CL Tell me more... PV Lucia Fox

Lucia Fox stood on the platform, waiting for her sister. Briar had gone to stay at a friend's house overnight, and all Lucia could hope was that she wasn't already on the train. After all, she had Lucia's pygmy puff! If nothing else, surely Briar would have waited to return the pet to her owner? A minute or two went by as Lucia watched everyone around her, before she caught sight of a flash of dark hair next to a blonde. "Briar!" she called, struggling to make her voice heard over the noise of the station platform. Luckily, Briar heard her and came over.
"Lucia!" Lucia held her arms out for a hug, but Briar didn't notice, so preoccupied was she in scooping up River the pygmy puff from where she was perched on Briar's shoulder. "Here you go... I hope your trip went well..." After Briar deposited River on her shoulder, Lucia opened her mouth to explain the chaos that was the London Underground, but Briar didn't notice that either. Instead, she leaned around Lucia's shoulder to wave at someone behind her. When Lucia twisted around, she saw the blonde who'd been with her sister earlier. "Gimme a sec!" Then Briar turned back to Lucia again. "Sorry, Lucy, I've gotta go - I promised Faith I'd sit with her and there won't be any compartments left soon." Briar did give Lucia a hug now, but it was short and rushed. "Love you, see you later!"
"Love you too..." Lucia trailed off. Briar had left her. Again. Lucia watched her go with a sinking feeling. Yes, Briar wanted to spend time with her friends, but why couldn't she spend time with Lucia too? Before going to Hogwarts, the pair were as close as twins, but Lucia now felt the gap between them widening. Was this just what happened when siblings grew up?

Without Briar to sit next to, Lucia wondered if she could find any of her friends. This time last year, she'd been looking forward to spending the ride to Hogwarts with Alexa, but... that couldn't happen any more. There was Eun-ji, maybe, or even Lindsey, but Lucia hadn't made any arrangements with them so didn't know where they'd be. Seeing Briar's easy camaraderie with Faith made Lucia miss what she'd had with Alexa even more. But now wasn't the time for heartache - Lucia had to get on the train.

It took five minutes of wandering up and down the packed corridors with her trunk before Lucia gave up and just rapped on the nearest one before flinging the door open. Even if there was someone in there, she desperately needed to get out of the crowds. And there was someone - a younger girl, with short dark hair. Lucia pulled her trunk into the room and closed the door behind her to block out the noise. "Can I sit here?" It was polite to ask, but Lucia really didn't know what she'd do if the girl said no. She didn't have anywhere else to go, after all.

Sara was suddenly awakened from her imagination by the opening of the compartment’s door. She looked at a person who opened it and saw a tall dark-haired girl, a few years older than herself. The girl asked her if she can sit with her. She thought to herself: well, like I have I choice. This would probably be a long and lonely ride without someone to talk to. Actually, it's a great opportunity to ask her everything about Hogwarts and magic and everything that has to do with that... So she said: "Yes, of course!" and smiled kindly. Sara was kinda nervous and anxious now when someone is in the compartment with her, she hasn't got her own peace. And she is worried she'll have to talk to that girl now. She looked at her: she looked kinda conceited, and that just made her anxiety worse. But as she was looking at her, the girl smiled, so Sara smiled back. She decided to talk to her. After all, it would be very awkward if they didn't talk and Sara wants to know everything she possibly can about Hogwarts. So this just may be the perfect opportunity to finally meet her and ask some questions. So, Sara got her courage and asked, with a shaky voice and a friendly smile: "Hi! I'm Sara, Sara Arnez. What's your name?"

word count: 227 | @Lucia Fox | color_code: #1360bd

"Pleasure to meet you! Oh my! What's that on your shoulder? Some kind of magic animal?" Sara was delightedly referring to the purple puff on Lucia's shoulder. Everything was so confusing for a little muggle-born Sara... Because she never experienced anything magical, besides her first instance of magic, and yeah, her visit to the Diagon Alley. She was so curious to know everything possible about this new world she was getting into. Lucia was a perfect source for getting that information. So Sara's going to ask a lot of questions!
"What else is to know about magic? Probably a lot of it..." Sara thought to herself, with an uncomfortable feeling of being boring to her companion. Well, maybe she's boring, but she wants to know at least something about her new school and magic. "I loved my school in Kensington, I love to learn new stuff. I'm so excited about all the things I would learn about magic! Magic.. seems so mysterious and... kinda scary but in a fun way. Right? Can you tell me something about our school and what will I learn there? And is it any similar to muggle schools?" she asked, in hope of receiving some extensive answers from her older school colleague.

