nut-job. Nonetheless, the girl spoke in a rather enthusiastic way, "Hello, Elizabeth Caraway. Excited to be here and to become one of the brightest witches of our age! Nice to meet you!" . She then flew her hand out towards the two boys, similar to how Fionn had his out to Hunter. The girl then stated, ""mind if I sit with you all? The rest of the train is quite jammed!" Hunter was unsure how to respond to the girl, he was already on edge from Fionn, but this girl seemed just as energetic as Fionn, to Hunter at least. Suddenly, Fionn had jumped from his seat and suddenly shut the door behind her. It seemed he stated his name, and Hunter could tell his actions were rather rash and a bit rude. Fionn went back to his seat and sat across from Hunter, both in a bit of silence for a second or two. Fionn then asked a question that seemed to be towards Elizabeth, ""How's the form Elizabeth?" A similar question he asked to Hunter.

Hunter's eyes swapped between the boy in front of him, and the girl who was pushed into a seat by the door. He began to think if the offer he gave to Fionn was really the best or maybe worst choice he could have made. Hunter knew he should at least keep speaking, and he was determined to overcome his fears, as his mother had stated. Hunter remembered what his mother said before he had gotten on the train. Hunter closed his eyes, and took a step forward in words before Elizabeth could.
"Before you say anything Miss Elizabeth, you should know that if you're bound to be the brightest witch of our age, then Mr. Fionn is certainly going to become the greatest trickster of our year. Hunter was still new to conversating with kids his age, whenever he addressed adults he knew to be formal. As such, he believed he was to be formal when addressing those that are the same age, or even younger than him. Also, this was a bit new to Hunter to express, but it felt appropriate. He didn't have to make eye contact, and his headache was diminishing a bit. He showed a slight smirk on his face as he said this, and began to gain a bit of confidence. His eyes kept close behind his glasses, he raised his head a little towards where he assumed Fionn was still sitting. "Hunter, you can just call me Hunter. I don't plan to be bright like Miss Elizabeth, but if you want to brew some potions, I may be of-" suddenly, Hunter wasn't rather pleased with the sound of his voice. He slightly opened his eyes, and began to have anxiety again. He wondered if he stepped out of line in what he was saying, he was unsure. Or perhaps he was being rather too stuck-up. As quickly as he found his new sense of confidence, so did he lose it. He didn't finish his sentence, but in a much more quiet, shy, yet calm tone he said, "S-sorry, I enjoy potions rather much, I didn't mean to get carried away there... As I said, my name's Hunter, Hunter Argentum. I'm a first-year at Hogwarts, so I don't even know what house I am yet." Hunter felt much more pleased with that response he gave. He slouched a bit in his seat and closed his eyes again, and waited for the other two to respond back.
WC: 821

“Well, Fionn and Hunter, pleased to make your acquaintance. My mother says that is one very important thing to focus on at our time at Hogwarts, friends!” Elizabeth said this and shifted in her seat after being pushed to the side by her new acquaintance, Fionn. Remembering that she had just been shoved, Elizabeth turned to look at Fionn and said, “please refrain from shoving me unless it is absolutely necessary. I have 6 younger brothers at home and can certainly think of worse tricks than your sister if need be!” Laughing at the end part, she started ruffling through her bag to show hunter her potions book, which was a hand-down from her mother.



“Look here Hunter, my mum has written a few improvements to some of the potions, and even talked about the theory why! I hope she’s right, and I guess I’ll find out soon enough, but I think potions are just splendid!”

Turning to the boy with yellow glasses, “Hunter, I also love potions! I think it’ll be one of my favorite classes. I loved muggle science as a kid, so I reckon this will be even better!”

Turning to both the boys now, “what houses do you reckon you will be in?”

“I have a couple of ideas of where I might end up, but not too sure, obviously! I think Gryffindor is a good choice because that’s what my mum was, but personally, I’m thinking maybe Slytherin.”