It was always River who got the attention - ironic, since River didn't particularly like most people. "She's a pygmy puff," Lucia told the younger girl, who she was now pretty sure was a muggleborn. Lucia almost cringed in shame when she remembered what her reaction had been to a similar situation to this, when she was in second year. Back then, she'd been dismissive and arrogant towards the poor girl who'd asked her for information, but now she'd matured as a person. She would answer all of Sara's questions as best she could: what kind of Hufflepuff would Lucia be if she didn't? "They're magical creatures, yeah. A domesticated breed of Puffskeins, I think." Lucia untucked her hair from behind her ear and let it fall in a curtain around River again. She had a feeling that the little creature wanted to sleep, and while her hair wasn't exactly opaque, it was hopefully thick enough for River to feel safe.

Sara was absolutely a muggleborn, and had absolutely latched onto Lucia as a source of information. Unfortunately, school comparisons really weren't Lucia's area of expertise. "Oh, uh, I never went to Muggle school. I was homeschooled." Many wizarding children had similar experiences. Lucia couldn't remember most of what her mother and family house elf had taught her as a kid, but she must have learnt something because she did have basic maths and English skills that definitely weren't taught at Hogwarts. But she'd also learnt about magical subjects: nothing in as much detail as she learnt now, but she had fond memories of stargazing with her sisters, and baking with Ebony (not quite potion-making, but close), and leafing through books of magical creatures. Magic wasn't scary like Sara had said. On the contrary, magic was... safe, most of the time. It was the Muggle world that could be scary, that strange world where there were no magical safety nets.

Still, Lucia could do her best to answer the younger girl's question. She tried to think back to the little tidbits Alexa had told her about her Muggle school, noting at the same time how little it hurt to think of Alexa now. Only a term ago, any thought of Lucia's best friend threatened tears, but now there was only a slight twinge in her chest, the longing for what could have been. "Well, we don't learn English and Maths and Science and things, except for Transfiguration." A pause. "That's turning things into other things." It was a bit of an oversimplified explanation, but would have to do.

Lucia said that the purple thing on her shoulder was a magical animal called pygmy puff. What an interesting name! "A pygmy puff, did I get that right?" Sara asked with a slightly confused expression on her face "I'll have to ask a professor at Hogwarts about them. They seem quite interesting!" she said in an excited voice. "In which subject do we learn about magical creatures?" she asked her older colleague.

Lucia said that she didn't go to muggle school, but she said that in Hogwarts, they don't have the same subjects as they do in muggle schools. That was kind of weird, but also expected. "So what do you study then? Instead of English and Science?" she asked with sparks of curiosity in her eyes "And what is that... Transfiguration thing? Can you explain it a bit more, please?" Sara said and looked down, at her shoes. She thought that she was annoying Lucia, but she just wanted to know... She may be boring the older girl with her abundance of questions, but she is so hungry for knowledge and wants to know at least a little bit of something that's gonna be happening to her in the next few years of her schooling in Hogwarts.

"Can I ask you something?" Sara said, as if she didn't ask so many questions before this one. She misses her parents dearly already and she wanted to know if Lucia felt that too when she was going away to Hogwarts for the first time. Maybe that would make Sara feel less lonely and sad. "Did you miss your parents during your first year? 'Cause I already do and I'm afraid it'll just get worse..." she teared up a little, but she looked through the window and composed herself, so Lucia doesn't see her cry. She would never let other people see her cry, only if they were as close as family. "I miss them so much. Especially our cat Milo... And we haven't been apart ever before..." Sara got a little bit sad and hugged herself. She hoped Lucia will tell her something comforting and change the subject eventually...

word count: 358 | @Lucia Fox | color_code: #1360bd