"Mr. Fionn is certainly going to become the greatest trickster of our year."
"think of worse tricks than your sister if need be!”

He couldn't help the smile coming back. At first he wasn't sure about these two, Hunter was clearly a bit shy, but he was dead on with what he said, and further more, definitely had potential as co-hooligan, he just needed a couple pushes. Fionn leaned back into the corner of the bench and stretched out, he thought of exactly what kinda of hooliganism he would pull. As for this Elizabeth girl, well he wasn't sure. At first he was sure he wasn't going to like her. A bit stiff, a bit posh, though she did have a laugh so she wasn't totally hopeless.

"No reckon needrd for meself, be an absolute mantle if thought I was goin anywheres but Gryffindor. Me aul'wan was a Gryffindor, as was me aul'fella. Where ever she is stinkin up, me sister is as well. Goes back years."

Looking between both of them, he considered with a wry smile and thought that it would be unlikely either ended up with him in Gryffindor. He relaxed, and looked up at the roof, hands clasped behind his head. "And don't worry, shovin isn't what youse need to look out fer." He tilted his head enough so he could look at Elizabeth. Then suddenly a thought struck him like when his sister hit him after he dyed her hair the color of vomit this summer. Fionn lurched forward now more serious then when his sister was after him.

"How ya feel'ins towards quidditch? Meself, I like Kenmare Kestrals, fairplay it's me home town but you'd be actin the maggot if yous thought they wernt the
best."

He was sure that Hunter wouldn't argue, didn't seem to be his thing. But Elizabeth would argue that point, and he was prepared to die on this hill if necessary. You could laugh at a lot of things, but Quidditch was a serious matter.

Hunter's eyes immediately opened when Elizabeth had taken out her potion books: “Look here Hunter, my mum has written a few improvements to some of the potions, and even talked about the theory why! I hope she’s right, and I guess I’ll find out soon enough, but I think potions are just splendid!” This certainly fascinated Hunter, by quite a lot. His rather shy and anxious style had completely vanished as he looked over what the books contained. Hunter never really had someone else to learn potions with, it was always him and his teacher. He, who knew little, and a teacher who knew all. However, now he's met someone like him. A person who seemed just as intrigued in potions as he was, and was possibly not trained over decades upon decades of the subject. Hunter began to rummage through his coat, and pulled out a rather tattered old leather book. The book seemed extremely overused and beaten up: "My Gram-Gram and father are really experienced with potions. I'm sure they'd get along with your mom and discuss her theories together; although, I wish I could read my father's notes like your mom's." Hunter opened the odd book to a random page, dead center. The paper of the pages seemed extremely uncared for; they were full of: wrinkles, torn corners, stains, and slight spots of mold on a few. "This is my father's notebook, well... his old one I think. It's just... I'm unable to read any of the notes he has in here." Besides the paper itself, each page was filled to the very brink in diagrams, drawings, writing in all sorts of letters and characters from multiple languages that Hunter did not know of. What made it worse was that overall, everything overlapped and seemed extremely unorganized. It seemed completely illegible and undecipherable. "Not even my Gram can understand it..." He said with a slight look of disappointment.

Hunter closed the book and withdrew it back into his cloak, and looked over at Fionn as they talked about the houses at Hogwarts. Hunter knew very little about Hogwarts, nor any of quidditch. A such he meekly responded to Fionn, "I-I don't know much about quidditch actually... nor do I know much on the houses. D-do either one of you have an idea where I might go? My father was a Gryffindor, very adventurous but my mother was a Hufflepuff if that might help." Hunter's lack of knowledge in sport and the school was rather embarrassing for him to admit, he soon after promised himself that he'd look more into the history of the two at school in order to have a proper conversation about them.

"W-wait, I remember my parents had a white and black banner in their bedroom. It also had the words "Montrose," does that have any relation to quidditch." He sheepishly asked, again, ashamed he didn't know much about a subject.
WC: 488